Sunday, April 30, 2017
Friday, April 28, 2017
Rizogalo (Greek Rice Pudding)
This is from a recipe by Kouzouna's Kitchen. The original recipe contained coconut milk, but as I had some regular milk opened, I used that, instead. I noticed that the website's other rice pudding recipe called for a cornstarch-milk mixture to thicken it; I decided to use that idea to thicken this pudding, as I didn't have quite enough rice. The pudding smelled heavenly, with the cinnamon stick cooked in it and the vanilla added at the end. Later, after it was cold, I tried some. This pudding was very thick and creamy, sweet but not too sweet. Awesome recipe!
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Boondi Raita
(Yogurt with Crunchy Chickpea Puffs)
The other day, at the Indian grocery store, I got some boondi for the very first time. They are crunchy little fried puffs of chickpea flour, and these were spiced. I wondered what I could do with them, and found recipes for this kind of raita. I made the simplest version: Put some yogurt in a bowl, and stir until smooth; add some boondi and mix in; scatter some boondi on top, and sprinkle on a bit ground cumin. As I was eating this with leftover cheelas from yesterday, I didn't think it needed any salt or additional seasoning. (For more information on the cheelas, you can see my recent post, if you like .) I really enjoyed this raita with my meal. I put some leftovers in the fridge, and I also liked it later in the day. Very simple and tasty!
Besan Aur Pyaz Ka Cheela
(North Indian Crepe-like Griddlecakes,
of Chickpea Flour & Onion)
This recipe, from Archana's Kitchen, includes chickpea/garbanzo bean flour, chopped onions and green bell peppers (capsicum), fennel seeds, salt, water, and cilantro. I sometimes find Besan Ka Cheela to be heavy, so after I mixed the flour with water, I left the batter on the counter for 3 hours to ferment (before mixing in the other ingredients). That did seem to lighten the batter.
As I didn't have any green chutney to accompany this, I used leftover Healthy Greek Spinach & Kale Dip instead. (You can see the post for that from a couple days ago, if you like.) After both sides of the cheela were cooked, I spread some dip on the one side, and then folded it over. Normally, I prefer my onions and peppers very well cooked, but here, I found that I liked the stronger flavor, mixed with the fennel seeds. I'm glad I tried this!
Tahini Carrot Appetizer
This is from a recipe of Heghineh's Kitchen. I peeled a 1-lb bag of carrots, cut them into chunks, and mixed them with some olive oil and coarse salt. (Maybe I didn't need the salt? I'm new to roasting veggies like this.) I roasted them on a parchment-lined baking sheet in a preheated 425 F oven, for 15 minutes; after stirring around the carrots, I put them back for another 10-15 minutes. I took them out, mixed them with Heghineh's tahini sauce, and then put them back in for another few minutes. After that, they were definitely done, and I tried them. Yummy! I really like all the different flavors that came together with the carrot.
Monday, April 24, 2017
Healthy Greek Spinach & Kale Dip
This is from a recipe by Kouzouna's Kitchen. I started out by slowly cooking 2 chopped onions in some olive oil. Next, in stages, I added to it, the 16 oz of fresh spinach and kale leaves from the box at the store. It took a while to get them all in, as I first had to wait for one batch to wilt before adding another. After it had cooled a little, I processed it in my mini-Cuisinart. I took half, and stashed it away in small containers for another time. The rest of the mixture became the dip.
As I have to be careful what I eat (which is why I process leafy greens like spinach), I did have to make some substitutions. I left out the Parmesan cheese, used creamy whole-milk yogurt instead of Greek yogurt, and used some leftover paneer (Indian cheese) instead of cream cheese. I put it away, and heated it in the oven the next day. Spectacular! It was so warm and comforting, whether with homemade pita chips or with the breadsticks from earlier.
Homemade Breadsticks
These are based on BrownEyedBaker's recipe for Copycat Pizza Hut Breadsticks. (I made these to go along with some homemade spinach-kale dip.) Now, as I had to modify the recipe -- I can't have dry-milk powder, instant yeast, or butter -- the breadsticks don't look like they're from Pizza Hut. However, as I didn't expect them to look exactly like that, I wasn't disappointed.
These breadsticks are fine, for me, as they resemble focaccia, which I enjoy munching on. If you can make the recipe as-is, with all the suggested ingredients, then I'm sure that would be delicious, too! Now at least I know a good method for making breadsticks, and can experiment with different doughs as well as trying this one again. Thanks, BrownEyedBaker!
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