Samosa Chaat, Baby Butter Beans-Potato-Cilantro Kurma, Menasina Saaru/Pepper Soup

I am on blog break, see you all as soon as I can! :)

Samosa Chaat, goes to Pallavi's "Sunday Snacks-Chaats/Indian street food" event.

Baby Butter Beans-Potato-Cilantro Kurma, goes to Cilantro's "JFI-Cilantro", an event started by Indira.

Samosa Chaat and Menasina Saaru, both go to Mahimaa's "15 minute cooking". If you have store bought Samosas and sauces already, it takes literally 10mins to whip up this delicious Chaat and Soup is the easiest to make as well.

Menasina Saaru/Pepper soup, goes to Trupti's "Comfort Food for illness" event.

Thanks to all of you, enjoy! :)

Samosa Chaat:
Who doesn't love to eat Samosas dipped in sweet and spicy chutney? Why not make the yummy Samosas into yummier Chaat? I know most of you have tried this Samosa chaat and posted it too. I had some leftover Aloo masala, so I thought of making quick Samosas and turn this into Chaat. Loved it. Since I had visited Indian store last weekend, I had all the goodies needed like Farsan/sev, bottled sweet and hot chutney, Chaat masala packet etc to go with it.
I make Samosas with Tortillas or Egg roll wrappers, sometimes I make the traditional samosa dough with atta. I have linked few sites for you to watch how to make or fold Samosas and chutney recipes to save me some time from typing those too! ;D

To make Samosa: (or use store bought Samosas and sauces for quicker Chaat!)
Take 3 large cooked Potatoes, mash it well. Add salt, chilli pd, 1 tbsp coriander pd, 2 tsp cumin seeds pd, 2 tbsp minced onion, 2 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp garam Masala, 2 tsp Lemon juice, mix well and keep aside. Watch this video to see how to make Samosas.
Take atta dough (wheat flour, salt and 2 tbsp oil, knead with water to a firm dough) (I used Egg or Spring roll wrapper), roll out and cut into half moon shape, make a cone and stuff few tbsps of Potato masala, cover and secure the edges with plain flour+water paste to seal the Samosas. Deep fry these until golden and drain them on paper towel.
To make Chaat with Samosas:
You need to chop 1 large tomato, 1 sweet Onion, 4 tbsp Cilantro, 1/4 cup each of Sweet Tamarind chutney and hot green chutney and Plain Yogurt, some Chaat masala and Sev (thin chickpea flour fried snacks) and keep them ready.
To serve:
Break 1 or 2(if they are small size) Samosas into may be 4 to 5 big pieces and place them on a plate. Sprinkle some Tomato pieces, Onion pieces, as much green chutney and sweet chutney and yogurt as you want, some chopped Cilantro, 1/2 tsp Chaat masala and finally some thin Sev on top of the Samosas.
Serve immediately. I could eat 2 plates of those in one go! ;D

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Baby Lima or Butter beans,potato and Cilantro Kurma:

You need:

2-3 cups of baby Lima or Butter beans, (I used frozen pack), 1 Potato, peeled and cubed, Salt, 1 tsp butter (optional, tastes great if you add it).
Seasoning:
1 tbsp oil, 1 small onion, minced.
To grind:
2 garlic, 1" ginger, 4 tbsp fresh or dry Coconut, 2 tsp Poppy seeds, 2 tbsp Yogurt, 3 cloves, 1" Cinnamon, 1/2 cup packed Cilantro leaves (don't use it's stem which has powerful flavor and aroma, bit too much for this dish), few curry leaves, 2 or more green chillies.

To make Kurma:
1. Thaw the beans and cook with cubed potatoes with half a cup of water in the microwave for about 7mins, set aside.
2. Grind the masala until smooth with very little water.
3. Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add and fry minced onion until soft. Add the ground masala and yogurt, saute until raw smell goes and it leaves the side of the pan.
4. Now, add the cooked beans and potato, mix well. Simmer for 3 mins.

Add a dab of butter if you like, mix and serve with Parathas. Tastes better the next day!
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My grandma's comforting cold remedy, Menasina Saaru/Pepper soup!

Trupti is not feeling well, suffering from flu and cold. So she is asked us to send her few comfort food to her which we can cook quickly and helps to feel us better. I don't know or make many home remedies like my grand mother makes at her home but this Menasina saaru seems to be the only one I like to make when I have cold, love it. Freshly crushed pepper seems to open your blocked sinuses quicker than (although temporarily) any Vicks Vaporub!:D

Another remedial drink I vaguely remember that she used to make is ginger and honey juice for Stomach ache or for something like that, I am not sure. I had seen my grandfather drinking it often whenever we visit them during Summer holidays. Anyway, here is my fave dadima's Nushka, Karnataka style! ;D

You need these to make the soup:
1. Heat 1 tsp oil and 1 tsp ghee in a deep pan. Add 2-4 garlic finely chopped and few curry leaves to it.
2. Crush 1 tsp Cumin seeds and 2 tsp Pepper corns coarsely and add to this oil. Let them all sizzle gently. Don't let the garlic burn but very slightly golden on the edges.
3. Mix 1 1/2 tsp (or more if you want it very tangy) Tamarind paste (I use Laxmi brand natural Tamarind concentrate which has nice reddish color which I love than darker Tam paste and paste easy to use too) in 2-3 cups of water well.
4. Add this to the pan with salt, bring it to rolling boil for 2 mins or until the raw smell of Tamarind goes and soup smell good. Adjust the salt and add more crushed pepper if you want.
5. Drink this when you have cold, you feel the relief immediately to make you feel better although it doesn't cure your cold. Tastes great with rice too or just as a warm drink on a cold day.
You can add some cilantro to it too, always optional. That's it for this week.

Feel better soon Trupti, hugs to you.

We had a wonderful weekend, very hot weather. Have a great Summer, see you all later in the Fall! :)

Spring Onion, Bacon and Cheddar Bread, Kasutera-Japanese Honey Cake

Spring onion, Bacon and Cheddar bread, goes to Cindystar who is guest hosting "Bread baking Day #19-Spring Country bread", an event started by Zorra.

Kasutera, a Japanese Honey cake, goes to Lavanya's "A.W.E.D.-Japan", an event started by DK.

Thanks to all of you ladies, enjoy hosting.

Cheesy Scallion Bacon bread, a savory loaf makes an excellent addition to any picnic or get together at home. Sliced and toasted bread is great for breakfast or to serve as colorful appetizers like finger food topped with Tapenade or cream cheese. With green onions, Bacon, Cheddar and chilli flakes added, it gives little zest to the bread and makes it festive as well.

Vegetarians can skip the Bacon and bake it with Spring onion, grated carrots, Bell peppers etc along with any cheese you like. Just make sure that veggies you use don't get watery when baked, roast the veggies before adding.

Spring Onion, Bacon and Cheddar Cheese bread, ready for picnic, got a basket?!
This recipe adapted by 'Totally Teabreads" by Albright and Weiner. Hope you try it!

You need:

Large loaf pan 9" by 5" by 3", brushed with butter or sprayed with no-stick oil inside.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

To saute:
1/2 cup Butter, 1 cup Green onion/Scallions, finely chopped including tender green and white parts. 4-5 Bacon finely chopped or you can use 3 tbsp bottled real Bacon bits.
Dry ingredients:
2 3/4 cup Plain flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tsp Baking powder, 1/2 tsp Baking soda, 3/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp of Pepper or red chilli flakes, 1 tsp Garlic powder, 1/4 tsp mixed herbs, mix all these first. Then add 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese and stir in to mix.
Liquid ingredients:
1 cup Buttermilk, 1/2 cup water, 2 large eggs. Beat these two and keep aside.
To top:
1 tbsp Bacon bits to sprinkle on top of the batter.

To bake:
1. Add butter to the pan, heat and add green onions and Bacon, saute until just soft for 2-3 mins. Take off the heat.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients, add butter-onion-Bacon to this, mix well. Add liquid ingredients, mix well again until you don't see any white flour. You can use the lowest speed beater to mix in the stand mixer as well.

3. Scrape the thick batter to the loaf pan, tap it gently to release the air and sprinkle 1 tbsp reserved bacon bits on top of the batter. Put it in the oven.
4. Bake for 50 to 60 mins or until the cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Take out of the oven, let it cool in the pan for 6-7 mins and then invert it on the rack to cool.
4. Slice and serve warm or toasted with butter or on the side with soup or pack the slices for picnic! Enjoy! :)

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Kasutera:
Kasutera is a spongy, eggy Japanese Honey cake which is not very sweet or naturally sweet with honey, hence do not need icing. Without adding any kind of essence, it has a wonderful aroma of honey and with just a dusting of confectioner's sugar on top, not too sweet either which is how I like my desserts!
This recipe is adapted from a 'Learn to cook' book series called "Japanese Homestyle Dishes". Usually, I don't cook any Japanese food at home or interested in trying either. I ran...well...drove to the library, borrowed this book. Kasutera sounded and looked good, so glad I tried it! I read that it's a popular dessert cake in Nagasaki, Japan, originally brought to Japan by Portuguese.

You Need:
5 large Eggs, 2/3rd cup Powdered sugar, 1/4 cup Honey, 1 tsp Baking powder, 1 cup All purpose flour or Cake flour. (9" by 9" cake pan, lined with parchment paper and sprayed with no-stick oil or butter.
(You can add 1 tsp of essence of your choice like Orange or Lemon, but recipe didn't say and I didn't add any either, loved the natural honey taste and aroma!)

For dusting: 1/4 cup extra powdered sugar for dusting the cake on top. You can even dust it with cocoa powder for contrast.

To bake the cake:

Preheat the oven at 350F.

1. In a mixer with whisk attachment, add 5 Eggs and beat until frothy.
2. Add in the Honey and powdered sugar, beat this mix for 10 to 12 mins, until it's thick, pale in color and beater leaves a ribbon when lifted.

(This 2nd step is very important to keep the cake fluffy and bake high, so do beat well until you see the trail of ribbon with the batter before adding the flour etc)

3. Now, add the baking powder and flour gradually, mix and fold or beat on low speed gently just until flour is well incorporated.
4. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 mins or until skewer when tested in the center of the cake comes out clean. Don't bake too much.
5. Invert on a cooler, peel off the parchment paper.
6. When completely cooled, dust the top with powdered sugar and cut into slices to serve.

Enjoy and see you all later! :)

Clicking Spring Mint and Garlic Chives, Egg Jalfrezi, Brown Rice and Besan Uttappa

My Spring Mint and Garlic Chives, goes to Bee and Jai's "Click-Spring/Autumn" event.

Egg Jalfrezi, goes to Sudeshna's "Eggs" event who is celebrating her first blog anniversary.

Brown Rice, Besan/Chickpea flour and Carrot Uttappa, goes to Trupti who is guest hosting "Cooking for Kids-Rice" event, which is started by Sharmi.

Thanks to all of you ladies, enjoy my 150th post at Aroma! :)

Spring Mint and Garlic Chives from my backyard!

Camera: Sony Cyber-Shot 8.1pxl in Macro mode.

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Beautiful Spring Tulips which I clicked without the home owner's permission while driving to the next city! I saw these Tulips in their front yard, one of my favorite flowers of all, stopped the car, took the photo and ran back to the car with a lightening speed!! :D

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About Jalfrezi:
Wikipedia says "The jalfrezi dates from the times of the British Raj when it was created as a way of using leftover meat; the chillies helped to disguise any disagreeable taste. The name comes indirectly from Bengali jhāl, spicy food, and Urdu parhezī, suitable for a diet"

Egg Jalfrezi:
Jalfrezi is a tasty sweet and spicy concoction of Bell Peppers, Tomato and Onion. You can add any vegetable of your choice or mixed veggies, meat or hard boiled Eggs into this thickish gravy.
There are many ways to make the Jalfrezi, here is my milder version since my kids like milder and sweeter sauce than spicy. You can add green chillies if you like, gives it a nice heat. I added red bell peppers for sweetness and color.

How to make Egg Jalfrezi my way!
Hard boil 6 eggs in water for 15mins, take off the heat, pour out the hot water and add cold water. This makes the Egg shells peel easy after they are cold. Peel the shells, cut the eggs 1/2 way to the center but do not cut it thru' to split them into half.

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil + 2 tsp Butter, add 1tsp Cumin seeds. When they turn reddish, add 1" grated fresh Ginger, saute for 2 mins.
2. Add 2 medium sized thinly sliced onions, saute for 3 mins, until they are soft. Add 2 large red Bell peppers, sliced into the sauce, stir fry for 3 mins, until they wilt a bit and soften.
2. Now, add 2-3 Plum Tomatoes, sliced to the pan, stir again and let it cook and oil shows on top a little, sauce leaves the sides of the pan.
3. Now, add enough salt, 1/4 or more tsp Chilli pd or Paprika (you can add green chillies too), 1/2 tsp Sugar, 1 1/2 tsp Coriander powder, 1/2 tsp good quality Garam masala pd, homemade is better. Mix well and add 3/4 cup water and 1 tbsp cream or full cream milk (optional). Simmer for 5 mins.
4. Take off the heat, adjust the salt and chilli pd. Sprinkle 3 tbsp chopped Cilantro.

Serve with Lemon slices and cooked Basmati rice.

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Uttappa:
In Karnataka or in Kannada, we call Uttappam as Uttappa, although method of making these is always the same. You use the usual Dosa or Idli batter, soured overnight to use the next day and adding onion, Tomato, chillies etc on top to make Uttappa like this recipe I posted long time ago at my Foodie's Hope blog. They are usually served with chutney or Sambhar, a thick dal dip.

For this event which we are cooking for kids, I came up with these trying to make it little healthier adding Brown rice, Carrots and Besan. Since we are mixing protein packed Besan which is Chickpea flour to finely ground rice, there is no need to ferment this Uttappa batter, go ahead and make them after few hrs of grinding rice.

Quick to make and kids love them too if you add Carrots and green peppers to make them colorful. Instead of chutney, added ghee and sprinkled my homemade Chutney pudi which is a coarsely ground mixed dal powder with spices. My chutney pudi is not very spicy but adds great color and nutrition to Uttappa. Here is my version of Uttappa, enjoy! :)

Brown Rice, Besan and Carrot masala Uttappa, topped with ghee and chutney pudi:
Looks like Pizza, isn't it? Great to serve to kids and adults alike. Brown rice has lot of fiber retained than the regular white rice and Besan and Carrots gives this pancake a pinkish hue which kids usually dig! :)

To make Uttappa:

1. Soak 1 1/2 cup Brown rice overnight or for at least for 3-4 hrs in water. Drain the water, add to a mixer. Grind it with 2 cups of water until it's smooth to touch or finely ground. Add 3 tbsp Besan to the rice batter, blend just until well mixed.
2. Take the batter in to a bowl, add enough salt, 1/2 cup finely grated Carrots, 2 tbsp chopped Cilantro, few chopped curry leaves, 1/2" grated Ginger, 1 tsp Cumin seeds powder, 1/4 tsp chilli pd or green chillies chopped (Skip both if your kids can't handle the heat), finely chopped 4 tbsp onion, mix well. Keep it aside for 15mins.
3. Heat a non-stick griddle, pour a ladleful of batter, drizzle few drops of oil on top. Let it cook until the bottom is golden, flip it to cook the other side.
4. As soon as you take the pancake or Uttappa on to plate, brush some ghee on top, sprinkle a tsp of Chutney pudi on top evenly and serve immediately.

There you are! Nutritious and tasty South Indian Pancake/Crepe/Uttappa! :)

Batata Vada/Alu Bonda, Tomato and mixed Vegetable Avarekalu Uppittu/Upma

Batata vada, goes to Harini's "Recipes for rest of us-Starters" event which is started by Ramki.

Mixed vegetable and Tomato Uppittu, goes to Sahaja's "Single serving Recipes" event.

Thanks ladies, enjoy! :)

Who doesn't like Batata Vada or Alugedde bonda as we call it in Kannada? Here is my quick version I made just for this event. No measurement required for the dishes we send to this event and it should be so easy that even a 10yr old can cook it as per this event's rules. Well... most 10yr old kids can make these I guess, although letting them deep fry without supervision is not recommended.

Want to make Batata Vadas sophisticated enough for grand cocktail party? Make large Marble sized vadas and stick a few colorful Toothpicks on each like finger foods to serve with Ketchup or thinner chutney as dip. You can do the same with mini Chana dal round vadas too. Enjoy! :)

Batata vada or Alu bonda with coconut chutney:

To make Aloo stuffing:

1. Boil 2 large Potatoes until soft, peel and mash. Heat a bit of oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chilli flakes, chopped curry and cilantro leaves.
2. Add Potatoes, salt, lemon juice and mix well. Cool and make about 2" balls and keep aside.
To make batter:
1. Mix 1 portion of Besan/Chickpea flour, few tbsps of rice flour, pinch of bakind soda, enough salt, chilli pd and water to make a thickish batter. Rest it for 10 mins.
To make Bondas:
1. Heat oil to 375F or hot to deep fry. Dip Potato balls in the batter and deep fry until golden.
2. Serve with spicy Chutney; Grind Coconut, green chillies, tamarind or yogurt, ginger, salt with enough water to make chutney. Temper with Mustard seeds. Voila!! :D

Mixed Vegetable and Lilva/Avarekalu Uppittu:
Well... Sahaja wanted a one dish meal and here is my simple yet nutritious one dish Uppittu/Upma I make when I am in a hurry or don't have any left overs to eat. Usually I throw in a frozen mixed vegetable pack here to make veg Uppittu. I love Avarekalu/Lilva/Field beans in Uppittu but fresh beans is not always available to me, so I soak dry ones and cook them to add to dishes or use frozen Lilva. For tanginess, I add Lemon juice at the end or one fresh sliced Tomato.

To make Mixed veg Uppittu:
1. Heat 1 tsp ghee in a non-stick pan. Add 1 cup Semolina/Rava and roast until Rava is golden on a medium heat and spread it on paper to cool.
2. Add 2 tbsp oil to the same pan, add 1/2 Mustard seeds, 1 tsp Cumin seeds, few curry leaves, (Cashews are optional), 2 tsp each Chana dal and Urad dal, 1 onion, finely chopped, 2-3 green chillies and fry them until soft.
3. Add 2 1/2 cups of water, enough salt, few cilantro. Add 1 cup of pre cooked (Microwave them with little water) mixed veggies like Beans, Carrots, peas, Lilva beans, one Tomato sliced. Let it boil for 5 mins.
4. Taste for salt and turn down the heat to simmer. Slowly add Rava in a stream and stir all the while to prevent clumping. Stri well, cover and let it simmer for 4-5 mins.
5. It's ready to eat. serve with crunchy Sev, Boondi and plain yogurt.

Tomato,Peas and Carrot Uppittu:
Tomato, Peas and Carrot Uppittu is another of my favorite combo to add to make Uppittu. I chop baby Carrots in to rounds. They are very sweet, adds a sweetish flavor to spicy Uppittu and for to balance the hot and sweet, I add some Tomatoes or Tomato sauce to this. Adding 1 tsp of MTR Vangibhath powder or Rasam powder to this adds a excellent flavor as well.
Photo didn't come well for this Uppittu, bear with me. I have too many huge windows in every room, bright and sunny rooms don't help me in photographing anything properly these days.

To make Tomato Uppittu:
1. Follow the same method as above until step 2 and add 2 1/2 cups of water, 1/2 cup frozen Green peas, 1/2 cup Tomato sauce or 2-3 Tomato chopped, 2 Carrots chopped or coarsely grated, 1 tsp spice powder of your choice (optional), let it boil.
2. Follow the rest of the method like the above recipe and you will have fragrant, colorful and tasty Uppittu!

Have a great week, see you all later! :)

Clicking Wooden Rice Mould/Mold, Roasted veg and Artichoke Pasta, Mac and Cheese Casserole with Italian sausage.

My Japanese wooden Rice Mold, goes to Jugalbadi's ever popular visual candy event "CLICK-WOOD".

Pasta with roasted Bell pepper, Artichoke hearts and Tomato, goes to Soma of "ecurry" who is guest hosting "Hay Hay, it's Donna's day #26" event. Roma has chosen Donna Hay's this recipe for us to try. This event's original host is Bron Marshall.

Mac and cheese with Italian sausage, goes to Srivalli of "Cooking for 4 all seasons", who is guest hosting "Monthly Mingle" this month with "Kids lunches" as a theme and Meeta started this MM event. Thanks to all hosts, enjoy! :)

Macaroni and cheese with Italian sausage casserole, also goes to Aquadaze of "Served with love", who is guest hosting this month's "Presto Pasta Nights #106", an event started by Ruth of "Once upon a feast".

Japanese Rice mould/mold:
Any kind of "mould" in India is called "Mold" here in USA, just like "colour" and "color" etc, just a little clarification about the spelling! :D

This beautiful Japanese rice mold is specially designed to pour and serve the sauce in the center. Spoon the cooked rice into the mold, press gently to fill the gaps, place on a serving plate and tap gently to release the rice. Pour any sauce into the middle of the rice and serve. I had made Egg butter masala, placed an egg in the center of the mold.

Another "clear" look:

Sony Cyber-Shot: 8.1pxl, Macro mode.

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Chicken and Capsicum Pasta recipe is the choice of Soma's who is hosting "Hay Hay, it's Donna's day" from Donna Hay's blog. Although I followed the original recipe mostly, I had to make this with Artichoke Hearts with lots of fresh herbs from my herb pots since I made Butter chicken for kids few days ago and ran out of Chicken! So here is my chicken less version;

Artichoke Hearts and roasted Bell Peppers Farfalle Pasta!

Another look:

Here is how I made it:
1. Cooked Butterfly/Farfalle Pasta al-Dente, drained and added to a bowl.
2. Roasted green and red Bell peppers, few Tomato slices, drained canned Artichoke Hearts, cooled them for 10mins.
3. Mixed Pasta, roasted veggies, 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese, few slices of bottled Vinegary Jalapenos, 2 tbsp mixed fresh herbs like Basil, Oregano, Thyme and Parsley along with Donna's dressing and VOILA!!
Beautiful Pasta is ready to dig in. Enjoy! :)

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Everybody's favorite food, Macaroni and cheese with sweet Italian Sausage:
My kids always like to have Mac and cheese whenever my husband doesn't come home for dinner and I don't feel like cooking! Usually kids like to add add chopped up Hot dogs for a quick version, I had some Italian sausage this time to add to this Nac and Cheese. You can make plain Mac and cheese without adding anything or may be some veggies to make it healthier. I made a Casserole of Mac and cheese with crunchy Panko breadcrumbs on top!

Macaroni and Cheese with Italian sausage Casserole:

Here is how to make Mac and cheese Casserole:

Preheat the oven at 350F to bake this casserole for 30-40mins.

Pasta:
Boil water, add 2 cups of dry Elbow Macaroni with some salt and 1 tsp oil until almost done, drain and pour it in a casserole dish.
Sausage:
Cut up Hot dog if you using those or take out and crumble Italian sausage links out of it's skin and saute the sausage for a while in a pan until light brown and set aside to add this to the sauce later)
For cheese sauce:
1. Heat a non-stick pan, add 2tbsp olive oil or butter, add 2 tbsp plain flour, stir fry until slightly golden or until flour is cooked. Now pour in about 2 1/4 cups of milk, gently heat.
2. When sauce is hot, grate a Nutmeg to add few pinches, sausage and take the sauce off of the heat. Add 1 tsp yellow ground Mustard, 1 cup of grated Cheddar cheese and stir gently and quickly until cheese dissolves. Add some pepper and salt if needed. I added 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp each of mixed spices and herbs.
3. Pour this sauce over the Macaroni, sprinkle some Parmesan and 1/4 cup seasoned Panko (or Italian) breadcrumbs on top and bake for 30 to 40mins until sauce is thickish.
Sauce thickens as the caserrole cools, so don't bake until Pasta and sauce is very dry. To get some color on the breadcrumbs, I broiled/grilled for 5 mins or just until crumbs get golden. DO NOT burn the crumbs!
You can Microwave this dish too to make it faster, bread crumbs will be whitish but it's quite tasty to eat anyway.

Enjoy, see you next time! :)

Jamaican Festival (Fried Bread)

My Jamaican festival bread goes to Meeta of "What's for lunch, honey" blog for her "Monthly Mingle" event. She has chosen "Caribbean cooking" as a theme for this month. Thanks for hosting, Meeta! :)

(A quick note to all event hosts before I start:
I will be taking a short break from cooking for events at "Aroma" blog probably until the last week of March or so, really need some time to read few books! My weekly blog posts at "Foodie's Hope" will go on as usual every Wednesday over there!)

Caribbean:

"The Caribbean region is mainly a chain of islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea.All islands at some point were, and a few still are, colonies of European nations; a few are overseas or dependent territories. The geography and climate in the Caribbean region varies from one place to another. Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain of non-volcanic origin. Such islands include Aruba (possessing only minor volcanic features), Barbados, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands or Antigua. Others possess rugged towering mountain-ranges like the islands of Cuba, Dominica, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Guadeloupe, and Trinidad & Tobago. The region sits in the line of several major shipping routes with the man-made Panama Canal connecting the western Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean." Info from WIKIPEDIA.

Jamaica:

"Jamaica is the third largest Caribbean island. It's indigenous Arawakan-speaking Taíno inhabitants named the island Xaymaca, meaning the "Land of Wood and Water", or the "Land of Springs". Formerly a Spanish possession known as Santiago, it later became the British Crown colony of Jamaica and later became independent in 1962. It is the third most populous anglophone country in North America, after the United States and Canada. It remains a Commonwealth realm. Its traditions of reggae, rastafarianism and Jamaican art mingle with cosmopolitan culture makes Jamaica an attractive destination for tourists. The natural beauty of the island also offers many amazing rivers, waterfalls, rain forests, coral reefs and sandy white beaches!"

I chose to make Jamaican festival, which are fried bread, either can be less sugary bread served with Fried Fish, Jamaican Jerk Chicken and rice and peas or sweet Festival bread as dessert. I found this recipe in one of the Jamaican travel websites. They are delicious as dessert sprinkled with powdered sugar, don't retain much oil even though they are deep fried. Hope you try!

Jamaican Festival:

Festival are oval shaped, somewhat thin, slightly sweet, crispy flour and cornmeal fritters. Why do they do call it Festival? May be because eating them is like having a festival in your mouth, as one of the theories go! :D

You need:
1 1/2 cups plain flour,
3 tbsp cornmeal,
about 1 cup of water,(you may need less, do not add all at once),
1/2 tsp salt,
3 tbsp sugar, less for savory festival and more if you like them very sweet,
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence.

How to make them:
1. Sift the plain flour in to a bowl and stir in the cornmeal, salt, sugar and baking powder.
2. Add Vanilla and mix. Add water tbsps at first and then as much as you need to get a very firm dough like Poori dough. Do not make them sticky and soft dough. You can add more flour if it becomes sticky which could make the bread hard, so do try not to add too much water to the dough to begin with.
3. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15-20mins. Divide into 8 or 10 pieces and without handling the dough too much, make shapes like elongated ovals or as you see in the photo, keep them aside.
4. Heat oil to 365F and deep fry the Festivals until golden, drain on the paper towel.
5. After they are cooled, sprinkle powdered sugar on top to serve or just plain with Jerk Chicken or fried Fish.

That's it! Beautiful Festivals are ready to eat. Have fun eating them! :)

Sour Cream Potato Loaf and a Tomato Garlic soup

Sour cream and Potato bread is my contribution to "Bread Baking Day #17" event which is started by Zorra of "kochtopf". For the month of February, Lien of "notitievanlien" blog is guest hosting this event, with her choice of "Bread and Potato" for us.
Thanks to both of you, enjoy hosting and I can't wait to see the round up and salivate at all the Potato filled Breads!! :)





Bread made with tangy Sour cream, Potato flakes and spices like garlic etc makes this loaf a delectable snack to have any time of the day. It's texture is very soft inside and bit crusty outside since we add a bit a baking soda along with yeast. It bakes to a gorgeous golden color speckled with herbs and spices, toasted thick cut slices are delicious to eat. Tastes better the next day, keep it wrapped in a gallon size Zip-lock bag.
You can use wheat flour and Oat flour to replace Potato to make it healthier and skip the spices to make it plain. Add 1-2 tbsp more sugar to make it a sweet bread. Choices are unlimited when you use the basic recipe and get creative! :))

Sour Cream and Potato spiced up loaf:

A super delicious slice for you, I can't tell you how aromatic this bread is!!

Here are the ingredients:
1/2 cup Sour cream,
1/2 cup Water (warm 80F)

3 tsp dry active Yeast to add to warm water and sour cream mix.

1/2 cup dry plain Potato flakes, (Flavored potato flakes has salt etc, will make the bread salty)
1/3 cup Milk (warm).

1 tbsp sugar,
1/4 cup softened butter,
3 cups white or wheat Bread four,
1 tsp Salt,
1/2 tsp Baking soda,
1/2 tsp garlic powder,
1 tsp dry Parsley,
1 tsp Chicago Steak seasoning for grilling, (you see in the collage which has mixture of dry onion flakes, red chilli pepper, pepper, crushed coriander and cumin seeds, mixed herbs etc. or you can use any spice mix you like)

To bake:
1. Mix sour cream and water well, heat for 40seconds in the microwave. When it's warm, add yeast and set aside for 5 mins to get foam or bubbles on top.
2. Add 1/3 cup warm milk to dry potato, mix well.
3. Add all the dry ingredients to a mixer with flat beater attachment, mix well. Add in the yeast mix and potato+milk mix and beat well.
4. Change to kneader attachment, knead this dough for 4 mins until you get soft and non-sticky dough. If the dough is too dry, add a tbsp of water at a time until you get the soft dough but do not make the dough sticky.
5. Take out the dough, put it in a non-stick loaf pan, cover and let it proof in a warm place until double, no second rising is needed.
6. Pre heat the oven to 375F. Uncover the dough, slice 1/2" deep gash on the top of the loaf and sprinkle some spice mix on top if you like.
7. Bake in the middle rack for 25 to 35 mins depending on your oven or bread is golden and sounds hollow when tapped.
8. Cool on a rack and slice when cooled.

Serve this toasted thick slice for breakfast with butter or on the side with any soup. Also makes an excellent snack with cream cheese!
You can also divide this dough into 12-16 rolls instead of one big loaf to make smaller dinner rolls as well. Enjoy! :)

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Neha of "Tasty recipes' Blog is guest hosting "SWC-Soups" event this month. SWC event is started by Lakshmi of "Taste of Mysore" blog. Neha has chosen "healthy soups with fresh vegetables" as a theme. Thanks to both of you. Here is my healthy and tasty Tomato Garlic soup with a Sour cream-Potato slice to dip! :))

Tomato-Garlic-Basil soup:

To make the soup:

1. Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a deep pan, add 3 finely chopped garlic, saute for few seconds. Now 2 tsp plain flour and mix well and cook until it becomes golden in color to make a Roux. Add 1 or 1 1/2 cups of vegetable stock, whisk well.
2. Add 3-4 cups chopped fresh Tomatoes (cut and squeeze out the seeds to avoid tanginess), 2 slices of onion, 1 tbsp or more sugar, enough salt and pepper to taste, boil it until they are all soft and cooked.
3. Let the soup cool a bit, then put the whole thing in a blender. When you get a smooth soup, pour it thru' a strainer to get all the tomato skins and any solid parts left.

4. Put it back on the stove, heat it thru' or you can use the Microwave too. When done, add 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh Basil (or Thyme or Oregano) on top and a 1 tbsp fat free heavy cream or 1 tsp of Parmesan cheese or both! Garnish with a sprig of fresh Parsley.

Note: You can use 1 cup of canned Tomato sauce to replace the fresh Tomatoes if you like.

Serve the Tomato Garlic soup drizzled with fat free cream and Croutons or slice of toasted Sour cream and garlic bread I have posted above. Enjoy! :)

ULTRA Grind and Pride: the softest Idlis, Dosas and Vadas!

ULTRA Grind:
This wet grinder post has nothing to do with any event at all, unless there is a gadget event is going on! :D

Some of my readers wanted to know how I liked it and whether it works as it promises. So I thought I would try grinding something first and then post some pics about it. I made idli batter with this, came out so soft and fluffy, I regret waiting all these yrs to buy one! Only thing I thought was that I should have bought the smaller 1.2L ULTRA Pride wet grinder since we are just 4 in the family and don't make a large quantity of batter usually, do not make ildis and dosas often.

Both of these grinders comes with Atta kneader attachment. I tried it once for making chapati dough, it works okay. Kneader struggles a bit for kneading once it formsthe atta into dough. I still prefer my KitchenAid professional stand mixer for kneading dough anyday.
Coconut grater attachment is not recommended by Inno Concepts for some reason, I didn't buy it. Sumeet will do a great job for powdering dry ingredients and small amount of chutney etc.

I bought this ULTRA GRIND here at Inno Concepts, Inc. which is in Atlanta, GA. They ship within a week and are very helpful if you have any questions. Here is the demo video.

I wanted to buy this for the longest time. But after I saw so many sizes and types, I wasn't sure which one to buy. Few weeks ago, I finally decided to buy the 2L wet grinder. Here are some pics and tips for those who want to buy. I will link this post at FH too, so everybody who visits there can look at it and decide for themselves. It is very useful if you make dosas and idlis often and in large quantities.

All in all, I love this gadget, makes softest idlis and dosas. When I make dosas and Urad dal vada batter with this grinder, I will post the photos here. I also ground a 1 1/2 cups coconut masala in this. We are supposed to use only the grated coconut in this. But I chopped the fresh coconut very finely and added it. It does grind, but with some scraping is needed in between. Again Sumeet mixe is far better for small amounts.

ULTRA GRIND as it is just out of the box!

Inside, two granite slanted cone grinders with plastic scraper on the side:

You get atta kneader and a purple lid with the grinder but spatula is mine which is a must to push the batter off of the stones without using your hand!

Grinding rice for Idli:
At first, I added the soaked rice directly inside there but grinders didn't work ie stopped moving. I scraped all out and added 1/3 cup water first, started the machine and then added rice. Worked fine after that! I should have read the manual first! :D

Then the soaked and drained Urad dal and Methi seeds:
It took about 20mins to get the softest batter ever; So light that if you drop a glob of batter in water, it floats.That will never happen when you grind it in Sumeet blender, although it grinds to smooth batter!

This is how it looked right after grinding, already fluffy!

This is after fermenting overnight, almost spilled over.

Ready to steam:

TADA! Soft idlies and also made some Thatte Idlis in Dhokla stand and Katori idlis with leftover idli batter.

Thick Urad dal batter getting ready for Urad dal Vadas:


Fluffy airy Urad dal vadas! Thank you ULTRA Grind! :D

Spongy Dosa batter, getting ready, use the rubber spatula to push the batter down, never use metal spatulas:

Fermented dosa batter! I never had this much of fermentation in Winter ever! :D

Spongy golden dosa!

Late addition: I was so happy with ULTRA Grind, I decided to buy the smaller 1.2L ULTRA Pride as well, it's so cute! Yes, you can call me Craaazzzyy! ;D
This one came with a little cheap looking plastic spatula too, along with a atta kneader.

I ground Coconut masala in the smaller Pride, it works well but doesn't grind very smooth unless you add a bit of hot water to it. ULTRA Grind does a better job grinding the masala smooth but you need to grind a large amount like 2 cups or so.

Note: Add 1/3 cup of cold water first when you are grinding rice and Urad dal and 1/3 cup of hot water when you are grinding masala with coconut. Coconut tends to get thick if you add cold water and makes it hard to grind, hot water thins the coconut. Little things I learnt after grinding both. You have use the spatula to push the masala in a bit but it's easier to do since the top of the grinder is open unlike the mixer where you have to stop and then push it down and start again.

Dill masala Paratha dough kneaded with atta kneader attachment in the smaller ULTRA Pride, took less than 2 minutes! It gathers the flour etc quickly to a ball but kneading the dough is a bit tricky, machine stops once the ball is formed.
For kneading bread dough for baking, I still need to use my Kitchenaid kneader hook!

Enjoy the weekend! :)

Aloo Biryani with Cucumber Raita, Chole-Dill Chaat, Rice Cake Flower

Siri of "Siri's corner" is guest hosting "Recipes for rest of us-Dinner" event, which is started by Ramki. My Aloo Biryani with Cucumber Raita goes to Siri.

Rachana of "The Gourmet Launchpad" blog is asking for "A Heathy Bite" for her healthy and tasty party appetizers event. I am sending her my healthy and tangy "Chole-Dill Chaat".

Chitra amma of "Chitra amma's kitchen" is hosting a cute event to celebrate her first blog birthday called "Kitchen Masterpieces" and asking us to create anything we fancy with food we eat. I took a hint from her own dosa art and made a Plate idli flower for her, hope she likes it!

Thanks to all of you, enjoy hosting! :)

Aloo Biryani with Cucumber Raita:
I made this Aloo Biryani the easy way. Instead of cooking and layering like the usual Biryani is done, I mixed the masala to already cooked rice and sauteed Potatoes like Pulao. Instead of Aloos, you can also add mixed veggies or meat to this Biryani masala too.

Also I am not supposed to use exact measures as per the rules of this event and recipe should be easy enough for a 10yr old to make this dish, so I threw in some "this and that" to make this Biryani. I cooked, peeled and sauteed the Potato cubes with a bit of salt in little oil first to make it easy to cook. Have fun!

Aloo Biryani:

1. Cook rice with pinch of salt, some lemon juice and bit of ghee, spread on a plate to cool. Prepare the Potatoes as above and set aside.

2. Heat oil, add few raisins, few cashews, few cloves, cinnamon pieces, crushed Cardamom pods.
3. Add about 2 handfuls of minced onion, fry until golden. Add ginger and garlic paste, saute for a minute.
4. Sprinkle coriander seeds powder, Cumin seeds powder, pepper powder, chill pd, pinches of turmeric, bit of garam masala, salt stir for a minute. Add some milk mixed with a pinch of saffron and Rose water, simmer until thickish paste. Ground poppy seeds added to Biryani will give a special taste.
5. Add potato cubes and rice and mix everything well. Adjust the spices and salt. You can garnish the Biryani with toasted Almond slivers if you like. Serve with Cucumber raita.

Cucumber Raita:
Mix enough yogurt, few pinches of salt, pepper pd, few cilantro and mint minced and cumin seeds powder and peeled and cubed cucumber pieces. Let it rest for a while before serving.

Serve with Biryani and enjoy! :)

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Chole-Dill Chaat:
This is a simple Chaat you can serve in a small bowl and a spoon in any Indian party. It's fairly dry, flavorful and nutritious too. If you don't like Dill leaves (Suwa bhaji), you could replace it with baby Spinach or Fenugreek leaves or skip the greens all together and use just Chickpeas.

Here is how I made it:
1. Heat 2 tsp oil, saute 1" grated ginger until slightly golden. Add 1/2 a bunch of chopped Dill leaves, pinch of salt and 1 tbsp water, stir fry for 2-3 mins.
2. Now 1 can of drained and rinsed Organic Chickpeas, enough salt and add 1-2 tsp or more chaat masala. Mix well and heat it through. It should wet but without gravy, not very dry either.
Since canned chickpeas are already cooked and soft, you just need to mix with spices and heat it.
3. To serve, squeeze some Lemon juice on top, mix and serve in a small bowl. You can sprinkle red onion chopped and sliced green chillies if you can handle it but not necessary.

Chaat masala:
1 tsp Coriander seeds powder, 1 tsp Cumin seeds powder, 1 tsp Amchoor/dry Mango powder, 1/4 tsp chilli pd, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp black salt (Kala Namak) and 1/4 tsp coarse pepper powder. Mix all these and use as much as you need in the above Chole chaat or Aloo chaat or any Chaat!

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Rice cake/Thatte Idli Flower:
I used one Rice Pancake aka Thatte Idli or Idli steamed in Dhokla stand plates, cut a flower with a pancake flower mould, filled the middle with Zucchini chutney and stuck a carrot pickle there. Sprinkled some coarsely ground pepper powder around the idli and garnished the corners with some chutney powder! I know! It's a very juvenile art from me but then I am not artistic enough to make anything else! Hahaha!!
Thanks to Chitra amma, I enjoyed being a kid again for few minutes! :))

Enjoy the rest of the week, see you all later! :)

Italian vegan grilled Grapefruit-Zucchini, Panko Mozzarella sticks

Grilled Grapefruit-Zucchini salad is my entry to "Fresh produce of the month", an event is started by Marta of "Italian in US" blog and Simona of "Briciole" is guest hosting this month with a theme of "Citrus fruits except Oranges and Lemons".

I am also sending this Italian Vegan grilled Zucchini salad to Vaishali of "Earth Vegan" blog who is hosting a event this month called "It's a Vegan World-Italian".

MBP event details are below, Trupti is guest hosting this month.

Thanks to all of you for hosting, hope you like my version of salad! :)

Grapefruit:
This recipe is adapted from this Italian Vegan site and instead of Lemon, I used Florida pink Grapefruit which I happen to have at home and added more zesty spices. Grapefruit juice made a wonderful citrusy dressing for this grilled Zucchini salad.
The grapefruit is a subtropical citrus tree grown for its bitter fruit which was originally named the "forbidden fruit" of Barbados! For more info about the goodness of Grapefruit, please click here. This Grapefruit photo you see below is from Wikipedia too. Enjoy! :)

Italian Vegan grilled Grapefruit-Zucchini salad with grapefruit-herb dressing:

Here is the simple recipe to make the salad:
Click on the collage to see larger pictures. I used these:
2 Zucchinis,
1 medium size pink Grapefruit,
enough and salt and pepper,
1 tsp mixed dry Italian herb seasoning (Basil, Oregano etc),
1 tsp dry spice mix like steak seasoning or chicken seasoning which has dried onion flakes, chili flakes etc. You can sprinkle any dry spices you like as well, 1/4 tsp dry Parsley or mint.
1-2 tsp Olive oil,
2 Garlic, minced to saute.
Marinate and grill these:
1. Wash, dry and cut the top and tail of Zucchinis. Slice Zucchinis lengthwise about 1/16" thick (not too thin or not too thick) with the skin on and arrange them on a plate. Squeeze all the juice from 1 Grapefruit on to the slices.
2. Now, sprinkle all the herbs, salt, pepper and spices on top.

Heat Olive oil, saute minced garlic and few chill flakes until soft and add to the top of the slices, mix gently.

3. I covered this and let it marinate for 1 or 2 hours. Marinate overnight if you have time!

4. Turn on the broiler or grill, grill the Zucchinis with the marinade for 2-4 mins, just until Zucchinis are a bit soft but not brown. Do not grill until spices get burnt!!
5. Take the plate out, pour off the juice into a serving dish, and arrange the slices on a plate to serve. Serve the dressing in a small individual bowls on the side to dip with few slices of Zucchinis in salad plates.

To eat this salad, cut a slice into half, roll the slice with a fork and pick up , dip in the dressing and eat. This is the most delicious salad I have eaten! Slightly bitter and tangy Grapefruit and soft pulpy Zucchini slices with herbs and spices taste fabulous together.
Thanks to the Vegan Italian site with this recipe and also these two wonderful events, I found a delicious salad recipe which is keeper for me.

Hope you try! :)

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MBP is an event in which we pick a dish from other bloggers to post is started by Coffee and this month, Trupti of "Recipe Center" is guest hosting the MBP event with a theme of "Kids food". My kids love Mozzarella sticks, specially my daughter who is a cheese monster, so I chose to make these from Priya of "easy and tasty recipes" blog. I made few changes which I have written below and here is the Priya's Mozzarella cheese sticks.
Thanks Priya, we loved them! :)

Panko coated Mozzarella sticks:
Panko is Japanese bread crumbs which is very crunchy, sticks to cheese or any snack easily and stays very crisp even when cooled after frying or baking or grilling.

Here is how I adapted Trupti's recipe with my slight twist! :)
1. I bought few Mozzarella string cheese you get it in the cheese section at the grocery store wrapped in individual packs. They are about 5" long, 1/2" thick and sticks are sturdier than the fresh Mozzarella like finger food. My kids eat them just out of the wrap when they come back from school.
2. I rolled them in 1 egg+1tsp milk+pinch of salt mixture and rolled in the seasoned Panko bread crumbs. Add salt and pepper or any dry spices you like to Panko, mix well.
3. I let the sticks rest in the fridge or freezer for 15-30 mins so they firm up, don't fall off and melt when fried.
4. Deep fry in hot oil (375F) quickly just until the outside is golden. Drain and serve with ketchup or any sauce you like.

One more look!
That's it for this week, have a great weekend! :)

Vegetable Gratin, MW Savory Vegetable Pudding, Clicked!

Vegetable Gratin, topped with savory breadcrumbs, dripping with delicious Bechamel sauce and Parmesan cheese is my contribution to Bee of Jugalbandi's "CLICK-The photo event-Cheese/Tofu" event this month. Thanks Jugs!




Well..I am supposed to say something about the photo I am posting here for the event. All I can say is, Bee threatened me that she would break all North Carolina Panthers' legs so they can never play football (or win the Super Bowl) ever again if I didn't send her a photo for her event. So, a selfless self- sacrificing woman that I am, sending this photo to her event so I can save NC Panthers' many many many pairs of those strong handsome manly legs!!!
Sigh...the things I have to do for my people of NC!! Bee, you win!!! Please spare them their legs......!!!! Waaaah...!!!!

Vegetable Gratin:
Baked mixed vegetable Gratin, topped with Bechamel sauce, savory bread crumbs and sprinkled grated Parmesan cheese.

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Gratin with mixed vegetables and Bechamel sauce is my second dish for DK of "Culinary Bazaar"'s event "A.W.E.D.- France" this month. My first entry to her is savory "Pain Perdu", a French toast. Thank you DK, have fun in France!

Mixed vegetable Gratin:
"Gratin is a widely-used culinary technique of food preparation in which an ingredient is topped with a browned crust, often using bread crumbs and butter. Gratins are also frequently sprinkled with grated cheese. Gratin originated in French cuisine and is prepared using a casserole. A gratin is baked or broiled to form a golden crust on top and served in it's oval shaped baking dish.The etymology of gratin is from the French language in which the word "gratter" meaning to "to scrape" as of the "scrapings" of bread or cheese, and gratiné, from the transitive verb form of the word for crust. Gratin dish refers to the shallow oven-proof container used to prepare gratins." Info from WIKIPEDIA.

While making the savory Pudding (see below) for Sunday lunch, I saved half a bag of frozen veggies just to make this Gratin to show you here. Kids loved this dish more than the savory veg and bread pudding! :)

To make Gratin, you need:
1. I used 1/2 a bag frozen mixed veggies; Cauliflower, Broccoli, Water Chestnuts, Endamame, carrots etc. Put all these into a dish with a tsp of butter and pinch of salt and pepper, microwave for 10 mins until cooked or saute in butter until golden.
2. Add these veggies to a bakeable Gratin dish and keep aside.
3. Take about half a cup of garlic Croutons and coarsely powder it, keep aside.
4. Now, pour the prepared Bechamel sauce (recipe below) over the veggies, sprinkle bread crumbs to cover the sauce.
5. Bake at 350F for 15 to 20 mins, since veggies are already cooked, it doesn't take much time to bake or if you use a microwavable Gratin dish, you can microwave this in a jiffy too!
6. Lastly, as soon as you take out the dish out of the oven, sprinkle grated fresh Parmesan cheese on top. If you add cheese and bake in the oven, cheese might burn sometimes and tastes bitter, so I add it at the end. You can bake 5 mins more after you add the Parmesan cheese if you like.
To make Béchamel sauce:
Bechamel is basic white sauce and it becomes "Mornay" sauce if you add cheese to the sauce.

1. Heat 1 tbsp butter in a non-stick pan, add 1 tbsp plain flour, pinch of salt and pepper. Stir for a while or until slightly golden, turn down the heat and add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of half and half or milk, simmer. (Optionally, you add 2 tbsp of Parmesan cheese and whisk well).
2. Keep whisking to avoid the lumps. After few mins, Bechamel sauce thickens slightly. Then, grate 1/8 tsp of fresh Nutmeg pd over it, mix and take the pan off the heat. Pour it on the veggies when it cools a bit and bake the gratin.

Delicious Gratin is ready, it smells so good! :)

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"Cauliflower" is the choice for JFI, which is being hosted by Mythreyee of "Paajaka" blog, an event which is started by Indira of "Mahanandi" blog. My mixed vegetable including Cauliflower, savory Pudding goes to Mythreyee for her event.

Jayasree of "experiments in Kailas kitchen" blog is guest hosting "MEC-Microwaved Puddings" this month. MEC event is originally Srivalli of "cooking for all seasons" idea. I cooked this savory vegetable pudding in the microwave, so this is for you too, Jaya.
Thanks to all of you girls, enjoy! :))

Microwaved mixed vegetable including Cauliflower savory Pudding:
Puddings usually have egg and milk mixture poured into and baked with vegetables and bread pieces. Since both of event entries need to be strictly vegetarian, I have replaced eggs with cornstarch and baked in the microwave.
If eggs are okay with you, add 2-3 eggs to milk along with herbs to get fluffy, spongy pudding. I had baked a sweet Persimmon pudding few weeks ago, so I went for savory pudding this time, can't handle too much sweet again. Hope you like it! :))

Microwaved savory mixed vegetable and bread pudding:
"Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but can also be a savory dish. The word pudding probably comes from the French boudin, originally from the Latin botellus, meaning "small sausage," referring to encased meats used in Medieval European puddings. In the United Kingdom and in some countries, pudding is a common term for any dessert". Info from WIKIPEDIA.

To make the savory pudding: Click on the collage to see the ingredients.
I used 2 1/2 small bags frozen mixed vegetables including Cauliflower, Broccoli, Carrots, Celery, Endamame, Water chestnuts, peas etc.
10 oz pack of all natural chunky and savory garlic and herb Croutons. You can use bread slices too but ready herbed garlic croutons are better.
For the sauce: take 2-3 cups of milk, (enough to drown the bread and veggies!), 2 tsp Cornstarch, 1 tsp dry herbs, 1/2 tsp Garlic pd, 1/2 tsp onion powder, salt, red chilli flakes and pepper to taste. Mix all these well.
(If adding eggs which is used in making traditional pudding, add 2 eggs and beat this mixture)

To bake or microwave:
1. If you are baking this pudding in the oven, you can saute all the veggies in 1 tbsp butter until halfway cooked and golden.
Since I microwaved it, I added 1 tbsp butter to a dish with frozen vegetables, few pinches of salt, covered and microwaved it for 10-15mins on high or until veggies are fork tender.
2. Drain any water remaining, let the veggies cool a bit. Mix the sauce again and keep it ready.
3. In a microwaveable dish, add half of the Croutons on the bottom, spread all the veggies on top and cover with Croutons again.
4. Slowly pour the liquid sauce on the bread and veggies. Then press the top gently until Croutons are wet and soaked.
If you are baking this, bake at 350F for 30 mins or so, until crust is golden.
5. Now, put this dish in the Microwave, heat this on 100% power for 10 to 20 mins ot until you don't see liquid anymore on the bottom. Cornstarch and soaked bread makes the sauce thick and pudding is scoopbale once it's done.
Do not add too much milk which can overflow in the MW, pause the MW if you see the liquid come up and start again. Serve the pudding while it's warm with a salad.

Enjoy all the yummy vegetable dishes, see you all on Friday here again! :)

Panchratani Palak Dal, Raw Jackfruit and Chana Ghashi

My Panchratani Palak dal and raw Jackfruit-Chana Ghashi, both go to Susan of "the well seasoned cook" blog who is hosting a wonderful, protein packed event called "My Legume love affair-8th helping".

My raw Jackfruit-Chana Ghashi goes to Lakshmi G of Taste of Mysore" blog who is guest hosting "AFAM-Jackfruit" event this month, which is originally launched by Maheswari.

Thanks to all of you for hosting and taking time to organize these yummy round ups too! :))

Gravy with five gems and Popeye's favorite!! ;D
This protein packed dish comes from Punjab (Punj=five, aab=River), a state with five rivers flowing through it in India, which is well known for it's earthy cuisine, robust people and their generosity to guests. Panch in Hindi is five and Ratan means gems. In this case, it means a dish made of five different dals or legumes, which makes it a nutritional powerhouse. I have posted a Panchmel dal before at my Foodie's Hope blog, which is little different from this dish.
Palak is my addition to this traditional Punjabi dish, which is Spinach providing loads of iron to us. With aromatic ginger, garlic and spices, there is no better way to enjoy this dal with some Cumin flavored rice or with Bajri rotis or soft, layered Parathas!

Panchratani Palak Dal:

You need:
1/4 cup Tuar/Toor dal,

1/4 cup Chana dal,
1/4 cup Moong dal,
1/4 cup Masoor dal,
1/4 cup Urad dal.

or any five of your favorite dal, whole or split will do too! Just five dals remember, for "Panchratan"! You add one more dal to this dish and I will hunt you down! Hahaha!!

Need these too:
1 8 oz frozen Spinach or 2-4 cups of fresh Spinach, finely chopped,
1 tbsp oil,
1/2 large onion, finely chopped,
1 heaped tbsp of Coriander seeds powder,
1/4 tsp Turmeric,
1 large Tomato, chopped or 1/4 cup canned Tomato sauce,
2 tbsp sour cream or cream, beaten well,
enough salt and chilli pd to taste.

For the final seasoning to top the dal:
3 tbsp butter or ghee (to be authentic but can use less oil),
1 tsp regular cumin seeds or shah jeera if you have it,
1/2 onion, sliced finely,(fry until golden, then add ginger-garlic)
2" grated ginger,
2 garlic, minced,
1/2 tsp chilli powder or paprika, just for color.

To garnish:
4 tbsp Cilantro, finely chopped.

1 tsp good quality Garam Masala or homemade Punjabi Garam masala.

Five dals to use:
Click to see the larger photo with names on each dal. It's helpful for somebody who is a novice in Indian cooking and helps to visually see the five dals I have used.

To make the dal:

1. In a pressure cooker, heat the oil and add chopped onion and fry until soft. Add all the dals and saute for a minute. Add Tomato or Tomato sauce, stir for a while until thick.
2. Add turmeric, salt, coriander seeds powder and Chilli powder and add Spinach along with 3 cups of water.
3. Cover the lid and pressure for 1 or 2 whistles with weight on or until dal is cooked well. Open the lid when pressure is gone, stir to mix. Adjust spices, add beaten sour cream or cream to mix and simmer very gently for a while.
Gravy should be thick enough to scoop with a spoon but not too thin like soup or very thick or lumpy. Turn off the heat.
4. Finally, heat butter and add all the seasoning ingredients one by one in that order, fry until oil shows up on top. Do not burn any ingredient.
5. Add this to the dal and mix well. Garnish with Cilantro and garam masala. Mix again.

Dal tastes better the next day, excellent with rice or layered Parathas or Bajri roti.

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Raw Jackfruit(Halasina kayi) and Brown Chana Ghashi:
My mother always called this Ghasi rather than Ghashi, don't know why but I want to play safe here and call it Ghashi too as Konkanis call it, as this is originally a Konkan dish (coastal people of Karnataka and from few other states in India).
Here is my..err..my mom's version of Ghasi/Ghashi with canned raw Jackfruit (I know, I know! But hey, don't blame me! I live in US of A! Don't have any Jackfruit tree in my backyard here like my grandparents have in India! :D) and brown Chana, both my favorites. Enjoy! :))

You need:
2 cans of raw Jackfruit pieces,drained and cut into smaller pieces,
1 cup red/brown Chana, soaked overnight and pressure cooked until soft with 2-3 cups of water,
enough salt.
Masala to be ground: (roast these spices first, without oil)
1 tbsp Coriander seeds,
few peppercorns,
1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds,
2-4 dry red chillies,
1 tsp Cumin seeds.
Grind the above spices with these with some water:
1/4 cup fresh coconut,
few curry leaves,
1/2 tsp thick paste of Tamarind,
1/4 tsp Turmeric.
until very smooth and keep aside.

For seasoning:
2 tbsp oil+ghee,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
few curry leaves,
1 small onion, chopped finely,
2-3 garlic, chopped, (optional but for a pakka Lingayat, it's a must! :P).

To make Ghashi:
1. Heat oil+ghee in a deep dish, add mustard, curry leaves and onion. When the onion is reddish, add garlic and stir for a minute.
2. Add cooked chana with it's water (don't make it too thin), and drained Jackfruit. Cook on medium heat for 6-10 mins. Canned Jackfruit is already soft, so it just have cook a little to make the raw taste go away. Adjust the salt.
3. After cooking for a while, turn down the heat to simmer, let the gravy cool a bit so when ground coconut is added, it doesn't split to make the gravy thin.
4. When it's cooler, add ground masala to this gravy, stir well to mix it all and let it simmer for 10 mons or so or until raw coconut smell goes and you see the it 's bubbling slowly.

That's it, beautiful tasting Ghasi/Ghashi is ready. As usual, it always tastes better the next day!

PS: What I do with the everyday gravy or Sambhar normally is after it's cooked completely on the stove top, I will let it cool down. Then, I will transfer the gravy to a microwaveable dish and reheat the gravy for 10 mins or more on high or 100% power. That makes the gravy thicker and the oil shows on top quicker than the stove top cooking for hrs and also I don't have to fear that ground masala with coconut or yogurt is going to split if it gets too hot. Somehow it works for me this way!

Have a great weekend! :))

Carrot-Fennel-Walnut Cake with Orange cream cheese frosting

My Carrot cake flavored with Orange juice, Fennel seeds and Walnuts goes to Ivy of "Kopiaste" blog who is guest hosting the event "Think Spice..Think..Twice", which is started by Sunita of "Sunita's World". Ivy has given 2 choices to us this month; Mastic Gum and Fennel, I have chosen the aromatic Fennel seeds in my cake.

Orange flavored Carrot cake also goes to Aparna of "My diverse Kitchen" blog who is guest hosting Harini of "Tongue Ticklers" blog's "Food in Colors-Orange" event.

Carrot cake studded with Walnuts goes to Aqua Daze of "Served with Love" blog's event "Let's go Nuts: Walnuts or Pecans" with my choice of Walnuts.

Made a Heart out of my Carrot cake, so this will go to Bindiya of "In love with food" blog's event "My favorite things-Love is in the air (Heart shaped food)".

Enjoy the cake and I thank all of you for taking time to host and rounding up all the yummy goodies! :))

Well.. Let's see how it all started! I always loved Carrot cake and I made a quick bread Carrot cake before which is delicious but not as moist as "made in the bakery" kind. So I surfed the web and came across a recipe from my kids' and my favorite scientific, educational and very entertaining Food Network chef Alton Brown's Carrot Cake which I adapted here for the most part but made some changes, which is why I posting the recipe the way I made it instead of just linking the original recipe. Instead of Allspice and Cinnamon in his recipe, I added freshly ground Fennel seeds, added some Walnuts and Raisins since I love the nutty crunch and yogurt is replaced by Orange juice. It came out moist and delicious!

A slice of Carrot Cake with Orange juice, Fennel and Walnuts:

Carrot Cake:

Here is how to bake Carrot cake:
For the cake, you need:
One 9" square pan, buttered or no-stick sprayed inside and the bottom of the pan lined with wax or parchment paper.

Sift all these dry ingredients together:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour or wheat flour if you prefer,
1 tsp baking soda,
2 or 3 tsp freshly ground Fennel seeds,
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg,
1 tsp baking powder,
1/2 teaspoon salt.

Then add these to the above flour mix and mix gently until these are coated with flour:
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots, about 3 large,
1/4 cup chopped Walnuts,
3 tbsp Raisins.

Blend these liquid ingredients to cream first:
1/2 cup dark brown sugar,
2 large eggs, (or 4 tbsp Apple sauce)
1 cup white sugar,
1/2 cup vegetable oil,
1/4 cup Orange juice.

For Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8 oz package of Cream Cheese, softend at room tempature,
1 to 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, (or as sweet as you want),
2-4 tbsp Orange juice,
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence or Orange essence,
few drops of Orange color(Optional).

Beat all the above frosting ingredients together well until creamy and chill in the fridge for 10 mins or so, keep aside for later use.

To bake:

Preheat the oven for 350F.

1. In a blender bowl with flat beater attached, add eggs, sugar, oil, Orange juice and blend until creamy.
2. Add dry ingredients sifted together with Carrots etc and run the blender very gently until they are all just mixed without lumps or flour showing. Do not mix too much.
3. Scrape and pour in to the prepared baking pan, tap the pan on the counter gently to release the bubbles.
4. Bake in the oven for 35-45 mins or until the center is cooked ie when tested with a wooden skewer, it comes out clean.
5. Cool on a rack for 10 mins, invert on a plate and frost as you like it. Make sure you wait until the cake is cooled completely. Garnish with grated carrots and walnuts.

Tastes better the next day. You can keep it chilled in the fridge to serve or at room temperature.

One more look of a delicious slice:

You can make Carrot cake Heart for your Valentine too. Happy Valentine's day to all of you!! :)

Have a fun week! :))

Caribbean Chicken Fricassee and a Blackeyed peas Rice

My healthy and low fat Caribbean Chicken Fricassee goes to Meeta's "Monthly Mingle" event. Michelle of "What's cooking?" is guest hosting MM event this month with a theme of "Healthy family dinners". Thanks to both of you, enjoy my slightly spicy, healthy and tasty Fricassee! :))

Here is a tasty and healthy fricassee of chicken with typical Caribbean flavors added like Allspice, Thyme, and not to forget Scotch Bonnet peppers if you can handle it! Well...I can't handle it, so I chickened out and used half of a Jalapeno which is more my style! :D

There are various recipes for the Fricassee of chicken and here I chose to make a Caribbean style Chicken Fricassee. Allspice is a unique berry (click here to see the photo and info, allspice is not Garam masala!) which has a distinctive aroma and taste, which is used in savory and in desserts as well. Since Caribbean cuisine has a little bit of Indian influence too, this would be a perfectly healthy brunch or dinner for any family, specially fit for a Winter meal with a little warmth of Jalapenos and peppers in the throat. Here is my version, hope you enjoy it too! :))

Caribbean Chicken Fricassee: I used my own fresh herbs from my herb pot for this dish, which I moved into my garage when the Winter chill started. They have survived beautifully although garage is pretty cold place too! Nothing like the aroma of fresh herbs when it hits the heat but you can use dry herbs as well. You can also add carrots and celery to it, I didn't. Make it with thicker sauce for noodles or thinner sauce like I did here to serve with rice, it's up to you.

You need:
1 tbsp olive oil or Canola oil,
1 tbsp butter,
2 lbs of chicken,
white and dark meats,cut into big chunks,
1 tbsp plain flour,
1-2 cup chicken stock,
salt to taste,
1 small onion, minced,
2 garlic, minced, 1" ginger, minced,
1/2 Jalapeno, sliced,
1/2 cup Tomato sauce,
2 tsp Vinegar, malt or cider vinegar or any you have, even Worcestershire sauce,
1/2 tsp Paprika,
1 tbsp fresh Thyme or 1/2 tsp dry Thyme,
1/2 tsp Oregano, few sprigs of Parsley,
2 tsp minced fresh Mint,
1 tsp Allspice powder,
1/2 tsp coarse black pepper.

Save some more herbs and 1/4 tsp Allspice pd to add at the end of cooking.

How to:
1. Take a pressure cooker or a deep dish, add 1 tbsp oil and heat. Then add chicken and stir fry until whitish. Sprinkle the flour on top, mix well to coat, stir for a minute and take the chicken out into a plate.
2. Add 1 tbsp butter, fry onion until translucent, add Jalapenos, ginger and garlic, stir for a minute. Add tomato sauce, saute for a minute. Now add all the spices, vinegar and chicken stock to the pan, mix well.
3. Add in the chicken, and pressure cook gently on low heat for mins or cover and cook in the pan until chicken is cooked through, doesn't take much time.
4. Open the lid, add all the saved herbs and pepper and allspice, simmer for 2 mins. Adjust the thinness as you desire adding water or stock and adjust the salt. Tastes better the next day.

Serve with either Blackeyed peas rice or Noodles. Serving this on a bed of mashed potatoes will surely please the kids! ;D

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Blackeyed peas rice/Pulao goes to Sudeshna of "Bengali Cuisine" blog's "Harvest-The festival of Rice" event. Thanks for hosting Sudeshna, have fun. Looking forward to the yummy rice round up! :))

Blackeyed peas are my favorite beans, specially those brown ones. Any rice dish made with these beans are extra healthy and tasty, a mild tasting dish for kids too who don't like spicy food. This Pulao goes well with either vegetarian or non-vegetarian dishes and is very easy and quick recipe to make if you use a microwave and canned Blackeyed peas, enjoy! :)

Blackeyed Peas rice/Pulao: Usually when I open any can of beans, I drain all the water and rinse the beans once before adding it to the dish. But here, I used all the water which comes with canned Blackeyed peas to make the Pulao more flavorful, delicious and it also gives a earthy color to this rice dish too.

Ingredients:

First, open a 8 or 12 oz can of Blackeyed peas, drain the juice and save the juice another bowl. Add enough water of stock to this bowl to make 3 1/2 cups of liquid and keep aside. We use this to cook rice later. Keep the drained Blackeyed peas aside for later too.

Keep these handy:
2 tsp oil and 1 tsp butter,
1" ginger and 2 garlic, minced, ground or grated,
2 cloves and 1 Bay leaf,
1 tsp Cumin seeds powder,
1 tsp or more salt,
1 tsp crushed peper,
2 cups long grain rice,
3 1/2 cups of liquid (stock or water combined with beans juice),
1/2 tsp dry mixed herbs or 1/2 tsp each of dry Thyme and Parsley,
Drained Blackeyed peas.

To make Pulao:
1. In a microwavable bowl, add 2 tsp oil and 1 tsp butter, heat it for a minute or 2 until hot.
2. Add 2 cloves, 1 Bay leaf, 2 garlic and 1" ginger paste to it, stir well and MW for 2 more mins.
3. Add 1 tsp cumin seeds powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp crushed pepper, 2 cups long grain rice, mix well to coat with oil and butter mixture.
4. Now, add 3 1/2 cups (this is my rice to water proportion, rice you use might have different proportion of water) water or vegetable stock or Chicken stock, including the drained Blackeyed peas water, dry herbs and mix well.
5. Microwave uncovered for 16 mins on high (100%). Now, add Blackeyed peas to it, mix well.
6. Cover the bowl with a plate this time and microwave at 50% for 6 mins.
6. Take out and fluff the rice with a fork to mix beans well, adjust the salt and pepper. Cover and serve when needed.

Enjoy the Super Bowl Sunday, see you all next week! :))

No-Bake creamy cookies and super fast Microwave Brownies

No-bake creamy cookies go to Priyanka of "Asan Khana" blog who is asking us to "Cook and Create with Luv for Luv" for Valentine's day with this event. Made a heart with full of sweet sugar for you, enjoy!

Happy Valentine's day in advance to all you! :))

Super fast Microwave Brownies go to Srilekha of "Me and my kitchen" blog, whose theme for this month is "EFM-Microwave dishes". Here are my yummy Brownies, microwaved ( in regular Microwave baking method,) for you!

Thanks girls, enjoy these sweet dishes. Enough sugar for me to last a life time, let me tell ya but kids loved them all! ;D

No-bake Cookies first!
Really! Absolutely no baking or cooking at all to make these cookies!! If you like eating sweet...I mean sweeeet..desserts and love Ice cream, these are for you. It's creamy and melt in the mouth cookies with loads of sugar. So go easy on them but wonderful to eat a small amount after dinner. Must keep them in the fridge.
PS: Since we use only cream cheese and powdered sugar to make the cookies, they do get warm, sticky and soft when kept on the counter top for too long. It's best to store in the fridge at all times, take out few as you need. When chilled, it tastes like little balls of Vanilla Ice Cream!

Creamy no-bake cookies:
I made a very small quantity just to show you and made heart shaped pink ones for Valentine's day but traditionally made of small Key Lime sized balls and pressed the top with fork tines to make designs or you can press the top with any design too.
Variation: Add mint extract and green color to make mints!!

Here is how; You need:
2 oz or 1/4 cup or 4 tbsp Cream cheese, low-fat will do too,
1/4 tsp Vanilla essence,
2 drops of red food color to make it pink,
3 cups (keep 1/2 cup extra sugar if you need it) powdered sugar.

Now;
1. Take a bowl, add the cream cheese, food color and essence and beat well with hand held electric beater until well mixed for a minute.
2. On low speed, gradually add 3 cups of powdered sugar, keep mixing until you get a firm dough. Add more sugar if you need to. It took me a bit less than 3 cups, so it's up to you.
3. Spread some powdered sugar on the counter, add a key lime size dough and make a ball quickly and press the top with fork to make ridges. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
4. Place them in a covered dish and refrigerate immediately. Take them out as you need them. They must be kept chilled or they will soften and loose shape. They freeze well too!

I rolled a ball of dough and cut out a heart shape just for this event, you don't need to do that. If you find it hard to roll the dough to make balls, chill the dough for 30 mins and it will be very easy shape them.

Enjoy! :))

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Yummy and super fast within 8 mins Brownies!!
What more could you want, right? It's really easy and delicious although they might not taste like the best Brownies you ever had which are baked in the oven! But not bad at all for a quick chocolate fix when you are craving for something sweet to eat, for unexpected guests or for kids' after school snack, can be done from start to finish within 7-8 mins!!
Here it is, hope you give it a try and eat quickly within a day or two and keep them in the airtight Ziplock bags when you are eating them! :D

Check out this Microwaved Orange cake!!

Microwaved Brownies:

You need: 1/4 cup each butter and oil, Canola is what I use,
1 cup sugar, brown or white sugar,
2 eggs (replace with 4 tbsp Apple sauce for vegetarians),
1 tsp Vanilla,
3/4 cup plain flour,
1/2 cup good quality Cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli cocoa, Hershey will do too)
1/2 tsp salt,
1/2 cup (less or more) chopped nuts or white or dark chocolate chips.

First, mix flour, cocoa powder, salt together in a plate or bowl with a fork and keep aside.

To bake:
1. Add sugar, oil and butter in a big bowl, heat in the MW for a minute. Mix well with hand held electric mixer for a minute until mix is creamish and let it cool before you add the eggs or sauce.
2. Once cooled a bit, add eggs and vanilla to the mix, beat again to a smooth batter.
3. Add the flour mixture gradually to this and mix well. Do not beat too much, just until everything looks like a smooth thick batter. It's almost done!
4. Add nuts or chips now, mix well with a spatula gently or sprinkle on top just before you bake. I didn't add nuts, kids don't like them but sprinkled the white chocolate chips on top of the batter.
5. Now, spray a round or square 8" microwavable dish with non-stick oil or brush some butter, pour the above batter into it. Smoothen the top and spread evenly with the back of a wet spoon.
6. Put it in the microwave and bake for 3 mins on 100% power. Turn the bowl once halfway and MW again for another 2 mins. Check the center, if it looks a bit shiny but not soggy, it's done.
7. If not, MW one more minute. Never over bake it, it will be hard like a rock and crumbly. It's okay to leave little damp in the middle. As it cools, it will cook and get firm. Cool and cut into pieces. keep it covered to store, do not leave it in the fridge.

Every Microwave has different power capacity, so use your judgment when baking.
You can sprinkle some milk on top to moisten if you bake too much but I do recommend to bake less mins than repairing it later.

Have a fun Monday, see you all later! :))

Jalapeño Bajji, Onion Pakoras and a homemade masala (Saarina pudi) powder

Hot and spicy Jalapeno Bajjis goes to Pallavi of "All things yummy" blog's event "Sunday snacks-Hot and spicy" . Bonus Onion Pakoras go to her too!

A versatile Saarina pudi/Sambhar powder taken from my mom's recipe book goes to Smitha of "Kadumanga" blog's event "Colors of taste-Sambhar, Rasam Powders". I can't wait for this 'Powders' round up, just think of so many masala powders in one place! YAY!

Thanks to both of you, enjoy hosting! :))

Jalapeño Bajji:
Here is a quick fix for all those boring cold winter weekends with nowhere to go and nothing to do expect to sit next to the fireplace and watch TV! :D

How to make them:
1. You need about 6-8 Jalapenos, cut into 2" pieces, scoop out the seeds and mix them all in 2 tsp lemon juice and salt. Let it soak for 15 mins and take out the Jalapeno pieces on a paper towel.
2. Make to batter:
Mix 1/2 cup Besan/Chickpea flour, 1/4 cup rice flour, pinch of turmeric, pinch of baking soda, enough chilli pd, salt, 1/2 tsp each of cumin seeds pd and coriander seeds pd, 1/4 tsp Ajwain seeds, crushed(optional) and 1 tbsp hot oil. Add enough water to make a thickish batter like pancake batter so batter sticks to Jalapenos when dipped. Let it rest for 10mins.

3. Heat enough oil to deep fry about 360F. When ready, dip Jalapenos and drop carefully in the oil. Fry until golden and crisp. Drain on the paper towel.

Since Jalapenos are hot and spicy enough, you might want to serve them with Ketchup or yogurt dip or just as they are.

Onion Pakodas/Pakoras:
More munchies! I love these than those hot and spicy Jalapeno bajjis!!
If there is any of the above batter left after using the chillies, which I always have some left,
I add chopped onion, grated ginger, chilli flakes or green chillies minced, some cilantro, crushed coriander seeds, curry leaves, sometimes potato pieces or any veggies I can get my hands on to the batter and deep fry until golden, dropping them in small portions with a spoon or using your finger tips into the oil. These Pakodas can be served with coconut chutney. Enjoy! :))


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Sambhar/Saarina pudi/versatile masala powder to add to any gravy:
My mother gets a big jarful of saaru/Sambhar powder from her MIL (my Mysore ajji) every year, which is made once a year in large quantity and distributed to all her sons' and daughters' homes. This powder is used to make everyday Saaru/Sambhar and usually added to veggie side dishes as well.
And then, on top of that powder, my mother makes this simple Sambhar powder which I am giving you here. It's versatile, can be added to any vegetarian dishes which makes the gravy thicker (which is the way my kids like Sambhars, no thin rasam for them! :D) since it has dals, along with some other spice pd if you like. I make some of these every 3 mnts or so and keep it in my pantry. Here it goes!

Saarina Pudi/Sambhar powder:

To make Sambhar powder:
This makes about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of powder and it will last about 2 mnts if you keep it in the airtight bottle in the dry cool pantry, can last for more mnts if kept in the fridge. Keeping it in the plastic jars are not recommended.

Roast each of these separately until crisp and cool them before grinding:
1 cup Coriander seeds,
5 tbsps Channa dal,
2 1/2 tbsps Urad dal,
3 tbsp Cumin seeds,
10 dry red chilles,
5" Cinnamon stick (Dalchini),
1/4 cup dry dessicated grated coconut. Roast until reddish, cool. Do not burn it.
(Do not use fresh coconut)
Add 1 tsp Turmeric powder and 1 tsp Paprika for color just before you grind the above ingredients, do not roast the Turmeric pd unless you are using a dry piece of root Turmeric.

Grind these to smooth powder after they are cooled completely

Tendli masala/Tondekai sambhar, thicker version:
I wanted to show you how I use this powder in making this dish, using Tendlis/Tondekai in Kannada. You can use this powder in any vegetable side dish as well, tastes great.


How to:
1. In a pressure cooker, add 1 tbsp oil and heat. Add in 1 tbsp Chana dal, 1 tsp mustard seeds, curry leaves, 1 dry red chilli, 1 small onion, finely chopped, 1 garlic.
2. When they are reddish in color, add chopped Tendlis and stir fry for 1 minute. Add 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup Tuar dal, close the lid, pressure cook on low heat for 2 mins. Cool the cooker and open the lid.
3. Add 1/2 tsp tamarind paste, salt, 1 tbsp (or more to your taste) masala pd shown above, simmer gently. Adjust the water if it's too thick, and adjust salt and chilli pd.
4. When the gravy is thickish, add 1 tsp of ghee and chopped cilantro.

It's ready to eat. I always make any Indian gravy dish a day early and keep it in the fridge, so the flavors will mingle overnight. Serve this sambhar with rice, parathas or Dosas.

That's it. Have a great weekend, see you all on Monday!!:))

Easy Oatmeal Rava Dosa, Roasted Coconut chutney and a MW Paneer Chole Makhani

Easy Oatmeal Rava dosa goes to EC of "Simple Indian Food" blog who guest hosting "MBP-Easy breakfast" event this month, which is started by Coffee of "The spice Cafe". I chose this dish from Vibaas of "Delectable Vegetarian recipes" blog.

Roasted coconut, onion and chana dal chutney goes to Ramya of "Mane Adige" blog, who just launched an event called "Chutney/Dip Mania".

Microwaved Paneer dish goes to Raks of "Rak's kitchen" who is guest hosting for her"MEC-Paneer" event which is launched by Srivalli of "cooking4allseason" blog.

Paneer chole Makhani, cooked in the Microwave goes to MS of "Food Travails" blog who is guest hosting "JFI-Chickpeas" and event is launched by Indira of "Mahanandi" blog.

My thanks to all of you for hosting and for the time you devote to do the round ups! :))

Easy breezy, delicious and nutritious breakfast or lunch or dinner!
I went "monthly blog patrolling" aka MBP for easy breakfast dishes and found this at Vibaas of "Delectable Vegetarian recipes" blog's "Protein packed Oatmeal Rava dosa. Click here to see the original recipe and her yummy Oat-Rava dosa photo too! Thanks Vibaas, we enjoyed these Oats dosa with red hot chutney! :))

Roasted coconut-chana dal-onion chutney: This red hot chutney goes well with any dosa, idli or Parathas too. It's a bit different from the usual coconut chutney I make. Inspired by Kerala Chammanthi I made for Kerala RCI cuisine, I improvised a bit on that adding chana dal. I love the taste roasted fresh coconut, gives it a smoky aroma! Whenever I buy fresh coconuts, I separate the shell from pulp inside and cut them into small pieces and freeze them in a ziplock bags. I take out some out and thaw whenever I need them. I do not use store bought dessicated coconut in any chutney at all. Use that for sprinkling on Rasam or making spice powder to add when cooking gravies etc.

You need to roast these first each separately until reddish in a bit of oil and cool: 1/2 cup fresh coconut pieces (or grated), 1/4 cup Chana dal, 1/4 of a large onion, sliced, 2-3 dry red chillies, 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, 1/4 tsp cumin seeds. Grind the above with these ingredients until smooth and thick with very less water: 1" ginger, 1/2 tsp or less tamarind paste (I use SWAD paste from the jar), enough salt, 1/4 tsp Paprika for color, pinch of hing. Adjust the salt. Season with these and add to the chutney: Heat 2 tbsp oil, add 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1-2 dry red chillies, few curry leaves until they pop, take off the heat and cool it down a bit and add to chutney to mix. That's it! :)

******************************************************************************************************************* Now comes the yummy dish I cooked completely in the Microwave!! It came out so well and it was so fast to make that I don't want to do this chole on the stove top ever again! :D My daughter loves cheese, period!! Indian cheese as she calls it, Paneer is her favorite added Indian dishes. This dish is also mild tasting, which makes the kids happy. They won't touch the above spicy coconut chutney at all but they would eat this with a piece toast gladly!! I served this dish with layered triangular parathas.

Paneer Chole Makhani, Microwaved!!
Photo didn't come out well since it was very bright in the kitchen that day but somehow I managed to save this one out of 20+ others! :D

For Paneer Chole Makhani, I used store bought Paneer which are firmer than homemade cheese and I found few cans of organic Chickpeas to add. Organic chickpeas are bit more expensive but smaller and very flavorful unlike those gigantic plump regular canned Garbanzo we get, I like the organic Garbanzo better. Enjoy the low fat dish, not much fat although it is "makhani"(with butter sauce), considering it serves 4 people.

Microwaving:
Look at the size of this Microwave! Doesn't it look like a college student's dorm room or may be a high school auditorium?! Hahaha!! Just kidding. It's a convection oven too, so it's pretty spacious to fit a regular size baking sheet. anyway, each Microwave has different power, so use your eyes and nose to judge how long each step takes when microwaving. I am giving you how I exactly I cooked this dish in my MW.

How to make Paneer chole Makhani in the MW:
Get all these in one place first and start microwaving as given below;
Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil,
1 cumin seeds, 1 bay leaf,
1 medium onion, finely minced or ground, 1" ginger+ 2 garlic (grind these both),
1/2 cup Tomato sauce,
spice powders; 2 tbsp plain yogurt, 1 tsp coriander seeds powder, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds powder, 1/4 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp chilli pd or paprika, 1 tsp Chole masala or Kitchen King masala pd.
1/2 cup water + 1/2 cup 2% or half fat Milk,
4 tbsp minced cilantro, 1 12oz can Organic Garbanzo/Chickpeas, drained of water, rinsed, 1 tsp sugar, enough salt,
1/2 pack of Paneer, cubed to bite sized pieces, 1 tbsp Butter.
Here is how:
1. Add oil to a deep glass dish, heat for 2 mins until hot. (Keep the bowl uncovered)
2. Add cumin seeds and 1 bay leaf, heat for 1 minute.
3. Add minced/ground onion, cook for 3 to 5 mins, keep stirring in between to prevent burning the onion, it must be slightly reddish, not brown.
4. Add ginger-garlic paste, cook for 1 minute, add tomato sauce and cover the bowl and cook for 2 mins.
5. Add yogurt, spice powders, mix well and cook for 1 minute.
6. Now mix in water and milk, cook again without the cover this time for 3-5 mins until oil shows up a bit, keep stirring often.
7. Add cilantro, enough salt, sugar (I always add sugar whenever I use tomatoes in the dishes to cut the acidity) and chole/chickpeas, cook again for 5 mins until the sauce is thick and shiny.
8. Lastly, add Paneer cubes and mix well. Just heat about 2 mins and adjust the spices to your taste.

Your delicious Paneer Chole Makhani is ready to eat! :))

Thai spicy salad and a Persimmon pudding to cool you down!

Spicy Thai salad is my contribution to "A.W.E.D.-Thailand" (vegetarian) event which is hosted by DK of "Culinary Bazaar". Thanks for hosting, dear Ms. DK! :))
As DK and I were talking about weight, gaining and losing and all that beautiful things (Mine mostly! :D) last week, I thought I will make a light and spicy dish rather than usual Thai curries specially for DK for her event and went on to search and research to come up with this salad. Then I find this event "Just for you" hosted by Alka of "Sindhi Rasoi" who asks us to cook for a friend, family members etc. So, this salad which I specially picked and made for DK fits perfectly to Alka's event as well! :)
LG of "cooking station" is hosting a "SWC-salads under 15mins" event too, just found out. Here it is for you too LG, enjoy!
Then came this wonderful "AFAM-Persimmon" event, originally conceived by Maheswari and Trupti of "recipecenterforall" is guest hosting this month with her choice of fruit. Persimmon Pudding goes to her.
Since this pudding is baked with fruit, low fat milk and excellent for kids as well as adults, I am sending this to "Cooking for kids-Milk, milk products" event which is started by Sharmi of "Neivedyam" blog and Preety of "Preety's Kitchen" is guest hosting this month.

Thanks for all of you for taking time to host and round up, enjoy the spicy Thai salad and cool it down with delicious and easy to make Persimmon Pudding!! :)

Hot and spicy salad from Thailand:
Well.. I don't know whether Thai people eat this salad in their land (like Taco Bell is authentic "Mexican food", "Curry" is Indian! :D) but in US restaurants, this spicy salad is quite popular as an appetizer. Yes, I have eaten it and loved it, that's where the inspiration comes from for me to recreate this salad.
There is a Thai Beef salad called "Yam Neua", similar to this dish except served topped with grilled Beef. I have adapted this vegetarian recipe with some additions of my own from the Naked chef "Jamie Oliver".

All I can say is, this salad is deliciously spicy and can make a great light lunch as well. Loaded with fresh vegetables, peanuts, Almonds, green chillies, crunchy noodles and topped with sesame seeds oil, ginger, garlic. lemon juice etc in the dressing, it makes a satisfying and low fat appetizer or lunch. Enjoy.



You need these:

Bunch of Romaine lettuce, Iceberg Lettuce, fresh Tomato, Cucumber slices, baby red radishes, green, red and orange bell peppers slices, 1/4 minced Jalapeno, bean sprouts if you have it, snow peas, grated carrots, green onions, purple cabbage slices, red onion slices, toasted sesame seeds, toasted Almond slivers, toasted or salted peanuts, store bought crispy flour noodles (Asian "Sev"), fresh Cilantro, few Mint leaves or Thai Basil if you have it. Any fresh veggies you can get your hands will do.

On a salad plate or bowl, add lettuce first to create a bed, add all the other veggies mentioned above one by one and pile up. Sprinkle roasted nuts, crunchy noodles and herbs on top, garnish with green onion. Serve with hot and spicy dressing on the side and just before you serve or eat, sprinkle the dressing on top. Don't mix dressing before hand, fresh veggies and nuts get soggy and soft. Remember, dressing is spicy!

Thai style HOT dressing! Slurp!! :D

For Thai dressing, mix all these well in a bowl and let it rest for an hour or so in the fridge:
3-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp canola oil, 1 tbsp sesame seed oil, 2 tsp Soy sauce, 1 tsp brown sugar or honey, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 garlic, grated, 1 tsp red chilli sauce (I added Sriracha hot sauce, and 1/2 tsp of peanut butter too!), few cilantro. Shake these well in a bottle, pour into a bowl and chill for few mins before serving. Stick a few lemon slices and cilantro to garnish. Adjust the salt, chilli etc to your taste. It should spicy, sweet and tangy, all in one. Sounds good, huh? Enjoy! :))

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Persimmon:
I am happy to give you this delicious and easy to bake recipe. I had neverbought Persimmon before since I didn't know how it tasted. Thanks to Trupti's AFAM, I went and bought 4 Japanese "Fuyus" Persimmon which look like ripe yellow Tomatoes. It smelled so delicious and tasted like Lychees. They say that other kind of Persimmon, which is heart shaped tangy "Hachiya" should be used to cook, and Fuyus should be eaten fresh. But I did use the Fuyus and trust me, they baked perfectly even with a thick sweet syrup under the pudding!! My son ate half of it alone with cream! :D
Hope you try and bake this yummy pudding. It's low in fat and not too sweet, great for kids and grown ups alike, almost a diet dessert if you skip the cream!!

Persimmon Pudding:
This recipe is adapted from "Allrecipes" websites but I did a change a lot, specially cut down the sugar etc. If you don't like the Egg, you can skip it. Pudding is scoopable, not like cake. So it's quite okay to skip the egg, egg makes it fluffy though. Baking time varies too acc. to your oven.

To bake Persimmon Pudding, you need these:
4 ripe Fuyu persimmons, peeled and roughly chopped or squeeze out into chunks,
1/3 cup white sugar, or more if you like it really sweet,
1 egg, beaten, (skip the egg if you like but pudding will be less fluffy)
1 cup all-purpose flour,
1/4 tsp baking soda,
1 tsp baking powder.

1/2 teaspoon ground sweet cinnamon,
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract,
1/2 pinch salt,
3/4 cup 2% milk,
2 tbsp melted butter.

To bake Pudding:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Lightly butter or spray a 9" round deep baking dish.

1. In a mixing bowl, mix persimmon pulp, baking soda, sugar and egg and beat until well mixed.
2. Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla essence, salt, milk and melted butter to the bowl with fruit etc, mix well again.
3. Pour into baking pan and bake for 50-65 minutes or until needle inserted comes clean. Do not over bake,it's okay if it's little soft in the center, it will firm up as it cools.

(You don't have to do this step but do it if you can. After 20mins of baking, open the oven door and with a fork, stir the middle of the pudding few times and let it bake. It makes the pudding fluffier! Don't open the oven door again)

4. Pudding will rise in the oven and puff but will fall in after cooling, which is normal. Cool the pudding.
5. Serve with creamy whipped cream if you like.
You can use any ripe fruit with pulp in the same recipe instaed of Persimmons. Oven baking times may vary, use your judgment.

Have a great weekend, see you on Monday! :))

Urad dal masala vada with spicy dal dip....my savory yellow legume winter treat!

Alrighty! Here is my favorite winter snack "Urad dal masala vada with spicy dal dip" , which goes to all these events. If anybody (event hosts I mean) do not want it, let me know!! :D

I am sending this to Srivalli of "cooking4allseasons", who is guest hosting the event "My Legume love affair-7th helping" , which is started by Susan of "Well seasoned cook".
This is also my second entry for Sunshinemom of "Tongueticklers", who is hosting a event with a theme "Yellow-Food in colors" .
This savory also goes to Srilekha of "Srishkitchen" for her event "EFM-Savories" as well.
Just came to know about these events called "Sunday Snacks-Hot and Spicy" being hosted by Pallavi of "All things yummy" blog and "Chutney/dip Mania" from Ramya of "Mane Adige" blog. Here is my hot one and a dip!

Thanks to all of you for hosting these events. Hope you like my contribution! :))

Urad dal masala vada with spicy dal dip:
I am sure most Indians know about this yummy snack. Uddina Vade, as they are called in Kannada, are the most popular snack or breakfast in Karnataka served in every restaurant with either Sambhar or Rasam and also with Idlis.
I usually make these during cold days of Winter which are great to munch on while watching a movie or two on lazy Sundays!! Then they become "Mosaru vade" (ie Urad dumplings dunked in chilled spicy yogurt) in lazy Summer Sundays! :))



You need:

1 cup Urad dal, soaked in water for 2-3 hrs,
1 tbsp rice, soaked with Urad dal, (makes it crisp)

a big pinch of baking soda,

enough salt to taste.

Chop these very finely:

1/2 big onion,

few curry leaves,
1 small Jalapeno,
3-4 tbsp chopped Cilantro.
Few slivers of fresh coconut will add taste but optional.

Oil to deep fry.

How to make the vadas:
1. Drain the water from the soaked dal, add to the mixer (Sumeet is best if you have it) along with salt and blend until smooth, fluffy without adding water if you can manage that. If you have to add water, keep it to minimum amount. If batter is watery, it's impossble to shape them like doughnuts, you will end up with round dumplings.
2. Take out in a bowl, mix all the chopped ingredients mentioned above, beat well to get the air in the batter which makes them fluffy when fried.
3. Heat enough oil to deep fry in a wok/Kadai/electric deepfryer to 360F.
4. Now, here is how I do the doughnut shape. I wet my left hand palm with water, take a lump of batter with my right hand,put it on the left palmand with my right index finger, I make a big wide hole.
5. Then quickly slide in the Vada into the hot oil, wash the laft palm quickly and get to the next vada doughnut making like machine! :D
6. Deep fry them until golden and take them out on the paper towel to drain. Keep them in the warm oven until the time to serve comes around.

In India, sometimes oiled or wet banana leaves are used to make vadas which makes it easy slide off the vadas to the oil. You could try using foil too but I find good old palms are the best tool for making these.
Batter must be as thick as you can get or else it won't form a doughnut shape. If not thick, you can also just drop them with a spoon into the oil as round balls, tastes the same but looks nontraditional shaped urad vadas.
Beating the batter to incorporate air into it is one of the tricks to make fluffy light vadas which is not easy but experience is the key. Don't worry if you don't always get perfect doughnut shapes either, it's not easy and doesn't change the taste in any way! :)

Now, how I make spicy dal as a dip to these crunchy vadas!!

Spicy dal dip:
You need these first:
1/4 cup each of chana dal, Masoor dal, Moong dal,
2 cups of water to cook the dals,
1/4 cup tomato sauce,
Salt.
Masala:
2 tsp coriander seeds powder,
1/2 tsp cumin seeds powder,
1/2 tsp chilli powder,
1/2 tsp Garam masala (optional).
To temper:
1 tbsp butter+ 1 tsp oil,
pinch of Hing,
2 red dry chillies, broken,
1 tsp Cumin seeds,
1/4 cup chopped onion,
2-3 garlic cloves, sliced,
1 tsp ginger, grated.

How to make the dal:
1. Cook all 3 dals with water in the Microwave or in te pressure cooker until soft, mix well and keep aside.
2. Take a pan, add cooked dal, Tomato sauce, masala powders (spices), salt and simmer gently until tomato sauce is cooked and raw smell goes. Adjust the salt and spices. Add cilantro and turn off the heat.Sauce should be thicker than the usual to use as a dip.
3. Heat oil and butter in a pan, add the tempering ingredients one by one to the oil, fry until the onions and garlic are reddish.
4. Add the tempering to dal amd mix well to serve with Urad dal Vadas.

There is my snack combo or sometimes Sunday dinner too if I eat too many! Have a wonderful week ahead, see you later! :D

Spinach and Feta cheese bread

Spinach and Feta cheese bread is my contribution to "Bread Baking day #16" which is being hosted by Temperance of "High on the Hog" blog, with a theme of Bread with cheese. Thanks for hosting the first bread event for 2009, Temperance and my thanks to Zorra for starting this event. I am sure you all will enjoy this event as much as I did baking this bread! :))

When my kitchen was being remodeled last December, I couldn't cook at all for 5 weeks and that is the first time I just sat idle not being able to cook at all in 22 yrs after I got married! Did I enjoy the freedom? Not at all!! I just missed the cooking, baking and the aromas so much. When the construction was done, first thing I wanted to do is to bake a good bread in my brand new convection oven. I went on searching for a good bread recipe and I found this spinach-Feta bread recipe in a website which reminded me of Greek Spanakopita. Spinach, Rye and Feta sounded perfect for me and here it is, my first bread baked in my brand new kitchen and oven! What a perfect bread baking with cheese event to show it off too! :)

I tried this wonderful bread recipe from this beautiful cooking bread classes site. Check this out for step by step pictures. I have typed the bread recipe for my future reference here. My sincere thanks to this wonderful site for educating us all with such a clear cut instructions and for this super Spinach healthy and wonderful tasty, slightly tangy Feta bread.

Spinach-Feta cheese bread:
I followed the recipe mostly as it is except few changes and I also used the frozen Spinach instead of fresh Spinach. I didn't have the fresh greens at hand at the time but I don't think it took away much in the taste. Do use fresh Spinach if you can.



You need to do this the night before baking; Mix all these, cover and let it ferment overnight:
3/4 cup bread flour,
1/2 cup lukewarm water,
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast.

Next morning, gather all these in one place before you start the dough:
2 cups chopped fresh spinach or frozen, thawed and squeezed dry spinach,
1 tsp or butter to saute the Spinach,
Pinch of salt.

1 1/4 cup lukewarm water,
1/2 cup dark rye,
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour,
1/2 tsp instant yeast,
1 tsp salt,
1/2 tsp crushed pepper or dry chilli flakes,
2 cups bread flour,1 cup crumbled feta cheese.

First step:
Heat 1 tsp oil or butter in a pan, add salt, Spinach and saute until wilted and there is no liquid left. I microwaved the thawed spinach until the water evaporated, checking it often taking care not to burn the greens. Take it out, separate the clumps if any and let it cool.
Now:
1. Take a big bowl (or if you are using the KitchenAid to knead like I did, use that bowl),add "night before" fermented mix and lukewarm water, mix gently.
2. Add salt, pepper or chilli flakes, yeast, and both Rye and whole wheat flour, mix again. Leave it for 5-10 mins to rise a bit.
3. Add the bread flour, 1/2 cup at a time until you use all the flour until you get a very slightly sticky dough. You might need more or less bread flour than 2 cups, use your judgment. Knead well by hand or in the machine until you get a good smooth dough. Cover and let it rest for 5 mins.
4. Now, add spinach and Feta cheese on the dough, fold and knead gently until evenly mixed with the dough. In the machine, add spinach first, let it mix gently on low speed. Once well mixed, add Feta and mix on the lowest speed just until mixed.
5. Brush some oil on the dough, cover and let it rise and double in a warm place or warm oven for about 2hrs. Divide into two and make round dough. Place on the baking sheet, brush some flour on the top. Cover with a towel and let them rise again for an hour.

Finally!!
Preheat the oven at 400F (Yes, I used 25F less than what the recipe says).
Once the oven is heated, uncover the dough and place the sheet inside. Since mine is a brand new Convection oven, I didn't use the water as it says at the cooking bread site but do follow that method if you like. Bake these bread loaves for 30-40mins or until they sound hollow when tapped at the bottom of the bread.
Again, use your judgment according to your own oven, times and temperature may vary. Do not overbake. I also used a double layered insulated cookie sheet to bake these bread, which doesn't give you a very dark bottom. You could use Pizza stone to bake the loaves and you could place a pan with water on the bottom rack for steam while baking. It's up to you.

Sliced!
I gave the second loaf to my neighbor who is a breast cancer survivor. She was so happy to receive such a healthy and tasty bread. However, as soon as she saw the bread, she was excited thinking that I brought her a Indian style bread but was equally happy to know that it had Greek ingredients instead! :D



So, that's it for today. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. We are looking forward to see the movie "Gran Torino"tomorrow! :))

Parading Injera, Griddle Omelet and cheesy Hash with Wasabi Mayonnaise!

Susan of "The well-seasoned cook" is hosting a "Pancakes Parade" event this time. Pancakes? We do have thousands of those in India, don't we? I thought why not try a new pancake I have not tried before. So here it is, a Ethiopian Injera with two side dishes and salad! Enjoy Susan, thanks for hosting!:)


A little note: This is my last post at "Aroma" blog for events this month until the end of August. I will miss cooking for your events but it's time to take a break and rest a bit!
I still have 3 more posts ready to go at my "Foodie's Hope" blog until July 9th. After I post them there, I will be taking a vacation in the cooler Smoky mountain and a long Summer blog break. If you need any recipes from this blog, please type the words in the search engine you see on the sidebar or go to my Recipe Index to search by category or ask me, I will still be moderating the comments here anyway. Enjoy these for now! :)

About Teff:
Teff is staple grain of Ethiopian cuisine and the smallest grain in the world. It takes about 150 teff seeds to equal the weight of a kernel of wheat, so you can imagine how samll! Teff grain is very high in fiber, iron and calcium. It has a sweetish nutty flavor, is completely gluten free ( just like rice flour we use for Neer dosa,) , so you have to mix Teff flour with other flour to make Injera to prevent it breaking into pieces. Teff comes in different colors ie reddish, brown and very creamy color. Injera is eaten with spicy meat (Doro wat+chicken stew) and vegetable Wat (stews) placed on huge Injera on the plate and eaten by hand, tearing and scooping the stews and with a Salata (salad)! Of course they have coffee, homemade Beer called Tela and Tej is a homemade Wine! Ethiopians make many spicy sides dishes, place on the Injera itself and eat them by hand tearing a piece of Injera and scooping the side dishes with it, just like we Indians do! Desserts are not usually served with every meal.

Ethiopian Injera, Yegomen Wat, Yataklete Klikil and a Salata!
Yegomen wat is a side dish with spiced greens like Collard, Kale etc, Yataklete Kilkil is mixed vegetable stew (I used just beets) and a salata/salad of Cucumber, lemon juice, green onion, cilantro and salt. Injera can be made as big as 10-12" in diameter!
Injera, a Ethiopian pancake like dosa, is the national bread of Ethiopia and these can be made in various ways. Just mix Teff flour with water and salt, pour like neer(rice flour) dosa or mix with wheat or plain flour to make pancakes or ferment the batter overnight or longer up to 3 days to make very sour pancakes too. I chose to ferment Teff+wheat flour (atta) batter for just 1 day like we ferment to make our own rice and Urad dosa we south Indians are famous for! :D

How to make Injera:


This is how I made Injera:
1. Mix 1 cup Teff flour, 2 cups slightly warm water, pinch of sugar, 2 tbsp yogurt or 1 tsp yeast, ferment overnight to make them next day.
2. Next morning, add little salt, 1/2 cup plain flour or wheat flour, mix well. Make the batter thin enough to spread itself on the tawa, leave it for 1 hr. A pinch of soda can be added before making Injera.
3. Heat a non-stick Tawa on medium high heat, spread the batter as big as you can, cover with a lid. You cook only on one side as you do Neer dosa but if you can manage flip once.
4. When cooked take it out on a plate, repeat with others.
5. Serve with side dishes, salad and coffee.



Two side dishes:

To make Yegomen wat:
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil, add 3 chopped garlic, 1/2" grated ginger, few red chilly flakes or few green chillies, saute for a minute.
2. Add 1 chopped onion, saute until soft. Add in 6 cups of cleaned and chopped Greens like collard, kale or Spinach. I used homegrown red chard, pinch of salt and pepper, 1/4 cup water and cook until soft with very little gravy. You can sprinkle 1/8 tsp of Cardamom pd or Nutmeg pd. Adjust the spices and serve.

To make Yataklete Kilkil:
1. You need 4 cups of mixed vegetables. I used just Beets, peeled and cubed.
2. You cook the same way as above but you can add spicy Berbere spice mix if you like this to be different from Greens. It's a mix of various spices similar Indian curry masala.
3. You can also use Niter Kebbeh/spiced butter to season instead of just oil, gives it a great aroma and taste.




Perfect Ethiopian Injera/African Dosa! :D

Enjoy, we certainly did!:)

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KayKat from "Cooking from A to Z" blog is guest hosting "Think spice..Think..." event this month with her of spice "Wasabi"! Ooh, scary spice isn't it? ;D
This event's creator is Sunita of "Sunita's World". My contribution to this event is "Wasabi Mayonnaise on griddle Omelet and cheesy Hash". Enjoy and my thanks to KayKat and Sunita!:))



Wasabi:
Wasabi is used in mostly Japanese cuisine like Sushi, Sashimi etc. The real Wasabi is a root which is to be grated or ground to use. Poor little people like me use the generic Wasabi which comes in little tubes and boxes like this you see below. Click on the Wasabi title link to learn more.
My first experience of eating Wasabi was at a restaurant, not Japanese but in a Italian one. It came as big coin sized green blob on the side of the plate with appetizers. I thought it was some fancy green Mayo and scooped 1/4 tsp and put in my mouth. Next thing I know I was literally seeing stars, my brain started tingling, felt like needles all over my skin and I thought I was going to drop dead right there. It was nothing like I have experience before, specially when your's truly loves her Jalapeño chutney with ghee and Ragi rotti people!! I ran to the rest room to wash of me off ASAP! :D
Well... they had served me the pure kind of root Wasabi. Hurray for them!! I am going to give you a milder and American style Wasabi Mayonnaise, so you can relax. My kids ate this Wasabi Mayo with Omelet and Hash, that says something, ain't it? ;D

Not so authentic Wasabi/greenish Horse Radish powder in a box!!

To make Wasabi Mayonnaise:
Mix 1 tbsp of powdered Wasabi, 5 tbsp regular good quality Mayonnaise from the store, 1 tsp Lemon juice, pinch of salt, 1 tsp honey or sugar (optional), 1 tsp water only if needed and if it's too thick to pour or drizzle on these. Whisk all these and pour into a plastic bottle with spout. Best chilled in the fridge or keep at room temp if using quickly but not for too long, got Mayo in there, remember?

Omelet and Cheesy Hash drizzled with Wasabi Mayonnaise:
This recipe serves two. I have already posted these combo before here. These are similar but simpler way of making these. Once done, plate them and drizzle the Wasabi Mayo on top and serve immediately. Tastes wonderful, enjoy!:)

Make Hash:
Hash takes longer to cook, so start that first. Hash is nothing but grated Potato, cooked with spices and vegs until crisp, a southern US classic.
Coarsely grate 2 medium peeled potatoes. Heat some oil or butter in a non-stick skillet, spread the grated Hash thinly, sprinkle salt, let it get reddish brown on the bottom. Gently flip.
Add any spices and herbs. When done, sprinkle cheese on top, cut into half and take them out on a plate.
Omelet:
Make Omelet with 3 eggs, add salt, spices of your choice on a griddle or a non-stick pan. Push the eggs to the center while it's cooking to make the Omelet thick and fluffy. Cover let it cook on gentle heat, sprinkle cheese on it and take out on a plate. Drizzle Wasabi Mayo and serve with Hash on the side!!

Have a wonderful fun filled Summer, will see you at the end of August or September here again at Aroma!

Mango-Cream JELL-O, Mint-Coconut-Peanuts Chutney

I am bringing a sweet and super easy dessert "Mango-Cream JELL-O" for Meeta from "What's for lunch honey" blog's "Monthly Mingle" with the theme of " Mango Mania " this month. I thought I wouldn't be able to make anything for MM this month since I am getting ready for a Summer blog break but squeezed in one more post anyway. Who can resist Mangoes! Hope you like it Meeta, great choice of fruit!:)

Mangoes:
Mangoes have been cultivated in India and South East Asia for thousands of years, also cultivated in many tropical regions and distributed widely in the world. Mango is one of the most popular and well loved fruit. Raw or ripe Mangoes can be in various sweet and spicy dishes and Mango leaves are used for religious ceremonies, during Hindu festivals and weddings in India.. For a great collection of unique Mango dishes, click here!

Mango-Cream JELL-O:
I have made so many Mangoes dishes before in my blog as you see in my list below, I thought I will keep it very simple this time. This cool dessert was delicious and so easy to make. It's specially great for kids. Hope you make it!:)

You need these:
1 3/4 Cup Mango pulp (I used Kesar canned Mango pulp),
1/2 cup Cream half and Half or Heavy whipping Cream, divided into half, (heat 1/4 cup cream to dissolve Gelatin)
2 Envelopes(1/4oz each) of Knox or Jell-O Original unflavored unsweetened Gelatin,
1-2 tbsp powdered sugar, if mango pulp is not sweet enough, up to you.
1 tbsp crushed Pistachios and Some Whipped cream to garnish.(optional)
To make it:
1. Add Mango pulp, half of the cream and powdered sugar, mix until creamy.
2. Heat 1/4 cup of milk or cream, add gelatin and let it dissolve. Then add this mixture to Mango to whisk well.
3. Pour in any shaped molds and chill in the fridge for 3 hrs.
4 Serve chilled, sprinkled with some crushed Pistachios or with more cream on top if you like. Enjoy!:)

Note: Add 1 Gelatin envelope to 1 1/4 cup or less liquid, total proportion to get a good Jello texture. You can also add Gelatin to cold Mango mix but have to whisk (or mix in blender) hard to dissolve Gelatin and adding Gelatin to warm cream first to dissolve it, makes it easier set the Jello! :)

Check out these dishes!
Jaggary Jello!
Mango Cobbler,
Mango Dal,
Mango Lassi,
Mango-Coconut Pound cake.
Mango-Coconut Burfi.
Mango Kheer.
Mango Ice cream!

Have fun cooking with Mangoes!:)

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Dee from "Ammalu's kitchen" has started a new event celebrating various herbs called "Herb Mania" this month. She has chosen "Mint" as her choice to start with. Here is my simple Mint, Coconut, Peanuts chutney from me Dee, enjoy hosting your event!:)


Homegrown Mint from my backyard:
Mint grows uncontrollably in a moist, well drained soil if you don't contain it in the pots. I always plant the good quality mint in a large pot rather than the in the ground. They thrive in the sunshine, but need to bring in the house for Winter, although they are very easy to grow every Summer. These Mints are called Peppermint, has good mild flavor to cook but it doesn't exactly smell like Pepper or like toothpaste like Spearmints do!:D

Mint:
Dried mint leaves were found in Egyptian pyramids, dating from 1000 BC. The plant is thought to be indigenous to Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia and it was introduced into America, Australia later.
Peppermint and Spearmint are the two best known of the mints but there are literally hundreds of varieties of mint. Mint is not only used in cooking and in drinks (Mojitos!), it also doubles as medicine to clear Sinuses, relieves Colic, added to bath water to soothe the muscles and in Tea with Honey. Mint flavor is added in Tooth pastes and in Medicinal syrups to make it pleasant to take too.

Green Moong Idlis with Mint, Coconut, Peanut chutney:
These delicious light green and super soft green Moong Idlis are from Sushma's "CookSpot" blog. I made these last week to link at FH and made some spicy Mint chutney to go with it. Thanks for these Idlis Sushma, they were excellent and so nutritious too!:)

For chutney, you need:
1 large bunch or 2 cups loosely packed of Cilantro,
1 cup loosely packed Mint leaves,(Spearmint, I find it too strong, use less),
1/4 cup fresh Coconut,
1/4 cup roasted Peanuts,
2-4 Green chillies,
Few curry leaves,
1"fresh ginger,
1 tsp Tamarind juice or you can use 2 tsp Lemon juice too,
Salt.
To season:
1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp Mustard seeds, 1 tsp Urad dal, few curry leaves.
To make it:
1. Roast Peanuts in the Microwave for 30 seconds on a plate, let them cool.
2. Add the cooled peanuts to coconut etc and grind all them in a blender until smooth.
3. Heat a pan, add the seasoning ingredients and when they splutter, add to chutney and mix.

Note: Mint tends to discolor when exposed to air which turns it to blackish color. Although taste doesn't change, it will look darker.To avoid this, you have to more lemon juice to chutney.
You can also wilt the cilantro, curry leaves and mint for a second in a hot pan, roast green chillies before grinding but not necessary.

Have a great weekend. I have one last post to go here at Aroma and 2 more posts/weeks at FH before I take a blog break. See you all next week!:)

Baja Kichuri, Mixed veggies Mosaranna

A nutritious and a quick breakfast of Baja Kichuri is my contribution to Raaga of "The singing chef" blog who is hosting WBB this month with a theme of "Express Breakfasts". "Weekend Breakfast blogging" event is the brain child of Nandita from "Saffron Trail". Thank you for hosting Raaga, hope you like this dish! :)
Kichuri also fits for "Mixed rice", EC's event. You can take this too if you like EC!:)

Kichuri or Khichdi:
Khichdi literally means "hodge podge" of things thrown in together to make a delicious dish, a popular one dish meal in India. With two quick cooking and "easy on the tummy" dals, rice for energy and veggies, this makes a nutritious dish for Indian style breakfast and a quick one at that if you use a pressure pan or a cooker as we usually do in India. If you have prepared veggies already in the fridge night before, you can make this dish within 15 mins in the morning!
Work and school starts late in India than US, you also get ravenously hungry in the morning in India unlike here, so it's possible and practical to make a good breakfast like this for the family.
For us here in US, I make Khichdi for lunch or dinner with Yogurt salad and a pickle since everybody is out of the door by 6.30am for school and work, grabbing cereal or toast or Muffin with OJ! No work for me! :)

Baja Kichuri:
Baja Kichuri means fried/sauteed Khichdi in Bengali. I found this recipe in an old Indian magazine called "Womans Era", which I used to love for their authentic Indian recipes and subscribe regularly. Now a days, it's full of "fusion" Indian cooking most of the time, so I have stopped the subscription. Anyway, I loved the simplicity and taste of this dish. Enjoy.

You need:
1 cup Long grain rice,
1/2 cup Moong dal (yellow split Moong),
1/2 cup Masoor dal (split red Lentils),
Veggies: (Can use any mixed veggies you have in the fridge, these are what I used)
1 cup or more of Cauliflower florets,
1/4 cup each of Green peas and Carrots,
few Pearl onions,
1 peeled and cubed Potato,
Few strips of red bell pepper.
To season:
(If kids wouldn't like whole spices to bite in the dish, powder all these except Bay leaves instead if you like)
1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp ghee,
2 Bay leaves,
1" Cinnamon/Dalchini stick,
1 green chilly,(optional but for taste)
2 cloves,
2 Whole green Cardamoms, crushed lightly or 1/4 tsp powdered,
1 onion sliced,
Spices:
2 tsp Cumin seeds powder,
1/2 tsp good quality Turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp more Chilli pd,
salt and Lemon juice to taste.
To make Kichuri:
1. Heat oil and ghee in a small pressure cooker or pressure pan. Add all the seasoning ingredients one by one, fry until onions are slightly golden.
2. Add Veggies, saute for few mins. Add both dals, saute and add rice and saute for few minutes.
3. Add salt and spices to it, add enough water and mix well. I added about 3 cups or 1" above the mixture. Use your judgment when adding water for the type of rice you use, can't give you exact amount of liquid. Khichdi should be little wet, not very dry when it's done.
4. Turn down the heat to low (low heat is very important so you don't burn the bottom of the cooker or overcook the dish), cover the lid of pressure cooker and let it cook for 1 or 2 whistles or 3-5 mins after the pressure locks in.
5. Open the cooker lid when are able to and gently mix, adjust the spices and salt.

Serve with plain Yogurt. Traditionally, Baja Kichuri is served with fried Eggplants, Parval and Potato dish, pickle etc.

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EC of "Simple Indian Cooking" has announced a "Mixed or flavored rice Varieties" event this month. As Indians, we can think of literally thousands of mixed rice dishes. Lightly seasoned Mosaranna/Yogurt rice with added fresh veggies is my entry to this event, a much loved south Indian delicacy, is also one of the easiest rice salad to make at home. Enjoy EC!:)

Mosaranna or Yogurt and rice salad, Karnataka style:
Mosaru+anna literally means Yogurt and rice in Kannada, Thair Sadam in Tamil, Dadhojanam in Telugu, which is a very popular dish in South India, specially eaten on Summer days to cool you down when heat is intense and when you don't feel like eating hot food. Usually it's lightly seasoned with some sweet chopped onions added to give it a crunch as my mother makes it back home in Bangalore/Bengaluru!
For this event, I have added fresh veggies to the traditional dish to make it more colorful and interesting and made this into a light, refreshing Summer lunch. Hope you enjoy!

Tomato, Cucumber, Carrots and red bell pepper Mosaranna/Yogurt rice:

You need:
2 cups cooked and cooled Rice,
2 cups plain Yogurt,
1/2 cup milk, if needed,
1/4 cup sliced or chopped Pear or Grape or regular Tomatoes,
1/4 cup chopped Cucumber,
2-3 tbsp of fresh red bell pepper,
2 tbsp grated or chopped Carrots,
1 Garlic and 1/2" fresh ginger, (both crushed in 2 tbsp of water and squeeze to take out just the juice and discard the solids)
Few tbsps of raw sweet red onions, finely chopped, add only if you like to,
Salt, as much as you need.
To season:
2 tsp oil,
1 tsp each Mustard seeds and Chana dal,
few Curry leaves,
few cilantro leaves,
1-2 red or green chillies or 1/4 tsp Chilli flakes,
To make it:
1. Mix cooled rice, all the chopped veggies, Yogurt, salt, ginger-garlic juice, raw onion, mix ell in a big bowl.
2. Heat oil in a small pan, add all the seasoning ingredients one by one. When reddish, cool it down and add to the rice and veggie mix.
3. Mix well. Keep it covered and serve at room temperature when needed. Do not chill, rice gets stiff, doesn't tastes good!
4. As it sits, rice tends to absorb the yogurt and Masaranna gets very thick. If that happens, add some milk to it to thin it down, can add more yogurt if the dish is not already too sour. Dish should be semi-solid when you eat it.
Serve; as it is or with Lemon pickle, Mango pickle and/or with crispy papad on the side! YUMMY! :)

Here is the plain Jane Mosaranna without the bells and whistles.

Have a fun week ahead!:)

Coconut-Pineapple Burfi, Ricotta-Black Raspberry sweet Paratha!

Coconut and Pineapple Burfi is my contribution to "A Fruit A Month", an event which is started by Maheswari of "Beyond the Usual" blog. Suganya from "Tasty Palettes" is guest hosting this month for AFAM and her fruit of choice is "Coconut". Thanks for hosting Suganya, great choice!:)


Coconut:
A very commonly used and most beloved fruit of every south Indian household is the treasured Coconut. Like Tamarind trees, coconut are also a common site in India, specially in the south and as popular as Tamarind trees. As most of you know, my grandfather has a coconut and Sugarcane farm near Mysore. So my memories are firmly embedded in eating coconut burfi/Kobbari Mithai (in Kannada), drinking elaneeru/Coconut water, scarping the tender sweet creamy pulpy insides of a halved coconut as a child, not to mention enjoying juicy sugar cane, Guavas, Mangoes, come every Summer in India in my thatha's house! Those were the days, good times! :)
For more info about the origin of Coconut and it's uses, click here and here!

Coconut-Pineapple Burfi:
Usually, Coconut burfi made with just coconut, sugar syrup and cardamom but I thought I would give a twist and added Pineapple!


How to make Kobbari-Pineapple Mithai!:)


You need:
2 cups of sweetened packaged flaked coconut or fresh grated coconut,
1/2 cup or more sugar (if you use sweetened coconut, it already has sugar, use as much sugar as you want to make burfi)
(or 1-1/2 cups sugar+Pineapple with juice for the syrup, if you use fresh unsweetened coconut)
1/2 cup crushed Pineapple, canned with it's juice,
1 tsp Cardamom powder.
2 tsp ghee (optional but adds to the taste)


A non stick or any pan to pour the Burfi to cool it.
Prepare the pan by spraying some no-stick oil or butter to prevent the burfi from sticking.
To make it:
1. Take a non stick pan, add ghee, Pineapple with it's juice and boil it until you get one thread consistency of the syrup or until candy thermometer shows it has reached 230F.
2. Add all the Cardamom pd and the coconut gratings, keep stirring until you see little whitish spots and the whole leaves the sides of the pan.
3. Pour into the pan, pat gently to make it about 2" high, score 2" by 3" rectangles with a knife and leave it in the fridge to cool.
4. After cutting them, serve at chilled or at room temp.

Note: Adjust the sugar. I always add less to avoid too much sweet in our desserts. These Burfis stay moist and not very firm like Coconut burfi because of the crushed Pineapple but tastes fabulous. It's sweet and tangy at the same time.

One more look!

Have fun!:)

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Mythreyee of "Paajaka" blog has started a new event called "Sweet series"
this month. To start with, she has chosen "sweet rotis" which are every Indian kid's dream snack. Well..here is mine for you Myth and for my kids, an American version of sweet Paratha with Ricotta-Black Raspberry preserve and Walnuts. Enjoy!:)

Sweet rotis:
We, who grew up in India, all have some kind of memory of munching or sweet rotis or chapatis our moms made! Mine would be a very simple chapati sprinkled with ghee and sugar and cooked on Tawa until crisp, the only sweet I ate with gusto. I don't have a sweet tooth although I make and bake desserts for the family or events like these. I would rather munch on savory crunchies the whole day!:D

Ricotta-Black Raspberries preserve-Walnuts Paratha!
I just made one Paratha. One of these is enough for 2-4 people like a finger food/dessert, depending on many you can eat! Kids love Ricotta and Raspberry Preserve, but not very crazy about Walnuts but it gives a good crunch.

This is how I made it:

Make Parathas first:
Mix and knead 1 cup of wheat flour/atta or mix 1/2 cup each of wheat flour and plain flour, 1 tsp fine sugar, 1/4 tsp Baking powder and pinch of salt until a soft dough. Cover and rest for an hour.
For filling:
2 tbsp of Black Raspberry preserve or any kind you like,
Mix 3 tbsp of Ricotta cheese with 1 tbsp powdered sugar,
1 tbsp small grained Walnuts/any nuts you like/no nuts at all!
To make the sweet paratha:
Heat a tawa or a non-stick griddle on medume high heat.
1. Divide the dough into 2 equal rounds, roll each of them into to 1/8" thick circles. Cut them to make a perfect circle with a lid.
2. Brush one paratha with preserve leaving a 1/2 " from edges.
3. Drop little mounds of Ricotta on top of the preserve and sprinkle with Walnuts and place the other paratha on top gently. If you brush some water on the edges, it seals firmly.
4. With the edge/tines of a fork, seal the edges all around. Gently pick up and cook on the Tawa on medium heat until it's golden both sides, brush some butter if you like while cooking it.
5. Cool it on the rack, cut into triangles to serve.

A close up!

See you all next week, have a wonderful weekend!:)

Ridge Gourd Kootu, Chicken Masala with fresh Turmeric rice

Ridge Gourd Kootu goes to Sig of "Live to Eat" blog , who is guest hosting JFI event this month. Sig has chosen a tangy fruit "Tamarind" as her choice for JFI, widely used in dishes everyday in most south Indian dishes. JFI event is created by Indira of Mahanandi. Thanks for choosing Tamarind Sig!:)

Tamarind:
Tamarind is native to tropical Africa and grows wild throughout the Sudan. It was introduced into India long ago. It is extensively cultivated in tropical areas of the world. Sometime during the sixteenth century, it was introduced into America and today is widely grown in Mexico.
Every part of Tamarind tree is usable ie fruits, flowers, bark, it's leaves in various forms in cooking and for medicinal purposes. Tamarind mixed with other things like honey is used as digestive, for sour throat, bile and as laxatives. For more info about Tamarind , click here.

Ridge Gourd Kootu:
Kootu is any dish made with gravy along with spices, a dish commonly made in South India.
Here is my Kootu with Ridge gourd, which are like gold to me since I don't get these veggie often unless I drive to to Indian store miles away! I have already made Puliyogarai with Tamarind before. Kootu is the next best thing I can think of for Tamarind event!:))

To make the ridge Gourd bhaji:

You need:
2 medium Ridge Gourds,
1 Tomato,chopped,(optional)
1-2 tbsp Tamarind juice,
Cilantro.
salt.
To season:
1 tbsp oil+ghee,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
few curry leaves,
1 tbsp Chana dal,
1 medium onion, chopped,
1/2 tsp turmeric,
1 dry red chilli,
pinch of hing.

To roast lightly and powder:
3 tbsp dry coconut,
1 tbsp Coriander seeds,
1 tsp Cumin seeds,
1/2" cinnamon(Dalchini),
2-3 Kashmiri red chillies or paprika for color,
1 tsp or 10 pepper corns.
Roast all the above and powder in a grinder.
Or use 1-2 tbsp of your favorite home made masala powder.

How to:
1. Peel the outer ridges of the gourd slightly, wash and chop the gourd to small pieces. Remove the seeds if they are not tender, otherwise you can leave them as they are.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add all the seasoning ingredients one by one and fry until onion is reddish.
3. Add in the gourd pieces, stir fry for 2 minutes and add 1-2 cups of water, tomato, tamarind and cook until gourd is soft and cooked.
4. Add in the masala powder, mix well and simmer. Add Cilantro and turn off the heat.
5. Serve with Chapatis. Tastes better the next day!

Delicious for lunch or dinner:

Wasn't that yummy? :)
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Finally, here is an event with "Chicken" as a choice!! YAY!! Vandana Rajesh of "cooking up something nice" blog has started one this month. She asks us to cook any chicken dish we like. Here is mine which often make on some Sundays for lunch, "Chicken masala with Turmeric rice". Thanks for hosting Vandana, enjoy your first event!:)

Chicken Masala with fresh Turmeric rice:
This is my favorite and the easiest chicken gravy I make at home when I don't have time for all the fancy masalas. What do I do to make the thali fanciful? I cook rice with some salt and fresh turmeric pieces to make it colorful!:D

Here is how I make it:

You need:
2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts and 2 Chicken thighs cut into bite sized cubes, salt, 1/8 tsp turmeric, Cilantro, 1 tbsp Tamarind juice.
For the gravy: 2 onions, sliced thin, 1" Ginger grated, 1/2 cup Tomato sauce, 1 tsp chilli pd, 1 tbsp Coriander seeds powder, 1 tsp garam masala.
Season: 1 tbsp oil, 2 tsp ghee, 1 tsp Cumin seeds, few curry leaves.
1 1/2 cup water or chicken sock.

To make it:
1. Heat oil+ghee is a pan, add all the seasoning ingredients, fry for a minute.
2. Add Onions, fry until they are slightly golden on the edges, add ginger. Stir for a minute and pour in the tomato sauce. Fry until oil shows on th sides.
3. Add in the chicken, stir until they are white on the outside. Add all the dry masala ingredients except Garam masala now, mix well.
4 Pour in tamarind, salt, 1 1/2 cups water or chicken stock. (Cut down the salt as it already has salt in the stock). Cover and cook on medium heat for 10mins.
5. Uncover and cook until you see the oil glisten on top. Add garam masala and cilantro, mix well and take off the heat. Serve with turmeric rice and a salad or potato crisps.
Chicken Masala tastes better if you leave the gravy overnight in the fridge.

Fresh Turmeric rice:
1. Add 2 cups of extra long grain rice, 3 1/2 cups water, few pieces of crushed fresh Turmeric or 1/4 good quality Turmeric pd, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp ghee or butter. Give it a stir.
2. Cook in the Microwave for 13 mins on high, uncovered. After 13 mins, cover with a plate and cook for 6mons at 50%.
3. Take it out and fluff the rice with flat spatula, take out all the cooked turmeric pieces out, cover again until you need it. You can sprinkle some water on the rice and reheat in the MW for 2-3 mins on high to serve.

Note: I have given you how I make rice at home. Every MW and rice is different, so use your judgment for how much water to add and how long to cook.
Enjoy!:)

(There will be posts coming out of my ears this month here at Aroma, watch out for those! Once I am done posting for most events, I will be off for a month from July, will try and catch up with events until then! :D)

Dahi Moong, MW cooked Lemon pickle!

Siri of "Siri's corner" is hosting a new event with a ever popular and well loved ingredient "YOGURT" this month. We,as Indians, LOVE yogurt and use it almost everyday in India or wherever we are in the World and however we can use in the dishes. Here is my Dahi Moong, a simple and delicious side dish. Enjoy Siri!:))

Yogurt:
Yogurt is nutritious which is available year-round and researchers have evidence that milk and yogurt may actually add years to your life as is found in some countries where yogurt and other fermented dairy products are consumed everyday. Yogurt is a fermented dairy product made by adding bacterial cultures to milk, which causes the transformation of the milk's sugar, lactose, into lactic acid. This process gives yogurt its refreshingly tart flavor and unique pudding-like texture, a quality that is reflected in its original Turkish name, Yoghurmak, which means "to thicken." (Info from WHFoods)

Dahi Moong:
Dahi is Yogurt/Mosaru in Kannada and Moong is Green gram. Green gram cooked in mildly spiced Yogurt gravy, that's what "Dahi Moong" means in Hindi, just in case you didn't know already! :)
This dish very tasty, subtly flavored with ginger, green chillies, mildly spiced with garlic, Cumin, coriander pd, garam masala and added with up to a cup of thick Yogurt or Sour Cream for that tang, it's a great side dish with chapatis or cloves and ghee seasoned rice. Enjoy! :)

Step by step photos:
Click on the collage to see the lager photo.

You need these:
1 cup green whole green Moong, soaked overnight, 1/2 cup strained thick Yogurt or Sour Cream, salt, 1/4 tsp Turmeric, 3 tbsp Cilantro, 2 slices of Jalepeno.
Grind to paste: 1" fresh ginger, 2 Jalapeños or green chillies.
Spices: 1 tsp Cumin seeds pd, 1 tsp Coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp Garam Masala.
To season: 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp ghee, 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, 1-2 garlic chopped, 1-2 dry red chillies, pinch of hing/asafoetida.
To make it:
1. Heat oil and ghee in a pan, add mustard seeds, red chillies, garlic, hing. Add ginger-green chilly paste,stir for a minute.
2. Add soaked and drained Moong to the pan, 1 1/2 cup water, sliced Jalapeño pieces, Turmeric, cover and cook for 10 mins or until Moong is almost cooked.
3. Take the pan off of the heat and leave it on the counter for a minute for the dish to cool down. Add all the dry spices, salt, Cilantro and 1/2 cup thick Yogurt or sour cream to the pan and mix well.
4. On a low heat, simmer the Dahi Moong for 5-7mins until thickish. Adjust the salt and spices. Serve with Chapatis or with seasoned rice.

Note: You must take off the pan off the heat before adding the yogurt to the moong dish. If the gravy is too hot, yogurt will split resulting in very thin grainy gravy. Once you add the yogurt and mix it, you should simmer the gravy on low heat. That's it!:)

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Microwaved Lemon pickle is my entry to "Easy cooking with Microwave" which is hosted by Srivalli of "Cooking 4 all seasons" with a theme of "bottled" this month. Thanks for hosting Sri, enjoy!:)



Indian Pickles:
Indian pickles, which are very different from Western pickles, are a variety of usually spicy and sometimes hot and sweet condiments popular in India, often made with different vegetables, green Mangoes, limes, Pearl Onion, green leaves,Garlic, ginger and Lemons etc.
Usually, I buy most of the pickles from the Indian store as they are easier to buy than making them. When Limes, Lemons or even Florida Key Limes are in season, I make these pickles in huge quantities to store in the fridge which lasts a year in the fridge if made correctly.
I found this cooked (or microwaved) Lemon pickle in one of the Premila Lal's Indian cookbooks long time ago.I liked this method so much that it has become a tradition now! Cooked Lemon pickle is like a instant pickle, ready to eat as soon as they are cooled. Since they become soft and absorb the masala quickly, there is no need to wait to eat the pickle. Try it!:)

Lemon pickle with two flavors:
Red colored Lemon pickle, like this Bamboo shoot pickle, is flavored with the traditional Methi seeds, red chillies,Mustard seeds powder, which I already had in the fridge made few months ago and sometimes I use SWAD brand "Achar Masala"(pickle masala) as well which has the same ingredients.
The yellow pickle masala is made from Ranji's Thambale powder. I used just 2 large Yellow Lemons for this yellow pickle just to show you. I recently made a yummy Eggplant dish from Ranji's blog with this masala pd. She mentioned that I could also use this powder to make pickles too, so here it is! Thanks Ranji, it tastes good, looks beautiful as you can see!:)

How to make Microwaved Lemon Pickle:

You need:
2 large Lemons, cut in to small pieces like shown, take seeds out since it's going to be cooked,
3-4 tbsp pickle powder, home made or Thambale pudi or SWAD Achar mix, salt, 1 tsp sugar.
To season: 1/4 cup Canola oil or any oil you like ,4 whole or sliced peeled Garlic, 1tsp mustard seeds, few fresh curry leaves, 2 dry red chillies, 1/4 tsp hing/Asafoetida powder, 1/2 tsp chilli pd.
To make the pickle:
1. Add chopped Lemon pickles, 1/2 cup water, 2 tsp salt to a clean dry glass bowl and Microwave it for 10 mins or until lemons are light yellow and soft.
2. Take it out, add Thambale pudi or SWAD, sugar, mix with a clean wooden spoon and let it cool.
3. Heat oil in a pan until very hot, slide the pan off the heat to cool for a minute. Place the the pan on the low heat this time.
4. Add all Garlic, Mustard seeds, red chillies, curry leaves. When the garlic becomes golden, add hing and chilli pd and take off the heat. Cool the oil.
5. Add the seasoning to the pickle, mix well. Taste the pickle, add more salt,chilii pd and pickle pd if needed. They all should balance perfectly with the tartness of lemon juice.

When the pickle is completely cooled, add it to a clean dry glass bottle and store in the fridge. It will stay in the fridge for a month. Make sure your hands, bowl and wooden spoon you use is very clean and dry when pickling or else it will go moldy on ya!

Another close up!!

Bottled!! :)

Have a wonderful weekend. See you all next week!:)

CLICKing Fresh Yellow Turmeric and One Hot Chavli Amti!

I am Clicking a Yellow Fresh Turmeric for a very special fund raising edition of "Yellow for Briana" today for my entry to Jai and Bee of "Jugalbandi" blog this month. Thank you to all the judges and Bee for organizing and hosting this event!
In Jugalbandi's own words "Yellow signifies hope and enlightenment. Though the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, color Yellow has also come to signify the fight against cancer. Bri of Figs With Bri is one of the 5% of women diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 30. That was two and a half years ago but her cancer returned. In addition to traditional medicine, she would like to try holistic alternatives for which her health insurance has turned down. Could we help her raise that amount?"
Please click on the link above to get all the details of how you can help. This fundraising also includes Raffle prizes and a PayPal "Chip In" convenience for donating the funds directly to Briana. Hope you will give as much as you can to help her. Thank you! :)

Fresh Turmeric Shoots:
I was fortunate to find some fresh Turmeric (Amba Haldi in Hindi) in Nashville at a Indian store when we were vacationing there last June and it was my first time tasting these too. Fresh turmeric is pleasantly mild and does not have a sharp bite of fresh ginger. It has a very bright deep Yellow-Orange color and a brownish skin. When used in dishes and pickles, it imparts a bright and beautiful yellow color!


Dried and powdered Turmeric is used routinely in most Indian dishes and used in traditional Indian Festivals, in Indian Ayurvedic Medicine and Indian weddings.

Camera: Canon SD300

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Chavli Amti/Black eyed peas curry from Nupur's blog is my contribution to "Tried and Tasted" , a event which is started by Zlamushka from "Zlamushka's spicy kitchen" blog. This month we are scouting Nupur of "One Hot Stove" blog looking for and cooking one of her recipes to appreciate her blog. Thanks for hosting Z, it's a fun event. Thanks to you too Nupur, loved the traditional dish and taste of Chavli Amti! :)

Chavli Amti:
I was planning to make this dish and link at FH next week anyway and then saw Z's choice of blog to cook from and was too happy to oblige! I haven't changed any of the masala ingredients in this dish except added half an Eggplant, a small cubed Potato with 1 can of Black eyed peas. Please click on the link above to go to the original site for the recipe. Enjoy!


Have a great week, see Y'all good people later!:)

DABELI, Dabeli Masala and a Comix!

Dabeli and Dabeli Masala are my entries to MBP, which is guest hosted by Supriya of "Monsoon spice" this month with a theme of "Street Food".
Coffee of "The Spice Cafe" blog is the founder and creator of "Monthly blog patroling". Idea of this event is to patrol the blogs for dishes which suits the monthly theme and cook from other blogs to appreciate their recipes. Thanks Supriya and Coffee, enjoy the Dabelis!:)


Chaat or Street food:
As much as we enjoy and appreciate our traditional Indian homecooked food, Indians are also great lovers of Street carts filled with great crunchy munchies which spring up every corner of the cities as soon as Sun goes down or even before or permanently settled in little shacks by the roadside all day and any day.
My favorite "food group" is always been Chaat or "lip smacking tangy, spicy street cart food" as it exactly means. So far, I have recreated most of the Street cart foods at home although I have blogged very few. This time I wanted to make a chaat I haven't tasted before and choose one from a blog I haven't cooked from so far!
Dabeli is one chaat I have not tasted either on the street or at home since I always thought it probably taste like Pav Bhaji which I make at home often, so why bother making the same, until the magic of MBP stepped in and left me no choice but to try. Boy, did I get lucky or what! :D
I know many of you have blogged Dabeli, I chose to make Rricha Nimisha's Dabeli version and made Dabeli Masala from Trupti's blog. It tasted like Heaven, will be making more soon using proper Pavs or rolls as it should be made but this middle Eastern bread I used was great for making Dabeli too! :)

Dabeli Masala:
Click on the links to see both the original recipes and their photos. Enjoy!

I chose to make Dabeli Masala from Trupti of "Recipecenterforall" blog since Rricha's recipe for Dabeli didn't use any. I didn't want to make too much of Dabeli masala at first because I thought it might taste just like Pav Bhaji masala which I already have but NO!
This masala is totally different from Pav Bhaji masala and was fragrant, easy and very tasty and very different added to Dabeli Potato masala!
Thank you for posting this wonderful recipe Trupti. I will be making more of this next time! :)

Dabeli:
I chose Dabeli (spicy crunchy masala stuffed and pressed together inside the bread rolls or Pavs) recipe from Rricha Nimish's blog. You can see her Dabelis with Pav here.
I didn't have the regular dinner roll or Pav to make this but I did bake some Middle eastern/Lebanese bread called "Khoubiz" last weekend, similar to Italian Focaccia, used it to make Dabeli toasted thick wedges sliced across. Dabeli tasted divine with this bread too!:)


To make Dabeli, you need to get all these together too:
I used to readymade bottled Mint and cilantro chutney and tangy Tamarind sauce or Delhi Chaat sauce, salted and peppered Beer peanuts, Sev or Bhujia, chopped sweet onions or red onion, Potato masala mashed with Dabeli masala, chopped green onions and Cilantro with a slice of Lemon. Some Pomegranate seeds too as the original recipe says. Traditionally, Dabelis are stuffed in Pavs or square bread rolls.

Ready for you! Help yourself!!:)

Enjoy!!

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Here is a fun event if you are looking for some laughs!!
Lakshmi G of "Taste Of Mysore" has come up with theme of "creating a comic strip" which involves Brinjal/Eggplants this month. Idea is to create a comic using a Comix or any other similar website and post it in your blogs. She will do the round up which will be hilarious to read! Thanks LG, have fun and can't wait to see the round up!:))

Well..Brinjal? What a great theme I thought, my favorite veggie! I didn't know where to go for making comic strip but LG immediately linked the site and also e mailed me all the info for making one, which set me rolling.
Although my kids don't mind eating Eggplant dishes once in a while since I don't get to buy Indian Brinjals in other seasons unless of course I drive 20+ miles to a Indian store to get them. I LOVE Brinjals though, could eat Eggplant dishes almost everyday!:)
Every Summer, I make sure to plant a few without a fail and by August, we will be harvesting loads of Eggplants and cook almost 3 days a week since Eggplants don't freeze well. That's when my kids' gets very antsy and want to get rid of all the Brinjal plants as soon as possible. When we clean up our veggie patch in the Fall, they really do a happy dance!! Hahaha!!

Saga of Eggplant:
These comic strips are not transferable from the website to blogs or anywhere except to any e mail addresses. I had to take a photo of my laptop screen to post here! :P
You can see the "comix"strip I created more clearly here.

Here is how it goes at dinner time around 6.30pm during the Eggplant bounty season! :D

Mom (that's me, yelling from the kitchen): Hey kids, dinner's is ready!! Come downstairs, NOW!!!

T girl: OH MAN!!! Sigh...!!!

T Boy: (iPod in his ears, can't hear a thing but follows his sister downstairs like a lamb or a kid (baby Goat!:D))

T Girl: What's for dinner mom? Hope it's Spaghetti and meatballs!!

T Boy: (Got his fingers crossed, iPod is out of his ears, curious to know!)

Mom cautiously says: Eggplant Ennegayi, Rice rotti and raita!! Homegrown Eggplants too!

T and T: (together, alarmed and frustrated) KILL THE EGGPLANTS!! KILL! KILL!! KILL!!! (cursing Under their breath...&#@&#@)

MOM: (secretly delighted and laughing to herself but not showing it outside) HeeHeeHee! Hahahaha!

Latest news:
This year's Eggplants are growing very well in my veggie patch right now to my joy and to kids' frustration!!Son wanted to burn the little plants already!!! ;D

Have a great weekend, see you all next week!:)

(Psst! A very special surprise is planned for Trisha at her high school today at 10am in the auditorium and it's a well kept secret betn parents, Principal and staff! I will be there today and will tell you all about it next week! I will catch up with all of you in the afternoon when I come back home!)
I am back and catching up now!!:))

Gobi AlooTamatar Masala, Mufuletta Sandwich with Olive salad!

I will be linking my Gobi Aloo Tamatar Masala to "fortune Cooking" event going at Nithu and Shriya's "Spicy Tasty" blog. We are supposed to choose one Zodiac sign and cook with veggies it's compatible with. I chose "Cancer sign with Cauliflower" for this, enjoy hosting girls!:)

Sangeeth from "Art of cooking Indian food" blog has launched a new event called "Eat Healthy..Fiber Rich", and asks us to cook something fiber rich this month. Here is my Gobi AlooTamatar masala full of fiber and Zodiac friendly too, enjoy hosting Sangeeth!:)

Celebrating the Zodiac sign (Cancer) of our Bichon Frisé , A.J.!! :D
Bichon Frisé , in French literally means a "curly lap dog". Our pet AJ (short for Arvind Junior!:D) is a mix of Bichon Frise and a Poodle but he does have 98% Bichon characteristics in him than a Poodle! His birthday is in June and he will be 10years old this month, 70yrs old in dog years!:D Small dogs of his size live about 12 0r 13yrs. So I thought why not give him some attention in my blog too. He loves to snuggle on that Bean bag every night! Happy birthday old man! :D
NO! He won't eat this Gobi masala, gets his own Salmon and brown rice canned doggie food, which is his favorite dish! His food sounds better than our's, don't you think? Hahaha!!
More info about this breed of dogs are here and here.

Fiber rich Cauliflower:
This is what Whole foods website says about Cauliflower,
"Filling, high in fiber, and low in calories, Cauliflower is a great food for reducing your waistline, says Dr. Barry Sears in his book The Top 100 Zone Foods. Weighing in at only 25 calories, a cup of florets contains 100% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for vitamin C, one-third of the RDA for folate, and a nice serving of potassium and vitamin B6. These nutrients all work to protect your heart. Cauliflower also contains bioflavonoids, indoles, and other chemicals that protect against cancer. To retain the flavor of cauliflower and minimize nutrient loss, cook it rapidly by boiling or steaming. Overcooking cauliflower diminishes the nutrients significantly."
Food writer Mark Bittman quoted a Cornell University study, stating that 100 grams of cauliflower had 55 mg of vitamin C after boiling, 70 after steaming, and 82 after being cooked in the microwave oven.
For more info about the benefits of fiber, check out here.

Fiber contents of Aloo-Gobi-Tamatar: 1 medium baked potato with skin has 3.8 gms of fiber and 1 cup of Cauliflower has 3.35 gms of fiber, 1 small onion has 1gm of fiber and 1 Tomato has 1.4gms of fiber!

Gobi Aloo Tamatar masala:
The title literally means Cauliflower, Potato, Tomato in spices, you can make this with or without sauce. You can add any veggies like green peas and cooked beans to this recipe. Just make sure that you don't cook the veggies to death which leaves the dish without any nutrition! :)

To make it, you need:
1 small head of Cauliflower, 1 large red Potato peeled or leave the skin for more fiber and cubed, 1 large Tomato chopped 1/4 cup Tomato sauce, 1/4 tsp turmeric, cilantro.
Season: 1 tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds, 1 small onion finely chopped, 1" ginger grated or ground.
Dry spices: 1 tbsp Coriander seeds powder, 1/2 tsp or more Chilli pd, 1/2 tsp Garam masala, add 1/4 tsp Cardamom powder and 1/4 tsp Fennel seeds pd at the end for that special fragrant touch!


To make the masala:
1. Cut the flowerettes and bake them on a sheet in a single layer at 450F oven for 20 mins or spray some oil on top and Microwave them for 3-5mins or until you see reddish spots on top.
2. Heat oil in a non-stick pan, add Cumin seeds, chopped onion and fry until reddish. Add ginger, stir and then cubed Potato, a tbsp of water, cover and cook for 2 minutes. If potato is cooked before in the MW, it's even easier!
3. Put in all the dry spices like turmeric, Tomato sauce or Tomato pieces. Cook for 1 minute or until oil shows.
4. Now add all the almost cooked Cauliflower, salt, add about 2tbsp or more water, stir fry until almost dry, unless you want some sauce. In that case, add more water or veg stock to it.
5. Garnish with cilantro and lime juice.



Serve with whole wheat rotis for even more fiber kick or serve on a bed of cooked Quinoa, you will be in nutrition Heaven! :D

Another look!

Have a great weekend, see you all next week!

Last minute addition about Fiber:
I found a great article about the benefits of Fiber at this diet website. Take a look, it's a lot of info! Good to know all these too! :)

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Anupama of "Food and More" is hosting a Sandwich Festival 2008! this month. Last time I somehow missed the deadline for her event and this time I almost did it again until I saw sandwiches flying in every blog this week. I am sending my delicious Muffuletta to her, thanks for hosting Anupama! :)


What's a Sandwich and why we we call it so?
A sandwich, essentially is a "grab and go" food made of two or more slices of bread with one or more layers of filling such as meat, cheese, vegetables, salads or ever popular peanut butter and jelly!

WIKI says, ""The first recorded sandwich was by the famous rabbi, Hillel the Elder, who lived during the 1^st century B.C. He started the Passover custom of sandwiching a mixture of chopped nuts, apples, spices, and wine between two matzohs to eat with bitter herbs."

"In 1765, John Montague's biographer, N. A. M. Rodger, points out in his book, The Insatiable Earl - A Life of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, that the sole source for giving Montague credit for the invention of the sandwich, was gossip mentioned in a travel book by Grosley, and that at the period in question 1765, he was known to be very busy, and it is just as likely that it was for the purpose of eating at his desk."

"In 1840, the sandwich was introduced to America by Englishwoman Elizabeth Leslie, (1787-1858). In her cookbook, Directions for Cookery, she has a recipe for ham sandwiches that she suggested as a main dish!"

New Orleans style Muffuletta sandwich with Olive salad:


Here are the recipes I have already posted at Foodie's Hope few weeks ago and reposted here for "Sandwich Festival 2008!" Hope you try it! :)

Whole wheat bread and Muffuletta with Olive salad!

Enjoy and have a 3 day long safe, peaceful weekend!:)

Crunchy Asparagus in Chilli-Garlic butter, Palak Dal-Roti from "City of Joy"

I made a simple and delicious Steamed Asparagus flavored with Chilli-Garlic butter for Marta from "An Italian in the US" blog for her "Fresh Produce of the Month" event. She has chosen "Asparagus" as her choice this month. Enjoy Marta, hope you like my simple side dish!:)




Since it's a steamed dish in the Microwave, I am also sending this to Srivalli from "Cooking 4 all seasons" blog's "Microwave Easy cooking" event with a theme of "Steamed" dishes. Thanks to you too Sri!:)

About Asparagus:


Asparagus is a perennial, an almost leafless member of the lily family. Asparagus has been used from very early times as a vegetable and medicine, owing to its delicate flavor and diuretic properties.It was cultivated by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Only the young shoots of asparagus are eaten, often stir-fried or steamed.
Asparagus is low in calories, do not contain fat or cholesterol and is very low in sodium. It is a good source of folic acid, potassium, dietary fiber. Info from WIKIPEDIA and you can read more about Asparagus is here.



Steamed crunchy Asparagus in Chilli-Garlic butter:
I usually stir-fry these Asparagus and sprinkle the spices and little Mayo or any sauce over it to serve as a side dish with Chicken patties like this post I have posted before. This time I have steamed and semi-fried in the Microwave and topped with Chilli-Garlic butter for a super quick side dish. Enjoy! :)



To make it, you need:
Chill-Garlic butter first: 1 tbsp (ie 3 tsps) softened butter, pinch of salt, 1/4 tsp Garlic pd or 1 plump garlic,chopped finely, 1/4 tsp chilli pd.Mix everything and chill in the fridge until ready to use.
Prepare the Asparagus: About 20-25 young Asparagus, 1/4 cup water or chicken stock, 1 tsp (1/3 rd of of above chilli butter mix) butter in chunks, 1/4tsp of salt if you are using just water (stock has salt already,do not add more!), 1/8 tsp coarsely ground pepper corns.
Crunchy mix: 1/4 cup Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) plain or seasoned, 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese, 1/4 tsp garlic pd, 1/4 tsp dry Italian mixed herbs. Mix everything and keep aside.

How to make:
1. Hold each Asparagus at both ends and snap. It will break at the tender spot itself. Arrange them all in a Microwave proof dish.
2. Add water or stock, salt, 1/3rd of chilli-garlic butter and pepper, cover partially and cook on high for 3 mins. Uncover, flip the Asparagus gently and microwave again for 3 more minutes without cover.
4. Take the dish out, sprinkle bread crumbs mixture on top, add 1tsp more of chilli butter and microwave for 1-2 mins.
5. Take it out and add rest of (last 1 tsp) chilli butter on top and cover with a plate to melt it. Serve on the side with any meat dishes or veg dishes.


That's it!! Crunchy Asparagus flavored with Parmesan, Panko, Italian herbs and chilli-garlic butter is now ready to devour!:D

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Bhags from "Crazy Curry" has launched a new and interesting event for us to cook a dish from a novel you have read or movie you watched and named it "This book/(movie) makes me cook!". Sounds great. huh? Well....I had to get in there at the last minute because Bha as I call her is a great book lover like me. I chose to make a very humble "Dal-Roti" as the poorest people of Anand Nagar or "City of Joy" cook and enjoy in their everyday life! Yes, Dal-roti may not be not as glamorous as some dishes in other novels but it keeps their tummy full and fills the heart of all the poor but good hearted citizens of "the City of Joy" no matter what their daily struggles are. Hope the book enlightens you, makes you think how lucky you are compared to many slum dwellers' reality and these humble, comforting and delicious everyday dishes gladdens your heart too! :)

Sri reminded me of her "Roti Mela" event which going on in full swing right now. I am sending my Palak dal and roti to Srivalli from "Cooking 4 all seasons" blog for "Roti mela" as well. Enjoy Sri!:)

The City of Joy(Anand Nagar):
This book "The City of Joy" is written by Dominique Lapierre, who lived in Calcutta for sometimes to study, document and write this book, which is half fiction as well, based on his experiences there. Story has been made into a film with the same name with Patrick Swayze(Max Lowe), Pauline Collins(nun) and Om Puri(Hazari) as main characters.
I had read this book long time ago. Recently, I borrowed the movie from the library and watched it again. Do read if you haven't already or watch the movie. Story in brief goes like this:

Hazari Pal, a farmer from Bihar couldn't pay off his debts and moves his family to Anand Nagar, a slum in Culcutta (Kolkota) in the hope of making enough money to pay his debt and marrying his daughter but looses all his saved up money to a fraud who poses as a landlord as soon as they land in the city.
In desperation, he takes up a job of driving a hand driven Rikshaw, which is managed by a local "Dada", "Bhai" or "God father", underworld mafia style. During his work, he meets a Texan doctor who is visiting India to "find himself" who develops a friendship with him when Hazari rescues the robbed and beaten doctor who lying on the streets bleeding. Together, they meet a nun who introduces them to utter poverty and terrible conditions the slum dwellers live in, whom they try to help to improve with whatever little they have, running a free medical clinic.
When God father dies, his son takes over who determined to destroy the slums and uproot the people who live there, including shutting down the medical clinic run by the nun. As Hazari and the doctor sides with the nun, Hazari looses his only means of livelihood ie the Rickshaw and still doesn't give up hope as long as his family is with him to support and love!
The author writes in his book that inspite of all the trials and travails of the poorest of the poor in Anand Nagar, Calcutta, how they still manage to smile, enjoy simple pleasures of being with their loving family, help the neighbors with kindness in their time of need and enjoying the humble daily meal of warm Dal-Roti on the plate at the end of day spent doing hard physical labor as well as celebration of festivals with fragrant and delicious food served at these celebrations like dal, roti, Tandoori chicken and mint-coconut chutney with such joy which surpasses all the suppression, abuse of everyday and replaces it with faith, hope, love and dignity for life! :)

A humble plate of Hazari family's Palak Dal and Roti:
Palak dal literally means Spinach cooked with spicy lentil gravy and rotis are chapatis made of flour and baked on a griddle, a Indian flatbread similar to Tortilla, a nutritious and filling combo as common in North India as "meat and Potato" in US. Here is a step by step tutorial how to make rotis or Phulkas, the soft and puffed rotis. Enjoy the dal-roti!:)

Rotis/Chapatis:
You need: 1 1/2 cup plain flour, 1/2 cup Wheat flour, or 2 cups of wheat flour/atta, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp oil and about 1 cup or more warm water, just enough to make a soft and pliable dough. Do not add too much water at once when mixing, which makes the dough sticky.
To make Rotis/Chapatis:
1. Mix and knead all the above ingredients with enough water well to make a soft and pliable dough. Cover and rest for 15mins and divide the dough into 6 balls, roll each out to 6" circle.
2. Heat a iron or any griddle, bake each roti both sides and brush with little butter when done and keep warm until they are served.
Palak Dal:
You need: 1 cup Tuar dal, or Chana dal or Moong dal or Masoor dal (I used chana dal), 2 bunches of fresh spinach, chopped or 1 pack of frozen Spinach,thawed, about 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp oil.
To season: 2 tbsp oil or butter, 1/2 mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds, 1 onion, chopped, 2 garlic-1" ginger grated or ground to paste, 1 red chilly, 1/2 tsp chilli pd, 1 tsp Coriander seeds powder, 1/2 tsp Garam Masala, salt.
1 tsp lemon juice and cilantro for garnish.
To make dal:
1. Cook dal and Spinach with water and turmeric until soft. Mix well, add more water if it's too thick. I personally like my dal thickish to help scoop it up with soft rotis. Add enough salt.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, 1 dry red chilli and onion. When slightly reddish, add ginger and garlic paste, fry for 1 min and all the dry spice pds, stir for a minute.
3. Add cooked dal and spinach to the pan and simmer for 5 mins. Adjust the salt and spices.
Garnish with lemon juice and cilantro and serve with rotis and onion slices or mint chutney.

Have a joyful week. No matter how your day begins and ends, always count your blessings and keep smiling! :)