Cooking with a Serial Killer Recipes From Dorothea Puente

Dorothea Puente as described in wikipedia.com

"Dorothea Helen Puente (born January 9, 1929) is a convicted American serial killer. In the 1980s, Puente ran a boarding house in Sacramento, California, and cashed the Social Security checks of her elderly and mentally disabled boarders. Those who complained were killed and buried in her yard."

This cookbook is written by a convicted serial killer. She used to ran a boarding house and her tenants remembered that she was a great cook. This recipe was compiled while she was in prison. She may be a serial killer but she was an awesome cook. 

Indian Cookbook: 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

If you are crazy about Indian curries, then you should own this wonderful book. Don't fret if you dont know half of the ingredients mentioned in the book, you can just jump to ingredients glossary to learn more. If you are not familiar with indian cooking , some of the ingredients may look difficult.. But actually not,  most of the ingredients can be easily obtained from your local stores or spice shops.

Although this is not a vegetarian cookbook as there are plenty recipes for meat and fish dishes, there are wide variety of vegetarian dishes in the book that you won't be running out of options. so soon. 

The book reviews at amazon.com have been very generous. On the average, the book is rated at 5 stars and it has not received a rating less than 4. Quite impressive. 

Seductions of Rice by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Jefrey and Naomi are a husband and wife who traveled to the major rice-eating regions of the world to experience first hand on how people from different parts of the world eat their rice.

This is not a typical cookbook, but rather a documentation of how rice is cooked and eaten all over the world. This book is also a travel log with tales and photographs of peoples and places that they have been to. 

The first two chapters talks about the varieties of rice, but the subsequent chapters were divided into regions: The Chinese Way, The Thai Way, The Japanese Way, The Indian Way, The Central Asian and Persian Way, The Mediterranean Way, The Sengalese Way and The North American Way. In each sections, they have recipes for not just rice, but also the recipes of side dishes that accompany the rice. In between the recipes, there are stories and photographs about their journey, the people they have met and  the places they have been to in the region.

There you go, this book is a complete world wide guide to rice eating. If you are a serious cookbook collectors, this cookbook is a must-have.

Pantry Paella by Nigella Lawson

I recently bought an expensive long grain rice (Basmati) from a friend who is in the rice trading business. She was telling me that the rice is eaten by the kings and queens and of the finest quality. This Basmati rice is from northern part of India and is the most expensive kind.

Being Asian, I eat rice everyday but we normally eat the regular Thai rice which we buy at the store. Since we have this special rice, I thought we make something special with it. So I went through through rice recipes. Brasmati rice is normally use to cook indian briyani. But we have had briyani rice many times and I wanted to try something different.. I found one paella recipe by Nigella Lawson and I gave it a try. Nigella is my favourite TV Chef and her recipes has never failed me before.

The recipe is Pantry Paella. The result is super-delicious. It doesn't turn out like the regular spanish paella because they normally use the short grain rice. My paella looks more like an indian briyani but I am sure it taste just as good.  I made a tiny adjustment to the recipe so that my brasmati rice is well cooked and not half cook.

This is the recipe which I copied from the Food Network
Pantry Paella

Ingredients

• Pinch saffron threads
• 1/4 cup sherry (recommended: Oloroso)
• 2 tablespoons regular olive oil
• 3 scallions, finely sliced
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 1/4 cups rice, such as Bomba, Paella or Arborio
• 8 ounces peeled raw frozen prawns, thawed
• 3 tubes baby squid, frozen, thawed and sliced (about 1 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups diced cold cooked pork (I used chicken instead)
• 1 1/4 cups frozen peas
• 2 cups chicken stock (ready-made, concentrate or cubes) preferably organic
• Salt
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges, for serving
• Chopped cilantro leaves, for serving

Directions

Put the saffron threads into a small pan over a medium heat with the sherry and warm them, not letting the liquid come to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool.

Heat the oil in a wide, heavy based pan over low heat. Add the onions and saute for a few minutes.

Add the sliced garlic and cook for a minute or so more. Stir in the rice, coat the grains in the oil, then add the prawns, baby squid, pork and peas. Mix to combine.

Heat the chicken stock in a small pot over medium heat, or make up the concentrate or cubes with boiling water. Stir in the sherry and saffron mixture and combine well. Add the stock mixture to the rice and bring it to a bubble, then turn the heat down to a low simmer, but leave uncovered.

Cook without stirring for 15 to 20 minutes, and by that time the rice should have absorbed the liquid and be tender. Gently stir with a fork to separate the grains, and check the seasoning, adding salt, if needed.
(I did cover my pan so that the rice can steam, otherwise the brasmati rice wont be fully cook, I only stir the rice after the rice is cooked.)

Serve the paella edged with lemon wedges, and sprinkled with cilantro.


This recipe and other wonderful Nigella's recipes can be found in her latest cookbook. Nigella's recipes are usually very easy to make, very creative and always served as family meals. Give it a try. 

Chicken Soup for the Soul Cookbook - the cookbook with stories

Traditional Family dishes always trigger happy and sometimes sad memory. Sometimes it makes you think of that special someone who used to take the trouble to cook that special dish.

I always love cookbooks that have heart warming anecdotes and stories. It  makes the recipe extra special with human touch and not just about ingredients and measurements.

One of those cookbooks is Chicken Soup for Soul Cookbook. Famous authors Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen team up with cookbook author Diana Von Welanetz Wentworth to come up with this one of its kind cookbook.

Inside you will find popular family recipes together with heartwarming and inspiring stories in between.

First Time In The Kitchen

You don't know how to turn on the stove. You don't even know how to boil water. Except for knife, fork and spoon, you don't know other kitchen jargons. You are pathetic!

You used to buy your food and drinks ready made. But now, since you own a place of your own, you think perhaps it is cool to equip the kitchen with some basic essentials. And perhaps it is time to learn some basic kitchen management too.

Well, don't worry. This book is written just for YOU.