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Spelt Churros

12 Jul

My friend Angie’s mom, Doña Tina, is from Asturias.  They were just visiting Asturias this past Easter.  Angie came back with plenty ideas for us to make together.  Among them, a CHURRERA…  or a little machine contraption to make churros.  We just had to try it for our Spanish-inspired dinner menu recently.

Mariana and Natalia were super excited to make churros… they were asking for them the whole night.  Churros are sweet, crunchy and delicious.  What’s not to like??

The recipe is super simple… just 3 ingredients – flour, water and butter.  That’s it; Nothing to it.  All you need is a little bit of muscle to work the Churrera.  Or a second pair of hands is also very useful.  If you do not have a churrera, don’t worry – a simple pastry bag with a star tip will also do the job.

We used spelt flour for the job… and it worked out extremely well. 

 

SPELT CHURROS

1 cup  spelt flour
1 cup  water
2 tbs butter
a pinch of kosher salt
Canola oil for frying
Organic sugar for sprinkling on top

 

  1. In a medium saucepan bring the water and butter to a boil.  Dump the flour into the water in one swoop and start mixing it all together very briskly using a wooden spoon.
  3. After mixing the dough around the pan for a little while, about 1-2 minutes, take the dough out of the pan to cool off.
  4. After the dough has cooled, insert it into a churrera or pastry bag with a star tip.
  6. In a large skillet, place about ½ inch of oil for frying the churros… traditionally olive oil is used, but I do not like to use olive oil for frying.  Check the oil is at the right frying temperature by inserting a wooden spoon into the oil.
  7. Press the churros dough through the currera and into the hot oil.  Try to use a circular motion going from the center of the pan and spiral outward.  When you run out of space in the pan, cut the dough using kitchen shears.  That’s the traditional way the Spanish do churros.  If this is too complex, just draw some lines into the frying pan and cut the dough again using kitchen shears.
  9. Fry churros for about 10-15 minutes, until the dough is golden brown on all sides.  Spelt flour is a little bit darker than traditional white flour, so it’ll take a few minutes of frying before you start seeing the change in color and doneness.
  10. Take the finished churros out of the oil and place in a paper towel to drain.  Sprinkle with organic sugar on top.

 

These churros are spectacular and even more so with a cup of Hot Carob on the side.

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Quesadillas Guillén with Fresh Tomato Salsa

5 May

Guillén is my friend from the yoga center… He lives in Mexico City, but tries as much as he can to come to Puerto Rico, Miami or New York to attend our yoga center activities and retreats.  Last time we saw each other was during our Xmas retreat, which took place last in New York.  We always have a great time together, talking about anything, but mostly about food.

Guillén loves to cook and to share his Mexican delicacies with all of us.  And as soon as we were given the “green light” to eat anything and everything after our retreat, he said he would make some quesadillas for breakfast for all of us.  Quesadillas for breakfast?!?!?  Well, that’s how the Mexicans in the DF (capital city) roll, and I am getting on this wagon for sure.

Something Guillén taught me this time around is that what I have showed you so far as quesadillas – Caprese Quesadillas, French Quesadillas, Quesadillas  Cordon Blue, etc. – are not really quesadillas according to true Mexican cuisiniers…  these are really called “sincronizadas”.  Guillén tells me that Quesadillas need to be FRIED, and made mainly with corn tortillas, while Sincronizadas are made with flour tortillas and are just heated on top of a skillet or on the oven to brown and melt the cheese, but are never fried.  To be honest… this was super enlightening for me because I had seen sincronizadas in Mexican menus during my last trip to Guadalajara and when I asked what was the difference from quesadillas, nobody was super clear on what it was… and according to Guillén is the FRYING part.

So… here is Guillén’s recipe for truly awesome quesadillas.  First, we start with organic sprouted corn tortillas.  These are not too easy to find here in Puerto Rico, but I have seen them in most every health food I have gone to in the US.  This is the brand Guillén prefers and they are truly delicious. 

Then the cheese to use…  Guillén prefers to use pepper jack cheese, but if you have a milder palate, try some Monterrey Jack cheese or even those cheddar/jack shredded cheese blends.  However, what’s traditionally Mexican is to slice the cheese from a block, not use the shredded kind.

And what makes these quesadillas really special is the Fresh Tomato Salsa… it’s super easy to make and it tastes soooooo authentic, I felt I was back in Guadalajara.  Guillén was nice enough to allow me to photograph him while making these quesadillas and salsa.  I have since tried it on my own and the results were extremely reliable.  Look for the freshest, ripest tomatoes you can find.  It really makes a difference… 

 

QUESADILLAS GUILLEN WITH FRESH TOMATO SALSA

8 organic sprouted corn tortillas
16 slices of pepper jack cheese – we’ll use 2 slices per tortilla
Canola oil for shallow frying
2 medium tomatoes, cored
½ yellow onion, chopped finely
The juice of 1 lime
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tbs olive oil

 

We’ll make the Fresh Tomato Salsa first…

  1. In a non-stick skillet, place the tomatoes and roast them on top of the stove at medium-high heat.  Keep moving the tomatoes around to char the skin all over.  This will cook slightly the tomato flesh and impart a great smoky taste to the salsa.
  2.      
  3. After the tomatoes are charred all over, take them off the skillet to cool off a bit.  I peel the tomatoes a bit and take off the very charred skin.  Cut the tomatoes into quarters and place them in a food processor or blender. Blend or process well for about 1 minute.
  4. Take the tomato blend out of the processor and into a bowl.  Add the choppped onion, lime juice, salt, pepper and olive oil. 
  5.  Set aside to allow the flavors to blend well together. 

Now we make the quesadillas… which is really no science at all to it.

  1. In a large skillet, add about ¼” of oil at medium-high heat… when the oil is hot enough for frying, add a tortilla and fry slightly on both sides.  Immediately, add two slices of cheese on one half of the tortilla and fold the other half over to create a half moon.  Fry on both sides until the tortilla is slightly golden brown and the cheese has melted.
  2.               
  3. Drain the quesadilla onto a plate covered with paper towel.
  4. When the quesadilla has cooled off slightly enough to handle, open it up a bit and drizzle about a tablespoon of salsa inside the quesadilla.

 

And that’s it… you could serve these with a nice salad on the side and some sour cream on top.  But believe me, these are perfect just like this.

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Incredible India… Lassi

19 Nov

I have mentioned lassis to you before… I shared with you my version of a mango lassi earlier.  But after having lassis in India during my past trip there, I realized my version of lassi is not that authentic.

Lassi is a yogurt-based drink very typical to India.  It is made out of plain yogurt churned with some fruit, typically mango, but I learned that it can be done with other fruits too.  But the fruit is minimal, because all the lassis I had during this trip are white and do not take on the color of the fruit being mixed in.

Lassis are typically drunk as an appetizer before a meal…   I drank them also during the meal to help cool of my taste buds of all the spicy Indian food.  I even had it as an afternoon snack… when everyone at the hotel bar was ordering drinks after taking in the sights of the Taj Mahal, I ordered myself a lassi.  The server laughed but found it endearing and as a sign of us embracing of Indian culture.  He also thought I was Indian…

I learned there are 2 versions of lassi – salted or sweet.  I only knew the sweet versions, which was preferred by everyone I asked.  I got to try the salted version during our 1st breakfast in Agra.  Nothing special, just imagine a liquid yogurt sprinkled with salt.  It only helped me to cool down the spiciness of the dosas and chutneys I had that morning… other than that, I will continue ordering sweet lassi.

 

Also, lassis are made with a churner, like the one you see below, instead of a blender, like I do…  I guess that was why the lassis would take a little while every time I ordered them.

So, for a more authentic version of lassi… you can still follow my recipe, just add a tiny bit of fruit, to maintain the white color of the yogurt.  and you can add some pistachios on top… to resemble the one I had at the ITC Agra Hotel… super chic indeed.

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Incredible India… Chai Masala Tea

14 Nov

This is something I learned in this past trip to India…

Every time you visit a store or for breakfast you get offered tea.  And the tea they refer to is chai masala tea.  This is a tea made already with milk and seasoned with some kind of sugar/sweetener and a blend of spices or masala.

Chai masala 1

The masala blend for the tea is usually a spice mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, ginger and sometimes even peppercorns.

Masala Blend

I am not the tea drinker; Annie Mariel is the tea drinker here.  And the teas I usually drink are mostly herbal (chamomile, spearmint, linden, lemongrass, etc.) to avoid the caffeine in most teas.  But I was intrigued by this chai masala I was being offered all the time.

I loved it… it is traditionally served in these clay cups.  Not to worry, the cups are disposable and used only once.  Even when you get seconds, the cups are never reused.  I was told the cup itself gave some flavor to the tea and that even a second pouring would not taste the same as the first one.  And when I had tea in a paper cup or in a regular china cup, it did not taste the same as that original clay cup.

Drinking Chai      Chai @ Train

The one-time clay cups are also the preferred way to drink lassi, I later learned.  I believe these disposable clay cups are partly the reason why there’s so much dirt flying in the air all the time… Imagine all these clay cups being thrown into the curbside, they get pulverized, the dirt then flies all over the place… you can imagine the picture.

But my love affair with this tea was short-lived…  I wondered why I had not been offered this tea during my first trip if it’s so popular everywhere in India.  The reason??  It has caffeine, and in the line of vegetarianism I practice, we avoid caffeine as it is a stimulant that is not beneficial to a healthy nervous system.

But it is sooooooo good, I am on a mission now to recreate this delicious chai masala tea in a decaffeinated version.   Just stay tuned…  OK?

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Incredible India… Breakfasts

12 Nov

Be careful what you wish for… because you might actually get it.

I decided at the beginning of the year that I wanted my official job description to read – PROFESSIONAL JET-SETTER. Because travel is one of my true, deep passions… well, this last October I got to visit India for the second time.  In the last 2 months, this is my 4th trip.  My friend Annie Mariel asked me to accompany her run some errands in Delhi and I immediately said yes.  How could I really say NO to that invitation?!?!?!

My first trip, exactly 5 years ago, had a spiritual purpose – visiting various religious temples in the Himalayas – but this one was much touristy.  We visited Delhi, Varanasi and Agra, to see the Taj Mahal. 

nataraja    varanasi 2

Taj Mahal

Breakfasts are really important to me… especially when traveling.  I do not know why, but my appetite is HUGE during breakfast when I travel.  Delhi has a lot of smog and is much dustier than what we’re accustomed on our side of the world.  So I made it a point to always eat lots of fruit and yogurt to maintain my body’s defenses.  Here are a few examples of typical breakfasts I had at our hotels:

The first was in Delhi – papaya pieces, plain yogurt, porridge or oatmeal made with milk.   Just the way I like it.  I always complemented breakfast with some freshly squeezed juice and apparently something very popular is watermelon juice.  I found watermelon juice in Delhi and in Varanasi.  They would even prepare it to order… super sweet and delicious.

    Breakfast Delhi

watermelon juice - KFC

This second was in Agra – papaya pieces with pomegranate seeds, plain yogurt, corn or wheat flakes.  Here breakfast was complimented by salted lassi and pineapple juice.  I much more prefer sweet lassi, but we’ll talk about that a little later on in a future post…

Agra Breakfast

But these are very typical breakfasts… you might be thinking.   But this was not all I ate each morning… this was just the starter complimented also by one of two Indian versions of breakfast too.  Indians do not limit their curry and savory food intake from lunch on.  They have their savory and spicy foods right after they open their eyes.  Even though we stayed in Northern India, we got to taste the breakfast preferences of both North and South India.

NORTH INDIA

When we were in Delhi, I was intrigued by what my table neighbor was eating.  I saw this puffed up bread and I immediately was curious.  It is called chole bhature and it is fried bread made from either maida flour (very-fine wheat flour) or rice flour.  I had them both and you can barely notice a difference.  You eat this fried, puffy bread with curried chickpeas and spicy/sweet mango chutney.  The yogurt on my regular breakfast plate helped to cool my mouth because of the spices for the chickpeas and chutney. 

North India Breakfast

Our servers at the hotel restaurant were so impressed with our interest in their local food, after I ordered just out of curiosity, that they would bring a service of this chole bhature without us having to order it.

Not what I normally crave for breakfast, but certainly interesting enough to enjoy it while in India…  and I am all to have the most out of my travel experiences.

SOUTH INDIA

After an overnight train experience that left a lot to be desired, we arrived in Agra at 9:30AM and we were HUNGRY for breakfast.  The buffet spread was exactly what we needed.  That’s where we learned about Dosas.

Dosas are the typical South India version of breakfast… it’s a rice flour crepe filled with a curried-potato mixture.  They’re made to order and you enjoy them with a coconut or tomato chutneys.  And you know me, I am a crepe fanatic.

Dosa 4

The potato mixture is spicy, but the chutneys were way spicier for my taste.  So after tasting them initially, I kept on eating without the accompaniments.  Salted lassi helped ease the spice level on the tongue.  They were so good, we had dosas every morning we had breakfast in Agra.

 Dosa 1     Dosa 3

Dosa 2

I hope this encourages you to try out these Indian favorites the next time you travel to India or visit an Indian restaurant in your neighborhood.  Tasting the local flavors is an integral part of getting to know a new country/culture.  It’s what separates the travelers from the tourists… don’t you think?

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