garam masala recipe

1 T cardamom pods
5 cm cinnamon stick
1 t black (or regular) cumin - I've never seen black cumin (kala jeera) in Chile.
1 t cloves
1 t black peppercorns
1/4 nutmeg

Blend in coffee grinder, if you have one.

In Chile, I buy my spices from these little stores that sell spices, nuts, grains, dog food in bulk. I used to by them in Viña del Mar just off the calle Valparaíso. I still buy them in Viña on San Antonio between 13 norte and 14 norte. I've just started buying spices, baking powder, and nuts near the vega. But these kinds of stores are quite prolific. There may be one in your neighborhood if you live in Viña or Santiago.

to-die-for brownies

**Edited October 19th, 2009 & November 11th

Brownies:
1/2 cup of butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 cup (4 oz/120g) chocolate - solid chocolate
2 large eggs

Frosting:
3/4 cup chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract ** or 1 teaspoon espresso powder.


Preheat the oven to 350°F. (180°C) Grease an 8" by 8" baking pan (or whatever you have on hand that fulfills this end).

To make the brownies: Melt the butter and add all brownie ingredients except the eggs and solid chocolate, stirring until the chocolate powder has melted; reheat briefly if necessary. Set aside to cool to room temperature. When cool, add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is thick and shiny. Stir 3/4 cup of solid chocolate chunks/pieces into the batter, and spread in the prepared pan. Bake for 24 to 28 minutes, till the brownies are set and pulling away from the edges of the ban. Remove from the oven, and set on a rack to cool to room temperature.

To make the glaze: Melt 3/4 cup chocolate chunks with the heavy cream and 1 teaspoon of vanilla or espresso powder, if desired. Whisk until shiny and smooth. Smooth over the cooled brownies. For easiest cutting, let brownies rest for several hours or overnight.

Good chocolate: Sarotti. Um, another business idea: in collaboration with Sahne-nuss, make a brownie mix and market it.

Anyway, I'll update this recipe once I know more exact quantities.

**Vanilla is another thing someone should import to Chile in mass. God, the artificial stuff is a joke. I'd rather add WATER to my recipes (and I do). I bought the real stuff here once or twice in a repostería store near the metro manuel montt. 8.000 whopping pesos. $16 dollars. For a regular bottle of vanilla. It was from some random African country. I remember in Mexico, vanilla was really cheap. It wasn't probably super good quality, but it's better than the water they sell here, labeled as "vanilla extract". Translation...someone should import vanilla to Chile from Mexico (or maybe El Salvador or Ecuador, who knows?) Actually, I guess it can be easily made. You just need to import vanilla beans.

Healthy snacks

When invited to someone's house here in Chile, guests are often offered something to drink and something to snack on. In some cases, these foods are pretty okay. But often a person is invited to snack on the most unhealthy potpourri of snacks known to man. These include: chips, cheez-balls, flavored mayo sandwiches on white bread, store-bought cookies and to wash it all down your choice of coke or fanta, which some Chileans refer to as "water". Dude, this menu screams obesity/diabetes risk. It's hard not to eat these things when they are all that are offered and you're at the persons house for hours on end. It makes me cringe. And sometimes my stomach hurts afterward, especially if I was hungry and ate a lot of that crap. Ugh. Dude, people need healthy-food education. Really.

Anyway, so as to perhaps not suffer that situation many more times, I'm brainstorming some easy-ish to make, healthy snacks to bring to these peoples' houses when I go.

Easy-ish, quick-ish snacks

• nuts: walnuts, cashews, peanuts, etc.
• fruit
  
• one personal fave: galletas de agua o galletas de trigo con quesillo. (Crackers with quesillo) Then I sprinkle spices on top of that and drizzle with olive oil. Ñami. Some tasty spice possibilities include: garam masala, curry powder, oregano and merken (or cayenne). I usually get the low-fat quesillo since I like to poor the olive oil on it. Other tasty oils probably work well, but I've never tried them because I don't have any other oils.
• a 2.5 liter bottle of homemade fruit juice: orange-banana, chirimoya-banana, strawberry banana -- no sugar added, perhaps with honey. They can add their own sugar if the want
• sliced vegetables and home-made dressing

more time-consuming snacks

• hummus and sliced vegetables or hummus and whole grain bread
• small potatoes boiled and then fried with a bit of oil and salt, accompanied with homemade chipotle ketchup
• sort-of-healthy oatmeal cookies -- these are definitely better for you than the storebought cookies
• mote con huesillo - but easy on the chancaca
  
• more to come as I think of them...
• sandwiches on whole grain bread
  

cazuela and charquican

There's not a dish I enjoy making more than cazuela. It's a one-potter, although I know people transform this one-pot dish into a 4-pot orchestra. That's not worth my time. Cazuela is a chicken soup ideal for when you are sick, when it's cold, or when you have large amounts of excess mucus in your nose and throat (read allergies). Cazuela is like a turkish bath for the nose and throat. I definitely recommend it. I like to prepare enough for at least two days of lunch and dinner (once).

Now I'm thinking of expanding my Chilean cooking abilities by teaching myself to make charquican with cochayuyo, zapallo, choclo and other lovely veggies...and a bit of beef (for V).

A book worth reading...Kitchen Confidential

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

This book is a description of restaurant subculture. Bourdain describes the different stages of life as a chef, starting as a dishwasher and working his way up. It's packed with interesting characters and anecdotes, and things perhaps we'd rather not know about the restaurant business. Perhaps you've seen Bourdain on the travel channel. He's the dude that travels around and eats exotic food.

Advice and info from Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential:
standard mise-en-place -

• kosher or sea salt
• crushed black peppercorns (hand crushed, not ground in a blender)
• fresh bread crumbs
• chiffonade parsley
• blended oil in wine bottle with speed pourer
• extra virgin olive oil
• white wine
• brandy
• chervil tops in ice water for garnish
• chive sticks or chopped chives
• tomato concassée
• caramelized apple sections
• garlic confit
• chopped or slivered garlic
• chopped shallots
• softened butter
• favorite ladles, spoons, tongs, pans, pots
• all sauces, portioned fish, meat, menu items, specials and backups conveniently positioned for easy access

Bourdain’s kitchen recommended tools:

• a decent chef’s knife – no shit!!!!!!! – I’ve got a zwilling santoku – best knife I’ve ever used
• a flexible boning knife – don’t have one of these
• a paring knife – I use a serrated steak knife that costs about a dollar. I prefer it to the my $30 dollar zwilling paring knife
• an offset serrated knife that looks like a “z” – I’d like to try one of these some day
• plastic squeeze bottle – for decoration
• a metal ring, or section of PVC pipe - for mounting works of art
• pastry bag
• mandoline – they make cheap effective one’s in Japan, so shouldn’t be too expensive
• pots and pans – heavyweight – thick-bottomed sauté pans are necessary – in order to come across some discount ones, Bourdain’s advice is to wait for that new tapas place on the corner to go out of business, then make your move.
• a nonstick sauté pan – you need a nice thick nonstick sauté pan, not one with a thin veneer of material that peels off after a few weeks. When you buy nonstick, never wash it and don’t use metal in it

Bourdain’s essential ingredients:

• shallots
• butter
• roasted garlic – don’t put it through a press, try roasting it – “It gets mellow and sweeter if you roast it whole, still on the clove, to be squeezed out later when it’s soft and brown. Try a Caesar dressing, for instance with a mix of fresh, raw garlic for bite and roasted for background, and you’lol see what I mean.”
• Chiffonaded parsley
• stock – a backbone of good cooking “Make stock already! It’s easy! Just roast some bones, roast some vegetables, put them in a big pot with water and reduce and reduce and reduce. Make a few months’ worth, and when it’s reduced enough strain it and freeze it in small containers so you can pull it from the freezer as needed.
• demi-glace – To prepare: “take your already reduced meat stock, add some red wine, toss in some shallots and fresh thyme and a bay leaf and peppercorns and slowly, slowly simmer it and reduce it again until it coats a spoon. Strain. Freeze this stuff in an ice-cube tray, pop out a cub or two as needed and you are in business.”
• chervil, basil tops, chive sticks, mint tops, etc

the idiot's guide to cravings

I've distinguished two types of cravings. One type you should listen to, because your body is infinitely wiser than your mind. Your mind can trick you, but your body will always tell you the truth about how you're feeling or about how healthy you are. So listen to it. That said, I experience two types of craving: basically, cravings for junk food and cravings for real food.

My junk food cravings are mostly for sugar, I've had a terrible sweet tooth all my life that I basically kicked after reading Energía sin limites de Deepak Chopra. I still crave sugar a lot, but much less than before. As a sidenote, I was at a healthy weight before I read this book, but lost 5-10 pounds after reading it, because I cut back on my sugar and flour intake and instead began eating more whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, mote, oats) and white rice. I still indulge in sugar from time to time, but not on a daily basis.

My other cravings are for coconut milk, mote, vegetables, whole grains, chocolate (with very little sugar), etc. I can tell they are real cravings because 1) these are healthy foods and 2) I feel better after eating them. Whereas when I indulge in eating excess sugar, I later feel heavy and lazy, leaving me with low energy. So there you have it. Trust your body's healthy cravings. If your body feels better after eating what you crave, it means you needed the food. You can train your body to crave healthy foods. Just start adding more vegetables and wholegrains to your diet and your body will get used to them and crave them. This way you use cravings to your advantage.

I do sometimes crave sweet things that my body really wants and I eat just a bit, and feel better afterwards, but this happens maybe a couple times a week and I only eat a little, because my body is just craving a bit. I always have something a bit sweet after eating a meal with garlic. I don't know what it is about garlic, but I always follow this with something sweet.

saturated fat-packed coconut milk: the new diet food

I've had a hunch since I was 18 that eating fat actually helped me maintain a healthy weight. I basically stopped trusting what the media said at that age when I realized that eating fats was actually really satisfying and my body thanked me after eating them.

So I indulge on fat-filled coconut milk quite often. Since I crave it so much, I thought I'd look up its nutritional value on the internet. Since modern science hasn't been studying coconut milk like it has been studying tumeric, the media still hasn't informed us of all the healthy qualities of coconut milk. But I'm not waiting for the newspapers to begin pumping this food before I start eating it. I found a bit of less "official" info on internet. So, according to this article while coconut milk has as much fat as cow's whole milk, unlike whole milk, coconut milk helps you lose weight! Ha! I chug coconut milk all the time. More reasons to drink coconut milk:

• Promotes loss of excess weight by increasing metabolic rate.

• Is utilized by the body to produce energy in preference to being stored as body fat like other dietary fats.

• Helps prevent obesity and overweight problems.

You see you shouldn't trust the media with their myths and stupid repetitious ideas that fat is soo unhealthy? Now that I've said that if you eat lots of flour, sugar and other processed foods, or eat too much in general, coconut milk might not be the solution. Because there is no panacea for weight loss beyond exercising and a healthy diet. You can't just take a pill and become healthy and thin.

I would drink coconut milk daily, but I feel ethically it's maybe not the best to drink sooo much of it, since it has to be shipped to Chile from Thailand.

I have thought of making my own since they often sell Panamanian coconuts in the street here.