I've been craving waffles for the last couple days. Conveniently, I am still working my way through the waffle cookbook. Somewhat less conveninetly, the only recipes I have yet to make from it are the dessert waffles (and a few of the toppings). I know that I could just revisit one of the earlier recipes, but where would be the fun in that?!

These waffles Bostock certainly make for a decadent option, but they are reasonably quick and easy to make. They basically answer the question: What if we replaced the pastry of a Bakewell tart with waffles?

Yanagihara suggests using either basic, buttermilk, or malted waffles as the base for this offering. My sourdough starter really needed some TLC though, so I opted for a sourdough waffle instead. Honestly, I think this approach worked out even better. The frangipane is very rich and both it and the jam are quite sweet, so having a relatively lean, whole wheat waffle with a bit of a sour tang to it helped to balance the flavours out a bit. I mean, I'm sure the other options would've been fine, but I actually really liked how the sourdough waffles worked out.

Waffles Bostock

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

Ingredients

• 100g ground almonds (almond flour)
• 100g sugar
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 4 sourdough waffles (or other waffle of your choice)
• 6-8 Tbsp. jam¹ (preferably raspberry, strawberry, cherry, or apricot)
• sliced almonds, glacé cherries, and/or maraschino cherries, to serve

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Combine ground almonds, sugar, and salt and mix well, breaking up any lumps.
3. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
4. Add the butter and mix well.
5. Place the waffles on a baking sheet.
6. Spread 1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp. of jam onto each waffle.
7. Spoon ~1/4 of the frangipane (almond mixture) onto each waffle and spread into an even layer.
8. Top each waffle with ~2 Tbsp. of sliced almonds and/or a glacé cherry (if using).
9. Bake at 200°C (400°F) until frangipane is set (10-15 minutes).
10. Add a maraschino cherry to each waffle (if using/desired).
11. Optionally sprinkle with a little icing sugar before serving.

¹ We ended up using strawberry jam for two of the waffles and spread the other two with some of my dad's homemade red currant jelly! ^Back

Urulikazhungu Molagha Bhajee (Potato-Pepper Vegetable Curry)

I don't make potato curries very often. We're usually having either rice, flatbreads, or both if we're having curry for dinner, which pretty much fills the "starch" slot in my dinner plans. So, when I'm selecting which curries to make, I'm generally looking for something with lots of non-starchy veggies and/or protein in it and most potato curries do not fit those requirements. In this case though, I already had a bunch of other curries already made: lots of veggies and protein on hand already. I didn't really need any new curries at all. We already had plenty for dinner. But I had the time and the ingredients on hand, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to whip up one more. Just to have a little extra variety!

Urulikazhungu Molagha Bhajee

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 6 1/2 tsp. canola (or other neutral) oil, divided
• 450g russet (or other floury) potatoes, cut into French-fry strips
• 1 bell pepper, cut into 1cm wide strips
• 15 fresh or frozen curry leaves
• 1 c. water
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. skinned split black lentils (mapte beans/urad dal/white lentils)
• 1 Tbsp. yellow split peas (chana dal)
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick (~7cm long), broken into smaller pieces
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh or frozen curry leaves

Directions

1. Heat 2 Tbsp. of the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the potatoes, bell pepper, and curry leaves and stir-fry until potatoes begin to brown (~5 minutes).
3. Add water and salt and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are fork tender (10-12 minutes).
5. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1/2 tsp. oil over medium-high heat.
6. Add the lentils, split peas, and cinnamon and cook, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes.
7. Transfer the spice mixture to a plate and allow to cool.
8. Once spices have cooled completely, transfer to a spice ginder and grind until the texture resembles ground black pepper.
9. Once the vegetables are tender, add the spices and lime juice.
10. Sprinkle with chopped curry leaves and serve.

Bhuna Hua Simla Mirch aur Masoor ki Dal (Red Lentil Dal with Slow-Roasted Bell Peppers)

We at the last of our chickpea stew last night, but we still had a couple of other curries and some rice left, so I just threw together a simple dal tonight to fill the legume slot. It's surprisingly tasty considering the brevity of the ingredient list and the lack of alliums!

The original recipe calls for green bell pepper and green chilies, but I had yellow and red respectively, so I just used those instead. The chilies give it a nice kick while the bell pepper adds a bit of sweetness, making it a flavourful dish despite turmeric being the only actual spice used. My only complaint is that it comes out quite thin. I halved the amount of water called for in the sauce, but even so, I found it very soupy. Next time I think I'd reduce the water used to cook the lentils as well. (The instructions below reflect both of these changes.)

Bhuna Hua Simla Mirch aur Masoor ki Dal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1-2 fresh Thai, cayenne, or finger chilies, sliced thin
• 1 c. skinned split brown lentils (red lentils/Egyptian lentils/masoor dal)
• 3 c. water, divided
• 3/4 c. diced tomato
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add bell pepper and chilies and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, thoroughly rinse the lentils.
4. Add 2 c. of the water to the lentils and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
5. Skim off any foam from the surface, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low.
6. Simmer lentils, stirring occasionally, until tender (10-15 minutes).
7. Once the peppers have gotten some colour and started to brown, add the tomato, salt, and turmeric and deglaze the pan.
8. Add the remaining cup of water and cook, stirring occasionally, until tomato begins to break down (5-8 minutes).
9. Once the lentils are tender and the sauce is done, pour it into the pot with the lentils and stir to combine.
10. Continue to simmer the dal, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for an additional 5 minutes.
11. Stir in the cilantro and serve.

Saag Pork (Spinach and Pork Curry)

I don't make pork curries very often. I don't really associate pork with Indian cuisine and it always feels slightly incongruous to me. I tend to default to legume, vegetable, and/or chicken curries. Sometimes I'll do beef, lamb, or fish depending on what I have on hand or what's on sale at the grocery store that week. But pork just doesn't really figure into things.

That said, Iyer does have a decent-sized pork section in the meat chapter of 660 Curries. And I had some pork tenderloins in the freezer. I got them with a completely different recipe in mind, but I keep not quite getting to it, so I figured I might as well just turn them into curries and try to do the other recipe some other time when I have a bit more bandwidth for meal planning.

I appreciated that this was an incredibly simple recipe that required very little prep and cooked quickly. Plus it used up the leftover tomato in the fridge. And gave us some greens to help balance the meal. So, a win all 'round!

Saag Pork

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 500g pork tenderloin, cut into 2cm cubes
• 1/4 c. whipping (35%) cream
• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 2 tsp. bin bhuna hua garam masala
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1-2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/2 c. tomato sauce¹
• 300g chopped frozen spinach

Directions

1. Combine the pork, cream, garlic paste, garam masala, and salt and mix well.
2. Cover and chill for at least half an hour or as long as 2 hours.
3. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add cumin seeds and sizzle for 15-30 seconds.
5. Add the pork along with its marinade and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~5 minutes.
6. Add the tomato sauce and reduce heat to medium.
7. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for ~15 minutes.
8. Add the spinach, cover, and cook until heated through (~5 minutes).
9. Stir and cook, covered, for another 10 minutes or so.

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¹ I didn't have any ready-made tomato sauce, but I did have some leftover canned diced tomato. I just used that and added a little bit of salt, pepper, basil, garlic, and bottle masala to approximate a sauce. ^Back

This recipe is Iyer's take on an Indian restaurant's take on spaghetti arrabbiata. It incorporates ginger, garam masala, and cilantro (among other things) into the spicy, tomato-based sauce which is then tossed with cooked spaghetti and topped with Parmesan.

It's quite tasty, but definitely more of a side dish than a main course on its own. It's very starch-heavy, so you really want some vegetables and protein to go with it to make it a complete meal.

I did end up serving it with a couple other curries. But, as I'm still playing catch-up with the blog write-ups, I'm afraid that I no longer remember which ones. I do remember being happy with the resulting meal though. Everything worked quite well together!

Indo-Italian Spaghetti Arrabbiata

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2-3 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 2 tsp. ground Deggi chilies (or 1 tsp. each cayenne and sweet paprika)
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. Kashmiri garam masala
• 2 c. water
• 4 c. chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 450g dried spaghetti
• grated Parmesan, to serve

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add cumin seeds and chilies and cook until chilies blacken (15-20 seconds).
3. Add the onion and stir-fry until light brown around the edges (5-8 minutes).
4. Add the tomato paste, ginger paste, garlic paste, ground chilies, sugar, salt, and garam masala.
5. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally until the paste develops and oily sheen on the surface (~4 minutes).
6. Add the water and deglaze the pan.
7. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until sauce begins to thicken (~10 minutes).
8. Add tomatoes and cilantro and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes are warmed through (3-5 minutes).
9. Cover and keep warm over low heat while pasta cooks.
10. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
11. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente.
12. Drain the spaghetti and toss it with the sauce.
13. Top with Parmesan and serve.

Maangai Morekootan (Keralan Green Mango Curry)

I don't tend to make mango curries very often. They usually call for green/unripe mangoes, which can be hard to find here unless you buy them frozen. Unfortunately the frozen ones come pre-chopped but not peeled. Given that, I tend to just avoid the mango curries altogether unless I happen to see some nice-looking unripe mangoes at the grocery store. Which is exactly what happened here.

The mango that I used probably wasn't as green as it should've been. But I actually kind of liked that. It wasn't ripe, but it also wasn't quite as tart as a fully green one would've been. I thought it worked very well!

Maangai Morekootan

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. skinned split pigeon peas (toovar dal)
• 2 c. water, divided
• 1 green (unripe) mango, peeled and diced
• 1 c. fresh shredded coconut (or 1/2 c. dried shredded coconut, reconstituted)
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 25 fresh (or frozen) curry leaves, divided
• 3 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 tsp. skinned split black lentils (urad dal/mapte beans)

Directions

1. Rinse the pigeon peas well.
2. Add 1 c. of the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
3. Discard and foam that forms on the surface and reduce heat to medium-low.
4. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until peas are tender (~20 minutes).
5. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1 c. of water with the mango and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
6. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, until water has almost entirely evaporated and mango is tender (~15 minutes).
7. Once the pigeon peas are tender, transfer them (along with any remaining cooking water) to a blender.
8. Add the coconut, cumin seeds, 15 of the curry leaves, and the chilies and purée to make a slightly gritty paste.
9. Pour the purée into the pan with the mango.
10. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
11. Add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
12. Add the black lentils and stir-fry for 20-30 seconds.
13. Remove from heat and add the remaining 10 curry leaves.
14. Pour the mustard seed mixture over the curry and stir to combine.
15. Cook the curry, uncovered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for ~5 minutes longer.

Masala Bhindi Tamatar (Spiced Okra and Tomato Curry)

We had ragada samosas for dinner last night. They're tasty, but not really a complete meal on their own. You've got protein and starch from the chickpeas, but it's a little light on the veg. Unfortunately, my fridge is also a little light on veg right now, so I had to have a dig through the freezer to see what I could do with that.

Masala Bhindi Tamatar

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 400g okra¹
• 1-2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies
• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 c. diced tomato
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

¹ The recipe calls for fresh okra, but I had a bag of frozen okra on hand, so I just used that. The frozen okra was already chopped and ready to go, but if you're using fresh, you'll need to rinse it, carefully trim off the caps, and cut them into 2cm pieces. ^Back