This post, however, is not about cookies. It's not even exactly about beans. But it is about lentils, which are legumes, which means they fit this theme! Yay! I like dry beans a lot -- but I like lentils even more. They're a great source of protein, they cook quickly with no pre-soak, and I think they smell like tea while they cook. Stand by for some seriously crazy fusion cooking!
Mujadara Fritatta
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/3 cup milk
2 cups mujadara (recipe follows)
feta cheese, crumbled (optional)
olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
Spread cooled mujadara in bottom of large oven-proof frying pan.
Beat eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together (I did it in my blender) until light and foamy.
Pour egg mixture over mujadara, cooking over medium heat just until eggs are set.
Sprinkle top with crumbled feta, if desired.
Bake at 400 until eggs are cooked through, and cheese is gooey and melty. Cut into 6 wedges and serve.
How's that for crazy? Mujadara is a Middle Eastern dish. Fritattas are Italian. Feta is Greek. And I used Thai Jasmine rice in my mujadara, because it's what I happened to have on hand. Believe it or not, it all works together quite well. And "mujadara fritatta" is just fun to say, isn't it? I know it's not a very pretty dish... unfortunately, green lentils cook up to be greenish-brown, and turn everything they come near the same funky color. But trust me -- this is a great dish, considering I completely made it up this morning and had no idea what I was doing!
Now, you ask -- what in the heck is mujadara? Here's the recipe!
Mujadara
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped coasely
1-1/3 cups green lentils, sorted and rinsed
3/4 cup long-grain rice
salt and pepper to taste
Fry onions in olive oil until soft and brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place lentils in a large saucepan. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer 10 - 15 minutes, until lentils just begin to get soft. Add rice and enough extra water to cover. Simmer another 15 minutes, or until rice and lentils are done and water is absorbed. Stir in salt, pepper, and onions.
Kevin loves to quote a Monty Python skit to me: "say no to lentils!" He's crazy. I generally reply by sticking out my tongue, then saying, "say YES to lentils!"
A quick entry -- I'm leaving for Boston in an hour! But these cookies are so good, I have to share the recipe with you! This is another one from allrecipes.com, of course!
Cranberry Kitchen Cookies
"Makes a great, light, cake-like cookie. I use the food processor to chop the cranberries (life is just too short!)."
Prep Time: approx. 25 Minutes. Cook Time: approx. 10 Minutes. Ready in: approx. 45 Minutes. Makes 12 dozen (144 servings). from Allrecipes, Submitted by Cheryl Gross.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 egg
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, roughly chopped
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. 2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in the milk, orange juice and egg. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in chopped walnuts and cranberries. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. 3. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Since I have a major aversion to walnuts, I used some extra cranberries -- and I didn't chop them at all (life is too short!)! I dropped the dough by tablespoonfuls, so it only made 4 dozen. Life is too short to scoop 144 cookies in one evening! They're soft, sweet, and tart. They were a huge hit with my parents. Hopefully Kevin will like them just as much!
You really can't tell, but it was snowing when I took these!
You all must know by now what snowy, blowy, and cold means to me... baking!! The time had come to try making bread dough in my purple mixer.
I found the perfect recipe at Lesley's Recipe Archive: 5 Grain Bread. You know me -- the more grains, the better! Here's the recipe, copied directly from the site... I'm warning you, it's just a bit difficult to follow, but I figured it all out!
Five-Grain Bread
1-cup all purpose flour
1-cup whole-wheat flour
1/2-cup rolled oats (not instant)
1/4-cup yellow cornmeal
1/4-cup natural bran (not cereal)
1/4-cup wheat germ
1/4-cup dark rye flour
2-tsp salt
2-1/4-cups very warm milk
3-tbsp honey
3-tbsp dark cooking molasses
1/4-cup cooking oil
5-1/2-cups all purpose flour
Measure first 8 ingredients into a large bowl
Stir sugar and warm together in a small bowl
Sprinkle yeast over top
Let stand 10 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast
Combine the next 4 ingredients in a separate bowl. Stir
Add yeast mixture. Stir
Pour into dry ingredients
Beat until well mixed
Stir in enough remaining flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl
Knead 8-10 minutes
Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top
Cover with tea towel
Let stand in oven with light on and door closed for about 1-1/4 hours until doubled in size
Punch dough down, and then divide in half
Shape into loaves
Place in two greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pans
Cover with tea towel
Let stand in oven with light on and door closed for about 45 minutes until doubled in size
Bake @ 375* for about 15 minutes
Turn onto racks to cool
Makes 2 loaves Using 8-3/8 x 4-3/8 loaf pans will make 3 loaves
15 minutes?!? Who ever heard of a loaf of bread baking in 15 minutes? Let alone two loaves at the same time! I have to tell you, I was shocked. Of course, I didn't time it exactly, but it didn't take any more than about 20 minutes to bake these loaves.
The only change I made to the recipe is pretty predictable for me -- instead of 5-1/2 cups of AP flour, I used 2-1/2 cups whole-wheat flour and just about 2-1/2 cups AP. Today is obviously a very dry day, so the dough didn't need the entire 5-1/2 cups of flour.
I sure gave my purple mixer a good workout. The handbook tells what size recipes should be used for my particular model (maximum amount of flour per recipe), and I thought I calculated correctly, but once the dough was mixed, I had to divide it and knead it in two batches. The whole recipe was just too much for my poor mixer! It was a trooper, though, and made some great dough. This is a very soft, moist, hearty, and satisfying bread. I love the texture from the oats and cornmeal, and the sweetness from the molasses and honey. I also like the nutrition boost from using milk instead of water. This one's definitely a keeper!
Today's Great Bubble Tea Project was semi-successful...
I chose the black milk tea mix, so as to not shock myself too much. So far, I've stuck to pretty tame flavors of bubble tea at salons. The green tea at Bubblemaineia surprised me a bit, though -- it turns out it's flavored with jasmine, so it tasted like a flower garden. Yuck. Plus, I spilled it all over my hand trying to puncture the lid with the straw, so I smelled like a flower garden. Yuck. Not that I don't like flowers and gardens, but this was just a bit too flowery for me!
The other flavors are strawberry, honeydew, and taro! I have to admit, I'm pretty intrigued by the thought of taro tea. I've only eaten taro as chips!
I opted to use the multi-colored pearls I bought at Portland Spice Company instead of the black or green ones that came with my kit.
I didn't think bubble tea for one really required the use of a saucepan and the stove, so I microwaved the pearls.
Pretty, no? The microwave method worked just fine, and was very easy. I have to admit, though, that as usual, I overestimated the power of my microwave. They could have used another minute or so. They're extra chewy. =)
After the shaker deposited a fair amount of tea onto my shirt and countertop, here's what I ended up with:
Most valuable lesson learned: for whatever reason, the flat-bottomed straws that came with the kit just don't transport the pearls as well as the angled-bottomed ones I always get from tea salons. I'll have to trim them!
The tea is pretty good for a powder that came out of an envelope. It's very sweet, but it definitely tastes like milky black tea. It didn't turn out too bubbly or frothy, though. Maybe if I mix the next batch in my purple mixer with the whip attachment, that will work some good bubbles in (that's for Mariko)! =)
I am so into this stuff. I first had it in New Haven just after Thanksgiving... then Kevin and I found Bubblemaineia in Portland... and then I noticed it on the menu at Dado Tea in Cambridge. But bubble tea just hasn't found its way to Bangor... until now! I bought some tapioca pearls at the Portland Spice Company (my favorite vendor at the Portland Public Market) a few weeks ago, but realized on my way home that I didn't have the half-inch diameter straws required for slurping up said pearls! I went on a furious internet search, and found some, but the shipping was going to cost about three times as much as the straws. Argh. My only hope was to save my straws when I buy bubble tea in Portland or Boston. I was saved, however, when I found myself -- and this bubble tea kit! -- at the Market on Thursday. The Portland Spice Co. comes through yet again! The kit contains (and I am copying this directly from the box, because I love bad translations from Chinese text!): Shaker cup, 1 pc. Fruit flavor, 8 bags. Plastic cup, 8 sets. Big straw, 8 pcs. Black pearl tapioca, 1 bag. Green tea tapioca, 1 bag. Instruction, 1 set. That's enough for about 16 servings, as far as I can tell, all for the price of about four at a tea salon! Life is good.
Hmm... maybe I should offer a good explanation of just what bubble tea is? I know very few of my friends around here will know what it is, since it isn't available in Bangor! I'll quote bubblemaineia.com: "Bubble tea is a frothy concoction made of tea and flavorings, served with blended or cubed ice and with or without tapioca pearls. Tapioca pearls provide texture to the drink. The consistency of tapioca pearls is somewhere between gelatin and gummy candy. The term "bubble" originated from the froth created when the drink is prepared by vigorous shaking." And you thought the "bubble" part referred to the tapioca pearls, right? I certainly did! =) Now we know, and knowing is half the battle. Go, Joe! Oops. Childhood cartoon flashback.
Here are some of my favorite excerpts from the instructions in my bubble tea kit: "Stir, avoid the pearl sticking on pot." " Turn to small fire when pearl float out of the water." "Enjoy the 10 minutes-cooking Pearl." "Add some tapioca pearl; place a straw. Then a cup of delicious Bubble & Pearl Drink is serve." Oh, and the "pictrure" on the box "is for reference only."
The tapioca pearls will be so much fun. They're good not just in warm or iced tea, but also in smoothies, shakes, iced coffee... anything you care to suck up through a half-inch straw! Normally I don't care for beverages that require chewing, but this stuff breaks all the rules.
I spent half an hour waiting for The T at Harvard Square today, thus missing the bus I had planned to take to Portland, where my car was. So I got to spend a lovely 45 minutes at South Station once I finally got there, followed by two hours on a bus, and two more hours driving. I'm too tired to play Bubble Tea tonight. But I'll be all over it tomorrow... be ready for a Special Report (did I work in TV too long or what?!?)!
PS: I also procured (in Portland) what may be the state's only bottle of Winterport Winery's cranberry wine! Well, until they bottle a new batch later this winter. I'll get back to you on that one, too, eventually... but I'm not opening it until the next time Kevin gets more than one day at a time off from work and can come up here and help me drink it!
