This post was originally published on June 18, 2009. It has been updated once since then.

I’ve fallen off my raw food adventure wagon BADLY. And I do mean BADLY. With all of the stress of the past 2 months and the nonstop up and down around the island it’s been hard to keep any kind of routine, health or fitness-wise. Maybe it’s telling that this post is now being written as my stresses have begun to wind down. My body fortunately hasn’t succumbed to flus the way it would have …

Once a baking test
Now a Pesach tradition
Try the steps below

Fifteen-Minute Magic: Chocolate Amaretti Torte
Page 276-277, Baking: From My Home to Yours

Makes 8 Servings
6 large double Amaretti di Saronno or 18 mini amarettini cookies (2.75 oz) (other brands can be used as well)
3/4 cup almonds (blanched or not; whole, sliced or slivered)
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
For the Glaze:
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water
For the Almond Whipped Cream …

This post was originally published on February 18, 2009. It has been updated once since then.

Prior to last year I had never heard of Yu Sheng (also known as Yee Sang), indeed I only became aware of its existence thanks to research done for a blogging event. As this year the Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day it seemed only fitting to repost this recipe, which is one I’ve fallen in love with
According to Wikipedia:
Yusheng , yee sang or yuu sahng (simplified Chinese: 鱼生; pinyin: yúshēng) …

This recipe is a staple side dish of mine that I’ve adapted and modified at length through the years. Both colorful and flavourful I think it creates a texturally interesting background for spicy curries and other East Indian flavoured entrees.

Coconut Rice with Lentils and Cashews
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 lb. basmati rice
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
1 teaspoon urad dhal or brown lentils
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon madras curry powder
2 ounces fresh coconut, grated
1 ounce unsalted roasted cashews
salt and pepper
METHOD:
1. Put the rice in a sieve and rinse under cold …

Oops! It almost slipped my mind to let you all know the wonderful dal recipe that I used with yesterday’s Dosas.
This Tridoshic dal comes from a cookbook that I’ve been using for years called The Ayurvedic Cookbook.
I’m always interested in learning about the culinary traditions and philosophies of other cultures. Eastern cuisines in particular often fixates on the concept of warming and cooling foods. Maintaining a balance of the two within a meal, or strategically stimulating or calming ones system where imbalance is detected. This approach to balance …

Finally! I have completed (and posted) a Daring Cooks Challenge on time! I have been cooking along with this most recent adjunct to the Daring Bakers community but have always ended up missing the deadlines for one reason or another. No more!
This time around the challenge was Indian Dosas. I’ve made dosas before but this was my first time doing so with gluten-free flour. Two suggested accompaniments were also given; a curried chickpea filling and a coconut curry gravy. I decided to use the recommended filling but broke away …

Earlier this year when Trinidad hosted the Summit of the Americas, I came up with the idea to try to cook my way through the recipes of the attending nations. That never quite materialized in the timely manner that I had envisioned. This recipe was one of those.
This simple tomato and onion salad is a customary accompaniment to meals in Chile. Its name echoes not only its popularity in that country, but also the fact that its main colors (red and white), mirror the colors of the Chilean flag. …

Salads in Trinidad are traditionally a disheartening affair that leaves you wondering why the cook/establishment even bothered. Two wilted lettuce leaves, a force-ripe watery slice of tomato, and some slivers of cucumber served either unadorned, or swimming in some vague mystery oil with specks of pepper flecked throughout. All that’s missing is a headstone for your plate. Most people down it ASAP so that they can focus on the ‘real’ part of their plate, or they simple leave it behind. For this reason, I don’t take it personally when guests …

This quick and simple salad is perked up by the addition of slivered stem ginger. Stem ginger is an ingredient that doesn’t get as much love as I think it should. It’s usually found in the baking aisle, but at times I have seen it hiding rather uncomfortably in the aisles that house ‘international ingredients’ and/or random salad dressings.
From the Good Food Channel:
Preserved or stem ginger is made from tender young ginger root – which is technically not a root at all but a rhizome or underground stem …

Mom first made this recipe last year and it was a hit! Plantain is rarely showcased this formally on dinner tables and it really is a shame. In this case, lengths of ripe plantain are oven-baked with orange juice and zest. The result is creamy, with a slightly caramelized exterior.
My personal suggestions with this recipe are to 1) make sure the plantain is adequately ripe i.e. that the skin has become almost completely black. The dish isn’t as appealing when the plantain is too firm. Similarly, rather than topping …