Montag, 26. April 2010

cooking little

well, Friday I spent outside all day with the little ones, having lunch at Dotty‘s cafe in Nottingham, and ending up with some quick pasta in the evening as I was starving and cappati would have taken too long. On Saturday, we had a Bulgarian meal at a friend’s which was lovely (the biggest beans I have ever seen!) and yesterday I made a curry with a spice mix I bought in a tiny shop in South India so not much use sharing it here. Tonight I hope to be making some fried rice with bananas. Let‘s see.

Donnerstag, 22. April 2010

green mango dal & red kidney bean stew

I made this last night, taking most of the recipe from a collection called Andhra Gumagumalu by Vijayalaxmi Reddy - DH loves Andhra food! It came out pretty spicy, but the recipe called for even more green chillies and an additional tsp of chillipowder, so feel free to heat up!


1/2 cup toor dal
1/4 mung dal
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Pressure cook with 2 cups of water.

add
1 or 2 unripe mangoes cut into small pieces
1 or 2 small heads spring (pointed) cabbage, shredded
1 chopped tomato
salt
1 tsp sambar masala
1 tsp jaggery or brown sugar
1 tsp tamarind concentrate

1 tbsp ghee or oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
a few curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafetida
2 dried red chillies
1 hot green chilli
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 chopped onion
1 tsp urad dal - if you have
Heat the oil. Add the rest of the ingredients and fry well. Pour into dal-veg mix. Good with rice and papad.

This red kidney bean stew is what we had a few days ago. As it uses canned beans, it cooks quickly. We spooned it into wraps, added some shredded lettuce and a dollop of soured cream, and that what lovely. Would also work well with chappati or other bread. Here I owe Sushila Issar and Mrinal Kopecky for the recipe though I played with it, as usual.

2 cans red kidney beans, 1 drained
2 tbsp oil
1 cinnamon stick
2 onions finely chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp minced ginger
1/8-1/4 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
coriander leaves for garnish

Heat the oil. Roast the cinnamon stick for a few minutes, then add onions. When they are starting to brown, add tomatoes and ginger. Allow to simmer for 5 mins. Add chillipowder, turmeric, coriander and salt and cook for another minute or so. Add the beans with their liquid and the drained beans and simmer uncovered until it reaches desired consistency.

And today? Leftovers! Watch out for chappatis and a potato curry tomorrow.

Mittwoch, 21. April 2010

I am back!

quite ridiculous to resume this blog after more than a year, but hey. we have moved and had another baby and keep cooking and growing! only we`ve not had new things in days - the already posted wok veg (though with rice), the carrot pasta sauce… but this was new and nice:

tofu spread

a pack of tofu
4 tbsp walnut oil
4-6 tbsp walnuts
2-3 tbsp soy sauce
some chilli powder or black pepper
blend. nice with spelt bread.

we`ve had an amazing Easter brunch with our neighbours; here‘s a few things we made –

mushroom cream cheese

coarsely blend:
some sauteed mushrooms
plenty of dried or fresh herbs
cream cheese
black pepper

Slowenian Easter bread (I had to make this twice as it didn't rise first time around!)

500g plain or strong white flour
35g live yeast or 4 tsp dried yeast
180 ml lukewarm milk or water

Put the flour in a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Dissolve the yeast in the milk or water and wait till it bubbles. Then pour into the well and mix lightly with a little flour. Allow to sit for 30 min.
Cream the following ingredients well:
100g butter, melted
100g sugar
2 large or 3 small eggs
some grated lemon and/or orange peel
1 tsp ground cardamom
Mix the yeast into the flour well, then add the creamed ingredients and knead into a smooth dough. Allow prove until slightly risen (15-45 min), then work in
100g raisins or sultanas
100g ground almonds
Shape into a ball, put on a greased baking sheet and allow to rise well.
Bake at 180° C for about 45 min.

We also made a Ligurian Torta Pasquale, the recipe for which I might share next year :-)