The start of September this year, could not pronounce more loudly that Fall was here. It was almost like Mother Nature had come in with a big magic wand and waved it around us, “Ok folks, it’s back to school time and my favorite season fall is here!” Aadi started kindergarten this year, stealing the thunder a little from Deepta. His first day went well he is missing his old pre-school and friends. I shall miss it too! It has been a part of my life for almost seven years, since it included the daycare for Deepta. My son is a lot like me, he needs to ease into change but once settled he does well.
It is cooler in our little backyard, but the garden is still prolific. This weekend’s catch was – green bell peppers, fresh fragrant orange carrots, little spicy habaneras and of course loads of tomatoes. The habaneras a special gift, grown from a plant that was being discarded by the nursery. So while I am not a huge fan of super spicy peppers, these ones are special.
I had loads of fun, earlier in the week with cucumbers and realized that I can do more with them than just salads.
The kids have planted radishes in their little 2 by 2 plots and they have been growing, they have promised me radishes for thanksgiving. It is good to see the working farm grow! Actually the kids garden project was quite a production, starting with digging the hole and getting the planks assembled and then of course moving onto to the more hands-on aspect of it. Nonetheless, they had started their own version of it in various places such as the center of the lawn, so this is much better. Of course, one has to keep reminding them to water their plants!
Thanks to Rosh Hashanah, I had the benefit of a long weekend and the time to cook all this lovely bounty, not to mention being able to sleep in. Actually, one of the days we had the kids signed up for the entire day at the afterschool program which offers holiday coverage and I took off with the husband to explore a few of the wineries on the CT wine trail. I shall be telling you about our “finds” and travels shortly.
One of the things I have learnt with my household is that whenever I get organized to put together a meal I think takes a little more thought and time, they get “hungry” even before I start.
To nip these preliminary hunger pangs in the bud, I made the carrot salad and kept that available, to stave of all the hunger and snack cravings. A simple salad with some sweet and sour flavors designed to bring out the best of the crisp carrots. While this salad is lovely plain, it works well as an unusual slaw with pan fried fish or a complement to sandwiches, I have tried them with egg salad pita pockets, looks as good as it tastes.
I have also tried adding some Thai basil to the mixture to give it an interesting taste.
Carrot and Ginger Salad
Prep Time: 30 minutes (15 minutes to let the flavors settle)
Serves 4
Ingredients
7-8 medium sized carrots, tops removed
1 teaspoon, freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon chat masala
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup sliced almonds (could be pistachios)
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
Method of preparation
1. Peel the carrots and grate and place in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the ginger, chat masala and salt.
3. In a separate small glass bowl add in the honey (I place this in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds to let it liquefy, since it coats the vegetables more easily this way).
4. Add the vinegar and black pepper to the honey and pour the dressing over the carrots and toss well.
5. Stir in the cilantro.
6. Let the salad sit in room temperature for about 15 minutes to let the flavors settle and add in the almonds, (note, I would have preferred pistachios, for the contrasting color, but my son is allergic to them, hence the almonds). This salad works well up to 1-2 hours outside on a cool day, if you plan on serving it later, just place in the refrigerator where it stays up to a day.
7.Enjoy the lovely medley of colors and tastes.
Well, now that I managed to find something to entertain the husband, when he complained about being hungry, I went on to cooking the rest of the meal. This is what I enjoy, chopping and savoring the fresh fragrances while food cooks and turns into nourishment.
The lamb chops needed to be braised slowly before I broiled them, so I started this process in a slow cooker and did a bunch of other things for a couple of hours. I love the slow cooker for Indian meals that way it takes longer but does not really need any hands on attention. I was then ready to get back to the cooking, the lamb got finished off and then the lentils and saffron rice. I do have to tell you, (ok, so I am making excuses for the bad pictures), simple food like this, looks plain but the tastes are well worth the effort!
Braised and lightly crisped spicy lamb chops
The lamb chops are slow cooked in a robustly spiced sauce, which is then dried off and lightly crisped in the broiler. This preparation would work well with baby back ribs as well.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 31/2 hours (mostly in the slow cooker)
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
4 tomatoes
4 pods of garlic
1 medium sized (1.5 inches) piece of peeled ginger
1 small habanera pepper (can be substituted with 5 green serrano chilies)
2-3 dried red chilies
1.5 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
3-4 pods cardamom
10-12 cloves
1 large stick cinnamon
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1.5 teaspoons salt
3 pounds of lamb rib chops
1-2 tablespoons of oil
To garnish
Cilantro and sliced red onions
Method of Preparation
1. Cut the tomatoes into half, place in a blender with the garlic, ginger, pepper, red chilies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon.
2. Add in the vinegar, sugar and salt and grind for about 5-6 minutes until well blended.
3. Place the lamb in the prepared cooking sauce and cook in a slow cooker on high for about 3 hours.
4. By this time, the lamb should be fair soft and the sauce should be rather thin.
5. Place the lamb and the sauce in a skillet and cook for another 10 minutes on high to allow the sauce to cook down till is fairly dry and coats the lamb. The now thick sauce shall be rather unevenly clinging to the meat.
6. Place the lamb chops in a single layer on a baking tray and drizzle with the oil and broil for about 5 minutes on low, till very lightly crisped.
7. Serve garnished with cilantro and red onions.
Yellow Moong lentils in a tomato green bell pepper base (Sookhe Dal)
The lentils were prepared slightly differently in that I actually cooked the moong lentils separately until they were cooked through but still separate and dry and folded the lentils into to the separate sauce base, much like a pilaf, using lentils instead of rice. The worked well with this meal, but would also be nice with toasted pita triangles on their own as a simple light lunch.
Prep Time: 5-7 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
1 cup of yellow moong lentils
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups water
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 large green bell pepper cut into a dice
1 small red onion, cut into a dice
1 large tomato, cut into a dice
½ teaspoon red chili pepper
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
Chopped cilantro to garnish
Method of Preparation
1. Place the lentils in a cooking pot with the turmeric, salt and water and bring the water to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes on low heat, until the lentils are cooked through but still separate. It is important not to overcook the grains. This should take about 15-20 minutes
2. While the lentils are cooking heat the oil and add the bell peppers and the onions and sauté for 5 minutes, add in the tomato and ginger and cook stirring gently until the tomato is soft and breaks down into a soft pulpy sauce.
3. Stir in the lentils gently into the mixtures and add 1/3 cup water and cook till the water cooks down.
4. Add in the cilantro and serve with the rice.
I combined all of this nicely with some saffron rice. This is my comfort food, my festive food and in general food that I cannot live without. A simple rice variation like this is something that can also be thrown together in the rice cooker. The rice cooker can be quite useful for baseline simple rice dishes and it keeps the rice warm while the rest of meal is being brought to the table, however I would also just as easily put this together in the usual way.
Saffron Cardamom Rice
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
1.5 cup of basmati rice
3 cups of water
1 teaspoon saffron strands
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 cardamoms
1 tablespoon butter
Method of Preparation
1. Place the rice and water in a cooking pot or the rice cooker.
2. Add in the saffron, salt and cardamoms and bring the water to a simmer.
3. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes.
Next week, I shall be in India! Hopefully time permitting I shall try to sneak in a post about food, sights and sounds of India. When I back I shall be cooking the butternut squash growing nicely on its little tree.
