Green Blog Project: Summer 2007

Garden 2007

Summer gardens are always fun. We did most of the planting in late Spring for the Summer garden. We sectioned off a portion of our backyard for vegetable gardening.

Usually, unless it is something exotic and needs special care, we just get seedlings from local nurseries. As to tips for growing, it is not easy to jot down here - each year/season is different.

One thing that helped when we first started the backyard garden a few years ago is to have the soil tested. There was a free soil testing organized by the county, I think, and we took a sample and got it analyzed and followed the recommendation of the experts there - mainly pH was too low and we put some lime to add some alkalinity to help neutralize, and they recommended adding bone meal as needed as it contains some nitrogen and a lot of phosphorous as well as calcium.

Since then we didn't do much to the soil... except common things like rotate the plants each year, plant peas in Spring so it prepares the bed for summer garden by encouraging nitrogen-fixing, enrich soil with organic compost etc. Composting has been easy as we got this Earth Machine for home composting ($35) as soon as we moved into this house and have been throwing our organic waste in there pretty much daily.

This year, we went to local nurseries and got some seedlings where appropriate - like eggplant, some varieties of tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries, grape vines, greens, and chilies. A few varieties of tomatoes, okra were germinated at home. And, of course, corn and sunflowers - we just threw the seeds on the ground and they sprouted fine.

Basically, just talking to the experts at the nursery, sprinkling water as needed, adding compost from home-composting, and weeding is all we did. No pesticides, no fertilizers. We read up a bit on the web to see what common bugs affect the plants we have. If needed, we were prepared to get some praying mantis or other bugs to keep the plant invaders in check, but, we didn't need to this year, just like last year.

Most of the plants did well. The Okra didn't. We just got a handful from 4 plants. I think it never got warm enough for the okra to thrive.

Although I cook several of my favorite recipes over and over, it makes sense to post them only once unless I drastically changed something... So, some of the recipes listed here were already posted at an earlier date even though I cooked them over and over this summer so we could use the fresh garden goodies...

Instead of sending individual entries, or meshing all my garden photos and recipes haphazardly, I decided to list my recipes relevant to Green Blog Project Summer Event hosted by Deepz

Eggplant: Sautéed Eggplant, Ennai Kathrikkai, Thai Red Curry, Godhsu, Eggplant Rasavangi

Greens: Ethiopian Meal, Creamy Chards Soup, Chards Masiyal

Potatoes: Potatoes Lyonnaise, Swiss Rösti

Summer Squash: Summer Squash and Eggplant dish

Raspberries: Raspberry Chipotle Chicken

Tomatoes: I ended up canning most of the tomatoes as sauces, stewed whole, thokku and salsa; made some tomato rice, green tomato koottu, and stuffed tomatoes, plus of course, used tomatoes in many of my recipes as one of the ingredients...

Herbs: Some perennials like Rosemary, Lavender, Mint have been around from last year, and we planted some cilantro, oregano, basil, fennel and chives and they all did well, thankfully.

It is getting chilly already, so we dug out most of the plants. Tomatoes are still fruiting, so we have left it on for a few more weeks. Brussel Sprouts is just getting ready, so, in about a few weeks we might be able to harvest it as well.

We finally laid a major portion of the summer garden to rest. It was not easy to say good-bye, but, we are not planning on any winter gardening as we are not set up for any sort of greenhouse arrangement.

The few indoor plants we have are well out of the kitties' and baby's reach, so they are surviving fine. But, to grow any more indoor vegetables and herbs this winter would have to remain a dream. Even if we can teach our baby to stay off, the kitties stay home when we are gone for the day and end up messing with the plants, even if out of curiosity or by accident...

So, dear garden, Au Revoir!

Spiced Banana Breakfast Shake

Banana is versatile and nutritious, as we all know. And, when I was growing up in India, we always had bananas at home to be eaten as a snack, or even dessert. There were at least half a dozen varieties of bananas I remember, each with distinct flavor, look, and size - from the small "manjal pazham" (yellow banana) to my favorite "nendran pazham" (i have no idea what the translation or botanical name for nendran is - I guess I could look it up...).

While I relish bananas as-is, I also like this simple shake which is low fat with a hint of spice. This thick, cold, and hearty shake with bold banana flavor and a hint of allspice and cinnamon is a great way to start the day.

This Spiced Banana Breakfast Shake is for this month’s Jihva for Ingredients - Banana. JFI was started by Indira of Mahanandi, hosted this month by Mandira of Aahar.

Ingredients:
2 large medium ripe bananas
½ tsp allspice powder
1 cup 2% milk
6 oz Yoplait™ low fat banana creme yogurt
cinnamon powder for dusting

Preparation

1. slice 1½ bananas and leave in the freezer for about 30 minutes
2. slice the remaining ½ banana for garnish
3. when ready to assemble the drink, combine the milk, yogurt, frozen banana slices and all spice powder in a blender and blend to a smooth drink
4. garnish with sliced bananas stuck through a toothpick and dust with cinnamon, serve cold

The quantity listed above makes about roughly two 8 oz drinks as in the picture.

Potatoes Lyonnaise

We had a few varieties of potatoes in our garden this year. We picked as many as we needed over the last two months. Now that it is getting quite chilly, we dug up all the remaining potatoes. If left in a cool dark place, these should stay fine and usable for a long time. But, I have a feeling we will probably use it up before Halloween.

Rather than the usual hash browns or potatoes au gratin or roasted potatoes, I decided to make Potatoes Lyonnaise a few days ago - a simple, earthy, wholesome French style potatoes smothered in onion and topped with some herbs.

As I understand it, this dish came about as an easy way of using up cooked potatoes, but later was adapted to become a classic French bistro cuisine. In its simple form, it is sliced potatoes browned in a skillet, intermingled with sweet caramelized onions, with perhaps a touch of parsley and salt. Just a four ingredient dish.

I started out with all sincerity, as this was a simple dish, and decided to serve some home made corn bread muffin for the mid-week dinner. I took the easy way out with corn bread muffin: I used Marie Callender's™ just-add-water, ready-to-bake corn bread mix. It was a weeknight dinner and I wanted something quick :)

The potatoes were par cooking in the microwave, the onions were caramelizing on the stove over medium heat, the cornbread muffin was part-way done in the oven with about another 15 minutes to go, when my little toddler announced that she had to go to the potty.

Now, she is just getting potty trained and I didn't want to ignore it... so, I walked her to the bathroom, turned on the bathroom light, made sure she got her pants and underpants down and out of the way, helped her sit on her little potty, and left her with a few books... forgetting the beautifully caramelizing onions on the stove! So, by the time I got back to them they had turned a little dark at the edges... Oh Well.

Anyway, here is my version of the basic Potatoes Lyonnaise. The classic recipe calls for quite a bit of butter, but, used a combination of olive oil and a touch of butter as I didn't want to slather butter on to potatoes and have it for dinner...

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes, medium-starch variety or even baking potatoes works fine
1 large sweet onion
1 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp Olive oil
salt to taste
water as needed
fresh herbs I used*: rosemary, chives
*grassy green parsley is classic, but, I didn't have any handy; however we have a fairly big rosemary bush and the chives are still doing fine, so, I decided to improvise. Besides, there is something about the combination of rosemary and potatoes that makes it irresistible for me :)

Preparation

1. Onions: Slice the onions thinly, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a pan, add the onions, a pinch of salt, stir to coat and cook for a few minutes, turn heat down to medium, cover, and allow the onions to caramelize, deglazing with water part way as needed
2. Potatoes: While onions are getting ready, skin, clean and slice the potatoes (I used a mandolin slicer), toss them with a hint of oil (or butter), and par cook them for about 3-5 minutes (exact time depends on microwave power settings) till potato slices are mostly opaque and bend little but don't break or remain stiff when bent
3. Remove the caramelized onions from the pan, keep handy; add 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp Olive oil to the same pan, when the butter bubbles and subsides, add the par-cooked potatoes, some salt, shake the pan gently to coat with oil and form a single layer, and leave it alone for a few minutes till bottom browns a little, without stirring, on medium-high heat; using a spatula, gently turn the slices over to brown the other side
4. when potatoes are nicely browned on both sides, return the caramelized onions to the pan and heat through; add chopped herbs and pepper if using, taste and adjust salt

It took less than 30 minutes to cook these Potatoes Lyonnaise and the muffins, and that's about the ideal duration in which I prefer to have a weeknight meal ready :)

p.s: adding this to GBP: Summer 2007 event listing as I used garden potatoes.

Ethiopian meal

I started this batter for Injera last Sunday and it was finally ready today, so I made a simple meal of injera plus a few sides. I had already soaked, pressure cooked and frozen some brown lentils and potatoes over the weekend, so, that cut down on cooking time. This meal was ready within 35 minutes, quite surprisingly, with multi tasking and parallel processing, of course...

Injera: same as my all-purpose flour injera recipe except, I used half all-purpose flour, half sprouted ragi flour.

Ragi, aka finger millet, is very nutritious and available readily in India, but, I had some difficulty finding it at Indian stores nearby here - I had to keep checking back to see if they got a new fresh shipment - when it ages it feels stale and I don't like it much.

The sprouted ragi flour we had needed to be used up as I had bought it several months ago planning to make ragi kanji and ragi koozh (porridge of sorts) for my baby... but, since she eats what we eat anyway, and I didn't want any koozh or kanji for myself, the ragi flour just sat there on the shelf, aging not-so-gracefully...

I served it with mesir wat, and cabbage-potato alicha which are essentially the same recipe as I had posted before.

However, the y'abesha gomen is not quite the usual gomen. I had to use up the chard from our garden, so, the recipe is the same as before, just used chards instead of collard greens.

The selatta is just romaine hearts dressed with a simple vinaigrette of lemon juice and olive oil, some salt and pepper.

Also, served yekik alicha, bamya alicha, yeqey sir qiqqil - Ethiopian beet salad, Ayib Bemit'Mit'a - cottage cheese with hot chilies. So, it's a pretty loaded injera...

Ennai Kathrikkai (stuffed eggplant)

We had four varieties of eggplants in our garden this year: Ichiban, Neon, Cloud Nine and "Red Ruffled" eggplant (it bore orange-colored fruits)... We had a good yield of Ichiban and Neon, moderate yield of red ruffled, but only a few Cloud Nine. The plants are preparing to give up as the weather is getting quite chilly already.

Over the summer, with the Ichibans and Neons, I had made several delicious meals of my favorite eggplant dishes:
Eggplant in Miso Sauce
Eggplant Rasavangi
Sautéed garden eggplant
Eggplant and Summer Squash
Eggplant Parmesan
Eggplant and Tofu
Thai Red Curry
Eggplant in Garlic Sauce
Eggplant Rice
Sambal Terong
Chutta Kathrikkai Pachadi
Baba Ghanouj and Baingan Bhartha (recipes to come).

I was trying to think of something different to do with the last few Ichibans from the garden as I lazily skimmed through my treasured copy of Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan searching for something that we have not had lately when happened upon the Ennai Kathrikkai recipe therein.

Now, this is a dish my mom used to make a lot when we were little. In fact, eggplant and okra were featured liberally in our meals in those days. But, while I love Stuffed Baby Eggplant in curry and have made it often, I feel like I have not made this South Indian style stuffed eggplant often enough.

Ennai=Oil, in Tamil, and the name suggested that this is an oily eggplant dish, but it is not really - just a few tablespoons of oil and pan sautéing gives it a great taste and texture.

Ingredients
4-5 medium (5" long) Ichiban eggplants
2-3 Tbsp canola oil
cilantro and fresh grated coconut for garnish

masala stuffing:
2 Tbsp chana dal
1 Tbsp urad dal
3 Tbsp coriander seeds
¼ cup dry grated coconut
3-5 dry red chilies
1 tsp tamarind concentrate
1 Tbsp brown sugar
salt to taste

tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp urad dal

Preparation

1. masala stuffing: dry roast all the ingredients except tamarind, brown sugar and salt; then combine all the ingredients including the tamarind and brown sugar and grind to a coarse powdery paste; keep handy for stuffing
2. assembling the eggplant: slit the eggplant lengthwise, keeping the stem end intact; stuff with the masala stuffing made above
3. tempering: heat oil in a pan, add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown add the urad dal and when it turns golden brown add the mustard seeds and lower heat when mustard seed pop
4. cook the eggplant: Add a few Tbsp oil to the same pan, gently place the stuffed eggplants in the pan, add a few Tbsp water, some salt, any remaining masala stuffing, cover and cook over medium low till eggplant is cooked through but not mushy; turn them around once or twice carefully; remove cover and allow to cook till all the water is gone and eggplant looks "perfect" ;)
5. Garnish with grated coconut and cilantro

Serve warm or at room temperature with rice or roti.

p.s: need to add this to the Green Blog Project GBP:Summer 2007 event.

Chicken Kebabs with Green Grapes Chutney

I was in the mood for good old Rava Upma for dinner, but D wanted something a little more exotic as it is a weekend dinner. He loves upma but only on weeknights as a simple wholesome meal...

Also, I hadn't thought of anything for AFAM:Grapes event this month hosted by Swapna at Swad. So, I set aside my dreams of Rava Upma with peas and carrots, and decided to make chicken kebabs for D, as well as for AFAM:Grapes :-)

I settled on kebabs as they are quick and easy to make, very light, and satisfying. D liked it because I don't care for chicken so more for him!

To make it interesting, I added grapes to the mix, and served it with green grapes chutney, thus showcasing the AFAM (A Fruit A Month) star of this month. I would have liked to try a dessert or a drink with grapes for this event, but, maybe another time...

Now, it is a bit early in season, and the handful of vines in our garden are very young, but, we did have a little bunch of local Pinot Noir! I was quite thrilled. It was quite tasty... not that we are planning to make our own wines, but, one can dream, right?!

Chicken kebabs are simple: Thaw and marinate boneless skinless chicken breast in a preferred marinade, arrange in skewers with favorite veggies, grill till chicken is done. I used some bell peppers, potatoes, grapes and pearl onions. If using potatoes, preferably par-cook it before grilling. Grilled grapes added a nice sweet-sourness to the kebabs.

Grape Chutney is a version of Sweet-and-Sour chutney. The variety of grapes used and its tartness would determine the proportion of ingredients. I used fairly tart, yet mildly sweet seedless green grapes.

Ingredients
Marinade:
1 tsp tamarind concentrate
½ cup light soy sauce
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp Shatta, an Arabic hot pepper sauce (or any favorite hot sauce)

Green Grape Chutney:
1 cup coarsely chopped green grapes
4-6 green chilies
½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro stems, cleaned
¼ cup white wine* (I used Pinot Grigio as we had it handy)
salt to taste
*optional: I liked to carry the theme of grapes for this AFAM:Grapes event

Preparation

1. Green Grape Chutney:Combine all the chutney ingredients, except the wine, in a blender or food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Pour it into a pan and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes, adding the wine if using.
2. Kebabs: Cut the chicken to bite-sized pieces, and marinate it for about 30 minutes. At the same time, soak some bamboo skewers in water. If using vegetables, cut them to bite-sized pieces as well and marinate them separately till ready to assemble the kebabs
3. Assemble the pieces in the bamboo skewers and grill till chicken is done

Vegetarian Thai Red Curry

I make Thai curries often and realized I hadn't posted my recipe for red curry in over 200 recipes I have managed to jot down here so far, even though I have posted the green curry recipe. So, here it is...

Now, as I am not fond of shrimp paste or fish paste, I try to make my own Thai curry pastes. There are a few brands of ready-made Thai curry pastes that leave out the shrimp paste and fish paste (or at least do not list them in the ingredients list on the label), but, rather than hunt for them, I use this adapted version at home, making this Thai red curry a vegetarian dish to my liking.

I had a few Neon eggplants and a bunch of Thai dragon chilies from the home garden that need to be used up, the weather is getting chilly and the plants are not going to survive for long in our garden... feel free to use bird's eye chilies, or Serrano, or even milder chilies to suit your taste. Any favorite vegetable combination would work for this red curry.

Ingredients
1 5" long Neon or Ichiban eggplant, cut into chunks on a bias
1 medium carrot cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium potato cut into chunks
2 cups chopped kale
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium broccoli stalk, chopped (not florets)
spring onions and cilantro for garnish
1 can light coconut milk
2 Tbsp canola oil
salt to taste


for the red curry paste:
8-10 red Thai dragon chilies
4 cloves of garlic
4-6 dry red chilies
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
3 Tbsp chopped galangal* (or ginger)
3 shallots, finely chopped, or one small red onion
2 Tbsp lemon zest (or kaffir lime leaves if handy)
½ cup chopped cilantro stems**
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp canola oil
4 Tbsp finely chopped lemongrass (I use just the bottom 4-inches or so of the stalk)
water as needed

* I buy the dried packaged galangal, and reconstitute in water before using
** I usually use the leaves for garnish, and save the stems for chutneys and curry pastes :-)

Preparation

1. Red Curry paste:Combine the ingredients above in a blender or food processor and blend to a smooth fine paste; adjust amount of chilies to your taste
2. Curry:
   • Heat the oil in a pan, add the red curry paste and sauté till aromatic, till it turns darker and flavorful - about 8 minutes on medium heat;
   • add the chopped vegetables, enough water to submerge the vegetables, add a pinch of salt, cover and cook till vegetables are cooked but not mushy;
   • add the coconut milk, simmer for a few more minutes; garnish with chopped spring onions and cilantro
   • 
     
3. Serve with warm jasmine rice, some crushed peanuts and sambal oelek or other sambals on the side

soba, tempeh and miso soup

It has been a while since I made Soba noodles. Somehow, Summer went by without much fuss. Not too many hot days. Fairly mild. We had salads and such simple meals for the most part.

Yesterday I came home with a nasty headache. D had many other things to do, so, I volunteered to cook something simple. Soba with Miso Soup sounded just like what the doctor ordered. To add some nutritional value so we can have a rounded meal, I threw in some Tempeh.

For the miso soup: recipe is the same as my usual one posted here. I used red miso paste.

For the soba: cook per package directions and steep in favorite flavoring or dipping sauce. Combined ponzu and a hint of mirin and let the soba steep in it till ready to serve - say about 10-15 minutes, while tempeh is getting ready.

For the tempeh: it is basically fermented soyabeans and adapts well to many flavorings. I carried the theme of ponzu and mirin, plus some cayenne pepper sauce to flavor the tempeh. Sautéed some onions and tomatoes, added the tempeh and flavoring, cooked for about 15-20 minutes.

Ana seemed to enjoy this meal, especially the soba. She doesn't care much for miso soup. That's OK. Studies have shown that soy inhibits absorption of iron (and maybe zinc), but, it has other health benefits that I am convinced it is safe in reasonable amounts, provided there are no other health concerns - soy has been shown to interfere with thyroid function...

Anyway, clearly, one has to evaluate one's health and diet and do what seems best, so I'll refrain from further discourse on the subject.

Sweet and Sour Shrimp

D was in the mood for some shrimp. He had bought some deveined, shelled, frozen cocktail shrimp. So, I made this sweet and sour shrimp dish for him.

Now, I absolutely cannot stand shrimp (I've tried it a few ways), nor can I down any lobster or crab. Quelle Horreur, indeed! However, I don't mind salmon or halibut once in a while, especially if smothered in spicy rich sauce which masks the fishiness :-)

When we were newlyweds, D and I went garage-sale-hopping as we were unemployed then, or partially employed doing pizza delivery and such, and therefore could not afford many things.

That's how the 2$ Pressure Canner came into my life and has become an inseparable and invaluable addition to my kitchen.

Also, that's how the Bread Machine came into my kitchen too - was a steal at 20$ as another newlywed couple in Troutdale was selling their Wedding presents that were multiples.

And, that's how this treasure of a book called The Thousand Recipe Chinese CookBook by Gloria Bley Miller came into our homes. At 5$, it felt practically criminal to take it away from this sweet grandma who told us that she won't be using it much more and would rather give it to someone who would appreciate it.

Anyway, this sweet and sour shrimp is really easy to make and takes less than 20 minutes. Cook the shrimp as desired, make the sweet and sour sauce, then, throw the shrimp into the sauce and it is done. I served it with some home-made pickled radish^† and slit kung pao chilies from our garden that D likes, plus some lemon wedges for extra tartness, if needed.

Now the sweet and sour sauce is taken from the above-mentioned The Thousand Recipe Chinese CookBook. Many sauce recipes in this book are very easy to follow and turn out quite good.

^† Pickled Radish can be made ahead: Just slice some radish and place in a container, heat some plain white vinegar and salt, pour over the radish, set aside to steep for an hour or more; if not using right away, allow to cool, cover and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Ingredients
10-12 cocktail frozen shrimp, thawed, patted dry
½ cup cornstarch
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
2- 3 cups canola oil for deep frying

for the sweet and sour sauce:

3/4 cup water ½ cup brown sugar (or sugar) ½ cup plain vinegar

1 Tbsp cornstarch 1 Tbsp soy sauce (low sodium) ¼ cup water

Preparation

1. heat the oil for deep frying
2. combine the cornstarch, cayenne pepper, salt in a bowl, toss together till well incorporated
3. just before ready to fry, throw the shrimp into this cornstarch mix, lightly toss with hands, throw into a colander and shake off excess mixture (if shrimp is allowed to sit in the mixture for long, it can get gooey and sticky, and won't be light and crisp when fried)
4. deep fry till golden brown, drain on a paper towel and keep handy
5. combine the first 3 sauce ingredients and bring to a boil
6. combine the last 3 sauce ingredients into a paste and keep it at room temperature
7. when vinegar sugar mixture is boiling, slowly stir in the cornstarch soy sauce mixture till well incorporated
8. toss in the fried shrimp, off heat

Serve warm over hot jasmine rice.

Pongal Godhsu

Pongal, Godhsu, Medhu Vadai and Chutney - all four together - evoke this wonderful memory of my childhood Sunday brunches. Many Sunday mornings, my mom made this combination which became a favorite brunch in our family.

Now, thankfully, D and Ana love it too, so I get to make it on and off on weekends. Plus, it gave me a reason to use up the eggplant, chilies and tomatoes from our garden.

Now, I was too lazy to make vadai, but I did make a simple chutney. And, as always, my recipes are adapted to my tastes, so they may not be quite traditional and authentic.

Ingredients

for the godhsu: 1-2 Ichiban eggplant (or any variety handy) 1-2 red paprika peppers (optional) 1 kung pao green chili (or any other variety) 1 medium onion 2 medium tomatoes salt to taste 1 tsp cumin powder 1 Tbsp coriander powder 1 tsp hot chili powder 1 tsp brown sugar ½ tsp tamarind concentrate Tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds curry leaves, cilantro for garnish

for pongal: 1 cup jasmine rice ½ cup yellow split moong dal 3 cups water salt to taste 1 Tbsp whole black pepper 1 Tbsp cumin seeds 2 Tbsp canola oil

for the peanut-coconut chutney:
½ cup dry roasted peanuts
¼ cup dry grated coconut
1-2 red paprika peppers, or red chilies
salt to taste
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Chutney:Combine the ingredients in a blender/food processor and blend to a fine paste, adding a little water, if needed. Optionally, add the tempering: heat oil in a pan, add 1 tsp urad dal, when it turns golden brown, add a tsp of mustard seeds and cumin seeds and when the mustard seeds pop, off heat and garnish the chutney.

Preparation:

Pongal: Combine the rice and dal in a pressure cooker and cook till slightly mushy; heat oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds and whole black pepper, stir a little till cumin seeds sizzle but not burn, add the cooked rice+dal, some salt, stir well, adjust to taste; add a little water if the rice is too thick; I prefer the almost-porridge consistency.

Godhsu: Finely dice the vegetables; heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds; when the mustard seeds pop, add the onions and other diced vegetables, sauté a little; then add the cumin, coriander, chili powders, salt to taste and the tamarind, some water to cover the vegetables, and allow to simmer on medium low till vegetables are cooked but not mushy. I like the godhsu to be fairy thick, not too runny...

Serve the pongal and godhsu hot and steaming. It makes a filling brunch especially on cold winter mornings. But, many a nights, I have served this for dinner too.

Poorna Kozhakattai

Among the few festivals I manage to celebrate to my satisfaction, Vinayaka Chathurthy is among the top, a few others being Gokula Ashtami, Navarathri, Deepavali, Arudra/Thiruvadirai, Karthigai, Karadayan Nonbu and, of course, Vishu - the New Year.

Apart from the symbolism and the rituals, each festival has its own special menu. The primary attraction I have is that most of the festivals we celebrate at our home are marked by mellow and subdued observances, solemn, meaningful and simple rituals, quite modest and unceremonious, yet, sincere and heart-warming.

The special menu item, offered as prasadam, that my mom usually makes for Vinayaka Chathurthi is this Poorna Kozhakattai aka Modakam pictured here. Today being Vinayaka Chathurthi, I was happy to make this poorna kozhakattai.

And, as with most of my recipes, this is probably not entirely traditional as I have adapted it to the ingredients handily available in my kitchen.

Kozhakattai, in general, is a steamed dumpling-like dish, which can be sweet or savory, with the stuffing inside making up the attractive part of the dish. Poornam is the term we used in my family to refer to a concoction of coconut+jaggery+water, (sometimes black sesame seeds+jaggery, instead of coconut) in proper proportion so it sets to a soft candy consistency. This poornam is usually encased in the dumpling shell made of rice flour+water, and then steamed to make this dish poorna kozhakattai.

The amount of dumpling dough and poornam can be varied, so, adjust the quantities as needed, while keeping the proportion of ingredients fairly the same. I usually make a small batch...

Ingredients

for the poornam:
¼ cup water (optional)
1/3 cup fresh or dry grated coconut or 1/3 cup toasted black sesame seeds
1/3 cup brown sugar* (plus a few Tbsp more, if preferred)
*jaggery if it is clean, else need to strain to remove mud and residue

for the kozhakattai dough:
½ cup water
2/3 cup fine rice flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp canola oil

Preparation

Kozhakattai: heat the water in a pan just to boiling, add the salt and oil, then gradually add the rice flour while stirring constantly till the dough just comes together; off heat, cover with a damp cloth till poornam is ready

Poornam: heat the water in a pan, add the brown sugar (jaggery if it is clean, else need to strain well to remove mud and residue), when it comes to a boil, add the coconut and keep stirring till it just thickens but not too long or it gets hard as a rock; off heat allow to cool for a few minutes, grease your palms and roll into 1" diameter balls while still hot. (Or any size you prefer, I like little ones...)

Shape a small portion (say 2" diameter ball) of the dough into a cup, add one poornam ball, and close it by gathering all sides and forming a cone-of-sorts at the top, all the while turning/rotating the dough cup so it seals tightly, and is shaped as in the picture.

Note: the dumpling can be oval or round, but traditionally, poorna kozhakattai is round as seen in picture.

Steaming: Place the prepared dumplings in a steamer or idlee cooker and steam them briefly - the dough turns a little translucent when done.

p.s: came across Yum Blog's Ganesha Chathurthi event on Ashaji's blog, and thought I must send this along...

Pulled Chicken

About three to four times a month, D gets to eat poultry or seafood, the only non-vegetarian foods he cares to eat. Even though I don't care to eat them much myself, I like to make it for D just to satisfy my culinary curiosity :-) Thankfully, D doesn't care for beef or pork, neither of which I can handle with confidence.

Anyway... This pulled chicken recipe was inspired by a barbecued pulled pork recipe on America's Test Kitchen program broadcast on PBS last season or so. Instead of BBQing, I simply cooked it on stove-top with lots of moisture to keep it juicy.

Recipe is simple:
Thaw and brine the skinned chicken (thighs, breasts, bone and all if you prefer), then, cook it in a large pot with flavors, submerged in broth, over low-to-medium-low heat for a l-o-n-g time - about 2 hours depending on how big the bird is - till chicken is fully cooked and the meat falls off the bones. We used a 3-lb chicken and it took about two hours to get it tender and cooked through - also depends on the heat, preferably, keep it medium low and steady. A slow cooker is a great option, only it might take longer to cook in a slow cooker than stove-top. Just need to make sure there is enough moisture throughout, and remember to turn the bird periodically till it is cooked all the way through. Then, gently separate the meat from the bones using a fork (ergo "pulled") shredding the meat, but not mushing it. Carefully discard all the bones. I had to let D do the handling of the bird before and after cooking as he is better at it than me.

Use the excess cooking liquid to make a reduction sauce, if preferred.

I threw in some red pepper flakes, parsley, rosemary, Patak's™ Tikka paste, garlic, onions and potatoes in the chicken stock (low sodium) and water that made the cooking liquid - but, use any flavors you prefer. And the potatoes can be fished out when they seem done and served on the side.

Pulled chicken makes a great sandwich, or can be served with simple rotis, or even with rice.

Raspberry Chipotle Chicken

I was skimming through some old food photos to see if I missed posting any recipe, and found this one I had made for D to commemorate Cinco de Mayo. It turned out quite fiery and delicious, and went well with some cold and delicious Dos Equis, some mango salsa and rice.

Mango Salsa is sort of thrown together, not really well planned. I love mangoes so I try to buy a few each week during the mango season and try to find ways to use them in recipes rather than eat them up as-is (which is great too!).

Mango-Avocado Salsa:
2 firm and ripe mangoes, skinned and diced
1 small red (or yellow) onion, diced
1 jalapeño, diced (seeded if preferred)
2 Tbsp chopped chives
1 ripe and firm avocado
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder
½ tsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice (adjust to taste)
cilantro for garnish
salt to taste

Combine the ingredients, adjust flavors and enjoy!

Chicken recipe is very simple. I thawed, brined and marinated the boneless skinless chicken breasts. But chicken thighs can work just as well. Made a raspberry+chipotle+tomato sauce. Pan seared the chicken breasts and then smothered it with the sauce and cooked till chicken was done.

Marinade I used: raspberry vinegar, cider vinegar, yellow mustard, minced garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, marjoram.

We had a bunch of raspberries in our garden and were quite excited. It has been yielding consistently this season, dwindling down to maybe a dozen raspberries once a week now that the season is almost over.

Raspberry Chipotle sauce:

2 cups loosely packed fresh raspberries
¼ cup chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (I used the store-bought canned variety)
4-5 garlic cloves minced finely
1 medium red onion, minced finely
1 medium red tomato, diced finely
1 Tbsp Agave nectar, OR, brown sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp raspberry syrup (optional)
salt to taste
2 Tbsp canola oil

Preparation

Heat the oil in a pan and pan-sear the chicken breasts on both sides till brown; remove from pan

in the same pan as above, add the minced onions and sauté till caramelized; adding a little more oil if needed

add the rest of the sauce ingredients, slide in the chicken breasts, add some water (or broth) as needed, and simmer gently till sauce reduces to desired thickness and chicken breast is fully cooked

Alternately, finish the chicken in the oven and smother it with the sauce to serve.

And since I got to use my garden raspberries in this recipe, I am glad to add this post to the Summer 2007 GBP event hosted by Deepz.

Chicken Satay

For small batches, just for the family, I prefer to broil in the oven, especially if am making Chicken Satay in winter. Grill gets used more in summer when it is not bitterly cold to be outdoors, and it is superbly hot to be indoors with the oven on.

Broiling time varies depending on the thickness of the strips and the oven. I typically start off with 5 minutes keeping a close watch because if the bamboo skewers get dry and hot they do tend to catch fire in the oven.

1. Marinate some boneless skinless chicken breast tenders for 30 minutes, even upto overnight in the fridge. 
2. Soak some bamboo skewers in water. 
3. Cut the chicken breast tenders into uniformly thin strips.  
4. Carefully threaded the chicken strips in the wet bamboo skewers. 
5. Grill, or Broil, turning the skewers as needed, and cook till chicken is done.

Serve with the Peanut Sauce/Dressing.

Marinade ingredients:
4 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Agave nectar OR 1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp tamarind juice or lime juice
2-3 garlic cloves crushed finely
1 Tbsp dry red chili flakes
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp grated ginger

As always, adjust the marinade ingredients to suit your taste. I simply throw things together depending on my mood, so, the measurements above are approximate at best:-)

Some grilled or roasted vegetables and pineapple slices would make this a wonderful summer evening meal.

Mysore Masala Dosai

When I was really young, I remember going to Mavalli Tiffin Room in Bangalore (Lal Bagh). Known famously now as MTR, the South Indian food served there was quite special and had that incredible home-made feel to it. MTR now also sells high quality packaged foods and ready-to-eat foods that are a favorite among Indians world-wide.

Anyway, RCI:Karnataka made me want to dedicate a special post to one particular dish that I used to order consistently at restaurants: Mysore Masala Dosai.

What made it special for me the first time I ate it in Bangalore was that it had this fiery, spicy chutney spread on the inside of the dosa, plus potato masala on the side, along with onion and coconut chutneys. It was a meal fit for a Queen!

Use any regular dosai recipe - I used my brown rice dosai recipe - for the dosai batter.

The fiery hot chutney I make is with red chilies, a tiny amount of shallots, very tiny amount of garlic and some grated coconut.

The potato masala is the same as what I posted in my poori-potato recipe

Once the dosai is made, spread a little chutney on the inside, scoop some potato masala in and roll up the dosai. Serve it with an array of chutneys like: coconut chutney, tomato chutney, extra potato masala, and even sambar, if you like.

I used my large rectangular griddle on stove-top to get the dosai a nice big oval - and one such large dosai is a huge and filling meal by itself!

Rice Idlee

I had resisted posting a recipe for idlee for almost a year now, since I started blogging because, to me, it felt like posting a recipe for cooking plain rice... I mean, agreed, different varieties of rice need different handling, different amounts of water and such, but basically, it is nothing much to get excited about.

But, ever since my mom gave me this rice-cooker/idlee-steamer apparatus, and ever since I discovered a short-cut of sorts for the batter that works consistently, idlee has become a favorite at home.

Simply put, idlees are steamed savory rice cakes, a staple in most South Indian households, ubiquitous and mostly uncelebrated. Many prefer Dosai (rice crepes) to idlees, at least in my close circle.

The nice thing about this electrical gadget my mom gave me is it takes the guesswork out and consistently delivers perfectly done idlees - it comes with a measuring cup to add water for each batch of steaming and has an on/off light to indicate if it is done. Otherwise, I usually steam it in a pressure cooker (minus the weight) or a stove-top idlee-steamer.



The batter to make idlees is fairly standard but each family usually adds its own little touch to make it different. The traditional process is to soak the rice and urad dal overnight, in proper proportion, then grind it to a fine batter and let it ferment till fluffy. Once the batter is ready, add salt to taste, pour into idlee molds and steam them.

Now, at home, my mom always made the batter smooth and silky so that the idlees were soft and spongy. Whereas, every now and then, when we went to restaurants, the idlees there had a certain coarse texture (yet fluffy, not dense) that I liked better than the soft and silky home-made ones.

Over the last 5 or six years, I've been doing the soaking-grinding-fermenting for idlee/dosai batters as much as I can.

But, to save some time and labor, I started using what I creatively call the "Short-cut Method": use urad flour, rice flour and rice (idlee) rava^† for making the idlee batter. This eliminates the soaking and grinding phase and I can just jump straight to the fermentation phase and have the batter ready easily.

^†rice/idlee rava is sold in most indian stores as rice meal or rice farina - it is coarse grain rice (almost like cornmeal texture) - and adds some body and dimension to the idlees that I like better.

Now, fermentation is not easy when weather is not hot enough... so, I try to help the process along by adding a touch of active dry yeast and leaving it by the heating vent in Winters.

Idlees are usually served with an array of chutneys like mint chutney, coriander chutney, coconut chutney, tomato chutney and so forth; as well as with delicious sambar; but, my mom's favorite side always is the idlee milaga podi (recipe coming shortly) - a ground spicy dal powder mixed with gingelly oil.

Ingredients
1 cup urad flour
1½ cups rice idlee rava
2 cups rice flour
1 tsp active dry yeast
1½ cups warm water
½ cup buttermilk
salt to taste
1-2 tsp gingelly or canola oil for greasing the idlee molds

Preparation

Mix the dry ingredients and stir in the buttermilk and water a little at a time till a thickish batter is formed.

Cover and set aside in a warm place to ferment for about 24 hours - I start it tonight, and leave it fermenting to be ready for dinner tomorrow night.

When batter is fermented well it turns fluffy and bubbly and acquires a mild sour smell and taste which is perfect.

At this point, the batter consistency can be adjusted by adding a little water at a time to get it to pour-able consistency, like thickish pancake batter.

Gently stir in salt to taste without losing the air pockets - over-stirring punches down the batter flat and sometimes can leave the idlee hard and dense.

Pour into greased idlee molds and steam for about 10-12 minutes till done - i.e., a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

p.s: thanks to Ashaji's comment reminding me about RCI:Karnataka, I would like to enter this post for the same! Yay!

blueberry coffee cake

About 6 weeks ago, we went to pick some blueberries at Sauvie island farms. We go there pretty much every year for the last several years and this year was more fun as we had Ana help us pick berries with full gusto.

As always, we froze about 2 or 3 gallon bags full of blueberries to be used over the coming year, till next blueberry season. And I used up some of the fresh ones to bake some goodies. Plus I had canned several jars of blueberry jam last year and they needed to be used up as well. That's how this coffee cake came about.

As usual, I did not follow any particular recipe strictly or closely - and looks like coffee cakes are hard to mess up, even for me :-)

Note: if blueberry jam is not handy, just simmer some extra fresh blueberries with some sugar, stir in cornstarch to thicken into a spreadable consistency and use it instead.

Ingredients:

dry ingredients: 2/3 cup sugar 1½ cup all purpose flour ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda

wet ingredients: ½ cup buttermilk 4 Tbsp butter 1 egg beaten

fruit filling: 2 cups fresh blueberries 2 Tbsp blueberry jam

Preparation

Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a baking pan, keep handy.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the the dry ingredients: flour, ½ cup sugar, baking soda and baking powder.

Cut in 3 Tbsp butter to the above mixture until the mixture has the texture of fine breadcrumbs.

Combine the liquid ingredients: eggs and buttermilk; stir or beat a little to form a smooth liquid.

Gradually stir in the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients until moistened, not too runny, not too thick either.

Spread half the batter at the bottom; add the fresh blueberries and blueberry jam over the batter layer; then, scoop the remaining batter and drop them in dollops or small mounds on top.

Mix the remaining sugar and butter together and sprinkle on top.

Bake in 350°F oven for about 30-45 minutes or until done - checking half way through.