Makai Ki Subzi (Rajasthani Corn Curry)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 2: Rajasthani Cuisine 

Day 13: M for Makai Ki Subzi

Today's dish is a very simple to make Rajasthani Makai aka corn curry. Corn is one of the extensively cultivated crops in Rajasthan. Corn is one of their staple foods and is used in various forms from flour to grits to whole corn.

My first pick for the letter M was Malai Mirch. Gayathri made this for one of the previous BM and I bookmarked to try it. It has very few ingredients and is very quick and easy to make. But my husband is not a big fan of creamy milk based dishes and the calories in the dish scared me to try the dish just for myself.

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Pasta with Poblano Chilies, Corn and Cilantro Cream

October is 'National Pasta Month', so I wanted to post a pasta recipe before the end of the month. Thanks to Usha for her pasta post, without which I wouldn't have known about it.

Last month's Vegetarian Times magazine had a whole spread of pasta dishes that can be made under 30 minutes and are perfect for weeknight dinners. This dish has Mexican flavors with poblanos, corn and cilantro. I used wholewheat penne pasta and the sauce is made with 3Cs -- cilantro, corn and cream. Dish also has ground cumin to emphasize the Mexican flavor.

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Corn and Pepper Relish (Preserving Summer Bounty)

Buffet on Table: Bloggers Choice

Day 24: Preserving Summer Bounty - Roasted Confetti Corn

We are reaching the final stretch of this month's nonstop blogging for 'Buffet on Table' and the theme for this week is 'Blogger's Choice'. I thought it was going to be a breeze to come up with a theme and do 3 posts.
I couldn't even decide on the theme until last week. I was flip flopping on few themes, I'm going to jot them down here, so I remember them for later --dinner menu ideas, dhaba recipes and Bengali desserts. Then suddenly I thought of posting recipes for preserving the summer bounty/ harvest.

I planted some tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and chilies in a raised bed garden for the first time this year. I mentioned about my home grown zucchini in this post. Unfortunately after giving me the very large 13" long zucchini, the plant decided to call it a day and die on me :-(

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Corn Pizza on Multigrain Crust for #BreadBakers

'Whole Grain breads' is the theme for this month's #BreadBakers challenge. Thanks to Cali's Cuisine for choosing this interesting theme. Any yeasted or chemically leavened bread using at least half of the grains whole is what we need to come up for the challenge.

So I did the easiest thing I can do, opened my Whole Grain Baking cookbook by King Arthur Flour and found this Corn Pizza recipe with Multi grain crust. The crust has cornmeal, barley flour and wholewheat flour along with a little bit of bread flour. Per serving there are 43gms of whole grains in this recipe.

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Jicama-Avocado Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

I love trying new vegetables and the latest one I tried is Jicama (spelled as hi-ka-mma). Actually I bought it couple of times before, but I was hesitant to use them right away and by the time I was ready, they rotted :-( So this time, I made sure I had a recipe ready and I made it right away.
Jicama also known as Mexican yam or Mexican turnip is an edible tuberous root of a native Mexican vine. I was surprised that it is from a bean family because it almost looks like it belongs to the potato family. Another interesting thing is that the remainder of the jicama plant (except for the root) is poisonous.

Out side of a jicama is yellow and papery and needs to be peeled. Inside is crispy and resembles raw potato or pear. It tastes a little like apple but is not not sweet -- like a bland apple. It is usually eaten raw in salads and sometimes cooked in soups and stir-fried dishes.

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Salted Caramel Popcorn

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Movie Night Snacks

Dish: Salted Caramel Popcorn

I have never been a fan of popcorn, especially the ones sold at the movies or even the microwave variety. Growing up my parents didn't want us to eat outside food, so they never bought us anything when we went to the movies. So I never associated going to movies with popcorn or food. I continue to do that with my kids too. My older one never asked for it, lets see what the little one does.

I had a really bad popcorn when one of my friends bought a big tub of it and it was just so terrible that it ended my already non-existent relation with movie popcorn. Good thing with most of the non-Indian movies is that they are short and even before you realize you want to munch on something the movie is over. But Indian movies force you to buy snacks to kill time and money.

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Green Bean & Corn Casserole (Vegetarian Thanksgiving Menu Ideas)

We are only a few days away from Thanksgiving and this will be my last dish for this year's Thanksgiving recipes. This dish is a variation to the traditional Green bean casserole that is usually made using cream of mushroom soup and has a crispy fried onion topping. In this modified version, mushrooms and onions are cooked down and then a bechamel like sauce is made right in the pan -- then topped with crispy breadcrumb topping and baked off until hot and bubbly.

I loved the addition of corn and the crispy breadcrumb topping the most in this recipe. It is creamy and cheesy but not overly so. Give it a try if you are looking for a different green bean casserole recipe.

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Mango & Roasted corn Salsa

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Mango Mania
Dish: Mango & Roasted Corn Salsa

We are starting our second week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Mango Mania'. We get mangoes here in the states all through the year, even though the quality of the off-season mangoes is questionable. I don't buy ripe mangoes from regular grocery store unless it looks really really good. I like the ripe mangoes we get at the Indian store and last year we totally enjoyed the mango season. I'm so looking forward to summer for some juicy, ripe mangoes.

I made this mango salad/ salsa couple of months back when I had couple of ripe mangoes and fresh corn in the fridge. There is hardly any recipe here, it is more of a guideline. It is very easily customizable too. Add some cooked black beans or any other beans to add some protein and make it more filling. I served it along with some avocado rice for a simple dinner.

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Poblano Corn Rice

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 2/ Day 1 
Theme: Gourmet Rice Dishes 
Dish: Poblano-Corn Rice 

We are starting our 2nd week of Blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Gourmet Rice Dishes'. Valli wanted us to prepare rice dishes that are special and different from regular rice dishes. So for the next three days, I'm going to post 3 rice dishes that are slightly different and can be made for for company as well.

I wanted to try poblano & corn combination after making this baked mac & cheese I made for last month's BM. After tasting the pasta I really liked the green sauce and since my husband doesn't like mac & cheese, I wanted him to taste the flavors in a rice dish instead of the cheesy pasta. The dish turned out pretty good.

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Salad with Black beans & Corn and Citrus Blasamic Vinaigrette

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Soup or Salad with Sides 
Dish: Salad with Black beans & Corn with Cheese Quesadilla

For Day 2 of BM# 38, I have a simple salad served with cheese quesadilla. This salad is inspired from a dish that is on Chili's menu -- Quesadilla explosion Salad. We were at Chili's couple of weeks ago and saw it on the menu, though I didn't order it. Not sure if I already told you, I don't order salads when we go out. I feel like I have to eat actual food and not salads at restaurants. In my mind, I think I can make salads at home and don't want to spend money on a salad at a sit down restaurant.

Well anyway, coming back to the Quesadilla explosion salad; I googled for the recipe and found that it is one of the unhealthiest salads served at a restaurant. It has a full day worth of salt and ¾of the day's worth calories. It made me feel even better because you would think ordering salad is a good thing -- but apparently it's not such a good thing afterall.

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Poblano & Corn Baked Mac & Cheese

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Member's Choice
Dish: Baked Mac & Cheese with Poblano & Corn

We are starting our last week of blogging marathon for this month and I chose 'Member's Choice' as my theme. Valli compiled a list of dishes that all the BM members suggested and we were asked to pick 3 dishes for this week.
When I saw 'Baked Mac & Cheese', I knew I will definitely be making it. I like mac & cheese, but rarely make it because my husband is not a big fan of it -- he thinks it is too milky and cheesy for his taste -- the two reasons I really like it. But now my sister is in town and she is a fan of it. Gives me a chance to try mac & cheese recipes that I have been bookmarking from a while now.

Today's mac & cheese has a Mexican twist with poblanos, corn and cilantro in it along with the regular ingredients of cheese and milk. I thought the addition of poblanos was going to make this dish spicy, but it was very mild with a slightly smokey taste in the background. Original recipe had mushrooms in it, but I skipped them and used some onions instead.

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Poblano, Corn & Veggie Tostadas (Vegetarian Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Street Food from Around the World 
Dish: Poblano, Corn & Veggie Tostadas from Mexico

After exploring Korea, we are going to Mexico for today's Street Food from around the World. Mexican food was probably the first international cuisine that I really liked when I came to US. In those days, there were not too many International restaurants in India and the only international dish I ate back then was Domino's pizza, which if I remember correctly didn't really like.
But after coming to the US, I became more open minded about trying new dishes and Taco Bell soon became my favorite fast food place, both because of the vegetarian options available and it was affordable for a graduate student. One dish that I still order, at least one, is Nacho cheese chalupa. I make Mexican food atleast once a week and I have quite a few recipes posted here already.

Most of the dishes we get here in the US are the American version of Mexican food. So I wanted to see what is traditionally served as street food in Mexico. Street food in Mexico is called Antojitos, or small cravings. Most of them include corn as an ingredient. These dishes include tacos, chalupas, tamales, gorditas, tostadas etc.,

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Veggie Nachos

Being a food blogger, one thing that I sure don't do is post recipes ahead of a specific holiday/ festival. I wish I was more planned in that aspect. Coming from apparel retail background, I've seen companies start working on a season at least 9 months in advance, ie., designers start working on Summer designs (that will be in the store some time in April) some time in September of the previous year.
In the same way, there are quite a few bloggers who start posting recipes for summer before the end of spring. While they are thinking ahead, I am usually posting recipes I made at the end of winter (!!!!!!), that is how organized and planned I am.
Well today's dish was meant for Super Bowl Sunday and of course it is a week late. I saw Rachael Ray make this on her show and the use of veggies on nachos sounded tasty and I wanted to make it for my nacho-loving son. I actually served it for lunch (!!!) along with cilantro-lime rice.

These are infact a healthier version of traditional cheese laden nachos. Most of the cheese is replaced with sauteed veggies. My son liked them quite a lot and I'm sure I'll be making these often in the future.

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Corn & Rajma (Kidney beans) Pulao (Pilaf)

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking with Corn
Dish: Corn & Kidney beans Pulao

After using sweet corn in this uggani and baby corn in this masala curry, I'm combining both of these corns in a rice dish today. Recipe idea is from a Telugu cooking show. Original recipe used baby corn and rajma (red kidney beans), but I put some sweet corn that I had in the fridge.

If you have cooked rice and beans on hand, this dish takes literally minutes to complete. I made this for my lunch today. I had very little time to cook before I had to go pick my daughter from her play school. As I said this is a super quick dish to make if you have everything ready. I was able to cook, click and then go pick my daughter right on time.

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Sweet Corn Uggani (Borugula/ Maramarala Upma)

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Cooking with Corn
Dish: Sweet Corn Uggani

It's time to start yet another edition of Blogging Marathon. My theme for the first week is 'Cooking with Corn'. Corn was rarely used in cooking while I was growing up. We used to enjoy grilled corn on the cob during rainy season, but my mom hardly ever used it to cook anything.  Though sweet corn soup was famous in those days, but we ate it only at restaurants once in a while.
Nowadays corn, especially sweet corn, is being used very widely in Indian dishes. I use corn quite a lot in my cooking and make corn pulao, corn gravy curry for rotis. I keep a bag of frozen corn in the freezer and also buy fresh when I see some good quality ones in the grocery store.

So for the first day I made a snack that is made with sweet corn and murmure or puffed rice. Uggani is a famous snack in Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh. Typically it is lightly cooked, but today I have a no-cook version that is equally delicious. This is a quick and easy dish that is great to be served as an evening snack.

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Baked Vegetarian Chili Rellenos (Low fat)

Blogging Marathon# 31: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Mexican Cuisine
Dish: Baked Chili Rellenos - low fat 

I usually try to include 1 dessert recipe whenever I pick a theme for BM. So keeping that in mind I tried to make a Mexican flan and made it eggless. But unfortunately my caramel got burnt and the flan was way too rubbery. Imagine my embarrassment when I took it over to my friend's place for dinner -- it was so bitter, we ended up eating ice cream from my friend's freezer :-(

After that colossal dessert failure, I figured it's best to try something savory. I had bought some poblano chilies without any particular recipe in mind. I remembered this amazing Chile Rellenos dish that we ate at a Mexican restaurant years ago and wanted to give it a try.

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Vegetarian Tacos with Pinto Beans & Cheese

Blogging Marathon# 28: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Kid's Delight - 5 Ingredient Fix
Dish: Vegetarian Tacos with Pinto Beans & Cheese

Today's dish for Kid's Delight - 5 ingredient fix is my son's latest favorite. My 5 year old is slowly getting better at trying ingredients and dishes these days (knock on wood). I was surprised when he wanted me to order 'tacos' at Chipotle and surprised me even more when he liked them a LOT. He especially loved the corn salsa they put on his tacos and now he says that corn is his favorite veggie (not sure how long that will last). Anyway, right now I'm a happy camper because at least he's willing to try something new instead of just saying 'no' for everything.

I wanted to make tacos for him at home and what better day than today, 'Cinco de Mayo' (5th of May) to post them here for Valli's Kid's Delight event being hosted by me this month. 

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Corn Pulao

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Miscellaneous - Cooking Rice on Stove top
Dish: Corn Pulao/ Pilaf

I made this one pot Corn Pulao for my lunch today. Rice is cooked along with the veggies. There was a time when I tried to cook rice using the open pot method, it would either end up uncooked or burnt at the bottom. I have gotten better over time and now I make decent rice dishes without using the pressure cooker.
This corn rice has both corn kernels and baby corn. It is lightly spiced, so I served it with some tomato raita. It makes for a filling and delicious weeknight meal. Add some paneer or soy chunks or other protein to make this a complete meal. This is another recipe adapted from the Telugu cooking show I have been talking about a lot in my previous posts.

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Sweet Corn & Coconut Pudding

Blogging Marathon# 26: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Pick 1 ingredient and Cook from 3 books -- Dessert
Dish: Sweet Corn & Coconut Pudding

I have been watching a lot of Indian cooking shows lately and it looks like 'sweet corn aka American corn' is the latest 'hot' ingredient. Recipes ranging from breakfast upma to filling biryanis/ kurmas and desserts are being made with this versatile ingredient. Though I found it hard to find a dessert recipe with corn in my cookbooks, I would have definitely found a dessert recipe on one of the cooking shows.

Today's recipe is from "Viva Vegan" cookbook by Terry Hope Romero. Majarete is a light sweet pudding from the Caribbean island nations and some South American countries. This recipe is based on majarete found in the Dominican Republic, which is corn based, creamy and coconut scented with vanilla and cinnamon.

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Corn & Scallion Pancakes

Blogging Marathon # 26: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Pick 1 ingredient and Cook from 3 books - Breakfast Combo
Dish: Corn & Scallion Pancakes

When I started looking for breakfast dishes with corn, most of the recipes used cornmeal instead of whole corn. I found this savory corn pancakes recipe in the King Arthur Flour catalog. These can be served for breakfast or even brunch with black bean salsa and a dollop of sour cream.

Recipe uses Sourdough starter and since I'm always looking for ways to use my starter I made these pancakes right away. I made a few changes to the original recipe to make it eggless and add some fiber. Pancakes turned out great - they looked and tasted like cheelas (chickpea dosas/ crepes).

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