Biscuits

My first time making biscuits and unfortunately I forgot to add the baking soda which meant these were pretty flat, but still delicious! The second time around I made sure not to forget this key ingredient. Both times the bf and I ate them in one sitting with jams, so baking soda or not these biscuits are a great way to start the day. You can also add ingredients to the biscuit recipe such as green onions, bacon, or herbs. This recipe is adapted from another recipe I found, but without the green onions.
Interesting factoid, biscuits have been around for centuries, usually made dense, dry, and unsweetened. But around the 7th century AD, the  Persian empire started experimenting with the basic recipe by adding eggs, honey, spices, and cream. Have I mentioned that I'm Persian? Go Persians!
In addition, biscuits were very valuable to travelers and sailors because of it's long shelf life.

Biscuits
Recipe adapted from Baking Bites
Makes 10 biscuits
Prep and Cook Time: 30 min.

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1 cup sour cream


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (optional).

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar

3. Add butter to bowl and rub into flour mixture with your fingertips until mixture resembles very coarse sand. The average piece should be about the size of a pea. 

4. Stir in sour cream until dough is moistened, then turn out on to a lightly floured surface and lightly knead until the ball comes together smoothly. Press dough out until it is 1/2-inch thick.

5. Use a 2 1/2-3 inch round cookie/biscuit cutter to cut rounds, then place on baking sheet. Dough can be gathered and rerolled once. You should get about 10 biscuits, depending on size of the biscuit cutter.

6. Bake for 20-24 minutes, until tops of biscuits are golden and sides are puffed and firm.
Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Pico De Gallo

It was about 11pm, maybe even later, when I became very motivated to make pico de gallo. The tomatoes I had bought at the Farmer’s Market earlier that day were calling to me. Actually, come to think of it, all the ingredients in this recipe are from the Farmer’s Market ( minus the salt and pepper). If you have access to a Farmer’s Market I highly recommend taking advantage of the summer produce. In fact, take two minutes and find one right now: Find your local Farmer's Market! Consuming in-season fruits and vegetables gives you the most nutrition for your money since the vitamin content in the produce are at their peaks during in-season. Not to mention they are much tastier during in-season.

Pair the pico do gallo with some tortilla chips and you've got yourself a healthy midnight snack.

Pico De Gallo

Servings: 3-4

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

4 tomatoes

1 small red onion, diced

1 green chili, finely chopped

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Juice of 1 lemon (or lime if you prefer)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1- Cut the tomatoes in half and lightly squeeze out most of the juice and seeds. Dice

2- Add tomatoes and the remaining ingredients to a small serving bowl.

3- Top with lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

Vegetable Samosas

I usually treat myself to at least one samosa at the Farmer’s Market every week. Some weekends I end up buying 5+; for $1 each it’s a bargain! Today I felt inspired to try and make them myself. I mean, how hard could it be? Well, let me tell you, if this is your first time with a samosa recipe, it will be difficult. Let me rephrased that, if this is your first time working with filo pastry, it will be difficult. Filo pastry is thin, dries easily, and can rip with the slightest push.

I found this recipe in The Best Ever Indian Cookbook by Baljekar, Fernandez, Husain, & Kanani (2004). Though their recipe calls for only using filo pasty and baking the samosas in the oven, my first batch of the oven baked samosas did not quite satisfy my craving for the greasy, thick breaded samosas I usually get at the Farmer’s Market. So for the recipe below, I chose to fry the samosas instead of baking them. Healthy Shmeathly, right?

Special thanks to my housemate who let me use her cookbook and spices!

Vegetable Samosas

Servings: Makes 28

Prep & Cook Time: 1 hour- 1 hour and 30 min.

Ingredients:

14 flour tortillas, or 14 sheets of filo pastry thawed, or a mix of both

3 large potatoes, boiled and roughly mashed

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp dry mango powder (amchur)

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 fresh green chilies, finely chopped

2 tbsp coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

½ cup of vegetable oil

Directions:

1- If you are using tortillas, cut each tortilla in half to make two equal halves. If using filo pastry, using one or two sheets at a time, cut each sheet(s) in half lengthways giving you 28 strips.

2- Mix all filling ingredients in a large bowl (everything except the vegetable oil).

3-Heat up the vegetable oil in a large pan on medium heat.

4-One at a time using either the tortillas or filo pastry, place about 1-2 tbsp of the filling mixture at one end and fold the tortilla/ pastry dough diagonally over. Continue to fold to form a triangle, ensuring that all sides are sealed. The tortilla is not as long so don’t be afraid to use your fingers to fill the samosa full and seal the sides. As you fold each samosa, gently place it in the hot vegetable oil to fry.

5-Fry samosas on each side until golden brown. Drain on paper towels before serving

Borani Esfanaaj

Now that we have the yogurt draining technique down, let’s put that yogurt to use. My favorite way is to mix the yogurt with cooked spinach, onion, and garlic, in a Persian dish called “Borani Esfenaaj”. Most Persian restaurants serve this as an appetizer with some pita or lavash bread, however, traditionally Persian cuisine is not split into different courses. Instead everything is served at the same time on the “Sofreh” or a cloth/spread on the ground.

Usually I have this dish on the side with a main dish, but I also recommend it as a spread or dip. For those of you looking to cut some calories throughout the day (like me!) this is a healthy alternative to the traditional spinach dip made with mayonnaise and/or sour cream.

Borani Esfanaaj (or Yogurt with Spinach)

Servings: 3-4

Prep & Cook time: 15 min. + at least an hour of cooling

Ingredients:

1 tsp of olive oil, or any oil you have on hand

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

4 cups fresh spinach or a package of frozen spinach, washed

¼ tsp salt

Pinch of pepper

1 ½ cups of the drained yogurt (see previous post)

Directions:

1- Drizzle the oil into a medium pan and sauté the onion and garlic on medium-low heat until tender and the onions are almost see-through.

2- Add the spinach and cook until leaves are wilted. Add salt and pepper

3- Set aside to cool for about 15 minutes.

4- In a small bowl mix together the drained yogurt and cooked spinach. Add any salt or pepper to taste.

5- Cool in the fridge for at least another 45 minutes. Then enjoy!