Vegetarian Roselle Birria Tacos

Let me start by saying that this is an amazing recipe. It is one of the tastiest Mexican foods that I have eaten in recent memory. It is spicy and has a burst of flavors and everyone in the family absolutely loved it. I am so glad to have found this recipe because it is perfect to use all the roselle hibiscus petals after making tea. And now I have a way to use the large harvest we have had this year. It does not matter if you are using fresh roselle sepals or dried ones in this recipe. The ones in the original recipe were dry whereas I used the fresh ones that I harvested today. The recipe was originally shared by a friend, Ayshica, in a wonderful gardening group called "Gardening in the Desert".  She shared this recipe from a YouTube channel called "Views on the road" and highly recommended it. Ayshica is a great cook herself and I trust her food recommendations, so I thought that I had to give this recipe a try. 

Now, this recipe requires certain Mexican chillies - Guajillo and Pasilla chillies. After making and eating the tacos I am of the firm belief, that these chillies are a key flavor ingredient for the birria tacos. These chillies lend an earthy taste which reminds me of the mole sauce. Also, when I searched for what birria was and other recipes for birria, I realized that the original version is meat based. The birria is a stew made with the meat and these chillies. However, this version is completely vegetarian and if you use non-dairy cheese, will be a 100% vegan. I did not use any broth or bouillon powder/cubes either and the result was still lip smacking delicious. The roselle sepals add a slight tart flavor. These also make the taco filling and  provide that meatiness to the taco, that 3-4 tacos per person was a pretty good serving size for most of the family members. I think any vegetable that retains its texture after being boiled can be a used, like jackfruit or mushrooms. 

The way I understand it, birria is a stew and then the meaty portion of the stew is used to fill the taco and then the taco is then grilled/cooked and eaten by dipping it into the consomme or liquid part of the stew. The stew that I made with the roselle sepals was quite soup like. Then I used the roselle sepals and carrots which were cooked in the sauce as the taco filling. And then we dipped the tacos in the soup and also drank sipped it along with the tacos. I also made the chilli oil which was mentioned in the original recipe and modified it based on what I had on hand. The combination of flavors was perfect for a cold weeknights dinner. And so so delicious!! 

The highlight of the recipe was that I was able to use a lot of our homegrown produce. Roselle hibuscus was the star of the recipe, but it was great to be able to use homegrown carrots and cilantro as well. If you would like to know more details on growing, harvesting and preserving Roselle Hibiscus, do check out our videos on our YouTube channel, "Gardening and Cooking Made Easy".

How to grow Roselle Hibiscus

How to harvest and store Roselle Hibiscus

Ingredients

For the chilli oil

1/2 cup oil

3 guajillo chillies

2 spicy chillies, dry (I used Indian dry chillies)

1 bay leaf or 1 tsp broken bay leaf pieces

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp clove powder

salt to taste

1/4 tsp sugar

For the birria

1.5 cups fresh roselle petals. If using dried ones, I would recommend using 1 cup

6-7 carrots, cut into small bite sized pieces, appropriate for filling in the taco

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 medium red onion, cut into half

3 garlic pods, whole

1 pasilla chilli

4 guajillo chillies

10 cups of water

1 bayleaf

salt to taste

1/4 tsp sugar

For the tacos

corn tortillas

cooked roselle sepals and carrots from the birria/stew

finely cut cabbage

finely cut white or yellow onion

cilantro

chilli oil

shredded/grated cheese

Method

To make the chilli oil

Remove the stem of the chillies. In a coffee grinder or blender in which you can grind spice to a fine powder, grind the chillies and the bay leaf into a fine powder.  If you want, you can also remove the seeds, however I did not as I wanted the oil to have the heat and spice from the chillies. Heat 1/2 cup of oil (I used olive oil) and once it is warm (do not heat to very high temperature to avoid spices burning), add the chilli and bay leaf powder. Stir, and then add the garlic powder, clove powder, black pepper powder, sugar and salt. Cook all the spices for a couple of mins, making sure to not overheat the oil. Turn off the heat and set aside. 

To make the birria/stew

Boil 4 cups of water and pour over the roselle sepals (dried or fresh). Set aside for 15 mins. Strain and use the water to make tea or lemonade. Add 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar to the sepals, toss them in it and set aside. 

In a pressure cooker, Instant Pot or a regular deep sauce pan, addd the remaining 6 cups of water. Then to it add the onion, cut into two halves. Then remove the stem of the chillies and add those to the water along with the garlic cloves. If you don't like too much spice remove most of the seeds of the chillies. Add 1/4 cup of carrots. Then cook this mixture. If you are cooking it in the pressure cooker, cook for 1 whistle. In the instant pot, cook for 5 mins. Naturally release the pressure. If you are cooking it in the saucepan, cover and cook for 10-15 mins once it starts boiling, till the chillies are softened. Now, using a skimmer spoon, fish out the chillies, garlic and onion.  Let them cool down a little and blend in the blender to a fine paste. This is your salsa or sauce that flavors the stew.

Add the paste back to the water. Then, add the rest of the carrots, the roselle sepals along with the vinegar and 1 bay leaf and cook for another 10 mins till the roselle and carrots are softened. If using a pressure cooker, cook till it reaches pressure and turn off heat. Instant Pot timing will be 2 mins. Let pressure cookers naturally release pressure. 

Taste, add the salt and sugar and stir well. Then fish out the carrot pieces and roselle sepals and place into a bowl. Heat the liquid and boil it for a few mins. 

To assemble the taco

Use a brush or spoon and smear the corn tortilla on both sides with the chilli oil. Then filling a tbsp of the roselle, carrot filling, cabbage, onions, cilantro and shredded cheese. On a hot pan, cook the taco on both sides till the cheese melts. 

Serve with the consomme/soup part of the stew. Dip the tacos in the soup and eat. 

Tips

The chillies are dry, so it is easy to just split the chillies into two and shake them to remove the seeds. Or remove the stem and shake the seeds out. I made corn tortillas with masa harina flour and the taste was amazing using fresh tortillas. If possible, I recommend it. If the taco is opening up (I do tend to overfill it), place a spoon on top of the taco as it cooks on one side. Then as you flip it over and cook on the other side, it should retain its folded taco shape (see photo above). If you are using other vegetables, then I recommend adding tomatoes along with the onions and garlic and puree those as well. Else, add lemon juice to the stew at the end of the cooking, before serving.

Homemade Corn Tortilla

It has been years since I have been buying tortillas from the store. Initially, when I was a student, I used to buy whole wheat tortillas which used to be my substitute for chapatis/rotis. When I started making tacos and burritos at home, I started using the corn and flour tortillas. However, it always bothered me that these store bought tortillas had such a long shelf life and a really long list of ingredients. Half of these ingredients seemed to be chemicals that I couldn't even pronounce. If you have been following my blog, you will see that I try to make most of the food from scratch at home.  This way I am able to control the content and quality of my food. So, several years ago, I decided I just couldn't buy these tortillas anymore and had to try making them at home. How hard can it be?!

I bought some masa flour, and set off to work. The main hurdle was that I didn't have a tortilla press when I first did this experiment, but I managed to make it work with other equipment (details in the method and tips below), and the result was incredible. They were very easy to make, quick to cook, smelt heavenly (none of that chemical smell of the store ones) and absolutely delicious! I will never need to buy corn tortillas again. For all of those who have toyed with this question, but thought it was too difficult to make, go ahead and take the plunge. It is easier than making bread or chapatis and so worth the effort! Your taste buds and your stomach will thank you.

Ingredients
1 cup instant corn masa flour (masa harina - white corn or yellow corn)
1/8 tsp salt or a pinch of salt
2/3 cup and a few tbsp water
1 thick plastic ziploc bag/parchment paper cut into 2 squares or 2 thick, square plastic sheets (about 8X8 inches) or parchment paper
1 tortilla press OR a heavy pan with a wide flat bottom

Method
Mix the salt in with the flour and then add water. Add a little at a time till a soft yet firm dough is formed. You don't want the dough to be too dry that it crumbles and neither do you want it to be too loose and soft.  Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and cover with a damp cloth or paper towel, so that it doesn't dry up.

Heat your pan on high heat and then keep the temperature at medium-high. Now, take a piece of dough, roll it into a ball, about 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter. If you are using a tortilla press, then line it with 2 sheets of the plastic sheet. Place the ball between the two sheets and then press it till the tortilla is about 5-6 inches in diameter. Now, if you don't have a tortilla press, then place the plastic sheets one on top of the other, on your kitchen countertop or a rolling surface and then place the ball of dough in between the sheets and then flatten it slightly with your palm. Then, take a pan or any heavy vessel which has a large base (larger than the diameter of the tortilla) and then place this pan onto the dough. Make sure to have it in a flat level (parallel to the rolling surface) and then press onto the dough to flatten it. Do this till the dough has been flattened and the tortilla is 5-6 inches in diameter. If needed, you can use a rolling pin to increase the tortilla size. Don't use a rolling pin for too long though, as it makes the tortilla stick to the plastic sheet.

Now, open up the tortilla press/remove the pan and then peel the plastic sheet off the tortilla. Then, flip the tortilla into the palm of one hand and then using your other hand peel off the other plastic sheet and then place it onto the hot pan.

Cook on one side for a couple of minutes, till the edges start to dry out and then flip it over and cook on the other side for 1.5-2 minutes.  Then flip it back and cook it completely on the side that had been placed on the pan first. The tortilla will start to puff up as it gets cooked.

Tips
You may need less or more water depending on how humid your surrounding is. To dampen the cloth/paper towel, wet it and then squeeze out all the water so that the towel doesn't have any water dripping from it. If the towel is too wet, it will affect the consistency of the dough. I use a cast iron pan to cook these. Masa harina is not the same as the corn flour used to make makke di roti. Masa harina is processed differently, and hence the tastes will vary. However, you can substitue with corn flour if masa harina is not available. Yellow corn masa flour will yield yellow tortilla and the white ones are with the white corn masa flour. Both are delicous.

Painted Cakes - Embedding Designs in Cakes

Rava cake (semolina cake) is one of my most frequently baked cakes at home. It tastes absolutely decadent. This cake is so delicious that it does not need any icing on it. So it is always eaten plain or infused with other flavors. Given how delicious it is, I feel any frosting or icing would detract from its tastiness. In fact every time I have suggested that I try icing the cake, I have heard loud protests of how the icing would make it less tasty.

However, visually this ends up being a plain bake and the recipe gets relegated to being a cake for a regular bake and not for a special occasion. When the family requests that it be baked for special celebrations like birthdays and anniversaries, I have struggled with glamorizing this cake. How do I take a regular cake which can even be eaten at breakfast into a fancy bake for this great occasion. 

This cake tastes so good by itself, that in this case an icing would actually reduce the enjoyment of eating the cake. So that was not an option. So I tried adding fondant flowers and decorations to up the glamor, but I wasn't satisfied. Then, I decided to experiment with baking a decoration right into the cake itself.

So, I took the same basic recipe shared many years ago on  my blog (see original recipe) and added steps to glamorize the cake. See the method which details the steps on how to embed the design into the cake.  You can use the same method described below with other cakes too, which are made with all purpose flour too. 

This is an easy method that turns a simple cake into one with a tremendous wow factor!

Ingredients
1.5 cups fine rava/semolina
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup clarified butter/ghee
1/8 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
few strands of saffron (optional - don’t use if embedding a design)
a pinch of salt
ghee for greasing the baking tin

Method

Cut a parchment paper the same size a the bottom of your baking tin. Draw the design you wish to embed into the cake onto a parchment paper. Then grease the baking tin and place the parchment paper onto the base, such that the pencil/pen mark will be stuck to the greased side and the traced outline can be seen from the top view.

Note: the design will get reversed once the parchment paper is flipped into the tin base. When the final cake is taken out, the design will be the same as  Keep that in mind when creating an asymmetric pattern. When the cake is flipped out of the 

Beat the yogurt and sugar together till the sugar is dissolved. To this add the milk, salt, ghee, rava and mix this together. Keep this mixture aside overnight or at least for 5-6 hours. It tastes better when the yogurt which gets set during the hours turns a little sour.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a baking tin with ghee. Add the baking soda just before you bake. Mix the baking soda well into the batter. Then take about 1/2 to 1 cup of batter in another bowl.

Design piped onto the parchment paper

Depending on the design you plan to make, divide it further and using food coloring, color the batter. Then using piping bags, pipe the desired pattern onto the traced design on the parchment base, and fill it in. Then put the tin in the freezer for 15 mins so that the batter sets.

Then remove the pan from the freezer, check that the batter has set and will not flow easily. Then pour the rest of the batter into the tin covering the piped pattern evenly.

Then bake this for 20-30 mins at 350F. Use a knife or skewer and pierce the center of the cake with it. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready.

I have also piped out lettering and baked it on a separate baking sheet to decorate cakes.

Tips

If you are adding colors to the batter, use gel based colors if available as they are stronger and will color the batter with less amount of added coloring. Keep in  mind that a design can get reversed when baking, so be careful when embedding lettering. 

Culinary Tour of the World: Episode 5: Angola - Bombo Frito and Pe-de-Moleque

Welcome to our fifth episode of the Culinary Tour of the World. This post takes us to Angola. Angola is a country in Africa. As I was researching the cuisine for the project, I came across many exotic meat dishes. I also found that there are many fruits grown here but they are usually eaten as fresh fruits for dessert. I was able to find a few vegetarian dishes, like beans in palm oil, a hearty vegetable and bulgur soup and a couple of desserts like the passionfruit mousse and Cocada Amarela which is a coconut pudding. I also found a couple of rice recipes, but some of the unusual ingredients like peanut butter and bananas being added to the rice made me hesitate from trying it out in the fear that I may not like the combination.

As I read about local foods and watched some videos, I noticed that the cassava plant is really popular here and all of the parts of the plant are used.  And another popular snack was peanuts. Roasted peanuts, sweetened peanuts, candied peanuts in sugar and candied peanuts in caramel. So, I finally decided to make snacks from Angola for this series.

Both the dishes that I chose were new to me. Pe-de-moleque is a peanut candy or brittle in caramel syrup and Bombo Frito are fried cassava roots. I had never made peanut brittle before though I have eaten it a lot in the form of "chikki". Chikki is a peanut brittle version available in India and the pe-de-moleque comes very close to the Maganlal dry fruit chikki from Lonavala, Maharashtra in India. The cassava root was also very interesting because while I have eaten tapioca (sabudana) which is made from cassava,  I hadn't eaten or even seen the cassava root. So I was very excited to make both these recipes. 

Both the resulting recipes were absolutely delicious. I deep fried as well as air fried the cassava. Based on the taste test, the fried version of bombo frito was the favorite, as it was crunchier but the air fried version was also delicious. Given that cassava root is also grilled in Angola, the air fried version probably comes closer to the grilled version. The pe-de-moleque was very rich in the caramel taste and just perfect. The caramel was not sticky and we thoroughly enjoyed it. I plan to use the same method and substitute the peanuts with almonds and cashews to create the Maganlal chikki. 

I will eventually try out all the different vegetarian foods that I collected from the internet and books, and add them to the blog. I am really looking forward to making the passionfruit mousse once our passionfruit starts fruiting. But these two recipes are definitely going to be added to my cooking repertoire.

Here is the link to the video of the recipe

Ingredients

For the bombo frito
cassava root, peeled and cut into rectangles. OR frozen, peeled and cubed cassava

water, enough to cover all the cassava pieces well

oil for deep frying

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

if using air fryer - use 1 tsp oil

For the pe-de-moleque

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanuts

1/2 cup water

Method

For the bombo frito

If you have fresh cassava, peel it and then cut it into rectangles, like steak fries. Then bring a pot of water to boil and add these to the water. Cook it for 15-20 minute till they are partially cooked and tender but still have a bite and retain the shape. If you are using frozen, peeled cubes they will be cooked in about 10 mins after adding to the water. Drain and spread on a colander to dry out. 

To deep fry

Heat oil to deep fry the cassava. Dry out the cassava with a paper towel if still a little wet. DO NOT add watery cassava to hot oil. The oil will splutter and can cause oil burns. To test if the oil is hot, add a piece of the root to the oil. If it comes up quickly, then the oil is hot. Add all the pieces to the oil and fry till you get a golden brown color. Stir occasionally so that the root is fried evenly.

To air fry

Toss the boiled cassava pieces with a tsp of oil. Then place it in the air fryer and fry it at 375F.  Shake it evert 3-4 minutes for even browning and it will take about 11-14 minutes to be cooked. 

Toss the chips with salt and pepper while hot. 

For the pe-de-moleque

If you have roasted and peeled peanuts, skip the roasting instructions and proceed to make the caramel. If you have raw peanuts, heat them on the stove top for 5-6 minutes stirring frequently to prevent burning. Let the peanuts cool completely. Then take a few peanuts between your palms and rub them to remove the peel. Then you can scoop out the peanuts or use the technique in the video to separate the peels from the peanuts. 

Prepare a tray or plate by lining it with a baking silicone mat or parchment paper, so that the brittle does not stick to the tray.

To make the caramel, add the sugar to a sauce pan and half of the water. This will wet the sugar but won't create a syrup. Now turn on the heat and let the sugar cook, without stirring it at all. Be patient and watchful. It will eventually start boiling and at a certain point suddenly being caramelizing. Now, it will caramelize the sugar very quickly. Let it boil for a few seconds as soon as it caramelizes and you can start stirring. Remove from the heat as soon as you have the color you are looking for. It can burn very quickly after caramelizing. 

Now let the caramel cool down completely. If you add water to boiling hot caramel, you can get burns, so be safe. Once the caramel is cooled down, add the water and stir. Then heat up the caramel, stirring it so that any caramel lumps will dissolve.

You need to heat the caramel to about a hard ball stage which is about 270F. I used a candy thermometer to heat the syrup till it was boiling and starting to thicken at the soft ball stage of about 235F. Then, add the peanuts to the syrup and let the syrup boil. In a couple of minutes, it will start frothing. See the video. At this stage, you can pour it into the prepared pan.

Let it cool for 10-15 minutes and then you can break it into pieces. Store in a container after it cools down completely. 

Tips

Ensure that the cassava is dry and does not have dripping water before adding to the oil. Be safe when working with hot oil. Oil starts to shimmer when it is hot and you can test it by adding just one piece to the oil to see if it is at the right temperature. If you add it to cold oil, it will soak up more oil and the end result will be oily.

To roast the peanuts, you can use the microwave. Start at 2 minutes and stir and check and continue with lesser time intervals (1 min and then 30 secs) till the peanuts are roasted. Or you can use a regular oven and bake the peanuts at 350F for 5-10 minutes, checking periodically and shaking the baking container for even baking. 

If you add water to hot caramel, it will sizzle loudly, cause some spluttering and seize into lumps. So let the caramel cook completely.

Rava vadi - faux kaju katli

I made this recipe based on my memory of our neighbor in Pune, from decades ago. She had come over to our house during Diwali. She had brought sweets to share and was most excited for us to try out this sweet and guess what it was made of. All of us guessed that it was kaju katli and her grin just grew bigger. Finally she revealed to us that she had made this using rava and there were no nuts. These were very similar to these pink square vadis that used to be available at the kirana stores (local grocer) in a small transparent plastic cover. 

I had a very faint memory of the recipe and decided to try it based on my cooking experience. The end result was delicious. It looks like kaju katli and the texture is similar, so you can even serve this as a faux kaju katli for those who have nut allergies.

Ingredients
1 cup fine rava
1 cup milk
1/4  to 1/2 cup ghee

1 cup sugar (can increase by 1/4 cup, adjust to taste)

Method

Mix the rava and milk and let it soak for 5-6 hours at the minimum or overnight. Then add the sugar and ghee to the mixture. Put this mixture into it in a broad saucepan and cook this mixture on low heat, stirring frequently. Cook till it comes together as a dough. Once it starts getting dough like, take 1/4 tsp onto a plate, let it cool till you can touch it and try to roll it into a ball. If it is not sticky and you can roll it easily, then the mixture is ready. 

While it is warm, knead this dough well so that it comes together. Then roll it out into a 1/4 inch thickness and then cut into diamonds. To ensure it doesn't stick, apply ghee to the rolling pin as well as the surface you are rolling it onto. Or you can sandwich it between two parchment paper sheets and roll it out. Let it dry and it is ready to eat. It can take a day to dry it out so that it is firm. Store in the fridge.

Tips

If there are any lumps, press on them and as it thickens, they will dissolve. If you increase the heat, the color of the mixture will change as it will brown. It will still be delicious, so you can do that as well. It just won't look like kaju katli. 

Culinary Tour of the World: Episode 4: Andorra - Torrijas

 Welcome to our fourth episode of the Culinary Tour of the World. This post takes us to Andorra. Andorra is a very small country, described as a tiny independent principality, in Europe. It is between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains. I had not heard about it till I started this project. So far, this has proven to be the a difficult one to choose a recipe from, because there are just a handful of recipes that are called out as traditional Andorran foods. Of those, the majority of them are meat dishes and include delicacies like snails. Also, I really wasn't able to find a blog which was written by a person from Andorra. As I researched vegetarian recipes, I kept coming across just 2-3 recipes which were common across travel sites, blogs and even books. One of them was Pa amb Tomaquet, which is bread rubbed with garlic and tomatoes, and another was spinach with pine nuts and raisins. There was a third once called Trinxat which is potato and cabbage cake or like hash  browns which is topped with bacon. I thought I could make all these (skipping the bacon) and make a small meal. However, they were all sides and given how meat heavy the entrees were, taking the meat away would not give the same experience.

So, I asked a friend who lives in France who suggested that I look for Catalan recipes. That was a great suggestion and that took me to menu cards of Andorran restaurants. Since I couldn't find a vegetarian entree, I started looking for desserts and breads. I found a mention of a bread called Coca de Massegada which was listed as a very traditional bread but I was unable to find an authentic recipe for it. I found a list of ingredient, but there were no measurements and I did not want to experiment a lot. Finally, I settled on two choices Bunyols de vent which sounded like doughnuts made from a pate choux dough and Torrijas which is a dessert French toast which has a Catalan/Spanish influence. 

The plan was to make the Bunyols de vent, but I was inspired to make Torrijas for breakfast and the family absolutely loved it. So this is a delicious french toast, where the difference is that the bread is not soaked in an eggy batter like the traditional French toast. Instead the bread is soaked in milk and then dipped in whisked egg and pan fried. Then it is coated with cinnamon sugar and served with syrup. The milk can be boiled with fragrant spices to add more flavor. The end result is similar to churros. The outside gets crispy and the inside is soft and delicious. While this is meant to be a dessert, it is delicious as a brunch too and we have enjoyed this so much, that it has been added to the weekend brunch repertoire. This is a very simple and delicious recipe. Do give it a try!

Here is the video link to the Torrijas recipe

Ingredients

6 slices of Italian bread, stale (any type of bread which is cut into thicker slices than sandwich bread. Can also use sandwich bread bread but make sure it is a little stale and dry)

1 cup milk

4 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste)

1.5 tsp cinnamon powder

2 tbsp oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Mix the cinnamon and sugar together to create the cinnamon sugar. 

Whisk the eggs and vanilla essence together. Warm up the milk till it is lukewarm. If you want to add more fragrant spices to the milk, boil them with the milk and then let the milk cool for a few mins till lukewarm. Add 2 tbsp of sugar to the milk. Pour the milk into a tray and lay the bread slices in the milk. Let it stay till the milk is absorbed, up to 30 mins. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and then dip the bread slices in the whisked egg and then place it in the pan. Fry the bread on both sides till golden brown at medium heat. Then place it in the cinnamon sugar and coat it on both sides with the cinnamon sugar. Add more oil and fry the rest of the breads. 

Serve with syrup. It was delicious warm as well as cold. As a dessert, it is eaten cold per what I have been able to determine. 

Tips

I add vanilla essence to the eggs so that there is no eggy smell. You can skip this or add the essence to the warm milk. Fragrant spices which can be added to the milk are cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, and lemon rind/zest.