"Hey, Dino! I heard you wrote a book ..."
"Hmm?"
"Yeah. Because I see you come out here with your lunch every day, and whenever I smell it, I think 'There's no meat in there, but I want to eat that anyway.'"
"Oh! (laughter) That's really kind of you. Yes, I wrote a cookbook."
"No way."
"And it's published. You can ask for it at B&N."
"O_O!"
It's gratifying to know that just by eating my lunch every day, I'm turning people on to the fact that vegans eat well. I love it.
24 July 2007
23 July 2007
Rainy, but pretty.
I was sitting outside of my house, on a chair on my driveway, when the wind suddenly whipped up out of nowhere. It was going to start raining. Usually, I'm not the biggest fan of rainy days, but this was different. Unlike most storms, that are dark and ponderous and angry and frenzied, this one simply was. The air blew from all directions, pushing my shirt up, then back down, then out and around. Out of nowhere, this orange butterfly flew past.
It was completely unexpected, but so amazing at the same time. Here were these tempestuous winds, flying in all directions, and there went a gentle little butterfly, just enjoying the wind with me. We sat like that, the one looking at the other for about fifteen minutes, in perfect silence. Occasionally, the weather would interject with a flash of lightning, or a laugh of thunder. We two travellers on our journey, however, simply sat in companionable silence. There were no need for words. It was nice to just revel in each other's gaze for a while.
The first few fat, lazy drops broke my concentration and his. He bid me farewell, and fluttered past me on the way to whatever errand he'd been heading off to take care of before our all too short repast. Take care of yourself, little friend.
It was completely unexpected, but so amazing at the same time. Here were these tempestuous winds, flying in all directions, and there went a gentle little butterfly, just enjoying the wind with me. We sat like that, the one looking at the other for about fifteen minutes, in perfect silence. Occasionally, the weather would interject with a flash of lightning, or a laugh of thunder. We two travellers on our journey, however, simply sat in companionable silence. There were no need for words. It was nice to just revel in each other's gaze for a while.
The first few fat, lazy drops broke my concentration and his. He bid me farewell, and fluttered past me on the way to whatever errand he'd been heading off to take care of before our all too short repast. Take care of yourself, little friend.
20 July 2007
How is the Book Doing?
Many of my friends have been asking me how the book is doing. In fact, my family asks as well. In fact, more or less anyone who's in my circle of acquaintances wants to know how the book is doing. Often, the person really means "How many copies have you sold?" Honestly, I don't know the answer to that question in particular. As for how the book is doing, however, that's a different story.
I'm getting feedback from the people who have bought it, and tried out some of the food in there. People are getting back into their kitchens. They're shopping for cheap ingredients that are readily available anywhere. They're telling me that they're becoming confident in the kitchen. I remember addressing that issue on the Animal Voices interview. Lauren had asked me what I thought of people simply thinking they're poor cooks. To be honest, it's fear. I'm helping people get past their fears of preparing filling foods for themselves and their loved ones.
"I love that I've been given permission to mess around with the recipes and try shit out. It also means I'll cook something from the book even if I don't have all the ingredients, because now I know I can replace/omit/add whatever, whenever."
YES! Exactly! I want you to fuss around with what I've given you, and make it work in your kitchen. I've not only given you permission to do so, I'm outright encouraging you to do so! And this person loved it! S/he made the dressing from the Mixed Greens Composed Salad, and subbed out one nut for another, and it still came out fantastic!
"OK, I made the dry chickpeas and as I was nearing the end of cooking them I started laughing outloud cause it was clear it was going to taste so good. Wow did it ever."
"I made the Basic Kale Soup last night which was super easy and so frickin' yummy! I added chickpeas to it and a lot of parsley...Mmmm."
"Oh my god! Oh my god! I made the Lentils and Chickpeas and I am sitting here eating them cold right now. I added some PB when it was cooking and subbed out some vermouth for the vodka.
Oh my god! Oh my god!
Okay, I feel better."
"Dino, your Quick Garbanzo Soup is a godsend to a sick lazy vegan! It is so good and so easy and the only thing I needed that I couldn't find in the pantry was an onion, which was easy enough to sweet-talk someone into picking up for me. I am sitting here smugly enjoying my delicious meal whilst all the omnis I gave my bug to are choking down cans of vile processed Campbell's crap."
"Dino what I am loving most about is that your basic recipes are actually basic. Sometimes I can handle more complicated recipes, but sometimes I can't. Often as a fairly new cook, when I see the ingredients list and it has 20 items, I immediately feel overwhelmed. My kitchen isn't super well organized either, so I am never sure what I have, or I always forget an ingredient when I am shopping, even when I have the list.
Even I can't mess up the basic recipes. Yum and thanks!"
"Today we made That One Soup Dino Makes, but I had to take it off of the stove just as I got the potatoes added because my partner arranged a surprise picnic party for my birthday. So, hours later I finished the soup, but I didn’t have anything to add to it because I played instead of going shopping. The soup was really extravagant without any additions though. I wasn’t all that hungry after party food that included black bean burgers, strawberry shortcake, and potato salad - I thought I was just going to taste it, but I had a huge bowl.
And I have a lot of leftovers to play with. We froze half of the leftover soup and Tuesday we will add chopped tomatoes, corn, and black beans to the rest of the leftover soup and serve it with lime wedges, and avocado on top -- if I can keep my partner out of it until Tuesday.
It will make great quick dinners after work. I am determined not to eat any fast food type frozen foods or any other fast food during the week. We both work 10 – 12 hour days or longer with our commutes and it is pretty daunting to come home and make dinner after that. But the fast food has too much salt and sugar and other stuff we don't want to eat. We love the cookbook because a lot of the recipes are so easy, and they taste great too!!
We are trying Vizza tomorrow.
Truffle oil is my secret love. I am embarrassed to tell people how much I love it because it seems so extravagant, but Vizza has a truffle oil option. I am so excited."
"I love that the fast and easy recipes are actually fast and easy. I have been crazy-busy but I have still churned out some awesome food in the past few days. If not for this book I would probably be eating ramen for lunch today instead of this awesome cauliflower thing."
In other words, the book is a smashing, resounding success.
I'm getting feedback from the people who have bought it, and tried out some of the food in there. People are getting back into their kitchens. They're shopping for cheap ingredients that are readily available anywhere. They're telling me that they're becoming confident in the kitchen. I remember addressing that issue on the Animal Voices interview. Lauren had asked me what I thought of people simply thinking they're poor cooks. To be honest, it's fear. I'm helping people get past their fears of preparing filling foods for themselves and their loved ones.
"I love that I've been given permission to mess around with the recipes and try shit out. It also means I'll cook something from the book even if I don't have all the ingredients, because now I know I can replace/omit/add whatever, whenever."
YES! Exactly! I want you to fuss around with what I've given you, and make it work in your kitchen. I've not only given you permission to do so, I'm outright encouraging you to do so! And this person loved it! S/he made the dressing from the Mixed Greens Composed Salad, and subbed out one nut for another, and it still came out fantastic!
"OK, I made the dry chickpeas and as I was nearing the end of cooking them I started laughing outloud cause it was clear it was going to taste so good. Wow did it ever."
"I made the Basic Kale Soup last night which was super easy and so frickin' yummy! I added chickpeas to it and a lot of parsley...Mmmm."
"Oh my god! Oh my god! I made the Lentils and Chickpeas and I am sitting here eating them cold right now. I added some PB when it was cooking and subbed out some vermouth for the vodka.
Oh my god! Oh my god!
Okay, I feel better."
"Dino, your Quick Garbanzo Soup is a godsend to a sick lazy vegan! It is so good and so easy and the only thing I needed that I couldn't find in the pantry was an onion, which was easy enough to sweet-talk someone into picking up for me. I am sitting here smugly enjoying my delicious meal whilst all the omnis I gave my bug to are choking down cans of vile processed Campbell's crap."
"Dino what I am loving most about is that your basic recipes are actually basic. Sometimes I can handle more complicated recipes, but sometimes I can't. Often as a fairly new cook, when I see the ingredients list and it has 20 items, I immediately feel overwhelmed. My kitchen isn't super well organized either, so I am never sure what I have, or I always forget an ingredient when I am shopping, even when I have the list.
Even I can't mess up the basic recipes. Yum and thanks!"
"Today we made That One Soup Dino Makes, but I had to take it off of the stove just as I got the potatoes added because my partner arranged a surprise picnic party for my birthday. So, hours later I finished the soup, but I didn’t have anything to add to it because I played instead of going shopping. The soup was really extravagant without any additions though. I wasn’t all that hungry after party food that included black bean burgers, strawberry shortcake, and potato salad - I thought I was just going to taste it, but I had a huge bowl.
And I have a lot of leftovers to play with. We froze half of the leftover soup and Tuesday we will add chopped tomatoes, corn, and black beans to the rest of the leftover soup and serve it with lime wedges, and avocado on top -- if I can keep my partner out of it until Tuesday.
It will make great quick dinners after work. I am determined not to eat any fast food type frozen foods or any other fast food during the week. We both work 10 – 12 hour days or longer with our commutes and it is pretty daunting to come home and make dinner after that. But the fast food has too much salt and sugar and other stuff we don't want to eat. We love the cookbook because a lot of the recipes are so easy, and they taste great too!!
We are trying Vizza tomorrow.
Truffle oil is my secret love. I am embarrassed to tell people how much I love it because it seems so extravagant, but Vizza has a truffle oil option. I am so excited."
"I love that the fast and easy recipes are actually fast and easy. I have been crazy-busy but I have still churned out some awesome food in the past few days. If not for this book I would probably be eating ramen for lunch today instead of this awesome cauliflower thing."
In other words, the book is a smashing, resounding success.
19 July 2007
Peanut Butter to the Rescue!
I took a container of rice and mung bean sprouts (from the pot that I'd made the other day) to work with me for lunch today. It tasted fine when it was fresh off the stove, but for whatever reason, it got sort of watered down when I nuked it for lunch. Allow me to explain.
Whenever I'm eating a daal and rice, I do the rice like my mother used to do when I was a young child. Because children really like soft food (and because I was child number three for my mother, and she knew this well), she would mash up the rice really well, then pour on the daal, then mix up the lot of it together really well. It's almost like having the texture of rice that you would with a Venn Pongal (recipe is in the book). It's comforting to the tummy, and it feels creamy when you eat it. The rice I'd thrown into my box was cold, so I couldn't very well mash it up. Instead, I figured that if I heated it up long enough in the microwave, it would come close to that texture that I so loved.
Not so.
So here I am, sitting with something that's lacking in mouthfeel. This is not a good thing at all, because around lunch time, I sort of transport to myself when I was four years old: very picky, and not eager to sit for a meal. I'd rather chat with my friends, or watch the birds cavort around. Who wants to sit around for a boring ol' meal, when there's so much to distract yourself with!? However, unlike when I was five, I know now that if I don't eat enough on time, I get cranky.
I frantically searched my office for something that would give the meal a bit more heft. When I used to eat that garbage, I would throw in some butter on top, and it would get that texture going just fine. Fortunately for the sake of the cows, those days are long past. Come on, Dino, there has to be something here!
Bingo.
My eyes lit on a jar of peanut butter that I always keep in my desk for emergencies. If I'm screwed, and forgot to pack a lunch, I can always snag a bag of pretzels, or some fruit, or some bread, and have a bit of a meal that's reasonably satisfying, as long as I dunk it in peanut butter. So, in went a couple of tablespoons of the creamy stuff. I added a bit more salt and pepper (also things I have access to at all times), and stirred it around some more.
Divine.
What was a relatively watery mass became transformed into this delightfully flavoured bowl of creamy dreamy wonder. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner! I'm tempted to use this trick for when any soup or stew is looking too thin, however, it does add a considerable amount of fat, so I might want to be a bit careful with the stuff. That being said, fat or no fat, it tastes wonderful, and I'm glad I kept my little jar in reserve.
Whenever I'm eating a daal and rice, I do the rice like my mother used to do when I was a young child. Because children really like soft food (and because I was child number three for my mother, and she knew this well), she would mash up the rice really well, then pour on the daal, then mix up the lot of it together really well. It's almost like having the texture of rice that you would with a Venn Pongal (recipe is in the book). It's comforting to the tummy, and it feels creamy when you eat it. The rice I'd thrown into my box was cold, so I couldn't very well mash it up. Instead, I figured that if I heated it up long enough in the microwave, it would come close to that texture that I so loved.
Not so.
So here I am, sitting with something that's lacking in mouthfeel. This is not a good thing at all, because around lunch time, I sort of transport to myself when I was four years old: very picky, and not eager to sit for a meal. I'd rather chat with my friends, or watch the birds cavort around. Who wants to sit around for a boring ol' meal, when there's so much to distract yourself with!? However, unlike when I was five, I know now that if I don't eat enough on time, I get cranky.
I frantically searched my office for something that would give the meal a bit more heft. When I used to eat that garbage, I would throw in some butter on top, and it would get that texture going just fine. Fortunately for the sake of the cows, those days are long past. Come on, Dino, there has to be something here!
Bingo.
My eyes lit on a jar of peanut butter that I always keep in my desk for emergencies. If I'm screwed, and forgot to pack a lunch, I can always snag a bag of pretzels, or some fruit, or some bread, and have a bit of a meal that's reasonably satisfying, as long as I dunk it in peanut butter. So, in went a couple of tablespoons of the creamy stuff. I added a bit more salt and pepper (also things I have access to at all times), and stirred it around some more.
Divine.
What was a relatively watery mass became transformed into this delightfully flavoured bowl of creamy dreamy wonder. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner! I'm tempted to use this trick for when any soup or stew is looking too thin, however, it does add a considerable amount of fat, so I might want to be a bit careful with the stuff. That being said, fat or no fat, it tastes wonderful, and I'm glad I kept my little jar in reserve.
18 July 2007
It may have taken five days, but it's worth it!
I was making this pot of mung bean sprouts. It took them about three days to sprout properly, and another day (in the crock pot) to cook down to where I thought they were done enough. I wanted them to cook over gentle heat, because I wasn't looking for a crispy texture. I wanted soft and soothing.
As is standard for most daals, I did the popping of spices, and curry leaves, and adding the cooked beans, and cooking them up. Somehow, because I'd given it enough time to develop, the mung beans got this gentle, subtle, smoky flavour underneath the flashy spices. It was like eating the colour of an oak grandfather clock. Very dark, very comforting, and somewhat ponderous. I liked how it smelled, but the texture was a little runny for my liking.
Granted, if I'd left it overnight in the fridge, it would certainly thicken up and become more rich and hearty in the morning, but Steve was headed home, and would be in around 7:00. So, instead of panicking, I grabbed a few potatoes, and threw them into the microwave. I let them cook up all the way, and took them out of the microwave. I gave them a rough chop with a knife (holding the potatoes with a pair of tongs, so that I don't burn my hands), and threw them into the pot. See, I wanted there to be a sauce around the beans.
I let the whole mess boil together for about fifteen minutes or so. Just as expected, the potatoes leaked out their starches into the water, and made a rich sort of gravy that surrounded the beans. Of course, there was a pot of rice cooking, waiting for the beans to finish. By the time Steve got back in, the whole house smelled of gently simmered spices, and fresh rice. Of course, there's still plenty for leftovers today!
Tonight, when I get home, I'm going to reheat the mess on the stove, along with some of last week's split yellow peas daal that I'd made, so that it makes an even more rich stew. I might even chunk up a few onions and tomatoes, and make it a completely different stew. It'll be fun.
As is standard for most daals, I did the popping of spices, and curry leaves, and adding the cooked beans, and cooking them up. Somehow, because I'd given it enough time to develop, the mung beans got this gentle, subtle, smoky flavour underneath the flashy spices. It was like eating the colour of an oak grandfather clock. Very dark, very comforting, and somewhat ponderous. I liked how it smelled, but the texture was a little runny for my liking.
Granted, if I'd left it overnight in the fridge, it would certainly thicken up and become more rich and hearty in the morning, but Steve was headed home, and would be in around 7:00. So, instead of panicking, I grabbed a few potatoes, and threw them into the microwave. I let them cook up all the way, and took them out of the microwave. I gave them a rough chop with a knife (holding the potatoes with a pair of tongs, so that I don't burn my hands), and threw them into the pot. See, I wanted there to be a sauce around the beans.
I let the whole mess boil together for about fifteen minutes or so. Just as expected, the potatoes leaked out their starches into the water, and made a rich sort of gravy that surrounded the beans. Of course, there was a pot of rice cooking, waiting for the beans to finish. By the time Steve got back in, the whole house smelled of gently simmered spices, and fresh rice. Of course, there's still plenty for leftovers today!
Tonight, when I get home, I'm going to reheat the mess on the stove, along with some of last week's split yellow peas daal that I'd made, so that it makes an even more rich stew. I might even chunk up a few onions and tomatoes, and make it a completely different stew. It'll be fun.
14 July 2007
Cooking with Dino
Hello all! I figured that I'd keep a centralised location where I have all my question for the Cooking With Dino and other generalised cooking questions go.
September 27, 2007 Garlic, being your own activist, etc.
August 2, 2007
Youtube of the interview.
April 27, 2007
November 20, 2006: College dorm cooking, and cooking while travelling. Quick cooking in general.
October 14, 2006: Banana bread without egg replacers.
September 5, 2006: Chhole
July 28, 2006: Proper Salad Construction
May 21, 2006: Busy Vegans
April 26, 2006: Miso
April 12, 2006 Transcript of the recipe.
March 22, 2006: Potatoes!
March 8, 2006: Spices
January 30, 2006
September 27, 2007 Garlic, being your own activist, etc.
August 2, 2007
Youtube of the interview.
April 27, 2007
November 20, 2006: College dorm cooking, and cooking while travelling. Quick cooking in general.
October 14, 2006: Banana bread without egg replacers.
September 5, 2006: Chhole
July 28, 2006: Proper Salad Construction
May 21, 2006: Busy Vegans
April 26, 2006: Miso
April 12, 2006 Transcript of the recipe.
March 22, 2006: Potatoes!
March 8, 2006: Spices
January 30, 2006
13 July 2007
Back to normal, after a breif break.
I was off taking care of business elsewhere, so this place has been a bit neglected. I came home to find the fridge dead empty. No rice, no bread, no nothing. EEK! I arrived back in Florida on Wednesday night, and really needed to get cracking.
This is when I'm so thankful to myself for taking care of things far in advance. For one thing, I always keep at least a few litres of soup in the freezer. This means that regardless of how long I've been out of town, or preoccupied with other things, or just swamped for time, I'll always have a ready meal, waiting for rice and/or bread within 20 minutes (which is about how long it takes to reheat in the microwave, if you keep them in one litre increments). While the soup reheated, it was a simple question of throwing rice into my rice maker, adding water, and hitting the start button.
Additionally, we have a breadmaker, that my mom got for us from Freecycle a while back. Since I always keep a few packages of yeast in the pantry, it was a simple question of dumping in the flour, water, yeast, salt, and a bit of oil, then setting the time and hitting start. Again, I don't have to bother with anything complex after getting off of a flight that took entirely too much more time than it should have.
Finally, as always, I had some dried beans in my kitchen. On Thursday night in they went for a soak, so that when I woke up in the morning, it was a crock pot away from having fully cooked beans by the time I get home tonight. I soaked up two different batches of beans, so that I could have some variety for Saturday night. Tonight, when I'm done cooking the first variety, I'll get the second variety started in the crock pot overnight. By tomorrow when I wake up, I'll have a second variety of bean to keep things interesting.
Tomorrow morning, I'll lay down some moong beans to sprout. Those will take about a day or so to bring together, and will give me a third option to have dinner on the table. After all is said and done, beans bought on sale in the 12 - 16 oz dried packages keep indefinitely, and cost around $0.50 per package at the regular price. Rice is dirt cheap, and bread made at home is just as cheap. Meanwhile, for less than $10 or so, I've got enough of the staples for the week. Now all I have to do is spice them up, and round out our meals with some vegetables. That part's the easy part.
This is when I'm so thankful to myself for taking care of things far in advance. For one thing, I always keep at least a few litres of soup in the freezer. This means that regardless of how long I've been out of town, or preoccupied with other things, or just swamped for time, I'll always have a ready meal, waiting for rice and/or bread within 20 minutes (which is about how long it takes to reheat in the microwave, if you keep them in one litre increments). While the soup reheated, it was a simple question of throwing rice into my rice maker, adding water, and hitting the start button.
Additionally, we have a breadmaker, that my mom got for us from Freecycle a while back. Since I always keep a few packages of yeast in the pantry, it was a simple question of dumping in the flour, water, yeast, salt, and a bit of oil, then setting the time and hitting start. Again, I don't have to bother with anything complex after getting off of a flight that took entirely too much more time than it should have.
Finally, as always, I had some dried beans in my kitchen. On Thursday night in they went for a soak, so that when I woke up in the morning, it was a crock pot away from having fully cooked beans by the time I get home tonight. I soaked up two different batches of beans, so that I could have some variety for Saturday night. Tonight, when I'm done cooking the first variety, I'll get the second variety started in the crock pot overnight. By tomorrow when I wake up, I'll have a second variety of bean to keep things interesting.
Tomorrow morning, I'll lay down some moong beans to sprout. Those will take about a day or so to bring together, and will give me a third option to have dinner on the table. After all is said and done, beans bought on sale in the 12 - 16 oz dried packages keep indefinitely, and cost around $0.50 per package at the regular price. Rice is dirt cheap, and bread made at home is just as cheap. Meanwhile, for less than $10 or so, I've got enough of the staples for the week. Now all I have to do is spice them up, and round out our meals with some vegetables. That part's the easy part.
06 July 2007
Back to the basics ramble.
One of the people who bought my book sent me the sweetest comment: "I made some of the basic pasta with garlic for lunch, with a bell pepper mixed in- so yummy, and simple, and something I'd not have thought to do myself!"
See, that's the thing about those basics recipes; they're meant to get you to appreciate very simple and clean flavours, with few frills and furbelows. As omnis, we have broccoli smothered in cheese, and as vegans, we often have them in stir fry dishes, or in pot pies, or other places where they're drowned with ... stuff. Same with pasta; we rarely have pasta with just a touch of oil and a bit of garlic for flavour. It lets you totally appreciate the experience of pasta. And the cool thing is that if you're a vegan on a tight budget, and you notice that your pantry is getting a little skimpy, you can still invite friends over for dinner, and serve them something lovely and delicious with very little fuss or shopping. It'll let you hold off on hitting up the market for a few days, and keep you fed.
Mind you, I do encourage you all to eat as much fresh fruit and vegetables as you can get your hands on. We want to keep ourselves healthy and happy. However, this is not always feasible (and I'll be the first to admit that!), and you sometimes need to cut corners when money is tight.
See, that's the thing about those basics recipes; they're meant to get you to appreciate very simple and clean flavours, with few frills and furbelows. As omnis, we have broccoli smothered in cheese, and as vegans, we often have them in stir fry dishes, or in pot pies, or other places where they're drowned with ... stuff. Same with pasta; we rarely have pasta with just a touch of oil and a bit of garlic for flavour. It lets you totally appreciate the experience of pasta. And the cool thing is that if you're a vegan on a tight budget, and you notice that your pantry is getting a little skimpy, you can still invite friends over for dinner, and serve them something lovely and delicious with very little fuss or shopping. It'll let you hold off on hitting up the market for a few days, and keep you fed.
Mind you, I do encourage you all to eat as much fresh fruit and vegetables as you can get your hands on. We want to keep ourselves healthy and happy. However, this is not always feasible (and I'll be the first to admit that!), and you sometimes need to cut corners when money is tight.
04 July 2007
Kitchen Triage
I made a batch of potatoes, carrots, and beans. I used red potatoes, cumin, black mustard seeds, black beans, and garbanzo beans. Ostensibly, it should have tasted wonderful. Then I took a bite of the final dish.
...
That was the worst idea ever. Let me amend that. I don't know whether it was a worse idea to cook the dish, or for me to take a taste of it. It was horrifically bland, the texture was akin to mealy tomatoes. It was so bad that I needed a couple of hours to just get over the shame of making such a catastrophe. What's worse is that Steve took a taste as well, and was far too polite to call it the abomination that it truly was.
I knew that I would have to redeem myself.
Enter Kitchen Triage. Whenever you have a wet dish, such as a soup, stew, or curry, there are certain secret weapons at your ready disposal whenever you know that it should be better, but it really isn't. It is time for me to reveal these secrets to you. Garlic, onions, carrots, tomatoes, salt, curry powder, and oil are essential ingredients that you should have access to at all times, to save yourself from disaster. Regardless of what type of dish you're working with in this vein, you have this secret arsenal ready to save the food, and your palate.
Here's how it works. Mince up your garlic and onions (1 medium onion per pound of food, and 1 clove of garlic per pound) as finely as you can get them. Start with a healthy dose of oil. For every pound of food that you're trying to resurrect, start with 2 tablespoons of neutral flavoured oil, such as corn oil, Canola oil, or peanut oil. In a large stock pot, begin to heat up your oil over high heat. Get it nice and screaming hot. You know that it's hot when you see it shift from a thick viscous oil to a decidedly more liquid one. Once it gets hot enough, add the onions and garlic. Add a healthy dose of salt and curry powder. Roughly a teaspoon or so should do the trick. You want the taste of the spices to permeate the dish, but not overpower whatever other flavours you're trying to build. Stir the onions and garlic around in the pot to combine them with the spices and oil. Once the mixture in the pot turns yellow, turn down your heat to medium low.
While the onions and garlic are cooking in the pot, start slicing up your carrots in any manner that suits you. I personally just grate it up quickly on a box grater. Usually, one or two medium sized carrots for every onion that you add is a good amount. As soon as your carrots are processed, add it to the pot with the onions and garlic. Don't worry about stirring anything. Cover the lid of the pot, and let the carrots gently cook in the pot for about ten to fifteen minutes. Basically, you want the carrots to get soft. Stir the ingredients around every five minutes.
Open up some cans (about 1 pound should do it) of diced tomatoes. By now, there should be little bits of brown spicy stuff sticking to the bottom of your pot. You're going to think that you've messed up, because stuff is clumping and sticking, and being annoying. Guess what? This is a Very Good Thing. The flavours that you have just developed cannot be matched by any other cooking method. Be proud of yourself.
Add your can of tomatoes, juice and all, into the pot as soon as your carrots are soft. Increase the temperature of the stove to as high as it will go. Keep stirring around the tomatoes until they get sort of broken down a bit. You'll know it's just about right when the stuff in the pot starts to resemble a tomato sauce. Once you reach that stage, you're at the home stretch. Pitch in whatever it is that tasted dead to you. Pour in just enough water that you can stir everything around in the pot, and release all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add another generous dosage of salt. Let the water come up to a full rolling boil. Drop down the heat to medium low, and cover the lid of the pot. Let it simmer for about fifteen minutes.
Give your food a taste test. If there isn't quite enough salt or heat for your liking, go ahead and adjust it at this point. Let the water come up to a full rolling boil if you do add more salt or pepper. If it's still feeling a bit tired, feel free to pitch in a few more cloves of minced garlic. If nothing else, your breath will be too strong for anyone to care about the taste!
...
That was the worst idea ever. Let me amend that. I don't know whether it was a worse idea to cook the dish, or for me to take a taste of it. It was horrifically bland, the texture was akin to mealy tomatoes. It was so bad that I needed a couple of hours to just get over the shame of making such a catastrophe. What's worse is that Steve took a taste as well, and was far too polite to call it the abomination that it truly was.
I knew that I would have to redeem myself.
Enter Kitchen Triage. Whenever you have a wet dish, such as a soup, stew, or curry, there are certain secret weapons at your ready disposal whenever you know that it should be better, but it really isn't. It is time for me to reveal these secrets to you. Garlic, onions, carrots, tomatoes, salt, curry powder, and oil are essential ingredients that you should have access to at all times, to save yourself from disaster. Regardless of what type of dish you're working with in this vein, you have this secret arsenal ready to save the food, and your palate.
Here's how it works. Mince up your garlic and onions (1 medium onion per pound of food, and 1 clove of garlic per pound) as finely as you can get them. Start with a healthy dose of oil. For every pound of food that you're trying to resurrect, start with 2 tablespoons of neutral flavoured oil, such as corn oil, Canola oil, or peanut oil. In a large stock pot, begin to heat up your oil over high heat. Get it nice and screaming hot. You know that it's hot when you see it shift from a thick viscous oil to a decidedly more liquid one. Once it gets hot enough, add the onions and garlic. Add a healthy dose of salt and curry powder. Roughly a teaspoon or so should do the trick. You want the taste of the spices to permeate the dish, but not overpower whatever other flavours you're trying to build. Stir the onions and garlic around in the pot to combine them with the spices and oil. Once the mixture in the pot turns yellow, turn down your heat to medium low.
While the onions and garlic are cooking in the pot, start slicing up your carrots in any manner that suits you. I personally just grate it up quickly on a box grater. Usually, one or two medium sized carrots for every onion that you add is a good amount. As soon as your carrots are processed, add it to the pot with the onions and garlic. Don't worry about stirring anything. Cover the lid of the pot, and let the carrots gently cook in the pot for about ten to fifteen minutes. Basically, you want the carrots to get soft. Stir the ingredients around every five minutes.
Open up some cans (about 1 pound should do it) of diced tomatoes. By now, there should be little bits of brown spicy stuff sticking to the bottom of your pot. You're going to think that you've messed up, because stuff is clumping and sticking, and being annoying. Guess what? This is a Very Good Thing. The flavours that you have just developed cannot be matched by any other cooking method. Be proud of yourself.
Add your can of tomatoes, juice and all, into the pot as soon as your carrots are soft. Increase the temperature of the stove to as high as it will go. Keep stirring around the tomatoes until they get sort of broken down a bit. You'll know it's just about right when the stuff in the pot starts to resemble a tomato sauce. Once you reach that stage, you're at the home stretch. Pitch in whatever it is that tasted dead to you. Pour in just enough water that you can stir everything around in the pot, and release all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add another generous dosage of salt. Let the water come up to a full rolling boil. Drop down the heat to medium low, and cover the lid of the pot. Let it simmer for about fifteen minutes.
Give your food a taste test. If there isn't quite enough salt or heat for your liking, go ahead and adjust it at this point. Let the water come up to a full rolling boil if you do add more salt or pepper. If it's still feeling a bit tired, feel free to pitch in a few more cloves of minced garlic. If nothing else, your breath will be too strong for anyone to care about the taste!
02 July 2007
Quietly productiveish
I got in on time to work today, somehow. I was still feeling groggy from not getting to sleep till around 10:00 PM, so I slept in till 6:45 (we leave at 7:00). But, as soon as I did get to work, there was a bit of a backlog of stuff to catch up on, in addition to new stuff coming in throughout the day.
This is why it's so important to be nice to people, no matter how rarely you see those people. One of the office ladies mentioned that she'd like to start up with a coffee service. They come in, deliver the coffee and sugar and filters and everything else, install the fancy coffee maker, and replenish every week. My department has that service, but there's no sense in getting me such a thing, because I'm the only one here that drinks the stuff, and even I only have it on occasion. This is why having the coffee service here would be a Very Good Thing.
I got back to my desk, made two phone calls, and had all the information within two minutes flat. I went back to the office lady, and passed it along. Hopefully, in a week or two, we'll be having decent coffee, rather than the stuff made in not-so-great individual pots. Those nice ones are fully insulated, so you're not burning the coffee with the heat from the warming plate. Also, those makers have three pots, meaning that we can have a LOT of the stuff waiting about, rather than empty out the pots so many times a day.
And all this because I know how to be nice to people, so that they'll return the niceness when I need them.
This is why it's so important to be nice to people, no matter how rarely you see those people. One of the office ladies mentioned that she'd like to start up with a coffee service. They come in, deliver the coffee and sugar and filters and everything else, install the fancy coffee maker, and replenish every week. My department has that service, but there's no sense in getting me such a thing, because I'm the only one here that drinks the stuff, and even I only have it on occasion. This is why having the coffee service here would be a Very Good Thing.
I got back to my desk, made two phone calls, and had all the information within two minutes flat. I went back to the office lady, and passed it along. Hopefully, in a week or two, we'll be having decent coffee, rather than the stuff made in not-so-great individual pots. Those nice ones are fully insulated, so you're not burning the coffee with the heat from the warming plate. Also, those makers have three pots, meaning that we can have a LOT of the stuff waiting about, rather than empty out the pots so many times a day.
And all this because I know how to be nice to people, so that they'll return the niceness when I need them.
01 July 2007
Yay for Nemo, boo to laziness.
I was supposed to get up early this morning, cook up a little something, and go with Steve to his church. They've all heard of me, and would love to meet me, but I'm not a morning person, especially on the weekends. So, last night, I asked Steve to wake me up when he woke up, so that the two of us could go together. Unfortunately, I found my Finding Nemo, which is (in my opinion) the greatest movie of all time, bar none. It's a beautiful story, and there are scenes that make me cry every single time.
So there we were, watching Nemo at 12:00 midnight. Around 1:30 or so, the movie finished, and we went to sleep. His church holds services at 10 AM. That means getting up at around 8:00 to get ready, get the stuff together, and be out the door by 9:30. At 8:00, my body was so exhausted, that I begged off, and kept sleeping. When I did wake up at 9:30 or so, Steve was just about ready to go out the door. Boo to me. I wish I could've gone with him.
Of course, the laziness didn't stop there. He came home that afternoon, and asked me if I was running low on cigarettes, or anything else. To my horror, I was. So I offered to come with him to the store, and snag a carton, and maybe do some light grocery shopping. We're running a bit low on vegetables, and probably need to get some more at some point. Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to leave, I instantly got bitten by the lazy bug again, and asked Steve if he didn't mind dashing off on his own to snag the goods. He, being the ultimate in Wonderful Guy™, had no problem with it, and went off on his way. Of course, five minutes after he left, the skies opened up into torrential rain.
When he got back, he told me in an amused voice that someone had dropped him a phone number on his car. Apparently, when Steve went into the store, the guy saw which car he'd gotten out of, and was intrigued. Someone tried to pick him up! That's so cool! Steve called the guy back, and explained about his situation, and how he's got someone already. We're meeting the guy tomorrow after work just to hang out for a while. He's in from Ohio, and will be going back in a week or so. It's bound to be fun, eh?
I feel like this weekend has gone by in a flash, because I did manage to get so much cooking done for the upcoming week. I do need another few days of being lazy, so thankfully, we get 4 July as a holiday. Unfortunately, it's in the middle of the week, so no three day weekend. But fortunately, it will feel like very short weeks when we get to work! Y'know, I think it'd be nice to have that setup during regular weeks. Even if it means working for an extra hour or so during the other days, having a mid-week break would be rather nice. That way, you're only at work for two days at a stretch. I'll let you know when I manage to become king of the world or something. That'll be my first decree.
So there we were, watching Nemo at 12:00 midnight. Around 1:30 or so, the movie finished, and we went to sleep. His church holds services at 10 AM. That means getting up at around 8:00 to get ready, get the stuff together, and be out the door by 9:30. At 8:00, my body was so exhausted, that I begged off, and kept sleeping. When I did wake up at 9:30 or so, Steve was just about ready to go out the door. Boo to me. I wish I could've gone with him.
Of course, the laziness didn't stop there. He came home that afternoon, and asked me if I was running low on cigarettes, or anything else. To my horror, I was. So I offered to come with him to the store, and snag a carton, and maybe do some light grocery shopping. We're running a bit low on vegetables, and probably need to get some more at some point. Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to leave, I instantly got bitten by the lazy bug again, and asked Steve if he didn't mind dashing off on his own to snag the goods. He, being the ultimate in Wonderful Guy™, had no problem with it, and went off on his way. Of course, five minutes after he left, the skies opened up into torrential rain.
When he got back, he told me in an amused voice that someone had dropped him a phone number on his car. Apparently, when Steve went into the store, the guy saw which car he'd gotten out of, and was intrigued. Someone tried to pick him up! That's so cool! Steve called the guy back, and explained about his situation, and how he's got someone already. We're meeting the guy tomorrow after work just to hang out for a while. He's in from Ohio, and will be going back in a week or so. It's bound to be fun, eh?
I feel like this weekend has gone by in a flash, because I did manage to get so much cooking done for the upcoming week. I do need another few days of being lazy, so thankfully, we get 4 July as a holiday. Unfortunately, it's in the middle of the week, so no three day weekend. But fortunately, it will feel like very short weeks when we get to work! Y'know, I think it'd be nice to have that setup during regular weeks. Even if it means working for an extra hour or so during the other days, having a mid-week break would be rather nice. That way, you're only at work for two days at a stretch. I'll let you know when I manage to become king of the world or something. That'll be my first decree.
30 June 2007
Lazy lazy Friday
It's been one of those Fridays where I was busy at work, but not to the point of exhaustion, like some days. I figured out how to load up video to a PC computer from a camcorder, by switching the camcorder to PLAY mode, and hitting the play button, while setting the video capture thing from Windoze Movie Maker. It was pretty cool, if a bit slow. I'm guessing firewire would have been faster? I'm not sure. Either way, it was pretty neat to know that it's possible, and relatively easy to do! Mind, I'm not going to start cheating on my mac, so no worries there. She's the first lady of my heart anyway.
Steve, on the other hand, didn't have as easy a time as I did. He was there at work from 8:30 in the morning till close to 9:00 at night! On top of that, because he was in the middle of a project, he never did go to lunch. I figured that by the time he got home, he'd be exhausted, so we nixed the plans to go to see that new Pixar movie. Instead, we stayed in, and ate some bean sprouts (spiced with mustard, cumin, chili, lemon, salt, and pepper) and rice, and some fresh popcorn (popcorn, olive oil, salt). I find that when you pop the kernels in olive oil, they have a very rich and buttery taste. I love it! Also, before sprinkling on the salt, I ground it down in a spice grinder to get it very fine, so that it adheres to the fluffy popcorn more easily. It was divine.
I am pleased that we've started to get involved in doing things more often than we used to. Saturdays and Sundays used to be "let's lie around and be lazy, and pretend like we don't actually have to get up to do anything." I'm sure it was driving Steve slowly mad, because we're funny like that. He's very introverted, but still likes to get out and do things. As extroverted as I am, I prefer to mooch around in the house. Either way, we've always found ways to amuse ourselves, whether it's sitting around the house, or going out.
The kitchen needed a mass overhaul type cleaning, so I figured that when it was done, I'd give Steve a treat. In the filter of the coffee maker, I put in 1/2 cup of ground coffee, cinnamon, cayenne, clove, nutmeg, and then topped it off with the rest of the ground coffee that I needed for a full pot. I filled the coffee maker. I then poured a twinge of vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon per cup of water of cocoa powder (unsweetened), and a few tablespoons of sugar. I turned on the coffee machine, and let the smells waft throughout the kitchen. It smells quite lovely, and is delicious straight up, with nothing added. If you've read my book, you know how I feel about "omni subs" or foods that substitute omnivorous ingredients (tofu, seitan, tempeh, soymilk), so I won't get into it here. I'll maybe cover that stuff in a later entry.
I started some beans soaking, and another set of moong dal to sprout. I think it's so cool that I can increase the amount of food I can put on the table, just by adding water to my beans, and letting them soak for a six hours, then air dry after draining them. They sprout on their own, and they're so cute! I almost (read: ALMOST) am tempted to get the stuff planted in my garden, so that I'll have plants, but I can't be bothered. I'm a bit too lazy for that to happen.
Maybe some day, eh?
Steve, on the other hand, didn't have as easy a time as I did. He was there at work from 8:30 in the morning till close to 9:00 at night! On top of that, because he was in the middle of a project, he never did go to lunch. I figured that by the time he got home, he'd be exhausted, so we nixed the plans to go to see that new Pixar movie. Instead, we stayed in, and ate some bean sprouts (spiced with mustard, cumin, chili, lemon, salt, and pepper) and rice, and some fresh popcorn (popcorn, olive oil, salt). I find that when you pop the kernels in olive oil, they have a very rich and buttery taste. I love it! Also, before sprinkling on the salt, I ground it down in a spice grinder to get it very fine, so that it adheres to the fluffy popcorn more easily. It was divine.
I am pleased that we've started to get involved in doing things more often than we used to. Saturdays and Sundays used to be "let's lie around and be lazy, and pretend like we don't actually have to get up to do anything." I'm sure it was driving Steve slowly mad, because we're funny like that. He's very introverted, but still likes to get out and do things. As extroverted as I am, I prefer to mooch around in the house. Either way, we've always found ways to amuse ourselves, whether it's sitting around the house, or going out.
The kitchen needed a mass overhaul type cleaning, so I figured that when it was done, I'd give Steve a treat. In the filter of the coffee maker, I put in 1/2 cup of ground coffee, cinnamon, cayenne, clove, nutmeg, and then topped it off with the rest of the ground coffee that I needed for a full pot. I filled the coffee maker. I then poured a twinge of vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon per cup of water of cocoa powder (unsweetened), and a few tablespoons of sugar. I turned on the coffee machine, and let the smells waft throughout the kitchen. It smells quite lovely, and is delicious straight up, with nothing added. If you've read my book, you know how I feel about "omni subs" or foods that substitute omnivorous ingredients (tofu, seitan, tempeh, soymilk), so I won't get into it here. I'll maybe cover that stuff in a later entry.
I started some beans soaking, and another set of moong dal to sprout. I think it's so cool that I can increase the amount of food I can put on the table, just by adding water to my beans, and letting them soak for a six hours, then air dry after draining them. They sprout on their own, and they're so cute! I almost (read: ALMOST) am tempted to get the stuff planted in my garden, so that I'll have plants, but I can't be bothered. I'm a bit too lazy for that to happen.
Maybe some day, eh?
29 June 2007
On Salting
When you're in the process of putting together a soup, stew, or chili, make sure to lightly salt as you go along. What you want is for the salt to get into the components, but not to the point where you're making a pickle! Instead, take your time, and add gentle additions of salt with every new ingredient that goes into your pot.
For example, let's say we're making a soup with aromatics, root vegetables, tomatoes, and leafy greens. Let's take this step by step, and see if we can't make sense of it, shall we? As with any soup or stew, we're going to be going in the proper order of oil, then spices, then deglazing, then long cooking vegetables, then short cooking vegetables.
Start with oil in a deep stock pot. A good peanut or sunflower oil should work ideally. Turn the burner's heat dial as high as it can go. When a small wisp of smoke escapes the surface of the oil, add your whole spices (like mustard seeds, sesame seeds, and cumin seeds). Wait for about 30 seconds or so. You should hear them popping and crackling like mad. If you have them, pitch in a healthy handful of curry leaves. If not, skip this step.
Now in come our aromatics. Add your chopped or minced aromatics (maybe some onions, garlic, carrots, and red peppers this time?) to the hot fat. Stir everything around in the pot until everything is combined with the oil. Sprinkle in some salt. You just want to add enough to draw out some of the water from the aromatics. Drop down the heat on your burner to medium low. Put the lid on your pot, and get to work on chopping your other ingredients. These are going to cook for about ten to fifteen minutes, or however long it takes them to get softened. If you'd like some colour, this would be a good time to add some turmeric, and stir it through. If you want more of an earthy flavour, this would also be a good time to add your favourite dried herbs. Thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf works for a deep, rich stew.
Start with your tomatoes. If you're using canned tomatoes, skip this step, and just get them ready to add to the pot. If you have fresh tomatoes, roughly chop them up into 1 inch cubes. Don't worry about getting them perfectly chopped--we're going to end up cooking them down in any case. Reserve about a cup and change of water at this point.
If you're like me, the chopping of the tomatoes is done around the same time that the aromatics are nice and soft in the pot. Once the aromatics have softened, add your diced tomatoes to the pot, and increase the heat to high again. Add a little more salt, and stir everything to combine it with the oils and flavours. You're going to start to discover the delight of the smell of tomatoes with garlic and spices. Savour that aroma. Once your tomatoes seem to be incorporated into the dish, turn the heat back down to low, and put the lid back on. You've got another good fifteen or twenty minutes to go before you have to bother anything. If you're nervous about the tomatoes getting too dried out, check every five minutes or so, and have that reserved water at the ready to loosen things up as needed.
Next come the root vegetables (how does a nice blend of radish, potato, and turnip sound) into roughly the same sized cubes. You want to go for about 1/2 inch all around, to get relatively quick cooking times, and still give the final dish something with some oomph to bite into.
Around the time that you've diced your last potato (or a bit sooner, if you take a little longer in chopping root vegetables), your tomatoes should be ready for the next step of the soup. At this point, there's a couple of different things that you can do. If you notice that there are quite a lot of vegetables left over to cut up, feel free to buy yourself some time by adding a few cups of water to the pot, leaving the lid open, and dumping in the vegetables as you go along. Because they're going to cook for another hour or so, you don't have to worry overmuch about cooking times.
If, however, you've finished chopping your vegetables, dump them into the pot, add a couple of litres of water, and crank the heat up to high. While you're waiting for the first boil, start loosely chopping up your leafy greens. Again, you want it to be small enough to fit on a spoon, but large enough to make an impression.
Once your pot starts boiling at a full, strong boil, add a few more pinches of salt, and let it sustain that rolling boil for about five minutes. Quickly taste the soup for salt. If it tastes salty at this point, there is too much salt, and you've got time for damage control. Grab a couple of cans of beans, and tip the contents into the pot. If, however, your soup just barely tastes salted, and is a little on the bland side, you're in good hands. Why is this? As the soup continues to cook, the water will evaporate, and the flavours will concentrate. You want to know how you're doing at this point, because damage control is far easier when you're still early on in the game, rather than at the last minute when you're scrambling.
But I digress. Once you've gotten that full rolling boil sustained for about five minutes or so, drop down the heat to medium low again. Put the lid back on. Finish chopping any final greens you want to add. While you're here, you might as well wash up some of the dishes you've generated along the way. You've got a good forty five minutes to go. Pour yourself a nice cold glass of the drink of your choice, and clean up at leisure. Why leave the mess for later, when you'll be tired?
After about forty five minutes, test the largest piece of vegetable you can see in the pot. If it's done all the way through, you're good to go. Add the leafy greens to the top, and increase the heat back to high. Put the lid on, and let it come up to the boil again. Let it boil, uncovered, until the greens are done through.
When the greens are done, let the soup sit and settle for about fifteen minutes. It's just had an exciting journey in becoming a wonderful dish. Letting it settle for a bit gives the soup (and you) a chance to just relax and mellow for a few minutes. Take the time to set out the table with some nice dishes and your place settings. You've spent all this time on your dish--why not enjoy it properly?
There. Soup is ready. Test it for salt once more before serving. If it's a touch on the bland side, just perk it up with some more salt. Just make sure to let it come back up to the boil after you've added as much salt as you think you'll need. That final boil will make sure that the salt is properly incorporated.
Enjoy your meal.
For example, let's say we're making a soup with aromatics, root vegetables, tomatoes, and leafy greens. Let's take this step by step, and see if we can't make sense of it, shall we? As with any soup or stew, we're going to be going in the proper order of oil, then spices, then deglazing, then long cooking vegetables, then short cooking vegetables.
Start with oil in a deep stock pot. A good peanut or sunflower oil should work ideally. Turn the burner's heat dial as high as it can go. When a small wisp of smoke escapes the surface of the oil, add your whole spices (like mustard seeds, sesame seeds, and cumin seeds). Wait for about 30 seconds or so. You should hear them popping and crackling like mad. If you have them, pitch in a healthy handful of curry leaves. If not, skip this step.
Now in come our aromatics. Add your chopped or minced aromatics (maybe some onions, garlic, carrots, and red peppers this time?) to the hot fat. Stir everything around in the pot until everything is combined with the oil. Sprinkle in some salt. You just want to add enough to draw out some of the water from the aromatics. Drop down the heat on your burner to medium low. Put the lid on your pot, and get to work on chopping your other ingredients. These are going to cook for about ten to fifteen minutes, or however long it takes them to get softened. If you'd like some colour, this would be a good time to add some turmeric, and stir it through. If you want more of an earthy flavour, this would also be a good time to add your favourite dried herbs. Thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf works for a deep, rich stew.
Start with your tomatoes. If you're using canned tomatoes, skip this step, and just get them ready to add to the pot. If you have fresh tomatoes, roughly chop them up into 1 inch cubes. Don't worry about getting them perfectly chopped--we're going to end up cooking them down in any case. Reserve about a cup and change of water at this point.
If you're like me, the chopping of the tomatoes is done around the same time that the aromatics are nice and soft in the pot. Once the aromatics have softened, add your diced tomatoes to the pot, and increase the heat to high again. Add a little more salt, and stir everything to combine it with the oils and flavours. You're going to start to discover the delight of the smell of tomatoes with garlic and spices. Savour that aroma. Once your tomatoes seem to be incorporated into the dish, turn the heat back down to low, and put the lid back on. You've got another good fifteen or twenty minutes to go before you have to bother anything. If you're nervous about the tomatoes getting too dried out, check every five minutes or so, and have that reserved water at the ready to loosen things up as needed.
Next come the root vegetables (how does a nice blend of radish, potato, and turnip sound) into roughly the same sized cubes. You want to go for about 1/2 inch all around, to get relatively quick cooking times, and still give the final dish something with some oomph to bite into.
Around the time that you've diced your last potato (or a bit sooner, if you take a little longer in chopping root vegetables), your tomatoes should be ready for the next step of the soup. At this point, there's a couple of different things that you can do. If you notice that there are quite a lot of vegetables left over to cut up, feel free to buy yourself some time by adding a few cups of water to the pot, leaving the lid open, and dumping in the vegetables as you go along. Because they're going to cook for another hour or so, you don't have to worry overmuch about cooking times.
If, however, you've finished chopping your vegetables, dump them into the pot, add a couple of litres of water, and crank the heat up to high. While you're waiting for the first boil, start loosely chopping up your leafy greens. Again, you want it to be small enough to fit on a spoon, but large enough to make an impression.
Once your pot starts boiling at a full, strong boil, add a few more pinches of salt, and let it sustain that rolling boil for about five minutes. Quickly taste the soup for salt. If it tastes salty at this point, there is too much salt, and you've got time for damage control. Grab a couple of cans of beans, and tip the contents into the pot. If, however, your soup just barely tastes salted, and is a little on the bland side, you're in good hands. Why is this? As the soup continues to cook, the water will evaporate, and the flavours will concentrate. You want to know how you're doing at this point, because damage control is far easier when you're still early on in the game, rather than at the last minute when you're scrambling.
But I digress. Once you've gotten that full rolling boil sustained for about five minutes or so, drop down the heat to medium low again. Put the lid back on. Finish chopping any final greens you want to add. While you're here, you might as well wash up some of the dishes you've generated along the way. You've got a good forty five minutes to go. Pour yourself a nice cold glass of the drink of your choice, and clean up at leisure. Why leave the mess for later, when you'll be tired?
After about forty five minutes, test the largest piece of vegetable you can see in the pot. If it's done all the way through, you're good to go. Add the leafy greens to the top, and increase the heat back to high. Put the lid on, and let it come up to the boil again. Let it boil, uncovered, until the greens are done through.
When the greens are done, let the soup sit and settle for about fifteen minutes. It's just had an exciting journey in becoming a wonderful dish. Letting it settle for a bit gives the soup (and you) a chance to just relax and mellow for a few minutes. Take the time to set out the table with some nice dishes and your place settings. You've spent all this time on your dish--why not enjoy it properly?
There. Soup is ready. Test it for salt once more before serving. If it's a touch on the bland side, just perk it up with some more salt. Just make sure to let it come back up to the boil after you've added as much salt as you think you'll need. That final boil will make sure that the salt is properly incorporated.
Enjoy your meal.
28 June 2007
Inagural Post
I do have a product blog up for my book, The Alternative Vegan. However, I feel like since it's out there in the open, attached to the product itself, I can't be as chatty and silly as I want to be. If you've read the book, you know that I like to ramble on about nothing in particular, and sometimes I've got some ... unique observations about things going on in my life. I'll answer questions, if you post comments, but for the most part, this is about what's going on in my life, and other silly things of that nature. Feel free to read it, or ignore it.
As far as I know, sales are doing fine. I get people telling me about the different things that they're trying out, and I'm thrilled to bits when they try out something "exotic," if that makes sense. For example, at the last minute, I wanted to include a dish called Venn Pongal. It's a dish from the south of India, where my family is from, and it's filled with all the good things that I remember about growing up in the land of spices. It's very light in terms of fat an calories, but it's like magic. Pongal can settle an upset stomach, fill an empty belly, warm you up from the tips of your toes to the top of your head when it's dreary and rainy outside. Its smoky scent will fill the house as you cook it.
All that being said, it does take a fair bit of time for it to finish cooking, during which you're going crazy wanting it. Additionally, the instructions look complicated. Not that it's hard to make, mind you. It just looks that way, because I had to explain it just so. Anyways, I'm rambling. My publisher offered to test the recipe (because no recipe went into the book without being tested for ease of understanding the instructions, etc). He and his wife whipped up a batch, and fell in love.
Since then, they've made it a few other times. Now, my publisher is a talented and adventurous cook. He loves to tinker about with food so that it can reach the fiery heat he craves in there. (Suffice to say that chiles make regular appearances in the Torres house.) I expect him to be able to churn out pot after pot of pongal with no trouble, and no fear at all. I didn't expect people to try it after buying the book! I was surprised and so pleased that others could experience this ultimate of comfort foods for the first time, because I was introducing them to it. Something that I consider so common, but so good that I'll cheerfully eat it three times a day for a week or so. This, in all its beauty, was introduced to people, because they felt adventurous enough to give it a try.
That's so cool! What's even better is that they'll get to try the version that doesn't cost a fortune to make, and for which it is easy to find ingredients. I was telling my mother about the recipe in the book, and she asked me, "So, did you say to use moong daal?" "No," I responded, "I said to use split yellow peas." The two of us burst out laughing as she said, "I never do anything traditionally!" Of course we don't! That's how we adapt to the different places we've lived throughout my life. You can't be so rigid as to demand that everything be just so or not at all! You figure out how to make something work for you, wherever you are. Frankly, I'm not going to have someone spend three times the cost of split yellow peas on moong dal over some sniping about "authenticity" or "tradition". Sorry, but tradition is only so important that it serves us, not the other way around!
In other news, I figured out that I'm capable of getting into the door, and maximising my efficiency. Whenever you know you need to have dinner on the table in an hour or so after you get in, use this method, because it works for me without tiring me out! The second you walk in, drop whatever's in your hands onto the dining room or kitchen table, and walk into the kitchen. Quickly rinse out a pot, and start to fill it with water. While it fills, dash off to the washroom to give your hands and face a rinse with clean water and some soap. I find that if I'm using my regular facial soap to wash my face, my hands get cleaned at the same time, so I prefer to save a step if I can help it. Dry your hands off, and pat your face dry.
By now, you'll probably be feeling a lot more refreshed. The reason I added in the face and hand washing thing is twofold. For one thing, before you start preparing food, you HAVE to wash your hands. It's not pleasant to find unwelcome visitors in your food, and be laid up in bed with a stomach infection. Keep those hands as clean as you can. The other reason is that I live in Florida, and it's HOT. The first thing I wanted to do was wash my face as soon as I got in, but I knew that my kitchen sink can take a long time to fill a pot. I also fought the temptation to wash my face in the kitchen sink, because that would have involved the dirty water from my face flying around the kitchen. Ew.
Now that you're feeling more human, go to the kitchen again, and pour off any excess water from your pot. You're going to want 6 litres or so of water in the pot. Set the pot on the stove, slam on the lid, and crank it up to as high as it goes. The reason we are boiling water is because hot boiling water is perfect for cooking anything from rice to pasta to noodles to potatoes to vegetables. It's a pain, however, to wait for it to boil. Rather, why not let it do its own thing, while you go about your business? Once that's going, you can get to the rest of your meal.
Grab a clove of garlic, and smash it open, by pounding something heavy on it. Leave it whole; this is lazy, quick food, remember? Chop up an onion. Open up a can of black olives. Set a skillet onto your stove. Pour in any type of oil. See, when I came home that day, I didn't feel like digging out the olive oil. I just grabbed the canola bottle. Pour in enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. Quickly drain your can of olives, and pour them into the oil. Let the temperature come up, while you slice up your clove of garlic.
Within a couple of minutes, you should hear the olives in the skillet sizzling away like crazy. This is a good thing. You probably also smell an olive smell in the air. This is even better. Toss the olives around in your skillet. Sprinkle in the garlic and onions, and follow it up with a few good pinches of salt.
When you add salt this early in the game, you let the onions and garlic leak out their water more quickly, and the flavour intensifies. Find a can of tomatoes, or do what I did and find a jar of prepared tomato sauce. Nobody has to know! I have yet to see a jar of tomato sauce that had whole black olives (in this amount, anyway), and pieces of onions and garlic that you can actually see. When the onions turn light brown, pour in a few cups of the tomato sauce (or a 12 - 16 oz can of diced tomatoes, juice and all). Turn down the heat to low, and let the sauce simmer away until the pasta's done.
Now that your sauce is on the stove, your water is probably boiling. Splendid. Grab a 1 lb box of pasta, and pitch it into the pot of merrily boiling water. Generously salt the water. Throw in the juice of a lemon into the water (prevents pasta from sticking). Put the lid back onto the pot, ONLY for as long as it takes to get the water back up to a full rolling boil. Remove the lid, and set it aside. Boil the pasta until it's done.
Pour yourself a glass of wine or juice or water or whatever it is you like to drink at the end of your day, and sit down for at least five minutes, while the pasta boils. Don't leave the kitchen; you don't want to leave things on the stove unattended. You do, however, need the break for yourself at this point, because your legs are probably reminding you about the sweet allure of a hot bath. With bubbles!
When you've had your five minutes of relaxation, put a colander into the sink. Start checking on the pasta to see if it's cooked. Keep checking it every minute or two, until it's just done. When the pasta is done, pour it out to drain into the colander. Turn off the stove, and put the empty pot back onto the still hot stove. Pour the sauce into the bottom of the pot. Pour some of the cooked pasta into the sauce pan, and swirl it around to catch any leftover bits of sauce still in the pan. Dump all the pasta (including the one from the pan) over the sauce in the pot, and stir it all around to combine it.
Everything will be done to a turn, and you only need dump together a salad (which takes no time flat) and throw out some crusty bread and olive oil. That was more or less how my Monday night went. Ah, life is so simple when we've got so much.
As far as I know, sales are doing fine. I get people telling me about the different things that they're trying out, and I'm thrilled to bits when they try out something "exotic," if that makes sense. For example, at the last minute, I wanted to include a dish called Venn Pongal. It's a dish from the south of India, where my family is from, and it's filled with all the good things that I remember about growing up in the land of spices. It's very light in terms of fat an calories, but it's like magic. Pongal can settle an upset stomach, fill an empty belly, warm you up from the tips of your toes to the top of your head when it's dreary and rainy outside. Its smoky scent will fill the house as you cook it.
All that being said, it does take a fair bit of time for it to finish cooking, during which you're going crazy wanting it. Additionally, the instructions look complicated. Not that it's hard to make, mind you. It just looks that way, because I had to explain it just so. Anyways, I'm rambling. My publisher offered to test the recipe (because no recipe went into the book without being tested for ease of understanding the instructions, etc). He and his wife whipped up a batch, and fell in love.
Since then, they've made it a few other times. Now, my publisher is a talented and adventurous cook. He loves to tinker about with food so that it can reach the fiery heat he craves in there. (Suffice to say that chiles make regular appearances in the Torres house.) I expect him to be able to churn out pot after pot of pongal with no trouble, and no fear at all. I didn't expect people to try it after buying the book! I was surprised and so pleased that others could experience this ultimate of comfort foods for the first time, because I was introducing them to it. Something that I consider so common, but so good that I'll cheerfully eat it three times a day for a week or so. This, in all its beauty, was introduced to people, because they felt adventurous enough to give it a try.
That's so cool! What's even better is that they'll get to try the version that doesn't cost a fortune to make, and for which it is easy to find ingredients. I was telling my mother about the recipe in the book, and she asked me, "So, did you say to use moong daal?" "No," I responded, "I said to use split yellow peas." The two of us burst out laughing as she said, "I never do anything traditionally!" Of course we don't! That's how we adapt to the different places we've lived throughout my life. You can't be so rigid as to demand that everything be just so or not at all! You figure out how to make something work for you, wherever you are. Frankly, I'm not going to have someone spend three times the cost of split yellow peas on moong dal over some sniping about "authenticity" or "tradition". Sorry, but tradition is only so important that it serves us, not the other way around!
In other news, I figured out that I'm capable of getting into the door, and maximising my efficiency. Whenever you know you need to have dinner on the table in an hour or so after you get in, use this method, because it works for me without tiring me out! The second you walk in, drop whatever's in your hands onto the dining room or kitchen table, and walk into the kitchen. Quickly rinse out a pot, and start to fill it with water. While it fills, dash off to the washroom to give your hands and face a rinse with clean water and some soap. I find that if I'm using my regular facial soap to wash my face, my hands get cleaned at the same time, so I prefer to save a step if I can help it. Dry your hands off, and pat your face dry.
By now, you'll probably be feeling a lot more refreshed. The reason I added in the face and hand washing thing is twofold. For one thing, before you start preparing food, you HAVE to wash your hands. It's not pleasant to find unwelcome visitors in your food, and be laid up in bed with a stomach infection. Keep those hands as clean as you can. The other reason is that I live in Florida, and it's HOT. The first thing I wanted to do was wash my face as soon as I got in, but I knew that my kitchen sink can take a long time to fill a pot. I also fought the temptation to wash my face in the kitchen sink, because that would have involved the dirty water from my face flying around the kitchen. Ew.
Now that you're feeling more human, go to the kitchen again, and pour off any excess water from your pot. You're going to want 6 litres or so of water in the pot. Set the pot on the stove, slam on the lid, and crank it up to as high as it goes. The reason we are boiling water is because hot boiling water is perfect for cooking anything from rice to pasta to noodles to potatoes to vegetables. It's a pain, however, to wait for it to boil. Rather, why not let it do its own thing, while you go about your business? Once that's going, you can get to the rest of your meal.
Grab a clove of garlic, and smash it open, by pounding something heavy on it. Leave it whole; this is lazy, quick food, remember? Chop up an onion. Open up a can of black olives. Set a skillet onto your stove. Pour in any type of oil. See, when I came home that day, I didn't feel like digging out the olive oil. I just grabbed the canola bottle. Pour in enough oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. Quickly drain your can of olives, and pour them into the oil. Let the temperature come up, while you slice up your clove of garlic.
Within a couple of minutes, you should hear the olives in the skillet sizzling away like crazy. This is a good thing. You probably also smell an olive smell in the air. This is even better. Toss the olives around in your skillet. Sprinkle in the garlic and onions, and follow it up with a few good pinches of salt.
When you add salt this early in the game, you let the onions and garlic leak out their water more quickly, and the flavour intensifies. Find a can of tomatoes, or do what I did and find a jar of prepared tomato sauce. Nobody has to know! I have yet to see a jar of tomato sauce that had whole black olives (in this amount, anyway), and pieces of onions and garlic that you can actually see. When the onions turn light brown, pour in a few cups of the tomato sauce (or a 12 - 16 oz can of diced tomatoes, juice and all). Turn down the heat to low, and let the sauce simmer away until the pasta's done.
Now that your sauce is on the stove, your water is probably boiling. Splendid. Grab a 1 lb box of pasta, and pitch it into the pot of merrily boiling water. Generously salt the water. Throw in the juice of a lemon into the water (prevents pasta from sticking). Put the lid back onto the pot, ONLY for as long as it takes to get the water back up to a full rolling boil. Remove the lid, and set it aside. Boil the pasta until it's done.
Pour yourself a glass of wine or juice or water or whatever it is you like to drink at the end of your day, and sit down for at least five minutes, while the pasta boils. Don't leave the kitchen; you don't want to leave things on the stove unattended. You do, however, need the break for yourself at this point, because your legs are probably reminding you about the sweet allure of a hot bath. With bubbles!
When you've had your five minutes of relaxation, put a colander into the sink. Start checking on the pasta to see if it's cooked. Keep checking it every minute or two, until it's just done. When the pasta is done, pour it out to drain into the colander. Turn off the stove, and put the empty pot back onto the still hot stove. Pour the sauce into the bottom of the pot. Pour some of the cooked pasta into the sauce pan, and swirl it around to catch any leftover bits of sauce still in the pan. Dump all the pasta (including the one from the pan) over the sauce in the pot, and stir it all around to combine it.
Everything will be done to a turn, and you only need dump together a salad (which takes no time flat) and throw out some crusty bread and olive oil. That was more or less how my Monday night went. Ah, life is so simple when we've got so much.
12 April 2006
Transcript for the April 12, 2006 Recipe
Hey there VeganFreaks, it's Dino. Unfortunately this week it got kind of difficult for us to schedule a proper interview with Bob and Jenna, so instead Bob said it would be okay if I just submitted a regular audio file so that you guys could have my segment as you normally would!
Anyway, I got a question from Ariix talking about how she would like to have Indian food, but she would like it to be lower fat than what you typically get in a restaurant. Now, just to give you guys a heads up if you go to an Indian restaurant, chances are you're going to be getting Indian food that's from the north of India, which tends to be slightly higher fat than the stuff from the south of India, which is really light and...really light on the stomach and pretty low on the fat.
So I guess I'd like to share a couple of recipes with you from south India, which are Indian food, that are very low in fat and really healthy for you.
The first one I'd like to share is called Cootoo, which is essentially a mix of vegetables, a little bit of spices, and absolutely no oil at all. The bulk of your fat from there is going to be coming from the coconut milk. So here's how this works: you get together your favourite vegetables, such as chayote squash, maybe some carrots, potatoes, possibly some onions, maybe some, I don't know, tomatoes if you want to, eggplant, zucchini, whatever kind of vegetables you'd like. And you throw them in a pot with about 6 litres of water, 3 or 4 Tablespoons of fenugreek seeds, about a Tablespoon of Turmeric powder, and let the entire mess boil until it gets cooked. Then in the last 10-15 minutes of cooking, add on about a pound of cabbage and let that cook down until the cabbage is done.
5 minutes after that is done, throw in 2 or 3 ground chilis and maybe about 1 cans worth of coconut milk, which is about 10-12 oz, give or take. Let it come to a full boil and let it boil for another 5 minutes, give or take, just to get the coconut milk incorporated. And serve it over brown rice, just like that, it is really simple, and tastes really good. Now the flavouring is mostly going to be coming from the fenugreek seeds and the Turmeric, oddly enough, does add a little bit of flavouring. And the chili, however, it tastes really good because it's got this light vegetabley flavor that you don't normally get with most vegetable dishes cooked in oil.
Another really good idea is something called Rasam, which is a sort of split pea tomato type of soup. How it works is that you get about a tablespoon of oil l and heat it up in a large pot until it is very very hot, throw in about a teaspoon of black mustard seeds, and a couple of shakes of asafoetida, and then throw in a handful curry leaves and let them explode and pop. When that is done throw in about 2 or 3 tomatoes, a tablespoon of Turmeric powder and 2 or 3 T tamarind paste, not tamarind concentrate, just get the regular tarmarind paste. if you have tamarind concentrate, just thin it out by half with water, and pour it in. let the entire mixture come to a full boil land get about a teaspoon of rasam powder, you can buy in the store, pre-made. I don't have time to get into all the different spices that go in there or the technique, but you can definitely google it. Throw in about a Tbsp of that and let the liquid come to a full boil and let it sit for about 10 minutes at the boil. That's your basic basic Rasam. If you want to supplement it with a little bit more nutrition, maybe add in about 1lbs worth of cooked yellow split peas and possibly, if you feel like it, garlic and onions for flavor, and most definitely lots and lots of fresh ground black pepper. It's sort of the base of the flavors for rasam.
Another really easy one is what we call Keera Cootoo, which is essentially spinach soup sort of thing. You get a tsp of oil, get it in a pot and heat it up really hot. throw in about a tsp of black mustard seeds, let them pop, throw in one onion, and sauté until it gets softened, and throw in about 2 or 3 lbs of spinach and about 3 or 4 cups of water. Stir everything around until it gets completely combined and let it come to a full boil. By that time the spinach should be cooked and the spices should be completely incorporated. You'll have a spinach soup that you can now serve over brown rice, or eat it all by itself. It's really good all by itself.
Another really easy one is a sort of s. Indian split pea soup. Somebody asked about it on the forum, so I'm going to go ahead and give you my response. A curry powder is sort of a dreaded shortcut you want to avoid when making Indian food because it ends up making everything taste the same. Instead try making south Indian split pea soup and you'll have stellar results.
Here's how it works. Boil up some yellow split peas in a pressure cooker or just let them boil in a pot until they're tender. While the split peas boil, have prepared one teaspoon whole mustard seeds, one tsp whole cumin seeds, and 1 tsp coriander seeds that you crush lightly. You can throw it into a ziplock bag, just crush it with a wine bottle or with a rolling pin. 3-5 stalks of curry leaves. if you can get it, 1/8 tsp asafoetida, if you have it, 1 tsp turmeric powder. Get one onion and mince it up really finely. Get 2 cloves of garlic and mince that up really finely. A small amount of ginger, grated. 2 tomatoes roughly chopped. A small chili, finely chopped. If you're doing the split peas in a pressure cooker it should take roughly 10-15 minutes to cook, an by this time you will have finished preparing all your ingredients. If you're boiling them on the stove in a pot, it will take roughly 45 minutes to an hour.
Either way, whether or not your split peas are ready, put on a pot of rice and have it cooking while you make the soup. Now in a large stock pot with a heavy bottom, pour in about 3 T of peanut, canola, corn, vegetable, or safflower oil. Turn up the heat to high and let the oil get hot. This takes about 30 seconds. When the oil is hot, pour in the mustard seeds and the cumin seeds. In about 30-45 seconds, the seeds should start to pop and explode. Pour in the crushed coriander seeds. Immediately put in the curry leaves, if you have it, they're going to explode. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, chilis, asafoetida, if you have it, and the turmeric powder. Stir the onion mixture until everything is combined with the fat and spices. A good way to check for that is to look at your onions and if they've all gone completely yellow, then you're doing the right thing. Turn the heat up to high and continue to stir until everything is combined. Pour in the tomatoes and stir the tomatoes through to combine. Drop down the heat to medium low and cover the pot.
While you're waiting, brew up some coffee, adding 3-5 cardamom pods, a sprinkle or 2 of nutmeg, and about 1 tsp cinnamon powder to the coffee grounds. Brew as you normally would. As soon as the coffee is done brewing place the pot into the fridge.
By now the tomatoes should be softened. Pour the cooked yellow split peas into the pot with the tomatoes. Stir to combine all the ingredients together. Increase the heat to high. Sprinkle in salt to taste. when the pot comes to a full boil, let it boil at high heat for about five minutes. I should make a note right now, when you're pouring in the split peas, you're pouring them in with the water you cooked them in, and not drained, this is what provides all the water for the soup. After they've been boiling at high heat for about 5 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit until the rice is cooked.
When you're ready to serve, pour 1/4 cup of cooked rice on the bottom of a bowl and pour on 1 cup of the split pea soup. fill up a tall drinking glass with ice and pour the coffee over the ice and serve with the soup. Feel free to experiment with other beans as this is a really simple recipe that you can do with pretty much any bean and it will come out pretty well. And the cool thing about it is that you're using about 3 or 4 quarts of water to 2 or 3 Tbsp of oil, so you're really not getting that much fat.
Anyway, I got a question from Ariix talking about how she would like to have Indian food, but she would like it to be lower fat than what you typically get in a restaurant. Now, just to give you guys a heads up if you go to an Indian restaurant, chances are you're going to be getting Indian food that's from the north of India, which tends to be slightly higher fat than the stuff from the south of India, which is really light and...really light on the stomach and pretty low on the fat.
So I guess I'd like to share a couple of recipes with you from south India, which are Indian food, that are very low in fat and really healthy for you.
The first one I'd like to share is called Cootoo, which is essentially a mix of vegetables, a little bit of spices, and absolutely no oil at all. The bulk of your fat from there is going to be coming from the coconut milk. So here's how this works: you get together your favourite vegetables, such as chayote squash, maybe some carrots, potatoes, possibly some onions, maybe some, I don't know, tomatoes if you want to, eggplant, zucchini, whatever kind of vegetables you'd like. And you throw them in a pot with about 6 litres of water, 3 or 4 Tablespoons of fenugreek seeds, about a Tablespoon of Turmeric powder, and let the entire mess boil until it gets cooked. Then in the last 10-15 minutes of cooking, add on about a pound of cabbage and let that cook down until the cabbage is done.
5 minutes after that is done, throw in 2 or 3 ground chilis and maybe about 1 cans worth of coconut milk, which is about 10-12 oz, give or take. Let it come to a full boil and let it boil for another 5 minutes, give or take, just to get the coconut milk incorporated. And serve it over brown rice, just like that, it is really simple, and tastes really good. Now the flavouring is mostly going to be coming from the fenugreek seeds and the Turmeric, oddly enough, does add a little bit of flavouring. And the chili, however, it tastes really good because it's got this light vegetabley flavor that you don't normally get with most vegetable dishes cooked in oil.
Another really good idea is something called Rasam, which is a sort of split pea tomato type of soup. How it works is that you get about a tablespoon of oil l and heat it up in a large pot until it is very very hot, throw in about a teaspoon of black mustard seeds, and a couple of shakes of asafoetida, and then throw in a handful curry leaves and let them explode and pop. When that is done throw in about 2 or 3 tomatoes, a tablespoon of Turmeric powder and 2 or 3 T tamarind paste, not tamarind concentrate, just get the regular tarmarind paste. if you have tamarind concentrate, just thin it out by half with water, and pour it in. let the entire mixture come to a full boil land get about a teaspoon of rasam powder, you can buy in the store, pre-made. I don't have time to get into all the different spices that go in there or the technique, but you can definitely google it. Throw in about a Tbsp of that and let the liquid come to a full boil and let it sit for about 10 minutes at the boil. That's your basic basic Rasam. If you want to supplement it with a little bit more nutrition, maybe add in about 1lbs worth of cooked yellow split peas and possibly, if you feel like it, garlic and onions for flavor, and most definitely lots and lots of fresh ground black pepper. It's sort of the base of the flavors for rasam.
Another really easy one is what we call Keera Cootoo, which is essentially spinach soup sort of thing. You get a tsp of oil, get it in a pot and heat it up really hot. throw in about a tsp of black mustard seeds, let them pop, throw in one onion, and sauté until it gets softened, and throw in about 2 or 3 lbs of spinach and about 3 or 4 cups of water. Stir everything around until it gets completely combined and let it come to a full boil. By that time the spinach should be cooked and the spices should be completely incorporated. You'll have a spinach soup that you can now serve over brown rice, or eat it all by itself. It's really good all by itself.
Another really easy one is a sort of s. Indian split pea soup. Somebody asked about it on the forum, so I'm going to go ahead and give you my response. A curry powder is sort of a dreaded shortcut you want to avoid when making Indian food because it ends up making everything taste the same. Instead try making south Indian split pea soup and you'll have stellar results.
Here's how it works. Boil up some yellow split peas in a pressure cooker or just let them boil in a pot until they're tender. While the split peas boil, have prepared one teaspoon whole mustard seeds, one tsp whole cumin seeds, and 1 tsp coriander seeds that you crush lightly. You can throw it into a ziplock bag, just crush it with a wine bottle or with a rolling pin. 3-5 stalks of curry leaves. if you can get it, 1/8 tsp asafoetida, if you have it, 1 tsp turmeric powder. Get one onion and mince it up really finely. Get 2 cloves of garlic and mince that up really finely. A small amount of ginger, grated. 2 tomatoes roughly chopped. A small chili, finely chopped. If you're doing the split peas in a pressure cooker it should take roughly 10-15 minutes to cook, an by this time you will have finished preparing all your ingredients. If you're boiling them on the stove in a pot, it will take roughly 45 minutes to an hour.
Either way, whether or not your split peas are ready, put on a pot of rice and have it cooking while you make the soup. Now in a large stock pot with a heavy bottom, pour in about 3 T of peanut, canola, corn, vegetable, or safflower oil. Turn up the heat to high and let the oil get hot. This takes about 30 seconds. When the oil is hot, pour in the mustard seeds and the cumin seeds. In about 30-45 seconds, the seeds should start to pop and explode. Pour in the crushed coriander seeds. Immediately put in the curry leaves, if you have it, they're going to explode. Add the onions, garlic, ginger, chilis, asafoetida, if you have it, and the turmeric powder. Stir the onion mixture until everything is combined with the fat and spices. A good way to check for that is to look at your onions and if they've all gone completely yellow, then you're doing the right thing. Turn the heat up to high and continue to stir until everything is combined. Pour in the tomatoes and stir the tomatoes through to combine. Drop down the heat to medium low and cover the pot.
While you're waiting, brew up some coffee, adding 3-5 cardamom pods, a sprinkle or 2 of nutmeg, and about 1 tsp cinnamon powder to the coffee grounds. Brew as you normally would. As soon as the coffee is done brewing place the pot into the fridge.
By now the tomatoes should be softened. Pour the cooked yellow split peas into the pot with the tomatoes. Stir to combine all the ingredients together. Increase the heat to high. Sprinkle in salt to taste. when the pot comes to a full boil, let it boil at high heat for about five minutes. I should make a note right now, when you're pouring in the split peas, you're pouring them in with the water you cooked them in, and not drained, this is what provides all the water for the soup. After they've been boiling at high heat for about 5 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit until the rice is cooked.
When you're ready to serve, pour 1/4 cup of cooked rice on the bottom of a bowl and pour on 1 cup of the split pea soup. fill up a tall drinking glass with ice and pour the coffee over the ice and serve with the soup. Feel free to experiment with other beans as this is a really simple recipe that you can do with pretty much any bean and it will come out pretty well. And the cool thing about it is that you're using about 3 or 4 quarts of water to 2 or 3 Tbsp of oil, so you're really not getting that much fat.
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