The Lure of a Great Recipe

It's really sad when you want to steal a magazine from your mechanic, and even sadder when it's a cooking magazine and you already have subscriptions to two other cooking magazines. Maybe it was because I had to skip lunch to get a flat tire fixed, and I was flipping through Food & Wine's Thanksgiving issue while munching on a granola bar, but suddenly everything in the magazine looked delicious. Cassoulet with Duck Confit. Goat Cheese-Edamame Dip. Mixed Green Salad with Fig-Yogurt Dressing. Smoky Red Pepper Spread. I salivated. I poured through the recipes. I tried to memorize the spices in Spiced Catfish with Avocado. And then I considered stealing the magazine.
No one else was in the shop at the time. The mechanics were working in the garage, there were no other customers in the waiting area. It was just me and a table full of magazines about home decor, sports, and cars. No one would miss a silly little issue of Food & Wine.
Then I flipped it over and saw who it was addressed to. Firestone. It was not the name of some random customer who had kindly left it in the waiting area like a discarded newspaper with the crossword filled in. It was not a store bought copy which I could claim I had purchased myself. Firestone had a subscription to a somewhat sophisticated food magazine, and even if I was the only customer interested in it, I could not steal it.
It should be noted that I didn't want to steal the magazine because I didn't want to pay for it. I just wanted those recipes and would do anything to acquire them. No one can resist the lure of a great recipe.
Luckily Food & Wine, like Cooking Light, Bon Appetit, and Gourmet, make all their recipes accessible through their website, and I was able to find the entire set of November 2008 recipes online as soon as I got home.
To save you the trouble, here's the one for Goat Cheese-Edamame dip:

Ingredients
DIP

1. 1 1/2 pounds shelled edamame
2. 1 cup sour cream
3. 5 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
4. 3 chipotles in adobo, chopped, plus 2 tablespoons of adobo sauce from the can
5. 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
6. 1 small garlic clove, chopped
7. 2 teaspoons kosher salt
8. 1 tablespoon chopped oregano
9.

PEPITAS

1. 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
2. 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
5. 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
6. 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
7. 1 teaspoon chopped oregano


Directions

1. Make the dip: In a medium pot of boiling salted water, simmer the edamame until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain well and transfer to a food processor. Add the sour cream, goat cheese, chipotles, adobo sauce, lemon juice, garlic and salt and puree until smooth, scraping down the side of the bowl. Stir in the oregano and transfer the dip to a serving bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
2. Make the pepitas: Preheat the oven to 375°. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the pumpkin seeds with the olive oil, salt, coriander and crushed red pepper. Bake for 7 minutes, until the seeds begin to brown. Transfer the pepitas to a bowl and toss with the lemon zest and oregano.
3. Serve the dip at room temperature, topped with the spiced pepitas.


Make Ahead

The goat cheese–edamame dip can be refrigerated overnight; bring to room temperature before serving. The spiced pepitas can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days.


Serve With

Pita crisps.

Desired Desert of Desserts - A True Story

Once upon a time... a brave prince...

...fell in love with a beautiful princess...

...but the princess was diabetic and when she was ready to take her insulin dosage she fell asleep because the evil witch...

... put some Sugar from Azucarera Española inside the pump...

... oh, but What would the prince do??? He was diabetic too, and to defeat the Sugar Kingdom, he should cross the Desired Desert of Desserts, without help. The desert was full of:

- JAMssss:

- Splonge Cake:

- Jelly:

- Catalain Custard and Chocolate Crepes:

- Orange Flavour Créme Caramel:

Bue the Prince was... smart, and he let his horse do the hard work... so the horse ate all those dangerous meals, but at the end, he turned into a cake itself...

So, the Prince could rescue the Princess, and gave her another kind of pump to make it sure she would wake up... but that's another story... perverts...

Thanks to Marta and her Desserts! Hope to be in your desert some day :-D!

ku berjalan seorang diri

hari ini sy jalan lg! tp sy jln sorang2... mama x suke kalau sy jln sorang2. esp dkt kl nih. bimbang kalau pape jd dkt anak tunggal kesygan die ni. huhu. insya allah ma..sy selamat dgn perlindungan Allah. amin~ erm. pukul 9 td sy dah mandi n siap2. jalan dgn adek sampai lrt setiawangsa. bf adek tnggu dkt sane. salghee tammo ikot jln. so, kami berdue je... then naik train 3 org. tp sampai dang wangi berpisah. cuz, sy nak g naik monorail ke sg wang plak. adek ngan bfnye terus ke kl central utk g mid valley. sampai dang wangi, sy naik jejantas n jln kaki skit sampai la stesen monorail 'bukit nenas'. dr situ g ke stesen 'bukit bintang'. turun la dkt sg wang. time tu baru pukl 10:45am. bnyk lg kedai tutup. pergi low yat, sume pun tutup lg. huhu...

then jln2 sorang2 dkt sg wang. semua floor n pelusuk2 yg tersorok pon g round. pastu dah mls nak g low yat blk. jd beli je la pen drive dkt sg wang. 4gb = rm 35. bee kate murah. oh ye. bee ni kwn sy. skrng die tgh ambik architecture dkt uia gombak. die terror sgt edit2 + nyanyi. ade group name plain~ bdk2 uia tau la kot. dan2 la die on9 ym time sy tgh type sal die ni. huhu. panjang umur~ bee tgh nak final. caiyokkk2! sy doakan awk dr jauh. dah boring jln sg wang, naik monorail g 'imbi' plak. sampaila sy ke timesquare = ts. ts pon sy jln sume tingkat yg ade kedai. dahla ts sgt besa. letih gak. tgk2 dah kul 2pm. barula sy rehat minum air ribena jap! hehe. baju2 n beg2 n kasut2 dkt sini murah2. sape nak borong tu dtgla ts ye. mcm2 ade...sambil jln sy main msg dgn finaz. jauh d mate dkt d hati~~~

dah letih. decided nak g singgah kl central. x de ape pon, cuma ade org yg ramai. mcm tu la selalunye. ramai je org. sampai kl central. sy duduk kejap n call salghee. tanye dah mkn ke belum. pastu sy pk nak g mane. x lame pastu. sampai la sy ke klcc. hehe. sy tgk jam. dah pukul 4pm. terus sy mkn dulu. fish n chip + oreo milkshake. mmg sedap oreo tu. sy mkn sampai abis. dah jd kebiasaan sy mkn sampai abis. lebih kpd x nak membazir. n maybe sbb tu gak sy kuat mkn? huhu. sy kuar je dr mkn, dkt lrt ramai sgt org. jd sy pun beratur awal2,beli ticket lrt utk blk setiawngsa nnt. terjumpe kak bob n kwnnye. comel je akak 2 org nih! hehe. sy pun tumpang la sekaki beli tiket. then sy jln2 skit dkt klcc tu. beli jgak bju dkt pdi 2. hehe... then dah nak blk sy belikan salghee hotdog 1901 - newyork chicken. sbb sy tau die mesti lapar! hehe. sy suke 1901 pnye tagline. "food for friendship" =]

haa. lg satu. sy mimpi best semlm. sy mimpi sy bertunang! haha. sy kate mimpi ni best. sbb ni mimpi sy plg jelas. selalunye kalo ade mimpi kawin2 ni pon, sure sy x ingt jln cerita die bile bgn tidur. tp td sy ingt. malangnye. muke laki tu sy x nmpk!!! tension btol. huhu. tp klaka. sbb sy x de bf. then tetbe dah nak bertunang. kwn2 sume terkejut. tp sy bertunang pilihan keluarge sy. sy x la sedih n x la excited. sbb sy x de bf, so sy ikot je ckp fmly. n x dela excited sbb sy x cintakan pon lg tunang sy tu. yg sy ingt. time sy bertunang. sy senyum n tenang je. n time tu die muncul dlm org2 ramai tu. tp x nmpk muke! huhu... sy ingt sy bertunang bulan julai. pastu kawin time merdeka - 31st august. tu je ingt. wakakaka...then dah mcm di awang2 an hari ni. haha. x boleh blaa...tu mimpi je. sbb sy x jmpe pon lg calon suami tu! hurm...

PUDINA TIKKIS

Ingredients:
Potatoes: 4
Pudina (Mint Leaves): 1 & half cups finely chopped
Salt to taste
Bread Crumbs: 1/2 cup
Green Chillies : 4 finely chopped
Coriander Leaves: 1 tbsp finely chopped
Turmeric Powder: a pinch
Coriander Powder: 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder: 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala: 1 tsp
Laung(Clove): 1
Dalchini (Cinnamon): 1 inch stick

Method:
1. Heat only 2 tsp oil in a pan, add laung & dalchini, then add pudina leaves and green chillies & saute for a minute. Then add the mashed potatoes, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, dhania powder, garam masala and mix well. Remove from fire.
2. Allow to cool. Now, remove the clove & cinnamon from the potato mixture.
3. Add bread crumbs, coriander leaves and mix well again.
4. Shape the tikkis into round or heart or tear-drop shapes, and deep fry until golden brown.



Serve hot with chilli sauce or tomato sauce.

DIWALI SPECIAL - MYSORE PAK

A pre-note:

Mysore Pak is said to be a tough recipe to learn. Some say its timing, some say it's the measure of ingredients etc etc.. and I tried to make it a lot of times too. Shobha ji & I were discussing about how to perfect this recipe but somehow, neither she nor I could ever come around to making it. This Diwali, I have been on a mithai-making mania (hee hee) and I told mom, let's us make more sweets but less quantity. So we took a Sunday off from cooking, requested Papa to order lunch from outside and we dove into our mithai making spree. (marathon? ;-))

The Mysore Pak was incidentally the best sweet to come out of our efforts. I was so apprehensive of the result that I did not take too many photos while making the recipe. But I will try to explain it as clearly as possible.

Ingredients:

Besan (Gram Flour): 1 cup

Sugar: 1 & half cups

Water: 1 cup (Make 1-thread consistency syrup)

Ghee: 1 an half to 2 cups (I used dalda)

Method:

1. Melt ghee & keep aside.

2. Heat 1 tbsp ghee (from the given qty) in a pan and roast besan in sim until raw smell goes away. Do not let it turn even light brown. It has to be the same color, only the smell goes away.

3. Keep aside.

4. Take sugar in the pan, add the water & boil until the consistency is of a thick 1-thread.

5. Add 1 tbsp ghee to it. Mix well.

6. Add 1 tbsp besan & see the froth coming up.

7. Add the entire qty of ghee now, mix well.

8. Add the entire qty of besan also, and mix both until everything is mixed up evenly and the mixture starts thickening visibly with bubbles.

9. At this stage, when the bubbles grow bigger and thicker, IMMEDIATELY TRANSFER THE CONTENTS INTO A GREASED THALI.

After it sets, you may cut it into cubes and serve.

The color keeps darkening even after transfering into thali. Thats y we musn't brown the besan while roasting.

The trick is to make sure that once it expands, it doesnt go down again. The other methods that tell u to add spoon-by-spoon of besan & ghee actually kill the whole purpose. The expansion has to be only once. As soon as it comes to its full height, its supposed to go onto the plate.

So all the best with this version of Mysore Pak!!

Happy Dhanteras!! Happy Diwali!!

May the diya of knowledge and good judgement light your life to bring in joys and contentment.