Coconuts are known for their great versatility, not only in the culinary world but also for their varied uses in cosmetics. While coconut is considered a mainstay in the diet of nearly one-third of the planet, it is an exotic ingredient in the western world! They are classified as a fruit but frequently confused for being a nut, and are a one-seeded drupe (same family as peaches, plums and cherries).
Fresh coconut, ideal for cooking
The fruit is made up of three layers: the outside layer is known as the exocarp, and the fibrous husk or mesocarp is the inside of it. The thin woody layer surrounding the actual coconut is the endocarp.
The term coconut is derived from the 16th century Portuguese and Spanish word coco meaning head or skull, from the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features. The name supposedly came from Portuguese explorers, the sailors of Vasco da Gama in India, who first brought them in Europe.
It has generally been accepted that the coconut originated in the Indian-Indonesian region and distributed itself around the world by riding ocean currents. Most of the world production of coconuts is in tropical Asia, with Indonesia leading followed closely by Philippines and India. Together, the three countries account for 73% of the world’s production.
Canned coconut milk can be solid on opening the can. Heating will make it liquid again.
Coconut milk is a common ingredient in many tropical cuisines. Coconut is also a very frequently used ingredient in South Indian cuisine. The most common way is the addition of freshly grated coconut to vegetable and spices at the end of the cooking. Also, the coconut chutney which accompanies most south Indian dishes like dosa and uttapams is a prime example of the extensive use and importance of coconut in the cuisine of the Southern states.
Coconuts are used extensively in Hindu religious ceremonies. Coconuts are usually offered to the Gods, and a coconut is smashed on the ground as part of a new beginning to a business or a construction or inauguration of new projects or also to launch a newly completed project. This act signifies a sacrifice of ego, the idea that wealth stems from divinity, and that, if due credit is not given, bad karma is taken on.
Continuing from my earlier post on Bread, following are a few bread recipes worth trying out
Simple White Loaf
white bread yeast baked loaf
Ingredients
250 gms strong white flour, plus extra for dusting,
1 tsp yeast,
1 tsp fine salt,
1 tsp castor sugar,
2 tbsp. olive oil, plus extra for greasing.
Method:
Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil and 130 ml of hot water. Mix together with a wooden spoon until combined, then bring together with your hands. Knead by hand on the work surface for 8-10 minutes, only dusting with a little flour if it’s sticky.
Once the dough is smooth and shiny, rotate it in your hands, whilst tucking under to make a smooth dome shape on the top.
Place the seam side down on a floured baking tray; gently pat down the top to flatten slightly. Gently cover with a lightly greased cling film and leave to rise for about 1 hour 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200c, gas mark 6. Uncover the dough and using a sharp serrated knife make three 0.5cm deep slits across the top. Cover again and leave for 15 minutes.
Uncover and dust the top with a little flour and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely before slicing and serving with butter.
Garlic and Rosemary Focaccia
Ingredients
300 gms flour,
1 tbsp. sea salt,
finely ground plus extra (flaky) to sprinkle 2 tsp. yeast,
1 garlic bulb,
15 ml extra virgin olive oil,
Plus, extra for kneading and greasing.
BIGA
BIGA is a type of pre-fermentation used in Italian baking. Many popular Italian types of bread, including Ciabatta, are made using Biga. Using Biga adds complexity to the bread’s flavor and is often used in bread that needs a light, open texture with holes. To make
Biga you need:
200 gms flour,
Pinch of yeast,
Rosemary oil,
20 gms rosemary leaves picked,
100 ml extra virgin olive oil
Method
Prepare the Biga the previous night. In a deep bowl, mix the flour and yeast with 150 ml of warm water. Scrape down the sides, cover and leave at room temperature for at least 8 hours, or ideally for 12- 16 hours. Mix the rosemary and olive oil, cover and set aside. The next day, using your fingers, gradually incorporate the flour, salt, and yeast into the Biga with 225 ml warm water and all the oil, (reserving about 2 tablespoons of the rosemary oil and leaves) until you have a smooth and sticky dough. Transfer to a well-oiled working surface and knead vigorously for 20 seconds, then rest for 10 minutes; repeat this twice, using more oil as needed. Put the dough in a large oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to prove at room temperature for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 200 c, gas mark 6. Put the garlic bulb on a sheet of foil and drizzle with oil; wrap and seal tightly. Roast for 25-30 minutes until tender. Once cool enough to handle, squeeze out the flesh and set aside, discard the skin.
Lightly grease a deep 20cm x 30cm baking tin or dish with oil. Scoop in the dough and stretch it out so it mostly fills the tin. Press the roasted garlic into the dough, then indent all over with oiled fingers. Cover with oiled cling film and prove for 45-55 minutes, until doubled in size.
Put a deep, metal baking dish on the bottom of the oven. When ready to bake, sprinkle the dough with flaky salt and set the tin on the middle shelf, fill the bottom dish with just boiled water. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden (if it is browning quickly, reduce the oven to 180c/ gas mark 4). Remove the bread from the tin and cool on wire rack; cover with a clean, damp tea towel and cool completely. Rub with the reserved 2 tablespoons of rosemary oil and leaves.
OR
You can prepare as Gordon Ramsay does – Olive, Rosemary, and Tomato Focaccia – Gordon Ramsay
There is nothing more enticing than the smell of freshly baked bread- and it is even more satisfying when you have baked it yourself. But most people are put off by the misconception that baking is challenging work. It is in fact, quite simple and extremely therapeutic. It is a terrific way to work through stress and aggression by mixing and kneading the dough!
Baking Bread
Bakers baking bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from the dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history, it has been of importance since the dawn of agriculture. Proportions of types of flour and other ingredients vary widely, as do modes of preparation. As a result, types, shapes, sizes, and textures of loaves of bread differ around the world.
Bread is served in various forms with any meal of the day. It is eaten for breakfast, as a snack and used as an ingredient in other culinary preparations such as sandwiches, and fried items coated in bread crumbs to prevent sticking.
Bread pudding Food dessert
It is the main component of bread pudding, as well as of stuffing’s designed to fill cavities or retain juices that otherwise might drip out.
Bread is the staple food of the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe and in European-derived cultures such as those in the Americas, Australia, and Southern Africa, in contrast to East Asia where rice is the staple. Bread is usually made from wheat flour dough that is cultured with yeast, allowed to rise and finally baked in an oven. The addition of yeast in the bread explains the air pockets commonly found in bread. Owing to this high level of gluten, common wheat is the most common grain used.
Gluten free homemade bread
Gluten-free slices of bread have been created for people affected by gluten-related disorders. Gluten-free bread is made with ground flours from a variety of materials such as almonds, rice, sorghum, corn or legumes such as bacon, but since these flours lack gluten they may not hold their shapes as they rise.
History of wheat
Wheat has been cultivated by man since before recorded history. It is conjectured by anthropologists that hungry hunters first stockpiled the grain as a storable food source. When it got wet, it sprouted, and people found that if the grain was planted it yielded more seeds.
Grown in Mesopotamia and Egypt, wheat was likely first merely chewed. Later, it was discovered that it could be pulverized and made into a paste. Set over a fire, the paste hardened into flat bread that kept for several days. It did not take much of a leap to discover leavened (raised) bread when yeast was accidentally introduced to the paste.
In Egypt, around 1000 BC, inquisitive minds isolated yeast and could introduce the culture directly into their bread. Also, a new strain of wheat was developed that allowed for refined white bread. This was the first truly modern bread.
The Greeks picked up the method for making bread from Egyptians; from Greece, the practice spread over the rest of Europe. Bread and wheat were especially important in Rome where it was thought to be more vital than meat. Bread continued to be important through history as bread riots during the French Revolution attest.
Today, even with the competition of a growing variety of foods, bread remains important to our diet. It has a prominent place in supermarkets, at local markets, in our homes, in restaurants and burger chains and patisseries, which offer a wide selection of sandwiches and frankly without a bread bun we would not have had a burger.
Nowruz is the traditional Iranian festival of spring, which starts at the exact moment of the vernal equinox and is usually celebrated on March 20 or 21.
Till today, the celebration of Nowruz begins with the tradition of cleaning the house or spring cleaning as is the popular English term, which was probably where the term spring cleaning came from.
Today, the festival of Nowruz is celebrated in many countries all over the world. Besides Iran and India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan also celebrate Nowruz. But just as Navroze celebrations here are all about family, friends, food, and good times, Nowruz celebrations in Iran also begin with the families visiting each other and friends dropping in to give their good wishes, gifts being exchanged, and new clothes for children and family meals.
Like any good holiday, food plays a major role at Nowruz. Having at the feast is half the reason for everyone to get together. There are specific foods associated with Nowruz: noodles for untying life’s complications, fresh herbs for rebirth, eggs for fertility, and fish for life.
Sabzi polo mahi- rice tinted vivid green with green herbs and served with fried fish is an extremely popular Nowruz dish.
Sabzi polo is a bright green version of the famous Persian ‘polo’ or ‘pilaf rice dishes. The vivid green color comes from a variety of herbs that give an otherwise plain dish a sublime flavor. Pair sabzi polo with fried fish; and you have sabzi polo mahi, the traditional Persian New Year meal.
Reshteh polo is another Persian aromatic rice and noodle pilaf layered with meat that is traditionally served the night before the spring festival of Nowruz.
Par-cooked rice and noodles are layered with a bewitchingly fruity and aromatic meat mixture which is gently steamed in the traditional Persian manner.
Reshteh Polow (pulao) with meat
mouth-watering Reshteh Polow Farsi Persian Food. | Choresh and Stuff | Pinterest | Persian, Rice and Noodles- Pinterest
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups, basmati rice,
Salt as needed,
½ cup rose water,
2 large bay leaves,
113 grams Reshteh (flat noodles like fettuccine broken into 1-inch pieces),
Oil as needed,
1 large onion thinly sliced,
1 kg. mutton, cut into small pieces,
2 tsp. cinnamon powder,
½ tsp. turmeric,
¼ tsp. nutmeg powder,
1 tsp smoked paprika or chili powder,
Peel of 1 orange bitter white pith removed and skin cut into thin long strips,
½ cup golden raisins,
12 large Iranian dates, cut in half, de-pitted and chopped,
1 tsp salt,
1 tsp pepper,
3-4 tbsp. butter/ghee,
1 tsp. saffron, crumbled with ¼ cup of hot water.
Advieh- Handful of slivered almonds and pistachios, toasted just before use.
Method
Place the rice in a large bowl and add water to cover, rinse and repeat the process two or three times to remove the excess starch. Soak the rice for 1-2 hours.
In the meantime, heat about 1 ½ tablespoons of the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over a medium flame. Add the Reshteh (flat noodles) which have been broken into 1-inch pieces, into the oil and sauté, stirring continuously, until lightly roasted. Remove to a bowl and set aside.
Add a little more oil to the same pan if needed and add the mutton pieces, stir until browned on all sides, and remove to a plate and set aside. Add the sliced onion, and sauté until lightly caramelized.
Add the cinnamon powder, turmeric, nutmeg, and paprika, and stir well. Add the browned meat back, stir a bit to coat with the spices, and add a cup of water along with the orange peel, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover and simmer for 45 minutes, or until the meat is cooked through and tender. (Add a little more water during the process if needed.) Stir in the raisins and chopped dates, simmer for a minute or two, and remove to a large bowl and set aside.
Clean the pot you cooked the meat in and add about 2 liters of water along with a big generous pinch of salt, the rose water, and bay leaves and bring to a rolling boil. Stir in the rice and let it cook for 2 minutes, next stir in the toasted noodles and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Drain the rice in a colander with a fine mesh and immediately rinse with cool water and drain well.
After draining the rice, in the same pan heat 1-2 tablespoons of butter and add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Mix the melted butter and water well. Add about 1/3rd of the rice and sprinkle with 1/3rd of the advieh, next layer with half the mutton mixture. Repeat with 1/3rd of the advieh, and next layer with half the mutton mixture. Repeat with 1/3rd more rice, 1/3rd of the advieh and the remaining mutton, and top with the remaining rice. Save the remaining advieh for the garnish. With the back of a wooden spoon make 5 holes into the rice all the way to the bottom. This is for the steam to escape. Cover with a lid and cook on high for 10 minutes. Next, add the crushed saffron with the hot water and a tablespoon of melted butter all over the rice. Cover the lid with a tea towel and place over the rice. Cook on a low flame and steam the rice. The tea towel helps to absorb the condensation from the lid and prevents it from falling back into the rice.
Once the polow is done serve it in a large dish and sprinkle the remainder adiveh as garnishing. The bottom crust that is formed, a crunchy rice delicacy loved by Persians, called the tadig and is the most sought after at any dinner, is served separately broken into pieces. Serve this polow (pulao) with pomegranate raita on the side.
