Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili

Blogging Marathon# 61: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Dishes using Root Vegetables

Dish: Sweet Potato Quinoa Chili
For the final day of this week's marathon I made a hearty and comforting chili with sweet potato, quinoa and black beans. This is a one pot meal that is great to make on a weeknight too.

Sweet potato is a tuberous root with a smooth skin with different colors like yellow, orange, red, brown, purple and beige. Even the color of the flesh differs from one variety to the other from beige, through white, red, orange and purple. Something new that I learnt is that the sweet potatoes with white or pale yellow flesh are less sweet and moist than those with red or orange flesh.

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Harissa (Chili Paste)

Buffet on Table: Week 3 -- Condiments from Countries

Day 13: North Africa -- Harissa

Today I have a simple and most useful all-purpose chili paste from North Africa. It is great to serve as a condiment for grilled foods and elevates the taste of braised dishes. This condiment is made with only dried red chilies, garlic, olive oil and a tiny bit of cumin.

Even though it is made with red chilies, it does not have to be really fiery hot and spicy, you can use mild tasting chilies too. Experiment with different chilies to find your tolerance level.

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Vegetarian White Chili with Roasted Poblano Peppers

Can you make a wild guess of what could be the scariest thing that can happen to you right now? We experienced it recently -- it's not flu or ebola virus or zombie apocalypse!!!!!!! It is losing your internet, tv and phone service for an entire DAY. WHAT??? Yes, it happened to us yesterday and everything went haywire at home. You would think the adults will be the ones most affected, but it was the 7 year old who declared a state of emergency and wanted to leave the house. His dad who was (supposed to be) working from home was more calm than the kid who gets about 1 hour (if that) of computer time every day and he looked soooo lost without it. Let me tell you, we got a lot done in this 24 hours: the whole basement looks clean now and I finally got a chance to look through all the new cookbooks I recently got free from the very friendly librarian. 

Thankfully we are back in action with all the devices up and running and fully connected. I was worried I won't get this White Chili post in time for the upcoming Super bowl XXXXIX sunday. But here it is for those of you looking to make something different for the party this weekend. 

This Chili uses white beans instead of the more traditional red or black beans, hence the name White Chili :-) This recipe is from Vegetarian Times magazine and has roasted poblano peppers that add nice smokey flavor and depth to the dish.

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A Vegetarian Indian Thali

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Bookmarked recipes from BM# 39
Dish: Indian Thali

So for the last day of the marathon, I created a thali with some of the recipes that I bookmarked from last month's mega marathon. Indian thali usually consists of a Bread, Rice dish, a dry curry, a gravy curry, chutney and something sweet to end the meal. 

Most of the dishes in this thali are from the North Eastern states of India. To be honest, I had no idea about the eating habits or the popular dishes from any of the North Eastern states. Thanks to the research that all of the marathoners have done last month, I know a lot more about these cuisines now. I also wanted to make this black rice pudding from Nagaland for dessert, but I made this thali for myself and I wasn't motivated enough to make a dessert and also I was tooooo full after eating this meal. buuurp!!

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Tomato Chutney from Tripura & Green Chili Chutney from Mizoram

Mosdeng Serma from Tripura: This was one of the simplest tomato chutney recipes I have ever made, with very few ingredients; tomatoes, onions, garlic and chilies. We can taste all of the ingredients in the chutney which are otherwise weighed down by tamarind and the tempering that are usually added in South Indian style chutneys. This chutney can be eaten with rice, roti or even as a sandwich spread.

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Tripura -- Kosoi Bwtwi (Green Beans & Garlic Curry)

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 27
State: Tripura 
Dish: Kosoi Bwtwi (Green Beans & Garlic Curry)

From south India, we are moving all the way to northeastern state of Tripura. Tripura is one of the seven sister states in North Eastern India. Indigenous communities forma about 30% of Tripura's population. The Kokborok-speaking Tirupuri people are the major group among 19 tribes and many sub-tribes.
Because of its geographical location, Tripura only has one major highway, National Highway 44, connecting it with the rest of the country. This is the reason for the hindered economic progress in the state. Poverty and unemployment continue to plague Tripura, which has a limited infrastructure.
Cuisine: Tripuris (people of Tripura) are essentially non-vegetarians and hence the main courses are mainly prepared using meat, but with the addition of vegetables. Traditional Tripuri cuisine is known as Mui Borok. Key ingredient called Berma, which is dried and fermented fish is used in most of their dishes. Food is prepared without oil and hence considered healthy.

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Mirchi Baingan Salan (Hyderabadi Chili-Eggplant Curry in Sesame Peanut gravy)

Bonus Recipe for Week 3
Theme: A-Z Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: M for Mirchi Baingan ka Salan

I made this very famous Hyderabadi Mirchi ka Salan to go with Qabooli. This is my 2nd bonus recipe for this week. This dish is similar to the Mixed vegetable salan I have already posted, but the spices used are slightly different. I tasted this at a restaurant long time back and wanted to recreate at home. I used eggplant and mirchi (chilies) in this recipe, but you can use just mirchi too. Recipe is from Zaiqa.net.

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Pappu Chekkalu/ Thattai

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Traditional dishes
Dish: Pappu Chekkalu/ Thattai

Today we begin the second week our month long blogging marathon. Theme for the next 7 days is going to be traditional dishes. I rarely make traditional dishes myself because I'm not comfortable making them. My mom makes excellent traditional dishes and it's sad that I have never watched her making them so I can learn to make them myself. 

My mom made us quite a few traditional dishes during her recent visit and lucky for me I clicked pictures of some of them, hoping to post them. They have been sitting in the drafts till now and what better time than now to post my mom's traditional dishes.

For the first day, I have these crispy and crunchy deep fried savory snack made with all purpose flour (maida), rice flour and soaked chana dal. These stay fresh in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

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Mixed Vegetable Salan (Mixed Veggie ka Salan)

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 1/ Day 5
Theme: Occasions - Lunch for Blog Buddies
Dish: Mixed Veggie ka Salan

This past weekend I finally got to meet 4 of my blog buddies (Mireille, Nisha, Sandhya & Usha) that lived in the greater New York area. I invited them over to my house for lunch and we had so much fun chatting, eating and laughing. It was great to have foodies over because they took over the making of the naans when I had to attend to my 6 month old daughter. Big thanks to Valli for helping us make new friends and hugs to my new buddies, I hope we can do these type of things more frequently.

Here's what I made for our lunch:
Appetizers: Aloo bajji Chaat & Sprouts in Puris with green chutney and khatta meeta chutney
Drinks: Strawberry and Peach Soda (recipe coming up soon)
Main dishes: Mix Veggie Salan/ Fried Rice/ Paneer-Chickpea Curry/ Wholewheat Naans/ Raita
Dessert: Eggless Mango Cheesecake (recipe coming soon)

Lunch or Dinner parties with Indian food theme usually involve a rice dish, one or more curries, Indian breads (naans, parathas, rotis etc) and a dessert. Today's curry fits right into the gravy dishes that are perfect for parties. This is a variation to one of Hyderabad's famous mirchi ka salan.

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Meyer Lemon Pulihora (Meyer Lemon Rice)

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Occasions - Birthday
Dish: (Meyer) Lemon Pulihora

Pulihora is the first dish that is made for any occasion in Andhra Pradesh. Be it a simple birthday celebration at home or a big fancy sit-down meal for a wedding, pulihoras in different avatars make their appearance. There are 2 types of pulihoras: lemon pulihora - this is the quickest and I usually make it when I don't have too much time, but still want to make something festive for an occasion. The second variety is made with tamarind -- this needs some time to prepare and to let the flavors mingle with each other, but is the tastiest among the two. 

I used meyer lemons instead of regular lemons in today's dish. Meyer lemons are fruitier and have a slightly sweeter taste. Their skin is also not as thick as regular lemons.

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Roasted Potatoes with Amma’s Curry Powder

I always have a stock of all kinds of homemade masalas made by my mom. I ran out of curry powder that we use in fried and sautéed dishes and I had to make it myself. Guess what it has only 3 ingredients and there is no roasting involved.

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Chickpea & Pinto Bean Chili

Its still a little chilly in our part of the world and this chili is right for those nights where you just want something to warm you up.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas – 1 cup, cooked
Pinto beans – 1 cup, cooked

Onion – 1 medium, chopped

Celery – 1 stalk, chopped

Green Pepper – 1 medium, chopped

Garlic – 2 cloves, minced

Crushed tomatoes – 1 14 oz. can (I used crushed tomatoes with basil)

Bay leaf - 1

Vegetarian bouillon cube – 1 (optional)(I used 1tbsp vegetarian chicken base)

Chili powder – 1 tbsp

Cumin powder – 1tbsp

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a sauce pan; add onions and garlic and sauté until translucent.
• Add celery and green peppers; cook until veggies are tender, about 10 minutes.
• Add the beans, crushed tomatoes, bay leaf, chili powder, cumin powder, bouillon cube (if using), salt and pepper; simmer for about 15-20 minutes on medium-low flame. Adjust seasoning and serve warm.

Cranberry Pachadi

This pickle is very quick and easy to prepare. Great way to use up those last berries lying in the fridge.

Ingredients:
Cranberries - 1 cup
Red chili powder - 3 tbsp (preferably use pickle grade chili powder)
Mustard powder - 2 tbsp

Salt - 3 tbsp (or as per taste/ but be aware that salt acts as a preservative, so if enough salt is not added, pickle might spoil quickly)

Gingelly oil - 1/4 cup

For tadka:
Gingelly oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Hing - 1/4 tsp

Method:

• Rinse the berries couple times under running water. Drain and dry them thoroughly.
• Cut large berries in half or use whole berries if small.
• In a clean bowl, mix chili powder, salt and mustard powder. Add the berries and oil. Mix well.
• For the tadka, heat oil, add mustard seeds and hing and when the seeds sputter add to the pickle.
• Let the pickle sit overnight so that the cranberries have a chance to soak up all the flavors.

Serve with rice, idli or dosa.

Vegetarian Chili

With the untimely warm weather behind, it looks like winter is finally upon us. Great time to have a big bowl of soup to warm you up inside and out. Traditionally chili is a spicy stew like dish, the essential ingredients of which are beef, pork or other mature meat and chili peppers. You can totally omit the meat and make a vegetarian version.

This version has Veggie Ground round (soy protein). This recipe is from my ex-colleague Angela who was always in the look out for good vegetarian dishes because of her vegetarian daughter. One day she brought me a lunch box full of chili made with soy meat, I was a little skeptical to even taste it because of the texture. But she assured me that it is 100% vegetarian and healthy too. I loved it and got hooked on to soy meat. I changed the recipe to my taste and it is just hearty and perfect for a cold winter evening.

Ingredients:
Veggie Ground Round – 1 package
Onion – 1 large
Green pepper – 1
Red pepper – 1
Garlic – 2-3, chopped
Tomato paste – 1/2 cup
Chopped tomatoes – 1 15 oz. can
Red Kidney beans – 2 15 oz. cans
Canned chipotle chilies – 2-3 (depending on taste)
Dried Basil - 1 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Bay leaves – 3
Vegetable broth – 2 cups
Salt, Pepper & Cayenne pepper – to taste

Method:

• Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan, sauté onions and peppers till soft but not overcooked. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
  
• Add veggie ground round and sauté for 5 minutes.
  
• Add the spices, tomatoes, broth and simmer for about 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the beans (you can use any variety of beans), salt, cayenne pepper and cook for another 10 minutes. Check the seasoning, remove bay leaves, garnish with green onions and serve warm.
  

I served our chili with brown rice with sautéed onions and mushroom and a dollop of sour cream.

Serve with white rice, Spanish rice, baked potatoes or nachos. It stays good refrigerated and also frozen (don’t add the beans if you want to freeze, just thaw and add in the beans when serving). Very versatile recipe, you can play around with the veggies, add mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash etc.

Kandhi Pachadi (Toor dal Chutney)

This is my first entry into Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries "Spice is Right" blog event. I was excited to see her theme for this month's event "Its too darned hot" focusing on Chilies. Andhra cuisine uses a lot of chilies in all different forms and is said to be one of the "hottest" cuisines in India.
I made a very simple dish that has lot of chilies mixed with nutty fried toor dal. This dish can be put together in no time and is paired with dishes that are made with tamarind to soothe the heat from the chilies.
Ingredients:
Toor Dal - 1 cup
Red Chilies - 10-12
Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1tsp
Garlic - 2 pods
Oil - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Dry roast the dal along with the chilies, till dal turns golden brown and gives out the nutty aroma
• Let the mixture cool down completely.

• Grind the mixture with water (Do not add too much water, add little at a time. We dont want a watery chutney).
  
• Add jeera and salt, pulse to combine.
• Heat oil in a small pan. Add chopped garlic and fry on low flame till garlic is golden brown.
  
• Add fried garlic into the chutney and mix well.
• Serve with white rice and ghee.

Note: Kandhi pachadi is almost always paired with Vankaya pulusu pachadi (eggplant stew).