Pumpkin Sambar for Moviehouse @ 3rd Ward

A couple weeks ago me and my friend Ben made a pumpkin sambar to serve at a film screening event called Moviehouse at 3rd Ward.  Usually sambar is made with lentils, but since I saw all of these really awesome Japanese pumpkins at the farmer's market, I thought they would make a really good base in place of lentils. The green pumpkins are called kabocha and they look like this and have a really nice creamy inside.  I also had some butternut squash so threw that in too.

The recipe is quite easy because you just have to roast the pumpkin, squash and potatoes, fry up some sweet potatoes with brown sugar and just cook it all down with water and the sambar powder for a while.  We topped it with some yogurt, boondi (fried chickpea flour balls) and cilantro.  Follow this recipe for sambar and just substitute in roasted and cooked squash for lentils.

Here are some more photos from the Moviehouse event (photo credit: Mark Sullivan Bernal/Moviehouse).  The documentary shown that night was called American Meat ( I served a vegetarian soup of course:) by director, Graham Meriwether.  The film explores the complexities embedded in the highly debated practices of the American meat industry.  It was a really fun event to be a part of.  Thanks Moviehouse!

serving Graham soup - I think he liked it!

Ben serving soup - way better at plating than me:)

Before the screening

scene from American Meat

QA with Graham

Cooking Video With My Dad

My friends Alana and Paul shoot a cooking series called Cooking By Heart and in this episode they featured me and my Dad. Cooking By Heart is all about the passing of food traditions from generation to generation. In this video, my Dad teaches me how to make chapati, Indian flatbread.

Thanks so much to A+P for an amazing video that me and my Dad will always have:)

You can watch more episodes from Cooking By Heart here.

Red Currant Jam with Jaggery & Kirsch

Alana and I made this red currant jam together (thanks Alana for taking all of the photos too!). We got these red currants in our CSA. If you haven't had them before, they are juicy, really tart and have a little seed:

We adapted a recipe from David Lebovitz by using jaggery, Indian cane sugar, in place of white sugar:

This recipe also calls for kirsch, a clear fruit liqueur originally from Germany but also made in France and other parts of Europe. By chance, Alana & Paul had just introduced me to it recently. Paul's mother, Brigitte, is from an Alsacian town that has very special a kirsch distillery so it was really exciting to try some of what they brought back from France. Unlike other fruity liqueurs, kirsch is light and actually tastes just like the fruit. But don't be fooled because it's really alcoholic:)

In France, kirsch is called eau-de-vie or water of life. I've started calling it fire water;) The traditional variety is black cherry but there are a myriad of different flavors - I really liked the pear one they had brought back too. It's usually taken after a meal and not mixed with anything. There are also these cute little cups that you drink the kirsch from. If you ever come across this brand of kirsch, buy it. It's so good!

The jaggery brings a really natural sweetness to the jam and the kirsch is a nice way to draw out the flavor of the fruit. This was my first time making jam and it is way easier than I thought it was going to be so I hope you give it a try too:)

Red Currant Jam, adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients
1 measure red currants
3/4 measure jaggery
Optional: a shot of kirsch

Method
1. Rinse the red currants and put them in a large pot. Add enough water just so that it covers the bottom of the pot.

2. Cook the red currants, stirring frequently, until they’re soft and wilted. Once cooked, pass them through a food mill, discarding the stems and seeds left behind (don't have a food mill so just pressed through a strainer and actually kept the seeds in the jam).

3. Weigh the puree. For each pound, add 3/4 amount jaggery to the pot.

4. Mix the puree and the jaggery in the pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring until the jaggery is completely dissolved.

5. Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, let it boil for five minutes undisturbed.

6. After five minutes, add a shot of kirsch and turn off the heat skim off any scum.

7. Ladle the jam into clean jars up to the top and screw on the lids firmly. Turn the jars upside down and let cool completely.