Recipe for Russian Tea Cookies

The baking bug bit me this year! There I was pulling out and rifling through my recipes! V, who usually doesn't indulge in desserts, loves my Russian Tea Cookies. So I knew I had to make those. I also made Acorn Squash - Raisin bread (my own new creation) and Pecan bars. Later on those.

Here's the recipe for Russian Tea cookies. I have also heard them referred to as Mexican Wedding cookies. I am not sure if there is a difference between the two. Maybe the Mexican Wedding cookies have some spices, like cinnamon?

Ingredients:
1 cup butter softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar for dough + 1/2 cup for rolling
1+1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 cups Flour
1 dash salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

1. In a bowl, beat together the butter and 1/2 cup powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy
2. Mix together flour, salt, baking powder. Add to bowl and mix until blended well.
3. Add chopped nuts and mix well
4. Using hand, knead and roll the dough out into 2 balls.
5. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for atleast 1 hour

6. Take balls out of refrigerator and flatten out and cut into approximately 20 equal sized pieces to get total of 40 cookies
7. Shape into marble-sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet
8. Bake at 375C for 10 mins until firm but not browned. (The bottoms inevitably become little browned but that is okay)
9. Roll in powdered sugar when still warm

10. Let cool and roll in powdered sugar again

These eminently poppable cookies are totally irresistible and I had to hide some away from V to give to neighbors and friends.

I submitted this entry to "Click - the photo event" hosted by Jugalbandhi where the current theme is "red".

Yum!

Pecan Bar - turned out a bit too sweet... maybe I over did the chocolate chips


Acorn Squash Raisin bread - turned out okay... a bit over-baked perhaps.



Russian Tea cookies - just perfect!!

The Holiday Season Baking Bug

Every holiday season, my friend K organizes a huge baking party at her place. She designed and practically built the kitchen herself, and it is a pleasure to hang out there with friends. Fond memories! Having moved away, unfortunately I missed the baking gathering last year. When I met K last weekend during our visit to the Sacramento area, she handed me a recipe for lemon bars. That did it! I am picking up the pieces and going solo this year!

V hangs out with me in the kitchen rushing to help whenever something heavy or hot needs to be lifted. But otherwise he has decided not to interfere in my baking sessions, ever since he broke my 12-year old hand mixer the very first time he tried to use it.

Last night I made Acorn Squash-raisin bread and Russian Tea Cookies. Today I plan to make Pecan bars and maybe K's lemon bars if I can find where I put the recipe.

Recipe for Crockpot Bean curry

V had to work this weekend and so I decided to cook something quick since he wasn't around to help. We are trying to avoid canned foods since the BPA scare, and find crockpot extremely handy for cooking dry beans.

Today I used Black-eyed Peas (available at any grocery store) and Red Pinto beans (which I got from the bin at a Mexican grocery store). The red pinto beans cook easily and become really mushy and provide enough gravy for the curry. So here's the recipe for Crockpot bean curry.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup black-eyed peas
1 cup Red pinto beans
3 small potatoes peeled and cubed
oil for tempering
1/2 inch piece ginger grated
4-5 garlic cloves minced
1 onion chopped fine2-3 green chilies
1 tsp cumin seeds

1. Wash the beans and throw them the crockpot with 2 1/2 cups of water.
2. Add the potatoes also to the crockpot.
3. Depending on your crockpot, it may take 2-3 hours to cook. The pinto beans will be mushy and the black-eyed peas will be soft. Check on it a couple of times and add more water if required.
4. Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds. When golden, add green chilies, ginger, garlic and onion and cook for 5 mins.
5. Add the cooked beans and potatoes and heat through.
6. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve

Potato podimaas recipe

If you are looking for something less oil-laden to go with your sambar and rasam rice than "Urulai-kizhangu (potato) Roast", try "Urulai-kizhangu (potato) Podimaas". I think "podimaas" means something like "crumbled" or "mashed". Although V prefers the roast, he gets it only on occassion. This time, when we had some guests over, there was a special request for the podimaas. So the whole menu was worked out around the podimaas. V, who initially said he did not like podimaas, ate it gladly. Infact, the next day, with the leftovers, we made adais stuffed with podimaas (a la masala dosa).

Here's the recipe for "Urulai-kizhangu Podimaas".

Ingredients:

White/Yellow Potatoes - 4 or 5 large
1/2 cup frozen shelled green peas (I don't think this is used traditionally)
1/2 inch pc. ginger grated or sliced fine
4-5 green chilies slit open or chopped fine
shredded coconut - 2 Tbsp
Lemon/Lime juice - 2 Tbsp
salt to taste

For tempering:
1 tbsp oil
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Perungaayam (Asafoetida) - pinch
ulutham paruppu (urad daal) - 1 tsp
kadalai paruppu (chana daal) - 1 tsp
red chilies - 2 broken up

Chopped cilantro for garnish

Method:
1. Wash, and cut the potatoes into halves

2. Pressure cook them or cook them on the stove until soft

3. Peel the skins off the potatoes and crumble them with your fingers when cool enough to touch

4. Heat the oil in a wok and add the mustard seeds. When they start sputtering, lower the heat and add the other tempering ingredients

5. When the paruppu is golden brown, add the green chilies and the grated ginger

6. Add the shredded coconut and stir

7. Add the crumbled potatoes, green peas, and increase the heat to medium

8. Add the salt, adjust to taste

9. When heated through, switch off the heat and sprinkle the lime juice and cilantro

My mom also makes podimaas with "Vaazhai kaai" or raw banana. The method stays the same!

Recipe for Carrot Kosmari (Salad)

In traditional Indian cooking, salads are simple affairs usually featuring raw vegetables such as carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions sliced and arranged on a plate and drizzled with lemon juice. However "Carrot Kosmari" kicks it up a notch. It is typically made in Tamil cooking to go with "Thogayals" and "kozhambus" to provide a sweet contrast to the strong tastes. (More on thogayal and kozhambu in later posts!) It is easy to make, looks pretty and is healthy to boot. So here's the recipe for carrot kosmari.




Ingredients:

2 large carrots
1/2 cup lentils - payatham paruppu (called moong dal in Hindi)
juice of half a lime/lemon
salt to taste
3-4 green chilies slit
1 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and a pinch perungaayam (hing) for tempering
chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Soak the lentils (paruppu) in warm water for 1/2 hour. Drain. It will be soft enough to munch on. It will get softer with the juices in the carrot.

2. Grate the carrot

3. Mix the carrot, paruppu, salt and lime/lemon juice

4. Heat the oil. Add the mustard seeds. When they start sputtering, add the perungaayam and green chilies, and switch off heat.

5. Add the tempering to the salad and mix

6. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro

Enjoy with your Tamil meal! Chandra Padmanabhan's Dakshin is a great resource for preparing a Tamil meal.

I am submitted this recipe to the Vegetarian Thankgiving Recipe Carnival where you can get more ideas!!




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Tandoori Cafe in Santa Clara

After a 11-mile hike at Henry Coe, we got back into town only around 3 PM. Looking for a place to grab a quick lunch, we decided on Tandoori Cafe' at the intersection of Stevens Creek and Lawrence Expwy, since it had been on our list for some time. It is a dhaba-type place which reminded me a lot of the "Chaat Cafe" chain. Food is ordered at the counter and delivered to the table. The menu items are also similar - wraps, naan with different curries and so on. The best part however is the unlimited free chai!

We ordered the bhel puri first because we were quite hungry and thought it would arrive quicker than the other items. The bhel puri was so-so - very oily and not very fresh. However Tandoori Cafe redeemed itself with the wraps. V ordered the veggie wrap, and I ordered the paneer wrap. The bread was fresh and crisp and the fillings and sauce were quite tasty.



The bill came to $17 for the two of us with tax. In addition, a tip of a few dollars were left in the jar at the counter for "good karma".

Rasa Malaysia near San Jose airport

Rasa Malaysia is situated conveniently close to the airport and kitty corner from the Costco in Santa Clara. Apparently it used to be called "Penang Village" and the sign out front hasn't been changed yet.

While V and I were waiting for our friend D to join us, we decided to go ahead and try the "Onion Roti". This is usually called "Roti Canai" and is a staple at all Malaysian restaurants. We love this appetizer at "Banana Leaf", the popular Malaysian haunt in Milpitas. According to Wikipedia...

Roti canai (pronounced "chanai," not "kanai") is a type of flatbread found in Malaysia, often sold in Mamak stalls. It is known as roti prata in Singapore, and is a close escendant of Kerala porotta.

It goes on to say about the origin of the word "Roti canai"...

Roti means bread in Hindi, Urdu, most other North Indian languages, and Malay. The term "canai" derives either from:

• Chennai, a city in India which is formerly known as Madras. Roti canai is presumed to have been introduced by immigrant labour from the Madras region where a similar combination of parotta and dalcha - the accompanying lentil curry - is served. ^[1]
• "Channa", a mixture of boiled chickpeas in a spicy gravy from Northern India which it was traditionally served with.

Back to the food, the Roti Canai at Rasa was very good and has specks of green onion in the bread. We were off to a promising start.







D arrived and decided to go vegetarian for the day. Between us, we ordered the "Mango Vegetables with Tofu", "Kang Kung" and "Hot Pot Curry Vegetables with Tofu" with a side of jasmine rice. To summarize, all the dishes were wonderful and we were especially fond of the Kang Kung. Kang kung is water spinach and it was stir-fried in a spicy garlic sauce.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea_aquatica

The bill came to ~ $60 with tax and tip for the 3 of us. The price is on the high side for the portion size, but Rasa Malaysia is a great stop close to the airport.

Saravana Bhavan in Sunnyvale

Saravana Bhavan is a world-wide chain of South-Indian vegetarian restaurants that has become a household name with Indians everywhere. The restaurant has evolved over time, though it has maintained the same great quality and service. In its birthplace, Chennai, there are several branches, some specializing in Rajasthani food exclusively, some serving buffets all the time, and so on. Still, what Saravana Bhavan is famous for is good South-Indian fare like dosas, idlis, vadas, and full-course meals called "saappaadu".

The above logo in Tamil says "`Otel Saravana Bhavan (Uyarthara saiva uNavagam)", meaning, "Hotel Saravana Bhavan (High class vegetarian restaurant)". In India, sometimes, "hotel" is used interchangeably with "restaurant".

http://www.saravanabhavan.com/

When the yen for dosa strikes us, we usually prefer to go to Dosai Place in Santa Clara. It is mainly because of the never-ending crowds that swarm to Saravana Bhavan no matter when you go. It is also slightly more expensive than Dosai Place. However yesterday we headed over to SB to get our dosa fix.

We ordered the "Veggie pakodas" for starters. They arrived fairly quickly and even though they were a bit soggy, they tasted pretty good with the hot sauce.


For the main meal, V ordered the "Dry Fruit Rava Masala Dosa" and I ordered the "Tomato Onion Uthappam". V's "Dry Fruit Rava Masala Dosa" arrived sans masala but the waiter quickly brought us a dish of masala. It was very nutty with a lot of cashews and raisins. My "Tomato Chili Uthappam" was just okay - not as flavorful as I thought it would be.

We finished off with a cup of hot Madras coffee which is a special kind of latte with frothy foam on top served in a stainless steel cup & saucer. Hmm... that just hit the spot!!

The bill came to around $30 with tax and tip. I would go back again despite the crowds just for the coffee!

Fragrance Land in Cupertino again

Aug 2009 update: Much to our dismay Fragrance Land was shut down earlier this year.

Fragrance Land made the top 10 list on the Bay Area Vegetarians website! We have already written two posts about Fragrance Land: here & here.

Fragrance Land is one of our two favorites that we fall back on when we are too tired to ponder choices. (Dosai Place is the other - that warrants a separate blog post soon!)

So, on a lazy Sunday morning after a decent workout, when V and I didn't want to exert our brain cells too much, we went to Fragrance Land for lunch. Turned out to be a brilliant decision. (V tends to use brilliant a lot every time he comes back from London - I think it is catching!)

We ordered Scallion Pancakes for appetizer, as recommended in one of the reviews on the site. V liked it quite a bit, with the hot chili sauce. I thought it tasted like "parathas", nothing special.


For the main course, V ordered his kung pao chicken with extra peanuts as usual (see picture here), and I decided to try the Salt and Pepper Veggie Fish. Both dishes hit the spot. The kung pao was great as usual with crisp vegetables, thank goodness they didn't change anything. The Veggie Fish was very fishy and flaky and dry. It had a lot of basil and the fragrance made up for the fishy smell.

We were glad to see the place started filling up for lunch on a Sunday morning. Seems like they are doing pretty well. The bill came to around $27 with tax and tip.

A Vegetarian in London - Eat and Two Veg

This place is in Maryleborne and a stone’s throw away from Hilton Paddington (a great place to stay if you want to be close to Heathrow Express and the shopping districts). This place has been recommended by multiple restaurant sites in UK (toptable.co.uk) and thought it would be fun to visit.

They have an open kitchen and have a menu that makes a carnivore believe they are still in their favorite burger place. This place is known for its burgers and drinks. I ordered the berry drink and it didn’t disappoint. I ordered the Soy burger, it came with fries and salad. Nothing exceptional about the soy burger, but our standard is very high, given that we are used to the world’s best vegetarian burger at Sunflower Restaurant in Sacramento, CA . They have comfortable booths and have attentive service.

An average restaurant that has decided to go after the carnivore and still try to be in the business. A noble objective indeed. Let’s hope they succeed.

Their menu is online...

Terra – An earthy way to enjoy vegetarian food in Lisbon, Portugal

On a side trip to Lisbon earlier this month, I wanted to visit a good vegetarian restaurant. I read somewhere that Lisbon won the 1997 Vegetarian city of the world. That must be a true surprise to many given Lisboner’s love of meat.

A must-view tourist spot is St. George Castle, situated overlooking the Tagus river in downtown Lisbon (a separate post to come later).

I chanced upon Terra (meaning Earth) at 15 Principe Real, near a beautiful local park. I decided to do dinner at Terra and most of the fine Portugese restaurants open only at 7.30pm. A great way to get to the restaurant is to take the Belim Tram (it goes a nearly vertical incline) and walk less than a mile to the restaurant.

Once you enter the restaurant, you will be asked whether you want to sit in the garden, back or the front of the restaurant. The garden is beautiful, but was out for me because it was raining. The menu is quite simple, because the main course is all buffet. There are 20+ dishes, all vegetarian (many vegan), spanning all main vegetarian cuisines of the world. The main highlights were

- Starters were imaginative but not great tasting (some samosas, papadam, portugese pastry)
- Soup was leek onion, was quite ordinary
- Salads were divine, including vegetables that spanned the rainbow, but for someone heavily biased towards good salads I was not disappointed
- Main entrée included Thai-inspired tofu curry, Portuguese sausage, and 10+ dishes.
- Portuguese use the same plate across multiple rounds to the buffet line.

I ordered the Tourist buffet at 19 euros, included a special drink (rose-flavored drink, very sugary), buffet and desert and Portuguest coffee called bica (a cross between Turkish and Ethiopian coffee). I think this is the best value for money if you are really hungry. The servers speak English, and are very attentive and friendly.

Well worth a visit again. Next time I have to get V to come over with me to take those beautiful pictures of their garden.


http://www.terra.vg/

Sunnyvale Farmer's Market

One of our weekend rituals is to visit the Sunnyvale Farmer's market on Saturday mornings. Rain or shine, the market is open year-round from 9 AM to 1 PM. We just love to see what is in season for our week's menu. The fruits taste sweeter than from any other place.


Right now, the green beans, egg plant and okra are on their way out. So are nectarines, plums, pluots and such. Pomegranates and apples are making their appearance.

Shopping on a budget today (forgot to visit the ATM before), I got some greens (don't know what they are called), Japanese eggplant, a couple of tomatoes, and some end-of-the-season pluots.