Kaadha - the sore throat soother

My parents used to make giant pot of this whenever one of us was sick, because they knew if one went down, the others would follow, and we would all be drinking it. It is a great soother of sore throats. I wouldn't call it a cure, but it definitely has some healing qualities. Some of the herbs you may never have heard of and frankly I had to look up the english definition of them. If you really want to make this you may have to venture to a spice store, or peruse Amazon.

Ingredients:
6 cups water
4 tsp mint leaves (dried or fresh)
4 tsp tulsi leaves (dried or fresh, this is basically holy basil, but don't use regular basil. You can buy these dried leaves on Amazon or Thrive Market)
1 tsp black peppercorn, crushed in mortar and pestle (m&p)
1 tsp cloves, crushed in m&p
2 tsp Jestimadh powder (Marathi), or Yashtimadhu (Sanskrit), or dried licorice root powder
3 tsp minced ginger
4 tsp coriander seeds, crushed in m&p
2 tsp sugar

Preparation:
Bring everything to a boil and let it simmer until it is about 2/3 or half the original volume.
Strain out the herbs for every cup you pour, but don't throw them away, you can keep adding water and boiling a couple more times. It will retain some potency.

Mutton Broth Soup

I have memories of my mom making this whenever the "winter" started to settle in (Bahrain's winter is basically 65 degrees Fahrenheit and cloudy/hazy/foggy), or if I had a cold or sore throat. It was the perfect combination of whole spices and the earthy flavor of mutton (ideally goat meat, but you can use lamb if you can't find any goat meat), cooked down so that all the meat is literally falling off the bones. The clear broth becomes rich in minerals and collagen from the bones, making it a great way to stave off the cold (weather or ailment).

Ingredients
1 lb mutton (goat or lamb, you can buy the pieces ready for stewing, just make sure they have BONES in them)
2 sticks cinnamon
1 tsp whole cloves
2 tsp whole black pepper
2 tbsp whole coriander seeds
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2-3 cups water (or enough to submerge the meat)
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
1 tbsp rough chop ginger
1 clove garlic
Salt to taste
Ghee to serve

Cook
My mom makes this in a pressure cooker, which is much faster than just in a pot which may take hours. You could also try the Instantpot, I'm sure that will yield good results too and will be faster than just boiling on the stove.

Put all the spices, ginger, garlic and turmeric in a pot and cover with water, bring to a boil.
Once boiling, add the meat pieces and make sure they are covered with water. Add salt.
Allow this to boil for about 20 mins without the lid of the pressure cooker.
Cover with lid and pressurize. Allow 4 whistles.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The whistles are essential in releasing pressure, so that the cooker doesn't explode. If your cooker is not releasing steam slowly, or whistling, then it is either faulty or you have not set it up correctly. Please check your manufacturer's instructions before using the pressure cooker, especially if you have never used one before.

Turn the heat off and let the pot cool before trying to open it.
Garnish with ghee and enjoy!

Ukrainian Borscht Fantasy

I don't have a Ukrainian grandma. And I don't really have many Eastern European friends, or at least none that will cook for me. But for some reason, I have come to the conclusion that I like borscht, and it is something I have to make every fall when the weather starts to cool down. And also when my CSA starts sending me the perfect combination of vegetables for this wonderful, umami-filled deliciousness. Many borscht recipes call for meat, but if you want to skip it, I don't think it's the end of the world, it is still a delicious recipe. This recipe is based on the combination of a few I have tried. I think it's pretty good. The real test will be when an Ukrainian tells me "This is the best borscht I have ever had!". HAH! That will be the day!

Ingredients
16 oz pork sausage, removed from casing and crumbled
3 medium beets, peeled and shredded
3 carrots, peeled and shredded
1 leek, white and green part, sliced
1 cup tomato sauce (you can use canned, or I like to use Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce recipe)
3/4 cup water or broth
1/2 medium head cabbage, shredded
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 bay leaf
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp oil
Dollop of sour cream per serving

Cook
Heat oil in large pot on medium heat.
Cook the sausage down until no longer pink and has release some juices.
Add bay leaf and leeks and cook until leeks are soft. Add tomato sauce, broth/water, and marjoram and stir until well combined.
Add the garlic, the remaining shredded vegetables (cabbage, carrots and beets), salt, sugar, and black pepper and simmer for 20 minutes on low heat or until vegetables are cooked through.
Stir in balsamic vinegar.
Turn off heat, ladle into bowls and dollop about a tbsp of sour cream in every bowl.
Enjoy!

Vegetable Jalfrezi

This is a typical North Indian dish, clearly not Marathi, but I love it. It's one of those dishes that really hits the spot on a cool fall evening, hitting all the wonderful sweet, sour, and umami notes. You can adjust the level of spice to your taste, as well as the combination of vegetables you have. I have made this with all root vegetables too and it tastes great!

INGREDIENTS:
2 tsp Panch Puran (This is a popular spice blend used in many North Indian and Bengali dishes, it is a combination of 5 spices - fenugreek seed, nigella seed, cumin seed, mustard seed and fennel seed. So if you can't find it in your grocery store, you can always buy it separately and combine equal amounts to make your own blend)
Pinch of hing (asafoteida)
2 tsp garam masala (separated)
2 tsp coriander pwd
2 tsp chili pwd (adjust for taste)
1 tsp turmeric pwd
1 tbsp dried methi leaves (optional)
1 tsp cumin pwd
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 head broccoli separated into florets, stems sliced into rounds until it becomes too tough to slice
1/2 butternut squash cut into 1" cubes
2 green peppers cut into 1" cubes
1 sweet potato cut into 1" cubes
1 yellow onion, sliced
2 cups tomato sauce (I like to use Marcella Hazan's tomato sauce recipe for almost all my cooking now, even non-Italian dishes. It is fail proof, and has so much depth in flavor - http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015178-marcella-hazans-tomato-sauce. Keep the onions in the sauce, her recipe calls to discard them, but in my opinion it tastes better keeping it in there)
3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
2-3 tsp sugar (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in pot on medium high heat and add panch puran.
Once seeds pop, add hing and let it brown a little.
Add sliced onions and stir fry until golden brown and softened.
And minced ginger and garlic and stir until fragrant.
Add turmeric, chili, coriander, cumin, 1 tsp garam masala, and dried methi leaves (if you are using them) and stir to combine with onion mixture.
Add tomato sauce and stir to combine, let it cook till oil separates and rises to the top.
Turn the heat down a little and add vegetables in order of time it takes to cook. In this case, we have butternut squash, sweet potato and broccoli stems which take longer to cook than the peppers and broccoli florets, so add them first. If you have other veggies, like carrots or green beans, adjust the order of veggies according to cooking time.
Add 2 tsp salt, put the lid on and let them cook for 15-20 minutes, checking every 7 minutes or so and stirring to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. If they start to stick to the bottom, add a few splashes of water They should be cooked but still firm.
Taste the sauce a little bit and see if you need to add another tsp of salt as you add more veggies. This way, the amount of salt stays proportional to the amount of veggies you add.
Then add the vegetables that cook fast, broccoli and green peppers, stir to combine, and cover with lid and cook for another 10 minutes. You don't want to broccoli to wilt but you want it to gain enough of the flavor of the spices.
Add sugar, garam masala and salt if needed.
Garnish with cilantro.
Enjoy!

Veggie Lentil Masala burgers

Another made up recipe which I think turned out fantastic! I based it on the Green Monster Veggie Burger from the blog veganheaven.org. Not a blog I follow much, but this veggie burger recipe caught my eye because of its beautiful green color, and also because I realized how much of my CSA stash could get used up in this throw-it-all-in-there approach. With a few tweaks and obviously the addition of copious amounts of spices, I was able to make this my own. I love running a test kitchen! Why don't I do this for a living?

Ingredients:
2 bunches kale (any kind of kale you want, there are so many varieties to choose from! I went with the most common curly kale), destemmed
1 head broccoli, separated into florets and use the stem also by slicing it into discs and going down to the bottom until it becomes too tough to slice
2 sticks celery, rough chop
1 cup split moong lentils with the skin (soak in 1 cup hot water for 1 hour with 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp cayenne pepper, 2 tsp coriander pwd)
3 medium red potatoes, peeled and large diced
1 yellow or red onion, diced
1 bunch scallions, white and green parts separated and sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup unsalted or raw almonds, rough chopped
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 large egg, beaten
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp coriander pwd
1 tbsp fennel pwd
2 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp biryani masala (if you don't have this on hand and are not planning on buying any, just use an extra tbsp of garam masala. Or if you feel like this might be too many spices for you, feel free to omit. I always err on the side of more spices because with burgers, the bun helps cut a lot of the spiciness. And you can also add a yogurt spread on the bun to cool your mouth down)
2 tbsp brown sugar
Salt to taste
4 cups of water
Oil to saute

Cook:
In a large, deep pot, boil the water on high heat.
Add potatoes and boil for 15 minutes or until done.
Remove cooked potatoes from water with a slotted spoon and place in a large bowl to cool.
Add kale, broccoli florets and stems, and celery to the same water and boil for 5 minutes.
Remove from water with a slotted spoon and place in same bowl as potatoes and let cool.
Add the lentils and the water they were soaking in, as well as the fresh ginger to the same pot of boiling water the vegetables were cooked in. Make sure the lentils are submerged, if not add more water.
Turn heat down to medium and place lid on the pot. Cook for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a separate pan on medium heat and add oil.
Once oil is heated, add onions, garlic and the white part of the scallions and saute.
Once brown and caramelized, add the almonds, turmeric, cayenne pepper, coriander pwd, fennel pwd, garam masala and 1 tsp salt.
Turn heat down to low and saute for 5 minutes until spices are fragrant, but be careful not to burn.
Add onion/spice mixture to same bowl as all the vegetables and combine.
Once the lentils are cooked, add the brown sugar, 2 tsp salt and turn up the heat to evaporate any excess water. A little water in the pot is fine as that will help when blending all the ingredients.
Turn off the heat and add all the other separately cooked vegetables to the pot.
Using your immersion blender, blend the vegetables and lentils together to form a thick mixture. The mixture will stiffen as it cools, so don't worry too much if it looks a little too loose to form burgers. However, if you still feel there is a little too much water, you can turn the heat back on and try to evaporate some of the water. But again, as the mixture cools, it definitely stiffens quite a bit.
It is very difficult to adjust any seasonings once you form the patties, so make sure you taste the mixture before doing so and add anything you think is necessary.
If you find the mixture is just too spicy for your taste, you can boil an additional potato or two and mash it into the mixture.
Put the mixture in the refrigerator to cool for a couple of hours or so.
Once cooled, add the beaten egg and combine well.
Roll out 2 inch diameter balls with your hands and slightly flatten to create patties.
You can either freeze these patties and defrost for when you want to make the burgers. They can keep in the freezer for a good 6 months or until they become frosty. I like to separate them with little pieces of foil or parchment paper so they don't stick to each other.
When you are ready to eat them, heat up a pan on medium heat and spray a little bit of oil.
Fry each pattie for 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until browned and a shell has formed.
Enjoy on a lightly toasted sesame bun with some sliced tomatoes, lettuce and onion, as well as some raita (yogurt with cucumber, cumin and salt)!

Curried Zucchini Scallion Pancakes

These pancakes are melt in your mouth delicious. I kind of made up the recipe after I got some huge zucchini in my CSA and instead of doing the usual zoodles or simple saute I decided to try something new. It is a combination of zucchini fritters and the doodhi (green gourd) recipe I have on this blog, but because of some additional ingredients, the batter becomes less fritter-like and more pancake-like. Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients
4 cups zucchini or 2 large zucchini, shredded
1 cup scallions, sliced
2/3 cup all purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
4 curry leaves, crushed (if they happened to dry up in the refrigerator, which is fine) or sliced (if they are still fresh and pliable)
1 green chili (either a habanero pepper, jalapeno pepper, or if you can find it, a thai green chili), minced
Pinch of asafoteida (hing)
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp shredded or desiccated coconut
3 tsp salt, divided
1 tbsp brown sugar/raw sugar/jaggery
2 tbsp oil to temper spices
Oil for frying

Preparation
Once you are done grating the zucchini, place it in a colander and sprinkle 2 tsp of salt over it and mix well. The water from the zucchini will start to drain out.
Let it sit over the sink or a bowl for 30 minutes.
Using your hands, squeeze out the excess water.
Put the zucchini in a bowl, and add the flour, scallions, eggs, garam masala, 1 tsp salt and sugar/jaggery and stir until combined well and forms a batter.

Cook
Heat the oil for tempering the spices over medium heat.
Add mustard seeds. Once they start to pop, add hing, curry leaves and green chili and saute for 1 minute or until curry leaves start to turn brown. You don't want them to burn, but you want the green chili to cook a little also to infuse the oil with the flavor and heat.
Remove pan from heat and add turmeric, stir so that turmeric doesn't burn.
Once it has stopped sizzling, add to the zucchini bowl and combine with other ingredients.
Heat oil for frying over medium heat (I used about a tsp of oil per pancake, but this is totally up to you. Obviously, the more oil you use, the crispier the pancake turns out, but I was okay with softer pancakes so I didn't use too much oil)
Add 1/3 cup of the batter to the pan and press down to spread batter over pan. Let it cook for 5 minutes, or until you see edges turn brown and the batter firm up in the middle.
Carefully flip the pancake and cook for another 5 minutes on the other side.
The timing really depends on how hot your stove runs, I had to turn the heat down after a couple of pancakes as they were getting pretty crispy but the center was staying mushy.
Enjoy hot off the stove, or reheat on a pan.
Tip: these taste great dipped in some yogurt sauce (yogurt, cumin, salt)

Biryani masala

Ingredients

3 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp carraway seeds

12 cloves

12 black peppercorn

3 cinamon sticks each 2" long

10 cardamom pods

1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

Preparation

Grind all spices in a spice or coffee grinder.

Store in a cool dark place, will last for a good 3 months. 

Use in everything from biryani to chicken curry to roasted veggies. 

YUM!

Chocolate Almond Larabars

I have been making my own homemade almond milk. I know, I'm crazy. But it tastes so good! And so much better than store bought! Now I'm totally addicted and basically make it at least once or twice a week (if I can contain myself and not drink it all in one go!) But this post is not about making almond milk, which if you want to do you should follow this simple and well photographed recipe: http://ohsheglows.com/2013/01/24/my-favourite-homemade-almond-milk-step-by-step-photos/ This post is about what to do with the mountains of leftover almond meal from making said almond milk. If you are not a crazy person like myself and don't have mountains of almond meal lying around, you can obviously just go buy some. OR you can even use whole almonds.

Ingredients:

2 cups packed almond meal (if using whole almonds, this is probably equivalent to about 3 cups of almonds which you can just pulse through a food processor and see how much you come up with. You can also mix it up with some cashews or pistachios)
2 cups pitted dates (you can use any variety of dates you like. Mejool dates are the most widely available in the US. But if you happen to find yourself in a middle eastern store that has different varieties of fresh dates then feel free to experiment. If you buy dried dates, you can simply reconstitute them by soaking them in water for a couple of hours before using them)
6 oz dark chocolate (bar or chips, as long as it's good quality)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp peanut or almond butter
1 tbsp honey (optional)

Preparation:

If you have a tiny food processor like I do, you may have to do this in batches.

Process the almond meal with all of the dark chocolate and set aside in a bowl.
Leave half the almond/chocolate mixture in the food processor and set the other half aside in a bowl.
Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1 cup dates and 1 tbsp peanut/almond butter to the food processor and process until all the ingredients are combined.
Transfer to a large bowl.
Process the remaining almond meal/chocolate with the remaining dates, salt, and peanut/almond butter.
Add this to the same large bowl.
Taste the mixture at this point and if you feel like it is sweet enough and has the consistency you desire, you can omit the next step. The consistency should be that of a firm dough.
Add the honey and combine with a fork or your fingers. The honey will loosen the mixture a little bit, as well add some sweetener.
Line a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper (this will make it easy to lift the bars out once they are firm).
Press the mixture into the bottom of the baking dish, packing it tightly and making it as flat and even as possible.
Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least a few hours.
Lift the mixture out of the dish and cut into desired size bars.
Wrap each bar in plastic wrap or in small Ziploc bags and store refrigerated to maintain firmness and freshness.

Preserved Meyer Lemons

I LOVE this recipe for preserved lemons. Once they are ready, you can use preserved lemons on almost anything and everything. The citrus flavor from these preserved lemons is a very concentrated flavor but without all the acidity. I don't know where all the acidity goes, I can't quite figure out the culinary science behind all that. All I know is that they are very versatile. I have roasted lamb with them, roasted salmon with them, put them on a salad, used the juices in salad dressings, used them in chimichurri, chopped them up and mixed them with tuna to make a delightfuly fresh and healthy tuna salad (minus the mayo). You can use them to make lemon bars, use the juices in cakes or pies... the list is endless. So get those creative juices flowing and find new ways to use them.
This makes a pretty large batch, so if this is your first time making them, you might want to halve it if you are unsure of it's uses. But I promise you once you find new ways of using them, you'll making them over and over again.

Ingredients:

4 Meyer lemons (you can obviously use other lemons if meyers are not available, but the flavor will definitely be very different. Meyers have a much sweeter citrus taste than other lemons, and they also usually have more juice)
2 tbsp sea salt
2 green or red chilies (I use the tiny Thai chilies but you can substitute these for serrano peppers or jalapenos if the Thai variety are not available)
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
2 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 tsp whole black peppercorn

Preparation:

Thoroughly scrub the lemons until any waxy residue is removed.
Cut the ends off the lemons and slice them crosswise into 1/4"  thick slices.
Put the lemons in a glass bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients.
Press down on the lemons to extract the juices.
Pack the lemons into a glass jar and push down so that they are covered with the juices (if you are not using Meyer lemons, you may need to add extra lemon juice to cover everything).
Cover the jar with plastic wrap and put a rubber band around the neck to hold the wrap in place. Do not use a sealed/air-tight lid as the lemons will release gases as they ferment which need to escape.
Leave the jar of lemons in a cool dark place. They will be ready to use in a week, but it is best to let them sit for at least 2 weeks, so that they are softer and the flavors are more balanced.
Once they achieve a flavor you are happy with, you can put them in the refrigerator to slow down the fermentation process.
ENJOY!

Green Curry with Shrimp

This recipe has been adapted from one I found on Epicurious.com. They use a couple of different vegetables and the proportions are slightly different. After making those tweaks, I thinkt he flavors were much bolder and the result was fantastic! ENJOY!

Ingredients:
2 baby bok choy, sliced in halves
1 carnival squash, peeled and cut into wedge shaped sections (like an orange)
*1lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 yellow onion, half diced, half sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
2 thai green chilies, finely minced (can substitute with jalapenos or habaneros; reduce number for less spicy)
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 can unsweetened light coconut milk, divided
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
10 fresh cilantro sprigs (leaves only)
4 kaffir lime leaves (these can be dry or fresh)
4 tsp Thai green curry paste (this can be found in any grocery store these days)
2 tbsp lemongrass, minced (this can be fresh or preserved)
2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1tbsp vegetable/canola oil

Preparation:
Roast the carnival squash wedges at 400 F for 20 mins, until they are partially cooked. Remove from oven and dice into large chunks.
Blend 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1/2 cup packed basil, cilantro, kaffir lime leaves in food processor until the herbs are finely chopped and they form a paste.

Cook:
Heat the oil in a large saucepan on medium-high heat.
Add the diced onions and green chilies and saute for 5 mins until the onions start becoming transparent.
Add green curry paste and ginger and garlic pastes and saute for 2 mins.
Add the herb and coconut paste that you just prepared, and the lemongrass and stir to combine for 1 minute.
Add the remaining coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar, baby bok choy, roasted carnival squash, shrimp, remaining sliced onions, and sliced red peppers.
Stir to combine all the ingredients and bring the sauce to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and cover.
Simmer for 20 minutes or until all vegetables and shrimp are cooked through.

Garnish with fresh cilantro and enjoy with rice or just on it's own as a soup.
DELISH!

*This recipe can very easily be made vegetarian. Simply eliminate the shrimp and either replace with more vegetables like brocoli or zucchini, or you can add tofu. As you can see in the picture, I added everything :)