Sri Lankan Palak Dal Recipe

Ever since Siri hosted AWED Sri Lanka Recipes event, I got hooked to the cuisine. I had borrowed a book and this is the third recipe I tried from it. A simple palak dal recipe (lentils and spinach) but enhanced in true Sri Lankan way not to mention the addition of the ever-present coconut milk.

Fresh Green Spinach

The book I had only mentioned dal and I wasn't sure which dal they were referring to. So I used toor dal. You could also try this with moong dal and get a totally different flavour. Yummy either ways, I am sure.

Soaked Toor Dal

Sri Lankan Palak Dal /Lentils with Spinach
Preparation time: 40 mins
Serves: 2 to 4

What I Used:

1.5 cups toor dal
A big bunch of spinach, chopped (about 4 cups loosely packed)
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 small tomato, chopped fine
2 dried red chillies
2 garlic pods, crushed
A 1" piece of cinnamon
1/2 tsp cumin seeds / jeera
1.5 cups light coconut milk
Salt to taste

For tempering:

2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
A few pieces of rampe/pandan leaves or curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. The first step is to cook the lentils. Usually I use pressure cooker but for this recipe, its important not to cook them mushy. So, add about 4 cups water to the 1.5 cups toor dal and soak for an hour. Then, keep on a medium fire to cook for about 20-25 mins. The lentils should be cooked yet stay as individual pods.

2. Heat oil and add the ingredients for tempering. Once the mustard seeds start popping, add the cinnamon, chillies, garlic, jeera and onions. Fry until onions turn transparent.

3. Then add the tomatoes and mix well for another minute. Add the chopped spinach now and lower fire. Let it wilt and reduce in size. Keep stirring till the it mixes well with the rest of the added ingredients.

4. Now add the cooked lentils and combine gently. Bring to boil. Reduce fire and add the coconut milk and salt. You can add some chilli powder if you'd like more heat. Simmer for 5 mins and remove from fire.

Serve hot with steamed white rice or roti.

This is my entry to MLLA-13 conceived by Susan of the "Well-Seasoned Cook" and currently being hosted by Sunshinemom of "Tongue Ticklers".

Udon Noodles with Sesame Crusted Tofu

An actual recipe tonight! Our local Sobey's just started carrying udon noodles so I thought I would whip up a quick noodle dish. We all thought it was pretty good and the sesame seeds were a nice touch. If you are against the frying of the tofu, you could just toast the sesame seeds and add them to the dish along with the sauces. The rice vinegar caught my eye in the cupboard whilst I was assembling some ingredients and I am glad it did. I really need to use it more because it adds a nice brightness to the dish without being overpowering.

INGREDIENTS
- udon noodles (I used 3 175g pkgs (i.e. those small packages you seen in Asian grocery stores))
- 1 pkg tofu, cubed
- 1/3 cup sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- oil for frying
- 1 small red pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 small orange pepper, thinly sliced
- 1" piece of ginger, minced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 4 green onions, thinly sliced

METHOD
1. Cook noodles according to the directions on the package.
2. Place tofu in a bowl and add sesame seeds. Toss until most of the seeds are stuck on the tofu (you don't need full coverage here). Add cornstarch and gently toss until tofu is coated. If you still have some seeds in the bottom of the bowl, dump the tofu out on a cookie sheet and roll the cubes in the excess seeds.
3. Fry tofu in some oil over medium heat until nicely golden. Turn regularly to brown all sides. You don't need a lot of oil here. Start with a relatively thin layer and add more as needed. Remove tofu from pan/wok and drain.
4. Add peppers, ginger and garlic to the pan (there should be just a bit of oil left) and stir fry for 3-4 mins, until softened and fragrant. Add noodles to the pan/wok and fry for a min.
5. Add vinegar, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce and mix well. Add tofu and mix well. Cook until sauce thickens/soaks into the noodles. Adjust flavours/wetness to your liking by adding more of any of the three ingredients.
6. Remove from heat. Garnish with green onions. Serve.

CONTEST UPDATE
There is still time to win a copy of The Vegan Dad Cookbook! In one day a staggering 340 people have correctly identified the mystery utensil and been entered into the draw. One measly cookbook seems so small in light of all those entrants. Maybe I should offer copies of the e-book as well . . . .

AND . . .
Have I mentioned the shad flies before? Every year at this time shad flies descend on our fair city. They rely on fresh water for their reproductive cycle, and because we live by a big lake we have learned to coexist. When we woke up this morning they were coating the house. It's pretty crazy to walk downtown and see thousands and thousands of shad flies covering just about everything. They are very docile and don't munch on the greenery, and kids love playing with them (did I mention they were docile?).

Vegan Dad Cookbook Contest!

Since I have not been posting many recipes lately I thought I would spice things up with a contest. Yes, you can win your very own copy of The Vegan Dad Cookbook! All you need to do is tell me what kitchen utensil is pictured above. Here is the deal:

1. Email your answer to the address listed in the bottom right column of this blog.

2. Correct answers will be entered into a draw to win one physical copy of The Vegan Dad Cookbook. A winner will be chosen via a random number generator.

3. Only one submission per email address, please.

4. Contest is open from June 29, 2009 to July 6, 2009, 10:00 am EST.

5. Contest open to residents of Canada and the continental U.S.

Sourdough Bread

At long last I have made a successful sourdough bread! After repeated failures (and I do mean repeated), the wild yeast gods have finally smiled upon my kitchen. My guess is that the weather is now much more favourable to make a sourdough starter. My previous attempts had been in the winter when the average temperature in my kitchen was about 18 degrees Celsius and the outside temperature was so ridiculously low that absolutely nothing could survive. The past week, however, has been hot and sunny and hovering around 30 degrees. The end result: sourdough bread!

I followed the recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice and will once again admonish all home bakers to get a copy of this book. I also took the advice on Peter Reinhart's baking blog to use pineapple juice for the first two days of the seed culture (read the full post to find out why). Here is my seed culture. The tape indicates the initial amount in the measuring cup, and you can see how much it grew. After dishing off some extra starter on a fellow home baking enthusiast, I proceeded to make a basic sourdough loaf and a New York Deli Rye. My one mistake was leaving the dough too wet, which is why the loaves spread out more than I would have liked, but I was happy with the results of this first try. The sourdough has a nice flavour, not too strong, and the rye loaf (an onion rye) is absolutely divine. I made reubens tonight, of course.

Physical Challenge: A BBQ Triple Header

So this weekend was pretty standard. Ran some errands. Hung out with friends. Got some writing done, oh... and... pulled a TRIPLE bon appetempter.

The inspiration for this physical challenge wasn't Marc Summers, but rather the fact that Matt and I are house-sitting the house that has the KitchenAid that gave me the courage to try the cake that started this whole blog, and well, another tool they have that I don't is a GRILL and a back yard, which isn't a tool, but it does have a sandbox and a swing set, which could be tools in a MacGruber sketch. Soooo, we decided to do an impromptu barbecue with friends.

First, there was Gourmet's homemade ginger ale.

Gourmet's version:

our version:

sponsored by PYREX.

Everyone should make this. It's amazing, refreshing and the only annoying part is peeling all the ginger. Corinne, my collaborator on the fauxstess cupcakes, helped with this even though Matt kept downshifting her knife skills. Matt got his though when some ginger squirted into his eye, sidelining him while we boiled the ginger syrup.

Next up was the Corn-and-Tomato Scramble:

Gourmet's version:

my version:

Note: Because the BBQ was last minute, we were running around and the picture matching suffered slightly. (I'm just as disappointed as you are, but have a special something at the end of the post to make up for it.)

House-sitting also involves dog-sitting. Meet Gatsby. She helped shuck the corn.

Jodi brought this delicious salad. I think the conversation went something like this:

Jodi: It's a fennel and arugula salad--from this month's Bon Appetit.
me: Oh, is it an attempt?
Jodi: Do you want it to be?
me: Yes.

bon appetit's version:

jodi's version:

The main event was Gourmet's Sticky Balsamic Ribs.

Gourmet's version:

my versions:

OR

These ribs called for a conglomeration of things I've never done before, which included buying ribs. We started with a 24-hour marinade/rub.
Have you ever taken a cleaver to a piece of meat like this? I had to just to fit the pieces in the roasting pan and man, did it feel weird. Also, thanks to Sara for aforementioned roasting pan and cleaver--two things that also made this attempt possible.

So, after roasting for 2 hours, making a glaze out of the juices, brushing that glaze all over the ribs and grilling for 6 minutes, they were finally DONE, and I believe, a complete success...

I leave you with one last comparison. If any of you subscribe to Gourmet, you may remember the below mysterious gentleman from your issue:

Our version:I tried to get him to wear a similar hat and tried to make him give me a more mysterious look, but this being the opposite of Matt's kind of thing (while I was asking for mystery, he was asking, "How much longer do I have to dangle this rib bone?"), I think I was pretty lucky to snap this one. And the outtakes are priceless.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: The Great Singapore Hawker Food Tour!

Singapore is the hub of Asian fusion food and Singaporeans love their food! Eating out is an activity on its own and done a lot, usually in big groups and with family and extended family. Local food is cheap and very tasty in what is called "hawker centers" where a huge number of food stalls are seen with a wide variety of food from all over Asia. This cultural extravaganza is often new and unique to visitors from other countries, as it was to me when I had just moved to Singapore.

So on a lovely Saturday morning, me and 17 of my colleagues set out to explore 4 different hawker centers in Singapore and to taste their mostly award-winning culinary offerings. We started the trip with an empty stomach and tons of enthusiasm!

We hired a coach for the bunch of us and the entire trip, food and coach cost us just above USD 250.

The first stop was the hawker center at Tiong Bahru. It was on the first level of the above building and was relatively less crowded since we reached before noon.

The first thing we tried was Chwee Kueh - steamed rice cakes topped with fried radish, garlic, chilli, some unknown stuff that makes it awesome and tons of oil! I had never tried Chwee Kueh before but those who had, said that the stall, Jian Bo Shui Kueh, was award-winning for a reason. And I believe them.

Next on the list from our first halt was Pig Organ Soup. I have seen these stalls in almost all hawker centers in Singapore but since I don't eat pork and am not really that daring, I gave this one a miss. Those who tried it did like it though. The soup usually contains a mix of pig intestines, stomach, blood cubes, pork slices, strips of salted vegetables and some Chinese lettuce.

Rice congee was next. It was delightfully peppery and I quite liked it. The garnishing you see there is not beancurd, like I thought, but fried pig intestine. I ate around it but there were tons of takers for it anyway.

We also sampled pork and chicken char siew or pau. Amazing rice dough dumplings filled with yummy pork or chicken filling. Something I would go back for, definitely!

We finished the first stop at Tiong Bahru with a local dessert - Cheng Teng. A lot of Asian desserts are made with crushed ice and this was one of them.

Below the flavoured, sweetened ice mountain, there is a bit of red bean cooked just right, which I loved. Its a refreshing finish to an otherwise daring meal.

The second stop was at Thesevi Food at Jalan Kayu, again an award-winning roti prata place towards the north of the island.

The variety of prata available here is quite amazing but since we had two more places left to go, we stuck with the original version, tissue prata and banana prata which was the favourite item on the whole trip for a bunch of us.

Pratas come with a complementary gravy of onions and masala but there are a few curries you can purchase which I would totally recommend, like chicken curry and mutton masala, to begin with.

We also got this fudge cake from Jane's cake store nearby.

It was delightfully Asianized, meaning, made light, not so sweet and spongy, yet retaining the chocolate richness. Reactions were mixed but some of us loved it!

Third stop - Serangoon Gardens Hawker Center.

Since we were all more than half full and still had half the number of planned places to go, the best thing to do seemed to get huge mugs of sugarcane juice.

This stall sells just that and the cleanliness amazed me.

The stall was spotless and the sugarcane juice machine looked squeky clean.

It was run by an elderly couple who juiced up 17 glasses in less than 10 mins.

We also got braised duck (no rice, because we had to give our stomach some love in addition to the wonderful torture!) which was super tender, super yummy and just rightly seasoned.

The stall seems to be a popular one.

Satay was next and this is something I could have given a miss. They were too sweet and too peanutty to my liking. However, the super huge kutupat (rice cake served with satays) deserves a thumbs up.

Carrot cake is another local specialty in Singapore and the stall in this hakwer center takes the cake for making it look relatively healthier and milder than its counterparts in other stalls I have eaten at.

I personally prefer the darker version of carrot cake but after all the food we'd had by then, the lighter version seemed like a better choice. Though we were too full to relish it completely, the plates were wiped out before we left!

The last and final stop - Old Airport Road Hakwer Center. We had to get the Char Kway Teow.

This is one of the most popular Singaporean dishes and though we were really really full beyond imagination at this time, we all tried this. This is one of the very few dishes still prepared in a super hot wok in pork lard. I did manage to get some made in oil and with no pork in Penang, but that's a whole different story that can come later in another post.

Rojak was next. This definitely is an acquired taste and something I wouldn't really want to eat if I had so much choice as I would in a hakwer center. Its usually a mix of different fruits and vegetables to give it sweet, sour and spicy flavours. The sauce had peanuts in it and somehow reminded me of the chaat sauce we have in India. But only a little bit. That's all I had of it anyway. Definitely the least popular among the crowd, either because of the taste or due to the "fullness factor".

Before our stomachs could cry out loud, we quickly got ice kachangs, another crushed ice dessert that comes flavoured, sweetened and topped with some corn.

I found the combination weird as did some others but it was definitely a welcome finish to all that chilli, oil, pork lard and what not in our stomachs by then.

We dragged ourselves back to the bus and vowed to skip dinner, which most of us did, apparently.

It was a lovely, gluttonous day and thanks to everyone who joined us. Read more at Joann's place. She has more pictures from the Prata place which I clearly don't because I was too "busy" then.

Malaysian Sweet and Sour Tofu

Here is the other dish I made with the clay pot tofu (a lot of tofu, I know). I rooted around online looking at some recipes, and they all were pretty much the same. I adapted the recipe here. The tofu is fried with a cornstarch coating, but you can opt out of this step and just coat the tofu in the sauce. I never use Ener-G egg replacer, but it caught my eye at the bulk food store the other day. I thought it made a nice light and crispy batter.

INGREDIENTS

Marinade

- 1 pkg tofu, cubed

- 2 tsp soy sauce

- 1 tsp cooking sherry

- 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Batter

- Ener-G egg replacer for 2 eggs

- 1 tbsp flour

- 1 tbsp cornstarch

- 1/2 tsp salt

- oil for frying

Sauce

- 1/2 cup water

- 1 tbsp cornstarch

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 1/4 cup white vinegar

- 1 tsp soy sauce

- 1 tbsp ketchup

- 1 tomato, cut into wedges

- thinly sliced red pepper

- thinly sliced cucumber

METHOD

1. Mix together marinade ingredients and toss tofu in marinade until coated.

2. Mix together batter ingredients and toss tofu in batter until coated. Fry in 350 degree oil unitl golden on all sides. Drain.

3. Mix water and cornstarch together and pour into a saucepan. Add sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, ketchup and tomato, and bring to bubbling. Add tofu and mix to coat.

4. Garnish with red pepper and cucumber (I didn't have any on hand as you can see) and serve with rice.

Guest-attempt: Mare's Lemon Layer Cake

When Amelia asked me to guest-attempt on her blog, I was filled with trepidation. How could I top the dacquoise? Was I setting myself up for a heartbreaking non-success? I'm not much of a baker, so naturally I decided to bake something. I decided to go real low-pressure and promised my sister that I'd bake the cake for her birthday party. Noooooo pressure there.

That said, I really rose to the occasion, in my opinion. Their version:

And my version:

Now lest everyone gets all, "I can't even tell which is THEIR version and which is YOUR version!" I must admit that I didn't choose a side view before and after because while Gourmet's layer cake was a self-described "8-inches" tall (whatever, Gourmet--you lie), my cake was what one might call a "shorty." In fact, I think one should call it that. It was more like 2-inches tall sans frosting. Side view of the shorty:

Well, in case that picture doesn't quite capture it, it was one short cake. Despite its shortness, it was lemony and delicious and looked quite classy with the petals I pulled off my rosemary plant and scattered casually all over the top. (By casually I mean, I painstakingly arranged them that way to make them look random/casual.) And note I did not follow the recipe when it called for "candied violets" that one is supposed to candy oneself. Whaa?? Also, I did not curd my own lemon curd for the frosting, because frankly I think that sounds gross.

Let's revisit some highlights from the baking bonanza, shall we? Pretty white ingredients:

Are these peaks stiff enough for ya, Gourmet magazine??

(Prob not.) And let's take one more look at my casually scattered rosemary petals:
All in all, I really have Bon Appetempt to thank for my first from-scratch, non-mom-involved cake. Thanks, Bon Appetempt!