Author Archives: Renate Valencia

Indian curry paste

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My jar of indian curry paste

One good reason to have a mortar and pestle around the house is to help keep you in various curry pastes.  I always have a jar of homemade Indian curry paste on hand, for example, because I find that it works better than the commercially-prepared kind.  I never make more than can fill my little 8-ounce glass canning jar so that I’m forced to make fresh batches ar regular intervals – though I do run through the stuff at a quick clip.

Here’s my recipe, in case you want to try it yourself.  You don’t need a huge mortar and pestle.

RV’s Very Basic Indian Curry Paste

6 tablespoons canola oil
1 very small onion, finely chopped
8 garlic cloves
5 teaspoons peeled/chopped ginger root
3/4 teaspoon dried ground chili peppers (buy the whole, dried ones and grind in a coffee grinder)
1-1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1)  Grind the coriander and cumin seeds into a powder (fine or coarse, as you prefer)  in the mortar and pestle
2)  Add the garlic and ginger and pound until the mass is a course paste – then set aside
3)  Heat the oil in a small pan and saute the onions until golden
4)  Add the mass from the mortar and saute for 3 minutes over medium heat
5)  Add the turmeric and chili and saute for a moment or two
6)  Transfer to a small jar and allow to cool
7)  Cover and refrigerate

Taki Sushi has no sushi for lunch

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Matt and I wanted to grab a quick lunch near home the other day, so we went to Taki Sushi (10889 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito).  They’re located in one of those cursed locations where things have come and gone – a really unattractive part of a generally unattractive stretch of San Pablo Avenue, in my opinion.  Problem #1, they don’t have sushi for lunch.  Problem #2, the food inspector arrived as we sat down to eat.  We were not happy about a place with “sushi” in its name not having sushi for lunch, and they were not happy about the food inspection, but we did wind up having quite a nice lunch. 

Taki Sushi is nicely decorated, has a sushi bar and is clean as a whistle. 

We ordered one of my faves, agedashi tofu ($5.50), which is like tofu tempura served in a rich dashi, a broth made of bonito (tuna) flakes, with mirin and shoyu added.  This was a very generous portion and it arrived boiling hot.  Nice. 

Matt had a lunch bento with tempura ($8.25).  The tempura was crunchy and obviously of fresh shrimp and veggies fried at the right temperature.  The portion was nice.  Tempura – check!

I ordered the chicken curry donburi (I do not see this on the take-out menu, but I recall it being about $8 for lunch) and it was very good, with a nice, rich, curry sauce with ample chicken and carrots.  It was a hot day and I still enjoyed it, so that says something.  Curry – check!

Service is friendly and prompt and the food good, so we’ll go back soon and try a few other things, but they should have sushi for lunch!

Ginger’s white no-bake cookies

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Ginger’s white no-bake bar cookies

When I was in high school in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the cafeteria staff had to make use of the large quantities of peanut butter received from government food programs.  They often served a no-bake bar cookie loaded with PB and quick oats – which I developed a fondness for but never saw outside of that area before or since.  In recent months I thought I’d try to make this cookie, but the recipe I procured from a friend was for the chocolate version, which turned out OK but did not tickle that particular taste memory for me.  I contacted a high school friend, Ginger, via Facebook, who I figured could come up with something for me.  She told me she developed a white version of this cookie with marshmallow creme added that resulted in something akin to fudge, and that it had been a big hit with her family.

I made a big batch of these cookies two weeks ago and they disappeared fast.  If you try the recipe, one suggestion is to wait a day before you serve them so that they firm up and meld a bit.  That said, I think my husband and son ate about a third of them the first day, so good luck with the waiting.

I have to say that I find it interesting that all the kids who were nice in high school became nice adults, and the ones who were interested in cooking as teens still cook today.  Case in point:  Ginger and I were in Home Economics together (do they still teach this anywhere?) making things like chocolate fondue (that was the 70’s) and now she and I are both in the food business.

Ginger’s White No-bake Bar Cookies

1 cup margarine (use one of those “bad” margarines – not something like Smart Balance; butter works, too)
2 cups white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
5 cups quick oats
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup marshmallow creme
1 teaspoon vanilla

1)  Combine margarine, sugars and milk and bring to a hard boil; allow to boil for two minutes, stirring gently with a heatproof spatula.  Note that the hard boil is important, because it is raising the temperature of the sugars so that the cookies set properly.
2)  Remove from heat
3)  Add peanut butter, marshmallow creme and vanilla, stirring till mostly melted
4)  Stir in oats until all are coated
5)  Spread out evenly in a wax-paper lined 9′ X 13″ oblong cake pan (or one that is nonstick with a bit of oil spray)
6)  Allow to cool on counter for 15 mins and then transfer to refrigerator to cool for two hours
7)  Turn out onto counter (carefully!) and cut into bars.  I use a bench scraper or wide spackling tool for this

These no-bake cookies look like a marble tile when they come out of the sheet pan

Best Foods mayo substitute

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Jars of Best Foods and Raley’s mayo

Since Safeway stopped producing its Safeway Select* brand of real mayonnaise – which was almost a dead ringer for Best Foods/Hellmann’s – I have been looking for another alternate brand that is equally as good.  I finally found one:  Raley’s Real Mayonnaise.  It’s  a bit thicker than Best Foods, but is the real deal, and I think I will be buying this on a regular basis now, given that the (full) price is about $2.50.  It’s also an actual quart (32 ounces).  Since I want to punish Best Foods for downsizing their quart size to 30 ounces, I’ll be doing that in addition to saving money.

*Note that, in my opinion, the store brand of mayo that Safeway now sells is not very good.  It has those off-notes that other store brands have – sort of like wallpaper paste – and does not have a fresh, clean flavor.

Good pupusas at Costco

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Casa Sanchez papusas

When I was in Costco last week I noticed a new product in the prepared food section:  Casa Sanchez pupusas.  A pupusa is a thick, closed tortilla made of masa that’s stuffed with various things, like beans, meat and/or cheese.  There are 10 griddle-ready cheese papusas shrink-wrapped in the package available at Costco.

According to most sources, Pupusas originated in El Savador, but are popular across Latin America, with numerous variants.  If you want to claim that pupusas originated in another country, I won’t be suckered into a fight.  The memory of something I wrote about the history of the chile pepper and its resulting warfare is still fresh in my memory.

I like some of the Casa Sanchez salsas, so I thought I’d give these a try, particularly because decent non-homemade pupusas are not easy to come by.

They’re good, but don’t microwave them.  Wipe a cast iron pan or griddle with a little canola oil and dry-fry the pupusas on each side until the cheese melts and they have some texture.  I also made them successfully on my baking stone in a hot convection oven.  Don’t overcook or the cheese will bake out.

I like the fact that they are plain, and work well as a quick side to something like chili or a salad; we even had them for breakfast one day. Casa Sanchez is generous with the mild, white melting cheese (Cotilla), and the masa is slightly salty.

If you don’t have access to homemade cheese pupusas, these will suit your needs at a cost of $9.99.