Ricotta Fritters

Should I fry or should I bake? Fritter or cake??  It's more a train of thought that a question. Even I think it I know I will fry. Why? It's the easier of the two choices. One bowl and one frypan vs mixing bowls, cups, beaters and bakeware.....Hey..it's lazy Sunday. I have to make something to take to brunch. Nothing too complicated, hence this version of one-bowl fritters. I do love the way these puff up, all golden brown and soft. You think you are biting into a munchkin. Once you do, you know this is no heavy donut, but a much lighter, airier cousin. 

I throw together, eggs, sugar, flour, ricotta, and baking powder. A strong whisk yields a thick batter, enough to stand your spoon in! A pot of hot oil simmers as I drop tiny spoonfuls of batter in. Fritters brown evenly over medium heat. I watch amazed, as the balls of dough do jumping jacks by themselves in the hot oil. It's a carnival trick come to life! 

RICOTTA FRITTERS

Makes 25-30 small balls 

1 cup Ricotta 

3 Eggs

1/4 cup Sugar

1 cup Flour

4 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

2 cups Canola Oil for frying

Icing Sugar

Put ricotta, eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk till blended.

Add flour, baking powder and salt to the bowl and gently mix till you have a thick batter.

Heat canola oil in a wok over medium heat. 

Test oil by dropping a titbits of batter in. They should spring to the surface immediately. 

Using two teaspoons drop olive-sized balls of batter into hot oil. Fry 8-10 at a time. It is important to fry the balls over medium heat as they brown fast and you need a slow heat to cook the insides. The balls look shaggy as you drop them in. They will puff evenly as they brown.

Use a slotted spoon to turn balls so they cook on both sides. The balls have a tendency to turn by themselves. But if they do not, help them along with the slotted spoon.

Repeat till you finish the batter.

Drain balls on a cookie rack placed over a baking sheet.

When cool, dust liberally with icing sugar.

The first batch is eaten as it emerges!! Brunch is tomorrow. Sticky fingers beware!!! My effort is well camouflaged!

Cabbage Okonomiyaki

It's a mouthful. Literally!!! And such a delightful mouthful it is. In essence, it really is a big cabbage fritter that is shallow fried very quickly into a palm sized crispy pancake. You shred the cabbage very fine, add carrot and kale slivers and mix in egg and flour. I find a simplified recipe on Smitten Kitchen and then I tweak it a tad bit. I add furikake sprinkles to the mix. It is a robust Japanese seasoning of bonito flakes, sesame seeds, seaweed and other things umami. Okonomiyaki usually calls for bonito flakes as a garnish. Why not add them to the cabbage?? Inside vs outside? Works for me.

The Smitten Kitchen recipe calls for a mandoline to shred cabbage. Having heard many real life ER stories, I give the mandoline a wide berth! It's my trusty knife and me. I can assure you it can be done. Or use a food processor!! Cabbage is shredded really fine. I shave thin pieces of carrot on to the pile of cruciferous veggies. I sliver some kale to add to the mix. Flour, seasoning and eggs bind the veggies together. And as I assemble the pancakes, G makes an excellent accompanying sauce. 

CABBAGE OKONOMIYAKI

Makes 8 small pancakes

2 cups Cabbage, shredded very fine

1 Carrot

1/2 cup Kale

2 tablespoons Furikake (see pic below)

1 teaspoon Kosher Salt

A few cracks of ground Black Pepper

1/2 cup Flour

3 Eggs

Canola oil for frying

Toasted Sesame Seeds

DIPPING SAUCE

1/4 Tomato Ketchup

2 teaspoons Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon Honey

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon Rice wine Vinegar
A large pinch of toasted Sesame Seeds 

Mix ketchup, soy, honey, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and sesame seeds in a bowl. Set aside.

Put shredded cabbage in a large bowl.

Using a vegetable peeler, shave thin slices of carrot over cabbage.

Slice kale into thin slivers and add to veggies.

Sprinkle flour, furikake and seasonings over veggies

Break eggs into the veggies and mix gently till everything looks a little gooey.

Heat oil in a large nonstick pan till it shimmers.

Drop a heaping of veggies one at a time into hot oil. You should have four 3 inch mounds. Flatten mounds gently with a spatula. 

Let pancakes fry for 3-5 minutes till the undersides are golden brown. Flip the pancake using a spatula and spoon. Let pancakes brown for a few minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels for a minute. 

Arrange pancakes on a platter, sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve them with  dipping sauce.

These hefty pancakes are drizzled liberally with sauce and eaten quite cheerfully. We do love the much maligned cabbage in infinite forms. Though I know this one has found a permanent place in my kitchen. 

Green Mango and Dal Salad

Every so often I celebrate some festival from the Hindu calendar. And by celebrate I mean I cook up a multi-course meal. This weekend is no different. Gudi Padva comes around again, marking the beginning of this year's calendar.  I resurrect my minuscule faux gudi, wish my sis much happiness and begin cooking. 

My thali comes together easily. I start with shrikhand. Yogurt needs a couple of hours to drain off wheybefore it is whipped together with sugar and saffron. I roast eggplants to make bhareet, a cold mash made with chilies and coconut milk. Butternut squash cubes are toasted with curry leaves and mustard seeds. Zucchini and patrel cook till they are mushy. Cauliflower simmers in coconut milk. Thinly slivered, generously spiced, okra are shallow-fried till crisp. Dal, flavored with cumin seeds and curry leaves, bubbles gently. Glenn becomes an expert poori fryer. The kitchen is filled with the enticing aroma of cooked basmati rice. The blender whirs noisily as I grind coconut and cilantro chutney. I rinse the blender and start a salad I used to make a long time ago. 

I first ate green mango salad when I was sixteen. A religious function at a friends house results in my lifelong romance with this deceptively simple salad. It is crunchy, tart, sweet and salty. All in one bite!  The bite comes from uncooked Bengal Gram lentils. Chana dal, as it is called, is usually boiled to make a creamy curry. In this recipe chana dal needs a long soak in water and a quick pulse in a blender or processor. Grated green mango, flaked coconut, cilantro and a bunch of spices give the salad a definite boost in flavor. A short stint in the fridge lets ingredients marry well.

GREEN MANGO AND DAL SALAD

Serves 4-6

3/4 cup Bengal Gram Dal

2 cups Water

1 raw Green Mango

1/4 cup fresh grated Coconut

1/4 cup Cilantro

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/4 teaspoon Sugar

1 teaspoon Canola oil

1/2 teaspoon Mustard seeds

3 Curry Leaves

Wash dal in several changes of water. Soak dal in water for 4 hours.

Drain water and pulse dal roughly in a blender or food processor for 30 seconds.

Scrape pulsed dal into a bowl. 

Grate mango, including the outer skin. Add mango to dal.

Add coconut to dal.

Chop cilantro finely and add to bowl.

Season salad with salt and sugar.

Sliver curry leaves.

Heat canola oil in a small cast iron pan.

When it shimmers, add mustard seeds and sliced curry leaves. Wait a few seconds as they splutter and then pour contents of pan onto dal. 

Mix well and chill the salad before serving.

Celebrations are auspicious occasions, perfect moments to gather friends at my table. Col, Keith, Roy, Mary Lou are familiar faces on thali days. Vimal and Noel grace my table for the first time. Assembling the thalis is a lengthy affair. Demolishing the contents are a snap. The meal proceeds convivially as my guests enjoy the repast. Everyone remarks on their favorites. Noel is the only person who has tasted the mango salad before. It takes him back to Belgaum days. A smattering of salad remains. All he needs is a gentle nudge.. And it's gone!

Lemon Pudding

When you have a friendship that goes back 35-40 years you cherish it. You nurture it. You revel in its glory. The four of us have countless escapades to reflect and postulate. We started out as gangly teenagers, living in the moment, walking enthusiastically into our future. Lucky to have a lifetime of vivid memories, we reverently count our blessings.

Madeleine, Christine and Tuki come from three corners of the continent. The weekend is a blur of regurgitated memories, obsessive examination of old photographs, deep analysis or our collective neurosis and the resounding sound of infectious laughter. All this punctuated by long lunches, dinners and plenty of tongue lubricant! I pan fry blackened tilapia with corn pilaf. Crusty roasted pears are stuffed with Gorgonzola. Frankies are rolled in eggy tortillas. Baba Ghanoush forms a smoky spread on crackers. Madeleine quickly puts together a scrumptious shrimp and sausage paella. Meals consist of insane quantities of shrimp and grits, crab cakes and calamari, with a token side of salad! Christine and Tuki take over clean up duty. And every meal has to culminate in dessert. Sweet teeth override dietary restrictions. We nibble delicious pistachio pops. We divide mini sweet potato, key lime and buttermilk pies into equal portions. I make affogato. Madeleine brings an intriguing supari cake! Yes... A cake that's flavored with supari!!!! Delicious to the Indian palate. And I make my favorite lemon pudding.

My Mum found this recipe in her Better Homes & Garden Dessert Cookbook. I can still see the splattered page having used the book on many occasions. She made it in ramekins, in casseroles and in Pyrex. It was always a big hit every time she baked it. Not just with home folk, but everyone who took a spoonful. This pudding assembles in a jiffy. The result is a light, fluffy cake layer, that hides creamy lemon custard. Batter separates as it bakes,  creating a layered pudding. Run your spoon through the pudding and you are rewarded with a bite of moist lemon cake along with a schmear of lemon custard. Fresh tasting, light as a feather and seriously addictive.

LEMON PUDDING

Serves 4-6

3 Eggs

1 1/2 cups Milk
1 tablespoon Canola Oil
2 teaspoon Lemon zest

1/2 cup Lemon juice

1/4 cup Flour

1 cup Sugar

A pinch of Kosher Salt

Separate eggs. Beat yolks lightly. Keep whites aside.

Heat milk till it begins to boil. It should be scalding hot.

Add a little hot milk to yolks, beating vigorously so the yolks do not scramble. Slowly add the yolks to hot milk stirring well to incorporate.

Add canola oil to milk.

Mix sugar, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice and salt.

Pour hot milk into flour mixture and whisk well to mix.

Beat egg whites till stiff peaks form.

Gently fold egg whites into lemon batter. Use a rubber spatula to turn and fold. Do not over mix. 

Heat oven to 350F.

Scrape batter into a 6"x9" glass baking dish.

Place baking dish in a large pan. 

Pour up to an inch of hot water into the larger pan . 

Bake for 25-30 minutes. The top should be dotted with a few light brown spots.

Serve pudding warm.

NOTES

The pudding could be made ahead of time and reheated just before serving. 

You could use ramekins to make individual portions. This recipe would make 8-10 portions.

We talk about lost loves over coffee. We laugh at our outrageous storied past eating banana chips. We drink snake juice aka vodka and peach schnapps till it becomes a truth serum. We eat copious amounts of food while lamenting our lack of willpower, carb overload and the state of our menopausal bodies. We eat spoonfuls of lemon air. Again and again. No plates needed. Satisfaction comes with sweetness and the desire to be, as Tuki calls us, bosom buddies.

Chilli Chicken

Indian Chinese is always a favorite with the family. It's spicy, flavorful, going in the opposite direction of  its inspiration, traditional Chinese. Native to the Indian subcontinent, this cuisine absorbs and blends, resulting in a cross breed unlike any other. It has spoilt me for the American corner shop Chinese. Give me Schezhwan or Hunan Chinese to make my taste buds sing. 

It's chilli chicken tonight. As always, this cuisine involves a lot of prep. I mince garlic and ginger. Slice an insane amount of chilies. Small pieces of boneless chicken benefit from a marinade. Seasonings get thrown into a hot wok, filling my senses with memories of family meals at Chinese Room, Flora, Chopsticks and China Garden. Sadly, none of these Bombay restaurants exist anymore. Now the fusion of Indian and Chinese exists in some form all over India, from roadside cafes to myriads of restaurants. Menus feature Moghlai, South Indian and Indo-Chinese creations, all emerging from one kitchen!! 

What irks me about stir frying is that you have to make it just before you eat!! A problem when the meal has several components! I make sweet corn soup. Some cauliflower Manchurian and chicken. Soup is slurped while I finish the rest. 

CHILLI CHICKEN

Serves 4

1 pound skinless boneless Chicken Thighs

1 Egg

1/2 teaspoon Soy Sauce

1/2 teaspoon Chile Powder

1 tablespoon Flour

2 tablespoons Cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon ground Black Pepper

3-4 tablespoons Canola Oil

6 cloves Garlic

4-6 1 inch slices Ginger

1 Onion

1 Red Pepper

6 Green Chiles

1 cup Chicken Stock

2 teaspoons Soy Sauce

1 teaspoon Chinese Black Vinegar

2 teaspoons Cornstarch

1 tablespoon Water

3 Green Onions

Wash, trim and cut chicken into 1 inch pieces.

Add egg, soy sauce, chile powder, flour, cornstarch and black pepper to chicken. Mix well and keep aside for 1 hour.

Sliver garlic cloves vertically.

Peel and cut onion into broad slices.

Cut red pepper into small pieces.

Slice chiles on a bias into chunks.

Slice green onions on a bias into 1 inch pieces.

Mix chicken stock, soy sauce and vinegar.

Make a slurry of corn starch and water.

Heat 2 tablespoons canola oil in a nonstick saucepan.

Shallow fry chicken pieces till brown and crusty on one side, then flip and do the same on the other side. You might have to do the frying in two batches. Drain and keep fried chicken aside.

Heat remaining oil in a wok till it shimmers.

Add onion and peppers and stir fry for a few minutes.

Drop in garlic, ginger slices and sliced chiles. Saute.

Pour stock mixture and let it come to a boil.

Drizzle the cornstarch slurry slowly stirring all the time so it doesn't lump up.

Let the sauce boil for a minute and then add fried chicken.

Drop green onions into sauce, stir and serve chicken.

Dinner gets done in a flurry of woks and saucepans. Chopsticks clickety clack as we pick our way through the meal. I do not envy the one who is to wash up as there are mounds of pans and woks. No complaints though, just happy eaters!!

Chickpea and Swiss Chard Ribollita

Since the weather outside is frightful the aroma in my kitchen should be delightful. A hearty soup bubbling on the fire will achieve poetic justice. I read an Ottolenghi soup recipe but as usual I am missing several key ingredients. Not despairing, I rearrange items according to the contents of the fridge. I have several leafy greens, heeding nutritional advice. A big bunch of Swiss chard is my go to veggie this week. I use it in pancakes, with butternut squash in a quick saute and now, slivered, adds a wonderful green dimension to soup. 

Onions, garlic, celery and carrots glisten with a thin coating of olive oil. My trusty bags of homegrown frozen tomatoes provide ample flavor. Splashes of Marsala offer a quirky taste. Fresh herbs like thyme and parsley give a peppery taste to the broth. I rinse a can of chickpeas and add them to the bubbling broth. A huge heap of slivered Swiss chard goes in next. Ribbolita is usually thickened with peasant bread. But I love the tangy taste of sourdough.  I toast  and dice some slices. These go in last. A quick stir and soup is served.

CHICKPEA AND SWISS CHARD RIBOLLITA 

Serves 4
DF, VN, VG. EF

2 tablespoons Olive oil

I Onion

2 cloves Garlic

1 large rib Celery

1 Carrot

1/2 cup Parsley

1/4 cup Marsala

2 tablespoons Tomato Puree

5-6 sprigs Thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried Oregano

2 large Tomatoes

1 can Chickpeas, drained and rinsed

5-6 leaves Swiss Chard

4 cups Water

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1/2 teaspoon ground Black Pepper

2 large slices Sourdough Bread

Chop onion into small pieces.

Slice garlic, celery and carrots into small chunks.

Heat olive oil in a deep saucepan or Dutch oven.

Drop onion and garlic into oil and saute for a few minutes till onion is translucent.

Add celery and carrot. Saute. 

Tomato puree and Marsala goes in and gets stirred for a few minutes.

Chop parsley roughly. Add to vegetables.

Remove thyme leaves off the stems and add to saute.

Rough chop tomatoes and add to saute along with oregano. Let tomatoes cook till they become pulpy.

At this point add water, rinsed chickpeas and seasonings. Let soup come to a low boil.

Wash and cut Swiss chard into thin slivers. Add to bubbling soup.

Let soup bubble on a medium flame for 10 minutes.

Crisp up sourdough bread either over an open flame or in a toaster. Cut into 1 inch pieces.

Add bread to soup, cook for a few minutes and serve the soup piping hot.

This unending winter heaps it's snowy powder on us once again. I look out at a pristine white backyard. Then I look down at my soup bowl with its delightful shades of tomato red, chickpea beige, carrot orange and chard green. Everyone is 'bowled' over by my hearty ribbolita!