Recipes For Cooking

While technically they are everyday pastries, I think kleinur deserve to be included in the Christmas fare. I have added a second recipe for those who do not have access to hartshorn powder.

In many homes in Iceland a large cooking pot lurks in a kitchen cupboard. Its sides are black with burnt-in fat, and a guest might be excused for thinking that their hosts simply forgot to throw it away. Occasionally, in some homes as often as once a week, this pot will be pulled out from its hiding place and put to good use for frying doughnuts in. It is not unusual for a doughnut-maker to make a double or even triple recipe in one session.

Twisted doughnuts are not a specifically Icelandic phenomenon, but neither are they as common in other countries. Making these delicacies is no small undertaking. It is time consuming and hard work, and therefore the batches are usually large to save time and effort.

This is not a good recipe if you have never deep-fried anything before, as the frying fat must to be very hot, and certain precautions must be taken to avoid accidents. They include not letting the hot oil get into contact with water, never leaving the frying pot or deep-fryer unattended, and, in case of accidents, having a fire-blanket and/or fire extinguisher at hand. An experienced doughnut maker can make this look as easy as A-B-C, but dont be fooled, and dont try this unless you are used to deep-frying and know the rules!

I am including 2 recipes, one with hartshorn and one without it, as hartshorn seems to be quite difficult to find outside Europe. Both recipes are mixed and handled in the same way.

Ready to fry dough and fried kleinur.

1st recipe:
500 g flour
40 g margarine/butter, soft
2 tsp bakers ammonia/hartshorn salt (ammonium carbonate)
2 medium eggs
1 tsp baking powder
150 ml milk, sour milk or buttermilk
150 g sugar
2 tsp essence of cardamom

2nd recipe:
1 kg flour
150 g butter
250 g sugar
3 eggs
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp powdered cardamom
a few drops of vanilla essence
250 ml buttermilk or cream

Mix together dry ingredients. Mix in the margarine/butter and then eggs and milk/cream, followed by the essence of cardamom or vanilla essence. Knead into a fairly soft dough. Avoid over-kneading, as this will make the doughnuts tough.

Making the twist.

Roll out the dough until fairly thin (2-3 millimeters thick), cut into strips (these should be anything from 5-10 centimeters wide, depending on weather you want small or big doughnuts) and then cut diagonally across the previous cuts to make diamond shapes. Cut a small slit in the centre of each diamond and gently pull one end through the slit, to make the twist in the doughnuts.

Heat the frying fat. It must be very hot, and will have reached the right temperature when a doughnut browns and cooks through in about 1-1 1/2 minutes.

Genuine Icelandic twisted doughnuts are fried in sheep tallow, which leaves a special taste, but this is now considered unhealthy because of all the saturated fat. Use instead about a litre of vegetable cooking fat that can be heated to a high temperature, for example canola or coconut oil. The doughnuts will not have that special tallowy taste, but neither will they clog up your arteries quite as much.

When they reach this colour, remove from fat.

Note:
Most deep-fryers can not get the oil hot enough for frying kleinur - but they are safer than using a pot on the stovetop. If you do use a fryer, heat the oil to the maximum temperature, and allow the oil a short time to heat up again after each round of doughnuts.

Interesting tidbit:
I found an American recipe for twisted doughnuts in The Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker (New York, N.Y., Harper & Row, 1989). The recipe is taken from an old American cookbook, and although the twisting method is quite different, the recipes themselves are clearly related.

Green moong / mung beans are natures best offering for vegetarians. High in protein and yet easily digestible with the bonus of extra fiber makes this a super food. Some people find the soaking routine a deterrent. Where is time to plan ahead of time, most of the time! As much as I love these wonder beans, I invariably forget to soak them or sprout them. But with a recipe like this on hand, I can have mung as many times in a week as I like. Besides, Ayurveda considers Mung beans as one of the very few foods which balances all three doshas. More on Mung beans and Ayurveda here.

This is a very versatile dish that pairs superbly with rotis / puris / bread or rice. A bowl of yogurt comes handy to cool of the spicy overtones.



Instant Green Moong / Mung Beans
Time taken - Under 30 minutes
Category - Side, Rice / Roti accompaniment, Vegetarian protein, Ayurvedic food
Recipe source - Own
Makes 2 large portions, use 1 cup dry beans to make 4 generous portions

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special equipment
A pressure cooker is an absolute must for this recipe

ingredients
1/2 cup dry green mung /moong beans
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of asafoetida (optional)
1-2 green chillies, chopped fine
1/2 inch piece ginger, pounded or chopped fine
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large juicy tomato, finely chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp subzi powder (I use Everest brand, use any curry powder or cumin-coriander powder)
1 tsp salt or to taste
Slices of lime and chopped coriander leaves for garnish

directions

Place the mung beans in a pressure cooker, smaller the cooker, the better. Wash them thoroughly after checking for stones. Add two cups water to mung, close cooker, fit the whistle and keep the flame on medium-high.

After one whistle, reduce flame to minimum until 3-4 more whistles are let out. Remove cooker from flame and let cool.

While the beans are cooking, you can prepare the masala. In a kadai / wok, heat the oil. Splutter the cumin and mustard seeds, add a pinch of asafoetida with the flame on medium. Add the ginger, chillies, onions with a pinch of salt, saute for 5 minutes or so, until the onions are soft.

At this point, add the tomatoes with the spices (turmeric, garam masala, subzi masala) with the remaining salt. Stir it well for 3-4 minutes until the masala comes together as a rough paste.

Once the cooker has cooled off, release the pressure and open the lid. The mung beans must have cooked to a soft consistency and not entirely mushy. (If they are not cooked enough, then keep them back with some water for one more whistle on a medium flame) Empty the cooked mung beans into the masala. If very thick, add 1/2 cup water and boil the mung for 2 minutes along with the masalas.

Adjust salt as per taste and remove from flame. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice, rotis or bread, along with slices of lime and a bowl of yogurt.

Most ingredients for this recipe can be found in your pantry, so this recipe is good for a day when there are no veggies at hand.
Since mung is such a healthy food ingredient, would love to hear from you about your favourite recipe using moong. I could do with more ideas for this green wonder!

Other fun reads
Inside the Indian household - Coriander at Daily Tiffin
The Food Times of India | Volume 1:April 2007 at Dining Hall

Tags: mung beans, moong beans, green moong, no prep mung, instant mung, pressure cooking, Indian mung recipe, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

Custard pie is one of those things that seems to have fallen out of fashion. Its more subtle than flashy, I guess, with the contrast of the smooth custard and crumbly crust, delicately flavoured with a little vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon; definitely not in the death-by-chocolate catagory. On the other hand,  thats what I like about it. Best served with a good cup of tea.

The technique for making the pastry is quite unorthodox. The result is not a typical flaky crust, but one with a delicate shortbread-like texture. I found it a bit difficult to roll thin enough; the crust wanted to break up as I transferred it to the pan. On the other hand, it was very easy to press it back together again, and I dont think overhandling is as big a problem as it is with regular pastry. I adapted the technique from a recipe by Jane Grigson.

6 to 8 servings
1 hour 30 minutes - 30 minutes prep time


Make the Crust:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups soft unbleached (pastry) flour

Preheat the oven to 400°F

Melt the butter with the sugar and salt, over very low heat (or in the microwave). Mix in the flour, until it no longer shows any white, and a crumbly dough is formed.

Roll it out on a piece of parchment paper to fit a 9" pie plate, and transfer it to the pie plate. Be sure to roll it out as thinly as you can.

The dough is rather crumbly, so will likely need a bit of patching to go back together. Press it around the top to form a neat edge, and press any cracks sealed again. Prick it all over with a fork. 

Bake the crust for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Make the Filling & Bake the Pie:
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons soft unbleached (pastry) flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon finely grated nutmeg
2 cups rich milk or light cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium mixing bowl, mix the sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg until very well blended.

Put the milk and butter into a small pot or microwave-proof bowl, and heat slowly and gently until the milk is steaming but not bubbling, and the butter is melted.

Whisk the eggs into the flour mixture, one at a time, until smoothly blended. Begin whisking in the milk, a few tablespoons at a time, until the mixture is smoothly liquid. Whisk in the remaining milk.

Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust. Put it into a shallow pan of water, and place both in the oven. Heat the oven to 350°F. Bake the pie for 50 to 55 minutes, until it will juggle slightly in the middle, but is set.

The pie should cool thoroughly and finish setting for at least several hours to overnight before serving.





Last year at this time I made Mashed Rutabaga & Celeriac.

It was in March 2006 that I gingerly typed out the first few words of this food blog. I had no clue what this would turn into. I wasnt even aware that what I was doing would be called foodblogging - though it does seem to be the obvious term for it now.

This is a short, but hopefully useful demo for how to remove all those pomegranate kernels without a big mess. These are great on fall/winter salads, soups, and desserts.

Heres one way to prepare my favourite fish.

1 1/2 kg. Halibut, whole (or turbot, sole or other flat fish if you cant get halibut)
4 tbs flour
2 tsp salt
1/3 tsp ground pepper
150 g oil, butter or margarine
100 g onion

Take one small, whole halibut. Cut off the head, tail and fins. Scrape off the slime and loose scales under cold, running water. Cut the fish into slices, about as thick as your thumb is wide. Mix together flour, salt and pepper. Coat the slices with flour mixture and fry in the hot fat until done (3-4 minutes on each side). Remove from the pan and arrange the steaks on a serving dish. Slice the onions and brown in the fat, remove and put on top of the fish. Pour some water on the frying pan, roll it around and pour over the fish. Serve with cooked potatoes, green salad and lemon wedges.
-Try grilling the fish steaks: cut into large cubes and thread onto skewers with onion pieces, fresh mushrooms and pieces of red bell pepper (capsicum).

Hello! The line "Im finally back after a long break" seems to be my opening line for every post in the last few months. A new kitchen, a big oven, nurturing my own little vegetable patch and still I am looking for the inspiration to be blogging regularly.

Carrabbas Sausage and Lentil Soup
Copycat Recipe

Serves 6-8

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 celery stalks, sliced
6 ounces smoked sausage (such as kielbasa), coarsely chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
4 cups water
2 cups green lentils
1 strip (3 inches long) orange rind
1 teaspoon crumbled dried marjoram
1 teaspoon crumbled dried savory
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
salt and pepper, to taste

In large heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; add onion and cook for5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add celery and sausage; cook for 5 minutes, Stirring occasionally. Add stock, water, lentils, orange rind, marjoram and savory; bring to boil Reduce heat, cover partially and simmer for 30 minutes. Add carrots and potatoes; cover partially and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 35 minutes Or until lentils are tender. Discard orange rind. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Its vacation time at the play group, which means the little boy, when not up to any nefarious activities, is hanging around the kitchen, making puppy eyes at me, saying "Mummy, I want something to eat", which is not entirely a bad thing. He likes to eat most (if not all) the stuff I make, showers me with compliments for my cooking skills and helps rearrange the drawer that holds all the ladles and spoons to a fine mess.

I try to keep homemade stuff like muffins, healthy banana-oatmeal based cookies, cheese squares, cubed watermelon and cucumber and some of his favourite things around for the mummy-i- am-hungry times. Before you jump to the conclusion that I only give homemade-healthy stuff to my son, let me confess that I also give him store bought treats like Nilgiris tiny drop cookies, lemonade, chocolates and chikki. Everything in moderation.

So, dear reader, tell me what you are doing with your kids in the vacation. What treats? What games? What activities? It would be lovely to hear from you.

Coming to these savoury muffins, they are perfect little bites of wholesome goodness. Flaxseed meal, sun dried tomatoes, cheese and black olives make these utterly healthy and full of fibre and protein.


My son has been crazy over olives, ever since he started eating solid foods. I think, thats one of the genetic traits passed on from his dad, who can go through a bottle of olives in a couple of days. With an olive-loving family like this, I looked up a few savoury muffin recipes in the Muffin Bible with olives in them. Adapted a couple of recipes to come up with this healthier option.

If you follow Saffron Trail on Facebook, you might have seen my notes on making sun-dried cherry tomatoes to put the 40 C Bangalore summer to good use. 4 days and you have the most beautiful salty, tangy, sweet, crispy bits of tomatoes that have captured the sun and boosted their flavour ten-fold. I used a handful of these home dried tomatoes here.



Recipe for Savoury muffins with Sun dried tomatoes, cheese and olives
Time taken - under 20 minutes
Makes 12 small muffins or 9 medium sized muffins

Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
150 grams of cheddar cheese or 3 Amul cheese cubes, grated
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3rd cup of sun dried tomatoes
10 black olives, chopped
10-12 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (or any other fresh herbs like basil or thyme)

1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano


2 tbsp flaxseed meal
1/4 cup hot water
2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp salted butter + pinch of crushed dried basil

Directions:

Preheat the oven at 200C [Start oven, take temp dial to 200 and time dial to 10 minutes. At the end of 10 minutes, the oven is preheated. You will have to then set the timer as per the baking time, which is around 10 minutes here]

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners or use individual silicone cupcake moulds, that will fit in a smaller oven.

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl with a fork.

In a measuring jug or another bowl, whisk the flaxseed meal with hot water and olive oil till frothy. Add enough water to this to make a total of one cup (which is why doing this is a measuring jug is easier).
Add this to the dry ingredients and stir gently with a fork to bring ingredients together. Too much beating or vigourous mixing will result in hard muffins.
[You can use egg instead of the above flaxseed-hot water. Beat 1 egg, add oil and add enough water at room temperature to make one cup and proceed with the recipe]

Using a spoon, evenly distribute batter between 9 or 12 muffins cups.
Bake for 10-12 minutes at 200C until a skewer comes out clean.

Melt the butter in a small microwave safe bowl for 20 seconds. Add the basil to it. Brush this on the muffin tops once they are out of the oven. Not only does this add a buttery flavour but also helps them keep moist. This is a neat trick to add that buttery taste without using any butter in the baking.

Notes:
You could even bake these in a mini muffin tray to yield 20-24 bite sized muffins for a tea party.
Feel free to change the favours - use thick pizza sauce, more fresh herbs and mozzarella cheese to make Pizza flavoured muffins. Grated carrot, pepper and cheddar is a lovely combination as well. Meat eaters can add crisped bacon bits to the batter. The options are quite endless.
Not just for kids, these muffins that are ready in a jiffy are the perfect accompaniment to a soup for a light meal, even for adults. You could make them spicier with chopped pickled jalapeños, or chopped greeen chillies and ground black pepper. Make a couple of batches and freeze / refrigerate them for breakfast on the go, for a weekday

Shopping Guide:
Ready ground flaxseed is available in most stores in Bangalore. I buy mine from Nilgiris or Town Essentials - and refrigerate it as it can go rancid quickly.

This is the first year I expect to pick any of it. I planted it last year, and thought it had better get established before I started picking, although it grew quickly and well. Im not sure whether I have French or Garden sorrel since I grew mine from a packet a friend gave me - which was labelled in Russian! They are two quite similar species, rumex scutatus (French sorrel)  and rumex acetosa. French sorrel may be little the more tender and mild of the two, but they can be used interchangeably.

While sorrel is easily found as seed or young plants for the garden, it seems strangely absent from groceries and markets. I hope it can be found in some farmers markets, but at any rate anyone with even a small garden not necessarily dedicated to growing vegetables can grow sorrel. It has a lot of relatives, many of which are highly successful weeds (rumex acetosella, grrrrrrr!) and it retains a weed-like robustness and tolerance for different soils that makes it an easy plant to grow. However, unlike its more weedy relatives, it doesnt spread by runners but stays in a nice clump. I would recommend removing the flowering tops before they go to seed though, or it will be everywhere. Its also a relative of spinach, rhubarb and buckwheat. The leaves are rather spinach-like, with a tart lemony flavour reminscent of rhubarb, although not that sour.

Tender young leaves can be added to salads, made into sauces for eggs, fish, or chicken, put in soups and used to liven up the last of the previous years potatoes.

Its generally regarded as best in the spring, because the leaves are most tender and mild when grown in cool, moist weather. However, fresh young leaves could be used throughout the summer if you really wanted to. Perhaps a better plan is to give them a rest during the hot days of summer, then start picking again in the fall when things cool off.

If you dont have an herb or perennial vegetable bed in which to plant sorrel, it could go into a perennial flower bed quite easily. The leaves are a mid-green arrow shape, a bit coarse but not unattractive, and a small patch would make a good neutral background to more showy plants. A spot a foot around would be sufficient, although if you like it you will want more than that. Along with Welsh onions or walking onions**, sorrel is an exciting find in early spring when we are longing for fresh green things from the garden and worth finding space for, in even a very small garden.




* I wrote this a couple of days before I wandered out with my camera, planning to photograph the patch (which I did. See: photo) and pick some (which I didnt. See: photo). It was the first thing picked, all right. The deer picked it. Those bastards. I thought they werent getting in any more. I thought we had an agreement: they wouldnt eat my veggies, and I wouldnt eat them. So much for that. 


** Seen in the photo next to the sorrel. Apparently the deer dont care for them. Hu-bloody-rray.

Stupidly fast and simple, but very nice with those delish snap peas! Put some rice on to cook just before you start this to give it a bed to rest on once it is ready. (Or start it 20 minutes before you start this if it is brown rice.)

2 servings
30 minutes prep time



4 cups snap peas
2 onions, greens and bulbs
1 tablespoon mild vegetable oil
250 grams (1/2 pound) ground beef
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1/4 cup water

Wash and trim the snap peas. Cut the greens off the onions, and chop the greens. Set them aside. Peel and chop the onions, and set them aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and ground beef and cook until browned, stirring constantly and breaking up the ground beef into fairly small pieces. Add the hoisin sauce and water. Add the peas and continue cooking and stirring, until the water is absorbed and the peas are bright green and crisp. Add the onion greens and stir them in until they are well wilted. Thats it; there you go.




Last year at this time I made Vegetable Fried Rice. Hey! Make extra rice and have that tomorrow. Thats what I did!

Featured in the photograph:  One Red and one White  Wild Alaska King Salmon fillet...

Serving: (2 to 4)
Prep: 5 Mins. |
Pan-Sear: 13 to 15 Mins.

Posted by Sandra

INGREDIENTS

***Remoulade Sauce:
1/3 cup ketchup (Max only uses Heinz)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Ground pepper, to taste
½ teaspoon freshly lemon juice

***Salmon Fillets:
4 (8 oz.) boned, skin-on king salmon fillets, 1-1/2” thick (red and/or white)
olive oil
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
sea salt and ground pepper, to taste
--1/2 fresh lemon, cut into 4 wedges for serving

***Max’s Dinner included:
--2 cups of steamed rice, prepared according to package directions
--Ginger/soy sauce (Max’s favorite is the House of Tsang)
--2 ripe roma tomatoes, sliced
--Fresh sprigs of parsley for garnish

METHOD

Make ahead: First, the steamed rice. Also, separately prepare the remoulade sauce by whisking all ingredients in a small decorative bowl, and place in refrigerator for flavors to meld.

Meanwhile, when the steamed rice is about halfway done, heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Brush the entire flesh side of salmon fillets with olive oil, and equally season them with garlic powder, sea salt; plus, rather generously with ground pepper. Place the salmon fillets into hot skillet presentation side down (flesh side), and sear, uncovered, for about 4 to 5 minutes without disturbing, until golden brown. Reduce heat to low, turn salmon fillets over so they are skin-side down, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, just until fillets are cooked through and flake easily with a fork.

To serve, place a salmon fillet on each of the four serving plates, and squeeze a wedge of fresh lemon over each of them. Place a mound of steamed rice on each plate, along with slices of fresh plum tomato, and a sprig of parsley for garnish. Place the ginger/soy sauce on the table for individuals to season their rice, as desired. Don’t forget the remoulade sauce to serve as an accompaniment for the salmon fillets. – Enjoy!

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Tip: Cooking times may vary, depending upon thickness of salmon fillets. The ‘general rule of thumb’ is 10 minutes total per 1" thickness of fillet.