Tomato Pumpkin Soup - Microblog

A favorite recipe handed down to me from my mom, this soup combines tomatoes with Indian white pumpkin,  a great source of dietary fiber.  If pumpkin is hard to source, substitute with zucchini or summer squash. Additional variations can include peas, corn, or spinach.

Tomato Pumpkin Soup - the recipe

Bread upma -- an Indian version of bread stuffing

There are so many things that I miss about living in Japan. High on the list is crustless sandwich bread. I know…how hard is it to cut crusts off bread, right? Not to sound spoilt, but really, there was something joyous about opening up a perfectly vacuum sealed package of delicate crustless bread, just begging for translucent discs of cucumber to be sandwiched between the slices. But since I no longer have the luxury of such laziness, I have be content with cutting the crusts off my bread for those occasions that just demand a crustless sandwich – like when the Queen is over for tea, for instance. To come to my point…what do you do with all the left over crusts from such an endeavor? If you don’t want to throw away perfectly good food and are up to trying a new recipe, here’s one that never disappoints in my house.

Upma is a savory dish made in Southern India, usually involving cream of wheat or cream of rice. This bread upma, which is best described as an Indian version of American stuffing, is usually made when we end up with several end pieces of bread accumulating in the fridge. It’s very easy to make and is generally eaten for breakfast in India. If a spicy or savory breakfast is just not your thing, you can certainly eat this for lunch or dinner or anytime in between. And of course, you don’t have to wait till you have a bunch of crusts before you make this – you can also cheat and just chop up perfectly whole slices of bread.

Bread upma*

Ingredients

1T canola oil

½ t turmeric powder

½ t mustard seeds

1 red onion, diced

2 yellow potatoes, diced

5 green chilis, julienned

1T red chili powder

Salt to taste

Juice of half a lemon

8 slices of bread, cut into 1” cubes

1T fresh or frozen coconut**

4 T finely minced cilantro

Heat oil in a pan and add turmeric and mustard.

When mustard seeds start popping, add onion and sautee till browned

Add potatoes, green and red chilies, and salt

Cook covered until potatoes are fork tender

Toss in bread and lemon juice and cook for about 5 minutes until bread is tender and has absorbed some of the spices from the potato mixture

Add coconut and cook a minute longer.

Take off heat, and garnish with cilantro and additional lemon juice, if desired.

*The consistency of this dish should be a little dryer than American stuffing. If bread starts to look too dry while cooking, sprinkle some water and allow bread to tenderize.

**If all you have is dessicated coconut, soak 1 T of this in some warm water for 5 minutes before adding to the upma. If all you have is sweetened coconut flakes, just throw it away, and don't ever buy it again!

Best Damn Meyer Lemon Cake

I walked into our neighborhood store last weekend, and as I went to pick up a few fruits, I noticed a feeding frenzy in the produce department. Apparently, one of the great balancing acts of nature is that the brightly hued citrus fruits that seem to scream summer and sunshine actually come into their peak in the middle of the grey fog of winter. And to celebrate citrus season, the store had set out sampling stations of several different varieties, and the denizens of Portland were flocking to the colorful fruits like British sailors deprived of Vitamin C. Having never heard of some these fruits before (cocktail oranges? Persian limes?), I decided to brave the mob and try out some of the varieties myself. As I neared the end of the tasting line, my lips puckered by some of the tarter fruits, I spotted a recipe for something called the “Best Damn Meyer Lemon Cake”. Now that I knew what a Meyer lemon was, I figured I’d give this recipe a try.

Though I’m admittedly not a connoisseur of lemon cakes, I thought this cake was pretty darn good – definitely the “best” I’ve ever had. It was also quite easy to make. The toughest part was the many hours that the cake has to rest before cutting into it. (Ok I admit, I may have sampled a small sliver before the wait was up – just to compare the before and after, mind you.)

So, without further ado, here’s my adaptation for the “Best Damn Meyer Lemon Cake” originally featured in Saveur magazine Issue 110 and brought to my oven via New Season’s Market recipes.

Ingredients and directions

Oil spray or 1 T butter

9-inch loaf pan

2T fine dry bread crumbs (I used Panko that I had on hand)

11/2 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

¾ tsp. salt

8 T melted butter

2 eggs

¾ C white sugar

½ C milk

2T lemon extract (yes, that sounds like a lot, but you will need it)

Zest of two Meyer lemons

½ C blanched almonds, ground to a fine powder

Spray or butter loaf pan

Dust with bread crumbs, and shake out excess

Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl

In a separate bowl, whisk together butter and sugar until combined

Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition

Gently whisk together flour mixture, egg mixture, and milk till well-combined

Add lemon extract and whisk till combined

Fold in lemon zest and almond meal

Transfer the deliciously yellow batter to prepared loaf pan, and bake in pre-heated over for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

Glaze

Juice of 2 Meyer lemons

1/3 C white sugar

Heat together over medium flame until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil.

Once cake is done, prepare glaze, and pour immediately over hot cake

Allow cake to absorb glaze fully

Turn cake out onto a plate, cover with plastic wrap once fully cooled, and allow cake to rest for 10-24 hours at room temperature before serving -- it does in fact taste much better after the rest