Merry Christmas - Liz's Cranberry Sauce for Grown Ups

Today has been rather unusual as holidays go, but then again maybe not quite so unusual. The weekend was deliciously long, since I was at home on Thursday. The daughter had a concert in school, that I had to attend and I felt I deserved a couple of extra hours off. The husband and I tried a new rrestaurant a quick kind of place. I shall hopefully tell you all about it before the weekend is over.

Yesterday, we had a nice group of people over. Anju and Melanie, my aunt and cousin and a couple of other friends were over. I cooked some really good stuff. However, the cat too, decided to run out and spend a day in the backyard and came back with a wound. So this morning was spent at the emergency veterinary hospital.  Now, that was the tip of the problem. Benji was generally OK, but I now have 14 tiny tablets that he needs to be fed 2 times a day.

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CPR - Chili Peanut Relish

What an accronym - CPR - does that get you into action mode or what? But this is what is funny, this really tasty, full-flavored creation took me all of 15 minutes to make. I made a later variation of chicken with this, much like an Indian chimichurri chicken, believe me when I tell you, this was good. Anyhow, down to the relish.

CPR - Chili Peanut Relish

Prep/Cook Time: 15 minutes
Makes 3/4 cup

Ingredients

3/4 cup raw peanuts (shelled)
4 green finger chillies
1 small tomato
3-4 tablespoons cilantro, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 lime

Method of Preparation

1. Dry roast the peanuts on a skillet for 2-4  minutes, until fragrant and beginning to turn gently aromatic and gently golden brown at edges.
2. Place in the bowl of a food processor.
3. Remove the tops of the chilies and place in the same container.
4. Chop the tomato and place in the food processor with the salt and blend until the mixture is coarsely blended.
5. Remove and place in a mixing bowl.
6. Stir in the salt, cut the lime and mix in the juice and stir well.

Chili Cilantro Chutney

There are many variations of your basic chutney, a spicy fresh condiment that we use as a dipping sauce for savory snacks such as samosas, pakoras and even crackers.

I like this zippy variation, among others and its uses range way beyond the condiment stage. I like to use it as a no cook sauce for fish or even chicken. I shall tell you about this soon.

Here is how I made it in class this evening.

Chili Cilantro Chutney

Prep Time: 8 minutes
Makes 1 cup chutney

Ingredients

1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro (leaves and tender stems)
3 green chilies
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 inch peeled fresh ginger
1/2 cup buttermilk

Method of preparation

1. Place the cilantro, chilies, salt, ginger in the food processor and add the buttermilk in small amounts to process the mixture into a gently textured sauce.

2. The results described is accomplished by a food process as opposed to a blender.

3. Use as desired.

You Say Tomaayto...

The tomatoes in our garden are begining to make their appearance as are the "friendly squirrels. This esplains why some of these beauties have been picked a little before they have been vine-ripened. We do eat a lot of tomatoes, but I have been having a little difficulty keeping up with the harvest.
Also while some of these tomatoes are being put away in paper bags to ripen, I am also getting a few tomatoes that are slightly damaged and green. These would spoil if I actually did not use them right away, so I tried making this jam. It is really very close to a bengali chutney in the light tempering but it is then a jam, thick and sweet. I used lemon juice actually lime juice to add a little bit of tartness, and I think we were very happy having this with some bread and cheese.

Spiced Tomato Jam

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Makes 1.5 cups of Jam

Ingredients

1 teaspoon ghee

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

2 dried red chillies

1 large red tomato (firm) (coarsely chopped)

3 green tomatoes (coarsely chopped)
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/4 cups of sugar

1 large stick cinnamon

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the ghee and add in the fennel seeds, when they being to sizzle add in the red chillies.

2. Add in the tomatoes and the lime juice followed by the sugar.

3. Cook on low heat until the sugar is melted, stirring frequently.

4. Add in the cinnamon and cook till the mixture is fairly thick, this takes about 30 minutes. The mixture should be thick and soft like a thick jam.

This would be lovely on thick bread!

Green and Crisp - Comfort Bhindi

Sometimes there is a fun and interest to participating in a food blog event, even if it involves writing or working with something that is a household staple. The kids and Anshul love Bhindi or Okra. So I have to get this all year round, even when the pods are not so impressive like the ones adjacent.

Anyhow, Pooja of Creative Pooja, hosts a weekly event where she features a vegetable a week. This week it was Bhindi, hey even Anshul was excited, since it spurred me to try something new. Actually I altered a Thai inspired recipe and was quite pleased with the results and tried this with a new chutney.

This is what I did,

Spicy Batter Fried Bhindi with a Lime-Tomato chutney

Bhindi

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients

1 inch piece ginger

2 red chillies

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

1 tsp cumin seeds

1.5 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup rice flour

Oil for Frying

1/2 lb bhindi tops and tips removed

Method of Preparation

1. Blend the ginger, chillies, cilantro, cumin, salt and buttermilk into a smooth paste.

2. Mix in the rice flour and let this sit for a while (about 10 minutes)

3. Heat the oil.

4. Dip pieces of the bhindi into the batter and fry on medium heat till golden.

5. Serve Hot.

Tomato-Lime Chutney.

2 tomatoes

6 dates pitted

1 cup water

1/3 cup jaggery

1 tsp salt

1 tsp chilli powder

1 lime

Method of Preparation

1. Grind the tomatoes, dates and water into a puree.

2. Place in a saucepan with the jaggery, salt and chilli powder.

3. Cook for 15 - 20 min.

4. Squeeze the lime juice onto the chutney.

5. Cool and serve.

In a Pickle - Panch Phoron and Rutbaga Pickle

Indian Pickle recipes are like heirlooms, passed on for generations. Some households have their organized seasonal calendars of pickle making usually in summer to stock up for the cool winter season to have something to warm their cockles during the cooler winter months.

Unfortunately, while quick chutneys were popular in my childhood home, traditional Indian pickles were not something that my father and I were terribly interested in and it just was not something my mother invested time in.

My husband however loves pickles and relishes especially to savor with his lentils on a weekend. Over the years I have taught and learnt 2 or three pickle recipes that I think are interesting and I make them in small amounts so that we have an assortment of them in different times of the year.

This recipe combines one of my favorite spices Panch Phoron(Bengali 5-spice) with black pepper, I know these are both somewhat uncommon as the main source of spicing in an Indian savory pickle, but once I tried it I thought it worked rather well. I guess for that matter, rutabagas are really not something we see that often in India.

Panch Phoron like the chinese 5-spice is an equal combination of nigella seeds, cumin, fenugreek, mustard and fennel. It is usually used whole although I have ground it for this recipe. What is interesting about this mix is that its characteristic balanced flavor works only in combination, if any of these spices are missing the taste is not the same. It is used in the cooking of Eastern India (Bengal, Orissa and Bihar) precisely for this purpose to provide an even balance of tastes and palates. The characteristic of traditional bengali spicing involved fairly strict traditions related to the combination of spices and their use between non-vegetarian (especially meat) and vegetarian food. This spice is reserved for vegetarian dishes and fish.

Rutabaga Achar.

Makes a large jar of Pickle

Ingredients

15 dates
1/3 cup raisins
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 rutabaga(wax turnip) peeled and cut into thick wedges
1/2 cup mustard oil

3 tsp chopped garlic

1/2 cup powdered jaggery

1 tbsp black peppercorns
1.5 tbsp panch phoron (Bengali 5-spice mix)

Method of preparation

1. Make a paste with the dates, raisins and white vinegar.

2. Apply the salt to the rutabaga and set aside for an hour on a colander to drain the water.

3. Heat the oil and fry the garlic lightly and then add the turnip.

4. Fry well for 10 minutes till the water has evaporated.

5. Powder the peppercorns and panch phoron.

6. Mix in all the ingredients in a non reactive container.

8. Pour into a pickle jar and close tightly.

9. Let this sit in the sun for 6-7 days and then the pickle should be ready.

Well, baby it has been cold outside, in this part of the world the past few days, a warm bowl of dal, rice, and the pickle does help one try to find a cockle if not warm it completely. Rosie of Bitching in the Kitchen with Rosie, is hosting the Spice is Right event and I will send this off to her today.