Orange. Oats. Almond. Love

The book was renewed till I couldn't renew it yet again. At that point I decided to buy a copy for myself.
By now I have lost count of the vegan recipes I have tried from this book. When I'm not baking from it, I'm simply perusing the recipes. A good read.

The primary reason for diving into the vegan recipes is the need to cut cholesterol for everyday foods. The other and equally important reason is that I can now easily make these for breakfast. On a weekday!
The previous night I mix the dry ingredients and then the wet ingredients (separately). In the morning while the oven preheats, I mix the wet and dry ingredients, spoon the batter in the muffin pan. In under 30 mins, start to end, the muffins are ready to be devoured by the sleepyheads ambling out for breakfast. When they are awake enough to ask 'You made them in the morning?' and I get to nod and smile beatifically. Thanks Camilla Saulsbury.

While I have baked several vegan muffins from this book, the recipe here is my own but definitely inspired by this book. I either use a mixture of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour or just whole wheat flour. I did not like batch made with just all purpose flour. I know it is fashionable to favour whole wheat flour, but in case whole wheat flour does indeed produce a wonderful texture and hearty muffin.

I'm digressing but recently at a party when the topic of discussion moved to preferences in chocolate, a friend leaned over to whisper 'I know it is not fashionable to say this but I really like milk chocolate'. This was such a what-the-football moment. The thing is that I, too, like milk chocolate and am not afraid to say it. In fact, I like it a lot. (I digress while digressing; very Inception-like...a certain blogger has been been gunning down people who use 'alot' instead of 'a lot'. So hopefully she notices the space between 'a' and 'lot'.)

Orange Oat Almond Muffins
Ingredients

½ cup regular oats, give them a quick spin in the spice grinder
1 ½ cups flour (a mixture of all purpose and whole wheat flour)
¼ cup almonds, coarsely chopped
1 ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup sugar (or more)
zest of one large orange (see notes below)
½ cup oil
juice of one large orange, add water to the juice to get one cup of liquid
1 ½ tbsp vinegar (cider vinegar is better but just plain vinegar is just fine)

Method
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.
Mix the dry ingredients and set aside.
Mix the wet ingredients and set aside.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined.
(Go ahead and taste the batter to see if you need more sugar. Vegan batter, it is safe!)
Spoon the batter into the muffin pans and bake for about 15mins (oven times will vary) or till a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out nearly clean.
Cool in the pan for at least 10 mins before removing them; the muffins are crumbly.

Notes: to get more flavour out of the orange zest, rub the zest with the sugar.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com or tweet @cooker_baker. Thanks for stopping by.

So Many Fools, So Little Time

Dessert doesn't get any easier.
Berry fool: Crushed/ macerated berries mixed with lightly sweetened whipped cream.
An added bonus: the entertainment factor that comes with having the word fool in it's name, as in "Let's have some strawberry < insert the name of your favourite sibling/ cousin>."
Rather lame, I know.

Photo courtesy my daughter, A.

Ingredients
The proportions are a mere guideline.

10-12 medium sized strawberries (hulled)/ 1 cup blackberries, blueberries, or raspberries.
½ cup whipping cream, cold
1 tbsp (regular) sugar
1-2 tbsp confectioners sugar
a couple of pinches of salt (optional, but recommended)
1 tsp (or more) lemon juice
Mint leaves, for garnishing (optional)

Method
Place the berries in separate medium bowls and sprinkle just a little sugar on them.
Using a fork or a potato masher, break the berries.
Add a pinch of salt and ½ tsp lemon juice to each bowl and set aside for about an hour.

Add the confectioners sugar to the whipping cream and beat still you get soft peaks.

Layer the berries and the cream in serving bowls/ wine glasses.
Instead of layering you could also fold the cream into the berry mixture.
Top with the mint leaves, if using.
Chill in the fridge before serving.
Serves four.
Enjoy!

Note: the quantity of sugar largely depends on the sweetness of the berries and how sweet you like your desserts.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com.Thanks for stopping by.

Bread! hic.

My first attempt at making beer bread was an unmitigated disaster. The taste, texture, and smell: all awful. I blame the beer!
It took me a good couple of years before giving it another try. This time I made many changes to the original recipe and ended up with this lovely loaf:

As far as I know, the alcohol in the beer burns off in the 45 mins of baking time. What is left behind is the almost tangy bitterness.

Beer Bread

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup oats, coarsely ground (optional but recommended if you like various textures in your bread)
3 tbsp oil
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp sugar
12 oz beer (I used good ol' Kingfisher)

Method
Preheat the oven to 375F.
If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven.
Lightly grease a pan or an iron skillet and set it aside.

Mix all the dry ingredients.
Add in the oil, give it a good stir.
Pour the beer and keep mixing. The dough will be incredibly sticky.
Add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, if needed. Do not add more than 3-4 tablespoons.
When you are able to form the dough into a round-ish ball, place it in the pan or the skillet.
Bake for about 45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Enjoy!

Let the loaf rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com.Thanks for stopping by.

A New Favourite

For years my favourite recipe for banana bread came from The Joy of Cooking. Moist, with a fantastic banana flavour, easy to put together; no reason to look elsewhere. Until now.

A recent Home Plates column had not one but two recipes for banana bread; specifically banana-orange bread. Sometimes one comes across recipes that you want to try right away. This was one such recipe. I even had three bananas well on their way to that ugh-I-can't-possibly-eat-that stage which is perfect for banana bread. Firmly ignoring the twinge of disloyalty I felt towards the recipe I'd used for years, I started to preheat the oven.

Picture courtesy my daughter.

As always I made some minor changes to the original recipe: what to do, I'm like that only.
I never tire of saying that and the kids invariably cringe in embarrassment when I do. All the more reason for me to keep saying that!

Here is the recipe with my changes:
Banana-Orange Bread

Ingredients
1 ½ cups sugar
5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs
3 largish bananas (yielding about 1 ½ cups mashed)
¾ cup orange juice
3 cups flour (I used 1 ½ cup all purpose flour + 1 ½ cup whole wheat flour)
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (pecans ok too)
2 tbsp orange zest (packed)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Method
Grease two 8x4-inch loaf pans and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 325F.
Using a food processor, mash the banana.
Transfer the banana-mush to another bowl.
In the same food processor bowl (rinsing not necessary), combine the sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla extract.
Mix well, till slightly light in colour.
With the motor running add in the banana-mush and the orange juice.
Add the dry ingredients and mix till well combined.
Add the nuts and again mix well.
Divide the batter between the loaf pans.
Place the pans in the center of the oven and bake for about 50 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then transfer the loaves to a cooling rack.
Enjoy!

Verdict
Such a lovely loaf!
This recipe makes two generous sized loaves. I was worried that the loaves would turn out dry, given the baking time and the considerable quantity of the batter in the pan, but I was wrong. But, next time I'll definitely divide all this batter into three.
I'll also significantly increase the quantity of the orange zest or skip the orange zest altogether and instead add a handful of chocolate chips.
If one makes three loaves from this recipe, you have less than one egg/ loaf. Immensely veganisable.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com.Thanks for stopping by.

You Had Me At Samosa

The samosa casserole has been calling my name for a while. This week I finally got around to making it.
While the idea of a samosa filling topped by a whole wheat crust was absolutely appealing, the combination of spices and the way they are used, not so much.
Fortunately for me, I found this recipe for aloo phoolkopur samosas. Now this was more like it!

Our dinner yesterday: Bengali-ishtyle Potato-Cauliflower Samosa Casserole.
I followed the recipe for the samosa stuffing closely, just decreased the amount of potatoes and added in more vegetables (carrots, handful of chopped spinach, and corn).

The proof of the casserole was in the absence of any leftovers. The accompanying photo, as usual, does no justice to the dish.

This Pac-Man like casserole goes to Nupur's Blog Bites where the theme this time is one dish meals.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com.Thanks for stopping by.

Zucchini Overload

"I have something for you."
Flowers? Chocolate? A string of South Sea pearls?
Not even close.
The significant other then handed me a zucchini of extraordinary proportions.
So huge one could fatally whack someone in the head with it and destroy the evidence by eating it up.

The zucchini in a 13x9 baking pan.

Over the next week I was literally chipping away at it.
Here is how:

Zucchini cake
Incredibly moist and moderately sweet. Though I usually reduce the quantity of sugar, in this case when I make it again I'll increase it a tad. I stayed true to the recipe but baked the cake in a bundt pan and instead of the cream cheese frosting used a crunchy lemon glaze.

Zucchini pancakes
Omitted the egg, added a bit of chopped cilantro, and upped the heat level.
Served with a dollop of Greek yogurt and ketchup (or Sriracha sauce) it was a satisfying and guilt-free snack.

Zucchini skillet cake
Used shredded zucchini instead of the berries, increased the sugar by ¼ cup, and added about a cup of chocolate chips.

The rest of the zucchini was roasted along with carrots and onions and tossed with pasta.

When I first cradled that zucchini in my hands I wondered how much of it would be reduced to a neglected and slimy mess. I'm happy to say I've used up every bit of it and now I'm done with zucchini for this year.

This is my entry to Nupur's BB7:The Iron Chef Edition.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com.Thanks for stopping by.

A Party Of One

The morning tea at my Ajji's place (grandmother, in this case my paternal grandmother) was a leisurely and elegant affair. It stretched from about 7 am to 9 am; sometimes even longer than that.
The silver tea service was beautiful, the handmade cozies for the teapot and the milk pot colourful and functional, the cups and saucers light and dainty. Everything was perfect and exactly to her taste.
So was the tea. None of that prepackaged stuff. Her tea was a blend of a couple of different black teas mixed in just the right proportions.
The proportion of tea leaves to the quantity of water had to be just so and so had the temperature of the milk. Any deviation would result in gathered brows and some sharp words.
The tea was steeped in boiling water but never boiled.
She liked her tea very light. So light that a few drops of milk were enough to lighten it. During the course of the morning other family members and invariably some neighbours would come along for a cup while Ajji presided over the tea table. The tea pot would be refilled several times by our cook who expertly straddled tea time with lunch preparations.

It was an absolute delight to be asked to join her with our cup of Bournvita/ Ovaltime/ Cocoa and the buttered toasts. My Ajji a.k.a the dragon lady was one of the most influential persons in my life. Though I enjoyed those tete-a-tetes, I was more often that not too busy to join her. Just thinking of those missed mornings leave me in a puddle, every time. What I wouldn't do for a cup of tea with her right now.

My tea time right now is diametrically opposite hers and is a party of one.
I don't often drink tea in the morning nor do I crave a 4pm fix. My cup of tea is almost a night cap and helps me unwind after an invariably busy day.
I drink my tea out of a mug and instead of loose tea I use the much maligned tea bags. My current favourite being PG Tips.
Fortified with tea I reach out to my inner-Ajji and wonder what she would've said to
--that whiny parent who couldn't provide 20 pieces paper rectangles for a class project because she had guests for dinner.
--that nosely mom who wanted to know if my child got 'all correct' in the math quiz.
--those overbearing colleagues who think they are the cat's whiskers.
--to those friends who while sitting in my own living room made plans for a getaway without bothering to include me in their plans.
--to people unnecessarily doing terrible things.

Such an exercise is always therapeutic!

This post was originally written for Manisha's IFR:Memories event. It languished in the drafts folder till it was rescued for Anita's Tea Party.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com.Thanks for stopping by.

Difficult Daughter

"Difficult daughter"!
That is what my father was surely muttering under his breath as he went up and down the bylanes of MG road in Pune.
He was, on what was turning out to be, a fools errand.
Who knew it was going to be so difficult finding Parsi sambhar masala in Pune?
Finally he was lead to the home of the Parsi couple who ran a home-based business selling Parsi fare.
By the cold and terse reception he got there he was convinced the couple was Parsi in name only.
Noted playwright, author, musician, composer P.L. Deshpande (fondly known as Pu La) observed that the most inconsequential, useless, bothersome, and ignored entity in a shop run by a true Punekar is the customer.
(Put two and two together, people.)
The masala justified the means. I know, easy for me to say that.

One of the first recipes I tried with this masala was the Chana ni Dar from My Bombay Kitchen.
I had made it once before but without the fiery sambhar masala. This time around I wanted to make the chauli (black-eyed peas) variation that she suggests. Since I did not have enough of those beans on hand, used dried peas (vatana) instead.
Though I started with the recipe for Chana ni Dar, I cheated quite a bit. Didn't use some ingredients either because of a lack of resources (dhana-jiru masala) or simple laziness (potatoes).

We loved the Parsi Vatana; sambhar masala is fierce. Most certainly not for the faint of heart.

I was happy and relieved with the outcome. Relieved because after some consecutive bad meals, I was back!
Note to self: file radicchio+methi+paneer under bad ideas.

Parsi Vatana
adapted from My Bombay Kitchen

Ingredients
1 ½ cup vatana (dried green peas), wash and soak overnight
½ large onion, chopped
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 large chilli, de-seed and chop
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped (or grated)

2 tbsp oil
1 tsp turmeric
salt, to taste
5-6 stalks of cilantro, chopped
juice of a lemon

Method
Drain the water that the vatana was soaking in.
Add about 3 cups of water along with the chilli, tomatoes, turmeric, and salt.
Pressure cook for 2 whistles.

Heat oil. When hot add the onions till they start browning. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the sambhar masala. If the mixture starts sticking to the pan, add a bit of water to keep things moving.
Add the cooked vatana along with a cup of warm water. More if you want it soupier.
Cook over medium heat till the oil separates and floats to the top.
Add the cilantro and lemon juice.
Adjust the salt level.
Enjoy!

The first day we enjoyed the vatana with steamed rice and plain parathas.
The next day the flavours deepened fantastically. Needed no accoutrement except maybe some yogurt.

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by.

He Cooked. And How!

As the kids get older they are no longer satisfied staying on the other side of the kitchen counter. As a result, the kitchen is getting crowded and I couldn't be happier.
I will be using this space to list some basic recipes, family favourites, and ideas for quick meals for their reference.

The son usually plays the role of a consultant. Sitting by the kitchen counter very generously doling out comments, advice, and suggestions.
      You could go with less garlic!
     Potatoes and Paneer, now that's some combination.
     This tastes too healthy.
     Are you stressed? Cos this really doesn't taste that good.
     etc. etc.

When he actually attempts to cook something he, like his father, asks so many questions that in exasperation I ask him to step aside and end up finishing what he tried to start.

The daughter on the other hand gets into the kitchen and just gets it done. A couple of weeks ago, amongst other things, we got a bunch of radishes and a jar of basil-sunflower seed pesto in our CSA bag. As soon as we got home she went into the kitchen, washed & sliced the turnips and spooned a bit of the pesto on it! It was wonderful.

He wanted to repair his reputation. So he offered to make something simple, all by himself. So we switched spots and I took my place on the other side of the kitchen counter.

About the recipe: years ago it started as an attempt to re-create a restaurant style pineapple rice but it has morphed into something else. Though the ingredients are similar it tastes nothing like the offerings of a Thai restaurant. But we like it anyway.

Pineapple Fried Rice
Ingredients
3 cups rice (brown or white), cooked.
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1½ inch garlic piece, minced
4-5 spring onions, chopped (we used 4-5 baby leeks)
6-7 pineapple rings, chopped
½ cup chopped nuts
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 jalapeno, chopped. Discard seeds.
1 (or more) tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp oil
1 cup chopped vegetables (carrots, peas, green beans)
½ cup Thai basil leaves, roughly chopped. We used baby basil leaves and didn't chop them
salt, to taste
juice of a lemon

Method
After the rice is cooked, spread it on a plate making sure the rice doesn't clump together.
Heat oil over medium-high heat.
When the oil is hot add the garlic, ginger, and the jalapeno.
When the mixture starts browning slightly add the leeks (or the white part of the spring onions).
When the leeks (or spring onions) start browning add the soy sauce, red pepper flakes, and the vegetables.
Cook for about a minute.
Add the rice, salt, nuts, and the pineapple pieces.
Cook for another minute.
Adjust the level of spice and salt levels.
Cover the pot and turn off the heat.
Squeeze the lemon before serving.
Enjoy!

If you have any questions or comments, please write to me the.best.cooker@gmail.com. Thanks for stopping by.

How to cook rice

The crowded kitchen
As the kids get older they are no longer satisfied staying on the other side of the kitchen counter. As a result, the kitchen is getting crowded and I couldn't be happier.
I will be using this space to list some basic recipes, family favourites, and ideas for quick meals for their reference.

The easiest and quickest meal, I think, is varan-bhaat. Especially if both the rice and the daal is cooked at the same time in the pressure cooker. The downside of this approach is that the rice is almost invariably overcooked because of the difference in the cooking times for the daal and the rice.
This is one reason why I prefer to cook rice in a pot. The other reason is that the excess water and starch can be drained off from the pot!
Though this post talks of white rice I hope to update it soon with information about brown and red rice. This post is very much a work in progress.

Rice
Ingredients
1 cup rice (Basmati, ambemohar, or sona masuri)
2 cups (or more) water

Method
Wash the rice in several changes of water.
If you have time, soak the rice for a couple of hours.

**Pressure cooker method (results in a stickier rice)
Add about 2 ½ cups water to the pressure cooker.
In a pan/ pot that fits inside the pressure cooker add the rice and water (1:2 proportion)
Put on the whistle and pressure cook for 1-2 (not more) whistles.
Allow the pressure to come down (7-8 minutes) before you open the pressure cooker.

**Pan method
In a pan add the rice and enough water to cover the rice and then some more.
Cook over medium-high heat for approx 8-10 minutes.
Drain the excess water, cover the pan with the lid and leave undisturbed for 4-5 minutes.
Fluff with a fork.

While such a rice is perfectly fine as an accompaniment to amti or daal sometimes what you need is just plain fluffy rice where each grain stands apart, phad-phadeet bhaat as we say in Marathi.
If cooked in a pan the rice grains do not stick to each other as much, but for me this is a hit-or-miss sort of thing. So when I need rice for a pulao-type dish such as this one here is what I do:

Wash the rice (preferably Basmati) in several changes of water.
Add enough water to cover the rice and set aside for several hours or at least one hour.
Drain the rice.
To a pot add the rice and three times as much boiling water.
Cook over high heat for exactly 10 minutes.
Drain the water.
Add about ⅛ cup water and ½ tsp butter for each cup of rice, give a gentle stir, cover with a kitchen towel and put the lid on.
Leave undisturbed for about 15 minutes.
Fluff with a fork and serve!

This results in phad-phadeet bhaat each time.

This is my entry for Jaya's Back to Basics event.