Bilimbi

They are called bilimbi in India or kamias in the Philippines. In fact, they are almost unheard of outside the tropical countries. They are used as a souring agent because of their tart taste.

They are just awesome either cooked or eaten raw with salt and spice. (Link.)

Cashew Curry

This recipe really really rocks!

(Source: S. H. Fernando with some help from Peter Kuruvita.)


Cashew Curry

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups raw cashews
1/2 tsp turmeric

1 onion (diced fine)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2" piece ginger (minced)
2" stalk lemongrass
3-5 green chillies
1 sprig curry leaves

1 tbsp Maldive fish flakes

1 tbsp coriander powder
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup cilantro (diced fine)
salt to taste

Recipe

Soak the cashews in water overnight. Yes, this is important.

Boil the cashews along with the turmeric until tender roughly 10-12 minutes. The CC used fresh turmeric but feel free to use the powdered stuff. Drain and set aside.

In a pan, heat some oil. When shimmering, add the curry leaves. Be careful since they tend to splatter. Add the onions, green chillies, garlic, lemongrass, ginger and fish flakes and fry for a bit till the onions are soft but not so much that they caramelize.

Add the cashews and the coconut milk, and bring to a boil on low heat. Add the coriander powder and let cook for about 6-7 minutes at a very low heat.

Sprinkle the cilantro just before serving.

Rice

Ingredients

1 cup basmati rice
6 pods cardamom
1 leaf pandanus (optional)

1 3/4 cups water.

Recipe

Fry the whole cardamoms in some oil until fragrant. Add the rice and the pandanus leaf and fry till well coated. Add the water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and let cook covered until done (roughly 10 minutes.)

Dinner chez le CC

Mizuna Salad
Broiled Hake with miso, mirin and shoyu

♥

Roasted Garlic and Duck-fat Ciabatta
New York Cheddar

♥

Strawberries

Summer Sizzle

The city has gone from cold and rainy to muggy and stifling in the blink of an eye! Even eating is hard to do let alone contemplate slaving over a hot stove for hours.

In that spirit, here's a terrific recipe for a marinade for fish.

Two tablespoons white miso, 4 tbsp mirin, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 4 tbsp sake.

Marinade the fish.

Put in a broil-proof pan, add more of the marinade on top and broil for four minutes.

Serve with a cool salad.

Cooking Myths (Part 3)

There seems to be pervasive myth that if you remove the seeds from a green chilli then it loses its heat.

Except that all the heat of a chilli is in the skin not the seeds.

Remove them for aesthetic reasons but don't be under any delusion that you are reducting the heat quotient!

Dancing Fish Flakes

One of the spookiest presentation tricks used in Japanese pub food (izakaya) is topping hot food like takoyaki (fried octopus balls) with very thin shavings of katsuobushi.

The heat rising from the freshly fried food makes the thin shavings vibrate to and fro like seaweed.

It's both spectacular and creepy at the same time!

Drunken Noodles with Shiitake & Cashews

Every time the CC reads one of those ridiculous vegan recipes written by a chick – and yes! it's always a chick – even when the flavor pairings are quite attractive, he realizes that they have absolutely no idea of what actually makes the recipe tick at either a deep scientific or cultural level.

This is one of those recipes.

So the CC being the CC went back and reworked the recipe back to what it should've been in the first place. The integrity of the recipe has been preserved (still the same flavor combinations), and it's still vegan!

At the heart of it, the recipe is a classic Japanese dashi-laden broth with udon noodles except that the broth has been infused with classic Indian flavors. Textural variation is added by the addition of cashews (definitely not Japanese since they are New World!) The mushrooms add the umami-oomph as explained here, and there are carrots for color and nutrition.

The recipe is terrific! (The CC's version not the zombie vegan chick's version which is positively upchuck-worthy!)

May technique and culture win over mindless zombie cultists! (Not terribly likely but one can only hope.)


Ingredients

4 cups dashi
1" ginger (chopped coarsely)
4-6 green chillies

1 pack udon noodles

1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup carrots (cut into fine sticks)
1/2 cup cashews

2 tbsp shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sugar
salt

1/4 cup cilantro (finely chopped)
1 scallion (cut at a steep diagonal)

Recipe

Roast the cashews in the oven at 375°F for about 15 minutes. Be careful since they have a tendency to burn.

Meanwhile make the dashi. You can make it vegan by making it shōjin ryōri style by just using konbu.

Then add the ginger, green chillies, soy sauce, mirin, salt and sugar to it and let it stew gently for about 15 minutes. Strain, and toss the ginger and green chillies.

Toss in the shiitake mushrooms and carrots and set aside.

Taste. It should have a strong bite but be balanced in its flavor. Adjust as necessary.

Cook the udon noodles. Drain and pour them into individual bowls.

Top with the broth, cashews, scallions and cilantro.

Ras-el-Hanout

The name translates to "top-of-the-house" meaning the best spice blend that the spice house has to sell.

Each Moroccan spice house tries to outdo the other in the exoticism of their ingredients. This is just good advertising and product differentiation at play.

Given below is the CC's version which is adapted from Paula Wolfert and Mourad Lahlou.

It's also correctly "scaled-down" as explained here because most books give industrial-sized versions which rather than goad the CC into pawing his way to the kitchen make him contemplate on the elegance of takeout.

Ingredients

1 nutmeg
2 blades of mace
1 cinnamon stick (or cassia)
6 cloves
12 peppercorns
1 dried red pepper
1 small piece dried galangal
6 green cardamoms
1 black cardamom

1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp lavender
1/2 tsp grains of paradise
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tsp dried ginger powder
1/2 tsp aniseed (or fennel)

10 dried rose buds
large pinch of saffron

Spring is Here

That means asparagus!

Also procured at the markets today — mizuna, parsley, cod, clams.

Still a little early for vegetables because of the cool weather we're having lately.

Maldive Fish Flakes

They are fish flakes that are made from skipjack tuna which is the same fish that the Japanese use to make katsuobushi.

The difference is that while the Japanese process involves smoked drying followed by a precise fermentation and sun-drying, the Sri Lankan process involves just sun-drying the lean parts of the fish.

They "dissolve" in the dish and lend it a deep umami flavor, and it's absolutely indispensible to Sri Lankan food.

Good Morning, Oysters!

Eggs Benedict w/ Fried Oysters

Oyster Po-Boy

Oysters!

In the immortal words of Mae West, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!"

New Orleans

Oysters and gumbo and beignets, oh my!

Trip to New Orleans

The CC departs for New Orleans tomorrow.

He will leave with a Mark Twain quote:

New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin.

Oysters, ahoy!

Rolled Anchovies with Capers

These are anchovy fillets that are rolled around a caper. Eaten as an antipasto with some toasted bread or a cracker, it's like a rush of umami to the mouth.

How come the CC had never experienced them before?

They should be marketed as adult candy!

Pea-Broth Risotto

(Recipe: link.)

The Triumphant Return

The CC is back! Or at least the CC's computer is back from the dead.

Shopping trip in Astoria today.

Spanakopita, feta, salted anchovies, anchovies with capers, seafood salad, tarasamolata, baklava.

Happiness is a great grocery store!

Pasta with Cauliflower, Anchovies, Green Olives & Capers

Computer Crash

The CC has had a catastrophic hard-drive crash. Luckily, he's a big believer in backups so it should be fine.

The blog will be on hiatus for a week or so till he can get stuff up back and running.

Pasta with Anchovies, Greens & Beans

The Tuscans really really love their beans. They are mocked as being mangiafagioli (= bean-eaters) but they understand the glory of the bean.

This is a simple straightforward dish that has really deep complex flavors. It's umami-laden and nutritionally complete and costs almost nothing.

The frugal Tuscans know a few things!



Ingredients

1 1/2 cup rigatoni (substitute by penne)

1/2 cup borlotti beans (fresh or dried, read below)
6 anchovies
3 cups wild greens (e.g. wild arugula, dandelion greens, etc.)

2 cloves garlic (chopped fine)
olive oil
parmigiano-reggiano (grated)
sea salt
black pepper

Recipe

First, cook the beans in salt water. If they are fresh, they will take less than 15 minutes to cook. If dried, about an hour. Separate but reserve the water.

Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a rolling boil. Toss in the pasta and cook until al dente (roughly 12 minutes.)

Meanwhile, fry the garlic in some olive oil. When golden, toss in the anchovies, and the beans. Sauté for a while. Add the beans and fry for about a minute. Toss in the water reserved above. Toss in the greens and cook for about 2 minutes.

Toss with the pasta, and serve with the parmesan and plenty of fresh black pepper.