Sprouted Moong bean salad with apples (Vegan, fat free)

Even after running the kitchen all by myself for 15 years now, I still love to stand in front of gadgets of kitchen section in any store. Even though I love gadgets, I sometimes feel old methods work better and with no complications. Example is food processor. When I bought it, I was so excited to use it for chopping all the vegetables. But, I figured it out that it takes more time to clean the gadget after using that I prefer a good knife and a cutting board for chopping most of the veggies. Recently, one of my friend gave me a gadget meant for sprouting the different grains. I haven't opened it even to this day. I prefer the simpler and easier way of sprouting any of the grains. This salad is filling, healthy, refreshing and easy to make after you have sprouted the beans. This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali.

One Year Back - Carrot Rice
Two Years Back - Chocolate Chip Chocolate Bread
Three Years Back - Zucchini Bread
Ingredients: 
Dry whole Moong beans - 3/4 cup
Apples - 2 cored and diced fine
Carrots - 2 medium peeled and grated with fine grater
Red onion - 1 medium chopped fine
Lime - 1 juiced (divided use)
Salt - to taste
Green chillies - 2 minced fine (Or use 1/2 tsp red chilli powder)
Chaat masala - 2 tsp (See Notes)
Cilantro - chopped 3 TBSP 

Method:
To sprout the moong beans:
Rinse the moong beans and soak in enough water overnight. In the morning, drain all the water and spread it on a shallow dish or a plate so that the moong beans are in single layer. It is to ensure that all the beans sprout at the same time and evenly. Cover with a lid (not a tight fitting lid)  and let it sit. You will see tiny sprouts in 6 hours and if you keep them longer, they grow. You can decide when you want to stop its growth and at that stage, you can refrigerate them. In winter, it takes longer to sprout them and if it takes more than a day, rinse with clean water and drain and cover and repeat. Or leaving it in the oven with the light on works very well too.

Making the salad:
To a bowl filled with water, add few drops of lime juice. To it, add the chopped apple pieces. Make sure all the apple pieces are immersed. Let it sit like that for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, take the sprouts, red onions, carrots in another bowl. Add salt, lime juice, chaat masala, green chillies and cilantro. Drain the apples and add it to the bowl. Mix everything gently and check for the salt and adjust if needed. Serve immediately or serve chilled.

Notes:
If you cannot find chaat masala, you can use some garam masala. If you don't like that, you could just use some chilli powder along with cumin. That gives enough flavor to the salad without using oil.

Enjoy.

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Peach Salsa

Here comes the first recipe of summer. It is already so hot here that I don't feel like baking or cooking that takes long time standing in front of the hot stove.  I had bought few peaches this weekend. I love all kinds of fruits and I am the only one who likes to eat peaches and plums in our house. When I tasted one, it was sour. It was ripe, but sour. So, I thought of making something with it and here comes a peach and corn salsa. Usually Salsa is served with chips or some other main course. I ate it as is and it is delicious.

 One Year Back - Chickpeas and Tomato Rice
Two Years Back -  Bisibelebhath, Savory Sourdough Aebleskiver, Minty Coconut Rice
Three Years Back -  Sourdough Applesauce Spice Cake
Ingredients: 

Peach - 3 medium to large pitted and chopped into small pieces (I did not remove the skin, but you could)
Corn - 1 ear boiled in salted water and shucked (Or use about 1 heaping cup of frozen corn kernels microwaved for 3 - 4  minutes and then cooled)
Jalapeno - 1 or two green chillies minced
Garlic - 1 clove minced
Cilantro - chopped 1/4 cup
Onion - 1/2 of a medium one chopped fine (Preferably red onion, but I was out of it so used yellow onions)
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 2 tsp (optional but adds taste)
Lime juice - from half a lime

Method:
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving.
This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali, 
Enjoy.

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Kosambari / Southern Indian Salad

Every cuisine has salads in it. Southern Indian cuisine calls it 'Kosambari' in Kannada, where I am from. Recently, I had made this salad and my neighbor happens to visit. I, being me (did I ever tell you that I fed the flooring guys every single day? no wonder they took few extra days to finish the job) had to offer her some and she loved it. She found it unusual for us to use lentils in a salad that too in raw form. That prompted me to write this post. Otherwise, this is no recipe at all and every Indian will know how to make it.

One Year Back - Super thick Tomato Garlic flat Bread
Two Years Back - Onion Creamcheese spread
Three Years Back - Quinoa Chickpeas Pulav
Ingredients: 
Carrots - 3 large peeled and grated
Mung dal / Dehusked, split mung beans - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste
Green chillies or red chillies - 3 or as per taste (chopped if green chillies, broken if red chillies)
Lime - 1
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida / Hing - a generous pinch (optional)
Curry leaves - few
Cilantro - chopped 2 TBSP
Coconut scrapings - 3 TBSP (optional, I have not used it)

Method:
Soak the mung dal in enough water for 45 minutes to an hour till soft. Rinse and drain completely. In a bowl, take the grated carrots. Add the drained mung dal to it. In a small pan, heat oil. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add asfoetida/hing, curry leaves, green or red chillies. When they get toasted, turn off the heat and add the contents of the pan to the bowl containing carrots and dal mixture. Add salt, lime juice, cilantro and coconut if using. Mix well and adjust the salt if needed. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Notes:
This can be made using cucumber too. Either use mung dal or use chana dal / dehusked, split chickpea dal.

Enjoy.

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Toasted Couscous Salad (with spicy yogurt dressing)

A quick post with a very simple recipe. Toasted couscous salad with cucumber and apples is kind of perfect for a hot day. You can vary the veggies and fruits in this recipe to suit your needs easily. Don't like or have green chillies, use some cayanne or black pepper or omit altogether. Whatever you do, it tastes just fine.

One Year Back - Eggless Vanilla Bundt cake
Two Years Back - Baby Shower Cake
Three Years Back - Quinoa Chickpeas Pulav
Ingredients: 
Israeli couscous - 2 cups (Or 1 8 Oz bag)
Apples - 2 cored and cut into chunks (I left the skin on, but you might peel if desired)
Cucumber - 1 peeled and cut into chunks (remove seeds if they are big)
Sweetened dried cranberries - 1/2 cup (optional or use toasted walnuts)
Salt - to taste
Water - 4 cups

For the dressing:
Yogurt - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Green chillies - 2
Cilantro - 2 TBSP
Mint - 2 TBSP
Honey - 1 TBSP
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

 

Method:
In a skillet, dry roast the couscous until it has few brown spots. It will take less than 4 minutes. To the same pan, add 4 cups of water. Add a pinch of salt and let it cook till tender. There will be some water left but don't try to cook till all the water evaporates. Rinse the cooked couscous with cold water and drain. Let it come to room temperature.

In a bowl, mix the cooled couscous, apples, cucumber, sweetened dried cranberries. Toss. Take all the ingredients mentioned in "For the dressing:" above in a blender jar. Blend till smooth. Pour it on to the salad and toss well. Check for salt and adjust if needed. Serve with more sweetened dried cranberries if desired.

This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali, 
Enjoy.

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Roasted Red Bell Pepper Vinaigrette

You ask my daughter what is her mom very good at. She will say without even blinking her eyes "Cooking and Baking". I actually don't like it when she says that or anyone introduces me with a tagline of good cook and baker. These two attributes are just part of me and not my personality. Anyways, from my kids' school, they ask for donation of desserts and other stuff for Teacher appreciation dinner every fall. I have made few things in the past years but didn't want to volunteer this time. But, my kid came with the request form and asked me to make something this time too and I couldn't disappoint her. After back and forth emails with the organizer, I was asked to make a salad of my choice.  Dressing was also my choice and I went with this roasted red bell pepper vinaigrette which became a big hit at home.

One Year Back - Homemade Cake Mix
Two Years Back - Eggplant Curry in spicy coriander sauce
Ingredients: 
Roasted Red Bell Pepper - 2 drained (Or use fresh red bell pepper and roast them)
Garlic - 4 pods
Red Wine Vinegar - 1/2 cup
Black Pepper powder - 2 tsp or to taste
Salt - 1 tsp or to taste
Sugar - 1 - 2 TBSP
Hot Sauce - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 3/4 cup (You can use 1 cup, but I reduced it a bit)
Italian seasonings - 2 tsp crushed

Method:
Take all the ingredients in a food processor or blender jar except olive oil and vinegar. Make a puree by adding vinegar slowly. At the end, slowly stream in extra virgin olive oil. Adjust the salt if required. Serve with your favorite salad.

Notes:
This stays fine in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Oil settles at the bottom and needs stirring before serving.

Enjoy.

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Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

My 7 year old reads a lot. To encourage her reading passion, I go every week to the library and get her different books. Last week, I got her Harry Potter - the first book in the series. It is quite big for a 7 year old to read and to encourage her, I started reading her one chapter every day. I realized how much I enjoyed reading before having kids and getting busy with work and other stuff. When I told her that I probably should stop spending time on this blog and read regularly, she said, do half and half. That was very sweet of her saying not to stop writing this blog. Don't you think?

Anyway, coming to the point of this post, I had seen a bottle of raspberry vinaigrette at my work refrigerator. Someone had kept it there and it caught my attention because it said it was fat free. When I checked the ingredients, it was so high in sugar that I thought it was not healthy at all. Fat in moderation actually is good for us. I made this vinaigrette using the famous combination of strawberries and balsamic vinegar and used the strawberry preserve in it. You will find that this has half the fat as a regular vinaigrette. In any vinaigrette, oil is twice the quantity of acid but I have used equal quantities in this more like a marinade.

One Year Back - Vegan Carrot Quick Bread
Two Years Back - Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Ingredients: 
Extra virgin Olive Oil - 1/4 cup
Balsamic Vinegar - 1/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Hot sauce - 1 tsp (or black pepper to taste)
Strawberry Preserve - 1 heaping TBSP
Orange juice - 1 TBSP (Or water, apple juice anything works)

Method:
Mix all the ingredients and whisk to combine. Use with your favorite salad.
You could use fresh strawberries instead of the strawberry preserve. In that case, omit orange juice completely. Mash about 1 1/2 TBSP of strawberries chopped fine and add about 2 tsp of sugar.

Enjoy.

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Chickpeas & Cucumber salad with mint and garlic dressing

I love chickpeas. It can be in any form and I would eat it without hesitation. And one of the things chickpeas is used the most in Southern Indian households is in the use of salad called 'Sundal' in Tamil or 'Guggari' in kannada. I make quite a few of these since it is a nice source of protein for us vegetarians.

The moment I received the package of Roasted Garlic O Olive Oil and White Balsamic vinegar, courtesy of O Olive Oil , I knew I am making a salad out of the two products. This product review organized by 'Erecipecards' had to have a recipe using the products given. So, here is the easy, one pot meal kind of salad that is not only filling but has all the goodness of veggies and beans.

One Year Back - Eggless Coconut Bundt Cake
Two Years Back - Easy Mango milk shake
Ingredients: 
Chickpeas - 2 cups dried (Or use 4 cans of 15 Oz rinsed and drained)
English Cucumbers - 2 chopped into chunks (if using regular cucumbers, peel and seed before chopping and use about 3 - 4)
Olives - 1/2 cup halved

For the dressing:
Roasted garlic O Olive Oil (Or extra virgin olive oil) - 4 TBSP
White Balsamic vinegar (or vinegar of your choice) - 4 TBSP
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 TBSP
Garlic - 2 pods (Increase it to 5 if using regular extra virgin olive oil)
Mint leaves - Loosely packed 1/4 cup
Green chillies - 3 - 4 (Or black pepper to taste)


Method:
If using dried chickpeas, soak them overnight in enough water. Drain and add fresh water and pressure cook till soft. Drain and place it in a bowl. When the chickpeas have cooled to room temperature, add cucumbers and olives to the same bowl.
To make the dressing, take all the ingredients mentioned in 'For the dressing' section in a small jar of a blender. Turn it on to get a paste consistency. Pour it on the salad ingredients and toss. Adjust the salt if required. Let it sit for an hour in the refrigerator before serving.

Notes:
You can add red onions and even tomatoes to it. Dressing was perfectly balanced with flavors. You could use up to 1/2 cup of olive oil as per the general dressing formula. I didn't want so much fat in the dressing so used the same quantity as the vinegar. If you are using canned chickpeas, go easy on salt.

Enjoy.

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Carrot Ginger Dressing

Spring is here. Have you started your spring cleaning? I am pretty good at clearing up closets and stuff that the kids have outgrown. But, there is one aspect of the house that I cannot force myself to let go of. Even when I don't need them anymore. They are cook books. I decided that it is high time for me to get rid of many cook books that I have not even used more than once. When I was sorting through them, there was a pasta salad recipe that had carrot dressing. This dressing is inspired by that. This dressing is creamy, feels rich but is not.

One Year Back - Whole Wheat Savory Carrot Rolls
Two Years Back - Marshmallow Fondant, Cranberry Pull-apart buns
Ingredients: 
Large carrots - 4 peeled and sliced
Ginger - 1 inch peeled and diced
Olive oil - 2 TBSP
Vegetable broth - 1 1/2 cups plus more as needed
Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (or black pepper, cayanne)
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Red wine vinegar - 2 TBSP (You could use lemon juice, lime juice instead)

Method:
In a saucepan, boil carrots and ginger with vegetable stock.  When it comes to a boil, cover with a lid and let it cook till carrots are soft. Add salt, cumin powder if using and red chilli powder. Simmer for 2 - 3 minutes and turn off the heat. When cool enough to be blended, take it in a food processor or a blender. Add Red wine vinegar or lemon juice, oil and blend. If it is very thick, you can add more water or broth to loosen up the dressing. Adjust the salt if needed and serve on salad. Refrigerate the dressing for up to 3 days.

Notes:
If you cook the carrots without closing the pan with a lid, you might end up adding more liquid to get the desired consistency. You could add more oil than specified, but I didn't want this to be a high calorific dressing. Since this dressing is more of water based (carrots are watery, broth is water based), the dressing will settle a bit. Just stir it and use it.

Enjoy.

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Black bean and Corn Salad

What will you do if you have almost 3 bunches of green onions/scallions in the refrigerator that need to be used up? I don't know about you, but I decided to make this salad. You could call it salsa if you like. Very simple, easy to put together particularly if you are using canned beans. And makes a nice side for any meal. If you do not have a blender, you could chop the ingredients that I blended very fine and crush them to make a paste by hand. It will take time, but is doable.

One year back - How to make chilli oil, Cashew Brownies
Two years back - Almond Joy Cookies
Ingredients:
Black beans - dry 1/2 cup (or use 1 15 Oz can drained and rinsed very well)
Corn - fresh or frozen 1 cup
Green onions - 6 - 8 both green and white parts chopped
Olive oil - 1 TBSP
Lime juice - from half of a lime (alter to taste if needed)
Jalapeno - 1 (seed if you don't want heat)
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1 - 2 tsp
Cilantro - 1/3 cup chopped
Garlic - 1 pod
Cumin powder - two generous pinches

Method:
If using the canned beans, rinse and drain and add it to a bowl. If using the dry beans, soak it in water over night and cook till soft. Drain the liquid and add it to the bowl. If using fresh corn, you might want to boil the corn in water to which a little  bit salt is added and take about 1 cup of the kernels. Since I was using frozen corn, I let it cook in the microwave. Add that to the black beans. Add green onions. Mix them all together. In a small blender jar, take cilantro, salt, sugar, oil, cumin, garlic and jalapeno. Add lime juice and churn. It will be like a thin paste. Add it to the bowl and mix all well. Adjust the salt if needed. Let it sit for half an hour before serving.

Enjoy.

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Maple Sesame dressing

Couple of people at my work keep salad dressings in the office refrigerator. I am always curious about the ingredients on any processed, packaged foods since it is good to know what is alright to buy when pressed for time. This time, the bottle of salad dressing I picked to check the ingredients was a fat free raspberry dressing. It had so much sugar and ingredients that I could hardly pronounce, I was wondering what is the use of eating something like that and calling it healthy. Plus I don't understand how one can salad with the same dressing every day. Here is one more addition to the few salad dressings I have posted on the blog.

One year back - Vegan Mango Cake
Two years back - Butternut squash Pasta, Eggless Blueberry Coffee cake, Chewy Granola Bars
Adapted from - The book by Costco
Ingredients:
Sesame Oil - 4 TBSP
Rice Vinegar - 4 TBSP
Maple Syrup - 6 TBSP
Salt - 1 tsp or per taste
Hot sauce - 1 TBSP or per taste
Ground cumin - 1/2 tsp
Fresh cilantro - 1 TBSP chopped fine
Ginger - 1/2" inch grated and juice extracted

Method:
Grate ginger. Sprinkle tiny bit of salt on it. Let it sit for a minute or two. Take the grated ginger in your hands and squeeze the juice out of it. You should get about 1 tsp of juice roughly. Place it in a jar that you will be storing the dressing in. Add the remaining ingredients to the jar and cover and shake well. Use as needed. Refrigerator and use within a week.

Notes:
You could add about 2 TBSP toasted sesame seeds to the dressing.
Enjoy.

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Apple Churumuri / Spicy Apple Salad

I do not have too many memories of eating in restaurants when I was young. Mainly because we didn't have too much money to spend on that luxury. But, I do have very fond memories of myself and two of my friends taking long walks almost every other day and eating 'churmuri' - a street food made with puffed rice and onions, carrots on the way back home. There was this vendor near 'Ballal Circle' in Mysore who made it so good that thinking about it makes my mouth water even now after 2 decades.

We waited for him to get mangoes in season to enjoy mango churmuri. I had not eaten it anywhere but there. He didn't use any puffed rice in that at all. It was mango pieces (Totapuri mavinakayi) mixed with some onions, chillies, and spices. It used to be very very spicy but that made us like it even more. I had made the regular churmuri couple of weeks back for my friends when we went on an impromptu picnic. That made me remember that mango version and since I can't get good mangoes here, I converted that to use apples. Grannysmith apples work better, but I didn't have any, so I used whatever I had on hand.

One year back - Chocolate Rolls
Ingredients:
Apples - 5 medium sized ones (I used 3 gala and 2 ginger gold)
Red Onions - 2 medium or 1 large chopped fine
Carrots - 5 medium peeled and grated
Green Chillies - 4 or as per taste chopped very fine (almost minced)
Oil - 2 TBSP
Lime - 1
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Cilantro - chopped about 1/4 cup
Roasted peanuts - 1/4 cup chopped coarsely (Or use these spicy peanuts)
Salt - to taste

Method:
In a bowl, take the grated carrots, chopped onions, minced green chillies, cilantro. Mix well. Fill water in a bowl. Add a pinch or two of salt to it or squeeze couple of drops of lime juice. Core apples and cut them into small chunks. Add the chunks to the bowl of water. Let it sit for few minutes and then drain completely. Add them to the onion, carrot mixture and toss together. Sprinkle oil, salt and squeeze lime juice on it and mix well. If using chilli powder, sprinkle that too. Mix everything well and check for the seasonings. Adjust if necessary. Add coarsely chopped roasted peanuts and mix. Serve immediately.

Enjoy.

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Sweet Couscous and Apple Salad

Last month, I had participated in the '#ricelove' blog hop and it was fun. This time, I decided not only to join in the fun but to host it here so that you can all be part of the fun too. I had to make something with apples. My mind raced all over from obvious cakes, muffins, breads and pie recipes. I thought let me make something that doesn't involve baking this time and here is a salad which is healthy since it doesn't have any fat in it at all except for few calories from the nuts and coconut that I used. It does have sugar though which, can be reduced for a low sugar version.

One year back - Sweet Milk Rolls/Buns, Cake Decorating Basics - Part 7
Ingredients:
Israeli Couscous - 1 cup
Water - 1 1/4 cup (Or as per suggestion on the package)
Sugar - 1/4 - 1/2 cup (I used 1/2 cups since it was more of a dessert)
Cinnamon stick - 1 (1/2")
Cloves - 4 
Golden Raisins - 1/2 cup
Apples - 3 (I used two ginger gold and 1 gala)
Lemon juice - 1 TBSP
Sweetened dried cranberries - 1/2 cup (Or your favorite dried fruit)
Sweetened Shredded Coconut - 1/2 cup (optional)
Pecans - 1/4 cup

Dressing:
Orange juice - 2 TBSP
Maple syrup - 2 TBSP
Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom - 1/4 tsp (optional)
nutmeg - a pinch

Method:
Take 1 1/4 cup of water mixed with 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan. Add the cinnamon stick and whole cloves to it and bring it to a boil. When it starts boiling, add couscous, golden raisins and stir. Let it come back to a boil and then simmer it covered for 8 - 10 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed and the couscous is tender. Set aside to cool.
Keep a bowl of water to which 1 TBSP of lemon juice is added ready. Core and chop apples to bite sized pieces. I didn't peel the skin, you could if you want to. Place all the apple pieces in the water to avoid discoloration. 
In a skillet, take pecans and toast till nice smell comes. About 4 - 5 minutes. Let it cool. When all the cooked ingredients are at room temperature, start assembling the salad. 
Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients mentioned in the 'Dressing' section. Chop toasted pecans coarsely reserving few as whole for garnish. Take the cooled couscous in a serving platter. Add dried cranberries, drained apples, chopped pecans, coconut. Mix well and pour the dressing all over and mix once again. Garnish with the set aside pecans and serve immediately or refrigerate till serving time.

October is #applelove month - 

Please join in on the #applelove fun by linking up any apple recipe from the month of October 2011.  Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #applelove event. The twitter hashtag is #applelove.

Co-Hosted by:

Baker Street 
Bloc de recetas
Bon a croquer  
CafeTerraBlog  
Cake Duchess
Elephant Eats 
Hobby And More
Knitstamatic 
Mike's Baking
Mis Pensamientos

Queen's Notebook
Simply Reem
Skip to Malou
Teaspoon of Spice
The Daily Palette  
The Spicy RD 
Vegan Miam  
Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen

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Kale Saute with black eyed beans, Sweet potatoes

My friends tease me on not repeating the dishes every so often. They are right. I make something new in some way every day. Or almost every other day. They tease my husband even more saying he doesn't get to eat the same thing more than once. It is not true, there are a lot of staple things that I keep making, but I do make something new a lot of times in a week.

I feel bad about this obsession of mine when my in-laws stay with us. They are used to eating same thing every day. All they want is stir fried veggies, rotis, sambar and traditional Iyengar dishes. They don't complain, at least in front of me though.

One year back -  Roti making simplified, Homemade Yogurt making
Ingredients:
Black Eyed Beans - 1 cup (dry)
Kale - 10 Oz bag (You can use up to 1 pound)
Sweet potato - 1 huge
Oil - 1 TBSP
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Broken red chillies - 2
Salt - to taste
Lime or lemon juice - from half of a lime/lemon or to taste

To grind: (this is totally optional, but gives a great taste)
Coconut - about 1/2 cup grated
Green chillies - 4 (optional)

Method:
Soak black eyed beans in enough water for 4 - 6 hours. Alternately, you can soak them in hot water for 1 hour and then cook them in the pressure cooker. Whichever method you use to cook, cook them till they are very soft. Drain and set aside. Peel the sweet potato and chop them into chunks.
In a skillet, heat oil. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter,  add broken red chillies. Add the sweet potato chunks and sprinkle some salt. Mix well and close the lid. Let the potatoes cook well. When they are soft, add the chopped kale (I was using pre-washed already cut kale). Mix well. If you want, you can even add some spinach to it but spinach leaves out water which, kale doesn't. Keep that in mind. When kale is cooked down a bit, add the drained black beans. Adjust the salt if needed. Cover with a lid and keep the heat at the lowest possible setting.
In the mean time, take coconut and green chillies in a blender and blend them without adding water. If you opt not to use the green chillies, you can skip this step. Add the coconut green chilli mixture to the pot and mix well. Turn off the heat after a minute and squeeze some lemon or lime juice to taste. Mix well. This one can be eaten as is or as a topping on bread, pita or tortilla. I served with Indian tortilla or roti.

Enjoy.

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Chickpeas Salad in Yogurt with Toasted Pita

I do not know what the name of this dish is. When I was in grad school, there was a woman who took couple of classes with me. She was Lebanese and one day, she made this when I visited her. I am sure she told me what the name was, but I don't recall. I have made this many times with lot of variations in herbs. But today, I made it exactly as she made except for adding mint leaves. It is very refreshing and is perfect for summer afternoons. Even though this is considered a side dish, I think this makes a good main dish by itself.

One year back - Spinach Corn Curry
Ingredients:
Chickpeas  - 1 cup (dry)
Yogurt - 1 cup (Preferably very thick yogurt)
Garlic - 1 clove grated or minced fine
Black Pepper - Coarsely crushed 1 tsp or to taste
Salt - to taste
Cayanne pepper - 1/2 tsp or to taste
Mint leaves - 8 - 10 chopped fine (optional)

To serve:
Pita - 1 (I used whole wheat pita)

 Method:
Soak chickpeas overnight in enough water. In the morning, drain the chickpeas and add fresh water to it and pressure cooker for 2 - 3 whistles. You can cook it on the stove top till very tender too. Or use about 1 1/2 cans of chickpeas drained and rinsed. Let it come to room temperature. Add grated or minced garlic, black pepper, cayanne pepper, salt. Mix and add yogurt. Mix well and add chopped mint leaves. Adjust the seasonings if required.

Just before serving, toast a pita till crisp.  It is easier to do it in the toaster oven or regular oven, but you can do it on the stove top too. To toast it on a skillet, set it at low heat, toast it till you get the desired consistency. Tear the toasted pita into pieces and top the salad with it and serve.

Enjoy. Pin It

Summer Salad with asian dressing

I have been missing in action. At least to a certain extent. Reason being too busy with work and some other new project I have taken up. If you saw the movie 'Julie and Julia', you should remember how restless Julie was when she skipped blogging for few days, I have been restless like that. I have so many ideas, recipes to try, experiment and blog about it, that just writing about those will make a lengthy blog post. Anyway, here is a quick and delicious salad for you all to enjoy. Pretty healthy too.

One year back -  Tofu Yogurt Masala, Chocolate Loves Vanilla Bread
Ingredients:
Corn - 3 ears
Cucumber - 1 english cucumber or 2 regular cucumbers chopped into bite sized pieces.
Tomatoes - 1 large or 2 small
Scallions - 5 - 6 both green and white parts chopped
Cilantro - chopped about 3 TBSP (use a combination of mint and cilantro for a different flavor)

For the dressing:
Sesame Oil - 3 TBSP
Rice vinegar - 2 TBSP
Soy Sauce - 1 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Hot sauce - 1 tsp or to taste
Garlic - minced 1 clove
Ginger - grated about 1 tsp
Brown sugar - 1 tsp (optional)


Method:
In a colander, place chopped cucumbers. Sprinkle some salt and leave it in the sink for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry. Boil corn in salted water for about 15 - 20 minutes. You could grill them if you have a grill and use it. Run through cold water and shuck the corn kernels. Add it to the bowl along with cucumber. Add chopped tomatoes, scallion to the bowl. Add chopped cilantro and mix well. In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients mentioned in the 'For the dressing' above. Or shake them in a jar. Pour it onto the veggies and mix well. Adjust salt if required and serve.

Those who live in the area that is in the path of  'Irene', be safe, be careful.

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French Salad Dressing

We buy a lot of things. Mainly because we can't make everything and we don't have time to make everything even if we wanted to. Right? But there are certain things I don't understand why people buy. People buy yogurt when it is so easy to make at home. Then there are these Salad dressings. Come to think of it, I can understand why people would want to buy bagged salads. Yes, it saves a lot of time and is great on the go. But Salad dressing? All you need is to mix oil and acid and flavorings, salt, pepper or something to give heat and shake it in a bottle. How hard is that? You buy the salad dressing, you have to store it in the refrigerator after opening. You make the salad dressing, you keep it in the refrigerator. So, what is the difference here? Yes, there is one big difference, there are no preservatives in the salad dressing you made. So, you will have to use it up within a week. I have never bought salad dressing till date. Here is another dressing if you want to try make it.

One year back - Eggplant Curry
Adapted from - 365 Easy Vegetarian Recipes
Ingredients:
Canola Oil - 1/2 cup
Red Wine Vinegar - 1/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Paprika - 1/2 tsp
Cayanne - 1/2 tsp (I used 1 tsp of hot sauce since I like heat)
Dry mustard - 1/2 tsp (I used 1 tsp of spicy mustard)
Sugar - 1 tsp

Method:
Take all of the ingredients in a bottle. Cover with the lid and shake very well. Dressing will settle. Shake before every use. Keep it refrigerated and use within a week.

Salad you see in the picture has cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, Red onions garnished with sweetened dried cranberries.

Want to see other Vinaigrette recipes? Salsa Vinaigrette, Buttermilk Salad dressing,
Italian Vinaigrette, Raspberry Vinaigrette.


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Salsa Vinaigrette

My favorite city in this country is Houston. I lived there for 4 years and I have very fond memories of that city. But now that I am in north east, don't understand how I could like that city as much as I did. I am miserable because of the heat. I am more miserable because I cannot turn the oven on unless I bake very early in the morning or late in the night. Every summer I think about buying a small over the counter toaster oven, but then decide not to buy it due to counter space issues. This time though, I am seriously considering it. Again..

Coming to the point of this post, I have a bad habit. Or rather a good one. I read the label for ingredients on everything I buy. Sometimes I decide not to buy since it is so simple to make it at home. I saw a bottle of 'Salsa Vinaigrette' in BJs. I read the label and came up with this. I have to tell you, this is an awesome vinaigrette. It was great since I didn't have to turn the stove or oven on. Perfect for summer.

One year back -  Creamy Spinach Corn Curry, Zucchini Chutney
Ingredients:
Red Onion - 1/2 of a small
Tomato Paste - 1 TBSP
Jalapeno - 1 whole or as per taste (seed if you cannot take the heat)
Garlic - 1 pod
Cilantro - 1/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Lime juice - from one medium lime
Olive oil - 5 - 6 TBSP

Method:
Take all the ingredients except olive oil in a blender. Puree the mixture. Start drizzling olive oil and run the blender till everything is creamy. Use in the salad of your choice. If you do not like the raw taste of onion and garlic, you can saute it in a bit of oil and use in this recipe.

Salad you see in the picture had romaine lettuce, cucumbers, red radish, some red onions. You can choose to finely chop the ingredients instead of pureeing it. Just whisk everything together and slowly incorporate olive oil.

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White Beans Salad

It is official. I don't like parsley. I have tried to like it many times. But today, I decided to call it off. I am alright using a little bit parsley here and there. But making a salad with parsley (with 1 - 2 cups of it) is not my cup of tea or should I say herb. This is the reason you will never ever see a post on Tabouleh on this blog.

This salad is adapted from the weight watcher's magazine. I chopped parsley and was about to add it to the salad. I tasted couple of leaves and knew I would be wasting the whole salad if I added it to the bowl. Dumped it to the trash can (yes, me frugal lady also has her moments with wasting money) and used cilantro instead.

One year back - Vegan Sourdough Pancakes
Ingredients:
Northern Beans (dry) - 1 cup (soaked for 6 hours or overnight)
Cucumber - 1 medium peeled and diced
Plum tomato - 1 diced
Cilantro - chopped 1/2 - 3/4 cup
Green chillies - 2 sliced thin (optional you could use crushed black pepper instead)
Salt - to taste
Lime juice - from half a lime (about 2 TBSP)
Olive oil - 2 TBSP

Method:
Rinse the beans and cook in a saucepan with enough water till tender. Don't use pressure cooker as it will make it mushy. Add some salt towards the end. Let it cool. Drain and set aside. Toss it with the remaining ingredients and serve. You could use two cans of white beans and make this a no-cook salad. Make sure you rinse the brine water well if you use the canned beans. I used northern beans because that is what I had on hand. White beans are smaller than the northern beans in size.

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Chucumber ( Cucumber Salad - North Indian style)

Will you believe me when I say that I was a teenager when I went to a restaurant for the first time?
It is true. Going to a restaurant to eat was unheard of in my house.

That probably explains why I am not fond of restaurants even now.
But, I had the taste of North Indian food only after coming to U.S. This salad is usually served with peppery pappadams in restaurants as a starter. You can make it very hot or mild as per your taste.

One year Back -  Homemade Vegetable Broth, Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Adapted from the book 'The food of INDIA' by Murdoch Books
Ingredients:
Serves 4 generously
Red Onion - 1 small chopped fine
Cucumbers - 2 medium ones peeled, seeded and chopped fine
Tomatoes - 2 roma tomatoes chopped fine
Cilantro - 3 - 4 TBSP chopped fine
Green chillies - 2 Chopped fine (Remove seeds if you can't tolerate the heat)
Lime juice - 1 1/2 TBSP (From half of a juicy lime)
Oil - 1 tsp (don't omit it. You need this to bring out the flavors)
Roasted peanuts - 1/2 - 3/4 cup roughly chopped (See Notes)
Salt - to taste
Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp or to taste
Chat masala - 1 1/2 tsp (Available in Indian grocery stores)

Method:
In a bowl, combine all the ingredients mentioned. If serving later, don't add salt. Add salt just before serving. If you are using english cucumber, you don't need to remove the seeds. Serve with roasted pappadams (peppery ones are preferred). You can get them in every Indian grocery store.

Notes:
Recipe says to use raw peanuts. I liked the idea of using roasted peanuts and I used that. You can vary most of the spices as per your palate. I don't see why you can't add couple of chopped apples or pears to it to make it fruity.

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Orzo in Coconut and Lime Sauce

This is almost a pasta salad. But made differently I should say. For those who are wondering what Orzo is it is rice shaped pasta which cooks in 5 minutes or so. You could add any veggie that you like. You could add onions and tomatoes. If you saute it along with asparagus (make sure you add asparagus at the end), it gives you a different taste and if you add them raw, it will be another taste. I have used green chillies since we like heat. You could use crushed black pepper to taste if you like it milder.

One Year Back -  Pear Sweet and Sour Sauce
Ingredients:
Orzo - 1 1/2 cups
Asparagus - 1 bunch (hard part discarded and cut into 2" pieces)
Lima Beans - 1 cup (I used frozen)
Carrots - 3 medium peeled and sliced into rings
Green Chillies - 3 - 4 or to taste (Or use Crushed black pepper to taste)
Salt - to taste
Olive Oil - 2 TBSP
Juice of - 2 key limes or more per taste
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup

Method:
Bring a pot of water to boil. Salt it generously. Add lima beans and carrot slices. When they are almost done, add the pasta. This pasta cooks very quickly about 5 minutes or so. Meanwhile, heat a pan. Add oil. When hot, add slit green chillies if using. Toss the asparagus with a bit of salt. You could blanch and shock the asparagus to keep their green color. I didn't have time to do it. If you did not use green chillies, add crushed black pepper now. After a few minutes, they will be cooked but still have a bit of crunch left. By this time, the pasta should be al-dente. Drain and add the pasta and veggies to the asparagus. Add coconut milk and stir. Check for the salt and adjust it if required. Squeeze the juice from two key limes or one big lime. Stir and turn off the heat. Serve immediately. Left overs can be rewarmed and served.

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