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Text File | 1991-11-25 | 12KB | 314 lines

Rec.Food.Recipes Digest #129
Mon 27 May 1991

M:    Chinese Baked Shark (Michael Mealing)
Col:  Almira's Fruitcake (jj, like it or not)
OV:   Simple Dahl (Shankar Bhattacharyya)
OV:   Mussoor Dahl (Shankar Bhattacharyya)

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.RH REC.FOOD.RECIPES-#129 SHARK-CHINESE M "20 May 91" 1991
.RZ "CHINESE BAKED SHARK"
.KY FISH CHINESE
My father does alot of off shore deep sea fishing and usually has alot of
small sharks in the freezer that usually get dumped on me since I've found
some rather creative things to do with good shark steaks (besides stir fry).
.PP
I don't know if chinese food is baked usually but this tastes good anyway
.IH
.IG "2-4" "shark steaks"
(the younger the shark the better)
.IG "" "white cooking wine"
.IG "" "onion"
.IG "" "green pepper"
.IG "" "mushrooms"
(the more the better, but that's just me)
.IG "" "Hoisin sauce"
(or whichever chinese sauce you prefer)
.IG "" "various spices"
.PH
.SK 1
Make sure the steaks are fresh (frozen shark can be used as a retread
rubber). Marinate them in a few spices and 3-4 tablespoons of wine per
steak for about 2 hours.
.SK 2
Saute your veggies with some butter and wine and add the chinese sauce.
Bring to a simmer and add about a cup of wine and then turn the heat
down to low.
.SK 3
Now, butter the bottom of your baking dish, add some fresh veggies to
the bottom of the dish if you want (I make a different variation of
this each time I cook it). Put the steaks in and then pour the sauce on
top. Bake at
.TE 350 180
for about 20 minutes or until they're white
throughout. Don't overcook because the can get rubbery.
.NX
I usually serve them with some stir fry vegetables and rice. You can also
make it an Italian dish by substituting tomato sauce for the hoisin sauce.
.SH RATING
.I Difficulty:
easy.
.I Time:
45 mins. + 2 hours marinading.
.I Precision:
no need to measure.
.WR
Michael Mealling
[e-mail]


.RH REC.FOOD.RECIPES-#129 FRUIT-CAKE-3 Col "21 May 91" 1991
.RZ "ALMIRA'S FRUITCAKE"
Almira is my mother, but although this is much modified from hers we don't
compete, we just eat each other's.
.IH "Servings: Many! About 12 lbs." "Servings: Many! About 5 \(12 kg"
.SH Dry:
.IG "3 cups" "flour"
(all-purpose, or unbleached. No bread flour, no cake flour)
.IG "1 tsp" "baking powder"
.IG "1 tsp" "baking soda"
.IG "\)12 tsp" "salt"
.IG "1 tsp" "ground cinnamon"
.IG "1 tsp" "ground cloves"
.IG "1 tsp" "ground allspice"
.SH Fruit:
.IG "2 \)12 cups" "chopped walnuts" "300 g"
(give or take)
.IG "1 \)12 lb" "chopped pitted dates" "700 g"
(give or take)
.IG "1 \)12 lb" "halved glace cherries" "700 g"
(give or take)
.IG "1 \)12 lb" "fruit cake mix" "700 g"
(candied fruit) (give or take)
.SH Other:
.IG "3 cups" "cold water" "675 ml"
.IG "8 oz" "butter" "225 g"
.IG "2 cups" "sugar" "450 g"
.IG "3 lb" "raisins" "1350 g"
(dark and/or golden)
.IG "1 lb" "chopped dried apricots" "450 g"
.IG "3 large" "eggs"
.IG "\)14 cup" "decent brandy or dark rum" "55 ml"
.PH
.SK 1
Sift dry ingredients together. Reserve half.
.SK 2
Use \)12 of the dry ingredients to keep dates and candied fruit from
sticking together after chopping. A food processor makes chopping the
fruit much easier, but make sure you use the flour to keep things from
sticking. In general, hand-chopping is more work, but is much more
reliable.
.SK 3
Beat eggs very lightly, just until uniform.
.SK 4
In a large kettle (10 quart minimum), combine sugar, raisins, apricots,
and cold water. Heat until mixture steams, *** do not boil ***.
Cook for 10 minutes without boiling, then add butter and stir until mixed.
.SK 5
Cool until lukewarm. Add eggs, mix.
.SK 6
Add fruits and dry ingredients in alternating parts. The mixture will
be agonizingly stiff. Add brandy and mix. It will still be just as
stiff, but the smell will be much in the spirits... ;-)
.SK 7
Fill greased pans 2/3 full (12-14
.AB "1 lb" "450 g"
fruit cake pans). Bake at
.TE 275 140 .
Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center pulls out clean,
roughly 2 - 2 \)12 hours. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then remove
and finish cooling on racks. As odd as it sounds, SLOW baking is right,
you don't want to caramelize the outside of the cake very much, if any.
.SK 8
Wrap fruitcake in foil, refrigerate. Will keep for several months.
May be sprinkled with rum or brandy if desired.
.NX
.SK 1
Our last few batches used more fruitcake mix and less cherries due to
supplies in-house. Suit yourself, try to keep the *sum* more or less
constant.
.SK 2
Depending on the state of the raisins and apricots, you may or may not
have to add a BIT of water to make the dough wet-cement-like rather than
granite-like, but it's supposed to be stiff.
.SK 3
You should plump the raisins and dried fruit longer, rather than shorter,
if possible. That's how you avoid chewy fruit. If the raisins are
really dry, add JUST enough water so that they are almost covered.
.SK 4
After spooning dough into pan, if you push down the raisins, apricots
and dates, you will get no chewy parts.
.SH "Possible changes to taste:"
Endless. We sometimes use candied citron, or candied pineapple as well (well
chopped!) You can use rum to soak the cakes afterwards, or not. Adding the
brandy before cooking dissolves fruit flavors into the dough, this is key to
a good tasting (rather than bland/sweet) cake. You can use other dried fruits
as well as apricots. Figs don't work, though, in our experience, so you're
warned. Rum before cooking is a different flavor than brandy, we like either.
If you add both, it's probably too much liquid, but you'll just have to bake
longer in that case.
.SH RATING
.I Difficulty:
moderate.
.I Time:
1 hour + 2 - 2 \)12 hours cooking time.
.I Precision:
Very little
.WR
[e-mail]


.RH REC.FOOD.RECIPES-#129 DAHL-SIMPLE OV "21 May 91" 1991
.RZ "SIMPLE DAHL"
.KY INDIAN
If one uses vegetable oil, the recipe is vegan. Ghee is better to my palate,
in which case, the recipes are lacto-vegetarian.
.PP
A fair number of dahl recipes have been posted here in the last couple of
months. Many have been a bit more elaborate than the dahls that Indians cook
every day. While a fancy dahl is delightful from time to time, I prefer the
simpler ones most of the time.
.PP
This is an utterly simple dish. It works, or it does not. There is nothing to
hide behind, nothing to salvage. And it is possible that a preference for a
simple dish is acquired.
.IH
.IG "" "lentils"
.IG "" "ghee"
.IG "" "spices"
.IG "" "salt"
.PH
.SK 1
Boil the lentils until they are cooked through.
.SK 2
Heat a little ghee in a wok. Stir fry the spices for a few seconds, to
produce what we call the tarka or phoron. Expect some spitting and
foaming during this step.
.SK 3
Pour the boiled lentils in, salt to taste, remove from heat.
.NX
This uses a spice called kalonji, often referred to as "black jeera" or
"black cumin". This looks like small chips of obsidian. It does not look
remotely like cumin, nor does it taste like cumin. Labels may be ambiguous,
since I have also seen dark cumin seeds labelled as "black cumin". Stay
conscious of this. If someone knows a proper English name for kalonji,
please let me know.
.SH RATING
.I Difficulty:
very easy.
.I Time:
Total real hands-on time required is 5-10 minutes.
.I Precision:
no need to measure.
.WR
Shankar Bhattacharyya
[e-mail],
[e-mail]


.RH REC.FOOD.RECIPES-#129 DAHL-MUSSOOR OV "21 May 91" 1991
.RZ "MUSSOOR DAHL" "Simple dahl using red lentils"
.KY INDIAN
If one uses vegetable oil, the recipe is vegan. Ghee is better to my palate,
in which case, the recipes are lacto-vegetarian.
.IH
.IG "1 cup" "red lentils"
.IG "2 - 2.5 cups" "water" "450-550 ml"
(depends on desired texture)
.IG "1 0r 2" "serrano peppers"
.IG "\)14 tsp" "turmeric"
(maximum)
.IG "1/8 tsp" "kalonji"
.IG "~1 tsp" "ghee"
(can use oil or clarified butter)
.IG "" "salt to taste"
.PH
.SK 1
Wash the lentils. Add the water, bring to a gentle boil. Some scum will
develop, from lentil dust, and surfactants in the lentils. Skim it off.
.SK 2
Add the turmeric powder. (Doing this before the scum is removed causes
the turmeric to float up with the scum, and it is then lost. If you do
not skim the scum off you will have problems with the mixture boiling
over). Do not postpone adding the turmeric too long. Undercooked turmeric
is not nice.
.SK 3
Pierce the sides of the peppers (or slit them), and drop them in. Boil
gently, almost covered, till the lentils are comletely cooked. If
necessary, add some water along the way. The end product should be
fairly fluid.
.SK 4
Remove the peppers, homogenize the mixture with a hand mixer, drop the
peppers back in.
.SH "Make the tarka:"
.SK 1
Heat the ghee, preferably in a wok, which makes it easy to deal with the
very small quantity of oil. Add the kalonji.
.SK 2
As soon as it stops sizzling, add the cooked lentils rapidly. You may
want to let the oil cool briefly, so that splattering is avoided.
.PP
\fB--- SEE CAUTION BELOW. THERE ARE RISKS FOR THE CARELESS. ---\fR
.SK 3
Salt to taste (0.5 to 1 tsp), mix, simmer briefly, serve.
.SH Variation:
.B Materials:
As before, except:
.IP skip the kalonji
.IP use somewhat more ghee
add:
.IP 1/8 - \)14 tsp cumin seeds
.IP a modest handful chopped onions
.B Procedure:
The only difference is in the tarka. Cook the lentils as before.
.B "Prepare the tarka as follows:"
.SK 1
Heat the oil. Add the cumin seeds. Stir-fry for a few seconds. Add the
chopped onions, and sautee.
.SK 2
Pour in the cooked lentils. Salt to taste. Serve.
.IP "CAUTION: \fBADDING THE LENTILS TO HOT OIL MAY CAUSE SPLATTERING.\fR"
.PP
If you are not experienced at this, allow the oil to cool first. Also,
against the intuition, there will be more splattering if you get too gentle
about pouring the lentils into the oil. If you add the cooked lentils rapidly,
the oil gets swamped quickly by the lentils, and splattering is avoided, even
if it is hot. At the same time, rapid addition of hot fluid involves some risk
of splashing it around.
.PP
The safest way to deal with this is to let the oil cool down, then pour it
into the cooked lentils (instead of the other way around), and then use some
of the lentils to rinse the rest of the tarka into the main container. Respect
hot oil.
.SH Accompaniments:
The first implementation, in particular, is one of the most common ways in
which red lentils are made in Bengal, where I'm from. It is usually served
with rice, a wedge of lime, and fried potatoes. Mix the dahl with the rice and
potatoes, squeeze the lime over it and eat.
.PP
If you want to serve this with bread, use less water, so as to get a thicker
consistency.
.PP
By some small margin, I prefer the first implementation with rice, the second
with breads. Chappatis in particular.
.SH "Fried potatoes:"
Cut potatoes into
.AB "0.5 - 0.75 inch" "1.5 cm"
cubes. Optionally, parboil the potatoes and
drain. Sprinkle with salt and turmeric. Fry over medium to high heat.
.PP
I have a strong preference for the parboiled version, but lack the technique
to do it consistently.
.SH RATING
.I Difficulty:
easy.
.I Time:
?
.I Precision:
measure ingredients.
.WR
Shankar Bhattacharyya
[e-mail],
[e-mail]