The Ex Knife Set

I have decided to make a little wish list of products I discover that I want to one day possess. Today I was browsing Think Geek and I found the Ex Knife set......

Makes storing your knives a cathartic experience!
We'll get right to the point with this product - it's a wicked cool design for a knife holder and certainly a lot more edgy than the standard old block of wood. We're not sure who the designer might have been thinking of when he created this but we definitely like the results. And it includes five knives!.

For more information visit - http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/86dd/

help with an ingredient

For my next Indian dish I need Okra or Ladies finger and I have no idea where to get this, does anyone have any suggestions or ideas for substitutes?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okra

Chicken Shorba

Chicken Shorba

recipe by Indian Food Forever - http://www.indianfoodforever.com/

Ingredients:

100 gms Boneless Chicken Shredded
500 ml Chicken Stock
1 tblp Garlic Finely Chopped
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tblsp White Flour
2 tsp Butter
1 tblsp Oil
Salt & White Pepper to taste
1 tblsp Fresh Cream

How To Make Chicken Shorba:

1) Heat the butter in a pan and fry the shredded chicken pieces till tender.
2) Remove and keep aside. In a pan heat oil and let the cumin seeds splutter.
3) Add the chopped garlic and sauté for a few seconds.
4) Add the white flour and fry for 1 min.
5) Add the chicken, chicken stock, white pepper powder and salt.
6) Cook on medium level for about 4 minutes while stirring all the time. Stir in the fresh cream just before serving.

Note: For 500 ml of chicken stock, cook about 500 grams of chicken bones with one liter of water add chopped onions and garlic till the stock is reduced to half the quantity

( Chicken Shorba Ingredients)

This was a quick and easy recipe and it tasted so good, was perfect for when your feeling down and want something a bit more substantial then packet chicken noodle soup in a cup. It smelt wonderful and has a wonderful mild Indian taste, that comes from the cumin seeds.

(My Chicken Shorba Cooking )

The only change I would make to this dish would be to double or even triple the quantities, because this recipe only made enough for about two people, three if you stretch it.

This was a family pleaser, even little miss three came back for more and the sick weak husband sat up to eat a bowl full and fought off miss three who was trying to help him consume it. I think this will become a winter favorite.

TTCB Rating: / 5

(Finished Chicken Sorba served with Naan )

Sick Family - Chicken Shorba

Because the whole family is ill with a yucky virus at the moment, aching bodies, headaches, temperatures and upset tummies galore.

I decided we needed some chicken soup....because lets face it, its good for the soul and nothing beats chicken soup when your feeling poorly.

I then wondered if India had its own version of good old chicken soup, a quick google search found me with a Chicken Shorba recipe.

I was concerned that it might be too spicy but this recipe doesn't have any heat in it and the only spice is cumin. Which shouldn't be harsh on upset tummies.

So I will be off to the shops later today and hopefully will be making Chicken Shorba for dinner....lets hope its a miracle cure.

Sabudana Payasa

Sabudana Payasa/Kheer: Sweet Pearly Delight
recipe by Beyond Curries - http://beyondcurries.blogspot.com/

Ingredients:

1 cup Sabudana/Sago/Tapioca Pearls
2½-3 cups Water
1 cup Whole Milk
1¼-1¾ cups Sugar
A Pinch of Saffron, crushed
5-6 Green Cardamoms, peeled and seeds crushed to powder
Few Cashews
1 tbsp Ghee/Clarified Butter

(Serves: 5 - 7 people )

I wont write out all the directions because the recipe is not mine, so please click the name of the dish or the website link for the full directions. I suggest when making this dish that you should have all your ingredients measured out and on hand. It can be hard to stop the sago sticking if you have to take the time to measure and crush during the cooking.

(My Sago After Soaking)

( The Sago Turning Translucent During Cooking )

I also discovered when buying Saffron that you need to be cautious of what brand you buy, I picked up one brand that was $13.50 and then was luckily pointed to another that was about $6 and had 5 times the amount in the container. A pretty big difference on the hip pocket. I managed to buy all my ingredients at Woolworth's so I imagine you should be able to find them at most grocery stores.

Changes I would make next time would be, only 1 cup of sugar as 1 and 1/4 cups was just too sweet for my families taste. Thinking about it I wouldn't bother with green cardamom seeds either, I would simply put in a teaspoon of cardamom already out of the shell that I crushed. I also added some raisins to the cashew mix to my Sabudana Payasa.

The dish was easy to make and quite lovely, certainly a different desert to plain old vanilla ice cream and chocolate topping that is pretty much a family norm unless its a special occasion.

My three year old daughter unfortunately screwed up her nose and said she didn't like it, but she was also intent on playing at the time. Don't you just love the fussy stages, I will try her again on it tomorrow cold and during the day so the sugar rush has time to burn off.

TTCB Rating : /5
I will certainly be trying Sabudana Payasa again, maybe a fresh fruit variation I saw with mango. The day after I made the Sabudana Payasa dish, I tried the left overs cold with plain vanilla ice cream and it was divine the ice cream cut the sweetness and balanced it out very nicely.

(My Sabudana Payasa - with raisins and cashews)

India

As I mentioned the other day the first destination for TTCB is India. I can smell the curry and exotic spices already. I have never cooked Indian before and I have only eaten Indian a handful of times, so I am in no way an Indian expert or guru. However I do have a fondness for naan bread I can seriously just eat the stuff all day, pulling off piece by piece and popping the warm bready goodness into my mouth.

My favorite would be garlic naan, I was recently sitting in a shopping center food court (usually not drool worthy food). I was enjoying my chicken and pasta salad, when someone sat down next to me and this amazing smell wafted over to my table and I began to drool. The woman had obviously been to the Indian food outlet and they had made fresh naan it smelt hevenly....so much so that I had to go buy some fresh garlic naan to eat in the car.



(Garlic Naan)

Because of my limited expertise with Indian food, I reached out across the Internet and contacted a friend from South India to point me in the right direction. Don't you just love how cyber space brings us closer to our fellow man regardless of distance and the oceans between us.

After talking for a few hours and a lot of patience shown on his part, dealing with my ignorance of the cuisine culture of India and not to mention the language barrier when it came to some of the ingredients. We finally narrowed it down to a few dishes, that he claims to be "simple" for me to try my hand at first. Please remember those are his words not mine, so that when you hear of me screaming in frustration and stamping my feet when it doesn't work out.....we shall blame him.

Okay, so I wont really blame my Indian friend but it sounded like a good back up plan. I am a little nervous about some of the new ingredients I will be playing with but excited at the same time. I also came to an interesting revelation about pressure cookers.

Pressure cookers? your now asking yourself what revelation could I possibly come to about this humble cooking appliance. Well I confess I thought of the pressure cooker as an appliance my grandmother would use, hardly something found in a modern kitchen. I know I don't have one and never thought of buying one but as I began to browse for recipes I actually found a lot of modern Indian recipes using them. I also opened up the latest junk mail flyer in my mail box the other day and there as if like some sign from the cooking gods was a brand new cook book advertising recipes for the pressure cooker.

I guess cooking is like fashion and everything old becomes new again in some way shape or form. I do not have a pressure cooker as yet but this weekend I am still going to try my hand at Indian cuisine.


-:On the Indian menu:-

* Rasam and Rice
* Potato Lady's Finger Curry - Aloo Bhindi Curry
* Sabudana Payasa/Kheer: Sweet Pearly Delight* Chicken Shorba

Once I have completed the dishes, I will post up the recipes with my review of the outcome for each including photos. Please note none of the recipes are my own so I will be giving credit where credit is due to the owner and source of each recipe on TTCB.



Happy Travels
Saphire xxx

Guest Book

The Travel Plan

The whole point of TTCB is to let me experience the flavor of countries that I can not actually travel to at this point in my life and to share that with all of you. It is a journey for my taste buds that doesn't require a passport and allows me to learn new skills in the kitchen and to embrace my passion for food and cooking.

So where do I want to go? Good question I know, There are some countries I have ALWAYS wanted to visit and while others I have just added to my list after thinking about it for this post.

I have compiled a list of destinations that I will be visiting throughout this blog, I realize some countries will have different dishes for different regions but I hope to cover as much as I can.......so without further adieu here is my list of countries I would like to travel to and that you will see food experiences from in this blog.


* India
* France
* Germany
* Malta
* Alaska
* Holland
* Denmark
* Ireland
* England
* Thailand
* Scotland
* China
* Japan
* Egypt
* New Zealand
* Greece
* Peru
* Italy
* Canada
* America
* Norway
* Switzerland
* Hawaii

If you have any requests or recipes to share please feel free to post them in the comments or to contact me for my email.

Thanks to all my cyber friends who have already helped me with some of the countries on my list...our first stop will be India.

Where TTCB Has Been

This world map will be marked with all the destinations TTCB has been, I will mark the countries off as we visit them...

The Traveling Cook Book

Welcome to The Traveling Cook Book, this is my world adventure via cooking. You may have heard of "Julie & Julia". One womans pet project, to take one year and cook her way through a French cook book. This tale was recently made into a film based on the novel by Julie Powell.

"Julie & Julia" the movie and novel have inspired me to embrace my love and passion for cooking and my excitement for trying new things. I am just not a steak and three veg kinda girl, sure every now and again but not every night. I have to have variety and be enticed by my food. It has to be a seduction for me or I would just rather not eat.

I also have the dream to travel, I long to explore the world and experience cultures and cuisine from around the globe. Sadly this just is not in my budget and I have family commitments as a wife and mother, so it is just simply something I can not embrace right now.

So being as stubborn as I am, I am fulfilling my dream in my own way. This is achievable now and will still allows me to enjoy cultures and to try different foods. I will also expose my family to the experiences as I go. A journey we can take together traveling via cook books.

I am going to pick destinations around the world and then research cuisine and recipes from the area and replicate them as best I can in my little kitchen in Australia. I plan to travel the globe without actually leaving my home or my country...my taste buds are going on a journey and your welcome to come with me.

All aboard The Traveling Cook Book, no passports needed.

Happy Travels
Saphire xxx