Deep Fried Taro Cakes

· 200g taro
· 1 white sweet potato
· 1 potato
· 1 handful coriander (chopped)
· 4 spring onions (chopped)
· ¼ teaspoon salt
· ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
· Plan flour for dusting
· Vegetable oil for deep frying


1. Bring water to the boil in the bottom of the steamer. Meanwhile peel the taro, sweet potato and potato and cut them into chunks of the same size.

2. Place the vegetables on the steaming tray and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the knife can be easily poked through the flesh.

3. Place the cooked vegetables in a food processor and combine the coriander, spring onion, salt and pepper.

4. Using damp fingers, form the mixture into thick croquettes about 7cm long. The mixture should make approx 24 cakes.

5. Lightly dust in flour and deep fry for approx 4-5mins or until golden.

Gayatri
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

Red Lentil Dhal with eggplant

2 cups (400g) red lentils
1 litre (4 cups) water
2 cups (500ml) vegetable stock
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil or ghee
3 baby eggplants (500g), chopped coarsely
2 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil or ghee
1 medium brown onion (150g), chopped finely
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon of chili flakes
2 large tomato’s (500g), chopped coarsely

• Rinse lentils in large colander under cold water until water runs clear.
• Add lentils to the water and stock bring to a boil in a large heavy based pot. Reduce heat, simmer, uncovered for about 40minutes or until dhal mixture thickens slightly, stirring occasionally.
• Heat two tablespoons of oil or ghee in a heavy-based saucepan; cook eggplant until lightly browned and soft.
• Add eggplant and tomato paste to dhal.
• Heat two teaspoons of oil or ghee in the saucepan and cook onion. Add garlic first, then mustard seeds, cumin seeds, ground cumin and chili flakes.
• Add tomato’s to saucepan and mix then add to dhal pot.
• Serve with fresh coriander and a dollop of natural yogurt.
• Optional: squeeze the juice of one fresh lemon over the dhal and stir before serving

Gayatri
Instructor
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

Following on from our posts for "How to make a good chutney", here is some information in general ingredients used in chutneys that you should become familiar with.

· Vinegar (malt, white or wine) – This is an important ingredient used to make a fantastic tasting chutney, however often tamaring is used in Indian chutneys to give that lovely sour taste. Make sure that you use high quality vinegar or tamarind. If you are using vinegar it must have acetic content of at least 5%.
· Sugar - raw or brown. Brown sugar gives a darker colour to the chutney that is often preferred. Prolonged cooking of any sugar does, however, have a darkening effect on the chutney and, if a lighter colour is wanted, the sugar should only be added when the fruit and/or vegetables are already soft and mushy.
· Spices – generally whole spices are preferable in chutney-making than ground ones which can give a muddy appearance to the chutney. Bruise these and tie them up in a muslin bag and cook with the other ingredients. Often I just throw in the whole spices and then remove them later. Some recipes call for a mixture of both whole and ground spices to give the best flavour, so it all really depends on the recipe that you use.

Next post we will be discussing different problems that you can come accross in chutney making.

Gayatri
Instructor
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

Caribbean Cooking Class Saturday 21st February 2009

We held our Caribbean cooking class last Saturday to a very enthusiastic audience. Altogether 9 dishes were demonstrated including:

Tofu Coconut Soup
Okra Fried Rice
Quinoa Salad with Citrus Dressing
Eggplants Stuffed with Sweet Potato
Pumpkin Coconut Curry
Mango, tomato and red onion salad
Coconut ice cream
Tapioca Pudding
Pina Colada Granita Smoothie

Over the next few weeks I will be posting all the recipes that we domonstrated in the cooking class, so keep your eyes peeled.

Gayatri

Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

Vegetarian Caribbean Class

Today is the day we will be holding our vegetarian Caribbean cooking class. You will learn to cook 8 delicious, mouth watering recipes that you get to savour during the buffet meal served at the end of the demonstration.

How much? $35
Time? 2-6pm
Where? 23 Kurilpa Street West End
Contact? Candace on 3895 8944

Gayatri
Instructor
Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

Equipment Required for Making Chutney

In a previous post, we discussed the origin of chutneys and how you can dress up a dhal or curry with a good chutney. We also gave some tips on other ways of serving chutneys, such as as a dip platter with a variety of chutneys, sour cream or natural yoghurt and chapatis or naan bread. In this post we will give some tips on they equipment needed for making chutneys and some ideas on adding flavours and preserving chutneys. I'll also be giving you a delicious chutney recipe.

Equipment needed:
• A stainless steel or enamel-lined pan that is large enough to contain all the ingredients (if you’re also a big jam maker it may be well worth in investing in a preserving pan). Brass, copper or iron pans should not be used as they react with the vinegar and give a metallic flavour to the chutney.
• Long-handled wooden spoon – this should be reserved for chutney-making only as the wood becomes impregnated with the spiciness of the chutney and will taint other recipes.
• Sieves – stainless steel or nylon
• Heatproof jug or wide necked stainless steel funnel - a heatproof glass, stainless steel or enamel jug is useful for pouring the chutney into the jars. Alternatively a wide necked stainless steel funnel or a large ladle can be used.
• Muslin or cotton squares – to tie up whole spices wanted for flavourings.
• Scales – preferably dual marked in metric and imperial.
• Chopping boards and stainless steel knife.
• Heat proof jars of assorted sizes. These should be clean, dry, sterilized and warm before pouring in the chutney. To sterilize the jars just before filling, put into a "cool" oven, 140°C.
• Covers – these are most important. Vinegar corrodes metal, so use plastic screw or snap-on type or plastic preserving skin. Specialist preserving or bottling jars are suitable, either with screw-on or clip-on lid, providing the lid is made of glass.
• Labels – For the front of the jars to identify the chutney and the date made.

Kerala Mango Achar (Mango chutney)

• Mangoes-2 Cut into small square pieces
• chilli pwd-4 T
• salt-3T
• Asafoetida-1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric pwd-1 teaspoon
• Mustard seeds-1/2 teaspoon
• Oil -1 T

Heat oil in a pan.
To that add mustard seeds.
When it pops reduce heat to low and add chilli pwd, salt, asafoetida, turmeric and stir for about 3 min.

Turn off the heat.
Let it cool for a while.

Add this mixture to the cut mangoes and mix thoroughly.

Keep this for 7-8 days for the flavour to seep into mangoes.

You can add a little bit of distilled vinegar if you like.It will help to keep the freshness.

Gayatri

Instructor

Australian School of Meditation and Yoga

Parathas (buttery unleavened bread)

Paratha Ingredients:
· 4 cups of white flour or Whole Wheat Bread Flour - fine ground
· ½ tsp Salt
· Water, preferably warm (makes softer bread)
· 250g ghee or butter

Equipment:
· Bowl
· Rolling pin
· Cast Iron frying pan
· Heat source
· Cookie sheet or baking paper for putting the uncooked rolled out parathas on
· Dish or cake pan for putting cooked parathas on
· Foil to keep them warm

Method:
· Mix sifted flour and salt in a bowl
· Pour in enough water to make a soft dough (will depend on the flour) you can easily knead without having to add too much flour to the board or counter.
· Knead for a few minutes using additional flour to avoid sticking until the dough is smooth and elastic.
· Place the dough back in the bowl, spread it out, poke some holes in with your finger, and pour a little more (warm, or not is okay) water on the dough, cover, and let sit while you go do something else. This step is not necessary but makes the bread more tender.
· Come back and re-knead the dough just for a minute or two until it's smooth and cohesive.
· Chop or cut the dough into equal small egg-sized pieces
· Sprinkle a little flour on them to keep them from drying out.
· Take each segment of dough and roll into a round ball in your palms - either one by one as you roll them out with the rolling pin, or all at once.
· Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough a few mm thick.
· Brush some ghee, melted butter or oil over half the circle, and fold it over.
· Roll it out carefully again (it will form a sort of rounded triangle) and brush ghee over half of that, fold over, and roll out a bit again.
· Now, put a little ghee in the frying pan and fry the paratha in a sort of similar way, on medium heat - pressing/rubbing it a bit with a good sized spoon, and then turning over once or twice.

These puff up a little and usually get some dark brown spots here and there. Keep warm until ready to eat.

Gayatri
Australian School of Meditation an Yoga