With apologies to Roald Dahl, I have a puzzle for you Tamil speakers: Which do you think is the best way spell this delicious, semolina-based grain dish from South India? I’ve seen Uppama, Upma, Uppma, Upama. Let’s not forget that it might also be called Uppindi in the Telugu language, Upeet in Marathi and Uppittu or Kharabath in Kannada (Thank you, Wikipedia). Trying to phonetically represent words with non-English sounds or from a non-Roman alphabet can be a real pain (don’t even get me started on Arabic). Luckily, you shouldn’t need to spend any time searching the various spellings for new recipes. Uppama is one of those dishes for which you really only need to figure out the basics, and once you have that down, simply follow your instincts for whatever flavor combinations you dream up. I’m talking about wheat semolina (aka rava or sooji) uppama, but uppama can also be made from rice, bread, vermicelli, or nearly anything that will cook up into a nice soft mass when water is added.

There are as many uppama recipes as there are uppama cooks, if not more. Everyone has their own favorite flavor elements and spices to use. Typically a breakfast food in India, many people also like their uppama to be thick and almost creamy, but I eat it for dinner and prefer it to be fluffier, almost like a pilaf. This takes a bit of elbow grease, but don’t worry if it doesn’t separate for you - it will still be delicious.

The basic technique I use is to sautee some onions, nuts, mustard seeds, chillies, and spices in a large-bottomed saucepan, add finely chopped vegetables, and finally the semolina. The semolina is stirred until it becomes lightly toasted, then water is slowly added while the other hand is stirring with a wooden spoon. In no time flat, it makes a wholesome, filling, and delicious meal that is particularly nice in summer when one doesn’t want to spend an excess of time at the stove.

Recipe for Rava Uppama

Serves 3-4 as a main dish

1 cup wheat semolina (also called sooji at Indian grocers)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon brown mustard seed
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanuts or cashews
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh carrots
1-2 green chillies, finely chopped

1 1/2 - 2 cups water

oil for cooking

Fresh cilantro (optional) and cut limes to garnish

Heat water in a kettle until boiling.

Heat oil in a large-bottomed saucepan or saucier pan. Toss in mustard seeds and fry until they begin to pop. Add onions and sautee for a 2-3 minutes or until soft, then add the nuts, ginger, and chillies and fry for about 1 minute. Add the frozen peas and carrots and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the semolina and salt, stirring to incorporate it with the spices and vegetables. Continue stirring until the semolina becomes one shade darker.

Slowly add about 1/3 of the water to the semolina mixture, stirring rapidly after each addition to separate the grains. Continue to add water until it’s the texture you prefer (you may not end up using all the water). Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and squeeze lime over. This is delicious alone of accompanied by some yogurt and a cooling vegetable salad.

Dinner: Uppama, yogurt, and Moroccan tomato salad.

Grains & Pasta | No Comments »

The spring lettuces at the local farmer’s markets are finally giving way to some of the tasty promises of summer…one of which being these perfect strawberries from Farabaugh farms in Carrolltown, PA. They were so beautiful I used them to decorate the blog header.

The best part is that since they’re grown locally, the flavor is incredible - perfectly sweet and almost floral. Those huge California berries don’t wow me too much, but these are terrific. I bought two quarts, enough to eat plenty out of hand and perhaps make a strawberry dessert. I haven’t quite decided what that could be, though, as my main taster is out of town this week. If there are more berries at the market next Saturday, there will definitely be a batch of strawberry ice cream to make, but for now, I think simple may be best.

A handful of slightly crushed berries, tarted up with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, spooned over freshly whipped cream and topped with some toasted almonds and cacao nibs. Takes less than 5 minutes to put together (apart from whipping the cream), but so so good and refreshing. Ah, summer, so glad to see you again.

General | No Comments »

Re-posted from Gastronomicon.org - original post date 27 December 2006

As a person of “Celtic extract”, I am probably supposed to have some strong opinions on shortbread. This might be even more apparent to my friends who were around when I got into a mad bidding war on eBay and spent far too much money on a set of vintage shortbread molds in the shape of Welsh dragons, Scottish thistles, Irish harps, and English roses. I do have a few basic criteria: anything called shortbread definitely needs to have plenty of pure butter, no eggs, not be too sugary, and should be crisp, not chewy. I’m not too much of a purist when it comes to the difference between “shortbread” and “shortbread cookie” (traditionally, shortbread is pressed into a mold or formed in a disc, shortbread cookies are just that - rolled into a log and sliced or rolled flat and cut with cookie cutters), but apart from those simple rules, I’m game for a bit of experimentation - plain butter shortbread is a wonderfully simple treat, but there’s no need to stick with just that.

I found this recipe for Rosemary Shortbread a few years ago in Gourmet magazine, and since then it’s become one of my signature holiday cookies. The flavor of rosemary provides a festive, Christmasy flavor that is romantic and a little bit unexpected. If you choose to decorate the shortbreads with little sprigs, they make a pretty and rustic-looking gift when wrapped carefully in parchment and twine.

Rosemary Shortbread
adapted from Gourmet magazine

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup confectioners sugar

superfine sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and rosemary in a bowl.

Mix together butter, honey, and confectioners sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed, then add flour mixture and mix until dough resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Gather dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Knead dough until it just comes together, about 8 times. Halve dough and press each half evenly into a 9-inch pie or tart pan. Score dough into 8 wedges by pricking dotted lines with a fork. If you like, press a spring of rosemary onto the center of each wedge. Sprinkle dough lightly with superfine sugar.

Bake the shortbread until just golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 5 minutes, then cut along score marks with a large heavy knife. Keep shortbread wedges in an airtight container.

* Pressing them into pans makes it easier to make a uniform shape, but if you like, the halves can be rolled into 8-inch discs and placed on baking sheets to cook.

Baking | No Comments »

Re-posted from Gastronomicon.org - original post date 16 November 2006

Holidays are just around the corner, and I’ve recently signed up for Blogging by Mail, Holiday Edition , and am looking forward to giving (and receiving!) fun food items in the mail. In the meantime, I’ve been busy, which translates into making simple meals: salads, pasta…stuff that can be made quickly, will feed me for a few days, and won’t require too much time in the kitchen.

I think wheat berries are really overlooked in the US, at least outside of health-food stores. These chewy little nuggets, which are whole unprocessed kernels of wheat, are a terrific source of B vitamins and fiber. They are a medium shade of brown and have a nutty flavor which is particularly welcome in winter and autumnal dishes. They are lovely in salads and stuffings, and you could even have them for breakfast- drizzle with warm milk or cream, add a bit of honey, and top with fruit. The only negative is that they do take a rather long time to cook - between an hour and an hour and a half (they don’t need to be watched, though - just set a timer and do something else for a while). Many recipes call for soaking overnight, but I’ve found that to be unnecessary as long as they’re cooked long enough and in a proper amount of water.

For each cup of wheatberries, boil them in at least 4 quarts of water, as you might for pasta. It’s very important to be generous with the water. If you don’t use enough, they will happily soak it all up and form a burnt crust on the bottom of your saucepan, causing a horrible stench which will ruin even the unburnt top layer by smell alone. Overcooked wheat berries, on the other hand, will lose their shape and become mushy. The goal here is to retain a pleasant chew without making your jaw ache. After boiling, drain them and use as you wish. They will also keep, refrigerated, for about 5 days or may be frozen for up to 2 months and thawed in the refrigerator.

The quantities are pretty loose for this salad I made, so feel free to mix things up a bit and make it your own…

Wheat Berry Salad with Pecans and Dill
2 cups hard winter wheat berries, cooked in boiling water for 1-1.5 hours, until tender but chewy
1 small red or yellow onion, finely chopped
1 clove minced garlic
3/4 cup chopped toasted pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
a few tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
a few tablespoons red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients together, adjusting amounts to taste. Serve cold or at room temperature. This will serve about 4-6 as a side dish.

Salads & Sides | 1 Comment »

Re-posted from Gastronomicon.org - original post date 10 October 2006

Been busy with some new work and not much time to post lately. Here’s a lovely soup I made recently with butternut squash, which in my opinion is one of the most versatile of squashes. This soup is incredibly easy to make and also freezes well. I like the consistency to be a bit thick, but if you prefer you can thin it with some stock.

Butternut Squash and Chickpea Soup

2 15-oz cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 2-lb butternut squash
2 medium onions
1/4 cup of olive oil
5 cups of vegetable stock
1.5 teaspoons of roasted cumin
2 tablespoons of lemon juice, or more to taste
a few sprigs of fresh cilantro
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Wrap the squash tightly in aluminim foil and bake at 350 F for about 60 minutes, or until soft. Let the squash cool, then scoop out the flesh and put it aside, discarding the seeds and stringy stuff.

Heat the olive oil a heavy-bottomed saucepan. When hot, add onions and cook at medium heat until soft. Add the squash, chickpeas, stock, and cumin. Simmer for 30 minutes, covered. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in a regular blender until smooth. If it seems too thick, add more water or stock to reach the desired consistency. Return soup to pot, stir in lemon juice, and reheat until warm. Sprinkle with cilantro leaves before serving.

Soups & Stews | No Comments »

Re-posted from Gastronomicon.org - original post date 6 August 2006

Last night I went to see a performance of The Crucible, which by the way was terrific and if you’re in Pittsburgh, do check it out - this is the last week. The play is being performed in a park, so I wanted to bring a little treat to snack on during intermission. Of course, I never consider desserts to be sinful, so bringing something sweet was only natural. No goody-two-shoes Puritanical treat would do, either; rather more fitting would be something that might look plain but is a bit more interesting once you sink your teeth in.

It also follows that I am helpless to fight the baking urge, despite the temperature in my apartment climbing gleefully past the 90° mark. Besides, stovetop treats such as candy would probably not set up in the humidity, and utensil foods (e.g. rice pudding) would be too awkward to eat. So it was only logical to make cookies (let’s for a moment put aside the fact that this logic involves turning on the oven and heating up my place even more). Cornmeal seemed like the right choice, as always feels summery to me. However, most cornmeal cookies I’ve had are plain and crisp, while I prefer a chewier cookie…so the goal was to make something that would both have a pleasant texture and also be welcoming to some other flavors as supporting cast members. A bit of fiddling with an existing recipe produced an excellent result - the chew is just right and the apricot-ginger combination is lovely. It’s probably best to use finely ground cornmeal for this recipe, as coarse or stone-ground will leave tiny nuggets of corniness in the cookies, which is charmingly rustic but perhaps not desirable for a teatime cookie. Be mindful to remove the cookies from the oven when they are just lightly golden.

(more…)

Baking | No Comments »