Food Poem Fridays: Sylvia Plath's BLACKBERRYING

Blackberrying
by Sylvia Plath

Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries,

Blackberries on either side, though on the right mainly,

A blackberry alley, going down in hooks, and a sea

Somewhere at the end of it, heaving.

Blackberries

Big as the ball of my thumb, and dumb as eyes

Ebon in the hedges, fat

With blue-red juices.

These they squander on my fingers.

I had not asked for such a blood sisterhood; they must love me.

They accommodate themselves to my milkbottle, flattening their sides.

Overhead go the choughs in black, cacophonous flocks ---

Bits of burnt paper wheeling in a blown sky.

Theirs is the only voice, protesting, protesting.

I do not think the sea will appear at all.

The high, green meadows are glowing, as if lit from within.

I come to one bush of berries so ripe it is a bush of flies,

Hanging their bluegreen bellies and their wing panes in a Chinese screen.

The honey-feast of the berries has stunned them; they believe in heaven.

One more hook, and the berries and bushes end.

The only thing to come now is the sea.

From between two hills a sudden wind funnels at me,

Slapping its phantom laundry in my face.

These hills are too green and sweet to have tasted salt.

I follow the sheep path between them.

A last hook brings me

To the hills' northern face, and the face is orange rock

That looks out on nothing, nothing but a great space

Of white and pewter lights, and a din like silversmiths

Beating and beating at an intractable metal.

Recipe: Moroccan Mint Tea

I just returned from a trip to Casablanca, Morocco; Matemwe and Stone Town, Zanzibar; and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

In Casablanca everyone seems to be drinking thé à la menthe marocain all day. It's wonderful, and I could easily drink it all day, too. I saw shopkeepers making cups of it for other neighboring shopkeepers in the middle of the afternoon, and it was available everywhere and every time I had a meal.

Moroccan Mint Tea (Thé à la Menthe Marocain)

1 big bunch fresh mint leaves (remove from stems)

3 tsp green tea leaves (they seemed to be using Chinese gunpowder tea)

3 tbsp sweetener (I've been making it with raw turbinado sugar; Whole Foods makes it with agave syrup; in Morocco they were using white cane sugar)

~4 C water

Boil water. Add some hot water to the empty teapot and swish a few times to warm the teapot, then pour out the warming water. Put the mint leaves - reserving 4 for garnishing later - and the tea into the teapot, add the sweetener, pour the rest of the hot water over the leaves and sweetener, and muddle a little bit. Brew, covered, stirring once or twice, for 5 minutes. Pour the tea (through a strainer if necessary) into tea glasses to serve. Garnish with remaining mint leaves.

Food Poem Fridays: Paul Laurence Dunbar's WHEN DE CO'N PONE'S HOT

When de Co'n Pone's Hot
by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Dey is times in life when Nature
Seems to slip a cog an' go,
Jes' a-rattlin' down creation,
Lak an ocean's overflow;
When de worl' jes' stahts a-spinnin'
Lak a picaninny's top,
An' yo' cup o' joy is brimmin'
'Twell it seems about to slop,
An' you feel jes' lak a racah,
Dat is trainin' fu' to trot—
When yo' mammy says de blessin'
An' de co'n pone's hot.
When you set down at de table,
Kin' o' weary lak an' sad,
An' you 'se jes' a little tiahed
An' purhaps a little mad;
How yo' gloom tu'ns into gladness,
How yo' joy drives out de doubt
When de oven do' is opened,
An' de smell comes po'in' out;
Why, de 'lectric light o' Heaven
Seems to settle on de spot,
When yo' mammy says de blessin'
An' de co'n pone's hot.
When de cabbage pot is steamin'
An' de bacon good an' fat,
When de chittlins is a-sputter'n'
So's to show you whah dey's at;
Tek away yo' sody biscuit,
Tek away yo' cake an' pie,
Fu' de glory time is comin',
An' it's 'proachin' mighty nigh,
An' you want to jump an' hollah,
Dough you know you'd bettah not,
When yo' mammy says de blessin'
An' de co'n pone's hot.
I have hyeahd a' lots o' sermons,
An' I've hyeahd o' lots o' prayers,
An I've listened to some singin'
Dat has tuck me up de stairs
Of de Glory-Lan' an' set me
Jes' below de Mastah's th'one,
An' have lef' my hea't a-singin'
In a happy aftah tone;
But dem wu'ds so sweetly murmured
Seem to tech de softes' spot,
When my mammy says de blessin',
An' de co'n pone's hot.

Wild Edibles

Did you know that all of these edibles grow wild in Central Park, and that some people make a practice out of routinely foraging there for them and eating them?:

purslane 

dandelion

wood sorrel

lamb’s-quarter

Asiatic dayflower

poor man’s pepper

sassafras

field garlic... ?

Recipe: Lemon Rice

Lemon rice is my favorite accompaniment for any Indian-style fish dish or South Indian-style dish. It's also a great way to jazz up leftover rice.

My South Indian nanny (who is now quite old, but until very, very recently could still shimmy up a coconut tree) used to make this a lot when she lived with us when I was 6 or 7, and she wrote out a whole notebook of South Indian recipes for us before she went back to Bangalore (where she still works with the blind). When I went to college, I copied out into my own recipe notebook a number of my favorites from hers, including this one.

Lemon Rice for 4

2 cups cooked brown Basmati rice (start with 1 cup uncooked rice)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
3-4 curry leaves
2 chillies, either green chillies slit lengthwise or whole dried red chillies
1/4 cup roasted shredded coconut
1/4 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup roasted or deep fried chana dal
1/2 tsp turmeric
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt to taste
Optional: a handful of minced fresh cilantro (not traditional, but I like how cilantro brightens everything)

Heat the oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and chillies. Fry until the mustard seeds have all popped. Add the turmeric, remove from the heat, and toss into the cooked rice along with the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Recipe: Miang Kum Salad

In Thai cuisine, miang kum is a do-it-yourself appetizer. Spinach or other green leaves are brought in a stack to the table with little individual bowls of tamarind or chilli sauce, diced lime, dried shrimp, roasted peanuts, roasted shredded coconut, diced red onion or shallot, diced ginger, and sometimes minced chillies. You put as much of each filling as you want in your leaf, wrap it up, and pop it into your mouth.

On Saturday, I saw a dear friend and old roommate of mine who reminded me that I used to make a chopped salad with the miang kum ingredients when we lived together, and she asked me to post the recipe. So here it is!

Miang Kum Salad for 4-6

About 2 Cups spinach, finely chopped (other greens, such as young collards, would also work)

Thai chilli sauce to taste

1/4 Cup small dried shrimp

1/2 Cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

2 diced shallots (or half a red onion, diced)

a 2" piece ginger, peeled and very finely diced

1 lime, washed well, unpeeled and very finely diced

3/4 Cup toasted shredded coconut

Toss all of the ingredients together. Option - serve with lime wedges.

Diced ripe mango could be a sweet addition to this salad; diced green mango, a tart addition. For more heat, you could add finely sliced Thai chillies, with or without the seeds (leaving in the seeds is spicier).

What We Ate Last Night: Fish Tacos and Black Bean Salad

Last night, we had a light summery meal that took less than an hour to prepare:

Fish tacos - We had some nice, fresh halibut which I grilled, very simply, just with salt, pepper, and lime juice, and we put that into Ezekiel 4:9® Sprouted Whole Grain Flourless Tortillas warmed in the toaster oven, and topped each taco with shredded red cabbage and a fiery nectarine salsa I made from diced nectarines, some chopped scallion, lime juice, cilantro, salt, and about a quarter of a super hot habanero chilli blended with a bit of fresh tomato; and

Black bean salad - Basically, cooked black beans, diced mango, diced avocado, raw sweet corn kernels, diced red bell pepper, chopped scallions, and cilantro tossed together with lime juice, red chilli powder, salt, and coriander seed powder.

(I usually use diced red onion instead of scallions, but last night I only had scallions. Also, I had wanted to make some guacamole with the avocado, but it was not soft enough yet, so I diced it and added it to the black bean salad.)

We also made some passion-mango mojitos, with rum, passionfruit-mango juice, lime juice, and mint muddled in agave syrup, over ice. They came out super minty.

(We were so hungry, we descended on the food, and I forgot to take pictures of the food.)

Food Poem Fridays: I EAT MY PEAS WITH HONEY

I Eat My Peas with Honey
by Anonymous

I eat my peas with honey;
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.

Fasting

In response to a comment to a previous post, this is a post 

about fasting. I don't claim to be any kind of expert; this is just me trying to apply common sense and the sum of whatever I've gleaned about nutrition to sift through the contradictory information that's out there on this subject.

 

For transparency's sake, I'll start by saying:

-         I am generally biased against anything I perceive to be a fad diet popularized mainly as a means of losing weight. Nothing will ever come down the pike that beats eating appropriate portions of healthy foods and exercising, in my view.

 

-         I am generally biased towards cultural practices that have withstood the test of thousands of years, and culturally biased towards periodic fasting from growing up Hindu. Periodic fasting is definitely encouraged by Hindu spiritual teachers. Once I turned 18 or 20, Swamiji used to say, why don't you begin fasting once a month? I have never maintained that monthly practice, but many people in my community do. I will, however, fast on particular holidays, which amounts to a few times a year.

 

-         My definition of fasting: attempting not to consume anything caloric between sunrise and sunset – you're allowed water and tea (just brewed tea – no milk, no lemon), and if you're feeling extremely headachey around 4 o'clock, hypothetically, I wouldn't tell if you had a glass of diluted juice : ).

 

-         In discussing fasting, I am not talking about Gandhi's quasi-suicidal weeks-long fasts; we're talking a single day, not more than one a month. The month of Ramadan would be as far as I'd go in terms of condoning the practice, again favoring a somewhat tested cultural practice. 

-         The real reasons to fast periodically might very well mainly be cultural and religious, and that's perfectly ok too. We're human beings; we're bodies and spirit. There might occasionally be things we do for the sake of the spirit. (As long as we're healthy and not self-destructive.)

 

So, what's the sum of what we "know," whether from science or from cultural tradition?

 

-         People in many cultures have practiced periodic fasting for thousands of years.

 

-         From an evolutionary perspective, our food supply was not always so reliable, so we have probably evolved some coping mechanisms to deal with brief periods of scarcity.

 

-         Fasting can discipline the will to say no to food; over time, practicing periodic fasting might make choosing the right foods and rejecting the wrong ones easier. However, especially at first, people who try fasting find themselves gorging the next day. This is why fasting is an ineffective and even dangerous weight loss tool.

 -         Short-term fasting might train (healthy) cells to withstand stress better and might re-sensitize insulin-producing cells.  

o       When healthy cells are starved, the body enters into ketosis, or using up stores of glucose and burning fat, to keep your organs and brain functioning. Cells shift into a protective survival mode and activate cellular repair mechanisms. Understanding this mechanism has caused some experimental individuals to adopt a very aggressive calorie restricted diet in pursuit of longevity.

o       One of the mechanisms for acquiring type 2 diabetes is increasing insulin resistance. Giving the body a break from constant glucose exposure might re-sensitize insulin-producing cells.

 

Here's the great big "but":

-         The scientific evidence that periodic fasting is affirmatively healthful is mostly derived from studies on mice and rats. We don't really know if it works for us. Our brains are much bigger and much bigger consumers of glucose than most other animals, and each of our brain cells is sheathed in insulating fat.

 

Finally: You should definitely not attempt fasting:

-         if you've got liver or kidney problems (hepatic or renal insufficiency)

-         if you're immunocompromised

-         if you're on medication – even Tylenol

-         if you're pregnant

-         if you have a wasting disease or malnutrition

-         if you have a history of cardiac arrhythmia

-         if you're obese

-         if you have type 2 diabetes

-         etc.

 

 

So, to apply some of the above to what my commentator specifically asked about, the "Master Cleanse"...

 

The Master Cleanse is a "detox juice diet" that is supposed to "cleanse" harmful toxins from the body and cause the body to shed excess weight. It also supposedly ends cravings for habit-forming beverages like coffee and tea. While on the diet, you drink fresh lemonade with cayenne sweetened with a very unprocessed, pure maple syrup and eat no solid food, for 10-30 days. Constipation is an issue while on this liquid diet, so people also take laxative teas. 

To me – other than the claim about reducing dependence on caffeine, which makes sense simply because not consuming caffeinated beverages will have this effect – the Master Cleanse sounds like an extremely specious practice.  A fad diet.

 

Ten to 30 days is a very long time to go without proper nutrition. In fact, it seems to me that this "Master Cleanse" allows people essentially to fast for a very extended period, by providing a few calories, vitamins, and minerals via the lemonade. So you limp along in what's basically a fast by imbibing a little glucose and vitamin C.

 

Most physicians and scientists will tell you that the body does an excellent job of "detoxifying" itself: that's what our skin, lungs, kidneys, liver, spleen, and digestive system are for. Phytonutrients (from eating vegetables and fruits) can actually help us to "detoxify." Some toxins are stored in our fat cells, so activating the burning of those fats through short-term starvation might be one aspect of the "cleanse" that makes sense, but that is a very extreme way to do it, and there are healthier ways to activate fat burning (exercise, for instance, and more moderate calorie restriction).

 

A side effect of the Master Cleanse would be the decreasing of the populations of healthy gastrointestinal bacteria we live in symbiosis with. At the end of the "cleanse," when reintroducing food, you'd have to add probiotics to help repopulate your gut with healthy bacteria.

 

In fact, the best way to rid the body of pesticides, hormones, prescription drugs, chemical fertilizers, heavy metals, and other toxins is probably just to stop consuming them; follow a natural, healthy diet of mostly vegetable origin; and allow the body to do its job.

 

Then again, there are individuals who swear by the Master Cleanse, who claim it gave them permanent weight loss, increased energy, clear skin, better vision, decreased joint pain and so on. It's quite possible many of these people were eating quite a bit of junk before going on the "cleanse," so it might have been the absence of bad foods rather than the "cleanse" itself that helped. And there's always the placebo effect.

P.S. I don't even enjoy writing about dieting/the Master Cleanse... and definitely wouldn't put it into the genre of this blog. But I do enjoy receiving and responding to posted comments : )

Food Poem Fridays: Robert Haas's POEM WITH A CUCUMBER IN IT

At the brilliant suggestion of a veteran blogger friend of mine, henceforth, I shall post a poem (or short belle lettre) about food, every Friday (subject to feasibility and until supplies last).

POEM WITH A CUCUMBER IN IT

by Robert Haas

Sometimes from this hillside just after sunset

The rim of the sky takes on a tinge

Of the palest green, like the flesh of a cucumber

When you peel it carefully.

*

In Crete once, in the summer,

When it was still hot at midnight,

We sat in a taverna by the water

Watching the squid boats rocking in the moonlight,

Drinking retsina and eating salads

Of cool, chopped cucumber and yogurt and a little dill.

*

A hint of salt, something like starch, something

Like an attar of grasses or green leaves

On the tongue is the tongue

And the cucumber

Evolving toward each other.

*

Since cucumber is a word,

Cumber must have been a word,

Lost to us now, and even then,

For a person feeling encumbered,

It must have felt orderly and right-minded

To stand at a sink and slice a cucumber.

*

If you think I am going to make

A sexual joke in this poem,

you are mistaken.

*

In the old torment of the earth

When the fires were cooling and disposing themselves

Into granite and limestone and serpentine and shale,

It is possible to imagine that, under yellowish chemical clouds,

The molten froth, having burned long enough,

Was already dreaming of release,

And that the dream, dimly

But with increasing distinctness, took the form

Of water, and that it was then, still more dimly, that it imagined

The dark green skin and opal green flesh of cucumbers.

Alice's Gastronomical Adventures in Wonderland

What I love about blogging: it's like cross training for my brain - I find myself free associating; recalling things I haven't thought about in years; having creative insights (even if they're extremely banal or minor - I recognize that making pesto from left over parsley and lemons is not going to change the way we live in the 21st century - but it means something for me, whose day job is so... so left brain). Blogging recipes of the things we make at home actually makes me think of new things to do with what's in my cupboards - maybe because there's the added pressure of making something interesting enough to be photographed and blogged about.

Meta commentary aside... Over the weekend, I was reminded for some reason about all the food and drink that's featured in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and the lovely song about soup that the Mock Turtle sings, who in the 1999 made-for-television live action film is played by Gene Wilder, who lovingly sings, "Byooooootiful soup, byooootiful soup." If there is a better paean to soup, I am not aware of it.

Alice falls down the rabbit hole, finds the bottle labeled DRINK ME, drinks it, and shrinks; she eats the EAT ME cake, and grows. She finds a Caterpillar smoking a hookah sitting on a mushroom, one side of which will make her bigger if she eats from it, the other side of which will make her smaller. At the house with The Duchess, The Cook, The Baby, and The Duchess's Cheshire-Cat, a soup with too much pepper causes everyone to sneeze. Where does Alice go next? A Mad Tea Party! Then we have my favorite, the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon singing about some lovely soup in a tureen. The trial Alice attends is over the question of whether the Knave of Hearts stole the tarts. In one scene, there is even a Bread-and-Butterfly! And never forget the Walrus and the Carpenter, cunningly luring the oysters away and greedily slurping them down.

What does it all mean? Some say, Lewis Carroll's (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's) preoccupation with food was a reflection of Victorian society, in which many people were starving and malnourished and during which time (much like today) food prices were skyrocketing. Some textual evidence for this interpretation can be found in the scene with the Gnat, when Alice sees the Bread-and-Butterfly. She asks what it lives on, and the Gnat answers, weak tea with cream; Alice remarks that it must be often that the Bread-and-Butterfly can't find any such tea, and must often starve and die: even in the fantasy world of Wonderland, there is hunger, starvation, and death.

I am not sure there is much to be found in Alice-in-Wonderland by way of morals. There are many "dead ends" in the book, and chaos and meaninglessness more than anything seem to be the themes. The logic grown-ups are always teaching children to mind is turned upside down and flipped backwards. Many of the words themselves are nonsense - brillig as they might be. In answering the riddle of how a raven is like a writing desk with the response (paraphrased), "I haven't the slightest idea," I wonder if Carroll is telling us, This is truly meaningless nonsense. Then again Carroll once admitted he was open to any interpretations of his books, as even if he hadn't consciously intended any grand themes or morals, they might subconsciously have made their way in. 

Perhaps the lesson is, don't swallow everything you come across; think for yourself.

Recipe: Almond Apricot Buckle

Almond Apricot Buckle for 4

Vegetable oil spray (I used grapeseed oil spray)

1/4 cup ground almonds/almond meal/almond flour

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 Cup raw turbinado sugar

1/4 Cup dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 pound apricots, halved, pitted (I think a number of fruits would go well with this - plums, apricots, peaches, pears, apples...)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray cake pan with nonstick spray. (I used mini tart pans and very lightly sprayed them. Bon Appetit* recommends lining the bottom of the cake pan, if you're using that, with a parchment paper round.)

Mix ground almonds, flour, baking powder, and salt.

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugars; beat until well blended. Add egg, beating well. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts, then flour mixture until just incorporated. Transfer batter to prepared pan or mini tart pans; spread evenly. Gently press apricot halves, flesh side down, into batter (1 apricot half per mini tart pan if you're making mini buckles).

Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean (about 50 minutes in one cake pan; the mini tarts took about 20 minutes, I think). Cool on rack. Remove from pan (or pans) when cool.

*Adapted from almond-plum buckle recipe in Bon Appetit, July 2006.

Recipe: Lemon Almond Buttermilk Loaf

Lemon Almond Buttermilk Loaf for 3 to 4

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/6 teaspoon salt

1/6 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup raw turbinado sugar
1/4 cup (2/3 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/12 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup ground almonds/almond meal/almond flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest*
2 2/3 tbsp. agave syrup
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour loaf pan. (I used three mini loaf pans.) Sift flour, salt and baking soda into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat 2/3 cup sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Add egg, beating well. Mix in almond extract. Add dry ingredients and buttermilk to egg mixture, beating until well blended after each addition. Add ground almonds and lemon peel and beat 1 minute. Transfer batter to prepared pan (or pans, if you're using mini loaf pans). Bake cake until deep golden brown and cracked on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean (should be about 1 hour 25 minutes in a regular loaf pan; my mini-loaves took less than 40 minutes, I think). Cool cake in pan on rack.

Stir agave syrup and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in small bowl until dissolved together. Turn loaves out and right side up. Using skewer or toothpick, poke holes all over cake. Brush top and sides of cake with lemon glaze, allowing it to soak into the cake. Cool completely.

*I have to make a shout-out here: zesting citrus used to take me forever. This zesting tool has changed my life, and now I find myself routinely adding citrus zest to vinaigrettes, frozen goodies, veggies, seafood - pretty much anything I'm putting citrus juice into. Because the flavor imparted by zest comes from the oil in the citrus peel, it does not evaporate (that's why so many baking recipes call for zest). And the zesting tool does not peel away too much, so you don't get any of the bitter white pith.


Adapted from lemon-almond buttermilk loaf with balsamic strawberries recipe in Bon Appetit, April 1999.

Recipe: Raspberry Yogurt Cake

Raspberry Yogurt Cake for 3 to 4

2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour (keep 1/6 cup aside)

1/3 cup ground almonds/almond meal/almond flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch salt

1/3 cup (2/3 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup raw turbinado sugar

2 teaspoons fresh orange juice

2/3 teaspoon almond extract

1/3 teaspoon finely grated orange zest*

1 large egg

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 cup fresh raspberries (or any berries)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter cake pan. (I used a silicone mini muffin pan, which needs no butter.) Whisk flours (leaving 1/6 Cup aside), baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy. Beat in orange juice, almond extract, and orange peel. Add egg and beat. Mix in yogurt. Add dry ingredients to batter and beat until just incorporated. Toss 1/6 cup flour and raspberries in large bowl. Fold berry mixture into batter. Spoon batter into prepared pan (or mini muffin pan); smooth top. Bake cake until wooden skewer inserted near center comes out clean (about 1 hour 10 minutes in a regular cake pan; my mini muffins took 20 minutes or so, I think). Cool. Invert.

*I have to make a shout-out here: zesting citrus used to take me forever. This zesting tool has changed my life, and now I find myself routinely adding citrus zest to vinaigrettes, frozen goodies, veggies, seafood - pretty much anything I'm putting citrus juice into. Because the flavor imparted by zest comes from the oil in the citrus peel, it does not evaporate (that's why so many baking recipes call for zest). And the zesting tool does not peel away too much, so you don't get any of the bitter white pith.

Adapted from raspberry yogurt cake recipe in Bon Appetit, July 2008.

Tea for Two

Yesterday, I had a very small tea party with a close friend.

Tea sandwiches and tea cakes are deceptive; each is so small, it's no more than a couple of bites. So you can proceed very gradually, take a break, sip some tea; and before you know it, the two of you have consumed three platters worth of:

vegetable tikki sandwiches with two chutneys,
open-faced heirloom tomato sandwiches,
cantaloupe with tarragon,
matcha yogurt panna cotta with fraises des bois, mini apricot almond buckles,
mini raspberry yogurt cakes, and
little slices of lemon almond buttermilk loaf, plus
a pot full of masala chai, a pitcher of iced jasmine lemon tea, and two popsicles made from the iced tea.
And it's a lovely way to pass a Sunday afternoon : )

Recipe: Hariyali Tikkis

Making vegetable tikkis (patties) is a great way to use up left over vegetables. Tikkis can be served by themselves as an appetizer, with ketchup or chutney; made into tikki chaat (with chhole, yogurt, sev, and chutneys); or made into sandwiches, with chutneys spread on the bread - add a piece of lettuce and a slice of tomato if you like. (I love to layer the sandwich like this: slather pudina (cilantro-mint) and imli (tamarind) chutneys on the bread, add a slice of red onion, a slice of tomato, a leaf of lettuce, one tikki, and a hot-and-sweet pickled peppadew. Yum.)

Most vegetables will do: spinach, green peas, green beans, carrots, etc. You can even mix in cooked lentils. The main idea is to create a pan-fried or baked patty with some ginger-and-chilli-spiced cooked vegetables, using mashed potato and egg to bind. My mother makes fish tikkis, using boiled and seasoned fish in place of the vegetables; fish tikkis require a bit less potato, since fish itself has some binding ability. Another method is to stuff the mashed potato base of the tikki, like with cheese or ground meat. Basically, you can make all kinds of tikkis.

Hariyali Tikkis (makes enough tikkis for about 4 people as an appetizer)

1 Cup mixed vegetables, finely chopped/diced (e.g., 1/4 Cup peas, 1/4 Cup green beans, 1/4 Cup carrots, 1/4 Cup spinach)
1/2 a small red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 green chilli, minced
1/2 tsp. red chilli powder
1/2 tsp. amchur (dried mango powder)
1 tbsp. dhania (ground coriander seed)
2 tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
2 medium mashed potatoes
1-2 eggs
olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste
optional: corn meal or bread crumbs

Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion, ginger, and green chilli and stir-fry until the onion is translucent. Add the red chilli powder, amchur, and dhania and stir fry until fragrant. Add the mixed vegetables and stir-fry until just cooked, adding salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the heat and mix in the fresh cilantro. Transfer the vegetable mixture to a mixing bowl and add mashed potatoes, eggs, and additional salt and pepper. Using hands, knead everything together until well mixed. For each tikki, form a ball and press it into a patty about the diameter of a cracker. If you like crispier tikkis, dredge each in corn meal or bread crumbs. Heat 1/2 tsp. olive oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat, and pan-fry each tikki for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.

Recipe: Matcha Yogurt Panna Cotta

I'm having a tea party for two with a close friend and am remembering the tea jellies I had when I visited Japan several years ago. I tried recreating one to serve at my little tea party and came up with this take on yogurt panna cotta, which is not so much jelly-like as custard-y. (I think it will go over better; I think I'm somewhat unusual in enjoying the creamy jellies you get in Asia.) I'm still experimenting with a milky black tea jelly. I'll keep you posted.

Because it's vegetarian, I use agar (which growing up was known to me as "china grass") instead of gelatin. Agar (also called "agar agar") is a flavorless seaweed that gels and melts at slightly higher temperatures than gelatin. Just like gelatin, you have to soak it, dissolve it in a hot liquid (up to boiling), and then cool. Acid and the enzymes in tropical fruits like papaya and pineapple break agar down, so use more agar if you're making a citrus or other acidic jelly, and cook tropical fruits and juices before mixing them with agar. You can substitute one teaspoon of agar powder for a teaspoon of powdered gelatin, or 1 1/2 tablespoons of agar flakes.

Matcha Yogurt Panna Cotta for 4

2 Tbsp. water

2 tablespoons agar flakes (or 1 1/4 teaspoons powdered agar)

1/2 cup whipping cream

2-4 tbsp. sweet matcha* (depending on how sweet you like it)

1 cup plain yogurt (use a mild yogurt, without too much of a tang)

Pour water into small bowl and sprinkle the agar flakes into it. Let soak 10 minutes.

Bring cream and sweet matcha to simmer in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sweet matcha dissolves. Add agar mixture and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat. Whisk in yogurt.

Divide mixture among ramekins. Cover and chill overnight.

Optional (if you don't want to serve in the ramekins): Slip a knife around the edges of each panna cotta to loosen. Set each ramekin in a shallow bowl of hot water for 10 seconds. Immediately invert onto a plate.

*You could also just use unsweetened matcha and add your choice of sweetener to taste.

P.S. I have to make a plug for the cute custard spoons I picked up in Japan from Muji. Everywhere I went, these were given to me to use when I was served yogurt or custard, and the family we stayed with also used these, so finally I had to get them, too. Looks like they now have something similar at Sur La Table.