Mulliga-what? Making the Perfect Moolgatunny Soup

This blog is slowly morphing into a record of the Cooking Party meetings, but I'm totally fine with that. For our second session M and I combined sea salt chocolate, the Beach, and mulligatawny soup, and came up with a relaxing and invigorating hangout. Mulligatawny is a soup that is traditionally from the Anglo-Indian population in India, and is like a daal, but with coconut milk added. Here we replaced the milk with 3/4 of a cup of coconut powder, and about a cup of water. We also made it vegetarian with no meat in it. Oh, and it tastes divine the day later; the spices merge and intensify and there's really a depth there that wasn't before.
As for the pronunciation- The Mixmaster really has a laugh at how I pronounce this soup. What can I do when I first learned of it from the TV show Seinfeld? The way you correctly pronounce it is the second way it's written in the title. This is really a recipe to try- quick and easy and inexpensive.
Here's Epicurious' version: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mulligatawny-Soup-232690

Nothing Says "I Love You" Like Hollandaise Sauce

...With profound apologies to all the vegans out there.
Hollandaise sauce has always been one of those recipes that I've been dying to make. Having grown up eating mostly Indian food, I've always had a fascination with continental foods. At Christmas time, we always made Eggs Benedict, and after trying to make a hollandaise at home, I now realize that the endeavor is a labour of love.
Hollandaise is a emulsification of the yolk of eggs, butter, and vinegar, with pepper and lemon sometimes adding spice and tang. It is a French sauce, and was made as early as 1651 by Francois Pierre La Varenne in his groundbreaking book Le Cuisinier Francois. However, the sauce mimics a Dutch sauce, hence the "holland" in hollandaise. It is considered one of the 5 mother sauces in French cooking.
Last Saturday, I made hollandaise sauce with artichokes, and stuffed pasta shells for an early holiday dinner for The Mixmaster. I altered an Epi recipe, and came up with what you see below. A few notes: Feel free to add a squirt or two of extra lemon for tartness; I found with the vinegar that my recipe was tart enough. Also, I used black pepper. All the recipes I found beg you to use white. But what's wrong with a little colour? I liked the flecks throughout the sauce. And finally, when rewarming the sauce, be sure to do so on low heat. Separated hollandaise can really be a downer at one's otherwise festive holiday brunch...


Recipe (for 1 1/2 cups):

2 tablespoons pure white vinegar
3 tablespoons cold water
1/4 teaspoons salt
black pepper to taste
3 large egg yolks (preferably free run)
2 sticks butter (1 cup), unsalted, cut into 1 tablespoons pieces and softened
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (optional, if you like it very tart)

• Boil vinegar, 2 T water, salt, and black pepper in medium saucepan with a heavy bottom, until reduced to about 2 tablespoons (this happens quickly).
  
• Remove from heat and add additional tablespoon of water.
• Whisk in yolks and cook over very low heat, whisking constantly, until thickened (be careful not to scramble yolks). I had the heat at about 2-3 on my stove.
  
• Whisk in butter one piece at a time, you may lift pan occasionally to cool sauce.
• If adding lemon juice, do so after the pan is removed from heat. Also add salt, to taste.
  

* The egg yolks will not be fully cooked in this recipe, just so you know.

I hope you all have a lovely holidays!
viga

Khumun Dhokla, or Spilling Gujarati Culinary Secrets Like Coins From a Purse

So, I had guests of the familial kind this past weekend. After the cleaning, and the hiding of what needed to be hid, I got down to the decision of what to make to eat. My family is from the western part of India, a state called Gujarat, so I thought that making a "traditional" snack might be a good option. This recipe is my mom's, and I was rather nervous at having her taste and critique it, but I guess it passed the test. A good dhokla is spongy, spicy, and a juxtaposition of varied tastes: the bitterness of the mustard seeds, the freshness of the coriander leaves, and the ginger and green chili taste of the dhokla.
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Note:
You'll need steamer set up for cooking the dhokla (which I guess can best be described as a savoury, spicy cake, which is sometimes served to guests as an appetizer). I use a big pot, filled with 3/4 of an inch of water, and three small steel bowls (found at Gerrard India Bazaar, or most Indian housewares stores) also half filled with water, to balance the pans. Use handle-less cake pans that fit in the stock pot, and can be removed easily with a strong set of tongs.


Recipe:

for Dhokla(two 8 inch pans):
2 cups chick pea flour (besan)
1/4 cup wheat germ (sugi)
3 1/2 t grated ginger
3 t chopped small green chilies
1 1/4 t salt
1/2 t tumeric
3 heaping T yoghurt
a little more than 3/4 C of water
oil for greasing 2 cake pans
a little less than 2 T of Eno (unusual, yes, but it's needed to make it rise. Buy the unflavoured one, of course)

for Turka and topping:
2 1/2 T oil, canola or sunflower
1 t fenugreek seeds
3 t mustard seeds
1 1/2 t shredded coconut, unsweetened (or to taste)
1T chopped fresh coriander leaves (or to taste)

The Batter:

• Mix all ingredients for the dhokla. The batter should be a little thicker than cake batter. Stir well.
• Let stand for 10 minutes.
• Grease cake pans with an oil like canola or sunflower (olive oil and Indian cooking are a no go).
• Pour the batter into the pans. Assemble the steamer and set flame to boil. Just before putting pan in, add Eno to the first pan you're going to steam (less than 1 T), stir well, and steam, with the lid covered, for 10-12 minutes.
• You can check the done-ness with a toothpick.
• Repeat Eno mixing and steaming with next pan.
• Remove dhokla from pans and cut into squares. Serve on a plate or tray.
  

Turka (Spice fry) and Dressing:

• Heat oil in a pan (that you have a lid to). Add fenugreek seeds and cook for 30 seconds.
• Add mustard seeds and cover. The seeds will pop, which could get a little dangerous. When they have all popped, remove them from the flame, and pour over dhokla.
• Dress the dhokla with coconut and fresh coriander.