More Food #1 - When You hand yourself Disappointing Koftas

So I spent nearly all of my long-weekend cooking. Again*.
And contrary to popular suggestion, I do not have an overly posh kitchen. (*Grin*, poshmaxxxx, indeed).

In just one day, for instance, I ended up making Spinach Koftas, Pulao, Custard with fruit, Seafood Paella and Pan-Seared Fruit. Even spread over two meals, this is a lot for two people.**

I'm splitting this into two separate posts, just in case you're keeping track of / interested in the recipes.

First, the spinach koftas.
I tried, with entirely dissatisfactory results to adapt this recipe for spinach balls to the contents of my pantry.
I ended up veganizing it, replacing eggs with flax meal and using Bisquick instead of flavored stuffing.
My Verdict: Um, Terrible Idea. (Read That In The Upper Case, dost. In The Upper Case.)

I ended up with gooey, sticky, doughy tasting kofta-style spinach balls, which while edible are almost-entirely unappetizing. I have, however, used them with reasonable success as kathi roll fillers, sandwich stuffers and most delightfully, Koftas.

For the gravy, I used:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• A handful of cashew nuts
• 3 small green chillies, split down the center
• 1 medium sized tomato, chopped
• 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste (or 3 tsp chopped garlic + 2 tsp minced ginger)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1 tsp brown sugar

First, dry roast the cashew nuts and set aside to cool.
Add oil to a saucepan. Once it warms up a little, add the green chillies and ginger garlic paste.
Next, throw in the onions and let them caramelize a little.
Add the chopped tomatoes.
Add the spices - turmeric, cumin, corriander, garam masala, and salt.
Cook for a few minutes (10 or so) and take it off the stove and let cool. Once you're sure that you won't scald yourself, throw the mix into a blender and blend. (In mine, I have to blend in batches, to avoid dealing with explosive spills).
After blending, transfer the mix back into the saucepan, add the ketchup (or tomato puree, if you'd rather), add water and throw in the spinach koftas. Check the spices and adjust as you'd like and let simmer for a few minutes.

I ended up with this:

For a less jugaad-driven recipe, this is fantastic.










Tomorrow (or sometime soon) - Variations on a theme - Pulao and Seafood Paella.

*As an aside, I'm sure an analyst would have a field day with how much I've been turning to the kitchen for solace lately. 

**Slightly more problematically, there have been almost no leftovers. 

Reading rec. and food

Whovians, you've got to read Tansy Rayner Roberts' post on the Doctor and Domesticity.

Also, my reading list now has four new books - all of which have been on my wishlist but that I haven't gotten around to even buying, much less, reading. (Hint, hint - there's a good list of things you can gift me. But I'm only reading electronically now, so if you're feeling kindly towards me, mail me and we shall talk, yeah?)

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Onto the food.

As I've said elsewhere on this blog, in this, my new life, I can no longer tolerate dairy. Or eggs. As in physically tolerate.

And anybody with any diet restrictions knows how many billion times more challenging eating out becomes. No, I swear I'm not being dramatic. For instance, a few weeks ago, I was craving a pizza. But the only pizza place with a non-dairy cheese option is twenty miles away. So, I ended up ordering a thin crust veggie pizza without cheese - without any cheese.

I assure you that that is really about as fun as it sounds.
After much eye rolling and carping, I finished my sad excuse for a pizza.

But I have since, been cooking vegan or at least dairy free things with a vengeance. (Yes, that was me dining the happybeardance at the Fresh Foods near the daiya and veganaise). I've been following post-punk kitchen, avidly stalking vegan boards on Pinterest and hounding people for recipes that I can use, try, adapt.

Today's recipe belongs to the 'kindly loaned' category and comes from a very dear friend's mother. When I ate this delicious and wholesome cheesy vegetable casserole for the very first time, my exposure to non-Indian tasting food was limited to my Mama's vegetarian French Toast and her espresso*, reserved for special occasions (like exam stress, or a mild fever). And yet, surprisingly, novelty notwithstanding, this casserole was instantly comforting.

Small wonder then that I've been craving it lately (amidst stressful life events etc). The Witch, my dear friend, came through beautifully and got the recipe from her mum for me. The recipe is simple enough to suggest itself. But most of all, I love that it is so flexible - allergic to dairy? Replace with non dairy cheeses. Hate mushrooms? Throw them out and replace with carrots and peas. More body? Throw in some penne pasta...you get the drift. I'm reading it as a cosmic, edible reminder ti stay loose.

While the process remains the same as the original, my version replaces several of the original ingredients.

To make this casserole, I used:
Mushrooms - 16 oz (I used sliced baby portobellos)
Green Beans - (I eyeballed this)
Garlic paste - 1 tsp (or minced garlic, 2/3 pods)
Olive oil - 1 tsps
Daiya mozarella style shreds

For the white sauce:
Unflavored Almond milk - 1 cup
White Whole Wheat flour - 1 tbsp
Melt (the butter substitute) - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Oregano or dried Italian herb seasoning - to taste

Preheat your oven to 350 F (around 200C).

Roast the flour in the butter / buttery spread over medium heat. Make sure the raw smell disappears completely. This will mean browning the flour a bit, but make sure not to burn the damn thing.

Set aside to cool.

While that's cooling off, slice up the mushrooms and cut the beans. Heat a pan, add the olive oil and stir in the garlic. Throw in the mushrooms and beans and let them cook together until the beans get tender.

While you're waiting for that to get done, go back to the white sauce. Stir in the milk into the roasted flour. Make sure there are no lumps.

Add in the salt and seasonings.

Grease up your baking dish and toss in the veggies. Pour the sauce over the veggies.
I chose to stir the mix, but I imagine if you were using a shallow-ish pan, this might be unnecessary.

Top off with the grated cheese. My pre-baked mix looked like the first picture below.

Bake until the cheese browns, around 25 minutes.

Daiya doesn't quite brown like regular cheese, so what I ended up with, was a melty cheesy top layer, which worked just fine for me.

Yep. I had to take a bite before I remembered to take the second picture.

I served this up as a side for spaghetti tossed in tomato-basil-garlic sauce. And it was totally awesomesauce. Because the sauce is awesome.

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*as an adult, I now realize that her espresso was really a way of getting me to down a lot of milk with a little coffee thrown in for flavor. Oh well, memories.

Come over for Texting and Meditative Scones

Some Sunday mornings are for contemplation.
And, I've figured out that for me, there is just no better way of doing this than baking scones.

If you know me at all, you know I'm not a baker.

I don't mean that I'm not good at baking.
I really do mean I'm *not* a baker.
Which is why I find baking a perfect meditation - it requires all my attention, for a good chunk of time wherein I have just enough space for sorting out the knots in my mental fur.


At any given point, there's no real dearth of said knots.
But, over the last week, specifically, this whole slew of developments within the Academy and responses to these developments: Here, and here, for instance - have caused particularly ugly, academia-related knots to surface on my otherwise ripple-free coat (okay, I really should stop with this metaphor now). Reading articles, comments, status messages and posts about the state of universities and higher education in particular and have started to tear at my resolve to put off thinking about my relationship with The Academe while I'm on a break this summer and the next semester.

The tipping point, I think, was reading the Poor Baker's recipe for the "Terribly Inefficient" Blueberry Pie

Which is why, this morning, more than most, I needed a good solid meditation.
I picked up the last two apples lying in my fruit bowl, grabbed a bunch of new recipes I'd been reading, raided my pantry and decided to bake me some apple scones.


The Constraints: Because of the very dear family chez-moi, I'm still trying to do egg-free baked yummies. I  came upon this blog (that I've never read before) while looking for egg-free apple cake recipes. Her recipe made me think of baking scones instead (since I don't altogether trust egg-free cake - or my ability to make an edible egg-free cake).


The Sources: If you've been reading you know that I rather love and admire the Real Baker's talent for awesomeness (and not just at baking, either). The method and body for this recipe come from her recipe for scones. 
The apple portion of the recipe comes from the Smitten Kitchen's Apple Cake. 
Everything else is, uh, inspired (Ahem!).

This recipe is complete jugaad - so feel free, if you're trying it, to modify as you will.

The Ingredients
2 cups of flour (I've used bread flour with success)
1¼ cup of sugar (divided  ½ cup for apples and the rest for the batter)

1 apple (or two, if you like more crunchy goodness)
1 tsp cinnamon
2½ tsps Vanilla essence (Yeahhh, I don't stock any kind of essences - my fix it was to use Weikfield's Custard Powder)

½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
6 T butter (I used 4T unsalted and 3T salted, because I wasn't sure if I'd oversalt otherwise)
1 cup of yogurt (I used slightly soured yogurt - because, again that's the only thing I have on hand)
A fistful of raisins
A few chocolate chips (I used a few dark-chocolate covered pomegranate pieces, because that's what I had on hand. These, here.)

Preheat the oven to 375F.
Cut the apple into little pieces. (I had a small bowl full of unevenly sized apple-bits, not chunks, bits). Mix in the cinnamon,  ½ cup for the sugar and set this aside.

Next, mix the flour, sugar, salt, Weikfield's custard powder, baking soda and baking powder. 
(If you're adding liquid vanilla essence, I'd add it after the butter.) 
Cut in the cold butter into this mix until you have coarse crumbs (I vouch for the Poor Baker's trick of  keeping the butter as cold as possible, so keep it in the fridge right up until you use it - this really does make for the most delicious scones).


Stir in the apple mix. Throw in the raisins and chocolate chips. Add the yogurt.
Turn the mix onto a floured surface and roughly knead a few times. Don't overwork the dough - I like to keep the dough kind of crumbly, but still soft enough that it will hold shape.

I work the dough into little triangular scones by hand.

Put the scones on a tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 15-18 minutes.
Take out and let cool.

I like these (apple-cinnamon) scones slightly warm and they taste pretty good right out of the oven. 

And as for the meditation, does this exercise really work? Well, I'm still wondering whether staying in the theoretical humanities is right for me. I'm still seriously re-thinking my decision to stay in academia and wondering if I should go back to working full-time outside the academy. 
But, I'm a hundred percent with not trying to turn the Academy into a profit-churning machine.
So there's that.

Another *Sweet* (ahem) Breakfast, or, more pancakes

My pantry is in a constant state of want.
It's true.
There are a few factors that contribute to this state of want:
a) I'm a grad student. In other words, I have a budget. And no time.
You should probably read that as  I only stock bare essentials -  groceries, spices and produce that I will always use - milk, eggs, bread, rice, some veggies, basic spices for (mostly South Asian) cooking and some chocolate.
b) I'm a grad student. This time, this reads: I only re-stock when I've run out of nearly everything.
And,
c) I'm a new recipe junkie*. In other words, I read a whole ton of new recipes and I almost never have everything I need for a particular one that catches my fancy.

Like, this morning, when I woke up (once again) wanting a sweet breakfast. One that was not cornflakes. Not Even Mohun's**.

For my new fix, I've been reading Smitten Kitchen (thanks to a new friend). So what I really wanted is one of her Breakfast Goodies. But instinctively knowing that that was not to be (see reasons listed above), I would happily have substituted those for the yummy scones I keep talking about or even last week's banana pancakes. 


But, hélas.
Quick pantry survey reveals that I have no more candied ginger, bananas or nuts. And I've not had blueberries since the move.


I did, however, discover a small bowl of super-tart cherries from a few weeks ago which would have made it to the trash in a few of days. In three days, I could have just left the door open and I'm sure they'd have jumped out of the bowl and walked to the trash of their own volition.


Now, normally, I love me some fresh cherries.
I just ended up with about 2 pounds of somewhat sour-ish, super-tart ones.
And to my household's credit, we actually finished most of them (despite a general distaste for sour fruit***). Except a handful of cherries that I threw into a bowl and stowed away, way out of sight, at the back of my refrigerator.

Until this morning, when I used them to make some wonderfully light pancakes based on Deb's Recipe for Blueberry Pancakes, except since I don't own any fancy equipment (like pastry brushes), I went with using a flat spoon and folded tissue to make sure my girdle was well-oiled. (The Poor Baker would approve, I think).

My modifications:
I didn't use any egg. I cut the recipe in half. And added a dash of All-Spice to the batter. 
And thus, my ingredients:

1 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Less than 1/4 teaspoon table salt
A pinch of All-spice
1.5 tablespoons sugar
2 cups buttermilk (No buttermilk? The Poor Baker's fix is to  substitute a cup of milk added to a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice. Make sure to add the milk to the acid rather than the other way around. Let sit 5 minutes.) 
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (this, I did not halve)
1/2 cup chopped cherries


And now, the how: 


1. First, set the girdle to medium heat and let it get hot enough.
2. Make yourself a cuppa chai to sip while working (clearly, optional).
3. Roughly chop up the cherries (making sure, of course to keep the pieces and throw away the pit - I say this, because if you're me, it is easy to throw a pit into a pancake mistaking it for a particularly large piece of cherry. I'm told by Mr. FD, who got the pancake-with-the-pit, that it does not make for delicious eating.)
4. Melt the butter.
5. In a medium bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, all-spice and sugar.
6. Whisk in the buttermilk and the butter. 
7. Both the Poor Baker and Deb of Smitten Kitchen will tell you to make sure that the batter has some lumpiness. Makes for lighter pancakes.
8. Grease the girdle and pour out the batter. Sprinkle the cherries on the top, and once "eyes" (those little air bubbles) start to appear on the pancake, flip over.

Ta-Da! 
I'm definitely re-making these. What I loved was that the tartness that made me stow away the cherries was a perfect fit for this recipe. And that I could dispense off with the egg (see prev. recipe post for why I need to do this now) and still make the pancakes work really well! 

*true this I read, nay, actively seek out new recipes that are all kinds of yummilicious
** I love, love, love Mohun's and my dear sibling has just sent me a whole bag. Whee!
***This does not include fruit that are supposed to be sour, like green mangoes. These go down real well. 

Reads, Recipes, Rain

It's raining. Finally. After the first day of summer. Even so, it is raining and that's a good thing.

In the time that I've been away, I've tried, with success might I add, yet another one of the Poor Baker's Recipes: Banana Walnut Pancakes. And since I am not altogether averse to breakfast, or waking up early these days, (now that I don't really have to), these were Breakfast-for-Breakfast.

**An aside as I reprise this post, nearly four hours after I've begun: Good heavens, Turns out that these days, I can't sit still at the computer for more than a few minutes at a time. And that too, only if I force myself to stay.**


The Recipe
So where were we? Ah yes, Breakfast-for-Breakfast pancakes.
I was just going to use the Poor Baker's recipe to the last word - except that I was out of wheat flour, brown sugar and baking soda. And, a quick survey of my meager pantry revealed that I had just one walnut. No, I mean that. Literally One Walnut (oh the fun of living in a house where the other person loves dry fruits and nuts). 
Oh, and one banana (this, I admit, is my fault).

Said pantry-survey, however, also threw up a couple of slices of ready-made eggless tutti frutti cake (eggless , because a part of my family is entirely vegetarian and is currently here, chez-moi) close-to-expiry.
(Just so you know, Indian Tutti Fruitti Cake, Not to be confused with the Italian Tutti Frutti, which is also yummy.)

Tutti Frutti is Candied Fruit Peel type stuff. Your Local South-Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi) grocery will likely carry this bit of artificial yumminess.


And thus, my modified ingredient list:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1½  tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 overripe bananas, mashed
• 1/8 cup white sugar, packed 
• 1 cup buttermilk (which, like a good South-Indian girl, I now stock at home)
• 1 walnut and 1/3 cup chopped almonds
• 2 slices of eggless tutti frutti cake

For the process, I refer you to the Poor Baker's original post  (since I did basically the same thing and she explains it so much better).


The Reads
I've just finished Diana Wynne Jones' Charmed Life. And this is the first Wynne Jones that I've ever read. Why did nobody tell me about this when I was much, much younger?

Also, I'm just a wee bit appalled that the version of the book I have says "Mad about Harry? Try Diana."  on the front cover. 
Really, U.S. News & World Report? Really?
The article that this references dutifully calls The Chrestomanci series Harry Potter's "spiritual ancestor" - but, seriously? Such galling taking out of context bothers me. Gah!

More food.

I got here with the intention of saying something else entirely, but since it has escaped me, here's another recipe.

This one is an easy to fix summer starter - thank you, Walmart recipe card.

For a two-person serving, You'll need:
2 Cucumbers
Some feta Cheese
Some Hummus (I used leftovers from a take out meal. The store bought Sabra hummus is perfect! But if you're looking for a recipe, try this one . Elsewhere I've read that Tahini cannot be substituted but can be omitted.)

Slice the Cucumbers into little discs (you know, latitudinally).
Set them out on a plate.
Spread some hummus on them and sprinkle the feta cheese on top.

Notes: The recipe card calls for decorating the slices with a red chili pepper, but I didn't have any on hand, and wonder of all wonders, it worked just fine.

Fun Food. Fun.

The thing that I hate the most about this 90% humidity, 100% heat weather is the sudden lack of vision everytime I get into and out of a temperature controlled environment.

Just sayin'.

Fortunately, for me (and you, by extension), is the wondabulousness (okay, that puktastic portmanteau, is never going to make the cool circles) of summer food.

Over the last couple of weeks of this glorious summer, I've visited the Bentonville Farmer's Market. On Saturday morning, no less. None of the wimpy mid-week market for me, no siree! I wake up early to go to the Saturday market.

(Fine, fine. You got me. I went because a dear friend had dropped in and our other plans for the morning were shot to high hell. )

The market itself is pure delight. I've fallen in love all over again with the historic town square.

Fresh produce, colourful scarves, art, Live Music (sometimes), fresh baked goods, fresh meat, delicate jewelery, belts - yup, we've got a diverse market. There was even a breakfast cart serving crêpes. (Umhmm!)

Anyway, thus it was, that I discovered Zucchini. R and I had found our lunch.

We got home and had to dig around a bit for a non-kofta recipe.

We found this recipe for Zucchini Pancakes and since I rarely ever have everything a recipe calls for, here's our variation.

Before you start cooking, brew a pot of Coffee.

Then, gather:

2 Zucchini

2 eggs (*Don't eat eggs? See notes.)

1/2 cup of wheat flour

1/4 cup of onions

1 and 1/2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 and 1/2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese (again, see notes)

2 tsp baking powder

(Indian) Red Chilli Powder

Salt (to taste)

Oregano (to taste)

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Grate the Zucchini into a bowl.

Add the onion.

Add a fourth of the cheese and a little salt. Add the Red Chilli Powder.

Add the eggs, flour and oil, mixing (or lightly beating) the ingredients together.

As you mix, blend in the rest of the cheese.

Grease a baking tray and spoon the batter onto it.

Sprinkle Oregano onto the spooned pancakes.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes.

And while you wait for the Tada! moment, sip the coffee and read these notes on the recipe:

* If you're not going to add the egg, you might choose to add in a fourth of a boiled and mashed-up raw banana. If you don't have that at hand, try a small boiled and mashed potato. And if that's not possible, don't fret. Use a little water and proportion the flour to give it the consistency that you'd like. The recipe works fine without egg.

* Speaking of consistency, you might choose to thicken the batter (cut down or omit the egg, for instance) into little cutlets instead of pancakes. If you do, you may need to bake them longer.

Don't forget to check at the 10 minute mark, anyway.

* For variations on a theme, use spring onions instead of yellow or white onions. Use shallots. Change the cheese and use mozzarella instead of Parmesan, or if the fancy so strikes you, use both. Throw in grated carrots. Add some peas to the mix, while you're at it.

Phew! Finally I assure you that writing this post takes much longer than just making the yummies.

P.S. Just before posting, I found this link that looks awesomely similar to our variation.

Go on, take a look then.

And until the next post, take care.

Phoren Desi Khana

Ah so finally, the promised review of the only desi restaurant in town
Scroll further down for The Verdict

Or read on for a brief story:

Over the last four months, as a desi homebody in foren land, I've learnt to cook. A lot.
But every once in a while I crave Indian food without having to go to the bother of cooking it.

And thus it was that I found (what is apparently the only Indian restaurant in town) tada!: Aroma

As a precautionary measure, we asked around, googled the restaurant and looked at the few reviews available before going.
I'm not a fussy eater. But Urgh.

And then I went back with great hope and foolishly against my better judgment.
Oh sigh! all over again

The Place: Aroma
Address: 1100 SE 14th Street , Bentonville, AR, USA
Meal: Dinner
Number of visits: 2
Rating: 1.5 to 2 on a scale of 5
Cost: 10$ + tax per adult; 5$ + Tax for children

The Ambiance:
The restaurant is sparse clean and has a very tiffin-centre feel to it, minus the hearty fare.
But hey! its a restaurant, and you are there to eat... so lets not count ambience in our rating.

The Service:
is non existent. To their credit they do try but I don't reccomend the place at all if you you are pressed for time.

Food! Food! Food!
Food served is mainly North-Indian fare - both on the buffet and a la carte.
Your buffet options are limited to a boring repetitive fare: Biryani (mutton & veg), Rotis, 2 veggie gravy curries and two non-vegetarian curries swimming in oil, Dal, and two meat starters.
The accompaniments include a couple of salads and a raita.

Be warned, the veggie is much, much better than the non-vegetarian food.

The meat is tough, lacks in taste, and smelt mildly stale both times that I dined there.

Another disappointment is the lack of desserts on the buffet.
(hey! I love a good sweet-dish after a hearty Indian meal - my stomach also has a separate compartment for desserts ... and chaat)

The gravies (minus meat) and Dal are my favorite picks - they taste decent and make for happy accompaniments to the rotis.

The A la Carte menu offers more variety but will cost you several minutes in time.

Well, it is the Only option for an Indian eat-out in the area and ends up drawing a sizable crowd.

My verdict: give it a miss
It is definitely not work the 10 + taxes that you will pay for the buffet or more that you wil end up paying for the a la carte.

Get online, get recipes, cook - however new you are to Indian food, you'll do a better job than this.
Or heh, mail me and maybe I'll cook for you. Ha!

Coming up

I've been meaning to:
1) Review what seems to be the only Indian Restaurant in Bentonville
2) Write an Ode to Daisy's food, christmassiness and hospitality

But, 'tis the holiday season, and I'm stuffing my face with yummy christmas cookies, courtesy, Daisy.

... stay tuned in and I promise to post