A slight shift in focus....

I started writing this post last week, and just finished it tonight, so sorry if it doesn't quite make sense....

I decided to post a new entry after listening to an extremely frustrating lecture this morning about eating disorders. Apart from the obvious problems with eating disorders and the difficulties of treating patients with this medical/psychiatric condition, I was especially annoyed with the presentation of the material, because my lecturer implied that vegetarianism, interest in cooking, and enjoyment of cookbooks are correlated with anorexia nervosa. However, eating Thai curries and Indian curries, which are laden with butter, as my Caucasian lecturer informed us, makes us less likely to be susceptible to an eating disorder. Right. So, I get what she was suggesting about behavioral manifestations of disease and lifestyle choices, etc etc, but somehow her meaning was muddled in my mind after hearing her associate my lifestyle with a chronic eating disorder. Some people just like to eat and cook and read cookbooks!

Somehow this lecture inspired me to write a new blog entry, because I tried 3 new restaurants this weekend! Rather ironic how a lecture on starvation made me want to write about food, eh? I am also avoiding reading my neuroanatomy lab notes, so this seems like the perfect distraction!

On Friday, we went to a place called "Suzie's Soba" in Hampden. Hampden is a super cute neighborhood in Baltimore that has lots of restaurants and cute little shops. This restaurant is Pan-Asian, which is a term I normally dislike, since it usually means that the restaurant is trying to encompass too many styles of food and ends up with loads of sub-par/average tasting dishes. I ordered a veggie don dish (a Japanese rice dish), because I miss the amazing veggie don from Cafe Mami in Boston. Unfortunately, it wasn't even close in taste. But, even though my dish wasn't good, I would still go back and try something else because everyone else's dishes looked tasty, the decor was cute (there was an "under the sea"-inspired theme), and the service was so good! the owner (i think she was suzie!) was so sweet and nice!

Ok, moving on to Saturday, L. and I went to Holy Frijoles in Hampden. Now, L. didn't love the food at all, but she's super biased because she was raised on quality Tex-Mex in TEXAS. So this food clearly doesn't compare to that. She ordered fajitas and didn't like them at all. I ordered a taco salad, and was pleasantly pleased with my dish. Granted, it's not that hard to make a good taco salad- beans, lettuce, cheese, guacamole, salsa, and veggies... pretty easy, but since I enjoyed my dish and my overall dinner experience, I will give it a favorable recommendation, and plan to try it again. Well, I'll try it again after I try all the other restaurants I haven't been to yet!

Finally, M. and I went to Miss Shirley's for brunch on Sunday and it was AMAZING! Definitely the best of the 3! I ordered the Athens omelet which came with biscuits and hash browns. SO GOOD. M. ordered a salmon omelet, which she loved as well. I wanted to try everything on the menu, so I will definitely be going back there. And as M. and I realized, we'll be in Baltimore for at least 3.5 more years, so I feel like there will be plenty of opportunities to go back! I should also mention that Miss Shirley's is super popular, and there was already a huge line at 10:30 AM on a Sunday. Luckily they had coffee waiting for us, which was lovely and very friendly of them. So, two giant thumbs up for this brunch place!

Diwali Dinner!

My friend and I decided that we wanted to celebrate Diwali (the Indian New Year for you non-Indians!) with a dinner party. We originally thought about having a small dinner party for close friends, but somehow, like good Indians, our plan got morphed into an elaborate dinner buffet for 60 people. Neither of us had ever cooked for that many people before, but after getting through the hellish immunology exam, we felt pretty prepared to take on the task! dramatic, yes. true, also yes. We spent a few hours at various grocery stores on Thursday afternoon buying produce and ingredients, and discovered a little Indian grocery store in the process of getting all our stuff! Major find!


Though we had a few disasters, including a pressure cook incident, burned fingers, and cut thumbs, the dishes turned out pretty well (we think!). We took a picture of our pressure cooker disaster, and as you can see, there were chickpeas everywhere! I have always been weary of pressure cookers, but I have to say, after seeing the effects of all the incidents we had with the damn machine, I'm not scared of it anymore! I mean, what's the worse that can happen? Oh wait, I already know! And pressure cookers are really great for cooking Indian food, because it speeds up the process of cooking lentils and chickpeas, and it even speeds up the process of making rice or boiling potatoes.



Here's what we finally ended up with:
Dum aloo - a potato dish with tomatoes and onions
Saag paneer - spinach and paneer (Indian cheese)
Channa masala - chickpeas in a tomato-based sauce
Rice
Raita - yogurt with cucumber, tomato, and onions
Mango and cucumber salad

Dum Aloo Recipe
(serving size = 60!)

Ingredients:
60 white-skinned baby potatoes
5 tomatoes, roughly chopped
5 green chili peppers, finely chopped
3 big white onions, roughly chopped
1 8 oz. can tomato paste

Spices:
garam masala
ground coriander
tumeric
whole cumin seeds
salt

1. Boil the potatoes until you can easily pierce the potato with a fork. Be careful of overboiling them, because you need the potatoes to hold their shape for the next steps. Cool the potatoes in a strainer. Cut in half.

Note: If you weren't able to find small baby potatoes, that's ok! you can use regular thin skinned potatoes, but you will have to cut them into big chunks so they cook properly.

2. Heat 4 tbsp oil in a large pan at medium-high heat. When the oil becomes hot, add 7 tbsp cumin seeds. You can always tell when the cumin seeds are ready, because your entire kitchen will start smelling like an Indian restaurant.

3. Once the cumin seeds turn darker brown and become fragrant, add the onions. Saute until softened. Avoid cooking them until they are translucent, because the onions will continue cooking through the next steps.

4. Add tomatoes and chili peppers. Cook on medium heat until softened.

5. In a separate bowl, mix the tomato paste with all the spices except salt, and 1/2 cup warm water. Mix until everything is integrated. The consistency should be slightly runny, but not thin like water.

6. In a separate pan, heat oil, add 5 tbsp cumin seeds. Once brown, add all the potatoes. Periodically stir and let the potatoes cook until they are browned on at least one side. This will take about 15-20 minutes on medium heat.

7. Add the cooked tomatoes/onions and spice mix to the potato pan. Mix. Cook together for 10 minutes on medium-low heat.

8. Add 2 tbsp fresh lime juice. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro leaves. Serve hot with rice or roti (Indian bread).

Pumpkin cookies....

Will write later....

My Rice and Beans

I finally made my first meal in my new kitchen and I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, especially considering that I didn't have all the ingredients that typically work in this dish. I made a faux-rice and beans dish which took only 20 minutes to make and had enough to feed me for days.

Rice and Beans

1 red onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 can (16 oz) black beans, washed
3 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tsp garlic, chopped
salt to taste
1 cup chopped rice (I used Basmati, because that's all I had in my pantry)
cheese (optional)
salsa (optional)

Basically I just boiled the vegetables and tomato sauce, then added the washed black beans after the vegetables softened. This is a really easy and friendly dish to make, because any and all veggies work. It is also very quick to prep for because all the vegetables can be roughly chopped to any shape. I used tomatoes and tomato sauce to make the "broth," but canned tomatoes of any shape would work as well. Also, the spice level can be adjusted by adding jalapeno peppers or crushed red peppers, which ever you prefer. I cannot emphasize enough how easy and versatile this dish is. To serve, sprinkle cheese and salsa on top on the rice and beans. If you have cilantro, garnish with chopped cilantro. This dish can also be incorporated into a quesadilla by filling a tortilla shell with the rice and beans mixture, adding cheese, and toasting either on the stovetop in a frying pan, or in a panino press, or even by wrapping the shell in foil and placing in the toaster oven. Whatever works for you!
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A Williams-Sonoma inspired medical student's kitchen...

I just moved into my new suite and I was a bit disappointed by the kitchen. Not by the ancient stove whose knobs are so worn out that we are forced to guess which knob correlates with each burner, not by the tiny sink, nor by the negligible counter space, rather, by the utter lack of storage space. It's a rather inconvenient setup. There was one set of cabinets for 4 girls to hold all of our pots, pans, food utensils, etc. Problem! Well, luckily, we thought of a solution, which I think is very exciting and fabulous! We lined part of our living room wall, which is adjacent to the kitchen, with our pots, pans, strainers, and baking-ware, and we hung our utensils and cooks' tools in the kitchen! It freed up space in our cabinets and makes our apartment feel so cozy!

Martha Stewart would be so proud!

NYC Destination Review: Kyotofu

Upon my sister's recommendation, my friends and I went to a really cute dessert bar in Hell's Kitchen last week called Kyotofu. The vibe of this place was Sunday morning dim sum sweets meet chic Upper West Side wine bar. Since I have this never-ending obsession with all things East Asian, and since I can't imagine a more perfect girls' night out than a night filled with girlie drinks and dessert, this place was definitely a hit with me. Very cute, very fun. The ambiance was just right for a relaxing night with my ladies, who I definitely do not get to spend enough time with! Kyotofu, on 9th Ave between 48th and 49th, offers entrees as well as a short and simple list of desserts and cocktails, which Divya, Kate, Liz, and I happily chose from. We had heard this restaurant is known for their tofu desserts which I was highly skeptical of, but the girls and I decided to be adventurous and try one of their tofu creations. I am SO glad we did! We ended up splitting a dessert called "black sesame sweet tofu," which I LOVED because it is the gourmet version of the tofu pudding Dim Sum restaurants typically serve.

(Right: Liz pouring the ginger flavor-infused syrup over the the lovely black sesame sweet tofu dessert. Note the prettily designed burnt sugar stick which, I thought, was a really nice touch!)

Now, I think this dessert might be one of my favorite things to eat EVER, so I was determined to figure out what it is called and how to make it. According to Wikipedia, this tofu pudding dessert is called "tou foo fa" or "douhua," which makes sense since tofu is often referred to as "dohu" or "bean curd." The Kyotofu pudding was made according to Hong Kong style because it was mixed with black sesame paste and served with ginger syrup. This versatile dessert can be sweet or savory, and garnished with a plethora of sides, including peanuts, tapioca, mung beans, and ginger or almond syrup to make a sweet dish, or chillies and soy sauce for a savory dish. It can also be served hot or cold, depending on the season.

To make the sweet version of this dish, refer to the following recipe from chowhound.com (4 servings):

1 Litre sweetened soy milk
1.5 tsp gypsum powder*
1.5 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp hot water

1. Boil the soy milk. Be careful about not burning the milk.
2. In a small bowl, dissolve the gypsum powder in the hot water. It should be pasty and thick.
3. Add cornstarch to the small bowl. Mix well. Consistency should be that of a paste.
4. Transfer the paste to the bowl into the final dish that the soy milk will be added.
5. When soy milk is "rolling boiling," which means when the soy milk is boiling at a steady pace, quickly pour the milk into the final dish with the paste. Quickly stir once or twice, no more than that. Leave dish alone for an hour to set. If the tofu does not coagulate properly, try increasing the gypsum powder and corn starch quantities to 1.5 tsps each.
6. To prepare the simple brown sugar syrup: boil a brown sugar slab (found in chinese grocery stores) in 1 cup boiling water. Dissolve. Add ginger if you like. This syrup can be stored in a the fridge.

*can be purchased at a chinese grocery store. gypsum powder is called "sook sek ko fun" in cantonese, if that helps you interpret the package label!

Just a warning, I've never tried to make this before, so I cannot personally vouch for the authenticity of this recipe, but I tend to trust the foodies on chowhound.com. They know what's up : ) But for the non-foodie types, or for those who do not have the luxury of abundant free time to peruse Chinese grocery stores for obscure coagulating agents, douhua can also be made from a instant pudding mix that can found in Asian grocery stores. The tofu pudding is often labeled as "soybean cheese." However, if you are buying this soft tofu at a grocery store, be sure to check if there is sugar or salt added and choose according to your flavor preference!

and i'm back....

An ode to mixed fresh lime sodas:

When I was in India, I used to drink fresh lime sodas every single day, because it is the most refreshing drink you can possibly find. It's better than water, soda, iced tea, etc. Amazing stuff. So the options are to get it salty or sweet or salt and sweet mixed. I used to drink only salty, but then my friend enlightened me to the mixed variety. I was hooked. Of course, everyone has their own preferences... my sister drinks them salty, my mom likes them sweet, etc etc. So, try all the varieties and let me know what you like best! Here we go, for everyone to enjoy:

2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black salt (kala namak)
2 tsp sugar
8 oz seltzer water

Mix and watch the bubbles foam up! (It's like a super cool chemistry experiment in a glass! The salt gives the carbon dioxide a site to form bubbles. The insoluble carbon dioxide wants to escape the carbonated beverage, and the salt provides a surface area to do so. Didi, that was super nerdiness just for you!)