Salmon with Fig Chipotle Mint Sauce

Looks like there is a theme going on here with the mint and the chipotle.

The thing is, when I open a can of chipotle in adobo sauce, I rarely manage to use up the whole can right away, and what I don't use up right away, I save for later, but don't want to refrigerate it for too long, so, the chipotle finds its way into as many dishes as I manage to make over the next few days.

A portion of the last of the skin-on Salmon fillet needed to be used up as it is nearly a year since it was last caught by the other adult and frozen safely.

Rub the non-skin side of the salmon with butter and chipotle sauce. Heat a cast iron skillet to medium-high heat. Place the chipotle-butter side down and cook till seared. Flip the fish so the skin side is down and cook till it gets crisp, and the salmon is cooked through and flaky.

Fig Chipotle Mint Sauce: In a blender, add a tablespoon of chipotle in adobo sauce, about 8 large mint leaves, and a tablespoon of fig preserves or fig jam, blend coarsely. Then drizzle some lemon juice and olive oil much like making an aioli till the sauce consistency is to your liking.

The sauce may not sport an alluring color, but, it sure exuded an alluring flavor, if one likes the potent combination of fig and mint and chipotle, which I do.

Fresh peapods, kale, and spring onions from the garden got sauteed and thrown onto the plate as the green bed on which the salmon is served, with a drizzling of the fig chipotle mint sauce, plus more sauce on the side.

I do tend to smother the dish with all the green stuff from the garden, which seems like a clutter in the picture... maybe next time I will take the time to compose a plate carefully instead of the quick plate-click-serve routine that I've gotten used to lately.

Lingcod Fish Encrusted with Mint, Fennel, and Lemon

Fresh mint and fennel from the garden is hard to resist. Being perennials, they come up before the weather warms up for planting basil and lemon grass.

Mix some salt and black pepper with softened butter and rub the fish with it. Dip in flour, dust off excess, and press into Panko seasoned breadcrumbs one one side. For the other side simply place an overlapping layer of fresh mint leaves, then press some breading on top.

Heat oil in a cast iron skillet, place the mint side down and sear the fish, leaving it undisturbed till the coating sets. Then, flip over and cook till the other side is set. Then, move the skillet to a 375°F oven and finish cooking. Remove the fish and set it on the serving plate to rest while the sauce comes together.

Lemon Butter Mint Sauce: Melt some butter in the same pan, squeeze some fresh lemon juice, add some mint and fennel leaves, simmer gently. Spoon over fish before serving.

Spring onions from the garden are another treat, they make a fantastic garnish, which I can't seem to resist.

French-Fried Onions-Breaded Rockfish with Mint Sauce

Rockfish filet was thawed and ready - caught and brought from Alaska by the other adult this summer. Breaded pan-fried is the easiest but this time, rather than traditional breading, I went with chickpea flour plus French-fried onions.

Simply rub some chickpea flour and seasoning on the fish, pan cook with a touch of oil, on both sides, till slightly crisp on the outside and cooked through. Top with a sprinkling of French-fried onions and broil in the oven for a few minutes. Drizzle with some mint sauce and serve warm, or serve the sauce on the side.

Mint Sauce: I saved the last of the mint and spring onions in the home garden. Just a handful of mint leaves, plus some green chilies and roasted peanuts come together with a splash of apple cider vinegar and lemon juice, salt to taste, for this minty sauce.

Jalapeño Garlic Mint Fennel Mini "Green" Flatbread

Serene green. Only in Spring and Summer.

By Autumn there's more reds and oranges and yellows and browns around here.

By Autumn, the summer garden is spent, and if I am lucky, I might get to plant a small fall edible garden, and then wait patiently till following April when things start sprouting green again.

To savor the greenness of the season, this pillowy soft, flavorful, warm, and irresistible flatbread is packed with herbs, no added food coloring.

Since the mint is taking over a corner of the garden with its runner roots, I've been trying to use up as much of it as I can. Mint thookku is perfect to keep for a few months - especially if I can it in boiling water bath, with enough added tamarind and lemon. Dried mint leaves stored in the freezer bring that instant flash of summer during the wet and cold winter days.

I also make a paste of fresh mint, fennel, jalapeño, and garlic and store it refrigerated every week or so to add to curries and soups. And, that's how this flatbread got a boost of flavor from home garden herbs.

The basic recipe is similar to my usual naan recipe in that this flatbread uses yeast-risen dough. Rather than traditional rounds or ovals, I went with squares this time, just for fun.

These are perfect as-is at tea time or even for breakfast, but the best thing about it for me is that both the kids like it and ask for it to be packed for lunch. I can make a stack of two dozen or so quickly on a weekend and freeze it for months. The recipe here makes about 16 3x3" square flatbreads. More than enough to pack a week's lunch for both kids, with enough to spare for adults.

Ingredients

2 tsp yeast

12/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/3 cup flax meal

1/2 cup mint fennel jalapeño garlic paste*

1/2 to 3/4 tsp salt

1 to 2 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup scalded milk

(*substitute any favorite herbs and aromatics)


Preparation

1. Knead the dough, roll it out into a large rectangle, fold in half, fold in half again and roll it out again to build layers
2. Cut into squares with a knife and cook each square much like naan

Fava Bean and Chard Herb Hummus

I am hoping to plant chard for fall harvest, along with more kale, lettuce, and snap peas. By late fall, I end up circling back to comfort foods like soups, stews, and casseroles with nothing new to add to the recipe collection here.

Anyway, a while back, I had a nice big bunch of rainbow chard and a bag of fava beans fresh from CSA that I didn't want to ignore. Not that fava beans will be ignored in our house, especially when the older child gobbles them by the handful when they are blanched tenderly and set out in a bowl.

While tossing some blanched fava beans in salads and pasta is easy, I wanted to make a dish with intense fava bean flavor that will be the center of attention for a simple evening meal. What's more intensely fava bean-flavored than Fava Bean Hummus? Well, maybe fava bean stew, fava bean falafel, fava bean koftas. Or, any of the three recipes in Broad Bean Bash...

It's a Zen-like activity to shell the fava beans. Well, at least, when there is just a small basketful, and not a giant sackful. So, one fine evening a few weeks ago, I sat and shelled the fresh fava beans out in the backyard, watching the hummingbirds flit to and from their feeder. The house finches and chickadees were making several trips as well, completely ignoring me sitting right in their path to the feeder.

The chard wouldn't like sitting in the sidelines, I figured. So, chard got chopped, stem and all, with the fresh garlic from the farm; sautéed with a pinch of salt and a splash of lemon juice, the greens were raring to go.

Later that evening, the beans danced in boiling water for a couple of minutes and dove into the bowl of ice water. Finally, they were glad to shed their thick outer layer without much coaxing, and emerged in their resplendent beany greenness. It was quite a sight to behold in a bowlful.

Now, strong herbal notes bring that added oomph to the palate, so, armed with my trusty shears, I snipped a bit of mint, fennel, oregano, and scallions from the garden.

Blanched fava beans, sauteed chard and garlic, fresh herbs, plus a couple of bold Serrano chilies came together with some tahini, olive oil, and a splash of apple cider vinegar to make this incredibly delicious Chard and Fava Bean Herb Hummus.

Served with homemade Chipotle Coconut Flour Flax Meal Rotis, and a small side salad, the Fava Bean Hummus took center stage that night for sure.

Ingredients
1½ cup blanched fresh fava beans
1 cup chopped chard with stems
½ cup packed herbs
2 Tablespoon tahini
2 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
salt to taste

Tempering:
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon small dry Pequin peppers

Preparation

1. Combine the hummus ingredients in a food processor and blend to desired coarse/smooth consistency, adjusting salt to taste
2. Tempering: Heat the oil in a small pan, add the cumin and caraway seeds, allow to crisp and brown gently, then add the Pequin peppers and turn off heat
3. To serve, garnish the hummus with the tempering, stir if preferred.
4. Serve with Chipotle Coconut Flour Flax meal Roti, or Chipotle and Sun-dried Tomato Tortillas, or, Ube Purple Yam and Chipotle Naan, or, Mint Olive Greek Pita,  or Kohlrabi-stuffed Kale Fennel Naan...

Quinoa, Millet, Barley, Soybean Dosai

I grew up with a steady dose of Dosai-- the versatile anytime crepe-like flatbread made from hearty urad dal and rice. I didn't think about it much, it was a staple and therefore taken for granted. I didn't bother to analyze its nutritional value when I was young, I didn't care to know much about it, except that the batter was always handy and my mom would make this simple dish without a second thought and serve it with any handy chutneys or leftover sambaror kozhambu.

Now that I am trying to feed my own kids, I find that this unassuming protein-packed Dosai is my best friend-- the kind I can take liberties with and not fall out. The kids love it with or without chutneys and dips on the side. And, these are second-gen enhanced non-traditional Dosai that tradition-loving puritans would probably frown at.

There is the 'ordinary' dosai that was favored by the kids when they were toddlers. A slight variation of it is the Brown Rice Dosai that always satisfies. And then, there is the Soy Bean Dosai which comes from a multipurpose batter that doubles as Idlee batter for steaming. On and off, I make the batter with a mix of barley and pearl millet with brown rice and urad dal which gives a wholesome Barley-Millet Dosai.

It helps to plan ahead: I typically soak the ingredients overnight on a Thursday evening, grind it Friday night, then allow it to ferment all weekend thanks to natural wild yeast in the air. In winter, I help it along by warming up the oven a bit, turning off the oven, and leaving the batter inside the oven to stay warm and ferment better. The batter is ready when it bubbles a bit when stirred and emits a pleasant sour odor.

The batter, once fermented, can be stored in the fridge for a week. I take out a little at a time to make a few dosais as needed for breakfast or dinner, as they taste best fresh off the griddle.

Anyway, there are umpteen variations for the batter - just add whatever grams and pulses are handy and see how it turns out. Sometimes, the texture is off and the batter tends to stick to the griddle making it tough to cook if the combination is not right, but over time, it is easy enough to gauge the outcome while measuring and soaking the ingredients.

This Quinoa-Millet-Barley-Soybean Dosai is one such combination that turned out fine and was much relished by the family

Ingredients for the batter:
1 cup urad dal
1 cup quinoa
1 cup millet
1 cup barley
1 cup soy beans
2 cups brown rice

Preparation

1. Soak the ingredients for the batter overnight
2. Grind using a heavy-duty blender or wet grinder to a smooth batter with the consistency of pancake batter
3. Leave it in a warm place to ferment and rise - preferably cover with a cheese cloth or any breathable towel - anywhere from 24 to 48 hours
4. Add some salt and a little water if needed to make the batter spreadable on the griddle to make the crepes.
5. Cook much like pancakes-- brown one side, flip and cook the other side

Mint Thuvaiyal:

Here, I serve the dosais with red-chili chutney and home-made Mint Thuvaiyal- a pesto-like South Indian concoction. Mint is getting wild in the backyard, their runner roots taking over a small patch thanks to recent rains and warm weather.

Fresh mint leaves from the garden sauteed with toasted urad dal and chana dal, plus grated coconut, chilies, and tamarind paste come together to make this quick thick chutney-like blend referred to as Thuvaiyal/Thogayal in Tamil.

Home Garden Eggplant, Kale, Chard, Mint Rice with Lemon Cucumber Cherry Raita

Summer has been rather hot around here, and I haven't been cooking anything new or interesting. Just the same trusted comfort foods. And a lot of salads. Home garden lettuce and kale have come in handy for the salad base so far.

Ichiban eggplant, kale, chard, mint and chilies from the garden came together for this simple Indian rice dish flavored with mild spices like cumin, coriander, turmeric, plus star anise, cardamom and cloves, along with some crushed ginger and garlic.

Typically, raita is a cooling yogurt accompaniment served with spicy dishes in India. This time, I went with lemon cucumbers from my garden (pictured in the right bottom corner of the collage above), plus some mint and cherries, as well as colorful mini peppers and red onions.

Quinoa Scallions Fenugreek Feta Fritters

For a while now, fritters, griddle cakes, and unleavened pan breads seem to be taking over my kitchen. Anything is fair game as long as I can make a batter and cook it on the pan quickly. A nice big vegetable side, plus a few of these small fritters or pancakes seem to be a popular dinner meal with all but the youngest in the house.

Ingredients
1 cup cooked quinoa
¼ cup buttermilk
¼ cup crumbled feta
¼ cup finely chopped scallions
1 Tbsp Bragg's Liquid Aminos
2 eggs
2 Tbsp flax meal
2 mint leaves minced
2 Tbsp finely chopped cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (available at most Indian stores)

3 Tbsp finely diced onions (optional)

oil for griddle cooking

Preparation

1. Combine the ingredients and mix well to form a thick batter
2. Heat a well-seasoned cast iron skillet to medium, with a light drizzling of oil
3. Drop a dollop of the batter, flatten a bit, allow to cook till browned; flip and brown the other side
4. Serve warm with Mint-Cilantro Chutney

Mint-Cilantro Chutney:
10 mint leaves, finely chopped
½ cup chopped cilantro
1 small serrano chili, chopped (optional, adjust to taste)
1 Tbsp Tahini paste
¼ teaspoon tamarind paste
¼ teaspoon agave nectar

Combine the ingredients in a blender, and process to a fine paste, adding water if needed for the chutney consistency.

Cucumber, Cherries, Tri-color Mini Peppers, Tomato Salad

The fresh, crisp vegetables and fruits with a light citrus dressing makes this a perfect summer salad. Accompanied by a tall glass of Watermelon Smoothie, this cucumber-cherry-pepper-tomato salad can be a sumptuous summer mid-day meal. Add in a small hunk of Pugliese bread to mop up the dressing and it turns into a feast-of-sorts.

But that is not all. Stir in some plain non-fat beaten yogurt and it turns into a peerless raita to accompany spicy Chicken Paella or Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani.

Cilantro, mint, tomatoes, and sweet walla walla onions were from the home garden.

Ingredients
cucumber
mini tri-color peppers
pitted fresh cherries
shallot or small walla-walla sweet onion
yellow fresh tomato
cherry or grape red tomatoes
½ serrano chili (de-seeded, if preferred)
1 tsp freshly grated ginger (optional)

roasted sunflower seeds or peanuts for garnish

Asian Light Citrus Dressing:
4 mint leaves, chopped finely
1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 tsp mirin
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tsp sesame oil
a pinch of salt as needed
a dash of ground black pepper to taste

Simple Mint, Fennel and Garlic Naan

This Mint, Fennel and Garlic Naan recipe is similar to my stuffed naan recipe, but, rather than use the piroshky dough, this recipe has no eggs, and has a couple of ingredients that I have been incorporating into foods over the last few years - viz., flax meal and nutritional yeast.

Ground up flax seeds (flax meal) is better utilized by the body than whole flax seeds which might just pass through undigested at times. Nutritional yeast tastes good in many savory foods like mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and even makes air-popped popcorn taste delicious. If buying these from bulk food stores, store in cool dry place and smell before using - flax meal can go rancid over time.

The fresh mint and fennel in the home garden was the inspiration for this dish - much like mint and fennel pesto.



Any other herb or even grated vegetables can be added to the dough to make interesting naans. Some of my staples: sprinkle some white or black sesame seeds, or some kalonji (nigella sativa), maybe some chopped spring onions, or some methi (fenugreek) leaves if handy.

If making on a weekend, I start the dough around mid-morning and let it rise till ready to make at dinner time. The mild sour smell and beautifully fluffed up dough indicates it is ready to be cooked.

These naans freeze well - place sheets of wax paper between each one, store in a zipper sealed freezer bag. Thaw in fridge overnight and warm up in toaster oven or conventional oven, or even stove-top. (Microwaving the naans don't work well for me).

Serve with Radish Greens Dal (I used radish greens from the home-garden which had to harvested anyway) and Muttar Tofu Curry (pictured);

or with Paneer Kofta Curry and Kohlrabi Dal;

or with any South Indian Koottu or Korma

maybe even some cucumber,mint, tomato, onion raita.

My gas stove and roti-wirework , with cast iron skillet come in handy to simulate the earthy texture and flavor, but, even just a cast iron skillet approximates the clay-oven-like (tandoori) finish.



Ingredients
4 tsp rapid rise yeast
3½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ cup flax meal
4 Tbsp Nutritional yeast
½ cup 110°F water
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1¼ cup warm milk (more or less)
1-2 tsp salt (depending on how salty you prefer the naan)
4-6 cloves of garlic finely minced (more if you prefer)
½ cup freshly chopped mint and fennel leaves, combined

Preparation

1. Making the dough: In a large bowl, add the rapid rise yeast, brown sugar and lukewarm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes till frothy
2. Add the salt, flax meal, nutritional yeast, flour, chopped up herbs, garlic, plus a little milk at a time, and knead to a smooth elastic dough; place in an oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume - I leave it by the heating vent or in a slightly warm oven (oven turned off, of course)
3. When ready to cook, divide into 10 or 12 balls - bigger balls makes fewer but larger naans, as expected
4. Roll each ball out, one at a time, to a quarter inch thick round; fold once to form semicircle, fold again to form a rough triangular shape; roll with rolling pin to about ¼-inch thick and keep covered till ready to cook
5. Cooking the Naan: Heat a cast iron skillet to high heat; brush one side of the naan with water, place the damp side down on the hot skillet and leave it undisturbed for a minute or so till bubbles form on the top surface
6. Remove from skillet, flip and transfer to the roti-wirework and place the uncooked side over open flame of gas stove till it is cooked through, but not charred;
7. Alternately, flip and cook on the cast iron skillet till done

The complicated description above could be quite misleading - these naans are the easiest to make and quite wholesome :)

Spicy Cous-Cous Patties with Mint and Fennel Pesto

Cous-cous with Spicy Tagine is a favorite dinner for the adults in the house. Kids don't care for it much. There's usually some cous-cous leftover, nudging me to reconstitute them into something appetizing the next day.

These cous-cous patties are a nice way to use up leftover cous-cous. Simply add finely diced onions, carrots, bell peppers, maybe some spices like paprika and cumin, perhaps even some chipotle chilles, bind with eggs or bread, form into patties and pan-fry.

Or, shape them into small balls, even flattened balls, and deep fry, like bonda or vada. The deep fried flattened cous-cous balls remind me of one of my favorite street foods in India, Masala Vada, which is usually made with a few different kinds of lentils.




If I were to indulge à la Owl in Tearwater Tea, I would say the heels, the end-slices, of sliced bread loaves, loathed and discarded cruelly all over, warrant a mention.

Anyway, rather than eggs for binding the cous-cous, I prefer slices of bread, especially the heels, adding a bit of stock or water as needed to be able to shape the patties or balls.

Now, chutneys and pestos flow freely in my kitchen. Chutneys were nothing to write about when I was growing up in India - there were several varieties - any combination of handy edible ingredients, ground together with thought to flavor and texture, becomes a fine condiment to accompany any meal.

In those days, my mom reserved her precious Moulinex Mixer exclusively for delicate handling. All the heavy-duty idlee/dosai batter and chutneys were made using the large mortar-pestle called Aattukkal - The Grinding Stone. Quickly smashed ginger, garlic, black pepper, cumin was done in Ammi kal - a lesser known but just as valued companion of Aattukkal. Ammi kal is very much like the Mano and Matate used in the Americas.

Pesto, to me, bears similarities with the Indian chutneys I grew up with. After all, Pesto is made by quickly grinding the ingredients together in a mortar and pestle. Some favorite nuts, olive oil, fresh herbs, dash of salt/pepper is all it takes to make fresh pesto that has enhanced many a simple dish in our house.

The mint and fennel pesto with sunflower seeds came about thanks to the lovely mint and fennel in the garden that have managed to survive my negligence.



Mint and Fennel Pesto with Toasted Sunflower Seeds
Ingredients
1 cup fresh mint leaves
¼ cup fresh fennel leaves
1 clove of garlic
¼ to 1/3rd cup toasted sunflower seeds
2-4 Tbsp olive oil
hint of water, if needed
salt and black pepper to taste

Simply blend the ingredients together to desired consistency, adjust salt to taste.

Mint Chutney

This is a rather simple version of mint chutney. Serve with pakoras and bhajjias, or on the side with naan or rice- this chutney is quite versatile.


Ingredients
4-5 cups of mint leaves, washed
4-5 serrano chilies (fewer if too hot)
1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 Tbsp urad dal
1 Tbsp chana dal
½ cup dry grated coconut
salt to taste
water as needed
1 Tbsp oil

tempering: 1 tsp canola oil, ½ tsp mustard seeds, ½ tsp urad dal

Preparation

1. heat oil in a pan, add urad and chana dal, toast them till they are light golden brown
2. add the chilies, ginger, coconut, mint leaves and sautee for about a minute or so in medium heat till mint leaves wilt a little and turn dark green; turn off heat, allow to cool
   
3. transfer the cooled contents to a blender and blend to a smooth texture, adding water and salt as needed
   
4. tempering: heat oil in a pan, when it starts to shimmer, add the urad dal, when it turns golden brown add the msutard seeds and turn off heat, allowing msutard seeds to pop in residual heat

Tempering is optional: I like the nutty taste the fried urad dal and mustard seeds impart :)

Stir well before serving