Red Velvet Whoopie Pie

And here we have it.. another sandwich cookie. I was inspired to do a Whoopie Pie when I watched Bobby Flay take on a two woman team in a whoopie pie throwdown. The women were from Maine and I DON'T remember their names or their store, but their pies looked FANTASTIC. They had made pumpkin shaped and flavored cookies with a thick and fluffy white filling that had to have been at least 3/4 inch thick. I wanted to taste those cookies SO BADLY. But I couldn't, of course, because it was on TV and I was watching the showdown from my couch in NY. Oh well.

So what I decided to do was attempt a festive whoopie pie. I would have LOVED to do a pumpkin cookie, but that would have required a pumpkin puree, which I didn't have. So, red velvet is a nice flavor, and red is rather festive, so I based my recipe off of this blog post, which was festive for Valentine's Day (and maybe if I find my special someone I'll make them just like that... any takers? ;)). Here's my spin on the cookie:

Ingredients (for cookies)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. nutmeg
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract
1 Tbs. grounded coffee (I didn't use instant, but you probably can if you want to)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature - if you don't have buttermilk, do this: set aside just under 1/2 cup of milk and about a tablespoon of white vinegar, let sit for a few minutes, and then it's ready to use
red food coloring

Ingredients (for filling)
2 Tbs. pure vanilla extract
1 stick butter
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
2.5 (or as much as you need) cups confectioner's sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Prepare wet ingredients in a bowl: beat an egg and whisk in the pure vanilla extract, light brown sugar, buttermilk, butter (I melt it completely in the microwave before adding it), and red food coloring.

3. Prepare dry ingredients in a separate bowl: sift flour and add cocoa powder, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and coffee. Whisk them all together.

4. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you have an even consistency and all have been incorporated.

5. Prepare a cookie sheet for the oven. I like it with a piece of aluminum foil and cooking spray. Use ~2 Tbs. of the batter for each cookie. Make them round, not flat, but not spherical either. Use your thumb or something to even out the surface.

6. Leave in oven for 7-9 minutes. My cookies took exactly 8 each time.
7. Set aside the cookies to cool.
8. Prepare the filling. Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and pure vanilla extract. Once you've done that, sift in your confectioner's sugar, adding small amounts at a time, until the mixture is fluffy and yummy to the taste.
9. Let both mixtures cool for a while. Then, make your sandwiches! If I need to explain how to make a sandwich then please leave. There is only so much I can do.

Indian Samosas - a historical and instructional lesson

So, yesterday my mother and I made a trip to a really nice Italian supermarket called Meat Farms. To all me Lawn Guylanders out there, it's on 347 headed eastbound, probably in Smithtown. Anyhoo. I was so amazed by the selection of vegetables and fruits and also painfully reminded of my culinary shortcomings. There were far more unfamiliar than familiar vegetables, fruits, and meats and poultries, and I vowed to do a better job experimenting with and studying foods that are foreign to me. I think I'll start by researching the ingredients I already use.

Samosas are a popular snack in India, and are sort of like Jewish potato knishes. They usually make a great vegetarian appetizer, but really you can add whatever you feel like to it. They are a very customizable recipe. It generally consists of a fried or baked triangular, semi-lunar or tetrahedral pastry shell with a savory filling, which may include spiced potatoes, onions, peas, coriander, and lentils, or ground beef or chicken. The size and shape of a samosa as well as the consistency of the pastry used can vary considerably, although it is mostly triangular.

Ingredients you will find are the triumvirate of Indian spices: the garam masala powder, the coriander powder, and the red chili powder. Turmeric is used, but I don't use it in most of my Indian dishes so I won't categorize it as such. You will also see cumin seeds, and sometimes cumin powder is used as part of that "triumvirate," but the addition of a fourth spice to the triumvirate would have to make me find a new word, so I shall not. :)

Here are some quotes from Wikipedia about the spices (bc I don't feel like being original right now and typing them all out to make something that sounds cohesive and sensible):
The word garam refers to spice intensity, not heat; garam masala is pungent, but not "hot" in the same way as a chili pepper. Garam masala is actually a mixture of different spices that are added to many Indian dishes. Typically, garam masala includes cumin, coriander, cardamom, black pepper and cinnamon, but may also included nutmeg or bay leaves, depending on whether meat, fish or vegetables are being cooked.

Turmeric, a bright yellow-orange root, is ground into a powder and used in countless Indian dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian varieties. Perhaps the most well-known use is for curry, as turmeric is what gives the dish its bright yellow color.




SAMOSAS!
Ingredients:
Egg roll wrappers
Potatoes
Turmeric
Red Chili powder
Coriander powder
Garam masala
Cashew nuts
Cilantro
Ginger
Garlic
Cumin seeds
Extra virgin olive oil

1. Boil those potatoes. Dice them and place them in a pot of boiling water with salt and olive oil. They have cooked when you can stick a fork through the potatoes and they break.

2. Once they've cooked, bring out a skillet. Heat up oil, then add minced ginger, minced garlic, and the cumin seeds. DO NOT LET THEM BURN.

3. Before the oil-flavoring ingredients can burn, add the cashew nuts and turmeric. Roast them a bit.

4. Add potatoes, garam masala, red chili powder, coriander powder, salt, and pepper. Stir fry a bit. Since your potatoes are diced, you'll want to mash them up somehow. I almost think it was a failure on my part: I probably should have used a ricer before I added the potatoes to the pan. But I didn't. Instead I kept adding water to help me mash up the potatoes in the skillet with my spatula. I ended up having a pretty lumpy and uneven consistency, with many traces of white potato that hadn't reached the spices. Use a ricer. I'll do that next time.
5. Last but not least, the cilantro. Add it once the potatoes have cooked.


6. Heat up canola oil in a saucepan. I don't use an oil thermometer, so I can't really tell you how hot it should be. Anyway. While you are doing that you should be preparing the egg roll wrappers. I recommend watching from 5:29-6:26 of Vahrehvah's samosa YouTube video (I also took his recipe to do this) to learn how.


7. Fry them up! Add the samosas to the hot oil until they turn a nice golden brown. Then eat 'em. Yummilicious.

No-yeast Naan(ish) Bread

This recipe makes about 6 decent size pieces of bread. Yummy. I took this recipe from somewhere and didn't like it. Then I changed it to my preferences and now it's delicious!

Ingredients
2.5 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 egg
1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup yogurt
1 Tbs. EVOO
pinch of salt
sesame seeds (optional)


Prepare oven at 450 degrees for "broil." I actually don't know what that means.

Prepare ingredients. Wet and dry ingredients in two separate bowls. "Dry" ingredients include the flour, baking powder and soda, and the pinch of salt.


"Wet" ingredients include the egg (beat it), milk, yogurt, EVOO, pure vanilla extract and also add the sugar. Mix in two separate bowls.

Then, bring the wet ingredients into the dry. Knead everything together to make a ball of dough.


Chop out pieces of the dough, depending on your size preference, and using flour and a roller, make thin roundish pieces. Once you've flattened out your pieces, drizzle some sesame seeds and press them down slightly so you know they're secure.

In the oven they go! It really does not take a long time for these to cook. I like to let it brown on one side and then flip it for just a minute or so. They do, however, NEED to flip once. Honestly it takes like 5 minutes so you better watch the oven here.

^^^This is what happens when you do a crappy job rolling out your dough. Yummy and crunchy, but ugly.

^^^This is what happens when you do a good job rolling out your dough. Yummy, crunchy, and pretty. Do this.

EAT WITH BUTTER! AS PART OF AN INDIAN DISH! YAAAHHH

Vegan Rice Pudding

This recipe is vegan not because I'm vegan, but because the ingredients I chose to use were healthier and they just so happened to be non-dairy. Again, starting up with the guesstimates of ingredients:

Almond milk, a lot
1 can coconut milk
3 cups Basmati rice
~1/2 cup sugar
Pure vanilla extract

1. Prepare the rice by cooking it fully in your standard boiling water and pot.

2. Meanwhile, heat up the almond milk and coconut milk in a separate saucepan. Make sure the size of the pan you choose is enough for both the milks and the rice.

3. When the rice is done cooking, use a strainer to remove it from the pot and transfer it to the saucepan.

4. You have to wait a while here. Like really like 45 minutes. The pudding will thicken up and the consistency will feel less like a soup as you stir.


5. Once you've reached your desired consistency, either eat the pudding warm (I like to serve with plumped up raisins and cinnamon) or cold (after refrigeration). I really don't recommend a middle ground here: room temperature rice pudding is nastyyyyy.

Banana Fritters

Took this from a Food Network magazine and changed it up a bit. Mmmmmmmm.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup corn starch
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 banana
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (plus more for frying)
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
confectioner's sugar (for bedazzling)

Directions:
1. Heat up at least 2 inches of canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 375 degrees F.
2. Prepare the batter. I always do the wet ingredients with sugar separately from the dry ingredients, and then add them together. So do that. The bowl you use for the wet ingredients should be large enough to house all of the ingredients. Wet ingredients = egg (beat it), banana (mash it in there to an even consistency), milk, pure vanilla extract, vegetable oil, + sugar and brown sugar. Dry ingredients = all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, corn starch, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.


3. Use an ice-cream scooper spoon to add the batter to the oil. Turn the fritters in the oil so they cook evenly about. The shape should be spherical, but it never works out that way, so don't worry if that doesn't happen. Let sit for as long as necessary until the fritters have browned and cooked evenly.

4. Remove the fritters with a slotted spoon and place them a paper towel-lined plate so the excess oil can be absorbed. They sort of look like baby chickens, right? Don't worry... they don't taste like chicken. If you like chicken, I am so sorry for you, but this is not the right recipe for you.

4. Place on a plate and sprinkle confectioner's sugar for extra yumminess!

Carrot-Pecan-Craisin Bread

Ingredients:
2 carrots, diced
3 handfuls of pecans
2 handfuls of Craisins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable. oil
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in the sugar, brown sugar, pure vanilla extract, milk, and vegetable oil.
2. In a separate bowl, sift in flour, corn starch, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Mix with a spoon until the color is consistent throughout.
3. To the wet ingredients from step 1, slowly whisk in the dry ingredients until all have been incorporated.
4. Place the carrots and pecans in a blender or food processor. If you want to have a "crunch" in your bread, leave out the pecans. Leave the carrots in the blender until they are shredded. If you put the pecans in the blender, some will chop and others will form a powder. This way, you will have the flavor of the pecans but not the crunch. If you desire a nutty crunch, coarsely chop your pecans (into halves or thirds).
5. Add the carrots and pecans to the wet mixture.
6. Fold in the Craisins.
7. Spray or grease a 9 X 5 X 3 inch baking pan and let your mixture fall in. Cook the batter for 50 minutes at 350 degrees, and then let sit in the baking pan for 10 minutes.
Final product =

Chicken Makhani

BEST INDIAN DISH IMAGINABLE!!!!!!!

After this dish, I have no idea how I'll go back to college and be happy with my food. The dining hall food is no match for home cooked Indian food.

FYI, "makhani" means "buttery", and there really isn't that much butter here but the taste is certainly amazing!

Ingredients:
chicken thighs, skinned and fat removed and cut into bit-sized pieces (keep the bones)
some tomato base: paste, puree, diced, actual tomatoes, whatever is in your fridge!
salt and pepper: ~2 tsp of each
2 heaping Tbs. Patok's spicy ginger and garlic paste
1.5 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 onion, finely chopped
red chili powder
garam masala
coriander powder
water
green chilies, to taste
~1 cup fat-free half and half
1/2 stick butter

Directions:
1. Marinade chicken with S&P and 1 Tbs. spicy ginger and garlic paste.

2. Saute chicken in a saucepan in EVOO until it is mostly cooked. Remove chicken from the saucepan and set aside for later use. DO NOT CLEAN UP THE SAUCEPAN! You want that yummy chicken grease to flavor your sauce.

3. Add some more EVOO, if necessary. Add cumin seeds. Once the simmer of the cumin seeds reduces, add the minced garlic and ginger.

4. Add the onions and the other heaping Tbs. of spicy ginger and garlic paste. Saute until the onions have reduced.

5. Add the tomato base of your choice (I sliced up some tomatoes and then added some tomato paste) and red chili powder, garam masala, and coriander powder. Add water so a sauce can be formed.

6. Add green chilies.
7. Pour the contents of the saucepan into a blender and blend them until you have a uniform color. The color changes to a lighter red, for some reason.
8. Melt a half a stick of butter in the saucepan. Once this is done, add the sauce back to the saucepan. Stir in half and half and some more salt (to taste) and let the sauce come to a bubbling simmer.

9. Add the chicken, again, stirring in and letting the sauce come to a bubbling simmer.

10. Taste the sauce. It should be somewhat thick and creamy. If it is not, that means you added too much water!
11. Serve over rice. God, this is so amazing, I can taste it writing this entry and I am getting hungry!

Penne a la Vodka with a "Kick"

Decided to pull an "Aarti Party" and add some Indian spice to a traditional non-Indian dish! Love that girl!

Anyhoo... if you are tired of your everyday penne a la vodka, try this for a change! You won't go back!

Ingredients:
penne pasta - 1 package
EVOO
1 1" cinnamon stick
2 green cardamom (a good idea to use a knife and "poke" through the shell, because these pop in hot oil)
1 bay leaf
4 cloves (try to break off the head so the oil doesn't pop and get in your eyes, trust me!)
1 tsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. minced garlic
1.5 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. red chili powder
1 tsp. coriander powder
2 cups fat-free half and half
1/2 cup vodka (don't bother using expensive vodka)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2-3 tablespoons oregano
1 tsp. salt
some tomato base: diced, crushed, paste, whatever you have!

Directions:
1. Cook the penne pasta according to package instructions. I recommend cooking it to a point where it is "almost" cooked, but not fully cooked.
2. In a saucepan, heat up ~1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil. When hot, throw in the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf.
3. Once the cinnamon stick has opened, saute the minced ginger and garlic until their "simmer" slows.
4. Add in your tomato base... here I have puree. Mix it about and let it cook until it bubbles. If you wish, feel free to remove the cardamom shell, cloves, bay leaf, and cinnamon stick at this point (because you can't eat those, remember!).
5. Add the oregano.
6. Time to add those flavors! Use your own judgment in gauging proportions... everyone has his or her own preferences. Stir in the vodka, garam masala, salt, red pepper flakes, and red chili powder until you have found the flavor you are looking for!
7. Add half and half until the color of the sauce resembles burnt orange.
^^^Those chunks are chicken... if you want to do it with chicken you should add it here! Make sure you have sauteed the chunks separately until they are "almost" cooked.^^^
8. Stir in the "almost" cooked pasta. Let the sauce come to a bubbling simmer. Taste as you go along.
9. Plate with some parmesan cheese and prepare yourself for an adventure!

Peanut and Craisin Cookies

My first improv baking recipe was a win! Woo!

Ingredients:
~1.5 cups of peanuts, crushed with a mortar and pestle
~1 cup of craisins, somewhat chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tbs. salt
1 Tbs. honey
1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1 stick butter

Directions:
1. Beat 2 eggs.
2. Add melted butter. Honestly, I don't give a crap about what people say about "folding" and "creaming" and blah, blah, blah. I think that, as long as all the ingredients are in, you're set. I disagree with those who argue that the butter must be room-temp. It's much easier to work with if it's warm and melted because it mixes right in with the eggs.
3. Add brown sugar and white sugar.
4. Add vanilla extract and honey.
5. Add baking powder and salt.
6. Mix in peanuts.
7. Mix in craisins.
8. Add flour. Knead to a dough.
9. Place ~1 Tbs. portions of cookies that are somewhat rounded. I wouldn't really shape these any more than that because the batter is too thick for getting fancy.
10. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-22 minutes. They come out perfectly chewy! Nice!