काला चना का सूप (Kala Chana ka Soop - Black Chickpea Soup)

काला चना, or black chickpeas, are among my favorite legumes. They aren't available in cans here in the US, though - so if you cook with them, you will have to buy them dried and then soak and cook them - which means that cooking requires some extra planning and time. On the upside, many grocery stores (at least here in DC) are beginning to expand their Asian foods section - just yesterday I saw kala chana at Wegmans. If your local store doesn't carry black chickpeas, however, explore the nearest Indian grocery.

This recipe uses the black chickpeas as the basis for a soup broth. You won't need all of the chickpeas after cooking - the extras can be sprinkled on salads, processed into hommous, or eaten however else you'd like - or you can keep them as a part of the soup if you prefer.

As with my previous black chickpea recipe, this requires the use of a pressure cooker - if you don't have one, you'll need to increase the cooking time for step 1 to 1-2 hours, or until the chickpeas are tender.

काला चना का सूप (black chickpea soup) (~4-6 servings)
1 cup dried black chickpeas, washed in 3-4 changes of water
6-7 cups water
2 1" sticks of cinnamon
4 black cardamom pods, lightly crushed to break the skin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 T. ginger-garlic paste (store-bought or make your own by grinding together 1-2 cloves garlic and a quarter-sized piece of ginger)
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
2 T. vegetable oil
1 quarter-sized piece of ginger, cut into matchsticks
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 T. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. ground tumeric
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (including stems), chopped

1. Soak the chickpeas overnight in enough water to cover them by 2 inches. Drain and place in pressure cooker with water, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, and garlic-ginger paste. Secure lid and cook over high heat until high pressure is reached, then cook 3 minutes more. Remove from from heat and allow the pot to depressurize on its own (approx. 20 minutes). Open the lid and check to see if beans are soft. [If beans are not soft, add additional water, cover, and bring to high pressure and cook another 1 minute.]

2. Transfer the mixture to a large cast iron pan or other large pot [if there is too much liquid, remove some and save it to add as liquid evaporates during cooking]. Stir in the tomato sauce and cook over high heat for about 5 minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low and continue simmering for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

3. Heat the oil in a medium saute pan over medium high heat. Cook the ginger sticks (stirring frequently) until golden, about 1 minute. Add the cumin seeds, coriander, and tumeric in quick succession and cook about 30 seconds. Stir in diced tomato and cilantro and cook for 1-2 minutes more.

4. Set a strainer or colander atop the pressure cooker pot and pour soup mixture through in order to separate out chickpeas. Remove and discard cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks. In a food processor, combine tomato mixture and 1/2 - 1 cup of cooked chickpeas and process until smooth. Add this back to the soup, along with additional liquid and some whole chickpeas (~ 1/2 cup), if desired. Return soup to a low boil over medium heat and simmer for a few minutes until heated through.

5. Serve with fresh chapati/roti, or if you don't want to make fresh flatbreads, with crackers or a few slices of store-bought crusty french bread.

Food on the Fly - DC

Between gigantic snowstorms that shut down the nation's capital for much of early February and travel for work and fun, I've been a bit remiss in posting recently. However, I would like to mention a couple of great places that I have come across recently in my quest for good food in DC...

First, DC sweet teeth have been taken by cupcakes for a couple of years now. However, places like Georgetown Cupcake, CakeLove, Baked & Wired, etc. have one major problem - they aren't very accessible to a large fan base, most of whom are stuck in offices all day and don't have the time to sojourn to Georgetown, U St., or other locales for a cupcake. Enter DC's new favorite trend - mobile eateries that carry their food in a van or truck and drive around downtown until they find a parking spot - then using Facebook and Twitter to broadcast their location. Born of this trend is Curbside Cupcakes, which makes some of the best cupcakes I've had - not too big or too small, priced decently ($3 - it sounds steep, but is actually spot on for perennially-overpriced DC), and most importantly, open to suggestions from their fan base. A few weeks ago I suggested carrot cake, and lo and behold it was on the truck this week (although with a plain cream cheese frosting, not the ginger-infused topping I'd suggested - I guess I'll have to experiment with that on my own). Another fan requested chocolate with a minty green top for St. Patrick's Day and yesterday and this weekend the truck has pulled up at Shamrock Fest and the DC St. Patrick's Day Parade with green cupcakes in ample supply.

Another purveyor of street food that I keep my eye on is Fojol Bros. of Merlindia. They aren't active right now - their latest update says they plan to be back on the streets mid-March (coming right up!) - but last summer their truck of (mostly) Indian food delights attracted large crowds wherever it stopped. In addition to Indian-style curries (both vegetarian and meat-based) served in a range of sizes, they help DC-ites beat the heat with lassipops (frozen lassis) in flavors like ginger and mango.

If you are in the mood for tasty curries before Fojol Bros. hit the streets again, and you happen to be near McPherson Square or Farragut North, check out Spice Express Indian Bistro, with locations at 1025 Vermont Ave. NW and 1020 19th St. NW. A lunchtime plate of rice and two curries (generous portions all around) costs $6.99 + tax. I recently had their palak paneer and chana masala and found both to be excellent. The bistro also has wraps, single curry plates, and other specialties.

An added bonus if you patronize these places - both Fojol Bros. and Spice Express use primarily recycled and biodegradable materials for their carryout boxes and flatware.

Snowmageddon II - Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

As Snowmageddon blew itself out late this afternoon, moving on after leaving us with something in the neighborhood of two feet of snow here in Arlington, I stayed warm and toasty indoors by baking a strawberry-rhubarb pie. The strawberries were the last of a batch I picked last summer, the rhubarb I found during a 7 am trip to the grocery store yesterday morning before the storm came in (no eggs left, but frozen rhubarb and pre-made pie crust were in stock and on sale!).

The recipe I used was quite similar to the one found in this post from May, with a few changes:
- I also added 1/2 tsp. of orange zest to the sugar / flour mixture.
- I used more strawberries (3 1/2 cups) than rhubarb (2 1/2 cups) this time around.
- Because I was using frozen fruit, I let the fruit / sugar / flour mixture stand for 45 minutes before pouring it into the pie plate - then increased the baking time to 1 hour 25 minutes (keep foil on the edges of the pie for the first hour).

The pie came out quite delicious - although very juicy. To avoid the hassle of having to clean out leaked juices from your oven, place the pie on a shallow baking sheet, or place the baking sheet on the rack below the pie.

Snowmageddon I - Pesto-Spinach Lasagna

DC is in the midst of its second major snowstorm of the winter (we had Snowpocalypse in December, which brought 18-20") and its third snowstorm of this past week (last weekend we got about 6 inches and on Tuesday we got another 3 inches). With the Capital Weather Gang calling for a total of 16-26" (or even 30"+) and the local network affiliates on overdrive with wall-to-wall weather coverage, it is time for cooking and baking.

First up during the storm (after braving the crowds at the grocery stores, of course): Pesto-Spinach Lasagna. This is my favorite lasagna, and I have my best friend to thank for it. She made me this lasagna to keep me fortified during my doctoral candidacy exams, and I have been craving it ever since. Making this particular pan was bittersweet, though - I used up the last of the pesto I'd make using homegrown basil from this past summer. Well, that's a bit of summer sun to cheer me up amidst all of this snow, at least!

Lasagna freezes quite well in individual servings if you have too much - allow the pan to cool completely, wrap each slice in a piece of plastic wrap, then put the individually-wrapped servings into a freezer bag and freeze - you'll be able to pull out a piece at a time as you need it.

Pesto-Spinach Lasagna (12 servings)
1 T. dried currants, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes
1 1/2 recipes pesto (for recipe, go here)
1 1/4 lbs. spinach or 1 1/2 lbs. swiss chard (or 2 14 oz. cans spinach, well drained)
2 T. olive oil
1/2 c. minced onions
3 T. pine nuts
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. ricotta or cottage cheese (low fat, if you prefer)
1 1/2 c. parmesan cheese
1 lg. egg
nutmeg (to taste)
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 12 oz. box no-cook lasagna noodles (or 1 lb. regular lasagna noodles, cooked)

1. Cook spinach "dry" (just with the water clinging to its leaves) over medium heat until just wilted, remove from pan and chop.

2. Heat olive oil over medium heat, brown onions, pine nuts, and garlic. Add chopped spinach and currants, cook about 2 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, stir together spinach mixture, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, egg, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

4. Preheat oven to 350F. In a 9 x 13 baking dish, assemble the lasagna as follows (listed in order from bottom to top - thus start with the noodles and end with the pesto):
4 lasagna noodles (overlap slightly)
1/4 spinach - cheese mixture
1/4 pesto sauce
Repeat - Repeat - Repeat (you'll have four layers when you finish)

5. Cover pan with foil and bake at 350F for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Snowbaking - Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies

Last weekend the DC metro area was socked with about 6 inches of snow - perhaps not much compared with the 20-30" we are expected to get during our current storm (more on that in posts to come) or the 18-20" we got during the Snowpocalypse of December 2009, but still more than enough to justify a bit of snowbaking. For this endeavor, I decided to try brownies made with the mint & chocolate chips I found at the grocery store during the holiday season. If you don't happen to have mint & chocolate chips on hand, try these with white, milk, or dark chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or whatever your favorite mix-ins happen to be. These brownies come out moist and on the cakey side.

Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies (~ 24-32 brownies)
3/4 c. butter
1 1/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (or mint extract)
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 c. milk
1 c. mint & chocolate chips + additional chips for sprinkling on top

1. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with nonstick spray and preheat oven to 350F.

2. Melt butter in microwave (1 1/2 - 2 minutes). In a large bowl, combine melted butter, sugar, and cocoa powder and stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed. Add eggs and vanilla and stir until just combined.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk to the butter mixture, stirring after each addition. Fold in mint & chocolate chips.

4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick can be inserted and removed cleanly. If desired, sprinkle additional mint & chocolate chips on top of the batter about 10 minutes into baking.

5. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 2 hours, then cut into squares. If you cut a little earlier, use a plastic knife to reduce the amount of brownie that sticks to your knife.

What I Did During the DC Snowpocalypse: Molasses Cookies and Oatmeal-Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies

The East Coast is getting pounded by a massive snowstorm today - near my house in Arlington, VA the snow measured 17 inches deep at 3:45 pm and it is still going strong now that night has fallen. Most of the region is shut down (even the malls!), the Metro is running only underground, my car has morphed into a snowdrift (see picture at right), but I spent the day indoors in my PJs, watching Anne of Green Gables and baking cookies. Although I doubt anyone will show up for the party I'm hosting this evening, I'm sure that the cookies will still go to good use at the office and for Christmas celebrations in the coming days. In the meantime, I have a great DVD collection, hot cocoa, eggnog, and 9 or 10 dozen cookies to sustain me through the remainder of the storm.

Molasses Cookies (~4-5 dozen)
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
granulated sugar or colored sugar [since it is Christmas-time, I used a mixture of red and green decorating sugar]

1. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar together. Continue to mix at low speed, adding egg then molasses.

2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Add to wet ingredients in several stages, mixing after each.

3. Cover and chill dough in the refrigerator for an hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350F. Shape dough into balls about 1 or 1 1/2 inch in diameter, roll in granulated sugar, and place on a greased cookie sheet or cookie sheet with a silicone liner. If desired, press lightly with a fork to flatten slightly and form a grid pattern on each cookie.

5. Bake at 350F for 9-10 minutes, until edges of cookies begin to set. Remove from oven, allow to cool on pan for a few minutes, then move cookies to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Oatmeal-Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies (~ 4-5 dozen)
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

1. Using an electric mixer, beat together butter and peanut butter until blended, about 30 seconds.

2. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda and beat until combined. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Add flour in a few batches, mixing well after each. You may need to switch to mixing by hand as the dough thickens.

3. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

4. Preheat oven to 350F. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet or cookie sheet with a silicone liner.

5. Bake at 350F for 10 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven, allow to cool on pan for a few minutes, then move cookies to a wire rack to continue cooling.

Carrot Cake (in a Bundt pan)

My favorite cake of all time is my grandmother's aeblekage (Danish apple cake). However, aeblekage isn't a "cake" in the sense that most people think of cake (it's more wet than dry, since the primary ingredient is applesauce), so when it comes to more traditional cakes, my favorites are carrot and spice.* I've had many good versions of these cakes (even some that have come out of a box - such as quick caramel apple cake), but I've had just as many that have been dry and forgettable. When a really great one comes along - moist, carroty, raisiny, with a cream cheese icing that is delicious without being overpowering - well, that makes me sit up and take notice. I'd like to think that this cake fits that bill - but I'll let you decide for yourself.

* For those who are wondering, chocolate cake is at the bottom of my list - in general, I would to go dessert-less than spend my calories on chocolate cake. However, there are two chocolate cakes that I have had that I think are worth repeating - one is the recipe my roommate uses as the base for her peanut butter-filled cupcakes, the other is the base that Curbside Cupcakes uses for their chocolate cupcake creations (I've tried their peanut butter cup and peppermint varieties so far - both were good).

Carrot Cake (in a Bundt pan)
Cake
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 tsp. orange zest (if desired)
boiling water (enough to cover raisins)
3 cups finely shredded carrots (use a food processor for best results)
4 eggs
1 cup applesauce
2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup white, 1 cup brown)
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup walnuts (if desired)

Glaze Icing
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 oz. cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese
1 T. light corn syrup

1. Place raisins and orange zest in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand while shredding carrots and preparing wet and dry ingredients so that raisins become plump, about 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F and spray a Bundt pan with cooking spray or cooking spray with flour.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, applesauce, and sugar. In large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

3. Drain raisins and add to dry ingredients, along with carrots and walnuts. Fold in wet ingredients and stir until batter is well mixed. Pour batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake at 350F for 50-55 minutes; test with a toothpick to determine if the cake is done. Allow cake to cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn cake out of pan and allow cake to continue cooling (at least 30 minutes).

5. While cake is cooling, prepare the glaze icing. Combine powdered sugar, vanilla extract, cream cheese, and corn syrup using a hand mixer at low speed, mixing until icing is smooth.

6. Spread icing over the cake while it is still slightly warm. Allow cake to cool completely, then slice and serve.