Madhu Knits and Cooks

Nancie McDermott's Nahm Prik Pao (Roasted Chili Paste)

To the cookbooks I have returned as readers will note from this and upcoming posts.  I started to feel the internal pressure again to use the cookbooks I have on the shelves, so recently pulled out Nancie McDermott's Real Vegetarian Thai to try her Nahm Prik Pao or Roasted Chili Paste with Tofu and Vegetables.  

The chili paste was recently easy to make - had to roast dried chili arbol and garlic to achieve the roasted/smokey flavor of the paste, and otherwise just blend the ingredients together.  The one mistake I may have made (which has the potential for significant ramifications) was to over-roast the chilis so that they may have had a slightly burnt flavor.  Unfortunately I couldn't ultimately tell if I prepared the recipe correctly or not because even the arguably light smokey flavor was generally a little unpleasant for my taste.

I tossed several tablespoons of the roasted chili paste with a block of extra firm tofu, onion, bell peppers, zucchini and ultimately some chili-garlic paste to soften the smokey flavor of the roasted chili paste.  The result I have to admit was just ok - I think this recipe is probably not going to be repeated in the future.

"Quintessential" Chocolate Chip Cookies - Quick Recipe for a Weeknight Cookie Fix

The New York Times recently featured a chocolate chip recipe from Martha Rose Shulman, a writer whose healthy recipes have inspired many of my seasonal cooking attempts.  The recipe - for Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies - seemed easy enough to make on a weeknight, and its publication coincided with my realization that I have a lot of chocolate baking bars in my cupboard.  

As I initially thought, the dough was incredibly simple and fast to make.  The main alteration I made to the recipe was to half the amount of chocolate because I generally prefer a greater cookie to chocolate ratio in my cookies.  I also broke up the chocolate pieces into smaller than the 1-inch pieces called for in the recipe - maybe into 1/2 inch chunks?  

The result was great - the bittersweet chocolate was actually a wonderful change to the standard chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I think I will bake with bittersweet chocolate more in the future.  The cookies got a bit grainy and crumbly the day after they were baked, but they still tasted pretty good.  I think I may have put in too much flour, so maybe this is my incentive to finally get a kitchen scale!

Kale Two Ways - White Bean and Kale Soup and Braised Kale

We've hopefully reached the end of our kale experiments for the season with a new bounty of summer vegetables and fruits hitting the market.  To close out the season of kale though, I have been making a lot of white bean and kale soup and even tried a new braised Cavolo Nero (or lacinto) kale dish a few months ago.

The white bean and kale soup recipe I have been using is incredibly flexible to new ingredients and different types of kale - definitely a year-round delicious meal.  The modifications I consistently made the three times I made the soup were to include 3 cloves of garlic, add 1/2 tsp or so of fresh rosemary and 1 - 2 inch parmesan rind to the broth, and to partially smash the beans while cooking to give the soup a richer texture.  I sadly did not come up with these modifications on my own, rather found them used in similar recipes from Epicurious.com and Martha Stewart.  With at least one attempt of the soup, I also added more water with the kale to make sure the soup had more of a soup than stew consistency.  I think the key to an outstanding result is definitely using a parmesan rind piece while simmering the broth - it definitely adds complexity and a nice, mind saltiness to the broth.

Unfortunately, the next kale dish was far from stellar.  For this dish, I used lacinto, dinosaur or cavolo nero kale to make the Vegetarian Times Braised Cavolo Nero Kale recipe.  I halved the amount of kale and water called for in the recipe while keeping the flavoring ingredients (onions, carrots, etc.) as is.  I also added a vegan bouillon cube to the water for a more flavorful result.  

The final dish was still pretty bland despite these efforts.  It also was too kale-y and bitter, even though I used lacinto kale which is pretty mild as far as kale goes.  Serving the dish over orechiette and with a healthy amount of grated parmesan also did not save the dish from being a let down.

Cuban Black Beans and Rice - A Likely Recipe Repeat for a Big Gathering

Another successful, but complicated Cooks Illustrated recipe was completed a few weeks back - the vegetarian version of the Cuban Black Beans and Rice.  In true Cook's Illustrated form, the recipe required not only a number of ingredients, but also a number of cooking tools.  Despite the multi-step and laborious preparation process, the result - despite the vegetarian alterations - was fantastic.  Very flavorful, rich and filling - and while not being presumably that bad from a nutrition and calorie perspective.  

The only modification I would make the next time I make the dish is to make sure I have a more "fresh" bag of black beans.  The dried beans I have in my cupboard have probably sat there for over a year, and you could tell the beans, despite being well-cooked, were tougher than they should have been.  I also would consider halving the recipe because it definitely produced way too much food than two people can reasonably eat, even over a few days.  So maybe it would be a good anchor to a dinner party in the future?

Yellow Split Peas with Cucumber and Tomato - Quick Protein-Rich Side Dish (Cucumber Pappu)

As a vegetarian, I struggle with getting enough protein and calcium in my diet.  In fact, sometimes I wonder how I survived several years of my life given how poorly I have eaten at times.  In any case, I've been trying to integrate more lentils and beans into my diet to get more protein.  One easy way is to always include dal with any Indian meals or any other meals with rice.  

I recently decided to make a more complicated dish than I usually make by adding some additional vegetables in my pappu (dal).  This simple, quick recipe was sadly not documented by a picture, but will be likely be replicated again soon in my kitchen.

Cucumber and Tomato Dal

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dried toor dal
• 1 cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 medium tomato, coarsely chopped
• 1 tsp. ginger, minced
• 1 Thai green chili, sliced
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 1/2 tsp. dried chili powder
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. urad dal (available in Indian grocery stores)
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 3 Indian curry leaves
• water
• vegetable oil
• salt to taste

Directions

• Rinse the toor dal well and put it in a pot with 1 cup of water.  Bring contents to a boil on medium-high heat, and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add additional water as necessary to ensure the mixture is not dry (approx 1/2 cup). 
• After dal is mostly cooked to taste, add the cucumber, tomato, ginger, green chili, turmeric, and tamarind and stir well.  Add additional water as necessary and then re-cover, cooking for another 5 - 7 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked to taste.
• In a small saucepan, heat on medium heat 1 tbsp. of oil, and when hot, add urad dal, cumin and mustard seeds and cook until the mustard seeds begin to pop.  After the mustard seeds pop, add the curry leaves and remove the mixture from the heat.
• Stir the contents of the saucepan into the pot of dal, and add chili powder.  Salt to taste and serve.