Category Archives: carrot

Jack is Cooking Hurricane Curry

Posted on by under broccoli, carrot, cayene pepper, cilantro, coconut milk, coriander, cumin seeds, curry, garam masala, hurricane irene, onion, paneer, peas, Tomato, turmeric

Well Hello Internet!

Last night as Hurricane Irene bore down upon new york city, we hunkered down and made some curry!  It was the perfect thing to eat while eagerly waiting for the storm.

Otherwise known as a Navratan Korma, this was my own twist on a delicious creamy vegetable curry.
as always with my curry recipes i will divide the spices into groups depending on when they need to be added.  This particular curry has lots of separate steps to take in order to prepare your mis-en-place, but otherwise the actual steps taken are quite simple.

Heres what you will need:

Spice Group A:
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

Spice Group B
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon asafetida
1/2 teaspoon salt

The Rest of the Ingredients:
1 potato cut into 1 cm cubes
2 large carrots sliced
1/2 cup green peas
1 large head of broccoli (with as much stalk as you can get) cubed

1/2 lb paneer (cubed)
2 tomatoes (cubed)
1 onion (grated)
2 cloves of garlic (finely grated)
1.5 inches of ginger (finely grated)
1 can of coconut milk
2 tablespoons ghee
olive oil.

The Preparation:

1.  Prepare your spice bowls.
2. Cut all vegetables to equal sized pieces and parboil them.  these will be cooked more later, so don’t overdo it now.  strain and set aside in a colander.
3. Cube the tomatoes, grate the onion, grate the ginger and the garlic.
4. Heat the ghee and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan.  fry the paneer until it is golden brown on all sides.   pour the paneer with ghee and all over the vegetables in the colander.  While its still hot sprinkle some garam masala over them and toss.

Boiled Veggies and Paneer sprinkled with Garam Masala

Now that everything is prepared we can get onto the cooking of the actual curry.

1.  In a medium sized pot, heat some olive oil, and add in Spice Group A.  fry for about 30 seconds, and then add in the onions.  fry these together for about 4-5 minutes.  Add the Ginger and the Garlic, and fry for 30 more seconds.
2.  throw in Spice Group B and fry together for about a minute.  add the chopped tomatoes, and fry for 3-4 more minutes:
Spices and Tomatoes

3.  Add the vegetables and paneer, and toss until they are all nice and coated in the spice-tomato mixture.

4.  Add the can of coconut milk, bring to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are just tender.
simmering curry
Serve with rice, and sprinkle a little cilantro on top for added effect! 
and that’s about it!  you can make this during a hurricane no problem, as long as your gas stays on…. or you can make it any other day and its just as good!
mmmm mmmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Braised Burdock

Posted on by under burdock, carrot, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, sesame seeds
Well Hello Internet!
a bunch of days probably weeks ago now i made some braised burdock, and man was it delicious! a relief from all the pastries!  
heres what you’ll need:
1 burdock root
2 carrots
garlic
ginger
sesame seeds
what i thought was bok choy – or maybe spinach – but actually was collard greens – hahaha
hot sesame oil
olive oil
soy sauce
brown rice vinegar
rice syrup
so first!
slice everything up! 
heres a trick with burdock.  it oxidizes super fast!  like super super fast.  the fastest anything will ever oxidize.  so when you are cutting it i find the best way to cut it is to pretend you are sharpening a pencil with a knife – slicing bits off of the root.  do this over a bowl of water, so that the slices land in the water.  this way it won’t oxidize.
then heat the oilive oil and sesame oil in a pan.  add the ginger and the garlic.  cook for maybe 30 seconds, and then add in the burdock and the carrots. until they are tender.  at this point you can add in the mysterious green vegetables!  hahaha, the thing was, i had a green leafy vegetable in my fridge, but i actually had no idea what it was!  at first i thought it was spinach, but then i thought to myself, no that’s not spinach.  it must be bok choy.  only when julie returned from mexico did she inform me that she had in fact bought collard greens!  so that’s what it was.  either way it was delicious, and all of the above would have been delicious also…
so, yeah cook those green things until they are cooked down a bit and then add in all the sauces, and stir fry a little longer.  sprinkle with sesame seeds when done!
mmm mmm delicious

Jack is Cooking Gluten Free Carrot Cake

Posted on by under cake, carrot, gluten free, walnuts

Well Hello Internet!

Last night i made a Gluten Free Carrot Cake.

its pretty easy to make!  heres what you’ll need:

2.5 cups gluten free flour  (i used arrowhead mills all purpose gluten free flour.  it is a fantastic GF mix)
3 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoons salt 
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1 cup sugar 
3/4 cup corn oil
4 eggs slightly beaten 
1 tablespoon REAL mayonaise 
2 cups grated carrots 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 
9 oz or so canened crushed pineapple with juice 
1/2 cup dried cranberries


What you’ll need for the frosting:
Cream cheese frosting: 
1/2 cup melted
8 ounces cream cheese softened 
1.25 cups of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla 

Directions 
preheat the oven to 350°
i did this in my kitchen Aid, but you can do it by hand if you want.   mix flour, baking powder,  salt, sugar and cinnamon.  Mix in the  corn oil, eggs, and mayonaise. Stir well. Stir in the carrots, the nuts, the cranberries, and pineapple. 
i used 2 circular 9″ cake pans.  this mixture makes the perfect amount for these two pans.  grease the pans and fill them with the batter.  bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Fosting 
whip all ingredients together till fluffy.


when the cake cools down, put one layer down, and spread frosting on the first layer.  put the second cake on top, and spread the frosting all over the top and the sides!  then you can put nuts all around the side, and a little more on top. 

(yes this is actually the cake that i made! did i mention i am a photographer?  i took the cake to work with me, so i could take a picture outside of my kitchen)
mmm mmm delicious


Jack is Cooking a Peanut Butter Rice Casserole Thing

Posted on by under carrot, coconut milk, garlic, ginger, green onions, milk, peanut butter, red pepper, rice, sweet potato

Well Hello Internet!

tonight for dinner, i have made a delicious Rice Casserole thing.  im not really sure what you would call it. but its got rice, and vegetables, and peanut butter in it, and its really really good!  the other really awesome thing about this is that it all happens in one pot, or pan, so the cleanup is very minimal.

Heres what i used:
2 tablespoons oil
2 green onions
1 cup of rice
1/2 cup of stock
1 slice of ham (totally optional)
1/2 to 1 whole red pepper
2/3 cup of milk (you can also use coconut milk, which makes this even more delicious)
2-4 cloves garlic
2 inches of ginger
1/2 teaspoon sriracha sauce
salt
3 tablespoons of peanut butter
1 small can of chopped tomato
1 large sweet potato, or a few small ones
1 carrot
baby bok choy

heres everything all chopped up and ready to go:

so the first step, is to mix the peanut butter, the milk, the garlic, and the sriracha sauce together in a bowl.

then in the casserole pan (or dutch oven)

put the oil.  then the onions.  then the rice:

then add the stock:
lay the slice of ham on top of this. ( i recommend slicing some holes in the ham so that the milk mixture while incorporate with the rice mixture below)  on top of the ham put the peppers and the ginger:
Pour the milk and PB mixture over this.  then put the carrot, the tomato, and then sweet potato over that:
Finally, put the Bok Choy over everything, and drizzle some spicy sesame oil on it:
Cover with tinfoil and bake in the oven at 450° for 45 minutes
take out and enjoy!
keep the leftovers in the fridge.  its even better the next day!
mmm mmm delicious.

Jack is Cooking Cold Sesame Noodles

Posted on by under carrot, green onions, peanut butter, sesame oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce

Well Hello Internet!

phew the holidays are over!  i feel like i cooked a ridiculous amount of food, some of which has made it up here, some of which will make it up here eventually, and some of it that just slipped through the cracks!

anyways, as a result of all the cooking i did, be it cookies,  turkey, beef wellington,  pot pies, and whatever else i made, Butter has now become my number one used ingredient!  yum!  if you want to know how i can tell, if you look over in the right hand column of this blog you will see a list of ingredients.  every time i do a post i put the ingredients as labels, and it tallies them and puts them in descending order from most used to least used.

if you were to click on these ingredients you can then see all the recipes used involving that ingredient.

all that aside

Cold Sesame Noodles!  these are delicious, and they have no butter in them!  i need a break from butter!

they are super easy.

heres what you’ll need

1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce (shoyu)
1 tablespoon hot toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon olive oil
sesame seeds (optional)
1 carrot – julienned or i like to just use the peeler, and peel it all the way to the core (optional)
1 green onion (optional)
some kind of noodles, udon, soba, rice, or just plain old spaghetti (enough for 1 person but not enough for 2)

ok so take all the sauces, and whisk them together in a bowl

then, cook the noodles as per the instructions on your noodle packet
if you are using carrots, when there is 1 minute or less left for the noodles, throw the carrots in with them.  this will soften them slightly, but they will still be nice and crunchy. 
strain the carrots and the noodles, and run cold water over them to stop the cooking and turn them cold.
then put them in the bowl with the sauce mixture
toss everything until the sauce is coating the noodles nicely, throw on the green onions
and you have a delicious meal or snack! 
mmmm mmmm delicious!