Date Toffee Pudding

We celebrated an important milestone this year. It falls on the day after July 4th and with a holiday on hand we are usually free to plan at leisure. This year it was a meal at one of DC's popular Indian restaurants. The restaurant stood up to its reputation and the foods was quite good. The dessert especially their Date Toffee Pudding was what impressed us all and left us wanting more. I quickly made up my mind to give it a try but it took a good three months to bring it to fruition.

I am no baker, following directions is one of the hardest things for me to do. Guess I like to be creative! Apparently that is a wrong thing to be if you want good results in baking. With some self control I managed to pull off the pudding cake without disaster.

I had bookmarked Jamie Oliver's recipe but the conversion to cups from gms was no easy task. David Lebovitz's recipe to the rescue. I used a combination of both the recipes.

Date Toffee Pudding
Ingredients
1. 3/4 cup of loosely packed pitted dates + 1 1/2 cups of water
2. 1 1/4 cups of flour
3. 3/4 cups of granulated sugar
4. 2 Eggs
5. 2 tbsp Ovaltine
6. 4 tbsp butter
7. 2 tbsp yogurt whisked
8. 1 tsp baking powder
9. 1/2 tsp salt
10. 1 Cup of raspberries


For the toffee sauce
1. 1 1/4 cups of heavy cream
2. 1/2 cup of Turbinado sugar + 2 tbsp brown cane sugar or molasses (for the lovely dark color)
3. 1 tbsp butter

Method
1. Boil 1 1/2 cups of water in a sauce pan and soak the dates for 1/2 hour, drain the water and puree the dates and set aside
2. Butter the ramekin cups or the baking dish you are planning to use and set aside. Preheat the oven to 325F
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt
4. Beat the butter and sugar together till fluffy. Add in the eggs and beat them together
5. Add flour and ovaltine to the butter mixture and mix well. Add in the whisked yogurt,pureed dates and mix.
6. Pour into the buttered baking dish and set in preheated oven and bake for 35 minutes. Check if it is cooked, insert a tooth pick or knife in the center and it should come back clean
7. While the pudding is baking prepare the sauce

8.Mix together cream,sugar and butter in a sauce pan. In low heat cook the sauce till it becomes dark and thick, about 30 minutes. The time depends on how thin or thick you want to sauce to be (if it sits too long in the heat it becomes toffee)

9. Once the pudding has cooled down, spoon the sauce over and serve

Bean Curd noodles stir fry

I miss Dubya a lot these day. Dubya who? Our much hated 'loved' 43. There, now that I have said it I feel a lot better. We all know all too well the mess the country is in right now is because of his misadventures,so much so without him the current 44 would never have been elected. What I miss the most about him is his gungho optimism in the same mould as a few other Presidents that went before him. It was also a time when everyone in the US felt that anything is possible (even invading a foreign country under false pretenses). I know there are several shades to this kind of optimism but for now we will look at only bright side please. Shall we? From jumping onto the navy ship with the mission accomplished banner fluttering in the breeze behind him to taking a slipper to his face he was the epitome of what Americans love in their leaders - bravado - and a symbol of the never say die spirit.

Contrast that image to our current apologizer in chief who has extended his apology to the people in all continents on behalf of the US, his whiny spineless giving into the opposition in the name of bipartisanship. The country no doubt feeds off what the chief executive emanates from his bully pulpit. This one seems to emanate an utter hopelessness.

To tell you the truth 2 years ago I thought he was our last chance to bring some progressive thinking into a country for a long time run by a puppet of the evil genius. Sadly our pretender in chief seems to have lost his mojo. His message of hope has turned to despair. Today America seems a shade of its former self, lacking in confidence, tired, unable to aim for greatness which it once did with ease and above all given to self doubt. It is almost too painful to watch.

Whatever be the outcome of the mid-term election I want a President who looks, speaks and acts like one. Give the job of apologizing and whining to the minions and start talking about what the country is capable of instead of where it has gone wrong. I want the President to amplify what made this country great = its optimism, courage, creativity and above all heart. For everyone's sake it has to start from the top.

With the speech out of the way, lets move on to the recipe. This recipe is perfect for a quick weeknight meal when the veggies have all disappeared but a packet of noodles bean curd noodles to be exact picked on whim during a shopping visit is sitting solid in the pantry. DD2 has a fondness for chicken sausage and forced me to buy some during the most recent grocery shopping. Tofu, paneer or even mushrooms will make good substitutes for a veggie version.

What exactly is a Bean Curd noodle? Bean curd noodles are made from mung bean and acquire a transparent shiny look when soaked in water. They are also called cellophane noodles. I realized they were the same vermicelli noodles in fish curry sauce or chicken curry sauce that we usually enjoyed in Vietnamese restaurants. Having no taste on theri own they acquire the taste of the sauce or spices they are cooked in.

Bean Curd Noodles stir fry
Ingredients
1. 5 bundles of noodles from the package (makes about 3-4 cups of soaked noodles)
2. a pack of spicy cilantro chicken sausage sliced into thin rounds
3. 1 onion sliced (1/2 cup)
4. 1 1/2 cups of sliced cabbage (feel free to add any vegetables of choice)
5. 1/2 tbsp of chili paste or chili flakes
6. 2 tsp of soy sauce
7. 2 cloves of garlic smashed and cut fine
8. 1/2 tbsp grated ginger
9. salt to taste
10. 2-3 tsp of oil
11. handful of chopped coriander leaves
12. 2 tbsp of chopped peanuts

Method
1. In a wok heat the oil till smoking, add the onions and saute for 4-5 minutes
2. Add the chili paste, garlic and ginger and saute for a minute more
3. Add the cabbage and let them cook together till the onions are browned and cabbage is soft and cooked
4. Add the sausage and cook till it is browned all over and heated through completely
5. In the meantime heat a sauce pan full of water to boiling and cook the noodles for a couple of minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit for 5-6 minutes. Drain. Cut the noodles into smaller pieces
6. Add in the soy sauce and salt if required. Toss
7. Add the drained noodles and mix it into the sauce. Cook for 3-4 minutes
8. Add the chopped cilantro and mix it in. Turn off the heat

Serve with the chopped peanuts on top and extra soy sauce on the side