A Personal Best Dessert!

What can you say about a chef who says that he was trained in the kitchen by "innumerable thrashings"? That he is a perfectionist? That kitchen training can be tough? That his food is damn good? All of the above are true. It would have to be to survive and come out alive and cooking on the other side.

One of the best things about the book Prashad Cooking With Indian Masters are the stories of the chefs whos' recipes and words of advice  are contained inside.
 I've seen plenty of chefs' tales out of Western cuisine. Stories that would make Cinderella in her scullery look like she had it easy. This is the first book that I've run across where some of the great chefs of India tell how they got started. Some are the descendants of master chefs, others trained botanists (which somehow makes sense when it comes to cooking), some come from doing research into ancient cooking techniques, some are engineers and computer scientists who found themselves happier behind a stove. Others trained in France, and then there are the "kitchen rats", kids who were never happier than when they were hanging around a stove and willing to take their knocks to learn.
  I've got to say that this is my new favorite book, though I've had it for a while. I've only recently started actually using it to cook. Printed in India, it doesn't have the standard recipe index and to learn, one must work ones' way through and really study how the dishes are made. Anyway, it's easier than a thrashing.
  Since  I've been spending my time watching Olympic events on TV every night after finishing my writing,  I felt it was time to get my act together, step up my game and try a dessert from this book. After all, what's better and puts one in the Olympic spirit more than vegging out on the couch with a bowl of something deliciously sweet, watching all those athletes skidding across the ice on their rotundas.  It's almost as good as a workout!
  I was also eager to use my flameware casserole from Clay Coyote  for an actual Indian dish. I've  used this wonderful piece of flameware for oven baked polenta. It's always turned out superbly delicious with absolutely no stirring or standing or work! Pretty nifty I think. Why not use it for a classic South Indian Rice Dessert? It's a famous dish from Avadh, a  region in the modern state of Utter Pradesh and is usually served at festive occasions.  Our friend who'd just returned from Trivandrum said that his friends' wife  had made the dish for him. It's called Ananas Ka Muzaafar and is a dessert that dates back to the courts of the Mughal emperors. This version comes from Mohammed Naseem, Manjit S. Gill and Chandra B. Tewari.

   This dish involves very little up close and personal time at the stove, and once the rice is soaked (no effort on your part) and it's baking Dum Pukht style in the oven, it'll be ready just in time for the judges' scores. Here's how to do it.
  The Pineapple:
1.) Cut a fresh pineapple. You will only need two rings. Cut the rings into little wedges , set the rest aside. Save any juice left from cutting.

   Rice:
1.) Rinse and soak 1 and 1/2 cups of Basmati rice in water for 2 hours. Then drain it.
   The Syrup:
In a pan or pot add:
1.) 2 and 1/2 cups of sugar
2.) 2/3 cup of water
 Mix well on medium heat.
 When it's boiling add in:
3.) A pinch of ground nutmeg
4.) 4 tsp of fresh lemon juice
  Stir the mixture until the syrup thickens then add in
5.) 1/2 tsp ground saffron
6.) 1/2 tsp kewra water
7.) 1/2 tsp of fresh pineapple juice reserved from pineapple cutting.
   Set aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees.
  In a large pot  heat 5 cups of water
  Add in:
1.) The drained rice
2.) the ground seeds of 5 green cardamom
3.) 5 cloves
4.) 5 drops of yellow food color
Boil it until the rice is just barely cooked, about 8 minutes.
Drain it.
Heat the sugar syrup over low heat , add in the cooked rice. When the syrup and rice come to a boil, toss in the cut up pineapple. Mix it well.
Pour the rice and pineapple mixture into a clay casserole dish and cover the dish tightly with crimped foil and a lid. Make sure it's sealed tightly.

  Slip it into the oven and relax for an hour.
 Just before the dish is ready to come out of the oven warm about 1/3 cup of clarified butter.
 When you are ready to serve, peel off the foil lid and drizzle the rice with the clarified butter.

  Serve warm. This dish can also be made using mango. I'm really looking forward to trying it that way.
So, I've finally busted into the Dessert chapter of Prashad and am now ready for more sweet adventures. I'm glad it didn't cost me a thrashing to learn this dish, but if anything were worth it, this royal delight  would be it!

Indian Rice Pudding Goes Egyptian

I live in a tourist town. Every day busloads of tourists arrive in our town Plaza (the largest in California) and swarm over the restaurants, tasting rooms and shops. Last year a new shop opened with the intriguing name of Bram.  While we waited for the doors to open everyone was wondering, "what's a bram???" I googled the term and came up with an Egyptian clay pot. Clay pot?! Clay pot! A clay pot store was coming to Sonoma! It seemed incredibly ironic that Sonoma is also the home of Paula Wolfert, whos' new book is about Clay Pot Cooking. How weird was that?? I'd been researching  Indian Dum style cooking which traditionally is done in clay. Hell, everybodys' cuisine started off with clay and thanks to the slow food movement it was time to come home to clay again. For 3 months I was like a kid with my nose pressed to the brown paper covered windows. I couldn't wait for the doors to open.
  When they finally did open (conveniently right before my birthday) it was exciting. Anyone who loves to cook gets totally turned on by a vast expanse of cookware. Make that beautiful cookware. I was in heaven.

Almost every clay pot I'd ever read about from any part of the planet was on the shelves. I went nuts!!
 Ash,  is one of the owners and he can tell you all about clay pot cooking.

When I was in the store the other day he gave me a suggestion to try with my Indian Rice Pudding recipe.
Ash suggested that I try something that is done in Egypt, and that is to add milk again toward the end of the cooking process, leave the pot in for a additional 5 minutes then remove it when the pudding is still rather liquid. He said to put the pudding in ramekins. It would still be firm but the center wiggly. He told me to cover them and refrigerate them. I did, and the chilled pudding done this way had a smoother more custardy texture. I think it depends on how custardy one wants the pudding to be as to how much milk one adds. I used 1 cup less than the recipe calls for and then added that cup at the end. When I try it this way again, I may add even more. If you decide to make this pudding, check out this different way. I usually serve my rice pudding warm from the oven or at room temperature. This way it's served chilled. Either way it tastes great!

So there you have Ash's Egyptian twist on my Indian rice pudding. If you're in Sonoma, drop by and explore Bram Cookware, they have a great website where one can order online too. He also carries Paula Wolferts' book because after all, if you're going to cook in clay you can't have a better teacher.

If It Ain't Broke, It Doesn't Mean You Can't Make It Better! Avatar Vs Rice Pudding

VERSUS

There is an experiment going on in my oven right now. It concerns my 5 hour Indian rice pudding. The same pudding that made it into Paula Wolferts  new book Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. It also concerns Bram Cookware one of my favorite stores in all of Sonoma.  It's where I got my Bram for making Biryani, and a number of other items. Ash, the owner and I were talking rice pudding (it's that kind of store) and he asked me if I ever added milk at the end of the cooking process. I said that I never had and he proceeded to tell me how they made the same rice pudding in Egypt, but added that extra milk at the end which gave the whole thing a custardy, pot de creme quality. Firm yet jiggly. Sounds all good to me. He gave me a couple of small clay ramekins for individual servings and sent me home to try it.
 Well, I'm trying it now. As I type this, there is a 5 hour pudding in the oven and I am going to try this custardy jiggly thing on for size.
  I am not going to see Avatar this afternoon so that I can do this. That is how devoted to rice pudding I am. I'm going to see Avatar tomorrow instead.