Clearing Out Photos

I was clearing out my phone photos, and realized that I never posted these photos, which I’d hoped to use to advertise upcoming book launch events at these Bay Area stores, sigh. That was such a nice day, walking around with Jed and having lunch and talking to bookstore people. (And later Alex in Sausalito…)

All three of these stores were enthusiastic about the possibility of carrying Feast and maybe doing an event with me. They may well have ordered copies in anticipation of that, so if you’re in the Bay Area and interested in my Sri Lankan cookbook, I definitely encourage you to call them up and see if they have (or want to get) a copy for you.

Oh, and Omnivore (cookbook store) definitely both ordered books and even scheduled an event, so even though I don’t have a photo of the store here, I’m including them in the list.

Some of these stores might be closed in person, but they’re likely doing online orders, like our local bookstore here in Oak Park. Shop small, shop local, support our bookstores!

Books Inc. in Mountain View
https://www.booksinc.net/MountainView

Kepler’s Books and Magazines, Menlo Park: https://www.keplers.com

Omnivore, San Francisco: https://omnivorebooks.myshopify.com

Sausalito Books by the Bayhttps://www.sausalitobooksbythebay.com

******

Rest of the standard Feast book info below:

Feast is now an Amazon bestseller! Woot! COOKBOOK DETAILS:

1) ORDERING: You can order A Feast of Serendib (signed / personalized, if you like) directly from me right now, at www.serendibkitchen.com, or from my publisher, Mascot Books: https://mascotbooks.com/…/coo…/regional/a-feast-of-serendib/. The limited release paperback can only be ordered directly from my website. If you’re in the U.S., you can also add on my hand-roasted Sri Lankan curry powder.

A Feast of Serendib launched officially March 6, 2020, and we hope it’ll be widely available in bookstores and libraries. You can request it from your local bookstore or library! Please do! It’ll also be available on Amazon US, UK, and Canada; you can order it online.

ORDERING INFO:
978-1-64543-275-3 Hardcover (distributed by Ingram)
978-1-64543-377-4 ebook (on Amazon, etc.)
2370000696366 (trade paperback; only available directly from me, at Serendib Kitchen site; you can also buy the hardcover or ebook there)

2) REVIEW OR BUY IT HERE (reviews are hugely helpful in boosting visibility!):
Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_QmauEbJTRFD…

Books-a-Million
https://www.booksamillion.com/…/Mary-Anne-Mo…/9781645432753…

Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-feast-of-ser…/1135510523…

Goodreads
https://www.goodreads.com/…/sh…/51332647-a-feast-of-serendib

3) JOIN THE COOKBOOK CLUB: If you’d like to support the development of more mostly Sri Lankan recipes, I’d love to have you join the cookbook club — for $2 / month, you’ll get recipes delivered to your inbox (fairly) regularly: https://www.patreon.com/mohanraj. For $10 / month, you can subscribe for fabulous treats mailed to you! (US-only).

4) FOODIE SOCIAL MEDIA:
My personal FB page: https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.mohanraj
My Twitter: https://twitter.com/mamohanraj
Serendib Kitchen blog: http://serendibkitchen.com
Serendib Kitchen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serendib_kitchen/
Serendib FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/132029834135500/
Serendib FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/mohanrajserendib/

5) PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY starred review: “Mohanraj (Bodies in Motion), a literature professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, introduces readers to the comforting cuisine of Sri Lanka in this illuminating collection of more than 100 recipes. Waves of immigration from China, England, the Netherlands, and Portugal influenced the unique cuisine of Sri Lanka, Mohanraj writes, as evidenced by such dishes as Chinese rolls (a take on classic egg rolls in the form of stuffed crepes that are breaded and fried); fish cutlets (a culinary cousin of Dutch bitterballen fried croquettes); and English tea sandwiches (filled here with beets, spinach, and carrots). With Sri Lanka’s proximity to India, curry figures heavily, with options for chicken, lamb, cuttlefish, or mackerel. A number of poriyal dishes, consisting of sautéed vegetables with a featured ingredient, such as asparagus or brussels sprouts, showcase a Tamil influence. Throughout, Mohanraj does a superb job of combining easily sourced ingredients with clear, instructive guidance and menu recommendations for all manner of events, including a Royal Feast for over 200 people. This is a terrific survey of an overlooked cuisine.”

*****

Thanks so much for your support! Indie publishing is absolutely reliant on word of mouth and the support of friends, family, and friendly internet acquaintances. 

— Mary Anne

Springtime Cake

I got sort of obsessed by the idea of making a springtime cake with mango curd and passionfruit buttercream frosting, decorated with fresh mango and edible forsythias, the sort of thing one might serve for Easter. Forsythias don’t actually taste like much, like most edible flowers, but v. pretty!

I usually do a lemon daffodil bundt cake for Easter brunch, and in fact, Lori Rader-Day would probably get cranky with me if I didn’t, because she loves it so, but that always made me a little nervous because daffodils aren’t actually edible, so I had to carefully make sure that however I decorated the cake with them, there was no risk of anyone eating a bit of daffodil. Usually I stuck them in a vase in the center of the bundt, but that’s kind of goofy. Anyway.

Once I get a recipe idea in my head, I have a really hard time letting it go, even if it’s not very practical. I even got a little cranky with the kids because they kept needing things from me when all I wanted to do was futz with my curd and frosting and cake (in the end, Kevin took care of both lunch and dinner so I could work on the cake).

I’m not going to give you all a recipe, because it’s not perfect — the mango curd was too sweet, it needed some tang from lime, and all of us agreed that we wanted, oh, twice as much fresh mango — a whole layer of it, along with the curd. And on top of all that, the cake itself, which I thought I could shortcut with a Trader Joe’s vanilla cake, was fine, but if I’m going to this much effort to make a cake, I want it better than fine, so clearly I’m going to have to work to get a yellow cake recipe I’m happy with.

The forsythias are only here for another week or so, and we really don’t need to eat another cake right now (especially since I just bought five different flavors of ice cream), so I suspect it may be another year before I come back to perfect this cake. I actually ended up giving half of it away to neighbors, leaving tupperwares on their doorsteps with a little note that we’ve been social distancing for more than two weeks, so hopefully they trusted the food enough to eat it. (Don’t tell me if you didn’t, neighbors, it’s fine!)

But the cake is a good idea, I think. I’ll get there eventually. And it’s certainly pretty, and Kavi said she liked it enough that she’d want it for a birthday cake, so I guess that’s not so bad then. The passionfruit buttercream really was pretty darn good — take a regular buttercream recipe, stir in 1/2 cup of passionfruit puree. Yum. SO GOOD. I had to fight the urge to just keep eating it straight out of the bowl.

Restocking on Coconut Milk

I’ve mostly been pretty chill about pandemic cooking, since we were lucky enough to start out with a well-stocked chest freezer, pantry, etc., but then I ran out of coconut milk a week ago, and boom! I immediately went and placed an order to have 24 cans shipped to us. A relief when they arrived; we can survive a few more months now.

We’ve also been going through a lot more popcorn than usual, since we’ve taken to watching an episode of Dr. Who with the kids every night in our bed. Coconut milk and popcorn — who knew that these would be the essential staples?

Passionfruit & Vanilla Ice Cream, with Rubies

Passionfruit & Vanilla Ice Cream, with Rubies.

Do you remember those ruby chocolates with passionfruit cream centers that completely failed to set, a few months back? I threw them in the freezer, because I’m frugal that way, figuring I’d come up with something to do with them eventually. Last night, I pulled half of them out, chopped them up, and then stirred them into a fresh batch of vanilla ice cream, along with about 1/4 c. of passionfruit puree. Reader, it was good.

I’m going to make a second batch, the next time I can get cream from the grocery store (they were only able to deliver half of what we’d ordered), and then will freeze for a party some sunny day from now. We’ll gather together again…

Dragonfruit Marshmallows

The flavor of the dragonfruit comes through more strongly in marshmallows than in chocolate, so it’s a little startling if you’re not used to that flavor! Honestly, I will pick passionfruit over dragonfruit any day.

But that said, it’s interesting and fruity, I’ll happily eat a few in a row, and if you’re looking to make a pretty dessert without using food coloring, this is a great option — it’s just colored with pure dehydrated dragonfruit powder.

I’m going to try dipping in chocolate and sprinkling more dragonfruit powder on the top — will report back with more photos, next week, probably. 

*****

Dragonfruit Marshmallows, with Honey, Lime, and White Pepper

1/2 c. lime juice
1/4 t. white pepper
3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 T dragonfruit powder
1/2 c. water
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
powdered (confectioner’s) sugar
butter (for greasing the pan)

1. Add lime juice, white pepper, gelatin and dragonfruit powder to the bowl of stand mixer (whisk attachment). Stir briefly to combine.

(NOTE: If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can make marshmallows in a large bowl with a hand mixer — you just have to be willing to hold and beat it for 12 minutes. Prep the pan and spatula for the marshmallows ahead of time.)

2. In a small saucepan (a bigger one will be heavy and hard to hold steadily at a later stage) combine water, granulated sugar, honey, and salt. Cover and cook over medium high heat for 4 minutes. Uncover and cook until the mixture reaches soft ball stage (240 degrees if you have a candy thermometer), approximately 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from heat; if it continues, it will swiftly turn into hard candy.

3. Turn mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. (Be very careful with the sugar syrup, as it is scaldingly hot and will burn you badly if it gets on your skin.) Once you’ve added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high.

4. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 minutes.

5. While it’s whipping, butter a large 9 x 12 pan and dust with powdered sugar. Prepare an oiled spatula.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly (and swiftly) with an oiled spatula.

7. Dust the top with enough of the remaining powdered sugar to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

8. Turn onto a board, cut into squares and dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining powdered sugar, using additional if necessary. May be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks, or frozen.

Passionfruit and Ginger Shortbread

Passionfruit and Ginger Shortbread
(45 minutes + optional 15 minutes chilling time)

I have to note that if you’re making these, you’d better cut the passionfruit really small (ideally a little smaller than I did in these photos), because dried passionfruit is quite chewy — the consistency is similar to a new stick of gum at first. Is it worth the extra effort? Well, I’m a passionfruit fiend, so I say yes; I thought these were delectable. .

Note: I find that a pair of kitchen shears is much easier to work with than a knife for cutting up sticky dried fruit.

Ingredients:

3/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 t. salt
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 c. dried passionfruit, chopped fine
1/2 c. crystallized ginger, chopped fine

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar; add the vanilla and salt. Then add flour and mix on low until dough forms. Stir in mango and ginger.

3. Turn out dough onto floured board. (If it’s not coming together into a dough, the heat of your hands will help.) Firmly pat flat (to desired cookie height, usually about 1/2 inch). If using cookie cutters, cut out shapes, place on parchment-covered baking sheet, and chill for 15 minutes (to help hold shape).

NOTE: Can be kept chilled at this point for several days, covered in plastic wrap, and then rolled, cut, and baked fresh.

Alternately, press into baking pan or shortbread mold, prick with fork. (For this batch, I did half cut-outs and half in a pan, using an 8 x 8 baking pan.) You can also cut shapes out after baking — shortbread is very forgiving that way — but then the individual cookie edges won’t be browned.

3. Remove from fridge and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges begin to brown, then remove to wire rack to cool. Delicious with chai! If you wanted to dress it up, you could drizzle with dark chocolate, but honestly, I love them just as they are.

Why All the Soaps, Mary Anne?

Why all the soaps, Mary Anne? Well, one reason is that I’m planning to give some to some healthcare folks as a little thank you. Another is that I’ll put some in the spring surprise packages shipping out with book orders next week.

But I admit a third, perhaps most powerful reason, is that I’ve been holding off on experimenting with making interesting cocktails until the last big batch of paper grades is done.

This is incredibly responsible of me, I’ll have you know. I didn’t know I had this much willpower in me.

Two papers to go.