Gai Hor Bai Toey

Thai style chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves. These turned out very tender and juicy, I had some friends over and they all loved it.

You can get frozen pandan leaves from Uwajimaya that are already cut into 6"strips, but I got fresh pandan leaves from Viet Wah on Jackson St. in Seattle. I think that's the only place where you can get them fresh. The leaves were well over 2' long even after I trimmed one inch off from the bottom because it seemed tough. I was able to get four 6" strips from each leaf. For this amount of chicken I needed two packets of pandan leaves for around $1.69 each.

(prep time 10 mins + 3 hours for marinade + 6 mins cook time)
(serves 2-3)
Marinade

Coconut milk 1/2 cup

Red Thai chilies 3-4

Ginger 1 1/2 inch piece

Garlic 4-5 cloves

Cilantro small bunch (approx 1/2 cup)

Fish sauce 3 Tbs
Soy sauce 2 Tbs

Rice flour 1 rounded Tbs

Pepper 1 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp

Blend everything until smooth.

This amount will be enough for about 4 chicken thighs (boneless and skinless) cut into 2" pieces.
Marinade the chicken for at least 3 hours in the fridge.
Simply wrap a single piece of meat in a 6" long pandan leaf and secure with a toothpick.
Deep fry for 5-6 mins.
We had this with a Thai sweet and sour sauce.
:-)

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Class today

Fantastic group of people!

Everyone was good sport and used their fingers to eat the dessert :-)

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Goan fish curry

Wow.... August is surprisingly turning out to be all about south Indian delicacies!

This fish curry is prepared with an oily fish and has lots of coconut in it. Eating with your hands preferably on a banana leaf is highly encouraged :-)

Hubby ji loves fish, me not at all!! Anytime you see a post about seafood is because I made it for solely for him and had a salad for myself (and spent the rest of the day airing out the fish 'aroma?' from the apartment)

Sigh..... love!

:-)

(prep time 40 min)

(serves 2)

Ingredients

Mackerel 1 lbs - cut into large pieces

Desiccated coconut 1/2 cup (un-sweetened)

Coconut milk 2/3 cup

Ginger 1/2 Tbs (chopped fine)

Garlic 1/2 Tbs (chopped fine)

Onion 1/2 cup (sliced thin)

Tomatoes 1/2 cup (cut into small chunks)

Green chilies 1 Tbs (chopped fine)

Juice of 1 large lime

Coriander powder 2 tsp

Cumin 1 tsp

Turmeric 1 tsp

Tamarind pulp 1/4 cup

Black pepper 1 tsp

Salt

Oil for cooking

Method

Season the fish with coriander powder, cumin, turmeric, tamarind pulp, black pepper, salt and lime juice.

Marinade in the fridge for 15 mins.

Heat some oil in a frying pan and brown the onions until dark brown.

Add the tomatoes and cook for another 5 mins or until the tomatoes are soft.

Mix in garlic, ginger and chilies and cook for 2-3 mins.

Blend grated coconut, coconut milk and the fried onion mix into a smooth gravy.

Add the fish to this sauce and cook on med-high heat for another 8-10 minutes or until the fish is cooked.

Don't over stir this.

Small little chunks of fish will fall off and mix with the sauce.

Sprinkle some fresh chopped cilantro over the curry.

Goes well with boiled cumin rice.

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Rava Idli

I love south Indian food! I am new to the flavors and new to cooking it. The other day I woke up craving Idlis. I made the coconut chutney and Idli Podi. The idlis and rasam were from a pre-mix that I got from Mayuri. Maybe next time I'll make those from scratch.

hmmm... the title for this post is a bit misleading, Oh well :-)

P.S.
I don't have idli molds so I steamed the batter in a large round steamer and used a cookie cutter to make the circular shapes.

P.P.S
Happy birthday bug, I love you so very much!

Coconut Chutney

This makes a lot of chutney, close to 3 cups, you can freeze the leftover easily. The ingredient list seems very daunting but all of the things on it are found very easily at any Indian grocery store.

Start with a fresh medium size mature coconut. Remove the water and keep aside. You will need only the white part of the coconut, peel off the brown skin at the back after removing the coconut from the hard shell. Cut the coconut into small chunks. You should have roughly 2 to 2 1/2 cups of coconut chunks.

Ginger 1" piece

Green chilies 2-3 medium size

Jaggery or Brown sugar 1 tsp

Tamarind pulp 2-3 Tbs

Cilantro leaves 1/4 cup

Channa Dal (split chickpeas without seed coat) 2 Tbs 

Urad/Maash Dal (washed black gram) 2 Tbs

Raw cashew nuts 1 Tbs

Raw Peanuts 1 Tbs

Mustard seeds 2 tsp

Cumin seeds 2 tsp

Curry Leaves 3-4 leaves

Water  (Use coconut water and add enough plain water to get 1 1/2 to 2 cups of liquid )

Salt 2 Tsp

For tempering: (these quantities are for 1 cup of chutney)

Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Bay leaf 1 large - broken up in large pieces

Dried red chili 1 large - broken up in large pieces

Asafoetida (Hing) 2/3 tsp

Oil 4 Tbs

Method

Most of the ingredients will need to be roasted. Channa dal takes the longest so start with that first.

Pour about 1 Tbs of oil in a frying pan and heat it up.

Add the channa dal and reduce the heat to a low simmer.

Roast the dal for about 10 mins and stir it a few times.

Now add the urad dal and roast for another 5 mins. Stir occasionally.

Add the cashews, peanuts, red chillies, curry leaves, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and roast for another 6-8 mins. Stir after every minute or two.

Allow the roasted ingredients to cool down.

For this step a hand held immersion blender worked better for me than a regular blender.

Combine all the roasted ingredients with the coconut chunks, tamarind pulp, jaggery, ginger, green chilies, cilantro, salt and water (basically everything).

Blend blend blend until you get a smooth and thick chutney (almost as thick as yogurt).

Cool the chutney in the fridge for about 20-30 mins.

Tempering:

The chutney it almost ready. The step should be done right before serving, so if you are going to freeze the chutney then don't do this now. 

Heat 4 tbs of oil in a frying pan.

Add all the spices listed under "For Tempering" except hing, that should be added in the last 5 seconds.

Fry these on high heat for 30 seconds and pour the hot oil over the chutney. You will hear a loud sizzle, that's good a thing.

Your chutney is ready  :-)

Idli podi

(makes about 2/3 cup of powder)

Channa Dal (split chickpeas without seed coat) 1/4 cup

Urad/Maash Dal (washed black gram) 1/4 cup

Mustard seeds 2 tsp

Coriander seeds 2 tsp

Cumin seeds 2 tsp

Pepper corns 2 tsp

Sesame seeds 1 tsp

Curry Leaves 3-4 leaves

Dried Red chilies 2-3 Large
Asafoetida powder (Hing) 2/3 tsp (this is added in the last 5 seconds)
Garlic powder 1 tsp (optional) (this is added in the last 5 seconds)
Dried tamarind or anar dana (dried pomegranate seeds) 2 tsp (optional)
Oil 2 tbs (use about a tsp at a time)
Salt 1 tsp

All these spices are roasted separately and slowly over low heat and then ground into a fine powder.
Pour 1 teaspoon oil in a heavy base frying pan.
Roast channa dal for 10 mins - keep aside.
Add another teaspoon or oil and roast urad dal for 5-6 mins - keep aside.
Add the rest of the oil and roast all of the spices (minus the hing and garlic powder) for about 3-4 minutes add the hing and garlic powder in the last 5 seconds.
Allow everything to cool.
Grind everything together in a coffee grinder.
Done!

You can eat this with some ghee and idlis!

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Grilled Pomfret

You won't find this fish in Pike's Place, I got it from Uwajimaya and they also cleaned it for me. My husband loved it with khamiri roti, onions and lime .

(prep time 30 mins)

(serves 2)

Ingredients

Pomfret fish (whole) approx 1 lbs

Greek yogurt 3 Tbs

Red thai chilies 2 (med)

Lime juice 2 Tbs

Carom seeds (Ajwain) 2 tsp

Turmeric 1 tsp

Coarse black pepper 1 tsp

Cumin 1 tsp

Salt

Method 

Make a few cuts across the fish.

Combine all of the spices, lime juice, yogurt and rub the paste liberally over the fish and inside the cuts.

Marinade it in the fridge for 30 mins.

Rub a little oil or butter on both sides. Do this again when you turn the fish.

I baked this in a pre-heated oven for 8 mins at 400 over a rack and then broiled it for 2-3 mins each side on high. This should also be great for grilling outdoors. Make sure to cover the fins and tail of the fish with some aluminum foil before you broil or grill as they blacken quick and catch fire.

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Pasta with Pink Sauce

Made from a lot of pre-made stuff! Prolly not the healthiest or tastiest thing to eat... but hey great for lazy days!

1 part your fav marinara sauce

1/2 part heavy cream

1/4 part chicken broth or vodka

Mix it all together in a heavy base sauce pan, cook for 10-15 minutes over med-high heat.

Great over pasta! Shred Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese on top and maybe some chili flakes.

Done in 15 minutes.

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Class photos

Just like always had a wonderful time and got a chance to meet great people :-)

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Malai Kulfi

Malai Kulfi or Kulfi is an Indian/Pakistani ice cream. It is void of eggs and needs no churning to make. Common flavors are cardamom, almonds or pistachios, saffron, rose water and sugar.

I made a batch a few days back for some friends of mine. The picture above are the last two that I tried really really hard to save for my sis and her hubby!

There are tons of recipes out there that explain the preparation. The shortcut method required no heat and was done by mixing together Cool Whip, condensed milk and cream along with saffron etc. The longer method involved boiling the milk and then adding a few slices of broken up bread to the milk.

The quicker version seemed boring and the bread in the longer method grossed me out. So this is how I did it, its somewhere in between the two methods. I added khoya which was easily available from Apna Bazar. It was in a brick form and resembled paneer cheese and was packaged by Nanak. I should also point out that Mayuri stocks fresh khoya from Pabla Cuisine but you have to call ahead to see if they have it. I prefer the one from Pabla Cuisine, it's delicious and soft, but in this recipe I used Nanak khoya.

A note to people who don't know, khoya is what's left of milk when all the liquid is evaporated. I think wikipedia explains it much better than me :-)

(prep time 10 mins + overnight in the  freezer)
(makes about 18 2.6 oz kulfis)
Ingredients

Whole milk 1 1/2 cups
Evaporated milk 1 12oz can
Condensed milk 1 14 oz can
Heavy cream (36% fat) 1 cup
Khoya 6 oz shredded (I used 1/2 of the block from Nanak)
Sugar 1/3 cup
Cardamom powder 1/2 tsp
Almond powder 1/2 cup

Method

Pour whole, evaporated and condensed milk into a heavy based pot and bring it to a gentle boil.
Also add sugar and cardamom powder to all the liquid.
Lower the heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the shredded khoya and mix well, simmer for another 5 mins.
To this add heavy cream, powdered almonds and mix well.
The khoya will not completely melt (or maybe it does and I was impatient) I used an immersion blender to make the mixture smooth.
Turn the heat off and allow this to come to room temperature.
Ladel into molds. Make sure you stir often when pouring into molds because the almonds tend to settle at the bottom
I used little dixie paper cups here but more commonly I use a lined muffin pan.
Freeze overnight.

Just let them sit on the counter for 2-3 minutes before eating.
This stuff was seriously awesome!

Note: This recipe can easily be doubled.
Caution: When using a muffin pan for freezing these please make sure they are lined with muffin liners otherwise its impossible to take the kulfi out without scarring it. I learned this the hard way of course :-)
A word on nutrition: Sounds scary but comaparable to a 3 oz scoop of regular icecream. A rough calculation concludes that each 2.6 oz piece contains:
236 Calories
11.8 Fat
25.5 Carbs

....and I just had three! whoops!
:-/

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We can cook!

Thank you all for coming and totally making my day. I love doing this and meeting all the great people just adds to the whole experience! I hope everyone had a great time and learned a few things about Indian/Pakistani cooking and all spices we use. Special thanks to Pat and Ginny.. you guys rock!

The missing instructions are right here:

1. Heat some oil in a pan and brown the onions until dark brown.

2. Add the chilies, garlic and ginger and cook for 2 mins.

3. Add yogurt. (Blend)
4. Add tomato sauce.
5. Heat some oil in a separate frying pan sear the chicken on high heat for 2-3 mins.
6. To the chicken, add all the spices and roast them for about 30 sec.
7. Add the chicken to the sauce. Season with salt.
8. Lower the heat and simmer until chicken is cooked. About 10 min.
9. Add the cream cook for another 2 mins.
10. Add the almond powder to thicken the sauce.
11. Turn the heat off. Mix in the butter.
12. Sprinkle some extra Garam Masala on top (optional).

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Sacher Torte

We had a beautiful sunny day today. Had a great big breakfast at Roxy's Diner in Fremont... and came home to this! The original sacher torte all the way from Vienna Austria. It came in the cutest little wooden box and the cake had a chocolate seal on it... coolest thing ever!

A late gift for my sweetie for his 30th!

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Bean Salad with Salsa Verde

Zesty and uber delicious!

(prep time 30 mins)

(serves 2-3)

Ingredients

Garbanzo Beans 1/2 cup

Kidney Beans 1/2 cup

White Beans 1/2 cup

Garlic 1/2 tsp (minced)

White onion 2-3 Tbs (chopped fine)

Green pepper 2-3 Tbs (chopped fine)

Tomatoes 1 med (chopped fine)

Jalapeño 1 tsp (chopped very fine)

Salsa Verde 1/2 cup 

White wine vinegar 3-4 Tbs

Salt

Method

Just toss everything together in a big bowl.

Season with salt.

Let this sit in the refrigerator for a few hours before consuming.

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таратор - Tarator (Bulgarian cold soup)

Quick and refreshing, a fantastic cold soup from Bulgaria. This soup is eaten chilled and sometimes ice cubes are added to it. I served this in a cute little ice bowl, which I lined with slices of cucumbers. I think it looks fab!

Following is a basic recipe that I found over the net. Feel free to change the ratio of any ingredient to better suit your taste buds.

And if you know how to make clear ice please tell me. I double boiled distilled water and it didn't work. I read somewhere that water needs to freeze in thin layers for clear ice. Does anyone know a better way?

(prep time 10 mins)
(serves 2-3)
Ingredients

Plain yogurt 2/3 cup
Fresh Dill 1-2 Tbs (chopped coarse)
Walnuts 2-3 Tbs (chopped)
Garlic 1/2 tsp (minced)
Cucumber 1 large (peeled)
Olive Oil or Sunflower Oil 2 Tbs
Water 1/3 cup
Salt 1/3 tsp approx

Method

Blend yogurt, water, half the cucumber and the garlic in a blender until smooth.
Take out in a bowl and keep aside.
Dice the left over cucumber into tiny bits and add to the yogurt.
Add the dill and walnuts.
Season with salt.
Drizzle some olive oil on top.
Enjoy.

:-)

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Another one :-)

I really love doing this :-)

Sharing some pics from the class, thank you all for coming!

It was great meeting everyone today.

And that gal from Bulgaria (I am sorry for not knowing your name) you are off the charts sweet :-) The next post I will dedicate to you :-) something from Bulgaria with extra rose water :-p

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Class today

Amazing day :-)

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Dum Kebab

These are delicious!

I like to keep the spices fairly basic in this particular kebab recipe.

So good, specially on a rainy day! 

(makes 10 kebabs)

(prep time 30 mins)

For the salsa

Red onion 1 large (sliced)

Roma tomatoes 2 med (chopped)

Green chili 2-3 med (coarsely chopped)

Garlic 2 tsp (minced)

Salt

Heat some cooking oil in a frying pan and start to brown the onions.

Once they are light brown add the garlic, stir well and cook for about 30 seconds on medium high.

Add the tomatoes and the chilies, season with salt.

Cook for 10 mins on medium high heat or until the tomatoes have broken down and are soft.

Keep this mixture aside.

For the kebabs

Ground lean beef 1lbs

Cilantro/coriander powder 2 tsp

Red chili flakes 1 tsp

Garam masala 1 tsp

Pepper 1/2 tsp

Salt

Mix all the above ingredients well in large bowl.

You will need a bamboo skewer to make the kabobs.

Take about 3 Tbs of the meat mixture and wrap it around the bamboo stick and slide off.

The kebab should be roughly 4 inches long like a mini sheesh kebab.

Basically you are making elongated meatballs, you can do that without the bamboo skewer if you wish.

Heat some oil and start browning them in a wide frying pan on high heat.

Turn the kebabs to ensure even browning. This takes about 5 mins.

Once all the sides are browned and the meat is cooked half way add the onion salsa mixture to the frying pan.

Cover and cook on med low heat until kebobs are fully cooked, that usually takes around 10-12 minutes.

Squeeze some lemon juice over the kebabs!

Great with warm naan and some yogurt raita :-)

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