Thanks to my cousin, I am a proud recipient of a CSA share. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and I have been looking out for something suitable for the last 4-5 years. There weren't any farms/distribution centres close enough to our place to be called local(according to me), and I didn't want to commit to driving 15-20 miles one way each week to get fresh (and supposedly local) produce. When Denish told me about one opening up in our town itself, I jumped at the idea.
I've been getting fresh vegetables for 3 weeks now(today is the 4th distribution), and I have been introduced to a slew of vegetables that I have before only looked lovingly at the grocery store, or read about, and didn't have the courage to buy them; for lack of recipes to try, and lack of guinea pigs to try upon.
We've got bok-choy(tons of it), kale, collards, radishes, beets, lettuce, chard, spinach, turnips and turnip greens, mustard greens, arugula, peas etc., but my favorite happens to be garlic scapes.
Garlic scapes are to garlic what spring onions are to onion. They have a mild subtle garlicky flavor, and have found their way into rotis, uttapams, daal, sambhar and thecha. You could use them in lieu of (or in addition to) spring onions.
The garlic-scapes thecha(based on the Maharashtrian garlic thecha) was a simple mashed mixture of a couple of garlic scapes, with 4-5 green chillies and salt, pounded with a mortar and pestle (because I still haven't made a decision on what mixie to buy after my last American blender gave way more than a year ago). The mortar and pestle treatment does wonders to the texture (and taste, and rusticity) of the resultant chutney though.
More accounts/adventures of my CSA experience to follow. Will update the post with pictures soon...
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Cooking With Kids - Zebra Cake
When I started this blog, I had grand visions of publishing my recipes. But I have become so addicted to blog-hopping, and trying out recipes from other blogs, that I hardly think of posting my own. Anyways, here is another one that I just had to make as soon as I saw it.
I have to juggle work and taking care of my 6-year old, Adarsh between 3 and 6 in the evening. And he is forever wanting to do some activity or the other with me. When I saw this recipe, I was amazed at how simple it was, and thought that it would be a perfect candidate for an activity with Adarsh. Not to mention that he loves spending time in the kitchen.
The original recipe is from here. I followed Farida's recipe for the cake batters too. Adarsh helped me in measuring, breaking the eggs, mixing, and finally the funnest part - pouring out the white and chocolate batters. I had the chocolate one, and he had the white one. My pictures didn't turn out as well as Farida's, but the picture here doesn't do justice to the actual cake. But it was the only picture taken, as we were all busy eating the cake afterwards. We were pretty impressed with the way the cake turned out, both in the looks and taste department.
I found that the batter became thick when I added chocolate. When I make it again(and I sure will), I will thin out the chocolate batter a little with milk. The layers would come out more pronounced then. Or I might give it a try with other cake batter recipes.
But overall, a wonderful technique, and ample opportunities for the little ones to help out, and feel excited, and important:)
I am not posting the recipe here, as you can get detailed instructions with pictures on Farida's lovely blog.
I have to juggle work and taking care of my 6-year old, Adarsh between 3 and 6 in the evening. And he is forever wanting to do some activity or the other with me. When I saw this recipe, I was amazed at how simple it was, and thought that it would be a perfect candidate for an activity with Adarsh. Not to mention that he loves spending time in the kitchen.
The original recipe is from here. I followed Farida's recipe for the cake batters too. Adarsh helped me in measuring, breaking the eggs, mixing, and finally the funnest part - pouring out the white and chocolate batters. I had the chocolate one, and he had the white one. My pictures didn't turn out as well as Farida's, but the picture here doesn't do justice to the actual cake. But it was the only picture taken, as we were all busy eating the cake afterwards. We were pretty impressed with the way the cake turned out, both in the looks and taste department.
I found that the batter became thick when I added chocolate. When I make it again(and I sure will), I will thin out the chocolate batter a little with milk. The layers would come out more pronounced then. Or I might give it a try with other cake batter recipes.
But overall, a wonderful technique, and ample opportunities for the little ones to help out, and feel excited, and important:)
I am not posting the recipe here, as you can get detailed instructions with pictures on Farida's lovely blog.
Do try this...
Kafuli:
Yes, not Kulfi, but kafuli, and it is a savory dish made with greens. This has probably become my most favorite recipe for spinach. Knowing the health benefits of spinach, I try to include it atleast 1-2 times a week and am always on the look-out for new recipes. Some of my favorite ways of cooking spinach are:
- Traditional south-indian keerai masiyal
- Spinach kootu with moong dal - variations with and without coconut
- Spinach mor kootu
- My mil makes a puli-itta keerai, supposed to be especially good with poricha kozhambu, but me and my husband don't favor it much(ofcourse, I relish and eat everything :))
- Kinda andhra-style preparation with onion, ginger, garlic, and some kind of lentil, usually tur dal or chana dal
- Classic sindhi preparation of sai bhaji - spinach pressure-cooked with soaked chana dal, jeera, tomato, green chillies, ginger and cilantro, seasoned with salt, chilli powder and dhaniya powder, and roughly mashed after that
- Classic palak-paneer - spinach with onion, ginger, garlic, roughly mashed, and fried/plain paneer pieces added at the end. Sometimes, it's palak without the paneer,sometimes replaced with tofu, and with potatoes at other times.
- Palak rice - Gravy similar to palak paneer toasted with rice, and cooked in a rice-cooker
- Palak roti/puri - Dough made with atta and blanced pureed spinach (usually with green chillies, ginger, cumin, cilantro), and made into rotis or puris.
- Palak tucked into Italian preparations like tortellini, ravioli or lasagna, or Greek spanakopita, but I haven't made any of these from scratch at home
- A recent addition to the palak repertoire is kashmiri haaq adapted from one of my favorite blogs It is close to the south-indian masiyal in terms of sheer simplicity, albeit with the flavor difference due to mustard oil, but it lets the flavor of spinach shine through, unmasked.
Okay, enough of my spinach ramblings...So, getting back to the recipe in question, as soon as I saw the recipe on Mydhaba, I knew I had to try it. Kafuli is a Kumani preparation from what I gather from the post at VKN, and is made with pahadi palak and pahadi rai, and mentioned that it could be made with spinach and methi. I love the flavor combination of spinach and fenugreek leaves, and use it in my sai-bhaji, if I have fresh methi(fenugreek). During dinner with kafuli, I was mentally transported to a crisp cool breezy summer night at a roadside punjabi dhaba. This version is a quick, tasty version, and will replace my palak-paneer recipe, for the most part. No chopping onions, tomatoes etc., and the taste is superb. In my humble opinion, the flavor punch comes from the mustard oil, and the fresh ginger and garlic sauteed in it. So please don't skip these. And oh, don't skip the methi too, as it gives the dish a deep and earthy note.
Here's the recipe copied verbatim from MyDhaba (I used rice flour paste in the end, and didn't add yogurt or tomatoes). A big thanks to Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal for her recipe, and VKN for publishing it...
Kafuli:
Serves 4 Cooking time: 45 Mins
Ingredients:
250 gms spinach /mustard greens chopped coarsely
100 gms fenugreek leaves chopped coarsely (optional) 4-5 green chilies 2 tbsp oil (preferably mustard oil) 4-5 cloves garlic 3-cm piece of ginger 1 tsp cumin seeds a pinch of asafetida ½ tsp coriander powder ¼ tsp turmeric powder 1 tbsp rice or chickea flour mixed with water into a paste 2 tbsp yogurt (optional) 1-2 cups water salt to taste
Method: Wash spinach and fenugreek under running water. Chop and boil both vegetables along with the green chilies in a little water till tender. (A pressure cooker or microwave can be used here). When cooked smash it against the walls of the utensil it has been cooked in. The result should be a coarse puree. (Do not use a blender as that will result in a smooth puree and the dish will lose its texture). Finely pound ginger and garlic. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add garlic and ginger. When the garlic and ginger are aromatic, add cumin seeds and asafetida. Add spinach and fenugreek puree, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt. Add required amount of water to kafuli and bring to boil. Now add rice paste or chickpea flour paste to thicken. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes on a slow fire till the gravy is thickened. If too thick add some water and boil again. Garnish with pure ghee and serve hot with roti or steamed rice. Traditionally sourness was added with yoghurt at the end but a more modern variation also allows for a tomato or two just after the asafetida, before adding greens in which case the yoghurt would be omitted.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Muffin of sorts
Here I had a sole aging banana, and the desire to make banana nut bread again. And Adarsh wanted muffins. And I was nursing a terrible cold, and didn't feel like doing any kind of work. But felt emotionally obliged to make something fun for my son over the weekend. As Rajesh took Adarsh on his Sunday activities, I took stock of my woefully bare pantry (only in some items:)), and also had a baby with cold "kade-var"(reminded of Mukta bai). So here is what I came up with...
Banana-nut-chocolate chip muffins (makes about 12 medium sized muffins)
Ingredients:
1 sorry banana - mashed pulp about 1/2 measure (I used my rice measuring cup - 160 ml - 2/3 of the normal cup, and based my measurements on this unit)
1/2 measure - milk - pantry staple
3/4 measure - brown sugar - pantry excess
1/2 measure - sour cream - pantry excess
1 egg
1-1/2 tbsp butter - pantry staple
1/2 measure AP flour (maida) - pantry constraint
1/2 measure rava - pantry staple
1/2 measure atta (whole-wheat flour) - pantry staple
handful (probably 1/4 measure) walnuts chopped
handful (probably 1/4 measure) semi-sweet chocolate chips - pantry excess on request from Adarsh
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Procedure:
Heat oven to 350 F. Beat well the mashed bananas, milk, butter(melted would be good), egg, sour cream(can be substituted with yogurt), sugar and vanilla. Fold in the flours and the baking powder, baking soda and the cinnamon. Finally add the nuts and chocolate chips. Pour into paper-lined muffin tins, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until a skewer poked into the muffin comes out clean.
P.S.: I am not bothering with pictures, as I realize that that is my handicap. Didn't even take pictures this time (I do have several posts in draft, on which I want to upload the pictures, and then publish :))
Overall, we were quite pleased with the results. The sweetness was muted, just to our liking, and the rava and atta lent a nice dense texture to the muffins. I was worried that the result wouldn't be banana-ey, but we could taste the banana. If I had more bananas, I would add another one, and take away the milk.
Banana-nut-chocolate chip muffins (makes about 12 medium sized muffins)
Ingredients:
1 sorry banana - mashed pulp about 1/2 measure (I used my rice measuring cup - 160 ml - 2/3 of the normal cup, and based my measurements on this unit)
1/2 measure - milk - pantry staple
3/4 measure - brown sugar - pantry excess
1/2 measure - sour cream - pantry excess
1 egg
1-1/2 tbsp butter - pantry staple
1/2 measure AP flour (maida) - pantry constraint
1/2 measure rava - pantry staple
1/2 measure atta (whole-wheat flour) - pantry staple
handful (probably 1/4 measure) walnuts chopped
handful (probably 1/4 measure) semi-sweet chocolate chips - pantry excess on request from Adarsh
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Procedure:
Heat oven to 350 F. Beat well the mashed bananas, milk, butter(melted would be good), egg, sour cream(can be substituted with yogurt), sugar and vanilla. Fold in the flours and the baking powder, baking soda and the cinnamon. Finally add the nuts and chocolate chips. Pour into paper-lined muffin tins, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until a skewer poked into the muffin comes out clean.
P.S.: I am not bothering with pictures, as I realize that that is my handicap. Didn't even take pictures this time (I do have several posts in draft, on which I want to upload the pictures, and then publish :))
Overall, we were quite pleased with the results. The sweetness was muted, just to our liking, and the rava and atta lent a nice dense texture to the muffins. I was worried that the result wouldn't be banana-ey, but we could taste the banana. If I had more bananas, I would add another one, and take away the milk.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Pizzaaaaaaaaa
Making pizza dough has become a de-riguer thing for me these days, thanks to the epicure in my son, Adarsh. Bloom some yeast in some warm water, make other additions like salt, sugar/honey, olive oil/yogurt/potato, mix in flour (mix of all-purpose and whole-wheat/atta), let it rest for a while, knead it, and you have a multipurpose dough ready.
If you've kneaded dough for rotis, you can swing the proportions too, after a couple of times of measured practice...
Top it with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and you've got yourself a gourmet pizza.
Top it with home-made tomato sauce, some mozzarella cheese, and you've got your kid happy.
Add mushrooms, pepper, onions, olives, jalapenos, and you have a vegetable pizza
Make a white sauce, slather on the rolled out pizza dough, add broccoli, corn or spinach with some pecorino-romano/parmesan/cheddar cheese.
The options for pizza are endless..
Or stuff it with curried cauliflower/onion/potato/left-over curries, and you can call it stuffed naan-kulcha
Or make it plain, and you have some yummy naan...
I also used some tile leftover from a bathroom remodel as my pizza stone, and the oven at 500 F, and you have a close recreation of the brick-oven pizzeria...
Get your palette ready, and color away to the varied possibilities...
If you've kneaded dough for rotis, you can swing the proportions too, after a couple of times of measured practice...
Top it with goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and you've got yourself a gourmet pizza.
Top it with home-made tomato sauce, some mozzarella cheese, and you've got your kid happy.
Add mushrooms, pepper, onions, olives, jalapenos, and you have a vegetable pizza
Make a white sauce, slather on the rolled out pizza dough, add broccoli, corn or spinach with some pecorino-romano/parmesan/cheddar cheese.
The options for pizza are endless..
Or stuff it with curried cauliflower/onion/potato/left-over curries, and you can call it stuffed naan-kulcha
Or make it plain, and you have some yummy naan...
I also used some tile leftover from a bathroom remodel as my pizza stone, and the oven at 500 F, and you have a close recreation of the brick-oven pizzeria...
Get your palette ready, and color away to the varied possibilities...
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Whole-wheat Banana Nut Bread
Recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma Baking (The Best of the Kitchen Library). Recipe is halved, and vanilla extract added.
Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups whole-wheat (wholemeal) flour, plus extra for dusting
(I used atta)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp, plus extra for greasing
1 cup sugar
2 large ripe bananas mashed
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan and dust with flour.
In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until blended (use a hand-blender). Beat in the banana, then beat in the eggs until completely mixed. Add the vanilla at this point. The mixture might look lumpy and curdled. That is okay.
Stir in the nuts. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir until just blended.
Pour and scrape the batter into the pan, and spread evenly. Bake until a thin wooden skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups whole-wheat (wholemeal) flour, plus extra for dusting
(I used atta)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp, plus extra for greasing
1 cup sugar
2 large ripe bananas mashed
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Procedure:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan and dust with flour.
In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until blended (use a hand-blender). Beat in the banana, then beat in the eggs until completely mixed. Add the vanilla at this point. The mixture might look lumpy and curdled. That is okay.
Stir in the nuts. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir until just blended.
Pour and scrape the batter into the pan, and spread evenly. Bake until a thin wooden skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
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