A tymely touch of novelty

This dish is somewhere between Indian and middle-eastern. I cannot help wondering whether that actually makes it a moghlai dish. I know it is nothing like the food that we know as moghlai, but think about it. The mughals in India were of Persian (middle-eastern) decent and then they came to India and adopted some knowledge of the spices and this became known as Moghlai cuisine - no make that the amazingly popular defination of Indian food moghlai food.

Ok, so you say, not quite...

I will concede, this is a great dish anyway.

Citrus - Thyme Chicken

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

3 oranges

1 lime or lemon

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tsp sumac

1.5 tsp dried thyme

1/2 inch piece fresh ginger

2-3 cloves garlic

2 green chillies

1 tsp salt

10 chicken drumsticks, skinned

For the garnish

1 fresh orange

Extra thyme or cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Squeeze the orange and lime juice into a blender.

2. Add all the remaining ingredients except the chicken into the blender and grind to a puree.

3. Marinate the chicken in this mixture for 2-4 hours.

4. Pre-heat the oven to 400 F. Arrange the chicken on a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.

5. In the meantime, slice the orange for the garnish.

6. Remove the chicken from the oven, turn, and place each slice on the oven and return to the oven.

7. Remove and garnish with the remaining fresh herbs (thyme and cilantro).

Serve with a salad and decide whether this just might qualify as moghlai.

And this entry goes, to up a the host of this week's weekend herb blogging. Yes, I am wrapping this up ahead of mother's day but might be cooking a special brunch entry for a mom I know (not my mom, I wish she was close enough) but just another person who has shared this journey

that we call motherhood.

Chocolate Cardamom Strawberries

Last weekend I went to visit my cousin in DC. Actually, I had to attend a conference and Anshul and the kids tagged along. While we did not do a lot, spring had certainly arrived in the capital, and, it was beautiful to get glimpses of the cherry blossoms and daffodils. Here in New York, the weather has improved, we are begining to see little things peeking out of the soil but they are not quite there yet.

On Friday evening, I wandered to Whole Foods Market to see what I could get by way of a gift. What caught my eye were these stunning stem strawberries. They were large and just the kind of stuff that make a still life artists day, they were pricey at $7.99 a pound, but, I had never seen such beautiful strawberries before. So, I got myself a pound. Then, I was left with figuring out what to do with them to make them even more special, so, I scrounged around my pantry. We had some white chocolate (that is what I like) and some good dark chocolate (everyone else likes that). And then I found a few pods of cardamom that I removed the seeds from and crushed very finely. I melted the white chocolate and added the cardamom into it. I dipped the strawberried into this, spread them on a sheet of parchment paper and kept them in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, in the meantime, I melted the dark chocolate. I then dipped the white chocolate strawberries into this again, simple, elegant and amazingly good results.

Strawberries are such a harbringer of spring, colorful and full of flavor. It certainly mixes with the pretty spring landscape. This is my entry for this weeks weekend herb blogging. It is hosted this week by Ahn at Food Lovers Journey.

Mixed beans in a creamy gujarati style gravy

Well, here I was browsing through Trupti's,
beautiful blog, when I came across her recipe for Makai Chevdo, sweet corn simmered in milk and spices. I usually have more corn than I know what to do with but not last weekend. So, I started looking for what I could substitute, I found green peas, baby lima bean, and white kidney beans. So I figured since I like them all why stop at one of these ingredients. I did add a tomato and some sugar since I figured none of the above had the sweetness that corn had. My kids loved the idea so I also have since made a tofu-corn variation. Try the recipe as is or my variation, this is simple nutritious comfort food at its best.

Mixed Beans in a creamy gujarati style gravy

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp asafetida
1/2 cup mixed dry baby lima and white kidney beans ( I cook these in a crockpot till soft)
1 cup frozen peas
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 limes

To garnish

Cilantro leaves

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil, add the mustard and cumin seeds and cook till they crackle.
2. Add the asafedtida followed by the beans and peas and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Mix in the chillies, salt, and sugar with the milk and water and simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Squeeze the lime over the beans and garnish with cilantro and enjoy.

Cauliflower with Crab and Balsamic Vinegar

This one is from food and wine magazine. One of the few magazines that I subscribe to. (what a not-surprise, since I love both food and wine). The subscription actually was an add-on to a freebee trial subscription. I don't know about others but I am really bad about accepting those freebee trial offers and then not canceling them. Well, I have been ripped off, several times and been stuck with unwanted materials that I do not know what to do with. Other times (like the stupid almost free newpaper in my driveway it is more painful to really deal with the offer, since I never have time to read the newspaper and spend all the time reclycing it!) it is not worth it, but what I am trying to say is that I like this magazine.
The past issue had an interesting cauliflower and scallops recipe. Well, I loved the idea and since I always have cauliflower and balsamic vinegar in my house, that was hardly the problem, it was scallops. I love scallops but I use it less than shrimps. In this particular case I had some fake crab, available. I felt, this had the sweetness that the scallops would have and makes somewhat of a substitute in a pinch. In this recipe, which was inspired by the mentioned magazine but reinvented to the following in my kitchen, the substitution works I think.

Balsamic Cauliflower with Crab

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 pkgs fake crab (16 oz)
1/2 head cauliflower
1 inch piece ginger
2 green chilies (yes the last two ingredients are where I take over the recipe!)
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar.

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and sizzle the cumin and add the fake crab (if you were using scallops you were supposed to pan sear them.).
2. In the meantime, pulse the cauliflower, ginger, chilies, in a food processor to a coarse pulse.
3. Add this to the crab mixture and cook stirring well for 15 minutes till the cauliflower starts begining to have brown spots.
4. Add in the balsamic vinegar (I found this white balsamic vinegar in my local grocery that I am excited about since it has the flavor but not the dark color that may not be that great for recipes like this).
5. Cook for 10 minutes and eat hot.

Ok, what can I say about cauliflower, something that I actually love and don't care about its nutritious value. Well, if I read the linked article it helps prevents cancer and has a reasonble share of vitamins so it seems to be a good thing to like. Cauliflower is my contribution for this weeks WHB hosted by Becky of Key Lime and Coconut.

Date-Pine Nut Cake with Fennel

As always, I find Mahanandi
a beautiful blog to visit. I was recently struck by this recipe, for a Date-Walnut cake. Firstly, when I went to make it I realized that I did not have any walnuts, then I played around with the flavorings but overall the results were really good and frankly this was quite wholesome for a cake.

Date-PineNut Cake with Fennel

Makes one loaf

Ingredients

1 cup wholewheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 cup pinenuts

1 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup soft butter

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

Method of Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

2. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder, fennel seeds, pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl.

3. Stir in the pinenuts.

4. Mix the dates in the honey.

5. Beat the sugar, butter and egg till smooth.

6. Add in the dates with the honey.

7. Add to the dry ingredients in batches with the buttermilk. Blend till smooth.

8. Pour into a pan and cook for 45 minutes till well browned. Serve hot with tea.

Interestingly enough, I made this rather late at night and was not sure about having tea at that time. Someone had sent me a gift of something called white tea that I had never had before. This happens to be a rather mild tea that needs to be steeped in hot but not boiling water. It is also much lower in caffiene than regular black tea so it makes a good late evening drink when you are craving tea at night.

Ginger-Garlic Cubes

Something that I absolutely must have when cooking something is a ginger garlic paste. I also through in some other things as available, usually green chillies. There you have it 3-G's for the letter G being hosted by One Hot Stove.

This will be a fun event, since, I would love to see what people send for some letters like Y and Z. Anyhow, the other thing I have learnt, is that it really does not take extra time to make a batch of these cubes and freeze them in cubes which I can use later as needed.

So here is what I do. I take 2 large pieces of ginger that I peel, 2 whole bulbs of garlic, that are also peeled and 20 green chillies. I process them in a food processor and fit into an ice cube tray and of course use as needed.

Basil - Pat's Marinara Sauce

I work with Pat who originally
hails from Abruzzi in Italy.
Well, rather, that is where her parents are from. Making marinara sauce is a big deal for them. It is a summertime activity starting with the growing of the tomatoes. She has been extolling the wonders of this sauce for a very long time.
For someone like me, who is used to 20 ingredients in a basic dish, it was dificult to comprehend the beauty and richness of slow cooked tomatoes until I tried it. I have made some tweaks to the recipe since I do not always have tons of fresh tomatoes available, but, I think this marinara is still pretty good. This shall teach me to scoff at the simple beauty of tomatoes and garlic.

This is how I have adaped it. BTW, here is a nice post on making marinara in India

Marinara Sauce

Makes 4 cups

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil

1o cloves of garlic minced

1 onion finely chopped

1 large can tomato puree

1 can tomato paste
20 tomatoes blanched and quartered

1 bottle(750 ml) deep red wine (I use about 3/4)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped basil

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the garlic and onions and cook till turning golden.

2. All the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

3. Cook on low heat for 2 hours stirring occasionally, using small amounts of the wine to thin the sauce.

4. During the last five minutes add the basil.

This sauce is great on simple pasta but can be a wonderful base for anything you can think of. I sometimes break 3-4 eggs over a small casserole of sauce and bake in the oven for 20 minutes and serve topped with black pepper.

The key ingredient here is basil. This is a herb that I love with tomatoes and in pesto. I make a lighter version of pesto, I shall post someday. I have recently learnt to appreciate its subtle sweet taste and use it in rice dishes and of couse Thai dishes.

WHB is being hosted by Anna at morsels and musings. From what I gather she is recently married. Congratulations!