为了弥补近来很少food pictures的缺陷，这个thanksgiving的头等大事就是做饭:) 一个人的thanksgiving dinner. 非常好吃的说。而且是全vegetarian. well the batter mix for tempura has eggs. so it is not strictly vegan.

I bought a big bunch of dill the other day for a salmon pasta dish I was preparing and I had a lot of left. As I love the smell and taste of dill, I wanted to use it in a soup but I had no idea what to cook. After a quick research, I discovered this recipe online. I changed a few things to match my fridge content and I have to tell you, this is one of the best discoveries in a long time.

The initial recipe suggested decorating the soup with pine nuts, which I tried but did not like so much. I would suggest serving it with a nice dollop of crème fraîche and some smoked fish, like haddock or salmon.

Level: Easy | Time: 30 minutes | serves 2-4

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped

3 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 big zucchini, peeled and cut into medium-sized pieces

500ml of vegetable or chicken stock

100ml crème fraîche and some extra for serving

Salt and Pepper

2 TS of curry powder (I used “Madras hot curry”.)

Preparation

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized pot and fry the onion, potato and zucchini for 5 minute on a low to medium heat.
2. Add the curry powder, salt (if necessary) and a pinch of pepper and the stock and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Take the soup of the heat and blend until smooth.
4. Add the crème fraîche and blend again for 1-2 minutes until everything is nicely mixed together.
5. Add the chopped dill to your soup and stir in.
6. To serve: ladle the soup into a warm bowl and garnish with a dollop of crème fraîche and if you like some smoked fish pieces.

Ok – so this isn’t the “traditional” chicken – lemon – rice soup, but arguably a healthier adaptation. This was always a staple in our house growing up and was often accompanied by a loaf of fresh hot bread. It’s in my top 3 for sure. So, for the recipe:

Source: My adaptation of Mom’s

Ingredients:

• 4 Cans vegetable broth
• 2 Eggs
• 3 Med. lemons
• 1 Cup instant brown rice
• 1 Medium potato
• 1 Large carrot
• The heart of the celery bunch – leaves and all

Method:

• Heat broth in large soup pan
• Chop one carrot and potato into small pieces and add to pot
• Dice celery and add to pot
• Add rice
• While soup is cooking, combine juice from lemons and three eggs in a large mixing bowl
• When rice and vegetables are done, remove pan from heat
• Ladle hot broth from soup pot into mixing bowl as you whisk
• Continue until there is no broth left
• Transfer mixing bowl contents slowly back into soup pot as you stir while making pucker sounds with your mouth (an old Greek tradition so the egg doesn’t curdle)
• Bring the pot back up to a slow simmer stirring constantly until soup achieves desired thickness (1 – 2 minutes)

Yes, it’s potato on your skin! Do that if you want:

• a lighter skin tone
• a clearer complexion (reduces blemishes and other marks)
• to remove unwanted tan
• to lighten dark circles under eyes

Why potato?

Potato contained one of the highest bleaching agent; so actually, potato naturally bleached your skin (when you apply it externally; I’m not sure if consuming potato would have the same bleaching effect — but, to be honest, I doubt that it would)

A very dark skin tone CANNOT be bleached to a totally fair skin tone; however, there will be a noticeable change.

[FYI, there are many other natural goodness out there that contain bleaching properties. But, I only put "products" that I have tried myself and have seen the effects/results on my blog --- and that is POTATO! ^^]

How to naturally bleach your skin with potato?

It’s actually pretty simple!

1. Soak raw potato slices in cold water for 10 minutes. Rub these slices over face, neck and hands;
2. Extract potato juice and make a paste out of it;
3. Grate your potatoes and use it as face mask;

OR…

if you are too lazy to do all those things…

There you go!

Just slice the potatoes and put it on your face right away! (remember to WASH it)

That’s what I do

I always do this in the morning, so I’m too lazy to do all those preparations.

[But, to tell you the truth, those other three ways listed above would actually give BETTER results - I haven't tried any, but I'm pretty sure it would, because it is a more proper way.]

Let it stay for long; but no longer that 2 hours.

(some people use it overnight, but I haven’t tried it)

Then, remember to wash your face as well just like after you used other face masks.

Easy, don’t you think?

Some precaution and notes:

I do NOT guarantee that this will suit ALL skin types

so it will be safer if you don’t put it on your face for too long if it is your first time.

The potato juice will slightly hurt your eyes if it gets inside, so it will be better to put a potato with not-too-much juices for the area around your eyes.

If you want to see BETTER results, follow this with a healthy diet

That’s it then!

Have fun with it!

I personally see noticeable results in less that a week. (four or five days, if I’m not mistaken. But one thing for sure is that it is less than a week.)

I hope this GREAT natural skin bleach will work its magic on your skin as well!

P.S. This is just a BRIEF information about skin bleaching with potato; NOT an in-depth and detailed information. For further information, feel free to ask.

Some weeks ago a friend from Mexico asked me for the recipe for potato salad. We got to know each other in France when we were studying in Angers and all the foreigns students found together in the kitchen: The pressure cooking pot of the Indians was always nearly exploding – they used it to prepare lentils and we often feared for our lives;  The Romanians made gogosi (a sort of doughnuts), the Czech students prepared bramborák. And we, the Germans, made Spätzle or potato salad.

In Germany you’ll basically find 2 versions of potato salad: One with stock, vinegar and oil – and one with mayonnaise. I would say that the “mayonnaise-version” is potato salad “Northern style”, the other version is the salad you’ll find in the South of Germany. I’m from the South of Germany, so guess which version I’m going to show you…

For one person you need:

250 g potatoes
about 50 ml of a mix of 1/2 vegetable stock and 1/2 vinegar

a little piece (maybe 1/4) of a small onion

1/2-1 tblsp of oil (neutral taste)

salt
pepper

anything you want to add:
pickles or cucumbers or radish, …

Boil the potatoes in water until tender, peel them and cut them in rounds. Drizzle the stock-vinegar mix over the warm potatoes and let sit for a while or overnight. (Monica from Venezuela would say “the potatoes have to drink the stock and the vinegar”!)
Chop the onion very finely. Cut the optional vegetables. Add them and drizzle the salad with oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Day 79: FanIce takes highway robbery to the next level

It’s official…all FanMilk products-in-a-bag are now 10p more expensive. I thought I was being cheated last Sunday, but today I saw an ad in the Daily Graphic with the new prices. Katharyn texted me about it RIGHT after I saw said ad, and we commiserated. Damn you, FanMilk! I hope the price of FanGold didn’t go up, cause it’d probably be GhC 1.50 or something. So much for ever eating ice cream in a cup again.

I was feeling uninspired about dinner for most of the day, until I flipped through my pirated recipes from you-know-where and came across Seafood & Cabbage Salad. I made approx. ¼ of this recipe, using the (real!) canned crab my parents sent (thanks Mom & Dad!!). I also substituted cucumber for the broccoli, and didn’t have any Worcestershire sauce. But it was quite good, even despite the mostly-flavorlessness of the crab. But I bet once it sits in the fridge for a night, the flavors will meld and become enhanced. Can’t wait for lunch tomorrow…

Earlier today I tried boiling some of those little seeds that look like a cross between rice and orzo. Didn’t work. Well, they got boiled, but they have a really tough outer shell and even if you only eat the insides they still taste weird. Good thing I only bought 20p worth. Lastly: the Saudi Arabian glucose biscuits have definitely surpassed Vega biscuits (sorry, Asia) on my favorites list. Also SO GOOD.

Day 81: Banana muffins om nom nom

Weekend power outages seem to be the norm here in Chiana. As long as it comes back on before bedtime, I won’t be too mad…but I just made ricotta, and I’d kind of like for it not to spoil. Thanks.

This morning I made my best Eggs&Bread yet, with plenty of olive oil, a tiny red onion, tomato and lots of salt/pepe. Then I fried some brown bread for the outside…mmm. I’m getting better every time at replicating the heavenly stand-bought taste.

The bananas I bought yesterday have a really weird texture, and it’s possible that the lights will not, in fact, come back on, resulting in the bananas currently in cold storage melting/becoming gross. So I made Banana Muffins from the DOC and steamed them in tiny Ideal cans like I did the Brown Bread. They took and hour and a half, and they weren’t QUITE as fully cooked as you would expect from a muffin, but if you use twice as much sugar as it calls for, they’re pretty darn good.  Light and fluffy—4 stars. To utilize a phrase I haven’t used since the end of college, om nom nom.

Day 82: Apple Pie for Breakfast

So I figured out what was wrong with my last attempt at making Sautéed Apples: I left out the butter. I made (sort of) Bubbly Apple Topping this morning, with half the apples/¼ the margarine/half the brown sugar and added ~1tsp cinnamon. After a few minutes of simmering, the sauce had thickened to a very strange consistency; it was almost like mucus (sorry, gross). But it tasted AMAZING, and when I put it on Fried Cornmeal Mush it was like having apple pie for breakfast. I licked the plate.

Day 83: A1 Thick ‘N Hearty: A thicker, richer sauce that makes hamburgers taste like steak burgers. And bean burgers taste like heaven.

So the other night, while the lights were out, I foolishly started boiling about a half cup of formerly dried beans. Some had been soaking for the last two days, and I wanted to use them, but I didn’t eat them that night. Instead, I got carried away and made pesto (love instant sauce packets).  So into the fridge they went. But they came out again tonight, and this bean burger experiment was even more successful than the first. In the mix: 1c cooked beans and ½ heaping cup rice, well mashed together; ½ finely chopped large carrot, a bunch of chopped, raw Alefo leaves; 1 sm onion, 2 cloves raw garlic, and a whole lotta chili powder/Adobo/pepe. Then I added ~2T flour to make them stick together—and they didn’t fall apart aTALL on the stove! Plus they tasted excellent. I didn’t even bother with the bread. But I did notice that ketchup and A1 Thick ‘N Hearty both enhance the bean/veggie burger flavor quite nicely.  Must be the tomato products.

Also: it is possible to make “chocolate ice cream” from FanIce: just mix in a teaspoon of cocoa powder. I tried it, was pleased with results. Now if only I had some Hershey’s syrup…but I bet I could make that too, somehow.

Day 84: Four Cheesy Beans & Rice

Last night wile lying in bed I had a fabulous idea about how to use up the leftover beans & rice from last night. Four Cheese sauce packet. Voila! So I did it, and it was indeed good, although the refrigerated beans & rice cooled off the sauce pretty fast. But it was still delicious. Then I added chili powder and pepe after realizing that what I really wanted was Southwest Four Cheesy Beans & Rice. It was a good idea.

The only problem with these sauce packets is that they make 6 or so servings—too much even for a great lover of condiments, like me, to eat at once.  And I love leftovers, but cold Four Cheese isn’t as good as warm…oh well.

For dinner I made McCormick Potato Steamers…except I used sweet potatoes and Fra-Fra potatoes instead of regular, and cooked them on the stove instead of “steaming” in the enclosed microwavable bag. It was Italian herb, or something…good, but a bit salty and not spectacular. I think From Scratch might be a better choice when it comes to potatoes.

Side note: those “little potatoes” I talked about before? Some of the staff at my school were marveling over a bunch of them that someone had bought today. The headmaster wandered in and said, “Oh, we call those Fra-Fra potatoes!” and went on to explain about all the different potatoes grown here. It was funny.

Also: the Fra-Fra potatoes are good, with a strong potatoey taste, but they take too long to cook.  So to help I took a cue from the “steamers” portion of the package: after they had cooked awhile, I dumped in half a cup of water to try and “steam” them some with a makeshift skillet cover on.  It worked (I think)—they were done enough when the water had evaporated.  Maybe the next Fra-Fra adventure will include boiling them first to reduce pan-frying time.

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

I suppose this is a kind of variation on the famous omelette Arnold Bennett, which was made with smoked finnan haddock.

2 large baking potatoes
200g smoked haddock
enough milk to poach the haddock
100g butter
30g flour
1 tsp English mustard
3-4 tbsp double cream
1 tbsp chopped parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the potatoes on a tray and bake for about an hour or so until soft. Leave to cool a little then halve them, scoop the potato into a bowl and mash with 60g of the butter.

Meanwhile place the haddock into a saucepan and cover with the milk, season lightly, bring to the boil, simmer for a couple of minutes and remove from the heat. Take out the haddock and put to one side. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the flour, and stir on a low heat for 20 seconds. Return the haddock milk to a low heat and whisk in the flour mixture and mustard. Simmer on a very low heat for about 10 minutes, then add the double cream and continue simmering for 5 minutes or so or until the sauce is the consistency of thick double cream.

Meanwhile, remove the skin and any bones from the fish and flake into chunks. Mix the fish with the sauce and fold half into the baked potato mixture and spoon back into the skins. Put potatoes back in the oven for about 10 minutes, heat up the remaining fish and sauce with the parsley; then, to serve, just spoon the fish and sauce on to the potatoes.

… onto my walls, my floor, my clothes, etc.  D:

Ahem, before I get into all that, let’s start with Thanksgiving morning.  Thanksgiving morning greeted me like so:

Hello, I am impending doom.

Yes, that is a super thick, impenetrable layer of fog out my window.  Good morning indeed…

It was a bad omen.

The crust was the good part.  I actually got a little creative with that—I can say that I have a recipe for it.    My first ever, haha!  I was too lazy to make actual dough, so I resorted to using a “press in pan” crust.  It turned out pretty good. 

On the other hand, the pie filling was MESSY.  o_o  I screwed up a thousand times during the process of making it!  Actually, everything was going great… until the mixer. *shudder*  Electric whisks are dangerous.  When your squash ain’t fully blended.

-___- *facepalm*  How could I forget to puree the squash when the recipe calls for squash puree?!?!  Because I’m a nerd with no common sense, that’s why!  I ended up having the take out all the random hunks of squash in the mixture, along with any leftover seeds that were not scooped out initially… yeah, I’m fabulous at preparing squash puree.

Bleh.  It was a bleh experience, that’s what it was.  Cleanup was a pain in the (_|_).   However, I refuse to let my first go at pie-making bring me down for eternity!  I’m going to keep destroying my kitchen until I can make pie like someone’s grandma!  Yesss!  Who’s with me?!

puffin-pepita pie crust
makes 1 10-inch crust

- 2 + 1/2 cups Barbara’s Bakery Original Puffins
- 1/4 cup Barbara’s Bakery Peanut Butter Puffins
- 3 large handfuls pepitas
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- pinch of sea salt
- handful of granola

Throw all ingredients into a blender and pulse until fully combined.  The mixture should have a slightly sticky texture when it’s done.  In all honesty, I eyeballed all of these measurements (except the butter), so this is just a guestimation of what I actually used, but you should end up with 2 1/4 cups of cereal “flour” to combine with the other ingredients.

And the results, after divvying up among the family—

Yes, I topped it with black sesame seeds.  Yes I did.

My piece, with ahem, whipped topping:

Eat me, good friends.

The verdict? My family loved it.    Granted, it was just three people… four, if you include myself, but it was pretty tasty for my first pie!  I was really quite scared that they would hate it, and we’d have to resort to the store-bought pumpkin cheese chocolate ganache pie.  Uh, that sounds better than lame “kabocha pie” by a long shot.  But anyway, I’m pretty happy with the results, even though the steps that it took to get there were partial agony. 

Our turkey this year happened to be incredibly juicy.  OMG.  Succulent, tender white meat… no gravy even needed.  The trick was to flip the turkey upside down to bake and fill the dish with water (something like that), according to my brilliant mom.  The best turkey I’ve ever had, period.  I don’t think I’ll get sick of the leftovers this year

I was also responsible for mashed potatoes this year.  Although I’d much prefer to eat mashed squash or sweet ‘taters (mmmmmm), my family is just… one potato.  :/  I did put a little spin on the more “traditional” butter-and-milk recipe though.  Anyone care to try it out?

miso-olive oil mashed potatoes with oregano, garlic, sea salt
serves 4

- 6 yukon gold potatoes
- 1 tsp red miso
- 2-3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- splash of milk
- sprinkle of dried oregano
- sprinkle of garlic powder
- sprinkle of coarse sea salt

Boil potatoes until fork-tender.  Mash with your trusty potato masher until well-mashed.  Add a splash of milk and continue mashing—if the texture of the mash is still too dry, add another splash.  Continue adding milk until the potatoes reach the desired consistency.  Add olive oil (as much as you want—measurements are just an estimation of what I used), oregano, garlic powder, and sea salt to taste.  Mashmashmash.  The resulting mash has the slightest tint of red due to the miso, which I love, but of course, you could substitute any type of miso you happen to have on hand.

… I know, I know—I’m a terrible recipe-writer.  But I can’t help it—when I’m in the kitchen, I don’t think about measurements or anything (unless it’s extremely precise, like… oats).  I just do everything to taste and eyeball all the ingredients (which is why my crust recipe measurements may not be entirely accurate…).

I’m thankful for my sort of stellar Thanksgiving, the chance of reconciliation, and overall positivity for living in our new house.  Thanks for reading. 

i made crispy mashed potatoes for m last week and he LOVED it! here’s another mashed potato pancake recipe, this time topped with an egg and over marina sauce.

i like it when chefs come up with ideas to redress leftovers. although, it isn’t hard to get rid of mashed potatoes, now there are even more ways to enjoy them!

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 2 cup mashed potatoes, chilled
• 1-1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup marinara sauce, warmed
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan *optional

Preparation

Using a generous 1/2 cup of mashed potato for each, form the potato mixture into four 4-1/2-inch diameter pancakes.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick fry pan over medium heat. Fry the pancakes until they are golden brown and heated through, about 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer the pancakes to paper towels to drain. (You can keep pancakes warm on a baking sheet in the oven at 200 degrees F, if desired.)

Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil onto the same pan over medium-low heat. Crack the remaining 4 eggs into the pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until the white is firm, about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, turn the eggs over and cook for 30 seconds longer.

Spoon the marinara sauce onto 4 plates. Place a pancake atop the sauce. Top each pancake with a fried egg. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and serve.

________________________________________________________________________________
original recipe from Everyday Italian: Eggs in Purgatory

Potatoes with spices and curry leaves.

The minute I saw this recipe from the new Marut Sikka cookbook I got, I wanted to try it out. Till date I havent met anyone who did not like potatoes. Whether it is simple aloo curry or dum aloo or potato podimas, potato has its own territory in my kitchen.

This aloo kari patta is a dry gravy. I kinda modified the recipe after reading it because I wanted something with a bit of liquid in it. I was glad I tried as the taste was unique and the whole house had the smell of the spices roasted for this dish. The curry leaves give the dish a mild spice taste and I have never used so many curry leaves with aloo!!

Ingredients (Serves-2)

List 1:
Coriander seeds- 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Black peppercorns- about 12 in numbers or 1 tsp
Cardamom- 4
Cloves- 2
Cinnamon- 1 stick

List 2:

Baby Potatoes- 12 numbers
Finely chopped onions- 1 cup
Finely chopped tomato-1 number
Curry leaves- one handful
Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
Green Chilies- 4
Lemon juice- 1 tsp
Cilantro -1 tbsp- to garnish
salt- 3/4 tsp

Method:
Dry roast the ingredients given in list 1, cool and grind to a fine powder.

Wash and peel the potatoes. You can use it as whole baby potatoes or chop them into two pieces.

Heat a pan, add oil and saute onions. When they turn golden, add curry leaves, stir fry for a minute.

Then add ginger garlic paste, salt, turmeric powder, chopped green chilies and stir fry for a minute or two till everything blends.

Now add the potatoes and the spice powder(from list 1), coat well. Add a cup of water, cover and let it boil till potatoes are tender and coated with the gravy. Add the chopped tomato at this stage, and stir fry till the gravy is a dry gravy. If you want it to be thin liquid gravy, saute for a minute after adding tomato and switch off.

Pour lemon juice on top, sprinkle with cilantro leaves and serve hot with rice or as a side dish for dosas or rotis.

I am sending this dish to Sudeshna’s Think Spice Think Turmeric Event.

I would also like to share some information about Turmeric. We(Indians) use a lot of turmeric in our cooking, for beauty, for health(as medicine and as a sanitizer) but this info I read was something new and I was bragging about it for a few days. I dont know  if  our ancestors knew this specific use of turmeric and hence included it in everyday cooking.

Referring to Readers Digest(May 2009 issue), the main topic was” Steal this: Turmeric:-health secrets from India”

The article was mainly about people using non stick pans in everyday cooking and the harmful  effects of the coating(chemical). And how do they suggest we can protect ourselves? Use Turmeric dear!! Just add a drop of  oil to the pan and add turmeric to it before cooking anything. Now thats what we call a protective coating huh?

Why you should try it: Small studies have found that curcumin, a component of turmeric, cuts cholesterol; animal research suggests it inhibits tumor formation. Now more than a dozen studies in humans are investigating whether it protects against cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases.

How to use it: Heat a little oil in a sauté pan, and toss in a tablespoon of turmeric, a dash of salt, and a generous pinch of black pepper (pepper can increase your uptake of curcumin by up to 2,000 percent). Stir for a minute, then add vegetables, shrimp, scallops, or thin strips of meat for a sunny-colored dish with earthy, peppery accents.

You can check out the article here.

You must be wondering about the relation between potatoes and laptops. Are there laptops made of potato peels? Can laptops be made of recycled potatoes? Have scientists invented machines which transmute potatoes into laptops? Have potatoes gained computational capabilities? Or have we discovered intelligent laptop wielding potatoes in the outer reaches of space. These could be some of the sophisticated questions cropping up in your fertile imagination. The answer to all of them is a resounding NO!!! Not yet, at least.

What I had in mind was the ballooning food inflation in India. It has hit 15.5% today, pushed up by potato prices which soared this year, reaching up to Rs.30.00 during the Navaratri season. Prices of grains and pulses, fruits and vegetables have also seen an upward trend. One of the reasons for high food prices seems to be lack of rains. This was a drought year for the country and understandably it severely affected the crop yield.

However, the more compelling reason for high food inflation and for high potato prices in turn, is the continued lack of investment in agricultural sector and the conversion of agricultural land for residential and industrial purposes. Combined with an uncooperative weather, this has lead to skyrocketing food prices. The Gandhian vision of grassroots level development was lost as soon as India stepped into the industrial development. But I believe it is time we rediscovered his ideology. With a nation of more than 1.2 billion people and still growing, we cannot continue to neglect the farming sector which performs the most critical function of feeding the nation. All talk of India becoming a superpower will be rubbished if half of the nation goes hungry. Although substantial sums are allocated in the national budget for development of the farm sector, most of it is siphoned off by politicians and vested interests. Some of them have built monuments and statues to fulfill their megalomaniac ambitions, pulling the wool over the poor farmers. The policy and frame work for development of agricultural sector may already be in place, but as usual due to inadequate enforcement, they cannot bear fruit. There is an urgent need to focus our attention and invest time and resources to nurse this vital sector back to health.

Contrary to food prices, laptop prices have fallen steadily. A decent laptop is now available for as much as Rs.16000.00. These laptops until a year back used to sell for almost double this price. The prime reason for reduction in prices is the continuous improvement of technology which has multiplied the computing capabilities manifold while slashing the component prices each year. Such focus of energy and intense research is of course driven by market interests.

Perhaps private farming initiatives could achieve similar excellence in agricultural production if the necessary regulations to dissuade them from overexploitation of labour and resources are put in place. Maybe the solution is to form agricultural cooperatives. I am not sure of the correct route to follow.

But one thing is certain, if the inflationary trend continues, it would be difficult for many of us to make both ends meet. Most importantly, it would severely affect the nutrition of children and the poor, not to mention the seeds of anarchy it would sow in the society. For each of us it is a wake up call not to be taken lightly. This could presage the course of things to come unless we choose to be dead serious about it. After all, we cannot eat laptops, no matter how cheap they become.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of vegetable broth

2 15oz cans of chickpeas

14.5oz can of stewed tomatoes

6 yukon gold potatoes

1 medium onion

1 tablespoon of butter

2 teaspoons of minced ginger

1 clove of garlic

1-2 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of coriander

1 teaspoon of chili powder

1 teaspoon of turmeric

One of this things I don’t miss about living at my parents is that I don’t have to worry about whether my clothes smell like Indian food. Real talk: when I was in high school and my mom would start cooking, I’d sprint up the stairs and close the door to my closets and my room. That stuff was strong!

Anyway, although I don’t have to Febreeze my coat anymore, I still miss my Mom’s cooking. Every time I tried to get my mom to teach me, she’d be like “oh it’s so easy” and she’d toss a whole bunch of things into a pot without measuring anything out. So this is my attempt to recreate what my mama taught me!

First, take some potatoes and chop that stuff up!

Then cut up your onion, ginger, and garlic. I love these smells!!!

Put some oil and the butter into your pot and stir them around until fragrant!

Get your can opener out!

Then, in large pot combine all your ingredients – everything and make sure you nestle the potatoes into the liquid!

Don't you just love those colors!

Set the pot, uncovered, over medium heat. Let it simmer for 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. Make sure you stir regularly though.

And voila! Serve with some naan or rice!

Make Thanksgiving leftovers Indian! Go ahead and be “lazy.” Get pre-fab egg roll wrappers at the grocery store and skip making pastry. You can also use pre-fab pie crust, phyllo dough, or puff pastry! This is so fast and easy, you’ll have to tell all your friends.

Crispy Samosas

Mix 3 Cups of left over veggies: Chopped green beans, sweet potatoes, corn, peas, mashed potatoes, carrots, etc. Stir in 2 tsp curry powder. Adjust the spice according to your taste.

Place 2 TBSP veggie filling on wrapper pastry (egg roll wrappers are about 3 inches square). Fold into a triangle and seal edge with a mixture of 1 egg beat with 2 TBSP water. Crimp edge down with a fork.

Brush samosas with a little peanut or vegetable oil. Bake in 400 degree F oven for 12-15 minutes, until crispy brown. Samosas can also be deep fried 3-5 minutes.

Serve with dipping sauce made from equal parts left over cranberry sauce and sauteed onions. Simply saute chopped yellow onion in butter until caramelized them stir in an equal amount of cranberry sauce.

These make a great dinner, appetizer, or hors devour for your holiday entertaining. Use vegan pastry and veggies for a vegan version.

The avant-garde kitchen would not be complete after a refrigerator, an oven, a microwave, and a coffee maker. As accessories in one of the a lot of important apartment in the house, these accessories are on the beginning of the action for greater accessibility and lower action costs. Here is a attending at a few of the abstruse makeovers which can advice you save both time and money. “Smart” Refrigerators Has this anytime happened to you? On your way home from work, you stop at the bazaar for groceries. While acrimonious up aliment for dinner, you can’t bethink whether there’s a steak in the freezer or if you still accept abundant adulate for the mashed potatoes. Instead of agreement a alarm to your cogent other, let your refrigerator analysis the account for you. Using a corpuscle phone, it is accessible to accidentally admission an up-to-the-minute account of the capacity of the “smart” refrigerator via an Internet connection. LG Electronic’s Internet Refrigerator is able of alerting its user if a artefact has expired. The abeyant for this technology is enormous, but the bound availability of online grocery casework has slowed its spread. Manufacturers achievement to eventually advance a arrangement by which refrigerators will not just accumulate tabs on the aliment inside, but will accomplish lists of what is bare and automatically abode an adjustment with online grocers. One check of the accepted technology is the accomplishment that goes into befitting your refrigerator’s annal up-to-date. As the refrigerator is stocked, the artefact names and cessation dates accept to be logged manually. If an account is removed from the refrigerator, the abstracts accept to be entered as well. The accessibility of alive what’s in your refrigerator at any time may be outweighed by the aggravation of befitting such accurate records. Another accepted focus for the newly-developed technology involves abbreviation action costs. For instance, the Fisher & Paykell Active Smart Refrigerator offers assorted energy-conserving appearance which, if combined, accord to the all-embracing ability of the product. The Active Smart cyberbanking intelligence and assorted sensors adviser the centralized temperature while a Variable Capacity Compressor ensures the refrigerator runs at its peak. Energy-efficiency is decidedly important if it comes to refrigerators because they are the alone kitchen accessories that run 24-hours per day. By purchasing ecologically-friendly technology you’ll abate your electricity bills and accumulate added money in your wallet. Convenient Coffee Makers A contempo development in coffee burning is the exhaustion brewing system, as accent by the Clear Electric Santos coffee maker by Bodum. The apparatus promises to beverage six to twelve cups of able coffee aural eight account using an easy-to-clean filtration system. This is an ideal apparatus for humans who adulation a concentrated cup of joe. The canicule of baking accomplished pots of baptize just to accept a individual cup of coffee are over. The one cup coffee maker can beverage your admired gourmet tea or coffee in beneath than a minute, eliminating the charge to adapt a accomplished pot. For humans on-the-go, these fast brewing machines are a acceptable accession to the home or workplace. The individual cup coffee maker is aswell a abundant action saver. In the time it ability yield to calefaction up one pot of approved coffee or to drive over to Starbucks, a one cup coffee maker by Keurig can beverage several abnormally flavored hot drinks in 40 abnormal each. Another advantage of this apparatus is the array of drinks it can produce. Keurig provides barter with over 70 altered coffee or tea “K-Cups” from which to choose. K-Cups are easy-to-insert dispensers, which fit neatly into the coffee company’s apparatus with little accomplishment and no clean-up. Multifunctional Ovens Forget active over a hot stove for hours just to get banquet on the table. Thanks to new ovens with automated time and temperature controls banquet can about accomplish itself. Wish a meal to be accessible by the time you get home? Simply abode your admired bowl in the oven and let the apparatus do the rest. The Intelligent Oven by TMIO refrigerates aliment until the user activates the affable function. The oven’s Internet connectivity allows you to ascendancy this affection accidentally with your corpuscle buzz or computer. Commons are not alone delicious, but altogether timed for your convenience. Additional advances accept fabricated the artefact safer and added energy-efficient, authoritative it both user- and environmentally-friendly. For absolute fast food, attending for accessories such as the Sharp High Speed Convection/Microwave Oven. A 5-pound broiled craven would yield up to 140 account or added in a accepted oven but, with the new accelerated ovens, the aforementioned meal can be accessible aural 28 minutes. By using a mix of super-heated circulating air and bake energy, commons baker up to 80 percent faster. In a footfall that brings to apperception scenes from a plan of science-fiction, General Electric is a part of the companies developing ovens which acknowledge to articulation commands and admit over 200 bounded accents. Rather than blame a pre-set button, key phrases would actuate the already programmed affable times and temperatures. Such technology may not be a continued way off, but its amount tag may prove to be above the ability of abounding consumers. High-tech Microwaves Trying to acquisition quick and simple recipes? Put down the cookbook. You can calmly download hundreds of recipes anon from your bake with the advance of a button. Using the LG Lifestyle MG-5682NL bake oven, you can download recipes or added affable advice from the company’s web site. Sharp aswell sells a bake that downloads affable instructions for assorted meals, again automatically programs the time and ability settings appropriate to zap your meal to perfection. In a slight aberration on the theme, a new bake by Samsung is programmed to apprehend affable admonition by scanning artefact bar codes with a appropriate sensor. The bake again pulls the specific affable instructions off the Internet and cooks the meal accordingly. Abounding models now appear with affable pre-sets for accepted aliment items, such as airheaded or arctic meals. Simply columnist one of the clearly-labeled advantage buttons on the microwave’s touchpad and the apparatus will automatically acclimatize the time and ability level. Another affection that you will not wish your bake to be after is a damp sensor. Microwaves calefaction aliment by using radio after-effects to accelerate the molecules. To anticipate overcooking your food, the damp sensor will account how abundant time is still bare to baker based on how continued it took for the aliment to activate steaming. Since the kitchen is a accustomed hub of action for any household, a few baby changes can beggarly big accumulation in added means than one. These kitchen innovations will not alone chargeless up added of your time, but can advice you save money on the account action bills. A little ability can go a continued way!

Last week we, the HK Chefs Association (www.hongkong-chefs.com ) and the US Potato Board had organized a seminar about US potatoes, with 10 Invited HK Chefs, 10 from Malaysia and 10 from Singapore. Additionall at the HKCA we had about 12 Chefs put together recipes, pictures and demonstrations put together to give at the seminar. it was a 2 day event which was a great event I have to say it was interactive, hands on and educational. Demo’s were given, recipes supplied and then the same dishes had to be re-cooked by team participants!

a fun few days it was, here are the images and some of the innovative recipes!

Mr. Potato Head Dim Sum

Potato Quiche as Appetizer

Yellow Potato and Tuna Salad

Potato Salad

Potato Dumplings (Dessert)

Potatoes used

Chinese Baked Potatoes with Mickey Mouse Logo

Sweet Potato Brulee

Tuna and Steamed Potato

Gnocchi

Roesti

We are well into nabe (hot pot) season and I am trying to do more experimenting this year.  Last year we ate kimchi nabe a couple times a week.  That was a lot of days I could have been trying new things.  I even had a nice nabe cookbook at my disposal.  I have tried a few this year already (Cod and Chinese Cabbage Nabe) and I thought I’d share a good one that non-meat eaters could enjoy too.  I’m pretty sure that if you substituted vegetarian soup stock for chicken stock you wouldn’t find too much of a difference in taste.  As you can imagine, prep for this one takes a little while but it makes up for it in short cooking time.  If yo u are wondering about the color of the rice, I added a tablespoon of black rice to two cups of white rice in the rice cooker.

It was originally published in Japanese so I cannot guarantee what I did is exactly what the recipe called for but it worked and tasted great.

Ribbon Vegetable Nabe

Kyou no Ryouri Beginners 2008.1

1/3 carrot
15cm daikon, cut in half lengthwise
1/4 lotus root (れんこん)
1 potato (a longish one works best)
1/2 burdock root (ごぼう)

1 1/2 cups fish stock
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Thai fish sauce (ナムプラー)

Put the fish stock, chicken stock, salt and fish sauce in a nabe pot (or regular pot).  Use a vegetable peeler to turn all of the vegetables except the lotus root into ribbons.  Slice the lotus root thinly.  Bring the stock to a boil and add the vegetables.  Boil the vegetables for 2-3 minutes and serve.  It’s that easy.

Esta semana volvemos a la carga con un especial dedicado íntegramente a la poesía dub.

Otra forma de expresar sentimientos de protesta a modo de detonante para la revolución.
Hacemos repaso por artistas, unos conocidos, otros menos conocidos pero al fin y al cabo artífices de otra forma lírica para la cultura reggae.

Cargado de material volvemos este miércoles con una entervista muy especial a Pedro “Aianai” Espinosa, uno de los vocalistas de Potato, la banda de Vitoria.

Por otro lado tenemos la revisión de una película clásica dentro del mundo de la música jamaicana, la pelicula de Ted Bafaloukus, Rockers.

…Y como siempre nuestra agenda actualizada!

Esperemos que lo disfrutéis.

Descárgalo y escuchalo aqui / download & listen it here

BASS CULTURE REGGAE RADIO SHOW
Poet And the Roots – Five Nights of Bleeding (Virgin)
Linton Kwesi Johnson – Making History / History Dub (Mango)
Mutabaruka & The Light of Saba-  Outcry (Honest Johns)
Mutabaruka & Hight times All Star – Postpone Christmas (Alligator)
POESIA DUB TRACK Oku Onuora a Slum Dwell Declares
Jean Binta Breeze – To Plant / Dub (Heartbeat)
Pato Banton – My Opinion (Greensleeves)
Malachi Smith – Victim (Heartbeat)
Michael Smith – (Island)
Oku Onuora & AK7 – Heathen Let We Go (Zola & zola)
Dennis bovell Dub – Band Iron Bar Dub (Mango)
* Entervista Pedro “Aianai” Espinosa
Potato – Rula (Ohiuka)
Pelicula de la quincena: ROCKERS
AGENDA SEMANAL
POESIA DUB TRACK  Michael Smith – Black & White.
Ursula Rucker – Tic Toc (Simple Records)
Dubspeed’ Killa (feat. Jazzmin Tutum) – Goodbye to the City (Phazz-a-delic )
Jambassa & King Alpha – The Unpresent Spirits (A Quiet Bump)
Benjamin Zepanniah – Slow Motion/Dub/Ambient (G-Side)
POESIA DUB TRACK – Levy Tafari – Streets of Hope
Todos los Miércoles de 20 a 21:30hrs
Radio Almenara, 106.7fm
Zona Norte de Madrid
www.radioalmenara.net
www.myspace.com/basscuture78
www.discoinferno.podomatic.com

Descárgalo y escuchalo aqui / download & listen it here

garlic mashed potato and mushroom gravy – how can you go wrong? i’ll definitely be making this combo soon. but for turkey day, i decided to just make the gravy to top off my chicken roll with stuffing. yum!

PORTOBELLO GRAVY

Gravy Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-1/2 cups chopped cleaned portobello mushrooms (2 medium)
• 2-1/4 cups vegetable broth
• 3 tablespoons tamari or reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/8 teaspoon crumbled dried sage
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

Gravy Preparation

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, until they begin to release their juices, about 10 minutes.

Add broth, tamari (or soy sauce), thyme and sage; simmer for 10 minutes. Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Stir into the sauce and simmer, stirring often, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes more. Season with pepper. If you prefer a smooth gravy, pass it through a fine sieve (discard mushrooms and onions). Serve hot.

MASHED POTATOES

Potatoes Ingredients

• 3-1/4 pounds russet potatoes (4-5 large), peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 cup starch water (from boilng potatoes)
• 1 cup corn
• 6 large cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 tablespoon margarine from a tub
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• freshly ground pepper to taste

Potatoes Preparation

Place potatoes and garlic in a large pot, cover with lightly salted water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium heat until the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving cooking liquid.

Return the potatoes and garlic to the pot. Add butter (or oil). Mash the potatoes with a potato masher, adding 1/2 to 1 cup of the reserved liquid to make a creamy consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the mashed potatoes to a warmed serving bowl and serve with Portobello Gravy.

________________________________________________________________________________
original recipes courtesy of EatingWell.com: Mashed Garlicky Potatoes with Portobello Gravy

Au Gratin Potatoes

(3 Points per Serving using skim milk)
8 Servings

.

1 sprays cooking spray
1 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion(s), thinly sliced
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cup fat-free skim milk (I prefer 2%)
2 pounds Yukon Gold potato(es), thinly sliced
1 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat a 2-quart covered baking dish with cooking spray.

.
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour; add milk slowly, stirring. Add potatoes and stir to mix. Bring to a boil. Stir in 3/4 cup of cheese, salt and pepper.

.
Pour mixture into prepared baking dish and level out surface. Bake for 1 hour, uncovered. Cover and bake until potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 minutes more.

.
Change oven temperature to broil. Sprinkle remaining cheese over potatoes. Broil 6 inches from the heating element until the cheese is golden brown, about 1 to 2 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing into 8 pieces.

~~~

~~~

Yum, yum!  These potatoes are worth the effort!

Who knew I could feed myself from a front yard garden alone? Other than the flour, I grew everything for this dish in my small, urban yard; potatoes, garlic, chard, tomatoes and squash.

I may have mentioned my front yard transformation last spring. With the help of a great neighbour, a dumping of dirt, a seed catalogue and some eager kids, we transferred lawn into an edible space.

Less the brussels sprouts and the chard, most of the garden now harvested. There were the three varieties of potatoes; Peruvian Reds, Blue and Russian Fingerlings, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Butternut Squash, sweet Yellow Pear Tomatoes just for this dish alone. (It doesn’t even hint at the edamame, peas, beans, beets, asparagus, blueberries, herbs, okra, cabbages, zucchini, pumpkins… corn… wow!)

After digging up a surplus of potatoes, I needed a few ideas on what to do with them. With BBQ season pretty much a thing of the past, potato salad wasn’t topping my list as much as the gnocchi. Besides, I just had to when I saw the light pinkiness of the potatoes and the great texture that was perfect for such a thing.

Feeding yourself all on your own, that’s local.
Now, that’s something to be thankful for!

PERUVIAN PINK POTATO GNOCCHI

1Lb Potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed (you can use other starchy potatoes, like Russetts as well)
1 Cup All Purpose Flour, plus more for rolling.
1/4 teaspoon Salt

In a large bowl, finely mash the cooked potatoes so they are lump free.
Add the salt and half of the flour then add 1/4 cup at a time stirring to combine and bring everything together in a smooth dough. You may not need it all.
Depending on your work surface, third or quarter the dough. Take one piece and cover remaining pieces.
Roll the dough into long “snakes” and cut into 1″ pieces.
Roll each piece off the back of a floured fork and repeat finishing all of the dough.
Drop into salted boiling water and cook gnocchi until they float; about 3 – 4 minutes.

While the gnocchi were boiling I made the “sauce” of tomatoes, chard, squash and garlic.
I cubed the peeled, cleaned squash and sautéed it, covered in a large, lightly oiled pan. Once the pieces began to soften, I removed the lid to let the stem escape and pieces brown.
I added two cloves of finely chopped garlic and the chard to cook for another two minutes.
Once the chard had wilted, I added 1 cup of sliced yellow pear tomatoes, salt, pepper and a palmful of chopped basil.
Simple and delicious.