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August 30, 2006

Potato and Mushroom Hash – WBB# 4

According to Wikipedia; “Hash is a mixture of beef (often leftover), onions, potatoes and spices that are mashed together into a coarse, chunky paste and then cooked alone or with other ingredients.”
So there you go, yet another “leftover”, or in my world; “clean up your fridge” recipe. Hash is another very versatile (and forgiving); you can add as many or as few ingredients you have on hand. It is quick and easy to make can be served for Breakfast, lunch or dinner. This is my entry to Weekend Breakfast Blogging# 4.

Ingredients:
Yukon gold potatoes – 2 medium, peeled and diced
Mushrooms – 6, cleaned and sliced
Onions – 1 medium, thinly sliced
Eggs - 2
Red pepper flakes – a pinch
Thyme – ½ tsp dried or 1tsp fresh
Salt and pepper – to taste

Method:
  • Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan; add onions, potatoes and mushrooms. Sauté the veggies on medium heat till they soften and are lightly browned.
  • Add dried thyme, salt & pepper; mix well and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and keep aside.
  • Heat 1tsp of oil in the same pan; crack the egg directly into the pan. Season with salt and pepper and cook till your desired consistency. Serve hot over the cooked veggies.
We had our hash with toasted muffin and green salad. You can add any vegetables you have on hand (spinach, green and red peppers, zucchini would be great)

August 28, 2006

Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Panini

Paninis are Italian grilled sandwiches and they are very versatile, you can make them with absolutely anything (great for cleaning up the fridge). Here is a Desi-style panini recipe.
This weekend I decided to clean out my fridge and use up all the produce that I had, so I can stock up again ;-) I found onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, whole wheat pita bread and a bar of pepper jack cheese. So what can you make all these?? A lot.. but ended up making paninis. Here's my recipe.

Ingredients (makes 1 sandwich):
Whole wheat pita bread - 2
Red onion - 1 medium, thinly sliced
Mushrooms - 5-6, thinly sliced
Tomato - 1 small, cut into thin circles
Pepper jack cheese - 2 slices
Mozzarella cheese - 3 tbsp grated (I used Kraft fat-free grated moz.)
Salt and Pepper - to taste

Method:
  • Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a pan, add onions and saute till golden and slightly caramelized, takes about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove and keep aside.
  • In the same pan, add mushrooms and saute till done. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from pan and keep aside.
  • Spray, the grill pan with non-stick cooking spray, toast the pita bread on one side. Add the jack cheese, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, moz. cheese and place the second pita on top.
  • Put some kind of weight (I used a foil covered brick.. bought it for a buck in Home depot) and grill for about 2 minutes each side.

Enjoy!!!

Guys.. just a friendly remainder for WBB# 4, deadline to send in your entries is August 31st. Email me at cookshideout@gmail.com. Check out the updates here and here.
Hope to see you all in the round up.

August 27, 2006

Vinayaka chathurthi Subhakankshalu

Wish you all a very Happy Vinayaka Chavithi.

August 25, 2006

Thai food at home

I have had Thai food a couple of times and it’s kind of intriguing to me. I like the flavors of coconut milk, ginger, lemon grass and thai basil. But finding truly vegetarian dishes in Thai restaurants has always been an issue for me. Though they serve a lot of vegetable dishes, most of these are prepared by using ingredients like oyster sauce and fish sauce, while even the seed based sesame sauces can contain some animal extracts. I treid these Thai recipes from my "Vegetarian: The greatest ever Vegetarian cookbook" by Nicola Graimes and they turned out pretty good.

Thai Fragrant rice:

Ingredients:

Brown basmati rice – 1 cup
Onion – 1 medium chopped
Vegetable stock - 3 cups
Ginger – 1” piece, peeled & chopped
Lemon grass – 1 stalk, finely chopped
Lime zest – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Coriander seeds – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste

Method:
  • Rinse rice in cold water till the water runs clear. Soak in water for at least 30 minutes.
  • Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan; add onions, spices, lemon grass and lime zest and cook gently for 2-3 minutes.
  • Add rice and cook for another minute, then add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to very low and cover the pan. Cook gently for 30 minutes then check the rice. If it is still crunchy, cover the pan again and leave for a further 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
  • Fluff up the grains with a fork and leave for 10 minutes.

Thai Potato Curry

Ingredients:
Yukon gold potatoes – 4 medium
Onion – 1 large chopped
Coconut Milk – ½ cup
Low sodium vegetable broth – 1/3 cup
Chopped tomatoes – 1 cup with juice
Thai green curry paste (vegetarian) – 2 ½ tbsp (store-bought or homemade)
Chili powder – 1 tsp (optional)
Fresh basil - 1tbsp
Lemon juice – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste

Method:
  • In a wok or skillet, heat 2 tsp vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions and stir-fry until golden, 5 minutes. Add the curry paste and stir-fry 1 minute.
  • Add potatoes and toss well to coat. Stir in coconut milk and broth.
  • Cover and cook on medium low flame till the potatoes are tender.
  • When the potatoes are just done, add the tomatoes with juice, chili powder (if using). Mix well, cover and cook for 5 minutes.
  • Stir in lemon juice and basil. Serve over rice.
This is my entry for this Anthony's Curry mela #30.

August 22, 2006

Weekend Breakfast Blogging# 4

Weekend Breakfast Blogging is a fortnight event showcasing the most important meal of the day. Nanditha (saffrontrail), the creator of WBB is going to be away during WBB# 4 deadline and asked for a volunteer to host it (Check WBB#1, WBB#2 Part 1 and Part 2, WBB#3 round ups). So I would be hosting WBB# 4 for this fortnight.
Deadline to receive the entries is August 31st 9:00PM EST and will do the round up on September 1st.

Here are the rules:
  • The entry must be a dish that can be served at breakfast.
  • It must be posted on your blog before 31st August.
  • Send an email to cookshideout@gmail.com with the following:
Title and permalink of post, name and url of your blog, your name and location. Images sent can be resized to 75px X 75px.

Thank you Nanditha for the opportunity.

Dosakaya Pappu

Everytime I think of dosakaya (cucumber), I always remember this story. One of my Aunts from a small town in AP had to move to Delhi after marriage. She found out soon enough that Delhites don’t sell Andhra style cucumbers (round yellow ones), but preferred the long green ones. During that time, much to the happiness of my aunt, my dad planned our family vacation to Delhi. So what do you think we were all carrying; almost 10kgs of dosakayas on our 26hr journey from Hyderabad to Delhi.

Here is my mother-in-law’s way of making dosakaya pappu.

Ingredients:
Toor dal (or Masoor dal) - 1 cup
Dosakaya (cucumber) – 1, peeled and diced
Tomato – 1 small
Onion – 1 small
Green chilies – 3
Red chili powder – 1tsp
Turmeric – 1/8 tsp

For tempering:
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – 4
Red chilies – 2
Asafetida – pinch

Method:
  • Put the first 7 ingredients in a pressure cooker with 1tsp of oil. Cook till done (number of whistles depend on your cooker, mine I need at least 6 whistles).
  • Heat 1tsp oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and wait till they pop, then add red chilies, curry leaves, asafetida. Add the tempering and salt to the cooked dal and cook on low flame for about 10minutes.
Serve with hot rice and ghee. Yum..

Bagara Baingan

This is a very famous Andhra dish usually served on special occasions. Being an eggplant fan myself, this dish comes in the top of my all time favorite baingan dishes.

Ingredients:
Small Eggplants – 12 (purple or green Indian variety)
Onion – 1 medium, roughly chopped
Tomato – 1 small
Green chilies - 3
Peanuts – ¼ cup
Sesame seeds – 1tbsp
Garlic – 2 cloves
Ginger – 1” piece
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Red chili powder – 1tsp
Garam masala – 1tsp
Tamarind pulp – 1tbsp
Grated coconut – 2tbsp (fresh or dry)
Salt – to taste

Method:
Making the masala takes the longest for this dish. You can make the masala paste and keep it refrigerated upto one day in advance.
  • Dry roast peanuts in a pan and during the last 5-6 minutes, add sesame seeds and continue roasting. Remove from pan and let cool.
  • Fry the onions in the same pan (without oil) till lightly browned.
  • Grind into a smooth paste; peanuts, sesame seeds, onions, tomatoes, green chilies, tamarind pulp, red chili powder, garam masala, grated coconut, ginger, garlic, turmeric, salt with ½ cup of water.
  • Make a deep cross (x) shaped cut on the eggplants.
  • Heat 2tbsp of oil on medium flame, add the eggplants, cover and cook till they are tender. Stir occasionally to make sure all the sides are evenly cooked.
  • After the eggplants are tender enough, add the ground masala and simmer the eggplants in the gravy on low flame for about 15 minutes. Add water if you think the gravy is getting too thick.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with plain rice, pulao or chapathis.

August 19, 2006

Bread Omelet

After a long week of work, weekends appear like water in oasis and before you realize its the beginning of the week again. Sometimes over the weekends, I just wish time stops or at least moves veeeeeery slow. But all good things have to come to an end.

Pictures Updated December 2012:
Anyway coming back to our bread omelet. This is my husband's very famous dish, which he makes every once in a while as our weekend breakfast. This recipe is slightly different from regular bread omelet; since the omelet is outside instead of inside the bread.

 
Ingredients:
Eggs - 2
Whole grain Bread - 2 slices, toasted
Onion - 1 small chopped
Tomatoes - 1 small, deseeded and chopped
Hot sauce - 1tsp
Lemon juice - 1tsp
Salt and pepper - to taste

Method:
  • Beat eggs with hot sauce, salt, pepper and 1tbsp of water till its well combined.
  • Combine chopped onions, tomatoes and lemon juice in a small bowl.
  • Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add the egg mixture and cook for about 2 minutes or till it is golden brown. Flip the omelet to the other side.
  • Place both the bread slices on the omelet and add the onion-tomato mixture (as shown in the picture)

  • Cook for about 2-3 minutes. Fold and serve hot with ketchup.

 
It is one hearty breakfast and you dont have to think about lunch until you finish your weekend shopping.

August 17, 2006

Restaurant Style Dinner at Home

Tuesday, apart from being Indian Independence day, was also our wedding anniversary. I decided to cook a nice dinner (restaurant style…) at home. Going to an Indian restaurant in NJ (not sure of other places) is literally going to put a hole in your pocket. I know its our wedding anniversary and I shouldn’t be thinking about the check, but with the prices of entrees ranging from $9.95 and $12.95, we would have ended up spending almost $50 (including tip and taxes). That’s why I decided to cook at home and be sure that we are eating the food that we really like and also the way we like.

Here’s my menu for our Anniversary dinner:
Appetizer – Black Eyed Pea Samosa
Rice Dish – Vegetable Biryani
Curry – Paneer Kurma
Dessert – Chocolate cake w/ Hot chocolate sauce and Vanilla ice cream

It took about 2½ hours to put everything together. But it’s really worth every second of it. Here are the recipes for my Restaurant style dinner.

Black Eyed Pea Samosa: I used frozen samosa wrappers from Indian store and replaced traditional potato filling with black eyed peas. The end result was pretty good.

Ingredients (makes 6 samosas):
Black eyed peas – ¼ cup
Samosa wrappers – 6
Green chilies – 2
Chili powder – ½ tsp
Ginger garlic paste – ½ tsp
Lemon juice – 1tbsp
Mustard seeds – 2 tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves - 3
Salt – to taste

Method:
  • Soak the peas for one hour and pressure cook them till tender.
  • Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan, add mustard and jeera seeds and after they splutter, add ginger-garlic paste, curry leaves and green chilies. Sauté for 1 minute.
  • Add the cooked peas, chili powder salt and mix well. Mash some of the peas with the back of the spoon. Add little water if you think the mixture is too dry (but make sure it is not too watery).
  • Cook for 5 minutes on medium and remove from heat. Add lemon juice and let cool.
  • After the mixture is cool enough to handle, make the samosas as per package instructions and deep fry them in batches.
Serve hot with green chutney or ketchup.

Paneer Kurma

Ingredients:
Paneer – ½ lb, cubed
Potatoes – 2 medium, diced
Carrots – 1 large, diced
Onion – 1 medium
Tomato – 1 medium
Kasoori Methi – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste

To make masala:
Onion – 1 medium
Tomato – 1 medium
Green chilies – 2
Ginger-garlic paste – 1tsp
Cloves – 6
Cinnamon – ½” piece
Cardamom – 2
Cashews – 10
Grated coconut – ¼ cup
Poppy seeds (Khus Khus) – 1tsp
Red Chili powder – 1 tsp
Garam Masala – 1tsp
Turmeric – ½ tsp

Method:
  • To make the paste: Heat about 2tsp of oil in a pan, fry all the ingredients till lightly browned. Allow to cool and grind into a smooth paste adding little water.
  • Fry paneer cubes in 1tbsp of oil or ghee till golden brown on all sides. Remove and keep aside.
  • Heat 2tbsp of oil in a pan, fry onions till lightly browned. Add potatoes and carrots, cover and cook till the veggies are tender.
  • Add tomatoes and cook covered for 5 minutes. Now add the paste, fried paneer and ½ cup of water. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add kasoori methi and salt and cook for another 5 minutes.
Serve with fried rice or chapathi.

Vegetable Biryani

My husband likes dum ka biryani very much and all I knew how to make was the regular fried rice. So when my mother-in-law was with us, I made sure that I watch her make it and take notes. I was a little off in the measurement of ingredients, but I’m happy that my husband liked it.

Preparing Vegetables:
Potatoes, carrots, beans, peas – 2 cups (chopped into big chunks)

For marinade:
Yogurt – ½ cup
Ginger garlic paste – 1tbsp
Chili powder – 1tbsp
Garam masala – 1tsp
Coriander leaves – ½ cup chopped
Mint leaves – ½ cup chopped
Cashew powder – 1tsp
Salt – 1tbsp

  • Add all the ingredients for marinade to the chopped veggies and let stand for at least one hour in a covered dish. The aroma of all the spices is amazing at this stage.

Cooking Rice:
Basmati Rice – 1½ cups (soaked in cold water for at least 1 hour)
Make a small fabric pouch with the following spices:
Shah jeera – 1tsp
Cinnamon stick – 1” piece
Anise flower – 1

  • Add 5cups of water and the spice pouch into a big pot and bring the water to a boil. When the water comes to a rolling boil, remove the spice bag and add the soaked rice(drain water completely). Stir occasionally. Cook till the rice is ¾th cooked. This will take about 8-10 minutes max. Drain into a colander and keep aside.

Other ingredients:
Milk – ¼ cup
Saffron – few strands
Onions – 1 cup, thinly sliced and fried in 2tbsp of oil till golden brown.

Putting everything together:

  • While the rice is cooking, heat about 6tbsp of oil in a very large heavy bottom pan. Add the vegetables and cook covered on medium low heat until the veggies are just tender.
  • After the vegetables are tender enough, add the rice as a layer, top rice layer with saffron-milk mixture and fried onions.
  • Bring the heat down to low, cover the pot and cook for about 20 minutes. Resist mixing the whole mixture. After 20minutes, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
Serve hot with raita and paneer kurma.

Heres the picture of our dessert: Simple Chocolate cake with hot chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream.

August 14, 2006

Besan Chikki - Independence day food parade

Indira of Mahanandi is hosting a very unique Parade for this year's Indian Independence day. She wants us to whip up our culinary skills to salute Mother India on her 59th Independence day. My entry is a very simple dish (more like a peasant dish) that does not require many ingredients.
Chikki (or savory biscuits) made with besan (chickpea flour) are cooked in a tangy tamarind sauce and it is usually served with any kind of roti or rice. This is my mother-in-law's authentic besan chikki recipe.

Ingredients:
For Chikki:
Besan - 1 cup (sifted)
Red onion - 1 small chopped fine
Green chilies - 3 chopped fine
Curry leaves - 3
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4tsp
Salt - to taste

For Gravy:
Red onion - 1 small chopped
Tamarind pulp - 1/4 cup thick home made kind (fibers removed)
Fenugreek powder (menthi powder) - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2tsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Jaggery - 2 - 3tbsp (depending on taste)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:
  • To make besan chikki: First fry the besan in a pan on medium-low flame, until it turns golden brown and does not smell raw anymore. Remove onto a plate and keep aside.
  • Heat 1 tbsp of oil in the same pan, add mustard and cumin seeds. After the seeds pop, add the chopped onions, green chilies, turmeric, curry leaves and saute till onions are softened.
  • Add 1¼ cups water (besan:water=1:1¼) to the onion mixture and let it come to a slow simmer. At this stage add fried besan slowly, stirring the mixture continuously, making sure that there are no lumps.
  • Keep stirring until the mixture comes together like upma. Remove onto a greased plate, cut into diamonds and let cool.
  • To make gravy: Heat 1tbsp of oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and after they splutter, add onions and saute till light brown.
  • Add tamarind pulp and about 1/2 cup of water. Add all the remaining ingredients and on a slow flame, bring the gravy to a simmer, about 15minutes.
  • Add the besan diamonds and simmer for another 5-10minutes. Make sure not to move them too much in the gravy, this might break the biscuits.
  • Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves.
We had our besan chikki with jonna roti. Simple and very satisfying meal. You can find detailed instructions for making jonna roti in Indira's and Cook's cottage blogs.
Wish you all a very Happy Independence day.

August 13, 2006

Day out in New York City

Yesterday was a perfect summer day with the temperatures around mid 70s and my husband and I decided to have a day out in New York city. We went to Central Park and walked around for couple of hours. Then we went to Little Italy and China town. Finally we visited Chelsea market which is the home of Food network and Major League Baseball Productions. Here are some of the pictures of our NYC day trip.

Central Park Views
China Town
Little Italy
Chelsea Market

August 09, 2006

Mexican style Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni and cheese is a very classic American dish. According to Wiki knowledge, macaroni and cheese was invented by Thomas Jefferson, who, in the variant told by Alton Brown of Good Eats, upon failing to receive an Italian pasta-making machine, designed his own machine, made the macaroni, and had the cook put liberal quantities of York cheddar and bake it as a casserole.

I had my first macaroni and cheese five years ago (during the initial days of getting to know US food), when one of my friend’s aunt sent boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese to make at home. I liked the concept of making a meal from a box and also the convenience of getting 2 boxes for 99 cents.

For a while I was under the impression that macaroni and cheese can be made only out of the box (silly me). That’s when I watched Rachel Ray making mac & cheese from scratch and I realized that I have been eating chemicals all these days. Since then, I have been making mac & cheese at home and this is one of the variations I learnt from Queen of 30 minutes, Rachel Ray.

Ingredients:
Elbow macaroni – 8oz
Monterey Jack cheese – 1 cup grated
Onion – 1 medium chopped
Green pepper – 1 medium chopped
Red pepper – 1 small chopped
Crushed tomatoes – ½ 16oz can
Chipotle in adobo sauce – 2 chopped
All purpose flour – 3tbsp
Vegetable broth – 1 cup
1% Low fat milk – 1 cup
Chili powder – 1tsp
Butter – 1tbsp
Olive oil –
Salt and pepper – to taste

Method:
  • Cook macaroni according to package directions.
  • While the pasta is cooking, make the two sauces:
  • In a large sauté pan, heat 1tbsp olive oil and add onion, green pepper, red pepper and sauté till cooked. Add the chopped chipotle peppers with a little bit of sauce and tomatoes and cover cook for about 5-7 minutes on medium. Season with chili powder, salt and pepper, mix well. Turn off the heat and keep aside.
  • In a separate medium size sauce pan, add butter and 2tbsp olive oil, when hot add the flour and sauté till the flour doesn’t smell raw anymore. Add broth and milk whisk well and bring it to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper. Add grated cheese and let it melt. Remove from heat.
  • Finally combine cooked pasta, veggies and cheese sauce, mix well and serve hot.
Note: The sauce is not as creamy and thick as it would be when you use whole milk or heavy cream or half and half.
You can add more veggies like broccoli, peas, zucchini etc.
Omit chipotle pepper and make it Indian style by adding a teaspoon of curry powder or garam masala.
Give it a smoky flavor by adding cumin powder and smoked cheddar cheese.

August 07, 2006

Kabuli & Kala Chana Rice

You might be thinking that I am obsessed with beans. But it is just a coincidence that I have been cooking with beans more frequently now than ever. I soaked chana (both kabuli and kala) for Varalakshmi vratam last friday and distributed some to friends. With the remaining chana, I wanted to make Tarla Dalal’s Kabuli Chana Biryani, but it looked too much work for me, so I ended up modifying the recipe and made a quicker version. This is my entry to this week's ARF/ 5-A-day tuesday.

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice – 1 ½ cup cooked
Kabuli & Kala Chana (either one or both) – 1 cup boiled
Onion – 1 medium chopped
Potato – 1 medium, boiled, peeled and diced
Tomato – 2 medium chopped
Green chilies – 3
Ginger garlic paste – ½ tsp
Curd – 2 tbsp
Red chili powder – 1tsp
Amchoor powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala – ½ tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Salt – to taste
Coriander – for garnish

Method:
  • Heat 1tbsp of oil in a large pan, add onions and fry till they turn pink. Add ginger, garlic paste and sauté till it does not smell raw anymore.
  • Add the powders, curd, diced potatoes and mix well.
  • Add tomatoes to the onion mixture; cover and cook till soft.
  • Add cooked chickpeas and salt; mix well and cook for another 5 minutes on medium flame, or till the mixture is not too watery.
  • Add the chickpea gravy to rice, mix well (but try not to break the rice), check seasoning and serve hot with onion raita (finely chopped onions mixed in yogurt with salt).

Note: Tarla Dalal’s recipe involves, layering the chana gravy with rice in a greased casserole and baking it (covered with tin foil) for 20 minutes in a 350ºF oven.

August 05, 2006

Meat without Murder

I read this article in the recent "Vegetarian times" magazine and wanted to share it with all of you. The article is about how modern technology that can 'produce the world's entire supply of meat without every killing a single animal'. The technique involves removing muscle cells from a live animal and then letting the cells divide in a giant petri dish - a vat that is kept at the same temperature as the animal's body. After a few weeks of growing, this synthetically made meat can be used as any other meat.

Vat-grown meat is said to be more safer and more healthful than today's meat. With tissue culture, scientists can reduce the high saturated fat content or even replace it with a healthier fat.

Will it sell?? is the million dollar question, since a lot of research is being done in making this synthetic meat (by scientists in Univ. of Maryland, Univ. of Utretcht in Holland and many more around the world). Some people argue that it will sell becaus we've already accepted plenty of bioengineered foods, such as wine, cheese and tofu. None of them are found in nature. But not sure how well this concept will be accepted by meat eaters.

I support the idea of muderless meat as it removes the suffering of billions of animals and still gives people the opportunity to eat what they want, minus the cruelty. As a life long vegetarian, I've tried and liked soy meat and chicken, but I would'nt want to eat synthetic meat myself.

I would like to know what all of you vegetarians and meat-eaters think about this man-made meat. Let me know.

August 02, 2006

Soybean Kura (Sauteed Soybeans)

As I mentioned earlier in one of my posts, I love my beans. I like the nutty flavor and soft texture of all the beans. In India, my bean database was limited to garbanzo (Chick peas) and kidney beans. But after coming to the U.S, my database expanded with black, pinto,navy, lima, adzuki(havent tried this yet), cannellini and last, but definitely no where near least soybeans. Find more about beans here.
So coming to Soybeans, I was always under the impression that they cannot be eaten as regular beans (don't ask me why!!!) May be because so many other things are made of them, I never thought that they can also be eaten as is.
My mom actually started using them for quite a while now. She adds them to her idli batter (soaks a handful of them along w/ Urad dal), wheat flour (gets them milled along with wheat) and also makes gravy curries.
Thats when I bought Soybean flour and started adding it to chapathis, cakes (just a little bit to the flour) and breads. Get more information on Soybeans here.

This is the first curry I made with soybeans and I was pleasantly surprised with the delicate taste and texture of soybeans.

Ingredients:
Soybeans - 1 cup (soaked for at least 4hrs)
Onions - 2 chopped
Green Chilies - 3
Kasuri Methi - 2 tbsp
Chili powder - 1tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

  • Pressure cook the soy beans until done.
  • Heat 1tbsp of oil in a pan, saute onions till lightly browned.
  • Add green chilies, soybeans and saute on medium flame until the beans start to turn light brown for about 10-12 minutes.
  • Add kasoori methi, chili powder and salt and mix well. Sprinkle some water if you feel the mixture is too dry.
  • Cook for another 5minutes and serve hot.