Vegetarian

Bharati's Meethi Tamatar ki Subji (Sweet Tomatoes)

Woman Connected to Recipe: Bharati Sharma

Submitted by Pallavi Dixit (Bharati’s daughter)


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About Bharati:
When my mother immigrated to America in 1975, she couldn't cook. Away from her family, her country and anything familiar, she spent long hours alone in a tiny apartment in New Jersey while my father worked. This was before FaceTime, Whatsapp, social media, the internet; when overseas phone calls were expensive and unreliable. She waited weeks to receive letters in thin blue aerogrammes from India that were her primary connection to home.  

Though she faced immense solitude and what must have been crippling sadness to be away from all she knew, she didn't let it crush her. She learned and adapted. She made friends, learned to drive, took endless photographs of snow, had two babies and learned to cook.

She learned from books and from neighbors, who hailed from all over India. She uncovered the best places to buy produce and she learned to roll rotis with a very skinny rolling pin because that's what was available to her. She mastered chana masala, rajma, a spectrum of dals and subjis. She cooked and cooked and learned the ways of this country and now, if ever I crave food, I crave her food.

About Bharati's Meethi Tamatar ki Subji (Sweet Tomatoes):
This is an Indian recipe which my mom used to make as a side dish, often along with chana and poori (a type of roti). My best friend Priya used to come over and ask specifically for this dish because it was so delicious and not all that common. That was 30 years ago. She still asks for it.


INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups chopped tomatoes (or 1 15oz. can diced tomatoes)

  • 1 tbsp canola oil

  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

  • 1/4 tsp mustard seeds

  • 1/4 tsp fennel seeds

  • 1/2 tsp black onion seeds

  • 1/2 tsp coriander powder

  • 1/4 tsp turmeric

  • 1/4 tsp red pepper

  • 1 tsp ginger (fresh, grated)

  • 1/2 cup water

  • 1/4 tsp sea salt

  • 2 tbsp cilantro (finely chopped)

  • 2-4 tbsp sugar (or more, if you want)

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pan or pot for tempering whole spices. To check if the oil is hot enough, add a couple of cumin or mustard seeds. If the seeds start to sputter, the oil is at the right temperature. Add cumin, mustard seeds, black onion seeds and fennel seeds. Let sputter.

Once the sputtering slows (be sure not to burn the spices), add grated ginger, coriander powder and turmeric. Stir for a few seconds. 
Add the tomatoes and salt. Stir and let cook for 5 minutes on medium-low heat. Add water and let the mixture cook for another 15 minutes or until the tomatoes are cooked through. 

Add the sugar and let cook for 5 minutes, mashing the tomatoes as they cook to create a sort of mushy paste texture. Add chopped cilantro and remove from heat.

Note: When I attempted to write down this recipe from my mother, it involved no precise measurements, but instead said things like, “a little bit of” and “a handful of.” There were no time guidelines, but rather “you’ll know when it looks done.” So, I guessed to the best of my ability to type this recipe up. There may be little to no accuracy. But you’ll know what to do when you see it :)

Rita's Samosas

Woman Connected to Recipe: Rita Chokshi

Submitted by Kajal Chokshi (Rita’s daughter)


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About Rita:
Rita is my wonderful mom! My mom is one of the most giving, selfless, and radiating women I have ever known. She is so special to me because she serves as my mentor, supporter, best friend, and sunshine every single day. She is the epitome of what a strong, successful, and kind woman should be. She carries her history and culture proudly and navigates new situations with grace. She is the type of woman who brightens any room she walks into and makes you feel fuller after any conversation.

About Rita’s Samosas:
My mom grew up in Gujarat, India. After she married my dad in December 1989, they moved to American in the 90s. My family is very proudly Indian and enjoys sharing our culture at every opportunity given. 

Growing up, my mom would make samosas for every holiday party we had- to celebrate both Indian and American festivities. Samosas in my home meant a time for togetherness and joy. 

We recently shared this recipe at our first Thanksgiving. My partner's sister invited us to her home. There, our two seemingly different but inherently very similar families feasted together under a warm roof, proving in fact, everyone will smile with warm samosas in their belly.


INGREDIENTS

Dough: 

  • 2 Cups All Purpose Flour

  • 5 tbsp cooking oil or clarified butter (ghee)

  • 1/2 tbsp ground cumin seeds

  • 1/2 cup water

    salt according to taste

Filling:

  • 4 potatoes

  • 1 medium sized yellow onion

  • 1/4 cup of peas

  • 1 small finely chopped jalepeno 

  • 1 tbsp ground ginger

  • 1 tbsp ground garlic

  • 5-7 curry leaves

  • 1 tsp red chili flakes 

  • 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1/2 tbsp tumeric

  • 1/2 tbsp chili powder

  • 1/4 tbsp garam masala 

  • 4 tbsp oil

  • 1/2 lemon

  • 1 tbsp chopped cilantro 

For Frying: 

  • 2 cups cooking oil

INSTRUCTIONS

Directions:

1. Mix all dough ingredients as listed above, adding the water slowly until all ingredients are combined and the dough soft and springy. Put the dough covered in a bowl on the side. 

2. Chop onion. Boil or steam potatoes and dice the potatoes.

3. Put the oil in a pan and once its hot add the cumin seeds, curry leaves, turmeric, and onion. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add the peas and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add in the ground ginger and ground garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add in the garam masala, red chili powder, salt, red chili flakes, diced jalepeno and lemon according to your taste. Once the oil is separating, add in the potatoes. Add salt and lemon according to taste and sprinkle with the cilantro. Take all the filling and put it in a separate bowl and let it cool.

4. To assemble to samosas, take a golf ball sized piece of dough and roll it into a circle. Cut the circle i half so you're left with a semi-circle. Bring the edges together and use your fingers to make a cone shaped mold out of the dough. Make sure to firmly press the dough so that there are no holes. Leave the top of the cone open to place the filling in.

5. Add 2-3 tbsp of the filling into the cone structure. Seal the cones at the top. Repeat until the dough and filling is used up!

6. Heat oil until it is warm enough for frying. Turn the heat to medium and place the filled samosas into the oil. Flip the samosa after 1-2 minutes. The dough should be golden brown before removing from the heat. Put all samosas on a plate with some paper towels to soak up excess oil.

7. Serve samosas with your favorite cilantro chutney and tamarind chutney!

Gilda's Sourdough Pancakes

Woman Connected to Recipe: Gilda Banfield

Submitted by Liz Banfield (Gilda’s daughter)


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About Gilda's Sourdough Pancakes:
My mother lived in Alaska for two years while she was newly married in the early 1960s. Sourdough was a mainstay in the region.

When the family relocated to Minnesota, where I was raised, she began using Sourdough to make pancakes, usually on summer mornings at the cabin.


You'll need basic sourdough starter to start this recipe. Any yeast-based sponge works. If it's been in the refrigerator a long time, it may have separated and look slightly grey in color and that's OK. If it's any other color (such as orange), your starter has gone bad and you must start over. 

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 cups sourdough starter

  • 2 Tablespoons sugar

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

  • 1 egg

  • 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

  • 1 Tablespoon milk (+more if needed)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. The night before put starter in a large bowl on the counter to proof. Add equal amounts water and flour to the starter so that you have about six cups total of starter. Cover with a towel. 

2. In the morning, get a 2nd clean bowl out and put two cups of the overnight starter into the clean bowl. Reserve the rest of the overnight starter. Heat a griddle. 

3. In a small bowl, mix 2 Tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Mix well to remove any lumps. 

4. In another small bowl, whisk 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil, 1 Tablespoon of milk until well blended. 

5. Add egg mixture to your 2 cups of starter until blended.

6. Sprinkle sugar/soda mixture on top and fold in. Batter will start to activate so you must start making pancakes immediately to get the maximum air. Add more milk if consistency is too thick. 

7. Flip pancakes after big bubbles have popped. They will cook faster than standard batter. 

Store remaining Sourdough starter (the one that is reserved on counter and has not been mixed with other ingredients) in the refrigerator in a plastic container. Please note that is MUST be plastic (not glass) or the gasses will build up and eventually explode in your refrigerator.

Jean's Mandel Bread

Woman Connected to Recipe: Grandma Jean

Submitted by Robyn Frank (Jean’s granddaughter)


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About Grandma Jean:
Grandma Jean taught me how to have a good time and always dress up! She taught me how to do shots and play black jack, and to always laugh until your stomach hurts. She also loved to show her love through food. And she had endless love to give. Not to mention, endless charm.

About Jean's Mandel Bread:
This recipe has been in the family for years. We are Eastern Eurpoean Jewish. You should make this recipe for anyone who needs comfort or love or just overall sweetness. My grandma would away make this for me and my sister when we went to visit her in Arizona.

A funny thing about Grandma Jean-whenever I would call her for a recipe, she would give it to me over the phone usually and then her last words were always "You can't hurt it". Now I always say that when I tell people about things I make. It was such a Grandma Jean thing to say.


INGREDIENTS

  • 3 eggs

  • 1 c. sugar

  • 1 c. oil

  • 4 c. flour

  • 1 t. baking powder

  • 1/2 t. salt

  • 1 t. vanilla

  • 1 t. almond extract

  • 1/2 nuts (optional)

  • Cinnamon and sugar mixture

INSTRUCTIONS

Beat eggs- add sugar and oil, vanilla and almond.

Add dry ingredients by hand.

Make 3 long strips (Add melted chocolate to small dish of dough if desired) Baker's Chocolate.

Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon mixture over strips.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Cut while hot- Lay slices down- Sprinkle again with sugar and cinnamon mixture.

Put back in oven- Bake at 250 for 15-20 minutes.

Dorothy's Creamed Corn

Woman Connected to Recipe: Dorothy (Moon) Becker

Submitted by Amanda Becker (Dorothy’s granddaughter)


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About Dorothy’s Creamed Corn:
I didn't have the opportunity to get to know my grandmother very well, as we often lived far away from my grandparents, so seeing her handwritten recipes and simple instructions gives me some insight into the kind of person she was....and makes me feel some kind of connection to her.


INGREDIENTS

  • 1 can creamed corn

  • 2 eggs

  • 2 T butter

  • 2 T flour

  • 1 C milk

  • 1/2 t salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Make a cream sauce with the above ingredients - add the creamed corn.

Grease a pan and bake for 45 minutes (350 degrees).

Geraldine's Strawberry Soup

Woman Connected to Recipe: Geraldine Blesi

Submitted by Cristina Pippa (Geraldine’s granddaughter)


About Geraldine:
She was a writer and a watermelon planter, a mother, and a wife. She was my grandma and the living definition of unconditional love. She told me over and over again that I could do anything I set my mind to.


INGREDIENTS

  • 2 C Strawberries

  • ½ C Sugar

  • ½ C Sour Cream

  • ½ C Red Wine

  • 2 C Cold water

INSTRUCTIONS
Mix in blender and serve cold. Simple and sweet!

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Elly's White Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Woman Connected to Recipe: Elly Goldfine Zweigbaum

Submitted by Sara Goldfine Baratz (Elly’s sister)


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About Elly:
Elly is the oldest (of 3) sisters, a mom of 3 boys and 2 dogs, a breast cancer survivor, philanthropist, avid hostess and voracious cook. She has a resilience and energy for life that I wish I could bottle up and share. I feel blessed to have her as my sister and one of my best friends.

About Elly's White Chocolate Chip Banana Bread:
Elly loves to host get togethers, whether it be an impromptu family brunch, sister's night, holiday meal, or even having her sons' friends over. Even without those reasons, she is always whipping up something delicious in her kitchen. This banana bread is typically requested and leftovers don't stand a chance.


INGREDIENTS

  • 3/4 cup sugar

  • 3 ripe banana

  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil

  • 2 eggs

  • 2 cups flour

  • 2 tsp vanilla

  • 1/2 tsp baking powder

  • 1 tsp baking soda

  • 1/2 tsp salt

  • 1 cup white chocolate chips

  • Optional add-ins: nuts, chocolate chips, berries

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre heat oven to 350

Mix sugar, bananas, oil and eggs

Stir in dry ingredients

Fold in white chocolate chips

Grease a loaf pan

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 60 mins or until tooth pick comes out dry.

Mary Beth's Cranberry Cake

Woman Connected to Recipe: Mary Beth Whitbread

Submitted by Wynne Reece (Mary Beth’s granddaughter)


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About Mary Beth:
Mary Beth, or MB as we fondly and jovially so often refer to her by, was my paternal grandmother. 

MB was a fierce, southern woman, with nearly all Irish heritage, descending from a line of strong women. In looking through photos, I found images of the women who came before her, in pants and playing football in the early 1900s.

As a mother of three, MB lost her husband at a very young age, leaving her to raise (newly) teenagers in the '60s and transition from the life she'd always known - as a college educated, homemaker who took pride in keeping an immaculate space and supporting her children and husband in their adventures.

While a daunting endeavor for any person, living in any era, she harnessed her strength and became one of the early realtors at what is now one of the largest and most visible realty companies in Minnesota. The idea of her children suffering any further and not continuing to have the life she and her late husband had worked so hard to build, was just not something to be entertained. Her strength is to be revered. 

Even while working full time as a realtor, she never let her homemaking and kitchen skills lapse. I recall from my youngest memories, and have heard time and again from my parents, MB had a way in the kitchen. Her cooking style was strongly Southern, riddling meals with cornmeal, fried mush and catfish.

But cooking aside, her baking is what is so often recalled as the best they have ever had to this day. As they've both recalled, there wasn't a day in MB's kitchen without a fresh tray of cookies, bars, cakes and pies. You never went hungry with MB at the helm, and in fact often had to unbutton that dastardly pant's closure.

MB passed in 2019 at the age of 99, two years to the day, after the passing of her daughter. Without question, her spirit lives on through us all.

About Mary Beth's Cranberry Cake:
This particular recipe was made around the holidays, but is a family favorite that has snuck into the year round "to-bake" list. It is heralded as "unbelievably delicious", with a fresh loaf barely making it more than a day or two before it is devoured. 


INGREDIENTS

  • 1/3 c light molasses

  • 2 c flour

  • 1 c sugar

  • 1 c hot water

  • 2 T soda (I'm presuming this is baking soda)

  • 2 c cranberries (cut in half and put in last; or add 1/2 (1c) raisins, 1/2 (1c) cranberries)

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix all - adding cranberries last. Bake in shallow pan @ 375º for 15 min, then 350º for 20 min more, or when done by testing w/ toothpick

If used as a company dessert you might want to add hot sauce:

  • 1 c sugar

  • 1/2 c cream

  • scant 1/2 c butter

  • 1 t vanilla

  • Heat thoroughly but do not boil

Janet's Quasi-Indian Beans

Woman Connected to Recipe: Janet Sharma

Submitted by Nina Sharma (Janet’s daughter)


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About Janet:
I'm the daughter of immigrants. My mom's family was in the first round, arriving to America several years before the Mayflower. My dad was in a later round, arriving with much of the Indian diaspora in the late 1960s.

Their marriage is a clash of cultures, a mix of religions, and a daily lesson in compromise and innovation. And, so is my mom's cooking.

As a kid, we were relegated to iceberg lettuce salads, mac and cheese, or chipped beef and mashed potatoes-- standbys that were economical, hearty, and quick. If left to her own tastes, she'd make a delicious pasta, a savory fish, or anything with fresh garden herbs. In a restaurant, she'll always pick a wedge salad and roasted chicken.

About Janet’s Quasi-Indian Beans:
Janet’s 50-year roommate's (my dad's) tastes have encouraged her to dabble in the complexities of Indian home cooking from time to time. At the beginning, this did not go so well. There are horror stories of food poisoning from her early attempts at making chapatis (Indian flat bread).

When she'd asked for recipes from his childhood, two things got in her way: 1) her mother in law spoke no English and 2) no one had ever written down a family recipe. So she improvised - a dash of this, some simmering of that, and a few hours later, voila.

Janet is a resourceful, resilient, and radiant human and her self-proclaimed Quasi-Indian Beans are just the tip of her culinary iceberg.


Janet's Quasi-Indian Beans

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb fresh string beans (use cut frozen green beans if necessary)

  • 2-3 russet potatoes

  • 2 Tbsp oil

  • 1 medium onion, chopped

  • 1 tsp ground cumin

  • 1 tsp ground coriander

  • 1/2 tsp turmeric

  • 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper if you wish

  • salt & pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Trim ends of beans and cut into 1-1/2' pieces - set aside

Peel potatoes and cut into pieces about 1 to 1-1/2" - set aside

Saute chopped onion in a little oil until wilted (5 minutes or so).  

Add cumin, coriander and turmeric (and red pepper) stir for a minute or two.  (Add more spice if you wish)

Add beans and potatoes to onion mixture.  Stir to coat everything with the spices.

Cover tightly and cook over very low flame for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes,  or more, until potatoes are soft.

Stir every 5-10 minutes to avoid burning.

Add salt & pepper to taste.

Serve with naan and yogurt.


Gail's Easy Cheesy Potatoes

Woman Connected to Recipe: Gail Freeberg

Submitted by Jennie Sewell (Gail’s daughter)


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About Gail:
Gail Freeberg is a child of the 50’s and took on the role of first born ruler follower in her family. Just like her mom, she has a magnetic witty side, and puts a high priority on having fun.

About Gail's Easy Cheesy Potatoes:
Growing up, her style of cooking was an economical Midwestern approach that often involved a can of Campbell’s cream of something. One of these quick and easy staples is “Easy Cheesy Potatoes”. Now I use this crowd-pleasing side anytime I want buy in from kids and adults alike.


Gail's Easy Cheesy Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 bag frozen Ore-Ida Hash brown Potatoes

  • 1 small carton of Half and Half

  • 1 stick of butter

  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix all together in a greased pan.
Cook uncovered at 350 for 1 hour, until crispy on top.
(Double the recipe and cook for 1 ½ - 1 ¾ hours)


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