Sweet and Sour Aubergines

This is the last Madhur Jaffrey recipe I'll be cooking for the I Heart Cooking Club challenge. For the next few weeks we'll be on holiday in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and I won't be posting any recipes from there.
It's a shame I won't be able to complete the last three challenges. It has been fun to try out some of Madhur's recipes, and putting her cookbooks, which had been lingering on my shelf for too long to good use. I found her to be an inspirational cook.
I also learnt a lot by reading the recipes other cooks chose. I have followed their journeys with interest, and appreciated their comments.Many thanks to the team who organised it.

The Sweet and Sour Aubergines came from Food for Family and Friends. I served it at a barbecue where it sat quite comfortably next to some tabouli, large pesto and mascarpone filled pasta shells with  home -made tomato sauce and a mesclun, avocado and cucumber salad. I hadn't previously thought of marrying an Indian recipe with Meditteranean ones but the sweet and sour flavours, and cumin resonated well with them.

It was a little too sweet for me, so next time I would add a little more lemon juice or halve the sugar. It also looked a little dry when I lifted the tin foil ( I had added the lesser amount of olive oil)   so I sprinkled on a little more olive oil and scattered some chopped coriander on top.

Since discovering Hot Samoan Boys chilli sauce I don't bother to buy cayenne pepper. It comes in a sizeable bottle , lasts or ages and I often use it to add a bit of heat to my recipes. In this case a few drops were enough.

It wasn't my favourite Madhur Jaffrey out of all the ones I have cooked for I Heart, but it's a useful one. The tinfoil kept it from burning so I could leave it to look after itself while it was in the oven. And it was perfectly happy to be served warm, or at room temperature. I would be happy to cook it again.

 Here is her slightly amended recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/4 kg of aubergines
6-8 tablespoons of vegetable oil
Freshly ground black pepper and salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 teaspoon of roasted cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper/ a few drops of Hot Samoan Boys chili sauce
Some chopped fresh coriander.

Method

Brush aubergine slices with oil. Fry in a non  stick frypan in a single layer till golden brown on  both sides
Preheat the oven to 180C
Mix together the lemon juice, sugar, cumin, black pepper and a few drops of
Hot Samoan Boys Chilli sauce or cayenne pepper.
Arrange the aubergine slices in  slightly overlapping rows in a dish.
Dribble a third of the lemon juice mixture over the top. Repeat this twice, giving three layers in all, each time coating with the lemon mixture.
Cover the baking dish with foil and then bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Uncover and sprinkle with freshly chopped coriander leaves just before serving.
 

Gastrogeek

One of Britain’s top food bloggers, Rejina Sabur-Cross, is the author of a new  cookbook called Gastrogeek. She is edgy, cheeky and a little rebellious. The layout of her cookbook is funky.The recipes are interspersed with comic style pages.

Rejina  is a born and bred Londoner who was brought up in a traditional Bengali Household and worked in Japan for two years. Back in London now she is constantly exposed to many different cultural culinary influences. She combines traditional British and Asian ingredients and cooking styles in very inventive and sometimes unusual ways.

Such an experimental approach can easily turn into a series of culinary disasters but her recipes work. She knows how to cook. Although still young she has already built a reputation as a food writer and has contributed to The Guardian, The Independent and BBC Good Food.

Each chapter in Gastrogeek is written to meet a different kind of challenge or occasion such as aiming to wow, being hard up and hungry, dining meatless, or  having the boss to dinner.  

I decided to try some of the easier recipes to see if her food would be to my taste.

·        Gouda and cumin cheese gougeres are described by Rejina as “ethereal explosions of glory”. These light and savoury little balls were as easy to make as to eat. The cumin seeds added a spicy lift. Great to pass around with drinks before dinner.

·        Superfast Kimchee Pickled Melon. Kimchee (fermented Chinese cabbage) is one of Korea’s iconic dishes which takes considerable time to mature. Rejina has fast tracked the recipe by substituting either cantaloupe or honeydew melon. It still has that sweet-savoury flavour but as she says it “by-passes some of the more sulphuric notes of the brassica version.”

     It can be enjoyed as an accompaniment to Jasmine rice and a bowl of mixed vegetable miso soup. Or slipped into a cheeseburger for an exciting twist.

I liked this recipe, and actually preferred it to traditional kimchee as it was sweeter and not so pungent. The fact that it didn’t need any time to mature also appealed.

·         Roasted aubergine macaroni cheese is her twist on a familiar comfort food. She writes:

“Adding smoked aubergine to the sauce really infuses this with a porcine top note, minus any actual pig”

I thought it was nice for a change but I wasn’t completely bowled over by it. She’d probably think I’m a stick- in- the- mud but it’s hard to improve on the classic kiwi version made with cheddar cheese.

·         Cardamom chocolate sauce was divine, a mixture of milk and dark chocolate dissolved in coconut milk and flavoured with cardamom  husks. She serves it with home-made deep fried churros but I simply poured it over vanilla ice-cream.

There are quite a few other recipes in Gastrogeek that really appeal such as the Nectarine and Tomato Gazpacho. This would be quick to make but does have to be chilled well in advance. Her toffee and apple crumble ice-cream, a wickedly sweet combination of toffee sauce, apple ice cream and a hot crunchy crumble topping sounds really scrumptious.

Gastrogeek does not always deliver on the promise it makes on the front cover. It says it will show you what to cook when “You’re in a hurry, hungry or hard up”

Quite a few of the recipes have a more than twenty ingredients and would be quite time consuming to make.

And by no means are all of them are cheap. For instance her super deluxe triple cooked chips are deep fried in coconut oil and seasoned with rosemary and smoked salt. They are served with duck eggs fried in truffle oil and a glass of champagne.  Hardly the kind of food some-one on a small budget would rustle up.

Rejina’s slightly outrageous enthusiasm makes Gastrogeek a very enjoyable read. And there is some really exciting and clever food in it that will challenge cooks to be brave, to try something completely different and to have fun while doing it.

Gastrogeek  by Rejina Sabur-Cross is published by Kyle (RRP $45.00)

This review first appeared on  The Breeze ( Auckland Radio Station ) website in March 2013

 

 

 

Apricot, Raisin, Ginger and Cardamom Loaf

Here's an old fashioned fruit loaf made with a mixture of apricots, raisins, crystalised ginger and orange rind. I've added a little cardamom to add a spicy note. Serve buttered slices of this loaf with a coffee.We like fruit loaves and they are good keepers.

If the apricots are moist and ready to eat when they come out of the packet I don't bother to soak them.But if they feel dry and leathery I'd pour some boiling water over them, leave them to soak for a couple of hours and then drain them well.

I use ready to eat apricots and put them in my mini chopper with the raisins and ginger. Then it's just a matter of whizzing but stopping when they are in small pieces. You don't want to turn them into a mush.

To save on cleaning up a sticky chopper bowl and blade  and not wasting electricity it would be good to do it by hand. Think of it as an exercise in mindfulness while perfecting your knife skills.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of chopped apricots
1/2 cup of raisins
1/4 cup of crystalised ginger
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
4 oz ( 125 gm) of melted butter
the grated rind of 1/2 an orange
A few cardamom seeds

Method:

Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and soda into a bowl.
Add the dried fruits, chopped ginger. and sugar
Use a pestle and mortar to pound the cardamom seeds to a powder and add.
Next add the beaten egg, milk and orange rind
Melt the butter and stir this in also

Put the mixture into a lightly greased loaf tin/ a small cake tin lined with baking paper.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour in a moderate oven.

Allow to cool down in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out.






 

My Favourite Ginger Crunch



If our national census which takes place next week included a question about the nation's favourite biscuits,  ginger crunch would be right up there with shortbread and chocolate chip cookies.

My best ginger crunch recipe was inspired by a sixties community cookbook : The Selwyn District Girl Guides 300 favourite recipes and was shared by a Mrs Hornblow.

The previous recipe in this book is a fudge cake from Mrs Mudoon ( could it be the Mrs Muldoon, ex Prime Minister's wife ?)

In recent years the icing has got thicker and thicker. In some cafes they make it thicker than the base.This can make ginger crunch overly sweet. In her recipe it was a mere glaze. I doubled the icing and crumbled some crystalised ginger on top. Nick loved it, and as my son is a man of perfect taste it must be good!
If you do like a fat layer oficing double the recipe.

Ingredients:

4 oz of butter ( 125 gram) softened
1 teaspoon of baking powder
7 oz of flour ( 1 1/2 cups)
4 oz of sugar ( 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon of ground ginger

Cream butter and sugar and add the dry ingredients. Knead well and press into a shallow greased tin ( a 20-30 cm sponge roll tin)
Bake 20-25 min at 375 degree C

Icing: Put into a saucepan

4 tablespoons of butter
8 tablespoons of icing sugar
4 teaspoons of Golden Syrup
2 level teaspoon of ground ginger

Heat until melted. Then pour over the base while still hot and cut into squares.
Sprinkle some crystalised ginger over the top

Tabouleh Salad

 

I used to make tabouleh salad in my student days many moons ago because it was cheap, cheerful and healthy.This week I made it again to use up a whole bunch of parsley from our veggie plot. I'd forgotten just how good it tasted.

For this recipe you need finely ground bulgur wheat.I found some organic finely ground burgul wheat at IE Produce and it was perfect for this.

This salad makes a very large quantity. It keeps well in the fridge for a few days so if you are serving it as part of a barbecue it can be made well beforehand.

It's a flexible recipe . This is a good starting point but add more or less of any of the ingredients to your taste. If I add some chopped cucumber I add it shortly before serving so it doesn't make the salad watery.

The Hot Samoan Boys Chilli Sauce is optional but it adds a nice little kick.

Ingredients:

2 cups of fine bulgur wheat
2 cups of boiling water
3 spring onions
1 red onion ( finely chopped)
2 cups of finely chopped parsley ( stems removed)
1/4 cup of finely chopped mint leaves
10-12 vine ripened tomatoes
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/3 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper
A few drops of Hot Samoan Boys Chilli Sauce


Method:

• In a large heatproof bowl pour the boiling water over the bulgur. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes until the water is absorbed.
•  Fluff it up with a fork.
• When it has cooled add the parsley, mint, onion and spring onion.
• Cut the tomatoes in half. Squeeeze each one over a bowl to remove the seeds, then chop.
• Stir the tomatoes into the tabouleh.
• Add a few drops of Hot Samoan Boys chili sauce for a little extra kick if you like,
• It can be eaten straight away or kept in the fridge for several days.

 

Gluten Free Hummingbird Cake

Here is a recipe for Hummingbird cake, a family favourite flavoured with banana, pineapple and coconut. It is loved by both those who are gluten free as well as those who are not. This makes it very convenient.As oil is used in this cake rather than butter it’s also quick to mix.

I used to buy gluten free baking powder from a health food shop which was expensive. But I have recently discovered that Hansell’s baking powder is labelled gluten and aluminium free and this is cheaper.

It was adapted from an Australian Women's Weekly recipe.

Ingredients:

450 grams crushed pineapple in syrup

1 1/2 cups of gluten free baking mix (I used Bakel's)

1 teaspoon of gluten free baking powder (I used Hansell's)

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ground ginger

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of desiccated coconut

1 cup of mashed bananas

2 eggs

3/4 cup of vegetable oil

Method:

·         Preheat the oven to 180C.

·         Drain the pineapple into a bowl through a sieve. Press with the back of a spoon to extract as much of the syrup as possible. Save 1/4 cup of the juice.

·         Sift the flour, baking powder, spices, and sugar into a large bowl.

·         In a second bowl beat the eggs with a fork, Add the mashed bananas, crushed pineapple, vegetable oil, coconut and the reserved pineapple syrup and stir to mix.

·         Combine the wet mixture with the dry ingredients in the bowl.

·         Pour into a 23 cm round tin which has been lightly greased and lined with baking paper.

·         Bake for 40 minutes at 180C. Let the cake cool down in the tin for ten minutes before turning out onto a cake rack to cool.

I don't always ice it because the cake itself is quite sweet but for the sweet toothed it can be iced with a cream cheese icing made with 30 grams of softened butter, 60 grams of cream cheese, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar.

Beat the first three ingredients together until they are light and fluffy and then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Sprinkle the cake with chopped toasted walnuts or pecans.

 

 

Make your own Basil Oil

When there is a glut of basil in our garden I ususally make pesto but last night I made some basil oil  for a change. It's very easy and you can use it in lots of different recipes.

For a roughly textured oil you can leave the little bits of basil floating in it after you have whizzed it. But I like the the smooth grassy green oil that you get if you press it with the back of a spoon through a sieve.

I happened to have some mutton cloth so I let it drip through that and then twisted and squeezed it till all the oil had escaped into a bowl. This also worked really well.

Basil oil could be used in a vinaigrette, mixed through pasta , or drizzled on tomato and mozarella bruschetta. I tossed mine through a potato, green bean, egg, and rocket salad  and added a squeeze of lemon juice, some crushed garlic and plenty of freshly ground salt and pepper.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 cups  of freshly picked basil leaves.
1 cup of mild olive oil
salt to tast

Method:

Blanch the leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds.
Tip into a sink of cold water
Lift out with a slotted spoon onto a kitchen towel.
Squeeze the water out. (do this very thoroughly )
Whizz until the basil is very finely chopped ( I did this in bursts)
Use as is, or for a smooth oil pour it into a bowl through a sieve, pressing with the back of a spoon to extract as much oil as possible.
Add salt to taste

It can be used immediately or stored in the fridge for a few days.





 

Hanna's Dutch Speculaas Cookies

These Dutch speculaas cookies are so good, crunchy and redolent with spices.

I was leafing through my file of recipes that friends and family have shared over the years when I found my sister Hanna's recipe for them. I'm sure she won't mind if I post it.

I've put the approximate metric equivalents in brackets alongside and noted some small changes which I made to the recipe as it was first written.

Ingredients:

7 oz ( 200 gm) of self raising flour
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons of speculaas spices ( e.g. 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves)
3.5 oz  ( 70 gm) of flaked almonds
4 oz ( 100 gm) of of castor sugar
4 oz ( 100 gm) of chilled butter 
2-3 tablespoons of milk

Method:

Sieve the flour, salt, spices and sugar into a bowl.
Add hard butter and mix and cut this in with a knife.
Add the sliced almonds.
Add the milk gradually and knead it into a firm but elastic mixture. Form it into a roll.
Wrap it up in tinfoil and leave overnight in the fridge to allow the spicy flavours to mingle. (although  if you are in a hurry you can just put it in the fridge for 1/2 hour)
Cut into 1/4 " slices. Put on an oven tray, leaving room to spread. Bake at 350C.

My notes:

To come together the dough needed an extra tablespoon of milk when I made them.
I used half brown sugar and half castor.
I just cubed the butter straight out of the fridge and put it with all the other ingredients ( except the almonds) into the bowl of a food processor. Then I whizzed until it became like very fine breadcrumbs and started to clump (not klomp!) together.
I poured this mixture into a bowl , added the almonds and kneaded it all together for a while till it made a dough.

I  put it in the freezer for 1/2 hour and then cut it into thin slices with a sharp serrated knife.
The cookies were baked on an oven tray lined with baking paper.
I baked them at 350C for about 20 minutes until the cookies had very slightly browned.
You can store the dough in the freezer

If you don't feel like making your own speculaas spices you can buy them from a Dutch shop, or use the Equagold brand which can be ordered online.I used Equagold.

Spicy Indian Sweet Corn

Sweet Corn is so cheap right now, 3-4 cobs for $2.00 so this was the perfect time of year to try this colourful recipe by Madjur Jaffrey. I did make a few changes. I used less corn (only 2 large cobs) and substituted seeded red chilis to reduce the heat and for their vibrant colour. At the end I felt it still needed just a little more oomph so I stirred in a little Garam Masala.

I used black mustard seeds. If you don't find tiny dark spots fetching then yellow mustard seeds would make for a better look.

My friend Gill gave me a little bay leaf tree to plant quite a few years ago and I love going into the garden and picking leaves as I need them. I used only one in this recipe and think that was enough.

Here is the original recipe

Madhur Jaffrey’s
Corn With Aromatic Seasonings

An easy, perfumed, stir-fried corn dish that can be made with fresh or frozen corn.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive or canola oil
1 teaspoon whole brown or yellow mustard seeds
4 cardamom pods
4 whole cloves
One 1-inch cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1 to 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh hot green chiles (do not discard seeds)
4 cups corn cut fresh off the cobs, or two 10-ounce packets of frozen corn, defrosted and drained
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cream

Method:

1. Pour the oil into a frying pan and set over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, combine the mustard seeds, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves in a small cup.
3. When the oil is hot, put in all the whole spices. As soon as the mustard seeds pop, a matter of seconds, add the ginger and green chiles. Stir once or twice, and then add in the corn. Stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Add the salt and cream. Continue to stir and cook for another minute. Turn heat to low and cook 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, until all the cream is absorbed. You can pick out and discard the cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves if you are serving those unaccustomed to large whole spices in their foods.

Yield: Serves 4 to 6.

I found this recipe at
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/an-indian-spiced-thanksgiving/
Here also are all the makings for a great Indian vegetarian feast!

This recipe wass created for the I Heart Madhur Jaffrey cooking challenge. Take a look at what other cooks have submitted over the weeks. There's some great recipes.

http://iheartcookingclubs.blogspot.co.nz/


 

Pears Poached in a Saffron Syrup

 

These pears were scented with cardamom seeds and saffron and poached gently in a sugary syrup. I used a Madhur Jaffrey recipe ( in her Cookbook : Food for Family and Friends) who first made them with the purest saffron from Kashmir.

As she put it:
"They turn a rich golden colour and are suffused with the heady aromas of both saffron and cardamom, amongt the most prized spices in the world."

It's not an Indian recipe really, although it uses Indian spices. I wonder if she was inspired by a traditional European recipe of pears poached in red wine.

Halfway through the cooking I realised that my cardamom pods were not releasing sufficient flavour.  I bought them from our local Indian supermarket a long time ago when they had a strong aroma. I remember their smell as I ladled them into a bag. But it had faded.  I threw in a few more pods.

The pinch of Masterfoods saffron threads stored in a tiny box did not colour the pears as much as I had hoped. But once the syrup had been reduced it had turned a warm caramel colour.

It was a nice dessert but the flavour was not as intense as I had hoped it would be. Next time I make it I'll be sure to stock up on some fresher cardamom pods.

And I would be tempted to serve it with some whipped cream sprinkled with finely chopped pistachio nuts.

Ingredients

1 cup of sugar
2 cups of water
6 whole cardamom pods
1/4 teaspoon good quality saffron  (the kind that comes in little saffron coloured threads threads)
3 tablespoons of lemon juice.
4 firm pears

Method:
Combine the sugar , 2 cups of water, cardamom pods, saffron and lemon juice and cook gently until the sugar melts. Peel the pears, halve them and core them. Put them in the simmering syrup. Cover and cook gently for 25 minutes. Every now and then , turn them and spoon syrup over them.
Take them out carefully with a slotted spoon and arrange them in a serving dish.
Keep cooking the syrup until it has reduced to 1 cup. Pour this over the pears and cool.



The theme of this week's I Heart Cookign Blog was Out of India . For more inspiration take a look at what others have posted on:

http://iheartcookingclubs.blogspot.co.nz/

As I went back to read some of these recipes I noticed that Deb from Hawaii had already posted this recipe in Madjur Jaffrey's Sweet Endings Challenge. Sorry Deb, I didn't mean to double dip.