Madjula's Sweet Potato Chocolate Mousse

This is from a Indian cooking website, Manjula's Kitchen, I started watching during the Pandemic when I was cooking a lot and up for learning more about Indian techniques. Though this recipe is thoroughly Southern California American. I found home cooking videos were good company. Eyal and Nadav are very down with this dessert! I have made it for them many times, and keep trying different ingredients.

1 large sweet potato, boiled
½ cup coconut milk full fat, chilled - 

    or a 4 oz can of evaporated milk

    or 4 oz (or so) of sweetened condensed milk. THEN ELIMINATE THE SUGAR.

    or 1/3 c. powdered milk + water or milk. Amount is flexible. 1/3 to 1/2 c does it.
4 Tbsp cacao powder
4 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp cinnamon powder

Peel sweet potato. In a bowl, add cocoa, sugar, coconut milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Use an immersion blender until smooth - it makes the pudding creamier than a potato masher.
Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Serving Suggestions from Madjula
When it is fully blended, scoop the Pudding into the individual serving bowls and refrigerate for an hour. Remove the Pudding from the refrigerator after it has chilled. Serve the Pudding with your choice of topping. I like to garnish with sliced almonds. You may top with fresh fruit, or seeds. Also, chocolate pudding tastes great as a dip or spread.

Oat Chickpea Crackers

This curious recipe is fun to make and makes for good snacking. So healthy. I saw it at My Kids Lick the Bowl, but it's available in many different forms and varieties. It's easy to throw in fresh herbs. Today I am trying rosemary and adding an egg. The egg makes it less doughy, so you need to add more grain, like whole wheat.

Ingredients

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Salt
• ¼ cup olive oil

Instructions

1. Rinse and drain the chickpeas
2. Place in a food processor, blend until  smooth, form a ball and have a texture a little like playdough
3. Add the rolled oats, continue to blend until the oats are finely chopped into the chickpeas
4. Add garlic, lemon juice and salt for seasoning
5. Begin blitzing in the food processor, gradually add the olive oil, continue blitzing/blending until everything comes together as a ball
6. Spray a quarter sheet pan with oil, place the dough on top, press the dough with your hands to start flattening it
7. Using a rolling pin, roll until it is evenly spread over the baking tray 
8. Score the dough into cracker shaped pieces, I use a pizza roller to do it, but you can use a knife
9. Using a fork, prick the center of each cracker, it helps the crackers to bake evenly
10. Bake at  360 Fahrenheit for 40-50mins until golden
11. Leave to cool

 

Chetna Makan's Masala Potatoes

 I have become very attached to Chetna's YouTube Channel, and she has taught me some basic Indian cooking techniques.

This is her filling for masala dosa, which I have made a few times on the tawa I purchased. The dosas are quite a potchke, but the potatoes are pretty easy and really good by themselves as a side dish.

2 large potatoes

Oil (she uses safflower)

1 t. mustard seeds

curry leaves (I bought them at an international store)

dried chili (if you have one)

1 t. tumeric

1 t. salt

1-2 large onions, diced

Boil the potatoes. Let them cool. Peel and dice.

In a deep fry pan, heat the oil. Throw in the mustard seeds, chili, and curry leaves and let sizzle for a minute. Add the onions and spices and cook until soft. Add the diced potates, stir (they will turn a beautiful yellow from the tumeric) and heat through, about 5 minutes. These are filling and delicious.

Parsnip Sweet Potato Ginger Soup

I have been cooking so much soup during the second winter of the Pandemic that I put this together without a recipe. Yum. And so nutritious! The sweet potato/carrot gives it a prettier color than a straight parsnip soup.

1 T. butter or olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 T. garlic ginger paste

1 t. turmeric

1 t. cumin

3 medium parsnips, peeled and diced

1 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1-2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

5 cups vegetarian broth

salt, pepper to taste

Saute the onion in the oil until browning. Turn heat down to avoid burning and add garlic/ginger paste, turmeric, and cumin, stirring about a minute.

Add diced vegetables and broth, and cook about a half hour.

Process with the immersion blender and season to taste. This is a gorgeous color, so have fun thinking of how to garnish. Pomegranate seeds are especially beautiful!

 

Cinnamon Star Coffee Cake/Challah (or Pesto Star)

This is a King Arthur recipe - It's a lot of steps but fun. I baked one with Shula and Amira for our New Years Eve 2022/Shabbat Dinner. Obviously dairy. In this case the filling ran a bit, so a better seal matters. There are lots of videos to review the cut/twist steps.

The dough would be easy to double. It's such an impressive bread.

To do a six-pointed star, assumedly you can cut each quarter into thirds, and have six points instead of eight.

Dough
2 c (240g) Flour
1/2 cup (46g) dried potato flakes
1/4 cup (28g) nonfat dry milk powder
3/4 cup + 2 to 4 tablespoons (198g to 227g) lukewarm water, enough to make a soft, smooth dough
4 T (57g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 t vanilla extract (omit if you're baking a savory star, like with pesto)
2 t instant yeast
2 T (25g) granulated sugar (cut to 1 T. for Savory Star)
1 t (6g) salt

Filling
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 c (99g) granulated sugar
1 T cinnamon

    or

Pesto (1/2 cup)

Combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a soft, smooth dough. It is a rich dough and doesn't need a lot of working. Starting with a mixer and finishing by hand, in the bowl, seems to work fine.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 60 minutes, until it's nearly doubled in bulk.

To shape the loaf: Divide the dough into four equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, cover the balls, and allow them to rest for 15 minutes.

On a lightly greased or floured work surface, roll one piece of dough into a 10" circle. Place the circle on a piece of parchment, brush a thin coat of beaten egg on the surface, then evenly sprinkle with 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar (or pesto), leaving 1/4" of bare dough around the perimeter.

Roll out a second circle the same size as the first, and place it on top of the filling-covered circle. Repeat the layering process — egg, cinnamon sugar, dough circle — leaving the top circle bare. [Pinch the perimeter so the filling doesn't burst out as much.]

Place a 2 1/2" to 3" round cutter in the center of the dough circle as a guide. With a sharp knife, cut the circle into 16 equal strips, from the cutter to the edge, through all the layers.

Using two hands, pick up two adjacent strips, pull up & out and twist them away from each other twice so that the top side is facing up again. Repeat with the remaining strips of dough so that you end up with eight pairs of strips.

Pinch the pairs of strips together to create a star-like shape with eight points.

Transfer the star on the parchment to a baking sheet. Cover the star and let it rise until it becomes noticeably puffy, about 45 minutes.


While the star is rising, preheat the oven to 400°F.


Brush the star with a thin coat of the beaten egg. Bake it for 12 to 15 minutes, until it's nicely golden with dark brown cinnamon streaks; the center should register 200°F on a digital thermometer.


Remove the loaf from the oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve warm or at room temperature.

Irish Soda Bread / Bundt

This is 2 c. of flour, in a cast iron pan

This recipe is from a book I picked up from a Little Free Library, The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook by Sharon Kramis. I have modified it for a 10" skillet, using 2 cups of flour.

1 egg

1 c. buttermilk

2 c mixed flour (can include wheat germ, flax seed, etc)

1/2 t. baking soda 

1 t  baking powder 

4 oz butter, softened 

1/2 c raisins 

9/7, 2022 - New Yonim at ECP

1/4 c sugar

Pinch salt

Heat oven at 350.

Olive oil or butter a 10" cast iron skillet. 

In large bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, currants, and salt. To break up any lumps, I now use a small sieve instead of a sifter. Add soft butter and work it in.

In a smaller bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk. Make a well in the flour, adding the butter (cut it into small pieces in winter when room temperature butter is colder) and the buttermilk/egg. Stir with a spoon until it comes together, incorporating the flour from the periphery.

Knead right in the bowl (really not much different than stirring) until it's a shaggy dough that holds together. It's quite sticky.

Place the dough in the skillet and spread into the pan. Score a large X, going the full depth, and separating the sections if possible. (This allows the baking to reach the center.) Take a knife and tap each quadrant to let the fairies out. (I saw that on YouTube!)

Bake about 32-35 minutes, covering with tin foil if it browns too quickly (the norm if you bake in the Breville). Test with a toothpick. 

Grandmother Kramis's Irish Soda Bread (3 cup recipe) from the cookbook

Grease/Flour a bundt pan (baker's spray) - my adaptation

1½ c. regular flour
1½ c. whole wheat flour (my change to the recipe) - a small portion can be wheat germ and flax seed
¾ t. baking soda
1½ t. baking powder
⅜ c. sugar (you could decrease this)
⅜ c. currants or ¾ c. raisins
Pinch salt
6 oz unsalted butter, melted 
2 eggs
1½ c. buttermilk (powdered works OK)

In large bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, currants, and salt. To break up any lumps, I now use a small sieve instead of a sifter.

In a smaller bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk. Make a well in the flour, adding the butter and the buttermilk/egg. Stir with a spoon until it comes together, incorporating the flour from the periphery.

Knead right in the bowl (really not much different than stirring) until it's a shaggy dough that holds together. It's quite sticky.

Place the dough in the bundt pan. 

Bake about 32-35 minutes, covering with tin foil if it browns too quickly Test with a toothpick. 

Yum!

Here is an old version from the NYTimes that was posted on the Coronobake FB Group. It has no sugar or butter but more raisins:

Diane Casteel

2 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1 t caraway seeds

1/2 C raisins

1 C buttermilk

Sift dry ingredients together. Add the rest. Knead on floured board for 5 min [or in the bowl]. Shape into rounded loaf. Cut an "X" in the top of the loaf, half an inch deep. Place on greased baking sheet. Preheat oven to 375°. After placing baking sheet with loaf in the oven, turn the oven down to 350°. Bake 45-50 minutes. Enjoy!

 

Dosas: Laurie Hertz Style

Laurie lives near Devon Avenue, the epicenter of South Asian American immigrant groceries. The "diaspora" comes from all over the Midwest to shop in these stores for their families and also for restaurants. It's so fun to shop there.

You can buy dosa batter, traditionally fermented lentil/rice, either powdered or liquid. You can also use chickpea flower for a variation. I just ordered a tawa that can be used on the induction stovetop, so will be experimenting.

Laurie chops scallions, carrots, zucchini, and adds peas. You can use any combo, of course. You add a little oil to the tawa and spread the dosa batter. While it's setting, lay on the grated vegies and peas. Let them set in, and flip. This is hard to do - if it falls apart, no worries. They main thing is to have enough oil, hot enough, so the batter crisps. 

These are fast, nutritious, and delicious. Serve with condiments. It's really a full meal.