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Showing posts with label cabbage. Show all posts

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Another Chef John is Traveling Rerun Cabbage Rolls a Mother Knows Best

Hello from freezing western New York. It looks like Im probably not going to have time or the opportunity to film any video recipes while Im here, but here is a winter classic that Im posting along with an important update to the procedure.

My mother had some amazing cabbage rolls waiting for Michele and me upon our arrival. As we ate I could tell by the look in my wifes eyes she was thinking, "yours are good, but these are better." When youve been together as long as we have, you can actually read each others minds.

After a brief conversation it was discovered that while I use the same ingredients as mom, she cooks hers an additional hour. This explained the extra tender filling, and even sweeter, more tender cabbage. So, here is my cabbage roll recipe video (inspired by my Aunts recipe - you can read that original post here, and get the ingredients) and as you watch please take note the cooking time is not 2, but 3 hours. Thanks mom. Enjoy!

Update to the Update! After further discussions with my mother, and my aunt who I credited with the recipe, it seems that Im using several ingredients not officially sanctioned by the family elders. Apparently they dont use Parmesan or egg in the mixture, and it been "suggested" that if I continue using those ingredients I should stop telling people its their recipe!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Super Bowls of Cabbage Rolls

I wanted to wish you all a fun, festive, and very delicious Super Bowl Sunday! I’ll be watching the game with the in-laws, and if you’re wondering what we’re going to be eating, you may be surprised. There will be no Buffalo wings, no nacho cheese, and no baby back ribs.

I’m so tired of football food, having produced all these recent Super Bowl-inspired videos, that I made a batch of cabbage rolls using this very popular, previously posted recipe. Hey, they are football shaped after all.

I didn’t re-shoot the recipe, but I did snap a couple cell shots that I posted to Instagram (dont worry, theyre better the next day...the cabbage rolls, not the photos). Enjoy the game, and GO GIANTS!

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Cabbage curry with Bengali spices

Inspirations come in different ways. The inspiration to cook Bengali vegetarian food came after my visit to Oh! Calcutta - one of the more authentic Bengali cuisine restaurants in Bombay. S and I actually wrote down all that we had ordered in detail so that one of us could blog about it. We even fought over whod write about it first. And then like how it happens sometimes, the paper got pushed inside a drawer and neither of us wrote about that brilliant meal that proved that Bengali food is not all phish We had started with an amazing hyacinth beans patties steamed in banana leaves with tomato-khajurer chatni. The flavour was very unusual and just the perfect start to the meal. For the main course it was a chorchori - a mixed vegetable dish in mustard-green chilli gravy and a Alu-Pulkopi Daalna - Cauliflower and potatoes in a spicy gravy. We had this with plain rotis and ended the meal with Rosogulla in Payesh.Will you believe it if I told you wed done this dinner almost 4-5 months ago and I still remember every single taste of that evening? Thats how good it was.

The next step was to try and replicate some of these beauties in my kitchen for which I had to get hold on one special ingredient called Kalonji - Nigella seeds to make the Paach Phoron, since I had the other four ingredients in my pantry.
Paach Phoron is a typical Bengali whole spice mix made using 5 spices in equal proportion, namely-

Cumin seeds
Fennel seeds
Nigella seeds
Mustard seeds
Fenugreek seeds

You might have tasted all these spices individually, but mix them up and you will discover and entirely new zone of flavour, something heavenly that you have to taste to understand. The first time Id got hold of some ready made Paach phoron that my friend got for me from Kolkotta, I was so addicted to this taste that I used to add it to any vegetable dish. This simple cabbage saute I made yesterday is truly Bengal inspired. It uses both paach phoron in the tempering and mustard powder for extra flavour, some slivers of green chillies and thats all there is to it.

Cabbage curry with Bengali Spices
Time taken: 20 minutes
Serves: 2-3 people
Category: Indian side, Vegetables

Ingredients
3 cups shredded cabbage - tightly packed
1-2 tsp vegetable oil or mustard oil
1 tsp paach phoron [see above]
2 light green chillies, deseeded and diagonally sliced
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp coarsely ground mustard powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
In a heavy based wok, take 1 tsp oil. Once moderately hot splutter the spice mix (paach phoron). Saute the chillies for a few seconds.
Add the shredded cabbage with salt and turmeric powder - on a low flame, saute every 2 minutes or so, until the cabbage is almost cooked buy maintaining slight crispness.
At this stage, sprinkle the mustard powder and saute for a minute or so.
Serve hot with rotis or a bowl of curd for a light / low-cal lunch.

Check what Haalo has to say about Paach Phoron and she has some eye-catching pics of the spices there too.

This one goes to Sunitas event - Think Spice: Think Mustard