Madhu Knits and Cooks

Simple Fennel Salad -- A Refreshing Lunch or Side

I had never purchased fennel bulb before two weeks ago.  I am pretty sure though that I have consumed fennel before, but I didn't quite remember the taste when I picked it up at the grocery store.  My first attempt at using one of the bulbs involved making a simple, fresh fennel salad, inspired by Alice Waters Shaved Fennel Salad in the Art of Simple Cooking.  I ended up eating an entire bulb one afternoon with a quick dressing that I made with the following ingredients that I pulled from the cabinet:

• 1 tbl. lemon juice 
• 1 tbl. brown rice vinegar
• garlic powder
• chili powder
• crushed white pepper
• salt

I started with the lemon juice and vinegar, and then just added the other ingredients to taste.  My made-up simple dressing helped cut some of the sharp flavors of the fresh fennel.  I would have used Waters' recipe which calls for olive oil and white wine vinegar, but unfortunately I was out of both at the time I made the salad.  Per Waters' suggestion though, I cut the fennel using a mandoline on the thinnest setting so that the fennel slices were quite fine and delicate.  

I think the next time I use fresh fennel bulb, I may try to chop the sliced fennel into even smaller chunks to make a fennel slaw.  I think a fennel slaw would make a great, healthy side dish to any lunch or casual dinner (basically, whenever one would use a slaw as a side dish).  

My Favorite Knitting and Food Podcasts

I recently got an IPod and have spent the past several weeks familiarizing myself with podcasts.  Perhaps it's not surprising, but I find myself downloading and listening to knitting podcasts at a greater frequency than other podcasts and music choices.  Because I seem to be listening to knitting podcasts everyday during my work commutes, I thought it would be fun to share my favorite podcasts to date:

• KnitPicks:  The KnitPicks yarn, needles and book online company now has a great knitting podcast.  I've listened to all of the podcasts to date and find them extremely relaxing and interesting.  I especially like the "Knitter who Loved Books"  segment of each podcast because it really makes me consider picking up books that I previously disregarded because of their titles, covers, laziness or other silly reason.

• Cast On:  LOVE this podcast.  Brenda Dayne is really fun, interesting and has great discussions about knitting, Wales and life.  This might be my favorite podcast to date.

• KCRW's Good Food:  One of my former L.A.-based friends who is a total foodie highly recommended this podcast.  I finally downloaded it a few weeks ago, and although it is pretty regionally-focused on Southern California, there are just a lot of great general discussions about food that make this podcast valuable to any lover of good food.  I've already learned that I should stew my own chickpeas to make hummus instead of using canned chickpeas (it's a recipe I hope to try soon) and the evolution of wine drinking in America.

I have checked out a few more podcasts, but these three are definitely my favorites.  I hope you check them out, and I also hope that folks will send me their top podcast recommendations.

Indian Cooking Class

On August 17, 2006, I was fortunate enough to have a private Indian cooking class with former professional chef, Kitty Pinnamaneni.

She showed me how to make vegetable biryani and mutter paneer, but unfortunately I have to report that I have yet to make them on my own!  So keep posted for the results of my future attemps to recreate her meals -- we'll see what happens.  Also, I am putting these two recipes online for your experimentation -- check out the "cooking -- recipes" section of this site to find them.

Kitty Aunty's Vegetable Biryani Recipe

Here is the simple Vegetable Biryani recipe that Kitty Aunty taught me to use.  Enjoy!

For 4-5 large servings

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped

½ teaspoon Shan Biryani Masala (packaged, can find at Indian stores)

½ teaspoon housemade masala

      6 cloves

      2 sticks cinnamon

      2 Indian bay leaves (can use regular bay leaves, but Indian is better)

2 inch ginger stick, skin cut off, cut in large pieces

½ bulb garlic

5 green chilies, finely chopped

½ cup yogurt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Approx. 2 – 3 cups of day-old, separated rice (or just drier rice that can separate)

1/8 teaspoon Ajino mote (Chinese – can omit if you choose)

2 teaspoons cooking oil (Kitty Aunty used unfiltered corn oil)

1 cup fresh or frozen cut mixed vegetables (if frozen, can defrost then cook in dish still when cold, they will cook in pan)

½ teaspoon saffron

1-2 teaspoons salt

If you do polished presentation:

¼ medium onion, thinly sliced

Corn or vegetable oil

Few drops yellow food coloring

Chopped cilantro for garnish

Directions:

To make house-made masala:

      -Dry heat in a pan the cloves, cinnamon, and bay leaves

      -After it becomes fragrant, remove from heat

      -Grind the spices in a coffee bean grinder

To make biryani mix:

      -Heat oil in a large saucepan (medium heat)

      -Add Shan Biryani Masala, onion, and sauté

-Add a little water after it simmers for a bit to make sure it doesn’t get too dry.  Onion should become soften, so cover the pan.

-Blend ginger, green chilies, and garlic in a food processor, until very finely chopped.

-Add garlic, ginger, and green chilies to the pan, sauté and let simmer

-Add homemade masala

-Let simmer, with some light stirring, and add water if too dry.  Be liberal with adding water, it will simmer away.

-Let flavors settle in together

-Add yogurt, lemon juice, vegetables, saffron, salt, and ajino mote, stir and let flavors get into each other

Quick Finish:

      -Add rice and stir fry together

More Polished Presentation:

      -Get serving/casserole dish, put vegetable mix at bottom of pan

      -Add layer of rice

      -Add layer of French fried onions (thin slices of onion cooked in vegetable/corn oil until

      crisp)

      -Then repeat layers

-Final step:  Add a few drops of yellow food coloring to make some of rice turn yellow, and then throw chopped cilantro on top

Kitty Aunty's Mutter Paneer Recipe

Here is the recipe for the Mutter Paneer (Indian dish with cheese, tomat0-based sauce and peas) that I learned from Kitty Aunty on August 17, 2006.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Vegetable cooking oil (Kitty Aunty used unrefined corn oil)

2-3 teaspoons homemade Garlic/Ginger paste

      -1 inch ginger

      -2 green chilies

      -1/4 bunch chopped cilantro

      -1 clove garlic

      -blend in food processotr

½ teaspoon dry fenugreek

1 medium onion chopped

1 ½ medium tomatoes, chopped and microwaved for 2-3 minutes (or use capped Pacific organic tomatoes)

1 teaspoon paprika

½ - 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper for spice (add extra cayenne pepper or green chili for more spice)

½ - 1 teaspoon roasted ground cumin (dry roast the cumin, then blend in a coffee grinder, you can keep in a jar for long periods of time), you can lessen amount if you don’t like or omit entirely

1 teaspoon roasted ground coriander, lessen if you don’t like

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon homemade masala

½ block of store-bought paneer (or use fresh paneer, recipe found below)

½ - 1 cup fresh or frozen peas

Directions:

-Heat oil in saucepan (medium heat, depending on quality of pan)

-Add ground cardamom

-Add garlic/ginger paste, let simmer for a few minutes

-Add dried fenugreek and chopped onion

-Let simmer 5-10 minutes, or until the onions don’t smell raw

-Cut the tomatoes, and then put in microwave for 2-3 minutes

-Add paprika, cayenne, cumin, and coriander

-Add water if the ingredients are sticking to the pan

-Add cilantro

-Add chopped tomatoes, and lower the heat a bit

-Let simmer so flavors blend (few minutes)

-Then put in a food processor/chopper, until consistency is like gravy

-Put back in pan, and add salt to taste

-Add 2 tablespoons of sour cream.  Turn up heat and stir vigorously until mixture bubbles

-Keep stirring after bubbling and add homemade masala

-Then add peas, stir and cover, lower heat to medium/low.

-Stir periodically and add water if looks dry.  Let simmer for 10 minutes.

-Uncover and stir until smells cooked. 

-Stir in paneer, cover and let simmer for 3-4 minutes for flavor to set in paneer.

Michigan Dept. of Ag Recipes -- Using Michigan's Finest Ingredients!

Using a random google search, I just discovered the Michigan Department of Agriculture's recipes webpage containing tasty recipes that use Michigan-grown produce!  An example is the USA Flag Cake which calls for "Michigan butter", "Michigan sugar", "Michigan eggs", "Michigan flour", "Michigan blueberries", and "Michigan strawberries".   As a native Michigander (some might say Michigoose though), I encourage you to check out the page:

http://www.michigan.gov/mda/0,1607,7-125-1570_2468_2472---,00.html