INDIAN STYLE

This blog post has been brought to you by J.A. Taylor Fine Art located in the Lahaina Cannery Mall, check them out for fine art works depicting Maui's landscape, once inside the gallery see Julie as she works at her painting and her husband Mike.
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Okay today is a short lesson on Indian cooking, I'll go over some ingredients you'll need in your kitchen, and you're good to carry on foodies.


Indian cooking is actually very wide in scope, the continent is huge, and travelers over centuries have turned on the people that resided in different regions of India to certain herbs and spices. Most of India from a western perspective is that all Indian people eat curries. Well yes and no, and that all Indian people use yogurt in their cooking, again not so.


Okay, enough of that I hate writing, so let's get to the meal, I'm going to give you a recipe for a simple Indian vegetarian stew. And these are the ingredients you should have on hand.


SOUTH INDIAN VEGETARIAN (Kerala) Mixed Vegetable Stew
4 cups of chopped veggies, I'll go for some potatoes, green beans, carrots, celery, bell peppers
1 large red onion sliced thin
3-4 tbsp. of canola or safflower oil
3 whole green cardamoms
3-4 whole cloves
about an inch of a cinnamon stick
1 large or 2 medium green or red chillies sliced down the middle
1 inch ginger (fresh) sliced into thin strips
1 1/4 tsp. of coarsely crushed peppercorns
2 1/8 cups of canned coconut milk, organic if you can
2 cups of filtered water
Curry leaves about 4-5
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions:
1. First get a frying pan with the oil in it, over medium hi heat, saute the green cardamoms, cloves, and cinnamon for a few minutes. Then add in the green or red chillies, ginger strips, and sliced onions,cook until the onions become translucent or clearer.


2. Then add in the 4 cups of mixed chopped veggies, curry leaves, salt and water. Cover pan or pot and simmer for 15 -20 minutes or until the veggies develop into a softer texture, you'll see it.


3. Then uncover, then add in the peppercorns and coconut milk, making sure that the heat is still low so the milk does not curdle, cook for about a couple minutes.


Serve all meals ASAP, I said ASAP you lousy saps! No just joking, but serve it hot with Basmati rice.


Directions for cooking Basmati Rice.


1 cup Basmati rice, using a strainer rinse the rice well. 
1 3/4 cups of filtered water
1 tsp. of sea salt if you choose


This is an easy task, get a heavy bottom pot not those thin cheapos. Over hi heat, cook the rice, with the water in the pot of course, add in the salt. Bring to a boil, and then immediately turn heat down to a low simmer, cover the pot with a proper fitting lid or foil, and cook for 15 to 18 minutes. Then remove the pot with lid or cover on and let it sit for about 10 minutes or so, remove lid or cover, and using a fork or chopsticks, fluff the rice.


Basmati rice is a long grain rice, and has a very unique flavor, it is kind of on the glossy side compared to other medium or long grain white rice. For a healthier take, cook the brown Basmati.

Arrowhead Mills Organic Brown Basmati Rice is a brand I like to use if I can't get this in the bulk section of a health food store. Try using it for stir fried rice also, it is very tasty. Even for salads try it I think you'll like it.

HALLOWEEN FOODS

Halloween cookies are slowly showing up on shelves in the markets, and online stores, those cookies in all shapes and sizes all topped with an orange, white, black frosting. You name it, there's chocolate chip Halloween cookies, raisin bran cookies, peanut butter cookies.

And then there's Halloween cakes, pies, it's crazy! Cakes with witches, goblins, skeletons, zombies, Frankenstein, Dracula, the characters from Scream on those cakes. Crazy, just nuts. Halloween shouldn't be taken too seriously, unless there's a psycho in the hood stickin sharp objects into apples, I think Halloween in most part is just a fun time for the kids and a lot of adults. But the treats are starting to pop up. I know a lady that is making her own Halloween candies, now that's nuts, that's commitment to Halloween. I know a personal chef, and she's making some pumpkin bread with stuff written on it. Another chef will be making a Halloween dinner, consisting of pumpkin as the main ingredient, I think he's making pumpkin soup, stir fried pumpkin, pumpkin with pork stew, and God only knows what else.


If you are going to make any kind of Halloween food, Twitter me or Facebook me get the info out on what you're doing. HAPPY HALLOWEEN.


Photo from 
www.iheartluxe.com

Foodies R Very Intelligent

Today is October 1st, 2011 and it is a time when the internet is making people smarter when it comes to food, in fact some of my friends are so into being a foodie, I'm learning more from them than the Food Network.


Gone are the days when regular folks don't understand how foods are prepared, for instance ethnic foods are so spread out across the US, that people know their shit when it comes to foods that they wouldn't think of eating a decade ago. Thanks to the internet, blogs, websites, forums, we as foodies are becoming so consumed by vital information our food IQ is rising all the time.


The Food Network is one that takes the average person on journeys, shows produced to showcase bistros, or hole in the walls with foods that make your mouth water right off the bat, right off of that 360 CC driver, it hits you! Foodies are not idiots. Experts in food tell how an Italian dish is supposed to be made, how a Chinese chef makes a roast duck the right way and what to expect, what a classic sauce is supposed to look like and taste like, or to the extent of what the kitchen's cleanliness should be which is clean without rats runnin around. Peeps into food are not stupid any longer.


"I ate at Longhi's the other night, it totally sucked," says a visitor from the mainland. "The seafood wasn't fresh, like the waiter said it was, I can tell, I know my food man, and Longhi's did suck, sorry, the presentation was alright, but the food was not good, I ate it, but it sucked."


Another well traveled foodie a woman who remains anonymous said, "I tired Honu, it was all rave when I landed on Maui, my friends live in Lahaina, and they all ranted and raved about Honu, well it was just so so, and I really felt that the flavors were too much on this fish dish I had, I wanted to meet the owner but he wasn't there. A few nights later, we went to the sister restaurant in Wailea, Mala, and it was spectacular, and I had no idea Honu and Mala in Lahaina were right next to each other my hosts didn't tell me that.


"We also ate at Star Noodles which was very good, we ate at Feast at Lele not good, I tried Duke's, so so, and all the rave of Merriman's in Kapalua was okay, not great. Sansei was okay, I've seen better sushi places around the world, I think they copied other places, but it was good at least edible, we tried Flatbread in Paia, that was wonderful, we tried Mama's in Paia, it was just okay. Again this is just my opinion, I have high standards, the first is taste, and do the restaurant really know how to cook, sometimes a saute fish is too over cooked, a grilled chicken is too hard you know?"


Okay, so more on this crap laters! Chefs, bring your A game because there's intelligent foodies coming to town soon. Then again, if you did the best you can screw them right? ha ha

WHARF CINEMA CENTER LAHAINA WOVEN HATS

If your every in Lahaina, and traversing on Front Street, hit the Wharf Cinema Center, located right across the Banyan Tree, you'll find good food, from juicy burgers, Mexican, Vietnamese, Thai, pizza, and...........Custom woven hats made by brother Dave. He's been weaving hats out of palm leaves for years. He has a kiosk filled with hats and other items.


"Business is slow, but I'm surviving," says Dave, with his famous guitar hanging from his neck and shoulders. Dave is located  in the rear of the shopping complex, on Luakini street, so head towards the back side of the center, you'll find him right outside of Jay's Pizza.

The kiosk looks like this picture, filled with hats, and bags, and bowls. This is made on Maui, the real deal, not brought in from China or the Philippines, the real deal. So if you're visiting Maui this is something to consider. Buy a few from Dave, get a picture taken with him, and walk to the post office a few blocks away and mail these home eliminating the travel hassles with the airlines.

JAMES "JK Foodie" KUDLICH Went to Eat At?

James "JK Foodie" went to Kahana Gateway to eat at Maui Brewing Company and ate a pepperoni pizza, one slice, and a few Bikini Blonde Beers. He said it was affordable, the pizza was delicious, the sauce was really good.


"I like my girls like the beer, blonde in a bikini," says J.K. Foodie. "Nah brah, da food was good, for a late night eats and a relaxing pau hana, it's the best. Simple brah."


James "JK Foodie" is part of our foodie clan, we are in the process of trying to produce James's food show, he'll go around town trying different foods from different restaurants to see how it tastes.
James "JK Foodie" Kudlich

www.mauibrewingcompany.com


You might find James at Maui Brewing Company, located in Kahana at the Kahana Gateway, just minutes north of Kaanapali, just look for the Mc Donald's on the left side of the highway at the stoplight. It's in that mall there in the corner.


James "JK Foodie" Kuldich loves food and drink but James says this, "Don't be drunk as a skunk and drive, get a cab or have a designated sobered driver, it ain't cool to drive drunk."

SOUP IN A WOK

If you want to make soup, it can be very simple utilizing canned broths, and utilizing a wok. In the classic way to make soup, like a beef soup, chefs would roast beef bones for hours to get the rich flavors out of the bones and bits of the meat, and then the bones would be added to liquid such as water and some vegetables to make the soup itself or the base for it.


Asian influence soups are much easier to make and quite frankly more to the point. Here's a simple beef soup with cabbage and some onions, and carrots.


1/4 lb. of thinly sliced flank across the grain, seasoned with salt and pepper. In a bowl, place 2 tbsp. of soy sauce, 1 tsp. of sesame oil, and 1 tsp. of oyster sauce. Mix the meat together real well and let it stand at room temperature.


Slice a small onion into thin strips, set that aside.


Grate a half a small carrot and set that aside.


Thinly slice 3 cups of cabbage set that aside.


1. Heat up a wok (10 inch) over medium high heat with about 2 tbsp. of vegetable oil, when hot add in 1 tsp. of minced ginger and 1 tsp. of minced garlic, stir for about 20 seconds. Add in the flank steak slices. Cook for about  3 minutes, then add in the onions and carrots and cook for about 2 minutes.
2. Add in 2 cans of low sodium beef broth, bring to a boil, then lower to simmer, cook for about 10 minutes. Add in the cabbage and off the heat.
*Season with soy sauce, salt and pepper if is too weak. The flavors for marinating the meat at the beginning should add flavor.


This makes about 3 servings of 6 oz. bowls.


To make this a Thai or Filipino dish, add Nam Pla (Thai fish sauce) or Patis (Fish sauce of the Philippines) to the soup, and add rice noodles for a noodle soup. Asian soups are very popular these days and very quick to make, unlike French influenced or Euro soups where there's a lot of roasting bones going on, Asian soups really cuts to the chase, it may not have rich flavors as their Euro/French counterparts, but it can be very delicious nonetheless.


If you are making your own beef stock/broths, then you'll have to roast them bones, but with some fine products out on the market for home chefs, you don't need to do that, heck I don't, there's some very good products out there, and yes, pro chefs at some of the finest restaurants use these items to cut cost, and really, you can't taste the difference too much. Use low sodium broths all of the time so that you can really adjust the flavors, remember too much salt can ruin a dish and also bad for your blood pressure.


But for your culinary purist, okay roasting bones is the only way to go, there, did that make you happy?

Napili Kai- Sea House, Sunsets & George Kahumoku

Napili Kai sits on the North West side of Maui, a beautiful layout, the Napili Bay is right in front of the resort, Kapalua and the Ritz Carlton is just next door, the Maui Bus stops right there, it's got lots of beauty, sunsets, and great food at the Seahouse Restaurant, Tuesdays got lobster tails specials, and call them for Grammy Award Guitarist George Kahumoku, he performs there, and ask about the keiki (kids) hula shows, it is awesome, a very Hawaiian kind of resort.

Happy Hour 2-5 pm; Early Bird 5:30 pm to 6:00 pm. Tuesday's Special was LOBSTER TAILS.

Standing on the bridge that leads to the Sea House Restaurant, the sunsets in betweeen Lana'i island and Moloka'i island. If this isn't beautiful, someone tell me what is.

For their menu and info http://www.napilikai.com/