I picked up these large leaves at the Asiana Market. I thought I was going to stuffed them with fish or something. I noticed that the leaves were marked Patra.

So I looked up Patra.

It turns out that Patra (Stuffed Taro Leaves) is a DELICIOUS dish from Maharashtra & Gujarat Cuisines. It very easy to prepare and is extremely fragrant and delicious. This recipe uses a chick pea flour base that you spice up. You spread the chick pea mixture on the leaves. Repeat four times. Roll them up like. a jelly roll. Steam the rolls, slice and fry and add some more seasoning and fresh cilantro. They come out delicious! I’m not sure about serving sizes. The recipe I followed says to use 15 patra leaves. I only used four leaves but I used the largest leaves in the pack???? In the end my guess is that this makes 4 tasty servings. This recipe makes far more fried seeds than I think it needs. You can save the extra and use them for either a next time or something else.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

15 patra leaves – recipe states that spinach leaves are a substitute – I used 4 very large leaves

60 ml tamarind juice (around 2 oz)

150g chick pea flour (around 5 1/3 oz)

3 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp asafoetida ( I picked some up at Whole Foods )

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 tsp sugar

1 tbsp oil

2 tsp salt

1 tbsp oil (for finishing)

1 tsp mustard seeds (for finishing)

1 tsp cumin seeds (for finishing

3 tsp sesame seeds (for finishing)

1 tbsp fresh cilantro – chopped (for finishing)

Directions

1 – clean and dry leaves. Cut out large vein in leaves with a knife or scissors. Set leaves to the side.

Make the paste. The tamarind juice, chick pea flour, chili powder, turmeric, asafoetida, cumin seeds, sugar, oil and salt get mixed up together in a bowl. (mine came out too dry and I had to add a good amount of water for it to be spreadable.

Now you start out by spreading the mixture on a leaf that is face side down.

Take a second leaf and lay on top (like a lasagna) spread mixture again. Do a third and spread mixture again and do a fourth and spread mixture again. I was out of filling by now but if you have more than you can make more stuffed leaves.

Now you roll from the fatter end up like a jelly roll.

These rolls need to set in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

When you are ready the next step is to steam the rolls for 20 minutes.

When the rolls are cool enough to handle you sliced them up and fry them up on both sides with some oil on medium high heat.

Serve with the oil, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, sesame seeds and fresh cilantro.

Enjoy! They really are delicious!

A special THANKS to Urvashi Roe and www.GreatBritishChefs.com for this amazing recipe.

I was reading the Samurai Gourmet’s food blog. I saw this incredible looking parmesan and cauliflower mousse that I was very intrigued with. I wasn’t sure about making Parmesan Mousse and shaving raw cauliflower into it. I looked on line for such a recipe and none where to be found. However I did find on www.GreatBritishChefs.com Pascal Aussignac’s recipe for Parmesan and Potato Mousse with Parmesan Crisps recipe. I thought this recipe looked attractive and I was sure that it would taste good and it does. The chef uses a siphon to whip the mousse. I just whipped the cream and added the potatoes and cheese. I seasoned mine with less nutmeg from the original recipe. Added some white pepper and also used piment d’ espelette pepper. I made the parmesan crisp and mine came out delicious but weren’t real crisp.as I would like. I think next time I will add some corn starch or potato flour instead of all purpose flour. This recipe makes way more crisps than you need but they are delicious so they won’t go to waste. This recipe make 4 very small but rich servings. I converted the metric recipe as best as I could.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

5 1/2 ounce potato peeled , cut in half or quarter so it cooks faster (for mousse)

3 1/2 ounce parmesan – grated (for mousse)

3 1/2 ounce heavy cream – whipped (for mousse)

a few grates fresh nutmeg (for mousse)

big pinch ground white pepper (for mousse)

sea salt – to taste

piment d’ espelette pepper – to taste

5 1/2 ounce parmesan – grated (for crisps)

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

2.65 oz egg white (about three small ones)

1 ounce flour

12 basil leaves to serve with

Directions

You suppose to use a food processor and power the 5 1/2 oz. parmesan. Then you add the oil, flour and egg white. Process till smooth.

Next you with spread this dough thinly and evenly on a non-stick baking sheet or silicon mat. Then use a fork to create long lines in the dough. (I thought it was easier to squeeze out this dough with a pastry bag and top) Chill this in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Boil the potato in medium/high boiling water till it’s fork tender. (around 15 minutes). Rice the potato.

To the riced potato add the remaining parmesan, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg. (keep warm till ready to use)

The parmesan dough goes in a preheated 256 degree oven for 14 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow to cool.

Assemble.

Each serving is delicious with a sprinkle of pigment d’ espelette, a few parmesan crisps and three fresh basil leaves.

A special THANKS to Pascal Aussignac and www.GreatBritishChefs.com for sharing this amazing recipe.

These peppers are tastier than many shishito peppers you might get at restaurants. These only take 15 minutes in the oven and it only takes a minute or two to whip up the sauce.

Ingredients for around two servings

1 teaspoon peanut oil

1 Tablespoon hoisin sauce

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 garlic clove – ground to paste or finely grated

1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (for finishing)

1 teaspoon furikake

8 oz shishito peppers

non stick spray or a little oil for pan

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F

Use a little non stick spray or oil for your baking sheet.

In a bowl combine the peanut oil, hoisin, soy sauce and garlic clove. Mix well and then toss in the peppers and mix them up well to get the sauce all over them. Spread the peppers out on the baking sheet. Place sheet in the middle rack of the oven till peppers are charred. Timing might differ but in my oven this took 15 minutes.

Take out when done and add the sesame seeds and the furikake.

Enjoy Immediately.

I’m brining a pastrami and I need beer mustard to go with it. I’ve made mustard before…then I branched off to spicy mustard and now I graduated to beer mustard. This one might be my best. I think it’s pretty good. My husband enjoys mustard more than me and he said that it is REALLY GOOD! It’s pretty easy to make but over night it thickens up slightly so you might want to thin it down a tiny bit more with more beer. It’s easy to make but you do need a spice grinder to grind up the seeds. This makes around a cup of mustard. I’m guessing that might be around 16 servings.

Ingredients for around 16 servings.

4 Tablespoons black mustard seeds (+1/2 teaspoon at end)

2 Tablespoons yellow mustard seeds (+1 Tablespoon at end)

2 allspice berries

7 juniper berries

4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup beer (I used a lager)……(you will need about two splashes……one at the end if desired……and maybe one The NEXT DAY because overnight it thickens…..if desired)…..(so don’t finish your beer)

1 Tablespoon honey (maybe slightly more…I estimated)

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 Tablespoon ground mustard

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 Tablespoon yellow mustard seeds (these are left whole)

1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds (these are left whole)

Directions

In your spice grinder grind up the top 4 ingredient and blend not all the way to powder but a little chunky (mustard seeds, allspice seeds, juniper berries) and add to a small bowl or container. Add the apple cider vinegar, beer, honey, garlic, black pepper, turmeric, ground mustard and sea salt and mix. Now add the remaining mustard seeds. Add a splash of beer if desired. It will be best the next day. It might thicken some and you might want to add another splash of beer the next day.

It will go great with many things.

Enjoy!

I got these beautiful baby eggplants so I had to come up with something with things I had at home. This was pretty easy to make. It would be best to pickle the peppers the day before. The eggplants, tomatoes and shallots all went in the 350 degree F oven at the same time and all got done in 45 minutes. White they were roasting the dressing can be whipped up fast. Basil leaves can be crisped in oven. They only take 3-6 minutes. You can do this while stuff is cooking. This recipe makes more pickled peppers than you need. The extra peppers are great in sandwiches and salads.

Ingredients for around 5 servings.

8 oz baby bell peppers – sliced in rings

1 cup white vinegar

1 cup rice wine vinegar

1 cup water

2 Tablespoons kosher salt

1/4 cup sugar

3 garlic – ground to paste

1 1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns

1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seeds

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon dry oregano

1 lb baby eggplants (I had 5 baby eggplants) – cut in half long ways and score them (like cross hatch)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I don’t know the exact amount because I sprayed the vegetables and basil with the oil. I also used one Tablespoon of oil later in the recipe for the dressing.

1 lemon just the fresh squeezed juice (one lemon goes on eggplants ( half a lemon for the juice is used later for the dressing)

1 pint grape tomatoes – cut in half

2 shallots – diced

1 cup basil leaves

fresh crushed sea salt to taste – goes on eggplants, tomatoes, shallots

fresh crushed black pepper to taste – goes on eggplants, tomatoes, shallots

10 anchovies + a little oil (1 or 2 teaspoons)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

1 Tablespoon capers – drained

1 Tablespoon golden raisins

Directions

You need to make the pickled peppers first.

Put your pepper rings in a container with the garlic. In a sauce pot on medium high heat add the vinegars, water, kosher salt, sugar, peppercorns, coriander seeds, bay leaf and dried oregano. Bring this mixture to a boil and then pour it over the peppers. Leave it on the counter till it’s room temperature. After it cools down you can refrigerate it.

Your oven gets set to 350 degrees F.

Baking sheets get sprayed with olive oil. Put the eggplants on one sheet, the tomatoes on another sheet and the shallots on another sheet. They all get sprayed with olive oil. The eggplants get drizzled with lemon juice too. They all get seasoned with salt and pepper.

I put the eggplants on the middle rack and the shallots and tomatoes on one rack under the eggplants. In my oven they took 45 minutes to be cooked and nicely browned. Your oven might differ some.

While they were roasting I whipped the dressing with my stick blender.

Blend up the anchovies, anchovies oil, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, capers and rosins till smooth and set to the side.

Now spray a baking sheet (lightly) with olive oil and place a single layer of basil leaves on the pan. lightly Spray the tops of basil leaves with olive oil. The leaves will crisp up fast…only 3-6 minutes.

Get ready to serve.

Eggplants on platter. Top with tomatoes. Then top with shallots. Top with some pickled peppers. The dressing you either put on bottom. Or dress around the plate or pour over. Lastly add the crisp leaves.

Enjoy!