daal makhani & channa chole masala

i had indian buffet on xmas & when i was eating, i couldn’t help thinking that i could do it better myself. so i began to crave daal makhani. i looked to see what beans i had on hand & found some pink lentils & yellow split peas. that will do. and a fat jar of ghee in my fridge i keep forgetting i have even though the recipe does not call for it but i happen to think it makes a huge difference.

then i saw these baby chick peas so i got them soaking, went to work, went shopping for the necessaries (ginger/garlic/green chili mixture is used in most asian cultures), a pomegranate (i had to roast the seeds & grind) & damnit! that amchoor powder again, which i could not locate without going to the indian hood. that’s mango powder & it keeps showing up in indian recipes. i have hing, but not amchoor powder. so i had to do without. i planned on also making channa chole masala.

i lined up the tools & spices that i was going to need before i left my house, soaked the beans & picked the rest up. i have to make these lines of ingredients because there’s’ SO many spices & ingredients in indian food that it’s easy to forget something. it’s also wise to have mostly whole spices on hand because sometimes you cook beans in the whole ones, like black cardamom & cinnamon sticks, & if needed ground, the very best you can do is roast it whole & grind it up yourself. seriously. this makes a HUGE difference.

the channa was cooked with tea bags! among other things. i’ve never done or thought of this before & it sure opens a lot of doors for me. think of all the kinds of tea out there! you can enhance just about anything with a tea bag!

who knew?

yes, this was time-consuming. but i don’t care. in the kitchen, i enjoy the long haul. one last thing. do NOT settle for crap basmati rice. buy the best you can find & steam it. don’t boil. this food is far too much work to ruin with bad rice.

today i’m going to make fresh paratha or chappatis. the dishes have had a chance to meld their spicy goodness in the fridge overnight & i’m certain it will taste even better.

another tip-when using the show me the curry site (i use it most of the time) & you want it even more authentic & punchy/spicy, you need to double or triple the spices. & seriously. roast it whole & grind it up. and don’t forget the kidney beans in the daal. it really makes a difference. in chicago here, we can’t get good fresh tomatoes this time of year so i just bought high quality canned & it worked probably better because of the added tomato juices.

this is perfect healthy winter comfort food. you can actually lose weight if you stick to this kind of food this time of year. i think i’m on my way to playing with more lentils & beans. with all the amazing spices & ghee, you don’t even miss the meat.

aloo gobi masala

i killed 2 birds with one stone. first of all, i had a dilemma of using up 2 tiny heads of orange & purple cauliflower & a bunch of tiny tri-colored potatoes from the local farmer’s market. i had also been craving indian food for a while, & most of the indian food in chicago is either too far of a trek or they suck or are overpriced. i’m pretty good at making indian food since i roast & grind all my own spices & have all of the proper spices stocked. like hing. it’s not an everyday american spice. but it’s important to the flavor.

show me the curry is the site i use most because they make it simple, there are videos with each recipe & they are real indian women sharing real indian food-not dumbed down for the american palate.

so i made aloo gobi masala. just had to pick up some frozen peas, a can of chopped tomatoes, cilantro & fresh ginger. there’s only carnicerias within walking distance, so i got it all except for the ginger. do mexicans even know what that is? luckily i had powdered, but you know. it’s just not the same. i was missing the amchur (dried powdered mango)-so i substituted cinnamon. they recipe uses microwaves & i don’t own one so i blanched my veggies. it also uses veg. oil. and i actually have ghee on hand & forgot to use it. when i make this again (and i will-it took only an hour), i will use real ginger, ghee & buy some amchur. i also need to replenish my indian spice rack because when spices sit a long time, they lose their flavor & freshness. really, if you want it to taste the best, roast the spices whole, grind & add as needed. it makes a HUGE difference. i also thought that even though i added one serrano pepper, it wasn’t hot enough for my palate. nor was it saucy enough, so i’ll probably do 2 cans of the chopped tomato, double all the spices, and make some chappatis to eat with it.

that’s what i like best about cooking. i’m always learning things & go back, try them again, & solve the problems. when it gets “perfected,” it’s easy to quickly whip up.

i believe part of the beauty of this dish were the potatoes. those tiny multi-colored ones left with the skin on have a velvety texture FAR superior to the standard idaho.

perfect chicken soup

i’ve been trying all kinds of different chicken to roast & use for various things. i always use thomas keller’s favorite roast chicken recipe because it’s simple & perfect. people don’t realize the big mistake of basting or adding butter under the skin. DRY is the key to cooking this to perfection. trust me.

i’ve been trying to cook more lately & eat better & it’s getting pretty cold outside now so i got up on a sunday, roasted another chicken in the morning, let it cook, tore off the meat & put it in a bowl in the fridge. then i took all the bones & skin, put in my new all-clad soup pot with an onion, a couple of cut carrots, some celery, rosemary, salt & pepper & made stock. it cooked for about 4-5 hours. i went to teach my class & when i got home, i did the soup. i cooked chopped onion in olive oil with salt for 10 minutes. then i added 4 chopped cloves of garlic & cooked a little more. added pepper, more salt & rosemary. then i added small cubed celery & carrots, sweat it with a little of the broth for around 10 minutes. then i added the desired amount of stock & more herbs & salt. reduced it a bit, & wasn’t satisfied. my friend was over who is also a good cook. he said he likes to put his in a bowl & add what he thinks is missing. because he has ruined a lot of entire pots of soup. i’ve never heard this before but it made perfect sense. i figured it out easily.

the juice of one lemon.

chef’s that i know often stress the acidic fact when i ask them questions about cooking. it was PERFECT. then i threw in the chicken. i left the pieces kind of big, which is awesome. i cooked good quality fat egg noodles on the side (never cook in the soup. it makes them gummy).

that’s it! cheap & easy, delicious & perfect for a cold day.

so far the best chicken i’ve used is the Amish. i love trying a different chicken every time i roast one. and i NEVER EVER buy stock from the store anymore. my freezer is filled with stock that i always need for something!

let’s explore & elevate the tamale

ok. i make tamales a lot. because i like them, because they are cheap, because i worked at frontera grill & learned a LOT there about chili, mexican cooking,& genrally learning how to roast stuff to get the sugars out. SO i went for it again.

holy crap. it literally took me 6 hours from start to finish. my back was hurting so much afterwards. tamales are not meant for the single cook. it’s for a factory line.

anyhoo…this time i used duck fat in the masa but i bought the wrong kind of masa-not harina, masa flour, but the kind for making tortillas. so…even with the duck fat it was just not that great imo.

just search my blog for my various tamale recipes & mistakes. i don’t want to bore you. however… get a group of pals together & do it. too much for one girl.

you have to soak the corn husks underwater for a good long time.

you have to roast your chicken thomas keller style & let it cool so you can break it apart.

take all the skin off & make crispy bacon out of it & add to chicken pulled off carcass. save it of course for most delish stock.

i roasted poblanos, cebajitos, serranos, garlic

cool all this stuff, chop & create an assemly line. then you have to make a sauce-i did tomatillo. the roasted garlic with store bought tomatillo, chopped roasted onions, serranos, spices. i put a bowl of average cheese as well.

the masa is an art in itself. combines masa harina, baking powder, salt, fat (crisco, lard, duck fat, which i used this time which was a waste imo) some stock, mix, set in fridge, knead & press into softened husks. then add the desired ingredients

you have to steam then for an hour and a half standing up. that’s it.

i’ve said it before. these are best if there are extra hands around to help out. worth it if you, like me, are a lover of the tamale & wish to see it elevated & explored!

the italian whore sammie

i meant to make burgers but the meat was frozen & i overcooked it in hot water trying to thaw it. so it partially cooked, making it impossible to form into a patty. i made the best out of it & decided to turn it into a meatloaf. puttanesca, i am told from an italian friend, means

whore

or more eloquently put

like a prostitute.

here’s what i did & what i used

ingredients

4 slices good smoked bacon fried to medium
2 lbs. organic ground chuck
2 T. hot giardinera
5 cloves garlic
one small onion fine chopped
2 eggs
1 bunch cilantro chopped
1 jar puttanesca sauce
long french baguette
butter
fresh mozzarella

in a bowl combine everything up to the baguette. save half of the puttanesca. chop up 3 inches into little slices & add to the mixture. put in a loaf pan & bake at 350 for 45 minutes covered. uncover & cook another 15. heat the puttanesca. butter & toast the baguette any size you want. put sliced mozzarella on bottom. slice & place loaf. bathe in more warm puttanesca. top with other half of baguette.

really great!

brussels w/chorizo & watermelon radish slaw

i purchased made in america-our best chefs reinvent comfort food from urban belly. bill kim’s recipe for brussels sprouts with chorizo is in it from his other restaurant belly shack. it’s a pretty easy recipe & super delish. the recipe is in the link. i highly recommend this beautiful hard cover book.

then i used watermelon radish that i got from farmer’s market. i had never used them before & i just received a mandolin for my birthday so i sliced this beautiful vegetable & then julienned to put inside of my creamy cole slaw instead of using carrots.

the green & purple baby cabbages, also from the farmer’s market, were cute & very fresh

the radish is slightly sweet & gorgeous. the slaw tasted fantastic! it’s cabbage season!

pot roast virgin

i’ve never made a pot roast before. i grew up on it with home-made dumplings, which i’ve made. you mix egg, flour, sugar & fork them into a pot of boiling water. cover in gravy. this was my initial intention, but after finding this recipe, i decided to re-think what i have always thought about the pot roast.

as you all know, i was without a stove for 15 years but still managed to cook just about anything i put my mind to. but it has it’s limits in terms of size, which is why i roasted 2 chickens at once & have now moved on to the 4 lb. pot roast.

i decided to combine the 6 dry-rub ingredients, rub it on charlene (yes i named the meat) & let her sit overnight. here is the rub

i never bought a cut of meat like this before so i went to a nearby butcher & they tied her up & got her ready. $28, which i guess is pretty expensive for chuck roast.

i purchased some in-house made garlic back bacon-an integral part of the browning process. you have to cube it, brown it, take it out & brown each 6 sides of the meat for 2 minutes each side. then you put a nice malbec into the sauce, reduce it, add stock & pour over everything.

set her on top of the bacon, surround with bay leafs, garlic cloves, shallots & white onions. pour reduction over her.

bake at 350 an hour, flip, stir & bake another hour. add the veggies & bake another 45.

how did it turn out? i had to cut the meat up & cook in sauce for another hour. the meat took awhile to fall apart. but after that last hour it was PERFECT. best pot roast i’ve ever tasted. what was SO amazing about it was the lightness of it. since there’s only root veggies-no starch or potatoes-you can eat a lot of it. the flavor from the amazing bacon pretty much rocked it out. i’m going to have a hard time sharing this with my friends today, but i promised it to them so i have to deliver.

damn!

thomas keller’s favorite roast chicken

i have never roasted a chicken before. mainly because i haven’t had a stove for 15 years & a student recently gave me a gas stove. i wanted to start with something simple & another student told me about thomas keller’s simple roast chicken recipe. this was PERFECT because all it required was salt, pepper & thyme. and a knowledge of tussing a chicken which was something foreign to me. you must tie it together so it cooks evenly.

handling a whole roaster was a bit strange. i had to sit it up while putting the salt & pepper inside of the carcass.

than i had to follow the step-by-step instruction for tussing for dummies

massage it in salt & pepper, place in a 450 degree oven uncovered for an hour. than you baste it a bit with it’s juices & fresh thyme & let it sit 15 minutes. that’s it! nothing else was required-not even gravy! hell-i wouldn’t ruin it by drowning it in gravy.

the potatoes i made were yukon gold slivered into onions, garlic & adobo on stovetop. than i finished it in the oven with fresh parmesean-reggiano, mashed it together & that was it. perfection! i have a feeling i’m going to be doing this on a regular basis. it’s too easy not to do. i have no idea how one can improve upon this recipe. it’s rated 4 forks with over 500 reviews on epicurious. it’s going to also make an awesome stock. i win!

roasted squash soup with spicy seeds

i’m not a fan of squash but since it’s in season & cheap, i decided to make roasted butternut squash soup with spicy seeds mainly because of the bizarre combination of ingredients-jalapenos (i used serrano instead), cilantro, apples, toasted seeds with cayenne, butter, heavy cream & the usual carrot/celery/onion soup suspects.

first you have to cut the squash in half & pull the seeds out of the fibers which can take some time. you rub it in olive oil & salt & bake skin up at 400 degrees for an hour. so give yourself some time. this soup took me almost 2 hours to complete.

you wash & dry the seeds, roast them & toss in melted butter/cinnamon/cayenne, set aside & top the soup with it. it’s best to stir it in because it’s like a paste. then you chop some tart apples & cilantro & top it off.

it’s a pretty yummy soup that can be made vegetarian (i used chicken stock) & perfect for the cool fall weather. make sure you toast the seeds well because they can get mushy if they aren’t well toasted. next time i make it i’m going to add a couple extra serrano peppers & toast the seeds stove top in a cast iron skillet rather than putting it in the oven. extra cilantro is also a good idea-the cilantro with the squash is a nice pairing.

hearty & sweet, this is meant to be eaten as a cup rather than a big bowl so it’s best as a light lunch, snack or appetizer.

hand rolled maki

maki rolls take loads of practice. to get it just right you have to do all the right things. first of all, you must have a sushi mat to roll them. easy to find at your local asian grocery. i have 2 sizes. it’s also a very good idea to have a rice steamer. what you put into the roll is entirely up to you.

first steam short grain sushi rice. when it’s done, drizzle in some rice wine vinegar, toss it about & let it cool. then get your ingredients sliced long & thin. this version has smoked salmon, green onions, avocado & cucumber. you also need a bowl of water to dip your fingers into as you roll or the sticky rice will stick to your hands. i prepare all of this before i begin. you also need a pack of nori sheets.

lay your nori sheet down & carefully spread it with the rice. it’s tricky to get this even & takes practice. then put your ingredients inside but not too close to the edge.

use the mat to roll as tightly as possible. practice makes perfect.

use a very sharp wet knife to carefully cut into slices. serve with wasabi soy &/or spicy mayo. spicy mayo is so good & easy. simply whip mayo & sriracha chili sauce together.

itadakimasu