Corn Muffins + Bacon = Yum

Made these cornbread/corn muffins with my friend- they include bacon fat in the batter and candied bacon on top, as well as a savory sweet-hot cream cheese "frosting".

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/brian-boitano/bacon-corn-muffins-with-savory-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/index.html

Dal Curry (or Potato, Tomato Curry Soup) UPDATED

Tasty soup, and quick with a pressure cooker. I got inspiration from this book, which has a lot of good sauce and spice recipes. The yellow split peas break down into a smooth soup, accentuated by potato and tomato. For us, one jalapeno and one serrano, with seeds included, was just the right spiciness. This is perfect served on a bed of basmati rice.

11/5/2009 UPDATE: after making this recipe for months (original post was 4/2008!), I figured I'd make a few updates to make the recipe more true to how I am making it these days!

In Pressure Cooker:
1/2 C yellow split peas or "channa dal"
2.5 C water or veggie broth
1 potato, peeled & cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1/2 tea cayenne
1/4 tea turmeric, ground
1/4 tea fenugreek seeds (optional)

Get it bubbling, then cover with lid and cook on high pressure for 3-5 minutes. Take off the burner and let it cool down in order to take the lid off. If you cook too long, the split peas get too mushy, so if you are unsure, take off pressure sooner and finish stove-cooking if not yet done.

While that's happening, saute 1 onion, cut into half and then into rings, in olive oil until browned.

Pull onion off heat, and pulse into smooth paste in food processor with:
1 TB grated ginger (microplane tools are my favorite for grating ginger)
2 cloves garlic, finely food processed with the onion
1 jalapeno chile and 1 serrano chile, with seeds, food processed with the above

In hot pan with olive oil, throw into pan and cook until slightly browned or the mustard seeds pop:
1/4 tea mustard seeds
1/2 tea cumin seeds

Now add the onion (and ginger, garlic, chili) mixture and stir. After a couple minutes over medium heat, add & stir for 2 more minutes:
1 tea ground coriander
1/2 tea ground cumin
1/2 tea cinnamon (or more if you like)
1/4 tea nutmeg

Now transfer the spiced onion mix into the cooked split peas/dal and stir. Add:
1-2 tomatoes, cubed
1/2 tea salt

Cook another couple minutes to warm through and soften tomato. Serve with basmati rice, and optional toasted coconut (see below for directions on toasting coconut).

Optional: toast 1/4 C coconut in a nonstick pan (the dirty spice pan works fine) to use as garnish over soup over basmati rice.

Pumpkin!

It's Fall, and pumpkin is in! Of course you can roast your own pumpkin, but it's usually easier to pick up cans of organic pumpkin puree. Here are a list of fun pumpkin recipes:

Sweet Pumpkin Dip
Pumpkin Quinoa muffins
Silky Pumpkin Coconut Milk Panna cotta (vegan)
Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin Cheesecake

I am also tinkering with other silky smooth pumpkin desserts, like:

Pumpkin Mousse: base is whipped cream or gelatin
Pumpkin Custard: with eggs
Pumpkin Pastry Cream: egg/cream mixture over stovetop to create pastry cream, then add canned organic pumpkin, spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice), honey/sugar and salt

Sweet Pumpkin Dip (from New Seasons)

Tasted this at New Seasons Market today, very yummy! This ends up as a dip or sauce that is sweet pumpkin-y flavor .

Blend in large bowl:
4 C powdered sugar
8 oz cream cheese, softened

Add:
30 oz canned pumpkin puree (organic is best)
2 tea ground cinnamon
1 tea ground ginger
Optional: nutmeg, cloves, blackstrap molasses, vanilla

Refrigerate and serve with challah bread, vanilla wafer cookies, or anything!

Silky Pumpkin Panna Cotta (vegan pumpkin pie sans crust)

Pumpkin pie has really grown on me in the last few years-- well at least the pumpkin part. I have tried spicing up the crust to no avail (a gringer snap crust failed last year as it soaked up so much liquid it became a goo... and I even par-baked!).

So here it is, the best part of pumpkin pie! And vegan (for all you non-dairy-ers out there)! It is so simple because you use the Japanese "gelatin" called kanten, which will set at room temperature! I like to serve in individual ramekins with whipped cream and a cinnamon spiced caramel sauce.

Combine in saucepan, stir and let sit for 5-10 minutes:

• 1 (15oz) can high quality pureed pumpkin (organic from trader joes, whole foods etc)
• 3/4 C lite coconut milk
• 1.5 TB agar-agar (or "kanten") flakes (or 3/5 tea agar powder)
• 1/4 tea salt
• 1/3 C packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tea ground cinnamon (Ceylon cinnamon from Costco is really good in this)
• pinch ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tea ground cloves
• optional: allspice, 1 tea black strap molasses

Bring to a gentle simmer, and let simmer for a few minutes until incorporated. Take off heat, and pour into individual ramekins. Agar-agar will set at room temp, so you don't have to put it in the fridge to gel up.

Make caramel sauce with cream or water to thin out to drizzling consistency, adding cinnamon, cloves and black pepper.

Whip cream (or use vegan cream), and pipe unto chilled/set puddings.

Home-made Chicken Soup (from a rotisserie chicken)

After devouring a hot rotisserie chicken from Costco (yum!), I like to make chicken soup with the leftovers!

1) Pick off the useable meat from the bones and set aside.

2) Then make chicken stock out of your rotisserie chicken back/bones, see my previous post on making chicken broth.

3) While the chicken stock is cooking (20 minutes in a pressure cooker), cut up the veggies for the soup in thin slices (so they cook faster):
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
Optional: add other veggies that cook fast

Sometimes I add potato chunks to my soup, but only if I am starting the soup from broth that is already made up. Potatoes take a while to cook normally, so I usually cook them in the pressure cooker.

4) Once the broth/stock is finished (i.e. finished cooking and strained), add in the sliced veggies from above, and:
noodles
cooked chicken chunks
cracked/ground black pepper
salt to taste

5) cook the soup for 10 minutes, or until the noodles and veggies are cooked, and the chicken pieces are warmed.

6) Serve hot with bread and or sliced cheese.

Raspberry Vinegrette

Mix together in a jar:
1/3 - 1/2 C raspberries, softenend and mashed
1 TB red wine vinegar
2 TB olive oil
1 tea honey

Serve over watercress, greens, with apples and almonds.

Dhal Makhan (Creamy Dal Curry)

This is a different take on dal curry, inspired by this book. It is not at all spicy, and doesn't even use onions! I usually make a vegan recipe with dal, but this is fun to mix it up a bit.

Pressure cook on for 5 minutes, use "quick release" method to release pressure after 5 minutes:
1 cup chana dal* (you can use yellow split peas but they come out mushy)
4 cups water
1 TB oil**
1/4 tea fenugreek seeds

**WARNING: the oil is very important to keep the pressure cooker from foaming and making a huge mess on the stovetop.

Meanwhile, prepare:

• ginger garlic paste - 2 parts garlic, 2 parts ginger, and 1 part serrano/jalapeno chiles, food processed (you will need 2 TB paste for this recipe, but you can make more for later use)
• 13 oz pureed tomatoes (either use can or fresh)

When the split peas/dal are cooked, remove from heat, open and stir. Cover and set aside.

Heat a large pan over medium heat.

Add 2 TB ghee or oil, swirl around.

Add 2 TB garlic ginger paste, and cook for a couple minutes, careful not to burn the garlic/ginger.

Pour in the pureed tomatoes, stir and let simmer (uncovered) for about 10 minutes. You need to make sure the tomatoes are cooked enough (this will change the PH of fresh tomatoes so they don't react with the cream).

Add spices and stir for 2 minutes over medium heat:
2 tea corriander
1/4 tea nutmeg
1/2 tea salt
2 tea garam masala

Strain cooked dal in mesh strainer, reserve cooking liquid. Stir in the strained cooked dal to the tomato mixture, and pour in 1/2 C half & half (light cream) or 2 TB whipping cream. Add additional cooking liquid until you reach desired consistency.

Taste for seasonings, serve over basmati rice.

Brown-Bag Popcorn

Combine in a paper lunch bag, and fold down the opening (don't use anything metal):
1/4 C popcorn kernels
1 pat of butter, about 1 tea (you could also swap out and use olive oil instead)

Microwave for 2 minutes, or less if the popping sound stops.

Carefully open the bag, and add 1/4 tea salt, optional parmesan cheese.

CAUTION:

• Don't overcook. Of course it depends on the power of your microwave, but if you cook too long you will start the popcorn on fire (eww!).
  
• Don't use too many kernels. If you do, you will end up overcooking and burning the popcorn. 1/4 C is quite a bit of popcorn and will fill up the bag.

Yakiniku (Japanese pan fried beef)

This is super simple and very delicious. You can cook enough for 2 people in under 5 minutes. This is another classic adapted from Hiroko Shimbo. It is great with a little rice, and steamed broccoli, or daikon salad. I topped the rice here with a vegetable furikake.

Buy or have your butcher prepare:
0.5 pound sukiyaki or yakiniku beef (beef cuck-eye, sliced paper thin, but not necessarily as thin as the shabu-shabu beef)

Combine and set aside:
1/4 C sake
1/4 C soy sauce
3 TB sugar

Heat a flat skillet (larger the better) to medium high heat. Cook the beef in batches:

1. lay beef in hot pan, let cook 1 minute

2. drizzle sauce mixture and let it bubble up around the beef, turn beef over to other side, let cook additional 30 seconds or until done.

3. dish out beef and cover until you are done with all the batches