Monthly Archives: October 2018

Malai paneer

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Malai curry

Inspired by a FB video I saw with Malai paneer. This tastes like a very outstanding desi version of an Alfredo sauce

2 tbsp oil- add 1 tsp jeera – Brown

Add turmeric, one red chili and half an onion- sliced

Lightly brown onion

Add 2 cloves of garlic chopped and 1 packet of paneer chopped into 1 inch squares

Add corn and green beans

Add 1 tsp of jeera powder, 1 tsp of coriander powder and ½ cup of heavy cream and 2 tbsp sour cream

Add 1 tsp of garam masala powder and 1 tsp of Kasuri methi

Black pepper cumin shortbread

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Black pepper cumin lemon shortbread

Cumin-Black Pepper-Lemon shortbread

These are all my all time favorite cookies. I only make them when I expect company or else I finish all of them myself. The butter trips up the cumin and the pepper and the lemon and vanilla bring up the after notes and enhance the salty sweet taste. Also they are insanely simple

Recipe adapted (very slightly) from NYT recipe below

Heat oven to 350 F

In a food processor, add 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 stick unsalted butter cut into pieces, 3 tbsp sugar, ½ tsp cracked tasted cumin seeds, ½ tsp cracked toasted whole peppercorns, ½ tsp vanilla, ½ tsp kosher salt, grated zest of one lemon (1 tsp)

Whiz till mixture still crumbly but hold together when you squeeze it.

Dump out of food processor and shape into a rectangle. Either roll into 2 one inch diameter logs, refrigerate and slice into 16 cookies per log or divide rectangle to 16s and then into 32 and roll the cookies and flatten with your palm

Bake for 15-20 minutes till barely golden brown.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1088-pepper-cumin-cookies

Sesame brittle

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Sesame Brittle

Ah! Happiness is when an Ottolenghi recipe (Book: Sweet) looks exactly like the picture – well except without the black sesame seeds. The taste ? Well imagine every sesame laddoo, Burfi or chikki you’ve ever had- this is better

Oven at 375, dissolve 100 g light corn syrup, 100g sugar, 3.5 tbsp butter and pinch of salt on the stovetop. Add 125 g of toasted sesame seeds and mix

Divide the mixture into 2 blobs on silpats or parchment cut to fit half baking sheets. Put another parchment sheet on top and roll to 1/8 inch thickness. Wait for a minute to cool and peel off top parchment. Slide on baking sheet and bake for around 15 min ( I burnt one batch because the instructions said 20 min)

Wait for them to cool – shatter into shards. Use as a garnish or just to eat. The recipe laughably says these will last for a week- it’s going to be tough to have them last for a day at the rate they are disappearing

Vegetarian pozole

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Vegetarian Pozole

Vegetarian Pozole

I love all varieties of corn and all varieties of soups with toppings and when I came across Rick Bayless’ episode on pozole with pork, I knew I had to try it. Pozole corn is the nixmatalized corn (say that five times fast) that is used to make hominy ( boiled), dried masa (ground) or wet masa(cooked and ground) for tamales, tortillas etc. The flavor difference between dried Pozole and canned hominy is worth the effort of soaking and cooking it. I get my pozole from amazon or the Mexican grocery

I cup Pozole grains- soaked for 24 hours, discard the water, pressure cook for 1 hour till they “bloom” like pop corn and drain

1 cup kidney beans – soak for 24 hours.

Add one tbsp oil and 6-7 crushed cloves of garlic to a pressure cooker (I used my Cuisinart). Add beans and enough water to get about 2 inches above bean height. Pressure cook for 20 minutes. The garlic disintegrates to a flavorful stock,

Add Pozole, 2 cups of vegetable stock (I used better than bouillon after serious eats kept talking about how good it was and they were of course right)

Oh – before you started cooking stuff in the pressure cooker, you should have dry roasted some aromatic Mexican chillies (I used 4 pasillas) and soaked them in warm water for 2 hours. Now blend that to a paste

Add chili paste to soup, 1 tbsp cumin powder, 1 tbsp coriander powder, thin with water, add salt (this soup needs a lot of seasoning)

Cook everything on a slow simmer for 30-40 minutes.

The toppings make the Pozole

Radish shaved thin is my favorite (didn’t have any today), thinly sliced cabbage, onions, cilantro, avocado and so on and on.

The only essential topping is a huge squeeze of lime and some crushed Mexican oregano

Very good and smoky and healthy (1 tbsp of oil in the whole soup) and so worth the effort. It’s even better the next day

Genoise cake

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Genoise cake

After a particularly unsuccessful effort at “Corning” tofu to make a vegetarian reuben this morning, my daughter and I continued our saga of baking the Great British Bake off, here is Paul Hollywood’s Genoise cake recipe

This was my first attempt at a Genoise sponge and I liked it a lot. It’s drier and lighter than a pound cake and definitely technically more challenging. I baked it in one. 9×9 inch square tin and didn’t halve it because I don’t have 2 round 20 cm tins (Amazon is rectifying that as we speak). I put strawberry purée (frozen strawberries, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp sugar and zest of one orange heated in the microwave for 5 minutes and mushed) on top of the cake and topped it with some whipped cream. Tasted of summer while fall became winter with the first snow of the season outside.

http://paulhollywood.com/recipes/summerfruit-genoise/

Grits and butternut squash

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Grits with butternut squash

Grits and butternut squash with sausage and onions

It’s fall and butternut squash time. I saw this recipe by Melissa Clark and “vegetarianized” it. Substitute the butter and it’s vegan. Also grating butternut squash seems to be an awful lot of effort – I roasted it separately and added it to the grits.

Garlic Grits: I modified Alton Brown’s recipe. I love grits and make them often. Boil 2 cups water and 2 cups milk in a heavy pan with 1 tsp salt and 2 crushed garlic cloves. Add 1 cup stone ground grits while whisking continuously. Simmer on very low heat for 20 minutes while stirring every 4-5 minutes so the grits don’t stick to the bottom. Add 4 tbsp of butter

Butternut squash-peel, chop into 1 inch squares, toss with some oil and salt and roast (or air fry) at 450 F for 15-20 min till soft and brown

Add butternut squash to grits and mix well.

Heat 1 tsp of oil and 1 tbsp of butter. Add 2 tbsp chopped rosemary and 1 tbsp fennel seeds. Add chopped vegan hot dogs and one red onion. Cook till caramelized

The rosemary and fennel were delicious with echoes of Italian sausage flavor. The grits and butternut squash also go beautifully together! This one is a keeper

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016103-butternut-squash-polenta-with-sausage-and-onion

Makai paka

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Makai Paka

Makai Paka

I first heard about Makai Paka from a Tasty recipe a few weeks ago. A coconut milk curry with whole corn cobs sounded fabulous. As a Nebraskan, I’m always looking for corn recipes, what a pity I found this just after corn season ended

Since this dish is obviously Indian inspired, I started the dish as I would a regular Indian curry

1 tbsp butter, sputter 1 tsp cumin seeds, add 1 pinch asafetida, 1 tsp turmeric and 1 dried chili. To the hot oil, add 1 can crushed tomatoes with 3 chopped garlic cloves, 1tbsp of cumin and 1 tbsp of coriander powder .Cook till the water evaporates (7-10 min). Add 1 can coconut milk and 1 cup water. Add 3 corn cobs cut into halves (I used frozen) and 1 cup frozen corn kernels. Boil for 10 min, squeeze half a lemon and add some chopped cilantro.

Serve with rice or roti. Total cook time: 30 min, actual effort: chopping garlic cloves and cilantro and opening cans (less than 5 min)

https://tasty.co/recipe/makai-paka-east-africa

Roast potatoes

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Roast potatoes

Roast potatoes

I’ve written previously about my love for Serious Eats and all things Kenji. His systematic scientific approach to cooking works every time.

His recipe for roast potatoes has a couple of steps:

1. Parboil potatoes in boiling water for 7-8 minutes

2. Toss with warm flavored oil or butter (1 tbsp of fat per russet potato- strain the aromatics out first, I used rosemary and garlic so they don’t burn)

3. Importantly – toss the potatoes around so the edges are craggy and get crunchy

4. Now roast at 450 for 15-20 min

5. Add aromatics back

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/12/the-best-roast-potatoes-ever-recipe.html

Viennese whirls

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Viennese whirls

I’m a huge Great British Bake off fans . My daughter and I just started season 4. These are the Viennese whirls from the technical challenge (episode 2). They were delicious – short and crisp and melt in the mouth. But Paul and Mary would have noticed that I piped them as rosettes rather than whirls and my piping tip must have been too big because I got 9 rather than 12 biscuits. I think I would have ranked about 5th or 6th 🙂

https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/marys-viennese-whirls/