Pancake Breakfasts

I’ve been obsessed with them for years. I look for road signs during the week— especially if I’m passing through towns smaller than the one I live in. Where the firehouses of Occidental are raising their money.

It’s not the pancakes so much as the collective act of pancakes. This moment, eternal, frozen in time. Some candidate or marching band or firehouse needs the dough.

Pancakes seem the way to do it. The carwash fundraiser of food. Low overhead—syrup, batter, spatulas, butter, flour, grill. Long tables. Paper plates. It smells so good. So warm, cozy. So life affirming.

You’re not going to raise a million for the capital campaign. But you aren’t risking the fate of non-profit either — hiring that pricey band from and the fifties and hoping for a big sentimental turnout.

It obsessed. I note them. I imagine myself driving to work. Who I’ll meet. The grange halls and fire stations I’ll see. The causes I could support. The candidates I could catch.

Nikki and I are ever on the lookout as we travel cross-country on our sonic expeditions. Way before our quest for Hidden Kitchens began.

I think I’ve been to 3 pancake breakfasts in the last 20 years. With Pancake Breakfast, a little goes a long way. It’s a great way to launch a Sunday— pray the syrup is real maple. The pancakes made from scratch. The butter local and from a cow, not chemistry.

You takes your chances. But you’re part of something. You’re giving to somebody. You left your house and met some part of a community that needs a hand. Maybe you woke up alone and needed a place to go.

The last one we went to was in Canastota, NY. We were covering the boxing match between Laila Ali and Jacqui Frazier, the daughters of Mohammad and Joe, when they fought at a casino the Oneida Reservation in upstate New York. Listen to that story here

Sunday morning we were on our way to the Boxing Hall of Fame to meet Sugar Ray Leonard and Felix Trinidad when it appeared. Like a vision. Pancake Breakfast. Firehouse. Every boxer known to man was there. And every fireman for a hundred mile radius. Not to mention granddad and grandma from Ithaca and their grandkids.

Tall men in tall hats flipped flapjacks in an endless line and playfully traded punches. The fire engines gleamed, and so did the bacon.

We lay down the microphones, found our places in line, and ate.

Paneer Butter Masala

Paneer butter masala can be made in different ways. This is my way of making paneer b masala.
It is creamy, rich and yummy! Measurement below has been eyeballed. You can modify the measurement as you wish.

Ingredients:

1. Onions - 2 chopped
2. Bay leaf - 1 or 2
3. Chilli powder - as per taste
4. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
   
6. Salt - as per taste
7. Badshah Kitchen king masala or garam masala powder - 1.5 tbsp
8. Milk - 1/4 cup
9. Kasoori methi - 1/4 tsp
10. Coriander leaves to garnish
11. Capsicum - 1/2 cup chopped
12. Paneer pieces - as many as you like
13. Oil - 5 tbsp or more if required
14. Sugar - 1 tsp
    

Grind together with little water:
Tomatoes - 6 or 7(small)
Cashews - 1/4 cup
Cloves - 3 to 4
Cinnamon - 2 (1 inch sticks)
Elaichi - 3
Ginger - few pieces
Garlic - 3 pods

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onions and bay leaf and fry very well till it turns brown.
Add the ground paste, ingredients 3 to 8. Cover with lid and let the mixture simmer till oil floats on top(takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes).
Add kasoori methi and sugar. Mix well. Switch of the gas.
In another pan, heat a drop of oil and fry capsicum pieces for 2 minutes. Don't overcook it. It has to be crunchy.
In the same pan, fry paneer pieces for a minute.
Add fried capsicum and paneer to the gravy and garnish with coriander leaves.

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chips Cookies

I had this cookies recipe from a book of my favarite chef "Nigella Lawson". It is a very dark rich chocolate cookies that I shall remind you to drink more water after eating it. If you like to feed it to children, please use less than 70% cocoa solids so that they don't feel too beater. As for me, I really like those dark and beater flavor when eating those chocolate dessert. This recipe is just right for those chocoholic.

Original recipe from Nigella Lawson:

125g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
150g flour
30g cocoa, sieved
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
125g soft butter
75g light brown sugar
50g white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, cold from the fridge
350g semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Preheat the oven to 170’C. Melt the 125g dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water.


• Put the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
  
• Cream the butter and sugars in another bowl. (I use my freestanding mixer, itself an odd source of comfort to me.) Add the melted chocolate and mix together.


• Beat in the vanilla extract and cold egg, and then mix in the dry ingrdients. Finally stir in the chocolate morsels or chips.


• Scoop out 12 equal-sized mounds – an ice cream scoop and a palette knife are he best tools for the job – and place on a lined baking sheet about 6cm apart. Do not flatten them.


• Cook for 18 minutes, testing with a cake tester to make sure it comes out semi-clean and not wet with cake batter. If you pierce a chocolate chip, try again.


• Leave to call slightly on the baking sheet for 4 -5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack to harden as they cool.