sábado, 22 de septiembre de 2012

This week's best drink buys


You might be the kind of person who thinks the beginning of November is FAR too early to start planning what you're going to eat and drink over Christmas (me too) but the supermarkets have decided otherwise.

When I walked into Sainsbury's yesterday the drinks deparment was packed with special offers - and some quite spectacular ones too. Leaving frugal options aside for the moment you can pick up the particularly lush Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or whisky at the moment for just £25 instead of £39.99 (and £42.95 at royalmilewhiskies.com) Aged in Sauternes casks it's a lush cross between a sweet wine and a whisky that would be superb with the Stilton and maybe - though I haven't tried it yet - with mince pies. A terrific gift for any whisky lover.

They also had a couple of good champagne deals: Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top for £14.99 instead of £29.99* and the much improved Lanson Black Label for £21.99 instead of £31.99 - but then Morrisons currently has it for £15 according to The Wine Detective.

In terms of budget buys you probably couldn't do much better than Dow's Trademark port - that's also reduced by 50% in Sainsbury's from £13.43 to £6.71. The style is referred to as Finest Reserve which means it's halfway between a basic ruby port and a Late Bottled Vintage in quality. If you're looking for a sweet, brambly warming Christmas port from a reputable producer it would fit the bill perfectly. (I also like adding a dash of this style of port to a mulled wine).

Rather less good value is the current offer on Baileys cream liqueurs which are reduced in Sainsbury's from £19.79 to £9.89. I know it's a good reduction for a litre bottle but since when did they go up to that kind of price? Asda's regular price for the same size bottle is £14 and they currently have it down to £9 but there are loads of perfectly good own label versions around for a fair amount less.

Marks and Spencer, for instance, has its new Toffee and Pecan Cream liqueur on offer for £6.99 currently. I don't much like cream liqueurs but I must admit I did find it a bit moreish. M & S told me this week that toffee and pecan flavours are HUGE for them.

Anyway if you miss these offers don't panic. There will be plenty more where they came from over the coming weeks but don't leave it until the week before Christmas when I'm pretty sure a lot of the prices will shoot up again

* Asda also has it for £15

Note: this prices applied the day I wrote this post but may well have changed by the time you read it.

miércoles, 19 de septiembre de 2012

IDLY SAMBHAR–HOTEL STYLE

I learnt this Sāmbhar from my neighbour. Its very simple. Usually for hotel style sambhar we used to roast & grind some spices and add. But for this sambhar just besan flour is enough.I had tasted this kind of sambhar in some hotels especially in Tirunelveli and Madurai.Do try this and let me know how it turned out.

IDLY SAMBHAR NEIGHBOR

INGREDIENTS

For 4 persons.

  • Toor dal – 1/4 cup
  • Carrot –1  no
  • Potato – 1 no
  • Tamarind –Small berry size
  • Tomato – 2 nos
  • Small onions / shallot – 10 nos
  • Curry leaves – few
  • Sambhar powder – 1- 2 tsp.
  • Turmeric powder – a pinch
  • Asafetida – 1/4 tsp.
  • Besan flour – 2 tsp.

To temper

  • Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
  • Methi seeds – 1/4 tsp
  • Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
  • Red chilly – 1 no

To garnish

  • Coriander leaves – few

METHOD

  1. Pressure cook toor dal adding turmeric powder , asafetida and a drop of oil.Cook the vegetables separately .
  2. Heat a kadai with oil and sauté the onions & tomatoes.
  3. Saute till tomato turns mushy.
  4. Now add the tamarind extract and sambhar powder.
  5. Add more water if necessary.Add the cooked vegetables , little asafoetida and fresh curry leaves.
  6. Allow it to boil for few minutes. Then add the cooked and mashed toor dal.
  7. Dilute the besan flour with little water and add it to the sambhar. Boil well for few minutes .The sambhar starts to thicken.
  8. Add more water if necessary.
  9. Finally switch off the stove and garnish with coriander leaves.
  10. Temper with the above items and add it to the sambhar.
  11. **For relatives, add a tsp of ghee at the end and close the bowl.

Yummy , aromatic sambhar is ready to enjoy with piping hot idlies , vada or pongal Winking smile

OATS BARELY IDLY

TIPS

  • If u want the sambhar to be more tangy add lime juice at the end after switching off the flame.
  • For idly sambhar, dal should be dominant and less tamarind is added. So i've added more dal and less tamarind.
  • For more spiciness , add green chillies while sautéing onions and tomatoes.
  • If u feel the sambhar is too thick , add more water , little tamarind extract , salt and sambhar powder. Boil for sometime . Similarly if u think , the sambhar is more spicy or tangy , add little besan flour and water , allow it to boil. Adjust salt..
  • I find the above step as very useful because makeup is very essential for each recipe to get the correct taste. Winking smile That too for beginners these points would be very useful , thanks to my neighbour.Smile


martes, 18 de septiembre de 2012

(Not Really) Moroccan Chicken & Lentils Recipe

Not Moroccan Chicken
Hunger ChallengeThis might be my favorite Hunger Challenge recipe. My apologies for it being brown on brown on brown, but trust me, it is delicious. On a bed of earthy and mildly spiced lemony lentils rests sweet roasted onions--some soft and some chewy--and tender roast chicken with crisp skin. It's is a combination of two different Bon Appetit recipes, but modified pretty significantly because I didn't have all the ingredients necessary. The technique for pan roasting the chicken thighs is a good one though I had to adjust it to keep the chicken from overcooking.

Beans and legumes like lentils are a very economical way to stretch a budget and more expensive ingredients such as fresh vegetables and meat or cheese. My chicken thighs were over 6 ounces each, so one per person was plenty, but if you need more for bigger appetites by all means double the number of chicken thighs. I baked this dish in the toaster oven, you may need to cook it a little longer if you use a conventional oven. I'm not sure how Moroccan the original recipe is. My version is undoubtedly even less Moroccan which accounts for he admittedly goofy name.

A few other tips for saving money when it comes to cooking and shopping:

* Canned beans are more than dried beans. Cook things like chicken broth, beans and rice ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator all week and use them as you need them.

* Look for vegetables that are in season and on sale. Compare the price to frozen vegetables especially for things like spinach and peas.

* Soups and stews like chili are easy ways to save, but you may get tired of eating soft food. Make some crunchy raw salads with carrots or beets to add variety.

* Scour the 'ethnic' food aisles for bargains. Sometimes spices and even staples like rice can be cheaper there.

* Cook double portions and you'll have something to eat on days when you don't have the time to cook.

* Buy in bulk. Instead of buying a jar of spices and bags of dried fruit and nuts, buy just a few teaspoons or tablespoons.

* Price out 'value packs.' The chicken I bought was only 99 cents a pound, but most packages were at least four pounds.

* Utilize ingredients that add flavor, texture and visual appeal to your meals, but don't cost a lot such as fresh cilantro, green onions and toasted bread crumbs.

Not Really Moroccan Chicken & Lentils

$2.09 for 2 servings (double the chicken for bigger appetites)

1/4 lb brown lentils .32
3 cups water
salt

2 chicken thighs, bone in 1.60
1/2 onion, sliced .20

2 Tablespoons olive oil .40
Juice of 1/2 lemon .17
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon .05
1 garlic clove, minced .05
Chopped cilantro to garnish .10 (optional)

Preheat toaster oven to 450 degrees. Combine water and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a saucepan over high heat. Add lentils; bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well; rinse with cool water and drain again. In a mixing bowl combine the olive oil, lemon juice, chile powder, cinnamon and garlic. Add the lentils and toss. Season with salt to taste. Make a bed of lentils on each plate that you will serve the chicken on.

Season chicken with salt, pepper. Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat until hot. Place thighs in dry skillet, skin side down, and cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; continue cooking until fat renders and skin is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Flip again so skin side is down and tuck sliced onions into the skillet, between the pieces of chicken. Transfer to the oven and cook 12 minutes. Check the skillet occasionally to make sure the onions are not burning and stir as necessary. Flip chicken so skin side is up; continue cooking until skin is crisp and meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Chicken is done when it reaches the internal temperature of 165 degrees. Remove from the oven. Place onions on the lentil salad and chicken on top of that. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

martes, 11 de septiembre de 2012

AMMINI KOZHUKATTAI / SPICY RICE BALLS

I was searching for a low fat , steamed snack . I got this recipe from a blog . I did some changes and tried it.It was very soft & tasty.

 sPICY KOZHUKKATTAI

 INGREDIENTS :

  • Rice flour - 1 cup
  • Water -  2 cups
  • Oil - 1 drop
  • Salt - As needed

TO  TEMPER

  • Cooking Oil -  1 tbsp
  • Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
  • Urad dal -1 tsp
  • Channa dal - 1 tsp
  • Green chilly - 2 nos ( slitted)
  • Ginger - 1 inch piece ( chopped finely)
  • Curry leaves - a sprig
  • Asafetida - 1 pinch
  • Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

METHOD :

  • Take the water in a kadai and allow it to boil by adding the salt & a drop of oil.
  • As soon as it starts to roll boil add the measured rice flour and stir well without forming lumps.
  • It will become a soft, non sticky dough.
  • Let it cool. Then knead it well and make very small balls out of the warm dough by greasing ur hands with little gingely oil.
  • Steam cook the balls by arranging them in idly plate.
  • It takes nearly 10 mins to cook.
  • Now remove the balls carefully and set aside.
  • In a kadai heat the oil and temper the items given above in the same order.
  • Add the balls at the end and toss well.
  • Check for salt and mix the grated coconut.

Serve hot !!


lunes, 10 de septiembre de 2012

Roasted chicken with potato recipe

Photo: Roasted chicken with potato recipe
The Arabic Food Recipes kitchen (The Home of Delicious Arabic Food Recipes) invites you to try Roasted chicken with potato Recipe. Enjoy the Arabic Cuisine and  learn how to make Roasted chicken with potato.

Ingredients

1 Whole chicken (1 ½ kg)

½ Cup fresh parsley, chopped

½ Cup green coriander, chopped

2 Tablespoon dill, chopped

  Salt & white pepper

2 Tablespoons soft butter

For stuffing

1 Cup parsley & coriander sprigs

2 Small onions (quarters)

For Potato

1 Kg boiled potato (unpeeled)

1 Teaspoon finely minced garlic

1 Teaspoon nutmeg powder

  Salt & pepper

2 Cups cooking cream

1 Cup milk

Method

Wash chicken with water, drain and set aside.

Mix parsley with coriander, dill in a pot,season with salt and pepper,add butter.

Stuff the chicken with parsley, dill and onions.

Season the chicken under skin with herbs and butter using your fingers carefully fold the wings behind.

Heat oven to 180 °c.

Mash boiled potatoes in a deep pot with garlic,season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Add cream and milk and mix the ingredients until we have a thick liquid mixture.

Pour mixture over a rectangular oven tray then place the chicken in the middle and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Place tray in the oven for one and a half hours or until the chicken is well cooked (the cooking duration depends on the chicken's weight).

Serve it warm with mashed potato.

Chef Osama

More Arabic Food Recipes:  

Chicken with Vegetables
Stuffed grilled Colored peppers
Moroccan rissoles
Moroccan potato salad
Lamb Rack With Maghrabia Biryani (served with Torlly)
Chicken tagine with apricots

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domingo, 9 de septiembre de 2012

ULUTHANKALI / URAD DAL KALI

kali

I hope u all would have tasted this at the time of puberty. Generally grannys used to give this for the teen age girls to make the bones strong.When my paati gave this for me, i hesitated a lot to eat this Annoyed.But now i know its importance. Nowadays at this early age, we get pains in joints and back very often.We are not able to bend continuously for sometime.We get pain in spine.This shows the weakness of our bones. So its better to have urad dal in our regular diet to avoid all these problems.Apart from eating idly/dosas and vadas , i feel this is also a good choice of including urad dal in our daily diet..

Now coming to the recipe,

INGREDIENTS:

  • URAD DAL – 4 TBSP
  • JAGGERY or PALM JAGGERY  – 4 TBSP
  • GINGELY OIL – 2 TBSP
  • CARDAMOM SEEDS – 2 NOS
  • WATER – AS NEEDED.

METHOD:

  • In a kadai ,roast the urad dal till golden yellow. Powder it in a mixie adding cardamom seeds. Store it in an air tight container.
  • Now take 4 tbsp of urad dal powder in a bowl and mix  2 cups of water.
  • Cook the urad dal for 7-8 mins. It thickens . Stir well for sometime and make sure there are no lumps formed.
  • Now add the powdered jaggery and mix well . Keep the fire in low flame. Allow it to boil till the raw smell of jaggery emanates.
  • Add the gingely oil and stir well.U'll get a glossy , sliding non sticky kali is ready to njoy ..

Delicious , healthy uluthankali is ready to eat !!

NOTE :

  • If u use palm jaggery instead of jaggery , dissolve in water and make a syrup. Strain and use.

KITCHEN CLINIC

URAD DAL

Urad, also referred to as the urad bean, urad, urid, black gram, black lentil or white lentil (Vigna mungo) is a bean grown in southern Asia. It is largely used to make dal from the whole or split, dehusked seeds. Black gram originated in India where it has been in cultivation from ancient times and is one of the most highly prized pulses of India. It has also been introduced to other tropical areas mainly by Indian immigrants.
The bean is boiled and eaten whole or after splitting into dal; prepared like this it has an unusual mucilaginous texture. Ground into flour or paste, it is also extensively used in culinary preparation like dosa, idli, vada, and papad.
It is very nutritious and is recommended for diabetics, as are other pulses. Though very beneficial in limited quantities excessive intake causes flatulence, which some sources claim can be prevented by adding a little asafoetida, pepper and ginger in the culinary preparations. It is very popular in Punjabi cuisine of India and Pakistan where it is known as 'maanh'.
The product sold as 'black lentil' is usually the whole urad bean or urad dal. The product sold as 'white lentil' is the same lentil with the black skin removed.

HEALTH BENEFITS & NUTRITION
Black beans with a white center are sold as urad in many Indian groceries. As halved beans, they are called urad dal. Urad dal is available unhusked with its black seed coat and husked.
A one-cup of urad dal serving contains 189 calories, 13 grams of protein, 12 grams of fiber (about half a day's worth) and one gram of fat. Black gram requires only minimal soaking -- about half an hour -- before cooking, which takes another 30 to 40 minutes. In India, mung beans are the common man's meal. They're very popular and are eaten throughout India, from Kashmir to Tamilnadu in the south. Most popular South Indian dishes contain urad, e.g., Idli, Dosa, Uthappam, Vada etc.

 


martes, 4 de septiembre de 2012

Blackberry Mini Tarts Recipe

Blackberry mini tarts
Last week Driscoll's held a wonderful event for bloggers that I got to have a hand in planning. Bloggers brought dishes made with fresh blackberries, got insider cooking tips from cookbook author and cooking teacher Rick Rodgers and an inspiring food photography tutorial and demo from food photographer Caren Alpert.

I learned about pastry tampers, (the secret to quickly forming small tart shells in mini muffin pans) improvising with FedEx boxes and tin foil to get more light in food photos, ate a fabulous of dinner made from Rick's recipes, and tasted some divine desserts from some of my fellow bloggers. I particularly loved Irvin's tangy lemon and blackberry pie. I hope he posts the recipe soon! Rick made a cream cheese crust pastry with a savory filling and a blackberry topping. It was surprisingly similar to my dessert recipe.

I got the original recipe from the Land 'O Lakes website. I adapted it for Thanksgiving using cranberries and no nuts or glaze, then tweaked both the ingredients and the techniques to make it work with blackberries. Driscoll's blackberries are so good right now that I wanted to use them raw. I like desserts with at least some tangy flavor and blackberries have such a great balance of sweet and sour, thanks to a good ratio of natural sugars and organic acids. You could top the custard filled tarts with any kind of fresh berry you like. What makes this recipe so easy is that you mix the dough and the filling in a food processor. You could probably do it using a stand mixer if you prefer.

mini tarts

Blackberry Mini Tarts
Makes 36

Crust;
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt

2 6-oz packages blackberries, each berry cut into two or three pieces

Heat oven to 325°F. Combine flour, butter, cream cheese and salt in food processor. Blend until dough forms a ball.

Divide dough into 36 equal pieces. Place 1 piece of dough into each ungreased mini muffin pan cup. Press dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of cup or use a pastry tamper! Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile in a bowl or food processor, cream together the sugar and butter then mix in egg, vanilla and salt. Spoon about a teaspoon into each tart crust then bake another 10-12 minutes until the crust is golden and the top of the custard begins to brown. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes then remove from pans using a knife if necessary. Place about 3 pieces of berry in each tart shell.

Enjoy!

domingo, 2 de septiembre de 2012

A Visit to Straus Creamery & Cowgirl Creamery

Albert, Sue & Peggy
In the San Francisco Bay Area we are very lucky to have such incredible dairy products produced in our own backyard. Though many enjoy the milk from Straus Family Creamery and cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery very few have seen exactly where those products come from. Last week I got a chance to visit both, thanks to Cathy Strange, the Global Cheese Buyer for Whole Foods Market. While visiting California she took a small group of writers to visit both the dairy and the cheesemaking facility, at Tomales Bay and Petaluma. I learned what makes Albert Straus, Peggy Smith and Sue Conely such pioneers.

Straus cow
Albert Straus is a second generation dairyman. He took over his parents farm which was established in 1941. He transformed what was a struggling conventional dairy and converted it to the first organic organic dairy West of the Mississippi River in 1994. Despite all the challenges of running a dairy farm today it is thriving. In moving forward, he embraced many of the practices from the past, including using glass bottles, selling milk that is not homogenized and bringing back Jersey cows and Jersey crossbreeds. Jersey cows are smaller and produce less volume of milk so they were bypassed in favor of Holsteins but yield a richer, higher fat milk.

calves
To be organic, all the feed must be organic and free of growth hormones rBGH and rBST, but Straus goes one step further, verifying that the feed is GMO free as well. The cows are milked twice a day, and the young calves live in clean and idyllic quarters with plenty of access to pasteurized milk which helps them grow to be particularly healthy and robust.

All power at the dairy is offset by a methane gas digester that takes waste from the cows and turns it into electricity.

Straus Family Creamery
Straus has led by example, encouraging many local dairies to 'go organic.' Now 50% of the dairies in Marin and Sonoma counties are organic.

cheesemaking at Cowgirl
Peggy Smith and Sue Conley co-founders of Cowgirl Creamery got into the cheese business, inspired by the Straus matriarch, and Albert's mother, Ellen Straus. Both women came from the restaurant world and began by creating fresh organic cheeses from Straus milk. They still make clabbered cottage cheese, creme fraiche, and fromage blanc, but what they are most known for are some of their unique aged cheeses, especially the soft ripened bloomy rind Mt. Tam, Inverness and my favorite, the luxurious triple cream washed rind Red Hawk, so pungent and buttery, which won best of show at the American Cheese Society in 2003.

aging cheese
Peggy and Sue work with local organizations like Marin Organic and the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (where Sue is currently board chair) to ensure that farmland is protected.

Cowgirl Creamery cheese
At their main cheesemaking facility in Petaluma, not far from Straus dairy they use the freshest milk, and are particularly gentle with the cheese curds, creating very high quality cheeses.

Thanks Cathy! Come back and let's visit some more cheesemakers soon.

While Straus Family Creamery is not regularly open to tours, you can book ahead if you wish to visit Cowgirl Creamery or take a class.