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Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins

Gluten-free muffins with strawberries and chocolate chips.

The moon rose almost full last night, hanging gold and low above the palm and ficus trees, urging the local beauty factor to give up its pretense of reality and meld with dreamland. The sky was a deep shade of violet with a wash of strawberry pink at the ocean's edge. Santa Monica continues to hold me in her sway. I am in love with her- and deeply grateful to be here, celebrating my first spring in California since the late seventies. I drink the friendly March sea air in gulps. I wander the alleys and sidewalks in a state bordering on bliss, photographing details and eye candy with my iPhone. It is a visual feast.

And I am savoring every bite.

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More Edible Irony: Sloppy Joes, Not that Sloppy

For such an iconic retro dish, the Sloppy Joe is very misunderstood. While most people assume the name comes from the sandwich's loose meat, it's actually the name of the bar in Key West, FL where it was invented.

That's right, after extensive research (I checked Wikipedia), I've determined that this ground beef masterpiece was created at Sloppy Joe's Bar, which was probably named for some guy named Joe, who would get a little too loose after a few cocktails.

So, despite the name, the secret to a great Sloppy Joe is a thick, rich, almost dry consistency, which allows it to be eaten two-fisted, sans fork, as God intended.

I believe over the years the idea that the name was a description of the optimum texture helped this evolve into its usually much runnier form. As you'll see in the video, I like to start with lots of liquid and slowly simmer it down into a fine, thick, tender paste.

Spice it up, toss it onto some soft sesame seed hamburger buns, and make sure there are lots of Tater Tots within reach. Enjoy!



Ingredients for 4-6 servings:
1 1/2 pound extra lean ground beef
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 diced green bell pepper
3/4 cup ketchup
dash of Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
cayenne to taste

Bolo de Banana (Banana Cake)

Bolos are very popular in Brazil and there are hundreds of different types to choose from. The first one that I ever tried was in the city of Salvador in Brazil's Bahia State. I was staying with a friend's aunt who, upon my arrival, was in the midst of preparing for a big party at her house. The woman that was doing most of the cooking for the big event let me try some of the bolo and I was hooked.

Ingredients:
bananas
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tspn cinnamon
2 tbsp margarine
2 tspn yeast

Preparation:

1. Mix margarine with sugar.
2. Add eggs to the margarine and sugar. Beat until it forms a cream.
3. Add flour, milk, cinnamon and yeast. Mix thoroughly and let sit for about 1/2 hour.
4. Stir mixture and then add to a greased cake pan.
5. Cover the top of cake with thinly sliced bananas.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes until batter does not stick to a toothpick inserted in the top. Be careful not to over bake.
   

Brasil

Gluten-Free Banana "Crumpets"

Split and grill these sweet no yeast "crumpets" for extra flavor.

I started out craving a scone. Then it turned into a crumpet. Not a traditional crumpet. A crumpet without yeast. And sweet. Not because I have anything against yeast (I dig my English Muffins bigtime), but because I had a bevy of ripe bananas hanging out on my kitchen counter, whispering to me, coaxing me to imagine a new recipe and highlight their fragrant banana awesomeness. So that's how it all started.

But I was low on gluten-free flours.

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Maple Roasted Banana Ice Cream without Dairy

Roasting bananas makes for vegan ice cream yum.

I never bought David Lebovitz's ice cream book The Perfect Scoop because I'm allergic to dairy and eggs, and well. To be candid, a book brimming with rich and sexy recipes built around cream and butter and eggs and brown-eyed moo cow milk would just be, you know. Depressing as hell. I'd have to reinterpret and rebuild almost every recipe in the book to be dairy-free and huevo-free- except granita, and a sorbet or two.

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Green Peas-tomato soup

Ingredients:
½ cup fresh green peas
10 medium size ripe tomatoes
2 medium size onions
1 small piece of ginger
1 tbsp pure ghee or butter
1 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp red chillies powder
½ tbsp sugar (optional)
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:
Step 1: Cut the tomatoes into two parts and ginger into small pieces and onion into medium pieces. Step 2: Add one cup water and cook into medium flame with lid over the vessel.

Step 3: When tomatoes become soft then remove the skin of tomatoes with steel spoon.

Step 4: Blend this material with blender until it becomes smooth.

Step 5: Drain this pulp if the skin and seeds of tomatoes in it.
Step 6: Heat a thick pan and add pure ghee on low flame.

Step 7: Add cumin seeds when ghee is mallet.

Step 8: Turn the flame on medium and then add the fresh green peas in it.

Step 9: Simmer until they are very tender.

Step 10: When skin of peas is slightly change then puree tomatoes pulp in it.

Step 11: Stirring while and cook it for 10 minutes on medium flame.

Step 12: Then add red chillies powder, salt and sugar in it.

Step 13: When it begins to slightly thicken turn off the flame.

Step 14: Add fresh coriander leaves after the turn off the flame.

Step 14: Serve hot into serving bowl.

Step 15: Garnish with coriander leaves and cream.

Step 16: I like to eat with plane simple rice and roasted papad. But you also serve as soup in your menu. Note:
1. You also add carrot and another vegetable which you like the taste and it goes good taste with tomatoes.
2. Also add garlic or cloves or pepper powder or cinnamon if you like this type of taste.

Malai Kofta

An unusual non-fried version of koftas. Use fresh paneer for best results.
Ingredients for the Koftas:
1 cup paneer
1 tbsp plain flour(maida)
A pinch backing powder
2 green chillies chopped
2 tbsp coriander chopped
Salt to taste

Ingredients for gravy:
100gm fresh tomato pulp
1 cup milk
¼ cup cream
1 tbsp kasuri methi
1 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
To be ground into a paste:
¼ cup onions chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 green chillies
2 tbsp coriander seeds(dhania)
1 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tbsp ginger piece
2 cloves (lung)
1” stick cinnamon (dalchini)
Method for kofta:
Step 1: first of all crumbled the panner if fresh and if you use from freeze then grated it.

Step 2: Mix paneer, baking powder, green chillies, chopped coriander leaves and salt.

Step 3: Mix it very nicely if paneer is cool then just microwave for 7 to 10 second then it mix very nice.

Step 4: Then add plain flour in it and make like dough.

Step 5: Shape it into small round kofta.

Step 6: Take a microwave bowl and add 1 tbsp oil in it.

Step 7: Place all the round shape boll of paneer into greased microwave bowl.
Step 8: Smoothly rub this bowl into oil so its surface is oily.

Step 9: Microwave on high for 1 minutes.

Step 10: When cool open the bowl and check it is cook aur not if all paneer bolls are slightly change the color of off-white or it become hard then its cook nice.

Step 11: Keep aside.Method for the gravy:
Step 1: Ground the all ingredient material.Step 2: Make good paste from it.

Step 3: In another microwave safe bowl, add the oil and the ground paste.

Step 4: Microwave on high for 5 minutes, strring once after 3 minutes.

Step 5: Add tomato ready made pulp and mix it.
Step 6: Microwave on high for another 7 minutes stirring in between fo another 2-2 minutes.
Step 7: Add the milk, and cream.

Step 8: Add kasuri methi and salt in it and mix very well with help of spoon.

Step 9: Microwave on high for 2 more minutes.

How to proceed:
Step 1: just before serving add the koftas to the gravy.

Step 2: Microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Step 3: Serve hot and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.