Skillet pizza, plant based

When it’s hot, you don’t want to heat more the kitchen by boosting the oven in pizza mode… plus you’re too lazy to knead the dough. So that’s how you can make a pizza :

1. Quick dough : flour, baking powder, salt, olive oil and water.
2. The dough can be cooked immediately in a skillet (no oil, a wet lid on top to create steam).
3. Tomato paste and olive oil on the dough…

That really “grills” the dough and brings a pizza flavor.

Summer produce.

I’ve steamed the aubergine and the onion. The sweet corn and the peppers are raw.

Veg’ cheese : sakekasu (sake lees), miso and olive oil

Passed under the grill 3 minutes to color the sauce. That step could be skipped and the garnished pizza could be fully cooked in the skillet.

Pineapple biryani

That’s biryani party at the Daring Cook’s challenge.

Grace, one of our talented non-blogging Daring Kitchen members, was our Daring Cooks’ August hostess who shared with us some of her family’s tried and true Bengali Biryani recipes – all of them delicious and all of them prepared fresh from our own kitchens!

I had a weird one in archives :

fusion biryani

I made 2.

seafood biryani (coming soon)

And this veggie biryani with a fruity touch :

Pineapple biryani. I took the recipe at the end as a guideline…I drifted away a little to adapt to my products.

Pineapple is the accent.

Pearl sweet corn.

Okra and red bell pepper. I used these season veggies for the gravy. I replace the coriander by mitsuba leaves.

The gravy, with home-made ghee.
Besides I prepared a ghee flavored rice with turmeric, cashew nuts and pineapple dices.
I had no basmati or other biryani specific rice. The only long grain rice I could get is Thai jasmine rice. I cooked it in the rice-cooker.

Layer rice and gravy, close the lid and reheat slowly.

First side dish : chick pea raita. I mixed boiled chick peas, coconut yogurt, very little grated garlic, salt, lemon juice and stalks of mitsuba. Let a few hours in the fridge.

Aubergine chutney as a second side.

Basic recipe from the challenge :

Vegetable Biryani:

Servings: 6

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (60 ml) (2 oz) (60 ml) ghee
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ inch (2½ cm) ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
4 tablespoons (60 ml) (2/3 oz) (20 gm) desiccated coconut
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon chilli powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
Salt
14 oz (400 gm) canned tomatoes
9 oz (250 gm) frozen sweetcorn, thawed
5 oz (150 gm) paneer, cut into ½ inch (1 cm) pieces
2 tablespoons fresh coriander, chopped
2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped

Rice:
6 tablespoons (90 ml) (3 oz) (90 ml) ghee
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
4 whole cloves
4 whole black peppercorns
1 small cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
1 cardamom pod
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup (240 ml) (6½ oz) (185 gm) basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes and drained
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt
1 cup (250 ml) (6-1/3 oz) (180 gm) raisins
½ cup (120 ml) (85 gm) (3 oz) blanched almonds, halved
½ cup (120 ml) (85 gm) (3 oz) cashews, halved
2 cups (500 ml) water
Directions:

1. Melt the ghee in a large saucepan over medium high heat and fry the cumin seeds until fragrant. Add the garlic, ginger, and onion and fry until golden brown. Stir in the coconut and fry for 2 minutes. Stir in the spices, salt, tomatoes, sweet corn, and paneer. Cook for about 20 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Stir in the coriander, lemon juice, and mint. Remove from the heat.
2. For the rice, melt the rest of the ghee in another large saucepan and fry the whole spices until fragrant. Add the onion and fry until golden brown. Mix in the rice and fry for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in the spices, salt, raisins, nuts, and water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes or until the rice is dry.
3. Layer the rice and vegetables in thin layers in a large saucepan, starting and ending with a layer of rice. Cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes.

Sweet corn masala and tartelette a la mangue

A fusion version of the Indian dal masala (lentil curry). Really quick and easy. And a gorgeous dessert.

Stir-fried sweet corn with green soy beans and onion, The spices are a dal masala mix and turmeric.

Added enoki mushrooms, and some greens (umaina). A little lemon juice.

The earthiness of the soy beans.

The sweet freshness of corn.

With leftovers of dough for the gâteaux basques, I baked the crust of a tartelette and a few cookies. On the crust, big dices of mango. Plus a pinch of ground salt and hot chili. You have to try that, just a pinch on mango, and it enhances spectacularly the flavor of a fruit that is already delicious.
Great dessert.