Austrian Vegetable Strudel

For this month's International Food Challenge, our host Briju Parthasarathy is taking us on a culinary tour of Austria. She gave us 4 Lower Austrian dishes to choose from and I picked the Austrian Vegetable Strudel.

Some wiki gyan about Strudel: Strudel is a type layered pastry with a -- most often -- sweet filling. Strudel is most often associated with Austrian cuisine but is also a traditional pastry in the whole area of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The savory strudel is filled with crisp tender vegetables and cheese. It almost sounded like the veggie pastry we used to get back home at the bakeries. Original recipe had rutabaga, parsnip etc, but I used vegetables I had on hand; sweet potato, carrots, green beans and red pepper. Also to add some protein, I added some soy granules as well.

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Chili Parotta/ Kothu Parotta

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Online Bookmarked Recipes
Dish: Chili Parotta

The first time I tasted Chili Parotta was about 4~5 years ago in Saravana bhavan in Edison, NJ. Both my husband and I didn't really like it. It was way too greasy and heavy on the stomach. So that ended my chili parotta eating experience on a bad note.
Recently I saw this recipe on Sandhya's blog and it looked so much tastier than what I remember chilli parotta to be. I bookmarked it right away.

My husband bought a packet of frozen 'Kawan Paratha' instead of regular wholewheat rotis that I usually buy. So I knew I had to make the chilli parotta with them and was waiting for an occasion to make it. Which came the other day when we needed a quick dinner after whole day of shopping. If you time, then you can also make your own Kerala Parottas.

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Persimmon and Nuts Salad

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: Online Bookmarked Recipes
Dish: Persimmon Salad

This year's winter has been brutal till now. Snow is something that is expected this time of the year, but the freezing temperatures have been really the killer. Arctic blast & polar vortex are the terms that are widely being used not just by the meteorologists but by everyone dealing with this harsh weather. Even with all that going on, life still moves on.
Coming back to today's recipe, this is probably the simplest dish ever. I had some persimmons in the fridge and after enjoying some as is, I wanted to do something else with it. I saw the recipe for persimmon salad in Vegetarian times magazine, but I didn't have the ingredients on hand. But the idea of making the salad stuck with me and google search led me to this recipe on LA times.

There is not much of a recipe for this dish, but the salad was so colorful that I couldn't stop clicking. So here are some shots of the dish.

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Eggplant Coconut Masala Curry

Our woes with the freezing weather continues. Today has been especially bad, temperatures were between 7~10°F (-12°C~-14°C) with the wind chills making it feel much much colder. My car decided to clunk out on me this morning when I was just about to take my son to school. Had to run back in and call a taxi, so I could get him to school on time. Thankfully all the car needed was a jump start and got it fixed in time to bring my son home from school.
After all that, as I was thinking of what to make for lunch, I saw some eggplants in the fridge and thought of treating myself with a new recipe that I just saw on a Telugu cooking show. Even though this was not what I was planning, I guess I turn to my favorite veggie when I'm stressed :-)

I'm glad that I tried this curry though. It uses roasted dry coconut paste as the masala. I've used coconut in bagara baingan along with sesame seeds and poppy seeds, but never with just dry coconut. Also I used coconut oil to cook the curry, this elevated the coconut flavor, but feel free to use any other neutral flavored oil. Either way this is a simple curry that is packed with flavor and goes well with both rice and rotis.

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Cranberry Pulihora

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Online Bookmarked Recipes
Dish: Cranberry Pulihora

For the final week of blogging marathon, I chose to do 'Online Bookmarked Recipes'. I thought this will be a great way to try and make some of the dishes from my ever-growing bookmarked recipes. It was quite a task to decide on the 3 dishes for this week. Finally based on the ingredients in the fridge and pantry I made 3 delicious dishes.
First up is this colorful Cranberry Pulihora that I bookmarked from Usha's blog. Using cranberries to give the required tartness/ sourness to pulihora sounded absolutely delicious and I wanted to try it right away.

Usha boiled the cranberries to make a gojju/ paste, but mentioned that they can be sauteed as well. Being the lazy bum that I am, I took the easy way and cooked the cranberries along with the other tempering and the cranberries cooked to perfection in just about 5~7 minutes. So this is a dish that can be made in less than 30 minutes and does not need any prior preparations.

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Apple Pie Smoothie

I make sure that I take a copy of 'Chop Chop' magazine from my kid's pediatrician's office. It is a fun book with some very simple to make recipes and activity ideas for kids. My son loves to read this book cover to cover and really enjoys doing the word scramble and kid quizes.

Today's recipe is a simple smoothie from that book. I asked my son to pick a recipe that we can make together and this was something he thought he would like. He didn't really care for the texture of oats in the smoothie and I tried to explain to him the health benefits of oats. All in all this is a very healthy smoothie and is great as an after school snack.

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Tikel Gomen (Ethiopian Cabbage, Carrots & Potatoes)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Ethiopian Cuisine
Dish: Tikel Gomen (Ethiopian Cabbage, Carrots & Potatoes)

The weather has been crazy this winter. We had temperatures waaay below freezing, thanks to the so-called polar vortex and then there was snow and rain. We had a couple of days respite, but the prediction for next week seems to be below freezing again. I can't wait for this winter to get over.

Coming back to the task in hand, BM# 36, for the last Ethiopian dish of the week, I made a dish with cabbage, carrot & potatoes. This dish is made very similar to an Indian curry and has very similar taste profile as well. I made some Injera to serve along with Mesir wat and this Tikel gomen.

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Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Lentil Stew)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Ethiopian Cuisine
Dish: Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Lentil Stew)

Ethiopian cuisine is very vegetarian friendly. There are a number of vegetable based and lentil based dishes that are perfect options for vegetarians and vegans. Today I have a lentil based dish called Mesir Wat. Wat is like stew and Mesir Wat loosely means lentil stew.
Red lentils aka Masoor dal is cooked until thick and creamy with berbere spice making this a very hearty and comforting dish. Addition of berbere spice makes this dish taste amazing.

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Ethiopian Tomato Salad (and Berbere spice recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Ethiopian Cuisine
Dish: Tomato Salad

My theme for this week's blogging marathon is trying 3 dishes from either European, African or Oceanian cuisines. I wanted to try some dishes from African cuisine, but after reading through the list of regions and dishes on wiki, I decided to stick to Ethiopian Cuisine. Ethiopia is a country that is located in Horn of Africa, the eastern most projection of African continent. It was interesting to know that Ethiopia is one of the oldest location for human life known to scientists.
Coming to Ethiopian cuisine, it consists of vegetable and often very spicy meat dishes, in the form of wat, served on a large sourdough based flat bread called injera. Also Ethiopians eat with their right hand just as Indians do and the spices used are also very similar.

Today I have two Ethiopian recipes: Berbere spice mix -- this is very similar to our very own garam masala and is essential to make maby Ethiopian dishes. I already have a recipe for berbere spice, but this one's a little different and it is Chef Marcus Samuelsson's recipe. Second recipe is a simple and refreshing Tomato salad.

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Dhokar Dalna for Indian Cooking Challenge

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge Valli chose a delicious Bengali savory dish. I have tried quite a few Bengali dishes already, but luckily I didn't make this dish earlier. This is a spicy curry with lentil cakes in it. 

This dish is a little similar to the besan chikki that my MIL makes. But the difference is that my MIL uses chickpea flour or besan instead of ground chana dal that is used in this Bengali dish. Both the dishes have cooked lentil cakes cooked in spicy gravy.

I followed Sandeepa's recipe to the T. From what I have read, the gravy is quite customizable and there are quite a few variations on the web. I stuck to Sandeepa's recipe that had no-onion and no-garlic, it still tasted amazing.

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Pistachio Cake (eggless recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Travel Food
Dish: Dessert -- Pistachio Cake (Almost Vegan)

It has been a busy weekend with an early Sankranthi celebrations at my cousin's place. It was fun getting the kids dressed up and rounding them up for Bhogi pallu. Trying to keep the traditions alive.
Today's recipe has nothing to do with Sankranti, but is related to travel. Desserts for travel become very important when kids are involved. I wouldn't probably think of desserts when just me and my husband are travelling, but they become essential when kids are around. I usually carry cookies or Indian biscuits along. My mom used to make barfi or peanut fudge for travel when we were little.

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Sorakaya Thelagapindi Kura (Bottlegourd Curry)

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. We are on our way to my cousin's place in Delaware for the weekend, so this is going to be a short post today.

I had a small piece of sorakaya (bottle gourd) in the fridge that needed to be used up before we left for the weekend and I also had thelaga pindi (powder made from sesame pulp after squeezing the oil) in the fridge. Luckily I remembered watching a cooking show where the chef  used both the ingredients in a curry and so that's what I made. Thelaga pindi can be used just like sesame seed powder to sprinkle on curries.

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Methi Thepla

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Travel Food
Dish: Main Course -- Methi Thepla

When I think of the good old days summer travel to Vijayawada is something that I always remember and cherish. Right after our annual exams, my mom would take us sisters for almost 2 months to my grandparents house to spend the summer vacation. We used to take the train and my mom had either pulihora or roti with potato curry packed for our meal. We were never allowed to buy anything on the train. I especially liked the cutlets that were sold on trains but never got a chance to try them. But my mom made sure we were not hungry and we had more than enough munchies to munch on.

As I was thinking of what main course dish to make for Day 2 of BM# 36 under travel food theme, I remembered one of my friend bringing Methi Theplas on a road trip we had together few years back. I think we ate them on day 2 of the trip and they were still soft and tasted delicious with some pickle she had packed.

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Faluche du Nord (North France Flat Bread)

For this month's Home Baker's Challenge Priya Suresh @ Priya's Versatile Recipes chose some yummy French baked goodies. I picked this simple flat bread from Northern France called Faluche du Nord from Priya's list. The recipe seemed very simple to make almost, yeasted dough then rolled out and baked into bread, almost like our own naans. But I thought these were much simpler to make because the rolled out dough is cut using a cutter instead of rolling each bread separately.

I thoroughly enjoyed making these bread. I added some atta (whole wheat flour) to add some fiber and nutrition. The dough is very easy to work with, very smooth and pliable. House smelt amazing when the breads were baking. I baked them a few minutes before I brought my son back from school and the first thing he said when he walked in was 'what are you baking? It smells good in here.' He loved how soft the bread was.

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Baked Chickpeas

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Travel Food
Dish: Snack - Baked Chickpeas

My theme for the second week of Blogging Marathon# 36 is 'Travel Food' or food that is typically mess free and is easier to take on a trip. To add a little interest to the theme, Valli asked us to make a Snack, Main course and a dessert. So that is what you are going to see for the next three days and I'm going to start with a easy, peasy snack today.

Growing up, we used to travel quite a bit. My dad was a central government employee and he used to get travel allowance every 4 years and being an enthusisatic traveller he made sure that we visited different places every time. He used to elaborately plan these trips and made sure even the minute details were taken care of. He had accomodation everywhere we went and it was so much fun riding the local tourist buses and visiting the touristy locations.

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Black eyed Peas Curry for New Years

In Southern United States, eating Black eyed peas on New Years day is considered to bring luck & prosperity. I knew this bit of information for years but come New Years day I would some how forget it. So this year I made sure to follow it through by eating black eyed peas on new years day. Though the dish is made in Indian style, I'm sure it's going to bring us luck & prosperity because it's healthy and health beats wealth in my book.
I love black eyed peas because they don't need pre-soaking and cook really fast. I always make sure that I have a bag of these in my pantry for quick meal solutions. They can be used to make curries or rice dishes and make great addition to salads and burgers as well.

As I was looking for recipes to make with black eyed peas, I found this flavorful curry recipe in 660 Curries cookbook by Raghavan Iyer. Here black eyed peas are flavored with ground coconut, onions and green chilies. Very simple preparation, yet very delicious.

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Linzer Cookies (Eggless Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Cookies
Dish: Linzer Cookies

For the 3rd day of the Cookie marathon, I made Linzer cookies. Not sure why I always thought making linzer cookies was difficult, may be because the name is so fancy!! But come to find out that they are nothing but almond or hazelnut cookies sandwiched together with a jam or chocolate spread in the middle.

Couple of weeks ago I was looking for something in a closet and to my surprise I found Linzer cookie cutter set that I had bought (who knows when) hiding in the back of the closet. So that started my search of Linzer cookie recipes and I found one on King Arthur Flour site.

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Custard Cookies (Eggless recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Cookies
Dish: Custard Cookies

For Day 2 of marathon, I have these super simple to make Custard cookies. These are basically cookies flavored with custard powder and hence the name, custard cookies. Not sure what made me look for custard cookies, but I googled for them and found this recipe on BBC Good food site. I recently bought some caster sugar (super fine sugar) and used it in this recipe.

These cookies are easy to make, no freezing or refrigeration of the dough required. Just mix all the ingredients and form into little cookies and bake. I added some mini chocolate chips to half of the dough, so that my choco-loving son will have a share too. With or without chocolate chips, these cookies are great -- they just melt in your mouth.

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Fruit & Nut Cookies (Pistachio-Cranberry Shortbread Cookies)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Cookies
Dish: Fruit & Nut Cookies (Pistachio-Cranberry Cookies)

Here's Wishing everyone a very Happy, healthy & prosperous New Year 2014.
Our blogging marathon group is back again in the new year with BM# 36. To start the new year on a sweet note, I'm making some cookies for the first week of the marathon. I wanted to post a savory cookie too, but posted this baked mathri last week/ year itself.

I made 3 types of cookies and this eggless fruit cake to give as edible gifts this Christmas season. Last few years the cookies I made for Christmas had eggs in them and it didn't bother me. But this year I was baking for family who don't eat eggs and I had to find eggless cookie recipes or at least recipes that had only 1~2 eggs, so I can easily replace them egg replacer.

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