Category Archives: Recipes

Craving something Indian

I’m looking more and more forward to my trip to India everyday! I can’t believe it’s under a month away now. I have so many gifts to buy for people, so many things to pack for Piyush and I (note to self: don’t forget the toilet paper), and not a lot of time to brush up on my Indian cooking. My in-laws love that I can cook their cuisine and they boast that their American daughter-in-law can cook things like aloo posto, prawn malai curry, and ladoos. I just love that I can make them happy and we can bond over cooking. I really believe that food has helped bridge some of the cultural differences between us. Food is very important to my husband’s family. Infact, when I hear from Maa or Baba (my in-laws) they usually ask what I made for dinner before they ask how I’m doing. …And that’s alright with me!

Today was a little cold outside. We’ve been eating leftover Bouillabaisse lately,

and although I think it tastes wonderful, I’ve had enough. I wanted something warm, something spicy, something Indian. I love Indian food on cold days, infact, I crave it. It warms up the body, fills you up nicely, and makes your house smell absolutely lovely! This is one of first recipes I learned, and its one of the easiest. I made it for my in-laws when they were here and they told me that they felt like they were back in India! That’s right…it’s that good! It’s also incredibly simple!

How cute are Maa and Baba?!?

If you’re looking for the creamy, fatty, melt in your mouth type aloo matar you would recieve in a restaurant, you might want to keep looking. There’s no heavy cream. Not any half and half. I didn’t even use coconut milk! I cut all that out of this recipe because not only did I think it would taste better without all the milkiness, but it’d be extremely more healthy as well. I promise, you won’t even miss the cream!

The Recipe

1 1/2 lbs. potatoes: peeled, diced & boiled

1 c. green peas (I usually blanch these before using them.)

1 medium red onion, chopped

1 tbsp. cumin seeds

1 tsp. ginger paste

1 tsp. garlic paste

2 roma tomatoes, finely chopped (peeled if you want to get fancy about it)

1 pinch of tumeric

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 pinch white sugar

1/2 tsp or more garam masala (I usually use a more, to taste)

1 tbsp. oil

green chile, chopped- to your taste

salt, to taste

chopped coriander (cilantro) for garnish

Directions:

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan or frypan with deep sides. Add the cumin seeds.
When the cumin seeds begin to pop, add the onions and green chiles. Saute until they are translucent.
Add the ginger paste, garlic paste and tomatoes. Simmer until the tomatoes are cooked are are like a smooth sauce. Once they begin to break down I usually grab a potatao masher and just mash everything together. I tell myself it just helps the tomatoes to break down quicker, but really I’m super impatient! At this point I sometimes throw everything in my VitaMix and puree it until it’s nice and smooth.
Add the turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala, green peas and potatoes and cook for some time.
Add about 1 1/2 cups of water and salt to taste. Allow it to come to a boil, turn the heat down and let simmer for a good 20 minutes or until the gravy thickens to your liking. The longer you let the curry simmer, the better it will taste. Add some finely diced corriander, and you’re done!

If you think your gravy is too thin or that you added too much water, mash a few pieces of the potatoes into it. This will thicken it up nicely.

Who knew peas could taste so good?!

You wouldn’t need to serve this with rice, infact a chapati or roti would be the better choice. My husband, being Bengali, LOVES rice and has to eat it at almost every meal. I also served this with Indian spiced chicken legs. Basically I just marinated chicken legs with a bunch of spices, and it was wonderful! I’ll post that the next time I make it because really I didn’t write down what I threw in the marinade.

Bouillabaisse: Something Smells Fishy!

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Today was a productive day! I had went to a cable class last night at the gym and was really, really hurting this morning. I feel muscles that I usually forget I have. As much as I wanted to just laze around and relax I decided that I should go back to the gym today and do some cardio and stretching for my very sore legs. I am very glad I decided to go, but I’m still awfully sore. After I finished at the gym I stopped at the grocery store to buy some seafood for making Bouillabaisse. Piyush was requesting I make it and I was kind of craving it so it seemed like a good night to learn to cook seafood. I’ve never really cooked seafood much before so I was a little nervous, but it was so easy!!! I was really intimidated by the mussels and clams, but I ended up showing them who was boss and they opened with no issues.

*****

What, exactly, is Bouillabaisse?

Bouillabaisse is a French style seafood soup, and it is yummy! In a traditional bouillabaisse there are at least 3 different types of fish, most which are not available in Rochester, Minnesota. The broth is flavored with vegetables, shellfish, herbs and spices. Saffron is a spice that usually plays a large part in the flavor of the bouillabaisse and although it is quite expensive (the priciest spice in the world!), I don’t recommend leaving it out. The name bouillabaisse comes from the way the dish is prepared. The ingredients are cooked separately and are not added all at one time. The broth is boiled first and then the fish are added one by one. Each time the broth comes to a boil the heat is lowered.

*****

This recipe was inspired by the Bouillabaisse I had at Zzest a few weeks ago. I knew most of the ingredients to use but had no idea of the quantities or the techniques. I just bought what I knew I needed and a few other things that I thought would work well. It took about an hour and a half, most of that time was spent letting the broth simmer and develop the flavor. And let me tell you, this seafood stew is amazing! It tasted just as good as what you would get at a restaurant.

Success!

I don’t really measure things when I cook but I tried my best to estimate and write down what I did so that I can make this many more times!

Piyush liked it so much that he even gave me an A+, and he never gives anything an A+. Usually he has so many opinions on everything I cook. This dinner was the perfect way to end the day. I had a nice, big glass of wine—a red from Cannon Falls, MN. Its called “Gunflint Red” and it is wonderful! It sort of reminds me of a malbec. It’s a little peppery and paired wonderful with the Bouillabaisse.

Its a good thing he enjoyed his dinner, it made so much that we'll be eating it for a couple days!

The Recipe

1 white onion, diced
1 green pepper, chopped
About 2 large red potatoes, peeled and diced
4 fat garlic cloves, minced
about 1 c. dry white wine, maybe even more?
28oz. chopped plum tomatoes + juice
large pinch of saffron
salt/pepper to season
about 1/2 c. flat leaf parsley, chopped very fine
bunch of chopped chives
olive oil, as needed
zest of 1 orange
scallops, jumbo shrimp, mussels, clams, ect. (I used the previous in addition to a 1lb. cod fillet) –amount based on how many servings you are making

Directions:

Heat some olive oil in a heavy dutch oven. Once it gets hot add the potatoes, onions, garlic, green pepper and orange zest. Cover and sweat everything until it’s tender and perfect!
Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Stir it together and bring to a boil.
Add the tomatoes, parsley and chives. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the broth looks rich and soup-like. Add salt and pepper to taste. The broth will taste a little “off” at this point. The wine will be strong and so will the acidity from the tomatoes. That’s okay.
Add about 1 cup of water and the pinch of saffron. Let the saffron steep for about 10 minutes. Stir everything together and give it another taste. Add more saffron if you want. Don’t add a lot right away though because it’s pretty strong and can be very overwhelming.
Turn the flame to about med-high and add the clams/mussels into the broth. Cover the dutch oven and let them cook (about 3 minutes). When they open, remove them with tongs and place them into a bowl. Set this aside.
While the broth simmers along, deepening the flavor, start cooking the seafood individually.
When your scallops are perfectly seared and your shrimps are a pretty pink, put everything back into the broth and let it simmer about 15 minutes or until everything is heated through.

Serve with some grilled bread and a stellar wine! Enjoy!

Piyush's dinner, before he dived in!

If you decide to have an amazing bouillabaisse dinner, make sure you add an empty bowl to your table. You’re going to need a place to get rid of all those shells!

And now I’m going to go watch Teen Mom. …Don’t judge me! 🙂

What a Beautiful Baking Day!

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I love this crisp weather. It’s absolutely perfect. Unfortunately, the crispness in the air also means that snow will be here sooner than later. That makes me sad. But the snow isn’t here yet, so I’m going to do my best to enjoy autumn as long as I can! I love everything about autumn. I love pumpkins, colored leaves, apples and baking! Man, do I love baking. During the summer I still bake, but I never feel completely inspired. I just don’t feel like turning on the oven inside when it feels like an oven outside. Yuck. But now that the days are in the high 60’s and low 70’s, and since I had to work all weekend long, I thought I’d bake my co-workers a Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake.

This cake is really moist and has a really good flavor. Some would say it was because of the pumpkin—who doesn’t love pumpkin?—but I would disagree. I think it’s the browned butter, baby!

To make brown butter you just take regular butter and drop it into a skillet (I prefer my cast iron for this) until it foams up and turns a golden color.

The butter will eventually melt entirely and the foam will subside quite a lot. Brown butter isn’t just for baking though. Have you ever made scallops and finished them with a butter bomb? I recommend it! Sear them nicely then toss in some butter with a couple sprigs of thyme stuck in it. Finish the scallops by “poaching” them in the butter. I don’t know if poaching is the right word, maybe basting would be better? Anyway, they are delicious!

Back to the cake! This recipe is a keeper, but the only thing I would do differently is to bake it in multiple pans, maybe 2 or 3. I just used one 9″ x 3″ cake pan and it takes forever to bake this way! It will bake all the way through but I noticed my layers were a little more “doughy” than I’d like. Some people love “doughy” though, so do what you want!

I decorated the cake really quickly using a Cinnamon Brown Sugar Buttercream. This stuff is delish. I don’t really have a recipe for this but I think I had seen it somewhere. I just don’t remember! I just make a regular buttercream, adding some brown sugar and cinnamon. You have to cream the butter with the sugar though or else the frosting will be really grainy.

Before I left for work I cut a slice off to keep at home for Piyush. The night before he had been begging me to cut into the cake (before it was even frosted). He said the house smelled so good he just wanted to eat it! I told him no, so then he asked me if he could eat the cake scraps? I told him I didn’t level the cake so there were no cake scraps. I wish I took a picture of his reaction. He was so disappointed and tried to talk me into not taking the cake to work and leaving it for him. For someone that insists he does not like sweets, he sure doesn’t like to share them!

I ate one bite of the cake, the pointy end of Piyush’s triangle piece, and it was indeed amazing. I sliced the rest of the cake and took it to work. It was gone in 5 minutes. I’m not even joking.

Pumpkin Brown Butter Cake

(adapted from Fine Cooking)

Ingredients:

6 oz. (3/4 cup) unsalted butter; more for the pans
9 oz. (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for the pans
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp. table salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 can pumpkin
1/3 cup buttermilk

Directions:

Make the brown butter (see how earlier in the post) and set aside.
Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and cloves in one bowl.
Combine the two sugars and add in the eggs. Cream together. Add in the buttermilk and whisk it until its all combined.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and start mixing. Slowly drizzle in the brown butter until everything is combined nicely.
Pour batter into greased pans that have the bottom lined with parchment paper (this makes it a million times easier to get the cake to slide out of the pan).
Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven. I had to bake mine for over an hour but that was because I poured all the batter into one 9″ x 3″ pan. Use a couple shallower pans and you should only have to bake it for around 45 minutes.
Cool the cake and then frost it with whatever you choose!

I’ve got all sorts of frosting left over…so be prepared to see some pumpkin spiced macrons. I think those sound amazing!