Roasted Root Vegetables

I have tried this recipe from Jamie Oliver with great success.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/roast-vegetable-megamix

I season the carrots as described in this recipe. I’ve used coriander in place of thyme as well and it tasted great.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-at-home/roast-carrot-and-avocado-salad-with-orange-and-lemon-dressing-recipe/index.html

 

Almond Cake

I recently came across a recipe for an almond cake, which turned out to be the best almond cake I’ve eaten. A cake that started out light and dense with the flavour of almond and over two days developed into what tasted like marzipan in a cake. The surprise though, was a hint of saltiness that lingered on the palate with each bite. My breakfast for two days was a generous slice of almond cake with an espresso. Ah, what a joyous way to start the day! 

The recipe is from David Lebovitz [http://www.davidlebovitz.com/], who has a very interesting blog and whose book ‘ A Sweet Life In Paris’ is next on my reading list. 

Recipe : http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/06/almond-cake-recipe/

Notes : 

• I used Odense almond paste. (bought it at Safeway)
• I baked the cake in a 9 inch circular pan with sides  3 inches high.

 

Marinara

We recently saw a TV program featuring Anthony Bourdain, where a couple of chefs demonstrated some simple recipes. One of these was a marinara sauce where the tomatoes were cooked with oil flavoured with basil and garlic. This method was pretty new to us, so we tried it and were amazed at the results. Every spoon of the marinara had a subtle note of the basil and garlic, ever present but never once in the foreground or overpowering.

Ingredients

• 5 medium sized tomatoes
• 5 pods garlic, finely chopped
• A small bunch of basil leaves (approximately 25-30 leaves)
• 5 tbsp olive oil

1. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water until the skin starts coming off.
2. Heat the olive oil on low heat, add the chopped garlic and whole basil leaves and continue to heat until all the basil leaves have wilted.
3. Once the tomatoes are blanched, peel the skin and add the tomatoes to a cooking pot. You can either rough chop the tomatoes before you add it to the pot or break the tomatoes up into chunks using a spoon in the pot.  Add the olive oil with garlic and basil.  Cook on low heat for around 20 mins.

Onion Pakoda

A rainy Sunday morning and afternoon, presented the perfect setting for tea and onion pakodas. I searched and found a couple of recipes online, before settling on this recipe from ‘Sumi’s Blog‘. I made a couple of minor modifications and was pleasantly surprised with how simple it was to make crisp onion pakodas.

Ingredients

• 1 large purple onion, cut into 1/2 inch strips
• 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander
• 1 tbsp finely chopped dill [since I had it at home]
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/8 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
• 1/8 tsp fennel (saunf) seeds
• 1/2 cup chickpea (besan) flour
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp hot oil to mix the batter
• 1/4 cup water to mix the batter
• Oil for frying

1. Combine all the ingredients except, the oil and water in a bowl.
2. Add hot oil to the above mixture and mix in.
3. Slowly add water to the above mixture and mix until you can make small balls of the mixture without it falling apart. The mixture should however not be soggy. [Note : I did not have the patience to mix small amounts with water as listed in the original recipe but this method turned out alright.]
4. Heat the oil for frying. Make small balls of the mixture and fry.

Note : Serves 2.

I was so happy with the outcome of this recipe, my previous attempts having not resulted in such crisp and tasty fritters, that I ate them before I could think of taking a photograph.

Flan

Our Sunday night vegetable dum biryani meal was topped off with a flan as dessert.

We followed this recipe and loved the result.  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vanilla-Bean-Flan-102956

Flan, need to work on the caramel.

Vegetable Dum Biryani

I tried out this recipe for Chicken Dum Biryani using potato and fried tofu instead of the chicken. The result was an excellent, flavourful biryani, where every layer of the biryani brought along it’s own distinct taste and interplayed harmoniously with the rest.

Recipe : http://radhiskitchen-radhi.blogspot.com/2006/08/hyderabadi-dum-biryani-khubani-ka.html

I used 2 medium sized potatoes and approximately 200gm firm tofu, which I lightly fried before marinating.

I didn’t have mace, so skipped that in the spice mix.

Spice Mix

Marinating potatoes and tofu

Biryani!

Heirloom Tomatoes

Summer is most definitely the best season at the Farmer’s Market. The stalls are packed with vegetables and fruits, the vegetables look bigger than earlier in the year, lots of berries, followed by the peaches and plums and then there are two of our favourites, heirloom tomatoes and basil!

Each tomato tastes different, some sweet, some slightly acidic, but all bursting with flavour. This is our favourite way to eat them, chopped, tossed with some olive oil, fresh basil and kosher salt.

Wikipedia on Heirloom Tomato : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heirloom_tomato

Beatty’s Chocolate Cake

I’ve been looking for a chocolate cake recipe, which makes a moist, yet light cake. I’m happy to announce that I’ve finally found the perfect recipe.

This is Ina Garten’s buttermilk chocolate cake recipe, I think both the buttermilk and coffee contribute to the moistness. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/beattys-chocolate-cake-recipe/index.html

The end result.

Spinach Dal

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup masoor dal [Toor dal or Moong dal]
• 2 cups chopped spinach
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 4 finely chopped garlic cloves
• 5 finely chopped green chillies
• 2  chopped tomatoes (small tomatoes)
• Seasoning : 4 red chillies, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp jeera seeds

Preparation

1. Pressure cook all ingredients, except the seasoning together.  [I use an electric cooker, I add 2 cups water and pressure cook on high for 8 mins.]
2. Heat 1 tsp oil, add the seasoning when the oil is hot and fry for a minute.
3. Add the seasoning to the cooked dal and mix.

Santa Fe Gastronomy

We spent the Memorial Day weekend in Santa Fe, New Mexico, mostly ate, visited an ancient native American village called Taos and soaked in some mineral enriched warm springs.

Santa Fe is beautiful, set amidst the towering Sangre De Cristo mountains, full of structures built in the adobe style and offering flavourful and spicy south western food.  The high altitude desert seems to stretch on endlessly, stark in it’s beauty and the never ending expanses offering some brilliant views of lightning strikes.  Add to this, the relaxing experience of soaking in a private mineral springs under the stars, the weekend was perfect in every way.

The food though, was the highlight and that shall be the focus of my post. This was our first taste of New Mexican food, it is the most flavourful local cuisine we have had in the US so far, the use of chilli being a key contributor to it’s excellent taste.

Cafe Castro

Chili Relleno

On our way to Santa Fe from Albuquerque, we stopped at Cafe Castro for a late lunch. We picked the place based on excellent yelp reviews.

It was homely, diner like and  had amazing chili releno. The chilies themselves were spicy, the batter light and fluffy and the ancho chili infused red chili sauce super spicy, though all very flavourful.

A delightfully new  thing to us were the sopapillas,  soft, puffed, fried corn dough very similar to the Indian batura. This was to be torn into little pieces, honey added to it and eaten.

Sopapillas

La Boca

La Boca is a tapas restaurant, small with closely placed tables, lots of chatter and a general air of fun and well being.  The blood orange sangria was good, fruity though a bit dilute from the ice.  I don’t recollect  the exact tapas we ate, but I do remember some cheese with pickled peppers which was excellent, good patatas bravas, an excellent eggplant puree with really soft pita and a salad with mejdool dates which was also very good.  We finished with an excellent dessert wine,  one of the ports on the recommendation of our server.

Chocolate Maven

We found this place based on a list of restaurants that Giada Laurentis had visited during a weekend getaway.  They do serve good hot chocolates, but otherwise it is hardly all about chocolate as it’s names suggests. The place is predominantly a bakery with a cafe serving lunch and dinner.

Blue Corn Enchiladas

We ate here on two occasions, the first of which I had blue corn enchiladas with a green chili sauce, spicy and quite excellent.  The next time I had the New Mexican tofu scramble which was flavoured with red chili and I could go so far as to say the tofu had really absorbed the flavour.  Sunil also had a cheese sandwhich on their rye bread which he liked.  From the bakery we tried the cherry tart, buttery flaky crust, thin layer of custard and tart cherry compote, simply wonderful.

The cafe has an area overlooking the bakery,  so you can watch pies, rolls and breads being prepared as you eat.

Bakery

La Casa Sena

Excellent ambience, open air dining set in a courtyard enhanced by  a brief thunderstorm with hail.  We had an excellent Spanish wine from the Rioja region. I had a southwestern vegetarian sampler with blue corn enchiladas and quinoa and Sunil had Mahi Mahi. Dessert was a lavender cream brulee, spectacular.

Tia Sophia’s

We had breakfast at this homely cafe in the heart of the touristy area of Santa Fe.  It was a simple huevos rancheros with hash brown and green chili. Everywhere, the chili was spicy and so flavourful.

Kakawa Chocolate House

Kakawa Chocolate House

Serving both Mesoamerican, Mayan and European hot chocolate drinks,  this place is a real gem.  I had the Aztec Warrior Elixir,  unsweetened cocoa mixed with fragrant herbs and spices, mixed only with water, truely elixir and unsurpassed in it’s complexity of flavour. Sunil had the Mayan Full Spice Elixir, unsweetened cocoa, mixed with spices, chili and sweetened with agave nectar, even better than the Aztec Warrior Elixir.

We spent an afternoon in this cafe sipping these divine drinks and eating chili flavoured dark chocolate.  This has been the best hot chocolate that I have ever had.

This is their website : http://www.kakawachocolates.com/.