Aloo Methi Bhath (Potato fenugreek rice dish)

Inspiration can come from anywhere - source unknown.
I don't know where I had read this line but it is so true. I was familiar with the dish Aloo Methi (Potato and fenugreek leaves side dish), I was familiar with aloo paratha, methi paratha. I had no idea that people make aloo methi paratha as a different dish altogether. I was watching a show and in that they serve aloo methi paratha for breakfast. The moment I saw that, this idea came and since I had the main ingredients on hand, I converted it as a rice dish. I might not know rocket science but I can make rice out of anything and everything that is vegetarian. This was delicious. The bunch of fenugreek leaves I used was small. Unless it is huge, you can actually use two bunches to enhance the flavor of methi or fenugreek.

One Year Back - Pumpkin Chocolate Bread
Two Years Back - Vegan Sourdough Chocolate Cake with peanut butter glaze
Three Years Back - Sourdough Pumpkin Spice CakeIngredients: 
Rice -  1 1/2 cups
Potatoes - 2 medium sliced into long thin slices (like french fries cut)
Red Onion - 2 medium sliced thin
Fenugreek leaves - 1 bunch cleaned and leaf and tender stem chopped (Or you could use any other greens of your choice)
Oil - 3 TBSP
Ginger - 1" piece peeled and grated
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Cashews - 3 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Red Chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp (Or to taste)
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Amchoor powder / Dry mango powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric - a generous pinch
Sugar - 1 TBSP

Method:
Wash and rinse the rice. Cook and cool. Fluff with a fork to separate the grains and spread it on a plate. In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add ginger followed by cashews. When the cashews turn a little golden, add onions. Sprinkle some salt, turmeric and let it cook. When onions are almost cooked, add potatoes and mix well. Cover a lid and let the potatoes cook till soft but not mushy (5 - 8 minutes based on your pan and how big you have cut them). Keep an eye on it since they will they stick to the pan and burn easily. When potatoes are tender, add the fenugreek leaves. Mix well. Now, add the red chilli powder, sugar, cumin powder, amchoor powder and give it another mix. Greens should cook in less than 5 minutes. When they have wilted, add the cooled rice and mix well. Check for salt and adjust if needed. Cover with a lid and lower the flame to the lowest and let it sit untouched for 4 - 5 minutes. Turn off the heat. Serve as is or with a bowl of yogurt.

Enjoy.

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Sweet and Sour Chickpeas Curry (To serve with Rice)

I had eaten chickpeas curry as part of a South Indian Thali in a restaurant long time ago. That chickpeas curry was a bit watery than the traditional chana masala and didn't smell of ginger and garlic. This is an attempt to recreate that curry. I was very happy with how it turned out and was even more glad that everyone in the family loved it.

One Year Back - Brownie Biscotti
Two Years Back -  Poppy seed drink / Gasagase Payasa
Three Years Back -  Craisins and White chocolate chip biscottiIngredients: 
Chickpeas - 2 cups (dry)
Oil - 2 TBSP
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Red Onion - 1 large chopped
Tomatoes - 2 medium chopped
Salt - to taste
Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
Red Chilli powder - 1 - 1 1/2 tsp or to taste
Jaggery or Brown Sugar - 1/3 - 1/2 cup as per taste
Tamarind extract - 1 heaping tsp (Or extract juice from a lemon sized tamarind soaked in enough water)
Cilantro - chopped 2 TBSP
To powder:
Almonds - 1/4 cup (or cashews)
Cardamom - 2 whole
Cinnamon - 1" stick

Method:
Soak chickpeas in enough water for 8 hours or overnight. Drain all the water and add fresh water to it. Pressure cook the chikpeas till soft. In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add  cumin seeds. When they splutter, add onions and stir. Sprinkle some salt, turmeric and stir. Let the onions cook. When onions are cooked, add the tomatoes to it. Add chilli powder, brown sugar or jaggery, tamarind and let the tomatoes cook. It will turn like a sauce.

Meanwhile, take the almonds, cardamom and cinnamon in a blender jar and make a powder. To this powder, add about a cup of cooked chickpeas with enough water and make a paste. You can use the water of the cooked chickpeas to it. Pour this paste to the pan and add the chickpeas reserving the water. Add the reserved water enough to get the correct consistency. Adjust the salt and garnish with cilantro. Let it come to a boil and then turn off the heat. This goes very well with rice. If you want to serve this with rotis, you will have to make it a bit thicker.

Enjoy.

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Banana Nut Granola

Saga of over ripe Bananas

Some people just toss it in the trash can.
Some people freeze it for later use in smoothies or milk shakes.
Some people bake banana bread or muffin using them.
Some people bake banana cake using them.
Very few people can think of making granola with them and I am one of those. Idea came because of my previous experience with Pumpkin Granola. It was delicious and I probably will make this kind of granola more often than others.

One Year Back - Brownie Biscotti
Two Years Back -  Poppy seed drink / Gasagase Payasa
Three Years Back -  Craisins and White chocolate chip biscotti 
Ingredients: 
Rolled Oats - 6 cups
Brown Sugar - 1 cup packed
Canola Oil - 1/4 cup
Mashed banana - 1/2 - 3/4 cup (From 2 large bananas)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Raisins - 1 - 1 1/2 cups (Or your favorite dried fruits like dried cranberries or chopped dates)
Walnuts - 1 cup chopped

Method:
Preheat the oven to 300 F.  Line two large baking sheets with aluminum foil and spray with vegetable oil spray. Set aside. In a bowl, take rolled oats and chopped walnuts. Toss gently. In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, canola oil, mashed banana, salt and cinnamon. Heat stirring occasionally till brown sugar melts a bit and combines with the rest of the ingredients in the pan. It doesn't have to boil. Pour this on to the Oat and walnut mixture and stir to combine. There will be a  lot of lumps, leave them as is or break them into smaller lumps. Spread on the two baking sheets and bake for 45 - 55 minutes  stirring once midway and rotating the baking sheets. If you have spread it thin enough, it should be ready in 45 minutes. If you have too many big lumps, it will take up to an hour. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. I would suggest you to break the lumps into smaller ones since it will add texture uniformly through out the cereal. Add raisins and mix. Once cooled completely, store in an air tight container. This should be good for two weeks if not eaten by then. I prefer to eat this with warm milk instead of cold milk.

Notes:
You could add vanilla instead of cinnamon and add a cup of chocolate chips instead of raisins for a different taste. Add chocolate chips once the granola has cooled.

Enjoy.

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Lentil and Squash stir fry / Bele Palya

It is not easy to be a blogger. It definitely is not easy being a food blogger unless you have a house full of people who are ready to eat the outcome of all the experiments that you do in the kitchen. How much can a house of two adults and two kids consume food wise? So, here is a post that is a simple, every day dish that was not made specifically for a blog post. This shows how we add lentils to almost everything to get part of our protein in an Indian Vegetarian cuisine.

One Year Back - Brownie Biscotti
Two Years Back - Poppy seed drink / Gasagase Payasa
Three Years Back - Craisins and White chocolate chip biscotti
Ingredients: 
Chana dal / dehusked split chickpea lentil - 1 cup
Chayote Squash - 3 peeled and pit removed and chopped into thin chunks
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Hing / Asafoetida - a generous pinch (optional)
Chana dal/ split dehusked chickpea lentil - 1 TBSP (for garnish)
Coconut - 1/4 cup grated (optional)
Red chillies - 4 - 5 broken
Cilantro - 2 TBSP chopped (optional)

Method:
Wash and rinse the lentil. Take it in a pan with enough water and cook it till tender. You could use pressure cooker for a quick cooking. Drain the water when it is cooked (don't throw away the water - use it in sambar, rasam or even soup).
In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add broken red chillies, hing if using, curry leaves, 1 TBSP of chana dal. When the dal gets toasted, add the cut chayote squash. Sprinkle some salt and stir and let it cook till tender. You will have to stir it often to prevent burning. When the squash is cooked, add the drained cooked dal, coconut and mix well. Adjust the salt if needed and add cilantro if desired. Lower the heat and cover with a lid and let it sit on low flame for 3 - 5 minutes and then turn it off. Traditionally it is served with rice and sambar or rasam. But this goes very well with roti, chapathi.
This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali.  

Notes:
You could use yellow squash or zucchini instead of chayote squash. Just cook it till tender and not mushy.

Enjoy.

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Vegan Date Walnut Loaf

Mildly sweet with chock-full of dates and walnuts is what describes this loaf cake. It is a perfect balance between cake and bread.  

One Year Back -  Peanut butter cookies
Two Years Back - Avocado Brioche, Roasted Banana Ice cream
Three Years Back - Deep fried cracker ( Nippattu )
Adapted from 500 Cakes by Susannah Blake
Ingredients: 
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking Powder - 3 tsp (1 TBSP)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1/2 cup (Or use 1/4 cup applesauce and 1/4 cup oil)
Boiling Water - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup (Or light brown sugar)
Vanilla - 1 tsp (Or use any spice powder 1 tsp like cinnamon, cardamom etc)
Pitted dates - 1 cup chopped (about 20 - 24 whole pitted dates)
Walnuts - 1/2 cup chopped
Flax meal - 1 TBSP mixed with 3 TBSP of warm water (or use 1 large egg for a non vegan version)

Method:
Take chopped dates in a bowl. Pour boiling water over it (Measure the water after it has boiled).  Let it sit till the mixture cools down to room temperature, about 30 - 40 minutes. Spray a 8 X 4 loaf pan with vegetable oil spray. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 F (325 in case of non stick or dark pan). In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and spice powder if using. Set aside. In another bowl, whisk together sugar, oil and the flax mixture. Stir in vanilla. Add the date and water mixture and flour mixture alternating whisking slowly till no dry flour streaks are left. Stir in walnuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 - 60 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn it on to wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.

Notes:
I used a 9 X 5 pan which is a little bit too big for this amount of batter. That is the reason for short loaf.

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Lime Rice with Bell Pepper

Lime Rice or Lemon rice as it is called is a common dish in Southern Indian households.  It was invented to use the left over rice and it had nothing but the garnish of few lentils, peanuts and some lime juice with a bit of heat added. Even when it is so common, it is different from house to house. Some people add onions, garlic and some don't. My mother made it in an entirely different way - rich with mustard and coconut. When I started cooking by myself, I made a point not to make this without adding some vegetables every time I made it. I add at least frozen peas to it if not anything. This time, I had to use the bell peppers from the vegetable garden and here comes this dish.

One Year Back - Orange Creamsicles
Two Years Back - Salsa Vinaigrette
Three Years Back - Zucchini Chutney
Ingredients: 
Rice - 2 cups (if using sona masoori, use 1 1/2 cups)
Bell pepper - 6 seeded and chopped into chunks
Oil - 3 TBSP
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 10 slit lengthwise (or to taste)
Curry leaves - few
Asafoetida/hing - generous pinch
Turmeric - couple of generous pinches
Bengal gram dal / chana dal - 1 TBSP
Urad dal / Black gram dal - 1 TBSP
Peanuts - 2 - 4 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Lime - 1 if very juicy or 1 1/2
Grated coconut - 4 TBSP (optional)
Cilantro - 3 TBSP chopped

Method:
Wash and rinse rice. Cook with enough water ( 1:2 ratio). Let cool and fluff with a fork to separate the grains.  In a  pan, heat the oil. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add slit green  chillies, curry leaves followed by bengal gram dal, black gram dal, hing and peanuts. Let the peanuts get toasted. Add the bell peppers, turmeric, little bit of salt. Stir often to prevent burning. When the bell peppers are cooked, add coconut, and cooled rice. Mix well. Add cilantro and check and adjust the salt if needed. Turn off the heat. After about 10 minutes, squeeze the juice of lime and mix. Serve as one pot meal.
This post is written for weekend cooking post that I write with Srivalli  and  Vaishali.

Notes:
If using Sona Masoori rice, use 3 cups of water per cup of rice.

Enjoy.

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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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Vegan Banana Walnut Cake ( Low Fat, Low Sugar)

What makes a cake moist? Most of the times it is sugar and fat that makes and keeps a cake moist. If the challenge is to make a cake that is low in both fat and sugar, it indeed becomes a challenge. I attempted making this kind of cake so that I can share this with someone who happens to be diabetic. If you are looking for a rich, very sweet cake, this recipe is not for you. I do have tons of other cake recipes and you can try them. But, if you want to eat something lightly sweet as a snack but don't want to feel guilty, then this might interest you.

One Year Back - Lentil Pulav / Masoor Pulav
Two Years Back - Oatmeal Bread
Three Years Back - Zucchini Bread
Adapted from Weight Watcher's
Ingredients: 
Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup
All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cups
Corn Starch - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Baking Soda - 2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1/3 cup
Vanilla - 2 tsp
Walnuts - 1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped coarsely
Mashed banana - 1 1/2 cups ( about 4 large bananas )

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 10 cup bundt pan with vegetable oil spray. Or use two 8 X 4 loaf pans or 4 mini loaf pans. In a bowl, whisk together both flours, salt, corn starch and baking soda. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together banana, oil, sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix gently. Stir in the walnuts and fold without over mixing the batter. This batter is very thick. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 28 - 30 minutes in case of mini loaf pans or 40 - 45 minutes in case of a 10 cup bundt pan. Check if the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn on to the rack to cool completely.

Notes:
This is not a dessert cake. It is more like a snack cake that goes perfectly with a cup of coffee, tea or milk.

Enjoy.

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Chocolate Squash Muffins - Vegan, low fat, low sugar

You have a bag of yellow squash from the produce junction. And by mistake, your 8 year old dumps the bag of bananas in the freezer (in the name of helping mommy after the grocery store trip). What would you do with these two? Make these muffins. These are really good and not high in fat or sugar and can be eaten as breakfast or as a snack. I changed the original recipe quite a bit by using whole wheat flour, flax eggs and using banana instead of applesauce.

One Year Back - Shahi Pulav
Two Years Back - North Indian Cucumber salad - Chucumber
Three Years Back - Homemade vegetable broth
Adapted from cooking light website.
Ingredients:  Makes 1 9 X 5 loaf or 15 regular sized muffins.
Sugar - 1/2 cup (See Notes)
Oil - 3 TBSP
Flax eggs - 2 TBSP flax meal mixed with 6 TBSP of warm water (or use 2 large eggs for a non vegan version)
Mashed banana - 1 cup (See Notes)
Whole Wheat flour - 1 cup
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Cocoa - 2 TBSP
Baking Soda - 1 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Vanilla - 1 tsp
Yellow Squash - Peeled and grated 1 1/2 cups (One medium)
Chocolate chips - 1/2 cup 

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line cupcake pan with liners or spray with vegetable oil spray. If baking in the loaf pan, spray and lightly flour the pan. In a bowl, combine both flours, salt, cocoa, baking soda. Whisk and set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, sugar, oil. Whisk in the flax meal and water mixture, stir in vanilla. Add the grated squash to it and mix as uniformly as you can. Dump the dry ingredients to it and stir to combine. It will look a bit dry but within few seconds, it will mix well and make a thick muffin batter. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan and bake. For muffins, it will take about 24 - 26 minutes and for the loaf, it will take about 55 - 60 minutes. Test with the toothpick. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turn it on to the cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes:
Original recipe calls for applesauce and not bananas. Since banana puree is much more sweeter than natural applesauce, I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup from 3/4 cup mentioned in the original recipe. It was sweet enough and chocolate chips add to the sugar too. If you are using applesauce, you might want to increase the sugar to 3/4 cup.

Enjoy.

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Cabbage Rice - Version II

My mother cooked a lot with cabbage. Not because it was someone's favorite vegetable or it is good for health. She cooked cabbage at least once a week because it was one of the cheap vegetables we could get at that time. I still remember my sister complaining that mom made cabbage again. For some reason, I never get bored of eating this veggie. Be it as a stir fry or as  sambar. I am notorious for making different kinds of rice dishes. There probably isn't any vegetable that I cannot convert into a rice dish. Here is one such recipe that got created without any thought. It was delicious I should say.

One Year Back - Vegan Applesauce Cranberry Bread
Two Years Back - Chocolate Strawberry Muffins, Honey Cardamom Ice cream
Three Years Back - roken Wheat Pongal
Ingredients:
Cooked Rice - 2 1/2 cups (completely cooled)
Oil - 3 TBSP
Cumin - 1 tsp
Cashews - 1/4 cup
Cabbage - chopped fine 2 1/2 cups
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - two generous pinches
Lime juice - from half a lime (or use one whole if not juicy enough)

To grind:
Garlic - 2 cloves
Cilantro - 1/3 cup
Mint leaves - 1/3 cup
Green chillies - 8  (as per taste)

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add cumin seeds. When they splutter, add cashews and fry them till golden. Add cabbage, salt and turmeric. Mix well and let it cook. Meanwhile, take all the ingredients mentioned in "To Grind" above and grind to a paste without adding any water. When cabbage is half cooked, add the ground paste to it and mix well. Lower the heat and let the cabbage cook completely. When the cabbage is cooked, add the cooled rice and mix well. Add lime juice, adjust the salt if needed and cover with a lid and let it sit on the lowest flame for 3 - 4 minutes. Turn off the heat. Either serve as is or with some yogurt or raita on the side.

Notes:
I used the left over jasmine rice which, I could not really separate the grains of. Use basmathi or sona masoori rice and separate the grains to make it look more presentable. This looks more like a kichadi because of the type of rice I used.

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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Easiest No Knead Refrigerator Bread

All we need to make bread is flour, salt, water and yeast. But yet, here were are creating numerous recipes of the same. But show me a single loaf of bread that is sold in stores that has just these 3 ingredients (if you leave out the water as one). You will not find it.
I was looking at the awesome pinterest and I found a post about ready refrigerator bread dough. The lady who writes that blog had made it a point to make this every week and leave it in the refrigerator. Whenever she needs some rolls or bread, she would take part of the dough and bake. I halved the recipe and here it is. For some reason, I cannot get that site whatever I search for. I will update the post when I get that site. It has awesome DIY mix recipes from taco seasoning to cookie mixes.

One Year Back - Chickpeas and Cucumber Salad with Mint and garlic dressing
Two Years Back - Baby Shower Cake
Three Years Back - Quinoa Chickpeas Pulav
Ingredients: 
All purpose flour - 3 1/4 cups
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Active dry yeast - 2 1/4 tsp
Warm water - 1 1/2 cups

Method:
In a bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients. Slowly pour the water and with a strong wooden spoon, mix everything until no dry flour is remaining. Cover loosely with a lid and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Cover the lid tightly and keep in refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight. Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

To bake:
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at the room temperature for 30 minutes. Flour a parchment paper generously. Using flour to prevent sticking, try to make the dough into a ball (you could plop them into a pan instead too). It is hard to smooth this dough unless you add more flour which will make it a tough bread. Shape into a ball (as nicely as you can manage) and let it rise for 30 minutes covered.

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Slash the dough (I have done a very bad job of slashing here). Bake the bread for 30 - 35 minutes till brown. Cool on the wire rack completely before slicing.

Enjoy.

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Microwave Berry jam

If a recipe is simple and quick to make, why would anyone want to buy pre made bottled stuff of the same? This recipe is so simple that we could stop buying those sugar loaded jam bottles. You may ask what to do when berries are not in season. Use frozen berries. You will have to cook them a bit longer, but the recipe works just as good. The reason I liked this recipe was not only it was quick and easy but makes less so that one need not can. It made a little more than a cup of jam which would be good for a week or two.

One Year Back - Pasta with sundried tomato and almonds
Two Years Back - 5 Minute pizza/pasta sauce
Three Years Back - Eggless Mulberry Cupcakes
Adapted barely from King Arthur Flour
Ingredients: 
Berries - chopped if using strawberries 3 cups (I used strawberries, but you could use a combination of berries)
Sugar - 3/4 cup ( 1/4 cup sugar per cup of berries)
Lemon juice - 2 TBSP (optional, cuts the sugary taste)

Method:
In a large microwave safe bowl, take all the ingredients. Stir and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Stir and microwave again for 5 more minutes. If the microwave is powerful, it will be done in 10 minutes total. If not, add another 5 minutes of microwave cooking time. If the mixture can coat the back of the spoon, it is ready. Refrigerate. You can use it directly from the microwave as a berry sauce on waffles and pancakes.

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

Enjoy.

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Pink Lemonade (All natural)

If you have girls, you would understand how obsessed they are about pink and purple. I still don't get it, but that is how my kids are. If we go grocery shopping, my younger one wants almost every thing in there. But since I tell her that we make better and healthy stuff at home, she has stopped asking for food items except for few things. Last week, when we went grocery shopping, she saw bottles of pink lemonade and instead of asking me to buy it for her, she asked if I could make it at home. I said yes and bought a bag of lemons. I was thinking of just dropping a drop or two of red food coloring to make it pink. Then I saw cherries next to it and thought of using them instead to color. Here comes delicious pink lemonade that is home made and all natural. (If you are one of those who don't consider sugar as natural, then it is not for you.)

One Year Back - Peanut and Sesame Chutney Powder
Two Years Back - Vegan Banana Bread
Three Years Back - Challah, Car Cake
Ingredients: 
Lemon Juice - freshly squeezed 1 cup (I used about 6 lemons)
Sugar - 1 cup (you can use 3/4 cup if you don't want it sweet)
Water - 3 cups divided use
Cherries - 12 - 15 stalk removed (no need to pit them)

Method:
Place one cup of water with sugar in a saucepan and keep it on heat. Drop the cherries in it. Stir to prevent sugar from sticking to the bottom. When it starts simmering, take a potato masher and gently mash the cherries. It will start oozing out the color. Let it come to a rolling boil and remove from heat. At this point, if you have saved the lemon rind after squeezing the juice, you can drop a few of them into the sugar syrup to enhance the flavor.
In a pitcher, mix lemon juice and the remaining 2 cups of water. When the sugar syrup comes to room temperature, strain the cherries and sugar mixture and add it to the pitcher. Gently press the pulp with the back of the spoon to get all the juices out. Discard the pit and skin. Chill and serve.

Enjoy.

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Poori / Deep fried, puffed bread

This weekend, I made Poori Saagu for brunch. Best part was the kids wanted to help and my two girls alternately pressing the dough balls (I have a poori press) made it so easy for me to fry them. And they thought it was so much fun that they want me to make pooris every weekend so that they can help.

Sometimes, kids have funny questions and my older one asked "Mommy, does every Indian know how to make poori?" and to that I did reply a "Yes". So, technically, this is not an innovative or even a new recipe at all. But, there are certain things when followed, you make a very good poori and not just an ordinary one. The trick is to use fine soji or chiroti rawa. It makes the pooris retain their shape longer. I always made it with equal parts of whole wheat flour, fine rawa and all purpose flour or maida. I skipped using maida in this just to make it a little better nutrition wise. Also, people use flour to roll pooris and that leaves the dry flour in the oil and sometimes on the top of the fried poori. Try using oil instead and you will see how clean they look. They are of course greasy but once in a while it is alright to eat such food in moderation.

One Year Back - Garlic Toast
Two Years Back - Vegan Sourdough Scallion Pancakes
Three Years Back - Fenugreek Curry / Menthyada Gojju
You can find the recipe for Saagu with which this is served generally here.
Ingredients: 
Whole Wheat flour - 2 cups
Fine Soji - 1 cup
Salt - 1 tsp or to taste
Oil - 2 TBSP for the dough and more for frying
Water - 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups

Method:
Mix Whole wheat flour, soji, salt and oil. Add water a little by little and make a soft dough. Cover and let it sit for half an hour at least. When ready to make pooris, heat oil in a pan. Knead the dough for couple of minutes and divide into small lemon or lime sized balls. You should be able to make 24 - 26 pooris out of this dough. Roll the balls smoothly and spray lightly with vegetable oil spray or you could brush them with oil.
For rolling, do not use flour as we do for rotis. Apply a little oil on the surface that you are rolling the dough. Take the dough and flatten it a little thicker than what we make for rotis. Oil has to be moderately hot for the pooris to puff up. Gently slide the flattened dough into the oil. With a slotted skimmer or a ladle, press the disc when it starts coming up in the oil. This is the way to make them puff up evenly and nicely. Gently turn over and let the other side become brown. Remove and drain on the paper towel. Serve hot with potato subzi or Saagu.

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

Enjoy.

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Pav Bhaji / Indian Sloppy Joes

Recently, I had been to a birthday party where, I met someone who knows about my blog. He asked how the blogging was going and I had to admit that I haven't been baking too many things lately and not blogging. Reason? diversion. Many to mention I should say. That probably explains how I had posted the Pav Bun recipe almost 3 years back and never posted the dish that is served with - Bhaji or vegetable gravy. When I did make it this weekend, I did not have enough time to make the buns myself so used the store bought Kaiser rolls. This is one of the street foods of India particularly Mumbai/Bombay area that is comparable to sloppy joes.

One Year Back - Spicy Whole What Onion Batter Bread
Two Year Back - Apricot Chutney
Three Years Back - Whole Wheat Savory Tomato Scallion Bread
Ingredients:
Potatoes - 3 medium
Cauliflower - 1 medium head cut into florets
Green Bell Pepper - 3
Red Onions - 2 medium
Tomatoes - 4 medium
Green Peas - 2 cups (I always use frozen)
Optional - You can add few more kinds of vegetables like beans and carrots
Oil - 3 TBSP (You can add even more)
Ginger - 1" piece grated
Garlic - 3 - 4 cloves grated or minced
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - two generous pinches
Red Chilli powder - 1 heaping tsp (depends on how hot you like)
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Pav Bhaji masala powder - 3 - 4 TBSP depending on how strong it is. (I use store bought any brand will do)
Amchoor powder / Dry mango powder - 3/4 - 1 tsp
Cilantro - 4 TBSP chopped.

Method:
Boil potatoes in a pressure cooker. Peel the skin and mash coarsely. Chop all the rest of the vegetables very finely. I use a food processor fitted with chopping blade to make it easier. I even run the green peas through it for few pulses. Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add ginger and garlic followed by chopped onions. Sprinkle some salt, turmeric and let it cook. When onions are cooked, add green bell pepper. Mix well and give it few minutes to soften. Then, add all the other chopped vegetables except tomatoes and potatoes. Mix often and add about a cup of water or more if needed. Keep stirring frequently to prevent burning (or use twice the amount of oil and it will not stick so easily). When all the vegetables are soft, add tomatoes, red chilli powder, amchoor powder, coriander powder and pav bhaji masala powder. Mix well and bring it to a simmer. Add mashed potatoes, mix well. Adjust the salt if needed. Simmer for 5 minutes and garnish with cilantro. Turn off the heat. Serve with toasted Pav or hamburger buns.

 

If not for committing to post on weekend cooking with  Srivalli  and  Vaishali, 

I would not have posted this either like many other recipes. You can't blame when I worked in the yard for 5 hours building brick edges around the trees. Could you?

Enjoy.

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Fried Brown Rice and Quinoa - Chinese Style (Vegan, glutenfree)

I don't know what it is with the names of ingredients that can repel people from even trying it. Quinoa, Brown Rice, Zucchini, Broccoli, Oats, Tofu are in the list so far in our house. Problem is I like almost every one of these and if I cook with these, I will end up eating it alone and I have to cook something else for others which is not something I want to do on a daily basis. I had some spare time between work and on an impulse, I made this dish. Inspired by a noodle recipe on the back of Nasoya Tofu - I was planning on adding tofu, but realized that the tofu had expired and I didn't want to use it.

One Year Back - Whole Wheat Orange Bread
Two Years Back - Eggless Chocolate chip oat cookies
Three Years Back - Making of mermaid cake
Ingredients: 
Quinoa - 1/2 cup (I used Red Quinoa)
Brown Rice - 1 cup
Oil - 2 TBSP (Use peanut oil or sesame oil or canola oil)
Garlic - 2 pods grated
Ginger - 1 " piece peeled and grated
Sesame seeds - 1 TBSP
Red Onion - 1 medium sliced to thin strips
Cabbage - Thinly shredded about 1 1/2 cups
Green beans - 1 cup french cut
Carrot - 2 medium peeled and sliced into thin long strips
Salt - to taste
Rice Vinegar - 3 TBSP
Soy sauce - 4 TBSP
Brown Sugar - 1 - 2 TBSP
Hot sauce like Sriracha - 1 - 2 TBSP as per the taste (I used 2 TBSP)
Cilantro - 1/4 cup chopped

Method:
Wash and drain brown rice and quinoa. Add 3 cups of water and cook it in a rice cooker. When done, turn off and let it cool. Have all the vegetables chopped and ready. In a skillet or a wok, heat oil. When hot, add grated ginger, garlic followed by sesame seeds. When the seeds pop, add the onions and sprinkle some salt and let it cook. When onions are half cooked, add the rest of the vegetables in the order of green beans, cabbage and carrot. Stir and let them cook. You will have to frequently stir to make sure they don't stick to the bottom and burn. Add a TBSP or two of water if it starts to stick to the pan. When the vegetables are half way cooked, add the brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar and hot sauce. Stir and let the vegetables cook to your level of crunchiness preference. Add the rice and quinoa mixture and mix well. Adjust the salt and garnish with cilantro. Serve hot, warm. Left over heats up very well .

Notes:
You can add green onions as part of the garnish. I didn't have any. You can add cubes of tofu that are sauteed.

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Green Beans and Lentil stir fry / Matodi Palya

Almost everyone loves their mother's cooking. I am no exception. My mother happens to be one of the best cooks I know. There are a few things I would rather do a little differently than her. She used to be liberal when it comes to using oil. Oil makes it tasty, yes but can I afford to eat that extra TBSP of oil? probably not. No, make it most definitely not. Just because a dish has quite a good amount of fat doesn't mean you cannot make it with less of fat. That is exactly what I did in this dish. My mother used to make it with lot of oil and oil is needed if you use the stove top method to cook since the lentil paste sticks to the bottom. I have cut down on the oil but cook it a little differently and it is also less time consuming compared to my mother's method.

I have been obsessed with few other things than cooking, baking and blogging recently. So, to keep me motivated and post regularly, I and Srivalli came up with this weekend cooking concept where we will post something that we made on weekends. Another blogger friend Vaishali joins us in this venture. Now, for some people, weekend cooking can be special, but for me, it is the total opposite since I plan on getting lot of other work done during those two days. So, meals are actually simple on weekends unless there is company.

One Year Back - Sweet and Sour Tomato Chutney
Two Years Back - Wholegrain Savory Pancakes, No Sugar added applesauce Muffins
Three Years Back - Savory Onion Tart, Sourdough Banana Loaf with almond butter
Ingredients:
Green Beans - 2 Pounds cleaned and chopped into small lengths
Coconut - 1/2 cup grated
Red Chillies - 8 - 10  (depending on how hot you like your food)
Bengal Gram dal / Kadale bele / Dehusked split chickpeas - 1 cup
Asafoetida / Hing - Few generous pinches
Cumin - 1 tsp (optional)
Turmeric - a generous pinch
Salt - to taste

For Tempering:
Oil -  3 TBSP (You can use much more than this, but this is sufficient for the method given in this recipe)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 2 broken
Bengal gram dal - 1 TBSP

Method:
Soak the bengal gram dal in enough water for about an hour or so. Drain all the water. Take this in a food processor fitted with chopping blade or a blender (chutney jar) and blend with coconut, hing, red chillies, cumin, turmeric. Do not add any water and try to make a coarse paste. In a pressure cooker, cook the green beans in enough water to which a little salt is added. When done, drain the water. Use the water in soup or rasam or sambar.
Heat oil in a skillet. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add broken red chillies, bengal gram dal (1 TBSP given in 'for tempering' section). When they get toasted, add the ground lentil coconut paste and stir. Keep the flame to low and keep stirring for about 5 minutes. Add the cooked and drained green beans and mix well. Make sure there are no huge lumps of the lentil paste and keep on stirring. Adjust the salt if necessary and turn off the heat. Take the entire contents into a microwave safe bowl. Cover with a microwave safe plate or cover with saran wrap and microwave for 5 to 10 minutes until the lentil paste is cooked and the mixture doesn't have huge amount of moisture. Another option is to steam cook it for 5 minutes. Enjoy with rice and rasam or even chapathis, rotis.

Notes:
Lot of people use Toor dal or pigeon pea lentil for this recipe. I have also seen people using half toor dal and half chana dal. I prefer to use chana dal since on a regular basis, we cook with toor dal and this lentil gives a different variation. 

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Orange Jam

If summers are for making jams using berries and peaches, fall and winter are for making marmalade, orange jelly and probably orange jam. I don't really know why orange jam is not easily available as orange marmalade but here is an attempt to make the jam at home. Needless to say it goes very well with bread or crackers.

One Year Back - Vegan Puttanesca Sauce
Two Years Back -  Applesauce Breakfast Bread, Penne with Spicy Coriander Pesto
Three Years Back -  Ricotta Cheese Doodh Peda
Ingredients: 
Navel or Florida Oranges - 5 (they were pretty big)
Sugar - 1 1/4 cup (I used 1/4 cup per orange but you can increase it to 1/3 cup per orange too)
Agar Agar powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Zest of Orange - from 2 oranges

Method:
Keep a stainless plate in the freezer. Peel the skin of all the oranges. Remove the skin and use only flesh discarding seeds. Place them in a blender or food processor fitted with chopping blade. Make a coarse puree out of it. Take it into a microwave safe bowl that can hold twice the amount of puree you have. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Stir and microwave again for 15 minutes in intervals of 5 minutes. Add sugar, orange zest, agar agar powder. Mix and microwave at intervals of 3 minutes stirring after every 3 minutes. When the mixture has thickened considerably and can coat the back of a spoon, take out the plate from freezer and drop a spoon of the hot jam. It should get the consistency of the jam and form a thin skin at the top. That means the jam is done. If not, keep microwaving at intervals of 3 minutes and keep testing. My not so powerful microwave took about 30 minutes total. It also depends on what material bowl you are using. I was using a heavy glass bowl.

You can make it using the stove top method too. Store in a clean jar in the refrigerator for 1 month.

Notes:
This was not a very sweet jam and I made it less sugary on purpose. You can increase the sugar to your liking. Lot of people use pectin for making this kind of jam but I did not have any and agar agar worked perfectly.

Enjoy.

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