Colors For Lunch - Cuisine From South India

Dakshin is the word applied to south Indian cooking. The food is ablaze with intricate colors and textures, with every little detail uniquely its own. The soup here, called Rasam, is a blend of tamarind, tomatoes - and any vegetables left over from the garden. Sometimes it is thick like a sambar, and can be poured over rice; other times it is so thin it can be drunk like a watery V8 that is piquant and tasty.

I prepared coconut curd salad, made with home-made yogurt and cilantro, and tempered with mustard and cumin seeds. The carrot-currant-cabbage salad has a light lemon dressing, and has minute amounts of red and green peppers, some hot and fiery.
This broth is the beginning of squash soup, a mixture of pureed squash and chicken broth. Chorizo sausage and turmeric add the color. Potatoes are cooked, then fried, and added to this soup. Like east-Indian sambars, there is always a touch of buttermilk or cream.
When working out in blustery cold weather, the spices in these dishes are warming, lingering long after the meal is finished.

Multi-grain Rye Bread and Chimichurri

I used flax seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, dried cranberries and peanuts in this rye bread. It was baked inside of a cast iron pot, with the lid on so the top crust wouldn't turn dark.
A spoonful of Chimichurri was spread on little slices, topped with shredded mozarella cheese. This would have been better with home-made feta-type cheese. I'll make some today.

Anatolian Cop Sis ~ Flatbread, Meat and Onions

This popular Anatolian kebab, cop sis, is traditionally made with lamb scraps - 'Cop ' means rubbish in Turkish. I added small lentils and other vegetables to this meal, to use up left-overs. I kept my flatbread crisp, but in the original recipe it is softened, and the filling is rolled up inside, with a sprinkling of lemon juice and fresh parsley.

Flatbread Stuffed With Cheese & Chard

Yesterday was so overcast that there was no proper light in my kitchen for a photograph. So, to bring out the true green of this filling I held the camera with one hand and used a high-intensity flashlight with the other!

Rocky's Birthday-Devotional

Turkish Flatbread - For A Middle-eastern Meal

Can anything be more beautiful than bread dough resting in a little bowl? I let it absorb heat from the lamp on the table.

I have dried green chilies from my garden, so I ground a few, and added them to the flat-bread dough.

The Turkish flat-bread, called Gozleme, were grilled on a cast iron skillet that has grooves. Tomorrow I'll soften a few in the microwave and fill them with blanched greens, fried onions, nutmeg, paprika, and cheese.

I spent the day making yogurt and working in my kitchen - it rained all day. I've got the fireplace going, the dishes are done, and I'm finally going to sit down and watch "Winged Migration" - I've been listening to the sound track to the movie all day while George has been working on the insulation under the house. He plays a variety of music when he is down there, and I can listen to the same movie on TV over-and-over again all afternoon and be happy - there is bliss in being simple minded.

He is playing music at a barn dance tonight. I thought how, if I went, I wouldn't be seeing double because of my new glasses. At the last Baha'i gathering in Tacoma - a holy day celebration - there were 30 children present, all of them vocal and moving around. With double vision it looked like 60 - just so bizarre it was entertaining. I had to sit down, though, just to avoid toppling over!

Serving Thali For Lunch

This is the Thali I prepared for a late lunch - it is a collection of little taste thrills, always containing a soup or rasam, various dry curries, meatballs with kebab seasoning, and seasoned bread.

Most thali offer a light broth called rasam that is very spicy. It is like an appetizer. I prepared a hearty soup instead - I'll call it Chickweed - Radicchio Soup.

I blanched the sorrel, then cooked and blenderized all my greens - kale, chard, radicchio, celery leaves, and chickweed. Then I cooked the turnips, potatoes, carrots, rutabagas, red peppers, garlic, onion, and green peppers. These were added to the broth and left to simmer with sliced beef.

I browned paneer cubes and added them at the end, to rest on the top of the soup. A Russian lady over at the garden told me to roll the paneer in egg, then flour, and then fry it. So I tried it this way in a non-stick pan. It worked beautifully.

This same woman has been showing me all the wild greens growing within the community garden. Wild mustard, arugula, hawks-beard, golden dock, wild radish, 'corn salad' and chickweed - all of these can supplement winter salads. I brought home small ears of corn, sunflower seeds, and little artichokes that someone had tossed in the debris pile. I notice this every year - good food is thrown away. (I think people in the Slow Food Movement favor this kind of scrounging/salvaging.)

Whenever I think of wild greens, I think of women in Greece during the World War II, who had to flee their villages. They went up into the hills to hide, and survived for months on wild greens and olives. They took their goats, too, and supplemented their diet with goats milk. In the book "Eleni" by American author Nickolas Gage he writes how his mother went up in the mountains to survive. She was later seized and executed by Communists for smuggling her children out of Greece.

The two dishes here are 'Boston-baked( round) beluga lentils and (flat) brown lentils' and basmati rice with black Nile barley, millet, buckwheat and vegetables. Each one of these grains is cooked separately, individually seasoned, and then mixed into the rice. This dish was 'dressed' with a sprinkling of leek roots and dried chili peppers.

Chenaikizhangu Poriyal ~ A Dry Curry

It has been raining all day, so I've been puttering in the kitchen. I'm putting together a "Thali" - an Indian meal with a selection of small servings. This yam curry is one of several 'sides', which will include rice, vegetables, flatbread and a yogurt salad.

Black Nile Barley and Buckwheat Groats

A wonderful chewey combination of buckwheat and barley, flavored with carrot, celery, onions, garlic. Groats cooked in chicken broth.

Of Radicchio, Sorrel, Chamomile and Chickweed

I had to pull up images online for George to believe that these leaves were radicchio. He is used to seeing small purple cabbage-like plants.

Radicchio is in the chicory family, and is a bitter leaf, somewhat like sorrel. Both are going into my soup pot today with sambar spices, carrots, celery, and garbanzos. I'll add some chamomile and chickweed to soften and flavor the broth, which is blenderized into a smooth texture.

All our rain has caused new seeds to sprout - including the chickweed. It loves to nestle among old squash vines. Best used in the spring, I'm pulling it again to add delicate flavor to my soup.

Leeks and Lentils For a Rainy Afternoon

Wholesome leeks, potatoes, carrots and celery, partnered with onions and garlic - savory companions on a rainy afternoon.

I've been going through all my notebooks, putting post-it notes on all the recipes that I want to try again. Four large binders are full to the brim, with photographs and recipes.

Once I've created a meal and photographed some feature of it I put it in these folders as a reference. In the past I've used papers from the Paper Zone, real lovely colors that bring out the beauty of the food. It holds the work together.

But, I'm in saving mode right now, so rather than buy high priced paper I've gone to the Goodwill and purchased thick paper from children's books. It is inexpensive, provides fanciful illustrations, and the paper is strong. I'm experimenting with results, and so far I'm enjoying the children's stories and illustrations more than my photographs and recipes!

Now my workbook is featuring dragons and frogs, pied pipers, and old women who live in shoes.

Celebrating Autumn Birthdays

Taraz flew in from Denver; Ruhiyyih and Matt drove over from Richland. We all brought food and celebrated.

George Was Fighting a Cold

Daisy, Daniel, Matt and Ruhiyyih

Heading Out For A Hike

Oh Yeah! They Can Shake It!

Still, Blessings From the Garden - My Salad

Borage flowers, calendula petals, nasturtium buds, oregano buds, huckleberries, apples, pecans, raddiccio lettuce, kale, red onions, tomatoes and celery.

Sweet 'n' Sour Stir-fry with Sticky Rice

Leeks For Soup

The stalks are for soup, the roots are used in Vietnamese Pancakes.

Gleanings From The Garden - Roasted Veggies

We've had such beautiful sunshine-filled days, so perfect for putting the garden to bed. I've spent hours turning over the soil, pulling out the spent vegetation, and getting my plots ready for winter. I look forward to the downtime, when the labors of the garden do not consume so much of my time. This last month has been so productive, with canning, pickling, freezing, and cooking.

All that is left in the garden now are two varieties of kale, the Swiss chard, huge turnips, lettuce and collards. By the end of the month all plots must have stakes and trellises removed, and the area returns to the jurisdiction of Metro Parks. They can glean whatever remains on my plot... so I leave wintering over plants for the Food Bank. Those areas remain tended until spring. What is not gleaned I'll chop down, so the soil can be plowed.

These are the last of my tomatoes and zucchini. To roast them, toss them with olive oil, herbs, garlic, onions and other vegetables. I added kale and leeks. This batch was layered with seasoned and toasted bread-crumbs and shredded mozzarella.

For dinner I made spaghetti, tossed it with olive oil, then added more of the roasted vegetables, shredded cheese, and a can of pinto beans. The sauce from the chili beans provided flavor but not a heavy tomato sauce taste.

Our family is having a fall reunion this weekend - Ruhiyyih and Matt are driving over from Richland, and Taraz is flying in from Denver. He'll stay five days. I'm sure looking forward to seeing all of my kids together. I'll be spending the next few days baking, cooking and cleaning.

Yogurt With Apples, Pecans, Granola and Cajeta

Make the yogurt, bake the apples, toast the pecans, pour the cajeta, sprinkle the granola, and enjoy.

Roasted Vegetable Tart

Garden vegetables - leeks, onions, tomatoes, carrots and celery, beans, and miniature brussel sprout buds. Herbs, coconut milk mixed with egg, salt and pepper. Shredded phyllo and mozzarella. This tart is so good, warmed up the next day!

I've spaced about 100 leeks for spring, and now I'm off to transplant mint for next-years garden. It is used in Indian cooking.

Miniature Pecan Tarts With Cajeta

When I make cheese I usually have about a quart of whole milk left over, so this week I made Cajeta, a Mexican topping for tarts, ice cream, and waffles. It takes patience to make Cajeta, as it must cook but not boil for one hour, with frequent stirring. Eventually the carmeling occurs, and a heavenly sauce results.

Cajeta Sauce for Ice Cream, Yogurt, or Waffles

TomatoVegetable Soup For Lunch

I've culled through the last of the tomatoes, using them for soup broth. This broth also uses rasam spices to jazz up the tomatoes. I'm addicted, and will sure loath going back to store-bought tomatoes. My backyard leeks, about 50, are ready now for soup, and I have about 100 to bring home from my garden at Franklin Park. They'll be ready next spring.

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

When I bought zucchini plants at the nursery last spring, I didn't anticipate getting spaghetti squash. But, that's what came up! This casserole uses bread crumbs and garden vegetables, and is held together with a wonderful coconut sauce.

Spaghetti Squash Burritos

My garden has yielded 6 large spaghetti squash, so I roasted one, scooped out the filling, and made these burritos using stuff from the garden - red onion, zucchini, peppers, green beans, and even oregano buds. I made a sauce using coconut milk and used that to hold everything together.

The shells are fried on both sides to crisp and flavor them before rolling. This recipe turned out very good, and tastes even better the next day.

Turkey on White, With Cream of Celery Soup

I dug onions yesterday, and cut celery for soup.My zucchini pickle relish was layered on top of the turkey, along with a sprinkling of onion and leeks. I used coconut milk to make the soup creamier.

Marinated Paneer and Vegetables

I'll be making couscous salad today, using paneer that was marinated yesterday with an assortment of garden vegetables - red and green chillies, red onion, tomato, leeks, and herbs from my garden. Yesterday I pulled the last of my brussel sprout stalks, so they will be steamed with cauliflower, and served as a side-dish.

10-10-10... not again for a long time. Fractal Art here...

This is a Lady Gouldian Finch - So Festive!

Now is the time to keep binoculars handy - we're seeing many new birds in the neighborhood. They're passing through, flocking down onto the grass, and indulging in much excitement and chatter. Photo, Birds Planet on Flickr.

Don't know where I saw this...but somebody had fun building it. (Cleaning it will be tricky.) One of the most pleasant sounds I ever experienced was listening to my two little hens talk to each other as they roosted for the night. One would face forward, the other backwards.

I Would Sure Love to Camp and Hike Here!

National Geographic featured an album on Patagonia...

Canning Tomatoes Today

We've picked about half of the tomatoes. The green ones will be used for 'Chow-chow', a pickle relish.

The red ones will provide broth for Indian Sambar, a wonderful rich soup, pictured above.

Working With Paneer Today - Cutting & Storing

After the paneer is firm, it can be cut into squares, fried, and added to curries or stews. I reserved a small amount, placed it in olive oil with za'atar, a Middle Eastern spice blend. Stored in the refrigerator, it should be used within the week. Sure is pretty!

Fried Potatoes With Basmati Rice and Lentils

We're still wading through a basket of small potatoes from the garden. They work well in the Persian recipe "Baghali Polow", a savory mixture of rice, lima beans and potatoes.