Category Archives: ginger

Jack is Cooking Saag Paneer

Posted on by under cheese, coriander, cumin seeds, garam masala, garlic, ghee., ginger, kale, mustard seeds, paneer, spinach
Well Hello Internet!
Another dish i have been making quite a bit recently is Saag Paneer.  This is an Indian dish most commonly made with spinach, but can also be made with a variety of other Greens.   I have experimented with many of these greens, but have to say that my favorite is to make it with a mixture of Kale, and Spinach.
Here is what you will need:
1 Bunch of spinach – (at least 250-300 grams)  cut up into large pieces
1 bunch of Kale – (250-300 grams)  – cut up into medium sized pieces
150 Grams Paneer (Indian Cheese) cut into 1 inch cubes –  This will not really work with any other type of cheese, except maybe fresh Queso Blanco
2 tbspns Oil
1 tbspn Ghee
1/4 tspn cumin seeds
1/2 tspn mustard seeds
2 cloves garlic (grated)
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 inch Fresh Ginger – Grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tsp Garam Masala
100 ml milk (OPTION:  when i first started making this i used Heavy Cream.  but i don’t always have it (and its very rich), so sometimes i will use milk, or Almond Milk)
So this dish is very easy once you get the hang of it, but it requires very good Mis-en-Place.  which means have everything ready and organized before you start cooking as it all happens very fast, and there are lots of spices!  it helps if you use some ramekins, or some other little bowls.
Here is how to best organize yourself:
1. In one bowl, put the cumin and mustard seeds, along with the grated garlic.
Mustard Seeds (L) & Cumin Seeds (R)
2.  In a second bowl, put the coriander powder, the ground ginger, and the nutmeg.

3.  In a third bowl, put the sugar, the salt, and the grated FRESH ginger.
ok so that’s enough organizing.  
now for the cooking.  First! heat up the ghee in a pan, and add the paneer to it.  fry the paneer until it is nicely browned on all sides.  it can burn quickly so don’t let that happen.  once its finished cooking, strain it and put it aside in a bowl.  sprinkle the Garam Masala over the paneer while it is nice and hot.
Garam Masala

Second!  with the leftover ghee that should still be in the pan from the paneer, cook the spinach and the kale, until it is just wilted.  this will not take very long.  put all of this into a colander and let it sit.

Now is time to cook the spices.  and where all our organizing comes into play.

put the 2 tbspns of oil into the pan and heat it up.  throw the first bowl in (the cumin and mustard seeds, with the garlic)  cook it for about 10 seconds, or until the seeds start sputtering.  Then!  throw the Second bowl in – the ground coriander, ginger and nutmeg.  and cook that for about 10 seconds also.  you will have a spice goop that is very hot now.

quickly throw the cooked greens back into the spices, and toss around until the spices are even spread around.  cook this for about 2 or 3 minutes.   Then add the cooked Paneer, along with the Third bowl – with the sugar, the salt, and the FRESH ginger.  cook all this for about 2 or 3 minutes, and Finally add in the milk (or Cream, or Almond milk, whichever route you choose to go)  cook for a further 2 minutes, and then its done!

Serve it with some rice, and if you want you can serve it with some other curry!  (soon i will put up more curries, as i’ve been on a bit of a Currinary adventure recently…..  (get it curry + culinary)  😉

YUM!

Jack is Cooking Some Kind of Beef Noodles (take II)

Posted on by under beef, garlic, ginger, green onions, noodles, onions, pepper, sake, spinach, Tomato

Well Hello Internet!

its been a long time.  almost a year since my last post!  don’t worry i’ve still been eating cooking a lot!  but i’ve mainly been playing with old recipes and so didn’t think i should post the same thing twice.  but since i’ve got this here website i figured i should probably start posting on it again!

So One dish that was really awesome that i made a while ago, (and took a picture of!) was this awesome beef noodle soup dish that i found in a magazine (Saveur).  I didn’t exactly make what the recipe in the magazine said, i made my own thing out of it.

So here’s what you’ll need:

1 lb of beef – doesn’t matter what cut, but its nice if it has bones in it.  i used a T-Bone steak, (which i am sorry to say had been in my freezer for too long, and had gotten a bit of Freezer burn on it.  it wouldn’t have been good as a plain steak, but was perfect for this soup)

GROUP A
1/4 cup sake
2 teaspoons mixed pepper corns
2 cloves of garlic (smashed)
1/2 can crushed tomatoes
1 pod star anise
1/2 onion
2 dried red chillies
a bunch of ginger (like 2 inches)

GROUP B
1 teaspoon vinegar,
1  teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

GROUP C
fresh spinach
fresh egg noodles – the really thin kind!
a green onion
sesame seeds

So First, cut up the steak into random sized chunks, and throw all the meat and the bones into a pot of water.  bring this to a boil, and then drain the water.  take the beef and the bones and put it back in the pot with everything from the list in Group A.  cover this with water, and bring it back to a boil.  let it simmer for about an hour.

Then! after one hour, remove the beef from this stock and set it aside on a cutting board.  strain the liquid  so that you have a nice broth, and discard all the onions and ginger pieces, and whatever else may have been in the stock.  Cut the Beef into nice bite sized pieces.  you can now get rid of the bones, as their delicious goodness has been transferred into the stock.

Add everything from GROUP B (the soy sauce etc.) into the broth, and add the newly bite sized beef back into the broth.

In a separate pot, cook the noodles for their specified cooking time.  if they are fresh that will only be 2 minutes or so.  remove the noodles, and place them in the serving bowls.  SAVE THE WATER!
then cook (BLANCHE!) the spinach in the water.  remove the spinach from the water and put it into the bowls with the noodles.

Then take a Ladle, and ladle the nice broth over the noodles and spinach, making sure to get the good beef stuff into the bowls too.  garnish it with some Green Onions, and Sesame Seeds, and you have a Delicious Beef Noodle Soup Dish!

Heres what it looked like, PLUS the original picture from the magazine.

mmm mmm delicious!

P.S.   the original recipe which i adapted this from can be found here:
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Hong-Shao-Niu-Rou-Mian-Taiwanese-Beef-Noodle-Soup

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 Beef Jerky

Posted on by under beef jerky, garlic, ginger, paprika, sesame seeds, soy sauce, sriracha, steak, tahini
Well Hello Internet!
i decided to take on a new project of making delicious homemade Beef Jerky! 
this was the first time, and i think it turned out pretty good, although a little salty.  
here’s what i did:
the beef:
i used an organic grass-fed sirloin tip steak from Herondale Farm
i cut this into strips that were fairly thin.
for the marinade:
ginger
garlic
soy sauce
hot sesame oil
olive oil
tahini
sriracha 
ginger ale
i marinated the steak for 24 hours in this.  
after 24 hours, i took the steak out of the marinade, and i put some dry spices on for a dry rub (this is where i used too much salt, so if you do this, be careful with the salt. 
the dry rub:
paprika
salt
pepper
herbs de provence
after i put the beef strips in this to give a little coating i put them on racks in the oven at 150°.  i let it stay in there for about 3 hours.  or basically until it became jerky. some of the pieces were finished a little before, because they were smaller, and some took a little longer, so you have to keep your eye on it.
all in all its pretty good!  but this is something i’m definitely going to keep working on. different marinades etc!
mm mm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Root Vegetable and Leek Soup

Posted on by under butter, carrots, ginger, leeks, onion, parsley, parsnips, potatoes, rutabaga
Well Hello Internet!
This past sunday, julie and i decided to make a Root Vegetable and Leek Soup!
its very easy to make.
heres what you need
1 leek
1 potato
1 rutabaga
3 carrots
3 parsnips
1 onion
2 inches of ginger
parsley
chicken stock (3-4 cups)
salt and pepper (1/2 tablespoon each- more pepper if you want)
cinnamon
half and half (1/2 cup)
first chop everything up into 2 inch cubes (except the ginger.  chop that up pretty finely)
then with a little butter sauté the carrots, onions, ginger, and parsley for about 5 minutes, or until the onions start getting a little clear
put the rest of the vegetables in the pot with the chicken stock (enough that all the vegetables are covered)
cook for about 45 minutes.  at this point all the veggies should be nice and soft.  take a potato masher
and mash them all together.  i prefer the masher to an immersion blender, because i like it still a little chunky.  then add in the half and half, the salt and pepper, and the cinnamon (just a dash)
cook it for 15 more minutes, then serve.  i served it with a spoon of greek yogurt, some chives, and a dash more cinnamon
mmmm mmmm delicious