Indian Love, Part One

I love Indian food. LOVE it. It's the spices; so aromatic, so flavoursome. The Portuguese girl in me grew up eating a variety of spices, & the Indians really did introduce these to the world. Vindaloo, known as an Indian dish, is actually Portuguese in origin (1, 2), having traded with Portugal since the 15th century.

So, in discovering that H had never had Indian food before, I was determined to bring him into a whole new world of culinary delights. But I knew I had to gradually ease him in. I grew up eating chilli & spicy foods, so the aforementioned vindaloo dish would not be an entry point. Not if I wanted to send him away crying, anyway. So I figured I would ease him in; something slightly spicy, but none-the-less tasty.

Palak Paneer & Chicken Rogan Josh. The recipe for the latter will follow.

During my last stint as a vegetarian, I'd discovered the wonder that is paneer. This one ingredient made vegetarian so much exciting. It has a more solid texture than tofu, & if dairy isn't an issue (paneer, for me, thankfully isn't), there's also no need to worry about the possible health implications of consuming soy (for me, personally, I really didn't enjoy tofu if it wasn't very very firm. None of that soft tofu for me. I could never stand the texture. About as pleasing to me as eating pumpkin).

I'd been reading about how easy it was to make paneer. All I needed was a cheesecloth, something I had searched for in Australia, but with no success. Here in Sweden, while wandering through a homewares store, I came across one. Yes! I knew exactly what I would do once I got home.

I cannot find unpasteurised milk here in Sweden; apparently it is against the law to sell it, unless you buy it directly from a farmer. Alas, I know no farmers, but we can buy unhomogenised milk. So I grabbed a litre of that & got to work. Here's how you too can make paneer at home (so easy!)

Paneer

(recipe references: 1 & 2)

1 liter unhomogenised milk (or raw milk, if you can get some)

2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

cheesecloth (or tea-towel)

Method:

1. Place the milk in a saucepan & bring to the boil.

2. Reduce heat to low & add 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice. Let it sit for about 5 minutes. The milk will begin to curdle. Take saucepan off heat & let it sit for another 5 minutes.

3. Place the cheesecloth over a medium-sized bowl, & pour the curdled milk through the strainer. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth & squeeze the cheese a few times, getting rid of as liquid as possible.

4. Tie the ends of the cheesecloth together, & hand this over the sink or bowl for 30 minutes. Give the cheese another squeeze & hang for another 15-30 minutes.

5. Your paneer is ready! Feel free to use it now, or refrigerate to use soon.

Prepared paneer ready for frying

I'm not sure how long it would last in the fridge, but I would recommend using it within 3 days.

One of the dishes that introduced me to paneer was a dish called Paneer Palak. I made this for H, along with Rogan Josh. The recipe for Rogan Josh will follow this, with directions on how to make the paste from scratch.

Palak Paneer

Serves 2

Prepared paneer, cubed

1 cup frozen spinach, thawed

1-2 tablespoons butter or ghee

2 tablespoons water

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, diced

2 teaspoons ground garlic

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon chilli

½ teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method:

1. Sautee the onion, garlic & spices in the water for a few minutes. Transfer to a mortar & pestle or a small food processor (a coffee grinder would work well, I used my blender) & grind to a paste.

2. Place the butter or ghee in a fry pan & fry paneer until golden. Add the paste & sautee for a couple of minutes.

3. Add spinach & lemon juice & cook for a few more minutes

4. Serve

Traditionally this is served on a bed of rice, but I grate raw cauliflower, then heat that in the microwave for a minute. Or you could grate the cauliflower, place it in a sieve & steam it over a saucepan of boiling water until hot. Either way, it's delicious!

Paleo Bacalhau

Being half-Portuguese, Bacalhau is a dish I grew up with. Served at every family gathering, whether it was Christmas, Easter, a birthday, a wedding, whatever season, it was there. It's been a staple for my father's family, & something that is very Portuguese in my eyes.

Since having to cut potatoes out of my diet, it's one dish I haven't had in a long time. There have been moments at family gathering where I would poke around the potato, scooping out what fish, eggs & olives I could find. Alas, I would end up with a rather small serving, or sometimes none at all, as the digging around could get quite tedious.

This past Easter was my first without my family & my first in Sweden. I felt myself missing this dish, & since H had never had Portuguese food before, I ventured to make one that would be 'Nat-friendly', while making a traditional version for H himself.

First, I decided to substitute the potatoes with zucchini. Bacalhau is a dish that has countless variations, but the one that is familiar to me is sliced potato, with sauteed onion, boiled eggs & black lives. So, with this in mind, I decided sliced zucchini would be a worthy replacement, keeping to the layout of the dish.

This serving below is for one. I used unsalted cod in this dish, though traditionally salted cod would be used. This would be soaked initially, then drained, then cooked. I simply added salt to replace the missing saltiness of this dish. I'm also not fond of overly salty foods, so this was fine for me. Those who want more of the real thing would do well to search out salted cod.


Paleo Bacalhau
Serves 1

1 medium zucchini, sliced
200g cod
2 yellow onions, sliced

1-2 cloves garlic, sliced
olive oil
1 egg, boiled
4-5 black or green olives
salt & pepper, to taste

paprika (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg.
2. Place cod in a saucepan filled with water. Add salt (up to 1 tablespoon or more, depending on how salty you want your fish) & simmer gently until cooked. Strain & set aside.
3. Sautee onion & garlic in a frypan with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil (extra virgin is best), until transparent. Remove from heat.
4. In a baking dish, place first layer of zucchini, to cover the bottom layer. You can add another layer, if you like. Ad a light drizzle of olive oil & sprinkle with salt
5. Add a layer of cod, followed by a layer onion. Drizzle this layer with olive oil & salt.
6. Repeat the previous two steps, then finish with a layer of zuchinni. Drizzle with more oil & a sprinkle of salt. Also sprinkle some paprika & pepper, if desired.
7. Slice the boiled egg into halves or quarters. Place over the top of the dish.
8. Place olives on dish. Sprinkle the top with more olive oil, salt & pepper if desired.
9. Place in oven & bake for 20-25 minutes.

Completed Bacalhau pre-baking

It was a pleasure to recreate this dish for myself & to introduce H to food from my life. I may not see my family much right now, but it's nice to revisit them with the food that I associate with them, in ways that I can enjoy as well. I hope you do too.

Glad Påsk!

I'm a little late in posting this, I know. The last few weeks have been very busy, & my focus has been far from cooking. I've started Swedish school, which I attend 5 days a week. At the end of March, I went on a mini-tour to Germany with the band. We have another gig coming up in Norway, so a lot of my time has been spent drumming & studying, plus finding some activities that give me a chance to relax between those times (like Sims Medieval!). Amongst all that, I haven't really felt like cooking either.

With Easter approaching, & all the chocolate & sugar indulgences that I couldn't partake in, I started to consider what I was going to make for myself. I didn't really feel like anything sweet, beyond what I've been having regularly (like sugar-free jelly. Oh, I forgot just how easy that is to make!). H's mum came over for his birthday & bought him a cake that he & I could have - a smörgåstårta. 'What the hell..?' I hear all non-Swedes ask. A smörgåstårta is a 'sandwich cake', a savoury cake made from bread & layered with mayonnaise, cream, & various savoury toppings. While they ate it whole, I pulled it apart, wiping away the bread to consume the creamy fillings & yummy toppings. Once I'd had it, I knew what my next attempt was going to be!

First I compiled my list of ingredients, then made the bread. The cake is made a day ahead so that the flavours from the filling immerse into the bread, making the flavour fuller & more enjoyable. There are all kinds of recipes for these cakes; anything goes, really. It's all up to personal taste & preference. I based my bread recipe off one I found here, omitting the honey with stevia, & adding some milk to make up for the missing liquid.

H's mum graciously bought me a scale too, so I was able to weigh the ingredients. I can see what the big deal about them is now. 1 tablespoon of coconut flour does not equal 15 grams of coconut flour. It's furthered my ability to know how much ingredients I'm actually using, & has been easier at keeping track of nutritional values & such. I recommend anyone who cooks & bakes regularly to get one of those.

The first part of the recipe (the bread), is measured. The following part (filling & toppings) is really left up to you; I didn't really measure anything, just threw stuff together. I'll share with you what I used, but I really think it's left up to personal taste.

This serving is rather small; it's meant for 1-2 people, 2-3 servings all up. It's quite filling, very delicious & oh-so-indulgent.

Smörgåstårta

(grain-free, sugar-free)

Coconut Bread

(based off Nourished Kitchen's coconut flour bread recipe found here)

Ingredients:

80 grams butter (room temperature)

63 grams/ 130mls coconut flour

4 eggs

45mls milk (I use light milk - 1.5% fat)

10mls vinegar

1 gram stevia

1 gram baking soda

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius

2. Sift flour & add the dry ingredients together.

3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs. Add milk, butter & vinegar & mix together (I used an electric beater on low). Add the dry ingredients.

4. Place batter into a loaf tin & bake for 35-40 mins, or until it starts to brown slightly on top.

5. Leave it out to cool.

Once cooled, I sliced the loaf in half, then again sliced through the length of the loaf to make more layers. It was actually more than I needed, so I kept one of the slices for something to snack on. Feel free to have a four-layered cake - it's up to you!

Filling

Now this is where it gets experimental, but I'll begin with what I used. I had the following:

Mayonnaise

Sour cream

Cream cheese

Caviar

1/2 cup small shrimp

Dill

Paprika

Method:

1. In a bowl, add 2 tablespoons (30mls) of the mayonnaise, sour cream and cream cheese. Mix together. Add more ingredients depending on how you want this to taste (I added more mayonnaise & a little more sour cream).

2. Add the shrimp & about 1 teaspoon (5mls) caviar. Mix together, adding more caviar if desired.

3. Sprinkle dill & paprika, starting with 1/2 teaspoon (2.5mls) of each, adding more if you desire.

4. Spread the filling inbetween the layers of the bread.

5. Once it's filled, cover the cake & place it in the fridge, leaving it overnight. If you want to eat it the same day, give it at least 3 hours to sit in the fridge so the bread absorbs some of the flavours from the filling.

Cake awaiting the final process - topping!

Topping

Again, this is really up to you. I wanted a seafood smörgåstårta, so I went with some shrimp, salmon, cucumber, cheese, tomato, caviar & a hard-boiled egg, which I cut into quarters. The beauty of the smörgåstårta is you can make it with anything: chicken, ham, even omitting all the meat & seafood & making it vegetarian. Some versions have liverpaste spread through the layers. It's all up to what you feel like having.

Serve!

Submitted to Amy's Slightly Indulgent Tuesday & Cybelle's Allergy Friendly Friday

Blunders in the Kitchen

'You can't bake without breaking some eggs' is what H said to console me in my failed baking attempt this evening. It was one of those nights when a balance of things occurs; where one experiment succeeds & another one fails.

Earlier I'd decided that I was going to have a break from cooking today. I live with my boyfriend who works full time, & since I'm currently unemployed, I taken on the household duties as a way to even our work load. I make him lunch each day & cook us dinner, & also tackle the other chores around the house. Very much the traditional gender roles. Not something I plan to do long term, but it's fun to play it out for a while. Today I thought I would give myself a break; there's plenty of food in the fridge that's easy to gather when the hunger hits, so not having anything to eat wasn't a problem. After I got home from drum practice though, I felt the desire hit. Not so much to eat, but to create. So I decided to have another go at zucchini bread that I could this time consume.

My first & last batch contained flax seeds, an ingredient I recently tried to reintroduce into my diet, but discovered I still can't consume it. My stomach just really can't take flax. It continues to induce a massive cramping response in my stomach, & last time I baked this bread, I was on the couch in pain for hours.

So I made a new loaf, sans flax. All was going well at this point. The batter tasted fine, I'd made notes of the ingredients as I went along. It was looking pretty after I sprinkled some pumpkin seeds on top. As I placed the loaf into the oven, I considered remaking the Scandinavian thumbprint cookies for this month's SOS challenge, hosted by Ricki & Kim (the challenge ingredient being coconut oil, which I use in all my cooking, so I'm eager to put a recipe forward for the event). Even though my zucchini loaf contains coconut oil, the original recipe isn't vegan friendly (however it can be easily made so, & I've added these alterations to the recipe below), so I decided that while that was baking I would go on to my cookies. & this is where it all fell downhill.

Zucchini loaf looking pretty & ready for the oven

I had finally purchased some stevia the other day. It's white stevia, & I've never used it before. In Australia I could only find green stevia; this white stevia is 200-300 stronger than sugar, whereas green is 40-50 times stronger. So I placed 3 grams of it into my 130 gram flour mix thinking it would be enough. No, it was too much. Way too much. The taste of the stevia overwhelmed. Not wanting to waste any of my mix, I added more flour, more oil, more coconut milk. Just making a larger batch. I threw out my idea of making thumbprint cookies & just added some strawberries to the mix to give the batter more moisture & to absorb more of the flavour. This worked. I rolled the mix out & cut it up using some cookie cutters, then placed it into the oven after taking the loaf out.

I decided to turn the tray around after about 10 minutes of baking, so everything would bake evenly. I drew out the tray, & one cookie fell through the lower gap of the door. I placed the tray on the open door & grabbed some tongs, trying to retrieve the lost cookie. In a moment of thoughtlessness, I grabbed the door to close it, hoping the cookie would fall through. Forgetting I'd placed the tray of cookies on it. All but 5 fell through the gap, & down into the dirty shelf below. Oh man.

I placed the remaining cookies back into the oven, scalding myself for such a silly move, & gathered the lost cookies. What a waste. I hate waste. Hate it. It's something my mother instilled in me as a child. If you won't eat it now, save it for later. We always had leftovers in the fridge. 'Waste not, want not'. So I was a little disappointed when I had to throw away most of my batch.

To top it off, I've been experiencing die-off effects from all the coconut oil that I used in the cookie mix. As I am want to do while baking, I sample the batter as I go along to make sure that it all tastes right. In an attempt to keep them vegan, I only used coconut oil, no butter. Instead of milk, I used coconut milk. So there was a lot of coconut fat in the batter, which basically means a lot of coconut oil. Too much coconut oil. Coconut oil is used in healing Candida, as it's antibacterial & high in saturated fat, which has been proven to kill Candida overgrowth. But too much of a good thing is a bad thing. My gut isn't happy right now. But at least a lot of bacteria is getting killed off :P

So there you have it. Where one fails, one also succeeds. My bread came out great. H was happy with it. He was even satisfied with one of my failed cookies, saying that the stevia taste wasn't overpowering & it reminded him of licorice root, & that it tastes better than the liquid sweetener I've been using. So that's something. My first attempt with white stevia may not have come out as planned, but it's definitely been a lesson learned. Here's to a more successful attempt later.

But, enough wallowing. Here's my success of the evening: my version of zucchini bread. The taste came out great, it really reminded me of bread. The taste is simple, & therefore open to have any kind of topping added to it. It's moist & thick, & high in protein with good fats (yes, saturated fat is a good fat, despite what we may have been told over the years. A lot of research being conducted is finding its health benefits are much greater than the vegetable oils we've taken to consume, & is debunking former opinions of the detriments of saturated fat). I wanted to create something different from other people's versions of zucchini bread. I can't have dried fruit, & most nuts are out for me, & sometimes it's nice to have a simple bread. I've added some vegan alterations to the recipe, so everyone can give it a go. & I've decided that this will be my submission to this month's SOS challenge!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we are!

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

1dl + 1 tablespoon (115g) coconut flour, sifted

1 tablespoon (15g) psyllium husk

1 tablespoon (15g) ground hazelnuts

1/4 large zucchini, grated

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 mls liquid sweetener/ 20g sugar / ½ml white stevia

25g butter, melted

15g coconut oil, melted

2 eggs

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

45 mls water

1/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda

pinch of salt

pinch of nutmeg

pumpkin seeds

(For a vegan alternative, remove the eggs & double the amount of psyllium husk & liquids; replace milk with soy or coconut milk; replace butter with coconut oil)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

2. Sift coconut flour. Add psyllium husk, ground hazelnuts, cinnamon, bicarb, salt & nutmeg to the same bowl & mix well together.

3. Whisk eggs in a seperate bowl. Add the liquid sweetener (if using stevia, add to the dry mix), vinegar, milk & water & stir together.

4. Add the melted butter & coconut oil to the flour mixture & stir through. Add the rest of the wet ingredients & the grated zucchini, & mix well together. The batter should be sticky but it should hold together well.

5. Line bread tin with baking paper & place the batter in the tin. Top batter with the pumpkin seeds.

6. Bake at 180 degrees for 40-45 minutes.