Spice Attack!

I've been craving spicy lately and wanted to do something quick. I managed to get a hold of some habenero peppers (rather than habeñero which is a hyperforeigñism). I like the model of the shakshouka recipe from a bit back and decided to do more or less the same as that, but switching some nice sea scallops for the eggs and using a whole bunch of habeneros.







Serve with some toast and prepare to sweat!

Cauliflower Rice + Spicy Creamy

OK, so I don't really feel much inspiration for the writing part of this, but I am cooking and taking pictures of what I eat. I've found this whole thing valuable since it keeps me cooking regularly (rather than eating out for dinner or buying my lunch each day) and I practice cooking - hopefully getting better in the process. It also means I should cook something at least slightly different each time. So here is what I made yesterday and today, light on the how-to but hopefully interesting.

Cauliflower Rice
I had a hankering for some cauliflower and (not sure why) rice with yogurt in it. I fried up the cauliflower in a bit of ghee to get things started:



I cooked the cauliflower a bit longer by adding a mixture of yogurt, dried and shredded coconut, hot pepper, garlic, turmeric, cilantro and salt that I had thrown in the blender to get it smooth. Once the yogurt mixture had reduced, I removed it and set aside.

Next I started the rice by adding some spices (cumin + mustard seed and curry leaves) to ghee and then frying the rice a bit in this spice-ghee mix. Instead of water for cooking the rice, I used the remaining whey from my leftover paneer making the other day. Once this came to a boil, I reduced the heat, tossed in the cauliflower, and cooked on low until the rice was done:



Spicy Creamy
That was yesterday. I wanted a little sauce to accompany the rice and I wanted something very spicy. I decided to do a potato and spinach coconut milk curry. I started off sautéing some ginger, onions, garlic along with potato cubes. When the potato was about halfway there I tossed in a bit of paprika, cumin, and a whole bunch of hot pepper:



I quickly joined the hot pepper with 1 tomato, chopped and cooked about 2 minutes more. A good bunch of spinach was added to the mix here, and cooked with the cover on the pot for about 2 minutes. Finally I added 1 can of coconut milk and brought the whole thing to a simmer. I topped it off with a bit of garam masala. In the end it was only a little spicy since the coconut presumably neutralizes the heat a bit here. Still quite good!

Paneer Soup!

Getting back into the cooking grove here.... I decided to go for something a bit light this evening and made some spicy paneer soup. This ended up being some late night bacon since I bought all the ingredients for the soup at the grocery store, and then went to the Indian market for the paneer, but they were out! No worries, fresh is better even if it means I eat at midnight.

To start, I made paneer from 1 gallon of whole milk. After the liquid sufficiently drained from the cheese, I spread it out on paper towels to dry further. Then I dusted with flour to further dry things up before frying ghee along with 2 tsp of cumin seed, several curry leaves, and a few cloves of garlic.

Once the paneer got some nice browning, I tossed in about 6 chopped jalapeños peppers and cooked down a bit further, along with 1 tsp turmeric and 1 tsp chile powder. See:



From here it is almost done. I had 1 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes which I put in a large bowl and squeezed up with my hands. I added this to the pot along with a good bit of salt. Letting it heat up and cook down for about 4 minutes (give or take several minutes) while I chopped up some cilantro for later. Once it seemed reasonable, I added about two and half cups of whey leftover from the cheese making. This is more satisfying than adding water or broth. Mmmmm. Once things got altogether in the pot, I check the salt, add the cilantro and enjoy! It actually makes me think of an Indian version of shakshouka with paneer replacing the eggs. I just need some help eating all this food...

Aloo Baingan + Green Peas Pulao

Finally back in my kitchen after a lengthy stay in Egypt and then DC. After a month away I was craving some indian food and home cooking. I got started right away with some aloo baingan (potatoes + eggplant) and green peas pulao.

Green Peas Pulao

1-2 handfuls of raw cashews
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp black mustard seed
1 Tbs minced ginger
5 small hot peppers
1 cup rice
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp garam masala
1 3/4 cup water
1/2 cup frozen peas

Sauté the cashews in a few tablespoons of ghee, then add the cumin and mustard seeds. Fry until the mustard seeds start to turn slightly grey and then add the ginger and hot pepper. Fry for a few minutes more and add the rice. Oh, but wait! The rice should be rinsed first! Fill a bowl with cold water and the rice, swishing the rice around a bit with your hand. This will cause the water to turn cloudy - a bit like dishwater! Drain the cloudy water out and repeat this process a few times until the water stays more or less clear following the rinse.

OK, now fry the rice for a few minutes allowing the grains to become coated by the ghee and spices. Add the turmeric and garam masala and mix in. Add slightly less than 2 cups of water (~ 1 3/4) and allow to come to a boil. Once things are good and boiling, add the peas and reduce to low heat. Cook covered until all the water is absorbed and the rice is nice and tender! Add a bit of salt to taste at the end.

Aloo Baingan

To accompany this fine pulao I decided to make some aloo baingan. This follows a similar route as you might expect:

2 tsp cumin seed
1 chunk of ginger, minced
several hot peppers (I used some jalapeños today)
1 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp red chile powder
3 medium/small potatoes
3 small eggplants
2 medium tomatoes

Fry the seeds in a few tablespoons of ghee, followed by the ginger and hot pepper. Add the powdered spices and after a few seconds, the potatoes. Add some salt here to keep the potatoes company. Fry the potatoes for 2-3 minutes on high heat. Add the cubed eggplant and cook covered on low heat until the eggplant becomes nice and is just starting to get a bit mushy (maybe 10 minutes). At this point toss in the chopped tomatoes, check the salt level, and cook a few more minutes until the tomatoes soften up.

Both of these could do well on their own. I put them together and topped it will some plain yogurt with salt and tomatoes (tomato raita)! Mmmm mmmm!

Still Looking...

Well, things have been very busy and very interesting here in Egypt! So my planned research for future Egyptian fooddefafas has not been productive. I did find this at a Thai restaurant in Zamaleck:




I am not sure though....


There was also some nice stuffed pigeon:



But not so sure I will be up for recreating that one back home.

Though maybe the most enjoyable food I encountered was at this guy's nut/seed cart in Tahrir Square (though this is mostly because of the ambience):

Homemade artichoke ravioli

After all this posting frenzy by David, I felt compelled to give my modest contribution... just one recipe - for now! Ravioli are actually not that difficult to make, just a bit time-consuming (but totally worth it!). The preparation is quicker if you have a pasta machine, but if you don't, this give you an idea of how to roll the pasta by hand.

This time I decided to make an artichoke filling.

This recipe will serve 2-3 people (and it took me about an hour and a half from start to end).

For the filling I used:
4 artichokes (the smaller, the better, and with tight leaves)
some onion, diced
2 generous tbsp of ricotta
salt, pepper
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First, I removed the outermost and thicker leaves and cut off the top of each artichoke, then I cut them in 2 and removed the choke (which will not be there if you use small artichokes).
I dropped them in water with lemon juice to prevent them from turning black.
Then I sliced them, and sauteed them together with the onion, some white wine, salt and pepper until tender.


At that point, I pureed the artichokes with the ricotta to obtain a relatively smooth cream.

For the dough you'll need :
200 g all-purpose flour
2 eggs (better if at room temperature)
a little water
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You have to make a well in the flour, add the eggs and mix them into the flour with a fork until they are completely blended.
When the dough becomes more consistent, knead the mixture with your hands until it is completely homogeneous. If too dry, add some water, if too sticky add some flour.
"A good dough should never stick to your fingers!" says the instruction booklet of my pasta machine.

And now, the rolling out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cut out a piece of dough and cover the rest with a wet cloth.
Roll out the dough on setting number 1 of a pasta machine, three times, folding in thirds between each roll. Then roll through settings 2-9.


Try to match the pasta sheets as closely as possible by size.
Drop spoonfuls of filling on one sheet, leaving at least 1 1/2" between them. place another sheet on top and carefully press out the air around each mound.
Seal and cut between the ravioli (with a knife or a pasta cutter), then place them on a floured plate or sheet. Apparently it's better not to refrigerate them.
Repeat with each dough section until you're out of filling.


Cook the ravioli for 5-6 min in abundant, salted water. Since they are delicate, it's better to use a slotted spoon to remove them into a colander once they're ready.
You can serve them with butter, brown butter and sage, or a light tomato sauce. And parmesan, if you like it.

PS: I also tried a butternut squash filling for Thanksgiving, which was much appreciated!

Cardamartha

So I am not sure about you, but I don't really understand the whole cupcake fad. Don't get me wrong, cupcakes are great and all, but I often find that the mountain of frosting is just a bit much for me. The question is, why is there not a cookie fad? TV shows, food carts, hundreds of little shops opening up, all just about cookies? They are equally capable of incorporating a variety of different flavors. Following this thought, I started with the regular martha and then developed the spicy martha. Now, introducing the cardamartha! Cardamartha is just the basic recipe + cardamom.

Cardamom is great! Look:



In order to get the cardamom flavor into the cookie, I took two routes. First, I melted the butter separately from the chocolate and let it hang out with several while cardamom pods:



After a bit I removed the pods and then incorporated the chocolate and followed along with the rest of the recipe as usual. I think the next time I might even want to dry roast the pods a little before adding the butter.

Then after laying out the dough on the cookie sheet, I split open a few pods to get at the seeds which I then sprinkled on top of the cookies before putting them in the oven:



Unfortunately, the cookies got a little toasted, I think because I put them on the bottom rack of the oven. But they were still pretty delicious after scraping a bit of the bottom off.