the Old Granny thread

[Gulliver]

If so, the credits go to my Indian cook book (by Madhur Jaffrey)

She's da bomb.

I've got her World Vegetarian and everything in it looks good.

[Astraios]

I have Seasons of Splendour by her, which has nothing to do with cooking, but it's fun.

[Shrdlu]

I'm glad you got use out of it 2 years after I posted it (if that's where you got it from)

If so, the credits go to my Indian cook book (by Madhur Jaffrey)

It would be typical of me - yes, but no. My ma does it sometimes when she makes food.

[Radius Solis]

Perfect Macaroons

So you bought a bag of shredded or flaked coconut to use in some Thai recipe or whatever, and don't know what to do with the rest. Perhaps it's been sitting in your fridge for months now and has gotten too dry for most purposes. Either way, the correct answer is: make macaroons.

I've adapted heavily from various online sources, which all - to my mind - have the failing that they do not involve enough flour (sometimes not any), so the result has inadequate resemblance to a cookie and only produces mooshy inedible agglomerations of coconut. Last time I did that I ended up throwing most of them in the trash. Macaroons you get at the store, on the other hand, are made from too much dough and not enough coconut, leaving you with cookies that are far too meekly flavored. Here is the happy medium.

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 whole egg plus 1 egg white
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
dash of salt
1.5 - 2 cups shredded or flaked coconut

Mix everything but the coconut together until evenly mixed; then combine with coconut. Divide into 15 (3 x 5) equal lumps on a cookie sheet and bake at 325 F for 20-25 minutes or until beginning to turn golden-brown. If you double the recipe, bake in two batches.


At Christmas I finally caved in to modernity and got myself some parchment paper to line cookie sheets with. I have to say, it's cheap and makes cookie-baking a breeze, so if you ever make cookies at all it's probably worth it. You'll never have to wash a cookie sheet again.

[din]

I have two bags of shredded coconut, because when I bought the second one, I forgot I still had the first one. I've been adding coconut to many things since, but you're right, it's a great excuse to make macaroons. And a great excuse to bake. I might give your recipe a try today. Better be good

[Pthagnar]

why are all the macaroons on google image search coloured in gay colours? i've never seen rainbow macaroons before but this is making me think that it's a Thing.

[din]

Maybe you've got 'gay search' switched on

[Pthagnar]

no really, look! so many colours.

[Pthagnar]

also they don't look like macaroons. macaroons are lumpy and golden brown. what is this nonsense?

[din]

Oh blame the French for those. They call those things macarons, with one 'o'.

They're generally overpriced to the extent that I've never actually tasted one.

[Izambri]

Oh blame the French for those. They call those things macarons, with one 'o'.

French and Italians, at least. The word comes from Italian maccarone.

[Pthagnar]

france ಠ__ಠ

[din]

My (real, naturally colored) macaroons are in the oven, as we speak.


(unless you're not following this thread in real time)

(edit) A little dry after 25 minutes. I was surprised by the lack of fat... Which appears to be normal for macaroons. The taste is good, though.

[TzirTzi]

A recipe for vege sausages

Makes 6 sausages. I was lacking several of my normal ingredients when I came to make these last night, so improvised, but the new version was successful enough that I may follow the same recipe again in future.

3 boiled new potatoes
An end-slice of brown bread
A handful of oats
A block of edam (I guess maybe 100g or so?)
Half an onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 egg
1 level tsp of bouillon powder / 1 stock cube
1 tablespoon of passata / 1 tsp of more concentrated tomato purée
A generous pinch of smoked paprika
Rough ground black pepper

Chop onion very fine, crush garlic, and fry very gently until brown. Reduce bread to breadcrumbs. Mash potato roughly. Grate edam on the fine side of the grater. Beat egg. Mix all of the ingredients until you've got a firm dough. Shape this into sausages. Fry the sausages very quickly until brown all over and firm, then bake for about 20 mins.

[vampireshark]

Turns out I'm on a roll when it comes to making desserts: today, I brought in a delicious, moist carrot cake. And people seemed to rather like it.

Here's the recipe from memory, but I'll correct it when I get home.

Delicious, Moist Carrot Cake
Serves: The original recipe said to use a 13"×9" (33 cm × 23 cm) cake pan. I managed to make it in two 8"×8" (20.5 cm × 20.5 cm) pans.

2 cups/300g flour
2 cups/300g sugar
1 tsp/5 g ground cinnamon
1 tsp/5 g baking powder
1 tsp/5 g baking soda
3 cups shredded carrots (about 4 or 5 large ones)
4 eggs
1 cup (250 ml) oil (I like sunflower oil)
¾ cup/about 100g chopped nuts of your choice (I like walnuts)

Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl. Add shredded carrots, oil, and eggs and mix. Beat for two minutes with an electric mixer on a low setting. Add nuts and beat a little more. Pour into greased baking dish(es) and bake at 325°F/160°C for 50-60 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool about 10-20 minutes before frosting. Can be refrigerated.

Cream Cheese Frosting for Carrot Cake
8 oz./230 g cream cheese
¼ cup/60 g butter (NOT margarine)
confectioner's sugar as desired
vanilla extract

Soften cream cheese and butter. Beat together until fluffy. Add confectioner's sugar to the desired consistency; 1 to 2 cups/125 to 250g normally does the trick. Add a few drops of vanilla extract and mix well. Frost cake.

[Torco]

reminds me of this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... TrI#t=136s

[Radius Solis]

That carrot cake looks like a good basis for doing one of my own. I might just do that! I'll probably want more spices than just cinnamon... a little clove, maybe even a dash of cardamom... and I don't like nuts in baked goods. But otherwise it would be basically what you posted. Perhaps tomorrow, we'll see.

[vampireshark]

Delicious, Moist Banana Bread
Recipe that originated from my mother. Probably kosher and halal. A hand mixer really helps with the mixing.
Makes 1 large loaf or 3 to 4 small loaves.

1¾ cups (~270 g) flour
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt (I, myself, use Kosher salt)
½ teaspoon baking soda
⅔ cup (~135 g) granulated sugar
⅓ cup (~75 g) margarine
2 tablespoons (~30 ml) milk
2 eggs
4-5 extremely ripe bananas (Really, they need to be extremely ripe; their flesh should be speckled and they should be very soft to touch. If you buy bananas at the grocery store and they're mostly green, they need to sit on the counter for about a week or so.)
¼ cup nuts (optional; I like walnuts)


Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly grease loaf pans.

Combine first four ingredients and set aside. In a medium bowl, cream the sugar and margarine until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and then the milk; beat well. Alternately add bananas and the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beating smooth after each addition. Fold in nuts. Turn mixture into loaf pans and bake for 60 to 65 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then remove to wire racks and cool.

Best enjoyed warm and lightly buttered. But it'll keep for about a week or two if properly stored (if it lasts that long...).

[Salmoneus]

Don't like macaroons.

But I want beef mince puttanesca with chilli, extra vintage cheddar and added oil, dammit!

Actually, wouldn't mind having strips of steak in that either. It would make my stomach explode and kill me, but it might be worth it...

[Jipí]

Delicious, Moist Banana Bread

Sounds like a good way to get rid of over-ripe bananas. I want to try that some time. Too bad I don't have baking pans except for a springform.

[vampireshark]

Delicious, Moist Banana Bread

Sounds like a good way to get rid of over-ripe bananas. I want to try that some time. Too bad I don't have baking pans except for a springform.

Thanks, and it certainly is. And I'd happily loan you a pan were I across the pond, but... yeah. If you can get mini-loaf pans, those are also cool, especially if you want to bribe people share it with other people.

In other news, I may be attempting to make a truffade this weekend: I managed to acquire some tomme de cantal, and so all I need are potatoes and a decent recipe. If it's a success, I shall report on it.

Also, rhubarb season approaches, and that means pie.

[Gulliver]

I just made wild garlic and almond pesto and it is bloody marvellous. Foraging is fun!

[din]

I got some water kefir grains from one of my students last week and I've been making drinks with it ever since. I'm on my 5th batch now, and they just keep multiplying! I started with about 100 grams, and I had about 600 grams this morning. I threw some out because I just didn't know what to do with it anymore.

But it's great to have refreshing, slightly fizzy, fermented drinks sitting around at all times. It's a probiotic, too. I feel like such a hippie.

[Qwynegold]

Does anyone what they use in Thai wok with curry paste, but no coconut milk? I mean like, what kind of sauce or something?

[Radius Solis]

Is "Thai wok with curry paste" meant to be the name of a specific dish served by some restaurant? Or do you mean Thai food that's made in woks, just generally? I'm not certain exactly what you're asking.

If the latter, the answer is: could be practically anything. Or at least, anything but dairy. Peanut sauce? Fish sauce? Soy sauce? Oyster sauce? Shrimp paste? Sri racha? Some particular chef's marriage of lime to holy basil with a twist of cilantro and just a hint of ginger? I couldn't possibly tell you without knowing more about the context of your question.