Madhu Knits and Cooks

A Winning Rye Bread - Modifying Another Favorite Recipe

After a few attempts of trying to perfect a rye version of the famed Jim Lahey No Knead Bread recipe, I ended up switching to an entirely new recipe (albeit another favorite).  That recipe - Simple Crusty Bread by Jeff Hertzberg - has been a perfect compliment to rye flour, and I've made the recipe several times over the summer.

To make this bread, I've halved the recipe and included approx. 1/2 cup of rye flour to 2 3/4 cup of AP flour (I may increase the rye moving forward, but the rye flavor still comes through at this ratio).  Baking the bread for the full baking time (30 - 31 minutes) seems key as I initially was baking it for 27 - 28 minutes, which led to a slightly softer crust as the bread cooled.  

Another important tip is to try to let this bread cool as much as possible to "sweat out" the internal moisture and not make the crust / interior too soggy while cutting into it while warm. 

This can be hard to do when the bread smells so wonderfully delicious out of the oven, but letting it cool for a few hours definitely seems key to get that nice firm crust coupled with a soft interior.  This is definitely a new MadhuKnitsandCooks favorite that will take me through the seasons!

An Instant Pot Version of a Madhu Knits and Cooks Favorite - Gujarati Dal

In addition to making new recipes in the Instant Pot, I also have been wanting to to experiment with some of my favorite standbys in this time-saving gadget.  I finally did so with the Gujarati Dal I really enjoy making - could the Instant Pot actually improve this recipe?

Sadly, my verdict is one of disappointment.  While it was nice to not have to stand over the stove while this dal was cooking, the ultimate texture was one of...mush.  Mush that was well-flavored to be sure, but mush nonetheless. 

I used approx. 3/4 cup of a mix of toor, masoor, and split moong dal, with approx. 1.5 cups of water.  I cooked this recipe at 15 minutes on high pressure, allowed 12 minutes for natural depressurization.

I think my flaw was perhaps that this was just too much cooking time, or the Instant Pot may not be as good to use for these thinner, faster cooking lentils.  Or maybe even I should have cooked at low pressure instead of high.  In any case, I was so dismayed with this Instant Pot effort that I may not even try to perfect this approach moving forward.  Oh well, back to the heavier Instant Pot beans!

An Instant Pot Version of a Madhu Knits and Cooks Favorite - Gujarati Dal

In addition to making new recipes in the Instant Pot, I also have been wanting to to experiment with some of my favorite standbys in this time-saving gadget.  I finally did so with the Gujarati Dal I really enjoy making - could the Instant Pot actually improve this recipe?

Sadly, my verdict is one of disappointment.  While it was nice to not have to stand over the stove while this dal was cooking, the ultimate texture was one of...mush.  Mush that was well-flavored to be sure, but mush nonetheless. 

I used approx. 3/4 cup of a mix of toor, masoor, and split moong dal, with approx. 1.5 cups of water.  I cooked this recipe at 15 minutes on high pressure, allowed 12 minutes for natural depressurization.

I think my flaw was perhaps that this was just too much cooking time, or the Instant Pot may not be as good to use for these thinner, faster cooking lentils.  Or maybe even I should have cooked at low pressure instead of high.  In any case, I was so dismayed with this Instant Pot effort that I may not even try to perfect this approach moving forward.  Oh well, back to the heavier Instant Pot beans!

The Easiest and Most Delicious Weeknight Black Beans

When my husband and I recently gorged ourselves on Tex-Mex throughout Austin and San Antonio, my husband remarked that he wasn't sure if black beans could ever be that good if they were truly vegetarian. 

Taking that as a challenge, and with lots of delicious vegetarian Tex-Mex meals on my mind, when we returned home, I decided to perfect cooking dried black beans as I figured that it's easier to infuse flavor into cooking black beans from dry than cooking them from a can.

Surprisingly enough, by looking at some cookbooks and online Instant Pot websites, I quickly perfected a fantastic recipe.  The beans are well-seasoned, flavorful, and soft - even if not soaked beforehand.

The only thing that I've had to play with over the past four attempts at this recipe is the Instant Pot high pressure cooking time.  I initially cooked these beans at 22 minutes, but then had to cook the beans for another 3 - 5 minutes to get them to be evenly soft. 

I think moving forward 28 minutes is the right amount of time - but I'll report back if that changes in practice!

Instant Pot Weeknight Black Beans

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dried black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 small onion, halved (red, white, or yellow - it doesn't matter)
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup water
• salt to taste, perhaps start with 1/2 tsp.

Directions

• Put all ingredients in Instant Pot.  No need to stir.

• Set to manual, high pressure for 28 minutes.  Keep on sealed option.
• Allow for natural release (approx. 22 minutes of keeping Instant Pot on warm after cooking), release to "vent" and taste beans for consistently.  Cook for 1 - 2 minutes further if beans are not to your desired consistency.

Milk Street Rye Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies - Incredibly Complex + Tasty

Chris Kimball, how I love thee.  Milk Street recipes continue to up my at-home cooking game, with my latest attempt - the Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies - being my best to date.  

The cookies use a one-to-one ratio of rye-to-AP flour, with the key added approach being to toast the rye flour before assembling the cookie dough.

This step takes all of five minutes (to toast the flour until its a shade or two darker), and then you melt the butter into the warm skillet with the rye flour.

Then combine the rest of the ingredients as normal for cookie dough, drop the dough on cookie sheets, and bake.  Yep, this is a standard cookie dough with just one added step.

The cookie dough spread more than I would have liked during baking, resulting in a thinner cookie, but the flavor was outstanding.  The cookies featured a caramel and raisin notes, and even seemed to have an almost alcohol-like flavor in some bites (from the rye flour, I presume).   They were wonderfully complex, and my husband and a friend declared them their favorite cookies! 

Hopefully I can figure out how to make the cookies thicker next time around, but there will definitely be a next time around.

Awadh Matar Paneer - Too Spiced for My Enjoyment

I haven't done a good job cooking out of my growing set of cookbooks.  Instead I've been too often relying on library-borrowed cookbooks or the Internet, as past posts indicate.   To break this streak, I decided to bring out my Phaidon India: The Cookbook to find a complement to the Milk Street Tomato Rice recipe. 

I settled on the Awadh Matar Paneer recipe, which would rely entirely on ingredients I had in my pantry.

While the dish was quite easy to put together - pre-cooking the paneer, and then tossing it in the spices that have been bloomed in the same saute pan - unfortunately it didn't quite have the flavors I tend to like.

The spices were just too overpowering for me, especially because they weren't cut by any tomatoes, cream or other vegetables besides the green peas, which were added to the end of the cooking process.  My husband did like this recipe though, so it might be a recipe repeat on his end!