Vegetarian Zest

Smoked Vegetable Biryani

2011-10-20T17:00:00.000+02:00

I have to admit that when I’m cooking something new, I aim to post the recipe here. But luck doesn’t always favor. Either the picture is not satisfactory or we are too impatient to wait for the photo session to get over or the dish itself disappoints me. I have to admire the food bloggers, who are so regular in posting new recipes with beautiful looking pictures.

Anyway, I’m glad to post a new recipe here after getting convinced that this biryani is the best that I have ever made. The biryani features many of the same ingredients that I have used all these years but the end result is entirely different. I thought it would be fun to show that with the simple addition of charcoal, you can take the recipe to an entirely new direction.

This recipe is my aunt’s, who learnt it ages ago while doing her home science course. She then passed the recipe to all her sisters and that’s how I got to learn how to cook vegetable biryani.

The only change/ addition that I made was the use of charcoal smoke and that’s the secret of the restaurant style biryani. The smoke makes a huge difference and gives this intriguing flavor to any dish. You can even smoke your Indian curries to take them to the next level!

You'll need to plan ahead to make this biryani. It’s always easy when you have all the ingredients in a row and ready to be tossed. Cut the vegetables diagonally, keep the biryani paste ready, soak your basmati rice for at least ½ hr and heat the charcoal piece. But I promise it's well worth the effort.

Core Ingredients (Serves 4)

2 cups basmati rice (soaked in water for ½ hr)

2 cups thinly sliced onions

2 cups mixed vegetables

1 cup paneer (cottage cheese) cubes

7-8 cashew nuts

½ cup whole milk yoghurt

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1 tbsp ghee

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Salt to taste

Whole Spices

2 Cardamom pods

1 inch Cinnamon stick

3 Cloves

1 Bay leaf

Grind to a wet paste

5 Garlic cloves

1 cup Mint leaves (Chopped)

1 cup coriander leaves (Chopped)

1/2 inch Ginger piece

4 Green chilies

1 tsp Poppy seeds (soaked in warm water for ½ hr)

½ cup onion

Cook the presoaked rice with 1 tsp of oil till just done. Each grain of the cooked rice should be separate. Allow it cool.

Make a wet coarse paste of all the ingredients mentioned above using very little water.

On a high heat, pour the ghee in a heavy bottom pot and fry the cashew nuts, remove and set aside. Add the whole spices to the pot and cook for ½ minute.

Add the wet paste to the pot once you smell the fragrance of the whole spices.

Cook the paste till the water is evaporated and the raw smell goes away. At this point, you will see the ghee appearing on the sides.

Add the sliced onions to the pot, fry until they are done.

Turn the heat to low. Add red chili powder and turmeric powder. Mix well.

Add the yogurt, the vegetables, salt and cook for few minutes till the veggies are half done.

Add paneer cubes. Give a good stir and cover the pot with a lid.

Once the veggies are done, add the rice and give a good stir. Cook further on low heat for 10 minutes keeping the lid on.

Once the biryani is all done, heat charcoal till it’s red. Put it in a small bowl, and place it over the biryani.

Pour a little ghee over the hot coal. The coal will now give out smoke that will flavor the biryani.

Cover the pot to shut the smoke in. Let it sit for a few minutes so that the smoke infuses the rice.

Garnish the biryani with fried onions and cashews. Serve it with raita.

Note: When choosing charcoal, make sure you buy all natural charcoal. Don’t use the one that has petroleum added to it.

Creamy Spinach Dal

2011-10-05T11:58:00.002+02:00

The spinach dal I've cooked most this year - simple, but not boring.

There is so much going on with it despite a humble list of ingredients. It’s a one pot recipe and is cooked within few minutes. Chopped spinach, lentils, and ginger- garlic cooked together. Onions, ginger and garlic fragrants the pot. The tang of the tomatoes and tamarind plays off the earthiness of the lentils. A dash of seasoning (tadka) on top… Delicious!

Being a vegetarian I always keep in my mind that we need to consume enough of proteins and complex carbs and having spinach dal serves the purpose. It not only gives good stuff to our body but also I have this wonderful husband that cannot get enough of spinach.

The addition of seasoning (tadka) in the end is really important here. Don't skimp. And if you like more heat, add more red dried chiili.

Be sure to pick through your lentils carefully. I somehow always find dirt hiding in their midst. Soak them in still water for at least half an hour before your start the cooking. This takes less time in cooking.

For those who don’t have Indian pressure cooker, can always use a thick bottom pan and cook on medium low heat, keeping the lid on top. I usually use different lentils each time I make this dal. You can substitute moong with red lentils or toovar dal.

Ingredients ( Serves 4)

1 bunch of Spinach, washed and cut
1 cup of moong dal
1 medium sized tomato and onion, roughly chopped
5-6 Indian variety green chillies

1 tsp garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
½ tsp of turmeric (pasupu)
½ tsp tamarind pulp (Chinta pandu)

2 cups ofwater
Salt

Pressure cook all of the above ingredients for about 5 -6 whistles. Open the cooker after the pressure is released. With a wooden spoon, mix all the ingredients well to form a paste.

For seasoning (tadka)

1 tsp ghee or vegetable oil
1 tsp Asafoetida

1 tsp of each - mustard seeds, cumin, minced garlic, ginger and few pieces of dried red chilli.

Heat a saucepan over medium heat; add one tsp of ghee or oil.

Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add cumin seeds, Asafoetida, red chilli pieces, ginger and garlic.

Pour the tadka over the spinach dal and combine them together.

You can serve the dal bowl with rotis or rice.

Matar Paneer – Indian curried peas and cottage cheese

2011-09-28T14:45:00.000+02:00

I truly believe in the power of involuntary memory. Sometimes, just the scent, sound or taste of something can have the power to literally transport you to some old memories.

Yesterday, while cooking Mater Paneer after ages, I suddenly found myself transported back to my mom’s kitchen in Delhi. She has always been my inspiration in the kitchen, and her cooking is legendary in our household. This was the very first dish that I remember cooking with her for my dad’s birthday.

Mattar paneer is a delectable combination of soft green peas and cottage cheese cooked in a creamy curry paste… caramelized onions and tomatoes cooked with garam masalas and then counter-balancing those flavors with cilantro and a dash of cream.

The cornerstone of this recipe is the curry paste. You can prep the curry paste for this ahead of time to make it a more week-night friendly. I make the curry paste first, then typically add things to it. You can serve it over rice, or with a side of naan or flatbread.

Ingredients: Serves 4

1 cup of cubed paneer
2 cups of frozen sweet green peas

1 inch ginger, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup tomato puree

½ tsp coriander powder

½ tsp cumin powder

½ tsp red chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp half n half
1 tbsp ghee
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander for garnish

On a non stick pan, shallow fry paneer cubes. There is no need to add oil for this as paneer has some fat content.

Heat ghee in a thick bottom pan. Add ginger and garlic. Cook for about few seconds and then add onions.

Turn heat to medium low and cook the onion, ginger, garlic until all the water has evaporated and the onions turn light brown.

Turn the heat off and grind the ingredients into a fine paste.

Pour the paste to the same pan and cook it over medium low heat. Add coriander powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin mix it all together and then add salt.

Adding salt at this time will help loosen the paste a little and ghee will start separating. That's when you know that the paste is cooked.

Now add tomato puree and let it cook for about 3-4 minutes. When all the excess water evaporates from the tomato, add garam masala.

Add the peas and half n half, mix well and cover with the lid. At this point add little water to set the consistency of your curry.

Once the peas are close to being done, add the paneer. Cover the lid again and cook for about 3-4 minutes.

Turn off the heat and let it sit for 5 – 6 minutes before you serve. Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.

Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

2011-09-19T12:37:00.000+02:00

My current favorite breakfast? Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

Strawberries are one of the best things to come out of spring. They’re amazingly fresh, incredibly juicy, and super inexpensive. We took advantage of the sales and bought few boxes.

I'm a huge fan of this smoothie because to me, it’s sweet, creamy, healthy & a simple drink to make.

You need just four ingredients: strawberries, yogurt, sugar/ sugar substitute and some ice cubes.

There’s almost no recipe… almost. Wash and cut fruit, stir in some sugar or sugar substitute. Add some fat free yogurt and ice cubes to a blender and blend it all.

And if you want to turn it up just a wee bit, use a scoop of vanilla ice cream and subtly transform the smoothie into an extraordinary drink.

Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

SERVING 4

PREP 10 minutes

COOK 5 minutes

½ cup fresh strawberries

½ cup fat free yogurt

1 ½ tsp sugar ( 1 tsp sugar substitute)

Wash strawberries under running water and trim their stems. Chop them into small pieces.

Throw the chopped strawberry pieces in a blender. Pulse the strawberries for few seconds or until pureed.

Add sugar/ sugar substitute, yogurt and ice cubes. Process everything until smooth.

Pour the smoothie in a glass and serve it with some chopped fresh strawberries.

Back To Basics: Kosambari

2011-09-13T13:38:00.000+02:00

Some of the recipes from my day-to-day cooking aren’t that great for the blog. Even though I’ve been cooking them throughout many years, they are classically super simple and hardly need written instructions. So I thought. Today’s salad recipe is one of them.

When a dear friend at a recent dinner party asked for the recipe, I finally decided to post it here. The salad is also very popular in Karnataka, South India especially during festivals and marriages.

It’s a staple summer salad at my household and we eat this for dinners. It suits our vegetarian diet that has changed greatly since last few years. We try to eat as much as healthy and limit ourselves from processed foods.

It’s prepared in absolutely no time, best way to get some raw veggies into your system with every crunchy bite. A very refreshing must-try summer salad with fewer ingredients.

Kosambari – Cucumber & Carrot Salad

SERVING 2 cups

CARB PER SERVING 20 g

PREP 10 minutes

COOK 7 minutes

¼ cup split moong dal

½ cup carrots, grated

½ cup cucumber, grated

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 green chilies, finely chopped

½ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp oil

¼ tsp asafetida (optional)

Chopped coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Soak split moong dal in water for around 1hr. Drain the water and keep the dal separately.

In a mixing bowl, add cucumber and carrot keeping the juices intact.

Add the dal, lemon juice, chopped coriander and salt.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When the seeds start to pop, add asafetida & green chilies.

Add this to the mixing bowl and toss everything well. Serve at room temperature or refrigerate to eat it cold.

Vegetarian Lentil Soup

2011-09-05T19:45:00.001+02:00

Spring seems to finally have shown up around here, although the icy cool mornings might lead you to believe otherwise. By evening though, with the long spring sun still hanging to the sky, fresh leaves on the trees, and sweet scent of flowers... there is no doubt.

Few weeks back, I had promised a very dear friend of lentil soup post, but then I'd forgotten and few other reasons kept me away from posting this recipe…if you follow me on Twitter, you would have known by now. But when I remembered, I kept this post high on my list of things.

This vegetarian lentil soup is packed with flavor, protein & nutrients. I pretty much just throw all the ingredients in a pressure cooker, allow it to cook for awhile and then puree it all together. It’s ready in less than half an hour, which is perfect for those, who come home hungry. It’s also unbelievably hearty; you’ll never have room for your next course.

I always make a big pot of this easy soup because both I and husband never get sick of it. We could eat it for lunch and dinner.

One fact worth noting: unlike other beans, lentils do not contain sulfur, the gas-producing element in legumes. And in addition to being an excellent source of soluble fiber and a good source of protein, manganese, iron, phosphorous, copper, vitamin B1 and potassium, lentils are an excellent source of molybdenum, a mineral important in the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and iron.

SERVING 5 cups

CARB PER SERVING 42 g

PREP 15 minutes

COOK 25 minutes

1 ½ cup brown lentils, washed (Skinned Masoor Dal)

½ cup onions, finely chopped

½ cup carrots, finely diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 green chilies, deseeded and finely chopped

2 tsp tomato puree

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp olive oil

3 cups water

Salt to taste

½ tsp sour yogurt and coriander for garnishing (optional)

Heat olive oil in a pressure cooker over medium heat. Add bay leaf and onions. Stir until the onion is tender and browned for about 5 minutes.

Add garlic, carrots and salt. Stir for few minutes, just until the garlic is fragrant, and carrots look cooked. Add the tomato puree and give a quick stir.

Add lentils, water, pepper powder and green chilies. Cook on a high flame till you hear the whistle blow four times.

Turn the flame off and release the pressure from the cooker. Let the lentils cool, using a hand blender or food processor, coarsely blend all the ingredients.

Serve it warm with coriander and a dash of sour yogurt.

Vegetable Couscous

2011-08-08T14:15:00.003+02:00

I got to admit that I don’t appreciate solitary dinner experiences. There are days when I go through it and I hate every bit of it. I’m kind of a person, who enjoys dinner table conversations. But life is all about adjustments so when husband goes away for a conclave, I end up eating alone. Eating alone also means less cooking.

Calling a friend over sounds good but it’s difficult on a weeknight. A damn near impossibility!

Having said all this, I still try not to eat peanut butter sandwich and instead cook something healthy, delicious yet simple as possible. Something that would not result in huge pile of dishes afterwards yet something that is wholesome and yummy.

What do you cook when you’re cooking for one?

Couscous comes handy during such nights. I first tasted couscous after coming to South Africa and was totally in love with this grainy looking pasta. It tastes like broken wheat but it feels light and cooks easily. You boil water, add some oil, stir in the couscous and let it sit until absorbed. It's also great for winter because it's filling & comforting.

Ingredients

Olive oil 4 teaspoons

Onion 1 medium (chopped)

Cabbage ¼ cup (finely chopped)

Green capsicum ¼ cup (finely chopped)

Broccoli florets ¼ cup

French beans ¼ cup (finely chopped)

Frozen peas ¼ cup

Couscous 1 ½ cups

Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon

Salt and pepper

Roasted almonds (optional)

Directions

Boil 2 cups of water in a heavy bottom pan. Turn off heat, add 2 teaspoons of oil and 1 ½ cups of couscous to the pan.

Close the pan with a tight-fitting lid. Let it sit for five minutes. Remove the lid from the pot and fluff couscous with a fork.

Heat a sauce pot over medium heat. Add oil, Cumin seeds, onion, cabbage, capsicum, broccoli, beans, and season with salt and pepper.

Saute the veggies by stirring frequently, 7 or 8 minutes. Add water if required. Cook till veggies are tender but not over cooked.

Add couscous to the veggies. Give a good toss till all the ingredients combine well. Transfer to a serving platter. Garnish it with almonds and serve warm.

Mooli Paratha - White Radish Stuffed Indian Flat Bread

2011-08-04T13:52:00.004+02:00

I wanted to write this post for a while but was in two minds. I have already posted few paratha recipes that most of us know how to make, so there was no point in blogging about. But at the same time the love of parathas kept me thinking.

Earlier this week, we were at our friends over a birthday party and had a casual convo about street foods of Delhi. Somebody just mentioned 'parathe walli galli'(‘gali' means street that sells ‘parathas' - stuffed rotis.) situated in Chandni Chowk, has been there almost for three passed centuries.

I had to post some pictures of this street, so these pictures are borrowed from a friend of mine, who is a passionate photographer.

'Parathe Wali Galli'

In continuing with the spirit of parathas, we had mooli paratha this morning for breakfast. ‘Mooli’ is a hindi word for white radish. The infusion of cumin, aniseed with white radish is incredible.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

For the filling

White Radish (1 medium size, grated) 1 cup

Green Chilies (4-5, finely chopped)

Coriander leaves (chopped)

Ginger (½ inch, grated)

Cumin seeds ½ teaspoon

Aniseeds ½ teaspoon

Salt

Oil

For the dough

Wheat flour 1 ½ cups

Salt ½ teaspoon

Water

Method

For making the dough

1. Combine the wheat flour and salt in a large bowl.

2. Carefully sprinkle little water at a time till the dough binds together.

3. Knead the dough thoroughly until it forms a soft ball.

4. Make sure the dough is not loose or wet.

6. If required, drizzle a few drops of oil over the dough ball.

8. Let it rest for 10 minutes. In the meanwhile, make the Mooli filling.

For making the Mooli filling

1. Heat oil in a wok and add Cumin and aniseed. Let it splutter, add green chillies and ginger.

2. Sauté for few seconds and add grated radish along with its juices.

3. Cook till all the juices are absorbed, radish turns brown and oil starts to appear on corners of the wok.

4. Add salt; be careful while adding salt as radish has natural salts present. So always wait till the juices are absorbed and you are sure about the quantity.

5. Add coriander and give a good stir. Allow this filling to cool or reach room temperature.

For making the paratha

1. Keep a small bowl of wheat flour on the counter for you to flour the dough.

2. Take a small piece of dough and form it into a flat ball.

3. Dip the dough in wheat flour.

4. Place it on a clean, flat surface for rolling.

5. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a round. Don’t worry if you are not able to achieve a perfect round. The paratha will still taste good.

6. Sprinkle a little flour on the surface of the dough.

7. Place 1 tablespoon of the mooli filling in the center.

8. Gather the edges of the parantha and bring them close and pleat them over the filling, to form a pouch.

9. Seal the top of the paratha.

10. Dip it in flour, flatten it a little, and gently roll it using a rolling pin. Don’t panic if you see filling oozing out. Just dust the parantha with some more flour.

11. Roll gently till the paratha is about 1/4 inch thick.

12. Heat a flat pan on medium heat. Drizzle some oil on the pan.

13. Place the parantha on the skillet. Cook on medium heat for a minute.

14. Drizzle some oil on the top and flip the parantha and check for spots appearing on top.

15. Now cook the other side for a minute the other side.

16. Cook paratha on both sides till the dough is cooked and lightly browned.

17. Serve mooli paratha with yogurt or white butter and Indian pickle.

Pretzel Soft Bread

2011-07-26T12:18:00.000+02:00

Ok folks, gather round. This thrills me beyond words, a colleague of hubby gifted a book to me ‘Bread Matters: Why and How to Make Your Own by Andrew Whitley’. My words will fail me here when I attempt to tell you how spectacular it was to receive such a wonderful book.

The book is all about the evolution of the bread industry, fundamentals of fermentation, the ingredients that go into an industrial bread, why you should prefer artisan breads and even try making your own at home. The author owned and ran a bakery in Cumbria from 1976-2002, he shares his inclusive work & his experiences during that time. You can read more about Andrew Whitley here http://www.dolectures.com/speakers/andrew-whitley

I love the way he writes ‘It is time to take bread into our own hands.’ The book is perfect for a beginner like me. It provides troubleshooting advice and recipes for all great British baked goods. What I liked the most in this book is unlike other baking books this one is not very technical. So once you’ve learned the basics, you’re unstoppable.

I usually shy away from recipes that involve yeast and dough that has to multiply in size, as I’ve had my fair share of failures. But Andrew Whitley's recipe for soft pretzel bread was so convincing that I had to try. I have made few minor changes but making bread is actually not impossible.

Soft Pretzels

Yield: 6 soft pretzels Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 10 min

Ingredients

All purpose flour 3 cups

Sugar ½ teaspoon sugar

Baking soda 2 ½ teaspoons

Salt

Egg yolk 1 large, beaten

Active dry yeast 2 teaspoons

Unsalted butter, melted 2 tablespoons

Vegetable oil 2 teaspoons

Luke warm water

Sesame seeds

Combine ¼ cup of water, sugar and salt in a wide mouth bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam.

Mix baking soda and flour well. Then add the flour mixture and butter to the bowl and knead well. Add some more water if required.

Oil the dough with vegetable oil.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Butter the baking sheet. Set aside.

In the meantime, turn the dough onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 6 equal pieces.

Roll out each piece of dough into a rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press. You can even take the ends onto the bottom of the "U" in order to form a pretzel.

Return them to the cookie sheet, brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake until golden brown in color, approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Eat it with jams or butter.

Egg Puffs

2011-07-20T11:30:00.001+02:00

Last week, when it was 6 degrees in Johannesburg city and all the sane people were warming up near fire, I looked around my kitchen, with its empty counter and cold oven; clearly, this was the day for me to make some egg puffs.

The idea of baking egg puffs was on my mind for past four years. Yes, it’s long time. It never occurred that these were ridiculously easy to make with store bought puff pastry sheets. I remember being infatuated with these in Bangalore, India and ate almost four of these. I know what you are thinking…four? I’m no good, bad influence and possibly everything that your nutritionists, cardiologists warn you about.

But like a true foodie with a pulse, I enjoy trying new things and when I like it…I go extra.

Who wouldn’t love baked buttery puff pastry stuffed with caramelized onions and boiled eggs?

Onion & Peas filling

Filling & half egg placed in the center of the squared sheet.

Ready to be baked!

Ingredients

(For four egg puffs)

Puff pastry sheets - 1 sheet (thawed)

Hard boiled eggs - 2 (cut into half)

Onion - 1 (medium size, chopped lengthwise)

Peas ½ cup

Ginger garlic paste – ½ teaspoon

Garam masala – 1 teaspoon

Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Oil 2 teaspoons

Make the filling

Heat oil in the pan and add ginger-garlic paste. Cook it for a minute and add the onions and salt and cook till onions are browned.

Remove the pan from the heat and add chilli powder and garam masala powder.

Now add peas and give a gentle stir.

Take the pan off the heat and allow the filling to cool completely.

For organizing

Cut square shapes out of the pastry sheet (approximately 3 inches each side.)

Dollop a spoonful of the onion and peas filling on top of the sheet.

Place the half egg in the center of the squared sheet.

Now fold the corners of the sheet to cover the filling.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the puffs & bake it for 10 – 12 minutes or till the top layer becomes golden brown in color.

Serve hot along with ketchup.

Note: Allow the filling to cool down completely. Thaw the pastry sheets ahead. Don’t be like me…unplanned. Work on the pastry sheets when it’s still cold. So that, handing becomes easy.

Palak Paneer - Global Indian Favorites

2011-07-14T12:55:00.001+02:00

No matter where we go, we are never too bored of our lip-smacking baingan ka bharta, dal makhani or palak paneer. But I wasn’t aware that South Africans love our Indian food just as much. I guess Indian food is so popular because it tastes really good and is so flavorful.

Just the other day, a Dutch decent South African friend of mine asked me to show her how to make palak paneer. Apparently, Jurie loved this dish when our families went out for a meal to ‘Swad’ an elegant Indian restaurant located at Melrose Square.

She wanted to cook some Indian food for her visiting sister, who lives in Australia and a regular Indian food eater herself.

We decided to meet at my place and we cooked the curry and some rotis.

Palak Paneer is an easy north Indian curry for a first timer. A delicious combination of two utterly bland ingredients – spinach and cottage cheese (paneer) cooked in a moderately spiced onion and tomato sauce.

The smooth pureed spinach & cottage cheese cubes just melted in our mouths. The result was mouth-watering!

Unlike the restaurant version, where they had added lot of cream to the curry, I preferred to stick with a non creamy, low calorie, home-made version.

We had a great time and Jurie left with a promise to teach me some Dutch baking recipes.

Ingredients

Cottage cheese (Paneer) 250 gms

Spinach 2 big bunches

Onions 1 (large sized, finely chopped)

Tomatoes 3(medium sized, pureed)

Green chillis 2 (slit length wise)

Ginger (2 inches, grated)

Garlic (3-4 pods, finely chopped)

Red chilli powder 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder 1 teaspoon

Cumin powder 1 teaspoon

Aamchur powder ½ teaspoon

Canola oil 1 tablespoon

Method

Boil spinach leaves in hot water for five minutes and puree it in a food processor. Keep the puree aside.

On a flat non- stick pan, lay the cheese cubes and roast them until the cubes have a golden brown crust on them. There is no need to add oil as the cheese itself has fat in it that helps in roasting.

On a medium heat, heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add ginger, garlic and green chillies. Saute for two minutes.

Add the onions and saute till light brown.

Slow down the heat and add all the dry spices – chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and aamchur powder. (You can even remove the pan from the heat while adding the dry spices as they tend to burn easily.)

Add the tomato puree and salt. Give a quick stir and let it cook for four to five minutes on medium heat.

Once the oil starts appearing on the corners, add the spinach puree and give a good stir. Further cook the curry for five to six minutes.

Add the roasted cheese cubes and combine. Cook covered on low heat for two minutes.

Note: If you feel like adding cream to the curry, you can add it at this stage or even when the curry is at room temperature.

This curry is well enjoyed with roti or steamed rice.

Gajar Halwa...a diabetic friendly dessert !

2011-07-12T10:55:00.002+02:00

Halwa made using sugar...not so friendly.

It’s a continuous challenge for people like me with diabetes to eat healthy diet. The daily diet that we eat at home consists of mainly wheat, veggies and lentils. But there are times when I loose control or possibly just rebel with my food choices. This happens mostly on long weekends or when hubby craves for carb heavy foods and I end up cooking for him…and eating as well.

I was seriously considering not posting this recipe because the Gajar halwa is something that is high on calories and my mom thinks that I eat what I post here and apart from that I don’t cook. I decided to bite the bullet and post it because this recipe can be a low calorie dessert, easy to make…provided you have a food processor and I didn’t have any other post to blog.

The halwa was made in two batches. One with using sugar and the other with sucrose. Also, I used 1 % low fat milk and deleted mawa/ khoya from the recipe.

This was the first time I used sucrose for making an Indian dessert and it tasted pretty decent. I couldn’t tell the difference. And I enjoyed my carrot halwa without much of guilt.

Halwa made using sucrose

Note: Many of you might confuse sucrose with aspartame (artificial sweetener) but both have different components. Unlike aspartame, Sucrose is a natural sugar that is found in vegetables and fruits. Having said this, I wouldn’t recommend using any kind of sweeteners for diabetics on a regular basis.

Just eat healthy, exercise on a regular basis and have cheat days for yourself…it will take you a long way.

Ingredients

Carrots 10 -11 medium

Pure ghee 2 tablespoons

Milk 2 cups

Green cardamom powder ½ teaspoon

Sugar 3 tablespoons/ Sucrose 5 teaspoons

Roasted cashew nuts

Raisins

Method

Grate carrots using a food processor or a hand grater.

Heat pure ghee in a thick-bottomed pan; add grated carrots and sauté for five minutes.

Add milk, green cardamom powder and sugar/sucrose. Cook on low heat until the milk evaporates and the carrots are soft and gooey.

Garnish it with cashew nuts and raisins. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Note: If you are using sucrose instead of sugar, then add 5 teaspoons of sucrose.

Basic Chutneys: Tamarind Chutney & Coriander-Mint Chutney

2011-07-06T16:06:00.003+02:00

Any Indian can associate to the word chutney. Interestingly, the word chutney has become so well known in all parts of the world. A quick Google on chutney tells me that the concept was given to the world by South East Asians and was imported to Western Europe in the 17^th century.

Our Indian chutneys are still made almost the same as our grandma’s made. The only difference is that these days it’s much easier with grinders as compared to pestle and mortars.

The coriander chutney and the tamarind chutney are very basic yet versatile and can be served as condiments with any Indian main course. At my place, these are eaten with samosas, sandwiches, chaats, tikkis or dhoklas.

Tamarind Chutney

Ingredients

Tamarind pulp 1 cup
Jaggery ½ cup
Red chilli powder ½ tablespoon
Cumin powder (dry roasted) ½ tablespoon

Salt to taste

Method

In a pan, dry roast cumin seeds and grind it into coarse powder.

In a thick bottom pan, mix tamarind pulp, jaggery, red chilli powder, salt and water.

Cook this blend on medium heat for 10 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally.

As the water evaporates, the blend will become thick in consistency.

Remove the chutney from the heat and let it cool down.

Add cumin powder and whisk it well.

Note:

You can store this chutney in an airtight container and it will stay good in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Green Chutney

Ingredients

Fresh coriander leaves 1 cup

Fresh mint leaves ½ cup

Garlic 2 cloves
Ginger (grated, small piece)
Green Chillies 4-5

Salt to taste

Method

Put all ingredients in a blender. Add a small quantity of water and blend until smooth paste like consistency.

Vegetable Manchurian

2011-06-28T11:35:00.003+02:00

This whole month we strayed little from our regular eating path to better health. And yesterday was no exception.

The only excuse that we had was the fact that yesterday was the coldest day of winters and we wanted to indulge in a decadent dinner - we unanimously voted for Manchurian!

One look at my pantry and refrigerator, I was good to go. Hubby offered his help because it was an unplanned dinner and lot of cutting and chopping was required.

I served these velvety soft vegetable balls soaked in hot and spicy sauce with a bowl of fried rice. The flavors were so complementary. Another good choice would be egg noodles.

Ingredients

for the vegetable balls (10 to 12 balls)

Cabbage (finely chopped) 1 ½ cups
Carrot (grated) 1 cup
Spring onions 1/2 cup chopped

Capsicum (chopped) ½ cup

Garlic (finely chopped) 2 teaspoons

Green chilli (finely chopped) 3-4

Corn flour 2 tablespoon

Plain flour 3 tablespoon
Red Chilli Powder 1 teaspoon

Baking soda ½ teaspoon
Salt to taste

Canola oil for deep frying

for the sauce

Spring onions (finely chopped) ½ cup

Cabbage (finely chopped) ¼ cup

Carrot ( grated) ¼ cup

Capsicum (finely chopped) ¼ cup

Garlic 2 teaspoons
Soy sauce 2 teaspoons
Tomato ketchup 2 teaspoons

Vinegar 1 teaspoon

Red chilli sauce 2 teaspoons

Corn flour 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Method

for the vegetable balls

In a wide mouth bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots, spring onions, capsicum, garlic and green chillies. Add corn flour, plain flour, red chilli powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl. Mix well.

Note: No need to add water to bind as moisture from vegetables would be enough to bind all the ingredients.

Shape spoonfuls of the mixture into small balls. If you find it difficult to form balls, coat your hands with little oil.

Deep fry the balls in hot oil until golden brown. Drain on paper towel and keep aside.

for the sauce

Take a small bowl and combine corn flour, soy sauce, tomato ketchup, vinegar, red chilli sauce and salt. Whisk all the ingredients well.

Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan on a high flame. Add ginger, spring onions, capsicum, cabbage and carrot. Stir fry over a high flame for a few minutes.

Pour the wet ingredients on top of the stir fried veggies. Stir it well. Add some water to thin down the sauce if it is too thick.

Just before serving, put the vegetable balls in the sauce and bring to a boil.

Serve hot.

Jello & Ice Cream Sundae

2011-06-22T15:33:00.011+02:00

I first ate jello ice cream sundae at News Cafe Espresso Bar, a cute little local café tucked away in the side streets of Johannesburg. It was colorfully and temptingly arranged - green apple jello with layers of apple crumble, topped with ice cream and roasted almond flakes and a little sprinkle of brown sugar. The classic sundae reminded me of the Indian version called ‘Faluda’.

Yesterday was a busy day because I had to complete few writing assignments and also a dinner night with two of our friends, both leaving South Africa permanently. It was not exactly a farewell dinner because we already had couple of farewell dinners with them along with the whole bunch of friends but was a just to catch up with them.

Note that I had used vegetarian gelatin jello that is easily available in stores.

Ingredients (serves two)
Jello mix (Raspberry flavor) 2 tablespoons
Water 1 cup
Butterscotch ice cream 2 scoops
Apples (peeled & diced) 1 medium
Digestive biscuits (crushed) 5-6
Cashews (roasted & chopped) 10
Raisins 7-8
Chocolate syrup 1 tablespoon
Mint sprinkles

Method

Heat 1 cup of water and bring it to boil. Dissolve Raspberry jello mix and stir well. Allow this mixture to cool down and reach room temperature. Pour this liquid mixture into your serving glasses and refrigerate it for five to six hours.

Meanwhile, in a bowl mix scoops of ice cream, chocolate syrup, cashews, raisins and crushed digestive biscuits. Digestive biscuits are fibrous that gives a good texture when you eat. Refrigerate the ice cream concoction as well.

When it’s the time to serve, bring out the jello glasses and add a layer of diced apples. Store apple pieces in cold water to retain the color. Top it with a layer of ice cream and some mint sprinklers on top to make colorful.
Use your favorite jello flavors or toppings to create your own delicious treat.

Potato & Cheese Kofta Curry

2011-06-13T12:38:00.008+02:00

What is the deal with koftas?? I’ve ordered it in many different places from restaurants in India to places in Johannesburg. The dish is always so sweet. Either my expectations towards this very dish is way out of reach for most restaurants or all the chefs out there are just adding too much cream or nuts to give it a Mughalai touch. I don’t want to debate on authenticity but it’s quite disappointing.

The other day when we were dinning out, we ended up ordering vegetable koftas instead of malai kofta thinking absolutely no heavy cream but again we were disappointed. You never get to taste the kofta, it’s all about the heavy gravy.

Anyway, back to my kind of kofta curry. My recipe is everything most restaurant versions keep loosing. I think nice and light onion & tomato gravy with slightly infused spices and soft koftas floating and soaking up. The flavor! The slight crunch!

With that said, your kitchen is your playground, feel free to try whatever– just don’t call it authentic anymore.

Ingredients for kofta (will make 6-7 koftas)

Potato 1 large size (washed and boiled)

Cottage cheese (Paneer) 50gms

Corn flour 2 tablespoons flour for binding

Raisins 10

Red chilli powder 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Milk 3 tablespoons

Oil for deep frying

Ingredients for gravy

Bay leaf 1

Green cardamom 1

Clove 1

Cinnamon 1 small stick

Onion 1 medium (finely chopped)

Garlic and ginger 1 tablespoon (finely chopped)

Tomato 3 medium (pureed)

Cumin powder ½ teaspoon

Coriander powder ½ teaspoon

Red chilli powder 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Canola oil 2 tablespoons

Method

For the koftas

Blend boiled potato, cottage cheese, salt, red chilli powder and salt. Add milk to knead all the ingredients to form stiff dough like consistency. If things are looking sticky, then add some more corn flour.

Make small koftas (ball shaped) with the mixture. Using your thumb, make a small dent in middle and stuff few raisins (I added bit of left over cottage cheese as well.) Roll the kofta again to give it a nice and smooth look.

Heat oil in a deep & thick bottom pan. Drop a kofta to check the temperature. The ideal temperature of oil is when you see the kofta coming up and not sticking in the bottom.

Deep fry the koftas until golden brown. Take them out and drain them on a sheet of kitchen paper.

For the gravy

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet, add onions, ginger and garlic and cook well on medium heat for about 15 minutes or until the onions turn brown in color.

Now, add salt and as soon as you add salt, oil will start separating.

Transfer this mixture in a grinder and grind it to a paste. Add very little water only if it’s required.

Heat the remaining oil in the same skillet and thrown in the bay leaf, green cardamom, clove & cinnamon. Let the oil soak up all the flavors of whole spices for three to four seconds.

Add the ground mixture to skillet and add cumin powder, coriander powder, and red chilli powder. Cook for few seconds.

Now add tomato puree. Cook it for another 10 minutes or until all the water from the tomato is evaporated.

Pour the gravy in a serving dish and arrange koftas on it before serving or else they tend to get soggy if left in gravy for a while.

Enjoy your koftas with naans or rice!

Asian Inspired Stir Fry Pasta

2011-06-02T12:45:00.005+02:00

This is a really simple pasta recipe, with all my favorite veggies in it. The only twist here is that it’s Asian inspired and has no rules to follow, no sauce to simmer, and no time consuming prep work. I hope I’m not making Asians and Italians angry here.

Winters have hit the southern hemisphere and we are feeling the chill. As if the nature is telling us to go slow and rest before beginning to give again in spring.

Even though winters can be hard but winters bring lot of joy and memories as well. The whole place becomes warm…magazines with hot winter recipes, winters coats in Woolworth, hot chocolate, snuggling up and maybe a glass of red wine.

Keeping the winter theme in mind, I came up with this pasta for lunch. Just few ingredients and a quick stir fry and a toss and you are ready to sit near the heater with a plate of hearty pasta.

Ingredients (for two people)

Linguine pasta 10 ounces

Veggies (frozen pack of stir fry veggies)

Ginger ½ inch piece

Garlic 2-3 cloves

Red chillies 3-4

Sesame oil 1 tablespoon

Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Method

Cook pasta in large pot of salted boiling water with one teaspoon of oil, until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Save some of the pasta water. Transfer pasta to a draining bowl and run it through cold running water. Set aside. I used Linguine pasta but I think penne would also go well.

In a blender, make a paste of ginger, garlic and red chillies.

Add sesame oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the paste and sauté it for about a minute.

To this, add veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots, green beans & peas). Stir fry veggies for couple of minutes.

Sprinkle salt and Worcestershire sauce over the veggies.

Add the pasta to the skillet. Toss all the ingredients well. Let pasta coat well with other ingredients and then switch off the heat. (If the dish feels too dry, add some of the reserved cooking liquid from boiling the pasta.)

Serve warm.

Eggplant Curry

2011-05-25T22:03:00.002+02:00

Like any good Indian food lover, we love Brinjal/ Eggplant/ Aubergine. Call it by any name, cook it in any way…bake, roast, fry or mash…all sorts of dishes with this versatile ingredient tastes good. The farmers market yesterday was bursting with the most gorgeous eggplants and I ended up buying a batch.

I usually make eggplant spead, fry or add it to pasta but this time I wanted to try a recipe that was passed down by my mom long time back and has a rustic charm of south India.

The original recipe calls for dash of coconut and deep frying the egg plants in sesame oil. I decided to skip the coconut part (but feel free to add it) and shallow fried it in canola oil to save us from some extra calories.

Unlike many south Indian dishes, it didn’t consume much time. The dish tasted tangy, hot and sweet. It was sure a winner recipe. We had it with rice but I bet it would have tasted good with rotis as well.

Ingredients

Purple small eggplants 8-10

Onion 1 medium (finely chopped)

Garlic 1 teaspoon (finely chopped)

Ginger 1 teaspoon (finely chopped)

Coriander powder 1 teaspoon

Red chili powder 2 teaspoons

Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon

Tamarind pulp 1 teaspoon

Sugar ½ teaspoon

Canola oil 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Method

Slit the eggplants into four without cutting through and keeping the stem intact. Soak them in water.

Keep a large-heavy skillet over medium heat.

Heat oil in the skillet, and add the mustard seeds.

Once the seeds start to pop, add onions, ginger and garlic. Fry till they are tender and browned.

Add eggplants and sauté for six to seven minutes until the eggplants become soft.

Sprinkle red chili powder, coriander powder, sugar and salt on the eggplants.

Sauté for two more minutes till the eggplants are coated with all the spices. Be careful not to break up the eggplants.

Now add tamarind pulp and cook for four to five minutes. You can add water if it becomes too dry. Keep stirring in between.

Remove the skillet from the heat and serve it hot with rice.

Vegetable Galettes with Vegetable Upma

2011-05-21T13:29:00.006+02:00

Has it really been a month since I posted last? Ok, I blew it AGAIN! But there were few major reasons that kept me busy around. I also hope that my readers will go easy on me when I say that food blogging was down on my list of things. This time, there is no false promise of being regular but an honest try to post recipes when I can and always the best ones.

Also, one of my loyal readers and a very dear friend suggested that the looks of Vegetarian Zest were slightly unattractive. I could feel an increasing urge to revamp it and hence here is the result. I would love to read more feedbacks on this one.

Usually the mornings are good for oats or fruits. But lately we realized that I don’t cook enough of? South Indian breakfast. Hubby keeps talking about his mum’s south Indian recipes and complains that I never try. It’s not that I don’t like to cook south Indian recipes; I just find the process very lengthy. Anyway, today was a gorgeous day that we had sun come out. We decided to sit down on the back deck with our breakfast and hot coffee.

Not sticking totally to the south Indian theme, I cooked vegetable galettes with vegetable upma … something that we both like and it was super quick to make. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients for vegetable upma

Sooji / Semolina 1 cup

Mixed vegetables…Beans, Peas, Carrots & Sweet Corn (chopped) 1 cup

Onion 1 medium (finely sliced)

Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon

Chana dal 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves 5 - 6

Green chilies 4 – 5 (finely chopped)

Water 2 ½ cups

Salt to taste

Canola oil 2 tablespoons

Roasted cashews (optional)

Method

Heat a wide mouth cooking pan over medium heat. Add sooji and dry roast until it turns pale brown. Transfer the roasted sooji to a plate. The roasting process prevents the sooji becoming gooey.

In the same pan, heat canola oil. When oil is hot, add curry leaves, chana dal, and mustard seeds. Sauté the ingredients to fragrance and till chana dal turns somewhat red. Add onion and chili pieces. Sauté to pale pink. Add vegetables and 2 ½ cups of water. Sprinkle salt. Mix well and cover the pan with a lid. Increase the heat to high.

When the water comes to boil, slowly add the roasted sooji to water. Constantly stir to avoid any lumps. Reduce the heat to low. Partially cover the pan and cook the sooji till the water is all absorbed. Turn off the heat.

Garnish with roasted cashews.

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

Ingredients for vegetable galettes

Beets ½ medium (shredded)

Carrots 2 medium (shredded)

Potatoes 1 medium (shredded)

Ginger & garlic paste ½ teaspoon

Green chili paste 1 teaspoon

All purpose flour ½ tablespoon

Breadcrumbs 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Canola oil 1 tablespoon

Method

Blanch all the vegetables and place them in a mixing bowl. Allow it to cool.
Add ginger and garlic paste, green chili paste, all purpose flour, breadcrumbs and salt to the vegetables.

Combine thoroughly all the ingredients using your hands.
Divide the mixture into lemon-sized equal rounds. Press and shape each portion into a round patty, about your palm size. Keep them side by side on a plate ready to cook.
Heat a flat skillet on stovetop. Grease it with oil. When the skillet is hot, place the Galettes side by side with gap between them. Cook each side for about 2 to 4 minutes on medium heat until a golden-brown crust forms on top.

You can even serve galettes with mint chutney or ketchup.

Local Flavors...Cardamom & Coconut Cake

2011-04-06T20:25:00.003+02:00

When it comes to making Indian desserts, I can only think about ingredients like milk, nuts, sugar, cardamom and coconut. Anybody who has tasted payasam or kheer will have to agree that there can’t be a better pairing among such ingredients. The local flavors are so deep rooted in us that where ever we go, we long for such flavors. A simple kaju burfi would satisfy our souls more than any fancy looking donut. Keeping this in mind, the cake recipe that I’m posting has all the Indian flavors.

The first time I got to eat a piece of this cake was through a friend, whose mother had sent it all the way from India. After getting some rough idea about the ingredients, I could hardly wait to give it a try.

Ingredients

Self raising flour 1 cup

Brown sugar 1 cup

Milk ¼ cup

Cardamom powder 1 teaspoon

Shredded coconut ½ cup

Cashew nuts 7-8

Sun flower oil 2 teaspoons

Method

Grease a baking pan with oil and preheat the oven to 180 C.

Caramelize the sugar on low heat.

Dry roast the cashew nuts on a non stick pan and powder it. Set aside to cool it.

Dry roast the shredded coconut on a non stick pan till it becomes slightly brown.

In a bowl, add flour, cardamom powder, caramelized sugar, cashew nut powder, coconut, and mix well.

Add milk and oil and beat it well to get a smooth running batter.

Pour this batter into the baking pan and bake it for 20 minutes or until firm.

Leave the pan to cool and then cut it into squares.

Choco Nests

2011-02-13T17:51:00.001+02:00

I’ve been a little bored, I know, that’s not me. One minute, I’m complaining about being at home and not working, and the next minute, I’m chirping and enjoying my days. My closest friends on FB keep seeing these pictures of mine and say that I don’t have any reason to complain. This may not be the most exciting confession I have ever made.

Between all this I decided to take a break from blogging and it’s been a month since I posted anything. But to give an exciting start I decided to do a post on our all time favorites when it comes to cooking with chocolates. Chocolate is such a yummier word of English and when you add ingredients like coconut flakes, nuts, peanut butter, strawberry puree and oats to it…it becomes yummiest.

So here is the recipe for choco nest…that you can make within 20 minutes.

Ingredients
Makes 7-8 choco nests

Slabs of milk chocolate (unsweetened) 2

Coconut flakes 2 tablespoons

Instant oats 2 tablespoons

Hazel nuts or any other nut of your choice

Brown sugar (powdered) 1 tablespoon

Strawberry puree or jam

Peanut butter

1. Toast some coconut flakes and oats on a dry pan for few seconds. Allow it cool and coarsely grind it using a blender.

2. Using a double boiler, melt milk chocolate slabs. To make this an easy process, break the slab in small pieces. Using a fork, keep stirring the chocolate till it melts (dripping consistency). Make sure not to burn the chocolate by over melting it.

3. Add powdered brown sugar to the melted mixture and stir well.

4. Add toasted coconut and oat mixture as well.

5. Allow the mixture to cool (room temperature). At this stage, the mixture will be gooey but manageable.

6. Make small round balls by dividing the mixture into 7 equal parts.

7. Using your thumb, make a small gap in between.

8. Keep the balls in the freezer for 7-8 minutes to set.

9. Once it sets, you can start filling the gap by your favorite fillings.

I usually like peanut butter jelly sandwich and so I fill my choco nests with strawberry puree, peanut butter, and top it off with some nuts. You can even try mint like my hubby does.

To leave your precious comments, please click on the recipe title.

Indian Spiced Cauliflower Curry

2011-01-15T20:36:00.000+02:00

We were invited to celebrate Lohri at our friend’s place and we all decided to have pot luck. Since the theme was Punjabi, I whipped some delicious curry…gobhi ki sabzi. It's super easy to prepare, tangy, great texture, and satisfying enough. Although, it’s believed that Punjabi cuisine is heavy on fat content, I used olive oil to cook this curry and didn’t add any cream that usually goes well with cauliflower curry.

Also, I had cooked for almost fifteen people but I have mentioned ingredients that would make curry for three to four servings.

Ingredients

Cauliflower florets 15-16

Onion (finely chopped) 1 small

Tomatoes (finely chopped) 2 medium

Garlic (finely chopped) 3 cloves

Ginger (finely chopped) 1 inch

Kasuri methi 2 teaspoons

Turmeric 1 teaspoon

Cumin and coriander powder 1 teaspoon

Red Chilli powder 2 teaspoons

Olive oil 2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Method

• Boil the florets in salted hot water for few minutes until they are barely tender.
• Drain the florets and keep them aside.
• In a hot skillet, sauté ginger, garlic and onions in the olive oil, for about ten minutes, until they are completely caramelized.
• Add salt and turmeric, chilli powder, Cumin and coriander powder.
• Next add tomatoes and give a good stir.
• When you see oil on the edges, add cauliflower florets and mix well.
• Cover with lid and allow it to cook. Sprinkle little water in between if necessary.
• Lastly add kasuri methi.

The curry goes well with pooris and rotis.

Roasted Butternut with Oregano & Paprika Herbs

2010-12-20T16:07:00.003+02:00

We get Butternut round the year and so I buy it regularly. There are so many ways you can cook it…pasta, muffins, soups, pies etc. I like to roast it with herbs and olive oil. No matter what herb you use, it comes out tasty. The firmness and nutty - sweet taste of it makes it perfect vegetable for roasting.

Making roasted butternut squash with herbs, olive oil and paprika is pretty simple and quick. It’s one of those dishes that manage to taste both good and visually appealing at the same time.

I leave the skin on and cook it that way. The skin becomes tender once roasted. This makes it even healthier. So all you need is to cut the squash with a good sharp knife into small cubes, add seasoning, give a rest and roast it.

You can eat it as finger food while watching movie or can have it with some risotto….or with plain yogurt like hubby prefers.

Ingredients

Butternut medium sized (1 kg)
Dried oregano 1 teaspoon
Finely chopped garlic 1 teaspoon
Paprika/ red chilli flakes 2 teaspoons
Olive oil 1 tablespoon
Salt

Method

Cut butternut into half with a large sharp knife. Scoop out the seeds using a spoon. You can even roast the seeds.

Cut the squash into 2.5 thick cubes. Put them into a bowl. Add oregano, garlic, paprika, salt into the bowl.

Once you've done this, drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil on top and give a good toss. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Arrange the squash cubes on a baking tray. Roast them in the preheated oven at 200°C for about 15 minutes, or until skin becomes caramelized and chewy.

Bean & Chickpea Burger

2010-12-14T11:57:00.001+02:00

Who doesn’t love some junk food? Atleast I do and I have no problems in admitting that. But I make sure that I burn those calories by being regular to the gym. Touchwood my sugar levels are excellent now…as if I have reversed my diabetes type 2. So my point is…eat what you like in small quantities and never deprive yourself but be wise because if you won’t respect your body, your body won’t respect you.

There are healthy ways where you can satiate your urge of having junk food. We love burgers and I make these bean and chickpea patty burgers that are spicy, filling, healthy, and easy to make.

I usually plan things and prep things up so I don’t have to spend too much time while cooking. I soaked handful of chickpeas, kidney beans, and some black eyed beans in cold water overnight. And added a teaspoon of baking powder as well. Adding baking powder makes the beans softer and tender while cooking.

You can vary the combination; there are no exact measurements for this. I like the nutty taste of kidney beans so I add more of it and less of black eyed beans. In the morning, I boiled soaked beans and chickpeas in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes. Also, you can use canned ones if you have no time or patience. Just make sure you drain them well.

Ingredients

(this will make five medium sized patties)

Boiled beans and chickpeas (mixed) 2 cups

Burger buns

Brown bread crumbs ½ cup

Eggless mayonnaise 1 tablespoon

Chopped white onion 1 small

Ginger & garlic paste ½ teasoon

Chopped coriander leaves handful

Chopped green chillies 2-3

Red paprika 1 teaspoon

Salt

Oil

Method

In a food processor, blend beans and chickpea together.

Add coriander, ginger- garlic paste, green chillies, paprika, and salt to the mixture. Pulse it one more time.

Heat a pan and pour few drops of oil and sauté chopped onion.

Add sautéed onion to the bean mixture.

Add mayonnaise and mix it thoroughly.

Refrigerate this mixture for ½ hour.

Heat a flat pan and drizzle some oil on it.

Take out the mixture and add bread crumbs to it.

Make patties from the mixture and fry it on both the sides.

Serve it on low GI burger buns with some peri peri sauce or ketchup and Dijon mustard…just the way you like it.

Cabbage and Spinach Rolls

2010-12-08T22:20:00.000+02:00

Holidays are all about spending quality time with friends and family. It’s also about food…cooking and eating comfort food. For me it’s a good time to experiment in my kitchen and try some new recipes.

I love serving starters. It gives me some time to chit chat with friends and to reheat the food as well.
Most of the times starters are store bought… you just can’t beat the convenience of store bought starters. But when time permits then I do make my own starters. Cabbage and spinach rolls are perfect for starters. These are easy to make, no exact measurements are required and you can fill anything that you wish to.

I usually make the cabbage and spinach rolls night before and just the time before my guests arrive, I pan fry them.

Ingredients

Cabbage and wild spinach leaves (Washed and wiped)

Cottage cheese (crumbled) 1 cup

Onion (finely chopped) 1 medium sized

Spring onion shoots (chopped) 2-3 shoots

Garlic (finely chopped) 2-3 cloves

Red chili powder 2 teaspoons

Tomato ketchup 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Chili oil

Toothpicks

Filling

Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a pan. To this add chopped onions and garlic. Fry till brown.
Add ketchup, red chili powder, salt and spring onion shoots. Add cottage cheese to this and give a good stir. Keep the filling aside to let it cool.

Making Rolls

Roll the cottage cheese stuffing up into each cabbage leaf. Secure the rolls with a toothpick. Watch your fingers while you do so. Same is to be done for the spinach rolls. Spinach leaves are little tender so roll them carefully. Trim the hanging edges.

Sizzling Time

Heat oil on a non stick flat pan. Once the oil starts smoking, place these rolls on the pan. Cook the rolls two minutes on each side. Serve these rolls either with some chutney or just like that…compliments will surely roll in.

Croissants Glaced With Honey & Orange Zest Syrup

2010-11-16T21:50:00.009+02:00

One of our weekend rituals include a visit to Wolves café in Illovo - a less formal place with an amazing collection of coffee table books. We usually have our Sunday brunches there after a good walk in farmers market. It offers some of the best Mushroom raviolis, peri peri chutney sandwiches, freshly baked croissants and not to forget raspberry cupcakes.

This recipe of mine is inspired by the honey glazed croissants that we had few weeks back. The batch that I baked looks nothing like what we had but it’s an honest attempt of mine to make puff pâtisserie at home. I’m no pastry chef and this recipe made me realize that how precise and careful one should be when it comes to making pastries. But definitely tastes pretty decent and flaky (maybe beginner's luck!)

Ingredients

Unbleached cake flour 450 gm

Salted butter (room temperature) 150 gm

Powdered sugar 5 teaspoons

Milk 150 ml

Instant yeast 2 teaspoons

Salt 1 teaspoon

Honey 150 gm

Orange zest 7-8 teaspoons

Directions

For making the dough

• Shift flour, salt, and sugar together in a wide mouth bowl

• Add butter and yeast to the flour mixture. Beat well using an electric beater

• Gradually pour cold milk and form dough

• Wrap up the dough with cling wrap & let it rest for 30 minutes

Note: using butter at room temperature eases the process of making the dough but make sure that butter is not melted.

For making pat fe-yeah-the (layered dough)

• Roll the well rested dough into approximately 20cm long, 15cm wide and 1cm thick rectangle

• Brush some butter on the dough and fold it for a couple of times and roll

• Repeat this process for at least thrice

For making croissants

• Cut the dough into a triangle shape
• Roll from the bottom to the top to form a croissant shape
• Place the croissants onto the greased baking tray
• Bake in the pre-heated oven at 170c until golden brown in color

Mix honey and orange zest nicely using a fork and heat it in the microwave for a minute. Drizzle some honey and orange zest mixture on hot croissants and enjoy it with hot cup of tea/coffee.

Cheedar Cheese Filled Rolls

2010-11-01T21:45:00.005+02:00

It’s raining here again... so it was perfect for me to bake again. In the past, I’ve had my share of baking failures but I’ve moved on. After a quick scan, I found that I had all the ingredients for making some simple cheese filled rolls.

I truly loved my baking experience as I saw the rolls raising up and turning golden. My kitchen turned into a small bakery and loved all the aromas.

Ingredients

All-purpose flour 2 cups

Active dry yeast 1 envelope (about 2 teaspoons)

Olive oil 1/2 cup

Cheddar cheese (shredded) ½ cup

Salt to taste

Sugar 1 teaspoon

Lukewarm water1/2 cup

Method

• Pour some lukewarm water in a small bowl and dissolve active yeast and sugar in it.

• Let this mixture stand for 10 minutes until foamy.

• In a large mixing bowl mix flour, salt, olive oil and the yeast mixture.

• Mix all the ingredients to make a soft dough. Use water if required.

• Cover the dough with plastic wrap for almost 2hrs for the dough to rise.

• Punch the dough onto a lightly floured surface to remove air.

• Divide dough into 12 equal pieces.

• Lightly grease the baking pan.

• Roll the dough into long cylindrical shape.

• Place the cheese in between.

• Roll the dough again to cover the cheese.

• Bring both the ends together to give it a circular shape.

• Set the rolls about 2 inches apart on the pan.

• Brush tops carefully with some olive oil.

• Bake them in a pre heated 180C oven for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Diabetic Friendly Eggless Chocolate Cake

2010-10-17T17:25:00.003+02:00

After visiting a sugar free chocolate studio, I was really inspired to bake something on my own. Chocolate cake seemed to be the best way to start. Ditching the traditional way of making sweets and savories for Vijaya Dashmi, I baked a cake for hubby and a small group of Indian friends.

Ingredients

All purpose flour 1 cup
Salt ½ teaspoon
Baking powder 1 teaspoon
Baking soda 2 teaspoons
Unsweetened cocoa powder ½ cup
Sugar substitute – 6 teaspoons
Vegetable Oil – 1 cup (I used sunflower oil)
Milk – ½ cup
Vanilla Extract – 1 teaspoon
White sugar free chocolate 1 slab

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and sugar substitute into a large mixing bowl.

Add vanilla extract, oil and milk. With an electric mixer, beat at medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes.

Grease the baking pan with oil and flour. Pour the batter evenly into the baking pans.

Place the pan on the middle shelf and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely before removing from the oven.

I avoided frosting the cake with cream, instead melted the white sugar free chocolate on a double boiler and poured on the cake.

Discovering South African Wines

2010-10-16T18:35:00.000+02:00

On a vacation to Cape Town, we happened to attend the most anticipated events on the wine calendar the “Stellenbosch Wine festival”

After a 45 minutes drive from the main city, all we could see was vineyards and stunning views. Though there are more than 100 wineries in Stellenbosch, we were recommended to visit “Spier “cellar. Upon reaching there, we started with a very well informed and personal wine tasting experience on the lawns overlooking the vines. We got to taste wines from local, virtually unknown, traditional varieties, and the classics just like country South Africa …diverse and intriguing.

We were told by our guide that most of these vineyards are situated in the valley, where summers are dry and winters are wet. This produces some of the robust, full bodied wines. The mountains nearby also protects vineyards from the hot sun, which in turn slows down the ripening process.

Some more facts that we got to know about wines

Wines are acidic in nature and suppose to be served at the right temperature.

Different decanters are available based on the age and type of wines. These decanters assure quick aeration to release each wine’s potential.

At Spier they follow mostly natural fermentation process, allowing nature to take its course and believe in minimal intervention.

We were first asked to rinse our mouths with plain water and then asked to taste various white wines and then red wines.

Red wines were stronger and based on the tastes, we were asked to identify the aromas.

I realized that I’m not a wine person but of all I liked a shiraz blend wine…dark burgundy in color. My palate echoed tropical fruity flavor. Upon asking more about this particular wine, I was told that it had very low alcohol content and is also known as a desert wine. Just perfect for me.

I truly loved each minute of my interaction with our guide. He as a wine maker had lot of pride and passion while explaining the intricacies of his viniculture practices.

Oven Roasted Soy Kebabs

2010-08-19T13:09:00.003+02:00

Ever bought those frozen soy patties or sausages that come in pretty looking packages? I did and found them too dry once cooked and felt like chewing some cardboard pieces.
It never crossed my mind that I could have made something similar at home. So yesterday we had some soy kebabs and naans. Though soy kebabs were home made, naans were store bought.

A slight deviation from the recipe…just wanted to share few things about my kitchen …the heart of my home. Having an open kitchen makes me spend most of my time here. The two things that I love about my kitchen are - kitchen window, which gives me a beautiful view and the kitchen table.
The concept of kitchen tables was introduced to me after I moved to Johannesburg. In India, the kitchens are hardly as big as in other parts of the world. We generally consider it to be a space where we only cook. But after coming here, I realized that having kitchen tables makes life very easy. From a place to blog or pay bills to a place to play a game of chess, discussions… my kitchen table does it all.

Coming back to the recipe, you can make the kebab mixture a night before and keep it ready whenever you feel like making them.

Ingredients

Soy chunks 2 cups

Besan (gram flour/ chickpea flour) 3 tablespoons

Cooked onion paste 1 tablespoon

Chopped green chilies 2-3

Ginger garlic paste 2 teaspoons

Chopped mint leaves handful

Chopped coriander handful

Garam masala 1 teaspoon

Red chili powder 1 teaspoon

Bulgarian yogurt 2teaspoons (you can use any other plain yogurt as well)

Tomato ketchup 2 teaspoons

Salt

Oil 2 tablespoons

Directions

Start with boiling soy chunks in a pressure cooker along with some water and salt. Remove it from heat after 5-6 whistles. Drain it under cold running water. Squeeze all the water using your hands or a kitchen towel. Make sure you squeeze out all the water and the chunks are almost dry.

Mince the Soy chunks using a food processor. To the mince, add all the ingredients and blend it again. The consistency of the mixture will be little sticky but dough like.

Place this mixture in a Ziploc or in a bowl and keep it in the fridge. Let it marinate for overnight. If you don’t have time, let it be in the fridge for at least few hours. This will help the soy to take on the flavor of the spices.

For making the kebabs, preheat your oven at 200C for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, give the mixture a sausage shape using your hands. You can even use skewers.

Place the kebabs on the greased baking dish leaving some space in between.
Turnover the kebabs periodically till they turn deep brown. Stick a fork inside just to check whether they are done or not.

Serve it hot with naan or some chutney.

Punjabi Kadhi With Pakoda

2010-08-12T20:51:00.013+02:00

The other day I was talking to my mom and realized that there are so many dishes that I love to eat but have never cooked. Most of these dishes I get to eat when I visit my parents. Kadhi is one such dish. Steaming kadhi cooked on slow flame with white rice…served with love.

Once I received mom’s emailed recipe, the only thing for me was to check my kitchen pantry for besan (chickpea flour) and rice flour. I love pakodas so made extras for tea time as well. Nothing can beat our desi pakodas with chutney. This Punjabi dish is best served with rice but you can have it with rotis too.

Ingredients for making pakoras\

Besan ( chickpea flour) ½ cup
Rice flour ½ cup
Chopped onion 1 large
Chopped coriander (handful)
Chopped green chilies 2
Red chili powder 1 teaspoon
Baking soda 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Sunflower oil for frying

Ingrdients for making kadhi

Besan 1 cup
Sour buttermilk 3 cups
Minced Garlic 2-3 cloves
Turmeric 1 teaspoon
Methi (fenugreek) seeds ½ teaspoon
Cumin seeds ½ teaspoon
Mustard seeds ½ teaspoon
Hing a pinch
Whole red chillies 4-5
Salt to taste

Directions for making pakoras

Make a thick smooth batter with besan, rice flour, baking soda, salt and water.

Add red chilli powder, chopped onion, coriander, green chilies and mix.

Heat oil in a wok. Test the temperature of oil by dropping a small portion of
mixture into the hot oil. If the pakoda makes noise and rises to the top, the oil is at the right temperature.

Using a spoon or your fingers, drop pakoda mixture in small portions into hot oil and deep fry
them till they become golden brown. Cut a pakoda into half to test whether it’s fully cooked or not.

For making kadhi

In a large bowl, mix besan with buttermilk. Add water if required. Stir well so that all
the lumps dissolve.

You can use the same wok by removing extra oil and add mustard seeds and let it splutter.

To this add cumin, methi seeds, hing, whole red chillies, turmeric and garlic.

Lower the flame and add besan-buttermilk mixture and give a good stir.
Add salt, and keep stirring. The mixture will begin to thicken.

Add more water if needed; maintain a soupy consistency.
Boil the kadhi for 20 minutes and add the pakoras. Simmer it for another 10 mintues.
Garnish it with some coriander.

Rice With Vegetables Cooked in Tamarind Pulp

2010-08-11T14:43:00.014+02:00

Hey, I’m back! Since my posting has been rare for the last few weeks, I figure I should share the reason why – we had guests from India and my laptop conked. Yeah, these are my excuses, but I’ve really missed blogging. A. has promised me to get a new one this weekend. Meanwhile, I’m using his whenever it’s free. He is little irritated to see all food photos saved on his laptop and picasa getting installed. Can’t wait get my own.

As I mentioned we had guests from India, I had cooked lots of good food and for the whole week we didn’t eat any leftovers. It’s considered as disrespect to feed your guests leftovers.

I even made various rice varieties, which I usually avoid otherwise.
So here is the rice based dish with tamarind. It’s not the usual south Indian tamarind rice but has all the elements - spicy, tangy and sweet that you find in typical south Indian tamarind rice.

Ingredients

Basmati rice 1 cup
Garlic cloves 3-4
Tamarind pulp 2 tablespoons
Caramel Sugar 1 teaspoon
Chilli flakes 3 teaspoons
Sesame oil 2 tablespoons
Salt for taste
Fried cashwes
Veggies – shredded cabbage, capsicum, and onions

Directions

Cook rice seperately with few drops of oil and allow it cool.

Heat oil in a pan and add onions and garlic. Sauté them till golden brown.

Stir in some cabbage and capsicum.

Add caramel sugar, red chili flakes and salt.

Add tamarind pulp.
Keep stirring constantly till all the veggies get coated with tamarind pulp.
Add rice and cashews to the veggie mixture and mix well. Serve it hot.

I didn't have curry leafs at home. Don't know where to find them. Planning to buy a small curry leaf plant. And i'm soon going to have a blender that is coming from India.

Sautéed Haloumi With Capsicum

2010-07-26T17:03:00.010+02:00

This post is a continuation of my previous post, where I mentioned about my obsession with Jalapeno peppers. This recipe has peppers – jalapeno, bell peppers cooked with onions and Haloumi cheese.

Haloumi belongs to Cypriot cheese family and is a mixture of goat and sheep milk. It tastes like paneer but is semi- hard and salty. Once you start cooking, it becomes soft and chewy.

Ingredients

Chopped jalapeno peppers
Cubes of herbed haloumi (you can even use plain) 10-12
Diced bell peppers 1 medium size
Chopped onions 1 medium size
Chopped garlic 5-6 cloves
Olive oil 1 teaspoon
Salt

Directions

Heat olive oil in a fry pan.
Add garlic and onions to the pan. Cook it for 3-4 minutes on a medium heat.
Once onions turn brown, add capsicum and jalapeno peppers. Cook for 5-6 minutes.
Add cubes of haloumi. Adjust the seasoning by adding some salt. Stir nicely until well combined.
You can garnish it with some parsley if desired.

We just had it on its own with some ginger tea to drink along…we loved it.

Crackers With Pickled Jalapeno

2010-07-26T16:28:00.016+02:00

I have become so hooked on these tiny Jalapeno peppers that I’m using them in all my recipes. Recently bought a few pounds of Jalapeno peppers and pickled so that I can use them anytime. Pickling was easy, just deep fried them in oil and sprinkled salt and stored shrinked peppers in a dry jar. We eat them with everything…even with curd rice. I must say the combination is heavenly.

Here is an appetizer that I made using Jalapeno peepers and cheddar cheese with sesame crackers. These are very simple to make, infact I had to think twice before posting such an easy appetizer recipe but anyway…I had to share it.

For making these you require crackers, chedder cheese, and pickled Jalapeno peppers.

For serving, use a vegetable peeler to peal slices of cheese and place them on top of the cracker. Chop some peppers and place it on top of the cheese. Microwave it for few seconds so that all the ingredients stick to each other. Enjoy!

Update: sending this snack recipe to Party Treats event hosted by Sara.

Channa Dal Paratha

2010-07-20T17:50:00.012+02:00

I usually make paranthas on weekends for breakfast. This weekend we had chana dal paratha. Typically, stuffed parathas are served with chilled yogurt and often shallow fried with lot of ghee or oil. But that ain't gonna happen in my kitchen. There is no ghee/butter involved here. I used few drops of oil for each paratha and it’s not stuffed.

The trick to get crispy parathas is to heat a flat pan on high flame but the minute your paratha sits on the pan, reduce the flame to medium. The dough can be made ahead in the night and stored in an air tight container. Let it sit in the fridge overnight. Refrigerating the dough also makes it easy to work on and gives a good rise.

Ingredients

Plain wheat flour 2 cups
Bengal gram/ Chana dal ½ cup
Finely chopped onion 1
Minced ginger and garlic
Chopped coriander
Chopped red chilli peppers 3-4(you can use green as well)
Garam masala powder ½ teaspoon
Salt
Lukewarm water

Directions

Soak chana dal for 2 to 4 hours and pressure cook it with 1/2 cup of water. Cook till all the lentils become tender. I cooked for four whistles. Open the cooker and allow the dal to cool. Drain the water if any.

Using a wooden spoon or in a blender, mash the dal.
Mix the dal puree with coriander leaves, onion, ginger garlic, garam masala and salt to taste.

In a big bowl, add the flour and the dal mixture. Mix everything together until dough begins to form. I usually use my hands to knead the dough. You can even use a food processor for kneading.

Pack this dough in an air tight container and let it cool in the fridge for few hours. You can straight away use the dough to make parathas but I like to give it a rest.

When you are ready to make the parathas, take pieces of the dough and make small balls. Dust some flour and then lightly flatten the dough with hand.

With a rolling pin, roll out carefully to make a round paratha about ½’’ thick

Heat a flat pan and place the paratha on it. Smear some oil on top. Once you see the parantha begin to puff up turn it over and cook the other side for the same time till it's golden brown in colour.

Serve hot with cool yogurt.

Spinach and Peas Tikkis

2010-07-14T09:26:00.005+02:00

This recipe comes from a long way. It has travelled all the way from my mother’s kitchen in New Delhi to my kitchen in Joburg. There is not even a single week when I’m not on the phone with my mother asking for recipes. My mother works miracles in her kitchen. She can effortlessly turn out simmering pots of the most luscious mutter paneer, daals, sambars, charroos, and kootus.

During one of our daily long distance conversations, she shared her spinach and peas tikki recipe. After making a mental note of it, I finally made them on Monday evening. The only addition was bread crumbs just to make them crispier. The great thing about trying out a new recipe and having it turn out well is that I now have something to post on my food blog.

The tikkis/ cutlets/ patties whatever you feel like calling them really taste different and certainly not like the typical aloo tikkis. It’s more flavorful and perfect for any time of the day.

Eat your greens and enjoy it too…

Ingredients (this will make 6 tikkis)

Chopped spinach leaves 1 cup
Frozen peas ½ cup
Boiled potato (small size)
Chopped green chilli peppers 2-3
Chopped coriander leaves handful
Finely chopped ginger and garlic
Bread crumbs 2 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Garam masala ½ teaspoon
Red Chilli powder ½ teaspoon
Oil 4-5 teaspoons

Directions

Before chopping the spinach leaves, just rinse and give a dry pat. There's no need to blanch the spinach leaves. In case you are using fresh peas, you may have to boil them till they become tender. Before you start cooking the tikkis, make sure the flat pan is hot enough. Pour some oil on the pan and it should sizzle.

In a wide mouth bowl, mash all the ingredients except for oil. Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions. Shape them into a ball and then press it in between your palms to give it a tikki shape.

On a hot pan, shallow-fry the tikkis in hot oil for few minutes until crisp. You can have them as it is or with some chutney.

Carrot Raita

2010-07-08T13:57:00.007+02:00

I don’t have much to write about this recipe except that it’s an easy to go raita for any night of the week. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare. Most importantly, it’s full of incredibly fresh and clean flavour; it tastes indulgent, and is bursting with nutrients.

Ingredients

Shredded carrots 1 cup
Low fat yogurt 1 cup
Ground black pepper ½ tea spoon
Chopped green chilli peppers 2
Salt as per taste
Coriander leaves handful
Oregano herb ½ teaspoon

Directions

Boil shredded carrots so that it becomes tender.

Beat the yogurt to get smooth consistency. Add salt, black pepper, Chopped green chillies, and oregano. Mix well.

Add carrots. Mix well again.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve chill.

update: i have sent this recipe for vegetable marathon event

Veggies In Hot & Sweet Sauce

2010-07-07T15:07:00.006+02:00

When the temperature drops down, hearty Chinese food becomes a lot more appealing. I was craving for Chinese food for few days. So we decided to break the rule of not eating outside before Friday and went to check this near by Chinese cum Cantonese restaurant. It was quite hard to find not even a single vegetarian meal (except for rice) on their menu. Believe me the word ‘vegetarian’ for them meant …no red meat.

While returning back, I realised that I needed to buy few things before I could go home and cook some Chinese myself. Again, one more rule of mine was broken…no unnecessary trips to Checkers. I keep accumulating so many things in my pantry that I forget to use them. Hubby was supportive by saying that I need not think too much about these rules. But I strictly bought only what was required. Soya sauce, brown sugar and sesame oil….that’s it.

Also, this was the first time that I cooked Brussels sprouts. I loved it so much…much better than eating cabbage. All the inner layers were soaked in the sauce and it was perfect. We enjoyed our wintry evening with a plate of rice and hot and sweet veggies in Chinese brown sauce.

Ingredients for the sauce

Dark soya sauce 2 teaspoons
Brown sugar 1 teaspoon
Cornstarch 4 teaspoons
Salt ½ teaspoon
Water 5 tablespoons

Other Ingredients

Medium sized chopped onion 1
Red Chilli peppers 4-5
Garlic cloves 4-5
Ginger 1 medium piece
Chopped veggies – baby corn, zucchini, Brussels sprout, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots
Sesame oil 3 tablespoons

Method

Blanch the vegetables briefly in a pan filled with water and salt. Allow veggies in the hot water till they're cooked but not fully cooked….slightly tender but crisp. Add a pinch of salt to the water before you put veggies into it. This helps in killing any enzymes present. As soon as the vegetables are done, remove and run them under cold water.

In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients required for making sauce. Set it aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a non stick pan. Add chopped ginger, ginger, and red chilli peppers. Fry till the aroma is released.

Add chopped onions and fry it till translucent.

Pour the sauce and cook for some time. Add more water if it becomes too starchy.

Once you get the saucy texture, add the vegetables. Cook for few minutes.

Remove the pan from the fire. Sprinkle some sesame oil on top of it and serve it with hot rice.

Vegetarian Salad...coming from him

2010-07-05T12:54:00.009+02:00

Yes you read this right…..this is A. (the husband) posting. I wonder if anyone will read this post. I mean the photos kind of really speak for themselves without having to say anything.
If you are still reading this post…I would like to ask you women (assuming most of you are women)…what your husbands do when you refuse to cook on a weekend?

Going out or ordering food from outside is always an option but just to make my lady happy…I tossed up some of her favourite salad. Since this is my first and last post (I’ve been forced to do so) please pardon me if the method/instructions are not that clear.

Main elements

Iceburg lettuce
Baby tomatoes
Sweet corn
Chopped capsicum
Grated carrot
Cooked farfalle pasta

Elements that make the salad no punishment…

Mayo 1 tablespoon
Low-fat Greek yogurt 3 tablespoons
Orange juice 1 tablespoon
Oregano herb 1 tea spoon
Crushed garlic
Salt to taste

Here we go...
Step1: Put all the main elements into a large bowl.
Step2: For the dressing: mix all the yummy stuff in a separate bowl and beat them with a hand beater/fork till it becomes creamy and light…some what like crème fraiche.
Step 3: Throw the dressing into the bowl having veggies and stir it in together till all the veggies get coated.
Few suggestions…
If you like it extra tangy…add more of orange juice or even a better option would be to add citrus flavoured vodka.

Hope you like my creation...this is A (the husband) signing off.

Eggplant Pie

2010-06-30T21:28:00.017+02:00

Love makes you do crazy things. I ended up making a PIE. A pie without a baking dish, no frozen crust, and no unsalted butter. You heard me right.

Hubby loves all kinds of savory tarts and pies. So to make him feel good after work, I decided to make a pie… Okay, this might not be an exact pie but very close to it .

Anyway…I figured out that if I had to make the pie crust, I would be slaving away in the kitchen for a good part of the day. So I didn’t follow the exact pie making procedure but some short cuts. The results…not incredibly fancy looking but pretty good as per my standards and hubby loved eating it. What else do I need???

The recipe includes step by step pictures.

Ingredients for making two pies

Eggplants (Brinjal) ½
Eggs 2
All purpose flour (Maida) 1 cup
Oil 2-3 tablespoon
Cheddar cheese
Tomato ketchup 1-2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder 5 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Directions

Dough

In a wide open bowl, mix flour, oil (1 tablespoon), one egg, and salt. Use your fingers to blend it well without any lumps. Cover the dough in a wet cloth and give it rest for 15 mins.

Meanwhile...

cut eggplant into thin slices. Wash the slices and pat dry with a kitchen towel.

Sauté the slices in some oil and sprinkle some red chilli powder and salt. Sauté until eggplant is slightly browned and tender, about 5 minutes.

Get back to the dough. Divide it into four equal portions (2 layers for each pie)
Roll out dough into thin layers (One for the base and one for covering the pie.)

Assembling

Grease the baking tray. Spread the dough layer. Arrange four to five slices of cooked eggplant. Put some cheese on top of it. Throw some ketchup.

Lay more layer of eggplant slices.

Cover the pie with dough layer. Pinch the corners to seal the pie.

Coat the pie with some egg white.

Bake it in an oven at 200ºC for seven to eight minutes.Oops I can see my reflection.

Flip and check, both the sides should be golden brown. Serve it with a scoop of joy.

Mango Curry...sweet, tangy & spicy

2010-06-30T13:49:00.011+02:00

My childhood memories are mostly related to food. Food cooked by my avva (grandma,) trips to udipi restaurant, eagerly waiting for magi noodles on Saturdays, first trip to Nirulas, bhelpuri and bajjis on a beach, momos at kullu…there are a lot more.

The recent memories of food if you ask me would always be home cooked food by my dearest ma. I always long to be home where I can just sit without thinking what to be cooked and still get the best food laid and being pampered to eat. My mom has got cooking genes from my grandmother, who would cook for a large family and still be ready for more. I still not understand how she managed to cook for a family of ten (plus) relatives who were regular visitors.

Last summer when I went to Delhi, I specially asked for this mango curry (Mamadi pandu Pulusu…in Telugu)
I’m very sure that every south Indian family knows about this curry and has their own way of making it…just like sambaar.
Watching mom making this was an excellent way to learn. Also, this recipe holds a very special place in my life because it happens to be my last meal with avva.

Back to the recipe…

Pairing of mango pulp with tamarind brings a unique flavour. You will appreciate more if you like sour foods. This has all the elements…sweet, spicy, tangy, and saucy. You can use any variety of mangos like Alphonso or Banginapalli but make sure that there are no threads and has good amount of pulp in it.
You can serve this alongside the plain white rice or if you are like me, eat it with curd rice.

Ingredients

One Mango fruit (cut in two)
Tamarind pulp 2 tablespoons
Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon
Green chillies 3-4
Kashmiri red chilli Powder 1 teaspoon
Powdered jaggery 3 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil 1 tablespoon
Methi (fenugreek) seeds 4-5
Curry leaves

Directions

Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter.
Next, fry methi seeds till it turns golden.

Add curry leaves, green chillies, jaggery and tamarind paste. Add ½ glass of water and allow it to boil till all the water is evaporated and the mixture starts to thicken.

At this point, add salt, red chilli podwer and give a nice stir.

Add mango pieces and water if required. Cook mangoes in the gravy till all the gravy sticks to the mangoes and it looks gooey.

Let it simmer for few minutes before it’s ready to be served

Tonight's Dinner

2010-06-28T22:18:00.015+02:00

Broccoli sauteed in onion and spicy egg curry with chappatti

A simple dinner yet not simple. Cooked...but didn't feel like cooking.
Not in a mood to write any recipes but still posting.
Just lost...lots of questions but no answers. Guess, i'll be fine after I get my morning cup of coffee with a cookie (hidden in my sweater pocket).

Danish Feta Cooked In Indian Style Spinach Gravy

2010-06-28T22:01:00.009+02:00

As the end of the month drew close, I decided to clean my pantry by using up all the things in before I could go for grocery shopping. But that never seems to happen in my case. Every time I hear something new…my feet urge. I had membership in all the super markets back in India and I can’t wait to see all the grocery stores here in Johannesburg.

I still have few things left in small quantities. I’m planning to mix everything and come up with some unusual looking recipe. I really need to know what people do with small quantities that are left.

After moving to Johannesburg, we were missing paneer/cottage cheese for quite few weeks. Paneer is cooked at least once in my kitchen. Then on Saturday one of my good and newly found friends here suggested of Danish Feta. Sunday I was on my way to buy groceries…kinda… shopaholic. Anand gave those looks by which I understood that he won’t be eating it if it something extremely awful.

Danish feta is cheese, looks exactly like paneer, tastes like curd and is delicate…easily crumbles and melts. But a great substitute till I find a shop that sells my favourite paneer.

Ingredients

Danish Feta 100 g
Spinach chopped handful
Chopped onion 1 medium size
Chopped tomatoes 2 medium size
Chopped ginger 1/2 teaspoon
Garlic Pods 5 to 6
Green chillies 2
Bay leaf 1
Cumin ½ teaspoon
Red chilli powder ½ teaspoon
Curry powder/ garam masala ½ teaspoon
Salt to taste
Sugar crystals ½ teaspoon
Oil 1 tablespoon

Directions

In a pressure cooker, boil spinach with few garlic pods, green chillies and salt. Boil it for seven to eight minutes. Smash it nicely with a wooden spoon. I could have pureed it but I wanted to keep the texture and to be honest I don’t have a blender. Need to buy one.

Carefully dice feta into half inch pieces. Sauté and keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add bay leaf and cumin seeds. When seeds start to splutter, add chopped ginger and sauté for half a minute. Add onions and rest of the garlic pods. Stir. Once onions get caramelised, add tomatoes.

Sprinkle salt, red chilli powder, curry powder, and sugar. Give a nice stir. Add water and cook further for five minutes.

When the gravy comes to a boil, add spinach mixture.

Mix everything well and let it simmer for two to three minutes. Remove the pan from fire and add the feta pieces to the spinach gravy.

Mix well and serve it with hot chapattis. Don’t allow feta to sit on the fire for long as chances are that it will melt.

A Careless Pizza Night

2010-06-23T21:24:00.013+02:00

A lonely night…hubby has to work late and will be eating dinner at work. One look in the fridge and I instantly knew that tonight was not a usual chappatti and curry day. Pizza was on my mind. Not a gourmet one but a careless one. See the pictures .

Pizza is my all time favorite food…it became an obsession at one point of time. We would go out to eat and the first place that would come to my mind would be Pizza Hut. As a newly married husband, he would give up and would take me to delicious pizzas and deserts.

Now things have changed…we go to others places as well. This was a good opportunity…I could make my own pizza and have it too…no sharing (devilish.)

Making your own pizza is very simple if you have the base…I used a frozen base… thawe a bit, added few onion slices, some chopped tomatoes, peppers, coriander leaves, green chillies and what ever cheese was found in the refrigerator. To make it even better sprinkled some added Garlic flakes, herbs, chilli flakes/ powder, and salt.
Something was still missing…I raided my pantry and found a can of lima beans. Added few of that. A few drops of olive oil drizzled over and baked the loaded pizza in the oven at 200ºC for ten minutes.

Update: Hubby is drooling on the pictures...will be making this again on friday night.

Punjabi Karela Sabzi

2010-06-22T14:12:00.007+02:00

Here’s this bitterly sweet recipe that I've been dying to share with you.

As a kid there was this one veggie that I have always found super intimidating was – Bitter Gourd.

As years have grown by, I have started liking mom’s Punjabi style karela recipe. Mom was behind me to use it on a regular basis as it helps in controlling blood sugar levels. Did I ever mention that she made me drink bitter gourd juice every morning on an empty stomach to control my blood sugars? Actually it helps. It has plant insulin which brings down your sugar levels.

Back to the recipe…I saw it…I grabbed it....and then I got home, and didn't really know what to do with it. I have always eaten at my Delhi home but never made it myself. Googled but wasn’t very sure. One international call, jotted the recipe on back of the grocery bill and decided to make it instantly.

Ingredients

Bitter Gourd/ Karela 2

Chopped onions (1 medium size)

Chopped tomatoes (2 medium size)

Crushed garlic

Chopped ginger

Slit green chillies (2)

Red chilli powder 1 teaspoon

Garam masala powder 1 tespoon

Cumin/Jeera 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Sun flower oil 2 tablespoons

Directions

Cut thin rounds of bitter gourd. Shallow fry them in a pan with 2-3 teaspoon of oil. Place it on a plate with paper towels till the excess oil drains out.

For the fried masala…
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan (I used the same pan again), add cumin seeds, wait for the aroma and add onions and sauté till brown.
Add ginger-garlic. Sauté for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, followed by salt, chilli powder, garam masala. Give a good stir. Don’t add water as the gravy needs to be thick.
Transfer shallow fried bitter gourd and simmer for 4-5 minutes.

I would totally recommend this to someone who is looking for some different taste and who likes bittersweet taste. The edges were just a bit crisp, but the whole of it was moist. Hubby later made some karela chips that went well with curd rice.

Considering the health factor, I would make it again.

Roti Wraps - street food

2010-06-20T08:21:00.012+02:00

I just came to know that the word ‘roti’is popular in many parts of the world. Always thought this flat bread was known only to Indians and didn’t have anything to do with not so flat world. In India rotis are eaten usually with a side curry but in most parts of the world it’s eaten as wraps. Hardly makes a difference…I mean you can fill the curry into a roti and it becomes a wrap.

Me and hubby were taking a stroll in a park and were surprised to see a roti stall. Later on our walk back, we were discussing why roti wrap stalls are spreading like wildfires. We came up with our reasons… since wraps are easy to eat at any hour of the day, cheap, and easily adapted to different fillings. And we also realised one more thing…each city has its own street food that people prefer to eat while they are on the run. Can you come up with some street foods? I know one for sure…Mumbai’s Vada Pav.

Interested in knowing more about roti? Read here

Ingredients for the filling (for making one roti wrap)

Boiled black chickpea 1 tablespoon
Any cheese of your choice (I used Kiri cheese cubes)
Mint and coriander chutney 2 teaspoon
Tofu pieces 3-4
Tomato ketchup (I used Heinz)
Shredded cabbage and carrot 2 tablespoon
Some lettuce leaves.
Oil 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Directions

Prepare thin rotis and keep them aside. You can even use leftover rotis for this. I’m assuming you know how to make the dough. If not please ask me. Will write a post on that too:)

Temper oil in a pan, add the shredded veggies and sprinkle salt. sauté well till cooked. In a similar way, shallow fry the tofu pieces.

For making the chutney

In a blender jar, add mint leaves, coriander leaves, garlic cloves, two green chillies, and salt. You can adjust the proportions according to your taste buds. Add little water and blend it till you get paste like consistency.

Assembling…

Keep the roti on the hot plate (tavva) Heat it from both the sides. Then place lettuce leaf, chickpeas, veggies and tofu pieces. Add chutney and ketchup and cheese. Then fold both sides of the roti. Take it down and secure it in place with a toothpick.

Try this wrap and do let me know how you like it.

Red Pumpkin & Chickpea Soup

2010-06-19T15:49:00.008+02:00

Lunch on any weekday (alone) is always uneventful. I usually eat quick bite while watching television. I get excited to cook on weekends when I and hubby eat together. These days we eat out in the patio as it is warm and sunny. For most parts of the world summer has begin but down here it’s cold so we enjoy the sun.
I made red pumpkin soup around 4ish. This is the time when you don’t feel like having coffee but still crave for something to fill your bellies. Hubby would have preferred a pack of Doritos but I wanted to make something healthy.
There is nothing in it that is exotic or unavailable. You can even make this for dinner parties and trust me everyone will love it and you can pat yourself on the back, because it's just so easy… minimalist cooking.

Ingredients

Red pumpkin (diced) 1 cup
Boiled chickpea ½ cup
Garlic cloves 5 to 6
Fresh cream 1 tablespoon
Olive oil 2 tablespoons
Black pepper powder 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Water 1 ½ cups

In a pressure cooker, add diced pumpkin, chickpea, garlic, water, and salt. Pressure cook it for 5-6 minutes (or 8 whistles). Open the cooker once the steam completely evaporates (NEVER use force to open cookers.)

Use a wooden spoon to puree or mash all the ingredients. Check for the soupy consistency…if it’s too watery then cook further but if you have added 1 ½ cups of water it will be fine.Add cream and stir well.
In a pan temper olive oil and add pepper powder. Add this oil to soup. Using a ladle to serve the soup in a soup bowl.

Visit to Fordsburg Square

2010-06-12T19:39:00.004+02:00

I finally found some Indian stores in Fordsburg Square, where I can buy Indian daals and masalas.

Weekend Lunch

2010-06-12T18:18:00.017+02:00

Weekend lunch...two sauces for two different types of pastas and salad with home made dressing.

Cheese sauce and boiled pasta

Pasta in cheese sauce

Tomato sauce

Pasta in tomato sauce

Anand's Cheese pasta served with salad

My tomato pasta on the plate

Instant cabbage kofta curry…very healthy

2010-06-10T13:34:00.014+02:00

I start making dinner by 4 pm and finish it off by the time hubby reaches home. After a cup of coffee, we try to go for walks. This helps me to control my blood sugar. Yesterday, I didn’t feel like cooking because I knew that one medium sized cabbage was waiting for its turn to be cooked. Cabbage is one such veggie which can’t be cooked in many ways, atleast I feel so.

Here is the question…Does this happen to you that most of the times you buy vegetables which you like and ignore the ones that your partner loves? I do this all the time and cabbage is one such vegetable that I usually ignore. I've no problem in admiting that I’m selfish when it comes to food.

Okay I’m in kitchen…chopping cabbage (sans excitement) thinking of some way to make it taste different…and I add two full spoons of yogurt. Damm..now it’s watery and looks pathetic. But will I stop here…you bet. For further misery, I add bread crumbs…now what?!

For few minutes I thought of calling hubby to get something from outside but as a rule we don’t eat out before it’s Friday evening. After getting diabetic, we don’t eat out as much as we did. Plus, we don’t have too many vegetarian options here in SA ( need to explore more.)

Let’s just say that it meant to be a disaster…but what do I get ultimately…an instant kofta recipe. Can you beleive that!? Well you have to.
Honestly it may not be like mughlai koftas stuffed with nuts and dipped in creamy curry but something better than breadcrumyogurtcabbage gravy. Trust me, the taste is decent and browny points for this….no deep frying involved.

So here goes the recipe for my instant cabbage kofta curry….
I’ll stick to the ingredients that I added out of frustration.

For the koftas

200 g of shredded cabbage
2 Table spoons of thick yogurt
Bread crumbs or two slices of bread (brown or white)
Red chilli powder according to taste
2 Tea spoons of curry powder (you can use garam masala)
Salt to taste
Oil for greasing

For the Curry

One medium sized finely chopped onion
Two medium sized chopped tomatoes
1 tea spoon of Ginger and garlic paste
½ tea spoon of Cumin seeds
Red chilli powder according to taste
Salt to taste
Oil
1 table spoon of tomato ketchup
1 cup of frozen peas
Coriander leaves

Method
For making kofta mixture

On a medium heat, start heating oil and add shredded cabbage. Sprinkle some salt so that it starts leaving its water. Add yogurt and watch for the milk solids getting separated from water. At this point add red chilli powder, curry powder, and salt. Mix well.

Transfer this mixture on a bowl. Allow it cool. Later, add bread crumbs and make dough. Keep this dough in the refrigerator for twenty minutes.
Arrange small hand made dumplings on the baking tray and brush some oil on each dumpling and bake it at 200°C for ten minutes. You don’t have to cook them much as all the ingredients are already cooked. Baking is done only to avoid deep frying.

Meanwhile you can make the curry base. To start with, always keep the heat somewhere between medium to low.

In a skillet, heat oil, add cumin seeds, ginger garlic paste and wait till you smell the aroma. At this point, add onions and green chillies and wait till onions become translucent. Add tomatoes and peas. Sprinkle salt, red chilli powder,coriander leaves and ketchup. Give it a nice stir and leave it for few minutes. Add water if required. If you see oil appearing on the top, that’s the signal that the base is ready
Once the koftas are done, place all the koftas in the curry and keep the skillet on low heat for few seconds. This is to make sure that koftas are juicy and tender.

okay, I might have forgot to tell that koftas were little burnt not much...i'm new to the oven that I have in my kitchen...that's why for ten minutes and not 15.

Cornpuri - an oil free snack

2010-06-09T11:01:00.017+02:00

If I told you that I made this snack without using a single drop of oil or saturated fats, would you believe me? Well, you got to because this evening healthy snack is indeed made without oil or any saturated fats.

Evenings are the time when I really feel like snacking and the very first thought comes to my mind is to sit with a pack of doritos or a grill cheese sandwich.
But i know it's not healthy for me to snack this way...partly because one sandwich is not filling and I end up eating two.
And this healthy eating idea doesn’t come always to me but when it comes…I end up making something like cornpuri. I really liked it and so does hubby. Its taste, smell, and colour all are comforting and I don’t have to spend too much time on making it or doesn’t require too many ingredients. A bowl of cornpuri fills you enough and it has all the chatpatta taste of the roadside bhelpuri.

Here’s the recipe

Ingredients

Sweet corn kernels (boiled, I used can ones)100 g
Chopped carrots 2 medium sized
Lemon Juice 1tsp
Chopped green chillies
Chopped coriander leaves
Oregano herb ½ tsp
Salt to taste

Method
Combine carrot, corn, lemon juice, green chillies, herb, coriander and salt in a medium sized bowl and serve. Can this be any easier?

P.S: In place of oregano herb, you can even add pepper powder or red chilli powder. I have this habit of adding oregano to everything.

Warm Spaghetti Salad

2010-06-07T09:40:00.015+02:00

I haven't been in the kitchen much in the past few weeks… blame it on the jet lag, cold whether or simple laziness. What ever I did cook was nothing worth writing about.

The other day I watching BBC lifestyle channel and saw Bill’s cookery show. The spaghetti salad recipe really caught my eyes and I instantly wanted to give a try. But this is not India, where I can just grab my wallet and go grocery shopping. I had to wait for my weekend trip to the farmer's market and bought our weekly stock of veggies and cottage cheese. The recipe asks for few things like cherry tomatoes and olives that are usually not bought by Indian households but this is worth buying because olives do tastes good with herbed paneer and tomatoes. So here goes the recipe…which has been slightly tweaked to suit my Indian taste.

Ingredients

Spaghetti 1 ounce
Garlic cloves minced 3-4
Tomato(small) pureed 1
Cherry tomatoes 4-5
Mixed herbs
Diced capsicum
Cubes of paneer
Olives 4-5
Coriander
Chilli powder to taste
Salt to taste
Oil sunflower/ olive oil

How to cook...

Heat a large pot with water over the stove.
Sprinkle table salt and add few drops of oil to the heating water. This makes sure that spaghetti tastes good and doesn’t stick. Once the water starts boiling, add one ounce of dry spaghetti noodles. Let it boil for ten minutes. It should be slightly undercooked as we will be cooking it again. Once done, drain it under cold running water. Keep it aside.

For the dressing

Heat the pan on medium fire and add few tea spoons of oil, add garlic when the oil is hot. Once you start smelling the aroma; add capsicum, pureed tomato, chilli powder, salt, coriander leaves, and herbs. Stir often. In the end add cherry tomatoes, olives, and paneer cubes and give a good stir. In the end, add cooked spaghetti to this mixture and give a good toss.

Will be back soon

2010-05-04T10:14:00.008+02:00

It's been almost a year that I have written anything here. Diabetes, change of work, my new life and other things kept me really preoccupied. But, I'm going to be back with a bang and from an all together new continent. See ya soon here.

Pumpkin Curry

2009-05-28T13:09:00.011+02:00

I’m just back from an unplanned vacation...to start with Delhi to visit mum and dad and later a short trip to Bangaluru and Mysore. During my trip, I was very particular to visit Shivajinagar’s Russel Market as dad talks a lot about this place. During this trip, I happened to see a pumpkin stall and couldn’t resist buying one.

Cutting a pumpkin is little difficult unless you use a good knife to chop off the skin. I some how felt bad as I got very much attached to it. It looked like a baby to me. So here’s the pumpkin curry that my aunt makes very often and it tastes good with poories.

Ingredients

Pumpkin cut into cubes - 250 gms

Chopped Red Onions – 2 medium size

Tomato Puree – 1 table spoon ( or you can use one medium tomato…diced)

Green Chilies – 2 to 3

Chopped Ginger – 2 to 3 inches

Coriander leaves – handful

Cumin/ Jeera seeds – 1 tea spoon

Turmeric Powder 1 tea spoon

Salt according to taste

Oil 1 table spoon

1. Heat oil in a pan on a medium heat. Add Jeera, ginger and green chilies and cook for a minute. Add onions and Sautee till it turns golden pink.

2. Add tomato puree and stir it for few minutes. By now you’ll see oil appearing on the top, add turmeric and few drops of water if required.

3. Add pumpkin pieces and drizzle salt. Cover the pan with a lid for two minutes. Keep the flame on low. Check whether water is required. Usually pumpkin leaves its own water. The consistency depends on your liking. Add more water if like watery consistency.

4. Cook till pumpkin pieces are soft enough. Add coriander before serving.

Eggplant and Onion Spread

2009-05-14T06:11:00.012+02:00

I admit that during my childhood days I wasn't a big fan of eggplants. But these days i have started liking it. Eggplant and Onion spread has become an usual stuff that can be found in the refrigerator. The days when I have no time to make breakfast this spread comes to my rescue. Here is the recipe…

Ingredients

Eggplant 1 medium size

Finely Chopped Red Onion 2

Minced Garlic Cloves 4 to 5

Oregano 1 tea spoon

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Vegetable oil 1 table spoon

Directions

1. Grease the skin of eggplant with few drops of oil and prick it with a fork. Roast it over stove on medium flame. Once the eggplant is cooked, remove it from the stove. Let it cool, scoop out the pulp (this part can be little messy) and keep it aside.

2. Heat oil in a wok and add finely chopped onions. Sautee it till it turns translucent pink, add garlic pieces,pepper, oregano, and salt. Allow this mixture to cool down.

3. Process the eggplant pulp and the onion mixture to a fine paste.

4. You can keep this spread in a refrigerator up to a week. You can use this spread on breads or as a filling in wraps…options are unlimited. Also, I make sure to buy medium size eggplants to avoid too many seeds in it.

Under 15 Minutes Recipe - Palak Chole Stir Fry

2009-05-09T09:58:00.017+02:00

At home IPL match was going on, I wasn’t really paying attention to the TV since I was checking email,during commercials somebody happened to change the channel the minute I hear something about spinach, I looked up. It was Vir Sanghvi’s 'A matter of Taste' on Travel & Living channel where chef sautéed some chicken with boiled spinach. I made a mental note of that and since I eat vegetarian food, I decided to substitute chicken with garbanzo/chole/ channa/ chickpea. Phew!

This recipe is very simple, just the right amount of masalas to play with and the whole process takes not more than 15 minutes.

Ingredients

Chick Peas 1 cup

Finely Chopped Spinach ½ cup

Ginger Garlic Paste 1 tea spoon

Cumin Seed Powder 1 tea spoon

Kashmiri Red Chili Powder 2 tea spoons

Coriander Seed Powder 1 tea spoon

Aamchur Powder 1 tea spoon

Salt

Oil 1 table spoon

Ginger Juliennes (for garnish)

Directions

Soak chickpeas over night. Drain and wash it properly before cooking it in a pressure cooker for 4 whistles with enough water along with ½ table spoon of salt. Set aside for the cooker to cool off. Discard the water and drain the chick peas.

Heat oil in a wok. Add the ginger garlic paste and spinach. Fry till the spinach turns soft and is cooked.

Add all the spices, salt, and chickpeas. Let it cook by covering the wok with a lid, mixing occasionally.

Remove from fire and garnish it with ginger juliennes.

Note: Adjust seasonings to suit your taste. Tastes yummy just like that or with rotis. Adding ginger helps in digestion.

A New Favourite - Almond Kulfi

2009-05-08T08:45:00.032+02:00

It's been quite a while since I've felt completely sugared out. My eating healthy food decision has made me stay away from any kinds of deserts or high calorie foods. Being sugar deprived for almost two weeks, I badly wanted to eat a desert. The idea of making a batch of home made almond kulfi sprouted after I saw Amul kesar kulfi advertisement on the television. This was my first try and it turned out pretty decent. Nothing was planned.

Whatever was available at home was used. I just added a little of milk and little of mawa that was sitting in the freezer section for some days, so basically without precise measurements just instincts.

Hours later, I was sitting in the living room on a hot summer day with a bowl of creamy kulfi…barely able to contain my excitement. Oh and I didn't have kulfi molds so I used small bowls. You can also read more about my sugar weekness Here.

Ingredients

Skimmed Milk ½ litre

Fresh Mawa ¼ cup

Sugar ½ cup

Cardamom Powder 1 tea spoon

Almonds 25 to 30

Directions

Soak almonds in water for overnight to de-skin it. Once the skin is removed, make a fine powder of it and keep it aside. I didn’t have patience, so I boiled almonds in the microwave for two minutes on high.
On a low heat, boil milk in a pan. Add sugar and crumbled mawa pieces. Stir continuously to avoid milk sticking to the bottom.
Once the mixture starts to thicken, add cardamom and almond powder. Mix well to avoid any lumps and bring all ingredients to a simmer.
Remove from the heat and let it cool. Pour it in the molds or cups and set into freezer for two hours.

You can garnish kulfi with almonds and other nuts of your choice.

This post goes to Sreevalli's Mithai Mela
Just an update...this post also goes for Yasmeen's I scream for ice cream contest.

Quick Julienned Salad

2009-05-05T13:00:00.010+02:00

A few weeks back I was running a bit late for work but still made a point to carry lunch. This was due to my conscious decision to avoid eating out in office cafeteria. After a hurried peek in the refrigerator’s vegetable section, I found a pack of lengthwise (julienned) cut vegetables – some cabbage, carrots, and capsicum. Well, I bought them for making Chinese style noodles but conveniently forgot. Since I had little time to whip up something healthy, noodles were out of question and salad sounded like a great idea. One thing I love about salads is that you can throw anything in and it’s almost guaranteed to work. This was actually a quick throw together of some veggies, Dhurum wheat pasta, and a simple dressing. To be honest, it could have done better with a dash of egg less mayo but I didn’t have any.

This quick warm salad has inspired me to submit this one to 15 minutes cooking event hosted by Mahimaa

Ingredients (Salad for one person)

One bowl of julienned cabbage, capsicum, and carrot (in same quantity)

5 to 6 wheat pasta spirals (you can get this in any local food store)

For Dressing

Lemon Juice 2 tea spoons

Cooking Oil ½ table spoon

Salt (according to your taste)

Black Pepper Powder (according to your taste)

Directions

In a microwave safe bowl, place all the veggies and cook it for three minutes on high. No need to add water as this will result into over cooked veggies. The purpose of microwaving is to make sure that the veggies retain their color and vitamins. Transfer the veggies to a salad bowl.

While veggies are getting half cooked in the microwave, Fill a pot with 2 cups of water, a pinch of salt, and one tea spoon of oil. Bring water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook for five to six minutes until the pasta is done. Strain the pasta using a colander and run it under cold water. Transfer it to the salad bowl. In a small cup, whisk one tea spoon of oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper powder. Before serving, pour the dressing on top of the veggies and using two forks toss everything together. Though I didn't calculate the exact time but over all it was done under 15 minutes.

Middle Eastern Dip - Hummus

2009-05-04T11:27:00.014+02:00

My space has been awfully quiet for few weeks, but I wasn’t keeping well for few days this has severely cut into my blogging time. There were other issues at home front like the maid left us without even informing. The kitchen sink was full of dishes and the house never looked so unorganized. This made me realize how much we depend on our house maids. I badly wanted to take few days off but couldn’t and to add to my misery I’m asked to be a part of one new project. Wonder how women multi-task.

For all those, who think having house helps is a blessing; let me tell you that it’s more of a hindrance than help. I guess a lot of you would vouch for that. Though the new one is hired but she talks a lot (a bit irritating.)

One of our closest people lost his highly paid (IT) job due to the downturn. He just had a baby three months ago and also home loan to pay. Such incidents make you realize that each penny should be saved for such an uncertain future.

It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was just maddening enough to keep me out of the blogging world.

All i ate was rasam rice with potato chips or cracked wheat with curd. We had a long weekend. Labour Day being on Friday, I had plans to cook something different. Hummus was something that I wanted to try for a long time but never got a chance.

It’s a Middle Eastern healthy dip that is made from chickpeas, sesame seeds, olive oil, and garlic. You can add other spices, and what ever you feel like but the main base should be chickpeas otherwise it’s not Hummus. Thursday night I soaked one cup of chick peas/ kabuli channa/ Garbanzo to whip up some Hummus. I realized that it took me only ten minutes to make this dip. This post is little uninteresting but trust me, the delicious recipe makes up for it!

Ingredients

Chick Peas 1 cup

Sesame seeds 2 table spoons

Olive oil or any other cooking oil 2 table spoons

Garlic cloves 3

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Soak the chickpeas overnight in water. In the morning, place chickpeas in a cooker with 3 cups of fresh water and a pinch of salt. Bring the chickpeas to a boil. This will take some 30 to 40 minutes depending on the type of cooker you use.

Strain the chick peas and puree it with garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost fully ground. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula when required. While processor still running, add oil and sesame seeds and continue to process until you get a dip like smooth and creamy consistency.

Appel d'offre

2009-04-06T09:34:00.027+02:00

This Morning I happened to check my Gmail account and found a mail from a communication agency representing The ITDC group. It's an invite, inviting me for spending time with fellow food bloggers (a sort of blogger summit) and with their executive chef R.Copra at Ashok Hotel, Delhi. I never thought this will happen so soon. But my bad luck, I can't be there. All these years when I lived in Delhi, nothing like this happened but now that I'm here in south india...the event is on 7 April...tomorrow. Why god why??? Am I complaining??? Yes, a bit but then I'm more happy with the thought that I could have. Maybe next time.

Jimikand Kebab

2009-04-03T14:27:00.028+02:00

Some of my Sundays are spent with friends like Sanjeet and his wife Nidhi, good friends and Nidhi being a wonderful cook, i get to learn a lot from her. Since they too come from Delhi, I share some common memories and an equal passion for street food. Last weekend when I visited them, she gave me lessons on kebab making. Kebabs…the name itself makes you believe that they can only taste good either in kebab factory or in Hyderabad. But Nidhi’s jimikand (Indian yam) ke kebabs were sure above all that. Crispy exteriors and tender from inside.

Yesterday, the same kebabs were tried in my kitchen. On my way back from work, I bought cut vegetables and pack of cut yam. Although I avoided deep frying and instead opted for shallow fry but it still tasted good.

Ingredients for making six to seven kebabs

Yam Cubes (1 inch) 1 ½ cup

Besan/ Gram Flour 1 tbl spoon

Ginger and Garlic Paste 1 tea spoon

Jeera/Cumin Powder ½ tea spoon

Garam Masala 1 tea spoon

Dry Red Chili Flakes 1 tea spoon

Aamchur/Dry Mango Powder ½ tea spoon

Salt to taste

Finely Chopped Onions ¼ cup

Chopped Coriander Leaves ¼ cup

Finely Chopped Green Chilies 3-4
Melon Seeds 2 tea spoons
Cooking Oil 3 - 4 table spoons

Preparations

1. Boil yam pieces in a pressure cooker for few minutes. For 1 ½ cups of yam you may require 3 cups of water. I use an Indian style cooker and it takes only two whistles for yam to cook. Don’t over cook it. It should be soft yet not pulpy. Using a colander drain the water and wash the cubes under running water. This will remove some starch.

2. While yam is boiled, you can prepare the filling. In a small bowl, mix chopped coriander, melon seeds, chopped onions, chopped green chilies and a pinch of salt.

3. On a medium heat, add some oil in a pan and sauté the boiled yam cubes for one or two minutes. Being a starchy veggie, keep stirring otherwise it will stick. Keep it aside for cooling.

4. Once the cubes cool down, mash it by using either a wooden masher or with your hands. I prefer hands. To this, add besan, ginger-garlic paste, jeera powder, garam masala, chili flakes, aamchur powder, and salt as per your taste. Mix well until you get a dough consistency.

5. Make small bolls with the dough, slightly smaller than a plump tomato. Make slight hole in the middle of each ball using your thumb and fill it with the onion, coriander, melon seed, and green chili filling - press the filling into the hole and cover the filling and reshape it back into a ball shape. Once that is done, gently flatten the boll to give it a cutlet shape.

6. Heat the remaining oil over high heat, slide the stuffed kebabs and shallow fry them until they are golden and crispy on each side. Transfer it on a paper towel to drain the grease. Squeeze some lemon juice on top and serve immediately with hot cup of chai.

Summery Papaya

2009-04-02T09:46:00.023+02:00

The other day I was reading an article published in Reader’s Digest magazine about health benefits of papaya fruit and later realized that indeed i love eating this tropical fruit. I started eating Papaya on a regular basis long time back after one of my friends K. revealed the secret of her glowing skin. Her morning breakfast consists of papaya, oats and lots of water. Not sure about my skin but I do realize that I love eating papaya during summers.

During my hunger pangs, just few bites of it and I get satisfied… guess that’s because of the water content present in Papaya. Saves me from grabbing a pack of chips.

When buying papaya, choose slightly tender papayas with orange skin. If you are buying a greenish fruit, keep it outside and don’t refrigerate. The fruit will ripe fast.

Being from marketing, I feel that this fruit needs more eaters and a good marketing strategy. Just like those overly priced Washington (waxed) apples or Florida oranges that come with manuals. Now who needs manuals on fruits?

Some facts that you can’t ignore

Ripe papaya is not only rich in beta-carotene (vitamin A) but also full of vitamin C and E supply. Not just this but it also contains antioxidants that decreases risk of heart disease, some cancers, and fades wrinkles. Stop buying anti-aging creams like O**y and eat papaya. Not only this but it also improves digestive system, strengthens nails, and hair. High amount of Folate present in this tropical fruit aids in cell production and helps prevent anemia.

Update: Deepa has posted papaya and vermicili halwa on her blog. You can read it here