Carrot Raita (Carrot Yogurt Dip)

Blogging Marathon# 61: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Dishes using Root Vegetables

Dish: Carrot Raita

We are starting a new week of Blogging marathon and my theme for this week is 'Dishes made with Root Vegetables'. Valli wanted us to pick 3 root vegetables from this list and cook 3 dishes for the week.

My first dish is with the most popular root vegetable, Carrot. It is widely used in many cuisines, especially in the preparation of salads. I always have carrots in my fridge and I add them to rice dishes, curries and even make chutney with it. The sweetness in carrots makes them perfect to use in sweet dishes as well, like carrot halwa or burfi or ice cream.

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Kashmiri Dum Aloo

To go with my Kashmiri Rotis and Saffron rice, I made this Kashmiri Dum Aloo. This curry is so delicious with stuffed potatoes that is served with a spicy, creamy gravy.

I already have another Kashmiri Dum Aloo recipe on the blog, but this recipe is quite different from that one because here the potatoes are stuffed with paneer and unsweetened khoya. I replaced khoya with ricotta cheese because I didn't have khoya on hand and strained ricotta worked like a charm.

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Roasted Cauliflower & Rice Bowl

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Healthy Family Dinners

Dish: Roasted Cauliflower with Ras el Hanout & Rice Bowl

My theme for he first week of this month's blogging marathon is 'Healthy Family Dinners'. Ever since I signed up for this theme, I have been thinking what 'healthy' actually means. It has become such a subjective matter. what I think as healthy may not be really that healthy.
For example, recently I read somewhere that broccoli has to be eaten as fresh as possible and if it is stored in the refrigerator, it loses its nutrients. So if I cook something with broccoli after about 4~5 days from buying, does that mean it's not healthy or nutritious anymore? The more articles I read on this, the more confused and clueless I keep getting. So, I've decided not to worry about it too much -- I try to cook with fresh ingredients and keep processed foods to the minimum.

So for the next 3 days, I'm going to post 'healthy' dinners that taste good and are enjoyed by the whole family. Roasted cauliflower is my newest favorite and with all the amazing health benefits it has, cauliflower is sure a superfood. Roasting makes it so much more delicious and in this recipe, cauliflower is roasted with tahini and a Moroccan spice powder called Ras el Hanout. It is a very flavorful dish and I served it with some brown rice and veggies.

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Iyengar Bakery Khara Bread (Spicy Indian flavored Bread)

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 4/ Day 1

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes -- Veena's Veg Nation

Dish: Iyengar Bakery Khara Bread

We are starting the final week of Blogging Marathon for this month today and I'm paired with Veena and for the next 3 days I'm going to post 3 dishes from Veena's blog. Veena blogs at Veena's Veg Nation and she has an awesome collection of recipes both traditional Indian and International. She is an amazing baker, I have quite a few of her breads and other baked goodies bookmarked, hopefully I'll get to bake them some time soon.

For the first day, I made this Iyengar Bakery style spicy Khara Bread. This bread has delicious Indian flavors with cumin seeds, onions, mint and cilantro. Make it as spicy as you want with green chilies. I kept it mild because my kids are too big on spicy food.

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Swedish Christmas porridge

This is a hearty and delicious oatmeal porridge that you would love to wake up to on Christmas morning. The oats are soaked overnight making them soft and quick & easy to cook in the morning. Adding grated apple was my favorite in this dish.

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