Ipoh Bean Sprouts

 A recent trip to a Malaysian restaurant inspires me tonight. A pot of beef rendang bubbles away, low and slow. I slice and dice red peppers and snap peas and toss them with Chinese sauces. The third dish is a classic.... Ipoh bean sprouts. Ipoh being a small town on the Malaysian peninsula, not too far from our favorite town Penang. 

We were first introduced to this simple dish at Penang Restaurant in Flushing, Queens. This authentic repository of all things Malaysian, is long gone but not forgotten. We have tried many others, but none of them have quite lived up to the original. Tucked away in a strip mall, the place was beloved for its brusque service and delicious food. We remember the menu fondly, the many pilgrimages we made with dear family and friends so often that Victor, my husband's brother, nicknamed our experiences there as Penangish!  He loved the place as much as we did, having lived in Kuala Lumpur. Very often, we took him to the restaurant the moment he got off the plane! 

I always marveled at the plate of crisp bean sprouts dowsed in soy sauce and crisp garlic chips. Not too hard to make right? It really isn't. All you need is to have everything ready. So lets start. Make a sauce with soy, sugar, water and pepper. Crisp up sliced garlic and browned onions. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Dunk the bean sprouts in the water for thirty seconds. Drain and rinse under cold water. Place them in a bowl and pour the soy sauce over the sprouts. Scatter the garlic over sprouts. Then sit down and enjoy this simple but flavorful dish.

IPOH BEAN SPROUTS

Serves 2

2 cups Bean Sprouts

2 tablespoons Light Soy Sauce

1 teaspoon Sugar 

2 tablespoons Water

1 teaspoon White Pepper Powder

1 teaspoon Roasted Sesame Oil

1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

6 Garlic Cloves

1 tablespoon Birista or Browned Onions

Cilantro Sprigs

Place soy sauce, sugar, water, white pepper and sesame oil in a saucepan. Heat till bubbling and the sugar melts.

Heat oil in  small pan and fry garlic and onions for a few minutes till crisp.

 

Heat 2 cups of water in a pan.

When it boils, drop sprouts into water and cook for 30 seconds. Drain the sprouts and run cold water over sprouts. 

Drain well and place sprouts in a bowl.

Pour soy sauce over sprouts. 

Top with crisped garlic and onions. 

Garnish with cilantro and serve.

 

Prosciutto Mozzarella Fig Jam Crostini

My daughter makes us a delicious fig jam and prosciutto sandwich. Which in turn inspires me to make these bite size mini versions. This open face finger food is a multi-layered stack of the same sandwich flavors.  

I bake thin slices of French bread till crisp. Last year's bountiful fig jam is spooned onto the bread. Shreds of fresh mozzarella top the jam. Mounded prosciutto goes on next. Garnish with arugula leaves. The recipe has no exact measurements. Get a measure of the bite and make as many as you want to savor!

PROSCIUTTO MOZZARELLA FIG JAM CROSTINI

French Bread, thinly sliced 

Fig Jam or Preserves

Fresh Mozzarella slices

Prosciutto 

Arugula 

Heat oven to 375F/190C.

Place bread slices on a baking sheet. 

Spray lightly with olive oil.

Bake for 8-10 minutes till a little brown.

Remove from oven and cool.

Assemble crostini by spooning a little fig jam on bread. 

Top jam with some mozzarella shreds.

Mound some prosciutto on cheese. 

Garnish with arugula leaves and serve. 

These can be made up to half hour before serving. 

They taste best the day you make them.

 

 

Strawberry Mini Pies

 I crave some pie on Pi day even though I am no math nerd. There is something so wholesome, so comforting about pie. In my book, making some is as easy as pie. It is that pie in the sky. I can’t wait to get my piece of the pie. I could go on...... And that should be the end of the corny jokes. On to something more meaningful.

Strawberry pie is my springtime favorite. The crust is made with flour, butter, sugar and cream cheese. The filling is a thick, gooey mess of crushed strawberries, lemon juice and gelatin. A pleasure to make and eat as well. It is berry berry good!

STRAWBERRY MINI PIES

Makes 6 mini pies

Crust

3/4 cup AP Flour

1 tablespoon Sugar

Pinch of Kosher Salt

4 tablespoons Butter

1 oz Cream Cheese

1/4 cup Water

Filling

1 cup Strawberries

1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

1 teaspoon Gelatin powder

1 teaspoon Water

1/3 cup Sugar

2 Strawberries

Start with the filling. Mix lemon juice, water and gelatin in a small bowl.

Trim strawberries and cut them into very small pieces. You could use a chopper or masher. Place them in a saucepan and heat over a medium flame. 

When strawberries begin to bubble add half the sugar and cook the berries till thick and jammy, 15-20 minutes.

Add gelatin mix to berries and cook over low flame for 3 minutes. Take it off the flame and cool. The beriies will thicken as they cool.

Heat oven to 350F/180C. 

Start the crust by pulsing butter and cream cheese till smooth in a food processor.

Add flour, sugar and salt to bowl. Pulse a few times. 

Add water and pulse till dough comes together in a ball.

Divide dough into 6 portions. 

Place each portion in a muffin tin. 

Gently press the dough to form a mini pie. 

Use a fork to prick the base of the pies. 

Bake for 35 minutes.

Take pies out of the oven and cool.

Cut strawberries into thick pieces. 

Place a piece in each pie. Dot each berry with a little sugar.

Cover the piece with dollops of filling. 

Allow mini pies to set for an hour. 

Enjoy the pies.

Fig Prosciutto Boursin Sandwich

This has been the summer of a thousand figs. Warm temperatures, little rain and few squirrels give me a bumper crop. I have eaten plump ones to my heart's content. Allowed family to fill as many containers as they want. Made several jars of jam. Given boxes to the neighbors. Let the starlings eat as many figs as they can peck. Ruefully I say that not much of a dent has been made. They still keep coming!

Today is a fig-centric sandwich experiment. I caramelize figs in olive oil. Bread is slathered with truffle flavored Boursin cheese. Topped with prosciutto and two types of basil, these sandwiches are a gooey, but irresistible. I could've trimmed the crusts, but the sandwich looks so enticing I take a huge bite as soon as I assemble them. Warm, melty, salty and fresh, I'll be making these beauties again very soon!

FIG PROSCIUTTO BOURSIN SANDWICH

Serves 2

12-15 Figs

1 teaspoon Olive Oil

8 slices of Sandwich Bread (white or brown)

Butter

Truffle Flavored Boursin Cheese

Prosciutto Slices

Fresh ground Black Pepper

Thai Basil

Italian Basil

Heat olive oil in a nonstick pan. 

Halve figs and place them cut side down in oil. 

Cook over medium heat for 5-8 minutes till the edges have caramelized.

Butter bread slices.

Slather one bread slice with a generous layer of Boursin. Use as much as or as little as you like!

Cover the boursin with prosciutto slices.

Arrange figs over prosciutto. 

Scatter Thai basil and Italian basil over figs. 

Season with freshly ground black pepper.

Cover with the other slice. 

Press down slightly. 

Cut into triangles with sharp knife and enjoy!

Shortcut Panchamrut

 Panchamrut was a staple condiment with meals on religious days in our family. My memory of it goes back almost fifty years, to my grandmother's small flat in Matunga. The L-shaped kitchen was a busy hive where forth came the special foods that graced the altar and table. That food was first offered up to the gods for their blessings after which we sat down a once-a-year repast. Gleaming silver thalis were plated in a certain fashion. Salt, green chutney and panchamrut were placed on the left. They were followed by a raita. At the bottom of the thali, was a mound of rice, blanketed in toor dal varan and ghee. The top of the thali had silver vatis filled with sambare and shrikhand or some kind of sweet. The right side of the thali had two or three types of spiced vegetables. Fried bhajias and pooris were piled in the center. This was a ceremonial meal in so many respects. The idea of extended family dining together, the excitement of enjoying this special blessed meal and the sharing of our food heritage has stayed with me over the years. My grandparents and parents are no more. Their gift to me are the enduring memories of our Pathare Prabhu culture and the seminal traditions that bind us together.

Panchamrut literally means five blessed fruits. Tamarind juice and jaggery are boiled together with spices and dry fruits like cashews and almonds. In keeping with my children's allergies, I substitute only dates and raisins. The shortcut comes from the sweet chutney I always have in my fridge. A few spices, a short boil and this sweet and sour gem enhances any meal you have.

I serve this as part of our Ganesh Chaturthi thali. Watching the family scrape the panchamrut down to the dregs brings tears and joy. A tradition lives on for the next generation to relish. 

PANCHAMRUT

Serves 6

3/4 cup Tamarind Chutney (store bought or homemade)

1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil

2 dried Red Chiles

1 tablespoon toasted Sesame Seeds

6-8 Dates

1/3 cup Golden Raisins

A pinch of Kosher Salt.

Chop dates into small chunks.

Pound sesame seeds roughly.

Heat oil in a deep saucepan.

Add red chile to hot oil.

Add dates and raisins to oil. 

Pour the chutney into oil and stir well. 

Add sesame seeds as well.

Add 3-4 tablespoons of water to loosen the chutney.

Season with a pinch of salt.

Place the saucepan on top of a simmer plate so the bottom doesn't scorch.

Cook over low heat till chutney thickens. It should not be rummy, but thick enough to spoon onto a plate. 

Cool and keep aside. 

Use at room temperature.

It will keep refrigerated for a week. 

Ground Beef Pide

It has been a few months, yet my taste buds still yearn for the foods we ate in Turkey. To indulge myself I try this innovative pide recipe. Pide are boat shaped bread receptacles filled with spicy ground meat. My beef filling is liberally infused with baharat, a fragrant Turkish spice mix. We found some in this tiny spice shop in Antalya. This nondescript shop had the best selection of fresh spices. Much much better than anything from Istanbul's Spice Market. 

The dough is soft and yeasty. There is a technique to making these pide. Small discs of dough are filled with some spicy beef. The edges are crimped together into a half-moon shape. Dipped in molasses water and toasted sesame seeds, the parcels are flipped over. You then take a sharp knife and make a vertical slit. The edges are pressed outward into an oval shape. Sounds hard, but it really is pretty simple. A fast bake in a hot oven and you some delicious pide.

GROUND BEEF PIDE

Adapted from Chef Burcinarda

Serves 2-4

DOUGH

2 cups AP Flour

3/4 cup Warm Water

2 1/2 tablespoons Olive Oil

1 teaspoon soft Butter

1/2 teaspoon active dry Yeast

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

FILLING

1/2-pound Ground Beef

2 tablespoons Baharat powder

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

3 tablespoons toasted Sesame Seeds

1 tablespoon Molasses

1/2 cup Water

Parsley leaves

Mix all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl and keep aside.

Place flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl of a stand mixed.

Make a hole in the center and add warm water to the bowl. 

Cover bowl and leave for 5 minutes. 

Uncover and add oil and butter. 

Use a dough blade and knead dough on low for 3-5 minutes. 

Dust a counter with a little flour.

Place dough on counter and knead till smooth.

You should have a soft dough.

Divide dough into 6 equal parts.

Roll each part into a neat round. Place on a baking sheet. Cover with a tea towel and keep aside for 10 minutes.

Dust the counter with a little flour. 

Place one ball on to the flour. 

Flatten with your hands into a 4-5 inch disc.

Divide the meat filling into 6 portions.

Take one portion and place it in the center of the disc.

Bring the two ends of the disc together and pinch to close to form a crescent shape.

Repeat with other discs. 

Dissolve molasses and water in a bowl.

Place sesame seeds in a plate.

Heat oven to 400F/200C.

Line a sheet pan with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

Dip one crescent into the molasses and then into the sesame seeds. 

Place on the prepared sheet pan, the seeded side facing up. 

Repeat with other crescents. 

Take a sharp knife and make a vertical slit. 

With your fingers press the dough outwards to form an oval shape. Spread the meat filling all the way to the edges of the dough.

Repeat with other crescents. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes till breads are golden brown. 

Garnish with parsley and enjoy.