Pancakes!

Health-o-meter:3/5 (5 being healthiest)

Ease: 1/5 (5 being difficult)

Ahhhh, pancakes. Fluffy, pillowy cakes dripping with sweet maple syrup. It's The American Breakfast. I've always used a pancake mix to make pancakes. I tried to make them from scratch once and they were rubbery and awful. I have since stuck to the mix...until now. I've been inspired by all these other blogs that I read to make my food from scratch. So...I've decided to start with the easiest, although a little tricky, recipe: Pancakes.

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. It received 5-star reviews with almost all the reviewers saying this was the best-tasting and fluffiest pancake. I did a little additional research on making pancakes, that I believe made them come out as fluffy as can be. I'll share those tips as we make our way through the recipe.

Supposedly, this recipe made 8 pancakes. I got 12. Next time, I'll cut the recipe in half since I have some extra that no doubt will get inedible by the time we are in the mood to snack on pancakes.


First, the dry ingredients (this will make 12):

• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 3.5 tsps baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

The wet ingredients:

• 1.25 cups milk, slightly warmed
• 1 egg (room temperature)
• 1.5 tbsp butter (melted)
• 1 tsp vanilla

The original recipe called for 3 tbsp of butter. When I saw how much that was, I cut it down to half. I think next time I'll omit it all together and see what happens. I didn't feel like it tasted buttery or needed that butter flavor.


1. In a standard mixing bowl, whisk all dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. If possible, sift all ingredients. This has been suggested as a tip to make pancakes fluffy. I just whisked the dry ingredients for a couple of minutes and made sure it was all mixed and ours came out fluffy.


2. In a second mixing bowl, whisk all wet ingredients - egg, milk, butter and vanilla. To bring the egg to room temperature quickly, run it under warm tap water for a minute or so. Microwave the milk for 30 sec. Melt the butter using the microwave as well. Whisk all wet ingredients very well. I start out beating the egg and making sure there are lots of air bubbles. Then I add milk and vanilla, with the melted butter added last.


3. After the wet ingredients are mixed well, pour into the bowl containing the dry ingredients. This may seem like a waste of time, but the separation of wet and dry ingredients is what makes pancakes an "easy" recipe as opposed to "tricky". If the wet ingredients are directly added to the dry ingredients, and then whisked, the batter will end up tough because of the gluten that has formed. To minimize gluten formation, whisk the wet ingredients separately and then add it to the dry ingredients, whisking gently until the batter comes together. I whisked the batter for 2-3 minutes, even though there were lumps. Lumps in pancake batter are not an issue, apparently. Mine was very lumpy (I did NOT want rubbery pancakes) and they came out totally fine.


When your batter looks like this:

Closeup of batter

it's ready to go. Let it sit uncovered for 30 minutes at room temperature.


4. Bring a griddle or frying pan to medium-high heat. I use a nonstick griddle so I didn't need oil or butter before pouring batter onto the pan. If you don't have a nonstick griddle - invest in one! - add about 1/2 tsp of oil before pouring batter. Once batter is poured I put a few drops around the edge of the pancake to crisp it up even further. When your pancake looks like this:

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble...

it's ready to be flipped. After flipping, do NOT press down on it - this will remove any fluffiness that was created! Let it cook for another 30 seconds and then transfer to a plate.


And there you go!! Fabulous, fluffy pancakes. Drizzle with warm maple syrup. For an extra touch of decadence, add a pat of butter on top of the stack. I don't like the taste so I don't add it. Plus, I wanted to keep the health-o-meter within my scale. :)


'Til the next dish...

Gobi Manchurian

Health-0-meter: 2/5 (5 being healthiest)
Ease: 2/5 (5 being difficult)

I first tasted this dish in India, and found out that it was invented in India for Indians who wanted Chinese food, but with an Indian taste. Sounds weird, but really it's quite a delicious combination!

Last night, I was feeling lazy and not in the mood to cook so we went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. They're one of the few restaurants I know of that have dinner buffets and on a Friday no less! Lucky for us, they decided to feature gobi manchurian on their menu, and I got really excited! Too bad it tasted awful - the cauliflower tasted gummy and the sauce was too thin and had a strong tomato taste. Ugh.

This is the second gobi dish in the last two weeks, so you might be thinking I love this veggie. Well, yes and no. I do love a good cauli dish, for sure, but I had half a head of cauli sitting in the frig and I didn't want it to go bad. Plus, my sis-in-law makes *great* gobi manchu and I had to make good use of the recipe I begged for and got. :)

On to the recipe!

Sauce (traditional):

• Soy Sauce 1/4 cup
• Ketchup 1/4 cup

*We didn't have ketchup at home and the hubs was grossed out at the thought of ketchup in his main dish, so we got steak sauce instead. We used 1/2 cup of the steak sauce.


The steak sauce we used

Try it on chicken, steaks, burgers... and indochinese food!

For the rest:

• Cauliflower, split into florets*
• 6 green chillies, medium sized**
• 1 tbsp garlic, grated
• 1 tbsp ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp corn oil (or vegetable oil)

*Make sure florets are not too big as they will not cook all the way through when fried. The smaller the better, but that can get too time consuming if there are too many florets.

**Chillies can be added/subtracted according to taste. We found 6 chillies to be perfect. If you want it spicier, add more. If you're not too fond of spice, cut down on the number of chillies.

Garlic/ginger paste can be used, but fresh always tastes better.

Batter:

• All purpose flour, 1/4 cup
• Cornstarch, 2 tbsp
• Salt, to taste
• Water, 1/4 cup
• Oil for frying

The ratio of flour to cornstarch is 2:1, if the recipe needs to be scaled up.

1. To make the batter, mix the flour and cornstarch and salt with a whisk. When thoroughly mixed, add the water and use a fork to mix. Batter shouldn't be too thick, i.e. should be able to coat the cauliflower florets without too much of the cauliflower peeking through.

2. Wash the florets and dry them thoroughly. If even slightly wet, they will either not stick to the batter, or will splatter in the oil (bad, BAD situation).

My florets are ready to be dipped and fried!

3. Heat oil in a deep frying pan or wok. Make sure oil is at 350F (use a candy thermometer). If you don't have a thermometer (like me), place a drop of batter into the oil. The oil should bubble furiously around it - that's when it's ready to go. Use a metal slotted spoon with a long handle when frying. Placed fried florets on paper towels to drain while the sauce is made.

Yummy, delicious fried cauliflower

4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or deep frying pan. Placed the chopped chillies, grated ginger and garlic into the oil and cook until the ginger/garlic is almost brown, but not quite. When it looks like the picture below, it's ready.

5. Add the florets and stir on a low flame. Once the ginger/garlic/chilli mix has sufficiently coated the florets, add the sauce. Make sure the florets are thoroughly coated with the sauce. This is the "dry" version of this dish. More sauce can be added according to personal taste.

And voila! You are done and ready to eat! They came out absolutely perfect and delicious. Try it, you'll love it!

'Til the next dish...

Alu Gobi

Health-0-meter: 4/5 (5 being healthiest)
Ease: 2/5 (5 being difficult)

In Hindi, Alu means potato and Gobi means cauliflower. We Indian folk like to name our foods after what it contains. Makes it easier when planning dinner "Hey you guys want alu gobi?" versus "Would you lot care for black pudding?" See what I mean about knowing what's in your food?

Most Indian dishes begin with the trifecta of onions, garlic and ginger. This one is no different. The combined flavors give each curry their distinctive taste that makes them so yummy! The important part is to make sure that the ratio of garlic and ginger is 1:1 and that the onions are cooked thoroughly. Too much of one will overpower the other and will make the dish taste different. Uncooked onions will be noticed, trust me. I was impatient the first time I made it and it tasted really off.

On to the recipe!

You will need:

• A wok or a pan with at least 2" high sides
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1 medium potato, diced (bite size pieces)
• 1/2 lb cauliflower florets (broken into individual florets)
• 5-6 baby carrots, sliced into rounds
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 1.5 tsp (2 cloves) garlic, finely minced
• 1.5 tsp Ginger, finely grated
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 2.5 cups of water
• Salt
• 1 tsbp of corn oil (or vegetable oil)

A note on ingredients: Everytime I've made this dish, I've used fresh veggies. I'm not sure how frozen veggies would work; I'm guessing they would need to be completely thawed and microwaved to remove any water and then added to the curry for 10-15 minutes before serving for them to take in the spices.

These spices are common in Indian cooking and can be purchased at any Indian store. Eyeballing is key in Indian cooking. If the amounts of ginger and garlic look about the same, it will work out fine. Exact measurements were provided for those incredibly anal-retentive cooks like me.

1. Measure out garam masala, turmeric, chilli powder and cumin seeds. Mince garlic and grate ginger. Finely chop onion. Keep aside.

2. Heat oil in wok/frying pan. Add garlic and ginger and stir rapidly for 20 - 30 seconds. They should NOT turn brown, that means the garlic is burnt and it will impart a bitter taste to the curry.
3. At this point, add the onions. Here's the tricky part. The oil might not seem like it will be enough to cook the onions, however do NOT add any extra oil or your curry will taste oily. Make sure the onions are mixed well enough that the garlic and ginger and oil are evenly distributed. Keep the heat to a medium-high and stir every 2-3 minutes until the onion looks caramelized. Like so:

See how the volume has decreased (water loss) and more importantly, see how they're shiny in the second pic? That's the oil re-appearing! It's a good indication that the onions are done. When they look like the pic above (right), turn the heat down to medium-low and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

4. Add the spices - garam masala, cumin seeds, turmeric and chilli powder. Mix until all the onions are coated with them. Keep stirring for another 2-3 minutes. The spices need the heat of the pan to release their flavor and to get into the onions.

5. Add the tomato and the tomato paste. If stirring is difficult, add about 1/2 cup of water to help stir the mixture. If the onions are well cooked, then adding the water and stirring should result in a paste.

6. Add the vegetables and make sure they are well coated with the paste. Stir for 1 minute.

7. Add water to cover all the veggies (see pic below). At this point, add the salt. Potatoes can absorb a lot of salt, so add a little more than necessary. Leave on medium low for 30 - 40 minutes without a lid to cook. Stir every 5 minutes or so until vegetables are tender and liquid has reduced to half the original volume.

Enjoy! Til the next dish...

The beginning...

My love of cooking started at a young age. As a small child, I remember waking up one night and trotting into the kitchen to make "icing". I took a bowl, dumped sugar, yogurt and ice into it and began mixing furiously. In my naivete, I thought this is what made up icing as it matched the sweetness, texture and temperature. My mom woke up with the noise and asked me what I was doing, to which I replied "I'm making icing!" Needless to say, she wasn't happy. She promised to teach me how to make it in the morning and threw out the mess. I still don't know how to make icing without looking at a recipe, so suffice to say she never taught me how to make it - thanks Mom.

Fast forward a decade or so later, and here I am - newly married and unemployed, with a kitchen all to myself! Paradise! I've decided to start a blog documenting my trials, tribulations and successes on my road to culinary expertise. I have grand plans for this blog. I'm hoping to take beautiful pictures that will provide step-by-step instructions that will help those interested in recreating dishes that I have made. I'm also going to include my mistakes and possible corrections. Maybe include healthier substitutions? Told you my plans were grand.

Til the next dish...





P.S: My sis just sent me a screenshot of my blog as seen in the U.A.E. What do you think?