Delightful Linzer Squares

A long time ago, I ate Linzer Squares and was totally enchanted with the flavors. I was given the recipe, so I can truthfully say this recipe is in no way mine, though as it was shared with me, I am now sharing with all my readers. The fact that I really loved these when I first tried them did not, somehow, spur me on to make them right away, and like so many things, out of sight means out of mind, and the recipe has set out there ever since. 

Raspberry Linzer Squares

This year, I decided enough procrastination is enough and I made them for Christmas Eve dinner. And they are just as wonderful as I recalled. Again, begging the question: Why did I wait so very long to do this? Who knows. But now that I have, I am truly hoping to make them more often.

Raspberry Linzer Squares just cut

The thing with these squares / bars / cookies is that any flavor of jam can be used, so each time you make them they can have a different flavor. These were made with a seedless raspberry jam as my husband objects to the seeds. Regular raspberry jam, strawberry or apricot are also great. 

I would not mess with the crust part of the recipe, as it is just divine. Looking at the photos, it seems that the crust might be dry, but this is so not the case. It is tender and as it has ground nuts in it, nuts do help with moistness. The kind of nuts to use is entirely up to the individual. I used walnuts as they are my favorites, but pecans, hazelnuts, almonds or even macadamia would also work. The important thing is to have them very finely ground.

One thing the woman who gave me this recipe stated was that normally the lattice top is meant to be rolled out flat and cut into strips to set on top. She felt this was too tedious since the dough is delicate and easily breaks, so she suggested just rolling the  dough into thinner-than-pencil sized strips and setting them on top. It works the same either way and makes life easier.

I am all about making life easier!

Another thing that can be done, but I did not, is to brush the top lattice with an egg wash (1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon of water) before baking. This would make the lattice shiny and more golden. I meant to try it, but I totally forgot in my rush to bake this dessert! So obviously they came out wonderfully well despite this lapse. The dessert is made in a 9 x 9-inch pan, and the final "bars" can be cut into 12 bar type pieces or 16 squares; your choice. And here is the recipe for these wonderful bar type cookies. 

Raspberry Linzer Squares

Raspberry Linzer Squares

Makes 12 or 16 squares 

1½ cups all-purpose flour +2 tablespoons
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup hazelnuts, ground (or almonds, walnuts, pecans or macadamia)
½ cup unsalted butter at room 
    temperature
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 whole egg, beaten
¾ cup thick raspberry Jam
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon water
 
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9-inch square pan with parchment for easy removal and cutting later. Spray the parchment with cooking spray and set aside. 

Into a large mixer bowl, measure the 1½ cups of flour. (Reserve the extra 2 tablespoons for later). Add sugar, baking powder, salt, nuts, and butter; mix until well combined. Add lemon zest and egg, stirring with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Reserve ½ cup of dough aside. Pat remaining dough evenly into the bottom of the pan. Spread the preserves over dough in pan. To the reserved half-cup of dough, stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Roll this dough to very thin pencil like strips and place 9 strips in a diagonal over the preserves, about ½" apart. Place the remaining 9 strips crosswise over the first strips, ½” apart, forming a lattice top.

In small bowl, stir the egg yolk and water; brush dough strips. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack in pan. Cut into bars. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Chutney with Tamarind and Chutney with Mango

Not everyone is familiar with Tamarind, even in this age of unification through the internet. I was introduced to tamarind, a legume or "fruit" that grows on a tree, while I lived in Guatemala in the 1970s. At that time, the main way I knew of tamarind is as Agua de Tamarindo (Tamarind Water), which was made as a refreshing beverage similar to lemonade in its sweet/sour aspect. For a time after returning home to the US, I would buy Goya brand Agua de Tamarindo, just to revisit the flavor, tamarind pods not being easily available here in the US at that time.
 

Tamarind Pods

Later on, as I discovered and fell in love with Indian cuisine, tamarind was presented in a runny "chutney" on many Indian buffets, and while this use tended to present the sour side of the fruit, nonetheless it became a chutney I particularly enjoyed. I was already familiar with its flavor, so this was an easy transition. In many dishes that call for tamarind as a sour flavoring agent, lemon juice is used as a substitute. If you keep in mind that while tamarind is in no way as tart as lemons, it is a souring agent used extensively in Indian dishes and other Southeast Asian cuisines, as well as in the Caribbean and Central America. 

If you are unfamiliar with tamarind, the fruit is encased in a brittle pod that is easily broken and removed. The dense and sticky fruit is somewhat encased in long, stringy fibers, and inside are somewhat flattened, glossy seeds. To make tamarind water as a beverage, you would first remove the brittle pod, then set the insides to soak in water. Once softened it is easiest to use clean hands and just squeeze and squish (very technical terms, I now!) the fruit to release its flavors, then strain and sweeten to taste. I went into this in a couple of blogs, see this one for a little more detail.

Tamarind is also found in a "brick", where the outside shells have been removed and the inner, sticky pulp, fibers and seeds are compressed. It is usually found cellophane wrapped, and it is used in the exact same way as if you used the pods. This package said "seedless" but that was absolutely not so!

I was amazed to find up here in Aberdeen, South Dakota, that our local WalMart store now carries whole tamarind pods! I had just used up the box full I had bought a couple of years past, while making Tamarind Chutney for an Indian dinner recently, so this was a wonderful surprise. In light of this, I wanted to write about making this chutney. It is not to everyone's taste, but for me it is certainly high on my list of favorite chutnies. My husband likes his sweet mango chutney, and I occasionally make and can a few jars to keep on hand. I will have to make some more as I also used up the last jar for that Indian meal.

Tamarind Chutney or Imli Chutney 

Makes about 2½ cups

Tamarind Chutney or Imli Chutney

7 ounces of compressed tamarind brick, or 7 ounces of tamarind pods, shell removed
3 cups boiling water
3/4 cup brown sugar or jaggery
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger 
1/2 teaspoon black salt, or regular salt, optional

Soak the tamarind in the hot water for about 30 minutes, until softened. The water will have cooled significantly during this time. Strain the water off into another container. Use 1 cup of the water to mash and squeeze the softened pulp and press it through a strainer. Use the back of a spoon to continue pressing to remove as much of the pulp as possible, without any fibers or seeds. 

Once the strained pulp is pressed out as well as possible, place all the pulp retrieved into a saucepan. Add in all the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil and then lower to a medium low boil and cook for about 20 minutes. The chutney is not meant to be thick, but only slightly less runny. Store in jars in the refrigerator for up to two months.

If you would like to make a very tasty Mango Chutney (of the British "Major Grey" sort), this recipe is absolutely delicious. It makes 3 pints, so canning and processing in a water bath is a good idea.

Mango Chutney or Am Chutney

Makes 3 pints

Mango Chutney

8 green cardamom pods, crushed
5 whole cloves
1½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1½ teaspoons coriander seeds, crushed
½ teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
3-inches true cinnamon stick, crumbled
2 pounds fresh mango, cut in ½-inch chunks
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup Sultanas (white raisins)
¼ cup seedless tamarind pulp, optional
1 piece fresh ginger the size of a large walnut
3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly and chopped
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon hot chili flakes, amounts optional
1½ cups apple cider vinegar
2 cups sugar

Place the first 6 ingredients into a dry skillet and heat to fairly high, stirring often until very fragrant. Remove the spices to a large enameled or stainless pot or stock pot. Add in the mango, onion, Sultanas, tamarind, ginger and garlic with the salt and chili flakes. Pour in the vinegar and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower heat to medium, maintaining a good boil and stirring often to prevent sticking to the bottom of the pan. Allow the mixture to cook for 10 minutes. Add in the sugar all at once and stir to dissolve. Once the mixture returns to a boil, stir relatively continuously for another 12 minutes or so, until the mixture begins to fall in two thick droplets from the side of a spoon.

Have hot sterilized pint jars ready. Pack the chutney into the jars, wipe rims and threads with a wet cloth and seal with lids and rings. Process the jars in a boiling water bath for: 
10 minutes if at 0 - 1,000 feet
15 minutes if at 1,000 to 6,000 feet
20 minutes if above 6,000 feet

Remove from water bath and set jars on the counter to await the nice pop, indicating a good seal on the jars. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Ravioli Worth the Making

I love ravioli, always have. I favor cheese fillings over meat fillings, preferring to have meat in the sauce to go with it. My husband on the other hand, has never once, ever, ordered ravioli if at an Italian style venue, but always has gone with spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs or sausage, if available. 

My earlier free-form ravioli experiment

With that in mind, while I have a couple of times in all my years made ravioli, I had never gotten a rave from him. Since I know that is not his "thing", that's okay, but at least I attempted them. Once I made them - earlier this year in fact - and used some of the leftover cheese pieces (of Romano and Chevre mashed together) I had used in the center of one of the flank steak rolls (appetizers for a Winefest here). There ended up more of the cheese filling than flank pieces, and I just got the idea to mash them up with some of my homemade pesto and fill ravioli. They were really good, but to try and explain what I did would have been near-impossible, so I didn't even try. Still, since my husband seemed to like those ravioli well enough, I had kept this in back of mind to try again at a future date.  

Making the pasta for the ravioli was another thing I  hadn't done too much of, despite having the pasta rolling attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I did make the past for the earlier ravioli. I was absolutely 100% sure that the recipe I used was in the booklet for my new Breville Sous Chef food processor. I went to the booklet to recreate the pasta. And . . . it wasn't there! I looked through the recipes at least 5 times. I was THAT sure it had been there! Oh well.

My new Ravioliera

Also, in the last couple of weeks I was on the Williams Sonoma website for hours and hours, just feasting my eyes. I went there specifically for a tablecloth, which I bought, but the only other thing I ordered after those hours on end was a ravioli mold. This is not a machine, or even a plate to fit into a machine, but just a mold with 12 little wells. The raised edges are meant to cut the ravioli, once filled and topped with pasta. It seemed, at the time, to be a good idea. Lots of people complained about not having a tool to press the dough into the wells. Others complained about the ravioli sticking in the wells and not coming out easily. Despite this, I ordered it and it came about a week ago. The tablecloth is stunning, and I am so very happy with it. The little ravioli former was beckoning.

Just formed Cheese & Pesto Ravioli

When I made ravioli in the past, it was free-form, seen in the photo above. I am no Mario Batali to just whip them out easily and readily. When I saw this little "ravioliera", I didn't know how large or small the ravioli would be, and there was nothing in the description (nor on the box once I received it) to say what size ravioli it would turn out. I used it the other day, with great success (after an initial learning curve), and it makes 2-inch ravioli. 

Keeping in mind all the negative comments on this little device, I was determined to make it work. I used a pasta recipe from the latest Food and Wine magazine, though I totally forgot to add the water! I tried, belatedly, to work in some water, accomplishing maybe 2 tablespoons worth. The pasta was nicely dry, which usually doesn't happen for me, so I had less problem with things sticking than usual. I rolled the pasta through the pasta roller attachment and though the recipe stated how many times and how thin to roll it - possibly because I forgot the water in the recipe, but there was no way I could form ravioli into the little wells without the pasta tearing. It was just too thin. I went one roller setting less thin, and had no more problems. I did find that it was easier to make one very long piece of dough (ultimately both top and bottom of the ravioli), setting half of it way off to one side covered with a damp towel, while working with the other half set over the ravioli former. I held the dough up while gently pressing the indents into the wells with the thicker end of my marble pestle. One of my round measuring spoons would probably have worked as well. If this is confusing to read, it was not that difficult. Just a matter of some common sense. 

Exquisitely flavorful Cheese & Pesto Ravioli

One comment I had read stated that it was best (rather than heavily dusting the ravioli wells with flour as the instructions suggest) to instead heavily flour the bottom of the pasta dough before setting into the mold. This worked well for me. With a little bowl of water nearby, I moistened the perimeter of each filled well before flipping the long pasta tail from off to the one side back over the wells. After pressing very well all around the edge to seal each individual ravioli, I ran the little wood dowel over the top to cut them apart. I will say this was not exact. It appears either the raised ridges are not of even height, or the wood dowel is not totally smooth. However, it did most definitely leave a deep enough impression so it was easy to go and run my pastry cutter (with the same zig-zag edge) over the parts that were not separated. All in all, after the first piece of dough through, I had a system going and it went very well.

In the same Food and Wine magazine article that I used the pasta dough recipe from, was the recipe for the ravioli filling. I liked the thought of the cheese part, though the actual recipe was for much larger ravioli that would have an egg yolk dropped into the center of the cheese filling before sealing. With my little ravioli of a bare 2-inch diameter, there was no way to add an egg yolk into them. I used the Feta, Romano and Parmesan, then added some of my own Pesto to flavor it instead of adding other herbs and such. 

This was the absolute best ravioli! Even my husband raved about them. Granted, I did nothing special with the sauce part. I fried hamburger, added some onion and green pepper and a larger jar of Ragu and cooked it. But no matter how you look at it, these ravioli were most exceptionally good! If you prefer a simple marinara, Puttanesca or a raw tomato mixture, any of these would be great. I think these were good enough to serve alone with a drizzle of olive oil, but my husband would so not go for that!

Cheese & Pesto Ravioli

Cheese & Pesto Ravioli with Parmesan shavings

Makes 58 - 60 (2-inch) ravioli 

PASTA
2 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
2 - 4 tablespoons water
2 cups "00" or semolina flour (I used semolina)

FILLING
7 ounces preferably sheep and/or goat milk Feta 
7 ounces whole milk ricotta
1.5 ounces Romano cheese, finely grated
3 tablespoons (preferably homemade) basil pesto
a few grinds of black pepper
a few gratings of fresh nutmeg

Place the flour in a food processor. Separately, whisk together the eggs, yolks and water. Drizzle into the processor while pulsing, once all added, process until the mixture starts to come together. Turn out onto a surface and knead a few times to form a ball. Wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Wipe out the food processor bowl and add in the Feta, broken into chunks, along with the grated Romano. Pulse, then process to completely break down to crumbs. Add in the ricotta, pesto, pepper and nutmeg and process until well combined. Pour into a bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

To roll the pasta, a pasta roller of some kind is preferable, unless you have great experience at rolling pasta dough thinly. (I don't.) Cut the dough into quarters, working with one quarter at a time and keeping the remainder well covered. Roll the dough out slightly, into a long oval. Run it through the pasta roller on its widest setting at least 4 times. Turn the setting to the next smaller setting and run it through twice more. Turn the roller to the next smaller setting and run the dough through twice. The dough should be quite thin. If not, use the next narrower setting twice and possibly even one more narrower setting if needed. The dough should be thin, but not so easily torn.

You should now have a very long, narrow piece of dough. Drape half over a ravioli former, or if free-forming, cover half the dough with a towel while forming ravioli with the other half. In a mold, press the well-floured dough into the wells. Use a very small cookie scoop to make even sized little mounds of the filling. If free forming, simply keep the filling mounds evenly spaced for ease of cutting. Moisten the edges all around the filling with water. With the mold, flip the long tail of dough over the top, pressing well around each well to seal. If free-form, moisten the dough all around the filling, and then mold the long remaining tail over each mound of filling, pressing tightly all around each mound to seal. With the mold, run the dowel or rolling pin over the top to make the cuts. Turn out and separate any places that stick, using a pastry cutter. If free-form, simply cut between the mounds with a knife, use a biscuit cutter or use a pastry cutter. Whichever works best.

Once formed, make sure the ravioli are well dusted with flour so they do not stick. They will cook in boiling, well-salted water in about 3 to 4 minutes. Serve with your favorite sauce.

MAKE AHEAD:  The ravioli can be frozen. Make sure  the bottoms are well dusted with flour, then set the ravioli in a single layer on a baking sheet. Freeze until solid, then remove them to a zip-top bag and return to the freezer for up to 3 weeks. They can be cooked straight from the freezer, though the timing might require another minute or two to bring to temperature all the way through.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Remake of an Old Family Favorite

My ethnicity being divided between the Vojvodina area of Serbia and Slovakia via grandparents who immigrated to the US in the very early 1900s, I was brought up in great part on the recipes that came with them from "the old country." One of those recipes (which I absolutely did not like as a child) was Holupki. This is alternatively spelled in so many ways throughout Europe that it would be difficult to cover them all, but in essence, these are hamburger (or pork) and rice-stuffed cabbage rolls. My Mom called them "Pigs-in-a-Blanket", though this has become the title for little sausages wrapped in a dough of some kind. But you get the idea. This is the recipe for Holupki that I have made through the years:

Holupki aka Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Holupki (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

Makes approximately 12, depending on size

1 large cabbage
2 pounds hamburger meat
(or substitute ½ pound of the meat with ground pork)
1 medium onion, chopped and lightly sauteed
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper, or to taste
2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
2 teaspoons sweet Hungarian paprika
1 cup rice, uncooked
1 (14-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
½ teaspoon sugar (to round out the flavor)
½ teaspoon salt
2 bay leaves
2 or more sprigs fresh thyme
water, as needed to cook

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Remove some of the outer cabbage leaves, as whole as possible. Place into the boiling water until they are soft, then remove and set aside. When the leaves on the remaining cabbage become too entangled to separate, place the rest of the whole head into the pot and allow the leaves to soften. Remove periodically to trim off leaves at the core end. You will need at least 12 or so viable cabbage leaves for rolling the meat. Take the remaining cabbage and chop roughly. Place half the chopped cabbage into the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven. Set aside the remaining chopped cabbage.

In a large bowl, mix together the meat(s), onion, garlic, egg, salt, pepper, paprika and rice. Do not over mix. Trim off the thickest parts of one cabbage leaf, then take one portion of meat mixture (approximately ⅔ to ¾ cup worth) and set on one end of the leaf. Roll, burrito-style, folding in ends and tucking as necessary. Repeat, until all the meat is rolled into cabbage leaves. Place the rolls into the pot, on top of the chopped cabbage. Top with the remaining chopped cabbage. Tuck the bay leaves down between the rolls, and place the thyme sprig(s) on top.

Combine the tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes. Add in more salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the tomato mixture over the cabbage rolls. The rolls should not be submerged, but nearly covered. If the tomato mixture is not quite high enough, add water until just the tops of the rolls are visible.

Set over high heat to bring to boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 1½ - 2 hours. Best served with mashed potatoes. 


As I grew up and particularly while in Guatemala, far from home and Mom's cooking, I started to have a better appreciation for those recipes that were a large part of my childhood. I will say that although I have made these Stuffed Cabbage Rolls quite a few times over the intervening years, the one reason I do not make them more often is that it is kind of a royal pain to make them. So while perusing Pinterest one day recently, I came across a photo, and them the recipe for what someone called "Unstuffed Cabbage." I am sure many have seen or done this, and I know I have seen this on Facebook also. Somehow though, with the cooler days, I suddenly perked up when I saw this recipe. 

I printed it off, mainly to compare with what I put into my own recipe for Holupki. Turns out it was not so very different - mainly differences in amounts of things. Today I decided to attempt this. It certainly goes together quickly, all things considered. The recipe I read called for browning the hamburger meat, and the rice was omitted. I happen to like the rice-in-the-meat part of this recipe, so I decided to make meatballs of the meat and rice mixture. Of course while they are cooking they start looking a little like porcupines with the grains of rice sticking out every which way! 

Unstuffed Cabbage

Still, the meatballs held together, mostly, throughout the cooking process, and the amount of liquid in the pot diminished a lot. Before serving, I had to add more water and a little more salt for balance. With the stirring and mixing process, many of the meatballs started to come apart. I did not pack the meat when making the meatballs, and maybe this would have made a difference. Who knows? Despite the meatballs coming apart more and more each time I had to mix or ladle, the soup / stew was delicious. Whereas my husband would remove all of the cabbage from the Cabbage Rolls in past, eating only the meat mixture inside - when presented this way he ate everything, including the cabbage, with no problem at all. I would say that this dish was a hit. It tasted great, was totally reminiscent of the Holupki I grew up with, and my husband will eat it. These criteria make this a hit in my book!

Unstuffed Cabbage

Unstuffed Cabbage

Makes a large pot, at least 8 servings or more

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds lean hamburger
1 cup long grain white rice
1 egg
1½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons Hungarian sweet paprika
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
--------
8 cups water
1½ teaspoons salt
1 onion, halved, cut in thin slices
1¼ pounds cabbage, cut in small pieces
1 sprig of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 (14-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
1 (14-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar

In a skillet heat the oil and saute the chopped onion until it is just beginning to brown. Add the garlic and toss for a minute or two. While the onion is cooking, set a large pot on a burner and add in the water and 1½ teaspoon of salt. Bring to boil.

In a mixing bowl, combine the hamburger, rice, egg, 1½ teaspoons salt, paprika and pepper. Add in the sauteed onion and garlic and mix together very well. The meatballs are made in a snap if you have a cookie scoop. I used a cookie scoop, rounding the meat in the scoop as I formed 1½-inch diameter meatballs. Drop the meatballs into the pot of boiling salted water. As they start to be crowded, remove them to a plate using a slotted spoon. Once all the meatballs are set, add to the water in the pot the sliced onion, cabbage, thyme, bay leaves, the three cans of tomato (diced, sauce & paste), the vinegar and sugar. Return to the pot any meatballs that were set aside. Gently stir to combine the whole, then cover and simmer for 40 minutes or up to an hour.

Serve as a soup or stew. We always ate Holupki with mashed potatoes on the side. If you wish, mashed potatoes or other cooked potatoes would also be good with this soup, though with rice already in it, potatoes aren't truly needed.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Great Mulligatawny at Last

I wrote in my recent blog of October 23 about my first attempt at making a "Mulligatawny" soup. Mulligatawny is the Anglicized version of the Indian dish called "Milagu-thanni", or Pepper Water. 

Table Set for Indian Dinner

In my first attempt, I was using a recipe in a cookbook I own, and I believe one of the ingredient amounts HAD to be a typo: it called for nearly ½ pound (200 grams) of besan, or chickpea flour. I actually used 50 grams less than that, and when I added it to the stock, it seized into nearly a solid mass. I added water and added water and it took forever to cook through, and stirring was an absolute necessity, as it would stick to the bottom of the pan. 

Mulligatawny Leftovers

All this did not prevent that first try being delicious. We had our friend Rich visiting when I made it that time, and we all agreed it was downright tasty! Still, some changes were absolutely needed, both in the sequence of events in preparation and in the amounts of the individual ingredients. I added more of some, less of others, introduced a few other things and voila! this second attempt was a true "keeper" as my husband calls them. This second try was really a magnificent mix of flavors. It was still quite thick, though I reduced the besan flour by orders of magnitude (only 38 grams). Some of the recipes with photos online showed a runny soup, some showed a slightly thickened soup. Since my husband prefers thick soups anyway, this one suited him perfectly. And let me say that all of our guests on November 3rd were highly complimentary of the flavors of this soup. 

Viognier with Mulligatawny and Pinot with Biryani

I am well pleased. My husband went so far as to say he "wouldn't mind" having this soup on any cool evening. This is translated as "please make it more often." No problem from me! Once I got the kinks worked out of the recipe's order of events, it is really easy - though there are quite a few steps.

My husband and I hosted an Indian dinner with two other couples this past Thursday evening, and we all had a great time. The guests brought the wines for the meal, and we found that a really lovely Viognier went splendidly with the Mulligatawny soup! The Pinot Noir shown here went exceptionally well with the rest of the meal, going so far as to seemingly "cool and soothe" the heat of the hot chutney accompaniments.

Somehow I managed to get multiple photos of all the other dishes, but only one of the Mulligatawny soup that evening! I took one more semi-decent shot of the leftover soup I ate last evening.

My Menu for our Indian Feast

Some of the things I chose to do differently in the making of this soup were the order of cooking the chicken, the red lentils and the besan/chickpea flour. The original recipe called for cooking them all together. This resulted in losing a lot of the soup when removing the chicken wing pieces for bone removal, as much of this thick soup stuck to the wings when taking them out to cool. Another big difference was the use of chicken wings instead of pristine chicken breast to be sliced prettily for serving. I chose instead to use chicken wings firstly because anything cooked with bones will result in more flavor. Secondly, once cooked, the little bits of chicken removed from the bones were of a perfect size to not interfere with eating the soup. 

The original recipe called for removing any skin from the chicken breast to be used. This also removes most any possibility of fat floating on the soup. You might say that skinning chicken wings would be an onerous task, but truly, it took just a very few minutes to accomplish. Cut the wing segments apart and discard wingtips. Set a wing segment with the thickest skin side down. There is always a piece of the thicker skin that protrudes; hold onto this bit, and position a very sharp knife towards the wing and slide the knife away from you. The wing will roll along, leaving most of the skin behind. Easy-peasy.

Skinning Chicken Wings

I chose to cook the initial broth with the chicken wings, then remove them. Next I added the red lentils to cook through and finally the besan/chickpea flour to cook through. The whole soup (minus the chicken) is pureed smooth.  One of the ingredients in this soup is tamarind. I keep tamarind concentrate in my fridge, as I do use it now and again. I served Imli (Tamarind) Chutney with the meal also, so tamarind was used for that. If using fresh tamarind pods, or even one of those blocks of shelled tamarind all clumped together, the amounts will have to be adjusted (they will need to be soaked and sieved to remove fibers and seeds). I used 2 teaspoons of the tamarind concentrate, and it was perfect in this soup. 

How hot to make the soup is also a choice. Since I know my husband does not tolerate more than a very mildly hot spice level, and I didn't know about some of the guests' tolerance levels, I chose to make the main dishes mildly spiced, and then also provide various chutneys and "pickles" in varying heat levels from completely mild to screaming hot, so the guests could spice things to their preferences. I happened to grow cayenne chilies this past summer, and had quite a few green chilies that I'd picked before the temps started dipping too low. I added one whole cayenne chili that I only poked holes in with a knife tip. This provided a nice, mild spice to the soup; not overwhelming for anyone. If your spice tolerance is high, add in chopped whole chilies and dry powdered chili to your taste. Taste-testing this soup along the way is absolutely no hardship!

Milagu-Thanni or Mulligatawny Soup

Serves 8 to 10

Mulligatawny Soup

1½ to 2 pounds chicken wings, skinned
2 - 3 tablespoons ghee or oil
6 - 8 cloves garlic
1½ inches fresh peeled ginger
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon black cumin seeds (may use regular cumin; taste will be different)
1 tej patta leaf
1 cup red lentils
½ cup chickpea flour (38 g besan)
2 teaspoons tamarind concentrate
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon fenugreek powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
2½ to 3 teaspoons salt
1 hot green chili, holed poked in with tip of knife
1½ teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can coconut milk
2 teaspoons sugar 
Cilantro leaves for garnish, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with cooking spray. Set all the skinned wing pieces on the sheet in a single layer and bake for about 30 minutes, until lightly browned. 

While chicken is baking, place the ghee into a large soup pot and add the onion with a sprinkling of the total amount of salt. Cook the onion over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until well softened. Add in the ginger and garlic with the coriander and cumin seeds and continue to cook, stirring for 3 to 5 minutes more. Add the baked chicken pieces and the tej patta leaf with 8 cups of water. Bring to boil, then lower heat to a simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the chicken pieces and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, remove the chicken pieces from the bones. Discard any bones and dark veins or remaining skin. Set chicken aside.

Add the red lentils to the simmering broth and cook for another 25 minutes, until tender. Once the lentils are cooked through, puree the soup and return to the pot (or use a hand blender). Now whisk in the chickpea flour and continue whisking until no lumps remain. Allow the flour to cook through, stirring, for at least 10 minutes. Add in the tamarind, lime juice, turmeric, fenugreek powder, garam masala, remaining salt, whole green chili and the black pepper. Cook for about 30 minutes more. 

MAKE AHEAD: If making ahead (1 or 2 days), chill the soup at this point. 

When ready to proceed, bring the pot back to a boil, reduce heat to a bare simmer and add in the sugar and the coconut milk. Heat gently and serve.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Slovak Apple Cake at Last

Okay, I have a little story to tell. My background is from Slovak and Yugoslav roots. My maternal grandparents came to the US from what was Czechoslovakia in the very early 1900s sometime. Grandma Pramik used to make something she called "Apple Cake", though it was not a cake, and it was also not - quite - a pie. I absolutely loved this Apple Cake, even more than apple pie! One time in my early days of being married and homesick, I asked Mom if she had Grandma's recipe for Apple Cake and she gave it to me.

Okay, as a young kid just out of teenage (I married the first time at age 20, just barely), I was totally inexperienced in the kitchen. I made the Apple Cake once, felt it was nothing as good as Grandma's, and never tried it again. Somewhere along the way, I lost the recipe, so I was completely without any real idea of what was in it and how it was made. My first thought was to ask my sisters if they had the recipe. Grandma had passed way before I was married, so there was no going back to the source. None of my sisters had the recipe, nor did any of them know what might have happened to Mom's recipe box. Drat!

My first try at Apple Cake

At this point in my thinking, just now as I write, I realize there are also cousins that I might have asked!

But back to the point. So this was a couple of years ago or so, and I started looking on the internet. Any result for Apple Cake or Slovak Apple Cake just gave me pictures and recipes for a cake with apples in it. And Grandma's recipe was so NOT a cake! 

So, what IS this Apple Cake?

My first try at Apple Cake

I guess here would be a good place to describe what this Apple Cake was. It consisted of a bottom crust, similar to a pie dough, but not quite a pie dough. Grandma's crust was always set into a rectangular baking dish and the crust went up the sides of the pan about 1 to 2 inches or so. Into this crust went an apple mixture. What made it different from an apple pie mixture, I had no idea. And then the top part gets tricky, because my memory of this dessert is about 50 years old, with no intervening tastes or views. I "think" there might have been a lattice type crust on top. And I "think" there might have been a drizzle of icing. I know absolutely there was no full crust on top.

So now back to present day. I have been reworking some old "cookbooks" (not published - just recipes that are either family recipes, recipes I have tried elsewhere and liked and recipes I have created. I had made them for my sisters and my kids, quite a few years ago. My son recently divorced his wife (whom I love dearly) and took the cookbooks with him when he moved out. My daughter in law was devastated. So I immediately went to work updating and re-making the cookbooks for her. And then I got thinking it might be good to make a copy for myself, but when I got to the specific ethnic recipe chapters, I have a huge amount of Indian recipes amassed, and a whole lot of Guatemalan recipes. but ultimately, not all that many from my own ethnic background. Years ago I had searched for some of the names of recipes I knew and had eaten, such as my paternal Grandma Hromish's "Machanka," a sweet-sour tomato gravy. Nothing I searched came even close. A couple of days ago I went searching again and Eureka! I found it! With that little win, I felt it was time to search for Apple Cake once more and - once again, Eureka! I found it. 

That said, I am not at all sure how close to Grandma's the recipes I saw might be. Even though I can sort of still imagine eating that Apple Cake, 50-ish years is a really long time for a taste memory to hold up. But I found recipes, and that is a start. Yesterday I set about trying one recipe out. It comes from a site called www.slovakcooking.com. When I went to make the crust I found that I had run out of all-purpose flour! So instead I used half white whole wheat flour and half cake flour. Because of the white whole wheat, which is "thirstier" than all purpose, I had to use 6 tablespoons of milk to get the dough to come together. The flavor of the crust is excellent. The apples in the recipe I found were grated and called for no thickening. I felt it might need some thickening so I added 2 tablespoons of flour, and since Grandma always used sliced apples, I did too. There are so many photos of this out there now, and the photos show  grated apples or sliced apples. There are photos with no top crust, a lattice top crust and full top crust, and some even used streusel. 

Because of looking up such things, I also encountered a wonderful blog site. A woman from Canada is living in Slovakia with her husband and 4 children. So interesting! Apparently, as of late 2019 her blog is no longer active, and she is only on Facebook. Find her at Almost Bananas.

Meanwhile, here is my first try at making Apple Cake, or Jablkový Koláč.

Apple Cake - Jablkový Koláč

My Apple Cake

Makes one 9 x 13-inch pan

4 cups all-purpose flour (or 2 cups white whole wheat + 2 cups cake flour)
1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks /½ pound)
1 cup confectioners' sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs 
2 tablespoons milk, or more as needed
----------
2 pounds apples
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
----------
½ cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly spray a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Stir or whisk together in a  large bowl the flour(s) confectioners' sugar, salt and baking powder. Cut in, as for pie dough, the butter. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk, then pour into the flour mixture and toss with a fork. If the mixture does not come together, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together. Allowing the mixture to set for 15 minutes will make the dough more workable.

Peel, core and slice apples. Place in a bowl and add in the sugar, flour, vanilla and cinnamon. Stir well and set aside.

Divide dough in half. Dust a surface with flour and set one half of the dough onto the surface, and dust top with more flour. Roll out to fit the baking dish with edges of dough up to top of pan (both dough and filling are generous!). Pour in the apples and smooth into place. Roll out the remaining dough and cut into long strips about 1-inch wide. Set them diagonally onto the apples, spaced about an inch apart. Then set more crosswise to these first strips. Brush the top of the dough with more milk if desired. 

Bake the Apple Cake for about 45 to 55 minutes, or until the apples are bubbling and the crust is golden.  

Cool the Apple Cake before drizzling with a glaze made from mixing the half-cup confectioners' sugar and milk. Cut into squares for serving.

I tasted the Apple Cake and while my memory is poor, it seems to have some resemblance to Grandma's. I feel that the crust is far too generous. I may have to reduce it by about a third. More experimentation is needed. For now, I am well-pleased!  


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Interesting Dessert with Carrots

Some would immediately say "Ewww", yet we do eat carrot cake! With spices added, and a little sugar, lots of things become not only palatable, but downright delicious. And so it is with this, another Indian recipe for Gajar Burfi, or in other words, a carrot fudge.

Gajar Burfi or Carrot Fudge with Edible Silver Leaf

I have encountered many interesting blogs with Indian recipes, and one of them is www.vegrecipesofindia.com. I have not made too much from this site, but it is a veritable treasure trove, if you love Indian food. Since I have an Indian Dinner scheduled next week, I was looking for a dessert - not Gulab Jamun, since I served that to two of the guests last time! The stricture of "no nuts" was a trifle limiting, since so many desserts and other Indian foods use nuts as a matter of course. And then I came upon this recipe for Gajar Burfi. As usual, I looked at a slew of other recipes for this same dessert, and settled with this one as it sounded easy enough. 

Before making it for guests, however, I thought it expedient to at least try it out and see if it was something that tasted good. My husband is a little sketchy on carrots. He will eat them if they are in something like a vegetable soup, or shredded into a stir fry, but not so much blatantly on their own! I am not sure if he will eat this or not, but I am going to hazard a guess that he just might, if he can get past the thought of eating CARROTS for dessert. ;-)

Gajar Burfi or Carrot Fudge

So with that in mind, I set about making half of the recipe - partly as I didn't have enough of the whole milk powder on hand to make the whole recipe, and partly because....what if we don't like it? So, the recipe is pretty much straight from this blog site mentioned above and I would encourage looking through that site.

The recipe is detailed in very large step by step photos on this website, so mine will be just enough to give the idea. Truly, it is a simple recipe. The whole milk powder is not available everywhere - certainly not in this town, to my knowledge. Amazon is my go-to place. The recipe uses a small amount of ground cardamom, but I do encourage you to invest in the whole cardamom seeds and grind them yourself rather than get pre-ground powder. I have tried both, and the powder, which is often the seeds ground along with the husks in the interest of cost, just barely has any flavor in comparison. And who would have known that carrots and cardamom would go so well together? 

One thing about Indian recipes: they rarely will tell you how much a thing makes, or what size of pan to use. When I started this recipe this morning, I greased a 7 x 7-inch pan, thinking this would work for half the recipe. As I got closer to the end of cooking I realized this was far too large a pan. I couldn't find anything else on short notice but a 6-inch diameter round cake pan. Even that is larger than I would have liked for this half recipe I made. So, I believe the 7 x 7-inch pan would accommodate the whole recipe (as written below) just fine, giving a slightly thicker final product. My burfi turned out rather flatter than I'd hoped, and with the round pan, I cut it into wedges rather than squares. All that said, the bit I ate was out-of-this-world good!

This is what to do:

Gajar Burfi or Carrot Fudge

Gajar Burfi (Carrot Fudge)

Makes one 6 x 6 or 7 x 7-inch square pan

2 tablespoons ghee
4 cups finely grated carrots
pinch of salt 
1 cup whole milk powder
⅓ cup sugar
½ teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
pistachios (or raisins) for garnish

Grease a 6 x 6 or 7 x 7-inch square pan or tray and set aside.

In a saucepan with a heavy bottom, melt the ghee and add in the grated carrots and the pinch of salt. Use a silicone spatula to toss and stir the carrots over medium to medium low heat for 7 to 9 minutes. The carrots will cook and also dry out considerably in this time.

Take pan off heat and dump in the powdered milk, stirring quickly to combine with the carrots. Return to the heat and add the sugar and cardamom, stirring quickly and scraping the bottom often. There will be some sticking, but most can be avoided by keeping focus on the mixture. The sugar as it melts will loosen the mixture somewhat, but it quickly dries out and the carrots will come together into one mass. Turn the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth it to the edges.

cooking carrots      |  whole milk powder added  |      sugar goes in      |      cooked to a ball      |     turned into pan to mold

Allow to cool, then cut into squares (or wedges if you've used a round pan). Garnish with chopped pistachios or with (white) raisins to serve. 

I believe that the half recipe I made would nicely serve 3 people, with two small, thin wedges constituting a serving. So this whole recipe as it stands above would serve 6. If you are more conservative in your serving portions (I have no willpower!), then the recipe might serve 12.

Then of course, in the interest of making a good thing better, since the main course for my dinner next week is a Royal Biryani, I felt I should invest in some edible silver leaf (varq or vark) to adorn the dish, as is often shown in cookbooks. It so happens that I ordered it over the weekend and it arrived this morning! I got it out, believing (and rightfully so) that it might require a bit of a learning curve to set the silver leaf in place, I got out one of the sheets and experimented. The first photo above shows my very first time with silver leaf! (From Amazon, of course!)


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Another Indian Dinner and New Recipes to Try

I have another Indian dinner set for November 3rd. Two other couples will be joining my husband and me for this dinner, and it's been a while since I made a large dinner - probably last Thanksgiving. I know six people for dinner is not a "large" dinner party, but when it comes to Indian food with all the prep work involved, it can become onerous. 

I have been trying out new recipes, since one of the people who will be attending cannot eat nuts. So many Indian recipes use nuts in one way or other, even down to grinding them to use as thickeners instead of our method in the US, of thickening with flour or cornstarch. So I finally settled on making a Lamb biryani dish as the main course. I wrote about my biryani, which was heavenly, in my blog post of September 28th. I got all the kinks worked out of the recipe, and have things ordered in such a way as to make it as smooth flowing as possible. 

Mulligatawny, first try

Then I thought of making a soup. The Indians really do not make what we know as "soup". They make "gravies." All their thin, either watery or slightly thickened recipes, that we would call soup are meant to pour over rice and/or be scooped up with a local form of bread. But still, being here in the US, I figured I would attempt one of the soups that we know as "Mulligatawny." In reality it is called Milagu-thanni and is translated as Pepper Water. I have read countless recipes and watched countless videos on this recipe. All of them are different. Some are so different it is hard to tell if it is the same kind of recipe. 

When I first tried this out, I followed a recipe from a cookbook I found many years ago, called the Bombay Palace Cookbook. In this recipe, the soup calls for the use of ½ pound of besan. Besan is flour made from ground chickpeas. This soup was meant to serve 6 to 8. With that much of the chickpea flour, the whole pot of water seized up into such a thick mass that it became difficult to even stir, much less cook the little red lentils, also in this recipe, through to doneness. I don't know if this was a typo in the recipe, but I will be rectifying that when I recreate this soup. I think in all the myriad recipes I read or watched since, none of them have called for besan flour or even chickpeas. Most seem to use tiny amounts of toor dal (split dried pigeon peas) and/or gram dal, still leaving the finished soup very runny. Some few had a very slight thickening after pureeing, depending on the amount of these beans or lentils used. 

After all this, some use curry leaves, some don't. As the actual title is Pepper Water, some do use a fair amount of black peppercorns, but others use just a tiny bit. Some use a lot of chili peppers and some don't. This is another of those recipes that seem to have 100,000 different variations. 

My very thick soup was good in flavors, no doubt, but I will be making it differently when I make it for the dinner!

Allam Pachadi or Ginger Tamarind Pickle

So then on to dessert: I have Gulab Jamun in the freezer from the last dinner. I can make a syrup and two of our guests would get a re-run. Or, I could try something else. I settled on trying out Gajar Burfi, basically a carrot fudge. Don't knock it - we do eat carrot cake, after all!  I will be testing that recipe this week to see how it goes. I always have the gulab jamun...

And then I started wondering about "Indian Pickles." I keep wondering what the Indians mean by "pickle," because their pickles have nothing in common with what I know (upper Midwest U.S. girl) as pickles. The recipe I chose to try today was made with ginger and tamarind. The recipe called for 6 tablespoons of hot red chili powder. This is powdered dried chilies, not the stuff that goes into chili con carne. This is HOT!  And 6 tablespoons? Okay, I chose to make half the recipe. I also chose to use 2 tablespoons of Spanish paprika and only 1 tablespoon of the Kashmiri red chili powder I have. I mostly followed the rest of the recipe called Allam Pachadi on a website called Indian healthy recipes. It came out very nicely and while it is hot, it is just tolerable for me. Which means my husband won't touch this with a 10-foot pole, but I know at least a couple of my guests do like hot spice. It looks really pretty, for sure. This is my translation (grams to ounce or tablespoons, sequence of events and so on. Do visit Swasthi's website by clicking on the title above.

Allam Pachadi, Americanized, or Ginger Tamarind Pickle

Allam Pachadi or Ginger Tamarind Pickle

Makes one small jar, about 8 - 10 ounces

½ pound fresh, plump ginger root
6 tablespoons cooking oil, divided
100 grams of tamarind whole (about 8 pods) -   or compressed tamarind paste in a
    comparable amount
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons pure red chili powder
4 tablespoons Spanish paprika
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar
1 tablespoon fenugreek powder
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
4 -6 cloves garlic, smashed
20 to 24 fresh curry leaves
2 dried red chilies, broken
⅛ teaspoon asafoetida

Soak the tamarind in 1 cup boiling water for about 20 minutes.

Peel the ginger and slice thinly, then rough chop. Heat a skillet and use about 1 tablespoon of the oil to fry the ginger until it starts to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. Once cooled, place in the food processor and process very fine.

Set a sieve over a bowl. Lift out one of the soaked tamarind pods at a time. Using hands, roll and press the flesh from the seeds and fibers, pressing the puree into the bowl. If a little water is needed, add only enough to rinse down. You want tamarind puree, not a liquid. I got about 6 tablespoons of paste. Add this to the ginger in the processor, along with the paprika and chili powders, turmeric and salt. Process to combine. Add in the palm sugar (jaggery) or brown sugar and the fenugreek powder and process again to combine. Taste for flavor. It should be balanced between sour/sweet/hot/spicy. If not, adjust to taste.

Heat the remaining oil in a skillet. Once hot, add in the mustard seeds and  stir until they begin to pop. Add in the garlic, curry leaves and asafoetida and stir until the curry leaves are crisp. Remove the pan from the heat. Scrape in the ginger paste mixture and stir to combine all the ingredients. Use all the oil, as it will surface and preserve the mixture for longer. Store in a glass jar, not in plastic.

It will easily stay in the refrigerator for a year, according to Swasthi's recipe.

NOTE: in the original recipe, it is stated that if desired one can add in a teaspoon each of Urad Dal and Channa Dal when frying the mustard seeds. I happened to have both, so I did this. They are toasted in the oil, and supposedly soften in the mixture as it sets.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.