Thattai: A Savory Snack

Apr 12, 2010 · 32 Comments

I love Thattai. Mom used to make it during festivals time, especially during Diwali. Those days I did not care for the recipe, but just wanted to eat and enjoy. I enjoyed every bit of sweet and snack, at times would take a handful and finish in within few minutes and run to the playground. I didn’t learn anything any cooking from mom, only watched her doing it.

Once I left India and especially after marriage I started cooking, discovering and learning new tastes and dishes. Hubby also encourages me a lot. I had to pound rice flour in home for my Indian cooking challenge, and was left with some rice flour; hence I decided to make Thattai with it. I love the crunchiness, according to me they belong to same family as murruku and thenkuzhal only shapes are different.

Thattai came out crispy and tasty, here is the recipe.

What you need

Rice flour: 2 cup (homemade)
Urad dal flour: ¼ cup (home made one)
Red chili powder: 1 teaspoon
Salt: 1 teaspoon
Ghee/Clarified butter: 1 tablespoon
Water: ½ +⅛ cup
Chana dal: 3 tablespoon (soaked)
Sesame seeds: 1 teaspoon
Asafetodia: ¼ teaspoon

How I made

In a bowl mix Rice flour, Urad dal flour, salt, soaked channa dal ,red chili powder, sesame seeds, asafetodia and add butter and mix well.

To this mixture add water little by little and knead well about 2-3 minutes to form dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave it aside for 15minutes.

Next is to roll out dough into thin circular disc as cookie dough. Since it is difficult to rolling out the dough with a rolling pin, I used a Ziploc cover and placed small amount of dough in between and fold and applied pressure to form circular discs of ½ inch thickness. Using a fork, poke these discs so that they won’t puff while cooking in the oil.

Heat oil in a thick bottomed vessel and once the oil become smoking hot gradually slide the circular discs and cook 1 ½ minutes one side and flip and cook the other side 1 ½ minutes.

Once they become golden brown color remove from oil using a slotted spoon and drain excess oil using kitchen towel. Continue the process frying until entire dough is finished.

Cool it and store in air tight container.

Enjoy with cup of hot coffee or tea.

Preparation time: 1.25 hour
Yield : 23
Verdict : Crispy yummy
Will you make it again: Sure I will

Swathi

Pasta with Chickpeas,Spinach and Mozzarella

Apr 10, 2010 · 18 Comments

I read an interesting old article by Mark bittman of New York Times in that he mentioned the in Italy, where the pasta originated, sauce is served in less amount compared to what we have. Usually my hubby drowns his pasta in his favorite Ragu sauce and makes them tastier according to him. I am not a fan of too much sauce, still I use quite a bit. Nowadays I want to cook pasta, in different ways. I am trying to add more protein and vegetables to make it healthier version.

I also came across a recipe of pasta with chickpeas and broccoli rabe here . I decided this recipe with some substitutions. I substituted spinach for broccoli Rabe and used Mozzarella cheese for Fontina cheese, instead of red-wine vinegar I used juice of lemon and spiced up with gram masala, ginger-garlic, cumin and coriander powder making it Indian version. Our gene always tends towards spicy food and if possible we will even add chili powder in our ice cream? Just Joking! The dish turned out to be wonderful with a good taste and is a filling dish. Now I have learned to modify pasta dishes to a small extent. I can see from the facial expression of my hubby that this is good dish because he is going for second serving; otherwise he won’t even consider a second helping. Here is the recipe.

What you need

Pasta: 2 cup
Spinach: ¾ cup ( I used frozen)
Button mushroom: 2 no
Tomato: 2 no
Chick peas: 1 cup (cooked)
Onion: ½ cup (Chopped finely)
Ginger: 1 tablespoon (Chopped finely)
Garlic: 1 tablespoon (Chopped finely)
Cumin powder: ½ teaspoon
Garam masala: ¼ teaspoon
Coriander powder: ¼ teaspoon
Salt: ½ tablespoon
Butter: 1 tablespoon
Mozzarella: ½ cup
Olive oil: 2 tablespoon
Lemon juice: ½ of one lemon
Water : 4 cup

How I made

Boil water in a sauce pot; once it starts boiling add ¾ of salt and one tablespoon of oil. To this add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

In the mean time heat another pan add remaining oil and butter and add onion and fry them until they change color or become translucent it takes about 6-7 minutes. To this add chopped spinach, ginger, garlic and button mushroom and fry them with ¼ teaspoon of salt for another 7 minutes. Then add red chili powder, cumin powder, gram masala powder, coriander powder and add chopped tomato and fry for another 5 minutes or until everything combined well. Add cooked garbanzo beans or chick peas and pasta and mix everything so that masala and veggies get mixed with pasta. Finally add juice of lemon and garnish with grated mozzarella cheese.

Serve warm. Enjoy.

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Yield: 2 serving
Verdict: Tasty
Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Eggplant Theeyal

Apr 8, 2010 · 17 Comments

This is one of traditional dishes of Kerala. Theeyal means” burnt dish” in Malayalam, may be it got its name from fried browned coconut used in the dish. Amma used to make theeyal with bitter gourd, pearl onions and eggplant. I loved all of them, when I was young, though I preferred pearl onions and Egg plant and was not a big fan of bitter gourd. However lover the years I started liking the taste of bitter gourd. Now I absolutely love them, and I will pick them and put in my shopping cart whenever I go to Indian stores, HEB, Fiesta or any other specialty stores.

According to my view of point most of the cuisine from Kerala is simple with some spices and a sprinkling of coconut. Coconut makes everything rich, and I just can’t get enough of it. I love to make theeyal at least 3 times a month, I wish to make every week but do not have enough time to spend in kitchen with my little one tugging along. She started to be lot more demanding now, and she wants to me to pick her up always, even sleeping in my lap. Even if I put her in her crib, at time she starts screaming like something terrible has happened.

Last time when I visited Kerala, I missed mom, and while talking to my neighbor (Thankamani cheechi), talked about my craziness for theeyal and how amma used to make it. Then next day during lunch time, she brought me one sauce pan full of warm and tasty pearl onion theeyal. I loved it and asked the recipe. She told me to fry coconut along with some pearl onions it enhances the taste. After that whenever, I make started frying pearl onions along with coconut. I don’t know how to put in words about this dish, but try this at least once, if you are a fan of sweetness of coconut, tanginess of tamarind and spiciness of chili you will love it.

I made egg plant theeyal, here is the recipe.

What you need

Egg plant: 1(chopped into bite sizes)
Onion: ¼
Tamarind: Golf size soaked in water (about ½ cup of water)
Salt: 1 teaspoon
Oil: 2 tablespoon
Turmeric: ⅛ teaspoon
Water: 1 cup

For grinding

Coconut: ¾ cup (I used fresh)
Pearl onions: 3 no
Pepper corns: 6 no
Coriander seeds: ½ tablespoon
Cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon
Fenugreek seeds: ⅛ teaspoon
Red chilies: 4 no
Water: ½ cup

For tempering
Mustard seeds:¼ teaspoon
Red chilies: 2 no (cut into halves)
Pearl onions: 1
Curry leaves: 1 sprig (if using)

How I made

Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chilies, fenugreek seeds and pepper corns one by one it takes about 3 minutes in a medium flame.

In the same pan roast grated coconut with pearl onions until they become brown in color it takes about 7- 10 minutes. Keep aside. Once it is cooled grind into fine paste using ½ cup water.

Heat 1 ½ tablespoon of oil in a sauce pot, add chopped onion and Eggplant along with turmeric powder and ½ teaspoon of salt. Stir fry them until onion becomes translucent and egg plant become tender it takes about 7 minutes. To this add tamarind water plus ½ cup water and cook until egg plant is done well it takes about another 4 minutes.

To eggplant onion mixture add ground coconut paste along with rest of salt and cook for another 3 minutes or until it starts boiling. Adjust salt and spices, if needed add more water depending upon how much thick or thin you want the gravy.

In small pan heat rest of oil and add mustard seeds, finely chopped pearl onion and halves red chilies until mustard starts spluttering. Remove from the fire and add to the theeyal and switch off the flame.

Enjoy with rice and thoran.

Preparation time: 35 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Traditional dish, so it will be tasty
Will you make it again: I will.

Swathi

Carrot Pineapple Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

Apr 6, 2010 ·

I wanted to make a carrot cake for a long time; however, I have let a year ago without making one. So for this Easter I decided I am going to make a carrot cake. Since my hubby is diabetic, making desserts is always a guilty feeling for me, he says I will make something and he had no choice to eat them.

My little one also likes sweets, and she get to eat a little bit. I also love pineapple so decide to combine carrots and pineapple and make a cake. I thought I will also add some coconut making it a tropical version, however last minute changed my mind and instead of adding coconuts in the cake I put it in frosting. I am novice in frosting; you can see it from my cake

I want to bake a cake for my little ones birthday, however the frosting part making me thinks twice. I don’t want any fondant in the cake, so the only option is to use some frosting, but I am worried my baby’s cake won’t be appealing. I want it to be beautiful, but at this point I don’t know what I am going to do.

I added a large variety of spice available in my pantry to make this cake. While baking this cake my entire house had a nice aroma from all the spices and it was really tasty with pineapple, carrot and golden raisins. Mascarpone added a little tanginess while cream cheese brings out the softness in the frosting, and I didn’t used much sugar in my frosting. If you want feel free to use more so that you can get more shiner frosting. Here goes the recipe.

What you need

All purpose flour: 1 cup

Wheat flour: ¼ cup

Carrot: 1 cup (finely grated)

Sugar: 1 cup

Pineapple: 1 cup (chopped into small cubes)

Walnut: ½ cup (Lightly toasted and chopped finely)

Canola Oil: ½ cup

Golden raisins: ⅓ cup

Egg: 2 no

Milk: ⅕ cup

Baking soda: 1 teaspoon

Baking powder: ¼ teaspoon

Salt: 1 teaspoon

Ground cloves: ½ teaspoon

Ground nutmeg:½ teaspoon

Ground cinnamon: 1 teaspoon

Ground ginger: ½ teaspoon

All spice: ¼ teaspoon

Cardamom: ¼ teaspoon

For Frosting

Cream Cheese: 3 oz (I used Philadelphia cream cheese)

Mascarpone: ⅓ cup (I used home made one)

Powdered Sugar: 1 tablespoon

Honey: 1 teaspoon

Desiccated coconut: 2 tablespoon

Chopped pineapple: 3 tablespoon

How I made

Preheat oven 350 degree Fahrenheit. Butter the bottom of a 9 inch 9-Inch Springform Pan.Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pan.

Grate the carrot using a box grater and chop the pineapple into small pieces and keep aside.

In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, all spice, cloves and salt. Keep aside.

In a medium bowl beat egg with sugar and milk and add oil and mix everything incorporated well.Gradually add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix everything well.

Finally fold in grated carrots and chopped pineapple gently and add toasted and crushed walnut and fold once again gently.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smoothen the tops with a spatula.

Bake for 50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan for 5 minutes and remove it and cool in the wire rack for another 1 hour.

To make frosting, bring mascarpone and cream cheese into room temperature and beat well with powdered sugar and honey until the mixture becomes smooth and shiny. Gently fold in desiccated coconut and mix everything.

Once the cake is completely cooled spread the frosting over the cake and decorate with chopped pineapple pieces.

Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Serving: 12 serving

Verdict: Yummy. Keeper recipe

Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Spiced Whole grain Blueberry Mascarpone Pancakes

Apr 4, 2010 ·

I had made some homemade mascarpone for frosting my Easter carrot cake, and still had some leftover, so I decided to make pancakes with them. I had also bought blueberries with the thought of making either scones or muffins; however, I haven’t had any time to do that, and was still in the freezer. So I had one more ingredients to add in the pancakes. Since pancakes are always loaded with lot of calories I decide to make them slightly healthy by replacing all purpose flour with whole wheat flour. I also thought of using a small amount of flax meal so that it will increase the fiber content of pancake. In order to make bland whole wheat flour more appealing, I also added cinnamon and nutmeg. I also add a small amount of corn meal to makes the pancake slightly crunchy.

The pancakes turned out to be really tasty; I think mascarpone brings out the lightness where as blueberry brought the tangy sweetness to them. Try them at least once sure you are going get hooked.

What you need

Whole wheat flour: 1cup

Cornmeal: ⅕ cup

Mascarpone: ⅓ cup (I used homemade one)

Baking Powder: ¾ teaspoon

Baking soda: ½ teaspoon

Salt: ⅛teaspoon

Sugar: 1 tablespoon

Egg: 1 no

Buttermilk: 2 cup (½ cup of thick homemade yogurt+1 ½ cup water)

Ground cinnamon: ¼ teaspoon

Freshly grated Nutmeg: ¼ teaspoon

Flax seeds: ½ tablespoon

Olive oil: 2 tablespoon

Blueberry: ¾ cup (I used frozen one)

How I made

Preheat oven to 200F

Thaw the frozen blueberries and wash with water and dry them using a paper towel and keep aside.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the buttermilk, mascarpone and egg together until well combined.

In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, flax seed meal and sugar. Stir in the corn meal.

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir in until every thing is combined. Don't worry if it lumpy, do not over mix.

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium low heat and swirl around a one teaspoon of oil to keep the pancakes from sticking. Using a ladle pour the batter into the pan.

Cook the pancakes on 1 side until they are set and then lightly drop the blueberry into the batter.

When small bubbles appear on the uncooked surface, flip the pancakes and cook until golden on both sides, about 6 minutes.

Transfer pancakes to a warming plate in the oven while you make the rest.

Enjoy with or without maple syrup.

Tip: If you fold the blueberries , the batter becomes blue in color, I don't want my pancake to turn blue.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Yield: 12 pan cakes

Verdict: Yummy

will you make it again: Yes

Swathi

A Cardamom Tea And A Travel Memoir

Apr 2, 2010 · 25 Comments

We got married in US in 2004, and after one year of marriage we visited India in November 2005. We first flew to Mumbai to my hubby’s home and then to Kerala to my house and his family home. I told him, I would like to visit Ajanta Ellora, Konark temple and Taj and so on. I did not know he was planning for a surprise gift for me in India at that time. We both were happy, seeing his family, and looking forward to see my family and friends. Then after three days in our stay in Mumbai he told me that we are going to Ajanta Ellora caves, so get ready by this evening, train is around night at 10.30 P.M. After a night of journey sleeping comfortably in our Indian railways, we reached Aurangabad around morning 6.30 A.M.

Getting out of the station, we saw a tea shop very close by. It was a small shop and had only a few costumers at that time of the day. We ordered tea expecting it to be a regular one, but was amazed by the taste as it was spiced with my favorite spice cardamom. It was a wonderful start to the morning. I had not tasted tea that good rarely outside home except in Kerala. We went to our hotel, where we had a breakfast in the hotel itself and started out for sightseeing. First our guide took us to Daulatabad Fort, the famous fort of Muhammad bin Tughluq, who had changed his headquarters from Delhi and made his Aurangabad his new capital. It was later abandoned due to lack of water. There was a track that you could walk along big tall trees and fort walls. At the top of the fort there is also a old cannon. We walked around the fort and also ate fresh guava with chilli and salt.

Daulatabad Fort

Cannon

After spending two hours at the fort we left for famous Grishneshwar Temple one of 12 Joythir lingas of Lord Siva. We did offer prayers there. Later at a small daba we had a thali with rice and chapathi and curries and pickle.

In the afternoon we visited museum of Chatrapathi Shivaji and Panchaki, a 17th century water mill with underground water system. There is also a mosque near the Panchaki. We came back to our hotel, and had a small nap before getting ready for our dinner. On enquiring at the hotel lobby they told us there was a famous restaurant that caters south Indian food nearby. I forgot the name, and there was quite a line before we got our seats. We ordered masala dosa and vada, which we really enjoyed.

Next morning we left for Ajanta, Ellora caves , both world heritage sites, read more from here. We first went to Ellora caves, were you can see Kailashnatha temple, Dashavathra , as well as Buddha in various poses. These caves are really a beauty of art, which are scripted in rocks with some chisel and hard work . Then went to Ajanta caves, if Ellora caves are scripted in rocks then Ajantha caves are scripted with paintings and sculptures. Wall paintings done by gifted persons, if it is not preserved it will be huge loss to our culture. There are 29 caves at Ajanta . In one of the cave you can see a huge reclining Buddha. There are beautiful mural paintings are preserved there. After a wonderful experience with nearby culture, we left and visited a small weaving factory. Aurangabad is famous for weaving silk and cotton, it was very expensive for us to buy sari from there, and hence, we didn’t buy anything. But we felt it was worth the price that they were asking for all the labor that goes into it.

Ajanta Ellora caves

We came back to hotel and went again for dinner at the same restaurant. We both thought that yesterday we had masala dosa and for a change we will order paper dosa. I told my hubby, he agreed and waiter came to take order, we happily ordered two paper dosa, everybody in the room including waiter started laughing, we were wondering why? Then waiter told us that better to try one first if needed he will get second one. Okay we said. Then comes paper dosa, then we realized why others are laughing. One paper dosa is really huge from one end of table to other. After laughing at each other we had our dosa, which had a wonderful taste.

The next morning after we had our breakfast, the hotel personnel told us, we had to vacate the rooms by 10.30 A.M. We were thinking of leaving by 12.00 so we can catch the return train to Mumbai around 5.00 P.M. Hubby told me it was okay, we can vacate now and see something again and catch the train. We got in an India maha nigam transport vehicle: an Auto rickshaw. We told autorickshaw driver to take us some places and to be at the train station at 4.30 P.M. At first he argued about the rates, then he became our friend and took us to Bibi Ka Maqbara: Tomb of the Lady, a monument build by Prince Azam Shah, son of Emperor Aurangzeb, for his mom , it is a replica of the Taj, however, he was not able to get the perfect marble for the construction and it turned out be cheaper version of Taj . It was a nice experience to see a replica of Taj in another part of India.

Then we went to Government of India khadi board shop and bought some replica of Ajanta paintings and some Mughal paintings and a handmade pillow cover. In between we had our lunch and finally after having tea at shop near the train station we left. We were grateful to that autorickshaw driver, who took us to Bibi Ka Maqbara and we were able to purchase some travel shopping. With gratitude we boarded the train back to Mumbai to be with in-laws. It was honeymoon trip given as a surprise gift from my dear hubby. I think I won’t able to finish lot of sightseeing in India in my life time.

By the way Cardamom tea recipe, I use more milk in my tea.

What you need

Tea leaves: 1 ½ teaspoon

Cardamom: 2 no

Water: 1 cup

Milk: 1 cup

How I made

Boil water in sauce pot, once it start boiling add tea leaves and crushed cardamom again boil for another 3 minutes add milk. When tea starts boiling, switch off the flame. Strain and add sugar. Enjoy. In my house as my hubby is diabetic we take sugar less tea.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Serving: 2 cup

Verdict: Tasty

Will you make it again: Making every day.

Swathi

Strawberry Orange Pineapple Smoothie

Mar 31, 2010 · 29 Comments

This week we went to Wal-Mart for our regular grocery shopping, and I found strawberries were on sale around 1.70 dollars for a box. I love strawberries, and have a weakness to them, so I bought it. My hubby mentioned that they may ready to spoil, that’s why these are on sale, and you have to use it immediately otherwise it is waste of money. I promised him I will use it immediately. When I came home and open the box no wonder some are spoiled so in order to save the rest of them I use some of them in the salad. I also had some oranges and a pineapple sitting on the kitchen table. I made carrot pineapple cake and still had some pineapple leftover. I asked dear hubby can I use them in a curry and his response was a strong no, do something else with them.

I decided to make a smoothie combining strawberry, orange and pineapple. While searching on my Google friend I found that Strawberries are the most favorite candidate of smoothies because of their tasty flavor and ability to mix with other fruits. Adding additional ingredients will not ruin the taste of strawberries smoothies. Incorporating orange in the smoothies will enhance flavor. Also they are rich in vitamin C. Then comes my dear pineapple they offer unique sweet and tangy taste. Usually adding pineapples brings out other flavors rather than taking over. Further Pineapples are rich in Vitamin C, omega-3 fatty acids, beta carotene and other nutrients as well. Pineapples also contain brome lain which has is anti-inflammatory and may decrease blood clotting as well.

Satisfied with finding many good things about strawberry, orange and pineapple I decide to use them in my healthy smoothie with total confidence. I used 1 % milk to reduce the fat content. Really tasty, creamy, even my little one enjoyed having her first taste of pineapple, orange and strawberry combo.

What you need

Chopped pineapple: 1 cup
Strawberry: 7 no
Orange juice: Juice of two orange (½ cup)
Milk: ¼ cup (I used 1%)
Sugar: 3 teaspoon

How I made

Combine orange juice, pineapple and strawberries, milk and sugar in a blender; cover and blend until creamy. Serve immediately. Enjoy.

Preparation time:10 minutes
Yield: 2
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am sending my smoothie to Serve me some... juices ,shakes, smoothies event hosted by Madhuri.

Swathi

Vegetarian Moussaka: Classic Greek Casserole

Mar 29, 2010 · 21 Comments

Moussaka is a classic Greek dish layered with eggplant, meat, cheese and béchamel sauce. It's a layered dish, something like a mix between shepherd's pie and lasagna if you want read about moussaka you can read from here and here.

I always found Greek culture is closely related to Indian culture, as they have numerous gods, we too have. Similar in the Greek mythology, there are Gods whose characterization is similar to Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu. Furthermore I like crystal clear waters of Mediterranean, even though I have only seen them in movies, and photos. I would like to visit some day. I had a Greek roommate when I lived in Stockholm, Sweden her name is Lukia. It was our routine that each other will make grand meal on weekend, so the other can enjoy and get to know the food. She cooked stuffed peppers, baked pasta, etc. I used to make rice, and curries every other weekend, she likes our movies, may be because of no choice, as I will wanted to watch Indian movies. She started enjoying them too. I have lost contact with her, but I still remember our stay as room-mates fondly.

We both (my husband and I) are curious and love to enjoy new food from all countries, going out is not possible with a 10 month old who cries if somebody touches her. So most of the time, I will experiment in my kitchen. As usual (as with other dishes in the past), I tried to recreate the classic Greek moussaka, with minor changes suitable to our taste. Moussaka is three layer dish, with bottom layer of egg plant-cheese, middle layer of beef and tomato and top layer of béchamel. Due to health consciousness, I skipped the middle cheese layer and made two layers of egg plant, zucchini, potato and mushroom topped with tomato sauce and a top layer of béchamel sauce with cheese and bread crumbs. The dish tasted great, and we loved it, and I am going make them more often. Making this requires some preparation, but the end result is worth all your efforts.

What you need

Eggplant: 1no
Zuchini: 1no
Potato: 1 no
Button Mushrooms: 4
Olive oil: ⅓ cup
Salt : 1 teaspoon
Panko Bread crumbs: ¼ cup
Grated Parmesan cheese: ¼ cup

For tomato sauce

Onion: 1no
Tomato: 3no
Garlic: 2 no
Ground cloves: ¼ teaspoon
Ground cinnamon: ¼ teaspoon
Marjoram: ¼ teaspoon
Ground black pepper: ½ teaspoon
Chopped Parsley: 2 tablespoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste

For Béchamel sauce

Milk: 11/2 cup
All purpose flour: 21/2 tablespoon
Butter: 2 tablespoon
Grated nutmeg: ¼ teaspoon
Salt: ¼ teaspoon
Black pepper: ¼ teaspoon

How I made

Wash and peel the skin of egg plant and cut into two and again cut into ⅛ inch thick pieces. Keep aside in colander with ½ teaspoon salt for 30 minutes, this will reduce the bitterness of egg plant and remove some juices.

Peel skin of potato and cut into ⅛ inch thick pieces. Wash and cut zucchini into ⅛ inch thick pieces. Wipe the mushrooms with damp cloth and cut into pieces.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat adds 2 tablespoon oil at a time. Add potato, eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms one by one and sprinkle salt in between and lightly brown potato, eggplant zucchini slices on both sides; drain excess oil using a kitchen towel. Fry the mushrooms on both sides.

If you are using oven preheat oven to 450 degree Fahrenheit and roast the vegetables drizzle with the olive oil and salt for about 20 minutes or until they are slightly brown in color. Flip them in between around 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

For tomato sauce

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in medium sauce pan and add chopped onion and fry them for about 6 minutes or until they become translucent, add chopped garlic and fry for another 2 minutes. Then add chopped tomato and cook until tomato becomes mushy and soft, switch of flame. Once it get cooled for about 20 minutes grind everything in a blender or food processor into a fine paste. Heat the sauce pan with 1 tablespoon oil and add ground tomato-onion mixture along with salt and ground cloves, cinnamon and marjoram. Cook for 3 minutes and finely add chopped parsley. Switch off the flame and keep aside.

In the mean time make béchamel sauce. Heat milk in a small sauce pot until it starts bubbling not boiling. Switch off the flame and keep aside. Melt butter in a medium sauce pot and add all-purpose flour stirring constantly using a wooden spoon or whisk until everything combined. Slowly add two tablespoons of milk at a time to flour butter mixture and whisk until the milk get combined gradually increase the quantity of milk until you finish the entire milk. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg and stir the sauce until it become thick.

Assembley of Moussaka

Lightly brush the baking dish with oil and sprinkle some bread crumbs. Arrange a layer of eggplant, zucchini ,potato,mushroom and add an even layer of tomato sauce.

Then arrange second layer of eggplant, zucchini,potato and mushroom and add layer of tomato sauce.

Finally add layer of béchamel sauce and sprinkle bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

Bake it on 350degree Fahrenheit for 40 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly and crust is browned.

( Instead of two layer of tomato sauce you can use one layer of tomato sauce and other layer with only just béchamel sauce, or even you can add more cheese layer in between, I need tomato sauce in all my vegetables that why I spread tomato sauce in every layer of vegetables). Cool for 20 minutes and serve warm.

I served with dark rye bread on side.

Kalí óreksi! Bon Appetit, Enjoy

Preparation time: 1 hour

Baking time: 40 minutes

Ready by: 1 hour 40 minutes

Yield: 4

Will you make it again: I will?

Orange tian: Daring Baker's Challenge March 2010

Mar 27, 2010 · 16 Comments

The Daring Baker Challenge this month is to make tian, which is a dessert. Tian is a layered dish usually made with simple ingredients. Tian includes base, fudge, whipped cream and toppings, you can read more from here. Jenifer from chocolateshavings is hosting this month challenge. Mandatory steps in the challenge include, a Pate sable, homemade marmalade and stabilized whipped cream. I like orange so I tried with orange and the recipe by Jenifer is with orange too.

My initial attempt was to make orange marmalade. After reading a lot of recipes I started making it; however I was so careful with my steps, that marmalade became hard. This was quite disappointing as I had spent a lot of time and efforts to make this. My hubby’s advice was to throw away the whole dish and to start afresh after reanalyzing every step. I realized that I could two things differently; the first was to reduce the amount of water that was used. The second was to cook for a lesser time on a lower heat. The next day I tried again, with my changes and my marmalade came out really good, pretty and tasty.

The Pâte Sablée is rich and crumbly French fruit tart pastry, (Sablé is the French word for sandy), and you can read more at this site. For my pate sablee I added some ground almond and reduced the amount of sugar to make it slightly healthier. They taste great; even we had some left over pate sable for our tea.I followed the recipe to make stabilized whipped cream.

The next task for me was to make the orange segments; I hadn’t done any segments of orange until this month and most of the time I ended up cutting into the orange along with peel. Finally after watching you tube video’s I have somehow managed to make my orange segments. You can see the result.

I made only two serving of orange tian. I used ramekin for my tian as I don’t have a large size cookie cutter. I enjoyed making orange tian, and sure I am going make again.

What you need

For the Pate Sablee:

All purpose flour: ¾ cup

Powdered sugar: ¼ cup

Egg: 1

Cold Unsalted Butter:¼ cup

Vanilla extract: ¼ teaspoon

Ground Almond: ¼ cup

Baking powder: ¼ teaspoon

Salt : ⅛ teaspoon

How I made

Pate Sablee

Blanched almond in hot water for 5 minutes and removed the skin and dried using a paper towel. Toast the almond for another 5 minutes in medium flame. Once they are cooled ground into powder.

Put the flour, almond powder, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl beat egg with powder sugar and add vanilla extract to this mixture and combine everything. Add this mixture to dry ingredients and combine until they form dough. Knead again to form uniform dough. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the refrigerator. I kept my dough for about 3 hours, however 30 minute is enough.

Preheat your oven to 350 degree Celsius.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle. Using a cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:

Freshly pressed orange juice: ½ cup( 2 oranges)

Orange peel : ¼ cup( 2 oranges)

Orange segments: 2 orange to make segments

Sugar: ½ cup

Pectin: 1 tablespoon

Cold water to cook orange

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. I added orange peel during the second blanch and did a blanch for third time. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them using a knife or a food processor.

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar. If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency took about 15 minutes.

Transfer to a clean bottle and put in the refrigerator.

For the Orange Segments:

Orange: 2 no

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

For the Caramel:

Granulated sugar ⅕ cup

Orange juice ⅓ cups

Water: 1 tablespoon

Heat the sugar and 1 tablespoon of water in a sauce pot on medium heat.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tian.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the stabilized whipped cream

Heavy cream: ½ cup

Orange marmalade: 1 tablespoon

Gelatin: ½ tablespoon

Hot water: ¼ cup

In a small bowl, add the gelatin and hot water, stirring well until the gelatin dissolves. Let the gelatin cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatin slowly (discarding the water) and beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.

[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Butter and line two ramekins with parchment paper.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel. Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each ramekin. The segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. It should be arrange as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each ramekin, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills an even layer. Leave about ¼ inch at the top so there is room for pate sablee.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each pate sablee.

Carefully place a pate sablee over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Preparation time:

- Pate Sablee: 20 minutes to make, 3 hours to set. 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake

- Marmalade: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch

- Orange segments: 20 minutes, overnight to sit

- Caramel: 15 minutes, overnight to sit

- Whipped Cream: 15 minutes

- Assembling: 20 minutes

- Freezer to Set: 10 minutes

Yield: 2 serving

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Yes I will.

Swathi

Mambazha Pulissery/ Ripe Mango in Yogurt Gravy

Mar 26, 2010 · 21 Comments

It is one of signature dishes of Kerala where every mom has its own version of it. We can make pulissery with cucumber, raw mango, papaya, taro root etc. In my home, amma used to make pulissery with ripe mango, plantain and pineapple. If you give me a choice of vegetable or fruit pulissery I will select fruit pulissery, because it has sweetness of fruit, tanginess of yogurt and spiciness from the chilies used. March, April month is the mango and jackfruit season in Kerala. Most of the home with backyards in Kerala has at least one mango and jackfruit tree. At Appa’s home there were two Jackfruit and mango trees (mangoes from one of those tree was used to make pickle), other to eat ripe. After school, the main sports event for the neighborhood kids was to throw stones at these mangoes on the trees to make them fall to the ground. At times some of the stones would miss the mangoes and instead hit the roof causing damage. On most days my grandma will stand and guard near the mango trees after school time was over. Some time crow’s also make mess with ripe mangoes. Usually during these month, every dish my grandma make’s will contain either mango or jack fruit. She is one the best cooks that I have seen.

Last week when I went to Wal-Mart, mangoes were on sale at two for a dollar. Nowadays vegetables price have sky rocketed, onion’s without which I can’t even cook of thinking was 99 cents per pound, and green bell pepper 89 cents each. I had never ever seen prices this high for onions or bell pepper. Finally I got the two mangoes and after coming home, decided to make my mango pulissery. Grandma and amma makes this dish with 4-5 mangoes, however, here I used only one to make a small quantity. Here comes my amma and grandma’s recipe.

What you need

Mango: 1no
Chili powder: ¼ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Yogurt: ½ cup
Salt: ½ teaspoon.
For grinding
Coconut grated: ½ cup
Serrano pepper: 1
Cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon
For seasoning
Fenugreek seeds: ⅛ teaspoon
Red chili pepper: 2 no
Coconut oil: 1 tablespoon (or use any other oil, coconut oil for authentic taste)
Mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon
Water: ¾ cup for cooking and ¼ cup for grinding

How I made

Peel mango and remove the skin using a vegetable peeler or sharp knife. Chop mango into bite size pieces. I like to keep some flesh with mango seed and I will use that also. (I love to eat them in the curry, my hubby hates them).

Boil ¾ cup water in sauce pot and add chopped mango pieces and seed( If using), turmeric powder , Chili powder and salt and cook them until they become soft not mushy,( it takes about 10 minutes ).

Mean time grind grated coconut with Green chili and cumin seeds and water to form a fine paste.

Add the ground paste into cooked mango pieces and boil for another 3 minutes or you see small bubbles coming in the top.

Lower the flame and beaten yougrut and let simmer for another 2 minutes without letting them boil. Check salt and spices and switch off the flame.

In a small pan heat coconut oil and add mustard seeds, red chili halves and fenugreek seeds, once mustard seed starts spluttering remove from the fire and add to cooked mango pulissery.

Enjoy with rice and any side dish.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Serving: 4 serving
Verdict: Delicious
Will you make it again: Depending on availability I will make them

Swathi

Sardinian Flat Bread Carta da musica /Music Paper Bread

Mar 24, 2010 · 25 Comments

Yesterday I saw an article Olive oil Matzo in New York Times by The Minimalist Mark Bittman which was inspired from the famous Sardinian flat bread Carta da musica or Music paper bread. What I liked was the simplicity and ease with which the bread could be made. Hence I wanted to try it immediately. In classic Sardinian bread yeast, Semolina flour, and all purpose flour are used. The history of this bread is also interesting. The shepherds from Sardinia, of southern Italy used to take thin flat bread while going to work in the pastures, as this bread can be kept for a long time without spoiling in the room temperature. They used to have it with cheese and some tomato sauce and sausage. This bread is baked in a brick oven as 14-15 inch rounds, once they come out oven immediately bread is cut along the rim into two thin pieces. This bread is supposed to stay without spoiling for more than a year.

I wanted to make Sardinian bread without yeast. I found two recipes here and here making bread without using yeast. I asked my hubby shall we can try this. Yes you can he said and let us have it for dinner. Then I realized that I had no semolina flour on hand. I ground semolina and made homemade semolina flour. Finally by around 6 P.M, I started making the dough. Kept for another 15 minutes outside and within 30 minutes my bread was ready. Modified the recipes and made like this. I didn’t cut my bread along the rim, as they are not that flexible because of any yeast.

If you ask me how it tastes like, from my Indian view point I will say, taste like baked bhature, or like cracker, rather than a bread. Try it to make sure by yourself.

What you need

All purpose flour: 2 cup

Semolina flour: ½ cup

Salt: ½ +⅛ teaspoon

Olive oil: ⅓ cup+ 2 tablespoon oil

Water: ¾ cup

How I made

Preheat oven to 450 degree Fahrenheit.

Mix all purpose flour, semolina flour, salt in a bowl of standing mixer or food processor. Whisk together water and olive oil and add to the flours until everything combined to form dough. Knead once again to from smooth dough. Let it rest for 15 minutes. Cover the dough with damp cloth so that it won’t dry.

Make 15 equal size balls from the dough. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until paper thin rounds, I was indenting to make thin rounds or 5-6 inches, however most of them are not come out rounds. Make sure spread the bread thin as possible.

Bake it in lightly oiled baking sheets for 4 minutes on one side as it starts bubbles form on that side and flip and bake another 2 minutes. Until you see brown spots on both sides. I was able to make use of my two oven racks. Keep a watch on them, as they tend to brown quickly. Remove from the baking sheet and let it cool completely.

Repeat the process until you finish all the dough.

Serve warm.

I served with channa curry.

Buon appetito! Enjoy!

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Yield: 15

Verdict: Crispy, tasty

Will you make it again : Yes I will

Coconut Banana Walnut Bread

Mar 22, 2010 · 34 Comments

Banana bread was the first dish I baked. My hubby loves Banana bread, especially one of his friend’s recipes. He always would tell me to learn how to make banana bread from Damika, she makes wonderful bread. Yes it is wonderful tasty bread, I too agree with his verdict. She was so nice to show me how bake from the scratch, and second time I made under her supervision. I love that bread. I have constant problem in my house, nobody likes to eat the bananas when they are on the riper side (yellow with lots of spots), but these are perfect to be used to make either pancakes or banana bread.

I also have an inborn weakness to coconut; I love them in any form solid, liquid, cooked, uncooked, shredded, cubed etc. So I am happy to add them to most of my dishes.

So this time while saving banana, I decided to make banana bread and to spice up I added shredded coconut and coconut chips. They are absolute moist and tasty with mild sweetness. If you are lover of coconut and banana you need to try this recipe at least once. Here is the recipe.

What you need

All purpose flour: 1 ½ cup

Sugar: ½ + ⅕ cup

Banana: 2 medium

Large Egg: 1no

Canola oil: ¼ cup

Milk: ⅕ cup (I used 1% milk)

Salt: ¼ teaspoon

Vanilla extract: ½ teaspoon

Baking soda: ½ teaspoon

Baking powder: ¼ teaspoon

Desiccated coconut: ¼ cup

Walnut: ⅓ cup (Toasted lightly and crushed)

Coconut chips: ⅓ cup

How I made

Preheat oven 350 degree Fahrenheit. Butter the bottom of an 8 ½ by 4 ½ by 2 ½-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pan.

In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. And add desiccated coconut and mix until everything and keep aside.

Mash two bananas with a fork and keep aside.

In a medium bowl beat egg with sugar and milk and add oil and vanilla extract and mix everything incorporated well.

Gradually add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix everything well.

Finally fold in mashed gently and add toasted and crushed walnut and fold once again gently.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smoothen the tops with a spatula. Garnish with coconut chips.

Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Cool the bread in the pan for 5 minutes and remove it and cool in the wire rack for another 1 hour.

Cut into slices and enjoy.

Preparation time: 50 minutes

Serving: 4 serving

Verdict: Yummy. Keeper recipe

Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Ethapazham Puzhungiyathu /Boiled Plantains

Mar 20, 2010 · 21 Comments

This is a snack you can have anytime be it breakfast, tea time or you feel like eating something. We love it; even my little one likes to have it. I make it very often. It is easy to make without any special skill.

Out of curiosity I goggled and find out that plantain eating habit is not only common in India it also more common in other parts of world too, especially in Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, and Philippines. Plantains are used in green and ripe form as well as fried, boiled and cooked. I found other interesting facts about eating plantains such as it helps with digestion, and prevents constipation. They are rich in calcium, phosphorus, iron and fiber, with no cholesterol. Plantains are even considered to have mood enhancers and also thought to help to retain the everlasting youth (I have a doubt about that one, because my granddad and grandma used to eat plantain and they became very old though!). If you want to read more about health benefits of eating plantain read from here and here.

Plantains (and bananas) are prepackaged fruit by nature you can open and eat it, without thinking of microbes and dust.Here come Ethapazham puzhungiyathu /Boiled plantains recipe.

What you need

Ripe Plantain: 2 no (ripe enough to be eaten without any cooking.)

Water: 4 cups

How I Made

Wash and cut head and tail end of plantains using a knife and cut into 4 chunks of 3 inches.

In medium sauce pot heat water along with plantain chunks for about 15 minutes or until you see bright yellow spot in center.

Remove from the boiling water, peel the skin, and eat with or without sugar.

Enjoy

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Yield: 2 Serving

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Making it very often.

Swathi

Baked Spicy Soybeans: Perfect Munchies

Mar 17, 2010 · 28 Comments

If you want to munch on something healthy while watching edge of the seat thriller or action movies, or even a sobbing family soap, I have a solution for you. Try this baked spicy soy beans; they are the perfect candidate fulfill your requirements, satisfaction guaranteed. My hubby likes to munch on something while thinking seriously about his scientific experiments in office. It has been a long time I prepared anything with soybeans. When I went to take something from my pantry a few days ago, soybeans were looking at me and sadly asking when are you, going to use us. I promised them I will use them soon. Yesterday I soaked them in water and baked it today. They are very tasty, if you like fried moong dal; it tastes somewhat similar to it. It is easy to make and recipe goes like this.

What you need

Dried soybeans: 2 cup
Salt: 1 tablespoon
Red chili powder: 1 tablespoon (Adjust the heat depending upon your taste)
Garlic Powder: ½ tablespoon

How I made

Soak the dried soy beans in water for 8 hours.Drain and dry them using a paper towel.

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roast them for about 30 minutes, Shake the pan every 15 minutes, so that all the beans get roast uniformly.

Once they become crispy and browned remove from the oven and cool it in rack and add olive oil, salt, garlic powder and chili powder mix until everything incorporated well.

Next day if you want more crispiness roast them once again at 200 degree Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.

Enjoy any time as you wish!

Preparation time: Soaking time: 8 hours, roasting time 30 minutes + 10 minutes
Yield: Depending upon your munching capacity; 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Making more often

Swathi

Athirasam/ Ariselu / Aathirasallu For ICC

Mar 15, 2010 · 27 Comments

Athirasam/ Ariselu / Aathirasallu is one of the age old sweets you can find during Deepavali, it is also a must as during Iyer marriages. I ate them a lot during my childhood days, attending marriages especially of uncles and aunts. There are lots of sweets and savory that are made as a part of ‘Seeru” (bride will take along with her while going to husband home for first time). I loved to eat a lot of sweets at that time. My grandma used to make really good adhirasam. However, amma did not like to experiment on anything; she would say that these are usually made by experts, so she won’t venture into it.

Srivalli announced this month’s Indian cooking challenge will be making Athirasm/Ariselu, I was happy to give it a try and skeptical as usual as I don’t know if this age old sweet is going to make me crazy (as I could not get it right) or happy. However the athirasam that I made turned out to be really yummy and tasty. I followed the second recipe, as Srivalli suggested and those came as crisp. Next time I will try the other version, to make soft original athirasam. We enjoyed eating them.

what you need:

Rice Flour – 1cup and 2 tablespoon
Jaggary - ½ cup
Coconut grated – 1Tablespoon
Cardamom powder – Grounded 2 cardmom
Water - ½ cup
Sesame seeds - 1 Tablespoon
Canola Oil: 3 cup

How I made:

Soak rice for 6 hrs and then shade dry it.

Meaning it should not become dry but should still have some wetness in the rice. Grind this to fine powder using blender.

The rice flour should have that texture of soft and wet feeling when you take a handful and also it should kind of retain your fist shape. This is very important because if the flour is very dry it wouldn't turn out well.

In a thick bottomed pan add powdered jaggery and water just enough to cover them. Once water starts boiling remove it from the fire and strain using a mesh strainer to remove impurities in the jaggery. Then bring to boil again and add the cardamom powder and the grated coconut. You will see lot of bubbles coming out.

At this stage, add the Rice flour slowly and stir it together well. Mix everything until you won’t see any white flour and it becomes smooth dough.

Keep the dough outside for one day. Next day, if the dough becomes too hard, just add about 2 teaspoon of water along with 2 teaspoon of sugar. Get it to boil, while keep stirring it. The mix should become soft again. When you handle it, it should come together as soft dough. Divide it to equal balls.

Heat a kadai with oil to deep fry these. In a greased plastic sheet, pat them down to 5 inch circular discs.

Press down the sesame seeds over the top.

Once the oil is hot, gently drop these into them.

Fry on both sides. Since the sesame seeds are just pressed over the top, they will get into the oil. If you want to avoid this, try adding to the dough.

Once they are golden brown, remove and drain the excess oil by squeezing them using a two slotted spoon and leave it on a kitchen towel. They will be soft when you remove them, will become crunchy once they are cooled.

The regular ones are normally soft and oily, but these were crunchy and no oil at all!

Preparation time: Soaking of rice: 6 hours

Preparation of dough: 30 minutes

Frying time: 11 minutes

Yield: 11

Verdict: Yummy, Crispy

Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Masala pathirium Kadala curryum/ Masala Pathiri and Black Chickpeas Curry

Mar 11, 2010 · 23 Comments

I wanted to make pathiri for long time, every time I thought of making it something that needed my immediate attention would come up. Pathiri are the famous pancake from Northern Kerala, it is part of local Muslim cuisine. It is difficult for the people from there to celebrate a marriage, festival or even a normal day’s cuisine without making pathiri or pathil. There are different varieties of pathiri, some are plain such as aripathri (made with rice), Nei pathiri (made with clarified butter/Ghee), poricha pathiri (fried rather than baked) and some are stuffed with fish such as meen pathiri and when they stuffed with meat they are called irachi pathiri etc. I also read that the thickness of pathiri vary from different parts of northern Kerala, thinnest being made in Malapuram region. Any way I am not any authority in telling how they are made and which one tastes best. I like pathiri, so I wanted try it.

Finally I decided to make it when I saw recipe from a local newspaper. As usual Google friend came to my help and I looked up a lot of recipes and you can get an idea from here and here to how to make pathiri. Normally pathiri are made with raw rice powder. However I am pretending to be health freak so, I made my pathiri with chemba rice powder (Brown rice powder) and added masala to it making them masala pathiri, with kadala curry as side dish. These pathiri‘s are really soft, they taste really great. Since my pathiri finished easily without any left over, I don’t know how long you can store it. I am going to make them more often now. Try it to find an enhanced earthy taste of rice, when they are made in a simple manner. Normally non-vegetarian dishes are made along with it. I think we can enjoy with any vegetable or egg curry too. It is an absolutely healthy dish, with only fat from coconut used.

I made my pathiri like this.

What you need

Rice Flour: 1 cup (I used brown rice flour)

Coconut grated: ½ cup

Red onion: ½ no

Ginger: ½ inch piece

Garlic: 1 clove

Cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon

Fennel seeds: ¼ teaspoon

Green chili: ½(I used Serrano pepper

Salt: ½ teaspoon

Water: 1 ½ cup + ¼ cup for spraying

Chopped coriander leaves: 1 tablespoon

Kadala curry/ Black Chickpea curry

Kadala/Kaala chana/Black Chick peas: 1.5 cup

Onion: 1 no

Garlic clove: 2

Green chili: ½ (I used Serrano pepper)

Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon

For grinding

Coconut grated: ½ cup

Pearl onions: 3 no

Red chilies: 5 no (Increase or decrease depending upon taste)

Coriander seeds: ½ tablespoon

Cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon

Cinnamon stick: 1 inch piece

Cloves: 3 no

Star anise: 1 no

Black Pepper corns: 5 no

Salt: 1 teaspoon

For seasoning

Mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon

Oil : 1 tablespoon

Curry leaves: 1 spirg( I didn’t used as I don’t have it )

How I made

Roast the brown rice flour for 3 minutes and keep aside.

Grind coconut, onion, ginger-garlic, cumin seeds, fennel seeds and green chili with ⅛ cup of water and into a fine paste.

In a thick bottom pan boil the rest of water with salt and mix the ground coconut paste. When it starts boiling gradually add the rice flour and stir until everything combined. Then add chopped coriander leaves and mix once until everything incorporated well. Switch off the flame and close the pan with a lid and keep aside.

When the mixture is warm enough to touch knead them into smooth dough. And pinch the dough into small lemon sized balls. Close the pan with lid all time to prevent drying of the dough.

Place one ball into a Ziploc cover and cover it with another one and using a rolling pin roll out into thin sheets. (Using Ziploc or any other plastic or parchment paper prevents dough from sticking and it doesn’t need any flour to dust the board).

Cut the thin sheets using a steel plate into 6 inch diameter circles.

Heat a nonstick griddle or tawa in the stove. When it becomes hot put the dough circle and spray the surface with water to prevent drying.

When the bottom side cooked (it takes about 1 ½ minutes) flip the other side and cook for another 1 ½ minutes or until you see brown spots on both sides.

Enjoy with any vegetarian or non-vegetarian curry. We had with kadala curry.

Preparation time: 50 minutes

Yield: 13

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: I will

Kadala curry/ Kaala Chana/Black Chickpeas curry

Soak the black chick peas over night or 8 hours minimum. Wash and pressure cook until 2 whistle and after that cook for another 20 minutes in slow flame. Chick peas should not be mushy but at the same time they should be cooked well also.

In a small pan toss cinnamon, cloves, pepper and star anise and fry for 2 minutes or until pepper becomes plums up and aroma starts comes. Remove from the flame and keep aside.

In the same pan dry roast cumin seeds, coriander seed and Red chili separately ( it takes about 30 seconds each) and keep aside. Then a grated coconut and chopped pearl onion and fry until both become brown in color it takes about 7 minutes in medium flame.

Grind roasted coconut, pearl onions and all the spices including, cinnamon cloves, pepper star anise with ¼ cup of cooked chick peas into smooth paste. Add ⅛ cup of water if needed.

Heat a thick bottomed pan and add oil and mustard seeds, when they starts spluttering add onion and fry for 7 minutes or until they become translucent or change color. Add chopped garlic and green chili and fry for another 2 minutes.

To this add cooked chick peas and turmeric powder and salt and ground coconut paste and add ¾ cup to 1 cup ( depending upon how much gravy you need) let it boil for another 8-10 minutes or gravy become desired consistency. Check salt and spices if needed adjust that also.Garnish with curry leaves.

Enjoy with puttu, pathiri, appam etc.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Yield: 6 serving

Verdict: Yummy, Spicy (next time I will reduce amount of red chilies)

Will you make it again: I will.

I am sending this delicious Masala Pathirium kadala curryum to JFI- Breakfast event hosted by Suma started by Indira.

Kadala curry/Black Chick pea curry going to
My Legume Affair Edition 21 hosted by Manju started by Susan.
Cooking with seeds: Coriander seeds hosted by Radhika started by Priya.
Vegetable Marthon:Beans hosted by Silpa
Swathi

Two curries in 30 minutes: Tomato Rasam & Eggplant Stir Fry

Mar 9, 2010 · 21 Comments

Don’t think that I am going to do a RR show here. I love to eat dishes which are simple and easily made in the kitchen. Amma used to make rasam and a dry curry as side dish for a lunch or dinner. They are wonderful, taste great, less cleaning time too. As tomatoes in my kitchen countertop started to call my name and asking when you are going to use me or otherwise we will go rotten in a few more days. I decided I have to do something, so made an easy rasam. To go with the rasam I also made an easy 15 minutes eggplant stir fry.

This is curry that is easily made without any prior knowledge of kitchen encounters. I used amma’s version for both curries (without the cooking dal for rasam). These two are my emergency curries. I like this rasam because it uses puree of tomatoes so that I don’t need to see the seeds, I can’t eat when I see seeds of tomato in any dishes,

What you need

For rasam:
Tomato: 4 no
Garlic: 2 clove
Rasam powder: 1 tablespoon (I used store bought one)
Tamarind: a golf size ball ( soaked in ½ cup of water)
Asafetodia: ⅛ teaspoon
Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon
Cumin seeds:¼ teaspoon
Olive Oil: 1 teaspoon
Salt: 1 teaspoon or to taste
Water: 2 cup + 1 cup
Coriander leaves: 1 tablespoon Chopped for garnish

For Eggplant stir fry

Eggplant: 1 no
Onion: ½ chopped
Olive oil: 2 tablespoon
Mustard seeds: ½ teaspoon
Urad dal: 1 tablespoon
Red chili: 2 no halved
Salt: ¾ teaspoon or to taste
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Cumin seed powder: ½ teaspoon
Red chili powder: ¼ teaspoon (increase or decrease depending upon your spiciness)

How I made:

Rasam:

In a sauce pot boil 2 cup water and once it starts boiling add 4 tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.

Switch of flame and keep aside. Once it is cool, put them in a blender or food processor and make a puree of tomatoes.

Heat oil in a sauce pot and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds once mustard starts spluttering add chopped garlic and fry them for 1 minute and add turmeric powder, asafetodia and tamarind water. Let it boil for 4 minutes and add tomato puree, salt and rasam powder and ½ cup of water and cook for another 5 minutes. Check and adjust the spices if needed. Switch of the flame and garnish with chopped coriander.

Enjoy with rice and a side dish.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: I like it( If you are lover of tomato rasam you will like too)
Will you make it again: Yes I making more often.

Egg plant stir fry

Chopped eggplant into cubes and put in salted water until the time of cooking (This will prevent change of color of eggplant).

In a thick bottomed pan, heat oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal and halved chilies. When mustard seeds starts spluttering add onion and eggplant, turmeric powder and salt and fry them for 10 minutes in slow flame with lid covered. Stir in between to prevent onion or eggplant from sticking to the bottom of pan. After 10 minutes stir in chili powder and cumin powder and salt if needed and fry for another 3-4 minutes. Switch of the flame.

Enjoy with any rice and curry.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Making more often

Linking this tomato rasam/soup to 12 days of bloggie mass: 2nd day hosted by a moderatelife

Swathi

Fruit Salad

Mar 7, 2010 · 23 Comments

To me salads were synonymous with eating large amounts of lettuce. When I was pregnant with the little one, I got gestational diabetes. I also had constipation most of the days. In order to alleviate my condition, my doctor suggested that I have to reduce my carbohydrate intake and increase the amount of vegetables in my diet. It was not funny having gestational diabetes, two hours after every meal I had to check my blood sugar levels to see how much my sugar levels had increased. I started eating lots of salads to control the sugar levels, and to make it tasty I would add fruits such as apple or grapes. Now when I eat salads, I need some fruits in it. If I have some nuts I would also add those to the salad.

I was thinking of making a fruit custard (custards have lots of sugar), but last minute changed my mind and made an easy fruit salad.

What you need

Mango: 1 no
Apple: 1 no
Pear: 1 no
Kiwi: 1no
Orange: 1 no
Red plum: 1 no
Grapes: 10 no
Honey: ½ tablespoon (I used clover honey)
Lemon juice: ½ tablespoon
Mint: few for garnishing

How I made

Wash and chop all fruits into bite size pieces and keep aside.

Mix lemon juice and honey in another bowl and add to fruits mixture and mix well.

Enjoy

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Serving: 3 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: I will

I am sending this Fruit salad to Healthy inspirations Event: Salad hosted by Usha.

Swathi

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Mar 5, 2010 ·

This idea of making Jalapeño poppers originated suddenly in my kitchen, as I had never thought of making them. I told my dear hubby as he was running to Wal-Mart to get baby’s formula, I need some Serrano pepper’s, I had no green chili in the house. Dear hubby as usual made a note saying that I will bring it no problem. Yes he bought green chili, I asked for Serrano and he got Jalapeño. I asked him, with these how I will put it in curries. He told no problem you can put it and only check the heat level in between. For him everything under the sun is no problem, anything can be matched. However I am a perfection freak and needs everything to be as perfect as possible.

When I read about Jalapeno pepper’s they have lot of health benefits, they help to fight headache from migraine and sinus, relieve congestion. Chili peppers contain Capsaicin which can prevent prostrate cancer. It can lower high blood pressure, soothe the intestine, and protect heart, burn fat and also have loads of vitamin C. Read more from here .

In order to prevent the Jalapeño pepper being thrown into the garbage, I decide to make Jalapeno poppers with them. I had some homemade mascarpone cheese which I had in the refrigerator which I wanted to use too. So I made my poppers with besan and brown rice flour like this. I tried this recipe two times already, first time I used more besan and brown rice flour so my poppers was fully covered and become thick. Hubby dear doesn’t like it , telling me I spoiled the taste of Jalapeno by putting too much covering . So Next time when I made I used less flour, resulting a scantly covered Jalpeno poppers, however he liked it. So I will be following the second version, even though the looks is not perfect but taste great ( You can decide which one to follow).You have to be careful while handling these peppers, use gloves so that your hand won’t burn from the heat.

What you need

Jalpeno peppers: 8 no

Besan Flour/Bengal gram dal flour: ½ cup

Brown rice flour: ¼ cup

Onion: ½ cup chopped

Mascarpone cheese: ½ cup ( Homemade)( If you want more cheese feel free to use it)

Panko Bread crumbs: ½ cup

Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon

Chili powder: ¼ teaspoon

Asafetodia: ⅛ teaspoon

Salt: ½ teaspoon

Water: ¾ cup

Canola oil for spraying in the baking sheet

How I made

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wash and clean the Jalapeno peppers. Make a slit in the middle and remove the seeds. As heat is more in the seeds (Use gloves while doing this).

In a bowl mix mascarpone and chopped onion and ¼ teaspoon salt , keep aside. Spoon the cheese mixture into slit of each Jalapeno peppers.

In a bowl mix besan, brown rice flour, cumin seeds, chili powder, salt and asafetodia to form a bread crumb like structure. To this add small amount of water at time to make a thick batter. Keep aside.

Dip the cheesy Jalapeno into the batter until they are fully coated and dredge them into the bread crumbs.

Line a foil in baking sheet; place the breaded jalapeño poppers one inch apart. And spray canola oil over them. Bake them for about 30 minutes or until they are brown in color. Around 20 minutes turn Jalapeno poppers and bake for another 10 minutes or until they are done.

Enjoy with ketchup or any dip.

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Yield: 8 no

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Yes I will

Notes;

For cheesier Jalpeno poppers feel free to use more cheese. I have only ½ cup mascarpone in my hand.

For thick crust increases the besan and brown rice flour to ¼ cup and 2 tablespoon respectively.

Sending these tasty Jalapeno Poppers to

Think spice: Hing hosted by Fazela originally started by Sunita.

Spicy Pasta with Gram masala and Vegetables

Mar 3, 2010 · 20 Comments

I won’t say that I love pasta but I won’t say that I hate it either. Pasta is an easy dish usually dished out for a quick dinner. Among the various pasta sauces the one that we like the most is Ragu® Chunky Garden Combination Pasta Sauce . We have tried lots of sauces but never really liked any of them and rarely do I make béchamel sauce for my pasta. I am also not knowledgeable enough in variations of pasta sauce and recipes to vary the taste. So in my kitchen pasta has the same taste every time I make it! When my dear hubby asked to make pasta the other day I wanted to experiment with my culinary skill. So I decided to make Indian version of pasta.

I decided to stir fry the vegetables and tried not to add any cheese, so that I can discover the taste of pasta without any cheese attack. Around 9 0’clock in night I started making the pasta and within 15 minutes my tasty pasta was ready. My hubby told me he was going to use Ragu sauce along with it. However, when he opened bottle that was stored in the fridge it had some fungus, so he has thrown that away and in was in need of a new one. Finally he didn’t open the new bottle, but instead tried it with a few drops of tomato ketchup. I didn’t try any additions of ketchup or sauce, and yet it tasted yummy. Now I have discovered one more way of making tasty pasta. I made my pasta this way.

What you need

Fresine pasta/any kind of pasta: 2 ½ cup
Red bell pepper: ½ (Chopped into cubes)
Green Bell pepper: ½ (chopped into cubes)
Onion: ¼ cup (chopped finely)
Baby Portabella mushroom: 1 (Chopped)
Tomato: 1 no (Chopped into cubes)
Carrots: 2 no ( Chopped into cubes)
Ginger: 1 inch piece (chopped finely)
Olive oil : 2 tablespoon
Butter: 2 tablespoon
Garam masala: ½ teaspoon
Red chilli powder: ½ teaspoon
Salt: ½ tablespoon
Water: 4 cups

How I made

Boil water in a sauce pot; once it starts boiling add ¾ of salt and one tablespoon of oil. To this add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.

In the mean time heat another pan add remaining oil and butter and add onion and fry them until they change color or become translucent it takes about 6-7 minutes. To this add chopped veggies and ginger and fry them with ¼ teaspoon of salt for another 7 minutes. Then add red chili powder and gram masala powder and fry for another 3 minutes or until everything combined well. Add cooked pasta and mix everything so that masala and veggies get mixed with pasta.

Serve warm. Enjoy

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yield: 2 serving of 1 ¼ cup
Verdict: Tasty
Will you make it again: I will

I am sending this delicious pasta to
12 days of bloggie mass: 8th day hosted by a moderate life

Swathi

Ethakappam/Pazham Pori/Fried plantains

Mar 1, 2010 · 20 Comments

Ethkappam/Pazham Pori is one snack you can see all over Kerala from small tea vendor to restaurants. We love to eat ethakappam with tea or coffee, whether it is morning or evening. It is an everyday dish that you fall in love with once you have them, I can assure you on that. I used to make more often but here the local grocery store carries only the raw plantains. I will buy them and let them ripen in the kitchen counter along with an apple in the basket. Blacker the skin is, sweeter is the plantain, and they become an excellent candidate for snacks like, boiled plantains, unnakaya (boiled ripe plantain preparation, recipe follows) and ethakappam. In the northern part of Kerala, sweetened rice flakes and eggs are stuffed inside the ripe plantain and fried, they are called pazham nirachathu.

I made my Ethakappam/Pazham Pori like this way.

What you need

Nenthrapazham/Ripe plantains (Medium): 4 no
All purpose flour: 1 cup
Rice flour: ¼ cup
Sugar: 1 tablespoon (Reduce or increase based on the ripeness of plantain)
Salt: ⅛ teaspoon
Water: 1 ½ cup
Canola oil: 3 cup
Yellow food color: 4 drops (optional)

How I made

Peel and slice plantains into 4 inch slices and keep aside.First make a cut in the horizontal and then make another two cut longitudinally on a plantain.

In a bowl mix all purpose flour, rice flour, sugar, salt, yellow food color (if using) and water to make loose batter similar to dosa /crepe batter.

Heat oil in a thick bottom pan and it become smoking hot, add plantain dipped in batter and cook them for 5 minutes one side and flip the other side and cook for another 4 minutes until it cooked well or golden brown.

. Remove them from oil using a slotted spoon. And strain extra oil using a kitchen tissue.

Serve with coffee or tea

Preparation time: 60 minutes
Yield: 24 no
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Making more often

Swathi

Orange Tiramisu: Daring Baker's Challenge Feburary 2010

Feb 27, 2010 · 25 Comments

This month’s daring baker’s challenge is to make Tiramisu using homemade savoiardi (otherwise known as lady finger biscuits) and mascarpone cheese. I like Tiramisu, however making one in home from scratch I thought would be very hard, but I did make it. It tasted great with the pieces melting away in your mouth. As usual I asked my hubby dear; will you eat tiramisu, if I make them. He told ok, I will try, but it shouldn’t too sweet. Once I got the approval, the next challenge was to acquire the raw materials.

When I first read the recipe and instructions given by this month hostess's Deeba of Passionate About Baking and Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen, I was happy as they used cooked eggs and the only mandatory requirement was to make savoiardi (lady finger biscuit) and mascarpone. I wanted to use orange instead of coffee making my tiramisu, a fruity version. For making homemade mascarpone, original recipe called for pasteurized heavy cream, which I was not able to find in the nearby Wal-Mart, however the ultra pasteurized was available there, so I used that. Since I am not cooking with any wine, I have only drinking wine in my pantry, so I used the red wine instead of Marsala wine. It took me 4 days to make my tiramisu, first day I made only mascarpone and savoiardi (lady finger biscuit). Second day I made Zabaglione (vanilla custard). 3 rd day I assembled my tiramisu and 4th day I served it. If you love tiramisu, you have to make homemade savoiardi and mascarpone cheese. The end result is worth all your efforts. I just made enough for 3 serving with lots of changes to the original recipe and also reduced the sugar amount to suit to our taste. Beware if you are dieting you should not attempt this recipe at home.

Coming to recipe, I made like this.

RECIPE SOURCE:

Mascarpone Cheese – Vera’s Recipe (Baking Obsession) for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese.

Savoiardi/ Ladyfinger Biscuits – Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home

Tiramisu – Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007

What you need

For Mascarpone Cheese

Heavy Whipping cream (pasteurized): 500ml (I used ultra pasteurized 250 ml, about 1 cup)

Fresh Lemon juice: 1 tablespoon (I used ½ tablespoon)

How I made

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl (I used Steel bowl), and then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. or until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface. It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating.

Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.

Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.

For Lady Fingers/Savoiardi Biscuits

Egg, separated: 1

Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoon

cake flour, sifted (or ¼ cup all purpose flour + ¾ tablespoon corn starch):¼ cup

Confectioner's sugar:1 ½ tablespoon

How I made

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 1 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5" diameter circle . ( I was intending to make circle, but it made something else )

Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.

Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.

Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.

Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.

Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

TIRAMISU

For the zabaglione:

Large egg yolk: 1no

Sugar: 1 tablespoon

Marsala wine (or port or coffee): ⅛ cup (I used Fritz Vintage 2006 Red wine)

Vanilla extract: ⅛ teaspoon

finely grated Orange zest: ¼ teaspoon

For the vanilla pastry cream:

Sugar: ⅛ cup

All purpose flour: ½ tablespoon

Finely grated orange zest: ¼ teaspoon

Vanilla extract : ¼ teaspoon

Large egg yolk: ½

whole milk : ⅓ cup

For the whipped cream:

chilled heavy cream : ½ cup

Sugar: ⅛ cup

Vanilla extract : ¼ teaspoon

To assemble the tiramisu:

Orange Juice: 1 cup

Orange liqueor(Triple-sac) : ½ teaspoon

Sugar: 1 tablespoon

Mascarpone cheese: ⅕ cup

Savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits : 10 no

Orange: 1 peeled

Kiwi: Three slices

How I made

For the zabaglione:

Heat water in a double boiler, if you don’t have a double boiler; place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.

In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolk, sugar, the red wine (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and orange zest. Whisk together until the yolk is fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.

Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.

Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the pastry cream:

Mix together the sugar, flour, orange zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.

Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.

Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)

Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:

Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.

To assemble the tiramisu:

Have ready 3 trifle bowls.

Mix together the orange juice, orange liquor and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

The next step is to start assembling the tiramisu.

Workings quickly, dip 10 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened orange juice, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the trifle bowl placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.

Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.

Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 10 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.

To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and garnish the tiramisu with orange kiwi slices.

Enjoy.

Preparation time: 4 days

Yield: 10 Savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits, 6 ounce mascarpone cheese

3 serving of Tiramisu

Verdict: out of the world

Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Chimichurri Buns

Feb 24, 2010 · 21 Comments

I was afraid of using yeast, because, when I had experimented with them several times in the past to make bread, the end result was always hard rocky bread like hockey pucks. Finally after these failures, I decided enough with my bread making efforts. I just could not figure out how to use the yeast effectively. My dear hubby told me if you are afraid of yeast, you never going to make bread in life time, you have to try until you succeed. Yes I listened to him, and started making Chimichurri Buns.

Chimichurri or Chimmichurri is a kind of green sauce though there is a red version as well, also used as a marinade for grilled meat. It is originally from Argentina and Uruguay, and is also used in countries as far as Nicaragua and Mexico according to Wikipedia. I liked the ingredients in the chimichurri, such as chopped parsley, minced garlic, olive oil, red or white vinegar, red pepper flakes. After searching with help of Google friend I reached these two recipes, here and from here. My taste tester (Hubby) had given nod to make chimichurri buns. Around 3 .00 PM I started proof yeast as I have only active dry yeast in hand, and finally made buns around 8 .00 P.M. It came out oven by 8.30 P.M. Trust me they are very soft and tasty buns. Finally I have overcome the fear of using yeast. I will see how it is progressing. Chimichurri buns are good with any soup or curry. We tried with pav bhaji. Give it a try some time; these buns will not disappoint you.

I used this recipe and made my own version. I used some whole wheat flour to satisfy my health conciseness. The recipe that was given was for use with bread machine, I made these buns manually as I have no bread machine.

What you need

Water: 1 cup
Red wine vinegar: ½ tablespoon
Olive oil: 3 tablespoons
Cayenne pepper: ½ teaspoon
Oregano: ½ teaspoon
Garlic cloves: 4 no( I made into a paste)
Red onion: 1 cup ( finely chopped)
Fresh parsley : 2 tablespoons ( Finely chopped)
Salt: 1 ½ teaspoons
Sugar: 1 tablespoon
King Arthur Unbleached Bread flour: 2 cup
Whole wheat flour or Atta: 1 cup
Dry Active yeast: 2 teaspoons
Rolled oats : 2 tablespoon (optional)

How I made

In a small bowl mix ¼ cup of lukewarm water (Warm to touch) with 1 tablespoon of sugar and add yeast and mix everything and keep aside for proofing of yeast. It will take about 10- 15 minutes.

Heat one tablespoon oil in a pan and add onion and fry them until they change color or become translucent. It takes about 6-7 minutes. To this add garlic paste and fry for another 3 minutes and switch off the flame and keep aside to cool.

In a big bowl mix all dry ingredients and onion garlic mixture, rest of olive oil, chopped parsley and oregano. Gradually add yeast mixture and mix everything until combined well. To this add water less amount at a time to make smooth dough. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes. More you knead dough become less sticky and smooth. (I knead the dough for 15 minutes, which I am proud of ).

Keep aside knead dough in slightly oiled vessel for doubling. It took about 1hour and 30 minutes to double.

Transfer the dough into a lightly floured surface and spread into a square and using a knife cut into 10 equal pieces.

Shape each piece into a ball, and place the balls 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lightly dusted with cornmeal. Cover with a proof cover or greased plastic wrap, and let the rolls rise for 45 minutes, or until they're quite puffy. Place rolled oats on the top of each buns.( They didn’t stick to buns most of them fell apart, you need to use milk or water to brush the top of bun so that rolled oats can stick).

Bake them in a preheated 350°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they're golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and allow them to cool completely before serving.

Enjoy with any soup or curry.
Want a bite

Preparation time: 20 minutes for preparing dough,
Doubling time: 1.30minutes + 45 minutes for second rise
Baking time: 20to 30 minutes
Yield: 10 buns
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes

I am sending these delicious Chimichurri buns to

Bread baking Day #27 hosted by Canela and Comino this month theme is Latino bread.

Guacamole with Tortilla Chips

Feb 22, 2010 · 16 Comments

When was at the store the week before super bowl I had bought a few avocados with the idea of making guacamole. Also while reading about avocado a lot of good properties were listed. For a lot of years it was thought that the fat of Avocados were not good for health, but since then there has a slow turn around to acceptance of the good health benefits of avocado. Coming back to guacamole, I had promised my husband that I will make it for super bowl. He loves watching super bowl; his super bowl fever starts from Playoffs. I make parippu vada ( Chana dal fritters ) for super bowl along with tea , I have been making them for last 5 year super bowl plays. This time also I made parippu vada. However I wanted to make Guacamole also, but couldn’t. Finally I made some today.

Guacamole is avocado based dip and other ingredients differ from on the region of Mexico where the guacamole is made. You can read more from here . I bought Hass avocado which is a must for good guacamole. I made like this.

What you need

Avocado: 2 no (I used Hass avocado) Chopped into cubes about 2 cups

Red onion: ½ cup chopped finely (Use white onion for authentic dish)

Tomato: 1 no (Seeded and diced)

Serrano Pepper: 1 no (De-seed and chopped finely)

Green onion: 1 no (Chopped finely)

Red kidney beans: ½ cup (cooked)

Salt: ½ teaspoon (Use coarse salt for authentic dish)

Garlic: 1 clove

Black pepper: ⅛ teaspoon

Cumin powder: ⅛ teaspoon

Juice of Lemon: 1 no

How I made

Mash garlic clove with salt using motor and pestle. Keep aside.

Mash ¾ th of avocado using fork and lemon juice prevent from oxidation and to this add cubed avocado and mix well. ( I left cubed avocado to feel the chunks while eat)

Combine, cooked red kidney beans chopped red onion, serrano pepper, mashed garlic clove, avocado and salt, black pepper, cumin powder in a bowl.

Add chopped tomato only at the time of serving.

Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Enjoy Guacamole with tortilla chips or other chips.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Yield: 3-4 serving

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Rajma Curry/Red Kidney Beans Curry

Feb 19, 2010 · 18 Comments

My hubby loves paratha, chapathi and poori, with the last one being his favorite. He is very happy if I make channa or rajma. He will eat it 3 times a day without complaining if I let him. On a weekend visit to the Indian store, I have seen some fresh methi leaves, which I bought with the intention of making methi paratha. Also I had not made rajma for a long time. So I decide to make the Rajma – Paratha combo.

I always remember an interesting story told by my friend while seeing the rajma. The story goes like this, during their hostel life in Roorkee, hostel menu always included rajma. They started to hate it as it becomes everyday dish. At that time, their corridors and buildings were inhabited by lot of pigeons, which always made noise, and dirtied the places. One fine day one of the guys got an idea to catch and cook the birds. Among them, one person would clean the bird; other would put masala and the third would cook the bird in their hostel room. Within a month the entire hostel campus was devoid of pigeons. The hostel warden finally got a wind of what was going on and caught the guys red-handed while cooking birds. Next day onwards they were back to eating the old faithful rajma.

I will come to recipe, and made the Rajma like this.

What you need

Red Kidney beans /Rajma: 2 can
Onion: 1 no (finely chopped)
Tomato: 4 no
Garlic: 3 cloves
Ginger: 1 inch piece
Green chili: 1 no (I used Serrano pepper)
Cinnamon: 1 inch piece
Cloves: 6 no
Cardamom: 3 no
Fennel Seeds: ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Chili powder: 1 teaspoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste
Olive oil: 1 tablespoon
Water: 2 cups
Milk or heavy cream: ¼ cup

How I made

Boil tomatoes for 3 minutes in a boiling water and remove the skin and seeds and make a puree of them and keep aside.

Grind the fennel seeds, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom to fine powder and keep aside.

Wash the kidney beans in running water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan or sauce pot and add onion and green chilies. Fry onion until it change color or it become translucent (in a 6-7 minutes). Add ginger-garlic paste and fry them for another 2 minutes.

Add tomato puree to onion-ginger-garlic mixture and fry till excess water evaporates( 4 minutes) .

Add turmeric powder, chili powder, salt, ground spice mixture and fry for another 2 minutes.

Add washed kidney beans to this and mix everything until masala well coated and add 2 cups of water and let it boil for 6 minutes.

Check salt and spices. Add milk or cream and simmer it for another 2 minutes and switch off the flame.

Enjoy with warm paratha or chapathi or poori

Preparation time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: I will

I am sending this delcious Rajama curry to

JFI: Fennel Seed Event hosted by Siri originally started by Indira

My Legume Love Affair Edition : 20 event hosted by Rachel originally started by Susan

EFM Paratha and Gravies series hosted by Srilekha

Swathi

Methi Paratha /Fenugreek Leaves Flat bread

Feb 18, 2010 · 14 Comments

I make methi paratha more often than any other paratha that is because my hubby is not found of aloo paratha; I love it still I don’t make that much. Fenugreek leaves have lots of medicinal properties. They are enriched with minerals like potassium, calcium, and Iron. One hundred grams of fenugreek leaves comprise only 49 calories. The leaves have good dietary fiber and are also enriched with Vitamin C. The Vitamin K from fenugreek greens is comparable to spinach. It has cooling, mildly laxative effect, increases the digestion ability. It helps in milk secretion in lactating mothers. Fenugreek leaves lowers blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

Getting fenugreek leaves is not a big problem, but plucking the leaves and cleaning them is a task, still end result is worth it so go for it. Methi paratha I made like this.

Methi Paratha /Fenugreek Leaves Flat bread

Rating: 51

Prep Time:

Cook Time:

Total Time: 50 minutes

Yield: 13

Methi Paratha /Fenugreek Leaves Flat bread

Delicious and Healthy methi partha made with touch of spices.

Ingredients

1 bunch Fresh Fenugreek leaves/Methi leaves
2 cupWhole wheat flour/Atta
2 tablespoon Olive Oil
½ teaspoon or to taste Salt
½ teaspoon Gram masala
1 teaspoon Red chili powder
½ teaspoon Amchoor powder
¾ cup Water

Instructions

Wash and clean Fenugreek leaves/Methi leaves and finely chop them and put in a kitchen towel to drain excess water and keep aside.

In a bowl mix whole wheat flour, salt, gram masala, red chili powder, amchoor powder and ½ tablespoon oil.

To this mix chopped fenugreek leaves until everything combined well. Add small amount water to this and knead it to form soft dough. Add ½ tablespoon oil on the top of dough and keep aside for another 30 minutes.

Pinch out small lemon sized balls from the prepare dough and roll it into thin circle of 6 inch diameter.

Heat tawa or griddle in stove and when it becomes hot. Place the paratha and cook for 30 seconds or until you start to see bubbles in the top.

Flip and cook the other side for another 30 seconds or until you see brown spots on both sides.

Drizzle little oil on warm paratha and spread one side and keep aside. Place the oil less side of next paratha on the top of it. So that oil will be spread in both sides.

Notes

Swathi

KACHORI

Feb 15, 2010 · 22 Comments

Kachori is a spicy snack common in Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and Utter Pradesh and also in Pakistan. It has flaky, crispy outer covering and filling made of dal, peas, or onion making it really tasty. It was a new dish to me. Srivalli suggested kachori for this month Indian cooking challenge. I was not sure how it is going to turn out in terms of taste, because I had not seen or eaten this dish. However I had recently succeeded in making moong dal halwa so I thought, why not, I can make this one also. With the help of my Google friend, I started looking for pictures and videos of kachori’s. I came to know that there two kinds of kachori’s one is flattened version common in Rajasthan and Utter Pradesh, where as in Gujarat it is round. I made flattened version, since it is easy to assemble.

Initially I thought of making only khasta kachori, with moong dal for which I soaked dal and after 1 hour ground to make a coarse powder. However I end up grinding them too fine which I thought would result in compromised taste, so to be on the safe side, I decide to make a second set of kachori with onion filling. In the end result both kachori‘s tasted good. My feeling after tasting the kachori was that the filling amount given in the recipe was slightly less, so the next time when I make I will try to double the amount of filling.This kachori’s are going to be in our kitchen menu more often.

What you need

Adapted from Medhaa's Aunty and Tarla Dalal

For the Dough

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups

Canola oil/Ghee - ¼ cup

Salt - ½ teaspoon

Chilled Water for kneading

Fillings

Khasta Kachori - Moong Dal Kachori

Split Moong Dal (yellow) - ½ cup

Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon

Hing / Asafoetida – ⅛ teaspoon

Curry Leaves - 2 teaspoon chopped fine (I didn't used as i have none)

Green Chilli - Ginger paste - 1 teaspoon

Saunf / Fennel seeds powder - 1 teaspoon

Garam Masala - ½ teaspoon

Red Chili powder - ½ teaspoon

Mango powder / Amchur - 1 teaspoon ( I used ¼ teaspoon)

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Salt : ¼ teaspoon or to taste

Pyaj Ki Kachori/Onion Kachori

For the onion filling

Onions: 2cup (finely Chopped)

Nigella seeds/Kalonji: 1 teaspoon ( I used one teaspoon)

Fennel seeds/saunf: 2 teaspoon (I used one teaspoon)

Bay leaves: 2

Green chilies: 1 ½ teaspoon ( finely chopped)

Bengal gram flour /Besan: 2 tablespoon

Coriander/Dhania powder: 2 teaspoon (I used 1 teaspoon)

Chili powder: 2 teaspoon ( I used ½ teaspoon)

Gram masala: 1 teaspoon (I used ½ teaspoon

Coriander leaves: 3 tablespoon( Chopped finely)

Oil: 2 tablespoon

salt to taste

How I made

Dough

Mix the flour and salt, Add the oil/ghee and mix till you get a bread crumbs texture.

Slowly add Chilled water to this mixture and make soft dough. Knead well for about 8 minutes.

Cover and keep aside to rest for at least half hour.

Filling : Moong dal

Wash and Soak dal in water for at least 1 hour. You can go upto 4 hours not more.

Drain the water well.Grind the dal to a coarsely. (Will resemble Idli Rawa, I end up grinding very fine)

Heat oil in a pan.Add the hing and cumin seeds.Once the seeds splutter add the curry leaves.Add the dal.

Lower the heat and keep stirring for 5 minutes till the dal stops sticking to the pan.

Cook for another 10 minutes on low till the dal turns slightly brown.Add all the masalas.

Cook for few minutes till the aroma of the spices hit you.Add Salt.

Remove from heat and keep aside to cool.

Onion filling

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, green chilies and onions and sauté till the onions turn light brown in color.

Add the gram flour, coriander powder, chili powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the chopped coriander and mix well. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Allow the mixture to cool completely.

Divide into 15 equal portions and keep aside.

To Make Kachori's

Make a small ball from the dough. Roll out into a 2 inch diameter rounds . Flatten the rounds using your fingers having the center thick and sides little thin.Place about 1.5 teaspoon of the filling in the center of the rolled dough.

Cover the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the ends and remove excess dough. Repeat with all the balls and keep aside for 5 -7 mins.

Then using your palm, flatten the balls by lightly pressing it, as using the rolling pin will make the filling come out. (See notes below). Keep aside covered. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Meanwhile heat some oil for deep frying. The oil should not become smoking hot. Test to see if the temperature is right by dropping a tiny ball of dough and see if it is rising slowly to the top.

Drop the kachoris in batches of 3-4 gently into the oil. It should rise up slowly. If you don't want to use lot of oil, use just enough for two or three at a time and fry them.After it rises up (about 2 minutes), turn it over.

Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes till the side down gets a golden brown color.

Turn and cook the other side for another 6 minutes or till its golden brown in color.

Remove when done, cool and store in airtight container.

Serve with coriander chutney and tamarind chutney.

Moong dal Kachori.

After having a bite
Onion kachori looks like this

Special Tips / Notes for the dough:

Keep the dough covered at all times, if not it will dry up and not puff up when frying. If the dough is made right wet cloth can be used if not just a towel.

The dough could spring back for many reasons:

Dough is too cold (If wet cloth is used)

Dough is not soft enough.

Not needed for enough time.

Oil is less.

Not rested enough.

Special Tips / Notes for the filling:

The fillings have to be really dry if not when rolling they will ooze out when rolling.

Adjust the masalas according to your taste. What is given in this recipe is spicy to the extent one can still enjoy.

For idea on pressing the filled kachori, check out Manjula's method. If you try to press out using a rolling pin, the filling may come out and make holes in the kachori.

Fry the kachori's on medium low to get a crisp outer layer that is the key. For people using electric stove, the numbers can be going from 6 to 4.

Special Tips / Notes for making the Kachoris:

You can fry 3 kachori's at a time.

The oil should be at a heat when you drop some dough it should come up slowly, if the dough comes up too fast the oil is too hot, if it does not come up then the oil is cold.

It will not be crisp if the oil is too hot.

Resting Time for the Dough is app ½ hr - 1 hr. ( I kept my dough for ½ hr).

Frying time for the Kachoris - 20 minutes for each batch app.

Soaking Time for the Filling is app. 1 hr

Cooking Time for the Filling is app 15 minutes

Yields - 15

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Raspberry –Coconut- White Chocolate Bread

Feb 14, 2010 · 10 Comments

To day is Valentine’s Day. Everybody thinks about love and love is in the air. In India, Valentine day means lot of love songs on television and radio. Valentine cards with lovely themes will be available at market too. There was no cake or bread baking there. This is year I wanted to celebrate V day with lots of fun, because we are happy more than ever because of our little one. She brings everyday happiness with her cute smiles and the new discoveries she makes.

I love bounty chocolate which is usually made of coconut and chocolate, they are my energy bar, when I go out. So I decide to make a bread with coconut and chocolate and added raspberry for color. I was looking at a lot of recipes and finally settled with this one. I made some changes by removing butter and adding less sugar. Trust me this is a keeper recipe if you love chocolate and coconut you have to have a bite at least once. I made the bread like this.

What you need

Raspberry: ⅓ cup and 6 no for garnishing
All purpose flour: ¾ cup
Desiccated coconut: ¼ cup
Sugar: ⅛ cup (If you need sweetness add more)
White chocolate chips: ⅕ cup
Butter milk: ¼ cup
Egg: 1 no
Baking powder: ¾ teaspoon
Baking soda: ⅛ teaspoon
Canola oil: ¼ cup
Coconut chips: ¼ cup for garnishing
Butter: 1 teaspoon (for greasing the baking dish)

How I made

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Butter and line the base and sides of 5-inch x 9-inch x 3-inch loaf dish with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl sift flour, baking powder and baking soda. And add desiccated coconut and mix until everything well combined.

In a bowl beat egg with sugar and buttermilk and add oil and mix until everything incorporated well.

Gradually add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix everything well.

Finally fold in raspberry gently so that it won’t break.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smoothen the tops with a spatula. Garnish with raspberry and coconut chips. Bake for 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Cool the bread in the pan for 5 minutes and remove it and cool in the wire rack for another 1 hour.

Cut into slices and enjoy with or without extra butter.

Have a bite

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Serving: 3 serving
Verdict: Yummy. Keeper recipe
Will you make it again: I will

I am sending this delicious and gorgeous bread to
Jamie hosting this month Monthly mingle event started by Meeta with theme of chocolate and bread.

Swathi

Vegetable Salad with Lemony Balsamic Vinaigrette

Feb 11, 2010 · 17 Comments

I was totally a vegetarian before leaving India, with some eggs occasionally to get the proteins. Here in US eating out has became a herculean task for me. I can get a vegetable burger at Burger king, where at other restaurants I have to ask them to take meat from the dish. One long drive, not so long ago, my husband and I were really hungry and thought we could keep driving until we got to a place we could get some decent food. But we were getting too hungry for that and stopped at the first exit and found a Whataburger. As usual my hubby started ordering for me and him; he knows what I will eat. I told the person who took our orders to remove the meat and add some lettuce and tomato, ketchup. But I got the order with only mayonnaise, no lettuce, tomato, ketchup or anything. As we had ordered a take out, I had no other choice; eat or stay hungry till next stop. Finally I ate half of it, blaming the waiter for having messed my food.

However, in some restaurants I get nice vegetable salad with some dressing. I like salad sometimes not always; I need variety of vegetable to feel the salad, not just the lettuce. If I have to eat lettuce alone, it will be like cow eating grass.

After developing gestational diabetes during pregnancy, I started eating salads more often; and I do try to incorporate lots of vegetables. It helps my hubby with his diabetes control too. Yesterday I made a simple vegetable salad with homemade vinaigrette. It was my experiment; yes it came out good and tasty. If you like tangy, sweet vinaigrette go for it.

What you need

For vegetable salad

Lettuce: 6 leaves
Capsicum: 1 no
Carrots: 2 no
Avocado: 1 no
Tomato: 1 no
Apple: 1 no
Grapes: 10 no

For Lemony balsamic vinaigrette

Balsamic Vinegar: ½ tablespoon
Lemon juice: 1 tablespoon
Coarse ground pepper: ¼ teaspoon
Honey: ¼ teaspoon
Olive oil: 2 tablespoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon

How I made

Wash and chopped all the vegetables into bite size and keep it aside. If you are using a salad spinner, feel free to use it now.

In a blender/ food processor mix all the ingredients for vinaigrette except olive oil using one or two pulse. To this add olive oil while mixing gradually.

Enjoy with salad you made.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Puttum Payarum Pinae Pappadavum/Steamed Rice Cake with Field Peas Curry and Indian Wafer

Feb 9, 2010 · 13 Comments

Puttu is one of breakfast food that most Malayalees love. It is one of the regular dishes in the morning with tea at most of the tea shops especially in small villages all over Kerala. The other dishes that you are likely to see in a road side teashop with a glass shelf in front door are parippu vada( Chana dal fritters), Uuzhunu vada(urad dal fritters), Ethakaappam( Plantain fritters) , Idly, dosa, appam, idiyappam etc. Poovan Banana will be hanging like this too. If you watch any old Malayalam movie, you can see a chayakada (teashop) with some member’s enjoying tea and delicious puttum payraum. Nowadays our heroes are busy with action and romance no time to sit and enjoy the puttu.

Amma used to make puttu only during the weekends; and I enjoyed them with sugar and banana. Even though I like puttu with banana and sugar, I am health conscience nowadays, so I try to make a curry like chickpeas (kadala), or green gram or field beans ( payrau) . Sometimes when I want to make puttu extra special, I also fry some pappadam (pappad/thin Indian wafer) along with it. Even though puttu is a breakfast dish, I make them as my dinner special, like it was yesterday. I can live with puttu and payraum for 3 time’s day, l love it just like that. Amma made both puttu with rice and wheat flour. Now I make only rice puttu. Dad bought me a puttu maker the last time I visited India, which I love a lot. You need that to make puttu; you can make it in the steamer if you don’t care about the shape.

Usually puttu flour is made by soaking the rice for few hours and grinding it into coarse powder. Then they are sieved and roasted. Nowadays as most people don’t have the time to soak, grind, and roast the rice, so they simply go to any Indian store and get instant puttu podi (puttu/rice flour). I found some instant powders that require the addition of slightly more amount water while mixing thoroughly before steaming.

I used field beans for making my payrau curry. It is easy just snap open the can and use.

I made puttu and payrau curry according to mom’s recipe.

What you need

For puttu
Brown rice flour: 2 cups
Salt: ½ teaspoon
Water: ¾ cup (You need ½ cup if homemade rice flour is using)
Coconut scraped: 1 cup

For Payaru curry

Field peas with snaps: 2 can (15.5oz)
Onion: 1 no ( finely chopped)

For grinding

Coconut: ¾ cup
Cumin seeds: 1 ½ teaspoon
Green chili: 1 no (I used Serrano pepper)
Ginger: 1 inch
Garlic: 2 cloves

For seasoning
Mustard: ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Salt: ¼ teaspoon
Urad dal/Black gram dal: 1 teaspoon
Red chilli: 2 no (halved)
Olive oil: 1 tablespoon

How I made

Puttu:

Dry roast the brown rice flour for 4 minutes and keep aside.

In a bowl mix rice flour, and water to form a coarse mix without any lumps and do not change the shape of flour. If you take a fist full of flour, it will hold together, but it will loosen once you remove the fist. Keep aside for another 10 minutes.

In mean time if you are using puttu maker fill it with water and let it boil or if you are using attachment to pressure cooker step-up in the stove.

Fill 2 tablespoon of grated coconut on the bottom of puttu mold and fill the rice flour again add coconut in the middle and rice flour on the top of it and finish it with a layer of coconut.

Steam the rice flour until steam starts comes out from all three holes on the top of puttu maker ( It will takes about 10 minutes).

Steam the rice flour until you finished cooking all the rice flour.

Payaru curry/ Field peas curry

Drain and wash the canned field peas and keep aside.

Grind coconut with Serrano pepper, ginger, and garlic and cumin seeds into fine paste.

Heat oil in sauce pot and add mustard seeds and halved red chilies. Once mustard seeds starts popping add chopped onions and fry until they change color or become translucent it takes about 7 minutes.

Add washed field peas and ground coconut mixture along with turmeric and salt. Cook everything for another 7 minutes or until everything combined well.

Check salt and spices if needed adjust and switch of the flame.

Enjoy with puttu and pappadam.

Preparation time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy as usual
Will you make it again sure I will.

Swathi

Carrot yogurt rice

Feb 8, 2010 · 18 Comments

I am the happiest person if I have some yogurt and rice for lunch or dinner. If I haven’t had yogurt at least one time a day, then the day will be incomplete for me. This habit came about as my mother always made sure that we ate yogurt along with rice. My little one also need some yogurt for lunch and dinner, it is genetics isn’t? Usually I get bored with curries if I had them for lunch or dinner. My hubby has no such problems; if it is good he will eat it for lunch, dinner or even for breakfast.

Suddenly I was in a mood for making yogurt rice. Amma used to make very simple yogurt rice with curry leaves, ginger, green chilies etc. Instead of using the regular recipe I wanted to try something different which would also be tasty. After thinking what I could do different and eliminating various choices, I decided to add some carrot to it. I made my carrot yogurt rice like this way.

What you need

Cooked rice: 1 cup (I used rosematta rice)

Carrot: 1 no (grated)

Ginger: ½ inch piece chopped finely

Green chili: ½ no (I used Serrano pepper)

Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon

Urad dal : 1 teaspoon

Red chili: 1 no ( cut into halves)

Yogurt: ¼ cup

Milk: 2 tablespoons

Salt: ¼ teaspoon or to taste

Olive oil: 1 tablespoon

How I made

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, halved red chili and urad dal. When mustard seeds starts popping, add grated carrots, chopped ginger and green chili and fry for 5 minutes.

Boil the milk in the microwave for 15 seconds and keep aside.

In a bowl add cooked rice, salt, yogurt, cooled milk and carrot-ginger-green chili mixture and mix well until everything well combined.

Check salt add if need.

Enjoy with any pickle you have in your hand.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Yield: 2 serving

Verdict: Delicious

Will you make it again: Yes I will

Swathi

Tomato Rice

Feb 6, 2010 · 13 Comments

Tomato rice is mainly a comfort food for me. When I am in hurry or lazy; I love to have some simple classic dishes like tomato rice, curd rice and lemon rice. Tomato rice and curd rice are more appreciated in my home than any other rice. You need only a raita and a pickle to enjoy these two dishes.

A single tomato carries higher percentage of vitamin c, potassium, iron, vitamin A, and lycopene. Lycopene is an antioxidant which stops and prevents free radical cells from forming in our body thus possibly preventing cancer. It is considered to be one of the healthiest vegetables. So consuming tomato every day is important as well as it help to maintain a healthy life style.

Yesterday I haven’t prepared any curries, only cooked rice, thinking that I have some curry left in fridge, so I can have for my lunch, as hubby had some meeting and was not coming for lunch. Around noon I opened the fridge, and realized I had no curry for lunch. I then debated on making curd rice or tomato rice; finally tomato rice won the race. I decided to make this dish. I made tomato rice with modification from this recipe.

What you need

Cooked rice: 2 cup ( I used rosematta rice)
Tomato: 4 no
Onion: 1 no
Green chili: 1 no (I used Serrano pepper)
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Curry leaves: 12 no (I haven’t used as I have none in my hand)
Spice powder: 2 tablespoon (If you need more spiciness use entire powder)
Mustard seeds: ½ teaspoon
Roasted peanuts: ¼ cup
Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste
Gingerly oil. 11/2 tablespoon

Spice powder

Red chilies: 4 no
Coriander seeds: 1 tablespoon
Bengal gram dal/Channa dal: 1 tablespoon
Black gram dal/ Urad dal; ½ tablespoon
Fenugreek seeds: ⅛ teaspoon
Asafetodia: ¼ teaspoon

How I made

Put tomatoes in pot of boiling water and cook for another 5 minutes. Switch off the flame and put the tomatoes in cold water and peel the skin and make puree using a blender.

Dry roast ingredients for the spice powder one by one .Cool for 5 minutes. Grind them into fine powder using a coffee blender or mixer.

Heat 1 ½ tablespoon of gingerly oil in a pan add mustard seeds as it starts popping add chopped onions , curry leaves ( if using) and green chili and fry them until onions change color or becomes translucent. It takes about 6 to 7 minutes in medium flame. To this add tomato puree, salt and turmeric powder and cook them for another 10-12 minutes until everything cooked well.

Add cooked rice along with spice powder and stir for another 2 minutes or until everything get combined well. Add roasted peanuts and mix well.

Enjoy with raita or pickle along with some chips or papadam.

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: I will

Swathi

Vegetable Hand Pie/ Vegetable Puffs

Feb 2, 2010 · 26 Comments

While growing up in Kerala, dad used to bring this vegetable Hand pie or Vegetable puffs ( as we call them) from a nearby bakery. We (me and my sister) loved it very much and often little fights will break out between us as who will get how many. My sister always won this competition, as she will cry immediately if she got less. And mom and dad will give her more puffs to pacify her. If I ask her of these incidents now, she will pretend that the episodes never happened.

You can buy egg, vegetable and meat handpie/ puffs from bakery. However dad only brought home the vegetable hand pie/vegetable puffs. Last week end we had invited some friends over for dinner, and I made this puffs as an appetizer, main course was briyani, payasam, channa etc. Everybody liked it. I usually make a filling of the vegetables which can also be used for vegetable cutlets too. I made my vegetable puffs like this way :

Vegetable hand pies/ Vegetable Puffs

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes

Yield: 12

Ingredients

For Vegetable mixture

Potato: 2 no ( Boiled and cooked )
Carrot: 1 no (chopped finely)
Onion: 1 no (chopped finely)
Green Peas: ⅓ cup (frozen)
French cut beans: ⅓ cup
Ginger- garlic paste: 1 tablespoon
Gram masala: ½ teaspoon
Red chili powder: ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Coriander seeds: ½ teaspoon
Cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon
Fennel seeds: ½ teaspoon
Olive oil: 1 teaspoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste
Lemon juice: 1 teaspoon (optional)

For hand pie/Puff

Puff pastry sheets: 2 (I used pepper ridge farm puff pastry sheets)

For Egg wash

Egg: 1 no
Water: 2 tablespoon

Instructions

Peel the potato and cut into 2 inch cubes and boil and cook in salted water until they become mushy.
Finely slice onion and carrot and keep aside.
In a pan heat one teaspoon of oil and add cumin seeds, fennel seeds and crushed coriander seeds and when cumin and fennel seeds starts splutter add onion fry them until it become translucent or change color it take about 6 minutes. To this add ginger-garlic paste and fry for another 3 minutes.
Add chopped carrots, turmeric powder, chili powder , salt and garam masala stir well and let them cook for 6 minutes or until carrots become tender. To this add green peas and French cut beans and cook them for another 5 minutes.
Adjust salt or spices. Add 1 teaspoon lemon juice and mix well. Switch off the flame and keep aside.

Thaw the puff pastry’s according to manufactures directions.
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Dust the board with little bit of all-purpose flour and spread the puff pastry sheet, it prevents sticking to the board. Roll the puff pastry sheet with roller two times. Cut one sheet into 6 squares.
Beat egg slightly with 2 tablespoon water in a bowl and keep aside
Into each square scoop one tablespoon of vegetable mixture and seal the sides with fingers, if it sticks, seal it with little water.

Place the sealed puffs in ungreased baking sheet, lined with aluminum foil. Brush eggs wash on the top of each puff, and bake until it become golden color or about 20 minutes.
Enjoy warm with or without ketchup.

Notes

Karingali Vellam/Dahashamani/Herbal Drinking Water

Jan 31, 2010 · 20 Comments

Delicious and traditional Karingali Vellam/ChukkuVellam/Dahashamani/ herbal drinking water with various herbs and spices.

In Kerala, people like to drink water boiled with spices such as cumin, coriander or some herbs.

We call this water Jeeraka vellam (if cumin seeds added) ,Malli vellam( if coriander seeds added) or Dahashamani/Karingali vellam when ayurvedic herbs are added.

We some time call it Chukku Vellam (meaning Dry ginger water) even though dry ginger content is very low in the Dahashamni.

Usually one big pot would last us the whole day. You can drink it slightly warm or cold.

This is also served in restaurants throughout Kerala.

First time visitors to Kerala usually mistake this water for an alcoholic drink only to be told by the waiter that it is a water with medicinal herbs.

What is Karingali vellam

It is a ayurvedic tea or brew is made by adding a small amount of the herbs in boiling water. Dahashamani usually comes as coarse pieces of herbs.

I grind them to fine powder in my coffee grinder (my coffee grinder has a red color, but not a problem for me).

I add 1/ 8 of teaspoon of the powdered herbs to make 1 gallon of Dahashamani water. If you add more, the water becomes darker in color with a strong taste.

This is not available in US, and the only way to get it during a visit to India. I have also asked my friends who were visiting Kerala to get it from there.

Ingredients of Karingali vellam

Common ingredient , is karingali , however other ingredients will vary depending upon the manufacturer.

Anyway I will give below the ingredients of Amrithu, where as the product – Karingali powder one doesn’t give any details.

Spices

a) Dry Ginger

Chukku (Malayalam Name)

Zingiber officinale (Botanical Name)

Helps relieve indigestion, gas pains, diarrhea and stomach cramping.
To treat nausea related to both motion sickness
Managing circulatory disorders.
Because of its cineole content, it helps to enhance mood and relieve stress.
Act as Mouth freshener.
Lowers cholesterol.
Help break fevers by warming the body and increasing perspiration.
You can read more from here.

b) Cardamom

Elakayai (Malayalam Name)

Elettaria cardamomum (Botanical Name)

Used for flavoring and helps in digestion

c) Cloves

Grambu (Malayalam Name)

Eugenia caryophyllus (Botanical Name)

It is used to treat respiratory and digestive ailments.
Treat Bad breath and tooth decay.

d) Coriander seeds

Malli (Malayalam Name)

Coriandrum sativum (Botanical Name)

Helps to control blood sugar levels, bad cholesterol, aids in digestion and helps regulate the digestive organs, and may help prevent allergies as well as cancer.
Helps to improve tummy troubles of all kinds from indigestion to flatulence to diarrhea.

Herbs

1) Mimosa catechu

Karingali (Malayalam Name)

Acacia catechu (Botanical Name)

Used to treat sore throat, Diarrhea.

2) Sapanwood

Pathimukam (Malayalam Name)

Caesalpinia sapans (Botanical Name)

Diuretic, anti-oxidative, thirst quenching, anti-bacterial and tonic properties.
It is also blood purifying and is a good drink for persons with diabetes.
It cures jaundice, cough, respiratory problems, etc.
It also produces a valued type of reddish dye called brazilin, used for dyeing fabric as well as making red paints and inks

3) Vetiver

Ramacham (Malayalam Name)

Vetiveria zizanioides (Botanical Name)

Used to keep drinking water fresh and cold.
Supposed to have many properties like action against cancer cell growth, anxiety, stress, heart problems, thyroid problems etc.

4) Puncture vine

Njerinji (Malayalam Name)

Tribulus terrestris (Botanical Name)

It is used as an aphrodisiac, diuretic and nervine in Ayurveda.

5) Sandal wood

Mysore chandanaam (Malayalam Name)

Santalum album (Botanical Name)

Used as an urogenital (internal) and skin (external) antiseptic.

Lemon cinnamon green tea

Kerala meal

Notes:

This article is for general information only; please not take it as medical advice.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Karingali Vellam/Dahashamani

Delicious and traditional herbal drinking water with various herbs and spices. You can find it every household and restaurant in Kerala.

Cook Time10

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Indian

Servings:

Author: Swathi( Ambujom Saraswathy)

Ingredients

¼ tsp Powdered Dahashamani
1 Gallon Water

Instructions

Boil water in the pot and add the dahashamani powder, and boil.
Drink warm or cold as required .

Nutrition

Sodium: 13mg | Calcium: 8mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @nidhinikhil or tag #zestysouthindiankitchenrecipes!

Mango flavored Nanaimo Bar: Daring Baker Challenge January 2010

Jan 28, 2010 · 22 Comments

This month Daring baker’s challenge was to make Nanaimo bar. It is a three layer Canadian dessert with lots of sugar and chocolate, but relatively simple to make. I read that it is a recipe won by a house wife for a competition and named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. Lauren of Celiac Teen had suggested this recipe as part of the celebration for 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. If you are a calorie conscious person, this dessert is not good for you, because it is dangerously loaded with sugar.

Lauren suggested using homemade gluten free graham crackers. I was not able to find the gluten free flours suggested by her to make the homemade graham cracker. I used whole wheat flour for my graham crackers. I was a bit upset about as I baked the crackers a couple of minutes longer than what would have ideal, so my cracker’s got slightly burned, but they still tasted good. So I used Nabisco graham cracker along with my homemade ones.

It was really easy to assemble the Nanaimo bar. I halved the recipe as sugar is deadly thing in our home, and I used less sugar than suggested in the recipe (½ cup sugar for the middle layer). The Nanaimo bar came out really good. I gave it to my friend as my hubby (who is diabetic) is scared of sugar. I followed this and this recipe for graham cracker and added a little more spice. Made Mango flavored Nanaimo bar like this.

What you need

For Graham Cracker
Whole Wheat flour: 1 cup
All purpose flour: ¼ cup
Brown sugar: ½ cup
Baking soda: ½ teaspoon
Salt: ⅓ teaspoon
Butter: 3.5 tablespoon
Honey: half of ⅓ cup
Whole milk: 2.5 tablespoon
Ground Cinnamon: 1 tablespoon
Vanilla extract: 1 tablespoon

How I made

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse or mix to incorporate all the ingredients. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine the forementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about ⅛ inches thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. I cut it 2 by 2 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

Bake for 15-25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make ½ cups of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large zip loc bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

For Nanaimo Bars

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer

Unsalted Butter: ¼ cup
Granulated Sugar: ⅛cup
Unsweetened Cocoa: 2.5 tablespoon
Flax seed meal: 1 tablespoon
Water: 3 tablespoon
Graham Wafer Crumbs: ½ cup
Blanched toasted Almonds (Finely chopped): ¼cup
Coconut (Shredded, unsweetened):½cup

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer

Unsalted Butter: ¼ cup
Milk: ¼ cup
Mango Custard Powder: 11/2 tablespoon
Cornstarch: 2 tablespoon
Icing Sugar: ½ cup
For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
Semi-sweet chocolate: 2 ounce
Unsalted Butter: 1 tablespoon

For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

For Middle Layer: Cream butter, custard powder, and icing sugar together well and keep aside. Boil the milk and add custard powder-butter and icing sugar mixture and stir until everything get thickened. Switch off the flame and once it cooled, spread over the bottom layer.

For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Preparation time:
Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes
Yield: Graham Crackers: 25
Nanaimo Bars: 8 pieces
Verdict: Really good
Will you make it again: I don’t know afraid of sugar content

Swathi

Banana Butter Milk Pancake

Jan 26, 2010 · 14 Comments

Pancakes are America’s favorite breakfast, different from our dosa. Till now I haven’t tasted any pancake. My hubby say pancakes from IHOP are very sweet, so he is not fan of them, and I have never been there. Why did I think of pancakes all of a sudden? Well because of the same old problem of spotty bananas. I am tired of making banana bread for saving two bananas. Even my little one who is ardent fan of all kinds of banana are started to hate spotty bananas. When I give her, she make all kind of facial expression like her dad, and even threaten to vomit. As I had of no other choice I started searching for recipe other than muffins and banana bread. Finally I came across this recipe . I changed it a little bit.

I made my first banana pancake and it become instant hit. Now I have a way to use my spotty bananas. I also tried making them with whole wheat flour instead of the All purpose flour, and it also came good.

What you need

All purpose flour: ¾ cup
Whole wheat flour: ¼ cup
Ripe bananas: 2(one mashed thoroughly, where other is cut into thin slices of ¼ inch thickness)
Baking Powder: ¾ teaspoon
Baking soda: ½ teaspoon
Salt: ⅛teaspoon
Sugar: 1 tablespoon
Egg: 1 no
Buttermilk: 1 cup (½ cup of thick homemade yogurt+ ½ cup water)
Vanilla extract: ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter: 1 teaspoon
Oil: 1 tablespoon

How I made

Preheat oven to 200F.

In a large mixing bowl whisk the buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla together until well combined.

In another bowl mix the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and sugar.

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry and stir with a spoon to get rid of the lumps. Fold in the mashed banana, melted butter and whisk until batter is smooth. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium low heat and swirl around a one teaspoon of oil to keep the pancakes from sticking. Using a ladle pour the batter into the pan,

Cook the pancakes on 1 side until they are set and then lightly press the bananas into the batter. When small bubbles appear on the uncooked surface, flip the pancakes and cook until golden on both sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer pancakes to a warming plate in the oven while you make the rest.

Enjoy with or without maple syrup.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 pan cakes
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes

I am sending this delicious banana butter milk pancake toThink spice-vanilla event hosted by Nidhi originally started by Sunita and FF7SL event :- Healthy fast food hosted by Radhika.

Swathi

Spinach Sesame Seed Stir Fry

Jan 25, 2010 · 7 Comments

Mom used to say that I would not eat anything other than spinach rice when I was young. I love them very much. At that time I didn’t know that Spinach is rich in 9 vitamins such as C, A, K, E, B1, B2, B6, folic acid and even vitamin PP (new name for Niacin). Spinach is rich in potassium, magnesium and beta carotene. Potassium helps in building muscles and beta carotene helps in eye sight. Because of high magnesium content, Spinach helps to prevent diabetes and if you have diabetes in your family it might help you to prevent diabetes (genetic based) as an older adult. It is good as body cleanser too and you can read more from here. This may be reason Popeye (cartoon character) recommended that spinach is good for you.

In the US, it is difficult to find the variety I used to be familiar with, but over a period of time I have fallen in love with the one available. I wanted to make Japanese style spinach with toasted sesame seed. Yesterday while talking with my father over the phone, he suggested giving some spinach to my little one. I did not want to give her any soy sauce, so I changed my mind and made an Indian version of spinach sesame seed stir fry. I followed my mother’s recipe with the only change being the toasted sesame seed.

What you need

Spinach: 1 bunch (Washed and chopped)
White hulled sesame seed: ½ teaspoon (Lightly toasted)
Salt: ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ⅛ teaspoon
Cumin powder: ¼ teaspoon
Chili powder: ¼ teaspoon
Garlic: 2 clove (Chopped)
Mustard seeds: ¼ teaspoon
Onion: ¼ of Big Onion
Olive oil: 1 teaspoon

How I made

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a skillet and add mustard seeds, and as it starts crackling add onions and fry them for 6 minutes on a medium flame.

Add chopped garlic to onion and fry for another 3 minutes. Then add salt, turmeric, cumin and chili powder and fry them for another 3 minutes. To this add chopped spinach and cook them for another 4 minutes or until they are completely cooked.

Adjust the spice and salt.

In another pan lightly toast the sesame seed and keep aside.

Add toasted sesame seeds to cooked spinach mixture.

Enjoy with rice and curry, or use as a layer between two toasted bread as sandwich.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serving: 2 if conservative 3
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Yes I will

I am sending this spinach sesame seed sir fry to
Cooking with seed : Sesame Seed event hosted by Priya.

Green Gourmet event hosted by Preeti of Write food.

Cooking with seeds: cumin seeds hosted by Saraswathy of Sara's Corner originally started by Priya of Priya's Easy and Tasty Recipes.

Also to Celebrating mom event hosted by shabitha of My home kitchen.

Swathi

Rajasthani Bhindi /Rajasthani Okra Fry

Jan 21, 2010 · 18 Comments

I love Okra in any form, and usually I make thoran or mezhukupuratti with them. I can eat them 7 days a week. My hubby will buy them if he sees them in the market. Yesterday when he went shopping at the Indian store, he also brought a copy of the Indian newspaper along with the other groceries. I usually go over the newspaper in a few minutes looking at the pictures and the ads while he would read a lot of articles. Yesterday he saw a recipe for Rajasthani bhindi in the paper and asked me if I can make it. After a quick glance at the recipe I realized it was a good recipe, and also consulted with my Google friend too. Later after studying the recipe from the newspaper again, I realized the masala were in higher amounts to our taste, so I reduced the spices in half. I made my bhindi as given below. This is going to be in our kitchen more often, and yes it is tasty. I was amazed by the combination of besan and its spice in this recipe. Indian cuisine is as diverse as its languages and terrains.

What you need

Okra/Bhindi: 250 gm
Besan: 2 tablespoon
Red chili powder: ¼ teaspoon
Cumin powder: ½ teaspoon
Coriander powder: ½ teaspoon
Gram masala: ½ teaspoon
Armchur powder/Dry mango powder: ¾ teaspoon
Turmeric Powder: ¼ teaspoon
Green chillies : 2 ( I didn’t used)
Olive oil: ¼ cup
Cumin seeds: ¼ teaspoon
Fennel seeds: 1 teaspoon
Kalonji/ Nigella sativa: ½ teaspoon
Salt: ¼ teaspoon or to taste

How I made

Wash and pat dry the okra using a kitchen towel. Snip off the head and tail and make a long slit on one side. Do not make slit from one end to other end. In order to keep the okra intact silt should be made up to 85% of it.

In a bowl mix besan, salt, gram masala, coriander, cumin, chili, turmeric powder and ¾ teaspoon of fennel seeds and combine everything. To this mixture add one tablespoon of oil and combine everything.
Stuff the mixed masala into okra .Keep aside for 15 minutes.

Heat rest of oil in a pan and add rest of fennel seeds, cumin seeds , kalonji and green chilies( if using) fry for a minute. To this add okra and stir fry for 5 minutes, cover and cook for another 4 minutes.

Uncover and fry them for another3 minutes or until they become crisp.

Serve warm

Preparation time: 35 minutes
Yield: 3 serving
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: Sure I will

Swathi

P.S. with love and Malai Kofta with Paneer

Jan 20, 2010 · 15 Comments

Malai kofta is rich creamy curry usually enjoyed with nan or chapathi . It is a delicious Mughlai dish, which pose a real challenge to my cooking skills. It is also one of the essential in the Indian restaurant menu outside the Indian subcontinent. My hubby loves most of the north Indian dishe and he can live with chapthi three times a day. While growing up I haven’t tasted any north Indian dishes as a pucca south Indian. Rasam and sambar were my staple diet along with rice. After leaving the India, I started tasting north Indian dishes as all the restaurant outside india caters a mix of pubjabi and mughal dishes than the dishes from south.

In modern day India, Mughal influence in cooking is strongly felt in New Delhi and Lucknow in North and in Hyderabad in South. Cuisine of Delhi and Lucknow remain slightly closer to the Persian counterparts with the addition of cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon and ground chilies typical of the North. Where as in Hyderabad mustard seeds, curry leaves, hot chilies, tamarind and coconut milk infuse the dishes.

Malai kofta is usually made with minced meat such as lamb; while the vegetarian version usually includes potato, paneer and other vegetables. I had some paneer left after making matter paneer, so I decide to use it to make to Paneer -malai kofta curry. After consulting with my Google friend I came up with this recipe.

For Kofta

Grated Paneer: 2 cup
Grated Carrot: 1no
Potato: 1 no (Boiled and cooked)
Gram masala: 1 teaspoon
Chili powder: 1 teaspoon
Cashew: 10 no
Raisin: 25 no
Whole wheat flour: 3 tablespoon
Salt: ¼ teaspoon or to taste
Oil for frying

For Malai

Red Onion: 1 no
Tomato: 4 nos
Ginger: 1 inch
Garlic cloves: 3no
Cashews: 11 no
Cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
Fennel seeds: ½ teaspoon
Turmeric powder: ¼ teaspoon
Red chili powder: 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
Gram masala powder: 1 teaspoon
Salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste
Olive oil: 3 teaspoon
Coconut milk/ Low fat milk/cream: ¼ cup
Coriander leaves: 2 tablespoon (Chopped,) for garnish.

How I made

Kofta

Keep aside 2 tablespoon of grated paneer for garnish. In a food processor, or blender pulse or blend rest of grated paneer, carrots, cooked potato along with turmeric powder, salt, chili powder, cashews and raisins until everything combined well and forms a dough. Knead this dough along with whole wheat flour for 2 minutes to form soft dough. Pinched out small proportions dough and shape them into small golf sized balls and keep aside.

Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, when it is smoking hot, put the kofta ball 3-4 at times and fries them in medium flame until they are golden brown. Drain fried kofta in a paper towel to remove extra oil and keep aside.

Malai /sauce

Heat 2 teaspoon of oil in a sauce pan, add cumin and fennel seeds when it starts splutters add onions, ginger, garlic fry them till onions become translucent or change color and add chopped tomatoes to this mixture and cook till they become tender and soft. Switch off the flame and let it cool for 5 minutes.

Grind the onion-tomato-ginger garlic mixture along with cashews to thick paste adding less amount of water.

Heat the rest of oil in a pan and add the ground paste of onion-tomato-cashew –ginger-garlic. Cook the gravy with turmeric, garam masala, chili, coriander powder and salt for 5 minutes. Now add coconut milk/milk/cream and simmer for another 3 minutes or until it reaches desired consistency. Switch of the flame.

When you are ready to serve add kofta in sauce and garnish with chopped coriander and grated paneer.

Enjoy

Preparation time: 45 minutes

Yield: 25 Kofta

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Yes I will

Notes: Make sure oil is really hot while putting the kofta for frying. Reduce the flame cook it medium flame until they are golden color

If kofta tend to break in the oil add little bit flour and mix and knead again to form the ball.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Jan 18, 2010 · 5 Comments

I love soups in any form, and usually make soups such as corn soup and beet root soup. I had seen recipes of mushroom soup on the internet, but had never tried to make one for no apparent reason. With the mushrooms I always make a stir fry. Suddenly one day hubby asked shall we can make cream of mushroom. I said “why not? I will look for recipe in the web”. Going through lots of recipe for the soup in net, I settled with this one. I changed little bit.

Recipe calls for roasted mushroom, since I was not using huge amount mushrooms; I tried roasting in skillet with butter. I used dried sage and thyme, as I was out of fresh ones. Here come soup recipe.

What you need.

Fresh Sliced white button mushroom: 8 oz
Red onion : half
Butter : 1 teaspoon
Olive oil: ½ tablespoon
Thyme: ¼ teaspoon
Sage: ¼ teaspoon
Ginger: ½ inch (optional)
Garlic: 1 clove
Water/vegetable broth: 2 cups
Salt: to taste
Pepper: ½ tablespoon
Fat free half and half/ Heavy cream: ½ cup
Coriander leaves: chopped a few

How I made

Heat olive oil and butter in a sauce pot and add mushroom, thyme and salt and fry until they become slightly brown color. It takes about 8 minutes in a medium flame.

Drain fried mushroom from pot and keep aside. In the remaining oil (minus mushroom) add onion and fry until they become translucent or change color. It takes about 5 minutes.

Add ginger, sage and garlic clove and fry them for another 2 minutes.

Then add roasted mushroom and water let it simmer for another 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and puree with a blender.

Bring to it hot again and mix with half and half/ heavy cream.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Enjoy warm.

Preparation time: 28 minutes

Yield: 3 serving

Verdict: Yummy

Will you make it again: Sure I will

Swathi

Thattai: A Savory Snack

What is Karingali vellam

Ingredients of Karingali vellam

Spices

Herbs

Karingali Vellam/Dahashamani

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition

Footer

Featured on

Subscribe