Cook's Hideout

Gajar ki Launji (Sweet & Sour Carrot Curry)

2012-01-25T20:11:00.002-05:00

As I was thinking of Rajasthani recipes to make for the marathon, the first place I looked was Priya’s blog. Being from Rajasthan, Priya has some very authentic and rustic dishes that I’m sure are not featured on any restaurant menus. As I was browsing through her very long list of Rajasthani dishes, I saw the recipe for gajar ki launji.

Since I didn’t have enough carrots to make the dish, I added the green pepper and the resultant curry was sweet, spicy and delicious. This dish takes about 15-20 minutes to put together and the major part of that time would probably be spent chopping the veggies. I used panch phoron since I didn’t have fennel & nigella seeds in my pantry. This is a simple to make, yet very delicious Rajastani curry that goes well with rice and rotis.

Churme Ka Laddu

2012-01-24T20:50:00.002-05:00

Churme ka laddu is a very famous Rajasthani delicacy. These are made with atta or whole wheat flour. Traditionally the dough is deep fried in ghee, low and slow until golden brown, then powdered and mixed with the sweetener and made into laddoos using more ghee.

Since I try to minimize our ghee consumption, I found this healthier version of the laddoos on Sanjeeta’s blog and used her tip to bake the dough instead of deep frying. I used a little more ghee than the original recipe and the resultant laddoos are delicious with a melt in your mouth texture.

Dal Baati

2012-01-23T14:58:00.001-05:00

It's time for Blogging Marathon #12 and I chose "Rajasthani Specials" as my theme for this week. I've heard a lot about Rajasthani cuisine, but never tried to make any dishes myself. So when I saw Srivalli's theme for this edition of the BM, I wanted to try as many delicious Rajasthani recipes as I can.

For Day 1, I made the most famous dish from the Indian desert - "Dal Baati". Recipe from a dear friend who shared her family recipe with me when I told her that I will be making Rajasthani dishes for my blog. Big thanks to her for a fool-proof modern day kitchen recipe that tasted amazing. Baati's are traditionally baked on charcoal grills or well heated cow dung cakes. But for the modern day home cooks, ovens are the best alternate to use.

Corn & Carrot Rice

2012-01-22T18:46:00.001-05:00

Finally we had our first Snow of the season this weekend. Not that I was missing the snow, but I get a little paranoid when weather is not normal for a season, it makes me think of global warming and it's extreme effects. Well for now, I can be rest assured that real winter is here and will probably be here for sometime.

For this month's Taste & Create, being hosted by Min of Bad Girl's Kitchen, I got paired with Veena @ Veg Nation. Veena blog has tons of delicious vegetarian dishes and I had quite a few bookmarked to try. But as always got busy with other things and was able to make 2 of dishes. One is this easy peasy Corn rice and the other one is the Spring onion Dal. I couldn't take pictures of dal since I made it on a weekday and had no time to take the pics.

Thotakura Pappu (Amaranth leaves dal)

2012-01-17T21:38:00.000-05:00

This recipe is from September of last year. I made this dish with thotakura/ amaranth greens that I harvested from my little container garden, took pictures and after a very emotional and whirlwind India trip completely forgot about it. I thought I’ll clear my drafts before moving ahead with the New Year.

I planted thotakura seeds in my container garden last summer (it seems so long ago) and got decent harvest.

Pistachio Cake

2012-01-12T21:48:00.000-05:00

Wish you all a Very Happy & Prosperous New Year. I know we are in the middle of January, but since this is my first post for this year, please accept by belated wishes. I wanted to kick start the new year with something sweet and so I made this pistachio cake. One of my co-workers brought this for a potluck and I really liked it a lot. I took the recipe from her, but haven’t had a chance to make it. So I thought I’ll give it a try and make it our New Year celebration cake.

This is a very easy cake to bake, the recipe calls for store-bought yellow cake mix, a box of instant pistachio pudding, club soda and a few other standard cake ingredients. The resultant cake is fluffy, moist and delicious.

I used my homemade natural cake mix from here and used half the recipe to make this cake (I used the other half to make this tiramisu cake).

Kid's Delight-Deceptively Delicious Roundup

2011-12-30T14:32:00.002-05:00

First and foremost, big Thank you to Valli for giving me the opportunity to host Kid's Delight event. Thank you to all of you for sending in 'deceptively delicious' entries. Finally my apologies for delaying the round up for this long.

I asked all of you to send me dishes that are "deceptively delicious", so the kids are happy that they are eating something yummy and the moms are happy that they fed them something delicious. I received a total of 45 entries and I've almost all of them bookmarked to try very soon. I loved the way how some of the everyday dishes have been cleverly interpreted to make them more appealing to kids. Without further ado, here's the list of entries:

Split Level Pudding

2011-12-29T21:17:00.000-05:00

It's the final day of the Blogging marathon and I had so much fun making and eating all these yummy Holiday/ Weekend special dishes. I wanted to make something sweet for the last day with the whole milk and cream I had in the refrigerator. I had rice pudding in mind, but didn't think that I had enough time to make it on a weeknight.

When I saw this Split level pudding recipe in Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From my kitchen to yours", I decided to give it a try. Also my son has been pestering me to make pudding for a while, so went ahead and made it yesterday night.

Mixed Vegetable Sambar

2011-12-28T21:04:00.001-05:00

For a lot of South Indians Sambar does not fall under holiday special dishes. But for me this sambar with freshly ground masala (spice) paste makes for a comforting weekend meal. I usually make sambar with sambar powder (store-bought or homemade), but when I have time or have company coming over, I take the time to make the masala myself.

Recipe I use is from Chandra Padmanabhan’s Dakshin cookbook.

Creamy Mixed Vegetable Curry with Nutty Rice Pilaf

2011-12-27T21:36:00.001-05:00

This holiday season has been extremely busy for us with parties everywhere, at home and at work. The theme for one of the office parties was organic & vegetarian. I jumped up with excitement and decided to make this curry and rice dish.

I thought of adding paneer, but wasn't sure if my co-workers would like the texture, so kept it simple with mixed vegetables. For the rice dish, I wanted to make something that wasn't too spicy and I found this nutty pilaf recipe in Raghavan Iyer's "660 Curries". This rice is a keeper and goes well with any spicy side dish. Both the dishes were a hot at the office holiday party.

Nutella & Strawberry Jam Bread Pudding

2011-12-26T21:06:00.000-05:00

Today is the day after Christmas, last day of our 3 day long weekend and I woke up really late this morning. If it was like any other weekend I would have skipped breakfast and went straight to lunch, but as I said it is the last day of our 3 day looong weekend and I wanted to make something special for breakfast.

I had this bread pudding in my mind, but I wanted to make it without the croissants and make it (very very) little healthy. I had whole grain white bread on hand and I used this recipe with nutella and strawberry jam to make the bread pudding.

Tiramisu Cake

2011-12-25T19:57:00.003-05:00

Here's Wishing everyone a Very Happy Christmas.

Hope everyone had a fun holiday with lots of good food and got to spend time with family and friends. Talking about good food, I made this delicious Tiramisu cake from scratch for my cousin who happens to love Tiramisu. For a change I wanted to use a cake as the base instead of lady fingers. I made a vanilla yellow cake from the recipe here and used half of it to make a 8" round cake. I split the cake in half and layered it with mascarpone filling and chilled it until ready to serve.

You can use store bought yellow cake mix instead of making your own. Just follow the package instructions to make the cake. Make a note that this recipe uses only half the cake mix, so adapt the recipe accordingly.

Lentil Salad with Cranberries & Walnuts

2011-12-24T08:43:00.004-05:00

After hogging on these yummy cookies, I think it's time for something healthy, yet festive and delicious. This brown lentil salad is very easy to make and will make a great item for a holiday menu or even for potlucks. You can adapt the recipe and add nuts or cheese (feta would be excellent) to make it even more holiday worthy.

The recipe is slightly sweet and tart with the agave & dried cranberries and crunchy with the toasted walnuts. Dish can be served at room temperature or chilled, which is perfect for a make ahead menu.

Nutella Cookies, Scottish Shortbread Cookies & Mexican Wedding Cookies

2011-12-23T22:41:00.000-05:00

I'm back for the 11th edition of Blogging Marathon. I can't believe another year has almost come to an end and kudos to Valli for taking time and organizing these BMs. With the holiday season right upon us, I chose "Holiday Specials" theme for the marathon. So for the next 7 days, I will posting some dishes made for holidays or made on holidays (including weekends).

This is my 500th Post and I'm celebrating with some homemade cookies.

I made cookies for this years's holiday gift-giving. I tend to stay away from cookies that require rolling & cutting and prefer slicing and baking cookies (psst.. if you really want to know why..... 'cos I'm a little lazy). So when I saw these slice & bake icebox cookies in Vegetarian Times magazine, I decided to give them a try and glad I did as they were easy to make and turned out pretty good.

Oriental Curd Rice (rice with yogurt)

2011-12-19T22:14:00.001-05:00

This is a special post for our blogging buddy PJ who is expecting her second child in a couple of weeks. Our ever enthusiastic blogging marathon group thought of having a virtual baby shower for PJ and all of us have cooked up a dish from her blog to celebrate this event.

PJ's space has a ton of awesome recipes and I had a lot of them bookmarked. I also chose a couple of dishes that I wanted to make for this celebration, but as usual time just flew out of my hands and I finally decided to make this very interesting and unique Oriental curd rice. I changed the recipe a little bit to suit our tastes.

Pancakes with Sweet Potatoes

2011-12-12T21:06:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking on what to make for Kid's Delight-Deceptively Delicious event going on in my blog. My 4 year old used to be very flexible and would eat everything that I gave him, but nowadays he's become a little picky and unpredictable which is why I try to add healthy ingredients to foods that he enjoys and wouldn't notice the "other" stuff that's in it.

He loves pancakes for breakfast, so I sneaked in some sweet potato puree into the yeasted pancake batter that i was making this weekend to boost their nutrition and they turned out delicious too. I used vegan butter and egg replacement powder to make these vegan, but feel free to substitute with butter & egg for a non-vegan version.

Scallions & Cheese Scones

2011-11-30T21:57:00.001-05:00

It has been a long time since I took part in Nicole’s Taste & Create event and decided to sign up when Min @ Bad Girl's Kitchen asked for participants. For this month I got paired with Corina @ Searching for Spice.

Corina has a ton of great dishes from all over the world, but I narrowed down to these spicy and yummy looking Cheese scones with chili kick. I added some finely chopped green onions and used jack cheese with veggies. Also to make them a little healthy, I added some whole wheat pastry flour as well.

Herbed Tempeh Stew

2011-11-29T20:43:00.001-05:00

We came to the end of yet another week long blogging marathon, as usual it went by pretty fast. I enjoyed making and eating all the “winter special” dishes and also the awesome dishes my fellow marathoners have cooked up this whole week. Thanks to Valli for organizing the marathon and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

For the last day of the marathon, I made this hearty stew with tempeh, veggies and herbs. I bookmarked Vaishali's Savory Herbed Tempeh Stew recipe more than a year ago and finally got to make it for the marathon. Stews are thicker and heartier than soups. This recipe is thick, creamy and delicious -- a perfect winter meal. I let my stew simmer a little longer to make it thicker.

Gajar Halwa (Carrot Halwa)

2011-11-28T19:21:00.001-05:00

For Day 6 of BM, I made the most widely made and liked dessert in India, Gajar Halwa aka Carrot Halwa. I read somewhere that carrot halwa is generally made in winters because the sweet carrots or gajar is widely available in winters. My MIL makes the best Carrot halwa and she makes hers with khoya, but I took the short cut and made mine with condensed milk.

For best results, this dessert has to be cooked low and slow, on a low flame stirring occasionally in the beginning and more frequently at the end when the halwa is coming together.

Ven Pongal & Gosthu

2011-11-27T19:18:00.001-05:00

For Day 5 of BM# 10 under Winter Special theme, I have a very comforting and hearty combo, Ven Pongal & Gosthu. I'm sure these dishes are made all year round, but a hot bowl of pongal with the hearty vegetable & lentil curry just warms you up from within, making it a very special winter dish in my opinion.

Recipe for Ven Pongal is adapted from Chandra Padmanabhan's Dakshin cookbook and I made Suganya's gosthu to go along with it. A perfect way to end a looong day of shopping.

Thai Style Split Pea Soup

2011-11-26T21:40:00.001-05:00

Bowl of hot soup is such a comforting meal on a chilly winter day. I'm not a big fan of soup, but this split pea soup is so hearty and delicious that I went back for seconds. Original recipe is from Culinate. To make it perfect for a weeknight dinner, I pressure cooked the split peas making it a perfect one-pot meal that can be made in less than 30 minutes. I also used ready made tom-yum paste that a dear friend gave me. But I have included the recipe for spice paste at the end.

Baked Manicotti

2011-11-25T17:52:00.001-05:00

For Day 3 of BM, I made this hearty and comforting baked pasta dish. Turning on the oven makes the kitchen nice and toasty -- perfect for chilly winter nights, so you know where I spend most of my time in winters ;-). This is a stuffed pasta dish with creamy Swiss chard and ricotta filling smothered in spicy tomato sauce and topped with lots of cheese -- great to please a crowd.

Stuffing traditional manicotti/ canneloni pasta can be tricky since cooked pasta tubes are very delicate and have a tendency to tear. So to make life easy I used no-boil lasagna noodles, an idea borrowed from Cook's Country magazine. Filling recipe is adapted from Giada's Swiss Chard & Pea Manicotti. Here's how I made it.

Mooli Paratha

2011-11-24T22:19:00.001-05:00

For Day 2 of BM# 10, I made some good old Indian style winter comfort food --- mooli paratha. These parathas are made with daikon radish which is generally available in the winter. My husband is not a big fan of mooli, so I followed Rak’s recipe to cook the mooli before stuffing in the paratha. Parathas turned out hearty and delicious, not stinky at all like my husband predicted.

Homemade Hot Chocolate

2011-11-23T21:27:00.001-05:00

I can’t believe it’s end of November and we will be in a brand NEW year in little more than a month’s time. Time seems to fly with no worries, but here we are trying to play catch up with time. My space has been quiet for some time now due to a personal tragedy and I’m still struggling to pull myself together to do anything. But I thought Blogging marathon and hosting Kid’s Delight event will cheer me up and get me back into cooking and into the upcoming holiday mood.

So here I am ready for another edition of Blogging marathon. Thanks to Valli for organizing 10 successful BMs this year. I picked “Winter Special Dishes” as my theme. Growing up in Southern India where the temperatures are mild to high throughout the year, dishes remain the same almost throughout the year. We use seasonally available produce, but the basic dish did not change dramatically. It’s only after coming to chilly northeast US that I realized the reason and need for making winter “special” dishes. Weather in winter makes me want to just curl up under a throw with a hot bowl of soup to warm up.

These are the reasons I think what makes a dish “winter special”:

Warms you up from within when eaten, like a soup.
Warms up the house when cooked/ baked, like a baked pasta dish etc.
Use produce available in winter, like winter squashes etc.
Since winter also means Holiday season, any dish that is rich and festive falls under this category too.

Kid’s Delight Event Announcement – Deceptively Delicious

2011-11-15T06:36:00.001-05:00

I am sure most of you would agree that you would prefer a healthy brownie with beets/ spinach in it instead of a bowl of salad greens. I know I definitely would. Brownie to me means rich, decadent and it does not matter if it is made with healthy ingredients and is completely raw. It’s the look and feel of the food that we are so used to that matter most.

The same is true for kid’s foods. I’ll bet my son would rather eat that brownie without complaining than eat just beets & spinach as sides. So for this month’s Kid’s Delight event, I’m looking for dishes that are "deceptively" delicious. Make your kids’ favorite dish healthier by adding nutritious ingredients but still make it tasting good and looking delicious.

Bachchali kura Pappu

2011-09-07T07:32:00.001-04:00

I go to Indian groceries with mixed feelings: I’m excited about all the different Indian produce and ingredients that I’m about to buy, but at the same time I’m extremely worried about the bill that I have to pay at the end of my shopping spree. We go to Indian grocery may be once in 2 months and I don’t remember the bill ever being less than $150.

I get so excited seeing my favorite baby eggplants, bright green karelas (bitter gourds) and those ripe juicy mangoes, but my bubble bursts when I look at the prices. Well that doesn’t stop me from shopping there, but it just makes me disappointed that I’ve to pay a buck for 2 stems of curry leaves whereas my mom has endless supply of it right in her back yard. Life’s not fair.

Well the reason for my rambling is because the price I paid for this bachali kura almost made me cry thinking of the plant we had in our backyard back home. But as I said nothing stops, we still have to buy and eat. On a happier note, this dal tastes awesome. I like bachchali kura since it has a very mild, almost sweet taste and cooking with moong dal accentuates this sweetness and is just perfect with steamed hot rice with a dollop of ghee and some of that panchadara avakaya on the side. This makes life perfect or at least masks all the imperfections.

Greek Style Panini

2011-08-29T07:25:00.001-04:00

Good news is our area was not affected by hurricane Irene as much as predicted. We had gusty winds and heavy rain, but thank god we did not have power outages or flooding. So all is well that ends well..

Today is the last day of our week long Blogging marathon and keeping with the theme of "Cooking with 5 ingredients or less", I made this tasty and healthy panini. Another recipe from vegetarian times magazine. It turned out super simple to make, filling and tasty too.

Banana-Cocoa Smoothie

2011-08-28T08:53:00.001-04:00

Hurricane Irene is causing major destruction in the east coast this weekend. As I type, I can hear the wind blowing and the pouring rain. They say there are thousands of people without power due to fallen trees. I can see a big tree limb from a neighbors tree in our backyard. I just hope my tomatoes and bottle gourd survive the hurricane (I know I'm being a little wane, but can't help thinking of them).

So for today I have this very simple smoothie that I made for snack time the other day. If you have frozen bananas this is a snap to make. I have been storing my over-ripe bananas in the freezer, so they can be used in some way or the other rather than throwing them out.

Smoothie has only 5 ingredients and is very filling. I had it with some pita chips and hummus.

Sinangag (Filipino Garlic Fried Rice)

2011-08-27T09:22:00.002-04:00

The theme for next 3 days for BM# 8 will be "Cooking with 5 ingredients or less". I turned to Vegetarian Times magazine for inspiration, since they have a monthly feature called "5 ingredients". I wanted to try new recipes that make a meal or at least a filling snack and do not require any side dishes to go with it.

Today I made this simple rice dish with left-over rice and it seems it is made as a breakfast dish in the Philippines with lots of garlic. Eating rice for breakfast may sound strange to some of non-rice eating people, but for us rice being the staple grain it was served for all 3 meals in the day. I remember my mom making lemon rice or alu-bhath or tomato rice or some fancied up rice dish with left over rice, which kept us going until lunch time.

Tomato Pachadi (Chutney)

2011-08-26T07:00:00.001-04:00

This is a delicious and classic tomato chutney that needs no introduction. Every household in India might have their own recipe for this yummy dish — some tangy, some spicy, some a little sweet—any which way you make it, it is absolutely delicious and comforting.

I bought 2 packs of Campari tomatoes that needed to be used up and I thought this would be the perfect. Campari is a variety of tomato that is juicy, less acidic, and sweeter than a regular tomato. A quick call to my mom and I was on my way to make this easy pachadi.

Peach-Mango Jam with Vanilla

2011-08-25T07:11:00.000-04:00

What do you do when there are only 2 adults (and one kid who doesn’t eat fruit AT ALL) and crate full of peaches and mangoes to eat before they go down south into the garbage. First thing I would do is to bring some sense into the people who are buying these excessive fruit. But come on who can resist those sweet smelling mangoes in Indian grocery – one fruit is definitely not enough and the next best (cheapest) is the crate with a dozen of them, I picked up the latter. Also peaches had a $2 coupon at BJs, so they came home too.

After eating the fruit for a week, I started thinking of options of consuming them in bulk. Some of the peaches went into this yummy summer soda that I made for the BBQ – very summery and refreshing. With the rest of the peaches I made this peach-mango jam and added some ground vanilla as flavoring. I still have a couple more mangoes that I’m planning to make mango lassi with – don’t want to end the summer without enjoying an ice cold lassi.

Traditionally whole vanilla beans are used to flavor the jam, but I used pulverized vanilla (ground vanilla??) instead. I added pectin to the jam to get a more jam like consistency. I also used a hand blender to make a smooth jam instead of chunky.

Indian Style Mushroom Bruschetta

2011-08-24T07:35:00.001-04:00

We have a love-hate relation with mushrooms in my home. I love mushrooms and my husband hates them with a passion. I don’t cook mushrooms when he’s around. So now you know what features on my menu when he’s travelling!!! But the past weekend we had a BBQ at our place and I saw this Indianized version of Bruschetta in Cooking Light way to Cooking Vegetarian cookbook.

This bruschetta is a thick tomato based curry that was wonderful as bread topper. (I ended up making Italian style eggplant bruschetta for my husband.) Ingredient list is quite long compared to the simple Italian bruschetta, but my Indian palate really enjoyed the different flavors in the dish – it’s spicy, tangy and delicious.

Corn-Tomato Relish

2011-08-23T07:42:00.002-04:00

I’m back to blogging, thanks to Valli for another edition of Blogging Marathon. This is the 8th edition and I join the 2nd group of 20 bloggers who are all set to blog for the next one week. I chose “Condiments” and “Cooking with 5 ingredients or less” as my themes for this week. So you will see 4 lip smacking condiments and 3 easy to put together 5 ingredient dishes.

For the first day of the marathon, I made this fresh, no-cook Corn & Tomato relish that goes well with some corn chips or as a side for tacos. Use the freshest corn and tomatoes you can find for the best taste. Also I read somewhere that it is best to use corn as soon as you buy them; if you keep them too long they start to develop starches and make the veggie mealy.

Injera (Ethiopian Sourdough Crepes)

2011-08-09T20:33:00.003-04:00

This is a foolproof recipe for Injera that I found on one of the forums at Fresh Loaf website. I forgot to write down the name of the person who gave the recipe on the forum, but it really works. I have read that many people had trouble making injeras, with stinky batters, crepes sticking to the pan etc. But using sourdough starter and steaming the crepe before flipping them made “the best” Injera I’ve ever eaten (to be honest I ate them only once in my life in, Mesob, an Ethiopian restaurant in NJ). This is another great way to use some of the Sourdough starter.

Gutti Vankaya Kura (Andhra Style Stuffed Eggplant Curry)

2011-08-07T21:18:00.001-04:00

This is one of my absolute favorite dish, but I’ve never made it myself before. You can call me a lazy practical cook, as I like to take short cuts while cooking. As a matter of fact, I’m constantly thinking about how to maximize the efficiency of whatever I do (now don’t ask me if I’m successful in increasing the efficiency of everything I do, but it works may be 50% of the time---for the other 50% I say to myself “there’s nothing wrong in trying”).

For example, I wash my dishes while sautéing onions. I don’t like babysitting my dishes, but I know a lot of people who would stir and hover around the stove until the onions turn translucent, then red, then brown. I don’t have time for that.

Well anyway coming back to the gutti vankaya curry, I’ve never actually stuffed the eggplants before; I cook the pieces in the gravy and call it a day. The fact of the matter is, when you are eating you eat the piece with the gravy anyway, so why spend time on the stuffing part.

But this past weekend, I bought these tiny eggplants that were begging to be stuffed. I couldn’t turn my back on these beauties, so I succumbed and made this awesome stuffed eggplant curry.

It did take some time to cook the dish, but I thought the end result was worth the effort – at least in the looks category. May be I’ll try stuffing if the vegetable really forces me to; otherwise I’m back to my quick & easy route.

Almond Brown Rice Pudding

2011-08-04T21:18:00.001-04:00

This recipe was love at first site for me. When I saw the recipe on Whole Foods website, I just had to make it right away. But that right away did not come for another 2 months, even though I was thinking of the dish a lot. It is a simple rice pudding with brown rice, almond milk and pureed dates and I usually have all the ingredients in my pantry & the fridge. What really caught my attention was the use of pureed dates in the recipe and I was imagining the combination of creamy almond milk with the rich sweetness of the dates even before making the dish.

It was so totally worth it when I finally made it, wasn't disappointed at all. It was slightly chewy, sweet and nutty - a perfect balance of taste & texture -- totally awesome. I used Lion brand date syrup that I brought back from India instead of pureeing the dates. I also used long grain brown rice, but short grain rice would probably make a more creamier rice pudding. So if you want to make this dish, try to get some short grain brown rice.

Banana- Wheat Germ Muffins

2011-07-29T19:14:00.004-04:00

For the last day of our BM# 7, I made these Banana-Wheat germ muffins from Veganomicon. These muffins come together in less than 10 minutes and are high in fiber and are delicious too. But by the time I wanted to take pictures, weather got cloudy and started to pouring rain. So had to move my set up indoors and as you can see the pictures have suffered due to lack of good light. I'll try to take some better pictures tomorrow and update the post.

Update (7/30/2011): Post updated with new pics.

Sprouted Cowpeas Stew (Chawli Kokum Chi Dal)

2011-07-28T20:41:00.001-04:00

When I started buying cookbooks (with my money), I didn't think too much about the content. It didn't even matter if the book had only 3 vegetarian recipes and once I was done making those, I was practically done using that book. But soon I realized that it's not just buying books, I should also use them to make them worth the buy. Since then almost all the books I bought are vegetarian oriented except for "660 Curries" by Raghavan Iyer.

I borrowed this book from the library and after seeing the vast selection of recipes, I bought my own copy from Amazon. I made a ton of recipes and except for one disastrous recipe with broccoli, everything turned out excellent. So for Day 6 of our BM#7, I made Sprouted cow peas (chawli) stewed in coconut milk and kokum. Recipe turned out to be another keeper, slightly sweet from the coconut milk and tangy from the kokum.

Methi-Paneer Pulao (Fenugreek Leaves & Cottage Cheese Pilaf)

2011-07-27T21:35:00.001-04:00

For Day 5 of our blogging marathon I made this quick and easy one pot rice dish. Recipe is adapted from Vidhu Mittal's Pure & Simple: Homemade Indian Vegetarian Cuisine cookbook. I had borrowed this book from the library and I was really impressed with the way the recipes were laid out and the mouthwatering pictures. I had to return the book, but I jotted down the recipes that I really wanted to try and this Methi & Paneer Pulao is one of them.

Original recipe was made in a pan, but I used my pressure cooker to make it quicker. I added some carrots for added nutrition and some biryani masala for some spice.

Tabbouleh with Guacamole in a Tortilla Wrap

2011-07-26T20:38:00.002-04:00

This morning my son, who just woke up, asked me why doesn’t our town have “nowhere”. I was searching for words for a little bit and said there is nothing called “nowhere”. He retorted back, then how did Lightning Mcqueen (the race car in Cars movie) get lost in the middle of nowhere???? Every town should have a "middle of nowhere". I was thinking to myself, how the heck am I supposed to know that, ask the people at Disney who made the movie. Phew, these kids make you sweat sometimes..

Well since the day started with a LOT of thinking, I decided not to think too much about dinner and to keep it simple and easy. Keeping with the “Cooking from the cookbook” theme I made Bulgur tabbouleh with guacamole from The Ultimate Book of Vegan Cooking, wrapped them up in a tortilla and called it a day..

Almond Butter & Chocolate Chip Waffles

2011-07-25T21:12:00.002-04:00

I make pancakes or waffles almost every week. It is really convenient to have some homemade goodies stacked in the freezer for quick weekday breakfasts. Every time I ask my 3-year old what pancakes he wants his very prompt reply would be “chocolate”. I try to reason with him and say too much chocolate is not good, but sometimes I have to give in and add some chocolate chips into the batter just to please him.

So for Day 3 of our blogging marathon, I made these Almond butter & chocolate chip waffles. The recipe is from Whole Grains Baking by King Arthur Flour, this cookbook is like a bible with over 600 pages and tons of recipes using whole grains. Original recipe was for Peanut Butter & Chocolate chip Waffles, but I prefer other nut butters over peanut butter, so I used almond butter instead. Also the recipe uses Spelt flour which is a much healthy alternate to all-purpose flour. The waffles turned out just perfect, fluffy and delicious.

Raw Mango Rice/ Mamidikaya Annam

2011-07-24T21:29:00.000-04:00

"Cooking with Pedatha" is my go-to cookbook for Andhra style dishes. Even though I’m from Andhra and I cook my mom’s style (both my parents are from Vijayawada), I find that Pedatha’s recipes are slightly different in the spices added or the technique used. I’ve made a lot of recipes from the book and everything turned out delicious till now.

So for day 2 of our BM# 7, I made this raw mango rice which is tangy, spicy and delicious. Adding the spice paste of coconut, mustard seeds and green chilies makes the dish extra special. Make it for a simple dinner or as a dish for an elaborate meal, this mango rice is sure to wow the crowds.

Ethiopian Wat

2011-07-23T21:51:00.001-04:00

I am back running Blogging Marathon #7 with Srivalli and 18 fellow bloggers. My theme for this week will be "Cooking from Cookbook". I like reading and collecting cookbooks like many foodies. If not for my husband who keeps reminding me the number of cookbooks I have, I would have probably bought a whole book shelf full of cookbooks. As of now, the real estate the books take is quite small, I still have a small rack in the basement with a few more books.

I really have to thank our county library system as we can borrow books online from other libraries in the county and I think I might be one of the library patrons who uses this feature the most. Most of the times I decide not to buy the book after borrowing it and making the dishes I like from it, in rare occasions I do end up buying the book from Amazon.

So for the next 7 days I will be posting recipes that I have made from 7 different cookbooks. For the first day of the marathon, I made this delicious Ethiopian Wat. This is a delicious one-pot dish that is great on its own, but is wonderful when paired with some freshly made Injera (recipe for this coming really soon).

Recipe is from 500 Vegan Recipes. Even though the dish is one-pot, it needs quite a few components prepared before everything goes into the pot. We need to make berbere spice powder and the baked berbere-spiced seitan before hand.

For the spice mixture:

Ingredients:

Cumin Seeds – 2tsp

Cloves – 4

Black Peppercorns – ½ tsp

Ground All-spice – ¼ tsp

Ancho-chili powder – 2tbsp

Paprika – 3tbsp

Ground ginger – 1tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Cinnamon – ¼ tsp

Salt – 1tsp

Method:

Dry roast cumin seeds, cloves, peppercorn for 1 – 2 minutes or until they smell fragrant and aromatic. Grind the whole spices into a powder.
Add the chile powder, paprika, ground ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. Store in a air-tight container in a cool, dry place and use as needed.

Baked Berbere-spiced Seitan

Ingredients:

Vital wheat gluten – 2 cups Chickpea flour (besan) – 1 cup

Berbere spice – ¼ cup (1 recipe of berber spice mixture from above)

Water – 1 cup

Steak sauce – 2tbsp (I used tamari instead)

Tomato paste – 2tbsp

Extra virgin olive oil – ½ cup

Method:

In a large bowl, combine spice mixture with gluten and flour.
In a measuring cup, add water, oil, tomato paste, steak sauce and whisk until well combined.
Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and knead for 5 minutes or until everything is incorporated.
Set aside for 20 minutes to rest.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide the dough in half. Shape the dough into logs of approximately 6” long and 3” diameter. Wrap the logs tightly with aluminum foil. Bake seam side down for 1 hour.
Let cool before unwrapping. Store in a air-tight container in the fridge for 1 week or in the freezer for even longer shelf life.

Ethiopian Wat:

Ingredients:

Red onions – 2 medium, roughly chopped

Baked berber seitan – 1 log (½ of the recipe from above), chopped into bite size pieces

Potatoes – 4 medium, chopped into bite size pieces

Vegetable Broth – 8 cups

Carrots – 1 cup

Dry red or green lentils – 1 cup (I used Masoor dal)

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Long grain rice – 1 cup

Method:

Heat 2tbsp EVOO in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions and pinch of salt and let them sweat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add another 2tbsp of EVOO to the onions and deglaze the pan.
Next add the broth and bring the mixture to a boil.
Add the seitan, potatoes, carrots, lentils and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the flame to medium and simmer covered for about 30 minutes.
Stir in the rice, cover and simmer for an additional 20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through. Serve on its own or as a side to Injera.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have cooked up for Day 1 of BM# 7.

Mango-Cashew Upside Down Cake

2011-07-21T21:21:00.002-04:00

Summer is HERE in our neck of woods. We have heat wave advisory for the next 3 days with temperatures reaching upto100°F (38°C). It’s nothing when compared to Indian temperature standards but we got so used to the weather here that anything above 35°F is scorching and makes us run for cover.

But summer brings the yummy tropical fruits and veggies, so instead of complaining I just try to enjoy the warm weather and the bounty of treats it brings. We picked up a case of mangoes from our local Indian grocery and after enjoying them as is; I still had some left that needed to used up. Google brought me to this upside down cake and the picture was too tempting, so I had to try it right away.

It was a perfect tea cake, fresh, nutty, not too sweet and quick and easy to make. I had to change the amount/ quantity of ingredients since the recipe used a 6” cake pan and I only have a 8” cake pan. I also substituted macadamia nuts with cashews since I didn’t them.

Ingredients:

Mangoes – 2 medium, peeled and thinly sliced (I diced my mangoes, but thinly slicing would make for a prettier cake)

Lemon juice – 1½tbsp

Light Brown Sugar – ¼ cup

Butter – 1½tbsp, melted

Cashews – 3tbsp, chopped

For the Cake batter:

Butter – 3tbsp, softened

Sugar – 1/3 cup

Egg – 1, lightly beaten

All-purpose flour – 1 cup

Baking powder – ¾ tsp

Ground cardamom (elaichi) – ½tsp

Salt – ¼tsp

Milk – 1/3 cup

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 8” round cake pan with parchment paper and lightly spray with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, combine mango and lemon juice.
Combine brown sugar and butter and sprinkle evenly in the cake pan. Arrange the mango slices and sprinkle the nuts. Set aside.
Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and elaichi in a bowl.
In a medium bowl, whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until incorporated.
Add half of the flour mixture and whisk until incorporated, next add half of the milk and mix well. Repeat with remaining flour & milk.
Pour the batter evenly over the prepared mangoes.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool for 5 minutes, before inverting onto a plate.

Sending this over to Harini's "Only Baked" event which is a brain child of Pari @ Foodelicious.

Panchadara Avakaya (Green Mango Pickle with Sugar)

2011-07-18T20:34:00.005-04:00

I was never a big fan of mixing sweet and savory things. I wouldn’t eat a dish if I saw my mom adding sugar or jaggery to any dish. Sweet pickles, as you can imagine, were a big no-no. But now my palate appreciates the nuances of sweet and savory in a dish.

When my dear cousin served us panchadara avakaya that her MIL made couple of years ago, I fell in love with it instantly. She gave me a bottle of pachadi last year that her MIL made while in the US and this year she decided to make it herself. So I followed suit and made this sweet, spicy and tangy avakaya. My cousin, the perfectionist that she is, sent me the detailed recipe with instructions on how to cut the mangoes and when to taste and adjust the seasonings.

Choosing the right mangoes for the pickle is the biggest challenge. Pick ones that look fresh and are bright green, medium sized, and should NOT be soft when touched. The first time I bought them, they looked green and all from outside, but when I cut into them they were yellow and squishy.

So I had to wait 2 more weeks to get the right mangoes. Big thanks to you, dear P and your MIL for this fool proof avakaya recipe.

Ingredients:

Green mangoes – 2, medium sized

Sugar (panchadara) – 1 cup

Red chili powder for pickles – 1 cup (this chili powder is bright, vibrant red, but it is not very spicy hot and is available in most Indian grocery store)

Sesame seeds (nuvvulu)– 1¼ cups

Mustard seeds (aavalu) – ¼ cup

Fenugreek seeds (menthulu) – ¼ cup

Salt (uppu) – 1 cup

Peanut oil – 1 cup

Method:

Wash the mangoes well and dry them thoroughly. I left the washed mangoes covered with a dish towel on the counter for couple of hours to completely dry them.
Prep all the spices: Dry roast (without oil) sesame seeds until lightly browned on medium low heat. Set aside.
Dry roast fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds separately.
When all the spices are completely cool, grind each one separately; sesame seeds can be made into a coarse powder – too much grinding can make sesame paste, so keep checking. Mustard seeds tend to get bitter if ground too much, so be mindful of that.
Heat oil in a small saucepan until very hot, turn off the heat and let it cool completely.
While the oil is cooling, start chopping the mangoes. Cut the mango into half lengthwise, this gets a little tricky if the seed is tough, so try to find the exact spot where the seed ends. Scoop out the seed and discard. Cube the mango into small bite size pieces. Try to make sure that each piece has the peel. Pat dry the pieces with a clean kitchen towel to make sure that there is no moisture on the pieces.
Take all the pieces into a large non-reactive container. Add sugar, salt, pickle chili powder, all of the roasted fenugreek and mustard powders, 1 cup of sesame powder (reserve the rest for later) and the cooled oil. Mix everything together.
At this point the pickle is a little thick, but as it sits the mangoes will ooze out their juices and will thin out over time. Cover tightly and let the pickle rest for 24 hours.
Taste the pickle and add more salt/ sugar/ chili powder or the reserved sesame powder if needed and let it sit for another 24 hours. If it tastes perfect after the 1st 24 hours then simply put the pickle into clean glass/ porcelain jars.

I put the pickle in the fridge so it stays fresh longer, but if you are going to use it up in couple of weeks, leave it out on the shelf. Tastes amazing with steamed rice and ghee or with idlis/ dosas/ upma etc.

Pictorial of Avakaya Making:

Sending this over to Aipi & Priya's "Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday" event.

Chukkakura Pappu

2011-07-12T21:08:00.004-04:00

For the very first time this year, I planted couple of leafy greens, spinach (palakura) and sorrel spinach (chukkakura), in my container garden.

My mom sent the seeds from India and I was pleasantly surprised that the greens started to grow within a week and were ready for harvesting in less than 3 weeks.

It has been ages that I had chukkakura pappu (dal), so one call to Amma and in 10 minutes I was I making this healthy & delicious with my first harvest. Chukkakura has a slight tangy taste and tastes great in dals and chutneys.

Ingredients:
Toor dal – 1 cup
Chukkakura (Sorrel spinach) – 2 cups, finely chopped (fine stems can be chopped up too)
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Tomato – 2, finely chopped
Green chilies – 2, slit
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Dry red chilies – 1, broken into half
Hing (asafetida) – a pinch
Curry leaves – 8

Method:

Cook toor dal in a pressure cooker until very soft and mushy. Keep aside.
In a medium sauce pan, heat 2tsp oil, add the tempering ingredients in the order listed and once the seeds start to splutter, add onions and green chilies. Sauté until onions are translucent.
Next add chopped tomatoes, cover and cook till they turn mushy.
Next add the chopped sorrel spinach and cook till the leaves wilt.
Add red chili powder and salt.
Finally add the cooked dal, mix well and simmer for 3-4 minutes for the flavors to mingle. Add water if dal seems too thick while cooking.

Serve with hot steamed rice and a dry curry of choice. I served with some vankaya kura (eggplant curry). Comforting meal any time of the day.

Sending this over to Aipi's "Bookmarked Recipes-Every Tuesday" event.

Cinnamon Sticks

2011-07-09T16:16:00.004-04:00

This is a recipe that my sister, who lives in India, wanted me to make since her hubby really likes Cinnamon sticks. I looked for recipes online and found this recipe on King Arthur’s website. Recipe seemed simple to make with very few ingredients that are easily available in India. But she wanted the recipe to be eggless, so I substituted the egg with egg-replacer.

I sent my sister detailed pictures on how to make the cinnamon sticks along with KAF recipe. She tried them and reported back saying that the taste was great. Personally I thought the cinnamon sticks were a little too buttery, but my husband and my BIL seemed to like them. I halved the recipe from the original.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour – 1cup

Sugar – 1½ tsp

Salt – ½ tsp

Butter – ½ cup or 1 stick (4 oz.), softened to room temperature

Milk – 1tbsp

Egg-replacer powder – 1½ tbsp (original recipe used 1 egg, since I halved the recipe, I used half of the required egg-replacer)

Cinnamon – 2tbsp

Granulated Sugar – ¼ cup

Milk or cream – to brush the pastry

Method:

Whisk flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Work in the butter into the flour mixture until it forms crumbles and holds shape when squeezed.
Whisk egg-replacer powder and milk in a small bowl and add to the flour mixture and mix just until everything is cohesive.
Roll the dough and pat into a 3”x5” rectangle; wrap in plastic and refrigerate it for an hour or for up to 2 days.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a 10” x 15” rectangle about 1/8” thick.
Brush half of the lengthwise surface (i.e. the 5” x 15” strip) with milk/ cream and sprinkle cinnamon sugar** evenly all over. Fold the unfilled side of the pastry over the filled side and press the edges lightly.
Brush the resulting 5”x15” pastry with milk/ cream and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar. Using a pizza cutter or a sharp knife, cut the pastry crosswise into ½” strips that are 5” long.
Hold the strip on each end and twist them to give them the characteristic “cinnamon stick” shape.
Place them on a prepared baking sheet and bake the cinnamon sticks for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and after couple of minutes, place them on a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy with your evening cup of tea or coffee.

**Note: To make cinnamon sugar sugar, simply mix the 2tbsp cinnamon with 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.

Cinnamon Sticks making pictorial:

Sending these Cinnamon sticks over to Harini for her "Only Baked" event. Only baked is the brain child of Pari @ Foodelicious.

Sourdough 101 & a Sourdough Bread

2011-07-06T06:51:00.012-04:00

As a foodie I think of food a LOT. I think of recipes when I see an ingredient, I think of ingredients when I see a recipe and I think of menus when somebody says meal. So basically like everyone in the food blogging community I’m thinking of food ALL THE TIME. But I couldn't imagine myself thinking about just ONE ingredient this much; it is almost like an obsession.

The ingredient I’ve been obsessed, worried and excited about is Sourdough starter. Now I understand why bakers obsess so much over it. Never have I thought that I’ll be one of them and will have nightmares over a starter!!!!

I was excited when I signed up for a bread baking class and was overjoyed to learn that I’ll be learning to make challah bread, multigrain bread and sourdough bread among others. Little did I know that I would come back with a baby to take care of, yes I came home with the dough mixture to make the sourdough starter and the instructions on how to feed and take care of it. After I started feeding 1 cup of flour every 12-24 hours, it didn’t occur to me that the starter is growing exponentially and by 3rd day the starter tripled in quantity and my worries to use it up also tripled. So I turned to our friend "google" and found a number recipes to use up the starter that is fed and unfed.

Here are some terms to know and understand when dealing with sourdough starter.

Sourdough: Is a leaven consisting of dough in which fermentation is active. So basically sourdough is

like yeast that is used for leavening bread.

100% Hydration: Water amount is 100% of the flour amount. That means for every 8oz. of water in the sourdough starter, there is 8oz. of flour. So every time you feed the starter you add equal amounts of flour and water to the old dough to keep it 100% hydrated.

Fed Starter: Starter that is rejuvenated by adding flour and water up to 12 hours before making the bread.

Unfed Starter: Starter straight from the fridge.

There is a ton of information on the internet for sourdough starter making, feeding, taking care etc. My suggestion would be to use a good source that you can rely on; my go-to source is the material I got from the baking class and King Arthur website. Champa at Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen has excellent information on sourdough starter and yummy recipes to use both fed and unfed starters.

From what I’ve learnt there are a number of ways of making sourdough starter: we used flour & grated potato in the class, but just flour and regular yeast can also be used (recipe at the very end of th

e post).

This post has been in my drafts forever. I couldn't take the pictures of the finished bread the 2 times I made it and have been waiting to make it again to take pictures and post, but that doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon, so I thought I'll post this and update with finished bread pictures later. :-)

Update (7/29/2011): Updating the post with the recent sourdough bread that I made. Recipe is from here, but the resulting bread looks very similar.

How to make Sourdough starter from Organic grated potato:
Ingredients:
Bread flour – 1 cup
Organic Potato – ½ cup, grated
Water – 1 c

up (plus more for feeding)

All purpose flour - for feeding

Method:

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl; cover and let rise at room temperature for 24 hours. After 24 hours, add 1 cup All purpose flour & 1 cup water.
Stir and let stand at room temperature for 12 hours.
Repeat this process two more times, adding the flour and water at 12 hour internals, mixing, covering and letting rise at room temperature.
The starter is complete at this point.

So at this point you have a starter that has 4 cups of flour and 4 cups of water and grated potato. Most of the recipes call for 1 cup of starter, so make sure that you have at least 1 cup of starter at any given point. If you think you are running out of starter, add equal quantities of flour and water, mix well and refrigerate until you are ready to make a bread.

Once you have the ripe or fed starter, you are good to go on your baking spree. The method I used as you can see doubles and triples in volume while making the starter, so it is beneficial if a group of friends make this, but for a solo-baker, it is a TON of starter. I tried to give it away to friends and colleagues, but couldn't find anybody who was interested. But the good thing about the starter is you can leave it in the fridge for couple of weeks without feeding and it is still good to use in some recipes that call for unfed starter. So for the first 2-3 weeks after I made the starter, all I did was bake with the starter. I kept about 1 cup aside for future feeding and baking and used up the rest in making pancakes, waffles, cakes etc.

Sourdough Bread:

So the first recipe I made with the fresh starter is basic Sourdough bread, recipe courtesy source material from Chef Central.

Ingredients:

Sourdough starter – 1 cup, fed

Bread flour – 3½ cups

Salt – 1tsp

Yeast – ½ tsp

Water – 1½ cups at room temperature

Method:

Combine the starter, yeast and water and mix well in a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment.
Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed. Increase the speed to medium and knead for 10-12 minutes.
Add flour as needed to form smooth, pliable dough.
Place in a greased bowl and let rise for 1 hour.
Punch down and form into 2 round pieces. Place each piece in a greased bowl, seam side up. Let rise for 20-30 minutes.
Place each round on a baking sheet lined with parchment and score the top with a knife.
Bake at 375°F for 20-30 minutes or until the top is crisp and brown and the loaves sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. Cool before slicing.

Shortcut Sourdough starter from Yeast (recipe courtesy from Vegetarian times magazine):

Ingredients:

All purpose Flour - 1 cup (plus more for feeding)

Quick rising yeast - ¼ tsp (such as Fleischmann's Rapidrise)

Method:

Combine flour and yeast in a non-reactive bowl; stir in 1 cup of warm (110°F) water. Loosely cover the bowl and set aside at room temperature for 12 hours. Starter should get bubbly and smell yeasty.
Stir starter, then discard half. Add ½ cup flour and ½cup of lukewarm water; mix well, cover and set aside for another 12 hours.
Repeat the process of discarding half cup of starter and adding ½ cup each of flour and lukewarm water every 12 hours for 72 hours. (that is feeding twice every day for 3 days).
Starter should be bubbly with pleasant sourdough aroma. Feed for an extra day (that 2 extra feedings) if you want a more pronounced sourdough flavor.

Note: Use only non-reactive containers to store the starter like porcelain, glass or plastic.

Filtered water is preferred instead of tap water while making the starter.

Sending this Sourdough bread over to Only Baked event which is Pari's brainchild and being hosted this month by Harini @ Tamalapaku.

Palak Thepla

2011-06-29T20:39:00.002-04:00

For the last day of our week long blogging marathon, Valli paired us with a fellow marathoner and we have to choose a dish that fits our theme from their blog. I got paired with Jayashree @ Luvgoodfood and I found this healthy & delicious Methi theplas that are just perfect as picnic food. They are filling, nutritious and easy to pack AND eat.

I didn’t have enough methi in my container garden, but I had a bunch of spinach that was waiting to be used up, so I made palak/ spinach theplas instead. I changed the recipe a little bit because I was short of time and increased the ingredients. These were an instant hit at home and most of them were eaten before I took my pictures. I had one and half theplas left that I had to use for the pictures.

Ingredients:
Wheat flour – 3 cups
Besan (Chickpea flour) – ¾ cup (I used kala chana besan)
Spinach – 3 cups, finely chopped
Yogurt – 1 cup
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Cumin powder – 1tsp
Salt – to taste

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Add warm water if needed to make a smooth and pliable dough. Cover with damp kitchen towel and let it rest for at least 30 – 45 minutes.
Divide the dough into lemon size balls and roll them into slightly thick rotis.
Cook on preheated griddle until brown spots are formed on both sides. Smear some oil or ghee if desired. Serve hot with yogurt or pickle of choice.

Big thanks to Jay for a delicious recipe. Thanks to Valli for organizing the Marathon and looking forward to the next edition.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for the last day of BM#6.

Curried Brown Rice Salad

2011-06-28T20:47:00.004-04:00

After indulging in some chocolate cupcakes & creamy egg salad, today I have a healthy brown rice salad that is perfect for picnics or make-ahead lunches. Recipe is from here. I followed the recipe to the T and the end result was a super hit at home. Slight sweetness from the dressing is complimented very well by the raisins and the addition of toasted almonds gives the required crunch to the salad. A must try for all salad lovers and also for those you are not into green salads (just like me).

I soak brown rice before I leave for work and cook it after I come back in the evening; I found that the rice has a better texture this way.

Ingredients:
Brown Rice – 1 cup (I used brown basmati)
Red onion – ½ cup, finely chopped
Red pepper – ½ cup, finely diced
Chickpeas – 1 cup (½ of a 15 oz. can), rinsed and drained
Cilantro – ¼ cup, finely chopped
Raisins – ¼ cup
Sliced Almonds – 2tbsp, toasted

For the dressing:
Lime juice – 3tbsp (from one medium sized lime)
Agave nectar – 2tbsp (original recipe used honey)
Extra virgin olive oil – 2tbsp
Curry powder – 2tsp (I used MTR brand curry powder)
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

Cook brown rice and set aside in a wide bowl to cool. (I use 1:2 rice:water ratio-bring the mixture to a boil and simmer covered for 25-30minutes until all the water is absorbed and rice is completely cooked).
Add all the other ingredients for the salad except for the toasted almonds to the rice and mix gently to combine. In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients listed under dressing.
Pour the dressing over the rice and mix gently, taking care not to mush the grains. Garnish with toasted almonds and serve either at room temperature or chilled.

Let’s check what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for Day 6 of BM#6 (Can’t believe we are almost at the end of the marathon—time just flies!!).

Egg salad with Caramelized Onions

2011-06-27T20:52:00.006-04:00

Cole slaws, potato salads & egg salads are not highly preferred dishes for picnics since these are mayonnaise based and at higher temperatures mayo tends to go bad. But I could not stop myself from making this dish, since I love egg salad and caramelized onions and I was sure the combination of both would be delicious. I wasn't wrong; the end result was creamy, yummy and irresistible. You could serve it as is or with bread, wrapped or sandwiched. I enjoyed it with bread as a late afternoon snack with whole-wheat bread.

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Times magazine.
Ingredients:
Eggs – 4, boiled, cooled and peeled
Onions – 2 medium, thinly sliced
Garlic – 1 clove, finely minced
Dried thyme – ½tsp
Mayonnaise – 2-3tbsp
Dijon mustard – 1tsp
Hot sauce – ½tsp (or more if you are adventurous)
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

Heat 1tbsp oil in a medium sauté pan; add chopped onions and cook on low flame, stirring occasionally until onions are nicely browned (not burned) and caramelized, takes about 15-20 minutes.
Add the minced garlic and thyme; cook for couple of minutes. Season the onions with salt and pepper. If the onions start to stick to the pan, add a couple of tablespoons of water and scrape up the brown bits. Once completely cooked, set the onions aside until cooled.
Cube the boiled eggs.
Add cooled caramelized onions, mayo, mustard, hot sauce, salt and pepper to the eggs and mix gently to incorporate.

That’s it the dish is ready to serve or take-along. Make sure that egg salad is kept as cool as possible or eat it as soon as you can (just like I did, right after making it ;-))

Let’s check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for Day 5 of BM#6.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Frosting

2011-06-26T15:52:00.006-04:00

For Day 4 of the Blogging marathon, I have these sweet little cupcakes that I made for our picnic last weekend. These are rich chocolaty cupcakes with some oreo cookie frosting. I know I had to make these cupcakes when I saw the drool-worthy pictures on Kirbie's cravings blog. I was very excited when my host told me later that the kids really enjoyed these cupcakes with the frosting ending up on all their faces. :-)

I wanted to pipe the frosting neatly on the cupcakes, but as luck has it, I didn't have any heavy cream in the fridge and by the time I ran to the store and bought, we were almost ready to go to the picnic. So I ended up smearing the frosting on the cupcakes. So make sure you have enough time to frost the cupcakes beautifully like Kirby did.

Here's how I made these:

Ingredients:

Bread flour - ¾cup

Unsweetened chocolate - 3 oz. chopped

Dutch processed cocoa - 1/3 cup

Hot, strong-brewed coffee - ¾cup (or use ¾cup of hot water instead, but using coffee is advisable since brings out the chocolate flavor better)

Sugar - ¾ cup

Salt - ½tsp

Baking Soda - ½tsp

Vegetable oil - 6tbsp

Eggs - 2 large

Vanilla extract - 1tsp

White Vinegar - 2tsp

For the Frosting:

Heavy cream - small ½ pint carton, about 250 ml

Confectioners sugar - 3-4tbsp

Oreo cookies - 6

Vanilla extract - 1tsp

Oreo Cookies - 12, for topping

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the muffin baking tin with paper liners.
In a large mixing bowl, add chopped chocolate and cocoa. Pour the hot coffee/ water and mix well until smooth. Set aside to cool completely or refrigerate to cool. I set it aside for about 15-20 minutes on the counter.
In the meantime get all the other ingredients together for the cake batter. Whisk bread flour, salt, sugar and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
In a measuring cup, whisk together oil, eggs and vanilla. Pour this mixture on to the cooled chocolate and mix well.
Finally add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and mix well until smooth.
Divide the batter evenly in the prepared muffin pan, pouring to about ¾ full.
Bake for 17 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out only with very few crumbs.
Remove from the muffin pan after 5 minutes and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
For the frosting: Blend the oreo cookies in a food processor into very fine powder, make sure that there are no pieces visible. Whip the heavy cream with confectioners sugar in a stand mixer with whip attachment or with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
Add vanilla and the oreo cookie powder, mix very gently to incorporate.
Put the frosting in a piping bag with a decorative tip and pipe on to the cupcakes (or if you are like me just smear using a spatula or bread knife).
Decorate with extra oreo cookies on top.

Notes: Make sure that these cupcakes are kept as cold as possible in the picnic. Since the frosting is made of cream, under the sun frosting can easily melt.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for Day 4 of our BM#6.

Pulihora & Daddojanam (Tamarind Rice & Curd Rice)

2011-06-25T19:33:00.005-04:00

After posting two American sandwiches as picnic food, today I have two South Indian dishes that are great make-ahead meals and perfect picnic food. I remember my mom making these for our school picnics and we would be happy campers eating them on site.

Tamarind rice is perfect for picnics since the flavor gets time to meld and the more time the rice has a chance to absorb all the tangy & spicy flavors the better it tastes. Curd rice, if made with half yogurt & half milk, tastes sweet and not sour at all. All in all both these dishes are really close to heart and bring a ton of memories associated with picnics.

Tamarind Rice

Ingredients:

Rice - 2 cups (I use sona masoori rice)

Tamarind - ¼cup

Peanuts - 3tbsp

Chana dal - 2tbsp

Urad dal - 2tbsp

Mustard seeds - 2tsp

Dry red chilies - 4, broken

Hing - 1/8tsp

Curry leaves - 8-10

Turmeric - 1/8tsp

Green chilies - 4

Ginger - 2tbsp (optional)

Salt - to taste

Method:

Cook rice so that each grain is separate. Remove in a large, wide bowl to cool. Add a pinch of turmeric and salt, mix gently and set aside.
Add 1 cup of hot water to tamarind and set aside until tamarind is soft. Squeeze and remove the stringy matter and keep the pulp to the side.
Add 2tbsp oil in a medium pan, add peanuts and fry them on medium flame, stirring constantly until reddish and nicely fried on all sides. Keep aside.
Add 1tbsp more oil to the same pan, add the dals and fry until they turn golden, next add mustard seeds and once the seeds start to splutter, add dry red chilies and hing.
Once the red chilies turn slightly darker, add green chilies, curry leaves and ginger (if using). As soon as the mixture starts to smell fragrant, return the fried peanuts to the pan. Next slowly pour in the tamarind pulp.
Lower the heat and simmer the mixture until thickened, takes about 8-10 minutes.
Add the cooked tamarind mixture to the rice, season with salt; mix well, be gentle. Take care not to break the grains.

Cover and let the rice sit for at least 30 minutes to an hour before serving.

Notes: If you think the rice is not sour/ tangy enough, add some lemon juice. No one would even know that the sourness is coming from lemon.

Curd Rice

Ingredients:

Rice - 1cup

Yogurt - ¾cup

Milk - ½cup (or more if necessary)

Green chilies - 2, slit

Ginger - 1" piece, finely grated

Carrot -3tbsp, grated

Salt - to taste

For tempering:

Chana dal - 1tsp

Urad dal - 1tsp

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Hing - a pinch

Dry red chili -1, broken

Curry leaves - 6-8

Turmeric - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Method:

Mash rice a little bit, add turmeric, salt, yogurt and milk. Set aside.
Heat 1tsp oil in a small sauce pan, add chana and urad dals and once they turn golden, add mustard seeds. Add dry red chili and hing once the seeds start to splutter. Next add ginger, green chilies and curry leaves. Fry until it starts to smell fragrant.
Add the tempering to the rice mixture. Mix well. Check the seasonings and garnish with grated carrot.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Notes: If the rice soaks up all the yogurt and milk and seems dry, add some milk to make it more soupy.

Now lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for Day 3 of BM#6.

Roasted Veggie Sandwich

2011-06-24T15:51:00.007-04:00

Here's another great picnic food that is colorful, filling and extremely easy to make. Sandwiches are perfect picnic food as they don't require the use of any cutlery and most don't have to be refrigerated. This is a pressed sandwich that can be made at least 4 hours or even the night before the picnic, giving you time to get other things ready for the picnic.

The choice of veggies used in the sandwich is endless, any roasted, grilled or blanched veggie can be used in the filling. I used eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and roasted peppers, but mushrooms, blanched asparagus or green beans etc. taste awesome too. I saw a recipe in Vegetarian Times that had boiled eggs, so feel free add some protein to your sandwich but make sure that you have a good cooler to keep the sandwich chilled.

Any crusty bread like french baguette or ciabatta can be used. Pressing the sandwich lets the crusty bread soak up the juices from the roasted vegetable juices and the make them super delicious by the time you get to the picnic.

Ingredients:

Crusty bread - 1 loaf (12" long)

Eggplant - 1 small, cut into ¼" slices

Zucchini - 1 medium, cut into ¼" slices

Yellow Squash - 1 medium, cut into ¼" slices

Roasted Peppers - 3-4, drained (Or roast 1 large red pepper chopped along with the other veggies)

Cheese - 4-5 slices (I used vegetable jack cheese, but mozzarella/ pepper jack or monterey jack can also be used)

Salt & Pepper - to taste

Balsamic Vinegar - 2tsp

Olive oil - 2tsp

For the pesto:

Basil leaves - 2 cups packed

Pine nuts - 3tbsp, lightly roasted

Garlic - 2 cloves, crushed

Extra virgin olive oil - 3tbsp (or more to make a smooth paste)

Salt & Pepper - to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the chopped veggies. Spray with cooking spray and season the veggies with salt & pepper. Roast for 18-20 minutes or until browned around the edges and they turn tender.
Place all the ingredients for the pesto in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Keep aside.
Cut the bread in half and hollow inside to make room for the vegetables.
Spread both sides with the pesto, arrange the vegetables on the pesto and pour the balsamic vinegar and olive oil on the veggies.
Place the cheese slices on the veggies. Close the sandwich and wrap tightly with a plastic wrap.
Put the sandwich on a plate and put some weight on it and refrigerate for at least 4 hour or up to 12 hours.

Enjoy with some baked chips for a delicious picnic meal.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have cooked up for Day 2 of BM# 6.

Update 6.30.11: Sending these wraps over to Valli's Sandwich Mela.

Vegetarian Wrap Sandwiches for Picnic

2011-06-23T20:54:00.004-04:00

Time for another Blogging Marathon, BM# 6, and I’m part of group 2 that’s starting the marathon today with 19 fellow bloggers. Big thanks to Valli for organizing this edition. I’m super excited about this edition since I’ve taken “Picnic Food” as my theme. Picnics are so much fun, good time with friends & family and lots of good food.

We recently had a Father’s day picnic in a park close to where we live and we enjoyed it a LOT. Our dear host is an excellent organizer and we had everything from food to games all pre-planned and everybody had loads of fun.

Summer is already here in our neck of woods and what’s more perfect than having a picnic to enjoy the lovely summer weather. But while planning the food for a picnic, there are certain things to remember: do you have a cooler to keep the food chilled – if not then items that have eggs/ meat/ dairy etc. are NOT advisable to make. Do you plan to take silverware? If not then don’t make rice/ salads etc. that need spoons and forks to serve. Will the picnic spot have at least tables (if not chairs)? If not then don’t make anything elaborate to serve like a make yourself salad or rice and side dishes to go with it, portable sandwiches are perfect in this situation. So bottom line is do some research of the picnic area you will be visiting and carry food accordingly. Don’t forget to have lots of fun.

So for the next 7 days I’ll be posting recipes that are appropriate for picnics. Today I have these wraps that I made for our recent picnic. I made two fillings: Palak- Chole (Spinach-chickpea) & Teriyaki tofu. I took the spinach-chickpea filling idea from Nupur’s recipe here. Teriyaki tofu recipe is from Sala’s recipe here.

Here’s how I made the wraps:

Ingredients:
Tortillas – 12 (I used spinach and roasted garlic flavored)

Cabbage - 1 cup, finely grated

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Broccoli slaw - 1 cup (this is packaged grated broccoli, carrots and red cabbage)

Jasmine rice - 1 cup, cooked

For Spinach – chickpea filling:
Chickpeas – 1 cup
Onion – 2 medium, finely chopped
Spinach – ½ bag of frozen chopped spinach (or 4-5 cups of fresh spinach)
Tomato puree – ¼ cup
Ginger+garlic paste – ½ tsp
Chana masala – ½ tsp
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric – pinch
Salt – to taste

Method:

Soak chickpeas in lots of water for at least 6 hours and pressure cook until soft. Keep aside.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a sauté pan, add ½ tsp cumin seeds and once the seeds start to splutter add onions and sauté until lightly browned around the edges.
Add g+g paste and turmeric, cook for a minute. Add thawed spinach and tomato puree, cook until spinach is cooked and tomatoes don’t smell raw, about 5-6 minutes.
Next add channa masala, red chili powder, salt; mix well.
Add the cooked chickpeas and cook until the heated through and the curry is almost dry.
Check the seasonings and adjust accordingly.

For teriyaki tofu:

Ingredients:

Extra firm tofu – 1 15 oz. package

Soy sauce – ½ cup

Mirin – ¼ cup

Brown Sugar – ¼ cup

Rice vinegar – ¼ cup

Fresh ginger – 2tbsp, grated

Method:

Drain and press tofu for at leave an hour to remove all the extra moisture. See here for Sala’s excellent pictorial on how to press tofu.
Once ready, cut them into 1" long pieces and sauté until lightly browned on all sides.
In the meantime make the teriyaki sauce: bring rest of the ingredients to a gentle boil in a small non stick sauce pan. Simmer for couple of minutes or until sugar is dissolved and thickens a little bit.
When the tofu pieces are evenly browned on all sides, pour in the teriyaki sauce and let the mixture bubble and thicken on low flame for 2-3 minutes. Turn the tofu pieces around to coat with the sauce. Turn off the heat and keep the tofu ready for making the wraps.

Assembling the wraps:

Microwave the tortillas for 25-30 seconds to make them pliable.
Spinach-Chickpea wrap: Mix grated cabbage with some lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Place 2-3 tbsp spinach-chickpea curry filling and some cabbage mixture on the bottom half of the tortilla and fold the ends over the filling and roll and wrap to make the sandwich.
Teriyaki Tofu Wrap: Mix broccoli slaw with some lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Place 2-3 tbsp jasmine rice, lay 3-4 tofu pieces and some broccoli slaw on the rice, fold, roll and wrap to make the sandwich.
Cut the wraps in half for easy handling.

Notes: Choice of fillings for the wraps is endless, just make sure that fillings don't make the wraps soggy. ortillas can be easily substituted with rotis/ chapathis for a kathi roll kind of wraps. These wraps can stay out for may be 4-6 hours and should be refrigerated after that.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners are cooking for Day 1 of Blogging Marathon 6.

Update 6.30.11: Sending these wraps over to Valli's Sandwich Mela.

Quick & Easy Egg Curry

2011-06-20T18:48:00.003-04:00

I am an EGG lover and so is my son and hubby. If it is left to my son and DH, they can eat eggs everyday and never complain. I make egg-fried rice for my son at least once a week if not more. With that kind of egg loving, I couldn’t pass up on this easy egg curry dish from Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbook, “At Home with Madhur Jaffrey”.

Indian curries/ gravies usually need a lot of prep work and cook time, but this curry the gravy/ sauce is made in the blender and then cooked, which cuts down on the prep & cook time significantly. A great dish for impromptu egg-loving guests.

Ingredients:
Eggs – 6, boiled and peeled
Yogurt – ¼ cup
Tomatoes – 4, coarsely chopped (or use 1 cup tomato puree)
Ginger – 1” piece
Besan (Chickpea flour) – 3tbsp
Curry powder – 2tsp (or more to taste) (I used MTR brand curry powder)
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Fennel seeds – ¼ tsp

Method:

Blend yogurt, tomatoes, ginger, besan, curry powder and salt along with 1 cup of water to form a smooth sauce.
Heat 2tbsp oil in a large sauté pan, add the tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter, take the pan off the heat and add 1 cup of water and the curry sauce.
Put the pan back on heat and bring the sauce to a simmer on medium heat. Reduce the flame to very low, cover and gently simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the boiled eggs and cook until heated through. Serve with rice.

Khara Biscuit for ICC-May

2011-06-14T20:54:00.000-04:00

For this month’s Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Srivalli wanted us to make an Indian baked goodie. We are using Champa’s Khara biscuit recipe that makes savory, melt in your mouth cookies that are a snap to make.

This is the first time ever we baked for ICC and I was really excited about the challenge, since I’ve never made savory cookies before. The recipe also requires very few ingredients and needs less than 30 minutes of hands on time.

Even though the recipe is simple enough to make, I had to get some help to make these yummy goodies. My 3 year old had a blast making (messing up) the cookies. Here’s how I made them.

Champa's Original recipe here.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour – 2 cups
Butter – 1/3 cup, softened
Yogurt – 4tbsp (original recipe had only 2-3 tbsp, but I added a little more than 4tbsp to get the correct consistency of the dough)
Sugar – 4tsp
Salt – 1tsp
Pepper – 2tsp
Cilantro – 2tbsp, finely chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Cover 2 baking sheets with parchment papers and set aside.
Whisk flour, salt and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar in a medium bowl, until light and fluffy. Add 2tbsp yogurt and continue to beat.
Next add flour mixture and beat slowly. The mixture was pretty dry, so I used my hands to incorporate all the ingredients and added an additional 2tbsp of yogurt to make a smooth, non-sticky dough. Add chopped cilantro and work it into the dough.
Roll the dough into ¼” thickness.
Use cookie cutter or bottle lids to cut the cookies. Place them on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Enjoy with a cup of tea (You can tell from my half filled cup that I'm not a tea drinker :-) . We usually serve a sweet (dessert) with a hot (savory) when serving tea, so I made Champa's Ricotta coconut fudge. The only modification I made to the recipe is that I added 1 cup of coconut powder along with 1 cup of roasted ground cashews, this is one quick and easy dessert that can whipped up in no time. Thanks to Champa for both the recipes and thanks to Valli for choosing this savory snack for ICC.

Quinoa Upma

2011-06-09T05:54:00.005-04:00

Quinoa is such a versatile grain, just like rice, but nutritionally way better than rice. I love the way quinoa swells up with the distinct white ring and the kernel turning transparent – it’s just beautiful. I also like the slightly nutty bite and taste that the cooked grains have. I use quinoa pretty much like rice and make pilafs or even pulihora with it.

When I saw this recipe for Quinoa upma in India Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant, I wanted to try it right away. I don’t know if it happens to you too but sometimes when I see a recipe I can just feel it is going to be yummy and sometimes I know right away that a recipe will not work just by reading. But there are sometimes when I think it is going to turn out awesome, the end result just lets your intuition down. Well I’m happy to report that this recipe definitely falls in the first category and the end result was truly delicious.

Ingredients (makes just about 2 servings**):
Quinoa – 2/3 cup

Dry Red chili - 1

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Curry leaves - 20

Onion - 1 large, finely chopped

Green chili - 1, slit vertically

Ginger - ½" piece, finely grated
Tomato - 1, coarsely chopped

Red chili powder - ¼tsp (or to taste)
Cilantro - 1tbsp, finely chopped

Sugar - ½tsp

Salt - to taste

Lemon juice - 1tbsp

Method:

Soak quinoa for 15 minutes. Then drain and rinse with cold water. Add quinoa and 1¼ cups of water to a heavy-bottom pan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer covered for about 18-20 minutes or until the grains are cooked and the characteristic white ring around the kernel is formed.
Heat tbsp oil in a sauté pan over medium heat, add the dry red chili and mustard seeds and once the seeds start to splutter, add the curry leaves and fry till they are nice and crisp.
Add the onions and cook until they start to turn golden, about 6-8 minutes. Next add the green chili and ginger and stir for 1 minute.
Add the chopped tomato, salt and red chili powder and cook until tomatoes turn mushy and the mixture starts to dry out.
Add the cooked quinoa and cook until heated through.
Finish with sugar, sprinkling of cilantro and lemon juice. Mix well and serve hot.

** I say about 2 servings because this upma filled only 1½ lunch boxes for my husband and me and I ended up taking something else for lunch. So the recipe will probably make 2 servings if eating with other dishes, otherwise increase the proportions accordingly.

Mango Ice Cream and a Birthday

2011-05-30T14:29:00.004-04:00

Cook's Hideout completed 5 years this month. I created this blog as a hobby and a way to document my cooking trial and errors and I'm happy that I'm able to do just that even today. I've met so many incredible food bloggers along the way in the past few years and I've more virtual friends than actual real-life friends. I think about some of them who have stopped blogging over the years and wonder what they are up to now. I have to thank Srivalli for organizing the blogging marathons that keeps me on my toes and makes me post everyday, bonus being getting to know new bloggers and their amazing blogs. Thanks to my family for their patience. Thanks to each and every one of you who come to my blog for your encouraging words. I hope to keep going on many more years to come.

Mango ice cream is something that I absolutely adore and thought would be a perfect recipe to post for the blog's birthday. It used to be a delicacy when we were growing up, only available during summer time. I’m not sure if the situation is still the same in India, but here in the US, Indian groceries carry Mango pulp all through the year making mango ice cream accessible any time you want it.

I already posted a Mango ice cream recipe couple of years back, but this time I wanted to use the cornstarch thickening method that I’ve used for my vanilla ice cream to make it creamier and less icy. The end result was this creamy and delicious ice cream with no added preservatives, but filled with yummy mango goodness.

Ingredients:

Mango puree – 2½ cups

Heavy cream – 1 cup

Whole milk – 2cups

Sugar – ¾ cup

Cardamom powder – 2tsp

Cornstarch – 1½tbsp

Light Corn syrup – 2tbsp

Cream cheese – 3tbsp, softened (to make ice cream scoopable)

Method:

Whisk cornstarch with 3tbsp milk in a small bowl and set aside.
Add the rest of the milk to a sauce pan along with cream, corn syrup and sugar. Bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer the mixture until sugar dissolves, about 5-6 minutes.
Add the mango puree and simmer for another 2 minutes.
Take off the heat and slowly stir in the cornstarch slurry, mix thoroughly and put it back on flame.
Return to boil and cook on medium flame until the mixture thickens a little, about 2 minutes.
Take the mixture of the heat, whisk in the softened cream cheese and cardamom powder.
Allow to cool completely; chill for 4 hours or overnight.
Once chilled, follow the ice cream machine’s instructions to make the ice cream. Enjoy!!

Spicy Cauliflower curry (Masaaledar Phool gobhi)

2011-05-29T06:00:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it is the last day of BM# 5 and I can't believe that I posted everyday for 2 weeks. Big thanks to Valli for organizing this marathon and choosing interesting themes. So for day 7 of the marathon, I thought I'll make something from "660 Curries" cookbook by Raghavan Iyer.

This is a simple curry with cauliflower and tomatoes and can be cooked within 30 minutes. Goes great with rice or roti.

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1 medium head, cut into 1" florets

Red onion - 1 small, thinly sliced

Tomatoes - 4, medium or 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes

Garlic - 3-4 cloves, cut into thin lengthwise slivers

Ginger - 2" piece, julienned

Ground cumin (jeera) - 2tsp

Ground coriander (dhaniya) - 2tsp

Red chili powder (Cayenne pepper) - 1tsp

Turmeric - 1/4 tsp

Chickpea flour - 2tbsp

Salt - t0 taste

Cilantro - for garnish

Method:

Heat 2tbsp oil in a sauté pan over medium heat; add onions, ginger and garlic and sauté until onions start to caramelize, about 8-10 minutes.
Add cumin, coriander, chili powder, turmeric and salt. Cook for about 30 seconds.
Then add the tomatoes, cauliflower and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Then lower the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 12-15 minutes.
Sprinkle in the chickpea flour and quickly stir into the sauce to thicken it slightly. Allow the sauce to simmer, uncovered, for another 1-2 minutes to thicken further.
Stir in chopped cilantro and serve.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up on the final day of the marathon.
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Root Vegetable Curry

2011-05-28T07:36:00.001-04:00

For day 6 of BM#5, I made this root vegetable curry with yam, potato and carrots. I saw the recipe in eenadu.net and wrote it down in my diary and have been meaning to make it for quite some time now, finally yesterday I made to post for the marathon.

I thought the use of coconut milk in the curry gives it a different dimension, almost a Keralan twist to the dish. It is mildly spiced with the sweetness from the carrots and coconut milk and slight spiciness from the green chilies. I used frozen yam/ suran/ kanda and it made making this dish in 30 minutes possible. If using fresh, microwave all the veggies to cut down on the cooking time.

Ingredients:
Yam/ Suran/ Kanda – 1 cup chopped
Potato – 2 medium, chopped
Carrots – 2 medium, diced
Onion – 2 medium, chopped
Coconut milk – ½ cup
Ginger – 1tsp, grated
Green chilies – 2-3 (use more for spicier curry)
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Curry leaves – 8-10
Bay leaves – 2
Cinnamon stick – 1” piece
Cloves – 4
Salt – to taste

Method:

Heat 2tbsp oil in a sauté pan; add bay leaves, cinnamon stick and cloves and once it start smelling fragrant and aromatic, add onions and turmeric.
Sauté until onions turn translucent, 6-8 minutes.
Next add all the veggies, salt and ½ cup of water. Cover and cook until the veggies are tender, should take about 15 minutes.
Next add coconut milk and bring to a boil. Simmer for another 2 minutes and turn off the heat.

Serve with steamed rice and dal.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today.
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Spinach-Cabbage Lentil Curry (Palakura-Cabbage Pappu kura)

2011-05-27T18:51:00.006-04:00

I know the title is a little misleading, how can a dish be a pappu (dal) and a kura (curry). I wonder too!! My intention was to make a dry curry with moong dal, but ended up adding a little too much water as I wanted to make the curry in 30 minutes, but ended up with a very mushy dal. To add insult to injury none of the pictures I took came out good. But it tasted awesome. Well, in the spirit of blogging marathon, I’m going to post the recipe and the picture, but I’m going to redeem myself and make a better looking curry soon.

I usually make this curry with just spinach, but this time I only had half a bag of baby spinach, so I added half a head of cabbage to make enough curry for 3-4 servings.

Ingredients:
Spinach – 3 cups, chopped
Cabbage – ½ of a medium head, about 4 cups chopped
Moong dal (Pesarapappu) – ½ cup
Garlic – 2 cloves, roughly chopped
Green chilies – 2, slit vertically
Turmeric – ¼ tsp Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Urad dal (minapappu) – ½ tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Dry red chilies – 2, broken
Curry leaves – 8-10

Method:

Soak moong dal in water for about 5-10 minutes (up to half an hour if you have time), in the mean time get the veggies ready.
Heat 2tsp oil in a sauté pan, add tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter add moong dal (drained), spinach and cabbage. Add turmeric and mix well.
Cover and cook on medium flame stirring occasionally until dal is cooked through and cabbage is cooked through, should take about 15-20 minutes.
Season with salt and cook for another minute. Serve with steamed rice or roti.

Usually there’s no need to add water to cook the lentils since if are soaked and both cabbage and spinach give out water while cooking. I wanted to finish the dish within 30 minutes, so added about ¼ cup of water along with the veggies which ended up making my dal too mushy. Ideally this is a dry curry where should be able to see the dal whole.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for Day 5 of BM#5.
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Chayote Gravy Curry (Chow Chow Gravy Curry)

2011-05-26T20:13:00.004-04:00

Today, day 4 of BM# 5, I have a curry that can be made in a hurry in the pressure cooker. Chayote/ Chow chow/ Bengaluru vankaya takes a little while to cook on stove top, but takes just minutes to cook to tender in the pressure cooker.

I didn’t know chayote is a widely used vegetable in Latin American cuisine and it is also eaten raw in salads and salsas. Another thing that I didn’t know that even the root, stems and leaves of the chayote plant are edible. So there you go some wiki gyan to start a conversation at your next party.

Coming back to the curry, I used MTR brand curry masala that I bought recently and it gave the dish the bright orange-red color and subtle masala flavor that was not too over-powering. Dish was mild and not too hot which is how I like my curries, but my husband on the other hand prefers spicier dishes, so increase the amount of curry powder and red chili powder if you want a spicier curry. Also curry powder can be replaced with garam masala, Kitchen king masala would be awesome addition too.

Ingredients:
Chayote/ Chow chow – 2, peeled and chopped
Onion – 1 large, finely chopped
Tomato puree – ¼ cup
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Curry powder (I used MTR brand) – 1½ tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Ginger+Garlic paste – ½ tsp
Cashew butter – 2tbsp
Milk – ½ cup (optional)
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Urad dal – 1tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – 8-10

Method:

Heat 1tbsp oil in a pressure cooker, add tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter, add the onions and sauté until lightly browned around the edges, takes about 6-7 minutes.
Add turmeric and ginger+garlic paste at this point; mix well and cook for 1 minute.
Add tomato puree and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Next add cashew butter, red chili powder, curry powder, salt and chopped chayote. Mix well; add ½ cup of milk or water, no need to add too much water since chayote gives out moisture while cooking.
Close the lid and pressure cook on medium flame for 2 whistles.
Once the pressure drops, open the lid and serve hot with rice or rotis.

Lau Bori (Bengali Bottlegord Curry with Vadi)

2011-05-25T21:08:00.002-04:00

This is such a simple dish and can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes. After trying all these Bengali recipes here is my high level summary: most of the vegetarian curries (that I tried) do not have onion or garlic and are tempered with spices like cinnamon stick and/ or bay leaf and seasoned with grated ginger Bengalis absolutely love their poppy seeds. Well this curry doesn’t include poppy seed action, but the other 2 points from my summary hold true. This is another recipe that I got from Sandeepa’s Bong cookbook and I followed the recipe to the T.

Ingredients:

Bottle gourd – 1 medium, peeled and chopped into ¼” pieces
Tomato – 2 medium, finely chopped
Ginger – 1 tsp, grated
Green chilies – 2-3
Ground Cumin – ½ tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Moong dal vadi – ½ cup, fried until golden brown
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Bay leaves – 2
Cinnamon stick – 1” piece
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Method:

Heat 1tbsp oil in a sauté pan; add the tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter, add the tomatoes and cook covered until they turn mushy.
Add chopped bottle gourd and turmeric and sauté for 2 minutes.
Next add ground cumin, red chili powder and salt.
Cover and cook, stirring once in a while, until the veggie is completely cooked and the curry is dry, takes about 15 minutes.
Crumble the fried vadi on top and serve with steamed rice.

Spicy Colacasia (Sookhi Arvi Curry)

2011-05-24T20:57:00.004-04:00

For day 2 of BM# 5, I have a quick and easy arbi/ arvi/ chamadumpa/ colacasia fry that I made for our weekend lunch and it turned out spicy and yummy. My mom makes really good chamadumpa vepudu (arvi fry) that are crisp and delicious. I’ve tried a number of times, but my curry usually ends up being mushy and not crisp. I think the arbi that we get here are a little too mealy and disintegrate when boiled and I might be boiling them a little too much too.

When I saw the recipe and the drool worthy pictures in Pure & Simple cookbook by Vidhu Mittal that I borrowed from the library, I wanted to give the dish a try. My all time favorite dish with arbi is this curry with peanut-garlic sauce from 660 Curries by Ragavan Iyer, but this dish turned out equally good and can be made within 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

Arbi – 8-10, medium sized

Ajwain (Carom) seeds – ½ tsp

Hing (Asafoetida) – ¼ tsp

Red chili powder – ½ tsp (add more if you want more heat)

Ground coriander – 1 tsp

Amchoor powder (dry mango powder) – 1/4 tsp

Salt – to taste

Method:

Pressure cook arbi for only 1-2 whistles. Once the arbi are cool enough to handle, peel them and squish them or flatten them a little bit with your hands, this will give the veggie more surface area to brown and turn crunchy and yummy.
Heat 2tbsp oil in a sauté pan; add ajwain and hing; once the seeds start to splutter add the boiled and flattened arbi.
Add the dry masalas and salt and mix to coat the veggie uniformly. Cook on medium flame until golden brown crust forms on both sides, this will take about 5-6 minutes.

Serve hot with steamed rice and dal.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today:
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli

Aloo (& Begun) Posto

2011-05-23T20:30:00.004-04:00

I’m joining the 3rd group for Blogging Marathon# 5 with “Curry in a Hurry” theme. Thanks to Valli for letting me join the group again or in other words letting me continue the marathon for another week. So for the next 7 days I’ll be posting different curries that can be made within 30 minutes.

30 Minutes is the most I have on a week night to cook before all of us get cranky with hunger. I try to keep things simple and try to make dishes that don’t need too much baby sitting or lot of prep work. Here’s one such dish that I made from Sandeepa’s Bong Cookbook for last week’s Bengali marathon but couldn't post since I already had my 7 Bengali recipes.

Eggplant/ Brinjal is my absolute favorite veggie and potato-eggplant is one of my favorite combos. My mom makes simple vankaya-bangaladumpa kura (potato-eggplant curry) that is simply out of this world and it doesn’t even have any masalas or anything else to jazz it up; it’s just the veggies cooked with salt and curry powder. It’s just yumm.. After using poppy seeds in these dishes, poppy seeds have become my new favorite ingredient. These seeds are tiny but the creamy consistency they give to the dish is simply fabulous.

I had some eggplants that needed to be used up, so I added them too to make this Alu beguni posto. I hope alu posto purists are not going to pelt me with potatoes. This is my way of combining my favorite ingredients and I’ve to say the end result was “Moja” (delicious in Bengali???).

Thank you Sandeepa for correcting the name of the dish.

Sandeepa's original recipe here:
Ingredients:
Potatoes – 3 medium, peeled and diced
Eggplant – 4 medium, chopped
Green chilies – 3-4
Dry Red chilies – 2
Poppy seeds – ¼ cup
Salt – to taste
Cumin seeds – 1tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Method:

Grind poppy seeds into a smooth powder or if your blender needs some help, sprinkle some water to let the blade moving and make a smooth paste.
Heat 2tbsp oil in a sauté pan, add cumin seeds and once they start to splutter add red chilies and sauté for 30 seconds.
Next add potatoes and eggplant; sauté on medium-high flame until potatoes turn lightly brown around the edges, about 5-6 minutes.
Add poppy paste and turmeric, mix well to coat all the veggies.
Add ½ cup of water, salt and green chilies; lower the heat to medium; cover and cook until the veggies are cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.

Serve with rice and dal for a complete meal.

Lets check and see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking today:
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Jayasree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Cool Lassi(e), Harini, Vaishali, Suma
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Kamalika, Srivalli

Bengali Aam Kheer (Mango Kheer)

2011-05-22T21:03:00.007-04:00

For the last day of blogging marathon#5 I wanted to make a Bengali dessert/ sweet. My dad worked in Burdwan, West Bengal for a year or two and when he visited us he would bring back containers filled with Rasagullas for us to enjoy. Those were the best rasagullas I’ve ever tasted and I don’t think any of the canned or the restaurant ones come even close. I wanted to make rasagullas for the marathon, but didn’t have the time to make them.

Many of the Bengali desserts are made with chenna or sweetened paneer, but with the limited time I had I decided to make this equally delicious and decadent Aam Kheer (Mango Kheer) . Why didn't I ever think of adding mango puree to sweetened and thickened milk to make this divine dessert. So simple, yet so sophisticated and the taste is just out of this world.

Recipe adapted from Sandeepa's Bong Cookbook. I've to thank Sandeepa for all the Bengali dishes on her blog and we had a great time making and eating these delicious dishes. I changed the original recipe a little bit to use up the leftover evaporated and condensed milk I had after making this. I only had 2% milk on hand, but I don't think that affected the taste or consistency of the end product.

Ingredients:

Milk - 2 cups (I used 2%)

Evaporated milk - 1 cup

Condensed milk - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1/4 cup (optional)

Saffron - few strands

Ground Elaichi (Cardamom) - 1/2 tsp

Ripe mango - 2 medium

Method:

Heat 2% milk with evaporated milk in a heavy bottom sauce pan and bring to a boil.
Add condensed milk and sugar (if using) and continue to simmer on medium flame stirring continuously until the milk thickens and reduces to about half of the original volume, takes about 50 minutes - 1 hour.
Add saffron and elaichi to the milk mixture in the last 10 minutes of cooking. Remove from heat and cool completely.
Chill in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours.
When ready to serve, puree 1 mango and mix with the kheer. Chop the other mango and garnish the serving dishes with cubed mango for a double dose of mango goodness.

This was probably one of the best desserts I've ever made with mango. The kheer had a thick, almost dulce de leche consistency and taste and the sweet mango complements the kheer in a great way. This is a must try for all Mango lovers.

Let's check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today:
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Priya Suresh, Srivalli, Usha
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Vardhini,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Harini, Suma, Veena
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Aarthi, Kalyani, Pavani, Shylaja
Summer Coolers: PJ, Vaishali
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast: Sushma Pinjala

Luchi with Aloo'r Dom (Bengali Maida Puri with Aloo Curry)

2011-05-21T17:17:00.006-04:00

For Day 6 of BM#5, I wanted to combine my bread making skills from BM#4 with the regional theme for BM#5 and make these Bengali maida puris. My puri making have improved after my mom sent a puri press to do the hard work. So now all I have to do is make the dough, press the puris in my puri press and fry the, up; really simple. Only thing is I don't like to deal all that oil afterwards and hence my reluctance to make anything fried.

Well today I made these yummy puris for lunch and the three of us ate all the puris. I felt so full and sleepy that I had to take a 2 hour siesta, which happens very rarely.

Recipe adapted from Sandeepa's Bong Cookbook.

Luchi:

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1½ cups
Whole wheat flour - ¾cup

Shortening or oil - 2tbsp (I used crisco)

Salt - ½tsp

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl until oil is evenly distributed in the flour.
Add water a little at a time and form a stiff but pliable dough.
Cover with a damp paper towel and rest for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into small Indian lime size pieces (limes & lemons in the U.S. are HUGE) and make them into smooth balls. Roll each ball into a not to thin, not too thick disc of about 3-4" diameter or if you have the puri press, just press the dough into a disc and place on a plate.
Heat enough oil in a pan for deep frying. Oil should be really hot before making the puris. Slide one disc slowly into the oil and it should sizzle and if the oil temperature is right, it will rise to the top in matter of seconds. Press lightly on the top with a slotted spoon to make the puri puff up. flip and fry on the other side for 30 seconds. Remove on to paper towel lined plate and enjoy hot with Aloo'r dom or any other side dish.

Puri puffing up pictorial:

Aloo'r Dom (Bengali Dum Aloo):

Ingredients:

Small red skin potatoes - 8-10, boiled and peeled

Onion - 1 small, ground to a coarse paste

Tomato puree - ½ cup

Bay leaves - 2

Hing (Asafoetida) - a pinch

Ginger - 1 tsp, finely grated

Yogurt - 2tbsp

Ground Coriander - ½ tsp

Garam masala - ½tsp
Red chili powder - ½tsp (or to taste)
Salt - to taste

Method:

Heat 2tbsp oil in a pan; add bay leaves and hing and once the oil gets fragrant add onions and sauté till they are lightly browned.
Add the ginger paste and cook for another minute.
Next add tomato puree, cover and cook till oil leaves the sides of the pan.
In the meantime whisk the dry masala powders in yogurt and set aside.
Once the tomato mixture is ready, take the pan off of the heat and slowly whisk in the yogurt mixture. This will avoid curdling of yogurt.
Put the pan back on heat and slide in the potatoes (I cut them into half as they were little big, but if you have tiny potatoes use them whole), season with salt; cover and cook on low flame until the water in the gravy evaporates and the masala coats the potatoes.
Enjoy with Luchi.

My son loved the puris and enjoyed them with some raspberry jam and we enjoyed them with aloo'r dom for a delicious Bengali menu for lunch.

Mishti Doi - Bengali Sweet Yogurt

2011-05-20T20:42:00.005-04:00

For some reason when I think about Bengalis I picture them discussing about politics while eating their puris with something sweet over breakfast. I always thought Bengalis are food lovers and eat a lot of sweet dishes. I have no clue when and why this image formed in my mind. But after reading this wiki article, I probably did get my information from a reliable source.

Quoting from Wikipedia: “The Bengalis are great food lovers and take pride in their cuisine. A meal, for the Bengali, is a ritual in itself even if it only boiled rice and lentils (dal bhat), with of course a little fish. Bengalis, like the French, spend not only the great deal of time thinking about the food but also on its preparation and eating. Quips like “Bengalis live to eat” and “Bengalis spend most of their income on food” are not exactly exaggerated.” I’m not sure if this the norm even today, but this is how I like to think of them.

At the same time if I think of people from Andhra, I picture them talking about movies over a cup of tea or coffee, but never with real food. I don’t think food plays such an important role in our households, even though I wish it did, but I can't think of my dad going to the market everyday to get produce. My mom shudders even today when asked about the grocery shopping that my dad used to do more than 20 years ago. He would come back home with load full of veggies every week from his trip to monda market (Secunderabad) and to my mom's despair there was always at least 1-2 kilos of beets. Not the small dainty ones, but cricket ball size hard ones. My mom never liked beets and she would let them "almost" go bad before she cooked them. Then she completely took over grocery shopping when we moved into our house and the farmers market was at walking distance. I don't she ever buys beets now.. (Now that I think about it, I've to ask her to confirm).

I digress... Coming back to Bengali cuisine, a traditional Bengali meal is very elaborate with about 5-6 courses starting off with something bitter like shukto and ending with something sweet like this Mishti (sweet) Doi (yogurt).

I'm not sure how the mishti doi is made traditionally, but this recipe from Hare Krsna takes about 3-5 minutes of hands on time and is probably the easiest and yummiest dessert I've ever made after this one. The end result tasted like dulche de leche to me, but my yogurt-intolerant husband said he could taste the yogurt in it. I had to strongly disagree, but the good thing is I get to eat all the mishti doi that I made and I'm loving every spoonful of it.

Recipe makes 4 7oz. servings.

Ingredients:

Condensed milk - ½ of 12oz. can

Evaporated milk - ½ of 12oz. can

Yogurt - ½ cup or 4oz.

Elaichi powder (Cardamom) or milk masala - 1tsp

Method:

Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Blend both the milks and yogurt together with an immersion blender or in regular blender until frothy.
You can either mix elaichi or milk masala into the milk mixture or sprinkle on the top like I did.
Pour the mixture into individual 7oz. ramekins or a circular or oval baking dish. Cover tightly with aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes turn off the oven and leave the ramekins in the oven undisturbed overnight.
Next morning take them out of the oven and put them in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours before serving.

Shukto - Bengali Mixed Vegetable Curry

2011-05-19T20:40:00.005-04:00

For Day 4 of BM# 5, I made this mixed vegetable Bengali curry which interestingly includes bittergourd along with other veggies. Again recipe courtesy Sandeepa's Bong cookbook. In Andhra bitter gourd or kakarakaya is usually used mostly by itself and as far as I know is rarely cooked with other vegetables. So when I saw this recipe I thought it was very unique (at least to me since I've never tried this combination of veggies before) and wanted to give it a try. The veggies are cooked with mustard and poppy seed paste which gives the curry a totally different dimension. The dish turned out delicious in a very interesting and different way.

I followed the recipe to the T, except that I didn't have green beans on hand, so didn't use any. Also I added 2 dry red chilies to the blender when grinding the mustard and poppy seeds to add some heat to the curry.

Ingredients:

Bitter gourd (Karela) - 1 medium, diced

Ridge gourd (Beerakaya) - 1 medium, chopped into half moons

Plantain (Raw banana) - 1 small, chopped into half moons

Potato - 1 medium, chopped into half moons

Japanese Eggplant - 1 medium, chopped into half moons

Ginger - 1" grated

Moong vadi - 1/2 cup, fried until golden brown

Milk - 1/3 cup

Salt - to taste

For tempering:

Methi seeds (Fenugreek seeds) - 1/2 tsp

Bay leaves - 2

Hing (Asafoetida) - 1/4tsp

For the paste:

Mustard seeds - 2tbsp

Poppy seeds - 1tbsp

Dry red chilies - 2

Method:

Soak mustard seeds and poppy seeds in water for at least half an hour. Then drain the water and grind to a paste. Since the amount was so little, my blender blade didn't make a very smooth paste. I tried my best and gave up at the end.
Sauté each veggie separately until lightly roasted about 3-4 minutes per veggie. Remove and set aside. Sauté bittergourd last.
Add 2tbsp oil in the same pan; add methi seeds, bay leaves and hing and once the seeds turn reddish and hing starts to smell fragrant, add all the sautéed veggies. Add the ground mustard paste and grated ginger. Mix well.
Next add milk, salt and 1/2 cup of water. Cover and cook till the veggies are tender and the water is all absorbed.

Add the fried moong vadi before serving. Serve hot with steamed rice at the beginning of the meal to cleanse the palette and get your digestive juices flowing.

Bengali Egg Curry (Dim er Dhoka)

2011-05-18T20:39:00.003-04:00

For Day 3 of BM#5, I made this yummy Bengali egg curry. Eggs are beaten and steamed to make egg cake which is then chopped and added to delicious gravy. Recipe adapted from Sandeepa’s Bong Cookbook. This is my third recipe in a row from Sandeepa’s blog which is filled with ton of yummy Bengali dishes that are easy to make and her posts are always so much fun to read. So if you haven’t already, do check out Sandeepa’s blog.

Coming back to the egg curry, I followed the recipe, but had to make slight changes to suit our palette. Here’s how I made it.

Sandeepa's original recipe here.
Ingredients:

For the Egg Cake:

Eggs – 6

Red onion – 1 small, finely chopped

Green chilies – 2, finely chopped

Coriander leaves – ¼ cup, finely chopped

Ginger paste – 1tsp

Milk – 3tbsp

Salt – to taste

Baking powder – a pinch

For the Gravy:

Red onions – 1 medium, finely chopped

Tomato puree – ½ cup

Panch phoron – ½ tsp

Ginger + garlic paste – 1tsp

Cashew butter – 2tbsp

Ground cumin – 1 tsp

Ground coriander – 1tsp

Red chili powder – ½ tsp

Sugar – ½ tsp

Salt – to taste

Method:

To make the Egg cake: Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add all the other ingredients and whisk until combined. Grease a stainless steel container with cooking spray and pour the egg mixture into it. Cover and steam in a pressure cooker (without the whistle) for 5-6 minutes from the time it starts to give out steam. Open the lid after 3 minutes and unmold the cake and cut into bite size pieces. Set aside.
To make the gravy: Heat 2tbsp oil in a large sauté pan; add panch phoron and once the seeds start to splutter, add onions and sauté until lightly browned around the edges.
Add g+g paste and cook for 1 minute or until they don’t smell raw anymore.
Next add tomato puree, cover and cook on medium flame for 5 minutes.
Add spice powders, sugar and salt along with 1 – 1½ cups of water to make the gravy. Let the gravy come to a simmer, whisk in cashew butter and add chopped egg cake pieces. Simmer the curry for 8-10 minutes or until the gravy is thickened. Serve with rice or roti.

I served the curry with rice and a Bengali style moong dal (recipe coming up tomorrow) for a complete Bengali meal.

Bengali Bittergourd Curry with Poppy seeds (Uchche Posto Jhuri)

2011-05-17T18:50:00.005-04:00

I was never a picky eater, but when I started thinking about how I felt about bitter gourd when I was young, I don’t have a distinct memory of either liking it or disliking it. May be my mom wasn’t feeding it to her kids, because she knew we wouldn’t like it or maybe she masked the bitterness and made us eat it, I have no memory whatsoever.

But one distinct memory I have was eating stuffed karela at our dear neighbors place; karelas were stuffed and tightly closed with kitchen twine and then sautéed until golden brown (may be in a batter—don’t remember that), but I remember them just melting in my mouth with no bitterness at all. I guess that was when I started really noticing and liking this bitter veggie.

I don’t mind slight bitterness anymore, but personally I try to take out as much of that bitter taste as I can by pre-cooking the gourd with yogurt or tamarind and then using the veggie as needed. For today’s Bengali dish for BM#5, I picked this delicious bitter gourd dish from Sandeepa’s Bong cookbook. I have to say this is one of the best karela dishes I have ever made. It’s a dry curry and the poppy seeds coat the bitter gourd and give them an almost creamy taste when eating. A must try for all Karela fans.

Did I mention the original recipe only has 5 ingredients, but with my pre-cooking the ingredient list grew to a whopping 6 ingredients that includes salt too.

Sandeepa's Original recipe here.
Ingredients:
Bitter gourd/ Karela/ Kakarakaya – 4 medium, diced
Poppy seeds – 3tbsp
Dry Red chilies – 3
Yogurt – 2tbsp
Salt – to taste
Mustard seeds – 1tsp

Method:

Grind poppy seeds in a spice grinder or small food processor either dry or with very little water.
Mix yogurt with chopped karela, ½ tsp salt and ¼ cup of water in a microwave safe container; loosely cover and microwave for 5-6 minutes or until the veggie is almost tender, but not completely cooked. Drain and rinse. Squeeze the water completely from the veggie and keep aside.
Heat 2tbsp oil in a sauté pan, add mustard seeds and once they start to platter, add the cooked karela and sauté on medium-low flame until completely cooked through and slightly browned around the edges.
Add the poppy seed powder or paste; mix well so that the veggies are completely coated with the powder.
Season with salt and cook for 5 more minutes until the flavors meld. Serve with steamed rice and enjoy.

Bengali Red Masoor Dal (Bangali Musuri’r Dal)

2011-05-16T20:39:00.005-04:00

I’m back to blogging with Blogging Marathon #5. Big thanks to Valli for organizing this event yet again and coming up with very interesting themes. I chose "7 Days of Regional Special" and decided to make dishes from Bengal. I was debating whether to go with Rajastani or Bengali dishes since I’ve never tried these before, but finally settled with the Bangla recipes. There are quite a few Bengali bloggers with authentic recipes that I’ve been trying and will be posting for the next 7 days.

For my first recipe, I made this very comforting dal from Sandeepa’s bongcookbook. It’s a simple preparation made with masoor dal and tomato that is tempered with panch phoron. Panch phoron or Panch puran is a mixture of 5 spices, fenugreek, mustard, fennel, nigella and cumin seeds. I bought a packet of panch phoron some time back and have been adding to curries just because I like the subtle flavor the different seeds impart to the dish. But this is the first time I used them in a dal and we really LOVED it. As Sandeepa says in her post that this is a comfort dish, I totally agree with her. It was so easy to make and wasn’t any different from how I make, but the final dish was amazing and oh-so comforting.

Sandeepa's original recipe here.
Ingredients:
Red masoor dal – 1 cup
Red onion – 1 medium, thinly sliced
Green chilies – 2-3, slit vertically
Tomatoes – 2 medium, chopped
Panch phoron – 1tsp
Curry leaves – 6-8
Salt – to taste
Lemon juice – 2tbsp or more to taste

Method:

Pressure cook dal until tender, I cook for 4 whistles in my cooker.
Heat 1tsp oil in a sauce pan, add panch phoron and curry leaves; once the seeds to splutter, add onions and green chilies. Sauté until onions are lightly browned and translucent.
Add chopped tomatoes and a pinch of turmeric; cover and cook until tomatoes are mushy, about 4-5 minutes.
Add the cooked dal along with 2-3 cups of water and salt. Bring to a boil on medium high flame, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and mix well.

Serve with steamy hot rice for a comforting meal anytime of the day.

Let's check out what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today:
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Priya Suresh, Srivalli, Usha
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Vardhini,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets: Harini, Suma, Veena
Seven Days of Regional Specials: Aarthi, Kalyani, Pavani, Shylaja
Summer Coolers: PJ, Vaishali
Under 15 mins Quick Breakfast: Sushma Pinjala

Pudachi Wadi for ICC-April

2011-05-14T22:40:00.004-04:00

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli chose Pudicha Wadi recipe from Archana's Tried & Tested recipes. I don't think I ever heard about or had this dish before, but the process making this dish looked very interesting. I thought wadis were like pakodas (pakoras) where the veggie (s) are mixed with besan and deep fried, but in this recipe chopped cilantro or kothimeer is stuffed inside a wrapper and then deep fried.

The filling and the wrapper were so flavorful by themselves that I couldn't help myself from snacking on bits of dough and pieces of cilantro while cooking. I thought the addition of roasted and ground coconut, sesame and poppy seeds made the dish extra special. All in all a very yummy dish that is a little time consuming to make but the result is totally worth it. It took me about 1.5hrs to make and we finished all of them in 15minutes. Thoroughly enjoyed making and eating, thanks to Valli for choosing this dish and Archana for a fool-proof recipe.

Here's how I made the dish:

Filling: In a sauté pan, heat 2tsp oil and add 1 medium onion, chopped. Cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add 2 finely chopped green chilies, 1" piece of ginger grated and 2 cloves of garlic, minced. Cook for another 1-2 minutes or until garlic and ginger are fragrant don't smell raw anymore. Remove from heat and keep aside.
Dry roast until golden 1tbsp sesame seeds, 1tbsp poppy seeds and 2tbsp dry grated coconut, preferably separately and grind them together into a coarse powder.
In a medium bowl, add 2cups chopped cilantro, cooled onion mixture, sesame-coconut powder, red chili powder (to taste), 2tsp lime juice and salt (to taste). Keep the filling aside.
Covering: In a bowl, mix ¾ th cup each of Atta (whole wheat flour) and Besan, along with a pinch of turmeric, ½ tsp of red chili powder, 3tbsp of hot oil and salt to taste. Add water as needed to make a smooth pliable dough. Keep aside covered.
Spreading paste: In a small bowl, mix together 2tsp oil, 1tsp garam masala (kala masala) and 2tsp tamarind paste. Mix well and set aside.
Making the Wadis: Heat oil for deep frying. Divide the covering dough into small equal sized balls. Roll each ball into a thin disk, spread evenly with the paste, and place about 2-3 tbsp of filling in the middle. Fold the disc in such a way that the edges overlap a little bit in the middle. Fold the corners to cover the filling. Press all the edges with little water to seal. Deep fry until golden brown on both sides, this does not take too long, about 1 minute per side.
Remove onto a paper towel to drain extra oil, then cut them into bite size pieces and enjoy with sweet imli chutney or green chutney.

We enjoyed ours with sweet imli (tamarind) chutney (from Show me the Curry) and I have to say these wadis are definitely very addictive, even my 3-yr old came back for seconds. Enjoy!!

Soyflour-Chocolate Chip Pancakes for Maitri

2011-05-07T21:05:00.005-04:00

All of you foodie bloggers in the US, have you signed up for Maitri yet?? Maitri is foodie friendship chain where you get a box of secret ingredient from a like minded foodie. This is the Videsi version of Arusuvai chain in India. Priya and Reshmi are the organizers for the event and don't forget to check out their blogs for details about Maitri and sign up to get your own secret ingredient.

I got matched with Rashmy who blogs at Amma & baby and I received my mystery ingredient along with a small hint last weekend. She said it's a high protein flour and my first instinct said that it is soy flour and Rashmy confirmed that it is.

Soy flour is gluten free and can be substituted for some of the all-purpose flour in baking which gives the baked goods a protein boost. It also keeps baked goods from going stale. It also adds rich color, fine texture, moistness and tenderness to baked goods.

Today, I used soy flour to make chocolate chip pancakes. I modified the vegan pancakes recipe that I usually use to incorporate the soy flour and added some mini chocolate chips to make them a little fancy since today is yours truly's birthday. Here's how I made them:

Recipe adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - ¾ cup
Soy flour - ¼ cup
Whole wheat pastry flour - ¼cup
Baking powder - 2tsp
Ground Cinnamon - 1tsp
Almond milk - 1 - 1¼ cup (Soy milk or rice milk can also be used)
Canola oil - 2tbsp
Agave nectar - 2tbsp
Vanilla Essence - ½tsp
Chocolate Chips - ½ cup

Method:

Sift flours, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a large bowl.
In a measuring cup, add milk, oil, agave, vanilla essence, whisk until combined.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Some lumps in the batter are OK.
Heat a skillet on medium flame until nice and hot. Spray with cooking spray and pour ¼ cup of batter for each pancake. Let cook for 2-3minutes or until bubbles are formed to the top. Gently flip and cook on the other side for an additional 1 minute.
Remove and serve warm with maple syrup and favorite fruits.

Here's a mini Pictorial:

Sheermal-Sweet Yeasty Indian Bread

2011-04-24T15:59:00.004-04:00

Hope you are having a fun Easter Sunday. We went to Hershey Park yesterday and it was interesting to watch the whole process of cocoa beans turning into chocolate bars. Bought a lot of chocolate and kids had a blast on the roller coasters. Personally I'm not a roller coaster person, I'm happy watching everyone scream and have fun, I don't want to do it myself. It was a great Spring day to be out and about enjoying the weather and having fun.

For the last day of Blogging Marathon, I made these slightly sweet and yeasty bread called Sheermal. To me, the name sounds more like a porridge kind of a dish and not a bread. But apparently this is a sweetened naan made in the tandoor or an oven. I made these for lunch and served them to my son with some nutella spread on the top and he enjoyed it a LOT and called it "SWEET PIZZA". I have to say, these bread are very easy to make and the end result is soft, yeasty sweet bread that is awesome by itself or with some Almond Kheer like Yasmeen did here.

Thanks to Valli for organizing this marathon and looking forward to participating in the future marathons.

Recipe adapted from India Curry.

Ingredients:

Yeast - 2¼ tsp (0.25oz. pack)
Granulated Sugar - 1tsp
Milk - ¼cup
Salt - ¼tsp
All-purpose Flour - 1 cup

Whole wheat pastry flour - ½ cup (or just use 1½ cups of All-purpose flour)
Ghee - 2tbsp
Powdered Sugar - 2tbsp
Saffron - 6 strands
Egg - 1
Golden Raisins - for garnish

Method:

Mix yeast, granulated sugar, saffron and warm milk (at 100 to 110°F) in a measuring cup. Set aside.
Whisk egg and melted ghee in a small bowl.
Whisk flours, salt and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients. Mix well to form smooth dough. Add water if needed.
Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is soft and supple. This dough is very easy to handle and is great to work with.
Cover with plastic wrap or kitchen towel and allow to rise for about 1 hour or until doubled in volume.
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Knead dough again and divide into 6 equal parts.
Roll each part into 5" disc and place raisins on the top. Press lightly.
Bake on a greased baking sheet for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown spots are formed.

Serve hot and Enjoy!!

Here's a Pictorial:

Lets see what my fellow marathoners BM#4 have been cooking up today.

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Kulchas

2011-04-23T12:11:00.001-04:00

Its the 6th day of the Blogging Marathon and I definitely had a blast making these delicious Indian breads. I also started thinking why I avoid making rotis and I think I can't when I CAN make decent Indian breads. After a lot of thinking, I decided that I don't like making individual portions of anything, I prefer mass production. I don't like making samosas, laddoos or puris, but I love cooking dishes that can feed 4 people without much fuss. That explains why I prefer making a loaf of bread than make 12 rotis for dinner.

Hopefully after this marathon, I can get over my denial and make Indian breads more often. For today's Indian bread, I made the most frequently asked roti in restaurants, Kulchas. Kulchas are leavened flat-bread made with flour, yogurt, baking powder, baking soda and egg. The leavening principle of kulcha is similar to bhaturas and American buttermilk biscuits. The lactic acid in yogurt reacts with baking soda to make the dough light and rise. The baking powder helps continue the leavening during the cooking. Protein in the egg strengthens the structure of the leavening.

To make the Kulchas a little more healthy, I used whole-wheat pastry flour for part of the all-purpose flour. This didn't affect the texture or the taste and may be next time, I'll add a little more ww pastry flour.

What did I learn: The Mystery (Chemistry) of making Kulchas.

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour - 2½ cups
Whole-wheat Pastry flour - 1½cups (or use 4 cups of All-purpose flour)

Yogurt - ½cup
Salt - ¼tsp
Baking soda - ¼tsp
Baking powder - 1tsp
Sugar - ¼tsp
Ghee - 2tbsp
Egg - 1
Butter or ghee - for brushing (I used Earth Balance butter)

Method:

Sift flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder in a large bowl.
Beat yogurt, egg, sugar and ghee until well combined.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well to form a smooth dough. Add water if needed.
Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap or damp towel and set aside for about 2-4 hours.
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Knead the dough for 5 minutes and divide it into 8 equal parts. Roll each ball into round or oval shaped discs.
Bake 2 or 3 kulchas at a time on a greased baking sheet for 6-8 minutes or until light brown spots form on the bread. Brush with ghee/ butter once done.

Serve hot with some spicy cholay (chickpea curry) and mango lassi for an authentic Punjabi meal at home.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners BM#4 have been cooking up today.

Lauki Paratha (Sorakaya Paratha)

2011-04-22T15:30:00.004-04:00

For Day 5 of the Blogging Marathon and I've this healthy and delicious Lauki paratha. I started looking for Roti/ Paratha recipes once I decided to do the marathon and I finalized 7 recipes that I wanted to make. Then I borrowed "Pure & Simple: Homemade Vegetarian Indian Cuisine" by Vidhu Mithal from the library and when I saw the picture of lauki paratha, I wanted to try it for the marathon, so I pushed one of my Puri recipes out and in came this veggie rich paratha.

I had a rocky start while making this paratha. I added a little more than is needed to make the dough and it ended up very sticky. I tried to add more atta, but it was still too sticky. So I divided the dough into balls and rolled them in lot of atta and then made the parathas. The end result was yummy, slight nuttiness from the besan and mild after taste of the lauki, these parathas were just delicious. I served these to my picky 3 yr old with tomato pickle and he gustily gobbled them up, which is unusual because he eats everything with nutella or jam.

What did I learn: Even if you don't like Lauki, you would LOVE these Lauki parathas.

Ingredients:

Atta - 1½ cups

Besan - ½cup (I used brown chickpea flour for some added fiber)

Salt - ¾tsp
Yogurt - 2tbsp
Lauki (Bottle gourd) - ½lb, grated (about 2-3cups)
Carom seeds (Ajwain) - ½tsp
Cilantro - 2tbsp, finely chopped
Red chili powder - ½tsp
Turmeric - ¼tsp

Method:

Sieve atta and besan with salt. Add all the other ingredients and knead to make regular roti dough. Add water as needed to form the dough. Please note that lauki gives out moisture as it sits, so DO NOT add too much water.
Keep aside covered for 5 minutes.
Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Dust with atta and roll each ball into 6" disc.
Cook on heated skillet (tawa) with 1tbsp oil until light golden brown on both sides. Serve hot.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners BM#4 have been cooking up today.

Restaurant style Mughlai Paratha

2011-04-21T21:02:00.005-04:00

Today I have a restaurant style Mughlai paratha, it sounds pretty fancy and exotic, but it doesn’t need any special ingredients except for some yogurt and cream cheese. Recipe courtesy India curry and I followed it pretty much to the T.

What did I learn: Restaurant style Parathas CAN BE MADE AT HOME.

Ingredients:
Atta (Chapati Flour) – 1 cup
All purpose Flour – 2 cups
Salt – 1tsp
Ghee – 1½ tbsp
Cilantro – ¼ cup, finely chopped
Yogurt – ¾ cup

Cream cheese – ¾ cup, softened (I used whipped cream cheese which doesn’t have to be softened since it’s already whipped)

Method:

Sift atta, all purpose flour and salt.
Add ghee and rub into the flour and mix until it resembles crumbs.
Add cilantro and mix well.
Blend yogurt and cream cheese into a smooth past and add to the flour mixture.
Add water as needed and mix to form smooth dough. Knead for at least 5 minutes. I used my stand mixer to knead and it came out perfect.
Cover the dough with damp paper towel or kitchen towel and rest for about 1 hour.
Divide the dough into 8-10 equal parts.
Roll each dough into 6” round or oval discs and cook them on hot skillet (tawa) until brown spots are formed on both sides, brush with ghee while cooking if desired.

Serve with your favorite restaurant style curry. I served paneer kofta curry and simple peas pulao on the side to make a truly restaurant style dinner.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners BM#4 have been cooking up today.

Multi Grain Rotis with Amma’s Tomato Soup

2011-04-20T20:32:00.003-04:00

For day 3 of Blogging marathon, I made these simple rotis with a combination of different flours. I guess you can use any combination of flours to make these healthy rotis. I used atta (whole wheat flour), soy, besan (chickpea flour) and jowar flours.

What did I learn: Sky is the limit for making Rotis.

Ingredients:
Atta (Chapathi flour) – 2cups
Besan – ½ cup
Soy flour – ¼ cup
Jowar flour – ¼ cup
Salt – ½ tsp
Oil/ Ghee – as needed

Method:

Sift flours and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add warm water, little at a time, to the flour and mix and knead into smooth dough. Knead for about 5-8 minutes.
Cover with plastic wrap, damp paper towel or kitchen towel and rest for 20-30 minutes. Divide the dough into 8-10 equal parts.
Roll each dough ball into 5-6” disc.
Cook on pre-heated skillet (tawa) until brown spots are formed on both sides, about 2 minutes per side. Spread oil or ghee while cooking for added flavor (optional).

Serve hot with my Mom’s tomato soup. This is not your typical tomato soup; I’m even not sure why my Mom calls this a soup. It is actually tomato curry thickened with rice flour, it tastes great with rotis or puri. Only change I made is to add some tomato paste to jazz up the bland tomatoes we get here and to give the curry some more tomatoey flavor.

Amma's Tomato Soup:

Ingredients:

Tomatoes – 4 medium, chopped

Onion – 1 medium, chopped

Green chilies – 2, slit vertically

Tomato paste – 1tbsp

Red chili powder – ½ tsp (or to taste)

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Rice flour – 2tsp

Sugar – 1tsp

Salt – to taste

For tempering:

Chana dal – ½ tsp

Urad dal – ½ tsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Curry leaves – 6-8

Method:

Heat 1tbsp oil in a sauté pan; add the tempering ingredients and once the seeds start spluttering, add onions, green chilies and sauté until the onions are lightly browned.
Add tomato paste and chopped tomatoes, cover and cook on medium flame until the tomatoes turn mushy.
Next add turmeric, red chili powder, garam masala, sugar and salt. Cook for 2 minutes.
Whisk rice flour with ¼ cup of water, making sure that there are no lumps.
Add the slurry to the tomatoes and cook until the curry starts to simmer and thicken, should take another 2-3 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners BM#4 have been cooking up today.