Indian Style Bowl

I am going crazy for bowls right now.  Throw it all in, mix it all up and enjoy.  Its kinda what I did on my plate anyway.  Much easier in a bowl.  I figured I would gather up a few of my faves for ideas in the future when I forget what I did.  Ha!

KERALA STYLE BOWL

1 cup prepared Thoran

1 cup mango, chopped

1 cup tomato, chopped

1 cup rice

1 to 2 cups mixed greens

1 tablespoon evoo

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1/4 cup cilantro

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 cup water

Toss all ingredients together.  You can add some garam masala if you like for a little flavor boost.

Cabbage Thoran

2 tablespoons coconut oil 

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
10 curry leaves if you have them
3 small green chilies, halved lengthwise or whatever hot pepper you  like
1 onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
4 cups green cabbage, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut

Saute cumin seeds, curry leaves and mustard seeds in oil.  Lightly toast and add 1/2 cup water right away so they dont burn and become bitter.  Add cabbage and onion, cover and let cook.  Stirring occassionally.

Cabbage Rice

I have decided that I need to stop buying ingredients.  I love to try new recipes and this often means that I have to buy ingredients to make these recipes, obviously.  But I am talking about ethnic things.  The things that I wasn't educated on how to use or have a wealth of recipes in which to pull from to use it up or make use of it.  Like coconut flour.  I just recently finished it off.  I did not like the recipes necessarily that I used that for and coconut flour isn't exactly on my radar.  I also did not know that coconut flour can be drying.  You cant necessarily just replace it for flour in a recipe.  Tricky tricky.  

This recipe has everything I have in my pantry.  Unless you have Indian spices, this may not be things you have in your spice rack. But you can replicate some of them.  Like the asafetida, a little onion and garlic will nearly create that flavor. The curry leaves although I love them and can snort their intoxicating aroma for hours is not crazy important to this recipe. If you take much else away, it will be a different recipe I am afraid but you fo course can tailor it how you like and make it yours!

Cabbage Rice

2 cups Basmati rice, cooked
2 tablespoon oil
1/4 teaspoon asafetida optional for gluten free
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
15-20 curry leaves
2 tablespoon ginger grated
4 green chilies minced
8 cups shredded cabbage packed
2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup cilantro chopped
3 tablespoon fresh coconut grated


Heat oil, add asafetida and mustard seeds and allow them to pop. This may take 3 to 4 minutes.  Add peanuts and sauté for a minute. Add turmeric, curry leaves, ginger and green chili. Mix everything together and cook until peanuts are golden brown.  Add grated cabbage and salt. Mix again. Add cooked rice and mix everything together.

Sprinkle cilantro and coconut over top before serving.

Stuffed Cabbage, also known as, Galumpki's

Galumpki's  (phonically spelled go-wump-keys, with the emphasis on wump). Says an English speaking Polish person.  This is how it is pronounced, in our family anyhow,

It's crazy how cabbage can be so different.  I need to talk to a farmer about this.  If you know, please tell me.  Sometimes cabbage comes off in thin leaves all the way down to the core.  Other times, as you get closer to the center, the leaves start to get very thick and curly.  It must be two different kinds of cabbage but honestly I need to know so I don't run into this problem again. I think it might be Spring and Winter cabbage????  Anyone know the answer to this conundrum?

If you make stuffed cabbage make sure you get the thin leaves all the way down to the core kind of cabbage.  The thick leaves are very hard to work with and just don't deliver the end product I like.  I really must try this again when I find the perfect cabbage.

I grew up on this dish.  My Mother is Polish and she also grew up on this.  I remember she always made it with mashed potatoes.  We would pour the juice over our mashed potatoes.  I would swirl it around together on my plate, playing with it.  Truth be told though, I didn't care much for cabbage when I was young.  I never ate the 'wrapper'.  Now, its a different story. As I really do like cabbage but in the Autumn I end up getting sick of it. Then it reestablishes itself in the kitchen in later winter as the source of an inexpensive vegetable for a meal.  Then there is Spring Cabbage- best cole slaw! But I digress.

When I went to Poland with my friend, like, a thousand years ago, her cousin made hers almost the size of cigars.  I really liked that... a lot.  Definitely need thin cabbage for that!

Stuffed Cabbage/Galumbki
You can use all beef if you like.  You can use cooked rice instead. Your preference.

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 1/2 cups rice, uncooked
1 cup onions, diced
1 can tomato paste
1/4 cup minced parsley
2 garlic cloves minced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 head cabbage

Sauce
1 cup tomato paste
2 cups water
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoons sugar

Saute onions in butter until golden.  Set aside to cool.

Place a large pot of water on to boil.  Add salt to the water.

In a large bowl combine: beef, pork, rice, tomato paste, parsley, garlic, salt, pepper. Add in cooled onions.

Core cabbage head.  Place whole head of cabbage into water.  Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes. Take cabbage head out.  Carefully remove leaves one at a time.  Any broken leaves can be used at the end to cover the whole casserole.  Alternately you can soften leaves one at a time.

Place about 1/3 of a cup of filling into a leave and roll up tucking in ends.

Mix ingredients for sauce.  Spoon some sauce into the bottom of  the casserole dish.

Line bottom of casserole dish with some broken leaves, this will help keep your rolls from burning.

Place your rolled cabbage, tucked neatly in rows.  Remember they will swell a little as they have uncooked rice in them.  So don't pack too tightly.

Asian Cabbage Salad

My favorite go to meal for a low calorie lunch and super healthy and delicious.  Does it freaking get any better than that?

Asian Cabbage Salad

2 cups cabbage chopped small
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 green onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup peanuts or almonds, chopped
2 tablespoons or more carrot shavings
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 to 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

Mix the cabbage with the rice wine vinegar and let sit for at least ten minutes.  Add in the remainder of ingredients and toss well!  Enjoy.

Happy Mothers Day!

 I love when the tulips come up!

The earth laughs in flowers.  
                       Ralph Waldo Emerson

Slaw Cakes

My family is funny about cole slaw.  Sometimes I can make a big bowl of it and it is gone in a blink of an eye.  Other times it can sit around for days, like a wallflower- totally unnoticed.  Sadly, even with all its many great virtues it just can't be sold to my husband or kids.  What to do?

Now, I know slaw is great on a hot dog or a pulled prok sandwich.  I know it is great on a Baja Fish taco... but what else?  How can I use up a large quantity of it?  Enter the pancake.

I saw a post for the Kitchn about how people use up there cole slaw and there was this comment from this lady of One Hot Stove. It said something to the effect of add rice flour, chick pea flour and buttermilk and make a pancake.  Well, that is exactly what I did. 

You can most certainly add in regular flour in place of the rice and besan flour.  As you mix it up you want the consistency of pancake batter.  Do a test pancake and see how it comes out.  Add more buttermilk if it is too thick and more flour if it is too thin.  You have to go by feel.  After I made four pancakes, I decided to add in some za'tar.  We really like that spice mix.  I liked it both ways.

I have to tell you that the pancake really reminded me of a potato pancake.  I gave my Mother a taste before I told her what it was made of and she said it tasted like a potato pancake as well.  Next time, I make it, because for sure there will be a next time, I will try potato flour in place of the rice flour.

So how fast did that coleslaw go after I morphed it?  REALLY fast! 

Slaw Cakes

4 cups coleslaw (the kind with mayonnaise but I believe the kind with vinegar would work well too)
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup besan aka chick pea flour
1 cup buttermilk
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs

Mix the flour with the baking powder and salt.  Stir everything else in a bowl to accomodate the amount you have.  Add in the dry ingredients.  Stir just to make sure it is combined.

Place a griddle on the stove and have it on medium heat.  You want to cook it  a bit on the slow side so that the insides, that are pretty moist, have a chance to cook.  If you cook it too quickly it will brown on the outside but remain uncooked on the inside.

Make Your Own Sauer Kraut

Since NY State is one of the largest suppliers of cabbage, I thought it was only fitting that I post about sauer kraut.  I have been wanting to make my own sauer kraut for so long.  Why didnt I?

One reason was that I was afraid my house would be filled with stinky cabbage.

Two, I thought it is too scary, I might give my family botulism.

Three, procrastination.

Finally, I overcame my hesitation and made it.  It wasn't the least bit stinky.  Keep that cabbage covered in its juices and there will be no botulism.  The part about procrastination, I just got over that.

In the end you will be rewarded with sauer kraut and its juices.  So good for you.  It will aid in digestion.  Thats the big thing right now, fermented stuff, isnt it?  

You might have seen on some blogs that doing them in mason jars is easy.  I tell you that I did not find it the least bit easy.  I initially placed the cabbage in mason jars.  I did let the gas out periodically but what I found is that the brine was pushing out of the jars on its own. I lost a lot of necessary juice.

It was also really hard to weight it or push it down in mason jars.  I eventually transferred all but half to a crock.  The other half was not under the brine for a couple days.  It just wasn't worth risking it.  I used that jar as a wait for the remainder of the time. 

So my advice to you is to do it in a crock.  So much easier!

Sauerkraut
My version printable found here.
Making sauerkraut takes 1 to four weeks.
Initially when I was waiting for the salt to pull the water out of the cabbage I put it all in my Crockpot.  It was perfect for the job initially. I flipped the crock lid upside down and put a weight on it.  I used my flour canister.

Equipment Needed
crock
a plate or something that is non reactive that you can place weights on for the top of the sauerkraut
a weight to keep the plate submerged

5 pounds cabbage
3 tablespoons sea salt

-Chop or grate cabbage, finely or coarsely.  Sprinkle salt on the cabbage, tossing it in. The salt pulls water out of the cabbage and this creates the brine in which the cabbage can ferment and sour without rotting.

-Mix ingredients together and pack into crock. Pack just a bit into the crock at a time and tamp it down hard using your fists. This pressure packs the kraut tight and helps force water out of the cabbage.

-Cover the cabbage with a plate or some other lid that fits snugly inside the crock. Place a clean weight on the cover. This weight is to force water out of the cabbage and then keep the cabbage submerged under the brine. This can take up to about 24 hours.

-Leave in a cool place to ferment or you can keep it in the kitchen (away from heat sources or sunny windows).  

Links to information on making sauer kraut:

Wild Fermentation
The Kitchn:  Making Sauerkraut

Let's Talk Slaw

Just like banana bread and brownies, cole slaw can be made a million different ways.  This post is about my slaw and your slaw.  I have perused some blogs looking for slaw recipes and made some links if you'd like to check them out. If you would like to add your way of slaw to the list, let me know and I will add it on.

The idea for this post came to my while we were visiting our relatives in Tennessee.  My sister-in-law's father and his wife loved my Mom's slaw.  My Mom gets compliments on her slaw where ever she takes it.  I make the same slaw and also receive compliments on it.  SO I thought I would share it with you.  So when I write down what we do, you will say whats the big deal- so simplistic.  Yes it is but I think it is the technique rather than what we add that makes the slaw so palatable.  Not to mention it has a bit more staying power than other slaw's. 

Simple Stellar Slaw

1 head of cabbage
1 small onion
1 cup or so of mayonnaise (the best you can buy)
lots 'o' salt

Shred the cabbage your preferred way, either on a knuckle grater or in a processor.  I do the processor but some people swear by their knuckle busters.  Now here is the important part, put in in a colander and salt it heavily.  When I say heavily, I mean watch the salt pour out of the shaker like nobody's business.  And don't fret because you will have the chance to wash it all away later.  Let it sit for an hour if you can, no shorter than 15 minutes.  The salt is going to pull the water right out of the cabbage.  After the desired length of time, rinse ( I will be honest here, sometimes I don't rinse), take a handful and squeeze the cabbage.  Put the dried handful of cabbage in the bowl you are going to mix in.  After all off the cabbage/onion mixture is squeezed add in your desired ingredients.  In my case that would be only the mayo (Hellman's to be exact- I am not paid to say that). Serve and enjoy.  The next day your slaw will not be runny as all of the water has been squeezed out of it.

Other Stellar Slaw's
And may I say if you do my technique it might amp up some of these slaw's if they don't already advise it.

Blue Cheese Coleslaw, The Perfect Pantry
Celeriac Coleslaw, Stephen Cooks
Coleslaw, Simply Recipes
Coleslaw with cilantro and jalapenos, Homesick Texan
Colesalw with Cream Buttermilk Dressing, One Perfect Bite
Columbian Coleslaw, My Columbian Recipes
Copy Cat KFC Coleslaw Recipe, Amanda's Cookin'
Fennel Coleslaw, A Good Appetite
Japanese Slaw with Daikon Radish, Yours Truly
Killer Coleslaw, Stephen Cooks
Kohlrabi and Apple Slaw with Creamy Coleslaw Dressing, A Veggie Venture
Lemon Coleslaw, One Perfect Bite
Lemon Poppy Seed Cabbage Salad, Yours Truly
Lime and Peanut Coleslaw, 101 Cookbooks
Not Your Mama's Cole Slaw, Smitten Kitchen

Radish Cranberry Coleslaw, Dianasaur Dishes

Seedy Tahini Vegan Coleslaw, Healthy Happy Life
Sesame Orange Coleslaw, Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
Snappy Crunchy Cole Slaw (No Mayo),  Gluten Free Goddess
Spicy Asian Coleslaw, Yours Truly
Tamarind Cole Slaw, He Cooks, She Cooks
Toasted Walnut Coleslaw, Eliza Domestica
Vegan Coleslaw with Peanut Dressing, Gluten Free Goddess
Warm Winter Coleslaw with Chili Lime Dressing, Gluten Free Goddess