Chole masala and green bean masala

I recently learned to make a version of chole masala from a friend of mine at the medical school and it was delicious. But there's a slight problem: there isn't exactly a "recipe." I have a list of ingredients and from there, I basically just cook this to taste. This is sort of fun, although it's a challenge if it's your first time making it.

I ended up making two dishes, which basically start out the same and only diverge when you add the vegetables (chickpeas and tomatoes vs. green beans). As I mentioned, the spices are added to taste and therefore, I'm not listing exact amounts. In the directions for the recipe, I've tried to provide some guidance. Ultimately, though, the amount of spices really depends on your taste. Therefore, I highly recommend tasting this dish often as you cook it. As far as I can tell, it would be hard to over-spice this dish. The biggest concern is that you under-spice it ... and that's easily fixed!

green beans (left) and chole masala (right)

Ingredients for chole masala

• 2 cans of chickpeas (or freshly cooked chickpeas plus reserved cooking liquid)
• 1 28-oz can of chopped tomatoes (or freshly chopped tomatoes)
• 1 white onion, finely chopped (or red if you don't have white)
• vegetable oil
• ground turmeric
• ground coriander
• cumin seeds
• black mustard seeds
• chili powder
• garam masala
• chole masala (I used Badshah Punjabi chole masala)
• salt 
• pepper

Ingredients for green bean masala

• Approximately one pound of green beans, cut into bite-size pieces and blanched
• Chickpea cooking liquid (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• vegetable oil
• ground turmeric
• ground coriander
• cumin seeds
• black mustard seeds
• chili powder
• garam masala
• chole masala (I used Badshah Punjabi chole masala)
• salt 
• pepper

Directions

Black mustard seeds and cumin seeds

Onions with turmeric

1. Pour some vegetable oil into an unheated pan or skillet. Add a generous sprinkling of black mustard seeds and cumin seeds (approximately 1-2 tbsp of each). Then, turn the heat to medium-high and allow the oil to heat up. When the oil gets hot, the seeds will begin to sizzle and pop. You may want to cover the pan so that they do not fly out and hit you.
2. Once the oil has begun to bubble slightly and the seeds are really popping, add the onions. Stir them around and turn down the heat slightly so that they don't burn. Also, you may need to add a little more oil to prevent them from sticking.
3. To the onions, add turmeric, coriander, garam masala and chole masala. I do not measure these, but just shake them on. I'd suggest starting with about two teaspoons of each and stirring the onions. You can also add some chili powder at this point. Depending on how spicy your chili powder is, start with a little. You can always adjust the spiciness later.
4. Cook the onions until they become glassy, about 3-4 minutes. At this point, add either the tomatoes and chickpeas OR the green beans. Stir well, let the mixture cook for a minute and then taste it. At this point, you can add more of the following spices to adjust the flavor: turmeric, coriander, garam masala, chole masala and chili powder. I usually shake on more of each one, taste the mixture and then decide what it needs. This results in the dish tasting slightly different each time ... but it's never tasted bad!

Nearly finished chole masala

Panzanella

When I was in Italy a few years ago, I had (for the first time ever) panzanella. It was a fairly simple bread salad with chunks of tuna, tomatoes, basil and a light oil and vinegar dressing. When I've tried to find panzanella recipes online, they are always somewhat complex and involve a lot of ingredients that I just don't think are necessary. This recipe is a great use for stale pieces of bread and is easy to make with ingredients from a summer garden (or the supermarket).

For the bread, we usually cut up the ends of bread that we're not going to eat and let it sit on the counter for a few days. Any sort of bread is fine (except for processed sliced bread). Then we store it until we are ready to use it.

 

 Panzanella 

• 1 can of tuna in water
• 2-3 cups of dried bread cubes
• 2-3 large tomatoes, cut into cubes
• A general amount of basil, roughly chopped
• 1/2 red onion, roughly chopped
• Oil
• Vinegar
• Salt

1. If your bread is very, very hard you may want to soak it in water for a few minutes and then strain it. I know this sounds sort of gross, but very stale bread will not become soggy after a few minutes of soaking. Rather, it will be slightly softer and crunchy.
2. In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, tuna, onion and basil.
3. Drizzle with oil and vinegar and mix. Add salt to taste.

Hot chocolate cupcakes ... on a very hot summer day

Today, it is very hot. And that is why it probably wasn't a great idea to bake cupcakes with a winter theme. But oh well.

I haven't made cupcakes for a while because I just got tired of all the butter. There is a lot of butter. And sometimes it makes your hands feel so greasy that you think, "wow I never want a cupcake again. I will live on vegetables and soft tofu." But then months later you realize that you do want another cupcake ...

Both the cupcakes and frosting are based on my favorite cupcake recipe.

Hot chocolate cupcakes - Makes 20-24 cupcakes

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp Godiva hot chocolate powder
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ghost pepper salt (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Sift together the flours, baking powder, salts, sugar and hot chocolate powder in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix briefly.
3. Add the cubes of butter and mix until the butter is just coated with the flour mixture.
4. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and vanilla.
5. Turn the stand mixer to medium and add the liquid mixture in three parts. Before each addition, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Beat the mixture until the ingredients are combined and smooth, but be careful not to overbeat.
6. With an ice cream scoop and a teaspoon, transfer the batter into a muffin tin lined baking cups.
7. Bake for 17-22 minutes. Check the cupcakes with a cake tester once they have risen and are starting to brown very lightly at the edges.
8. Let the cupcakes cool and then frost and decorate them!

Cinammon buttercream

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Godiva hot chocolate powder (for dusting)

1. In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil, add the cinnamon stick and remove it from the burner. Let the milk cool.
2. In a stand mixer, cream the butter until it is smooth and whipped, about 2-3 minutes.
3. Put the mixer on low speed and add the sugar, milk and vanilla. 
4. Frost the cupcakes and dust with hot chocolate powder. A tea leaf ball works quite well for dusting.
   

Creamy Zucchini Soup

... aka what to do when your farm share gives you 5 zucchinis and 2 yellow squashes and no one you know wants any of them.

Well, actually the first thing I did was google zucchini soup. Compared to the last time I made zucchini soup, I would say this one is easier and honestly, much tastier (even for those of us who don't like zucchini!). I adapted this recipe from one that was featured in Gourmet in 2005.

Ingredients

• 5-6 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp minced fresh garlic
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 5 zucchini and/or yellow squash (any ratio is fine), peeled and halved lengthwise, and then cut crosswise into approximately 1/8-inch-thick slices.
• 1 large bunch of kale, cleaned and coarsely chopped
• 3 strips of fresh lemon zest (approximately 2 by 2 inches)
• 1 tsp salt (and then more to taste)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 3/4 cups fresh or reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1 cup loosely packed coriander leaves
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt (fat free is fine)

 Directions

• Saute the garlic and shallots in the oil of a large pot over moderate heat. Stir occasionally and add more oil if needed to prevent burning. Cook until softened (about 5 minutes).
• Add the zucchini/squash, lemon zest, salt and pepper and cook until the zucchini is softened (about 5 minutes). Then, add the broth and water and bring the mixture to a simmer for about 3 minutes. If you want, you can test a little piece of the zucchini to see if it's tender.
• In a food processor, puree the mixture along with the coriander and dill until it is smooth. Be very careful because the liquid will be hot. You can also use a blender for this step if you have one. I'd recommend this because in a food processor, you have to puree in two batches.
• Pour the mixture into a metal bowl and place the bowl over a larger bowl of ice and cold water. Stir occasionally for about 20 minutes until the mixture is cooled.
• Use a whisk to combine the zucchini mixture and the yogurt.
• Add salt to taste.