Experiments in Brown Rice

     

     I have too much brown rice. Some people came over for dinner yesterday, I overestimated and made two cups too many of rice. So, what do I do with a giant bowl of brown rice???? Well so maybe I have a few ideas: grilled rice balls, rice pudding, rice soup...risotto? Can I make risotto with brown rice? Let's take a minute to Google. Yes, yes I can. And I have just found the perfect recipe: Creamy Carrot Brown Rice Risotto. Yum.

     It's just that my life on the weekends is very sedentary: sit on couch, watch Lord of the Rings Again because it is coming on the television (I love the Lord of the Rings, did you know? Yes, I'm one of Those people. Absolutely and irrevocably. Now you know.) Re-read all the books of my childhood, cook, eat, hang out with friends - Repeat. So, having just eaten breakfast and retreated to my favorite corner of the couch (which is not a corner at all but the middle where all the cushions are nice and sunken in - it's one of those comfy couches with ridiculously large and fluffy pillows, be jealous), I am just not inspired to get up and cook again. I need people to feed. Where are You when I need you? *Pause for laziness*

    I found people to feed! Also, I forgot that if you wait long enough sitting on the couch, you do inevitably get hungry and then need to eat something. Oh the effects of time. So, I got up. And completely bastardized the recipe I found online. I'm sure the recipe made by Happy Healthy Mama (whose blog is very nice...even though the name makes me feel very....young and twenty and inferiorly un-mama-like) would have been delicious. It's just, she used basil and tarragon and thyme - I could not find any in my mother's spice cabinet. She used vegetable stock; I only had water.

     So, this went from being a not very traditional risotto to a completely and utterly untraditional risotto - which is nevertheless Delicious. I followed the same basic pattern of the recipe: cooked brown rice, carrot pureed in the food processor, cooking up the onions and then adding rice, carrot puree, and liquid, but changed all the details. I used garlic and ginger paste instead of garlic cloves, and rosemary, oregano, and a bay leaf as my spices. I also added red chili flakes on top, what is life without a little spicy?

     The resulting risotto is a very very satisfying lunch (and dinner). It is creamy, with just a little bit of that bite of brown rice. The rosemary accentuates the sweetness of the carrots, and the hint of oregano and red chili flakes cut in with just the right savory and spicy notes. I do love coming up with a good recipe. But I love even more having a big bowl of hot steaming food to devour while watching my movie, and the bunny rabbit living in my yard!

PS. Not that I approve of the sedentary lifestyle...but it's a weekend and summer vacation people! I'll go back to work during the week.
    
Creamy Carrot Brown Rice Risotto
Adapted from Happy Healthy Mama

3 cups Cooked Brown Rice (i.e. 1 cup uncooked brown rice in 2 cups water cooked in either a rice cooker, the microwave, or a pot on the stove) 
3 Medium Carrots, Sliced (I used two medium, two small and sliced to 1/4'' thickness) 
1 tbsp Olive Oil 
1/2 Onion, Finely Chopped 
1 tsp Garlic Ginger Paste 
1 tsp Ground Oregano 
1 tsp Rosemary 
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 tsp Salt (or more to taste) 
1/2 tsp Black Pepper (or more to taste)  
1 1/2 cups Water 
1/2 tsp Crushed Red Chili Flakes 

Fill a large saucepan a few inches with water, and suspend a colander over it. Heat the water until it is boiling, then lower the heat to medium-low. Add the carrots to the colander, cover it loosely with a lid, and allow the carrots to steam for five minutes or until they are tender. Then, put the carrots into a food processor and blend them until they are a fine puree, I added a few spoonfuls of the hot water from the saucepan to make the puree smoother. Set the food processor aside.

In a large skillet at medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic-ginger paste, and allow them to cook until the onions are translucent (5-7 minutes). Then, add the oregano, rosemary, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir them, and allow them to fry up for 1-2 minutes with the onions. Next, add the rice and carrot puree, stirring the spices in to combine. Add the water, and stir. Lastly, add the red chili flakes, stirring gently to make sure everything is combined. Stir and cook until the water has evaporated and the rice is creamy to taste, if the rice is still not tender, add more water and cook longer. When it is soft and creamy, season with more salt and pepper if needed, and serve!

Simple Life and Sandwiches

     

     Whew, the Great Cake really took it out of me. I mean, I've recovered from the making already but that was a Long post to write. I don't suppose any of you are attempting making it Right right now, but in case you have looked at the recipe, that was a long time of typing time right there. So, it's time to take a break. Slow down. Relax. And make some sandwiches.

The Last of the Catch Ups

     Hey! After these recipes we will finally arrive at foods I made this week and not last week before I left for Boston. Yay me! Yay for how much I cooked before I left! Look at how generally healthily I ate. Obviously, that has all gone downhill this week (six brownies do not a meal make) but still. Makes me feel nice to look at all those veggie recipes. And finally, I did cook something with meat in it last week. Hallelujah!

Fixings for a quick meal

     Today is a day for exclamations, apparently. Sorry, I'm just a little happy because two of my classes were cancelled today, and then I skipped the other one. Random mid-week vacation! Hush, a girl deserves a break sometimes. Even if she just had one and got to go home. School is tough and stressful. Staying up all night to make foods, which you will hear about tomorrow and after, is necessary stress relief. Class in which I generally spend all my time blogging is unnecessary stress. Hurrah for strangely circular stress related sentences!

I miss this dinner. I want more.

Resourcefulness

     This week I discovered something. I discovered that in growing up, I have grown resourceful. Things don't faze me as much anymore. And no, I am not just saying this. And yes, I know what happened isn't actually that fazing or that big a deal, but it made me happy so I'm going to go with it. And now you will have to hear about it.

Loaf pan= Trash can bowl (just clarifying)

     So, what happened? Well, people came over for dinner. I love having people over for dinner. I love sharing food with people who are not just me and my freezer (and since he is just holding food for me for later, he doesn't even count - sorry Mr. Freezer). I was expecting PVL and DL (who is visiting from New Zealand for a few weeks, I cannot believe I have not mentioned him! He's the greatest. Anyway...) but I also got BJG. Now, everyone knows that BJG is my friend. He is just also...cough cough...a Vegetarian.

Look! Its BJG! Big Jogging Giant....will work on it

     Well, I was planning to feed everybody the cashew chicken curry I had made with Katch (this was Sunday, I'm so backed up with recipes! It's ok, i'll catch up soon). But, what would I feed BJG? Poor thing, he brought a thing of noodles to eat in case I did not have food for him. As though I would let anyone heat up noodles to eat in my house. Tsk tsk.

TOFU!

     Luckily, my fridge is now well stocked - courtesy Reading Terminal and H-Mart trips with KK over the weekend. So, I had: tofu, zucchini, and carrots. All the fixings for a veggie dish. Chop up tofu, zucchini, and carrots. Heat up oil. Hmmm...at this point there are two options: try to figure out how to season this from scratch, or use sauce courtesy H-Mart. So, I cheated. And now I'm blogging about it. Is that OK? Well, I am blogging about cooking in my college life. And sometimes, that involves cheating and the use of pre-made products. I'm okay with that once in a while.

People over for dinner = Rushed picture taking

     So, I used the sweet and spicy pork marinade I had bought from H-Mart. It has apples and pears in it! It is vegetarian, I checked. It's also amazingly delicious. If you are at any Asian grocery store, you should look for these kinds of Korean BBQ Marinades, especially the kinds for kalbi. They make everything so flavorful. So, I cooked up the veggies and tofu with a couple of tablespoons of marinade, and voila! I had food for the vegetarian. I am un-faze-able.

P.S. I am also on the bus to Boston because I'm going home for the weekend! I love buses with wi-fi.

Vegetable Tofu Stir-Fry 

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil 
2 mid-sized Carrots, Sliced (not too thin) 
1/2 Large Zucchini, Chopped into Quarter Circles  
A dash of Salt
1/2 tbsp Water
1/2 block Soft Tofu, Cut into 1 in cubes 
2 tbsp Korean Kalbi Marinade (or other sweet-spicy marinade sauce)  

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet or saucepan (all I have). Add the carrots and zucchini and salt. Stir them around, and then add the water. Allow them to cook until the zucchini looks Slightly more translucent. Then, add the soft tofu and allow it to cook for a couple of minutes. Lastly, add the marinade. Stir everything together, and allow it to cook until the zucchini is translucent looking and the carrots are softer (cook for less time if you like crunchy carrots, and longer if you like squishy carrots).

Serve on top of rice!

The Best Kind of Carrots

Deconstructed Carrot Cake

  
     I know I have already written an ode of sorts to carrots, by which I am referring to my Carrots post of course. However, those carrots were not in the form I most prefer them. They were savory carrots, not sweet carrots. Actually, I take that back, I managed to put honey even in my savory carrot dish? I am obviously biased. Carrots belong with sweets. Most of all, carrots belong in Carrot Cake.

Work Station: So Well Lit!

     Carrot cake has always been one of my favorite desserts. I don't know where I first had carrot cake, or when I first fell in love with it. But, I do know there is something about the carroty flavor and the cream cheese icing that just calls out to my heart - and my stomach. I do love a good cake!

     Oh, and the joy of having large pans? I can't tell you how lovely it is. No more loaf pan for a little while! The little comforts of home are innumerable. Like having enough bowls that I don't have to keep washing the same ones and getting to watch TV while cooking. But most importantly: my little brother GS (not so little anymore at 5'6.5'' and taller than me) is here to lick the bowl for me! It was no fun at school making cakes without him to eat the batter. Yay GS!

     However, I do need to tell you, I just couldn't follow the carrot cake recipe. Between having no crushed pineapples - I used a mix of canned apricots and mandarin oranges - and not liking icing that is too sweet, I did alter a bit. The recipe includes both my changes and the original because I have made Wooden Spoon Cookbook's Carrot Cake before and it is just delicious, I was just fiddling for myself.

My favorite Sous Chef!

     What can I say about this carrot cake? The substitutions did it no harm at all. It is sweet, but not too sweet. It is the carrot cake - cream cheese pairing I could not live without. It is everything I want to eat in large slices, and not save for the party of 8th grade boys (my brother and his friends) coming over tomorrow. So, we just cut layers off the top and dipped them in cream cheese frosting and ate them. I had to taste test right! Still, carrot cake flavor is supposed to improve for the next day. I guess I will just listen to the cookbook for once and not gobble up its deliciousness. Which means, pictures of the finished product will come tomorrow!

California Carrot Cake 
Adapted from The Wooden Spoon Dessert Book by Marilyn M. Moore 

For Carrot Cake: 

1 can Crushed Pineapple packed in Juice OR 1 cup Mixture of Crushed Canned Apricots, Mandarin Oranges, Pineapples, etc. Packed in Syrup
4 Large Eggs 
1 cup Granulated Sugar 
1 cup Light Brown Sugar 
1 cup Vegetable Oil 
2 cups All-Purpose Flour 
1 tsp Salt 
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda 
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon 
2 cups Grated Carrots 
1/2 cup Chopped Pecans or Almonds or Other Nuts 

     Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9'' x 13'' pan. In a large bowl, beat the four eggs thoroughly until they are lemon colored. In a separate bowl, whisk the two kinds of sugar together, and push out any lumps. Then, beat the sugar into the eggs. While mixing, pour the vegetable oil into the egg and sugar mixture in a small stream, so they are all combined. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and ground cinnamon. Mix this dry mixture into the wet mixture a little bit at a time, until it is all combined. Next, stir in the carrots and then the chopped nuts. Once everything is combined, pour the batter into the prepared pan. Put it in the oven to bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until it is brown on top and a toothpick pushed in comes out clean. Meanwhile, make the frosting. Then, take the cake out, and leave it on a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, frost!

For Cream Cheese Frosting:

3 oz Cream Cheese 
4 tbsp Butter 
1 tbsp Pineapple Juice or Apricot Syrup or Whatever the fruits you used were packed in 
2 cups Confectioners Sugar (or 2 1/2 cups and no cheese) 
2 tbsp Ricotta Cheese

     Blend the cream cheese, butter, ricotta cheese, and juice together. Then, sift in the confectioners sugar and combine thoroughly. You are now ready to frost your cake!

Carrots

'

     Do you like carrots? I know a couple of people who don't, and I think that must mean they have never tasted a carrot properly. Carrots are like summer: bright and fresh in both look and taste. I love carrots. Carrot Cake is one of the best kinds of cake (and if you have never had the Carrot Cake Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory, you should fix that right now) and my favorite Indian dessert is Gujrala (or Gajar ka Halwa..and I don't know how to explain it in English, but it is delicious- except when made at stupid Indian restaurants).

Carrots with their clothes still on

     So, what did I do with carrots today? Well, today started out as a leisurely kind of day. I taught creative writing to children in the morning, studied a little, grocery shopped, started working on an elaborate food that was going to take a long time (you can wait in suspense till tomorrow) and then... I had a realization. I don't own my own camera, did you know? This blog survives through the kindness of my friends: I use my roommate's and PN's cameras, and I always have to use PN's in order to upload pictures onto the computer. But I didn't have it today! She did! And she probably had plans all night! What would I do?

     I did the only thing that made sense. In the hour between when I called her (she was at dinner) and when she would be home for five minutes before leaving again, I prepared a new dish for today. It was a dish I had been wanting to make for a long time, and, luckily, I knew it would be quick. A carrot salad. I had been holding off on making it because all the carrot salads I saw online were Asian and needed vinegar, which I did not want to buy. Then, I talked to my mom about it. She suggested: Carrot, Honey, Lime, and Raisins. I don't really like raisins so I substituted, cashews are kind of like raisins, right?

     And, that is how I ended up making carrot salad before racing to PN's place, downloading the pictures onto this blog, and then racing back to clean up the mess of honey and carrots all over my floor. But, with the first bite, I knew I had been right to crave this. The sweetness of the honey offsets the sourness of the lime, just leaving that bright lime flavor, and the crunch of the carrot offsets the softer cashews. Still, above all is the flavor of the carrots. That bright sunshiney taste in my mouth makes it feel like it's sunny outside. Even if it's not. 

Shiny Shiny from the Honey

Honey-Carrot Salad 

Makes 3 servings 

4 Mid-Sized Carrots 

1/2 tbsp Honey (I would drizzle some on, taste, then drizzle more on- make it as sweet as You want) 

1/2 Lime 

1 handful Cashews 

Wash the carrots and peel them. Then, cut them into thin match-sticks. (I would say julienne, but obviously I did not even try to julienne, so just make them thin.) Place the carrots into a medium bowl and squeeze the lime juice onto them. Add the honey and the cashews, and mix it thoroughly to combine. Enjoy!