The Colors Of Indian Cooking

If You've Been Wondering Where I Went....Welcome to Substack!!!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:07:00 -0700

So stuff went through a lot of changes in the last several years, and it seemed that a lot of people were moving their blogs to Substack and Medium. Well, I did too. The Colors Of Indian Cooking is now a Substack. So just click on the link above. It's still free, all the recipes are there. Just click on the link to subscribe. As I said it's free. I may do a subscription thing later, but right now, FREE FREE FREE. I hope you'll follow me over there and see what all I've been doing since Orange Chicken! Remember, at my substack it's okay to play with your food!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 13:20:00 -0800

Orange Chicken: Not A Real Chinese Dish, Not Real Chicken, Still, Really Delicious!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sun, 6 Nov 2022 17:03:00 -0800

Who doesn't like a nice dish of the famous Chinese Orange Chicken? They sell it at Panda Express right? Sooooo what's the deal with this dish? Is it really Chinese cuisine? Well, it's Americanized Chinese food, so putting it bluntly you are not going to find this dish in any restaurant in China.

You will find it however, at Panda Express where I first had it eons ago. I grew up in San Francisco, in a heavily Asian neighborhood, so I've had the luck and pleasure of growing up with easy proximity to excellent Chinese cuisine. When I first saw this at the Vons on Montana Avenue circa 1993 I was all, "what is this stuff?" We wandered in, and we were hungry, on a deadline, so we bought a bunch of it boxed, and took it home. It was good, very good for a couple of "don't wanna cook tonight" writers, and I have to admit we went back and got more. Then came decades where we didn't go to Panda Express, even though they were everywhere that we were.

We don't eat meat very often (mainly big family holidays) so when I started buying Daring Foods "Chicken" and once I'd tried it in a few Indian recipes, I thought what else???? Then I happened to drive past the old Payless Shoe Store which is now a Panda Express. Bingo! Time for a return of the Orange Chicken.

This recipe really worked well as I live with a long time carnivore who is not about to eat "fake" anything made to resemble one of his favorite foods. He was skeptical. Well skeptical no more because...

This Is Orange Chicken

(PS...you can make this with real chicken and it's just as good.)

Here's What You Need:

For The "Chicken"

1: 1 lb of Daring Foods Chicken, any fake chicken substitute, or..,.real chicken. We're not judgy here.

2: 1 egg white, or vegan egg white, or you can use aquafaba (bean water which has the same texture as egg white

3:1 and 1/2 tsp salt

4: 1 pinch of black pepper

5: 2 Tbs of vegetable oil, (divided) you'll need more for the frying

6: 1/2 cup cornstarch

7:1/4 cup flour

Here Comes the Sauce:

1: 1 Tbs cornstarch

2: 2 Tbs rice wine or white wine

3: 1/4 cup water

4: 1 tsp sesame oil

5: 3 Tbs soy sauce

6: 10 Tbs sugar

7:10 Tbs distilled white vinegar

8: zest of 1 orange

The Finish:

1:1 and 1/2 Tbs minced fresh ginger

2: 2 tsps minced garlic or shallot

3: 1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes

Here's What To Do:

1: Make the sauce.

Mix together 1Tbs cornstarch , the rice or white wine, water, sesame oil, soy sauce, white vinegar, sugar and orange zest.

Set it aside.

2: cut your chicken into 1 inch pieces. whisk the egg white, salt, pepper, flour, cornstarch, and 1 Tbs of the vegetable oil together in a large bowl. Put the chicken pieces in, and coat them well.

3: In a separate bowl ,mix 1/2 cup cornstarch, and 1/4 cup of flour together

4: In a large frying pan, kadhai, or wok heat some vegetable oil to 375 degrees.

5: Take your chicken pieces out of the egg, and oil mixture you've made and dredge them in the flour and cornstarch mixture to coat them for frying.

6: Fry the chicken 3 or 4 minutes you want it lightly browned and crispy, do this in batches, do not overcrowd your frying pan!

7: Transfer to a cooling rack when it's all cooked.

8: Get rid of the oil in the frying pan...all except about 1 Tbs. You'll need that.

9: Add the ginger, garlic or shallot, crushed red chili flakes to the hot oil cook for about 10 seconds.

10: Now pour the orange sauce you made into the pan and get it to boiling.

11: when it boils, turn off the heat and put your fried chicken into the pan with it

12: stir everything around until it's well mixed and coated then serve it up!!!!!

Serve it with rice. This was a biiiiiiiiiiig hit around here., and we didn't even have to go to Panda Express to get it.

So there it is. On a personal note since twitter is changing into whatever, I'm starting a substack where all these recipes and a whole lot more will be available for free subscription. I might get around to offering paid subscriptions at some point but for now it's FREE FREE FREE! so I'll be posting on Twitter, FB, the Gram, etc. I'm also signing up for Mastodon if I can figure out where I am on that thing, Tribel, and counter social. I'm listed under my name Kathy Gori on those sites so I hope to see you there, or somewhere.

Coming up next some holiday cookies and a whole bunch of stuff, see you on Twitter @kathygori or see you on the flip side.

Kung Pao "Chicken", Fast, Hot, and Daring

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sat, 15 Oct 2022 15:35:00 -0700

I haven't had Kung Pao Chicken in ages, much less cooked it myself. I used to eat it all the time, mainly from Panda Express when we were in too much of a hurry to cook. It was easy take-out.

Back in the days when I was eating meat a lot, the Panda Express on Montana Ave in Santa Monica in the Pavillions Market was just a few blocks from home. Wham! Bam! easy eating! The only worry was getting a space in the Pavillions very small parking lot to pick up one's order.

We once ate nothing but PE while finishing a project at Sony, since it was the easiest option. I haven't ever cooked Kung Pao Chicken but I thought since I've discovered Daring Chicken why not give it a try?

I know those can be famous last words but this stuff worked!!! Kung Pao without the Chicken? How could that be? Well it can.

So I set out to make this stuff. Perusing Kung Pao recipes I found one I liked and and gave it a try. It was a hit and so since it was requested again, I'm sharing it here. This is a simple recipe and if you eat regular chicken just use that, but it also works with plant chicken. Here's how.

Kung Pao "Chicken"

Here's What You Need

1) 1 lb of vegan "chicken" or the real McCoy. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2) 1 white egg, vegan egg white, or 2 Tbs of aquafaba

3) 1/2 tsp salt

4) 1/4 cup cornstarch

5) 2 Tbs vegetable oil. I used peanut oil

6) 1 tsp cooking wine, or white wine

7) 2 and 1/2 Tbs soy sauce

8) 1/3 cup of water

9) 2 and 1/2 Tbs vegetable oil

10) 12 whole small dried red chili peppers, no bigger than 3 inches long. I used arbol chilies.

11) 1 tsp ground ginger

12) 1 tsp ground garlic or shallot

13) 1 tsp crushed red chili pepper

14) 1/2 Tbs cornstarch mixed with 1/2 tsp water

15) 1 tsp sesame oil

16) 2 oz dry roasted unsalted peanuts

17) 1 red bell pepper cut into 3/4 inch pieces

18) 2 large zucchini cut into 3/4 inch chunks

19) 1 Tbs Chinese black vinegar (balsamic vinegar can be a sub for this.)

Here's What To Do

Mix the chicken, 1/2 tsp salt, the egg white or aquafaba, 1/4 cup of cornstarch, and 2 Tbs vegetable oil together and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

In a small bowl, mix your soy sauce, white wine, and water. Set it aside for later.

Heat your wok or sauce pan on high for about 10 seconds. When the pan is nice and hot add in 2 Tbs of peanut oil.

Take the chicken out of the marinade and saute it on high heat for a few minutes, until it browns a bit and cooks through.

Now take the chicken out of the pan and set it aside in a large bowl.

Add 1 more Tbs of vegetable oil to the pan, and toss in the red bell pepper and zucchini. Cook them until they're slightly caramelized and lightly cooked.

Now take the vegetables out of the pan and stick them into the bowl where you put the chicken. Set this aside. Things are about to get spicy!

Toss the 12 dried red chilies into the pan, stir them around until they darken, (this takes seconds) then add the peanuts, the ground ginger, and garlic or shallot, the crushed red chili flakes and the sesame oil.

Mix everything around for a few seconds and then add in the small bowl of soy sauce, water, and wine mixture.

Bring everything in the pan to a boil then add in the 1/2 Tbs cornstarch, 1/2 Tbs water. Stir it until it's thickened.

Add the chicken and vegetables back into the sauce , and stir everything to combine.

Add in the black vinegar.

You are done!

Serve it up. The first time I made this I had some Chinese noodles, so I used those. This last time I used jasmine rice. I highly recommend going the rice route. It just seemed "right". This was hot and spicy and I definitely see why people drink a nice frosty brew with this. I don't drink, but it kind of made me wish I did. Spicy!

So there it is, Kung Pao Chickenless Chicken...or Kung Pao Chicken if you will. Easy to make at home and you don't have to worry about getting a space in the Pavillions when you go pick up your order.

Coming up next, looking toward the holidays and a spooooooky Halloween dessert.

Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Shrimp With Coconut Rice and Corn. Another Quick And Easy Work Week Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 16:04:00 -0700

We've been busy lately trying to get a piece of work turned in, and since I cook all our meals, bake all our bread, make all our yogurt, and churn all the ice cream, I'm looking for a simple, relatively easy lunch. Now, you can take these ingredients and make of them a fast and easy weeknight dinner, but for us, dinner is simple leftovers from the day before. I usually grab something quick and raw out of the garden for myself as I stop my days eating around 7 pm. So any of these lunches make a great working dinner too, and all can be leftovers... left overs are a really big deal around our place. This dish makes great leftovers... if there's any left.

This very simple recipe is really made for the season, as corn is cheap and plentiful right now. I always keep bags of frozen wild-caught shrimp in the freezer, and I have numerous varieties of rice, ranging from Basmati, to Black Forbidden Rice, and everything in between. All you need for this dish is some jasmine rice, basil, some shrimp, a lime, an onion, a couple of ears of corn, a jalapeno, and a can of coconut milk. Pretty common ingredients. The reason I made this dish is I had everything I needed right at home. So here goes,

Coconut Rice With Shrimp and Corn

Here's What You Need:

1 yellow onion

2 Tbs coconut oil

2 Tbs chopped fresh ginger

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped

3/4 tsp salt

1 and 1/2 cups jasmine rice (Calrose rice also works just fine)

1 can of full fat coconut milk

1 lb peeled and cleaned shrimp

The kernals from 2 ears of corn

The juice of 1 lime

Another lime, zested and then cut into wedges

A handful of fresh basil leaves , torn and added to the dish, a few more for serving.

A dash of *Gomasio (optional)

*Gomasio is a blend of toasted sesame seeds, sea salt and dried seaweed.

Here's What To Do:

Heat the oil in a heavy pot over a medium heat. When the oil is hot add in the onion, ginger and jalapeno. Add the salt and stir fry all of this for about 5 minutes or til the onion is translucent.

Add the rice and saute for another minute or so then add the coconut milk and 1 and 1/4 cups of water.

Bring everything to a simmer and then turn the heat down to medium/low, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Adjust the heat as needed to stop any scorching of the rice.

Now add your shrimp...

...and the corn.

Stir everything together again, then cover and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes. You want the shrimp cooked through and the rice to be tender.

You can add more water by 1/2 cups while this is cooking if the water is getting absorbed too fast and the rice is not yet tender.

When everything is done. Take the pot off the heat and add in your lime zest...

...the lime juice...

...and a handful of torn basil leaves.

Now season to taste with gomasio. Dish it up, sprinkle with basil leaves, and serve with lime wedges.

There it is, fast, tasty, and simple for a weekday or weeknight.

Coming up next...while finishing our work....Cato's Freaking Cheesecake, since I'll not live that down

Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Jackfruit Curry, Fast and Spicy "I'll Take 'Tastes Like Chicken' for 500 Alex!"

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sun, 18 Sep 2022 15:11:00 -0700

It tastes like chicken. Isn't that what they say about everything? Alligator = chicken, snake = chicken, Frogs legs = chicken, Rabbit = chicken, Seitan = chicken, Hen-of-the-Woods Mushrooms = chicken, and of course Chicken itself. Now, since I've eaten all of the above ...I'll add another thing that tastes like chicken, Jackfruit!

These are Jackfruit.

They're big, and bumpy, and the only time I've ever seen them out of a can and in the wild is at my local Cambodian market. However, since that's a 50 mile round trip drive for me...this is the jackfruit that's easy to get you want this. This is the stuff I buy, you can find it at most markets and yes, it tastes like chicken.

Open the can, drain and rinse the jackfruit. Shred it with two forks, and the meat separates like chicken or pork. Press the shredded jackfruit between paper towels and get out all the water you can. When it's as dry as you can get it. You're in business, it's Jackfruit time!

So this recipe is pretty simple once you get all your ingredients together. Every time I try a new dish, it takes me a bit longer to put it together, but once I've made it, I know it's going to be pretty easy to get on the table on the regular.

Jackfruit and Sweet Potato Curry

Here's What You Need:

2 cans of Jackfruit, rinsed, drained, shredded and pressed dry

1 large brown onion finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic or shallot finely chopped

2 inch piece of fresh ginger grated

1 serrano chili finely chopped

1 and 1/2 tsps cumin seed

1 and 1/2 tsps. of black mustard seeds

1 Tbs vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)

2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ground tumeric

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp Kashmiri chili (can be approximated by mixing 1/2 tsp paprika with 1/2 tsp cayenne)

6-8 dried curry leaves, or 3-4 fresh ones (if you can't find these there are no substitutes so just omit )

1 and 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

1 can of full fat coconut milk

3 medium sweet potatoes cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 can chopped tomatoes drained

1 bag fresh baby spinach

1 Tbs lemon or lime juice

1 cup of chopped fresh cilantro

Here's What To Do:

Heat the oil in a large deep skillet or kadhai.

When the oil is hot toss in the cumin and black mustard seeds.

Fry until the mustard seeds start to pop.

Then, add in the onion. Saute them until they soften.This usually takes about 5 minutes.

Now add the garlic or shallot, serrano chili, and grated ginger. Cook this for about 3 minutes, stir everything around and don't let it burn!!

Now add in all your ground spices, curry leaves, salt, and stir everything around to coat it well, then pour in 1/2 cup of water to deglaze the pan.

Now add the shredded jackfruit...see, it looks like shredded chicken...

...the chopped sweet potatoes...

And cook all of this for another 5 minutes. Stir it around to keep it from burning.

Pour in 1 cup of water,

...then the can of coconut milk...

...and the tomatoes.

Stir everything together well, then bring to a simmer.

When it's simmering, cover it and cook for about 25 minutes. Stir it every once in a while

After 25 minutes the sauce should have evaporated a bit, and thickened slightly. Check to make sure the sweet potatoes are tender and have cooked through.

Now, if you want a thicker curry, take about 1/4 of this curry and puree it using an immersion stick blender, potato masher. This is optional, based on what texture you want. I used my stick blender to thicken it a bit.

Now add your baby spinach to the curry.

Stir it around until it's wilted and cooked.

Stir in the lemon juice and the cilantro. Check your seasoning with salt and pepper.

You're done!!!!!

Serve it up.

I whipped up a batch of chapatti, or you might serve this with a rice dish

Serve it with a wedge of lime and go to town!!!! This is hot and spicy and whenever cooking with chilies, if you're not used to them be careful. It's easier to add heat than to remove it.

Coming up next a couple of quick and tasty lunch ideas. Follow along on @kathygori

Some Like It Hot! Chicken Karahi, Fast, Spicy, and Totally Daring Brings The Heat.

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sun, 28 Aug 2022 12:24:00 -0700

Chicken Karahi is a Pakistani dish from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region. Since then it's spread all over the world, and if you've ever tasted it you'll understand why it's so popular. It's a really simple karahi or kadhai dish, named after the wok-like pan it's cooked in.

For starters, this recipe can be cooked exactly as it is with real chicken, but ever since I started buying that Daring Chicken stuff of Drakes, I'm hooked. When it went on sale briefly,the other day I stocked up. I really like this stuff, not to get all OCD about it, but I really really do. So I was looking for a tasty, spicy dish for the weekend when I have all the time in the world to cook, and I'd seen the recipe around lately and something clicked. And there was as I said a SALE, so why not cook this? On the plus side this is a really easy, and fast dish to make. All you need is a few basics.

We grow a lot of our own produce up here. I've got a whole variety of chilies out back, tomatoes, and lemons. Just toss in some spices, and "chicken" and a bit of either vegan or regular yogurt ,and that's all it takes. So here it is...,plain and simple.

Here's What You Need:

1/4 cup of ghee or vegetable oil. (I use vegetable oil)

3 dried red chilies

1 tsp of garlic or shallot paste...or 1 tsp grated garlic or shallot. (I make a paste in a wet dry grinder using either and a bit of water to turn it into a paste)

1 tsp of ginger paste or grated fresh ginger (see above)

1 lb of Daring Plain Chicken pieces, defrost them first (or skinless ,boneless chicken thighs but into pieces).

5 Thai green chilies. 2 of them finely chopped, three just split down the middle

1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

5 roma or vine tomatoes chopped.

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup full fat greek , or vegan yogurt (room temperature)

2 Tbs lemon juice

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

A 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and julienned.

Here's What To Do:

Heat your oil or ghee in a kadhai, wok, or high-sided skillet over high heat.

When the oil is hot toss in the dried chilies and stir. Then add in the garlic or shallot, and ginger paste.

Now, add in the "chicken" pieces, stir them around.

And the finely chopped green chilies.

Stir fry everything until the chicken is cooked through. This takes about 6 minutes.

Now turn down your heat to low, and add in the kashmiri chili, cumin, coriander and turmeric.

Stir everything around for about 10 seconds making sure the spices are mixed in well.

Now add the chopped tomatoes and salt.

Stir things up again, put a lid on the pan and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, take the lid off, turn the heat up and keep stirring until any liquid from the tomatoes and the chicken has cooked off. This takes between 5 to 10 minutes, so keep an eye on things.

Turn down your heat again, and before adding in the yogurt ,whisk it a bit. Add it into the pan slowly so as not to curdle.

Now add in the 3 whole slit chilies, stir things around, put the lid back on turn the heat down to simmer, and cook for 5 minutes.

Take the lid off, and if the dish is too liquid, turn the heat up and reduce the sauce a bit.

When the sauce has thickened, turn off the heat. Add in the lemon juice...

...the Garam Masala and black pepper...

...the chopped cilantro...

...and the julienned ginger...

...and you're done!

Serve it up, and enjoy!!! I served this with roti, or you can serve with rice, or both. If it's too hot add a dollop of yogurt on top. But we like the heat around here.

As I said, this is a spicy dish for chili lovers and can be made using real chicken too. Coming up next, playing around with more Indian treats and desserts. I'm staring at you aquafaba! We're warming up for Labor Day !

Follow along on twitter @kathygori because simple recipes drop all the time there.

Hot Day? Try A Cool Sesame Salmon Sushi Bowl.

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 15:00:00 -0700

We're moving into the seriously hotter days here in Sonoma. The temps aren't as bad as in some places, but we're expecting 99 degrees today which is not when you want to stand over a stove and cook. Take it from me... it's not fun. Cooking outdoors is frowned upon here too as we're in Fire Season, so no open flames. The usual Summertime drill up here. So when I saw this recipe from Kay Chun floating around out there, I knew I had to make it for the hot times we're living in. It's also doable in 40 minutes which is perfect for a workday lunch.A nice piece of salmon, sushi rice, and some vegetables are all you need to get this bowl rolling.

So here we go.

Here's What You Need:

1 and 1/2 lb fresh salmon (skinless, cut into 1 inch chunks) Save the skin if you wish for crisping and topping the dish.

1 and 1/2 cup sushi rice, (rinsed until the water runs clear)

3 persian cucumbers thinly sliced

1 bag of chopped coleslaw cabbage

1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar

3 Tbs sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil divided in half

3 Tbs distilled white vinegar

2 Tbs vegetable oil

2 Tbs chopped scallions

2 Tbs grated fresh ginger

1 avocado

1 sheet of toasted nori, torn into pieces for topping.

sesame seeds

Here's What To Do:

1. In a large saucepan mix rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Stir to dissolve sugar.

2. Add the rinsed rice and 1 and 3/4 cups of water. Mix everything together and turn up the heat to high.

3. Cover the pan, turn the heat alllllll the way down to low ,and let it cook for 20 minutes.

4. While that's cooking put your salmon pieces in a small bowl and drizzle them with 1/4 tsp sesame oil, sprinkle with a bit of salt. Set aside.

5. When the rice has cooked for 20 minutes, take off the lid and add your salmon pieces.

6. Put the lid back on and steam the salmon for 12 minutes, until it's medium.

7. While that's cooking take a small bowl and mix together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 3 Tbs white vinegar, 2 Tbs vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons chopped scallions, 2 Tbs grated ginger, and 1/4 tsp sesame oil.

(For this part I used 1/4 tsp hot chili sesame oil. If you don't want it too hot use regular sesame oil.) Mix it together well and set it aside.

8. When the salmon is done, scoop the salmon and rice into bowls, top with the thinly sliced Persian cucumbers...

...the chopped cabbage slaw...

and thinly sliced avocado.

9. Drizzle the dressing over everything.

10. If you've crisped up the salmon skin, cut it up and scatter over the top of the bowl...

...along with shredded nori, and some sesame seeds.

You are done!!!!! Time to dig in and enjoy!

So there it is, pretty straight forward and simple which is all I ask for when the mercury climbs to triple digits.

Coming up next, I'm back to aquafaba desserts, and a great vegetarian curry, where I get to use some of my bumper tomatillo crop and a whole lot of garbanzos!

Til then, stay cool,and follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Hot and Spicy Tamil Chettinad Chicken, More Fun With Drakes' Daring Chicken!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sun, 10 Jul 2022 14:55:00 -0700

It even fools the dog! Tyrion thinks this is actually chicken! Well, maybe he doesn't exactly but whenever he sees us eating something he just wants his cut. I enjoyed working with this plant based "chicken" so much, that when I went over to get my vacuum cleaner fixed in Napa, I stopped at the big market there and picked up a couple of bags. I really wanted to try this product in a spicier recipe as we like it hot around here. What better than a dish I've made many times with real chicken and that's Tamil Chettinad Chicken.

This is a pretty simple recipe of spices, coconut milk, vegetables and a nice big bag of fake chicken... you can also make this with REAL CHICKEN if you wish, the recipe stays the same.

This particular recipe comes from chef Atul Kochar, who got it from a Tamil line cook he worked with at the Taj Connemara Hotel. There are a number of recipes for this dish. I have another Chettinad Chicken recipe that I've written about before...here. It's slightly different (not vegan) but still Chettinad Chicken. Like any traditional cuisine, everybody has a slightly "different" way of making the same dish.

Tamil Chettinad Chicken Curry

Here's What You Need:

1 lb of chicken chunked into pieces

4 1/2 Tbs vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)

1 2/3 cups of thinly sliced onions

20 curry leaves (if you don't have them, or are not near an Asian market that carries them I purchase mine fresh from either Rani Foods )

1 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder (if you don't have it you can do a pretty effective hack by mixing equal parts cayenne and paprika. It won't be exactly the same but it works)

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp turmeric

1 can of coconut milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup chopped tomatoes

2 Tbs fresh cilantro chopped

Spice Paste:

1 Tbs peeled chopped fresh ginger

2 Tbs chopped garlic or shallot

3 cloves

10 black peppercorns

1 and 1/2 tsp fennel seed

1 inch piece cinnamon stick

Here's What To Do:

Put all the ingredients for the Spice Paste in a blender or mini-processor with 3 Tbs of water and blend into a paste.

If you are using Real Chicken remove the skin...if you are using fake chicken skip this.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large deep skillet.

Add the onions and saute until they've softened.

Now add the Spice Paste and the curry leaves.

Saute for about 2 to 3 minutes.

Now add in the chili powder, coriander, and turmeric.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes.

Now add your Daring "chicken" pieces..or the real McCoy, and cook until the pieces start to turn golden.

Now, add in the tomatoes...

...and Coconut milk.

Bring the mixture to a simmer. And cook at a simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken pieces are thoroughly cooked through.

When it's ready, sprinkle with the chopped up cilantro and serve it up.

I served mine with Chapatti this time. It's also great over rice with spices and raisins.

A basic recipe for Chapatti can be found here

Lunch, Dinner, Whatever is served...

So there it is, a couple of recipes for Tamil Chettinad Chicken. Have at it and enjoy!

Coming up next, I'm making some Summer Time Coffee Ice Cream to cool down some of this heat.

Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

My Name Is Nuggets And I'm A Big Fake Butter Chicken.

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 15:45:00 -0700

So, unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last few weeks you've seen Nuggets the "Big Fat Chicken" who's actually an Indian Mynah bird and not a chicken at all. My great aunt Amelia had an Indian Mynah, it fascinated me as a kid as it knew all the best swears and never tried to pass itself off as anything but a "Dirty Bird".

But watching Nuggets started me thinking about Nuggets. Not the bird, but actual nuggets like chicken nuggets. I don't cook meat much around here. Generally, it's family holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Passover, or Easter. Depending on which side I'm cooking for. I've been cooking Indian food for 32 years now and with all the variety of vegetarian and vegan dishes available in Indian cuisine I don't need meat to make a fancy meal. I've used banana flower, jackfruit, mushrooms and a variety of other vegetables that take on the meat role in any dinner production but I couldn't get nuggets out of my head. I wanted nuggets but no chicken.

Then I saw it. Okay, so I know it's weird and I don't generally keep up with the Kardashians but I couldn't help but notice this

Yeah, there's a lot to unpack here, but ignoring Kourtney, and Travis, all I was seeing was PLANT CHICKEN!!!!!

I cook with Beyond Meat products fairly often when I need something that mimics meat but isn't, like Kheema Mattar. Nobody pays me to cook with it, or has ever given me any of this stuff for free to try. I read about it, bought it myself, and everybody here, likes it a LOT. Hard case carnivores included.

One thing I like about their stuff is that the spices and side ingredients are kept to a minimum. This is important to me especially when I am going to be adding a lot of spices. I want it to have the same bare bones quality that meat or a plain vegetable will have so that the recipe determines the flavor and there are not a lot of other notes being played.

One of the reasons I haven't bought other faux meats is precisely that. There are always too many additives . Especially in the world of nuggets. That is why I got so excited about Daring Chicken

This stuff is pretty pristine, flavor wise. At least the original variety. I could spice the hell out of this and it wouldn't have a bunch of other flavors interfering.

I visited the website, read reviews, and then went out and bought some. But first I wondered where did this faux chicken come from. Travis Barker, Kourtney Kardashian????

Nope. It was this guy.

Drake.

Yeah, Drake is one of the investors in Daring Foods, Chicken. I was looking for basically vegan "naked chicken" and Drake said...I got this!

First time cooking this, I decided to try a very simple weekday dish , Butter Chicken. I don't make Butter Chicken very often, and I'd just made it last week using Jackfruit in place of chicken so I thought, "great we can contrast them". The perfect opportunity, and damn, did it work!

This dish took less than an hour to make, which worked great for a workday meal...and there were leftovers. Something I'm particularly fond of as I don't want to finish a days writing and then immediately start cooking. It's great to get a break every few days

So I'm calling this Drake's Fake Butter Chicken.

Here's What You Need:

1 package of Daring Chicken Original Plant Based Chicken

1 can of coconut milk

1 cup tomato puree, I used a bottle of passata

1 large brown onion diced

3 cloves of garklic or 3 shallots minced

1 Tbs grated fresh ginger

1 Tbs vegetable oil. I used coconut oil

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp Karshmiri chili powder , more if you want it hotter

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 Tbs fresh lemon juice

1 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs nutritional yeast

2 Tbs dried fenugreek leaves (aka methi)

Cilantro to garnish

Here's What To Do:

Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat, and add the diced onion. Saute for about 3 minutes or so

Add in the garlic or shallot, and ginger.

Then add in the spices on top of that.

Saute for another two minutes or so.

Now, add in your Daring Chicken...

...sugar, nutritional yeast, and fenugreek leaves...

...and tomato puree...

...and lemon juice.

Turn the heat up a bit and simmer the mixture for about 10 minutes.

When your Daring Chicken is tender, add in your can of coconut milk.

Mix it in and turn the heat down so that the coconut milk doesn't separate.

Serve it up, scatter some chopped fresh cilantro on top.

I served this with Basmati rice cooked with cashews, sultanas, spices, and saffron.

Was it good? You bet. Did my carnivore like it? You bet. He kept saying his head knows it's not real but his body says CHICKEN!!!!

He kept saying "it's like in the Matrix.Joey Pants and the steak!"

And I said "yeah, but dude, you're not hooked up to some alien battery draining your energy while they feed you imaginary head meat. This is Drake's Fake Butter Chicken, and you're really eating it and it's delicious."

So there you go. Nobody paid me to eat this fake chicken, I bought it myself and I love it. The only thing I'm not crazy about is that it's made of soy, but wahtcha gonna do. It's damn good.

Coming up next, I'm going to pick up more of this Daring Chicken. It stores great in the freezer, and I'll be trying it as part of a hot and spicy South Indian Chicken dish, also, I'll be doing some other Summery recipes, Indian and Italian which is how we roll around here.

Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

From Afghanistan and Points North Tikka Khandahari

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sun, 15 May 2022 16:38:00 -0700

Ever since the pandemic started, our social life has shriveled down to nearly nothing. First, I had Covid in March of 2020, pre-vax, and we burrowed in, baking sourdough, cooking every meal we ate, and generally just living the pioneer life out here in the country. When I was enjoying all those great dystopian films and books, I never counted this on my 21st century bingo card. It was all fantasy. Make believe.

So we got vaxxed and boosted, and started doing outdoor entertaining with just a few people whose habits we knew to be careful. We were all sitting at the table (indoors with proper ventilation) Thanksgiving of 2021 when we heard about Omicron and everybody got quiet. The partying stopped. Christmas and New Years Eve were zoom celebrations, and later in 2022 we got a boost.

I bought a heater for the deck so that we could entertain comfortably outside. We started having small groups over for outside dining. Not our busy, every Saturday night out life from before covid, but better than what we were doing. Instead of having big dinner parties or gatherings, I'm doing small brunches, dinners, lunches etc. Just a few and weeks apart for safety sake. I'm also trying to use my Homdoor Tandoor as much as possible before Fire Season is officially upon us and all outdoor flames need to stop.

Last week I invited a few friends for a midweek tandoor dinner. It's something I rarely do because, work. But these friends have only one day off a week so Tuesday Tandoor it was. This time it was Tikka Khandahar. Lamb cooked in the style of Kabul and Khandahar. I used to cook these dishes years ago. We had a friend in Los Angeles, who'd just returned from a couple of tours in Afghanistan and he used to come over every time I'd make this. It was one of his favorite dishes. So, here we go.

Tikka Khandahari

Here's What You Need:

2 lb of lamb cut from the leg and cubed

1 cup of raw diced papaya (tenderizes the meat)

4 tsp ground Kachri ...(okay Kachri is this is a type of cucumber grown in Begal, Punjab, and Pakistan. Its a dried ground up cucumber with a tangy sourish taste.)

I didn't have any kachri in my larder so I used dried amchur powder (dried mango powder), if you don't have that, just use LEMON JUICE

1 cup of yogurt

1 cup of whipping cream

2 Tbs ginger paste (ground raw ginger)

4 tbs garlic or shallot paste (ground raw garlic or shallot) use your food processor or spice grinder w/ a little bit of water to keep things moving.

2 Tbs ground black pepper

1 tsp ground green cardamom

4 tsp garam masala

2 tsp kashmiri chili or red chili powder

6 Tbs of vegetable oil

2 tsp of salt

Here's What To Do:

Cut up the papaya.

Mix everything together all except the SALT. The salt goes into the marinade 15 minutes before cooking.

Cut the lamb into cubes for the skewers.

Place them in a bowl. As you can see I have an audience.

Slash the meat with a paring knife, this allows the marinade to penetrate the meat.

Pour the marinade over the meat.

Stir it around well, and pop it into the fridge to marinate overnight or at least 8 hours.

How to Cook:

Oil and wipe your skewers, and thread the meat onto them.

I use a halved yukon gold potato as a stopper to keep the meat from sliding off while cooking. If you are using a grill you won't have to do this.

Once the meat is on the skewers let it rest for 15 minutes while you light your Tandoor oven.

My Homdoor Tandoor is fueled by propane, and is a dream to cook with. Fast, efficient, we don't use the grill anymore. Yes, you can make this with a grill or even in the oven but nothing beats the tandoor. And I say this as the weirdo with 4 old school wood grills in my Santa Monica backyard trying to replicate tandoor cooking for a crowd. Homdoor is easier!

A Tandoor oven heats up really fast. The tikkas are cooked at 500 degrees for 10 minutes.

Put them in the tandoor.

Cook them for 10 minutes, then take them out.

Hang them on the side of the tandoor.

Then baste them with the marinade, let them rest for 10 minutes.

Then in again for another 5 to 8 minutes depending on how done you like your lamb.

When they're done take them out, and rest them on a platter.

Remove them from the skewers, and serve them up.

I served this with a Saffron rice with saffron, saultanas, cashews, and pomegranate arils, an Indian dried fruit salad with rosewater dressing...

...a Mint and pomegranate raita...

...and Green Bean Thoran.

Dinner was served in the garden...

...where at our house farm to table gets pretty personal as we grow a lot of what we eat.

I dressed the Tikkas up with some cara cara orange slices.

Dessert was Gulab Jamun and chai click for my recipe.

As the evening ended and it got dark, we didn't even need to employ the heater.

So another successful Homdoor Tandoor adventure! Coming up next: summer food as it's getting hot out there! Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Ragu, Hot and Spicy. Meatless Too!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Tue, 5 Apr 2022 16:08:00 -0700

Wednesday is Pasta Day at our house. Growing up very Italian there was a LOT of pasta, and for a long time I was fairly tired of it. In the 80s and 90s there was a trend to the Alta Cucina style of Italian food, the dishes of Northern Italy where my family is from, and Tuscan cuisine became a thing. Northern cooking favors meats, game meats, venison, wild boar, pheasant, rabbit, mushrooms, truffles, butter, cream, cheese, and polenta. It is not overly spicy or hot.These were the dishes that my dad's Tuscan immigrant parents cooked.

My mom on the other hand, liked things hot. She liked peppers, and spices, hot sauces. Her family started out in Louisiana, the after a brief sojourn in Canada they moved down river to New Orleans. They were French Creoles and their cooking embraced alllllllll the spices of everyone they came across in Louisiana that became part of our family. They picked up some Northern Italians too along the way, but they kept the hot stuff. In fact she and my dad used to make a dash for take-out to a place called The Hot House back when I was a kid. We never got any as they used to tell us kids we wouldn't like it. Wrong!

I inherited her taste for hot, which is why I love this Southern Italian ragu, which uses Italy's version of Sriracha/red chili paste, Calabrian sambal oelek. If you don't have the Calabrian stuff, any good spicy red pepper paste works so when you see this ingredient you can sub in Harissa, Sriracha, basically any sambal oelek paste. If you don't like too much heat but want something milder you can try smaller amounts of it, or use some dried red pepper flakes. Your call.

In place of the usual meat this can be made with jackfruit (works great) , any ground meat substitute, (I like Beyond Meat) , ground mushrooms, or you can just use plain old ground meat.

So here we go.

Ragu With Calabrian Sambal Oelek

Here's What You Need:

1 lb of ground Beyond Meat, or any meat substitute, or yes, you can of course use meat.

1 onion thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves or shallots peeled and crushed with a knife

kosher salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbs (generous) Calabrian sambal oelek

1 28 oz can of peeled tomatoes with their juice. I use San Marzano tomatoes for this.

1/2 lb of lasagna noodles. Use the kind that needs to be boiled. There is evidently a type I saw at the market the other day that says No Boil...Do NOT USE those. Break the noodles into 1 to 2 inch pieces before boiling them.

1/4 cup of Cabernet or Merlot wine

1 tsp fennel seed

1 cup of ricotta

1 lemon, zested

flaky salt ( I use Maldon)

1/4 cup olive oil and a bit extra for a drizzle.

Here's What To Do:

Heat the olive oil on medium.

Add in the onion and shallots/or garlic. Add a bit of salt and saute until they start to soften, this takes about 5 minutes.

Now add in your ground meat substitute. You want it to start to brown, but don't cook it through.

A note about browning a non meat substitute. If you want the caramelized effect of browned ground meat without using meat sprinkle a pinch or two of sugar on it as you are browning. That crisps things up nicely.

Add in your Calabrian Sambal Oelek.

Add in the red wine and stir things up to make sure nothing is sticking or burning.

Add your tomatoes and their juices. You can either crush them with your hands while adding them or use a potato masher once they're in, it just depends on how much rage you have about the world situation bottled up and how you want to express it. I go back and forth on this one.

Now cook on medium low until the tomatoes break down and the "meat" is cooked through. This takes about 1/2 hour. Midway through, add some salt and pepper to taste.

Boil your pasta.

While it's boiling, toast the fennel seeds in a small skillet until they are fragrant (this does NOT take long.)

When they're toasted, crush them or grind them.

When your pasta is cooked, drain it, and add it to the ragu, toss it coat it in the sauce.

Serve it up with a nice dollop of ricotta.

Sprinkle with lemon zest, the toasted fennel, the flaky sea salt and pepper. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil for the finale.

This is so good, hot, spicy, a bit sweet, just perfect. In fact writing this up, I'll be making this for us tomorrow. It's also great as leftovers.

So there you have it , if you've got the ingredients this can be on the table within an hour. That to me on a work day, is damn near perfect timing!

Coming up next, I'm finally getting to those caramelized pears.

Follow along on Twitter at @kathygori or on IG Kathy Gori

A Dish Fit For A King (With A Tandoor) Tikka Mughlai! And The Power Of The Dog!!!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Fri, 25 Mar 2022 14:34:00 -0700

So, another one of my birthdays passed in Plague Time. I haven't done any birthday celebrating since March of 2019. That's a while.

March of 2020 I was in isolation with Covid for my birthday. March of 2021 I was vaccinated but taking no chances. March of 2022, I'd gotten my booster in February, so I was now as ready as I was ever going to be to celebrate my birthday, and I figured why the hell not fire up the Homdoor Tandoor and invite some friends over to semi-party. Usually we fill the house, this time it was just a few friends and kids in the garden for an outdoor Indian lunch.

Of course what to cook? It was a birthday, and I hadn't had one of those in going on 3 years. BTW, I did not count those missing year birthdays so I'm actually 3 yrs younger.Those are my new plague years rules, live with it. We are all 3 yrs younger.

I thought the perfect dish to cook for a company tandoor lunch would be something regal. The ultimate royal tandoor dish would be Tikka Mughlai. We were going all the way back to the days of the Mughal Empire. We'd have lamb, flowers, Basmati rice, saffron, and all the fixings. I even baked a Chai and Apple Cake and decorated it in gold. There's a story behind this cake...wait for it.

We had Goldilocks weather, not too hot not too cold. perfect to set a table in the garden.

Tikka Mughlai is the product of the merger of Islamic cooking with the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent during the rule of the Mughal Emperors in the early 1400s to the mid 1800s. It's recipes are rich with aromatic spices, butter, cream, saffron, dried fruits and nuts. This cooking takes time, it's where one sees the gold and silver leaf, the edible flowers as decor. The Works! Make no mistake, this is the food of the elites! Perfect for someone who hasn't celebrated in going on 3 years.

One ruler in particular, Shah Jahan of Taj Mahal fame took this cooking to the heights, expanding the use of spices and lavish panoply. Meals were fit not just for a King, but for an Emperor. So, yeah, perfect for my garden. I decided to go for the gold and prepare Tikka Mughlai.

It seems like a complicated dish, as there are a LOT of ingredients but nothing you can't find at any market. The main prep equipment is a food processor, or a wet dry grinder ( an inexpensive little device that really comes in handy for Indian cooking) I bought mine for about 20 bucks online.

Tikka Mughlai

This recipe feeds: 2

(I tripled mine as we had 7 people.)

Here's What You Need:

1 lb of marbled meat from a leg of lamb

A few Yukon Gold potatoes to be halved and placed on the end of the skewers to hold the meat.

Marinade:

1 cup of yogurt

2 Tbs raw papaya paste

2 Tbs ginger paste

1 Tbs garlic (or shallot) paste

2 Tbs almond paste

2 Tbs pistachio paste

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp caraway seed

1 tsp Kashmiri chili powder

3 Tbs corn flour

3 Tbs vegetable oil

Here's What To Do:

Make your almond and pistachio paste ....here's how to do that:

Make these separately, it's pretty simple. I bought almonds that were already blanched (skin off) which I recommend doing . I couldn't find pistachios already blanched so here's how you do that.

Take about 15 almonds or pistachios.

Add about 1/2 cup of water to a small saucepan . Bring the water to a boil. When it's boiling add in the almonds or pistachios (whatever nuts you are using)

Take the pan off the heat and let the nuts sit in the boiling water for about 5 minutes. Then drain them and using a soft cloth or paper towel rub the skin off the nuts.

Take the nuts, put them in a food processor or grinder...

...and grind to a paste.

This is how you make either almond or pistachio paste

Papaya paste is easy.

Cut open a papaya.

Scoop out the soft flesh and blend it in a food processor.

Papaya paste

Ginger paste and garlic/shallot paste are done the same way. Grind them with a bit of water in a food processor.

Mix all of the ingredients for the marinade together in a big bowl.

Mix it all together well.

The Lamb

Cut the lamb pieces (the Tikkas) in to chunks that you can thread on to a skewer

Slash the pieces with a paring knife to allow the marinade to penetrate the meat, then pour the marinade over everything.

Stir it around well. Cover the bowl and refrigerate it for at least 8 hours, or overnight.

When You Are Ready To Cook:

Add 1 tsp of salt to the marinade, mix it in and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Now wipe your skewers down with vegetable oil and thread the tikkas on to them

when the meat is on the skewers add a half potato to use as a stopper.

Let the skewers rest for 15 minutes before cooking, which gives the marinade a chance to dry out a bit on the meat. Pay no attention to the dog in the corner. He comes into the action a bit later but he didn't get any of the tikkas.

Heat your tandoor oven. The temperature should be between 480 to 500 degrees.

Place the skewers into the oven.

Cook for about 10 minutes, rotating as needed.

After 10 minutes take them out and rest them on the side of the tandoor oven to let the drippings fall for about 5 minutes

Brush them with more marinade then pop them back in for 5 to 8 minutes depending on how well done you want your meat.

Take them out.

I took the meat off of the skewers, covered it and kept it covered in my warming oven while I finished the Basmati pulao with raisins, cashews, saffron, and flowers.

I served the meat over the rice. I used one of the beautiful platters Paula Wolfert had given me .

I served it with an Indian Dried Fruit Salad with Rosewater and Star Anise

And a mint and pomegranate raita...

...and a cold Spinach Salad with Peanut and Coconut powder Palak Koshimbar.

We had a great time, good food, good drinks, good company.

Now, about that cake.

As I said....I baked Nik Sharmas ( A Brown Table)wonderful Apple Chai cake. It turned out beautifully but how did it get from this...

...to this....

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Coming soon....The Dog Ate My Birthday Cake. A tale of theft and a recipe.

So there it is, was it a great birthday after a wait of nearly 3 years? You betcha! Did Tyrion? No unfortunately he did not. Details forthcoming. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Chocolate Pecan Tart. Now, With No Corn Syrup!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Thu, 3 Feb 2022 15:50:00 -0800

I never had pecans until I was in my 20's I think. It could have been longer as pecans weren't something commonly found around my house. We were blue collar Italians from San Francisco, and pecans were from some place far far away, deep in the South, someplace with alligators. My mom who never met a nut she didn't hate, never brought them into the house. They were on the banned list along with all other nuts, raisins, and cinnamon which was also on the NO list. The first time I ever had pecans it was in a pie in a diner and it was mainly pecans and corn syrup. A number of years passed before I tried pecan pie again. Then a friend from the South baked a real down home pecan pie, and I knew this was something I'd have to try myself.

When I was consulting for CocoaPlanet Cafe I was asked to come up with a chocolate pecan pie, and it had to be gluten free. So, I did my research and the Chocolate Pecan Tart was born. Super easy, super tasty.

Chocolate Pecan Tart

Here's What You Need:

For The Crust:

1 and 1/4 cups of flour (regular or gluten free..I use my own gluten free special blend recipe below*) plus a bit extra for kneading

3 Tbs sugar

1/4 tsp kosher salt

7 Tbs unsalted butter chopped up

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

3 Tbs ice water

1 Ten inch tart pan with removable bottom

For The Filling:

3 large eggs

1/2 cup dark brown sugar tightly packed

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup honey

4 oz chopped dark chocolate , melted

4 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp kosher salt

1 and 1/2 cups pecan pieces

extra pecan halves for decorating

Here's what to do:

Mix your tart dough. In the bowl of a food processor pulse together 1 and 1/4 cups of flour (all purpose or gluten free)

3 Tbs sugar

1/4 tsp salt

the zest of 1 lemon

7 Tbs unsalted butter chopped into pieces

Pulse all of this together until you have a fine meal like blend.

In a small bowl beat together :

1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice,

3 Tbs ice water

Drizzle this mixture over the flour/butter mixture in the food processor.

Pulse it until it forms a dough. This happens pretty quickly.

Take it out and on a flour dusted counter knead it a few times.

Roll it into a ball and flatten it into a disc shape.

Wrap it in cling-film and stick it in the fridge to chill for about 1 hour....or the freezer for 10 minutes.

*Gluten Free Crust Blend

4 cups sorghum flour

4 cups tapioca flour

2 cups finely sifted almond flour

4 tsp xanthan gum

Mix everything together well . This is the basic pie crust, tart, quiche shell mixture. There is a separate blend for cakes.

Here's What To Do:

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to 13" and place it in the tart pan. Cut off the overhang so it's even with the pan, then pinch the sides of the dough up to 1/4 of an inch above the side of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk the eggs and brown sugar together.

now add in the honey, maple syrup, melted, butter, melted chocolate, vanilla, and salt.

Take the bowl off the stand mixer and fold in the pecan pieces.

Pour the filling into the tart crust.

Place the pecan halves around the edge as decoration.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

It's done when the pie is set around the edges and is just a tiny bit jiggly in the center.

Let it cool completely before un-molding.

Cover the tart loosely with foil and store in the fridge until serving.

I am now a pecan pie/tart fan, and I think if you like pecans, and chocolate you will be too.

Coming up next on the blog, more treats and you can follow along on @kathygori

Fear Of Baking And The Vegan Chocolate Cake

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 14:51:00 -0800

I did not grow up eating homemade cake. Both of my grandmothers were excellent cooks but they specialized in different areas. My mom's family were New Orleans French Creoles, and came to California in the 1840s looking for gold. That side baked delicate meringues, and what I found out later was actually called Bananas Foster (served without the booze for us kids).

My dad's family were Italian immigrants from Florence, and Lucca, so the desserts they made were cookies, nougats, and of course Buccellato. For big events such as Pasqua, (Easter) they'd buy a St. Honore Cake from San Francisco's famous Victoria Pastry Bakery, in business since 1911. As you can see from the picture, these dudes were serious about their cake...they still are.

My grandparents all died when I was 8 years old, the fancy homemade treats stopped and my mom, the woman who never believed in pre-heating an oven, and never met a boxed mix she didn't like, took over.

We were served a series of things that didn't quite turn out. Cakes that would be raw in the middle, or totally burned. Either way it put me off baking for a long time. My mom just didn't like cooking, not everyone does. I happen to, and I started out cooking at our house when I was in high school, inspired by The French Chef on TV. My parents watched Julia Child religiously always hoping she would drop something, or seem slightly tipsy. They lived for that. Meanwhile I was taking mental notes and I asked for a copy of The French Chef for Christmas. They bought it for me, but I never went near the baked goods part. I was a savories person, not a dessert or baking person until I stumbled on the Cafe Beaujoulis.

Cafe Beaujolis is a restaurant up in Mendocino California. Someone (can't remember who) gifted me their cookbook back in the late 80's and for some reason one recipe made me try and attempt cake. It's called Amazon Chocolate Cake, the recipe was very simple, and I thought achievable. Also, I had all the ingredients right in my pantry. I've never had a bad experience with this recipe. It was the basis of every family/friends birthday cake I baked for years. It also makes great cupcakes, and as I said, it's vegan!

So, this is the recipe that killed my Fear of Baking. I hope it makes you as happy as it's made me.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Here's What You Need:

3 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 tsp baking soda

2 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

2 cups cold water

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs vegetable oil. (canola or corn)

1 Tbs vanilla

2 Tbs white vinegar or strained fresh lemon juice

fresh raspberries

Chocolate ganache recipe

1 bag freeze dried raspberries

Here's What To Do:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar, and salt.

Sift these ingredients together.

In a separate bowl mix together the water, vegetable oil, vanilla, and vinegar or lemon juice.

Whisk together the wet and dry mixtures

Pour the mixture through a strainer into a bowl.

Break up any lumps, and press them through.

Now, depending on what you are planning to bake, you can either, pour the cake mix into two greased 9 inch cake pans, or cupcake pans, or as I did here a fancy Bundt cake mold.

After you pour the cake batter in, tap the edge of the pan against the counter or drop it from 6 inches to the floor several times to pop air bubbles.

NOTE: only do the floor drop if the dog is out of the kitchen.

Bake at 350 degrees If you are baking this in two 9 inch pans this takes about 25 to 30 minutes. Baking it in a larger Bundt pan it takes longer I'd give it a good hour or so but keep an eye on it after about 40 minutes . It's done when a skewer or toothpick inserted comes out clean .

I made a chocolate ganache frosting and drizzled it down the curves of the cake.

Then I took a bag of freeze dried raspberries and crumbled them on top of the chocolate ganache.

I decorated the top with a few fresh raspberries I had. This was our pre-vaccine quarantine Christmas cake from December of 2020. This serves about 12 people. Normally I'd have had that and more for our Christmas dinner...so this was a lot of cake for a small group but no one complained.

So there it is, a pretty simple vegan cake that I'll bet you have everything you need to make this right at home already.

PS: here's the cupcake version with vegan icing

Coming up next, more Indian treats and also if anyone's interested I dipped into my chefs book from the restaurant and found these terrines I made when I was consulting for the Cocoa Planet French Cafe here in Sonoma.

Pork, cherry, pistachio terrine

...and a vegetable terrine.

Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Bhaditraka.......An Ancient Sanskrit Name For Delicious

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 11:17:00 -0800

I love old cookbooks, always have. I think it started when I found my great grandma's Native Daughters Of The Golden West Cookbook. It's now nearly 100 years old and what I loved about it as a kid was there were recipes for squirrel in it. The squirrel and other delicacies were in a section of the book devoted to Early Californio recipes, and usually talked about a hot fire or a hot oven with no discernible temperatures or real times given, just HOT, and For A While. I loved trying to figure them out as a kid, and practiced on my mom's stove. But wait, there's more.

I've experimented, and I've cooked ancient Roman Cheesecake.

I've baked Emily Dickinsons Gingerbread...

...and Virginia Woolfe's Cottage Loaf, because I like, no, love old recipes, and when I find one I just have to try it.

People have been writing down favorite recipes since the development of writing. Ancient cookbooks exist almost everywhere in the world, and are wonderful windows into along, long ago past. They're found on every continent, and in many languages. Some ancient texts, are written in cuniform on clay Like the Yale Tablets from 1700 BC that have lasted since the fall of Babylon, or De Re Coquinaria the Roman cookbook of Apicius. There's the Medieval Islamic Kitab al-Ṭabīḫ from 900 AD, Le Viandier, a French cookbook from 1300 AD, a Catelonian cookbook Llibre de Sent Sovi, from 1324, and from China Yinshan Zhengyao from the Yuan dynasty in 1334.

Some recipes have been treasured over ages and just recently collected such as In Bibi's Kitchen, Recipes and Stories from Grandmothers from the Eight African Countries That Touch the Indian Ocean

Chef Freddie Bitsoie's book The New Native Kitchen :Celebrating Modern Recipes of The American Indian

And from the University of Texas at San Antonio: 200 Year old Mexican Recipes downloadable for free

Now that it's cold and wet up here in Northern California, I'm firing up my Homdor Tandoor oven to do some Winter Kitchen Cooking, and what better to start with than a recipe from one of the oldest cookbooks the Mansollasa a 12th century Sanskrit text put together by the Kalyani Chalukya King Someshvara lll who ruled South India. The book is a guide to EVERYTHING: dance, astrology, horticulture, medicine, government ethics, games, painting, poetry, music, and FOOD! My sister-in-law, could have probably told me reams about this book since she reads Sanskrit...but she's in New York and I'm here so I went digging.

The book and it's recipes still exist and I decided to cook one of them. It's a simple recipe, easy to prepare and can be done on a BBQ, but it was created for a Tandoor Oven. It's a simple marinade, and most ingredients you may already have.

Bhaditraka

Here's What You Need:

2 Tbs lemon juice

2 Tbs mashed raw papaya

1 Tbs Ginger paste (grind fresh chopped ginger w/ a tiny bit of water in a food processor or blender until you have a paste )

1/4 cup onion paste (made the same way as above)

1 tsp Green chili paste (serrano chili done the same way)

* Note:

I bought a wet/dry grinder a few years back it's a mighty little machine perfect for preparing pastes etc. and a great kitchen asset.

2 Tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp[ ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

3 Tbs vegetable oil

1 tsp salt.

2 lbs of boneless lamb leg cut into chunks for skewering aka tikkas. Make cuts in the meat with a sharp knife so the marinade can penetrate the meat.

A couple of new potatoes

Here's What To Do:

This is super simple. Just take all the ingredients above (EXCEPT THE SALT) and mix them together in a bowl.

Put everything in the fridge and let it sit at least 8 hours or better yet, overnight.

Add the salt to the marinade 15 minutes before cooking, and mix everything again.

Cut your potatoes into chunks, you'll be using them as stoppers for your skewers.

Rub your skewers with some oil.

Then thread the meat chunks on the skewers, sticking a chunk of potato on the end as a stopper...

Like so...

Brush them with the left over marinade...

...and let them sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes or so while you get your tandoor oven nice and hot.

This dish cooks at about 480 degrees.

When the temperature has reached around 480, put your skewers into the tandoor oven and cook for about 10 minutes.

Take them out , stand them upright against the tandoor to let the drippings fall for about 5 minutes.

Then, back into the oven for another 5 to 8 minutes depending on how done you like your meat.

Remove the meat from the skewers and serve it up, sprinkled with a bit of fresh cilantro.

Among the many cooking implements Paula Wolfert has passed along to me, was this beautiful tagine, inlaid with metal.

She told me it was a serving tagine, not meant for the oven so I decided to use that for my presentation.

I served the Bhaditraka with Basmati rice with saffron, sultanas, and almonds, Indian Creamed Spinach ...

...and a fresh Papaya Raita.

So there it is, direct from the 12th century right to your modern kitchen.

Coming up next....How to do this.... and some other stuff.

Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Got Beans? You Got Cookies! Coconut Macaroons Go Vegan!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 12:42:00 -0800

A few years back, I was hired to design a gluten-free menu for a local restaurant here in Sonoma. I'm not gluten-free personally but so many friends of mine are that I got into the habit of just cooking that way. Also, my years of Indian cooking with it's large numbers of naturally gluten-free dishes gave me a lot of experience working with gluten-free flours and ingredients.

Then came aquafaba (aka Bean Water) and a whole world of gluten-free/vegan ideas emerged. The left over water from garbanzo bean cooking created the perfect substitute for egg whites. Who knew? It was the ingredient I'd been looking for. When I was asked to duplicate some of the owner's favorite recipes that her French born mom used to fix in a gluten-free or vegan package, I was all set, and one of the first things she wanted was these coconut macaroons.

These cookies are some of the easiest ones to make, and perfect if you're an aquafaba virgin (c'mon weren't we all once?)

Coconut Macaroons Aquafaba Style

Here's What You Need:

4 Tbs of reduced aquafaba liquid (* Explanation to follow)

3/4 cup of caster sugar

2 and 1/2 cups of dried shredded unsweetened coconut

A pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

Melted dark chocolate for the drizzle

Here's What To Do:

**How to Reduce aquafaba**

In a small pot reduce the water from a drained can of "No Salt Added" garbanzo beans to 1/3 of a cup. Let the bean water cool, until it's ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat

Mix together the coconut shreds, sugar, and salt. Set them aside.

Put 4 Tbs of the reduced bean water (aka aquafaba) in a bowl. Add in the 1/2 tsp of vanilla. Hand whisk the aquafaba and vanilla mixture briskly until it gets foamy, about 30 seconds or so will do.

Pour the aquafaba/vanilla mixture into the bowl of coconut, sugar, and salt. Mix everything around well.

Shape the moist coconut mixture into balls with a tablespoon, melon-baller, or ice cream scoop.

Place the balls of coconut mixture on the parchment or silicone liner on the cookie sheet.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes. Look for the coconut to brown slightly.

Take the macaroons out of the oven and let them cool on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes.

Move the cooled macaroons to a cooling rack

Melt some chocolate gently in a double boiler and drizzle it over the tops of the macaroons.

When the chocolate has cooled, store the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge, and bring them to room temperature before serving. Or you can do what usually happens around here and just eat them up!

I literally made these when a friend phoned and said she was coming over with her husband and kids...last minute. It's the perfect emergency dessert.

Coming up next, I'll be firing up my Homdoor Tandoor with a recipe from Monasollasa, a cookbook written by Somesvara in AD 1127 for the Royal Kitchens. Now available in your own non-royal back yard. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Jackfruit (Cut To Look Like Lamb) Ragu.

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 14:02:00 -0800

Nothing's better on a wintry day than a good old fashioned bowl of pasta. My dad's family is from Tuscany so I grew up with some of the benefits of that cuisine. One of my favorite Northern Italian food perks is a tasty ragu, Florentine style.

My Nonna was the queen of this type of pasta. Nonno was no slack either, but the thing I really remember about him was the large pot of chicken feet he usually had on the stove. As a kid, I developed a taste for chicken feet, pigs feet, and other culinary unmentionables. I'll never forget the time my dad dragged in some sort of "delicacy" that I don't think one could see on the outside of the animal. That was the last straw for my mom who even though she was part Italian (her family had been in the US, pre-US down in NOLA and had their own food quirks) but this was a line she would not cross. No innards! If she embroidered this would have been on a pillow.

Whatever it was he was trying to cook, I remember my mom sticking a knife in it, and chasing him around the kitchen with it while they both were laughing. Then she couldn't get the knife out. I never did find out what it was he brought home for us, but there were certain immigrant dishes she wouldn't touch. For Italian food, she liked the basics. Meatballs (polpette), polenta, and a nice ragu (or as they called it gravy because it had meat).

I have an old Italian cookbook that was passed on to me when I left SF for LA. It has recipes in tiny print using European measurements, which were waaay above my pay grade at the time.They sent me to Los Angeles with a cookbook, a hand cranked pasta machine, and a job doing all night rock radio at a 50,000 watt station, and I was just turning 21. That's what every girl hitting the LA rock scene in the 70's needs. That's what Licorice Pizza missed!

The station did send me to truck driving school however, during the gas crisis as a PR stunt and I wound up in Overdrive Magazine, but I never really bothered to figure out the metric system, or make anything in that book. Yet, it followed me until I was ready for it. Like the student must be ready for the teacher or some such Yoda-type thing.

Anyway, as a grownup, I do metrics now with my cooking and the book is a treasured item that I go to when I need some home comfort cooking. One thing I always make from it is the recipe fora true ragu.

Traditionally, the recipe calls for three types of meat, beef, lamb and pork which is how I used to make it, or if just one meat was used, it was left over leg of lamb. This was a dish which was always served around Easter time when there would be left over lamb and my mom would make an old school lamb ragu.

Now, I make it with canned Jackfruit, subbing for shredded lamb, and yes it works, it really really work. How do I know this? Well, the carnivore I live with, aka Alan requested this for his birthday dinner this year. so, just sayin'.....

Jackfruit Ragu

Here's What You Need:

1 can of jackfruit

2 and 1/2 Tbs olive oil

6 Tbs unsalted butter (divided)

1 onion finely chopped

1 carrot finely chopped

1 stalk celery finely chopped

A few leaves of fresh basil chopped

About a tsp or two of fresh chopped rosemary

1 Bay leaf

A pinch of sugar

2/3 cup dry white wine

4 tsp tomato paste

1 and 1/4 cup stock (vegetable)

4 Tbs cream

Grated Parmesan cheese

Here's What To Do:

Drain and rinse the jackfruit in cool water.

Dry it well, by rolling it in paper towels and pressing to get extra water out.

Then shred the jackfruit using two forks, or your hands. Just shred it up, all of it can be eaten so don't worry about any part that won't break up. Once it's dried and shredded set it aside.

Melt 3 Tbs of the butter and all the olive oil in a deep pan or skillet.

Add in the chopped onion, carrot, and celery. Saute over a low heat until the vegetables soften and start to change color. Add in the basil and rosemary and the bay leaf.

Now add in the shredded jackfruit. Saute it gently. The idea is to dry it, and brown it lightly on the edges crisping it. Add your pinch of sugar now as this helps the jackfruit caramelize. Stir it around.

When it starts to brown, add in the white wine and cook it down until it starts to evaporate.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Dilute the tomato paste with a little stock, and stir it into the sauce. Add the rest of the stock and cook slowly as the liquid is reduced.

After the sauce has thickened a bit add in the cream and continue cooking until that has reduce.

Finally add in the rest of the butter, and stir until it's melted and thoroughly mixed into the sauce.

Boil the Tagliatelli for about 5 to 7 minutes, then drain it and add it to the sauce.

Mix everything around well and serve it up sprinkled with grated Parmesan cheese and a sprig of rosemary.

So there it is, a traditional ragu without the meat, and according to Alan, Carnivore Approved!

Coming up next, more treats, follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Spicy Kerala Shrimp Moilee For A Chilly January Night ...Now With Parathas!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 11:54:00 -0800

We're having a cold winter up here in Northern California. We've been chilled frozen, dunked in the Atmospheric River and the Sierra has been buried in snow. We're happy for the water, and like happy doesn't even begin to cover it, but keeping warm both outside and in is important. Stews, soups and all manner of hot spicy fair, this is your moment to shine. This is the moment for a nice Kerala moilee.

What is a molee or moilee? It's a type of creamy (coconut milk) spicy, curry from the southern coast of India. It's usually made from fish, though there are veg versions too, which I'll be sharing soon. Molee can be mild or super spicy. Your hand's on the chili and it's up to you, cowboy.

So if you can get your mitts on some shrimp, a can of coconut milk, and some basic spices such as cloves, and turmeric, you can make this bad boy tonight while you're enjoying Peacemaker, or the Madalorian, (which reminds me of a great Magalorian recipe ) anyway, this is a very quick, and simple dish to make no matter how you spell molee.

Shrimp Molee

Here's What You Need:

1 Tbs vegetable oil (i use coconut oil)

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

3 shallots or 3 cloves of garlic crushed (just peel and flatten with a large heavy knife)

2 serrano chilies finely chopped

2 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

4 whole cloves

1 and 2/3 cup of coconut milk (best with full fat)

*6 curry leaves (if you have them, otherwise there is really no substitute so leave them out)

1/2 tsp salt

1 and 1/4 lb of shrimp cleaned, and shelled

1 tbs chopped fresh cilantro

Here's What To Do:

Heat the oil in a kadhai or deep frying pan.

When the oil is hot add in the onion and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic or shallots, and cook for another 5 minutes until the onion has softened and turned translucent.

Now add in the turmeric, cumin, coriander, and cloves.

Stir fry everything for about 2 minutes.

Now add in the curry leaves if you have them.

Add the coconut milk and salt and bring everything to just below the boiling point.

Then turn down the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

After the sauce has simmered for 20 minutes, add in your shelled, and cleaned shrimp.

Bring the heat back up to simmer and cook for 5 minutes, until your shrimp are pink and cooked through.

Check your seasoning, add more salt if you need it.

Sprinkle the dish with chopped cilantro and serve it up.

I served it in a bowl along with parathas for lunch. It's also great over rice.

Feel free to play with the heat. If you find it's too spicy for you just add a bit more coconut milk to mellow it But always start with less chili if you're worried about heat. It's always easy to add more if you want it.

So there you go. This is a perfect gateway dinner on a Friday night to kick off a relaxing weekend.

*As to the curry leaves;

I order mine online. They arrive fresh and I just bag 'em and tuck them into the freezer.

I order Ajika Brand, or Rani Brand. Very easy to find and order online.

And as for the Parathas:

Here's my recipe for Mint Parathas, which kept me sane during a very difficult time.

Coming up next an Indian dessert to go with, Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Now That You've Baked Baci di Dama, Here's Your Entree

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 12:01:00 -0800

These cold January days are perfect pasta weather. We're in the middle of a bunch of work, and I don't have a lot of time to cook complicated things, so I love the simple Italian family recipes like the ones my Nonna used to make. I stress Nonna here, because moms' idea of pasta was whatever came from Kraft. She really didn't like to cook, and growing up in a 3 generation household I'd loiter in the kitchen when my grandmother was cooking, and sneak eat with them. When it was our turn to use the kitchen I was already fed and mom would get pissed off, so no double dipping.

Both my grandmothers, the immigrant and the one whose family was here from the jump, were excellent cooks so whatever cooking gene I got came from those two ladies. This pasta dish would have both of them happy I think. It's simple, fast, and delicious, and once I made Jamie Schlers' wonderful Baci di Dama I had to have a main dish that was worthy, and I think I found one in this very basic pasta recipe.

Tagliatelli With Mushrooms and Bacon......(and some truffle oil if you've got it)

Here's What You Need:

3 pieces of bacon chopped

1 shallot

1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes

3 large portobello mushrooms sliced

1/3 cup of cream

2 Tbs of olive oil (divided)

12 oz of dry tagliatelli pasta

1/2 cup of the pasta water

2 Tbs. of grated parmesan cheese

Here's What To Do:

Boil a pot of salted water for the pasta.

Slice or chop the bacon into thin strips.

Heat 1 Tbs of olive oil.

When it's hot add in the bacon and render it down.

Add in the sliced portobello mushrooms, on medium heat saute them until they begin to soften, then add in the thinly sliced shallot and red pepper flakes.

Boil the tagliiatelli. The dried Italian type I used takes 5 minutes. Add some ground pepper and drizzle the pasta with the other Tbs of olive oil...OR...if you've got truffle oil drizzle 1 Tbs of that!

When the pasta is cooked drain it, and save 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

Add 1/3 cup of cream to the mushrooms in the pan, along with 2 Tbs of grated parmesan and stir everything around. Now Add in the 1/2 cup of pasta water and toss until everything is well combined. The pasta water works to smooth things out and make a nice clingy sauce. Who said clingy was bad? Here it's important.

And now it's a party!

Serve it up.

I crumbled a bit of shaved parm on top to finish it off.

Finish off with one or two of these....

Fire up the espresso maker, get your inner Gaga on and you'll think you're having lunch at the House of Gucci.

Coming up next. An Indian lunch of Kerala Shrimp Moilee and paratha.

Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

A Cookie Like A Kiss, Baci di Dama courtesy Of Jamie Schlers

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 11:49:00 -0800

I grew up in a cookie-centric household. My mom was no baker that's for sure. Her butter cookies resembled skeets, and you just wanted to yell "pull" every time she served them. When you're a kid and NO ONE will trade you ANYTHING for your homemade cookies at lunch, you know there's a problem. So my mom was a cookie buyer, not a cookie baker. My dad would swing buy Mothers Cookies Bakery factory store and bring back the day-old stuff for us, especially these.

So as a kid, cookies weren't something that was usually baked at home as NO ONE wanted Fran in the kitchen working her cookie magic.

Over the years I started baking cookies occasionally, then when I started consulting for the Cocoa Planet Cafe everything had to be gluten-free since the entire restaurant was gluten-free. I learned to translate most things into what they needed from flour blends that I developed. I made everything from lady fingers to madeleines all of them gluten free, but in all my cookie baking I'd never run across Baci di Dama.

The only Italian cookies we ever got at my house were Stella'Oro and those were good basic Italian cookies, S shaped "breakfast treat" biscuits that were generally dunked in espresso, nothing fancy, and certainly no Baci di Dama.

When my friend Jamie Schler, extraordinary cook book author, and Chinon hotelier, over at @lifesafeast posted a recipe and pictures of these delectable Italian cookies, I was all..."How did I never get these before!" I immediately wanted to bake some. Jamie provided the recipe and just in case you missed it I thought I'd post it here, since they were so easy to make, and they looked so good for their few minutes of existence before everyone fell on them and they were gone.

Jamies instructions provided for using hazelnuts and almonds and grinding them into a flour, however I used hazelnut flour and almond flour that I had on hand so the whole process was super easy.

Baci Di Dama (Lady's Kiss) Cookies

Here's What You Need:

For The Cookies:

10 Tbs (150 grams) unsalted butter softened to room temperture

1/2 cup (100 grams ) sugar

1 large egg yolk

2 oz (50 grams) almond flour or finely ground almonds

2 oz (50 grams) hazelnut flour or finely ground hazelnuts

1 and 1/4 cup (175 grams) all purpose flour

1 tsp vanilla

For Chocolate Ganache Filling :

3/4 cup ( 100 grams) Dark chocolate coarsely chopped .Jamie recommends Lindt Dessert or Lindt Excellence70% (I used a dark chocolate infused with mandarin orange)

1/2 cup (125 ml) heavy cream

What to Do:

Cream the softened butter together with the sugar until it's light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg yolk and the almond and hazelnut flours.

Beat in the all purpose flour and vanilla until everything is well incorporated.

Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and, working very quickly, knead the dough just until you have a smooth, homogeneous ball of dough, flouring the work surface & your hands as needed. This dough contains a high quantity of butter so the more it is worked (with warm hands) the softer and stickier it becomes.

Wrap the ball of dough in plastic wrap & place in the refrigerator to chill for a few hours or overnight.

When the dough has been chilled & you are ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 325°F (170°C).

Remove the chilled, firm dough from the refrigerator and from the plastic & place on a lightly floured work surface.

Cut into 4 pieces (which are easier to work with) and, working one piece at a time & as quickly as possible to keep the buttery dough from softening too much, press & roll out the dough
into a long ¾-inch (2 cm) thick snake, ends squared.

Using a pastry cutter or sharp knife, slice the long log or snake into even ½-inch (1 cm) wide pieces or slightly larger. Again working very quickly, roll each piece into a ball, pressing together if the dough splits,

Place on a cookie sheet, leaving a little space between each ball for rising. Bake the trays of balls in the preheated oven for no longer than 20 minutes or until cooked through & slightly golden.

Remove from the oven & allow to cool completely before making the ganache filling & sandwiching the cookie domes together with the ganache.

Make your ganache filling:

Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-sized heatproof Pyrex bowl.

Bring the heavy cream to a boil.

Pour it over the chopped chocolate & allow to sit, stirring, until the chocolate is completely melted and the ganache is perfectly smooth.

Allow the ganache to sit at room temperature until it reaches the desired consistency: to sandwich the Baci di Dama, the ganache needs to be quite thick & firm so it pipes out without running & you can sandwich the two domes of cookie halves together without making a runny mess.

Or store the cookie pieces in a tin while the ganache chills overnight in the fridge, simply taking the ganache out of the cold a bit before piping & sandwiching the two halves of the cookies together.100 grams) dark chocolate coarsely chopped.

Filling Those Cookies:

Fill a pastry bag with a tip (about ¼ to ½ -inch wide hole). Pair up matching (in size) cookie halves then pipe a dot of ganache on the bottom halves of all the pairs.

Gently press the other cookie half onto the ganache.

Place all the Baci di Dama on a tray or rack to allow the ganache to firm up. These cookies get even better when stored in a metal tin overnight as the cookie goes from crumbly to
perfectly tender.

Now, put on some coffee, or tea and......enjoy!

Italians love these cookies and even have them for breakfast sometimes. Yes, they do and you can't tell me otherwise, because that's what I'm telling my family.

These are cookies you're going to want to be making again and again. Thanks to Jamie and her amazing recipes and this Orange Appeal , Isolation Baking,

and her #StirCrazyPodcast

Let's get her a

on Twitter!

Next on the blog, Jamies flipped the switch on my baking agenda , and now I'm thinking of making and sharing a few traditional Italian treats that can be part of your breakfast or tea time. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Easy Easy Peasy (?) Pasta, With Asparagus, Pancetta, And Parm. So Fast It's Almost To Go!

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sun, 9 Jan 2022 14:33:00 -0800

Ever since the pandemic began we've stayed out of restaurants. We've always worked from home so that's no problem, we're used to that. I've always cooked most meals so I'm used to that. The big difference is now I'm cooking everything we eat, baking the bread, growing some of the vegetables. I love cooking so that's not an issue, but what I do struggle with sometimes is fixing something that quick, easy and fits into our daily writing schedule.

Well, meet the dish pictured above, because it's perfect! It ticks all the boxes, fast, easy, tasty and if you work it right...leftovers!

It started when I was thinking about the various pasta shapes I was fed growing up. One of my favorites was tagliatelli. It's a pasta shape occupying the middle ground between pappardelle, and fettuccini. It's not too wide, not too narrow, but in the Goldilocks Zone of pasta it's just right.

I bought some tagliatelli the other day, and then tried to figure out what to pair it with. First move, check my larder and see what's what. Can I do this without disrupting things to go shopping? What was actually in the house besides the pasta I'd just brought home.

I had frozen peas, Parmesan cheese, some pancetta (which I always have around at holiday times) some fresh asparagus, white wine, and left over cream. Turns out that's all I needed for this dish.

Tagliatelli With Pancetta, Peas, and Asparagus

Here's what You Need:

16 oz of tagliatelli pasta

2 Tbs olive oil

1 shallot thinly sliced

1 cup of frozen peas

4 oz of chopped pancetta or bacon (it'll work with that too)

The tops of 12 asparagus spears (take an asparagus spear and bend it in half. Where it breaks at the top is the part you want.)

1/2 cup of white wine

1 cup of heavy cream

1 and 1/2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese

ground black pepper

Here's What To Do:

Heat the oil in a pan. When the pan is hot add in the shallot.

Stir it around for a minute or so, then quickly add your pancetta or bacon.

Saute until the pancetta or bacon starts to get crispy at the edges.

Now, add the white wine.

A few minutes later add the cream and some ground pepper.

Reduce the liquid for a few minutes.

Then, add the grated cheese and continue to reduce the sauce at a low heat

Meanwhile........

Boil your pasta in salted water. My dried tagliatelli takes 5 minutes.

Now here's where it gets a bit precise....

3 minutes before the pasta is ready toss the peas into the pasta water.

1 minute before the pasta is ready add in your asparagus pieces.

Drain the pasta and vegetables and add them to the parm sauce in the pan.

Stir everything around so the pasta is well coated and.....,.

Give each bowl a twist of ground black pepper and serve it up.

This is a basic old Italian pasta recipe, a twist on carbonara. It's sometimes prepared with mushrooms instead, I'm thinking however that almost any vegetable could be added. I would have added some bread crumbs on top for a bit of extra crunch, but I got that idea after we were eating, so next time.

This went over very well around here. I'd put it on a dinner party rotation if we were still doing that. I'll keep it in the pandemic lunch file just in case.

Coming up next more treats I bought a pandoro mold, and once the rain allows, I'm firing up the tandoor and cooking while there is danger of starting a conflagration. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

The Postmaster And The Panettone

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sat, 1 Jan 2022 14:52:00 -0800

The first thing I'd like to point out is that this is NOT a panettone. Did I want to be posting a picture of a panettone that I'd baked for the holiday. Of course I did, but I didn't. And there lies a tale.

Early in December I was contacted by the folks at the Paradise Candied Fruit Company. They asked me if I'd like to sample some of their products for use in my holiday baking. It's not hard to tempt someone raised in an Italian-centric home to use candied fruit at Christmastime. Not hard at all, and their product looked so delicious I immediately started planning a gorgeous Christmas Panettone that would have made my nonna proud. I had a recipe I was eager to try and now... candied fruit!!!!!

I went on the hunt for a panettone baking mold, a large corrugated almost cupcake-like wrapper that the bread would bake in, sort of like a cupcake paper on steroids.

So I immediately leapt to my computer and ordered some baking molds. The USPS promised they'd be here soon. Uh......that's when the trouble started. They were shipped December 12th , supposedly arriving in a few days. The few days stretched into a couple of weeks. I'm still waiting. The tracking number tells me yeah, they're in the system somewhere, just not where I am.

The mail is super slow, and not just because of holidays and covid. It's slow because of changes made at the top by this guy...

"Yeah, I got your dog's flea medicine, your cargo pants, your holiday lights, those extra batteries AND your panettone molds. Whattya gonna do about it?"

That's kind of how I imagine it. Either way I don't have my stuff, everything comes late and as for the paper molds well, they're out there somewhere.

I felt badly about not getting to use all this gorgeous candied fruit, and I'd always wait the extra day to bake because I'd been told, it's coming tomorrow, or today. I don't believe them any more so that's why I baked some soda bread.

I enjoy baking soda bread, stuffed with currants and orange zest. It takes next to no time, uses minimal ingredients, and is gobbled up so fast there's not much left over. Easy. It seemed like the perfect emergency vehicle for holiday candied fruit. My recipe for soda bread is not "mine." It's just the recipe for soda bread. There are probably others but this is the one I've always had, and I have no idea who came up with it. Leprechauns maybe? Either way, if you have baking soda, flour, salt, and buttermilk you can make this in less than an hour for your breakfast or snacking pleasure.

Soda Bread With Candied Fruit

Here's What You Need:

NOTE: Ever since I started watching the Great British Bake Off I've started using grams as measures. It's far more accurate .

350 grams all purpose flour (2 and 1/2 cups)

1 and 1/2 tsps salt

1 tsp baking soda

285 ml buttermilk (9.6 oz)

1/2 cup of chopped Paradise Candied Fruit (i used red and green cherries for that holiday color)

Here's What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Dust your baking sheet with a bit of flour.

Mix all the dry ingredients together well, then add in the buttermilk and chopped candied fruit.

Stir it all together into a ball of dough. If you need to add extra buttermilk, or a bit of flour do so.

Knead the dough a bit to form a good sized ball.

Put it on the baking sheet and cut a deep cross through it, almost cutting all the way through the dough. This allows a proper bake so that the dough can stretch and expand. However, if you ask the Irish, traditionally it was to warn the Devil to keep his mitts off the bread, as well as the house, and all who live it it.

I usually dust the top of the dough with a bit of flour before it goes in to bake.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Take the dough out and enjoy your soda bread with a nice mug of hot tea or coffee.

So there it is, holiday soda bread. Delicious! Thanks to the good people at Paradise Fruit Company for letting me sample their wares, more to follow! Hopefully my molds will come soon so that I can show you all a lovely panettone, and if it doesn't show up in time, a Focaccia della Befana for Little Christmas aka The Epiphany, aka Jan 6th. That's if my pearl sugar which is sprinkled on top shows up in time. It's in transit right now, hopefully not traveling in the same truck as those panettone molds.

Coming up next more post holiday adventures in food. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Lamb Tikka Tandoori For Two, Or Celebrating In A Time Of Plague

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 14:46:00 -0800

When I first got my Homdoor Tandoor oven I had big plans. We'd just refinished the deck (ourselves)...

...and renovated the garden for outside dining and entertaining.

We were all set, let the fun and games begin.

I fired up the Tandoor for the first time in early 2020. I made Naan bread.

A week later I came down with Covid. My tandooring, my writing, my cooking, basically everything stopped for two months and change while I recovered.

By the time I was ready to go again, nobody was doing any entertaining. There weren't any vaccines yet, and no one wanted to get sick. So my Tandoor Party Plans went..poof!

We finally got our vaccines and then we went into an early fire season. There were no burns, no lawn mowing, no grilling, no open flames of any sort. We went through evacuation after evacuation and fire was no one's friend.

When 2021 rolled around we were hoping for better times, then came Delta and no one wanted to party, no how no way.

So we haven't eaten out in nearly 2 yrs now. Everything we eat is cooked or baked by me. We've had a few friends over ( 2 or 3) to eat in the garden, and that's it. We've gone to a couple of friends' houses where we've visited safely, but other that it's zoom city around here. Which is why when we celebrated our anniversary this year, I decided that a Tandoor For Two would be exactly what we needed! The weather gods were kind also, and I managed to cook this right before the latest Atmosphreric River gave us a dunking.

I planned an Indian luncheon of Lamb Tandoor, An Indian Spinach Coconut and Peanut Powder Salad...

...pomegranate raita,...

...sour cherry chutney, Basmati rice with almonds, sultanas, and whole spices, plus a couple of slices of a raspberry mousse cake from our favorite local bakery, Scandia to top it off.

Luckily an early blast from the Atmospheric River hit us last month so we had an official end to fire season here in Sonoma and outdoor cooking was back on again. Perfect for Tandoori Lamb!

So here it is, a simple marinade, 1 and 1/2 lbs of lamb cut from a a butterflied leg, add a Tandoor oven and the magic happens.

This recipe is a classic Tandoor marinade (there are many) adapted from Madhur Jaffery

Lamb Tandoor

Here's What You Need:

1 and 1/2 lbs of butterflied leg of lamb, trimmed of fat and cubed into 1 inch pieces.

2 onions, chop one up, set the other aside for a garnish later

3 inch long piece of fresh ginger peeled and chopped

3 cloves of garlic or 4 shallots, peeled and chopped

2/3 cup lemon juice

1 Tbs ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp ground tumeric

1/4 tsp ground mace

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup olive oil

2 and 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/2 to 1 tsp Kashmiri chili, or Cayenne, (I use 1 tsp)

1/2 tsp orange food coloring

Here's What To Do:

Put the chopped onion, garlic or shallots, ginger, 4 Tbs of lemon juice into a food processor or blender. Blend it at high speed to get a smooth paste.

Using a large bowl with a non metallic lining, add in the paste.

Add in all the other ingredients.

Cut the lamb into 1 inch chunks to fit on your skewers.

Take the lamb chunks and make little jabs in the cut pieces with a knife. This is to allow the marinade to permeate the meat thoroughly.

Now take your lamb chunks and put them into the marinade paste

Give it a little massage in there making sure all the paste gets well rubbed into the meat.

Cover your container and stick it in the fridge to chill for 24 hours or overnight. Turn the meat cubes over a few times while they're sitting in the marinade paste.

Before Cooking:

Peel the second onion and cut it into very thin rings. Soak the rings in ice water, cover and refrigerate them.

Oil the tandoor skewers, then slide the meat chunks onto them and baste them again. I use a cut up chunk of raw potato as a stopper to keep the meat from sliding off the skewers while cooking. Let the meat sit on the skewers and dry for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking them.

When you are ready to cook, light your tandoor! My Homdoor is powered by propane, it can also be used with coals, but for an area like mine that is subject to wildfire... we use propane.

Your tandoor should be at about 480 degrees when you add the skewers.

Adjust the lid, for proper temperature control and cook for 10 minutes, reaching in and rotating the skewers every few minutes.

After 10 minutes, take them out and rest them upright

Baste them again with the marinade.

Then let them rest hanging for about 5 minutes.

Then put them back into the tandoor. Cover, and cook for another 5 to 8 minutes, depending on how you like your lamb.

When the lamb is cooked remove the skewers.

Slide the meat off of the skewers and serve.

I served this over Basmati Rice with Sultanas, almonds, and whole spices. Add on the thin rings of onion that were chilled in the fridge.

I used a platter Paula Wolfert had given me. It was made by the King of Moroccos potter and is absolutely stunning. After all it was our anniversary and even if we've been living our lives in sweat pants and "nap dresses" the last two years there are times when one has to freshen up!

We topped the lunch off with a couple of slices of Scandia's delicious Raspberry Mousse Chocolate cake. I'd gladly show you a picture but it got eaten too fast!

This Lamb Tikka recipe can be made on a BBQ also but I highly recommend a tandoor for authentic flavor and a whole lot more FUN! It certainly beat last years pandemic anniversary which we spent zooming with family.

I'm getting an outdoor heater so we can take advantage of non-fire weather and invite our friends over to tandoor while the tandooring's good!

Coming up next: Pomegranate Mint Raita and Reine di Saba, aka Queen of Sheba Cake.

Perfect for holiday desserting! Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

There May Be Snow On The Roof, But There's Chocolate Underneath. Chocolate Raspberry Tart With Brown Butter Crust.

noreply@blogger.com (kathy gori) — Sat, 27 Nov 2021 15:03:00 -0800

When I was consulting for the Cocoa Planet Restaurant here in Sonoma a few years back, I was hired because of my gluten free baking. The restaurant was entirely gluten free, and there were a number of vegan recipes on the menu because the owner/founder was a celiac. I myself am not gluten intolerant but I seem to have so many friends that are, that I started working on recipes that could accommodate them when they came over for dinner at our house.

Coming up with gluten free recipes after 30 years of Indian cooking was not too difficult. It's easy to make absolutely delicious Indian mains, and desserts that are gluten free and also vegan or vegetarian, whatever one might wish. Translating traditional western desserts to the gluten free world were a bit more complicated. I decided to do this by doing some research and using the wide varieties of flours I had used in my Indian cooking. I was looking for a custom blend. Something I could make in volume for entertaining at home. That's what led to the restaurant gig.

The owners who also owned Cocoa Planet Chocolate decided to open a cafe. They'd had desserts at my house and asked if I had more recipes. Sure thing, recipes and the blends to make them work. So while I was doing my regular screenwriting with my husband/writing partner during the week, I'd experiment with a lot of desserts and other recipes on the weekend. We'd all meet for dinner on Saturday night and we'd try whatever I'd been working on during the week. That's how the menu shaped up leaving me with three big books of dishes and recipes that we put together, which became the chefs books at the restaurant.

From 2015, through 2018 while the restaurant was open I had a ball experimenting, cooking, and tasting. The owners later sold the place and moved states, but I've kept up my gluten free baking and cooking.

Since the holiday season is upon us, this is the time when everyone is looking around for sweet treats to feed visiting family and friends. This chocolate raspberry tart is a very simple and straightforward and is pretty easy to make. The brown butter crust which I'd heard of but never tried before really makes this dish. You can make regular pie crust but brown butter is really the way to go. Plus, it's fast!

Chocolate Raspberry Tart With Brown Butter Crust

Here's What You Need:

Brown Butter Crust:

3 oz unsalted butter

1 Tbs vegetable oil (not olive)

3 Tbs water

! Tbs caster sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 rounded cup all purpose flour

or My Gluten Free Crust Blend Recipe*

*Gluten Free Crust Blend

4 cups sorghum flour

4 cups tapioca flour

2 cups finely sifted almond flour

4 tsp xanthan gum

Mix everything together well . This is the basic pie crust, tart, quiche shell mixture. There is a separate blend for cakes.

Here's What To Do:

1: Heat the oven to 410 degrees. Grease and 8 or 9 inch tart mold with a removable bottom.

2 : Cut the butter into small pieces and place them in a medium size oven proof Pyrex bowl. Add in water, salt, sugar, vegetable oil.

3: Place the bowl in the oven until the mixture is bubbling and starting to brown. This takes about 15 minutes.

4: Remove the bowl from the oven. Turn the temperature down to 375 degrees and immediately add the flour mixture to the hot butter mixture. This may spatter so be careful!

5: Stir the crust mixture together with a heat-proof spatula until it forms a ball. When the dough has cooled enough to handle, press it into an even layer filling the bottom and sides of the tart pan.

6: Pierce the bottom all over with a fork and press the sides of the dough with a fork to reinforce them.

7: Bake the crust in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes or until it's golden brown. Take the crust out and set it aside to cool completely before filling it.

The Filling:

Here's What You Need:

1: 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

2: 8 and 1/2 ozs of good quality dark chocolate broken into pieces

3: 1 oz unsalted butter

Here's What To Do:

1: Heat the cream until it is just starting to boil. Take the cream off the heat and pour it over the chopped chocolate. Stir it until it's creamy and all the chocolate has melted.

2: Add in the butter and blend well

The Magic:

1: Pour the chocolate mixture into the cooled crust and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. This can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Keep it refrigerated.

2: Top with raspberries.

3: Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

There it is Chocolate Raspberry Tart. No raspberry fans at home, this can be done with strawberries too.

Coming up next , more desserts and other holiday treats both Indian and Western. Follow along with Twitter @/kathygori