Category: Recipes (Page 1 of 2)

Gather round children. I know that Indian food seems really scary. All those spices are intimidating to cook with. And if you don’t have them already, expensive to purchase. But since your local Indian buffet has shut down (remember those?), you’ve been wanting your fix. The good news is that Indian food is never as hard as it seems like it would be. Those expensive spices? You are buying them from the wrong store!

When buying spices, avoid Walmart. Avoid Kroger. Avoid any normal store you usually shop in. Get on the internet and find your local Asian or Indian grocery store. Buy the spices whole, not pre-ground (they are way better, but there are some exceptions). You can get a lot more spices for way cheaper if you do it this way. Store the leftover spices in whatever jars you have; remember how I said I’m partial to Talenti containers?

They really are the best. So. Your basic spices for any Indian food would be:

• Chile Powder – preground
• Haldi (Tumeric) – preground
• Mustard Seeds
• Cumin Seeds
• Coriander Seeds

You probably already have cumin and coriander powder at home right? And some kind of chile powder? Cayenne perhaps? So that would leave you needing the turmeric and mustard seeds. Easy peasy!

While you’re at the store, grab some cinnamon sticks, cloves, anise, and cardamom. Find the loose black tea (we like Society, but Red Label is good too.) Snag you a strainer, making sure it’s a fine mesh.

Add some whole peppercorns, then order you a pepper grinder. You can’t beat freshly ground pepper. Finally, grab you a mortar and pestle. That’s it for the basics. Future recipes may call for other spices, but now you know where to go.

Before you leave, snag a head of cauliflower, some thai (bird chiles), cilantro, and ginger. Do you have tomatoes, onions, garlic, and potatoes at home already? If not, go ahead and grab them now. If you don’t feel like making your own naan, store-bought is fine, and actually really good. I am partial to Malaysian style puff paratha, so see if you can find those and give them a shot.

Alright, now we are home with our spices and our veggies. Are we ready to do this? I believe in you! You will be amazing at this! Let’s cook some vegetables!

Does it sound like I’m throwing down the gauntlet? Maybe I am. I am claiming to have knowledge of the world’s fudgiest brownies. I dare ANYONE to find fudgier (please do and send me the recipe! Unless it’s a family secret, some things are made to be shared!).

My husband doesn’t like things that are too doughy. You will discover most of his food dislikes begin with the word too. He loves these brownies because they come out of the oven gooey and they stay that way. How, you ask? They only have 1/2 a cup of flour. (Record Scratch)

I KNOW. I couldn’t believe it worked either! And they were GOOD! They are one-bowl. The biggest bonus is they only take 30 minutes to bake. Which makes them perfect for late-night chocolate needs. The recipe doubles beautifully, and you don’t need a mixer or a whisk. I usually just use my silicon spatula (you recognize who I got there?)

When you have sourdough starter around the house, you end up with a ton of discard. While it may sound yucky, it can be the thing missing that will take (some) of your baked goods to the next level. It doesn’t work so great with a dutch baby FYI, but it still tasted really good.

And that’s all that matters right? The taste I mean. Your food doesn’t always have to look gorgeous to taste delicious. Who are you trying to impress? And sourdough is one of those things that doesn’t always look pretty. There is a ton of trial and error to baking bread. So why not use the discard and make things that are equally delicious and a million times easier?

Trust me, these waffles are EASY. Do you have discard? Do you have a waffle maker? Congrats, you are almost to delicious waffles. And you should really own a waffle maker. About 10 years ago I had a craving for fresh waffles. I went to the grocery store first thing in the morning and told myself if they had a waffle maker for less than $20 I’d buy it. And they did. And apparently, my waffle maker has since been discontinued. That doesn’t change the fact that fresh waffles are so much better than store-bought, and it’s an investment in breakfast.

To my husband’s utter dismay, my goddess bowl starts life as my chole recipe. Let me explain. The chickpeas get soaked, then pressure cooked in tea and vegetable broth (or chicken broth if that’s what I have. Seriously, the kind of broth doesn’t matter. Just use broth).

My husband sees the chickpeas soaking, smells the tea and broth cooking, gets his mouth ready for chole… and then realizes that everything has taken a distinctly non-bhaji turn. Not that he’s ever upset, he’s just usually vaguely disappointed.

Until he takes a bite and remembers how good it is. Like, really good. The veggies are slightly charred, the chickpeas, if you can be patient, actually get a little crispy. And I realize I’m the most non-commital recipe maker ever, but you can literally spice the chickpeas with whatever you want. Make them taste Indian! Or Mexican! Or Thai! What spices do you have and like?

Same with the veggies. We usually do broccoli, because we tend to have tons of broccoli in the house. You like sweet potatoes? Roast em and throw them in. Red peppers? Onions? Brussels Sprouts? It’s a great way to use up some of those veggies that have been languishing in the fridge. That’s why it’s called a goddess bowl; you will feel like one for not wasting those aspirational veggies.

I’m not exaggerating about lentils and broccoli being a love story. I had never eaten a lentil until I met my husband. At least, not knowingly. Growing up, sometimes rice would show up (yuck), sometimes oats (packets). We didn’t eat a ton of beans that I can remember. I do remember a lot of potatoes, but I digress. The vegetables we ate were typical; either canned or frozen, which are rarely the ideal states for delicious veggies. Suffice to say, unless we were having Mexican, it tended to be your typical American fare.

Then my husband happened. Or we happened to each other. At any rate, I got exposed to a ton of exotic to me foods. While I’ve never been a picky person, I hadn’t been exposed to a lot. It took me a long time to figure out that fresh vegetables, roasted, and cooked properly were delicious. And the lentil thing shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone; according to my one Google search on the subject, Americans only eat about two ounces of lentils a year.

The broccoli gets roasted until it’s starting to char, and the lentils get tempered. When you temper lentils, you pour cooked, mashed dal into hot oil that’s been used to bloom spices and garlic. In this case, I am using green lentils and not toor dal. I also do not mash my lentils; I like them to still have texture. Also, I really don’t like toor dal, so lentils and broccoli is almost a compromise.

I have a confession to make. Contrary to what must now be popular belief, see my previous oatmeal post, I don’t like oats that much. At least I didn’t when I was a child. Oatmeal came from a packet, was always microwaved, and it tended to be brown sugar-flavored. Blech. It was weirdly sweet, and always gooey and gloppy in the worst way. Enter: overnight oats.

What could be easier than mixing some stuff together in a container and sticking in the fridge overnight? The answer is nothing. Nothing is easier. It’s especially nice when you know you’ll be hyper-busy in the morning because you can throw it in your bag and go. It’s so easy it’s not really a recipe. More of a…suggestion? I am very partial to Talenti containers or old salsa jars (don’t at me), but anything will work. Tupperware? Mason jars? Whatever you use, I recommend a wide mouth because the wider the mouth the more toppings you can fit.

These overnight oats are orange-flavored because I am on an orange kick right now. I’m sure when it finally gets warmer it will be peach or (in my dreams) watermelon. I also have some orange coffee sugar, which, TBH isn’t awesome in coffee. It is awesome in these oats.

Collard greens are just an excuse to eat meat with your meat. THERE I SAID IT. I am very brave, give me my medal.

All jokes aside, if you cook collard greens long enough they get buttery soft and the meat falls off the bone. And the pot liquor is so luscious, you’ll want to sop it all up with something (maybe biscuits?).

It doesn’t matter if you buy bagged greens or buy them in bunches, you’ll want to wash them. Greens of any kind can be very gritty, and crunching on sand during dinner is the WORST. Even if the bag says the greens have been washed do not trust them. They lie. Or they simply do not do a very good job. If you do it yourself you will know it was done right.

I know the apple cider vinegar seems like a weird addition, but trust me, it adds that slight hint of acid you need with the smokey pork flavor. You can, of course, leave the pork out. It won’t be quite as delicious, but it will still be really really good.

Serve  with chicken, biscuits or beer bread, or whatever you want! It’s a great side for a cookout or anything fried.

Remember in the biscuit post I talked about my love for sausage gravy? No? Go read that recipe and then come back to this one. I’ll wait.

Done? Good. Hopefully, you went ahead and made the biscuits while you were over there and are now dying for something delicious to smother them with. Well, you are in luck!

Not one for the faint of heart ( or high of cholesterol), this sausage gravy has everything. Spicy and creamy and umami, it hits all the notes. Pair it with those biscuits (or pasta as my husband suggested this morning; if you do that let me know how it went!)

I don’t believe you would have to make this with pork sausage. You could probably use turkey or even chicken. My concern is always the fat content. Both of those meats have significantly less fat than pork does. If you do decide against the hog, I would recommend using some oil to brown the sausage. I don’t use oil initially with the pork sausage because it creates its own oil, adding the butter later helps the flour along in cooking. I would use dairy milk for this recipe. A lot of recipes can handle a substitute, but again, I don’t know that the fat content would be high enough with say, oat milk versus whole milk. If I am wrong please let me know! I would love to hear your opinion.

I love homemade biscuits. And when you add sausage gravy? Like, love it love it. It’s a great breakfast to make on the weekends, where you arguably have plenty of time to get it done. Don’t get me wrong, canned biscuits work too, but there is something about making your own from scratch.

Y’all, I lived in the south for (mumble mumble) years. It should not be that hard for me to make biscuits, but for some reason, they would always taste good, but come out flat. No lift. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. Then I realized. I was rolling them too thin! Those little jerks never stood a chance! Now I shape the dough and pat it (not roll) into a square about an inch or so thick.

When you do it this way, the biscuits rise to the heavens, and sometimes they even topple over. My point is, do not fear the homemade biscuits! They are nowhere near as hard as you think, and they are just so delicious. And seriously y’all, if you take any advice from me ever, buy a dough whisk. It will make your baking life so much easier. Enjoy the biscuits with sausage gravy, thick-sliced ham, or just in place of rolls.