Cherry cake.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 whole egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/2 cup cherries, roughly chopped

I love cherries. Along with mangoes and lychees and pineapples, they are my favorite fruit. Every time summer rolls around, I buy a huge bag of cherries from the super market and usually they rot before I have a chance to eat through them. This means it's usually a race against time to find an easy recipe to use them up before they go bad. I decided on this delicious recipe from the Pioneer Woman's website and tweaked it.

Method:

--Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
--Butter a square baking dish.
--Cream sugar and butter; add egg and combine.
--Add flour, baking powder, and salt to the mixing bowl and then pour in the milk.
--Add cherries and chopped walnuts (I pulsed it for a couple of seconds on my food processor) and mix gently. Or you could run your mixer over it one last night resulting in a glorious purple batter that resembles black currant ice cream.
--Pour batter into buttered pan and smooth out the surface. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown.

khichudi/begun bhaja

This is one of my absolute favorite comfort foods. When I think of ghar ka khana, this is what I miss the most. To be best eaten on rainy Sunday afternoons. Rice cooked in one pot with yellow lentils served with crispy fried eggplants. Or a fried egg.

Ingredients for the khichudi:

--Ghee (clarified butter)

--Cumin Seeds

--Bay leaves

--Dried red chilies

--Ginger paste

--Turmeric

--Moong dal 

--Jasmine rice

--Onions

--Green peas

--Tomatoes

Ingredients for the begun bhaja:

--Salt

--Flour

--Sugar

--Eggplant (cut into thin slices) 

Method: 

Lightly roast the moong dal on a heated pan. Be careful so as to not burn the lentils. They should be toasted and just on the verge of turning brown. Transfer the lentils into a bowl and wash the beans in cold water.

In a big pot, melt one tablespoon of ghee. Or a little bit more. Throw in a pinch of cumin seeds, a couple of dried red chillies and bay leaves, and a bit of ginger paste. Fry for a minute or so. Add the washed moong beans and the jasmine rice. Pour 3-4 cups of water and cover the pot with a lid. Set to simmer. 

(I used about 1/4 cup of rice and 1/4 cup of moong beans. This will result in more than enough servings - enough to last me at least 3-4 meals. Sadly enough, Mr. Sachinky who usually loves everything I make refuses to eat this for dinner. Oh well, more for me, I guess.)

Add salt and sugar to taste. More than a pinch of turmeric for the distinctive yellow color. My mother doesn't usually add potatoes but I had baby potatoes at hand and figured what the hell. Add boiler onions (or red onion cut into large chunks), diced tomatoes, and peas (if using frozen peas, wait till the khichudi is almost done).

You might have to add a cup or two more of water till it achieves the level of consistency. Mushy is what you're aiming for. Keep an eye on it - you don't want it to burn. It might look like baby food but tastes far from it. I promise. Serve with a dollop of ghee on top. Nothing better than the sight of ghee melting into rivulets on a steaming pile of khichudi. 

The eggplants are mad easy, yo. Slice into thin rounds (back home, it's usually cut into really thick rounds but I was hungry and didn't want to wait long enough for them to cook. Also, if you cut them really thick it takes longer to cook which turns the eggplant almost black. I prefer the lightly fried ones). Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and sugar. On a plate, put out some flour and press the eggplant rounds into the flour to get a nice coating. Heat oil in a pan and cook the eggplants for a couple of minutes on both sides to get a nice, brown crispy exterior. 

Just typing this up makes me want to heat up a second helping!

Comfort food.

baked potatoes.

Bake potatoes for about an hour at 400F.

Split down the middle and sprinkle salt/pepper.

In a bowl, mix one large dollop of sour cream, one large dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

Chop coriander or chives.

Fry bacon in butter. Slice it when cooled.

Top baked potatoes with the creamy mixture. Sprinkle the bacon bits on top.

granola squares.

I am not a huge fan of granola, per se, but I usually have some store-bought bars on hand for those weekday mornings. But when I got this recipe from a colleague I knew I had to try it out given that I had everything in my pantry save the old-fashioned rolled oats. And I found an enormous bag for $4.00 at Big Lots.

I should have baked them a little less than 30 minutes, some of the corners got too hard but on the whole, excellent. It's also a very forgiving recipe so feel free to go a little crazy with your favorite combinations.

Ingredients: 
2 cups rolled oats

½ cup honey
1 beaten egg 

¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil 

1/2 cup wheat germ
2 tsp. vanilla 

¾ tsp. cinnamon
1 cup flour 

1/4 cup sliced almonds
¾ tsp. salt 

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Note:

I threw in some dried cranberries and shredded coconut flakes for good measure. I figured, why ever not?

Method:

--Mix together oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, salt, almonds, and chocolate chips.

--Make a well in the center and pour in the honey, egg, oil, and vanilla. Mix well.

--Put the mixture into a greased cake pan or baking sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes in a preheated 350* oven until the bars turn golden at the edges.

--Cool for 5 minutes then cut into bars while still warm. Store in an air-tight container.

nutella ricotta mousse.

I bought some ricotta cheese on sale last week at Trader Joe's and have been trying to find a way to use it all. I found a recipe that made a single serve dessert and I decided to modify it a bit to suit our tastes.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup ricotta
1/2 tbps sugar
1 tbsp (or more) Nutella
1 tbps plain or vanilla yogurt (I only had vanilla yogurt on hand and it tasted great but the vanilla flavor did compete with the Nutella flavor so I'd go with the plain variety next time)

Method:
Combine and pulse all ingredients in a food processor until smooth, thick and creamy. Spoon into a ramekin and sprinkle with some crushed walnuts, or salted sliced almonds. Mr. Sachinky dislikes nuts so I tossed some shredded coconut flakes on his, instead.

linguine with shrimp.

I had some tomatoes languishing in the vegetable drawer and a bag of frozen cooked shrimp that was bought on sale and after scouring the internet for some inspiration, I managed to turn this into a fabulous dish.

As always, start with boiling the linguine and defrosting the shrimp. I usually just hold it under running hot water for several minutes.

Heat pan. Drizzle some olive oil, a tiny sliver of butter and sautee some minced garlic till it gets brown and burnt. Throw in some diced tomatoes and let it release those goodly juices. Add in some marsala wine and some capers (I had both of those on hand - it added some complexity to the flavor but if you're in a pinch I am sure you could do without those). Add in the cooked pasta and the shrimp. Season with salt, freshly ground pepper, and red pepper flakes. Let the pasta soak in the sauce. Garnish with fresh or dried parsley.

SO EASY AND SO FUCKING DELICIOUS. I am calling this a total win. 

mushroom appetizers.

Man, have I been ignoring this blog or what? Suffice to say, this is one of my many 2013 resolutions. Cook more, eat in and less take-out. And document it all on this blog, of course.

Presenting my latest love. These mushroom appetizers that Suzanne brought to my Christmas potluck are delish and surprisingly easy to make.

Dice mushrooms and onions finely. I recently purchased a food processor and it has been used solely for this purpose so far. Sauteed in a bit of butter till the onions turn translucent. Season with salt, pepper and fresh thyme. Add a dollop of sour cream, mix well and let cook for several minutes.

Now as far as the shell goes, Suzanne makes her own but it sounded like too much work. And too much cream cheese and butter. So I opted for the easier option. Store bought puff pastry. Anyone who knows me knows I can't make my own dough. Or roll it, for that matter.

Cut the pastry into squares. Place a spoonful of the filling in the middle, close the seams and primp the sides with a fork. Stick into a preheated 450F oven for 10-12 minutes.

You can make them as big or as small and dainty as you want them. You can make a big batch and freeze 'em, too. Just toss them into the oven whenever you need a quick fix. I like to make slightly big ones and just have one or two for dinner.