Arugula Soup

Filed Under Greens, Recipes, Soups and Salads, Vegetarian | 13 Comments

Arugula is a small spicy green leaf with a peppery flavor and is normally combined with milder tasting greens in mixed greens salad. Some think it is too bitter, I think it is an acquired taste, I really love that peppery taste and regularly use this in salads. Arugula and almonds processed to a smooth paste makes a nice side dish for grilled meat. According to Wikipedia, Arugula has been grown as a vegetable in the Mediterranean area since Roman times, and was considered an aphrodisiac. Like most other salad greens, Arugula is rich in iron, calcium and vitamins A and C and has only 2 calories per half cup. Because of its pungent flavor, arugula actually makes a nice candidate for a cold soup. I added some sweet peas and almonds to neutralize the strong flavor in this soup.

“Cold soup is a very tricky thing and it is the rare hostess who can carry it off. More often than not the dinner guest is left with the impression that had he only come in a little earlier he could have gotten it while it was still hot.” 
–Fran Lebowitz

Ingredients

• 4 packed cups chopped Arugula leaves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp chopped shallots
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 4 cardamom pods
• 1″ cinnamon stick
• 1/2 cup blanched almonds
• 1 cup sweet green peas
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tbsp sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste

 Method

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and saute the cardamom and cinnamon.

Add the chopped shallots and garlic and saute till brown.

Add the peas and saute for 2 minutes.

Add the arugula leaves and saute till the leaves are wilted.

Add the almonds and stock and bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Remove the cardamom pods and cinnamon stick and throw these away.

Remove from heat and using a hand blender, puree the contents to a smooth paste. Or transfer the content to a food processor and process until smooth.

Return the saucepan to the stove and add the milk. Heat till the milk is heated through. Stir in the sour cream and add salt and pepper to taste.

Chill in the refrigerator till it is icy cold.

To serve, garnish with tossed almonds , caramelized onions , diced ham and parsley.

The soup had the distinguish peppery taste of arugula, combined with the sweetness from the peas along with the nutty almond taste.

This month is JFI’s one year anniversary. In case you have been living under a rock (like I used to be a few months ago) and haven’t heard of JFI, read all about it here. Indira of Mahanandi who is the inventor of this most popular food blog event (last month’s JFI - Tomato had more than 100 entries!) has picked the theme - Going Green with Green Leafy Vegetables. This month JFI is also combined with Weekend Breakfast Blogging (WBB), brainchild of beautiful Nandita ,one of my closest friends from the blogosphere. I’ve been raking my brain to come up with a dish that will be good for WBB and JFI, and before I knew it April was almost gone. I finally decided to make this soup Friday night, which I actually ended up having for brunch on Saturday! Mainly because this was the only thing in my fridge. My cricket crazy hubby was glued to the TV watching the world cup finals, so there was no chance of going out for brunch. That is the great thing about a cold soup, it tastes great the next day too. This is my entry for JFI - Green Leafy Vegetables and WBB #10.

Crush - Another Sexy Restaurant in Madison

Filed Under American, Madison Park/Madrona, Northwest | 3 Comments

I am so jealous of people staying at the Madison Valley, they have too many nice restaurants in the neighborhood! I still haven’t made my mind up as to which one I like better, Harvest Vine or Crush, we have been to both places many times, in fact we normally think of going to Harvest Vine, but if the place is too crowded, end up at Crush. That would make you think that Harvest Vine is our first choice, but the only reason it ends up that way is because we couldn’t go there the last time, the vicious circle! Anyway, Crush is totally awesome, and we never had to wait for more than 5 minutes to get a table on walk-ins. The restaurant is not that big though, so may be we just got lucky! It will be nice to have reservation, since the bar is tiny, only around 7 seats so you may not be able to grab a seat at the bar if you end up waiting for the table.

I first heard about Crush on Food Network actually, on Rachael Ray’s Tasty Travels, chef Jason Wilson showed her how to make the most yummalicious slow braised short ribs, and it went into our must try restaurant list immediately!  After that we had been there a number of times, but I finally got to take my camera on our dinner last week with our friends Su and Su. The cuisine is new American, with Northwest flavors and using an extensive selection of local seasonal ingredients.  I was shocked when I couldn’t find my favorite seared foie gras steak with buttermilk waffle on the menu. They had replaced it with another foie gras dish with spiced brioche french toast, OMG, that single handedly is the best foie gras dish I’ve ever tasted. The bread was completely soaked in the huckleberry sauce, that soft sweet bread alone would have done it for me, but the combination with the seared foie gras, wow, what a dish! I won’t be missing my foie gras steak, which was a little too big anyway, the new dish is the perfect size.

Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras & Huckleberries with Spiced Brioche French Toast and Miners Greens ($18)

I think I just got ahead of myself. Let me start with the decor. This two story converted home is completely dressed in white. White walls, white furniture and the white plates create the perfect canvas to showcase their sexy creations. Each serving plate was a different asymmetrical shape, no two alike, which was pretty cool! Downstairs has a dining room and a bar area, and the bar counter overlook the large kitchen, so you could sit and watch the chefs in action. You know what I love about the bar at Crush; they have these small hooks under the counter where a girl can hang her purse, isn’t that a nifty little invention? I’ve never been to the upstairs area, but I am assuming that’s where the private dining area is.

The staff is always nice and courteous, and pretty good looking too if I may add. There were a lot of old folks dining this time, but normally I’ve seen a nice hip crowd there. Just like most Seattle area restaurants, you can go as dressed up or dressed down as you want to be. I’ve seen both ends of the spectrum at Crush.

We picked up Su and Su from Vessel where they had been for the past two hours. You know how potent the Vessel drinks are, so Siv and I had a lot of catching up to do. I went for my favorite white cocktail , it had a clever name, which I can’t remember now, but has white cranberry juice and vodka in it. The cocktails are $9 each and are pretty nice with enough alcohol. The wine list is quite extensive, the three of them decided to share a nice $65 bottle of cabernet and went for individual glasses afterwards.

There was a prix fix deal going on at $60 per person for a five course meal. The menu looked really good, but since we all like to share dishes, we decided to order from the regular menu instead. The menu is divided into two pages, first page with the appetizers, where the price is around $10-$15 per dish, except for the foie gras at $18. The second page has the entrees for around $23-$28 per dish.  For vegetarians, there are some soups and salads in the appetizer section, no listed entrees, but the chef will make you something special if you ask for a vegetarian entree. I had been here before with my vegetarian friend M, if I remember correctly she got an amazing pasta dish which they just whipped up for her.

They brought us all some free green soup (I think rhubarb) to start with, since they had made extra for the prix fix menu. I’m glad we didn’t have to pay for it, since it was seriously lacking flavors. We ordered about 5 dishes to start with including two orders of the crab cakes, since there is only one cake per plate. The crab cakes were amazing, it was so full of fresh dungeness crab meat, and the pairing with the grapefruit was perfect!

Sauteed Dungeness Crab Cake with Crushed Avocado Tarragon and Spicy Citrus Aioli ($15)

Then we got these amazing short ribs, which we never fail to order, ever since we saw how it is made. The meat is so tender and flavorful, and the potato puree and baby carrots, this is easily my favorite after the foie gras! If I had to just order one dish, this will be it.

Slow braised Short Ribs & Yukon Potato Puree with buttered baby carrots and Horseradish Parsley ($23)

Next was this amazing pan sauteed halibut, which was cooked to perfection. I’ve never had a bad halibut anywhere!

Sauteed Wild Alaskan Halibut & Lemon Herb Butter with Radishes and Stinging Nettle - King Crab Gratin ($26)

 We were still hungry after these, so went for two more orders. The grilled lamb chops with a bean salad and beet relish was not anything special. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad, but nothing innovative, we could have skipped this one easily.

Herb Grilled Oregon Lamb Chops & Syrah Sauce Cotrone Bean Salad Red Beet Mint Relish ($28)

Next was this black cod strangely paired with pork belly, but the combination worked. Actually I wasn’t impressed with the cod itself, but the pork tasted really great with the spinach confit.

Porcini Dusted Alaskan Black Cod & Pinot Sauce Lacquered Pork Belly, Spinach & Fennel Confit ($23)

The only disappointment of the evening were the so-so desserts. They were very pretty to look at, but didn’t really match the food. The chocolate cake with the chocolate ice cream wasn’t all that bad, but the layered rhubarb mousse was seriously disappointing. It was too sour for a dessert, we ordered it just because it looked pretty, but we couldn’t have more than a spoonful. I don’t know why it is a dessert!

The food is truly unique and delicious, a must try restaurant. My advice will be to enjoy the amazing food, splurge, but skip the desserts. It is a little too expensive for an everyday meal, the whole evening costed us about $350 including tax and tips for the four of us, but out of which more than $120 was on booze. If you order smart, it won’t be that expensive, this restaurant is worth the price tag in my opinion. 

www.crushonmadison.com

Technorati tags: Seattle Restaurants, Crush Restaurant

Orange Panna Cotta

Filed Under Desserts, Diary, Oranges and Kumquats, Recipes | 26 Comments

Panna Cotta means Cooked Cream in Italian. This is one of the easiest desserts to make; simmer some cream and sugar, add gelatin and cool to form the most deliciously simple creamy dessert. This is also a very versatile dessert; add spices like vanilla bean, cardamom, cinnamon or ginger to the cream to make it more exotic. Another variation is to mix pureed fruits or juices directly into the cream to make a fruit flavored Panna Cotta. Panna Cotta goes nicely with warm fruit compotes, or you can make some nice fruit sauce to go with the plain Panna Cotta. The possibilities are endless with this one! 

I’ve always enjoyed the Panna Cotta in its different forms at the restaurants, but never really thought about what is in it or how to make it at home. But a few years ago, my friend Su who is an amazing dessert expert made an orange scented Panna cotta for a party, it was the best Panna Cotta I’d ever had! When she explained the recipe, I was just amazed at how simple it was to make! After that I’ve tried this in various forms, and it always comes out great!

Ingredients

• 3 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp unflavored gelatin
• 2 tbsp fresh orange peels
• 1/2 vanilla bean split
• Shaved chocolate and Orange segments for garnish

Method

Sprinkle gelatin over 3 tbsp orange juice and let it stand for about 10 minutes without stirring. This is to soften the gelatin.

In a saucepan, add cream, sugar, vanilla bean, orange peel and rest of the orange juice. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Taste and add more sugar if needed.

When the cream is heated through and starts simmering, turn off the stove. Add the softened gelatin mixture and stir well to combine. Make sure the gelatin is completely dissolved.

Pass the cooked cream mixture through a fine sieve to remove the orange peels and the vanilla pods.

Pour the mixture into six ramekins or dessert bowls. Chill in the refrigerator uncovered for about 3 hours or overnight.

Before serving, dip the cups in hot water for a few seconds. Pass a thin knife through the edges to separate the Panna cotta from the cup, and turn the cup on to the dessert plates. (see note)

Garnish with shaved chocolate swirls and orange segments.

Notes

• For me, the Panna cotta never ever comes out neatly from the ramekins. I tend to cut the edges while separating with the knife. (The one in the picture doesn’t look that great from the other side.) If you are serving this to guests, chill the Panna cotta in the serving bowls ( martini glasses will make a nice presentation) and serve directly without tempting fate.
• Don’t boil gelatin, it will lose its binding power and the mixture will never set.
• I made this one with Blood Oranges, thinking that the Panna Cotta will turn out in a nice red color, but the ratio of orange juice to cream is so low, the blood oranges didn’t make any difference to the color. So use regular oranges, blood oranges are so expensive, don’t waste those in this, since the taste is not that different with either one.

This one has this really amazing burst of citrus flavor in each spoonful, orange lovers will love this. With all that cream and sugar, it is a very deceptively sinful dessert, even though it tastes very simple, so have at your own risk. Don’t come knockin’ when your waistline go expandin’!

Check out Meeta’s Berry Panna Cotta here.

Dine Out, Fight AIDS - Thursday, April 26th

Filed Under Random Musings | 14 Comments

Eating out is always associated with a little bit of guilt; that the money we waste on food could feed a small village in some countries. But here is a way to make a slight difference - dine out on Thursday, April 26th at a participating restaurant, a portion of your bill will go to support the fight against AIDS.

Check out the list of participating restaurants in Seattle. There are a lot of restaurants in this list, so pick your favorite and grab breakfast, lunch or dinner at one of these places.

More details about this event and the dates and participating restaurants in other cities at http://www.diningoutforlife.com

Technorati tags: Seattle Restaurants, Dining Out for Life

Easy Breezy Chicken Biryani

Filed Under Chicken, India - Kerala, Recipes, Rice Or Biryani | 31 Comments

I know easy is a relative term. Making Biryani is never that easy, it is normally a multi step process - prepare the meat and the gravy, fry the rice, cook the rice, mix the rice with the gravy and bake for a while… give or take and mix and match some steps here and there, it is a slightly complicated process! So when I found a recipe in one of my cookbooks where the process is made much simpler, really just a two step process, I was a little skeptical, but wanted to give it a try anyway.

This recipe is adapted from Mrs.B.F. Varughese’s Recipes for All Occasions Part 2. What makes this an easy recipe is, there is no frying rice beforehand, or baking afterwards. Prepare the chicken gravy, add some coconut milk and water to get the desired quantity of liquid to cook the rice, add the soaked rice and leave it on the stove on low heat till you are ready to eat! Isn’t that simple? There is no oven or pressure cooker involved in this process. All you need is a Dutch oven or any deep pan with a heavy base and a tight lid.

Ingredients (for 4 servings)

• 2 cups Basmati rice
• 1.5 lb chicken with bones (I used two whole legs)
• 1.5 tbsp ground ginger
• 1.5 tbsp ground garlic
• 1.5 tbsp ground shallots
• 1.5 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 cup yogurt
• 2 cups water
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 cups coconut milk
• 3 cups thin onion slices
• 10 whole black peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• 8 cloves
• 8 cardamoms
• 1″ piece of cinnamon
• 4 green chilies sliced thin (I used the Serrano chilies, if using a smaller variety, add more according to desired spiciness).
• 1 cup diced tomato pieces
• 1/2 cup minced mint leaves
• 1/2 cup minced coriander leaves
• Salt to taste
• cashew nuts and fried onions for garnish
• 5 tbsp ghee (I use oil, doesn’t really make a big difference in taste to me)

Method

Wash and soak the rice in water for about an hour.

Cut the chicken into medium sized pieces. I cut each leg into three pieces. 

Mix the ground ginger, garlic and shallots with the coriander powder to make a paste.

Heat about 2 tbsp oil in a pan large enough to cook the chicken pieces.  Add the ground paste and saute for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and fry till the pieces start to brown. Add the yogurt and 2 cups of water and cook till chicken pieces are about half cooked and more than half the gravy is gone. Mix the lemon juice and remove from fire, there will be about 1 cup of gravy remaining at this point. Make sure you don’t overcook the chicken. 

Heat the remaining oil in the Dutch oven. Add the star anise, peppercorns, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and saute for a minute. Add the sliced green chilies and saute for another minute. Add the onion slices and fry till they start to brown. Drain the prepared chicken pieces from the gravy and add to the onions along with the tomato pieces and saute till the juice dries up.

In the mean time measure the remaining gravy from the chicken, add the coconut milk and enough water to make the total amount of liquid into 4 1/2 cups. Add the liquid into the Dutch oven and bring it to a boil. Add the mint and coriander leaves and stir well. Add salt to taste.

Now drain and add the soaked rice to the Dutch oven. Bring the liquid again to a boil on high heat. As soon as it starts boiling, reduce the heat all the way to the lowest setting and cover with a tight fitting lid.

Leave this on the stove for about an hour or more, till you are ready to eat. Do not by any means remove the lid in the mean time. I know, you will be tempted to open and check if the rice is getting ready. But the rice is being cooked by the steam and you don’t want to waste away any of the steam do you? Just trust me and trust the steam to do its job.

After an hour (or more if you have the time), open the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Garnish with fried nuts and fried onions and serve with a side of plain raitha.

This biryani was delicious! Siv even commented that this is the best chicken biryani he’s ever had, which doesn’t really mean anything, but he did polish off a lot of it.  

The best thing I like about this recipe is the process. The recipe and the ingredients are very versatile. You can stick with your normal biryani ingredients, make the gravy and just follow this process, you won’t make out that the rice is not fried and baked. This involves a slightly longer cooking time than the regular biryani, but the majority of the time is spent on the stove without you having to do anything with it. So you can concentrate on more important activities like blogging during that time.

Inti - A Kiwi Cocktail

Filed Under Cocktails, Fruits, Lychee, Recipes | 18 Comments

The weekend is almost gone, time to share another cocktail recipe. Siv is the de facto bartender in our house, he just throws in some mixes and drinks here and there and it turns out into a pretty good drink at the end. He is a scotch and beer guy himself, but loves to mix cocktails for me and for our parties. I make cocktails only once in a bluemoon, like when I have a girls night at my house, or when I am bored at home and need a cosmo to go with my Sex and the City rerun marathon session. Since we have a well stocked bar at home with all kinds of mixers, it used to be a pretty easy task. But these days I am in an experimental mood when it comes to cooking , thanks to my blogging addiction. Also, I’ve been bringing home a lot of fresh fruits, who can resist the beautiful fresh spring produce in the stores! So Friday night I volunteered to make drinks with some fresh ingredients while Siv cooks his famous chilli chicken to go with it.

This cocktail is called Inti, I found it in my New Asian Cuisine - Fabulous Recipes from Celebrity Chefs book. Inti is a drink from the Sushi Samba restaurant in New York. I looked up the meaning of Inti, he is a Sun god in Inca mythology, what does that gotta do with an Asian cocktail, I don’t know. But this drink does look very sunny, doesn’t it?

The recipe called for lychee puree, which I didn’t have on hand. Instead I used a can of lychees and pureed it myself. I am not very sure what is in the store bought lychee puree.

Ingredients (for 4 drinks)

• 3 fresh kiwis
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 can of lychees ( regular sized can, drained weight 230 G)
• 2 oz Baccardi light rum
• 4 oz Baccardi Limon
• 2 oz Triple Sec (or some other orange liqueur)
• 2 oz pineapple juice
• Ice

Method

Drain the lychees from the syrup and process in a blender till smooth to make a lychee puree.

Peel and cut the kiwis into thin rounds. Muddle (See Note) the kiwi pieces and sugar together in a large pitcher.

When the kiwi is properly crushed, add Baccardi, triple sec, lychee puree and pineapple juice to the pitcher and stir well to combine.

Serve in chilled glasses filled with crushed ice.

Garnish with a kiwi slice.

Notes

• Muddling is a vital cocktail making skill. Muddling is the process of crushing fruits, herbs etc to release their natural flavors into the drink. You can muddle the ingredients using a muddler, or just use the bottom of a heavy wooden spoon or a rolling pin.
• Even though the recipe calls for muddling, if you don’t like the chunky kiwi pieces in your drink (I might have just done a bad muddling job), make a kiwi puree like the lychee puree and use that instead. I made our second round like that and it tasted as good as the first one.
• Since the lychee syrup is sweet, the lychee puree will be pretty sweet. So start with just 2 tbsp of sugar, you might want to taste and add some more sugar at the end.

This drink was amazing, a cooling, not overly sweet cocktail, and went nicely with the spicy chicken. The kiwi flavor is just made for cocktails! Kiwi is going to be one of our favorite cocktail ingredients going forward.

Typhoon!

Filed Under Redmond/Sammamish, Thai | 7 Comments

Typhoon is one of the best Thai restaurants in town. ( I am just talking about the Redmond Typhoon, I’ve been to the one in Seattle, and even though the menu is the same, taste was totally off!) Typhoon’s dishes are different from the traditional Thai restaurant fare like the red, green and yellow curries and noodles with familiar names. Their dishes are so extraordinary, it is a favorite lunch place for the Microsoft crowd. Try finding a table for a Friday lunch, the place is packed with groups of office crowd! My friend M and I try to go there regularly for lunch, and we always end up getting their Drunken Noodles! We’ve lost count of the number of people we introduced the drunken noodles to, not a single person has disliked this amazing dish. More about the Drunken Noodles later. 

Last Wednesday, M and I decided to go out for drinks after work and then watch the American Idol result show. Yes, I admit it, I’m hooked to American Idol!  Since M is a fellow addict, we try to watch it together whenever we can. That is the main reason we picked Typhoon since it is so close to her place, we can really get sloshed and walk home just in time for the show. We don’t normally go to Typhoon for drinks, since it has been established as our lunch place. The drinks turned out to be not so bad! Well, I have to say that the drinks were kind of girly, not too much alcohol, but I am a girl and that’s how I like my drinks, especially on a weekday. 

I started with a Mango Mojito - Muddled light rime, lime and fresh mint served over ice with a splash of mango juice. This wasn’t what I expected it to be, I was thinking of a predominantly mango-ish drink, but this just had a hint of mango juice, but I liked it , tasted very smooth. 

M went for a Lychee Cosmo - Classic Cosmo with fresh lime, cranberry juice, lychee and sour mix shaken and served up and garnished with lychees. I had a taste, it was a regular Cosmo, again pretty nice tasting.

My second drink was a Raspberry lemon drop - classic lemon drop with vodka, triple sec, muddled lemon and a splash of raspberry puree. I got it just for the color, it was a fiery red, and was good.

M’s second was the Mint Chocolate Chip Martini - Vodka with Godiva white chocolate, creme de menthe served up with whipped cream, for the color too. Neither of us liked it very much, first of all M doesn’t like whipped cream and had to remove it with a spoon. Also she described it as a green Pepto- Bismol, I thought it tasted like my toothpaste.

Top to bot

Top to bottom from left:

•  
  •  
    •  
      • Raspberry lemon drop  ($7.50)
      • Lychee Cosmo  ($7.50)
      • Mint Chocolate Chip  ($7.50)
      • Mango Mojito (above) ($8.00)

Overall, drinks are good, but not out of this world type of good,  but the food more than makes up for it.

We wanted to keep the appetizers light to save the space for the main course. M is vegetarian, so I decided to just share some veg nibbles with her.  

Miang Kum ($8.95) - They call this a rare Thai peasant dish. Wrap a pinch of toasted coconut, shallot, ginger, lime, peanut, dried shrimp and Thai chili in a spinach leaf with their signature sauce, then pop in your mouth to burst in a medley of flavors. This is another favorite of mine, very yummy. I wish there were more spinach leaves, we ran out of the leaves before half the ingredients were gone.

Steamed Veggie Rolls ($5.45) - Steamed vegetarian spring roll with glass beanthread noodles. A very fresh tasting dish, it has to be had hot.

Then comes our main course. Drunken Noodles, I have already said enough about this wonderful dish. No, there is no alcohol in it, the wide rice noodles are drunk with the spicy thai sauce. To give a context, this is similar to Pad Kae Mao in regular Thai restaurants, but it is not like any Pad Kae Mao I’ve ever had. A must try dish. I got the drunken noodles with chicken, and M got it with Tofu.

Drunken Noodles with Chicken ($10.95) 

Drunken Noodles with Tofu($10.95)  

We spent about 3 hours there, and with all these drinks and food the check came to just about $35.00 per person before tax and tips. Isn’t that great? Overall it is a great place to hang out after work in the eastside, not the hip place where you go to see and be seen, but a place to go to catch up with friends over nice drinks and amazing food.

The evening was great, except for the fact that Sanjaya was finally voted out of American Idol. I was not a fan, but I felt pretty bad when he was crying at the end. After all, he is a seventeen year old kid who has shown some amazing courage week after week to get on stage and sing his heart out knowing fully well what America thinks of him. He is one of the most famous people in the US right now, he’s got something going for him. Good luck Sanjaya, I’m sure you will go places!  

Technorati tags: Seattle Restaurants

Apple-Mango Salsa

Filed Under Chutneys and Dips and Pickles, Mango, Recipes | 17 Comments

Homemade salsa has a recurring role in all my dinner party productions. It is easy to make, looks pretty and goes well with a variety of dishes from chips to lamb chops to grilled fish.  I keep experimenting with ingredients, and since I was running out of ideas for the event A Fruit A Month, I thought of trying an Apple Salsa. The mangoes were added to the salsa mainly to add some color, since the apple pieces are not all that pretty to look at once it is skinned, but the apple-mango combination turned out really great in the taste department too!

All the ingredients are approximate measurements. Salsas are so versatile, you can experiment with the measures to get the taste that you like.

Ingredients

• 1 apple skinned and diced (Any variety would work, See Note.)
• 1/2 cup skinned and diced mango (use a ripe but firm variety).
• 1/4 cup diced red onions
• 1 medium sized tomato, seeds removed and diced.
• 1 jalapeno pepper sliced thin
• 2 tbsp chopped mint leaves
• Salt and Pepper to season
• For the dressing:
  • 1 tbsp jalapeno jelly
  • 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice

Method

To make the dressing, whisk together the jalapeno jelly and the lime juice till the jelly is broken up into tiny pieces. 

Add all the remaining ingredients and toss well to coat. Season with salt and pepper.

Notes

• I used the yellow color Golden Delicious apple for this, since the flesh of it stays white longer than other varieties.
• Apple tend to darken after cutting. Rub the apple pieces with a piece of lime to avoid the discoloration. For this recipe, after the apple is diced, sprinkle a little lime juice and toss to coat to keep it from darkening.
• Do not mix the dressing ahead of time, since the salsa will tend to get watery if kept for a while.
• I used store brought jalapeno jelly, it adds a nice kick, but you can skip that if you don’t have it, just use lime juice for the dressing. With all these tasty ingredients, it won’t really be missed.

The salsa was sweet and tangy and spicy at the same time. The apple pieces added a nice crunch to it. This salsa will go great with grilled meat and seafood. Or just serve with plain nachos.

This is my entry for A Fruit A Month event hosted by Maheswari of Beyond the Usual. This month’s theme is Apple.

Curried Pork Belly

Filed Under India - Kerala, Mains, Pork, Recipes | 12 Comments

This is a sinful pork preparation to be made with pork belly with fat on. This cut is available in the Asian stores, lean cut pork will not work for this recipe. The good news is, you don’t need to add any additional oil, if that is any consolation. This is one of our little indulgences that we both love, but try to stay away from making that often. Normal people get cravings for chocolate, I get cravings for real fatty meat! Do you get any unusual cravings like that?

Ingredients

• 1 lb pork belly with fat on
• 1.5 tbsp black pepper powder
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 1 cup diced shallots
• 1 large tomato diced,
• a bunch of curry leaves
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp vinegar

Method

Cut some fat off the pork belly and cut into tiny pieces. Cut the remaining pork into small cubes.

In a pressure cooker, add the small pieces of fat and heat till some of the oil separates from the fat. This will take a while. When there is enough oil to cook the meat, remove the solid fat pieces and throw them away.

Keep a little bit of oil away for frying the shallots later.

To the remaining oil in the pressure cooker, add the pork meat along with black pepper, coriander and turmeric powders and salt. Mix well and close the pressure cooker. Cook for 5 minutes after the first whistle.

Open the pressure cooker after it cools down, add vinegar, ginger paste and tomato pieces. Cook in the open cooker on medium heat till the tomato pieces are cooked through and the gravy is thick.

In the mean time,  heat the oil kept away earlier in a frying pan, and fry the shallots and curry leaves.

With a slotted spoon, drain the pork pieces from the gravy and add to the frying pan. Add the cardamom powder and mix well. Fry till the fat on the pork pieces starts melting and the meat is slightly browned.

Pour the remaining gravy from the pressure cooker into the frying pan, mix well to coat the meat pieces with the thick gravy.

Serve hot with rice.

Trust me, if you like pork you will love this recipe.

Tooting my own horn…

Filed Under Random Musings, Restaurant Reviews | 18 Comments

I am a modest person in real life, but my virtual persona doesn’t really mind tooting her own horn once in a while… Wait, I don’t really have a virtual person per se… Oh well… Anyway, here goes…

<Toot>

Urbanspoon had a contest in March to eat at and review the most number of restaurants from the twenty-five for $25 list. We didn’t eat out much in March, so I wasn’t going for that contest, but they had a special critic’s choice prize for their favorite restaurant review. No prizes for guessing who won.

http://www.urbanspoon.com/Seattle/25-spoons-contest.html

Critic’s Choice goes to Sig at Live to Eat for her post on Nishino. We promised a prize of no monetary value, and we will deliver. Sig will get the VERY FIRST Urbanspoon t-shirt ever. The first one, top of the stack. Now that’s priceless.

Yeah, it is just a T-Shirt, but who cares, I’m too happy I won something. 

</Toot>

About Urbanspoon

If you are a regular here, you might have seen the links from my restaurant reviews to the Urbanspoon site. Urbanspoon is a restaurant site with user reviews, maps, menus etc,  The reason I love Urbanspoon compared to other restaurant sites like Yelp etc. is that I can post the reviews on my blog versus posting on their site. Just by adding a small piece of code, my review will get added to the restaurant page on their site.  If you don’t have a blog, the comments can be added directly on the restaurant page like other sites. Either way, when you look up a restaurant, you can see what bloggers and non bloggers are saying about it.  

There are some other cool features like an aggregate RSS feed for the restaurant reviews in your town from all bloggers who spoon, ability to create and share personalized lists like my favorite Seattle restaurants, restaurants I want to try etc. 

Since they have been so nice to me, thought I will return the favor by plugging them here. So, if you aren’t already doing it, time to start spooning! They cover Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles ,New York and SF Bay Area in addition to Seattle.