Cranberry Wine

We brew beer quite often, usually standard recipes for porters and stouts and some fruity wheat beers, but, every once in a while we make cider and wines.

This Cranberry Wine recipe is from First Steps in Winemaking by C.J.J.Berry. It turned out quite fine, not too sweet, not too syrup-y, just a bold cranberry flavor and enough fermentation to make it taste like wine, or, perhaps more like cider.

We have a couple of 5-gallon glass carboys, gallon jars, airlock, large strainers, funnels and large pots we use for brewing beer. If you are planning to try out this recipe for the first time, a few equipment are needed as listed below.

Ingredients
3 lbs fresh cranberries
2¼ lb sugar
1 Tbsp citric acid
1 gallon water
1 pkt Red Star® Côtes du Rhône yeast

Other eqipments: 2 gallon bucket, 1 gallon jar, fermentation air-lock, strainer

Preparation

1. Boil half the water and pour over the cranberries, stir in the sugar, and allow to cool
2. Add the remaining water cold, citric acid and yeast, cover and ferment on the pulp for 4 or 5 days
3. Strain into a jar and fit the air-lock and let it sit for 5 to 6 weeks
4. Strain and pour into a bottle for convenient serving
5. Enjoy!

Chicken in Cranberry Sauce

This Chicken in Cranberry Sauce dish came about experimentally on Thanksgiving. We were not making turkey, and I was not well enough to plan any special menu, but, since D likes chicken, I decided to make something different, something interesting, for him for Thanksgiving meal.

I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into thin cutlets, marinated in a simple marinade, and pan cooked till mostly done. Meanwhile, the cranberry sauce, with fresh whole cranberries and seasonings was done in a separate pan. Then, the chicken was thrown into the sauce and simmered till done. Garnish with some olives and fresh herbs.

Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into thin slices/cutlets
marinade: red wine vinegar, soy sauce, ginger powder
1-2 Tbsp canola oil

for the cranberry sauce:
1 cup whole cranberries
2 shallots finely minced -OR- a small red onion finely minced
4 cloves of garlic finely minced
1 Tbsp brown sugar (or more if desired)
1-2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste
¼ cup white wine (optional)
1 Tbsp canola oil or butter
salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Marinate the chicken pieces in the marinade for about 20-30 minutes while assembling the sauce ingredients
2. Sauce:Sauté the shallots and garlic; combine the sauce ingredients with about a cup of water and allow to simmer on medium-low till cranberries are done - they mush up when pressed with the back of the spoon; mush some of the cranberries for thickness, and leave the others whole for presentation; adjust flavors to taste
3. In a hot pan, sear the chicken pieces, and allow them to cook through but not get rubbery and tough; poke with a fork or slice with a knife, if juices no longer run pink transfer the chicken pieces to the sauce and simmer till chicken feels done to your liking
4. Garnish: with sliced olives, cilantro, chives or any other favorite fresh herbs

cranberry rhubarb chutney

Chutneys of all kinds were always handy at home when i was little, my mom made sure of that. She prefers the traditional south indian thogayals, all forms of coconut-based chutneys, "green" chutneys (usually, green chilies with mint/cilantro), "red" chutneys (tomatoes and dry red chilies usually), and so on.

Chutneys now have become an integral part of my menu, especially since the wee one likes to dip her foods in something, and, i sort of like to experiment with different flavors and combinations of ingredients. Some have come out surprisingly good, some have taught me a lesson or two...

Anyway, it is rhubarb season again - almost. A few plants we have in our garden have started growing again. Time for me to use up the stash of frozen rhubarbs from end of last season:-)

While I love dry fruits, my main objection is that they are almost always treated with sugar. But, last week, i found some unsweetened dry cranberries at the store and i had to get a big bagful.

Now, typically, fresh cranberries are a late autumn treat, whereas by then, rhubarb season has ended... so, making this with fresh cranberries and fresh rhubarbs has not happened so far for me...

This cranberry rhubarb chutney is a favorite at home, especially since i get to make it only a few times a year, depending on availability of the ingredients.

The tang from rhubarb and unsweetened cranberries is balanced by brown sugar and a pinch of cayenne pepper in this recipe. In that sense, this is a form of sweet and sour chutney, much like tamarind-date-raisin¹ chutney.

Serve with dosai, adai, savory waffles, rotis, or even with dhokla ...

Ingredients:
1 cup dried unsweetened cranberries
1 cup finely diced rhubarb
¼ cup brown sugar (or more)
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder (adjust to taste)
1 tsp canola oil
salt to taste (just a tad, to bring out the other flavors)

Preparation

heat oil in a pan, and sauté the cranberries and rhubarb for a bit; combine the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and blend to a fine chutney, adding water as needed to get the desired consistency; for additional tang, i sometimes like to add tamarind concentrate.

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¹ For tamarind-date-raisin chutney:
roughly measure out equal amounts of raisins and chopped dates into a pan, add just enough water to immerse them, bring to a gentle simmer till most of the water is absorbed, and turn off heat; when cool enough to handle, put the cooked dates and raisins, along with any remaining liquid, into a blender, add some tamarind concentrate, salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper powder, blend to a fine paste; adjust flavors to suit your taste and enjoy :-)

Cranberry Pearl Onion Sambar

Sambar, along with rice, is a dish I grew up eating pretty much at every meal about 90% of the time. I like the variety involved: add veggies in season, vary the spices a bit, omit the toor dal to make 'vatral kuzhambu' (aka vetha kozhambu), add coconut-coriander-seeds-dry-red-chilies paste to make 'araichu vitta sambar' and so on.

Sambar, in general, uses cooked toor dal, sambar powder and tamarind. As I ran out of toor dal at home, I used brown lentils and was quite happy with the results: it had the body and flavor of sambar, the heartiness of dal, tartness from the cranberries and a nice rich brown color from the brown lentils.

This recipe here is quite unconventional, so, probably my mom would not appreciate it as much :-)


Ingredients
1 cup fresh cranberries
6-8 pearl onions, peeled whole
1 cup chopped carrots (optional)
2 cups cooked brown lentils, coarsely mashed
2 Tbsp tamarind concentrate*
1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (optional)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
3-4 Tbsp sambar powder** (either make at home, or use store-bought)
salt to taste
5 cups of water
coriander and curry leaves for garnish
2 Tbsp canola oil (or any oil)
tempering: 1 tsp each urad dal and mustard seeds
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* tamarind concentrate that i use in my recipes is found in asian stores - sometimes sold as sour soup mix - here is a picture of what i use
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** sambar powder spices (this is a slightly non-traditional mix)
1 cup coriander seeds
1 cup dry red chilies
1/2 cup chana dal
1/2 cup toor dal
1/8 cup fenugreek seeds
2 Tbsp whole black pepper
2 2" piece of chinese/indian cinnamon bark
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 cup curry leaves (optional)

Preparation

1. if making sambar powder at home, dry roast all the sambar powder ingredients, one at a time;combine them and grind them to a fine powder and set aside; can double the quantities and store the sambar powder in airtight containers, or even vary the proportion a bit to get a slightly different flavor - primary ingredients are coriander seeds and dry red chilies and the two dals, the rest is more to suit individual tastes; and from what my mom taught me: try to use (a) equal quantities of coriander seeds and dry red chilies; (b) equal quantities of the dals; BUT, ratio of (a):(b) is 2:1
   
2. heat the oil in a cooking pot, add the tempering: urad dal first and when it starts turning light brown add the mustard; when mustard seeds splutter and die down add the pearl onions, carrots and asafoetida powder and sautee for a bit
3. add the tamarind concentrate and water, a little salt, sambar powder, cover and let it cook over medium-low till onions are cooked, and it reduces a bit; sambar can be thick or thin - i prefer it thick and hearty; if making it thin, add more water and adjust spices so it doesn't feel dilute and bland
   
4. add brown sugar, cranberries and cooked lentils; simmer on medium-low heat till flavors meld and cranberries are cooked but not mushy; adjust salt to taste
   
5. off heat, garnish with coriander and curry leaves; alternately, the curry leaves can be added at the tempering stage itself to render it slightly crispy, and infused with sambar flavors
6. serve warm with rice and sides such as snake gourd, snake beans and zuccini or even a simple potato dish.