Chaayran: chaas or ayran?

Last time I was in Istanbul, I made acquaintance with the Turkish yogurt drink, ayran. It was reminiscent of the Indian yogurt drink chaas. Here is my version drawing form both with an African touch- baobab. Enjoy.

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Blender with whipping disk.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 2.

  • 1 cup yogurt + 1 cup water with
    • 1 tsp baobab powder + juice of 1/2 lime
    • 1/2 tsp grated ginger (optional)
    • 1/2 tsp black salt powder + dash of regular salt
  • Garnish (optional): lime zest

METHOD

Run all ingredients except garnish in a blender with a whipping disk, for a minute. Pour into serving glass and garnish.

Serve with meals.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. Ayran is usually served with grilled meat and chaas is usually a summer drink with meals.
  2. The ratio of 3/4 cup yogurt to 1 1/2 cup water also works out well.
  3. You could add spices like cumin powder, chilli powder and herbs such as cilantro, mint.

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Koginut Mochi Waffle

Winter farmers market (TASH) ingredients in action! Koginut and mochi pancake mix. Koginut is a cross between a kabocha and butternut squash. It’s natural sweetness and butteriness is amazing and makes a fantastic mochi waffle. Enjoy!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Food processor; Waffle maker.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 koginut squash yielding 2 cups pulp
  • 2 cups mochi waffle/pancake flour
  • 2 tbsp EVOO
  • about 1 cup milk

METHOD

Halve and scoop out the seeds. Brush a little EVOO and bake the koginut at 350 F for about an hour. Do not peel and run in food processor, with a little milk, if required. Let cool.

Mix 2 cups of mochi pancake flour with the squash pulp and add enough milk to make thick batter. Mix in the EVOO.

Use 1/2 cup batter per waffle. Follow instructions on your waffle maker. Makes 7-8.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. I did not use the ube extract in the mochi ube pancake/waffle packet (https://sitsirya.square.site/) since I was using koginut squash.
  2. The koginut squash is sweet enough, that you may not even need maple syrup to go with your waffle.

Sweet potato ube mochi waffle: Steam a large sweet potato (approx 1 lb) in microwave until done (approx 5+3 mins). Peel and mash and proceed as for the squash waffle.

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Atole

Tejate is also a masa based drink, a specialty of Oaxaca (see also my Insta post) but atole appears to be a friendlier drink in terms of producing it from scratch, right in your very own kitchen. Lightly thickened by masa, with all the aroma heavy-hitters (cinnamon, vanilla), this drink is amazingly comforting. Enjoy hot on a cold winter day.

SPECIAL TOOLS:

None.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 1 solo drink.

  • 1/2 cup milk + 1/2 cup water with
    • Flavor: 1 large stick of cinnamon
    • Sweetener: 1-2 tbsp brown sugar
    • Flavor enhancer: a dash of salt
  • Slurry: 1 tsp masa harina mixed with about 2 oz water
  • Extra flavor: 2 drops of vanilla essence
  • Garnish: dust of cinnamon powder

METHOD

In a thick-bottomed pot, bring the liquid base with its fortifying ingredients to a slow simmer. Then remove the cinnamon stick. Mix in the slurry and the vanilla essence. Simmer on low, while stirring so that lumps don’t form nor stick to the bottom. When it is thick enough (coats the back of a spoon). Pour into a serving latte cup and dust with cinnamon powder.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. Enjoy your atole in your atelier! 🙂
  2. The drink is adapted from https://www.isabeleats.com/mexican-atole/.
  3. I leave the cinnamon stick (if it does not break) till the very end.
  4. Atole is reminiscent of Turkish Salep, both in texture and a flavor array. The star in Salep is an orchid tuber (see wiki) and the flavors are orange blossom/ rose water with pistachio dustings. In my last trip to Istanbul, I brought back a box of Salep drink, but was disappointed to find that it had no tuber but substitutes like corn starch. A lesson learnt: read ingredients list very carefully.

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Gingerbread Mooncake

No added-sugar. But better than gingerbread and even mooncake! These delectables stole the show this Christmas. Enjoy!

Special tools:

Mooncake mould, silicone brush to grease the mould; food processor; dehydrator or a proofer.

Ingredients

  • Flour base: 3/4 cup rolled oats + 1/4 cup buckwheat groats + 1/4 cup almond flour
  • Sweetening: 1 cup packed dates OR 1 cup dehydrated apricots OR 1 cup processed apricot-fig mix
  • Sweet aromatics: 1 tbsp cinnamon + 1 tsp ginger powder + 1/2 tsp nutmeg + 1/4 tsp clove powder + 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • dash of salt
  • little EVOO to grease the mould

Pulse and mix all the ingredients in a food processor till it comes together. Divide into 15-18. Generously grease the 50-gm-mould with EVOO and stamp out each cake (press to compact and then release).

Optional: Dehydrate at 115 F for 2 hours.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. Adapted from Amanda Le’s https://rawamanda.com
  2. Processed apricot-fig mix. Dice the fruits and place in a pyrex cup. Add just enough water to moisten. Microwave for 3-4 minutes till the water is absorbed, softening the dried fruits.
    The processed dry fruits makes it a little more moist than no-process.

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Peruvian corn with Kizami Nori

While the usual puffed corn is an addictive accompaniment to entertaining activities like movie watching, the large Peruvian corn is quite something else! Different, substantial, delectable, and easy-peasy to make! Use your usual popcorn maker- say a microwave popcorn maker (red bowl in picture). The usual way is to toast the Peruvian corn is on a hot skillet, but I find the microwave pop corn maker quite convenient Since the large corn does not increase in volume, you can “pop” larger amounts, like 1 cup, in one go –with a little EVOO- both for flavor and popping. Then garnish with Japanese kizami nori (which is toasted and shredded edible seaweed). Quick and easy. Intriguingly delicious. Enjoy!

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Apple Custard Cake

At my last tango session, Jane brought a homemade apple pie/cake for the class. It was as delicious as it was beautiful!! I don’t have her recipe, but here is a French-inspired apple custard cake that I had experimented with over some time. Very delectable, almost as that of Jane’s. Enjoy!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Springform pan.

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 granny-smith apples; 1 tbsp Calvados + 1 tsp lemon juice
  • Dry ingredients: 1 cup whole wheat cake flour + 2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt + 1 cup sugar
  • Wet ingredients: 1 1/2 tbsp chia seeds soaked in 1/2 cup almond milk + 1/2 cup EVOO + 1 egg + 1 cup almond milk
  • Custard : 1 egg yolk
  • Upper crust: 1 tbsp almond flour; 1 tbsp granulated sugar

METHOD

Peel and core apples. Cut each apple into eight slices and cut each slice into about 3 pieces. Cover and microwave for about 3 minutes. Mix in the calvados and lime juice.

Cake-mix: Mix all dry ingredients with wire whisk. Mix all wet ingredients with wire whisk. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together.

Upper crust: Take a cup of the cake-mix and mix in the almond flour.

Mix the custard ingredients with the rest of the cake-mix. Mix in the chopped apples. Pour into the greased springform pan. Top with the upper crust and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake at 325 F for 1 hour or until done.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. Grease the springform pan. Or, if possible, line the base with greased parchment paper.
  2. You can reduce the sugar to 2/3 cup+1tbsp.
  3. The microwaved apples will be rubbery, but not mushy. But it bakes perfectly.
  4. The almond milk in this recipe was homemade. So the almond flour can be fortified with the milk residue as well.

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