Almond - Pine Nut Cookies

Some people are just clumsier than other at certain things, one of the things that I do not do well is pretty neat baked goods. I also stay away from the sugar because of the little ones, but this time of the year is an exception. In terms of making cookies, I find bar cookies to be maneagable since, you can control the shapes somewhat. This is what I thought I would send Habeas Brulee who is doing the Sugar High Friday event.

One of my favorite bar cookie books are A to Z Bar Cookies by Marie Simmons.

I tried these pine nut, almond cookies the other day, they are eggless and the results were satifying especially with my favorite cup of hot orange pekoe tea.

Almond Pine Nut Cookies

Ingredients

1 stick salted butter

3/4 cup grated jaggery

3/4 cup unbleached white flour

3/4 cup semolina

3/4 cup blanched almonds

1/2 cup half and half

3/4 cups pine nuts

For the topping

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup stawberry or apricot jam

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Method of Preparation

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. With a hand mixer, mix in the jaggery and butter till well mixed.

3. Sift the flour and semolina onto this mixture and mix well.

4. Make a paste with the almonds and half and half and mix into the batter.

5. Fold in the pine-nuts.

6. Grease a rectangular baking pan and pour the batter onto the pan and even out.

7. Bake for 30 minutes.

8. Let this cool for 10 minutes and invert onto a flat surface.

9. Gently toast the remaining nuts till lightly browned.

10. Heat the jam for 5 minutes, cool and strain.

11. With a brush brush this evenly onto the cookie bar.

12. Sift the powdered sugar onto the jammed suface.

13. Scatter the toasted pine nuts, cut into bars and serve.

Chettinaad Chicken

This recipe with its generous doses of black pepper is certainly one for the spice lovers. In the good old days my husband loved spicy food, ever since our little ones have taken over my cooking regime there is not that much space left for fiery spices. Anyhow, I cooked this today and hope writing this up will in some very small measure help the little ones who do not have enough to eat.

Chettinaad Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 small cornish hen skinned and cut into pieces (1.5 lbs)

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp salt

1 lime

6 pods garlic minced

2.5 tbsp whole blackpeppercorns

3 tbsp oil

2 onions chopped

1 tbsp ginger grated

4-6 green cardamoms

3-4 cloves

1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder

3/4 tsp red chilli powder

2 tomatoes chopped

10 curry leaves

2 tsp chopped cilantro

Method of preparation

1. Marinate the chicken in the salt, lime juice, turmeric and garlic.

2. Coarsely crush all but 1tsp of the peppercorns and add to the mixture.

3. Heat the oil and add the onions and ginger and cook for 7-10 minutes.

4. Add in the chicken with cardamoms, cloves, cumin-coriander and chilli powder.

5. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

6. Add in the tomatoes and curry leaves and cook till the tomatoes are soft.

7. Add one cup water and simmer for 20 minutes. The chicken should be soft and the mixture fairly dry.

If you want more gravy you can add upto one more cup water.

8. Remove from heat, garnish with cilantro and serve.

A menu for Hope! - Workshop Gift.

It is always so good to see the power of collectivity. This project can harness so many people and bring them together to support this wonderful cause and it works because everyone pitches in just the little bit that they can.

A menu for Hope is just that. A campaign, being organized and coordinated by Pim of

Chez Pim, and the raffles and bidding is being managed by, FirstGiving, this year the expectation is to significantly do more than the 2006 number of $17, ooo. The effort in the East Coast are being coordinated by Adam of amateur Gourmet.

I would like to contribute the gift of a workshop for two. It is a simple offering that I hope will interest some people. My workshops are hands-on, interactive and fun. The classes can be either vegetarian or non-vegetarian and work through the nuances of Indian cooking in a practical setting.

I looking forward to meeting the recipient of this gift. If you wish to bid on this item as a gift for someone else that can be arranged as well. The code for this is UE 34.

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.

Working with the Haas Avocado

I first disovered Haas Avocados when I tried them as a guacamole. They tasted wonderful, with warm tortilla chips. I delved further when my daughter was born. They were a neutral, heavy, and mild tasting fruit that most children if given a chance liked. This link will give you everything you may or may not want to know about this fruit.

Well what I made was working with the Haas Avocados. Grape Tomatoes co-stars with avocadoes in this recipe to produce a simple wholesome Guacamole.

We had this for lunch with my healthy, flavorful nachos, described in the next post for a simple but satisfying weekend brunch.

Guacomole with Grape Tomatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 Haas avocadoes

1 lime

1.5 tsp salt

3/4 cup grape tomatoes

1/2 red onion

3 green chillies

1/2 cup cilantro chopped finely

A spash of balsamic vinegar

Method of Preparation

1. Mash the avocadoes, with the juice of the lime and salt.

2. Chop the grape tomatoes into quarters.

3. Finely chop the onion and mince the green chillies.

4. Mix this into the avocado mixture.

5. Finally add in the vinegar and cilantro and serve with homemade tortilla chips.

Home Made Tortilla Chips

Makes enough for a 3 person snack

Ingredients

2 tortillas

1 tbsp olive oil

Method of preparation

1. Spread the baking tray with some oil.

2. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

3. Cut the chips into pieces and spread flat onto the tray.

4. Bake for 10 min, turn the chips and bake for 5-7 min more.

5. Serve warm with the guacomole

Off this goes to Pookah at What's cooking in Carolina, who is hosting WHB this week.

There's a jingle in the air! - Festive Food Fair

Naturally with Thanksgiving just past and Christmas round the corner, it is impossible to miss the holiday atmosphere both in the houses and in the surrounding stores and any retail institution where keeping up with the holiday Jones, is expected and mandatory.
I think the one think that I feel people have in common is their love of brightness and lights during this time of the year where in this hemisphere the days just are shorter. It is a common theme in so many festivals, celebrated during this time of the year. The ones that I can think off are,
Chanukah, Chirstmas and Kwanza: These three festivals certainly will dominate the universe in the United States for the next few weeks. People in the food blogging world celebrate the way they can, with posts now featuring chesnut recipes, cranberry recipes and the like. Anna's blog morsels and musings is hosting a festive food festival, I just cannot wait to see the results.
Well, along with the lights comes the food, there are so many parties and food fests this time of the year. One particular event, I am very fond of is a potluck belonging to a charity I work with. What I love is the multicultural dimension of the foods that show up. I created this recipe last year and every one loved it so much, I think I will take this to them again on friday. I like this served with stuffing or mashed potatoes.

Ginger Pepper Chicken with a Cranberry Balsamic sauce

Ingredients

2 inches of ginger
6 cloves of garlic
6 green chillies
1.5 tbsp black peppercorns( you can use multicolored)
2 tsp kosher salt
1 small chicken skinned and jointed
2 leeks
2 purple top turnips thinly sliced
3/4 cup thickly sliced mushrooms
1 red onion thinly sliced
1/2 cup white flour
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

For the sauce

1 cup cranberries
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Method of Preparation

1. Grind the ginger, garlic, chillies and peppercorns into a coase paste.
2. Apply the salt and the above paste on the chicken and let this rest for at least 1 hour.

3. Cut the leeks into large thin sections, please use as much of the green as you can.
4. Coat the chicken with the flour.
5. Heat the chicken in a large non-stick skillet (you will need more oil if using a conventional skillet) .
6. Place the chicken pieces in a single layer and cook for 5-7 minutes and brown, turn and brown the other side.
7. Add in the leeks, mushrooms, and onions and mix gently.

8. Line the sides of the pan with the turnips and cover with a tightfitting lid for 8 minutes till the vegetables are just done.
9. In the meantime, heat the water and the sugar.
10. When this comes to a boil add the cranberries and cook for 5 min, till they pop.
11. Add in the vingegar.
12. Mix this into the chicken and cook for another 5 minutes till the sauce is fairly thick.
13. Serve with a plain stuffing or mashed potatoes.


I do not often take pictures of the stages, but I am glad that I did, it reminded me of the mushrooms while writing up the recipe.