Fast, Healthy and Vegan. Chickpea, Mango, and Coconut Salad.

   Sometimes you just want something to be easy. Sometimes you just wanna say what the hell, I'll nuke something, or open a can, or whatever. This last week was one of those weeks for me. I'm nearly halfway through my chemo, still firing on all cylinders. In fact on Sunday I did three miles. The problem was Monday. Monday I felt lower than whale shit. The chemo side effects and I tangled for a couple of days, now I'm pretty much back to normal. Pretty much means I didn't want to do a whole lot of cooking. I wanted things that were nourishing and above all EASY! That's where this salad comes in.
 
   If one has the time and the inclination, one can soak ones garbanzos in tepid water for 24 hours, which sounds more suggestive than it is. Then comes the boiling and simmering and voila!  Salad ready chickpeas. Or, you can do what I did and open a can of organic chickpeas from Whole Foods and be done with it. If you do that, you can be dining on this salad in like 20 minutes. So here how to do exactly that.

Chickpea, Mango, and Coconut Salad

Here's What You Need:
1 16oz can of chickpeas
2 tsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 dried red chili pepper
1 tsp chopped curry leaves
2 Tbs grated fresh or dried unsweetened coconut
1 serrano chili minced
1/2 green mango peeled and cut into slices, plus more for julienning
1 handful of grapes
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbs chopped cilantro
1 pinch of hing (asafoetida)
1/4 cup of roast unsalted whole peanuts (optional)

Here's What To Do:
If you're using canned chickpeas, rinse them in cool water, and drain them. You may need to rinse them gently several times.
Heat the coconut oil in a saute pan or kadhai.
When the oil is hot add in the mustard seeds and urad dal.

When they start to sizzle and pop, toss in the dried red chili.and curry leaves.

Stir everything around for a minute or so, then add in your drained chickpeas...

...1/2 tsp of salt, and a pinch of hing.

Saute everything together for about 3 minutes then take the pan off the heat.
Add in the coconut...

...Mango julienne...

Chopped red grapes...

And finally the zest...

...and juice of 1 lemon...

...and finally the peanuts.

Stir everything together well.
Then peel and thinly slice your mango.

Arrange the peeled slices fan like on a plate.
Add the chickpea coconut salad mixture to the top of that.
Sprinkle with a bit of chopped fresh cilantro and serve it up.

   It's that simple, that fast, and a perfectly tropical relaxing treat for when life seems to be kicking you ass. Coming up next, more very easy dishes that can be made quickly, without too much muss and fuss. Follow along on Twitter at @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

Super Slaw Goes Indian. A Super Food for Super Bowl Parties

    
   Spending the better part of January battling flu was not exactly how I'd planned on kicking off the new year but what can I say. It's flu season and as careful as I have been, flu happens.  This year's flu can be a tricky and dangerous one and when I first started getting symptoms, I got in touch with my doctor. He thought it might just be a simple cold but when it never really developed into a cold and when my temperature started shooting up and the aches and pains started, I went to the doctor again. I had gotten myself a case of flu. He prescribed Tamiflu for me, and a prophylactic dose for Alan since he'd been exposed to me. I was very fortunate in that it worked well for me, bringing down my fever almost immediately and in Alan's case kept him from getting sick.

   I followed CDC rules, we turned my part of the house into a sick room and I stayed put for 10 days or more, until my fever was gone for 48 hours without any fever reducing medicines. So, here I am, out the other end of things, feeling a whole lot better, still taking it easy but itching to get in front of the stove again. But, what to cook for my first meal back in the saddle? Something easy, something nourishing, something not soup. Not that I have anything against soup, but I've spent a lot of time with soup during the last 2 weeks and I wanted something solid. Looking around the local Friday morning Sonoma Organic Farmers Market  the one thing I'm finding that is plentiful this time of year is cabbage.

   For such a cheap vegetable, cabbage has a lot going for it. High in fiber, full of glucosinolates (sulpher based compounds with anti-cancer properties), it's a great help in lowering cholesterol, and it's also high in antioxidants. It's also dirt cheap. Take that high priced acai berries! I tend to cook a lot of cabbage this time of year, I find it the perfect fill-in dish for Indian buffets and all the entertaining we tend to do when it comes to watching award shows and bowl games.

   I'm always looking for new and better ways of preparing cabbage and thought I'd found most of them until I ran across this recipe from my friend Monica Bhide. It's a very simple and tasty recipe for a date and cabbage slaw.  Easy to fix, using easy ingredients, it's just the sort of thing to prepare after being away from my regular cooking for a while.

Indian Style Cabbage and Date Slaw

Here's What You Need:
1/2 cup of dates, pitted and chopped.
1 cup of plain yogurt
1 16oz package of grated cabbage for cole slaw
2 Tbs of hot water
1/4 tsp of salt
1 and 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
1 Tbs packed dark brown sugar

Here's What To Do:
Pit the dates and chop them into bite sized pieces.

Mix the chopped dates into the chopped cabbage and set them aside.

Put 1 and 1/2 tsp of tamarind paste into a small bowl.

Mix 2 Tbs of hot water into the tamarind paste.

Stir it together into a paste.
Put the tamarind paste into a bowl. Add in the salt, the brown sugar and the yogurt.

It seemed like the perfect recipe to try out my plain Smari Organic Icelandic yogurt.
It worked beautifully, giving me a thick and creamy dressing for the cabbage.
Add the yogurt dressing to the cabbage and date mixture.

Stash the cole slaw in the fridge for about 30 minutes or so to chill then serve it up.

   This is a great dish for buffets. An easy cole slaw with a creamy sweet and tangy sauce, it  works great with Indian food, but also with burgers or hot dogs. No matter what you're serving it's a perfect match.  So now, I'm back in the cooking saddle again I'm ready to tackle winter vegetables. Coming up soon more  fun with nettles and golden beats get a different treatment. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

The 20 Minute Gluten Free Bread, Khaman Dhokla.

   This is the kick-off week of cooking season, the time of year when I start to log some serious cooking mileage. Not that I don't cook nearly every day of the week, but this is the time of volume- specialized dining. House guests arrive and with them various dietary requirements. Some  are gluten free, some lactose intolerant, others vegan or vegetarian, and there are always a few Paleo cavemen in the crowd. So, when cooking for a crowd, many of whom have varying allergies, tastes, likes and dislikes, it's always great to be able to kill two birds with one gluten-free stone.
   
   One thing that's happened on more than one occasion is making separate breads for the gluten free, which has lead to a rather unexpected problem. The problem, was keeping the non-celiacs away from this gluten free Gujarati bread. Gujarati cuisine is one the  greatest of the Indian vegetarian kitchens, and whenever I cook for my vegetarian or celiac friends, it's usually where I start.
      A lot of gluten free baked goods use garbanzo bean flour aka besan flour, and it's never put to better use than making Khaman Dhokla. The batter is mixed up quickly, kept in a relatively warm draft-free spot overnight, and then steamed for 20 minutes. It may look complicated, but it's pretty easy.
   
Khaman Dhokla

Here's What You'll Need:

1 and 1/2 cups of sifted garbanzo flour (aka besan)
2 serrano chilies, seeded and finely chopped
1 and 1/2 Tbs finely chopped fresh ginger
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp jaggery or brown sugar
3 Tbs of vegetable oil
2/3 cup of plain yogurt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 Tbs warm water
1/3 cup fresh or dried grated unsweetened coconut. (If you use dried coconut mix it with a dab of water to moisten it)
3 Tbs of chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 Tbs black mustard seeds
1/4 cup unsalted butter

Here's What To Do:  

Seed and slice  the serrano chilies.

(I do this just in case I'm going to be serving this to people who might be concerned about heat. If you like the spicy, forget it and just toss in  the whole serrano chilies.)

Finely chop them mixed with the fresh ginger.
Add the chilies and ginger to the garbanzo flour.

Add in the turmeric, salt, ground black pepper, and brown sugar.

Mix in the 3 Tbs of vegetable oil.

Blend in the yogurt.

Mix everything together well.

You should have a smooth rather thick batter.
Cover the bowl with a towel.

Make sure it's wrapped. You want to keep the contents warm.

I usually tuck the wrapped bowl in an unheated oven for at least 4 hours or overnight so that it can ferment.
If you're draft free locale is your oven, make sure everybody in the house knows that something is fermenting in there, and make sure no one turns the oven on, otherwise trouble ensues!
When the batter has fermented it's time to do the steaming. This is the 20 minute process.

Take a large deep pot.
Put a trivet in the bottom .
Fill it with about an inch or so of water.
This is the little platform that will hold the cake pan for steaming. You can also use a wok or any sort of steamer that will hold the cake pan.
Lightly grease an 8 inch cake pan.
I make thin little straps of folded tin foil and loop them under the bottom of the pan to make it easier to lower it into the pot.

Like this.
Now you're all set to steam the bread.
Bring the water in the pot to a low boil so that it starts to steam.
Sprinkle 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda into the fermented batter.

Mix it in while stirring in 1 Direction only.
Add in the 3 Tbs of warm water.

Add in the 3 tbs of warm water, once again stirring in 1 Direction only!
Just remember. What makes your bread beautiful...1 Direction.



The batter will start to bubble and froth.

Pour the batter into the greased pan.

Lower the pan into the steaming pot.

Cover the pot snugly with a towel.

Put a lid on the pot.

Wrap the sides of the towel around the top of the pot.
Steam the bread for about 12 minutes.
You can make sure it's done by taking the lid off and testing the bread with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, it's done.
Take the bread out of the pot.

Set the pan aside with the towel set over it loosely. Keep it covered for about 10 minutes to rest.
After 10 minutes, turn the bread out on to a plate.

Put the plate onto the top of the cake pan and turn it upside down. It will unmold.

Cut the the bread into criss-cross diamond shapes.

In a small skillet, heat 1/4 cup unsalted butter.
When the butter is hot, toss in 1 and 1/2 Tbs of mustard seeds.

When the mustard seeds start to sizzle and pop...
 Pour it over the top of the cut Dhokla.

Scatter the top with the grated coconut.

Sprinkle on the chopped fresh cilantro.

Cut and stack the pieces.

   You can serve this bread hot out of the steamer or at room temperature. Depending on how it's cut, you can have up to 24 pieces. I usually make this bread for Holiday entertaining. It's great on a buffet table, and so good you won't miss the gluten at all. Coming up next, Indian dishes that go well with what ever you happen to be celebrating. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori