Iftar Meals

It's Ramadan. The time for Muslims around the world to take a look at their lives and reflect on the good and bad of the past year. During this time we all fast from sunrise to sunset without a drop of water, a piece of gum or a drag of a cigarette. While painstaking the first day or two, as your tummy grumbles and as your throat seems to close up each time you talk, it gets significantly easier.
For me, I make a more earnest effort to get together with my loved ones (though I know I should do this all the time) to share Iftar, the breaking of the fast.
I have also been making a more earnest effort to make traditional Bangladeshi Ramadan meals. This consists of piaju, a onion and lentil fritter, chola boot, which I have no idea what the English would be, but that they look like black chickpeas, shorbot, which is basically lemonade, and moori, which bares resemblence to Rice Krispies. I have never liked moori, so I'll just have to omit that out of my deshi Ramadan meal.
Making the above brings me closer to home. Since I don't have another Muslim to share my Iftar meals with on a regular basis, making such traditional dishes gives me that much more comfort.
The piaju was actually a lot easier than I had thought:

Piaju (adapted from my mother's recipe)

1 cup split red lentils (washed and picked through and soaked for five hours)
1 medium red or white onion, thinly sliced
1 green onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green chili, minced
1 inch piece ginger, minced
1-2 tablespoon besan (chickpea) flour
1-1 1/2 teaspoon each ground cumin and coriander

-ground lentils into a coarse meal
-mix meal together with all other ingredients
-heat vegetable oil, or other neutral oil in a heavy wok about 3 inches worth on medium-high
-using one tablespoon to scoop the mixture, push down on it with the back of a second spoon to form fritter
-gently using the second spoon, slide the fritter into the hot oil
-cook about 3 minutes per side until crispy and red in colour on each side
-using slotted spoon lift out and place on paper towel lined plate
-eat while still warm and crispy!



Another recipe, though not traditionally a Ramadan meal, is chotpotti. I've always felt chotpotti to be a little daunting. My mom gave me very specific steps in order to make this just right. I was forbidden to use pre-ground spices. I was told to use tamarind pulp that I was to soak and strain myself, etc. But the end result of the chickpea and potato dish which is topped with onions, cilantro, tomatoes and boiled egg turned out so perfect, so exactly like my mother's, that I couldn't fault her for being so precise in her instructions.



Chotpotti

1 can chickpeas
3 medium to large potatoes, boiled and peeled
4 tablespoons tamarind (found at Indian and Thai grocery stores)
2 teaspoons whole cumin seed
2 teaspoons whole coriander seed
3-4 dry red chilies
1 cup water
salt to taste
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 green chili, minced
2 teaspoons fresh cilantro, minced

-keep boiled potatoes in fridge until cool
-meanwhile soak about two tablespoons worth of tamarind pulp in about 1 cup of hot water
-in a clean, dry, heavy pan, on low heat roast the cumin, coriander and dry chilies until aromatic and then grind in a spice mill or with a mortar and pestal until finely ground; set aside
-using your hands loosen the tamarind within the water and then using a mesh sieve strain out the seeds and skins. You may have to add about a 1/4 cup more until all the pulp is free of the skins; set liquid aside after discarding skins and seeds
-once the potatoes have cooled cut them into uniform cubes, about the size of the chickpeas
-add the chickpeas, potatoes, spices (reserving 1/2 teaspoon), water and tamarind liquid into large, heavy pot and bring to a boil
-turn down heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until water has reduced, but very little liquid remains
-pour mixture into serving dish and arrange, onion, egg, green chili, tomato, and cilantro over top
-can be eaten warm or cold

The Importance of Maple

We in Toronto have really been lacking summer weather. Yes, the sun is out and shining quite brightly today, but I feel as though this really is a rarity. It's been raining a lot. And when it isn't raining, it's just plain cloudy. Yesterday was really no different than the majority of these cloudy, rainy days, except that apparently in some parts of the GTA it was hailing too.
It is on days such as those rainy days when all I want to do is stay in and bake. However yesterday as I rifled through my cupboards, I noticed that I was lacking a few key ingredients for some of my favourite recipes. This summer Matt and I agreed to try new vegetable recipes for vegetables we rarely eat or think we don't like, since we didn't as children, so a new baked good recipe didn't feel like such a bad idea.
On our latest farmer's market trip I picked up a large bottle of Ontario medium grade maple syrup, and since I had so much on hand I felt that a maple recipe was in order. A quick Google search brought me to the Ontario Maple Syrup website where you can buy cases of maple syrup, maple sugar candies and spreads and even a can of maple syrup shaped like a cabin (which unfortunately for me, but fortunately for my credit card, was sold out). The site also had a time line of the history of maple syrup in Canada. And of course, recipes.
There I found a recipe for maple muffins and a recipe for a maple glaze meant for maple bran muffins. I adapted the glaze ever so slightly by adding some walnuts. The muffin recipe was very simple, calling for the use of only one bowl. The less dishes I have to wash, the better.
I was worried that the glaze might be too sweet on an already sweet muffin, but my ever trusty taste-tester Matt concluded that they were just right.
Maple for me as always been quintessentially Canadian. Right before poutine really. As a second-generation Canadian my identities of home and place have always been conflicting. I grew up eating Bangladeshi curries and sweets, and maple just never fit in to that mix. My mom more often than not bought Aunt Jemima's table syrup instead of real maple syrup. Though in grade one my mom accompanied me and my class on a school trip to a maple sugar house and we bought our first jug of real Ontario maple syrup. The taste had stuck with me since that day, and I literally became obsessed with anything maple. My mom still likes maple too, but as she's so used to her ways, she really only gets to taste anything maple, when I bring her something, like my maple pecan cookies. I feel like loving maple syrup automatically makes me a proud Canadian. And honestly, how can you not love that golden, sweet and sticky syrup? When you pour it onto pancakes or french toast, you never even need anything else. Who needs butter or fruit when you have maple syrup? When you bake with maple syrup or maple sugar, you hardly even need to add any extra sugar to recipe. It adds just the right amount of sugary sweetness on it's own.
All in all maple is perfect. And that's all I have to say about that!