Pork Vindaloo

Off lately, the family and I have been watching the BBC food series on our iPad. One of the presenters being Madhur Jaffrey, we love the way she weaves around different states of India, cooking up dishes relevant to the state in exotic locations. Like the Pork Vindaloo, a dish which the Goans prepare a lot. Influenced by the Portuguese settlements that arrived in the early 16th century in Goa, the name Vindaloo is derived from the Portuguese dish "Carne de Vinha d'Alhos", which means a dish of meat(pork) with wine(vin) and garlic(alho). It was fascinating to watch Madhur cook in the famous ruins of the St. Augustine's monastery in Old Goa. She sufficiently inspired me to try the same in my german kitchen and the result being, we have a new found love.

When you do intend to prepare this, I suggest you to plan in advance as this recipe requires overnight marination. 

Ingredients:

• 1250 grams pork, cleaned, washed and cut into big cubes
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 tbsps brown/malt vinegar
• 6 cloves crushed garlic
• 3 large onions sliced
• 2 medium chopped tomatoes
• 3 slit green chillies
• 3 tbsps oil
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup water

For the MARINADE:
TO POWDER:

• 12 long dry red chillies
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 3" cinnamon stick
• 12 cloves
• 1/2 tsp pepper corns
• 6 cardamoms

TO GRIND TO A PASTE:

• 12 cloves garlic
• 2" piece ginger
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 5 tbsps vinegar

Method:

1. Apply salt and 5 tbsps brown vinegar to the meat and keep aside for 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile grind the ingredients coarsely mentioned in TO POWDER.
3. Grind the ingredients to a paste mentioned in TO GRIND TO A PASTE.
4. Mix the powdered spices and the ground paste together to form a thick dry paste.
5. Apply half of the above paste to the marinated meat and refrigerate it overnight. Refrigerate the remaining paste too (Pic 1 and 2 above).
6. On the following day, slice the onions, crush the garlic, chop the tomatoes and slit the green chillies.
7. In a deep bottomed vessel heat the oil.
8. When hot, drop in the crushed garlic and fry for a few seconds till you get an aroma.
9. Add the sliced onions and fry till golden brown (Pic 3 above).
10. Drop in the slit green chillies, chopped tomatoes, the remaining paste and sugar. Fry well for about 5 to 8 minutes on high heat. 
11. Add the marinated meat and continue frying for another 5 minutes.
12. Add a cup of water *(see note), bring to simmer and cook for 45 minutes on medium heat.
13. Adjust salt to taste, remove from heat and garnish with slit green chillies.
14. Pork Vindaloo can be had with rice or bread of your choice.

Notes:

1. You can substitute brown with white vinegar.
2. The water that has been used to clean the mixer of the ground paste can be kept aside and used in the preparation.
3. Pork Vindaloo can be kept for up to a week in the refrigerator. The longer you keep it, the better it tastes with each passing day. 

Mangalorean Cashew Macaroons

If you were to ask any Mangalorean to name one of their favourite childhood sweets, I am sure the majority of them would reply "Macaroon" pronounced more as "Mukroons"...:D

The sugary goodness coupled with the crunchy cashew nuts would simply melt in ones mouth. From what I recall, we always got these macaroons from a sweet meat shop called Taj Mahal which was located right at the city centre. So a trip to the city meant a definite pack of goodies. 

I remember them being quite expensive by the kilo and had simply assumed that they must have been laborious to prepare. Not to forget also the price of cashew nuts.

Moving to Germany saw me being introduced to the coconut macaroons. A christmas preparation in many households. Sadly, I never developed a liking to it.  While the germans like their macaroons to be golden brown and heavy with coconut, I wanted to retain the colour, look and texture of the original ones I remember eating from childhood. Today, I was inspired to experiment on making a small batch of them. So, here goes....

Ingredients:

• 1 egg white at room temperature
• 175 gm finely powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• 75 gm unsalted cashew nuts

Method:

1. Chop the cashew nuts coarsely.
2. Preheat oven to 90C.
3. Separate the egg white from the yellow. There should be no traces of any yolk at all.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg white till stiff. When you lift the whisk, the peaks should not drop or fall down.
5. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time to the egg white and keep beating. Continue till all the sugar has been used.
6. Beat in the cardamom powder.
7. Gently fold in the chopped cashew nuts into the sugar egg mix.
8. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Drop in spoonfuls( I used a tablespoon) of the macaroon mix. Use the same level of mix for each macaroon. I din't bother about the shape. I let them be irregular as it is. Use up all the mix(makes 12).
9. Place the tray on the lower rack and bake them for 40 to 50 minutes until crisp *See note
10. Remove the macaroons from the tray and let them cool.
11. Store in air tight container.

Note:

• When trying out a new recipe in your oven, I suggest you to know your oven well. Baking procedures and temperatures differ from oven to oven. I have a manual for mine which clearly states what rack should I place my tray in(lower, middle or higher), what temperatures should I use and how long should the baking process be for different recipes(cookies, cakes, pizzas, meringues). Based on this information and using my judgement, I proceed with the recipe.
• If you like your macaroons to be slightly/golden brown you can raise the temp up a bit to 120C.

Chocolate Truffles

Want to gift something home made that looks pretty and tastes equally good too? How about some truffles? Last year I baked the rich Indian plum cake and gifted them to all the german friends we had made over time. Not only were they stunned with the gesture, they were equally appreciative of our christmas tradition and relished the same. In return, one of the families gifted us with home made truffles. While we live in the land of Lindt and Nestle, the world famous European chocolates, I was taken aback by how delicious home made truffles tasted. Honestly, as I mentioned, we need no reason to make them at home cause when it comes to chocolate, we do get the best. But curiosity got hold of me and I was more than tempted to give a shot to making them myself. 

This is a german recipe which I have tried from one of the many german magazines that I have begun to buy. What surprises me is the use of our spices in so many german christmas preparations. While cinnamon and cardamom are used on a regular basis in our Indian cooking, germans tend to use them more in their christmas baking. 

These truffles are easy to make, taste real good and when wrapped in delicate film with a catching ribbon to go, it does make for a great christmas gift. While the original recipe called for the truffles to be dusted with cocoa powder, we found it to be bitter, hence I used dessicated coconut to roll them in. 

Ingredients:

• 1 vanilla bean
• 175 ml whipped cream
• 2" cinnamon sticks
• 2 cardamoms
• 1 star anise
• 150gm white couverture chocolate
• 250 gm milk couverture chocolate
• 80 gm soft butter
• a bowl of desiccated coconut

Method:

1. Slit the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds carefully. In a thick bottomed vessel, mix the cream along with the vanilla seeds and bean too(after you have scraped the bean do not discard it). Add the cinnamon sticks, cardamoms and star anise. Bring the mixture to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and keep it aside so that the spices are infused into the cream well.
3. Meanwhile chop the white and milk chocolate into smaller pieces with a sharp knife. Place them in a deep bowl(preferably glass)
4. Strain the infused cream. Discard the spices, and bring the cream once again to a boil.
5. Pour the hot cream into the chopped chocolate. Keep stirring till the cream and chocolate are melted and mixed together well.
6. Wrap the bowl in a cling film and refrigerate it for 5 hours.
7. After 5 hours, add the melted butter to the chocolate mixture and stir well. If the mix is too hard, use your hands. Refrigerate it for another hour.
8. Line a flat tray with butter paper. Remove the chocolate mix. Scoop out small mounds of the mass and roll it against your palms to form small sized truffles. Roll the truffles in the dessicated coconut and arrange them on the tray. Use up all the chocolate mix. You should be able to make around 60 truffles.
9. They keep well for up to a week in the refrigerator. Before serving, bring them to room temperature.

Note: If you are unable to find couverture chocolate you can replace it with ordinary chocolate.

Choco Almond cookies

So the big fluffy flakes finally fell upon us or rather whole of Germany. Too bad for the kids who were eagerly waiting to go sleighing. The hubby and I have been taking turns falling ill with the normal fever and cold. I guess we are growing old hence our bodies are taking time to adjust to the onset of winter. For me this is just the wrong month to be even lying in bed. With the umpteen jobs to be done, I really had to get better soon. It was hard convincing the kids though that we needed to stay indoors. We had to be content watching the snow flakes fall gently. 

Today's batch of cookies is the one I first began my advent baking experiment with. According to the kids, they rate number one in the entire batch of baking I have done so far. The reason being the secret ingredient - CHOCOLATE. You really can't separate the two, Kids and chocolate, can you? Not only did the experimental batch get over soon, over the next few days, as they munched on the different varieties, a small question would be heard every now and then "When are you going to bake the chocolate ones again?". Bake I did, only to promptly store them all in my new christmas tins and hide them from the hungry mouths. This mommy needs a break, truly!! and the cookies will come out of hiding just in time for Christmas!! :D

Ingredients:

• 100 g dark chocolate
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 100 g hazelnuts with skin, powdered
• 100 g almonds with skin, powdered
• 50 g almonds peeled and chopped into fine bits
• 200 g powdered sugar + for rolling the dough(optional)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp clove powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp almond essence
• Halved almonds to garnish

Method:

1. Grate the chocolate fine.
2. Beat the egg whites till creamy(not until they are stiff peaks).
3. In a bowl mix the cocoa powder, powdered hazelnut and almond, chopped almonds, powdered sugar, cinnamon and clove powders. Add the grated chocolate and mix very well.
4. Add the beaten egg whites and almond essence. Knead well to form a tight dough. If the dough is not tight enough add more almond powder ( I didn't need any).
5. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
6. Line a baking tray with baking paper. 
7. On a clean surface, sprinkle some sugar and roll out the dough. With the help of a knife cut into small squares( 1" x 1"). Place halved almonds on each square and line them neatly on the baking tray.
8. Preheat the oven to 200 C.
9. Bake the cookies on the middle rack for 8 to 10 minutes(At 8 minutes they are chewy which Ms A loves and a little more time makes them crisp and nutty which the remainder of us like).
10. Remove, let cool. Once completely cool, store them in an air tight tin.

With this, I am done with the german cookie recipes. Next on my to bake list is the rich plum cake and my heart desires to make the mangy kidiyos and neuris. Keeping my fingers crossed to achieve all of the above.

Ginger cashew cookies

I do not know if the season of advent stresses you out, but it does to me. So much to do, so little time. I am kind of waiting to tick of all the jobs on my to do list. These were the next batch of cookies I made last week. Husband loved them, the kids were kind of neutral, maybe because they preferred the Zimtsterne and butter cookies to these. I will be baking more of them the following week.

Ingredients:

• 100 g brown sugar
• 70 g butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 150 gm finely chopped cashew nuts
• 70 g all purpose flour sieved
• 100 g finely chopped candied ginger
• 1/2 tsp dry ginger powder

Method:

1. Beat well the sugar and butter together.
2. Add the yolks of the egg one at a time and continue beating.
3. Add the finely chopped cashew nuts, candied ginger, flour, and ginger powder.
4. Knead together to form a smooth dough.
5. Wrap in a cling foil film and refrigerate for half an hour.
6. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 170 C
7. Form small sized balls(roughly a medium sized marble), flatten them slightly to look like above and place them in neat rows on the tray.
8. Place a cashew nut on each of the cookie.
9. Bake the cookies for around 10 to 12 minutes till they are golden brown. Be careful not to burn.
10. Remove them and let them cool well. Store in an air tight jar. 

Notes:

• When you remove the cookies out, they will feel soft. They are supposed to be that way. As they cool, they get hard.
• The above batch makes about 50 cookies.