Ok, time to finish up this post! :)
So, after finishing up the sides, I started on the chappathis. The dough had sat for over an hour and was soft and quite happy. Hmm ... no rolling pin! That's a challenge. Oh well! I just had to use my hands instead. Wait! A Voss bottle! Brilliant! That was fun - rolling balls of chappathi dough into rotis with the Voss bottle. I just cooked them dry on a pan, no oil or butter. Turned out perfectly soft and yummy!
Finally, the Peas Pulao that I got started before rolling out the chappathis:
2 cups basmati rice - soaked in water for about 5 minutes, drained and spread to dry in a plate or flat pan
1 stick cinnamon
3 bay leaves
1 piece of nutmeg
1 t garam masala
1 pinch turmeric
1.5 cups frozen peas
1 t sesame oil
2 t ginger-garlic paste
salt to taste
Heat oil in a saucepan (large enough to cook the rice) and add the ginger-garlic paste, cinnamon, bay leaves and nutmeg. Once they are browned, throw in the rice and saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. Then add 3.5 - 4 cups of water along with the peas, garam masala and salt and simmer partially covered till the rice is cooked. Garnish with a handful of chopped cilantro.
Dinner rocked! We opened a bottle of Prosecco to go with the desi food - it is often hard for us to find decent pairings given the spiciness of indian good, but this Prosecco totally complemented the flavors. Except now I've forgotten the label! Damn!
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooking. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Desi food cookout - Part I
Jo and Rich visited over the weekend - after we hit the baseball game in the afternoon, we moseyed over to Uwajimaya to get the makings for our mega desi meal :) That store is a lot of entertainment, we spent close to an hour strolling through the aisles, getting distracted by every fifth thing on the shelves - probably something we hadn't seen before! We finally marched out of there with 5 bulging bags of groceries - made heavier by the many mangoes and tender coconuts that I insisted on buying :)
So, the menu for the night:
Dum Aloo
Kadai Paneer
Peas Pulao
Cilantro chappathis
Papads from TJs (I forgot to get the masala papads I really wanted, so we had to make do!)
We discovered that Uwajimaya has a great spread of most things, but they are seriously lacking in cheeses. Maybe that is not surprising for an asian store, but we were banking on finding paneer there, so we had to hit Madison Market instead.
Chappathis: Dough
===============
I started off by kneading the dough - this is made from whole wheat flour. Traditional chappathis don't usually have any filling or seasoning, but we wanted something different. So, I threw in a bunch of minced cilantro along with some red chilli powder and salt. I usually add warm water when initially kneading the dough, and follow this up with some non-fat milk - this makes the dough really smooth and easy to roll out. After kneading, I covered the dough with a wet kitchen towel - letting the dough sit for a couple of hours usually results in much softer rotis.
The next thing to work on was the Dum Aloo. I chose to try a saalan-style masala for this instead of the more traditional poppy seed based flavors. This proved to be a good idea, I definitely want to use this base with more vegetables:
Dum Aloo
========
15-18 small potatoes (we carefully picked small ones that we didn't have to chop up)
20-25 pine nuts - soaked in 1/2 cup of warm water for about 10 minutes
2 T sesame seeds
1 black cardamom pod
3 t coriander seeds
2 t cumin seeds
2 cloves
1" cinnamon
1 small piece of nutmeg
6 cloves garlic
2" ginger
1 T olive oil
1 large red onion - minced
3-4 green cardamon pods
1/2 t turmeric powder
1 t cayenne pepper
2 - 2.5 cups buttermilk
The most important thing here is soaking the potatoes. It is pretty amazing how much of a difference that makes! I pricked the potatoes all over with a fork and soaked them in a bowl of warm water with 1 t of salt for about an hour.
Next, I dry roasted the pine nuts, sesame, black cardamom, coriander, cumin, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg till the pine nuts turn slightly brown. Once cooled, I ground them up into a fine powder.
I proceeded to mince the garlic and ginger along with the onions to form a coarse paste - it seems like preserving some small pieces instead of grinding to a fine paste results in a much better texture (and better flavor absorption).
Once the potatoes were soaked, we wiped them clean and sauteed them in a broad pan with 1/2 T of olive oil. This worked perfectly since we used this amazing calphalon nonstick pan. Got to love good cookware! :)
We then took the potatoes out and added the remaining 1/2 T of oil to the pan. And then threw in the onion-ginger-garlic paste. Once the onions were browned (this took about 15 minutes), we added the ground masala and salt and stirred it till the powder seemed mixed in. Now we started adding the buttermilk - 2-3 T at a time. I remember reading someplace that this needs to be done slowly so that the buttermilk does not curdle. It actually worked out much easier than I expected. We ended up adding over 2.5 cups, and it lent the perfect consistency. We finally added the potatoes in, mixed the sauce and covered the pan. We cooked it on simmer for almost 30 minutes before it was done. And done beautifully! :)
Meantime, Jo was cutting the pepper and carrots - the most beautifully julienned vegetables I've ever used :) The Kadai Paneer is a pretty simple recipe that can be made in so many different ways: some recipes call for a dry dish with roasted vegetables and paneer dusted with dry masala while others use a tomato gravy. I went with a tomato-onion gravy since it seemed like a good idea to soak it up with the rotis.
Kadai Paneer
=============
1 onion
4 vine tomatoes
5 cloves garlic
3 thai green chillies
1 T garam masala (I had pre-made this, so it made things a lot quicker)
1 bell pepper - julienned
2 carrots - julienned
1 block of paneer (about 12 oz, I think) - chopped into long pieces
1/2 T olive oil
I tossed the onions, tomatoes, garlic and green chillies into a food processor and ground them to a coarse paste. Once the olive oil was heated (in a shallow pan), we threw in this paste and let it cook - this took a little longer than expected, almost 20 minutes. We then added the peppers and carrots and let them cook covered for another 7-8 minutes. In the meantime, ,we baked the paneer (greased with a little oil spray) for about 12 minutes at 350 F until the edges started browning. Finally, we added the garam masala and salt along with the paneer to the veggies and let them simmer for a few more minutes. Garnishing was chopped cilantro - I love that smell - when we toss freshly chopped cilantro into hot gravy! Yum!!
Phew! I'm tired of writing these recipes already! Think I'll post this and let the rest come in Part II :)
So, the menu for the night:
Dum Aloo
Kadai Paneer
Peas Pulao
Cilantro chappathis
Papads from TJs (I forgot to get the masala papads I really wanted, so we had to make do!)
We discovered that Uwajimaya has a great spread of most things, but they are seriously lacking in cheeses. Maybe that is not surprising for an asian store, but we were banking on finding paneer there, so we had to hit Madison Market instead.
Chappathis: Dough
===============
I started off by kneading the dough - this is made from whole wheat flour. Traditional chappathis don't usually have any filling or seasoning, but we wanted something different. So, I threw in a bunch of minced cilantro along with some red chilli powder and salt. I usually add warm water when initially kneading the dough, and follow this up with some non-fat milk - this makes the dough really smooth and easy to roll out. After kneading, I covered the dough with a wet kitchen towel - letting the dough sit for a couple of hours usually results in much softer rotis.
The next thing to work on was the Dum Aloo. I chose to try a saalan-style masala for this instead of the more traditional poppy seed based flavors. This proved to be a good idea, I definitely want to use this base with more vegetables:
Dum Aloo
========
15-18 small potatoes (we carefully picked small ones that we didn't have to chop up)
20-25 pine nuts - soaked in 1/2 cup of warm water for about 10 minutes
2 T sesame seeds
1 black cardamom pod
3 t coriander seeds
2 t cumin seeds
2 cloves
1" cinnamon
1 small piece of nutmeg
6 cloves garlic
2" ginger
1 T olive oil
1 large red onion - minced
3-4 green cardamon pods
1/2 t turmeric powder
1 t cayenne pepper
2 - 2.5 cups buttermilk
The most important thing here is soaking the potatoes. It is pretty amazing how much of a difference that makes! I pricked the potatoes all over with a fork and soaked them in a bowl of warm water with 1 t of salt for about an hour.
Next, I dry roasted the pine nuts, sesame, black cardamom, coriander, cumin, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg till the pine nuts turn slightly brown. Once cooled, I ground them up into a fine powder.
I proceeded to mince the garlic and ginger along with the onions to form a coarse paste - it seems like preserving some small pieces instead of grinding to a fine paste results in a much better texture (and better flavor absorption).
Once the potatoes were soaked, we wiped them clean and sauteed them in a broad pan with 1/2 T of olive oil. This worked perfectly since we used this amazing calphalon nonstick pan. Got to love good cookware! :)
We then took the potatoes out and added the remaining 1/2 T of oil to the pan. And then threw in the onion-ginger-garlic paste. Once the onions were browned (this took about 15 minutes), we added the ground masala and salt and stirred it till the powder seemed mixed in. Now we started adding the buttermilk - 2-3 T at a time. I remember reading someplace that this needs to be done slowly so that the buttermilk does not curdle. It actually worked out much easier than I expected. We ended up adding over 2.5 cups, and it lent the perfect consistency. We finally added the potatoes in, mixed the sauce and covered the pan. We cooked it on simmer for almost 30 minutes before it was done. And done beautifully! :)
Meantime, Jo was cutting the pepper and carrots - the most beautifully julienned vegetables I've ever used :) The Kadai Paneer is a pretty simple recipe that can be made in so many different ways: some recipes call for a dry dish with roasted vegetables and paneer dusted with dry masala while others use a tomato gravy. I went with a tomato-onion gravy since it seemed like a good idea to soak it up with the rotis.
Kadai Paneer
=============
1 onion
4 vine tomatoes
5 cloves garlic
3 thai green chillies
1 T garam masala (I had pre-made this, so it made things a lot quicker)
1 bell pepper - julienned
2 carrots - julienned
1 block of paneer (about 12 oz, I think) - chopped into long pieces
1/2 T olive oil
I tossed the onions, tomatoes, garlic and green chillies into a food processor and ground them to a coarse paste. Once the olive oil was heated (in a shallow pan), we threw in this paste and let it cook - this took a little longer than expected, almost 20 minutes. We then added the peppers and carrots and let them cook covered for another 7-8 minutes. In the meantime, ,we baked the paneer (greased with a little oil spray) for about 12 minutes at 350 F until the edges started browning. Finally, we added the garam masala and salt along with the paneer to the veggies and let them simmer for a few more minutes. Garnishing was chopped cilantro - I love that smell - when we toss freshly chopped cilantro into hot gravy! Yum!!
Phew! I'm tired of writing these recipes already! Think I'll post this and let the rest come in Part II :)
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Squash Blossom Quesadillas
The Redmond Farmers' Market had bags of squash blossoms for sale. The only time I ate these, they tasted awesome, couldn't wait to try a recipe with them. Besides, the gal at the market totally sold me on these, as well as some great-looking beet greens. Yum!
Most recipes seem to just lay out the blossoms with grated cheese and maybe some grilled onions. But I really wanted more veggies in there. So, this is what I went with:
Squash Blossom Quesadillas
=======================
5-6 tomato tortillas (PCC carried these for a few weeks *yummy*!)
1 onion - sliced long
1/2 green bell pepper - julienned
1/2 red bell pepper - julienned
1 carrot - grated (medium or large shreds)
1/2 can black beans - rinsed
kernels from 1 ear of steamed corn
15-20 squash blossoms
salt and Marie Sharp habanero-carrot sauce for seasoning
1/2 cup of grated pepperjack cheese
1/2 t of olive oil
Heat oil and saute the onions till they turn brown. Throw in the bell peppers and carrots and saute for about 6-7 minutes. Add the beans and corn and let it simmer for another 3-4 minutes. Turn off the stove and throw in the squash blossoms and seasonings.
Spoon out the veggie mix onto a tortilla and sprinkle with some grated cheese. Top with another tortilla, press it down. Cook both sides on a griddle till tortillas are crisp and the cheese is melted inside.
The flavors of the squash blossoms was awesome! The slightly sweet flavors seemed to blend quite well with a tangy pineapple salsa.
Yay!
Most recipes seem to just lay out the blossoms with grated cheese and maybe some grilled onions. But I really wanted more veggies in there. So, this is what I went with:
Squash Blossom Quesadillas
=======================
5-6 tomato tortillas (PCC carried these for a few weeks *yummy*!)
1 onion - sliced long
1/2 green bell pepper - julienned
1/2 red bell pepper - julienned
1 carrot - grated (medium or large shreds)
1/2 can black beans - rinsed
kernels from 1 ear of steamed corn
15-20 squash blossoms
salt and Marie Sharp habanero-carrot sauce for seasoning
1/2 cup of grated pepperjack cheese
1/2 t of olive oil
Heat oil and saute the onions till they turn brown. Throw in the bell peppers and carrots and saute for about 6-7 minutes. Add the beans and corn and let it simmer for another 3-4 minutes. Turn off the stove and throw in the squash blossoms and seasonings.
Spoon out the veggie mix onto a tortilla and sprinkle with some grated cheese. Top with another tortilla, press it down. Cook both sides on a griddle till tortillas are crisp and the cheese is melted inside.
The flavors of the squash blossoms was awesome! The slightly sweet flavors seemed to blend quite well with a tangy pineapple salsa.
Yay!
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Fish does taste good!
We wanted to make something out of Jay Solomon's caribbean cookbook on the 4th, but we kind of took the reverse route - figured we'll pick the most interesting fish and then find a recipe to go with it :)
Madison Market had happy-looking ling cod - *yay*! Another first :) So, we frantically started browsing our book for an appropriate recipe. And we found one that we could work with - it was hot enough to want something light, maybe lemony, so this is what we worked with:
Ling Cod in Cilantro & Lime Marinade
=============================
6 ling cod fillets - 4-5 oz each
Juice of 2 lemons
1 bunch cilantro
7-8 fresh garlic cloves
1 t paprika
1 T cayenne
1/2 t coriander powder
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cumin powder
kosher salt to taste
Grind up the cilantro and garlic and add the rest of the spices. Coat the fish with the marinade and refrigerate for about 1 hour. We could have grilled the fish or baked it - we chose to do a combination of baking and stove-top cooking instead. We first baked the fish covered in foil for about 5-7 minutes. Then, we took the fish out and cooked each piece in a pan for about 6-7 minutes, turning the pieces constantly. Guess the fish was pretty thick, it cooked a lot longer than we expected. But it turned out perfect. Yummy!
We had a couple of sides with the fish - one was roasted gold potatoes with garlic and walla walla onions. The other was this sunburst squash dish:
Sunburst squash curry
=================
8 sunburst squashes - diced
1 t mustard
1 t urad dal
1/2 t asafoetida
2 chopped red chillies
1 t sesame oil
2 T shredded coconut
salt to taste
Roast the mustard, dal, asafoetida and red chillies in the oil, throw the squash and coconut and saute till the squash is cooked. Add the salt and saute for about a minute more. Garnish with chopped cilantro. This turned out awesome! Sunburst squash tends to let out less water than zucchini or yellow squash and absorbs a lot more flavor - the red chillies+coconut perfectly complemented the slight sweetness of the squash.
Madison Market had happy-looking ling cod - *yay*! Another first :) So, we frantically started browsing our book for an appropriate recipe. And we found one that we could work with - it was hot enough to want something light, maybe lemony, so this is what we worked with:
Ling Cod in Cilantro & Lime Marinade
=============================
6 ling cod fillets - 4-5 oz each
Juice of 2 lemons
1 bunch cilantro
7-8 fresh garlic cloves
1 t paprika
1 T cayenne
1/2 t coriander powder
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t cumin powder
kosher salt to taste
Grind up the cilantro and garlic and add the rest of the spices. Coat the fish with the marinade and refrigerate for about 1 hour. We could have grilled the fish or baked it - we chose to do a combination of baking and stove-top cooking instead. We first baked the fish covered in foil for about 5-7 minutes. Then, we took the fish out and cooked each piece in a pan for about 6-7 minutes, turning the pieces constantly. Guess the fish was pretty thick, it cooked a lot longer than we expected. But it turned out perfect. Yummy!
We had a couple of sides with the fish - one was roasted gold potatoes with garlic and walla walla onions. The other was this sunburst squash dish:
Sunburst squash curry
=================
8 sunburst squashes - diced
1 t mustard
1 t urad dal
1/2 t asafoetida
2 chopped red chillies
1 t sesame oil
2 T shredded coconut
salt to taste
Roast the mustard, dal, asafoetida and red chillies in the oil, throw the squash and coconut and saute till the squash is cooked. Add the salt and saute for about a minute more. Garnish with chopped cilantro. This turned out awesome! Sunburst squash tends to let out less water than zucchini or yellow squash and absorbs a lot more flavor - the red chillies+coconut perfectly complemented the slight sweetness of the squash.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sushi, Miso, et al
Time to make sushi again! We're still struggling with rolling, but it seems to be getting marginally better.
I think it is time to take a class on this. PCC seems to have one, as does Uwajimaya, but I'm favoring the one at Culinary Communion - the wine class there was pretty fun, most of their classes are very hands-on and end up with everyone feasting on the giant spread that was just cooked up. Sounds delightful :)
I guess sushi-grade fish is pretty rare commodity in the grocery stores - the last time we wanted to make sushi, we got tuna from Whole Foods - it was amazing, but that was all they had! This time we wanted more variety, so we marched off to that asian food museum of sorts in SoDo. Uwajimaya has this wide spread of sushi-grade fish, so we ended up picking up tuna, salmon and yellow tail. As we started cutting up the fish for the rolls, we discovered that Whole Foods (more popularly known as Whole Paycheck) is pricey for a reason - quality. The tuna we had got there last time was a dream to cut up - like running a knife through butter. But this fish felt a lot denser, and the corners were somewhat leathery. Oh well! The rolls did turn out pretty tasty, but we might be scouting around some more for the perfect sushi-grade fish.
We figured a miso soup would go well with the sushi, we used a recipe out of this awesome Vegetarian Basics cookbook. I'll dig up the recipe and post it in a bit :)
I think it is time to take a class on this. PCC seems to have one, as does Uwajimaya, but I'm favoring the one at Culinary Communion - the wine class there was pretty fun, most of their classes are very hands-on and end up with everyone feasting on the giant spread that was just cooked up. Sounds delightful :)
I guess sushi-grade fish is pretty rare commodity in the grocery stores - the last time we wanted to make sushi, we got tuna from Whole Foods - it was amazing, but that was all they had! This time we wanted more variety, so we marched off to that asian food museum of sorts in SoDo. Uwajimaya has this wide spread of sushi-grade fish, so we ended up picking up tuna, salmon and yellow tail. As we started cutting up the fish for the rolls, we discovered that Whole Foods (more popularly known as Whole Paycheck) is pricey for a reason - quality. The tuna we had got there last time was a dream to cut up - like running a knife through butter. But this fish felt a lot denser, and the corners were somewhat leathery. Oh well! The rolls did turn out pretty tasty, but we might be scouting around some more for the perfect sushi-grade fish.
We figured a miso soup would go well with the sushi, we used a recipe out of this awesome Vegetarian Basics cookbook. I'll dig up the recipe and post it in a bit :)
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
More kozhambu and Tinda curry - *yum*!
About time I cooked some traditional desi food - every once in a while, I crave for more kozhambu the way my mum makes it. And last night was one of those times. And I had white pumpkin (often used in indian and asian cooking) and some punjabi tinda, yay!
More kozhambu is a staple south indian dish - often made on most festival days. It is buttermilk based, but the spices can vary greatly depending on which region the recipe originated from. And it can be made with a variety of vegetables - actually one of the few dishes that I like throwing okra into!
Masala for more kozhambu:
======================
1/2 t fenugreek seeds
1/2 t coriander seeds
1/4 t cumin seeds
1 t channa dal
1 t tuar dal
1/2 t raw rice
1/4 cup grated coconut
1" ginger
1 red chilli
1 green chilli
1/4 t asafoetida
Dry roast all spices and grind them up finely in a spice mill.
More kozhambu (serves 2-3)
=======================
1/4 white pumpkin - peeled and julienned
1 t mustard
2 red chillies
1 t urad dal
A few curry leaves
1 cup fat-free sour cream
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 t turmeric
1 t sesame oil
Above-mentioned masala
Salt
Roast mustard, red chillies curry leaves and urad dal in oil.
Add 1 cup of water and cook the pumpkin with the turmeric (~ 10 mins).
Add the masala and salt and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Mix the sour cream and buttermilk and blend it till smooth (add a little water if it is too thick).
Add the sour cream mixture to the veggies and simmer.
Stir constantly to blend the flavors, but don't turn up the heat since it can break up the buttermilk.
Add a drop of ghee for flavor and fragrance - this makes a huge difference :)
Tinda is a seasonal vegetable in India, so we were always excited when we found it in the market. And when we did, my mum always tried new recipes with it - *so* much of fun! This is just one quick way of cooking it.
Tinda Curry (serves 2-3)
===================
1 lb tinda (the indian store often has it) - cut into quarters
2 tsp masala (equal parts of red chillies, roasted fenugreek, mustard - all ground up)
Salt
1 t oil
1 t cumin seeds
Roast the cumin seeds in oil
Add the masala and salt and let it cook for about 30 seconds
Throw in the tinda and toss the pieces in the masala
Cook covered for about 15 minutes on medium
Simmer uncovered for a few more minutes till any residual water evaporates
*yum*!
More kozhambu is a staple south indian dish - often made on most festival days. It is buttermilk based, but the spices can vary greatly depending on which region the recipe originated from. And it can be made with a variety of vegetables - actually one of the few dishes that I like throwing okra into!
Masala for more kozhambu:
======================
1/2 t fenugreek seeds
1/2 t coriander seeds
1/4 t cumin seeds
1 t channa dal
1 t tuar dal
1/2 t raw rice
1/4 cup grated coconut
1" ginger
1 red chilli
1 green chilli
1/4 t asafoetida
Dry roast all spices and grind them up finely in a spice mill.
More kozhambu (serves 2-3)
=======================
1/4 white pumpkin - peeled and julienned
1 t mustard
2 red chillies
1 t urad dal
A few curry leaves
1 cup fat-free sour cream
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 t turmeric
1 t sesame oil
Above-mentioned masala
Salt
Roast mustard, red chillies curry leaves and urad dal in oil.
Add 1 cup of water and cook the pumpkin with the turmeric (~ 10 mins).
Add the masala and salt and simmer for about 5 minutes.
Mix the sour cream and buttermilk and blend it till smooth (add a little water if it is too thick).
Add the sour cream mixture to the veggies and simmer.
Stir constantly to blend the flavors, but don't turn up the heat since it can break up the buttermilk.
Add a drop of ghee for flavor and fragrance - this makes a huge difference :)
Tinda is a seasonal vegetable in India, so we were always excited when we found it in the market. And when we did, my mum always tried new recipes with it - *so* much of fun! This is just one quick way of cooking it.
Tinda Curry (serves 2-3)
===================
1 lb tinda (the indian store often has it) - cut into quarters
2 tsp masala (equal parts of red chillies, roasted fenugreek, mustard - all ground up)
Salt
1 t oil
1 t cumin seeds
Roast the cumin seeds in oil
Add the masala and salt and let it cook for about 30 seconds
Throw in the tinda and toss the pieces in the masala
Cook covered for about 15 minutes on medium
Simmer uncovered for a few more minutes till any residual water evaporates
*yum*!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Spicy Ramen with vegetables
A couple of days ago, I was craving indo-chinese spicy noodles - oddly enough, this qualifies as comfort food :) I couldn't find hakka noodles at PCC, so I had to settle for ramen instead - they now carry this spicy garlic-pepper veggie ramen noodles (that are low-fat!). Figured I could approximate the flavor I wanted by adding some bhel puri sauces.
Recipe:
1/2 cabbage - shredded (I *love* cutting cabbage!)
2 carrots - grated
1" ginger - minced
a handful of dry roasted peanuts
2 packets of ramen noodles
1 t garlic-green chilli sauce
1 t red chilli-tamarind sauce
1 t white vinegar
Cook the carrots, ginger and cabbage covered (no need to add more water since the cabbage sheds enough water).
Add 3 cups of water and heat till the water boils
Throw in the noodles and cook for ~ 3-4 minutes
Add the sauces, vinegar and peanuts and toss
Mmm ... tasty! Except that I tossed in 2 t of each of the sauces and kicked it up about 10 notches! Oooo .... *hot*! Even for my spice-loving tongue!!!
Recipe:
1/2 cabbage - shredded (I *love* cutting cabbage!)
2 carrots - grated
1" ginger - minced
a handful of dry roasted peanuts
2 packets of ramen noodles
1 t garlic-green chilli sauce
1 t red chilli-tamarind sauce
1 t white vinegar
Cook the carrots, ginger and cabbage covered (no need to add more water since the cabbage sheds enough water).
Add 3 cups of water and heat till the water boils
Throw in the noodles and cook for ~ 3-4 minutes
Add the sauces, vinegar and peanuts and toss
Mmm ... tasty! Except that I tossed in 2 t of each of the sauces and kicked it up about 10 notches! Oooo .... *hot*! Even for my spice-loving tongue!!!
Beans and Pasta Casserole
Got to love that Joy of Cooking book! I've been reading more of that than anything else in the last several days!
I got a bunch of fresh green beans at PCC and started poking around JofC trying to find a new beans recipe. And I stumbled upon a couple of casserole and gratin recipes. But both asked for cream of mushroom soups - and I didn't have any (not a big fan of them creamy soups!). So, this is what I cooked up instead:
1/2 lb green beans - chopped into 2" pieces
2 cups of pasta (rotelle)
2-3 bay leaves
1.5 cups milk
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup flour
Salt'n'pepper
1/3 cup grated pepperjack cheese
1 tomato - finely minced (best to use a hand blender for this)
Cook the pasta till al dente.
Cook the green beans till tender (I just cooked both together)
Heat oven to 350F.
Heat butter, add flour and stir.
Add bay leaves and milk and stir (on simmer) till smooth and thick.
Toss the pasta and beans into this sauce.
Add the grated cheese, toss and pour into casserole dish.
Sprinkle the tomato shreds on the top.
Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.
*yay*!
I got a bunch of fresh green beans at PCC and started poking around JofC trying to find a new beans recipe. And I stumbled upon a couple of casserole and gratin recipes. But both asked for cream of mushroom soups - and I didn't have any (not a big fan of them creamy soups!). So, this is what I cooked up instead:
1/2 lb green beans - chopped into 2" pieces
2 cups of pasta (rotelle)
2-3 bay leaves
1.5 cups milk
1 tsp butter
1/4 cup flour
Salt'n'pepper
1/3 cup grated pepperjack cheese
1 tomato - finely minced (best to use a hand blender for this)
Cook the pasta till al dente.
Cook the green beans till tender (I just cooked both together)
Heat oven to 350F.
Heat butter, add flour and stir.
Add bay leaves and milk and stir (on simmer) till smooth and thick.
Toss the pasta and beans into this sauce.
Add the grated cheese, toss and pour into casserole dish.
Sprinkle the tomato shreds on the top.
Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.
*yay*!
Friday, June 8, 2007
Beans'n'Rice and Corn Maque Choux
We figured it was time to try another recipe from our latest Jay Solomon book - fast becoming one of my favorite cookbooks now. This is the same book that I made the gratin from a while ago. He uses a West Indian recipe and recommends replacing some of the water for the rice with 1/2 cup of coconut milk to enhance flavors. Both the beans and rice were heavy on thyme (I like it way more than I realized!) and cumin (yum! nothing like fresh-ground cumin to enhance the aroma!). We threw in 1/2 cup of wine from one of the many bottles we brought back from BSM into the beans - good idea! I'm now curious about what kind of flavors wine adds to the food. Using a wine vinegar often imparts tartness accompanied by this aftersweet, but wine seems more complex.
Once the rice was cooked (the coconut milk was a killer idea), we mixed the beans and rice and let them simmer for ~ 10 minutes for the flavors to blend - and they did, quite happily!
Corn Maque Choux - Ok, I'm still trying to figure out how to pronounce this, but I'll eat it any day:
1 can corn (couldn't find fresh corn at MM that day)
1/2 bell pepper - chopped
1/2 sweet vidalia onion - chopped
1 tomato - chopped
1 tsp butter
4-5 garlic cloves - minced
Saute onions and garlic in butter till brown
Drain the water from the corn and keep aside
Throw in bell pepper, corn and tomatoes - let this cook for ~ 15 minutes
Add some of the drained water and let it simmer for 5 minutes
Add salt, pepper and a (big) dash of hot sauce
(I might try this with minced jalapenos next time around)
Once the rice was cooked (the coconut milk was a killer idea), we mixed the beans and rice and let them simmer for ~ 10 minutes for the flavors to blend - and they did, quite happily!
Corn Maque Choux - Ok, I'm still trying to figure out how to pronounce this, but I'll eat it any day:
1 can corn (couldn't find fresh corn at MM that day)
1/2 bell pepper - chopped
1/2 sweet vidalia onion - chopped
1 tomato - chopped
1 tsp butter
4-5 garlic cloves - minced
Saute onions and garlic in butter till brown
Drain the water from the corn and keep aside
Throw in bell pepper, corn and tomatoes - let this cook for ~ 15 minutes
Add some of the drained water and let it simmer for 5 minutes
Add salt, pepper and a (big) dash of hot sauce
(I might try this with minced jalapenos next time around)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Eat Gratin, be happy!
So behind on my postings. *sigh*
So, I finally got to try out a recipe from the latest Jay Solomon book that I bought a couple of weeks ago (Taste of the Tropics) - I love, absolutely love this book! I started off wanting to make this squash and scallions gratin, but I had no squash! Or scallions! But I did have a ton of fresh asparagus :) And shallots :)
Asparagus and Shallots Gratin
=======================
1 bundle asparagus - chopped into 1' pieces
1 T olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced (yes, I went overboard, like always!)
4-6 shallots - chopped fine
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup milk
1/2 t dried thyme
1 t ground black pepper
1/4 t allspice
1/2 t sea salt
Heat oven to 350F.
Lightly saute the asparagus and shallots in olive oil, add spices and coconut milk and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add the milk and simmer for another 3-4 minutes.
Oooppppsss! Apparently, I needed breadcrumbs to get the crunchy consistency for the gratin. Hmm, let's use tortilla chips instead. So, I broke up a bunch of chips, tossed them into the veggie mixture, and poured it all into a casserole and let bake for 10-12 minutes.
Add a dash of hot sauce and some flatbread = *happy*
Origin (of original recipe :) ) : West Indies
So, I finally got to try out a recipe from the latest Jay Solomon book that I bought a couple of weeks ago (Taste of the Tropics) - I love, absolutely love this book! I started off wanting to make this squash and scallions gratin, but I had no squash! Or scallions! But I did have a ton of fresh asparagus :) And shallots :)
Asparagus and Shallots Gratin
=======================
1 bundle asparagus - chopped into 1' pieces
1 T olive oil
5 cloves garlic, minced (yes, I went overboard, like always!)
4-6 shallots - chopped fine
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup milk
1/2 t dried thyme
1 t ground black pepper
1/4 t allspice
1/2 t sea salt
Heat oven to 350F.
Lightly saute the asparagus and shallots in olive oil, add spices and coconut milk and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add the milk and simmer for another 3-4 minutes.
Oooppppsss! Apparently, I needed breadcrumbs to get the crunchy consistency for the gratin. Hmm, let's use tortilla chips instead. So, I broke up a bunch of chips, tossed them into the veggie mixture, and poured it all into a casserole and let bake for 10-12 minutes.
Add a dash of hot sauce and some flatbread = *happy*
Origin (of original recipe :) ) : West Indies
Monday, May 21, 2007
Flatbread Pizzas - a yummy snack!
Last week, I was craving pizza, but not the super greasy cheesy kind. I wanted the light flavorful kind I had eaten in Greece a few years ago. And I wanted it fast! :) And Trader Joe's helped me out here (I *love* that store!) with their mediterranean flatbread. I made this olive-garlic-tomato tapenade that I spread on the flatbread, loaded it up with sliced red onions, thinly sliced potatoes, olives and sprinkled it with this divine gouda laced with fennel. And baked it for about 8 minutes at 400F.
*drool*
*drool*
International Potluck Night
a.k.a. - Serious food orgy! :)
Waaaay overdue post! A few weeks ago, I think Autumn and Lisa came up with this idea of doing a potluck where we all cooked food from cuisines that we hadn't really cooked much from before. Such a great idea. So we planned it out, May 19th was the day - at Daria's place, perfect way to warm her new house (and take her cute kitchen apart! :))
This is how we did it: each person/couple wrote out a country on a scrap of paper and we then drew lots. Daria got Vietnam, T&A got Russia, C&L - Costa Rica, A&J - Indonesia, us - Japan. And Jeremy picked Switzerland for dessert (apparently his initial choice - Australia is not sweet-friendly! :) and we picked Italy.
It was fun! And super yummy! And we kind of ended up with a good assortment of food. We tried to replicate the famous Dark Army from Vij as the drink of the eve. It turned out pretty decent, but could be better.
Basic Recipe:
===========
A shot each of lemon-ginger juice, simple syrup, mango juice, lime juice. Muddle these up with 1-1.5 shots of amber rum. Serve on ice. Sprinkle with a pinch of freshly ground garam masala. *hic*!
We started off noshing on these yummy baked plantains with guacamole and a blackbean dip (Costa Rica). The Russian entree was beety borscht along with this dark rye-like bread (lame! I've already forgotten what it actually had!). The borscht was really flavorful and smooth. The Vietnamese salad was awesome - it had mangoes, it *had* to be awesome! :) The noodle salad was super yummy too - the spicy limey dressing was seriously tasty - I was ready to drink it up! The tilapia on a bed of rice/beans/oranges/veggies was really light and flavorful.
And we made sushi - our first attempt! Obviously, spicy tuna rolls (we couldn't really find any other sushi grade fish at Whole Foods!). The tuna was so tasty - almost melting in the mouth. We marinated it in a sauce of the Snappy Dragon spicy sauce (*so* good!) along with a little wasabi. After marinating for a few hours, we rolled it with scallions, avocados and some stealth wasabi. The rolls came out looking *okay*, they definitely got better as we rolled more. And Pupp's rolling was *way* better than mine! :) But it was fun, we loved it and we'll do it again!
Dessert was this great chocolate cake with a mop of frosting - very yummy! We made this Cassata alla Siciliana - it was a serious flop! *so* sad! Firstly, the pound cake from Whole Foods was awful - dense and lifeless. And we could not find any candied fruit, so we used chopped dried fruits - NOT the same. *bleh*. I'll have to rework this recipe sometime.
Anyway, Daria's house was well-warmed (and a minor mess!). *happy*
Waaaay overdue post! A few weeks ago, I think Autumn and Lisa came up with this idea of doing a potluck where we all cooked food from cuisines that we hadn't really cooked much from before. Such a great idea. So we planned it out, May 19th was the day - at Daria's place, perfect way to warm her new house (and take her cute kitchen apart! :))
This is how we did it: each person/couple wrote out a country on a scrap of paper and we then drew lots. Daria got Vietnam, T&A got Russia, C&L - Costa Rica, A&J - Indonesia, us - Japan. And Jeremy picked Switzerland for dessert (apparently his initial choice - Australia is not sweet-friendly! :) and we picked Italy.
It was fun! And super yummy! And we kind of ended up with a good assortment of food. We tried to replicate the famous Dark Army from Vij as the drink of the eve. It turned out pretty decent, but could be better.
Basic Recipe:
===========
A shot each of lemon-ginger juice, simple syrup, mango juice, lime juice. Muddle these up with 1-1.5 shots of amber rum. Serve on ice. Sprinkle with a pinch of freshly ground garam masala. *hic*!
We started off noshing on these yummy baked plantains with guacamole and a blackbean dip (Costa Rica). The Russian entree was beety borscht along with this dark rye-like bread (lame! I've already forgotten what it actually had!). The borscht was really flavorful and smooth. The Vietnamese salad was awesome - it had mangoes, it *had* to be awesome! :) The noodle salad was super yummy too - the spicy limey dressing was seriously tasty - I was ready to drink it up! The tilapia on a bed of rice/beans/oranges/veggies was really light and flavorful.
And we made sushi - our first attempt! Obviously, spicy tuna rolls (we couldn't really find any other sushi grade fish at Whole Foods!). The tuna was so tasty - almost melting in the mouth. We marinated it in a sauce of the Snappy Dragon spicy sauce (*so* good!) along with a little wasabi. After marinating for a few hours, we rolled it with scallions, avocados and some stealth wasabi. The rolls came out looking *okay*, they definitely got better as we rolled more. And Pupp's rolling was *way* better than mine! :) But it was fun, we loved it and we'll do it again!
Dessert was this great chocolate cake with a mop of frosting - very yummy! We made this Cassata alla Siciliana - it was a serious flop! *so* sad! Firstly, the pound cake from Whole Foods was awful - dense and lifeless. And we could not find any candied fruit, so we used chopped dried fruits - NOT the same. *bleh*. I'll have to rework this recipe sometime.
Anyway, Daria's house was well-warmed (and a minor mess!). *happy*
Soup of the day - Beetless Borscht
Actually, soup of the friday before last :)
My mom and I were talking about soup recipes and we decided to try out this beetless borscht - a sweet'n'sour version of it. We made this one with oodles of cabbage (PCC has been carrying some really fresh and flavorful cabbage lately) and a bunch of fresh corn and it turned out great. A really light soup - very drinkable on a warm evening.
Recipe:
======
1 cabbage - grated - I usually hand cut them instead of using a food processor, the longer strands of cabbage seem to give out more flavor
4 ears of yellow corn - steam these and scrape off the kernels
1 red onion - finely chopped
4 T rice vinegar
1 t balsamic vinegar
1T brown sugar
freshly ground pepper, kosher salt
fresh dill
2" ginger, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 green chilly - all ground up
a li'l olive oil
Saute the onion in the olive oil, add the G+G+G paste to it.
Once the onions seem cooked, add the cabbage cook covered till the cabbage is mostly done.
Add the corn kernels and cook some more (covered)
Once the veggies look cooked, add the vinegar, sugar, dill, pepper and salt.
Simmer uncovered for 2-3 minutes.
Use a hand blender to puree the soup a little - this blends the flavors, but does not make the soup creamy and smooth like the regular borscht - which works much better with the sweet'n'sour flavors of this soup.
Perfect accompaniment: potato bread (especially if it is from Macrina :) )
My mom and I were talking about soup recipes and we decided to try out this beetless borscht - a sweet'n'sour version of it. We made this one with oodles of cabbage (PCC has been carrying some really fresh and flavorful cabbage lately) and a bunch of fresh corn and it turned out great. A really light soup - very drinkable on a warm evening.
Recipe:
======
1 cabbage - grated - I usually hand cut them instead of using a food processor, the longer strands of cabbage seem to give out more flavor
4 ears of yellow corn - steam these and scrape off the kernels
1 red onion - finely chopped
4 T rice vinegar
1 t balsamic vinegar
1T brown sugar
freshly ground pepper, kosher salt
fresh dill
2" ginger, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 green chilly - all ground up
a li'l olive oil
Saute the onion in the olive oil, add the G+G+G paste to it.
Once the onions seem cooked, add the cabbage cook covered till the cabbage is mostly done.
Add the corn kernels and cook some more (covered)
Once the veggies look cooked, add the vinegar, sugar, dill, pepper and salt.
Simmer uncovered for 2-3 minutes.
Use a hand blender to puree the soup a little - this blends the flavors, but does not make the soup creamy and smooth like the regular borscht - which works much better with the sweet'n'sour flavors of this soup.
Perfect accompaniment: potato bread (especially if it is from Macrina :) )
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
An almost perfect dinner
And I'm only saying that because nothing is perfect, right? (And there was no tuna in our meal!)
Last night, we made the simplest, most flavorful blackbean soup we've ever had. I wasn't super convinced about the recipe when we started, it almost seemed too simple - no tomatoes, no corn, hmm ... was this going to be super plain? No! It was absolutely divine. Really flavorful and light. The recipe called for a tsp of sugar, but we tossed in 1/2 cup of white wine instead and it totally did the trick. Also, we added a ton of garlic (obviously!) and some grated ginger too which gave the soup some extra zing.
Recipe source: Soup, a Way of Life
I absolutely loved the rice dish we also cooked up (apparently, it was carbo-load day!) - probably my fave coconut rice ever. Growing up, we always ate coconut rice containing freshly grated coconut and spices. But this time, we cooked the rice in unsweetened diluted coconut milk instead. Threw in a bunch of roasted cashews, spiced it with roasted red chillies, cumin, mustard and urad dal ==> *very* happy!
And we opened our first white wine of the season - an Albarino - *delicious*!
Last night, we made the simplest, most flavorful blackbean soup we've ever had. I wasn't super convinced about the recipe when we started, it almost seemed too simple - no tomatoes, no corn, hmm ... was this going to be super plain? No! It was absolutely divine. Really flavorful and light. The recipe called for a tsp of sugar, but we tossed in 1/2 cup of white wine instead and it totally did the trick. Also, we added a ton of garlic (obviously!) and some grated ginger too which gave the soup some extra zing.
Recipe source: Soup, a Way of Life
I absolutely loved the rice dish we also cooked up (apparently, it was carbo-load day!) - probably my fave coconut rice ever. Growing up, we always ate coconut rice containing freshly grated coconut and spices. But this time, we cooked the rice in unsweetened diluted coconut milk instead. Threw in a bunch of roasted cashews, spiced it with roasted red chillies, cumin, mustard and urad dal ==> *very* happy!
And we opened our first white wine of the season - an Albarino - *delicious*!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
We love you, Black Cod!
Actually, we love eating you! (Sorry!)
We had a whole bunch of cod sitting in the freezer, so we decided to try something new in honor of Daria. After much debating, we settled on this sesame glaze recipe from FoodTV. But, but we couldn't grill it!!! So, we marinated it instead and sauteed it in one of those fabulous copper bottom pans. Funny what a difference that makes! The cod was fabulous, but we overglazed it - the sauce was really potent and we had originally portioned it for a lot more fish, but decided we didn't need that much fish (and obviously forgot to cut down on our glaze portions!) :)
Our sides were pretty yummy - seasoned asparagus, baked potatoes and carrots and ... mac'n'cheese! Weeee!!!
We had a whole bunch of cod sitting in the freezer, so we decided to try something new in honor of Daria. After much debating, we settled on this sesame glaze recipe from FoodTV. But, but we couldn't grill it!!! So, we marinated it instead and sauteed it in one of those fabulous copper bottom pans. Funny what a difference that makes! The cod was fabulous, but we overglazed it - the sauce was really potent and we had originally portioned it for a lot more fish, but decided we didn't need that much fish (and obviously forgot to cut down on our glaze portions!) :)
Our sides were pretty yummy - seasoned asparagus, baked potatoes and carrots and ... mac'n'cheese! Weeee!!!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Mega desi food night
So, apparently it was the day for many left knees to get injured. Vodka's in sick bay, his left knee is possibly sprained (I hope that's all it is and not a damaged ligament :( ). So, I made him a whole bunch of oatmeal apple cookies, he was quite happy!
My mum hurt her knee and is hobbling around! So, I did a desi food cookout for her, pretty fun!
Gobi & Broccoli Jalfrezi
====================
One of my fave desi cookbooks has an awesome recipe for Gobi Jalfrezi, I added some broccoli to this and it definitely enhanced the flavors. I pureed some roma tomatoes and garlic along with freshly ground spices (cloves, bay leaves, coriander, cinnamon, kalonji) - this made for a great gravy base. It tasted much, much better than using tomato paste and regular garam masala!
Baingan Bartha
==============
I love BB - one of the first edible dishes I cooked when I came to the U.S. (lifted off the amazing S.O.A.R. - desis often called it Bangin' Bart!) So, I made this a little differently - I used a giant eggplant as well as yellow squashes -cut them in halves lengthwise and broiled them for about 20 minutes. The sauce was minced red onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies and coconut (that was a definite twist, BB never has coconut). It turned out decent, the only thing that went wrong is that I didn't peel the eggplant and the peel was somewhat bitter. So, I had to enhance the flavors with a sweet'n'sour mix (a spoon of brown sugar + white vinegar + lemon juice). It did the trick, but next time, I'll remove the peel :)
Dal
====
Nothing like good ole tuvar dal cooked up with sauteed bell peppers and onions. Perfect comfort food.
Rice Pilaf
=========
I cooked up this wild rice mix from PCC - it took forever to cook, but tasted yummy - some bits were juicy and chewy, others were soft, we loved it! Amma had the great idea of seasoning it with some roasted cumin, mustard, julienned ginger and red chillies. We threw in a ton of chopped cilantro and it tasted great!
*burp* :)
My mum hurt her knee and is hobbling around! So, I did a desi food cookout for her, pretty fun!
Gobi & Broccoli Jalfrezi
====================
One of my fave desi cookbooks has an awesome recipe for Gobi Jalfrezi, I added some broccoli to this and it definitely enhanced the flavors. I pureed some roma tomatoes and garlic along with freshly ground spices (cloves, bay leaves, coriander, cinnamon, kalonji) - this made for a great gravy base. It tasted much, much better than using tomato paste and regular garam masala!
Baingan Bartha
==============
I love BB - one of the first edible dishes I cooked when I came to the U.S. (lifted off the amazing S.O.A.R. - desis often called it Bangin' Bart!) So, I made this a little differently - I used a giant eggplant as well as yellow squashes -cut them in halves lengthwise and broiled them for about 20 minutes. The sauce was minced red onions, ginger, garlic, green chillies and coconut (that was a definite twist, BB never has coconut). It turned out decent, the only thing that went wrong is that I didn't peel the eggplant and the peel was somewhat bitter. So, I had to enhance the flavors with a sweet'n'sour mix (a spoon of brown sugar + white vinegar + lemon juice). It did the trick, but next time, I'll remove the peel :)
Dal
====
Nothing like good ole tuvar dal cooked up with sauteed bell peppers and onions. Perfect comfort food.
Rice Pilaf
=========
I cooked up this wild rice mix from PCC - it took forever to cook, but tasted yummy - some bits were juicy and chewy, others were soft, we loved it! Amma had the great idea of seasoning it with some roasted cumin, mustard, julienned ginger and red chillies. We threw in a ton of chopped cilantro and it tasted great!
*burp* :)
Mmm ... black cod :)
I *do* like fish (I *do* feel bad eating it, but obviously not enough to not be eating it :) ).
So, we went on this major cooking mission for our friends who came over to see Monty on tuesday. It was actually the first time that we cooked black cod, took a lot longer to prepare and assemble (we were doing it for 9 people!).
I often have this image (replete with sights, sounds and smells :)) in my head of how I envision a recipe to turn out, so it is obviously a good thing when I recognize the flavors and texture I expected. But it gets even better when I notice unexpected flavors that I like. So, that was the story with Mr.Black Cod (atleast for me) - the lemon-caper sauce worked really well with the delicate fish and dill added the right amount of flavor (I think a stronger herb like oregano or thyme would have made Mr.Cod unhappy). But the surprise flavor here seemed to be the mustard - I liked the earthy smell that freshly crushed brown mustard added to the fish (very different from adding yellow mustard powder) - I would go with an even stronger mustard flavor next time - maybe a rubbing of coarsely crushed mustard and peppercorns?
The other lesson for next time - we could have easily cut the baketime by 10 minutes. Cod seems even more delicate than rockfish, it definitely does not need an hour in the oven!
The puy lentil salad was decent - not as amazing as I'd have liked it to be, mostly because I cooked the lentils perfectly, but forgot to rinse them out and add a little oil, so they got all sticky. And I made too much of it, so it got really hard to toss the lentils with the tomatoes and pineapple. And it did not help that all these monkeys ate up the pineapple! *unbelievable* :)
And my poor shallots could not lend flavor because of the lentil overdose. *sigh*
The asparagus was happy. (Special order for the Abster - our resident almost-vegetarian who loves the bacon and hates half the veggies in the world!)
Fun times. Especially with Montster around :)
So, we went on this major cooking mission for our friends who came over to see Monty on tuesday. It was actually the first time that we cooked black cod, took a lot longer to prepare and assemble (we were doing it for 9 people!).
I often have this image (replete with sights, sounds and smells :)) in my head of how I envision a recipe to turn out, so it is obviously a good thing when I recognize the flavors and texture I expected. But it gets even better when I notice unexpected flavors that I like. So, that was the story with Mr.Black Cod (atleast for me) - the lemon-caper sauce worked really well with the delicate fish and dill added the right amount of flavor (I think a stronger herb like oregano or thyme would have made Mr.Cod unhappy). But the surprise flavor here seemed to be the mustard - I liked the earthy smell that freshly crushed brown mustard added to the fish (very different from adding yellow mustard powder) - I would go with an even stronger mustard flavor next time - maybe a rubbing of coarsely crushed mustard and peppercorns?
The other lesson for next time - we could have easily cut the baketime by 10 minutes. Cod seems even more delicate than rockfish, it definitely does not need an hour in the oven!
The puy lentil salad was decent - not as amazing as I'd have liked it to be, mostly because I cooked the lentils perfectly, but forgot to rinse them out and add a little oil, so they got all sticky. And I made too much of it, so it got really hard to toss the lentils with the tomatoes and pineapple. And it did not help that all these monkeys ate up the pineapple! *unbelievable* :)
And my poor shallots could not lend flavor because of the lentil overdose. *sigh*
The asparagus was happy. (Special order for the Abster - our resident almost-vegetarian who loves the bacon and hates half the veggies in the world!)
Fun times. Especially with Montster around :)
Monday, April 16, 2007
Chole makes life *so* much bettah!
Tonight, I ate what seemed like the *best* chole I've had in a loooonnngg time! *so* good! The red onions, ginger and garlic worked wonders with the garbanzo beans. Seriously, Trader Joe's has the best canned garbanzo on this planet (the organic ones taste *much* better than the regular). I added an extra dash of fennel like my mom always does, and it seemed to kick up the flavors quite a bit. Instead of making chapathis, I just ate this with TJ's flatbread. Food always tastes so much better after running!
Aww ... now I'm all nostalgic for that fabulous bombay street food. *sigh*
Aww ... now I'm all nostalgic for that fabulous bombay street food. *sigh*
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Olive dosas?!! Woo Hoo!
So, I felt like dosas for dindin, but wanted something different. So, I decided to season the dosas with an olive tapenade. I had to use makings from my fridge, so this is what went into my tapenade:
* A handful of finely chopped green olives
* 1/2 chopped tomato
* 8-10 chopped capers
* A lil vinegar
* One chopped pickled jalapeno
* A dash of olive oil (first press)
* salt'n'freshly ground peppa
I loved the slightly pungent flavor that the olives lent to the dosas! I made this chutney to go with the dosas:
* Roast a handful of peanuts with 2-3 red chillies and a couple of diced up carrots. Grind these up with some cilantro. Add 1-2 T lemon juice to this chutney. *yum*! A variation on the peanut chutney that Kimo used to make for me as a kid.
* A handful of finely chopped green olives
* 1/2 chopped tomato
* 8-10 chopped capers
* A lil vinegar
* One chopped pickled jalapeno
* A dash of olive oil (first press)
* salt'n'freshly ground peppa
I loved the slightly pungent flavor that the olives lent to the dosas! I made this chutney to go with the dosas:
* Roast a handful of peanuts with 2-3 red chillies and a couple of diced up carrots. Grind these up with some cilantro. Add 1-2 T lemon juice to this chutney. *yum*! A variation on the peanut chutney that Kimo used to make for me as a kid.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Mexican Minestrone - *yum*
Last night, we were ready for a *hot* sopa from the famous Great Bowls of Fire. Of course, we skipped the parsley in favor of loads of cilantro, and replacing the oregano with a dash of coriander seemed like the right thing to do.
*so* good!
Thanks Pupp! Thanks, GBF!
And our next Jay Solomon book is on its way.
*so* good!
Thanks Pupp! Thanks, GBF!
And our next Jay Solomon book is on its way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)