The Chess Players... and The Chicken. Spring Forward Version

 My husband loves chess. he loves to read about it, talk about it, study it but most of all he loves to play. Growing up in New York he played at the Manhattan Chess Club. When we lived in Los Angeles he was a member of the Santa Monica Chess Club and played there regularly. Since moving full time to Sonoma a few years ago he hasn't had anyone to play chess with so he was delighted when Andy the owner of our local book store Readers Books said that he played chess.

  
A date was set immediately.  After a bit of negotiation as to where the game would be played, (Andy's store versus our house) it was decided that ours would be the quieter venue. Always looking for a chance to test a recipe on someone, I offered to make it a chess players' lunch.

   At the time I made this offer, I'd forgotten that this weekend was the weekend that we set the clocks forward and leapt into Daylight Savings. Not my favorite time of year. In other words I wound up going to bed last night at about 3 a.m. Normally I'm up at 7. The last thing I wanted to do at 7 a.m this morning was cook a big Indian lunch. I wanted to sleep.
  Fortunately the dish I was experimenting with suited my plans perfectly.
  I had planned to cook a whole spiced chicken marinated and wrapped in a banana leaf.

This turned out to be ideal, since the chicken had been marinated the afternoon before I realized that the time was about to change. All I had to do this afternoon was heat up the oven and gift wrap my bird. Add some rice, chapattis and a couple of veg sides and I was done. I had planned to try a new dessert (to me) that I'd gotten from my friend at  Niyas World, but while running around grocery shopping yesterday our car battery died and it threw me into a state of utter confusion. Dessert plans flew out the window. I figured I'd have to try the new dessert another time. For now I'd throw some boxed, store-bought cookies at the chess players. That would be good enough for them.
   Cooking things in banana leaves is a very old technique, it protects and gently steams the food and adds a nice flavor and aroma to whatever one is cooking.
  The first time I went looking for banana leaves I was shocked at the price. Online one place wanted about 15 bucks for one pack and that didn't include postage. A quick search of my local Hispanic market showed me that  I could get the same package there for $1.50 in the frozen  section.
  Simply put,  I love dishes that I can assemble the day ahead with minimal effort and then just shove into the oven on cooking day. This is especially appreciated when stuff like car batteries happen and everything goes kabluey!
   So here is how to do this simple and delicious  
         Banana Wrapped Chicken.
    Start off with 1 Chicken ideally from 4.6 lbs to 5 pounds.
     Preparing the Chicken
   Rinse the chicken and dry it well then poke it all over so that the marinade can get through to the meat.
Rub the chicken with :
  3 Tbs of Lemon juice
  1 tsp of salt
             Making the Marinade
1.) In a heavy frying pan or skillet heat 1 Tbs vegetable oil
   When it's hot, toss in:
2.) 2 onions peeled and roughly chopped
  Stir them around and fry them until the onions start to brown. Then add in:
3.) 4 garlic cloves or shallots crushed
4.) 1 and 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled and chopped
   Cook for an additional 2 minutes or so then add in:
5.) 3 Tbs of ground almonds
6.) 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili or (1/4 tsp cayenne mixed with 1/4 tsp paprika)
7.)  1 tsp turmeric
8.) 2 tsp garam masala
   Cook for an additional minute, then let the onion spice mixture cool totally.
   When it's all cooled off, put the mixture into a blender or food processor along with
9.) 5 tsp of chopped fresh cilantro
  Turn it all into a smooth paste.
  Rub the paste all over the chicken both inside the cavity and outside, then cover the bird and tuck it in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.
  Once this is done you can forget about the chicken and deal with anything that might rear it's ugly head.  Stuff like busted batteries and cell phones that are dead because your husband has been taking pictures of you in reflective surfaces all afternoon practicing his "technique".

  Our friend Bruce Needleman owner of Salsa Trading Company and me the Head in the Bottle at his store
  Actually the thing that saved our butt was Foursquare, the new app on our iPhone . Because of this nifty little app I was able to see that our friend Chip happened to be shopping in the Sonoma Market  where our car was sitting dead in the parking lot. He also had a working iPhone because he had not been out taking pictures all afternoon running down the battery. He was able to help us out by calling AAA for a tow truck and then giving me a lift home so that Patsy could get out and attend to her "business". But, back to the chicken.
    Wrapping and Cooking
  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
    Soften the banana leaves by soaking them in hot water to limber them up, then dry them off.
    Tie the legs of the chicken together  then wrap the fowl in green leafiness. If you don't have or can't get banana leaves, you can use foil to wrap the bird.

 

    Place the wrapped chicken in a roasting pan, place the pan in the oven for 1 and 1/2 hours.
After 1 and 1/2 hours take out the bird and open up its' little banana leaf gown.

 Put the bird back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so till it's nice and well browned.

   I served this chicken to my players with a nice raita, curried eggplant and potatoes, mustard seed rice, a jar of my apricot chutney, chapattis and a Gujarati carrot salad.

 The guys played chess for a couple of hours. Alan drew the first game and then won the second game. I withdrew to our office leaving them with a pot of chai and some "store-bought" cookies.
  So the Sonoma Traveling Chess club is established, next stop I'm informed is Andys' house and they'll be playing Go. Go figure.

Bread In 20 Minutes Or, The Fast, The Delicious And The Gluten Free!

Every culture and cuisine has their own version of bread and I like all of them. Flat or tall, round, square oblong, leavened, or un, paper-thin or giant heavy slabs. I love the stuff.
 What I don't love is the mixing, kneading, waiting, rising, punching, and pinching that's usually involved in  a lot of the bread making process.
  When I was fixing my buffet for Oscar night I really wanted to be able to watch everyone come down the red carpet, I didn't want to be in the kitchen wielding a tava, turning out hot chapattis like a crazed robot. I know I could have made them ahead and kept them warm but I'm a stickler and for me it's all about the fresh and puffy.
  It doesn't get any fresher or puffier than the light and delicious Gujarati treat, known as Dhokla . The first time I ever made this amazing steamed bread, about 20 years ago, I was in hog heaven. I gorged on it, then moved on to mastering other treats. Last year I started making it again. I'm not neglecting this recipe any more.
I made it for my Bollywood Hollywood Oscar Feast and by the time I made my way over to the buffet for my share of the goodies, the plate had been pillaged. Yes, it's that good. The recipe I used is adapted from a simple traditional recipe featured in Lord Krishnas' Cuisine by Yamuna Devi.
  The recipe requires a bit of time, but it's lazy time in that once the batter is mixed, it's set aside for at least 8 hours or overnight. Go do your thing, let that batter rest wrapped up warm in a safe place. The bread is made and steamed the next day in about 15 minutes. So easy, and since it's made with besan or gram flour made from ground up chickpeas, it's high in protein and gluten free!
    Here's how to make this very simple bread.
       The Prep
  In a bowl mix together :
1.) 1 and 1/2 cups of sifted gram (chickpea garbanzo) flour
2.) 2 hot green chilies finely minced
3.) 1 and 1/2 Tbs of finely chopped fresh ginger
4.) 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
5.) 1/4 tsp turmeric
6.) 3/4 tsp salt
7.) 1 tsp jaggery or brown sugar
8.) 3 Tbs of vegetable oil
9.) 2/3 cup of plain yogurt
   Mix it up well. It will be a rather thick batter. Cover the bowl and set it aside in a warm place  for at least 4 hours. I usually leave mine overnight. I keep it in my un-used oven. Important for those of you who do this. Make sure everyone in the house knows you are doing this and the oven remains turned off, otherwise trouble ensues!
    The Baking (steaming)
This is how I steam my bread, it's a pretty basic set-up.
1.) Take a large deep pot .
2.) Fill with about an inch of water or so.
3.) Set an iron trivet in the bottom

The trivet is there to hold the cake pan above the water.
   Grease an 8 inch cake pan with 1 Tbs of vegetable oil
Turn the heat up under your pot with the trivet, bring the water to a boil
When you are ready to steam your bread...
  Prep Your Batter
   1.) Sprinkle 1/2 tsp baking powder
   2.) 1/2 tsp baking soda
 Into the batter, mix it in stirring in one direction
   3.)  3 Tbs of warm water  still stirring in one direction
   The batter will  start to bubble and forth, pour it into the greased pan and lower it into the pot.
 I made cute little tin foil straps to do this as I don't much like being scalded by steam.

When the bread is in the pan, lay a clean dish towel over the top of the pot, tightly

Place the metal lid of the pot over that.

And wrap the tea towel over it.
  Steam the bread for about 8 to 12 minutes. You can check to see if it's done by taking the lid off and poking the bread with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it's done.
   Take your bread out of the pot and set the bread pan aside with the towel loosely covering it for about 10 minutes to rest.
   After 10 minutes turn it out onto a plate. Cut it into criss-crossed diamond wedges and scatter it with:
1.) 1/3 cup fresh or frozen grated coconut, or dried grated coconut mixed with a bit of water to soften it.
2.) 3 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro

                The Garnish
  Just before serving heat :
1.) 1/4 cup unsalted butter in a cast iron pan
  When the butter is hot and foamy toss in
2.) 1/2 Tbs black mustard seeds.

When the seeds start to pop, drizzle the entire mixture over the top of the bread, take it to the table and stand back so you don't get trampled.

  This bread is wonderful hot out of the steamer, and also great at room temperature. This amount of bread added up to about 24 pieces. There were 10 of us and within an hour there was none left.
  This bread is also gluten free (though not sugar free) for those who follow a gluten free diet. It's so good you won't miss the gluten at all.

Quick South Indian Shrimp Dish

I've been cooking Indian food for about 20 years. I don't cook it everyday but I do cook it  almost every day. As a result I'm always looking for new recipes, or new (to me) ways of doing old traditional ones.
  I recently discovered the joys of fast cooking with shrimp. A friend tipped me off to a frozen shrimp sale at our local Whole Foods. Whole cleaned medium sized uncooked shrimp, 50 to a re-sealable bag for 6.99.
 Well Ok, I thought. I liked the idea of having bags of shrimp in the freezer for unexpected company dinners. But why should company be the only ones to get this treat? Why indeed. I bought a bag. I figured that with a vegetable dish and chapatti added, this one bag would produce two full lunches for us.
 Why the stress on lunch? We aren't dinner people. Our big main meal of the day is around 1:00 or so. We eat lunch the way most people eat dinner.  We feast. Dinner when it rolls around, is an apple, maybe some cheese, nuts etc. In short, not much. Of course we entertain a lot on weekends and this schedule changes, but almost every working day lunch is the thing.
  I thought  with all this beautiful shrimp what better for a fast Indian lunch than a South Indian shrimp dish.
 One of my favorite cookbooks is  Prashad: Cooking with Indian Masters.
It was written about 20 years ago and contains recipes and interviews from some of Indian greatest chefs of the time. The dish I cooked this afternoon was from Chef Syed Naseer and is a homey shrimp dish cooked up and simmered quickly. It's called Iggaru Royya.
  I used 1/2 lb of medium sized unpeeled shrimp for the two of us.  So I would say for 4 people as a main dish with other sides all that would be needed is 1 lb of medium shrimp.
1.) Wash, shell and de-vein the shrimp. Leave the tails on. Set them aside.
In a skillet, wok or kadhai heat 
2.) 2 Tbs of vegetable oil
  When the oil is hot toss in
3.) 1 1/4 cup of onion finely chopped
   Cook it over a medium heat until the onion has turned soft and translucent. Then add:
4.) 3 tsp of garlic or shallot paste
5.) 3 tsp of ginger paste
 Stir it until all the liquid has evaporated.
 Add in
6.) 1 3/4 cup of tomatoes and salt to taste. Since there are no fresh tomatoes in season here right now, I used diced, unsalted, canned organic tomatoes and they worked just fine.

Saute this mixture until it softens and turns semi squishy. This cooking process is called  bhunno.
While this is simmering place
7.) 1 3/4 tsp of cumin seeds
8.) 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

9.) 1 Tbs black peppercorns
  In a spice grinder or mortar and pestle and grind away.
When the tomato mixture is nice and soft add in:
10.) 1 cup of dried grated coconut  mixed with 1/4 cup of water ground to a paste.
11.) 10 fresh or frozen curry leaves.

  Cook for 2 minutes then add the shrimp and ground spices. Stir on a medium heat until the shrimp are cooked.
Adjust seasonings and sprinkle about 3 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro on top of the dish and serve.

  This dish is great with simple boiled rice and chapatti. I served it this afternoon with a spicy turnip poriyal. So now these little bags of shrimp are my new best friend, right along with those little bags of cabbage. Add a pan, some scissors and spices and I'm all set. Lunch is in the bag!
 

Hyderabadi Rice Pilaf Cooked in Rustic Clay

 When planning a company dinner I always like to go all out. I also like to have some dishes on the table that are relatively easy to set up and prepare. It's important to have a variety of tastes, textures and colors on the table in an Indian meal.  My favorites are the ones that get off the stove top and tuck themselves into the oven out of the way and leave me in peace. If they look good when they come out of the oven, that's also a plus!
 One of the easiest ways of making food look stunning coming to the table is the dish it's served in. Even better, if that dish is the same one it's cooked in. Less washing.
 If you haven't gathered it by now, I'm nuts for clay. One thing I've learned is that there are as many types of clay pot as there are cooks in love with them. My favorite clay look is Rustic. The rougher, more down home the clay pot, the better I like it. All of my clay pieces fit the bill, and as they say about shoes, I believe about clay: You can never have too many clay pots!

These are just a few of my beauties. I lean heavily to the natural browns and blacks. The exception is the muted smokey grey green of my Clay Coyote Casserole.
  One of my very very favorite pieces to cook with is my Bram from where else? Bram Cookware.
  On New Years Eve I cooked a goat biryani in it.The other day I used it for a Hyderabadi Rice Pilaf.
  This dish is one that I've been making for years. It's an old Madhur Jaffery recipe. It's easy, tasty, feeds a lot of people and works with either a meat or veg meal.
  The reason it works so well and can even be taken as a main course with a few veg side dishes, is that it is a dish that combines both rice and dal!
    To make this dish, start with the Dal.
1.) Soak 1/2 cup of channa dal in 3 inches of water for 1 and 1/2 hours.
2.) Dump the dal and the water it's soaking in, into a pot
3.) Add 1/4 tsp of turmeric
4.)   Boil the dal.
5.) When it's boiling, partially cover the pot with the lid and turn down the heat.
6.) Simmer the whole thing for about 30 minutes. The dal should be almost tender but not mushy. Drain it.
  At this point you can set it aside. This part can be done several hours ahead which makes things insanely easy.
 Now for the Rice
7.) Wash 2 cups of rice and soak it  in about 2 inches of water for 30 minutes. Then drain it.
 Now for the Onions
8.) Peel, halve and thinly slice 1 large onion
9.) Heat about 2 Tbs of oil in a skillet and stir fry the onions until they're crispy golden brown.
10.) Remove them from the oil and drain them on a paper towel. Set them aside for later.
 Save that oil!
11.) Chop 2 tsp of ginger
12.) 1 tsp of finely chopped garlic or shallot
    Stir fry the ginger and garlic/shallot in the oil the onions were cooked in. Cook until they're light golden colored.
13.) Add in 1/4 tsp of turmeric and
14.) 1 Tbs of yogurt
Stir the yogurt around until most of the liquid evaporates.
15.) Add 4 more Tbs of yogurt one at a time stirring each one in carefully.
 Next, 
16.) Put in the drained and cooked dal and
17.) 1/2 tsp salt
18.) 1/4 tsp kashmiri chili powder
 Mix it up well and cook the dal for about 1 minute.
  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
  In a large pot boil 12 cups of water.
 When there is alively boil going on add in
19.) 1 Tbs of salt
20.)  Add in the rice and bring it all to a nice boil once again.
21.)   Boil the rice for 5 minutes only, then drain it.
    Next, Prepping For the Oven
22.)   Put half of the rice into an oven-proof  casserole dish
23.)    Pour the cooked yogurty dal on top of it
24.)  Layer the rest of the rice on top of that.
     Dot the top of the rice with
25.) 2 Tbs of unsalted butter cut into little pieces
26.) Scatter the fried onions over the rice
27.) Sprinkle 2 Tbs of lemon juice over the rice
28.) 1 Tbs of chopped fresh mint
29.) 2 to 4 finely chopped green chilis
30.)  1 Tbs of finely chopped  fresh cilantro
31.)  1/2 tsp garam masala
   Once your toppings are on the rice, you're set for the oven. This dish is cooked in the manner the Indians call Dum.
 This is a way of bake-cooking  where the dish is partially cooked, then sealed into the pot with a lid and finally a ring of flour water bread dough for a tight seal.
In cooking with clay, I was advised by Paula Wolfert that I might not want to take the chance of damaging my clay pot while breaking the dough seal. Instead of the bread dough, I place a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil on top of the dish, crimping it around the sides for a tight fit. I place a heavy lid on top of that. It seems to work perfectly.
  Once the casserole is sealed and lidded, pop it into the oven for 30 minutes.
    It makes a brilliant presentation when the top is popped at the table. Somehow I always expect 4 and 20 blackbirds to fly out, but that's just me.

   This dish is a real star. Serve it up, serve it in clay for a beautiful presentation. And did I mention it also rocks cold, picnic-style the next day?

A Rose Garden Of A Dessert

This weekend we had company. This is nothing new for us, weekends are always for entertaining.  This guest was different however, at least for me. My  husbands' old boarding school pal was in the Bay Area. So on Sunday she and her sister drove over for a big Indian lunch at our house.
  I've become Facebook friends with quite a few of my husbands' old running buddies from Connecticut and various New England boarding schools. One of my best  Facebook friends is one of his old roommates when they were 14. Even though I feel like I have met many of these people, I haven't. Until Sunday.
 It's very weird to meet someone one already knows. Weird and yet cool also. I had someone from my virtual world in my actual house. Sort of like Avatar..but not. Since Jemima reads this blog, I promised to cook an Indian lunch for her and her sister Sarah.
 Cooking the actual meal began the day before. Almost all the dishes were slow cooked in clay. That menu will be for a later post, what I want to talk about today is the dessert!
  I've gotten in the habit lately of experimenting with desserts. When I cook a large Indian meal,  I always like to try and do something interesting at the end. Large, heavy western-style slabs of cake or pie don't go, so I like to do some research, read and then see what I can make with what I have on hand.
   On my last trip to our local Indian market I'd picked up a packet of seviyan or falooda noodles. The first time I'd had these noodles was at an Iranian ice cream parlor in Los Angeles called Mashti Malones.  The threadlike little noodles were mixed into a rosewater ice cream and were amazingly delicious and addictive. I was hooked.
 Originally I thought I'd just blend some of the falooda noodles into a rosewater pistachio ice cream I was making and be done with it. But then I got Falooda Madness! I spent the next two days reading all about Falooda, Faloodah, Faluda, and Faludah online. There are almost as many variations on what one can do with this as there are spellings of it.
   Falooda was originally developed in Persia/Iran and then traveled to India  and Pakistan via the Mughals. Desserts involving these skinny little vermicelli are found all over Southeast Asia. I decided they needed to be found in Sonoma too. It was going to be a Falooda kind of weekend.
  Falooda is sort of like an Ice Cream Sundae . An ice cream sundae designed by a Paris parfumerie. Traditionally the sort of Falooda I set out to make contains  Kulfi and not western-style ice cream as we know it. I've made Kulfi, but this time I used home made rose flower pistachio ice cream which worked just fine.
The first thing one needs for a tasty Falooda is Rose Syrup 

Other flavored syrups can be used, but traditionally rose is the one most associated with this dessert. Rose syrups can be bought but it's cheaper and pretty quick and easy to make your own.  Here's the Rose Syrup Recipe:
In a heavy pan whisk together
1.) 2 1/2 cups of water
2.) 4 cups of sugar
  Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer it for ten minutes
Add
3.) 1/4 cup of lime juice
4.) 1/2 cup of rose water
  Simmer together for another 10 minutes.
  Take the pan off the heat and allow the mixture to cool. Then put it in a clean dry jar or bottle and cork or cap it tightly.
I colored my syrup with about 3 drops of red food coloring to give it a nice rosy glow.
  Next the noodles.
I bought a package of thin Falooda noodles at the Indian market. Other substitutes are a very fine vermicelli. All that is needed is a handful.
  Cooking the Noodles
  Since I used falooda noodles I put them into a pan containing
1.) 2 cups of whole milk
2.) a pinch of cardamom
3.) 1 tsp of sugar
   When the milk is hot turn the heat off, add in the noodles and let them soak for about 5 to 7 minutes.
When the noodles are cooked, take them out of the milk mixture, drain and chill them. Save the cooked milk and chill it also.
 Basil seeds
  Basil seeds are found in many drinks and desserts. They're a  refreshing and healthful additive.
They're also fun because they resemble tiny little tadpoles in whatever ones' serving them in. Hey, to me that's fun. They're found in most Asian  markets.

"When soaked in water the seeds of several basil varieties become gelatinous, and are used in Asian drinks and desserts such as falooda or Sherbet. Such seeds are known variously as sabza, subza, takmaria, tukmaria, tukhamaria, falooda, selasih (Malay/Indonesian) or hột é (Vietnamese). They are used for their medicinal properties in Ayurveda, the traditional medicinal system of India and Siddha medicine, a traditional Tamil system of medicine. They are also used as popular drinks in Southeast Asia."

Soak 2 Tbs of basil seeds in 2 cups of water for at least 30 minutes , or until they become gelatinous. Mmmmm...tadpoles!
    Ice Cream
A good quality (or homemade) vanilla, or rosewater ice cream or kulfi.
   Assembling Your Falooda
     Into a white wine glass  or tall ice tea glass :
1.) Pour 2 Tbs of rose syrup

2.)  Add  a few cooked falooda noodles

3.) Add 1 tsp of basil seed on top of the noodles

     Take the chilled milk mixture , add in 1/2 scoop of ice cream and beat with a hand mixer until frothy.
4.) Tilt the glass so layers form then add some of the thickened milk mixture .

5.) Put a generous scoop of ice cream into the milk. Don't be stingy baby.

   I mixed up a bit of saffron sirkhand  and used that as a topping, then sprinkled chopped raw pistachio nuts on top . I have seen whipped cream and a cherry used but somehow, it seemed wrong for whatI was looking for.

 

A long silver spoon and a straw and Voila! You are in the Falooda business!

  This may seem complicated or  a lot of steps , but it's not. The rose syrup makes up easily and can be prepared well ahead of time. It keeps in the fridge and can be used in many other Indian desserts. The noodles cook fast and also keep chilled. The basil seeds may be the only tricky thing to find but the ever popular chia seed might be an easy substitute.

  If you've never had this dessert you are in for a great treat. It's more than just a sweet at the close of a meal, it's a walk through a perfumed garden of sweetened delights.  The combo of tastes, color and textures makes this a one of a kind grand finale.

Deep Purple... Potatoes?!

I'm in the midst of preparing an Indian feast. I have been cooking all day today. Company is coming tomorrow. An old boarding school buddy of my husbands' who coincidentally happens to be a mutual friend of several friends of mine in LA, is coming for Sunday lunch.
 She's out in California from Marthas' Vineyard. She's trading the big East coast blizzard for our rainy weather and she'sgetting Indian food.
  Since Jemima reads this blog and does not want to know what she's getting tomorrow...I'm going to be talking about something she's not getting. Heirloom potatoes.
  About a month ago I discovered there are more colors, shades and shapes of heirloom potatoes than one can shake a masher at. All of these potatoes are grown locally which makes the locovore in me happy. All of them (at least the ones I've tried so far) are delicious.
  The last time I cooked heirlooms they were from Blankity Blank Farms. This time the potatoes were from a friend of his, Tom Kirkland, of Tommy Boy Organic Farms.
 I have to admit when I saw the amazing variety of potatoes I was knocked out! What to pick!? I selected some Huckleberrys (for later) and for today some All Blues which are actually a very very deep and vivid purple.
  The All Blues make a great baking potato, and one of the recommended ways of using them is to mash them. I can only guess how thrilled kids would be to find a pile of purple mashed potatoes on their plate right alongside their green eggs and ham. Eating would be fun!
   Actually the stuff that makes these potatoes purple also makes them very good for you. According to the research I read these All Blues are old, old old, probably the closest relative to the original potaoes found up in the Andes of Peru 10,000 years ago. And for those who don't want their leafy greens, take a look at this:

Blue-fleshed potatoes have more vitamins and antioxidants than white potatoes. In fact, All Blue potatoes have as much antioxidant power as Brussels sprouts, kale, and spinach.

The one important thing to remember when cooking these potatoes is to add a bit of vinegar to the cooking process so that they keep their brilliant color.

 I decided to make Sookhe Aloo, a simple Indian "dry"potato dish which I first learned years and years ago from Madhur Jaffreys' An Invitation To Indian Cooking. This dish is sort of an Indian style potato salad. It can be eaten warm at a sit-down meal or cold on a picnic.
 The first thing I did was to wash and boil them in a pot of salted water to which I added 2 Tbs of white vinegar.

  The potatoes were fingerlings so they cooked for about 10 or so minutes. When they were just about fork tender I took them out of the pot and rinsed and drained them.
  When they were cool, I sliced and diced them .

Here's how to make this dish:
1.) In a skillet or kadhai heat about 3 Tbs of oil
   When the oil is hot add in:
2.) 1 tsp of fennel seed
3.) 1 tsp of cumin seed
4.) 1 tsp of whole brown mustard seed
5.) 12 whole fenugreek seeds
   When the seeds start to darken add
6.) 3 whole dried red peppers
   When the red peppers start to darken add :
7.) the diced potatoes
8.) 1/2 tsp of turmeric
9.) 1 and 1/2 tsps of salt.
  Turn the heat down to medium and stir fry for  about 15 minutes or so.

The potatoes will turn crispy.
Squeeze 1 Tbs of lemon juice over the potatoes and serve.
  There it is, a quick fun potato dish as colorful as it is tasty.

And for Jemima...no, you will not know what you're getting until you come here.

The Perfect Little Dessert, Danish Dumplings Do Delhi!

For years I've toted around a lot of cooking implements. From San Francisco where I grew up to Santa Monica, to Sonoma where I live now.  I've carried around espresso machines, both the old fashioned pot kind and modern with all the bells and whistles, a hand cranked pasta machine, iron woks and bamboo steamers, an old wooden tortilla press,  a set of Vietnamese coffee makers, and I haven't even gotten started on the clay pots.
Over the years, some of these things have been shed, given away or simply lost on the road. A few remain. One of these is an old, cast iron appleskiver pan that was given to me as a wedding present years ago by a third cousin.
For a while I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. I grew up in an Italian American household and I've never ever eaten an appleskiver, hell I'd never even seen one. Exactly what prompted my cousin to give me an appelskiver pan is still a mystery but finally this afternoon I put it to use.
  Appelskivers are sweet puffy adorable little Danish dumplings filled with a sweetened bit of apple.  They're usually sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with whipped cream. Sounds good so far I thought. This is something I should try, Indian style of course.
Thanks to The Google I saw a few pictures of what these cute little dumplings are supposed to look like and a set of directions as to exactly how to cure a cast iron appelskiver pan, and what exactly goes into an appelskiver.
A few months ago I decided to cure the pan. This afternoon I used it. I made my first appelskivers.
 I didn't exactly make a traditional appelskiver. There weren't any apple dumplings in my apple dumplings, instead I used pineapple.
  I put my VacuVin pineapple peeler to use again. This time I candied the pineapple in jaggery instead of sugar, which gave the fruit a nice smoky and less of a sweet taste. The natural sweetness in the pineapple  went a long way and didn't need much help. I then added in Kashmiri chili to give it a kick. That was my filling. Hot and tart and sweet.
   Thanks to Google there are a zillion appelskiver recipes out there. I thought I was messing around with the basic concept enough putting a pineapple chutney type filling inside the dumpling, so I thought that I'd just stick to the basics.
  So here is an ultra simple Appelskiver Batter
   1.) Place 2 egg whites in a metal or glass bowl. Set them aside
   2.) In a separate bowl add 2 egg yolks
   3.) 2 cups of all purpose flour
   4.) 2 cups of buttermilk
   5.) 1/2 tsp of salt
   6.) 1/2 tsp of baking soda
   7.) 2 tsp of baking powder
   8.) 1 Tbs of sugar
          Mix the yolk batter well and set it aside. Now back to the egg whites.
  Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks

 

 When the egg whites are thoroughly beaten fold them gently in to the yolk batter.

 

When everything is ready take your appleskiver pan and set it on the burner. Add a bit of vegetable oil to each cup.
9.) Add 1 Tbs of batter to each cup,
10.) Place 1 Tbs of filling in the center of each bit of batter and

11.) Then  1 more Tbs of batter on top to seal it.

 

When the dumplings begin to bubble and cook around the rim, turn them gently. I've read that skilled Danish and Norwegian appleskiver cooks do this with a knitting needle....people like me do it with a stick and a spoon..actually a fork and a long iced tea spoon. They worked just fine. See.

 

When they're done, pop them out and enjoy them. I decided to stick with my Indian theme and serve them with Sirkhand sprinkled with finely chopped pistachios.

I felt so good about them, I even put them out on my wedding china..something else that also really never gets used. Dishes that need to be hand washed do tend to sit in the cupboard.

So now that I am no longer an appleskiver virgin I'm going to be trying this more often. I was thinking they'd make a wonderful appetizer, stuffed with something savory and spicy for my next dinner party.
    I am also grooving on our new photo lights. It's great to see all the cooking lit up without hovering over everything with a flashlight to make it shine.
  What have I learned from all this? It's never too late to use a wedding present, and if you are going to go that far, take out the good china too. What's a little hand washing for something this good?