Monthly Archives: November 2008

Masala Popcorn for Election Night

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When I was growing up in India, we went to Madras a lot. Like every big city, Madras has great food and spectacular restaurants. But the highlight for me was a street vendor selling masala popcorn. The popcorn machine and cart was (still is) outside the Nilgiris grocery store on Radhakrishnan Road. The popcorn machine constantly gurgled freshly popped corn, yellow from the turmeric and spices. While my mother shopped at Nilgiris, I would buy a dozen bags of Suri’s masala popcorn and pack it into the car. By the time we reached home I would have eaten half my popcorn stash. My tongue would be numb from all that coriander and turmeric, but I relished the salty, spicy goodness so much, I even ate the unpopped kernels. Till this day, I am obsessed about Suris popcorn. Every time I am in Madras, I will buy that wonderful, warm, freshly popped corn that smells of cumin and coriander. I couldn’t think of a better snack than this for election night. I know I’m a week late in posting this, but I was so caught up in election fever, I forgot to publish this post!

There are two ways to make this recipe – in the microwave or on the stove. I used the microwave method, because its quicker and that meant less time away from CNN on election night! But I prefer the stove top method; it is much more flavorful and tastes closer to Suri’s masala popcorn. Here are both methods:

Microwave Method

1 bag unpopped microwave popcorn, I used Orville Redenbacher Simply Salted
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder- 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder – 1/4 tsp
Paprika – 1/8 – 1/4 tsp

With a sharp knife, make a very tiny slit along the side fold of the popcorn bag. See the picture below. The slit must be near the middle of the length of the popcorn bag because this is where all the corn kernels are sitting. Dont make the slit any wider than the tip of your knife. Now, using a butter knife, carefully add all the spices into the popcorn bag through the slit.

Microwave the popcorn according to the instructions. About half way through, quickly shake the bag so that the spices are distributed evenly. Return to the microwave and finish popping. Be extremely cautious when taking the popcorn out of the microwave and while opening it. The slit on the side will be hot and steamy.

Stove Top Method

Popping corn (not the microwaveable kind) – 1/3 cup unpopped
Canola oil – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder – 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder – 1/4 tsp
Paprika – 1/8 – 1/4 tsp
Popcorn Salt

Place a heavy bottomed vessel with a lid on the stove. Heat the oil in the vessel. Add the popping corn and all spices (except salt) to the pot. Turn heat to medium/medium high and put the lid on the pot. When you hear the corn popping, turn down heat just a little. If you need to vent steam, crack the lid open a little.

The paprika will burn easily, so watch the popcorn at all times. When the popcorn is done, sprinkle salt on top while still hot. If you don’t have popcorn salt, make your own by grinding regular salt to a fine powder using a blender.

Cream of Fennel and Leek Soup

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When we went to Turkey, we frequented the bar at the Kybele hotel in Istanbul. The bar tender was a laid back, super friendly guy who even let me make my own drinks at the bar! One night, I wanted to try Raki – an anise/fennel flavored Turkish liquor. I took one sip of it and spat it out. It was terribly strong and tasted awful. “Women don’t like the taste of anise” said the bar tender. I believed him; after all I don’t like liquorice and didn’t like Raki. But all that changed when I first had fennel soup. I loved the light onion flavor of fennel. Fennel is also wonderfully bright, citrusy and mild. I saw a very nice recipe for fennel soup on the eatingclub vancouver blog. I liked that the recipe used white wine. So that’s what Ive done in my recipe as well to concentrate the flavors of the fennel and leeks.

Ingredients

Fennel – 1 bulb
Leeks – 1 stalk
Heavy Cream – 1/2 cup
Wine – 1/2 cup
Water – 3/4 cup
Olive oil – 1 tbsp
Salt – about 1 1/4 tsp
Pepper

Chop the fennel into rough pieces, don’t use the tough top green stalks. Reserve the fennel fronds for garnishing. Chop the leeks and clean them by soaking in cold water to remove the grit.

Heat a pot with olive oil. Add the fennel to the oil and saute for about 10 minutes. Then add the chopped leeks. Cook on medium another 3 minutes.

Add salt and pour in the wine. Increase the heat to high and let most the wine evaporate – about 2-3 minutes. Now pour in the water and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes or till the fennel is soft. Cool the mixture and puree into a smooth soup in a blender. Return to heat, when the soup is hot, turn off heat, stir in the cream and some cracked pepper. Garnish soup with fennel fronds.

Brown Rice Pilaf in Acorn Squash Bowls

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My entire neighborhood is ablaze with fall colors. Everything around me seems to be a brilliant, orange or red. There is no better time than now to bring out that Acorn squash that’s been sitting on my counter. Its the perfect shape and size to stuff with a fluffy, nutty brown rice that smells like the fall. But I’ve always wondered how squash got its name. Winter squashes especially are so hard, you cant exactly “squash” them! Then I discovered that the name comes from the native Indian word “Askutasquash” which means “eaten raw”. So here is my recipe for brown rice pilaf in askutasquash bowls :)

This is my entry to Culinary Bazaar’s blog event, A Worldy Epicurean’s Delight. This month’s theme is American food.

Ingredients

Acorn squash – 6
Brown rice – 1 cup
Vegetable stock or water – 1 3/4 cup
Onion – 1
Garlic – 4 cloves
Carrot – 1
Celery – 2 stalks
Water chestnut – 1/4 cup chopped. Substitute toasted walnuts.
Thyme – 1 tsp
Cinnamon powder – 1/4 tsp
All spice or clove powder – 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg – pinch
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Parsley chopped
Salt – about 1 1/2 tsp
Pepper
Olive oil or butter – 2 tbsp

Pre-heat oven to 400. Wash and dry the squash. Place on a kitchen towel and carefully cut the top off with a sharp knife like the picture below. I like to score the top first where I want to cut it. Then I make the deeper cuts to remove the cap. Trim some of the flesh off the cap. Scoop the seeds and fiber out. Drizzle a little olive oil on the inside of the squash, sprinkle with salt and pepper. If the squash is not stable, slice off a little from the bottom of the squash to make a stable base.

Pour a little water in an oven proof pan. Place the squash with lids on in the pan. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Check the squash half way through, if the water dries up, add a little more. If the tops are getting burnt, cover with foil. Squash is done when it is fork tender.

To prepare the rice, heat a skillet with olive oil. Chop the onion, carrot and celery finely. Add to the oil and saute for about a minute. Then add minced garlic and saute another 30 seconds. Add the rice, thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice/clove. Saute on medium heat for about 4 minutes. Pour in the vegetable stock or water, lemon juice, salt and pepper. If you are using stock, you’ll need less salt.

Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat, cover the pan and let the rice simmer for about 30 minutes or till cooked. Cooking time may vary depending on your rice.

Stir in the parsley and water chestnut/walnuts. To serve, spoon the rice into the acorn squash bowls. Scoop the squash along with rice to eat.

Spinach and Pinto Bean ‘Mole-chilada’

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A couple of months ago I went to a Mexican restaurant with my Colombian friend J. When he noticed on the menu that they serve mole, he leaned over and told me that Colombia invented mole, not Mexico. (Fact check: Mole is Mexican! read this). J then proceeded to harangue the wait staff about how Mole is actually Colombian and not Mexican. 15 minutes later, I was still hiding my face in the menu, the waiters were still staring at J, and J was unleashing his Mexican mole conspiracy on the entire restaurant.

I however, had greater problems that day. I couldn’t eat the mole. That’s because it is usually made with lard, meat and meat stock. Ever since then I’ve been wanting to make a vegetarian mole. 101 Cookbooks has a great, easy recipe for veggie mole here. Rick Bayless has a much more complex 30 ingredient recipe here (you can easily adapt this to be vegetarian). I wanted something in the middle – a spicy, complex sauce that doesn’t take 3 days to make. So I came up with this version. I’ve interpreted mole rather loosely in this recipe and used it as an enchilada sauce. The dish turned out great – I made 12 enchiladas and they were all gone (there was only 2 of us eating)! I like to put cheese inside and on top of the enchilada. And I love what the dark chocolate does to the sauce – it adds an incredible depth, aroma and silkiness.

Note: This recipe yields more sauce than you need. I like to make larger amounts of sauce and freeze it for another day.

Ingredients

For Tortillas

Fresh Spinach – a 10 oz bag
Pinto Beans – 1 can
Corn Tortillas – 12
Mozzarella cheese – 2 cups shredded
Goya Adobo seasoning or salt

For sauce

Tomato – 2
Onion – 1 small
Garlic – 3 cloves
Hot Red Chile – 3 tbsp (I used frozen hot red chile from New Mexico)
Chipotle chiles in Adobo sauce – 3 chiles
Ancho or Pasilla Chile – 1, optional
Cumin powder – 1/4 tsp
Goya Adobo Seasoning or salt – about 1/2 tbsp
Vegetable stock – 1 can
Bitter sweet chocolate chips – 2 tbsp, I used Ghirardelli
Bread – 1 slice
Peanuts roasted – 1 tbsp
Olive oil – 1 tbsp

Pre heat oven to 375. Chop the onion and tomatoes.

Boil a cup of water in a kettle. Cut the stem off the ancho chile, devein it and remove all seeds. Place the ancho chile on a flat non stick pan on medium heat, toast the chile about 20 seconds each side or just until it turns brown. Place the ancho in a bowl, pour the boiling water over and let it soak.

Heat a sauce pan with oil. Add the onion and saute till translucent. Then add the garlic, cook 30 seconds. Add chopped tomatoes, cumin powder and adobo seasoning or salt. Saute till the tomatoes break down.

Scoop the tomatoes mixture into a blender. To this add the peanuts, soaked ancho chile, bread slice and vegetable stock. Puree into a smooth sauce. Return the sauce to the pan and let it come to a boil. Then lower heat and simmer on low for 15 minutes. In the end, finish off the sauce by adding the chocolate chips and stirring well till the chocolate melts and incorporates into the sauce.

To make the enchiladas: Heat a large, hot non stick pan. Add the fresh spinach leaves with some adobo seasoning or salt. Toss the spinach till it just about wilts – about 1 minute. Drain the pinto beans well. Microwave the tortillas for about 20 seconds to make them soft. Spoon some sauce onto to bottom of a baking dish. Lay out a softened tortilla on your work surface. Spoon in some of the spinach, cheese and beans on a tortilla and roll it up tightly. Place it seam side down on the baking dish. Repeat for all tortillas.

Pour more sauce over the tortilla rolls. Top with more shredded cheese. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or till the cheese has melted.

Garnish with cilantro, lettuce shreds and red onions. Serve with guacamole and sour cream.

You will have left over sauce from this recipe; this will freeze well.

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