October 15, 2012 Anchal Project - Ajmer, India

Our meeting was held at the Conversant offices on the Pearl Street Mall. So, a big thank you to Colene VanWinkle and Shawn (technical consultant). The program was presented by Julie Jacobson. Julie Garrett spoke at the meeting about the recipe blog and gathering recipes from our members for the DFW cookbook.
http://anchalproject.org

Aloo Gobi

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower (flowerets cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
2 medium boiling potatoes (3/4 lb, cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
1 T cooking oil
1/2 t fenugreek seeds
1 t fennel seed
1 t whole cumin seed
1-2 dried, hot red chili peppers
3/4 t ground turmeric
1 t ground coriander
1 t salt
1/8 t ground pepper
1 t garam masala

Directions:
-Heat oil in a large 12-14 inch skillet
-With oil smoking, scatter in the fenugreek, fennel, cumin and red peppers
-Stir once and add the cauliflower and potatoes
-Stir lightly until coated with spices and oil
-Turn heat down to medium
-Add turmeric, ground coriander, salt and pepper
-Saute for 8-10 minutes
-Add 1/4 cup water and cover immediately
-Turn heat very low and steam vegetables for 7-10 minutes (until tender)
-Sprinkle the garam masala over the vegetables, stir once and serve.

Spring Onion Pulao

Recipe from Sanjeev Kapoor, DFW

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Basmati rice, soaked
6 spring onions, sliced
3 T oil
1 T cumin seeds
8-10 cloves of garlic, sliced
salt to taste
1 T lemon juice
Additional green onions, chopped to equal 1 cup

Directions:
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. As they begin to change color, add spring onions and garlic and saute until brown. Stir in rice and mix gently. Add three cups of water, salt and mix. Cover and simmer until water is absorbed and rice is cooked. Sprinkle lemon juice and serve hot, garnished with spring onion greens.

Chicken Curry

Recipe from Sanjeev Kapoor, DFW

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb chicken
4-5 medium onions
1 T ginger
1 T garlic
4-5 medium tomatoes
1 T Fresh coriander leaves chopped
1, 1 inch cinnamon stick
4-5 cloves
4-5 green cardamom pods
1/2 t turmeric powder
2 T coriander powder
2 T cumin powder
1 t red chili powder
1 T garam masala seasoning

Directions:
Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Add cinnamon, cloves and green cardamoms and saute for half a minute. Add onions and saute until golden brown. Add ginger paste and garlic paste and continue to saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and red chili powder. Mix well. Add pureed tomato and stir. Cook until oil separates from the masala. Add the chicken pieces and salt. Saute on high heat for five minutes. Add 2 cups water, bring to boil, cover and cook until the chicken is fully done. Sprinkle garam masala powder and garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

 

Masoor Dal

Recipe from Kusum Mainthia, DFW

Ingredients:

1 cup Masoor dal
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 t cumin seed
1/2 t turmeric powder
2 t mustard oil
1 red chili (remove seeds for less spiciness)
1 bay leaf
3 green chilis (remove seeds for less spiciness)
salt to taste

Directions;

Wash masoor dal. Put the washed dal in a pan and add 3 cups of water. Cut the green chilies along the length and put them in the pan. Add turmeric powder. Put head on low and cook uncovered until dal become tender. (Masoor dal cooks, very fast. Overcooking may destroy its taste.) Add salt to taste. Remove the pan from heat. Take another pan and put it on medium heat. Add oil and heat until, smoky. Lower the heat and immediately add garlic cloves, red chili, bay leaf and cumin seeds. Stir for a few seconds and add the cooked dal. Cook another 2 minutes on high. Serve with rice, potatoes, eggplant.

Chana Masala (Chhole)

Recipe from DFW

Ingredients:

1 cup chickpeas (soaked overnight or canned)
2 large tomatoes, diced
Small piece of fresh ginger
5 cloves
3-4 bay leaves
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t coriander powder
2 T sunflower oil
1 large onion, diced
2-3 chilies
20 black peppercorns
5, 1 inch cinnamon sticks
1/2 t red chili powder
1/2 t tamarind
1/4 t cumin seeds
small glass of water

Directions:

In shallow pan, fry onion and all spices except salt in the oil. Cook chickpeas in salt water until soft. When fried mixture is pale brown, add tomatoes, chili and ginger. Add cooked/canned chickpeas to the mixture. Add small glass of water, cover and leave on low heat for 15 minutes. Serve hot with rice and/or naan.

September 24, 2012 Health in Harmony - Goats for Widows in Borneo, Indonesia

Our meeting was held at Paige Lawrence's home. The program was presented by Deb Gravelle.
Susan Tochar spoke about the DFW fundraising needs.

We had many wonderful and colorful dishes to adorn the table this month. While I may have missed some recipes, I tried to gather as many as I could. If I missed a dish or didn't post the correct recipe please let me know.

Gado Gado (Mix-Mix)

Kare Ayam

Calico Beans - Deb Hamrick

Bakmi Goreng

Walnut Apple Mango Rice Salad

Rendang

Prepared by Paige Lawrence

Sayur Lodeh & Javenese Yellow Rice

Opor Ayam (Lime Chicken)

Vegetable Fritters with Green Chili Sambal

YUM

A beautiful September evening in Paige's back yard

Gado-Gado

Gado-gado is one of the well-known dishes from Indonesia. Gado-Gado literally means “mix mix” since gado-gado is the plural word of gado, so gado-gado means mixes. In Indonesia, gado-gado is not a salad dish; it is a one dish meal.

Fresh spinach

Yellow rice (white or brown rice with 1/2 t of turmeric)

Assortment of veggies such as:

Broccoli, steamed

Fresh green beans, steamed

Red and green cabbage, finely shredded

Thin slices of carrot, lightly steamed or raw

Mung bean sprouts

Soft tofu, cubed

Hard-boiled eggs, sliced or chopped

You can vary the veggies and their amounts. Also they can be cooked or raw

- or some of each. Arrange everything on a platter or on individual plates

·        Bed of fresh spinach on bottom

·        Yellow rice on the spinach

·        Assortment of veggies on the rice

·        Tofu and hard boiled eggs on the veggies

Dressing:

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 heaping T grated ginger

1 heaping T minced garlic

3 T brown sugar

1 ½ cups hot water

4 T cider vinegar

2 T soy sauce

1 t salt

Crushed red pepper to taste

Put everything in a blender and puree

until smooth. If it's too thick, add a little

extra water. Serve at any temperature,

drizzled over gado-gado.

Final toppings:

3 T peanut or canola oil

2 T ginger, thinly sliced

1 cup onion, finely minced

12 med cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

Heat 1 T oil in a small skillet.  Add ginger and sauté over med heat for a minute or so, and then transfer to a small bowl. Repeat with onion and garlic, sautéing each separately in 1 T oil (8-10 min for onion; 20 seconds for garlic). Place each in a small bowl.

Place some or all of these toppings on the table with the gado-gado, so each person can liberally garnish his or her own portion

Optional: shredded, unsweetened coconut (lightly toasted), crushed red pepper, slices of lemons, limes, oranges, apples, pineapple.

Chicken with Indonesian Curry

( Kare Ayam )

Ingredients
- 1 Chicken, cut into small pieces (or you can use chicken wings or thigh)
- 750 ml coconut milk
- 1 stalk of Lemon Grass (Sereh/Serai)
- 1 cm fresh Galangal (Lengkuas/Laos)
- 2 fresh Kaffir Lime leafs (daun Jeruk Purut)
- 1 Salam leaf (you can subtitute with bayleaf)
- Salt to taste or 1 blok chicken seasoning mixture
- 1/2 cup of water
Spice Paste
- 5 Shallots ( 1 medium red onion)
- 3 cloves of Garlic
- 4 Candlenuts (Kemiri), or 6 Almonds as a substitute
- 2 red Chillies (optional, or you can use paprika powder as a subtitute)
- 1 teaspoon Coriander
- 1 cm fresh Turmeric
- 1 cm Ginger
- 1/3 teaspoon Cumin powder
Directions
1. Grind or blend the spice paste until smooth.
2. Heat the oil in deep wok, and saute the spice paste with lemongrass, galangal, and kaffir lime leaves until fragrant. Add the chicken.
3. When the chicken turn slightly brown, add 1/2 cup of water. Bring it to boil
4. Then add the coconut milk and baste frequently so that the milk does not curdle and the sauce desolves smoothly.
5. Cook the curry over medium heat for about half hour.

Optional to add Pineapple

 

Calico Beans

(vegetarian bean recipe)

Saute 10 mins:

1 pkg Quorn grounds (vegetarian beef substitute)

3 - 4 T olive oil

1/4 - 1/2 onion chopped 

1/2 green pepper chopped 

Add:

1 can kidney beans

1 can navy beans

1 can pork & beans

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 T apple cider vinegar

2 T mustard

Stir and simmer 25 mins on very low heat.

 

Bakmi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Noodles)

1 pkg egg noodles (boil in water for 2 minutes)

5 T vegetable oil

2 T chopped garlic

1 leek stalk, chopped

Cabbage, shredded

Bean sprouts

3 T onion, thickly sliced

1 tomato, diced

1 T red chili paste

4 t soy sauce

4 T Kecap Manis (Sweet Soy Sauce – Substitute: Combine equal parts soy sauce and either brown sugar or molasses, and simmer until sugar is dissolved)

4 T water

4 scrambled eggs

Salt to taste

dash of white pepper

Fried shallots for garnish

Boil the egg noodles for two minutes. Drain and set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil over a med-high heat until the oil looks like it is hot and ready. Add garlic and sauté until the garlic is golden brown. Then add red chili paste, soy sauce, Kecap Manis, water, a dash of white pepper, and add the rest of the ingredients: noodles, vegetables, and scrambled eggs.

Sauté well until all ingredients are mixed well. Add more water if the noodles look dry. Noodles should not be looking too dry. Serve hot with fried shallots as garnish. Ready in 25 minutes

Indonesian Tempeh Salad

What you need: 

1 clove garlic, pressed
1-inch piece of ginger, grated
¼ cup rice or apple cider vinegar
¼ cup sesame oil (or olive)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon miso
pinch black pepper
1 package tempeh, cubed
2 large handfuls of greens (watercress, spinach, mizuna...)
½ cucumber, thinly sliced
sesame seeds, to garnish

What you do: 

1. If your tempeh isn't pre-cooked, put the cubes in the oven at 300-350 degrees for 15 minutes, until browned, while you put together the salad.
2. Mix together the first 7 ingredients for the dressing, whisking or blending in a food processor. Season to taste.
3. Place the greens on the plates, top with the tempeh and cucumber, drizzle the dressing and sprinkle the sesame seeds on top.

Walnut Apple Mango Rice Salad

Mix 2 cups of cooked rice with 1/3 to ½ cup of each (chopped):

-Brown sugar toasted walnuts

-Granny Smith or any crisp, firm apples, sprinkled with lemon juice

-Mango

-Dried cranberries

Add 1-3Tbsp of cinnamon and brown sugar to taste

Rengdang

(Spicy Coconut Beef)

Ingedients

2 Tbs vegetable oil & salt to taste

3Tbs chopped shallots

2 cloves garlic

½ tsp tumeric

12-20 red hot chilies

2 lbs chuck – cut in pieces

4 C coconut milk

1 slice ginger

1 square inch lemon peel

3 bay leaves

3 pieces laos galingale (Indonesian ginger)

Directions

-Crush shallots, garlic, tumeric & chilies into paste

-stirfry & add beef

-add coconut milk, ginger, lemon, bay leaves, laos galingale – stirring often, until meat is tender and sauce thickened.

-Serve over rice

 

Sayur Lodeh (Indonesian Vegetables in Coconut Curry)

A variety of vegetables are simmered in a milk coconut milk curry to make this popular Indonesian side dish. Also popular in Malaysia – Serves 4-6

3 T oil

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

2 t galangal or fresh ginger, minced

1-3 chili peppers, sliced into rounds

1 piece lemongrass, white part of stalk only, minced

1 t coriander, ground

½ t turmeric

2 cups coconut milk

1 potato, peeled and diced

1 carrot, peeled and sliced into rounds

1 cup green beans, trimmed

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 cup Chinese or Napa cabbage, chopped

2-3 scallions, chopped into 1”pieces

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or wok over medium flame. Add the garlic, galangal or ginger, chilies, lemongrass, coriander and turmeric and stir fry for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add coconut milk, potatoes, carrots, green beans and onion and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the potatoes are almost cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.

Remove cover and stir in the add cabbage, scallions, salt and pepper. Simmer until the cabbage is just tender, about 3-4 minutes. Adjust seasoning and serve with rice.

Variations

You can substitute other vegetables - add sturdier, longer-cooking vegetables first and more delicate ones in the second simmering. Add some cubed tofu or some shrimp with the cabbage and scallions if you like

Javenese Yellow Rice

(Nasi Kuning Komplit)

Rice colored with turmeric and usually shaped into a cone because often present on festive occasions. The shape echoes that of the mythical Hindu mountain, Meru, while yellow is the color of royalty and one of the sacred colors for Balinese Hindus.

Ingredients

- 3 cups of basmati/jasmine rice
- 5 cm fresh turmeric, peeled and scraped (or you can use turmeric powder as a substitute)
- 2 cups of thick coconut milk
- 2 cups of water
- 2 Salam leafs (you can use a bay leaf as a substitute)
- 2 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 Lemon grass, bruised (or 2 tablespoon of lemon grass powder)
- 1 teaspoons salt
Directions
1. Wash and drain the rice in a sieve or colander
2. Put the fresh turmeric in a blender with 1/4 cup water and process until fine. Strain through a sieve, pushing to extact all the juice. Measure 2 tablespoons and discard the rest. If fresh turmeric is not available, mix 2 teaspoons turmeric powder with 2 tablespoons of water.
3. Put rice, turmeric water and all other ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Cover and bring to the boil over moderate heat. Stir, lower heat to the minimum and cook until the rice is done.
4. Remove all the leaves before serving. Serve with different kind of side dishes such as fried chicken  kering tempe,  perkedel (potato croquettes), and acar kuning.
Helpful hints : If the rice seems to be too dry before the grains are soft and swollen, sprinkle with a little more water and continue cooking.
If you have a rice cooker, you can do it easier:
1. Wash and drain the rice in a sieve or colander
2. Put the fresh turmeric in a blender with 1/4 cup water and process until fine. Strain through a sieve, pushing to extract all the juice. Measure 2 tablespoons and discard the rest. If fresh turmeric is not available, mix 2 teaspoons turmeric powder with 2 tablespoons of water.
3. Put rice, turmeric water and all other ingredients in a rice cooker. Cover and let it cooked. Stir a bit while cooking, then cover and continue cooking. Usually after 20 minutes, the rice is ready.

Opor Ayam – Indonesian Lime Chicken

2 Cornish hen (weight more or less 1½ pounds each), clean-quartered, place in a medium pot

3 shallots, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbs heaped coriander seeds, grind in a coffee grinder

2 whole candlenut, optional

4 - 8 Kaffir lime leaves, I used 8 - 10 just because I love the fragrant and I have this  trees grow in my backyard. For some of you, it might be challenging to find this leaves, plus it is probably expensive too, so using  just 1-2 leaves will still make your dish smell delicious.

1 -2 Lemongrass, bruised and make a knot

2 slices fresh galanga roots, bruised

1 tsp fish sauce

salt and white pepper, to taste

½ cup coconut milk

½ - ¾ cup water, depending how thick you want your broth is

2 tomatoes, quartered

cilantro, for garnish~optional

• Place the chicken pieces in the pot, place the pot   on the stove over medium heat, pour ½ cup of water over the chicken. Meanwhile make the paste.

• To make the paste: place chopped shallots, garlic, coriander and ¼ cup water in a food processor and process to a  paste. Transfer to a skillet, and cook over medium heat  until all of the water evaporate, add 1 tbs canola oil, fry until fragrant about 5 minutes. Transfer this paste into the pot, add the rest of the ingredients. Stir, cover and cook for 35 to 45 minutes. Add the coconut milk, and the tomato, turn the heat low (do not cover), cook another  5 minutes. Add cilantro before serving if desire. Serve with plain steam rice.

Indonesian vegetable fritters (crepes) 

 

Ingredients

1 cup (150g) plain flour
1 cup (80g) bean sprouts
2 celery stalks with leaves, ends trimmed, finely chopped
3 green onions, finely sliced on the diagonal, plus extra to serve
3 cabbage leaves, finely sliced into 2cm-long strips
2 shallots, finely chopped

1 small potato, peeled, cut into fine matchsticks
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
½ cup (125ml) rice bran oil (any oil will work)
chili sauce, to serve

Preparation

Sift flour and 2 teaspoons salt into a large bowl. Add 1½ cups water and stir until smooth. Add all vegetables, garlic and pepper to taste. Stir to combine.

Heat oil in a frying pan or wok on medium-high until a cube of bread sizzles on contact. Cook 2 tablespoons of batter per fritter, in batches, for 2 minutes each side, until golden.

Drain on paper towel. Scatter with extra onion and serve with chili sauce.

Green Chili Sambal

Ingredients

-250g green chilies, roughly cut

-3 Tbs olive or vegetable oil

-2 shallots

-1 clove of garlic

-1 green tomato

-salt & sugar to taste

-1/2 tsp lime juice

-1 fresh kaffir line leaf

Directions

-Bring to steam green chilies, shallots, garlic and tomato for 5 minutes. Then grind or blend roughly.

-Heat up the pan with olive oil, and sauté the mixture until fragrant. Add sugar, salt, lime juice and kaffir leaf. Continue cooking for a couple of minutes. Serve hot.