Grape Jelly

I have been meaning to post this for a while so it would be of use when grapes were in season, but I guess late is better than never. Right? I love making jelly. It is a little time consuming but it makes me feel all old-timey, which is perfect for an historian. The trick to jelly is cooking it for long enough for it to set, otherwise you just get grape juice. As their name suggests, I can't get Concord grapes here because they are rather specific to a certain locality. Up here, we have Coronation grapes. (I took the above pic from here because all mine turned out like crap) They can survive the cold weather and still pack a major grapey punch. This jam is seriously intense, and is amazing on multigrain toast for breaky.

As with all jams and jellies, you will need sterilized jars and lids, and a large canning pot with boiling water to process the final product.

So, to make jelly, you first need to make some juice. Wash and drain the berries and remove from the stem. Place in a large pot with 1/4 cup or so of water for every 4 cups of berries. Bring to boiling, then reduce heat and cook for 10 mins, stirring and crushing the grapes. When grapes are all soft, remove from pot and drain in a colander lined with a few layers of damp cheesecloth for at least 2 hours. I found that one 2L basket of grapes ended up making about 4 cups of juice, which turned into two 500 ml jars of jam.
So, now that you have the juice you can make jelly. You will need for cups of juice and 3 cups of sugar to make two 500 ml jars of jam. Combine the two ingredients in a large pot and bring to the boil. This jelly will foam up like crazy, so make sure it only takes 1/4 of the volume of the pot. You can see in the pic above how high the jam rose. Boil hard for 20 to 25 mins, until the jam sheets from a spoon. I was never sure what this meant until I made this jam. Basically, when the jam is ready it will drip off the spoon like you see in the pic below.
Pour the jelly into jars, screw on the lids finger tight, then process for 10 minutes in the boiling water. When done, remove from heat and remove lid. After 5 mins, remove jars from the water and cool.

Super Easy Thai Coconut Rice

I live fried rice as a quick and easy answer the question of what is for dinner. This dish is nothing fancy, for sure, but it tastes great and the kids love it. You can use chickpeas, tofu, or seitan in place of the Tofurky--it's just what I had on hand. Try to pick a veggie mix with some great colour that can contrast the yellow rice. I really don't put a lot of curry paste in because I enjoy the creamy mellowness of the coconut milk and tumeric.

INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 large sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp lemongrass paste
- yellow or red curry paste to taste
- 4 cups cold cooked rice
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp tumeric
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 pkg Tofurky lunch meat, cut into strips
- 3 cups frozen veggies (some Asian mix), thawed
- salt to taste

METHOD
1. Heat wok over med-hi heat, then swirl oil in. Add onions and stir fry for 2-3 mins, until golden and softened. Add garlic and stry fry 30 seconds. Then add lemongrass paste and curry paste and mix well.
2. Add rice and fry for a few mins, turning to coat the rice well. Add coconut milk, tumeric, and hoisin, and lower heat to medium, mixing well. Add more coconut milk of mixture is too dry.
3. Add Tofurky and veggies and heat through. Season with salt and serve.

Teff Biscuits

Thinking of making the Ethiopian Soup I posted yesterday? Then you also need to make these teff biscuits. The recipe is adapted/veganized from Rienhart's Artisan Breads Everyday--the best biscuit recipe around, I think. You really do need a pastry scraper for this recipe, so if you try it without one, don't say I didn't warn you! The method is similar to making croissants or other laminated doughs. The alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic helps the biscuits rise and contributes to their flaky texture. These biscuits are a little more dense because of the teff flour, but are still remarkably tender.

INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 8 oz coconut milk, or plain soy milk
- 1/2 Earth Balance margarine (1 stick of the baking margarine)
- 2.5 oz bread flour
- 2.5 oz all purpose flour
- 3.5 oz teff flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt

METHOD
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
1. Whisk vinegar into the coconut or soy milk in a small bowl. Keep in the fridge.
2. Put the margarine in the freezer for 30 mins to get nice and cold. Meanwhile, mix all the rest of the ingredient together.
3. When margarine is cold, grate it into the flour mixture, then work it with your fingers into something that looks like very coarse bread crumbs. Don't make the mixture too fine--some chunks of margarine is what you want.
4. Add coconut or soy milk mixture and stir until just combined. The mixture will be very wet (teff has no gluten) and starting to rise from the action of the soda and vinegar.
5. Turn the mixture out on to a very well floured surface. Dust liberally with flour, then pat the dough into a rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick, and square off the sides with the pastry scraper. The exact size does not really matter. The key here is that it needs to be big enough to fold into thirds, like a letter. Using the pastry scraper, fold the dough like a letter (it will most likely fall apart, on the first turn, so be patient). Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat, dusting with flour as needed. Rotate and repeat. Rotate and repeat. By this time enough flour will have been incorporated into the dough to make it more firm and workable.
6. Pat dough out into a final rectangle, 1/2 inch thick, then cut with the pastry scraper into whatever size biscuits you want (I like smaller ones for the kids, so I get about 20). Place on prepared baking sheet and put in the fridge while the oven heats.
7. Heat oven to 500 degrees. When heated, put baking sheet in, reduce heat to 450, and bake for 8 mins. Rotate the pan and bake for another 6 mins (more if you made huge biscuits). Serve while still warm.

Ethiopian-Style Soup

I say "Ethiopian-Style" soup because the flavours are inspired by the Ethiopian stews I like to make, but is not any "real" Ethiopian dish that I know of. In many ways it is just a simple and thinned down stew packed with that nourishing lentil-y goodness that I love about Ethiopian food. This was also a great way to use the first squash of the season (see below). I used Bonbon which had a delectable texture and gave the soup a wonderful sweetness to offset the spicy heat. It was even better the next day.

INGREDIENTS
Makes a lot
- 2 tbsp margarine
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cup sliced shallots
- 6 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
- 1 tsp tumeric

- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg

- 1/2 tsp cloves
- berbere to taste
- 2 cups red lentils, rinsed
- 10 cups water

- 6-8 cups chopped squash (or sweet potato)
- 1/4 chopped fresh parsley (more for garnish)
- salt and pepper to taste

METHOD
1. Melt butter in a large stock pot over med-hi heat. Add onions and saute for a few mins, until the onions get a nice golden brown on the edges (don't burn them, though). Add shallots, garlic, and ginger and reduce heat to med-lo. Cook for about 20-25 mins, until the mixture has nice brown colour.
2. Add spices and lentils and raise heat back to med-hi, stirring to mix everything well. When sizzling (the spices will stick a bit), add 6 cups of the water. Bring to bubbling, then cover and reduce heat to low. Let cook for at least 30 mins (longer is nicer, if you have the time, so that the lentils and onions can break down), stirring regularly.
3. Add the remaining four cups of water along with the squash and parsley, bring to bubbling over med-hi heat, then cover and reduce heat. Let simmer for 20-30 mins, or until squash is cooked through. Adjust seasonings to taste, garnish, and serve.

Sourdough Starter: Baking Through the Bread Baker's Apprentice

Before I get into the sourdough breads in The Bread Baker's Apprentice I want to sing the praises of Reinhart's method for sourdough starter. The starter is absolutely essential, of course, but is also the most daunting aspect of making sourdough bread. The great thing about this starter is that you can abuse and neglect it and it still keeps kicking. Because the starter lives in the fridge it does not need daily refreshments and actually can be left for a few weeks (as I did when I went on holiday). Really it's the most hassle-free sourdough starter ever. My starter is now over a year old (I originally blogged about it here) and is still happy and bubbly and making great bread.