Curry Rice

Friday night we decided to cook a nice dinner for Joe (who was leaving for a month of training with the army in the woods...somewhere...in America).  In Clearly Delicious style, we sent him off with a delicious assortment of Indian cuisine--Butter Chicken, Edamame, Na'an, and of course, Curry Rice.

This Curry Rice is loaded with healthy veggies, natural remedy ingredients such as honey and olive oil, and makes for one heck of a fulfilling Indian rice dish.  Make as a side dish, or as an entree (hot or cold) and you will have treat equally Indian and clearly delicious.

Curry Rice
This recipe comes from Elise's blog, Simply Recipes, and can be found here.  Elise suggests in the original to serve the rice dish cold, but I find the combination of warm rice, honey, and freshly cooked vegetables to demand being served hot.  Regardless, serve hot or cold for a curry rice dish that is healthy, flavorful, and extremely clearly delicious.

Ingredients:
* 4-5 cups cooked brown, or white rice
* 1 onion, chopped
* Curry paste, or powder, to taste (Elise suggests yellow, or red, but not green, and NOT Thai)
* Olive oil, to taste
* Cumin, to taste
* Chili powder, to taste
* Sesame oil, to taste (optional if unavailable)
* 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
* 1 cup raisins
* 1 apple, cored and chopped
* Honey, to taste
* Salt, to taste
* 2 celery stocks, washed and chopped
* 1 cup edamame, cooked
* 1/4 bell pepper (red), chopped
* 1/4 bell pepper (green), chopped

1.) Prepare rice and set aside.

2.) Prep your ingredients: chop the bell pepper, onion, celery, and apple.  Set aside.

3.) Begin by sautéing onions in olive oil.  Sprinkle with curry powder/paste to preference and cook until translucent.

4.) Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the edamame separately while onions are browning.  (For more information on how to cook edamame, see the "Edamame with Thyme" post).

5.) Add remaining chopped vegetables--peppers, celery.  Cook for several minutes until all vegetables are soft, but still retain a certain amount of crunch (the al dente of the veggie community if you will).

6.) Add cooked edamame, mix to combine, and remove from heat.

7.) Now prepare the rice dish.  Place rice in an oversized mixing bowl (trust me, you'll need it!), and add the cooked vegetables.

8.) Add 1 cup raisins and drizzle with honey to taste.

9.) Add chopped apple and mix to combine.  Season to taste preferences with additional curry, salt and pepper, cumin, olive and sesame oil, cilantro, and chili powder.  There are few measurements on this recipe as everyone's taste palette is especially different when combining the salt and pepper with the sweet of apples, raisins, and honey.

10.) Serve either hot or cold.  Makes 8-10.  Enjoy!

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Chocolate Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

On a pretty regular basis, I think to myself, "I have some really fantastic friends.  I'm a lucky girl."  Not to be a sap or anything, but it's true--I know some wonderful people.  When one of those wonderful people, Ms. Sarah Gregory, helped me out after making a rather goofy mistake, I decided that I would pay her back the best way I knew how: cooking.

Specifically, Sarah requested that I make her an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie recipe that I made her the first time we met, but with one major change: instead of raisins, Sarah wanted chocolate chips.  The result? A cookie that couldn't get any better--a melt in your mouth chocolatey, nutty, oaty experience that seems more like a meal than a delicious snack.  Make this recipe with the original raisins it calls for, OR with chocolate chips.

Chocolate Oatmeal Pecan Cookies
As always, this recipe pays tribute to the one and only Foodblogtress, Elise Bauer at Simply Recipes.  For her original version of this recipe, please see here.  I've adjusted some of her measurements and switched out the raisins for chocolate chips, but otherwise, this cookie is pretty much the same as the one she has listed from her grandmother.


Ingredients:
* 2 sticks butter, softened
* 1 cup brown sugar, packed
* 1 cup regular sugar
* 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 3 cups rolled oats (not the instant kind)
* 1 1/2 cup raisins, OR chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup pecans, or walnuts (optional)
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 2 large eggs, beaten


1.) Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease cookie sheet(s) with butter and set aside.

2.) In a standing mixer, combine butter (cut into 1 inch cubes and softened) and sugars.  Beat until fluffy.

3.) Add eggs one at a time.

4.) Add vanilla and almond extract, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Mix to combine.

5.) Measure 3 cups rolled oats and add them to the batter slowly.

6.) Add 1 1/2 cups flour.  Mix to integrate; scrape down sides to fully combine.

7.) Add 1 12 ounce bag of chocolate chips.

8.) Add 1/2 cup pecans, or walnuts and mix to fully integrate.  Scrape down sides for any leftover dry ingredients and mix one last time.  Remove mixing paddle and bowl from mixer.

9.) Now, begin to dish out your cookies.  The best technique when making cookies of any kind is to use an ice cream scoop as your dough dispenser.  So, scoop out cookie dough evenly and in perfectly spaced dough balls the same way you would ice cream.

10.) Bake in 350F oven for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.  (NOTE: a key tip when making this recipe is that at about 10 minutes, the cookies will be thoroughly cooked, but decently chewy.  Any longer will increase the crispiness of the cookie and run the risk of burning.  Thus, if you prefer crispier cookies, then by all means add a minute or two to the cooking time, but no longer!)

11.) Try not to eat them before transferring them to the plate!

12.) Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool.  Makes about 3 batches at 12 cookies each (36 cookies).  Enjoy!

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Cinnamon Scones

The setting: Saturday morning.  The meal: Brunch.  The menu: Eggs... bacon... frittata... and SCONES.  Let's just have a moment to meditate on SCONES... SCONES... SCONES....yum.  Few people I know have ever had a REAL scone--the dense, cake-bread hybrid popular in England (and even New England) from whole wheat flour, barley, and/or oatmeal, and leavening.  Scones were originally a Scottish dish that looked like a flattened plate and were lightly sweetened.  However, today's modern version of the scone has any number of sweetened and spicy recipes--blueberry, cinnamon raisin (like this post), buttermilk, etc., but overall, the scone is a basic fruit or spice flavored baked good.  Serve with jam, and/or butter, and you'll have a treat that is clearly delicious!

Cinnamon Raisin Scones
This recipe comes by way of Alton Brown over at Food Network (you can find the recipe here).  Alton's recipe is a basic scone recipe and can be adjusted in terms of flour, fruit, and spice.  The below version of Alton's calls for cinnamon, nutmeg, and raisins.  However, you can easily substitute any other dried fruit (i.e., cranberries) or fresh fruit (i.e., blueberries).  Regular flour instead of whole wheat will work nicely as well.

Ingredients
* 2 cups whole wheat flour, and extra for dusting and dough texture (i.e., if dough is too moist)
* 4 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 4 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons shortening
* 3/4 cup cream, or half and half
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1 cup raisins, craisins, or blueberries*
* 1 tablespoon cinnamon*
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg*
(*ingredients can be adjusted according to personal preference)

GLAZE
* 1 egg yolk, beaten
* 1 tablespoon milk

1.) Preheat oven to 375F.  Combine dry ingredients in large mixing bowl and mix well.  Cut in butter and shortening (in very small pieces) and mix with hands until flour mixture resembles course meal.
2.) In a separate bowl, mix beaten egg and cream.  Stir in fruit and spices.
3.) Combine wet and dry ingredients.  If you have a Kitchenaid mixer (or other electronic mixer), mix wet and dry ingredients with the flat dough paddle.  Pay close attention to the texture of the dough during this step--if it's too wet, like a cake batter, you'll want to add more flour.  A good technique to use when making any scone or bread-like dish (i.e., a pie crust especially) is if you pinch the dough between two fingers and it holds together, but does not stick to your hands like glue, you've got a fantastic batter.
4.) Flour surface and place dough in a well molded ball onto surface.  Roll out to 1/4-1/2 inch thick and cut into circular rounds, triangular cuts, or any other shape you have available (we used a heart-shaped cookie cutter).
5.) Transfer dough to a well greased baking sheet.
6.) Prepare glaze by beating one egg yolk with one tablespoon milk.  Brush over scones in a thin, but consistent layer.
7.) Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until "done": golden brown, stiff, and clearly delicious.
8.) Transfer to serving plate or cooling rack and enjoy!

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