I'm On A Roll ... Coconut Roll, That Is

Sorry ... do to an error on Google+, all of my photos from my earlier blogs have disappeared.  

Baking has never been my strong point, but I think there's something about the holiday season that makes you want to get the oven cranked up.  Those pie scented candles just don't quite replace the warm smells of something baking in the oven. 

I decided to give coconut rolls a try because they don't require a whole lot of ingredients and the dough is similar to a bread dough.  And one of the few things I can bake is bread.

You could add the food coloring or leave it out. I like it because its festive looking and the red food coloring scare is so 30 years ago.  The sweet dough can be used for a number of different recipes, like cinnamon rolls.

All in all it came out pretty well and its impressive enough to serve at Christmas brunch.

Here's what you need:

Multi purpose sweet dough:
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon yeast (1 packet)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs beaten
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Filling:
2 cups of sweetened grated coconut (The recipe I saw called for fresh coconut that needed to be grated and mixed and cooked with sugar, but this was so much easier and yummy as heck)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of melted butter or margarine
Food coloring (optional) - about 3 drops, depending on how deep you want the color

Here's what you do:

Scald the milk (heat it but don't boil), add salt, sugar and yeast.



A regular package of yeast has one tablespoon worth

Add the butter or margarine

Beat two eggs and add to the bowl

Add about 3 cups of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon to form a dense batter

Then add the remaining flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, to form a firm but elastic dough.  Lightly grease the bowl and leave the dough covered for about an hour and a half until doubled in size.  Most bread dough will rise in about an hour, but since this dough is dense with the milk and egg, it takes a little longer.

Drink a mimosa while you wait for the dough to rise.  This one had orange mango juice.  Yum!

Punch down the dough and divide into two even sized balls.  These are obviously not even.  Oops.

Roll out one of the dough balls to a rectangle of an approximate size of 9 x 13 inches.  I know this looks more like an oval than a rectangle, but you get the gist.  Brush the dough with the melted butter or margarine (I forgot to take a picture of this)

Place the shredded, sweetened coconut in a stainless steel or glass bowl.  This way it doesn't become stained with the food coloring.

Add cinnamon and about 3 drops of food coloring and mix well

Sprinkle the coconut all over the dough.

Fold a small flap of dough over the coconut

Now fold small flaps on the top and bottom, like you're rolling a burrito or an egg roll.

Then roll up the rest of the dough

Place on a greased baking sheet or (as I've done here) on a parchment lined pan.  Cover and let it rise for a second time.  About 35 - 45 minutes.  During the last 10 minutes or so of the second rise, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until golden.  This got a little darker than I would have preferred, but oh well.  I brushed it with a little melted butter when it came out of the oven and it was fine.  Let cool on a rack for about 20 minutes.

Using a serrated bread knife, cut slices off the roll.  I cut mine on an angle, but you can cut into straight slices if you prefer.

This is what the roll looks like when sliced.

After I finished slicing up the whole roll, I left them to cool completely on a wire rack.

And voila!  Here's the finished product.  Good with coffee or a second mimosa!

Holiday Cheer (or lack thereof)

Bah humbug!  It seems to be all I'm hearing these days.  Ok, maybe no one is actually quoting Dickens, but so many people are complaining about how much they hate the holidays.   Come on people, it's the most wonderful time of the year!

I think a lot of it comes from the overwhelming amount of commercialism that's become attached to the holiday season.  Each year there's more and more pressure to give "the perfect gift"; bigger, better, faster, cooler.  I don't remember there being so many commercials for high ticket items like cars and electronics when I was a kid. And I don't know anyone who ever opened their front door on Christmas morning and had a $70,000 car with a big red bow on it waiting in the driveway.

I've long used the phrase that "my family put the 'fun' in dysfuntional".  Yet somehow, during the holidays, we were somewhat normal.  My sisters baked and cooked in the kitchen with my mom, my brother would take leave from the Navy to be home, my other brother (whom we rarely saw) would come over all dressed in a 3-piece suit with his lovely wife.  Aunts and uncles, cousins and neighbors visited.  My dad would be there Christmas morning to open presents with us.  There was one year that my dad traveled all through the night to get there before I woke up.  I went to bed crestfallen that he wasn't there.  As soon as I woke up, instead of checking my Christmas stocking as I normally would, I raced to my parents' bed and was amazed to see my father sleeping there.  It was a Christmas miracle!  I don't remember any present that I received that year.

Saying "Merry Christmas" to someone would never be thought of as offensive or politically incorrect.  I am Hindu.  I grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and my best friend in high school and for many years after is Muslim.  We all celebrated the holidays together.  It wasn't a religious holiday for us, but it was sacred.  It was the time for enjoying food and telling stories and shopping and ice skating in Rockefeller Center.  It was the time for being with friends and family.  

Years ago I read something where Caroline Kennedy spoke about her Christmases as a child.  She didn't remember the toys under the tree.  She remembered the walnuts and oranges that her mother filled their stockings with.  It was a Victorian tradition that had been followed in her family for many generations.  What she remembered the most was that after all the presents had been opened, the family sat around cracking walnuts and peeling oranges as they laughed and talked.  

This Christmas, don't drive yourself crazy searching for the perfect material gift.  It doesn't exist.  Focus on creating a perfect memory with your loved ones.

Chicken Sausage Breakfast Sliders

Sorry ... do to an error on Google+, all of my photos from my earlier blogs have disappeared.  

I had a bunch of leftover fresh herbs from Thanksgiving and didn't want them to go to waste.  There was thyme, parsley and sage.  The parsley and thyme I use frequently, but not so much with the sage.  So I thought "What to do with all the fresh herbs I have leftover from Thanksgiving?"  And it dawned on me "Make chicken sausage patties, of course! Duh!"  I made them smaller, topped them with egg and cheese and zip zap zoom, yummiest breakfast sliders ever!

You could use chicken or turkey for this.  I had about a pound of ground chicken leftover from a 3-pound package.  I used about 2/3 of the package making chicken lettuce wraps as an appetizer for Thanksgiving.  I thought I would use it to make pasta sauce later in the week but my kids woke up starving the day after the biggest eating night of the year and didn't quite want turkey leftovers.  Now that I think about it, we didn't make turkey sandwiches until Monday morning to take to school and work.  Anyway, here's the recipe, feel free to use any herb or mix of herbs you have on hand.

Here's what you need:

For the sausage
1 pound ground chicken
1 tablespoon finely chopped sage (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley (I don't recommend using dried parsley.  I think it smells like fish food.)
2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 teaspoon paprika (to add a little color and heat - optional)
1 tablespoon of or cooking spray

For the eggs
4 large eggs
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 tsp oil or cooking spray

Other:
Small rolls (I use Kings Hawaiian which is found in most supermarkets)
Cheese for topping.  Use any kind you like.  For this I used regular American slices that I cut into four squares each.

Here's what you do:

Here are the herbs I used.  (Left to right) sage, thyme and parsley

Place your ground chicken in a stainless steel  or glass bowl.  Wanna know why?  I'll tell you at the end.

Finely chop all of your herbs.  If you're using dried herbs, move on to the next step.

Add the herbs, salt, pepper, garlic and chili flakes and  paprika (if you're using them).

Mix well until all of the ingredients have been well blended.  Do not over work the meat.  The patties will taste like rubber.

Here's my fancy slider maker.  I took the infamous red beverage cup and cut the bottom off.  About 3/4 inch will work.  Just trim it so that the patties aren't lopsided.  If you don't have any of these laying around, you can just form the patties by hand.  I use this as a mold so that all of the patties are uniform in size and thickness.

Line the mold with a piece of plastic wrap.  This will keep the meat from sticking inside of the cup and  will make it easy to lift the slider out of the mold.

Add the chicken mixture to the mold and pack down to form.

Make all of the patties and set aside.  

Heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil or a couple spritzes of  cooking spray into a large nonstick skillet.  When the pan is hot, but not smoking, add the sliders to the pan.  Cook the patties for about 4 minutes on each side.  Do not press down on the patties with your spatula.  All that does is squeeze the moisture out, leaving behind a dry hockey puck.  

While the patties are cooking, crack four eggs into a stainless steel or glass bowl.

Add the heavy cream.

By now it should be time to give your sliders a flip.

Beat the eggs until well mixed.  Pour the eggs into a nonstick skillet that has been sprayed well with cooking spray or coated with 2 teaspoons of cooking oil.  

Get your buns on a plate ... Your slider buns that is.  Split them open so that'll be easy to assemble once everything is ready.

Drain the cooked sausage patties on a paper towel.

Then place them on your rolls.

Cook the eggs slowly and gently on a medium flame.  Pull the cooked eggs away from the  sides of the pan allowing the liquid eggs to flow under.  Continue doing this until all of the egg is set.  When all of it is set, you can turn the whole thing over and turn off the flame.  

Continue cooking all of the sliders and placing on the rolls.

Here's what the egg looks like after its set completely.

Top each slider with a piece of egg

Then top with the cheese of your choice. (Sorry about the blurry picture)

Here's the final product.  My husband added the sandwich picks to hold it all together.

This is Maurice.  He's not part of the recipe, but he was patiently waiting to get some!

These sliders were proof that big things really do come in small packages.  I was only able to eat one plus a piece left behind by my son.  Somehow my husband was able to put away three of them, but then he was full for the rest of the day.  You can leave out the egg, of course and just have chicken cheese sliders.

Bon Apetit!

BTW, the reason you should use a stainless steel or glass bowl when working with eggs or blood based proteins in a nutshell is that they're both essentially organic polymers.  Birds of a feather flock together, meaning the polymers attach to each other.  The protein that you place into the plastic bowl with become "attached" to the bowl and even after you've washed the bowl, trace amounts of the protein will linger.  If all you have is plastic, then use it but be sure to scrub with lots of soap and hot water and even a drop or two of bleach.

Trinidad Style Split Pea Soup - Dal and Dumplings

Sorry ... do to an error on Google+, all of my photos from my earlier blogs have disappeared.  

Thanksgiving was a success.  We had a small, but lively group.  I made a ton of food as always.  Each year I do a different theme for the appetizers.  One year was tapas, another year it was American South and this year was Asian.  We had shrimp toast (which I made for the first time!), chicken lettuce wraps, kani salad, Chinese-style pickled cucumbers, Hoisin wings and cold sesame noodle salad.  I wanted to take pictures and list all of the recipes, but it was just too hectic to keep stopping to snap pictures.

All of those dishes, followed by turkey, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, etc. made for a very filling evening.  Which brings me to this recipe.  After eating so many heavy, meaty dishes, I thought it would be good to make something vegetarian, yummy and easy.  Dal is the Hindi word for any legume.  However, in Trinidad, dal generally refers to yellow split peas.

Without going into a lengthy history lesson, much of the food in the dual-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago is influenced by the indentured laborers that came to the islands from India in the late 1800's/early 1900's.  This dish is the Trinidadian version of the Gujarati dish, dal dhokli.  In both versions, legumes are simmered with tumeric until soft and golden, then pureed.  Simple flour dumplings are added and the whole thing is topped off with a fragrant, spice-infused oil (called tadka or chaunk).  The Gujarati version has a few more ingredients but both are delicious.  Here's the (slightly abridged) version that my mom,who was born in Trinidad, made.  

Ingredients:

For the dal:

1 16-ounce bag of yellow split peas

4-5 large garlic cloves (smashed with the flat side of a knife)

2 teaspoons of tumeric

1 sprig of celery leaves (optional)

1 whole scotch bonnet pepper (optional) - Serrano, habanero, Thai chili or jalapeno could be used.

Water as needed

Salt as needed

For the dumplings:

3 cups of all purpose flour (plus extra for rolling out)

Water as needed

For the tempering:

2 teaspoons of cumin seeds

1/4 cup of cooking oil (canola, vegetable, grapeseed, etc is fine.  Olive oil won't work for this)

4 cloves of garlic, sliced very thinly 

1/2 small onion, peeled and minced finely

Here's what you do:

Put your split peas in a bowl. Pick out any debris that might be in there.  Wash the peas in several changes of water and place it in a large pot.  I use an 8 quart stock pot.  Cover with about 3 quarts of water (12 cups).

Now add the tumeric, smashed garlic, celery leaves and scotch bonnet pepper to the pot.

If you simmer the hot pepper in the soup without letting it burst, it will flavor the dish without imparting any heat.  The heat in hot peppers is caused by capsaicin.  Capsaicin is found in the membranes and seeds of the pepper.  So, as long as the pepper stays intact, the dish won't become spicy.  Another option is to split a mild pepper, like jalapeno, in half and remove the seeds.  Then you can add it to the pot without any worries.  I personally like to burst the pepper at the end, give it a couple stirs and then remove it before it gets too fiery.

Here it all is in the pot.  Add about 2 tablespoons of salt and bring to a boil.  Once it's boiling, drop the heat down to a vigorous simmer.  If you keep it on high heat, it will boil over and make a mess all over your stove.  Also, foam will accumulate as it cooks (I forgot to show a picture of this) skim it off and stir occasionally.  Add water  as needed.  You will need to cook the peas for about an hour until they're mushy and completely melted down.

When the peas are cooked all the way through, remove the pepper (unless you want to break it up and make the soup spicy)

I use this to swizzle the dal and make it smooth.  I know it looks like a prehistory weapon, but it's just a wooden kitchen tool found in Indian grocery stores.  You could also use a hand blender or a metal whisk.  If you don't have any of those, just stir with a wooden spoon until it all mashed up and smooth.

While the dal is cooking, make the dough for your dumplings.   The dumplings I'm talking about are not the Asian filled pillows of goodness.  These are akin to the dumplings found in chicken and dumpling soup.  Put the three cups of flour into a large bowl.

Add cold water, a little at a time until a firm dough is formed.  The dough should be smooth and not sticky to the touch.  If it is, you've added to much water and will need to work in more flour to make it firm.

This is how my mom would make dumplings.  She would break off small pieces of dough and roll them between her palms.  I make mine differently but if you like the shape, you can always make yours like this.  

Roll the dough ball out into a thin circle on a floured surface.

Here's a good chance to use that pizza cutter that you have sitting in your drawer .  If you've never gone through a pizza making phase like me, a sharp knife will do the trick.  Cut the rolled out dough into strips.

Then cut the strips into diamonds.

Lightly dust the cut pieces with flour.

Add the dumplings to the pot.

Diced onion, sliced garlic and cumin seeds for the tadka or chaunk (seasoned oil for tempering).   

Get the oil very hot.  I have a small frying pan that I use just for making tadka (seasoned oil).  Add the garlic and cumin seeds. And fry until the garlic just starts to turn brown.  Brown is ok, black will be bitter, so keep an eye on it.

Add the onions.  It will start to sizzle intensely from the moisture in the onion.  When the garlic is well browned and the onion starts to color, add it to the soup pot.  

Add the tadka carefully to the soup.  It will sizzle and splatter a little .

Mix the tadka in immediately until well blended.  Taste and adjust the salt as needed.

Here's the finished product and a look at the dumplings as well.  You can garnish with a little chopped parsley or cilantro and a squeeze of lemon if you'd like.


Bon Apetit!