Tired of those overly complicated blog posts about how to make dosas??

Yeah I think I've got it figured out. It's pretty easy. 

2 cups rice, one cup urad dal. 

Soak each separately all day, grind the hell out of each separately.

Mix it all together in a bowl with your hands. Add some water to make it batter-like. Put the bowl in the oven with light on, covered, overnight. In the morning it will have risen. 

Add a tablespoon of salt now, stir, and fry em up. 

The frying is basically thus: on medium high heat in a non-stick pan, fry em. Wait to the exact right moment to spread it out in a circular motion with a ladle so they're thin like you want.

Flip em.

Scoop off the pan with your golden spatula and fold up on a plate -- eat immediately.

Kerchow.

rice n urad dal

Stuff has been fermentin'

Fry that jazz

Flip it over

Fold on a plate. Nom.

Resurrection

In the name of all that is cheap, I hereby declare that I will now be using this gloriously FREE Blogger site to shamelessly promote my snake oils. Er, I mean, cooking thoughts and stuff.

Check me out in a variety of virtual caves... 

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE
INSTAGRAM


and my 


TELEGRAM CHANNEL (but who uses this, anyway?)

Enjoy! 

Semifreddo Discovery

Sugar, whipping cream, eggs, amaretto and candied almonds. What's not to love?

"All the wasted years!" - Squidward Tentacles 

Why has the world been hiding semifreddo from me until yesterday?

This recipe for almond amaretto semifreddo from Johnny Iuzzini's book Sugar Rush will "blow the classical music...out...your...butt"

See ya at Weight Watchers.

Empanadas Keep on Blowin' Muh Mind

Non-buns in the oven

Here is something I meant to post in November of 2015. Now that it's almost November of 2016, I guess I will get around to it.

I am a fan of all types of dumplings. pocket pies, samosas, wontons, ravioli, hambao, gyozas, whatever you got.

Empanadas are pretty special. Thusly, please bravely foray forth.

Begin with Andrea Ngyuen's book, Asian Dumplings. Make haste down the rabbit hole here.

In the photo above are some baked empanadas circa November 2015 where I was experimenting with different ways of sealing up the dough. I don't recall what was inside. I am sure they were great.

Thoughts from the Abyss

Why a blog if I never post to it?

Well, I say, why the hell not.

The problem was, I couldn't think of what to say. But now I realize, whatever, just say whatever.

And when it comes to whatever, there's a lot to say. Or, so you'd think...

Quiero Conchas

OMFG

So, I admit that I like 1. sugar 2. fat 3. salt...and 4. gluten.

To that end, if you feel similarly, I must say that Mexican conchas will blow your mind. Not only is concha a fun and dirty word in Spanish, as it ought to be, it's a delightful pastry with which I am quite eternally enamored.

The best way to make conchas is to...just make them. Use Fany Gerson's recipe from My Sweet Mexico (although I admit that I oppose, very strenuously, her not weighing the ingredients for pastry recipes). 

And then eat them, don't forget to eat them. 

Buen provecho, my little cerdos.

Pizza: something easy to blather about

Pizzascape: with homemade ricotta and capers

I suppose it's relatively easy for me to talk about pizza. So, why not begin here. My advice is thus:

• Really great crust takes 12-24 hours to make. Plan ahead. But if you can't, who cares, make it and bake it right away. It will still be good.
• As I said, just make it. It's easy.
• Use bread flour (King Arthur or Caputo Tipo 00 are nice, but don't be afraid to try other bread flours. Or other random edible substances.
• Follow either Bobby Flay's recipe or Alton Brown's recipe. Double the recipe. Freeze extra balls of dough for future pizza making.
• Use this recipe if you like tomato sauce. Don't use if it you don't.
• Don't put a ton of crap on your pizza. Just a sprinkling of toppings is enough. The crust should be the focus.
• Use great, tasty olive oil, whatever you might want to actually lick off your own paw. Be liberal with it, it should taste awesome.
• Crank your oven up to 500+ degrees.
• Set the rack at the lowest setting. You don't need a pizza stone, a pizza pan works fine, but use a stone, or a large terracotta pot base, or a big ceramic tile, if you want to feel virtuous about it.
• Expect each pizza to take about 5 min or less to bake at high heat. Watch it, it's fun and prevents fires, too.
• Invite your friends over. Chow it all down together with beer, or wine, or water, or vinegar...