Spinach and Baby Corn Soup

Spinach and Baby Corn Soup (UPDATED 4/4/20)

Adapted from Jain International Recipes by Tarla Dalal

by My Little Blue Heron

Here’s a soup recipe that’s EASY and pliable. You can use fresh/frozen or canned ingredients. During the pandemic, we need recipes that we can fool around with, improvise to eat delicious meals! This soup has just a few ingredients. It can be made with fresh, canned or frozen ingredients. 

Large clamshells of spinach have been available from the supermarket. It may be easier to get than lettuce. If you can’t buy it fresh, use frozen. In a pinch, use canned, but squeeze it dry. No spinach? Chard'll work. You can find baby corn at some markets. My Wegman’s in Brooklyn sells it fresh in little bags in their produce section. But as of today, Wegman's isn't delivering to me. Can that... literally. You can find cans of baby corn in brine in most supermarkets. No baby corn? Use adult (plain old) corn.

You’ll need coconut milk – whole, lite or powdered. If you live in New York and vicinity, mirchi.com will be opening its delivery window on April 10th. You'll get coconut milk. coconut milk powder, corn starch, ginger and probably spinach, too. If you don’t have corn starch, you can substitute with another starch like potato starch. Still shaking your head ‘no’? Here’s a solution. I like food52. 

Be fearless! It’s just soup.

You’ll need a very small amount of oil - olive or other, and if you have fresh ginger, this adds some deliciousness. If not, no big deal. I love the addition of a little ground mace (the outer shell of nutmeg). If you don’t have mace, grate in a little nutmeg. If you have neither, it’ll be really delicious. Really.

If you increase spinach or corn, add the whole can of coconut milk, which is more than a cup. (Or, you can freeze coconut milk for later use.) Add some vegetable broth/bouillon or water to extend the recipe. Add some more corn! 
Corn is corn. But it's so delicious.

One thing I love about this recipe is that it’s both flexible and forgiving. It's a teaching soup, something to drink in. Make it on the stove or in your Instant Pot (see below for Instant Pot directions).

This is a Jain recipe (that’s why I like it, uh huh uh huh), so no onion or garlic. This is a bonus if you have gut issues, are on a low fodmap diet, or if you’re low on onion or garlic. I added hing powder or asafoetida, which is frequently used as a substitute for onion and garlic. It’s supposed to be very good for you. J

Prep and cooking time: under half an hour!

Be happy, healthy, safe and try to have some fun in the kitchen (or anywhere)!

peace and love,

jane

        

Spinach and Baby Corn Soup

Ingredients:

2-3 cups chopped spinach (palak) (fresh preferred, but you can use frozen .. just don’t defrost it.)

10-12 baby corn, washed and cut into thin slices (or about ¾ cup, more or less, to taste, corn kernals)
1-2 cups of water or vegetable stock

1 Tbsp. corn starch dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water (see above for subs)

1 cup coconut milk (or 3 Tbsp. dried coconut milk dissolved in 1 cup water)

1 Tbsp. olive (or canola) oil

½-1” fresh ginger (optional) (organic preferred), sliced very thin

Ground mace (or nutmeg), to taste (optional)

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.

Procedure:

Set aside the sliced baby corn, ginger and chopped spinach.

Heat the oil in a medium pot.

Add spinach, corn and ginger and sauté, over medium to medium/high heat until wilted.
Add spices (if adding mace/hing) and stir).

Add coconut milk and dissolved corn starch and stir.

Add water or vegetable stock to consistency of preference.

Cover and simmer for 10-20 minutes*. Adjust seasonings, to taste.

Serve.

Serves 2

*You can make this in your Instant Pot by first sautéing and then adding all ingredients, cover (no vent) on soup setting for about 7-10 minutes. Voila!  

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

Gluten and Dairy Free

My Little Blue Heron

This is the best banana bread to emerge from my oven since I began baking without gluten. I’m so excited to share this recipe with you.

I hope you’ve been freezing your overripe bananas. Please do this. When you defrost them, you can pour off the liquid. You’ll have the most wonderfully condensed, banana-y flavor. Don’t worry about recalculating weight. If you opt to keep the liquid, that’s fine. (If using fresh bananas, you won’t have any liquid to pour off.)

You will need a kitchen scale. Please buy an inexpensive one for consistent results. Here’s a link. This link is for the United States. It’s an inexpensive scale. Not perfect, but sufficient for this (and other) recipes!

I worked with a couple of different starches and binders, and the winners are: arrowroot and xanthan gum. I prefer maple syrup as a sweetener, and (refined) coconut oil over clarified butter. Clarified butter adds dairy (but not casein) to the recipe. So for those dairy-free humans, this is good news.

Every gluten free baker should have a pantry with: buckwheat flour, oat flour, sorghum flour and arrowroot starch. Xanthan gum is a binder, and fro gluten free baking it’s a staple ingredient for your kitchen. Maple syrup is less processed than other sweeteners (and it's delicious). Look for reasonably priced maple syrup at Costco or Trader Joe’s. When it comes to coconut oil and baking, I recommend refined, organic coconut oil. Nutiva makes a great product. The label, 'refined' carries such negative connotations, as though it has been stripped of its healthy qualities. It's fat. It's saturated fat. Enuf said. 

Please buy whole nutmegs and a nutmeg grater. Fresh nutmeg is gorgeous. Try some on steamed or sautéed spinach; and mix some into ricotta (or Kite Hill vegan ricotta). I learned this from my mom. You need just a pinch. Buy fresh nutmegs from an amazing resource like World Spice Merchants or Penzey’s.  Both are great companies. Penzey’s supports teachers. I like people who like teachers.

I always recommend Baldwin’s vanilla extract. I’ve been recommending it to you for over ten years. I still recommend it. It’s good as gold.

Additions of nuts are up to you. If you don’t choose to add them, you can substitute gluten free chocolate chips. The bread isn’t cloying, so the addition of chocolate shouldn’t sugar shock you. I like walnuts with bananas, but I think pecans or hazelnuts would be excellent choices.

Fast away the old year passes. Out with those old bananas. Enjoy your days, one at a time, one breath at a time, a banana at a time.

Here's to a peaceful and healthy 2020. Let's hope that we find our way back to the garden, that we return to a country that is sane, that's led with intellect and that we return to democracy. 

Happy New Year!

love always.

always love.

jane

🍌 🍌 🍌 🍌 🍌

Banana Bread

Equipment: Electric hand or stand mixer, kitchen scale, bowls, measuring spoons, potato masher (for the bananas), loaf pans (standard size, or several smaller, or muffin tins).

Ingredients:

75 g. sorghum flour

75 g. oat flour

50 g. buckwheat flour

50 g. arrowroot flour

½ tsp./1g. xanthan gum

1tsp./6g. baking soda

½ tsp./2g. salt (I like kosher salt)

½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

2 eggs, size large, room temperature

80 grams refined coconut oil, melted (cooled to room temp.)

½ c. maple syrup (dark is best for baking)

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

385 g. banana (approx. 3 large), mashed

66 grams chopped walnuts (or pecans or ‘other’ nuts)

       (Or, throw in equivalent GF chocolate chips)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F. and prepare loaf pan or pans with spray release or brush with melted coconut oil.

1. Set a large bowl on your kitchen scale and tare it to zero.

2. Measure dry ingredients (through the nutmeg on the ingredient list), taring after each addition. (Alternatively, if you feel you’ll have better control, you can measure each ingredient separately (use one smaller bowl, dumping the weighed ingredient into the large bowl each time.) Remember: tare, tare, tare.

3. When all dry ingredients have been measured, whisk together until completely combined.

4. In another large bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer), mix together: eggs, coconut oil (brought to a liquid state, but at room temperature) and maple syrup until well blended.

5. Add vanilla extract and blend.

6. Dump in the dry ingredients and mix, on low speed, until absorbed.

7. Add mashed bananas and mix until incorporated.

8. If adding nuts (or chocolate chips), dump them in and mix by hand. This will ensure that the batter is mixed throughout and ready for baking.

9. Fill prepared loaf pans (or muffin tins), filling them 2/3 of the way up.

10. Bake in the center of your oven, depending on size of product and your oven, anywhere from 15 minutes, up. The bread is done when you can put a toothpick in and it comes out clean. You’ll see the sides pulling away a little, too.

11. Remove from oven and as soon as you can, release from pans and cool on rack. When cool, serve or wrap well. These will keep for a day or two out of the fridge. After, refrigerate or freeze for up to a month.

Banappetite!

  

Pain D'Épices for 2020

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Pain D’Épices

Gluten (and Dairy) Free Spice Cake

Adapted by My Little Blue Heron from Les cakes de Laurent sans gluten & sans lait by Laurent Dran

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Pain D’Épices is traditionally eaten at New Year’s. This loaf is a warmly spiced honey cake. Sweetness and warmth to usher in the new year sound perfect.   

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Dran’s recipe calls for superfine rice flour. I replaced this with oat and sorghum flours. This combination removes that gluten-free ‘grit’, improving texture and mouth feel. You’ll be astonished that it’s gluten free. This only grit remaining is its spice legs and warmth.

The French home cook doesn’t prepare super-sized cakes. This loaf is smaller than what you’re probably used to baking. The loaf pan you’ll need is 16 x 9 cm (6.3 x 3.5 in inches .. or 6 x 4 should work). Simpler solution: double the recipe and make one large loaf and a small loaf or some cupcakes.

I’ve made this by hand, with a Kitchen Aid and with a Kitchen Aid hand mixer.

You MUST have a kitchen scale that weighs in grams. If you don’t, they’re so easy to get on Amazon. Here’s a link. This one’s $10 American on Amazon.

Guar gum replaces Xanthan Gum for binding. Could be that Xanthan Gum is hard to find in France. I like Guar Gum. (Xanthan Gum’s a mold that's grown on corn.)  

Oven temperature is 356º F. If you don’t have a digital oven, that’s fine. Set it to 350º F. and the bake may take a little longer.

A truc that Dran recommends is to slit the cake down the middle. He says that a small, quick slit will help to develop a “big bump”, like a madeleine. 

The batter is way too thin to do this when you begin the bake, so you can make your “petite incision” once the cake or cakes are firm enough to do so. (My loaves develop big bumps sans the petite incisions.) 

MLBH Trucs: Use organic expeller pressed refined coconut oil (Spectrum brand is lovely). Your cake won't taste like coconut.

I use Julia Child’s recipe for equal amounts of cinnamon, cloves and mace. You might want to reduce the clove amount if it’s too ‘cloven’ (sorry). I like dark honey. If you have buckwheat honey, it’ll complement the flour, and the warm spices. If you don’t, don’t stress.

In New York, daylight is at a minimum. It’s cold. Fill your home with fragrant spices and welcome 2020 with warmth and love. 🌞🌝

d’épeace and always love, love all ways,

jane

🎡

Pain D’Épices

Preparation: 

Using spray release or a neutral oil, coat the baking pans well.

Preheat the oven to 356º F. (see note above.)  

Ingredients: 

25 g. oat flour

25 g. sorghum flour

25 g. potato starch

35 g. buckwheat flour

4 g. baking powder (aluminum free is best)

1 gram Guar gum

60 g. dark brown sugar 

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. ground mace*(see below for a different spice profile!)

1/4 tsp. Kosher salt 

1 egg, size large (about 50 grams) at room temperature

110 g. water, room temperature (approx.. ½ c.)

85 g. honey, buckwheat preferred

55 g. refined coconut oil, brought to liquid state. Do this in the microwave at half power until melted.

*(for a different spice profile try: 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ginger, 1/4 tsp. ground cloves, 1/2 tsp. ground mace - closer to Child's cake.)

Procedure: 

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients and set aside.

In another bowl (or if using an electric stand mixer, in that bowl), measure out ingredients, and whisk together for a minute.

Add dry ingredients to wet until combined.

Pour into prepared pan(s) and let sit for about 15 minutes before putting into the oven. Bake, depending on your pan(s) and your oven for 30-45 minutes. Bake in the center of your oven. (If baking cupcakes, baking time will be reduced.) If making the 'small incision', when loaf/loaves are firm enough to do so, using a very sharp knife or a rasp, make a quick incision along top and continue baking until cakes are firm, and a tester or toothpick comes out dry (okay preferable if moist crumbs are clinging!)

Remove from oven and cool 10-15 minutes on baking rack before releasing from pans. Cool completely before wrapping. (If you give a little time for the spices to settle, your loaf will improve with a little rest.)

Wrapped well, loaf will keep for a couple of days at room temperature. You can refrigerate it and bring it to room temperature before serving. This is delicious ‘as is’, with ice cream, some fruit, or for a real treat, toast and serve with butter and jam. (I love apricot or raspberry.)

Frozen, it'll keep well for several months.