B
Monday, January 27, 2020
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Approximating Late-Night Favorites
BETWEEN
THE ROWS
WENDY SCHMIDT
Waiting for
spring, or
for seeds,
heightens
the joy of
final arrival
Long ago you got a catalog in the
mail and you sent an order off, also by
return mail.
Then we advanced to being able to
call in an order on an 800 number.
Now we can order online and they
ship it out right away or at least the
next day. I think all this is a product
of our demand for instant gratifi ca-
tion. Whatever happened to the joy of
anticipation?
It was a pain to wait forever until
Christmas when I was in grade school,
but that is also what made Christmas
to much better. It was better because of
the pain of anticipation.
The sweetness of spring is made
sweeter because of the coldness and
darkness of winter.
Also, without winter we would not
have time to look at all the seed cata-
logs and decide which variety of beans
or cucumbers to order for the garden
of 2020.
In Northeast Oregon we tend to
have a shorter growing season. Some
varieties of summer vegetables must
be started indoors ahead of time to
compensate for our season’s brevity.
Seed starting is not diffi cult and can
be done on any windowsill. March is
plenty early to start seeds in our area.
Garden chores
• Limbs damaged by ice or snow
should be pruned off promptly to pre-
vent bark from tearing.
• Begin pruning deciduous plants.
• Swap seed and plant information
with your gardening friends.
If you have garden questions or com-
ments, please write to greengardencol-
umn@yahoo.com. Thanks for reading!
Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune-TNS
By breaking down the seasoning ingredients in Doritos, you can create a popover the approximates the taste of that craveable
snack.
C RAVINGS C RUSHED
out that some of the reasons that certain
foods are painted with the “munchies” brush
There is a certain air of public dismis-
is because they are easily sourced and af-
siveness around the types of foods that
fordable, but mostly because they have the
seem to always be associated with “the
kinds of exciting fl avor profi les that can
munchies.” Movies and television promote
cut through any fog. Which not only makes
images of teenagers face-planted in bags
them ideal for those indulgent moments,
of chips, bros stuffi ng whole tacos blindly
but also, surprisingly inspiring for amping
into their mouths between fi ts of uncontrol- up the fl avors of some other dishes that can
lable laughter, or a stoner spouting deeply
be enjoyed with or without any medicinal
incoherent philosophical ramblings punctu- assistance.
ated with consuming sweets like a strange
Carbs are always a natural with munchies
Socratic Cookie Monster.
food. Whether sweet or savory, it seems to be
The easy joke is not only that most con-
the fi rst place we turn. So, one of my favorite
trol is lost, but also that the food sought in
things to do is to take some basic plain
these times of enjoyment or impairment is
household favorite, like popovers, scones or
automatically on the lowest end of the qual- pancakes, and use them as a blank canvas,
ity scale. Cheech and Chong never went in getting inspired with new fl avor combina-
search of an organic, locavore acai smoothie tions. Because a lot of our most beloved
bowl.
snack foods have complex fl avor profi les, it
While I suppose there is a whiff of truth
is fun to experiment to see if you can make
in this, and many a Cheeto and Oreo have
something new, and maybe a bit elevated,
disappeared in some lost hour of a late
but still have it hit that sweet spot of deli-
night or early morning, I would like to point cious nostalgia.
By Stacey Ballis
Chicago Tribune
Doritos are one of the superior snacks,
needing no dip or extra anointing to be
at their salty, cheesy best. By breaking
down the fl avors of Doritos seasoning into
its composite parts — cheese, tomato and
spice — and combining it with my favorite
popover recipe, you get a light popover with
all the punch of a bag of Original Doritos,
the perfect thing to serve alongside a steak
or roast chicken. And a Cool Ranch version
is just a packet of Hidden Valley away.
Speaking of chicken, fried chicken is one of
the most craveworthy foods of any snack at-
tack, whether it is a crispy nugget or tender,
a basket of wings, a sold-out sandwich, or a
bucket of pieces with all the sides. Scones
are one of the easiest and fastest things to
bake, and this version takes all of the fl avors
of great fried chicken, not to mention some
bonus crispy skin bits, and makes a bake
that hits your fi nger-licking fried chicken
button, with pinkies-up high-tea elegance.
See Cravings/Page 2B
MAKING MULLIGATAWNY SOUP
A tangy taste of
traditional India
By Linda Gassenheimer
Tribune News Service
need for tonight’s Dinner in Minutes.
To buy: ½ pound boneless, skinless
chicken breast, 1 medium golden
delicious apple, 1 lemon, 1 small
package cilantro, 1 small piece fresh
ginger or ground ginger, 1 container
curry powder, 1 package microwave-
able brown rice, 1 container fat-free,
unsalted chicken broth and 1 can
lite coconut milk.
Staples: onion, carrot, canola oil,
fl our, butter, salt and black pepper-
corns.
Mulligatawny is a traditional
curry soup with Indian origins. It’s a
fragrant blend of tangy curry pow-
der, ginger and coconut milk. Golden
delicious apples add a sweet crunchy
touch and chicken cubes complete
this one dish dinner.
A note about curry powder:
authentic curry powder is a blend of
freshly ground spices and herbs such
as cardamom, chilies, cinnamon,
cloves, coriander and cumin and is
made fresh every day. For this quick MULLIGATAWNY SOUP
meal, commercial curry powder
Recipe by Linda Gassenheimer
works well. It comes in two forms,
standard and Madras, the hotter
1 tablespoon butter
one.
Helpful Hints
• Curry powder can be found in
the spice section of the supermarket.
It loses its freshness after 2 to 3
months.
Countdown
• Start soup.
• While soup simmers, make rice.
• Complete soup and serve with
rice.
Shopping List
Here are the ingredients you’ll
1 cup sliced onion
½ cup sliced carrot
½ pound boneless, skinless chicken
breast cut into ½- to 1-inch pieces
½ tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon fl our
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
or 2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 ½ cups fat-free, unsalted
chicken broth
1 cup water
½ cup lite coconut milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup ½-inch cubes golden
delicious apple
Linda Gassenheimer/TNS
Mulligatawny soup
2 tablespoons chopped fresh
cilantro (optional)
4 lemon wedges
Heat butter in a large saucepan
over medium-high heat. Add onion,
carrot and chicken and saute 5
minutes, stirring occasionally. Add
the curry powder, fl our and ginger
and saute about 30 seconds. Stir in
chicken broth, water and coconut
milk. Simmer 10 minutes. Add salt
and pepper to taste. To serve, spoon
rice into 2 large soup bowls and ladle
soup on top. Sprinkle with apple
cubes and cilantro. Place lemon
wedges on side.
Yield 2 servings.
Per serving: 337 calories (34%
from fat), 12.7 g fat (7.4 g saturated,
2.6 g monounsaturated), 100 mg
cholesterol, 32 g protein, 25.9 g
carbohydrates, 4.4 g fi ber, 200 mg
sodium.
MICROWAVEABLE
BROWN RICE
Recipe by Linda Gassenheimer
1 package microwave brown
rice (1½ cups cooked)
2 teaspoons canola oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Microwave rice according to pack-
age instructions. Measure 1 ½ cups
rice and reserve remaining rice for
another time. Add oil and salt and
pepper to taste. Toss well.
Yield 2 servings.
Per serving: 226 calories (24% from
fat), 6 g fat (0.7 g saturated, 3.4 g
monounsaturated), no cholesterol, 4.2
g protein, 38.8 g carbohydrates, 2.4 g
fi ber, 6 mg sodium.