Cooking

The Essence of Cooking

Cooking is chemistry. All of life and each living being is of chemical comprise, so that each act of cooking is a supportive event in the life and health for those who eat from the cook's handiwork. To simply conceive of the taking of food for its maximum worth can be an holistic idea, making each day and each meal the equivalent of a prayer. Here you will find some of the ideas which have come to me in the form of recipes for healthful and pleasing results. The cuisine I follow is Indian vegetarian and grain cooking.

Carrot Bulgur / Carrot Halvah

This dish can be served variously as a main dish at any meal. Due to its hearty grain composition of bulgur, it may be preferred as a breakfast dish or cereal. Carrot bulgur can be eaten as a dish by itself, or it can be eaten in the tradition of cereal with milk. Please note also that this recipe provides for an excellent and nutritious sweet, carrot halvah, when the bulgur preparation is simply left out; therefore, there are two recipes here. Note also that the ingredients call for a modest amount of honey, so that this amount can be varied as according to taste for the level of sweetness desired.

CARROT BULGUR

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup bulgur

1and 1/2 cups milk

2 and 1/2 tablespoons ulsi ghee*

1/4 teaspoon fennel seed

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

10 tablespoons hung yogurt cheese**

1/2 cup shredded carrots

3 tablespoons almonds

[note: 1 tbsp. ground almonds

2 tbsp. slivered almonds]

3 teaspoons honey* (preferably 3 tbsp of jaggery)

salt to taste (1/4 tsp.)

Place 1 and 1/2 tablespoons ulsi ghee in a kadai and gently heat. When it is hot, add the 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, and brown them. Now add 1/2 cup of bulgur, and stir fry it until it is darkened nicely. When it begins to smoke from the ghee and is quite dark, step up the stir frying and keep cooking it. After this stage has been realized for one or two minutes, the milk should be added. Cook it at a low bubbling for a while, stirring it frequently as the milk is soaked in. Once cooked, the milk will be well absorbed, and 1/4 teaspoon salt can added after it is removed from the heat, and stirred in.

Place 1 tablespoon ghee in a saucepan. Add 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander, and brown this. Now add the hung yogurt cheese, and fry it into the ghee, making a paste. Once this is well-mixed and cooked, add the 1/2 cup shredded carrots (which can be carrots processed by a blender.) These carrots must be cooked into the paste, thickening it. Once they are somewhat cooked, add the honey* and mix it into the cooking process.

Now add one tablespoon of ground-up almonds, along with two tablespoons of slivered almonds, and retain the cooking process. Once these almonds are about to lose their crunchiness, the yogurt cheese-carrot-almond halvah is ready to be added into the bulgur.

On low heat add the halvah into the wheat, adding enough milk, say, two tablespoons, so as to give it a heating buffer. Mix this as one is combined with the other over the heat. Now sprinkle the cereal with ground almonds as a garnish when it is removed from the heat.

These proportions serve 6-8 people.

*Note: As according to Ayurvedic principle of nutrition, it is not advisable to cook honey. Not having known this before this year (2008), this recipe stands to be corrected as to that ingredient of honey. The best substitute would be jaggery, say, 3 tablespoons.

CARROT HALVAH

The yogurt-cheese-carrot-almond mix can be served as a halvah in itself as a dessert food, and a nutritious one.

*Ulsi ghee is prepared by heating butter in a fairly deep pan or a kadai on medium to medium low heat until the impurities settle out in the process. Dense little collections of whitish substance will begin to appear as the butter bubbles over the heat. The heating process can be stopped either before or after these dense bodies begin to turn brown, depending upon the taste for ghee one has. Once removed from the heat, the ghee preparation is strained through a strainer lined with cheese cloth. The ghee will be golden or light brown as according to the extent of the heating desired, less or more, as described, respectively. Ghee can also be bought in Indian food specialty shops.

**Hung yogurt cheese is made by placing yogurt in the center of a double- or triple-layered piece of cheese cloth, and gathering up the four corners to a tie. The bag thus formed should be hung in the air at an appropriate place where the liquid can drain out and be caught, such as from a faucet in a sink, a cabinet knob over a sink if handy, or in whatever other way suitable. The yogurt will drain over an eight-hour period, forming a thick, white paste which should be collected and refrigerated.

Note: a kadai is an Indian cooking pan which is hemi-spherical, much like a Chinese wok. Kadais can be bought at many Indian specialty food stores, and they are extremely efficient for fast-action cooking techniques which require constant attention and stirring, such as stir-fry vegetables. The fundamental principle topologically which makes the kadai a superior cooking pan is its constant curvature, which curvature lends a momentum to each cooking stroke. A cooking stroke can be such as a mixing motion, or a stir-frying technique akin to tossing. The efficiency of the cooking is therefore enhanced greatly, which is why cooks prefer a kadai for stir frying vegetables, wherein each stir lifts the vegetable from direct contact with the heated metal, so as to prevent an instantaneous overcooking. In this way the vegetables can be browned to taste without burning, and which browning would be less possible if a flat surface were being utilized as a pan.

Apple-Chenna Scramble

This dish can be served as a feature with corriander chutney and chapati as a light snack, or with a pear chutney and sliced rye bread. Or, since it is protein-rich, it might be served as a main dish with rice, dahl and Vedic vegetables along with chutney and chapati.

APPLE-CHENNA SCRAMBLE

INGREDIENTS

chenna * (about two and one quarter cups)

3 tbsp. ulsi ghee

1-2 chopped hot green peppers

1 tbsp. chopped ginger

2 tbsp. whole cloves

1/2 tsp. mustard seeds

1 tbsp. caraway seeds

4 tbsp. chopped fresh basil

1 diced Gala apple

2 tbsp. chopped walnuts

8 tbsp. light cream

Place 3 tablespoons of ulsi (pure) ghee in a kadai or a medium-sized saucepan and heat until hot enough to burst the mustard seeds upon contact. Then add 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds, cover the kadai and wait for the bursting to subside. Also modify the heat as the bursting goes on to a lesser amount, down to medium. Next add the caraway seeds and let them enter the cooking process just briefly - for a few seconds. Now add the cloves, and stir the mixture adequately. Then add the chopped hot green peppers and chopped ginger. Let this mixture cook until well-blended. Once the spices have blended thoroughly into the ghee, which takes only a few minutes, strain the entire mixture for its spiced ghee through a small strainer; use a spoon to remove any whole cloves which may have adhered to the kadai, and continue cooking with the spiced ghee in the kadai. Place the newly gained spiced ghee in the kadai, and add in the walnuts and then chopped basil to that spiced ghee, stirring them frequently. The heat should be moderated in deference to the walnuts, so that medium to medium-low will suffice. Cook this mixture until the basil has been suffused into the ghee. Add in the diced Gala apples and immediately thereafter 4 tablespoons light cream. Cook this mixture over medium to medium-high heat for a while, and then add the chenna. Stir fry this apple-chenna mixture over medium-low to low heat for a few minutes. Once the mixture has cooked long enough to dry considerably, add in the remaining 4 tablespoons of light cream and keep stir-frying it until the moisture is nearly gone.

*Chenna is Indian cheese, a delicate and fundamental cheese made from milk in a direct fashion. It is close to American pot cheese, and can be made easily. This recipe calls for the cheese which comes from eight cups of milk, itself about a two and one quarter cups in amount. To make chenna, boil eight cups of milk, then reduce the heat enough to keep it at a gentle boil. Now add the coagulant of your choice, listed below. The milk will soon curdle of course dramatically, and allow this curdling to resolve as more and more white curds will separate from the greenish-yellow whey. As you observe the curdling to completion, turn off the heat. Now gather in the chenna through a straining process, either using a colander or a strainer lined generously with four layers of cheese cloth. Once the whey has been separated from the chenna, the curds must be rinsed under cold running tap water. This rinsing is to remove the flavor of the coagulant. Now arrange for the remaining fluid to be drained from it, first by gathering in the four corners of the cheesecloth and gently twisting from the gathered corners as a base. Then simply suspend the cheesecloth sack in the air in a makeshift fashion, such as from a faucet or even from a ring-stand. Let the final draining occur for the next hour, and the chenna is ready for use. If you use a colander alone, simply leave the chenna in the colander but suspended in some way, say, over a mixing bowl which can catch the draining fluid.

The three possible coagulants are as follows:

1 cup sour plain yogurt
3 tablespoons cider table vinegar in 3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cream of Squash Soup

The nature of squash lends itself to a soup, as you will find in this recipe. The combination of milk and cheese added in to comprise the base carries the flavor of squash nicely. This soup was actually developed over a charcoal grill. The choice of squash should be buttercup, and the flavor added by barbecuing it is indescribable.

Cream of Squash Soup

INGREDIENTS

one buttercup squash, medium-sized

four tablespoons ulsi ghee

2 teaspoons cumin seed

1 jalapeno pepper chopped

4 cups milk

4-5 tablespoons chenna or feta cheese

Chunk the squash and place aside. Heat the ghee over medium heat, and when it is hot, add in the cumin seeds. Once the cumin is brown, add the chopped jalapeno pepper and let this simmer until the flavors are well intermixed. Now add the chunked squash and stir it into the spiced ghee, and let it simmer in a covered vessel until well-cooked. Once the squash is totally cooked, remove it from the heat and mash it with a potato masher. Place the mashed squash on the heat again, immediately adding the cheese, whether chenna or feta, along with the milk. Then simmer this mixture over low to medium-low heat for a few minutes, stirring it occasionally. More or less milk can be added as according to the consistency of soup desired.

These ingredients should provide four to six servings.

Feta-Italian Cheese Basil-Mustard Vegetable Pizza

This pizza is made with the taste of feta cheese in mind, while the unique presence of basil is superimposed upon the mustard seeds. Thus, feta cheese forms the superlative base of the pizza, while it is suffused with the enchanting flavor mixture of basil over mustard seeds. The vegetables make up the second layer, and are topped with a choice shredded Italian cheese for an extra nutritional richness.

Feta-Italian Cheese Basil-Mustard Vegetable Pizza

INGREDIENTS

1 pizza dough

2 tbsp. ulsi ghee

6-8 oz. feta cheese

1.5 - 2 tbsp. black mustard seeds

several fresh basil leaves (about 20 of moderate size)

chopped-up zucchini and green peppers (1.5 c. total)

shredded Italian cheese of the mixture of six: mozzarella, smoked provolone, parmesan, romano, fontina and asiago

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large pizza pan and place aside. Chop up zucchini and green peppers into chunks. Place the pizza dough on the pizza pan, making a slight ridge on the outer perimeter so as to hold in the juices, that is, if you are working with a fresh bread dough. Brush the ulsi ghee over the pizza dough; then sprinkle the mustard seeds over the dough. Now place basil leaves everywhere on the ghee/mustard seed base, preferably cutting them or tearing them so as to unloose the juice of the leaves more immediately while the pizza cooks. Now crumble the feta cheese over the spicy preparation on the dough so that this cheese layer will be generous. Next, add the chunked vegetables. Over these vegetables will be sprinkled the shredded Italian six-cheese mixture. Now bake the pizza in the oven until the crust is golden brown, and this should be checked on in 25-30 minutes. Cut with a pizza cutter, serve with your favorite salad, and enjoy a nice pizza.

Hindu Mixed Vegetable Corn Cake

This dish forms a complete and substantial vegetarian meal. It is rich in the natural sweetness of fresh corn while also enchanting for its spicy flavors, well-steeped in the succulent juice of fresh kernels of corn even besides the corn cake foundation or crust. Chenna adds a subtle sweetness while hung yogurt cheese gives an intriguing contrast to the taste of the spices. Hindu mixed vegetable corn cake might be served with rice, a chutney and a glass of lassi as complement.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 3 ears medium-size corn); if frozen corn is used, drain the water out first; this allotment is for the corn cake proper

1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 2 ears medium-size corn-on-the-cob); this is for the topping of mixed vegetables

1 3/4 tablespoons chopped ginger root

4 tablespoons chopped jalapeno peppers

3 tablespoons cumin seeds

4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 cup shredded carrots (from 2 medium-size carrots); 1 medium carrot cut into discs

1 and 1/4 cups rye flour

5 cups fresh chenna or ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons raisins

1/2 cup peas

1 cup hung yogurt cheese

2-3 tablespoons slivered almonds

2-3 tablespoons oregano leaves (dried)

Place the 2 cups of fresh corn kernels in a food processor and process them until smooth. Then add the ginger, jalapeno peppers, 2 tablespoons cumin seeds and 1 cup shredded carrots, and process these added ingredients further. Once the mixture is well-formed, add the 1 and 1/4 cups rye flour by one-tablespoon increments to the food processor bowl through the add-in aperture until it has been added to completion and is thoroughly mixed into the corn cake dough.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Grease a large 14" inch pizza pan, and spread the corn cake dough across the surface. Then brush onto the dough some ulsi ghee. Now sprinkle 1 tablepoon cumin seeds onto the dough, followed by the chopped cilantro leaves. Add then the 5 cups chenna or ricotta cheese across the corn cake evenly, and pour next the honey onto its surface. Place the carrot discs over the chenna to form the foundation of the next layer. To these carrot discs, which should cover quite completely the chenna cheese, add the second installment of fresh corn kernels in the cited amount of 1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/2 cups. The peas are added after this, followed by 2 tablespoons raisins. Sprinkle oregano onto the now completed layer of mixed vegetables, then add the hung yogurt cheese in various clumps to its surface. Finally, sprinkle the slivered almonds across the hung yogurt cheese layer.

Bake the corn cake for about 25-30 minutes until the edges of the batter are seen to have browned at least slightly. Remove from the oven and cut with a pizza rolling knife once it has cooled just a little. Hint: you will find that the cake will stay together more firmly when lifting the triangular pieces with a spatula if it is allowed to cool somewhat first.

(July 12, 2004)

May 25, 2004

Whey of Kefir Chick Pea Soup

This soup is zesty. Supremely seasoned so as to complement the flavor lent the whey by the kefir, its nutritious value will surpass even its challenging taste. Whey is replete with powerful proteins and is utilized most efficiently during athletic output. The low Caloric content of this soup (192 Cal per cup) along with its low fat content make it preferable for anyone who is interested in a holistic taste and nutritional experience in fine cuisine. The wholesome value of a food prepared totally at home with no preservatives is to be found in this soup.

To prepare the kefir whey simply strain about 6 cups of kefir through four layers of cheese cloth lining a strainer. Collect the whey which comes through the strainer and cheese cloth and pour it into a separate container; let the remainder of the kefir, primarily curds once strained briefly like this, hang over a container by collecting the four corners of the cheese cloth together and attaching this cloth to the knob of a cabinet, or even suspend it from a ring stand. This process will yield a delicate hung kefir cheese after a few hours or overnight. Before collecting the kefir cheese from the cheese cloth, simply squeeze the remainder of the whey out of it by twisting it and applying pressure gently to the mass of curds within the cheese cloth as you do so.

Depending on the thickness of the kefir which has been cultured, six cups of kefir should yield about 3 cups of whey and 2 cups of hung kefir cheese.

Soak one half a cup of garbanzo beans overnight in water in preparation for this soup. Then boil them separately before adding them to the soup for a softer bean in the finished soup. The garbanzo beans will not soften adequately if only soaked overnight and then cooked into the soup for even up to two hours; boiling them in water for an hour after soaking them will prepare them for a softer consistency in the finished soup.

Whey of Kefir Chick Pea Soup

INGREDIENTS:

2 tsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 Jalapeno pepper chopped fairly finely
1 tsp ground ginger powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 cup frozen spinach

1/2 cup soaked and boiled garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1/2 tsp turmeric
3 cups of whey of kefir

Put the ghee in a kadai (wok) and gently heat it. Add in the cumin seeds and brown them. Next, add in the Jalapeno pepper. Let this mixture cook on low heat until it is well established. Now add the ground ginger and ground coriander at the same low heat level. Once the spices are well incorporated into this base, add the frozen spinach and cook it until it is defrosted at medium low heat. When the mixture becomes dried to the point where a brown pasty effect occurs, simply add in a tbsp of the kefir whey so as to keep it moist; be careful as this may happen quickly. Cook on medium low heat a little longer like this until adding in the chick peas. Now add the turmeric powder over the chick peas, and let it collect the heat which can be increased slightly. Then stir the entire mixture as it cooks for a short while. Once the chick peas have gathered in the ambient spicing, it is time to add the whey of kefir. At this point, take the heat up to medium high level so that it boils vigorously. Once such boiling has been achieved, lower the heat slightly, but keep the soup at a slightly bubbling boiling state -- the goal is to cook it well but not to boil away the liquid. Let this soup stew accordingly for several minutes.

See below here for a recipe for hung kefir cheese so made: Spiced Cooked Cheese of Turkish Curd.

Whey of Whole Milk Urad Dal Soup

2 tsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 diced Jalapeno pepper
1 tbsp urad dal
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup chopped red cabbage
3 cups of whey of whole milk

Place the ghee in a kadai and heat it up; add the cumin seeds and brown them. Add in the fennel seeds and let them cook. Next, add the Jalapeno pepper, and allow this foundation to simmer until it is well intermixed with its flavors. Add the urad dal, and brown it slightly. Then add the turmeric, and let this spice become involved. Next, add the frozen peas. Cook the peas for a few minutes before adding the chopped red cabbage. This entire mixture should be allowed to cook to completion so that its loss of moisture as it cooks will finally require the addition of about 3 tbsp of the whey of whole milk in order to maintain its cooking status past its moment to become too dry for the bottom of the pan. When it becomes too dry and thickens into a pasty effect on the pan, extend its cooking time at that point with the 3 tbsp of whey, mixing it in nicely.

Once the mixture has simmered through the addition of whey and would need more moisture once again, it is time to add the rest of the whey of whole milk. Bring the soup to a rolling boil and then tone it down to a lesser boiling status, allowing it to cook thoroughly.

© 2008 by Marilynn Stark All Rights Reserved.

AmikShaaturuSkadadhi Vaasita Pakva*

[Spiced Cooked Cheese of Turkish Curd (Kefir)]

A new recipe was conceived of and put into practice:

Ingredients

1 cup of hung kefir cheese
4 tsp ghee
1/2 Jalapeno pepper chopped finely
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
4 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
2" section of zucchini chopped

In a saucepan heat the ghee and add the cumin seeds. Once the cumin is browned, add the chopped Jalapeno pepper. Cook this briefly; now add the kefir cheese. Once it has soaked up the free ghee in the pan, add in the zucchini. Let this mixture cook for a while. Then add the sunflower seeds and the raisins. Stir this mixture briefly before stirring in also the turmeric and ground coriander.

This dish can be served with fresh chapati, mango pickle and some brown rice with yogurt on the side.

*dadhi (n.) = curd

turuSka (adj.) = Turkish

aamikShaa (f.) = cheese

pakva (adj.) = cooked

vaasita (adj.) = seasoned; spiced

© 2008 by Marilynn Stark All Rights Reserved.

Hung Kefir Cheese Wheat Pilaf

2 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
5 tbsp of hung kefir cheese
2 tbsp raisins
4 tsp sunflower seeds
2 tsp sugar or jaggery
1/4 cup of Wheatena
3/4 cup of water

Heat the ghee in a saucepan or kadai on medium heat. Once it is heated, add in the cumin seeds and brown them nicely. Then add the hung kefir cheese and cook it while stirring. Add the raisins and sunflower seeds before the hung kefir cheese is completely cooked. Once it has become totally stirred into a pastelike mixture, add the sugar or jaggery and briefly mix it in. Then comes the Wheatena which should be well stirred and warmed into the kefir cheese. Following that, simply add in the water and mix it before allowing it to cook into a bubbling state. Once the moisture is all absorbed by the wheat, this dish is ready to be served. The 2 tsp sugar or jaggery will make a semi-sweet pilaf; if more sweetness is desired, add more sweetener to taste.