Indian mangoes are being imported into the US for the first time in 18 years.
I love a good mango, but these are being built up as the Best. Fruit. Ever. I'd like to find out for myself.
They haven't reached the Reading Terminal Market yet, as far as I can tell, and Gagan didn't see any in Edison last weekend either. Anybody have a hot tip on where to find them? I have salt, pepper, lemons and chat masala ready to go...
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Nargisi Kofta with Chapatis
This is fancy food: beef kofta (meatballs) with a hard-boiled egg on the inside, in a tomato gravy, served with rice and chapatis. (I know, you're not supposed to serve both, but I'm obsessed with starches.)
It wasn't entirely successful-- good, but not as spectacular as I'd hoped. The chapatis were great-- easy and tasty-- but two things to improve on the kofta. First, the yogurt sauce separated, which is often a problem for me; second, the meat separated, exposing the egg, which I suspect could have been avoided if I'd used more meat. So it wasn't as pretty as I'd hoped it would be, but it was damn tasty.
I started the chapatis first, since the dough had to rise. It's easy to see why this is such a staple food-- it's just flour and water. Luckily, I am able to tolerate reasonable amounts of spelt, so instead of whole wheat flour, I used spelt flour, which behaved pretty much the same. Knead the dough, let it rise for half an hour or so, knead again, then separate into small balls and roll then out. I was surprised at how well the dough stayed together-- I guess I'm used to crumbly, sticky gluten-free flour, but this stuff was really easy to work with. Roll 'em nice and thin. I don't have a tava, but I do have an awesome all-purpose cast iron pan. I got it nice and hot, and did about 30 seconds on each side. The dough cooked quickly and was easy to pick up with tongs. Once it starts bubbling and puffing, throw it on an open flame (you need a gas stove for this) and let the steam puff out of it. This part is fun. The whole thing was simple and easy. We brushed them with butter, wrapped them in foil, and threw them in a warm oven ten minutes before we sat down to dinner. Tasty! I'm going to make these all the time.
The nargisi kofta: Jaffrey says that "nargis" is the narcissus flower, and these are named for the yellow and white of the egg, visible when you cut the kofta open.
First, a word about spices: you can buy just about anything you want at the supermarket or Whole Foods, pre-ground and in a clear bottle or a spice rack to sit on your wall. Do not do this. Pre-grinding and exposure to light both rob your spices of their flavor. Buy whole spices and grind them yourself when possible, and keep everything in a nice dark (and dry) cabinet! We have a marble mortar and pestle and use them quite regularly. It takes very little time to grind them, and you can taste the difference.
So I ground lots of things-- allspice, coriander seeds, cumin-- and assembled everything in little glass dishes, in the stages in which I would be adding them. This is called a mise en place, although I'm sure I am butchering the French. It means setting everything up and having it ready to go ahead of time, so you're not desperately grinding coriander or chopping tomatoes at the last second. I learned this from Alton Brown-- Alton, you're my culinary hero.
OK. So you mince the meat nice and fine in the Cuisinart, mix in the spices and two tbsp yogurt, and wrap this mixture around the eggs so you have four nice oval meatwads. Put some oil in your pan and throw in two bay leaves, a dried chili pepper, and the cardamom pods I will buy as soon as I find them. Then put in your meatwads-- er, kofta-- and brown them as evenly as you can. When I do this again, I plan to make a little more of the meat mixture than I need, and keep a little reserved on the side, so that if the meat on the kofta starts to separate I can repair as needed.
In the meantime, blend onions, garlic and ginger to a fine paste in the food processor. Take your kofta out and set aside, and add this mixture to the pan to simmer. Now, here's where I made another mistake. The recipe didn't say anything about draining the oil (in fact, it said not to), but it seems like the oil really has to be drained. Otherwise, this mixture gets really oily. The thing is that everything you're putting into the pan-- onions, tomatoes, etc-- sweats. When you cook them, all the water stored inside the veggies comes out into the pan. And oil and water don't mix, so how can you expect your sauce not to separate? This, I'm going to do differently next time.
Anyway. Simmer all that for ten minutes, then start spooning yogurt into it. Hopefully, if your mixture isn't oily like mine, your yogurt will be nice and creamy and not curdle. Once you've added 6 tablespoons of yogurt, put in your tomatoes, paprika, salt and water, bring to a boil, and simmer for ten more minutes. Then add the kofta and let the whole thing simmer for half an hours so the meat is cooked through, turning a few times. The juices will also be draining from the meat as it cooks, which means the meat will shrink. If your kofta aren't meaty enough, the meat will retract until you can see the egg, and your kofta might fall apart. Mine didn't quite fall apart, fortunately, but clearly more meat was needed.
Once that's done, serve with rice, chapati, whatever you've got. Because the sauce had separated, we attempted a rescue operation once we had removed the kofta-- Joe added some cream to the sauce and whisked the whole thing very energetically for a while. This helped, but it separated quickly.
It did, however, taste DELICIOUS. This is a really, really rich dish (it's usually served for weddings or other special occastions, according to Madhur Jaffrey) and neither of us could finish more than one. I tried to eat a second but got waaaay too full. The chili pepper and cayenne gave it just a little kick-- it wasn't at all hot on first taste, but a little heat did build up as we ate. And the spice mixture in the meat was really flavorful and delicious. I really want to make this again now that I understand the process a little better!
So, next thing to master: yogurt sauces that don't separate.
Next up: I'm making chicken korma (it's supposed to be lamb, but I don't have any lamb!) for Gagan and Anthony tomorrow night! And if I'm feeling ambitious, I might try my hand at parathas this weekend. I will also be doing my trademark guacamole for a party (possibly two parties) this weekend, so I'll post that recipe too!
It wasn't entirely successful-- good, but not as spectacular as I'd hoped. The chapatis were great-- easy and tasty-- but two things to improve on the kofta. First, the yogurt sauce separated, which is often a problem for me; second, the meat separated, exposing the egg, which I suspect could have been avoided if I'd used more meat. So it wasn't as pretty as I'd hoped it would be, but it was damn tasty.
I started the chapatis first, since the dough had to rise. It's easy to see why this is such a staple food-- it's just flour and water. Luckily, I am able to tolerate reasonable amounts of spelt, so instead of whole wheat flour, I used spelt flour, which behaved pretty much the same. Knead the dough, let it rise for half an hour or so, knead again, then separate into small balls and roll then out. I was surprised at how well the dough stayed together-- I guess I'm used to crumbly, sticky gluten-free flour, but this stuff was really easy to work with. Roll 'em nice and thin. I don't have a tava, but I do have an awesome all-purpose cast iron pan. I got it nice and hot, and did about 30 seconds on each side. The dough cooked quickly and was easy to pick up with tongs. Once it starts bubbling and puffing, throw it on an open flame (you need a gas stove for this) and let the steam puff out of it. This part is fun. The whole thing was simple and easy. We brushed them with butter, wrapped them in foil, and threw them in a warm oven ten minutes before we sat down to dinner. Tasty! I'm going to make these all the time.
The nargisi kofta: Jaffrey says that "nargis" is the narcissus flower, and these are named for the yellow and white of the egg, visible when you cut the kofta open.
First, a word about spices: you can buy just about anything you want at the supermarket or Whole Foods, pre-ground and in a clear bottle or a spice rack to sit on your wall. Do not do this. Pre-grinding and exposure to light both rob your spices of their flavor. Buy whole spices and grind them yourself when possible, and keep everything in a nice dark (and dry) cabinet! We have a marble mortar and pestle and use them quite regularly. It takes very little time to grind them, and you can taste the difference.
So I ground lots of things-- allspice, coriander seeds, cumin-- and assembled everything in little glass dishes, in the stages in which I would be adding them. This is called a mise en place, although I'm sure I am butchering the French. It means setting everything up and having it ready to go ahead of time, so you're not desperately grinding coriander or chopping tomatoes at the last second. I learned this from Alton Brown-- Alton, you're my culinary hero.
OK. So you mince the meat nice and fine in the Cuisinart, mix in the spices and two tbsp yogurt, and wrap this mixture around the eggs so you have four nice oval meatwads. Put some oil in your pan and throw in two bay leaves, a dried chili pepper, and the cardamom pods I will buy as soon as I find them. Then put in your meatwads-- er, kofta-- and brown them as evenly as you can. When I do this again, I plan to make a little more of the meat mixture than I need, and keep a little reserved on the side, so that if the meat on the kofta starts to separate I can repair as needed.
In the meantime, blend onions, garlic and ginger to a fine paste in the food processor. Take your kofta out and set aside, and add this mixture to the pan to simmer. Now, here's where I made another mistake. The recipe didn't say anything about draining the oil (in fact, it said not to), but it seems like the oil really has to be drained. Otherwise, this mixture gets really oily. The thing is that everything you're putting into the pan-- onions, tomatoes, etc-- sweats. When you cook them, all the water stored inside the veggies comes out into the pan. And oil and water don't mix, so how can you expect your sauce not to separate? This, I'm going to do differently next time.
Anyway. Simmer all that for ten minutes, then start spooning yogurt into it. Hopefully, if your mixture isn't oily like mine, your yogurt will be nice and creamy and not curdle. Once you've added 6 tablespoons of yogurt, put in your tomatoes, paprika, salt and water, bring to a boil, and simmer for ten more minutes. Then add the kofta and let the whole thing simmer for half an hours so the meat is cooked through, turning a few times. The juices will also be draining from the meat as it cooks, which means the meat will shrink. If your kofta aren't meaty enough, the meat will retract until you can see the egg, and your kofta might fall apart. Mine didn't quite fall apart, fortunately, but clearly more meat was needed.
Once that's done, serve with rice, chapati, whatever you've got. Because the sauce had separated, we attempted a rescue operation once we had removed the kofta-- Joe added some cream to the sauce and whisked the whole thing very energetically for a while. This helped, but it separated quickly.
It did, however, taste DELICIOUS. This is a really, really rich dish (it's usually served for weddings or other special occastions, according to Madhur Jaffrey) and neither of us could finish more than one. I tried to eat a second but got waaaay too full. The chili pepper and cayenne gave it just a little kick-- it wasn't at all hot on first taste, but a little heat did build up as we ate. And the spice mixture in the meat was really flavorful and delicious. I really want to make this again now that I understand the process a little better!
So, next thing to master: yogurt sauces that don't separate.
Next up: I'm making chicken korma (it's supposed to be lamb, but I don't have any lamb!) for Gagan and Anthony tomorrow night! And if I'm feeling ambitious, I might try my hand at parathas this weekend. I will also be doing my trademark guacamole for a party (possibly two parties) this weekend, so I'll post that recipe too!
Monday, May 21, 2007
Chicken Parmesan with gluten-free bread crumbs
Joe got home before me tonight, so he was on dinner duty. It's been a long Monday, so he went for Italian-American comfort food-- chicken parm.
You know how to make this, right? Dip your chicken in egg, roll it in bread crumbs, brown it in a skillet, put it in a baking dish, pour tomato sauce over it, slice some mozzarella on top, stick it in the oven. Serve with pasta (I like quinoa-corn pasta). Not that hard.
The challenging bit, if you're wheat-free, is the breading. When I lived in New York, I bought gluten-free bread crumbs in the baking section at the Union Square Whole Foods. Unfortunately, none of the Whole Foodses (?) here carry that brand, the name of which escapes me. If you're looking for GF bread crumb options, two ideas:
-Philly Whole Foods stores DO carry a brand called Southern Homestyle Tortilla Crumbs. They're GF and tasty, but they do have a very distinct corn flavor. Great for breading fish or pork chops, but they don't blend into Italian dishes the way ordinary bread crumbs do.
-To make your own GF bread crumbs: Get yourself a loaf of GF bread. The best and most neutrally flavored you can find. Whole Foods' Gluten-Free Bakehouse makes a good sandwich loaf. Food For Life loaves are decent, but the fruit-juice-sweetened ones have a sweet flavor that's almost grape-y. Trader Joe's GF English muffins aren't bad-- they crumble too easily to be practical for sandwiches, but are great for making bread crumbs.
Crumble your bread into your food processor. Give it a few pulses until it's reduced down to crumbs. Spread them out on the bottom of a metal pan (with sides, please) and pop them into the oven for ten minutes or so. This isn't an exact science, so keep an eye on them. When they're nice and toasty, use them however you please.
They don't keep for long, so don't make more than you think you'll use in a day or two.
UPDATE: According to Joe, Food For Life bread does NOT work well for this. He recommends letting the bread go a bit stale before doing this.
You know how to make this, right? Dip your chicken in egg, roll it in bread crumbs, brown it in a skillet, put it in a baking dish, pour tomato sauce over it, slice some mozzarella on top, stick it in the oven. Serve with pasta (I like quinoa-corn pasta). Not that hard.
The challenging bit, if you're wheat-free, is the breading. When I lived in New York, I bought gluten-free bread crumbs in the baking section at the Union Square Whole Foods. Unfortunately, none of the Whole Foodses (?) here carry that brand, the name of which escapes me. If you're looking for GF bread crumb options, two ideas:
-Philly Whole Foods stores DO carry a brand called Southern Homestyle Tortilla Crumbs. They're GF and tasty, but they do have a very distinct corn flavor. Great for breading fish or pork chops, but they don't blend into Italian dishes the way ordinary bread crumbs do.
-To make your own GF bread crumbs: Get yourself a loaf of GF bread. The best and most neutrally flavored you can find. Whole Foods' Gluten-Free Bakehouse makes a good sandwich loaf. Food For Life loaves are decent, but the fruit-juice-sweetened ones have a sweet flavor that's almost grape-y. Trader Joe's GF English muffins aren't bad-- they crumble too easily to be practical for sandwiches, but are great for making bread crumbs.
Crumble your bread into your food processor. Give it a few pulses until it's reduced down to crumbs. Spread them out on the bottom of a metal pan (with sides, please) and pop them into the oven for ten minutes or so. This isn't an exact science, so keep an eye on them. When they're nice and toasty, use them however you please.
They don't keep for long, so don't make more than you think you'll use in a day or two.
UPDATE: According to Joe, Food For Life bread does NOT work well for this. He recommends letting the bread go a bit stale before doing this.
Mahi-Mahi in Yogurt, Lemon Rice, and Salad
This meal was quite successful, at least if our satisfied grunts were any indication.
My main dish was from the Madhur Jaffrey cookbook-- Codfish Steaks in Yogurt. Instead of codfish (meh, it's OK) I used mahi-mahi, which is a nice, steaky fish that's flavorful enough to hold its own in a strongly flavored sauce. I got it, along with my other ingredients, at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. If you're in the Philly area, I can't recommend the RTM highly enough-- you can find a huge array of delicious, fresh, local and sustainably farmed foods. I spend much less time and money at supermarkets after discovering the RTM!
Enough plugging. On to the food. I made the lemon rice first, since it's a dish that usually benefits from having a little time for the ingredients to sit together and (as Emeril says) get happy. It's also quite easy, so best to get it out of the way. I made this for our wedding reception, and a very discriminating Indian friend complimented it! She suggested cooking it longer and with a bit more salt, so I tried to do that, though I think the rice probably should have been softer.
Before starting the lemon rice, I cut the mahi into chunks and rubbed it with turmeric and salt. (My fingertips are still yellow!) After that, simple: you dice some onions (that's Joe's job) and garlic and put them in the blender with cayenne pepper, salt, sugar, black pepper and a pint of yogurt. (I'm a big fan of Pequea Valley Dairy's grass-fed yogurts from Lancaster County.) Saute the fish, but don't cook them through, and set aside. Then sweat some onions in the pan with two cinnamon sticks and some cardamom (the recipe called for pods, but I was pod-less so I just sprinkled the ground stuff). Once that's nice and golden and smelling delicious, throw in the sauce and simmer for ten minutes. Then put the fish in, covering it with the sauce, and cover it so the fish has time to cook through and soak in the sauce. Jaffrey's instructions look long and involved, but that's only because she is precise and detailed in her instructions, to make things nice and clear for vellaikarangal like me! It's really not that difficult.
Finally, a simple salad. I sliced shiitakes and fried them in olive oil with some chopped garlic, then added a splash of leftover champagne and let it reduce. Then I enlisted Joe, because I was busy making fish, and he whisked up a salad dressing of blood orange juice (thank you, Trader Joe's!), olive oil and the last of the champagne, and tossed it with fresh local greens, some sliced gouda, and the mushrooms.
We ate this with cold glasses of Yard's Saison, a summery Belgian-style ale made right in our neighborhood.
The lemon rice recipe. I got this from my friend Tina, who says she got it from a cookbook. This is great for parties.
Lemon rice
1 cup basmati or other long grain white rice
1 2/3-2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ghee or sesame oil
1/2 cup cashew bits or halves
1/2 tablespoon split urad dal
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/3 teaspoon turmeric
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped coriander
1/4 cup shredded coconut for garnishing (optional)
Bring water to boil in a heavy nonstick saucepan. Stir in the rice, salt, and 1/2 tablespoon ghee or oil. Cover with a tight fitting lid. Reduce the heat to very low and gently simmer without stirring for 20-25 minutes or until rice is fluffy and the water fully absorbed. Set aside, still covered.
Heat remaining 2 1/2 tablespoons of ghee or oil in a small saucepan over moderately low heat until it's hot. Drop in cashews and stir-fry until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and pour them over the rice. Cover the rice again.
Raise the heat under the saucepan slightly, toss in the urad dal and the mustard seeds and fry until the mustard seeds turn gray and sputter and the dal turns reddish-brown.
Pour the fried spices into the cooked rice and sprinkle with the turmeric, lemon juice and coriander. Gently fold until well mixed.
My main dish was from the Madhur Jaffrey cookbook-- Codfish Steaks in Yogurt. Instead of codfish (meh, it's OK) I used mahi-mahi, which is a nice, steaky fish that's flavorful enough to hold its own in a strongly flavored sauce. I got it, along with my other ingredients, at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. If you're in the Philly area, I can't recommend the RTM highly enough-- you can find a huge array of delicious, fresh, local and sustainably farmed foods. I spend much less time and money at supermarkets after discovering the RTM!
Enough plugging. On to the food. I made the lemon rice first, since it's a dish that usually benefits from having a little time for the ingredients to sit together and (as Emeril says) get happy. It's also quite easy, so best to get it out of the way. I made this for our wedding reception, and a very discriminating Indian friend complimented it! She suggested cooking it longer and with a bit more salt, so I tried to do that, though I think the rice probably should have been softer.
Before starting the lemon rice, I cut the mahi into chunks and rubbed it with turmeric and salt. (My fingertips are still yellow!) After that, simple: you dice some onions (that's Joe's job) and garlic and put them in the blender with cayenne pepper, salt, sugar, black pepper and a pint of yogurt. (I'm a big fan of Pequea Valley Dairy's grass-fed yogurts from Lancaster County.) Saute the fish, but don't cook them through, and set aside. Then sweat some onions in the pan with two cinnamon sticks and some cardamom (the recipe called for pods, but I was pod-less so I just sprinkled the ground stuff). Once that's nice and golden and smelling delicious, throw in the sauce and simmer for ten minutes. Then put the fish in, covering it with the sauce, and cover it so the fish has time to cook through and soak in the sauce. Jaffrey's instructions look long and involved, but that's only because she is precise and detailed in her instructions, to make things nice and clear for vellaikarangal like me! It's really not that difficult.
Finally, a simple salad. I sliced shiitakes and fried them in olive oil with some chopped garlic, then added a splash of leftover champagne and let it reduce. Then I enlisted Joe, because I was busy making fish, and he whisked up a salad dressing of blood orange juice (thank you, Trader Joe's!), olive oil and the last of the champagne, and tossed it with fresh local greens, some sliced gouda, and the mushrooms.
We ate this with cold glasses of Yard's Saison, a summery Belgian-style ale made right in our neighborhood.
The lemon rice recipe. I got this from my friend Tina, who says she got it from a cookbook. This is great for parties.
Lemon rice
1 cup basmati or other long grain white rice
1 2/3-2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons ghee or sesame oil
1/2 cup cashew bits or halves
1/2 tablespoon split urad dal
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/3 teaspoon turmeric
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons chopped coriander
1/4 cup shredded coconut for garnishing (optional)
Bring water to boil in a heavy nonstick saucepan. Stir in the rice, salt, and 1/2 tablespoon ghee or oil. Cover with a tight fitting lid. Reduce the heat to very low and gently simmer without stirring for 20-25 minutes or until rice is fluffy and the water fully absorbed. Set aside, still covered.
Heat remaining 2 1/2 tablespoons of ghee or oil in a small saucepan over moderately low heat until it's hot. Drop in cashews and stir-fry until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and pour them over the rice. Cover the rice again.
Raise the heat under the saucepan slightly, toss in the urad dal and the mustard seeds and fry until the mustard seeds turn gray and sputter and the dal turns reddish-brown.
Pour the fried spices into the cooked rice and sprinkle with the turmeric, lemon juice and coriander. Gently fold until well mixed.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Greetings
Hello, dear reader! You probably know me, or at least my spottily-updated political blog, You've Got Red On You.
Well, this is a record of my efforts to learn how to cook. I've been cooking for a while, and have been meaning to start recording my efforts in an attempt to learn from them and find good recipes easily. My husband Joe is a gloriously talented cook who's been feeding me, shaping my palate and teaching me his secrets for nine years now. I'm a decent cook, an Alton Brown fan and an unrepentant foodie. I love to entertain and to feed my friends, and will jump on any excuse for a party. I also have allergies to wheat, iceberg lettuce, celery, various berries and raw veggies, and a few other things, so I make lots of gluten-free goodies. I get excited about learning cuisines like Indian (particularly South Indian), Mexican and Puerto Rican, which tend to be naturally wheat-free.
I'm also learning Tamil and am beginning a serious push to really, truly learn Indian cooking. The title of this blog, Nalla Sappaadu (நல்ல சாப்பாடு), means "Good Food," and I intend to live up to it. I have a copy of Madhur Jaffrey's tasty, informative and beautifully written "An Invitation to Indian Cooking," and you, dear readers, will get to watch me cook my way through as much of it as possible, along with other delicious goodies from various corners of the world. I'll try to take pictures when I can!
Well, this is a record of my efforts to learn how to cook. I've been cooking for a while, and have been meaning to start recording my efforts in an attempt to learn from them and find good recipes easily. My husband Joe is a gloriously talented cook who's been feeding me, shaping my palate and teaching me his secrets for nine years now. I'm a decent cook, an Alton Brown fan and an unrepentant foodie. I love to entertain and to feed my friends, and will jump on any excuse for a party. I also have allergies to wheat, iceberg lettuce, celery, various berries and raw veggies, and a few other things, so I make lots of gluten-free goodies. I get excited about learning cuisines like Indian (particularly South Indian), Mexican and Puerto Rican, which tend to be naturally wheat-free.
I'm also learning Tamil and am beginning a serious push to really, truly learn Indian cooking. The title of this blog, Nalla Sappaadu (நல்ல சாப்பாடு), means "Good Food," and I intend to live up to it. I have a copy of Madhur Jaffrey's tasty, informative and beautifully written "An Invitation to Indian Cooking," and you, dear readers, will get to watch me cook my way through as much of it as possible, along with other delicious goodies from various corners of the world. I'll try to take pictures when I can!
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