Weekend Experiments – Turkish Lamb Pizza

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First of all, Bangladeshi family and friends, I need a “chital peetha” recipe. It occurs to me that as a naturally gluten-free bread it would be a great alternative for my GF friends. Also, I tried to make a version of it and failed miserably. So…please help.

I also had trouble making Ethiopian Injeera bread. It kept sticking to the pan. Online directions tell me to add flour and cover to let it steam. I’ll try that and report back. Let me know if you have an idiot-proof recipe.

I made a corn fritter inspired savory pancake at Atiya’s request. It is wonderful contrasted with maple syrup or any berry compote, or also with sour cream. Here is my made up recipe:

Savory Corn Pancakes

1 can of cream of corn

1 egg

1/2 to 3/4 flour (depending on how corny or pancaky you like it)

enough water to make it pancake consistency

1/4 cup of chopped onion

1/4 cup of chopped cilantro

1/4 cup of chopped tomato (seeded)

1 Thai chili pepper or jalepeno pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix into batter. Make pancakes on buttered or dry skillet. Atiya likes it buttered so the edges get extra crispy. Enjoy a bright and complex, sweet and savory weekend breakfast.

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The second experiment involved using my Turkish,  Raw Spice Bar, spice packets. Jim and I made their lamb pizza. He did an excellent job preparing and baking the pizza dough. We only used a 3 ozs of meat that seemed to flavor stretch with the Baharat spice that was complex and robust mixed with tomato paste. Did not miss cheese at all. I don’t know if this should be called “pizza.” It tasted more like an inside out meat stuffed naan or paratha. Crunchy, smokey, sweet, spicy all good things in an unassuming hand held bite.

 

Hope you all had a weekend of exploring and examining delicious new and old foods,

Hungryphil

 

 

 

Criteria for Chocolate Chip Cookie Judgment

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Earlier this week, the food magazine, Epicurious, published their favorite chocolate cookie recipe. This is nothing new. There are thousands of “favorite” recipes online, each claiming perfection. But…this one is different. Not because it IS perfect but because it explains to us what and how it reached it’s version of chocolate chip cookie perfection.

The ideal cookie according to recipe author, Rhoda Boon,

“[…] has a slightly soft center, crisp edges, notes of butterscotch, a shiny cracked top, and pockets of chocolate throughout.”

With this ideality in mind, she proceeded to test recipes that adhered to two limiting conditions:

  1. No added ingredients, like peanut butter, coconut or oatmeal.
  2. No overnight dough.

The team chose 8 of the highest rated Epicurious cookie recipes along with the  classic reference of Nestle’s cookie recipe. They tried to combine the best attributes of each to create a new recipe that best represented the ideal cookie definition. You’ll have to read the article for all the nuances, but Ms. Boon talks us through five lessons learned from the process.

  1. Room temperature butter is a must. No substitutes. No melting butter.
  2. Equal amounts granulated and brown sugar.
  3. Baking soda and power for browning and cookie structure.
  4. Too much flour: cakey and  too little: no craggy, irregular texture.
  5. Chocolate chips have anti-melting agents, chop your own for extra melty pockets of chocolate.

I made the cookies and I may have made mistakes. No doubt it is a good recipe. May have added too much flour or cooked too long, or maybe followed it well, I can’t tell except that I’ve had better.  I learned that MY ideal cookie is soft and chewy, with more brown sugar than granulated. Thanks to the explained recipe process I can identify my preference. The recipe is NOT my ideal chocolate chip cookie but the process did show me why it is not so. It was a welcome learning lesson that most recipes do not offer.


We should all approach claims of ideality with suspicion but also use that experience to test and articulate our own preferences.

Next time you eat a chocolate chip cookie, ask yourself,

  • Do I like the texture (cakey, chewy, crumbly)?
  • Do I like the sweetness level?
  • Do I like flavor notes of butterscotch, molasses, vanilla?
  • Do I like additions like nuts, oatmeal, coffee and peanut butter?
  • Is there an aftertaste metallic or otherwise?
  • Does it look yummy?
  • Ponder a split second and then just eat it!

Thank you Rhonda Boon for your efforts and chocolate chip cookie guidance.

Wishing you all tasty efforts in finding your very own chocolate chip cookie perfection,

Hungryphil

 

 

Wobblyogi Wednesday: YTT Journal Week 2

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This week we are learning to stand. It feels strange to “study” standing. We started with Tadasana (Mountain pose). Betsy, one of our guides, comically stood in the center of our circle, slightly hunched, head forward, arms on hips and said “now talk me into mountain pose.” After our initial giggles, we found ourselves a bit dumbstruck. How do we tell her how to stand? With her help, we eventually learned:

  1. Start with the feet. This is where you connect with the earth and ground yourself. Feet parallel. Either touching or as wide as feels comfortable (although no more than hip distance apart). Weight should be spread into all four corners of each foot.
  2. Moving up and aligning  the body from the ground… knees should be soft (not locked)
  3. Core pulled in. Pelvis neutral. Tail bone tucked in.
  4. Shoulders down and away from the ears. Long spine. Palms facing slightly forward or to the side.
  5. Gaze forward.

Even as I write this, I’m nervous that I got it wrong. For each of us this looks slightly different. The challenge was to notice and “feel” the alignment with the earth ascend through our bones and muscles. By the time we talked through urvdha hastasana (arms up), uttasana (forward fold), ardha uttasana (table pose), utkasana (chair pose), adho mukha svasana (downward dog) and Virbhadrasana (warrior 1), I forgot how to stand. Noticing all these connections within us that allow us to move to through the world is overwhelming. The next few sessions we continue with standing poses. More on that adventure next week.

Our homework for the week involved reading the first two chapters of The Heart of Yoga by T.K. V. Desikachar. The first chapter describes the concept and meanings of yoga, while the second chapter introduces the foundations of yoga practice. Both chapters are premised on the introduction interview of Desikachar where he stresses the importance for him (and his father Krishnamachayra who taught him yoga) of an individual approach to yoga.  As I read the chapters, I kept this emphasis in mind and asked, what can I learn from this?

The first quote that tickled my activist philosopher sensibilities to live an examined life:

The practice of yoga only requires us to act and to be attentive to our actions. Each of us is required to pay careful attention to the direction we are taking so that we know where we are going and how we are going to get there; this careful observation will enable us to discover something new. Whether this discovery leads to a better understanding of God, to greater contentment, or to a new goal is a completely personal matter.

Such focus on action and personal commitment makes yoga for me so therapeutic for mind and body.

The second quote that gave me pause considered the concept of avidya or clouded understanding by ego, attachment, rejection and fear and the role of yoga in clarifying our understanding by reducing the fog.

Altogether, these three ways of being — health, inquiry, and quality of action — cover the entire spectrum of human endeavor. If we are healthy, know more about ourselves, and improve the quality of our actions, it is likely that we will make fewer mistakes. It is recommended that we work in these three distinct areas to reduce avidya. Together they are known as kriya yoga, the yoga of action. Kriya comes from the kr, meaning “to do.” Yoga is not passive. We have to participate in life. To do this well we can work on ourselves.

How might learning to stand in mountain pose help me clarify my understanding? I don’t know yet, but I suspect by engaging in present, embodied, material thinking of how my bones, muscles and breath are behaving I am training myself to notice without ego (comparison to others), without attachment (to a particular pose), without rejection (of a particular pose), without fear (of standing wrong). I suppose yoga helps me find my own way to stand in the world.

Next week more standing poses.

Wishing you mindful moving,

Wobblyogi

elephant image from here

Weekend with Ina Garten Recipes

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It was a very cold weekend and we needed comfort. Tasty, delicious, feel guilty later, put on a few pounds to keep warm comfort. Perfect attitude for testing a few decadent recipes. Food Network nobility, Ina Garten (a.k.a the Barefoot Contessa) to the rescue. We tried three of her recipes.

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Cranberry Orange Scones

The butter chucks may not have been small enough to process in the stand mixer. I had a lot o flour flying all over and the butter didn’t quite arrive at an uniform grainy stage. Didn’t matter, the scones were flaky and light. I also didn’t shape the scones into beautiful rounds. The cut triangles worked just fine. Didn’t have the patience to wait for the scones to cool enough for the icing. Again, didn’t matter, still tasted wonderful. Despite my veering off the recipe multiple times, Ina’s guidance did not steer me wrong.

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Brownie Tart

This recipe yields a magical combination of cookie like chewy consistency on the edges, fudgy gooeyness in the middle and cakey brownie in between. We swapped walnuts for pecans. May have over mixed the batter, may have not cooked it long enough for the cake to puff up, may have, may have. Without having a sense of how it was “supposed” to be, the dessert just was….. delicious. Sometimes, definitive expectations can be limiting and counter productive. Happy to test this recipe, again and again, in search of tart perfection. Whether I ever get there is irrelevant.

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Turkey Lasagna

This may just be my new favorite lasagna recipe! The goat cheese adds a gentle complexity to the taste. The turkey sausage sauce was very flavorful. I did follow the advice from the comments sections and reduced the amount of salt. Her technique of soaking the noodles in hot water for 20 minutes before layering is genius.  I was skeptical and worried that the noodles wouldn’t cook. She proved me wrong. This is the way I’ll be making lasagna from now on. The fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and parsley, the goat cheese all added a brightness to the rich lasagna.

Small deviations and additions to a recipe make it mine. But, these detours from directions also show me ways to redefine familiar dishes like lasagna or brownies in method and taste. What makes a recipe better or worse? Meeting expectations, good taste, ease of preparation, new techniques?

From the scones, I learned that as long as the proportion of fat (butter and cream) to flour is maintained all else can be variable.

From the brownie tart, I learned that chocolate whether liquid, chewy, soft or hard is delicious. A tart contains all the states of chocolate.

From the lasagna, I learned that layering light fresh ingredients with ricotta, tomato sauce and noodles, the unusual with the usual challenges lasagna expectations.

From now on, I  will trust the Ina.

My Three Rices

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In my pantry I have a large plastic bin with three bags of rice. I remember, Jim’s surprise, a reluctant rice eater at the time, the first time I brought a 20 pound bag of rice home. Regardless of whether I eat rice everyday, I NEED rice in the pantry. Sure, I also have small bags of brown rice and black rice, along with couscous, quinoa, polenta and other grains. But, white rice is my comfortable default.

There are three specific types of rice in my bin: Thai Jasmine, Indian Basmati and Bangladeshi Chinigura or Kalee Jeera. Each kind meets a different emotional register. The first, top left of the image, Jasmine rice is bright and has an almost floral scent. Soft and sticky it is easy to eat with my hand. It reminds me of forming tiny curry flavored rice bites and hand feeding my girls when they were little.  The gentle rice is a gracious host for robust Asian currries and stirfrys .

The second and middle pile, is Basmati. With long elegant grains, it has a nutty, warm taste. Best sauteed in ghee and spices, Basmati makes the best pilafs. Fork friendly and fluffy it is the ideal introductory rice served across Indian restaurants in the world. Cooked with strong cumin seeds, cardamom and cinnamon, Basmati doesn’t loose it’s texture or nutty flavor. Perfect with South Asian and Middle Eastern flavors.

The third (lower right in the image) rice, Kali Jeera or Chini-gura, is a small grain Bangladeshi rice. The tiny kernels are strong like Basmati and flavor-wise gentle like Jasmine. Good to eat with my hand or my fork. Just as fantastic in a fragrant Biriyani, as it is as a plain boiled rice with a light curry. I have used it for dessert, baby food and festive food. The only reason I don’t use it everyday is because it is expensive, sometimes not so easy to find and so very special.

For me, these three rices map my taste buds that range across Asia and the Middle East.

What is your preferred rice?

 

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Food Poem -A Quiet Life by Baron Wormser

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fc83kt071-02_xlg.jpgWhat a person desires in life
is a properly boiled egg.
This isn’t as easy as it seems.
There must be gas and a stove,
the gas requires pipelines, mastodon drills,
banks that dispense the lozenge of capital.
There must be a pot, the product of mines
and furnaces and factories,
of dim early mornings and night-owl shifts,
of women in kerchiefs and men with
sweat-soaked hair.
Then water, the stuff of clouds and skies
and God knows what causes it to happen.
There seems always too much or too little
of it and more pipelines, meters, pumping
stations, towers, tanks.
And salt-a miracle of the first order,
the ace in any argument for God.
Only God could have imagined from
nothingness the pang of salt.
Political peace too. It should be quiet
when one eats an egg. No political hoodlums
knocking down doors, no lieutenants who are
ticked off at their scheming girlfriends and
take it out on you, no dictators
posing as tribunes.
It should be quiet, so quiet you can hear
the chicken, a creature usually mocked as a type
of fool, a cluck chained to the chore of her body.
Listen, she is there, pecking at a bit of grain
that came from nowhere.

Poem from the http://writersalmanac.org/

Image from http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to/boil-eggs-perfectly.aspx

Wobblyogi Wednesday – YTT Journal Week 1

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Sore but happy, I survived week one of yoga teacher training. I feel like bread dough that has been thoroughly kneaded and is waiting to rise in a warm spot. Stretched and pulled, pushed and rolled, I feel emotionally and physically energized and tired at the same time. The classes themselves swing between active working through poses and relaxed conversation circles. This week’s activities included a discussion about awkward scenarios encountered in yoga classes, a Sun Salutation workshop, a hot yoga and a prenatal yoga practice. This is what I learned:

  • Yoga teaching is like any teaching….students sometimes make inappropriate comments, wear inappropriate attire, fall asleep, don’t follow instructions, look at the time, disrupt the class, get sick and oh, yes…..fart. This in the crass side of yoga teaching that makes the zen side possible and so precious. Our duo of yoga teacher training teachers were keeping it real. Yoga is no place for cerebral idealization. The body in varied forms will and do demand attention.
  • Hot Yoga is very hot! All it missed was the humidity of India for a full experience. My hands were slipping, sweat was dripping onto my mat. It wasn’t pretty. It did make my throat and lungs, suffering from a bit of cough, feel much better. I also realized that I’m supposed to “salt” my yoga mat to break it in.
  • Doing Sun Salutations for three hours on a Sunday morning is demanding. The three versions can be easily confused. We were paired up and teaching each other. Breathing, talking and moving at the same time is MUCH more difficult than I ever imagined. It will take practice and homework. Here is a good website that explains the significance of doing 108 Sun Salutations.
  • I wish I did prenatal yoga when I had my babies. It was a nurturing and elegant way to learn about modified poses. We did a few poses against the wall.
  • There are a lot of yoga information (and misinformation) out there. We talked about a few websites and apps.

For my yoga buddies, here is the recipe for raisin and nut balls, as promised.

Adapted from the Yoga Cookbook, recipes from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers

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Raisin Nut Balls

  1. Blend or process 1/3 of cup unsalted nuts
  2. Blend or process 1/2 of cup of raisins
  3. Combine the sandy textured nuts and raisins
  4. Add 4 tbs melted butter. Form 12 small balls.
  5. Roll in unsweetened shredded coconut
  6. Eat warm or chilled

The book suggested swapping peanut butter or tahini for the butter, trying roasted coconut for coating and a few other variations. This would be an easy recipe to personalize. Make it yummy. I wonder if cranberries and pecans would work?

elephant image from here

Food Poem – On the Back Porch by Dorianne Laux

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Notice how a bowl of soup in this poem evokes a sense of comfort and love. Makes me want to make a “simmering pot of soup.” Just wonderful. Enjoy.

The cat calls for her dinner.
On the porch I bend and pour
brown soy stars into her bowl,
stroke her dark fur.
It’s not quite night.
Pinpricks of light in the eastern sky.
Above my neighbor’s roof, a transparent
moon, a pink rag of cloud.
Inside my house are those who love me.
My daughter dusts biscuit dough.
And there’s a man who will lift my hair
in his hands, brush it
until it throws sparks.
Everything is just as I’ve left it.
Dinner simmers on the stove.
Glass bowls wait to be filled
with gold broth. Sprigs of parsley
on the cutting board.
I want to smell this rich soup, the air
around me going dark, as stars press
their simple shapes into the sky.
I want to stay on the back porch
while the world tilts
toward sleep, until what I love
misses me, and calls me in.

from http://writersalmanac.org/

 

 

Goan Fish Curry – Testing Saveur Recipe

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Every region thinks that their cooking is the best. Despite being Bengali, I concede yesterday’s Saveur recipe of the day of Goan Fish Curry was…… excellent. Two things make it both satisfyingly hearty yet bright in flavor.

  • The recipe promised vinegar to be the magic ingredient. It was. I was skeptical about the coconut milk and vinegar combination. Now I want to add vinegar to everything!
  • The second trick that I’ll use in other fish dishes is marinating the fish in lemon juice and salt for a half an hour before cooking. It starts the cooking process and makes the fish taste fresh and “less fishy.”

I used catfish, instead of cod. Had about pound and a half instead of two. And, may have added more vinegar than the recipe called for.

Here is the recipe. Try it.

Enjoy!

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Wobblyogi Wednesday- YTT200 Journal

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As you know, I like to eat. A lot. Frequently. I am after all, hungryphil. I try to walk to burn off some calories and raise my heart rate. And, I practice yoga to calm my frenzy of eating. Admittedly, my practice of both has been sporadic. In an effort to live more mindfully and consistently, I just started a yoga teacher training program. For me, teaching seems to be the best way to learn. In order to share my experience with you, I offer:  Wobblyogi Wednesday.

I’m over forty, my knees creak and inversions make me dizzy. I am not aiming for perfection. There are eight of us in this session of yoga teacher training at the Community Yoga in West Lafayette Indiana. Most of my fellow yogis are shiny-smart and kind-eyed young women around my daughter’s age. As I munched on my mix of nuts and dates, I listened to their stories that brought them there. Each impressive and so amazingly diverse. After introducing ourselves we talked about our expectations, worries and mostly about what the role of a yoga teacher maybe. I imagine this question will be an ongoing thought throughout the coming months.

Here is how I responded to assignment number 1:

Please answer the following in a few paragraphs. We will be sharing our thoughts as a group as well.
From your perspective, what is the role of a yoga teacher? Take into consideration your own experience, your ideal, and your goals as it relates to teaching yoga.

It is rare for someone to engage in the practice of yoga because they are feeling fantastic body and mind. We all enter a yoga practice achy and unfocused. The first and most crucial role of a yoga teacher from my perspective is an empathetic acceptance of human imperfection and weakness. Honesty and humility allows us to accept the cranky knees, the tights shoulders, the sad heart or restless mind. As a teacher, by voicing these concerns I give my fellow yogis permission to accept their own limits without judgment. The most successful yoga teachers create a nourishing, safe and supportive atmosphere. They notice the telltale details of strained spirits, bodies and minds.

Rule #1: There is no room for judgment on the yoga mat. Only honesty sprinkled with humor.

Once the atmosphere is charged with trust and honesty, good yoga teachers, set the mood, tone and pace of the session. If new poses are attempted, they offer reassurance of what is about to happen. Break down difficult sequences. Build up to difficult poses. They do this while reminding each yogi that they are in control of their practice and can choose to follow a much or as little as they wish. The goal of good teachers, like good parents, is to make themselves unnecessary. The best yoga teachers train us not to need them for direction. They are constantly learning, growing and teaching, and show us how to do the same.

Rule #2: Each yogi is his/her own teacher. A good teacher shows us how to teach ourselves.

If we are all empowered by our own practice, then why come together as a community to practice? What is the difference between mountain pose and just standing? A mountain pose harnesses the shared intentionality of standing (through individual intentions) in respect, in prayer or in defiance. The best yoga teachers cultivate a supportive community of individuals. They remind us that we are not alone in our practice, even at 6am on a cold Indiana morning. They help us carry the mindfulness generated on the mat, off the mat and into our day. They help us commit to the search for intentions, even if each of us holds a different intent. A good teacher translates between traditions, movements and words that project the principle of peace: Salam, Namaste or Shalom.

Rule #3: My yoga demands a non-dogmatic search for mindfulness. There can be no inner peace without aspiring towards outer-peace.

No judgment, no authority, no dogma. This is where I want to start…..

Wishing you mindful moving,

The Wobblyogi

 

Yogi Elephant image from here.