Chocolate Paired For Everyday
Often, when the day has been a tad stressful or just full (of cries, of surprise laughs), I steal a moment of peace and self love with a square of chocolate. Nibbling on it and just staring out has been a cherished meditative escape. Add Christmas lights to that, and my harmony is achieved, over and over. Have you noticed, it is really really hard to be annoyed or sad or frustrated when you stare at a cheerily lit Christmas Tree??!
Here I was tasting chocolates and dreaming of how I would spend my day eating them. So, this is my vision of how I could so easily have chocolate from breakfast through goodnight kiss. Fortunately, I still get to do this atleast once a day and I highly recommend that practice, if you are at all, looking to find a way to steal a moment for yourself :)
Breakfast: Buckwheat, Banana and Fruit Muffins
This year, I have been discovering uses for buckwheat flour. Aside from it being gluten free, it has a unique nuttiness that comes through nicely, especially paired with fruits. I am also intrigued by its unique properties; the flour flexes like it has gluten and it even gels like you used psyllium husk. What I mean, it displays terrific water binding property. These muffins were a creation of necessity as well as curiosity. The usual bananas ripening faster than consumption triggered it. I also wanted to see how a baked good would taste with no added sugar and using only the natural sugars from the fruits in it.
Strawberry Lemon Whole Wheat Scones
The season for strawberries is finally here!!! At least in the markets; even farmers' markets. These are obviously hot house fruits because the weather, even in June is a bit erratic. Lovely, all around but certainly not high Summer as it you would expect it to be. I love that this is start of a bounty of produce that overflow in the markets and so many more options in vegetables.
Given the straddling seasons and because lemons are always cool, I paired the berries with hints of citrus from the fragrant zest for these scones. They are light, full of flavor and so so crumbly and soft. The perfect way to start a good day!
Progressive Indian: Spinach Parathas, Aloo Sabzi and Chicken Pepper Fry
I grew up omnivorous by culture, and, largely vegetarian by economics. Any animal product was a luxury growing up. We ate meat (mostly chicken)/fish once a week, typically Sundays and any leftovers was relished through the week as long as they lasted. These days as I reach back more into the nostalgia of my childhood food routines, I am leaning more and more towards vegetables and basic meats.
So, today's stars are the humble potato twice cooked to make the kickassest "Masala Home Fries" or (urulaikazhangu varuval in Tamil or Aloo Sabzi in Hindi) with step-by-step photos - a spicy Chennai pepper chicken fry (millagu kozhi fry) that was one of my favorite preparations of chicken, bone and all - and - the everyday staple, chapattis elevated with some greens and lots of butter to parathas.
{Gluten Free} Brown Butter Banana Loaf
The first from scratch baked item that I ever made was a banana bread loaf. It was inevitable. I LOVE bananas! As a kid, as soon as my mom brought home a bunch of bananas from the market, I would chomp through almost half of the bunch immediately. It was my every time snack!
Over the years, I have tried different versions and tweaks to the basic recipe - different flours, pureeing vs mashing the bananas, caramelizing the fruit, nuts and no nuts, loaf vs this cake, or, even muffins. The one thing I found was, while each of the variation did indeed make a small difference in the flavor and perhaps even texture, the end product was universally delightful and tasty. The thing is you simply can never go wrong with a banana loaf. It is the true magic of the bananas and its giving nature! ;-)
Today, I bring you yet another delightfully moist variation made with gluten free flours and further nuttiness of brown butter.