The Fear of Yeast Breads

So as I mentioned in my last post, I actually made a yeast bread! I have had this perpetual fear of working with yeast for some reason. Maybe it's because I have read and heard so many other stories of breads falling flat, or for whatever reason yeast not doing it's job. However having spent the Easter long weekend with Matt's family, and bringing this fear up to his mom, the maker and baker of delicious potato rolls, she assured me that yeast is really not so scary. Her key, she said, was instead of heating the water or milk before dissolving the yeast to just let it sit at room temperature. That way the yeast would dissolve into the liquid rather than cook in it. And so that is what I did as I was making the recipe for cinnamon bun bread I found on Framed.
Her recipe calls for making the dough, plopping it into a square pan, swirling in the cinnamon, brown sugar crumble and popping it in the oven before letting it cool and drizzling icing all over it! I will tell you right now, this recipe is perfection. While I was worried that the bread might be too too sweet, it turned out it wasn't. Sweet and spongy, Matt and I ate it with coffee at breakfast and in the evening for dessert after dinner.
As someone who once ate cinnamon buns from Second Cup every weekday morning before work, I can tell you this recipe is really a nice alternative to a) spending the bucks to buy one and b) spending the time to make individual rolls. And if you are like me, and are scared to work with yeast, let this recipe be your first foray into the world of yeast breads, because it really is such a easy recipe (with absolutely no kneading required)! So make it. It's yummy.

Intimacy

I know, I know, it has been a long while. I can assure you that my lack of writing was not out of laziness. Nor was I not making or eating delicious and yummy food stuffs. School life sometimes takes over my fun life is all.
Now I only have one exam left to study for, and so today I had myself a nice day of rest. I made myself some vegan pancakes, adapted from Dreena Burton's Vive Le Vegan and sat down to some episodes of Lost on dvd. And then, out of no where, it hit me! I wanted to make my first attempt at baking a yeast bread. Right now I have a pan of cinnamon bun bread slowly rising in the oven, with sweet smells of brown sugar and cinnamon wafting through the kitchen. But that dear reader(s), will be for a future blog. Today instead I write of the delicious meal Matt and I shared last week.
I was walking home from downtown when I saw a man come out of Leslieville Cheese Market on Queen St. W. In his had was a beautiful, rustic looking baguette. I immediately walked into the shop and picked up a demi-baguette (since Matt and I often have a hard time eating the whole in one go). When I got home, out came the cheeses, pickles, mustards, pesto, extra-virgin olive oil and deli meat (for Matt). I rustled up a salad of baby greens, chickpeas, shallots and sun-dried tomatoes, with a dressing of extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice and chili pepper flakes as well. When Matt got home, we sat down and cut thick slices of baguette and topped them off with our favourite accompaniments. It's meals such as this that I relish the most. It is so much more of an intimate experience when one uses their hands to assemble meals. Each bite just tastes that much better. The sight, touch, smell and taste is in full force with each bite.
Sometimes I feel like knives and forks distance us from the full eating experience. Having grown up in a Bengali household, I'd always been raised to use my hands to eat. While I didn't realize it as a child, I've recently come to notice how much more I am able to appreciate each bite. I highly recommend it. While it may seem "uncivilized" to some, why not at least start by eating more hand held items like tacos, curry with naan, or falafel pitas just to ease yourself in?

Here's to more intimate eating experiences!

A Rush Taste Test

School has started and all I seem to be doing is sleeping and reading. However on top of that, I still work and am currently in the midst of editing a cookbook that a friend of mine is working on. Times are busy is what they are.
Today, I have to go to class. In about an hour in fact. But as I have recently purchased a litre of maple syrup from the farmer's market, I felt that it really had to be taste tested out. As such, I made some amazing maple walnut squares this afternoon.
As I said, I have to leave for class shortly, so I will leave you with the recipe and just tell you that they are ridiculously delicious! I adapted the recipe very slightly from it's original as well, so here is what I made.

Maple Walnut Squares (adapted from Foodland Ontario recipe):

base:
3/4 cup all purpose white flour
3/4 cup all purple whole wheat flour
1/4 light brown sugar
1/2 cup margerine

topping:
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 cup amber maple syrup
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tbsp all purpose white flour
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Stir together flour and sugar.
2. Cut in margerine and stir with a fork until mealy.
3. Press into an 11x7 inch pan. Bake at 325 F for 12 minutes.
4. While the base is baking, combine maple syrup and sugar in a small saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes. Let cool and set aside.
5. Once cool, pour over eggs, stirring constantly.
6. Stir in flour and vanilla.
7. Pour over base and sprinkle with nuts.
8. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes.
9. Let cool and cut into squares.

Fried Food. Glorious, Glorious Fried Food.

I'm still on a mission to make traditional Bangladeshi foods for my Iftar meals, however, since I was kind of on a role the last couple of weeks with my chola boot, chotpotti and piaju, I thought that I would make dishes that I could extend into my non-Ramadan repertoire. So, that's why last night, after having picked my first eggplant from the garden and having far too many beans to know what to do with them, I pulled out the cookbooks.
My mom has always liked eggplant. As a child, I hated it. Perhaps it was because she often made bharta out of it. Bharta is basically smoked, roasted eggplant, which once soft, is mashed. I firmly believe that it's not for everyone.
She did make another recipe, in which the eggplant is cut into 1-1 1/2 inch rounds. Making sure each round has been patted down to get rid of excess moisture, each round is then seasoned well with salt and pepper, rubbing it in well with your fingers. Then again, using your fingers to rub it in, tumeric is also added. Then each round is fried in a neutral oil on high heat. They are flipped two or three times until they are completely golden and cripsy on the outer edges.
That was what I made last night. Though I wasn't the biggest fan of them as a child, they tasted fantastic last night. The centres were nice and tender and full of flavour and the outer edges had a nice crisp to them.
As for the green beans, I have to say I find the whole steaming things a little boring. even after adding the butter. Thankfully I have my Madhur Jaffrey World Vegetarian cookbook, which is always good for giving me great ideas. I came upon a recipe called bengali-style green beans. Well, this was just perfect. I was a little wearly though as I read the entirity of the recipe. It called for grinding up two tablespoons of mustard seeds and soaking them in 3/4 cup of water and letting it sit for 30 minutes. As I cooked the green beans with some white onion, slivered green chili, salt and pepper, I was to add the mustard liquid, leaving behind the remaining mustard sludge. Now, I love mustard, especially the whole grainy types, but this just wasn't something I was used to. However, as the liquid cooked down, and the beans were served on a bed of white basmati rice, they were actually pretty fantastic. As Matt put it, "the mustard isn't overwhleming at all", which of course is what my fear was.
All of this was served with another dish of fried cauliflower, okra and potatoes. My mom makes a similar dish, in which she starts off with halved okra and diced potatoes and fries them until tender, seasoning them with turmeric and a few other spices. That is then added to some diced eggplant and everything is then stewed together with water, cloves and cinnamon. While I like that dish with the eggplant, I love that first initial process of the fried okra and potatoes. As I had some leftover cauliflower, I added that into the mix as while. On medium high heat, I added just enough oil to a non-stick skillet to coat the bottom. I started with the potatoes and some thinly sliced onion. Once that got going I added the cauliflower, broken into florets. After about five minutes I added the whole okra. I seasoned it all while whole cumin and mustard seeds, turmeric, coriander spice, salt and pepper. I cooked it until all the veggies had nice crisp edges and everything was nice and tender.

I know it seems like I've been cooking a lot of fried dishes as of late. It's probably because I have been. I guess Bengali's just really love fried food?

Iftar Meals

It's Ramadan. The time for Muslims around the world to take a look at their lives and reflect on the good and bad of the past year. During this time we all fast from sunrise to sunset without a drop of water, a piece of gum or a drag of a cigarette. While painstaking the first day or two, as your tummy grumbles and as your throat seems to close up each time you talk, it gets significantly easier.
For me, I make a more earnest effort to get together with my loved ones (though I know I should do this all the time) to share Iftar, the breaking of the fast.
I have also been making a more earnest effort to make traditional Bangladeshi Ramadan meals. This consists of piaju, a onion and lentil fritter, chola boot, which I have no idea what the English would be, but that they look like black chickpeas, shorbot, which is basically lemonade, and moori, which bares resemblence to Rice Krispies. I have never liked moori, so I'll just have to omit that out of my deshi Ramadan meal.
Making the above brings me closer to home. Since I don't have another Muslim to share my Iftar meals with on a regular basis, making such traditional dishes gives me that much more comfort.
The piaju was actually a lot easier than I had thought:

Piaju (adapted from my mother's recipe)

1 cup split red lentils (washed and picked through and soaked for five hours)
1 medium red or white onion, thinly sliced
1 green onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green chili, minced
1 inch piece ginger, minced
1-2 tablespoon besan (chickpea) flour
1-1 1/2 teaspoon each ground cumin and coriander

-ground lentils into a coarse meal
-mix meal together with all other ingredients
-heat vegetable oil, or other neutral oil in a heavy wok about 3 inches worth on medium-high
-using one tablespoon to scoop the mixture, push down on it with the back of a second spoon to form fritter
-gently using the second spoon, slide the fritter into the hot oil
-cook about 3 minutes per side until crispy and red in colour on each side
-using slotted spoon lift out and place on paper towel lined plate
-eat while still warm and crispy!



Another recipe, though not traditionally a Ramadan meal, is chotpotti. I've always felt chotpotti to be a little daunting. My mom gave me very specific steps in order to make this just right. I was forbidden to use pre-ground spices. I was told to use tamarind pulp that I was to soak and strain myself, etc. But the end result of the chickpea and potato dish which is topped with onions, cilantro, tomatoes and boiled egg turned out so perfect, so exactly like my mother's, that I couldn't fault her for being so precise in her instructions.



Chotpotti

1 can chickpeas
3 medium to large potatoes, boiled and peeled
4 tablespoons tamarind (found at Indian and Thai grocery stores)
2 teaspoons whole cumin seed
2 teaspoons whole coriander seed
3-4 dry red chilies
1 cup water
salt to taste
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 green chili, minced
2 teaspoons fresh cilantro, minced

-keep boiled potatoes in fridge until cool
-meanwhile soak about two tablespoons worth of tamarind pulp in about 1 cup of hot water
-in a clean, dry, heavy pan, on low heat roast the cumin, coriander and dry chilies until aromatic and then grind in a spice mill or with a mortar and pestal until finely ground; set aside
-using your hands loosen the tamarind within the water and then using a mesh sieve strain out the seeds and skins. You may have to add about a 1/4 cup more until all the pulp is free of the skins; set liquid aside after discarding skins and seeds
-once the potatoes have cooled cut them into uniform cubes, about the size of the chickpeas
-add the chickpeas, potatoes, spices (reserving 1/2 teaspoon), water and tamarind liquid into large, heavy pot and bring to a boil
-turn down heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until water has reduced, but very little liquid remains
-pour mixture into serving dish and arrange, onion, egg, green chili, tomato, and cilantro over top
-can be eaten warm or cold