Bibbity Bobbity Bibimbap

Every Tuesday I arrive at kp, Vip, and M's urban hang suite for Gita Sutras with Rasanath Das, and then we make an easy, vegetarian, communal dinner.

Last week, it was this simple Korean brown rice and veggies bowl, or bibimbap.

With the brown rice in the rice cooker in the background, we chopped:
- a bunch of scallions (on the bias, into 1" pieces),
- about 10 shiitake mushrooms (minus the stems),
- a bunch of lacinato kale,
- two handfuls of snow peas,
- a couple handfuls of broccoli florets, and
- a yam (julienned, skin on) and
- a couple of carrots (also julienned).

(Sprouts, other types of mushrooms, other types of greens, some quickly pickled cucumber/daikon, etc., would also be great!)

We also got about 2" of ginger minced and ready, and kept a sliced avocado and about 1/3 C sesame seeds aside.

Vip fried 4 eggs, sunny side down, while we dry toasted the sesame seeds then set them aside, and sauteed (separately) each vegetable (except the carrots, which we left raw with a sprinkle of lemon juice) in a pan with 1/2 tbsp. olive oil and 1/2 tbsp. toasted sesame oil, 1/2 tsp. of the minced ginger, a few dashes of salt, and a couple pinches of our super hot red chilli powder, keeping each aside when done. (For the peapods and kale, we added a squeeze of lemon juice.)

When all the vegetables were sauteed, we stirred the toasted sesame seeds, a pinch of salt, and a dash of lemon juice into the cooked brown rice, then put a serving spoon of the rice mixture into each of our bowls, and topped the rice with a spoonful of each sauteed vegetable, sliced avocado, some carrots, and some Sunja's vegetarian kimchi, then topped each bowl with a fried egg, and each put in his/her own desired amount of hot sauce before mixing everything up!

Astonishingly simple chocolate mousse recipe

Courtesy of unwilling guest blogger Mr Bee:

Purchase ~200g of bittersweet chocolate (Callebaut ~70% cacao works for me — the better the chocolate, the better the mousse) and six eggs. Mr Bee is Aussie and so talks in metric equivalents; I think I used 0.48 lb chocolate or something like that.

- Beat egg whites in a bowl until firm
- Melt chocolate on low heat and mix into bowl with egg yolks (use bowl that you want to serve mousse in as this will be final bowl)
- Then fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate/yolk mixture using a wooden spoon (make sure it is wood)
- Put in fridge for 4-5 hours
- Optional: add a little fruit or sea salt, or even sesame seeds to give it a “sexy edge” (Mr Bee’s words)

Hazelnut, Sage, and Mushroom Stuffing

yield: Makes 8 servings

8 cups 1/2-inch cubes of firm bread such as a Pullman loaf (1 pound)
1 1/2 cups finely chopped shallots (about 8 medium; 10 ounces)
1 stick unsalted butter, divided
1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 1/2 cups finely chopped celery (from 3 ribs)
2 teaspoons chopped thyme
2 teaspoons finely chopped sage
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups hazelnuts (1/2 pound), toasted , any loose skins rubbed off in a kitchen towel, and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2-4 cups stock
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 400°F with racks in upper and lower thirds. Generously butter baking dish. Arrange bread in 1 layer in 2 large shallow baking pans and toast, switching position of pans halfway through baking, until golden and dry, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. (Leave oven on.) Bread cubes and hazelnuts can be toasted 2 days ahead and kept in sealed bags at room temperature.

Meanwhile, cook shallots in 1/2 stick butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 6 minutes. Add mushrooms, celery, thyme, sage, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid given off by mushrooms has evaporated and mushrooms are browned, 20 to 30 minutes. Add wine and deglaze skillet by boiling, stirring and scraping up any brown bits, until wine is reduced by about half, about 2 minutes. Transfer to bread in bowl.

Add hazelnuts and parsley and toss.

Whisk together stock, eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, then stir into bread mixture. Transfer to baking dish and dot top of stuffing with remaining 1/2 stick butter.

Bake, loosely covered with foil, in lower third of oven 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake until top is browned, about 15 minutes more.

(Stuffing, without hazelnuts and stock-and-egg mixture, can be assembled (but not baked), 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Stir in nuts and stock mixture, then proceed with recipe. Stuffing can be baked 6 hours ahead and chilled, uncovered, until cool, then loosely covered. Reheat, covered, in a 400°F oven until hot, about 30 minutes.)

Light Summer Meals: Salmon Niçoise and Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Chipotle-Honey Dressing

Ah, summer. You don't feel like spending a lot of time in a hot kitchen and you barely feel like eating anything remotely warm. The tomatoes are delicious and everything seems more colorful. So we have been having simple dinners, basically salads topped with fish or shrimp:


Salmon "Niçoise" - Salmon poached in a pandan-galangal-lemon broth, over Satur Farms mache and endive salad dressed in a blood orange-mustard vinaigrette, with a few russet potatoes, steamed baby asparagus (which we had saved frozen from spring), heirloom tomatoes from New Jersey, and crumbled hardboiled egg.



Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Chipotle-Honey Dressing (with grilled shrimp glazed with the same chipotle-honey dressing). The salad has diced radish, diced yellow and red bell peppers, diced red onion, diced fresh bicolor corn, and cilantro. I soaked the black-eyed peas in the morning so they would cook more quickly, and boiled them with salt, two bay leaves, and the two dried chipotle peppers that I then made a salad dressing/glaze with (chipotles, a whole head of fresh baby garlic cloves that I lightly roasted, honey, lime juice, salt, a little bit of olive oil and some brown rice vinegar, blended with a hand blender).

Recipe: Mini Cod Cakes with Harissa Ketchup

Mini Cod Cakes with Harissa Ketchup (makes about 36)
1/2 cup mayonnaise or fresh aioli
1 large egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (I used tarragon mustard)
3/4 teaspoon seafood seasoning (I used a mel ocean picked up from a little epicerie in Geneva)
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 lb cod
2 cups organic breadcrumbs or panko
Harissa ketchup
Optional Garnish: thinly sliced fresh cilantro

Bring 4 quarts water to boil with peppercorns to taste, a roughly chopped onion, a few bay leaves, and a lemon sliced into 4 or 5 pieces. Lower cod in inside a strainer such that you can pull it out free of the other ingredients in the water when it's cooked. Pull it out when cooked and let cool and drain.

Whisk together mayonnaise, egg, mustard, seasoning, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and Tabasco, then use your hands to mash in the cod when it's at room temperature. Add breadcrumbs to the mixture until you can feel that the mixture can be clumped together. (I think I added one or two tablespoons.)

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Put fresh breadcrumbs into a shallow dish. Form 1 heaping teaspoon cod mixture into a 1"-diameter ball, then gently roll in the breadcrumbs to cover and place onto a baking sheet sprayed with grapeseed oil and flatten lightly to form a little cake.

Bake cod cakes in batches in middle of oven until crisp and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool slightly and transfer to a platter and top each with about 1 teaspoon harissa ketchup. Garnish with cilantro, if you like.

Recipe: Gingerbread (Cake)

Gingerbread (Cake)

Oil spray (I have grapeseed)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I used apple-apricot sauce)
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 cup whole wheat flour or other whole grain flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup ground almonds / almond flour
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray baking pans (I used 4 mini-loaf pans, one regular size loaf pan, and a mini cake pan; I think it's a total of 12 Cups capacity) with oil spray. Whisk maple syrup, molasses, applesauce, oil and egg in large bowl to blend. Add the flours, ground ginger, and sugar and stir until well blended. Add the baking soda and salt and stir again. Whisk in 1/2 cup boiling water.

Pour the batter halfway up the sides of the baking pans.

Bake until the gingerbread begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 35 minutes.

Transfer to rack and cool in pans, 30 minutes.

Invert onto platter(s) and cool at least 15 minutes.

Recipe: Avgolemono

Avgolemono is a Greek egg-lemon-rice soup, a comfort food, which we had last night alongside a simple bread stuffing with apples, dried cranberries, celery, leeks, carrots and herbs, with cranberry chutney (which I always find myself craving a second round of shortly after Thanksgiving). Since the oven was hot, I also popped in some gingerbread.

Avgolemono might be an acquired taste, be forewarned.

Avgolemono for 4
1 quart vegetable stock
1 Cup uncooked brown basmati rice (that's what I used, because it's what I have, but any brown or white rice would do)
1/3 Cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 egg
a celery heart, including the leafy parts, chopped; or chopped fresh parsley, to taste; or dill, torn into bits, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Put the rice and stock into a soup pot. Bring to boil over high heat, then turn heat to low, cover, and let simmer until the rice is tender, about 15 minutes. While the rice is cooking, chop the celery heart or parsley or tear the dill into bits and divide it among four bowls. Beat the egg and lemon juice together in a small bowl. When the rice is done, turn off the heat, whisk a big ladleful of hot -- not boiling -- stock into the egg and lemon juice. Stir the egg-lemon-juice-stock mixture into the rice-stock mixture in the soup pot and continue stirring, for up to three minutes.* Season with salt and pepper to taste and ladle the soup into the bowls over the celery/parsley.

*If you are serving this to a small child or pregnant woman and concerned about properly pasteurizing the eggs, use a thermometer and make sure the egg mixture remains at 160 degrees Fahrenheit for three minutes, or use store-bought pasteurized eggs.

Recipe: Pumpkin Pancakes

Every fall we make pumpkin pancakes! They're yummy, spiced, taste wonderful with maple syrup and/or some diced apples softened in a pan with cinnamon and brown sugar, or made into little "sandwiches" with maple-tinged cream slathered between. Mmmm...

Pumpkin Pancakes for 4

One.

4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Two.
1 1/2 cups whole grain pancake mix of your choice (I like Pamela's) -OR-
1 cup whole wheat or buckwheat flour
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour or almond flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

Three.
1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Grapeseed, canola, or olive oil spray
Maple syrup

Whisk eggs vigorously in large bowl until fluffy. Whisk in the milk, pumpkin, butter, and vanilla to blend well. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture, whisking just until smooth (will be thick).

Spray a large (preferably nonstick) skillet or crepe pan with oil spray; heat over medium heat. Ladle batter into skillet (about 1/3 cup per pancake). Cook until bubbles form on surface of pancakes and bottoms are brown, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining batter, spraying oil between batches as needed.

Serve with syrup (and/or diced apple cooked until soft in a pan with a little cinnamon and brown sugar).

Recipe by Miz Paprika: Savory Sun-Dried Tomato Muffins

This is a Guest Blog Post by Miz Paprika! Enjoy : )

Hi all! Miz Masala asked me to share with you one of my new favorite recipes: savory muffins.

This is adapted from 101cookbooks.com, the incredible and beautiful website maintained by Heidi Swanson, author of “Super Natural Cooking.”

Savory muffins are great because they are 1) high protein and low carb and 2) incredibly portable, so I often take them with me for lunch or as a snack for the airplane when I’m traveling. Like most muffins, these take only one bowl to make and are incredibly easy to alter to fit your tastes. This recipe includes sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan, and basil, so they taste a bit like a very wholesome pizza, but you could easily do scallions and cheddar cheese, ham and gruyere, spinach-feta, or rosemary, garlic, and parmesan. Once you have this basic recipe, it’s very easy to experiment.

Savory Sun-Dried Tomato Muffins

1 cup cottage cheese (I use farmer’s cheese because it blends better, and I like the texture, but if you have some available and want to try this, make sure you add a little bit of milk to compensate for the dry texture of farmer’s cheese vs. cottage cheese)
¾ cup parmesan cheese
¼ cup flour (any kind will do, but I prefer to use all-purpose white flour or whole wheat pastry flour to cut the rough texture of the almond flour)

1 cup almonds, finely ground (you can use almond flour, if you have it available - I know Whole Foods sells it)

¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes (in oil) finely chopped
¼ cup fresh basil (finely chopped)
¼ cup water
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 °F. If you bake with any frequency at all (or even if you are an infrequent baker and want to try baking more), I highly highly recommend purchasing some silicone muffin pans. They changed my life : ). The muffins just slide out when they’re done and you don’t have to grease the pan or mess with those annoying paper cups. If you don’t have a silicone muffin pan yet, line a regular muffin pan with paper cups or grease the pan - just be careful to get it all the way up the sides and around any corners so the muffins don’t stick.

Combine all of the ingredients except ¼ cup of the parmesan in a bowl and mix all together by hand. Pour into your muffin pan and top each muffin with a sprinkling of the parmesan cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. I have never made it this long, but they should keep for a week.

Makes 9-12 muffins depending on the size of your pan.

Recipe: Egg Curry

Egg curry is simple, tasty, and can be eaten for breakfast or dinner.

Egg Curry for 2

Half a red onion, finely chopped

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 clove minced garlic

3/4" minced ginger

1 tbsp. ground cilantro seeds

1/2 tsp. hot red chilli powder

1 tsp. turmeric

4-6 small tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

2 oz. coconut milk

salt

4 hard boiled eggs, sliced

Brown rice peas pulao for 2

optional: curry leaves or fresh cilantro (but not both)

In a saucepan, over medium heat, simultaneously roast the cumin seed on one side of the pan while letting some of the water evaporate from the red onion on the other side. When the onion is a bit dry and the cumin seed is fragrant, add the olive oil, garlic, ginger, ground cilantro seed, hot red chilli powder, and turmeric and stir-fry until the garlic and ginger soften. (If you're adding curry leaves, add them at this point.) Add the tomatoes, salt to taste, stir, and turn the heat up until the mixture boils, then reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and let simmer, checking and stirring every now and then, until a bit of the oil separates from the tomato curry and the curry is thick. Stir in the coconut milk (and if you're adding fresh cilantro, stir that in, too).

Divide brown rice peas pulao between two bowls, top with two sliced eggs each, and top each with the tomato coconut curry.

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.

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.