I think I Like Kavi’s Rainbow Donut Best 🙂
Donuts
A Spontaneous Hug
They picked lemon glaze for the plain donuts (they learned to zest and squeeze a lemon), and chocolate glaze for the chocolate donuts. I got a spontaneous hug, so I think Kavi was having fun. 
Classic Plain and Chocolate Donuts
The girls decided to do classic plain donuts, and also chocolate donuts. After they’d all gotten a chance to make some, Kevin took over making the donuts, while the girls worked on glazes.
Mini-Donuts
After we got the beignet batter ready and set it to rising, we switched to mini-donuts. I’d gotten Kavi a mini donut maker for her birthday, and I pretty much just talked the girls through a couple of the recipes in there — they could do it all themselves. It’s really more like waffles than donuts, in some sense, but they were very happy with the results. And they learned how to use a pastry bag, so that’s good.
Phase 2 of Kavi’s Birthday Party
Donuts! Initially, actually, we worked on beignets; she really likes them, so was excited to learn how to make them. We made a yeast dough, let it rise, punched it down, rolled it out, cut it into squares, deep-fried the squares, and shook powdered sugar over. (And a drizzle of chocolate on a few.)
All the girls got to try deep-frying, so it was satisfying teaching them something useful.
Marinated Ginger-Garlic Tofu
(20 minutes + marinating time, serves 2-4)
This is definitely a fusion dish — I combined our Sri Lankan ginger-garlic chicken recipe with a traditional marinated tofu recipe, for a result that I found delectably more-ish — I didn’t even wait to make rice, but just kept nibbling pieces right off of the serving plate. Yum!
8 oz. extra-firm tofu, cubed small
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. ginger powder
1/2 t. turmeric
1/2 t. salt
1/2-1 t. cayenne
1 T lime juice + more to garnish
2 T oil
oil to fry
2 shallots, sliced
sesame seeds, chopped chives, chopped cilantro to garnish
1. Combine tofu, spices, 1 T lime juice and 2 T oil in a bowl and stir gently to combine. Marinate for 20-30 minutes (or longer, if you like), for additional flavor.
2. Heat oil in a sauté pan and pan-fry on high, stirring, for about 5 minutes. (You may deep-free or bake, if preferred. If you deep-fry, you’ll likely get more textural contrast between the crispy outer tofu and the soft interior.) Remove to a plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil.
NOTE: You can stop and eat it at this stage, but it will be even tastier if you continue…
3. In the same pan, sauté sliced shallots on medium-high (adding oil if needed), stirring, until golden-brown and slightly crispy.
4. In serving bowl / plate, top tofu with shallots, then garnish with another 1-2 T of lime juice (to your taste), a little white sesame seed, chives, and cilantro. Chopped cashews would also be nice as a garnish. Serve hot with rice.
I’ll Take the Win
Facebook has stopped trying to auto-convert my ‘sambol’ into ‘symbol’ every time. I don’t know if this is due to some programmer at Facebook learning a new word, or my relentless corrections beating the system into submission, but either way, I’ll take the win.
Marinated Ginger-Garlic Seitan
(10 minutes + marinating time, serves 2-4)
My son would like to be vegetarian, so we’ve been working on developing recipes he’d enjoy — he gobbled up quite a bit of this last night, so I think we can declare seitan a success.
Seitan is wheat gluten, made by washing wheat flour dough with water until all the starch granules have been removed, leaving only the gluten. The resulting mass can then be cut into small pieces, which expand on cooking. For those looking for a chicken substitute, this has come the closest out of my attempts, in texture and flavor.
An easy and satisfying weeknight dish; I recommend trying it with rice and an eggplant or mango curry.
8 oz. seitan
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. ginger powder
1/2 t. turmeric
1/2 t. salt
1/2-1 t. black pepper (or cayenne, if you’d like it spicier)
1 T lime juice
2 T oil
1/4 c. besan / chickpea flour (or wheat flour)
oil to fry
1. Combine seitan, spices, lime juice and 2 T oil in a bowl and stir gently to combine. Seitan will break up into small pieces as you stir. Marinate for 20-30 minutes (or longer, if you like), for additional flavor.
2. Toss gently in flour.
3. Heat oil in a sauté pan and pan-fry on high, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Remove to a plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve hot with rice or naan and a vegetable curry or sambol.
NOTE: Seitan can be made easily from scratch, if you’d prefer to buying it ready-made.
Marinated Ginger-Garlic Tempeh
(10 minutes + marinating time, serves 2-4)
This was my first attempt at a variation on Sri Lankan ginger-garlic chicken, and I think it works fine — IF you like the texture and flavor of tempeh, which is pretty distinctive. Tempeh is a traditional Javanese soy product that is made from fermented soybeans. Personally, I can enjoy a little bit of this — I’d like it tossed in a salad, for example, but don’t necessarily want a lot of it straight up as an entree.
8 oz. tempeh, cubed small
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. ginger powder
1/2 t. turmeric
1/2 t. salt
1 t. jaggery or brown sugar
1 T lime juice
2 T oil + oil to fry
1. Combine tempeh, spices, lime juice and 2 T oil in a bowl and stir gently to combine. Marinate for 20-30 minutes (or longer, if you like), for additional flavor.
2. Heat oil in a sauté pan and pan-fry on high, stirring, for about 5 minutes. (If you prefer, you can either deep-fry or bake the tempeh.) Remove to a plate lined with paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve hot.
