Inauthentic Recipes – Page 8 – The Hungry Philosopher

SUPER Easy Chicken Curry….Seriously.

September 5, 2014September 3, 2014Leave a comment

I’ll admit it, South Asian curries are sometimes not the best looking. This one with its deep red is reminiscent of a rich pasta sauce which makes it a less intimidating for those new to South Asian cuisine. The flavors and mouth feel of tomato and cream are also very familiar. Works well for my chopped and blended cultural family. You can chose to add more exotic flavors or not. Up to you and your picky, ahem….. “discerning” eaters.

I make this curry often since its so easy. I’m not kidding. Made this with my 10 year old. It’s a one pot, throw in, with no frying or sauteing. Put all the ingredients in a pot and simmer until the chicken is soft. If you cook it low and slow the flavors will develop like a rich bolognese.

Here’s the basics:

1. Six Boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into bite size pieces (did I mention the recipe is cheap too!)

2. Sour Cream 1/2 cup ( I had light sour cream on hand)

3. Tomato puree 1 small can

4. Salt and Pepper to taste

The rest of the ingredients are optional….add what you have or feel like. The base of sour cream and tomato puree will make a yummy sauce on its own. With the following spices the recipe approaches a restaurant butter chicken taste.

5. Ginger paste 1 teaspoon

6. Garlic paste 1 teaspoon

7. Chilli powder 1/2 teaspoon

8. Coriander powder 1/2 teaspoon

9. Cumin powder 1/2 teaspoon

10. Onion one small chopped

11. Cilantro chopped 1 tablespoon

12. Oil 2 tablespoons

Serve with rice or naan.

I made a Coconut Rice Pulau to go with it.

Basmati rice 1 cup

Coconut milk 1 cup

Hot Water 1 cup

Chopped Onion 1 tablespoon

Cinnamon, a generous pinch

Cardamom, a pinch

Salt to taste

Ginger 1/4 teaspoon

Cumin Seeds 1 teaspoon

Raisins about 10-12

Almond Slivers

Peas, 1/2 cup

Saute the onions and cumin seeds in a tablespoon of ghee or oil.

Add all the dry ingredients except peas. Saute until the rice turns translucent and smells nutty. Add hot water and coconut milk. More water may be needed to finish cooking the rice.

Cook rice until the water evaporates and the rice kernels are soft and yummy. Add water if needed. Add peas. Simmer on low for a few more minutes, top with fried onions or cilantro and then enjoy!

Standing Ovation for my Stand Mixer

September 3, 20142 Comments

As some of you know, I have a love-hate relationship with recipes. As I am preparing for a trip to visit my daughter in college, I’ve been packing a variety of pound cake for her and her friends. I decided to try Martha Stewart’s Double Chocolate pound cake recipe for its simplicity and potential for easy travel. I also made mini apple cider pound cakes using a recipe from the fall’s Southern Living and my daughter’s favorite Zucchini bread with dried pineapple and cranberries (my sister-in-law’s wonderful recipe). But back to the magic of the stand-mixer.

The recipe calls for the butter and sugar to be mixed 8 minutes. Yes….8 minutes says the queen of precision. The reason Ms. Stewart explains is that the cake gets its lift from the whipped butter and sugar instead of baking powder. Skeptical, I started mixing the butter and eggs around minute 4 something magical began to happen. The butter and sugar turned pale and fluffy. By minute 8 the mixture doubled in volume and had the consistency of a thick whipped cream. I could not have done this with my own arm power. I could not have made this cake without a stand mixer. The machine truly made the cake. For today, my stand mixer, Rosie, has earned her place on my counter.

Here is the link for the Double Chocolate Cake recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/351772/double-chocolate-pound-cake

I’ll have to let you know how it tastes once it reaches its destination. But it does look and smell good. I couldn’t just “follow” the recipe so I added dark chocolate chips, cinnamon and a bit of ground instant espresso. If it doesn’t work out I assume responsibility and will eat the cake.

Rangpur Egg Curry

July 17, 2014July 17, 2014Leave a comment

My mom gave me this cooking book about regional cuisine of Bangladesh. Most of the recipes I have never tasted. Its strange to re-taste a cuisine I thought I knew. Here is one of the recipes that I tried. Its an egg curry with a twist. The curry sauce includes potatoes that gives the sauce a delicious thick soup-like consistency. The flavorful sauce clings to the fried boiled eggs. Delicious with rice but would also be great to dip with bread. Here’s my translation and U.S. interpretation of the recipe from the Bangaladeshi Regional Cookbook by Runa Arefin.

Aloo Dal Dim

Potatoes 1lb (about 4-5 medium red potatoes)

Eggs 4

Onions 2 (1 large American yellow onion)

Green chili peppers, chopped 4 (I used 1)

Ginger Paste 1/2 teaspoon

Garlic Paste 1/2 teaspoon

Cumin Powder 1/2 teaspoon

Tumeric Powder 1/2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Red Pepper Flakes 1/2 teaspoon

Oil 4 Table spoons

Cilantro 1 Table spoon

1. Boil potatoes and coarsely mash.

2. Boil eggs and peel.

3. Heat oil and fry eggs. The eggs will blister and the oil will pop…so be careful.

4. Take out eggs. In the same oil add and heat the onions and green chilies. Add Potatoes.

5. Add all the spices to the potato mixture. Add a little water. I put about 2 table spoons.

6. Once the spices are well incorporated and roasted. Add water to desired consistency. I added about 1/2 cup and simmered the curry a bit longer.

7. Add cilantro before serving.

Its not very spicy but feel free to adjust the heat or any of the spices to your taste. I just found the potato curry sauce an unusual surprise.

Ma’s Kachchi Biriyani

July 1, 2014October 21, 2015Leave a comment

In a previous post entitled “Bored with Biriyani” I had mentioned this dish. Here is my mom’s version of the classic Biriyani. https://hungryphil.com/2014/06/05/bored-with-biryani/

2 lbs goat meat

1 cup yogurt

1TBS ginger

1TBS garlic

1TSP red chili powder

¼ TSP nutmeg

¼ TSP mace

½ TSP white pepper

1 TSP Fennel Seeds

1 TSP Postodana or white poppy seeds

1 TSP salt

8 small whole red potatoes

2 cups sliced shallots (onion) fried in ¾ cup ghee

½ cup combination of pistachios and almonds sliced

1 TBS saffron

¼ cup rose water

6 cups Basmati or Chinigura rice

4 cardamoms

2 sticks of cinnamon

1 bay leaf

½ cup prunes

½ cup dried apricots

Raisins

½ cup milk

½ cup “khoa”, dried milk

Red or Green fresh Chilies

* The key to this recipe is a large pot with a tight fitted lid!

1. Marinate (one hour to overnight) goat meat in yogurt and a grounded mixture of ginger, garlic, chili, nutmeg, mace, pepper, fennel, postodana, salt.

2. Boil potatoes until halfway cooked. Fry lightly in oil until roasted. Red coloring can be added.

3. Soak the dried fruit (prunes and apricots) in milk.

4. Soak saffron in rose water.

5. Fry onions and nuts and raisins until golden in ghee.

6. Boil rice until half cooked in 12 cups of water, cinnamon and cardamom, bay leaf and 2 teaspoons salt.

7. Add strained rice to meat (reserve the water) mix.

Add fried potatoes, Add fried onions and nuts and the ghee (reserve a bit for garnish)…….mix gently.

Add dried fruit and milk….mix gently.

Add ½ saffron and rose water (reserve other half)

Add dried milk powder or mawa

Add reserved water

8. Simmer gently in a tight fitted heavy pot until the liquid evaporates, rice and meat is cooked.

9. Garnish with green chilies, fried onions and remaining saffron water.

Serve with salad, achar/ pickles or raita.

DHUA’S CHICKEN PULAO (American Kitchen Update)

June 24, 2014October 7, 20141 Comment

Chicken 1

Yogurt ¼ cup

Onion Puree 2 tbs

Ginger Paste 1 tbs

Garlic Paste 1 tsp

Mace ¼ tsp

Nutmeg ¼ tsp

Salt 1 tsp

Cardamom 3 or 4

Cinnamon ½ inch stick

Bay leaf 1

Shan Morog Pulao or Biriyani spice 1 tsp

Dried Plum/ Prunes 6 or 7

Butter / Ghee 4 tbs

Eggs 6

Potatoes 4

Onions/Shallots 1 cup (sliced and fried)

Saffron 1 tsp

Rose Water 1 tbs

Vinegar 1 tsp

Rice 2 ½ cups

Green chilies 7/8

1. Quarter chicken and marinate at least half an hour in yogurt, onion, ginger, garlic, mace, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, bayleaf, plums, Shan Biriyani spice and 1 tablespoon ghee.

2. Soak saffron in rose water.

3. Half potatoes. Boil potatoes and eggs.

4. Lightly fry eggs and potatoes (add yellow coloring, if desired)

5. Fry onions or shallots until golden brown. Reserve a portion of fried onions for garnish.

6. Add 1 tsp vinegar and another tbs ghee to marinated chicken and simmer for 20 minutes until liquid is reduced. Add ½ tsp sugar.

7. Rinse and strain the rice.

8. Heat on tbs of ghee, add rice and ½ tsp salt, cook until opaque.

9. Add 5 cups of hot water to rice. Cook until half done.

10. Add half cooked rice to chicken. Stir. Add more water if needed to fully cook rice.

11. Add potatoes, eggs and green chilies.

12. Stir in saffron infused rose water and garnish with fried shallots. Serve.

YUM! Thank You, Dhua for sharing your recipe!

RECIPE UPDATE!

I tried the recipe recently and here a few notes of adjustment for the American kitchen.

1. I used two cornish hens quartered and skinned instead of one regular roast chicken.

2. Instead of whole spices that my daughters do not appreciate biting into, I added 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and cardamom each.

3. I used 4 medium yellow potatoes (halved).

4. I added 6 cups of water. The rice was almost done by the time I added it to the chicken.

5. I added another tablespoon of ghee and simmered until the oil separated from the chicken in order to gently fry the pieces in the spices.

6. I also added 1 teaspoon of salt in the rice water.

It was moist, delicious and so aromatic with the spices, the rose water and the saffron. Truly a special occasion treat!

Squashed Strawberry Cake and Baked Fudge Pie

May 5, 2014May 6, 20142 Comments

Published recipes are tested and idealized concepts executed with skill. The application of such perfection are, shall we say sometimes, less than perfect. Most always, still delicious, most always, opportunities for learning and creative adjustment. In the spirit of sharing the tasty and the ugly, just thought I’d report on my weekend baking experiments. I tried two recipes from recent issues of Southern Living Magazine. As I have previously admitted, I am incapable of following recipes. It might be symptomatic of my general aversion to authority and direction. So…. when I say I’m reporting on executing recipes, I mean, I’m confessing how I subverted or mutated the recipes, for better or worse. At any rate, I eat the evidence. Don’t judge me.

The first recipe was from the Community Cookbook section of the magazine for Fudge Pie. For the most part I followed the recipe. I was so proud of myself until I realized that I was supposed to mix in the pecans (and not merely scatter them on top like a pecan pie). No worries, the pecans got toasty and the pie was just as delicious (I imagine). Will I mix the pecans in next time? I don’t know.

The second recipe was far more ambitious. It was the Strawberry Lemonade Layer Cake on the cover of last month’s issue. Mine does NOT look like the cover. My analysis of the visual discrepancy identifies three deviations from the recipe:

First, I did not use the 9 inch pan as directed. The 8 inch pan yielded a taller cake. A situation which would not be so bad except that the cake would not fit in my covered cake container. So, yes, I squished the cake (a bit) for the lid to fit. I’m not sure how detrimental this deviation will be at dessert time. I may have to pretend its a rustic strawberry shortcake or maybe I can dump it in a trifle bowl. Some creative adjustment may be required.

Second, when I squished the caked down, the delicious strawberry jam (yes! the recipe called for me to MAKE the strawberry jam) leaked out. Again, a situation, I’m guessing the magazine recipe did not call for. Instead of delicately sitting between the cake layers like a glossy red sweet and fruity buffer, the “jelly” behaved more like an oozing red sauce bleeding out of the white and red speckled cloud. Hmmmm. Was I supposed to boil the “jam” liquid more? Fear not, this is just another moment of creative rescue. I’ve decided to serve the left over red strawberry lemon syrup…yes…”syrup” not “jam” as a drizzle over each serving of cake (spooned or sliced, as the first condition dictates).

Third, I did not add the red food coloring in the frosting. The cake looks good anyway. Just not like the image on the magazine cover. As you can somewhat see below (I’m afraid to take off the lid for a picture!), reality on the right and ideality on the left. I would eat both. But, my very own tasty ugly reality that I brought into being is what I have sitting in the refrigerator waiting to be devoured. Can’t I make my cake, have my cake and eat it too? Yay to glorious imperfect making and …….eating. Happy cooking and eating everyone!

Confessions of an Egghead

May 2, 2014May 6, 20142 Comments

” The most private things in the world is an egg until it is broken.” …..from How to Cook a Wolf by MFK Fisher

“So beautiful in conception! The symbol of progress! If the egg were any other shape, the life of the hen would be intolerable.” ….. Raymond Loewy, French American Industrial Designer

In the kitchen, the egg is ultimately neither ingredient nor finished dish but rather a singularity with a thousand ends.” ……Egg by Michael Ruhlman

Previously, I had mentioned my adoration of the egg. For my birthday, my Jim, gave me Ruhlman’s recent ode to the humble egg. It is the most romantic gift that I have ever received. I’m not being sarcastic. Really. The man obviously knows and loves me well.

The images are as sensual, as instructive, a gastronomic kama-sutra. The chapters are divided into the multiple methods an egg can be employed: in shell, out of shell, whole, separated, separated and reunited. Each recipe begins with a narrative that relates the history of recipe, the variations and sometimes even the limitations. The recipes are in both grams and cups! yay…thank you Mr. Ruhlman for indulging our American hubris. There is even a pull out flowchart (which I must frame)! Anyway, didn’t mean to write a review. (Sorry, force of academic habit.) Ahhhh. look at this. As I’m writing this blog with the cooking channel on, I see Giada’s episode entitled, what else….”eggilcious.” I better go.

The point is…………..eggs are magnificent, comforting, binding, fluffy, frothy, sweet, salty, spicy, hard, soft, liquid, fragile, hard and so much more. What did I have for my birthday breakfast, you might ask? A sunny side up egg with a dash of Tobasco sauce on white buttered toast with guava jelly. Yum. I love eggs.

“Something I cooked up”

April 21, 2014May 6, 20142 Comments

…..seems a strange phrase to imply improvisation. The metaphor captures the fabricated, responsive, performance of cooking. Despite recipes, despite directions. There is an element of surprise to cooking that is both challenging yet satisfying. For example, yesterday I cooked two batches of brownies (Betty Crocker Mix….I’ll address the use and abuse of prepared mixes in another post). At the appointed time, one batch was almost overcooked while the other was still runny. Same oven, same temperature. Hhmmmm. Assuming I measured and followed directions (which is a huge assumption) I can only guess that the top shelf got too little heat, while the bottom shelf got too much. Now….. know I would’ve needed to exchange the pans half way. Maybe. Maybe the brownies would be runny, or burnt anyway. Cooking is an activity where concept and execution, ideality and reality, recipe and dish are in constant negotiation. I have often cried, “but I followed the recipe.” As if the failure was the recipe’s fault and not my own. Granted there does exist the occasional bad recipe. Ironically, the only way to test a recipe is to use it, to confront the directions however faulty, to challenge and change the recipe. Cooking is fundamentally, non-fundamental. That’s why its so much fun. While my brownies did not fulfill the image on the box, to my surprise, my moment of improvisational rice side dish worked!

I cooked finely chopped onions, carrots, red bell pepper and celery (about 3/4 cup total) in butter until roasted and glowingly golden. Added sliced mushrooms (a small carton). Added a cup of left over jasmine rice. Heated all through. Added a half a cup of shredded cheese and about 1/2 of cream. Tossed in a 1/2 cup of peas at the end. Once warmed through the made up rice dish was wonderful with pan roasted lamb chops. Fake risotto. I savored that improvisation. It worked. I have doubts that I can make it again. In most home cooking, the recipe is an afterthought. Success and failure in the end depends on taste and not a meticulously followed theory. Something we cook up.

What have you cooked up lately? Did it work? What did you do when it didn’t?

Deshi in the Dorm Kitchen – Stir Fried Ramen Noodles

February 19, 2014April 27, 2015Leave a comment

This is the first installment of deshi in the dorm kitchen dedicated to my college freshman daughter, Amani. Like most second and third generation deshi’s, Amani grew up with a sophisticated palate and a wide range of tastes experiences that span spaghetti to curries. She craves diversity above all else. Here is one of her favorite snacks.

Deshi Stir Fried Ramen Noodles

One packet of any flavored Ramen noodles (Amani prefers Beef)

1/2 cup of sliced onion

1-2 Green Chilli peppers halved lengthwise

1/2 cup of frozen peas (or any vegetable, I used zucchini here)

1 egg

2 tablespoons oil

1. Boil noodles as directed. (I usually microwave it in a bowl of water for 5 minutes)

2. Fry onions and green chillies in oil until slightly roasted and browned.

3. Add strained noodles and seasoning packet.

4. Stir and fry until seasoning gets well incorporated.

5. Break an egg (or two) onto the noodles and again stir until combined and cooked.

6. Add frozen peas.

7. Allow some noodles to get crunchy and fried. (Amani likes the crunchy bottom bits).

Very cheap, very fast and very yummy.

Enjoy.

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