Portuguese Sweet Bread: Baking Through the Bread Baker's Apprentice

Portuguese sweet bread? Yeah, I've never heard if it either. But, supposedly it's a thing, and according the Reinhart the east coast is the "center of the Portuguese sweet bread universe." I wonder what Portugal thinks of that. This is a large, fluffy, slightly sweet loaf, scented with lemon and orange extracts. It has a thick, deep brown crust and makes great toast in the morning. I also can't find the picture I took of the bread so go check out this one.

GENERAL NOTES
1. I used 9" pie plates, as Reinhart instructs, but my dough did not rise and overlap the edge as his instruction indicate. No matter. It still baked up just fine.
2. I baked for 50 mins. Any more and it would have been too dry, I think.

VEGAN NOTES
1. I replaced the powdered milk with powdered soy.
2. I replaced the eggs with an equal weight of soy yogurt.
3. I replaced the butter with margarine.
4. I replaced the egg wash with plain soy milk.

Homemade Mayonnaise & An Ode to my Grandma

For my birthday two years ago, my 91-year-old Grandma Ruth sent me, alongside a card with a very appreciated check, a jar of previously-opened mayonnaise. (It happens.) I would have been more shocked had I not recognized the jar. This jar of mayonnaise and I had history—it was an organic brand, and clearly, the one Matt and I had brought with us to the beach house for my family’s week-long beach vacation over a month earlier. At the time, I was in graduate school and living in Wilmington, North Carolina, and so, before meeting up with my family at the beach house about an hour away, Matt and I thought it would be nice to bring some groceries—the USPS-ed mayo had been part of this shopping trip.

It didn't take long to put the puzzle pieces together: I failed to pack the mayonnaise (or any other food product I'd brought) and take it home with me when leaving the beach house. So, like a pair of earrings I’d mistakenly left behind, the mayonnaise went home with Grandma for safekeeping. I thought I’d do you the courtesy of creating this Indiana Jones-style map to show you the path of this refrigerate-after-opening, preservative-free, three-dollar condiment.

Starting from Topsail Island, North Carolina, the mayonnaise went along with Mom and Grandma on the 11-hour drive—which they broke up into two days—back home to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where it must have hung out for awhile (most likely still in hot trunk of her car) as that would have been the end of the second week of August. Since my birthday is September 24th, and the package arrived September 26th, having been sent via regular mail through the U.S. Postal Service, I am estimating that, at best, it took two more days for it to make the journey back down to coastal, sweltering North Carolina.

Now, here’s the thing. I know that when you’re as old as my grandma is you sort of get a free pass when doing things that veer from the norm, but sending mayo through the mail is kind of par for the course for Grandma. She’s pretty notorious for her Depression-Era food hang-ups--to date, no one in my family has ever seen her throw a piece of food away. Also notorious is her reputation for making delicious food. She still makes the family’s Thanksgiving turkey each year, still works in the church kitchen and occasionally, when the dishwasher bails, still operates the church’s high-powered commercial dishwasher. Allow me to quote Grandma: “Well, they weren’t going to wash themselves."

Grandma doesn’t have Internet access so doesn’t read this blog, but when I first started it and began telling her about my culinary triumphs and failures, a steady influx of cooking-related items ranging from clipped newspaper recipes to 1990s-calendar-cat-tea towels to awesome, old-school cookbooks began arriving in my mailbox. A few months ago, she sent me her amazingly tattered copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

And the first recipe I thought appropriate to attempt, in honor of Grams, was Julia’s mayo. And since there are no pictures of the mayo in the book, alas, I cannot provide a “their version” shot, so I hope you’ll do me this one solid and let this picture of Grandma suffice:

I loved making my own mayonnaise. I loved that Mastering The Art refers to it as a sauce, an "egg yolk and oil sauce" to be exact. And I really loved the straightforward directions. Not only are they calming and reassuring with statements reminding you that mayo is simply oil beaten into eggs with a little lemon juice, but they're also playful. Within such a seemingly serious tome, I hadn't expected such moments of lightness. "After 1/3 to 1/2 cup of oil has been incorporated, the sauce will thicken into a very heavy cream and the crisis is over. The beating arm may rest a moment."

Julia and company were right. Halfway into my cup of oil, the crisis was over. I had done it. Hurrah! And what to do with fresh egg yolk and oil sauce? We made BLTs.

In short, thanks for all the mayo, Grandma—let's keep it coming!

5 Quick n Easy Snacks Under 15 mins

Raise your hands if you are not on the lookout for snacks recipes you can make in as little time as possible.

Yep, that's what I thought. I have a few of them in here. These are the top easy snacks recipes on Edible Garden.

All yours!

1. Bread Paneer Rolls

2. Scrambled Eggs with Mushrooms and Masala

3. Hummus (its a snack if you eat it with chips or bread, isn't it? no? yes?)

4. Masala Kuzhi Paniyaram

5. Marie Biscuit Chocolate Logs

Microwave Egg Cooker

Cute kitchen tings always gets my attention, even more than cute babies do (sorry parents!). If the cute kitchen thing can also cook eggs in the microwave, even better. 

What? Microwave Egg Cooker

Where? NTUC FairPrice

Price: SGD 2

The one I have has a base and a lid with few holes on the top, for steam to escape. 

Its very simple to use and although it says 20-30 seconds, in my microwave, it took closer to a minute. 

I wish I had a picture of the cooked egg, but will post soon, I promise. 

Ethakka Appam / Pazham Pori / Banana Fritters - A Kerala Snack Recipe

Ethakka appam / pazham pori, whatever its called, holds a special place in the cuisine of Kerala. Its a quintessential Malayali snack and you get to buy it in every restaurant, roadside snack carts, trains, hostel canteens, college cafes, you name it!


Yes, its deep friend, yes, its coated in all purpose flour, but its worth it and I want you to take my word on this.



The bananas used for Ethakka Appam is Ethappazham (the raw version of which, Ethakka, is used to make the famous Kerala banana chips!). It won't taste the same or as good if you use any other kind of banana. Its also called Nenthram Pazham but I can't seem to find a more representative English translation for Nenthram pazham except plaintain.

On to the how-to now.

Ethakka Appam / Pazham Pori Recipe
Serves 2 : About 8-10 pieces

Ingredients
1 Ethapazham / Nentham pazham / Ripe plaintain (the riper and blacker the skin, the better)
1 cup all purpose flour or maida
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
A pinch of turmeric powder
About 3/4 cup water (more or less)
Coconut oil to deep fry

How I Made It:



1. Place the flour in a wide bowl.



2. Add sugar, salt and baking soda. I used brown sugar but white sugar works perfect too.



3. Add about 1/2 cup water and adjust as you go, to make a batter that's slightly more watery than dosa batter. It shouldn't be too thin, otherwise, the appams will be too oily.



4. Add in a pinch of turmeric powder. This is only meant for the colour bit and doesn't change the taste or flavour in any way.

Some people add jeera to ethakka appam. I personally don't like biting into them but feel free to add it in if you want.



5. Cut the plaintain into half and then slice each half midway vertically. Further slice each of the quarters into 2-3 thin pieces. Dunk these into the batter.



6. Heat the coconut oil until its all bubbly. You have to use coconut oil for the authentic taste. Anything else is a blasphemy so don't tell me if you used vegetable oil or *shudder* olive oil.

I used a super small kadai so that I need only very little oil and that reduces wastage.



7. When the oil is just short of smoking hot, add in the banana pieces coated with the batter.



8. Fry until golden brown and drain on paper napkins.



9. Serve warm with tea.

The appams get soggy and the coating gets chewy and soft once cold so this is best served warm. But when I was a kid, I used to wait till it got cold and chewy :)

Your Clay Baker, Your BBQ, and You

Some people are a little baffled when it comes to vegan BBQ, but the truth is you can cook just about anything on a grill. One of my favourite thing to do is use clay bakeware to cook a variety of dishes. I love this little pig clay baker--perfect for potatoes. When you cook in a clay baker you can get rid of the aluminum foil and still get the same result. Pictured below are fingerling potatoes, tossed in a little olive oil, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
And here are some carrots, potatoes, and onions. Onions are a nice addition to any roasted vegetable since they come out very sweet and add great flavour.
And here is an Italian-style stew: veggies, white beans, and red wine, basted with a tomato sauce and baked without a lid in a high sided clay dish. If want to baste your veggies, make sure you use a warm liquid since adding something cold to hot clay will cause it to break.
The method is all pretty much the same. You toss the veggies in oil, then bake for about 40 mins, stirring the veggies regularly to keep them from burning to the bottom of the baker. You can use the lid or not. Keep the temperature at around 550 degrees, monitoring it with a thermometer like you see here.
And, of course, you can always grill some tofu.

spaghetti with lemon

It's been a crazy weekend. First the U.S. draw Slovenia 3 to 2. Then this bear shows up at our picnic table (super polite, but still). Then, we headed to Catalina Island to meet up with my family. Point being, time has been scarce, and so are the words in this post.

From John Pawson and Annie Bell's Living and Eating:

our version:

This meal could solve the world's problems?

Pawson and Bell write: "Deceptive in the innocence of its appearance, this is clean, sharp, and richly flavored with lemon and Parmesan. The cry is for a crisp green salad to follow." And how. I recommend arugula with a simple dressing of freshly-squeezed lemon juice, fresh lemon zest, olive oil, salt and pepper.

RECIPE:
serves 4

3/4 pound dried spaghetti
5 tablespoons white wine
finely grated zest of 3 lemons
3/4 cup heavy cream
juice of 1/2 lemon
3/12 ounces Grueyere or Emmental cheese, grated (1 cup)
sea salt
black pepper
Parmesan cheese, to serve

Bring a large pan of salted water to boil, add the spaghetti and stir to separate the strands. Cook until just tender. In the meantime, put the wine and lemon zest in a small saucepan, bring to boil and reduce by half.

Once the spaghetti is just tender, drain it into a colander, but not too thoroughly, then return it to the saucepan. Toss with the reduced wine mixture, the heavy cream, lemon juice and grated Gruyere or Emmental. Season liberally and cook over a high heat for a minute or two until the sauce thickens enough to coat the pasta. Serve right away, scattered with freshly grated Parmesan.

Heavenly Sesame Potatoes in Hot n Sweet Tomato Sauce

This recipe has probably spent the maximum number of days in my bookmarks. At the time I read this, I had just  moved to Singapore and didn't have a kitchen, let alone sesame oil and the rest of the ingredients this recipe requires. I finally made it a few weeks back and it was as yummy as I had imagined. Thank you Rajani for a keeper of a potato recipe that's both easy and delicious.

Heavenly Sesame Potatoes in Sweet Tomato Sauce
Adapted from: Rajani's EatWriteThink


Ingredients:
Serves: 2

2 large potatoes, cut into wedges (I used russet potatoes)
1 large onion, chopped fine
2 tomatoes, sliced into small pieces
1 small capsicum (or half of one), chopped fine
2 tsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar (white sugar is also fine)
1 tsp crushed garlic (or 1/2 tsp garlic paste)
1 tsp red chilly powder
2 tbsp gingelly / sesame oil (must use this oil)
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves or spring onions, for garnish

How I Made It:

1. Shallow fry the potato wedges in oil until golden brown. Set aside to drain on a kitchen napkin.

2. In the remaining oil, add the onions and garlic and fry until golden brown. Then add the chilly powder and fry for a minute. Then add the tomatoes and saute until soft and mushy.

3. Turn heat to high and add the soya sauce and sugar. Fry on high for a minute and lower to medium heat. Add the capsicum and salt and mix well. Remove from fire after about 3-5 minutes.

4. Spoon this sauce over the potatoes and serve warm with garnish.

Poolish Baguettes: Baking Through the Bread Baker's Apprentice

Reading Reinhart's description of this bread makes we want to visit Paris. But, alas! I don't think I will be doing that anytime soon (read: never). I am always amazed at how essentially the same ingredients (flour, water, yeast, salt) mixed in different proportions using different methods can make so many different kinds of bread. This is still a baguette, but it uses poolish instead of pate fermente. It also uses sifted wheat flour in an attempt to approximate clear flour. As Reinhart admits, we can't make our bread in "the magical environment of Paris," but this is still pretty good.

GENERAL NOTES
- none

VEGAN NOTES
- none

Beans Mezhukkupuratti / Stir Fried French Beans Recipe

What do you get when you lightly fry up any chopped vegetable and a paste of shallots and garlic in some oil and  add salt and some chilly powder? Mezhukkupuratti! Its a quintessential Kerala side dish, often made to complement a gravy that's coconut-rich (is it wrong that my mouth is watering as I type this?).

Anyway, this beans mezhukkupuratti is not just any mezhukkupuratti. This is Pennamma chechy's recipe. Pennamma chechy was my best friend's maid. Yeah, I will give you a minute to figure that out.

Ok so, Deepa, my BFF, had a maid called Pennamma chechy, a typical Catholic lady who cooked amazing Kerala food and each time I eat at Deepa's place, there's always mezhukkupuratti and its always always yummy. Once I asked her for the recipe and since then, I have never made mezhukkupuratti any other way.



Beans Mezhukkupuratti
Serves: 2

Ingredients:
1 cup French beans, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 small onion, thinly sliced (optional)
8-10 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp jeera / jeerakam
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
A pinch of turmeric
A few curry leaves
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds and jeera. When the seeds pop, add the onions (if using), beans and the curry leaves.

2. Lower fire to sim and stir fry the beans until almost cooked. This will take about 12-15 minutes.

3. Grind the shallots and garlic with the turmeric powder and add to the cooked beans. Increase the heat a bit and fry, stirring well, until the shallot-garlic paste is golden brown.

4. Add salt and chilly powder. Fry for another minute.



Serve hot with steamed rice and any coconut based gravy, like thella pulusu or theeyal.

annual bake sale part 2: sour cream apricot cupcakes with mascarpone frosting and toasted almonds

Our second offering at the No Cookie Left Behind Bake Sale was a batch of sour cream apricot cupcakes with mascarpone frosting, also from the Ming Makes Cupcakes roster.

Ming Makes Cupcakes' Version

our version:

These cupcakes were suh-weet, even if our final, deflated picture isn't. See, our second batch had a few duds (see above) and a few out-and-out casualties (see below).

Here's a tip I wish someone would've told me before making these: Make sure to fully cover the apricot filling with batter. If not, the filling may explode.

As for the bake sale, it was a super success!

Oh, look, there's Heather, one of the co-hosts/bakers now. Niiiice shirt, by the way, HBT!

 

OH and this year, there was a raffle. Whaa?! Amazing. In short, I love this bake sale. Thanks so much to all who organized!