Onions: Use them or Lose them?

Why the fuss  about onions today?  I have been cooking extensively in the Vedic tradition, which does not typically use onion or garlic.  So, it had been several weeks since I had made a dish with onions, when I made a beetroot curry that I saw on VahRehVah (link at left).  The onions were optional but highly recommended.  My instinct was to leave them out, but I wanted to follow the recipe as given the first time I made it, so, I made the dish with the onions.  It tasted fantastic... at first.  But then I realized that the onions were actually overpowering the tastes of the beet and the subtle spicings.  Funny, when you cook without onions for a while, the taste comes on very strong when you do have them.

I first noticed that when I discovered Zen temple cooking a few years back.  Zen temple  cooking also does not use onions or garlic or related foods. Instead, it allows each ingredient to come to its full fruition.  A simple boiled carrot slice, then, becomes itself, to be enjoyed for all of its orangeness, grassy bitterness, sweet overtones, firm yet smooth bite.    

I think I may leave out the onions in the future and just let the tastes of the other ingredients develop themselves and shine.  My sense of onions is that, because they do have such a powerful taste, they can become a sort of crutch.  Need flavor? Add an onion.  After a while, you get used to the onion flavor and think that that is what all food tastes like.  You have forgotten that there are other flavor possibilities. 

Of course, onions, too, offer their own unique experience and health benefits. (Captain Cook ordered his crew to eat raw onions every day to prevent scurvy, as if they weren't smelly enough already).  I have certainly made dishes where the onion played its role, and was balanced with the rest of the dish.  Macrobiotic cooking, in particular, treats onions in such a way as to allow them to complement the dish without overwhelming it.

So, use them or lose them?  Use them, but rarely, and with restraint.  I'll make that beetroot curry again, hold the onions. 

Sorry no photos for this post.  My laptop is in the shop and I am using my barebones backup. 

Tofu Korma

Ok, so I took the Korma challenge.  Korma seems to be a traditionally meat dish, but I prefer, for various reasons, to keep primarily vegetarian.  There were plenty of vegetarian variations to be found on the internet.  Nevertheless, the most interesting korma recipe I found was in Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape and it was for lamb korma.  I liked the spicing of the recipe, so I just decided to make it with tofu and some veggies.  I had my garden fresh butternut squash sitting on the counter.  I purchased some green beans and got to work.  The results can be seen at left.  I made it kind of dry (don't really like soupy stuff) and it was so rich and redolent of cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves.  I also decided to skip the extra cream that the recipe calls for and just use 2% yoghurt, which is plenty rich for me, and keeps the dish healthy and easy to digest.  I used extra firm tofu (which has a consistency like paneer) and is loaded with protein.   This dish was so filling, but, as I said, not heavy.  So here is my recipe.  The proportions are approximate and you can vary the veggies and proportions as desired.  I made only a small amount, but the recipe scales up.

Tofu Korma
adapted from Lamb Korma in Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape.

1/2 package of extra firm tofu, cubed
1 cup of butternut squash, cubes and steamed lightly until just tender
1/2 cup of green beans, steamed lightly until just tender
2 green chilis,
2T almond meal
6 cashews
1 inch of ginger peeled and chopped
1/2 cup water to blend
2T vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
2 cardamom pods
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup yoghurt
1/2 cup water to blend
salt and pepper to taste
lemon wedges to serve

Toast the cashews a bit and set aside.  Then toast the almond meal and set aside to cool with the cashews (you can also use whole almonds, they will get ground up in the next step).  Place the cashews and almond in a blender with the chilis, ginger and 1/2 cup water and blend to a paste.  Mix in the yoghurt and 1/2 cup water and set aside.  In a large saute pan, heat the oil and saute the onions until they start to wilt.  Add the tofu and saute until the tofu just starts to turn golden.  Add the dry spices and toss for a minute, then add the yoghurt/nut mix and the steamed veggies and salt and pepper to taste.  Simmer lightly until the veggies are cooked tender (5 minutes or so).

Enjoy with some chapati and a squeeze of lemon.

Harvest Cooking

I have been doing some (not enough) cooking from fresh garden ingredients.  I used my radishes and swiss card and bell pepper to make the quinoa flax utthapam from Veg Inspirations.  I love healthy stuff. I made the batter from Usha's recipe (except I left out the cooked rice because I forgot to put it in).  It's been a bit cold here so it took a bit longer to ferment, but I was patient.  Then I sauteed my veggies and some black salt and mustard seeds and poured the batter on top.  This is exactly the opposite of how the recipe calls to make the dish, but the veggies I used definitely benefit from a quick saute.  The batter was pretty thick so I turned down the heat to low and covered the pan and let it cook slowly.  It turned out thick and hearty.  Mine came out thicker than the utthapam one might get at a restaurant and with a stronger flavor from the quinoa and brown rice.  But I like strong flavors, so that worked out OK for me.  Of course I ate it with coconut chutney.  It really is a meal in itself.
This morning, I made ... guess what... idli out of the batter.  No surprise that they came out great.  Took a bit longer to steam (about 20 minutes) than traditional idli. Of course I ate it with coconut chutney. 
I also make a nice coriander parsley chutney using a recipe from Manjula's Kitchen (Hari Chutney).  I have lots of parsley in the garden, so I did a half coriander half parsley chutney, but otherwise followed the recipe.  Came out great.  After I tasted it I went out to the back yard and sprinkled a packet of coriander seeds into a portion of a freshly dug bed.  Coriander is so easy to grow here, the perfect winter herb.  A few years ago I made the mistake of harvesting the seeds from our coriander while sitting on the lawn.  A month later and our lawn was sprouting coriander from the stray seeds.

I think I need to try something completely different from the things I have been cooking.  Not sure what that might be yet.  I haven't made a korma yet, so maybe...

Our New Friend Fish Tenga

There is something weird going on with our taste buds lately when it comes to fish. Lisa has made two of the most fantastic dishes back-to-back and while I have come as close to one can in terms of falling in love with a food, Lisa has not had quite the same reaction. I think it comes down to where your expectations are set. This adventure has raised the bar for us, maybe a little more for Lisa.

Fish tenga is a light and sour fish curry from northeast India. We used salmon for this with some tomatoes and potato. Thinking it over, we think we would have used sweet potato rather than a regular yellow potato. This was made based on a G. Ramsey recipe. There is a seemingly better recipe on healthy living India's web-site, which offers a spicy version of the dish.

http://www.healthylivingindia.org/2009/03/fish-tenga-recipe-spicy-tomato-fish.html

We will give this one a go and see if there is a desirable difference.

Cheers.

_____________________________________________________
Fish Tenga
from Gordon Ramsay's Great Escape

4 salmon steaks
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 tbsp of mustard oil
some coriander
2 green chillies (no seeds and chopped)
ginger to taste
5-6 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped - I would have gone with more garlic on this one)
1 tsp of ground tumeric
200 ml of H2O
1 large potato
4 tomatoes
Some fancy caster sugar as a way to pep this up, I don't think it needs it.

To cook:
Rub the steaks with salt and pepper, heat the oil in a pan and cook the steaks for about 2 minutes on each side. You will want to brown them.

The ingredients can be blended in a bowl or mixer and then used as a paste. You will want to add this mix to the fish and allow it to simmer for a bit with the tomatoes and potato added in (say 10-15 minutes).

A moment of haiku

I had a haiku moment last week.  Here is the poem that resulted:

An evening cloudburst!
That redtail is flying fast
Toward a patch of blue

Any literary types out there feel free to comment...gently.

I had another moment this morning.  I wanted coconut chutney, but really wanted something quick to make.  Thinking on my feet, as I do, I heated a tablespoon of oil in a saute pan and toasted a teaspoon or so of mustard seeds, then I threw in a half cup (or a little more) of shredded dried coconut and a quarter cup of soy flour.  Toasted that up and put it in a bowl.  chopped up one of my smokin' hot serranos, and mixed that in to the coconut with a bit of salt and a pinch of hing (asafetida).  Stirred in some yoghurt and enough water to make a pourable consistency.  Can I make a haiku out of that?  Let's see...


Coconut chutney
Do you think you can make it
In just three minutes?

OK, not bad.

I ate it with leftover quick oat idli.  What a good breakfast!
No pictures with this post.  Just use your inner eye to imagine the hawk flapping, flapping in the suddenly chilly rain, flying west to what it hopes is a dry warm tree.
Smell the toasted coconut, feel the heat of the chilis, hear the popping of the mustard seeds in the hot oil.  Taste the smooth yoghurt.

Tilapia, It's Not Just for Tax Shelters Anymore

Tilapia, a virtually boneless freshwater fish, historically was a great tax shelter vehicle. The housing structures could qualify for all types of government subsidies, including energy credits. Losses for the start-up years were also a sure thing, with plenty of delicate fish to go around for Southern Hush Puppies and Fried Fish bake diners. Not any more. The Federal government has generally clamped down on most of the tax benefits of farming Tilapia. And, as more chefs discover its versatility as a "non-fishy" fish staple, you'll see it in a host of different ethnic dishes. Tonight was one such occasion. Lisa had prepared a grilled spiced Talapia, the recipe for which you can find here under grilled snapper. Unlike prior attempts there was not pre-salting. There is a Seinfeld episode where Jerry goes to Poppy's restaurant and orders the duck which is "oh, so succulent." This was exactly the case here (without the horrid bathroom incident in the TV show - we wash our hands unlike Poppy).

So, we recommend you play around with Tilapia in some of your dishes (i.e. the cooking of it and not actually playing with the fish) and see where it takes you. We have one more piece left which probably won't make it past breakfast on Tuesday.

Cheers

Abondanza!

Abundance!  That's what we have in our garden this fall.  I trimmed the basil and parsley and there was a ton!  Several big radishes, two big butternut squashes and the swiss chard and okra are going strong and, HOORAY, my serrano peppers are smokin' hot.  So naturally I had to think of ways to use it.  I tried to make a basil chutney, but I'm not sure how I like it.  Made it with walnuts, lemon juice, serrano, and ginger.  Not the greatest, but maybe I'll pour it into some vegetable soup tomorrow.  The parsley on the other hand, that was good.  Now, I am into macrobiotic cooking and I have this favorite recipe for a tofu parsley sauce to serve over linguini that I am just addicted to.  So I took my inspiration from that and put threw some parsley, umeboshi paste (that's the macro B part), some salt and water to blend and blended gently until the parsley was just chopped fine (like a cilantro chutney).  Then I heated a good bit of olive oil and tempered some mustard seeds.  Stirred that into the parsley.  Interesting.  The parsley and umeboshi (which is salty and pungent) blend with the mellow olive oil and rich mustard seeds.  Nice with a plain papadam.  Should be good with a roti.

veggie utthapam

quick oat idli

radish and chard utthapam

macro parsley chutney

I also have been making some things from a lovely blog called Veg Inspirations (link at left).  Usha, the blogger, creates healthy innovative dishes that are just yummy.  I tried her quick oat idli.  Oh, boy.  In addition to being quick to make, with no fermentation required, they are toasty and filling, rich in healthy fiber, and just so cool.  I want to make her quinoa flaxseed utthapam this week.  I have been making utthapam this week as I fermented a nice urad dosa batter and have been using carrots, radishes, chard, and bell pepper (all except the carrots from my garden).  I love utthapam.  It's basically a thick dosa with vegetables cooked in.  So good.  Kind of like an Egg Fu Young without the egg.  I've got lots more to blog about but I need to wrap  this one up.  So, catch you on the next post.