SrishtiFood

Tom-Yum (Thai Hot & Sour Soup)

2010-12-30T13:22:00.000-08:00

I have to say, that a good "Tom-Yum" has to be just the best soup in world!

Especially when you are under the weather in any way of saying...
This is the view outside my window as I am typing this.

This is my version which I have been playing with and perfecting for quite some time, but have been too lazy to post ;)
It's very simple to prepare... if you have ginger garlic onions and a few veggies in your fridge, you have everything you need!

Ingredients:
2-3 Quarts Good vegetable stock (you can just use water if you don't have stock on hand)
14 cloves or more garlic minced (For me it's not possible to have too much ginger & garlic in this soup)
2- 2 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger minced
1 medium onion or more sliced
5-6 big mushrooms sliced
3-4 slicks of celery sliced
4-5 dried shiitake mushrooms broken up into smaller pieces (optional)
a few slices or fresh or dried galangal- Thai Ginger (absolutely optional)
Sambal Oelek Chili paste/fresh green chilies/dried red chili pods/cayenne powder
salt
Lemon juice
2-3 carrots Sliced
Broccoli
Any other vegetables that you have on hand
Cilantro as a garnish (optional)

Method:

In a large pot bring the stock to a boil and add ginger, garlic, onions, mushrooms, celery, chili paste, salt. Let this come to a boil again and cover it and simmer for at least half an hour.

Taste for salt and chili. Add juice of one lemon (more or less) according to your taste).

Have all your veggies prepared like carrots, broccoli, etc.

Bring the soup to a boil, Add all the veggies, take the heat off the pot right away and put the lid on for at least 5 minutes.
These veggies will get slightly cooked int he hot broth and still remain slightly crunchy.

Enjoy it hot and steamy after the veggies have steeped in the hot soup for 5 minutes.

Cooking with Kids...

2010-05-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

Esther, my dear sister-in-law gave this really great cookbook Honest Pretzels to the kids for Christmas this last year. It is really really good! With very neat illustrated kids recipes. We finally decided to "use" it for real!

Himanshu washed and cut a bunch of salad...

And Kiki made stickey buns!!! ::D Yummy!

What a fun day!!!!! :D

Green Soup with Ginger

2010-05-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

A very nice soup for cool days! I loved it so much that I have made it twice already this week, given the cold rainy days that we are having!

1 large onion chopped
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
10cups approx good vegetable stock
3tbs of grated ginger or more to taste
1 large leek
3-4 carrots (or sweet potatoes)
4-5 stalk of collard
3-4 stalks of red chard
1/2 a bunch of spinach
salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice to taste.

You can use any combination of greens in this soup.

In a shallow pan add the onions and olive oil with a light sprinkle of salt and cook on low heat for about 1/2 an hour or until the onion are light brown, stirring occasionally. Don't let them burn.

In a large pot add the broth, leeks, collards, chard and bring it to a boil. Add salt and pepper.
Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until all the vegetables are done.

When the onions are done, add them to the pot with the soup. Add lemon juice according to your taste and adjust the salt.

Throw some fresh spinach in each bowl of soup right before serving and serve piping hot with warm crusty whole grain - preferably sourdough- bread!

This recipe is adapted from Love Soup by Anna Thomas.
Serves 5-6.

Mustard

2009-08-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

Homemade mustard is so good and sooooo easy that once you make it, you'll never want to buy it again. The best part is that you can make endless variations and flavours of mustard.

There are two kinds of mustard seeds that can be found at a health food store/online. I bought mine at mountainroseherbs.com.
These are:
The Yellow seeds (milder)
brown or black seeds (spicier than the yellow ones)

The "Chemistry" behind:
Mustard seeds aren't hot, and neither is mustard powder. But when the crushed seeds or powder is mixed with cold water, a chemical reaction occurs as the seeds' cells release enzymes and other compounds that create the pungency. Within ten to fifteen minutes it will reach its peak pungency, from where it will start to decline. At this point an acidic ingredient, such as grape juice, lemon or lime juice, vinegar, beer, cider or wine is added to stabilise the pungency and stop it in its tracks. If you were to add a hot liquid to the paste, the enzymes creating the hot taste will be destroyed. Once the essential oils have formed, other ingredients can be added to enhance the taste, such as salt, honey, sugar, pepper corns, tarragon, turmeric (for colour), garlic, pepper, dill, paprika, chillies, thyme, etc.

A basic rule in mustard making is to avoid contact between the mustard paste and aluminium. Vinegar, wine or other acidic materials can leach metal molecules from aluminium pans, so use only plastic, glass, enamelled or stainless steel utensils for making your mustards. For storage and ageing of mustards, use only sterilised glass jars with tight fitting plastic or enamelled-lined lids.

Spicy Mustard

2 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 1/2 Tbsp water

Grind the mustard seeds into a powder with a spice grinder.

Mix hte above 3 ingredients into a thick paste and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Now to this add the following spices:

1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
2 Tsp apple cider vinegar (or any of your favorite vinegar: white vinegar, white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar)

Add some more vinegar if you want a thinner mustard.
Fill this up in a glass jar and let sit out of the fridge for at least a week before eating.

Sweet mustard
2 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 1/2 Tbsp water
Grind the mustard seeds into a powder with a spice grinder.
Mix the above 2 ingredients into a thick paste and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

Add about
1/4 tsp salt
1Tbsp or more honey
Enough apple cider vinegar to make the desired consistence vinegar.
Add some more vinegar if you want a thinner mustard.
Fill this up in a glass jar and let sit out of the fridge for at least a week before eating.

Play around with various herbs and spices, fruit juice concentrates etc. and be creative.
And have fun!
Enjoy!

Vietnamese Crepes

2009-08-08T16:01:00.000-07:00

These are awesome....

Ingredients for crepe batter:

1 3/4 cups short grain brown rice ground into flour
1/4 cup spelt ground into flour
2 cans of coconut milk
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 T honey
2 scallions thinly sliced into rings
1/2 cup of finely chopper cilantro
2 T olive oil (or any oil of your choice)
1 tsp sea salt
black pepper to taste, freshly ground
enough water to make a crepe like batter

Mix the batter up and let it sit on the counter for an hour.

Heat a skillet on medium heat.
Add a few drops of oil and spread it evenly.

Now pour about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the batter on the skillet and spread it around by either tilting the skillet around or spread it with the bottom of the measuring cup.

Let it cook until it's getting golden brown on the bottom. Then flip it and cook it on the other side for about 10 seconds.

And now it's time to be creative with the fillings...
You can make a simple stir fry...
Add ginger and garlic to a wok and stir fry any or all of these:
green beans (already steamed)
turnips
summer squashes
tofu
dried shiitake mushrooms
kale/collard
carrots

or anything else that you prefer...

Now have a huge selection of salad greens and herbs...
Here I have

Spinach

Lettuce

Cilantro

Basil

Mint

To arrange the Crepes, Get a "fresh-off-the-skillet" Crepe.

Add some stir fry on one side.
Add the herbs on top.

Fold it in half and serve with lots of Lettuce etc.

To eat, break a piece of the crepe with the herbs and veggies. Wrap this piece in a piece of lettuce and dip it in a dipping sauce. Savor the flavor with every incredible bite of it...!

For a dipping sauce, in a food processor, I combined a clove of fresh garlic, just a little bit of apple cider vinegar, honey, and just a pinch (or more) of cayenne. Process it until and add some more vinegar to get the consistency and taste you like.
(Next time I make this, I'll try to be more scientific about this recipe and measure things out! ;)

Asparagus & Leek Soup - with an Indian Flair

2009-02-19T17:07:00.000-08:00

I just had to tweak this recipe and the result was surprisingly delicious!

3 tablespoons of butter
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 leeks halved lengthwise, washed thoroughly and chopped (use both white and green parts)
3 big garlic cloves chopped
2 lbs of asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces
About 32 oz of vegetable broth
a pinch of cayenne pepper (mine is the super duper hot kind, so a pinch is all I needed, but you might want to add more.)
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, heat the butter over medium-high heat.
As the butter starts melting, add the cumin seeds.
Continue stirring and don't let the seeds burn.
When the seeds are getting nice golden brown, add the leeks and the garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add the asparagus and cook for another 1 minute.

Add the cayenne, black pepper and salt and stir again for 5-10 seconds.

Now add the broth to the pot, then bring to a boil.

Lower heat, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the asparagus is tender.

Blend soup in batches in a blender/food processor until smooth. (Be careful if your blender is plastic, let the soup cool down first before adding to the plastic jar.) I used my Stainless steel Vitamix.

I had the plan to add some yogurt and garnish with cilantro after this stage, but it was so delicious that I stopped here!

Maybe next time :)

Enjoy!!!

Vegetable Broth

2009-02-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

We do a lot of fruit and vegetable juicing.

And we HATE throwing food away.

When we heavily got into juicing, we always were hating to throw away all the left-over pulp.

I tried all kinds of things to do with the pulp.... from baking to making burgers!

But nothing turned out good... :(

Then we started making broth out of it! Instead of spending $3-4 for 32oz of broth... what we do is put all the pulp in a big pot with lots of water, bring it to a boil, and simmer it for an hour. It make delicious fresh broth!

Filter it through a strainer.

Either use it right away or fill up in jars and stich it in the fridge. Use it within a week. If you wanted to, you could even can it!

Do not add any fruit pulp. Only vaeggie pulp, otherwise it's too sweet.

Carrots, celery, turnips, even some beet.... whatever you can think of!

Know-Hows of Baking Bread at Home

2009-02-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

This is the sourdpough bread I make regularly. Follow the "stretch and fold" and shaping videos closely.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/4737/finally-100-whole-grain-hearth-bread-i039m-proud

Very good video to watch and learn the procedure from.
http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/free/baguette.html

A good video tutorial for shaping a sandwich bread which I will be adding later:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/2461/video-tutorial-shaping-sandwich-loaf

There seems to be a lot of info on scoring here, though I haven't had a chance to go through the article yet. There are some videos on the bottom as well
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10121/bread-scoring-tutorial-updated-122009

Here are the search results for "video" grom the fresh loaf:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/keyword/video

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/searchresults?cx=partner-pub-5060446827351852%3A9bvu1n-clx1&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=ISO-8859-1&cow=video#914

Lots of good videos!

Gari (Japanese pickled ginger)

2009-02-03T21:33:00.000-08:00

This pickled ginger is specially unbeatable with nori rolls. We used to buy this at asian stores year and years ago, but soon came to realize that these are mostly packed with sugar and food coloring and consequently we stopped buying it. Then recently I thought whynot make it at home?!!!

You need Ginger. The freshest and the tenderest you can find, the better. Usually new/baby ginger is better, but I usually make it with normally found ginger and it works great!

Slice the ginger as thin as possible! If you hve a 1 or 2 mm thin slicer in your food processor, use that. If not use a knife to cut it into super thin slices.

Now put his in a small container with a tight lid.

Fill it up with Apple cider vinegar to the top of ginger.

I also used to use some brown rice vinegar and some Mirin (rice cooking wine). You may also, if you want to experiment! These days I just use Apple-cidr vinegar.
The good thing is, it's ready to eat right away with noris. And it will keep almost 20-30 days in the fridge. The longer it sits the milder it will get.

Vegetarian Nori Rolls

2009-02-03T20:50:00.000-08:00

I have heard people complain how hard it is to make nori rolls/sushi at home... And always wondered what their problem was.
Perhaps they use special sushi rice and mix in all kinds of sugary/vinegary sauces in the rice.. (I really don't know!)

We make these at least once or twice a week.
They really are easy to make. A fast, nutritious and satiating food.

We always just use organic short grain brown rice. 1 part rice to 2 parts water. Bring it to a boil, keep covered, and then turn it down to low heat until all the water is soaked up. It's ready in less than 45 minutes!
We always have nori sheets at home. These are easily and cheaply available at any asian grocery store. If you are as unlucky as me to not have any in your town, ebay is the place to find them!

You need to assemble the nori as soon as rice is done. The rice needs to be hot.
Lay down a nori sheet on a cutting board, smooth - shiny side down.

Put lots of rice towards one end of the sheet (as much as you think you can roll up.) I would say almost half cup or even more... I didn't measure it, but you can kind-of guess from the picture.
Avocadoes are really awesome in nori rolls. Other eqally good options are: thin slices of cucumber, Spinach, sunflower sprouts... The possibilities are endless!

Now starting from the side which has more rice (upper side in the picture,) start rolling up the nori as tight as you can.

Let it sit seam-side down while you assemble the rest. The steam from the hot rice will glue the seam of the nori sheet up.

When they are all done, with a long serrated knife ( a bread knife works good for me, you have to see which one of your knife works for you,) cut them into thin slices that are about an inch (or less) thick.

Some of my favourite things to serve with sushi are:

soy sauce
Ume boshi vinegar
Fresh horse-radish root finely grated and soaked in apple-cider vinegar.

Wasabi (the japanese horeradish which can be dried powder form and can be rehydrated anytime to make a fiery green paste.)

And the very favorite is Homemade Gari(japanese pickled ginger)

So good!

Bread Lessons - Sourdough Starter- Step-by-Step Finish

2009-02-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

This is how the starter looked at the end of the 6th day... just after a few hours of some warmth!

Today I already used it for baking bread and it turned out excellent! The starter is really bubbling and active! Very healthy indeed :D

According to sourdolady:

Once your wild yeast is growing, the character and flavor will improve if you continue to give it daily feedings and keep it at room temperature for a couple of weeks longer.
After that time, it should be kept in the refrigerator between uses/feedings.

I will be making two more batches of bread this week using this new starter so it will get a lot of feedings.

Bread Lessons - Sourdough Starter: Step-by-Step (Day 4-5- on onwards)

2009-02-01T12:35:00.000-08:00

My starter is not looking any more exciting. Just a few little bubbles. I have moved it to a warmer location... Let's see what happens. My kitchen is quite cold.
Sourdolady says:
"Repeat Day 4 once daily until -
the mixture starts to expand and smell yeasty. It is not unusual for the mixture to get very bubbly around Day 3 or 4 and then go completely flat and appear dead. If the mixture does not start to grow again by Day 6, add 1/4 tsp. apple cider vinegar with the daily feeding. This will lower the pH level a bit more and it should wake up the yeast."
So I will add some Apple Cider vinegar and hopefully the warmth with help a bit!
I have my fingers crossed.
Also I would say that adding the fenugreek & cumin seeds didn't really help. Also it would be better to crush them in a mortar next time, as they started sprouting in my starter :O ;)

Bread Lessons - Sourdough Starter: Step-by-Step (Day 5)

2009-01-31T14:20:00.000-08:00

The First Signs of Life!

Yesterday evening I really noticed that the starter "slurry" was too wet. I added another quarter cup of flour to it to make the consistency like a pancake batter, before it was like a crepe batter! ;)

And by the night time I saw the first signs of life... little bubbles!

This is how it looked this morning:

It's alive!!!

IMPORTANT: At this stage it you will get a whiff of it that is so nasty that you might want to toss it down the drain! :O STOP don't do that. Eventually the good guys will win. When the starer is ready it will have more of a fermenty smell, which might repel you too. But you'll get used to it soon.

Day 5
Again I saved a 1/4 c of this and discarded the rest.
Added 1/4 c of flour and less than 1/4 of flour (to make a panacake like batter.)

And let it sit again on the kitchen counter for the next 24 hours; stir it a few times.

Bread Lessons - Sourdough Starter: Step-by-Step (Day 4)

2009-01-30T09:55:00.000-08:00

No life yet :(

Anyway,

Day 4

Today I took out 1/4 cup of the previous day's starter out and discarded the rest.

Then to this I added 1/4 cup of wholemeal flour and

1/4 cup of water and mixed it up well.
Make sure the water is not straight out of the tap (chlorinated!) Use bottled or spring water. Failing that boil some water and let it sit till cool to evaporate all the chlorine away.

Hopefully the yeasties will catch on soon....

Bread Lessons - Sourdough Starter: Step-by-Step (Day 3)

2009-01-29T14:24:00.000-08:00

Day 3

2Tbsp wholemeal flour
2 Tbsp OJ
Same thing... Add it to previous day's batter, stir briskly and let it sit at room temperature. Remember to keep stirring whwnever you remember,

It doesn't look any different today... :(
Hopefully it will start bubbling soon.

Bread Lessons - Sourdough Starter: Step-by-Step (Day 2)

2009-01-28T16:16:00.001-08:00

No activity noticed this morning! But that is normal.

Day 2
2Tbsp fresh wholemeal flour
2Tbsp fresh orange juice

Mix it to the previous day's batter. This is how it looked:
Not much different, I know.

Again, stir briskly this batter at least 3 times a day to beat in as much Oxygen as possible. Keep it at room temperature.

Bread Lessons - Sourdough Starter: Step-by-Step (Day 1)

2009-01-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

It's a funny thing... After I bagan compiling these bread tutorial links for my blog, I felt that my own starter had started to look pretty aweful! It didn't perform at all when I used it two days ago!!!! I have tried to revive it the last couple of days (and it actually has come back stronger than ever!) but just to be on the safe side, I started a brand spanking new starter yesterday. I have learnt a lot in the past couple years of sourdough baking and hopefully I will have a bubbling and bursting with life starter in a few days!!!! :D

I have learnt from various sources that fenugreek seeds and cumin aid in help capture wild the wild yeast! This is what I want to experiment with this time. I am sure it will turn out fine without these seeds too as mine have in the past...

Day 1

2Tbsp fresh wholemeal flour (I am using spelt)

2Tbsp fresh orange juice

1/2 tsp each of fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds. (optional. This is totally experimental!)

Always buy your seeds and spices from the bulk section in the health food depatment if possible, specially for this purpose. The ones pre-packed in jars have been radiated and thus do not contain the much desired wild yeast on their surface.

Stir this mixture up thouroughly and cover it with some lid or serran wrap but never an airtight lid!. Let it sit on the kitchen counter at room temperature

It's very-very important to stir the starter briskly for a minute or two to stir in a lot of oxygen in the dough. Do this at least 3 times a day or as much as you can remember.

You could just buy freshly milled flour at the health food store and it would work just as well. The wild yeast is on the grains and you just need to provide the right conditons to wake it up.

Fenugreek seeds left

Cumin seeds right

The wild yeast we are trying to cature and utilize will become active when the environment is right. Mixing flour and water will give yo a neutral pH while the yeasts like it a bit on the acid side. That is why we are adding the acidic fruit juice. There are also some other microbes in the flour that like neutral pH. So by adding the orange juice we are making sure that only the desides yeasts and the lactobacillus will thrive. A war between the good and the evil is about to tae place in tha small container and only the strongest will surive. So we want to make sure that the environment is just right for wild yeast to win! The length of time it takes for this to happen varies.

Bread Lessons - Sourdough Starter

2009-01-24T16:26:00.001-08:00

What is this starter / natural levain / natural leaven / wild yeast / sourdough?
Leavening itself is the process of "raising" the bread for it to become spongy/soft. This is brought about by CO2 (carbon dioxide) trapped in the dough. Various agents are utilized to generate this CO2 for us.

Baking soda/powder. This is just a chemical Na2CO3 (sodium bicarbonate) which when either combined with acid or brought to a certain temperature in your oven starts bubbling by breaking down and producing CO2. This mixed in the dough when baking gets trapped in the dough and expands the dough thus raising it.
Commercial Yeast. This is the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species of yeast which is cultured and is commonly available in granular form as Active Dry Yeast or Instant Yeast. Also available as Compressed yeast/Cake yeast. This kind of yeast when hydrated gets active and starts to eat the sugar in the flour and starts "farting" CO2! ;) Very desirable farts indeed!!!
Wild Yeast. A sourdough starter is a stable symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast present in a mixture of flour and water. The yeasts Candida milleri or Saccharomyces exiguus usually populate sourdough cultures symbiotically with lactobacillus bacteria. The "farts" of the yeast are utilized the same way as above. So, in other words, sourdough refers to the process of leavening bread by capturing wild yeasts in a dough or batter, as opposed to using a commercial yeast.

So what is so much better about sourdough?

Sourdough likely originated in Ancient Egyptian times around 1500BC, and was likely the first form of leavening available to bakers. Sourdough remained the usual form of leavening down into the European Middle Ages.

The symbitic culture of lactobacilli and wild yeasts in the sourdough, give a distinctively tangy or sour taste (hence its name), due mainly to the lactic acid and acetic acid produced by the lactobacilli. I can literally eat sourdough bread all day long and not feel too "breaded out!" It somehow feels gentler on the stomach and guts and healthier compared to if I make bread using commercial yeast. But most importantly it's the taste and the aroma that I love!

Sourdough bread is made by using a small amount of the starter dough, which contains the yeast culture, and mixing it with new flour and water. A small part of the starter dough is saved for the next batch of baking bread and is fed on flour and water and goes in the fridge to slow down it's consumption of the food on the flour until the next bread baking day (which shouldn't be more than a week away.)

As long as the starter is fed flour and water daily, the sourdough mixture can stay in room temperature indefinitely and remain healthy and usable. It is not uncommon for a baker's starter to have years of history, from many hundreds of previous batches. As a result, each bakery's sourdough has a distinct taste. The combination of starter, yeast culture and air temperature, humidity, and elevation also makes each batch of sourdough different.

A fresh culture begins with a mixture of flour and water. Fresh flour naturally contains a wide variety of yeast and bacteria spores. When wheat flour contacts water, naturally-occurring amylase enzymes break down the starch into complex sugars (sucrose and maltose); maltase converts the sugars into glucose and fructose that yeast can metabolize. The lactobacteria feed mostly on the metabolism products from the yeast. The mixture develops a balanced, symbiotic culture after repeated feedings.

These symbitic starter cultures are very stable due to their ability to prevent colonization by other yeasts and bacteria as a result of their acidity and other anti-bacterial agents. As a result, many sourdough bread varieties tend to be relatively resistant to spoilage and mold.

The yeast and bacteria in the culture will cause a wheat-based dough, whose gluten has been developed sufficiently to retain gas, to leaven or rise. Obtaining a satisfactory rise from sourdough, however, is more difficult than with packaged yeast, because the lactobacteria almost always outnumber the yeasts by a factor of between 100 and 1000, and the acidity of the bacteria inhibit the yeasts' gas production. The acidic conditions, along with the fact that the bacteria also produce enzymes which break down proteins, result in weaker gluten, and a denser finished product.

There are several ways to increase the chances of creating a stable culture.

Always use freshly ground whole-grain flour (wheat/rye/spelt) to make the starter.
Use unclorinated water.
Some people also use water from washing the skins of grapes/plums etc. (due to the wild yeast found on the skins of these fruits.)
I have learnt from various sources that fenugreek seeds and cumin aid in help capture wild the wild yeast! This is what I want to experiment with this time. I am sure it will turn out fine without these seeds too as mine have in the past...

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Here are some starter tutorials... It will take 6-7 days to get your starter ready and performing! So get going :)

Sourdolady's starter: This is the method I followed for making my starter, except that I kept it whole grain/whole wheat throughout and didn't switch to white/All purpose midway through. An excellent tutorial.
It's very-very important to stir the starter briskly for a minute or two to stir in a lot of oxygen in the dough.

Another great Sourdough starter tutorial using rye, but again I would just keep to 100% whole grains.

Some more good articles:

When Yeasts Attack: A First Experience with Naturally Leavened Bread
More about Sourdough

Bread Lessons - Baking Bread at Home!

2009-01-24T15:44:00.000-08:00

Internet and books have been my teachers in a lot of areas of my life, including art and food. I bake 100% whole grain breads, including sourdough(naturally leavened) and straight dough breads (commerial yeast raised.)

"Baking Bread at Home!" Sounds so intimidating... But no, it's sooooo easy, and so effortless once you get a hang of it and get your concepts clear!

I am putting together this compilation of articles and tutorials to help anyone interested to have good information readily available to them. If anyone local in Yakima, WA would like to have a hands-on bread class with me, feel free to contact me.

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The Fresh Loaf is an excellent resource for learning everything there is to learn about bread baking. There is a very active forum on this site where you can have any doubts cleared right away. "Sign up" on it, they never send any spam!!!
They also have several lessons and Videos which I will be adding a link here on my blog as well.

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Books
I never bake breads from books anymore. I used to when I got started... They are really good for getting familiar with baking, learning the "physics" & "chemistry" of bread (yes literally!)
But now that I have gotten all that down, all I need is to add whatever I want to my bread. I don't need to look at any recipes. It's like looking up in a cookbook every-time how to make oatmeal!!! ;)
This is the goal of my collection of these bread-threads on my blog, so you can make bread with your eye-closed and it can become a second nature.
Anyhow, I will list some of the good books here. Go to the library and find these books and soak up the theory, not the recipes!!! ;)

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread (very good book for theory)

Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor(good book for theory)

Crust & Crumb: Master Formulas for Serious Bread Bakers (good recipes if I remember right... good bagels)

The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking (very good book for whole grain recipes)

So I suggest find any of the first two form the library if possible and read them like a novel!!!

Ghee- how to make at home

2009-01-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

"Ghee" is clarified butter that is used in India and in some mid eastern countries for cooking.

It is made by simmering unsalted butter until all water has boiled off and the milk proteins have settled to the bottom. The result is a clear liquid, hence called clarified butter. The cooked and clarified butter is then decanted or starined out avoiding disturbing the milk solids on the bottom of the pan. Unlike butter, ghee can be stored for extended periods without the need to refrigerate. Just keep it in an air-tight jar.

When cooking, it can be unhealthy to heat polyunsaturated oils such as vegetable oils to high temperatures. Doing so creates peroxides and otherfree radicals. These substances lead to a variety of health problems and diseases. On the other hand, ghee has a very high smoke point and doesn't burn or smoke easily during cooking. Because ghee has the more stable saturated bonds (i.e., it lacks double bonds which are easily damaged by heat) it is not as likely to form dangerous free radicals when cooking.

Ghee's short chain fatty acids are also metabolized very readily by the body, which would seem to negate concerns of its health effects.

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Ingredient:

Unsalted butter.... as much as you want to make ghee out off.

I suggest to start with 1 lb (or less.)

Put the butter in pot and turn the heat on to med-high. Give it a stir once every couple of minutes after it is done melting.

*Butter melting:

*Butter boiling. Quite foamy...

*The foam is a bit pacified now.

*The bubbles are getting finer and thinner now.

*(almost done) The milk proteins will seperate. As soon as you see any brown particles floating when you stir it, that mean it is done.

*oops (1 minute overdone) :P
Turn the heat off and take it off the hot burner. It will still keep cooking by it's own heat.

* cooled down. See how the tasty milk solids have settled to the bottom! And the clear ghee sits seperately on top.

After it is cooled cool to touch, pour the ghee caefully off in a clean glass container. Though don't let it sit and totally get cold in the pot, because it will solidify in the pot and you will hve to melt it again to pour it out.

Wait, don't throw that brown/tan colored milk protein away. After you have poured the ghee away, stir in a little bit brown sugar or honey in it and mix it properly. It's the best candy in the world... ummm.............. yum.
Use Ghee to cook just about anything you would cook with any egetable oil or butter. Best of all, it doesn't need to stay in the fridge, unless it's severly hot weather! :)

Vanillekipferln (with a healthy twist)

2009-01-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

Vanillekipferln are Viennese cookies that are crescent shaped. My kids call them "Moon Cookies!"

The original (an excellent) recipe calls for while sugar and white flour.

I tried these with raw honey and whole grain Kamut flour :) They turned out pretty good so I am sharing them here on the blog:)

1/2 cup blanched almonds ground

1/2 cup hazelnuts ground

pinch of salt

3/4 cups + 2 Tbsp butter cut in small pieces

2 egg yolks

1tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour (plus more, as we will be using honey to sweeten it which being added liquid, will require extra flour) So maybe 3+cups of flour, but start will 2 1/2 c and add more when needed

1/2 to 3/4 c honey... more if you want it sweeter...

Combine flour, almonds, hazelnuts, honey, salt, butter and egg yols.

Knead into a soft dough. Press into a ball and wrap it in plastic bag/wrap or foil and refridgerate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375F (190C.) Form dough little at a time into pencil thin ropes. Cut ropes into 2-inch pieces and curve them into crescents.

Place on a baking sheet and bake them for 10 minutes or until golden. Don't overbake them. These are taken out really light. They will be very fragile and with crumble instantaneously when touched. So let them cool a bit before taking themoff the baking sheet.

Traditionally they are tossed in or dusted with vanilla sugar, but they were pretty good as is without adding white sugar on top. Your call!

Chinese Brussels Sprouts

2009-01-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

Umm... I have come to love this vegetable!!!! Never had them until a couple of years ago, and I just LOVE them!

This is a particularly good way to eat them! I can usually eat a pound of them by myself :P

Recipe courtesy of "The Best Ever Vegetarian Cookbook" by Nicola Graimes tweaked a little bit by Me.

Ingredients:

1 lb brussels sprouts

1 tsp vegetable oil (sesame/olive) anything that you have

1Tsp sesame seeds

2 scallions (spring onions) or one medium sized regular onion sliced

1/2 tsp or more (acco. to taste) Chinese 5-spice powder

1Tsp soysauce/tamari

Ok, the most tedious part of the recipe is to trim the stem off the brussels sprouts... So wash them and trim them.

Slice the brussels sprouts finely in a food preocessor (if you don't have one- do it with hand... now this may become more tedious than trimming :O )

Heat oil in a lage wok or pan on med-high heat and add the brussels sprouts and onions/scallions.

Cook for 3 minutes, stirring briskly not allowing them to brown on bottoms.

Add the spice and soy sauce and keep stirring for another couple minutes until barely tender.

Sometimes I have had brussels sprouts that were quite tough and required longer cooking time.

Serve hot. They are awesome just by themselves, but you can serve them with brown rice or as a side dish.

Yummy!

Chinese 5-Spice powder

2009-01-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

This is an excellent addition to any chinese style stir-fried vegetables. Very easy to make at home as well...

2 tsp whole black pepper/white peppercorns
4tsp whole anise seeds and or star anise
1/2 tsp whole cloves
1Tbsp cinnamon
1Tbsp whole fennel

(you may want use any or all of these spices in ground form if they are more conveniently available to you in that form.)

Put them in a spice/coffee grinder and grind them to a fine powder.
Done :D

Add 1/2-1 tsp (or more according to your taste adn the quantity of food you are preparing) one or two minutes before taking your stir fry off the heat.

Raw Nori Spring Rolls

2009-01-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

We always have a stack of Nori on hand.

Nori is the seaweed which is used to make Sushi with. It's is packed with lots of minerals!

These rolls are super easy and take no time to assemble, and you get to be creative with anything you might want to add in...

You can buy Nori any Asian Grocery store... That would be the cheapest, failing that ebay has some people seeling Nori. If all fails you can get some at a health food store but then it tends to be outregeoously expensive!

Fillings:Any or all of the following

Sprouts... any kind... we make our own and use a variety...

in the above picture I have used green lentil sprouts.

Any kinds of raw greens that you might fancy...

from lettuce to spinach...

Fresh herbs:

Again... mint/cilantro/parsley/spring onions.... whatever...

Avacadoes

Grated Carrots or any other root vegetable.

I like to put some strong tasting like olives, but if are going to use any kind of dip, you don't have to.

Basically anything that you have handy :)

Method:

Just put some of hte above fillings on a nori sheet, and roll it up fairly tight. Now dip your fingers in a little water and wet the edges where the seam will be. Arange them on the serving plate with the seam side down, the seam will get "glued" to the roll!

Eat... (Crunch!) :)

"Indian" Bean Sprout Salad!

2008-10-31T14:44:00.000-07:00

The second best way to eat BEANS

Well... The best way to eat beans is definitely by sprouting them and eating raw...

This indeed is the second best way to eat beans.... as it is sprouts that are partially and quickly cooked...

A WORD about BEANS....

Beans contain oligosaccarides which are complex sugar molecules that humans do not have the right enzymes to break them down into simple sugars. Only simple sugars get absorbed into the blood stream and get assimilated.
As a result they get passed down into the large intestines (as they are not absorbed) And there the bacteria have a feast on these sugars, which causes gas.

The longer you soak the beans the more of these saccarides get dissolved out of the beans.
So soaking is very important.
And ofcourse sprouting them is the best way to eat them.

Also, The harder bigger beans are harder to digest compared to the smaller (mung beans, lentils etc.)

Ok, now on to the recipe:

This recipe is best made with these tiny Indian beans called Moth beans (pronounced as Moat beans.) They are not as starchy as other beans, but you can follow the recipe with just about any bean... You may want to increase the cooking time for larger beans... but you have to make sure you don't overcook the bean sprouts.

1T ghee /your favouite cooking oil (if you are vegan)
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3 cups of bean sprouts (you want the tails of the sprouts about the size of the bean itself, but not too long, like the mung bean sprouts found at grocery stores.)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1T ground corriander seeds
a pinch of asaphetida (optional)
cayenne to taste (you can omit it or reduce the quantity if you use fresh chilies)
salt to taste
juice from one or two Lemons/limes

Fresh salad thingies:

2 Chopped tomatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
Fresh green chilies finely chopped
Onions: slices or Spring onins chopped
And most importantly lots of fresh green Cilantro
Besides those you can add almost any kind of salad greens you can think of!!!

Use a large shallow pan.
Add ghee or your favouite cooking oil at High heat.
Add the cumin seeds.

As soon as the seeds start sizzling and crackling (you don't want these to burn), throw in the sprouted beans.
Add all the spices and stir fry rapidly with a fork.
Cook for not more than 30 seconds(for small beans like the Moth beans)

Take it off the heat.

Add lemon juice and the rest of fresh salad ingredients and mix everything up... Check for saltiness and sour

Serve hot :)

Yummy...... ;P

Keeping kids away from SUGAR

2008-10-31T10:50:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to make some raw, sugar-free healthy sweets for the kids for Halloween so they don't junk out on gargage on Halloween....

Though they are going to go Trick-or-treating as well, but they have agreeed to trade all their candy off to Ganesha (their favourite Indian deity) who is going to bring them some presents in return ;)

So here are the sweets we have made:

NOTE: Make sure in all the recipes below, you want to use the least amount of Honey or any other moistening ingredient as possible, as you want the sweets to be able to harden and keep their shape. Too little: they will be crumbly, too much they will stay quite pastey... If you spread them out on a cookie sheet, or layer them, you might want to leave them in the fridge for them to harden a bit.

I Carob-Flax

1 cup raw carob powder
1/2 cup flax seeds freshly ground
Raw Honey
Water

Sweeten it with raw honey and add water to moisten it to be able to hold form. It shuouldn't feel crumbly at all. but don't make it too wet!!!

Now you can either:
roll long rods, roll them in sesame seeds/coconut flakes etc, then cut into disks.
Or
spread it out 1/2 inch thick on a cookie sheet and let it set. (*)

II Almond (marzipan)

2 cups raw almonds.
vanilla extract
Raw Honey

Blanch almonds. (put the almonds in water to cover them. Bring the water to a boil and turn the heat off right before it really starts boiling. Peel the almonds right away or they absorb water...
Throw the almonds in the food processor and add 2 tsp vanilla, and process it for 5 minutes until paste like. Add Honey to taste... around 1/2 cup.
Process it again, it will come together, and form a nice moist ball.
You can shape it anyway you would like.
Or you can layer it on top of the carob layer (above *).

III Walnut

Do the same with walnuts as you did with almonds.

IV Carob "chocolate"

This one, we didn't measure anything, as it was a first time experiment, so you have to guess.... :O
On a double boiler: melt ghee, add lecithin(that one could be optional), carob powder, Honey and some chocolate extract.... The consistancy would be of a thick paste.... Spread it out sepaprately or on top of the walnut paste above (Or keep it separate!)

NOTE2: After they have set... cut them out into square or diamond shapes.

ok, after them sitting in the fridge for an hour we cut theminto squares and sampled them...
The walnut on top of "chocolate" turned out excellent!!! The chocolate is fantastic and that recipe s definitely going to go under improvements, (but you can't really improve upon perfection!!!)
The almond paste was really good by itself, but on top of flax-carob, it got overpowered by the flax, and we couldn't really taste it.
Flax one is good by itself though.

"Indian" Lemon Pickle

2008-09-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

Ths is an excellent pickle recipe from Madhur Jaffery's excellent book "World -of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking" whch uses some very medicinal spices which have a "settling" effect on the stomach. It is salty and sour. The only "heat" it has comes from black pepper. It turns darker and better as it ages. It's really easy to make. After that all you have to do is remember to shake it every day!

I would highly recommend any of her books. She's awesome!!!

So here it goes in the very words of "Madhur Jaffery":
6 unblemished lemons or limes
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
4 large black cardamom pods (only found at indian grocery. You may try substituting it with nutpeg perhaps...)
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
A 2" piece of cinnamon broken up a bit.
12 whole cloves
6 tsp salt
2 Tsp lime/lemon juice

Wash 6 lemons and leave to dry off in the sun or in an airy place.
Put the black peppercorns, black cardamoms (skin and all), curnin seeds, cinnamon, and cloves into the container of a coffee grinder or other spice grinder. Grind as fine as possible. Empty the spices into a cup. Add the salt and mix.

Find a wide-mouthed jar or crock that will hold the 6 lemons esily with enough room to shake them.

Quarter the lemons lengthwise in such away that the 4 sections remain attached at the bottom. Remove seeds, if any.

Divide the spice mixture into six parts. "Stuff" onr portion into each of the lemons, rubbing the spices well into the cut section. Close up the lemons and put them, cut side up, into the jar. Cover the jar with a nonmetallic lid and place it in a warm, sunny spot for as many hours of sunlight as you can manage to get in the next 24 hours.

On the following day, add the 6 tablespoons of lemons juice to the pickle jar. Cover and shake well. For the next month, put the jar in a warm, sunny spot in the daytime and then, if that spot is outdoors bring the pickle in at night. Shake the jar three or four times a day. The pickle is still not ready. You may discontinue putting it out in the sun, but continue to shake the jar for another month. You may now begin to remove wedges of the pickle for eating. Do not refrigerate the pickle and remember that it will keep improving with age.

To serve four people, remove two wedges and cut each wedge into halves. Arrange these halves in a small, shallow bowl and set the bowl in the center of the table along with other chutneys and relishes.

Enjoy!!!!

The Best "Sun-dried" tomatoes in the world

2008-09-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

These are really so good....
You can add them to almost about anything, top your breads with it... pizza... vegetable rolls... the possbilities are endless!!!

The reason sun-dried tomatoes are so expensive in the market is because there is a lot of shrinkage in the process. Supposedly it takes 20 pounds of tomatoes to make 1 pound of dried tomatoes.

The best tomato to use in this process is the Roma tomato (also known as a plum, pear, or Italian tomato), because it contains less water and seeds than other varieties. However I have used other kinds in the past as well.... So in this tomato season, whatever you can find cheapest is the best.

So here it goes:

Wash the tomatoes.

Cut them in 1/2" to 3/4" discs. I have even sliced them with my food processor with a 6mm slicing disc and that works great too. If you want, you can even quarter them lengthwise.

Arrange the tomatoes, with the cut surface up, on your dehydrating surface. Glass or porcelain dishes are OK. They will have to withstand temperatures of a few hundred degrees F if you are going to oven-dry the tomatoes. Do not use aluminum foil, or bare aluminum cookie sheets. The acid in the tomatoes will react with the metal.)

Sprinkle the tomatoes with:
salt
dried basil
dried oregano
dried thyme
(you can use any of these herbs fresh if you have an aboundance of these growing in your garden. I used the oregano and thyme fresh chopped up.)

Dry the tomatoes in the oven, dehydrator. However, no matter what method you choose, be aware that not all of the tomatoes will dry at the same rate. They do not all have the same amount of moisture, nor do they experience the same temperature and air circulation while they are drying.

They are done when they are very dry, but still pliable - about the texture of a dried apricot. If dried too long, they become tough and leathery. If not dried long enough, they will mold, unless packed in oil.
So watch them carefully while they dry. Try to remove them on an individual basis, before they become tough. If you are going to pack them in oil, like I do, then I don't bother too much with trying to take them out at the right time and usually turn the dehydrator off when they are all done. They get softened in the oil and vinegar.

A word about dehydrating: It's best to dehydrate foods at no higher than 105F, as the enzymes get destroyed above that temp. But your tomatoes will get done faster if you use higher temperature. So, it's upto you.

Drying method:

Bake, or dehydrate directly onto the dehydrator trays, cut side up, oven for about 4-5 hours. Leave the oven door propped open about 3 inches to allow moisture to escape. After 4-5 hours, turn the tomatoes over and press flat with your hand or a spatula.
Continue to dry, turning the tomatoes every few hours, and gently pressing flatter and flatter, until tomatoes are dry.

After the tomatoes are dry, store in air-tight containers, or pack in oil (that is what I do.)

To pack in oil:
Dip each tomato into a small dish of apple-cider vinegar. Shake off the
excess vinegar and start stacking them up in your jar. Keep pressing the tomatoes down and add more and more until they are packed tightly. Now add some extra virgin cold-pressed olive oil to the jar. Make sure the tomatoes are completely
immersed in the oil.
Cap the jar tightly and store at cool room temperature
for at least a month before using (if you can wait that long.) When you open a new jar to start using them, you can keep that one in the fridge

Do *NOT* add fresh garlic cloves to oil-packed dried tomatoes, UNLESS you store them in the refrigerator.

Ths is how much I got from drying 28lbs of fresh tomatoes!

"Indian" Chilli Pickle

2008-09-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

*Smoking* hot spicy yummy.
Pickles are that "essential" addictive part of any Indian meal that if you do get addicted to it, life will be tasteless without it....

Any kind of hot peppers like Serrano, Jalapeños, Thai chilies: 1 lb
Lime/Lemon juice: 1 ½ to 2 Cups
Sesame oil or mustard oil (any good light tasty and healthy oil of your choice): ½ cup
Salt: little less than ½ Cup
Fennel seeds coarsely ground: ½ Cup
Turmeric powder: 1/8 - ¼ Cup
Onion seeds: 1 Tablespoons (optional, you can substitute with sesame seeds)
Fenugreek seeds: 2 T Dry roasted and ground
Asafetida powder (Hing): 1 Teaspoon (you can omit this if you don't have access to it)
Brown Mustard seeds coarsely ground: ½ Cup (you may substitute it with the yellow mustard seeds)

1. Cut green chilies into thin slices (either lengthwise or widthwise) and soak in lemon juice for an hour or more.
2. Combine all the remaining ingredients. Heat the mixture to a simmer about 10 minutes.3. Add the spice and oil mixture to the chilli and lemon juice and mix it all evenly.
4. Put in a Jar and tighten the lid. Place the jar on a sunny window sill for a week. Shake it once a day. The pickle will be ready in a week or so.
Enjoy!!!

NOTE: you can also add thin slices of carrots and cauliflower to the pickle, they are really good.
Oh, and this time I added sliced ginger to it.... Ah... excellent......

Dolmas

2008-07-18T11:44:00.000-07:00

Refreshing... tangy... delicious... A perfect summer dinner/ lunch or a great finger food to take on trips. Great warm or cold! These "grape rolls", come somewhere from the Mediterranean - mid east cuisine.
Good to make it in the summer time when the grape vines are full of leaves... Make Sure to pick only the tender newer leaves as the older leaves tend to stay really stringy even after cooking.

1 T olive oil (or more if more is needed for sautéing the onions)
2 onions minced
2 cups uncooked short grain brown rice (or any kind you have)
2 tomatoes chopped
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes or 1 T tomato paste or just 2 more tomatoes
2 T raisins (or more)
2 T pinenuts or sunflower seeds (or more)
1 T cinnamon
1 T dill leaves(optional)
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground cumin
Lots of mint (fresh or dry) ;) (well according to your taste)

Grape leaves off the vines with the stems (of the leaf) or I think you can buy grape leaves in brine at a grocery store (but I don't know how good or bad that might taste)

1-2 T lemon or lime juice to squeeze on top.

Sauté the onions in oil until light brown and soft.
Add rice.
Add two and a half cups of water.
Add some salt.
Cook the rice covered on low heat until the water is dry (absorbed).
It will be half cooked. Turn the heat off.
Add all the remaining spices, tomatoes, mint, raisins and nuts and mix it up.
Taste for salt.

Separate the stems off the grape leaves. Arrange these stems on the bottom of a baking pan like a grill so the rolls don't burn on bottom.

Blanch grape leaves in boiling water for 10-15 seconds. Do it 5-6 leaves at a time.

Drop 1-2 Tablespoon or more of the rice mixture on the back side of the leaves (depending on how large the leaves are).

Fold the side wings first...

and then roll it up.

Arrange these rolls tightly in a baking pan. You can stack two layers one on top of the other. you may separate the layer with dill and/or mint stems from which you have pulled the leaves off to add to the rice, and/or thin lemon slices.

Squeeze the lemon juice on the rolls. Cover t up tghtly with aluminum foil and bake these at 350 for not more than an hour until the rice is all the way cooked. It usually gets done faster.

Umm... Perfect!

"Indian" Tomato Soup

2008-07-16T22:26:00.000-07:00

This is my Mom's delicious recipe of Tomato Curry. She adds besan (chickpea flour) to it. I have omitted it to make a more lighter, fresher and appetizing version of it. I prefer to serve it as an appetizer as it really wakes up the appetite. Really warms the body and soul! Enjoy...

3-4 T Oil or ghee (you might need to add some more if needed)
1 tsp cumin seeds (optional)
6-7 garlic cloves (minced)
1/2 to 1 inch piece of ginger (minced)
cayenne or chili powder (according to taste)
2 T coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
pinch asafetida (absolutely optional)
6-7 tomatoes (puree in a food processor/vita mix. See notes)
salt
cilantro/coriander for garnish

Heat the oil/ghee in a large pan on medium heat.
Add cumin seeds if using.
Let them turn golden but not burn.
Now add the ginger and garlic and fry these for a couple of minutes making sure they don't burn.
Now add all the spices to the pan and fry these in the oil (if looking too dry add some more oil) for 15 sec making sure they don't burn.
After the spices are fried, add the tomatoes in the pan and stir. Add salt. Add water/broth to a consitency you prefer. I like it quite thin but play around. It shouldn't be too watery though.
Bring it to a boil and then turn it down, cover it and simmer it for 5 minutes.
Garnish with fresh cilantro.

NOTE:
*If you don't have a food processor/mixer/blender, then you can just dice the tomatoes instead. Mush them up when cooked a bit. Strain the peels out if you prefer.

* You can add some veggies to the soup when you start boiling it. Any of these cut up into small cubes/slices is excellent: Potatoes, carrots, parsnip and/or green beans (keep whole).