Awards And Anniversaries!

Er.. There is only one award and one anniversary. I went for the plural because it sounded way better than 'an award and an anniversary':-))) The anniversary is of my blogs. Yes, they've been in existence now for four years! I am happy that I have them ready to oblige when the need hits me. Yet they are pliant and waiting when I run dry. Maybe I should get a dog. eh? My daughter and I have discussed this many times and we even got rejected in a puppy adoption interview because H and I work full time. So now we are thinking of a compromise and maybe thinking of getting a cat. They are such independent creatures yet so cuddly! It is still a big commitment and so we have not yet wet our feet on that one.

And...now for the award. Reflections in her kindness has given me the versatile blogger award. I am truly honored and am hoping to fulfill the tag that came with it though I am not very sure if I will succeed. Thanks Nance!

The rules of this tag:

 Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your Blog Post
 Thank the Blogger who nominated you
 Share 7 Random things about yourself
 Nominate 15 fellow Bloggers
 Inform the Bloggers of their nomination

Instead of 15 I bestow this award to all my readers who blog and urge them to put this up and follow the rules as necessary including the random tag.

As for 7 random things about myself, here we go in no particular order:

1. I am a woman.

2. I am a mother.

3. I am a sister.

4. I am a wife.

5. I am a daughter.

6. I am an aunt.

7. I am a niece.

Hey, I am getting the hang of this and loving it. I want to add more!

8. I am a granddaughter.

9. I am not a grandmother yet and hope it will stay that way for a reasonable time for all involved:-)

10. I am a grand niece.

11. I am a daughter-in-law.

12. I am a sister-in-law.

13. I am a niece-in-law.

14. I am an aunt-in-law.

15. Changing the tone a bit now: I am a friend.

16. I am a blogger.

17. I am an employee.

18. I am a citizen.

19. I used to be a student. Wish I could be again...

20. I love to read. Bet you couldn't have seen that coming!

21. I love to cook/experiment new things.

22. I am remodeling our kitchen.

OK. time to stop and take stock of what we have here. See number 22? Yup that is what is going on in our kitchen as we speak. Only, instead of the promised 4 days it is now into the 3rd week that we have been doing without a kitchen. So then how are we surviving? The kids subsist on butter chicken and naan lovingly cooked by the nearby Indian store cooks, I on brioche bread from Whole Foods topped with honey and H on the brown rice we had cooked before all this started but which is now finished. If the contractors won't get off their lovely bottoms and speed things up we might be heading towards marital disharmony with all the juggling that's been going on... It is not all that bad though. We steam/bake our way into most that we can and do cook some food outside. If only it wasn't winter though... I am having some fun on the side doing kitchen decor shopping. It is supposed to be all done by this Thursday and I have fingers crossed left and right so wish me luck.

Thanks nance, I guess I got a little carried away but I had fun doing the tag.

Yet Another Yellow Cake Recipe

As I have posted before, I am a total sucker for the holidays. Something in the air just gets to ya! Maybe it is the falling leaves sprinkled on the grass like stars of the sky, or a world in clear focus right after the October showers (if there is such a thing) or  it could be the rainbow of trees lining the streets in full boom with the myriad colors of fall. Er.. bear with me while I am trying to wax poetic  here. A body has to do what a body has to do! Now that it is out of the system I'll get down to business:-)

 

This is not a real recipe by the way. It does have some steps that are in addition to the standard box instructions and thus makes it worthwhile to post.  I get good reviews every time I remember to make it.  Came across this cake sometime back at my previous work place. From the admin (secretary) to our then CEO ."To be precise", said Thomson and Thompson:-) She was this fashionable old lady that took pride in doing things well. So when she baked the cake and brought it for us, I got the recipe from her right away. It is simple enough and when I made it after a long time  for my son's robotics team who used to meet at our home for a while, all of it was gone in no time!  This is almost like the Christmas Rum cake but with a subtler taste.

In The Mix

Any yellow cake mix - 1 Box (Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines will do)
Jello Vanilla - 1 box 3 oz. (cook & serve, not the instant
canola oil - 3/4 cup
dry sherry (white not dark) - 3/4 cup
eggs - 4

How To Do

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl blend all the ingredients together. The secret to this cake is to beat, beat and beat until the mixture becomes smooth. 5 to 6 minutes appear to do the work.

I love to use the bundt cake pan for everything these days because the cake fluffs up very nicely in it. Grease the pan with shortening. I find it easier to put a tsp of butter or shortening to the pan and place it in the preheating oven. Once shortening melts I take the pan out and coat everywhere with a paper napkin. Do take care not to burn your hand though if doing this.

Pour batter into the pan and place it in the oven. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool down for 15 minutes and enjoy!

Here is the missing piece that I managed to capture before being driven into oblivion!

Have a wonderful Christmas and a Fabulous New Year. Happy Holidays!!

Turkey Stir Fry!

Time to bring up the bird again. It is not gone until the fat turkey sings:-) We ate leftover turkey the next day but then it was time to change the format a little. This stir fry came out really well!!

In The Mix

leftover turkey - 3 cups sliced to small pieces
big red onion - 1/2 medium size,  sliced thin
curry leaves - a sprig or 2

garlic - 2 cloves crushed and minced
turmeric - 1/4 tsp
chili powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
pepper powder - 1/4 tsp

dry red chili - 8 - 10 pieces or more

olive oil - 1/2 tbsp
mustard 1/4 tsp

No additional salt is needed for the brined turkey

How To Do

Heat oil and fry mustard. Add curry leaves and onion and saute till onion turns light brown. Add in garlic, sprinkle the turmeric, chili, pepper powders and mix together for some time. Now add the dry red chilies torn in the middle. Saute well together and add turkey pieces. Stir until pieces are well coated. Cover and cook for 2 min or so for all aromas blend. Remove from heat and serve over hot rice or fresh bread. Good!

After Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a good dinner, turkey or not. I was just going to chill out this four day weekend but decided to go the turkey route on a whim. My son's wistful questioning of whether we will be having turkey was the catalyst. This time we went with a fresh turkey (diestel heidi) from Whole Foods. Whether it is the 'natural' part or PW's brine, the meat was much flavorful and tasted almost like chicken this time! Almost is the word. Another family brought their turkey and my son proved the point by going for seconds on ours:-))) Their gravy was way better than mine though...I am not going to write the whole turkey process again here but will add some notes. I see these notes are helping me to repeat the good results.

Basted the turkey with canola oil instead of butter and kept the windows open so going to 500F did not activate the smoke alarm. Next time I will bast a little more conservatively or use canola butter as the skin got a little more charred than desired. Inserting the thermometer after the 500 F step and poking until I found a reading in the breast area which was closer to 100F helped. I think another meter for the thighs may be needed for a larger turkey. It was a thirteen pounder this time. Alton Brown's video is good as always. I'll note down PW's brine recipe here with small changes I made since it was a last minute decision to go with it. I also used a new gravy recipe which, while better than my last one is still not there yet. It is not the recipe's fault methinks. I just need to try small adjustments until we find our own taste because the better gravy from our friends followed similar steps as my last try. They also added chilies while cooking and removed after wards. Having a fat separator for next time may be a good idea.

One thing about the meat thermometer you can do if you don't use it more than once or twice a year  is to take the battery out when you store it so it will not get damaged. We had loved the stuffing from last year and it came through again. Bought some sliced brioche loaves which went amazingly well with the turkey dinner! PW's mashed potato is as awesome as it was last time.  Our cranberry sauce came out as good as last time as well. A colleague talked about a tandoori turkey recipe that they used which came out good. I might try that next time (need not be next year) and will let you know if I do. Everyone got busy eating and so didn't get much time to take more pictures. The split Turk was all I could manage:-)

Turkey Brine (from PW)
In The Mix
turkey - 1 washed, pat dried and emptied of neck and giblets (13 lbs is what we had this time)
kosher salt - 1 1/2 cups
brown sugar - 2 cups
vegetable stock - 2 quartz
water - 2 quartz
fresh squeezed orange juice - from 1 orange
garlic - 1 cloves, crushed and minced
dried bay leaves -4 to 5
rosemary - 2 to 3 sprigs
orange peel - from 2 tangerines ( this is an awesome ingredient for the brine)

ice - 30 cubes
water - 1 gallon

How To Do
Boil all ingredients except the 1 gallon of water and ice in a large pan and completely cool down.  Pour into brining bag placed in a 5 gal. bucket. Add the 1 gallon of water and half the ice. Put the turkey breast-first into the brine and add the rest of the ice. Zip up the brining bag and place all in the refrigerator. Add weights if the bird floats up. Take out and completely wash in cold water after about 16 hours.

This Year's Gravy (from food.com)
In The Mix
vegetable oil - 1 tbsp
turkey necks - 2 cut into 2-3 pieces ( got an extra neck from the meat dept. as there were no wings)
red onion - 1 large diced
carrots - 2 large, cut into 4 pieces
celery - 2 stalks, cut into 4 pieces
garlic - 2 cloves sliced in half
dry white wine - 1/2 cup
chicken broth - 4 1/2 cups ( my gravy got too thick and so i added more)
dried thyme - 1/4 tsp
all purpose flour - 1/2 cup
water - 3 cups

How To Do
In a stir fry pan, heat oil and shallow fry the turkey pieces for 10-15 minutes until they turn color.
Add onions, carrots, celery, garlic and cook for another 10 minutes till veggies and turkey get browned. Move all to a large bowl.

Add wine to the pan, stir to loosen brown bits, and put turkey and veggies back. Add water, thyme, broth and boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. The stock is extremely tasty at this point. I wanted to give up the gravy idea and just wanted to keep it as a soup instead!

Things didn't go as smooth once I added the flour because the meat I had didn't have enough fat. I added the flour without thinking about it which made clumps and took a few sieves to clean-up. I am just getting the hang of it. With two gravy experiences under my belt I might be luckier next time making it more tasty...
Anyway once done simmering, strain into a fat separator or measuring cup and let the liquid sit for a few minutes. Once fat gathers at the top, skim it to get a 1/4 cup and discard remaining fat if any. Add this to the pan and add the flour slowly. Maybe a fresh pan may not have clumped the mixture. Fry the flour mix till golden brown and add the strained gravy. Mix well, let boil and reduce to gravy consistency. Once cooled it is ready to go with the meal or into the refrigerator to be heated when needed.  I had to add more broth when I took it our for reheating since it had gotten too thick.

Once all got done, the house was cleaned up and we got  time to rest a little and enjoy the view before guests arrived. Just forgot to click more pictures at this time..... Baking the bird is lots of fun and I love how the house feels when all of this is going on along with H and the kiddos. Until next time then and no, I didn't go shopping today. I am waiting until those shoes I want go on sale. I'll take a pair in the dark brown please:-)

Banana Nut Bread

Holidays are kicked off here at home with Halloween. I am just about now finished with my job of identifying and eliminating candy wrappers stashed in unknown locations. My girl the sweet connoisseur has found her home in this celebration of candies. This year the kiddos mixed and matched available stuff to become a fashionable bunny and Harry Potter cum Death Eater.

Bananas are one thing we keep eating and it's gotten out of hand lately since now my husband (H) has totally joined the banana bandwagon. He finds it the best kind of snack in the current state of affairs. Luckily H does not take much shine to the baby bananas that I adore. Plantains (nenthrapazham) are more his thing. This week we had a bunch too many of the regular Chiquita bananas and some of them got overripe. I cannot eat an overripe banana if my life depended on it. I like'em just ripe. Any black spots and they are off my edible food chart. H loves them in this stage but he can only do so much by himself. Enter banana nut bread! I have made it before for my cake-in-a-jar attempts but that was a while ago. Searched and found this recipe at allrecipes.com which had hundreds of reviews and several suggestions. I followed most of those and got a here-this-minute-gone-the-next kind of recipe! You can assume that I had to struggle to get even this last piece to take a picture! Kick off your holiday season with this very comforting bread. Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Happy Thanksgiving!

In The Mix
white sugar - 1 1/2 cups (add 1/2 cup more if you prefer it more sweet)
brown sugar - 2 cups
shortening - 1 cup
eggs - 3
ripe bananas - 2 mashed (over ripe gives the best results)
all purpose flour - 3 cups
buttermilk - 1 1/4 cups
baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp
baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
vanilla extract - 1 tsp
chopped walnuts - 1/2 cup or less (optional )

How To Do
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Take the sugars and shortening in a bowl and beat for 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and beat well after each. Instead of mashing beforehand I just added the bananas at this time in small pieces and gave it a good beat to mix it all together. This won't work if the bananas are not over ripe. Then you do have to mash. Add buttermilk and vanilla and use a whisk from this point to combine. Add in flour, baking powder and soda. Stir in nuts now. I didn't because none of us like nuts in the soft texture. I liked one idea that said to sprinkle some on the top of the bread along with sugar to give it a twist. Didn't try it this time though. Pour the batter into 2 greased 9x5 inch pans. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a fork inserted into the middle returns clean.

Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes. Dump out onto a platter and try to get at least one piece before all that soft moist goodness disappears while you watch!

Meat Ball Curry

"What in the world?" you might say. Could it be that our recently turned health advocate is posting this obviously loaded recipe, trying to pass it off as healthy? I get it, I get it. Still, what I am about to tell you just might boggle the mind. Or not!  as my son says to most anything lately:-) By the way, middle school can be tricky and I am glad he is managing well so far.

There is no concrete evidence, but based on the different cuisines I have tried after coming here I would say the Indian curry evolved into its current state through a path that is more medicinal than culinary. If we search long enough there should be many articles attesting to this. Who else in their right mind would dig for a turmeric or ginger root under the ground, then clean, dry and pulverize it just to put a 1/4 tsp or so into what you are cooking unless it's been prescribed as necessary? In most other cuisines the main food itself is the star. Its taste not made obsolete by the presence of overpowering spices. When done in moderation even outsiders will be able to enjoy Indian food. When we go out for lunch from work no one votes for Indian food. The consensus is that the food is so heavy that once you have it you have to go home to sleep instead of going back to work:-) It is slowly changing with all the new awareness on Indian food here through blogs and cooking shows. Those who grew up on Indian food don't really realize this comparative heaviness because from childhood our tastebuds and psyche have been conditioned to acknowledge these flavors as "the food".  The whole enchilada of Indian cooking with spices must have originated from the rich and ancient ayruvedic/medicinal traditions that India has which first trickled into and later flooded mainstream cooking. I can proselytize all I want but when the taste bud is looking for authentic Indian taste it will not bow down to the milder versions that easily.

So how does this help? Since I have established that it is medicinal rather than culinary, spicy really means healthy and therefore good for you:-) Good. eh? It is the chili, oil and salt that you need to be careful about and everything else is fair game unless you have specific allergies. So when my son's friend's Mom from Tamilnadu talked about her awesome meatball curry I didn't have to put the thought aside with regret because of this enlightenment.. This meatball curry also appears in a cookbook (Veettammakkoru Kaithoozhi)  by Sr. Dolores Kannampuzha that my HMom had sent long ago. I followed my friend's recipe as well as the book to get where we are. The red meat in question falls into the eat in moderation category and keeping it there is what enabled us to go for this with glee.

In The Mix

For The Meatballs
ground beef - 1 lb.
red onion - 1 medium sized
ginger - 1 " piece
green chili - 5
cinnammon, cardamom, cloves powder mixed in equal measures  - 1/2 tsp
egg - 1
bread crumbs - little less than 1/2 cup

For the Gravy

medium red onion - 1 sliced
ginger - 1" piece sliced thin
green chili  sliced in rounds - 2 or more as needed
curry leaves - 1 sprig
coriander powder - 4 to 5 tbsp
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp (what did i say?)
black pepper powder - 1 tsptomato - 1 medium diced
potatoes - 1 big cubed small
coconut milk - 1 cup from can diluted with 1.5 to 2 cups of water
warm milk - 3/4 cup
salt - as needed (1 tsp is all it took!)

 How To do
Chop the ginger, chili and onion for meatball finely in a chopper or by hand. Add to the ground meat in a bowl. Break the egg into this and mix all together. Add in the powders,  bread crumbs, salt and combine. Now roll into small balls the size of gooseberries and keep aside.

For the gravy, heat oil in a pan and add onion, ginger, green chili, curry leaves and saute well. Add curry  powders and 1/4 cup water to mix all together. Add diced tomatoes and saute for a while. Now add potatoes and saute together in medium to low heat.

Once the aroma starts rising add diluted coconut milk and salt as needed. Remember to be done with all your stirring needs by now as we don't want to upset the applecart once those delicate balls are added. Add more hot water at this stage if needed and boil everything. Once you are ready for the deed and identified enough space in the gravy to add meatball, start doing just that. Add the balls gently and one by one. If you need to combine the balls don't use a spoon. Rotate the pan on its handles as needed. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until meat balls and potatoes are cooked. Now add the warm milk and gently boil before removing from heat. Of course give it a small whirl to get all mixed up well. Pour over hot soft rice and dig in! I haven't tried it but it must be good company for our Appam. Hmm..  Yum..Maybe next time.

Unsolicited Advice And A Rice Dish

Hiya folks! It is time for some recipe posts instead of excuses. But first things first...

Salt is slowly re-entering our diet which of course is a welcome situation as I was sharing the 100% no-salt diet in solidarity with my BP sufferer of a husband. It was an eye-opener in many ways. Without the all-encompassing taste of salt we tasted food in its natural form. The main diff was when tasting roasted unsalted nuts and unsalted canned items. Once when we had visitors I made salted and unsalted canned tuna cutlets. After they left, the salted version sat with no takers for a while because we were busy devouring the unsalted beauties! Only caveat is that the unsalted version is a tad bit more expensive. Papadams are the one vice I can't do without and I hear it is loaded with salt. My husband's weakness fortunately is the mackerel which is endowed with ample salt in its natural form! Sure enough we baked quite a few mackerels and now have graduated to frying them gently. Always after marinating them salt free.

We also developed a habit of reading the fine-print for sodium intake and measuring our salt carefully when cooking. It does make a world of difference both in taste and health. As we get older our taste buds need
a burst of flavor to feel anything (see our parents for living examples) and if we are already using a fair amount of salt, this will only go up as time passes since our tongue is aspiring for the same taste as before.  So from now on instead of 'salt to taste' I am going for 'only as needed':-) Always use sea salt if available since that contains less amount of sodium. Potatoes are a good source of potassium which gets lowered when sodium levels skyrocket. If possible do not take any vitamin supplements in tablet form, natural or not. Natural fish oil tablets could be an exception but then  it has to be low in Mercury. All of these are big concerns here in the US because people have been consuming processed food for a long time now. It is slowly changing but healthier means more expensive and could be a while till the good old habits take root again.

Our dish today is very similar to this vermicelly pulau and way easier since you can turn plain leftover rice into a bonafide dinner in no time. Having exhausted our tasty but loaded biriyani dinners I was looking for an alternative lately. That is when the thought bubbled up. Why not fancy up our simple mixed veggie with rice concoction to a pulau/fried rice format? From then on it was smooth sail. Small cooked shrimp and eggs are effortless and well used additions to give taste and flavor.

 The real beauty is that you don't have to watch out for exact measurements in this dish and  you will still achieve fairly good results. Except of course for the salt, which you better watch out and don't say I didn't tell you when you or a family member succumbs to BP, diabets or cholesterol. They are all connected in a way and when you battle one you are battling all. In my brother's words "you have to treat the whole body and mind of the patient regardless of the disease". Did you know that some BP meds can cause sugar levels to go high? How many of you knew that sugar gets converted to triglycerides, spiking up those cholesterol levels? Keep away from refined sugar and go back to the good old brown sugar if you dare:-) I have dared and now can't really tolerate the pure white refined sugar in my coffee or tea.

Once you start watching out for one thing the rest will follow and life will be good. Of course I am not a doc and the only advice I can give that is worth its salt is to do whatever it is that you need to keep stress levels down in your life. Regardless of what it is that you do, be content with it. This is the secret to true happiness
and a healthier life. Think Sidhartha and what he discovered at the end.

Before you raise eyebrows at all the unsolicited dictum that I am churning out today, let us safely ride back to today's recipe. Remember Galileo Galilee who muttered under his breath "but it is really round", after confessing loudly that the earth is flat to avoid excommunication from the Church? I stop here but I hope you hear me muttering "if not for the sake of health, then for the sake of taste start watching what you eat". OKKK? Now here is the dish on the dish in the picture.

In The Mix

cooked rice - from 5 cups of raw rice
green beans - cut into small circles (1 or 2 cups)
              why is this easy? because i got fresh cut beans from the nearby indian store!
cauliflower - 1 small head, peeled of leaves, separated and sliced to smaller pieces
carrots     - 2 or 3, peeled and sliced into thin pieces similar to the thickness of the beans.
serano chillies - 3 or 4 or less - cut into thin discs
red onion - 1 medium sized, peeled and diced into small pieces
egg - 2 beaten mildly
small cooked shrimp - 1 cup
curry leaves - 1 or 2 sprigs (this one you can splurge without any worries)

How To Do
Cook the rice as you would cook for biriyani. If you have a japanese rice cooker then just follow
the directions as that always seem to get us the correct state of rice for biriyani. If you have leftover rice, that will do just fine.

In a sauce pan add 1 tsp of oil and add beans, cauliflower and carrots. Sprinkle less than 1/4 tsp of
salt or no salt at all and mix together. Now turn stove to high heat, close the lid and cook for 5-6 minutes. Check once in between and add a tbsp of water or less if it looks like it might burn. Shaking the lifted pan with lid closed is a good way to prevent burning and not to lose the built-up steam inside. Once cooked and still crisp, remove from heat and set aside.
  
Heat oil in another pan, add rice and urad dal making sure nothing gets burnt. Add green chillies and saute well, and then add the marinated shrimp and saute to a good color. Now add onion and curry leaves and mix all together for a while.

Add in the veggies and mix well. Clear a space in the middle of the pan, add the beaten eggs and cook it scrambled right there. You can do this in a separate pan instead and add back once rice is added if you prefer that. Again mix well together, add the cooked rice and add salt only if you must. Cover and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes so all the flavors combine into the dish. Serve warm with the aforementioned goodiesand you will never know what hit you! Depending on your refrigeration, this dish will stay tasty for quite a few days esp if served with a smacking good raita which we had. I'll elaborate on our raita dish in another post as I think it has its own place. So next time you make a dish and reach for that salt container give it a pause, will ya? Replace salt by adding flavors is what will help you to make the change. Add lemon drops, tomato, cilantro etc to bring out the flavor.

Serve with the awesomely flavorful fish pappas and to the accompaniment of raita and papad and voila, you have a winner! Add some flowers to the table and you are all set. Gerbera daisies rule the world as far as I am concerned and when a beam of the evening sun fell straight on to the vase through our windows I just couldn't resist clicking. Enjoy!