Saturday, March 28, 2009

Quinoa kosher for passover

I learned this nice fact yesterday. Evidently since the grain was not known in the olden times, it is not prohibited. This might make things a little easier this year. Last year I used my passover crockpot for chicken soup for 6 days straight. This year, probably the same, but maybe I'll add some quinoa to make things a little more healthy. I've actually never cooked with the grain before, so it will be a nice learning experience.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Second place is not bad

So I came in second in the NYU Master Chef competition. The other team did a phenomenal job with their dishes and I believe squarely beat me. My food was praised too, though I think my first dish (the dal) was perhaps a little too spicy (which is often my problem with Indian food). I'm very happy to have competed and am looking forward to seeing the video which they will show of the competition. If anyone wants to come the video showing will likely be April 13th at the Kimmel center in NYU. I'm sure I will show up on the video a good amount, so it might be fun.
Anyway, I'll need a few days to decompress after the cooking marathon today, but I should be back at it posting in the not distant future.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

I won't get fooled again

George W Bush once said: Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again. We'll I've been fooled two times about beans at a Mexican restaurant (and maybe more times unwittingly). When I was visiting in San Antonio I ate at a nice Tex-Mex restaurant and midway through eating the beans I noticed a small piece of something which didn't look quiet like onion and didn't have the right consistency to be carrot. It was pale and thinly slices without much flavor. It took me a little to realize (or perhaps I quickly realized and it took me a while to admit) that the piece was some sort of animal flavoring with which the beans had been cooked. Needless to say I stopped eating those beans and felt kind of bad about myself. After all, I purport to eat kosher, or at least vegetarian when out and this was in clear opposition of that claim.

This past week I was fooled again. I was spending the week in Salt Lake City Utah for dual purposes of skiing and attending a math conference at the University of Utah. One of the evening of the conference a bunch of us got together and hunted for a famous Mexican joint called Red Iguana. After wandering we eventually found the place, and despite the scores of people waiting outside, eventually got in and ordered. I picked chili rellenos. Like most Mexican restaurants, they were served with ample rice and beans. The beans, however, had a taste which after two spoonfuls was very easy to place. Chicken stock or chicken fat permeated the otherwise wonderful beans. WHY???? I had even ordered the dish on the vegetarian section of the menu.

What I have come to realize is that it is often easy to find a main dish which is purely vegetarian, however the trickier points are when the restaurant gives you side dishes (often without telling you exactly what they will be). This happened to me a few weeks back when I went out with my brother to a sushi place and got a salmon bento box. Little did I know that the box would be accompanied by chicken wings and some sort of shrimp dumpling. Most people would take this as a gift, but for me it was just a waist (they ended up going to my brother's dog).

Unfortunately I can not expect to be able to eat out completely vegetarianly without ever encountering meat or meat flavoring. Risotto, rice, beans, salads, soups all will occasionally come with some sort of meat or meat flavorings. Even if I am super paranoid, I may not always catch this. I can not have things both ways --- I can not expect to be wholly kosher while still eating out.

In any case, I decided today, that because I did not get to eat those beans in Utah, I would make some black beans of my own. So last night I set soaking a pound of little black beans. By morning they had roughly tripled in size and absorbed the whole thing of water. These beans take much longer to cook than larger beans and even after about 2.5 hours of cooking, there are a few that are still a little tough. The aim of this dish was to have a thick mixture of black beans in a sauce mostly composed of black bean's which had burst open. I made a few untraditional choices in flavor which give this dish a kind of tart and also slightly sweet taste.





Recipe:
1 lb dried black beans (soaked over night in lots of water)
3 bay leaves
3 dried red peppers
1 jar salsa
1 carrot
1 large sweet potato
1 large head of garlic
2 onions
cumin powder
paprika
mustard powder
salt / pepper
beer / vinegar / apple cider / wine

Dice the garlic and onions and cook with some canola oil with three bay leaves and dried red peppers. After about 5 minutes add in the carrot and sweet potato and cook for a few minutes. Add in the beans, their water and a jar of salsa. Cook until some of the water has cooked off then add in cumin, paprika, mustard powder, salt, pepper and any other powdered spices you desire. Also, start to add in some beer or vinegar or cider or wine to replenish the liquid. I used all four and it made the sauce very interesting. Make sure that there is always ample liquid. It will take about 2 hours for the sauce to get nice and thick. The target is to have a thick bean sauce with a number of well cooked black beans floating around in it. Be careful - the bottom of the pan may burn if you do not stir it every once in a while.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Master Chef finals menu

I needed to submit my menu for the finals for the nyu master chef today. I've included it below. In other news, I'm at a conference in Salt Lake City, and after eating out for a few days straight i have reaffirmed my many reasons to seldom eat out and if i do to be very selective in my choice of venue. Anyway, here's the menu and recipe.

1. (Kheer - rice pudding; 1 sauce pan, 1 wide pan, 1 cast iron pan) Boil ½ cup rice and one cup water in sauce pan. Simmer 3 cups almond milk with whole cardamom pods and ¼ cup coconut milk in wide pan. Before adding basmati rice, remove the cardamom pods. When rice has cooked for about 15 minutes add into the almond milk and simmer at low heat. Add 1/3 cup brown sugar, 1.5 tsp vanilla extract, cardamom powder. Near the end of cooking heat oil in cast iron pan and add crushed cashews and almond slivers plus more cardamom powder and golden raisins. Add to the pudding. Chill for as long as possible before serving.
2. (Dal porridge; 1 large pan, 1 sauce pan for boiling water) In large pan heat veggie oil and brown cumin seeds. When popping add dry red pepper flakes and two bay leaves. Add in crushed garlic, chopped onion, green chili and ginger. Cook until onion has caramelized a little. Then add 2 diced potato, 1 diced carrot and 1 cup of peas. Spice with salt, pepper, turmeric and red chili powder. After a few minutes clear an area on the bottom of the pan and add a little more oil and then ½ cup of red dal. Roast dal for about two minutes and then add in two cups of pre-boiling water. Cook until it is half cooked and separating then add in ½ cup basmati rice and a little more hot water. Cook on medium heat until dal is fully broken down and rice is cook done. Spice to taste with more salt, turmeric, chili powder, cumin powder and pepper.
3. (Chapatti; large bowl, rolling pin, 1 large cast iron pan) Sift 1 cup of whole wheat flour with a pinch of salt. Mix with 1 Tbs olive oil and 1/4 cup water. Add more flour if dough is too wet. Put aside for 30 minutes. Split into small balls and with some flour, roll until flat. About 10 minutes before serving time, heat medium cast iron and with a little oil brown both sides, but do not cook until fully crisp. Cover before serving.
4. (Curry sauce; 1 deep pan) Heat oil in a deep pan. Add bay leaves and dried red pepper and let sizzle for 30 seconds. Add mustard seeds, sizzle another 30 seconds, then add turmeric, garam masala and crushed cardamom. After about 15 seconds add medium sized pieces of chopped onion and garlic and hot pepper. Cook for a few minutes until onions start to get a little translucent, but not browned. Add in ½ cup peas and 1 chopped carrot and cook until they get a little tender. Meanwhile take 1 large can of unseasoned tomatoes puree and pour into the pan. Cook for 10 minutes or so then add in goat cheese and mix until smooth. Add salt and pepper and any additional spice to taste.
5. (Vegetable kofta; grater, medium bowl, 1 large cast iron pan, draining rack with paper bag) Add 1 cup chickpeas to a large glass bowl with 1 cup goat cheese and 2 eggs and ½ cup crushed cashews. Peel and julienne 1 carrot, 1 zucchini and 1 long hot thai pepper. Mix in with 1 thinly sliced onion and well crushed garlic (4 cloves). Spice with red pepper powder, cumin/ coriander, tumeric, curry powder, and salt/pepper. Then add in a few spoonfuls of chickpea flour to thicken up the mixture. Let sit for a little. Take you favorite cast iron skillet and cover bottom with oil. Heat and then shape into latka like patties (maybe 2-3 inches in diameter) and place into the pan. Let these get browned before flipping and repeating. Occasionally add more oil, and when cooked place them on paper bags for draining.
6. (Cabbage curry; large pan) In a large pan heat oil and add in black mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Roast until popping and then add in crushed garlic, sliced onion and green chili. Then add in ½ cup peas and ½ of a cabbage finely shredded. Add salt and turmeric as well as some garam masala. Cook until cabbage has taken on the color of the turmeric but is still semi-crunchy.

Course 1: In a medium sized bowl spoon out a portion of the dal porridge.
Course 2: On a small side plate put two, freshly cooked, chapatti. On a large plate place three vegetable kofta, covered with curry sauce, and a side of cabbage curry.
Course 3: On a small plate chill a few spoonfuls of kheer.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Lucky for me

I competed today in the semi-finals of the Master Chef NYU competition and to my surprise I did well enough to make it to the finals! As my previous post indicates I made pierogi and borscht, plus a little pastry type dessert. It just so happened that of the three judges, each one of them had a special place in their hearts for both pierogi and borscht, so that worked out pretty well for me. Their comments were very nice, with really no criticisms. I would have made one criticism of my pierogi's though --- I felt that the skin was a little too sticky (which was probably because I cooked them in water I had used to boil potatoes). Otherwise I was very happy with the day. In fact, two of the judges asks to bring home portions of both of my dishes, so I felt really good about that.
That said, I will need to compete again in three weeks in the finals. The challenge is to create a full three course meal, again in only 1 hour of cooking time, but with 30 minutes (instead of 20 minutes) of prep time. My preliminary thoughts are to make an Indian feast! We are afforded one special ingredient, not on the list, and we are allowed to bring in one tool from home. I don't think I'll bring in any time because I don't want to unkosher it by using it along side their tools. For the special tool, maybe I'll use paneer, or if they don't have basmanti rice (they say white rice) I may ask for that. I will also need to look into the types of lentils I can get from them. A menu I've made before which works well is a dal and rice stew, malia kofta type indian patties with a sweet vegi sauce, and cabbage curry. I'm not too crazy about trying to make any sort of bread, though possibly I could find a flat bread which doesn't take that much time to make... probably not though. As far as dessert goes, I could try to make a rice pudding with cardamom and coconut milk.
The competition for the finals looks pretty good. The other team is of two people who both came with their own chef-type uniforms on, and who were both talking about their cooking experience, which seems rather extensive. They made some really good looking meat dish this round. Anyway, I look forward to competing again in three weeks, and for anyone interested, on April 13th there will be a showing of the competition show at the Kimmel center. Win or lose it will still be fun to go and watch.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

My dinner menu - a tribute to streechas

I need to submit my dinner menu for the semi-finals of Master Chef NYU by tomorrow at noon. For much of today (basically from 6pm till now, midnight) I've been working on my menu. I'm pretty happy that I spent this time because had I blindly written the menu I can assure you it would have sucked. The theme of the dinner is an early dinner at Streecha's. Streecha's is a Ukrainian eatery which is located near my apartment and is only open Friday through Sunday. I've blogged about it before, but in short it is the best place in Manhatten for fresh pierogi and borscht. So, my menu is exactly that, homemade pierogis and borscht, plus a little desert offering made from the same dough as the pierogis. The dishes are not made to be complex or original, but rather it is my attempt at authenticity -- the simple and enjoyable meal which has been enjoyed for generations before us. In my original plan I also included stuffed cabbage in the mix, but after making a batch I decided it would not work properly in the allotted time. I also tried to make it with brown rice, which I'm pretty sure is a horrible idea.
Pierogi's or Vareniki as they are known in Ukrainian are dough stuffed with potato and onions and boiled. They may also be made stuffed with sauerkraut or just cooked cabbage, or even desert like fillings of cheese and fruit. In my case I decided to go simply with the potato and onion filling, and then to prepare a caramelized onion sauce (really just onions and a little butter cooked until golden) to go on top. My basic dough and filling recipe came from this random web search result (http://home.comcast.net/~dyrgcmn/Pierogi/pierogi.html). To make the dough sift 2.5 cups of flour (a mix of wheat and white would be good) and then add in two tablespoons of sour cream, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt and half a cup water. Work this until it sticks into a ball and then put aside for 30 minutes. To make the filling peel chop and boil a few russet potatoes. Meanwhile take a large yellow onion and dice it and then saute it for a while with some butter and oil. Be sure to add a fair amount of salt and pepper too. When the potatoes are done, drain fully and then mash in with the onion to form the filling. To assemble the pierogis roll the dough as thin as possible. Then cut circles the size of a top of a cup. Roll these circles until as thin as possible and fill with a spoonful of filling and wet half of the circumference. Fold one side to the other and make sure not to let any of the filling get onto the seal. These should go into already boiling water for about 10 minutes. When done plate and cover with an ample amount of some more golden onion sauce.
While the pierogis came out pretty well in my first attempt, the borscht needed a lot of work. This is a cabbage and tomato based borscht (no beets). Heat some oil in a deep soup pot and in another pot heat some bouillon to add later. Into the oil goes a significant amount of onion, carrot, celery and potato all very thinly sliced. At this point a bay leave or two would be good as well. Cook this until tender then add in a good portion of very thinly sliced and diced cabbage. Cook this with some salt until it has lost some of its water then add in the bouillon. Also at this point add in some celery salt and a bouquet of herbs including thyme, rosemary, oregano and dill stems. You can also add in a little more cabbage at this point. After a few more minutes add a large can of tomato puree and with only a few minutes before serving, add the juice of one lemon, some brown sugar, and enough balsamic and red wine vinegar to give the borscht a nice tang. Serve in a large bowl and top with ample diced dill.
The final aspect to my meal is a dessert similar in some ways to to rugelach. Use the same dough as for the pierogis and roll a very thin strip about 6 inches wide and 4 inches deep. Make a line of cast iron roasted walnut chunks (crushed pretty well) and raisins and brown sugar and red apple bits. Then roll this up and use a little water to seal the seam. In a cast iron pan lightly pan fry this until both sides are golden in color. Serve warm.
Well, I must admit I have mixed feeling about this menu. It may go over well as authentic and quality flavors, but it may just as well flop for being kind of bland and unimaginative. I'll update on which of these outcomes occurs Friday evening (the contest is from 1pm-4pm this week).