The Yum Factor

Rest in peace, my dear friend...

2012-02-13T19:06:00.000+05:30

My dear friend Raji, popular as Miri of Peppermill, passed away this morning.

I still can't believe it...

She's been a wonderful friend for many many years and an inspiration for many things in life, including this blog.

Extremely positive, full of love and warmth and such an amazing person. Nothing ever got her down.
She was suffering from a rare condition, which did not let her eat for a year, but every time I visited her, she would cook something new, all this when she was not allowed to even taste it

For one of my birthdays, she sent me a set of hand-written recipes, which I will always treasure - its something so rare these days, where no one has the time or patience to sit down and write a few lines

My go-to person for so many things, we discussed about bringing up kids, books to read, food, recipes, developing patience, dealing with unreasonable people, everything...

In the last couple of months, she was really struggling with her health, but it did not stop her from being the thoughtful person that she is - she still remembered birthdays, always sent little gifts, she still cooked up a storm and posted it on her blog, never showed how much pain she was going thru...

She was so full of life, love, hope and positive energy

May her soul rest in peace and may God give her family the strength to carry on without her

Will miss you terribly Raji

Book Review : Southern Flavours by Chandra Padmanabhan

2012-01-30T11:10:00.000+05:30

For many years now, I have been reading cookbooks like I read any other novel, its always been as interesting, if not more ! At first I assumed I was the only one, but after I started my blog, I realised I have lots of company !!

I got this beautiful book called 'Southern Flavours, the best of South Indian Cuisine' by Chandra Padmanabhan from Blogadda, as part of their book review program. I have read some of her recipes from other blogs, but never owned any of her books until now

Luckily for me, this book has the best recipes from her three previous books, Dakshin, Southern Spice and Simply South with an added 50 new recipes

Southern Flavours has a wide array of vegetarian recipes from all four southern states - Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka, all neatly categorized into various sections like Sambar, Rasam, Poriyal and Kootu, Rice, Snacks, Sweets and Accompaniments like Chutneys, Podi and Pachadi.
The category names are more Tamil-centric, but it does have many recipes from each region
Like the section on 'Sambar' has a Vatral Kuzhambu from Tamil Nadu, Nupindi Pulusu from Andhra, Theeyal from Kerala and Majjige Huli from Karnataka, in addition to many more.
This book has a good share of recipes from all four states, though I felt a few more from Kerala would have balanced it better.

If you have a kitchen that stocks basic ingredients used in an Indian kitchen, then you should be able to make almost all the dishes mentioned in the book. The instructions are detailed and clear, making it simple to follow.
There is also a 'Table of measures' with metric and US equivalents
A list of the special utensils like the paniyaram chatti, used in South Indian cooking is also mentioned, with pictures

This book even has the right way to cook rice - in a pressure cooker, on the stove-top or in the microwave. I thought this is very useful to new cooks and to people who are not very confident with cooking rice in either one of these methods

It features some typical Udupi recipes, Chettinad recipes and recipes from the Hebbar Iyengar and Palghat Iyer communities, in addition to the more popular recipes from the four states
What really warmed my heart was that there were quite a few recipes from the Saraswat Konkani kitchens of Mangalore like Song, Ghashhi, Mangalore Saar and Kairas. This cuisine doesn’t get featured so much in any of the regular South Indian cookbooks, from what I have seen so far, so it was a nice surprise to these here !

A real value add here in this book is the number of healthy options for some traditional recipes, like an oats upma, ragi (finger millet) idli, oats rava idli, ragi (finger millet) vadai, kadhamba dosai (multigrain pancakes) and some recipes that use broken wheat instead of rice. This is very useful especially now, when more and more people are getting conscious about cooking and eating healthy.

There are quite a few family favourite recipes, some from her sister-in-law, mother, aunts and her mother-in-law, who had the biggest influence on her cooking. There are some recipes picked up from cooks she had along the way and some from her friends.
An interesting one is Chitra’s keerai parrapu ussili – I have always had and heard of ussili made with different varieties of beans, but never with greens. There is also a Vendhayam poriyal, fenugreek sprouts stir fry, which is something really unusual and as she says, its considered good for diabetic patients

A really interesting feature in this book is the section on ‘Buffet Spreads’ and ‘Suggested Menus’. The buffet spreads have 2 options that cover recipes from all four states and there are 6 ‘Suggested Menu’ options that are something that can be made for a regular meal and not as elaborate as the buffet spread
This will definitely be a big help to people who are not familiar with South Indian cuisine and are not sure what to pair with what, and even to the ones cooking it regularly who would like to add some twists to a routine combination of dishes

Colourful pictures of some mouth-watering food (though I would have loved to see more of them), easily explained recipes for a new cook, some unique and interesting recipes and healthy alternatives to traditional recipes makes this book a really good one for a collection of South Indian recipes!

About the author

Chandra Padmanabhan, a graduate from Calcutta University, has been associated with the publishing industry for a long time. 'Dakshin', her best selling book published in '94 is still popular in many countries across the world. Her other book 'Simply South' has won the GOURMAND award for the second best Vegetarian cookbook in 2009

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

This is my first ever book review and the longest post I've written !
I hope you enjoyed reading it.

I am sure many recipes from this book will show up here soon.

Undhiyu - Winter special dish from Gujarat

2012-01-13T09:30:00.000+05:30

Uttarayan celebrated on January 14th in Gujarat, is a time for kite-flying in and gorging on some delicious undhiyu, poori, jalebi and til chikki
My neighbour makes some amazingly crisp chikki with peanuts and sesame and I always get my share during Uttarayan...

Ahmedabad is almost distinctly divided into the old city or the walled area and the new Satellite area. The old area has houses that go up vertically, literally with one room on a floor, landing up in an open terrace. The shops in this area are big enough to hold in the shopkeeper and 2 customers, maybe. The new area has plush bungalows, high rise apartments and huge shopping malls sprouting everywhere.
All traditional festivals are celebrated with great gusto in the old area, as compared to the new areas. I have managed to go into the old areas twice during Uttarayan. Its like a different world out there, everyone is up on their terrace, with music players, dhols (drums) and whistles, or more recently, the vuvuzela look alikes...
Everytime someone manages to cut somebody else's kite, the music and whistling gets louder and the victorious shouts of 'kaipo che', which means 'we cut the kite' echo around...
If you have seen the Salman Khan starrer 'Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam', you know what I am talking about...
The mood is really upbeat and the radio channels have contests all thru the week that win you 100 kites !

Anyway, back to the favourite topic of any self-respecting Amdavadi - Food !!

Undhiyu is a delicious mix of vegetables, mainly root vegetables, some beans and muthias cooked in a green masala. The traditional ones are cooked in an earthen pot over firewood, the ones in restaurants float in a lot of oil and here's my version which I learnt from a Gujarati friend here...

Here's what went into my Undhiyu - sweet potatoes, purple yam / kand, banana, baby potatoes, small brinjals, papdi / stringed flat beans, tuver dana the green masala and of course, the muthias from this post

Most of these vegetables are seasonal, and many may not be available outside of Gujarat. I have mentioned alternate vegetables that are more easily available, which can be used instead. And there are a whole lot of vegetables used, so a little of each makes quite a bit of undhiyu !

Undhiyu / Undhiya

What you need -

1 cup stringed broad beans / surti papdi
1 purple yam / kand or use yam or raw banana instead
5 baby potatoes
5 small brinjals / eggplants
1 sweet potato
1/2 cup tuver dana / fresh pigeon peas or use peas instead
1/2 cup fresh broad bean seeds / Papdi dana / avarekai
1-2 ripe bananas (try not to leave this out, it adds a lovely taste)
8-10 methi muthia
5-6 tbsp oil
1 tsp ajwain / carom seeds
salt to taste

Green masala

1.5 cup fresh grated coconut
1 cup cleaned and chopped coriander leaves
3-4 stalks of garlic chives / hara lasan (use garlic or can omit)
4-6 green chillies
1" piece ginger
1 tbsp dhania / coriander seed powder
1 tbsp jeera / cumin powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice

What you do with it -

For the green masala
Chop and clean the green chillies and ginger and pulse without water to make a coarse paste. If using garlic cloves, grind along with the green chillies and ginger
Chop the green garlic if using mix all the ingredients listed under green masala and keep aside

Peel the purple yam / raw bananas, sweet potato and the baby potatoes
Chop the yam and sweet potato into large chunks. Rinse well and keep aside
Note: If you are using the purple yam, please peel, wash in a colander, without touching the yam, drain and keep aside. Washing the yam with your hands can cause a lot of itching
Cut the ripe banana with the skin on, into thick slices
Rub the green masala on the purple yam and sweet potato and ripe bananas and allow it to sit in the masala for about 10 mins
Wash the brinjals and the make 2 cuts, like a criss-cross on one end of the brinjals and baby potatoes
Use the green masala and stuff the potatoes and brinjals and keep aside

Heat 3-4 tbsp oil in a deep bottomed pan or a pressure pan / cooker. If you have the oil that you fried the muthias in, then that's the best to use here
Add the ajwain and then the papdi
Add the tuver dana / peas and avarekai sprinkle some green masala over this
Stir once or twice
Layer it with the yam and sweet potato
Then the stuffed potatoes and brinjals
Right on top, add the ripe bananas and methi muthias
Spread the remaining green masala, 1/2 tsp salt over this and then a tbsp or two of oil over it
If you are using a pressure cooker, then you layer it in this order, so the ones that need least cooking are right on top
In a pan, you may need to add each layer, cover and cook for about 5 mins before you add the next
Do not stir the vegetables at any point
Sprinkle a little water if needed at any point, but keep it to a minimum
I made this in a pressure pan and allowed it to cook for 1-2 whistles over a low flame
It could take over 20 mins in a deep pan
Once it done, spoon it out into a serving dish and serve hot with puris

You may land up with quite a bit of leftovers if its not too many of you eating this. To re-heat, I put mine in a pre-heated oven for about 5 mins. Tasted really good !

Methi Muthias - Gujarati snack

2012-01-12T09:30:00.000+05:30

Uttarayan is a very popular festival here in Gujarat. It is celebrated on January 14th, the day that other parts of India celebrate Pongal, Magh Bihu, Lohri and Makar Sankranti

It is a big kite flying festival here in Ahmedabad. There is also an International kite festival held in Ahmedabad a few days before Uttarayan. Its great fun in the old areas of Ahmedabad, called 'Pols' where everyone is up on their terraces flying kites, blowing something like a vuvuzela, beating drums and of course, eating !!
Undhiyu, poori, jalebi and chikkis made of til and peanuts are on the menu for Uttarayan...

Undhiyu / Undhiya is a winter special made with a whole lot of root vegetables, tubers, beans and muthias and cooked with some fresh spices.
Muthias are Step 1 towards making Undhiya / Undhiyu, a very popular Gujarati dish, made in winters. It has a lot of root vegetables, which are available during winters. My next post will be on Undhiyu, so tune in again soon...

Muthias can be had as a snack too, with some chutney and tea !

What you need -

1.5 cups cleaned and chopped methi / fenugreek leaves
1 cup wheat flour
2 tbsp sooji / rava
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp dhania / coriander seed powder
1/2 tbsp jeera / cumin seed powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp white til / sesame seeds
1 tbsp oil
a pinch of fruit salt / eno (optional)
juice of half a lemon
oil for deep frying

What you do with it

Add the chopped methi leaves in a bowl
Add all the spice powders, salt and sugar and oil and mix well
Then add the flour and sooji and the lemon juice and knead into a stiff dough
Add eno if using at this point. I didn't use it.
Add as little water as required to bind the dough
Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan
Make small balls with the dough and then roll them into oblong shapes
Deep fry the muthias in oil
Drain the excess oil on an absorbent paper and enjoy with hot tea and chutney

Raw Banana Chettinad style / Valakkai Varuval

2012-01-09T10:00:00.000+05:30

Last week TH brought back about 3 dozens of raw bananas from his factory !! Well, they manufacture industrial products, but the gardeners have utilised the garden area well by having a lot of vegetables growing there...There are days when he brings back 8-10 bunches of baby spinach, bags of tender okra and cluster beans, and now raw bananas...

I kept a dozen and distributed the rest among my friends...I decided on a Chettinad style of making this. TH's maternal grandfather is from Chettinad and so my mother-in-law makes quite a few dishes the Chettinad way. This is a recipe I learnt from her

Chettinad food is spicy and full of flavours. Fennel, peppercorn, cinnamon and red chillies are some of the most commonly used spices. The fennel and garlic in this dish really gives it a very different flavour from the regular poriyals...
Enjoy this with some hot rice and rasam

What you need -

3 regular size raw bananas (I used 8 small ones)
1 medium onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 tbsp fennel seeds
3-4 cloves of garlic
a few curry leaves
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil

What you do with it -

Cut the skin off the raw bananas and then slice in half lengthwise and then cut into slices
Soak in water with turmeric till you need to use it
Crush the garlic pods with the flat side of a knife, instead of cutting it, makes it more flavourful that way
In a pan, heat the oil and then add garlic and fennel seeds. Once the garlic changes colour, add the curry leaves and onions
Saute for 2 mins, add the chilli powder and tomatoes and fry for 2-3 mins
Then add the banana pieces and salt. Sprinkle some water over it and cover
Cook on a low flame till the banana is cooked. This wont't take too long, just another 4-5 mins
Serve hot with rice and rasam

Strawberry Scones and my blog is 3 !

2012-01-04T19:50:00.002+05:30

Yes, my blog is 3 !! I can't believe I have been at it for 3 years...I am famous for taking up an interest with great enthusiasm and then one day, sooner than I'd like, its gone, just like that. Finito.

Morning walks, gymming, learning a musical instrument, dance, music, and too many others to remember...They all begin with a great determination and interest and I almost see myself like a pro in whatever I take up, but then the speed at which the interest declines surprises me (I guess those who know me are not so shocked or surprised anymore)

I must really like cooking and blogging (I really do), that's the only reason its seen me this far...3 years may not be such a big deal, but going by my history, its huge !!

I've really enjoyed trying out new recipes from different books, blogs and some cookery shows in these three years. Substituting with what's available locally, slight twists and tweaks to the original recipes to suit my tastes, its been fun all along !

Here is one of those that I perhaps only read about in Enid Blyton books. Most of Blyton's books would have these grandmothers baking cakes, cookies and scones for their tea time, sunlit tables with a dainty tablecloth, vase with flowers - it all sounded just so beautiful...

I had never tasted scones till I tried baking these savoury ones with chives

For my blog's 3rd birthday, I have some seriously healthy strawberry scones for you. I had made some candied orange peels last month and added some of those along with the strawberries. This recipe is adapted from Indira's beautiful blog Mahanandi with a whole lot of changes
The wheat flour made it a bit dense, and more cake like, but the strawberries in between made up for it !

Thank you all for reading my blog...Its what keeps me going...Have a great year ahead !

Strawberry Scones

What you need -

1 cup maida / APF
1 cup whole wheat flour
4 tbsp brown sugar (add 1 tbsp more if you like it sweeter)
a pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp chilled butter, chopped into pieces
1 cup chopped strawberries
3-4 tbsp candied orange peels, cut into small bits
1/2 to 3/4 cup youghurt

What you do with it -

Sieve the flours, baking powder and baking soda
Add the salt and sugar to it
Add chopped butter. If the temperature is warm, please keep the butter in the fridge till you need it
To this flour mixture, add strawberries and candied orange peels
Add the yogurt gradually and mix to form a tight, sticky dough. Fold in gently and knead for 2 mins
Turn the dough out onto a floured or greased parchment paper covered baking sheet and press it out into a big round till its about 1/2 to 1 inch thick
I used my hand to flatten it out since the dough was too delicate to be rolled out
You could grease a rolling pin and roll out the dough to the required thickness
Preheat the oven to 220 C or 425 F. When the oven is ready, place the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 mins
The crust is crisp and the inside is soft. Slice into triangles and serve hot

Christmas Cake

2011-12-25T19:22:00.000+05:30

Merry Christmas to all of you !
May this festive season bring peace, happiness and love in your lives...

I baked my first Christmas cake thanks to Nags, who posted this link, and Swapna who posted this very detailed recipe for a delicious Christmas cake

I took the picture above in a real rush before our friends came over for a Christmas eve dinner...The cake was moist and tasted really awesome, and the picture doesn't do any justice to how good this cake was !

Update : This picture was taken the next day, when we had some cake and tea at leisure...
The soaked steamed fruits made the cake really rich and the rum in it made it quite heady :)

We had a small Christmas tree, with some lights around it and stockings with gifts for the kids... They were so excited and waited till midnight to see Santa...Of course, we sneaked in and put in the gifts...
Its lovely at this age they are at, when they truly believed that Santa came in thru the window with gifts for them...
Christmas isn't really big here in Ahmedabad, but we wanted the kids to understand and appreciate the celebration of all faiths

I followed her recipe exactly as given, so am not posting it here again. Here's the link to her Christmas cake

Sending this to "Jingle all the way", event hosted upto 31st December

Have a wonderful Christmas !

Paneer, Babycorn Stir fry with Kasuri Methi

2011-12-21T09:40:00.000+05:30

I've always liked cooking, though before I was married, it was just an occasional fancy sounding dish, once in a while and I'd never bothered with the basics like roti, dal, sabji...
After I got married, with both of us working really long hours and fairly far from home, we lived off Maggi(instant noodles), omelettes, bread, butter and jam and invariably landed up at Ma's place for dinner and ate out on weekends !

The regular LPG cylinder used for cooking, which lasts about 28-30 days now, lasted for about 11 months, so you get the idea !! I think we had a party when it finally got over, and we got the cylinder replacement :)

Over the years, I got more interested in trying out various cuisines and only after starting my blog, did I really attempt baking and trying out dishes that I hadn't even heard of before
I tend to rely on blogs more than cookbooks, when I am trying out something for the first time. There is so much information on how to go about the dish, the potential mistakes, substituting local ingredients and of course, the fact that these recipes are tried, tested and tasted !

This is one really simple, quick dish that also looks pretty because of the colours of the vegetables used. The main ingredient that contributes to the flavour here is kasuri methi / qasuri methi, which is dried fenugreek leaves. They have a bitter taste and a characteristic smell. Used in small quantity, these leaves enhance the flavour of any dish...
Here it is used with cottage cheese / paneer and baby corn, which on their own, really do not have any distinct taste or smell

I hope to put up more recipes which are simple to make and something that new cooks can easily make...

Paneer, baby corn with kasuri methi

What you need -

10-12 baby corns
150 gms cottage cheese / paneer (10-12 long slices)
2 onions
2 medium size tomatoes
1 green bell pepper / capsicum
1 yellow bell pepper (feel free to use any coloured pepper instead)
1 tbsp kasuri methi
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/4 tsp amchur powder
1 tsp sliced garlic
coriander leaves to garnish

What you do with it -

Cut the baby corn into half and then slice into 4 lengthwise
Blanch in salted water for 7-8 mins or put them in the microwave for about 3-4 mins
This is important because baby corn doesn't cook as fast as the other vegetables used here
If the paneer is frozen, allow to thaw and then cut into long slices. Heat water and then put the paneer pieces in it and simmer for 3-4 mins and keep covered
If the paneer is fresh, just dip in hot water for 2-3 mins
Cut the peppers, tomatoes and onions lengthwise
In a pan, heat oil and then add cumin seeds and kasuri methi
Add the sliced garlic and fry for 2 mins, then add the onions and peppers and saute till the onions become translucent
Add the baby corn, cumin powder, chilli powder, amchur powder and salt
Add the tomatoes and paneer and saute on high heat for 2 mins
Lower the flame and cover for 2 mins and take it off the heat
Garnish with coriander leaves and sprinkle some lemon juice over it
Serve hot with rotis

No-Knead Multigrain Bread

2011-12-16T17:55:00.000+05:30

With me, the baking attack always seems to strike in the cooler months and late in the evenings ! Its like a recipe for disaster with the yeast, and I have had some very disastrous bakes, but I don't give up very easily and I tried baking this bread at about 6 in the evening in winter! Thanks to the wonderful instant yeast and to this brilliant recipe by Suma of Cakes and More, I landed up with a really nice loaf of bread !

Big thanks to Sayantani too, who was sweet enough to let me know that she had tried this brand of instant yeast and that it worked really well, no proofing and it made the dough rise, in any weather condition ! I had my mom pick it up for me in Bangalore and send it across to Ahmedabad !
The process of baking bread takes a minimum of 3-4 hours, but this was really fast. Start to finish in less than 2 hours, which I think is great by bread baking standards !

I had picked up this multigrain flour by Pilsbury, which contains whole wheat, soy, oats, maize, raagi (finger millet), chana dal(bengal gram) and barley. I use it to make my rotis at home, and was very keen to try making bread with this flour. The temperature here has dropped quite a bit now and I started the process at about 6 in the evening,so I was really nervous if it would rise at all, but it turned out really well. Suma says that this bread doesn't really rise too much and I did use a largish loaf pan, so it was a flat, short bread, but tasted very healthy !

To add to the health quotient, I also threw in some sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and sesame seeds into the dough

Warmed this the next morning and had it with some orange marmalade and a cup of hot tea - perfect breakfast for a cold morning

Suma's directions are very precise and I tried to stick to it as much as I could, but had a few changes. Check here for her recipe

Sending this to Yeastspotting, Susan's weekly event for yeast breads

Multigrain Bread

What you need -

1 cup lukewarm milk
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tbsp oil (I used sunflower oil)
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp maple syrup (Use 2 tbsp of honey instead)
2 tbsp mixed seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, flax and sesame)
2 tsp instant yeast (I used Gloripan)
1 tsp salt
3 cups multigrain flour
3-4 tbsp water (if required)

What you do with it -

I used a 9 x 5 loaf pan, but a slightly smaller one should work better
Line with pan with parchment paper and grease really well
In a deep bowl, mix together the honey, yeast, warm milk, orange juice and the oil
To this, add the flour and salt and mix well using a hand mixer for 3 minutes
Add the seeds and mix well once more
Add the water, a spoon at a time, to make this dough really sticky and wet
Transfer the dough to the greased pan. Grease you hands with some oil and then smooth the top of the dough
Cover with a greased cling film wrap. Allow the dough to rise to the rim of the pan
This took about 45 mins
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C and bake for 45 mins
Allow to cool completely and then slice
Again, as she mentions, this is not a very high rising bread and since my loaf pan was bigger than the prescribed size, it did turn out quite short and flat

Moroccan chickpea soup with harissa

2011-12-14T08:04:00.000+05:30

Winter has finally set in, in my part of the world !
It was really sunny and hot till the weekend, but on Sunday the temperatures really dropped...My little one heads off to school really early in the morning and we now have to bundle him up in his woollens...The days are pretty warm, but the evenings get really chill

Made Moroccan chickpea soup with harissa and some thyme roasted potatoes to go with it, for dinner last night
There's this lovely restaurant for Mediterranean food here in Ahmedabad called Souq, which we have been frequenting regularly since they opened. Had this chickpea soup here for the first time and loved it - everything on their menu is really really good !

Last month I was in Bombay for a few days and on one of our shopping sprees, my cousins and I landed up in Moshe's thrice in one day ! Its a lovely cafe, that serves Mediterranean and some super awesome desserts !! We first went to the one that's in the Fab India store at Kalaghoda. While one cousin was helping an uncle with his shopping, the other one and I chatted endlessly about food ! We then ran up to the Moshe's there and picked up some kiwi and green apple jam and a bottle of harissa...
We went to another Moshe's for lunch and the third for dessert after our shopping had drained us out and we needed the sugar rush to keep us going !

Harissa is a hot chilli paste, popular in North African cooking. Add it to pasta, soup, couscous to make a spicy tasty difference. This can be made at home
With this store bought harissa on hand, I decided on the chickpea soup with harissa. Got the recipe from OneTribeGourmet, a blog that's a visual treat !

Moroccan Chickpea soup with harissa

Recipe Source - One Tribe Gourmet

What you need -

1 cup cooked chickpeas / kabuli chana / garbanzo beans
3 cups of stock (I used the liquid from cooking the chickpeas)
1 small onion
5-6 cloves garlic
2 tomatoes / 6-8 ripe cherry tomatoes
1/2 tsp saffron threads
1/2 tsp roasted and powdered cumin seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp harissa sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro / coriander leaves

What you do with it -

Soak the chickpeas overnight in a pot of water and then cook in pressure cooker / stove top
Drain and reserve the water
Chop the onion, garlic and tomatoes
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a deep pan
Add the garlic and onion and saute until translucent
Add the cumin powder, salt, pepper and chili powder
Saute for 2 mins and then add the tomatoes
Add the cooked chickpeas along with the stock or the water the chickpeas were cooked in
Mix well and cover and allow to simmer for about half an hour
Add chopped coriander lemon juice and let it simmer for 10 more minutes
Use a hand held blender to pulverize the chickpeas but don't mash it up completely
Spoon into the soup bowls and garnish with coriander leaves, lemon wedges, a spoon on olive oil and a tsp of harissa sauce
Serve hot !

Bhubhus Roti / Sweet puri / Mangalore buns

2011-12-08T15:00:00.000+05:30

TH loves anything sweet and these are a favourite. Its called Bhubhus roti in Konkani and famous as buns in Mangalore. Its more like a sweet banana-flavoured puri. I've made these after ages, though everytime there is an overripe banana, TH suggests I make these !
Yesterday, I finally gave in and made these and he really enjoyed them, along with our son, who has inherited his sweet tooth !

Surprisingly, banana happens to be optional in the original recipe, though I can't imagine these without that lovely banana flavour. This recipe if from Rasachandrika, the complete Saraswat cookery book...This book was gifted to me when I got married and I have really used it so much over the years - if you'd like to try cooking authentic Konkani food at home, this one is extremely useful...

Bhubhus Roti

Recipe Source - Rasachandrika

What you need

1 overripe banana
2 cups maida / all purpose flour
1/2 cup curd
1/2 cup powdered sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ghee (clarified butter)
oil for deep frying

What you do with it

Mash the banana. Add the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda
Then add ghee and curds and mix well
The dough gets very sticky, but that's how its supposed to be
Cover it and set aside for an hour (I left mine for 4 hours)
Divide the dough into small balls and roll out the dough into a small thick round
Heat oil in a deep pan and deep fry the puris till golden brown
These can be made and stored in an air-tight box for about 4-5 days

Thai Green Curry with Pineapple Basil Rice

2011-11-30T15:35:00.000+05:30

Thai is one of my favourite cuisines, mainly because of the beautiful balance of flavours, spice, sweet, sour and coconut milk...
Back in Bangalore, we had quite a few restaurants serving really awesome Thai food, but here, I have had it at two places where they had added besan / chickpea flour for thickening the dish - it was a disaster. I prefer my home cooked Thai food now !
This may not be considered authentic enough, because it doesn't have galangal or kaffir lime leaves, but if you crave Thai curry and you don't have access to these ingredients, this is as good as the real deal...

A nice, flavourful Thai green curry can easily be made with these ingredients which are quite common in any Indian kitchen.

Thai Green Curry with Pineapple basil rice

Recipe Source
For the curry - Adapted from Neeta Mehta's Thai Vegetarian Cooking
For the rice - A good friend in Bangalore

What you need -

3-4 small eggplants
1 large red pepper / capsicum
(You can also use mushrooms, green peppers and yellow peppers)
1.5 cups thick coconut milk
1/2 cup water
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1-2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp oil
3-4 stalks of lemon grass

For the curry paste:
1/2 onion chopped
5-6 green chillies
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1/2 piece ginger / galangal (if you find it)
1 tbsp lemon juice
rind of 1 lemon
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 cup fresh basil leaves / 1/2 cup coriander leaves
(I used 1/2 cup coriander leaves and 1/2 cup basil leaves)

Pineapple Basil Rice -

1.5 cups basmati rice
2-3 slices of pineapple (canned or fresh)
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 leaves fresh basil

What you do with it -

For the curry paste :
Roast the cumin and coriander seeds till fragrant
Add all the ingredients listed under 'curry paste' and grind to a fine paste using a little water

For the rice :
Clean the rice and soak in water for 10 mins
Cut the pineapple slices into bite size pieces
Tear the basil leaves
Chop the garlic into thin slices
In a large pot, add 3 cups of water and bring to boil, add the rice, garlic, basil, pineapple and salt and cook till done
Add a drop or two of sesame oil, so the rice doesn't get too sticky
You could also put all the ingredients with the water into a rice cooker and cook till done

For the curry :
Clean and chop the eggplants and the peppers and the mushrooms, if using
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large deep bottomed pan and add the curry paste and fry for 2-3 mins. Keep it on a low flame, or the paste might splatter
Add the vegetables and fry for another 3-4 mins
Break the lemon grass stalks into 2-3 pieces and add to the pan
Add the salt, sugar and soy sauce
Dilute the thick coconut milk with water and add to the pan
Allow to simmer till the vegetables are just cooked. Don't let the vegetables get too soft or mushy
Take out the lemon grass stalks from the curry before you serve

Serve hot with pineapple basil rice

Want some other Thai dishes ? Check here, here and here

Eggless Butterless Chocolate Cupcakes

2011-11-28T11:00:00.000+05:30

My little boy turned six last week and on Saturday, we had a party for him at home. Called about 16 kids, all 6 year olds, mostly boys, some totally destructive ones, others plain naughty !! You can just imagine what my house looked like after that !!

My cousin and another friend were here to help around with the cooking, we decided on making everything at home, including the cake ! My son is a huge fan of Chhota Bheem, an animation TV serial hero, who is 9 years old and super strong !!
We decided on a Chhota Bheem cake, the recipe used for the eggless chocolate cake, is from my previous post and my creative cousin did all the icing to make it really look like Chhota Bheem ! We used chocolate shavings, icing sugar, butter and some almond meal (when we needed to thicken it, for the eyes). Its not a smooth complexion and he looks slightly tanned, but my son loved it, and that's all mattered :)

We also had fries, macaroni in cheese sauce, frooti, sandwiches, steamed and buttered corn and these mini chocolate cupcakes...

I searched around that morning for the recipe and found this here, its a brilliant recipe and came about so easily !

I slathered on some homemade buttercream icing on the cupcakes and then decorated with little sugar animals and some sprinkles...I would have loved to do some really pretty icing, but this was my first attempt with icing, and with kids, I knew I wouldn't be judged on the way the icing looked !!
The cupcakes were really soft and moist, and all this without butter !!

I followed the recipe exactly as she says, so I am not rewriting it here. Please take a look at this link for the cupcake recipe
Thank you so much !!

Eggless Chocolate Cake with Ganache

2011-11-22T10:39:00.000+05:30

It felt quite funny to put up this recipe just after an egg curry !! I mean, why would I make an egg curry and then an eggless cake ? Honestly, I really never bothered with making eggless cakes, not till I moved to Ahmedabad. Most people here do not eggs for religious reasons and really, its no fun to make muffins and cakes and not share them, right ?

I got this recipe from my friend here, when I needed to bake an eggless cake for my son's class party at school. If you've always wanted to, but never tried an eggless cake, you should try this, you will not miss the eggs at all...Its really soft, and keeps well for 2-3 days, without refrigeration. I have made this many times now, and this particular one was for my son's friend, for his birthday last week. My son was all excited about decorating it. So I made the ganache and he did all the decorating...

This friend who gave me the recipe is a great cook and comes up with interesting dishes. She has started her own food blog, which I hope will be updated more often !

This is a really simple cake and it tastes awesome...add the ganache and it takes it to another level altogether !!

What you need -

For the cake -

1.5 cups maida / APF
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup powdered sugar (you can cut down to 3/4 of a cup, if you are using a ganache)
3/4 cup curd / yoghurt
3/4 to 1 cup milk
vanilla essence / extract
6 tbsp melted butter

For the ganache -

6 tbsp cream
10 tbsp grated chocolate (I used Morde dark chocolate)

What you do with it -

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and keep aside
Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C
Beat the butter with the sugar. Add the curd and the vanilla essence and mix well
Then add the dry ingredients, 1/2 cup at a time and the milk and beat till you use up all the flour mix and milk
Grease a baking tin with butter and dust with some flour
Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30-35 mins at 180 deg C
Once its done, allow it to cool
Heat water in a large pan. In a smaller bowl, add the cream and the chocolate and hold it above the pan, so the small bowl is just immersed in the hot water. Mix the chocolate and cream with a spatula, till it turns to a thick smooth sauce
Once the cake is cooled completely, pour the ganache / chocolate cream sauce over it and ensure it covers the entire cake
Allow it to cool - you can refrigerate for an hour or so
Add decorations or eat as is :)

Mangalorean Egg Curry

2011-11-12T18:27:00.000+05:30

I just realised a couple of days back that I haven't made an egg curry in over a year, which is very strange because I really like it. Eggs have only got into some cake or muffins, and maybe some breakfast omelettes over the last one year !

I decided I just had to have egg curry for dinner and called up Ma for her recipe. She gave me this one. Its typically Mangalorean - its got coconut, red chillies, tamarind and coriander seeds, which is a standard base for so many Konkani dishes...

Had it with steamed rice and a salad and it felt like such a perfect meal...

What you need -

4 eggs
1/2 cup grated coconut
4-6 red chillies
1 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
1/2 inch piece ginger / 1/2 tsp ginger paste
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp tamarind paste
5-8 curry leaves
1 medium onion
1 tomato
1 tsp mustard seeds

What you do with it -

Boil the eggs, allow it to cool
Peel and cut into half lengthwise
Heat oil in a small pan
Add the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and red chillies and fry taking care not to burn the chillies
Add the cinnamon, cloves, garlic, ginger and coconut and fry for two more minutes
Keep aside and allow it to cool
Then grind all the ingredients along with tamarind, using about 1/2 cup water into a smooth paste
Chop the onion and tomato into small pieces
In a pan, add a tsp of oil and the mustard seeds - allow it to splutter and then add the curry leaves, onions and tomatoes
Sauté till the onions are brownish and the tomatoes are squishy
Add the ground paste and salt and bring it to a boil, adding more water if required
Lower the flame and add the eggs
Boil for 2 more mins and take it off the heat
Serve hot with rice, parathas or bread

Eggless Banana Bread

2011-10-17T17:15:00.000+05:30

I buy bananas almost every other week, mainly for my son - its a big energy boost and that sees him thru his non-stop activities thru the day
Unfortunately, I always land up with one or two overripe ones and nobody in the house will touch these bananas if they have more than a few black specks showing up, so I am always on the lookout for some interesting recipes using bananas
Have tried the muffins many times over, so this time went in for the banana bread that I saw on the RedChillies blog...

The bread was moist and tasted really good, not overly sweet and did not have the banana overpowering the taste...

Recipe Source - Redchillies.us

Followed the recipe except for a few changes, my version here...

What you need -

3/4 cup maida / APF
3/4 cup wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cup raisins
1 tbsp almond paste (6 almonds, soaked in hot water, peeled and ground to a paste)

What you do with it -

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
Mix the maida, wheat flour, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl
In a blender make a paste of bananas along with milk
Add the banana mixture and almond paste into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients
Add the butter and the cinnamon powder and mix well
Add the raisins to this mixture
Grease a loaf pan and pour the batter into it
Bake for 45 minutes at 180 deg C
Cut into thick slices and enjoy with your coffee, tea or milk !

Mirchi / Spice Roasted Green Chillies

2011-10-13T15:30:00.001+05:30

I was invited to my friends place for lunch. Her mother-in-law was visiting and she had called us over to taste some authentic UP (Uttar Pradesh) style food.
There were green puris (the inspiration behind these rotis), dahiwale aloo(potatoes in a yoghurt gravy), turai (ridge gourd with spices in a peanut paste) and some awesome mirchis/roasted green chillies...

Though I can't eat food thats very spicy, these chillies were finger licking good, the spice of the chillies had mellowed down quite a bit with the besan and other spices. TH enjoys spicy food, so made this the very next week...Goes great with rice and dal or rotis or just as it is !

Spice Roasted green chillies
Recipe Source : Mrs Shukla

What you need -

3-4 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp mustard seeds (use a combination of the yellow and black, if you have both)
1/4 tsp hing / asafoetida powder
1.5 tsp saunf / fennel seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp dhania / coriander powder
1 tsp amchur / dry mango powder
4 tbsp besan / gram flour
20 fresh green chillies

What you do with it -

Roast the besan on a low flame for 3-4 mins and set aside
Take the stalks off the chillies, wash, wipe and slit them in two along the length and keep aside
In a pan, add the mustard oil and when it is really hot, add the mustard seeds
Once they splutter, add the saunf and hing
Add turmeric powder and dhania powder and stir
Add the slit chillies, salt and amchur and fry on a low flame. Add more mustard oil if the chillies start drying out
Add the besan. Don't add too much or it will completely mask the taste of the chillies
Fry this on a low flame for 3-4 mins
Allow it to cool. Can be kept outside for about 4 days or store in the fridge for about a month

Pedatha's Andhra Chutney Powder

2011-10-11T10:07:00.001+05:30

A couple of weeks back, I chanced upon Pedatha.com, when I was following some links from some other sites. 'Cooking at home with Pedatha' has become a standard reference book specially for chutneys, ever since I was gifted this book by Miri

I got to know thru this, that she had passed away earlier this year, and though my association with her was just this book, I did feel a loss...

I regularly try recipes from this book, but the chutneys are my favourite...I knew I just had to make something as a tribute to this very wonderful and charming woman.
I had never tried any of her dry chutney powders, so decided on making this one, a famous Andhra spicy chutney powder...

Thank you Jigyasa and Pratibha for this wonderful book. May her soul rest in peace...

Andhra Podi Chutney

Recipe Source - The vegetarian cookbook of traditional recipes "Cooking at home with Pedatha" by Jigyasa Giri and Pratibha Jain

What you need -

4 tbsp oil
2 tsps ghee
salt to taste

To be roasted without oil
1 cup bengal gram dal / chana dal
1 cup split black gram husked / urad dal
1 tbsp poppy seeds / khus khus
3/4 cup grated dry coconut / kobri

To be roasted in oil
2 cup red chillies ( I used about 20 byadgi chillies)
1/2 cup cleaned and wiped curry leave
1/2 tsp asafoetida / hing
lemon sized ball of tamamrind

Tempering
1 tbsp Split black gram / urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida / hing

What you do with it -

On a low flame, dry roast the grams, each separately to a deep brown. I use a tava to do this, given a more even heat to the grams
Dry roast poppy seeds and dry coconut each to golden brown
Heat 3 tbsp oil and roast the chillies until crisp and bright red, but not brown Remove the chillies from oil and set aside
Roast the curry leaves in oil until crisp and dark green, set aside
Dry roast the asafoetida powder
Next, roast the tamarind, Press with a ladle so it roasts well and set aside
Grind all these ingredients with salt to a coarse powder
Heat the remaining oil for tempering. Add the urad dal, as it turns golden, pop the mustard and switch off the flame. Add the asafoetida and pour this tempering into the prepared powder and mix well
Pour in the warm ghee and mix well. Cool and store in an airtight jar

Eggles Oatmeal Chocolate chip Cookies

2011-10-07T11:27:00.001+05:30

Last weekend, I was itching to bake, tried these pesto rolls from Shaheen's blog, they looked pretty, but I had messed up on the yeast and they landed up getting a bit too yeasty had to just throw those beauties :(

Disheartened, yes, but the itch to bake was still on, so made a batch of cookies from this recipe here

Refrigerated the remaining batter and then baked the next lot 2 days later
Simple recipe, crunchy cookies, with lots of chocolate chips
My son loved them and when we set up to take these pics, he came up with his story books and toys and more toys, which is when the cookies almost fell off and we took more pics of him with his toys...He loves to pose and has a special pose and smile everytime the camera is out !

Eggless Oat Chocolate chip cookies

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

What you need (For about 30 cookies)

1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.5 cups APF / maida
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup boiling water
2 cups quick cooking oats (I used Quakers)
1.5 cups chocolate chips

What you do with it -

Beat the butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy
Add flour and salt, mix well
Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and add to mixture
Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.
Scoop the batter with an ice-cream scoop and drop on the cookie sheet
Bake at 180degrees C for 12-15 minutes
Allow it cool before you take it off the sheet
Some turned a bit soft, so I put them back in for 2 more mins at 180 deg C
My son enjoyed it with his milk and his favourite stories

Stuffed Okra / Bharwan Bhindi

2011-09-19T11:00:00.000+05:30

Ladies finger / okra is one of my favourites and features at least once a week in my kitchen...Surprisingly, I don't seem to have put up too many recipes with okra here.
Stuffed okra tops the list of al the okra recipes and I realised it had been a really long time since I made these.
There are two types of stuffed okras I make, one is what I learnt after coming to Gujarat - its a mild, flavourful one with besan, coconut and spice powders, the other is what I have here for you today...spicy, tangy and served with fried onions !!

Tava vegetables was a very popular dish at buffet lunches at one point and they are lip-smacking, different vegetables, stuffed with spices and served out straight from the tava. Thats where I had these roasted onions with the okra and they make a lovely pair...

What you need -

15-20 fresh tender okra
2 tbsp cleaned and chopped coriander leaves
2 onions
3-4 tbsp oil

Spice powder
2 tbsp cumin/jeera powder
1 tbsp coriander seed / dhania powder
1.5 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp dry mango / amchur powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp aniseed / saunf (whole)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

What you do with it -
Wash the okra, dry them with a kitchen towel
Cut off the two ends and make a slit lengthwise on one side of the okra, without cutting thru it
Keep the okra aside
Chop the onions lengthwise
Mix all the ingredients listed under 'Spice powder' with a tbsp of oil
Add half of the coriander leaves to this
Stuff the okra with the spice powders
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a shallow pan and then add the okra to it
On a low flame, fry the okra till it changes to a dark green colour
Take the okra off the pan and add the onions to the oil remaining in the pan
If you have any of the spice mix remaining, add it to the onions
Once the onions are nice and brown, add the okra back to the pan for a minute and mix with the onions
Serve hot, garnished with coriander leaves
You could add the juice of half a lemon to this to make it tangier
Serve hot with rotis/ parathas / rice and dal

Divkadgi Phodyo / Breadfruit fritters

2011-09-03T10:00:00.002+05:30

This looks like a jackfruit, but is less spikey...Its called divkadgi in Konkani or breadfruit...Its not really like a fruit, though.
When I googled for this, I realized that this seems to be a popular vegetable / fruit in the tropical islands of the Pacific Ocean too !
Check this link for more information on breadfruit...

This was not really easily available in Bangalore and we used to wait for Thursdays when the trucks from Mangalore would bring in all the Mangalore-special vegetables into the stores in Bangalore. I guess the trucks come in more frequently now

Ma generally makes fritters / phodyos (pronounced as 'fod-yos') with this. They have a very different texture and they taste absolutely yummy.

Really soft on the inside, this is an absolute treat...

What you need -

1 medium sized divkadgi/ breadfruit
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 cup rice flour
4-5 tbsp oil

What you do with it -

Cut the divkadgi into 4 quaters. Remove the centre portion which is a little hard
Carefully cut out the skin of the divkadgi
Then cut into slices, about 1/4" thick
Wash and put them in a flat bowl
Sprinkle turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt
Mix well and then sprinkle about 2 tbsp of rice flour over the pieces. Toss and add more rice flour if required. Toss again to ensure all pieces are coated well
Heat a pan with about 2 tbsp of oil
Place the pieces in the pan and fry on both sides till they are golden brown
Fry in batches till all pieces are done
You could deep fry them too, if you like
You could also add salt after frying - this helps them remain crisp for a longer time

Guava Kheer

2011-08-25T23:53:00.000+05:30

Here's an absolute winner of a recipe..Very simple to make and tastes awesome !
All you need to have is really ripe pink guavas. The only catch is you cant really tell if the guava is pink on the inside or not, you just have to trust your fruit vendor with this !

This is one more of Ma's favourite desserts when we have people over !

What you need -
3-4 large ripe pink guavas
1/4 tin condensed milk
upto 1/2 cup milk

What you do with it -
Peel the skin off the guavas, not too thick, we just want a thin layer removed here
Scoop out the portion with the seeds
Cut out the pink portion that has no seeds, into tiny pieces and keep aside
Add the portion with the seeds with the skin that was peeled off. Add a little water to cover it and then cook for 10 mins in a pressure pan prefereably
Cool it and then sieve out the seeds. Keep the pulp aside
Add the condensed milk to the pulp and mix well
If its too thick or too sweet, add as much milk as needed to get the right consistency and sweetness
Add the chopped pieces and mix well
Refrigerate for an hour at least before serving

Curd Poha / Dhaiya Phovu for Janmastami

2011-08-23T08:38:00.006+05:30

Yesterday was Janmastami / Gokulashtami - a festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna. Since Krishna is believed to be born at midnight, this puja is generally done at midnight.

Since my childhood, I remember helping my grandfather set up the cradle for Lord Krishna and placing the baby Krishna idol into the cradle, do the puja and then we would all go give a cradle a tug. As kids, my brother and I would dress up as Krishna and Radha and go to the local Krishna temple and see all the boys, break the dahi handi. This is a fun event where the boys make a tall pyramid and a little boy, dressed like Krishna climbs right up and breaks the pot with curd inside it.

In the Tamil customs, patterns of tiny feet are drawn, reaching into the puja area, indicating that Krishna is entering the house
The food made on this occasion varies across regions. In the Konkani tradition, we make ladoos, panchukdayi, panchamrit and dhaiya phovu or curd poha
In Gujarat, a prasad called panjiri is given for Janmastami.

We did a combination of all these customs, bought the panjiri, drew the tiny feet of Krishna and made dhaiya phovu...

Curds poha (Recipe Source - Rasachandrika)

What you need -
1 cup beaten rice / poha
1 cup curds
2 tbsp fresh grated coconut
1 tsp sugar
2-3 green chillies
1 small piece ginger
salt to taste
a few curry leaves
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp ghee

What you do with it -
Wash the beaten rice and squeeze out the water
Grind the coconut, green chillies and ginger to a coarse paste
Add the salt, sugar and curds and mix well and add to the beaten rice
Prepare a seasoning with ghee, mustard seeds and curry leaves and add to the beaten rice
Once the beaten rice soaks it all up, make into little balls

Spiced Spinach Rotis

2011-08-20T11:13:00.003+05:30

We were in Bangalore for a few days to attend the wedding of my not-so-little-anymore cousin. She's the one I remember holding as a little baby, I know it makes me feel terribly old, but it was wonderful to see her getting married...It was a beautiful wedding and a great time to meet up with family..
Its always terrible getting back to the grind here and these last few days its just been my son and me. Cooking just the basic food for the two of us made it worse...
To slightly spice up the regular roti-sabji, I made these spiced green rotis.

This is a great idea to add a little colour to an everyday meal, with some healthy spinach added to it...

What you need -
2 cups wheat flour
1/2 tsp ajwain /carom seeds
1 tsp salt
2 tsp oil

To grind
1 cup cleaned and chopped spinach
1/2 cup of cleaned coriander leaves
small piece of ginger
2-3 cloves of garlic
1-2 green chillies
1 tsp saunf / fennel seeds
1 tsp dhania / coriander seed powder
2 tsp roasted jeera / cumin powder

What you do with it -
Grind all the ingredients mentioned under 'To grind' to a smooth paste
In a big bowl, add the wheat flour, ajwain, salt and oil
Add the ground paste to the flour and knead well, adding as much water as needed to make a smooth dough
Divide the dough into 10-12 even-sized balls
Roll out on a floured surface
Heat a griddle / tava and cook the rotis on both sides till the brown a little
You can use a little oil while cooking it or just skip it - works well both ways
Serve hot with some pickle and curds or any side dish you like

Ripe Jackfruit Idlis / Phansa Patoli

2011-08-02T12:54:00.000+05:30

My mom made these when we were in Bangalore and my son relished them. He now calls my mom the 'best jackfruit idli maker'..
I cant remember when I had this last, I get a taste of all the dishes I had during my childhood, now, thanks to my son !

Jackfruits are easily available in Bangalore and you have roadside vendors cleaning and cutting them - its a huge effort to cut the jackfruit - its sticky and messy

Havent seen them in Gujarat though, there are many people who have never had it..It does have a distinct smell and taste, but I love it !

This is generally steamed in turmeric / banana leaves, but Ma made them like idlis in the idli steamer

What you need -

2 cups ripe jackfruit sections deseeded
1/2 cup grated coconut
3 tbsp grated jaggery
1 cup sooji / rava
a pinch of salt

What you do with it -

Cut the jackfruit sections into pieces
Grind it along with the coconut to a smooth paste
Add the jaggery and salt
Mix well and then add the sooji
The consistency should be like that of idli batter
Grease the idli moulds and place in the steamer
Fill up the idli moulds and steam for 10-15 mins
If you are using turmeric or banana leaves, spread a portion of the batter on the leaf and then close it. Place the folded side down and steam for 10-15 mins
Add a little ghee on the ready idlis / patolis and enjoy !

Dumbbells (Stuffed snakegourd)

2011-07-16T10:24:00.001+05:30

I am not sure how this dish got its name, because this is a part of the Konkani cuisine, so cant imagine how this word crept its way in, but if you look real hard, you can see it resembles the little dumbbells from the gym, perhaps !

Snakegourd dishes aren't exactly the most inviting ones, but in this avatar, it sure is...
Dumbbells are basically potato patties encased in a snakegourd shell...

Simple recipe, looks nice, tastes great, that's reason enough to make it !!

What you need -

1 long snakegourd/padavalangai/paddul
4-5 potatoes
2 green chillies
3-4 pods of garlic
1 tsp cumin seed powder
2 tsps chopped coriander leaves
1 cup bread crumbs
salt to taste
oil to shallow fry

What you do with it -

Cook the potatoes, peel and keep aside
Scrape off the skin of the snake gourd with the edge of a knife
Don't use a peeler here, it takes away too much
Chop the snakegourd into about 1.5" pieces
Bring water to a boil in a large pot with a little salt
Once the water comes to a boil, drop in the pieces of snakegourd. Take the pot off the heat and cover with a lid. Leave aside for 5-6 mins
This helps the snakegourd pieces get steam cooked, but they are still firm and will take lesser oil while shallow fry
Grind the garlic and chillies with salt. Add the cumin seed powder and chopped coriander leaves
Mash the potatoes and add the ground paste and mix well
Fill this into the snakegourd pieces
Cover both sides of the snakegourd pieces with bread crumbs
Heat oil in a shallow pan and shallow fry the pieces on both sides

Mango in Coconut milk / Ambe Rasayan

2011-07-03T15:08:00.001+05:30

The good thing about being here in Ahmedabad is that we get mangoes for almost 4 months in a year...The last of the season is the 'kesar' which comes from Junagadh in Gujarat and is almost as good as the famous Alphonso mango...They are really sweet and its still available in the market !!

If mangoes are not in season, you can make this with bananas, honeydew melon, or a combination of grapes and bananas

This is a classic Konkani recipe that uses mangoes, coconut milk and jaggery. Can be eaten as a dessert or as the main meal with puris.
Ma has made this when we were in Bangalore and my son relished the combination of the mangoes and coconut milk...

What you need -

2 ripe mangoes
1 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp jaggery (add more if you want it sweeter)
1 cardamom powdered

What you do with it -

Cut the mangoes into bite size pieces
Add the jaggery to the coconut milk and mix till it dissolves well
Add the mango pieces and cardamom powder
Mix well and refrigerate
Serve with hot puris

Kairas - Capsicums in a sweet, spicy coconut masala

2011-06-23T11:32:00.001+05:30

This is one more of my favourites from Ma's kitchen...

I love the flavours that come from this dish. Its sweetish, spicy and sour, all in one bite. Its a perfect side dish since it has the right amount of masala and goes well with rotis or dal-rice

What you need -

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp methi / fenugreek seeds
1.5 tsp dhania / coriander seeds
1.5 tsp chana dal
4-5 red chillies
4-5 pepper corns
1 tbsp white til / sesame
1 tsp tamarind paste / small ball of tamarind
1/2 cup grated coconut
1-2 tsp jaggery
peanuts / cashewnuts
1-2 capsicums
2 potatoes
1 raw mango(optional)
salt to taste
2 - 3 tsp oil
Seasoning
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of hing / asafoetida
a few curry leaves
pinch of turmeric powder

What you do with it -

Cook the potatoes. Peel, cut into bite size pieces and keep aside
The peanuts / cashwenuts used here need to be cooked, so I generally cook it along with the potatoes
Wash and cut the capsicums into bite size pieces
Dry roast the white til, powder and keep aside
Clean the raw mango and cut into pieces, if using

In a little oil, roast the mustard, methi, dhania seeds, chana dal and red chillies
Add the coconut and roast for a minute or two
Take it off the heat and grind along with tamarind, adding a little water

In a another deep bottom pan, heat a tsp of oil and and prepare a seasoning with mustard seeds, hing, and curry leaves
Add the turmeric powder and then add the chopped capsicums. Fry for 2-3 mins
Add the ground coconut masala, peanuts / cashewnuts, potatoes, raw mango, til powder, salt and jaggery Add a little water, if required
Serve with hot rotis or dal and rice

Stuffed Capsicum / Tomato...Ma's style

2011-06-15T09:19:00.000+05:30

Am back from a really long break.
From the scorching heat in Ahmedabad, I left for my good old Bangalore, where the April showers, May flowers, friends and family brought the much-longed-for happiness...
Left that for the sweltering heat in Chennai, for a wedding in the family..
There was a lot of cooking that eating that happened over the last two months and its really showing up now :(

I did not have my camera cord and so there was no blogging for all this while, though I kept visiting my favourite blogs...

I have a lot of Ma's cooking to show off over the next few posts...One of my all time favourites, which is Ma's speciality, comes up first - Stuffed Capsicum and Tomato
We basically ran out of red capsicum, so used a tomato instead, which also tasted really good !

What really makes this stand out is that she doesn't stuff with the potato, which is the most common stuffing...This has a spicy chutney-chickpea flour filling, which makes all the difference...

Stuffed Capsicum / Tomato

What you need -

2-3 medium sized capsicums (different colours make it look really nice)
1/2 cup chick pea flour / besan
1.5 cups chopped onions
1 cup coriander leaves chopped
2-3 green chillies
1/2 cup grated coconut
2 cloves peeled garlic
1/2 tsp salt
small piece of ginger
1/2 tsp tamarind paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 cup breadcrumbs / sooji
oil

What you do with it -

Cut the caps of the capsicums and then de-seed as carefully as possible without breaking the capsicum. Wash and keep aside
Fill water upto about 6 inches height in a large vessel. Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat. Place the capsicum in the water for about 5 mins, so that it gets a nice steam bath, but doesn't shrivel up
Grind the coconut, coriander, tamarind paste, ginger, salt, garlic and green chillies to a fine paste, adding only as much water as required
In a pan, heat the oil and add the onions, frying them, till they turn brown. Add the turmeric powder and then the chickpea flour. Fry on a low flame till the chickpea flour turns brown. Turn off the heat and add the ground paste. Allow it to cool
Stuff the capsicums with this masala and top it with breadcrumbs or sooji
In a shallow pan, heat some oil and place the capsicums with the crumbed portion on the pan. Once it turns slightly brown, turn it up and keep for a minute or two
You could use tomatoes also for a variation

Kothimbir Vadi (Steamed Coriander Cake)

2011-04-10T18:00:00.003+05:30

I have always been used to regular staple meals. Ma is a wonderful cook and very experimental, but we always had proper meals - which had rotis, sabji, rice, dal and curd.
Snacks, especially the fried variety, were never a part of our everyday meal. On some occassions, like in the lovely Bangalore rainy weather, bhajiyas / pakodas were made...On more special occasions, we bought out the samosas and kachoris..

Mumbai has always been our snacky food paradise since my childhood. Frankies, vada pav and dabeli was always on the must-have list. In the last couple of years, kothimbir vadis were added to that list. These are steamed coriander and gram flour cakes, cut and fried crisp, available in many Maharashtrian restaurants and stores..They are absolutely delicious with some spicy chutney.

I had been saving up my stock of coriander leaves for a couple of days and decided on making one of my favourite - kothimbir vadi
I checked with Ma for her recipe, but hers needed the dal to be soaked and ground, and I wanted to make it right away...The next best place was to check Nupur's blog 'One Hot Stove'. I absolutely love her A-Z series of Maharastrian cooking...I knew this just had to be there, and sure enough, it was !!

Sending this to the Herbs and flowers in my platter event featuring Coriander this month. This event is the brainchild of PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds

Here's a link to Nupur's kothimbir vadi. Mine has some minor variations

What you need -

2 cups of cleaned and chopped coriander leaves (I used all I had which came up to 1.5 cups)
1 cup gram flour / besan
1 tbsp rice flour
2 tbsp wheat flour
2 tsp chopped chillies
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tsp poppy seeds
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp asafoetida/hing
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp goda masala / garam masala
1/2 tsp baking soda
salt to taste
3-4 tbsp oil for frying

What you do with it -

Mix in all the flours with the coriander leaves
Add the green chillies, ginger-garlic paste, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, lemon juice, chilli powder, goda masala, turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt to the flour
Add some water to make a thick batter. Mix well so its a smooth paste without lumps
Grease a flat vessel / dhokla plate and pour in the batter
Steam in a pressure cooker without the weight or in a steamer for about 15 minutes
Once its done, allot it to cool and then cut into diamond shaped pieces
You can deep fry the pieces in oil, till crisp. I heated 2 tbsp oil in a shallow pan and then put the pieces in. Fry on a low flame, turning the sides, till they brown well, adding about 1-2 tbsp more oil
Serve hot with chutney or ketchup

Eggless Banana Almond Muffins

2011-03-28T15:27:00.000+05:30

What did I do with over ripe bananas before I started this blog ? I threw them away...
What do I do after I started this blog ? I make banana muffins !!

I make butter at home now and almost always make muffins when I have butter on hand, I use the butter milk (from churning out the butter) to make scones.
Starting this blog has helped me discover the use of a whole lot of new ingredients and made me appreciate what I can make with what I have on hand...

My son loves muffins and every time he sees bananas going black, he asks me if we are making muffins !
I have this icing set that I got a while back, but havent really used it...He calls it the injection for cakes and has been pestering me to use it...thats the next project on hand !

These are fairly simple ones that I have made something similar earlier, with oats. This time, I used only maida / AP flour. Add chopped almonds for the crunch and a little powdered cardamom for flavour...
Used this recipe from Nithya's beautiful blog, with a few changes...

What you need -

4 ripe bananas
1.5 cups maida / AP flour
8-10 almonds chopped
a pinch of powdered cardamom
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup white butter
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

What you do with it -

Mash the bananas
Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl till they combine well
Add the vanilla extract and mashed bananas to the butter
Combine the baking powder, baking soda and powdered cardamom with the flour
Pre-heat the oven to 190 deg C
Gently fold in the wet ingredients with the dry ones
Add chopped almonds and mix once more
Grease the muffins pans or use the paper liners
Fill in the batter upto 3/4th level in the moulds or liners
Bake for about 20-25 mins
Enjoy with some hot tea

Instant Dosa

2011-03-18T20:20:00.001+05:30

TH loves dosas, I prefer idlis, he loves chutney, I prefer sambhar, but over the many years that we have been married now, I have started enjoying dosas and he likes idlis !!

Initially, making dosas seemed like the the most cumbersome task...soak, grind, ferment, was really too much of advance preparation for a simple breakfast...
Instant dosas were a saviour...You can have the dosa in less than 10 mins from the time you decided on eating one !

This recipe is from my friend Lal, who had brought them to office once...
Its my emergency dosa recipe - gets done in a jiffy...

What you need -

1 cup maida / AP flour
1 cup rice flour
1 cup rava / sooji / semolina
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp grated fresh coconut
2 tsp chopped coriander leaves
4-5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt

What you do with it -

Mix the maida, rice flour and rava in a large bowl
Add water to make it into a smooth paste
4-5 cups is an approximation here - I really dont measure the water - the consistency should be thinner that the regular dosa batter
Add cumin seeds, chopped coriander leaves, coconut and salt
Heat the tava and add a few drops of oil
This dosa cannot be spread out like the usual rice-urad dal dosa batter
Take the batter in a big ladle and start from the sides, then bring it to the centre. What I do is move the tava to make the batter fill in the gaps, if any
Cover and let it cook for a minute or two
Then flip over and fry for another minute
Serve with a freshly ground chutney or a chutney podi, like this one

Vermicelli / Seviyan Upma

2011-03-15T19:11:00.000+05:30

Upma is a fairly standard breakfast option in most South Indian homes...Seviyan upma is made from vermicelli and was a big challenge for me to get it right most times...
The last few times, however, I managed to nail it...

Its very very important that you follow the instructions to cook it, as given on the pack. There is the rice vermicelli, wheat vermicelli, roasted wheat vermicelli (which I used here, and is most fool-proof)

Simple recipe for a simple breakfast...
You can add vegetables of your choice to add to the colour, flavour and health quotient of this dish !

What you need -

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal
2 green chillies
a few curry leaves
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
1 cup roasted wheat vermicelli
2 cups water (please check the instructions mentioned on the pack)
2 tsp grated coconut
salt to taste
1 tsp chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp oil

What you do with it -

Heat oil in a deep bottom pan and add the urad dal and mustard seeds
Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and green chillies
Add the chopped onions and fry for 2-3 mins
Add the tomato pieces, salt and water
Once the water comes to a boil, add the vermicelli and cook on a low flame till done
Take it off the heat and garnish with grated coconut and coriander leaves

Lilva Bataka nu Shaak - Gujarati style spiced vegetables

2011-03-09T21:41:00.000+05:30

This is a halfway Undhiyu - a famous Gujarati winter dish..
The spices used here are pretty much the same, but the undhiyu has a lot more vegetables added to it - kand (purple yam), sweet potatoes, bananas and of course, muthias...

This shaak (with some vegetables added or excluded) is a must in all the Gujarati thalis (special meal served in a huge round plate) and I love the taste of it...Described the dish to my friend here, who then gave me this recipe...
It turned out exactly like the one we have in the restaurants and is really yum with some hot rotlis (Gujarati mini phulkas)..Thank you A, for this recipe - it really works !!

What you need -

1 cup Surti lilva(avrekai) or tuvar lilva
1/2 cup papdi / flat beans
12-15 baby potatoes
1/2 tsp ajwain / carom seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp dhania/ coriander seed powder
1 tsp jeera / cumin powder
1/2 - 1 tsp grated jaggery / sugar
salt to taste
2 tsp oil

To grind -

1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup coriander leaves
3-4 garlic pods
3 green chillies

What you do with it -

Grind all the ingredients listed under 'To grind' to a smooth paste
Peel the potatoes and cook along with papdi beans and lilva, with a little salt added
Heat oil in a pan and add the carom seeds and asafoetida
Add turmeric powder and the ground paste
Saute the masala till it changes colour
Add the dhania powder, jeera powder, chilli powder and then add the cooked vegetables
(You can add brinjals too - adds a lot to the taste)
Mix well so that the vegetables are coated with the masala
Add the jaggery and salt and 1/2 cup of water and bring to a slow boil
Serve with hot rotlis and a salad

Pesto and Sun-dried Tomato Bread - Arusuvai Season II

2011-03-02T20:06:00.003+05:30

This was the first time I tried braiding bread !! I have braided my hair, myself, almost all thru my school life, but when it came to braiding with these strips of dough, it was surprisingly confusing ! I guess I was so used to doing it with my hands behind my head, that with these in front, it was actually confusing !!

This bread had a lovely flavour, and we had it with some pasta for dinner..

Here's a little story behind this...I received a parcel that had some dried active yeast...

The first time I read about Arusuvai,(a friendship chain between food bloggers in India) was on Miri's blog...

This was a really nice concept that was started off by Lathamma, Bharathy and Srivalli.
It was all about sending a 'secret' ingredient to another blogger, who then figured what it was and made something with it, and then in turn, sent some other secret ingredient to other bloggers. It was like a chain that carried on for a while between a lot of food bloggers in India.
Honestly, I felt quite sorry for myself, since I never was part of this chain. I was just about getting active with blogging then..

Thankfully, Sayantani of A Homemaker's Diary has now revived this chain with Arusuvai Season II and I was more than happy about it and signed up rightaway.

I waited (impatiently) for my parcel to arrive. There's something about the words 'secret / surprise', that brought back the child-like eagerness, to wait for the parcel
I got mine from Veena of Kitchen Celebrations, and it was a packet of yeast with a cute little card, a mixing bowl and 2 fruit bowls...I was really happy to see this big box waiting for me...
Thank you Veena, for these lovely gifts..

I have baked bread before, but wanted to try this braiding, and this was a fun experiment ! Sending this to Yeastspotting

Recipe Adapted from the book 'Baking', By Martha Day

What you need -

3.5 cups flour (I used 2.5 cups wheat flour and the rest maida/AP flour)
1.5 tsp yeast
1.5 tsp sugar
1 - 1.5 cups warm water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 tbsp chopped sun dried tomatoes
2 tbsp pesto (I used basil-almond pesto, on the lines of this one)
1 tsp coarse sea-salt

What you do with it -

Take one cup of the warm water and pour into a bowl. Sprinkle the yeast granules over it. Add sugar and mix well. Leave aside for 10-15 mins
Once you see the yeast getting all frothy, you know you are ready to go with the next step
Put the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper.
Make a well in the centre and add pour in the yeast mixture
Add the chopped sun dried tomatoes and the pesto
Gradually mix in the flour to make a soft dough. Add more warm water if required
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead well for 5 mins, till is is smooth and elastic
Return to a clean bowl and cover with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for about 2 hours, till it doubles in volume
Grease a baking sheet and set aside
Once the dough is all risen, transfer to a floured surface and knead again for a few minutes. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and roll to form 3 sausage shape pieces
Dampen the end of the three pieces, press down at one end and then loosely braid it. Dampen the other ends and press together to complete the braid
Place on the baking sheet and cover with the damp cloth again for about 30 mins, till it has risen well
Preheat the oven to 220 deg C
Sprinkle the braid with coarse sea salt
Bake for 10 mins and then lower the temp to 200 and bake for a further 15-20 mins
Cool on a rack and enjoy with a salad, soup or pasta

Methi makai - Fenugreek and corn in an aromatic gravy

2011-02-23T21:12:00.001+05:30

This is the low-cal version of the popular methi malai matar (fenugreek, cream and peas in a cashew-rich gravy)

I substituted the peas with corn, cashews with pumpkin seeds and did away with the cream. I had saved the seeds the last time I bought a pumpkin - rinsed them well and dried them in the sun and stored them in an air tight jar
Pumpkin seeds are a pretty good substitute for cashews. I discovered this on one of the episodes of Master Chef India and gave it a try here.

The masala is very aromatic, so try not to substitute with store-bought garam masala

The original recipe is from a caterer based in Mumbai. He makes some absolutely fabulous food and caters at most of our family get-togethers there (We have a large family, we need caterers, honestly...)

What you need -

3 cups chopped methi/fenugreek leaves
2 chopped onions
2 tomatoes
1 cup cooked corn kernels
1/2 - 1 cup milk
1/2 tsp sugar
salt to taste

Masala 1 -

1 onion
4 green chillies
1/2" piece ginger
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds (or cashew nuts, if you like)
2 tsp khus khus / poppy seeds

Masala 2 -

2 sticks cinnamon
4 cloves
4 cardamoms
4 pepper corns
1 tsp cumin seeds

What you do with it -

Roast and powder all ingredients for Masala 2
Grind all the ingredients listed under Masala 1
Wash the methi leaves. Add 1/2 tsp salt and soak the methi leaves and salt for 15 mins and then drain out
Blanch the tomatoes, peel the skin and puree it
Heat a tbsp of oil in a deep bottomed pan and add the cumin seeds
Add methi and cook for 3-4 mins. Remove and set aside
Heat oil, add onions and the ground paste (masala 1)
Fry till the raw smell goes away. Add tomato puree and dry masala and fry a bit
Add corn, methi leaves, milk, sugar, salt, 1/2 cup water and bring to a slow boil

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

2011-02-14T23:00:00.003+05:30

Some good-for-the-heart oatmeal cookies for Valentines Day...

Simple, easy to bake, crunchy oat cookies that I made straight from this recipe here.

Have a great day people...

Water chestnut, mushroom and broccoli stir fry

2011-02-03T09:30:00.002+05:30

I've seen these water chestnuts (singhada) a lot around here...never tasted them before, but seen them at roadside stalls, steamed and served up especially during winter..

They don't look very pretty, and they don't have a distinct taste of their own, but having read about these used in stir frys, I decided to give it a shot..
Once they were cleaned and peeled, the texture was like any other tuber. It added to the crunch in this dish, but would I like it on its own, I'm not so sure !

To clean these, I first put them in a big bowl of water and washed them. Then used a knife to peel the skin off. Washed them again and cut them in slices

What you need -

3-4 cloves garlic
1 fresh red chilli / red capsicum chopped
1 small broccoli cut into florets
2 cups mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup chopped water chestnuts
1 tbsp sesame oil

What you do with it -

Heat the oil in a wok and add chopped garlic
Add broccoli and water chestnuts and sprinkle a little water over it
Turn heat on high and allow the broccoli to cook slightly
Add the mushrooms and chilli / capsicum along with soy sauce and vinegar
Add salt and pepper and sugar and stir on high heat till the sauces are absorbed
Serve with fried/steamed rice or noodles

Batatyachi Bhaji / Potatoes in a yoghurt-peanut gravy

2011-01-27T20:13:00.003+05:30

My cousin dropped in as a surprise on my birthday a week back and it was really the most pleasant surprise I've had in a long time...
She brought me a bag full of gifts and I realised that I still am so excited about opening gifts...growing older hasn't changed that, not as yet !

There were bamboo steamer baskets, that I was enquiring on my last visit to Bombay and she thoughtfully went hunting all around for it...Also got a very nice book on Marathi cuisine and this totally cute chocolate SMS...

This book called 'The Essential Marathi Cookbook' by Kaumudi Marathe has simple, easy to make authentic recipes...What I like best about this cuisine is the use of peanuts in a lot of dishes, which gives it a nice crunchy feel and also helps in thickening the gravy.

The regular batatyachi bhaji is a simple one with just the seasoning and dash of lemon juice. The peanuts and yoghurt addition was mentioned as a variation. Since we were having this with rotis, I decided to go ahead with the variation...Simple, delicious flavours and a great accompaniment with rotis

Recipe Source: The Essential Marathi Cookbook by Kaumudi Marathe

What you need -

2 large potatoes
2 small onions finely chopped
1 tsp salt
a pinch of sugar
1 1/2 tbsp powdered roasted peanuts
1/4 - 1/2 cup buttermilk/ yoghurt

Seasoning

2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 green chillies, sliced
6-8 curry leaves
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Garnish

1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

What you do with it -

Boil potatoes till well done. Peel and cut into cubes
Heat oil for seasoning. Add mustard seeds. Once they pop, add cumin, chillies and curry leaves. Stir in turmeric and asafoetida
Add the chopped onions and stir fry for 2-3 mins, till light brown
Mix in the peanut powder with the yoghurt and add along with the potatoes, to the seasoning
Reduce heat and let it simmer for 4-5 mins
Sprinkle salt and sugar and garnish with coriander leaves

Corn Bhel

2011-01-12T11:16:00.005+05:30

Bhel is essentially street food, very popular in Bombay. Its a great fusion of flavours, sweet, tangy, spicy - all in one !
Usually, puffed rice (kurmura, mamra) is used to make bhel.
Here, I have substituted it with corn kernels
Its actually a healthy dish, I would think, camouflaged as a chaat, almost like a salad, except for the addition of the chutneys

There are two chutneys used in making most chaat dishes. I discovered this style of green chutney here in Ahmedabad. Peanuts are used here instead of onions. A little sugar is also added in this green chutney usually, which I skipped out

What you need -

1 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels
2 tomatoes
1 onion
1/2 cup of coriander leaves
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1 potato
2 tsp green chutney (recipe follows)
2 tsp sweet chutney (recipe follows)
1/2 tsp chaat masala
1 tsp lemon juice
salt to taste

What you do with it -

If the corn is really tender, use as is, otherwise, cook in salted water till done
I used the pressure cooker to cook the kernels since it was not very tender
Boil the potato and peel and chop
Finely chop the tomatoes, cucumber, onion and coriander leaves
In a bowl, mix the corn, potatoes, onion, cucumber and the green chutney and sweet chutney
Add tomatoes and salt if required
Mix it well and then garnish with coriander leaves
Sprinkle the chaat masala and lime juice over it
You could also sprinkle some sev over it

The chutneys here are more than what is required for this recipe
These chutneys can be stored and used as accompaniments for other dishes too

Green Chutney

1 cup packed coriander leaves
2 green chillies
small piece of ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp peanuts
salt
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Grind all the ingredients together to make a smooth paste
You can store this in an airtight jar in the refrigerator

Sweet chutney

1 cup deseeded dates
1/2 cup cleaned and deseeded tamarind
2 tbsp grated jaggery
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 cup water
a pinch of salt

Chop the dates and soak in warm water
In a pan, heat the jaggery powder and water and add the dates, tamarind and salt
Heat on a low flame and slowly bring to a boil
Once it starts thickening, add the chilli powder and cumin powder
Keep on heat for 2-3 mins and allow to cool
Strain and store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator

Strawberry Banana Bread

2011-01-08T16:24:00.003+05:30

Back from a refreshing break in Bombay...Had a great time catching up with my cousins, eating out and shopping !
Miss the school days when we had huge vacation time and went on holidays together and sat up chatting late into the night...Now, a few rushed days to attend a wedding is about all we manage to have time for ! This time, though, was much more relaxed and
I was really happy I got to meet so many of them in the family...

An aunt made this really nice strawberry bread when we were visiting her. I bought a box of strawberries to make this and made it from what I remember her telling me. It turned out nice, so I'm guessing I remembered it right !
The bananas were my addition and I cut down on one egg..

My blog turned 2 on the 1st, so this strawberry bread (made slightly healthy) is for my blog's 'Happy Birthday'. Enjoy it for breakfast or tea.. It isnt too sweet or too heavy and goes great with a cup of hot tea..

What you need -

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 ripe banana
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour / maida
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup curd / yoghurt
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1 cup chopped strawberries

What you do with it -

Mix the flour, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and keep aside
Mash the banana and keep aside
Beat the butter and then add the sugar and beat till it gets fluffy
Add the eggs one at a time and beat well and then add the mashed banana
Add the yoghurt to this and mix once
Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C
Grease a loaf pan and dust with a little flour and keep aside
In a large bowl, add a scoop of the flour and some egg mixture and beat, adding little of each alternately till its combined well
Fold in the strawberries and walnuts
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan
Bake for about 50 mins. Allow to cool and then cut into slices
Enjoy with hot tea

Carrot ginger soup and Tomato bruschetta

2010-12-18T18:18:00.002+05:30

The winter has set in early this year and most parts of India which barely got cold during winters, have seen a real dip in the temperatures. Ahmedabad used to get a little cold towards the end of December, but this year its been pretty cold since end November and I've pulled out my entire stock of woolens...

Remember I had told you about this set of hand-written recipes that Miri had gifted me long back...I was going thru it a couple of days back and decided to make a nice healthy soup from it. I don't make soups very often and I really don't know why because I think I really like them ! And I love these new soup bowls that my sister-in-law gifted me, so I'm sure I'll be making soup more often now :)

Teamed the carrot ginger soup with some tomato bruschetta from Kay's fabulous blog 'Kayotic Kitchen'- perfect dinner for this weather, light on the stomach and nice combination of flavours

The sharp taste of ginger with the almost sweetish carrots and the heat from the pepper made this soup really perfect and we loved the bruschetta...Thank you Kay and Miri for these great ideas !

What you need -

3-4 medium sized carrots
10-12 sprigs of coriander leaves
2 medium sized onions
1 big piece of ginger
1 tsp butter
juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1 litre water

What you do with it -

Clean the carrots, peel and cut into big chunks
Chop the onions and crush the ginger slightly, but dont let it break. This way you get the flavour, but not the pieces of ginger
Heat butter in a pan and add onions and carrots
Clean the coriander sprigs and tie it up with a thread
Add the bunch of coriander and the ginger piece and a litre of water to the carrots
Pressure cook for 15 mins
Discard the coriander bunch and the ginger
Cool and run thru the blender
Add the remaining water, salt and pepper and allow to simmer
Turn off the heat and add a few drops of lemon juice
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves

Lasun Batata / Spicy Garlicky Baby Potatoes

2010-12-14T11:02:00.001+05:30

One more of my Ma's special dishes..Knowing my love for potatoes, its a surprise I haven't made this in a really long time...

I had some friends over for lunch and decided to make this...It was a real hit, they even packed the remaining for their dinner !! If you like it with a little more gravy to have with rotis, you can add curd to the masala..My aunt makes it like that and its called 'jumping potatoes' !!

Peeling garlic isn't really one of my favourite things to do..I used to buy peeled garlic from the stores earlier, but ever since one of the vegetable vendors here told me that they rub kerosene on the garlic to make it easier to peel, I have stopped buying them...Do check with your stores before you pick up peeled garlic...
And let me also mention here that the 12 cloves of garlic I used in this dish are the regular Indian sized garlic cloves. I had to mention this since the garlic I've seen in the US is about 3-4 times the size of the ones here !!

You can make these as spicy as you like. I have used my stock of Byadgi chillies from Bangalore, which give a lovely red colour, but aren't that spicy..

What you need -

15-20 baby potatoes
10-12 cloves of peeled garlic
15-20 red chillies (use as per your preferred spice level)
small ball of tamarind / 2 tsp tamarind paste
salt to taste
3-4 tbsp oil

What you do with it -

Boil the baby potatoes in a pot of hot salted water
Peel and set aside
Grind the peeled garlic, tamarind and red chillies into a smooth paste, without adding water
Add salt and grind once more
Apply this paste on the potatoes and keep aside for 10-15 mins
Heat half the oil in a heavy bottom pan and then put the potatoes in it
Stir occasionally and fry on a low heat, adding the remaining oil, as required, for about 20 mins or till the ground paste has blended well with the potatoes and there is no raw smell
Serve hot with rotis or dal and rice

Baked Stuffed Peppers / Capsicums

2010-12-07T16:11:00.002+05:30

Stuffed capsicums was one of the dishes that my dad always insisted on for the big dinners at home, when he had people over...My mom makes some wonderful stuffed capsicums, which for some reason, hasn't been made in the longest time now...

I had this packet of sunflower seeds lying around and wasn't sure what to use it in. Googled for a recipe using sunflower seeds and found these stuffed baked peppers, that included brown rice - another one of the ingredients in my kitchen, that was waiting to be used...

The sunflower seeds added a nice crunch and I quite liked the idea of the rice and cheese, which made this a complete meal in itself !

The stuffed peppers brought back a lot of memories of the ones that my mom made, though the ingredients here are very different. I hope to make her version soon and post that too..

What you need -

1/2 cup long-grain brown rice
6 large capsicums / peppers (2 red, 2 green, 2 yellow)
3 Tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 tsps chopped cilantro
10-12 olives, chopped in half
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup shredded cheese

What you do with it -

Cook brown rice in 1-1/2 cups boiling salted water until tender. Drain if necessary
Set it aside in a large mixing bowl
Preheat oven to 220 deg C. Line a baking pan with nonstick foil
Cut the bell peppers in half and deseed
Parboil bell peppers in boiling salted water for 5 minutes. Drain thoroughly and arrange cut-side up in the prepared pan
Saute onions and sunflower seeds in the butter over medium heat until onion is soft and translucent. Remove from heat and let cool 5 minutes. Add to the rice in the bowl, along with olives, cilantro, cheese, oregano, basil, salt and pepper
Mound rice mixture in the bell peppers. Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the stuffed peppers
Bake in the pre-heated oven at 220 deg C, for 15-20 mins

Palak Paneer / Cottage Cheese in Spinach

2010-11-22T18:26:00.003+05:30

Back from my Diwali break...This time it didn't really feel like a relaxed holiday...with lots of rushing around between Bangalore and Chennai, visiting relatives, brother-in-law getting engaged and my little brat turning 5 !
Of course I managed the shopping and eating out at my favourite restaurants in the midst of all this...

We are back home finally and settling back into the routine...
Was waiting to get back to my kitchen and eating some simple food, after all the over-eating back there...

Simple palak paneer and rotis to startup the kitchen again...There are many many variations I have tried for palak paneer, but I like this one best...It really brings out the flavour of the spinach and feels so healthy...

What you need -

2 bunches spinach
2-3 green chillies
2-3 cloves of peeled garlic
1/2 tsp cumin seeds / jeera
2 tbsp milk
150 gm paneer / cottage cheese
2 tsp oil
salt to taste

What you do with it

Remove stems of the spinach. Clean and chop and keep aside
Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds and garlic and chopped green chillies
When the garlic turns slightly brownish, add the spinach
Cook without adding any water, till the spinach turns colour
Drain the spinach and run it through some cold water
Once it cools, grind it to a smooth paste
Cut the paneer into little cubes
If the paneer is frozen, thaw it, cut into cubes and dip into hot water for 5 mins
Add the paneer cubes, milk and salt to the spinach and bring it to a boil
Serve hot with rotis

Hyderabadi Chicken Masala

2010-10-23T18:51:00.001+05:30

I had some guests over for dinner and wanted to make a chicken curry, but wanted to try something different from the usual masala base I use...For me, its generally the coconut based masala or the onion-tomato based one...

I googled for a Hyderabadi style of making chicken curry and guess what...I found this recipe on a matrimonial site !!
It sounded very different from the usual masalas I use, so decided to go ahead with this one..I am not sure how authentic this recipe is, but it tasted really nice...

The taste was different, I really liked the taste of the ground coriander seeds in this and it tasted way better the next day...

Here's the source of this recipe. I didn't make too many changes, just skipped the ghee and modified the method slightly...

What you need

1 kg chicken
1 cup beaten curd
4 medium sized onions
1 tsp garam masala
10 red chillies
2 tsp cumin seeds
4 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste

What you do with it

Chop three of the onions really fine. Heat a tsp of oil and fry these on a low flame till they turn brown
Grind together the red chillies, one onion, turmeric, cumin and coriander seeds into a thick paste
Best the curd well and add the fried onions, salt, ginger garlic paste to it
Clean the chicken and cut into large pieces
Marinate the chicken with the yoghurt paste for about 20 mins
Heat oil in large pan and add the ground masala. Fry till the raw smell goes away and the paste turns to a reddish brown colour
Add the chicken and fry for 3-4 mins
Add 1 cup water and the garam masala
Cover and cook till done
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed basmati rice

Fafda, jalebis and my 100th post !

2010-10-17T17:32:00.002+05:30

The last nine days have been a big celebration in many states in India and in Gujarat, its been a really colourful one, with the nine nights of Garba for Navratri - the dancing starts around nine at night and goes on way beyond midnight. Every evening the enthusiastic dancers are out in their wonderfully colourful traditional costumes, with lots of accessories and chunky silver jewellery...

As with every other festival in India, food is of prime importance and there is special food associated with each religious occasion...In Gujarat, the Dussehra special is fafda and jalebis. On our way back home last night, we saw a lot of shops gearing up to handle the endless queues of customers for the famous fafda and jalebis...
My husband is not the sort who can ever wait for food. If we are asked to wait at any restaurant, we just drive away to the next one...But the temptation of the really hot and crisp jalebis made him go stand and wait for about 45 mins...It was so totally worth it !!

So here's what we had for our breakfast, thanks to the husband's patience with the store called Gwalia, down the road from our place...

crisp hot jalebis, fried in ghee and dipped in sugar syrup - tastes awesome, but you will need few more hours on the treadmill after this !
raw papaya salad / chutney - shredded raw papaya with a lot of green chillies

fafda - besan / chickpea flour and some spices made into a dough, spread out with base of the palm and then deep fried

This is my 100th post !! Though I began blogging with great enthusiasm, the posts havent really been frequent, of late, so I honestly didnt think I'd make it this far...

Thank you all for reading my posts, its a great inspiration to continue blogging...

Wish you and your familes a very Happy Dussehra

Jeer Meerya Kadi / Cumin-Pepper Coconut curry

2010-09-22T13:12:00.006+05:30

Kadis and Tamblis are popular in Konkani cooking...Undoubtedly, coconuts are the base for this...Both use almost a similar set of ingredients, with some variations here and there...
The basic difference is that tamblis are served cold, they are not heated at all, just grind the ingredients and serve, Kadis on the other hand involve some roasting, grinding and boiling...

Jeera (cumin) and meerya (pepper) are considered very good at helping with gastric problems, Ma used to always make this when we had a stomach upset, or anyway make it about twice a month, to help with any gastric problems...She even uses the skin of a pomegranate in this, which added a bitterish but nice flavour...

This kadi/curry with rice is one of my total comfort foods...

What you need -

1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp pepper corns
3/4 cup grated fresh coconut
6-8 cloves garlic
skin of 1/2 pomegranate (optional)
4-5 red chillies
small ball of tamarind / 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
1 tsp ghee
salt to taste

What you do with it -

Dry out the skin of the pomegranate and then cut into pieces
Heat ghee in a small pan and add the cumin, pepper, 3-4 cloves of garlic and the pomegranate skin and roast for 2-3 mins
Grind together the coconut gratings, chillies, tamarind and salt
Add the roasted ingredients and grind to a smooth paste
Add 2-3 cups of water to this and bring to a boil
to season, heat some ghee/oil and fry the remaining garlic till it turns brown
add to the kadi and serve with hot rice and papads

Orange Glazed Sesame Vegetables

2010-09-13T19:21:00.001+05:30

Back in Bangalore, we had the super fast home delivery of Chinese food. There is this chain of restaurants called Chung Wah and their exclusive home delivery outlets are called Chung's kitchen...We had one of these just up the road from our place and we'd order out often. Once I make the call, I'd set out the plates and forks and the it really needed just that much time for the delivery boy to appear at our doorstep with the food !! It was really that fast...

Here, we need to do a bit of planning and reservations before we head out for a decent Chinese meal...This cuisine doesnt seem to be very popular here and a few places I tried serve noodles with a whole lot of tomato ketchup, passing it up as Chinese food...

On one of these dull rainy days last week, I was really craving for Chung Wah style chinese food - it would have been ideal to make some gobi manchurian and noodles - the quintessential Bangalorean Chinese, but since I didnt have most of what was required, I got down to making this from Nita Mehta's book...

I had never tried using orange juice in my cooking, so settled on this recipe - it turned out really nice and went very well with rice...

What you need -

100 gm paneer or enough to make about 6-7 strips
1 green / red capsicum
1 cup button mushrooms
broccoli / babycorn (didnt have these)
1 cup orange juice
2 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp peanuts
oil
salt and pepper
pinch of sugar

What you do with it -

Roast sesame seeds ad peanuts on a tava or pan till golden
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan and add the paneer stripsand stir fry till it turns brown. Remove the strips and keep aside
To the same pan, add the vegetables you are using. Stir fry for 2-3 mins
Mix soya sauce, orange juice and cornflour in a cup till its blended well
Stir this mixture in to the pan with the vegetables
Cook for 4-5 mins till the sauce thickens well
Add the sesame seeds, peanuts, salt, pepper, sugar and the paneer pieces
Cook for a minute more and serve hot with rice

Curry leaf chutney powder / Karabevu chutneypodi

2010-09-02T17:01:00.002+05:30

This one is from Ma's recipes...
She would make this for me ever so often and drop a jar of it at my place, when I was in Bangalore
Now since I've moved, I've got the packet just once over the last two years, and its always over in less than two weeks.. This time, I decided to make it myself and got the recipe from her
I had never attempted making any of these chutney podis earlier, but after I tried making the molagapodi from Usha's blog, its become a monthly ritual. We are so hooked on to the taste of this molagapodi, that the store bought ones just don't cut it for us, anymore.
I'm pretty sure the karabevu chutneypodi is also going to be added to my list of to-dos every month...

The flavour from the roasted curry leaves in this chutney powder really lingers in your mouth. Goes best with idlis and dosas.
I even had it with some toast and butter, thats something I first tasted at my aunt's place when I was little...tastes fabulous in this combinaton too !!

What you need

15-20 red chillies (depending on how spicy you want this)
2 cup packed curry leaves / kadipata / karabevu
1 cup pottu kadalai / roasted bengal gram / hurgadle bele
1/2 tsp amchur powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oil
pinch of asafoetida / hing
1 cup dessicated dry coconut / kopra / kobri
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

What you do with it -

Wash the curry leaves, strain out the water and dry it in the sun or a covered cloth, till all the moisture is gone
In a large kadai / pan, heat the oil and add the asafoetida
Add the chillies and roast for 3-4 mins on a low flame
Add the dried curry leaves and the dessicated dry coconut
Roast for about 2-3 mins
Add the roasted gram and stir for a minute or two
Once this cools, grind it to a smooth powder, with the amchur powder and salt
If you are using the sugar, add it and run thru the blender one more time
Do not add any water while grinding
Tamarind can be used instead of amchur powder. Ma uses amchur powder, since it is a dry powder and so it can be stored easily. With tamarind, you will need to refrigerate it

Melange of Vegetables in a flavoured curry sauce

2010-08-24T19:42:00.007+05:30

This is one more of the Recipes from the Taj, this time by Chef C J Richard at Patio, Taj Coromandel, Chennai
Unfortunately the recipe in the book seems to have been written in a hurry. There is no mention of what vegetables he used and even the proportion of the tomato sauce and cream is not very clear

The gravy is an aromatic thick tomato creamy one with a curry powder (no, not that bottled one sold as an Indian spice) that has been made from scratch...the combination of flavours is very aromatic and after a few trials with the quantities of various ingredients, I have settled on this adaptation..

From the picture in the book, I figured he has used brocolli, asparagus, red capsicum and mushrooms - I didnt have any of these at home, so stuck to the regular cauliflower, carrots and capsicum...

The first time I made this, I used tomato ketchup like they mentioned in the recipe. I wasnt too happy with the result. The next time I pureed the tomatoes and it was much nicer.

This goes really well with steamed rice

Sending this to Divya's Show me your curry Event

What you need

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp curry powder (recipe follows)
1/2 cup tomato puree (from about 3 medium sized toatoes)
1/2 cup fresh cream
2 tbsp olive oil
2 green capsicums
2 carrots
1 cup of cauliflower florets

For the curry powder
1/2 tbsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
5 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp turmeric powder
2 tbsp pepper corns
2 tbsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup cleaned and dried curry leaves

What you do with it

For the curry powder
Roast fenugreek, mustard, coriander seeds, peppercorns and cumin seeds
Mix the turmeric powder, chilli powder and curry leaves and grind to a smooth powder
Do not add any water
You can store this powder in an airtight container in a cool dry place for about a month

Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil
Add 2 tbsps curry powder and saute for a few minutes
Add the cauliflower, carrot and capsicum and saute for 3-4 mins
Add the tomato puree and the cream and mix well and cook till the vegetables are done
Serve with hot steamed rice

Other Recipes from the Taj
Kombdicha Rassa
Lasooni Palak

Rainy weekend and some Bisi Bele Bhath

2010-08-10T13:05:00.004+05:30

Ahmedabad has had some very unexpected showers over the last few weeks. Over the last two years here, the monsoon has ranged from 2 hours to 2 days, but this time, its been over 2 weeks !!
Sunday was one more of those downpour days...It has definately cooled down the place a lot, but the city is just not equipped to handle the rains, the roads are flooded and stepping out of the house for anything is a big mess...

This is the view from my balcony - an otherwise empty piece of land which has become a mini lake and had a buffalo enjoying a sunday swim !!

Rains again this Sunday meant our usual weekend meal out was out of the question..
I didnt want to go out to even buy the basic vegetables...Had to make do with what I had...TH was back after a few days of travelling out on work and he always prefers some simple home food...

Miri had gifted me this book 'Cooking at home with Pedatha', when she was here in Feb and though I have been reading it up and admiring all those lovely pictures, I always planned, but somehow never landed making anything from this book.

The bisi bele hulianna / bisi bele bhath was definately on my list and it sounded perfect for a sunday lunch. Plus since its a one pot meal, you dont have to think up of too much to go with it... Cucumber raita and some garlic vadiyos/ vadams /crispies and we were all set...

I've always liked bisi bele and really like eating it hot with lots of boondi and raita...The flavours were so good and reminded me of this place in Bangalore from where we had packed this a few times...'Nammoora', a small place in South Bangalore, which only parcels food and expects you to bring the boxes along..Their bisi bele bhath is to die for..

This tasted almost as good...
Thank you Miri, this book is a real treasure...

What you need -

1 heaped cup uncooked rice
1 level cup split red gram (tur dal)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 large onion
1 medium potato
1 medium carrot
7-8 french beans (I didnt have these)
1 green capsicum (my addition)
1 long brinjal (my addition)
3 tbsp tamarind pulp
2 slit green chillies
10-12 curry leaves
4-6 tbsps ghee (ok, i used 2-3 tsps)
2-3 tbsp oil
salt to taste

The 1st powder
1/2 cp bengal gram (chana dal)
1/4 cup split black gram (urad dal)
1/4 coriander seeds
6-7 red chillies
3 sticks cinnamon
4 cloves

The 2nd powder (this one rocks !!)
1/2 cup grated dry coconut (kopra / kobri)
1/4 cup coriander leaves

Tempering

1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing)
6-8 cashewnuts (my addition)

What you do with it -

Pressure cook the rice in 3 cups water till soft
Pressure cook the turdal in 3 cups water with a little turmeric. Churn and set aside
Chop the vegetables into bite-sized peces
For the 1st powder, dry roast the grams and coriander seeds separately, until deep brown. Heat 2 tsp oil and roast the red chillies. Grind these with the cinnamon and cloves to a fine powder
For the 2nd powder, wash the coriander leaves and pat dry. Roast the dry coconut until golden brown. Grind along with coriander leaves, without adding any water
In a large wok, heat the remaining oil for tempering,dd the ingredients under tempering and when the cashenuts turns brownish, add the vegetables
Cover and cook, adding a little water if necessary
Mix together the tamarind pulp, 1st powder and the cooked dal in 1 cup of water and make a smooth paste. Add this to the vegetables and cook for 2-3 mins. Here, Pedatha suggests adding some sugar. I added 1 tbsp grated jaggery
Add the cooked rice, green chillies, curry leaves and salt and stir for another 5 mins
Just before taking it off the heat, add the 2nd powder and ghee
Stir well and serve hot with vadams/ crispies and a raita

Butterless Chocolate Banana Cake

2010-07-27T18:14:00.001+05:30

May i present to you, the new baker in our home - my almost-5-year-old son !!
I am so excited about this cake, since its the first time my son insisted on making it 'all by myself' !

I had picked up these colourful sprinkles a while back and he's been mega excited about using it. Last weekend, he insisted that we make a cake and use these sprinkles over them. I asked him if he can help me and he said he wants to make the cake himself...

Ok, I obviously read the recipe and took out all the ingredients, but he did the measuring and mixing and couldnt wait for the cake to get ready...He held the bottle with sprinkles for as long as the cake baked and then was in a hurry to put it all over, so we couldnt wait to even out the cake or layer it with a ganache, like I had planned to...

I got the recipe from JoyOfBaking, used slightly lesser sugar and water..It turned out to be wonderfully soft and moist, despite no butter being added...I am sure this can easily be made without eggs too. I just didnt want to tamper with the recipe for his first experiment...

If you want to give this a shot without eggs, just add another banana and 1/4 cup of oil..

This stores well. I just had the last piece with my tea now and its just as soft...

What you need -

Dry ingredients -
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt

Wet ingredients -
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Topping
sprinkles (optional)

What you do with it -

Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C

Mix in all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside

Mash the bananas and beat the eggs into it
Add all the other wet ingredients and mix well or beat lightly till its all combined well
Pour this into the dry ingredients. Stir together or beat for 2 mins

Grease the pan and dust lightly with some flour
Pour the batter a greased pan and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 45 mins

Top with sprinkles

Keerai Adai

2010-07-24T18:17:00.010+05:30

Adai for breakfast is one of my favourites...The best part is that there is no fermenting required, so you easily save up on a good 6-7 hours of time...Its a crispy thick dosa with a lot of lentils and rice and makes for a nice filling breakfast

I had a murungakeerai (drumstick leaves) adai once at a restaurant in Bangalore, served with jaggery, butter and avial and loved the combination.
The drumstick leaves are considered very healthy and tasted awesome in the adai. I had then gone looking for these leaves at the local markets in Bangalore and made a whole lot of adai with it

Since this is something I definately will not find here in Ahmedabad, I decided to substitute it with methi leaves. This worked as an equally nice combination. I guess coriander leaves should also work very well

My son loved the adai with homemade butter and jaggery and I had it with molagapodi and butter, giving in completely to the temptation of the soft white homemade butter...

What you need

1 cup rice
1/2 cup moong dal
1/2 cup chana dal
1/2 cup urad dal
1/2 cup tur dal
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 red chillies
a few curry leaves
a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
1 cup methi leaves
1/2 tsp salt

What you do with it

Soak the rice and the lentils for a minimum of 4 hours
Drain the water and grind along with the cumin seeds, red chillies and curry leaves to a coarse paste
Add as little water as required to make the batter
It need not be smooth like the regular dosa batter
Add hing and salt and chopped methi leaves
Mix well adding a little more water so you can spread it out well
On a hot tava, add a little oil, pour a ladleful of batter in the centre and spread into a nice round shape
Cover for about a minute or two and then flip over
Add a little more oil and remove from heat when done

Serve with butter, jaggery, molagapodi or avial

Cherry Clafloutis and Apple Flaugnarde

2010-06-22T17:57:00.002+05:30

Till a few months back, I had no idea what 'Clafoutis' and 'Flaugnarde' meant, but thanks to all the blog hopping, I actually made these on Sunday !
I am still not sure I know how to pronounce these, though !!
Deeba, the baking diva, has some amazing creations on her blog...Her pictures are fantastic and I can spend hours drooling over all the exotic dishes she comes up with !
I've seen her use these pretty little ramekins and I recently picked up six of them, so had to try out something in them - thankfully, I didnt have to wait too long - with cherries in season and this really neat recipe on her blog, I knew exactly what I was going to make as a Father's day special !!

Deeba used plums in hers and I am sure the juice of that added a lot to the taste of the clafoutis, but after my overdose with plums last year, I decided to stay far away from them...

Filled three ramekins with the pitted cherries (learnt that here)that looked really nice and red and for the remaining three, I tried the flaugnarde. I learnt from Deeba's blog that flaugnarde was basically the same batter used with fruits other than cherries - this was a great idea - it meant I saved my time pitting the cherries and I could get 2 desserts with one meal !!

I used apples and raisins for the flaugnarde and actually liked it better than the clafoutis - I am guessing the cherries were not sweet enough or perhaps didnt seem to ooze out too much juice to make the clafoutis moist...Maybe, I will try with the plums someday...

For the original recipe, go straight here

To see my tweaked version, continue reading...

What you need -

25- 30 red cherries
3 eggs separated (this was another adventure !)
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup plain flour / maida
2-3 drops vanilla essence
3/4 cup fresh cream

What you do with it -

Preheat oven to 170C
Grease 6 small ramekins with oil / butter
Pit the cherries, and halve them
Arrange half the fruit at the bottom of the greased ramekins
For the flaugnarde, I chopped the apple and heated it in a pan with 2 tsp of brown sugar till the apple looked a little stewed. Arrange these in the ramekin. Drop in 5-6 raisins in each ramekin over the apples
To make the batter, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar until thick and pale. With a rubber spatula, fold in the flour first, the vanilla essence and then the cream
Whisk the egg whites with the remaining sugar till they form firm peaks
Fold them into the batter gently
Pour the batter over the fruit to reach about 3/4 of the way up
Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins, take out and arrange 3 whole cherries on top and bake for a further 5-7 minutes
Serve warm with some cream or vanilla ice-cream

Am back with some Calzones...

2010-06-13T12:57:00.011+05:30

I'm back from a rather long unplanned break from blogging. Was on a month-long vacation and after I got back, it was just too much lethargy to get back to blogging. I cooked a lot, but taking pictures and writing about it seemed like too much effort...
Met up with cousins after a long time, and had a wonderful time together. The kids got along fabulously which was the best part of it all...

We also travelled out to see places and on our visit to Niagara, my cousins from Canada came down to meet us..It was unusually cold out there with rains and crazy wind speeds.. We were cold, tired from the long walk around the falls and really hungry. We then drove down to a lovely Italian restaurant. As we waited to be seated I saw these awesome calzones being served at a few tables. They were huge, compared to the ones I've seen here in India..We ordered for those calzones, pizza, salad and pasta and some really good wine for dinner..

It was a wonderful meal before we headed back into the rains outside..That day turned out to be a little too adventurous, with the fire alarms at the place we stayed going off way past midnight and the hotel being evacuated..We stood holding our son, who was fast asleep, for over an hour in the cold outside..The next day was better, still cold and windy, but we enjoyed seeing the falls..It is really mindblowing seeing the force of all that water...

Now we are back home, and I was still thinking of those calzones and decided to make them last night for dinner..The ones we had there just had a whole lot of cheese as the filling..I looked around in the blogosphere and saw this one on Raaga's blog. She made it seem pretty simple and it was ! Thanks Raaga for a wonderful dinner idea !

I followed the recipe for the dough from Raaga's with a few changes, and for the filling I made some mushrooms in white sauce...

What you need -

For the dough

1.5 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup flour / maida
1.5 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp thyme (use any herb here)
1/2 tsp crushed pepper
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup warm milk

For the filling

1 cup cleaned and quartered mushrooms
1 tsp flour / maida
1/2 tsp butter
1/2 cup milk
2-3 tbsp grated cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red chilli flakes
1/4 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp peri peri sauce (optional - i used it to make it spicy)

What you do with it -

For the dough

In a large bowl, add the water, milk, oil and sugar
Stir to make the sugar dissolve
Sprinkle the yeast (I used the active dry yeast) and keep in a warm place for about 10 mins till it gets frothy
Add the herbs, salt, pepper and chilli flakes
Knead in the flours and place in a greased bowl, keep for about an hour in a warm place
Cover with a damp cotton cloth
The dough should double in size, keep longer if required

For the filling

Saute the mushrooms with the salt and spices
In another pan, melt the butter and fry the flour in it for a minute or so
Add the milk and then stir in the cheese
Add the mushrooms to this. Keep stirring on a low flame till it thickens
Add more milk if required

Making the calzone

Punch the dough and keep aside for another 15 mins
Preheat the oven to about 200 deg C
Divide the dough into equal sized balls
Flour the surface and roll out the dough
Add the filling in one half and then cover with the other half
Punch the edges down with a form and then make small slits on the top
Place in a greased oven pan and bake for about 20-25 mins at 200 deg C
Serve hot

Goan breakfast - Pao Tonak

2010-04-01T15:58:00.002+05:30

This is a favourite breakfast in Goa and the first time I had this was when I was visiting my Dad's friend's family there. The lady of the house is an excellent cook and this was a very interesting breakfast.
I am not a breakfast person - I cant have something really heavy for breakfast, but on a lazy weekend, this is a great breakfast and keeps you stuffed for a few hours !

The 'tonak' is basically made with dried peas and potatoes and a strong aromatic masala.
I found this pretty packet of assorted legumes and thought it would go well in this tonak masala, so used this in place of the dried peas.

The pao there in Goa is a crusty one, which I dont get here, so I used the softer, bready pav to go with the tonak...

The masala is quite strong and very aromatic, but if it doesnt suit your taste buds, you can use garam masala instead, though I'd suggest you give this fresh masala a try..

What you need -

1 cup peas / any other legumes
1 potato (I didnt use this)
2 onions
1 cup grated coconut
1 tsp tamarind
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste

For the masala

2 tsp coriander seeds
4 red chillies
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 cloves
1 inch strip cinnamon
4 pepper corns

What you do with it -

Soak the peas / legumes overnight
Roast and powder all the ingredients under 'Masala'
Peel potatoes and cut to bite-size pieces
Boil the potaoes with the legumes
Chop onions fine
Fry the onions, add grated coconut and tamarind
Grind this to a coarse paste
Add the dry masala, sugar, salt and turmeric powder
Add the potato and legumes and cook a little more
Adjust salt and add more water if required.
Serve hot with pao, bread or chapatis

Sweet Appe / Paniyaram

2010-03-21T14:40:00.005+05:30

Ever since I've moved to Ahmedabad, and met new people here, most of them ask me where I am from and I start with saying that I am a Mangalorean, who's been living in Bangalore, and their instant reaction is 'oh, you are a South Indian'...ok, i am very much that, but then the next classification is that being South Indian means eating only idli, dosa, sambar and rice...
We do eat that, but that is not the only thing we eat...
Each state down South has so much variety to offer in terms of food, language, customs, but its all tagged as one happy idli-eating community !

Ok, I do know people down South who think that everyone this side of the Vindhyas are 'North Indians' and eat rotis, cholay and paneer !!
Its wierd that after having most cities being so cosmopolitan, some ideas just dont get out of our heads !

I had some friends and their kids coming over yesterday for lunch and decided on a South Indian menu that did not have idli, dosa or sambar...
We had spicy and sweet appes, raw mango chitranna, green and red chutneys, potato fry, chana dal vadas and curd rice (a little boy requested that)

I had a little dough of the sweet appe and made that for breakfast today !
These sweet appes are really spongy, soft and tasty and you can gobble a few down, before you even realise it...Its not too sweet, so it works well for me !

What you need -

3 cups raw rice
1 1/2 cup poha / beaten rice or 2 cups puffed rice
2 cups grated jaggery
1/2 - 3/4 cup grated coconut
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 cup buttermilk
a pinch of salt

What you do with it -

Soak the rice in the buttermilk for about 3-4 hours. You can add water to make enough liquid to cover the rice
Grind the soaked rice with the coconut till its a smooth paste
Wash the poha and drain the excess water
Add turmeric powder, jaggery, salt and beaten rice and grind well
Do not add too much water
Ferment it overnight
Heat the appe kadai / Aebelskiver pan and add a drop of oil into each cavity
Pour a spoonful of the batter till its 3/4th of the level in the cavity
Cover and flip over each one after 2-3 mins
Let it cook for another minute

If you dont have a appe kadai / Aebelskiver pan, you can add a little buttermilk / water while grinding the batter
Pour out like a small thick dosa, on a tava
Cover with a lid till done. You dont need to flip this over
This is called 'surnoly' in Konkani

My Ugadi Menu

2010-03-16T19:24:00.010+05:30

Happy Ugadi to all of you...

Ugadi translates to Beginning of a New Era and is celebrated as a 'New Year' in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka
Being a few states away, the fervour, holiday and celebrations of Ugadi were missing, but the food made up for most of it...

For lunch, I made a kele-chana ghasshi (raw banana- black chana spicy coconut based gravy), a Kannada style kosambari (salad with mung dal, raw mango and coconut), dali saar, tendle-bibbe upkari and Puranpoli

Here's what we had for lunch today...

Today's Menu

Kele-Chana Ghasshi

What you need -

2 raw bananas
1/2 cup black chana soaked in water overnight
4 tbsp grated coconut
2 tsp coriander seeds
4 red chillies (preferably byadgi)
1/4 tsp methi seeds
pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
mustard seeds and curry leaves to season
small piece of tamarind or 1/2 tsp tamarind paste

What you do with it -

Cut the skin off the bananas and then quater length-wise. Cut into small cubes
Heat with turmeric and a little salt in water till cooked
Pressure cook the soaked chana till cooked well
Roast the red chillies, coriander seeds and methi seeds
Grind with coconut and tamarind to a smooth paste
Add this coconut paste to the cooked chana and bananas and stir till it blends well
Add water and bring to a boil
Prepare a seasoning of mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil and pour over the ghasshi

Puran Poli (with tur dal)
This puran poli is something I learnt from a friend here - its made with tur dal instead of chana dal, tried that for the first time today

What you need -

1 cup tur dal (soaked for an hour or more)
2-3 cardamoms pounded
1 cup grated jaggery
1 1/2 cup maida / flour
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

What you do with it -

Wash the dal, add enough water to cover it and cook in a pressure cooker till its soft
Drain off the excess water
Add jaggery to the dal and cook on a low flame, stirring continuously, till all the water is absorbed
Allow it to cool and grind it to a paste - do not add water
Add the cardamom powder
Divide this mixture into small balls
Make a dough with the flour, turmeric powder and 1/2 cup water
Add oil and knead well
Apply a little oil to your palm, take a portion of the dough and flatten it on the palm
Place a ball of dal in the centre and cover from all sides
Dip in flour and roll it out flat
Roast on a hot tava on both sides till it has a few brown spots
Serve with ghee

Kosambari

What you need -

1 raw mango
3 tsp fresh grated coconut
1 green chilli
pinch of salt
1/2 cup yellow moong dal
few coriander leaves

What you do with it -

Soak the moong dal in water for about half an hour or more
Drain the water
Chop the chilli, raw mango and mix with the dal
Add grated coconut, salt and mix well
Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves

Buttermilk Scones with Garlic Chives

2010-02-07T19:20:00.001+05:30

The first time I had ever tasted scones were at Miri's place years ago...I remember they tasted really nice, but she doesnt remember ever making them !
Incidentally, Miri was in town for a training last week and managed to squeeze in few hours to meet up, almost everyday, which was so great for me, considering I barely have any friends here in Ahmedabad.
She was here when the scones were made and she liked them, so I am guessing I got it right !

I couldn't remember if the ones I had tasted earlier were flaky, crisp, bread-like, biscuit-like, but I liked what I finally came up with...

Looked up a whole lot of recipes in the blogging world and in my books...
I have this book called 'Baking' by Martha Day, that had this recipe for scones, using buttermilk. The idea of using chives was from Parita's sping onion scones

I had a few garlic chives ('hara lasan'/greens from fresh garlic), and here again its the first time I've ever used them. Its available here in winter and is used in the famous Gujarati 'undhiyu'.
Most scone recipes used cheese for the savoury ones, but I intended keeping them as low fat as I could, so skipped the cheese.
The buttermilk (from the churned out home made butter) was buttery enough, so cut down on the additional butter and these turned out to be a nice, light snack.
I got some really helpful tips from JoyOfBaking one of which said that if you used buttermilk, it took slightly longer to bake, gave a more light bread-like scone, with a crisp crust and tender inside...

The chives gave it a mild garlic flavour, and the pepper and chilli powder added to the spice factor...The crust was crisp and inside, it was soft and tasted absolutely great when eaten hot !
I'm sure they would taste good with a nice hot soup too, but couldn't wait till dinner time, so had this with a cup of hot tea instead.

What you need -

2 cups wheat flour
2-3 stalks of garlic chives
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda / baking soda
1 tbsp cold butter
upto 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp salt

What you do with it -

Preheat the oven to 220 deg C. Grease a baking sheet / pan
Combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda
Rub in butter using your fingertips till it resembles breadcrumbs
Now add in the chopped garlic chives and salt to taste
Gradually, pour in the buttermilk as required and make a soft dough (softer than the one used to make rotis)
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about 3/4 inch thick
Sprinkle chilli powder and crushed pepper powder on the rolled out dough
Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 wedges, like a pizza or use cookie cutters to make little rounds
Bake this at 220 deg C, for about 30 mins

Pasta in a spinach almond pesto

2010-02-02T17:25:00.004+05:30

I had always assumed that 'pesto' had to be made with pine nuts and basil, both of which were never easily available...
Thanks to a lot of posts on in the food blogging world, I realised that pesto was basically 'nuts and herbs pounded together'
I have tried a lot of different combinations and its made my life so much simpler to use whatever is on hand !

My son loves pasta and I get the organic whole wheat one from Fab india here, which is really good..
Have tried coriander-walnut pesto earlier, settled for a spinach-almond one this time...
Found this whole packet of almonds that was a gift from Diwali and decided this was a good way to get it into my son's diet...

Simple flavours, some veggies, whole wheat pasta and a healthy meal was on it way...

What you need -

2 cups pasta (I used whole wheat fusilli)
2 carrots
1/2 cup fresh corn kernels
1 capsicum
(You can use any vegetables, I had these for the day)
1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
1 tsp crushed pepper (optional)
salt to taste
3-4 tsps olive oil
5 tsps milk (optional)

For the Pesto

10 almonds
2 cups chopped spinach
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp grated cheese
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp olive oil

What you do with it -

For the pesto
Soak the almonds in hot water for 15-20 mins and peel the skin off
Blend together with all the ingredients listed under pesto
Do not add water, add more olive oil if necessary

Bring water to boil in a large deep bottom pan, add salt and a drop of olive oil
Add pasta and reduce the heat and cook for 8-10 mins, or till done (Follow instructions on the pasta packet)
Drain the water out and spread the pasta, sprinkle a tsp or two of olive oil, so it doesn't stick together
In a pan, heat a tsp of olive oil, add chopped carrots, corn kernels and chopped capsicum
Stir frequently till the veggies are almost cooked and then add the pesto
Add crushed pepper, chilli flakes and salt
If its too dry, add olive oil or milk, depending on the flavour you like
Add the pasta and stir once or twice
Turn off the heat, add shredded cheese if desired
Serve hot !

Stuffed Eggplant

2010-01-09T11:16:00.003+05:30

I discovered Purple Foodie's blog a couple of months back..I love the way she comes up with one interesting dish after another...Though I never venture too much into the desserts area, which I think she does complete justice to, I did try out her crispy apple crumble and it turned out awesome...
The cake from my previous post is also from her blog..

The day I saw this Stuffed Eggplant Goodness on her blog, I had decided I must try it out..Bookmarked it and then completely forgot about it...

In the market, I saw this beautiful eggplant (bharte wala baingan) and picked it up with the bharta on my mind. Chopped the onions and tomatoes for it and then remembered Purple foodie's eggplant, went back to my bookmarks, saw that the ingredient list, at least most of it, was available in my kitchen and went ahead to vegetarianise her recipe. I did not have parmesan cheese, but had 2 cheese slices...

This halved, loaded eggplant looked like a complete meal to me, but I was sure TH would ask me 'This is dinner ?', so I quickly spiced up some leftover rice with olives, red chilli flakes, garlic and shallots. Served the eggplant on the bed of rice - was a pretty picture and tasted good too
Thank you Shaheen, for a brilliant dinner...

Here's the link to the original recipe and here's my tweaked vegetarian version...

What you need -

1 large eggplant
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
1 bayleaf
3-4 cloves garlic
1-2 tomatoes
1/2 cup crumbled paneer
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp mixed herbs
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
salt and crushed pepper

What you do with it -

Slit the eggplant lengthwise
Pre-heat oven to 200 C
Grease the baking dish with some olive oil and then place the eggplant, cut side up
Sprinkle oil over the eggplant with a chopped clove of garlic and some oregano
Bake for about 25 mins, or till tender
Scoop out the flesh from the eggplant and mash it up gently with a fork
In a pan, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat
Add the onions, chopped garlic, bayleaf, oregano and red chilli flakes
Then the tomatoes, salt, pepper and mixed herbs. Once its a little mushy, add the crumbled paneer and the eggplant flesh
Remove the bayleaf
Lower the oven temperature to 190 C
When the mixture cools a bit, fill it back into the eggplant shells (Shaheen uses egg here, which would give it a nice binding, but I didnt have any at home, so skipped that)
Return the shells to the baking dish. Sprinkle with olive oil
Bake the eggplant for 30-40 minutes or until the shells are tender when pierced with a skewer
During the last 10 minutes of baking, add bits of the cheese slices onto the eggplant and bake till done. You could use a lot more cheese here, I had run out of cheese !

Time to celebrate - 1 year up !

2010-01-05T11:44:00.003+05:30

My foodie blog is one year old !!
To celebrate, I baked this yummy chocolate-walnut marble cake

Followed the recipe from Purple foodie's blog, except that I used walnuts instead of hazelnuts, and reduced the quantity a bit..
Turned out really nice, the aroma of the cake filled the house, the ground walnuts gave it a lovely twist and the marble / layered effect was something I was super thrilled about !
It was also an inauguration of the beautiful glass bundt pan I bought in Bangalore a few months back..

My cooking has become more innovative and experimental after I started blogging and visiting blogs..Baking was something I never tried too much and was never confident about, but after the fairly successful breads, cakes and muffins, it does feel great to bake now...

Thank you people, for visiting my blog...The comments from the blogging world, the mails I get from my cousins and friends telling me what they have tried out from my blog, truly makes my day ! Thank you !

Recipes from the Taj: Lasooni Palak (Spinach and Garlic)

2009-12-23T10:15:00.003+05:30

Remember I told you about this book I got from my dad's friend. Its got awesome recipes, by chefs from The Taj group of hotels
Some recipes are really interesting, some too complicated to try out and some everyday recipes that work best for me...
This particular one is one of the easier recipes, with ingredients that are easily available.
Spinach is something which is on our plates at least once a week if not more and thankfully TH and the son seem to really like it

Palak paneer, keerai molagutal, soppu palya and a lot more variations have been made fairly often now. I saw the lasooni palak in this book and knew I had to try it out. Its got a lovely texture with the puree and chopped spinach, cream and yoghurt as part of it

This one's also from the Taj at Nashik

What you need -

3 bunches spinach
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsps oil
pinch of hing / asafoetida
1 medium onion
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 tomato
2 green chillies
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
pinch of turmeric powder
3 cloves of garlic, minced and browned
puree of 2 tomatoes
1/2 cup plain beaten yoghurt
2 tsps cream
salt to taste

What you do with it -

Clean and chop the spinach. Puree two bunches by blanching it and passing it thru the blender. Keep once bunch chopped, aside
Heat oil, crackle cumin and mustard seeds. Add asafoetida, ginger, garlic and green chillies
Add onions and saute till brown
Add chopped spinach and tomatoes and cook till spinach is done and tomatoes are mushy
Add all the powdered masalas and saute
Add spinach puree and tomato puree, yoghurt and cream
Bring to a slow boil
Garnish with browned garlic
Serve hot with rotis and raita

Podi Idli (spicy fried idlis) and Appe

2009-12-08T16:15:00.004+05:30

Bangalore has restaurants serving south indian food at every nook and corner, small places serving fresh hot tasty idlis, variety of dosas and mixed rice variations.
Popularly called 'darshini', these are quick efficient places, where you may need to stand around a table and gobble down your food..The menus are written on a black board or in more fancy ones, displayed with colourful pictures alongside...
This reminds me of a place I had gone to with a friend, who was not too familiar with the local language and cuisine...On the menu, they had a line saying 'hot baths available' and she couldn't understand how a person could have a hot bath here !
It was really hilarious because the 'bath' here was actually a misspelt 'bhath', which means rice and 'hot baths' meant you would get hot tamarind rice, lemon rice, coconut rice, etc...

With so many little restaurants all over the place, I was pleasantly surprised to see 'South Indies', a very upmarket, fancy place open in Bangalore, serving vegetarian South Indian food...The first time I have ever eaten 'podi idlis' was at this place and they were really delicious...Simple to make with leftover idlis, and really tasty, its a standard snack at home now...

I tend to get bored having the same type of breakfast everyday, so when I make the batter for idlis, its idlis on day 1, podi idlis with the remaining idlis, as an afternoon snack, appe/paniyarams on day 2, dosas on day 3 and if there is any batter remaining, it becomes rava dosa on day 4 !
Here's a look at the appe getting done on the pan...

I make my molaga podi from Usha's recipe. It turns out so good, that my MTR chutney podi has been neglected completely now

The idlis from Madhuram's recipe on Beyond Curries

Podi Idli

What you need -

4 idlis (these should ideally be leftover idlis, not hot ones)
2 tbsp molaga podi
1 tsp mustard seeds
a few curry leaves
2 tsp til / gingelly oil

What you do with it -

Cut the idlis into wedges or bite sized pieces
Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and curry leaves
Once the mustard splutters, add half the podi
Add the idli pieces and stir
Add the remaining podi and another tsp of oil
Fry on low heat till it gets a nice brown colour
Serve hot

Appe

2 cups idli batter
1 onion
handful of coriander leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients
Heat the appe kadai / paniyaram chaati / Aebleskiver pan on a low flame
Put in a dot of oil in each cavity and swirl the pan around so the oil coats the entire cavity
Spoon in the batter into the cavity, upto 3/4th level of the cavity
Cover the pan and keep on low heat
After about 3 mins, turn each appe over and keep on heat for 1 more min

Serve with chutney, sambar, molaga podi

Dudhi Muthias

2009-12-05T17:23:00.005+05:30

I've tried and loved the methi muthias - whats not to love about deep-fried food anyways !
Then I had these dudhi muthias, they are healthier and something you can make more often if you are not too keen on deep frying...Its steamed, got dudhi (bottle gourd), which is extremely healthy. It is highly alkaline and helps in balancing the acidity level in the body. It contains over 95% water, rich in iron, vitamins B and C.
Agreed, its not the tastiest vegetable on its own, but in this form, its really really tasty. I realised that bottle gourd is used a lot in Gujarati cuisine and in very different, tasty snacks..Handvo is another dish that uses dudhi and its so tasty !

Its a regular snack here in Gujarati homes and I had mine with some coriander-mint chutney. My friend here told me that she generally adds leftover rice and vegetables like carrot, cabbage, methi, etc
I used some leftover rice in mine..they turned out nice and soft and really tasty
Goes great with a cup of hot tea

What you need -

1 bottle gourd grated (about 2 cups)
3/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup chickpea flour / besan
3 tbsp semolina / rava
1.5 tsp ginger-chilli paste
2 tsp of dhania-jeera powder (cumin & coriander powder)
1/2 - 3/4 cup cooked rice (optional)
1/2 cup curds
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
a pinch of turmeric
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 chopped coriander
2 tbsp dessicated coconut

What you do with it -

Grate the bottle gourd and keep aside
Mix the wheat flour, besan, ginger-chilli paste, dhania-jeera powder, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, cooked rice and baking soda into the bottle gourd
(If you are not using the cooked rice, use may need more flour to bind it)
Add as much rava as required to make it a soft dough
If it gets too mushy, add more rava and besan
If its too dry, add upto 1/2 cup curds
Smear some oil on your palms and roll out the dough cylindrically, about 1" thick, the length would depend on what the steamer can accomodate - the ones I made were about 5" long
Steam this for about 20 mins. I used my idli maker to steam it. You could also use a cooker, without the pressure weight
Once its done and completely cooled, cut into pieces
Heat about 2 tsp oil in a pan and add sesame seeds, mustard seeds and red chilli powder
Add the steamed muthias and fry on low heat till they turn slightly brown
Garnish with dessicated coconut and chopped coriander leaves
Enjoy with a cup of hot masala chai

Quintessential Punjabi fare - Makki di roti, Sarson da saag

2009-12-01T22:45:00.007+05:30

For me, it doesnt get more Punjabi than this...Move over aloo gobi and paneer makhani, here's the real signature dish of Punjab - Makki di roti, sarson da saag !

For some reason, this reminds me of Kapil Dev, the cricketer...I think in one of those old Palmolive ads, he mentions something about this and that perhaps was the first time I had heard of it..
I've heard so much about it since then and sometimes, you get a bit disappointed when you hear so much about a dish and then when you taste it, its like 'oh, this is it'...
I remember having it once, ages ago at a restaurant, but didnt think too much of it then..Maybe they got it wrong or my taste buds just weren't as developed...

Sarson / Mustard leaves are available only during winter, so this is a winter special dish. I have never seen it in the Bangalore markets, or perhaps never bothered checking, because it wasnt in my usual list of vegetable shopping...
This time I saw it in the markets in Ahmedabad and then thought I must give it a try..Sanjeev Kapoor to the rescue again - found his recipe for the roti and the saag in the set of books I told you about in my earlier post
I also got the makai/cornmeal from the local 'chakki' - the place where they grind all the flours for you

This was one delicious combination. The creamy saag was finger-licking good and makai rotis were just perfect with it.
The rotis were a first time for me and I was never too great with making rotis this way, where you need to flatten them with your palm, no rolling it out here...
I also got this 'tava', from the local potters. Its used to make bhakris, but I thought it really added a nice earthy smell and taste of the rotis...

It turned out to be such a good meal - I am definately making this again, very soon !

From Sanjeev Kapoor's books -

Makki di roti

What you need -

1.5 cups Makai ka atta / Cornmeal
1/4 cup wheat flour (optional)
1 tsp salt
oil and butter

What you do with it -

Mix cornmeal, wheat flour and salt Add lukewarm water and make a medium soft dough, it shouldn't be too sticky or too hard
Divide the dough into 10 equal proportions
Start making the rotis as soon as the dough is ready. If you wait too long, the dough harden up and the rotis tend to crack
Moisten your palm with some water and on a wet polythene sheet (I used a milk cover), flatten each into a disc, using only your palm
The size of each disc should be about 4-5 inches in diameter, not too thin
Heat the tava and add a little oil and then transfer the roti to the tava, taking care not to break it
Cook on low heat for 1 min and flip over and cook for another minute or so
Serve with a dollop of butter and hot sarson ka saag

Sarson da saag

What you need -

2 bunches fresh sarson ka saag / mustard leaves
1/2 bunch spinach leaves
1/4 bunch bathua leaves (I didnt find these, so left it out)
2 onions
big piece of ginger
6 cloves garlic
4 green chillies
2 tbsp cornmeal / makai ka atta
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 tbp butter
salt to taste

What you do with it -

Clean, wash, drain and roughly chop the sarson, spinach and bathua leaves
You need to clean the stalks of the sarson really well, or it tends to get a little stringy
Peel wash and chop onions, ginger and garlic. Chop green chillies
Blend the cornmeal in half a cup of water
Heat oil in a pan and add onions. Saute for 2-3 mins
Add ginger, garlic, green chillies and stir fry for a bit Add red chilli powder, sarson, spinach and bathua leaves. Stir in half a cup of water and cook on medium heat for 10 mins, stirring occasionally
Mix in the blended cornmeal and cook for 5 more mins. I though this really added to the texture and taste of the saag
Cool this and grind to a coarse paste
Reheat, adding butter and salt

Masaledaar Chholay (Chickpeas in a spicy masala)

2009-11-26T09:14:00.001+05:30

Last evening, after I was done with my work, I sat down with my favourite time-pass -reading recipe books !! There is this set of 8 little books by Sanjeev Kapoor featuring salads and soups, maincourses - vegetarian and non-vegetarian, accompaniments and desserts. Total value-for-money pack, nice, simple do-able recipes...

I wanted to make something with chickpeas and was bored of the usual onion-tomato-chana masala. I had once tried pindi chholay from these books and it turned out awesome.
This time I tried the masaledaar choley which had a bit more masala compared to dry pindi choley. Also tried out the lachcha parathas from Tarla Dalal's site. Turned out to be a real hearty meal.
Topped it up with a glass of sweet lassi to complete the 'Punjab' experience !

Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor's book

What you need -

1 1/2 cups Chickpeas / kabuli chana
2 tsp tea leaves
3 onions
6 cloves garlic
1 inch piece ginger
2 green chillies
3 tomatoes
handful of fresh coriander leaves
2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander powder / dhania
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp coarsely ground anardana / pomegranate seeds
salt and oil

What you do with it -

Tie the tea leaves in a muslin cloth like a little potli / bundle
Soak the chana for 6-8 hours. Drain and cook in 3 cups water with salt and the potli of tea leaves
The tea leaves give the chana a nice dark colour (Mine didnt turn out too dark. I guess the tea leaves were not strong enough or the water was a bit too much)
Peel, wash and chop onions. Peel, wash ginger garlic and grind together with the green chillies to a smoooth paste.
Chop tomatoes and coriander leaves
Dry roast cumin seeds and grind to a powder
Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped onions and saute till brown. Add ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and saute for 2 more mins
Add coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder and anardana powder and saute well
Add drained chana and mix well Add tomatoes and half a cup of the water that the chana cooked in
Bring to a slow boil and garnish with coriander leaves

Sabudana Khichdi

2009-11-22T18:34:00.001+05:30

There are a few things that I really like, but have completely given up on making them. 'Shavige bhath'(Vermicelli upma) and Sabudana Khichdi being among them...
It was always important to get the right brand from the right store and then soak it the right away for the exact amount of time...Somehow, these detailed procedures never work for me..My vermicelli upmas have almost always been a flop except for the times when I bought it from this particular shop near my mom's place - that was the only time it turned out right...

Vermicelli upma I can live without, but I really enjoy my sabudana khichdi and have tried it so many times, but got it right only this time, thanks to a great tip from my friend here, who had made some awesome sabudana khichdi...It was not the soaking, but the step after that which was more important apparently, and that one step I had never tried...

Sabudana khichdi is a popular 'upvaas' snack for Maharashtrians - their upvaas food / food during fasting for religious reasons is so totally yummy..
There is this simple, no-frills place called 'Prakash cafe' close to my cousin's place in Mumbai and their sabudana khichdi, batata vadas and sabudana vadas are to die for !

What you need -

1 cup sabudana / sago pearls
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1 boiled potato
2 green chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp salt
juice of half a lemon
coriander leaves / dessicated coconut to garnish

What you do with it -

Soak the sabudana in as much water as required to level the sabudana
Keep this for about 30 mins
Then drain the water out and spread the sabudana on any absorbant paper for about 15-20 mins, till all the water is completely drained out
They glisten like little pearls once this is done
Chop the boiled potato and coarsely crush the peanuts
Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and add cumin and mustard seeds
When they splutter, add the turmeric powder, green chillies and cut potato
Fry till the potato is coated well and browned a bit
Add the sabudana and salt and cover and cook on a low flame for about 4-5 mins
Add the crushed peanuts and stir for minute more
Turn off the flame and add the lemon juice
You can garnish with coriander and grated coconut

Green papaya salad (Thai)

2009-11-06T08:16:00.000+05:30

This is my second year in Ahmedabad and like it always happens, though I hate admitting it, we have settled in better - got used to the weather to some extent, though I cant stop complaining about it after living in my dear ol' Bangalore for almost all my life this far...
What has made me feel most 'settled in' here is that I know few more people here now and that I've had visitors almost every month since July...parents, in-laws, cousins, and last weekend, my dear friend from Bangalore was here...

Shopping, eating, chatting up, it was such fun, just like the good old days from college, though we now also discussed hair colours to hide the greys !!

We decided on a Thai menu for lunch - green papaya salad, green curry and pineapple basil rice...
Raw papaya was something we had to go looking for in Bangalore, but here its used pretty frequently in cooking, and I was so excited the first time I saw one in the market

The salad has a lovely combination of heat from the chillies, garlic, sugar and the tangy taste from the lemon...the raw papaya and the peanuts add the crunch factor

Adapted from Nita Mehta's Thai Vegetarian Cooking

What you need -

1 medium sized raw papaya
1 tomato
1/2 cup roasted peanuts

Dressing -

1 tsp soya sauce
3 tbsp lemon juice
4 tsp sugar syrup (I used 3 tbsp of sugar, didnt have time to make the syrup)
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1/2 tsp salt
3 green chillies
1 clove garlic

What you do with it -

Crush together the green chillies and garlic to a rough paste Mix this with all the other ingredients of the dressing
Peel and grate the papaya into thick long shreds
(In the book, she says you can cut into juliennes, I tried that once and its really painful - grating is an easier option)
Cut the tomato into four, deseed and cut into small squares
Add the grated papaya and tomato to the dressing and mix well
Cover with a cling film and chill for at least an hour so the flavours penetrate
Mix in half the roated peanuts
Lightly crush the remaining peanuts and top the salad with it

Kasuri Methi Aloo Gobi

2009-11-02T11:50:00.001+05:30

After an action packed holiday in Bangalore-Coorg-Chennai-Pondicherry, all in 10 days, we were back home and wanted some simple food. As usual, we had overeaten at every single meal and just wanted the basic roti-sabji dinner.
This aloo-gobi is simple and tasty and gets done in about 20 mins. With hot phulkas and a cool cucumber raita, it was a fast and easy dinner.

I also managed to unpack the bags and set up my shiny new 'Preethi' mixer from Chennai, which many friends had suggested. This apparently works really well with the idli-dosa batter grinding. Haven't started using that option as yet, but will do, very soon...

This aloo gobi I make, uses a lot of kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves), which is one of my favourite herbs...It has a slight bitter taste and a strong smell especially when fried in oil, but does a lot to the taste of what you add it to.

What you need -

2 tsp kasuri methi
3 medium sized potatoes
2 cups cauliflower florets
1 tomato
1.5 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1.5 tsp amchur powder
1/2 tsp chaat masala
2 cloves garlic chopped
small piece of ginger sliced
1 tsp salt

What you do with it -

Peel the potatoes and cut into bite-sized pieces
Rinse the potatoes and cauliflower in some water with turmeric powder
In a deep bottom pan, add 2 tsp of oil and the ginger, garlic, kasuri methi, turmeric powder, chilli powder and let it sizzle
Add the potatoes and cauliflower and then add the coriander powder, cumin powder and salt and mix well so that the powders coat the vegetables well
Add 1/4 cup of water, cover and cook for 5-7 mins
Add the chopped tomato and stir once
Cook for another 2-3 mins or till done
Sprinkle amchur powder and chaat masala
Serve hot with rotis

Eggless Oat Banana Walnut Muffins

2009-10-13T10:00:00.007+05:30

I've made muffins a number of times since this first attempt of mine...Its simple, quick, tasty and a big hit with kids. I've tried various combination based on what I had on hand - with eggs, eggless, with fruits, chocolate, oats, wheat and thankfully, so far, its always turned out quite successful !

These banana muffins turned out really awesome and I managed to take a picture before it was all devoured...

The milk we get here, from Amul, is really rich and I collect all the cream and make butter at home..I simply love the white butter with parathas and dosas and everytime I make butter, I make muffins ! This one is with oats and bananas. Turned out soft and yum !

I pretty much followed the recipes from Mytheyee's blog Paajaka, but substituted AP flour with oat flour, added some ground cinnamon and increased the quantity a wee bit
This made about 15 muffins

Here's the recipe...

What you need -

5 ripe bananas
2 cups oat flour (I used quakers oats and put it thru the blender)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 - 3/4 cup powdered sugar (depending on how sweet the bananas are)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup walnuts

What you do with it -

Keep the butter out for at least 15 mins before you use it
Chop the walnuts into little pieces
Line a muffin pan with the cups
Mash the bananas. I used a potato masher and the bananas were ripe, so they turned into a nice puree
Add the butter and sugar to the bananas
Pre heat the oven to 200 C
In a bowl, add the oats flour, baking powder and baking soda
Add the cinnamon powder and mix with a spoon or rubber spatula
Add this four to the banana and stir in well using the spatula
Stir in half the walnuts
Top the muffins with the remaining walnuts
Bake for 20-25 mins

The muffins turn out real soft and was soft even after I kept it out for 3 days
Reheat in the oven if needed

Really Simple Moong Dal with Ridge gourd

2009-10-08T22:47:00.004+05:30

During my pregnancy, all I wanted to eat was bland simple food - it was just idlis and pongal / khichdi, every alternate day. Didnt seem to want to even look at anything spicy. Onion, ginger, garlic and masalas, without which I wouldn't begin cooking on most days, were banished from the kitchen. I seemed to get nauseated with just the smell of it.

After months of this idli - khichdi, I was finally tired of it and then my mom made this really simple, but very comforting and total feel-good dal. I seemed to relish the little heat from the chillies and it became a favourite for the next few months.
My little one seems to love this dal too and its made very often now...Seems like the best way to get ridge gourd into our diet !

What you need -

1 long ridge gourd (2 cups of ridge gourd pieces)
1 cup yellow split moong dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
5-6 curry leaves
2 green chillies
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
pinch of asafoetida / hing
1 tsp salt
2.5 - 3 cups water
1 tsp oil

What you do with it -

Scrape the skip off the ridge gourd. You can leave a little on, but be sure to scrape off the ridges, they tend to get a bit sharp
Wash and cut into thick slices
Rinse moong dal in water and then cook the moong dal with the ridge gourd pieces with 2 1/2 cups waterin a pressure cooker till soft (2-3 whistles)
Cut the chillies length-wise
In a pan, add a tsp of oil
Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida and wait till the mustard seeds splutter
Add the green chilles and turmeric powder. Fry till the chillies change colour
The add the dal with the ridge gourd. Add half a cup of water if its too thick
Add salt and bring to a boil
Enjoy with hot rice and a little ghee !

Cottage Cheese and Bean Enchiladas

2009-09-29T17:26:00.011+05:30

This is my Indianized version of Enchiladas. Am not sure if it looks or tastes anything like the original, but it sure was a good meal..

I feel terrible when I read recipes that require ingredients that I cannot even pronounce, and most often, cannot source from any store here. I then become the 'Queen of substitution' and just add the next thing that I think would smell / look / taste like what is mentioned in the recipe..
I could call this a rajma-paneer kathi roll, its that Indianized :) but lets stick to Enchiladas for now...

I started with the recipe from Nita Mehta's book on Vegetarian Mexican cooking and then surfed across a few more sites and came up with this

The list of ingredients looks long, but it really isnt, go ahead and give it a try...

What you need

For the wheat tortillas (simply put - chapatis)

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
1/2 cup warm water

For the Filling

1 cup rajma / kidney beans (soaked overnight in water and cooked)
1 cup crumbled cottage cheese / paneer
1 tbsp oil
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 onion
1 capsicum chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tomatoes

For the sauce

1 tsp flour / maida
3 tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
1 cup vegetable broth / water
1/2 cup cheese

For the topping

1/2 cup grated cheese
1 tomato chopped
5-6 low spice chillies
1 capsicum (I used half yellow and half green)
1 onion chopped

(For the topping, just the cheese would do, but I went ahead and added a whole lot more)

What you do with it -

For the tortilla -

Mix together the flour, salt and oil in a bowl
Add water gradually to make a pliable dough
Cover with a moist cloth and keep aside for about half an hour
Divide the dough into 8-10 parts
Roll out each using a little flour into thin chapatis
Heat a tava. Place the rolled dough onto the tava
Cook lightly on both sides
Remove from heat and keep wrapped in a foil

For the filling -

Heat the oil, add chopped garlic and capsicum
Add onions and fry for 2-3 mins
Add the cooked beans, salt, chilli powder and oregano
Add chopped tomatoes and the crumbled paneer and stir till dry

For the sauce -

Puree the tomatoes and grate the cheese
Bring the broth / water to a slow boil
Add the flour and stir well
Slowly add the puree and cheese and then the salt, oregano and sugar
Mix well on low heat till it thickens

Assemble and Bake -

Fry the prepared tortillas for a few seconds. They should not turn brown or crisp
Spread a spoon of sauce on the tortilla
Add the filling in the centre and roll in the sides
Do this with all the tortillas
Grease a oven proof dish and place the tortillas tucked side down
(Ideally a rectangular dish, so the tortillas are placed side by side, but I had only a round one)
Pour the remaining sauce on top and then top with grated cheese, chopped tomatoes, onions and slit chillies
Bake at 180 C for 20-25 mins

Recipes from the Taj - Kombdicha Rassa (Maharashtrian style Chicken Curry)

2009-09-21T10:15:00.001+05:30

A few years back, I had to go for dinner at a place where I didnt know too many people. It was one of my dad's friend who was hosting a big dinner at his house, for a whole lot of people. I am terrible at making general polite conversation with people I dont know too well and was wondering how I would get thru the evening...

I tried to keep myself busy by flipping thru the various magazines when I saw this book there

It was a book of Chef's recipes from the Taj group of hotels, featuring non-vegetarian recipes. The foodie in me went drooling over the recipes and pictures, but I was surprised that this book was here, considering this was a strictly vegetarian household. It happens that my dad's friend was a frequent visitor to one of Taj group hotels in Sri Lanka and they had come out with this special edition and gifted it to him

He did eat chicken once in a way, but his wife never did and they never cooked / brought anything non-vegetarian at home...
The great thing was that the lady there asked me if I liked that book and I said its really interesting...She promptly asked me to take it, because if it was spotted by anyone from her family, they would not be too pleased seeing a book on non-vegetarian cooking in a strictly vegetarian household

This book has some really awesome recipes and I have tried quite a few...
I bought a packet of goda masala from my last trip to Bombay and have been trying a lot of Maharashtrian recipes with it... I love the flavour and this recipe used goda masala...Had this with steamed rice and a cucumber raita for lunch on Sunday...

This recipe is from Panchratna at Taj Residency, Nashik by chef Ratnakar Prabhu

What you need

200 gm chicken
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp green chilli paste
100 gm dry coconut / kopra
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 red chillies
1/2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp oil
1 small onion
pinch of turmeric powder
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tbsp yoghurt
whole garam masala - 2 cardamoms, 1 piece cinnamon, 3 cloves and a bay leaf
1 tsp goda masala
1 tsp coriander leaves
salt
1.5 cups water

What you do with it -

Cut the chicken into pieces and wash well
Chop onion into small pieces
Marinate chicken pieces with half of the ginger-garlic and green-chilli paste
Keep aside for at least 30 mins
Heat oil and add the whole garam masala (not powdered), remaining ginger-garlic and green chilli paste and onions
Fry till onions are brown

Add marinated chicken pieces, salt, chilli powder, turmeric, goda masala
Stir till the pieces are coated with the powders
Add the water and saute till its cooked

Grate the dry coconut. Roast coconut, coriander seeds, red chilli and sesame seeds and grind to a paste with as little water as needed

When the chicken is cooked, add yoghurt, ground masala and sprinkle some goda masala
Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve with steamed rice

Tambde Duddhya Doddak (Red Pumpkin Dosa)

2009-09-16T08:39:00.015+05:30

Breakfasts were always important at my mom's place, but somehow after I got married, it took a back seat. Early working hours, managing all alone, packing lunch, all this seemed to take a toll on my breakfasts.
Bread was what I could manage, if at all. I was never a cereal person. I'd rather skip breakfasts that have cereals ! After about 2 years of completely messing up with my system - No breakfasts, just mugs of coffee at work and eating at wrong hours and I was suffering from terrible acidity. After that I got more serious about breakfasts, and now over the years, getting older and wiser(!) I realised how important breakfasts are...
So please guys, if you aren't eating breakfasts, time for you to seriously consider starting on them

Doddak (Thick dosa) was made very often for breakfast at Ma's place. I had almost forgotten about it till I saw this post for taushe doddak on Vani's blog. I made it every week after that. I then remembered Ma making this red pumpkin doddak. It had a sweetish taste and was one of the few sweet things I really enjoyed.

This one was what my son had with some jaggery syrup smeared on top..he can eat anything with jaggery syrup !

And this is my spiced up version...

What you need -

2 cups grated red pumpkin
1 cup grated coconut
2 tsp grated jaggery
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 cup semolina / rava /sooji
3/4 - 1 cup water
oil

What you do with it -

Mix all the ingredients, except semolina, water and oil
Keep aside for about 10 mins. The salt added to this will make it a little watery
Add semolina to this and add water just enough to make a thick batter. It should way thicker than what we make for a regular dosa batter
You may not need to use all the water - it needs to be a really thick batter
Heat the tava and smear a little oil on it
This batter cant be poured out, so spoon the batter onto the tava, maybe 2-3 spoon fuls
Spread as much as you can and then cover and allow to cook for 2-3 mins on medium heat
Flip over and cook for another minute or so
Serve hot with jaggery syrup / honey / butter

If you are like me and dont like the sweetish taste too much, add a few cumin seeds, chopped green chillies and chooped coriander. The sweet / spicy taste, I think, is way better !

Kela Sukke (Raw banana in a coconut masala)

2009-09-14T16:48:00.011+05:30

I was never too fussy with my veggies even as a child. I liked most of what I ate and it was a rule at home, that we couldn't waste anything. We had to finish what we were served on our plates.
A friend once noticed that my brother and I had always managed to finish what we had on our plates (or leaves) when we once sat together at a traditional Kannada wedding lunch ('madhuve oota'). I am hoping its the good childhood habit that surfaced more than the greed !!

Raw bananas were not made that often at my mom's place, but TH's family seemed to use it and like it a lot. Pakodas, dry curries, kuzhambu, lots of different things are made from raw bananas at their place. I have started using it quite a bit too now and this is one of my favourites...
Sukke in konkani means 'dry', here its more like a thick gravy.
This goes best with some hot rice and dal

Recipe adapted from Rasachandrika, an excellent book on Saraswat cooking

What you need -

3 medium sized raw bananas
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
4-6 red chillies
a handful of chana dal / bengal gram
1 small ball of tamarind
1.5 tsp salt
1 tbsp grated jaggery
1.5 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp urad dal / black gram dal
1/4 tsp fenugreek / methi seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
a few curry leaves

What you do with it -

Soak the chana dal in water for 4-5 hours
Scrape the skin off the bananas and cut it into broad and long pieces
Keep the pieces dipped in water to prevent them from darkening
Cook the soaked chana dal in a vessel with enough water to cover the dal
Once its cooked, add the banana pieces, salt and jaggery
Allow the banana pieces to cook well
Fry the coriander seeds, urad dal and methi seeds in a tsp of oil
Grind the grated coconut, turmeric powder, chillies and tamarind to a coarse paste
Add the fried ingredients and grind to a paste
Add the masala to the cooked bananas and bring to a boil on a low flame
Heat 1/2 tsp oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds and curry leaves and pour over the banana curry

Thai style Noodles

2009-09-04T16:59:00.011+05:30

On one of the quieter tree-lined streets in Bangalore, there was this really beautiful restaurant called 'Spiga'. It was a really pretty house and the informal atmosphere made the whole experience so much nicer.
They had an interesting menu, with a few options from various cuisines
I am a big fan of Thai food and invariably ordered that when I went there and it was simply perfect every single time

The street is now busier and is more like a high-fashion street with all Indian and global designers having a showroom there and Spiga has closed down
The good news is that they have opened their restaurant in another area in bangalore, the bad news is that I dont live there anymore *sob*

In memory of all the lip-smacking food i have had at Spiga, I made this Thai style noodles for dinner last night.
I found brocolli and coloured peppers here and I knew I had to make this. I made a little red curry paste, added peanuts, got the veggies together and made a little red curry out of it. Added a bit of soy sauce, sugar, chillies and noodles and it tasted real good, almost as good as the one from Spiga...

What you need -

1/2 cup peanuts
2 tsps soy sauce
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup brocolli florets
2 coloured capsicums
1 onion
1/2 cup chopped spring onions
chilli flakes
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

(You can add tofu or mushrooms to this)

For the paste -

4 red chillies
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 inch piece ginger
1/2 tsp lemon rind
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 onion

What you do with it -

Roast the peanuts and crush them into small pieces
Chop the peppers lengthwise. Wash and keep aside
Chop the onion into large pieces lengthwise

Cook the noodles as per the instructions
I dropped it in how water with a little salt, for about 5 mins
Drain water. Add a tsp of oil and spread it in a large plate to avoid it getting all sticky

Soak the chillies in warm water for about 10 mins
Put thru a blender all the other ingredients under 'For the paste'
Add half the roasted peanuts and blend one more time

In a large deep pan, add the paste and fry, adding a little oil
Add sugar and salt
Add the onions, capsicums and brocolli
Add the soy sauce and stir on high heat
Lower the heat and add the coconut milk
Cover and allow to cook for 6-7 mins

To serve, place the noodles in a plate and spoon the curry over it
Garnish with roasted peanuts and spring onions

Goan Egg Curry

2009-08-30T13:05:00.002+05:30

Most families from the Konkani speaking community have a 'family deity' temple in Goa. Goa, best known for its beaches, food and as a great holiday destination also houses a whole lot of temples and churches.
I remember my friends from school who would be so awed that Goa is my temple town !! Our 'kuladevi' (family deity) is Shantadurga and there is this really beautiful temple in Goa that we have often visited when we were kids.

Rice, coconut and fish is the staple food in most homes in Goa. The cooking styles of the Hindu and Catholic community in Goa varies slightly, in that, the Catholic style of cooking generally uses more vinegar. There is a lot of Potuguese influence in the this cuisine.
The Hindus do not eat fish/meat on Mondays ('Shivraak', the day they pray to Lord Shiva) and do not eat beef for religious reasons.
There are a lot of fresh spices used in this cuisine and along with the coconut, it adds a lot of flavour to any dish.

This recipe was written down in a big hurry, from a recipe book at my uncle's place. He is a great cook and the lunch that day was all Goan cuisine, made from this book. This egg curry was brilliant and I have made it many times after that.
Cant remember the name of the book or author - will definately update it once I check with them.

What you need -

6 eggs
1 cup grated coconut
4 red chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
5 cloves garlic
1/4" piece of ginger
1 tsp turmeric
1 onion
1 tomato
2 tsp tamarind extract / extract from a few rinds of kokum soaked in water
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

What you do with it -

Hard boil the eggs and cut in half
Grind coconut, chillies, cumin, mustard, garlic and ginger to a paste
Mix in with tumeric and tamarind extract / kokum water
Slice the onion and chop the tomato
Fry onions in a kadai till it turns brown and add the ground masala, salt and chopped tomato
Fry for 2 more mins and add a cup of water and bring to a boil
Cook for 5 mins
Place the eggs over the masala
Cover the pan and cook for 4-5 mins
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves

'Toast' to Friendship

2009-08-26T22:01:00.008+05:30

I cant remember when I last hand-wrote a letter to anyone or sent a card for someone's bday. Its emails, e-cards and even websites/mobiles/e-calenders that send you reminders about your friends' birthdays and anniversaries.
I hate myself for using this 'technology' like a crutch to remember a few dates, but I guess thats how life has become now, though I am glad I belong to a generation where hand-written notes were valued so much...

On one of my birthdays a few years back, I received this small packet by courier. It had about 20 sheets of hand written recipes, neatly indexed and tied up with a little red satin ribbon.
I think that was one among the most thoughtful and touching gifts I have received in a long time. Sometimes, a really 'little something' can make you feel so good...

Miri, who's been a very dear friend for a long time now (way before I knew what food blogging was !!) had sent me this as a birthday gift.
I had visited her a while before that and seen that she has this book with a whole load of recipes and I told her I must get down to noting some - someday.
The sweetheart that she is, sat and wrote down about 40 recipes and sent it for my birthday ! Can't tell you how touched I was...
Thank you Miri, you're the best !!

This is one of those recipes and the one I make most often. I dont like my bread sweet, so that version happens for the husband and son and I love this one
Dont know how 'french' this is, but this is what Miri called it...

What you need -

1/2 onion
1/2 tomato
4 green chillies
1/2 cup coriander leaves
2 eggs
1/3 cup milk
6 bread slices
salt to taste

What you do with it -

Grind onion, tomato, chillies, coriander leaves, and salt to a paste
Beat the eggs, add the masala paste and milk
Heat a tava, add a little butter
Dip the bread slices one at a time in the egg mixture and fry on the tava till both sides are done

Handvo (Baked version)

2009-08-18T14:45:00.002+05:30

One thing you can never run short on in Ahmedabad is FOOD - fancy restaurants to roadside carts with some amazing food dished out all thru the day. My favourite is the awesome Gujarati thali, and there are restaurants at every corner serving these thalis. Its convenient, you dont need to order, just sit and a stream of people queue up to serve you in the this really big round thali / plate(my little one can easily sit in it), with a minimum of 7 bowls placed neatly in it.
There is this order in which people come to serve you and each item goes into the designated bowl.
'Farsaan' is a common word for a snack, which could be deep fried like kachori, samosa or somthing like khamman dhokla, sandwich dhokla, and is a integral part of every thali.

Handvo is a snack which you dont get so easily in these restaurants or the 'Ganthiya' stores. Its more of a regular home made healthy snack.
My friend here had made handvo once, it looked more like a well-done uttapam and was made in a deep pan /kadai
My aunt (whose husband is Gujarati) was visiting and she told me she baked the handvo, it takes lesser oil and tastes much better !

Now that sounded really nice..
I found this 'handva nu loth' / handvo flour at the flour mill close by, and tried the handvo. It turned out so good and was a real healthy snack with a whole lot of vegetables. I've bought a lot more of the flour now and I'm sure this will be made more often at home...The flour is a mixture of various dals made into a coarse powder

What you need -

3 cups handvo flour
(you can blend 1 cup rice, 1/4 cup moong dal, 1/4 cup ural dal, 1/4 cup chana dal and 1/4 cup tur dal into a coarse powder if you cant find any ready handvo flour)

2 cups curd / enough to soak the handvo flour
1 medium sized bottle gourd
2 carrots grated
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1 cup corn kernels
1 tsp ginger-green chilli paste
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
a generous pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp oil

Seasoning

2 tsps oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp chilli powder

What you do with it -

Soak the handvo flour in curd and mix well. Allow to ferment overnight

Mix the ginger-green chilli paste and turmeric in the fermented batter and mix well
Add the chopped coriander leaves and salt to the batter and keep aside

Peel and grate the bottle gourd and carrot. Squeeze the water from the gourd
Add the gourd, grated carrot and corn kernels to the batter
Heat a tsp of oil and add 1/2 tsp chilli powder in it. when it sizzles, pour it into the batter and mix well

Prepare the seasoning with the mustard seeds, sesame seeds and chilli powder

Preheat the oven to 190 C

Grease a pan with oil or butter and pour the batter into it
Add the baking powder and baking soda in 1/2 tsp oil. Mix and pour into the batter
Mix well, add the seasoning and immediately transfer it to the oven

Bake for about 40 mins at 190 C
Cut into squares or triangles and serve with coriander-mint chutney

Masala Keli (Spiced Bananas)

2009-08-03T11:52:00.013+05:30

When I was out grocery shopping last week, I found this 'Kerala Store' that stocked a lot of white pumpkins(the veggie vendors here never have this), small red pumpkins and the famous 'nendra pazham'/kerala bananas. I had never seen these bananas or even the elaichi bananas that you get in Bangalore, in a real long time. I was so thrilled to see all this, that I bought a cute little red pumpkin and 4 of the nendra pazhams.

I made the mathanga erissery from Nags' blog with the red pumpkin and Ma made this masala keli with the nendra pazhams. The masala keli / spiced bananas is traditionally made with a chutney stuffed in the bananas, but this is Ma's easy version, and I totally love it

You could try making this with any variety of bananas I guess, but the nendra bananas have a very different flavour and it suits this the best

What you need -

4 nendra pazhams / ripe bananas
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
2 red chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
3 tbsp grated jaggery
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ghee

What you do with it -

Peel the bananas and make thick slices
In a bowl, add the bananas, coconut, jaggery, coriander leaves and salt
Toss and keep aside for about 10 mins
For the seasoning, heat the ghee add mustard seeds and the broken red chillies
Add the seasoning to the bananas

If you try this with any other variety of bananas, do let me know how it turns out

Will try the authentic version of stuffing the bananas with the chutney and post it soon

Peach Cobbler

2009-07-30T14:50:00.004+05:30

Last week was wonderful..Cousins and ma were visiting and the weather was really nice..After one year of living here and cribbing endlessly about how hot it was, it finally cooled off and its been raining almost everyday for the last two weeks...
The nicest thing about this part of Ahmedabad is the number of peacocks we have walking around here. They stroll around even in the apartment complex. The rains made these birds wake up real early...you could hear them (and they dont sound so nice, they cry like little kittens, just much louder) from about 4 in the morning...A few weeks back, one of them had flown up to my balcony (on the 3rd floor) and till then I never knew peacocks fly !!
After telling you so much about the peacocks, I am really tempted to post one picture of them taken at a museum garden..Here are the handsome fellas...

Like it always happens when family is visiting, we did a lot of shopping, eating, chatting, even played scrabble till really late at night ! Made a whole lot of stuff from other blogs and mine - Red Chillies' baked nippattu, Miri's carrot coconut muffins, Sia's rhengan reveya, Ginger potatoes, Pesto Pasta, Corn Chowder, Spaghetti Bolognese with soy flakes(cousin's recipe) and the simple dal chawal, roti sabji on some days !

One evening, we had a chaat party - aloo tikki with Ranjani's khattey meethey choley, paani puri and dahi batata puri.
I had bought some peaches but wasn't sure what to make with them..My cousin promptly suggested a peach cobbler - I had never made or even tasted one before, so looked up and found this recipe on Food Network
It was really simple and tasted great.
I followed the recipe except for these few changes...
I didnt have brown sugar so used regular sugar mixed with some vanilla essence and cinnamon. I had two pears, so sliced them and added it up too..Also sprinkled some icing sugar on top...

A spoonful of peachy yumminess...

If you dont have peaches, I think apples and pears should work just fine

Choco-Nuttie Cookies

2009-07-20T11:53:00.002+05:30

This was my third attempt at making chocolate cookies...It always failed at step 0, because the chocolate I buy to add into this is always polished off, either by my son, when it is at a level for him to reach, or by the sugar-starved husband, who claims that his hand actually shakes because the sugar content in his body is low !!

This was one of those days when I just had to bake something. It was a wierd hour of the night, but the baking itch didnt go away. It was the day before TH's birthday, so thought I would give him his quota of chocolate...
No chocolate in the house, no shops open at the wierd hour when the baking bug bit, so I borrowed chocos from my son's quota of afternoon snack and found one small packet of almond nutties that someone had gifted my son. It was stuck behind a big jar of jam in the fridge and so survived the attack from these two men in my house...

Really simple to make, I claim its healthy because its got oats in it and the son and husband are super thrilled that I am offering them something chocolatey...
These were crisp, not chewy and I think we enjoyed this much more than the chewy ones..

What you need -

1 1/2 cups oats (powdered in a blender)
1 1/2 cups plain flour / maida
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup butter
2 tsps cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/2 cup chocos
nutties (optional, use as many as you have as a topping to the cookies)
1 egg
1 cup sugar (powdered preferably, i didnt so you can see the crystals in my cookies)
1 tsp vanilla essence

You can leave out the chocos and nutties..The chocos were to add to the crunch and the nutties, because they were around..

What you do with it -

Beat the butter and sugar in a deep bowl till its smooth
Beat the egg and add to the butter and sugar mixing it lightly till combined well
Sieve the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder
Spoon the flour into the egg mixture
Add the vanilla essence and combine with a wooden spatula / spoon
Cover this and refrigerate for about half an hour, so its easier to handle
Pre heat the oven to 180C / 350F
Cut butter paper to size and spread on a baking tray
Shape the cookie dough into balls, flatten slightly and place on the baking tray atleast 2 inches apart, they tend to spread and flatten as they bake
Crush the chocos with a spoon or your hand
Add the crushed chocos on each cookie and then top it with the nuttie
Bake for 15-20 mins. Remove the butter paper with the cookies on it and set aside to cool. Do not pull them off before they cool completely
Bake the remaining dough similarly till the dough is all used up

Paan pole (Neer Dosa)

2009-07-17T14:28:00.002+05:30

One more Mangalorean special coming your way...Ever since I saw this RCI on Udupi and Mangalorean cuisine, (hosted by Sia this month, an event started by Lakshmi), I cannot stop myself from blogging about all the Mangalorean cooking, especially the regular home food that you may not get in a restaurant.
This particular one though, is quite popular in most Mangalorean cuisine restaurants, and served with Mangalorean style chicken curries

Like I've mentioned in my earlier posts, coconuts are used a whole lot in Mangalorean cooking, here the dosa and the accompaniment has coconut in it !

This neerdosa (neer = water in Kannada) / paanpole (In Konkani...paan means leaf and polo/pole means dosa), is really thin and soft, that why the name

I remember I once hosted this Dosa brunch at my place on a Sunday, where I made masala dosa with sambaar and chutney, pesarattu with tomato chutney and these paanpole with 'choon' (pronounce the 'ch' like the 'cz' as in 'czar', its more like a 'czoon')
My granduncle was also there and he said that it reminded him of the breakfast his mother made for him when he was a child. I was so touched, this was perhaps the best compliment I had recieved. This 'choon' is a no-cook accompaniment and goes great with paanpole(recipe below)

Paanpole can be served with any chutney, but this one is my favourite. A closer look at the choon...

Paan pole

What you need -

3 cups raw rice (use regular rice, its easier to grind than the boiled / idli rice)
2/3 cup grated coconut
salt
oil

What you do with it -

Soak the rice in water for 4-5 hours
Grind the rice with the grated coconut, adding water, to a very smooth and thin paste
Add salt and mix well
The batter should be really thin
On a hot tava, apply a little oil and take a ladle of batter and spread it, starting from the side and then towards the centre
Since its really thin, you will not be able to flatten and spread it like a regular dosa, you can instead lift the tava and swirl it around, so that the batter fills up the empty spaces (Reading this sounds more complicated that it actually is !!)
Cover the tava. This is meant to be a soft dosa, not crisp
This will not turn brown, so once it starts leaving the edges, flip it over and cook for a minute. Fold into a quarter and serve hot

Choon

What you need -

1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup grated jaggery
1/4 tsp powdered cardamom

What you do with it -

Mix all the ingredients
Serve as an accompaniment with the paanpole

Spinach bread and Pesto Pasta

2009-07-15T08:46:00.002+05:30

Last week, Ahmedabad finally saw some rains...Its almost like a desert here, hot, real hot dry summers and the winters are short, but quite cold.
Monsoon is not an official season here, it cant be, because it lasts for about 2-3 days..Last year, it rained for a day, the entire day, but that was it...complete dry spell after that

The hot weather here is great for baking, only because the yeast comes up beautifully, otherwise, the entire house feels like an oven. Temperatures are around 41 C - 44 C, for at least 4 months in a year and it just doesnt seem to be the right time to bake anything

This particular day, it was sunny, but there was a lovely breeze, I decided to put my yeast to test again, made this spinach and cheese bread. By evening, the winds were really strong and in the apartment I live in, you could hear eerie sounds of the wind go thru the columns...It started pouring and went on for about 3 hours

Made this pesto pasta to go with the bread, sat out in our balcony and enjoyed the lovely weather, while muching on the bread and pasta. S was back home early and the change in weather was really welcome. I think this was the first day that I enjoyed being here.

For the Pesto Pasta

What you need -

2 medium sized tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
2 cups of pasta / spaghetti
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp red chilli flakes (optional)
2-3 tbsp milk

Pesto
1 1/2 cup packed, cleaned and chopped coriander
1/2 cup walnuts
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup cheese
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper corns

What you do with it -

Grind together all the ingredients under Pesto to a smooth paste, without adding any water. Add more olive oil if required.
Add salt to water and bring to boil. Cook pasta in it as per instructions on the packet
Chop the garlic and tomatoes
Add a little olive oil in a pan and add then the garlic
Add in the pesto and stir, adding spoonfuls of milk
Add the pasta, salt and chilli flakes
Add tomatoes and turn off the heat
Add grated cheese over the pasta if you like

(You could substitute the coriander with spinach / basil)

Spinach Bread

This one is adapted from this wonderful book 'Baking' by Martha Day, which has well-explained simple steps to baking and great for a beginner like me
Skipped the bacon and use wheat flour instead of the AP flour

Sending this to Yeastspotting, hosted by Nick of imafoodblog this week

What you need -

4 cups wheat flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 onion
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 cups chopped spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup grated cheese

What you do with it -

Put water in a bowl, sprinkle yeast and add sugar
Mix and allow to proof for 10-15 mins
Heat oil in a pan and fry the onion
Add the chopped spinach to this and stir till the spinach is cooked and dry
In a large bowl, add the flour and salt
Make a well in the centre and pour the yeast mixture
Add the onions and spinach and knead to make a soft dough, using a little more olive oil if required
Cover and keep aside for about an hour or till the dough has doubled
Grease a pan / loaf tin
Punch the dough down and knead lightly and transfer to the greased tin and allow to rise again for about 30 mins
Sprinkle the grated cheese over it
Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F
Bake the loaf for 25-30 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool

Tomato Saar

2009-07-12T22:53:00.002+05:30

Konaki cuisine uses a lot of coconuts - its the base for most side dishes, like bendhi, sukke, bhutti and for almost all the curries had with rice, like ambat, ghashi, saar, sambaren...
If its not used in the masala, then its part of the garnish at least. You will see very few dishes in Konkani cooking that do not use coconut.

Everytime there is a hint of an arguement of coconuts not being healthy, most pachchis (means mother's sister, but used for all 'aunties') are up in arms defending the poor coconut. They will give you lectures on how coconut and coconut oil is actually good for you.
Traditional Mangalorean cooking uses coconut oil for the seasoning. Specific types of Happol (papads) are fried only in coconut oil, because they taste best only that way !

This is a very simple and super tasty saar (something like a rasam, but thicker) with tomatoes and coconut. It has the spice from the green chillies, tangy tart flavour from the tomatoes and sweetness from the jaggery...
Simple to make and goes very well with rice and simple side dish like an upkari

I am thrilled that Sia is hosting the RCI event this month featuring Mangalorean and Udupi cuisine, orginally started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine

To read my other posts on Mangalorean cuisine, see Dudhya Koddel, Pathrode, Tendle Bibbe Upkari, Tendle Bhutti, Khatkhaten and Solkadi

What you need -

4 tomatoes
3-4 green chillies
1 cup dessicated coconut
a few curry leaves
1 red chilli
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp grated jaggery

What you do with it -

Blanch the tomatoes in hot water. Peel the skin off and keep aside to cool
Keep this water to use later. This is where the nutrients are
Grind the chillies, coconut and tomatoes in a blender till smooth
Add the water reserved earlier and a little more water if required, to the tomato-coconut paste
Add salt and jaggery and bring to a boil
Heat oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds, broken red chilli, curry leaves and asafoetida
Pour the seasoning over the saar and serve with hot rice

Cabbage and Methi Zunka

2009-07-09T15:20:00.000+05:30

My mom's lived in Bombay all of her pre-marital life...She has a lot of Maharashtrian friends and speaks excellent Marathi. Our language and food habits have a lot of Marathi influence though we were brought up in Bangalore.
I realised this when I visited a grand aunt in Mangalore and didnt understand quite a few of the pure Konkani words she used. At home, though we did speak Konkani, Ma would add in a lot of Marathi words and we assumed it was Konkani !

Luckily for us, Ma is really an excellent cook and has tried her hands at all cuisines, so we were exposed to food from different regions since we were really young, Maharashtrian cookign being one of the favourites.

Ma made it with either cabbage or methi leaves.
I bought this really lovely looking bunch of tender baby methi...

I started off to make a methi zunka, but cleaning this up took half a day and I was left with realy little, so added in cabbage too. It tasted awesome with dal and rice.

What you need -

1 cup methi leaves
2 cup chopped cabbage
1 onion
1/2 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3 tbsp besan / chickpea flour
a pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
half a lemon

What you do with it -

Chop the onion. Clean the methi leaves. Clean and chop the cabbage
Heat oil in a pan and mustard and cumin seeds
Add onions and fry till they turn a little pink
Add the turmeric powder, asafoetida and chilli powder
Fry a bit and add the chopped cabbage and methi
Add the sugar and tsp of salt
Cover the pan and allow it to cook
When its almost done, add the besan and stir well till done
(I love it when the besan turns brown and almost crisp-those are the brown bits you see in the pic)
Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over it

Manglorean style fish curry - Surmai Amshe Tikshe

2009-07-07T22:30:00.005+05:30

I have these phases where I give up eating chicken for a few years and then, one fine day, I am back with a vengeance...I don't really miss eating chicken at all, but fish is one thing my true Mangalorean heart(or stomach, perhaps) cannot seem to give up !

There is this really modest looking eatery in Bangalore called Fish Land and the name says it all...They dish up the most amazing fish curries, fried fish and fish biryani. There is also this chilli chicken they make there which is so spicy that you have a runny nose, watery eyes and some fumes coming out of you ears when you bite into it !
Its a clean, no-fuss, no-frills place which serves up excellent Mangalorean fish thalis, chicken thalis and a variety of fried fish...
The taste of the fish curry there is so perfect and it hasn't changed in the last 18 years !
Yes, we've been going there for that many years, and the people at the restaurant know exactly what each one of us will order.
A cousin of mine who frequented this place with us, moved back to Bombay after a few years and the the person taking the order once asked us, where the 'chilli chicken' person was...
She always ordered that there and he didnt know any other way of identifying her...

On this visit to bangalore, Ma made this lovely amshe tikshe which was as good, if not better than the FishLand fish curry...
In Konkani, 'amshe' is sour and 'tikshe' is spicy. Thats exactly how this curry tastes.

There is a variation of the amshe tikshe, where you can omit the coconut, and bake the fish in the masala. Tried this after i learnt it from my aunt, back in Bangalore. I used a different variety of chillies, so the colour is distinctly different.

To read my other posts on Mangalorean cuisine, see Dudhya Koddel, Pathrode, Tendle Bibbe Upkari, Tendle Bhutti, Khatkhaten and Solkadi

Sending this to Sia's RCI event this month , which was started by Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine

What you need -

6-7 slices of fish (preferably seer)
20-25 red chillies (byadgi chillies give the perfect colour)
1 handful of tamarind
6-7 cloves of garlic
5-6 teppal / sichuan pepper
2 tbsp grated coconut
salt to taste
a pinch of salt and turmeric powder

What you do with it -

Clean the fish and apply the salt and turmeric powder and keep aside
Fry the red chillies in a spoon of oil till they turn deep red
Grind together the tamarind, fried chillies, garlic and coconut to a paste
Add only as much water as required
Apply this on the fish and marinate for about 20 mins
Heat oil (coconut oil, if you want the true taste) an add the teppal in it
It will fluff up a bit and tends to splutter, so be careful with this
Add 1/2 cup water and salt to the fish and bring to a boil
Add the oil with the teppal in it

You can use the same recipe to make hugga, another Konkani dish with the same masala.
Omit the step where you add water and bring to a boil
In this, you bake the fish
Apply coconut oil to the baking dish, place the fish with the masala in it
Add the teppal and salt
Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 25 mins at 180 C

Plum Jam

2009-07-02T09:12:00.013+05:30

There are loads of plums in the market here and my son had never tasted any, so bought a few to see if he'd like it..Till he was about 3, he never liked anything with a citric flavour, but now oranges and lemons have finally made an entry in his diet...
Surprisingly, he loved the plums, so I went and bought a whole load more and then he decided he didnt want to eat them any more...Now I was stuck with about 25 plums and a husband who does not believe in eating any fruit, unless they are juiced and a son who just didnt want to eat plums again...
I kept popping in plums everytime I walked by the kitchen till I got sick of it.

I had never tried making jam at home - I always thought it was too complicated and messy...I didnt want these plums going waste, so finally looked up recipes for jam and I did it - made my first jam at home !!!

I kept tasting it as it was getting done and found it a bit sour. I didnt want to add any more sugar, so grated some ginger and squeezed the juice of it on the plums.
Then I added a few cloves too and it did add a lot to the flavour..

It was super simple after all and turned out just great...The husband and son had it for breakfast today !!

What you need -

20 plums
1.5 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tsp grated ginger
5 cloves

What you do with it -

Wash the plums well and wipe. Remove the stems if any
In a thick bottomed pan, add the plums, sugar and water
Keep it on a low flame. After about 10 mins, when the plums are all wilted and mushy, add the cloves and the juice of the grated ginger
Keep stirring every now and then
Check the consistency by dropping a bit on a plate. It shouldnt be runny and should look set
Remove the seeds once its almost done. The skin of the plums was soft and just melted into the flesh of the plums
Once done, allow to cool and store in jars
The jars need to be cleaned and dried completely in the sun or in a microwave

Phaggila Phodyo (Fritters)

2009-06-30T18:45:00.000+05:30

I had never seen this vegetable, may have eaten in as fritters and never knew what it really looked like, but when I did see this in the market in Bangalore, my cousin insisted I pick it up...These are called Kantola in Hindi and Phaggil in Konkani, no idea what its called as in other languages..

Easy, simple and crisp, not too oily, not too much batter, just perfect snacky fritters...

I wasnt sure I would like them with the jagged edges, but once they are done, it really didnt matter...And if you think its like bitter gourd, don't !! Its not bitter at all...

Shallow fried phaggil phodyos ready to be eaten...

What you need -

10-12 kantola / phaggil
2 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste
a pinch of asafoetida
2 heaped tbsp rava / semolina

What you do with it -

Wash the kantolas and slice
Mix the salt, chilli powder and asafoetida and apply to the slices
Keep aside till the water from the pieces absorbs the masala
Dip the pieces in the rava and then shallow fry

Surna Koot (Konkani style Yam pickle)

2009-06-17T08:45:00.002+05:30

When I was visiting my mom in Bangalore, my aunt was visiting too.
She is a 'reuse' specialist and I dont mean that in a bad way at all...She makes quilts from left over bits of cloth, laddoos from whats remaining after she makes ghee at home, knits mobile holders from little strands of whats was used for some other dress...She is truly amazing in her art of reuse. Nothing, as in absolutely nothing goes waste in her hands...
This post is dedicated to my dear aunt...

From my list of requests, my aunt made this super duper surna koot. It spicy, tangy and goes with anything...this is the real finger licking good stuff !!
She also made an absolutely heavenly baked fish dish called 'hugga'. It was too good to resist and there was no time to photograph or write the recipe down.
It was just licked clean off the plates...She is visiting soon, so hopefully, I will get the recipe then.
She also made some canttola fritters, which will appear soon on this blog...

From her Konkani instructions, I had to write down this recipe and at times, it got so difficult to translate it, because we use some really cool words like 'khalkhali', 'charchari' which actually describes the sound of the yam when it is crisp enough - now, how was i supposed to get that across in English ?
This is what the fried yam looks like..You have to make do with the lack of 'sounds' here...

What you need -

For the masala-
16 red chillies
2 tsps mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
tamarind the size of a lemon
1 tsp oil
salt to taste

1/2 kg yam

What you do with it -

For the masala-
Heat oil in a kadai and add asafoetida till it simmers
Add red chillies, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and fry till the mustard seeds splutter
Grind the tamarind and red chillies first and then add the rest to it and grind to a fine paste. Add salt
This is the base masala and can be stored in the 'fridge.

Peel the yam and cut into really small pieces
Put these pieces in a colander and run it under water. Do not touch the yam with water - it can cause a real itch on your hands
Fry the yam pieces in oil - you can deep fry the pieces or fry with lesser oil on a small flame, till it gets really crisp

Mix the required amount of masala with the fried yam. This masala would be a little too much for 1/2 kg yam, so store the masala and use with fried potato, as a variation

Paneer cutlets with a twist

2009-06-14T16:57:00.017+05:30

My uncle's retired from the army now and during his days there, I have seen the most well presented food at all the fancy dinners that people hosted.
I think each dinner outdid the other with the variety of food and the absolutely amazing presentation. My aunt is an awesome cook and has hosted many many lovely dinners.

Everything about army life fascinated me, the lovely cantonment areas in every corner of India, the lifestyle, the parties, the very polite and classy army wives in their beautiful sarees, the chivalrous men in their smart uniforms and gleaming polished shoes, of course, topped the list !!
I think I was in school when this serial called Fauji (ShahRukh Khan's first acting stint I think) was on tv and I simply adored people in the army even more after seeing that !!

We spent most of our vacations travelling to the places they were posted to, and thats how I've managed to see most of India and have some of the best memories of my childhood from all these holidays...

I could go on about this, but I better stop here..This recipe is from my aunt. She made it when I was in Delhi last week, and I loved it...

The paneer in Delhi of course is unquestionably good and in these cutlets, they were so super soft...it almost melted in your mouth...
The idea of using peas as the coating, I thought, was really novel and added so much to the taste and colour...

What you need -

3/4th measure fresh / frozen green peas
1/4 measure chana dal
1/2" piece ginger
3 cloves of garlic
2 green chillies
8-10 curry leaves
2 onions chopped fine
1/2 cup coriander leaves
200 gm paneer (the freshest you can lay your hands on)
salt to taste

What you do with it -

Thaw the peas if using the frozen ones
Soak chana dal in water for about 2 hours
Peel the ginger and garlic
Grind together the peas, chana dal, ginger, green chillies, garlic and curry leaves into a coarse paste, without adding water
Add the chopped onions, salt and chopped coriander leaves to this paste
Cut the paneer lengthwise into bite sized pieces
Coat it with the peas-chana dal paste
Shallow fry on a low flame till it turns brown

Serve with mint / coriander chutney

Avrekai Masala

2009-06-04T19:42:00.002+05:30

After my little one was born, I was at my mom's place for about 2-3 months and I really value all the help I got from my mom during that time...
Its just so overwhelming when you have a baby- you are suddenly responsible for this tiny little being who is incapable of doing anything other that the pee-poop-cry-sleep routine.
My mom was like the super woman, handling me, the baby, home and cooking. It did really get too much, so we arranged for a cook in a few days..

Mrs D made the most awesome 'bisi bele bhath' (rice, dal and lot of veggies in a spicy masala, for those who don't know - a speciality from Karnataka), avrekai masala and a super duper mysore style rasam.
It was a bit spicier than the regular food I was used to, but after months of eating bland food, I seemed to really relish it. These three recipes have been noted down in my recipe book, and made many times over at home...

Avrekai is a big favorite in Bangalore and during the winters, which is the season for avrekai, you will find it in akki rotti, uppitu, sambar, huli, rava idli...
There is this interesting thing that happens in some homes in the older areas on Bangalore - the skin of the avrekai is kept outside the house and apparently the more the number of people stamp over it, the tastier the dish gets !!

This is made best with fresh avrekai. If you cant find that, try it with fresh peas or any other bean soaked overnight and cooked. I tried this in Ahmedabad with what they called 'daano', which i conveniently decided is avrekai.

What you need -

2 cups peeled avrekai (I am guessing this is navy beans)
3 onions
3 green chillies
5 pepper corns
1 tomato
1 tsp coriander seed/ dhania powder
4 cloves of garlic
1" piece ginger
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/2 coconut grated
salt to taste

What you do with it -

Cook the avrekai in a pot of or water or the cooker(2 whistles) or in the microwave for about 7-8 mins
Cut the onions, green chillies, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, coriander leaves
Heat 2 tsps of oil in a kadai and fry the onions, green chillies, ginger, garlic and pepper corns till the onions turn translucent
Then add the remaining ingredients except tomatoes and fry for 3-4 mins
Grind this to a coarse paste
Add the avrekai to this paste, add salt and bring to a boil

Drumsticks on earth !!

2009-05-29T19:23:00.003+05:30

This name is all thanks to Ma's whacky sense of humour or creativity, whichever sounds better. There is this really nice dish she makes with drumsticks and peanuts -one of her specialities, and it was made again yesterday.

When I took pictures of it, I asked her what its called and she says 'drumsticks on earth' and when I gave her this questioning look, she said 'if you can have drums of heaven (an indian-chinese chicken starter), why not drumsticks on earth'. I gave her this real smirky shocked expression, but then she stuck to the name, so here it is - drumsticks on earth !!

She got this recipe from her mother-in-law, who got it from her neighbour.
Its got a lovely flavour of peanuts and tender drumsticks really lap up the spices and taste totally awesome.
It goes with dal, rice, or you can chew on some, when you just want to give your teeth some exercise...the drumsticks used in this were so tender, you could eat it all up, but I felt like too much of a cow to keep chewing on it endlessly, so had to give up after a point !

What you need -

6 tender drumsticks
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
1 tsp chilli powder
pinch of turmeric powder
1 tbsp powdered jaggery (optional)
salt
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
small pinch of asafoetida

What you do with it -

Cut the drumsticks into 2" pieces and peel
Boil them with one cup of water, till just cooked
Make a coarse powder of the peanuts
Prepare a seasoning with cumin, mustard and asafoetida
Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, jaggery and the drumstick pieces
Sprinkle the roasted peanut powder on it and fry till its crisp

Spicy Tangy Chillies !!

2009-05-18T14:21:00.009+05:30

The first time I'd seen these chillies were at a food stall at one of the innumerable exhibitions held in these big grounds in Bangalore.
These chillies would be hanging all around the stall too and they would make these really yummy chilli fritters (molaga bajjis).

Rainy cold weather always reminds me of these bajjis and a hot cup of tea, though I may not have really made these more than 5 times in the last 10 years, but just thinking about it makes me feel nice and warm, especially when its pouring outside !!

These chillies are really quite mild in taste, not spicy like you'd expect a chilli to be. These are also known as Hungarian peppers.

This is what Ma made. She got the recipe from a friend of hers.
You can feel the mild spice of the chillies, the sweetness of jaggery and the tangy flavour of the tamarind burst in your mouth, with every bite of this.
It is simply delicious and is great with parathas or even a simple dal and rice. Its almost become a staple at lunch these last few days.

Do give it a try if you like something spicy, sweet and tangy, all in one bite !
Sending this to Mahima's 15 Minute cooking...

What you need -

6 Green chillies / Hungarian peppers
2 tbsp grated jaggery
2 tsps fennel (saunf) seeds
1 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
1/2 cup tamarind extract
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

What you do with it -

Quarter the chillies lengthwise and deseed. Wash and keep aside
Heat oil in a deep pan
Add the fennel, cumin and fenugreek seeds
Add the chillies and fry a bit
Add the tamarind extract, jaggery, salt and water and bring to a slow boil
Once it cools, store in a jar and refrigerate

Carrot Coconut Muffins

2009-05-12T07:10:00.004+05:30

My adventures in the kitchen have become much more interesting after I discovered the food blogging world. There are a zillion options out there, waiting to be 'tried and tasted' and after blog hopping for a while, it actually gets difficult to decide on what I want to make from which blog !

I never attempted baking earlier, except for an odd cake once in a way. I just didnt think I could do that well, but over the last few months, after seeing so many of you baking so wonderfully, I gathered all my courage and now am thrilled to say I've even baked bread a few times !!

When my brother was in UK a couple of months back, I asked him to pick up a muffin tray for me and ever since I got here, I've been waiting to try out a lot of the bookmarked muffin recipes.

I wanted to make these lovely looking muffins I had seen on Miri's blog for a long time, but everytime I decided making it, there was some ingredient always missing, either the carrots or the butter or sometimes, even the flour !!

But today, I had to make it, with a few substitutions though...
It turned out really really nice - soft with these nice bites of carrots, raisins and coconut in between.

What you need -

1 cup maida
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter (unsalted)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups grated carrots
1 apple
2 really ripe bananas
1 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

What you do with it -

Mix together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon powder and baking soda
Peel and grate the apple
Run the bananas thru the blender to make a smooth paste
Beat the eggs and keep aside
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together till creamy. Add the pureed bananas and beat some more
Mix in the eggs and vanilla essence into the butter, bananas and sugar and then add the flour, grated carrots, greated apple, chopped walnuts, raisins and coconut mixing just until combined
In Miri's words "The key to spongy muffins is not to mix the ingredients too much but just till they come together"
Spoon the batter into lightly greased muffin pans or you can line the muffin pans with muffin papers and then spoon the batter into them.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 deg C (350F) for about 25 minutes till a toothpick inserted comes out clean
Rest for 10 minutes and turn out of the muffin pan and let it cool completely

Dudhya Koddel (Red Pumpkin with sichuan pepper and coconut)

2009-05-09T22:10:00.002+05:30

I must have mentioned in all the posts related to Konkani cuisine, that we really cannot complete a meal without some(actually a lot) coconut in it...

Either the side dish, or what we have with rice, or both in most cases, has to have coconut in it.
Bendhi, Humman (who-mann), Koddel, Sukke are made with a thick coconut masala, and had as a side dish.
Teppal / Sichuan pepper is a spice (pod of a fruit) very specific to Konkani cuisine, and from what I read, also used in Tibetian, Bhutanese and Chinese cuisine !
It adds a wonderful aroma to the dish, but too pungent and strong in taste to be eaten. Teppal is used in koddel and a lot of fish curries, to help fight the 'gas' that the fish creates.

The red chillies used in this are the 'byadgi' variety, which give it a lovely red colour, but not that spicy. Must take some of these chillies back to Ahmedabad - there the chillies are super spicy, but there is no colour !

This koddel is generally made with red pumpkin - there is also a puli koddel, made with ash gourd.

What you need -

1 cup peeled and cubed red pumpkin
1 cup grated coconut
6 red chillies
small ball of tamarind
3-4 teppal (sichuan peppers)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp oil

What you do with it -

Fry red chillies in a tsp of oil
Grind together the coconut, red chillies and tamarind into a smooth paste
Steam cook the pumpkin pieces, adding a little salt when its almost done
Add pumpkin pieces to the coconut masala and bring to a slow boil
In 1/2 tsp oil, fry the teppal (sichuan pepper) and add to the pumpkin

* Warning: Do not eat the teppal / sichuan peppers - they are really strong in taste

Aloo matar, aur bohot saare matar....

2009-05-06T10:23:00.013+05:30

This is from an ad that used to screen when I was young (that was ages ago...)
I think it was an ad for some refined oil - the mother asks the little girl what she wants to eat and she says "Aloo matar, aur bohot saare matar, aur garam garam puriyan..."
I loved this line and everytime Ma made aloo matar I would say this line - I used to do silly things like that !!

A few years back, we were invited for lunch at one of S's colleague's place. They are Marwaris (who did not eat onions and garlic) and there was this huge spread with puris, aloo matar (I was so tempted to say that line, but had to stop myself), kadai paneer, gatte ki sabji, shrikhand, malpuas, rotis, dal, peas pulav, cant remember the rest.

I had never tasted aloo matar made this way. Mine was always the Punjabi Aloo Matar, dry one with onions and masalas. I took down the recipe from the lady there and have made it many times after that. Here's what it looks like...

What you need -

4 potatoes
2 cup shelled fresh / frozen green peas
1 tomato
1/2 tsp asafoetida
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp kalonji
1 tsp oil
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

What you do with it -

Peel and chop the potatoes into bite size pieces
Chop the tomato into tiny pieces
Heat oil in a pressure pan (the flat version of a cooker) or a deep pan
Add the asafoetida and cumin seeds and kalonji when the oil is hot
Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt
Add potatoes and peas and stir in with the oil and masalas
If using a pressure pan, add 1 cup of water and the chopped tomato and cook for one whistle and turn off
If using a pan, add 1.5 cups of water, cover and allow it to cook till the potatoes and peas are cooked. Stir in between and add water if required
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot
Goes really well with puris / rotis / parathas

Not really a "Foot Long"

2009-05-04T11:10:00.003+05:30

Bakeries are very popular here in Bangalore, and have been around ever since I remember, but till about 15-20 years back, they weren't so many hip ones that served up croissants, fancy breads, pastries and exotic looking sandwiches.

They were more the 'Iyengar' bakery types that had fresh bread, puffs, cakes with pink and green icing (!!), buns with various fillings and the open bread sandwich which has a slice of bread, with a topping of carrot, onion, chillies and coriander -a pretty popular snack and cream rolls, which was my all time favoutire.
There is also this disc shaped pastry filled with coconut and cherries and called 'dilkhush', which translates to 'happy heart' !! Ma bought it last week for old times sake and my dil was really khush
For the ones who are not familiar with 'Iyengar bakeries', Iyengar is a Brahmin (vegetarian) community in South India and I am not sure how many bakeries were owned by Iyengars, but people felt they were in safe vegetarian hands if they bought from an Iyengar bakery and so the term is still very popular.

The nicest bakery at that time was 'Nilgiris' and 'Sweet Chariot'.
Then came the spanking new and hip 'Hot Breads' - I must have been in school that time and it was a very very popular place to hang out, order cakes, buy some nice fancy bread, croissants, cheese cakes...
They had this really nice bread called 'footlong'. Like you must have guessed, it is a roll which is a foot long. The bread was generally spiced with some herbs/garlic or chillies.

When I made the broccoli and pasta bake the other day, I made a footlong(thats more the name, it really wasnt a foot long) with onions, garlic, herbs and roasted tomatoes. Made thick slices and toasted it with some garlic salt and butter...

What you need -

1 tbsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup lukewarm water
1.5 cups maida / flour
1.5 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Filling and Topping

1 tbsp oregano
2 onions
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed pepper
1 firm tomato sliced
1 tbsp olive oil

What you do with it -

In a bowl, stir together yeast, sugar and the lukewarm water and proof yeast for 10-15 minutes, or until foamy.
(I had made my last bread in a really hot weather and here, its nice and pleasant and yeast just wouldn't foam up, so I pre heated the oven to 180 deg C and turned it off and kept the bowl of yeast in it)
Stir in flour and wheat flour, 1 tbsp olive oil and the salt, adding as much of the flour as necessary to form a soft and slightly sticky dough
Transfer to a lightly-oiled bowl, cover with cling film or a muslin cloth and let it rise in a warm place(popped it in the over again) for 1 hour until double in size
Meanwhile, chop the onions and garlic lengthwise
In a small pan, heat a tbsp olive oil and fry the onions and garlic
Add the oregano, crushed pepper and salt
To make up for sun dried tomatoes, I cut slices of the tomato, add some oregano, sprinked a pinch of salt and some olive oil
Grilled it for 10 mins in the oven at 200 deg C
Once the dough has risen well, knead it down and press with lightly-oiled hands
Fold in the roasted onion mix, leaving a little for the topping
Make into a long roll and place it on a greased pan
Keep this for about 30 mins till it rises again
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Set rack in center of oven.
Smear a bit of olive oil on top of the dough and sprinkle this fried onion mix on it
Place the tomato slices on the roll and bake for 30 mins