Lets Revive!!!

Its been a pregnant pause with the updates on the blog. And since I am in the mode of revival, I decided to place a mark on this slumbery-blog too :)

Let me kick start with a tried and tested happy recipe from my end -

Thair-idli ( dahi - buttons... as I would coin it )

Ingredients -
Idli batter ( enough to make 30 button idlis )
Ginger ( 1 inch cube ) Finely shopped
Green chillies ( 8 to 10 ) Finely chopped
Hing
Mustard
Curry leaves
Handful of dessicated coconut (frozen preferred to dry) Imp ingredient
Cashewnuts
2 cups of beaten curds

Procedure -
Steam the idlis and arrange them on a flat bowl.
Prepare the tempering - In warm oil crackle mustards and add all ingredients, except coconut and let it fry.
To the beaten curd, add sufficient salt and red chilly powder.
Add coconut just minute before finishing the tadka and take care to not let it brown.
Add the tempering to the curd after around 5 to 6 min or once its cooled down. If added hot to the curd, it may curdle.
Pour the curd over the idlis. Garnish with red chilly powder and cilantro.

Keep aside for 1 to 2 hours before serving.
Enjoy!! :)

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On other notes -

The run-baby-run is long forgotten. Shall I remove it to replace with resolutions for coming year??
Probably a new template to signify the winter and fall and kick start the blog again??

Wonder if anyone is reading at all.. but, hey, it is not that hard :)

Love of greens

I did some experimenting yesterday. Instead of trashing the gorgeous pink-veined leaves of the beetroot bunch, I chopped it up and tossed it into saag-ki-dal recipe. Believe me, these leaves taste awesome. I have also eaten the pink radish's leaves as part of a salad sometime and that is going into my next dal recipe! :)

Here is how i made it -

Toor dal - 1 cup cooked with one large tomato until mashed

Beetroot leaves - one generous bunch, chopped till the stalk gets too fibery

Onion - one cut lengthwise

For seasoning -

Mustard

Jeera

Amchur powder for 'Khatta', tangy twist

chilly powder, coriander powder.

Procedure -

Tadka the ingredients in seasoning, add the cut leaves. Let the raw smell disseminate. Add the tadka and salt to cooked dal. Add enough water and let boil for about 5 min. Once it cools, add about a tsp of lemon juice. serve Hot.

Goes great with rotis and curd.

So have you tried any new ingredient in your dishes? How did it turn out?

The dum aloo success story

I have been so excited about my kashmiri dum aloo inspired dish, I knew i had to blog about it! So i drew inspiration from vah re vah video and peppered in my own style and here is how it looked and tasted awesome.

Before you venture, i must admit it is not a very healthy dish for the potatoes floating in there. But anything had in sufficient quantities is healthy even potatoes! :)

Ingredients

Onion finely chopped- 1

Potatoes ( small ) - 8 to 10

Chilly powder - 2 tsp heaps (or to your spice level)

Garam masala - 1/4th tsp ( i am not a huge fan of garam masala, hence lesso of it )

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp

Amchur powder- 1/8th tsp ( can be substituted with tamarind )

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
Elaichi ( cardamom ) - 2 green and 1 black

Curd - 1/2 cup thick beaten

Procedure 

• Boil the potatoes until half cooked ( i let it in the pressure cooker for 1 whistle )
• In the meanwhile fry the onion + ginger garlic paste + crushed elaichis and kasoori methi in a spoon of oil.
• Heat water in a bowl such that it is near boiling and add the masala powders to it. Let sit.
• Peel the potatoes and fork-poke them so that they have sufficient holes to let the masala seep through.
• Now add the potatoes to the fried onions and fry until they are light brown and are coated with onions and methi.
• Now pour the masala mix. Add salt. Add enough hot water such that the potatoes are almost submerged. Let it simmer until the gravy thickens and the raw masala smell leaves.
• Once the gravy is sufficiently thick ( takes about 20 min to get there ), lower the flame and simmer without the lid.
• Now pour the beaten curd to the mixture. Make sure the gravy is not pipping hot when you add the curd, or the curd with break.
• Simmer for another 2 to 3 min in low flame. Sprinkle finely chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy with rice or parathas

Final Variations -

•  I added a dollop of kulfi icecream before taking the dish off the stove. It gave a smooth malai touch to the dish
• Cooking for a party, make a cahew paste and pour into the gravy. top it with cream.

Well its not a healthy dish... But then.. what the hell? You have to treat yourself once in a while! :)

Few summer recipes

Seems like the demise of the blog is in sight! Ladies, lets not let that happen! what say?

I know most of us have been busy, travelling or simply plain lazy! So here is my effort in resurrecting -

Avocado parathas -

I decided to substitute, ghee /butter ingredient in flour with 1/4th of ripe avocado.

2 cups of wheat flour

hot water

1 tsp of chilly power (optional)

salt to taste

half of a small avocado OR 1/3rd of large one.

Knead the dough like usual with the buttery avocado. No need of oil/ghee and the parathas are simply delectable. Melts in the mouth. I had them with mirchi ka salan

Tofu grills

We have been into a lots of grilling since summer and though i agree that "grill" often refers to meat, I have tried veggie options and loved it too. Tofu has been a good hit and here is how it is made -

Get extra firm tofu from store.

for marinade -

mix olive oil, chilly powder, salt, mixture of coriander+pudina. Mix and match this to you taste and ingredients. I never add the same ingredients twice! :)

smear the tofu pieces, cut in cuboidal slabs. Let sit for one hour. they are ready to be grilled! :)

Beach Sandwiches -

I name them so, since last week i had them at NC beach, made by my friend sapu and they tasted heavenly! So here is how i repeated/modified her recipe -

Whip 2 Tbps light mayo, 2 tsps of red chilly flakes, pepper and salt to taste. toss in grated carrots/grated cucumber/grated capsicum and tomato. Spread lightly, so that the sandwiches arent thick. Makes a great outdoor picnic snack. nyum!

Blue potato chips

This is not a recipe. Incase i raised that question!

I am a huge fan of terra chips. The exotic veggies in their chips are truly awesome and some taste very similar to tapioca and jackfruit chips we get in kerala. Thats another reason i love them.

I had their blue potato chips on the flight. they are made from naturally blue potatoes and they had a nutty flavor. yum!

I say try the terra chips for a change from the usual ones!

Hope summer is treating everyone well!

For love of rotis

My love for rotis, different types and sizes, is my only trait thats not evidently south-indian :) I can practically go without rice for months without temptation. It caught on from my mother, who had in quest for a healthier family meal, learnt the art of making perfect bubbled phulkas during her years in Pune. She can fix the rotis from almost anytype of flour. Later she moved to carrot parathas, cabbage teplas, kulchas, aaloo parathas, rumali rotis and more.

Her phulkas still remained a master piece with every roti practically round and bubbling like a dream on the gas flame. And when smothered with a spoonful of ghee, I would gobble down way more than the stomach's capacity. I took a while to get my rotis in shape and another pregnant pause to get them to "phul" completely and the gas flame is a huge weakness for the phulka lover in me!For the same reason, gujju and marwadi food! :)

Considering N is a cringer for rotis and it is with utmost pain he manages to eat them for lunch every weekday, I ensure I give him the complete benefit of hogging rice on weekends. That also means my experiments with rotis are eaten by me alone; while N sticks to the traditional phulka and doesnt venture further. I have tried jowar and besan -di- roti and loved both. I have also ventured a lot into kakdi/beetroot/methi/pudina parathas.

So this time it was Bajra ki roti on the menu. I had it many years before at a rajasthani place in hyd. I hadnt realised it was an art to make it. Since the flour doesnt have enough gluten to hold it, it cannot be spread with the roti roller. It has to be done by hand. Nevertheless, I struggled quiet a bit, youtubed for help and finally managed it just fine in the end. It was totally yum with punjabi rajma with dahi on the side :)

Are you a roti fan too? Have you tried making anyhing new? How did it turn out?

Healthy eating everyone! Hope to see more posts.

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In case you are interested -

Onion Fritters

Its been raining cats and dogs in the east coast and all I seem to think of is making (and ofcourse eating) pakodis aka fritters. I was happy to see a change in weather but did not take too long before I was wishing that it stopped raining.. turns out I am never happy with any weather ;). Since I always have a more-than-happy-to-eat-fried-food husband at home, I wasted no time and quickly whipped up the batter to make onion(one vegetable I always always n always have in my kitchen) pakodi. I am sure there are many many more variations of the batter for this recipe but me being very lazy did the quick and the easiest one :)

Ingredients
1/2 cup Rice flour
1/2 cup Besan
1          Medium onion
Oil for frying
Salt
Chilli powder

Procedure
1. Mix the rice flour, besan, salt and chilli powder with water until you have a batter with the consistency to coat the onions.
2. Peel and cut the onions in rings. Seperate the layers or rings.
3. Dip the onion rings in the batter and deep fry them in hot oil until brown.
4. Enjoy hot with Maggie Hot and Sweet sauce.

Note: I am used to only using besan for making the batter but I found rice flour gives a little crispness to the pakodi.

A few recipes

I did two things over the weekend -

One, tried my hand at baking a healthy cake ; made maple walnut and I was glad it turned out yum; glad because i had followed my instincts for the measurement and was a little apprehensive!

Secondly, I had the most awesome crepe at AppleSeed. I will definitely recommend the spinach crepe there.

So here is my Healthy Maple Walnut cake recipe.

Ingredients -

* 1 and half cup all purpose flour

* 1 cup buttermilk

* 2 Tbsp butter melted

* 2 eggs

* 1/3 cup light brown sugar

* 1/4 cup maple syrup

* 1 tsp vanilla essence

* 1/4 cup broken walnut

* 1 tsp baking powder

Procedure -

Beat eggs, butter milk, sugar, maple syrup and vanilla essence. Wisk it with all purpose flour and bking powder. Plop in the walnuts. Bake in a greased vessel for about 50 minutes at 350F. Makes a great companion for strawberry icecream.

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Before I forget, Wish everyone a happy Ugadi! And today was ugadi potluck at work and we had an assortment of rice varieties ( Mango rice, Pulihora, Lemon rice, curd rice, pudina rice) I was the contributor of pudina rice (mint rice) and this is one recipe I have never gone wrong with (touch wood) and here you go; Thats how I make it!  :)

Ingredients -

To grind -

* Generous fistful bunch of mint stalk with leaves

* cup of grated coconut

* 1 inch cube of ginger

* 3 large garlic pods

* 7 to 10 green chillies ( according to spice level tolerance)

Spices -

4 cardamom pods

2 cloves

1 star anise

bay leaves

One 3 inch cinnamon stick

3 cups Basmati Rice

Beat the above mentioned ingredients under 'To grind' in a food processor until it is a smooth paste. Add as little water as possible. It should not be smooth like chutney, but slightly granulated to touch.

In a large pan, add about 2 tsps of ghee. Add the 'Spices'. Once they sizzle, add the ground paste. Keep it on a low flame, so that the pudina paste doesnot darken, but cooks evenly. 

While the paste is getting done, get the 3 cups of rice cooked. I usually soak the rice for about an hour. Then allow sufficient water to boil in a heavy bottom vessel. To the boiling water I pop in broken cardamom, 1 cm long cinnamon stick and sufficient salt. Once the water boils, I add the rice and let it cook for about 15 minutes or until it is separate grained but well cooked. Drain the rice.

Now slowly mix the rice with the pudina paste. Garnish with brown fried onions cut long and cashews.

Enjoy! Happy cooking everyone!

A dallop of avial

I am surprised that this is my first Kerala recipe on the blog. I was sure I would flood it with them! :P

So I decided to start with the easiest and most popular. I agree that kerala recipes are an acquired taste and do not appease everyone in one go. And I know it well, for N isnt an instant lover of any food in general and I have modified my traditional kerala cooking to suit a 'generic' taste bud!

If you are looking for a lot of nutrition, lots of veggies and a filling meal, there is nothing better than avial. Here is the list of veggies you can add to the authentic avial recipes. But feel free to add any veggie which you think might blend in -

1. Raw hard banana (green)

2. Carrots

3. Cucumber ( all kinds )

4, Melons ( all kinds)

5. yam (chennai kezangu)

6. Koorkai ( chinese potato )

7. Chakka kuru ( jackfruit seeds.. they are yum!)

8. Cashew fruit

9. Drumstick

10. Snake gourd

11. Raw mango

I usually make it quick and easy with cucumber, carrot and raw mango. If I get good drumsticks I pop them in.

Procedure  (this is going to be real easy!)

1. Cut the veggies lengthwise about half the size of your little finger

2. Allow the veggies except raw mango to boil in enough water just to immerse the veggies.

3. Sprinkle some haldi (turmeric) on top pf the sunk veggies.

4. Generously add a spoonful of coconut oil to this boiling mixture. Add salt to taste.

( I get the coconut oil from Hannaford; you can find it in any organic food store. These ones have great flavor, but do not emanate the smell which usually puts every non-mallu off from kerala food! Trust me, because N cannot stand coconut oil and he loves my avial! :) )

5. Throw in at least 7 to 8 curry leaves to this medley.

While the veggies cook,

6. In a mixer, add about a cup of shredded coconut, half teaspoon of jeera and 5 to 6 green chillies

7. Blend it without adding any water until it is smooth like a thick chutney like consistency.

8. When the veggies are half cooked, add the cut raw mango.

9. Once the veggies are cooked add the coconut mix.

10. Dribble another half spoon of coconut oil. Take the mixture off the stove after about five minutes.

Usually avial is thick like a lasagna consistency, but I make it a little gravy like by adding more water in the end, as you can see in the picture. It is my mother's recipe and it is foolproof !

Points to note:

1. Ensure you add one sour/bitter veggie ( raw mango fits the bill well ) Other options, which i know of, haven't tried are bitter gourd,tinda.
2. DONT even think of substituting coconut oil for any other oil. You will not end up with an avial end product
3. My mother makes it with beaten curds too, if you dont have the raw mango in hand. I will post that variation, once I watch her make.
4. Its a flavorful dish, but not a spicy chatpata one. So be warned.

Avial is best enjoyed with adai ( pesarattu). I love it with chapati too! N likes it with rice :)

Happy eating, let me know if you know a different recipe!

That's the way the cookie crumbles :) !

I already made it pretty clear that I am a big time chocoholic.. Anything that has chocolate in it, it becomes my instant favourite :) Infact I have turned my husband into a choco-addict as well.. Muuuhahaha (u know.. the devilish laugh).  He literally begs me to make chocolate treats/desserts now.. Life is bliss :D. Today while I was drinking green tea, I had this craving for a cookie with warm melting chocolate inside.,the next thing I know, I was on a search for some recipe with the ingredients from my baking shelf and preferrably a heathier version  and I found this.. It boasts of 21% fewer calories, 42% less saturated fat and 14% less fat than the original recipe but I personally felt there was nothing major under the healthy category except for the whole wheat flour and the amount of butter used.. that's good enough for me.. all the mind game I say! It also fits in  the bake-a-thon month thingie we have going here (I am under the impression that month = till there are enough contributions or till somebody comes up with a different concept :D). Also following suggestions of Divya and inspirations of other blog sites, I decided to venture into a new hobby.. photographing food! This is my debut, using Sandeep's SLR.. I am pretty excited about the whole deal.. So please comment/suggest on any pictures and recipes..will be happy and humble to accept them. I guess I have listed all my excuses and buried my guilt for indulging in chocolate pleasures so lets get started with the recipe..

Ingredients

3/4    cup granulated sugar

3/4    cup packed brown sugar

1/2    cup butter, softened

1/2    cup canola oil

1       teaspoon vanilla

1       egg

2       cups whole wheat flour

1       teaspoon baking soda

1/4    teaspoon salt

3/4    cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Procedure

1.    Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat sugars, butter, oil, vanilla and egg with electric mixer on low speed until blended. Beat in flour, baking soda and salt until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

2.    On ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, drop dough by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart.

3.    Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until very light golden brown (centers will be soft). Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.

This recipe yields 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Source:Eat Better America

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Looks like someone has been patient enough to teach novices about food photography. Thought I should share the link. It looked really useful.

http://www.cookingandme.com/2006/07/food-photography-for-food-bloggers.html

Tofu recipes

The email chain floating around with shritu's suggestions for tofu recipes, I thought I will add it as a post instead...

Divya's experiment -

I made tofu sandwich. I got the extra firm tofu from traders joe. But, the tofu still needs to be handled delicately or it will easily break. If you open the pack, make sure you change the water in which the tofu is immersed everyday of refrigeration.

Procedure -

• Cut the tofu into slabs thick enough for your sandwich/burger bread. Gently squeeze out as much water as you can.
• In a flat vessel, add spices of your choice - I added oregano, basil, ground pepper, ground cumin, red chilly flakes. Add 2 tsp of olive oil and mix the spices so that it forms a "dosa-podi" type consistency. Add salt.
• Smother the tofu pieces with this marinade. Keep it aside for atleast 1 hour. I had it marinated for 3 hours.
• Toast the tofu in a flat bottom pan. To make it more crunchy, you can add more oil. I was surprised myself that the marinade powders stuck to the tofu really well and didnt wither away while toasting. Toast until it is a golden brown.
• Enjoy it with honey mustard/ketchup/pickles/ other veggies in your sandwich

My cousin Villus suggests -

Add the tofu pieces like you would add paneer to the paneer mutter recipe. Add them towards the end of the preparation however.

Sandhya's plans-

I was looking for Kung-Pao-tofu recipe last week as I was planning on making one. I got the Kung-Pao sauce from the grocery store to start with :) http://appetiteforchina.com/recipes/kung-pao-tofu

Have you tried any recipe with tofu lately, something you have never cooked before or often do? If so post the recipe. Simply edit this post and add on to it or leave a comment.

Mithra's tips

I like firm tofu crumbles with my salad.. a signature one would be to add mesculun greens, cherry tomatoes, sunflower seeds & tofu tossed with Olive oil or balsamic vinaigrette for a crisp snack or side.

I've heard a lot about these tofu noodles as a great pasta substitute, but I haven't had the courage to try yet!

Bagara Baingan,Bakes,BlockOfLard

When it comes to cooking, I am more of a follower. I prefer the recipes scribbled on the diary, with words of wisdom doled out by my mother in law and mother, to experiments. I also love the colorful cookery books, exact proportions and a few culinary websites I frequent; so like I term it, I am a bookish-cook. Going by the norm, I found the perfect bagara baingan recipe suiting our taste buds and N and I slurped it clean with home-made parathas yesterday for lunch. You can find the recipe here. I vouch it is foolproof! =)

A few other websites I love and frequent are -

Priya's Akshayapatram

Solai chidambaram for chettinad cooking (especially chicken varieties)

Mahanandi for the andhra veggie fix

Most evidently, my second favorite cuisine (first being kerala, of course!) is the andhra bone, hyderabadi to be specific!

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So, I make my entry to the bake-a-thon by following sush's simple recipe of vanilla flavor cake. For my first ever bake it turned out pretty yum and believe it or not, there is just one-eighth of the loaf (as seen in the picture) left. Saiz and sandhya were also party to the cake-eating.

The whole nuts peeping out is N's doing! He plopped them into the batter before I could break them! So as we let the soft cake melt in the mouth, we were rudely awakened by a huge almond to crunch into, from time to time.

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Before you wonder if this section is about a 'block of lard', let me clarify that it is about me feeling like one!

I am a deep-fry-hater. Other than the waist-watch perspective, it is the oil clinging to the carpets rendering the house into a greasy rancor that is a put off. Hence, I stick to the frying bit only on special occasions like N's birthday when I cannot veto the idea. This year, it seems I have become more lenient and ventured for the second time deep frying bajjis and paruppu vadais last evening. Company for the evening coffee made up for the incentive. Knowing fried items are a delicacy; N often makes the best of the deep-fry-occasions to fry anything he can lay hands on, until the oil turns a savage red and retching slick.

I bet two molaga bajjis (green waxy chilly bajjis), few handfuls onion pakodas, couple of paruppu vadais were more than unwelcome to the stomach that hadn't feasted to oil in a long time. Gone are the days when in the name of group-studies, I would wolf down desi french-fries and onion bajjis, which my mother would make for the "hard-working" students.

I was an acidic mess by the time I retired to bed feeling like a completely useless piece of  lard swearing to never deep fry ever again! Until next time….

Hope everyone else had a healthy weekend! =)

Questions – 

How do you balance deep frying and healthy eating? 

What are the options for making deep frying healthy?(now that's an oxymoron! :D )

Mithra bakes!

Our trip to BJs last week left us with a 2 dozen bag of bananas which were slowly consumed for fear of unnecessary wastage. We got down to the final two today and their skins had started turning black. Not wanting to waste them, and in light of Divya's baking suggestion I turned them into a cake here using this recipe. I did add a handful of walnuts though, and used Sush's suggestion to use a blender to beat the eggs.

Here are the results (we nibbled a little)



I was quite pleased, and albeit a bit on the sweeter side, it was quite tasty. Planning to bake a bit more tonight, will post with pictures if attempt succeeds!

This week is NYC's restaurant week, so me & S went to get dinner last night here. We were simply amazed by the yumminess of the food, and have vowed to keep ourselves off of cheaper restaurant fare & indulge in NY C's goodness at least once every quarter! The tab was a little high (The Prix frie restaurant week dinners include a starter, main course and dessert for each person for $35) but totally worth it, since it pleased both our vegetarian & meaty tastes. So if you folks visit next time, we know where we are taking you!

crispy egg sambal

I was bored with the usual egg curry, i used to make every fortnight and decided to do something different with egg. So this is what I ended up with and I am planning on trying the following with different gravies until I am bored... If you have tried something similar, please share your recipes too!

Ingredients -

Eggs - 4

Onion - 1 big cut length-wise ( i think small onions will suit this gravy best. I didnt have any at home!)

Tomato - 2 medium cut fine

Red chilly - fresh or dry (a good cupful, this is the only spice, so be generous)

cilantro - a bunch

pepper corns - 5 to 6

garlic - 1 pod

Procedure -

1. Make a thick, sufficiently crispy omelet with the eggs ( I used just the egg whites to keep it healthy). Add a tbsp of milk while beating the eggs to make the omelet fluffy. Dribble some pepper powder and salt in the omelet mix. Cut the omelet into 1 inch cuboids.

2. Saute the onions until golden brown.

3. Add the tomatoes and keep it in low flame.

4. In the meanwhile beat the garlic, red chilly, peppercorns and cilantro into a semi-fine paste.

5. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add this red chilly paste.

6. Add salt and enough water to form a gravy and let it simmer for at least 15 minutes.

7. Once the gravy thickens, add omelet pieces to it.

8. Mix the omelet with the gravy and take care not to break it. ( the thicker the omelet, the easier to mix )

9. Let it simmer for not more than 5 minutes.

Serve it hot with Phulkas or Sambol or rice. Tastes best when eaten immediately!

For those who dont eat egg, I think the gravy should go well with tofu! :)

Note: Sambal and Sambol were names I picked from a Srilankan book.

Sambal is any gravy made from red chilly.

Sambol is a easy rice dish that is had with spicy curries.

* Beat 5 to 6 small red onions, 2 to 3 garlic pods, couple of red chilles and few green chillies into a crunchy paste.

* Fry this mixture with little oil until the raw smell leaves it.

* Add a handful of coconut to this sauteed mix and fry till its golden brown.

* Add salt and mix it with a cup of cooked rice.

In the original version, along with coconut, dry fish is also added.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! Dont forget to mail me the miles...

Every mile counts!! :)

Spinach soup

This is a twist on the traditional Palak panner that packs a punch & is just as if not more yum! Sudan & I licked our bowls clean when I made this last time, so here goes:

For two servings you will need:

1. two green chillies
2. one ripe tomato
3. Half a red onion
4. a few peppercorns
5. two pods of Garlic
6. A cup of spinach
7. a few cloves & cinnamon
8. A tablespoon of cream (optional, but it does make it more yum!)
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil

Add a tablespoon of oil & saute the spinach until it is cooked. Blend to a lush green paste.
Puree tomatoes to a fine paste
Chop the garlic, onions & green chillies finely & saute in oil with cloves & cinnamon.
Add the pureed tomatoes & salt to the mix & cook to a boil.
Powder the peppercorn & add to the mix.
Finally add the spinach & the cream & heat for 5 minutes. You should not overcook the spinach.

Enjoy with dippable bread sticks!

The soup that made itself!

The day was a perfect soup day, except for my mind-numbing drive back from work in the heavy snow! The snow is not so magical when you are behind the wheel and worse when all you have is AR Rahman for company! :(

But I managed to reach home safe and sound and make the soup that made a hearty dinner!
Let me call it the medley soup, for I used whatever I could find in the refrigerator, the snow having thwarted my grocery shopping plans!
So here goes...

Ingredients -
All the wonderful veggies you can find. I added -
1. Tomatoes - 5 to 6 small
2. one large onion
3. one yellow beet
4. handful shredded cabbage
5. Carrot - one large
6. Bell peppers - half
7. garlic - 4 to 5 flakes, cut finely
8. ginger - one inch cube, cut finely
9. one small cup - mixed lentils. I used black-eyed peas and kidney beans
10. A bunch of basil and handful cut cilantro
11. Parsley/oregano flakes
12. Red chilly flakes
13. Ground black pepper - 1 tsp
14. butter - 2 cm slice cuboid

Procedure

* Add the butter to the heavy bottom pressure pan.
* add 2 tsp of olive oil.
* once the oil-butter mix sizzles, dribble parsley, organo and red chilly flakes in comfortable quantity. You can feel the flavor from the strength of the aroma.
* to this add the cut garlic and ginger.
* Saute the onions until light golden brown
* Add all the veggies and lentils except tomato and cabbage
* Keep adding parsley or basil as required at this stage.
* Once the veggies are sufficiently smothered with the flakes, place tomatoes cut by four and spread the cabbage on top.
* Now drop the ground black pepper and remaining basil leaves
* Add enough water to just sink all the veggies.
* Add enough salt and pressure cook for 5 to 6 whistles.

Tada... Serve hot with cut cilantro and lightly fried cut bread in olive oil.

The main ingredients are - parsley, basil, oregano and crushed black pepper!They give the aroma and flavor!

Enjoy!!!

(Chicken) Egg drop Soup

To commemorate the occasion of National Soup month and also being an ardent fan of soups(I even bought a soup recipe book long ago!), I decided to go on a soup dinner tonight despite of a not-so-interested-about-soups husband.. lucky for me, the weather is in my favor :D

While I was going through the recipe book to pick a soup, I was in a fix.. there were about 500 varieties! And the ingredients were from all over the world representing different climates and cultures.. I did not even hear about soups served cold till I came to the USofA. When I was really young and was introduced to the we-dine-out-of-home-for-special-occasions-only culture, the only two soups I used to see on the menu in the restaurants of Tirupati were the Tomato soup and the Veg/Chicken Egg drop soup aka Sweet corn soup. So I decided to make my favorite soup of childhood :)

Ingredients:

• Creamed style sweet corn can (you can find it in the canned food section)
• Chicken breast (cut into small pieces)- one
  
• Corn starch (not cornmeal)- 2tbspn
  
• Egg whites - 2
  
• Salt to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups water
  

Procedure:

• Boil the water in a pan.
• After the water boils, salt it and add the sweet corn from the tin.
• Let it boil again. Now add the chicken breast meat and let it boil till it cooks(for about 3 mins)
• Mix the cornstarch in a separate bowl with a tbspn of water and add this to the soup. You will notice that the soup thickens.. you can always add some more or less cornstarch depending on how you like the consistency of the soup but always remember to keep stirring the soup continuously while adding the thickening agent(cornstarch) so no lumps would form.
• Add the Egg white and whisk it in the bowl so there will be no big chunks of egg. Egg whites cook very quick so this step can also be done with the flame switched off.
• Finally add freshly ground black pepper and Enjoy!

Note:

• This soup should serve about four people as a meal.
  
• As this belongs to the family of Chinese soups, it can be served with soy sauce, chili vinegar and the likes as enjoyed by you.
• For a vegetarian version, cut carrots and green beans into very small cubes(chewable) and add it to the boiling water after step1 and boil it till they cook.. the rest would be the same in both cases except of-course you skip the chicken and egg in your soup.

Be it a homemade or canned or a takeout, lets keep the soups coming for the last week left in the month!

Till then enjoy your bowl of hearty soup!

Going Green!

 I used to hate anything and everything which could be categorized as 'good-for-you' when I was a kid but guess I am all grown up now. sigh! Yup. that's my dinner plate... seriously! very proud and showing-off :D

 Recently my husband got determined to go on a 'healthy' diet spree(good for him). That should explain i guess :)

I cribbed when I was also included in the plan but a simple lemon vinaigrette with a huge pile of spring salad mix made me happy. Big fan.(doesn't mean I am going to order a salad if I go out for dinner:D) Combine it with a protein(grilled fish/chicken breast or tofu for a vegetarian option) and a fruit for dessert.. you will feel so proud of yourself after an amazing workout. I did for sure!

Here is how I made my venigrette:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil(E-V-O-O as coined by Racheal Ray)- 2 tbspns
Freshly squeezed Lemon Juice(makes alot of difference)- 1tbspn
Salt- 1tspn(or less depending on you- I never measure)
freshly ground black pepper- 1/2tspn

Just whisk it all in a salad bowl(and the consistency changes immediately). Now toss your prewashed salad leaves until coated and Enjoy! That is it.. No kidding.


Note: Always add the vinaigrette right before you serve so the leaves stay crunchy.
 
You can also add

• Chopped almonds or walnuts or pecans for some crunch.

• Sun dried tomatoes for the chewy texture.

• Boiled egg whites for protein.
  

• Garlic and herb croutons for a bonus ;)
  

I am sure there are many many more variations on the basic salad recipe I posted here.. will keep updating as and when I try them personally :)

Healthy Eating everyone :)

PS: Hey Divs, Refreshing your memory, incase you got carried away, I am not on the PATH but enjoying the light meals and everyday workouts for now :D

Desi cookies!

This weekend the chef in me was inspired by my exceedingly sweet tooth. I craved one of Amma's perfectly baked biscuits, reminiscing their wonderful baked smell and the golden color. So off I went to the local grocer in my aim to recreate the recipe. It turned out pretty cool, as its all gone now, I am happy with the result.

So here's the recipe (Proportions matter here):

A cup of all purpose flour

1/3 cup of confectioners sugar (you can powder regular sugar in a blender as well)

1/3 cup of butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda (this is the egg substitute to make the cookie crumbly)

2% milk added as suitable when you knead.

Knead all ingredients together such that there are no lumps. You want a chapati doughy consistency.

Roll out the dough into a thick circle and cut out cookies with a cutter or a tumbler rim. (alternately you can make small balls & press down with a flat cup into cookie rounds for a more homemade look)

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake for 15 minutes until brown on top.

Enjoy!

Hyderabadi Dum biriyani!

Whenever we head to NJ, we have made it a point not to miss 'paradise biriyani'. It is by far the best dum biriyani I have had! Spicy and chatak! :)


Considering we Bostonions or should I say Tyngsborough-nions ( now thats a mouthful!) do not have the good luck of indian restaurants in the Mass area, I had taken on the project to bring good indian food home!
In one such mission, I had tried my friend Annie's dum biriyani recipe. Over the many times i made it, I have made addendums and improvised it... So here's the recipe, inspired by Ann's --

Ingredients

chicken - leg pieces - 5 or 6 OR 2 thighs cut in cubes


If its leg pieces, go for the smaller size of chicklets. otherwise chicken thighs should work fine(Sush had given a tip about thighs being better than breasts! ... I am sure that argument doesn't hold ground for anything other than chicken (it was a non-veg joke! sigh!)


Pudina/mint - 7 to 8 sprigs.
dhania/coriander - one handful bunch
Green chillies - around 8
thick curds - 2 cups
garlic pods - 5 to 6
egg - 1
ginger -3/4 inch cube
Garam masala
Chilly powder
Basmati rice - 3 cups
Onions - 2 big
coconut milk - 2 Tbsp

Procedure

( I )Preparing the marinade
1. Beat the curd smooth. Plop the egg into it and wisk it well. The egg makes the chicken softer.
2. Grind garlic, ginger, coriander, pudina, green chilles into a thick coarse chutney like consistency. Do not add water. 

(careful not to add more than 1 or 2 pudina sprigs at this stage, else the biriyani will be very minty)

3. Add this green paste to the beaten curd-egg mixture.
4. Add 2 tsps of chilly powder and 2 tablespoons of garam masala powder and required salt to the mixture.
5. Now add the chicken to this marinade and let it sit for atleast 2 hours!


( II ) In the mean time -
1. Cut one and half onions finely criss cross. Cut the remaining half length-wise.
2. Cut a few strands of coriander and 3 to 4 sprigs of pudina.
3. Soak the 3 cups of Basmati rice.


(III) Once the marinade has sat for almost 2 hours -
1. Add little oil to a low bottom vessel.
2. Add jeera and sompf to the oil. Once they sizzle, add the finely cut onions.
3. Once the onions are fried to golden brown, add the chicken marinade.
4. Let it sit on the stove for atleast 15 to 20 minutes, while you intermittently mix it.


(IV) While the chicken marinade cooks -
1. In a heavy bottom vessel, add a little ghee.
2. Fry lightly--3 to 4 cardamom pods, black cardamom, half inch cinnamon stick, 1 or 2 cloves, star anise and 3 or 4 pudina leaves
3. To this add sufficient water, may be 2 to 3 cups, depending on the size of your vessel.
4. Add 2 Tbsps of coconut milk to this.
5. Add necessary salt. Don't forget the salt at this stage, otherwise, you can never mix the rice with salt later on.
5. Drain the soaked Basmati rice and reserve.
6. Once the water boils, add the basmati rice to it.
7. Keep checking to see how much the rice has cooked. Once it is half cooked, take it off the gas stove and drain immediately. Usually this takes 5 minutes from the time the water boils.
8. Fork the drained basmati with a dallop of ghee.
9. Preheat the oven to 350.


(V) Once the chicken marinade is 3/4th cooked and the curd gravy sufficiently reduced -
1. In a long flat baking dish, smear the bottom surface with a thin layer of ghee.
2. Pour the 3/4th cooked chicken marinade to the dish.
3. Spread the coriander and punida cut in step II on top of the marinade.
4. Evenly spread the drained and forked half cooked Basmati on top of this chicken gravy.
6. Now fry the onions cut length wise in step II, until they are deep brown and semi-crispy. Spread them on top of the spread basmati.
7. Dribble a little color powder on top of the rice (optional).
8. The oven should have attained the 350 mark by now. Cover the layered biriyani with aluminum foil and let it bake in the oven for 20 to 25 min.
9. Once you take it out of the oven, take a pic to post on facebook (optional) ;)
10. Mix the cooked rice and marinade layers nicely, but careful not to break the rice too much.


Serve hot with mirchi ka salan and raita :)


Other options --

1. Boil eggs and insert them into the biriyani layers before placing in the oven.
2. Add ghee fried cashews and curry leaves to top the biriyani, if you are cooking it for a guest! You don't want the empty calories :)
3. My MIL adds all the left over uncuttable whole chicken bits into the marinade. It simply adds to the flavor, but cannot be eaten. I for one, hate bones, so avoid it!


Though I agree, its a makeshift for dum..Since there is no dum except for a convention oven, the taste doesn't disappoint at all ! :)


For the vegetarian version -
1. No marination required.
2. Start at step II
3. Fry the onions, followed by 2 tomatoes finely cut. Add the garam masala and chilly powder and the green paste made in step I. Add the veggies. Add the curd. Let the gravy be only half or 1/4th cooked before pouring it into the baking dish!
4. Remaining steps are the same!


The recipe serves 4 ravenous adults or 6 adults mildly hungry! :)


This is one of the easiest recipes, if you haven't ventured into non-veg cooking, or you wish to cook it for your better half, like I did! Since, I am not a fan of the chicken in the biriyani, though I love the rest of the biryani, I get N to cut and marinate the chicken for me! The rest is easy work!!


Hope the recipe helps.! Let me know if you tried it!
And I definitely dare the vegetarians to resist the urge to try this awesome dish! :)


Happy eating! :)

Sweet Beginnings :)

Thanks for the intro Div, yea I vowed to co-author and now I vow to be alive unlike my other blog(if you noticed :D). I always wanted to blog because if you know me, I always love to talk. But I realized I am a lot lazier than I thought I was. If only I had the device like Stephen Hawking to convert my thoughts to words and to sentences and to articles.. okay now I am wandering away. The point is I never had a commitment or the motivation. Its always nice to have somebody around to keep you going, especially if you are like me :)

The blog has been aptly titled for me for I am the kind of girl who never categorizes chocolate as 'junk' or 'unhealthy' and drinks green tea every single day to detox my body :D

For my first blog here I want to share my mom's cake recipe which is liked by everybody till date. This recipe was my debut to the culinary world.. my first cooking class from mom :)

Ingredients:

Maida aka all-purpose flour - 1 cup
                             Sugar  - 1 cup
         Vegetable/canola oil - 1 cup
                              Eggs  - 4 large
                 Baking powder  - 1 tsp
                Vanilla essence  - 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 330 degrees F

Beat the eggs and sugar with the vanilla essence in a large bowl (my mom used to do this in a mixer jar)

In another bowl mix together the flour and baking powder

Add oil to the dry ingredients and mix well

Now add the eggs n sugar mixture to the batter and mix well

Pour it in a greased and floured 9" baking dish and bake for 55-60 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean

Note:

Adding 4tbspns of unsweetened coco powder along with the dry ingredients will give you a chocolate cake

You can add your choice of nuts to add a little crunch to the cake

Definitely give it a try and let me know how you like it.. Its a foolproof recipe and trust me you can not go wrong with it!

Happy Baking :)

Sush