Smoky Spicy Corn Pudding

Seriously. I had a somewhat interesting story for how I came up with this recipe, but I keep going to the fridge and sticking a fresh spoon into this now cold, smoky, spicy corn pudding and taking a bite. Then, tossing the spoon into the sink to prevent a second bite. I’m hedging because I don’t want to admittedly portion a piece out, heat it up and eat it (after the three helpings I had last night), but I seriously can’t help myself. It is that tasty…even cold and semi-solid in the fridge.

Growing up in Florida (yes, it’s still the South!), I developed such a weakness for southern food, and corn pudding, itself, is classic, southern comfort food at its best. And I know I did some corn fritters not too long ago and repeating corn might be a sin, but it’s such a seasonal staple in my house. and this is just too good not to share.

There are tons of variations and no real right way to make corn pudding, but I prefer this method because it stays creamy, sweet, with a caramelized top, and it still cuts easily without being bread-like. I mention the combo of mustard seeds and curry leaves in a previous post, and this marries incredibly well with the spiciness from the peppers, the sweet tang of the sundried tomatoes, and the deep, lovely smokiness from the mozzarella. I wanted smokiness without bacon-y flavor (for once), and the result here is divine. I’m likely making this for Thanksgiving this year, which is always a cultural trip! Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 1 2-quart baking dish

4 to 6 medium ears of corn (you want 3 ½ cups of the kernels), husks and silk removed

olive oil

salt & pepper

1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

2 tbsps butter

1 ½ tbsps brown mustard seeds

10 curry leaves

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 red cherry, fresno or jalapeno pepper, minced (seeded and ribbed only if you can’t take the heat!)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp finely chopped sundried tomatoes (either packed in oil or rehydrated)

¼ cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

2 cups heavy cream

a couple dashes of Tabasco

1 ¼ tsp salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 ¼ cups grated smoked mozzarella

¼ cup sliced green onions, dark and light green parts only

Procedure

The first step of this dish is roasting or grilling the corn. Brush the corn with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place cobs on a hot grill or a grill pan and cook for 20 minutes, rotating every few minutes to cook all sides. If you don’t have a grill, you can place the seasoned corn on a baking sheet under the broiler for the same amount of time (still rotating). Let cool slightly, cut the kernels from the cobs, and reserve kernels in a separate bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

In a medium skillet, heat oil and butter on medium-high heat. Once foam subsides, add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the seeds start to sputter and pop, lower the heat to medium-low and add shallots, peppers and a pinch of salt. Cook for a few minutes until shallots are translucent. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds until fragrant. Add sundried tomatoes, corn kernels, and flour and stir to coat. Cook for another 30 seconds, stirring. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat together eggs, cream, Tabasco, salt, and pepper. Add this along with the grated smoked mozzarella and the green onions to the corn mixture and combine thoroughly. Transfer to a greased 2-quart baking dish and bake for 50 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Let cool slightly before serving.

Squash Blossom Dolmas

What is a “dolma” you might be asking? A dolma is any number of stuffed vegetables – squash, onions, peppers, tomatoes, leafy greens or even eggplants. It’s a tradition of the Ottoman Empire found throughout Greece, Turkey, the rest of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Think grape leaves, which are one of the more recognizable forms, found at the late-night gyro spot (is that just me??). The stuffing is usually rice and/or lamb with nuts, dried fruits, spices and herbs. When in a small form like a grape leaf or like these, they are pretty snackable.

I picked up some beautiful, delicate squash blossoms from the farmer’s market and was debating what to do with them. They have a bit of that elusive, squash-like flavor and are visually captivating. I’ve seen squash blossoms everywhere fried – tempura-fried, stuffed and fried, lightly batter fried. And, yes, they do taste delicious fried. That said, I wanted a bit of crunch but without the headache (and fattiness) of frying. Making a squash blossom dolma, stuffed with a subtle, flavorful rice mixture and baked to lightly-crisped perfection, was the answer.

I must say the spices are pretty light here, which adds to the delicate nature of this dish. For that reason, I like to be generous with the herbs because they lend such brightness to the dolmas. These make a lovely (and conversation-provoking I can assure you) party appetizer, served alongside a dill-yogurt-dipping sauce. They taste best warm though – once they cool, they lose a bit of their edge. Also, this stuffing is pretty universal – if no squash blossoms are on hand, you could easily stuff peppers or blanched, swiss chard leaves with this. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 servings as a side or an appetizer

16 Squash blossoms, stems trimmed and stamens removed

2 tbsps butter

1 shallot, minced

¼ fennel bulb, minced

½ tsp ground coriander

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

pinch of ground cloves

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup white rice (jasmine or basmati are both fantastic)

¾ cup water or vegetable stock

1 ½ tbsps chopped, toasted pine nuts

½ tsp lemon zest

a generous handful of mint & dill, finely chopped

salt & freshly ground pepper

melted butter for greasing

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Rinse the squash blossoms gently and leave to dry fully in a colander or over paper towels while preparing the stuffing.

In a small saucepan, heat butter. When foam subsides, add shallot, fennel, coriander, cinnamon and clove. Sauté for a few minutes until shallots are translucent (will happen quickly because of how finely chopped they are). Add garlic and sauté another 30 seconds or so until the garlic becomes fragrant.

Add rice and let toast with the butter and vegetables, stirring frequently. Add water or vegetable stock and increase temperature. Bring up to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook covered for 20-25 minutes. When rice is cooked, fluff with a fork, add pine nuts, lemon zest, chopped herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.

Carefully, stuff the squash blossoms with the rice mixture using a small spoon or even a melon baller. Don’t overfill – allow the ends of the flowers to close. Transfer to a greased baking sheet and drizzle with a little melted butter. Season with a few pinches of salt, and bake for 15 minutes. The outside should brown and be a bit crispy. Serve warm!

Black Salt 'Slaw

I grew up in a suburb in Florida, and, although there was a pretty large Indo-Pakistani community, the resources were very spread out. That is to say, there was no central area to find food (think Adam’s Morgan in D.C. or Curry Hill in NYC), and there were maybe one or two good Indian grocers selling everything from spices to Indian sweets to household goods.

I used to love visiting my family in Toronto, an incredibly ethnically diverse city. There are West Indian neighborhoods, Indian areas, Chinese, Philipino, Latin American – all distinct areas. Ambling down Gerard Street, one of those streets that literally transport you into a different country, you can find row after row of Indian restaurants and shops– clothing, groceries, dvd’s, jewelers…you name it.

One of my favorite parts about the trip (because I can assure you shopping for clothes with the women in my family is nothing short of arduous) was visiting the various chaat houses. Chaat is a general term and includes any Indian snacks that have puris, puffed rice, fried noodles or dumplings with potatoes, lentils, chickpeas or even mung bean, all doused in spicy, tart, tangy sauces. “Junk food”, we’d call it. I would devour these chaats and wash it all down with falooda (which I mentioned in my sugar plum post and which I will have to make at some point); it’s really what got me through these shopping trips.

Tamarind, cilantro, chilies, onions, and yoghurt were all featured heavily in these dishes, but it was the spice mix, the chaat masala, that really made them distinct. Chaat masala includes a staggering number of spices, but one flavor that stands out from them all is black salt. Black salt, or Kala Namak, is a grayish rock salt, and it, quite frankly, has a smell similar to eggs. It has a sulphurous quality, and, although that may not sound too appealing, I assure you once mixed in it is delicious!

I thought I would make a ‘slaw for the summer that focuses on black salt. I served it here over a beautiful, simple, grilled swordfish, but it would also be delicious with yesterday’s ribs. The chili powder gives it a little heat, the honey sweetness, and it definitely has the tart and tangy quality of the chaats I remember as a child. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 6 to 8 Servings

For the dressing:

½ cup red wine vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 tbsps honey

3 tsps black salt

½ tsp salt, kosher or sea

½ tsp Indian chili powder or hot Hungarian paprika

½ tsp finely ground black pepper

I roughly ground the toasted seeds)

For the slaw:

½ head green cabbage

½ head red cabbage

1 or 2 carrots, julienned or shredded

1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced

2 green onions, thinly sliced (white and green parts only)

Procedure

This is super simple as most coleslaws are. I like to combine all of the dressing ingredients, and let them marinate while I’m prepping the vegetables.

For the cabbages, wash thoroughly and remove the core. You can either slice manually or use the slicer in your food processor to achieve the right sized pieces. Combine with the carrots, fennel and green onions in a non-reactive bowl.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables, and keep refrigerated for 2 hours or so. I like to toss the coleslaw every half hour to make sure any dressing that has sunk to the bottom gets fully mixed in. The flavors are much brighter when you let them sink in for a few hours.

Crunchy Coconut Corn Fritters

The combination of corn and coconut is something that will always remind me of childhood. One of my favorite East African dishes growing up is called makai paka. It’s basically sweet corn on the cob simmered in a creamy, coconut-based broth with turmeric, garlic, green chilies, and cilantro. The fun was in eating the corncobs; you could suck out the spicy coconut curry absorbed into the cobs, making ridiculous slurping noises. Not something I can quite get away with these days…

Corn seems like a New World food, but it was brought to the African continent by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. Whether in South African mealies, West African maïs grille (basically grilled corn), or East Africa’s ugali, corn figures prominently. In Ghana, the coconut/corn combo pops back up in a dish called abrow ne kokosi, where corn kernels are simmered in coconut milk with fresh pieces of coconut flesh. Delicious.

I wanted to see the combo in a more familiar form, something easy to eat or serve as a snack to guests. These fritters come out surprisingly light, not overpoweringly coconut-ey, and have a sweet and savoury quality to them. With all of the beautiful summer corn, it’s also a great way to use up any leftovers you might have sitting around. The fritters work really well with a cilantro aioli or even a spicy ketchup dipping sauce. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields approximately 2 dozen fritters

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

½ tsp cayenne

1 egg

½ cup coconut milk

a few dashes of hot sauce

1 ½ tbsps butter, melted

1 ¼ cups fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)

1 cup frozen, grated unsweetened coconut, thawed

¼ cup scallions, thinly sliced

1 tbsp green chilies, finely minced (optional)

salt

Procedure

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cayenne. In another bowl, beat together egg, coconut milk, hot sauce, and butter. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until it comes together. Don’t overmix. Fold in remaining ingredients.

In a large heavy saucepan, dutch oven, or deepfryer, heat about 4 inches of vegetable oil to 325° F. Carefully, drop spoonfuls of the batter and cook until golden brown, working in batches. Remove to a towel-lined plate and sprinkle with salt.

A few things: (1) don’t overcrowd because it will bring the oil temperature too far down, and (2) be careful – it splatters when cooking.

Serve warm with a dipping sauce of your choice…

Creamy Cauliflower Puree with Fenugreek

So it’s the middle of summer. I know a bathing suit looms in the near future, and despite all attempts I’ve let things like pork buns, sausage orecchiette, a hot dog on the run, and delicious pastries from Duane Park Patisserie interrupt an otherwise (mildly) healthy flow of food. Let’s not even bring up the subject of wine.

My fridge is loaded with fruits and veggies, sending subliminal messages of health across my apartment. I was seriously in the throes of a carb-craving the other day, and with nothing other than fruits and veggies decided to get a little creative. The result? A lusciously, creamy cauliflower puree flecked with crushed fenugreek leaves.

Okay, so in reality, this still has butter and some milk, but it’s definitely better for you than equally buttery mashed potatoes. The cauliflower, cooked until super tender, is fresh and creamy when pureed. Fenugreek, as a seasoning, is used in so many different cultures – South Asian, Ethiopian (like in the clarified butter), Iranian, Turkish, Afghani…to name a few. I chose the leaves here over the seeds because the flavor of the leaves is much more subtle and lacks the typical bitterness of the seeds. Fenugreek leaves have a flavor not unlike celery, and, when warm, emit a sweetness of sorts.

This is a sinfully easy side dish to make. Fenugreek leaves can be purchased at most specialty spice stores, and even health food stores. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 6 to 8 servings

3 small heads or 2 large heads of cauliflower, cored and cut into even-sized florets

3 garlic cloves

6 cups milk

1 stick butter

1 ½ tsps ground fenugreek leaves*

chopped chives

salt & freshly ground pepper

Procedure

In a medium pot, bring cauliflower, garlic, a pinch of salt and milk up to a simmer. Do not boil. Simmer covered for 12-15 minutes or until cauliflower is very tender.

Strain cauliflower and garlic from milk mixture, reserving both. Melt butter with ground fenugreek in a small saucepot for 5 to 7 minutes.

Puree cauliflower in a blender with 1-1 ¼ cups of reserved milk and melted fenugreek butter, working in batches if necessary. Adjust milk amount based on desired texture of the puree. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and garnish with chives.

*In order to grind the fenugreek leaves without any of the stems, place a small sieve over a paper towel. Add fenugreek leaves and crush the leaves between your fingers and/or against the sieve, itself. The ground fenugreek will fall through the sieve onto the paper towel.

Freekeh with Summer Squash and Brown Butter

I was having lunch with a Lebanese girlfriend of mine recently when she pointed out freekeh on the menu. I had never heard of it, so, of course, I had to order! It was served like a pilaf to accompany a fish, tasted like a nuttier, slightly smoky brown rice, and had a toothsome texture.

After some research, I was really surprised that it’s not more well known. Freekeh is a roasted green wheat and can be found throughout Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. It’s an incredibly healthy whole grain, comparable (if not superior) to quinoa, a rich source of nutrients with high fiber and protein. It’s harvested young and then roasted in the fields over an open fire, giving it that smoky quality.

The mixed summer squash at the Union Square Greenmarket looked too shiny and beautiful to resist the other day, and I thought it would pair well with the freekeh. I roast the squash off here with some sweet cherry tomatoes and prepare the freekeh similarly to rice. The coriander and cinnamon work really well with the sweetness of the squash and the smokiness of the freekeh, and the pine nuts are great for texture. This is so delicious I’ve given up my carnivorous ways for a few days, snacking on it at intervals.

And the pièce de résistance? Nutty, glistening, warm brown butter. I love to use brown butter in place of regular butter in a dish like this or even in breads and cakes; it really elevates and deepens the flavor.

Freekeh also goes by the name frik, farik or even roasted green wheat, so if you are shopping for it, I would ask by all names. I picked up my freekeh at Sahadi’s on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, but I know a number of the Middle Eastern specialty shops in the area carry it. Kalustyan’s also carries it in store and online.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

2 cups freekeh, whole (not cracked)

1 lb mixed summer squash, medium dice

¾ cup cherry tomatoes, whole

olive oil, salt, & pepper

2 ½ tbsps canola oil

1 onion

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp white pepper

1 scallion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

4 tbsps brown butter *

handful of parsley, chives, and/or cilantro, chopped

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Pour freekeh in a bowl and pick through for any stones or off pieces. Rinse freekeh with several changes of water until the water runs clean. Cover the freekeh with fresh water and soak for a half hour. Strain off all excess water.

Combine diced squash and tomatoes in a bowl. Lightly coat in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 15-20 minutes until soft but still with a bit of firmness.

Heat a pot or a dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add canola oil. When hot, add onions and coat with the fat. Add coriander, cinnamon, white pepper and a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture. You just want to sweat out the onions until they are translucent, so be careful the heat isn’t too high or they will start to brown.

When the onions are translucent, add scallions and garlic. Cook for one minute, and then add freekeh. Toast the freekeh in the pot, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. The freekeh should become aromatic.

Add the vegetable or chicken stock, and bring up to a boil. Lower to a simmer and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Turn off heat, remove cover, and let stand uncovered 5 minutes.

Toss in the summer squash, tomatoes, pine nuts, and brown butter. Add chopped herbs and adjust seasoning as necessary.

* Brown butter is really easy to make, but it has to be watched. Simply heat the butter in a pan over medium low. Once the foam starts to subside, watch the color of the milk solids that sink to the bottom of the pan. They should turn brown, and the butter should take on the smell of toasted hazelnuts. At that point, remove immediately from the heat by pouring into another container. The solids go from brown to black quickly, so it’s important to stop the cooking process as soon as the hazelnut stage is achieved. Also, I like to scrape the solids off the pan into whatever I’m cooking – there’s a ton of flavor there.

A South Indian Gazpacho

A friend of mine asked me for a gazpacho recipe and was looking for something a little different than the traditional. She wanted it to be fresh and healthy but with a more robust flavor. At first I considered making a white gazpacho, which is a delicious combination of almonds, grapes, garlic and bread. But summer shorts are upon us, and carb-minimization is in full effect.

I, then, thought about this East African stew I grew up eating. It’s called chana bateta and is made with chickpeas and potatoes in a thin, tart broth. That broth, in turn, got me to thinking about a popular South Indian soup called rasam as they share a very similar flavor profile. Rasam is a thin, peppery, tart soup that is often served to warm up winter nights or to help remedy a cold.

While at Devi, I often saw it used in various ways. My time there and the spices and ingredients at that restaurant will never cease to inspire me. I truly enjoyed working with Chef Mathur, who was innovative in his own right (thus helping to earn the restaurant a Michelin star in both 2007 and 2008).

Rasams come in all different forms – tomato, lemon, pineapple, and even mint, and it’s one of those recipes that is different for each household. Some have daal as an ingredient; some don’t. This is a completely different expression in that it’s a cold gazpacho-like soup with the flavors and ingredients of a rasam.

Tamarind is a requisite ingredient in every rasam, and I usually use the brick form. This requires soaking a nob of it for a period of time in hot water followed by straining and pressing to extract flavor – it’s a longer process but has a more developed flavor when using it for curries, chutneys and the like. For a quick cold soup like this, though, the jarred tamarind concentrate works really well (because, really, isn’t the ease the whole point of a cold soup like this?).

Although the soup is cold and refreshing, it has spice to it. You can always modify the amount of jalapeno depending on its heat, sub in a bell pepper, and add or remove chili powder to your tolerance level. I also cook the spices and the garlic because I’m not a fan of those raw. For a hot summer day, I think it becomes even better, with an iced, fresh mint tea made from steeping actual mint leaves in hot water with sugar and then pouring over ice. Or even serving it with a crisp, cold Sauvignon Blanc, because, after all, you did save on the carbs…Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

1 cup water

1 tbsp tamarind concentrate

2 tsp palm sugar

3 tbsp canola or other neutral oil

2 tsp black mustard seeds

½ tsp fenugreek seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

10 curry leaves

3 garlic cloves

¼ tsp turmeric

½ tsp chili powder

5 tomatoes on the vine, medium dice

1 shallot, medium dice

½ to 1 jalapeno (or some combination of jalapeno and a half bell pepper), medium dice

Handful of cilantro, thoroughly washed

Procedure

Bring water to a boil, and add tamarind and sugar making sure both are fully dissolved.

Heat oil over medium-low heat. Add black mustard, fenugreek, cumin, coriander and curry leaves and listen for them to start popping. At that point, add garlic, turmeric, and chili powder and cook for a few minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking or burning of the spices. Quickly add a little water and remove from the heat if it looks like its about to burn.

Put tamarind mixture and cooked spices in the blender and blitz until the spices are thoroughly ground. The blender makes a fantastic spice grinder. Set aside in a bowl.

Using a food processor, process tomatoes, shallots, jalapenos and cilantro separately to achieve desired texture. Combine with tamarind and spice mixture and season to taste with salt and black pepper. I like to refrigerate for a few hours or even overnight to let all of the flavors combine. It’s a great do-ahead dish.

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