This is a very filling & protenacious ramen recipe; I find it works best as a large lunch on days when you've forgotten to eat breakfast and are planning on a light dinner. It works best with spicy ramen, like fire noodles or shin ramyun.

Sundubu Ramen

Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 2 green onions, sliced, whites and greens divided
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• some pork, thinly sliced
• ramen
• ~180g soft tofu
• 1 egg
• black pepper

Directions

1. Sautee garlic, green onion whites, and pork in oil
2. Add 400mL water, seasoning powder, and flakes, and bring to a boil
3. Add noodles and soft tofu
4. Break in an egg and add some black pepper
5. Cook to desired tenderness (~2 minutes) and garnish with green onion greens.

Lauki Methi (Bottle Gourd Squash with Tomato and Fenugreek Leaves)

A nice simple side dish curry, this has a long simmering phase but comes together very easily apart from that. It has a mild but noticeable amount of heat to it.

Lauki Methi

660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer, pp.609-610

Ingredients

• 680g bottle gourd squash, peeled, cored, and cut into 2cm pieces
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 large tomato, cored and diced
• 2 c. chopped methi (fenugreek leaves)¹ (frozen works fine)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cayenne

Directions

1. Put the squash in a bowl and toss with the turmeric.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add the squash and stir-fry until lightly browned, 1-3 minutes.
4. Stir in the tomato, methi, salt, and cayenne.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until fork-tender, 25-30 minutes.

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¹ Ayer reports that finely chopped cilantro also works nicely. ^Back

I wanted dessert. We had all the ingredients on hand for this and it looked quick and easy and used up some sourdough starter. The batter is very thin and watery, so make sure you're using a pan that won't leak (no springforms for this)!

Sourdough Berry Dessert

Slightly adapted from Northwest Sourdough

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/4 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 75g sugar
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 200g (100% hydration) sourdough starter
• pinch of coarse sea salt, ground
• 285g frozen berries (or other fruit)¹
• 1 Tbsp. cinnamon sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease a 20cm (8") round pan.
2. Combine cream, milk, eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, starter, and salt and whisk until smooth.
3. Pour the batter into prepared pan.
4. Scatter frozen fruit/berries on top (they will sink in).
5. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
6. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 40 minutes².
7. Remove from oven and cool for 10-20 minutes.
8. Serve with whipped cream.

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¹ I used a mix of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Peaches, cherries, or plums would also work well. ^Back
2 If using fresh, rather than frozen fruit, you may need to reduce either the baking time, temperature, or both. ^Back

My cornbread had started to go a bit stale, so I decided to turn it into bread pudding. This comes out quite a bit different than "normal" bread pudding since it's not being made with a glutinous, yeasted bread. I still quite like it though. Especially with the berries in. I think I'd probably try reducing the milk a tiny bit next time. But other than that, I'm pretty happy with it. (Following recipe reflects suggested change.)

Cornbread Bread Pudding

Adapted from This Is How I Cook

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 1 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 1/2 c. maple syrup
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• ~400g stale cornbread, cubed (4-5 c.)
• 1 c. frozen blueberries or mixed berries
• 1/4 c. brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and grease a casserole dish.
2. Combine eggs, milk, cream, maple syrup, and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine cornbread and berries and transfer them to the prepared casserole dish.
4. Pour the custard over the cornbread and berries.
5. Sprinkle brown sugar over top.
6. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for ~60 minutes.
7. Serve warm.

Aloo Kishmish ki Subzi (Potatoes and Raisins with Peas)

I'm still working my way through that big bag of potatoes, so I decided to try out this potato-raisin curry.

Aloo Kishmish ki Subzi

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 425mL diced tomatoes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 4-6 cloves garlic
• 1-3 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 2 slices ginger (~5cm by 2cm by 3mm)
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 c. water
• 450g russet (or other floury) potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes
• 1/2 c. frozen green peas
• 1/2 c. golden raisins

Directions

1. Combine tomatoes, onion, cilantro, garlic, chilies, and ginger in a blender and purée.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
3. Add cumin seeds and sizzle for 10-15 seconds.
4. Add the tomato mixture, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 15-20 minutes.
5. Add the water and the potatoes and cook, covered, stirring occasionally for 40 minutes.
6. Stir in the peas and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
7. Add the raisins.
8. Serve with rice and/or flatbreads.

Mirch Palak Ki Subzi (Chile-Spiked Bell Peppers)

Despite the "chile-spiked" in the title, these didn't turn out all that hot using a single pepper; even the Kidlet was ok with them. We ended up being a bit short on pepper because one of them had gone bad, so I increased the spinach quantity to compensate, but I do think I'd prefer it with the higher pepper:spinach ratio called for in the original recipe, which is what I've written up here.

I also made it with frozen spinach, which was fine, although I think it might come out better with fresh (or perhaps with kale?).

Mirch Palak Ki Subzi

660 Curries p.544

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 large red bell peppers (1lb total), stemmed, cored, and cut into 1" pieces
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1-2 fresh green Thai chiles, stemmed and finely chopped
• 2 tbsp chickpea flour
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• ¾ tsp coarse salt
• ½ lb fresh spinach, rinsed

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add the cumin and cook until they sizzle and turn reddish-brown and fragrant, 10-15s.
3. Add the bell peppers, garlic, and chiles and stir-fry until the peppers blister, ~5 minutes.
4. Add the chickenpea flour and turmeric and stir until the flour is lightly browned, ~1 minute.
5. Deglaze with 2 C water and the salt.
6. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
7. Add the spinach. Return heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, until spinach is wilted and sauce thickens, ~5 minutes.

Mung Chana nu Dal (Mung Bean and Yellow Split Pea Dal)

This dal was a big hit with everyone. The sweetness from the jaggery comes through really well. And the tomatoes and mustard seeds complement it very nicely.

Mug Chana nu Dal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. skinned split green lentils (mung beans/moong dal)
• 1/4 c. yellow split peas (chana dal)
• 3 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. ghee¹
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2-1 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. ground asafetida
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 425mL diced tomatoes
• 1/4 c. chopped jaggery
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 15 fresh or frozen curry leaves

Directions

1. Rinse the legumes well and drain.
2. Add the water and bring to a boil, uncovered, over medium-high heat.
3. Skim off and discard any foam from the surface of the water, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, partially covered, for ~40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, melt the ghee over medium-high heat.
5. Add the mustard seeds to the hot ghee, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
6. Remove from heat and add the cumin seeds, salt, cayenne, asafetida, and turmeric. Stir to combine the spices with the hot ghee.
7. Add the tomatoes, jaggery, cilantro, and curry leaves and return to medium-high heat.
8. Simmer the tomato mixture, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Set aside until legumes are cooked.
9. Once the legumes are done, stir in the sauce and cook over medium heat for nother 5 minutes.
10. Serve with rice and/or flatbreads.

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¹ You can swap out the ghee for oil or vegetable ghee to make this dish vegan. ^Back