Holy snack-a-roli!

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better…..George introduced me to a new soft blue cheese (St. Auger Blue) to use for one of my favorite snacks…..on top of radish slices. I have been eating this combo for 12 years, always exploring different soft, blue or gorgonzola cheeses. This one is dangerous!

I got started on this snack when an acquaintance shared this delightful preperation with me, explaining how he had eaten this often while visiting France. It’s like cheese on a cracker….you get soft texture with crunch…..but the crisp, cool, moist radish imparts a little more life than a dry, dusty cracker. Don’t get me wrong, I love cheese on crackers too, but something about this combination is so refreshing and satisfying.

This year I read somewhere that radishes and daikon can help a person digest fat.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking????? HELL YEAH!! I can eat ALL THE CHEESE I WANT now! Bring it on!

Those French people! I’m always reading how they eat high fat diets, and this and that, yet they have a much lower rate of heart disease and obesity, and overall health is so much better than ours. Maybe it’s all about the food combining.

(Perfectly good piece of French wisdom, but still thinking like an American)

cutest lunch box ever!

I saw a lunch box like this in a movie once, but couldn’t remember which movie. On my visit to China last year, I saw a similar lunchbox in many of the shops, but I was holding out for the one in my memory. My friend Jill and I looked all over to find “THE ONE”, but it didn’t appear. A few months after our return, “THE ONE” came in the mail! She had found it at an Indian shop. I did a search for “Indian lunch box” and found a site that sells them. I’m enamored with my gift. On my lunch break the other day, I nearly used up the whole half hour taking pictures of it instead of eating. I even prepared a special Indian meal the night before, as a tribute to the following day’s christening of the lunch box. That food was YUUUUMMY! I borrowed my neighbor Adam’s cookbook, called Madhur Jaffrey Indian Cooking. Only problem was that I actually made the FULL recipe for 4 separate dishes, and was eating it all week. Aaaalllllmost wore out the welcome. The lunch box was perfect for the leftovers though.

Check out the bamboo-ware roll-up from my friend, Michael! Ahhhhh, friends, and their thoughtful gifts…..One day a year and a half ago, I was eating lunch and contemplating the plastic-ware. As I chewed, I thoughtfully studied my utensil, considering how sometimes I use more than 1 package/day. A picture began to form in my mind, of the possible size of a heap of plastic silverware used by the whole world in just one day. The next day I brought my own silverware. It took me a few months to get in the habit of remembering it each day. I had a pile of cloth napkins, and some miscellaneous unmatching silverware and prepared a stack of roll-ups at the beginning of each week. Then I received this lovely bamboo set, which is quite lightweight, and I now carry at all times in my purse.

“Recipes please! Recipes please”—Jill wants to know! I like to make up my own concoctions, but using recipes part of the time is great training for being able to wing it later. It gives me good ideas of what flavors marry well together. If you don’t want the recipes, you can quit reading now! The rest is only recipes for a four item meal. It took me a little over an hour to prepare all of these.

These are all adapted from Madhur Jaffrey–Indian Cooking

Tofu In A Red Sweet Pepper Sauce (adapted from chicken recipe)

Ingredients (T=Tablespoon, t=teaspoon)

• 1 package firm tofu (2 1/4 lb. chicken pieces)
• 1 onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 inch cube fresh ginger, peeled & coarsely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 1/2 T. almonds
• 3/4 lb. red sweet peppers, coarsely chopped
• 1 T. ground cumin
• 2 t. ground coriander
• 1/2 t. ground turmeric
• 1/8-1/2 t. cayenne pepper
• 2 t. salt
• 7 T. oil for sauce, plus more to saute tofu
• 1 cup water
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1/2 t. coarsely ground black pepper

Combine onion, ginger, garlic, almonds, peppers, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, & salt in food processor or blender until you have a paste.

Put oil in large, wide, preferably nonstick, pot at medium-high heat. When hot, pour in all the paste. Stir and fry for 10-12 minutes or until you see the oil forming tiny bubbles around it.

I sauteed 1/2 inch tofu cubes in a few T. oil until lightly golden. (She used chicken pieces which were to be added to sauce along with water, lemon juice, & pepper and allowed to simmer on low for 25 minutes until tender)

Add to pepper mixture–tofu, water, lemon juice, & black pepper. Simmer another 10 minutes, and there you have it.

Cauliflower with cumin and asafetida

Ingredients

• Head of cauliflower ( I used part cauliflower, part broccoli)
• 3 T. oil
• Generous pinch of asafetida (or a bit of chopped garlic)
• 1/2 t. cumin seeds
• 1/2 medium onion cut into very fine rings
• 1/2-1 fresh, hot green chili, finely chopped
• 1 t. ground cumin
• 1/2 t. ground coriander
• 1/4 t. ground turmeric
• 1/8-1/4 t. cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1/2 c. water
• 2 T. lemon juice

Break cauliflower into florets about (1 1/2 inches). Stem may be peeled (I didn’t) and cut into 1/4 inch rounds.

Put oil in large frying pan or wok at medium-high heat. When hot, put in asafetida. A second later, put in cumin seeds. Wait about 10 seconds and add onion. Stir & fry about 2 minutes or until onion brown. Now add cauliflower and green chili. Turn heat down to medium and toss. Add cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne & salt. Toss for another minute. Add water & lemon juice, toss, and bring to simmer. Cover, turn heat to low, cook for 5-7 minutes or until cauliflower is just tender.

Aromatic yellow rice

I cooked all these ingredients together in my rice cooker. I don’t know actual measurements for water to rice. I just eyeball it. I’ll let you come up with that on your own.

• 2 cups rice
• water
• 1 1/4 t. salt
• 3/4 t. ground turmeric
• 3/4 cloves
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 3 bay leaves

Remove whole spices and add butter before serving.

Yogurt with eggplant

Ingredients

• 1 medium-sized eggplant cut into 1 inch cubes
• 2 2/3 cups plain yogurt
• 3/4 t. salt or to taste
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1/8 t. cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 scallion cut into paper-thin rounds all the way up its green section
• 1 T. finely chopped, fresh mint
• A few mint leaves for garnishing

Bring water to boil in steamer in such a way that water stays just below steaming apparatus

Steam eggplant covered over high heat for 10 minutes. (make sure water doesn’t run out)

While eggplant is steaming, put yogurt in bowl & beat lightly with fork until smooth and creamy. Add salt, pepper, cayenne, scallion, and mint and mix with fork.

Remove steamed eggplant from steamer and mash with fork. Spread out on plate to cool somewhat (so yogurt doesn’t curdle)

Fold eggplant into yogurt and garnish with mint leaves.