Nariyal Hare Phool Gobhi (Broccoli-Coconut Curry)

I forgot to tweak our produce basket last week, so we ended up with a bunch of surprise veggies, including a head of broccoli. Conveniently, this curry doesn't need much else besides broccoli to go into it. And it made a convenient veggie dish to go along with the leftover spaghetti from the previous day.

Photo goes here.

Nariyal Hare Phool Gobhi

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 450g broccoli, cut into florets
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. sambhar masala
• 1 c. water
• 1 c. shredded fresh coconut or 1/2 c. shredded dried coconut, rehydrated

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add cumin seeds and sizzle for 15-30 seconds.
3. Add ginger paste and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
4. Add the broccoli, salt, and sambhar masala and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
5. Add the water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is fork tender (~8 minutes).
6. Add the coconut and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Laurel's Kitchen is generally my go-to for pizza dough. It's fantastic! The texture and flavour are always wonderful, it bakes up beautifully, and it's 100% whole wheat! And, honestly, I would have used it again today -- without a moment's hesitation -- except that my sourdough starter was looking mighty hungry and I really needed an excuse to use it. So I went poking through the King Arthur Flour to look for a soudough pizza crust recipe instead.

This recipe is more of a "faux" sourdough. It uses a combination of sourdough discard and commercial yeast. I definitely don't like it as well as the Laruel's Kitchen version. But it was easy to throw together, used up sourdough starter, and got the job done. So no complaints here. And, I will grant that it was very easy to work with. It just didn't have quite as nice a texture as my usual crust. (Although part of that may have been just how emaciated my starter was and a lack of adequate rising time.) Either way, it still worked well. We had pizza for dinner. Everyone was happy.

Faux Sourdough Pizza Dough

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• 300g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3/4 tsp. instant yeast (or 1 tsp. active dry yeast)
• 250g sourdough discard @ 100% hydration
• 140g warm water

Directions

1. Combine flour, salt, and yeast and mix well.
2. Pour in sourdough discard and water.
3. Work dry ingredients into wet by hand or by dough hook.
4. Knead (by hook or by hand) until smooth and elastic. Add a little more flour or water as necessary to get a relatively soft, supple dough. (Knead for 15-20 minutes by hand or 3-4 minutes by hook).
5. Cover and set aside to rise for 2-4 hours.
6. Knock the dough back, divide into two equal portions, and round each one.
7. Cover and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.
8. Working with one portion of dough at a time, stretch or roll out into desired shape.
9. Cover and allow to rise for 15-20 minutes.
10. Top and bake as desired.

I was not overly impressed with this salad/side. It sounded interesting, but it just didn't deliver. It wasn't awful, it just wasn't very appealing. It was one of those only-if-there's-nothing-else-to-eat sort of dishes. So, not one I'm likely to revisit. But at least now I know.

Celery Root Rémoulade

From Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 (~680g) celery root (celeriac)
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. Dijon or Roman mustard
• 3 Tbsp. boiling water
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 3-4 Tbsp. minced fresh chives

Directions

1. Trim the ends of the celery root, peel it, use a mandoline to cut into thin slices and then cut the slices into matchsticks (julienne).
2. Toss the celery root with the lemon juice and salt. Let stand for ~30 minutes.
3. Rinse the celery root, drain, and pat dry.
4. Use some hot water to warm a heatproof bowl, then empty it and dry it off.
5. Put the mustard in the warm bowl and slowly drizzle in the boiling water while whisking.
6. Whisking vigorously, slowly drizzle in the olive oil.
7. Whisk in the vinegar.
8. Add the celery root and toss to coat.
9. Cover and chill for at least 3 hours.
10. Sprinkle with chives and serve.

I made these ages ago. Way back in April, I think. They went over super well and everyone loved them. But things were pretty hectic and I never did get around to doing the write-up for it. So, finally, here it is!

Cucumber Toasts with Radishes

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 125g cream cheese, softened
• 60g feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 slices bread (preferably whole wheat), toasted
• 1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced
• 2 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c. broccoli sprouts¹

Directions

1. Combine cream cheese, feta cheese, green onion, and garlic and mix well.
2. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Spread the cheese mixture over the toast.
4. Top with cucumber, radishes, and sprouts.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

---

¹ The recipe calls for alfalfa "or other" sprouts. And I had some lovely fresh broccoli sprouts from Noki Farms, so I opted to use those. I think the slight spiciness of the sprouts complemented the radishes nicely! ^Back

While this is meant to be burnt caramel sauce, I, unfortunately, made mine a little too burnt. TF and I still found it edible (if not ideal). But the Kidlet reacted with revulsion and said it was vile.

I'm so mad at myself for overcooking it. It was perfect. And then I had a moment of indecision when getting out the cream. And that extra 30 seconds or so seems to have made all the difference. Oh well... Bex and I will still eat it. It's just a shame that it's not as good as it could have been.

Burnt Caramel Sauce

Slightly adapted from Waffles: Sweet, Savory, Simple by Dawn Yanagihara

Ingredients

• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Bring the sugar and water to a vigorous simmer over medium-high heat.
2. You may stir once or twice with a clean spoon to help the sugar dissolve. Once the sugar has dissolved, DO NOT stir! Just shake and swirl the pan occasionally instead.
3. Cook until sugar takes on a rich, dark colour (~10 minutes).
4. Remove from heat and carefully pour in cream.
5. Return pot to medium-low heat and stir until sugar dissolves again.
6. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla, and salt.
7. Serve warm.

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Bread (Bernard Clayton)

I've made the Laurel's Kitchen buttermilk bread several times before. It's one of my favourites. This is Bernard Clayton's version of a whole wheat buttermilk bread. Unfortunately, I made it a while ago and then consistently failed to get around to writing up the recipe, so I don't remember much about it. I don't think it stood out as being either particularly good or bad. But that's fine. I've made a lot of different breads over the years. They can't all be stand-outs!

This is an interesting recipe. It uses a both yeast and chemical leaveners and requires only one rise.

Clayton recommends baking this as either one large or two small pan loaves and I honestly don't remember which I did. Looking at the recipe, I feel like it would be pretty skimpy for two loaves, even small ones. So, I'm going to recommend baking it in one large (23x12cm) pan.

Update: I found a photo! I'm pretty sure this is a photo of this bread. In which case, it looks like I did one small loaf and a few dinner rolls.

Buttermilk Whole Wheat Bread

From Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 tsp. active dry (or 3 1/4 tsp. instant) yeast
• 3/4 c. warm water (~40°C)
• 1 1/4 c. buttermilk, room temperature
• ~180g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• ~400g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour, divided
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter or lard
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar or molasses
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. If using traditional active dry yeast, sprinkle it over the warm water and set aside for 10-15 minutes. (You can measure out the buttermilk and leave it to warm up during this time.)
   If using instant yeast, it may be mixed directly with the dry ingredients and you may skip this step.
2. Add the buttermilk, white flour, and ~100g of the whole wheat flour to the yeast mixture and beat (either by hand or by machine) for a minute or so.
3. Mix in the fat, sugar, and salt.
4. Sift in the baking powder and mix well.
5. Beat in additional whole wheat flour ~60g at a time.
6. When it becomes stiff, set aside for 5 minutes to allow the wheat bran to absorb more liquid.
7. The dough should be sticky and soft, but if it's too unmanageable, work in a bit more flour by hand.
8. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead with the assistance of a bench/bowl scraper. (It will be too soft to work completely by hand.) Knead for 15-20 minutes.
   Alternatively, use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook to knead it for ~5 minutes.
9. Round and rest for 5-10 minutes.
10. Meanwhile, grease a 23x12cm (9x5") loaf pan.
11. Shape loaf as desired and place it, seam-side-down, into the prepared pan. Press the dough into the corners of the pan.
12. Cover and set aside to rise at room temperature for ~1 hour.
13. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
14. Bake at 220°C (425°F) until done (~30 minutes).
15. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.

I've been vibing with waffles lately, but still trying to make something a bit different every time. For this iteration, I decided to go with the whole wheat waffle recipe from the Breakfast Bible and try the suggested orange and thyme inclusions as I figured they'd be a nice complement to the apples and cheddar. I think this would be even better with some fresh lemon thyme, but regular dried thyme works okay in a pinch. I also think a few walnuts would be excellent folded into the batter. I didn't use any this time, but, having tasted it, I would definitely add them next time.

Orange-Thyme Whole Wheat Waffles with Apple and Cheddar

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 200g whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon thyme (or 1 tsp. dried thyme)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 2 Tbsp. orange juice
• 90g unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
• 3/4 c. grated Cheddar cheese
• 3 apples, cored and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and thyme and mix well.
3. Sift in the baking powder and stir to combine.
4. Beat the eggs with the milk.
5. Mix the orange zest, juice, and butter to the wet ingredeints and mix well.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to mix.
7. Add the walnuts (if using) and stir until just combined.
8. Pour a portion of batter into the waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer directions. Repeat with remaining batter.
9. Top waffles with cheese and apple slices.