Chana Masala Recipe

I have learned that Chana Masala is typically an Indian or Pakastani street food, Chana is hindi for chickpea and Masala refers to spice mix. Chana Masala is usually served either wrapped in a tortilla like flat bread or some other bread for dipping or scooping. However it is served, it is wickedly good. Chana Masala is spicy and a touch warm on the tongue. It is a dish that is loaded with amazing textures, smells and taste. And, it is incredibly easy to make at home, in one dish. I suppose that is why it is a popular street food. Here's how to make it yourself.

Ahead of time soak 2 cups of dry chickpeas. You can even soak them overnight. The longer you soak them, the shorter the cooking time. I soaked ours for about an hour. They were chewable, but still rigid.

1 - In a large skillet with 4 tablespoons of hot oil saute:
1 medium onion - diced
4 medium cloves of garlic - diced
1/2 diced pepper. Here you can take your pick of peppers. Hot, Sweet, etc.

Cook down the above ingredients until soft.

2 - Now comes the Masala (spice mix). Add the following ingredients to the hot pan and mix into something that resembles a paste. A little oil can be added if necessary, but don't worry too much about the consistency here.
3 tblsp Curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp tumeric
1 tsp salt
There are also different masala mixes you can purchase if you don't wish to purchase all of the different spices. 3-4 tablespoons of the masala mix would probably suffice.

3 - Add the soaked chickpeas to the masala mixture and then cover with water. Simmer on medium heat until a good bubble is started and then reduce heat and cook until the chickpeas are mushy or to the consistency you desire. The finished dish should have a chickpeas in thick gravy consistency. If you've added too much water, just cook it down until you have what you're looking for.

The tortilla recipe can easily be found online or purchased at the grocery store or bakery. Tortillas are terribly easy to make at home though, so I hope you'll try it. A good flour for tortillas would be Park Wheat  

Nana's Rhubarb Cake

Growing up on the farm north of Bon Accord, AB there was a rhythm to the day, especially at Nana and Papa's place across the valley. The passing of the day was marked with meals. Breakfast, coffee, lunch, coffee, supper. No matter the tasks of the day these meals were observed. My favourite, of course, was coffee time. This was when treats were usually presented on the kitchen table. Peanut butter cookies and Rhubarb Cake seem to me to be the usual suspects for coffee-time treats, but I'm sure Nana mixed it up more than I recall.

In the summer, Rhubarb Cake ruled. I still think of Nana and Papa, the squeaky kitchen floor of the old farm house and the weird whirring and grinding of the electric clock on the wall above the telephone every time I cut rhubarb. I love that smells like these can trigger my memories so easily. They are very fond memories indeed.

So, here is Nana's Rhubarb Cake recipe. I hope it creates fond memories for your family as it did for me.

1-1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 cup milk
2 cups flour
2 cups cut rhubarb

Mix all ingredients together and place batter in 8" x 12" pan.

Topping
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp butter
Mix and sprinkle over batter

Bake the whole thing at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Parkallen Home Kitchen Double Chocolate Cookies

Another great recipe from Jacquie at Parkallen Home Kitchen

Whole Grain Double Chocolate Cookies

Photo courtesy Parkallen Home Kitchen

I see that Jacquie has chosen to use GFG Soft White Wheat flour. This is NOT white flour, a common question from our customers. Instead, it is an Entire Grain flour stone milled from Soft White Wheat as opposed to Hard Red Wheat.

http://parkallenhomekitchen.com/2015/01/25/whole-grain-double-chocolate-cookies/

Tip: An interesting thing that @gfgcindy does with our cookies at home is to add a little whole or ground flax to the batter. She insists on getting as much "health" into our food...and it actually tastes great!

Einkorn Fettucini

There are few things in the culinary world that are easier to make with flour than pasta. The ingredients are as simple as they come. Flour. Eggs. A pinch of salt...and then a little kneading.

If you cannot make fresh pasta with our flour then you just aren't trying. 

Here is a great recipe for fresh Fettucini made with our own organic Einkorn Flour.

2.5 cups of fresh GFG Einkorn Flour (you can also use Red Fife or Park)
4 eggs
Salt (pinch)

In a mixing bowl the flour and salt can be combined. Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the eggs. At this time an optional ingredient can be added - 1tbl of olive oil. I don't think this is necessary, but it doesn't seem to hurt and probably gives the pasta a little buttery texture when all is said and done.

Knead the ingredients together until a smooth consistency is reached with the dough. At this stage you can set your pot of water to boil. I always add a splash of olive oil to the water.

Come back to your dough and proceed to roll it out onto a floured surface. You need to roll it very thin so perhaps dividing the dough into two balls is better. You can use a rolling pin or the bottle of wine you happen to be sipping from while you cook to roll the dough.

Once the pasta is thin enough go ahead and cut strips that are fettucini sized...about 1cm. I used our pizza wheel to cut the pasta. It occurred to me after that you can simply fold the sheet of pasta over itself a couple times and then cut the strips! Duh. Once you have your pasta cut into strips, the water will be at a rolling boil and you can toss it all in. It will cook very quickly, perhaps 2 minutes, so be ready!

Served simply with a little butter, lemon, salt and pepper it is a remarkably simple lunch or dinner. Of course it also goes along beautifully with any pasta sauce you can dream up. Enjoy!

Nana Schneider's Pie Crust

Here is a great pie crust for you to try out. This recipe is used extensively in our home and works great. It is a more traditional, rolled pastry crust and is super easy.

Nana Schneider's pie crust. A rolled pastry that works every single time with most of our flours. I usually use Park for this recipe and I sift it before it goes in the mixer. Nana didn't make a lot of pies that I remember, but she sure made butter tarts at Christmas time. As I grew older, that was my annual Christmas present from her. A tin of homemade tarts. Even now I can still smell the aroma as I lifted the lid off the tin. As far as I know, this recipe is her never fail pastry.

Nana (Marguerite) Schneider's Pie Crust
 
2.5 Cups flour (I sift our Park flour for this recipe)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 lb lard (I always use butter)
2.5 tsp water
1 Tbsp white vinegar
1 egg

Dry ingredients go into the mixer bowl and are blended well. I use the kitchen aid.
Cut the lard into small cubes and incorporate into the dry ingredients with the mixer until it is coarse looking. Stop the mixer.
Add the egg and vinegar and start mixing once more.
Add enough water as you are mixing so that the dough just starts to come together. It may be less water and it may be more. Don't worry about it.

At this point, take the dough out of the mixer bowl and shape into 2 small flattened balls. These can now go into the fridge for about 15 minutes or you can go ahead and freeze one for later use. Depends on how much dough you need for your baking project.

On a floured surface, roll the dough as thin as practical. You will need to add small dustings of flour to keep the rolling pin free of dough. The thinner the pastry, the more tender and flaky it will be. Now you can go ahead and use in your favourite pie or tart recipe!

GFG's Ultimate Peanut Butter Cookies

This is a family favourite on our farm. I like them crispy for dunking in my afternoon coffee. This instantly brings me back to when I was a kid on Nana and Papa's farm where the same ritual was played out 40 years ago. Cindy and the kids like them a little more chewy and with Chocolate Chips. So, take your pick how you like your peanut butter cookie. Either way, they're pretty darn good.

1/2 cup butter - room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter - It has to be crunchy peanut butter or it's not a peanut butter cookie.
1-1/2 cup GFG Park or Red Fife flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 - Cream the butter and sugars
2 - Add egg, vanilla and peanut butter and beat well
3 - In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients
3 - Add dry to wet and mix until incorporated

Drop suitable spoon fulls of dough onto a cookie sheet and make a criss cross pattern with a fork. Again, if you don't do this...it's not a peanut butter cookie.

In the meantime, you will have pre-heated your oven to 400 degrees. Once the oven is ready, bake your cookies. This is the tricky part. The cookies go from chewy to crispy really quick. So if you like chewy cookies they will cook in about 8 mins. Once they just start to turn colour around the edges. Leave them to colour fully for another 2 minutes or so and they will be crunchy when they cool, ready for coffee.