I wanted to make something a bit special for dessert last night. These not only fit the bill, but had a pleasingly short bake time. I didn't have enough ramekins, so I used some extra-large muffin tins instead. I suspected that the cakes might cook a bit faster in the muffin tins than in the ramekins, so I shaved a minute of the baking time. It turns out that I should've gone with my original instinct and shaved a full three minutes off the baking time! The resulting cakes were soft in the middle, but decidedly not "molten". Oh well... now I'll know for next time.

I also used 72% dark chocolate because that's what I had on hand, but I think that was actually a bit too dark for this recipe. If I do it again, I'll use 50% dark chocolate instead. They weren't bad as-is, but they were a bit darker and more bitter than I would've liked. But with a slightly less dark chocolate and baked for just a couple minutes less, I think they would've been perfect.

Photo goes here.

Molten Chocolate Cakes

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 250g dark chocolate (pref. 50%)
• 55g butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder, sifted
• 3 large egg whites

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease six ramekins or a 6-well jumbo muffin tin. Dust generously with cocoa powder.
2. Gently melt the cocolate with the butter.
3. Mix in the vanilla and set aside to cool.
4. Beat the egg yolks with 3 Tbsp. of the sugar and the cocoa powder.
5. Drizzle in the chocolate mixture while beating. (Resulting batter will be very thick.)
6. In a clean bowl with a clean whisk, beat the egg whites until frothy.
7. Gradually beat in the remaining 3 Tbsp. of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
8. Stir half of the meringue into the batter to loosen it.
9. Gently fold in the remaning half of the meringue.
10. Spoon the batter into the prepared ramekins/muffin tins.
11. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 10-13 minutes. (10 minutes for muffin tins, 12-13 for ramekins.)
12. Turn cakes out onto plates and serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream, and/or raspberry coulis.

Sirka Paneer (Vinegar Paneer)

This is a really interesting curry. It has a lot of elements to it, both in the bulk and the flavour elements. It's full of potato and cauliflower in a tomato-y sauce (like aloo gobhi). But the sauce is also full of vinegar and chilies (like a vindaloo). But then it also has the bouncy paneer and creamy coconut milk added at the end. It's almost like you're getting three curries in one!

I do find the vinegar with the coconut milk slightly confusing to my palate. I'm used to a curry either having the sharpness of the vinegar or the creaminess of the coconut milk, not both. It is a tasty curry, but I think it's a bit too confusing to ever be a favourite for me. That said, I do appreciate how hearty it is with the paneer, cauliflower, and potatoes.

Photo goes here.

Sirka Paneer

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c. water, divided
• 1/4 c. malt or cider vinegar
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1-2 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies
• 1-2 dried red Thai or cayenne/arbol chilies
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp. ginger paste
• 1-2 Tbsp. oil
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 2 c. cauliflower florets
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 250g paneer, cut into 2cm cubes and fried¹
• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine 1/4 c. of the water with the vinegar, tomato paste, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fresh and dried chilies, garlic, and ginger in a blender and purée.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat.
3. Add the onion and cook until just starting to brown (3-5 minutes).
4. Add the paste and cook for another 3 minutes.
5. Add the remaining 1 c. of water to the blender and swish it out. Add this to the pan.
6. Add the cauliflower, potatoes, and salt to the pan and bring to a boil.
7. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
8. Add the paneer and coconut milk and simmer for another 10 minutes.
9. Stir in the cilantro and serve.

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¹ Tossing the paneer cubes with a little oil and air-frying at 200°C (400°F) for 10 minutes works very well and saves a lot of time and effort. Alternatively, you can sometimes find bags of pre-fried paneer cubes in the frozen section of Indian grocery stores... ^Back

Tamatar Paneer (Tomato Paneer)

I was going to make a lamb curry next, but I found some paneer on sale at the Indian grocery store and decided to cook that as our protein tonight instead.

I love this curry. The paneer makes it satisfying and high-protein. And while it takes a bit of time to cook the onions down, it's not particularly difficult and doesn't require many spices or other ingredients. And while the cream is moderately expensive most of the other ingredients are quite affordable. Especially if you can get a good deal on the paneer! The cream also makes it deliciously rich and luxurious. Oh, and it also doesn't require marinating or pre-frying the paneer. So, pretty great all round!

Tamatar Paneer

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 6 green cardamom pods
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 c. water
• 250g paneer, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Melt ghee over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cardamom, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is nicely browned (~20 minutes).
4. Add the tomato paste, coriander, cayenne, and turmeric and cook until darkened (3-5 minutes).
5. Add water, paneer, and salt and cook, covered, until sauce thickens (~15 minutes).
6. Add the milk and cream and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
7. Stir in cilantro and serve.

This was meant to be spiced clementines with toasted pound cake but a) we didn't have enough eggs or sugar left to make the pound cake and b) it felt like a bit of a waste. We were going to have them with some store-bought sponge, but the local Countdown was all out. So we ended up just spooning them over a bit of vanilla ice cream instead. And they were quite tasty that way. A nice, refereshing summer dessert.

Spiced Clementines

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. water
• 4 allspice berries, lightly crushed (or 1/8-1/4 tsp. ground allspice)
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 star anise, lightly crushed
• 2 black peppercorns, lightly crushed
• 1 vanilla bean
• 6-8 clementines
• 1/4 c. fresh mint¹

Directions

1. Combine the sugar, water, allspice, cinnamon, star anise, and black peppercorns.
2. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape the seeds out. Add both the seeds and the empty pod to the pot with the other ingredients.
3. Bring to a boil and cook until sugar has dissolved completely.
4. Peel the clemeintines and slice crosswise.
5. Add clementine slices to syrup and remove from heat.
6. Allow to steep for 20-30 minutes, then serve over cake or ice cream and top with mint.

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¹ I completely forgot about the fresh mint when I made this. Even though that was half the reason for doing it since I had a bunch of mint in the fridge that needed using. Whoops! ^Back

This is meant to be made with fresh pears, but we had tinned pears to use up, so I just tossed them in. I've written up the instructions for fresh pears. If you're using tinned, then just omit the water and only add the pears for the last minute or two of cooking.

Whole Wheat Walnut Waffles with Maple-Pear Sauce

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Waffles

• 190g whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 40g butter, melted
• 50g unsweetened applesauce
• 2-4 Tbsp. finely chopped walnuts

Sauce

• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2-4 pears, peeled and sliced
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp. water
• zest of 1/4 a lemon

Directions

1. Combine the flour and sugar and sift in the baking powder.
2. Beat the eggs into the milk.
3. Mix in the vanilla, butter, and applesauce.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
5. Mix in the walnuts.
6. Preheat your waffle iron.
7. Pour in a portion of batter and cook according to manufacturer directions.
8. Repeat with remaining batter.
9. While waffles are cooking, toss the pears with the lemon juice.
10. Melt the butter over medium heat.
11. Add the pears and cook for a minute or two.
12. Reduce heat to medium-low, add the maple syrup, water, and lemon zest and simmer until pears are tender (5-7 minutes).
13. Transfer pears to a bowl, increase heat to medium-high and cook until sauce is syrupy (5-10 minutes).
14. Serve waffles topped with pears, sauce, and extra walnuts (if desired).

Jhinga Vindaloo (Shrimp Vindaloo)

I had a busy day of moving boxes and furniture today, so I wanted something easy for dinner. I decided to throw together this simple curry and serve it with rice and dal. It worked out quite well! Even if I didn't make it quite to spec. (My shrimp were much smaller than what Iyer calls for and frozen rather than fresh.)

Jhinga Vindaloo

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 10 raw cashews, ground
• 450g large shrimp (32-40 per kilo), peeled and deveined
• 1-2 Tbsp. oil
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine vinegar, coriander, cumin, cayenne, salt, turmeric, and ground cashews and stir to form a paste.
2. Add the shrimp and toss to coat. Cover and chill for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium to medium-high heat.
4. Add the shrimp (reserving any residual marinade), and sear for 1 minute on each side.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low, add any remaining marinade, and cook until shrimp is pink, opaque, and curled.
6. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Aardak Lasoon Masoor ki Dal (Ginger-Garlic Red Lentils)

I wanted a dal to go with my shrimp vindaloo and I felt like red lentils and/or pigeon peas would work particularly well. This red lentil dal caught my eye first, so that's what I went with. It was very nice. Especially with the optional spinach. It could probably use even more if you wanted to work some more veggies into the meal.

Aardak Lasoon Masoor ki Dal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. skinned split brown lentils (masoor dal/Egyptian lentils/red lentils)
• 3 c. water
• 1-2 onions¹, coarsely chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 1-2 fresh green Thai, finger, or serrano chilies
• 4 tsp. ginger paste
• 2 Tbsp. ghee (or coconut oil for a vegan option)
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1-2 dried red cayenne/arbol or Thai chilies
• 1 small (~400mL) tin diced tomatoes
• 1/4-1/2 c. frozen chopped spinach or kale (optional)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Thoroughly rinse the lentils.
2. Add water and bring to a boil, uncovered, over medium heat.
3. Skim off any foam, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender (~20 minutes).
4. Meanwhile, add the onions, garlic, and green chilies to a food processor and pulse to chop.
5. Melt the ghee over medium heat.
6. Add the cumin and dried chilies and sizzle until fragrant and chilies blacken (20-30 seconds).
7. Add the onion mixture along with the ginger paste and stir-fry until onion softens (~5 minutes).
8. Add the tomatoes and spinach (if using) and cook until spinach is thawed and sauce has thickened slightly (5-10 minutes).
9. Pour the sauce into the pot with the lentils and stir to combine.
10. Simmer to let flavours meld (3-5 minutes).
11. Stir in cilantro and serve.

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¹ The original recipe only calls for 1 (red) onion, but my onions were on the small side, so I used two. ^Back