2017: A Year of Firsts in the Kitchen

Another year has rolled by. It is tempting to say that time has flown. And that's exactly how I felt before I reached for my iphone to look at the photographic evidence. 

My phone has a lot of photos of food - food that I ate, and food that I cooked. A friend I recently caught up with after a long time asked if I still photograph everything that goes into my stomach. That may be a slight exaggeration - I never let the camera come between me and a plate of good food. But I do rely on my phone to record kitchen adventures (only the successful sort - I avoid carrying a bad memory longer than necessary). I'm glad I do because it took a phone to remind me that even though it feels like the year has flown by, it was filled with many good meals, great conversations, memorable holidays, and plenty of cooking adventures. 

In the kitchen, it has been a year of many firsts.

I baked my very first loaf of bread. The internet is full of talk about the enchanting scent of bread baking in the oven. I don't know if it's my oven or a defect in my olfactory abilities, but I certainly didn't go into a trance while the dough was puffing up in the oven. That said, it was deeply satisfying to bake bread at home. I also got a kick out of saving the $5.99 I pay our neighborhood bakery for our weekly loaf of bread.

My first attempt was less than ideal. But the second time round, I ended up with a pretty good loaf. My husband bit into a slice and said, "This tastes just like bread".

In his book, that's high praise.

Homemade bread

Homemade bread on the inside

Best of all, the New York Times recipe I used (note - use the weight measurements in the recipe; the volume measurements did not work for me). Flour, salt, water, yeast, and time are the only ingredients. There is no kneading involved. You can spare your knuckles for other needs (yes, all puns intended). All you do is stir the ingredients and give the yeast enough time to do its work. There's plenty of scope to let the imagination run wild. You could throw in olives, herbs, dried cherries and chocolate chunks, nuts and seeds.

I also became a pro at puttu making. For the uninitiated, puttu is a Malayali staple, traditionally eaten for breakfast. It is a steamed dish made with rice flour and shredded coconut, and is typically served with a simple but delicious curry made with black bengal gram, shredded coconut and plenty of curry leaves. Having recently acquired a puttu mould, I decided to start experimenting. Puttu making is really easy. Very quickly, I got carried away and started making lots of puttu.

Puttu and egg curry

Appams

For now, I've decided to take a few weeks off before I resume puttu making. 2017 will always stand out as the year I became a puttu master.

2017 is also the year in which I declared victory in my long running war with appam batter. You can read my first person account of the travails of appam making in a post that I wrote over five years ago. Not having mastered the art of appam making despite many attempts, I decided to stop trying, and save myself the inevitable disappointment. 

Towards the end of the year, I decided that I wasn't going to let appam batter have the last laugh. 

Armed with wisdom dispensed by my mother via Google voice, I went into battle with renewed vigor. It took me a few attempts, but I finally ended up with appams that I'd rate a solid 8 on 10. As my husband would put it, they tasted just like appams.

And last but not the least, my kitchen produced its very first can of dulce de leche (roughly translates to "sweet from milk"). Dulce de leche is used in several Latin American desserts. Think of it as caramelized condensed milk. I have a weakness for condensed milk. I knew that dulce de leche would send me into a state of delirium. 

Having scrounged around the internet for recipes, it seemed that making dulce de leche is a somewhat painful process. Many recipes called for boiling cans of condensed milk for several hours. Much as I enjoy cooking, I try not to spend too many hours hovering over the stove. I came across a cheat's version which involves pressure cooking a can of condensed milk. 

If this doesn't qualify as a kitchen adventure, I don't know what does. Pressure cooking a can of condensed milk is, to me, the culinary equivalent of bungee jumping. 

I decided to take the plunge. I cannot lie - I was nervous. I placed the can gingerly in the pressure cooker, closed it shut and sprinted to the living room, where I remained until it was time to switch the pressure cooker off. I did that in record speed and ran back to the living room where I stayed until it felt like the pressure cooker had cooled, and danger had passed.

This is stuff you can eat straight out of the can. I managed to save most of it for a dulce de leche cheesecake (recipe from David Lebovitz's website). It is a pretty sweet confection. Next time, I might dial down the sugar and butter in the cheesecake recipe.

In short, 2017 has been a good year in the kitchen. I hope 2018 is the year of more firsts, in the kitchen and outside of it. Happy new year to you and yours!