Monthly Archives: December 2008

Exotic, Warming Teas – Kashmiri Kahwa and Moroccan Mint Tea

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lashmiri kkawa and moroccan mint tea

Any south Indian family will know how to make and enjoy a good cup of coffee. The day always starts with a stainless steel tumbler full of strong, sweet, frothy coffee. But not in my family. Most my family are tea drinkers. Serious tea drinkers at that. Tea time at my grandmother’s house in India is an elaborate affair reminiscent of the British era. Every morning and evening, tea is carefully brewed and poured into a bone china tea pot with pink roses on it. A matching creamer with full fat milk, tea cups with saucers, little teaspoons and sugar are all placed on a tray. The tray is then ceremoniously placed on a teapoy before my grandmother. The tea is mixed, Marie biscuits are dunked and the slurping starts.

One day my grandmother offered a sip of tea to my 13 year old cousin, T. He loved it and wanted more. Then there was a great discussion whether a 13 year old boy should be drinking tea or not. But T had his way. And from that day on, my cousin had his daily tea, with his own little teapot, tray and teapoy. He is 35 now and still takes his tea with the same pomp and ritual.

Me…I’m not into 19th century teapoys or pretty British teapots. But I do have cute mugs and some great tea recipes that will be just perfect for a cold winter’s day.

 

Kashmiri Kahwa (makes 2 cups)

We use to live 3 doors away from a Kashmiri family. Every time we visited them they would offer us Kahwa (or Kehwa) – Kashmiri green tea spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, saffron and walnuts. The saffron gives the tea a beautiful golden, honey color. The walnuts impart a delightful buttery flavor.

Green Tea – 1 tsp (I used Chinese gunpowder tea)
Cloves – 2
Cardamom – 3
Cinnamon – 1/2 tsp powdered or 1 stick
Walnuts – 4
Saffron – a pinch
Sugar to taste
Water – 2 1/2 cups

Coarsely chop the walnuts. Using the back of a wooden spoon, lightly crush the cardamom, cloves and cinnamon stick, if using.

Place the water, crushed cardamom, cloves and cinnamon in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and gently boil the water for about 5 minutes. Then add the green tea. Immediately turn off the heat. Let the tea steep in the water for about 2 minutes. Stir in sugar. Strain the tea.

To serve, divide the walnuts and saffron and place in tea cups or mugs. Pour tea over the saffron and walnut pieces.

Moroccan Mint Tea
(makes 2 cups)

We first had this refreshing mint tea when we went to Morocco. The tea was ubiquitous – every home and every shop always served a glass. We were even offered mint tea in the middle of the sahara dessert!

Green Tea – 1 tsp (I used Chinese gunpowder tea)
Mint – about 5 sprigs
Sugar to taste
Water – 2 cups

Bring the water to a boil in a pot. Turn off heat and add the green tea. Let tea steep about 2 minutes. Add sugar and mix well. Strain the tea.

Place the mint sprigs in tea cups or mugs. You’ll need to use about 2 full sprigs of mint per medium sized cup/mug. This might seem like a lot of mint, but that’s what imparts flavor to the tea.

Pour hot tea over the mint and serve immediately.

Peppery Greens Soup with Pearl Couscous

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My friend V introduced me to pearl couscous. Last year, she made us a delicious, spicy dish with sauteed pearl couscous, cumin and crushed peanuts. That got me hooked onto these little chewy ‘pearls’. Also called Israeli couscous, pearl couscous is actually a pasta. I bought mine at Trader Joe’s and V told me its available at Whole Foods as well. I love its texture in soup and it cooks in under 10 minutes. In keeping with this weeks ‘easy cooking’ theme, I made a soup with lots of crushed peppercorns, spinach, kale and pearl couscous.

Peppery Greens Soup with Pearl Couscous
(about 6 servings)

Pearl Couscous – 1 1/4 cup, raw (or use any kind of small pasta – orzo, small shells or macaroni)
Frozen Spinach – a 10 oz package, thawed. (or use fresh spinach)
Kale or any kind of greens – 2 cups, chopped
Cannellini beans – 1 can
Onion – 1 large
Garlic – 4 cloves
Parsley – 1/2 cup chopped
Bay leaf – 1
Peppercorns – 1/2 tbsp
White wine – 1/4 cup
Vegetable stock or water – 10 cups
Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
Olive oil or butter – 2 tbsp

Place the peppercorns in a zip lock bag. Using a rolling pin, roughly crush the peppercorns. This method makes the soup peppery. If want your soup milder, throw in the peppercorns whole, and fish them out before serving.

Finely chop and onion , garlic and parsley. Chop or shred the kale.

Heat the olive oil or butter in a deep pot on medium heat. Add the bay leaf and crushed peppercorns. When the bay leaf is fragrant, about 30 seconds, add the onion. Saute till onions are soft. Then add the garlic and saute another 30 seconds. Increase heat to medium high. Add the parsley and pour in the white wine. Let the wine come to a boil. Now pour in 10 cups of water or stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 12 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, work on the pearl couscous. Heat a skillet on medium-low heat. Place the pearl couscous in the skillet (without any oil) and toast the couscous, stirring occasionally, till its slightly brown.

When the soup has simmered for 12 minutes, remove the lid and add the toasted couscous to the soup. Also add the chopped kale (if you are using a different kind of green, add it to the soup later, depending on its cooking time). Let the couscous boil in the soup for about 7-8 minutes. Check to see if its done – it must be cooked but chewy.

When couscous is done, stir in the spinach and cannellini beans. Turn off heat. Taste the soup and add salt and lemon juice.

To serve, spoon the soup into bowls. Drizzle each bowl with some olive oil. Top with chopped tomatoes, chopped green olives or grated Parmesan cheese.

Walnut Raisin Rice

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This is a simple, easy recipe. If you have cooked rice on hand (I did), this will only take a few minutes to put together. I am only now recovering from Thanksgiving cooking and eating. And we leave for Argentina on vacation next week. So I’m trying to keep my cooking this week simple.

Walnut Raisin Rice
(about 2 servings)

Cooked long grain rice – 2 cups, I used Basmati
Walnuts – a big handful
Raisins – 2 tbsp
Olive oil – 1 tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Salt – about 1 tsp
Pepper

Put the walnuts in a zip lock bag and crush them lightly using a rolling pin. Place the crushed walnuts in a pan and toast on medium heat till they are slightly browned. Be careful not to burn the nuts.

When the nuts are done, add all remaining ingredients to the pan and mix well.

Any combination of nuts and dried fruit will work in this recipe. Try toasted pine nuts or hazel nuts with chopped, dried apricots or figs. You could also use brown rice or packaged microwaveable rice. If you are boiling your own rice, make sure it is al dente and not mushy.

Cranberry Crumb Cake Minis

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Living in Virginia, I really enjoy the four seasons. They are so much more than just changing weather. The seasons signify mother earth’s cycles of renewal and replenishment. And cooking seasonally is a way of celebrating that. It is so easy to pick up the same old potatoes, carrots and tomatoes every time you go grocery shopping. But if you are thinking about cooking whats in season, you’ll discover all sorts of fruits and vegetables – rutabaga, dandelion greens, kohlrabi and so much more. Now, I’m not someone that cooks with seasonal produce all the time. I have no problem buying that unseasonal pineapple that traveled here all the way from Hawaii.

I picked up a beautiful packet of fresh cranberries at the market. Why consume cranberries that were canned or dried and packaged months ago when I can try them fresh and unprocessed?

I’ve never tried fresh cranberries before, but I wanted to use them in Ina Garten’s Blueberry Crumb cake recipe instead of the blueberries. It turned out perfectly. The cranberries were ruby red and had just the right amount of tartness. The crumb topping with butter and brown sugar was just magical.

I made a few changes to Ina’s recipe:
I cut the sugar in half – Ina’s recipes are fabulous, but always a bit too sweet for me
Used 1/2 cup cranberries instead of the 1 cup blueberries the recipe calls for
Used orange zest instead of lemon zest
If you use mini cheese cake pans or muffin pans, the cakes will cook in about 20 minutes (Ina’s recipe calls for 50 minutes baking time in a cake pan).

Ina’s original recipe is here.

I also decided to make the crumb cakes into crumb cake minis. I was itching to use the new Norpro Mini cheesecake pan that I won. Yes, I won it! The wonderful Mari, at Once upon a Plate Blog had a random drawing and I was one of three winners! Mari is a passionate cook and her blog is full of beautiful food. She sent me the mini cheesecake pan a few days ago and I decided to make the crumb cake in it. It turned out perfectly.

Thanks Mari!

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