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 🙂
Fresh off my successful Modak making experience, I hunted around for more kinds of stuffed dough – sweet filling foods. I had left over shira (Suji ka halwa in Hindi) from Thursday and some pizza dough from Whole Foods in the refrigerator.I sectioned my pizza dough into 8 parts, lugged out my little used panini press and stuffed the shira and cooked them with some olive oil brushed on both sides. They turned out remarkably well – a bit like stuffed pita – the pizza dough puffed out gratifyingly and ended up chewy inside and crispy outside. Perfect!
Ukdiche Modak (translated to sweet rice flour coconut and jaggery dumplings) are Lord Ganesha’s favorite food. Naturally, when he visits our homes during the 10 days of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, we make some for him. This is my version (there are as many versions as there are Maharashtrian households)
Recipe makes 12 Modak- if you double them, make the dough in batches. This dough is unworkable once it’s cold.
Filling
Heat 2 tbsp ghee, add 1 6 oz packet of grated frozen coconut (Birds eye is the only one I use- it tastes just like fresh coconut)
Roast coconut till it turns slightly dry
Add 1/8 cup of jaggery (unprocessed sugar-available in the Indian store or online), ½ tsp of ground cardamom and 1/8 cup chopped cashews.
(You can add poppy seeds, raisins, saffron and use 1/8 cup of sugar in place of the jaggery if needed)
Cook for 5 minutes on low heat and cool completely
Ukad or dumpling dough:
Boil 1 cup water with 1tsp salt and 1 tsp ghee.
Add 1 cup rice flour, mix
Remove from heat and cover for 2 min
Knead on medium in your stand mixer for 3 minutes
Divide into 12 pieces. Make dumplings in Modak shape with 2 tsp of filling in each Modak
Steam for 10 min.
Delicious with more ghee or coconut chutney
Vegan Trader Joe Meatballs
When your neighbor accidentally picks up some meatless meatballs and treats them like something poisonous and offloads them as quickly as possible onto their vegetarian neighbor 🙂
Unfreeze some Marcella Hazan sauce (http://delhigirlmeetsfood.tumblr.com/post/106860953050/butter-tomato-sauce-hazan-recipe) , roast the meatballs with some capers and garlic in a pan, add the sauce, toss with pasta, top with Parmesan!
These meatballs will be good as koftas too in curries, I’m definitely going to buy them again
Grain bowl with Isa’s peanut dragon dressing
I’ve been on a Isa Moscowitz recipe streak lately. I love sauces that don’t need to be cooked and store well in the refrigerator. This one is a keeper. It’s modified from her recipe linked below This was dinner (and lunch next day) sometime last week. Total prep time : 20 min
Peanut Dragon Dressing: couldn’t be simpler. Blend ½ cup smooth natural peanut butter, 3 cloves garlic, peeled, 1/3 cup water, 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon siracha, 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
Make a grain bowl with your favorite grain and veggies. I did Farro with roasted small tomatoes (their juices are so good with the grains), roasted peppers and scallions and a vegan bean and grain sausage, some wilted spinach with lots of fried garlic and a boiled egg
Top with dressing
Mac and Cheez (vegan except for a tbsp of butter)
My favorite restaurant in Omaha is Modern Love run by Isa Chandra Moscowitz who is apparently a vegan goddess. Mac and shews – her vegan Mac and cheese is always on the menu and last week I had an absolutely sublime rueben Mac and cheese. I am not vegan, I adore cheese but this vegan “cheeze” sauce wasn’t just fake-cheese good, it was a very well composed and delicious-in-its-own-right sauce. This is a recipe inspired by her. I’ve linked her recipe below
Start by soaking ¾ cup of cashews in boiling hot water for 30 min. I used a tbsp of butter (use oil if you must) to lightly brown a small chopped onion (10 min). I added 4 cloves of garlic to the pan (2 min)
Scrape the onion mixture into a large blender. Add 2 cups of broth (I used mushroom broth because I planned to top my pasta with mushroom bacon). Add the drained cashews, 1 roasted red pepper, 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, 1 tbsp tomato paste, ½ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp ground mustard and 1 tsp pizza seasoning (I used a mixture of ¼ tsp fennel, ¼ tsp oregano, ½ tsp thyme and ½ tsp granulated garlic since I didn’t have any pizza seasoning but apparently had all the constituent ingredients in my pantry). Add 1.5 tbsp corn starch. Give it a whir till the mixture has no grit in it at all (took my vitamix about 4 min on high)
Cook the sauce for around 10-15 min on low-moderate heat. Add the pasta , thin the sauce if needed with some pasta water.
Top with mushroom bacon or Brussels sprouts or grilled tempeh or anything crunchy or not. This is a delicious extremely creamy and deeply satisfying pasta dish – I did not miss the cheese one bit.
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Mushroom Bacon ! Mushrooms , olive oil , grill seasoning. Air fryer 350 for 30 min
Sunday brunch was always dosa at home while growing up. A decade later, my kid was weaned on idli at 6 months. Now my wonderful babysitter soaks the grains on Thursday and grinds them every Friday for 2 dosa meals a week. My dosa recipe is from a Tamilian friend and works well for both idli and dosa
Dosa
Soak 3 cups idli rice and 1 cup white urad dal and 1 tsp methi seeds separately (the methi seeds with the dal) with several cups of water for 24 hours
Strain the dal and rice and grind them separately. I use my table top granite grinder for this but a blender works too. The dal and methi should be ground very fine with a little water. The rice should be ground till it is the consistency of coarse sooji or grits. Mix the two, cover and let it ferment for 8-24 hours. This is very variable, it takes 24 hours for me in Nebraska in my oven on a proofing setting. The final dosa batter should smell sour and have fine bubbles all through the batter.
Alternatively – buy the batter from the Indian store
Spread batter on pan, cover with a lid till top is cooked and bottom is golden brown. Add a tsp of oil around the dosa while it’s cooking.
Masala:
Boil and peel 3 large russet potatoes and chop them into inch squares (about 1-2 cups). Slice half a large onion into long slivers (half a cup)
Heat 2 tbsp of oil, add half a tsp of mustard seeds, wait till they cackle and pop. Add half a tsp of cumin seeds, a pinch of asafoetida, half a tsp of turmeric, 1 tbsp of whole urad dal and 8-9 finely chopped curry leaves. Wait till the urad dal turns golden
Add the onions and cook till pale brown. Add 1 tbsp of ginger , ¼ cup of chopped cashews- cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the potatoes and one large jalapeño chili (I slice it in half but go ahead and chop it fine if you wish), half a cup of water and 2-3 tbsp of finely chopped cilantro.
So far this recipe is very traditional. I then add a tbsp of finely chopped lime pickle. If it’s good enough for the Moroccans, it’s good enough for me. The lime pickle permeates the whole masala with a fantastic umami zing. Cook for 10 minutes more . Top with another 2-3 tbsp of finely chopped cilantro
I serve the masala on the side rather than stuffed into the dosa. I find that the dosa keeps its crunch better.
Many of these ingredients are very Indian specific. They are all available online but your neighborhood Indian store is a much better resource.
Pantry Sauce
This is my favorite pantry sauce – you know the sauce you turn to when you have to rely only on the staples in your pantry
It’s incredibly simple- 1 tbsp capers, 5-6 olives, 2 tbsp butter and 3-4 minced cloves of garlic and ½ a preserved lemon finely chopped (lemon zest and a healthy squeeze of lemon works just as well) cooked on low -medium heat till the pasta cooks. You remembered the boil the water as soon as you entered the kitchen right ?
Cook the pasta about a minute less than the instructions specify. Add a ½ cup of pasta water and ¼ cup of grated Parmesan to the sauce. Add the pasta – swirl for a minute or two. The sauce should cling to the pasta.
Top with any protein. Today I used vegan Italian sausage, but I’ve also used tofu, edamame and/or broccoli. This will also work with chicken, shrimp – well you get the idea.
Excellent with some garlic bread
Corn and Bean Enchiladas
It is tough to make beige foods like enchiladas look good in pictures but they definitely tasted good. Fantastic for summer when corn and tomatoes are in season. This is inspired from many different recipes and I change it around a little every time. This is a recipe in 4 parts (prep time 30 min)
Red sauce: Blitz one small can whole tomatoes, half a preserved lemon, 4 cloves of garlic and 2 soaked Arbol red chillies in the vitamix. Add 1 tsp of cumin powder, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp salt and cook for 15 min. Add 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar
White sauce: While the red sauce is cooking- brown 1 tbsp all purpose flour in 1 tbsp butter over medium heat for 1-2 min. Whisk in 1 cup whole milk. Add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp cumin powder
Filling: Steam 3 corn cobs- cut off the kernels. Add to one can of vegetarian baked beans in tomato sauce. Add half the red sauce and half of a white onion finely chopped.
Salsa: chop 2-3 large heirloom tomatoes, ¼ onion, 1 jalapeño and lots of cilantro. Add salt
Assemble:
Brush your tortillas with a little oil. Wrap in 2 layers of wet paper towels and microwave for a minute (thanks America’s test kitchen)
Pour the red sauce in your casserole dish. Take a softened tortilla, add the filling and fold, place seam side down in the pan. Fill your pan up with stuffed tortillas. Pour white sauce over the tortillas. Top with some shredded cheese (I like Colby jack or pepper jack).
Bake at 350 F covered with foil for 30 min and uncovered for 10 min till light brown
Top with fresh pico de gallo.
Grab a beer, squeeze some lime in it and pretend you are in Mexico
Delhi Girl Meets Food 