Category: Small bites

Father’s Day: Sprouting Cauliflower Pulihora

A Sprouting Cauliflower showed up in the CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) bag this week for Father’s Day. With a quick internet scan I learn that it is also called Chinese Cauliflower in Asian markets, though its genesis is attributed to a Japanese breeder.

Don’t be distracted by its disheveled, shaggy looks. In fact it is a sweeter version of the regular old cauliflower. I take inspiration from my friend’s Mom who makes the best Andhra-style pulihora (tamarind rice) in town. I do a half-and-half. Curry leaf infused, mild rice –to elicit all the sweetness of the sprouting cauliflower– paired with hot, naughty pulihora. This will knock your socks off. Enjoy!

Sprouting Cauliflower Rice
Sprouting Cauliflower
Special tools:

Processor; microwave.

Ingredients

  • In Processor: 1 Sprouting Cauliflower + 3-4 stalks of curry leaves
  • 1 tsp puliogare powder (or any other spice mix of your choice)
  • 1 tsp oil
  • salt to taste

Method

Pulse in the processor till coarsely riced. Cover with damp paper towel and microwave for 4-5 minutes, till al dente but not mushy. Mix in salt to taste. Divide into two equal portions. Heat oil in a pan and very lightly toast the spice powder and mix in one half of the riced cauliflower.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. Ricing the cauliflower is also a good use of the stem portion of the head. If you can handle heat, then also pulse in half a green chilli.
  2. I use a store bought puliogare powder, perhaps to the horror of my friend’s Mom. It works out fine, although nothing beats a homemade mix.
  3. If too hot, serve with yogurt.

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Fermented Black Garlic Beet Greens

The star of the show is fermented black garlic that can pass off as a sweet, fruity grape. The caramel-colored sauce is tremendous in this cobbler of a side dish- but could steal the stage from the best centerpiece. Enjoy!


SPECIAL TOOLS:.

Pressure cooker.

Ingredients

  • 4-5 Beet Green Stems: leaves separated from stems, chopped, and stems diced
  • 5-6 fermented black garlic, halved
  • Flavoring agents: 1 tbsp EVOO + 1 whole red chilli crushed + salt to taste
  • Sweet-sour agent: 2 tbsp pomegranate juice
  • Finishing sauce: 1/2 can coconut milk + 1 tbsp sesame paste, whisked together

Method

Heat oil and saute the diced stems for 3-4 minutes. Add the red chillies and continue to saute for 15 secs and 1 cup water with the pomegranate juice. Add the black garlic and salt. Cook under medium pressure for 10 minutes.

Whisk in the finishing sauce and warm to serve.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:
  1. Any greens can be used. In fact, a mixture of kohlrabi and beets works as well. So does, collard greens or kale.
  2. The fermentation is a complicated process, and it turns the garlic black. It plumps up in the cooking absorbing liquid and turns surprisingly fruity.

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Grilled Stuffed Paneer

How do you take paneer (homemade chena) up a notch? By grilling it with a surprise accent!

This one explodes with flavor at every bite, from a secret filling: spicy Indian-pickle brine. Make the pressed chena as here. To stuff: slit the cheese block into two flat halves and brush with Indian pickle brine on the two insides surfaces as shown in picture. Press the two halves back together into whole. Brush the outside surface lightly with EVOO and grill for 3-4 minutes on each side. Enjoy!

Green Egg Grilled Homemade Paneer. This weekend menu had a grilled spatchcocked chicken and homemade paneer. Both used an Indian curry spice rub. Guess which one got the crown. The paneer! The irony was that a two quart milk carton was turning sour (was it due to the unusually hot summer days?) and with my Indian sensibility of waste, I turned the on-its-way-to-turning-sour milk into paneer and whey.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. The pressed homemade cheese is perfect for this.
  2. Store bought Indian mango pickle was used here. You could marinade for a few hours or refrigerate overnight in a ziplock bag.
  3. Since the grilling is light, a stove top grill also works out well. But as it turned out in the second one, the paneer was resilient even to the Big Green Egg. So, no fear there.

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Sour Beet Clear Soup

Recently when I saw the news of a drive to get Unesco recognition of borscht, I was reminded on my trips to Wrocław and Warszawa. I was particularly smitten by their sour soups.

Here is my version of the Polish barszcz. Although many suggest to simply use lemon juice or vinegar for the sourness, I just simply could not not sour the beets (kwas). I found the beet fermentation is not as daunting as one might think. Moreover, kwas is a refreshing drink as well, with all the goodness of fermentation.

The clear ruby soup is not just an eye candy but also a delectable delight. Enjoy!


SPECIAL TOOLS:

Fermentation Crock, pressure cooker.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 4

  • Kwas: 2 lbs beet, peeled and sliced + 2 slices of rye bread
  • Soup:
    • Beet stock : 2 large beets + vegetables (1 medium celeriac root+ 1 large carrot + 1 large onion), peeled and sliced
    • 1 oz dehydrated mushroom (lion’s mane) soaked in a cup of water for few hours
    • Seasoning: 2 crushed garlic + 1 tbsp butter + salt & sugar to taste

METHOD

Kwas: Place the beet in the crock. Boil plenty of water and let cool till lukewarm. Then add to the beets, so that it is 1 inch above the beets. Add the bread slice. Cover with cheese cloth and a lid and let ferment for at least three days. Then remove the bread with a spatula. Using a strainer lined with cheese cloth, strain the liquid and store in mason jars.

Beet stock: Pressure cook all the vegetables in 8 cups of water (or about 1/2 inch above the level of vegetables) till tender. Strain to extract the clear stock.

Soup: Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 mins: 7 cups of stock + 3 cups kwas + 1/2 cup hydrating mushroom liquid + 2 cloves of garlic. Mix in 1 tbsp butter and turn off heat. Serve with sauteed mushrooms.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. I adapted from Fresh from Poland (by Michal Korkosz) and this online source.
  2. Kwas turned out to be a delicious drink, with a touch of sourness (think of it as a vegan chaas). If you don’t have a Fermentation Crock, you can use just a mason jar or a ceramic pot.
  3. You can use lemon juice (or vinegar) to taste, if you don’t want to go through the kwas fermenting process.
  4. You can also use parsnip, celery, leek etc. For the beet stock, as a rule of thumb use 2 lbs beet to 1 lb veggies.
  5. Instead of mushroom dumplings, I use simply sautéed mushrooms.
  6. The pressure cooker really softens the veggies, so the leftover pulp can be mashed with a masher. Mix with some chickpea flour (besan) to soak in the moisture + salt + spices (chilli powder, garlic powder and cumin) and press into a thin layer on a parchment lined tray. Score and bake for 25-30 mins. See picture below. Peel off the parchment and enjoy!

Kwas:

Soup:

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Laba: 8 Treasure Congee

I was introduced, in Wuhan, to the Laba porridge tradition some months before the infamous outbreak and lockdown. I have sweet memories of Wuhan and when the Laba Day rolled around this year, I marked my weekend for a quiet celebration. In a bizarre coincidence, 76 Days, a documentary on the 76 days of lockdown in Wuhan, was made specially available on MTV for today –the anniversary of the start of Wuhan lockdown– in support of local theaters affected by the pandemic. Made for a heart-wrenching viewing.

Back to Laba. You will be surprised –as I was– to learn a possible India connection to this ancient tradition: the day commemorates the enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautam Budha. History is always so fascinating.

Here I adapt the 8-treasure congee, with some minor embellishments (hope my little transgressions from tradition will be pardoned). The result was unbelievably addictive. Enjoy!


SPECIAL TOOLS:

Pressure cooker.

INGREDIENTS

  • Four grain-legumes treasures:
    • 1/2 cup glutinous (sticky) rice + 2 tbsp black rice + 1 tbsp mung + 1 tbsp red beans
  • Four fruit-nut treasures:
    • 5 dried red Chinese dates (jujubes) + 10 dried Longan berries + 1 tbsp peanuts + 1 tbsp walnuts
  • Serving embellishments (optional)
    • Creaming, per serving: some almond milk OR 1 tbsp sweet condensed milk
    • Topping: dusting of ginger-brown sugar+finely diced dried Longan berries

METHOD

Soak the rice and legumes overnight (or for at least 2 hours) and drain. Pressure cook, on high pressure, the 8 treasures in 5 cups water for 15 mins. Serve warm.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. All the ingredients can be bought in the Chinese grocery stores or online.
  2. The dried longans taste like candy!
  3. I had bought my ginger-brown sugar from Wuhan. But you can substitute with a mix of dry ginger powder and brown sugar (1/8 tsp ginger powder+ 3 tbsp brown sugar).
  4. Savory Scallop Congee: A delicious savory congee. (Dried scallops was an impulse purchase in Hong Kong)
    • In a crockpot or slow cooker, add the following and cook on slow for 6-8 hrs
      • 1 cup long grain rice + 1 1/2 cup dried scallops (OR 2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken thighs)
      • 1/2 cup diced tender Kale stems + 1/2 cup mushrooms
      • Aromatics: 3 scallions diced + 1 inch ginger, sliced + 4 garlic pods + 2 dried red chillies
      • Cooking liquid: 4 cups water + 4 cups light stock (OR just 8 cups of water)
    • Garnish: chopped scallions, coriander leaves, lime and crushed peanuts

Back to Laba Congee:

Barley Pudding: Surprisingly delicious and creamy! Yellow moong dal is unusual for a pudding and even without the usual sweetener (brown sugar), this will win over the hearts of even the ardentest pudding fans!

Pressure cook on high for 20 minutes:
3/4 cup pearl barley, dry toasted + 1/4 cup yellow split moong dal, soaked for at least 1 hr and drained
+ 1/2 cup chopped apricots + 1/2 cup cranberries
+ 1 tsp cinnamon powder + 1/2 tsp vanilla
+ 4 cups water
(optional) serve with maple syrup or topping (raisins)

Back to Laba (with dehydrated jack fruit and dehydrated roselle hibiscus topping). In my recent trip to Taipei, I brought back dried roselle, on the recommendation of a local. It was not a mistake! In this laba (where dried jackfruit is used one of the fruits with dried cranberries, prunes and jujubes to make the four fruits of the eight treasures), the topping was the star. [I display the original label of dried roselle, for the Mandarin-literate].

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Halloween Cassava Pumpkin Waffles

Halloween is upon us, pandemic or not. It will be a quiet one this year. But a nail-biting election on its heels. Good luck to the contestants and may the planet win!

Back to small things. Pumpkin on the menu. Cassava flour was a serendipitous discovery in the pantry but it went so well with the pumpkin that I was compelled to blog. Enjoy!

Special tools:

Waffle maker; silicone brush

Ingredients

Makes 5 large waffles

  • Dry ingredients: 2 cups cassava flour + 1 tsp baking powder +1/2 tbsp cooking soda + 2 tbsp Maca powder (optional) + 1 tsp pumpkin spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, grated fresh ginger) + dash of salt
  • Wet ingredients: 2 cups pumpkin (a 15oz can) + 1 cup yogurt + 2 eggs + 2 tbsp oil

Method

Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately with a wire whisk. When well mixed, pour the wet into the dry. The leavening ingredients make the batter light.

You will not be able to pour the batter. Instead, using a measuring cup, place 1 cup of the thick batter at a time in the waffle maker (follow manufacturer’s instructions). Brush a little oil at each use with the silicone brush.

Serve warm with maple syrup.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. Cassava flour is the same as yuca flour– just make sure the bag is not labeled starch. This flour is a good substitute to wheat flour, but without the baggage. And, doubles the calorie and a truck-load of nutrients. But, you can indulge in it just for its delicious appeal.
  2. Pumpkin can threaten the waffle to be softer- but cassava is a good crisping complement.
  3. Sweet potato can be used in place of pumpkin: steam 3-4 medium sized ones in the microwave in their jackets (wrapped in moist kitchen towel) for a few minutes. Cool, peel and mash.
  4. Sans cassava: Another fantastic version with the flour mix: 1/4 cup flour each of oat, black rye, almond and coconut.
  5. Sans pumpkin: Here are a few flour mixes that turn out equally marvelous even without the pumpkin.
    Makes 3-4 large waffles or about 8 pancakes on a griddle
    • Dry ingredients 1 1/3 cup flour (one of the mixes from below) + 1 tbsp baking powder + dash of salt
      • 1 cup brown rice flour + 1/3 cup coconut flour OR
      • 1/3 cup oat flour + 1/3 cup black rye flour + 1/3 cup brown rice flour + 1/3 cup coconut flour OR
      • 1 cup brown rice flour + 1/6 cup coffee flour; 1/6 cup coconut flour OR
      • 1/3 cup regular white flour + 1/3 cup brown teff flour + 1/3 cup buckwheat flour + 1/3 cup millet flour
    • Wet ingredients: 1 ½ cups buttermilk + 2eggs +2 tbsp oil
  6. Date syrup is another pleasant accompaniment to the waffles/pancakes.

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