The Daring Cooks Make Appam

appam with crispy edges and slightly soft center

I added pigeon peas to the carrots recipe

Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.

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Thanks Mary for challenging us to cook South Indian food. I rarely cook Indian food and never liked it in the past but in recent years, I have come to appreciate it and even bought a cookbook. I have cooked Kerala Chicken once and loved it but this is the first time I have heard of appam, a flat bread made with fermented rice paste and coconut milk and cooked in a small wok or skillet. The recipe for appam and dishes are here.

Initially, I didn't like its fermented flavor but the second batch I made which had less yeast and shorter fermentation period made delicious appams. I prepared a simple but yummy vegan dish to go with them, the recipe I adapted from here.

Fava Beans, Asparagus, and Potatoes with Grated Coconut 

½ cup grated fresh coconut

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1 piece dried red hot chile

1 tablespoon dried red lentil

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 tablespoon tamarind paste

1 cup peeled fava beans, half-cooked

1 cup asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 cup tiny potatoes, halved or quartered, half-cooked

1 cup water

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon whole black mustard seeds

1 dried mild red chili, crumbled 

1 clove garlic, finely minced

6 fresh curry leaves, julienned

2 teaspoons powdered jaggery or raw sugar

• In a small skillet, toast separately coconut, lentils, and chile. Put them in a blender together with the toasted sesame seeds and blend to a paste, adding a little water if needed. Place the blended mixture in a large skillet or small wok and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the vegetables, tamarind paste, salt, and water; let boil, lower heat to medium low and simmer, covered, until potatoes and beans are tender and asparagus still crisp but tender. 
• In another skillet, heat the oil and saute mustard seeds, dried chile, and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the curry leaves and sugar and cook for 1 minute. Stir into the vegetables; turn heat off and let rest for 10 minutes before serving with warm appams.

I also cooked the Sri Lankan Beef Curry provided by Mary but replaced the green chiles with hot reds. Do try this delicious dish.

delicious beef curry and appam 

And for breakfast the other day, I added 4 tablespoons sugar to 1 cup of batter, and cooked them thicker than regular appams.. I added grated sharp cheddar on top for a sweet, salty, and coconut-y rice pancakes. I love it!

sweet appam for breakfast

Baked Mini Donuts

These 1½-inch baked yeast mini donuts and holes are delicious glazed, rolled in regular and icing sugars, or topped with chocolate frosting. They are a tad crispy and chewy, not as fluffy and soft like Krispy Kreme. All the recipes for the mini donut pan are baking powder cake donuts but I prefer using yeast for donuts. I just followed a recipe for regular donuts, cut the dough with donut hole cutter, then pressed them on the mini donut pan cavities. These are so cute, fun to eat, and satisfy my donut craving with just a few pieces.

Baked Donuts
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ tablespoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
4 ounces milk, scalded and cooled to 100°F
2 tablespoons soft butter
1 egg, room temperature

• Whisk together flour, yeast, sugar, nutmeg, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Add the rest of ingredients and mix with paddle attachment until combined. Knead on medium high with dough hook attachment until smooth and elastic. Transfer into a lightly greased container, cover with plastic wrap, and let ferment until doubled. Knead lightly; roll into ½ inch thick rectangle. Cut with donut hole cutter or 1-inch round cookie cutter. Press into the cavities of a mini donut pan until the dough goes through the middle creating a hole. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 to 40 minutes. Bake in a preheated 400° F oven for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan and glaze or roll in powdered sugar if desired.

For The Love of Chili

I went to a chili cook-off sponsored by our local Ashburn Pub last Saturday. 17 chili recipes entered the competition and the winner by popular votes from us tasters will have their chili recipe included in the pub's menu for a whole year. I tried only 7 chilis, 6 without beans and 1 with beans and sweet corn. The first one I tried  was terribly sweet, I tasted only a tiny portion and threw the rest away. Who puts sugar in their chili and who would eat and love it??? Well, as it turned out people here in Ashburn like their chili sweet and honeyed because it WON the competition. A friend of ours, Enrique who is originally from Venezuela, voted for it as the best, so what do I know. Anyway, the only chili I make and eat is Authentic Texas Border Chili and nothing else. 

it was crowded, hot, and noisy inside and outside the pub

Enrique with his drink Mongo Juice which he gave to me because it was too sweet for him. It's a non-alcoholic drink that tastes of nothing but chemicals, sugar, and probably a few drops of bitters. I drank it because it was cold and I liked the large slice of watermelon.

the creator of Mongo Juice

the staff calls him Mongo after the character in the movie Blazing Saddles 

although he is not really as huge as Mongo

my first choice had chunks of sausage and tasted almost like my favorite chili

my second choice, more like a stew but the only chili that actually had hot chiles

my third choice regardless of beans and corn

very tasty and it's served with delicious oyster crackers 

Our friend Enrique suggested I join next year and he will "pimp" for my chili but now that I know what the tasters prefer, my chili might come out at the very bottom because it's never sweet and has loads of spices.

Light Chocolate Cupcakes Topped with Sponge Candy

light chocolate cupcakes with raw sugar frosting 
and topped with bits of sponge candy

It's been ages since I made chocolate cupcakes. I have small bits of sponge candy, also called honeycomb because of its open fluffy texture, and thought they would be great as topping for chocolate cupcakes. I wasn't in the mood for the too rich dark ones so I used natural cocoa powder for lighter but still chocolaty cakes. I love the crunch and extra sweetness of the sponge candy, perfect with the soft melt-in-your mouth cupcakes. If you prefer really dark moist rich cakes the recipe is here. 

Light Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup natural cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup room temperature butter

1½ cups sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 eggs, separated

1 cup ice-cold water

• Line cupcake tins with baking papers. 
• Preheat oven to 350°F. 
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside. 
• In the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter for 1 minute; add sugar and vanilla and beat on high until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating each time until just incorporated.
• Add flour mixture alternately with water, beating until smooth. Transfer mixture into a bowl; set aside. 
• Wash the bowl thoroughly. With wire whisk, beat egg whites until stiff and glossy. Mix a little of the egg whites into the flour mixture to lighten. Fold the rest of the egg whites into the flour mixture. Spoon about ¼ cup of dough into each cup. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cake test is done. Cool completely before frosting.

Golden Raw Sugar Frosting

1 cup coarse golden raw sugar

1/3 cup water

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 egg whites

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

• In a small bowl, heat sugar and water until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil until bubbly; turn heat off.
• In the bowl of a standing mixer with wire beater, beat egg whites and cream of tartar to soft peaks; slowly add hot syrup while beating on high speed until frosting is thick and satiny.