Everyday Cooking!!

A Taco Dinner - Black Bean Spinach stuffed Tacos with Cilantro Lime Rice

2012-01-24T11:14:00.001-05:00

I love Mexican food and this is one type of cuisine I instantly fell in love with when I first came to the US. Mexican cuisine is very close to Indian cooking what with the use of multiple spices and beans. This was the only food I could identify with then and could really enjoy. But over the years my taste buds have certainly evolved with exposure to so many different cuisines. In the past 10 years I have come to love my pastas, burgers/veggie patties, pitas/falafels yet my love for Mexican cuisine remains unchanged. I do like eating out at Mexican restaurants but more often than not the dishes come loaded with cheese which I actually find off putting. Fortunately cooking Mexican food at home is pretty simple and I love the fact that I can control the ingredients that go into it. I try to strike a good balance between using enough beans and vegetables with just enough cheese/sour cream to make a perfect Mexican dinner that suits our tastes.

I made corn tortilla from scratch and having a tortilla maker makes it very easy to roll out the tortillas. But if you dont have a tortilla maker, the dough can be rolled between two pieces of parchment. Feel free to use store bought ones if you are pressed for time (hard or soft shell tacos will work fine). This recipe is more of a method than a strict recipe you need to follow. Any kind of beans and greens can be used and you can vary the fixings (Salsa, sour cream, avocado etc) as you like. I have used chilli sauce that my cousin got for us from Mexico and I must say they were awesome and SPICY. I used green hot sauce and red hot sauce in place where I would normally use jalapenos.
Cilantro-Lime Rice -I normally dont make rice when I can get away with just tortillas but I wanted to try this cilantro lime rice that we had in one of the Mexican restaurants on our trip to Phoenix (the restaurant is Abuelos, in Chandler, AZ). This is a very simple rice to make, nothing too complicated with just 3 ingredients or so.Its a breeze to prepare and it makes this a complete Mexican dinner like the one you would eat if ordering in a restaurant!!

Ingredients

Corn Tortilla

11/2 cups Masa Harina (I used P.A.N pre-cooked white corn meal, available in the international section of most grocery stores)
11/2 - 2 cups warm water (or as needed)
Salt to taste

Stuffing
2 cups cooked black bean (can or fresh)
1 cup spinach, Kale or Swiss Chard, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
1/2 tsp Mexican hot sauce or chopped jalapeno
Salt to taste
Garnish - Finely chopped tomatoes, onions (or salsa), avocado, cilantro, sour cream

Method

Mix masa harina and salt in a large bowl. Add one cup warm water and mix it well into the dough. Add more water as necessary to form a soft dough.
Cover with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 10 min.
Pinch a lemon sized ball from the dough and roll it into a ball. Repeat with rest of the dough.
Line the two discs of the tortilla maker with plastic wrap. Place a lemon sized ball of the dough in the lower disc of the tortilla maker. Press the upper disc to form a flat round tortilla.
Heat a cast iron or a non-stick griddle on a medium flame. When the griddle is hot place the shaped tortilla on the griddle. Let it cook just until the bottom gets brown spots. Flip it over to cook the other side.
Remove it on to a aluminum foil to keep it warm.
Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Stuffing

Heat oil in saute pan, add garlic, jalapeno (if using) and cut greens. Saute for a few minutes until the greens wilt. Cook a little longer if you like the greens to be soft. Add cumin powder, hot sauce and salt. Stir well.
Mash half the quantity of the cooked black bean. Add this to the above mixture. Add about 1/4 cup water, lower the heat and close the pan. Let this cook for a minute or two until the spices sink into the beans and the greens.
Now add rest of the beans. Stir and cook for a few more minutes on a medium low flame.

Assembling
Take a corn tortilla, fill it with 2 -3 tbsp of the beans/greens mixture. Top it with any or all of the condiments listed under garnish. Serve with cilantro lime rice.

Cilantro-Lime Rice

Cook 1 cup long grained rice (like Basmati) with 2 cups of water and 1/2 tsp salt. ( I used a microwave rice cooker but feel free to use any method you would normally cook rice). Set aside for 5 min or so, until the steam settles down.
Fluff the rice with a fork and transfer it into a shallow dish. Pour 2 tsp oil (canola, vegetable oil or light olive oil) over the rice, add 1 tbsp of finely chopped cilantro and juice from 1 lime. Stir to combine and take care not to break the rice grains. Taste and adjust salt and add more lime juice if need be. Serve as a side to tacos, burritos, fajitas etc.

Enjoy !!

Pecan Shortbread Cookies

2012-01-09T10:36:00.000-05:00

Happy New year to all of you and hope 2012 bring much joy and prosperity to all. I wanted to start the new year with a sweet treat and also these cookies are so yummy that I wanted to share it with you all today instead of it waiting in the drafts folder. These pecan cookies remind me so much of the "Sandies" that I used to love a few years back, soft yet crunchy, buttery and all that lovely pecan flavor. Its pretty hard to stop with just one !!

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp confectioner's sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Method
In a mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, corn starch, pecans and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter. Mix just until they are well mixed.
Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten the balls just a little bit. Place the balls at least a couple inches apart.
Bake at 350F for 10-15 min just until the edges are lightly brown.
Cool. Keeps fresh for a week when stored in an air-tight container.

Enjoy !!

Gingerbread Cheesecake Bites

2011-12-20T08:05:00.003-05:00

Here's the ingredient 11 of MMC challenge

From the judge - " Congratulations on completing challenge 10. Looking forward to eating roasted Turnips. Your next ingredient, ingredient number 11 is your choice (you don't believe that do you!), Well.. its not your choice entirely. But the rules would make you believe you have a choice. I hope you like to eat Crystallized Ginger. How about some crunchy Vanilla Sugar Wafers or say tasting a spoon full of Molasses? Or the better, how about mixing them all.? I don't know about you, but I cannot imagine myself enjoying them as a mixture yet. So yep there it is, your challenge. But, then I promised that you have a choice. Yes, you do. Of the three ingredients you have to pick one of them as your main ingredient and the other two as add on. However remember that the flavors of all 3 ingredients should show up in the final product."

Three wonderful ingredient but have to choose one - this meant I had to weigh my choices wisely :-) The moment I saw the ingredients, I knew what my choice was going to be. I decided to focus on the gingery flavor ie. crystallized ginger mainly because the ginger flavor normally tends to overpower other subtle flavors. So in my opinion molasses and vanilla wafers didnt stand a chance when paired with the strong ginger flavor. This being Christmas season I thought making a gingerbread based sweet treat will be just the thing to do. Cheesecake has been in my to do list for a while now. But I did not have a springform pan that is normally used to bake cheesecake. So I decided to go the miniature version route. I used a 12-hole muffin pan to make these bite-sized cheesecake type dessert.

Notes:
These gingerbread bites are pretty heavy on the crust and light on the filling than you will find in the usual cheesecake.
Add more or less crystallized ginger depending on how "gingery" you would like the filling to be. I used around 3-4 tbsp and found it to be a bit too much of ginger flavor to my liking. But if you can handle it feel free to use as much.
I have used a food processor to make the batter which I find is the easiest way - less dishes to clean later :-) But a hand mixer will do the job as well.

Ingredients
Gingersnap-vanilla wafer crust
10 gingersnaps
6 vanilla wafers
3 tbsp melted butter

Cheesecake Batter
1/4 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp crystallized ginger
1/4 tsp allspice powder
Cyrstallized ginger, Vanilla wafers or Gingersnaps for garnish

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Add the gingersnap and vanilla wafers into the food processor bowl fitted with the steel blade. Process until the mixture resembles fine grains of sand.
Add the melted butter and pulse just until butter mixes in with the crumbs.
Transfer to a bowl.
Line a 12-hole muffin pan with the cupcake liners.
Spoon 2 tablespoons of the crumb mixture into each hole of the prepared pan.
Press into the bottoms and up just a bit to the sides of the liner. (The thickness of the crust can be varied as per your taste. My preference is a thicker crust and lighter on the filling.) Set aside.
In a mixing bowl or in the food processor bowl beat cream cheese, mascarpone cheese and sour cream until light and fluffy (About 2-3 min if using a hand mixer). Dont worry if the consistency looks a bit runny.
Add the egg, mix well till the egg is incorporated into the batter.
Now add molasses, salt, crystallized ginger and allspice. Beat until well mixed.
Fill each of the crumb lined hole with a few tablespoons of the cheesecake batter.
Bake for 15 min or just until the cheesecake batter is set.
Let it cool and then refrigerate for a few hours or even overnight.
Garnish with crystallized ginger and gingersnap before serving.

This will be my entry to the events "Yummy Desserts" hosted by Pranati and "Sinful Delights" hosted by Vardhini.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Bundt Cake with Orange Syrup

2011-12-12T10:07:00.001-05:00

Baking is something I have come to like or should I say love. A few years back I would not have probably imagined I would bake as much as I do today. Though I bake year-round, my favorite baking season is between thanksgiving (pies!!) and X'mas/New Year (when I experiment with different cookie recipes). The cold weather makes it all the more reason to crank up the oven - enjoy the warmth and the aroma of the baked goodies that fill the house.

My latest addition to the baking collection is the bundt pan which I have been eyeing for a while. I love the presentation that a bundt cake provides and it sure is a crowd puller. Chocolate cake is one of the most loved cakes (at least in my household!) and presenting it as a bundt cake just makes it even more irresistible. The biggest challenge to baking chocolate cake is getting it to be moist. Even the best bakeries make chocolate cake/muffin that is very dry and crumb-y. Personally I like moist cakes and the recipe that I have adapted from here yields a very moist cake. I have replaced the ganache glaze with an orange syrup where the orange flavor melds extremely well with the strong chocolate flavor. And as the glaze soaks into the cake, each bite is lusciously moist.

Notes:

Proper greasing and flouring the bundt pan ensures that cake unmolds without sticking to the pan. So do not skip dusting with flour even if using a non-stick spray or non-stick pan.
I find using oil yields a very moist cake esp. chocolate cakes.
Use the best possible chocolate and cocoa powder to get a good chocolaty flavor.
Under-baking rather than over-baking is suggested to keep the cake moist.

Ingredients
1/2 tbsp softened butter and 1 tbsp all-purpose flour - to prepare the bundt pan
2 oz bittersweet chocolate (either chips or bar, finely chopped)
3/4 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup strong fresh brewed coffee (at room temperature)
1 cup buttermilk

Orange Glaze
Juice from 2 small oranges (I used Clementines that are in season now)
Orange zest for garnish
1 tsp Orange flower water or orange flavor
1 tsp Grand Marnier (optional)
1/4 cup sugar (adjust depending on the sweetness of the orange juice)

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Grease the bundt pan with softened butter and dust with 1 tbsp of the flour.
Melt chocolate in a small pan on low heat or in the microwave oven. Let it cool.
In a bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
Stir coffee and buttermilk in another small bowl. Set aside.
Scrape the chocolate into a mixing bowl, add sugar and oil. Whisk by hand or using a hand mixer until well combined.
Add the egg and whisk for a minute or so.
Add half of the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture along with half of the coffee/buttermilk mixture. Whisk until well combined.
Add the remaining flour mixture, coffee mixture and whisk until smooth.
Pour into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 45 min or until knife inserted close to the center comes out moist with just a few crumbs.
Let it cool completely before unmolding the cake.

Orange glaze: In a small saucepan combine orange juice and sugar. Set it on a low flame. Stir until sugar dissolves (about 4-5 minutes). Add the orange flavoring and grand marnier (if using). Stir and remove it from heat. Let it cool just a bit.

Arranging the cake: Spoon half the glaze evenly over the cooled cake. Let it stand for a few minutes so the glaze is absorbed. Now spoon the rest of the glaze over the cake. Garnish with orange zest. Let it stand for atleast a few hours or overnight before serving.

This will be my entry to Pari's "'Only' - cakes and cookies" event.

Enjoy !!

Fall Vegetable Soup

2011-11-30T08:31:00.006-05:00

We had a lovely thanksgiving this year, with unseasonably warm weather and enjoyable company. As always its also a holiday to indulge in the fall bounties and so we did. Here's a few pictures from our Thanksgiving dinner. After all the rich food over the weekend, "cyber Monday" is "lean" Monday in our household. I usually end up having a good number of vegetables leftover from the big dinner. This year I had some squash, one sweet potato, corn etc which I put to good use by making this fall vegetable soup. The ingredient that makes this soup a bit different from the ordinary is the use of apple cider. I made some mulled cider and had a few cups of unsweetened cider leftover. Used that instead of the vegetable stock to get the tang and the sweet aromatic flavor of the apple. The outcome was a pretty filling yet light enough kind of a soup to start the detox regime post-thanksgiving :-)

Notes:

Any combination of fall vegetables will work. Feel free to substitute with other fall vegetables like turnip, pumpkin etc.
The vegetables can be diced large or small as long as they are evenly sized.

Ingredients

Butternut squash - 1 cup diced
1 Sweet potato diced
1 Medium Potato, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 medium red onion. finely chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen, thawed)
1 tsp ginger minced
1 clove of garlic minced
3-4 leaves of fresh basil, finely chopped
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin powder
2 cups apple cider, unsweetened
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt, to taste

Method

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a big pot. Add onions, ginger and garlic. Saute till the onions are translucent.
Add the chopped vegetables except corn kernels and saute for 2 minutes.
Now add the spices (cayenne, paprika, basil, cumin powder and salt). Saute for 2 more minutes.
Now add 2 cups of apple cider and one cup of water.
Cover and simmer over medium flame. Add more water to get the consistency you like. I added 4 cups water in total.
After the vegetables are cooked tender but not falling apart (about 15 min or so), add corn kernels, taste, adjust seasoning.
Cook for 2-3 minutes until the corn is tender.
Serve hot with some rustic bread on the side.

Enjoy !!

Spicy Black Bean Cakes

2011-11-21T08:00:00.003-05:00

The first time I had a version of the spicy cake was back in my graduate school days in the small town of Ames, IA. One of the micro brewery/restaurants there had these spicy bean cakes as an entree item. In the early 2000's when I was new to the US, being a vegetarian meant limited eating out options especially in a small town like Ames. Most restaurants would have just one or two vegetarian options and the worst I have seen for a vegetarian option was just a salad with no protein in it whatsoever. Things have come a long way since then and with vegetarianism gaining immense popularity in this part of the world most restaurants have made their menus more vegetarian-friendly. So when I first saw this spicy bean cake in the restaurant five years ago, I was pretty excited. I dont remember much of the what the spicy bean cake tasted - two things stand out clearly in memory though - it was made of black bean and it had a very distinct smoky flavor.

Now to the matter at hand. The recipe I have here uses pretty simple ingredients - I have used roasted cumin powder to give the smoky flavor and the heat comes from the jalapeno peppers. Brown rice is what forms the binding material to keep the cake together. This is a very nourishing all in one meal. There is enough carbohydrates and proteins that a simple salad on the side makes a perfect dinner. Other ways to serve this cake is like a burger between slices of bread or as a wrap in tortilla/roti with condiments of your choice. I made a very simple garlicky buttermilk dressing similar to an aioli.

Ingredients
1 15oz can or 11/2 cups cooked black bean
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup carrots (optional)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped (or any other green chili pepper), adjust to taste
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
1 tbsp oil + more for shallow frying
salt to taste

For Buttermilk aioli
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp cayenne or red chili powder
2 clove minced garlic
1/4 tsp stone-ground mustard
A pinch of dill (dried) or 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh dill
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt to taste

Method
Buttermilk aioli

In a medium bowl whisk the buttermilk, add all the ingredients and mix well.
Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Set aside.

Black bean cakes

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic, jalapeno and onions. Saute until the onions turn translucent.
Add carrots if using, saute for a minute or two and then add black beans, cumin powder and salt.
Saute for two more minutes. Finally add brown rice, mix well and remove from the heat.
Let it cool slightly, add cilantro if using and then mix well so the black beans and the rice looked mashed and well combined. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
Take a lemon sized ball of the mixture and flatten to make a 1/4 inch thick disc. Repeat with the rest of the mixture. At this point you can either proceed to the next step immediately or refrigerate for a few hours to overnight.
Place a saute pan or a griddle on a medium flame, pour 1 tbsp of oil and swirl so the bottom of the pan is well-coated with oil.
When the oil is hot enough lay the flattened cakes on the pan. Make sure the patties do not touch each other. Cook for 3-4 min or until the bottom is brown. Flip over, cook the other side till brown.
Remove on a plate and serve warm with a salad and dressing.

Enjoy !!

Spinach and Potato Cutlets (Patties)

2011-11-10T08:00:00.002-05:00

Vegetable cutlets are pretty popular in south Indian restaurants. Its almost similar to the chaat dish Aloo tikki though cutlets are usually denser and have a crispier exterior due to the bread crumbs coated on them. My husband loves these and so do I. We had friends over for dinner last week and I wanted an appetizer that did not involve deep frying and aslo that it be of Indian origin. Vegetable cutlet ("Indian") was one of the candidates but my menu had vegetable biryani which uses more or less the same set of vegetables (think carrots, peas, cauliflower). I didnt want to duplicate the veggies yet I wasnt willing to give up on the cutlet idea. So a compromise was reached and the cutlet I finally made had potatoes (which is the base and the binding material for the cutlet) and spinach (in place of the mixed vegetables). Spinach is one of those vegetables I can eat all day long and everyday!! The spices were kept to a minimum to let the spinach flavor shine. The cutlets were a super hit with our guests and think it will show up again pretty soon in our dinner plate :-) These patties dont necessarily have to be an appetizer. Its a good substitute to veggie burgers. Use ciabatta or sourdough bread with condiments of your choice (mustard, any spread or just plain ketchup) and cheese to make a complete meal.

Notes:

Any greens can be used instead of spinach. I think Kale or swiss chard should work well.
For a different twist potatoes can be substituted with sweet potatoes that are in season now.
I kept the spices to a minimum but feel free to experiment with different spices and flavors. Cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala or chaat masala can be added for extra flavor.
Bread crumb coated patties can be stored in the freezer. Once the patties are coated, place it on a sheet pan (dont let the patties touch each other) and freeze it for 15 min until the coated cutlets are firm. Now transfer it to a ziplock and freeze. Stays fresh for up to 2 months.

Ingredients
1 bunch fresh spinach (if using frozen - 1 cup will do)
4-5 medium white potatoes
1 tsp roasted cumin powder (optional)
1-2 tsp cayenne powder (or red chili powder) - adjust as per taste
Salt to taste
1 cup bread crumbs
1-2 tbsp corn flour
Oil - for shallow frying

Method

Boil potatoes, peel the skin and mash. Set aside.
Saute spinach in a 1 tbsp of oil until tender. Add cumin powder, cayenne powder and salt. Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove from heat and let it cool.
In a large bowl mix cooked spinach and mashed potatoes. Add corn flour. Mix well until the mixture is relatively firm and can be shaped into flat patties. If needed, use more corn flour to get the right consistency for the patties.
Take lemon sized ball of the mixture, flatten it to form patties.
Coat evenly with bread crumbs. The patties can be refrigerated or frozen at this point for later use.
Take a shallow frying pan, add oil just enough to coat the surface of the pan. Heat on a medium flame.
When the oil is hot enough drop a few patties into the oil and let it fry for 2-3 min or until golden brown. Flip to the other side and continue cooking until golden brown.
Remove on a plate. Blot the excess oil with some paper napkins.
Serve with mint chutney or tomato ketchup.

Enjoy !!

MMC Challenge Part 10 - Peanut Crusted Oven Roasted Turnips

2011-10-19T10:00:00.022-04:00

Here's the ingredient 10 of MMC challenge

From the judge - "Congratulations on completing challenge 8 and 9.

Your next ingredient, ingredient number 10 is one of the predominant exports of Gaul civilization and a very important part of Obelix's (as in Asterix and Obelix) diet.

Turnip http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnip

As you know Obelix is a very happy guy and likes to eat a lot, we expect your final product to do the same, provide a sumptuous recipe that pleases a guy with picky taste and a big stomach. :)"

M's request/order to make a sumptuous recipe using turnip proved to be harder than I had imagined. The usual traditional sambar, curry recipes were ruled out by him deeming it to be tasty but too ordinary.

When describing the flavor of turnip, its not uncommon to hear that turnip tastes like potatoes when cooked, though I would like to think it tastes pretty unique (in a good way!!). A skim through the world wide web for recipes suggests turnip is often cooked with or like potatoes (think soups, creamed turnip etc). So I decided to cook turnips the way I would potatoes. And roasting them like potatoes was what I did. Simple turnip roast with a bit of oil and spice would be amazing but it still would not qualify for the "out of the box" thinking required for the challenge. I tried to jazz up the texture and taste of the turnips by crusting them with some peanuts and flax meal. This brings an extra dimension to the taste and texture not to mention the exceptional nutritional value of both the peanuts and flax meal. It was a win-win all the way and am sure Obelix will be pleased as well to munch on the crunchy snack!!

Notes:

The thinner the turnip slices, the crispier the end product. So cut the turnips according to the level of crispiness you would like.
Be generous with the crust. A lot of the crust will end up on the baking tray. The toasted crumbs do taste very yummy.
Baking tips - Each oven behaves differently. So make sure you keep a close eye on the dish after the 20 min mark. The longer it stays in the oven crispier it gets. So adjust the time according to your preference.

Ingredients
1 medium sized turnip (peeled and cut into half moon slices, see notes)
2 tbsp Peanut or other oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (sherry or balsamic can be used)
1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp red chili powder (cayenne or paprika can be substituted)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup crushed roasted peanuts
1/2 cup Flax meal (or flax seeds coarsely ground)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 370 F.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
In a wide bowl mix all the ingredients except turnips until well mixed.
Now dredge the turnips evenly with the above mixture. Make sure the trunip pieces are evenly and generously coated with the mixture.
Place the turnips on the prepared baking sheet.
Do not over crowd the baking sheet and ensure the turnip pieces do not overlap.
Bake for 30 - 40 min and turn the pieces over mid way through the baking (around 12-15 min mark).
The roasting is done when the crust dries out and is golden brown in color and aromatic.
Serve as a side or a snack.

Enjoy !!

Spinach Palmier - A perfect appetizer

2011-08-22T09:36:00.000-04:00

This is indeed a perfect appetizer. If you have followed my blog, u'd already know of my never ending love for appetizers and these heart shaped ones are a definite treat. I have been making these little appetizers for a while now, especially when I have people over for dinner. Not once has this recipe failed to gain the ooh's and aah's from the guests, both for the taste as well as the presentation. I served these as palmiers along with soup as appetizer for our family Thanksgiving dinner and this was a huge hit with the kids. All they ate was the palmiers and didnt touch the soup which they claimed tasted too healthy!! I dont blame them at all for I would have done the same if at all I could forget the calorie count for just a minute :-)

This is a great recipe to make ahead and freeze it for future use. I fill the pastry sheets, roll them up and cut into pieces. Arrange the pieces in a baking sheet, freeze it for 30 min until the pieces gets hard. At this point, transfer them into a zip lock bag and keep it in the freezer. This stays fresh for at least a month. The frozen palmiers can go direct into the oven. Frozen ones take a bit longer to cook than the fresh ones (maybe 5 min more than the 15-20 min suggested for the fresh ones).

Note:

Thaw the frozen spinach in the microwave. Squeeze out the water as much as possible. Excess water will result in a soggy filling.
Fresh spinach, slightly sauteed can also be used in place of the frozen spinach.
I have used ricotta in this recipe but cream cheese works great as well.

Ingredients
1 puff pastry sheet, thaw as per the instruction given in the box
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed (see notes)
1 cup ricotta cheese (drain out excess water, if any)
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1 tsp red chili flakes (or as per taste)
Salt to taste

Method

In a bowl add all the ingredients except the puff pastry sheet. Stir until all the ingredients are well mixed.
Taste and adjust seasoning.
Unroll the pastry sheet. Use a rolling pin to even out the surface and to get uniform thickness.
Spread the spinach mixture evenly onto the pastry sheet. Leave half an inch space on all side from the edges.
Carefully roll the pastry sheet from one end and stop when you reach the center of the sheet. Now start rolling from the opposite end and stop when you reach the center. Both the rolled end should meet at the middle. Take care not to squeeze the filling out.
Place the rolled pastry sheet on a baking tray. Freeze for 15 min or just until the filling hardens.
Slice the roll into 3/4 inch thickness or into 16-20 slices.
Place the slices, cut side up onto a baking sheet.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 F for 20 min or until golden brown.
Serve warm.

Enjoy !!

MMC Challenge 8 & 9 (Part 2) - Bread Lasagna (with potatoes and peas filling)

2011-04-23T08:20:00.005-04:00

Here's the ingredient 8 & 9 of MMC challenge

Ingredient 8: Green Peas

Ingredient 9: Standard White bread

This twist in the tale was M's way of getting me out of my writer's block as well as winter blues and inspire me to think outside the box. The rules he came up with are:

1. You have to use both ingredients 8 and 9 in making the dish.

2. Both should be considered as main ingredients and hence should be provided with equal importance in quantity and in taste.

3. You have to make 2 dishes and that is why we are counting them as 2 ingredients.

4. The dishes should not be from the same category (Appetizer, Main course, Side, Dessert)

Here's part -2 of this challenge.

For the second part of this challenge, I decided to go with a twist on lasagna. Normally my instincts guide me into making an appetizer/snacks since I would eat an appetizer or a snack for a meal instead of the main course !! When I go to a restaurant I end up liking the options in the appetizer section more than I do the main course that I order appetizer as my main meal :-) So given my immense liking towards appetizers I had to resist the urge and decided to go with a main course.

This recipe is almost a fusion between lasagna and a sandwich. I have used the principle of lasagna (layering the bread with tomato sauce) but have used a stuffed sandwich instead of pasta for the layering. I like lasagna and potatoes/peas stuffed sandwich. So no surprise here that I loved the final result which had the taste and texture of both lasagna and a sandwich. Thinking about it, maybe I should rename this recipe as "Sandwich lasagna" :-)

Notes:

Though it looks like the recipe involves too many steps and elaborate, this is actually nothing more than assembling a layer of sandwich with tomato sauce and cheese.
If using fresh tomatoes instead of the Hunt's sauce, blanch the tomatoes. Remove the skin and seeds and puree.
Season both the sauce and the stuffing generously. Taste and adjust the seasoning before assembling the lasagna. Remember there is enough bread in the recipe to absorb the spices. If under seasoned, the dish may turn out bland.
Use a wide shallow pan to make the filling. The potatoes and peas will crisp up better if there are spread into as thin a layer as possible in the pan.
Toasting the bread - Use either the oven or a simple toaster to toast the bread.

Ingredients
For the Sauce

Hunt's tomato sauce, plain - 14 oz (see notes)
Diced tomatoes (fresh or canned) - 1 cup
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
Sugar - 1 tsp
Red chili flakes - 1 tsp (or more)
Basil dry - 1/2 tsp
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Peas and potato stuffing
Potatoes , medium - 3, diced into small cubes
Peas, frozen thawed - 2 cups (remove excess moisture from the peas using a towel)
Black pepper, freshly ground - 2 tsp or more
Salt to taste
Olive oil - 3 tbsp

White bread 6-8 slices
Oil or melted butter - as required
Garlic - 2 cloves
Mozzarella or Italian blend cheese - 2 cups (more or less as you'd like)

Method:
Sauce:
Heat oil in a sauce pan over medium heat.
Add red chili flakes and garlic. Let it cook for a minute.
Now add the diced tomatoes and season with salt.
Let it cook for 5 minutes, until the tomatoes are well cooked.
Now add the tomato sauce, sugar and basil. Let it boil for 10 min.
Add more salt if required and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Take it off the heat and set aside.

Filling:
Heat oil in a wide shallow pan.
Add potatoes and spread it into a single layer (so most of the potatoes are in direct contact with the pan).
Sprinkle some salt. Do not stir. Cover and let it cook for a few minutes until the bottom starts browning.
Now stir the potatoes, add peas. Let it cook until the potatoes are done and the peas get crisp.
Add more salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Remove from heat and set aside.

Preparing the bread:
If toasting in the oven, brush each side on the bread with oil or melted butter. Place the slices on a sheet pan, bake for 10 min at 400 F or just until the bread gets brown and toasty.
If using a toaster - toast the bread slices as you would and then brush with some oil or melted butter.
Rub both sides of the toasted bread with a garlic clove. Set aside.

Assembly:
Pre-heat the oven to 375F.
Grease a baking dish with oil.
Spread a thin layer of the tomato mixture in the baking dish.
Layer a few bread slices (I used 31/2 slices) to cover the entire baking dish. Break the slices to make sure you fill the whole surface with bread.
Spread a little more than half of the potato/peas mixture on the bread layer. Spread 3/4 cup of cheese on this.
Cover this layer with another layer of bread.
Spread the remaining potato/peas layer and then the rest of the tomato mixture.
Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top, making sure to cover the entire baking pan.
Bake for 30-40 min or until the cheese melts and bubbly.
Remove it from the oven and let it cool a bit before slicing.
Serve with a side salad.

Enjoy !!

MAITRI - Mango-vanilla Pudding Pie

2011-04-19T19:52:00.000-04:00

When Priya and Reshmi announced MAITRI- a friendship chain, I was very excited. I have read about the Arsuvai chain and always thought it was an excellent idea for bloggers to get to know each other as well as make blogging exciting by providing mystery ingredients to other blogger friends. Thanks to Priya and Reshmi for the initiative to start one such event in the US.

Savitha of Savitha's kitchen was chosen to send me the mystery ingredient. I was very excited to receive the package but USPS chose to dampen my excitement since the package that Savitha sent got lost in transport. Savitha was kind enough to mail me another package. This time things went smooth and I had the package in my hands in a few days.

I opened the package and there was the mystery ingredient in a zip lock bag and a set of measuring cups (sorry in my excitement I forgot to take a picture of the package). Thanks Savitha for the very useful measuring cups - I sure dont think a kitchen can have too many measuring cups :-) On to the mystery ingredient, a first look at the white crystals made me think it was sugar. I tasted it and it had a fruity flavor. I was confused - I havent ever heard of fruit-flavored sugar. So I decided to shoot an email to Savitha and her reply was that I was way off :-( It wasnt a simple fruit flavored sugar after all. She did provide me with a clue, which is that it is used to make dessert which can be moulded.

My simple brain thought it was gelatin but I have never used gelatin (for obvious reasons, me being vegetarian) and didnt think it wud taste sweet. So with the help of gtalk and a some back and forth guessing game, Savitha did nudge me towards the right answer - it was Mango flavored Pudding mix. I should have guessed but I have never used instant pudding mix before and it never occurred to me !! I was very happy that the mystery ingredient was something I havent used before.

I have been wanting to try graham cracker crust for a pie and so thought a pudding pie will be a good excuse for me to try graham cracker crust as well as make best use of the pudding mix. To make enough pudding mixture for the pie filling, I had to buy some more pudding mix and unfortunately I couldn't find mango flavor. So I added some vanilla flavor pudding mix to the one sent by Savitha and thats how Mango-vanilla flavored pudding pie was born !!

Ingredients

Pie crust
Graham crackers 11/4 cup (about 9 cracker sheets)
Melted butter 1/4 cup
Sugar 1 tbsp

For the Pudding
3/4 cup instant pudding mix(1 2.75 oz packet plus more)
2 cups milk (2%)
1/4 cup pistachio, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
Strawberry and whipped cream, for garnish (optional)

Method

Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Crush the graham cracker in a food processor or using a rolling pin, until fine.
Transfer to a bowl. Add sugar and melted butter.
Combine until all the ingredients are well mixed.
Dump this into a greased pie plate. With your hands or back of a spoon spread the graham cracker mixture into an even layer. Make sure to press along the sides of the pie plate so as to get an even layer.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10-15 or until the crust is set.
Set aside to cool.

Pudding:

Take 2 cups of milk in a sauce pan.
Add pudding mix and stir until the mix dissolves.
Keep it over a medium flame, stir frequently for 10 min or just until it comes to a rolling boil.
Remove from heat and let it cool for a few minutes. It will be a thick liquid at this stage.
Add pistachios and cardamom. Stir well.
Now pour the pudding into the prepared pie crust, spread it in to an even layer.
Arrange the strawberries on top if using.
Chill in the refrigerator for atleast 3 hrs.
Serve with whipped cream on top.

Enjoy !!

MMC Challenge 8 & 9 (Part 1) - Beer battered peas stuffed bread fritters (Pakora)

2011-03-08T14:59:00.002-05:00

Here's the ingredient 8 & 9 of MMC challenge

Ingredient 8: Green Peas

Ingredient 9: Standard White bread

This twist in the tale was M's way of getting me out of my writer's block as well as winter blues and inspire me to think outside the box. The rules he came up with are:

1. You have to use both ingredients 8 and 9 in making the dish.

2. Both should be considered as main ingredients and hence should be provided with equal importance in quantity and in taste.

3. You have to make 2 dishes and that is why we are counting them as 2 ingredients.

4. The dishes should not be from the same category (Appetizer, Main course, Side, Dessert)

Here's part -1 of this challenge.

When I was thinking about good ideas for this challenge, inspiration came from the unlikliest of places - Bollywood movie !! We were watching Band Baaja Baarat (a very simple yet lovely film, btw) and there was a scene alluding to bread pakora. That made me go back in time and remember the first time I had this amazing snack - at my aunt's place. This dish is more like the south Indian Bhajji where a vegetable or in this case bread is dipped in a batter made of chickpea flour and deep fired.

I wanted to bring about my own twist to this dish and I was thinking what I would do to make it better suit my personal taste. A lot of time bhajjis or bread pakora can get heavy on the batter i.e the outer batter is so thick that the taste of the vegetable/bread fades into the background. And I for one do not like it when I cannot feel and taste the veggies/bread. So my idea was to make a batter that is crispy, airy and light - almost like a tempura batter. To achieve this I swapped the heavier chickpea flour for a lighter All-purpose flour/rice four combo and added beer instead of water. The frothy bubbly beer renders the batter light and airy. Thus was born beer battered bread pakora - melding the beer battering technique into a popular roadside snack in India.

To add to that I had to incorporate peas into this dish and what better way than to use it as a stuffing. It's almost like a sandwich, beer battered and fried. I think this was a win win all the way, given we love our sandwiches, our beer and deep fried snacks :-)

Notes:

White bread was the ingredient I was given, but feel free to substitute any other whole grain or multi-grain bread.
Fresh peas can used in place of frozen ones when available. If using fresh peas, blanch the peas for a few minutes in boiling water before using it for the filling.
The type of beer used will affect the taste of the batter. I used George Killians Irish red beer.
For beer-haters - no worries about the beer smell in your fritters as most of the alcohol from the beer evaporates during cooking leaving only the good flavors behind.

Ingredients

6 slices white bread (cut the crust off)
Vegetable oil, for frying

Stuffing
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
3 green chillies (more or less as per taste and heat level of chillies used)
1 tsp minced ginger
2 cloves garlic minced
Salt & Pepper, to taste
2 tsp lemon juice

Batter
3/4 cup All-purpose flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2 cups beer
coarsely ground black pepper
salt

Method
Stuffing

In a food processor grind chillies, garlic and ginger to a fine paste.
Add the peas, salt and pepper and pulse it a few times, until the peas are coarsely ground.
Now add the lemon juice, pulse it a couple more times.
Transfer it to a bowl. Set it aside.

Batter

Whisk the two flours, salt and pepper in a bowl.
Add beer slowly 1 cup at a time. Whisk vigorously its well mixed. Add just enough beer to get a fairly thin consistency. (Batter shouldnt be too runny or clump up on the bread.)

Fritters

Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
Spread about 2-3 tbsp of the peas mixture onto a slice of bread. Cover it with another slice of bread.
Press the corners well so the mixture is well sealed between the two slices. Cut into four pieces.
Repeat with the remaining slices. Set aside on a plate.
Whisk the batter once more to make sure there are no lumps and check for consistency.
Dip each pieces of the stuffed bread in the batter. Shake off the excess batter.
Drop it carefully into the hot oil.
Let it fry until its crispy and golden brown. Turn and fry the other side as well.
When both sides are golden, remove it onto a plate lined with some kitchen tissues to absorb the excess oil.
Serve warm with ketchup or mint chutney.

Enjoy !!

MMC Challenge 7 - Curry Flavored Corn Cakes

2010-12-05T20:31:00.004-05:00

Here's the ingredient 7 of MMC challenge - Curry Leaves. This post is long overdue now and finally looks like its time to move it from "draft" folder to "published" :-) When M gave me this ingredient he was very particular that it should not be chutney, sambar or other such traditional recipe. He wanted me to think out side the box and so I did. I am not sure if I succeeded totally but I do think its a fusion kind of a recipe. I let you guys decide which genre this recipe can be categorized as.

Corn cakes are a form of corn bread, a shallow fried version. Its also sometimes called "hoe cakes" or "jonny cakes". Its almost like corn cakes or to compare it to something Indian - its almost like akki roti (Kannadiga dish made of rice flour). This Southern (as in the American South) dish gets an Indian flavor with the addition of curry leaves. While eating the corn cakes I couldnt help but be reminded of vadai. Whatever be the name it sure was delicious and it was a perfect accompaniment to the stew we had on a cold October evening. It doubles up as a wonderful evening snack or appetizer with a dip/sour cream/ketchup.

Ingredients

1/2 cup corn meal
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tsp green chili paste (2-4 green chilies)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup frozen (and thawed) or fresh corn
1/4 cup curry leaves
1 small red onion
A pinch of baking soda
Salt to taste
2-3 tbsp feta cheese (or any mexican cheese) - optional

Method

Grind curry leaves in food processor. Add onion, green chili paste and garlic. Pulse it a few times.
Now add corn flour, rice flour, baking soda and salt. Pulse a few times just until the ingredients are mixed.
Remove the mixture in to a bowl. Add corn and cheese (if using). Adjust seasoning.
Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a skillet. Make sure the oil coats the surface of the skillet.
Drop lemon sized ball of the mixture into the hot oil. Flatten it (thickness should be that of a pancake).
Cook under medium flame and let it brown.
Flip to cook the other side. Remove when both sides are brown.
Serve warm.

Enjoy !!

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

2010-09-11T19:41:00.005-04:00

Its been pretty hectic and fun times training and playing with Tipoo. Guess you guys have to put up with my Tipoo tales for a few weeks now, what with every single one being eventful - happy for most part and really tiring at the end of the day !! For much of the day I am the primary care-taker and am I glad that puppies sleep a lot. But once he wakes up I am running around behind him either playing with him or making sure he doesnt chew everything he finds in his way. By 6 PM both of us are eagerly waiting for my husband to come home, so he will relieve me of the running around :-) If he gets delayed at work for some reason, then I have a crazy puppy on my hands. All those walks and playing fetch saves our day. And its a sight to see Tipoo welcoming my husband home from work. I fade into the back ground for sometime until the two boys have had their little "reunion" :-)

After such a busy day, I rarely have the energy or enthusiasm to cook elaborate dinner. I prefer one pot meals that is both easy on the time and makes a complete dinner. Most of my leisurely cooking now-a-days have been relegated to the weekends when my husband takes complete care of the little guy.

Anyway, coming to today's recipe, I have been planning to make chili for a long time now. Finally I did make some a few weeks ago and it came out very good. There are a lot of different recipes for vegetarian chili and as always I have taken ideas from few different recipes to make one that best suits our taste. I think the addition of bulgur is what gives the texture and body to the recipe. This is a wholesome and healthy one pot recipe since it has everything you need to make a complete meal.

Notes:

A combination of black beans and red kidney beans works very well for this recipe.
If using fresh beans, soak it overnight and cook it till its done but still firm.
Use Jalapeno sparingly, I did go a bit overboard and my chili turned out a bit spicier than what I would have liked.
I havent included celery in my recipe but if you have it on hand you can surely use it for the added flavor.
Bulgur makes the soup to be a bit on the thicker side. So adjust the quantity according to the final consistency you'd like to have.

Ingredients
1 14oz can Black beans
1/4 cup bulgur
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
2 zucchini, chopped
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, finely chopped (adjust as per heat)
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp paprika
2 tbsp cumin powder
1/2 tbsp coriander powder
2 tbsp molasses
2 tsp oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 cups water or vegetable stock (or as required)

Garnish:
Sour cream
Monterey Jack or mexican blend cheese
cilantro

Method

Heat oil in a large heavy-bottom sauce pan or a dutch oven. Add onion, garlic and jalapeno.
Saute it for a few minutes until onions turns brown, almost 4-5 minutes.
Now add carrots (and celery if using). Saute it for 2 minutes.
Add bell pepper, zucchini, tomatoes and tomato paste. Saute it well until the tomatoes are well cooked. It takes about 5 minutes or so.
Now add all the spices, starting from chili powder to oregano. Add bulgur and stir well.
Let it cook for 2 minutes and then add water starting with 2 cups.
Bring this to a boil, close with a lid and let the soup cook for 15 minutes or so.
Keep a close watch to make sure it has enough water. Add more water as the chili cooks as necessary.
Finally add salt, adjust seasoning and spices.
Allow it to boil for 5 more minutes or until done.
Ladle it in a bowl, garnish with cilantro, sour cream and cheese.
Serve with corn bread on the side.

Enjoy !!

This little guy stole our hearts ....

2010-08-13T10:51:00.014-04:00

Tipoo - our 4 month old boxer/lab puppy we adopted a week ago... We have been thinking of adopting a puppy for a long time now. In fact during my grad school days, I and one of my friends contemplated real hard if we should adopt one. But we ended up not adopting and in hindsight I guess that was a good decision for us and the puppy we did not adopt. Anyway, as of now we both have found our little guys and are happy the way this turned out.

Tipoo has been such a joy in our life but I cannot deny the fact that the past seven days have been extremely difficult. Our daily routine is revolving around him and in spite of me staying at home we are having to make a good effort to make sure he is comfortable with us and his new home. So far the little guy has been a good student, for most part or as my husband says "when he chooses to". He understands "sit" command very well but nothing more than that. We are hoping the obedience classes that we plan to go to will help us groom him better.

If you've been with me so far, apologies for not including any recipe this time. As mentioned I have been pretty overwhelmed with caring for the little guy that I have had absolutely no time for anything else including having a leisurely meal. I expect the routine to get better once I learn to handle him better and I hope to be back on track pretty soon. I promise to start my blog rounds soon as well.

Till then enjoy the pictures of Tipoo and yes I think he is the most adorable puppy in the whole wide world :-)

Enjoy !!

MMC Ingredient 6 - Drumstick/Murungaikai/Moringa Pods

2010-07-08T18:47:00.008-04:00

Looks like I am back - though with a busy summer and travel, I can never be too sure :-) Here's the latest MMC challenge.

MMC Ingredient 6 is Murungaikai (Moringa Pods).

Murungaikai is readily available in South India and both the vegetable and the leaves are used in cooking. Most common way to use murungaikai is in sambar, along with small onions. Leaves can be used in poriyal or subji with a bit of dal and spiced with chilies and coconut. I never realized how much I'd miss murungaikai until I came to the US and couldn't find any fresh ones worth its name in the store. For those of you who have no clue what am talking about, take a look at this wiki entry for Moringa/murungaikai.

I personally think this ingredient is one of the more challenging ones since as far as I know, I have seen murungaikai used only in South India. My mom uses murungaikai but it is restricted to sambar for the most part, especially the Sunday special lunch which usually consisted of murungaikai/small onion sambar, potato curry and vadam/papad. Given the limited usage of murungaikai I have come across, I had to squeeze my brains a bit harder to make something that's interesting and not a sambar !!

I did finally come up with not one but two dishes. I was unable to choose between the two and hence I give you both my creations. The first dish is a pickle which is very easy to make but needs a bit of patience - it has to marinate for 2-4 days for best results. The other dish is a salad, an apt summer dish. It does not involve much cooking and is pretty easy to put together.

Notes:

I used frozen murungaikai which is readily available in Indian stores. Fresh ones can be used as well and am sure they'll taste much better.
Cook murungaikai until soft and splits open readily but should still hold its shape and not be mushy.
The edible part of murungaikai is the seeds and the pulp. Split open murungaikai and scoop out the pulp and seeds to eat.
Roasted fenugreek powder: Dry roast a 2 tsp of fenugreek in a pan until its brown and aromatic. Let cool, grind to a smooth powder. Store the excess powder in the refrigerator.

Murungaikai Urugai (Moringa Pod Pickle)

Ingredients
11/2 cup drumstick (murungakai)
1/4 cup carrots, blanched, 1/2" sticks (optional, see notes)
2 green chilies, split open
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp roasted fenugreek powder (see notes)
2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp mustard
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tbsp canola oil
salt to taste

Method

Boil water in a large pot. Add enough salt.
Drop the frozen murungaikai in boiling water and let it cook (for about 15-20 min). After 15 min check for "done"ness. If using fresh ones, cooking time may vary.
Blanch carrots similarly in boiling water. Cook for 10 min or so. Check for doneness. Cook just to take the raw edge off. Carrots should still remain crisp.
Drain and pat dry carrots and murungaikai pieces.
In a saute pan, heat canola oil. When its hot, add mustard seed. Let it splutter.
Remove from heat. Now add turmeric, chili powder, green chilies.
Stir once. Now add the cooked murungaikai and carrot pieces. Add fenugreek powder. Stir.
Add salt and the seasme seed oil. Mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Transfer it to a dry container (glass bottle is preferable). Close tight and let it stand for a day at room temperature.
On the 2nd day, move it to the refrigerator. Let it stand for a day or two longer.
You can use it as early as the 3rd day but as with any pickle the longer it stands the better it tastes.
Pickle can be stored in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks.

Murungaikai (Moringa Pod) Salad

Ingredients
16 oz frozen drumstick/murungaikai
2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
2 tbsp finely chopped tomatoes (seeded)
1-2 small green chili, finely chopped
1 tsp dessicated or frozen coconut (optional)
2-3 tsp lime juice
1 tsp olive/vegetable oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
4 curry leaves, coarsely chopped
Salt to taste

Method

Cook murungaikai as done for the pickles (step 2 of murungaikai pickle).
Split open the murungaikai pieces. Scoop out the pulp and seeds. Set aside.
In a salad bowl mix onions, tomatoes and green chilies. Mix well. Now add murungaikai pulp. Mix lightly.
In a small saute pan, heat oil. Add mustard seeds. Let it splutter. Add the curry leaves.
Add this to the veggie mixture. Season with salt.
Add lime juice and coconut.
Mix well.

Enjoy !!

Pain au chocolat & au revoir NJ.....

2010-06-14T08:03:00.002-04:00

Been a busy memorial day weekend. After an year of long distance relationship am so glad we can now get back to our routine together. Ah.. the simple pleasures in life that we take for granted. NJ was fun, a heaven for all things Indian. We enjoyed the company of our friends and it was sad that we had to say goodbye. Though we'd miss all that I am pretty excited to scope out the new place, make new friends and discover new tastes. Hopefully we have good things in store for us and we enjoy the place. Moving is crazy and I had just forgotten how difficult it can be until we actually started the process. Inspite of all the help its been one uphill task, packing/unpacking & cleaning. Unpacking and setting up the house looks like a never ending task but there's the silver lining - I can see the carpet now and not just brown boxes on the floor :-)

Obviously the first thing I set up was the kitchen but my pantry is not nearly as stocked as I would otherwise normally have. So I have been making simple, hassle free dinners. I was thinking of starting this first week at our new place with a dessert but I did not have butter. So most of my desserts were ruled out. But luckily, the savior of the day was the frozen puff pastry sheet that I had lying in the freezer. Fill it up with fruits/nuts and chocolate for a yummy dessert and thats what I did. Filled the puff pastry sheet with a mixture of chocolate morsels and nut, baked it for 15 min et voila dessert's ready.

Like I said, I was out of most of my pantry things. So I had to make do with the chocolate chips but using a good chocolate will make this an even better dessert. So I would recommend using good quality chocolate if possible.

Note:

Thaw the puff pastry in the refrigerator. I move the puff pastry sheet from the freezer to the fridge 5 hrs before I am ready to start filling the sheet.
You can also use chocolate bars for the filling. Just make 1 inch pieces of the chocolate and use that to fill the pastry squares.
Use a good quality chocolate for better result though nestle chocolate morsels worked fine.
I used egg wash to get a shiny brown crust but if need be you can substitute eggs with milk or cream.

Ingredients
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 egg (for egg wash)

Method
Thaw the frozen puff pastry as per the package instructions.
In a bowl mix chocolates and walnuts.
Cut the frozen pastry sheet into 9 square pieces.
Place a spoonful of the mixture at one end of the square. Roll it tightly into a log. make sure the filing stays in place.
Alternately, you can place the mixture at the center and fold one edge over the other to form a triangle.
Brush the top with egg wash and place it on a cookie sheet.
Pre-heat the oven to 350F and bake the pastry for 15 to 20 min or until its golden brown at the top.
Serve warm or at room temp.

Enjoy !!

Coconut Milk Pulao (Pilaf) - Rice Cooker method

2010-05-21T21:06:00.023-04:00

Coconut milk pilaf/pulao is yet another of my favorite one pot meal. This is a sure shot crowd pleaser and I make it for potlucks or parties. This is one of the recipes that I never had tasted when I was growing up - my mom very rarely made dishes using coconut milk. On the other hand my husband loves this dish. It's is one of his favorite "Mom's dish". I havent had a chance to taste my MIL's coconut biryani yet, so am not sure how the traditional recipe tastes like. But my husband assures me that mine taste really good and pretty close to what his mom makes. I think that's a good enough compliment for a dish I havent even tasted before I actually started making it myself.

Notes:

Soak basmati rice in generous quantities of salted water. This helps to keep the rice white as well as make sure the rice doesnt turn sticky on cooking.
Adjust the spices according to your tastes. Following measurements give a mildly flavored biryani.
Adjust green chilies according to the heat level you'd prefer.
I used rice cooker but am sure microwave or pressure cooker methods should work fine as well.
2 cups liquid (1 cup coconut milk and 1 cup water) was just sufficient to get my rice well cooked. But if you feel the need for more water, do so at the very end if the rice is still under cooked.

Ingredients
2 cups basmati rice (see notes)
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
1/4 cup diced carrots and peas (frozen or fresh)
1 tsp cumin (Jeera)
5 cloves
4 cardamom
1 bay leaf
4-6 green chilies (or as per taste)
1 tsp ginger, minced
8-10 Cashews, halved
1 tbsp butter or oil
Salt

Method

Soak rice in salted water for 15-30 minutes.
In a saute pan heat oil/butter. Add all the ingredients from cumin to cashews. Let the cashews turn light brown.
Add onions, saute it for 2 minutes or just until onions turn translucent.
Drain rice. Add this to the rice cooker. Add sauteed vegetables and 2 cups of water.
Switch the rice cooker on and let it cook. Add salt just before the rice is completely done. Stir.
Garnish with cilantro.
Serve with a spicy korma or curry.

Enjoy !!

Spring Orzo Salad

2010-05-19T13:40:00.023-04:00

We have been reeling under damp and gloomy weather for the past couple of days. Spring here refuses to go away and its unseasonably cold. Maybe I angered the "Spring gods" with my ramble a few posts ago, claiming my less than friendly relations with the spring season :-) So if an apology will make this cold spring go away and warm summer to arrive, I can very well offer a thousand "Sorrys" :-) And if sorry wont cut it, here's a salad honoring the season !!

Farmer's market hasnt sprung up yet in our region what with the cold spring, frost etc. But there are some really fresh vegetables that have started arriving in the grocery stores. I havent been cooking much of late and I've been looking for ways to avoid cooking or even if I do, spend as little time as possible in the kitchen. I have subsisted on sandwiches (with hummus or cheese) for the past few days but realized I wasnt getting much veggies. Also, I had some green squash and bell peppers that needed my immediate attention before they lose their freshness. I wanted a complete quick-cooking meal using up the vegetables I had on hand. I figured salad was probably my best option to both use up the vegetables and do so in minimum amount of time. So I cut them up, sauteed a little bit to take the edge off and tossed them with some orzo and a very simple dressing. There was my quick dinner, all healthy and tasty.

Notes:

Asparagus or any other spring vegetable will work fine in this salad.
If you like the "garlicky" taste, add an extra clove of garlic.
Fresh herbs like basil or parsley can be used as a garnish.
I made a very simple dressing but feel free to use any oil/vinegar based dressing.

Ingredients
3/4 cup Whole wheat orzo
1 medium-sized Zucchini
1 medium sized bell pepper
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
Basil or parsley (optional)
Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Dressing:
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice (or as required)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 pinch red chili flakes (adjust according to taste)
Salt to taste

Method

Cook orzo in a large pot of boiling water for about 7-9 minutes. Drain and set aside.
In a bowl whisk all ingredients under dressing. Taste, adjust salt and lemon juice. Set aside.
In a saute pan, heat 1 tbsp oil. Add red chili flakes and garlic.
Add chopped vegetables. Saute for 5-7 minutes. Just until the vegetables are tender but firm.
Add salt, taste and remove from heat.
In a large bowl, mix the cooked orzo and veggies. Add the dressing, toss well. Taste, adjust seasoning.
Garnish with fresh basil/parsley and/or parmesan.

This will be my entry to Preeti's "Green gourmet" event.

Enjoy !!

Moong Dal Dosa (Yellow Split Pea Crepes)

2010-05-12T16:23:00.029-04:00

When I started blogging almost 2 years ago, I didn't realize what I was getting into. All I knew was I needed a place to document my recipes and so I started out with using Google documents. Then someone suggested giving blogging a shot. I wasn't sure if I was up for it, both time wise and also doling out new/interesting recipes every so often. At some point my husband managed to convince me to give it a shot and said I might even start enjoying it. He even offered to be my critic as well as the editor and that was an offer I couldn't refuse :-) Looking back, I am glad he said what he said for I think this is one of the best hobbies I have taken up in recent times. I sure haven't been as regular as I would like to be. In fact, I have had times where I slacked off, felt guilty for not giving enough attention to blogging. But hey, its supposed to be a hobby and not a chore. So I figured its ok for me to blog as and when I like and how much ever I like.

As much as I love blogging, it is still work - getting the recipe right, making sure I remember the measurements, take good pictures and finally put it down in words. I really admire a lot of my fellow bloggers who blog in spite of a busy schedule (with kids, full-time jobs just to mention a few) and blog they do very regularly. So hats off to all you guys out there and I should say you guys are a big motivation. I am ever so grateful to my readers who actually take time to go through my ramblings and leave their wonderful comments. And to see "# comments to be moderated" in my dashboard really makes my day and makes me want to blog more !! To add yet another dimension to my blog, I am grateful that my friend stepped forward to start MMC challenge. Because of him I have experimented with some interesting ingredient combinations and he's been kind enough to spend his time testing my recipes and giving his feedback. I am hoping we will continue this little venture of ours and make it even more interesting.

I think I got nostalgic because it will be 2 yrs this June since I started blogging. That probably is the reason for my senti acknowledgment today !! Guess I should stop rambling now and jump to my recipe of the day. The following recipe is one of the dosa varieties and relatively quick cooking one. I love dosa and idlis in any form more so now than when I was growing up. I especially love the instant varieties where I don't have to plan ahead. Moong dal dosa is a pretty simple, relatively quick cooking dinner and a very healthful one as well. Split moong dal soaks pretty fast when compared to the whole green moong that we use to make pesarattu. Also, I find moong dal dosa lighter than the regular adai where I use 3 different type of lentils. Served with chutney and yogurt, this makes a complete and a satisfying meal.

Note:

I soak moong dal for 3-4 hrs, but I have gotten away with soaking it for as little as 2 hrs.
I make the batter pretty thick. This way I can use the batter to make dosa or fry it in oil to make lentil fritters (similar to vada).
For dosa: I take a part of it out and dilute the batter to a dosa/pancake consistency.
For fritters: Add chopped onions and drop a spoon full into an appam pan or ebelskiver pan.

Ingredients:
3 cups moong dal, split
1 cup rice flour
4 green chillies (or to taste)
1 tsp coarsely chopped ginger
Water as required
Salt to taste

Method:

Soak moong dal for 3-4 hours.
Grind the moong dal with green chillies and ginger to a smooth paste. Add just enough water to facilitate the grinding process.
Add the rice flour to this mixture. Mix well by hand or in the food processor.
For dosa, dilute the batter with enough water to get a pancake/dosa batter consistency.
Take a ladle full of the batter and spread it into a thin circle on a hot griddle.
Drizzle a few drops of oil along the edges. Let it cook till the bottom browns.
Flip, cook for another 30 seconds or so.
Remove it on to a plate.
Serve with chutney and yogurt.

Enjoy !!

Cauliflower Sambar

2010-05-04T17:56:00.015-04:00

"Confessions of a cook book-aholic?" I am a sucker for cook books. I go weak in my knees when I walk through a book store and see all those colorful cook books adorning the shelves. Don't know what I am addicted to - the glossy prints, tempting pictures, smell of the fresh print? Whatever it is, I find it very hard to resist the temptation. Thank god for Amazon - the wish list option and a great spouse who actually is very kind towards my obsession (hope he takes the hint..lol..). I can proudly say I am an avid cook book collector and my loot is prominently displayed in the house. But the most intriguing part of all this is I seldom follow the recipe to the "T", most of the time am in a hurry or just plain lazy to open the book measure the ingredients etc. I curl up with my cook books and read it like I would a regular novel/fiction and if something interests me I make it a point to try it out before it is displaced from my memory. Am sure most of you out there will relate to this. But to be fair, I do once in a while have the cookbook open and follow the recipe meticulously - with great results.

I can categorize my cook books depending on how I use them. For instance, books such as Mark Bittman's How to cook Everything Vegetarian and Jacques Pepin's Complete techniques are my bible/encyclopedia category. There are a few other which I use to look at the pictures and drool :-) And some more which are my go-to books for authentic Indian cooking such as Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan and Cooking at home with Pedatha. I love the simplicity of the recipes and the lovely pictures in Dakshin especially.

The following recipe, cauliflower sambar, is my adaptation of the original recipe found in Dakshin. I took a shortcut by substituting sambar powder where the original recipe calls for grinding the masala. But the end result was very tasty. My husband says it tastes like a hybrid between sambar and korma !!

Ingredients
1 medium sized cauliflower (washed, separated into florets)
2 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup toor dal
1/4-1/2 cup thick tamarind water (or as required)
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
3 tbsp Sambar Powder
1 tsp turmeric
asafoetida, a pinch

Tempering
1 tsp urad dal
2 tsp mustard
4-6 curry leaves
2 red chillies
2 tsp oil
A pinch of asafoetida

Method

Pressure cook toor dal along with one cup water and tomatoes, until the dal is well-cooked (normally 4 whistles and wait for the steam to be released naturally). Alternatively, you can cook the dal on the stove top for 30 minutes. Mash the dal and tomatoes well. Set aside.
In a quart pan, heat oil. Add urad dal. Let it turn light brown in color. Now add the mustard. Wait until it starts spluttering. Now add red chillies, curry leaves and asafoetida.
Add cauliflower, turmeric, asafoetida and some salt. Saute for a few minutes, until cauliflower is tender.
Add tamarind water. Boil for for 3 minutes or until the raw smell of the tamarind disappears.
Add sambar powder. Mix well.
Now add the mashed dal/tomatoes. Taste, adjust salt and seasoning (add more sambar powder if required).
Allow it to boil for a few more minutes. Add the coconut milk. Allow it to boil just for a minute.
Remove from heat. Serve hot with rice, idli, dosa or aappam.

Enjoy !!

MMC Ingredient 3 Beets - Verdict

2010-05-02T18:03:00.009-04:00

Here's "M"s review on MMC ingredient -3, Beets.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Everyone,

First of all, I apologize for not able to get back with reviews for the last 3 MMC challenge recipes.

Shopping Experience:

Finally I was able to get my hands at trying Rajee’s Beets soufflé last weekend. Just reading the recipe and looking at the words ramekins, baking etc did make me less enthusiastic about trying this one out.

In terms of shopping for ingredients, well I guess it wasn’t that difficult to find most of the ingredients except for ramekins. With Rajee’s help I was able to find that, and finally got ready to try the recipe out.

The Cooking Experience:

The authentic side in me wanted to try this recipe with fresh beets, rather than canned ones. It didn’t take much time to peel the beetroot off and cook it. I would say may be around 20 minutes in all. Putting the remaining things together to get the final mixture took another 10 minutes. However, I did make one change to this recipe; I did not want to use eggs. Hence Rajee suggested using flax meal instead.

The Verdict:

Now coming to the end product, it took seriously a long amount of time to get the baking done. I am not sure whether it is because of my oven or the flax meal, but it took me around 90 minutes to get to the point which Rajee mentioned in her blog.

The soufflé texture for me was very odd; again it could be because of the lack of eggs. But that didn’t stop my friends from licking it out clean. And I am not very sure about the taste of beet in the soufflé as well. Here are my final scores for this challenge. With respect to ease of cooking, the dish was fairly simple to make, and hence I can give 6 out of 6 for that. Regarding the health factor, well I used fat free cream cheese and for a dessert this dish is quite healthy and hence 4 out of 4. For uniqueness, well making a soufflé with beets in itself is good enough to earn full points and hence 2 out of 2. And last, regarding the taste, well taking into consideration the change I made (absence of eggs) and oven fluctuations, I would like to give a 5 out of 8 for this recipe.

I guess the final score then is 6+4+2+5 = 17/20.

Conclusion:
Will meet you again at Rajee’s blog with the next MMC review. Thank you.

MMC Ingredient 5 - Dates, Jaggery, Coffee

2010-04-28T07:51:00.064-04:00

MMC ingredient(s) 5:

Here's what "M" had to say about it
For a change, this challenge will be different. You will be getting 3 ingredients and you have to use them all. It is not necessary that you use them in equal proportions. But the end thumb rule is, for a person who eats the final product, he/she should be able to identify all the 3 ingredients on his/her own.

The ingredients are Dates, Jaggery, Coffee (ground).

Here's what I made for this challenge.

Dates Crepe with Pear-dates Compote and Coffee Cream Sauce

When I think of dates, the recipe I almost involuntarily think of is dates chutney aka the sweet chutney we get for chaats. If the challenge ingredients were just dates and jaggery I would have surely opted for the chutney. But the moment I laid eyes on the third ingredient: coffee, I knew my recipe was going to be a dessert or a breakfast. I can safely say that the meal I enjoy the most in a day is breakfast, be it the simple toast/jelly or an elaborate weekend spread. And ofcourse always with a cuppa java, unadulterated (i.e no cream, no sugar !!)

I wanted to make sure I maintain the individuality of each of the ingredients yet make sure they complement each other well. Coffee has one of the stronger flavors and I kept it distinct by using it in the sauce. I used dates and jaggery in both the crepe and the pear compote to sweeten the dish. Though the ingredient list and the method looks a bit long, its actually quite simple. If the pear compote and coffee sauce are made ahead of time its just a matter of whipping up the crepe batter. This dish is a pretty delicious and sweet treat. Or if you would like it as a breakfast serve it with scrambled eggs or poached eggs on the side. Now that Mother's day is just around the corner, I think this will be a great dish for a Mother's day brunch !!

Notes:

Jaggery water: Most of the times I find that jaggery is contaminated with dirt. Dissolve 1/4 cup jaggery in 1/4 cup water. Boil until jaggery dissolves. Filter to remove dirt. Reserve 2 tbsp of this if using it for the compote.
The amount of jaggery listed here makes this dish a pretty sweet one. So adjust the jaggery according to the sweetness you'd like.
I use food processor to make the crepe batter. But mixing it buy hand works just fine as well.
For the coffee sauce I use instant coffee dissolved in just enough hot water. Freshly brewed coffee can also be used. Adjust the strength according to taste.
I had pears on hand, so used it for the compote but feel free to use any fruit that you like.
Both coffee sauce and pear compote can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. Though warm before serving.

Ingredients
Crepes:
8 dates (pitted)
1/4 cup jaggery water (reserve 2 tbsp for the pear compote, if using)
1 egg
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 - 3/4 cup milk
1 tbsp melted butter
Salt, a pinch

Pear Compote:
1 pear, diced (ripe but firm)
1/4 cup dates (pitted, coarsely chopped)
2 tbsp jaggery water (optional)
1 tsp lemon

Coffee Sauce:
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
sugar (optional)
1 tbsp instant coffee (see notes)
1/4 cup heavy cream

Method
Crepes:

Boil dates with jaggery water for a few minutes - just until dates get tender.
Let it cool. Grind to a smooth paste. Set aside.
Mix flour and salt. Set aside
In a food processor combine eggs and dates paste. Pulse for a few seconds.
Add the flour and keep the processor on.
Slowly pour milk starting with 1/4 cup and keep adding until the flour is incorporated and the batter is of a pouring consistency.
Finally add melted butter and transfer it to a bowl.
Heat a griddle or a crepe pan. Brush with a bit of melted butter.
Pour a ladle full of the batter. Swirl the pan to make thin circle of even thickness.
Cook for a few minutes, until the bottom browns. Flip, cook for a few seconds.
Fold and transfer onto a plate.

Pear Compote:

In a saute pan, combine pear, dates and jaggery water if using.
Saute for a few minutes just until the pear gets tender and all the ingredients are well combined.
Remove from heat, add lemon juice. Stir. Set aside.

Coffee Sauce:

Combine all the ingredients under coffee sauce in a pot.
Heat until all the ingredients mix well and the sauce gets a smooth consistency.
Remove from heat. Set aside.

Assembly:

Place 2 crepes on a plate.
Scoop a spoonful or two of the pear compote onto the crepe.
Drizzle with coffee sauce and serve.

This will be my entry to Panch Pakwan's Mother's day event.

Enjoy !!

Aamras (Mango milkshake/Smoothie)

2010-04-20T15:15:00.016-04:00

I thought my post on mango will not be complete if I didn't add a quick entry on Aamras. I had some left over mango pulp from my last week's Mango bread and made Aamras for our weekend lunch. So figured why not blog that as well though the recipe itself is very simple. Blend the pulp with a bit of milk, flavor with spices that you like (I use cardamom) and serve chilled. It was our weekend lunch which meant I could splurge a little on the calories. So I used heavy cream instead of milk to get a richer and creamier consistency. But feel free to use either or both in your recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup Mango pulp
1/4 cup milk or heavy cream
1 tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp mixed nuts, coarsely chopped

Method

Blend all the ingredients (except nuts) in a blender or a food processor.
Chill for a few hours.
Garnish with chopped nuts before serving.

Serving Suggestions: Serve along with Rotis or as a dessert with fresh fruits or drink it straight up as a smoothie/shake.

Congratulations to Srivalli who is celebrating her three wonderful years of blogging with an event. This will be my entry to the "Thanda Mela" event.

Enjoy !!

Mango (quick) Bread

2010-04-10T07:47:00.010-04:00

I cant wait for summer to be here. I have a love-hate relation with spring I must say. The first few days of spring, am very happy that winter is behind us but within a few days I get impatient waiting for summer that I start hating spring. Is that weird? I think not. I just love bright sunshine and the warmth and hence call myself a "summer girl". My husband finds this term pretty amusing :-) Maybe its because I am from Chennai or it may just be all the good memories associated with summer: summer vacation, meeting my cousins and of course the mangoes.

One of the delicious memories of summer/mango season is the mango pickle (avakkai) my grandma used to make. My mom and aunts used to gather in one household with my grandma leading the pickle making ceremony !! As a kid it was loads of fun just watching them make the pickle. And at the end of the day after the pickling was done and the cut mangoes had been divided into different jars, we used to get a taste of the fresh pickle in the form of avakkai rice (left over pickling sauce mixed with fresh rice and ghee). It was Oh so tasty, my mouth still waters just at the thought of it.

Another summer favorite of mine is the aamras my mom makes with fresh ripe mangoes. I think the most popular variety that we used to get in Chennai was the Banagenapalli variety - medium-sized round juicy mangoes. I loved the whole process of squeezing the pulp and mushing the whole thing with my hands, juices running all over. Yeh it was messy but I loved the feeling and the aroma. Aamras with fresh chapathi's is a combination that is so typical of my summer days. So anyway - all these nostalgic thoughts put me in the mood for tasting mangoes last week. But imho the mangoes available in the US market is nowhere close to the gorgeous ones we get in India. So whenever I feel a longing for mangoes, I reach for the mango pulp available in Indian stores.

I brought the mango pulp home and was thinking of best way to use it up. Aamras was my first option but we had guests over for the weekend and I wanted to a make some dessert. When browsing through my bookmarked recipes, I came across mango bread from Vaishali's Earth Vegan blog. So I adapted her recipe to a non-vegan version, added some pistachios and cardamom - both very Indian flavors. We all loved the final result - moist luscious mango bread.

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ts baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup pistachio
1 tsp cardamom powder

5 tbsp butter, softened
1 egg
2 cup mango pulp
1 cup sugar

Method

Pre-heat oven to 350 deg. Grease a loaf pan. Set aside.
Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pistachio, cardamom powder) in a bowl. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Mix until well mixed. Now add the eggs and mango pulp. Mix well.
Add the dry mixture to the mango mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon just until the dry ingredients are mixed evenly.
Pour this mixture into the greased loaf pan. Bake for 50 min or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.
Cool and then slice the bread.
Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

This post will be my entry to Nupur's "The Copycat Edition".

Enjoy !!

Ragi Dosa (Finger Millet Crepes)

2010-03-24T18:13:00.020-04:00

Ragi or Finger millet is very healthy and I remember my mom making porridge or kanji with ragi. One other dish that I remember from my "wonder" years, though only vaguely is Ragi urundai or Ragi Mudha where boiled raagi is mixed with jaggery. Since I do not seem to remember much about the ragi urundai, I think its safe to assume it wasn't one of my favorites. Maybe if I try it now, I might have a different opinion but that's for another day. Anyway, coming back to the present, I am trying to include a variety whole grains in our diet to make a healthy meal without sacrificing the taste. I find that the best way to incorporate these without having to try too hard is to substitute whole grains in places where we use rice or refined flour. Thus was born Ragi dosa.

I wanted to try the instant dosa variety but surprisingly I had the mood and enthusiasm to actually make fermented idli/dosa batter. So I decided to use ragi in place of rice and grind it along with urad dal, ferment it for 12 hrs or so as we would do for the traditional idli. Looking up online I found a number of recipes for making ragi idli/dosa batter and I realized it might not be wise to remove rice completely from the equation. So I used 2 parts ragi, one part rice and one part urad dal for my batter. I should say I am pretty pleased with the result.

Note:

Ragi flour is widely available in Indian grocery stores. You can also use whole ragi if you have them on hand. Soak it for a few hours and then grind it separately.
Fermentation of this ragi containing batter took longer than my usual idli batter. I had to wait almost 18 hrs or so before I could say it was fermented enough.
Once the dal is well soaked, decant the water. Set aside half a cup of this water and discard the rest. I find that using the water that the urad dal soaked in, while grinding helps the fermentation process.
I started out with making idlis with this batter as soon it was fermented enough, 2 days later I made dosa and a few more days later I made uttapam. All three dishes came out just fine.

Ingredient
2 cups ragi flour (Finger Millet flour)
1 cup Idli rava (Cream of rice)
1 cup whole urad dal (White lentils)
Salt to taste

Method

Soak urad dal for 5-6 hrs in water. Set aside half a cup of the water that the urad dal soaked in. Discard the rest. Grind it to a smooth paste with just enough water in a food processor, a blender or a wet grinder.
Mix the idli rava and ragi flour (or ground ragi, if using whole grain) to the urad dal paste. Add more water to get a thick consistency. You can mix it by hand but I find using a food processor much easier to mix all the ingredients evenly.
Transfer to a large bowl. Add salt, mix well. Make sure your bowl is large enough to hold the batter once it ferments and rises.
Place the bowl in a warm place and let ferment. This takes anywhere between 12-24 hrs.
Now you can use this batter to make either dosa, idli or uthappam.

For Dosa:
For dosa, pour a ladle full of the batter on a hot griddle and spread it into a thin circle.
Drizzle a tsp of oil (preferably sesame oil) around the dosa. Flip when the bottom turns light brown in color and cook the other side for a minute or so.
Remove the dosa from the pan. Serve hot with sambar, chutney and/or milagai podi.

This will be my entry to Divya's "Show me your whole grain" event.

Enjoy !!

White Beans and Chickpeas Burger

2010-03-16T21:43:00.016-04:00

MMC Challenge is on a brief hiatus until Mid-April as our judge is going back home on an important mission :-) In the meantime I thought its a good idea for me to get back to my usual blogging. This week's recipe is one version of the vegetarian burger I make at home. I normally make burger with veggies and any type of beans that I have on hand. I like my burger without too many toppings or condiments. So the best way for me to incorporate veggies is to use them up to make my burger. This particular version uses white beans and chickpeas with tahini paste to give it a Middle-Eastern flair or falafel like taste. Following is just a method, you can experiment with any type of beans/veggie combination along with fresh or dried herbs that you have on hand.

Note:

I have used canned beans here since I didn't plan ahead to soak the beans. If you have dried beans soak it in water overnight and then boil until the beans are cooked.
I normally do not like to add bread crumbs, eggs or flour in my burger and hence my burgers turn out softer than the normal frozen burger that you'd normally get in the stores.
Having said that, feel free to add any of the above ingredient if you dont like a soft burger.
I have used stove top method to cook the burger but am sure using an oven would also work fine.

Ingredients:
11/2 cups White beans/Cannellini beans (boiled or canned)
11/2 cups garbanzo beans (boiled or canned)
1 clove garlic
1 small onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 cup fresh mint leaves
3 tsp red chili flakes
2 tsp cumin powder
11/2 tbsp tahini paste
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Method:

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan, add garlic, onions and carrots.
Saute until the carrots are tender.
Add chili flakes, cumin powder and saute lightly.
Now add the mint leaves and turn off the heat.
In a food processor with the steel blade attachment, add the beans and the cooked mixture.
Run the food processor just until the mixture blends well (take care not to make it into a smooth paste).
Make half an inch patties and refrigerate for few hours.
Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a skillet and brown the burgers.
Serve on a english muffin, hamburger bun or multigrain bread with onions, tomatoes or any other topping of your choice.

This is my entry to Susan's event MLLA-21 guest hosted by Super Chef of Mirch Masala blog.

Enjoy !!

MMC Ingredient 4 - Popcorn

2010-03-09T13:56:00.026-05:00

MMC ingredient 4 is Popcorn and here's what I made:

Popcorn Crusted Vegetable Lollipop

When "M' announced that the 4th ingredient is popcorn, I wasn't sure how exactly I was going to incorporate it in my recipe. The first thought that popped into my mind was making a simple trail mix with popcorn and some nuts. But the MMC challenge does not have a category for snacks and obviously trail mix cannot pass off as either an appetizer or a side. As healthful as a trail mix maybe I didn't think it was innovative enough for this challenge. When I was thinking hard for some ideas, I realized that popcorn can have the same use as bread crumbs if I can grind it to a coarse powder. This opened a big wide door for I am sure we can think of hundred places where bread crumbs can be used, be it the good old Mac 'n' Cheese or breaded vegetables.

I was shooting for a side dish and I thought breaded veggies like breaded & fried green beans or a tempura style vegetable will be lovely. I wanted to use the freshest of ingredients but unfortunately didn't have any fresh veggies in the fridge. All I had was potatoes, some left over carrots and a bell peppers. I tried to make something fancy or atleast something that can have a fancy name but yet have the most simple ingredients that anyone can lay their hands on at anytime. Also my husband loves the veggie cutlet that we get in Indian restaurant. So I decided to go ahead and make veggie cutlets with a popcorn crust instead of the usual flour or a bread crumb crust. With a few toothpicks these cutlets can be converted into lollipops which are a great finger food for your next party. For people who have tasted vadam esp one that is made of Poha/aval, this popcorn crust gives a similar taste to vadam.

Note:

This dish is a good way to use left over popcorn after a Saturday movie night if you do have any such thing as left-over popcorn :-).
For the popcorn, I used Orville Redenbacher's smart pop. Pop the corn in the microwave as per package directions. But you sure can use any kind that you have on hand.
I used my trusted food processor to grind the popcorn to a coarse powder.
You can use any kind of veggies, fresh/frozen.
I love Maggi chatpata tomato sauce. It gives a very faint chinese flavor to the cooking. But if feel free to use any kind of tomato sauce/ketchup you have on hand.
Now to the crust: Popcorn crumbs tend to fall off the cutlet pretty easily. So make sure you press the crust to make it stick to the cutlet.
I have used diluted buttermilk to aid the sticking.
Shallow Frying: Crust tends to fall off a bit into the oil, so you will have brunt crumbs floating in the oil. I generally shallow fry not more than 3-4 cutlets at a time. I use just enough oil to coat the cutlets and no more. This way, I get to control both the amount of oil used as well as clean the pan after every batch so you don't have burnt crumbs sticking to your cutlets.
Fry the cutlets on a medium low flame, be patient as high heat will burn the popcorn coating.
You can make the vegetable mixture ahead of time and refrigerate it for a day or so or freeze it for upto a month.
Baking is a good option though I haven't tried it this time.
Presentation: I made my cutlets a bit bigger for the toothpick that I had. So try to size the cutlet according to the toothpick you have or if you don't care you can completely avoid the toothpick.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup minced onions
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp finely chopped jalapeno or Serrano peppers
1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped or shredded carrots
1 cup boiled, mashed potatoes
1 tsp cayenne or red chili powder
1 tbsp tomato ketchup (Maggie chatpata tomato Sauce)
1/2 cup popcorn (popped)
2 tbsp oil and more for shallow frying
salt for seasoning

For crust:
1 cup popcorn (popped)
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 tsp chopped cilantro
salt/black pepper, for seasoning
2 tbsp buttermilk, diluted with 4 tbsp water

For stuffing:
2 tbsp cream cheese
1/2 tsp cilantro finely chopped
Salt/Black pepper, for seasoning

Method

For crust: Grind popcorn to a coarse powder in a food processor or a spice blender.
In a wide bowl, mix popcorn powder, cheese and cilantro. Add salt and black pepper. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Set aside.
Stuffing: In a small bowl, mix cream cheese and cilantro. Add salt, taste and adjust the seasoning. Keep this refrigerated until its ready to use.
In another bowl dilute 2 tbsp buttermilk with 4 tbsp water. Set aside.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a saute pan. Add ginger, garlic, jalapeno peppers and onions. Saute it for a few minutes until onions become translucent. Now add shredded carrots and bell peppers. Saute it for a few more minutes until the veggies get tender. Add mashed potatoes, red chili powder, ketchup.
Stir over a low flame for a few minutes. Add salt, taste and adjust seasoning.
Switch off the heat and transfer this into another bowl. Let it cool. Add the popcorn powder and cilantro into this mixture and mix gently.
Shape the mixture into small round balls (size of a small baby potato or even smaller).
Stuff each ball with a pea sized cream cheese stuffing, flatten the balls into a patty or any other shape that you'd like.
Before frying: Take a cutlet, dunk it in the buttermilk mixture. Shake off excess buttermilk. Now roll it in the popcorn mixture. Press the popcorn so it adheres well to the cutlet. Shake off the excess crumbs. Repeat this with the rest of the patties.
In a saute pan heat 2 tbsp oil on low-medium flame. Shallow fry the prepared cutlet 2-4 at a time until its light brown in color. Turn over to the other side and fry until it browns.
Place it on a paper towel to absorb excess oil. Pierce one or two tooth picks into the cutlet, arrange it on a plate and serve with tomato ketchup or cilantro chutney.

This will be my entry to Sunday Snacks - Healthy Snacks event hosted by Divya of Dil se.

Enjoy !!

MMC Ingredient 3 - Beets

2010-03-04T10:03:00.021-05:00

MMC challenge 3:

Beets Souffle with Cashew Nut Topping

When "M" gave me the challenge ingredient, Beets, I didnt have a brain wave immediately though I had a few ideas ranging from appetizer to dessert, traditional Indian dishes to out of the blue dessert dishes. One main challenge with beets is that fresh beets takes a long time to cook. Except for pressure cooking, everything else be it roasting or boiling on the stove top takes minimum of 40 min. Given that I had only 1 hour to prepare the dish, I had to think of something which fits the time constraint. But since I was allowed to use canned beets, I took that route and saved some time. Also, the last time I had made pearl onion sambar, M said he knew I'd make that. Obviously I wasnt too happy that I was so predictable :-) Hence I really had to think hard to make sure I was as innovative as possible.

This week it was my husband's B'day and as is our tradition I wanted to make some dessert. I thought why not use beets for the dessert I was going to make. My first choice was the Southern classic "Red velvet cake". I was looking for the recipe but nothing suited my taste as the "traditional" red velvet cake contains loads of red food coloring and not beets. After some more search there were red velvet cakes with beets which looked pretty promising. But the problem with cakes is that it is not the best of dessert to make when its just two people sharing it. I am sure my husband wasn't going to complain about eating it all but I do have to consider the health factor what with all the butter, sugar and the frosting.

Now that cake was off the list, I had to think of some other dessert that was easy to make, took just an hour to prepare and could be made in smaller portions. I've been meaning to make souffle for a long time now and so almost on a whim I decided to make beet souffle. I did some browsing to look for souffle recipes with beets and to my joy found it wasnt very popular or made often as I could not find too many hits in my short search !!

I found the basic technique and recipes for carrot souffle, modified it so I can include beets and other ingredients like cream cheese and cashews that I love. Also, to make things easy and less time consuming I have skipped the steps involving separating the egg whites, whipping it for a long time etc. I was a bit skeptical about this initially but the end product put my doubts to rest. Maybe just some day I might give the traditional method a try but till then this recipe will do...

Here is Beet Souffle my Way.......

Note:

Fresh beets can be used as well, though cook it before pureeing. If using canned beets, make sure it contains just beets and water and no salt or flavoring.
Different ovens behave differently and if you have one like I do, it has its own mind. When I made these souffle, my oven refused to cooperate and didnt go beyond 325F. Hence I had to bake mine for almost 40 min. But if you have a well-behaved oven, then 30 min should be enough. But keep a close eye on it after 20 min.
This souffle is a bit more dense than other souffles. Souffle does rise above the rim of the ramekins, but it deflates within a few minutes after you take it out of the oven. If you want the big "ta da" finish, I suggest baking it just before you serve. If like me you dont care for the appearance, then by all means bake it whenever you like. But I'd suggest serving it warm.
Depending on the serving size you would like use appropriate sized ramekins. This recipe doubles or halves very well. I fact I have halved this recipe to give just two portions. Feel free to experiment.

Ingredients
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 lbs cooked beets (or canned)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cream cheese (at room temp)
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp minced ginger, fresh (or ginger powder)

Topping:
2 tbsp cashew (chopped into small pieces)
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp melted butter

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Grease 4 to 6 ramekins with butter (only to three quarters of the height of the ramekins) and coat it with some sugar.
For topping: Mix all the ingredients for the topping. Set aside.
Transfer beets, sugar, baking powder, flour, cream cheese and ginger onto a food processor. Beat until beets are mashed. Add melted butter. Now add eggs and run it for 30 sec or so.
Pour this mixture onto the greased ramekins. Do not fill the ramekins to the top just until its 3/4th full. This will give some space for the souffle to rise.
Sprinkle with topping mixture.
Bake at 350 for 25 - 30 min or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.
Serve warm.

Enjoy !!

MMC Ingredient 2 Pearl Onion - Verdict

2010-03-04T09:13:00.005-05:00

Here's "M"s verdict on pearl onion sambar... He sure is one strict judge with a very sensitive palate :-)
--------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone,

You are reading the Me Myself and Chef Challenge review number 2.

The ingredient as you know already is Pearl onions. Just like the last review, I will start this review with my experience identifying and buying the necessary ingredients. Then talk about making the recipe and then end it with the final opinion on this dish.

The Shopping Experience:

Well, on identifying and buying the ingredients, there wasn’t anything specific that I have to buy except for the onions and a few spices. And as most of the spices and other ingredients are common ones used in Indian food, I didn’t have much of a problem in identifying them as well.

The Cooking Experience:

Regarding the cooking, I would say it was a bit tedious. It took me pretty much the entire hour to make this dish. As I have never tried boiling the lentils and onions together, I thought I will try that option. And surprisingly, the end result was the lentils were well cooked but the onions though cooked were still in whole pieces, which of course was fine with me. I toned down the amount of coriander seeds. I also used only half of cinnamon and cloves amount mentioned as I am not a big fan of both of them in Sambhar.

The Verdict:

And finally my overall opinion of the dish, I liked it. As Rajee took the traditional route this time, and made a dish of which I have tasted some form or other earlier, I didn’t expect me not to like the dish. Regarding the taste of this dish, I would give it a 6 out of 8. The onions tasted good in the sambhar. Though I used less amounts of cinnamon and cloves, they still overpowered all other ingredients in the sambhar. But as Rajee said those are the ingredients which actually make this dish different from other varieties, I am not going to complain here. Regarding ease of cooking, well not as easy as making the fennel carrot soup ! I would say 5 out of 6. Regarding health aspects of the dish, just like the last dish, there is pretty much nothing about this dish that is unhealthy. Hence 4 off 4. Regarding uniqueness factor, technically the uniqueness factor on method of cooking/eating is nothing new, however, Rajee gave us a fantastic sentimental story behind this dish, and hence whole 2 points for that.

So its 6 + 5 + 4 + 2 = 17/20.

Conclusion:

Thanks for reading this review so far. Will meet you all at Rajee’s blog next time with Review 3. Thank you.

MMC Ingredient 2 - Pearl Onion

2010-02-24T09:00:00.003-05:00

The second MMC challenge is:

Sunday Lunch from Mom's Kitchen:
Pearl Onion Sambar/Chinni vengaya Sambar/ Chummna Kandhecha Sambar

For the 2nd week of our MMC challenge, M brought a twist to the story. He gave me a choice of 3 ingredients out of which I had to pick one and give my reasons for choosing it. The three ingredients are:

1. Pearl Onion
2. Dates
3 Orange Juice

As soon as I heard the choices, I thought I knew right away what I was going to choose - Pearl Onions. I wanted to share with you all one of my mom's signature dishes - Sambar with Pearl Onions. But just a few minutes later, I could hear the Dates calling my name :-) I always wanted to use Dates other than in sweet chutney that we use for Chaat. So I thought this challenge is a good platform to use Dates in a innovative way. But the nostalgia & "Mom sentiment" won over innovation and I decided to go ahead and choose Pearl onion. So I am hoping "Mom senti" will sway the judge as well as it did me :-)

When I was young, this sambar was our Sunday special lunch with Aloo subji or with idlis for the Diwali eve dinner that my mom makes. Pearl onions also known as "Madras Onions" are widely available in Madras where I grew up. These tiny ones have a very different taste, much less pungent and sweeter than their larger counterpart. But the main problem with these is peeling them. Though these onions dont bring as much tears to your eyes like the bigger ones, they still are pretty potent and added to this was the miniature size that makes it hard to peel. So before we actually got to enjoy the dish we had to go through the grueling work of peeling the onions.

Preparing the onions prior to cooking was a big chore; obviously those were the days before the comfort of frozen or ready to cook vegetables was readily available. My dad used to soak it in cold water to remove the dirt/mud and then all us kids had to sit down and help him peel. Wet onions, sticky peel - not a good combination; I used to hate this chore. But.. oh so in love was I with the dish that I didnt mind all the trouble. Me being the enforcer of gender equality in the household, I would fight really hard with my brothers accusing them of not doing the chore but getting to enjoy the reward alone. As any of you who grew up with brothers might know, Sunday morning will invariably have a few different cricket matches that my brothers had to run too. So it was pretty convenient for them that they'd be out the whole morning and show up just in time for the sumptuous lunch. I used to get so angry at them then but thinking of it now brings a smile to my face thinking of all that silliness :-)

So here's the Sambar with Pearl Onion the way my mom makes but in my kitchen. My mom never gives me exact measurement for any recipe coz as most mom's, she herself doesnt use any standard measurement. Its always a handful of this or a handful of that. So I have tried a few different version and have standardized it to our taste.

Note:

I like the taste of Dhaniya/coriander. So I have been a bit liberal with it.
I have used frozen red pearl onions (thawed in the microwave for a few min). You can use fresh ones as well if available.
The speciality of this dish is the inclusion of cloves and cinnamon bark. These two spices sets this recipe apart from the Tamilian/Keralite "arachivitta sambar" (Sambar with ground coconut based masala).
I love my pressure cooker for cooking dal as it saves me lotsa time. If you dont have a pressure cooker, boil the dal with or without onions for 20 to 30 minutes until well cooked. Soaking the toor dal in warm water for 1/2 hr prior to cooking it will help quicken the cooking process.
My husband does not share my love for the pearl onions the way I do. He is not too keen the whole pearl onions but loves the flavor when they are cooked into the dal. So I normally pressure cook the onions with dal. But if you want to retain the wholeness of the onions, I would suggest sauteing it with the mustard and jeera (step 3), wait until it gets tender before adding tamarind water.
I find it easy to use tamarind concentrate. But if you have tamarind, soak it in water and extract the pulp. Use 1/4 cup thick pulp in place of 1 tbsp tamarind concentrate. Depending on the sourness you'd like, adjust the amount of tamarind in the recipe. I normally go easy on the tamarind.
Masala can be made ahead of time. Can be refrigerated for a couple of days or may be frozen for almost a month.

Ingredients
12 oz red pearl onions (white ones are fine as well. Save a few to be blended with the masala)
3/4 cup toor dal
1 cup water
1 to 11/4 tbsp tamarind concentrate (dissolve it in 1/4 cup water)
1 tsp turmeric
A few pinches of asafoetida
Salt to taste

Masala -
1/2 cup dhaniya (coriander seeds)
2 tbsp chana dal
2 tsp Jeera (cumin seeds)
1/2 tsp methi seeds (Fenugreek)
1 inch stick cinnamon bark
6 cloves
5-6 red chillies
1/4 cup coconut (dessicated, fresh or frozen)
3-4 nos. pearl onions
1/4 cup water (or as needed)

Tadka
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp chana dal
2 red chillies
1 tsp Jeera (cumin)
1 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves

Method

For masala: Dry roast each ingredient given under Masala (except water, obviously) until they turn light brown and aromatic. Let it cool. Grind into a smooth paste with water. Set aside.
Pressure cook the dal and onions with one cup water, a pinch of turmeric and a few drops of oil. I normally allow 3-4 whistle and this works best for my cooker. Turn off the heat and let the pressure release naturally.
In a medium sized pot, heat oil and add all the ingredient for tadka starting with the dals. Let the mustard and curry leaves splutter.
Now add the tamarind concentrate dissolved in water. Add turmeric and asafoetida. Allow this to boil until the raw smell of tamarind disappears. (5 min or so)
Now add the cooked dal and the ground masala. Add more water only if necessary. Stir frequently.
Adjust seasoning, simmer for another 5 min to 10 min, until the masala gets cooked.
Garnish with a few drops of sesame oil. Serve with hot rice. Goes well with Idlis or Dosas too.

Enjoy !!

MMC Ingredient 1 Fennel - Verdict

2010-02-21T15:07:00.006-05:00

Here’s the review of Carrot-Fennel Soup by Muthu

As promised, here's the judge's final word on the soup. "M' has been gracious enough to share with us all his experience right from shopping for the ingredients to the final score. And it sure is an interesting read as well.

Note: I will post the audio of this final verdict in "M's" own words very soon....As soon as I figure out how to upload audio files on blogger...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello everyone,

Before going further, I would like to congratulate rajee on participating in this innovative challenge and I hope this challenge in some way or other nudges her a bit towards some of her goals.
As you all know the details of this challenge that rajee is participating, I am goin to skip the introduction and get into details. In this clip you will be listening to my experience trying rajee fennel and carrot soup recipe, which she has posted in her blog last week.

The Shopping Experience:
First I will talk a bit about what I experienced while shopping for the ingredients for this fennel and carrot soup, followed by which I will talk a bit about my experience with cooking this soup and end it with my final opinion on this dish.
I initially thought of recording the story as and when I do it, but then that proved to be cumbersome. When I talked to my voice recorder holding it my hand at whole foods aisles, I did get more than a couple of weird stares from some grandmas around me. So I had to stop it.
As one of the rules of this competition is that the ingredients used in this recipe should be commonly available. When I went around whole foods buying it, I was able to find all the ingredients very easily except for fennel. Though it was me who suggested the ingredient at first place to rajee, I have no idea who it looked like and I even donno which section of groceries I had to look into for a fennel.
After some search, I finally found it in freezer along with spinach. I did make sure that it is fennel when I was billing it. I ended up buying dried thyme as I don’t want to go around whole foods figuring out where fresh thyme would be.

The Cooking Experience:
Regarding cooking, it took me less than an hour to get this dish made and with less effort. The majority of effort went on cutting vegetables which ofcourse was not much. It took around 40 minutes to get the fennel decently soft enough in the oven. I did not use corn and I think I am happy that I didn’t use. I used just water as the soup base and not vegetable stock and that worked fine as well.
And regarding the final dish, well it tasted really good, though a bit too healthy for me. I personally think the lime in this dish is very important for when I tasted it without the lime, I did not like it. The sweetness of carrot blended very well with the onion’s sharp taste. The reason I think I didn’t like the soup without the lime was, I think all the remaining ingredients kinda cancelled out each other on taste and all I could taste was fennel in it. And somehow when the lime was added it brought back the individual ingredients taste back again. I didn’t dwell too much on the chemistry here but I think the lime helped a lot. The only problem I had was, though after 40 minutes in oven, the fennel got cooked, but the onion’s raw taste was lingering in the soup which troubled me a bit. Or May I could blame it on my cooking skills as well. May be onions should be cooked separately, I donno or it could be just that the onions I bought were a bit more powerful. That said, I really enjoyed this soup and so did my friend who shamelessly dropped by to lick the vessel off its base.

The Verdict:
So now to final points,
I would say taste wise I would give this soup a 5 out of 8.
On health factor, I don’t think we can do any better. So its 4 out of 4.
Regarding the ease of cooking, although theoretically I would like to nitpick and complain that now I have to clean the oven plate, blender and a couple of vessels, I am sure Rajee will argue back saying that the point is just for ease of cooking and not on ease of cleaning. So I would give her 6 out of 6 as well on that.
And finally the uniqueness factor, well I have never made or heard of soup where I grill the veggies in the oven and grind it, I donno about others but the novice cooker I am, that’s new and unique to me. So I would give the entire 2 points to it.

So its 5 + 4 + 6 + 2 that is 17 out of 20.

Conclusion:
Well, if you have listened to this clip this far, either you should be rajee or her husband mothi or you should be some really jobless person who doesn’t know how to pass time. Just kidding.
Thanks for reading the “Me myself and the chef” challenge review number 1. I am looking forward to meet everyone again at Rajee’s blog sometime next week with review number 2. Till then I wish everyone a great week ahead. Thank you.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Enjoy !!

MMC: Ingredient 1 - Fennel

2010-02-17T07:00:00.007-05:00

Here's my first MMC challenge - fennel

Fennel & Carrot Soup

Fennel is good for health in many ways and as we Indians know, is a good palate cleanser and is very good for digestion. A quick google search gives a whole slew of websites packed with helpful healthful info on fennel. I wanted to bring out the natural goodness of fennel yet didnt want it to be overpowering. Hence, I paired it with carrots and kept the flavorings to the minimum. This is a extremely simple soup that contains ingredients that are easily available and one that you'd most likely have in your pantry. What better way to start a dinner...

Note:

Wash and cut the stem/fronds off the fennel bulb (Save a tsp of fronds to garnish before you discard them). Quarter it and remove the hard center part (core). Dice each quarter into half, you will end up with eight pieces.
I find it very easy to use my oven to roast veggies, 'coz this gives me whole a half-hour to do a bunch of other things. If you do not have an oven or dont want to use it for some reason, no problemo. Just saute the veggies on the stove top and let it brown a bit, then continue with step 4.
I have used frozen corn in my recipe. My husband who usually does the taste testing for my recipes thought corn would make a great addition. So I incorporated his suggestion. Corn has a tendency to thicken the soup. If you'd prefer a thinner version, I would suggest adding the corn kernels (thawed) at the final step as a garnish and NOT blend it with the roasted veggies (step 4).
Avoid sour cream/yogurt for a vegan version of this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 big fennel bulb, (cut into 8 pieces)
2 carrots, diced
1/4 cup white onions, sliced
1 clove garlic
1 tsp thyme (fresh or dried)
2 tbsp frozen corn kernel, thawed (see note)
2 tsp black pepper powder
salt, pepper to taste
1 - 1 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock
2 tbsp olive oil
Lime juice from one small lime
1-2 tbsp sour cream/yogurt/greek yogurt (optional)
1 tsp fennel fronds (optional)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 450-500F.
Take 2 tbsp of olive oil in a bowl, add carrot, fennel, onion and garlic. Sprinkle some salt, thyme and black pepper. Mix well.
Roast this in a sheet pan for 30 - 40 min or until tender, just beginning to brown at the edges.
Allow it to cool a bit. Blend the roasted vegetables with corn and 1 cup stock/water. For a thinner soup increase the amount of liquid you use.
Adjust salt and pepper as per taste. Add lime juice (add more or less of the lime juice depending on the sourness you'd like).
Garnish with a few drops of olive oil, fennel fronds and sour cream. Serve warm.

This will be my entry to the "Healthy Inspirations event - soup" hosted by Usha.

MMC judge has spoken !!! Click here for the result.

Enjoy !!

Me, Myself and the Chef - A Personal Challenge !!

2010-02-16T20:14:00.026-05:00

I and my friend, Muthu were talking about how difficult it is to manage our day jobs and spend enough time thinking/working on our passion/hobby: mine being anything related to food and his movie making. During our conversation, my friend got this brilliant idea where he said he'd give me one ingredient that I have to use to make a dish, publish in my blog and that he'd try it out and give his "expert" comment on the recipe. The idea being that this would keep me motivated and it will be fun for him to test/recreate my recipes in his kitchen. I accepted his challenge thinking it'd be just a one-and-done thing and that I could do it. But in a matter of hours I get the following email from him, giving me a set of rules to follow and making it a series in itself. I was game for some fun and challenge. And am hoping this would keep me motivated to be a regular at blogging and also provide something different for my readers. So I should thank my friend for this creative idea and here is the challenge in his own words .....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Me, Myself and the Chef - a personal challenge.

Following are the rules for this challenge:

1. As a part of Series One, you will be provided with in total 16 ingredients, as one ingredient at a time per dish.
2. You will use this ingredient as the main ingredient of the recipe thatyou propose, which you can then publish in your blog.
3. The challenger committee (yep, me) will then try the recipe and produce the final judgment.

Of course a challenge needs twists and turns, here are some

1. The total amount taken for making this dish should be maximum 1 earth hour, meaning, no pre soaking before night etc. Of course you can cheat this rule for example by using canned beans instead of soaking beans before hand.
2. All ingredients should be commonly available, meaning, no region specific secret ingredients
or mom's special flavoring powder etc.,
3. The final 16 dishes should have
4 appetizers,
4 entrees ( meaning dish with significant protein content ),
4 side dishes and
4 desserts.
It is totally up to you to choose the order in which/ the ingredient with which you want to make them.
4. Last but not least, every dish should have a uniqueness attached to it, whether it is to do with
method of cooking, method of eating, or just some interesting story behind it. How else it could be your own dish?

Evaluation system

1. All dishes will be evaluated for a total of 20 points.
2. Taste counts for 8, Easy to cook counts for 6, How healthy the dish is counts for 4, and uniqueness factor counts for 2 points.

And of course of course, Judge's statement is always final. :)

We would like to thank you for participating in this challenge.

Good luck,
MMC Challenge Committee.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope this challenge proves to be fun and interesting for both me the cook and you guys the readers. And hope I live up to my friend's expectations :-)

Here's the challenge ingredient:

Ingredient 1 - Fennel Bulb - Verdict
Ingredient 2 - Pearl Onion - Verdict
Ingredient 3 - Beets - Verdict
Ingredient 4 - Popcorn
Ingredient 5 - Dates, Jaggery, Coffee (Ground)
Ingredient 6 - Moringa pods/Drumstick
Ingredient 7 - Curry Leaves
Ingredient 8 - Green Peas
Ingredient 9 - White Bread
Ingredient 10 - Turnips
Ingredient 11 - Crystallized Ginger, Vanilla Wafers and Molasses

Enjoy !!

Superbowl Dinner - 3 Course Meal

2010-02-14T10:10:00.002-05:00

We had made great plans with our friends for Superbowl party but as it happens most often than not our grand plans turned into a low-key affair. Blame it on the snowy weather, lack of time with the long distance commute that my husband has to make every week or just that it was not meant to be :-) In any case, instead of getting together with our friends and watching the game on a big screen TV, we ended up having a cozy dinner for two before my man had to head out to tackle the worldly duties. It sure was every bit fun as it would have been had we had a larger crowd. I had initially planned on making finger foods that are meant to shared with friends but since it was just two of us, I decided to make a simple 3 course meal instead.

Here's the menu....

Appetizer - Garlic-Parmesan Bread
Main Course - Penne with home made Marinara Sauce

Dessert - German Chocolate Topping Upside Down Brownies

We enjoyed the yummy dinner as well as the interesting game and we couldn't have asked for more on a snowy February weekend.....

I promise to post the recipes in the next few weeks. Till then enjoy these pictures :-)

Dhaniya Podi (Coriander Powder)

2010-02-10T11:12:00.005-05:00

When I was growing up, I used to despise these 'podi's and chutneys. Given that my mom was born and brought up in Secundrabad, making podis and chutneys were second nature to her. She can make podi out of dried orange peel or chutney out of ridge gourd skin, as long as its tender !! I used to give her such a hard time saying she is depriving the cows outside of their daily food :-) Little did I know then that those were the exact things that I would crave for a decade later. Oh.....I miss those awesome and exotic podis and chutneys. A few of these do appear in my cooking though not so frequently but I can never find a ridge gourd that is so tender that I can use the peel, nor remember to save those orange peels to make the podi. And of course I don't think I'd ever manage to get the flavor of my mom's cooking in mine. So now when ever I go to India, I give her a long list of podis and chutneys that she has to cram into my three weeks vacation. Its amazing the way our tastes change with time.... things I used to dislike as an adolescent have become exotic now. Go figure :-)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dhaniya seeds (coriander seeds)
2 tbsp split urad dal
2 tbsp chana dal
2 tsp Jeera (cumin)
1/2 tsp methi seeds (Fenugreek)
4 red chillies
Asafoetida 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

Roast ingredients (except asafoetida and salt) separately till they turn golden brown in color.
Let it cool and grind all of them together with salt and asafoetida to fine powder.
Mix with hot cooked rice and a few tsp of seasme oil.

Enjoy !!

Sol Kadi (Coconut milk and kokum gravy)

2010-01-16T15:19:00.003-05:00

Sol kadi is a konkani dish made out of coconut milk, kokum and cilantro. This makes a complete meal when served along with rice or khichdi. A thinner version of this dish makes a very good soup. There are a few different ways of making this dish and the recipe I follow is from one of my friends who got it from her mom.

My love affair with sol kadi started almost 7 yrs ago when my friend introduced me to this tasty concoction. It was our first year in grad school, all of us students trying to live & learn together, far away from our family and taking care of way too many things than what we thought we had signed up for. On one of our very busy weekday, when we were craving for some comfort food, my friend served us sol kadi with khichdi. Her mom used to make it with coconut milk extracted out of coconut and a paste made of cilantro and green chillies. But here we were, pressed for time and with a ill-equiped kitchen. She made do with a bottle of the cilantro chutney that you get in the Indian store and canned coconut milk. And for the rest of the evening we forgot all our troubles and were licking the pot clean :-)

Now that I have graduated in more than one way, with a better kitchen: I grind my own masala with cilantro though I still seek the comfort of using coconut milk from the can. Kokum is very easily available in most of the Indian grocery stores. Kokum imparts the sour flavor to the dish. You can extract its juice by soaking it in warm water. However, I add Kokum directly to the Kadi and it does taste yummy with all the coconuty goodness. Wash the Kokum well to get rid of the dirt that is normally found in the store bought ones. If you like coconut/coconut milk you will love this dish and it is unbelievable that a dish this simple can taste so yummy....

Ingredients
1 can coconut milk
5-8 kokum pieces
4 green chillies
1 medium bunch cilantro/coriander leaves
1 clove garlic
1/4 inch ginger
salt to taste
1 tsp jeera
2 tsp oil

Method

Grind chillies, garlic, ginger and cilantro into a smooth paste. Set aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add jeera and when it starts to splutter add the ground paste.
Saute for 2-3 min and then add kokum.
Now add coconut milk and allow it to cook for a few min (3-4 min).
Adjust seasoning and turn off the heat.

Serve with plain rice or khichidi.

To make a lighter version for soup, dilute half a can of coconut milk with half a cup water.

Enjoy !!

Navrathri Special - Gulab Jamun

2009-10-06T21:34:00.012-04:00

Navrathri is all done and now I cant wait for Diwali. Back home in India, Navrathri is one of the biggest festivals in our family. We still have elaborate pooja both in the morning and evening which the elders take care of while the "kolu" is taken care by us the younger ones in the house. Its been almost 8 years since I went home during navrathri and oh I so miss it - all the fun, festivities and the house-visits that we used to make as young kids, scouting for sundal :-) Anyway, now that we are far away from home, with a busy schedule over the weekdays our navrathri celebrations have been condensed to weekends and am just glad that we had 2 weekends to celebrate this time around. On Saraswathi pooja I made these yummy Gulab Jamun. I was debating whether I should wait until Diwali but my sweet tooth got ahead of me and I decided to make it for Navrathri.

Ingredients:
Jamun -
2 cup mawa/khoya (reduced solidifed milk, available in Indian stores)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp sugar
2 - tbsp milk
Sugar syrup -
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp powdered cardamom
few strands of saffron (optional)

Method:
Mix all the ingredients for the jamun. Use as much milk as necessary to make a soft dough (consistency should be softer than chapathi dough). Set aside and let it rest for 15 min or so.
Meanwhile, mix sugar and water in a large pan and set it on a medium flame.
Allow the mixture to boil for 5 min or until the syrup turns viscous.
Now add cardamom and saffron to the sugar syrup.
Keep the sugar syrup warm by adjusting the flame to lowest possible setting.
Now pinch a part of the dough and roll it into little balls.
Heat oil in a frying pan. When it is hot enough, drop a few balls and let it fry slowly. It may take 3-5 min depending on how hot the oil is.
Once the jamun becomes golden brown, take it out and drain it on a paper towel.
Even as they are warm, transfer them onto the sugar syrup.
Serve the jamuns warm or cold; they taste yum with ice cream.

Note: Be patient while frying the jamun. Use a low flame and fry until it turns golden brown. This will ensure a fully cooked and juicy jamun to enjoy.

This will be my entry to "Sweet series" event hosted by Sireesha of Mom's Recipes.

Enjoy !!

Leftover Rotis - No Problem !!

2009-09-26T08:09:00.011-04:00

I love one pot meals anytime - be it a busy workday or just a lazy weekend when I just dont feel like getting out of my cozy couch !! Dinner gets done quickly with less pots and pans to clean afterwards. Hence I try my best to blend my veggies, protein and carbs in one mighty dish :-) On weekdays we get our carb from rotis and our weekends are mostly reserved for rice. So it was Friday night, I was too tired with all the running around during the week that I didnt have the energy to cook much of a dinner. It clearly was one-pot-dinner time! - as I was racking my brains thinking about what to make for dinner, I noticed I had a few extra rotis left over from the whole week's supply. Call it serendipity but at the same time I remembered my mom making upma out of leftover idlis or even stale bread back home in India when she was in a similar situation. So I figured if idlis can transform into upma why cant rotis. And thats how this roti upma came into existence. Since this was all we are going to have for dinner, I added some veggies along so it would make a filling meal and that it did. We were pretty happy the way it turned out and I plan to add it to my cooking routine...

Ingredients:
8 rotis, cut into medium sized pieces
1 small onion
2 tomatoes
2 green chillies
Few curry leaves
3 tsp oil
1 tsp split urad dal
1 tsp jeera (cumin)
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chillies (adjust as per taste)
salt to taste
cilantro to garnish

Method:
Heat oil in a saute pan.
Add urad dal, jeera, mustard and curry leaves. Let it splutter and urad dal turn golden brown.
Now add green chillies and onion. Saute until the onions are well cooked.
Add tomatoes and cook until the raw smell of tomatoes disappear.
Add turmeric, salt and red chilli powder. Saute for 2 min.
Now add the roti pieces and stir until all the ingredients are well mixed.
Garnish with cilantro.
Serve warm with yogurt.

If you would like, you can break some eggs on the rotis at the final step and mix until the eggs are cooked. If you are from South India, you may recognize the similarity with Kothu Parota except that Kothu Parota is made with Parota instead of rotis.

Enjoy!

Baingan (eggplant) Masala

2009-09-16T08:10:00.020-04:00

Summer this year has, like every summer before it, gone by too fast and fall is knocking at the door. As much as I love fall and the festive season it brings, I cant help but be sad when summer comes to an end. To add to my end-of-summer blues, this season I couldn't even do as much farmer's-market-shopping as I would've liked to. Makes me envious of the blessed few in CA who enjoy farmer's markets all through the year. Sighs apart, I feel thankful for friends that do manage to go vegetable-picking and share their little bounties from such trips. One such friend went vegetable-picking on one of those rare sunny weekends (this summer was such a washout for us in the East Coast) and she shared the veggies that she'd picked - delightful eggplant, robust-looking potatoes and ...
Here is the recipe for Eggplant masala I made with those yummy freshly picked eggplants. I love eggplant but bitter ones are a major turnoff for me (so are the ones filled with seeds). As all eggplant aficianados know, one bitter eggplant is sufficient to spoil the entire dish - so, I am extra careful in choosing them. For the small Indian variety, I prefer the lovely tender ones without spots - but these tend to be seasonal (even in our trusty local Indian grocery shops). However, I have almost always had good luck with the more readily available Italian or Japanese variety as well. The following recipe works well for the Indian, Japanese and Italian varieties quite well.

Note: Cut eggplant into 1" cubes and drop them into salted warm water. This helps reduce the bitterness if any in the eggplant.

Ingredients:
6 medium sized eggplant (baingan)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp jeera (cumin)
1 tsp mustard
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp amchoor powder (dry mango powder)
2 tsp dhaniya-jeera (cumin-coriander) powder
Cilantro, finely chopped for garnish (optional)
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a pan, when it gets hot add jeera, mustard, minced ginger and garlic.
Once garlic gets golden brown, add onions. Saute it for a few minutes until onions brown.
Now add tomatoes, turmeric and salt. Cook until the raw smell of tomatoes disappears.
Now add the cut pieces of eggplant and cook for about 5 min until the pieces are tender and well-cooked.
Now add amchoor powder, red chilli powder, garam masala and dhaniya-jeera powder.
Saute for a few more minutes until the spices get incorporated well.
Garnish with cilantro.
Serve hot with rotis/rice.

This will be my entry to "IAVW: Indian" hosted by Erbe in cucina. This event is a part of the series "It's a Vegan World: A food event" started by Vaishali of Holy Cow - Recipes from a vegan Kitchen.
Enjoy !

Simple Tomato Chutney

2009-09-09T13:22:00.014-04:00

Everytime I make tomato chutney, it brings back memories of grad school. A small university town, harsh winters, chugging along trying to finish grad school would make even the bravest of souls depressed. The best anti-depressants we had to tide over those blues were food and friends. Put the two together and you have potluck parties - our secret to tasty yet inexpensive entertainment. Each one of our friends had different specialities; even the ones that paid only ceremonial visits to the kitchen had some yummy little recipe up their sleeve. And tomato chutney was one such specialty of one of my friends. He made it almost always unless he decided that we needed a change and switched over to rasam. And needless to say we always licked the bowl clean !! :-)
Here is my recipe for making tomato chutney really quick. I use it with everything from rice to rotis/parathas to dosa/idlies. This is the chutney I had mentioned in my previous blog to go with the buckwheat crepes.
I have used methi powder to give this chutney a pickle like taste. But if you dont have it, no worries. The chutney tastes perfectly good even without it.

To make the methi powder: Dry roast the methi seeds and grind it into a powder. Store the powder in an air-tight container. Stays well in the fridge for months.

Ingredients:
4-5 medium sized tomatoes or 1 14oz can diced tomatoes
1 small onion
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp chana dal or yellow split peas
1 tbsp split urad dal
1 tsp jeera (cumin)
1 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 red chillies
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp methi powder (fenugreek powder) - optional
salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a saute pan.
When it is hot add chana dal and urad dal. Then add jeera and mustard seeds.
When they start to sputter, add red chillies, then onions.
Saute until onions turn light brown. Now add the tomatoes, sugar, salt and turmeric.
Let it cook for 5 to 10 min or until raw smell of tomato disappears and oil oozes out on the sides.
Now add methi powder, stir once and then switch off the flame.
Serve with rice, rotis, idlis or dosa.

Enjoy !!

Buckwheat Galette/ Buckwheat dosa

2009-08-31T15:00:00.005-04:00

Galette, the recipe in today's blog may sound fancy but it is just another name for crepes. There are two forms of galette, one is the thick crusty variety and the other is a thin crepe like variety. I present here my version of the thin crepe like variety. I love dosa and crepes of any form. Any flour lying around the house becomes dosa batter for a quick meal at home. And buckwheat flour is no exception .....

The first time I had galette was in a small french cafe in NJ. The name and the description of the dish so reminded me of dosa (not to mention that it was one of the few vegetarian options in the menu) that I decided to try it. The dish was a big buckwheat crepe/dosa filled with sauteed spinach - needless to say, it was a wonderful, hearty meal and the inspiration for my recipe here.

A few quick ideas for the filling are:

Savory filling
Potato masala filling (Masala dosa version of galette?)
Spinach with ricotta or cream cheese filling
Mixed vegetable filling or Ratatouille

For the sweet version:
Any fruits with mascarpone cheese or caramelized bananas with ice cream would be wonderful. Chocolate filling - perfect!

With a bit of imagination there sure are a hundred possibilities.

After a long day's work I was in no mood to make the filling and then make the crepes. So I took the short cut !! I grated carrots, ginger and cilantro and mixed it right into the batter. I am sure any other vegetable and/or herbs would work just fine. Normally the galette recipe calls for eggs, but I didn't have any. So I substituted it with some oil and it works perfectly well. The whole process of mixing the batter can be done in a food processor. I normally grate all the vegetable in the food processor, then add the flour on top of this and continue with rest of the steps.

Ingredients:
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
1 to 1-1/2 cup water
salt to taste
finely grated carrots (optional)
finely chopped cilantro (optional)
2 tsp minced ginger (optional)

Method:

Mix both the flour and salt.
Now add any vegetable or herbs that you would like. (If you aren't going to add any, skip this step).
Add the oil, buttermilk, mix well and slowly add water. Add just enough so that you get a thin pourable consistency (like a dosa batter or crepe batter).
Heat a girdle or a crepe pan if you have one.
Pour a ladle full of the batter and swirl the pan so you get nice circle with uniform thickness.
Cook on medium heat for 2 min or so.
Remove it from the pan when the galette looks brown underneath and the top portion looks cooked.
You dont have to cook the other side but if you are not very sure if the top portion is cooked, you can flip it and cook the other side for 30 seconds or so.

Fill it with a filling of your choice or just roll it up even without it and serve with chutney and yogurt on the side.

This is a good dish to have for breakfast, lunch, dinner or anytime in between.

This will be my entry for WYF: Breaksfast event hosted by EC of Simple Indian Food blog.

Rava Kesari/Saanja (Semolina Sweet Pudding)

2009-08-17T11:43:00.010-04:00

I cant believe its been almost 9 months since I blogged.....When I started out I was pretty sure I would keep blogging no matter what, but as always, its easier said than done. Well, in my defense I did have a real busy few months with lotsa good things and a bit of recession induced not-so-good stuff. Anyway, things are promising to look better or so I would like to think :-) - enough personal stories I guess. Moving on to the recipe for my blog, I thought I should come back from my hiatus with a sweet treat. Here is a simple Indian dessert that I made for Varalakshmi viradham. This is one of the least time-consuming and easiest desserts that I know of and has always been my "go-to" one ....

Ingredients:
1 cup rava/semolina
1-1/2 cup sugar (adjust to taste, can range from 1-1/4 cup to 1-3/4 cup)
2 cups water
A few drops of red or orange food color
1/4 cup ghee/melted butter
1 tsp powdered cardamom
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp cashew pieces

Method

In a large saute pan, heat 2 tbsp ghee.
Roast the raisins until it plumps up; set aside.
Roast the cashews until golden brown; set aside.
Roast rava for a 3-4 minutes, until it turns light brown; set aside.
Boil 2 cups of water in the same pan.
When the water comes to a rolling boil, add the sugar. Let it boil for a few minutes, until the sugar dissolves and the water gets a little viscous.
Add the food color and then the roasted semolina.
Stir vigorously so that no lumps are formed.
Keep stirring until semolina absorbs all the water, about 3-5 min.
Add the ghee slowly, half a tbsp at a time.
After a few minutes the whole mass will start pulling away from the side.
Check to make sure semolina is fully-cooked (by now it should have).
Add the cardamom powder, raisins and cashews. Mix well, switch off the heat.
Serve warm.

Adjust ghee and sugar according to your taste. I sometimes add as little as 2 tbsp or so of ghee. The more fat you add, better is the taste but feel free to adjust the amount as per your requirement. Also, the ratio of semolina to water depends on the variety. If you are using a coarse semolina it might need more water. I normally start with a nominal quantity of water. If the semolina absorbs all the water and still looks uncooked, then I add a ladle full or so of boiling water and keep doing this until the semolina is cooked well. You can adjust the quantity of the ingredients in this recipe right until the end of the cooking process to get the desired result.

Enjoy!

Basil Flavored Vegetable Pulao

2008-11-23T08:06:00.001-05:00

Vegetable pulao is one of those dishes I have been making since my first experiments with cooking and the one I do not get bored with. Its a great dish to make for a quick meal or even for one of the big meal events such as a dinner party or a pot luck. So it was one of those days where I opened my fridge to see an assorted variety of vegetables staring at me. I decided to make pulao but didnt have mint to make my usual version. But then, my grind-and-freeze habit came to my rescue (whenever I have an excess of mint, cilantro or basil I try to grind it up and store the paste in freezer) - I had some ground basil in the freezer. Time for some improvisation !!! - I decided to give my pulao recipe an Italian twist, with basil instead of mint. As with such improvisations (the ones done under "duress" :)) - the basil pulao turned out to be quite flavorful and I sure plan to make this recipe more often.

A few things to note - basil flavor is pretty subtle here so make sure to limit the amount of garam masala as it can easily overpower the basil flavor. Soaking rice in salted water ensures that the grains remain separate and the rice doesnt turn mushy. Use a 1:1 measure of rice to water if you are going to soak the rice. You can always add more along the way. But if you do not have time to soak the rice, do go ahead and use the usual 1:2 (rice:water) or the measure you would normally use.

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice
11/2 cups mixed vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, peas, beans, bell peppers etc)
2 medium onions, chopped
4 green chillies, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp finely chopped ginger
4 tbsp basil paste
2 tsp jeera
2 tsp fennel seeds
6 cloves
3 pods cardomam
2" stick cinnamon
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp garam masala powder(optional)
Fried cashews (optional)

Method

Soak rice in generous amounts of salted cold water for 30 - 45 min. Then drain the rice and set it aside (this is optional, see above for more details).
Heat oil in a pan, add all the ingredients from jeera to bay leaves. Saute until the mixture turns brown taking care not to burn the same.
Now add the chopped onions, basil paste, green chillies, garlic and ginger and saute until onions turn golden brown.
Add all the vegetables, sprinkle garam masala and saute for 5 min.
Transfer the contents into a microwave safe bowl or the rice cooker, add rice, required amount of salt.
Pour 2 cups of water and cook until the rice is done.
Garnish with fried cashews and serve with raita.

This is my entry to Srivalli's "Rice Mela".
Enjoy!!

Panzanella - A Hearty Bread Salad

2008-11-12T18:42:00.002-05:00

Panzanella is a traditional Italian salad made with leftover stale bread, tomatoes and basil. For a weeknight meal, this salad is the easiest one I have found... yet.... Panzanella is a very summery dish but using seasonal vegetables this dish can be made all round the year. Fall is here, apples abound the market in tons and hence my salad here features apples. Dressing for this salad cannot be any simpler either: just olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. I added some black beans that I had on hand to make this hearty enough for a light supper. But feel free to add any kind of beans. Also, to reduce the pungent taste of onions, soak sliced onions in ice cold water for 10 min, drain and pat dry before adding it in the salad. This ensures a crunchy yet mellow onion flavor.

Ingredients
3 cups of bread, cubed
1 apple, cored and quartered
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
3 tomatoes, seeded and quartered
1 big carrot, sliced
1/2 cup black beans
2 tbsp chopped cilantro or parsley
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper, according to taste
shredded Parmesan (optional)

Method

Mix 1 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss the bread in this mixture, spread it on a sheet pan.
Toast it in a 425ºF pre-heated oven for 10 min or until the bread turns golden brown and crunchy.
In a salad bowl whisk in rest of the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Toss in the veggies, bread, beans and mix well until the dressing is evenly distributed.
Sprinkle some Parmesan and serve.

Variations:
A few things that can be added or substituted:
- Quartered hard boiled eggs
- Fresh mozzarella instead of Parmesan
- Basil instead of cilantro/parsley
- Veggies like bell pepper, roasted peppers, olives

Moong Dal Kheer (Yellow Lentil Dessert) - A Vegan Fare

2008-10-16T22:00:00.003-04:00

Can't believe its been almost a month since I blogged. Past few weeks have been crazy and sadly one of the things that had to be pushed to the back burner was blogging and blog surfing. I think I have missed most part of the Dussera goodies that have been posted on the blogosphere. But I do hope to catch up with all of them very soon.

Here is a quick and tasty kheer I made for Dussera. Traditionally kheer is made with lots of milk but I wanted to make a dessert that would qualify for the "Sweet Vegan" event hosted by Vaishali. There is no doubt that being vegan is much more challenging than being a vegetarian but it is also fun to come up with a recipe which does not involve any dairy product. I wanted to make a traditional Indian dessert with a vegan twist and also something that did not require me squeezing my brain out trying to come up with one :-) My first attempt was jangiri which is very much a vegan dessert as is made traditionally if ghee be substituted with oil for frying. It came out well for the first attempt but I think it needs a bit more work before I can post it. I hope to do so pretty soon.

No festival goes without having some kind of kheer and in my family important festivals must always be celebrated with kheer made of jaggery (we call it "gulacha kheer"). So as per the tradition, I decided to make moong dal kheer which I so love. The long version of this kheer, the way my mom makes is using khus-khus/coconut paste, milk, moong or channa dal and jaggery. In order to make this a vegan recipe I substituted milk with coconut milk. I find it very hard to make a smooth paste of khus-khus with the food processor I have and I hate the grainy texture of partially ground khus-khus. Hence I skipped it altogether and there was no soaking or grinding involved which make this a perfect recipe for a weekday celebrations. Also molasses works amazingly well as a substitute for jaggery. And finally, need I say this dish is very healthy. It is almost fat free...er... if you discount the fat from the coconut milk :-)

Ingredients
1/4 cup moong dal
1/4 cup jaggery or as required
1 tbsp slivered cashew
1 tbsp slivered almonds
4 pods cardamom
1 cup coconut milk

Method

Dissolve jaggery in 1/4 cup water, boil for 3-5min or until the jaggery is well-dissolved.
Remove from heat, strain to remove any dirt and set it aside.
Dry roast moong dal until it starts to turn light brown and aromatic.
Dry roast cashews and almonds until light brown.
Boil moong dal, cashews, almonds and cardamom in 1/2 cup (or just enough) water.
When the moong dal is cooked but still firm add the dissolved jaggery.
Boil for 5 min and then add coconut milk.
Let this boil for another 3 min or so.
Serve this warm or cold.

And then there was this sweet surprise from Usha a few weeks ago. I should apologize for not having shared this award earlier, but guess its better late than never.
Thanks Usha for the lovely Dussera gift and I would like to extend my friendship award to these wonderful people: Anudivya, Sagari, Sireesha, VIJ, Arundathi.

Curried Tomato Soup

2008-09-18T15:46:00.002-04:00

This particular recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman's Curried Carrot soup that appeared in his Bitten column in NYTimes. I am a huge fan of Mark Bittman, I love his show on PBS , his column Bitten in NYT and also his book "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian". And the book, it' s a bible..no - encyclopedia...oh well... I'll just say its one of the most resourceful books yet in my collection. I have never made a recipe exactly as given in his book but I have used them as a foundation to build my own version. And the result has always been wonderful... Speaking about Bittman, I cant wait to watch the show on PBS "Spain...On the Road Again". Looks like it will be a good show given that it has Mario Batali as well who is yet another of my fav TV chefs .....

Coming back to the soup...the great thing about this soup is that it is simple as well as light. Soup has become an integral part of our eating lifestyle. After a weekend of overloading the digestive system, Mondays are the perfect day to stick to a simple meal of hot soup. It doesn't take too long to cook a pot of soup and what better way to ease into the next few days of grinding work.

To make this soup really light go easy on the coconut milk. I have used half a can, which gives a good flavor without inducing a heaviness to the dish. But if you like the soup to be really heavy on the coconut flavor, go ahead and add a little more....

Ingredients:

3 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, roughly chopped
10-15 cherry tomatoes or 5-6 medium sized tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1" piece ginger, grated
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cayenne pepper, or as required
1 cup vegetable stock or water
1/2 can coconut milk or even less if you prefer
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Cilantro (optional)

Method:

Heat oil in a large pan, add cumin seeds, coriander seeds, diced chopped onions, garlic, ginger, cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes, turmeric, salt and let it cook until tomatoes are well cooked.
Add cayenne pepper, stock and let it boil 10 min or so. Now add coconut milk.
Allow the mixture to cool and puree it in a blender or food processor. Adjust the consistency of the soup by adding more stock.
Boil the pureed soup for 5 more minutes, adjust salt and pepper as per taste.
Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Another version of this soup is to substitute the coconut milk with buttermilk. This version is a bit tangy but still yummy.

And this week's recipe is my entry to the "WYF:Salad/starter/soup" event hosted by EC of Simple Indian Food blog.

Happy Slurping :-)

Cracked Wheat Idli

2008-09-09T10:38:00.001-04:00

A recent addition to my cook book collection is Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India by Chandra Padmanabhan. It has some really good pictures and I can't resist a cookbook with pretty pictures :-) This book has a wonderful collection of South Indian recipes, most of them traditional but a few that were very new to me. I hope to try them in the near future and post them soon in my blog. Idli is a staple in most Tamil (as in Tamilnadu) homes and Ms. Padmanabhan dedicates a whole section of the book to idlis! I have been eyeing rava (semolina) idli for a long time having come across quite a few in the blog world. So I decided to make rava idli for dinner from the recipe in the book except that I substituted rava with cracked wheat and tweaked the recipe to suit our taste. I love the taste and texture of cracked wheat - not to mention the whole lot of goodness packed in it. These idlis turned out to be very soft and yummy.... Guess this will be added on to my oft-repeated-recipe collection. Bulgur is a good substitute too and for people who are wondering isnt bulgur and cracked wheat the same, do read this very interesting article.

Ingredients:
11/2 cups cracked wheat
1/2 cup rava
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp chopped/ground ginger
5-6 cashews halved or quartered (optional)
2 tsp chana dal
1 tsp split urad dal
2 tsp jeera
2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp asafoetida
few curry leaves
Salt to taste
1 tsp coarse ground pepper
3 cups buttermilk or more if required
2 tsp oil

Method:

Mix cracked wheat, rava and soda together.
Heat oil in a pan, add chana dal, urad dal, cashew, jeera and mustard. When they crackle add chillies, ginger, asafoetida and curry leaves.
Remove from the stove and add this to the wheat/rava mixture.
Add buttermilk, salt, pepper and mix well until a smooth batter is obtained. Consistency should be similar to idli batter.
Grease idli plates and fill it with the batter. Steam for 10-15 min until a knife/toothpick inserted at the center of the idlis comes out clean.

I served the idlis with tomato korma though idili powder or chutney will work very well. I hope to post the recipe for tomato korma soon :-)

This will be my entry to Tasty Palettes "JFI - OCT '08 - Whole Grains".

And here is my first blog award presented by Easy Crafts of Simple Indian Food blog, yay :-) Thanks a lot Easy Crafts for the encouragement. I appreciate it. As per the rules of this award, you are to pass this award to at least 7 other blogs whose content/design you find brilliant. I am guilty of being a silent visitor sometime and I use this opportunity to let my blogger friends know how much I appreciate their work.

I present this award to:

Asha of Foodie's Hope
Manasi of A Cook at Heart
Srivalli of Cooking 4 all Seasons
Usha of Veg Inspirations
Kitchen Flavours
Meeta of Whats for Lunch Honey
Vaishali of Holy Cow

Puliyodarai (Tamarind Rice) - I

2008-08-25T18:30:00.003-04:00

So, after many months of salivating looking at all the different puliyodarai recipes/photos I have come across, I decided its time to turn the page... make some puliyodarai paste from scratch. Though many of them swear by MTR's puliyodarai powder I am not one of their greatest fans. Well, the reason for this is my friend V's mom, rather her awesome puliyodarai powder. She used to send us loads of this powder all the way from Mumbai and every time we had a pot luck our go to dish was puliyodarai made with this powder. It was such an easy dish to make and also an easy item to carry coz unlike the usual puliyodarai paste which oozes with oil, this was a powder which lasted the 10,000 mile trip and the green channel with no problems at all. Another major advantage was its long shelf life, it lasted in our freezer for almost an year or even longer. Needless to say this dish turned out to be the star of the show every time we made it. I keep telling V that her mom should patent this recipe, start a small scale business and I am sure it will turn out to be a super hit :-) I will probably be the first one to stock up on it !!!
Anyway, getting back to the present, I decided to take the conventional path and make the traditional puliyodarai paste. My recipe here is based on ideas I drew from two of my most trusted sources: My mom and Google. I improvised my mom's recipe added a few ingredients of my own (such as sugar) to make one that I think turned out to be a keeper. So here is my take on the traditional puliyodarai recipe. Depending on your taste and heat level you prefer, adjust the amount of tamarind concentrate and red chillies.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp chana dal
1 tbsp urad dal
2 tbsp dhaniya
1/2 tbsp seasme seeds
1 tbsp jeera
1/2 tbsp fenugreek
10-12 red chillies
11/2 tbsp tamarind concentrate
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
Tempering:
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
2 tbsp peanuts
4-5 curry leaves
2 red chillies
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp hing
1 tbsp oil

Method:

Roast all the ingredients starting from chana dal to red chillies, individually and powder it together.
Dissolve the tamarind concentrate in water.
Heat oil in a large pan, add chana dal, urad dal, peanuts and when it is starting to brown add jeera, mustard, curry leaves, red chillies and hing.
Now add tamarind, salt, sugar, turmeric and allow this to boil well.
When the raw smell of tamarind disappears, add the prepared powder.
Let this cook until the mixture thickens.
Let cool and store it in a air-tight container.

Preparing the rice:

Cook 2 cups of rice and spread it in a large bowl.
Mix in 1-2 tsp oil, then add 2 tbsp of the prepared mixture.
Adjust the amount of the mixture according to taste.
Serve with vadaam/chips or just plain yogurt.

To store:

Store in a dry air-tight container.
This paste can be stored in the refrigerator for almost 2-3 weeks.
If the paste dries out add a couple of tsp of oil to the mixture.

This is my entry to "Long live the shelf" event hosted by Roma.

Help Needed: Srivalli of "Cooking 4 All Seasons" blog is doing a great job of raising funds for a noble cause. Please visit her site and help her help a person in need.

Cooking in a Jiffy - Green Beans Koottu

2008-08-10T18:31:00.003-04:00

With cooking time reduced to an hour or less, I have started looking for innovative ways to cut down the cooking time. A friend of ours from Ames was visiting us and we had a mini get together talking about good old grad school days. As usual the talk veered towards cooking and we were reminiscing those simpler grad school days, living with room mates, taking turns to cook where one ended up cooking for just once or twice a week. Now that we have all moved on to the next phase in life, living with significant others or living all alone, working 8-10 hours a day, cooking on an everyday basis is getting harder. But I guess each one of us has tried out different things and have finally managed to devise our own ways to tackle this day-to-day problem.
Eating out is a very simple alternative but may not be good for health or for the wallet. Cooking 4 different dishes or so on Sundays, as one of my friends does eliminates the need to cook over most part of the week. Yet another way to minimize cooking time is to partially cook and freeze the dish for use over the week. And this is my way of saving cooking time on weekdays. In fact I try to make substantial amounts of masala for different dishes, portion control it and store in the freezer. This way, a major part of my cooking is taken care of and it hardly takes 15-20 to mix the masala with veggies or lentils to make an entire dish.

Heads up: Time saving tips

Grind coconut, jeera, peppercorn and green chillies ahead of time and pop the ground mixture in the freezer. This stays good for 2-3 weeks. Increase the amount of ingredients to four fold (or as per your need), grind it all at once, portion it into 4 different containers and use it on 4 different days.
Beans is just one of the veggies that I had on hand. Feel free to substitute it with cabbage, greens, carrot & peas or just about any vegetable.

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped green beans (1/2" long pieces)
1 cup moong dal
1/4 cup toor dal
One large pinch of turmeric.

To grind: (This part can be done ahead of time and the masala stays good in the freezer for 3-4 weeks)
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 tsp jeera
2 green chillies
5-7 peppercorns

For tadka:
2 tsp oil
1 tsp channa dal
2 tsp split urad dal
2 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard
A few pinch hing
Few curry leaves
cilantro for garnish.

Method:

Boil green beans and dal until well cooked, about 20 min.
Soak all the ingredients listed under 'to grind" for 15 min and then grind well to a smooth paste.
Add the ground mixture to boiled dal and beans.
Let this mixture boil for 15 min.
In a small kadai heat 3 tsp oil, add all the ingredients for tadka.
Add the tadka to the boiling mixture and let it boil for 2 more min.
Garnish with cilantro (optional).
Goes well with rice or roti.

Isn't that simple....

And this is my entry to "WYF: Colour in Food" event hosted by Simple Indian Food blog.

A Middle Eastern Dinner

2008-08-01T10:08:00.002-04:00

Lemony Couscous with Eggplant Salad

It was a Tuesday evening and the mid-week syndrome was just setting in. All I was looking for was a simple meal that I can have on the dinner table in half hour or so. I could have looked up on the Internet to see if Rachel Ray had any vegetarian dish to get me through the evening in under 30 min but I wasn't in the mood to browse for 30 min trying to get some ideas to make a 30 min meal :-) I opened the fridge and the same old veggies stared at me: eggplants, beans, bell peppers. Now that we have been regulars at our neighborhood farmers market, we do not have the luxury of choosing between 30 different varieties of veggies ( Pardon me, am going crazy with the 30's but some of you out there might understand :-)). We have to buy whatever is in season and now is the season for eggplants, beans, bell peppers and of course, summer squash. The produce tastes so good that I am for once not complaining about having to cook with just these few veggies for 3 straight weeks now. Anyhow, I decided to make a simple eggplant salad with no fuss, dress it simply and let the flavor of the veggie speak for itself.

Indian cooking uses a lot of eggplants and so do middle eastern and Mediterranean cooking. In my recipe here I have used a very typical middle eastern flavor, Tahini for the salad dressing. Also, I had some left over falafel in the freezer which I used to make the salad more filling. Addition of falafel is completely optional. The salad is quite substantial even in the absence of falafel. And for the carb part of this dinner, I made couscous with a tangy lemony flavor. It sure turned out to be a flavorful and delicious meal just enough to beat the mid-week syndrome at least temporarily!

A few things to note: drain and dry the eggplant really well so the salad doesn't get soggy. If you think the eggplants are soggy, sprinkle some all purpose flour along with the dry seasoning, this will help absorb the excess moisture. Also the amount of tahini can be adjusted according to your taste.

Ingredients
For Couscous:
11/2 instant couscous
3 cups water or vegetable broth
1 handful raisins
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tbsp lemon juice (or more if reqiured)
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
For salad:
4 medium sized eggplant
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp tahini paste
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar or honey
Salt to taste
Falafel (optional)

Method
Couscous:

Heat olive oil in a pan, add fennel, cumin, raisins, garlic and onion.
Saute till onions get soft and translucent.
Add peas, lemon zest, thyme, salt and 3 cups of water/broth. Let it come to a boil.
Now add the couscous, turn off the heat and close the pan with a lid.
Let it rest for 5 min or until all the water is absorbed.
Fluff the couscous with a fork, add lemon juice, pepper and stir well.

Salad:

Dice eggplant into 1/2" cubes, soak it in salted cold water for 15 min.
Drain the water and dry it well.
Mix cayenne powder, cumin powder and oil. Coat the eggplant evenly with this mixture and spread it out on a sheet pan.
Bake it in a 425F pre-heated oven for 15-20 or until crisp (take care not to burn it).
In a large bowl, mix rest of the ingredients, except tomatoes to form a vinaigrette.
Toss in the tomatoes and the crispy eggplant with the vinaigrette. Falafel can be added at this point if you are using it.
Serve this on a bed of lemony couscous.

This is my entry for AFAM event for Aug '08: Lemon, hosted by Simple Indian Food blog.

Enjoy !!!

Ghatte ki Subji (Steamed Chickpeas Flour Dumpling in Onion-Tomato Gravy)

2008-07-24T14:37:00.005-04:00

Moving from one royalty to another, from the Mughals to the Rajputs. The recipe I am sharing with you all today is a Rajasthani dish called ghatte ki subji. Rajasthan being a desert and all has limited availability of fresh veggies and water. Hence the cuisine is greatly influenced by ingredients that were readily available such as dried lentils, flour. Besan (gram flour) is widely used to make ghatta (pl. ghatte), pakodi etc. Ghattes can be used in subji, kadi or even pulao. Once the ghatte are ready, the whole dish can be made within 20-30 min which makes this a wonderful dish for a busy weekday meal. To boost its nutritional value, I have added bell peppers; vegetables such as carrots, cauliflower etc can be also added.

Ingredients:
For Ghatta:
2 cups besan
1 tsp ajwain
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp Dhania-jeera powder
1/2 tsp amchoor
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil salt to taste
For gravy:
1 onion
3 tomatoes
2 bell pepper (cut into big pieces)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
11/2 chilli powder
2 tsp dhania-jeera powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp amchoor
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp fennel
2 tsp thick yogurt or sour cream
1 tsp kasoori methi
cilantro for garnish

Method:
Ghatta:

Mix all the ingredients for the ghatta with enough water to form a tight dough (like that of a chapathi dough).
Roll it out into an inch thick cylinder and cut into bite size pieces.
Drop the pieces into salted boiling water and let it cook for 10-15 min or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
Drain them and let it dry for a few mintues.
Shallow fry or saute these ghattes in a few tablespoon of oil.

At this point, ghattes can be frozen and they stay good for a month or so.

Gravy:

Heat oil in a saute pan, add fennel and jeera.
Add ginger, garlic and onions. Saute until the onions are golden brown.
Now add the tomatoes, turmeric and salt. Cook until the raw smell of tomato disappears.
Add chilli powder, dhania-jeera powder, amchoor and let it cook until it becomes thick.
Now add the yogurt/sour cream and mix in bell peppers.
Add 1/2 cup water and let it boil for 5 min or until the bell peppers are cooked but firm.
Now add the ghatte and let it boil for 10 more mins or until the ghatte are soft.
Sprinkle the kasoori methi and cilantro.

Serve with hot rice or roti.

This post is my contribution for the "curry mela" blog event hosted by Srivalli of Cooking 4 all seasons blog. Hope you all like it :-)

Quick Vegetable Biryani

2008-07-15T17:58:00.005-04:00

One of the most flavorful and aromatic rice dishes is biryani, brought to India by the Mughal rulers. For those of us interested in the history of biryani, this is a good read. Traditional biryani is labor intensive and takes a good couple of hours to get done. The final step in a traditional biryani is the layering: a heavy-bottom pan is filled with alternate layers of rice and veggie masala, top is covered with dough (made of wheat flour, similar to roti dough) and cooked on a slow fire. This dough helps to seal all the flavors inside, thus enhancing the flavor of the dish. A more modern alternative is to layer rice and veggies in a glass or an oven-proof vessel, cover with aluminum foil and bake in an oven. Here is my take on biryani: an easy and a fast one for everyday cooking!! Since my version is the quick cooking one, I skipped the layering part and just mixed the whole thing together and let it cook covered for a few minutes.

The time-consuming part in this version is marinating the veggies, longer it stands better it tastes. I like to marinate a whole bunch of veggies at a time, use half for immediate consumption and store the other half for another day. I normally freeze the unused portion and it stays good for 3-4 weeks. Once you have the marinated veggies ready, the masala takes just about 20-30 min to cook, which is normally the time it takes for rice to get done. Cook the rice just three quarters way through initially as it gets completely cooked at the end with the veggies.

Ingredients:
2 cup rice (mix rice with 2 cardamom, 4 cloves, 1 bay leaf)
1 small onion
1 big tomato
1 tsp cumin (jeera)
1 inch stick cinnamon
3 cardamom
4 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cup mixed veggies (carrots, cauliflower, beans, peas, potatoes, bell pepper, mushrooms, zucchini)
2 tsp oil or ghee
Garam masala powder, to taste
Salt to taste

Grind together: 1/2 cup mint, 3 green chillies, 1 inch ginger, 3 cloves garlic
For Marinade: 2 tbsp yogurt, 2 tsp red chilli powder, 2 tsp Coriander-cumin powder (dhaniya-jeera powder), 1 tsp dried mango powder (amchoor), 1tsp sugar, 1 tsp turmeric
Garnish: cilantro, fried cashews or peanuts (optional)

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and stir in half of the ground paste. Add veggies to this marinade and let it rest for 1 hour or so.
Cook rice + whole spices mixture with 2 cups of water for 20 min .
Add 2 tsp oil in a big saute pan. Add cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, jeera and the onions. Saute until the onions are brown. Add tomatoes, remaining half of the ground paste and saute for 2 more minutes.
Now add the marinated vegetables along with the marinate. Saute for 2 more minutes.
Add 1 cup of water and cook until the veggies are tender but firm and all the water has been absorbed.
At this point, add the cooked rice to the veggies. Mix well. Add salt and sprinkle some garam masala powder.
Sprinkle a few tablespoon of water, close the pan and let it cook for 5 - 10 minutes in a low heat (take care not to burn the dish).
Garnish with cilantro and serve with raita.

This dish can very well be jazzed up for a special occasion but that's for another week :-)

Happy cooking.....

5 PM Hunger Pangs!!

2008-07-08T13:31:00.003-04:00

Here we are, working hard for 8 hrs and you come home to what......"the 5PM hunger pangs" :-) Its that time of the day when its too early for dinner and a light snack is all we need to stave off hunger till dinner time. A quick option is the vending machine, if available or the snack in a packet which may not always be healthy. This blog is all about a few relatively healthy snacks that can be conjured up in just a few minutes. Make it ahead of time, freeze it and voila... you have a snack in less than 10 min.

Keeping up my promise of giving more recipes using mint pesto, here's a snack/appetizer that is easy to make, healthy but delicious. Any bread that you have on hand will work and for a more classic touch a baguette may be used.

Bruschetta with Mint pesto
Ingredients:
6 slices of multi grain bread (any kind would do)
Mint pesto
Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Spread each slice with generous amount of mint pesto.
Sprinkle with cheese (salt and pepper if required).
Toast in a 400F pre-heated oven for 5-8 min or until golden brown and cheese is melted.
Cut into pieces and serve warm.

Corn Meal Appam (Savory appam)

I used a non-stick appam pan that I hauled all the way from India. Little did I know that it is available in many stores for around 20 dollars, only that it is called Aebleskiver pan rather than an appam pan.

Ingredients:
1 cup corn meal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 small onion
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin (Jeera)
1 tsp fennel (saunf)
1 tsp red chilli powder (optional)
3/4 cup buttermilk or as required
2 tbsp cashew nuts or peanuts
salt to taste

Method:

Mix all the ingredients well. Add buttermilk as necessary to get a thick batter.
Heat an appam pan and grease well with oil (Normally just a few drops in each slot is just sufficient).
Pour batter in each slot and cook on a medium heat for few min or until one side is browned.
Turn over to the other side and cook until golden brown.
Serve with tomato ketchup or chutney.

Happy munching :-)

Fusilli with Mint Pesto

2008-06-25T18:48:00.004-04:00

Mint is the star ingredient of my blog today. Spring usually brings along with it a whole range of fresh veggies and herbs. Mint is one such herb that abounds the supermarket shelf this time of the year. As with any fresh herb, mint does not remain fresh for more than 4-5 days. Hence it becomes imperative that it be used as early as possible. Given that mint has an especially strong flavor, a tiny bit goes a long way. So to run through a big bunch in a single meal is quite difficult. I was looking at ways to preserve mint for more than just a few days and presto! - I thought of pesto :-)

Pesto is a sauce made of crushed herbs and garlic. Pesto is usually made of basil with pine nuts, garlic and olive oil. Here is my version of pesto made with mint, pine nuts, garlic and olive oil. This pesto lasts for more than a month when frozen.

Mint Pesto:

Ingredients:
2 cups mint leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
Salt to taste

Method:

Coarsely chop all the ingredients except oilve oil in a food processor.
Stream in olive oil and grind until a smooth consistency is obtained.
Freeze in air-tight container.

Fusilli with Mint Pesto:
A variety of dishes can be made with mint pesto and here's a hearty pasta dish made with mint pesto. I have used whole wheat fusilli, though penne will work fine too.

Ingredients:
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup spinach (thaw, if frozen)
1 can black eye peas (if using dried beans, soak for 24 hrs and cook until tender)
1 tsp red chilli flakes
2 tbsp mint pesto
2 pinches nutmeg powder
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
8 pitted kalamata olives (optional)
1 big roasted red pepper (optional)
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 lb whole wheat fusilli

Method:

Cook fusilli in a big pot of salted boiling water. Cook al dente.
Heat olive oil in a saute pan. Add chilli flakes, garlic and onion. Saute until onions are soft and translucent.
Add spinach and saute for 2 min.
Add wine and let it cook until spinach gets tender.
Add mint pesto and sprinkle nutmeg powder.
Add drained black eye peas and cook for 5 more minutes.
Add fusilli. A little of starchy boiling water can be added if it gets too dry.
Mix in parmesan cheese and lemon juice.
Garnish with olives and roasted red peppers.
Enjoy...!!

A closer look....

I will post more recipes with mint pesto in subsequent weeks.
Ciao.....

Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

2008-06-19T18:07:00.003-04:00

A Sweet beginning.......

Now that I have graduated to a more relaxed post-grad-student life, I thought what better way to utilize the extra time than documenting a hobby that I like the most, cooking....

My first blog is on one of the most popular dessert of all times - "cupcakes". I made a double chocolate cupcake inspired by black forest cake recipe (with a few twists of my own). Authentic black forest cake is made of chocolate cake with layers of whipped cream and cherries. Kirsch (cherry brandy) is an essential ingredient in an authentic black forest cake. I do not normally stock cherries or kirsch and so I decided to use something that I had on hand. Strawberries are now in season and on sale :-) We could not resist buying those succulent red berries and ended up buying way more than usual. We ate some, made strawberry jam and still had some waiting to be used. So I decided to substitute cherries in the black forest cake with strawberry and used the strawberry jam as a filling in the cupcake.

Here it is, my double chocolate strawberry filled cupcakes. I have used part-whole wheat flour, some honey instead of sugar and vegetable oil instead of butter for healthier cupcakes!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 vegetable oil
1 cup brewed coffee
1 tsp vanilla flavor
1 cup strawberry jam (Warmed over stove top or microwave)
8 fresh strawberry (halved)
Whipped cream (optional)

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder in a bowl and set aside.
3. In another bowl beat the eggs, oil, brown sugar and honey until well mixed. Mix in coffee and vanilla.
4. Add the flour mixture into wet mixture and stir until flour is fully incorporated.
5. Line muffin tray with parchment cups and grease well.
6. Half fill the muffin cups with batter and add a layer of warm strawberry jam. Fill the rest with batter and top it with halved fresh strawberry.
7. Bake for 20 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Serve with whipped cream (optional). Yummmm..................