Soulful Creations

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert. Joconde Sponge YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan Ingredients: ¾ cup/ 180 ml/ 3oz/ 85g almond flour/meal - *You can also use hazelnut flour, just omit the butter ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons/ 150 ml/ 2⅔ oz/ 75g confectioners' (icing) sugar ¼ cup/ 60 ml/ 1 oz/ 25g cake flour *See note below 3 large eggs - about 5⅓ oz/ 150g 3 large egg whites - about 3 oz/ 90g 2½ teaspoons/ 12½ ml/ ⅓ oz/ 10g white granulated sugar or superfine (caster) sugar 2 tablespoons/ 30 ml/ 1oz / 30g unsalted butter, melted *Note: How to make cake flour: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-make-cake-flour/ Directions: In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later. S

This is a salad inspired by the oh-so-creative New Vegetarian, Yotam Ottolenghi! I love his creative approach to vegetarian recipes. Ingredients 1½ tbsp cumin seeds 1½ tbsp coriander seeds 1 c  sprouts (whole green gram) 1 c tiny red radish, thinly sliced 1 c carrots, peeled and thinly sliced 1 c thinly sliced baby cucumbers  1 tbsp dried parsley 1 garlic cloves, crushed 2 tbsp rapeseed oil 2 tbsp red-wine vinegar 2 tbsp cider vinegar 1 tsp salt juice of half a lemon 2 c romaine lettuce, torn Black pepper Method In a small frying pan, toast the cumin and coriander seeds on high heat for a minute or two, shaking the pan to move the seeds around as you do so, until they give off their aroma and begin to pop. Transfer to a mortar, and crush with a pestle until powdery. Put the sprouts, radish, cucumber and carrot in a large bowl. Add the parsley, garlic, oils, vinegars, cumin, salt, lemon juice and some black pepper. Stir, taste and adjust the seasoning as necessa

A very long post- beware! I know I have not wished any one on moving on to 2011- so here it is folks, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Neither do I look back nor do I die for a peek into the future (now I am going to let you in on a secret- despite being the rational, logical researcher- I love my daily dose to Yahoo Astrology!). I do not usually celebrate the arrival of a new year (I might have, when I was a kid, but come on I was just a kid)- to me it is just another day, another year! On to the event at hand-  இனிய போங்க நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள், a.k.a HAPPY PONGAL! Celebrated to usher in the new month of "thai" (தை மாதம்), this festival finds it roots during the sangam age between 200 b.c. and 200 A.D. It is the dravidian harvest festival which means that the harvest season is celebrated in most parts of India around this time. In the south, it is three day long celebration beginning with Bhogi pongal (when people burn things, an act that implies that old paves way for the new), surya (sun) po