Greek Cucumber and Chickpea Salad

Blogging Marathon# 62: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Salads

Dish: Greek Cucumber Salad

Today's salad is extremely easy to put together, very filling and absolutely refreshing. I made this salad along with Greek Lemony Dill rice that I posted last month. It is a great to serve as a side dish or on its own for a light meal.

Recipe is from Cooking Light magazine. I wasn't a big fan of dill for a long time. I thought it had a very strong flavor that was overpowering. But recently I started liking it quite a bit, especially when used in Greek style dishes like tzatziki sauce or Spanakopitas.

Read more »

Greek Style Lemon Rice with Dill

Blogging Marathon# 61: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Meal Ideas

Dish: Greek style Rice with Dill

For the last day of this week's marathon, I have a simple meal with Greek style Lemon rice with dill. This is a popular side dish served in many Mediterranean restaurants and is very similar to our very own Indian Lemon rice except for the addition of dill. This recipe is from Vegan Eats World cookbook by Terry Hope Romero. 

Lemon rice is the first thing that comes to my mind when I have leftover rice. In fact I even make lemon flavored oats, barley and quinoa. So today's recipe is on the same lines but with dried oregano and fresh dill that add delicious Greek flavor to the dish.

Read more »

Tzatziki Sauce

Buffet on Table: Week 3 -- Condiments from Countries

Day 16: Greece - Tzatziki Sauce

After yesterday's creamy red pepper walnut dip, today I have a creamy yogurt dip from Greece. Tzatziki sauce needs only 3 main ingredients -- thick yogurt, cucumber, dill and that's it you can make a delicious dip that makes pita or falafel sandwich so much better. I even ate it by the spoonfuls.

My husband has an aversion to yogurt -- he can't tell it's smell, color or texture. I enjoy yogurt based dishes quite a bit but don't make them often. Even though I was tempted to try tzatziki at home, I was never really motivated enough. So this condiments week was the perfect time to make this dip and enjoy it all by myself :-)

Read more »

Soy Methi Rice

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: Miscellaneous - Rice dish using leftover rice
Dish: Soy Methi Dill Rice

I sometimes crave for simple and easy dishes that don't take too long to cook and are filling and tasty. Even though I love spicy and masaledar (does this translate to more spicy in English?), sometimes all you want is food with simple flavors. Today's dish is just that and much more in terms of healthy ingredients used.

Recipe is courtesy of my new found Telugu cooking show. This dish is a great way to use up leftover rice and if you really want to amp up the health quotient of this dish, use brown rice instead of white or even better use quinoa or any other whole grain.

It has soy in the form of granules or TVP, methi (fenugreek leaves) and dill leaves (called 'soya'kura in Telugu). I'm not a big fan of dill, because I feel it is a little strong to my palate, but I didn't even notice its presence. It blended with the methi and the taste was very pleasant.

Read more »

Dill & Spring Onion Roti

For Day 2 under "Cooking with Greens" theme, I made these Dill and Spring onion rotis. To be honest, dill is not one of my favorite greens, I feel that it have a overwhelming flavor. But knowing that this fern looking green is packed with anti-oxidants and a ton of health benefits, I wanted to give it another try. 

I used about ¼ cup of the chopped dill along with spring onions to make the rotis. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually liked the mild dill flavor and even more surprised when my son asked for seconds.

Read more »

Potatoes Go Green

Dill, to me, has a very strong flavor and too much of it really ruins the dish. I made full bunch of dill and potato curry some time ago and it was way too much dill that I didn’t dare to buy it again for a while.

During one of my recent trips to farmer’s market, I saw this beautiful bunch of dill for 99¢ and I wanted to give it a try again. With quarter bunch my MIL made a really tasty green veggie stir fry. With another quarter bunch, I added potato (to stretch the curry a little bit) and it was awesome.

Ingredients:
Potatoes – 3 medium, peeled and diced
Spinach – half a bunch, about 3 cups
Methi leaves (fenugreek leaves) – 1 cup
Dill – ¼ cup, chopped fine
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Ginger+garlic pastes – ½ tsp
Red Chili powder – 1 tsp
Green chilies – 3, chopped fine

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


Method:

• First microwave the potatoes with little bit of water for 4-5 minutes until they are fork tender.
  
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add the tempering seeds and after they splutter add onions and green chilies. Sauté onions till soft and starting to brown.
  
• Add ginger+garlic paste and potatoes and stir fry on medium high for 2-3 minutes. Add all the green veggies; reduce the heat to medium low, and cook covered for 10-12 minutes. Stir occasionally; add ¼ cup water if the curry starts sticking to the pan.
  
• Add salt and red chili powder, mix well and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
• Serve with rice or roti.