Individual apple chestnut cakes with a walnut crumb

I have been making desserts with apples lately. There was the apple bread pudding, followed by the apple crumble pie, and the latest being, the individual apple chestnut cakes with a walnut crumb on the top. Again, just reiterating and repeating, I am one of the worst bakers in the world. Cakes and cookies are definitely not my forte, no scratch that, I am incapable of baking edible cookies and cakes. But I had one granny smith apple left over when I made the apple crumb pie. Again, browsing through the apple based desserts in food and wine magazine, I thought of making these individual cakes.

The recipe in question can be found at the following link.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/apple-crumble-cakes-with-chestnuts
This recipe was for eight, and I narrowed it down to 4. I am using most of the text of the original recipe with my changes.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease 4 8-ounce ramekins and place on a baking tray.
Crumb
Toss the following together
• ¾ cups coarsely chopped walnuts which I pounded in the mortar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
Cake
Blend the following wet ingredients
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ stick of butter
• 1 tspn vanilla extract
Chop the following
• 1 large Granny Smith apple—peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
• 3/4 cup roasted chestnuts, quartered
Whisk the following dry ingredients
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. In a large bowl, blend the butter with the sugar, brown sugar and eggs. Gently stir in the flour mixture and milk until blended, then fold in the apples and chestnuts.
2. Spoon the batter into the ramekins and sprinkle the walnut mixture on top. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the topping is browned and a cake tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and then serve with a scoop of ice cream.

Non Bengali Ghonto

I am totally in love with panch phoron; to the extent that I am going on to hail it as the perfect spice blend. I use it for breakfast potatoes. The flavor of panch phoron allows vegetables to be cooked in a simple fashion, just a little mustard oil, dry red chilies, turmeric, and salt are enough to enhance the flavor of the vegetables. Compare this to the tedium of North Indian cooking, where we sauté the onions, tomatoes, coriander powder, garam masala till we get a rich spice base. Don’t get me wrong, I am a proud North Indian girl and love my food; however, the simplicity of making vegetables the Bengali way has charmed me lately. Apparently, my web research reflects that “ghonto” means a mixture where the ingredients are mixed/mashed together completely. Most popularly, the web is abounded with recipes of “Muri Ghonto” where fish head is cooked with rice and potatoes, “Mocha Ghonto” where banana blossom is cooked with spices, and “Mulor Ghonto” where radish is cooked with potatoes. Some “Ghontos” have lentils in them. . I have no idea what this dish is called. It has potatoes, spinach, and squash. I guess the commonality to all the Ghontos are the red chilies, panch phoron, mustard oil, and turmeric. So I will just call it “Ghonto by a non Bengali.”

I bought a little squash from the Chinese market the other day. The band aid on my finger will remind me to stick to pre peeled and pre cut squash from henceforth. I used vegetable oil, so any true Bengali will have nothing but scorn for my version of Ghonto.

2 potatoes finely cubed
½ bag of baby spinach
½ tspn turmeric
4 dry red chilies
½ small squash cubed ( nearly a cup)
½ tspn sugar
Salt
1 tspn panch phoron
Cumin powder

1. Take some oil in a pan and add the panch phoron. When it splutters, add the chilies.
2. Throw in the potatoes and spinach. Add salt and some water.
3. Cover and cook till potatoes are done. Add some water.
4. Add the squash,
5. Add cumin powder and sugar.
6. Cook till done. Keep adding water if you need to. I don’t like this very dry. At the end , my vegetables resembled a thick paste, and tasted delicious.

Apple Pie with crumb topping

The world abounds with recipes of apple pie. There are so many versions of the perfect “grandma’s apple pie” out there, and it’s not hard to find many apple pie recipes in the blogworld which are coated in saccharine sentimentality of nostalgia, real or not. Not many people admit that grandma or mum actually sucked in the kitchen, hell, I don’t either.

But having sampled a few apple pies, and acknowledging that neither am I a connoisseur, nor do I have the handed down know- how of a family recipe handed down for generations, I still figured down a few things on my own. For example, I prefer the crumb top to a lattice top, pre made crust to freshly made pie dough strictly on the disproportionate rewards to effort outcome, combination of apples like golden delicious and granny smith to just granny smith.

So here it is- my virgin attempt at making an apple pie. I was debating whether to make the crust myself, having done that years ago when I used to make quiches. However, I succumbed to laziness and bought a store bought crust. When I first tasted the pie, hot from the oven, I thought it was too tart. But as it cooled down, I realized that the sweetness of the crumb top was a good contrast to the tartness, however, I might reduce the quantity of lemon juice next time. The best part was when my partner gulped down four slices on the first night, he never eats that much of my dessert ever.

For the filling, I mixed the following.
7 med granny smith apples ( it might be a better idea to mix some sweet apples with these tart ones) which I cubed
juice of half a lemon ( I might use half of this quantitiy next time)
handful of raisins ( will use at least a cup of raisins in the future )
1 cup of sugar
2 tbspn flour
nutmeg
cinnamon
vanilla extract
I spread the dough over a nine inch crust, and added the filling. I baked it for 45 minutes in a pre heated 375 degrees oven.

For the crumb top I mixed the following till I got little lumps and I froze it.
I cup of flour,
2/3 cups of brown sugar
half a stick of cold butter

I then toppped the pie with the crumbs, which had been baked for 45 minutes, and baked it for another 45 minutes.

Walnut Chicken (Akhrot Murg)

Yeah, yeah, this was supposed to be a blog about vegetarian food. But, I went to the dark side only to please the man. I never even taste this stuff. I just look at websites to read chicken recipes. I made chicken tikka masala a few weeks ago. This was my second foray into cooking an Indian meat dish. I did make pasta with fennel, swiss chard, and sausages last week. I just rely on smell, looks, and my partner's taste buds to make sure everything is all right. This recipe was quite easy and quick. I found it on Sanjeev Kapoor's website and didn't even change it much. It is a creamy festive way to cook chicken, low on spices, so you get a better flavor of the walnuts.

http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/akhrot-murgh.aspx

I will admit, when he tasted this dish, he said the texture was “interesting.” Like the meat was the softest he had. I guess he likes his meat with a sear on it. But who are we talking about, this is a person whose idea of great food is box mac-n-cheese. He prefers it over my panko bread encrusted macaroni and cheese, adorned with copious amounts of three cheeses painfully grated from cheese slabs, flavored with paparika and mustard, endorsed by Martha Stewart, baked in individual gratin pans. :)

http://indianfoodathome.blogspot.com/2010/08/mac-and-cheese-serves-4.html

Oh well, you can't win them all. Sometimes you just have to concede defeat to the familiarity of the blue box. The conclusion is that I will make this walnut chicken dish again when i have people over!

Blanch 1/2 cup of walnuts overnight.
Marinate the following over night

• 1 pound of chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
• 2 coves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 piece of ginger finely chopped
• salt
• 1 tspn cumin powder
• 1/4 cup of thick yogurt

For the sauce
1. Finely chop an onion, puree one tomato, and chop 4 green chillies. Blend the walnuts with some water to make a paste.
2. Take some oil in a pan and brown the onions.
3. Add the chillies and saute for a minute.
4. Add the tomato and roast.
5. Add 1 tspn coriander powder. Roast for a while till the oil separates.
6. Add the chicken. Add more salt and 1/4 cup of water. Cook till done. Should take 12-15 minutes.
7. Add the walnut paste and cook for 2-3 minutes.
8. Add 2 tbspn of cream or more. Add a sprinkle of garam masala.

He said the chicken was soft and juicy. I guess marinating the meat all night tenderizes it. This recipe was quick and easy. I guess cooking meat shouldn't be as daunting as it seemed.

Soft scrambled eggs with croutons

I am always looking for ways to make eggs more delectable. I usually make breakfast every Saturday morning for my partner, and he claims he never cared for eggs till he tasted mine. Now it’s a ritual.

The first trick to great scrambles is to use farm fresh eggs. I buy organic cage free eggs from my Farmer’s market every Saturday morning. The difference is pronounced, when compared to using super market eggs. Fresh organic eggs are creamier, brighter, and very flavorful and do not turn grey like supermarket eggs.

The second trick to soft scrambled eggs is to use a thick bottomed pan, keep the stove temperature low, and stir consistently. I add butter to an omelet pan, allowing it to melt, and add the eggs to the pan which is not too hot. I keep stirring the eggs for 10 minutes or so till I get soft scrambled eggs. I also add some cream to the eggs when I start the stirring.

Now for a little twist to traditional scrambled eggs.

I found the following recipe on Food and Wine magazine. The chef adds bread croutons to the eggs at the end.

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/scrambled-eggs-with-herbed-croutons

I made these eggs for my partner this weekend, and served them with honey-butter-paprika toasts, to provide a sweet contrast to these savory eggs which already have toasts in them.

5 eggs
2 tbspn cream
1 tbspn butter
Salt
Pepper
2 cloves of garlic (smashed)
Olive oil
Brioche croutons (I make extra croutons and freeze them, so I had these on hand. If you don’t have these, just take 3-4 slices of whatever bread you have, preferably brioche, and dice it into cubes)

1. Heat the oil, and add the garlic for flavor. Now add the cubed pieces of bread till they are brown and crispy. Discard the garlic.
2. Heat the butter in a thick pan. When it starts to melt, add the eggs and cream.
3. Add salt/pepper.
4. Keep whisking and stirring.
5. When the eggs are almost set, throw in the croutons.
6. Garnish with chives.

Pasta with fennel and Swiss chard in a tomato sauce

This recipe is from my Italian friend. I just wanted to make a nice dish, especially for my partner, and having been an ardent admirer of her culinary skills, I knew I could expect something delectable. She had been to the farmer’s market the day before, and picked up some fennel, nettles, and Swiss chard. She suggested I used sweet Italian sausage for my partner, and I could easily add it later

1 - 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes (use Italian organic brand)
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
Red pepper flakes
½ bulb of fennel chopped into half inch pieces
I bunch of Swiss chard chopped
I onion finely chopped
2 sweet Italian sausage links (optional)
½ box of penne noodles
Salt
Black pepper
Parmesan

1. Heat some olive oil. Add the onions and sauté till translucent.
2. Add garlic. Now add the fennel and cook till tender.
3. Make the pasta in salty water. I like it al dente.
4. Sauté the sausages, which are diced into quarter inch pieces, on low heat till they turn brown.
5. Add the tomatoes to the sauce. Add Swiss chard, black pepper, and pepper flakes. Cover and cook till sauce is done, around 10-15 minutes. Do not add any salt. Once you add the pasta, which is salty, adjust for salt.
6. Add pasta to sauce.
7. Add the sausages, if you need to.
8. Grate some parmesan on the top.

Vada Pav – My version

I just call these Indian sliders.

Makes 9 mini sliders

3 russet potatoes – boil
Heeng
Curry leaves
Rai
Cumin Seeds
Tamarind ( I used lemon juice which I regret)
Fresh Coriander
Salt
Ginger garlic paste
Haldi

To some oil in a pan, add the zeera, rai, ginger garlic, curry leaves, haldi, and add it all to the potatoes. Add fresh coriander. Make 9 spheres out of the mixture.

Mix the following

Ajwain, besan, water, red chilli powder, salt till you get a thick batter.

Coat the balls with the blatter and deep fry on medium heat.

Assembling

Pav
Patak’s eggplant relish
Tamarind date chutney
Coriander chutney

Heat the Pav at 350 degrees and slice in half. Make a sandwich using the pav, with the chutneys and vada.
The original vada pav is served with garlic chutney, which is made of red chilies, coconut, garlic and tamarind.