Recipes category archive

Here’s another recipe from Anisha Kaul.

I made this last night. Yummers. I’ve modified the wording in a few spots to make it more colloquial, but otherwise this is her recipe, posted with permission.

Ingredients:

• 4 full boiled shelled eggs.
• 1/2 table spoon Cumin seeds (AKA Zeera in Hindi).
• 1 inch Cinnamon stick (AKA Dalchini in Hindi).
• 5 Black Peppercorns seeds (AKA Kalimirch in Hindi).
• 4 Cloves (AKA Laung in Hindi).
• 8 big cloves Garlic (AKA Lassun in Hindi).
• 1 inch Ginger (AKA Adrak in Hindi)
• 2 tablespoon Meat masala. (No, this ingredient can NOT be skipped.)
• 1/4 tea spoon Turmeric powder (AKA Haldi in Hindi).
• 1 medium Onion.
• 1/2 table spoon Salt.
• 3 small green chillies (AKA Hari mirch in Hindi).
• Oil for frying eggs, onions, and other spices.
• 1 cup water, approx.

Directions:

Hard-boil the eggs, allow them to cool, shell them, then slice them in half length-wise.

Chop the onion and chilies finely.

Grind the cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, cloves, and garlic together to make a fine paste.

Grate the ginger.

Fry the eggs in oil till they get golden brown on both sides. Drain the remaining oil and put the fried eggs aside.

Add chilies and fry them till they turn florescent green. (I used poblano chilies).

Add the paste of spices and the grated Ginger. Fry them for a few seconds.

Add Onions and Salt, and fry till onion gets light brown.

Add meat masala and turmeric powder and for few more seconds.

Place the fried eggs in the curry [yolk side facing up].

Cover and let boil till the curry thickens. Remember you need to boil the curry till it gets somewhat thickened; add additional water if necessary.

Serve hot with boiled rice.

My Notes:

Approximately 20 minutes prep time, 30-45 minutes cooking time.

I used poblano peppers.

We had some left-over barley and used that instead of rice. Just as good.

This is quite spicy. Be prepared.

Here is another recipe from Anisha Kaul.

I had to do some legwork to make this one.

A bottle gourd is also known a calabash. It was quite a hunt to find one (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). I discovered a local Indian market; the lady there did not know the term “bottle gourd,” but she did have something that looked like the one pictured here, which she called an “Indian squash,” so I decided to try it.

I also picked up packages of cumin and mustard seeds, since they are normally found already-ground at American markets, as well as Indian chilis, lime and mango pickles, and meat marsala spices, which one of her other recipes on my to-do list calls for.

This recipe is not firey-hot–it’s more of a slow burn and will make your scalp sweat.

Ingredients:

• 1 table spoon small yellow Mustard seeds (Aka Sarson in Hindi).
• 1/2 table spoon Cumin seeds (Aka Zeera in Hindi).
• 8 Black Pepper corns (Aka Kali Mirch in Hindi).
• 9 cloves Garlic (Aka Lesun in Hindi).
• 2 medium Green chillies (Aka Hari mirch in Hindi).
• 1 tablespoon Coriander powder (Aka Dhania in Hindi).
• 1/4 tea spoon Turmeric powder (Aka Haldi in Hindi).
• 1/2 table spoon Salt.
• 1 medium Onion.
• 1 Bottle Gourd of length 25cm, and width 18cm.
• 3 tablespoons Oil for frying.

Directions:

Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, garlic cloves, and green chillies need to be ground together to form a fine paste. Ready-made powders/pastes won’t do. Freshly ground pastes have different tastes.

Bottle gourd and nnion need to be chopped finely in tiny pieces.

Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a non-stick bowl, put in the spice paste and fry till it gets light brown.

Add onions and salt, and fry till Onions get golden brown.

Add bottle gourd and fry til it gets tender (you should be actually able to break a piece with the slight press of the spatula).

Add water such that the bottle gourd gets covered till top. Let it boil on the simmer gas till the curry thickens. Taste the curry, and check for the consistency.

Serve hot with boiled rice.

Serves 2.

My notes:

Prep time is about 20 minutes, primarily because it takes a while to chop up that gourd thingee. Cooking time is about half an hour over a medium heat.

I chopped the garlic and chilis. Next time, I shall mince them.

I diced the bottle gourd to 1/4 to 1/2 inch bits; that seemed to work quite nicely. That was easy part. The hard part of dicing them was getting the little black dots painted in . . . .

I have nothing “non-stick” in my kitchen. I used a cast iron skillet that belonged to my mother. Well-seasoned cast iron is as non-stick as can be, and you don’t have to worry about scratching the surface.

We had enough to serve four, but I think my bottle gourd was on the large size, though it was typical of the ones at the store.

Addendum, 2012-10-01:

Just to clear up any misconceptions–and an email led me to think I might not have been clear–in my culinary world, “make your scalp sweat” is a compliment. Spicy is good. Bland is bad.

We ate this dish quite happily two days in a row.

This recipe comes from my LQ acquaintance Anisha Kaul and is posted with her permission. Follow the link for her original post.

I asked her to allow me to post it because it is, quite frankly, delicious. as well as authentically Indian, not modified for someone’s concept of the American palate. I shall post more of her recipes as I try them.

She explains that the Hindi name for the dish is Dhuli Moong dal.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds (Aka Zeera in Hindi)
• 3 medium green chillies (Aka Hari mirch in Hindi)
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (Aka Haldi in Hindi)
• 1/2 tablespoon fennel powder (Aka Saunf in Hindi)
• 1/2 tablespoon ginger powder (Aka Adrak in Hindi)
• 1/2″ fresh ginger
• 1/4 tablespoon garam masala
• 1 medium onion
• 1 small tomato
• 1/2 tablespoon Salt
• 3/4 cup dehulled green gram lentil (Note: I could find only one type of lentils at my local American super market. I used it and the dish turned out quite nicely. All the other ingredients were readily available).
• Oil for frying onion and tomato. (I used olive oil.)

Directions:

Pressure cook the dehulled green gram lentil with salt and turmeric powder till it tenders. (I did not pressure cook the lentils, having given away my little pressure cooker, but boiling per the instructions on the bag worked quite nicely.)

Chop onion, tomato, green chillies as thinly possible and grate fresh ginger.

Fry cumin seeds till they turn a shade darker and add chopped ginger, onion, green chillies.

After the above ingredients turn golden brown, add chopped tomatoes and fry for few more minutes.

Add the above fried ingredients with the remaining powders in the utensil containing the dehulled green gram lentil. (No need to fry the remaining spices).

Let the mixture boil (without cover) for 3 minutes. Making this lentil thicker than usual will increase the taste.

Serve hot with boiled rice.

I used this recipe, doubling the amount of cayenne and sprinkling them with hot Hungarian paprika. I also grated my own block of extra sharp cheddar, rather than getting that shredded newsprinty stuff from the store.

I rather surprised myself. I did not eat them all the first day.

I’ve been experimenting with bread lately, having fun making olive bread, asiago cheese bread, and other variants.

Here’s my basic bread recipe.

Warm water: Use approximately 3/4 to one cup per loaf desired.
Yeast (for lighter bread, use two packets).
Salt. I usually use about 1/4 teaspoon.
Sweetener (to feed the yeast): Cane sugar or brown sugar. Depending on the desired sweetness, use one to two tablespoons per loaf; use more brown sugar than you would white sugar.
Flour: Unbleached white flour with either white whole wheat flour (it’s made from a different strain of wheat from the whole wheat flour we are used to) or rye flour.

Honey wheat bread: Substitute 1/4 to 1/2 cup honey per loaf for the sugar.
Olive bread: About 3/8 cup or more chopped or sliced green olives or “salad” olives plus the juice (I save olive jars when the olives are gone so I can use the juice); supplement with black olive slices if desired. Pimento-stuffed olives are fine.
Asiago bread: About 1/2 cup or more shredded cheese per loaf. May substitute or blend grated Romano and Parmesan (avoid the pulverized kind that comes in a shaker).
Garlic bread: About three to four tablespoons of minced garlic per loaf. Avoid the hard, dried minced garlic from your spice rack; prefer the minced garlic that comes in a tube or jar; supplement with garlic powder for extra oomf.
Onion bread: About a quarter cup of onion flakes per loaf; supplement with onion powder.

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Because everyone needs a break from time to time.

I will spend today enjoying homemade bagels from this recipe.

This is what they looked like on their way into the oven.

I ad libbed: two sesame as called for in the recipe, two onion, two garlic, one salt. And one too big because it’s the first time I tried the recipe.

From the top left, clockwise: Plain, honey, garlic, olive, Italian cheese (asagio, romano, parmesan).

I started with this recipe and quickly left it behind.

I filled a large mixing bowl slightly more than half full of warm water and proofed the yeast.

I mixed in half a handful of light brown sugar, some salt, and an egg, then added flour (about 50-50 unbleached and whole wheat) until the mixture would absorb no more. Once you bake your first successful loaf of bread, you can feel when the dough is ready.

After the first rise, I separated the dough into five parts and kneaded in the stuff listed above–grated cheese, that minced garlic stuff that comes in a jar since I didn’t have any fresh garlic, chopped olives, and honey. I formed each part into a loaf and let them rise again.

The taste tests have so far been successful. The cheese loaf nearly did not survive last night’s supper.

No, I didn’t measure anything. Measuring is for the first time you make something.

For the olive, garlic, and honey loaves, I had to add some more flour as I kneaded the loaves to counteract the additional moisture from the added ingredients.

Since Brendan recommended the site, I’m subscribing to a food and recipe blog.

I won’t be taking them up on the gardening tips.

My Daddy used to pay me 35 cents an hour to pull weeds in the soybean field.

In July.

In the South.

Yeah, I know it’s the Upper South, but it’s still the South.

I know that some persons look at a garden and see recreation, relaxation, and creativity; all I see is (Maynerd G. Krebs voice) work.

Groceries are what supermarkets are for.

Check out this recipe.

Farm Fresh, here I come.

Aye, there’s the rub:

• 4 parts dill
• 4 parts rosemary
• 2 parts basil
• 2 parts marjoram
• 1 part pepper, preferably freshly ground and coarse

Prepare enough rub to cover lamb chops thickly.

1. Marinate chops in dry sherry or dry red wine.

2. Coat chops thickly with rub, pressing it in.

3. Grill to medium or medium well over medium fire.

10 minutes on the grill at 425 Fahrenheits:

Add lemon butter, jalapeno corn bread, and Hungarian cucumber salad.

International yums.

I got them at Taste at their summer fresh food stand.

A very simple recipe which, when served, tastes very special. I worked it up tonight and was very gratified by how it was received.

Ingredients:

2 lamp chops
3/4th tbsp. dill
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground pepper
Dry sherry

Procedure:

1. Marinate chops in sherry, turning at least once.

2. Combine spices to make a dry rub. Approx. 30 mins. before cooking, rub chops well with spices.

3. Grill to medium or medium rare, either on a grill at lower heat or under a broiler. A grill is preferable because you can lower the heat, whereas a broiler in a stove is all-or-nothing.

Serve with sweet corn grilled in the shucks.

Notes:

A dry red wine would also work for the marinade. I keep sherry around because it can be used in place of either red or white wine and the full flavor of sherry goes well with the rich flavor of lamb. (Do not marinate with anything you aren’t willing to drink–straight. If you won’t drink it, don’t cook with it.)

Increase ingredients proportionately for larger quantities. You want to enough rub to cover the chops well on both sides.

The rub would also work well with a roast, such as leg of lamb.

Other spices can be added. Thyme and marjoram should work well, Rosemary, which is traditionally associated with lamb, would probably conflict with the dill.

This is a derived from an old camping recipe I read somewhere.

Ingredients:

Fish (catfish, cod, or similar fish are best; fillets are easiest)
Onion
Bell Pepper
Tomato
Pepper
Dried Parsley

Note: The quantity of vegetables depends on the amount of fish. See step 4 below.

Procedure:

1. Preheat grill to medium heat.

2. Slice vegetables. For the onion, thin wedges work best.

3. Pull enough aluminum foil to wrap seal in the fish and other ingredients. Brush the aluminum foil with olive oil.

4. Layer the vegetable slices on the foil, then lay the fish on them, then layer more vegetables on top of the fish. Sprinkle with pepper, parsley, and anything else that sounds good. (Salt is not necessary for ocean fish. They come already salted.)

5. Seal the foil tightly around the fish and vegetable mixture and place it on the grill until done (depending on the grill, 30 to 45 minutes).

Goes well with asparagus roasted with olive oil and garlic, which can be cooked on the same grill.

Variations:

For a charcoal grill or campfire, place directly in embers and cover with the embers. Cooking time will be reduced.

Any vegetable that can be sliced thin and still maintain some, such as zucchini, and be added to the ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 can red kidney beans
2 chicken breasts cut into pieces or equivalent
1/4 cp. olive oil
1 sm. (red) onion, diced
1 or 2 stalks celery, sliced
2 or 3 mushrooms, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced, or 1/2 tbs. dried minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles or 1 can diced tomatos and 1 small can diced chiles
1 sm. can tomato sauce
1 can chicken stock
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. ground pepper or more to taste
bay leaf
salt to taste

1. Heat oil in skillet and brown chicken in oil. Remove chicken to dutch oven or heavy sauce pan.

2. Saute garlic and ground pepper in skillet in remaining oil for a couple of minutes, then add vegetables and saute until onion is translucent.

3, Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, spices, and anything else that strikes your fancy to mixture in skillet. Bring to simmer.

5. Pour vegetable mixture over chicken in dutch oven and add remaining ingredients. Simmer over low heat until chicken is done, approx 1 hour, but it won’t hurt it to cook longer as long as there’s plenty of liquid. Serve over rice.

_________________

This is a variation of the Chicken and Kidney Bean Casserole recipe from Craig Claiborne’s New York Times Cookbook, revised ed., p. 161. It’s so much a variation that Mr. Claiborne would not recognize it.

But it’s good.

Based on a recipe from Southern LIving’s Our Best Recipes:

• 2 cps cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (canned sweet potatoes work just fine)
• 1/4 cp butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cp sugar (may substitute brown sugar for all or some)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cp bourbon (Virginia Gentleman recommended)
• 2 pie shells (the recipe says it makes one pie; don’t believe it)

Combine ingredients. Mix until smooth.

Pour into pie shell(s).

Preheat oven to 425 Fahrenheits.

Cook at 425 Fahrenheits for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 Fahrenheits and cook for an additional hour and 20 minutes or until knife inserted in center of pie comes out clean.

Drink remainder of bourbon.

My two or three regular readers know I like to cook.

I’m not doing much fancy cooking lately. It is difficult to work up the energy to make a ratatouille for one.

But this blog has some recipes that I will be trying.

I think I’ll start with this one.

In the Southern Living Our Best Recipes Cookbook (1980), this is billed as “Outer Banks Cornbread.”

1/2 stick (4 tbsp) butter
1 cp cornmeal (yellow preferred)
1 tbsp flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2 tsp sugar
1 cp milk
1 egg

Turn oven to 425 Fahrenheits. Place butter in 9 x 5 or equivalent Pyrex and shove in oven.

Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl. If you feel adventurous, add an extra egg (makes the cornbread lighter).

When butter has melted in the Pyrex, take baking pan out of oven and pour batter into pan making sure to center it in the melted butter.

Shove the whole thing back into the oven and bake until done (approx. 20 mins. or until knife comes out clean).

Variations:

Jalapeno Cornbread: Add one small can chopped jalapenos or equivalent chopped pickled jalapenos or sauted chopped fresh jalapenos. Or habaneros if you are lucky enough to have some on hand.

Cheese Cornbread: Grate up some cheese and throw it into the mix.

Oyster Cornbread: Don’t go there.

A recipe for the times:

1. Take seat in diner.

2. Order 1 glass water.

3. Empty two packets ketchup in glass of water.

4. Stir.

5. Drink W. Tomato Juice.

6. Leave restaurant before server comes to take order.

I’m edumacatin’ Karen on red eye gravy, so I figured I would share the knowledge.

You put your grits on the stove to cook. Don’t use “instant grits.” They are so full of salt that they are evil. Probably invented by a Republican. Quick grits are okay, but cook them slow. The package says five minutes. Make it half an hour.

Fry up a couple of slices of real ham(tm) in the skillet (cast iron skillet, preferably–worth the cost, but I inherited mine; they hold the heat and spread it evenly).

After taking the ham off, put a little bit of water in the skillet, scrap any stickins off the bottom of the skillet, add a bit of pepper, and cook it up for a mite.

It’s called “red eye” gravy because it has a reddish tint from the ham.

Pour the grits over the ham. Pour the gravy over the whole thing.

If you have a low cholesterol count, add an egg fried in butter over medium at the bottom of the pile.

Eat and die happy.

Damn Yankees don’t know a blessed thing about cooking. As my cousin once said after a sojourn in Boston, “Them Yankees think peas and carrots grow on the same damn plant.”

Note that the greatest cookbook author in the history of mankind was from Mississippi.

Craig Claiborne’s version of James Beard’s Cuban Bread:

I’m looking forward to supper.

The recipe is below the fold.

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This is not the recipe to which I linked in this post. This is the recipe I used, Craig Claiborne’s recipe from the 1971 New York Times International Cookbook, the best cookbook ever written.

As with any of Craig Claiborne’s recipes, it is to die for. We verified that tonight.

Ingredients:

3lbs. Bottom round of beef (I used 2 lbs. chuck roast)
3 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 tablespoon mustard seeds (I substituted horseradish because I had no mustard seeds and didn’t want to go back to the store, and the Internet told me I could use horseradish)
25 whole cloves
25 bay leaves (only had six and some flakes)
3 large onions peeled and sliced (I used only two, because I was using less beef)
2 cups wine vinegar
1/4 cup butter
salt to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp. sea salt)
6 slices bacon (I used five, because that was all I needed to cover everything fully)
beef stock
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 cup cold water
2 to 3 tablespoons heavy cream

1. The meat must be marinated three days in advance. Trim off most of the fat from the beef, then cut the beef into six large chunks. Select a glass, enamel, or stainless steel bowl large enough to the been comfortably. Combine the peppercorns, mustard seeds, cloves, bay leaves, onions, and vinegar and pour all of it over the beef. Refrigerate for 3 days.

2. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 400 degrees.

3. Melt the butter in a casserole.

4. Drain the meat and reserve both the meat and half the marinade with the seasonings.

5. Place the meat in the casserole and add the reserved liquid and seasonings. Add slat to taste. Place the casserole, uncovered, in the oven. Cook about one hour, then reduce the heat to 300 degrees.

6. Turn the meat in the liquid and cover each piece of meat with bacon. Continue cooking about one hour, or until the meat is tender. Remove the bacon and discard it. Cook the meat about ten minutes longer, then transfer to a warm platter and strain the cooking liquid. Discard the solids. To the cooking liquid add enough beef stock to make four cups. (I made three cups because of the smaller quantity of beef.)

7. Return the meat to a clean casserole and add the liquid. Bring to a boil. Blend the flour with the cold water and add it to the boiling liquid, stirring. Simmer about five minutes, adding more salt, if desired. Stir in the cream. Serve hot, with noodles, dumplings, or potatoes. (We served it with rice. I know, thanks to Bush and his ethanol scam, once we run out of rice, we won’t be able to afford any more.)

H/T to Linda for transcribing the recipe.