The Hungry Cook

The Hungry Cook Just Got Hungrier!!

2009-07-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

I've got my very own website now!!!

Follow my food adventures at The Very Hungry Cook!

Hugs

Raj.

Spiced Yogurt Muffins

2009-07-26T23:26:00.000-07:00

Alright, I just have to say this now, these are the best muffins I've had in over 3 years, probably ever. And people, I've eaten a lot of muffins these past 3 years! But wait, thats not all. These muffins are healthy! No, really. Low fat, brown sugar, yogurt- it's all there. Really, you will not BELIEVE just how darned good these muffins taste. I know I hardly can! And I've been making them every few days since my first batch :)

Ok, ok, I'll stop going on and on, and just tell you about the recipe. But oh, before that, you need to know this, Singapore = food paradise. No, it's not not one of those random things I just like saying (though, now that we're on that topic, did I mention that I have about 2 whole hedgerows of basil at home? And that I can't think of anything exciting enough to make using basil? Sorry, back to Singapore). Anyway, the thing is, I spent the last 4 days there. And probably ate about a month's worth of food (I can see you turn green with envy! Poor you, I feel your pain. Honestly I do.)

More importantly, I managed to bring home over 40 pounds (ha! it still feels so good saying it!) of food/cooking ingredients. Look! This is just some of the food that I bought back. I can't wait to get cooking with all this!!

Please tell me you're jealous now. It would make up for all those times I've looked at your blogs and wished I could just go shopping and buy cheese and fresh herbs, like you probably can.

Back to the muffins.

You will need - Low fat yogurt, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, freshly grated nutmeg, eggs, unsalted butter, applesauce (or milk), granulated sugar, light brown sugar, vanilla extract/vanilla bean, salt (that I haven't included, of course), and ground allspice (that I don't have)

It's very simple. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl (except the granulated sugar and 1/4 tsp nutmeg), and keep that aside. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, butter, applesauce (or milk) and vanilla extract (if you're using a bean like I did, just scrape out the seeds and use the pod to make vanilla sugar). Fold yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the granulated sugar and remaining nutmeg over the muffins. Bake until muffins are springy. Let the muffins cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Serve warm. And bake them again. And again. And again. And again... You get the idea...

RECIPE

(adapted from Food & Wine Magazine)

Ingredients:

all purpose flour - 2 cups

light brown sugar - 1 cup

baking powder - 1 tbsp

baking soda - 1/2 tsp

salt - 1/2 tsp

ground cinnamon - 1 tsp

ground allspice - 1/2 tsp

ground cloves - 1/2 tsp

freshly grated nutmeg - 3/4 tsp

eggs - 2 large (room temp.)

low-fat yogurt - 1 & 1/4 cups

unsalted butter - 4 tbsp

applesauce - 1/4 cup (or substitute with full fat milk)

pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp (or 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped)

granulated sugar - 1 tbsp

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Keep aside the granulated sugar and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg.

In a bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, applesauce (/milk), butter and vanilla.

Fold the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Sprinkle granulated sugar and remaining nutmeg over the muffins.

Bake for 18 minutes, or until muffins are springy.

Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Serve warm.

Truffle Infused Mac & Cheese

2009-07-20T23:48:00.000-07:00

Every week, a bunch of my friends and I meet up and spend the evening together eating, gaming and watching insanely scary movies. This usually ends up with my being walked home at about 2 in the morning by one of the biggest guys around (hey, I might not be brave, but I'm not stupid!)...

Anyway, last night we had movie/game night again, and I offered to cook, after having put it off forever.

I decided to keep it simple and make this AMAZING Mac & Cheese recipe, with muffins to snack on later. The first time I ate this was at my very first french cooking lesson ever, where our instructor was showing us how to make a bechamel sauce. It was my very first truffle experience, and ever since then, I've been addicted!!

Mac & cheese, I figured, was fun and uncomplicated enough for an evening at home watching movies, but not so commonplace as to be boring, thanks to the truffle oil..

I made a whole lot of it, and by the time we were through with dinner, there wasn't any left, so I'm sure you'll agree when I say that it was a hit!

You will need - pasta (I've used macaroni, what with it being MAC & cheese and all...), milk, butter, all purpose flour, cheese (I've used parmesan, pecorino and cheddar), white truffle oil, and salt and pepper (neither of which I've included in the photo). Simple isn't it?

To begin, grate a HUGE amount of cheese. No, I'm kidding. I like using this ribbon grater though, because what would normally be half a cup of cheese, gets grated to about 4 cups. Really, I promise. Makes me feel like I've been generous with the cheese without worrying about throwing in an extra yoga session to work it all off.

Alright, now that your cheese is all grated, take a nice heavy saucepan. Alternatively, if you live in MY world, please just get the only saucepan thats not waiting to be washed in the kitchen sink.

Crank up the heat and bung in the butter! (Yes, again, bung IS a real world. Where are you people from, another planet???) Once the butter foams, add the flour in and whisk until blended.

Now, let the roux cook for a few minutes (you can lower the heat during this part).

Once the flour has cooked well, take the pan off the heat and start whisking in the milk, and bring the mixture to a boil. Then, strain the whole thing to remove any lumps. At this point, while its still very hot, add the rosemary.

And now for that grated cheese....mmmm...

Don't put all of it in though!

Reserve one-eighth of the total, and add the rest, whisking until you've got a nice sauce...

See how good that looks?

Check seasoning. Ooh, this is the part where you realize you have a winner. The sauce alone is good enough to eat all by itself, and we haven't even got to the good part yet!! Patience, patience!

My sauce didn't need any salt, but I did sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper on.

In the meanwhile, boil the pasta until its al dente.

Mix the pasta and the sauce. Fight the urge to eat it all now. I promise you, it gets better, MUCH better. Really.

And now for the good stuff! Truffle oil! Drizzle/mix/stir, whatever you want. Just make sure that its EVERYWHERE. Now sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.

Bake for a few minutes in the oven, or stick it under a salamander until the cheese on top melts and becomes nice and golden and bubbly.

Serve warm...

Be warned though, this is a one way trip to truffle heaven. I shall see you there.

RECIPE

Ingredients

Milk - 350 ml

Flour - 15 g

Butter - 15 g

Rosemary - 1 tbsp dried/2 sprigs fresh

Parmesan - 1/4 cup

Pecorino - 1/4 cup

Cheddar - 1/4 cup

White truffle oil - 3 tbspns

Salt - as required

Pepper - 1 tsp

Macaroni - 2 cups

Bring liberally salted water to a boil in a large pot. Cook pasta until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, heat butter until it foams. Add the flour and stir until well blended.

Cook the roux for a few minutes.

Remove from heat, add the milk, whisking all the while. Back on the heat, bring the milk to a boil. Remove from heat again.

Pass the mixture through a sieve. This is now a bechamel sauce.

Pour the bechamel back into the pan (low flame) and add the rosemary. Cook for a minute before taking the pan off the stove.

Grate all 3 cheeses and mix them together. Reserve 1/8th of the mixture.

Whisk the remaining grated cheese into the bechamel.

Check seasoning (pepper and salt).

Mix the pasta with sauce in an oven-proof dish.

Drizzle the truffle oil on the pasta and mix well.

Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese on the pasta.

Pass under a salamander/cook in an oven until the cheese bubbles and turns a golden yellow.

Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Sun-dried Tomato & Thyme Focaccia

2009-07-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! This is the first yeast bread recipe I'm posting! Been putting it off for a while now... Bread is one of those things I keep putting off making, because its a long drawn out process.. But when I finally do get around to baking, there hasn't been once that I haven't felt that it's all been worth it!!

There's something about bread, maybe its that warm delicious smell that fills the house while it bakes, or watching leavened dough cook to a deep golden color, or that first warm, crusty bite, or maybe it's all those things put together. Whatever it is, bread cheers me up like few other things do!!

Oh, and this one's for my friend Vasi, who is always looking for egg free recipes!! Hopefully this will be the first of many!!

So lets get baking!!

You will need - all purpose flour, Durham-semolina (or just substitute with A.P. flour), water, extra virgin olive oil, salt, dry yeast, Sun-dried tomatoes and thyme.

I ALWAYS mix the yeast with some warm water and a little sugar/honey. I know, most of the time dry yeast is reliable, but trust me, there are few things as irritating as having a rock solid ball of dough after having used yeast that you thought was alive... So mix the yeast with warm water and sugar, let it sit for a few minutes. Once you have a nice froth on top, you know you're good to go!

Mix all the ingredients (Except the sun-dried tomatoes and thyme) and knead until you have a smooth, silky dough. Elbow grease people! I know that a stand mixture will do the trick, but honestly, I find that I appreciate my bread SO much more when I've had to put a lot of effort in!

Divide the dough into four, and roll out into a circle/square/rectangle, whatever. Yes, you can make a map of the world if you want. Take a piece of parchment paper and oil it. Lay the rolled out dough on the oiled side. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and let it prove for about 2-3 hours.

By which time, it should look like this- all pillowy and nicely risen.

Now soak the sun dried tomatoes in hot water for a few minutes. Then chop them up.

Dimple the dough, press in the tomatoes, and sprinkle the thyme-be generous.. Leave it to prove for another hour.

Then bake at 450 degrees F for about 20 minutes, or until golden on top.

Serve warm. It tastes brilliant just by itself, but you could serve it with a dip. I've used everything from pesto to a roasted eggplant dip and this focaccia is excellent!

Recipe

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 450 g

Durham semolina - 190 g

Water - 440 g (yes, grams not ml)

Extra virgin olive oil - 80 g

Salt - 12 g

Dry yeast - 3 g

Sun-dried tomatoes - 2 tbspns

Thyme - 1 tbspn

Combine all the ingredients except the tomatoes and thyme

Knead until the resulting dough is smooth and silky.

Oil a cookie sheet, place parchment paper on it, oil that as well.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces.

Roll out the dough into disks or squares.

Proof for 2-3 hours, at 75 degrees F.

Soak the tomatoes in hot water for 5 minutes, then drain and chop.

Dimple the focaccia, them top with the tomatoes.

Sprinkle the focaccia with thyme and let it sit for another hour.

Bake at 450 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until a golden crust has formed.

Cinnamon & Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

2009-07-14T02:50:00.000-07:00

There's just one photo this time, and not a very good one at that, I'm afraid... I've been trying to find an ice cream machine for months now without much luck. well, I finally ended up losing my patience and making it myself. You see, I've been craving really good quality ice cream for a while now, but again, no luck in finding any :(

If you've already made your own ice cream, this probably isn't the most exciting post I've done. On the other hand, if you've never made your own ice cream, you HAVE to try this. You will never settle for store bought ice cream after this, I promise you! This is SO rich and smooth and silky and full of flavor that you'll never go back to that second rate stuff they pass off for ice cream in most stores.

I started off making vanilla bean ice cream, and then decided that I wanted something a little more complex. So I ended up adding the one flavor that I knew would pair well with vanilla - cinnamon, of course!! Thanks to the vanilla seeds, the ice cream has this gorgeously crunchy (I can't quite describe it any other way) texture, while the cinnamon adds a warmth and depth of flavor that you'll love.

Recipe

Ingredients:

Whole Milk - 500 ml

Double Cream - 500 ml

Caster Sugar - 8-10 tbspns (depending on how sweet you want it to be)

Vanilla - 1 pod

Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Egg yolks - 8 (yes, you read right...:)

Score the vanilla pod lengthwise and remove the seeds.

Mix the milk, cream, vanilla seeds, vanilla pod, cinnamon powder and about 6-8 tbspns of sugar. Bring the whole thing to a boil, remove from heat and keep aside.

Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until its gone a pale yellow.

Take a ladleful of the hot milk/cream mixture and whisk it into the egg mixture. Repeat with 2 more ladles of the milk.

Remove the vanilla pod from the milk.

Pour the egg mixture into the milk.

Cook on a very low flame for a few minutes until the yolks thicken enough for the mixture to go glossy and be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Take it off the heat.

Keep aside for a bit until its cool, then strain it.

If you have an ice cream machine, just follow instructions to chill and make ice cream.

If you don't have one, pour the mixture into a tray and chill in the freezer.

Every 20 minutes take the tray out, and using a ballon whip, whisk the mixture until you've broken the ice crystals and aerated the ice cream until it is smooth.

Keep repeating it until the ice cream reaches the desired consistency.

After this, you can transfer the ice cream into tubs and store in the freezer.

You could serve it with a lot of things, but I honestly think it tastes best on its own. Double portions!!

Churros!

2009-07-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

I seem to be on a sweet streak this week-sorbet, now churros..

SO, here are 3 good reasons for making churros-

1.They taste DIVINE when served piping hot-sweet, crisp, with a hint of cinnamon and SOOOO light!

2.They are really easy to make.

3.Most cooks will have all the ingredients required in the kitchen at any given point of time.

Finally, here are MY reasons for making them-

1. Making pate a choux makes me feel terribly accomplished.

2.I want churros.

Convinced you, didn't I?

I'll take that as a yes. So, to begin, you will need-eggs, all purpose flour, castor sugar, ground cinnamon, butter, a neutral oil to deep fry and water.

Sift the flour and castor sugar together and put it aside. In the meanwhile take a nice heavy bottomed saucepan and heat the butter and water in it. Wait until all the butter melts and the water has begun to boil. Take the pan off the heat and add the flour mixture in ALL at once. Using a spoon/wooden spatula, beat the mixture well until flour has blended thoroughly. Put it back on medium heat and beat it until it looks like the mixture in the picture below- it shouldn't stick to the sides of the pan and possibly begin to leave a film at the bottom.

Take the pan off the heat again, make a well and break an egg into it. Beat it to a smooth paste before adding the next egg. Repeat and add the third egg.

Keep at it for a few minutes. You're done when the mixture is smooth, lump free and glossy, like this one below!

Mix the cinnamon powder with the remaining castor sugar. Now its time to break out your pastry/piping bag. Heat oil. Deep fry the churros until they're an even golden brown and crisp. When they're VERY hot, dust them with the cinnamon sugar.

And then, eat up!! Mmmm...This made me SO happy today, You have NO idea!

Recipe

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup

Castor Sugar - 5 tbspns

Butter - 6 tbspns

Water - 1 cup

Ground Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp

Eggs - 3 eggs

Neutral Oil - enough to fry with, you decide!

Sift together flour and 2-3 tbspns of the sugar. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the butter and water. When the butter melts and the water's started boiling, take the pan off the heat and pour in the flour mixture all at once.

Mix well using a spoon/wooden spatula until it is well blended. Put the pan back on moderate heat and keep beating until the mixture begins to leave the sides of the pan and a thin film coats the bottom.

Take the pan off the heat again. Make a well in the flour mixture and break an egg into the well immediately. With a spoon, mix vigorously until the egg has totally blended in. Do the same with the other 2 eggs. Keep beating until you have a nice smooth, lump free mixture.

Mix the remaining castor sugar with the ground cinnamon.

Spoon the mixture into a piping/pastry bag. Use a star nozzle. 1/2 inch (1 cm) should do it.

Heat the oil to 375 degrees F. Pipe 4 inch (10 cm) lengths into the hot oil. Fry until the churros are crisp and an even golden-brown.

Remove from the oil and drain for a few seconds on a paper towel. Dust the churros with cinnamon sugar when they're REALLY hot. Serve immediately.

O.K., now, a couple of things- instead of deep frying the mixture, you can pipe nice 10 cm lengths of it, or little blobs if it makes you happier, on a cookie sheet lined with butter paper, and bake the lot until it is golden brown on top.

Then, if you've made blobs, you slice each in half horizontally and fill the puffs with creme chantilly (whipped cream with sugar in it and maybe vanilla, if you like).

If you've made long ones, then you make a little hole in one end, and pipe in a mixture of creme chantilly and custard. Dip the top of the puff in chocolate and voila! You've made yourself an eclair.

Alright, enough of that, sorry if I've bored you, let me know how it goes!!

Pomegranate Apple Sorbet

2009-07-09T19:12:00.001-07:00

Ice cream is one of those things I've loved ALL my life! (no, really, I was 2 months old when I first ate ice cream, ask my parents).. But I discovered sorbet only when I was 15 on a trip to France. Needless to say, I was hooked! Not to mention extremely upset for a while, when I realized that not many people even knew what sorbet was in my part of the world. Until I realized how easy it is to make, that is! I LOVE how cold, sweet and refreshingly tart good sorbets are... And I must confess, I tend to get a bit carried away when it comes to the tartness. So feel free to scale down on the quantities of lemon/lime/sugar that I've used....

You will need - Apples (I like using equal numbers of Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples), lime/lemon (depending on which is available), pomegranate, sugar, water. Simple, isn't it? :)

O.K., to get started, peel, core and dice the apples (medium-fine dice should do) Then in a saucepan, add the apples, sugar, juice and zest of the lime/lemon. Let the whole thing come to a boil, then lower the flame so that it simmers until its reduced by a third and the apples are tender. Let it cool.

In the meanwhile, you need to extract juice from the pomegranate. Either blend and strain or just use a juicer. Or, if you're pressed for time like me, cheat!

This is one of my favorite brands of pomegranate juice (read one of the ONLY brands of pomegranate juice available). And its SO much easier to just use this :) It tastes great too! Of course, it isn't anywhere close to as good as the real thing (according to the carton, only 33% of the whole thing is real juice), but it'll do for now... If you can take the time out to make fresh juice though, I would highly recommend you do so!

Measure out the juice while the apple/sugar/lime mixture cools. Once cool, blend all ingredients together. Strain using a strainer with not-too-fine holes. I used this colander type thing i found in the kitchen. It worked really well, because it kept most of the pulp in but took out all the unmanageable pieces.

Pour the mixture into a tray, and stick it in the freezer. Every 20 minutes, Take a fork and scratch up the whole thing, so there aren't any hard frozen lumps. Once you think its reached the right consistency, you can transfer the sorbet to tubs and freeze. I know it looks terrible now, but just wait until its done!!

Defrost for a few minutes before serving, so that the sorbet gets to a scoopable (yes thats a new word I invented :) consistency. Serve garnished with a sprig of mint/slice of lemon.

If frozen, it should last about 2 days I think. Sadly, I can't tell you if it'll keep any longer because whenever I've made it, 2 days is the longest its gone without everyone eating it up!

Oh and before I forget, if you really like mint, try add a few mint leaves chopped up/chiffonaded to the sorbet mixture just before freezing.

Recipe:

Ingredients

Apples - 2 (1 Granny Smith, 1 Red Delicious)

Lime/Lemon - 1 (Juice and zest)

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Pomegranate Juice - 3/4 cup

Water - 1/2 cup

Peel, core and dice apples. In a pan, add the apples, water, sugar, lime/lemon juice and zest. Bring to a boil. Lower top a simmer and let the mixture cook until the liquid has reduced by 1/3rd and apples are tender.

Let the mixture cool, add the pomegranate juice and blend well. Strain through a course sieve so that a decent amount of pulp is retained.

Pour into a tray. Freeze. Every 20 minutes, scratch the mixture up using a fork. Once it has reached desired consistency, either serve the sorbet, or transfer to tubs and freeze.

Banana Blueberry Bread

2009-07-06T03:42:00.000-07:00

One month and then some. Stop rolling your eyes, you! If only you knew... I've moved cities, and am now back home with my family. And I'm temporary housekeeper/cook/maid/chauffeur all rolled in one. Hence no time to blog. But I'm back and thats what counts!!

Anyway, I was settling into my parents kitchen (again) and found half a bag of blueberries that had been around long enough.... And bananas.. Plus, as always, I had butter, sugar and eggs on my mind (don't ask, food is ALL I seem to think of most of the time. Not very conducive to my new diet I'm afraid). So the answer was kind of obvious right?

So here goes, I've taken this basic recipe for banana bread from my first EVER cookbook (thanks sid!)- The Big Book of Breakfast (haha! I can SO see you were expecting something fancy! sorry :P lol)

You will need - butter, eggs, sugar (I've used demarara, but castor is fine), all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, water, baking soda (i HAD to forget something in the photo, didn't I? Need to run true to form and not disappoint my readers and all) and of course-bananas and blueberries!

Preheat oven. In the meanwhile, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Mash the bananas. Add the flour, bananas, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until blended. I know, I know, it looks terrible now, but wait until its done!

Now you could either mix in the blueberries at this stage, or do as I do (yes, yes, obviously my way is the right way) and layer the batter and blueberries into a greased loaf tin (I have this fun red non-stick one as you can see :)

Bake until its done! Slice, serve warm with tea (or coffee, but only if I'm not there). MAJOR YUM! I promise!!

Recipe

Ingredients:

Butter - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Eggs - 2 large

Bananas - 1-1/2 cups when mashed, thats 3-4 (ripe!)

Water - 1/3 cup

A.P. Flour - 1 & 2/3 cups

Baking Soda - 1 tsp

Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Blueberries - 1/3 - 1/2 cup

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar, Add eggs, bananas and water and beat for a few minutes. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until blended. Stir in the blueberries (or layer them). Pour mixture into a greased loaf tin/pan.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in a pan on a rack for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges and remove bread from pan. Serve warm. You can store this wrapped in foil!

Oh, and also, my book says that this bread freezes well, but I must confess, its never lasted that long when I've made it!!

Bacon Noodles

2009-05-25T12:05:00.001-07:00

I know that you're thinking! Pasta, carbonara, italian food... things like that right??? haha! Thats about as far from this dish as it gets! This is one of those really mixed up fusion cooking dishes, Mixed up because I had this (or to be honest, a slightly different version of this) in Hong Kong years ago, and they called it Singapore noodles. I honestly don't remember eating anything quite like this in Singapore, but I will promise you, its yummy!! As always the recipe's been tweaked a little bit, so please feel free to do the same!

The bacon is what makes the noodles special, because we're going to be using bacon fat alone to cook the noodles, every mouthful should be a miniature bacon flavored explosion! mmm....

You will need-Chinese noodles (any kind you like), ginger, garlic, carrots, green beans, celery, spring onion, peppers (i had red), dry red chilis, tomato ketchup (haha, didn't see that one coming, did you?), soy/teriyaki sauce, any other veggies you might have lying around that you'd like in your noodles and if you're lucky enough to have it (and I'm not) Sriracha sauce! Oh, and most importantly, BACON!

Julienne/slice/fine dice the vegetables...

Cut up the bacon into medium sized dice, and on a heavy bottomed pan, medium flame, get it nice and crisp. You can either remove the bacon (if you'd like it real crisp) and add it at the end, (and use the bacon fat to cook with) or just leave be. Add the dry red chillies (after you've cut them in half) and cook for a minute or 2 on a low flame, so that the bacon fat absorbs some of that heat.

Mince the ginger and garlic.

Add it to the bacon fat, let it cok for a few minutes.

All the vegetables go in at this point, high flame, stir fry for a while. I like the veggies to have a bit of a crunch, but thats up to you. Then, add the soy/teriyaki sauce and ketchup. Adjust seasoning.

Julienne the spring onions. Cook the noodles. How? Just follow the directions on the packet! It isn't rocket science, I promise you.

Then add the noodles to the wok/pan of stir fried vegetables and give it a good mix. Check seasoning again. You can add more soy/ketchup/sriracha at this point as well.

Serve garnished with the spring onion and crisp bacon (if you've reserved it).

Sigh... I LOVE bacon. Don't you?

RECIPE:

Noodles - 1 medium sized packet

Bacon - 6 to 10 rashers

Green Beans - quarter cup, julienne

Carrots - quarter cup, julienne

Celery - half a stalk

Spring Onions - 3-4 stems

Red Pepper - quarter cup, julienne

Dried Red Chili - 1

Ginger - 1 tbsp

Garlic - 1 tbsp

Soy/Teriyaki sauce - 2-3 tbsp or more.

Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp

Sri Racha sauce - 1 tsp

Cut bacon into medium sized dice. Cook until crisp. Remove bacon.

Cut the dried red chili in half and add to the bacon fat. Cook for a minute or 2.

Finely mince ginger and garlic and add to the bacon fat. Cook for about 2 minutes.

Then add the julienned vegetables (carrot, beans, red pepper) and cook for about 3-5 minutes.

Add the soy/teriyaki sauce and the tomato ketchup (and Sriracha). Cook for 30 seconds.

Cook the noodles. Drain, and mix with the vegetable stir-fry mixture.

Adjust seasoning.

Julienne the spring onions.

Serve garnished with spring onions and crisped up bacon!

Chowder!!

2009-05-25T11:51:00.001-07:00

Can you tell I'm excited about this post?? (don't miss all the exclamation marks!) Chowder is my favorite soup, period. Its one of those really filling, main course soups and I love how comforting a bowl of chowder can be at the end of a long day. Talking of which, I apologize for the quality of the photos, I made this late in the evening, and the light, to be honest, sucked big time.

The other reason I love chowder is because you can play around with the recipe so much! The recipe that follows incorporates a lot of things i found lying around in the kitchen and refrigerator... You can add or remove things as you feel right...

You will need- butter, milk, potatoes, an onion, celery, sweet corn, paprika, a sausage, pepper corns, a bay leaf and parsley (which I don't have) and A.P.flour (which I forgot to photograph)

Chop the onion-a nice fine dice should do.

Do the same with the celery.

AND the potato! (ok, it gets more interesting after this, I promise!)

Melt some butter in a pan, and add the onions once it foams.

Then add the celery, sweat the two for a couple of minutes. The kitchen should start smelling heavenly just about now..

Bung in the potatoes. Cook for about 4-5 minutes.

Then add the parsley, (I'm pretending I am, because I hunted all evening and couldn't find any fresh parsley anywhere :( can you feel my pain?) a bay leaf, the peppercorns and about 2-3 cups of water. Let the water boil, then lower to a simmer.

Cook until the potatoes are tender.

In the meanwhile mix about half a cup of milk with a couple of tablespoons of A.P.flour. First remove the bay leaf and parsley sprigs. Then pour the milk and flour mixture into the pan.

After that add the rest of the milk. Bring to a boil. Let the chowder get as thick as you would like it to be.

Chop and add the sausage.

And then the corn.

Serve hot in individual soup bowls (no, don't be greedy and try sampling right out of the pan/soup pot) garnished with smoky paprika. :)

RECIPE:

Butter - 25g

Flour - 2 tbspns

Milk - 300ml

Potato - 2 medium sized

Onion - 1 medium sized

Corn - 1 small can

Sausage - 1 or use tuna/bacon anything you like

Celery - 2 stalks

Bay Leaf - 1

Parsley - 1 sprig

Paprika, salt - as required

Peppercorns - 8-10

Water - 2 or 3 cups.

Finely dice onions, celery and potatoes.

Melt the butter.

Sweat the onions and celery.

Then add potatoes and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the herbs, water and cook until the potatoes are tender.

Remove the bay leaf and parsley.

Mix half a cup of milk with the flour.

Add the mixture to the pan.

Add the remaining milk, bring to a boil.

Simmer until thick enough. Adjust seasoning.

Add the sausage (chopped up) and corn and cook for 3 minutes.

Serve garnished with smoky paprika.

Let me know if you liked it. (this is the MOST important step.)

Blanched Almonds

2009-05-24T02:34:00.000-07:00

When I mentioned in the last post that I would do a post on blanched almonds later, I really didn't think I'd be doing it anytime soon...

So I was quite surprised when two people told me that they were waiting for this post so they could make the pesto!

R and V-this is for you. And you'd better have made that pesto now!

There are two ways of doing this, the Julia Child (and the rest of the world) way and MY way. My way obviously factors in the possibility that you might want to make a call while you're cooking, or read that last page, or whatever... So stick with me here people!

Almonds, in a bowl.

Thats boiling water from my kettle (well, my mother's, but its on loan. Permanently. Shhh...don't tell her I said so!) Pour enough to cover the almonds.

Wait for a minute or two, (yes, now is when you get to drink the iced tea) drain the water. And, as Julia says-squeeze each almond between the thumb and forefinger, and the almond will slip out of the skin. Or if you're me, then you went to check your e-mail, and forgot about the almonds for a good twenty minutes. which basically means that you'll have to repeat the whole boiling water step.

Discard the skins.

Spread out the almonds on a hotel/roasting pan/sheet. Five minutes at 350 degrees F should have them nice and dry...

And now you can get started making that pesto!

Pesto!

2009-05-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

We're talking about one of my favorite foods ever!! I have this thing for pesto, can't keep my hands off it!! And ever since I discovered that basil pesto isn't the only kind, well, lets just say I can't stop experimenting, or eating!

I was cleaning out my fridge today and boy, do I have a lot of cheese for a single girl living alone! So the goal is to use it all up in the next 3 weeks. I'm hoping to find some interesting recipes, so wish me luck! I thought I'd begin with the parmesan. So moving on to the other ingredients...

Thyme (which is DIVINE with tomatoes), garlic (but of course), extra virgin olive oil, tomatoes, and almonds (you could use cashew nuts as well, but i have about 2 pounds of these lying around, so...)

Quarter the tomatoes.

Stick them in a big sheet/roasting pan or something similar.

Peel and rough chop the garlic. Make sure the pieces and nice and chunky. We'll be roasting it all later, and trust me when i tell you, there are few things worse than burnt garlic.

Sprinkle some thyme. Be generous! Especially if you have only the dry kind-like I do.

A quarter cup of olive oil. Drizzle that over the tomatoes.

Add some salt. Give it a good mix with a spoon/your hands, don't worry, I won't judge you :)

Stick it in the oven, 30-45 minutes.

Blanch the almonds. No, I shall not tell you how. Be proactive and look it up! Or wait for me to do a post on blanching almonds.

Grate the cheese. (Yes, I have an amazing cheese grater. And yes, I am showing off!)

Now go read a book/take a shower, whatever.

In about 30 minutes or a bit more your tomatoes should look like this... No, you CANNOT eat them now. Control yourself for god's sake!

Put it all in the blender, Blend until smooth.

Put it in a pretty bowl, or, if you're anything like me, put it in the only presentable bowl you have in the kitchen. Drizzle some olive oil on top.

P.S.-Yes, I have this really cool pink lighter (you can see it in the background can't you. And no, I don't smoke, its for my incense sticks!)

Recipe

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 2 pounds

Garlic - 6 cloves (or more, if you're brave!)

Thyme - 2 tablespoons

Parmesan Cheese - 1/2-3/4th of a cup, grated

Almonds - 1/2 cup

Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 1/4 cup, plus 1 tablespoon for the end

Salt - you decide.

Quarter the tomatoes.

Peel and roughly chop the garlic.

Put the above two on a roasting sheet.

Sprinkle thyme, salt and the 1/4 cup of olive oil on top.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-45 minutes (or until your tomatoes look like the ones in my photo).

Meanwhile, blanch the almonds and grate the cheese.

When its all done, blend until smooth.

Serve with the rest of the olive oil drizzled on top.

Oh, and this is probably perfect eaten with bread or really light crackers (that i shall make you in the next post)... But until then, I suggest you try the pesto with these yummy crackers that my friend, Shaheen makes.

AAAARGH

2008-12-10T17:56:00.001-08:00

No posts this week. Both my parents are visiting and we've been *discussing* my future (read I've been telling my father that im planning to be a cook instead of a doctor). Need I say more?

Sauce Rouge

2008-11-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yes its the same picture! But its a different recipe, so keep reading! I realized that at every party I go to, when it comes to finger food, the dips are always so repetetive. As dips go, this one is SO not run of the mill! No wonder it is by far my favorite!!! Its fattening, yes, but so are most dips! (well, the ones I like anyway!) Its simple to make, and the flavors are SO good, you'll keep making this ALL the time!

Here's what we need:

125 ml (4.5 oz) Heavy cream (what would life be sans heavy cream? really),

1 (or many) cloves of garlic,

salt,

pepper,

20 ml (0.75 oz)olive oil and 300 gm (10.5 oz)red/yellow/orange peppers.

(whatever you have-red peppers will result in a sauce rouge obviously) I have some red and yellow peppers here that I'd cleaned, chopped and frozen last week (thank god for freezers!)

Heat oil in a pan.

Add the chopped peppers in. Let them sweat for a few minutes.

Now for the garlic (i LOVE the stuff, can you tell?:) ) Peel and chop roughly.

Bung in the garlic, count to 5 and take a good sniff! You might want a chair at this point-in case your knees buckle, I always hope that there will be a place in heaven that smells like this :) Allow it to cook for about 3-4 minutes.

Add about 3 tablespoons of water.

Cover with a parchment paper lid. Make sure the flame/heat is medium low.

No peeking!

Now as that cooks, take out another pan and pour in the heavy cream

Let it reduce to half the original quantity.

In about 20 minutes, the peppers should be soft. Put the mixture in a blender. Add salt and pepper.

I was REALLY in a hurry, so I took a shortcut. I added the cream in and just gave everything a whiz until I had a smooth creamy mixture. But the REAL way to do it would be to puree the peppers, then put them back in the sauce pan, allow the mixture to reduce and then add the reduced heavy cream little by little until you're happy)

But being the disorganized person I am, I had 20 people waiting for lunch and NO time.

Blend away! And we're done!!!

I served this with the crumb fried mushrooms, but this tastes great with just about anything!

Classic Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!

2008-11-29T22:34:00.000-08:00

Its 1.35 a.m and I'm eating cookies warm from the oven. The best cookies EVER!

I get the feeling almost no one's reading my blog, but I just HAD to share this recipe with the world.

Its not mine, but here's the link!

Classic Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Spicy Crumb Fried Mushrooms

2008-11-28T12:28:00.001-08:00

This is one of my favorite appetizers. Because it needs so little time and effort. Plus it uses really basic ingredients that most of us have in the kitchen all the time!

I made this for thanksgiving and everyone LOVED it. So I've decided that I want to share this recipe with you guys!

You will need: Button mushrooms, ginger, garlic, bread crumbs, vegetable oil, finger chillies,one egg and salt.

Wash and dice 1/2 lb. button mushrooms into bite size pieces.

Make a paste with 6 cloves of garlic, 2 inch piece of ginger and 2 finger chillies, by pureeing in a blender. (I usually add way more chillies, but then again, I LOVE the extra kick)

Add the paste to the mushrooms.

Keep mixing until all the mushrooms are well covered in all the spicy goodness :)

Beat an egg. and get out the bread crumbs! (I've used this lovely flaky version that i got at an Asian market) At this point of time, you can pour out 1 cup of oil in a wok and start heating it.

Dip each piece of mushroom in the egg.

Give it a quick roll in the bread crumbs until each piece is evenly coated.

When the oil starts smoking, its time to begin frying the mushrooms.

Leave them in until they are golden brown, turning them over occasionally to ensure that they fry evenly on all sides. Drain excess oil on a paper towel.

Serve hot. If you haven't eaten it all up as you cooked that is :)

This is delicious if served with a sauce rouge made with bell peppers and cream. I'll post the recipe for that soon!

RASMALAI

2008-11-12T18:26:00.000-08:00

This is my first "real" post. With photos and all (poor quality, but I had to work with bad lighting and an ok camera) so I'm really excited!!!

Anyway, I decided to do this because I made rasmalai (absolutely my favorite Indian dessert of all time!) for my chef instructor-Justin who's leaving for France tomorrow. Some of my classmates tried and loved it! So this is for you Catie! :)

I'm cheating a bit and buying rasgullas in a can. they're balls of Indian cottage cheese (no, not paneer, this is called chenna) steeped in sugar syrup. Any Indian store will have them...

So lets begin-

You will need:pistachios, almonds, saffron, one tin of rasgullas, sugar and whole milk. Thats it!

Measure out 1 and a half cups of whole milk. I'm making enough for 5 servings, so this should be perfect!

To this, add 1 and a half tablespoons of sugar.

And then... the saffron!!! I love saffron. I know it costs the earth in this country, but back home in India, its not expensive at all! Well, not this expensive anyway!

Throw a pinch into the milk. No more. Because the saffron, apart from giving the rasmalai an unbelievably yummy flavor, also gives it this lovely pale buttercuppy yellow color. The last thing you want is to add too much and end up with a jaundiced dessert... :)

Isn't that pretty? Trust me, though the photo sucks, when you make this, the saffron will look like delicate little flowers in the milk (which is what it is, really)

Now get a pan out and take 1 tablespoon of unsalted almonds (I've used almond flakes, but you can use slivered or chopped almonds instead)

Take a tablespoon of pistachios (unsalted). Its a wonder I even have these around. Pistachios are so addictive. They never last longer than a week in my kitchen, even those HUGE bags!

Give them a rough chop...

Add the pistachios to the almonds in the pan. Toast them at medium flame until they're lightly brown and you can smell that delicious nutty aroma!

Now add the toasted nuts to the milk.

Its all starting to come together! Now turn on the flame and we're almost done!

Bring the milk to a boil and then let it simmer for a good 15 minutes.

Don't forget to keep stirring every once in a few minutes, or you'll have an annoying, icky skin forming on the milk all the time. You'll also notice that the milk is slowly turning color to become this bee-yoo-ti-full yellow.

Now for the star of the show, the rasgulla!

Can you see them? I know, I know, terrible picture, but they're yummy even though they don't seem to look it! I promise!

Take out 5 rasgullas (like I said, this recipe is for 5 portions, you can make as many as you want, just be sure to make more of the sweetened flavored milk!)

Now squeeze all the sugar syrup out of the rasgullas. Yes, you could be very neat and use a spoon, but I strongly recommend using your hands. Because you need to get out as much of the syrup as you can! Why, you might ask. You'll see :)

There, your milk should by now look like this :)

Arrange the rasgullas on a serving dish.

Pour the milk mixture on the rasgullas. (Now do you understand? Squeezing the rasgullas ensures that they soak up and absord all that fabulously nutty, sweet milk that you've made!)

Keep pouring!!! The more milk the better!

Spoon the milk and nut mixture over each rasgulla, so that they're completely coated in the sweet, nutty, saffron goodness!

There! You're done! Now stick this in the fridge for 2 hours and serve! I would suggest one rasgulla per person with as much of the milk as you want, but honestly, I've never been able to stop at just one! Let me know if you can!

oh, and I promise you, you'll love it.

PRAWN MASALA

2008-10-29T15:30:00.001-07:00

This is SUCH a typical south indian seafood recipe. The flavors are strong and concentrated and pack a punch. It tastes PERFECT with any indian bread, though i would recommend rumali rotis or phulkas...

anyway, its really simple to make.. but it takes a little while on the stove for everything to simmer down and get done.

this recipe serves 4.

Ingredients:

prawns - medium size-about 12 (cleaned, peeled, deveined, with shells and tails off)

ginger - 1 tsp (grated)

garlic - 2 tsp (grated)

onions - 2/3 cup (minced)

tomatoes- 2 cups (chopped fine)

salt

chili flakes

oil - 3 tb spn

turmeric powder (optional)- 1/8 tsp

cilantro - 2 stems (optional garnish) (chopped fine)

lime/lemon wedges (optional garnish)

Procedure:

1.Heat the oil in a medium sized pan.

2.Once the oil is hot (not smoking) add the ginger and garlic.

3.Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring well to keep the ginger/garlic from sticking to the pan. Do not let the ginger/garlic mixture color, or you will run the risk of the mixture burning.

4.Add the onions at this point. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the onions are well cooked, but still pale.

5.Add the tomatoes, chilli flakes, salt and turmeric powder.

6.Cook for atleast 20-30 minutes. the liquid should almost completely evaporate. ideally, the oil should separate from the mixture...

at this point, add the prawns and cook for 4-5 minutes (not more, the last thing you want are rubbery prawns)

7.transfer to a serving dish. sprinkle with chopped cilantro and lemon wedges and serve with bread.

julia child's chocolate cake

2008-10-11T22:45:00.000-07:00

this is one of my favorite cake recipes... its from julia child's mastering the art of french cooking.
you can't go wrong there, can you??
one thing thoug, this recipe doesnt call for any baking powder, so the lightness of the cake depends on perfectly beaten egg whites! it might take a few minutes to get right, but the effort is SO worth it!

You Need:
PREHEAT OVEN TO 350 DEGREES F
a round cake pan 8 inches in diameter
4 ounces of semi sweet cooking chocolate
2 tb coffee
butter and flour the cake pan. set the chocolate and coffee in a small pan, cover and place (off heat) in a larger pan of almost simmering water. let melt while you proceed with the recipe. measure out the rest of the ingredients.
1/4 pound butter-softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes until they form a pale yellow, fluffy mixture.
3 egg yolks
beat in the egg yolks until well blended.
3 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 tb granulated sugar
beat the egg whites and salt in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed (use a balloon whip); sprinkle on the sugar and beat in until stiff peaks are formed.
rubber spatula
1/3 cup pulverized almonds
1/2 cup flour
with a rubber spatula blend the melted chocolate into the butter and sugar mixture, then stir in the almonds. immediately stir in 1/4th of the beaten egg whites to lighten the batter. delicately fold in a third of the remaining whites and when partially blended, sift on 1/3rd f the flour and continue folding. alternate rapidly with mroe egg whites and more flour until all egg whites and flour are incorporated.
turn the batter into the cake pan, pushing the batter upto its rim with a rubber spatula.
bake in middle level of preheated oven for about 25 minutes.
cake is done when it has puffed and 2 1/2 to 3 inches around the circumference are set so that a needle plunged into the area comes out clean; the centre should move slightly when the pan is shaken and the needle comes out oily.
allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. run a knife around the edge of the pan and reverse cake on a cake rack. allow it to cool for an hour or 2; it must be thoroughly cold if it is to be iced.
p.s:this tastes much better the next day. also, when you pulverize the almonds in the mixer, add a tsp of sugar to prevent the almonds from clumping together.