Cucumber Lime Mint Agua Fresca

Letter # 4

Dear Blog,

  When I was living in Massachusetts, every morning on my phone I would first check my email. Right after that would be the weather channel. How is it outside? Is it windy and raining or is it sunny, beautiful weather? After coming to San Diego, I would do the same out of habit. Check the weather on my phone. I would see seven bright suns shining for the next seven days with comfortable temperatures every day. Few days later, I stopped looking at the weather forecast. San Diego is always bright and sunny with beautiful weather. It was, until this week. Hot desert winds have started blowing which is making the temperatures rise above the comfortable level. I never thought I'll say 32C as above the comfort level, since I have grown up in India where the temperatures in my hometown reaches 45C. Interesting, how easily our human body gets used to the environment. Adaptation.
   Since I have come to US, I have traveled to India thrice by now. The first morning back home, I have always awaken to sounds that I don't hear here. Crows and sparrows, honking cars, neighbor's radio or TV or music player, stray dog barking, vendors selling fresh caught fish and freshly picked vegetables and my mom saying "Get up, it's 7 o' clock." Surprisingly, the first thought is 'Why is there so much noise? Let me sleep!' It takes only a few days to adapt to that. Next I find myself waking up to a very quiet neighborhood in US and I feel like I am the only living person on this planet. Not a single sound anywhere. Then, I used to live alone, and I always looked outside my window hoping to see another human. Without realizing, within a few days I would get used to the quietness. Interesting thing, 'adaptation'.

    Now, as we adapt to the slowing rising temperatures, we are cooling ourselves down with Agua Fresca. Cucumber juice makes it cool and refreshing. And very easy to make. Enjoy.

Summer lover,
Smita

Cucumber Lime Mint Agua Fresca

2 cucumbers (about 1 lb)(I peeled the cucumbers. You may choose not to.)
Juice from 4 limes
1 cup packed mint leaves (Remove the hardy stems)
½ cup sugar
pinch of salt
1½ cup water

How I did it:

Put everything in a blender and puree till smooth. Pass the puree through a sieve. Press with the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula to extract as much liquid as possible. Makes about 4 cups.

Serve with ice cubes.

 

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 :)

Best Burger Recipe with Pink Sauce

How frequently does it happen that you hear a tune and it got stuck in your head all day? 

Frequently. Right?

Now, how frequently does a picture or a video clip get stuck in your head?

Not often. Never? What?

This happens to me almost everyday. Does that make me weird?

Don’t answer that.

Especially if the photograph or the video clip is about food, I’ll be thinking about it all day. That’s what happened a few weeks ago.

(I’ve been lazy lately and not posting regularly.)

So, my husband and me are big fans of the TV show “Arrow”. We don’t miss a thing. If you know this show, you’ll know that Oliver Queen (the hero and the superhero “Arrow”) and his assistant goes to this burger joint in Starling City called “Big Belly Burger” at their leisure time. I mean, whenever he is not busy being “Arrow”. Now, every time I am watching this show and they show the characters having burger at Big Belly Burger, I get this incredible craving of having burgers. I’ll be thinking about that scene, when they dig into their burger and say how good it is, all day. I have to get a burger fix.

Thinking of burgers, the first place that comes to my mind is In n Out burger. (There’s no Big Belly in San Diego. Or is there? I’ve to check.) But, instead of going out, I decided to make burgers at home with In n Out Copycat pink sauce. Turned out to be the best. Loved it.

On a side note: If I ever open a burger joint, I’ll be naming it, well you guessed it, Big Belly Burger.

For 4 burgers, you need:

1 lb ground beef (I used 70% lean. Better is 60%.)
Salt and pepper for seasoning
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
Lettuce
Tomato, sliced
Red onion, sliced (I don't like raw onion in my burger, so I made caramelized "grilled" onion for my burger. To caramelize onion: add slices of one yellow onion to a sauté pan on medium-low heat with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Put the lid on the pan. Check every 10 min to see that the onions don't burn but get soft and caramelized. Takes about half and hour.)
4 or more slices of cheese (I used Kraft's American cheese)

Special Pink Sauce (recipe below)
4 Hamburger buns

Special Pink Sauce (In n Out Burger copycat)

½ cup mayonaise (Hellman's mayonaise are gluten free)
¼ cup ketchup (Heinz Ketchup is gluten free)
¼ cup relish (gluten free)
⅛ teaspoon (a pinch) salt
⅛ teaspoon (a pinch) sugar
⅛ teaspoon (a pinch) onion powder
¼ teaspoon (2 pinches) garlic powder
½ tablespoon worcestershire sauce

How:

Add worcestershire sauce to ground beef and mix it well. Divide the meat in four portions and make patties. Make the middle of the patties thinner than the outside. This will prevent the patties from swelling up when cooking.

Put a pan on or griddle on medium-high heat. Cook one side of the patties for 3 min. Flip it over and cook for another 3-4 min. Place a slice of cheese on top and remove the patty when the cheese is melty.

For Pink Sauce:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Store away the unused sauce in a jar in your refrigerator. It will have the same life as your ketchup or mayo.

Build your burger:

Top part of bun
Lettuce
Tomato
Caramelized onion
Cheese
Beef patty
Pink sauce
Lower part of bun

Chicken Coconut Curry

Last month, one fine morning I received an email to review a product. The email said that their company produces organic beverages and would like me to review their organic coconut water- COCOZIA. It had just been two months that I have started blogging, so I was a bit skeptical. I took good two days to decide whether the email is real (and not spam) and whether I want to do it (if it's real). What I was thinking was whether I can actually review a product. But then I thought, I have grown up drinking coconut water straight from a coconut. I know the REAL thing. Oh yeah, I can review coconut water. Bring it on.

In two days, I received a box containing 12 cases of coconut water. The package said "organic" and "no preservatives". I like the "no preservatives" part. Since I came to US from India, I have tried numerous coconut water products and was never quite satisfied. That was all because of their chemical taste from preservatives. Specially the flavored coconut waters. Those are just disgusting. I don't want to say disgusting, but yes, they are disgusting. See, now I have said it three times.

Opened one case right away. You know what, this one doesn't have that chemical taste. Took a few more sips. This one actually tastes quite like the real thing. Some more sips. It could be little sweeter. But you know what, when you buy a green coconut it's not always sweet. Only when it starts to ripen, the water gets sweeter. Another few sips. This one is really good. I like it. But (there is always a but) it is a little expensive compared to the others that are available. I just checked the price and it is $29 for a pack of 12 cases on Amazon. 

I love to drink and cook with coconut water. Today however I haven't used coconut water in this recipe but you can definitely use COCOZIA in it. 

Sometimes, many who are not comfortable with spicy or hot curries think that they can't enjoy Indian  restaurant food because it is always spicy. I had to prove this wrong to one of my colleagues. I took him to an Indian restaurant and chose few non-spicy food from the menu. He was very surprised and happy at the end of his meal. Yes, I proved my point (pumping fist into the air!). So, what I chose for the entree was Coconut chicken! Here is my homemade version. And might I add, it's better than the restaurant.

Chicken Coconut Curry (today's foodie alliteration): you need (for 3-4 servings)

1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken, (breast or thighs) cut into small bite size pieces. [I have used chicken breasts here.]

3 tablespoon vegetable or canola or coconut oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped

1½ tablespoon fresh ginger paste

1 teaspoon fresh garlic paste

1½ teaspoon of cumin powder

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper (use less or more)

¼ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon sugar

1 13.5 fl. oz can of Goya coconut milk

Salt for seasoning

Coconut water (optional)

How:

Heat a medium pan on medium heat with oil.

Add the onions and fry till pink. Add the ginger, garlic, cumin, cayenne and turmeric. Mix the spices with the onion and cook till the raw smell of ginger and garlic is almost gone.

Add the chicken pieces. Add salt for seasoning.  Mix and cook till the chicken is half cooked and the raw smell of spices is completely gone. 

Add the chopped tomato and cook till the tomato is soft and integrated with the spices. 

Then add the coconut milk and sugar. Taste for salt. Add more cayenne pepper if you like, but I prefer this curry to be mild. 

Simmer for 10 min or till the chicken is cooked completely and the gravy thickens.

You may add coconut water to thin out the curry to your desired consistency.

Serve hot with rice or bread.

Note: You may also add ¼ cup thawed fresh shredded coconut at the end to the gravy.

Baked Salmon with Pesto

It was a long day already. When we came home it was 6 pm. Both very tired and of course hungry.

Him: What's for dinner?

Me: I don't know. I gotta make something.

Him: I am in the mood for fish.

Me: Yeah. Fish can be done pretty fast.

Him: Can it be done in 30 min?

Me: Oh yes, less than that.

Him: Really? What will you be making?

Me: I have a lot of that cilantro pesto. I'll make my sister's green fish. That just takes 15 min.

Him: Awesome!

Happy me and happy husband.

You need (For 3-4 servings):

1 lb salmon fillet (This recipe goes well with trout too.)

1 cup of my homemade Cilantro Almond Pesto

Salt for seasoning

Roasted almonds and chopped tomato for garnishing

How: 

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Line a baking tray with aluminum foil. Place the salmon fillets skin side down, season with salt and cover them with pesto.

Bake for 15-20 min depending on the thickness of your fillets or until the fish is flaky (check with a fork).

Serve garnished with some roasted almonds and freshly chopped tomatoes on the top.

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.

Chicken with Bell Peppers

Weekdays are always busy. Coming home from work famished, dinner needs to be done as quickly as possible. When I say quickly, I mean less than 30 min. 20 min is even better.

This chicken is done under 30 min.

Either buy chicken on your way home from work or remember to take out the chicken from the freezer to thaw it in the morning before you leave for work. I usually take the chicken out from the freezer in the morning. Then, when I come home in the evening hungry, I can get to work immediately without waiting for the frozen chicken to thaw.

Not a fan of bell peppers? You can substitute it with broccoli or green beans. Since I am making only one thing for dinner, I like to meat and some veggies in it.

For 2-4 servings, you need:

1 lb chicken (boneless, skinless breasts or thighs cut into small 1" pieces)
2½ tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated or paste
1½ medium onion, finely diced [Small pieces will cook quickly, hence less cooking time]
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour [ Use gluten-free all purpose flour to make this GF ]
3 tablespoon white oil
salt

Sauce:
2 tablespoon tamari (soy sauce) [ For GF, use gluten free tamari]
1 tablespoon white vinegar
½ tablespoon cornstarch
½ tablespoon sugar
1½ teaspoon cayenne

How:

Heat a skillet with 2 tbsp oil on med-high to high heat. Higher heat reduces cooking time. However, use the heat level at which you can cook comfortably. If you have all this ready before start, use high heat. If you are prepping while cooking (as I do), use med-high heat.

Coat the chicken pieces with 1 tablespoon of flour and salt for seasoning. Add it to the heated oil and fry for 5 minutes, turning them around the pan until they are nicely browned.

While the chicken is browning, chop the onion. Remove the chicken pieces from the pan and keep aside. Add rest of the oil to the pan. Add the onion and fry till they are translucent. While the onion is cooking, get the ginger and garlic ready. Add it to the onions, season with salt, and fry for another 5 min or till the raw smell is gone.

Add the chicken back into the pan. Add the sauce and the chopped bell peppers. Stir and mix properly such that the chicken is coated with the onion and sauce. Put the lid on your pan and simmer for another 5 min till the sauce has thickened and the chicken is cooked all the way through.

Taste for seasoning. Serve hot with rice or noodles.

Sunny Side Up on Potatoes

I was home alone because the other half was in San Francisco conferencing. I woke up very late and wanted to treat myself to a wonderful breakfast or brunch. Nothing better than eggs, potatoes and bacon. As much as I like fried potatoes but hash brown is my favorite.

So, while my bacon was getting perfectly crispy in the oven, I grated some potatoes. Chopped some onion and tomatoes. Made a bed of hash brown, placed a perfect sunny side up egg on it, add the tomato and crispy bacon pieces, sprinkle chopped cilantro, season with salt and pepper and you have your breakfast ready in 30min. Oh, what a treat!

Oh, that perfect morsel- bacon, tomato, hash brown with little bit of the runny yolk.

Warning- I don't use oil in making any of it. Oops! I use bacon fat :)

To make this wonderful breakfast/brunch, you need (for 1 serving, can easily be scaled up):

1 medium size Russet potato, grated using a box grater
1 small yellow onion or half a medium onion, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 egg
2-3 strips of thick cut bacon or as many as you like
salt and pepper for seasoning
Chopped cilantro or parsley

How:

Line a baking tray with foil and place the baking strips an inch apart from each other. Place it in a cold oven and turn it on to 400°F. Putting the  bacon in a cold oven and then turning it on is the key to perfectly crispy bacon. The bacon should be perfect in about 17-20 min. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn. The time depends on how long your oven takes to reach the temperature. Take the bacon strips out of the baking tray and drain on paper towels. Let it cool.

While the bacon is getting perfectly crisped in the oven, grate the potato, chop the onion, tomato and some cilantro. Put the grated potato in cold water to prevent them from turning brown. When ready to cook, put the shredded potato in a cheesecloth and wring out all excess water. The more its dry the more it will be crispy. Although here, I didn't make them crispy (enough crispiness from bacon). But you can.

Put about a tablespoon of bacon fat from the baking tray on to a small pan on medium heat. Add the onion. Fry for a min and then add the shredded potatoes. If you want them crispy, then lay them in a single layer and don't disturb. Let it crisp up on one side for 2 min and then turn over like a pancake.  If you want mushy, like I have here, fry the shredded potato with onion stirring them until they are brown. Season with salt and pepper. Place the potato on a plate.

Add a teaspoon of bacon fat to the same pan on medium heat. Crack a fresh egg on to the pan. Be careful not to get any shells in there (I need not say that!). Cook till the white part is no longer slimy. Place the egg on top of the potato you plated earlier.

Add the crispy bacon (I just break it into small pieces), chopped fresh tomato, cilantro. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Pan Seared Shrimp with Creole Seasoning

If I am very tired, very hungry and I have to cook something, I always find shrimp to come to rescue. Why? It takes less than 5 min to cook. What can be faster than that? Even some of the Lean Cuisine box-es ask for 9 min heating.

Find the recipe for potato fans in the picture here.

Sauté  or stir fry some veggies on the side, and you have a meal for yourself. Or may be boil some pasta (10 min), add garlic to heated olive oil, toss the pasta, add the shrimp- delicious meal in less than 15 min. That's why I love shrimp. Well, and also the fact that I love all seafood, because I am a Bengali (Indian from the eastern part- fish loving people).

I made my own creole seasoning. It has simple ingredients that's already in your pantry, so why spend money buying it.

I followed Emeril's recipe- makes 2/3 cup:

2½ tablespoon paprika
2 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Mix all ingredients and store in an air tight container.

For preparing shrimp:

1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp (size: 31-40) [I kept the tail-on because it looks good in pictures, but you can definitely take them off. Much easier to eat that way]
2 teaspoon of creole seasoning.
1½ tablespoon butter

How:

Pat dry the shrimp. In a bowl, add the shrimp and the seasoning. Mix properly such that all shrimp is covered with seasoning. Do not add salt, as your seasoning already has salt in it.

Choose a wide shallow pan such that all the shrimp can be cooked in a single layer. Heat the shallow pan with butter on medium heat. Add the shrimp. Cook on one side for 2 min. Turn over and cook for another min till all the shrimp is pink and seared nicely. It does not take long to cook shrimp. Do not overcook shrimp. They become rubbery and chewy- not good!

Serve warm and enjoy with sautéed vegetables or pasta (mentioned above).

Recipe for potato fans here.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Oh, there are some things that need no introduction, no stories, nothing. It is so simple and elegant. Just one thing- it is so soooo good!

Just another thing: This will be so lovely on Valentine's day morning. Right? Lovely pink color with the heart shaped strawberry slice at the edge of the cup. #Romantic

Oh! and another thing: You can even make a milkshake with this. Just swap the milk with some vanilla ice-cream!

And one final thing (I promise, it's the last thing, next is the recipe): This is dairy free- as I used almond milk. But go with the regular milk if you are ok with it.

So, here's what you need (Serves 2):

1 ripe banana

1 cup of strawberry syrup  OR 10-12 large strawberries and 2 tablespoon sugar

½ cup almond milk (You may use rice milk or regular milk- keep in mind the rice milk is much thinner in consistency than almond milk, so add according to your desired consistency)

1-2 drops of vanilla extract

How:

Put the banana in the blender and blend it. It will be like a cream (This prevents the banana to be chunky in your smoothie). Then add all the other ingredients and blend to a smooth consistency. Add more sugar if you like you like your smoothie to be more sweet. It also depends on how ripe your strawberries are. Also add more milk if you would ike a thinner smothie. Chill and enjoy it with some chocolate shavings on top. I don't mind a little chocolate in the morning. What do you say?

If you love strawberries as much as I do, you may also like:

Maple Walnut Muesli with Strawberries

Gluten free, Dairy free, Eggless Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup

Spinach Salad with Chili-Lime-Maple-Cilantro Dressing

It was just one of those days when all you want is a simple salad. I am not a big fan of salads unless I like the dressing. Oh yes, the dressing is very important for me. In fact, I have salads just for the dressing.

Now, I like cilantro, no wait, I LOVE cilantro. So if I want to enjoy a salad, I had to make a cilantro dressing. Got to be a little sweet, little tangy, little heat with a cilantro background. Made chili-lime-maple-cilantro dressing and enjoyed it with a refreshing spinach salad with mandarins and walnuts. Loved it. Loved the dressing!

I put the rest of the dressing to good use later: marinated some chicken with this and some garlic, onions and carrots and baked them (Will post later!). Wonderful dinner served with such ease. This dressing is so easy to put together, that you can make this any day, any time.

You need:

For dressing:

1 cup cilantro (Do not need to pick the leaves, only remove the hard stem).

Juice and zest of 1 lime

1 green chili (Use none or less or more depending on how much heat you like. I personally recommend a little heat, nicely balances the lime and the sweet taste of maple)

2 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

pinch of salt

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

For salad:

A handful of fresh baby spinach leaves

1 mandarin, peeled and cut into small pieces

¼ cup toasted chopped walnuts

Few slices of red onion 

How:

Put all the ingredients of the dressing in a blender. Blend it to smooth consistency. Taste for salt and lime. Add more if you like. Drizzle over the spinach with mandarin and walnuts. Enjoy!

If you like cilantro as much as I do, you may also like:

Pico de Gallo and Guacamole

Roasted cornish hens with sweet and savory brown rice