Review: Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape

So, I guess it's time I wrote a review of the book that was the catalyst for this little project. Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape has something for everyone. It is the culinary chronicle of his tour through India in search of authentic Indian cooking. It's no spoiler to say that he found what he was looking for. The dishes in this book are indeed authentic. Mr. Ramsay must be congratulated for not "cheffing" up the recipes. They are largely presented as he learned them from the cooks (at street stalls and restaurants, homes and train cars, slums and five star hotels). Although he does make some modifications to allow for availability of ingredients and Western cooking facilities and techniques, he notes these. Some of the recipes are his own, inspired by his travels. Throughout the book, he has stayed as true as possible to the style and taste of the food he experienced. I thank him for that. The recipes are representative of most of the major regional styles and dishes of India. Korma, biryani, kofta, pakoras, kebabs, dals, raitas, chutneys, and more make their appearance. The recipes are easy to follow and the results are spectacular. The book is organized by category: starters and snacks, fish, poultry and meat, vegetarian, breads and rice, chutneys and accompaniments, sweets and drinks - and each section has its own contents page. Makes it very easy to find a specific item, or just explore in a particular section. Each section contains about 14-15 recipes. Because Mr. Ramsay has tried to include items representative of as many regions and cultures as possible, the recipes are not repetitive. Each has its own unique flavoring, texture, and style. Each one is its own adventure!
One could love the book just for the recipes, but the lavish photographs are a treat in and of themselves. Most of the recipes include a photograph so you can compare your results. The food photography is lovely and inviting. The travel photos and portraiture connect the food to the lives of the people who brought the world this magnificent and creative cuisine. Our children love to look through the book and are drawn to the photographs of the children. Kids love to see pictures of other kids, especially when those other kids live half a world away. It's fun for our kids to imagine that the children in the book just ate the same kind of rice that we just ate.
I know this will be one of my best-used cookbooks.

Seeds that remind me of Puppies

So, I have been interacting with spices lately. New and exciting spices. New spices that I have not cooked with before include mustard seeds, nigella seeds, and ajwain seeds. The mustard seeds, as you might imagine, add a bitter, tonic note. So good with soft cooked buttery cabbage and onions. I think I might do a double-up and try them with broccoli rabe. Look Out! Nigella seeds I am still trying to figure out. The flavor is a bit elusive and just out of reach, but that just adds to the thrill. I'll get you, little friend. The ajwain seeds, however, have a life of their own. They are the seeds that remind me of puppies. They are small and kind of stripped (you may not be able to tell this from the picture) and they kind of have little tails. They have a very strong flavor, kind of like thyme, but more. But here is the oddest part: when I eat them, they feel like a bunch of puppies jumping and playing in my mouth; I actually see puppies when I eat them. I'm not sure I like the flavor, but the sensation of seeing the puppies surely is intriguing.

Today, I made a quick sambar for dinner with some chapati. The sambar was based on a recipe in GR's Great Escape, but I was in a hurry, so I adapted the recipe for a fast getaway.

Quick Sambar

Cubed hard vegetables such as eggplant, zucchini, sweet potato, winter squash, carrots, etc.
1-2T olive or other oil or ghee
1t each fennel seeds, nigella seeds, and cumin seeds
1t turmuric and cayenne pepper
salt to taste
1/2 cup water mixed with 1 t tamarind concentrate

1/2 cup red lentils cooked in 1 cup water (or a bit more if it gets dry)

Chaunk
1t each fennel seeds, nigella seeds, and cumin seeds sauteed for a minute or two in 1T of butter or ghee

I cubed some eggplant, zucchini, and carrot and sauteed them in oil with fennel, nigella, and cumin seeds. I added some turmeric and cayenne pepper, and salt, then deglazed the pan with tamarind diluted with water and braised the veggies a bit. Meanwhile I had cooked up some red lentils and added them to the pan. Finished it with a chaunk (fennel, nigella, and cumin again, fried in butter). I made a couple chapati and had one with a small bowl of sambar for dinner. YUM. Go to the Manjula's Kitchen website on my links and watch her video for making chapati. She is just a delight.

Our friends Liz and Eben sent us a cookbook, Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible, to further inspire us on our project. Thanks! I haven't decided what to make from it yet. But it has an extensive introduction to the history of Indian food around the world. I need to sit down when I have the time and savor it.

That's all for now.

Veuve Clicquot Rose & Self-Study

It is almost 7 p.m. on Monday night. Lisa and I are starting a pilau rice; she is teaching me. As we wait for the rice to soak I'm enjoying a nice glass of Veuve rose and a day-old garam masala paratha (which I learned to make yesterday). There is something to be said not only for learning new things, but learning them with your partner. We've been married close to nine years. The bread is better a day older, the same is true for our relationship - we have always been insanely in tune with one-another - the cooking together is just adding to that.

It's Here! It's Here

My spice box arrived on Friday!! I went shopping at New India Sweets and Spices (on Fairfax just north of Pico) and stocked up on spices and dals. When I arrived home, my spice box had been delivered. (Thanks Amazon.com). I immediately filled it with often used spices. It makes cooking so easy. I leave it on the counter and my spices are all at hand when I need them. No more having to root through my spice cabinet and open each jar and shake out the spices. It's just inspiring!
Speaking of inspiring, we had a lovely Shabbat dinner, Indian version. I made a fabulous grilled snapper from Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape, some dosas, a simple chopped salad, a dal, leftover chutney, leftover rice and sweet potatoes. Our son was wild over the fish, even our daughter was interested in all the foods (although she is a bit more of a picky eater at this stage). It was a nice dinner for all.
So, we cooked up a storm on Sunday. I tried to make a quick candy, but I made it a bit too wet, so it still tastes good, but too sticky. Then I made a lovely yellow dal and a shredded carrot salad. All so easy to do. I also made some awesome dosas with honey and cinnamon. Then, Michael made some aloo paratha. He made them with a potato and pea filling, spiced with some oil-tempered garam masala. They turned out beautifully.
So here are some of the recipes and my notes.

Grilled snapper
Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape
4 red snapper fillets
lime wedges to serve

2tsp coriander seeds
2tsp fennel seeds
1tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1tsp sea salt
2tsp caster sugar
2tsp ground paprika
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

To make the spice paste, roast the coriander, fennel, and cumin seeds in a hot frying pan until they are fragrant. put the roasted seeds in a small bowl and add the remaining dry ingredients. then wisk in the lemon and oil. Rub the spice paste all over the fish and cook under a broiler.
I made mine on the barbeque grill, wrapped in parchment then in foil. It takes about 7-8 minutes.

Dosas
Dosas are a kind of Indian crepe usually made with rice and dal. Many of the recipes call for urad dal (the white inside of lovely black lentils) and white basmati rice. But I have discovered that you can use pretty much any type of lentil and any type of rice. I'll be experimenting further. I have used regular brown supermarket lentils with brown short grain rice; beluga lentils with basmati, and split mung dal with short grain brown rice. I have varied the proportions of rice to dal (most recipes call for twice the amount of rice as dal) up to half and half. They have all turned out great. Now, my dosas at this point are not quite the elegant affairs that I assume an experienced cook would turn out. But a bit more practice will help. In any event, they seem to be almost fool proof. If I undercook them a bit, that's OK, they taste good. If I overcook them a bit, that's OK, they are super crunchy and delicious. If I cook them just right, they are yummy. If I reheat them the next day, still good. So here is my latest version. Experiment for yourself with these super healthy treats.

Awesome dosas (my own recipe)

1/3 cup split mung dal
2/3 cup brown rice
1/2 - 1 tsp salt

Honey and cinnamon to taste

Soak the dal and rice in water for at least three hours but you can soak overnight or all day. Rinse the soaked dal and rice and place in a high speed blender (I have a Vita-Mix, can't live without it) with a few tablespoons of water and the salt and grind to a paste. Then trickle in up to a cup of water while running the blender, until you have a very creamy batter that is like a thin pancake batter. It should coat a spoon. Then, pour the batter into a two cup measuring cup and cover loosely with a napkin or towel. Now here's the cool part: you can let it ferment for a few hours or 24 hours, or you can use it right away. Fermenting it gives it a lighter sourdough kind of feel, but using it right away is good, too.
So, heat up a small or large non-stick omelete pan and lightly butter it with ghee or butter or coconut butter. Pour the batter to coat the pan like a crepe, very thin. Cook until the edges turn brown and start to curl up (if you try to flip it before it is cooked thoroughly, it will tear and stick). Then flip it and cook on the other side, you can add extra fat at this point (or not, see these are sooooo forgiving) Cook them until they are slightly pliable (if you want to use them like a tortilla) or cook them longer until they are almost crisp. When they are done, put them on a plate and fold them in half, or fourths, or roll them, or mold them around a small bowl or roll them around a tube or leave them flat. Whatever you like.
You can stuff them with a spiced potato mix, or peanut butter and jelly, or eat them with a fresh herb chutney or anything you want; or you can do what I did, drizzle some honey and sprinkle with cinnamon and roll them into thirds. Really you can't go wrong with these things!

Look at me! I'm puffed up!

Look at this yummy paratha in the midst of a good puff. I filled this whole wheat paratha with garlic mashed potatoes seasoned with chopped mint and basil. I think I will add cumin seeds next time to this recipe, but I love the combo of basil and mint.
I got my new cookbook yesterday, the classic Lord Krishna's Cuisine, the Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking. I had been wondering why I never saw basil used in any of the traditional Indian recipes that I have encountered. According to Lord Krishna's Cuisine, basil is widely grown in India, but it is used for devotional purposes (on altars and the like) and not for cooking. So, that was an interesting little tidbit of information.
I also made some spiced sweet potatoes and did the vegan version of the sesame cashew cookies (see yesterday's post and the recipe page). The vegan cookies, I must say, were quite good. They retained the subtle buttery taste from the combo of the cashew butter and sesame seeds. It's the cardamom that makes these cookies POP.
So, back to Lord Krishna's Cuisine. It is encyclopedic. 500 recipes and interesting information. I don't know why I waited so long (it came out in 1987), to add this to my collection. When I started this project, I realized I needed to get this book and I'm so glad I did. It is organized basically according to the various components of an Indian meal. Rice, breads, salads,chutneys, dals, raitas, etc. It also gives recommended accompaniments to each recipe so you can put a great meal together. At some point, I will put together a whole meals with 6-10 items. I'm working my way up to that. OK, enough from Lisa, here's what Michael has to say today.

Tonight was like the classic scene in the film Big Night. So many wonderful things to eat. Every time I finished one thing and though the meal was over I was awed by what came next. One exception for me though, the pineapple chutney. I love pineapple and associate it with a bright yellow; seeing it in brown bits is disorienting. I couldn't bring myself to try it yet; but, I will before the project is over. If Louie Prima sang about Indian food it would a little something like this "Hey mambo, mambo Indian-ano... "

Garlic mashed potato paratha with basil and mint

dough
1 cup whole wheat flour
1t salt
1/2 cup water (apx)
more flour for kneading

Potato filling
1 large russet potato
2 or more cloves of garlic
fresh basil and fresh mint to taste (2T or more of each)
1t cumin seeds

Oil for brushing


To make the dough combine the flour and salt and add enough water to make a stiff dough. Knead until soft and pliable( about 5 minutes). wrap in plastic wrap and put in fridge for at least 30 min. You can also make the dough ahead of time and keep in the fridge for a day or two.

To make the filling, cut the potato into quarters and boil in salted water until tender. When cool, take off most of the skin (or not, if you prefer) and place into a mixing bowl. Chop garlic and saute it in a bit of oil or ghee until fragrant but not browned. put it in the bowl with the potatoes. Fry the cumin seeds in a small bit of oil or ghee until fragrant (one minute should do it); into the bowl with the potatoes. mash the potatoes well with a masher, making sure to get out any large chunks. Do not let the potatoes get gummy, mask only until mostly smooth (Ok to have some texture). Mix in the chopped herbs.

To make the parathas, cut the dough into 8 pieces and roll each into balls. flatten each ball into a disk about 3 inches across. take some of the potato mixture and form into a ball about the same size as the dough balls. Place the potato ball into the center of the dough disc and pull up the sides of the dough around the filling to make completely surround the filling. This dough is so sturdy, that you can smoosh it together at the top to seal it. then, gently roll out the filled ball so that you have a flat circle about 6 inches across. Try not to tear the dough or it may not puff. I form all the balls first, and set them aside. While I am cooking one paratha, I roll out the next one.

To cook the parathas, heat a skillet (I use non-stick, but cast iron works nicely) until a drop of water dances on the surface. Place a filled, rolled paratha onto the skillet and cook until brown spots start to show on the bottom. Flip it. At this point it will start to puff (you can help it along by ever so gently pressing it with a spatula). brush the top with s bit of oil and flip again. Press down firmly with a spatula to ensure even cooking. Brush again with oil and flip and cook until you feel like it is done.

Repeat with the remaining parathas. Don't eat them all at once! STOP, save some for someone else! I mean it; don't eat that!

This Story Began With a Pair of Pants

Funny thing happened on the way home. I forgot to pick up the dry cleaning and was having a proverbial pants crisis which required a 7:40 run to the cleaners. The only potential upside to that was that, other than fresh pants, for some reason I was craving a mini-chocolate chip cookie. Not something I would normally eat but the Beverlywood bakery is right next to our cleaner. They were of course closed when I got there. I had my pants though. Today was hectic and I did not get the full run-down on what Lisa had made. Waiting in our kitchen was a wonderful cookie the kids had passed up; and which I'm assuming was not a reject that fell on the floor. The best cookie I ever had. And, I'm pretty as punch pleased I missed the one from the bakery. So thank you to Lisa, the kids, and my pants. Michael

COOOOOKIIIIIEEEEEE

Our adventure continues. One of the happy side effects of this project is that I feel more...motivated to do stuff. Don't really know why, but, one thing leads to another. Yesterday I decided to tackle my sadly neglected garden. I figure I can do one small section at a time and soon it will be back in shape. I'll post some of those pictures as well. I do use the tomatoes and herbs in the garden in my cooking so it is relevant, and our daughter has discovered that she likes marigolds, so I put some of those in, and, of course, marigolds are very Indian.
Speaking of our daughter, she likes to look at the pictures in GR's Great Escape cookbook (I'll review that soon and post it to the reviews page). Last night she came across a picture of cookies (she is a bit of a cookie monster) and she hinted that she would like me to make them. So, I did. WOW! They are so good. I'll post the recipe on the recipe page shortly. She pronounced them, "Good; Mommy, please, I want more cookies." Michael thinks they are the most awesome cookies he ever had. Our son liked them as well. I brewed up some masala chai and had two after lunch. What a treat. They are made with butter and eggs, but you could make them vegan by substituting cashew butter and maple syrup or agave nectar for the eggs, butter, and sugar. I also made them from a combo of wheat, barley, and oat flours, due to I am something of a whole grains goddess.
I also felt the need to make a chutney. Pineapple-currant. Again from GR's Great Escape. I used chipotle chilies, 'cause that is what I had and because I like them. Gave a nice smokey flavor to complement the sweet. Good with the leftover sweet potato parathas and tangy chickpea stew.

Lightly spiced sesame and cashew nut cookies
adapted from the recipe in Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape
3/4 cup mixed whole grain flours (wheat, barley, oat)
pinch of baking powder
pinch of sea salt
1/4 t. ground cardamom
2-3 T raw sesame seeds
3-4T unsalted butter
1/4 cup caster (superfine) sugar
1/2 egg beaten
1T milk
Mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cardamom and sesame seeds in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar, then add in the egg and milk. Fold in the dry ingredients to form a stiff dough. Drop the dough into walnut sized balls onto a baking sheet (I line mine with a Silpat) and leave room for them to expand. Flatten the balls and press a cashew onto the top of each. Bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes (keep an eye out so they don't burn).
Vegan option: Instead of the butter, eggs, sugar and milk, cream together 1/4 - 1/3 cup of raw cashew or almond butter (cashew butter gives a bit creamier feel) with 1/4 cup maple syrup or agave nectar. Blend in the dry ingredients and proceed as in the main recipe. Unless you are a committed vegan, make the dairy version first, because you really must taste these. You can also use all white flour to make these more delicate and light.

Today was a paratha day. I made sweet potato parathas based on a recipe in the Sundays at Moosewood Cookbook. I made six parathas. What's that? There are only four in the picture? Would you believe, I could only fit four on the plate? Would you believe I prefer, for artistic reasons, to only photograph items in groups of four? Would you believe four is my lucky number? OK, so I ate two before they could make it to the plate. These are so easy to make. About 1/2 cup of mashed sweet potatoes mixed with a bit of cinnamon, salt, and oil or ghee. Mix in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and then knead in as much barley flour as needed to make a lovely soft dough. After it is kneaded, let it rest 30 minutes then cut it into six pieces, roll each piece into a ball then roll into a circle. Brush oil or ghee on one side, fold in half, brush with more ghee and fold again, then roll out flat. Throw one into a hot omelette pan and let it cook until brown spots appear on the bottom, flip and cook some more. Brush with oil or ghee and flip again, brush with oil and flip one more time. The paratha should puff up on the second, third and fourth flips. Theoretically, you can put them on a rack to cool, but you can also eat them as soon as they are cooked and then lie about it.

Lisa's story
Ok, so I now realize that I don't really care for okra. I tried out a nice recipe and I think I did it correctly, but okra doesn't have a lot of flavor and it has a fibrous core. Oh, well, I will try out the same recipe with another vegetable. On the bright side, I made a tangy chickpea stew and some yummy pilau rice. Oh, so good. What can we say about this rice: it was amazing, you can put anything in it (Michael ate it for dinner with scrambled eggs).

I ate the leftover gluten free experimental breads from yesterday for breakfast. And I had the red lentil dal for lunch. I ordered a nice spice box from Amazon; should be here later this week.


Michael's story
OK, so when we used to live in Orange County the topic of Okra came up once. I told Lisa I didn't like it - it get's oily. Well, this followed me for 15 years. When Lisa found out G. Ramsay had an Okra recipe in his book and that he did not care much for Okra either this didn't do much to further my case. 15 years later, one failed tasting experience, and now I feel slightly redeemed. Okra is in my opinion "not good eats." You can quote me on that one.

Every Story Has a Great First Line

Michael has been shuttling back and forth from LA to Cambridge to study on a monthly basis for a year. We have another 7 months to go before graduation when we will all breath a collective sigh of relief at the amount of fossil fuels consumed to get him there and back, the expansion of the hole in the ozone layer I am holding him responsible for, and the end to our time away from each other when he travels to study.

While the food scene has vastly improved in the UK over the past 10 years, fine cuisine is still no-where near where it is on the Westside in Los Angeles, with one striking exception - Indian food. But, the Indian food in Cambridge - at least according to Michael - is often inconsistent, never truly authentic, and missing as our kids would say "the secret ingredient" (the are big Kung Ku Panda fans, but that is another story). None other than Gordon Ramsay has done a fine sabbatical to India in the question to learn how to cook truly authentic Indian food, including his beloved butter chicken. His journey is chronicled in the ever popular BBC series and a wonderful book Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape. We'll work our way through some of his recipes during the next year.

Looking for something to bring us closer together during our Cambridge venture and our lives in general when things have gotten more hectic than usual, we've given birth so to speak to this project - "Project Paratha" - a year long expedition of our own to cook Indian food at least once a day - expose our children to this fantastic diet - and see what we discover about ourselves along the way.

There is a great scene in the Billy Cyrstal movie Throw Mama from the Train where Billy talks about writing and notes that every great novel has a great first line. "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." "The night was moist?" etc. You get the picture. We thought, or at least Michael thought, the same was true for food blogs. A good blog needed a good name. "The seven deadly samosas?" "It's a wonderful Lentil?" "Kurma Confidential?" On and on the list went. Finally, concluding some things require an executive decision, and I was in the best position to make it, I sent Michael off to the park with the kids and the name Project Paratha and this project were truly born. I hope you enjoy following our journey!

I suppose the pictures accompanying our first post should be of parathas. Except we ate them before we could take pictures! so parathas will be featured on subsequent posts. Pictured here (top to bottom) are: 1) some kind of gluten-free roti that I made a mistake with the recipe but it turned out pretty good anyway thing; 2) Red lentil curry from Gordon Ramsay's book; and 3) Dosa (inspired by GR but made with brown lentils and short grain brown rice. We really started our adventure about two weeks ago when Michael brought back Great Escape from England. I made the Red Lentil Curry, Pilau Rice, and Sweet Potatos with panch phoran from that book, along with some aloo paratha (based on recipes from the website Manjula's Kitchen). It was fabulous and we all enjoyed the experience. Since then we have eaten Indian foods pretty much every day. I particularly like the Dosas with chutneys. Our son likes them, too, but with jelly or chocolate ganache. Like a crepe but different. Michael loves the aloo paratha that I make with potatoes, peas, chilies, spices, and cilantro. Our daughter likes to help make them. Michael says, "where ever we go, what ever we do, you need to make these." See you next time.