(🧵) The final result:

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Good morning all you beautiful people. It is Monday, Spring, and the sun is shining. I hope you are ready for a fabulous week ahead.

I have just finished the prep for all of the many meetings this week. It takes me quite some time. Now, to find something to eat. It will be pasta and some tomato pasta sauce I made in Summer and froze.

#food #WhatIAmEating

My office for part of today. Veg Manchurian with (very spicy) Gravy. Masala Chai. Street food. Catching up on emails and reports.

#IndianStreetfood #IndianFood #WhatIAmEating #OfficeForToday

And so dinner tonight has lots from the garden. Palak paneer with channa dal, steamed broad beans (no need to pod and peel when they are so young), broad bean leaves, and all scattered with fresh parsley, finely chopped. Oh you can taste the freshness.

#FromTheGarden #FromTheKitchen #OnTheTable #WhatIAmEating

From the Kitchen this weekend....

🌶️ Tonight is a mung bean and greens curry on rice with yoghurt and crispy onions, a carrot chutney (HM) and a pickle.

🍚 I chose a short grain rice tonight instead of the usual long grain basmati. Just for a change.

🤗 During the breaks in the soccer last night I pottered in the kitchen to relieve the stress of the game. Oh my goodness! What a game! I made another jar of ginger paste (ginger ground with a little vinegar and salt for preserving).

🐄 And also put 2 litres of yoghurt on to "brew" overnight. Half went in the EasiYo thermos container, and half in the dehydrator on the "yoghurt" setting. I love getting them out and seeing the yoghurt perfectly formed. I suspect the dehydrator works just a tad better, but there is little in it.

🌊 I put some kombu on to soak overnight (hence this thread this morning https://mastodon.au/@LifeTimeCooking/110879772680720733). I used 2 types of kombu, Hidaka and Rausu.

🍲 The kombu soaked overnight, then I bought it slowly to just under a boil, added miso and enjoyed an awesome bowl of miso soup. The best miso soup for a while!

🥙 Also yesterday I made dosai - a quick multigrain one where you mix several flours to a batter, sit for a short while, and make those awesome Tamil flatbreads. See here for deets: https://mastodon.au/@LifeTimeCooking/110874240038358211

🍏 While the dosa batter was resting, I whipped up the best Indian quick chutney ever! Tomato, apple and ginger chutney - spicy and absolutely delicious!

📖 The recipe for the dosa and the chutney (what an excellent pairing) are from #Tiffin by #RukminiSrinivas

🥒 Today's pickles are HM Indian quince oil-based pickles.

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From the Kitchen already today:

Baingan Bharta - spicy mashed eggplant. I used roasted eggplant pulp from the freezer, also some cherry tomatoes from freezer, with onion and spices.

I topped with very limey char-grilled broccolini. A perfect Friday brunch dish.

Recipe is from @MadhurJaffrey's book #FlavoursOfIndia. There are lots of different but similar recipes around, and I like to try different ones. My favourite so far is from #Tiffin by #RukmiiSrinivas

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From the kitchen today.....

A quick roundup today.

🌶️ Although it was a busy day, I was up early to make some veggie pasties for the freezer, for days when I am a Sad Bastard* or for road trips. They look so lovely it was hard to resist eating some today.

🌶️ The tian of spinach, tomato chunky sauce and grilled eggplant was surprisingly delicious, with its bubbly cheese topping. Recipe from #TheFrenchKitchen by #DianeHoluigue

🌶️ And to top it all off was a lovely mushroom risotto. The recipe was from my saved recipe stash. It was good, but not as good as the one in #RiverCafeCookbookTwo, by #RuthGray

🌶️ Plenty of leftovers for tomorrow.

* https://mastodon.au/@LifeTimeCooking/110836387468600675

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From the Kitchen today....

💚 Spinach was on the agenda, and I was reminded how bright green it can get when sauteed. Delicious. Simple, easy, with pine nuts and nutmeg.

💚 Leftovers of the 13 Treasure Happiness Soup - it is always so good you can't stop at one bowl. Two is the absolute minimum. There is enough for tomorrow 🥳

💚 Chilli Paneer 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ Who'd have thought it would be as good as (or better) than some restaurants? 🤦‍♀️ Paneer lightly battered, in a sauce made primarily from (chilli, onion, garlic. red capsicum) with chilli sauce, soy sauce and tomato sauce. That's #IndoChineseFood for you 😋 😋 😋

💚 Oh! My! OH! MY! When the (chilli, onion, garlic. red capsicum) hit the hot oil in the pan - the aromas! I think the street was salivating at my kitchen window.

💚 The recipe is from #ChaiChaatChutney by #ChetnaMakan.

💚 With the paneer was more of the sprouted brown basmati, which is my new love. Found just before the rice crisis hits, so I may never ever find any more 😭 💔

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In this house, leftovers often get turned into something else. Tonight, left over khichdi cooked with beans and shiitake was mixed with parmesan and chickpea flour (and some water) to make OMG delicious patties. Fried until brown on both sides and served with a drizzle of tomato sauce. Excellent.

#noWaste #FromTheKitchen #WhatIAmCooking #WhatIAmEating #Vegetarian #eggFree

A quick update From the Kitchen today....

🍞 From the Oven tonight - right now, making the house smell of fresh baked bread - a round ring of Fennel Seed and Salt Bread. I used poppy seed, fennel seed, ajwain and celery seed. Yum.

🍲 Just perfect to have with the Lima Bean Tomato Soup with Tofu Puffs.

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From the Kitchen today.....

More or less a quiet day in the kitchen today.

🍚 But I did make an awesome Khichdi (kichari) with the sprouted brown Basmati rice that I picked up the other day. With mung dal, spices, and I added sliced soaked shiitake mushrooms and the left over yuba (dried bean curd) from yesterday. And for good luck, the last of the green beans from the freezer.

IT WAS AWESOME. The sprouted brown basmati is really good. (Soaked as per instructions before using.)

🍚 I like my khichdi cooked South Indian style - until it is past porridgey and is a beautiful, spicy mash.

🥛 And tonight I will be sipping an Ayurveda Tonic Milk - made with soaked dates and almonds, coconut, saffron, cardamom, honey. Blended until warm (or warm the milk first then blend with the rest). It is very relaxing. And delicious. Almond milk can be used.

#FromTheKitchen #WhatIAmCooking #WhatIAmEating #Vegetarian #EggFree

For scrambled tofu fans, this is this weekend's scramble, made with pesto and cherry tomatoes:
https://herestheveg.blogspot.com/2015/12/pesto-scrambled-tofu.html

It's from (a couple of) my favourite Melbournians, Cindy and Michael from Where's the Beef?

I had some tofu in the freezer, and also pesto (made last Summer) and cherry tomatoes (also from last Summer), so it is an easy dish for us today.

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Diving into #MeeraSodha #East again this morning for more Scrambled Tofu Akuri. Akuri style is from the Indian Parsi community, and uses chilli, ginger, cumin, garlic, coriander leaves and tomato.

I used Pressed Silken Tofu this time, and it was perfect. I love her idea of draining the tofu for 10 mins prior to cooking. Yum. A definite favourite, along with Ottolenhi's scrambled harissa tofu.

BTW, I prefer scrambled tofu made with silken tofus over the more popular firm tofu. It is naturally more creamier and soft, whereas you do need to be careful of moisture when using firm tofu - recipes often add milk, cream and even mayo! No need for that here.

#Food #cookingAU #cooking #IndianFood #WhatIAmCooking #WhatIAmCookingFrom #WhatIAmEating #vegetarian #EggFree

The protein-hit of a soup, Zuppa di Farro (or Soup of Farro, Borlotti, Cannellini and Chickpeas) is awesome. The beans are cooked with garlic and a tomato, before being added with cooking liquid to a reduced tomato sauce. Chickpeas, cooked and added as well. Bayleaf, sage and rosemary used during the cooking stages.I added some red lentils for good luck and topped with nutritional yeast.

The recipe is from #RiverCafeCookbookTwo by #RoseGray.

You can substitute a lot - freekeh for farro, kidney beans for borlotti beans, haricot beans for canellini beans, and if you have a reduced tomato puree in the freezer - use that for the tomato reduction. Easy!

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That Sarson ka Saag is absolutely awesome! It is a spicy intense puree of greens - and who doesn't need a hit of greens periodically. I used mustard greens, spinach and fenugreek leaves, all pretty traditional. Tomatoes to temper the intensity and add some "sour" to the dish. Chillies, garlic, ginger. And true to Punjabi food - a pat of butter on the top.

Leftovers tonight just with aged basmati. Oh my!

The recipe I used this week is from #TheCompleteIndianRegionalCookbook by#MridulaBaljekar.

Here is one I cooked (a lot) earlier.

#FromTheArchives #WhatIAmEating #WhatIAmCookingFrom

UPDATE: The beans were awesome (as always) and the focaccia was the best ever! I really liked this recipe, even more than Genarro's in Italian Bakery.

#WhatIAmEating #FromTheKitchen

From the Kitchen today....

The afternoon has turned wet, with around 15mm in the gauge so far. But never fear, a couple of really nice dishes today, and an afternoon Saturday nap.

🍄 I wanted to roast some flat mushrooms but not do the usual garlic oil. So I browsed recipes for quick Indian mushroom dishes to get the flavourings for mushrooms and used these to make a highly spiced ghee. I used the oil to brush the mushrooms and drizzled some into the caps, roasted for 25mm just under 200C, then flipped them and basted, and roasted another 20mins. This is a la RecipeTin Eats video recipe for roasted (garlic) mushrooms. The result is a some very succulent mushrooms with amazing flavours.

🍚 Lunch was a quick khichdi where I mixed freshly cooked rice with cooked toor dal from the freezer, some sauteed onions and a little lemon juice. Nice protein hit and wonderful flavours. Some sauteed veg with spices on the side.

🍲 And the promised celery soup is beautiful - made with the French approach to cream soups, but without any cream today. I am cooking some tiny soup pasta to top the soup with, and a touch of parmesan. The French Kitchen by Di Holuigue is my go-to book for all things French.

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From the Kitchen today...

👩‍🍳 Not a lot happening, but the oven was on for most of the day. The kitchen was delightfully fragrant and warm.

🍲 The Spicy Roasted Carrot and Apple soup is still divine. I threw some extra veg onto the roasting tray - half a green capsicum, a celery stick, a lone chilli, 2 small potatoes, all needing to be used. The curry spices were warming but not too hot. Silky smooth. Are pureed soups out of fashion? I love them. 🤫 I had 2 bowls.

:🍚 The left-over zucchini risotto from last night was made into fritters and fried. Such a good use of left-overs. Delicious.

🍎 The quinces were baked, flavoured with vanilla, cinnamon and lavender. The lavender was from the lavender sugar I made last year. The quinces are baked in syrup for 4.5 hours in a slow oven until deep ruby red. It is always amazing to watch them change colour. Enough for dessert and for topping muesli in the morning. Recipe from Food of Life cookbook.

:pumpkin_tired: The last butternut from the vine is picked and waiting on the Kitchen bench for inspiration. I have no plans yet.

:pumpkin_tired: The huge butternut the neighbour shared with me recently was still quite green. I don't think I have ever tasted an unripe pumpkin before. It looked really good and was very solid, but the texture wasn't right when cooked. Such a pity. Picked waaaaay too early.

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It is baked feta with tomatoes and eggplant tonight, with some sourdough to mop up the juices and spread any melty feta on. There will be a scattering of herbs.

This one is more of a tray-bake than other baked fetas I make. In the others I put the feta into a small terracotta dish and fill the spaces tight with cherry tomatoes, olives, capsicum.

Both versions are drizzled with olive oil. Tonight's tray-bake also has some red wine vinegar mixed with the OO.

The idea for a tray bake comes from #DonnaHay's #OnePanPerfect

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I didn't get time to make the Crunchy Chana Dal Patties with Coconut and Sesame Seeds (Masala Chana Bada). They are from The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking by Yamuna Devi.

Anyway, I've made them for lunch today. They are pretty healthy for a fried item - made with urad flour, sesame seeds, coconut, ginger, chilli, coriander leaves, and fennel seeds.

Serving with a large bowl of delicious coleslaw and some Indian chutney.

#FromTheKitchen #cookingAU #cooking #vegetarian #WhatIAmCooking #WhatIAmEating #IndianFood #EggFree