Snowed In Coconut Cup Cookies

Snow ruined my Saturday night. I made the best of it.

Inspired by the wintery white stuff all around me and trapped in my apartment, I started out looking for recipes that involved one egg and no milk. I came across this neat coconut cup cookie recipe. It sounded easy, so I made half of it (there are no need for 12 cookies at a table for one).

The best part about this blizzard is that I learned how easy it is to make pie crust in my food processor. Seriously, really easy. I pretty much just tossed in a cup of flour and half a stick of butter, then pulsed the processor slowly adding water as I went. The results were fabulous.

After forming the cups in my muffin tin, I baked for 10 minutes and added the fillings. Seeing as I didn't have any gross marmalade like the recipe called for, I decided to mix it up. Two cups had guava paste, two had chocolate chips and two had blueberry jam. All were good, but it was hard to tell them apart!

Kohlrabi Curry / Noolkol Kalan

This recipe was new to me. Unlike many Indian curries, I had never heard of this before cooking it. I googled kohlrabi recipes, and from there I got excited about some curry. Not only did I learn about a new kind of curry, but I also learned how to spell kohlrabi (challenging!).

This particular kind of curry calls for yogurt while cooking. The recipe, which I adapted, explains why/how in a bit more detail. All I know is I love plain yogurt...

Finally, a third lesson: purple kohlrabi are only purple on the outside. I was really hoping this cauliflower-like vegetable would yield a pinkish curry, but no such luck. Once you peal them, green and purple kohlrabi are essentially the same.

Ingredients:
3 kohlrabi, peeled and cubed
2 cups water
6-7 green chillies
2 cups plain yogurt
1 teaspoon of chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 cup coconut (fresh or dry, unsweetened)
1/2 cup cashews
2 tablespoons olive/vegetable oil
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
6-7 curry leaves
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
4-5 dry red chillies, purchased whole but split in half before cooking

Boil kohlrabi in water until soft but not mushy. Ideally, most of your water will have evaporated too. Add turmeric, chili powder, salt and pepper. Mash together green chillies, cumin seeds, cashews and coconut. It should resemble a paste. Add this paste to the kohlrabi and then mix in the yogurt. You can cook the yogurt a little but be very careful not to boil or burn it.
Make some tarka by frying mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chilies in oil. Once its nice and cool, add it to the curry. Serve this dish with rice. I used a mixture of brown rice and lentils.

Coconut Curry

I'll be honest. This isn't the most authentic tasting curry I've ever made. Still, it's pretty damn good. Basically, this was intended to be Coconut Green Curry, but ended up being a semi-Americanized curry of sorts. I blame the lack of authentic ingredients on Minnesota winter. Thai basil is nowhere to be found, and lemongrass is a long drive away. Whatever, I supplemented with actual lemon and some Indian curry leaves.

The good: This recipe was very tasty and completely vegan. The red potatoes were also perfect, because they were small and tender and cooked fast. The bad: A little too much starch. Potato plus rice equals a lot of starch and no protein...

Ingredients:
1 16 oz can of coconut milk
5-6 green chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1/2 large white onion, chopped
10-15 baby carrots, sliced
1/2 bag frozen peas (standard sized bag...)
1 small red bell pepper, sliced thin
7 small red potatoes, quartered
1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
1 tablespoon Thai curry paste, green or red, store bought or homemade.
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
3/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon sugar (if desired)

Saute your onions until translucent. Add chillies, curry leaves and coriander seeds. Saute for another two minutes and reduce heat. Add ginger-garlic paste, curry paste and coconut milk. Mix well. Add carrots, peas, potatoes and red bell pepper. Simmer at a low heat.


Add turmeric, chili powder, peanut butter and lemon juice. Taste and add salt and/or sugar to taste. Once the vegetables are done (15-20 minutes), add the cilantro and cook until it's just a little soft. Remove from heat and serve with long grain rice (such as basmati).