Persistence Pays

It may have been cool outside but the atmosphere was heating up in the school library.
The silent auction was going on and my daughter was furious. Some one kept outbidding her. She was bent on having the Guittard chocolate sampler kit! So she parked herself next to the bidding sheet making sure that hers remained the highest bid.
She literally did not move from there!
Her persistence paid off and we came home with this:

The sampler contained Super Cookie Chips, so chocolate chip cookies were in order. These cookie chips are similar to the usual chocolate chips; flatter but bigger in diameter.

Unlike the kids, I don't really like cookies that much and neither do I like baking them. The oven I use is not that wide, I can't fit in two baking sheets side-by-side. It is quite a bother to baking cookies in batches. Which is why I prefer bar cookies.

Our preference is for chewy, slightly under baked cookies. Nuts are optional; sometimes they just get in the way of the chocolate chunks.
Mixing in cocoa powder is also something I avoid because then you don't have the contrast of colours where the chocolate chunks stand out. I know this is a visual thing but then you do eat with your eyes first.

This New York Times article suggests chilling the dough before baking.
Patience was in short supply so I baked some cookies right away and stashed the rest of the dough in the fridge. The rested cookie dough did result in a better tasting cookie. A sprinkle of salt did wonders for the flavour.

I used to be very skeptical of the salt-chocolate combination. A bite of the Scharffen Berger Milk Almond bar which contains sea salted almonds changed everything. This chocolate bar is to die-for.

The cookie recipe calls for nut butter. The first time I made these cookies, I naturally opted for hazelnut butter. But one couldn't detect any hazelnut flavour at all. The next time I made the cookies, I used cashew butter. Again, one couldn't tell there was any cashew in the cookies. Maybe not flavour but the nut butter does seem to contribute immensely to the texture.
May be it is the copious amount of chocolate that hides the nut flavour.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
(This recipe came from one of those recipe-exchange-chain emails. It sat the must-try folder for years before I actually gave it a shot.)

Ingredients
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt + more for sprinkling on top
14 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into chunks
¼ cup nut butter (peanut, hazelnut, or cashew)

Method
Don't preheat the oven just yet. The dough needs to chill in the fridge for a bit.

Sift together and keep aside the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Cream the unsalted butter and both the sugars for about 2-3 minutes.
Add the nut butter and continue beating for another ½ minute.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
Add the flour mixture and mix together till it all comes together. Do not overmix.
Mix in the chocolate.

Chill the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes; makes it easy to handle.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375F.
Prepare the baking sheets. Either spray with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
Make the cookies as large or small as you want.
Just make sure you don't place them too close to each other on the baking sheet.
If you like, sprinkle a bit of salt on the cookies.
Bake them for about 9-12 minutes, just until slightly brown.
The baking time will depend on your oven and the size of the cookies.
Enjoy!

The yield depends on the size of the cookie. We got about two dozen generously proportioned cookies!

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.

JFI:Carrots The Roundup

Hosting this event was just what I needed to get back to blogging. Sheer laziness was keeping me from blogging. But now I'm back to enjoying that particular high one gets after clicking the Publish button.
Thanks to JFI, I also met several new bloggers.

Months ago I signed up to host JFI and promptly forgot about it. Thanks to Srivalli for her gentle reminder.
Thanks to Indira for giving me the chance to host an edition of Jihva For Ingredients.

Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds and possibly the best source of vitamin A. They are delicious eat raw or cooked. Fortunately the abundant beta-carotene is not destroyed when cooked. In fact slightly cooking or steaming the carrots breaks down the cell wall making the fiber more available.

Without much ado here is the roundup.

Drinks

• Beet Carrot & Apple Juice from Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi.
  
• Carrot Shake from Essence of Andhra.

Soups
• Carrot and Lentil Soup from Yummy Food.
  
• Carrot N Leeks Soup from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
  
• Carrot Soup from Sita Kiran of For Spice Lovers.
  

Chutneys & Pickles

• Carrot Chutney from Srivalli of Cooking 4 all Seasons
  
• Carrot Pickle from from Essence of Andhra.
  
• Carrot Pickle from Food Workshop.
  
• Instant Carrot Pickle from the Queen of My Kitchen.
  
• Carrot Chatka from Spicy & Tangy.....Sweet & Yummy !!!!.
  
• Carrot Pickle from Ramki Cooks.
  
• Carrot Pudina Chutney from Ramki Cooks.
  

Salads
• Carrot Salad from Isha's Kitchen.
  
• Carrot Kosumalli from Chitra Amma's Kitchen.
  
• Carrot Salad from Viji of Viji's Veg Corner.
  
• Carrot Kosambari from Mythreyee of Paajaka Recipe.
  
• Carrot-Onion Kachumber from Tripti of The Spice Who Loved Me.
  
• Carrot Koshimbir from The Queen of My Kitchen.
  
• Gajar Koshimbir from Annarasa - Essence of Food.
  
• Carrot Thayir Pachadi from Ramki Cooks.
  
• Carrot-Onion Raita from Ramki Cooks.
  
• Carrot Kosambari from Ramki Cooks.
  

Poli & Parathas

• Carrot Parathas from Vadani Kaval Gheta
  
• Carrot Date Poli from Kailas Kitchen.
  

Sweets: Burfi, Kheer & Halwa

• Carrot Burfi from Appyayan.
  
• Carrot Kheer from Neivedyam.
  
• Carrot Poha Kheer from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
  
• Carrot Halwa from Mythreyee of Paajaka Recipes.
  
• Vermicelli Payasam from Suma of VeggiePlatter.
  
• Carrot Coconut Sevai from Amma's Special.
  
• Carrot Pudding from Yasmeen of Health Nut.
  
• Carrot Badam Paal Payasam from Viji of Viji's Veg Corner.
  
• Carrot Payasam from Ramki Cooks.
  
• Carrot Halwa from Viji of Viji's Veg Corner.

Cakes & Bread
• Eggless Carrot Cupcakes with Mascarpone Cheese Frosting from Culinary Bazaar.
  
• Carrot Cake from Viki's Recipes.
  
• Vegan Carrot Cake from Vadani Kaval Gheta.
  
• Eggless Carrot Cake from Anu Sriram.
  
• Low-Fat Banana Carrot Loaf from Preety's Kitchen.
  
• Carrot Mustard Bread from Miri of the Peppermill.
  

Rice, Bulgar, Quinoa Dishes

• Carror Bulgar Khichidi from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
  
• Carrot Curd Rice from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
  
• Carrot n Broccoli Fried Rice from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
  
• Carrot N Paneer Fried Rice from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
  
• Carrot Rice from Seduce Your Tastebuds.
  
• Carrot Fried Rice from Preety's Kitchen.
  
• Spinach Carrot Pulao from Kailas Kitchen.
  
• Quinoa-Carrot Pulao from TheCooker.
  

Side Dishes

• Rava Carrot Bonda from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
  
• Carrot Rissole from Spice-Club.
  
• Carrot Snack from Kitchen Kollections.
  
• Glazed Carrots from Served With Love.
  
• Black-eyed Beans N Carrot Masala Vadai from from Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes.
  
• Carrot Sticks from TheCooker.
  

Main Dishes (curries)

• Crumb Tossed Vegetables from The Singing Chef.
  
• Carrot Koftha from Kavya's Kitchen.
  
• Carrot Kara Poriyal from Cardamom
  
• Carrot Chaana Daal Fry from Sumi's Weblog.
  
• Carrot Soyabean Bhaaji from Vadani Kaval Gheta.
  
• Carrot Fry from My SpiceKitchen.
  
• Carrot Tambli from Ramki Cooks.
  
• Carrot Poriyal from Ramki Cooks.
  
• Carrot Kootu from Ramki Cooks.
  
• Carrot More Kulambu from Ramki Cooks.
  
• Carrot and Peanut Sambar from Chitra Amma's Kitchen.
  

If I have inadvertently missed listing your entry, please let me know.

I now pass the baton to Ammalu's Kitchen who is hosting JFI:Sprouts.

Quinoa-Carrot Pulao

If it doesn't contain any rice is it still a pulao?
This is a riff on the classic carrot-pulao.
I go thru these phases where I make an extra effort to eat less rice.

During one such phase, when a friend mentioned how she has virtually given up rice and instead eats quinoa I was all ears.
Even before we could complete our conversation, in my mind the carrot-pulao had morphed into a quinoa-carrot!

This is an incredibly aromatic pulao and no, we didn't miss the rice one bit.
Equally delicious when hot or at room temperature. I'll be making this pulao quite often. The next time I do, I'll swap out the blurred photo.

Quinoa-Carrot Pulao
Ingredients
4 cups cooked quinoa
2 medium sized carrots, grated or chopped
4-5 black peppercorns
3 cloves (lavang)
½ inch cinnamon stick
1 tsp fennel (bishops weed)
2 pods cardamom
1 green chilies, chopped
1 tbsp oil
salt, to taste
4-5 stalks cilantro, chopped

Method
Heat the oil. When hot, add the green chillies.
Next add all the spices and saute for about a minute.
Add the carrots and let them cook for another minute.
Add the quinoa and salt. Mix well.
Cover and cook over low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Adjust the salt and garnish with cilantro.
Enjoy this protein rich pulao on its own or with a simple raita.

My entry to JFI:Carrots.

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.

JFI Announcement: Date Extended

The announcement for this month's JFI was made a little later than expected.
But Dee (Ammalu's Kitchen) has graciously let me extend the deadline for JFI:Carrots to December, 4th 2008; effectively overlapping her event by a couple of days. Thanks Dee.

Keep them entries coming.

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.

I'm Late I'm Late: JFI: December: Carrots.

I truly feel like the rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

I'm late in announcing JFI: December 2008.

JFI, Jihva For Ingredients, is one of the most popular food blog events around. JFI,the brainchild of Indira (needs no introduction), showcases an ingredient each month.

The ingredient chosen for this month is carrots.
From appetizers to desserts, carrots find a place in each course and in every cuisine.
All you creative cooks out there send me recipes that prominently feature carrots. That rabbit needs them and so do I.
No rules for participation, just some guidelines.

• Prepare a dish showcasing carrots and write about it in your blog in the month of November. No limit to the number of entries you can send. Non bloggers, email the recipe along with a picture of the dish.
  
• Make sure your post links to this announcement.
  
• Send an email to the.best.cooker@gmail.com with JFI:Carrot in the subject line. Please include the following information in your email:
  --Your blog name
  --Name of the entry
  --URL of your post
  

Updated: The roundup is here.

Reality Bites

At the start of the summer vacation I had visualised such an ldyllic setting, no homework, no projects (not that I was doing any of these myself), agenda-free days, so much time to cook and blog. Happy Happy!
Some busy times at work, guests, day trips with the kids, a family vacation, and at time sheer laziness ensured that blogging out of the (happy) picture.
The problem with agenda-free days is that there is always time to fit in one more craft project/ book/ phone conversation/ TV show etc. etc.

Though I wasn't able to cook anything from my new cookbooks (some bought, some gifted), I did get a chance to tackle the ever increasing must-try folder. The following recipes have been made so often that they are now a part of our everyday/ commonly made foods.

Here are some of them:

• A few days after I bought a microplace zester, ET posted a recipe for Cranberry-Orange loaf. This seemed like the perfect recipe to break in the zester.
  I've lost count of the number of times I've made it. I've also lost count of the variations. Mostly I experimented with reduced quantities of butter, sour cream and sugar. Greatly reduced quantities of butter surprisingly didn't affect the texture or the taste. Since this loaf almost always disappears with amazing alacrity, it is difficult to know how the reduced butter would affect it's shelf life.


• The only way I now prepare collard greens is Suganya's way. It comes together in a jiffy. Taste delicious with rice or on it's own accompanied with thinned buttermilk.


• Nicole's Silken raspberry mousse is ridiculously easy to make. It is the perfect warm weather dessert. I've tried this mousse with several fruits, but our favourite remains raspberry with an addition of orange zest (gotta use that new zester).


• The idea of steaming stuffed peppers before sauteing them is just ingenious. Such an idea had to come from Richa.


• Jugalbandi's chocolate rum cake is incredibly moist, rich tasting and quite guilt free. What more can one want from a chocolate cake?


• Shyam's tiger cake is by far the most spectacular looking cake I've baked so far. Whoever thought of this technique is indeed a genius.