Madhu Knits and Cooks

Milk Street Black-Eyed Pea Fritters - An Easy Party Snack

I've been eating a lot of black-eyed peas this past year, mostly in tacos.  I really like these flavorful, versatile beans which are also a cinch to prepare with their short cooking time.  When I recently saw Milk Street's West African Black-Eyed Pea Fritters, I thought these would be a logical extension of my new black-eyed pea love.  

These fritters couldn't have been easier to make - no bean cooking required - and the final result was good, though not great.  The fritters tasted like what you'd expect a fried black eyed-pea snack to taste like, nothing more, nothing less.    

While I am not sure if I will make these treats again, I did enjoy the crunchy exterior coupled with the moist and soft interior and the subtle black-eyed pea flavor.  

The fritter batter starts by soaking the beans before throwing them in a food processor.

Then stir in the other herbs to make the final batter.  Finish by dropping spoonfuls into the 350 degree oil. 

Three modifications I made to the Milk Street recipe:  I inadvertently soaked the peas for 27 hours, I halved the recipe, and I subbed jalapenos or serranos for the fresnos, which generally aren't available in our store.  The final fritters also required a fair amount of extra salt for the bean and chile flavors really come out.

America's Test Kitchen French Onion Dip - "Just OK"

Although I previously created a "completely amazing" Sour Cream Onion Dip, several Cook's Illustrated / America's Test Kitchen online onion dip recipes enticed me to try something new. 

The resulting Cook's Country French Onion Dip was good, but not nearly as good as I remember my original dip.  The Cook's Country dip featured not only caramelized onions, but also balsamic vinegar and mayonnaise, which made the dip super tangy despite my reductions of all three (1.5 onions, only 2 tbsp. balsamic, and 2 tbsp. of mayonnaise).  The dip was also sweeter than I expected from both the onions and balsamic, which I didn't quite enjoy.

A strike in favor of sticking to what works, instead of constantly trying new things!

Milk Street's Menemen - Turkish-Style Spicy Eggs and Vegetables

Looking to use up some well-past-expired, but still-good eggs, I tried Milk Street's version of Menemen, a Turkish vegetable-egg dish.  The resulting breakfast was good - spicy, filling, and tangy from the brined feta and capers.  While I am not sure if I will make this again because I am generally not an egg person, I am happy I tried this vegetable-heavy dish.

You start by cooking the peppers and scallions, before mixing the tomatoes and capers.

The eggs cooked up very quickly after the vegetables were ready - about one minute.  Unfortunately my nonstick pan was a little too hot, so I got more well-cooked eggs instead of the softer, creamy eggs called for in the recipe.

In addition to halving the recipe to accommodate 4 eggs, I also substituted parsley for dill and feta-in-brine instead of feta crumbles.  That feta may have tilted the balance of flavors too much toward sour, but the dish was still pretty good.  The feature I liked the least - my overcooked eggs!

Post 600! Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Sour Cream Mini-Bundts Inspired by Min Jin Lee

Cooking inspiration comes to me in predictable ways.  Sometimes it's smelling what a neighbor is cooking, the memory of a meal I particularly enjoyed, the weather, or perhaps the most frequent inspiration - seeing a delicious recipe photo on the internet.  My latest baking attempt - Chocolate Mini-Bundt Cakes - came from a completely unexpected source, an interview with the author Min Jin Lee.

I had just completed Lee's masterpiece Pachinko and in the library e-book version I read, an interview with Lee appeared after the book text.  In it, Min Jin Lee spoke about how baking the Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake helped her overcome homesickness for the U.S. when she lived in Japan, in turn allowing her to write Pachinko.  

I haven't used my mini-bundt pan in at least 4 years (the only bundt pan I own), but I thought if this recipe helped Min Jin Lee write this masterpiece, maybe it'll inspire me in some way as well?  

After trying many recipe adjustment calculations to try to achieve the perfect amount of batter for my 6 mini-bundt pan, I decided to keep things simple and just half the recipe.  I figured I could make a smaller cake or cupcakes with the leftover batter from the bundts, which I knew would use less than half of the batter.  In practice, halving the batter resulted in 6 mini-bundts and 4 cupcakes.

First coat the bundt pan in a cocoa-butter mixture to prevent sticking.

The batter process is fairly easy, though unfortunately it is a three-bowl, and not one-bowl, operation.  

I baked the mini-bundts for 25 minutes, and the cupcakes for 20 minutes.  The cupcake baking time was perfect, but I think the mini-bundts were slightly overbaked as they ended up drier than I had hoped.  So I will reduce the baking amount by a few minutes the next time I make them.

These cakes didn't knock my socks off, but it might be because of the slight overbaking.  While I am not sure if I will make them again, I appreciate the inspiration from Lee and look forward to using my unearthed mini-bundt pan more often.

Pret a Manger's Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies Come Home!

I have started to miss sandwiches.  I never make them at home, and I haven't been to any work-proximate sandwich locations in some time.  My mind started to wander of late to sandwiches, as did my google searches.  I am glad they did because through that wandering, I found that Pret A Manger, the UK-based sandwich chain, has published their chocolate chunk cookie recipe, one of my favorite work-proximate treats.

While my cookies didn't turn out as darkly browned as the Pret store versions, this was a great recipe.  Simple to construct, great crisp exteriors, and a solid cookie flavor.  Interestingly though, this recipe didn't call for vanilla extract.  While I didn't notice the lack of vanilla flavor, I intend on using vanilla the next time to try to get an even deeper flavor to these cookies.

I measured the ingredients using a scale, and followed online advice to add baking soda to all-purpose flour as we don't generally have self-raising flour in the U.S.

I baked the cookies for 2 - 4 minutes longer than the recipe called for, despite producing 10 cookie balls instead of the recipe's 8.  I still wasn't getting the browned Pret store look so decided to remove them when lightly golden brown.  I probably could have baked them another 2 minutes without compromising the taste, though I am not sure if I would have reached the deep brown Pret store color in that time.

Thank you Pret!  Look forward to making these cookies again as I miss your in-person offerings!

Baked Buffalo Cauliflower - Wow, A Great Homemade Bar Snack

If you can't go to the bar or restaurant, try your favorites at home - volume 2.  This latest effort features a healthier version of one of my bar/restaurant favorites, buffalo cauliflower, which I found I couldn't order on any of our local restaurant delivery apps.  

I found a few recipes online and settled on the Frank's Red Hot version because of its glowing website reviews.  I also decided to use Food Network's blue cheese dip recipe instead of a store bought dip.

While the final result was pretty good - great Frank's spicy sauce flavor offset by the tangy dip - I learned some good lessons that will help make this good dish even better the next time.

First was that I should have used two baking sheets to allow the cauliflower to really crisp up instead of steaming from the pieces being too close to each other.  Second was that I should have used the full amount of Frank's called for in the recipe - 8 tbsp. instead of the 5 tbsp. that I used.

The third and fourth lessons are related - no need to add in panko bread crumbs, which didn't make a difference.  And I will likely retain my 50% substitute of besan or chickpea flour for the all-purpose flour as I thought it added a nice, subtle flavor to the batter.

Finally, for the dip, I will add a lot more blue cheese because that flavor was far more diluted than I would have liked from the Food Network recipe.

Stovetop Greek Garlic Lemon Potatoes - An Easier Version of the Baked Classic

Lemon potatoes are one of my favorite sides at Greek restaurants.  Velvety in texture, and brightly flavored from lemon and oregano, they can complement any dish - salad, vegetarian moussaka, gigantes, zucchini, or a dip platter.  

Craving this restaurant favorite, I found a recipe on CooksIllustrated.com, but their approach cooked the potatoes entirely on the stovetop instead of what I had understand is the traditional baked approach.  Confident in the Test Kitchen's mastery of home-cooked meals, I decided to give this approach a try versus other baked versions I found on the internet.

I made some modifications to the recipe, some of which worked and some of which didn't.  What worked - substituting California White Rose potatoes because I couldn't find Yukon Gold at the store.  No big deal, same with substituting less dried oregano for the fresh. 

What didn't work - using less lemon juice and zest than the recipe called for.  I should have gone for the full amount, even though it seemed like a LOT.  The potatoes can handle it!

The potatoes also cooked very quickly, as directed by the recipe - within 20 minutes of starting.  So this really is a great weeknight side to make for an otherwise lighter meal.  I look forward to making these potatoes again!

A Mostly Instant Pot Rasam - A MadhuKnitsandCooks.com Success!

Rasam is a simple spiced South Indian vegan soup or broth.  It's one of my favorite accompaniments to Indian meals, though I haven't made it in some time.  Emboldened by our first trip to the local Indian grocery store in 6 months, I decided to try a more substantive rasam than my previous efforts.  

I turned to Saranya Mandava's Indian Cuisine cookbook, and decided to go with her "Rasam No. 2" recipe with a few modifications from my mother and utilizing the Everest rasam powder I purchased.  

The final result was excellent - perfectly spiced from the mustard seeds and rasam powder; tangy from the tomatoes and lemon juice; and substantive from the mashed moong dal.  I will be making this rasam recipe again and again!

And the best part?  Using the Instant Pot for most of the dish, which freed up the rest of my stovetop for other dishes I was preparing at the same time. 

My main recipe modifications were to cook the moong dal for 10 minutes on low pressure in the Instant Pot before mashing; using 2 tsp. of rasam powder, which I added to the rasam with the tomatoes; and omitting the grinding of the spices that had been tempered on the stovetop.  I instead just added them directly to the pot after cooking them on the stovetop in a small pan.

I also added 5 curry leaves, which I ripped in half, to the tempering spices, and I omitted the fenugreek seeds to the tadka because I couldn't find them in my pantry (did I throw them away?).  Finally, I used approx. juice from 1/4 lemon, which seemed to be enough.

King Arthur Flour Hot Spinach Dip - An Adaptable Solo Treat or Party Snack

If you can't go to a dinner party or bar for a hot appetizer dip, try the homemade option!  While many homemade dips feature complicated  steps and/or result in too much dip for one person to eat, the King Arthur Flour Hot Spinach Dip recipe produces a great solo or a small group snack.

The recipe has three steps - pre-heat the oven, mix the ingredients together, and bake.  Couldn't be easier, and as I found through my two attempts at halved versions, very adaptable to shifting the ingredients.

Both times I made the dip I used low fat sour cream, low fat mayonnaise and fresh mozzarella.  The first time I made this recipe, I used slightly more mozzarella in the halved dip (measured ingredients with a scale), and second time, I dramatically reduced the mayonnaise and increased the sour cream a bit.  I didn't notice either time anything I disliked about the dip, which was thick, creamy and savory from the spinach and salted ingredients.

This dip will be a winter feature in my kitchen, and I hope in yours as well!  It tastes particularly good with carrots, but also works great with bread, chips, and crackers.

A Fantastic Upma (Thanks Mom) - A Hearty Spiced Semolina Breakfast

Upma is a savory and hearty Indian breakfast dish, usually made with roasted dry semolina though I have made variants with quinoa and steel cut oats.  As it turns out, sometimes sticking to the original can produce the best results as my recent effort with ground semolina or sooji found.

I purchased the sooji, roasted so I didn't need to roast it at home, at our local Patel Brothers.  I followed Saranya Mandava's cookbook recipe with a few critical modifications from my mother.  

First was that I added fresh curry leaves (maybe 7 -8), which I ripped in half, to the cooking vegetables.  Second, I slightly reduced the oil to 5 - 6 tablespoons.  Third, I added the ginger toward the end of the onion / tomato / chile cooking time so that it wouldn't burn as the others cooked.

I also increased the salt to 1.25 tsp. and the water to 3 cups instead of the 1.5 - 2 called for in the recipe (semolina stayed the same at 1 cup).

Finally, after the semolina fully cooked after 3 - 4 minutes, I took the pan off the heat, stirred in juice from 1/4 fresh lemon and some diced cilantro.  I then let the upma stay covered for approx. 5 minutes before serving.

This finished upma was quickly consumed in our home.  The mixture was well-spiced from the mustard seeds and dals; tart from the lemon, tomato, and cilantro; slightly sweet from the ginger and semolina; and featured the unique deep flavor of the curry leaves.  Yum!