(Un)Fruit Cake

I happen to like fruitcake.
Every year in December I make fruitcake. But I don't advertise this fact. The kids are all too aware of the baggage that fruitcake brings along. As I bake a lot around the holidays, a fruit & nut cake sneaks pasts them very easily!
So far I haven't been satisfied with the fruitcake doozies that I've churned out.
If making fruitcake was bad enough making a bad fruitcake would've ensured a mention in our hall of disasters.

A few Novembers ago, once again, I assembled a virtual who's-who of the nut and dried fruit world, chopped them roughly and soaked them in rum. Every couple of days I'd shake the contents then open the bottle and sniff! Goodness!!

Unfortunately I didn't get around to making any of recipes that I had bookmarked. The boozy fruit-nut remained in the fridge and my shake-sniff-swoon routine continued. Just as I had more or less given up on the idea of making fruit cake I came up this recipe for a Fig, Lemon, and Olive Oil cake. Such a glorious looking cake that was; I could almost taste the lemon & figs.
I just had to make it.

Here is the veganised version of that cake.

(Un)Fruit Cake
Ingredients
1 ½ cups whole wheat pastry flour
¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup sugar (see notes below)
½ cup olive oil
½ cup soy milk
1 tbsp lemon or orange zest
4 tbsp rum
3 tbsp orange juice or water
1 ½ cups dry fruits and nuts, chopped (see notes below)

Method
If you aren't using previously soaked fruits and nuts, combine slightly warm rum and orange juice with the fruits and nuts and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the over to 350F.
Prepare either a 8in or a 9in round pan or an iron skillet.
Mix the flour, baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine the sugar and the citrus zest. Rub the zest into the sugar.
Add the oil and milk. Mix well.
Add in the dry ingredients, stir to combine.
Fold in the fruit-rum mixture.
Do not over mix.
Give the batter a quick taste and add more sugar if necessary. The flavours will deepen and the cake will taste sweeter after a day or two. That is if it lasts that long.

Bake for about 20 minutes, till a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out mostly clean.
If using an iron skillet, you may need more than 20 minutes. Ovens will vary.

Once the cake come out of the oven, let it sit in the pan for about 10-15 minutes before inverting it on a cake rack.

Serve with a scoop of ice-cream, a dollop of lemon flavor whipped cream, or maybe just a dusting of powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Notes:
I've made this cake several times now. Each time I vary the amount of sugar. The ½ cup sugar was slightly sweet, probably because of the sugar content added by the various dried fruit. If you make this cake with just figs, you'll probably need all of the ½ cup of sugar.
I used a mixture of raisins, golden raisins, cranberries, figs, dates, almonds, pistachios, cashews, pecans, and walnuts.

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

Methi Times Three

I wish there was a clever or an amusing story to go with this recipe. But there isn't. No preamble. This is quite simply my favourite way of making methi-cha-varan/ methi-daal.
It has methi in three forms: slightly soaked methi seeds, methi seeds in the phodni (tadka, tempering) and finally glorious methi greens.

Methi-cha Varan

Ingredients
1 cup toor (arhar) daal, washed
1 - 1½ cup methi leaves, chopped
1 tbsp methi (fenugreek) seeds, soaked for a couple of hours in warm water
4-5 kadhilimba (curry leaves)
phodni kit (1 tbsp oil, ½ tsp cumin seeds, pinch of asafoetida, and ¼ tsp turmeric)
1 tsp methi seeds
1 tsp (or more) red chili powder
a couple stalks of cilantro leaves, chopped
a pinch of sugar
salt, to taste
lemon juice, to taste
warm water

Method
Pressure cook the toor daal and the soaked methi seeds.
Heat the oil, when hot add the cumin seeds, the asafoetida, and the methi seeds.
Don't let the methi seeds brown.
Add the turmeric and then the methi leaves.
Give it a quick stir and cook uncovered for a couple of minutes.
Add the cooked daal-methi mixture, the curry leaves, the red chili powder, salt, and sugar.
Add a cup of warm water and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes.
Add more warm water if you want a thinner varan.
Add the lemon juice.
Adjust the salt and spice levels.
Serve with steamed rice.

Enjoy!

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

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 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ cup sugar (or more)
zest of one large orange (see notes below)
½ cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
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.

Simple Food

The simplicity of this dish takes your breath away.
This is a simple and unpretentious way to prepare chard.
The addition of rice gives it such a fantastic texture.
If you use red chard, the rice grains take on that colour. Beautiful!

Increase the quantity of rice and this becomes a meal in itself.

Red Chard-Rice Bhaaji

Ingredients
1 bunch chard, washed and chopped
1 (or more) green chillies
1 inch piece of ginger
¼ cup rice, coarsely ground (a spice grinder works best)
Phodni kit (mustard seeds, asafoetida, and turmeric)
1 tbsp oil
salt, to taste
lemon juice

Method
Make a paste of the ginger and green chillies. Set aside.
Over medium heat make the phodni (tempering): heat oil, when hot add mustard seeds, when they stop dancing, add the asafoetida and the turmeric.
Add the ginger-chilli paste and saute a bit (about 10-20 seconds).
Add the chard and give it a good stir.
Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the rice and salt and give it another good stir.
Cover and cook for another 5 minutes, or till the rice is cooked.
Add a bit water if the chard starts sticking to the pan.

Adjust the salt.
Squeeze a bit of lemon juice.
Enjoy!

Berry Good

Several months ago my friend A lent me her cast iron skillet; one which she hardly used at all. I'm seriously in love with this skillet. I've used it so often for so many things that unless A explicitly asks for the skillet it is mine.

The first thing I baked in the skillet was a whole wheat-semolina bread. It was to die for. The recipe needs some fine tuning before it is ready for prime time (on this blog).

Meanwhile here is a muffin-cake that I recently baked. This is Vaishali's recipe for blueberry muffins baked in a skillet instead of a muffin pan. They take longer to bake than regular muffins but I think the results are absolutely worth the extra time.

We loved this muffin-cake. The grainy raw sugar added a nice crunch and the oats provided the nuttiness.

I had to make some minor changes to the original recipe because I did not have some of the ingredients (milk) on hand.
Here is the recipe with my modifications.
The original recipe is here.

Berry Muffins
(makes one large or 11 medium muffins)
Ingredients
1½ cups flour (I used a mixture of whole wheat, oat, and quinoa flours)
½ cup all purpose flour
¾ cup raw sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
zest of 1 lemon
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup lemon juice
¾ cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 - 1½ cups berries

Method
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Mix all the dry ingredients together and set aside.
Mix all the wet ingredients and add to the dry ingredients.
Combine well.
Add in the berries.
Pour the batter in the skillet and bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the skillet comes out clean.
Enjoy!

Loving Lentils

The lentil rice was described as 'Seasoned rice, whole lentils, macaroni.'
Macaroni? But this wasn't the kids' menu.
So I asked the owner of the cafe about it and was told that macaroni was a common addition to lentil rice in his native Egypt.
He went on to say that it adds an interesting texture to the rice.
And so it did!
I rarely muster courage to ask for the recipe. The one time I do, all I get is the most vague response "Oh nothing fancy, lots of sauteed onions, roasted cumin, salt, lentils, rice, and macaroni."

Back home I took a shot at making said rice.
So did the rice taste the way it did at the restaurant. Absolutely not!
But does it taste good? You betcha! Also, it is vegan and no, it is not a salad.

Masoor Rice with Pasta
Ingredients
1 cup masoor
1 cup rice, uncooked
½ cup elbow or any small macaroni
2 large onions, sliced
1 tbsp cumin (jeera), roasted
2 tbsp oil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
salt, to taste
cilantro, for garnishing (optional)

Method
Cook the macaroni the usual way; set aside.

Wash the masoor and add it to a pot of water (about 1 ½ cups).
Add a tsp of salt and mix well.
Cook till the masoor retains a bite. Add more water if necessary.
Drain and set aside.

Wash the rice and cook it the usual way in slightly salted water.
When almost done, drain the water and set aside the rice.

Heat oil and add the sliced onions.
Sauté over low to medium heat till brown. This takes a while but do not rush through it.
Add the red pepper flakes, cumin, and a pinch of salt. Stir well.

Assemble the rice
Grease the bottom of the serving dish with a bit of oil.
Spread half the rice, masoor, pasta, rest of the rice, and lastly the onions.
(Or you could do what I did: just mix it all together.)

The rice can be assembled ahead of time and warmed in the microwave just before serving.
Enjoy!

The is my entry to My Legume Love Affair#17 hosted this month by Sra. This long running blog event was started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.

Complicating Things

Whenever I prepare something for the first time, I often don't have the cookbook (or the laptop if the recipe came from a blog) with me in the kitchen; unless I'm baking. Once I get the general idea, I skip/ modify the ingredients as needed. The modifications are usually to simplify things. This takes the notion of making it my own to a whole new level.

But that is not what happened yesterday when I set out to make a spread. This spread required just four ingredients not counting the capers which where optional. The major ingredients were figs and olives. When I actually started making the spread I realised that the recipe called for fresh figs (I had dried) and Klamata olives (I had green and black). I was forced to make things work just as they where.
A pinch of this and a smidgen of that later I had more than doubled the number of ingredients!
The ends certainly justified the means!

Fig-Olive Spread
Ingredients
The proportions are a mere guideline.

6 dried figs, remove stems
½ cup green olives
½ cup black olives
1 tbsp olive oil
a pinch each of dried oregano, rosemary, and red pepper flakes
2 tbsp capers
4 cloves garlic
¼ cup roasted almonds (optional, but recommended)
1 little lemon zest (optional)

Method
Mix the oil with ½ cup water and bring it to a boil.
Add the oregano, rosemary, and the lemon zest (if using).
Add the figs and turn off the heat.

Let the fig-spice mixture sit for a couple of hours.

With the motor of the food processor running drop in the garlic.
Add the almonds (if using), olives and the fig-spice mixture along with the liquid.
Pulse the food processor till you have a coarse-ish mixture.
Mix in the capers.
Add salt if necessary; the olives are usually briny enough.
Enjoy!

The bread in the above picture is Vaishali's whole wheat french bread. This fail-proof recipe is my current favourite.

Sweets

There is a certain someone at home who maintains that he needs something sweet with every meal.
How easy it is to confuse wants with needs.

These two from my quiver satisfy such needs.

Sudharas

Sudharas is quite simply a simple syrup perked up by lemon juice.
Other (optional) additions are keshar, elaichi, and almonds.
Sometimes a banana is added. She adds peaches to hers!

It used to be that sudharas was not often made from scratch. The paak (sugar syrup) leftover after the gulab-jaam or jilebi that floated in it was long gone was turned into sudharas.
Since I don't usually have either on hand I made sudharas from scratch. Here is how:

Ingredients
½ cup sugar
¼ cup water
2-3 (or more) tbsp lemon juice
(optional) pinch of saffron, soaked in a bit of water
(optional) pinch of elaichi

Method
Combine the water and sugar and bring it to a boil.
Take off the heat and add the lemon juice.
Taste and add more lemon juice if required.
Add the optional ingredients.
Enjoy with poli/ puris.

Oat-Wheat Sheera

Sheera is an absolute family favourite and no matter how much I experiment with it, we still love it.
My latest version calls for cracked wheat (dalia), oats, and bananas. I was sure I was pushing the envelope a bit, but was I surprised! Even this one was polished off with great gusto. Or as we say it in Marathi, chatta-matta (literally polished off).

Ingredients
½ cup cracked wheat (dalia)
½ cup oats (not the fast cooking oats)
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3 tbsp (or more) sugar
1 pinch cardamon powder
1 ½ cup milk,

Method
Warm the milk and set aside.
Grind the cracked wheat till the coarse grains break up. A coffee grinder works best here.
Grind the oats till you get a fine powder.
Over medium heat, dry roast the wheat and oats.
When the mixture starts browning add the sugar and give it a good stir.
Gradually add the milk; keep stirring.
Cover and let it cook for about 5 minutes; periodically giving the mixture a good stir to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Taste a bit to make sure it has cooked through.
Add the bananas and the cardamom and mix well.
Adjust the sweetness levels according to your taste.
Enjoy!

Both these sweets go to Srivalli's Mithai Mela. Happy Blog-Birthday, Valli.

Meyer Lemon Curd

When a friend gives you several dozen freshly picked Meyer lemons, you make lemon curd.
Just the mention of lemon curd conjures visions of lemon tarts, scones, and all things Enid Blyton.

(The picture was taken using my cellphone as my camera is on the blink.)

The butter and eggs in the traditional lemon curd recipes always got in the way of me making it. I went hunting for a vegan version and found this. As is my wont, I made several changes.
Here is the recipe with my changes.

(Vegan) Meyer Lemon Curd
Ingredients
1 cup lemon juice
½ cup water
1 ¼ cup sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
a pinch of salt
zest of 2 lemons ( used 1 lemon and 1 orange just for the colour variation)
2 tbsp Earth Balance vegan butter

Method
In a saucepan combine the corn starch and water.
Stir till there are no lumps.
Add the salt, lemon juice, and sugar.
Taste the mixture to get the sour-sweet balance that you are looking for.
Mix well.
Over medium heat bring the mixture to a boil, keep stirring.
In a couple of minutes it will start to thicken and eventually turn clear.
Remove from heat and add the Earth Balance.
Cool completely and store in the fridge.
Enjoy!

Verdict: It was easier than I thought it would be.
The result was definitely inversely proportional to the effort.
Next time I might skip the Earth Balance as I don't think it added anything taste-wise.
I was concerned that the colour of this vegan version may not be as yellow as the traditionally made curd, but I was pleasantly surprised.

In addition to the usual ways lemon curd is used, it makes an excellent accompaniment to poli/ roti or in a sandwich.
Lemon curd-peanut butter sandwich anyone?

Good Day Sunshine

It was the perfect day to play with colours.
Driving back, listening to our favourite music, soaking wet and rendered unrecognizable by the colours, unmindful of the strange looks coming our way, it was liberating in a way.
All that fun made us hungry as well. Good thing I had taken along some sunshine cake. This is a new favourite, a whole-wheat orange cake.
Any baked goody that contains lemon or orange provides instant sunshine-ness, doesn't it?.

The first time I made it, it was for her.
She loved it enough to take the recipe from me. After tinkering with it a bit, she passed it back to me.
I'd say this is a work in progress, because when I made it again I tinkered with it some more.

Here is the current version:

Ingredients
1½ whole wheat flour (or 1 cup whole wheat flour + ½ cup all purpose flour)
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp + tiny pinch baking soda
½ salt
1 cup orange juice (see notes below)
zest of one medium size orange
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp vinegar

Method
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Grease the pan (8x8 sqaure or 8in round) or line it with parchment paper
(I tend to use parchment paper)
Mix the dry ingredients.
Mix the wet ingredients.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients and pour the batter in the pan.
Bake for about 30-35 mins or till a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan comes out mostly clean.
Enjoy!

Notes
Usually, I use fresh orange juice.
This time I used undiluted orange concentrate. The deep concentrated orange flavour did veer towards a slightly bitter taste, but we loved it anyway. The tanginess makes up for the bitterness.

Forbidden Rice Pudding: Two Ways

During a recent trip to China I brought back some exquisite looking black rice, also called forbidden rice.
I was told that when cooked, the colour of this rice changes to purple!
One of my favourite cookbooks has a recipe for a black rice pudding, which is what I had in mind when I bought the rice.
But that recipe called for coconut milk, and we are not big fans of coconut or coconut milk.

Even though I wanted to give coconut milk another chance, I wasn't sure of the others so I had to have another version.

After toying with several ideas I decided make some almond milk to mix with the cooked rice. Almond milk, sounds exotic doesn't it?
Well it is just soaked almonds, ground to a fine paste and then thinned with water. At least this is my version of almond milk.

Since I was making two versions of the pudding, I first cooked the rice in the pressure cooker, using the usual 1:2 rice:water ratio.

To make the pudding, mix the cooked rice, sugar, and either coconut or almond milk.
The quantity of sugar depends on how sweet you like your pudding and the quantity of the milk depends on the desired consistency.

While no one hated the coconut flavoured pudding, I had no leftovers of the the almond flavoured pudding. The colour was gorgeous in either case.

Both these puddings now make their way to Srivalli's table to join the Rice Mela.

Kneadless To Say It Was Wonderful

On many occasions I tried to make the knead less bread. But the time consuming process always got in the way. The prep time was difficult to fit in our every changing schedule.

So when I saw a recipe for a fast no knead bread, I started to pre-heat the oven. Not literally because once mixed, the dough needs to rest for about 5 hours. Five hours I can manage, not the 14 to 20 hours required by the original no knead bread.

There are two versions of the quicker no knead bread. Of course I tried the whole wheat version. The recipe also called for rye flour and coarse corn meal. Didn't have any rye so I doubled the quantity of corn meal.

About the corn meal, the recipe specified using coarse corn meal, but what I had was extra coarse corn meal. I should've followed the recipe and used coarse corn meal because the extra coarse grains rather spoil the texture making it quite gritty.

Despite this minor issue, I was quite happy with the outcome.

This is my entry to Suganya's Vegan Ventures Round 2.

Nibble On This

Mix sliced carrots with a bit of oil, salt, and a generous quantity of ground pepper.
Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes.
Watch them disappear before meal time.

My entry to JFI:carrots.

Nankatai

My Aai made nankatai quite often (it definitely is nankatai and not nankhatai at least for us). Technically she didn't bake them, rather they were baked for us by a local bakery. We provided the raw material in the correct amounts (sometime even the prepared dough) and they did the rest. This happy errand was always mine. After handing over the ingredients/ dough, the clever thing to do was to arrive at the bakery a few minutes ahead of the pickup time. As more often than not, the baker would offer something right out of the oven. It could be a waati-cake (literally cake baked in a katori), a plain bun, or a khari biscuit. Bliss!

Since Aai's nankatai was made with Dalda (as was the nankatai made by my mother-in-law), I never thought of making nankatai any other way.
Recently I tasted nankatai made using butter. What a difference! It was so decadent.
The difference was not only in the taste, but in the texture as well. The vegetable shortening nankatai seemed much lighter and finer in texture than it's makhan counterpart.

Shortening is not the healthiest thing to use, but I don't worry about that too much as I make nankatai just a couple of times a year. Also, this is the only thing I prepare using vegetable shortening.

I especially like the texture of the vegetable shortening nankatai because of the associated childhood food memories and so continue to make it that way.
Though the the shortening contributes to the texture and general appearance, it does very little in the flavour department. Nothing a pinch of keshar and elaichi cannot fix. For even more flavour, I add some powdered almonds.

My kids just absolutely love this nankatai. Even more than chocolate-chip cookies, so that is saying something. It makes me happy to share my childhood foods and the memories that go with them. To see them enjoy such foods while (hopefully) forming memories of their own makes me uncharacteristically sappy!

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 stick (1 cup) vegetable shortening (I usually use Crisco)
a pinch of saffron, soaked in a little water
elaichi powder, to taste
3-4 tbsp ground almonds (optional)
1 ½-2 cups all purpose flour

Method
Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease a cookie sheet and set aside.
Cream together the shortening and sugar till the mixture is light and fluffy. A hand mixer works best for this task.
Add the saffron, elaichi, and almonds if using.
Add &frac12 cup all purpose flour. Using your hands knead this dough slightly.
Add more flour as you go along. You want a dough that is soft, moist, and smooth. Do not add more than 2½ times the quantity of the shortening used.
Use your finger tips to pull off a piece of the dough, or you could use a melon-baller. Roll in between your palms to form a ball.
Place the cookies on the sheet, about 2 inches apart. Sometimes I press each cookie with the tines of a fork.
Bake for about 15 minutes (oven times may vary).
After 10 minutes, keep a close eye on the cookie.
Take them out of the oven at the first sign of any browning around the edges.
Let them cool slightly before using letting anyone steal them for taste-testing purposes.
Enjoy!

A generous batch of the nankatai goes to Suganya's Vegan Ventures .

Let the Baking Begin: Chocolate Cake

Lately the kids have started rubbing their hands, exclaiming 'Let the feast begin!' before digging into their meal. This is followed by chuckling at their own silliness. It doesn't matter what they are digging into, it is always a feast.

The first time I stood in front of my new oven, I couldn't help thinking aloud 'Let the baking begin!'.

How I missed baking!

First up is a chocolate cake. A simple, moist chocolate cake. One that is not too chocolatey but still quite satisfying.

Ingredients
1 ½ all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup brewed coffee, or water (I used 1 tbsp of instant coffee mixed in a cup of water)
½ cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coffee liqueur (optional)
2 tbsp white vinegar

Method
Preheat oven to 375F.
Grease an 8x8 square pan.
Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt).
Mix all the wet ingredients except the vinegar till well combined.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients.
Add the vinegar. Using swift strokes mix it in.
Immediately pour the batter in the cake pan.
Bake it for about 30 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Enjoy!

This is my first entry to Suganya's Vegan Ventures event.

Whole-Wheat Flour & Vital Wheat Gluten

A recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine had a recipe for whole wheat pizza dough that used vital wheat gluten. The recipe called for only whole wheat flour (wwf). Usually I substitute part of wwf with either all purpose flour, bread flour, or even pastry flour.
Without these substitutions, the bread turns out rather dense; though it taste great.
So the idea of using only wwf with wheat gluten was something I just had to try.

I added the gluten to my usual recipe for flat bread.
The outcome was outstanding!
The texture was just amazing; soft and spongy similar to the bread made using all purpose flour.
I'm totally sold on the idea of using wheat gluten with wwf.


Whole Wheat Flat Bread
You can also use this versatile dough to make pizza dough, buns, or foccacia-style bread.

Ingredients
3 cups 100% whole wheat flour
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 packet active yeast
3 tbsp vital wheat gluten
1 - 1.5 cups warm water (about 100F)


Method

Into a food processor bowl add all the dry ingredients.
With the motor running, first add the oil and then the water. It helps if you add the water in small amounts, literally let it trickle in.
You may need to push down any ingredients that may stick to the sides of a bowl.
Run the food processor till the dough all comes together and moves around as one entity.

Now comes the fun part. (Though I try not to dwell on the manipulative p/a characters in my life, this is one occasion where thinking of them is actually beneficial.) Transfer the dough to a work area and for the next couple of minutes, think of the *%$#@ personalities while kneading the dough! Yeah! Keep kneading till you get a soft and smooth dough.

This kneading achieves a dual purpose; first it distributes the yeast while incorporating air into the dough which improves the texture of the bread and second, it cleanses your mind by providing a wonderful egress channel for any suppressed (-)ve thought(s).

Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a wet towel and place it in a warm place.

The dough will double in about 2-3 hours.
At this point you could punch down the dough and let it rise once more, but I'm usually so impatient that I skip this step.

Preheat the oven to 400F.
Gently knead the dough once more. Spread the dough in a lightly oiled 13x9 pan. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle some salt.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes (time will vary for each oven) till the bread is brownish-reddish.

Remove from the oven and let it rest for a couple of minutes.

We enjoyed this bread with some soup.
The next day, we split the bread and used it for sandwiches.

Usal Edamame-chi (Soybean Usal)

Usal is a simple and healthy dish made using sprouted beans such as matki, moong, kala chana (black chick peas) etc., or sometimes even green peas. Besides being freezer friendly, usal is extremely easy to make and the variations are endless.

Ever since Trader Joes's started carrying shelled edamame (Japanese for soybeans) in the freezer section, I use them instead of green peas.
Here is one such dish that I now make using edamame: Edamame Usal.
The original recipe came from Ruchira, which I have tweaked just slightly.



Edamame Usal
Ingredients
1 packet edamame (16oz)
1 cup kothimbir (cilantro) loosely packed
1/2 cup grated coconut
2 tsp khus-khus (poppy seeds) lightly toasted
2 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 chillies, chopped
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp sugar
salt, to taste
lemon juice
The phodni kit (mustard seeds, turmeric, and asefetida)

Method
Heat 1 tbsp of oil, add the edamame and cook them slightly. You may need to add a little water.
Meanwhile, grind the coconut, cilantro, chillies, cumin, and poppy seeds to make a coarse chutney.
Add the chutney to the edamame and mix well.
Do the phodni (heat 1 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds, when they start dancing add the asefetida and turmeric) and add it to the edamame.
Add the salt, sugar and a bit of the lemon.
Cover the edamame and cook till soft (about 5-6 minutes). Stop cooking before the edamame get mushy-gooshy. They should retain a little bite.
Adjust the salt. Add more lemon juice if required.
We enjoyed our usal with poli. (Check Tee's step-by-step pictures for making Maharashtrian rotis: poli.)


This is my entry for Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables series.

Til-Kobi (Sesame-Cabbage) Cutlets

In the fridge, there was an assortment of vegetables in various quantities that needed a fitting farewell.
Nothing more glorious than to end in a scrumptious cutlet, an all-time favourite savoury snack. For vegetables, that is.

Usually cutlets are either deep fried or shallow fried. But my kitchen is a fry-free zone, so I baked'em.

They were wonderful, the crust that formed was just perfect.
Most of the cutlets disappeared as is. With the others, the kids made a desi-burger.

The next time I make these, an accompanying chutney such as this or this would be nice.

Til-Kobi Cutlets
(the quantities are approximate)

4 cups cabbage, finely chopped
1 cup vegetables (carrots, beans, corn etc.) either grated or finely chopped
1 large potato, steam and grated
10-12 stems cilantro, chopped
1-2 jalapenos, de-seeded and finely chopped
1 -2 tsp garlic-ginger paste
1 tsp amchur
1-2 slices bread (more if required)
1 tsp sugar
salt, to taste
1-2 tbsp oil + more to drizzle on the cutlets
bread crumbs and sesame seeds for coating


Mix all ingredients except the bread crumbs and the sesame seeds.
Set it aside for 10-15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Depending on how much the dough sweats, add more bread slices to get a dough that can formed into cutlets.
Do a taste test and accordingly adjust the salt and amchur.
Form the cutlets and let them rest for a bit as you prepare two bowls, one filled with bread crumbs and the other with sesame seeds.
First, lightly coat the cutlets in the bread crumbs. Then, gently press the breaded cutlet in the bowl of sesame seeds.
Arrange the prepared cutlets on a lightly oiled baking sheet.
Drizzle a bit of oil on each cutlet. (Do not use a pastry brush to brush the oil; it doesn't work. The sesame seeds get caught in the brush leaving you with a mess.)
Bake for 10-12 minutes, flip the cutlets and bake for another 10-12 minutes.

These cutlets are on their way to the Gateway City as my entry for Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables series.

Arugula-Basil Pesto

Arugula is fairly new addition to our kitchen and am still trying out different ways of using it.
It has a lovely tart taste. Almost bitter; but in a good way. Add just a handful of arugula leaves to your usual salad for an unbelievable zip.
According to the wikepedia entry arugula, a member of the mustard family, is rich in vitamin C and iron.

A recent CSA bag had both, arugula and basil. It was a no brainer to use them to make a pesto.
The bitterness of the arugula complimented the sweetness of the basil very well. The pine nuts added a crunch. This one is a keeper!
Sugar is not a traditional ingredient of pesto, but I think it helped mellow the arugula slightly and consequently made it more palatable for the young'uns.


Arugula-Basil Pesto
Ingredients
2 cups arugula leaves
2 cups basil (any kind)
1/2 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
1/2 cup olive oil
5 large garlic cloves, peeled
salt to taste
1/2 tsp sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon

Method
Combine the arugula and basil in a food processor and pulse till you get a coarse mixture.
With the motor running add the garlic cloves, one at a time.
With the motor still running drizzle the oil, add the sugar and salt (start with 1 tsp) and lastly, the pine nuts.
Stop while you still see pieces of the nuts.
Immediately add the lemon juice and mix well.
Adjust the salt.
Transfer to a container and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Serving Suggestions
--I spread some of this pesto on an english muffin, topped it with fresh mozzarella and some red pepper flakes like this:


--Mix 4-5 tbsp of the pesto with one can of cannellini beans (pureed) for a fantastic vegan dip.
--Add the pesto to any canned or ready-to-serve soup to perk it up.
--And of course, with pasta.

Anyone for Waffled Idlis?

This is one kitchen experiment that didn't go awry.
I had just made idli batter and wondered about the outcome if I used some of it in the waffle maker.

This is what I did:

• Mixed about 1/8 tsp of yeast into two cups of idli batter and let it sit for a while, 5-10 minutes.
• Poured generous amounts of the batter in a well oiled waffle maker. (If enough batter is not used, the results are quite disastrous where the waffle separates into two layers. Not good.)
• Waited for the 'ready' indicator to light. (The ready indicator may change with the brand of waffle maker. Mine is a simple one, red light for 'not ready' and green light for 'ready'.)
• Voila, waffled idlis.
  Nice and crunchy.

They were gone in no time. Not that we need any coaxing to consume idli or any of it's relatives.

I tried using fermented idli batter as well but the results were very disappointing. The batter stuck to the sides very badly and increasing the amount of batter didn't help one bit. They looked very sad.