Stuffed n Spicy Okra!

Allow me to introduce the slimiest of em' all- Okra (aka lady's finger)! Don't read this the wrong way...It is gooey and when cut has a bit of slimy substance oozing out. If you are put off by its appearance then you are missing one of the tastiest and healthiest green vegetable- Okra contains vitamin A & C and is a good source of iron and calcium. I have always loved okra and it tastes amazing with Indian spices. You can chop them in pieces and stir fry them with Indian spices or you can pamper your taste buds by slitting and filling them with Indian spices and frying them. Also known as 'bharwa bhindi' which literally translates to stuffed okra, it is a very popular Indian dish- Enjoy!

Ingredients-

500 gms Okra
Oil for cooking
Onions- 1 cup (sliced)

Spices required for stuffing-

2 tbsp Coriander powder
2 tbsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Turmeric powder
2 tbsp Cumin powder
2 tbsp Dry mango powder (amchur)
Salt (according to taste)

Preparation-

• Wash the okra and pat them completely dry. If it is soggy or wet, preparing the dish is difficult.
• Cut the edges from both ends and slit each okra in the middle.
• In a separate bowl mix all the ingredients listed under spices.
• With the help of your fingers or a small spoon stuff the spices in the slitted okra- it is a tedious job and requires a good 20 minutes to carefully stuff the spices inside okra.
• Retain the left over spices separately.
• In a frying pan, heat some oil.
• Add the sliced onions and cook for a minute.
• Add the stuffed okra to the pan.
• Cover the pan and cook on a low heat (stir occasionally)
• When okra is half cooked, add the rest of the spices.
• Cook on a low flame till the okra is deep fried and well cooked.

Mushroom Mattar Paneer

Thick, rich gravy based dish with peas, mushroom and cottage cheese- Who wouldn't love it? It is really flavorful and works great with rice/roti.

Ingredients-

250 gms cottage cheese (cubed)

1 cup frozen peas (thawed)

1 medium sized onion (chopped fine)

1 tomato chopped

1/2 cup mushrooms (sliced)

1/2 tsp grated ginger

3 garlic cloves (crushed and chopped)

1/4 cup cream

Salt (according to taste)

Oil for cooking

Green chilli (1 chopped)

Spices used for flavor-

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

dash of fenugreek leaves

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

1 small bay leaf

1/2 piece cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

Coriander leaves chopped (for garnishing- according to taste)

Preparation-

• Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Fry for a couple of seconds (they will start to sputter). Add cinnamon & bay leaf- allow the oil to absorb the flavor.
• Add garlic, ginger and green chilli pieces- fry for a couple of minutes.
• Mix onions and cook them till they begin to turn golden brown.
• Add tomatoes and cook on a low flame till they become mushy.
• Mix chilli powder, coriander powder, dash of cardamom, garam masala and fenugreek leaves.
• Continue cooking on a medium flame till the oil separates.
• Add a bit of water to make it a bit saucy.
• Add mushrooms, peas to the sauce and adjust salt according to taste.
• After 5 minutes of cooking, add cottage cheese and blend well.
• Pour in the fresh cream and mix well.

Beans Paruppu Usili - healthy south Indian dish...

This recipe is my mom's signature dish- Authentic south Indian dish with lentils and vegetables (paruppu usili). The lentils play a lead role and taste magical with green beans. Official verdict? It's healthy and sumptuous! It is generally made at home and hard to find in hotels/restaurants...If you love lentils and green beans, this dish is a must try- Beans Paruppu Usili (Tamil name for this dish)

Ingredients-
500 gms finely chopped green beans
3 red chillies (you can go with less spice and use 2)
1 medium cup Channa dal (yellow split chickpeas without seedcoat)
1 medium cup Toor dal (yellow pigeon peas)
asafoetida powder (pinch/dash)
mustard seeds (1 tsp)
curry leaves 4-5
salt (according to taste)
oil for cooking


Preparation-
The big fuss is on lentils here- You have to soak the lentils in warm water for at least half an hour. Coarsely grind the lentils in a mixer with red chillies and asafoetida powder. Make sure you don't puree it- it has to be lumpy and not a smooth paste. Steam the lentils paste for 5-8 minutes and set it aside. Allow the lentils to cool and crumble them with your hands/spoon. Steam the chopped beans separately. Heat oil in a pan and saute mustard seeds with curry leaves. As the mustard starts to sputter, add the crumbled lentils and saute it for 5 minutes. Add the cooked beans and fry it for 5 minutes. Adjust salt according to taste and enjoy! Some add grated coconut to enhance the taste....

Breezy Sunday evening snack- Baked rosemary potatoes!

I recently discovered the herb Rosemary- Never had an opportunity to work with it much and when I did get an opportunity, I fell in love with this gorgeous herb! Rosemary is extremely high in Iron & Calcium- so all the more good reasons for me to get pally with this herb :)  Baby potatoes work great with rosemary and bring in the garlic and shallot twist to make an easy peasy snack!

Ingredients-

500 gms baby potatoes (unpeeled)
5 peeled shallots cut in slices or wedges
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
5-6 crushed garlic cloves
salt & pepper according to taste

How did I make it?

Preheat oven to 200 degree celsius. Throughly wash the baby potatoes and mix them with onions, olive oil, rosemary, vinegar and garlic. Toss well till the vegetables are well coated. Grease a baking pan and place the potatoes in the pan. Bake them for about 30 to 35 minutes till the potatoes are completely cooked. Once cooked, remove them from oven and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Serve hot with chilli sauce!

Eggplant pizza

It's all in the dough- that's what I realised yesterday when making my pizza. The art of making a pizza completely depends on how well you get the dough. I worked hard on my base yesterday and made a good one! Toppings are just a matter of choice and I chose eggplant. If you search the web for pizza, you will have millions of search results and zillions of websites all trying to teach you the art of perfect pizza making. My blog post is another drop in that ocean- If you are new to pizza making and have never tried it from the scratch then you are in the right place.....

For the base-

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp Italian herbs (optional)
Olive oil
1 tsp dry yeast
warm water
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

For the toppings-

1 eggplant chopped
3 cloves of garlic- crushed and chopped
1 medium sized onion chopped
crushed pepper (optional)
green chillies (2) chopped
standard pizza sauce (you can get it from the store or make it yourself)
Mozzarella cheese shredded (3/4 cup)

Dough preparation- 

Allow your yeast to awaken by mixing it in a small cup of warm water and sugar. Wait for five minutes and allow the yeast to froth up. In a mixing bowl add flour, salt, Italian herbs and mix well. Make a well in middle and pour the yeast mixture. Slowly start mixing yeast water with the flour. Add a bit of warm water and knead your dough till it is soft and elastic. Add around 1 tbsp olive oil towards the end and give the dough one final kneading. Store the dough in a fresh bowl and cover it with damp cloth. Allow it to raise for an hour.

Toppings- Saute garlic and green chillies in olive oil for a couple of seconds before adding onions. As the onions begin to turn brown in color, add eggplant. Toss in the pepper and adjust salt according to taste. Cook till the eggplant becomes soft and tender.

Final preparation-

After an hour or so, when the dough has doubled in size simply punch out the air from it and gently knead it on a floured surface. Flatten the dough to a square shape and fold the edges. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the base before adding the pizza sauce. Spread the pizza sauce, eggplant topping and mozzarella cheese on the base. Bake it for 15 to 20 minutes @ 220 degree celsius.

Red quinoa & green beans medley!

I was late in joining the quinoa cult- though late, I am glad that I joined :)- The good thing is, working with quinoa is super easy and you can be really creative with it. It works great with Indian flavors and there isn't any spice I haven't tried with Quinoa. To be honest, when I purchased it for the first time I had no idea what to do with it. I kept staring at the packet for a long time...I cursed myself for the impulsive purchase and googled all the recipes that can be found on Quinoa. Finally, I decided to boil it and make it into a salad. I boiled it, mixed it with cucumber and tomatoes and made it into a salad- I will be lying if I wrote that I loved that damn dish. It was a disaster. Those were my initial days with Quinoa- Now, I can work magic with Quinoa and anyone who doesn't like quinoa will think twice if they tried it my way (with Indian spices).

Ingredients-

2 small cups red quinoa

1 cup green beans- 

1/2 cup carrots

1 medium sized onion (sliced)

1 tomato chopped finely

1 tsp cumin seeds

curry leaves- chopped

salt according to taste

asafoetida powder (dash of it will do- omit if you want)

chopped green chilli pieces (2 green chillies used)

2-3 tbsp grated coconut

1 tsp hot madras curry powder (alternatively, you can work with garam masala)

How did I make it?

Bring some water to boil and put your quinoa in it. Allow the quinoa to cook for 15 to 20 minutes (till it is soft and well cooked). Once your quinoa is cooked, keep it aside. In a separate wok, heat oil and add cumin seeds & dash of asafoetida powder. Allow the cumin seeds to sputter. Add onions and green chilli pieces, fry them till translucent. Toss in the tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Mix green beans, carrots and toss well. Allow the vegetables to cook and become tender. Add salt, grated coconut, curry powder and curry leaves. Mix it thoroughly by adding a bit of oil. Blend in the cooked quinoa to this mixture. Cook for five minutes on a medium flame. Garnish with coriander leaves!

Aloo Gobi!

I realised that one Indian dish which has become universal is Aloo gobi. I was talking to a swiss lady in the tram and she confessed that she loved Indian dishes. In her german accent, she said- I love aloo gobi! A very popular menu in Indian restaurants, it sure has caught the fascination of people- Cauliflower (gobi) florets & potatoes (aloo) sauteed with Indian spices!

Ingredients-

1 medium sized cauliflower (seperate the florets from the stem)

4-5 potatoes - peeled and cut in small cubes

one medium sized onion (chopped finely)

garlic & ginger paste 1 tsp

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

cumin seeds - 1 tsp

red chilli powder- 3/4 tsp

garam masala- 1 tsp

coriander powder- 1tsp

salt according to taste

kasoori methi leaves (dry leaves crushed) 1 tsp (fenugreek leaves)

How did I make it?

If you are a bit careless, you will land up making this dish into one soggy yellow paste. The potatoes take a longer time to cook and cauliflowers cook pretty easily. First step is to heat oil and add cumin seeds. As the seeds start to sputter, add onions. Fry the onions for 3-5 minutes till they become translucent. Add ginger-garlic paste and cook for a couple of minutes. In a small bowl of water, mix coriander powder, garam masala, chilli powder and turmeric powder to a liquid paste. Add this paste to the onions that are getting sauteed and cook for a couple of seconds. Mix in the potatoes and cover the wok to cook. When potatoes are half done, add the florets and salt. Cover to cook. Open after a few minutes, add kasoori methi leaves and mix them thoroughly. Sprinkle a bit of water, if need be. Allow the cauliflower to cook with potatoes for 5-8 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy it hot!

Veggie fried rice, anyone?

You take your brain that calculates the calories and just throw it out of the window on friday nights. Then you go make sumptuous food in the kitchen and eat it to your heart's content. After all, you slog the entire week in your office and you deserve a break? That is exactly what I did. The recipe is simple with no tedious work involved (except chopping the veggies, which I don't mind). Sit back and enjoy!

Ingredients-

3 cups water

1 1/2 cups rice

olive oil for cooking

1 onion chopped

1 bell pepper chopped

1 carrot chopped

1/2 cup green peas

2-3 garlic cloves (crushed and chopped)

red chilli flakes (1/4 tsp)

2 tsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Salt

Preparation- 

First step will be to cook your rice. Cooking your rice without getting it sticky is an art. You have to rinse your rice thoroughly and allow it to soak in water for 20 to 30 minutes. Boil 3 cups of water in a deep bottomed pan. As the water starts boiling, add the rice and cover the pan. Cook it in a low flame for about 20 minutes. In a separate pan, heat some oil and saute all the vegetables with garlic. Add chilli flakes, ground pepper and soy sauce. Cook on a medium flame till all the vegetables are crisp and not mushy. Add the cooked rice to this mixture. Adjust the salt according to your taste and cook the rice for a couple of minutes. Enjoy!

Craving for simple home food...

Yipeeeeeeeeee....I have completed 50 blog posts! Going down the memory lane, I realized my odd ramblings in the initial posts, my struggle to explain flavors, my triumph with certain dishes, my pictures (and the list goes on). To be honest, I have hardly done anything spectacular compared to the other food blogs I frequent. On the other hand, I am happy to have my own corner where I can put my thoughts on food...it's just a great feeling! I have always enjoyed good food and for me cooking is pure joy and creativity. 


Today, I am in no mood for anything remotely fancy. Just want to eat simple food- the usual vegetables and my roti with dal. After all, nothing beats a simple home cooked food and this is what we come home to...don't we??


Spinach potato curry- (Aloo palak)


Ingredients-
Fresh spinach leaves - chopped/shredded finely(2-3 cups) 
5 large potatoes (boiled, peeled and cubed)
1 large onion (chopped finely)
4-5 cloves of garlic (chopped finely) - need I say anything on my love for garlic??
1 red dry chilli - broken into pieces
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp paprika powder
1 tsp coriander powder
salt (according to taste)


Preparation- Once you have assembled the ingredients, it's an easy ride from there. Heat oil in a wok. Add cumin and dry chilli pieces. Allow them to sputter. Add the garlic and stir for a couple of seconds till the oil absorbs the garlic flavor. Add the onions and cook for few minutes till they start turning golden brown. Add the chopped spinach leaves and cook them till they become soft. Spinach tends to reduce in size as they cook. Now add the potatoes, salt, turmeric, paprika powder and coriander powder. Cook them on a low flame (stirring occasionally) for 5-8 minutes till the potatoes blend well with the spinach. Enjoy with roti and dal!

Dal- (lentils) 


I love cooking lentils with minimal flavors. The only flavors I like in my dal are garlic, cumin, crushed pepper, coriander leaves and fiery green chillies. I also like using three types of lentils- mung dal- 1 cup, chana dal- 1/4 cup and toor dal- 1/2 cup. Pressure cook them till they melt into your mouth. In a frying pan, melt 2 tbsp of butter. Add cumin, green chilli pieces (slit them with knife - do not deseed them). As the cumin seeds start to sputter add chopped garlic (4-5 big cloves). Cook them for a couple of seconds before adding the cooked lentils. Add crushed pepper and salt according to taste. Serve them with sprinkled coriander leaves. Some like the dal a bit soupy (like me) and some love it rich and thick. Vary the quantity of water accordingly when cooking your dal! 
    

Vegetable stir fry Thai noodles

This is a simple recipe which can be cooked with no fuss- Ah, the hard part is chopping the vegetables...Especially, when someone like me becomes over ambitious and tries to add all known vegetables to mankind :P


Jokes apart, stir fry noodles can be made without much fuss and you can be super creative with it- 

Ingredients-

• 1 packet of noodles
• 1/2 red bell pepper (chopped into thin strips)
• 1/2 yellow bell pepper (chopped into thin strips)
• 1 medium sized onion (sliced)
• 1/2 zucchini (chopped into thin strips)
• 1/2 carrot (chopped into thin strips)
• 1/4 cup sweet corn (that comes in a tin)
• 5-6 pieces of mangetout or snap peas
• 1/4 cup sprouts
• 1/4 cup mushrooms (sliced)
• 1 spring onion (sliced)
• 1 small piece ginger (chopped into thin strips)
• 3 cloves garlic (crushed and chopped)- Needless to say, I am a huge fan of garlic!
• 2 tbsp mild soya sauce
• crushed black pepper
• 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
• salt (according to taste)

Phew! now that's one long list of vegetables...In all the hassle, I forgot to include tofu pieces-

Preparation-

• Add the pack of noodles to a pan of boiling water. Allow it to simmer for five minutes. Don't over cook your noodles and keep loosening them with a fork to stop them from sticking together.
• Drain and refresh in a bowl of cold water. Keep it aside.
• Stir fry the vegetables in a wok. Add the ginger and garlic first. Allow the oil to take the flavor. 
• Saute the sliced onions.
• Add mushrooms, bell peppers, carrots, sprouts, spring onions and sweet corn. Keep stirring the vegetables.
• Add the zucchini, snap peas and continue stirring.
• As the vegetables start to get tender add the soya sauce, crushed black pepper and chilli flakes.
• Add salt according to your taste.
• Keep stirring till all the ingredients are well combined.
• Add the noodles to the wok and stir fry for five minutes. 
• Sprinkle some chopped coriander (optional) and serve immediately!

Flavorful quinoa!

It is small, red and very intimidating to look at! It will look at you from the package and dare you to come up with something innovative...Once you get to know it, you will be humbled by its sheer goodness- that's quinoa in a nutshell for me :) I spiked it up with some Indian flavors- Check out!

Ingredients-

Red quinoa- 2 cups

Bell peppers- 1/2 cup (preferably yellow one- color combination works great with red quinoa)

Broccoli (1/2 cup)

Onion - 1 medium sized (sliced)

Corriander leaves - chopped

Cumin seeds

Dry red chilli piece- broken in half (alternatively, you can use chopped green chillies)

2-3 tbsp grated coconut

Salt according to taste

Sambar powder (1/2 tsp)- completely optional (alternatively, you can use garam masala, curry masala powders)

** sambar powder is a spicy powder consisting of lentils, corriander seeds, mustard, black pepper, curry leaves, fenugreek seeds** (you will get it ready made from any Asian grocery shop)

Preparation-

Bring some water to boil and put the quinoa in. Allow the quinoa to cook for 15 minutes or until the water is fully absorbed. Keep it aside. In a seperate wok heat some oil. Add cumin seeds and allow them to sputter. Add the red chilli pieces and sliced onions. Fry them till they are translucent. Toss in the bell peppers, broccoli. Cook for few minutes before adding sambar powder and salt. Add the cooked quinoa and cook all the ingredients for a few minutes. For the finishing touch add the grated coconut and corriander leaves. 

Pizza for a rainy saturday afternoon?

Rain, rain come again coz I wanna eat pizza again...Lol! Yeah, that is my theme song for this afternoon after having eaten a sumptuous home-made pizza :) Pizza is my all time favorite. I have eaten almost every brand available in the market. Love all versions- thin, thick, stuffed. So, when a lovely saturday is ruined by rain gods, all you can do is wander around your kitchen thinking of all possible food items you can eat. Why not pizza? Why not make it from a scratch- dough, topping? Why not settle down on your couch with a good pizza and watch a slick flick? That is how the rest of my story unfolds....

Sound- pitter, patter...(Rain)
Characters-  (Base/ Main characters) All purpose flour, yeast, italian herbs, salt, water, sugar
Characters- (side role/toppings) - Tomato sauce, garlic, jalapenos, onion, baby corn, olive oil

** Warning- This is my first shot at pizza making (turned out pretty good)- Will improvise to a thin crust in my next attempt!

Action- mix, knead, roll, spread...

Pizza is all about the base! The base has to be perfect- Any one can spread the topping if you get the base ready made. How do you make a good base? I did a lot of research on net to learn about the base (courtesy- Youtube videos). This is what I did to get it correct-

Take about 300 ml of warm water and mix about 2 tsp of yeast. Allow the yeast to grow and ferment in the warm water for a few minutes. Add 1 tbsp of sugar, 1 tsp Italian herb mix, 1 tsp salt and mix it with the yeast water. Dump about 2 cups of flour on a flat surface. With the help of yeast water knead the flour till it is soft and fluffy. Put the dough in a container and seal it with a cloth. Allow the dough to raise for an hour.

Once the dough has risen, with the help of your hands flatten the dough. You will really get a good pizza with a pizza stone- Unfortunately, I don't have a stone and had to use a deep pan to make it.  Put your flattened pizza in a pan-

For the tomato sauce- Saute chopped tomatoes in olive oil with some oregano, garlic, chilli flakes and salt. Simmer it on a low flame till it thickens to a sauce consistency!

Spread some olive oil on the base before spreading the tomato sauce. Spread some chopped onions, chopped red bell peppers, shredded pizza cheese, jalapenos and baby corn. Pop it in the oven for 20 minutes at 400°F. 

Not bad for a first attempt- I will be back next time with a thin crust...Watch out !

Guacamole dip with veggie tortilla

Gosh, guacamole is one recipe that has so many variations and you never get tired of trying different combinations of it! This one is slightly different and I gave it a twist with some ground cumin and pepper-

What do we need?


4 Avacados
about 2 tbsp lemon juice
2 garlic cloves (4 for a stronger garlic flavor- I am a huge garlic fan)
1 tomato chopped (the fleshier it is the better it comes out)
cilantro/corriander leaves
1 medium sized onion chopped
1/4 tsp ground cumin (dry roast cumin seeds on a pan till light brown and then grind it)
green chillies (4) (serrano chillies are preferable, if not use the normal ones like I used in this recipe)
salt and dash of ground pepper (according to taste)

How did I put together?

Peel and mash your avacados in a bowl. In a mixer/food processor, blend the rest of the ingredients for about five seconds. Add your mashed avacados and again blend them for few seconds. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving- Popularly used as a dip, I used it for the tortilla wrap- You can store it in a tightly closed jar and keep in fridge for two to three days...

Simple veggie filling- for the tortilla

You can use any vegetables for the filling- (I used 4 medium sized potatoes and 2 carrots for the filling). Chop the carrots and potatoes into cubes and boil them for around 10 minutes (till they have softened a bit and not lost their shape). In a separate wok add oil and once it is hot, toss in some fennel seeds. Add the potatoes and carrots and fry for few minutes. Add 1/2 tsp of chilli powder and salt. Cook the vegetables on a low flame till they are golden brown. Add chopped coriander leaves for the extra flavor.

Final presentation- 

Take a wheat tortilla and spread your guacamole on it. Fill in the veggies and roll them to enjoy your evening!

You can be really creative with the filling- Instead of guacamole, you can use salsa or garlic sauce with the vegetables- Makes a great lunch box recipe!

Tamarind fever

This is one recipe I was keen on making for such a long time. My mom makes great tamarind rice- though I got the recipe, I never got around to make it. You get instant tamarind powder mix at shops that can be added to your rice and the dish will be ready within 5 minutes. The joy of making a gravy from scratch and mixing with rice is lost in this fast paced world...In reality, I was cleaning my book shelf and found a notebook with some recipes from mom. The first recipe was tamarind gravy and I made it as my mom would make it- The best part is this gravy can be kept up to two weeks and I am enjoying some smashing tamarind rice whenever I feel like it- Enjoy!

Ingredients- Gravy

Tamarind paste (3 tsp)- dilute them in a bit of water
mustard seeds
yellow split peas (chana dal- 1tsp)
dry red chilli pieces- 2
salt
sesame seeds- 2 tbsp
groundnut- 3 tbsp
corriander seeds- 2 tbsp
paprika powder 1/2 tsp

Preparation -

In a wok, add some oil. Once the oil is hot throw in some mustard seeds and allow them to sputter. Add the yellow split peas, red chilli pieces and 1 tbsp of groundnuts. Fry for 1 minute and then add around 4 glasses of water to this. Add the diluted tamarind paste, 1/2 tsp paprika powder and salt (according to taste). Allow this tamarind water to boil. In a separate pan, fry the sesame seeds till light brown (in a bit of oil ) and set it aside. Fry the groundnuts and corriander seeds separately and keep it aside. In a mixer, grind the sesame seeds, groundnuts and corriander seeds to a fine powder. Once the tamarind water reduces to half, add this powder and stir it for few minutes. Keep it on a low flame and allow the mixture to thicken. Keep simmering the mixture till it becomes a good rich liquid gravy.

Now for the tamarind rice- Add the gravy to cooked rice...Simple! Vary the proportion of the gravy to your rice according to your taste-

Tofu balls...

I am the proud owner of Jamie oliver's book- (the new one- Jamie does Spain, Italy, Sweden, Morocco, France and Greece). More than 70% of this book contains non vegetarian dishes and me being a hard core vegetarian (funny part is I am allergic to eggs...LOL) can only gaze at all the photos and pages. One recipe caught my eyes- Mini meatballs. I decided to make this with crumbled tofu instead of minced meat and did as stated in the book. I was quite skeptical when I started making this dish. I stuck to the recipe and boy, it paid off- The tofu balls turned out amazing and vanished within seconds...

Ingredients

olive oil

a small bunch of fresh parsley

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped 

(original recipe calls only for 2 cloves) 

250g crumbled tofu

50g fine bread crumbs 

(original recipe calls only for 25g)

salt and ground pepper

(original recipe calls for sea salt)

1 small dried chilli 

2 large ripe tomatoes

There are a lot of minor adjustments I made to this recipe. The recipe calls for egg yolk, which I omitted as I am allergic. Instead, I used extra bread crumbs. Jamie uses spanish extra virgin olive oil for this recipe. I just used plain olive oil.

Preparation- Heat some olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Fry some onions (use half portion of onions) and chopped parsley for few minutes. As the onions start to soften, add half portion of the chopped garlic. Fry for few more minutes, until the onion is completely softened. Transfer them to a large mixing bowl and leave it to cool completely.  Once the onions are cooled, add the crumbled tofu, bread crumbs, some chopped parsley leaves, dried chilli, salt and pepper. Use your hands to shape them into lemon-sized balls. Pop them in fridge to firm for half an hour. 

When the tofu balls are ready get them out of fridge. Heat some water in a pan. As the water starts to boil, drop in the tomatoes. After a minute or so, you will see the skin has cracked. Fish them out of water with tongs and allow them to cool. Once cooled, discard the skin, squeeze out the seeds and finely chop the flesh. Put a pan on high heat and add a good amount of olive oil.  Add the tofu balls and fry them for 10 minutes till they are brown. Add the remaining chopped onions and garlic. Fry for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped tomato and keep shaking and stirring. Simmer for around 5 minutes until the onions are soft and cooked. Transfer everything to a serving dish, season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over some olive oil and scatter over the rest of the parsley leaves. 

Enjoy!