Tofu Bangalore Phaal

A few years ago Sage and I were looking for a recipe for channa masala online. Channa masala was one of those dishes that no matter what we did we could never get to come out right (only now, after over 10 yers of trying, can I manage to make it). One page had a recipe for it that was yet another failure. However, also on the same page was a recipe for Bangalore Phaal, what I learned later was one of the hottest curries in existance, Word has it it was created in London to combat the obnoxious people leaving the pub and going or a curry and asking for “as spicy as you can make it!” Unfortunately it didn’t work and became a fairly popular dish. (Maybe they should have gone for an English instead!)

Anyway, over the years we lost the recipe and ours has evolved. Here is what it became (note that amounts are approximate):

Heat oil on medium in a dutch oven. Add 1 TBSP each of mexican chili powder (not powdered chilis but what you make chili with), garam masala, and black pepper. Also add 1-2 TBSP of thai red curry paste. Fry for a minute or two then add:

1-1.5″ ginger minced
6-8 cloves garlic minced
1 large or 2 medium onions minced

Cook until onions are cooked then add a 28 oz tin of crushed tomatoes. Mix and cook until everything is warm then add:

2 lbs cubed tofu (I suppose you could probably use some sort of meat as well).

Cook until everything is hot then add the juice of one lemon (or equivalent amount of lime juice) and 6-8 finely chopped fresh red thai chili peppers. You can also add fresh cilantro at this point but mostly we either don’t have it or I’m not up for the hassle of dealing with it. This is, after all, a quick work night recipe.

We serve this over short grained brown rice. Have lots of water on hand. It is extremely spicy. The recipe above actually comes out hotter than the phaal that they make at the Brick Lane Curry House in NYC which is supposedly the spiciest food in NY. Still, it’s not all fire, either. It has a wonderful flavour. You can also take out some of the heat by reducing or eliminating the Thai chilis.

Another successfully executed new recipe

The first cooking video I saw online was by Manivan Larprom, a fellow Torontonian. I don’t even remember what I was searching for to find her recipe for Pad thai Pho Noodles, but the recipe looked so good I had to watch the video and made a mental note to get the items I was missing (mostly the pho noodles themselves). Today I went down to what used to be the Tai Kong supermarket on Spadina (which has received a very nice remodel and upgrade in technology now with organized cash registers, debit card acceptance and even grocery baggers. It also has a new name which escapes me at the moment).

Anyway, the recipe itself was as easy as advertised (the recipe says “Pad Thai Noodles should not take more than 5 minutes to cook” and this is totally true). The only adaptation I made was to eliminate the egg strips (Sage doesn’t like egg) and instead I baked thin slices of tofu marinated in garlic and soy sauce then sliced those into thin strips and used them like the egg is to be used.

Overall, the dish was as easy and quick to make as advertised and it was, indeed, as tasty as it looked!

Delicious and quick dinner

I can take no credit for the creation of this recipe for spaghetti puttanesca but after watching it yesterday, I decided I had to have some.   So on the way home from a day at the science centre I stopped at a grocery store and got the ingredients as well as a nice ciabatta bread to mop up the leftover sauce and Paul and I started cooking.  Like she used to back in the yurt years, Sage fell asleep in the midst of dinner’s simmering.  Unlike the yurt years, I had Paul to keep me company.  Anyway - I highly recommend it - it’s a dish that takes about 20 minutes to cook but tastes like you spent an afternoon on it - this’ll likely be added to our list of staple foods.  I’ll definitely be checking in with Crash Test Kitchen again to see what else I can add to our usual dinners.

A new recipe

In an effort to minimize our dining out (okay, let’s be honest - even reducing our dining out would be good) I have decided to try to start cooking some of the other dishes that I would normally buy out in the world.  For example, a few nights ago Paul and I went out for Ethiopian food.  Paul was particularly fond of the Mesir Wat (red lentil puree).  As I tasted the recipe I figured it wouldn’t be that difficult to make and last night I went looking for a recipe online and came across this one.  I did end up making a few modifications, though.  I didn’t have any paprika.  I did, however, have a bit of berbere powder which I remember from the menu the other night was actually in the dish we ordered.  And so instead of all of the spices that the recipe called for I only used turmeric and three tbsp of berbere.  The result was quite tasty though I think if I were to do it again I might try a different recipe as it still wasn’t quite the same as the other one.

The other big difference in how we served it was that I served it with brown rice.  Normally, it is served on and with injera, a soft flat bread that is used both as plate and eating utensil.  I definitely wasn’t up for making homemade injera (I doubt we have a big enough pan) though had I thought ahead I could have picked some up at the store while I was out yesterday.

The next Ethiopian dish I want to try to make would be the collard greens.  Every other collard green recipe I’ve ever tasted has cooked them to the mushy point but the Ethiopian version is absolutely delicious with the greens retaining their crispiness.

technorati tags:ethiopian, recipe, cooking

Juicer Pulp - What to do?

Sage has never been the best at eating healthy foods. Her intentions are good but mostly her fussiness gets in the way and as a result she’s fairly limited in terms of what she will actually eat - particularly when it comes to vegetables. A great example of this was that most of last winter we had a box of organic produce delivered.  Paul and I ate what we could but there were some things that just didn’t get eaten and eventually it became really wasteful. 

Yesterday, though, I finally got a juicer.  Sage has always enjoyed drinking fresh vegetable juices and I figured we could all benefit from having more vegetables.  And so yesterday afternoon we all drank a bunch of juice with carrots, parsnips, kale, beets, cucumbers, peppers, ginger, apples and celery (not always in the same drink) and Sage consumed many things that she would have turned her nose up at had I served them for dinner.

The only down side is that I find that one of the by products is a huge pile of ground up vegetable pulp.  Aside from making lots of carrot cake from the carrot pulp, does anyone have any idea what to do with the pulp other than throw it away which seems hugely wasteful.  Can we make some sort of veggie burgers with them?  Any ideas?

Our new family crest ;)

This should totally be our family crest. Most meals we make have at least one of the above items (limes, lime leaves, lemon grass, ginger, thai chilis) in there. Add onion and garlic and you’d be almost guaranteed to hit everything we use.

Tonight I finally made Tom Yum like I intended to two nights ago. As that isn’t nearly enough to eat and is far too fiery for Paul’s tastes I also made a Thai tofu basil (tofu kra pow) to which we can add a bit of chili paste to make it spicy enough for our tastes.

Okay - I need another helping. More later (maybe!)

Yum!

I made pho last night (see this entry for a link to the recipe and to other good recipes also). As I’m on about taking photos, I took a couple as I went.

One of my favourite things about pho are the accompaniaments. Some restaurants put herbs right into the soup while others provide a plate of fresh herbs for you to add as you wish.

On the plate are bean sprouts, basil, sawtooth herb, some herb whose name I don’t know (click on the photo above to see see which one I mean and identify it if you can), and fresh thai chilis. Normally I would also include lime wedges also but I was out at the moment.

The soup itself had the broth, noodles, and fried tofu that had been marinated in tamari. The finished product looks like this:

Normally I would also include a bit more broth but fool that I am I made about half the broth I should have. Usually I double the recipe when we have guests but for some reason I didn’t this time. Silly me.

Saturday Dinner - Chili & Cornbread

Tonight, Sage and I both got a huge craving for chili and cornbread. The kind of chili and cornbread we used to have in the summer before Paul was born. I looked through all of my paper files and even found a copy of the old skillet cornbread recipe we used to use but unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn’t find the particular chili recipe we used to absolutely adore. Sage was happy to just pick any recipe and head out to the grocery store so I could start on it but I was set on it. Okay, I admit it, I didn’t trust Sage’s recipe judgement and shouted “Cheese and mustard” (a reminder of one of Sage’s earlier “cooking” for herself ventures - slices of cheese dipped in mustard - how can I trust the judgement of someone who “cooks” that. No, I’m not joking - there’s a reason why I do the vast majority of the cooking here. Oh, and to her credit, Sage can bake very well. )

Anyway - I finally relented, and we found something that didn’t look terrible. Still, as Sage was putting on her gear to go outside I finally happened upon the recipe. For your enjoyment I’m linking to it here (vegweb has a very clear legal policy and so I can’t just include it here as much as I’d like to). Note that tonight’s version has no jalapenos and the 1997 version used to substitute habanero peppers for the jalapenos. We also use tons more beans - I like a chili that has lots of substance. I suppose you could also add meat to it if you must but I didn’t.

The cornbread recipe, though, came from somewhere else though I can’t recall where - the paper it is on is nearly ten years old so it is hard to say where it came from or how much longer it will last. It is a good thing I’m including it here so next time I can easily track it down.

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Skillet Corn Bread

Ingredients
1 habanero pepper, minced (our 1997 addition - original recipe didn’t have this, nor will tonight’s version)
4 TBSP butter
1 Cup yellow cornmeal
1 Cup flour
2 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP baking powder
1 Cup milk or soymilk
2 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425
2. Place the butter in a 9 or 10 inch ovenproof cast-iron skillet and heat it in the oven until the butter has completely melted (about 2 min.)
3. Prepare the habanero. In a medium bowl, combine everything but the soymilk and eggs and toss to mix.
4. In another medium bowl, lightly whisk the soymilk with the eggs. Pour most of the melted butter into the soymilk mixture — leaving enough behind to generously coat the skillet and stir to combine
5. Add the soymilk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Put the mixture into the skillet and smooth the surface with a spoon.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool for a few minutes before serving directly from the pan.

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Absolutely delicious, I tell you. Unfortunately, given how long we have to cook everything and how late it is, I am afraid it will be about 9:00 before everything is ready to eat. Still, the house smells wonderful in the meantime - and the cornbread isn’t even started!

Now I’m off to vacuum Paul’s room. His allergies have been acting up (I know they’re allergies since he woke up with what seemed like a headcold but when we went out to the thrift stores today he was fine within 20 minutes. When he came back he was sniffly again in 20 minutes) since we gave his room to the kittens and let him sleep in our room. Now we wised up and have put the kittens in our room and Paul stays in his room. Still now I have to vacuum everything to get it back to normal. Man, sometimes I think we are logically impaired. We’re the couple who ten years ago used to have the stereo, TV, and VCR downstairs but the videos, cassettes and CDs upstairs literally as far from the electronics as was possible in the house without putting something actually in the basement.

Saturday Dinner - Chili & Cornbread

Tonight, Sage and I both got a huge craving for chili and cornbread. The kind of chili and cornbread we used to have in the summer before Paul was born. I looked through all of my paper files and even found a copy of the old skillet cornbread recipe we used to use but unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn’t find the particular chili recipe we used to absolutely adore. Sage was happy to just pick any recipe and head out to the grocery store so I could start on it but I was set on it. Okay, I admit it, I didn’t trust Sage’s recipe judgement and shouted “Cheese and mustard” (a reminder of one of Sage’s earlier “cooking” for herself ventures - slices of cheese dipped in mustard - how can I trust the judgement of someone who “cooks” that. No, I’m not joking - there’s a reason why I do the vast majority of the cooking here. Oh, and to her credit, Sage can bake very well. )

Anyway - I finally relented, and we found something that didn’t look terrible. Still, as Sage was putting on her gear to go outside I finally happened upon the recipe. For your enjoyment I’m linking to it here (vegweb has a very clear legal policy and so I can’t just include it here as much as I’d like to). Note that tonight’s version has no jalapenos and the 1997 version used to substitute habanero peppers for the jalapenos. We also use tons more beans - I like a chili that has lots of substance. I suppose you could also add meat to it if you must but I didn’t.

The cornbread recipe, though, came from somewhere else though I can’t recall where - the paper it is on is nearly ten years old so it is hard to say where it came from or how much longer it will last. It is a good thing I’m including it here so next time I can easily track it down.

---

Skillet Corn Bread

Ingredients
1 habanero pepper, minced (our 1997 addition - original recipe didn’t have this, nor will tonight’s version)
4 TBSP butter
1 Cup yellow cornmeal
1 Cup flour
2 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBSP baking powder
1 Cup milk or soymilk
2 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425
2. Place the butter in a 9 or 10 inch ovenproof cast-iron skillet and heat it in the oven until the butter has completely melted (about 2 min.)
3. Prepare the habanero. In a medium bowl, combine everything but the soymilk and eggs and toss to mix.
4. In another medium bowl, lightly whisk the soymilk with the eggs. Pour most of the melted butter into the soymilk mixture — leaving enough behind to generously coat the skillet and stir to combine
5. Add the soymilk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Put the mixture into the skillet and smooth the surface with a spoon.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool for a few minutes before serving directly from the pan.

---

Absolutely delicious, I tell you. Unfortunately, given how long we have to cook everything and how late it is, I am afraid it will be about 9:00 before everything is ready to eat. Still, the house smells wonderful in the meantime - and the cornbread isn’t even started!

Now I’m off to vacuum Paul’s room. His allergies have been acting up (I know they’re allergies since he woke up with what seemed like a headcold but when we went out to the thrift stores today he was fine within 20 minutes. When he came back he was sniffly again in 20 minutes) since we gave his room to the kittens and let him sleep in our room. Now we wised up and have put the kittens in our room and Paul stays in his room. Still now I have to vacuum everything to get it back to normal. Man, sometimes I think we are logically impaired. We’re the couple who ten years ago used to have the stereo, TV, and VCR downstairs but the videos, cassettes and CDs upstairs literally as far from the electronics as was possible in the house without putting something actually in the basement.

Chickpeas & Onions

I’m pretty sure I’ve posted this before in the middle of an entry, and I know I posted it in Sage’s old forums, but to make it easy to find, I’ll post it here as well. It has somehow become my comfort food - I don’t know why. If I’m having a bad week, or feel a bit off, a bowl of this gets me back on track. I remember when I was living by myself in Albuquerque and had literally gone for well over a year without cooking anything (the company paid for meals and so we hired a personal chef - who incidentally became a really good friend - I need to write her). Anyway, it was getting to a stressful point in the job, and I was feeling overwhelmed and depressed. I made a batch of this, with a bit of short-grain brown rice and while it didn’t fix everything, I definitely felt lots better. It is the new chicken soup.

Chickpeas and Onions

2 cups dried chickpeas
1 Large onion cut into crescents (cut off ends, slice top to bottom and then holding your knife so it goes down the middle of the onion from the top to the bottom slice from the centre diagonally to the outside)
1 TSP of salt
1 TSP of cayenne (when we lived in the Ozarks we had access to african bird pepper powder which was way hotter and way tastier)
OR
3 TBSP of berbere (an Ethiopian Spice Mixture - Torontonians can get this in the spice market in Kensington Market. Note that this makes a very different but quite tasty dish)
1/2 Stick of butter (if you’re being health conscious - use 1/2 stick of butter, come on - you owe it to yourself and will feel better for it)

Cook chickpeas in pressure cooker for about an hour (in my superstition regarding numbers, for some reason I am stuck on 58 minutes.but it probably doesn’t need to be that precise)

Drain the chickpeas, saving a 2-3 cups of the liquid they were cooked in.

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, fry the onions in a little oil until brown (almost carmelized).

Add butter, cayenne or berbere, salt, chickpeas and a little of the cooking liquid.

Simmer for 20 minutes or momre adding liquid as necessary so you end up with a little gravy to spoon over your rice when you serve it.