Tikka Veggiemasala

I know, keeping a reader base on a blog means you actually need to update from time to time. Well, this has been a very long time coming, and hopefully I haven't lost the few readers I once had, but finally a new post.

With grad school, adventurous cooking has not happened as much as usual. Of course, I still cook. It's like breathing for me, a non-negotiable. But the adventure has left. I've been making a lot of salads with salmon and rice and beans. Not much that is post worthy.

Now that my crazy first semester is coming to an end, I've been getting the cooking itch and thought I might once again start documenting the food I make.

And so, that is how we arrive at my lunch today. This past weekend, a good friend made Dave and I a wonderful home cooked meal. At dinner, we were discussing some top restaurants in San Francisco and Dosa came up. The one time I ate there, I had a truffled tikka masala dish that stuck with me. I love tikka masala sauce. As a non poultry eater, I rarely get to enjoy it since the dish is nearly always Chicken Tikka Masala. Dosa gave me a unique vegetarian option and it has been stuck in my mind grapes.

Indian food is not a type of food I am very comfortable making, but fearlessly I decided to try. A quick Google search of vegetarian tikka masala pulled up dishes with sweet potato and garbanzo beans. I just wasn't feeling it. So, I used a mix of sauce recipes that I found and threw in my own "tikka" (bits and pieces).

As a test to see how it went, I made a bento for my co-worker using the tikka veggiemasala. He is a buddhist monk, has lived in India, and is a fellow cook that loves to make adventurous vegetarian food.

I have been wanting cauliflower lately, so decided to add it for crunch. In an effort to make the dish a bit healthier, I went with Sacramento Tofu Company's extra firm tofu instead of paneer (available at Whole Foods).

I quickly fried some brown basmati rice in ghee (brown basmati is what I had on hand), then transferred it to the rice cooker. While the rice cooked, I sauteed an onion and the head of cauliflower in some olive oil. In another saucepan, I cooked up the masala sauce. Then I added the tofu to the sauce before combining all of the ingredients in the dutch oven to simmer on low for about 10 minutes. About the time I finished, the rice was wrapping up.

Fairly easy! All in all it took me about 45 minutes start to finish to make the dish. And lunch today tells me that overall, the dish worked out.

Asking my co-worker for feedback, he tells me that dish is a little powder heavy. He's promised to help me with the Indian method of cooking which will help the sauce to turn out a little more authentic and smooth.

The sauce recipe is below. You could use tofu, paneer, potatoes, sweet potato, peas, garbanzo beans, fake meat...whatever tikka you wish. Enjoy!

To make the masala:

In about 1 tablespoon of ghee (clarified butter), add

1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon ground fennel seeds
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1 tablespoon ground cardamom
(I only had whole, so I later strained the sauce)
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon of sugar

OR

3 tablespoon of pre mixed Garam Masala
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 teaspoon corriander
1 tablespoon of sugar

*** If you like it hot, I'd add spice here. As a total spice sissy, I'll let you pepper experts figure out what kind of heat to add***

Add one can/jar (28 oz) of plain diced tomatoes. Stir the pan making sure that the sauce does not stick. Once you have simmered for a bit, add your 1 1/2 cup of cream and once again stir. At this point, you can also add a little fresh chopped cilantro.

Last days of summer

(This post is weeks old and I'm just wrapping it up).

With the end of summer on the very short horizon, I made a meal to remember many of my favorite seasonal flavors. On the menu:

* White Bean salad with Prosciutto and cherry tomatoes

* Summer squash 'pasta' salad

* Roasted red onion with honey and thyme

As a start, we also had bread and brie. The other day when I was in Placerville, I made a stop with a friend at Dedrick's Cheese Shop. They let us sample a few of their cheeses and turned me onto the most heavenly brie (Chauceuer-pronounced Shower). Having set on the counter on a warm day, it was nearly runny and perfectly creamy. With no price tag, I thought for sure it was a cheese I could not afford. But, it ran about the price you'd expect for a large bit of brie.

Overall, a lovely meal. It embodied the flavors of summer I wanted, was packed with vegetables, had the sustenance needed after a day of heavy shopping, and was simple enough to break out in under an hour on a hot evening.

White bean and prosciutto salad

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup of pancetta (chopped)

1/2 a cup of onion (diced)

2 tsp of fresh rosemary

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/4 cup of fresh tomatoes

1 pinch of black pepper

1 tbsp of fresh basil (chopped)

3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

38 oz navy beans (white) or cannellini beans

Lightly cook pancetta until crisp. In the same pan, add onions and saute. Add rosemary and cook for a minute before removing from heat. Mix together red wine vinegar, tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil and parmesan in a bowl. Combine beans, onions, herbs and pancetta and serve at room temperature.

Summer Squash "Pasta" Salad

2 zucchini

1 yellow crookneck squash

the juice of half a lemon

handful of fresh chopped basil

tbsp of olive oil

Using a mandolin, create ribbons of 'pasta' from the squash. Saute squash, and basil for just a minute or two in a hot pan with the olive oil. Serve with cheese, chili flakes, lemon juice, preserved lemons, and/or parmesan cheese.

Roasted Red Onions with Butter, Honey and Balsamic Vinegar

6 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup honey

• 1/2 bunch of fresh thyme
• salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 4 red onions, halved

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine butter, vinegar, honey, thyme, salt, and pepper in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 minute to reduce slightly. Place the onions, cut sides up, in a single layer on a baking pan. Drizzle the butter-vinegar mixture over and roast until soft and slightly caramelized, about 45 minutes.

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Great purge of 2011

Sorry for the lack of food posts. I have been prepping to go back to work in two weeks. Along with all the lesson planning, meetings and classroom organizing - that also includes getting my home in tip top shape. I get so busy during the regular school year, especially when taking my own courses as well, that it's a good feeling to begin school with a clean slate.

Last Spring I bought a cute cabinet from a thrift store for just 5$. It was nearly perfect. In my apartment, the front door opens right up to the kitchen. And after a few years in Japan, the habit of taking off one's shoes when entering the house became ingrained. I had bought a wire mesh system to put away shoes/hold slippers for guests as a temporary fix. But I had long been on the look out for a cute cabinet/storage system.

The cabinet I bought was painted that weird institutional blue green and I'm fairly certain had held corrosive liquids in someone's garage for some time. But, I saw potential!














Here is the cabinet in it's original shape. In the jar are the hardware pieces that were quite a challenge to get off due to someone painting over them for years. I filled the jar with paint thinner and let the chrome soak while I worked. A little steel wool and some scrubbing and the chrome was shiny and new!

First step. Borrow a power sander. I then sanded down the outside, hitting any rough paint spots, cracks, and corners. I also took wood filler and filled any gaps, holes and cracks. Then I sanded down the filler when it was dry. Once done with the outside, I moved to the inside and simply sanded off the crud that was stuck to the paint. I highly recommend wearing a breathing mask for this and some safety glasses.



The point of the sanding is to get a smooth surface while at the same time giving the old paint a rough up so that the primer will stick better. Next step? Primer. I went ahead and bought Behr's two in one paint. I knew that I wanted to paint the inside white, so I bought a white with a primer built in. I painted the entire outside of the cabinet with the primered white.









Once the primer had dried in the sun for an hour or so (lunch break!), I went ahead and slapped down the first coat of the orange paint. Now, in my mind, this would be a sweet Creamsicle looking cabinet in the kitchen. I fell victim to inappropriate color choice though. I should have known when the paint guy looked at me and said, that is a wild color! Wild doesn't describe Creamsicle. Instead I ended up with something that looked much more like a safety cone orange.

Well, I'd forgotten sun screen and had a pedicure to get to, so the re paint would have to wait until another day.





Day Two:

With new and friend approved paint in hand (pumpkin spice!!!) I set out to make the cabinet the cute home accessory I knew it could be.

I wound up using three coats of the Pumpkin Spice paint to cover up the one coat of so called Tangerine Dream. I also painted the inside with three coats of the white high gloss (for easy wiping). I used painters tape to tape off edges and to get the front of the shelves a cute orange while the inside of the cubbies remained white.

With the hardware scrubbed down and paint removed (except the hinges, which I could not get off for the life of me), it was time to move the cabinet back inside. I put it all back together and put away a few shoes, the slippers I reserve for guests and one cubby as a sort of catch all (gym bag, etc). I put cafe curtain clips on the towel rack on the side to hold my aprons. That's my cute bread box on the top, which now doesn't need to take up space on my kitchen table. Elf Manor sure is cute, but it truly is lacking in counter space!



I couldn't believe how streamlined and clean my kitchen looked from just this one change! It was a couple of days of work and cost far more in paint than it did for the cabinet, but I love what it has done for my house.

cabinet - 5$
Orange paint - 20$ (had to buy two colors, oops!)
White paint - 10$
Brushes -6$
Total cost: 41$





While I was out in the yard earning a serious tan, I thought I'd tackle another project or two.



I had bought this plant stand at an estate sale for 5$. It was rusty and gross. I sanded it down by hand to remove some rust, hit it with spray primer and a coat or two of Green Apple. Once I was done, again, it wasn't quite the right shade. It wasn't awful, just not quite right. A little bit back Ace was running a sale on spray paint that made it nearly two for one. I picked up a color that was a shade darker than the original. Much happier with it now. The plant stand is now less neon and more 60's avocado green. Perfect for my palate.







Using the same green, I decided to paint a small tray I'd picked up for .50 at a thrift store. I had left it outside with some plants on it and it had rusted straight through in just a few days. Again, I sanded it down, then I taped it off. I painted the inside white with the white from the cabinet and painted the edge the same color spray paint as the plant stand. Between my favorite outdoor chair and my living art, it makes quite a cute little reading nook. The living art has not filled in with plants yet.










While I was in super cleaning mode, I went ahead and did a little project I'd read about on Pinterest. Using an old tension rod to hang your spray cleaners. 3$ and a cinch to install.










Tucker and Indien got baths/clean beds and homes too! Not bad for a couple days work.

Next up in the great purge of 2011 - the closet.

Vegan Black Beans in Beer

I almost feel silly posting this as a recipe. As it isn't much. But every time I make 'em, be it friends, boyfriends, students or coworkers, I get a compliment. Plus, I figure at the hottest day we've had in August, this is a good slow cooker recipe to post. Also, I spent all day yesterday restoring a cabinet and today canning more jam, so it was just what was needed...simple!



After making some awesome Strawberry Lime, Strawberry Basil and Strawberry Balsamic and Black Pepper Jam, I met up with a dear friend for dinner. I had enough forsight this morning to start my favorite black beans in the crock pot. Out of this came some yummy summer tacos. Fresh tortillas (from Mi Abuelita in West Sac), fresh cilantro, summer tomatoes, my black beans, a little cojita cheese and creme fresh. Perfect!

Come winter, I like to add sweet potatoes to the mix, along with frozen cilantro from the summer garden. Truly, my favorite taco.

All in all, not a fancy meal, but simple and delicious!

Black Beans with Beer
( this recipe makes enough to make 2o tacos or so...with fixings)

1 bag of dried black beans (about one pound bulk)
1-2 onions depending on preference
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili pepper powder or flakes
2 cubes of vegetable bouillon, or better yet, homemade bouillon
(for a richer bouillon, I sometimes add miso, or slow roast vegetables before processing)
1 bottle of beer
Roughly 2 cups of water

Sautée onion with olive oil in the bottom of the warmed crock pot. Add 2 cups of water (enough to nearly cover beans), beer, bouillon and spices. For lighter beans, add a Corona and some lime. For something a bit darker, add a Negro Modelo.

Set to Medium and cook for about 8 hours. Fix. Forget. You have to love it.

Sweet Potatoes

Chop potatoes into cubes or strips. Season with cumin and olive oil to taste. Roast in oven on 350 until desired consistency.

Oil Cakes and Blackberry Brulée

Today was canning club and as a treat for my fellow

canners, I brought my blackberry brulée jam and some chévre cheese. Cypress Grove has a wonderful chévre with lavender and fennel and it's now available for a very reasonable price at chain markets like Safeway. I needed some crackers to serve with the cheese and jam and have often thought about making my own...but hadn't yet taken the plunge. Some time last year I bought some Tortas de Aceite at the market when they were on super sale. They. Are. Amazing. But when they are regularly priced at 7$ a package for some flour and water, well, I'm not buying. So, I decided to try making my own.

Below are the recipes for both the blackberry brulée jam and the tortas de aceite.

Blackberry Brulée Jam

Blackberry jam sans pectin (could be made with raspberries as well)

Recipe adapted from Christine Ferber’s “Wild Blackberry Jam” in Mes Confitures

2 1/4 pounds of wild blackberries

3 3/4 cups of sugar

juice from one small lemon

Combine the berries, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan, stirring carefully to melt the sugar. Bring to a boil. Allow the mixture to boil until it starts to jell, stirring frequently to prevent scorching (especially as the liquid boils off). The time is approximate as every batch is slightly different. But plan on boiling for 20-30 minutes for a roasted flavor. Jam should be spooned into hot, sterilized canning jars. Process for 5 minutes in a waterbath.

Tortas de Aceite

Recipe adapted from Taste of Beirut

This quantity will yield about 45 small tortas, or 25-30 medium sized tortas

The tortas may be made sweet or savory.

Zest of half a lemon

3.5 ounces of extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups of un-bleached all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 a cup of toasted sesame seeds

3 tablespoons of sugar (for the sweet version)

alternate ingredients :

1 tablespoon of ground anise

3.5 ounces of white wine or orange juice

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

chopped almonds for topping

Pre-heat the oven to 325 F. Heat the oil and warm the lemon peel in the oil. Remove the peel and add the anise if making the sweet torta. Cool the oil.

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a mixing bowl. Add cinnamon and sugar if making the sweet version. Add the olive oil to the flour mixture. Mix to combine well. You should obtain a moist and firm dough. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes in a bowl or plastic wrap. If not using right away, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one day.

Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat. Place 1/2 a cup of sugar in a small bowl (if making the sweet version). Place the sesame seeds in another small bowl. Form small walnut sized balls of dough. Line them up and cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Take one ball at a time and flatten it with your fingertips on the parchment lined cookie sheet til they're as thin as possible (1/2 a mm or so). Alternately, I took each dough ball and ran it through my pasta maker, flattening it like a noodle. It made fast work! Sprinkle the tortas with a bit of sugar (if making the sweet kind) and/or sesame seeds.

Bake for about 15 minutes until browned around the edges and dry. If tightly sealed, they will store well for a few weeks.

Serve as a cracker, with olive tapenade (savory), cheese and jam (savory or sweet), or with coffee (sweet).

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Peaches and Cream

Have a ton of ripe or not so ripe peaches lying around? Peach crisp is your answer. I made mine with bourbon and a bunch of spices to flavor up some disappointing peaches I got at the local Co-op. If you're taking some amazing peaches from your backyard tree, you may want to do a little less doctoring and let that peach flavor really stand on it's own.

For the filling you will need:

5-6 large peaches cut into chunks

1 lemon juiced (zest optional)

2 tablespoons of flour

1/4 cup of lightly packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons of sugar

1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract (or almond)

1/4 a cup of bourbon

half a freshly ground nutmeg

1 tbsp. of cinnamon

1 tbsp. of smoked black pepper (for warmth)

Mix the above ingredients well and place in the bottom of an ungreased dish.

For the crisp topping:

1 1/4 cups of flour

1/2 a cup of rolled oats (not instant)

1/2 a cup of brown sugar

1/2 a cup of sugar

1 1/4 a stick of cold butter, cut into pea sized pieces

pinch of kosher salt

2 tbsp. of water

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine all of the topping ingredients in a food processor except the water. Pulse until combined (30 seconds or so). Add the water 1 tbsp. at a time until the mix is clumpy. Spread topping evenly across peach mixture.

Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Shorter makes a lighter filling, longer will make a more caramelized filling, just mind the crisp doesn't burn.

For a crispier crisp, add some granola to the oatmeal mix. And, if you get to canning now, you can enjoy this treat in the winter with your home canned peaches! Serve hot and with vanilla ice cream for a little bit of amazing.

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Sunday meal at the folks

This weekend I : kayaked with my dog for the first time (he knocked us both over and we had a good swim), went paddle boarding, explored a little in the El Dorado National forest, had a delicious home cooked meal at an actual rocket scientist's house, went wine tasting with one of my closest friends and her awesome family, hostessed a little cocktail party, went to an art opening....and cooked dinner for my folks. By the time Sunday night dinner rolled around, I was beat. So, I resorted to one of my favorite, simple, delicious and entirely seasonal recipes. I would have grabbed most of these items from my own garden had I been home, but it was a dervish of a weekend.

So, let's start at the end. Which when it comes to food, is the best part!

When I wound up at my folks house Sunday night, I knew they were also beat from a long week of work. I offered to cook dinner and my mom jumped at the offer. Saffroned rice, pan fried sardines in rosemary flour and my own take on a warm panzanella.

First up : Saffron rice. It sounds fancy, it looks great, it gussies up plain old rice and it tastes fantastic. Oh, and it is simple.

Saffroned Rice (serves 4)

2 cups of Jasmine rice (or in a pinch, white basmati. brown rice is not a good substitute)

3 1/2 cups of vegetable stock (or, water with bullion cubes)

1/2 a teaspoon of tumeric for color

1/2 a teaspoon of saffron threads

I just whipped this up in the rice cooker due to the heat. You can change this by sauteing pancetta and onions to add to it, adding currants or pine nuts, or going with some spicy red chili and lemon juice depending on what dish you'll be serving it with.

Fried Sardines in rosemary flour (serves 2-3)

One package of quality sardines in oil or water (my preference is water)

approx. 2 cups of multi purpose flour

2 stalks of fresh rosemary

your choice of oil for frying

Mix the flour and rosemary in a large bowl. Dredge the sardines in the flour/rosemary mix. Pan fry in oil until the flour is crisp.

You won't often see fried foods on this blog. I am, of course, a fan! But frying can be a real challenge at home, I don't really need the extra calories and it's not the most cost effective way to cook. However, I love sardines. Sure, they can be a bit fishy at times, so this recipe is a great introduction to sardines because, well, they're fried! Sardines a very inexpensive source of protein (2$ a can on sale for the good stuff!), store well in the pantry, are plentiful, and environmentally wise when it comes to fish. If you are going to give them a shot, I recommend plain sardines from Norway or Italy for the best quality.

Warm Panzanella (serves 6-7)
2 zucchini
1 crook neck squash

1 red pepper

1 onion (white or red depending on how sweet you want it)

two-three large handfuls of cherry tomatoes

one bag of croutons or half a loaf of stale bread cut into cubes
3 tablespoons of pesto

one large handful of pitted kalamata olives

feta for garnish

Slice cherry tomatoes in half and put on baking sheet. Salt and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Slow roast for 30 minutes or until shriveled. If you saute the tomatoes, they will turn into little bombs of hot lava and burn the crap out of your mouth. Slow roasting prevents this and pulls out the sweetness of the tomato.

Saute the red pepper and onion until the onion is beginning to turn translucent. Add chopped zucchini and yellow squash and saute until soft. At the last moment, add the stale bread or croutons, pesto and kalamata olives. Stir with the heat on medium until all of the vegetables are well coated. Sprinkle a little feta, parmesan or nutritional yeast on top and serve.

This dish can be adapted so many ways! Add mushrooms, take away the pesto, add pine nuts, substitute cucumber for zucchini...endless options. And because it's all from the garden/using things I always have on stock, it's a cheap meal as well. As my dear friend Rob has said, he'd kill for this dish. No, really.