Peach Puff

My sister-in-law made an amazing Napolean (Mille-feuille) cake and the curious in me asked too many questions. So much so, she packed me home a bag of 1 lb (Russian) pastry sheet. It occupied the freezer until an occasion (Labor Day cook-out ) presented itself. I confess, in the past, I have laboriously made puff pastry from scratch, with buttering and rolling and folding on and on. For hours. All on chilled slabs.

But the store-bought one was a breeze! Here is a fruit pinwheel. Enjoy!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Muffin pans.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 6.

  • 1 lb puff pastry
  • 2-3 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced into moons
  • little EVOO to spray the muffin pan
  • Peach or any other jam

METHOD

Thaw the frozen pastry and work while it is pliable but still cold. If it gets too warm, leave in the refrigerator for a few minutes. I unwrapped the sheet on parchment, placed another layer of parchment on top and rolled thin. Score the rectangle to make 6 equal-sized strips.

Keep the muffin tray ready by spraying with EVOO.

Work with each strip at a time (keeping the others between parchment in the refrigerator, else it may get too warm). Brush the jam and place 2 to 3 layers of halfmoon peaches with the curved sided of the moon facing out (see picture). Fold the strip over. Roll tightly and place in muffin cup.

Bake at 375 F for 30-40 mins or until golden brown.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. My muffin tray had 6 cups, so I made 6 large puffs. But if yours has 8, you could make 8 delicate puffs from 1 lb of puff pastry.
  2. This was inspired by youtube’s Delish recipe.
  3. You could garnish with powdered sugar.
  4. Mille-feuille (thousand leaves) is a mathematical pastry. Let me explain. Repeated folding and rolling gives you 3^6 = 729 layers. It is rounded off to one thousand. If you repeat the process again (which is not usually done), you will get 3^7 = 2187, way larger than one thousand. QED.

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Two-Way Gajar Halwa

No added sugar, no ghee!! Then, is it any good ? I have it from my fussiest that indeed it is finger-licking good.

Here is a little, soft primer on “you are what you eat” or what La Nutritionista says. Added sugar –such as cane sugar or honey or maple syrup or agave or any syrup– toys with one of your body organs (say, pancreas via insulin) while sugar, such as in fruits or vegetables, can be viewed as contributing to the total calorie intake . The latter has more leeway than the former in your meal planning. So averting added sugar in favor of natural sugar may be a sound strategy.

Back to the carrot pudding. The sweetness in this halwa comes from the natural sugars in dried apricots. With a tiny dose, the halwa replaces your breakfast cereal, and, with a stronger dose turns into a dessert . Moreover, it is embarrassingly simple to make. Enjoy both-ways!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Microwave; food processor (or grater), coffee/spice grinder.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4.

  • 2 cups finely grated carrot + 1 cup milk
  • 3 dried apricots finely diced, and nuked in microwave with 1/2 cup water for 2 mins until very soft and fragrant
  • 2 tbsp powdered raw cashews + 2 tbsp whole raw cashews + 2 tbsp raisins
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
  • Optional topping: 1 tbsp mulberries soaked in 1/4 cup black cherry rum

METHOD

Place ingredients (except cardamom) in a microwavable bowl. Cover loosely with damp kitchen towel and nuke at 50% power for 20 mins or so (in intervals of 8 mins, say).

When done, mix in the cardamom powder. Serve hot or chilled.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. The traditional halwa is slow cooked for hours with generous amount of sweetener and ghee. My daughter is the fussiest eater I know and a fierce critic. She found this lighter version of halwa finger-licking good!
  2. You can powder the raw cashews in a spice/coffee grinder. About 1 1/2 tbsp cashews yield 2 tbsps of powder.
  3. In pressure cooker: Place ingredients (except cardamom) in a pressure-safe bowl and pressure cook for 15 mins.
  4. Recommendation by AHA/CDC is to limit the consumption of added sugars to a few teaspoons a day. Check the different resources in your country for the exact recommended number that best matches your health profile.
  5. For the sweeter version of the halwa use 6 dried apricots in 3/4 cup water. Surprisingly, when the apricot cooks in water it is fragrant like a mithaiwala’s sugar syrup!
  6. The recipe is inspired from Indian Instant Pot Cookbook, by Urvashi Pitre (that used about 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tbsp ghee).

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Sakura Rice Pudding

When the much awaited cherry blossom (sakura) tea arrived, all the way from Japan, it was a little anticlimactic to see “Lipton” stamped on it. Nevertheless, the floral scented tea did not disappoint! So much so, that I tried a sakura-infused rice pudding. It turned out even more delicious. Enjoy!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Coffee/spice grinder, microwave.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 2.

  • 2 cups milk
  • 4 sakura tea bags
  • 2 tbsps powdered brown rice (coarsely ground in a coffee/spice grinder)
  • 1 tbsp sugar (or more, to taste)
  • Garnish: raisins or Blackstrap molasses or berries or pitted, halved cherries

METHOD

Heat the milk to scalding (about 3-4 mins in microwave). Place the tea bags and let steep (for about 1 hour). Remove the teabags and add the rice powder to the milk and cook in microwave till thickened (at 60% power for 5 mins, stir and repeat two more times). Add the sugar and mix well. The mixture thickens as it cools.

Serve hot or chilled with the garnish.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. This is a simple, entirely-in-microwave rendition of a rice pudding.
  2. I used 2% milk, but any milk will do, even skimPlus. After adding the tea bags, to get a stronger extraction, you can nuke it for a 1 minute.
  3. The rice can be ground in a spice grinder or coffee grinder. It should not be a very find grind: coarse is good.
  4. Blackstrap molasses? See https://purba.blog/2023/07/30/horchata-matcha-with-blackstrap-molasses/
  5. This is similar to Indian kheer, or, phirnee/firni. Another variation is to set it in individual ramekin or even blancmange molds. Inverting from a mold would need the consistency to be even thicker.
  6. Garnishing sakura (cherry blossom) pudding with cherries reminds me of the Japanese dish called oya-ko (parent-child) donburi which refers to chicken-egg. Oya-ko being cherry blossom-fruit.
  7. Lavender pudding with lychee. I have used lavender to scent the pudding and chopped lychee as garnish. Has been a big hit. You can get culinary dried lavender buds from your spice/tea store, if it is fancy enough 🙂 Make sure it is culinary. It is indeed worth the trouble to locate such a source.
  8. Cardamom infused pudding. The Indian in me, of course, has infused rice pudding with cardamom, with incredible results.

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Horchata Matcha with Blackstrap Molasses

Mexican horchata with Japanese matcha tea. The rice and the molasses combo is reminiscent of my Indian grandmother’s rural kitchen. It has become my favorite kick-back, unwind, Sunday afternoon latte and is sure to challenge all your lattes. Enjoy!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

High powered blender or Nutr.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 1 solo drink.

  • In 1 1/2 cup water in a mason jar, soak overnight:
    • grain: 1/2 tbsp brown rice OR millet +
    • nuts: 1 tbsp almonds OR pecan+
    • aromatic: 1/3 stick cinnamon OR 1 whole cardamom +
    • a dash of Himalayan pink salt
  • Green matcha tea (optional): 1 tsp matcha powder, with 1 tbsp hot water, well mixed
  • Sweetener: 1 tbsp agave OR blackstrap molasses

METHOD

Run the horchata ingredients with the water through a blender or Nutr and strain back into the mason jar. Heat and add the green tea, if using, and the sweetener.

Serve hot or iced.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. Blackstrap molasses has all the goodness of a regular sweetener but –almost impossibly!- is also an ingredient of clean eating. Check https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-blackstrap-molasses
    However, it also dominates the flavor, so if you want your cardamom to come through you may use a more neutral sweetener like agave.
  2. The horchata is adapted from https://www.thehealthymaven.com/iced-horchata-latte/.
  3. For the hot version of the tea, I use the microwave to warm the horchata (1 min at 60% power; but you may want to adjust with yours).

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Tejate-inspired Holiday Drink

The beginning of summer deserves a new drink. I was exposed to tejate in a food market in Oaxaca, where masa (processed -nixtamalized- corn) and water was being mixed manually. The process looked both impressive and intriguing (see also my Instagram post). And, the concept of masa in a cacao drink is equally fascinating. Lacking talent and patience, I resort to a high powered blender, substituting hyper-local flora with baru nuts (of South American origin) and a final spike (Cacao liqueur)!! This was my Memorial Day holiday’s final drink- a resounding hit. Enjoy!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

High powered blender.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 3 small drinks.

  • 2 tbsps (toasted) baru nuts + 2 tbsp good quality cacao powder + 2 tbsp masa harina
  • 2 cups coconut water + 1/2 cup ice
  • 1 dash of salt + 1 tsp almond essence 1 tbsp of maple syrup
  • cacao liqueur (optional)

METHOD

Run all ingredients, except liqueur, in blender till well mixed. Serve chilled, with a dash (or more) of cacao liqueur.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. You could use any other nut like almonds or cashews.
  2. I wanted to use lilac flowers, but I missed the blooming season by a week or so. Alas! May be next year. Orange blossoms or lavender or bergamot could be very good choices too (they are in my list to-experiment list)
  3. Even coffee liqueur is a good choice.

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Turkish coffee: my way

I approached the traditional coffee in Istanbul with some trepidation –having heard quite aplenty about strong, unfiltered coffee– But I was mildly surprised with how good and addictive the coffee was (with a dash of sugar). Not at all uncommon to find little, medium or more sugar in the coffee of Istanbul denizens. The coffee is generally served with water (in a little 2 oz glass) and the quintessential confection, a Turkish delight.

The coffee sets with the tiny coffee cups and matching trays, in engraved copper, looked very enticing in Grand Bazaar. I instantly succumbed. I also bought a matching coffee pot (cezve) with intricate carvings in the body and the characteristic long handle. It looked so small to me that I mistook it for a single-cup pot and complained to the shopkeeper; he promptly pointed me to an even tinier (single-cup) pot.

There are even electric coffee makers that one of my Turkish hostesses used, claiming she even carried them with her when she traveled. But I had been seduced by the copper stove-top ones. The coffee is surprisingly easy to make. Here goes.

Coffee grounds: The Turkish coffee ground is very, very fine. Like flour. If you grind your own, use your finest setting. If you use a scale, then approx 7 gms per cup. By volume, 1/2 tbsp (or 1 1/2 tsp) grounds per cup. Each Turkish cup is about 2 oz (a demitasse).

Extraction: For 1 cup (approx 2 oz) of coffee, place 1/2 tbsp ground coffee in a dry cezve. Note, the 2 serving cezve is about 6 oz. Using the serving cup as a measure, pour 1 cup of water into the pot. Mix well. Then place on very low heat. Do NOT stir. In a few minutes, the mixture froths and begins to rise from the sides. Quickly pour about half the contents into the cup with the crema on top. Then put the pot back on the heat and let the remaining half froth up again for the final time. Then pour the second half into the cup. The crema on top is a sign of a good extraction (just like an Italian espresso, although the latter is filtered).

My way: I experimented with half milk and half water OR all milk, instead of all water. And, no sugar. It has been consistently turning out great. With rich crema. Enjoy the way or my way!!

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