My kitchen stories

I AM FISH...

2009-12-16T11:17:00.012+01:00

This is not about a recipe, but very much about food - the fish- whose home is the oceans.

I get a newsletter from the David Suzuki Foundation called Marine Scene Conserving the Oceans This is what it asks/tells us in this Issue:
" I Am Fish
Did you know plankton helps produce more than half the world’s oxygen? Or that oceans provide 99 per cent of the planet’s living space? The David Suzuki Foundation’s “I Am Fish” campaign, launched this fall, was designed to bring Canadians a little closer to the vast, blue expanse that surrounds three sides of our country and makes it possible for us to live on Earth."

David Suzuki is also this years Swedish Right Livelyhood Award (also called the Alternative Nobel Prize) winner.

Below is the IAM FISH video. I have seen the video earlier, but thought of sharing it with you.
You'll love watching this video, it is not only compact and informative but also beautifully made.
Go here: I AM FISH narrated by David Suzuki.
or here (at the Healthy ocean blog)

And for those who want to know more:
PNCIMA
Interactive tour of the ecosystem services off of Canada's Pacific North Coast
Some more information on I AM FISH here.

Happy Diwali!

2009-10-16T16:22:00.004+02:00

Not getting much time to post. My picture folder is growing in size, though! :D
But, still if you happen to pass by...

A very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Diwali!
May it bring light and happiness
into your homes and lives...

Home grown for my mom's birthday!

2009-08-20T20:55:00.017+02:00

a herbal bouquet from my garden

This tuesday was my mom's birthday. I usually cook something nice to make that day special, a wonderful cook as she was. I knew I was going to make something light this time as all our stomachs needed a break from eating too much as we had invited friends for a barbecue on the weekend and like always I had prepared too much and we were left with enough for the next day as well. But until her birthday I really didn't now what. Then, it so happened that I went with sunnyboy to have a look at our kitchen garden in the afternoon and realised that we could make something nice with the potatoes waiting to be digged out, as my mom would have been so proud of me - of my first potatoes.
Both of us got our gloves, sunny boy has got his from his aunt who keeps buying all kinds of fancy things for him everytime she comes. It was uttermost pleasure for both of us to take them out of the earth and collect them in our bowl. Every time sunnyboy found one, he would scream with excitement "here's one more!...". We just dug out one plant for this and we still have nine. Yipeeeeee!
I couldn't believe that planting them so spontaneously end of March (or was it April?!....don't remember, need to note it down next time) actually gave results. I had planted an early potato variety and they came through without any diseases. I think they will be the only ones in my garden without any diseases this year, as I found signs of tomato blight on a couple of my still green tomatoes today. I removed those I found. My zucchini, just like my Hokaido pumpkin, are suffering from mildew now. Luckily we have had enough Zucchinis and so far they don't seem to be minding the mildew on the leaves. But the pumpkins on the plant seem to have stopped growing and no new ones are comig either. I'll have maybe five pumpkins this year of which only three would be the normal good size. I think for a pumpkin it seems too little. But the mildew is getting stronger and stronger even though I have already sprayed a lot of baking powder on the leaves. Initially it seemd to help a lot but not anymore and I don't wish to use any chemicals.
But hubby says five is not bad from a plant, more than enough for us. Well, he's right that way!

So, coming back to the potatoes. I washed them and scrubbed them clean. I didn't need to peal them as the skin looked so fresh and thin. I prepared them along with the zucchini from our kitchen garden. And we ate them along with a simple daal, rice and an avocado guacamole made with cucumber instead of the onion in it usually.

Sukhi Aaloo ki sabzi (Potatoes sauteed with veggies)
Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
6 -8 small early potatoes, skin scrubbed clean and cubed
1/2 zucchini (or 1 small), cubed
3 spring onions, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into squares
1 tsp cumin
1 pinch asafoetida, crushed
1 pinch coarsely ground fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp Pav Bhaji masala (Everest) or any other curry powder of choice
red chilli powder to taste
salt to taste
rapeseed oil

Method:

heat oil in a saute pan and add cumin and asafoetida to splutter, stir and add the potatoes immediately.
cook on medium heat covered, keep stirring in between
after about 10 minutes add spring onion, ground coriander and red chili powder stir and cook further
add salt in between and stir. Once done, take out and set aside covered to keep warm
add little or no oil as per choice in the pan and stir fry zucchini and red pepper on medium high heat till they get a golden brown colour and cooked through but still firm to the bite
add salt and put back the potatoes into the pan and cook further for no more than a minute (if using an electric or ceramic cooktop, switch of heat and leave on the cooktop)
serve warm with rice, roti or any kind of bread. We ate it with daal, steamed basmati rice and guacamole made with cucumber instead of onion.
Bon Appétit!

Pisto Manchego and my first prize at a blog event!

2009-08-02T11:26:00.024+02:00

It is already a very old story now, but I must share it with you. More so to thank Ivy of Kopiaste.

So, the story goes like this: I had taken part in an event (the Round up) at her blog where she also had a giveaway, a Tupperware® Chef's knife. Well, do I need to tell you that I actually won the prize through lucky draw! She sent me the knife, with registered post. I waited excitedly. Well .....we waited and waited and waited, but the knife never came, I contacted her once but we thougt that it might be taking longer, especially the registered ones do.
One day she emailed me saying that the knife had been returned back to her and was puzzled. I was not totally surprised but very irritated as it was the second packet which had been returned that very month. I even went to the local branch office and talked to them but as you know I knew nothing could really be done. I also felt sad for Ivy as she had put enough money and efforts to send it and asked her to let it be. But, she refused and was determined to send me a gift again and asked if we try with soemthig else as we both were a bit unsure if it was not for the fact that it was knife that it was returned. I agreed as she offered to send me a book. And yes, I got it! I was nervous the whole time I waited for it!

Thank you so much, Ivy!

The reasons it took me so long to post about this are manyfold. But one was that I wanted to cook something from it before posting about it and I got the book shortly before I took a break from blogging so it never came to that. So, here it is finally!

The two things I have tried from the book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tapas : Pisto Manchego which we ate together with Tortilla de patatas, also from the book.

Pisto Manchego (Spanish)

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Pisto Manchego or simply Pisto is a spanish dish made with seasonal vegetables, especially zucchini or eggplants combined with tomatoes, onion and bell peppers. The whole thing is prepared in olive oil and resembles ratatouile in some ways.

Ingredients:

1 large Zucchini (450 g), finely cubed
1 yellow white onion (80-100g), finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 green bell pepper, cut into squares
1/2 orange bell pepper, very finely cut into squares (both peppers together 250 g)
6 medium ripe tomatoes (~600g), chopped
a few small sprigs oregano, the leaves and tender stem parts only, chopped
1 pinch dried thyme
red chilli or cayenne pepper, to taste
salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste (optional)
1 large, grillled and peeled long red bell pepper (sweet pepperoncini) from the jar, chopped (optional)
olive oil
flat parsely for garnishing, chopped

Method:

prepare vegetables as given above
in a large sauté pan or fry pan, heat two tbsp olive oil on high heat and sauté zucchini in it for a few minutes, reduce heat to medium high and add onion and garlic, sauté further
add bell peppers and sauté for a few minutes
add chopped tomatoes, and herbs, cook on medium heat, stirring in between, till they become tender (about 10 minutes)
reduce heat to medium low, stir in tomato paste, the red bell pepper, salt and spices
keep cooking, stirring and mashing in between till the whole thing becomes tender and thick
garnish with chopped parsely and serve warm with fried eggs or tortilla de patate (Tortilla Espanõla)

Tip: The pisto can also be eaten cold and tastes even better the next day.

Typically Pisto is served with fried eggs, but I saw a picture in the book where the pisto was served together with tortilla de patatas and I liked the idea and thought of trying that combination out.

Tortilla de Patatas (Tortilla Espanõla)

Tortilla de patate or Tortilla Espanõla, as called in Spain, is a spanish omelett and is a typical and well known spanish potato dish prepared all over Spain. The main ingredients are poatoes and eggs and optionally yellow onion. All kinds variants with peppers, ham, chorizo etc also exist and every region and household has its own way of preparing the omlette. To differenciate it from the typical french omelett the french omlette is called Tortilla francesa. When served as a tapas it is sometimes called pincho de tortilla when cut up into small cubes and served with cocktail sticks. (source Wikipedia)

I prepared it without onion because sunny boy doesn't like onion and the way I have eaten long time back, prepared by a Spanish classmate in our German class, it was without onion too.
Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
about 1 kg potatoes, peeled and sliced or cubed (after peeling and being cut: 900 g)
1 cup olive oil
4-6 medium eggs, slightly beaten with salt to taste

Method:

heat oil in a fry pan and add all the potato slices so they are more or less covered in oil and fry till that they get cooked but not turn crisp or brown
take them out and drain the potatoes over kitchen roll, dab them with the paper roll if neccesary
remove oil from the pan, but don't clean it or wipe it, heat it on medium high heat
put back the potatoes and the beaten eggs and cook covered on medium heat till the egg is no more fluid. Take a large flat plate and place over the pan so it covers the pan completely.
turn the pan upside down holding the plate against it, so the omlette comes out onto the plate
place back the pan on heat and slide the omelett back into the to fry the other side as well, till done.
serve warm with pisto or as a part of tapas, cut into mouth sized cubes

Note: Do not add too many eggs into the dish. The proportion of potato to eggs should be such that the potatoes should be mainly coated with eggs.

The meal was lovely! And very filling too. I liked the combination a lot and would surely try it again. I was too lazy to peel the skin of tomatoes but might actually do it next time. Despite that I found the pisto so full of flavours being full of fresh red ripe summer tomatoes, especially since the zucchini was from my own garden *wink*. Sunny boy didn't wish to eat the pisto, though. Too many veggies together, especially those without any clear shape and form are not very welcome on his plate right now. But he enjoyed the tortilla, of course!
The next day I ate the pisto cold with some toasted bread, it was heavenly! I added the remaining pisto into a casserole I made with potatoes in the evening which gave the casserole a wonderful and peppery flavour too.

I've been away too long (and Myyyyyy zucchini plant)

2009-07-15T17:57:00.002+02:00

It could get too long to explain to you why I had to take leave from blogging. It was unexpected but the reasons are gone now, unfortunately. That was another reason why I didn't feel like coming back as I was in no mood to do anything. Since last month I have been thinking of coming back, but somehow during my absence here a lot new happenend and I also realised that I had been neglecting a lot of other important things.
So, today I want to show you what all I have been up to in the last few months. I started working in my tiny kitchen garden a bit late this year but just about managed to plant some plantlets and just about managed to start the tomato seeds, but I don't know if it won't be too late by the time the tomatoes come. Though this time the sun had the mercy of showing up more often this summers than last year so, they almost seem to have made up for their small size. I hope i get atleast one round of tomatoes.
This time I even planted potatoes for the first time with hubbys help. They have been growing like wild. I have planted one zucchini plant and one Hokaido pumpkin which I bought from a local small groccery shop. They have come out very nicely. Now I have sown carrot seeds, a bit late, I feel, but lets see. And also seeds of radishes and a lettuce called 'pflucksalat' which are salads from which you can pluck just the leaves and new ones keep coming.
The Zucchini plant has been producing zucchini endlessly, but so far we haven't gotten bored of eating them.

I have made very many different things with it. Here are a few examples:
You see I wanted to post about it last month but I'm getting the time now. Sunny boy actually ate Zucchini. Yes! the biggest wonder of this year happpened on the day I served this dish , Zucchini with chickpeas. These were his words: "this is the best zucchini of the world". He was as happy and proud of the zucchini from his own garden as me.
But, don't worry, his enthusiasm went as soon as it came! :(

My zucchini plant, still going strong....
Although hubby loved all the things I prepared so far, but this was his favorite, Gobi manchurian a la PG, with zucchini and a lot of other veggies. The basic recipe came from the awesome blog of Sailu's Kitchen.

So that you know I will be writing but it will only be every now and then. Time has made me change priorities. I loved each and every moment of food blogging and I have been wanting to post so often but to no avail. I still keep taking pictures hoping to post about it. :D Maybe one day I will have more time for this hobby of mine.
I'm sorry for not replying to your emails and querries immediately. And thank you so much for your concern! I hope to post a couple of more posts soon.

Roasted bell peppers salad

2009-03-16T20:42:00.002+01:00

A German friend of mine is an "India"-freak, if I may say so. She is a vegetarian, loves Indian food (she had lived in England for a year), and has fullfilled her dream of seeing India on a trip with me and wishes to go again. Last year she even tried a class called "Bollywood dancing" with another colleague of hers. The first time I heard about it I had to laugh. Though I did not want to be mean to her tried to resist it not to make fun of it. But, with time I realised that I am the one not up to date, as it looks like, it is a serious business now. I was recently reading in the online New York Times an article and my eyes fell on this article heading in the sidebar on Bollywood Excersise (note: not Hollywood, just in case you didn't know about it) in Health blog column "Well" at NYT.
Bollywood is big in coming here, so much so that they now show Indian movies, as always translated in German, on German TV channels like RTL. And I have heard from a French friend of mine who is now living there, that there also they get to see these translated movies on TV. And from what I know they produce Bollywood films now keeping the 'global' viewers in mind with the third generation of 'Indians' growing up outside India and globalisation showing its impacts on Indian culture as well.

Now coming back to the lovely roasted bell peppers. I had been wanting to eat them like this since a while until I finally took out the book and checked the ingredients, got some nice fresh bell peppers and the anchovies in salt and brine I required for it and got going that very day.

Roasted mediterranian bell peppers

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Based on a recipe from the book Le Cordon Bleu 'Vegetables'

Ingredients:
1 red belll pepper, washed, cleaned, stem and seeds removed, and cut into stips lengthwise
1 yellow bell pepper, (same as above)
1 green bell pepper, (same as above) - I substituted it with red bell peppers
1 red onion, halved vertically and then thinly sliced
olive oil to brush on bell peppers while roasting/grilling
2-3 tbsp capers, optionally with a few tsp of the brine (if using capers in salt, soak in warm water and use the water)
4-5 anchovies, finely chopped
3 -4 tbsp fresh basil leaves, washed and chiffonaded
2-3 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
1 garlic, finely chopped
5 tbsp olive oil (EVOO)
1-2 tsp lemon juice, as per taste

fresh green lettuce leaves like Roma
some Italian bread (like Ciabatta), sliced

Method:

wash the salad leaves and set aside
Clean and cut the peppers into 6-8 long strips each and brush the skin with olive oil
spread the sliced onions in a small flat baking dish
place the bell peppers on a baking try with the cut skin showing upwards along with the onion and grill in a preheated oven for 20 minutes till the skin gets charred and the peppers have turned soft
set the onion aside to cool down
place the bell peppers in a freezer bag, close it for a few minutes till the peppers cool down a bit
remove the peppers from the bag and peel the skin
In the mean time chop anchovies, herbs, capers and garlic and mix with the olive oil and lemon juice
add the peeled bell peppers along with the onions to it and refrigerate for a few hours to let them take up flavour
serve with some Italian bread slices and fresh salad leaves

NOTE: I for got to add the onion while taking the first picture, but you see it in the next one, which i just about remembered to take. :)

In addition to the salad and the bread I had also boiled some potatoes and to make them a little more flavourful I mashed the potatoes and fried a small onion in 1 tbsp olive oil in a fry pan till golden and added the potatoes on top of it and pressed it down and cooked for another two minutes to have a 'sort of' rösti.
We all enjoyed our meal fully. I had put a bit too much of olive oil at the very end before serving. But, no one of us minded that. :D I think I'll have to do some dieting soon, I've been eating so uncontrolled lately :I
Recently we got to know of sunny boy's allergies, right now we know that he is allergic, though mildly, to wheat, rye and spelt. Haven't tested it with other things like barley and he seems to be doing fime with oats, though I'm not 100% sure. The doctor says the important thing is to see how his body reacts to the food than the tests. But since we don't use barley as such much I don't care. Luckily he is only mildly allergic and we can live with it. Luckily his Kindergarten can offer gluten free food so I don't need to worry in that regard.
So, I always have to have an option for sunny boy which he can eat. Here it was potatoes, or we would have simply eaten bread, toasted or plain withthe peppers.

My Carribean adventure

2009-03-11T20:38:00.003+01:00

This is how I feel like calling it and it took me some time to have enough confidence to try out these Carribean recipes. Like always I wanted to make things more complicated and wanted to get a feel of what Carribean food is all about before trying out something. Until I realised that the best way do it was to 'try out' the recipes than to just keep reading them all.
Initially I had no time at all and at the end I had just about a couple of days time left. Then came the problem of finding sources which I felt were reliable enough, but this post of Meeta at WFLH helped solve both the problems. Even now, I just about managed to cook these recipes I had choosen, to my utter happiness.

To make sure I got the 'Carribean' feeling just right I tried to buy all the ingredients I could get hold of yesterday. As I also happened to go to the city centre, I went to the Chinese shop there for cilantro and bought dried 'American' black beans (according to the packet) - not canned - and ground allspice from the local supermarket. I haven't used alllspice in this form so far and, infact, the last time I had bought whole allspice was more than 10 years ago and while cleaning up the kitchen on our move few years ago the remaining packet was discarded and I, somehow, never required to buy it again. But, things will change now that I have taken up this challenge! *smiling big*

These are the recipes I decided upon and took help of, after going through the links given by Meeta:

Carribean Rice and Carribean Vegetables (Sweet potato and Zucchini)

I tried to make them as true to the recipes as possible as this was my very first trial at cooking or, for that matter, eating Carribean food. However, I changed the first recipe slightly as I felt that a combination with sweet potato made the use of sqash unnecessary and because I just could not get this recipe of a Cuban Salsa Verde out of my mind and at the very end decided to add it as well to the rice and, despite my fears, it was fantastic!
Since I have modified the recipe of the Rice dish, I will write down the recipe here:

Caribbean Coconut Rice with Cuban Salsa Verde

Recipes by PG of My Kitchen Stories

A combination of two recipes of Caribbean Rice and Rice with Cuban Salsa Verde

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups chicken broth (I used vegetable broth)
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup parboiled rice (I used regular Basmati rice)
2 tbsp olive oil (EVOO)
1 cup red onion, finely chopped
1-3/4 cups (1/4-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (I left this out)
1 tsp chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (I used dried thyme)
1/8 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp black pepper from the mill
2 handfuls of black beans, soaked for 6-8 hours, rinsed and drained 3x in between
4 tbsp Cuban Salsa Verde*

Method:

cook the black beans in a pressure cooker or a deep saucepan till very tender
Bring the vegetable broth and coconut milk to a boil in a saucepan over high heat untill it starts to boil, add rice.
Cover with a lid, reduce heat to minimum and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and uncover lid.
In the meantime, heat 2 tbsp oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add chopped onion, sauté for a few miutes till golden brown.
Reduce heat to medium and add squash, if using, and cook until done, stirring occasionally.
Stir in thyme and remaining spices, stir for a minute and add the black beans.
Add rice to beans mixture, stirring gently and not too much to combine but not to break the rice too much.
prepare the salsa verde by grinding all the ingredients together and cooking in the microwave for 2 mintes at 900 W (optionally for 5 minutes on stovetop) until it starts to throw bubbles
eat warm or cold combined with a salad

Cuban Salsa Verde*

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro leaves, washed throughly and chopped coarsely
2 green onions, cleaned and chopped
1 tbsp lime juice (I used lemon juice)
1 tbsp olive oil (EVOO)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried crushed red pepper (I used black pepper and a pinch of red chilli powder)

Method:
Grind all the ingredients in a food processor or with a hand mixer until smooth.

oh! What a lovely combination did it make! So flavourful. We all loved the spices in the sweet potato, even sunny boy, who initially was abit hesitant , but after persueing hin to tr it again, he finally was of the opinion that 'it tastes good'. I have a small portion of it left for me to enjoy tomorrow.
It feels good to send these entries, though almost last minute, to Carribean Cooking, this month's Monthly Mingle at Meeta's What's For Lunch Honey.

And it feels so good to be back blogging after a long break!

Red Beans and Yellow Pepper stirfry

2009-02-18T23:56:00.009+01:00

I was initially planning to just post this quick fix but extremely delicious beans stirfry at Healthy and Tasty, a blog by a group of working/at home mommies wanting to exchange ideas for easy meals for babies and kids. But I feel this is something I haven't made like this before and it tasted so good that I felt like sharing this rather simple recipe with you.

Kidney beans or red beans (scientifically Phaseolus vulgaris) are supposed to have many different good qualities as food. They are high in protein and fibers which apparently help lower or control cholesterol levels and prevent a rapid increase in blood sugar levels. They are also packed with a number of healthful trace elements (minerals), a notable one being molybdenum. Molybdenum is a part of a number of enzymes which are required for a healthy metabolism of the body.

I combined this quick and easy beans stirfry with a little more time-consuming but healthy Indian flatbreads - Rotis- made without using any wheat flour. No, it wasn't glutenfree as I used barley in it. Their recipe will have to wait for now. I'm still trying to perfect the recipe of a wheat or spelt-free roti. Why, when it is not gluten free, I'll tell you soon (you can surely guess where I'm pointing towards).

So, here comes the recipe:

Red Beans and Yellow Pepper stirfry

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:

3/4 can of red / kidney beans, washed and letting excess water drip off
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic, peeled and sliced
3-4 dried tomato halves, chopped
1 pinch red chilli powder
a few dashes black pepper, fresh from the mill
a few small sprigs rosemary, broken coarsely
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into bite sized pieces

Method:

heat 2 tbsp oil in a fry pan on medium high
add the beans and garlic and stir, reduce heat to medium
after a few minutes add the dried tomatoes, rosemary and the spices
add one more tbsp oil, if required
keep stirring in between, for about 10 minutes
once you get a nice smell coming from the beans and they look nicely roasted add the yellow bell pepper
increase heat and fry for a few minutes on medium high, stirring in between
serve warm with bread, roti or steamed rice

I loved the aroma which was coming from the beans being roasted in the pan. Sunny boy ate the beans willingly and since he believes that he 'only' likes yellow bell peppers (he at least keeps saying so), he was happy to have it on his plate along with roti (Indian flatbread) and also ate everything except for - you have three guesses. Grrrr! When will he learn to eat the so-full-of-health, vitamins rich, blah blah blah peppers?! :(
But, despite all that I love the way he says "Umm, .... umm, so lecker (so tasty)!"

I had been seeing the beautiful logo of MLLA-8th Helping everywhere and had been wanting to send a recipe too. I also had one, but then time constraints were preventing me from posting it. But, then I made this and decided upon this one for this month's event.

So, here it goes to Susan's My Legume Love Affair - Eighth Helping and with the hope of winning the copy of Cynthia's brand new book. :)

Potato patty and Pita bread sandwich

2009-02-14T22:37:00.003+01:00

I have been a bit lackadaisical in posting. There were too many things, in my mind and otherwise, which needed attention. Now, I felt, it is high time I posted at least a couple of more posts. The next few weeks will again be busy, but I will try to post at least one or two more. After all, I don't want to miss Sunshinemom's FIC (Food in colour) event being held at Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen this time and the colour being orange. I even know what I want to make for it. Just hope I get time for it.
Now to this sandwich. I made these sandwiches last year on two following days as a midday snack and ate them all on my own and how I enjoyed it. I still remember it clearly. (OK, I also made them for my family but don't rememebr much about it. LOL!). So, on seeing Bay Leaf's Bread Mania I serched though my pictures collection that it has become and found these sandwiches and here they are:

Ingredients:
1/2 Pita bread
2 potato patties*
2 slices of tomato
a few arugula leaves, or any other sald leaf of choice - washed and pat dried
a few tbsp coconut-groundnut chutney
salt and black pepper (or chilli pepper) to taste

Method:

prepare the patties* and other ingredients
cut the pita bread into half and loosen both sides by inserting a knife in the middle carefully
brush with very little olive oil (or butter) on the both the outer sides and toast on a cast iron pan till they get nice brown spots on each sides
arrange the sandwitch and eat with the chutney in the sandwich or separately, like I did
Bon Appetit!

*To make potato patties I mashed boiled potatoes with sesame seeds, finely chopped onions, grated ginger and spices like roasted cumin powder, ground coriander seeds, black salt, salt and chilli powder. I made good sized round balls, flattened them down to make round shaped patties and roasted them in a frypan in little oil till both the sides were browned.

I would ideally like to give a more precise recipe, but this is all I can do right now and post my recipe finally.
So, here it comes, Sindhura, my Pita sandwich just for you! :)
Check the event details here at her blog Bayleaf.

Ginger and Cranberry Cookies

2009-02-12T21:15:00.001+01:00

It was in the middle of the month January and it was freezing cold outside. Late in the evening before I sat down in front of the TV I felt like getting some cookies. I went to the kitchen, opened the cookie tin in the cupboard and was shocked to see just two cookies left. my thoughts were "Two cookies only! Goodness! I need to bake cookieeeeees!..." .
I used the first opportunity I got two days later and baked what I had in mind already. I had bought a box of candied ginger slices at the Asian shop and wanted to use it in cookies. Since I had liked my last batch of almond oats cookies so much and felt that ginger would go well with it I tried it. I used half the dough with currents like the last time for sunny boy and for us - me and hubby, added candied ginger to make ginger oats cookies.
They turned out fantastic! Hubby loved them, as I expected. But, somehow I felt the cookies weren't perfect, there was still something missing. Today I baked another round. While going through the box of nuts and dried fruits in the fridge I saw this packet of leftover dried cranberries. I took a small piece and put it in my mouth and immediately felt that these would go well with the candied ginger. And now these cookies are indeed perfect!
Hubby who went, on smelling the cookies in the kitchen, tried them and also said that these are even better than the last batch. I've packing half of these for my FIL, who likes ginger in food.

Ginger and Cranberry cookies

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

based on the previous recipe of Almonds, Currents and Oats Cookies

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 25 minutes
Temperaure: 150°C (convection: 120°C)
Makes: 20-25 pieces (if rolled thin, around 30 pieces)

Ingredients:
150 g whole rolled oats (or oat flour)- I used 130 g whole rolled oats and 50 g rice flakes
100 g slivered almonds, divided (80g almonds ground + 20 g crushed lightly)
5 tbsp butter or margarine
5 tbsp level sugar
50g raw marzipan ( marzipan rohmasse, with no additional sugar)
100 g candied ginger slices, chopped finely
30 g dried cranberries*, chopped finely

Method:

grease 1 baking sheet, lay them on a baking tray and set aside
grind the flakes in a coffee mill or dry grinder
combine all ingredients together except for currrents with your hands or using a mixer
add currents and combine with your hands to make one large ball
either

make small balls out of it and press down with the palms to flatten
or, roll out with a rolling pin and cut out cookies using cookie cutters

place on the greased baking sheet
bake for 25 minutes
let them cool down before picking up the cookies, to avoid crumbling

*dried currents can also be used instead of cranberries or just leave it out completely.

candied ginger slices

Other Ginger cookies:
Ginger Snap Cookies at Jude's Apple Pie, Patis, and Pâté
Ginger shortbread at Meeta's What's For Lunch Honey

Turnip 'subzi' and the recipe for Blogger Aid Cookbook

2009-02-08T10:54:00.007+01:00

I have been lagging badly in posting my recipes in the last few weeks. But, I know you all know such situations. Now, I have a long list of things to post about and so little time. Let's see when I manage it all. In a couple of weeks sunnyboy's birthday is coming and I'll again get busy planning about how and what to oraganise for the party which I want to do at home, at least this year, he's going to be four now. How time flies.
So, coming to the vegetable of the day: Turnips! Yes, I dared to buy them. *grin* Turnips are called weiße Rüben or also Speiserüben here. In all these years of living in Germany I never ever thought of buying them. I never liked turnips in India. When my mom did cook them (she didn't do it so often 'cause none of us, my dad included, liked it! LOL!) I did eat it, but it was always a "horrible" experience. :D But, they had a much stronger flavour in India.
Turnip is a very seasonal thing here and actually you don't come aross them in the supermarkets here, but either in small grocery shops or the farmers market. I had seen them a number of times before but knew for sure that I didn't want to try it. I had felt the urge to try making an Indian pickle with them when I saw them this year, though, but the lack of sun has never given me enough confidence to try it until now. But, it is on my list of things to do. Maybe next summers. I just have to remember it in time.

Turnip greens
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)

Energy 20 kcal 80 kJ

Carbohydrates	4.4 g
- Dietary fibre 3.5 g
Fat	0.2 g
Protein	1.1 g
Vitamin A equiv. 381 μg	42%
Folate (Vit. B9) 118 μg	30%
Vitamin C 27 mg	45%
Vitamin K 368 μg	350%
Calcium 137 mg	14%

cooked, boiled, drained, without salt
Percentages are relative to US
recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient database

But, after having tried this very new turnip variety recently I had never seen before, I got to realise that I must try turnips atleast once too and see how they really taste. And my hunch was right: they did taste quite different than the ones I had eaten before. Infact, these tasted wonderful! I almost feel stupid for not having tried them before.
Here is some information from Wikipedia (source) on the nutritional value of turnips:

Turnip subzi

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
1 bunch turnip greens, thick stems removed, washed throughly and chopped finely
1 large turnip (DE: weiße Rüben), peeled and cubed
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and grated (I used 1/4 tsp dry ginger powder, as I didn't have any)
1 heaped tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1-1/2 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
1/8 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil for frying
salt to taste

Method:

heat oil in a pan and splutter ajwain
add ginger, turmeric, ground coriander seeds and red chili powder, and stir shortly
add turnip cubes, mix everything
keep cooking covered on medium heat
once the turnips are almost done, add the turnip greens
cook covered for a few minutes till the greens turn slightly darker and shrivel (the volume will reduce a lot)
serve with hot rotis or rice along with some daal.

For me this was a wonderful replacement for "Muli ki bhujiya" (stirfried radish greens) which I love, they tasted almost the same. I always cried that I don't get radish greens. These are again a seasonal thing and you have to go to the farmer's market for that. But, now I know that I can fullfill my wish to have this comfort food by simply buying the "weiße Rüben" now which are much easier to find than radish greens. Happy, Happy, Happy! That's what I am.

And now one more thing. I have been thinking for long now what to send to the Blogger Aid Cookbook.

After I made this dish (see below) and reliased that it is my very own version of a potato salad which I have learnt to make (and perfected :) ) after experimenting in the last few years, I felt this to be a good choice and here it is, another of our family favorite and one recipe for which I always get appreciation from family and friends on get-togethers. Especially in our barbecue parties this salad is never missing, though with small changes where I leave out the vegetables in it and add some cheese variety instead.

Baked Potatoes Wedges with Kräuter-Quark

2009-02-05T18:38:00.004+01:00

Sunny boy is in bed sleeping, finally, after my third attempt after he got up and came out of the room everytime, I have hung the last round of clothes on the clothes horse, and now I'm sitting with the laptop on my knees. Hubby, after giving up on TV and going through some of our old CDs has put a CD of Sade in the player and I just can't stop moving my shoulders to the rhythm of it. LOL!
I knew that it was going to be a potato day, or should I say, a potato evening. I had bought a new packet of floury potatoes though I had not finished off my previous batch of (waxy) potatoes. So, I knew before I forget it and have to throw away these organic potatoes, better make something. I was going through this cookbook on potatoes (I always drool at the pictures in this one) this weekend when I came across this picture of Creole potatoes wedges and I realised that I haven't made baked potatoes since quite a while now.
So, when the time came to start preparing food in the evening sunny boy came asking to help me. I was happy as he had not been showing much interest lately with helping me prepare food like before. Cutting potatoes is one of his hobbys. :) But, unfortunately he has had two bad experiences with cutting up his finger with the potato peeler, so he didn't want to do that part. I think, at three I don't really expect him to be an expert, but he does a wonderful job at cutting the potatoes with a (comparatively-) sharp table knife. The only problem is to prevent him from keep cutting the vegetable into smaller and smaller pieces. LOL!

I wanted to make a simple dish with only very few spices but still, it had to be flavourful. To achieve this I just choose to add rosemary and used olive oil and the problem was solved. Simple, don't you agree?
I also chose to make a "Kräuter-Quark" with it. Typically Kräuter-quark is eaten with "Pellkartoffeln" (potatoes boiled with skin) as a complete main course dish here. But I feel it goes well with all types of potato dishes. It is simple to make, a quick fix and healthy at that.

Here are a few points I wished to put down here ( simple, dry facts) on potatoes:
Potatoes are high in carbohydrates which is mainly present in the form of starch. These tubers are the storage organs of the plants which are produced in response to decreasing day lengths. Starch is a typical form of carbohydrate energy reserves of plants and is composed of two main molecules: amylose and amylopectin. Both in turn are composed of one monomer sugar molecule - glucose. Amylose is a straight chain of glucose molecules while amylopectin branched. Depending on the ratio of amylose and amylopectin the potatoes are classified as floury or waxy or somewhere in between like I come across some varieties which are classified as "vorwiegend" ( predominantly) waxy here. Higher the amylopectin(branched) the more waxy the potato is, i.e., it does not fall apart while cooking and keeps its shape unlike the floury variety.
Personally I like floury potatoes a lot because of their floury texture once cooked through. Since they aren't as easily available as the waxy ones everywhere I'm always happy when I have them.
So, here comes the recipe:

Baked potatoes with Kräuter-Quark

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:

Baked Potatoes:
10-12 small to medium potatoes*, washed, scrubbed or peeled and cut into 4-6 long wedges
1 large organic red bell pepper, washed, seeded and cut into large pieces
200 g small crimini mushrooms (brown), cleaned, and if required, halved or quartered
2 medium red onion, peeled and cut into thick wedges
4-5 small / thin garlic cloves, sliced into thick long pieces
5-6 sprigs rosemary, coarsely broken into large pieces
salt and pepper (optionally chilli pepper) to taste
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used it mixed with cold pressed rapeseed oil this time)

Kräuter-Quark:
250 g Quark
50 g yoghurt (optional)
50 g heavy cream
a few tbsp parsely, chopped (or herbs of choice; I used frozen parsely)
salt and pepper (optionally chilli pepper) to taste

Method:

In a good sized baking dish mix all the ingredients for the baked potatoes together and bake in a preheatedoven at 210°C (190°C convection) till done
for the first 30 to 40 minutes of baking cover with a baking sheet
mix everything once in between
bake further uncovered for another 15 to 20 minutes or until done
for the Kräuter-Quark mix all the ingredients together with a small whisk untill a smooth and creamy texture appears and store in the fridge until served
serve the potatoes withthe quark and maybe a warm bread to accompany it

*I had used in addition to the waxy potatoes a couple of the floury potatoes I mentioned in the beginning of this postand found that both the varieties tasted good in this combination.

By the time the potatoes were done, the kitchen was filled with the wonderful aroma of baked potatoes. We were hungry but nowhere near like my son this time. I have honestly never seen my son eat so much in one go. He ate three servings and didn't leave anything behind (except for onion and bell peppers, of course!). And I know this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't liked it. It really was delicious. I was more than satisfied with the results. All three of us enjoyed the meal.
I'm two days too late in posting this as I didn't get the time to post the pictures. Now that I'm done, I'm sending this to Meeta's Monthly Mingle at WFLH which is being guest hosted by Michelle at her What's Cooking Blog. I think this qualifies well for a Healthy Family Dinner.
Just in time!

Making a good seafood choice on the iPhone and an award

2009-01-29T21:16:00.016+01:00

Things have been busy and I have hardly found time to go blog surfing. Will be visiting all your blogs sooner than later hopefully. This is not going to be a post on food, but rather to mention a few things which I want to finally get done with.

First:
Seafood Watch (Montery Bay Aquarium) has come up with an application for the iPhone or iPhone touch where you can quickly go through the recommendations on seafood and make a good (environment friendly) choice anywhere at a restaurant or while shopping for fish.
You can also get the recommendations if you have a mobile phone with an Internet connection. Online pocket guides are available at mobile.seafoodwatch.org.

Now coming to an award I have got from two wonderful bloggers:

Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
and
Ramya of Ramya's Kitchen Corner

Thanks a ton! It does feel good to get appreciated for one's efforts at blogging. Thanks a lot for having thought of me!

Now it is time that I also pass it on as this award has been sitting unnoticed for a bit too long.
Now here I need to mention that ~~it is not very clear to me what~~ the idea behind this award is. (A Refreshing Blog- see update at bottom)
~~Wonder if "lemonade" represents something, I don't know of?~~
Anybody who can help?
But, at the same time, I feel the main purpose of these awards is to tell the other (blogger), yes, I like/love your work, an appreciation. So, this is how I pass it on to my fellow bloggers:

Anudivya of ...and a little bit more...

Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen

Curry leaf of Experiments, Emotions, Experiences with food

Deesha of Vegetable Platter

N&A of Delectably Yours

Soma of eCurry

Sowmya of Creative Saga

Sunshinemom of Tongueticklers

Swapna of Cooking With Swapna

It is a lot of fun to be blogging just because of you all.
Now, before I publish this I must mention that I'm a bad case of dementia! :D
So, I would like to pass on the "lemonade" to all those who pass by and leave a comment and make my day! Thanks a lot!

Update: Anudiya clarified that the lemonade equals "refreshing". And yes, that makes sense. WOW! That sounds even more wonderful! So, once again Thanks a lot!

Cranberry Chutney

2009-01-28T12:12:00.006+01:00

a bowl of chutney in snow on our terrace

I have been using cranberries since a long time now and liked them right from the beginning. But, these were always packed dried cranberries. Cranberries don't grow in Germany, though I had once heard of a pilot project to grow them in Mecklenburg Vorpommern once. Don't know what happened of it. I was surprised when I saw fresh cranberries at REWE for the first time this time, where I went to after a long time and just couldn't resist buying them. Although, who knows, maybe I never noticed them before I got to see such lovely dishes being made with them on different blogs.

When I bought these fresh cranberries I wanted to make a nice tart with it like here at Doghill Kitchen. But somehow none of us was in a mood to eat anything sweet after having gorged on all those Christmas cakes and cookies for so long, so I dropped the idea. Instead, I decided to make a chutney, after having seen others make some too.
Cranberry and Fig Chutney (Relish)

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
250 g cranberries, cut into halves or quartered
2 inch piece ginger, grated
150 g dried figs, chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp fennel seeds, coarsely ground
1/8 tsp red chilli powder (use more or less to taste)
1/4 tsp black salt, ground - optional
1/4 tsp salt
1 star anise, to be taken out once the chutney is ready
200 g jelly sugar 2:1* (use quantity to taste)
1/2 tsp roasted ground cumin

Method:

Mix everything together and set aside for about half an hour or longer
cook it up stirring in between
reduce heat and keep cooking on medium low heat so that it keeps throwing bubbles
continue cooking for about 30 minutes, stirring in between
In the mean time prepare two 250 ml (boiled-) jars to be used for storing the chutney, if required
Fill the glasses with it and close lids tightly.
Once cooled down, store in the refrigerator

*NOTE:

Jelly sugar contains pectin in addition to regular table sugar. I used up my last and already opened packet of jelly sugar for this, but you can also replace it with regular sugar. One may require to cook it for longer, though.
Depending on its use you can reduce the amount of sugar to half. For example, if using as a side to poultry, you could use regular table sugar and half the amount.

One of the many ways I am enjoying eating this flavourful chutney is like this:

Rye bread with Camembert cheese and cranberry chutney

I loved this chutney. It is the best of all the chutneys I have made in the last few months so far. I liked the combination of dried figs and fresh cranberries a lot. Even though I did have some small doubts about if it will turn out good, but the end results made this chutney to be a perfect one. I think the the proportions of the two fruits and all the spices are also very good in this chutney. Talking about spices, one of the distinct flavours in the chutney apart from that of ginger is that of fennel seeds which impart a lovely aroma and which makes it so delicious in my opinion.
That reminds me of my childhood days when I loved munching on fennel seeds. Fennel seeds are also one of the few spices I always liked as a child. Maybe it also had to do something with the fact that my mom only very rarely bought toffees, chocolates or lollipops and stuff like that for us. So, maybe we got enough chances to enjoy chewing on fennel seeds instead. :D We also discovered something, very fascinating for us then, that after chewing fennel seeds the water on drinking tasted so delicious. Delicious is the best word that I can think of for it. It tasted so very sweet. It was almost like doing an experiment and enjoying it.
The reason, I think, why the water tasted sweet afterwards was the essential oils present in fennel seeds. So, do you also have such similar memories with fennel seeds?

I just realised that Ivy is hosting an event for which this recipe is just the right thing. The event has also got a very interesting name this time and a very interesting theme too. Off it goes to the event started by Sunita of Sunita’s World and being hosted by Ivy of Kopiaste:

Think Spice...Think Twice : Mastic gum or Fennel seeds

Another event I got to know of and to which I would like to send this entry of my very original bread-not-exactly-sandwich is to Bay Leaf's Bread Mania event.

Other Cranberry chutneys:
Crannbery pickle at Anudivya's A little bit more
Cranberry Chutney at Andrea's Recipes
Cranberry Apple Chutney at Jai and Bee's Jugalbandi
Pear Cranberry Chutney at Meeta's WFLH

Daal : My comfort food

2009-01-25T12:27:00.016+01:00

I don't remember anymore how I came upon it but we were sitting at the table having dinner and talking when we started talking about the taste and flavours in food and i suddenly remembere that there was this fifth "taste" which was discovered much later than the others like sweet, salty, sour and bitter. I was trying to think hard, but the only letter of the word that I remembered was 'U'. The word is comleted as Umami. I don't know exactly if we weren't tought about it in school or we were but I couldn't understand it so didn't remember. :D This is the information I collected:
Taste is one of the five senses of our body and from the biological point of view a chemoreception where a chemical stimulus is recognised by a sensory recepetor in our body - in this case a receptor found in our taste buds or "gustatory calyculi" that transmits the sensation of taste to our brain. Taste is a sensation which takes place on our tongue whereas flavour invloves the sensation of smell as well.
There are five basic tastes (taste sensations) :
Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter and the comparitively newest (1907) - Umami. There are two more taste bud recepetors which have been identified which sense fatty acids (in fats and oils) and calcium respectively. NOTE: Hot or Spicy is not a taste in the same sense, since hotness is sensed in a different way (through somatosensory fibers sensing pain and temperature on the tongue).

Umami flavour is also described as savoury sometimes. It is very often found in fermented foods, and often produced through compounds like glutamate (one of the 24 amino acid) which bind to the taste bud receptors which recognise this stimulus. It comes much more often in Asian food or also Eurpoean than in Indian.I think. Though I could be wrong, as we also have many different fermented foods in all the different Indian cultures. So, I went to check about it in Wiki and found it, of course. When I heard this for the first time I was quit facinated and knew why all these additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG or Ajinomoto) and the likes were being added in all kinds of savoury products, you know now for sure, - to stimulate our taste buds! But, I don't like this overdose of umami at all. I rather go for flavours present naturally in food where there is a balance between the different flavours.

Here is some information on the discovery of the taste Umami and monosodium glutamate:
glutamate.org
Wikipedia

Now I will come to my comfort food: daal. Earlier it was always kitchdi, but since I so rarely have mung daal at home now, with whichI make kichdi, I have found that a plate of rice with hot daal gives me the feeling of "home" and comfort and there are days where I do miss it. I wonder how much of umami is present in daal (lentils).

Urd ki daal

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:

1 cup skinned black gram, soaked for a couple of hours
same quantity of water for cooking in a pressure cooker
salt, to taste
3/4 tsp turmeric
Tadka (Chaunk):
1 heaped tbsp ghee or 2 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin
1 pinch asafoetida, crushed or powdered
1 small red onion (or yellow), thinky sliced
1-2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced - I left it out this time
1/2 inch ginger, thinly sliced or grated
1/4 tsp chili powder
1-2 tsp coriander seeds, ground

2nd Tadka / Mirchi ka Chaunk (optional)* - or call it chilli oil
1 tbsp ghee or oil
1/4 tsp cumin (optional)
1/4 tsp coriander seeds, ground (optional)
1/4 tsp red chilli powder

Method:

soak daal in water and change water a couple of times in between
Cook daal in the pressure cooker with turmeric and salt as per instructions till the lentils are tender
in the meantime cut onion, tomatoes and other spices
once daal is done, prepare tadka :

heat oil or ghee in a frypan and add cumin and let it splutter
add asafoetida and stir once
add the onion garlic and ginger, stir
add the remaining dry spices
keep stirring and fry till onion is golden brown
add the ready tadka to the daal

preprae second tadka in the same way and serve in a separate bowl along with the daal,
daal is usually eaten with steamed rice or rotis or both and sukhi subzi(s) (dry stirfried vegetables) of choice

*The second tadka serves the purpose of increasing het in your food by adding the chilli oil to the food, usually daal

Another one...

Arhar ki Daal (Toor lentils)

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Special equipment: pressure cooker (if not available, then soak for longer and cook in a covered pan for 1 hour or more)

serves 4

Ingredients:

150 - 200 g arhar / toor daal (lentil), washed and soaked for at least 2 hours or overnight
1 -1/2 cups water for cooking
salt to taste (first add 1/2 tsp and adjust accordingly later)
1/2 tsp turmeric

Tadka / Chaunk
1 tbsp ghee or any cooking oil (if using onion 2 tbsp may be required)
1 tsp (heaped) cumin
1/8 tsp asafoetida, finely ground (for beginners - use 1 pinch)
1 pinch (generous) ground fenugreek seeds
6-8 curry leaves (optional)
2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1/8 tsp red chilli powder -or to taste (optional) - you can also use fresh green chillies, if available

1 garlic, finely chopped or thinly sliced (optional)
1/2 inch piece ginger, peeled and grated or chopped
1 onion, thinly sliced (optional)
1 medium tomato, chopped into large cubes or small, as per liking

2nd Tadka / Mirchi ka Chaunk (optional)* - or call it chilli oil
1 tbsp ghee or oil
1/4 tsp cumin (optional)
1/4 tsp coriander seeds, ground (optional)
1/4 tsp red chilli powder

Method:

soak daal in water and change water a couple of times in between
Cook daal in the pressure cooker with turmeric and salt as per instructions till the lentils are tender
in the meantime cut onion, tomatoes and other spices
once daal is done, prepare tadka :

heat oil or ghee in a frypan and add cumin and let it splutter
add asafoetida and curry leaves, stir once
add the onion and garlic, stir
add the remaining dry spices
fry till onion is golden yellow
add tomatoes nd fry till tender
add the ready tadka to the daal

preprae second tadka in the same way and serve in a separate bowl along with the daal,
daal is usually eaten with steamed rice or rotis or both and sukhi subzi(s) (dry stirfried vegetables) of choice

*The second tadka serves the purpose of increasing heat in your food by adding the chilli oil to the food, usually daal

Daal is a staple in Indian food in almost all the regions of India as we majorly eat vegetarian diet. In many regions fish and in some other either or meat in addition is also eaten, but still it is more a delicacy made on some special occasions or on special days than being a regular at the table. I have to say here that I'm writing this based on my impression of all the Indian cultures from the different regions of India. I always consider the variety in culture and so also foods of India at par, if not more, with the continent Europe. So, it is almost impossible for me to know everything. But, having lived in the capital city of India and some other regions of India, and as my father worked for the cenral govermnent we lived together in a "colony" with friends from many different regions of India whose parents were also central goverment "servants". My mother exchanged foods with neighbours whose origins were different than ours and so had different food than ours. It was always such a delight to get a bowl of hot daals or a curry from the neighbour. Yes, those were the days...

Now I actually wanted to write somethig else, but how my thoughts drift :D.
Daal is prepared differently in different regions of India. What make the daal different is the tadka or "chaunk", as we call it, and there are man others word for it, but my knowledge if it is very bad. And these recipes are the tadkas I saw my mom make, partly adapted from her neighbours, so to say.

So, off it goes to Sunshinemom's FIC : Yellow at Tongueticklers!

And I would like to send this entry to this month's MLLA started by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook being hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 All Seasons.

Homemade Thai Tofu curry

2009-01-22T14:51:00.011+01:00

I was forwarded this interesting article by my BIL and found it very interesting. It is about how to give your kitchen a fresh start this new year, as the author says. And I feel there are quite many good tips which I have always followed, but some which I feel I need to do. There are some things which are easy if you make it a habit, which is initially difficult, but once you are into it and you don't need to give it a thought, it just happens on its own. Things which may appear too long and cumbersome, but aren't really so. I always believe, that it is all in our minds, this cumbersomeness. I remember during my times at the Botanical Institute where I worked and sometimes heard students say the same about all the experiments which had to be done and this was always my answer, it is all in your mind. You just need to get the feel of it and get used to it. Don't you think so too?
Things like preparing the vegetable broth at home by just cooking up some carrots and celery on the side isn't so time consuming or cumbersome if we just plan it ahead. Once we get used to it, we wouldn't find it impossible. I can so easily prepare a day before and use it the next day, for example. And this is one thing I want to start this year, making my own vegetable broth.

Now coming to the recipe, I was inspiered by the Thai curries made by Bee and Jai at Jugalbandi to finally make my own as well and not just keep "thinking" about it. So, this is a rough estimate of how I made it. I just used the amounts I felt appropriate at that moment. And my curry is my own modified version from different recipes to suit our family taste :

Tofu in Thai curry

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:

300 g firm Tofu (I used organic tofu from my local store), cubed
2 small carrots, peeled and cut into thin slices
1/2 large red bell peppers, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 small Italian aubergine, cut into small pieces (optional)
1 zucchini, cut into thick slices
1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into pieces
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped or grated
1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
4-5 keffir lime leaves, slit on both sides of the midveins without breaking into smaller pieces
1 lemon grass, green cut intolarge pieces and the white part crushed
2/3 can coconut milk, shaken before opening
a few dashes fish sauce (optional)
salt to taste
oil for frying
3-4 tbsp Thai curry paste of choice (I used home made*)
1/2 a bunch of Thai basil, leaves only
a handful of corianer leaves (cilantro), chopped

Method:

In a large sauté pan heat some oil and fry the tofu pieces turning carefully only once till golden in colour on both sides. take out and set side
Clean the pan and in some oil fry the onion, garlic and ginger along with coriander- and turmeric powders
Add the aubergine, fry for a few minutes on medium heat
Then add carrots, fry for another few minutes and add bell pepper and fry further covered, add little salt. Once the aubergine is almost done, remove from pan and set aside
Fry zucchini for short till it gets a golden brown surface (optional) or add it directly to the curry later
Heat oil or coconut milk in the same pan or a small frypan and fry the curry paste on medium heat till it gets golden brown. Add some coconut milk in between so that it doesn't burn
In the sauté pan put back all the vegetables and tofu and add salt, fish sauce and coconut milk along with the fried currry paste. Mix and cook on medium low -it should be bubbling slowly for about 10 minutes covered till the curry looks done.
Add water, if required, in between
Add the Thai basil leaves and cover lid again for a couple of minutes
Before serving garnish with the cilantro leaves and serve along with steamed rice

* My recipe of Thai curry paste:

Ingredients:

Roast separately and grind together:
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds

1 lemon - organic or unsprayed, the zest and its juice
1" piece ginger, peeled and grated finely
1" piece galangal, peeled and grated finely
4 large garlic cloves, chopped finely or grated
2 small red onion or shallots, chopped - (I left it out)
4-6 keffir lime leaves, chopped
2 lemon grass, the white part only, chopped
a few dashes fish sauce (optional)
1/4 tsp turmric powder (or use fresh turmeric, peeled and grated)
1/4 tsp shrimp paste (optional)
1 green chilli, seeded and chopped -(increase quantity to taste)

Method:

roast the dry spices and let cool down before grinding
prepare the wet ingredients and mix with dry ground spices and grind everything to a paste
use fresh or freeze in portions of 2-4 tbsp, as required

NOTE: the shrimp paste and fish sauce cn be left out or replaced with fermented bean pastes, if you prefer it that way or just leave it out.

I have been too lazy to make this again, but this was a wonderful thing to do as I could use as much of the paste as I wanted without worrying about its hotness, so sunny boy could eat it easily. I don't think I need to tell any of you who eat Thai food, how delicious such curries are and so was this one too. I loved the richness of flavours in Thai curries and even though I felt that it was somehow different from the packaged ones, I was happy with the results. I love Thai basil, it's aroma, and I even had coriander leaves which made the dish perfect for me.

I'm sending this recipe to DK's a very interesting event series AWED: the theme this time being Thailand at DK's Culinary Bazaar.

Other similar recipes from other bloggers:

Thai Yellow Curry with Seafood at Rasa Malasia
Thai Red Curry (Gaeng Daeng) at Jugalbandi

Teltower Rübchen

2009-01-18T15:38:00.005+01:00

I had some time to go to the farmer's market (DE: Wochenmarkt) just nearby. While searching for some nice vegetables I came across these beets which i wasn't sure if the were turnips or radishes. They wee shaped more like radishes but still looked different and did give the texture of turnips. On asking what it was I was told its name, even more strange to me with which I was even more lost - Teltower Rübchen. So I asked more details about it and got to know that it is a vegetable which tastes a bit like turnip but is "different" and is from the region Mecklenburg Vorpommern, a state in north eastern Germany. On checking about it in Wikipedia I found some more details. It is a type of turnip which got its name from the town Teltow in the state Brandenburg, Germany, where it was grown in plenty in and around that town. On smelling them I could smell this typical turnip like smell, but much milder than a turnip I felt. I don't like turnips, except pickled the Indian way. My mom made such lovely Indian pickles with them every winter, usually in huge bottles meant only for this purpose. But, all the kids would gobble them up within a few weeks along with our food.
The next day I wanted to make something Indian, and I had planned to cook daal (lentils), so, these beets found good use as an accompaniment. I quickly took a picture of these before starting with cooking them. It had turned a bit cloudy and dark by the time a took the picture.

To prepare the" subzi" (any vegetable preparation) I just used my gut feel and tried to make something full of flavours at the same time where the flavours blended well together. And this is what came out:

Teltower Rübchen

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
500 g turnips (I used Teltower turnips), peeled and cubed or cut into long strips
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed or cut into thick long strips
1 large yellow onion, sliced or chopped
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds, ground
1/8 tsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp rapeseed oil for frying
salt to taste

Method:

heat oil in a pan and splutter ajwain
add potatoes, onion, ginger, turmeric and red chili powder, and stir
add ground coriander- and fenugreek seeds , mix everything
keep cooking covered on medium heat
once the potatoes are almost done, add the turnips
cook covered till done
serve with hot rotis or rice along with some daal.

I was quite satisfied with the results and we enjoyed eating something new for a change. I purposefully didn't add too many or too much spices together or make any spice paste so as not to hide the flavour of this new vegetable. I used ajwain however, as I felt with its characteristic flavour it should make a good combination with the turnips.
The turnips were mildly sweet after I had fried them for long till they got slightly caramelised on the surface and the turmeric and ajwain gave a good contrast to balance out its flavour. After this experience I know for sure that we will be eating the other regular turnips also more often. Next time i do wish to cook them in a different way and try out other flavours too.

I'm sending this wonderful Teltower Rübchen "subzi" over to Sunshinemom's Food in Colours : Yellow

And it also goes to this weeks Weekend Herb Blogging started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen which has now been taken over by Haalo at Cook (almost) Everything Atleast Once and being hosted this week by Rachel of The Crispy Cook.

Chicken cardamom curry

2009-01-13T17:57:00.008+01:00

I started cooking once I came to Germany. before I was pampered by my mom enough. Though she did expect something in return that I do something meaningful in my life, study, at least be qualified enough to be independent and follow my own chosen way. She always said " cooking is no big deal, you will learn it one day once the need arises." I still learnt a lot of cooking through watching and, of course, we were allowed to cook during the summer vacations if we felt like it and we - me and my sisters, did make use of these opportunities, even if not so often. Usually we would look up some yummy recipes from the magazines like Femina and try it. Sometimes some of my mom's recipes if I liked them a lot. Those were the times. Sigh!
Since my parent's were vegetarians - now, for those not from India- it is no big deal in India, as it is a way of life there and you really don't have to make any compromises of any kinds. So, I didn't get exposed to eating chicken until I went to college and lived in a hostel with friends from Manipur (India) who cooked during the summer break when the canteen closed for a couple of weeks. Once I came to Germany I also tried cooking chicken myself from what I had learnt from them and from the recipes in the Hawkins recipe book which I got with the pressure cooker I brought from India with me. I was told that pressure cookers are different and not so good outside India. Well, the pressure cooker got damaged after using it a couple of times, but at least I could make use of the book!! :D
This is my very first trial at making an Indian curry other than Chicken Makkhan. If I make chicken Indian style I usually just marinate it with some Indian spices , fry it and add some veggies to it. That's it! On seeing Soma's beautiful pictures of this wonderful looking curry, I thought that I had to try it. I did not make it exactly like hers, but I tried to keep the spices the same.

Chicken cardamom curry

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Based on the recipe at Soma's eCurry

Ingredients:

3 chicken breast fillets, washed, pat dried and cubed into 2-3 cm (1/2 ") pieces
3 medium potatoes, washed, peeled and cubed into 2-3 cm (1/2 ") pieces
1-1/2 cups green beans, washed, ends cut off and cut into 4 cm (1-1/2 ") pieces
1 heaped tsp cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp powdered jaggery
salt to taste
oil for frying

Marinade:
1/4 tsp turmeric
1-1/2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp salt

Onion paste:
2 medium onions, chopped coarsely
3 cm piece ginger (about 1"), chopped coarsely -I used up the last 1/2 " piece remaining in my basket
3 cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
1 heaped tsp tamarind paste
1" piece cinnamon stick (half) -use one whole, as per your liking
1 dried red chili, broken into large pieces
2 cloves, (I ground them before adding)
6 green cardamoms, the seeds, (I ground them before adding)
1 tsp turmeric
1 heaped tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp dried coconut (as a substitute for 3/4 cup coconut milk)

chopped coriander leaves (cilantro) for garnish (optional)

Method:

prepare chicken and marinate (marinade above) for 10 to 20 minutes
in the meanwhile prepare the onion paste by grinding everything together or first the dry ingredients in the dry grinder and then together
heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and fry chicken on medium heat, covered, till almost done, turning once
take out of the pan, clean it
now heat 2 tbsp oil in the pan and add cumin till it splutters, add the potatoes and green beans along with turmeric and fry on medium heat till done, stirring in between
in the meanwhile, in another pan using 2-3 tbsp oil fry the onion paste on medium heat, stirring in between, till roasted (about 10 minutes), add a few drops of water if required
mix everything together (chicken, potatoes, and fried onion paste) in the pan and add 1/2 cup water and cook for about 10 minutes till you get a nice thick gravy
if required, add some more water
serve warm garnished with cilantro along with warm Indian rotis (flat bread) and steamed basmati rice

It's no doubt a wonderful curry. Since then I have tried it twice already and I will surely be using this recipe often. Hubby loved it and was very pleased at how well it had turned out- you see I'm not so good at satisfying hubby with food. :D
I liked it a lot and honestly I was a bit skeptical initially, as I always believe that I don't like green (sweet) cardamom in savoury food. Well, until now. :)
Soma, thank you for this wonderful experience. I'm sure if you were on my side while I prepared it, you would have pointed out many improvements. But, I'm learning by doing. The picture doesn't look so perfect and a bit too dry as I had added lesser water and didn't use any coconut milk this time and by the time I took the picture - we had had our lunch- the leftover chicken had even lesser water. But what lovely leftovers for the next day! Delicious!

Some good information on Cardamom at Gernot Kratzer's spice pages:
Cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.)

If you want to try the curry, go to Soma's Curried Chicken in Cardamom Infused Coconut Sauce at eCurry. You will not only get the recipe but a beautiful story behind it too.

Related posts:
Chicken makkhan

My Oregon Pink Shrimp stories and Teach A Man to Fish 2008

2009-01-11T12:47:00.015+01:00

Well, these are actually more recipes and less stories, but then doesn't each recipe tell a story?

Now, before I begin I would like all of you who eat fish to take your time out to go and visit the Roundup of this wonderful event Teach A Man to Fish 2008 started by Jaqueline Church, a wonderful writer (a lawyer) and very actively involved in increasing awareness about Susutainable Seafood, as you will see. You will see how easy it is to cook up some good food by making a good choice using sustainable sea food.

Now, what's so special about these Oregon pink shrimps. Well, I think, almost everything. Thanks to Jaqueline Church andTeach A Man to Fish I got to know of a very good source of information (Montary Bay Aquarium) on which shrimp- / prawn varieties are classified as stainable seafood. The ones I could get locally by then were only the Northern cold water shrimps (Pandalus borealis), which was not the best choice but a good alternative, so to say and was also recommended by German Greenpeace as the best alternative available here. But, thanks to Penny Markt (Now, if you are from Germany, you might wonder, "what! , of all the places Penny!". But, yes, Penny and only Penny - here at least) has recently started selling these Oregon pink shrimps here in Hamburg instead of the Northern cold water shrimps, which they were offering earlier. I don't know for how long they will continue it, but I find it wonderful. In the last couple of years and especially in the last few months I have seen almost all the supermarket chains offering sustainable seafood in the form of MSC certified products more and more, which of course doe not mean that they do not offer other fish which are on the RED List . But, at least I can make a choice. It looks as if there has been some realisation that the demand for sustainable seafood exists which is good.
Pandalus jordani is the Latin name of these pink shrimps. They are one of the varieties of cold water shrimps (called Tiefseegarnelen in German -the equivalent for cold water shrimps- and belong to the family Pandalidae). These are smaller in size than the warm water or tropical shrimps and for that reason usually sold as already peeled, individually frozen seafood. Pink shrimps are caught in the states of Oregon sand Washington, USA by trawl and for pink shrimps bycatch reduction devices have brought the bycatch levels to very low. Fishing methods for Oregon pink shrimps have been certified as sustainable by Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).

Following are some of the recipes I made with them :

1) Fried Rice : I just added two handfulls of frozen peeled shrimps to the usual ingredients with the left over rice I had. Depending on the quantity of the rice and preference one could vary all the ingredients. I think all of you are experts in making fried rice that I really don't need to give you any recipe, or just ask me.
2) Bok choy with shrimps, the same as I made the last time. We ate it with steamed rice. This is a real quick fix, just like fried rice.

3) Thai green curry with lots of veggies and the shrimps:

Thai green curry with lots of veggies and Kra Chai (wild ginger)

2009-01-09T19:50:00.001+01:00

By mistake hubby brought me this strange looking herb from the Chinese grocery store which I had no clue to what it was. I was sure that it was not galangal, which I actually wanted. Initially I as quite skeptical and was wondering if it has gone bad or what, as the outer layers looked darker than the centre. But, once I used it I liked this earthy but still so aromatic fragrance of it. It smells distinctly different than galangal or ginger. Recently I went to the Asian grocery shop myself and bought it again and this time there was also a name on it, to my delight. It said "tumicuni". I showed hubby how galangal looks like which was also lying just next to it. So, after searching for "tumicuni" through Google, I found out what it was.
It seems to have many names in English and in different Asian countries and regions. Tumicuni (I think is from Indonesia) or 'Kra Chai'* (Thailand), 'chinese keys', 'wild ginger', 'finger root' or 'galingal' (not galangal). Its binomial Latin name is Boesenbergia pandurata. Here is a good informative page on finger root at Gernot Katzer's spice pages. Just like ginger, galangal or turmeric, it belongs to the ginger family (Zingiberacea) and the part used in cooking is a rhizome.
While searching for a recipe for Kra Chai I came across this recipe of wild ginger at ThaiFoodPlus.com. After seeing how it is really used, I was confident enough to try using it on my own and tried to make something using them with Oregon pink shrimps.

*A couple of days ago I had a Thai friend, also an ex-colleague, visiting me from Regensburg and she told me that the word Kra Chai is pronounced as Kra Shai - \ai\ as i in ice. Through her I also got to know that Kra Chai is a sparely used spice in the Thai kitchen and comes in use for only a few selected recipes.

Thai green curry with shrimps

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
150-200 g cold water shrimps (I used MSC certified Oregon pink shrimps)
1 medium carrot, sliced or julliened
1 long stalk bamboo shoot (15-20 cm), cut into 1/2 cm rings or 5 -6 cm vertical slices
10 mushrooms, quartered or halved, depending on size
1/2 green bell peppers, chopped into mouth sized pieces
1/2 red bell peppers, chopped into mouth sized pieces
1 lemon grass, the green part kept as stalks and the white part crushed
a few lemon leaves, each leaf slit a number of times on both sides of the midrib
1 large red onion, chopped
1 large garlic, chopped finely
1 inch ginger, chopped or grated fine
1 small stalk of Tumicuni (Kra Chai or wild ginger), finely chopped
1 tsp Thai green curry paste** (I used Lobo)
2/3 can coconut milk, shaken before opening (we used up all of it , as it turned out to be too hot)
a few dashes fish sauce
salt to taste
1/2 packet Thai basil, the leaves - washed
a few tbsp coriander leaves (cilantro), washed , pat dried and chopped
1 tbsp oil for frying

** It is the hottest of all the Thai curries!! Very Very HOT!

Method:

thaw the shrimps at room temperature (you can also add them directly from the freezer into the curry)
wash, clean and chop vegetables and spices and set aside
heat 1 tbsp oil ((or 2-3 tbsp coconut milk) in a sauté pan (or wok) and add onion, garlic, ginger, tumicuni and lemon grass and fry
add the vegetables one by one, frying each for a minute before adding the next on medium heat
if required add a few tbsp coconut milk in between
add the green Thai curry paste and stir
add coconut milk and cook for a while, stirring in between
add the shrimps - depending on if they are thawed or not, add them either shortly before the curry is done or cook for longer till done
add fish sauce and salt to taste and the basil leaves about 1 or 2 minutes before the curry is done
serve warm, garnished with cilantro, to steamed rice

This was a rich and flavourful curry. Beautifully aromatic because of the Thai basil, coconut milk, cilantro (fresh coriander leaves) and, of course, all the spices like Kra chai, ginger, and the Thai spice curry paste. Needless to say, it was a wonderfully tasty curry. But, there was a one big problem. : it was HOT! Despite my having used just 1 teaspoon, it was horribly hot. I had to add lots of coconut milk to reduce the hotness, not only for sunny boy, but also for me and hubby.
And then when I told my Thai friend about the hotness, she told me it is the hottest of all the Thai curries. Well,.......now I know it for sure, never to forget it again! She suggested that I use the yellow curry paste as a mild alternative, which I will do next time. So, if you think fiery hot food is just the right thing for you, then go ahead and try this Thai green curry.
But, after adding more coconut milk from the can, the curry became mild enough for us, but not for sunny boy. For him I took out the vegetables and the shrimps and mixed with plain coconut milk which was alright for him then and he enjoyed eating it too.

Oatmeal and Marzipan Cookies

2009-01-04T20:50:00.023+01:00

I made these cookies for Christmas. It wasn't planned in fact, but after seeing the original recipe at Anudivya's Blog A little Bit More, with very creative and healthy recipes, many of which are modified recipes made healthy by - which appear to me to be - such drastic reductions of sugar and fats that it always leaves me amazed. I love oatmeal cookies and had been wanting to make them on my own, but as it always is with me, since I get the lovely Brandt oatmeal Hobbits which I like a lot, I never really bothered to try making these on my own. But, when I saw these not only healthy and but also tempting cookies she had made, I knew I had to try these.
That I would add dried currents was clear to me right from the beginning. But, since I was in the mood of using ingredients more appropriate for Christmas, the idea of using marzipan came into my mind and I did it with wonderful results.

Oatmeal and Marzipan Cookies

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Adapted from Anudivya's recipe at ...and A little Bit More...

Preparation time: 20-25 minutes
Baking time: 30 - 35 minutes
Temperature: 150°C (convection: 120°C)

Ingredients:
3-4 tbsp butter / margarine (if you wish to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters, 4 tbsp will be required)
5 tbsp sugar (measured) - increase quantity to taste
150 g oat flour (I ground wholegrain tender oats flakes - DE: Kölln blütenzarte vollkorn Haferflocken)
120 g almond meal
100g raw marzipan* (marzipan rohmasse, with no additional sugar) - optional
1 packet of vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
80 g dried currents (DE: Korinthen)

Method:

grease baking sheets, lay on baking trays and set aside
if using oat flakes, grind them in a coffee mill or dry grinder
combine all ingredients together except for currents with your hands or using a mixer
add currents and combine with your hands to make one large ball
either

make small balls out of it and press down** with the palms to flatten
or, roll out with a rolling pin and cut out cookies using cookie cutters

place on the greased baking sheet
bake for 30-35 minutes (if using oat flakes, which are precooked, 25 minutes are enough)
let them cool down before picking up the cookies, to avoid crumbling

NOTE:
* Raw Marzipan as a term, according to Deutsche Lebensmittelbuch, a part of LFGB - the German book of Food Law, can only be used if the product does not contain more than 35% sugar and those with higher amounts of sugar have to be named differently. Go to Niederegger for more details.
** If using wholegrain oat flakes the balls will not melt down on their own, due to coarse structure and low amounts of butter, flatten them with hands into shape

These cookies don't look so fancy as the previous ones, but these are the kinds i could gobble up any time of the day any time of the year! I actually stuck to the recipe of Anudivya for the use of sugar, and these were only very mildly sweet, although I also had marzipan in it and that must have made them sweeter than her recipe. But, these weren't even half as sweet as the other cookies I had made.
Anudivya, these were my favorite cookies among all the lovely ones I made this time. It was actually for the first time that all the cookies I made for Christmas actually got eaten as well and are almost all gone. In the last few years of experimenting with a number of cookies I have learned the tastes most appreciated at my home. I admit, that includes myself too. :D
This is going to be one recipe I will be using quite often, for sure. I wish to try making my own marzipan, without bitter almonds, which aren't as healthy for toddlers, although sunny boy has almost crossed that age. And that would make the recipe even more interesting.
If you haven't baked enough cookies already and are in the mood for them, then do try this one. I bet, you won't be disappointed!
Now, before I end this post and before I forget to mention, I must add that I made these cookies together with sunny boy and he enjoyed it a lot. So, if you wish to bake cookies with your 3 year old, then these are the best cookies I can recommend you. I admit, the currents did cause us some difficulty while cutting them out with the different cookie cutter shapes sunny boy wished to use, but then we are there to help them. And it was huge fun for both of us.

Dresdner Stollen and to all of you A Very Happy New Year 2009 !!

2008-12-31T20:04:00.038+01:00

Baking Stollen or Christstollen at Christmas time is an age old custom and has a long tradition in Germany and some neighbouring countries, like the Netherlands (Kerststol). The shape of the Stollen is supposed to remind one of the swaddled baby Christ.
One of the cities well known for this tradition is Dresden and it was one of the first cities where this tradition of baking Stollen for Christmas has been recorded in different chronicles and earliest records date to as early as the 15th Century. Dresdner Stollen is also famous here in Germany and is considered to be one of the best recipes of Stollen.
Thanks to the clarification by Ulrike of Küchenlatein, I now know that Dresdner stollen is only then Dresdner stollen, when it is baked in and around Dresden and that it does not refer to the recipe, but more the region of origin.
I had almost given up the thought of baking Stollen this time, but then finally decided on trying it out. It is my very first time. One can so easily get Stollen here that I hardly had the motivation to do it until now. Although, the thought has been on my mind since a couple of years now. Every bakery is offering Stollen during Christmas time. The supermarkets start selling them much earlier, in fact, as well as many of its new reincarnations - the cookie sized stollens. This Christmas I had not bought any Stollen, or for that matter bought a single Stollen at all. The Stollen season at the shops will also be over as soon as the new year starts. So, I thought "let me not break the tradition of eating Stollen at this time of the year and make my own" ;)
After searching through a couple of recipes in the net I saw this recipe (in German) which found my liking and got an instinctive "OK".

Dresdner Stollen

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Based on the recipe from www.weihnachtsbaeckerei.com (in German)

Preparation time: 1 day + about 1-1/2 to 2 hours
Baking time: 60 minutes

For 2 loaves

Ingredients:
500 g raisins (I used 300 g only + 100 g each of chopped dates and apricots)
200 g candied orange peel (orangeat)
100 g candied lemon peel
150 g peeled and chopped almonds
100 ml water
70 ml rum (i replaced it with 50 ml water)
600 g wheat flour type 550 (I used a mixture of types 405 and 550) - divided (300 g + 300 g)
some flour to roll the dough
1-1/2 cubes (60 g ) fresh yeast
25 g sugar
250 ml milk - divided (150 ml + 100 ml)
2 egg yolks (size Medium)
2 level tsp salt (I used only one)
1/2 tsp Lebkuchen spice* (or gingerbread spice) - I prefer using only cinnamon
1/4 tsp organic orange peel flavouring (orange oil + maltodextrin)
200 g raw marzipan
300 g butter - divided (200 g + 100 g)
150 g confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
1 packet bourbon vanilla sugar** (= vanilla extract + sugar + ground vanilla bean)

Left: before folding the Stollen; Right: Stollen, after folding it (method: see below)

Method:

a day before, soak the raisins, candied peels and chopped almonds in the rum and water in a closed container at room temperature
the next day, in a large and deep bowl add 300 g flour, make a well in the centre, crumble the fresh yeast and add 150 ml cold milk and sugar (25 g), stir to dissolve and knead everything together into a smooth but stiff dough
let the dough in the bowl rise (proof) at a warm (but not too warm) place covered with a wet dish towel
once the volume is doubled, add the remaining (300 g) flour, milk (100 ml), egg yolks (2), salt (1 tsp), the gingerbread spice and orange peel flavouring and knead everything together for a while
add marzipan slowly and knead it together
knead 200 g butter into the dough (don't let it get warm!)
followed by the soaked raisins, peels and nuts until you get a soft and uniform dough
let it rise (proof) for another 20 minutes at a warm place
roll out the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle, don't knead!
fold it twice, first lengthwise (longer side) and then breadthwise (shorter side)
let the dough rise (proof) for another 20 minutes
divide the dough into two halves now
For each dough follow as given below:

gently roll out the dough (each half) into a rectangle of 30 x 20 cm² with a rolling pin
make one half lengthwise (30 x 10 cm²) thinner than the other
with the lower side of the hand (holding the hand vertically and straight) make a groove (depression) in the middle
at the groove fold the thinner side over the thicker one to get the typical shape of a Stollen

put both the stollen over a baking sheet (I didn't use any, just nicely sprinkled flour on the try)
let them rest for 10 minutes
bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C (Gas: 2; Convection: 160 °C) for 45 minutes
bake at 175 °C (Gas:3; Convection: 150 °C) for another 15 minutes
In the mean time

melt the butter in a small pot at the lowest temperature on the stove top and switch off heat as soon as it is done, don't let it get too hot
mix vanilla sugar with confectioner's sugar

once the stollen are done, brush their tops with the melted butter
sprinkle with the sugar generously
once it has cooled down a bit, carefully turn it up side down and put the sugar on the lower side as well generously
ideally one should let it stand for a week or two before cutting it
stollen, if stored properly in a cold and dry condition, can be easily kept for months.
while serving make 1 cm thick slices and serve with spiced tea or coffee or to German Glühwein (hot wine punch)

*Lebkuchen spice: it is usually a mixture of ground cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, mace. ginger and allspice. It is similar to gingerbread spice.
**To make your own vanilla sugar just put a scraped vanilla bean into an airtight glas jar of plain table sugar and close it tightly. In a few days time you will have a wonderful vanilla flavoured sugar, grind the vanilla bean and add to the sugar, if desired.

Now, I'll begin with what all went wrong or what I did differently with purpose :D :

I didn't use any Rum (alcohol), I don't do it as a rule since a few months, unless it is really a small amount and cannot be done without. The reason is sunny boy. Against regular belief, about 95% of the alcohol remains in the food, even if you cook it for long. I was shocked when I read it in the "Eltern" (German for Parents) magazine the first time about a year back. since then I don't use any alcohol in any form in food. No more wines for us for the coming few years. But, both me and hubby don't mind that at all.
I didn't use the Lebkuchen spice. I dislike it even more than cinnamon, which I have begun to like a little bit after many years of eating it in different sweets, but Lebkuchen spice (gingerbread spice) , no that has to wait till I begin to like it a bit. I used cinnamon and orange oil instead, as oranges are something I very much associate to Christmas too.
I made a big blunder while preparing the dough. I by mistake used 250 g butter instead of 200 g while kneading the dough. It made the stollen much too soft. I was totally puzzled as to how it could be, until I checked the recipe and my ingredients to find the mistake. I tried to add a little bit more of flour (about 50 g) and just about managed to keep the whole thing together. Next time I'll actually use much much lesser than 200 g and take maybe 100 g only. It is more than enough in my opinion.
I used a lot of flour to shape the stollen because of the blunder (too much butter)

As you can see, the Stollen has kind of melted down because of too much butter in it and does not have that typical raised shape it is supposed to have in the centre. But, the big consolation is that it has turned out so lovely! I love the flavour of this Stollen. I guess, for some of you a christmas sweet means the spices, but I have not been able to befriend myself with them as yet. And I found this packet of orange peel flavouring from a Reformhaus, which found its use here and gave it a wonderful flavour and made a very pleasant combination with cinnamon -you see, I did use some spice. :) And Hubby gave the best compliment I could have from him. He said it tastes better than what we buy, and we have been buying all kinds of them in all these years and I'm quite particular about what I buy when it comes to Stollen. I don't buy just anything. And he even said "good.... too much butter is tasting good" All I could was laugh at that. :D

My Verdict: I liked the use of marzipan in the original recipe, which is not always the case for stollen. The butter was a bit too much, but, partly it was my mistake and can be easily reduced, as a stollen is a dense bread and doesn't have to be soft or for that matter fluffy. The amount of sugar you put on top of it is all up to you. I found replacing a small part of the raisins with apricots and dates made a wonderful change and I will surely keep it like that the next time as well. The absence of rum in the raisins made them more delicious to our taste, but it is a matter of taste again. All in all, a wonderful recipe!

Stollen, brushed with butter, before sprinkling sugar on it

I'm sending this not-so-perfectly shaped but tasty Stollen to Zorra's Bread Baking Day # 15 hosted this time by Annarasa.

Wising you All
A Very Happy New Year 2009 !
May it bring lots of joy, good health, peace
and love in your lives!

Some more Stollen recipes:

Zorra's Christstollen at 1x Umrühren bitte
Jude's Stollen at Apple Pies, Patis & Pâté

Brussels sprouts with kidney beans

2008-12-30T19:17:00.002+01:00

Brussels sprouts is in season and is growing in plenty here. I have been making Brussels sprouts practically the same way since I tried it the first time, using a recipe from a German book, by cooking it with carrots, onion and garlic slices and a can of tomatoes and at the very end adding some parsley and after switching off the heat topping it with about 50 g of Gouda until it melted. I make some modifications sometimes by leaving out Gouda and making it a bit Indian by adding cumin, turmeric and ground coriander seeds to it in the very beginning. A few days ago I felt that I need to make a proper Indian curry with it and was surprised at the thought that in all these years I never tried it.
The next day I bought Brussels sprouts and also found a nice looking fresh coconut and again couldn't resist buying it, even though I have had bad experiences with it the last two times I bought it and had to practically throw them away. This time luckily after I opened it, it was all OK and looked very good. The water was so tasty that I even gave it to sunny boy to drink and he happily drank it all away.
So, I knew I would like to use coconut in the gravy and started thinking of how it would look like and got going that afternoon and was very pleasantly surprised by the wonderful results.

Brussels sprouts with kidney beans

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
350 g Brussels sprouts, outermost leaves peeled and the stems (the base) cut off, and halved if desired
3 medium potatoes, peeled, and cubed about the same size as the Brussels sprouts
1 can kidney beans (250 g), rinsed in water and drained - use more if desired
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rings (optional, I left it out this time)
1 small can (300 g) tomatoes, chopped coarsely
2 tbsp rapeseed oil or olive oil
salt to taste

Spices:
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 large pinch asafoetida, crushed
2 red chillies (optional) - I kept them separate as sunny boy doesn't eat hot food much yet
10 peppercorns
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp sambhar powder - home made (use 1 tsp if not using garam masala)
1/2 tsp garam masala (use 1 tsp if not using sambhar powder)
a few curry leaves (I used dried leaves)

Onion-coconut paste (grind with a blender):
1 yellow onion, chopped coarsely
1-2 large garlic, chopped coarsely
1 " ginger, peeled and chopped coarsely
3 square inch piece of fresh coconut, grated

Method:

clean and cut the vegetables, prepare the onion paste
heat oil in a large saute pan, reduce heat if required and add the mustard seeds when the oil is just about hot so that they splutter
to check if the oil is hot enough, add one or two seeds first and see if they splutter, if yes, then proceed, but keep the vegetables handy so that the spices don't get burnt
after adding the mustard, while it is spluttering, add the cumin and let both splutter for a few seconds and add the asafoetida, peppercorns and turmeric, mix once
immediately add the onion paste, fry on medium heat till it gets a nice light brown colour
add potatoes and stir everything to mix and cook for about 5 minutes covered, stirring in between
add Brussels sprouts and carrots and stir
add the sambhar powder, garam masala and the curry leaves, stir
add 1 cup water and cook further till the vegetables are almost done, stirring in between
add the kidney beans and cook for another 5 minutes
serve warm with steamed rice

We ate the beans and Brussels sprouts with steamed rice. Honestly, none of us in my family is a big fan of Brussels sprouts, but we try to cook it at home as it is a seasonal vegetable and I believe that seasonal vegetables should always be coming on our plates, even if not too often. So, I always try to make them in some or the other way. But, this is the first time that I heard from hubby that he liked it and I also felt that it had turned out so good. All the ingredients blend so well with each other.
Apart from the coconut, what made this dish so special was the use of the kidney beans. They made the dish perfect and wholesome. I was very happy to have had this idea of adding the kidney beans. To me it was important that I add some legume, as without the legumes, if you want to keep the dish vegetarian, the meal is not so wholesome because of it being quite low and imbalanced in amino acids - the protein building blocks, especially when you also have a child at home.
Back home in India, I grew up with eating a legume dish every day as a vegetarian. My mom made it a point that we eat every day at least one katori (a small bowl) of Dal, which is any of the legumes, skinned or with skin, but split into the two halves -the cotyledons of the seed - a bean here). In India vegetarianism is a way of life, since ages. But, in a vegetarian diet it is very very important that one uses different sources of proteins to cover the complete variety of the 24 amino acids which our body requires to grow (for children) and maintain our body healthy. That is why I always try to cook legumes at least 2 times weekly, even though I do cook fish and chicken every now and then.
Now, I actually had planned to submit another dish, a daal, for the MLLA event, but after I made this dish I knew it had to be this one. So, here is my entry to this month's My legume Love Affair created by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook and being hosted this time by Suganya of The Tasty Palette (I know her mainly through a number of her wonderful shots in the CLICK events of Jugalbandi).

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-22T01:35:00.011+01:00

Frohe Weihnachten!
Wishing you a Merry Christmas!
May this christmas be as special and unique as you are!
May it bring you joy and happiness!

This is our very first christmas tree ever and we are so happy to have finally bought one this year. Since three years we are thinking of buying one, but every time we thought that sunny boy was too young. But, now is just the right age for him. We went together to a nearby place where they were selling them on the weekend and decorated it in the evening - me, Rishab and hubby. It was such a pleasure. When I took the photo, I didn't notice that hubby had already switched off the lights, as it was already quite late and time to go to bed. But, I think it looks good even without the lights. I have brought some basic decoration and we will increase our stock of christmas ornaments every year, little by little. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas time!

PG

Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen

2008-12-19T12:15:00.009+01:00

Nürnberger lebkuchen is a speciality made during Christmas time and originating from Nürnberg in the state of Bavaria, Germany. It is now a protected name and can only be used for Lebkuchen actually originating from there, when sold. A comparatively newer variant of this lebkuchen is the Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen, which are baked without any flour. And this is one fact which makes them so interesting for me. Need I mention why? They are gluten free!
But, another reason for this is that I don't like the lebkuchen found in the markets usually. They taste too much of cinnamon and you might know that I prefer it with only little cinnamon. So, that means I have to bake them myself.
And going through this book I got as a gift from a friend of mine, I found this lovely recipe of these exquisite Nürnberger Elisenlenbkuchen. The recipe couldn't have been more perfect for me. After having baked my first round of cookies already, I felt confident enough to try these myself as well.

Nünberger Elisen-Lebkuchen

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Based on the Book: Dr. Oetker's Weihnachts Bäckerei (Dr. Oetker Verlag)

Preparation time: 20-25 minutes
Baking Temperature: 130-150°C (convection oven: 120°C) ; gas - position 1
Baking time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

75 -100 g candied orange and lemon peel, finely chopped
125 g almonds meal
2 eggs
200g fine crystal sugar
1 pack vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch ground clove or cinnamon (I only used cinnamon)
a few drops rum flavouring or 2 tbsp rum
1 tbsp lemon peel or a few drops lemon flavouring
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
75-125 g ground hazelnuts (depending on the size)
30 small paper thin round wafers* ( communion wafers / host, called Oblate in German), to place the batter on
or
spread ground nuts (almonds or hazelnuts) on the baking sheet (almond or hazelnut)

Icing:

white:
150 g powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
1-2 tbsp warm water or lemon juice or a mixture

Chocolate:
75 g dark chocolate icing
or
75 g dark chocolate
10 g coconut fat

Method:

mix together finely chopped candied orange and lemon peel with almonds and set aside
beat the eggs in a deep bowl at highest speed to get a fluffy and creamy mixture
add vanilla extract or sugar and slowly sprinkle the sugar into the mixture while beating, which takes about a minute
fold in the aromas, cinnamon and lemon peel
add baking powder to the almond mixture and fold it slowly into the egg mixture (you can use the egg beater at the lowest speed)
fold in so much ground hazelnuts so that the batter is still easily spreadable
spread baking sheets over baking trays and grease them

if using hosts/wafers then place them on these sheets
if using ground nuts then sprinkle slightly on the sheet to have a thin layer to prevent the cookies from sticking to the sheet

using two spoons place spoonfuls of the cookie mixture on each of the wafers or on simply on the sheet to make around 30 cookies
bake in preheated oven (requires about 5-10 minutes) at 150°C (convection oven: 120°C) for 25-30 minutes
for the white sugar icing mix so much water or lemon juice with the sugar to make a thick paste and
for the chocolate icing melt the ingredients in a double boiler / water bath and stir
spread the icings on the still hot cookies, by dipping the cookies in the icing or by pouring it on the cookies with a spoon

*NOTE: the wafers are not always gluten free, so one needs to either make the without the wafers or use wafers made with a substitute like rice flour. I made the majority of these without the wafers and only a small part with the wafers.

As you can see here, these haven't turned out perfect. I have no clue as to why these got wrinkled on top or when. It did not affect the flavour or the taste, as they taste fantastic. I made both the coatings for them, sugar and chocolate. But, hubby didn't want any, so I also left a part of the cookies plain. And they actually taste wonderful! But, again each one of us has found his favorite, while sunny boy always chooses the ones with sugar coating (surprisingly, as chocolate in general is his favorite) and I like the ones with chocolate and hubby plain. I'll be making another round soon and let me see if I can figure out why the surface got wrinkled, maybe the oven wasn't hot enough or I had opened it once. Or that I used the mixer at lowest speed to fold in the almond meal.
But, it was utter pleasure to bite into these chewy and flavourful orange and lemony cookies or to be precise, lebkuchen, as these are a special type of cookies made for Christmas. And I'm so happy to have tried these and I will surely make them again.

These cookies go to Susan's Eat Christmas Cookies (part 2) at Food Blogga , the round up is here.

Jingle bells! Jingle bells!...yum yum...yum yum yum!!

2008-12-17T20:12:00.001+01:00

...Oh what fun it is to munch on lovely christmas yums.... :D
Christmas time is time for cookies. Do you agree or do you agree?
Yes, you do. Of course, you do!
So, here are two recipes which I had selected which were gluten and dairy free too and still so perfect for Christmas! Sunny boy's favorite is the almond cinnamon stars and mine coconut macaroons, and hubby's BOTH! I just hope they last till Christmas. maybe I need to make another round of cookies. I already have two more cookie recipes to post about, though.

Before I give you the recipes let me tell you why I choose these two recipes, apart from the reasons of their being gluten and dairy free. I love coconut in any form. Although, I know about this recipe of coconut macaroons since long, I had not tried making them until now. So, now with Christmas coming I had to hurry up with my Christmas baking. Here are two recipe I chose to start with. One is, as already mentioned, the coconut macaroons and the other is a very popular Christmas cookie here and is practically a must at Christmas time and children and adults alike love these "Zimtsterne".
These are two gluten and diary free recipes and the best thing about it is that I didn't have to make any substitutions as these neither require flours nor any milk products. Although there are many different recipes for"Zimtsterne" available, so I was very happy with this one. But, in these recipes you couldn't do without eggs, I would think. But, hey, who knows maybe you expert bakers out there know about that too. I would love to hear it, if you know something more than me.

So, here are the recipes....

Zimtsterne (Almond cinnamon stars)

Based on the Book: Dr. Oetker's Weihnachts Bäckerei (Dr. Oetker Verlag)

Ingredients:

4 egg whites (make sure that no traces of egg yolk are there, otherwise the egg white will not become stiff)
250 g powdered sugar (confectioner's sugar)
50-100 g sugar for rolling the dough
1 packet vanilla sugar (or 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract)
3 drops bitter almond aroma (I left it out)
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
350 - 400 g almond meal (ground with skin) - depends on the size of the eggs (I required 400 g for medium sized eggs)

Method:

beat egg whites in a deep clean and fat-free bowl until a knife cuts in the stiff froth remain visible (another test: invert the bowl and the stiff froth will not fall off)
slowly add powdered sugar to the egg white while beating (1 spoon at a time, once it is incorporated, add more)
!! remove about 3-4 tablespoons of meringue in a clean fat free bowl, for coating the tops later
add vanilla essence to the remaining and fold in spoonfuls of almond meal into the meringue until it is not sticky anymore and makes a nice ball
place the ball on a clean surface sprinkled generously with powdered sugar
roll it out with a rolling pin, using some powdered sugar on top in between
cut out stars or any desired shape with cookie cutters
place baking paper sheets on two baking trays and place the cookies on them
coat each cookie with little meringue using a spoon
bake in oven for 20-30 minutes at:

130-150°C (preheated)
convection: 120°C (preheated)
gas: position 1 (preheated)

the cookies will still be soft at the base when you take them out of the oven

Coconut macaroons

Recipe from Huettenhilfe.de

Ingredients:
4 egg whites, free from any traces of egg yolks
200 g sugar, fine grained (or use confectioners sugar)
200 g grated dessicated coconut
45-50 round paper thin (rice) wafers*, about 1" in diameter (communion wafers, called Oblate in German)

Method:

beat egg whites in a deep clean and fat-free bowl until a knife cut in the stiff froth remain visible (another test: invert the bowl and the stiff froth will not fall off)
slowly add sugar to the egg white while beating (1 spoon at a time, once it is incorporated, add more)
fold in grated coconut into the meringue with a spatula
place baking paper sheets on two baking trays and place the rice wafers on them
take about one spoonful of the meringue and carefully from a round or oval shape with two spoons
place on one wafer with a spoon, pressing it down gently to spread it over the wafer
repeat for all the wafers or till the meringue is used up
bake in oven for 20-30 minutes at:

130-150°C (preheated)
convection: 120°C (preheated)
gas: position 1 (preheated)

* TIP: use a well greased baking paper sheet or simply grease the baking tray properly as these are very sticky, if no such communion wafers are available.

Since I feel these fit so well to this months theme of Food In Colours : White, an event started by Sunshinemom of Tongueticklers and being hosted this time by Lubna Karim at Yummy Food, I'm sending these yummy cookies over to Lubna.
And these also go to Vandana's event Baking for Beginners at her blog Cooking up Something Nice.

Similar recipes:
Cinnamon stars at Meeta's WFLH

Multi-grain cheelas

2008-12-15T20:45:00.002+01:00

Cheelas, simply put, are North Indian pancakes (or crêpes) made with un-fermented batter, usually these are savoury, made with salt and spices and I actually haven't come across any sweet Indian recipe so far. I have eaten cheelas at home made with simple semolina batter (un-fermented) or ground mung beans, sprouted or un-sprouted, and most often, the quick fix besan cheelas (chickpea lentil flour - I'm using the word lentil, as the flour is made with the skinned black chickpeas). I loved them all. But, somehow I haven't made cheelas since a long time. Before my son, I did make them a couple of times with sprouted mung beans, which are quite easy to grind and although it was a sticky business and required a lot of oil. Somehow, I hadn't figured out the right way of doing it, I guess.
So, cheelas were somehow pushed deeper and deeper into my memory, locked some cupboards of the brain. You know what I mean? Old forgotten recipe you made so often before life changed with a child. But, now that sunny boy is growing up and things are again becoming easier - in some ways at lest - and, of course, the motivation of this this blog has surely added to the enthusiasm.
I saw these cheelas at Monika's blog and liked them so much as they also appeared so healthy too. I knew that it is not going to be a ditto copy of the recipe, but, I wanted to try making it as balanced as this one was. But, somehow I never came to doing it until recently. That too very spontaneously, only to find a couple of ingredients missing or only too little. But, I felt it was still a good idea and went ahead with making cheelas. And this is how I made them:

Another important thing about these is that I wanted to purposefully keep them gluten free and therefore did not use any ingredient with gluten, otherwise I consider using barley and oats as a wonderful addition too. I think wheat is eaten so much that we can easily do without it once in a while, especially in these savoury pancakes, the cheelas, as they are called.

Multi grain Cheela

Inspired by the recipe at Monika's World and Thoughts

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped green beans
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp heaped cumin
1 heaped tbsp coriander seeds, ground
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
2-3 small carrots, peeled and coarsely grated (depending on how much you eat up while grating them!)
1/4 zucchini, very finely cubed or grated
300 g multi-grain flour*
1 pinch asafoetida
1" piece ginger, grated
1 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

water to make a very thick pancake like batter, which should not be too runny
3-4 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)- optional - I didn't have any
rapeseed oil to fry the pancakes
1/2 onion sliced horizontally and a fork stuck into it from the back (rounded side), to be used for rubbing the pan with the flat / cut side in between two rounds of baking

*Multi-grain flour**
(mix everything together)
400 g Brown rice flour
100 g fine ground whole grain cornmeal
100 g Buckwheat flour
100 g sorghum, ground in a coffee mill (DE: Hirse)
100 g gram flour (besan) - use garbanzo beans flour or chickpea flour
50 g skinned sesame seeds, ground in a coffee mill
50 g Urd lentils (skinned black gram), ground in a coffee mill
2 tbsp flax seed meal
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric

**NOTE: the amounts can be varied and the grains and lentils too, as per liking. Using coarsely ground home made sprouts, like mung bean sprouts, is a wonderful addition too.

Method:

Batter:

heat oil in a pan and reduce heat to medium
add mustard seeds and cumin in hot oil to let them splutter
add the green beans with turmeric and cook till done, stirring in between
once done switch off heat, add salt to taste and mix with carrots and zucchini
in the meanwhile prepare the batter with the flour, remaining spices and water to make a thick batter
add the vegetables to it and adjust salt to taste
the dry ingredients should have been dissolved in water for at least half an hour

Baking the pancakes :

heat a clean fry pan, a crêpe pan or skillet
add 1 tsp rapeseed oil and spread with the cut side of halved onion
reduce heat to about medium high (on my ceramic cook top with 9 divisions / levels 6 1/2 works quite well)
add a ladle of batter over it and spread carefully moving very slowly in circles to make a pancake
cover with a lid with holes to allow steam to escape
loosen the cheela from the base carefully with a very flat and clean spatula and change sides
if it does not work, spread some oil on the sides around the cheela and try again, it should work
cook further for another minute and remove - either serve directly or store in a dish, covered, and keep warm
rub the base of the pan with the cut half of the onion nicely and remove any (burnt) residues sticking to it
pour a ladle of batter and repeat the process, as mentioned above
the cheela may still require some oil before turning, but after the third or fourth, it may not be required any more

We ate them with the chutneys I have talked about before and a quick fix coconut chutney. We enjoyed the cheelas a lot. Yes, hubby too! :) But, sunny boy wasn't as fond of eating them, but I'm not counting him in this time, as it also had to do with other factors like there were too many veggies in the cheela and he was tired and sleepy. But, he ate one! So, it couldn't have been that bad. I, I looooo....ved them. After a long time I had had cheelas and I think the combination of flours was wonderful.
But, the best thing I liked about them was that after the third cheela, I didn't require any more oil and they all came out so good. They were not sticky at all afterwards. But, I think the reason could have been either the proportions of the ingredients or the onion I used. I really rubbed it on the pan and could see the juice coming put a little while doing it. This is one trick I have learned in India, I don't remember from where, about keeping the pans clean and making the dosas and cheelas not to stick onto the pan.
This is how my onion looked after it had done all its work, i.e., making all the cheelas.

Pak Choi with shrimps

2008-12-14T12:26:00.008+01:00

The moment I saw these lovely baby Pak Chois (restaurant style Chinese Bok Choi) at Rasa Malaysia, I knew I had to make them and really fast. It was so tempting to see them. And I was lucky as hubby agreed to get them as he works quite near a chinese shop, but still needs an opportunity, depending upon the work pressure, to be able to go there. And of course I did improvise a little bit, after having tried a couple of recipes from there, like this one, and having got some ideas from other recipes.
I think this is such a simple but flavourful dish. I can always make hubby happy with such chinese recipes.
Some information on the Nutrient value of Pak Choi.

Pak Choi (Bok Choy) with Shrimps

Inspired by the recipe of restaurant style Chinese Bok Choi at Rasa Malaysia

Ingredients:
200 -250 g frozen cold water shrimps, thawed and drained
5 -6 Pak choi, washed to remove gritt and cut into stripes
2 medim garlic cloves, peeled and chopped finely
1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated or chopped finely
1 large onion, peeled, halved and cut into thin slices
oil- sunflower and/ or sesame oil
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1-2 tbsp soya sauce
dash of black pepper or red chilli powder
1 heaped tsp sesame seeds
salt to taste (if required)

Method:

heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add sesame seeds till they splutter and
add the shrimps and stir fry with some soya sauce or salt till done, take out and keep warm
add 1 tbsp oil and add garlic, onion and ginger and fry
add pak choi and add the remaining spices, oyster sauce and soya sauce
once almost done, put back the shrimps and mix
adjust salt to taste - use soya sauce or oyster sauce
switch off heat and let simmer covered on the stove top
serve warm with steamed rice

We loved it. Hubby, me and my sunny boy. It satiated our tummies, but also our minds to the full. Good and healthy food can work wonders, I feel. So, did this one.

Another thing I want to mention about these shrimps :
I used cold water Northern shrimps (Atlantic Canada Northern shrimps : P. borealis) the only and the best alternative to the MSC labeled Oregon pink shrimps (Pandalus jordani) which I had found here until then, when I made this dish. But a few days ago, to my utter disbeliefe I saw this packet of MSC certified frozen oregon pink shrimps at my regular grocery store and my happiness knew no bounds. I had searched quite long for these, just these ones and was quite happy.
Here is a link to the infomation available from Seafood Watch at Montery Bay Aquarium website about shrimps. Another detailed information given there about the nothern shrimps is also here (pdf). One more good source of information from year 2007 is here (pdf).

And here is a photo of the packet of MSC certified frozen Oregon pink shrimps which I bought and will be hopefully posting some recipes of soon (just can't resist showing it off! ):

I end up paying more for all these MSC certified fishes, but I feel it is worth all the effort. I just cannot bring myself to buying anthing else in any case. But, since all three of us love fish and I consider it healthy and important for my son to eat some regularly, I do buy fish. It does reduce our choice of the fishes we can buy, but I can live with that easily.

Now I'm sending this recipe over to a wonderful event Seven Fishes Feast - A Food blog Event which I saw at Maryann's Finding La Dolche Vita and is being cohosted by her friend Joe at Italyville . There are already some mouth watering recipes posted, yum yum!

Other related posts:

Potato Red Cabbage Casserole with Pan fried Fish

Rice Buckwheat Pancakes

2008-12-13T13:22:00.003+01:00

Sunny boy got a contagious infection from the kindergarten, which isn't that bad actually. He was a little down on the first day, or maybe on two days and I noticed it a day later when the rashes started to show up in the morning. Since I had to keep him at home for the next few days and keep him busy too, this whirlwind that he is, one minute you think he is playing peacefully and the next moment - you just have to forget him for only a minute - and he is again up to some mischief.
So, one day I thought of making some pancakes for lunch for both of us. This time for a change I decided not to use maple syrup, which is usually always at the table when we make pancakes. I made a simple plum compote instead from the plums lazing around in my fruit basket and served the pancakes with the compote and a ready made apple sauce. I also put a tiny dollop of margarine (free of trans fatty acids and fortified with vitamins A, D and E - butter contains them naturally). A good dose of vitamin D in these cold months is very much required by the body to utilise calcium properly at his growing age.

Rice Buckwheat Pancake

Ingredients:

Pancake batter
8-12 tbsp brown rice flour
8-12 tbsp whole buckwheat flour
2 tsp whole cane sugar ( powdered jaggery)
1 pinch salt
1 egg, beaten lightly
1/4 tsp powdered cinnamon or cardamom, as per choice (optional)- I left it out
100 ml (or more) rice milk (calcium fortified organic) to make a thin batter
2 tbsp rapeseed oil

Compote
5 plums, washed, seeds removed and cut into 6 pieces each
2 tbsp sugar
a few tbsp water
a small piece of cinnamon- optional - I left it out

Method:

cook all the ingredients for the compote for about 15 to 25 minutes on medium low heat
mix all ingredients except for the oil for the pancake batter thoroughly to make a thin batter
heat two tbsp of oil in a fry pan on medium heat
add a ladle of batter in the pan and slowly spread it with circular movement to make a pancake
cover with a lid with holes to allow steam to escape
when the upper side is no more fluid (take about 30 -45 seconds) flip the sides
bake the other side for another minute and remove from pan and keep warm
make the following rounds without adding any oil
serve warm with maple syrup, honey, apple sauce or any fruit compote

By the way, these are gluten free and dairy free pancakes! :)

Sunny boy loved it. He ate- you won't believe it- but he really ate five of these. OK, two of the pancakes were small in size, but still, I was afraid that he might get a stomach upset, but nothing happened, and then, as expected, he ate very little in the evening. And I think it is OK, for every now and then. As you can see these were only very very healthy with whole meal flours and only mildly sweet just like the apple sauce and the compote. And I didn't use any more oil for the pancakes. And I made about 10 pancakes and I could have easily made five more without adding any oil to the pan. So, except for the first pancake, these were also low on fat.

A quickfix Coconut Chutney or Dip, and the dietary mineral Calcium

2008-12-12T15:52:00.012+01:00

Need makes you inventive. I think there exist a couple of sayings on this too. So, yesterday I made Cheelas (North Indian savoury pancakes) -a spontaneous idea again! So, I required a real quick fix chutney to accompany it. I had the sweet varieties in stock in the fridge, but I wanted something spicy and salty. Sunny boy didn't really require it, it was more meant for me and hubby. I made it at the very last moment infact. I basically opened the fridge and saw these preserved chillis and just got going, tasted it and was totally surprised with the wonderful taste. The cheela recipes will follow soon- a gluten free version. *grin* :)

Here is the Coconut Chutney:

Ingredients:
1 cup dessicated coconut
150 g plain yoghurt (5 oz or a little more than 1/2 cup)
3 red or green chillies / hot peppers preserved in brine or vinegar* ( reduce amount to taste)
salt to taste
1 pinch sugar
1 tbsp chopped coriander or fresh mint (opional)- I didn't have then handy

Method:
Puree eveyrthing in a deep bowl with a hand stick blender for a few minutes. Serve in a bowl!

*Optinally: add some vinegar to chopped fresh chillies and grind with the coconut.

We were both tremendously pleased and missed nothing after eating it along with our wonderfully tasting cheelas.

Calcium
An unrelated topic to this post is some information I have collected in these posts at Healthy and Tasty on dietary calcium:
How much calcium does a child need?
What affects calcium absorption?
I'm posting these here to have a link to them here at this blog as well.

Banan muffins - gluten free and casein free and the tag of sevens

2008-12-08T20:12:00.002+01:00

The only difference betwen day and night right now is the grey sky during the day and black during the night. So, every now and then when I get some sunlight during the day, it makes me happy especially when I want to take a picture of my food for this blog!
Although, about two weeks ago, I saw very clear sky and it looked so beautiful. The stars shining. I had come back home late and just kept standing for a while outside, despite the cold weather, as I don't get such lovely opportunities so often. So, now finally the page hanging on my fridge can be removed, which just said "Watch the Night Sky!!". I had to wait long, first because during summers, when I wrote it, the nights are too bright for us to be able to see any stars until 11 PM. By that time I'm too tired to do something like that. Now that the winters were approaching I had hopes, to be ruined by the cloudy weather all the time. In addition, either I didn't rememeber to go out or when i did it was cloudy. So, I enjoyed it to the full on that day, watching the night sky.
Although, I realised this time that I hardly recognised many of the constellations. Only some easy constellations like Orion - which I had to search for a while, as it was already quite deep at the horizon on the eastern end, Cassiopeia was quite on top and then there were some whose names I couldn't rememeber. Now, there is one constellation, the only constellation whose name I know in my mother tongue, it is called "Ramji ka Jumka" which means "Rama's earing", it is a tiny cluster of stars and actually looks like a diamond danglers in the sky!

Now coming back to the recipe, here it is , my very special experiment, which turned out so good....

Banana Muffins

(See basic recipe of Muffins here).

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:
150 g rice flour (coarse grind; gluten free)
50 g cornmeal (polenta; gluten free)
50 g cornstarch (gluten free)
50 g almond meal
2 tsp cream of tartar baking powder (partly contains baking soda too; gluten free)
1/2 tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas, whipped with a (hand-) blender
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
70 g castor sugar
60 ml oil (neutral, like sunflower or peanut)
200 ml soya milk
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Sugar glaze:
150 -200 g confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
2-4 tbsp lemon juice / milk / water

Method:

Measure and mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl together and set aside
Chop bananas into large chunks, add 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice and whip it to a fine puree with a hand blender
mix soya milk with 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice and set aside
add oil and sugar to the banan puree and stir with a spoon, add the soya milk and stir again to mix
add the flour mixture and mix quickly with a spoon
pour the batter with a spoon in a greased muffin pan of 12
bake in a preheated oven at 165 °C convection oven for 25 - 30 minutes
in the meanwhile prepare the sugar glaze by slowly adding the lemon juice to the sugar till a thic paste for spreading on the warm muffins is ready
spread wih a spoon on the warm muffins over a plate (to collect the glaze flowing down)
serve warm or cold

I was so surprised with the results. I felt it to be a very daring experiment on my part. if you look at the recipe, you can se that I not only exchanged the eggs, but also the flours to make it gluten free, and dairy milk with soya milk. Next time I will try using calcium fortified rice milk to the recipe.
The muffins were lovely. The picture on the top is actually one piece which I made in a porcelain bowl, as small amount of batter was remaining and I did not know where to put it. So, it was like a soft idli and it was so good in taste. we enjoyed eating these muffins, which were also so healthy, being low on sugar and not so high on fats (60 ml for about 16 muffins isn't much, isn't it?). Although, one could reduce the amount of sugar even more if you like to have it only very mildly sweet, as the ripe bananas are sweet enough. And the sugar glaze also comes on top.

So, these wonderful muffins go to Madhuram's Egg replacement event: pureed fruits , the inspiration behind this recipe.

I was tagged by Priya and to do the tag of seven sevens and finally I have done it and you can look at it here.

Eggless Apple cake with Caramel sauce

2008-12-06T15:12:00.009+01:00

I wanted to make this cake after I saw Madhuram's announcement to bake egg less cake with silken tofu. I was totally surprised, as I had never heard before that one could use tofu to replace eggs in baking. For that matter, I had never bothered to know of any egg replacers. But, then my father, who is a vegetarian, would have loved to eat a home made egg less cake, and isn't it much more healthy to replace eggs with silken tofu? Yes of course! The only restriction I have is that I have plan something like this in advance, as I don't get silken tofu locally, but only in the city centre.
I was so curious to know how it would turn out. But, by the time I had got to now of the recipe, I had two weeks of time and I usually bake only on weekends, and somehow didn't get time to bake and missed the event. But, I knew I had to bake it despite that. And I also wanted to use a normal recipe prepared with eggs and replace the eggs with silken tofu. So I did!

I used my recipe - a recipe I got from my friend- the recipe of 2's, which I have modified though to a certain extent. This time I wanted to stick to the original recipe as much as possible.
Here are the changes I have made:
I used ~~200 g~~ 150 g margarine (no hydrogenated fats) instead of butter
I replaced the 2 eggs with 100 g silken tofu, whisked thoroughly with a hand stick blender
I used 80 g currents and 3-5 apples (enough to cover a 26 cm springform pan) as a topping

And I made a caramel sauce using Ivy's recipe. It was delicious!

This is a very special cake. Special.... once, because it was my first ever effort to replace eggs with something vegan and it also came out so wonderful, a big success! And special also because I feel I have found the perfect egg replacer for such butter cakes I make quite often. But, the bestthing about it is the very special flavour tofu imparted to the cake. I cannot describe it in words, but it was so delicious!
Now, sine tofu is a lot of protein and the flour contains a lot of starch, so this was a result of maillard reaction, so vital to cooking without which what would food taste of?! Now, I'm sorry if I made your mood off with my explanations from chemistry for food. I find it quite fascinating and I assume that you also find it like that too.

Now, to another sweet thing to talk about...
I was loaded with these lovely awards (and a tag - will follow soon) from two wonderful blogger friends - I feel so good saying this :) - Priya and N33ma. I consider myself a comparatively new blogger, although I was surprised to see recently how long I have been blogging now and actually feel not so new any more, but it is all becuse of you all, my blog viewers without whom it wouldn't be half as much fun.
Dear Priya, dear N33ma, thank you so much! Thank you for having thought of me and extending your hand of friendship! It makes me feel good. Tight hugs to you both!

And I got these award also from N33ma. How I love to own them! Thanks a lot N33ma!
I would like to forward these to all my blogger friends, for passing by and taking your time to leave comments and taking notice of my blog - one of thousands of wonderful blogs out there. Please forgive me if I leave out anybody's name, but it is truely meant for all of those who visit my blog, regularly or irregularly:

Anudivya of ...and a little bit more...

Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen

Aparna of Sumi's Weblog

Aparna of Three Mangoes

Curry leaf

Deesha of Vegetable Platter

G. Pavani of Food Lovers

Ivy of Kopiaste

Laxmi Venkatesh of Kitchen Chronicles

Malar Gandhi of Kitchen Tantra

N&A of Delectably Yours

Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes

RC of Redchillies

Soma of eCurry

Sunshinemom of Tongueticklers

Now, it maybe that you already have a couple or all of these awards, so it is upto you if you wish to just add me to the list of bloggers who awarded you and leave it at that or pass it on and do the tag of seven.
Just wanted to add: I'm sorry, but I'll do the tag soon, it is ~~right now under process~~ here!

Bharma Bhindi (stuffed okra) - my favorite

2008-12-02T10:53:00.020+01:00

Yes, this is one of my favorites! Now, it is already a while ago that I took these pictures and that too hurriedly, but then I didn't get time to post about this favorite food of mine - Bharma Bhindi (stuffed spicy okra), but then on hearing about Ivy's Weekend Herb Blogging , an event i have been wanting to take part in since a while now, this was just the right opportunity and motivation needed to finally post this recipe.
I got to eat it after such a long time. Hubby went to the Asian grocery store recently and got me these and even karela (Bitter melon)!! You can't imagine how happy I was. I love both these vegetables and it had been ages that I had eaten them. I will post about the karelas some other time, but here is the bharma bhindi recipe which I have learned from my mother, but this time I realised that it has been so long that I didn't even remember how to make it and some how the timing was so bad that I couldn't even call any of my sisters at that time, so I just thought hard and got it more or less right. Although, I did make a variation: I also added coriander powder which my mother didn't use while making Bharma bhindi. Another thing, which I wouldn't do next time: I roasted my spices before. I think this step is not necessary, as the okras get roasted long enough in the pan for the spices to be roasted separately.

Before I begin, I have to tell you something about the traditions of cooking in my family, which is not unique to my family alone but probably more to the region from where my family originates - the state of U.P., India. I still remember my mom telling me that my father's (paternal) grandmother - my great grand mother, was very particular about the kind of food served to her when she came to visit his mother - my grandmother. Over a short period of time we - my parents and us children- and my grandparents lived together and I remember the visit of my great grandmother - yes, I got to see her for quite some time of my childhood - something I was always so proud of, as I didn't know many friends or classmates who had great grandparents and I had two great grandmothers -one on maternal side and one on the paternal side with both of them we children had a lot of fun! :)
So, coming back to the topic, she was very particular about eating food which was cooked without any onions and garlic. If she ever saw a skin of onion or garlic in the house when she came to visit us, then she would surely not touch the food, that strict she was. My grandparents were one of the first generation of people who deviated from this culture and started including onions and garlic in their food. In contrast to his mother, my grandfather was a big garlic lover and attributed it many health properties. I still remember, how he used to say that one should swallow 1 clove of garlic (from the variety with very thin and tiny cloves) every morning and drink a large glass of water afterwards. His favorite chutney was also coriander(cilantro)-garlic chutney.

So, maybe you can guess that this is one of those recipes of okra I grew up eating which does not use any onions or garlic, but still is very tasty, being so full of spices.

Here it goes...

Bharma Bhindi (stuffed Okra)

NOTE: Recipe requires the use of latex gloves, if you don't want the yellow colour of turmeric to stay on your hands, which is otherwise quite healthy actually. I don't use it though, as it goes away after a few washings, which may however take a day.

Ingredients:

20-25 okras, washed, pat dried
2 tbsp oil for frying
1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds) (optional)
2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro, for garnishing

Stuffing:
1 heaped tsp turmeric
2 heaped tbsp coriander seeds, ground (optional)
3 heaped tbsp fennel seeds, coarsely ground
4 tsp Amchur (dried unripe mango powder) - sour in taste as it is made from unripe very young sour mangoes
1/4th tsp red chili powder (or more - to taste)
1/2 tsp black salt
2 tbsp oil, just enough to bind the powdered spice mixture
2 tsp salt, or to taste

Method:

mix all the spices and enough oil to bind the mixture
then add enough salt that it tastes a bit too salty, but not too much, as when okra dries out while frying, it does not require as much salt
check each okra for freshness while preparing it, if it is fresh then you will be able to cut it easily with out it showing any resistance
carefully cut off the lower tip of the okra, if required - sometimes it has become dark in colour and it is a good indication if it can be easily cut off that it is still fresh otherwise it has become too fibrous to be eaten
cut off the caps of okras so that a thin layer of it is left behind to hold it together once they are slit in the middle
slit the okra deep along the length on the concave side (inner side of the curve it often has), but not the ends - the caps and lower tips - keep them intact - prevents the stuffing to come out while frying.
fill the stuffing with hands by taking a small amount between the fingers and pressing it gently into the slit in the middle and then pressing and moving your fingers on the filling sidewards in both the directions -sounds easier than it appears!
Fill all the okras like this
heat 1 tbsp oil in a shallow pan and add ajwain till it splutters, remove ajwain immediately and set aside
add 1 more tbsp oil and put all the okras into the pan, keeping the stuffed / slit side upwards or sidewards
fry on medium heat initially and then medium low heat, turning each one of them carefully once or twice till they turn soft
if the pan gets too hot sprinkle with a tbsp of water in between
as per your taste, you can either remove the okras once they are cooked or let them fry further till they start turning crispy
serve warm (or even cold), garnished with cilantro, with any kind of toasted bread - Indian or others, or rice and daals as an option

Typically it is a part of an Indian Thali, where you have some cooked vegetables, daal (lentils), Rotis (Indian flat bread) and rice as the main ingredients. But, it can be eaten in any way as a spicy accompaniment to the food and is quite flexible and can be combined with meat or vegetarian dishes, as a stuffing for a nice sandwich or would make a wonderful combination with couscous.

I'm so happy to send this over to Weekend Herb Blogging, my first ever participation to it, and this time it is being hosted by dear Ivy of Kopiaste!

Pomegranate - Raspberry Vinaigrette and the Salads

2008-11-25T16:36:00.015+01:00

Pomegranates are quite in season right now. They come here from the Mediterranean regions. I love to add them in fruit salads, but I felt like making something along with green salads leaves and then the thought of a red raspberry vinaigrette came to my mind, which I had eaten once a long time ago at a restaurant. Since I had frozen raspberries I felt like trying it out.
While making the vinaigrette, I remembered the bottle of pumpkin seed oil which I had bought recently, after having prepared some pumpkin recipes and having felt the urge to use pumpkin seed oil as well. But somehow I never came to use it until now. And I opened the bottle of the oil and the smell of it told me immediately that it was just the right kind of salad oil for this sweet dressing. It has a very pleasant, a sweet and delicate flavour, which you don't guess on seeing the dark colour of the oil. The dark colour of the oil made the dressing not so bright red in colour, but I feel it still looks quite beautiful.

Pomegranate Raspberry Vinaigrette

Modified from the recipe of Raspberry Vinaigrette from 'Le Cordon Bleu - Saucen (German version)'

Ingredients:
50 g raspberries
50 g pomegranate seeds
2 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar
50-100 ml pumpkin seed oil (organic) - use quantity to taste
100-150 ml neutral oil like maize or sunflower (depending on the amount of pumpkin seed oil used)
1 tbsp sugar or to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Puree raspberries and pomegranate along with the vinegar using a hand stick blender
pour the oils slowly one after the other while mixing with the hand blender
pass through a fine sieve to remove the seeds
add sugar, salt and pepper to taste

Avocado and Pomegranate Salad

Serves 4 people

Ingredients:
1 small yellow bell peppers, washed and cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 pomegranate, the seeds
1-2 ripe Avocado, halved, peeled and cut into long slices or bite sized pieces
salad leaves like arugula or corn salad - a handful per person, washed, and, if required, cut into smaller pieces
1 1/2 tbsp pumpkin seeds, roasted in very little olive or sunflower oil
30-40 ml pomegranate and raspberry vinaigrette
4 tsp pumpkin seed oil

Method:

Lay the salad bell peppers, avocado and pomegranate on the plates
roast the pumpkin seeds till they start to pop and sprinkle over the salad
Drizzle little vinaigrette and the pumpkin seed oil and serve

I love this combination of pumpkin seed oil and the two fruits - raspberries and pomegranate. It is a kind of vinaigrette, which I feel goes very well with avocado, as suggested in the book as well. Since I the beginning I wasn't very sure about what all things to combine with it, I just stuck to avocado and pomegranate seeds along with the corn salad. And it was lovely! I loved the sweet and tangy pomegranate seeds in the salad, and the combination of pomegranate with raspberries in the vinaigrette. So, the next time I also added yellow bell peppers and tomatoes, as I feel they are also on the sweeter side in flavour, and used arugula leaves. I would have loved to add some roasted pumpkin seeds to it, but just didn't remember in time and then later on my two men were too hungry for me to let them wait longer. But, it is worth the effort and I love to add roasted nuts and seeds in my salads, whatever kinds they be.

I'm sending this over to the POM Wonderful Contest being held at The Leftover Queen this month.

POM Wonderful is offering attractive prizes and all the Foodie Blogroll members are eligible to take part in it. Check at the FoodieBlogroll/leftover Queen Forum for details.

Black Olive and Sage pesto

2008-11-25T16:01:00.019+01:00

This was a very spontaneous idea to make something quick and easy for dinner. And then there is this event going on, which came to my mind and doubled the fun factor to experiment. :)
And I was surprised at how good it turned out. Blogging surely gives these creative spurts to you...uhhh...me. :) So, what about you?

Black olive and Sage Pesto

Ingredients:
80-100 g stoned black olives
a handful of sage leaves, chopped coarsely (from the garden)
2 large garlic cloves, chopped coarsely
1/2 handful of walnuts (optional -I left them out)
1 dried red chili, broken into pieces, seeds removed*
2 tbsp lemon juice
30 ml olive oil (roughly)

Method:
Grind everything together with a hand stick blender and season with salt to taste.
Use it on Italian bread slices to bake in the oven for a few minutes
or
as a pesto for pasta dish, like we did here:Pasta with black olive pesto

Ingredients:
1/4 to 1/3 packet of pasta (penne, tagliatelle or others)
1 large red onion, halved and cut into thin slices or chopped into smaller pieces
1 large garlic, chopped finely or crushed with a garlic press
8 medium mushrooms, quartered
1/2 zucchini, cut into 5 mm rings and then each ring into 4 thin stripes
4 large dried red tomatoes (Italian)
1 /3 cup stoned black olives, halved
5-6 large sage leaves, chopped
4 tbsp black olive pesto (see above)
3 tbsp red pesto - I used store bought one this time
olive oil
salt to taste
Parmesan to garnish (optional)- I left it out

Method:

Cook pasta till al dente with salt in enough water
Fry the garlic and onion for a minute in olive oil on high heat
reduce heat to medium high and add mushrooms and dried tomatoes, fry till done
add zucchini and sage and fry till cooked but still crispy
add the pesto and fry for short
serve warm

*Remove the seeds of the chili to reduce the hotness, or use them along, and you can adjust the amount of chili to your taste

We enjoyed eating this pasta a lot. I was a bit irritated that I had not taken care and the pasta had turned a bit too soft. Sonny boy was driving me crazy at that time and I was so busy trying to calm down - myself............:D!
But, then I tried to wash it with cold water once and save the pasta and it was just about OK. Hubby liked it and said very sportively that it doesn't matter and sat down at the table with enthusiasm, but like usual mentioned at the end that he doesn't like black olives. He can alwaaaa...ays find something to complain about. Grrrrrrrr........!
I loved the combination of sage and black olives and I purposefully left out the walnuts which I could have added to it, as I did not want to mix up too many flavours. And I licked away all the left overs of the pesto with my fingers from the bowl I used to prepare it :). A wonderful taste as it was.
So, this ones goes to the event Food in Colours (FIC): Purple and Black held at Sunshinemom's Tongueticklers
And I would like to send this entry to Andrea's Grow Your Own being hosted this time by Rachel of The Crispy Cook, another gluten free food blogger, I'm happy to discover.

In case you are curious to know what I did with the beetle. No, I didn't grind the poor soul with the leaves, but let it fly away on my terrace. It had come along with the sage leaves I had brought from my garden. Now that winter is coming, I had to finally cut them up and use a part and freeze another larger part for later use.

Gluten free Brownie Muffins

2008-11-22T11:35:00.005+01:00

As you might know, this is the trial where I made a gluten free version of brownies, but without the xanthan gum. We made them using a muffin pan. Sonny boy loved these, so did I. To bite into the crust and then into the soft centre. It was something like a different version of Eclairs! :D
Hubby, he's not a brownie fan. But, the reason could have been the not so perfect results. The long baking time I used made the outer cover dry out a bit and I had to increase the baking time as the centre was still much too soft after 30 minutes. And maybe it was the lack of xanthan gum needed to replace the absence of wheat flour. I'm not sure. So, you see this is not a perfect result. I do plan to make them again and tell you about the improvements. But, anyways they tasted wonderful!

And here is the recipe:

Gluten free Brownie Muffins

I used a recipe from Wiki (here).

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 25-35 minutes
Baking temperature: 160-170 °C (convection: 150°C)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter (60 g)
1 cup sugar (200 g)
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract -I used bourbon vanilla extract
2 eggs -I used 1/2 cup or 100 g silken tofu, whipped smooth with a hand blender
1/3 cup all purpose flour (40 g )- I used 30 g rice flour and 10 g cornstarch
6 tbsp cocoa powder (40 g)
1/4 tsp salt (a pinch) -I used lesser than 1/4 tsp
1 cup whole nuts of choice, chopped or whole, like walnuts or hazelnuts or pecans

Method:

melt butter in a pot, add sugar, vanilla extract and eggs (or whipped silken tofu) and whip everything together
add flour(s) and cocoa powder (preferably sieved, to prevent clumps)
and stir to make a creamy paste
add the nuts, chopped or whole, and mix
spread on a small baking pan - I used a muffin pan
bake at 160-170 °C (convection: 150°C) for 25 - 35 minutes (check after 25 minutes) - I had to bake for 40 minutes

NOTE: The inside was very soft and gooey and the outside a bit dry. Although I'm told that this is how a brownie normally is, I'm not sure if this was an optimal result. Maybe I need to add xanthan gum or something similar to compensate for the wheat flour.

Rishab and I enjoyed the last bit of it yesterday and it was pure pleasure for both of us. So, I thought I might as well publish these not-so-perfect but yummy recipe, even though I had initially planned to bake it again and then publish it. As you can see I also made a coating of chocolate icing to compensate for the dryness, which worked wonders....

Pumpkin Quick Bread

2008-11-18T12:38:00.017+01:00

As you might know, I have been wanting to bake or prepare different things which are gluten and casein free for my nephew Advik. I had been asking my sister to give me some ideas about some gluten free recipes which she would like me to make and then finally she mentioned about the pumpkin spice bread. On checking some recipes I found that it is a quick bread which does not require any xanthan gum either. I had most of the ingredients and only needed to buy pumpkin. So, I thought, before the pumpkin season is completely over and I cannot get any of them any more in the market, let me get one and try a recipe of pumpkin spice bread, which I also found very fast.
I did very careful calculations to convert the cup measurements into grams, and planned and checked and rechecked everything, and got going with it this weekend. I had no idea of how it would turn out, not a clue. But, I made the recipe very carefully, and didn't make any substitutions, or only that what was really unavoidable. I went step by step slowly beating everything one by one, taking time for every step carefully. It looked good, almost all the way until I had also added the milk. Then all that I could think of was : "Oh no! That does not look so good.....", as all the fluffyness which I had acieved with all the beating seemed to go away. So, I stopped beating it and continued with adding the flour and beating the batter side by side. This time I had to hurry up as I had added soda, which, once added to the wet ingredients start working. The end result didn't look bad. So, I quickly poured it into a springform pan and put it in the preheated oven.

Pumpkin Quick Bread

Based on a recipe from a Gluten free recipe source

I converted the amounts using the online weight conversion calculator and have given the weight in grams I actually used, if deviating, at the end.

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups (480 g) rice flour - I used gluten free whole meal rice flour, coarsely ground
1/4 cup (30 g) soy or gram flour - I used 35 gram flour – Indian besan)
1 heaped tsp turmeric powder (optional -I used it to give it a yellowish tinge)
1/2 tsp. baking powder - I used 1 tsp gluten free cream of tartar baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt - I used 1 tsp
1 tsp. cinnamon (powdered)
1 tsp. cloves (if using for the first time: use ½ tsp) - I ground about 15 -20 cloves with my coffee mill
2/3 (150 g) cup butter or margarine - I used margarine, free from trans fats and milk products
2 cups (460 g) dark brown sugar - I used 400g whole cane sugar / powdered jaggery and 50 g castor sugar
1 envelop (about 5 g) of bourbon vanilla sugar ( contains ground vanilla bean, vanilla extract and sugar)
4 eggs (medium sized)
1 can (1 lb.) or 2 cups (500 g) mashed squash or pumpkin - I used cooked and mashed fresh hokaido pumpkin
2/3 cup (11 measured tbsp) water or milk - I used soya milk
2/3 cup chopped nuts (I used soaked almonds chopped coarsely)
1/3 cup (60 – 80 g) golden raisins - I had none, so used chopped soft dried-apricots)
1/3 cup (60 – 80 g) raisins

Method:

In a bowl mix both the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices
Cream butter and sugar with a hand blender until it turns from brown to creamish in colour and is fluffy
Add eggs one by one and keep beating
Add pumpkin and milk one after the other and keep beating
Add the flour mix to the pumpkin batter
Stir in almonds, apricots and raisins
Pour into a greased springform pan or into two 9''x5'' loaf pans
If you use a springform pan, then almost double the amount of time will be required, like in my case
Bake at 350 ° F (175 °C: 160°C convection) for one hour or until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

I baked the bread for the first hour at 160°C and then for the next hour at 165 °C in a convection oven, since I had used a larger spring form pan instead of a loaf pan.

Changes I plan to make for next time:

1. reduce the amount of sugar to about 380 g, if using castor sugar, to 350 g
2. reduce the amount of salt to 1/2 tsp; 1 tsp was still too much for my taste
3. leave out cinnamon or replace with half with dried ginger: saunth
4. leave out cloves, gives too strong a flavour, or use ½ tsp

I was quite afraid about how it would turn out. But after about 15 minutes itself, I could see how it had risen, to my happiness. And after another 15 minutes it had risen even more to make me even more happy. I felt that it was a good sign as that could be a good indication of the bread being soft and spongy. But, after an hour when I checked the bread with knife, I found that the centre was all wet and undone. So, I knew it needed to be baked for at least half an hour more. I also increased the temperature by 5 °C. Afterwards when I checked the cake, it was much better but still far from being done, much too soft at the centre. So, another half an hour of baking and then I swithed off the oven and let it stand there as it was in the oven for a while, before I took it out and checked. And yes! The bread looked quite good. Infact much too good! No... wait... it was perfect! As perfect as I could imagine it to be. Soft, and with a nice sponge. Perfect crispy crust. It was just wonderful! It tasted sweet, a bit too sweet actualy , which I realised only later on. But, it did not disturb us. We like to eat things too sweet, if only the health factor wasn't there. :)
But, there was one thing which had started worrying me by the time I had switched off the oven. The smell. I guess some would love it, but I don't like cinnamon and clove in sweet things so much and I could smell it distinctly. I had purposefully kept the recipe the way it is . After all it is pumpkin spice bread. But, my fears were unfounded. The bread tasted very good.
But, still I would reduce the amount of these spices, as I feel that would be more like my bread. And sugar, I felt that it was too much, but didn't feel like making an changes and in the last moment added the remaining sugar as per the calculations.

Hubby was the first person to eat it and found it wonderful. Sonny boy loves this bread, I served it with whipped cream, but to go with the recipe I also wanted to prepare a gluten and casein free icing and found a nice recipe at Sophie's Flour Arrangements. But, as I wanted to make the spread I realised that I had finished off the margarine while making the cake. I had forgotten to stock up on it when I went shopping last time. So, I used butter instead to prepare it and, of course, left out all the spices, as I felt these were enough in the cake this time and only mixed some powdered jaggery with butter to make a simple but lovely icing. The jaggery gives a wonderful flavour to the butter so that nothing else is really needed.
And I also prepared an orange sauce for the cake from one of my cookbooks. Here also I had to use butter instead of margarine. If you wish to have the recipe, then ask me and I'll send it to you. And I sprinkled the butter icing with oraganic lemon zest and poure some orange sauce over it. Yummy!

And now I have to mention one thing: I was planning to send this recipe for Zorra's Bread Baking Day event: Coloured Breads for December, but this turned out to be dark brown as you see. Now breads usually look dark brown and I had hoped for something in yellow or orange. So, I would think, if I were to use regular caster sugar for this, it might actually turn yellowish in colour. Well, to find that out I'll have to wait for a while, before I try this recipe again. But this is one good recipe I would preserve carefully so that when one day the need arises, I can bake it for my my nephew, my dearest Advik.

And this wonderful and successful experiment I am so proud of, I'm sending off to Srivalli's Rice Mela at Cooking 4 All Seasons !!

Orange quark creme with Blackberry sauce

2008-11-14T20:45:00.007+01:00

We have been to a number of forests and natural reserves here where you find wild berries growing everywhere, edible ones. So, earlier when we would go for our bicycle tours, hubby and me, during summers we would take a small break and simultaneously stuff our mouths with some yummy berries growing there. We just couldn't resist it. I love plucking and collecting berries on my own. It is such a big pleasure incomparable to anything else. The ones we buy in the market are a lot of times much bigger, but not necessarily better in taste and compare no ways to the fun associated with the former.
So, I knew right from the beginning, as soon as we moved into this house, that I'll be planting different berry plants.
Now we have a number of those in our garden. And this year we enjoyed our first round of blackberries from our own garden and we got quite many of them. The happiest person in the family was of course my sunny boy, ecstatic with joy on hearing that we can finally pluck another round berries, every time I told him that some more had ripened. So, Rishab enjoyed the handful of blackberries he got each time.
But, I had no chance to collect so many to be able to bake anything. But, I didn't even want to. I think the best way to eat them is fresh, as they are, rich in vitamins and minerals and pigments which are good antioxidants. A lot of health packed in these small fruits.
But, then I came across this recipe in a booklet which I saw in my Recipes ring binder. And liked it so much that I had to make it. So, I went searching for some blackberries, which wasn't easy to find as the season was ending, as it was already middle of October. But, I at least found one packet of fresh ones. Then I went searching for the frozen ones, but couldn't find any, except mixed together with other fruits. The only thing I could find separately was raspberries and I felt that would do fine for the sauce.
(I'm sorry, my picture are suffering in quality, not that they were ever so good, but the failing sunlight- whichever time of the day-is making me experiment a little bit, hopefully will have some better results soon)

So, here goes the recipe....

Orange quark creme with Blackberry sauce

Based on the recipe from the booklet
"Kochen und Backen mit Grafschafter "

Serves 4-6 people
Preparation time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:

Orange creme
300 g Magerquark (low fat quark, 0.1 % fat)
200 g cream cheese
75 ml juice of fresh oranges (like Valancia oranges; DE: Saftorangen)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1-2 tbsp zest of oranges (with untreated skin)
2 tbsp confectioners sugar or to taste (or use syrup)
a few drops Orange liquor (Like Cointreaue)-optional, I left it out

Blueberry sauce
2-3 tbsp Grafschafter Apfelschmaus* (I used golden syrup instead)
250 g Blackberries (fresh or frozen)
(I used 100 g fresh blackberries and 200 g frozen raspberries)
100 ml black grape juice
(I used some orange juice instead)
roasted slivered almonds (optional)
mint or lemon balm leaves for decorating (optional)

* A syrup made by cooking apples and pears. No sugar is added. It is dark in colour and it's sweetness comes from the natural sweetness of the apple

Method:

mix together all the ingredients for the orange quark creme and keep in the fridge until required
For the sauce, heat and melt the frozen raspberries along with the juice and add the goldensyrup (or Apfelschmaus)
cook till the sauce starts to thicken, then add the fresh blackberries, cook further till they turn slightly soft
remove a couple of the blackberries and keep aside
puree everything else or directly pass through a sieve or strainer to remove the seeds
cook further for a few minutes, if required or
serve with the orange quark creme

This was a wonderful dessert. The flavours of orange and the berries combined together with the creaminess of quark. If only it was not so rich and I would have eaten three times the portion. This is one dessert sure to make you happy. I don't think I need to say much as the pictures tell it all, don't they?!

Now, since I did not find enough blackberries, I used frozen raspberries, which made the colour of the sauce lighter in shade, but it was still quite purple in colour even if the pictures make it look more like redish.
Therefore, this one goes to a wonderful event Food in Colours (FIC) held at Sunshinemom's Tongueticklers with this months theme being Purple and Black
Now, let's talk about another pleasant thing. Yes, about awards!
Lovely Ivy of Kopiaste passed me this Award:

And here are the people I would like to forward it to:

Anudivya of ...a little bit more...
Jude of Apple Pies, Patis & Pâté
Sunshinemom of Tongueticklers

Herbed chicken

2008-11-11T23:33:00.004+01:00

This was an effort to make a simpe dish without too many things. Simple. That was the explicit request of hubby, who was a bit down with cold. On asking if this type of chicken would be OK, he probably didn't hear properly and just said something which I couldn't understand and I repeated and and he said "what ever...". So, when the food came on the table, he was a bit surprised, as he was expecting something Indian style and I was quite irritated with this and said" well, I asked you....?". But, it didn't take long for us to get back into a happy mood as we were enjoying something which had turned out so delicous and hubby was all praise for me. I don't make chicken like this usually. I did check some recipes before I was confident enough to make it the way I wanted, just with some herbs, some black pepper , potatoes - I like to have them with chicken quite often, being a big potato lover! They also get a good flavour from the chicken through that. I had also put some fennel stems for flavour, which were the left overs of the side dish I was preparing, which had also turned out much better than my expectations. A simple meal turned great! That's how we felt about it.

Herbed chicken

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Baking time: 1 1/2 -2 hours
Baking temp.: 200°C
Main utensils: A large baking pan with lid or a porcelain baking dish and aluminium foil (a Roemertopf is ideal)

Ingredients:

4 chicken legs with skin, washed, pat dried and the fat removed
5-6 small potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
1 large red onion, cut into wedges
1/2 white onion, cut into wedges
2 large garlic cloves, thickly sliced lengthwise
2 tbsp lemon juice (I left it out)
4-5 leftover stems of fennel (optional)
1 level tbsp vegetable broth (organic) - as a replacement for the white wine
a hand full of fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme
250 ml water
salt to taste
10-15 peppercorns, or to taste - crushed coarsely in a mortar
2-3 tbsp olive oil

Method:
In a baking dish of choice:

rub the cleaned chicken with the peppercorns, salt, the herbs and lemonjuice, also under the skin
mix with garlic and onion (also under the skin)
add the potatoes and fennel and olive oil and salt to taste for the potatoes
mix the potatoes with the herbs as well
stir the vegetable broth with the water and add to the chicken
cover with a lid or aluminium foil
bake for 2 hours at 200°C
serve with steamed basmati rice or any rice of choice

I have never made chicken so simple, with so few spices and which still turned out so delicious!
We ate it with fennel and carrot Au Gratin and steamed basmati rice. This is again one of those pictures I hadn't planned to take, like I mentioned in my last post about the side dish, and in a hurry and the dark days that we are having now adding to the difficulty, it has beome difficult to take good pictures so easily. But, if you have tried something similar before then you would know what I'm talkig about. And I didn't miss the wine at all. Initially I was thinking of adding the vegetables to the chicken, but somehow felt it better to keep them separate. And it was surely a good decision. This was a splendid dish and a big success as an experiment, as I felt it to be!

Fennel and Carrot Au Gratin

2008-11-11T23:08:00.003+01:00

This is one of those creartions which you make when you find that there is nothing you can use to prepare food. No, not because I didn't have anything to cook, but because Rishab had some tests the following day and he was not suppose to eat any vegetables which would cause flatulence and very little milk products and no fruits rich in vitamin C. Although I had bought some vegetables like carrots, fennel, zucchini and mushrooms for the two days before the test, I hadn't given much thought to what I would make.
So, here I was standing in my kitchen and trying to figure out what to make. I knew that I would be making a simple chicken dish, with some herbs and black pepper (but no wine - reason : most of the alcohol added to the food remains in the food, even if you cook it for long, so it is not good for Rishab). And I didn't feel like using mushrooms at all with that. "...but, fennel and carrots,... but what do I do with them?...". And this is what I came up with.

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Baking time: 1 - 1 1/2 hours
Baking temp.: 180°C
Main utensils: A baking pan with lid or a porcelain baking dish and aluminium foil (a Roemertopf is also good)

Ingredients:

1 large and thick fennel bulb, washed, trimmed and sliced
2 large carrots, peeled,trimmed and sliced into thin rounds
1 cup parmesan, grated
1/2 white onion, sliced
1 clove garlic chopped coarsely
1 level tbsp vegetable broth (organic)
250 ml water
1 -2 tbsp olive oil
salt to tatse (if required)

Method:

whisk the broth together with water
mix everything together in a baking pan or porcelain dish
sprincle some parmesan on top, if desired
cover with lid or foil and bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for 1 hour - I baked it for 1 1/2 hours

This was so delicious, way beyond my expectations. Since I cooked it for long, it had become so stewey. We ate it with chicken and steamed basmati rice. It made a great combination. Hubby (do you remember - the "not so easy to please with food"-hubby!) loved the meal and Rishab too. What more can you ask for. And I felt it was a sensation for the low expectations i had put on this dish. The next day to eat the "left overs", the only thing I got to take a picture of - I hadn't planned to take one- with rice was heaven for me. I was just going "ummm... " all the time! I enjoyed it to the full. It was so very delicious. I almost felt that the next day it tatsed even better. That simple dishes don't have to be boring is so rightly proven by this one. If only I had known about it before, then I would have taken a nice picture for you to drool over before we started eating it. But, there will be a next time for sure.
I just realised that I could send this one to the Original Recipe event at Lore's Culinarty!

Green Tea and Quince jelly

2008-11-09T08:25:00.009+01:00

I had bought my first packet of green tea. Being in search of anything other than black tea, something which was pleasant to drink in the morning or at work. After having tried all kinds of Yogi teas (I still haven't finished them all!), I again felt like making another round of tea hunting and saw green tea. Earlier I turned my eyes away from such teas, I only drank black tea, and only if cooked in the Indian style as chai. I love to try out different flavours when it comes to food, but have been very conservative when it comes to tea until recently. I still don't like aromatised teas much and feel that nothing can compare a wonderful cup of hot Indian style chai with milk. Ummmm.......!
I still drink it, but now I use it exclusively to take care of my migrane and it works wonders, like today itself. Now I'm sitting in front of the computer, while it could have been that I was lying in bed covering my head with a blanket, making sure not a single stream of light reached my eyes. I actually took some rest, it being a saturday, before I prepared my slightly europeanised version of chai - black tea infused with ginger and caradamom in a pot and then adding milk later to it. Yes.... that was what I needed and I'm the fittest person in the world right now. :)

Coming back to green tea now. I then saw this shelve with green teas and remembered having drunk this quite pleasant tasting tea once. And thought of giving it a try. And it was a good choice I made. Another reason was the thought on all the good vitalising and health promoting substances it contains. Like plant polyphenols, vitamins, caffeine, and essential minerals. The most important of them being the polyphenols like EGCG, the most abundant catechin in tea, which are well known as antioxidants, making them so healthy and have been made responsible for (only to a certain extent) the cancer preventing properties. And their caffeine content is much lower thn that of coffeee or even black tea, which is another positive point about them*(see below).Quince is a wonderful fruit which I had tasted raw only once before in a village in Italy, many years back. I saw them here a few days back in the market and it brought back the memories of our lovely trip to southern Italy and I bought them instantly. I'm extraordinarily happy I did it!
And then like it always is, one thing lead to the other and I was preparing my first ever quince jelly with green tea. I had put them carefully in my vegetable shelve in the fridge and was planing to make a quince jelly. A couple of days later out of nowhere the thought crossed my mind, what if I used green tea. Being a bit scared, I started searching for recipes with both the ingredients together and I didn't find any, but instead found a couple of other recipes of green tea prepared with rose petals or orange peels. I searched mainly in German language though. Now, that disappointed me a bit and it also made me totally skeptical, but then the next day I decided that I had to try it, as I still faintly remembered the quince fruit being very aromatic. And, was I right!

Here is the recipe:

Green Tea and Quince jelly

Based on the recipe at Marions Kochbuch (in German)

Ingredients:
1 kg (1000 g ; about 2 pounds) quince
3/4 l green tea, prepared fresh**
1 cup lemonbalm leaves, whole
1 lemon, the juice
250 g gelling sugar 2:1 (sugar with pectin) - or slightly more depending on the quantity of juice extracted

Equipments required:
2 large pans,
one large strainer,
large spoons,
a laddle,
a small porcelain plate placed in the freezer,
2-3 boiled jars with twist-off lids

Method:

Wash the fruits, rub off the fluff, remove the seeds (toxic) and all the black spots
cut into large pieces with the skin
take a large and deep pot and add the fruits and the green tea
cook for 40 minutes covered on medium-low
add lemon balm leaves, mix and cook for another 10 minutes
the fruits would be very soft by now and enough pectin and fruit juices would have infused into the tea
mash the fruits lightly with a spoon or laddle
place a cheese cloth over a large metal stainer placed over another deep sauce pan
pour the cooked quince into it with the help of a spoon
let strain
twist the cheese cloth ends together tightly to let the remaining juice to come out at the end
do not do it too strongly, as it may make the jelly turn too cloudy and not give a clear transleuscent jelly
remove strainer, and measure the quantity, should be around 500 ml
if the quantity is more increase the quantity of gelling sugar accordingly)
add the juice of one lemon and gelling sugar, mix throughly
(optionally you can add lemon balm leaves now, use a teabag for that)
bring to boil and keep cooking on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring with a laddle
keep laddle in the pan
take out the plate from freezer and pour a drop of the jelly with the laddle on it,
if the jelly turns firm and doesn't remain runny and thin then it is ready!
pour with the laddle into boiled jars, close lid tightly, turn upside down for 5 to 10 minutes
turn them back and let cool down

*Sources of the information on green tea were from here, here and here.
**Wiki source: how to prepare green tea .

The moment I started cutting the quinces, I was totally overwhelmed by the aroma of the fruit. "WOW!" I thought. It smelled like a mixture of pineapple, rose, guava and oranges. But, isn't that overwhelming enough! And after the jelly was ready, cooling down in the bottles, I tried to taste the still warm and soft jelly remainig in the laddle, licking with my finger. Won............derful! This jelly held more than its promise! The intensity and variety of of flavours which exploded on my tongue with it was awesome. Interestingly I found that it had a pleasant flavour of roses after being cooked. In fact, initially, after seeing one recipe, I even wanted to buy rose petals, but didn't manage to. But, hey, who needs them, when you have quince!
It is a wonderful recipe which has the goodness of green tea and the richness in flavour of quince. Perfect, isn't it?!

While trying to find translations for the German words for the recipe - like the "fluff" on the skin (called Flaum in German), I came across this wonderful recipe for quince jelly at Elise Bauer's blog Simply Recipes with detailed step by step pictures.

I'm sending off this recipe to Original Recipe event at Lore's Culinarty.
And I remembered that I'm just in time for Meeta's Monthy Mingle being hosted at her blog this time. I had dropped the idea of taking part in this event, as I had no plans of using coffee and had no clue to what one could do with tea. Of course, I only had black tea in mind at that time. But, here I'm with my entry!

Fruity apple cookies

2008-11-05T15:59:00.012+01:00

This recipe of cookies has been inspired by Madhram's event Egg replacement-flax seeds at her Egglesscooking .com. Now, all I needed was a nice recipe of cookies to take on this challenge. On searching, I found this simple recipe of cookies with some lovely ingredients and I felt that this would be a good bet for combining both my experiments. Now you might ask, which two? Well, one is the egg replacement with flax seeds and the other to make it gluten free.
Lately, I have been wanting to again start with my experiments with gluten free baking for my nephew Advik. I had done it once a while ago, but somehow got stuck after that. Now, I want to spare you with my excuses and rather tell you what all I have been wanting to do, and what all I have tried already, like this recipe too. I want to bake a bread, but still haven't really got an appropriate recipe. As most of the recipes call for xanthan gum, something which I haven't found yet locally. I haven't tried it online, but I really didn't want mine being shipped from far off places, if it is not necessary.
After trying out a couple of recipes I have now realised that xanthan gum or something similar is an important ingredient of gluten free baking, especially for breads to turn out into something edible. And it was a good idea to wait for the bread recipe and trying out some simpler experiments first. I have tried a recipe of gluten free brownies, which did not turn out the way it should have, I think (recipe coming up soon!). Now there, like here too I also tried to make them egg free by replacing them with silken tofu, maybe I should do it step by step and not make too many experiments in one go. It tasted wonderful, but was a bit sticky and gooey and not fluffy at all.
From what I know for cookies the flour types can be much more easily replaced or exchanged than for breads. Unless you have xanthan gum. My search is on. But, I am happy with this recipe which is also gluten and egg free.

A note beforehand: As guided by Madhuram in her event, this is what I did to replace the eggs: For each egg to be replaced, whisk 1 tablespoon (15gm) of ground flax seed with 3 tablespoons (I required 4 tbsp) of water until the mixture is thick and creamy.

Apple Oats Cookies

Based on the recipe at Kochmeister.com

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 20 - 25 minutes (I baked for 35 minutes)
Baking temp.: 200°C (Convection oven: 180°C)
Quantity : about 25- 30 pieces, for 2 baking sheets

Dry Ingredients:
500 g tart apples, washed and grated with skin (6-7 small apples from the garden)
150 g all purpose flour - I replaced it with : 100 g whole meal rice flour (coarse ground) and 50 g cornstarch - both gluten free
100 g thick rolled oats (kernige Haferflocken) - I would like to replace it with puffed amaranth and some sunflower seeds next time
2 1/2 tsp baking powder - I used gluten-free cream of tartar baking powder
1 pinch cinnamon
I also added:
50 g ground almonds with skin

Wet Ingredients:
100 g soft butter
70 g brown sugar - I used powdered jaggery / whole cane sugar
zest of 1 lemon
3 middle sized eggs - I replaced them with 3 tbsp finely ground flax seeds (linseed) and added 4 tbsp lukewarm water for each, i.e., 12 tbsp in total in a bowl and let seep for a while
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp orange juice
50 g raisins - I soaked 60 g in hot water for short and let excess water drip off on a sieve

Method:

Mix thoroughly with a whisk flour, cornstarch, rolled oats, cinnamon and baking powder in a bowl
beat together butter, sugar, lemon zest, the juices, and eggs (or the replacement) - start beating with butter and add the ingredients one by one
Preheat oven, grate apples and add to the batter along with the flour and raisins and mix to wet everything
with a tablespoon place spoonfuls on two baking trays lined with baking sheets. pressing it down a little to make round shapes
bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (I used convection: 180°C) for 20-25 minutes, I needed 35 minutes and let stand in the oven a while before opening the door slightly and leaving it for another 20 minutes or so before taking them out and letting them cool down

How did my experiment taste?
Wonderful! It had this slightly sour taste through the tart apples which was lovely and I had coated half of the cookies as you can see with some leftover chocolate icing (couverture; I'm not sure if there is a difference between the two, but I used the latter) which made the taste even more better. But, as I knew hubby would prefer without, I did not bother to coat them all with the chocolate icing. And hubby actually found the ones without the icing better. These cookies are very mildly sweet. So, one could surely increase the sweetness to ones taste.
I would like to add some more cinnamon or cardamom next time too.
These were quite soft and not the crispy kinds, like cookies normally are. Almost like a miniature bread, maybe because of the apples or maybe because of the rice? Maybe that also explains why the brownies also turned out so soft. Maybe it is the rice flour which is making it so soft. Now the next time I will make them with wheat flour to solve the puzzle. :)
Naturally I'm sending this off to Flax seeds-egg replacement event at Madhuram's Egglesscooking .com

Jams, Chutneys and another Award !!

2008-11-01T10:47:00.028+01:00

I have been talking about posting the recipes of my jams and chutneys I have been making since long. And finally I have managed to put them down from my diary to my "cyber-cookbook" here!

For the recipes, please go here.

These were the different ways I enjoyed eating my chutneys and jams...

MANGO PINEAPPLE GINGER CHUTNEY
...on a slice of bread,

...with buckwheat-potao pakodas,

TOMATO APPLE ONION CHUTNEY (RELISH)

with my delicious zucchini bread, both made fresh at that moment........eternal bliss till the last bite!
We have been enjoying them with all kinds of things. It was a wonderful decision to make this chutney, whose inspiration came from a Dr. Oetker booklet on jams and relishes. But, I made mine with a lot more Indian spices.

MANGO PINEAPPLE RASPBERRY JAM
Heaven on toast.... The best jam I have made so far! Rishab loves it too, but he loves the simple strawberry jam I made for him (picture not shown) as much too!

FIGS GINGER CHUTNEY
Turned out to be much spicier than I expected. Even though I am enjoying eating it, I would reduce or maybe even leave out fresh ginger net time (next year!), as the taste of figs is getting hidden behind that of ginger. I can imagine my father telling me that it has turned out perfect, but next time I might try adding more cinammon and cloves instead and maybe also ground green cardamoms (for recipe - see link on top).

Here are a few pictures to show the steps :
Wash, peel, chop and / or puree (or both) the fruits....
add citric acid (or lemon juice) and sugar/gelly sugar to it, mix and let stand for a while...
Cook for 15 to 20 minutes. and bottle them in cooked jars or botttels.
Turn them up side down....
for about 5-10 minutes or even sometimes 15-20 minutes, before turning them back. Helps create a vaccum!
Let it cool down.
Keep in a cool, dark and dry place or at best in the refrigerator.
Use within a few months. I have kept my jams in the fridge for up to a year and they tasted excellent even at the end of the year. Chutneys, I have made them for the first time and being not so sweet, I'm not sure if they will all stay good for so long too. Maybe it would depend on the ingredients.
Important Note: Do not tighten the bottles again after they have cooled down!!

While making such preserves, one has to keep in mind that they should contain enough of the fruit acids, like citric acids or others. There are fruits which have low amounts of it. berries like red currents are usually sour enough that they do not neccesarily require any addition of citric acid, for example. On the other hand, mango, pineapple, pears, peaches and such similar fruits require addition of citric acid or any fruit acid (ascorbic acid - vitamin C , but it gets damaged by heat!).
Sugar is a natural preservative, but since too high amounts are not healthy, a good sterile working method while preparing them is a good idea. Cook the preserves for long enough, if you plan to keep them for long. Amounts which are to be used up fast (within weeks) don't need too many precautions.

And now about something special which made me feel sooooooo very happy! Dear Ivy of Kopiaste awarded me with this :
This is my second award now. Now, need I tell you, why I am happy? I guess not! And I must say that I am as happy to get it as I was the first time.
I would soon forward it to others, once I have come down from cloud 9 ! :)

White beans curry

2008-10-29T17:53:00.007+01:00

I saw this packet of white beans at the grocery store and felt like trying it out. I have tried a different variety of white beans, the Italian Cannellini very often, but not this one so far. A couple of days later, when I was going to prepare the white beans, after soaking them for 12 hours (!!!) as per the instructions on the packet, I saw this pile of apples I had from my neighbours house, and thought of the recent post I had seen at Deesha's blog Vegetable Platter, where she had prepared an Apple daal. I felt doing my experiment with white beans. These are a very mild, but tasty variety of apples, but, which taste best only once they are ripe. Half of these apples fall on our side of the house and our neighbours, an elderly couple, said that we could use the apples if we wanted, so I collected some of them. I didn't remember to take a photograph, but they resemble the "Boskob" variety a lot. The neighbour is also not sure, but thinks the same.
So, I washed and cored one apple and cut it up and used it for my Indian style white beans.
Now, it was only after I had prepared the beans that I got to know that these beans are the ones used for the famous American (or even British?) "baked beans". And then I thought "Of course...they look the same too!" . Although, I have yet to come across a "baked beans" which tastes good to me. Maybe it is time to prepare this dish myself......

White beans curry

Ingredients:

1 cup white beans, soaked overnight or for 8 hours with at least 4 times the quantity of water
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cooking apple, washed, cored and cubed
2 cups water
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/8th tsp asafoetida, crushed with the flat side of a large knife on a cutting board

Chaunk (Tadka):
2 tbsp oil (I used one each of rapeseed- and sunflower oil)
1tsp cumin
1 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
1/4 tsp red chili powder or to taste
1 large onion, halved vertically and chopped finely
1 clove garlic, finely grated or chopped
1/2 inch ginger, grated or chopped
1 large tomato, chopped coarsely
1 tsp tamarind paste
1 pinch black salt

Method:

Change the water of the soaked beans in between (reduces the substances from the beans causing flatulence)
Cook the beans in 2 cups fresh water in a pressure cooker for about 15 minutes*
Add cubed potatoes and apple, and turmeric and salt and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes*
In a fry pan, heat oil on medium high heat and add the spices so that they splutter
Immediately add the garlic, ginger and onion and stir and fry till the onion becomes golden
add the tomatoes and the tamarind paste and cook till the required firmness or softness of tomatoes
Add to the cooked beans along with black salt and mix
Serve warm with rotis or steamed basmati rice, or even buttered toasted bread slices

*NOTE:

If you do not have a pressure cooker, then you would require at least 1 hour of cooking in a covered vessel
Depending on the pressure cooker used, the cooking times could vary, something one has to figure out on ones own,
The cooking time also depends on the size of the cooker and the quantity of food.
Usually the smell of the cooked food can also be an indication.
Use the booklet accompanying the pressure cooker for guidance.

This curry turned out really good and I loved eating it. I would have loved to add some more spices, but restrained bacause of sonny boy, who has yet to learn eating spicy food. And hubby...well....let's put it this way: He didn't complain, and on being asked even said "good", but also told me that he didn't like the apples in the curry. So, it is also a matter of taste. And that means, for my family's sake this is probably the last time that I prepared it with apples. But, I had good fun doing this small and successful experiment! And it was a really good combination too, if you like it, like I did. Otherwise you wouldn't have seen it here.

I'm sending this off to My Legume Love Affair, Fourth Helping started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook and being hosted this month by Sra of When My Soup Came Alive.

Pumpkin halwa with Butternut squash

2008-10-26T18:32:00.008+01:00

I wanted to make a nice sweet for Diwali this year (on 28th October-if you want to know more about Diwali, go here). It had to be something special, but no kheer or the kinds, and I was in no mood for gajar halwa (carrot halwa). Somehow I don't like the taste of these orange carrots found here despite cooking them in milk and adding cream or butter or ghee. But then I remembered the event Tried and Tasted by the Zlamushka and thought of Indira and her wonderful blog Mahanandi.

While searching, I came across this yummy recipe there and I knew it was just the right thing for Diwali. Something totally new to me. I have never made any other halwa with vegetables except for gajar halwa (carrot halwa). And I was on the look out for something simple but Indian to make at home for Diwali. And on seeing this recipe, I knew this one had to be it. On reading further, I found that she was using butternut squash, a North American variety which is not so common here, but I had seen it the last time I had gone to Edeka, a supermarket which usually has a large variety of things, including the lactose free milk products for my son I'm so thankful about and fruits and vegetables from all over the world. Now, these were not brought from some far off place but rather grown locally here, but still is something fancy with fancy prices too! But, I had made up my mind and went to buy my very first ever butternut squash and brought it home and began my experiment, which reallly turned out to be one.....!Before I continue, a very concise information on the health benefits of pumpkin is here at About.com. The main features are the high amounts of beta-carotines, a part of the pro vitamin A found in pumpkin, high amount of potassium - a very important mineral for a healthy cellular functioning, and it is high in fiberes. Although raw pumpkin also contain good amounts of Vitamin C, I'm not sure how much of it remains after cooking or baking. And I think it is a well known that pumpkin seeds have the repuation of helping against prostrate problems and incontinence.

Butternut Squash Halwa

Based on the recipe from Indira's Mahanandi

Ingredients:

1 Butternut squash (1,6 kg), peeled and grated
3 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
1 1/2 l Milk (low fat lactose free)
2 cups sugar, or adjust to suit your taste
8 caradamoms
3 tbsp rosewater
1/2 cup almonds, soaked overnight or in hot water for about 2 hours, and chopped
1/2 cup ground almonds with skin, readymade

Method:

Cook the milk and sugar on medium low heat till it thickens and reduces to one fourth its quantity - mine became quite brown with time, maybe because I ket the heat to about medium high and later medium and while I cooked it in a deep pan I needed 1 1/2 hours instead of the 40 minutes as in the original recipe (explaination: Maillard reaction?!)
In the mean while grate the squash
grind the caradamom seeds to a fine powder and chop the almonds - I did not grind it to a fine paste like in the recipe, but used ready made ground almonds for it
heat ghee in a large saute pan and cook the peeled and grated butternut squash in it till it turns yellowish and soft - I cooked it for very long and it had become quite soft, but mine never turned orange like in the original recipe
Once done add the thickened brown khoya or kova to the pumpkin and the ground cardamom and almonds as well as the chopped almonds and the rose water and stir to mix evenly.
My pumpkin had turned very soft and mushy and I had to cook it for another half an hour and later again for another half an hour bake in the oven at 120 °C and let cool in a slightly open oven till it thickens
Place them on the table and let it cool down. Cut it into pieces - very soft pieces!

NOTE:

Although I have cut it into pieces, it was so soft that one can only eat it with a fork or spoon and not with ones hands.
It became quite sweet as I didn't take into consideration that at the end the quantity would reduce. One could easily reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup. But, it was just the way I actually like it!

My verdict, despite all the differences that appeared compared to the original recipe - Fabulous!...Great taste!!... Marvelous!!! And a wonderful recipe!
I'm very happy to have made it for Diwali. Something I'm surely proud of, as I have never made something sweet with pumpkin before. And what I loved about Indira's recipe was the method of preparing the halwa. First prepare the thickened khoya and then after cooking the vegetable or fruit for short, be it pumpkin or whatever, mix the both. Genial! Unlike the way I know and have tried so far where you add everything together and cook it for very long. This is one way of cooking I'm surely going to adapt more often, for sure!

This recipe goes to Zlamushka's T&T event: Mahanandi.

And of course, how could I forget to send it to the Festival Jivha being hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons, which I was so happy to discover and A Fruit A Month (AFAM), an event started by Maheshwari of Beyond the Usual and being hosted this month by Madhuram.

And I just realised, now that it has turned brown, it would be a good entry for the event Food in colours: Brown at Sunshinemom's Tongueticklers for this month too! So, be it!

Now, the list of events to which this blog post is going is getting longer an longer!
But this one has to be, I feel, which I just saw and feel is very appropriate for this event:
Time to be Thankful at Ivy's Kopiaste

A hearty dinner with fish and potato casserole and the sustainable seafood event

2008-10-24T20:37:00.005+02:00

Eating fish in a sustainable way, without a bad conscience? Yes, it is possible. But, no, it isn't an easy task.
Not, once you know what is happening with the seas, how they are being overfished and what ways are being used to destroy the marine ecosystems. The news is everywhere, but somehow nobody seems to care. Atleast not the governments. It is all left to the individual to decide what they want to do.
I had been reading about fishes being overfished since many years now. But, since we weren't such big fish eaters, I didn't bother. And when we did buy, we bought these cultured trouts (German: Forelle) from the fish shop, baked them with some vegetables and wine in the oven and that's it. But, with time I learned that frozen fish is as good, still it was rare that we bought fish. And the couple of fish names I got to know through the newspapers, I started avoiding them. I rememeber some, like Atlantic cod (Kableau), or the halibuts (Heilbutt) and the hakes (Seehecht) and the European plaice (Scholle). And then I got a baby. And to put it simply, we started eating fish more often. We bought that which was offered in the cold shelves of supermarkets, usually Redfish (Rotbarsch) or Alaska pollock (Alaska-Seelachs) and also Zander (closely related to perch) and salmons sometimes.
So, if you are well informed about the state of the oceans and their (over-)fishing, then there is nothing so great about it. But, then you assume that the governments must be taking required steps and doing controls etc. What a fool I was. My sister in law expressed her concerns about it once when we had gone out for dinner. That was about a couple of years back. So, I checked the greenpeace website, as she also said to have this information from them. And I actually found a list of fishes to avoid. But, then the whole thing started for me, where I got to know more and more about these reports and I saw and read more and more and went into more details adn the more i read the more horrified I was. In a way, I shouldn't have been surprised. What else does one expect, fish eating has almost become like a trend. Being more healthy and the exquisiteness associated with them and now we can all afford everything, we don't need to be rich to eat fish or meat every day if we want. But, when you look deeper into the matter - you don't have to look so deep, though- the moment you get to know of the methods of fishing being used, you don't have to think long to realise the the huge impact of these on the oceans and the ecosystems in them. Wonder what is left of that now, after we have been ruthlessly, and I really mean it - ruthlessly, overfishing the oceans. So, I'm not surprised that my SIL has stopped eating fish.
I haven't stopped it. I am still in a phase where I am trying to figure out a way to combine both: of taking up my responsibility and not waiting for the others to do it, and at the same time being able to do something as simple as eating fish now ans then.
Since I have got to know of this and realised it, we have reduce eating fish a lot. Also, because Rishab gets his "healthy" portion in the kindergarten (Now, don't ask me what fish they eat there, I don't know and I am not in a postion yet to question them, not yet atleast). But, still the urge to eat it is there and I do want to know what and how I can do it to be able to eat fish without a bad conscinece. Initially I thought it is going to be simple, just leave out the ones you want, but then the more I looked the more difficult it became. We love shrimps or prawns and I still have to figure out which one are Ok, if there are any. As for warm water prawns , they are not Ok. And I was happy to know that the cold water shrimps (Pandalus borealis) I can buy here are a good choice, but I'm not so sure any more. It is not so easy to get the right information ans noby seems to care. All the restaurents, the canteens and the whole market. All the endangered stocks of fishes are being exploited and nobody seems to care. I would love to get hold of a good German source about it.
I think I have written enough. This post was my vent to my thoughts. But, before I end this I also want to give you the information i have been able to collect here at my blog. This post was meant to be shorter and now I would finally write about the recipe I want to post here.
I had initially planned to make something else and I ended up making this, something totally different, another one of my experimenst which worked out!
I wanted to make "Rotkohl" with this not-so-red pointed cabbage. It is a variety which looks like cross between red cabbage and a pointed (green) cabbage. I'm not sure of "pointed cabbage" is the correct name, this is how we call this variety of cabbage here, which in my opinion tastes much like the Indian variety than does the "traditonal" German white ones.
I wanted to bake the potatoes with some broccoli pieces in a white sauce and in addition have a red cabbage side dish, as it is traditonally made with apples. I had choosen a recipe from Le Cordon Bleu: Vegetables (the German version of it), a series of books brought out by the cooking school Le Cordon Bleu. It is a simple but tasty recipe I liked immediately. But, then one thing led to the other and I decided to modify and bake this preparation along with the potatoes.

Potato Red Cabbage Casserole
with Pan fried Fish (see below)

Ingredients:

6 small potatoes, peeled and cut into 5 mm (1/5th inch) thick round slices
1/2 broccoli, cut into small florets
1/2 red cabbage, quartered and thinly sliced (I used a pointed cabbage variety)
salt to taste
1 large red onion, halved vertically and thinly sliced
1 cooking apple, thinly sliced into small pieces
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp white wine vinegar, depending on its strength and to your taste

White sauce:
30 g butter (about 2 heaped tbsp)
30 g all purpose flour (about 2 heaped tbsp)
300 ml milk (or soya milk)
100 ml water (or the broth of the potatoes)
1 1/2 tsp vegetable broth (powder)
1/2 tsp salt , or to taste
1 tbsp soya cream (17% fat)
chilli powder or black (or white) pepper

Method:

Cook the potatoes in water for 15 minutes on medium heat, they should not be cooked through
Cook the broccoli and red cabbage⁽¹⁾ slices for 3-5 minutes⁽²⁾ till they are slightly tender (not cooked through)
In the meantime heat butter in a fry pan on medium heat and add the onion slices and stir
Add the apples and cook both till they begin to take a nice brown colour, reduce heat if required and then set aside
Prepare white sauce :

melt butter in a saucepan and whisk in the flour
stir till it is roasted without turning brown⁽³⁾ and has a nice aroma and throws bubbles
remove from heat and while whisking add milk,
keep whisking, add water and the vegetable broth powder
whisk till you have a smooth mixture
put it back on the heat and cook on high heat while stirring with the whisk till it starts boiling
reduce heat to medium or medium low so that it keeps throwing bubbles
cook for another 3 minutes while whisking
it will thicken, add the soya sauce and stir
remove from heat and check the salt and add pepper or chili powder to taste, set aside

Remove the vegetables and place in a bowl, add the vinegar and mix carefully to get back the red/pink colour of the cabbage
Remove the potatoes and place in a colander to let drip and then place in a baking casserole porcelein baking dish
Layer the vegetables over the potatoes, followed by the fried onion and apples
and pour the sauce ovet it
bake in a preheated oven at 165°C (150°C convection) for 20-30 mnutes till it gets a nice brown colour on top
serve warm with fish or meat of choice or just eat wit some bread⁽⁴⁾

NOTE:
the quantity of vegetables can be increased and it can be baked with a layer of grataed cheese of choice on top

the red cabbage on adding to hot water turns violett, but it will get back its colour the moment vinegar is added to it.
Blanching the vegetables together with the potatoes saves energy, but they can also be cooked / blanched separately
Roast the flour in butter on medium low heat so that it does not turn brown, but remains whitish yellow
If it is to be use as a vegetarian meal:

the quantity of vegetables can be increased
and it can be baked with a layer of grated cheese of choice

Pan Fried Fish:
for 3 servings

Ingredients:
3-4 Fish filets (I used frozen MSC certified Alaska Pollock)
juice of one lemon
salt
pepper
1 egg, slightly beaten (optional)- I left out this step
2-3 tbsp all purpose flour
olive oil for frying

Method:

To fry the fish, thaw it, wash it once and pat dry.
Then let it marinate in the lemonjuice, salt and pepper.
Before starting to fry the fish, dip in the egg (I left out this step) and then roll the fish filets in the flour on a large plate to coat them properly.
heat olive oil in a large saute pan on medium heat.
Place the fish filets in the pan and cover with a lid
After a few minutes change sides,
Be careful not to break the pieces, if the fish sticks to the base, reduce heat if required
Cook for another few minutes untill you get a nice brown colour
Don't cook for too long as it will get dry otherwise.
Serve with a lemon wedges to sprinckle on it.

Enjoy it while it is still warm and juicy! Guten Appetit!

Now, hubby is not a very big fan of white sauces, but just as I had guessed the fried onion and apples had given so much flavour to the casserole that he appreciated it a lot and sonny boy was picking out the onions lie always, whenever he saw any large pieces, even though I had tried to slice them really fine. This made a wonderful combination with the fish. The slightly sweet and a hint of sourness from the white wine vinegar in the casserole and the fish with the thin brown crust was wonderful.
This one goes to a very special event "Teach a Man to Fish" at Jacqueline's wonderful blog The Leather District Gourmet. I am really happy to be able to take part in this event. I had seen the one from last year and it was good to see others who think like oneself. I'm really looking forward to this years round up.

This is my packet of MSC certified Alaska pollock or walleye pollock (Theragra chalcogramma)

A Birthday, the Day of German Unity and Apple Cheese Pie!

2008-10-22T17:32:00.005+02:00

It was Friday, the 3rd of Oktober. It was the Day of German Unity and my sister's birthday. It being a holiday, we had all the reasons to celebrate them - one being an excuse for the other. I always tell my sister, "you see, the whole of Germany is celebrating your birthday!" :D
I wasn't sure of what cake to bake, except that it had to be something with quark, as this time I had bought for the first time lactose free quark for my son, as he is on a lactose free diet. So, it had to be a cheese cake, as we call them here. It is nothing to be compared with the American recipes, as these cakes are called cheese cake because of the quark present in them.
But, then I found that I didn't have any canned fruits at home to use for the cake and none of the fruits I had in the fruit basket were appropriate for a cake, except for the apples. "Apples in a cheese cake.?!" I thought. I had come upon a recipe in one book, but not satisfied I decided to search further in the internet and came upon a lovely recipe - a very tempting one with pictures at Chefkoch.de. It was a time consuming recipe, but the efforts paid off at the end, to my relief. As, this time I wasn't sure of the results.

Apple Cheese Pie
Recipe from Chefkoch.de

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Resting time (includes further preparation time): 1 hour
Baking time: 55-60 minutes
Baking temperature: 170°C (150°C convection)
For 1 Springform (Ø 26 cm)

Ingredients:

Crust:
250 g all purpose flour (I used type 405)
125 g butter
1 pinch salt
30 g sugar
1 egg (I used an egg white in addition)

500 g apples (4-5 apples), peeled, cored and sliced
juice of 1 lemon

Cheese layer:
500 g quark (low fat)- I used lactose free quark
2 tbsp oil
200 g sugar
30 g cornstarch (or any edible starch)
zest of 1 lemon
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites

Top layer (custard):
2 egg yolks
200 ml heavy cream (I used lactose free cream)
50 g sugar
1 envelop vanilla sugar
1/2 tbsp cornstarch (or any edible starch)

Method:

Quickly prepare a pie crust by kneading all the ingredients together
Place in bowl covered with a clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour
In the mean time wash a lemon under hot water, zest it and keep the zest aside
Sqeeze out the lemon juice, peel, core and cut the apples, sprinckle lemon juice over the slices
Beat all the ingredients of the cheese layer except for the egg whites to make a fluffy quark cream
beat the egg whites in a deep bowl to make it stiff*⁽¹⁾ and gently fold it in⁽²⁾ the quark cream to make the cheese layer
beat all the ingredients of the top layer together
grease the bottom and sides of the springform
Roll out the crust and place over it, followed by the cheese layer, then the apples and then the custard (top layer)
Bake in the preheated oven at 170 °C (150°C convection) for 55 - 60 minutes⁽³⁾

*NOTE:

It is very important that no traces of egg yolk or fats are found in the bowl or on the egg beater while beating the egg whites. They say that the eggwhites should not fall out on turning the bowl upside down
To fold in the egg white, don't use an egg beater, but use a spatula for slow downwards and upwards rotating movelments
I baked the cake at 160°C convection for 45 minutes and kept it in ther oven after swithing it off for another 10 minutes

We all enjoyed eating this delicious cake. It got late by the time I finished it and Rishab just about managed to eat it before he could brush his teeth and go to bed. I purposefully left out the ground or chopped nuts, which I usually like to add to cake crust or batter and also the raisins, as this time both hubby and sonny boy unanimously agreed on not wanting any raisins! I also felt that this cake could do without them. Rich as it already was with quite a number of eggs I am not used to. It was also my luck that I had just bought some eggs and had a good stock on eggs to be able to make this cake. If this cake did not have so many eggs and wasn't so time consuming I would readily make it again. But, now I would ove to try it out with a new ingredient I have discovered at Madhuram's Egglesscooking.com as an egg replacement.
But, this recipe, as it is, is a wonderful recipe and is worth all the efforts put in it. And it is versatile enough that one can easily replace the fruits with anything else of choice. If I were to grade it, it would get an A+ from me and my family.
And I'm sending this over to wonderful Ivy's wonderful Sweet Pies event at Kopiaste.

Chocolate muffins

2008-10-20T13:15:00.018+02:00

I feel like I have made them hundreds of times. Whenever we have friends over, which usually means Rishab's friends rather than ours, I practically toss everything together and put them in the oven to bake ready while I finish up the rest of things before we expect our guests. Most of the time it is last minute preparations. Muffins are so easy to make, require small amounts of everything, can even be made without eggs, easily, and are ready so fast, in about 40 to 50 minutes if you are quick and use a simple recipe like this one.
Chocolate muffins, we love them and they are my son's favorites. Well... now that I think of it, it isn't that easy to decide, but he never says no to chocolate in any form! Maybe also because he does not get it so often. I made them quite spontaneously and found all the ingredients I needed for that, most important of it: chocolate of course!

Chocolate Muffins
(Basic recipe)

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 25- 30 minutes

Dry Ingredients:
250 g (10 oz) all purpose flour
3 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
50 -60 g (1 1/2 -2 oz) dessicated coconut, grated (optional)

Filling:
12 large or 24 smaller pieces of any type of chocolate like chocolate chips, 6 bountys - halved, chocolate filled with whole hazelnuts, or with raisins and nuts or with almonds, or even chocolate with biscuits

Wet Ingredients:
3 tbsp apple puree/ yoghurt (instead of 1 egg)
200 g yoghurt
75 ml sunflower oil
125 g sugar
1 envelop Bourbon vanilla sugar (or use a teaspoon of vanilla extract)

Glaze:
1 packet (200 g ) chocolate couverture/icing, melted in a water bath or double boiler on low medium heat

Method:

Mix the dry ingredients evenly in a bowl
add the chocolate pieces now or later, just before pouring the batter into the muffin tin
In a large bowl stir the wet ingredients together for short
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix everything for short with a spoon, just to make everything wet
DO NOT STIR anymore!
Quickly spoon the batter into the muffin tins, if the chocolate is not already inside, add the pieces into each of the muffin moulds
And bake at 165 °C in convection oven (175 °C electric) for 25-30 minutes
Check with a knife after 25 minutes if they need to be baked further or not.
In the meantime melt the chocolate couverture/icing and dip the muffins into it by turning them upside down and
place them on a plate to cool down or serve warm
If desired, you can always serve these with some whipped cream or chocolate sauce instead of the couverture

I made these muffins with bounty chocolates. I just halved them and tucked each piece into each muffin pan for the 6 muffins I made. I used to make 12 muffins, but then I realised that you end up collecting too many and eating them all away is doing no good to our healths, so I started making them with half the quantity and it works out great! And at the end you are left with no muffins anymore either...... to my relief!
It is wonderful to bite into these chocolaty
Can you get bored of these muffins? Nooooo...........!! Not of course! Not us.

I'm sending this over to the Event Food in colours: Brown, this months colour, at Sunshinemom's Tongueticklers.

And now about one more thing which is special. I never realised what was happening until I saw this article in The Daily Telegraph. I was contacted by someone to give my views to some questions three days before she was supposed to publish her article. I somehow felt like answering the questionnaire, but due to time stress wrote in quick short answers, but to the point. And then the whole thing was forgotten. And then I got an email from the author sending me this link. I was a pleasantly surprised. Hubby dear, who does not care so much about my blogging, when he heard about it on phone while I had called him up for some other matters, even he was happy and said "and you are telling this to me so casually!" I was totally taken aback by his response and it actually made me feel good. Well, food blogging is in trend, so they are being talked about in the media. But, it was fun and somewhat exciting too to see my name and that of my blog in the newspapers!

I'm sending these muffin to Madhuram's Egg replacement event: pureed fruits taking place between 18th November and 31 December 2008.