Food – Page 18 – The Hungry Philosopher

Deshi in the Dorm Kitchen – Chicken Kofta Curry

April 2, 2015April 2, 20155 Comments

Dear Amani,

I’m sure this recipe exists in some form somewhere. Here is what I did with a pound of ground chicken. Its a yummy take on the everyday chicken and potato curry.

You’ll need:

1 lb of ground chicken

1 medium onion

2 medium potatoes (I had yellow potatoes)

1 teaspoon curry powder (grocery store brand is fine, I had hot curry powder from our Indian grocery store)

1 teaspoon of garlic paste (crushed, powder, doesn’t matter)

1 teaspoon of ginger paste (powder is fine)

Oil about a 1/4 cup

Here’s what you do:

1. Mix ground chicken with shredded potato (don’t shred your fingers, be careful with the metal grating box….use the large eyes), shred onion on the same contraption about 2 tablespoons worth, 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, garlic and curry powder each. And salt.

2. Form loose meatballs with the mixture. It’ll be messy. If you oil your hands, it’ll be easier to form.

3. Fry lightly in the oil. Turning so all sides get browned.

4. You can stop here or reserve some meatballs separately for room mates who don’t like much spice and for sandwiches or quick bites. Be sure to check done-ness. If not, place in warm oven for 10 minutes. The meatballs need to cook a bit for the potatoes to get soft.

5. If you want to make a curry sauce……..chop the rest of the onion, fry it in the oil (depending on how much oil is left in the pan you might want to drain some of it…until you have about 2-3 tablespoons left in the pan), add the rest the ginger, garlic and curry powder (and salt). Fry until you can smell the spices. Add 1/2 cup of water. A sauce will form very quickly. Put the meatballs back in the pan, coat gently with the sauce and let sit on low for about 15 minutes.

You can add chopped tomatoes, cilantro, cream or coconut milk if you have it. Otherwise, this is an easy 6 ingredient recipe. You can also use any spice instead of the curry powder for example tandoori spice or any barbeque spice rub.

Serve with hot rice or bread. Let me know if you try it.

Love,

Your hungry mom

Really Eternal City (Poem by George Bilgere)

March 25, 2015Leave a comment

After we’d walked for at least an hour,
heading toward the Vatican
on a broiling August day,
I began thinking about how long
the tour we’d signed up for was going to be,
and how many sacred things would be on view,
and how much complicated information
the guide would tell us about the ancient paintings
and Roman numerals and relics
and tombs and holy knuckle bones.

I knew it would all kind of just melt together
and congeal into one big lumpen mass
of guilt and suffering and miracles
and gloomy old men in sandals.

And as I was thinking this
we were passing through a shady little square
where a couple of bare-breasted marble nymphs
were playing in the fountain,
and there were no tour guides anywhere,
there was no suffering or crucifixions,
nor was there even one important name or date
I would have to try to remember.

And the cheap red wine at the sidewalk ristorante
where we ended up spending the afternoon
instead of going to the Vatican
was wonderful, even miraculous,
as was the spaghetti bolognese.

“Really Eternal City” by George Bilgere. © George Bilgere.

From the Writers Almanac, http://writersalmanac.org/page/5/

Deshi in the Dorm Kitchen- Moli’s Moghlai Porota

March 23, 2015March 24, 20152 Comments

This recipe is an expanded version of my sister Moli’s recipe. When I asked her she said….oh its so easy… you just stuff the packaged porota with keema and bake it in the middle of oven. This is what happens when you ask an experienced cook for a recipe. So, this is my attempt to explain the process for Amani, my baby deshi in the dorm.

Here’s what you need:

2 packages of frozen Paratha (I ran out and tried it with frozen chapati…not as yummy)

You’ll get five stuffed porathas out of this recipe.

Keema

2 Eggs (beaten)

Here’s a quick recipe for keema (the beef stuffing)

1 lb of ground beef

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

Salt and Pepper

1/2 cup cilantro, 1/2 large onion, 2 chilli peppers…chopped fine.

Brown beef with a 1/2 cup of water, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper.

Optional: Sprinkle a teaspoon of garam masala, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, 1/4 of a lime juice.

Turn off stove. Top browned beef with onion mixture, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Now your keema is done. You can use it for this, for samosas, aloo chops, patties….for any deshi filling.

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Defrost porota enough to be pliable

3. Spray two oven trays with oil.

4. Place five porotas on the trays.

5. Brush each with egg.

6. Top each with keema (about 3 tbs/each). Reserve extra for later.

7. Add more egg on each if desired (warning, the egg might leak out if you put too much)

8. Cover each with another porota.

9. Bake for 30 minutes. Center of oven. May need flipping in order to brown all over.

It tastes like a spicy, flaky and delicious meat pie. Great as a snack with sweet chai.

Enjoy! Thank you, Bhabi!

BakingPhil Project 5: Extra Fancy Cinnamon – Rolls

March 16, 2015March 14, 2015Leave a comment

My friend Kathy gave me a jar of extra fancy Vietnamese cinnamon. Naturally, the first thought I had was….Cinnamon Rolls! It just is the best way to showcase the spice. Navigating recipe websites I landed on the Vegan Recipe for Cinnamon Rolls by the Minimalist Baker. (Thank you Minimalist Baker!)

The World’s Easiest Cinnamon Rolls

Small disclaimer: I’m not a vegan and I used butter for this recipe. I’m just a big fan of almond milk and the “minimalist” approach.

The recipe calls for activating the yeast in lukewarm bath water temperature for the almond milk and butter mixture. I now realize I take VERY hot showers and bath. I basically cook myself. I may have killed the yeast as the minimalist baker warned. Oh well. I’m anxiously waiting the prescribed hour for the dough to double. Literally only time will tell. Will my dough make it….oh the drama. Is there a way to know if the yeast is developing properly BEFORE adding the flour?

Okay….so far so good. The dough did rise (thankfully). It’s a wonderfully soft yet pliable dough. Rolled out easy. Rolling it up after brushing on the butter and sprinkling with the cinnamon sugar was easy. My favorite moment in this whole process has to be slicing the roll and exposing the hypnotic swirls. Just magical.

Now waiting again….just for ten minutes while the oven heats up to 350 degrees. I guess I’ll unload the dishwasher while I wait.

The rolls have blossomed into beautiful swirls. Into the hot oven. In a half an hour the rolls should be done.

I’ve decided not to slather it with sugar icing. Many in my family will hang their head in disappointment…..”The icing is the best and most fought after part of the cinnamon roll” they would cry. But, I think I’ve already lost them with the “vegan” qualifier (although it really isn’t because of the butter). They don’t need to know. Anyway, I’m sticking to my vegan story, if it lets me have it my way in its naked cinnamon sugar glory. Shhhhh….

I can smell the yeasty, cinnamoniness at my desk…… this is going to be good. Time to get my tea, plate and fork ready. Who am I kidding…I’m not going to need a fork or a plate. Hope Tiya gets back from school soon to try this with me.

Look at it….really…can you blame me for not covering it with icing?

Kathy, thank you for the jar of cinnamon that started this tasty journey. Next time, let’s make it and eat it together. For now, excuse me, while I peel my swirly sweet snack away from the pan, unswirl and eat.

P.S. Okay…fine….I did end up slathering it with sugar icing after I ate a piece. I’m sure a family crisis was averted.

BakingPhil Project: Gluten-Free Foccacia Detour

March 9, 20152 Comments

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve run into the challenges of industrial, professional level baking instructions in the text On Baking. Mainly, the issue of scale. Even if I could eat two sheets of brownies, should I? So instead of relying on the single book for this baking project, I’ve decided to try different books and methods.

This week I tried a recipe from a gluten free baking cookbook. Really, how different can GF baking be? Silly me. The answer is…..very different. First of all, the ratio of liquid to dry ingredients is almost the inverse, with about a 110% liquid. This makes the “bread dough” batter-like and very unwieldy. Relatedly the process of mixing is different. A food processor is used instead of a standing mixer. The liquid, a mixture of oil and milk, is usually heated, cooled and mixed along with eggs before being added to the “flour” tapioca, buckwheat, almond or coconut. This will take me a while to get used to. Despite the effort and strangeness, the end product yields an airy flavorful bread. Given my recent lesson in focaccia, I decided to try the gf focaccia recipe to have with a bowl of warm lentil soup, dal.

I’ve made at least two mistakes so far:

The recipe called for light buckwheat. I got regular buckwheat. So, although the focaccia is tasty, it doesn’t have the look of a Roman focaccia. Instead, it looks like brownies. What a cruel joke for someone imagining the taste of a decadent chocolate confection! When making healthier options, looks are very important. Next time definitely, LIGHT buckwheat.
The recipe warned to mix thoroughly. I didn’t. The two lumps I found were horrible and grainy to taste, like having sand in my mouth. Yuck. I’m suffering from the gentle mixing dictates of regular baking and am having a difficult time adjusting to batter than needs a heavy hand. Oh well…..its a learning process. Baking is fascinating. Gluten-free and regular baking, are like two different languages with similar end products but very different methods and ingredients.

The other gluten-free recipe I tried this week, unrelated to baking, was Cauliflower Fried Rice. Amazing how the finished dish looks like regular fried rice. As I said, when offering healthy alternatives, aesthetics is SUPER important. It was easy to make and delicious to eat. Will make this again and again regardless of my flexible status as a gluten free eater.

I appreciate and enjoy the creativity involved in these gluten-free dishes. Makes me rethink ingredients, textures, ingredients, aesthetics and taste. While GF cooking is not without its own challenges, GF Baking feels paradoxical and ironic.

As you know, I savor irony.

Wishing you Happy Guilt-Free, Gluten-Free eating,

Hungryphil

BakingPhil Project 4: Pecan Sticky Buns (Recipe 8.13)

February 24, 20151 Comment

This chapter on enriched yeast breads continues to build on the techniques of quick breads and yeast breads. The increased amount of sugar and fat of breakfast pastries can inhibit the gluten from developing. Breads without too much fat can be mixed using the straight dough method, otherwise the sponge method is (where yeast is activated before adding fat) recommended. Parisian Brioche is, for example, 50% butter and so needs the sponge method. This concept that fat inhibits gluten growth is new to me. Actual “yeasty breadiness” is lost in order to achieve the decadent taste. Here the yeast and flour is reduced to being a mere vehicle of sugar and fat. I feel bad for the yeast. But….these enriched morsels sure are tasty and worthy of special occasions. This is not the type of bread to gorge on. It is the type to share, where a little should go a long way.

The recipe I chose to try is for Pecan Sticky Buns. At 480 calories a piece, these buns were certainly worth sharing and eating slowly. Studded with cinnamon pecans inside and coated with honeyed pecans on the outside, this bread felt extravagant in every way. The dough felt fragile under the weight of sugar and nuts. Rolling up the layer of brown sugar, nuts and cinnamon in the inside was like hiding treasure. After baking, the rolls became sponges for the slow drip of the caramelized honey. The whole process had an aura of guilty pleasure. In light of my gluten free, sugar free, milk free, first days of the year, these rolls were just……wrong.

This is rococo extravagance where the ornamental and pleasurable cover functional structure. The fragility of dough under my hands as I was shaping the roll was scary and soothing at the same time. Strange. No rolling pin was needed. I just gently pushed and pulled the dough into shape. How odd that luxurious taste is defined by such fragility!

Desserts may not have practical function but are loaded with symbolic function. The pastry chef constructs a dream landscape of sugar in every confection. An escape from the demands of nourishment, these bites are moments of death defying, excess. When consumed as a matter of habit, pastries loose the symbolic function of living a life beyond practical need (and become death inviting). The proportions so crucial to baking parallel the balance of life well lived energized and shaken by moments of excess and loss. Pecan Sticky Buns definitely ranks as a moment of excess.

Once we enter the realm of cookies and cakes, all practical function is lost. As a bun, the pecan sticky bun is uncomfortably poised between bread and cake, self-aware of its own messy, practical fragility and its heavy symbolic sweet glaze. Sometimes, we all have sticky bun moments torn between a nutty, spicy inside and a sticky shiny, sweet coating.

Credits: Many bees sacrificed their labor for this project, butter made from cow milk, sugar, pecan trees, cinnamon bark, lemons, flour, mixers, muffin pans, bowls, lots of spoons, dish washers, children willing to eat the sugar, etc.

Coffee in the Afternoon (A Poem by Alberto Rios)

February 18, 2015Leave a comment

It was afternoon tea, with tea foods spread out
Like in the books, except that it was coffee.

She made a tin pot of cowboy coffee, from memory,
That’s what we used to call it, she said, cowboy coffee.

The grounds she pinched up in her hands, not a spoon,
And the fire on the stove she made from a match.

I sat with her and talked, but the talk was like the tea food,
A little of this and something from the other plate as well,

Always with a napkin and a thank-you. We sat and visited
And I watched her smoke cigarettes

Until the afternoon light was funny in the room,
And then we said our good-byes. The visit was liniment,

The way the tea was coffee, a confusion plain and nice,
A balm for the nerves of two people living in the world,

A balm in the tenor of its language, which spoke through
our hands
In the small lifting of our cups and our cakes to our lips.

It was simplicity, and held only what it needed.
It was a gentle visit, and I did not see her again.

“Coffee in the Afternoon” by Alberto Rios from The Theater of Night. © Copper Canyon Press, 2007. Reprinted with permission. From The Writers Almanac, http://writersalmanac.org/

BakingPhil Project 3: Focaccia (Recipe 7.34)

February 17, 2015February 24, 2015Leave a comment

I’ve reached chapter 7 about yeast breads in the textbook On Baking. This project could have easily been just about this chapter. It is overwhelming and challenging! Oh my…. Thank goodness I don’t have an exam to pass. The biology of yeast and the chemistry of fermentation and baking are complex. There are types of yeast, appropriate water temperature, climate control, hand and machine kneading, shaping etc. to consider. There are 10 production stages: scaling, mixing, fermenting, punching, proportioning, rounding, shaping, proofing, baking and cooling. Each stage has specific requirements. I completely understand why bread making was the first domestic task to be outsourced and professionalized. I am humbled. I have two logistical issues at this point of project:

First, the recipes in the book are aimed for large production kitchens that yield for example 64 rolls. While I’m happy to make, eat and share, I fear my home standing mixer may not be able to technically accommodate the kneading and mixing. Sure I can try to reduce the recipe but I don’t trust my math skills or my understanding of baking proportions.
I don’t have some of the ingredients readily (or specific tools). I doubt any home kitchen would have old dough or sourdough starter.

Based on the limitations I decided to try the recipe for Focaccia (Recipe 7.34) using the straight dough method. I didn’t have fresh rosemary. Sprinkling sesame seeds didn’t work well (just fell off without any agent to help them stick to the bread). Regardless, the bread was delicious. The onions and the brushed olive oil made it savory. The inside was soft and outside crisp. I would make it again. Tomorrow I’ll make fresh tuna salad sandwiches with tomato and lettuce or maybe a melt. Maybe both and have a hot-cold taste test. I’m eager to try other focaccia recipes now. The variations seem endless. The yeasty and oniony scent in the house is so comforting on a cold Indiana day. There is also something intrinsically satisfying about witnessing dough grow and double. Like watching a flower blossom. Despite my earlier laments about the complexity of the process, the play-dough moment of mixing and shaping is so soothing. Maybe I should bake bread once a week for as therapeutic recovery. Speaking of baking for the soul and what I learned……

Every stage of bread making offers philosophical insight. My favorite: the lesson from punching down the dough. Why would we work so hard to develop the yeast only to punch the dough down? According to the text, punching down redistributes the gas pockets, evens out the temperature, relaxes the gluten and it reactivates the yeast. Who among us hasn’t felt punched down on occasion? I can imagine myself as a loaf of rising dough just punched down and ready to be more consistent, relaxed, reactivated. It is hard to imagine a literal or metaphorical punch as anything but violent. But in this case the punch is meant to provoke a second rise. Making anything involves modulated violence, mixing, beating, kneading, whipping, punching, fermenting as much as shaping, forming, resting, blooming. As I said, baking, like life, is complex.

Credits: Special shout out to yeast, the tiny living creatures that make bread possible, flour, olive groves, olive presses, and oil, salt, flat half sheet pans, Roman culinary history, onions, knives, ovens, cold weather outside, fireplaces inside, stand mixers, counter tops, etc.

Baking – Poem

February 16, 2015Leave a comment

On Approaching Seventy

by Joan Seliger Sidney

Watching the hands of my son
kneading challah dough
on the maple cutting board
in my kitchen, a memory

rises of my mother
bending over our kitchen table
in Flatbush, pressing, stretching,
folding flour, water, eggs

into a living elastic.
Sometimes in my dreams, Mom
appears, whispers of her mother
in her kitchen in Zurawno

in the pre-dawn dark,
by the light of the kerosene
lamp, pulling and pushing
the yeasty challah dough

until my son covers it
with a clean white cloth
and leaves it in the warm
electric oven to rise.

“On Approaching Seventy” by Joan Seliger Sidney from Bereft and Blessed. © Antrim House Press, 2014. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

http://writersalmanac.org/page/2/

BakingPhil Project 3: Lemon Tea Bread (Recipe 6.17)

February 9, 2015Leave a comment

The last two mixing methods, biscuit and muffin have been exercises of gentility, of assembling an aggregate of ingredients. Learning to mix “just until combined.” It required trust that the heat of the oven will meld all the pieces into a final tasty product. This week’s mixing technique “creaming” usually seems partner to with “folding” too. These mixing motions are different in speed and direction from the collecting mode of biscuits and muffins. There are many websites that offer good explanations of “creaming” that you can find at the end of this post. Creaming is a multi step process of creating a light and fluffy mixture of whipped butter and sugar that is then folded into the dry ingredients (eggs and milk are usually added in between). It’s like going to a party with a friend and then mixing/ socializing with others, as a pair. In architectural terms, creamed butter and sugar is like cement in a building, except fluffy and delicious.

What I learned:

Room temperature butter is essential. It will not cream without this step. This means, I have to think ahead when using this method in order to let the butter come to temp. There it is……the waiting. It’s not only a “mise-en-place” in space but also in time.
The proportion of butter and sugar makes a difference in texture and fluffiness. This recipe had 3 oz of butter and 10 oz of sugar. The mix was not a cream at all. It was like grainy sand. Maybe this recipe isn’t the best example of the creaming method…but what do I know.
Sometimes baking can be like nesting dolls. Ingredients are paired and combined then combined again to other combinations of ingredients. It is very formulaic and sequenced. When you ask for a recipe, the ingredients will only tell you half of the story. You’ll have to ask for directions and the sequence of events that leads up to the production of yummy.

{[[(Cream+Sugar) + (milk+ eggs)+(flour, baking powder, salt)]+ lemon zest ]+heat} + (lemon juice +sugar)

Or something like this……. I was never good at math.

The taste: The lemon tea cake was VERY moist. I could hardly get the piece out of the pan without breaking it. [confession: the recipe DID say, take out the cake and THEN pour the syrup….but did I listen…noooooo] The recipe called for pouring lemon sugar syrup over the hot cake. Very suspicious. Seems strange to be pouring liquid over our spongy, airy efforts. By the time we took a bite the syrup had infused the cake with a fresh lemon flavor. Even though added after the cooking process, the syrup was surely not ornamental. It’s like a cake version of a lemon bar. My tiny taster, Ava and I decided it needed some whipped cream. Really good recipe and would definitely make it again (next time I’ll take it out of the loaf pan).

Credits

Lemons produced somewhere warm for us in cold places to enjoy thanks to the miracle of the trucking industry, microplane manufacturers, flour, milk, refrigerators that keep milk cold, sugar, butter, eggs, bowls, loaf pans, ovens, timers, whisks, spatulas, the recipe, language and numbers and so much more…….

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