Sriracha Honey Almonds

Letter # 3


Dear Blog,

Today I want to write about buttons. No, not about the "small disk or knob sewn onto a garment, either to fasten it by being pushed through a slit made for the purpose, or for decoration", but about "a knob on a piece of electrical or electronic equipment that is pressed to operate it" that makes our life easy and saves our time. When I was growing up, we watched a black and white TV with shutter. It had exactly two knobs. One for the volume and one for the channel. And there were only two channels. I don't remember much but I remember that we were happy with whatever came on TV. I have such wonderful memories of that TV. When it would get too hot, the picture would shrink. Me and my sister would go fan the back side of the TV trying to cool it down, especially if there was a cricket game airing live. That TV gave up pretty soon and we welcomed a brand new color TV. With more buttons. Buttons to change the brightness, the contrast and the color of the picture. But, no remote. So, a change of volume every time would mean some one to take a long 5 feet walk from the sofa or the bed to the TV and change it manually. Whew, so much work! So, we got tired of walking that 5 feet soon enough and wanted a TV with remote. But, the TV was working great and buying a new TV just for a remote wasn't a good reason then. So, we designed our own remote. It was tricky. See, you have to choose a tree first, then an appropriate branch which must be straight and sturdy, yet not too thick. Our very own guava tree in our garden did a perfect job. Over the next few months, our thin tree branch (remote) changed in length from 3 feet to 5 feet. But, with increase in length came a problem. Lack of precision. Sitting 5 ft away from the TV, as you try to change the channel using a small little button at the bottom of the TV, most of the time we didn't hit the right button. Instead of walking 5 feet, we would still try to sit there and fix the other end of the twig to the desired button. Ha Ha. Remembering those moments is making me smile now. I am actually laughing out loud. Here, I am now sitting in front of a smart TV with two remote controls (TV and cable) and millions of channels to choose from and no visible buttons. Where does the sounds even come from this TV? Old TVs used to have ears from where the sound came. Good old TV with buttons - I will never forget you.

Missing old style TV,
Smita

Snacking on these as I write this and loving it.

Sriracha Honey Almonds

4 cups ( 1 lb ) Raw whole almonds
¼ cup sriracha sauce
¼ cup honey or maple syrup
3 tablespoon olive oil
½ + ½ teaspoon salt

This is how I made these wonderful snacks:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Mix the nuts, sriracha sauce, honey or maple syrup, oil and half teaspoon salt properly in a bowl. Spread them in an even layer on a foil lined baking sheet.

Bake them for 10 min. Take it out, stir the almonds around and bake for another 10 min.

Cool the almonds completely. Sprinkle half teaspoon of sea salt on the almonds. If by any chance they are not crunchy put them back in to the oven for another 5 min. But 20 min should be fine.

Enjoy snacking :)

Cilantro Almond Pesto

A few month's ago, we travelled to Philadelphia to celebrate my sister's 6 month old's Annaprashana (First Rice Eating Ceremony). Honestly speaking, a 6 month old doesn't care at all. He was quite happy with his boring feeds every few hours. It's the adults that need to celebrate. My mom and my sister had cooked about 12-15 different things starting with few kinds of stir fries, few vegetable curries, two kinds of fish, two kinds of meat and finishing with sweets, pudding and cake. Oh yes, it was very elaborate. You can probably guess who enjoyed all that in the name of the little baby boy!

One of these many delicacies was a salmon baked with pesto. It was absolutely heavenly! I had to get the recipe and make it myself. And so I did.

I am a big fan of cilantro. And cilantro pesto with a hint of basil and nuts - I am hooked!

This pesto is so easy to make and I can think of a hundred ways (well, many) ways to use it. I keep it in an airtight jar in the freezer for longer shelf life. When I plan to make something with it, I just thaw it overnight in the refrigerator.

You need (to make about 2 cups):

2 cups cilantro (just remove the thick stems)
7 cloves of garlic
⅓ cup of raw almonds
¼ cup of raw walnuts
1 cup basil (about 20-25 big leaves)
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
1½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

How:

Put every thing in your food processor and grind it to a smooth texture. Store in an air tight jar and store in your refrigerator or your freezer for longer shelf life.

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

Love almonds, love chocolate, love cookies. On top of that, these are no fuss cookies. No fancy equipment required. And the best part:

These are easy to make.

These are healthy, gluten free and dairy free.

These are "melt in your mouth" delicious.

Initially these were intended to be for my husband's snacks and these are gluten-free. But honestly speaking, you will not miss the gluten here. I have no gluten intolerance but I love these just as much as any other. 

I have made this from scratch- blanched almonds myself and made a paste. However, you can easily substitute with almond meal. But you will miss the fun of removing the almond skins. Yes, I said fun. Especially if you have kids!

How to blanch almonds and have fun-

Soak almonds in hot water for 5 min. The skin will be soft and can be removed very easily.

The fun part is: If you press one end of the almond with the tip of your fingers, you can "launch" the almond. Shoot it like a rocket to the other side of your room. This is great fun if you don't mind almonds all over your kitchen :)

Now to the recipe:

You need (for 40 cookies):

2 cups blanched almonds (see above) or almond meal

½ cup almond milk (you may use full fat milk, almond milk for dairy free cookies)

½ cup maple syrup (you may use honey or agave or sugar)

¼ cup oil

⅓ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

How:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Grind the blanched almonds (see above-how to blanch almonds) to a smooth paste with the help of milk.

Add all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the chocolate chips last.

Place about a tablespoon of the dough an inch apart from each other on the baking sheet and bake for 30 min or until the top of the cookies become slightly brown. 

The cookies will still be soft. Cool them and they'll harden.

Enjoy them anytime of the day.