April 13, 2010

Living in Vancouver, one learns to love Indian food. Especially being a vegetarian in Vancouver, which I was for about 4 years. However, my attempts at actually making Indian food are few and not exactly complicated. One can easily buy, at any grocer with an "ethnic foods" section, blocks-o-curry that can be tossed in with a stir fry. Not that said blocks-o-curry aren't delicious, but I wanted to try a dish with a bit more complication, something other than curry, something more on the traditional foods spectrum.

When I think Indian, I think Naan. Now I know Naan is traditionally made in a tandoori oven, which obviously I don't have. But I figured it's like pizza - tastes better when cooked that way, but possible to bake otherwise. So I found a lovely Naan recipe from the BBC by Anjum Anand. Anjum hosts BBC's Indian Food Made Easy, and a glance through many other Naan recipes, she is definitely right in her show title. Most other recipes call for strange ingrdients. Nothing in this recipe that one wouldn't stock in an ordinary kitchen.

Recently, I worked in an office with a woman who brought in her Indian mother-in-law's amazing homemade pakoras. I am a huge fan of pakoras, so I decided to see about making those. Unfortunately, I no longer work in that office (the nature of temp work!), and so I had to search about on my own. I'm lucky, and I live several blocks from Vancouver's Punjabi Market, so finding a market that sold the specialized ingredients required in Manjula's Bread Pakoras was not a problem.

And because a curry MUST be part of any Indian dish, I charged Alex, my most-frequent diner, to make a curry his girlfriend had recently raved to me about. Nothing like sharing duties to make me a little less stressed about winging a dish!

First off, I was not 100% satisfied with this Naan recipe. I think in future, I'm going to attempt some of the more complicated recipes. This turned out a bit more like pita than Naan, which I attribute entirely to the fact that the bread never rose to twice its original size. I gave it two attempts, and left each for over an hour to sit. They rose nary an inch. And when looking at the actual recipe, it's hard to see what would make it rise. My bread-chemistry knowledge is low, but something didn't seem right.

Other than that, Alex's curry was delicious! We served it over a bit of saffron-rice. It was spicy and flavourful, and the chunks of yam were perfectly cooked. And the pakoras. Oh the pakoras. I think I will be making these again, though not often, because I think my arteries clogged from just looking at the amount of oil I was using! I'm not a fan of deep-frying, but these were definitely something that made me want to take it up!

March 23, 2010

I remember when I was a child, in Catholic school, as part of a sort or "cultural enrichment" program, we had a traditional Passover meal. All of us gathered in the gymnasium, decked in our "full-dress" uniforms (read: awkward length plaid skirts, button-up shirts, and itchy wool cardigans), to uncomfortably be served strange food we'd never had before. I don't remember the majority of the food, but I remember I really liked the "crackers" and lamb.

Since that day, I've always wanted to cook my own Passover meal. I have no intention of having a traditional fasting, or reading the Haggadah, or drinking the four cups of wine at the correct intervals (I will drink my wine as I damn well please -- unless I'm in a Newfie bar and someone yells "Sociable!"). But Mark Bittman describes seders as a more secular holiday:

"making do in the scarcity of late winter (matzoh, about the most spartan bread you can make), the celebration of the beginning of spring's bounty (lamb, herbs, new wine — think of Beaujolais Nouveau — and green vegetables), and the very serious ritual of spring cleaning (one of the mandates of Passover is essentially to rid the house of just about everything that's been lying around all winter)".

Having just moved to a new home and still in the midst of massive decluttering and unexpected moving expense, plus the beauty or an early Spring that Vancouver is experiencing, I can definitely relate to that sentiment, and thus, a Passover-themed feast seems in order.

So tonight I cooked three traditional Passover dishes: Matzah balls, Charoset, and Lamb. The Matzah Balls I cheated on a bit and made out of a mix -- mostly because I couldn't locate matzah meal on short notice. The Charoset recipe came from Kosher Express. But the lamb was from Epicurious via Mark Bittman, and is sure to be tasty (although I substitute creamed horseradish for real horseradish root for the same above mentioned reason) I knew the results could be iffy, in different ways for all dishes.

Luckily, things turned out okay. The Charoset was AMAZING, very sweet, good texture, and simple to make -- something I may end up including in everyday meals. The lamb had a great depth of flavour. It started off a litte salty and then suddenly its natural flavours oozed out and it was warm and savoury. I think the odd transition and layering of flavour had to do with the fact that it was seared and then stewed -- and the fact that I added a dash of white wine about 90 minutes into the stewing. The parsley puree was a good topping, adding a lightness to the lamb that was very necessary.

The matzah balls were a tad salty for my taste, but the texture was good and they were a hearty addition, especially for our one vegetarian diner! It was noted that they were kind of like chicken dumplings without being chicken. Next time I think I would boil them in less salt, and instead I would add some other spices - perhaps a red pepper spice or something herby like rosemary. I think that would help cut some of the salt. Even though that would take away from the traditional aspect of the dish, I think it would help the flavour and make them something I would cook on a more regular basis.

While the individual parts of the meal were strong, they really excelled when you combined them. This was an experiment one of my guests tried -- they hollowed out a matzah ball, put in a few cubes of meat, and a dash of the Charoset, topped it with the parsley puree, and ate it in a few bites. After combining the lamb, Charoset, and parsley in a pita, I can attest that the whole is even greater than the sum of the parts. The Charoset adds a sweetness to the robust flavour of the lamb, and the parsley adds a vinegar taste that also cuts. All together would make a fabulous lunch, a great on-the-go snack. It would be great as street food, since the lamb could just be stewed and the parsley and Charoset are very quick and easy to mix up. Perhaps I now have a business plan :)

January 12, 2010

I had planned to do another, simpler, less gourmet meal tonight, in keeping with trying to have mostly "realistic" food. But then my boyfriend's co-worker gave us 2 free lobsters from PEI. And when you get free lobster, you don't really pass up the opportunity to let it shine!

Unfortunately, I found myself facing a conundrum. I have never cooked lobster. The answer to that should be simple enough, since there are a million guides out there to cooking and preparing various meats - I learned this when I tried to cook duck awhile ago and was confused with side of the duck was the "skin" and which was the "meat". I found this handy YouTube video that cleared everything up for me! But, alas, they have no tips on lobster. That would be too easy.

Second, the lobsters were pre-cooked. Which made me fear turning them into rubber lobsters! Luckily, consulting with our lobster-purveyor made short work of my worries. 2-3 minutes in boiling water is all they need, plus some butter and lemon on the side, and you get all the deliciousness expected of lobster!

Third problem being my tiny-apartment-lack-of-cookwear. I was pretty sure I had a pot that would hold the lobsters. But then they tried to escape:

Just kidding. They fit in there just fine, but, as with most relationships, there was definitely not room for a third!

To keep the lobster in focus, the rest of the meal was to be quite simple. I did these Parmesean and Pesto Potatoes (except I was bad and used pre-made pesto), and minted steamed broccoli for sides.

All in all, again, the meal turned out tasty. Lobster is definitely perfect with just lemon and butter, since the oiliness and richness of the butter is perfectly cut and complimented by the dryness and lightness of the lemon. The potatoes were tasty, although I don't think I would use the purple yams again, at least not with this flavouring. And my broccoli didn't really have time to absorb the mint flavour, even though I sauteed them in it. Perhaps some retooling of that recipe is in order.

February 9, 2010

The Olympics are coming to Vancouver, and, as I'm going to be working evening shifts the entirity of the Games, I will inevitably have to take a hiatus from Tuesday night dinners. So for my final meal before said hiatus, I felt like I had to go all out with cuisine. This was going to need to expand beyond my tiny closet-kitchen. So I enlisted the help of one of my regular diners, who offered to host (his kitchen is a respectable size!).

For theme, I scoured the internet for holidays, celebrations, etc. I figured the meal would be kind of a good way to kick off what was sure to be two weeks of massive partying during the Olympics. I was in luck, because Tet is February 14, certainly close enough to justify cooking some classic Vietnamese cuisine. And nothing screams Vietnamese like Pho!

I've been meaning to go out for Pho since my aforementioned foodie former-roomate raved about it years ago. Unfortunately, most Pho is made with beef stock, and since I'm quite anti-beef, I hadn't made my way to finding a veggie - or at least chicken-based option. Luckily, I found a recipe for Vegetarian Pho. Lemongrass is also a key componant to Vietnamese cooking, and I found this delicious-sounding Lemongrass Tofu with Mushrooms. Then I figured I needed a spicy tropical salad, so I added a Cucumber Tomato and Pineapple Salad.



The Pho turned out fairly well. The broth, considering the lack of meat, was a very tasty flavour. The noodles I chose, unfortunately, never softened quite right, and ended up fairly doughy. I would make sure next time to use rice noodles. Also, this is definitely a time-consuming venture, and only to be attempted on days when you have more time! The Lemongrass Tofu was, on the otherhand, fairly easy to make and clean up. I think the recipe skimped on the lemongrass flavour, and I would modify it to try and infuse the tofu with that woody-citrus more. The salada was fantastic - very very spicy! In fact, the part that sang in this meal was the pineapple. For a great appetizer, you could just put the dressing on the pineapple and serve it in rings. It was the perfect blend of sweet, tangy and spicy!

It was definitely a treat to finally try Pho, and the motivation is on to find a vegetarian or chicken option, to try someone else's recipe. It was also a treat to cook in a real sized kitchen, and to have assistants for some of the lengthy prep for this meal!