Samoan Coconut Rice with Ginger Pesto

This was a simple yet flavorful dish I made when I was in St. Louis a few months back. These recipes were adapted from the book Sam Choy's Polynesian Kitchen. The coconut rice was super easy to make - the rice is cooked in a mixture of water + coconut milk - I used about 1/2 a can and a couple of pinches of salt. I also sprinkled a pinch of nutmeg when the rice was cooking. For the ginger pesto, I ground together the following: 1/4 cup of cilantro and mint leaves, 1 inch thick piece of ginger, a handful of walnuts, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 small shallot - chopped, a tsp of olive oil, salt and pepper and some water. We had this as a side dish with our dinner.

Samoan Coconut Rice with Ginger Pesto

Playing with Yarn

Though I learnt to crochet years back, I hadn't been working diligently on any projects or finishing the one Afghan I started. Recently, with the inspiration from the fund raiser, I have been working with the yarn I have accumulated and making neck warmer/ scarfs. The rose colored one is the neck warmer I am sending to one of my friends. I also added three buttons to it and it is made from a wool / acrylic blend yarn. The middle lavender with silver strand one is more lengthier and made of a acrylic/rayon/nylon yarn. The most recent one in awesome gold/orange is actually made with two different skeins of yarn - I just pulled them together through the hook. 

The first two have the same 'Dew drops' pattern and the last one has a 'Tipsy cluster' pattern. The stitches are from the book "The complete photo guide to crochet" by Margaret Hubert. I have loaned this book from the library, but it is so good, especially with pictorial representation on the stitches that the book is making it to my wishlist! I might have made more progress on my crocheting if I had come across this book before. But right now, I seriously wish I could pick up skills with MATLAB as fast as I can with yarns & hooks :)

Blitva from Croatia

Croatian Blitva was so easy to make and so delicious, it is going to be a recurring dish in my kitchen, especially as I look forward to using all the left over greens in the garden. I followed the recipe from Maninas: Food Matters. In a small pan, I sautéed chopped potatoes in olive oil, added a little water and let them cook till soft. I used two kinds of potatoes as you can see in the picture. To this, I added chopped rainbow swiss chard and 3 cloves of minced garlic. Seasoned with salt and pepper and once the chard has also cooked, mixed in a couple of tbsp of crushed peanuts. We had this with rice and Eritrean Alitcha Birsen for dinner!

 
I am sending this dish to the food blogging event Dish Name Starts with: B, hosted by Akila's Kitchen.

Brussels Sprouts Au Gratin

For Blog Bites #8, Nupur of One Hot Stove has challenged the food bloggers to come up with new ideas for one dish meals. I love one pot meals and for this BB8, I have modified Kevin's recipe from Closet Cooking and inspired by a couple of other recipes, made a one dish meal with Brussels sprouts. Not only do I like one pot meals, I use only one pot (in this case a pan) to make them. I am so glad to have these Acroflam pans that can go from the microwave to the stove to the oven to the table! 

I started with shredding a few parsnips, given by a friend from her CSA box. I also chopped up an onion, and halved roasted chestnuts. In my pan I initially boiled the Brussels sprouts for a few minutes. I saved them and in the pan heated up a tsp of butter + olive oil and sauteed the onions and parsnips. I removed these from the pan and heated a tbsp of butter till it was brown. I made a simple sauce by adding flour to the butter and whisking it with milk. Then came about a tsp of veggie broth powder and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Into this sauce went the Brussels sprouts, onions and parsnip along with salt and pepper. I also added the roasted chestnut and some leftover plain cooked rice that I had. I also added one whisked egg to this mixture. Topped it off with bread crumbs and a mixture of cheddar cheese + raw cow's milk cheese. Then the pan went into the over preheated at 400F for a good 25 minutes. The au gratin was delicious served with a dollop of Greek yogurt!

Krazy Kiddo

Off? Are you sure recliners are not for my comfort?

The Great Salt Lake

I spent last week in Utah, mostly at Snowbird attending the 17th Annual Conference of the Wildlife Society. After the conference at which I had a great time reconnecting with friends, getting inspired by some of the talks, great conversations with my advisor and arguing about diversity! On Friday I traveled in Salt Lake City and my last stop before my flight back home was the Great Salt Lake State Park. I went to Saltair drive near the airport. The water level was pretty low and I had to walk a little to the water's edge. The day was gorgeous and it was wonderful being outside. I did taste the water and felt it was saltier than sea water :) Here are a couple of my shots!

A Cause & A Venture

The right side of my brain has been more active recently, especially after spending my day with mathematical models. I have been inspired by my friend Sujju Prakash, who has been making jewelry as a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in memory of Dr. Prakash Krishnaswami from K-State. I am trying to help, in my own little way and as an added bonus I kill some of the boredom when Shankar is not around. 

I have a google site ~ Bee's Beads & Colors ~ where I am selling handmade earrings & my paintings & in a few days hoping to add some of my crochet stuff. All of the proceeds will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Below is my productivity tonight after a day of wildlife, vaccines & models!

Kourkouto from Greece

One of the first dishes I made when I started my Cooking the World Challenge was Kourkouto from Greece. I came across this recipe at Peter’s Kalofagas blog and adapted it just a little bit. I didn't have the Kasseri that he mentions and hence doubled up on the feta, reduced the amount of oil and left out the scallions. And the "pie" was great was lunch with a dribble of hot sauce. Since Peter does such a great job with his recipe, I am not reposting it here. Definitely a great dish to use up some of the zucchini and a good alternative to the usual zucchini bread.