Strawberry Shortcakes-- a Summer Staple

Strawberries are making their grand appearance in grocery stores and farmers markets everywhere... Poking around the neat cartons of deep red berry goodness, I glance over and see those delicious little dessert cups.. and some marketing guy somewhere just got a big fat bonus because I fell for their little ploy (I am sure Im not the only one) and JUST HAD to buy the dessert cups.. oh and whipped cream.. and vanilla ice cream!! (Turkey Hill, no less)

This shortcake is, in short, an assembly of goodness. And its easy. Pick up the ingredients on your way to a BBQ and its sure to be a hit!

Want to be more natural/healthy/organic? So do I. Next time, I will delve into the world of making my own shortcake dessert cups.

My birthday is on June 12!

My birthday is on the 12th! To celebrate, we are going to Udupi Palace to eat paper dosas!

But wait? You dont know what paper dosas are? Dont worry. This post describes a few of the items on the menu at Udupi (although the pictures were taken from food made in India, at my mother's and from my own kitchen)

Paper Dosa or Dosai

As you can see, this is quite a large piece of food. It is a very thin crisp griddle-fried rice-batter that you eat with sambar and chutney (minced coconut and spices, or minced mint or coriander and spices). It is hands down my favorite food (so far) :)

Batura and Channa (Garbanzo Beans)

These are fried breads, which rise before being rolled and fried so they have a different taste and texture. I love the combination above. If you order this at a restaurant, they usually serve one or two significantly larger baturas.

Poori and Yellow Potatoes

Pooris are made from whole wheat flour and are rolled flat and fried. They puff up in the oil, giving the bread a light soft double-layer structure. As with baturas (explained above) pooris are usually much larger (like the size of the plate) if you order it in a restaurant.

Idli and Sambar

Idli are light delicate rounds of steamed rice batter. When made properly they are melt-in-your-mouth soft. Restaurants usually dont make these very well, unless they specialize in South Indian cuisine.

Well I cant seem to locate my vada pictures, so I guess I will have to post later with that. Get excited-- and dont worry, theres lots of great things to try at a South Indian restaurant!

Cilantro Lime Tilapia: 5 steps to a 10 minute lunch

Starving? Need something quick? Try this super easy cilantro-lime tilapia!

Step 1: Place a frozen tilapia fillet on a small plate, add 1 tsp lime juice, 1 tsp ground cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. (I have these handy tubes of mashed cilantro-- available from Safeway, you could also use frozen cilantro cubes, available from Trader Joes)

Step 2: Thaw in microwave. Mine took less than two minutes, since it is only 1 fillet.

Step 3: Grill. I used a George Foreman, but I bet you could easily have done this stovetop. Grilling took only a few minutes.

Step 4: While the fish is grilling, prep your salad and/or rice side. I always have a bag of cooked rice in the fridge (it is a staple in our household), so I put about 1/4 cup on my plate, added some soy sauce, dry ginger, and sesame seeds. Heat in microwave till warm. The salad is generic- use what you have on hand. Mine consisted of iceberg lettuce, tomato wedges, and olives.

Step 5: Plate the fish. and voila! Lunch in 10.

Memorial Day Fun

Breakfast starts off with pancakes with fresh fruit, veggie sausage patty, and a simple cheese and salsa omelette. A small cup of hot steamy coffee and today's newspaper. Not a care in the world. Ahhh its memorial day!

Savor your No-Work-Monday and enjoy a slow breakfast today. Then, get out of the house! I know it is supposed to rain in the Washington DC Metro area, so grab your umbrella, call a few friends, and see the world!

India!!

Ok I admit, I have been slacking in the new posting department.. but that is not to say that I haven't been enjoying lots of wonderful food-- Quite the contrary, I am winding up the last 3 days of a month long trip to India. And in case you didn't know, much of Indian society revolves around food :)

I am going to start with bananas. The standard American banana is tasteless in comparison to the small "mutti" variety specially available in South India (pictured above, peeled). Alternatively the large red banana has a sweet and very filling quality. Oh and the Yatham banana, or plantain, when ripe has a fleshy tone completely absent in the standard American definition of "Banana." There are even green bananas that are green when ripe! (See basket of bananas above, or leaf below).Above, bananas are served along side sweet pongal and salty pongal (rice dishes), all set atop a portion of a banana leaf that serves as a plate. The banana leaf plate is wonderfully green (literally) in that once the meal is completed, the leaf can be fed to a cow, resulting in no wastage. The meal above was presented as an offering in our family temple, as we gathered to pray for my cousin's new baby boy. After the prayer, the portions are distributed and everyone sits down to eat the "prasadam," or food that has been offered/blessed by the gods.

These multiple varieties are available in roadside stores, hung by the bunch on the original banana vine. Or, commonly, these varieties are found in family agricultural plots, and distributed to friends and family.

Puttu!

Puttu is the most amazing breakfast food EVER. You know how you just can't seem to use those last few over-ripe bananas? With Puttu, problem solved. What about figuring out whats for dinner? tangentially, Puttu can help. Or when you want a speedy and healthy breakfast- puttu leftovers-- oh yes they re-heat well! Annd it's been my latest obsession (confession, I have been purposefully buying ripe bananas just so they will become over-ripe and I can make puttu!!!)

Enough of this suspense you say? What is this mysterious food? Fine fine. Puttu is simply steamed rice flour, with optional flaked coconut. Anti-climactic? Perhaps.. but it is really good!

Start by dry frying rice flour, being careful not to burn it. Dont add oil or any other liquids. Store this as "puttu flour" for as long as you would store flour.. basically shelf stable. I dry fry the entire bag at once, and then store it to use whenever. Now, in a bowl, take about 1 cup of puttu flour and mix in water slowly, until the mixture resembles soft crumbs. (I tried to take a picture of this.. but I am not sure how much you can see in the photo above).
Get your pressure cooker going.. and put something inside! I like to put a bean or lentil item for that night's dinner in the body of the pressure cooker.. kills two birds with one stone. Make sure you have a jet of steam coming out of the top, as seen in the pic above.
Load up your puttu maker with the rice flour mixture. Add flaked coconut in layers between sections of rice flour. For a small puttu maker like mine, I put about 3 layers of dried sweetened coconut flakes, but it is really only about 1 Tbsp of coconut.
Put your puttu maker on the pressure cooker stem, lining up the bottom so that the steam travels up the column through the puttu.

Two to three minutes later (for a small puttu maker) remove the puttu maker from the steam and poke the back with a skewer to push the steamed flour out. It usually breaks at the coconut seam.. mmmm.

Now here is the best part-- you get to mash a ripe banana into the flour with your hands! Normal Indian etiquette generally requires that the palm of the hand stay clean, and that the fingers are used for eating. Puttu is an exception.. mash it with your entire hand!! its like play-dough... oh so fun! And thats it! Enjoy the mashed banana creation! You can add sugar if desired.. but it is pretty good with just banana :)

The only problem...as you might have guessed.. is the special equipment required.. namely the pressure cooker and puttu maker. I am still pondering this problem.. When I come up with an answer, I will be sure to share it! But for now.. youre just going to have to come over for breakfast!
BTW if you already know you looooove puttu, I am going to India soon and will take requests for equipment (tiffon carriers.. puttu makers, etc).

Homemade Bean Dip!

This is my mom's speciality-- bean dip made from dried pinto beans. She cooks them in a pressure cooker, then simmers with tomato sauce, garlic, and salt until cooked through (mashing the beans if necessary after the pressure cooker step).

This week, I am participating in Kim O'Donnel's eating down the fridge challenge (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/mighty-appetite/2009/03/eating_down_the_fridge_let_the.html) so no grocery shopping for the week.. and I didn't have tomato sauce! What to do?! I had already cooked the pinto beans in the morning (because I am addicted to puttu, which requires a pressure cooker... I'll post about puttu soon), planning to use them for dinner.

Oh well-- the Eating Down the Fridge challenge is all about being creative-- right? Right! I used 3 Tbsp of bottled spaghetti sauce for my 1.5 Cups of cooked pinto beans... add a little garlic powder, chili powder, and a dash of cumin (I wanted to make sure the spaghetti sauce taste was gone) and it was delicious! Couldnt even tell the difference!

I topped the bean dip with cheddar chunks, sliced green onion, tomato, and bell pepper, and some finely diced celery. MmmMMmMMM! I ate it rolled in a corn tortilla that I microwaved for about 15 seconds.. along with some sour cream. Delicious!

The taste is so much better than refried beans from a can-- the fresh cooked pinto bean has a very distinct and wonderful flavor! try it out, and let me know what you think.

Shrimp-A-Palooza Pictures

This cooking event occured almost a year ago-- but I am just getting around to putting up pics now. Enjoy!!
Grilled shrimp, cajun style and lemon pepper grilled

Shrimp Biscuits, and in the background panko breaded shrimp and coconut shrimp

Super spicey south Indian style shrimp curry. This curry ended up in Amanda's eye. Ouch.

Shrimp and Cheese Bread

Shrimp Scampi, and in the background shrimp quesadillas

the coconut application for the coconut shrimp (this part was fun.. thanks Suee for volunteering)

Close up coconut shrimp

Shrimp Alfredo.. I cheated and used store bought alfredo sauce (yea next year its going to be a potluck...)

Shrimp with cocktail sauce

And shrimp stir fry!

Is anyone else reminded of Bubba from the movie Forest Gump? What can I say, I love me my shrimpies.

Fried Chicken Rollups!

Rachel Ray Everyday magazine has these wonderful weekday menu planner segments (you can find them online here). I am on day 2 of the menu from February's magazine.. Yesterdays steaks were so wonderful, but all I took a picture of was a massacred piece of meat.. which looked wholly unappetizing upon review.

Today: Fried Chicken Rollups.. a homemade taquito stuffed with store bought rotisserie chicken, garlic, onions, and red pepper (my addition to the recipe).

In this recipe, corn tortillas are pan fried in oil. My only complaint is that this recipe is not really that healthy.. but hey, two of them filled me up for a nice dinner, so I guess it wasn't that bad. My only suggestions is: don't skip the step of warming the tortillas before stuffing them with the chicken mixture..this makes the tortillas pliable and without enough heating they fall apart when you roll it up. Try it out! delicious.