I've been trying out a few more recipes from my Filipino cookbook. We had chicken adobo for dinner tonight and I needed a couple other dishes to round out the meal. I opted for a cucumber salad and a mango salad. For the cucumber salad, I followed a recipe that I found online. For the mango salad, I was pretty much just winging it. I ended up stirring together a couple tablespoons each of some other dressings I had on hand and stirring together a few other ingredients with some sliced mango and a little bit of palm sugar and calling it a day. I was slightly worried that such a chaotic approach would result in a disappointing dish, but it was actually amazingly good! TF and I both had seconds. I would definitely make both this and the cucumber salad again in the future.

Mango salad (top right) picture with cucumber salad (bottom right) and chicken adobo with rice (left).

Mango Salad

Ingredients

• 1 mango, sliced
• 1 shallot, halved and sliced thin
• 1 fresh red Thai chili, sliced thin on bias
• 1 tsp. palm sugar¹, pulverized
• 2 Tbsp. dressing from cucumber salad
• 2 Tbsp. dressing from salad crêpes
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss to thoroughly combine.
2. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
3. Top with chopped dry-roasted peanuts if desired.

---

¹ My mango was a bit under-ripe and not very sweet. If you have a very sweet, ripe mango you may wish to omit the sugar. Make it to whatever level of sweetness you prefer. ^Back

We were supposed to be having "Indian" burrito bowls for dinner last night. But it wasn't until I went to start preparing them that I remembered that we were all out of bell peppers. With that plan out the window and only about an hour 'til dinner, I began frantically searchig for a replacement meal.

Conveniently this socca could be made entirely with pantry staples and freezer ingredients. It's not the heartiest of meals, but it was sufficient for us for the evening. And, added bonus, the Kidlet absolutely loved it!

I think this would be good with a little honey and olive oil drizzled over the filling just before serving, but it was plenty good as it was.

Socca with Kale, Pistachios, and Apricots

Slightly adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

Batter

• 1 1/2 c. chickpea flour
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil (plus more for frying)

Filling

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-3 clove garlic, minced
• 3/4 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 3 allspice berries, ground
• 300g chopped kale (or Swiss chard/silverbeet)
• 3 Tbsp. finely chopped dried apricots (~6 apricots)
• 2 Tbsp. pistachios, chopped
• 1 tsp. wine vinegar
• pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp. honey (optional)
• extra olive oil, for drizzling (optional)

Directions

Socca

1. Combine chickpea flour, salt, pepper, and turmeric and mix well.
2. Stir in water and olive oil.
3. Heat a little olive oil (1-2 tsp.) in a 20cm (8") skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Once the oil is hot, pour in ~1/2 c. of the batter and cook until the underside is browned 2-4 minutes.
5. Flip the socca and cook until the other side is done (1-2 minutes).
6. Remove from pan, add another teaspoon or two of oil and repeat the cooking process with the remaining batter.
7. If desired, keep the socca warm in an oven preheated to 95°C (200°F) while you prepare the filling.

Filling

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook for ~5 minutes.
3. Add garlic, cumin, salt, and allspice and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
4. Add kale and apricots and cook until wilted (~5 minutes).
5. Remove from heat and stir in pistachios and vinegar.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. If desired, drizzle with honey and additional olive oil.
8. Top socca with kale mixture and enjoy.

Kaaju Badam Chawal (Cashew-Almond Rice)

This rice was EPIC! Easily my favourite rice dish from this book so far. The cashews, almonds, onion, and ghee make it deliciously rich and flavourful while the mint adds a hit of freshness without actually making it taste "minty". We had it with Gujarati kadhi and mirchi nu shaak, but I struggle to think of any curries that it wouldn't be delicious with. I can't believe it's taken us this long to try it! I suspect I'm going to be using mint a lot more often from here on out.

Kaaju Badam Chawal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 1/4 c. slivered almonds
• 1/4 c. (or more) raw cashews
• 4 dried bay leaves (Indian/cassia or bay laurel)
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 c. water
• 1/2 c. fresh mint leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, coarsely cracked

Directions

1. Heat ghee on sauté "medium" on InstantPot (or medium-high heat on stove).
2. Add onion, almonds, cashews, and bay leaves and cook until nuts are toasted and onion is softened and beginning to brown (~5 minutes).
3. Add rice and stir once or twice to coat with ghee.
4. Add water, seal cooker, and pressure cook on "high" for 20 minutes.
5. Allow a 10-minute natural release.
6. Release any remaining pressure, fluff rice, and stir in mint and cracked pepper.

Mirchi nu Shaak (Bell Pepper Curry)

Iyer recommends this curry in particular as a good companion to Gujarati kadhi. I've made the kadhi before, but never this bell pepper curry. I figured that I'd try to do the whole meal this time: kadhi, rice, and this bell pepper dish to add some veg to the line-up.

Mirchi nu shaak on top of Gujarati kadhi and kaaju badam chawal.

Mirchi nu Shaak

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 2 large bell peppers, cut into 2cm pieces
• 6 whole cloves
• 1-2 dried bay leaves (Indian/cassia or bay laurel)
• 2 Tbsp. chickpea flour
• 1 c. water
• 1 tsp. Dhania-Jeera Masala
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted dry-roasted peanuts, ground
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of 1 lime

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add bell peppers, cloves, and bay leaves and cook, uncovered, for 15-18 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add chickpea flour and cook until it browns (3-5 minutes).
4. Add water and deglaze pan.
5. Add masala, salt, sugar, and cayenne and reduce heat to medium-low.
6. Simmer, uncovered, for 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Stir in peanuts and cilantro.
8. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice.

I grew up hearing the story of anadama -- a bread which supposedly arose when a fisherman got tired of his wife Anna making the same cornmeal porridge every day -- but I'd never actually tried it before. I generally like cornbread and other baked goods containing cornmeal, so I was hopeful that this bread would also be a success.

I think it was reasonably successful in the end. The flavour is good and everyone seems to like it. But man-oh-man, this was by far the most miserable, difficult dough I've ever had to work with! And I got ZERO oven spring from it. Which was somewhat disappointing. I am inclined to experiment with some different recipes and mixing techniques to see if I can find something that works a little better.

I'm writing this version up now, just to have a record of what I did and how it behaved. I wouldn't recommend trying to follow this recipe unless you're prepared for a big mess and a relatively dense (but flavourful) bread though.

Anadama

Slightly adapted from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

• 1 c. water
• 1 c. cornmeal
• 2 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1/2 Tbsp. instant yeast)
• 1 2/3 c. warm water
• 600g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/3 c. molasses
• 1/4 c. oil

Directions

1. Combine the cornmeal with 1 c. of water and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat.
2. Cook until thick and just starting to stick to the bottom a little.
3. Remove from heat, cover, and set aside to cool and hydrate. Time needed will vary from 15 minutes to as long as overnight depending on how coarse your cornmeal is.
4. Once the cornmeal has cooled and softened, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside for 10 minutes.
5. Combine flour and salt and mix well.
6. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture.
7. Gradually incorporate flour into liquids, working from the centre outward.
8. Once a stiff dough has formed, turn it out and kead it for ~10 minutes.
9. Use a fork to mix the molasses and oil into the cornmeal, breaking up any lumps.
10. Press dough flat and spread cornmeal mixture on top.
11. Knead cornmeal mixture into dough. This will be very messy. The dough will become quite wet. Mine became so soupy that I had to add a couple Tbsp. of flour despite the authors' dire warnings not to add any flour at this stage. Once the cornmeal was incorporated, it basically became a batter. It was pourable. The addition of a couple Tbsp. of gluten flour took it to being merely incredibly messy, sticky, and sloppy rather than actually runny.
12. Transfer the sloppy mess to a bowl, cover, and set aside to rise for ~90 minutes.
13. Even after sitting for an hour and a half, my dough was still completely unworkable, so I worked in ~1/4 c. more flour at this point to try to make it a little more manageable. It was still extremely sticky and wet even so.
14. Return to bowl, cover, and allow to rise for another hour or so. (I found it completely impossible to do a finger poke test with this dough, even with a very wet finger. The dough was just way too sticky.)
15. Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and divide into two equal portions.
16. I found trying to round the portions to be a fool's errand. It was just too wet and too lacking in structure. I probably ended up working in another 2-3 Tbsp. of flour at this stage.
17. Cover and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
18. Shape into loaves (as best you can) and place into greased loaf pans.
19. Cover and allow to rise for another 45 minutes or so.
20. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~1 hour.

TF's family is from New England and a lot of her family still lives in Pennsylvania. Thanks to this, I discovered scrapple. Scrapple is a mix of ground pork and often some organ meats cooked with cornmeal and spices. It's then formed into a loaf, sliced, and fried for breakfast. It's apparently a "Pennsylvania Dutch" thing and you can't get it outside of Pennsylvania and a few of the surrounding states.

When I stumbled across a recipe for goetta, I was getting similar vibes. It's a mix of ground meats (usually pork and beef) cooked with oats and spices, formed into loaves, sliced, and fried for breakfast. Sounds similar, right?! And it is also a German-American dish. It just stems from a different region. As far as I can tell, this particular grain sausage loaf originates in Ohio rather than Pennsylvania, but the idea is very similar.

There are many different goetta recipes. Most seem to lean toward a 50-50 mix of ground pork and ground beef, but some use more of one or the other. I even ran across a few recipes that use sausage (already seasoned) and then add additional salt and seasonings to the mix. I felt like this might make it too salty and fatty, so I stuck to using unseasoned ground meat.

The seasonings also varied widely. Bay leaves, marjoram, black pepper, and white pepper seemed to be common to most of the recipes, but things diverged widely from there. Some included things like cloves, ginger, nutmeg, or mace. Others had coriander, allspice, sage, or thyme. And most recipes seemed to have at least a few people saying the seasonings were spot on while others said that the sausage was delicious but not at all authentic-tasting. I'm assuming this is just a case of regional variations and different people being used to different flavour profiles.

I read through a few different recipes, took note of the different seasonings and instructions, and then came up with my own based on what I thought sounded good. This seems like a fairly flexible recipe though. I'm sure you could play around with the exact ratios and seasonings to suit you own tastes or what you have on hand.

Goetta

Adapted from Daring Gourmet (and a few other sources)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 c. steel-cut oats
• 4-6 c. beef stock¹
• 2-4 c. water
• up to 2 tsp. coarse sea salt²
• 3 dried bay leaves
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried marjoram
• 450g lean ground beef
• 500-700g ground pork³
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. white peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. coriander, ground
• 1/2 tsp. dried sage
• 1/2 tsp. allspice berries, ground

Directions

1. Combine the oats, stock, water, bay leaves, and marjoram and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for 30-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add beef, pork, onion, garlic, black pepper, white pepper, coriander, sage, and allspice, bring to a boil, cover, and cook for another 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.
5. Line two 9"x5" loaf pans with foil.
6. Divide the goetta mixture between the two prepared pans and chill for at least 4 hours and as long as overnight.
7. The next day, unmold the goetta and cut it into 1-1.5cm thick slices.
8. At this point it can either be fried (preferably in bacon grease) or frozen for future enjoyment.
9. Don't overcrowd the pan or move the goetta around too much while frying it or it may fall apart.
10. Serve with eggs, toast, and whatever other breakfast foods you desire.

---

¹ I used homemade chicken stock instead of beef stock. The original recipe called for 4 c. broth + 4 c. water, but I ended up with about 6 c. of stock, so I used all of it and then added water to bring it up to a total of 8 c. of liquid. I was quite happy with how this worked out. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for 1 Tbsp. of salt. I thought this sounded like way too much. I put in 2 tsp. because I was using homemade stock that had very little salt in it. If using commercial stock/broth, I would likely omit the salt entirely. Once the mixture is cooked, you can taste it before putting it in the molds and add more salt if needed. ^Back
3 All the recipes I found called for 900g of meat for 2 1/2 c. of oats. However, I had a 450g package of beef and a 700g package of pork. I didn't want to try to save and find a use for 250g of pork, so I just put all of it in. I doubt the little bit of extra pork made much of a difference and it saved me dealing with leftover raw meat. ^Back

MamaEarth has started selling a few products from a local Jersey cow dairy. I was planning on making a yogurt-based kadhi anyway, so I figured this would be a good opportunity to give their yogurt a try. It was lovely and rich. And I appreciate that it came in a reusable glass jar -- which can even be returned for a rebate!

Our yogurt curry was a great success, but that only used up about half of the 1L jar. So I decided that maybe it was finally time to get around to trying the yogurt bread recipe from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book.

I've kind of made it before, since it's the basis for the Loaf for Learning. The only difference here is that it uses a full 900g of flour (to make two loaves rather than just one) and it's made using an overnight sponge rather than mixing the dough all up at once and baking it the same day.

I have to admit, my bread confidence has been somewhat shaken since the move. I just haven't been able to devote the necessary time and concentration to it. And, between that and the new kitchen/appliances, I've had some pretty tragic bread failures over the last couple months. So, with how things have been going lately, it was incredibly gratifying to put these loaves in the oven and see almost immediate oven spring. They still weren't perfect but, oh my goodness, they were so much better than what I've been turning out over the past few weeks that I was NOT about to complain or nit-pick! Finally, a success!

Apologies, I don't have a photo for this one. I gave one loaf away and we devoured the other one before I remembered to take a picture of it. Maybe I'll manage to snap one next time.

Yogurt Bread

From the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

Sponge

• 1 tsp. active dry yeast (or 3/4 tsp. instant yeast)
• 1/4 c. warm water
• 450g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3 Tbsp. honey
• 2/3 c. plain yogurt
• 1/3 c. cold water

Full Dough

• 1 tsp. active dry yeast (or 3/4 tsp. instant yeast)
• 1 1/2 c. warm water
• 1/4 c. oil
• 450g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour

Directions

Sponge

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside for ~10 minutes.
2. Combine the flour and salt and mix well.
3. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the yeast mixture, honey, yogurt, and cold water.
4. Mix to form a stiff dough.
5. Knead for 5-10 minutes (depending on the efficiency of your technique).
6. Shape into a ball, place in a bowl, cover, and set aside for 6-10 hours. It will need closer to six hours for a warmer room (maybe 21-23°C) and closer to 10 hours for a cool room (maybe 16-18°C). If you're somewhere in the middle (~20°C), eight hours will probably do.

Full Dough

1. Once the sponge has had ample time to ferment, dissolve the remaining yeast in the remaining warm water (from the "full dough" ingredients).
2. Add the yeast mixture to the sponge and work it with your hands to soften/loosen it, making a sort of sponge slurry.
3. Work in the oil and remaining flour.
4. Turn out onto your work surface and knead thoroughly (15-20 minutes).
5. Form into a ball, place in a bowl, cover, and set side to rise for ~1 hour.
6. Knock back, knead a few strokes if desired, shape back into a ball, return to covered bowl, and let rise for another 45-60 minutes.
7. Knock back again, divide into two equal portions, and round each one.
8. Cover and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
9. Shape into loaves -- folding into thirds and rolling up -- and place into greased loaf pans.
10. Cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes.
11. Slash tops as desired and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 45-60 minutes.

Also from Aaron & Claire, this recipe is quicker and has fewer moving parts than the previous one, but is also a lot harder, physics-wise -- especially if you have large eggs and small toast. It may be worthwhile to slice a second piece of meat into strips and use them to create a sort of dam around the edges rather than just relying on the mayo.

Korean Breakfast Egg Toast

Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 1 slice of bread
• sweetened condensed milk
  
• 1 slice of ham or bologna
• mayonnaise
  
• 1 egg
• salt
• pepper
• parsley

Directions

1. Spread sweetened condensed milk on the bread.
2. Top with a slice of meat.
3. Use the mayo to make a wall around the edge. Depending on the bread:egg ratio, you may also need to use structural meat to raise the edges of the ham slice.
4. Crack the egg into the middle, trusting the mayo (and structural meat) to keep it in place.
5. Season with salt, pepper, and parsley.
6. Cook in a convection oven at 350°F for 10 minutes.
   

This breakfast dish comes from one of Aaron & Claire's youtube videos. It's a bit involved, although you can speed things up by preparing the sauce the previous night and leaving it in the fridge. We had two bowls worth of rice and lettuce, and it turns out this produces quite a lot of tuna topping, especially with the addition of the frozen vegetables; it made two very hearty breakfast bowls with some tuna left over. I think four bowls would be a natural amount for this recipe, and you can always make less and fridge the remaining tuna for the next morning.

I don't think I would want to put in the time to make this every morning, but it was very tasty and very filling, so I'd definitely make it again sometime.

Gochujang Tuna Rice Breakfast Bowl

Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp Korean chili flakes (substitute chili powder 1:1 if needed)
• 1 tbsp gochujang
• ½ tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp corn syrup
• ½ tbsp sesame oil, plus extra for serving
  
• ½ tbsp chili oil
• 2 tbsp corn oil
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
  
• 2+2 green onions, chopped, divided
• ½ onion, finely chopped
• 1 fresh red Thai chili, minced
  
• 2 tins (170g wet/120g dry) tuna
• ¼ C frozen peas (optional)
  
• ¼ C frozen corn (optional)
  
• rice (already cooked)
• shredded vegetables to taste (carrot, lettuce, cucumber, cabbage, etc)
• 4 eggs
• sesame seeds for garnish
  

Directions

1. Whisk together chili flakes, gochujang, oyster sauce, corn syrup, sesame oil, and chili oil to form the sauce.
2. Heat the corn oil over medium heat.
3. Add the garlic and two of the green onions and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
4. Add the onion and chili and cook, stirring often, until translucent.
5. Add the tuna, sauce, peas, and corn, and mix well.
   
6. Meanwhile, prepare four bowls by putting the rice in them, warming it up, and topping with the shredded vegetables.
7. When the tuna is warmed through, top the rice-vegetable mix with the tuna.
8. Quickly fry the eggs (or cook them alongside the tuna, if your pan is large enough) and place atop the tuna.
9. Garnish with sesame seeds, the remaining green onions, and a drizzle of sesame oil.
   

Kaas-Uien Brood (Cheese-Onion Bread)

I forget exactly how I ended up on a Dutch food blog, but I ended up finding quite a few recipes that piqued my interest. This onion-cheese bread was one of them. I ended up searching out a few different recipes to compare and contrast. What I mostly concluded was that there's no consensus on how to make it. Some recipes used water, some used milk, some used both. Some used only one onion per loaf, some used up to five! Some included sweeteners like sugar and/or honey, others didn't. The only real consensus I found was that it's a fairly flat loaf (like a foccacia) and the onions go on raw. Everything else was variable.

I ended up (more-or-less) following the original recipe I found. I swapped out some of the all-purpose (white) flour for hard whole wheat flour. I also held back a portion of the flour since I know that bread recipes written by folks who aren't used to baking bread are often a bit on the dry side. This turned out to be the right call! Even with 1/4 c. of the flour held back, I still needed to add ~1/4 c. of additional water just to make a reasonable (if still somewhat tight) dough. The recipe below has been adjusted to accont for this.

Kass-Uien Brood

Adapted from The Dutch Table

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. warm water
• 1/2 Tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1 c. hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 c. milk
• 2 small onions, halved and sliced
• 2 c. grated Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Sprinkle yeast over warm water and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Combine whole wheat flour with the salt and 1 c. of the all-purpose flour and make a well in the centre.
3. Pour the yeast mixture and the milk into the well in the centre of the flour.
4. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet, working from the centre outward.
5. Turn the dough out onto your work surface and knead for 10-20 minutes, working in the additional 1/4 c. flour as needed.
6. Shape into a ball and place in a covered bowl to rise for 60-90 minutes. (Poke with a wet finger to test for doneness. If the hole doesn't fill in at all, it's ready to be knocked back.)
7. Knead a few strokes, shape back into a ball, and return to covered bowl to rise for another 45-60 minutes. (Use the same finger poke test to check for doneness.)
8. Knock back again and shape into a 1.5cm thick rectangle.
9. Transfer dough to a greased baking sheet and sprinkle with sliced onions and grated cheese.
10. Set aside to rise for ~30 minutes.
11. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 20-30 minutes.

This was delicious! The Kidlet wasn't really a fan, but symbol and I both loved it. It did take longer than planned to cook; I've recorded the original times as written here, but symbol found that it took significantly longer.

We had fairly large parsnips, and found it useful to slice them into planks and then slice those lengthwise into strips with a square cross-section, but if you have smaller parsnips you can probably just plank them as written.

The original recipe calls for shallots. We used red onion & garlic instead and I think I'd stick with that next time, it was great.

Skillet-Roasted Parsnips and Pears

Cook's Country,

Ingredients

• ½ small red onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp honey
• ⅛+¼ tsp salt, divided
  
• 1 lb parsnips, peeled
• 1+3 tbsp butter, divided
• 1 pear, halved & cored
• ¼ tsp pepper

Directions

1. Whisk together the onion, garlic, vinegar, parsley, honey, and ⅛ tsp salt in a small bowl to form the dressing; set aside.
2. Trim the ends of the parsnips. Cut in half lengthwise, then slice into 1cm thick planks on bias. If overlarge, cut planks into 1cm×1cm sticks.
3. Combine parsnips, water, 1 tbsp butter, and remaining ¼ tsp salt in a large skillet. Cover and cook over medium-high heat until parsnips are fork-tender, ~6-8 minutes.
   
4. Uncover and cook until water has fully evaporated.
5. Stir in pear and remaining butter, and spread into an even layer. Cook until parsnips are evenly browned, ~6-8 minutes, flipping and redistributing as needed.
6. Remove from heat and stir in pepper and dressing; serve.

Kashmiri Mirchi Waale Murghi (Creamy Chicken with Kashmiri Chiles and Fennel)

This one took a bit longer than written -- the onions and chicken both wanted a bit of extra time, and the sauce needed to be thinned out a bit at the end to keep it from over-thickening while we mixed in the milk solids. The end result was delicious, though! Since it calls for an entire chicken, expect to need to deal with bones while eating it.

Kashmiri Mirchi Waale Murghi

660 Curries

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp ginger paste
• 2 tbsp garlic paste
• 2 tsp ground Kashmiri chilies (or ½ tsp cayenne mixed with 1½ tsp sweet paprika)
• 1 (3½ lb) chicken, skinned, cut into 8 pieces
• 2+2 tbsp mustard oil, divided
• 1 tsp black cumin seeds
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 black cardamom pods
• 1 large red onion, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ C heavy cream or whole milk solids
  

Directions

1. Combine the ginger and garlic paste and the chilies in a bowl, and mix well. Add the chicken pieces and coat thoroughly. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a deep skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat.
3. Add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and cardamom, and sizzle until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
4. Add the onion and stir-fry until it starts to brown, 5+ minutes.
5. Remove the onion and buffer it.
6. Add the chicken and marinade and cook until browned on both sides; the book says 2 minutes per side here, it took me more like 5.
7. Remove and buffer the chicken. Add a cup of water (more if you went heavy on the marinade or chicken) and the salt. Deglaze.
8. Once fully deglazed, return the onion and chicken to the pot. Reduce heat to medium and cover. Cook, turning occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and tender, 20-25 minutes.
9. Remove the chicken (again). Stir in the cream or milk solids and simmer until the milk solids have melted into the sauce and the desired thickness is reached; depending on how it goes, you may need to add some water to thin it out to avoid it overthickening.
10. Combine chicken with sauce, and serve.
    

I've been trying to catch up on some of the recipes we made but never got around to writing up. We have a list of what's in the backlog, but Past Me didn't make very good notes there, so I've mostly been flipping through cookbooks for things that we've made but never got a blog post. We made this one quite a while ago. I think it may well have been before we'd even started the blog. It's meant to be made with Goan sausages, but they're not really a thing in North America. The next best thing would be Portuguese chouricos. And the next best thing after that would be Spanish-style chorizo. If I recall correctly, there was a bit of a miscommunication on the grocery list and we ended up with a package of Mexican-style (raw) chorizo sausages instead of Spanish-style (smoked/cured) chorizo. It was still good, but I wouldn't mind revisiting it with the proper cured sausage one of these days. (Although it's unclear from Iyer's recipe whether he intends the reader to use smoked/cured sausage or not. But the tip at the end talks about Goan sausage as well as Spanish chorizo and Portuguese chouricos and my understanding is that all of them are generally smoked. Hence my recommendation here.)

Pork Sausage Curry

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 4-5 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies (or a 1:3 mix of cayenne:sweet paprika)
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 450g pork sausage (preferably smoked), cut into 1cm rounds
• 1/4 c. malt vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1-2 fresh green Thai chilies, minced

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion and garlic and cook until light brown around the edges (~5 minutes).
3. Add tomato, coriander, cumin, Kashmiri chilies, salt, and turmeric.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~5 minutes.
5. Add the sausage and vinegar.
6. Increase heat to medium and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes.
7. Stir in cilantro and fresh chilies and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens (~5 minutes).
8. Serve with rice and side(s) of your choice.

Simla Mirch Fry (Bell Pepper "Fry")

I picked up a whole chicken on sale a little while ago and decided that I wanted to try making a Kashmiri chile chicken curry with it. Iyer recommends serving that particular curry with a black lentil dal. This all sounded well and good, but left the meal completely devoid of vegetables. I though this pan-roasted bell pepper curry sounded like it would be a good match for the other flavours in the meal. It's probably not the most nutritious or vitamin-rich curry out there, but it gave us something that was neither meat nor legume, so I rolled with it. It's quite tasty, but I was a bit disappointed with how little it made. I think I'd be tempted to do a double batch next time.

Simla mirch fry (top left), pictured with kali aur hari mirch urad dal (top right) and Kashmiri mirch waale murghi (bottom left).

Simla Mirch Fry

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 2 large bell peppers, cut into 2cm pieces
• 2-4 fresh green Thai chilies, halved lengthwise
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. Dhania-Jeera Masala
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. water

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add mustard seeds, cover, and cook until seeds stop popping (30-60 seconds).
3. Reduce heat to medium-low and add bell peppers and chilies.
4. Cook, uncovered, stirring occaisonally, until peppers are soft and skin is blackened in places and blistered (15-20 minutes).
5. Add cilantro, masala, and salt.
6. Stir to mix and allow to cook for 10-20 seconds.
7. Add water and bring to a boil.
8. Remove from heat and serve.

Kali aur Hari Mirch Urad Dal (Black and Green Pepper Split Black Lentils)

This dal smells amazing while cooking! The scent of garlic completely suffused the kitchen. It's a fairly simple dish, but the garlic, chilies, and black peppercorns give it a reasonably assertive flavour despite the short ingredient list. I would happily eat this one again.

Iyer calls for a hefty 6-8 chilies for this recipe. Since I know how sensitive the Kidlet's palate can be, I scaled that back to just three. The Kidlet still found it spicy, but not overly so. I found it had a nice mellow heat to it. And TF couldn't detect any hint of the chilies at all! I've specified a very wide range for the chilies here. Stick to the lower end if you're looking for robust flavour without much heat. Or pile those chilies on if you're after something with a little more fire in it. (Iyer insists that, even with the higher number of chilies, it's still not overly spicy due to the lentil's ability to protect the tongue.) If you want to cut the spice even more -- and also add a nice acidic tang -- try squeezing a bit of fresh lime juice over the dal just before serving. This will add another layer of flavour as well as reducing the perceived potency of the chilies.

Dal (top right), pictured with simla mirch fry (top left) and Kashmiri mirchi waale murghi (bottom left).

Kali aur Hari Mirch Urad Dal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned split black lentils/mapte beans (urad dal)
• 3 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns
• 3-8 fresh green Thai chilies, coarsely chopped
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. sugar

Directions

1. Rinse well and place in pot along with water.
2. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
3. Skim any foam from surface of water, stir in turmeric, and reduce heat to medium-low.
4. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, add peppercorns and chilies to a mortar and pound until a somewhat chunky paste forms.
6. Heat ghee over medium-high heat.
7. Add mustard seeds, cover, and cook until seeds stop popping (30-60 seconds).
8. Add garlic and cook until golden (30-60 seconds).
9. Add pounded pepper mixture and cook for another minute or so.
10. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro, salt, and sugar. Set aside until lentils are done.
11. Once lentils are tender, stir in the garlicky pepper mixture.
12. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until desired consistency (10-20 minutes depending on how thick you like your dal).

I can't believe I never wrote this up when I originally made it! It was a huge undertaking and I was so pleased with the result, I was sure I must had posted about it. But, searching the blog, apparently not. I'll have to go back through my photos and see if I took any photos of the finished breads but, in the meantime, here's the recipe.

This one is a bit of a doozy. Not because of any unusual ingredients or techniques, but simply due to the enormous volume! Most bread recipes will make one or two 20cm by 10cm (8"x4") pan loaves (or their equivalent in rolls or other shapes. This recipe makes FIVE. It is apparently traditionally batch baked as four 10cm by 25cm loaves in a 40cm by 25cm pan. My roasting pan happens to be exactly those dimensions, so I was able to go the bath baking route. If you don't have such a pan, you may have to divide the dough and bake it separately or get creative with your baking vessels, unless you happen to have five loaf pans lying around.

Scottish Sponge Bread

From the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

Sponge

• 1-2 tsp. active dry yeast
• 1/4 c. water
• 900g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 1/2 c. cold water
• 1/4 c. malt syrup (or other sweetener of your choice)

Full Dough

• 3 1/2 c. warm water
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/3 c. honey
• 1/3 c. oil (optional)
• 900g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 450g soft (plain/standard/pastry) whole wheat flour

Directions

Sponge

For a 16-18 hour sponge: Use 1 tsp. of yeast and ice water.
For a 10-12 hour sponge: Use 2 tsp. of yeast and warm water.

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water.
2. Combine the flour and salt.
3. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the cold water, malt syrup, and yeast mixture.
4. Combine to form a slightly stiff dough.
5. Knead the sponge for 10-15 minutes. (The gluten needs to be developed enough to trap gas, but not so much that it will end up overworked when making the full dough later.)
6. Place in a bowl, cover, and let rise until it begins to recede slightly.

Full Dough

You will need a GIANT bowl for mixing up the dough. I believe I actually ended up only mixing it partially in a bowl and switched to just mixing everything together directly on the counter part-way through. You could also divide the sponge and dough ingredients and mix it up as two or three separate batches if that's easier.

1. Combine the warm water, salt, honey, and oil (if using) in your bowl.
2. Add the sponge to the liquid mixture and break it into little pieces.
3. Begin mixing in the flour. If the bowl gets too full, you can turn it out onto your work surface and continue mixing in flour there.
4. Press the dough hard to make sure everything is well blended.
5. Feel the dough and evaluate its water content. If it feels too stiff/dry/tight, mix in additional water ~1/2 c. at a time until the desired consistency is achieved.
6. Knead the dough for 20-40 minutes (depending on your technique and speed).
7. Place in a large container (I used my roasting pan), cover, and let rise for ~1 hour.
8. Knock the dough back, round it, return to its container, cover, and let rise again for 45-60 minutes.
9. Divide dough into four or five equal pieces. (Four equal pieces if you intend to batch bake in a large 40cm by 25cm (16"x10") pan, five pieces if you intend to bake in regular 20cm by 10cm (8"x4") loaf pans. You could also put two loaves together in one 20cm/8" square pan.)
10. Round each piece, cover, and let rest for ~10 minutes.
11. Shape each piece into a loaf by pressing it flat, folding into thirds, and then rolling up jelly-roll style.
12. Place shaped loaves into greased pan(s).
13. If batch baking on one large pan, butter the sides of the loaves to facilitate separation after baking.
14. Cover and let rise (30-60 minutes depending on room temperature). If you can't bake all five loaves at once, put two or three of them in the fridge to rise while the others rise at room temperature.
15. For individual loaves, bake at 190°C (375°F) for 50-60 minutes. Batch bread baked in one large pan may need as much as 90 minutes to bake through.

When I think of adding things to bread dough, I have to admit that beans aren't generally my first thought. Fruit, nuts, seeds? Sure! Potatoes? Yes! Eggs, honey, milk, yogurt, etc.? Of course! Cheese, zucchini, herbs, even meat? I can dig it. Beans? Not my first pick. I wasn't sure what dumping a bunch of mashed black beans into my dough would do to it. Would the gluten be disrupted? Would it make it heavy? Dense? Wet? All of the above?! But it turns out that black bean bread is amazing and magical and wonderful! It tastes delicious, it rises beautifully, it has a rich dark colour, and it keeps incredibly well. It's now one of my favourite breads. And the raisins are just the icing on the already wonderful cake! Perfection.

Black Bean Raisin Bread

From the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

• 1 c. uncooked black turtle beans
• 2 c. liquid from cooking the beans
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 4 tsp. active dry yeast¹
• 1/4 c. warm water
• 750g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. raisins, steamed or soaked for 5-10 minutes and drained

Directions

1. Cook the beans and drain, reserving the cooking liquid.
2. Add or pour off water as needed to bring the measurement to 2 c.
3. Mash beans with potato masher or combine with cooking liquid and blend with electric blender or food processor.
4. Add molasses and oil to bean mixture and allow to cool slightly. (It should be somewhere around 35-40°C.)
5. Dissolve yeast in 1/4 c. warm water and let stand for ~10 minutes.
6. Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
7. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the bean mixture and the yeast mixture.
8. Gradually incorporate the flour into the liquids, working from the centre outward.
9. Knead dough very well (20-40 minutes depending on your technique).
10. Add the raisins toward the end of kneading.
11. Shape dough into a ball, place in bowl, cover, and let rise for ~1 hour. Poke dough with a wet finger to test if it's done. If the hole doesn't fill in at all, it's ready. (If it sighs and/or sinks back, it's gone past the ideal point to knock it back.)
12. Knock the dough back by pressing it flat. Knead it a few strokes if you wish, but not too much!
13. Shape it into a smooth ball again and return it to the covered bowl to rise again. This rise may go slightly faster. (Depending on the temperature of your room, of course.)
14. Use the same finger poke to test doneness. Once ready, knock the dough back again.
15. Divide it into two equal portions and round each one. Cover and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
16. Shape each portion into a loaf as desired. (Hearth loaves or pan loaves.)
17. Cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes. (The finger poke test should have it filling in slightly/slowly.)
18. DO NOT slash the crust!
19. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~1 hour.

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¹ If you're using "instant" yeast, reduce the amount by 25%. (ie. Use 1 Tbsp. rather than 4 tsp.) You may also mix the yeast in with the dry ingredients rather than hydrating it first. ^Back

I've been craving dessert A LOT lately. Dessert has never been a habitual thing for me. It's something for birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions. Not an everyday thing. But, I have to say, over the last month or so, it's become an everyday thing. I'm not sure why I suddenly want sweets so much more, but I definitely do. This lead me to the situation tonight where I've had a pleasant dinner, but I still want something. We'd finished off the last of the lime bars yesterday, so those weren't an option. And I found myself casing about for something new to make.

Initially I was thinking about making a blueberry-sour cream bundt cake. But both the recipes I looked at just called for so much sugar. I mean, I know this is a cake we're talking about and I know I'm craving sweets but, even so! I just could not bring myself to make them. I wanted dessert, not diabetes! Eventually I ended up searching for blueberry muffin recipes instead. 'Cause, let's be honest here, most blueberry muffins are basically cupcakes masquerading as breakfast food anyway.

After a bit of casting about, I found a recipe on Cookie & Kate that I liked the look of. She'd billed them as "healthier" blueberry muffins. I still wouldn't necessarily view them as "virtuous", but I do want them to taste like a sugary treat after all. And they definitely are a heckuva lot healthier than any of the cake recipes I'd been looking at and they're a fair bit better than your "average" blueberry muffin too. Perfect!

These muffins came out wonderfully light and tender. They're exactly what I was hoping for. They taste sweet and indulgent without being completely over-the-top. If you wanted to try to make them even healthier, I think you could definitely play around with reducing the sugar (honey) and replacing some of the oil with applesauce. You could also try things like adding extra wheat bran and/or wheat germ and/or ground flax. As a dessert though, I think these are perfect just the way they are.

Blueberry Muffins

Slightly adapted from Cookie & Kate

Ingredients

• 1/3 c. coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 c. honey
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour (I used hard/strong/bread/high grade)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 c. fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1 tsp. flour (any kind)
• 1 Tbsp. turbinado (raw) sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a muffin tin.
2. Cream honey with oil.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Mix in vanilla and yogurt.
5. Without mixing, add flour, salt, and cinnamon.
6. Sift baking powder and baking soda in on top.
7. Stir to combine and form a thick batter.
8. Toss blueberries with remaining flour.
9. Fold blueberries into batter.
10. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin.
11. Sprinkle each muffin with ~1/4 tsp. of sugar.
12. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-22 minutes.
13. Remove from oven and let cool in tin for 10 minutes.
14. Turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Picadillo (Ground Beef Stew)

The Kidlet and I whipped this up as a proteinaceous accompaniment to the Filipino salad crêpes we had for dinner tonight. It's a fairly plain dish. (The Kidlet loved it!) I think I would've preferred something with a bit more seasoning, but it was fine as-is. Next time I'd probably add a few green chilies and maybe some carrot and/or bell pepper. I think you could add just about any veggies you want to it. And bay leaves or cassia leaves might be another nice way to add a little more flavour. There are a lot of options.

Picadillo

Slightly adapted from Authentic Recipes from the Philippines by Reynaldo G. Alejandro

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 10 small shallots or 1 onion, diced
• 2 fresh green Thai chilies, cut into 1cm pieces (optional)
• 3 whole cloves (optional)
• 1 bay or cassia leaf (optional)
• 2 c. diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
• 450g ground beef
• 1 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 3/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 450g potatoes, cubed
• 1L water
• 200g carrots, diced (optional)
• 1 large bell pepper, diced (optional)
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add garlic and cook until golden.
3. Add shallot/onion, chilies (if using), cloves (if using), and bay/cassia leaf (if using) and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Add tomatoes and cook until softened.
5. Add beef, fish sauce, and pepper and cook until meat is browned.
6. Add potatoes and water and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
8. Add carrots (if using) and bell pepper (if using) and cook for another 10 minutes.
9. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

I've been looking for a good way to use up an extra daikon and hit upon this recipe. It's a bit lacking in protein, so I made a simple picadillo (Filipino ground beef stew) to go with it. You could also cook up a few shrimp or maybe some tilapia or sole to go in the crêpes themselves if you wanted to add protien without having to make a separate dish.

Filipino-Style Salad-Crêpes

Slightly adapted from Food & Wine

Ingredients

Crêpes

• 1 large egg
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. oil

Dressing

• 1/2 c. lite coconut milk
• 1/2 c. natural peanut butter (no added sugar or salt)
• 1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 tsp. cane or coconut vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced

Filling

• 1 c. julienned daikon
• 1 c. julienned carrot
• 1 c. julienned cucumber
• 1/2 c. julienned unripe (green) mango
• 1/4-1/2 c. chopped fresh mint
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Assembly

• 2-3 Tbsp. unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped
• butter lettuce, separated into leaves

Directions

Crêpes

1. Beat egg with salt and water.
2. Gradually whisk in flour.
3. Mix in oil.
4. Heat pan over medium heat and brush lightly with oil.
5. Pour a very thin layer of batter into the pan, swriling the pan around to spread the batter.
6. Cook until lightly browned on one side, then flip and cook until other side begins to brown.
7. Repeat cooking process with remaining batter.

Dressing

1. Combine all dressing components and mix well.

Filling

1. Combine all filling components and toss to mix.

Assembly

1. Place a crêpe on a plate and top with a lettuce leaf.
2. Pile some of the veggie filling onto the lettuce.
3. Top with chopped peanuts and dressing.

Lengua Estofado (Braised Tongue)

I've had a beef tongue languishing in the freezer for a few years now. I've never cooked tongue before and I've never found the prospect particularly appealing. I could never quite bring myself to throw it out though. I hate wasting food.

I've also been looking for a way to use up an extra daikon I've got sitting in the fridge. For that, I found a Filipino crêpe recipe. And with that in mind, I decided to flip through my Filipino cookbook to see if I could find any good recipes to compliment that since the crêpes on their own don't look very filling. I did some promising-looking recipes to go with it which I plan on cooking later this week. I also came across this recipe for braised tongue (which can also be made with beef shin if you don't have a tongue handy). I had all the ingredients on hand already and the dish sounded pretty promising overall. It's beef tongue braised with an acidic marinade, lots of garlic, and a few veggies. And it came out great!

The only issue I had with the recipe is the cooking time. The amount acid in the broth means that potatoes take an unusually long time to cook. The 15 minutes of cooking called for in the recipe definitely wasn't enough. I think I ended up giving them a good 35 minutes and another 10 wouldn't've hurt.

Lengua Estofado

Slightly adapted from Authentic Recipes from the Philippines by Reynaldo G. Alejandro

Ingredients

• 600g beef tongue (or shin)
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, cracked
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp. cane vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
• 1/2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 9-10 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 3/4 c. diced tomato (fresh or canned)
• 300-350g potatoes, sliced
• 225-250g carrots, peeled and sliced
• 5 cremini mushrooms¹, halved (optional)
• 1/3 c. stuffed olives
• 2-3 small plantains or unripe bananas, halved and fried (optional)

Directions

1. Place tongue in pot and add water to cover.
2. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Drain and allow to stand until cool enough to handle.
4. Remove skin and discard.
5. Combine water, pepper, bay leaf, vinegar, soy sauces, sugar, and salt and mix well.
6. Add peeled tongue to marinade and set aside for 40-60 minutes.
7. Heat oil over medium heat.
8. Add tongue and sear on all sides, then remove and set aside.
9. Add garlic to hot oil and cook until golden.
10. Add onion and cook until softened.
11. Add tomato and cook until softened.
12. Add tongue, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and braise for 1 hour, adding additional water as necessary.
13. Remove tongue from pot, slice, and return to pot.
14. Add potatoes, cover, and cook for 15-20 minutes. (Again, adding extra water as necessary.)
15. Add carrots and mushrooms (if using) cook for another 10 minutes.
16. Add olives and cook for another 5 minutes.
17. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot, with fried plantains/bananas (if using).

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¹ I didn't have any cremini mushrooms on hand, so I just tossed a few dried mushrooms into the pot. I rehydrated them in a bit of boiling water first, sliced them, and then added them to the pot along with the tongue so they could simmer for as long as possible. ^Back

I've been wanting to make pretzels for a while now. The starter needed feeding, so I figured I'd try this sourdough recipe. They came out really well! I think the only change I'd make next time is to use whole egg, rather than egg white to brush them with before baking.

Sourdough Soft Pretzels

Slightly adapted from Baking Sense

Ingredients

Dough

• 225g fresh (active/fed) sourdough starter (100% hydration)
• 1 1/4 c. warm water
• 3 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt

Preparation

• 2L water
• 1/3 c. baking soda
• 1 egg
• coarse salt

Directions

1. Stir water into starter.
2. Mix 2 c. of flour into the starter mixture, cover, and allow it to sit for an hour.
3. Mix in sugar, salt, and enough of the remaining flour to form a stiff dough.
4. Knead for 5-10 minutes, shape into a ball, place in a covered bowl, and set aside for half an hour.
5. After half an hour, stretch and fold the dough, bringing each side over the centre. Then flip the dough ball over, cover, and set aside for another half hour.
6. Repeat the stretch and fold twice more at one-hour intervals.
7. If the dough still seems sluggish, give it another hour or two at room temperature (with stretch and folds at each hour).
8. Once dough seems sufficiently lively, cover and place in the fridge overnight.
9. The next morning, preheat oven to 250°C (475°F) and line two baking sheets with greased parchment paper.
10. Mix water with baking soda and bring to a boil.
11. While waiting for soda mixture to boil, divide the dough into twelve equal portions.
12. Roll each portion into a 50-60cm long rope and fold it into a pretzel shape and place on prepared baking sheet.
13. Boil each pretzel for 10 seconds per side and return to prepared baking sheet.
14. Brush the poached pretzels with beaten egg and sprinkle with salt.
15. Bake at 250°C (475°F) for 15 minutes.

We're running low on bread again and I decided to try out a quick bread recipe rather than making another yeasted bread. Many quick breads lean toward the sweet and are basically cakes in loaf form. This one claimed to be "not too sweet" and appropriate for savoury applications, so I figured I'd give it a go.

The original recipe called for a mix of hard and soft whole wheat flour. I still don't have my grain mill set up yet, so I wasn't in a position to make any soft whole wheat flour. I ended up tossing in a little (white) all-purpose flour and just using hard whole wheat for the rest. The loaf came out very tender and a bit crumbly. I think I'd probably just use all hard whole wheat flour next time. I'd probably toss in an extra egg as well and reduce the water a little bit.

Simple Wheat Germ Quick Bread

Adapted from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 c. hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 Tbsp. powdered milk
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 c. wheat germ
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 c. honey
• 2 large eggs
• 1 c. water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 20cm x 10cm (8"x4") loaf pan.
2. Combine flour, salt, and powdered milk.
3. Sift in baking soda.
4. Stir in wheat germ and mix well.
5. Cream honey with butter.
6. Beat in eggs one at a time.
7. Add dry ingredients alternately with water.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) for about an hour.
9. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes.
10. Turn out of pan and transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

symbol adapted these from The Spruce Eats and I finished off the baking. The baking step took a lot longer than expected, which may be down to using the convection oven at a lower temperature; next time we'll try baking it in non-convention mode at the rated temperature, which is how I've written down the recipe here.

The recipe has also been halved compared to the original, and the lime juice replaced with condensed lime crystals in coconut milk, which is both a lot easier to get in large quantities and gives it a bit more coconut to balance out the lime.

Lime Coconut Bars

Adapted from The Spruce Eats

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 stick (½ C) butter, softened
• ¼ C sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp coconut extract
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 1 C flour
• 2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted

Filling

• 4 large eggs
• ⅝ C coconut milk
• 1 packet TrueLime concentrated lime powder
• 1⅜ C sugar
• zest of 1 lime
• ¼ C flour

Directions

Crust

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar for crust.
3. With the mixer on low, add both extracts, then then the salt, flour, and coconut. Finish mixing by hand.
4. Line an 8×8" (20×20cm) baking pan with foil and lightly grease it.
5. Scrape the dough into the pan and press down into an even layer.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Prepare the filling while it bakes.

Filling

1. Whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, lime powder, sugar, and lime zest.
2. Slowly sift the flour in and whisk it in.
3. When the crust is done, pour the filling over it and immediately return to the oven.
4. Reduce heat to 325°F and cook for another 25-30 minutes, until the center of the filling just barely jiggles.
5. Remove and let cool to room temperature, then store covered in the fridge.

I did not have high hopes for this dish. It seemed a bit boring and I really wasn't sure how the Indo-Mexican fusion would work out. As it turns out... it worked out amazing! This was really delicious. We all loved it!

There were a few hiccoughs with making it. The recipe as written calls for white rice cooked with the pot-in-pot method. I wanted to do it with brown rice, which takes much longer to cook. So I figured that if I just switched the pots around it would work out alright. Rather than having the beans and corn in the bottom with the rice in the second tier above and cooking it for 6 minutes. I'd have the rice in the bottom with the beans and corn above and cook it for 18 minutes. Perfect!

In the end, it didn't quite work out as perfectly as I'd hoped. In the last minute of cooking, the InstantPot beeped and put up a "burn" message. The rice had cooked dry and was sticking to the bottom. This, despite the fact that I'd used the exact same rice:water ratio that I always do for making rice in the InstantPot. I think having the second tier in there may have thrown off the balance slightly. The beans and rice seemed to have accumulated significantly more water than they'd had when I sealed the cooker.

In the end I was able to salvage the rice by adding a bit more water and scraping the stuck-on bits off the bottom of the pot. Then I just sealed it back up and let it sit on "keep warm" for 10 minutes. Everything was cooked through and tasted delicious. I think I would divy the water up differently next time though to try to avoid the mad scramble to save the rice at the end.

The instructions below reflect the changes I plan to make the next time I prepare this meal. I think it should work quite well, but be forewarned, I have not tested this out yet!

Curried Black Bean Burrito Bowl

Adapted from Vegetarian Indian Cooking with Your Instant Pot

Ingredients

• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 2 c. cooked black beans
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 c. frozen corn
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp. dried garlic
• 1/2 tsp. dried onion
• 1/4 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp. Dhania-Jeera Masala
• 1/2 tsp. Madras Curry Powder
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 onion, halved and sliced thin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 fresh green Thai chilies, sliced crosswise ~5mm thick
• juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro, divided
• 1 recipe Guacamole (or this one)
• 1/4-1/2 c. salsa

Directions

1. Add rice and water to InstantPot.
2. Place trivet in pot.
3. Combine beans, bell pepper, corn, bay leaf, dried garlic, dried onion, paprika, masala, curry powder, cayenne (if using), and salt in a metal or glass bowl or pot that will fit inside the InstantPot.
4. Place the bean-filled bowl on the trivet in the InstantPot.
5. Seal the lid and pressure cook on high for 18 minutes.
6. Allow a 10-minute natural release.
7. Meanwhile, heat oil over medium heat.
8. Add onion and cook for 4-5 minutes.
9. Add garlic and chilies and cook for andother 4-5 minutes.
10. Toss in 2 Tbsp. of the cilantro, stir once or twice, and immediately remove from heat and set aside.
11. Once InstantPot is done and 10-minute natural release is complete, open the valve and release any remaining pressure and remove the lid.
12. Carefully remove the container of bean mixture.
13. Stir the oil mixture and lime juice into the bean mixture.
14. Fluff the rice and add the remaining cilantro.
15. Serve rice topped with bean mixture, guacamole, and salsa. Garnish with lime wedges and tortilla chips if desired.

Ven Pongal (Rice-Lentil Porridge)

There are loads of different pongal recipes out there. Pongal can be sweet or savoury and include any number of different flavours and ingredients. Sometimes it might be fairly plain, other times if may include all sorts of vegetables, nuts, or even fruit! Ven pongal is one of the savoury versions, but even within that, there can be a huge amount of variation. Ginger, curry leaves, and whole (or coarsely crushed) black peppercorns seem to be common to most (possibly all) ven pongal recipes, but everything else is open to adjustment and interpretation: proportion of rice to lentils, amount of water, other seasonings, amount of ghee, inclusion of cashews or other nuts... There are a lot of options!

I found Iyer's version okay. But I thik I'd like to try one of the cashew-full recipes next time. I was also slightly disappointed by the consistency of this pongal, but that's not really Iyer's fault. I adjusted the quantity of water called for down because I was doing it in the pressure cooker rather than on the stovetop. Apparently I adjusted it down too much. Now that I've looked at some other recipes (ones that were written for pressure cookers) I'm thinking I probably should've just used the full amount of water called for in the original recipe. (If I were making it on the stove, I might even end up using more water than called for.

My too-dry pongal still came out tasting nice. It's just a bit dense and heavy. I would've preferred something with more of a porridge-y, risotto-y consistency. Hopefully the extra water will help me out there the next time I try to make this.

Ven Pongal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. skinned split green lentils/mung beans (moong/mung dal)
• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 3 c. water
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2-4 Tbsp. ghee, divided
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns
• 3 (40mm x 20mm x 3mm) slices of ginger, julienned
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 15 fresh (or frozen) curry leaves

Directions

1. Rinse the lentils and rice.
2. Add rinsed rice and lentils to pressure cooker/InstantPot along with water, salt, and turmeric.
3. Pressure cook (on high pressure for InstantPot) for 18 minutes with a 10-minute natural release.
4. Meanwhile, heat 1-2 Tbsp. of ghee over medium-high heat.
5. Add cumin seeds and pepper corns and cook for 30-60 seconds.
6. Transfer spices and ghee to a mortar and lightly crush with a pestle.
7. Heat the remaining 1-2 Tbsp. of ghee over medium-high heat.
8. Add the ginger and cook until aromatic (15-30 seconds).
9. Toss in the cilantro and curry leaves (carefully) and then remove from heat and set it aside.
10. Once the porridge is ready, stir in both ghee mixtures.
11. Serve with yogurt, pickles, and/or additional ghee.

Sing Pitta (Drumsticks in Yogurt Sauce)

The "drumsticks" used in this recipe are not chicken legs but a vegetable. They look a little bit like okra, but the outer skin is tough and fibrous. You eat them by splitting them open lengthwise and then scraping the flesh off with your teeth. Discarding the somewhat woody skin.

I'd never had drumsticks before and I wasn't sure whether I was going to enjoy them or not. It turns out the answer is "not". They're not bad. The flavour is interesting: there's a slight tartness to it, a bit like unripe mango but less acidic. It's interesting and unique. I didn't have a problem with the flavour. It was fine. But that's the thing, it was just okay. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. And for how messy and fiddly it is as a food, it really needed to be great for me to be willing to deal with it.

So, not a rousing success. But I'm still glad I tried it. At least I know what they are and what they taste like now. I just probably won't bother with them again. If you have a higher tolerance for fiddly foods, by all means give this recipe a try! If you don't the sauce goes great with patra. We ended up tossing the leftover drumsticks and using the remaining sauce for some patra the next day. It was lovely!

Drumsticks pictured on the right.

Sing Pitta

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 (350-400g) package frozen drumsticks
• 2 c. plain yogurt
• 1 c. water
• 3 Tbsp. Toasted Chickpea Flour
• 2 Tbsp. Ginger-Chile Paste
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. Dhania-Jeera Masala
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 8 fresh (or frozen) curry leaves
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and toss in the frozen drumsticks.
2. Bring the water back to a boil, then drain the drumsticks and set aside.
3. Whisk the yogurt with the water.
4. Mix in the chickpea flour a little at a time.
5. Add the ginger-chile paste, sugar, salt, masala, and turmeric.
6. Stir in the cilantro and curry leaves (preferably not with the whisk as they might get caught in it).
7. Heat ghee over medium-high heat.
8. Add mustard seeds, cover, and cook until seeds stop popping (30-60 seconds).
9. Add the yogurt mixture along with the drumsticks.
10. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, until sauce thickens (10-15 minutes).

Nariyal Palak Gosht (Coconut-Spinach Beef)

After making the beef rendang and the "stick" curry, I still had about a pound of beef left, so I decided to give this beef-spinach curry a go. It's one of the few beef curries in the book that we haven't made before. It's not a hugely rich or saucy curry, but I really do enjoy the coconut in it. And it is incredibly easy. It takes a while to make, but most of that time is just waiting around with little to no interaction needed. You mix up a simple marinade. You marinate your meat. You cook it slowly. And then you add the spinach, coconut, and tamarind. That's it! There's nothing else to it. Very simple to put together. And I like that you get your protein and veg all in one easy dish. Just serve it with some rice and/or flatbread to round out the meal. (We actually ended up serving it with a quick patra curry as well, but you don't necessarily need a second curry to complete it.)

Because this isn't really a saucy curry, I think it goes nicely with a chutney or some pickles. I had it with some homemade tomato-date chutney, but I think store-bought sonth (tamarind-date chutney) or spicy pickled garlic would also work extremely well.

Nariyal palak gosht (middle), pictured with patra curry (left), zarda chaawal (right), and garlic naan (bottom).

Nariyal Palak Gosht

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne
• 450g stewing beef
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 3 c. water, divided
• 400g spinach¹
• 1 c. shredded fresh coconut or 1/2 c. shredded dried coconut, reconstituted²
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate

Directions

1. Combine yogurt, ginger paste, garlic paste, sea salt, turmeric, and cayenne and mix well.
2. Add beef, tossing to coat.
3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and as long as overnight.
4. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
5. Add beef along with its marinade and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally for ~10 minutes.
6. Add 1 c. water and deglaze the pan.
7. Continue to cook, uncovered, for another 10 minutes.
8. Add remaining 2 c. water and bring to a boil.
9. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until beef is very tender (30-40 minutes).
10. Add spinach (a handful at a time if using fresh) and cook until wilted and heated through (~5 minutes).
11. Stir in coconut and tamarind and simmer, uncovered, for another 5 minutes.
12. Serve with chutney, pickles, and/or flatbreads of choice.

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¹ I ended up using a mix of spinach and kale for my greens. I guess this would technically make my version nariyal saag gosht rather than nariyal palak gosht. Same idea though! ^Back
2 To reconstitute dried coconut simple pour an equal volume of boiling water over it and allow it to sit/steep for at least 15 minutes. Iyer says to strain/drain it after rehydrating, but I usually just add it liquid and all. (There isn't usually much liquid left unabsorbed anyway.) ^Back