Tuesday, November 16, 2010

ALOO SABJI (Vrat ka Khana)


Ingredients:
Potatoes : 4-5
Cardamoms .. 2-3
Rock salt ....... to taste
Black pepper powder ... 1/4 tsp.
Ghee or oil

Method:
1. Boil the potatoes. Peel and cut into pieces.

2.In a pan heat a little ghee and add the crushed cardamoms.Now add the potato and salt. Stir well to blend and crush a few pieces of potato to make a thick gravy. Add a little water (depends on how much gravy you like) and simmer.
4. Sprinkle the crushed pepper and serve with puris or rotis made with the shingara flour or kuttu.

Latest Cooking Tips

Yesterday, on a public thoroughfare, I saw the boss of an enterprise, calling his employees and collegues to eat from a communal plate in a large circle.He fed them himself ,quite unselfconciously, if they were in the midst of work. Other colleagues continue to feed the men working, while exhorting them to leave it for a while and join in the meal.The gesture was one of such warmth, and inclusion, as an observer I found it was completely moving.
A good mutton biryani needs a number of spices. Outside the Shivaji Market here, there is a vendor of small packs of mixed whole spices just for biryani. So people who cannot afford to buy so many expensive spices in larger amounts, can buy just enough to make that special dinner.
Ingredients:
1.You do need 10 friends or family to help you eat this.
2..In a blender make a paste of the following
50 gms fresh ginger
1 large pod of garlic, peeled.
6 green chillies chopped
(250 gms of sliced raw papaya)
1 tablespoon salt
2 tsp chilli powder
Marinate 1 and 1/2 kg of mutton ( cut into fairly large pieces),along with the bones, in the paste for an hour or more while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3.Wash and soak 3/4 kg of rice for 30 minutes. Drain well. Measure and add water equivalent to one and a half times the amount of rice. Bring to the boil and cover tightly.Cook for exactly 15 minutes. Remove from fire.
4. 50 gms almonds blanch, peel and slice in slivers or make a paste
250 gms ghee or vegetable oil
1 kg onions sliced fine .
1 1/2 kg potatoes, washed, peeled and quartered.
5 pieces of whole cinnamon about 2" in length
1 tsp cardomom
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp peppercorns
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp shah jeera/ black cumin
2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp saffron, roasted and soaked in the juice of 1 lime.
1 tbsp of chopped fresh mint leaves.
1/2 kg tomatoes
400 gms dahi/yogurt
250 gms raisins or chopped dried apricots
5. Fry the onions in ghee till brown and crisp. Remove and crush three quarters of the onions, reserving the rest for garnish.
6. In the same ghee fry quartered potatoes till half done.Remove.
7. Now fry all the whole spices for a few seconds. Do not let them burn. Add the yogurt , the powdered spices and chopped mint (reserving a bit for the top) and mix well. Take off the heat.
8. Add the saffron lime juice, reserving a bit for the top layer of rice.Now add the mutton to the crushed onions, the spices , the yogurt ,saffron ,almond paste and chopped apricots (or raisins). Mix well.
9. In a well greased pot put a layer of the all marinated mutton. Add a layer of peeled and chopped tomatoes,and then a layer of potatoes.
10.Now cover these layers with the parboiled rice.Level the rice and then sprinkle the reserved saffron and lime juice,a tbsp of chopped mint, 2 chopped green chillies and the rest of the fried onions on top. Pour over the left over ghee. ( Some people add a mixture of yellow food colouring mixed in 2 tablespoons of water to get the characteristic yellow colour).
11.Cover tightly with a heavy lid or put a weight on top of a flat lid so that no steam escapes.Make a paste of 250 gms of wheat flour and water and seal the lid to the pot with this paste.
12. Cook on low heat for 2 hours or for 1/2 an hour in an oven at 400 degrees. Reduce heat to 275 degrees and cook for another hour.
Remove the wheat paste seal just before serving and dig deep into the dish while spreading out the rice and mutton.
It sounds complicated but it really is not. If you do not have some of the fussier ingredients go ahead anyway. In a biryani you never notice whats missing. You always feel blessed by what you have.



SABUDANA KHICHDI (Vrat ka Khana)


Today is Kartik Ekadashi and I am posting a few VRAT KA KHANA recipes. On the Vrat / fasting days people refrain themselves from the normal food like cereals and grains and restrict to fruits, milkproducts, peanuts,coconut, dishes made with sabudana (sago), makhanas and Kuttu or Shingara flour ( flour made from water chestnuts).Vegetables supposed to be eaten are potatoes and sweet potatoes. Ekadashi Vrat food is usually flavoured only with black pepper and rock salt. However some people like to add all the spice powders.You may add if you wish to.


SABUDANA KHICHDI

Ingredients:
Sabudana ....... 1 cup
Potato ............ 1
Cumin seeds .... 1 tsp
Peanuts ........ 1 tbsp.
Rock salt ...... to taste
Black / white pepper powder .. 1/2 tsp.
Lime juice or amchoor for flavouring.
Oil or ghee.
Coriander leaves for garnishing.
Method:
1. Soak the sabudana for 4-5 hours with just enough water to cover them.
2. Boil the potato and cut into small pieces.
3. Dry roast the peanuts and grind them coarsely.

4. In a pan heat a little oil. Add the cumin seeds,when they crackle add the potatoes, salt, amchoor powder and black pepper powder. Mix well.

5. Now add the soaked sabudana and keep stirring until cooked.(when it becomes translucent it is done. It takes only a minute ) Do not place the lid on the pan as the khichdi will become sticky.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
On the days you are not fasting you can make it as chatpata as you desire adding greenchillies and spices.

Recipe of the Week - Mexican Chili

I tried this recipe tonight and it was actually a hit with the hubby, which is sometimes hard to do! :) It's a great crock-pot recipe given to me by my Occupational Therapy Assistant student who has been with me at work. Hope you enjoy it!

Mexican Chili 

1 can of black beans (rinsed)
1 can of tomatoes with chilies 
1 can of corn or frozen corn
1-2 cans of vegetable of chicken broth
1 Tb of Mexican chili seasoning
I added: 1/2 pkg of vegetarian griller crumbles
You can also add: 1/2 onion
1 clove of garlic

Put all your ingredients in the crock pot. Put on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours. Stir occasionally. Enjoy!!

Be sure to link up your favorite recipes below and share with the rest of your blog friends!

OT Tip

This week I am going to give you ideas for age 0-2 to develop fine motor skills. As you will recall last time, I gave you a list of what are age appropriate fine motor skills for ages 0-6. Refer to this list if you need a refresher.

So some main things that you want to work on with your child this age is to work on grasping and letting go, turning objects in hand, stacking, threading, drawing with crayons, snapping, buttoning.

Some great times to work on fine motor skills is when your child is in their highchair or during bath time. When babies begin to start eating regular food, giving them small finger foods is a great way to develop their fine motor skills. In the bath, let them fill and empty various containers and spill water. This will encourage them to use their hands to explore things around them. You can use recycled yogurt containers or any small container that you have laying around your house!

Music is a great way to introduce new toys that rattle and noise makers that they can play with to the music. Blowing bubbles and letting them catch or pop them will also encourage them to use their hands.

For smaller infants who maybe aren't ready for these types of activities, tummy time is a great way to encourage using their hands. Stacking blocks, pushing blocks through holes, using rattles and noise toys, and encouraging them to pick up and hold things in their hands.

For more ideas check out this great article on The Baby Corner.



Disclaimer: I am a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. The advise in these tips is not a replacement for medical advise from a physician or your pediatrician. Please consult their advice if you suspect any medical or developmental issues with your child.   

Chicago Michelin guide retweeted

November 16

The big news in American fine dining today was, of course, the release of the first Michelin guide for Chicago restaurants. 

If you were awarded a star, heartfelt congratulations. If you weren’t, remember, it’s just a guide book by a tire company.

Being the branché hep cat that I am, I had my TweetDeck up and followed yesterday’s apparent leaking to Yelp of the list of restaurants anointed with stars and today’s reaction by its winners.

There’s not much more to say than that, except that one of the two three-star restaurants, L20, recently lost its chef, although perhaps just temporarily, making the brand new book already a bit obsolete. People who know the Chicago restaurant scene much better than I are already doing their analysis, and will likely pillory it the way it was pilloried in New York and San Francisco. 

I think I’ll just let the chefs speak for themselves, as they did through their twitter accounts.

Paul Kahan, whose restaurant Blackbird got a star, but his restaurant Avec did not:

Avec?

@Paul Kahan
In the begining, they didn't understand the clash either. Avec rules.

Curtis Duffy, whose restaurant Avenues got two stars:

Feeling for the Michelin Release on Wednesday: excited, enlivened,psyched, edgy, anxious, restless,tense! What will it be?

It's official Avenues gets 2 Michelin Stars! Thank you to my team from the past and the present! Amazing!

Grant Achatz, whos restaurant Alinea got three stars:

What does it mean when Jean Luc Naret films NBC news show from your dining room on the morning of the release? I guess we will find out...

True??? How do they deal with chef Gras' departure? http://tinyurl.com/2b239xz

Graham Elliot Bowles, whose restaurant graham elliot got a star:

My name may be on the door but this star belongs to the GE team. From chef de cuisine to dishwasher, sommelier to busser...job well done XO

@grahamelliot graham elliot
Congrats!! Official 2010 Chicago Michelin-Starred Restaurants http://bit.ly/9cgSfK

@grahamelliot graham elliot
Graham Elliot Spoofs Jean-Luc Naret on His Voicemail eater.cc/akYZrb via @EaterChicago

NoMI restaurant, which got a star:
Thank You! We are very excited! RT @Audarshia CONGRATS to @NoMIChicago for its one star @MichelinGuidechi!

RT @JLynnePR Wish I had more than 140 characters to recognize all of the @MichelinGuideCH honorees - Congrats to all. Chicago is very proud.

Congrats to all! RT @ChicagoCVBPR Congrats to Blackbird, Boka, NoMi, Seasons, Sixteen, Spiaggia, Topolobampo, Tru, Vie, NAHA for a star!
  
Carrie Nahabedian, whose restaurant NAHA got a star:

Michelin Guide Chicago winners appear to have been leaked | Consumer | Crain's Chicago Business shar.es/0N3vK

Great 10year anniversary gift. A Michelin star and a phone call! Congrats to all our friends, it is such an honor. LOVE our NAHA staff! Xox

I've been tough on Charlie Trotter over the years, but most of these Michelin stars don't exist without him and Jean Banchet. Bravo.

is having a glass of Champagne.

The usually twitter-loquacious Rick Bayless, whose Topolobampo got a Michelin Star, and which also recently got a three-star certification from the Green Restaurant Association, actually was pretty succinct: 

Thanks!! T @GreenChicago: A Michelin Star AND Guaranteed Green - CONGRATULATIONS @619blackbird and @Rick_Bayless!!!

Thanks to all of you who've sent your congratulations on Topolobampo's star from Michelin. Needless to say, our staff is really proud!!

 And finally Paul Virant, whose restaurant Vie got a star.

Alright, Facebook friends! It's official!! Chef Paul Virant just received the good news: Vie has been awarded a... http://fb.me/Es8uaWlH

We're so excited to be included in the very first Michelin Guide for Chicago! http://fb.me/Er5p7wAM

We knew our staff was the best, but it's nice to know that others agree! Congrats to the whole crew on the... http://fb.me/Leht3we3

What do you say? Chef Paul Virant for Mayor of Western Springs??

RT@alpanasingh Alpana Singh
@jarstarvie I worked w/Paul and would 2nd that! One of the nicest, most thoughtful human beings put on this earth. Whole family is great.

RT@ChicagoBites Chicago Bites
[Post] Michelin: Comparing ratings from around the Web http://bit.ly/co5TVK

@jarstarvie Paul Virant
If you're interested in buying the Michelin Guide, it will be available 11/18. http://fb.me/AVKGNipC

And for the record, the winners:

Three stars:
Alinea
L2O

Two stars:
Avenues
Charlie Trotter’s
Ria

One star:
Blackbird

Boka

Bonsoirée
Crofton on Wells

Everest

graham elliot

Longman & Eagle

NAHA

NoMI

Schwa

Seasons

Sepia
Sixteen
Spiaggia
Takashi
Topolobampo
Tru
Vie








Welcome to Murcia! (part I)


So, I'm bak from Murcia! It's been a GORGEOUS weekend. I've met lots of awesome people and have a lovely time with my friends. We played the lolita-zombie all the time (moving like a zombie but dressed like a Lolita) and danced while we were working!




Our trip begun last wednesday, when Den picked us up to Murcia.

T-shirt - Pull & Bear
Cardigan - Zara
Skirt - Sonia Rykiel pour H&M
Tights - H&M
Shoes - Secret Shop

After a hard day working, on Friday we opened the manga convention... and it was so much better of what we had thought!
Vane and Jani, my two mates on the stand!

Early in the morning, the Tv appeared and made me an interview about japanese fashion... and I put a pink cardigan with bunny ears to the reporter!

Then we met Miki, a lovely gal, and lots of people... like Pyramid Head, Axel Roses and Slash, a Silent Hill Nurse, Obama... 
Yes, there was a lovely girl inside the Police Cabin!

but the best ones for me were Jorge, the lovely Madhatter who was such the cutest boy I've ever seen; and all the main characters from Sandman, my favourite comic... I almost cried when I saw them!!


This last picture is from the moment I saw my beloved friend Oct... oh, my, such a cute friday!!


And you, did you had a good weekend? What did you do?

Spicy Caribbean Rum and Pineapple Braised Chicken


This is a dish which first came about when I began wondering why rum is most often used only in the preparation of puddings/desserts. I started thinking about how I could incorporate it in a main course dish and first prepared something like this as a casserole in the oven, where I used whole pieces of chicken, i.e. legs and thighs. I did not use the honey or the chilli pepper on that occasion but the dish was so delicious, I decided to try to develop it and make it a little bit quicker to cook at the same time.

This dish is moderately spicy, so if you do not like spicy food, simply omit the chilli pepper, or remove and discard the seeds and membrane.


Ingredients to Serve Two

1/2 lb filleted chicken breast meat
1 medium onion
1 8oz can pineapple pieces in pineapple juice
3 fl oz Caribbean Dark Rum
1 pint fresh chicken stock
1 tbsp clear honey
1 small red chilli pepper
1 clove of garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp cornflour (corn starch)
1 medium tomato
2 basil leaves and two small basil sprigs

4oz basmati rice

Method

The chicken breast should be chopped in to bite sized pieces. The onion should be peeled and quartered, the chilli pepper finely chopped and the garlic clove peeled to be later grated in to the pot.

The honey should be placed in to a large pot and brought up to a moderate to high heat. I am basically sealing the chicken meat in the honey by adding it alone in the first instance. The honey will not seal it so well as oil would but neither will it create oily residue nor crisp parts of the chicken.

The chicken should be stirred around in the honey with a wooden spoon over a high heat until it turns opaque. The onion and chilli should then be added and stirred around before the pineapple and juice, chicken stock and rum are added in that order. (Safety Note: Do not add the rum first - we are not trying to flambe, nor to set the kitchen on fire!) The garlic should be grated in at this point and the heat turned up high to bring the mixture to a simmer. The heat should then be reduced to low, the lid placed on the pot and the dish left to cook for thirty minutes.


When the chicken dish has been simmering for half an hour, it is time to start the rice. The rice should be placed in a sieve and washed under running cold water to remove the excess starch. It should then be added to a pot of boiling, lightly salted water and stirred firmly for a few seconds, then left to simmer for ten to twelve minutes.

When the rice has started cooking, the cornflour should be mixed in to a paste in a small bowl with a little cold water, before being added to the chicken broth. This will serve to help thicken the remaining liquid. The tomato should be cut in to six or eight pieces and also added, along with one of the basil leaves, roughly torn. They should all be stirred through before the heat is turned off and the pot is covered and left alone until the rice is ready.

When the rice has been drained through a sieve, it can be simply spooned on to the plate. I like, however, to line a small bowl with clingfilm, pack the rice inside and then upend this on to the plate. The bowl should lift free fairly easily and the clingfilm can be peeled away.

The Spicy Rum and Pineapple Braised Chicken can then be spooned around the rice. The remaining basil leaf should be torn to garnish the chicken and the two basil sprigs used as a garnish for the rice.

Martha's Scalloped Potatoes

  
   

Where do we put Martha Stewart in the Pantheon of chefs?  In our modern era of haute cuisine we may not think of her with Ripert, Ducasse or Keller.  In our current age of celebrity chefs we may not think of her with Batali, Flay or DeLaurentiis.  But there should be no doubt that she deserves a place in the Pantheon, to carry the metaphor, as one of the 12 Olympians of modern cooking.  Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades she may not be, but we can note that Dionysus, also one of the Olympians, is the god of wine, festivals and celebration.  We should also remember that not only has Martha been authoring cookbooks for a long time, one reason we may no longer think of her has a chef is her success in creating and diversifying her home living brand.  What’s more, Martha has been working many of our current themes for years: seasonal eating; healthy, fresh, simple ingredients; and simple mid-week meal menus.  Her cookbook What to Have for Dinner: 32 Easy Menus for Every Night of the Week published in 1996 does this to the nines.  This recipe for gratin potatoes is my go-to potato accompaniment for lamb chops.  It avoids the fat and calories of heavy cream and butter-based gratins.  Yet, it is still full of flavor with its use of stock, herbs and Gruyere.  Make it part of your fall and winter menus.  Serves 2.
   
Ingredients:
3 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced to 1/8 inch thickness
1/3 cup grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 tsp olive oil
¼ tsp dried thyme leaves
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup chicken stock
   
Directions:
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.  Butter a small baking dish.  In a mixing bowl, combine the potatoes, half of the cheese, oil thyme and salt.  Arrange the potatoes in the baking dish, overlapping flat if desired.  Pour the stock over the potatoes and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.  Bake the potatoes until tender and starting to brown, about 45 minutes.
   

Mrs O's Apple Pie


try this one: you'll like it
Autumn is  a nostalgic time with the nights drawing in, leaves falling from the trees. But it is also the season for apples and for pies, and here we have both in one. This recipe is a real star, passed on to me by my dear friend Lyn who acquired it oh so long ago from her Turkish mother-in-law, the redoubtable Mrs O, and I have made it innumerable times. The family name was a difficult one so for all of us greenhorn gelins or brides, Mrs O was always known and referred to as Mrs O – just not to her face! But she was one of those truly great Turkish cooks and really knew what was what in the kitchen. The only thing was that like all those of her generation, she was used to giving her measurements Turkish-style in glasses, but Lyn managed to adapt this one in such a way we could cope and in fact, it is easy.
But I've just learned something new: according to Sibel, Mrs O’s granddaughter who was visiting Istanbul from London recently with her new baby, it actually came from none other than Zsa Zsa Gabor. This sounds incredible but it seems that she was briefly married to a Turk and lived in Ankara, where her teaparty circuit obviously crossed with Mrs O’s. So here is a Hungarian recipe with Turkish overtones that actually, whatever the origin, everybody always loves:
Ingredients for Mrs O’s Apple/Elma Pie
3 cups plain flour
2 eggs (1 ½  in pie, yolk of second on top)
1 coffee spoon Baking Powder/kabartma tozu
¾ packet/180g butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
Cinnamon/tarçin (pron: tar-chin)
3 big, tart apples
Method
§  Heat the oven to 350F/180C.
§  Grease and flour a 8-9 inch/20-22cm round tin. Mine was 8 ½ in.
§  Separate one of the eggs, reserving the yolk to glaze the top of the pie.



§  Peel, core and slice apples quite thinly and put into a saucepan with a little sugar and water (depending on how sour and juicy your apples are). Cook over gentle heat till they turn yellow. Stir from time to time. Cool.


§  In a large bowl, sieve the flour and add the butter cut into small pieces. Make a well in the centre and add the 1 ½ eggs, Baking Powder, sugar, and mix with your hands to make the pastry. Divide into two, one for the top layer, one for the bottom. The bottom piece will be a little bigger.

a lovely easy-to-work-with dough


§  Now, on a floured surface, gently roll out each piece. The beauty of it is that you can use your fingers if you like.  Place the larger piece in the prepared tin and push round the edges. Spread the cooled apple slices over it and sprinkle with a little cinnamon. Then place the remaining layer of pastry on top. There shouldn’t be any gaps round the side of the tin, the apple should be covered.

the heart of the pie: apple and cinnnamon
§  Brush the remaining yolk all over the top of the pie with either a pastry brush or the back of a spoon, and sprinkle with chopped nuts. Put in the centre of your pre-heated oven and bake for 45 minutes. It will rise and turn a beautiful shade of brown. Also the smell from the oven will be most enticing!
§  Run a knife round the edges before turning out of the tin to cool on a baking rack. Can be served as a dessert, especially if warm from the oven, with whipped cream.
Thanks Mrs O and Zsa Zsa!

Tips
1.       I find apples in Turkey disappointing in terms of variety as there are very few. EkÅŸi elma or cooking apples, seem to have all but disappeared. EkÅŸi means sour. Today at Ezine Pazarı I bought some firm red apples which do look good and were described as mayhoÅŸ (pron: my-hosh) Apparently the taste is tart as opposed to sour. But the elma I buy now in Istanbul are a new variety called Fuji. They are nice eating apples and cook well too.
2.       I remember serving this pie as dessert once in Yeniköy, where we used to live. The electricity went off as was its wont in those days, and somehow in the dark, this little elma pie tasted positively ambrosial!
versatile apples