Join Me on My 2015 Cooking Challenge? Plus a lentil recipe!

Happy First Sunday of 2015! I have had time to reflect about the past year and examine my hopes for the new one, I have my coffee and I feel ready to share my thoughts.

So, here's what I learned in 2014:

One of the things I let go off last year was this blog. I cooked because I had to feed the family. Well, the break was good for my cooking soul because I missed cooking for fun and talking about food with friends. I'm wholeheartedly back in the kitchen and I have already cooked my first Bengali meal of the year:

And I have decided to combine two different cooking challenges to come up with one that's my own.

The 52 NewFoods Challenge (#52NewFoods), developed by Jennifer Tyler Lee, a mother of two. She came up with the challenge in an effort to make her family eat better and include more variety.  

How it works: You try one new food each week for a year – or try an unfamiliar preparation of an already-known food. Each week, the family jointly chooses one new recipe and commits to preparing it together. 

Take a Bite Out of Your Cookbook Pile Challenge (inspired by the awesome Take a Bite Out of Your Aged TBR Romance Pile 2015 Reading Challenge). Basically, I have an entire floor-to-ceiling book shelf full of cookbooks and this is the year I'm using them!

What I like about my challenge:

1. Committing to cooking together once a week is doable even for a busy family like mine.
2. It involves the whole family, which means the work is shared and the kids are more likely to learn and hone kitchen skills.
3.  If the kids help make it, I know they’ll be more likely to taste it. So, less  power struggles at the table, more fun and family time in the kitchen.
4. We'll actually use my cookbook collection and it'll help me sort my books into keepers and giveaways. My local library loves getting cookbooks for its annual fundraising sale, your might too. 
5. We get to enjoy good, healthy home-cooked food in the end of all the work. Note: Okay, so some of the recipes we try might not be as healthy as others, but since we're making it we'll know exactly what's in it and that's healthy in itself.

So are you taking on a foodie challenge (anything food related, doesn't have to be healthy or involve diets) this year? Want to join mine?

And, yes, I'm returning to food blogging this year. Food -- cooking, sharing and eating of it -- is nourishing to my body and my soul. Wishing you good health and good eats in 2015!

Now for the recipe...

In the Bengali meal picture, many would assume the shrimp curry with pumpkin and green beans (actually I used Kabocha squash since I was out of the more traditional pumpkin) is the star. Not so. It's the dahl, golden lentils cooked with warm, colorful spices and flavorings. There's a Bengali saying: Dahl bhaat Bangali. It translates too: A true Bengali only needs dahl and rice to be happy.

Since it was for the new year, I decided to cook a fancier version of the dahl instead of my usual everyday one. There as many ways of cooking lentils as there are lentils in a bag.

Masala or Moshla Dahl (yes, my mother coached me over the phone for this one)

1 cup mung dahl (pale yellow lentils)

3 cups of water (added in separate amounts)

1 medium onion, thinly sliced, divided

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon chili powder (in desi terms, this is ground red peppers. NOT a TX chili blend)

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 serrano pepper, cut in half at the midpoint

1 or 2 tomatoes, diced

4 to 6 medium garlic cloves, finely minced or smashed

Salt (to taste)

Directions:

1. Over medium heat, dry roast the lentils in a pot (basically, fry lentils in a dry pan or pot until you get a nutty aroma and the lentils turn a shade darker). 

2. Add enough water to just cover the lentils. Add in 1/3 of the onions and the spices (from turmeric to chili powder). Bring to a boil, lower heat to a gentle simmer.

3. Keep an eye on the lentils. When the water almost disappears, check the lentils. Mash them if you can, add more water to just cover and let them cook. Keep doing this until the lentils reach the consistency you want. I wanted it to be mostly creamy, but still with some shape to the lentils. When done, take it off the heat and set aside.

4. In a small frying pan, melt the butter.

5. Add the onions and cook for a few minutes. Add the mustard seeds and serrano pepper. Cook until onions are soft and browning.

6. Add the tomatoes and garlic, cook until soft. Scrape the cooked veggies and butter into the pot of cooked lentils. Add salt to taste, stir and serve with rice.

(Steps 4 through 6 is the bhagar or tarka process -- see glossary for more information.)

Enjoy!

1st New Year Kitchen Adventure: Making Parathas with Mom

Porottas/Paratha/Roti Parata/Roti Cannai, whatever name you choose to call them, are delicious. A South Asian bread with rich, flaky layers of buttery goodness. Y-U-M! Growing up, this was one of my favorite treats.

So much so that I knew the paratha-making time table of all the neighborhood cooks. One lady made paratthas as a Friday evening treat, another served them precisely at 5 p.m. every evening with tea to her son, while my mom reserved parathas for Saturday morning breakfast. Um, yes, whenever the craving hit, I'd show up at the appropriate house. Fortunately for me, Bengali hospitality is legendary and the neighbors happily set an extra plate for me.

At that point I was more interested in eating than cooking.

Then I took trips to Singapore and saw some of Indian restaurant and food stall cooks actually making them. They did some fancy dough-swinging to rival the most colorful pizza chefs. Can we say, intimidated?  So, though I loved parathas, I never attempted to make any myself.

RasaMalaysia has some gorgeous pictures of professional paratha makers.

However, a new year is a good time to try new things.   And, very appropriately, my #Letslunch buds, a global group of food bloggers, cookbook authors and food enthusiasts who hold virtual potlucks around monthly themes, chose "New Beginnings/a recipe you've always wanted to try" for January...well, parathas simply popped into my mind.

Since new things and intimidating recipes tend to be a bit scary, it's always nice to have someone experienced at your side. So I dragged my Mom into the kitchen. We got to spend some wonderful mother-daughter bonding time and I finally got to make my paratha and eat it too!

You can add all kinds of herbs and spices to the dough, or put in a filling of eggs, vegetables or ground meat to make different types of parathas. But for my first time I wanted to keep things simple. Here's the basic dough recipe:

1 cup atta or whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ghee/melted butter/vegetable oil
some flour on hand to dust

Directions:

1. Mix the two types of flours, salt and 1/4 cup of fat together to make a smooth dough. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.

2. Divide the dough into 10 balls and let rest another 5 minutes.

3. Sprinkle some flour on your rolling surface, select a ball and flatten it. Using a rolling pin or your fingers roll out the ball into a thin sheet (don't worry if it looks like the state of Texas). Brush one side with ghee/fat.

4. Parathas can be folded in different ways and made into squares, triangles, spirals and more.

Here's the vid of Mom showing me one:

5. Roll out your folded paratha into the shape you want. Slightly larger than you want since it tends to shrink a bit.

6. Heat a pancake griddle or a frying pan over medium heat. Lower the heat & toast the paratha in the dry pan. After a minute or two, flip it over. Make sure to regulate the heat because you want the dough to be cooked through, but you don't want to burn the bread.

7. When the bread looks done, pour about 1/2 teaspoon of ghee/oil around the paratha. Lift up at the sides and tilt the pan to make sure the fat slips under the paratha as well. After half a minute, flip the paratha. Add another 1/2 teaspoon of ghee if you want.

8. When the parathas turns a beautiful golden color, it's ready to be served! Using the frying spatula or a spoon (because the bread is HOT), fold the paratha from different directions to break the top into crispy flakes.

Oh, here's a bonus paratha making video...the chef is bound to make you smile :) (put your cursor on "bonus" for some reason the link isn't showing up in a different color).

Also, now that I successfully made parathas, I think I'll spend this year exploring different South Asian breads. Yup, I'm on a roll! There are more than 80 different bread variations in India alone, and several Bengali ones...I think I'll busy playing with dough. Wishing you good health, good eats, and good company in 2013!

Check out the other yummy #Letslunch posts:

foodnutzz's beetroot and feta varenyky

Lisa's Da Bombe Alaska

Nancie's DIY Lemongrass

Linda's Caribbean Trip & Black-eyed peas

Lucy's Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

Grace's Matcha Green Tea Yogurt

Annabelle's Brown Butter Creamed Greens

How to care for a son-in-law Bengali style

Bengalis (people of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, as well as people who share Bengali heritage) are renowned for their hospitality.

If you stop by for a visit — no matter the time of day and how busy life maybe — you will at least be offered a cup of tea and usually a small snack to accompany it. If you're visiting after a long absence, there will be feasts to welcome you back.

Traveling back to Bangladesh after 10 long years, I expected some festivities. What I didn't count on is the "jamaii" factor. Jamaii is the Bengali word for "son-in-law."

If ordinary people are treated most graciously, jamaiis are treated like God's gift to the family, world and universe. After a wedding, the newly married couple is feasted and feted almost nonstop for a year.

Now, after 11 years of marriage, two kids, countless diaper changes and loads of laundry later, I can't be blamed for not envisioning my darling husband in the glowing aura of a new jamaii. However, my Bengali family and friends, who last met my husband when we'd first got married and then only for about two weeks, still considered him new enough to celebrate.

The fact that he happens to be a tall, charming Texan also probably was a factor.

We were overwhelmed by the feasting. A dinner party wasn't just a dinner party; it wasn't even an ordinary feast. No, it was extreme feasting (yes, there's a reality show waiting to be made).

Cooks didn't just prepare a party menu, but seemed to make their entire repertoire of culinary achievements. For example, one of my uncles (a sailor) married a very nice lady from Thailand. When we were invited to their home, my Aunt Penn (in the apron) made Thai dishes, Bengali dishes and Western dishes.

This translated into two types of soup, two types of roasts, two types of curries, two types of rice, three chicken dishes, three seafood dishes and several vegetable dishes (I got tired of counting). And then there was dessert (many different kinds) and, of course, tea.

Knowing how much time and trouble the cook had spent preparing the feast, I felt obligated to taste each dish that had been cooked (fortunately, some of the sweets were store-bought). As a result, I could only have a few bites of each one (even the ones that made me swoon at first bite), but still ended up stuffed to the point of discomfort. Yes, another consequence of regular feasting was a tender and upset tummy.

Not surprisingly, some of my favorite dishes during this trip turned out to be the simplest. Simplicity sometimes is priceless. One dish was pishpash, a thin porridge of rice and vegetables often fed to infants and the ill. Sometimes lentils or other protein are added. Light with a subtle flavor, it offers both sustenance and comfort. My mother always makes me pishpash when I'm under the weather.

(Article originally published in The San Angelo Standard-Times, August 7, 2012)

Pishpash
Ingredients
2 teaspoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon minced onion
1 bay leaf
1 each: cardamom, clove and small cinnamon stick
4 tablespoons rice
2 tablespoon lentils or a piece of chicken or fish (optional)
1 thumb-size slice of ginger (about ¼-inch thick)
2 tablespoons rough chopped green papaya or zucchini
2 tablespoons grated carrots
1¼ cup chicken stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Garnish: lime wedges

Directions:

1 Heat oil in a small saucepan and cook onions. When almost translucent, add whole spices, rice and protein (if using). Cook for about 1 minute or until fragrant.
2 Add ginger, vegetables and liquid. Bring to a simmer and lower heat.
3 Cook until rice and vegetables are soft. Stir enough to mash some of the ingredients until you have a thin porridge. Remove whole spices.
4 Season with salt and pepper and serve with lime wedges for squeezing.

Comfort Foods From Different Corners of the World

Recently I was so stressed that I ended up cooking all kinds of comfort foods. Our favorite comfort foods are like warm hugs, they bring out all the contentment of childhood. One bite and you’re smiling from the inside out and all the chaos of the world subsides for a few moments.

Both kids and husband got sick. The littlest one had 102 degree fever. All three were off their food. Now I’ve been a mom long enough that I don’t panic easily, but my first-born was born at seven months and weighed one pound 11 ounces. Imagine a coke can with arms and legs. He fit in the palm of one my husband’s hands. It’s an image that will be with me forever.  Now my son is almost 9-years-old and he’s on the scrawny side but healthy. However, when he almost stops eating, yes I do panic.

So I called the pediatrician, only to be told the stuff was going around and to do the usual –plenty of fluids, rest and monitoring.  Watch and wait. Patience has never been one of my virtues, and add to that a feeling of helplessness...bad combination.  I did what I always do in such moments: went into the kitchen and cooked. 

 I chose to make a pot of soft khichuri, a comfort food from my childhood. It has all kinds of good stuff in it: chicken stock, rice, lentils, veggies, tummy-soothing spices like cumin and turmeric.

My mother always made this rice and lentil porridge when I was sick and whatever the ailment –a sniffly cold or a sensitive tummy – a bowl of this would make me feel a whole lot better. I served the khichuri with stories from my childhood and the kids almost cleaned their bowls.

Of course, like all good conversations, this one meandered over to include the other parent and we asked the Cowboy what his favorite childhood comfort food was. The answer: Gravy Meat.

I was confused. “You mean meat gravy?”

“No,” he was adamant. “Gravy meat.”

This isn’t an old German or Polish recipe, but an army one. “It’s a dad recipe,” the Cowboy said. My father-in-law served in the army during World War II and didn’t much like the food. The only exception was “Gravy Meat” or the less-polite "Shit-on-a-Shingle." Whatever the name, he liked the dish so much that when he returned home he had my mother-in-law recreate it. And so the Cowboy enjoyed it growing up.

It doesn’t matter where in the world you’re born or where you end up, every culture has its comfort foods to soothe a sick child and/or a worried parent. You grow up with this food and when things are not perfect in your world—you yearn for it.

Cooking all these wonderful foods definitely helped calm me down. The best part though was to curl up on the couch with a bowl of Khichuri and watch the twinkly splendor of my Christmas tree on Sunday night. I’m glad my children will have so many different kinds of comfort foods, and their associated stories, to help them through life.

 So what are some of your comfort foods?

Recipes:

Soft Khichuri – As far as comfort foods go, this one is actually on the healthy side.

½ cup white, short grain rice (or whatever rice you have)

¼ cup red mushur lentils

¼ cup pale yellow mung lentils (I’ve seen this in H-E-B, or if you want substitute both these lentil varities with ½ cup green or brown lentils)

2 tablespoons of canola oil

½ a medium onion, finely sliced

A thumb-length of fresh ginger, skin scraped-off and coined

1 bay leaf

6 to 8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

¼ teaspoon of turmeric

¼ teaspoon of cumin

½ teaspoon of coriander powder

¾ teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional)

1 cup of pumpkin puree (my mom used a traditional Bengali gourd called lao, but she suggested the more readily-available pumpkin would have a similar tummy cooling effect)

1 cup frozen mixed vegetable

5 to 7 cups of liquid (I use a mix of chicken broth and water)

Directions:

1. Mix the rice and lentils together, wash several times until the water runs clear. Drain and set aside.
2. In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion, ginger and bay leaf and cook until onion has softened.
3. Add the rice and lentil and fry for two minutes, then add the garlic and spices (turmeric to cayenne) and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add 5 cups of liquid and pumpkin puree, stir and bring to a boil.
5. Cover and cook on low heat for about 25 minutes. Check on it. Most rice is cooked by now, but at this point you probably can see rice and lentils as separate ingredients. You want them to meld together and give you a creamy, porridge-like consistency. So cook for another couple of hours. If it thickens too much, add more liquid, stir. Keep an eye on it.
6. When you think it’s coming together, add in the frozen vegetables and simmer for 15 minutes more.
7. Serve with sliced lemons on the side. Remember to remove the ginger chunks if you don’t like to bite into their intense flavor.

Rashda’s version of Gravy Meat (Now that I think of it, this is similar to the Southern breakfast food sausage gravy and biscuits)

2 tablespoons oil

1 pound ground meat

1 teaspoon dried thyme or Italian spice blend

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

½ a medium onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more if you like heat)

½ cup white flour

4 cups of milk

Directions:

1.       Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, add meat and spices. Cook until meat is browned.

2.       Add garlic, onions, bell pepper and red pepper flakes and cook until the vegetables are soft.

3.       At this point you can either spoon out the meat mixture and set it aside, or leave it in the pan. Stir in the flour until dissolved. Gradually stir in the milk. Cook until the gravy is thick and bubbly. Taste test, and add more salt and pepper if needed.

4.       Serve with toast, biscuits or mashed potatoes.