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!

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!

Lord Ganesha or elephant god is pretty popular in Hindu religion. Before starting any work, you always seek his blessings. Today, we celebrate his birth and it is celebrated in a grand manner all through out India. Here are some delicacies I made to please Lord Ganesha- Enjoy!

Sweet Modak

My favorite is the sweet modak. It's a simple dish made out of rice flour stuffed with jaggery and coconut which is steamed to perfection.

Ingredients-

Only four ingredients are required for this dish- Rice flour (2 cups), Jaggery (2/3 rd of a cup), 1 cup grated coconut, crushed cardamom for flavor.

Preparation- To prepare the dough, boil water in a wok. As it starts to boil, add one spoon oil and switch off your gas. To this boiling water, add the rice flour slowly and keep mixing till it becomes a smooth dough. For the filling, crush the jaggery to a powder consistency. On a low flame, melt the jaggery and as it starts to melt add grated coconut and cardamom. Mix thoroughly. Just ensure that the filling is not too mushy or too hard. Take a small ball of rice flour and flatten it with your hand. With your finger press the middle portion of the flattened dough so that it resembles a cup. Fill about half a spoon of the filling in middle. Close the dough with the filling in middle and shape the top to a small pointed dome.  Steam this for about 10 minutes and enjoy!

Medhu Vada- 


This dish sounds simple but requires precision and a bit of effort. All you need is a lentils batter which is shaped like a doughnut and fried till golden brown.

Ingredients- Urad dal (1 cup) - white gram/lentils, 2 tsp rice, chopped curry leaves, black pepper corn, 1 green chilli.

Preparation- Batter preparation is the tough part. Please note that urad dal and rice should be soaked in water for an hour. Drain the water completely and blend the lentils in a mixer to a smooth batter with green chillies, salt, curry leaves and pepper. The batter should be firm and not watery. Avoid using water when you blend it in a mixer. Once the batter is ready, heat oil in a wok. Shape the batter like a doughnut with a hole in middle and fry it to golden brown on both sides.

Sundal (Chick peas)-

This is a simple and a easy dish to make. All you need is chick peas steamed till they are soft and tender (alternatively, you can use a can of cooked chick peas). In a wok, heat some oil. Toss in some mustard seeds. As they start to sputter, add chopped green chillies and chopped curry leaves. Add the cooked chick peas with a bit of salt and mix them thoroughly. Final touch is the grated coconut. Add half a cup grated coconut to this and enjoy!

Spicy & flavorful rice...

For our team dinner, we went to a fancy restaurant and the food was great. I loved the starter (cucumber salad with dill). For the main course, I ordered a vegetable stir fry with rice. The way they had described it on the menu sounded really exotic. When I received the dish (don't have pictures to show- unfortunately) it was a simple dish where the chef had cooked the vegetables with soya sauce and blended it with basmati rice. I was expecting something complex but received something simple and flavorful! Full marks to the chef :)- Well, this is not a restaurant review- But an explanation of my source of inspiration for my egg plant rice. For my dish, I cooked the eggplant (with Indian flavors, of course) and mixed it with basmati rice to create a simple and a unique eating experience. Enjoy!

Ingredients-

1. Basmati rice (cooked- 2 cups)
2. 1 egg plant (medium sized)
3. onions (sliced- 2 small)
4. one tomatoe (chopped)
5. 3 cloves garlic
6. green chilli (1- chopped fine)
7. salt
8. paprika powder
9. cooking oil

For the Indian flavors- (optional)

1. 3/4 tsp garam masala 
2. corriander leaves chopped fine
3. mustard seeds (1/4 tsp)
4. grated coconut (2 spoons)

Preparation- Cook your basmati rice and keep it separate. Preparing the egg plant is quite simple. In a wok, pop some mustard seeds in cooking oil before adding onion. Saute the onion. Once onion is golden crispy brown, add crushed and chopped garlic, chilli pieces and tomatoes. Don't allow the tomatoes to get mushy. Add egg plant (chopped in cubes) to this and stir fry with a bit of oil. Add paprika powder, salt, garam masala, grated coconut. Give it to a twirl and finally add the corriander leaves. Mix the vegetables with rice and enjoy!

Tofu n corn stuffed roti

Cooking is therapeutic...After a long day at the office, you just need to unwind- I pity people, who think cooking is a waste of time. My kitchen is my world and I simply love trying out new combinations just for the fun of it. One such combination is the tofu and sweet corn stuffed parantha/roti (Indian flat bread). Got to admit, I loved this combo and if you are looking for something different, then this is worth a shot!

What do we need? 


For stuffing-

• crumbled tofu (1 cup)
• 1/2 cup canned sweet corn
• salt
• garam masala (1/2 tsp)
• chilli powder (1/4 tsp)
• oil for mixing
• chopped corriander leaves
• chopped green chillies (optional)

For base/making rotis-

• wheat flour 
• water
• salt 

How did I put together?

In a bowl, mix wheat flour, water and salt. Knead it to a smooth dough and keep it aside. Use oil to make the dough silky and smooth. Combine all the ingredients listed above for filling. Just ensure that the filling is not soggy or too greasy otherwise it becomes difficult when you make the rotis. Take a small ball of dough and flatten it with a rolling pin. Place around 2 spoons of filling in the middle. Fold the sides with the filling in middle so that it appears as a small pouch. Flatten this pouch to a round shape- 

Need visual description?

In a pan, fry the paranthas till golden brown on both sides. Serve hot with pickle/sauce.

Bring on the cabbage...

Cabbage is one vegetable which never catches my attention- I will go to the market and be interested in all the vegetables except cabbage. Never got around to know that vegetable, may be? Did you know that cabbage is a good source of vitamin c and contains a great deal of roughage! So finally, I swing by the market and get a big cabbage and cook it south Indian style- Enjoy!

What do we need?


1 big sized cabbage ( chopped)
mustard seeds (1 tsp)
cooking oil
curry leaves
turmeric powder (1/2 tsp)
chilli powder (3/4 tsp)
salt (according to taste)
broken dried red chilli pieces (3-4)
1 cup grated coconut

How did I put together?


The tough part is chopping the cabbage. Once done, cooking is just a matter of time...In a wok add oil and allow the mustard seeds to sputter. Add chilli pieces and chopped curry leaves. Toss in the chopped cabbage and allow it to cook on a low flame. I will sprinkle a little bit of water and cover the wok till the cabbage cooks and becomes soft. Do not put too much water otherwise the cabbage becomes soggy. As the cabbage becomes tender, add turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and grated coconut. Mix thoroughly with a little bit of cooking oil. Enjoy with rice or rotis!

My mom is my inspiration and is the worst critic of my cooking- She looks at my post and says, this looks fine but you could have done it a bit differently. So I go, how different? She said, you need to chop the cabbage super fine (which apparently I haven't done in my recipe) and second instead of sprinkling water and cooking your cabbage, use liberal dose of oil to make it more sleek. I defended my cooking saying it is a healthier version. She wouldn't let me go so easily and said to compensate for the extra oil, you could omit the coconut. Okay, the final verdict is- you can do so many variations with this dish- Some add peanuts, yellow lentils (chana dal), green peas and some may choose to omit coconut powder. As usual, be creative and don't be afraid to bend the rules with cooking!

Happy Janmashtami!

Today, as per hindu mythology, Lord krishna was born. What do I say about him? He is one god who doesn't need any penance, just simple devotion. Did I drift too much into Hindu religion? Ok, let me come to the point- Hindus celebrate Janmashtami today marking the birth of Lord Krishna. I love this festival very much- Guess why? Because of all the snacks we would make in the name of God ;) and my favorite part is decorating the house with foot prints. Yes, you heard it right- We would draw foot prints (with the help of chalk or rice flour) with the belief that little lord krishna will come crawling in our home and eat the snacks we made for him! 

This is murukku- which requires a smooth dough consisting rice (1 cup), 1 spoon gram flour, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp sesame seeds, 1 big teaspoon melted butter, salt and pinch of asafoetida powder. Ofcourse, you need a murukku machine. This machine has small plates with which you can get any shape you want- Put the dough in the machine and squeeze them in desirable shapes :)

 This is called thattai which is made from a smooth dough consisting rice (1 cup), 2 tsp urad dal (also called black gram flour), 1tsp bengal gram (soaked previously), sesame seeds 1/2 tsp, pinch of asafoetida powder, chopped curry leaves, salt and melted butter. Once the dough is ready you need to take a small ball in your fist and flatten it to a thin round. Fry it in oil!

This is the main attraction of our snacks for this festival- Also called cheedai this is pretty simple to make once you have the dough. We need a smooth dough consisting rice (1 cup), 1 spoon gram flour, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp sesame seeds, 1 big teaspoon melted butter, salt and pinch of asafoetida powder.  Once the dough is done, roll them in small balls and fry them in oil. Just ensure that when you roll the dough into small balls, the shape should be uniform and don't roll them big!

 

This is called ribbon pakoda and is made with a smooth dough consisting 2 cups rice flour, 2 cups gram flour, 3/4 tsp paprika powder, melted butter, pinch of asafoetida powder and salt. You need murukku machine to make them. 

Happy Janmashtami to all the believers! 

Thanks you for the award!

I have this wonderful opportunity to thank my fellow blogger for the award- Do check out her blog for some amazing recipes- http://torviewtoronto.blogspot.com/


In accepting this award, I must add a link to the person giving the award and pass it to other blogging friends whose blog I love- so here is my list of people for the sunshine award- (Will keep updating this list)

http://eq-myblog.blogspot.com/- Her recipes are simple and represent day to day Indian cooking
http://chackoskitchen.blogspot.com/- Chacko's kitchen- for some really mouth watering dishes...
http://thedirtyoven.blogspot.com/- Dirty oven- I am in awe of all the baking blogs especially this one!
http://myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com/- For her quick and easy recipes


Thanks again for the award! Keep cooking...

Yummy cottage cheese!

This recipe is my take on a famous north Indian dish called Kadai paneer. "Kadai Paneer" literally translates to cottage cheese or paneer cooked in a kadai or frying pan. Simply put, you stir fry paneer (cottage cheese) with bell peppers and Indian spices. With right spices and flavors, this dish tastes fantastic and has never failed in wooing my audience. Can be served with rotis/naan or simply toasted bread-

What do we need?

Paneer / cottage cheese (cubed - about 1 cup)
Bell peppers- red, yellow and green- 2 cups sliced (generally green one is used) 
Tomatoes (2- chopped)
Onions (3- sliced)
Ginger (1/2 tsp grated)
Garlic (4 cloves crushed and chopped)
Green chilies (2 -chopped)
Salt (according to taste)
Cumin seeds(3/4 tsp)
Coriander powder (1 tsp)
Garam masala (1 tsp)
1 bay leaf
Cinnamon stick
Red chilli powder (1/2 tsp)
Dash of cardamom powder
Chopped corriander leaves for garnishing

How did I put together?


Heat butter in a frying pan. Add cumin seeds, green chillies, bay leaf and cinnamon. Add a dash of cardamom powder for extra flavor. Stir for a second before adding grated ginger, finely chopped onion and garlic. Cook for five minutes till the onion turns golden brown. Add tomatoes and cook on a low flame till the tomatoes get mushy. Add the spices- corriander powder, paprika powder and garam masala. Continue cooking it on a medium flame till the oil begins to separate. Add bell peppers and saute for about five to seven minutes. Add paneer and cook on a low flame till the paneer takes in the spices. Garnish with chopped corriander leaves.

Lime n lemony rice for a lazy afternoon!

There comes a time when you simply don't feel like entering the kitchen. One quick-fix and delicious recipe for all the rice eaters, is lemon rice. If you cook Indian food then I am sure you must have cooked this or heard about this recipe from somewhere. I love lemon rice for its simplicity and of course the minimum time it takes to cook this up! If you have a blog about Indian food then lemon rice is an absolute must. The only effort required in this recipe is the rice, rest is easy....


Alternatively, if you have left over cooked (plain) rice, then this recipe is all the more comfortable to make. I had left-over cooked basmati rice from previous night and this is what I did with it. 

In a wok, I added a bit of oil and allowed it to heat. Tossed in some mustard seeds, cumin seeds, broken pieces of dried red chilli and split chickpeas without seedcoat (also called Bengal gram). As the mustard seeds started sputtering, I added some ground nuts, cashew nuts (optional) and fried them a bit. As the nuts started turning golden brown, added turmeric powder (1/2 tsp) and garam masala powder (1/2 tsp). Original recipe does not call for garam masala. I add the garam masala to get that extra flavor (it is completely optional). Cooked on a low flame for a second. Tossed the cooked rice to this mixture and mixed well till the rice turned yellow and blended with spices. Added salt, 1 and 1/2 tsp lemon juice and chopped curry leaves to make this dish sumptuous! Took flat ten minutes to get this on table (took more than half an hour to put up this blog though…phew) - Enjoy :)

Bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and garlic butter

Absolutely love this simple Italian starter. Easy to make and really sumptuous!


What do we need?


2 ripe tomatoes
slices of cut Italian bread
4-5 cloves of garlic (crushed and chopped)
fresh basil leaves (chopped)
olive oil (1/2 tsp)
butter
salt and pepper
mozzarella cheese for the topping


How did I put together?


Step 1: First we need to prepare the tomatoes. Boil water in a saucepan and drop the tomatoes in as the water starts boiling. Cook for a couple of minutes till the skin starts to split. Take the tomatoes out of boiling water and run them under cold water for a minute. Peel the skin, remove the seeds and roughly chop them.
Step 2: Prepare some garlic butter. Put the chopped garlic in a small cup and mix butter and salt. Blend them well till you achieve a spread consistency.
Step 3: Get the topping ready. Mix chopped tomatoes, basil leaves, salt, pepper and olive oil in a bowl.
Step 4: Rub the bread slices with garlic butter and toast them in a oven/griller till they are light brown on both sides.
Final step: Pile up the tomato filling on the bruschetta and add the mozzarella on top- Pop them in the oven for a couple of minutes till the cheese melts. Enjoy!

Cottage cheese bean wrap

Full credit for this recipe goes to my favorite chef Jamie Oliver. I love his recipes and the ease with which he creates culinary magic. Being a vegetarian, I hardly get to cook most of his recipes, but I do get my inspiration from his recipes. One of my friends tried his cool mexican bean wrap and recommended that I should give it a shot. The recipe is pretty simple and I did not follow Jamie's recipe by the book. I tried to add a bit of creativity on my own and here is the verdict- YUM...

Ingredients-

1 onion (sliced)
1 cup sliced bell peppers (red and green)
2 cloves garlics (crushed and chopped)
1/2 tsp chilli powder (if you want it less spicy add only 1/2 or a dash)
1 tsp tomato puree
1 small canned tin of red kidney beans (drained and washed)
4 tortillas
1 cup cottage cheese/ paneer (cubed)
1 fresh tomato chopped
dash of crushed black pepper
salt (according to taste)

For the filling-
Saute onions in oil for 7-8 minutes. As they turn golden brown, add garlic, chilli powder, dash of black pepper and fry them for a minute. Add the chopped tomato, tomato puree and kidney beans. Cook them for 10 minutes till the juice has reduced. Add salt according to taste. Take half of this mixture and using a hand blender/mixie grind it to a paste. This becomes our spread on the tortilla. Set aside.
In a separate frying pan, saute bell peppers and cottage cheese. As they turn light golden brown, toss in the other half of the mixture (not used for the bean paste) and fry them for 3 minutes. This is our stuffing.

Final step-
Spread the bean paste on the tortilla. Add around 2 spoons of the filling. Sprinkle some grated cheese (original recipe calls for this, but I omitted it). Roll the tortilla and place them in a pre heated oven (200 degree celsius) and cook them for 15-20 minutes. Serve them with garlic sauce.

Fridge clean-up!

So, here I am, left with a stack of bread (white bread) with no one in mood for any kind of sandwich. I hate wastage of any kind- especially food :( - I put on my thinking hat and whip up something really flavorful which just vanished within seconds. Check out!

Ingredients-

• 6-7 bread slices
• 1/2 cup bell peppers (red and yellow)
• green peas (1/4 cup)
• chopped corriander leaves
• curry leaves (5-6 leaves-chopped)
• 2 green chillies ( chopped)
• one medium sized onion (sliced)
• 1/4 cup grated coconut
• groundnuts
• salt (according to taste)
• paprika powder- 1/2 tsp
• turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• garam masala/curry masala powder-1/2 tsp
• cumin seeds

Preparation-
Cut the bread slices into small squares or shred them into tiny pieces and keep aside. In a wok, add butter or cooking oil and allow it to heat. Add the cumin seeds and wait for it to sputter. Saute onions, chillies, groundnuts, bell peppers and peas. Throw in the spices- paprika powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder/curry masala powder with salt. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes before adding the bread pieces. Add the grated coconut and curry leaves. Allow the bread pieces to take in the flavor and turn golden brown. I will leave the wok partially covered and put the gas on a low flame to ensure that the bread turns golden brown with the flavor. Of course, my signature to any dish is the chopped corriander leaves. Just finished eating and all I can say is BURP :)

Stuffed Bell peppers

If you are a vegetarian, the first question everyone will ask you is- where do you get your proteins from? – Answer is simple: Tofu, of course! I was not a huge fan of tofu- because it tastes like rubber and practically has no flavor at all. Slowly, I started experimenting and discovered new exciting ways to make tofu fun! This is another one of my experimental recipe and turned out pretty well- As it is an experimental recipe, you can be super creative and have a little fun of your own! Enjoy J

For the stuffing you need crumbled tofu (around 2 cups), 2 small onions chopped, 1 big tomato chopped, 2 green chillies chopped, ¾ tsp paprika powder, 1 tsp garlic and ginger paste (alternatively, you can use crushed garlic and grated ginger) and salt according to your taste.

Ofcourse, for the base you need 4-5 paprika/bell peppers, with the top cut off and de- seeded-

To prepare the stuffing- you need to sauté chopped onions, crushed and chopped garlic, grated ginger and chopped chillies in a frying pan with liberal dose of cooking oil/butter- As they start to become golden brown add the tomatoes. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add tofu, paprika powder and salt. Fry them till tofu blends well and gets the flavor. If you are fond of garlic like me, then add 5 big pieces (crushed and chopped) otherwise, go easy on garlic. To make it spicy, add up to one tsp of paprika powder. Finishing touch will be the chopped coriander leaves.

Once the stuffing is done, all we need to do is quote our bell peppers with butter and fill them with the stuffing. Grill them in an oven for 20-30 minutes till they are cooked and become golden brown. You can add mozzarella cheese on top for that extra zing! Enjoy with hot chilli sauce J