Ground Beef with Korean Rice Cakes

The technique of browning flattened ground beef in a hot pan has changed my spin on Asian cooking. Marion Grasby's easy method of searing adds an enhanced crustiness and char to meat. This recipe uses ground beef, Asian sauces, a few vegetables and a load of seasonings. And an unusual ingredient, Korean rice cakes. With no access to fresh ones, frozen rice cakes are more than adequate. I give them a quick boil before adding to the meat, which makes them soft and chewy.

Brown garlic and chiles in hot oil. Pat the ground meat in a thin layer. Let it crisp up undisturbed for a few minutes till the underside is dark brown and crusty. Flip it over and brown again. Add onions, tomatoes, seasonings, fresh basil and cilantro. Boil some frozen Korean rice cakes and add them to the meat. They take on much of the meaty flavor and eliminate the need for rice or noodles. An easy stir fry with exotic flavor!

GROUND BEEF WITH KOREAN RICE CAKES

Serves 2

1/2 pound ground Beef

1 tablespoon Canola Oil

5 Garlic cloves

2 red or green Chiles

1 large Onion

1 large Tomato

2 tablespoons light Soy Sauce

2 tablespoons Fish Sauce

1/2 teaspoon Sugar

1 Lime, juiced

2 tablespoons Basil Pesto

1 cup frozen or fresh Korean Rice Cakes

1/2 cup Thai Basil or Italian Basil

Cilantro leaves

Heat 3 cups of water in a deep saucepan. When it boils, add  frozen rice cakes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain rice cakes in a sieve, rinse with cold water and keep aside.

Peel and slice garlic.

Mince chiles. 

Heat oil in a large saucepan. A nonstick pan makes browning a snap.

Scatter garlic and chiles in oil. Let garlic brown slightly. 

Pat the ground beef over the oil in a thin layer. This allows a lot of the meat to brown evenly. 

Once the underside has crusted deep brown, flip it carefully so the other side browns as well. It doesn't matter if the meat breaks up. Try to keep large chunks together for best browning.

Once the meat had turned brown and crusty, break it up, adding onions and tomatoes as you saute. 

Add soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice and pesto to the pan. Saute for a few minutes. 

Drop rice cakes into meat and stir well so cakes are coated with seasonings. Saute on a low flame for 5 minutes so rice cakes absorb some of the meaty flavor.

Stir basil leaves into meat. 

Pile the meat onto a serving platter and scatter cilantro leaves over it. Enjoy it piping hot.

Yum yum yum! Licking my chopsticks!

Ananas Sambhare

Ganesh puja unleashes a slew of memories. Going with my grandfather to pick up the idol for the puja. Drawing elaborate rangolis. Setting up the altar with flowers and lamps. Playing with cousins and irritating the adults with our rambunctious behavior. Celebrations in my grandmother's house resounded with love, laughter and as ever, an extensive vegetarian meal for the ages! The God of good beginnings blessed us all with a great appetite for sure!

Most Maharashtrians have their favorite food associations with Ganpati. Luscious coconut filled modaks, shrikhand poori, saffron inflected sooji halva, masala milk. I haven't scratched the surface with all things savory! We sat on the floor and ate off banana leaves. Each item on the menu had pride of place, starting with a verdant green chutney. Savory subjis, crisp fried bhajias, humble varan bhaat toop and always a sambhare or coconut curry. Made with cauliflower, pumpkin and even pineapple, the sambhare is a faithful standby of Pathare Prabhu cuisine. My sister makes one taught to her by our Mum, so I follow both of them.

ANANAS SAMBHARE

Serves 4-6

1 1/2 cup Pineapple cubes

a large pinch of Asefoetida

2-3 Green Chiles

A pinch of Turmeric

1/4 teaspoon Chile Powder

3/4 teaspoon Sambhar Masala ( Pathare Prabhu not South Indian)

1/2 cup Cashewnuts (Optional)

1 heaped teaspoon Besan or Chick Pea Flour

1 14oz can Coconut Milk

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

2 teaspoons Sugar

Cilantro

Chop pineapple into small shreds.

Mince chiles finely. 

Place pineapple, chiles, asefoetida, turmeric, chile powder, sambhar and cashewnuts in a saucepan. 

Add 3/4 cups water and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook 10-15 minutes till pineapple is soft.

Whisk besan with 2-3 teaspoons of water till you have a smooth paste. 

Uncover the curry and slowly add besan paste, whisking all the time. Lower the flame and let the besan cook a little, 3-5 minutes. 

Add coconut milk, salt and sugar. 

Let the sambhare simmer for 10-15 minutes over low heat. 

Garnish with cilantro and serve with rice or pooris. 

My family favors this meal. The traditional thali, whose existence goes back over a hundred years, lives in our home, slightly reformed, gently altered, the core remaining the same. Good beginnings always start with beloved family at the table.

 

Chocolate Fig Cake

After making three batches of fig jam, I am compelled to try something else besides that. Bon Appetit has a drool-worthy cake in the September issue. The dog-eared page is my reminder for today's fig enterprise. 

Sifting and whipping, slicing and scraping, I bake an artistic looking cake to take to friends. The proof is in their hands.

CHOCOLATE FIG CAKE

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 8

1/2 cup Butter, melted and cooled

Room temperature Butter for greasing the pan

3/4 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup unsweetened Cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 1/4 cup Sugar

3 Eggs at room temperature

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

8-10 Figs

Confectioners Sugar

Grease an 8" round cake pan. 

Line the bottom of the pan with 2 strips of parchment that is about 15" long.  Place them in the cake pan in the shape of a cross or X. This will allow you to lift out the cake easily.  (I did not read the recipe correctly and regretted it! I had to use 2 spatulas to lift the cake out so please follow the recipe if you plan to lift the cake out of the pan)

Line the bottom of the pan with a parchment round. Butter the parchment well.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.

Whisk cooled butter and sugar on medium speed for 1 minute. I used a stand mixer.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Spoon in vanilla.

Increase speed to medium high and whisk batter till fluffy and light colored, about 3-4 minutes.

Fold the sifted ingredients with a spatula, taking care not to overmix.

Heat oven to 350F/180C.

Cut figs into 3-4 slices each. 

Scrape the batter into prepared cake pan. 

Starting from the center, make concentric circles with the fig slices going all the way to the edge of the pan. It doesn't matter if the figs overlap slightly.

Bake cake for 36-38 minutes. 

Cool cake on wire rack for 10 minutes. 

Using the parchment extensions, lift the cake out gently on to a plate. 

Dust with confectioners sugar. 

Cut a slice and enjoy!

I have no idea what this cake will taste like....will post when I get a response!

Fig Jam

When life gives you figs, you feast on figs night and day. You make fig cake. Some fig puree to freeze for the winter months. Pass them along to family, neighbors and friends. Or try a new recipe for fig jam. Our bountiful trees have produced a bonanza of fruit. Over five hundred Brown Turkeys. We have been harvesting fifty to seventy five figs a day for the last ten days. And that is in spite of the pecked fruit we leave for the birds!

The kitchen table is completely over run with receptacles laden with fruit. Jam seems to be the best option. I try a technique I read in the New York Times. Ripe figs are cooked with water and then sugar, simmering the jam over low heat for a long while. Fruit becomes caramelized and jammy. The result is an intense burst of sun-ripened fruit I can enjoy when the summer heat disappears.

FIG JAM

Loosely adapted from The New York Times

Makes 2 cups 

6 cups of figs, trimmed and halved

1 1/2 cups Water

Scant 2 cups Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt

Put the figs in a Dutch oven and place over a medium flame.

Add water and bring  to a low boil. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Drop sugar over the figs. Stir well and continue cooking for another 45 minutes. Stir often. 

The syrup should have thickened. The figs should be soft but not completely dissolved. 

Season with salt. 

Spoon into clean bottles or jars.

Store bottles in the fridge. 

Enjoy with toast, cheese or yogurt. Or any other way you like. 

The jam captures the essence of summer. Preserving figs takes on a new meaning!