That feeling when you’re having a staff meeting and one of your staff members talks about how much they love mushroom and onion and Swiss on a burger, and you get excited because you ALSO love mushroom and onion and Swiss on a burger…
…and then your other staff member says they’ve never tried that, and you get even more excited because you get to INTRODUCE them to this deliciousness…
…and conveniently, you’re having a party the next day where you were planning on grilling, and luckily, they’re free and can swing by the party, so later in the day you go to Costco to get party supplies…
…and there you realize Costco has some very fun chef’s sampler mushrooms (and you don’t know what they are, exactly, but they may include any of the following: golden chanterelles, morels, black trumpet, porcini, shiitake, oyster, lions mane, pioppini or hedgehog), so you definitely HAVE to try making grilled onions and mushrooms with those…
…so it’s possible that your staffer’s introduction to a burger with grilled onions, mushroom and Swiss might be just a little bit EXTRA…
…and can you tell it’s been WAY WAY TOO LONG since I got to entertain and feed people? Yes. Yes it has.
I am sure that some of my science fiction writer and reader friends need to know that Target has a really pretty line of celestial party plates right now. Both dinner and snack plates.
We’re having a small graduation shindig for the kids tomorrow. Can I tell you how exciting it was to pull out all the summery serveware? I may have a little bit of an entertaining problem.
There aren’t actually that many people coming; we’re keeping the numbers small per COVID and easing back into it all. But I admit that I’m tempted to fill up all these dishes anyway.
I had a craving for cake last night, but there was none to be had, and no one was volunteering to bake a cake for me and I didn’t have the energy. So that was sad, but I went poking around in my pantry, and realized I had sweetened condensed milk, which reminded me of a classic dessert of my childhood, mixed tinned fruit with sweetened condensed milk, and we had fresh cherries, so I thought they might be good together, and Reader — they were.
The danger of easing into your day with a little GBBO is that you may decide that what you really want to make is a meringue bombé for your first post-COVID party on the coming weekend. (Everyone attending vaccinated, numbers very limited compared to previous years, we’re easing into this…)
I really don’t have time to experiment with meringue bombés right now!
But I might make a pavlova. That’s easy. And so very summer…
Thanks so much to all 75 people who have so far supported my Vegan Serendib Kickstarter with pre-orders — and also to everyone who helped boost the signal! Woot.
I’ll be back later today with an update about stretch goals, but for now, I will just revel in the moment.
To be clear, there are still plenty of rewards and pre-order discounts available for the next 23 days, if you’d like to hop over to the Kickstarter site:
Did a compare-and-contrast with random store kithul treacle, and high-end single source kithul that was probably three times as expensive. Both good with yogurt, as expected — the random store treacle was much sweeter, and the fancy treacle was somewhat more complex and interesting.
Although honestly, I like them both probably equally. Maybe my tastes are just more pedestrian.
For this one-pot celebration dish, rice is mixed with a little toasted mung bean and cooked down until very soft, close to custard texture. Sweeten the rice with jaggery and coconut milk, season with fried cashews, raisins, cardamom and saffron, and you have a dish fit for the gods — which was, in fact, what jaggery pongal was intended for. It was traditionally made to offer the gods as part of the harvest celebration of Pongal (typically around mid-January), and on other similarly celebratory occasions.
In modern times, many will use a pressure cooker or Instant Pot to bring the rice quickly to the right texture, but I go a bit more old school here, which requires stirring on the stovetop.
2 c. rice (white or red, your choice)
4 c. water
1 c. coconut milk
1/4 c. green grams / mung bean, toasted in a dry pan
1 c. jaggery
1 t. salt
2 T vegetable oil or vegan butter
1/4 c. cashew nuts, chopped
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 t. ground cardamom
pinch of saffron threads
optional garnish: whole cashew nuts and raisins fried in more vegetable oil or vegan butter
1. Soak the toasted green grams for 30 minutes, then add to a large saucepan, along with rice and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 15-20 minutes, until rice is mostly cooked through.
2. Stir in jaggery and coconut milk, then cover and continue to cook, stirring periodically to keep from sticking. If you need to add more water, do so.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil or vegan butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add cashews and raisings and fry until cashews are golden brown. Stir them into the cooked rice mixture.
4. Add cardadmom and saffron and continue to cook, stirring periodically, until rice has broken down, and the entire dish has a somewhat creamy texture (similar in appearance to risotto).
5. Remove from heat and cool. You can simply spoon it in to bowls for serving, or for a fancier presentation, mold into portions by pressing into greased cups, then unmold and serve garnished with additional fried cashews and raisins. A little fried ripe plantain would also go nicely with this, or fresh ripe mango.
Toasting toasting.
I was a little cranky that my local Whole Foods didn’t carry sultanas — they have all kinds of unusual food, but not golden raisins? Oh well. Regular raisins are still tasty.
Red rice is full of healthy nutritional goodness, ditto mung beans. Of course, when you add a cup of jaggery, the overall health quotient might go down a bit. 🙂
Coconut milk makes it creamy…
Thank you, hibiscus tree, for giving me a single flower just in time for this photograph. 🙂
I first encountered a version of this recipe titled “Ooda Appam” in a Jaffna-based cookbook, but had trouble finding other recipes under that name. With the help of one of my cousins and Sri Lankan friends, I realized this was essentially halapa, which made my search for recipes much easier.
To make halapa, you need pani pol, a mix of sweetener (usually jaggery and/or kithul treacle) and coconut. Sometimes, pani pol serves as a filling to the rice flour steamed bun, but in this version, the pani pol is mixed directly in with the toasted rice flour.
In Sri Lanka, the flattened balls would traditionally be steamed in kenda leaves, but those are hard to find in America; you can use banana leaves or parchment paper. These are best right out of the steamer — be careful not to burn your fingers or tongue when devouring them! Delicious with a cup of tea; also commonly served for breakfast with fresh fruit.
1 c. red rice flour
1 c. grated fresh coconut
3/4 c. jaggery or dark brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
hot water
1 banana leaf (or a few sheets of parchment paper)
1 t. vegetable oil
1. In a dry pan, toast rice flour, stirring, until aromatic.
2. In a large bowl, combine rice flour, coconut, jaggery, and salt to a smooth paste; add a little hot water as needed to bring together.
3. Briefly run hot water on the banana leaf to soften it, and cut it into pieces (roughly 2×2 inches); alternately, use squares of parchment paper.
4. Use a paper towel dipped in the vegetable oil to grease each piece of banana leaf (parchment paper).
5. Make small balls from the paste, then place each ball on the center of a leaf. Flatten into a circular shape and fold the leaf over.
6. Steam over simmering water in a covered steamer until cooked, about 15-20 minutes. Serve warm.
We frequently get a whole tandoori chicken from local restaurant Khyber Pass, but day-after takeout tandoori chicken can be a little dry. Usually I like it fine on sandwiches with a little mayo and some chopped green chili, but sometimes I get motivated to do a little more:
– sauté the onions that came with them in butter
– make a roux (add flour and brown, add milk to make sauce, add salt to taste)
