Green Tomato Chicken

I don't know if like us you have a plethora of green and semi ripe tomatoes, but we have had loads and loads of these semi-ripe orange and crisp hard green gems. I have been playing around with the green ones like there is no tomorrow.

Surely, I thought there is more one can do with green tomatoes than jam and fried green tomatoes. I did make both, I have to confess I was not super thrilled about my results with the fried version.

Well, this chicken was really nice... Spicy, tangy and just perfect for a cool, crisp fall day!

So, here is how I did it.

Green Tomato Chicken

Prep Time: 1 hour (mostly marinating)

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

For the marinade

2 lbs chicken on the bone, skinned and cut into pieces (I used 2 cornish hens)

1 teaspoon red chili pepper

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 lemon, sliced

For the gravy

3-4 pods garlic

2 green tomatoes

1 firm red tomato

1 -inch piece ginger

2 green chilies

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 onion, thinly sliced

8-10 curry leaves

2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Place the chicken in a large container. Rub evenly with the dry spices, squeeze the lemon juice and set aside for an hour.

2. Heat the oil and add the cumin and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add in the onion and saute for 2-3 minutes.

2. Grind the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and chillies to a paste.

3. Add in the tomato mixture and the chicken and now continue cooking this on medium heat for a good 20 minutes. The spices meld and soften, the tomatoes become a nice thick gravy with shards of carmelized onions.

4. Add in the curry leaves and cook for 5-6 minutes.

5. Stir in the cilantro and serve and enjoy as appropriate.

Comforting Flavors - feels like home!

This post has been sitting in the drafts, along with several other recent eating forrays that we/I have had. However, time to bring this out of the woodwork!

Well, I used to love the tiny shacklike comfort diner, in fact, in better times I used to frequent it constantly. It took me sometime to realize that this is now, Comfort Restaurant.

Committed to serving organic healthy homey food, this place is wonderful, if you are feeling a little low and want the taste of good home-cooked food. Just like how, I have been feeling. The place is best with simple dishes like their lovely asian spiced chicken, pan sauteed brocolli, fish sandwich.

Things like their desserts are just too much on the healthy side to make their impact. Overall, highly recomended as a place with kids!

An evening in good taste

Sometimes Christmas comes really early, even though you do not realize it. Or maybe one good turn just might deserve another... When, I met Christina R, she invited me to attend the Food Bank annual benefit telling me that it would be a good opportunity to find out about her organization .

She truly was happy about my love ok indecent obsession with food, (I mention one good turn coz, she found out about the food think because I had donated classes for the raffle of another auction of a charity_

Well, I do attend my share of these events, some out of choice and some because that really is what pays the bills and things. I certainly thought anything food related would be nice, but had not realized how much fun I would have. OMG, for me it was like being a child in a huge candy store. I have never been to a place where I felt I touched just the tip of the ice berg in terms of checking out the food. I have to write this, because as they say - the first time the earth moves! I will probably have to do this again, but I am not sure if the wonder will be the same... Well, let me tell about what I ate, the pictures that I took and what I could not cover. The pictures are from the 80 West Display , They featured - Citrus Crab Salad, served in those cones that you see, Braised Oxtail with Candied pumpkin topped with microgreens. I loved the Citrus Crab Salad and the oxtail, the pumpkin was a little too sweet as a contrast.

The next table down was Abigail Kirsch, this display was very elegant and well coiffed. They were presenting on a theme of Hudson Valley Cheese and using seasonal ingredients. The gooey potato thing, was Nettle Farms Goat Cheese Gnuddi. I shall just show my colors and refer to it as a heavenly cheesy mashed potato blissful thing. The spoot things were Old Chatham's Ewe's Blur Parfair, Carmelized Fig Beet Relish. The balance of flavors, colors and tastes were just amazing! Their third cheese was Hawthorne Valley Cheddar Apple Bite, Bacon Praline. The next display was AJ's Burgers and America's Favorite Food's that features Eggplant Rolatini and AJ's Sliders. While the display looked good, I passed this really thinking the selections were not especially novel and even I would not be able to sample all that the evening offered.

The next table I stopped at was the Bedford Post table. The farmhouse here is one of those places I would love to go to but just have not been able to make the time and occasion to visit. Well, they had a Kabocha Squash soup that was seasonal and perfectly smooth and luscious. Anshul and I had different feelings about the sprinkled spices on the soup. They has something star anise and black pepper like, that I felt clashed a little with the silky smoothness of the soup of course my better half felt that it enhanced the flavors just adequately!

The next stop was Caperberry at Mapleston/CV Rich Mansion. These folks had a nice risotto coake with grilled shrimp, expresso pannacotta and cheesecake lolipops. Both the desserts were chocolate covered and were like porable pops, this was actually a brilliant idea for this kind of a setting. Cute, fairy tale meets candy store like display.

Cellar 49 - I somehow missed this display, I am not a huge fan of red meat, but make a very special exception for lamb. So I passed on the mini veal OssoBucco that they were serving.
Connie's Bakery & General Store had some interesting goodies, what was a pretty and cute hit were the mini candy apples. These apples could literally be popped into your mouth in one bite. Another thing to think of - bite sized apples!!!
Well, since most of these restaurant hand out cards and pitch you to visit them, I did not feel too bad when I sampled these really crabby Marylan Crabcakes being presented by the FISH restaurant, since I could tell them without much fuss that we did indeed visit them not too long back.

An ice-cream stop - Longfords Own Made Ice Cream that also, I did not have the time to try also passed, Lulu Cake Boutitique, that claimed to have Retro desserts that actually had this lovely wedding cake looking item!' Also passed Morton's Steak House, coz, I just ended up missing it in the crowds! I went right off to Mt Kisco Seafood, that won the Lobster Sandwiches Fest. I shall explain this in a little bit, they had this lovely Lobster roll, that was actually created on these lovely grilled butter griddled toasted bread and sandwiches. There was another lobster roll on the menu, but this one with the buttered toasted bread worked better for the evening.

Next to, Mulino's of Westchester, that was serving good pasta in a somewhat strange plastic pumpkin container. This restaurant I actually remember for an office Christmas party where I had ordered spicy pasta dish and let me tell you they took the spicy part seriously!

Another display was by a vendor who I have never heard of called, Myong private label gourmet, they were serving poached salmon and cello wrap with curry chicken and vegetables. Anshul liked the salmon, I was indifferent to both these items.

Next onto one of my favorite restaurants, Sonora,
I have had several really innovative meals here. They were serving something called Reyna Pepiada which essentially was a creamy avocado and seafood topping on warm mini tamales.
Sunset Cove restaurant had braised mini-short ribs, that were well appreciated by the crowd. Friendly staff at that table.

Tarry Lodge, also offered appropriately seasonal fare with Beets with a sweet sauce and mozzarella with heirloom tomatoes.
The Atrium was the second folks offering mini-lobster rolls also nice but the kisco folks won this one. Their autumn organic vegetable caviat was a little goat cheese tart topped with seasonal vegetables.

The gourmet taste had amazingly good lamb ragu with rissoto cakes. Lots of great dessert, did not have space for it. The wine and spirits were a plenty too. However, fun as all of this was it did ring home a scary thought that in the mights of plenty several people in our county go to sleep hungry.

A neighbourhood kind of day! - Sam's Italian Restaurant...

I was begining to panic over the weekend, possible since I sort of, kind of, knew at the back of my mind, I was becoming a year older - so did we go out for my birthday, yes! I shall post later, but much more because I was horrified that my favorite season was going away! Well, thankfull unlike summer, the sunday was a blip, today was nice warm, crisp and very falllike!. I was back at my little neighbourhood joint! Work neighbourhood, that is...

Well, in this context, I was not visiting neighbours, or even stopping by my local wine stores, but I was indeed looking for the comfort of familiar settings, I had a not so nice experience today at the ranch, so I needed something that felt like home. Believe it or not, my dear friend Pat is always home to me, unfortunately she is not always there on quick demand, that is when I have to make do with the neighbourhood Italian...

Now, I have possibly tried every worthwhile spot in that Dobbs Ferry

L that is the cross roads of Cedar and

Main, yes around the Cookery viscinity, they are mostly good but what Sam's does for you is transports you to a world where you think Cianti, want to listen to Dean Martin and eat well - good stick to your ribs feel happy Italian fare.

The place was done up with seasonal centerpieces. I tried the mini Pizza which was more that enough for 2 for lunch, most of the Pasta is good, the Panini Sandwiches are nice too. I have not tried any of their entrees. If you want a place where you want to feel comfortable, and well fed this is where you want to go.

I have been there at least 7-8 times, alone, with 1-2 people and once with a group of 19 - I have dealt with the same waitress, who actually remembers that I drink my coffee with no sugar. A lovely fall day, the kind that you want to sit by the water and read your favorite book.

128 Main St. '

Dobbs Ferry 914-693-9724

Diwali and Holidays

This holiday in India, is a big one in Northern India - the festival of lights, the start of a new year! So it is a very big deal for Anshul and his family. In Eastern India, it is celebrate similarly and called Kali Puja. In India, this marks the end of a month of various holidays, I like to think of it as the continuation of the holidays. Commencing with Durga Puja, the holiday season ends with the New Year for us.
Aadi's preschool tries to observe all the holidays - Chinese New Year, Easter, Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Thankgiving... I think you get the drift. This purple diya was made by him. On Diwali morning, I tried making a simple quick dessert. Really nice and comforting especially given the



frigid temperatures we have been having here.

A phirni is traditionally a dessert made of ground rice and milk. I have made this with oatmeal and ground almonds.
Try this some morning for something special or for a nice simple and reasonably healthy dessert at night.

Oatmeal Phirni

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk

1/2 cup evaporated milk

4-5 cardamoms

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup powdered almonds

1 teaspoon saffron strands

Method of Preparation

1. Bring the whole milk and the evaporated milk to a boil and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Add in the cardamoms, sugar and oats and cook on medium heat for 15 minutes. The mixture should have a thin porridge like consistency.

3. Stir in the almonds and saffron. Serve warm.

If you want to get some spices on the cheap stop by at the local Bhavik Grocery, he has a whole bunch of items on sale, I picked up a large package of cinamon sticks for $1.99.

Stay tuned, have cooked up some interesting recipes, trying really hard to finish green tomatoes and have visited a bunch of interesting eating joints!

Simply Wonderful Chickpeas

It is not very often you get lucky by sheer chance. This week is begining to get a little hectic, I was planning to make sweets to take over to Albany, this weekend. We are going up to be with my husband's family and celebrate Diwali as well as meet up with the new baby in the family. This is becoming a little crazier, since they are doing Diwali at Aadi's school, a lovely idea except I am the mommy who is supposed to bring traditional treats.

I have been making a lot of khoya (evaporated solid milk) which is the base for almonst everything. In the midst of this, I had a pressure cooker on the stove cooking chickpeas. Well, this time round the pressure cooked for at least 15 minutes longer that usual - surprise, the resulting soft, melt in your mouth creamy chickpeas were too die for. I have cooked other beans such as kidney beans to such softness, but chickpeas retain a nice earthy bite even when cooked to extra softness.

It has been a while before I have been so thrilled with the results of a recipe that I cooked up in three basic steps and certainly hope that I can replicate again.

Simply Wonderful Chickpeas

Cook Time: 1 hour (mostly pressure-cooking the chickpeas)

Serves: 4

Ingredients

3/4 cup white chickpeas

4 cups of water

1.5 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 -2 whole red chillies crushed

Lots of fresh lemon or lime juice

1/3 cup of chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the chickpeas in a pressure cooker for a good 45 minutes, with the water, salt and turmeric.

2. Cool the chickpeas, remove the lid add the ginger, garlic and tomatoes and cook till all the water has evaporated (this really should not take long).

3. Heat the oil add the cumin and mustard and wait till the mustard pops add in the whole chilies and cook for 20 seconds. Pour this over the chickpeas.

4. Add in the lemon juice and stir in the chopped cilantro.

Spice Village - Not so classic but interesting!

A disclaimer before I start talking to you about my visit to Spice Village in Tuckahoe, I do not have pictures or any particularly interesting one, because I did not have my camera and the phone camera was well, the phone camera. There is a reason that it is just an add on for the phone and not selling on its own merit.

Anyhow, I ventured to this new locale (for me, it is the first time that I have ever been to Tuckahoe to eat) and the first thing that caught my attention was the sign that said classic Indian cuisine. It always amazes baffles and annoys me when someone presumes to know or create -"classic" Indian cuisine, coz my friends there is no one classic Indian cuisine.

This being said, while the restaurant actually had some interesting variations and pleasantly different food to offer. The buffet had some innovative South Indian dishes such as the beans thoran, which was very well done. The green beans were nice and bright in fact, very well contrasted against the snowy white vividness of the coconut. The chicken chilly fry, while different did not really live up to its spicy reputation.

They had an different appetizer - hara bhara kabab, which had a lovely hint of mint to complement the traditional spinach and potatoes. The rest of the menu was not very unusual, they did have a goat curry which was not very well seasoned. Naan and tandoori chicken was brought to order, the naan was nice the tandoori chicken was a little too well done.

This gooey brown dessert that they had was nothing I had ever tasted before it was like a halwa with bits of vermicelli and cashew nuts and was mildly sweetened.

The restaurant did have thoughtful touches such as the tea and coffee. Now one of the things I do not like about tea in most places is the tepid temperature of the tea water, this place had some really nice hot water that made a difference even with basic lipton teabags.

Now the decor was a little strange, in that they had some pretty good pieces just not arranged well, anyhow do visit this place at least once to get a break from the monotony of some Indian restaurant menus.

Benmarl Winery - A local wine destination

One of the things I realized recently was that despite my love for wine, and the bounty and variety of wine we have around the region, I really did not know enough about the local wines. Sure I had a few favorites, here and there but not the way, I have my favorites with Chilean or Argentinian wine. Well, other than trying out wine, the Hudson Valley Wine trail,


makes for very pretty driving and communing with nature. Most of this regions have local farms along the way to pick up and sample local produce and jams. So one of our thoughts this year was to start covering the wine trails and local vineyards.


We started with Benmarl winery that was located on Slate Hill, and also houses the Slate Hill vineyards on 37 acres of land. The location is just stunning and spectacular. The day we went they were preparing for a wedding, but we landed well before everyone except the violinist who was practicing his music. This created a one of a kind magical atmosphere. The vistas of the valley are breathtakingly lovely.

It was a little cloudy and the camera especially my point and shoot can only do so much. There were very pretty dark and white grapes all over the vineyard and it would make for a lovely place for a picnic.
Now down to the wine, they have tasting of 6 wines for 5 bucks and a dollar more for each additional wine you would like to try.
I tried 3 white wines, (I will warn you, I am partial to reds) - the pinot grigio, that was fruity but a little too sharp for my palate, the Chardonnay was ok, but I really loved their slate hill white. I thought this was a nice wine to enjoy particularly with spicier foods.
I tried 4 of their red wines, they have a nice red called Baco Noir. I thought this was really amazing. It would be for of nice dinner kind of wine, not too heavy and again therefore good with a lot of foods, their Pinot Noir was pretty good as well. The two heavier reds that I tried, their Zinfandel and the Syrah were ok but not exceptional! However, once again just the loveliness of this destination makes this a worthwhile trip.
Next summer, I shall pack a picnic lunch and try to plan a better day (haha!) given the ridiculous weather we had this year.

Pui Chingri Chorchori - Malabar Spinach and vegetable medley with Shrimps

Eastern India where I grew up incorporates a variety of greens and vegetable medleys in the cooking. Actually, now that I think about it, there are several regional combinations of vegetables across India. These combinations other than providing a good way to balance out your vegetables are very economical and a great way to mix and match vegetables of the season.

This summer, my contribution to our garden project was to transport a tiny piece of my childhood to our backyard. I read in this wonderful blog, about how easy it was to grow this green.

Early in summer, when I had gotten a bunch of Malabar spinach from Jackson Heights, Queens I saved a stalk or two and kept these stalks in water.

Sure enough, it began to root and ten we placed it in our backyard and Pui or Malabar Spinach came to our backyard. The plant is a climber, therby actually needing very little room to grow.
Well, it looked so pretty, I really did not want to use it, but it is begining to get cold and the leaves are turning yellow, going through the usual rites of season change. I cooked this up as a chorchori - that as mentioned earlier is a bengali melange of vegetables. I added little shrimps to it. This is actually also a classic way of adding protein to balance out the meal.

Pui Chingri Chorchori - Malabar Spinach with mixed vegetables and shrimp

Prep Time: 5-7 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons mustard oil

1 teaspoon panchphoron

3-4 dried red chillies

1 cup white daikon radish or red radish (cubed)

1 small potato cubed

1/3 medium cauliflower,

1 small eggplant cut into small pieces

1 inch piece ginger

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

2-3 cups chopped malabar spinach

1/2 cup green peas ( thawed)

1.5 teaspoon salt

1/2 quarter lbs shelled shrimp

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Method of Preparation

1. Heat all but 1 teaspoon of the oil and add in the panchphoron and cook till the spice crackles.

2. Add in the radish, potato, cauliflower and eggplant and mix well. Reduce the heat to low and cover the pot and cook for about 7-10 minutes

3. In the meantime, grind the ginger, fennel, cumin and coriander into a paste.

4. Remove the cover and stir well, the vegetables should be fairly soft at this point and have released some moisture.

5. Add in the spice paste, and the greens. Add the greens slowly, letting them wilt, you can add a little water if the mixture appears to dry, but you do not want this to get too wet. Add in 1 teaspoon of the salt and the peas and cover the mixture.

6. Smear the shrimp with the remaining oil, salt and the turmeric.

7. Place in the microwave and cook for 1 minutes.

8. Stir the green and vegetables well, the spinach should be nice and soft as should the eggplant.

9. Mix in the shrimp and the sugar and serve with rice and dal.