Foodbuzz 24 x 24: Thanksgiving in January, An Indian Pongal Feast

   When I first saw the notice for The Foodbuzz 24 x 24 I was intrigued. Who wouldn't be? 24 people hosting 24 events all over the world on the same day. I immediately decided to enter. Then I thought wait a minute, if I enter and I'm picked, I really have to do this thing. I have do it and then post about it the next day. That's work. My life is about deadlines, script deadlines. Could I handle one more? Okay I thought. I'll send in an idea. I've always wanted to do an Indian Pongal feast with all the trimmings. I drew up a menu, imagined my perfect evening and sent it off.  

   A few hours later I started to get nervous. What had I gotten myself into? It's one thing to cook for oneself. It's a totally an other thing to cook for a deadline. I took a deep breath. Oh well, there's a lot of people entering. They won't pick me anyway. Well, they did. All of a sudden I was staring down the barrel of a full-on Indian Pongal Feast.

  Who doesn't love Thanksgiving? Turkey with all the trimmings, stuffing and the bounty of the seasons, vegetables, mince pie, pumpkin pie, the groaning board and the groaning pants buttons when all is done. Well, even though Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on one day in November, it's actually always Thanksgiving somewhere. So just when you thought all your holiday eating was done, allow me to show you a totally different Thanksgiving experience.  Pongal.  In the Tamil language, the word ponggal means to "boil over" and milk boiling over in a pot is the symbol of a new year's prosperity as shown in the video below as women race to see whos' clay pot boils over first.

   Thanks is given to the sun god and to the various farm animals that have contributed to a successful and plentiful year for a successful harvest. Of course as in any Thanksgiving or Harvest festival, one of the main attractions is the food and everyone is included, even the local elephants who have a feast of sugar cane.

    This year I decided to have a Pongal Feast. I was a week late as Pongal was the weekend of the 15th, but when it comes to a blow-out party, better late than never I always say.
   After seeing how elaborately they decorate for this holiday in Tamil Nadu, I figured that I'd better get my ass in gear decor-wise. This is not a couple of pumpkins in a basket and a folding cardboard turkey kind of feast. These guys are serious about how things look. Of course who better to be my in-house out-of-house decorator than Mr. X who has recently returned from his annual visit with friends in Trivandrum.
  We have a very large dining room table made out of 100 year old, reclaimed barn wood. It's a little hard finding a proper table cloth for it let alone something fitting for a pongal revel. Of course he had the answer. 30 years ago he'd bought a hand printed bedspread, a Kalamkari print. It was gorgeous.
   I immediately said "No! What if I spill something on it?"
   He said "How do you know what happened on this bedspread?  Okay I thought, now there's no way I'm using this thing. After reassuring me that the bedspread was pristine and table worthy, and after I promised to make sure there wouldn't be turmeric drippings all over it at the end of the feast, I accepted.
   He also offered me a 200 year old Chinese made jar that he'd found in Kerala as my centerpiece. It was gorgeous. How could I say no, even after he told me it might be haunted.

    I used my traditional dinner dinnerware as Mr. X seemed concerned when I talked about putting banana leaves down on his tablecloth. I dressed up the table with the flowers I could find, and found some cute stuffed elephants to frolic among the printed elephants on the cloth, some bright red-orange candles to light things up and swirly silver napkin rings completed the festive table.

    Friends and neighbors who I know share our love for Indian food were invited to join us. Even Patsy had a guest, her "friend" Peaches the Dog.

   Of course every dinner goes better with music.
 To hear some of the sounds of my 24 x24 Pongal Feast listen to a bit of Tamil Music Talattu Pada

   The only other thing left to figure out was the menu. Since this is a harvest feast celebrating the bounty of the land, the menu is vegetarian and as I discovered, also gluten-free, another plus.
I did a lot of research as to what dishes are traditionally served for Pongal feasts and of course that's like asking what Americans serve for Thanksgiving. It depends. It depends on family favorites, what crops are grown, what seems good at the time, and of course like here, what Amma (Mamma) used to make.
   Where turkey is the mainstay of American-style Thanksgivings, the heart of the Pongal feast is rice. My Pongal feast was no exception. I love the individual clay brams I was able to find at Bram Cookware they made my holiday thali complete.

 This is what I served:
 Spicy Tamarind Sambar
 Pineapple Rasam

 Ven Pongal

 Vegetable Stew with crunchy dal badis, (otherwise known as Ayvial)

 Masala Vadai

 Coconut Raita
 Apple Tomato chutney
 and for dessert
 Vermicelli Payasam with raisins and cashews.

   My shopping trips in preparation involved visits to the only local Indian market in the county, a Thai market and my new discovery, a Cambodian Market on Petaluma Hill Road, which blew my mind.

   All in all a 50 mile round trip. Who knew? Of course the vegetables came from Sonoma's Organic Friday Morning Farmers Market and (except for the long beans and the pineapple) everything was local. I started cooking the Wednesday before the dinner, roasting and grinding spices for my homemade sambar and rassam powders.
   My biggest challenge, and the one dish I was dreading making, was the traditional Indian Vadai or little dal donuts. I'm not used to deep frying, but surprise of surprises, thanks to advice I got from various Indian internet friends, they turned out beautifully.
   I made a list that I stuck to the fridge with a magnet to make sure I was on course. It gave me a feeling of accomplishment and it worked! For once I was able to greet my guests in a non-sweaty, relaxed manner, in a clean and sparkling blingy khameeze. Ready for fun.
 And eating.

 Drinking  Covey Run Gewurztraminer Columbia Valley 2008 and an assortment of Indian beers

 And finally Dessert.
    Since sweet pongal rice pudding is often served with this meal, and since I was already doing a big rice dish as an entree, I looked for alternatives. I found it in a vermicelli pudding with roasted cashews and plump raisins, served with a hot milk chai it was simply divine.

    We ended the evening romping with the dogs and lolling on the sofas in typical post Thanksgiving food comas (some things never change) while the rain pounded down on the roof.
    Afterward I collapsed,  contemplating the clean up of an army of clay pots which could not be run through the dishwasher.

   We gave thanks for being safe and warm and well fed with the bounty of our local farmers. We'd had a double Thanksgiving and it was good.
    I'll be posting the recipes for all of these wonderful vegetarian dishes in the days to come, as soon as I get done washing dishes.
   I want to thank Foodbuzz for giving me the opportunity to share this meal with my friends and family and with all of you.

What's Good For The Goose Is Great For The Game Hen

  We've been really involved with work this last week so I've been back to basics at lunchtime. I'm looking for what's fresh at the market, and what's in season and can be cooked with a minimum of effort. Since I'm planning a major Pongal feast for this weekend, I'm also doing prep cooking every evening so that things go smoothly on Saturday night.
  Once again I found fresh little game hens at the market of course little birds are my crack and I just had to have one. Butternut squash was on sale, I steamed and mashed it with a bit of butter cardamom and cinnamon,  added some fresh spinach and bingo, lunch.
  Staring at the little bird however I thought I can't just serve that. It's boring. Who wants boring on a workday? Not me. I started checking out the fridge to see what I could put together to make things a bit more...interesting. I spotted a bottle of POMwonderful pomegranate juice, some of my homemade pomegranate molasses. I knew what to do. I'd make a pomegranate raisin sauce for the spice rubbed bird.
  I halved the game hen, removed the backbone and rubbed them with my quail rub which is 1/2 tsp of allspice mixed with 1/2 tsp of kashmiri chili and 1/2 tsp of salt.
 I rubbed the bird halves with this rub and drizzled them with a bit of olive oil. They were ready for the grill.
 Meanwhile the sauce:

Pomegranate Walnut Sauce

 In a small pan melt 1 Tbs of unsalted butter. When the butter is hot and foamy add in 1 finely chopped shallot.

Quickly saute the shallot. When it's slightly browned add in:
 1/2 cup of pomegranate juice.

 Bring the mixture to a boil then turn down the heat and reduce it a bit.
 When it;s reduced slightly add in:
 3 Tbs of pomegranate molasses

 a pinch of salt
 a pinch of ginger
a pinch of cardamom
 I like to taste and play with the spices, there are no hard and fast rules here. See what you can come up with, perhaps a bit of orange zest...whatever pleases you.
 Let the sauce cook down a bit more then add a pinch of arrowroot to thicken it a bit. Finally, stir in a handful of raisins and simmer them lightly for another 5 minutes or so. The sauce is done.
Drizzle it over the game hen half and you are in business. No more dull little birds.

   Of course Patsy the Siberian Husky had her own delicious lunch and then came around for her favorite after lunch entertainment "Watching Alpha Eat Ice Cream".

 Tomorrow is my big Foodbuzz 24 x 24 Dinner. It's a complete vegetarian Pongal Feast, so I'm off to Sonoma's Friday Morning Organic Farmers Market. Stay tuned.

Simple, Delicious and Fast. Eggplant and Walnuts A Meatless Monday Star.

   I cook a lot of eggplant. Growing up in an Italian household, eggplant was a member of my moms' continuing cast of vegetables. If dinner was "Threes' Company" eggplant was Mr. Roper, always there, kind of weird sometimes, but never quite the star. When I got my first apartment, I had an eggplant special that I used to cook for my dates. It involved cheese, eggplant, tomatoes, crumbled saltine crackers (yeah you heard me right) and bringing it to the table was like lifting weights. I don't know what I was thinking. Oh yeah... I almost forgot, it was always accompanied by a bottle of Mateus. If you don't know what that is, forget I even mentioned it. Really. Forget it. It was a long time ago.
  When I started cooking Indian food 21 years ago, I was introduced to many wonderful eggplant dishes. They were spicy and sweet, hot and cold, and involved all sorts of eggplants from tiny little round ones to long skinny ones, to the big oval ones I grew up with. None of the dishes involved crushed saltine crackers. What I learned about eggplant was that eggplant dishes didn't necessarily have to be heavy and could still be hearty.
  When Paula Wolfert gave me her Indian cookbook collection a few weeks ago, one of the recipes that caught my eye was one that involved eggplant with walnuts and sesame seeds. I'd never seen a recipe like this before and I couldn't wait to try it. One of the things I loved about the dish was that it was doable in about 30 minutes, always a plus on a work day.

Eggplant and Walnuts

   Here's what to do:
 Wash and dry a 1 pound eggplant.
 Cut it at an angle into thin slices.

When you've sliced up the eggplant, put the pieces in a colander and sprinkle them with about 4 tsps of salt.

Rub the salt in well and let the salt-rubbed eggplant sit in the colander for about 10 minutes to drain.
Rinse the sliced eggplant in cool water. Wash the salt off and dry the eggplant slices.

In a large skillet heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil.
When the oil is hot, lay the eggplant slices down one layer at a time, cover the pan.

Let them cook for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side until they're a light brown.

 When all the slices have been sauteed, place all the eggplant slices back in the pan.
 Toss in:
2 Tbs of chopped walnuts

1/4 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of sesame seeds
2 tsps of lemon juice
1/2 tsp of kashmiri chile. If you can't find that, use 1/4 tsp of cayenne mixed with 1/4 tsp of paprika.

Mix it all around.

Put it into a serving dish and sprinkle it with a bit of chopped cilantro.

 

   This is a great dish, meaty and yet light, tender and crunchy. The walnuts dress up the eggplant and take it uptown. It's perfect for a vegetarian meal with a nice rice dish and a couple of other vegetable sides. It mixes well with Western dishes too, and then there's that 30 minute thing. Can't beat that.
   So I started off my week with a cupcake frenzy, staring down frosting shots on a revolving cake carousel (my own personal Vegas) and I'm preparing to wind it up with my Foodbuzz 24 x 24 Pongal Feast (all vegetarian) on Saturday night. In a week where I'm prepping a major dinner, this eggplant is just the kind of easy, light dish I'm looking for. I'm so glad I found it.

My Little Cupcake...or What would YOU Do If The Winner Of Cupcake Wars Was In Your Neighborhood?

   This is the story of an obsession. I don't normally think about cupcakes. I am not a regular watcher of Cupcake Wars. In fact I've only seen one episode in my whole life. I guess as they say, it just takes one.
Anyway I was surfing around one evening and stumbled across the show. I watched fascinated, as several teams of bakers from cupcake shops across the US competed to create the most gorgeous mouthwatering cupcakes. I was going nuts from craving and was about to flip the channel when I heard the winning bakers say, "Well, we do a lot of weddings here in Wine Country..." What? Wine Country? Wait a minute....I live in Wine Country. Which Wine Country are we talking about here? Upstate New York? Santa Ynez Valley? Washington State? Somewhere in Oregon? Sift was the name of the bakery and a quick punch up of Lord Google told me that the Wine Country they were talking about was my Wine Country right here in Sonoma County. Uh oh... this could mean trouble. I'm not kidding. When I get an idea in my head I just can't get it out. The cupcakes I'd seen on Cupcake Wars had definitely stuck in my head and I had to have them. There was no question about it.
   Sonoma County is pretty big... not a lot of people but a lot of space. It's not always easy getting from here to there. Distance might be the only thing keeping me from these insanely tasty looking cupcakes. I Google mapped. Sonoma County contains nearly 1800 square miles I had a decision to make. Unless these cupcakes were somewhere north of Fort Ross, near the Mendocino border, I was getting those cupcakes.
   As it turned out the cupcakes were about a 50 mile round trip (acceptable) and wonder of wonders, they were located about two blocks from the only Indian Grocery in Sonoma County. I've just been chosen to be one of the participants in Foodbuzz's 24 x 24 Dinner Event this month and I'm going to be cooking a big Indian feast on the 29th, so of course I had to make a supply (cupcake) run. I had to! Really. So on Saturday morning, I did.
   Of course being a disciplined person I did all my Indian grocery shopping. See. Really. I had to go.

   Once my groceries were safely stowed in the trunk, I drove (very safely and not too fast) over to Sift. It was a wonderland of cupcakes. When they crowned these people the Queens of Cupcake Wars they weren't kidding. They were A-mazing! Such beauty, such fragrance, such color and those names!
"Knock Your Box Off", "Black Cherry Jungle", "Carbomb""24 Carrot", "OOOh LaLa""Peanut Butter Ripple." I was stunned. They also had huge whoopie cookies and those little cups with spoons on the cake carousel are... wait for it... Frosting shots.

   I don't usually freak out around stuff. I've learned over the years in my business to keep my cool. In Hollywood that's how we roll, but "Ohmygodthere'sredvelvetwithcreamcheesefrosting! Samoawithcoconuttopping! Oh My God I loved you on Cupcake wars!!!!" I mean I may as well have been gaping at Brad Pitt on the Red Carpet.
   "Almondcupcakewithblueberrysandtequillafilling!!!!" These cupcakes were like movie stars.
We made our selections. For me the red velvet cupcake I'd seen on Cupcake Wars. For Alan, the Black Cherry Jungle.

Outta the box!

A moment later.

   Yes, that is frosting on my knuckles... I don't know how it got there.
   So in short, is a 50 miles round trip worth it to get down and dirty with the winners of Cupcake Wars? Yes, though I think I would be able to go more often if I walked over there.Yeah. walking. That's the ticket. In fact if I walked over I could buy a whole dozen, and then as I was walking I could eat them and I'd walk if off right? Sure. As they said in Brokeback Mountain. "Damn you Sift Bakery..I can't quit you!"

When Is A Vegetable Not Just A Vegetable? Chiles, Two Ways.

    I have been totally consumed by my firni experiments... and still have not perfected my own twist on this Indian dessert. When the work week rolled around, I figured it was time to get sane again, put the sweets aside and cook some vegetables.
   In one of the Indian cookbooks Paula Wolfert gave me was a recipe for bell peppers as a side dish. Now bell peppers and I have a long long history together. Anybody who grew up in a blue collar household is familiar with two things, Mac and cheese in a box and bell peppers in the week before payday. The Mac and cheese in a box I have to admit I still have a weakness for, even though I've eaten gourmet versions of Mac and Cheese in some of the best restaurants in LA. Mac and cheese, why can't I quit you?! The bell peppers I've never been able to reconcile with. Maybe it was because they were always bell pepper "surprise," the "surprise" being whatever the hell they were stuffed with, which around my house could have been anything (Quick! Check the hamster cage!)
   There are two words I've learned to be wary of on any menu. One is "our famous" and the other is "surprise." So when I started hunting around, doing some research on bell pepper curries, I found quite a few where Anaheim chiles were substituted for bell peppers. Ok, now that's the kind of surprise I can deal with.
   Anaheim chiles were also on sale at Sonoma Market, so I was happy all the way around. This dish makes up in less than a half hour and once you've found your Anaheim chiles, everything else is probably already in your larder.

Eggplant Spinach and Peppers

Here's what to do:

 

Stem the chiles, take the seeds out.

cut them into about 1/2 inch to 1 inch pieces.

Finely chop 1 large shallot.
In a large skillet or kadhai heat 2 Tbs of vegetable oil. When the oil is hot toss in the shallots and chiles.

Stir fry them at a moderate high heat for about 5 minutes or so until the chiles and shallots are a bit browned.
Turn down the heat and add in:
 2 tsps of light brown sugar
1 tsp of sesame seeds
1/4 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of ground cumin
2 tsp of lemon juice

Stir it around and continue to cook at a low temperature for about another 5 minutes.
 Stir in 2 tsps of grated coconut and serve.

    I served these peppers with a grilled, spice-rubbed, skinless chicken breast, spinach with garam masala, a simple raita and a bit of homemade apricot chutney that I canned last summer. They were great, mildly hot, slightly sweet. The big discovery however was Alan's. He loved it with the chicken but he also felt it would be a great side dish to be served with any sort of barbecue, or even... steak.   I called it a vegetable. He calls it a hot salsa or relish. Fine. It's the spice that makes a marriage

interesting. 

   Now for the non carnivores, this dish would work wonderfully with a nice paratha or chapatti along with a rice and dal dish. I would think the addition of other vegetables  (think peas, cauliflower, squash) along with the peppers would also fill the dish out as a stand alone vegetarian special.  

  I also found out this week that I'm going to be one of the participants in this months' Foodbuzz 24 x 24. It's going to be on the 29th and I can't wait to get cooking.