Pumpkin/Butternut Squash and Coconut. The Perfect Fall Vegetable Dish.

 
   I love Fall, I always have. Not for me the long slow Summer nights where it's light til 9:00 o'clock. Give me early darkness, a roaring fire, and all those root vegetables. big gourds, and weird squashes. On chilly Fall nights, the neighbors dog, Smokey barks and howls at whatever's living in that massive redwood tree out back and it makes me want to put something comforting on the stove. Something that screams "The Year's Ending!!! Soon!"
  
   One of the best things about this time of year is pumpkins. I love them and always stock up on them, because it seems that once Halloween is past it's hard to find them. It's as though as long as you can carve a face in it it's cool to keep a pumpkin around, but after that ...forget about it. I beg to differ. Now I'm not saying that every pumpkin dish has to be made with pumpkin, because as I found out a while back not every pumpkin is good eating. Some pumpkins are not meaty or flavorful enough. If you're lucky enough to find a good one great, but this recipe also works beautifully with squash. Butternut squash to be exact. Butternut squash is actually what passes in a can for pumpkin here in the US, so even though there's a cute little pumpkin in the background of the shot above, what's chunked up in the bowl is actually butternut squash.
 
   This recipe is really easy to make, and while traditionally it is aSouth Indian dish called a Mathanga Thoran (pumpkin curry) it would serve very well on anyone's Thanksgiving table. So grab your squash and get cooking.

Pumpkin/Butternut Squash Coconut Curry

Here's What You Need:
2 and 1/2 cups of peeled cubed butternut squash
1/2 cup of fresh grated or dried grated unsweetened coconut
8 shallots
2 or 3 large serrano chiles, seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
8 curry leaves fresh or frozen
1 dried red chili
1 Tbs coconut oil

Here's What To Do:
Peel and cube the butternut squash.
Put it into a pot or kadhai.

Add in 1/4 tsp turmeric.

Add in a bit of salt for starters.

Add in about 2 cups of water. Enough to cover the squash. Bring things to a boil.

Boil the squash until it's tender. This should take about 15 minutes or so.
Meanwhile chop the shallots and chilies.

If you've got onion or chili goggles, use them.

Put the shallots, chilies and cumin seeds into a grinder.

Whirl everything into a paste.

Drain the cooked squash.

Place 1 Tbs of coconut oil in a hot skillet or kadhai.

When the oil is hot, toss in the mustard seeds and urad dal.
When the mustard seeds start top sputter, add in the curry leaves and dried red chili halves.
stir it around for a couple of seconds then add in the shallot chili paste.

Let it cook and sizzle, stirring it around, then adding the dried or fresh coconut.

Cook it for another few minutes.
Add in the cooked squash/pumpkin pieces.

Mix everything together well.
Check the dish for salt. If it needs more, add some.
When you're ready serve it up!

   Sweet, hot and savory all at once, this is a great dish for the holiday table no matter what you're celebrating. It's gluten free, vegan and vegetarian so no matter whoever you're trying to please, they're guaranteed to be happy with this one! By the way it's also make ahead and reheats well the next day without losing any quality, so there's that!  In fact like most Indian food it only benefits being left to mellow a bit, something we can't alas say about many things.

   I busted out the new kitchen Saturday night and cooked my first full on Indian dinner. What fun.
  Coming up next, Guys and Dals. 4 Guys, 3 Dals what could possibly go wrong??? Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Still Cooking From Boxes: Baby Corn Hara Masala, The Indian Version of Chili Verde.

   We're 19 days into the moving process around here. We're still living out of boxes, and spending every spare moment looking at wood for cabinets and granite for counters. We've bought our appliances but right now the kitchen is a wasteland. There are no cabinets, no stove, no fridge, no sink.... anyone who's ever done this gets the picture. The Family Room  started as a Brady Bunch wonderland of grasscloth and beadboard.

Yes, we had it all. We had the lava rock, we had the heavy oak mantle, and I'm sure there's a bottle of Boones Farm hidden around here somewhere, all that was missing was Alice.

That was until we went to work on the grasscloth with a Paper Tiger. Yes, that's not just an expression to me anymore. It's a nifty device sort of like a cheese grater for wall paper.

After a day and a half work, we now have the Brady Bunch Family Room, Paranormal Activity version.

But one cannot strip wallpaper all day, or even more than a few hours without getting hungry. So, meanwhile, back at the boxes.... which we are keeping in our friend's kitchen, I went looking for something I could find to cook, and cook with.

   Now the last time we moved from LA to Sonoma, I discovered that I had actually packed garbage. Not the coffee grounds and banana peel kind of garbage but you know the kind of stuff, broken pencil stubs, half empty boxes of birthday candles, a broken yoyo, you know, stuff. This move I didn't exactly do that. I did do a drawer purge this time, but I also made my own new series of stupid moves. For some reason I don't remember, I packed a can of baby corn. Baby corn? That's something I can picture Don Draper enjoying on a salad in Mad Men. I didn't know what to do with it. Hell, I don't even remember buying a can of baby corn, let alone packing it carefully in newswrap. But evidently I did, and I found it today, along with my food processor. For the life of me I don't know how or why I packed some of the stuff I did. I thought I was packing smarter this time. Evidently not.

   It does sound like some sort of twisted game show. You got a can of baby corn, a food processor, whoops no blades! Oh, there they are packed with the shoes. Who did that? Never mind, just cook lunch. But, what does one make out of that? I had no idea, so I consulted the one thing I couldn't lose in packing.... the internet! I made a beeline to the website of renowned Indian chef the late great Tarla Dalal. Believe it or not, she had just the answer, a recipe for baby corn in a Hara Masala (green masala) sauce. It included everything I had in the house. And the other thing about this dish, it cooks in about 10 minutes! Nothing wrong with that. After all the Paper Tiger awaits. I picked up a couple of onions, a bunch of cilantro and a tomato. Bingo, done! 
 

Baby Corn Hara Masala

Here's What You Need:
1 can of baby corn
1 cup of chopped onion
1 tomato
1 and 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro
salt to taste
1 shallot chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar
3 Tbs coconut oil
2 serrano chilies
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger

Here's What To Do:
 Locate your food processor, when you find it, fill it with 1 and 1/2 cups of cilantro,
1/2 inch piece of ginger, 1 shallot peeled and chopped, i cup of chopped fresh onion...

2 serrano chiles,1 tsp of cumin seeds,1/2 tsp of lemon juice.

Toss in 1 and 1/2 cups of cilantro...

...and start your engines.

Set the Hara Masala aside.
In a skillet or kadhi, heat 3 Tbs of coconut oil.

 When the oil is hot, add in the green chili masala.

Cook everything for about 5 minutes.
Add in the baby corn, and 2 Tbs of water.

Mix everything together well and add salt to taste.

Cook everything for another minute.
Add in 1 tsp of lemon juice and 1 tsp of sugar.

Mix everything together well
Sprinkle a bit of tomato strips over the dish and serve it up hot and spicy.

Spicy, and a bit sweet, this dish is a great side and who would have thought baby corn would find a home outside of a late 50's cocktail party? Coming up next, Sonoma Wine country meets Indian food as I get crazy with grapes, did I mention that I found my blender.....follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Coming Down From Holiday Feasting Cold Turkey With Hot Cauliflower

       
   Just putting it out there straight up, the last month and a half has been a time of plain unadulterated piggery. Parties, holidays, anniversaries and I haven't even gotten to New Years Eve/New Years Day yet and I'm all ready to get clean for '14. There are only so many cookies, cakes, pies and indulgent foods one can handle in the short space of 45 days. Of course, like any situation where brakes are applied, a soft foot on the pedal is always best. "Turn in the direction of the skid" as my old Broadway Department Store Driving instructor used to say. There's no better way of tapering down after a glut of end-of-year eating then with something that appears to be indulgent but is actually vegan, paleo and gluten free. A little trickery goes a long way on the road to rehabilitated eating. Which is why when I was looking for something healthy, but not hard core kale smoothie, I chose the Gujarati classic Cauliflower nu Bhanolu, a warm and creamy tasting Indian comfort food.

   This cauliflower dish cooks up very quickly with just a few ingredients and you will not believe it contains no butter, cream, or eggs, it's that good.

Cauliflower nu Bhanolu

Here's What You Need:
1 and 1/4 cups of finely chopped cauliflower florets
1 Tbs green chili and ginger paste
1 and 1/2 cups of coconut milk
6 Tbs besan flour (aka garbanzo flour)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp of salt or to taste
3and 1/4 tsp of vegetable oil for greasing and tempering
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
a pinch of hing (asafoetida) optional

Here's What To Do:
Preheat the oven to 360 degrees.
Lightly grease a pie plate or 6 inch cake pan with vegetable oil. Set it aside.
Finely chop the cauliflower florets and set them aside.

Pour 1 and 1/2 cups of coconut milk into a bowl, set aside.

Chop 1 serrano chili finely.

Mix it together with 1 tsp of so of chopped fresh ginger and a bit of water until you have 1 Tbs of green chili ginger paste.
Add the besan flour into the coconut milk and mix it into a smooth batter.

Add in the finely chopped cauliflower.

Add in 1 Tbs of the chili and ginger paste.

Stir it in well.
Add in the sugar and salt...

 

...and the lemon juice.

Mix everything together well and pour it all into the lightly greased pan.

Pour the batter into the lightly greased pan and set it aside.
In a small skillet or pan heat 3 tsp of vegetable oil.
When the oil is hot, add in the mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

 
When the mustard seeds start to pop, pour over the top of the cauliflower batter.

Pop the whole thing into the oven for 25 to 35 minutes or until the cauliflower mixture is set and lightly golden.

Scoop into indvidual bowls and serve it up.

   Creamy and smooth with a hit of heat, this is the perfect side dish to make the transition into healthier New Years eating a whole lot easier. If you have cauliflower haters in your family, this dish might just change their minds. It did at our house. Did I mention that it's gluten free, vegan and also meets Paleo requirements? Just what you need to clean up your act for the new year.
Coming up next a few more tricks to eating clean, Indian style. Follow along on Twitter  @kathygori