Laotian Eggplant with Tomatoes for #Food of the World

We are visiting Laos this month for the Food of the World event. I made this Laotian Eggplant with Tomatoes and Mint recipe from Vegetarian Times magazine.

Laos is a landlocked country bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the West. I've heard about Laos, but had very limited knowledge of the country or the cuisine. A little googling later, I learnt (from Wiki) that steamed sticky rice is the staple food of Laos and they eat more sticky rice than any other country in the world.

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Tomato Cheese Sandwich with Pesto

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: 3 Veggies that are Fruit

Dish: Tomato Cheese Pesto Sandwich

Tomato is probably the most popular vegetable that is in fact a fruit. Today I have a simple sandwich recipe that needs just a few ingredients but tastes absolutely amazing -- Tomato Cheese Sandwich with Pesto.

This dish doesn't really need a recipe. Assemble the ingredients listed in the name, pile them on bread and enjoy as is or if you like the cheese melted and the bread toasted, then grill the sandwich. I like it toasted, so that's how I served it.

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Methi Tomato Paneer

This Methi-Tomato Paneer curry recipe is from a Telugu cooking show. It is a simple curry with very simple ingredients, methi, tomato and paneer. It is a great side dish for rice or roti.

I planted my little vegetable garden few weeks back and the saplings have slowly started to grow. My methi plants are also slowly grwoing. Hopefully I can get to cook with my own methi leaves soon :-)

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Tameta Muthiya nu Shaak (Gujarati Tomato Curry with Steamed Dumplings)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 3: Gujarati Cuisine 

Day 20: T for Tameta Muthiya nu Shaak

Recipe from Tarla Dalal.com:
Can't believe we are at the end of the 3rd week in our 'Journey through the cuisines' mega marathon. Here's the last of the Gujarati dishes in the series and it's yet another easy to make, simple everyday tomato curry with muthiyas.

I made Palak-Methi muthiyas -- steamed this time to add to the tomato shaak. Even the fried muthiyas would work just as good in this recipe. I made a similar Gujarati tomato curry with sev for one of the previous BMs.

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Punjabi Dal Tadka

I made this Punjabi Dal tadka along with this Aloo curry for a mini Punjabi meal. Recipe for the dal is from a Telugu cooking show and I have made it quite a few times already.

Like any dal, this is very easy to make and is very hearty and comforting dish. It is a simple dish but tastes amazing and the lovely thing about this dish is it can whipped up for a simple dal-chawal menu on a weeknight or can be served with naans and jeera rice for a party.

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Greek Nachos with Tzatziki Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Bring on the Nachos

Dish: Greek Nachos with Tzatziki Sauce

We are starting a brand new blogging marathon today and I picked a very interesting theme. It is 'Bring on your Nachos' and so for the next 3 days, I'm going to post some interesting Nacho recipes -- a little different from the cheese laden ones we are all used to.

These Greek Nachos have been on my mind ever since I watched Kelsey Nixon make them on The Kitchn. I bookmarked the recipe right away, but it took me all this while to get to making it.

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Jollof Brown Rice (African Tomato Rice)

Blogging Marathon# 58: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Bring on your Rice

Dish: Jollof Brown Rice 

After 2 days of Indian style rice dishes, I have an African tomato rice for the final day of this week's marathon. Tomato flavored rice is quite a popular side dish in west African menus. This recipe is from 'Vegan Eats World' by Terry Hope Romero.

Recipe uses brown rice instead of white and is baked instead of cooking on the stove. I've never baked brown rice before and was skeptical to follow the recipe. But I wanted to try it because when brown rice is boiled with more wet ingredients like the tomato paste, it tends to become mushy and cook unevenly. So to prevent that this dish is baked for a firmer, evenly cooked grains.

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Vegetable Makhani Rice

Blogging Marathon# 58: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Bring on your Rice

Dish: Vegetable Makhani Rice

After yesterday's South Indian rice dish, I have this North Indian rice dish. Makhani gravy is a reddish tomato based gravy made with butter and cream (hence the name makhani), commonly used in North Indian dishes. It is very popular on restaurant menus and paneer makhani is quite famous.

Here the makhani gravy is mixed with basmati rice to make this creamy and delicious rice that is equally good to perfect to serve at dinner parties or as a quick weeknight meal. Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show.

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Pizza Popcorn

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole grains

Dish: Pizza Popcorn

I'm running a little late to post for day 2 of this week's marathon. It has been a busy weekend with back to back Navratri dinners on Friday and Saturday, so couldn't find time to make this dish until today. Luckily I made the pizza spice mix couple of days ago, so all I had to do today was to pop the corn and mix with the spice blend.

Sending this over to Kalyani's Kid's Delight -- Cooking with Whole Grains (an event started by Valli). Popcorn is a whole grain food that is very low in calories and a good source of fiber. But those buttered or artificially flavored popcorn is not the way to go. It is best to pop your own corn and then flavor it as needed.

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Vegetarian Paprikash with Dumplings for #Food of the World

For this month's #Food of the World event, we are visiting Hungary. I have heard a lot of Hungarian food, but never really tasted or made it myself. Like most other European countries, traditional Hungarian dishes are primarily based on meats, seasonal vegetables, bread, dairy products and cheese.
Hungarians are especially passionate about their meat stews, casseroles, steaks and so on. Hungarian Goulash is very popular and I've seen it being made on TV many times and in fact a vegetarian version of it was my first choice to make for today. Goulash is a stew or a soup made with meat, paprika, caraway, vegetables and potatoes or various tiny dumplings or pasta simmered with the meat.

Other famous Hungarian stews include paprikas (a paprika stew simmered in thick creamy paprika gray) and porhoit and so on. Different kinds of noodles and dumplings, potatoes and rice are commonly served as side dishes.

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Salsa Picante

This is one of the condiments that I wanted to post for the mega marathon-condiment week, but didn't know which country to put it under. So I'm posting it today for 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge'.
Salsa is a condiment made with tomatoes, onions, peppers and other ingredients. 'Picante' is a Spanish adjective meaning 'piquant', derived from the word 'picar' which means to sting, referring to the feeling caused on the tongue.

I usually make fresh salsas, the ones that are basically chopped and mixed together. This one is cooked till the veggies are tender and the sauce is thickened.

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Imam Biyildi (Turkish Stuffed Eggplant)

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Eggplant Dishes from here

Dish: Imam Biyaldi

We are back to our regular 3 days a week blogging this month. My theme for this week is 'Eggplant Dishes' and if you follow my blog you know my love for eggplant and there is no way I would miss this theme. Valli gave us a list of eggplant dishes to choose from, so for the next 3 days I will be posting 3 eggplant dishes from around the world.

The baby and the big eggplants you see in the below pictures were picked fresh from the farm and the long Japanese eggplants are from my backyard garden. All these fresh eggplants were a great inspiration to cook for this theme.

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Slow Roasted Tomatoes (Preserving Summer Bounty)

Buffet on Table: Bloggers Choice

Day 26: Preserving Summer Bounty - Slow Roasted Tomatoes

It has been a great month of non stop blogging with our mega marathon, Buffet on Table. All good things have to come to end and today is the last day for the marathon :-( 

Today I have slow roasted potatoes recipe to preserve your summer tomato bounty. I only 3 tomato plants (cherry, roma and regular), but I've been getting quite a lot of tomatoes that needed to used up. 

Now I can imagine how much this bounty would be for people with lot of tomato plants -- they must be bombarded with tons of tomatoes. If you are one of them, then please share how you preserve your tomatoes in the comments below. Thank you.

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Indian Style Tomato Soup

This tomato soup is the perfect accompaniment to grilled cheese sandwich. It is also great to serve warm with crusty bread on a chilly day.

I added Indian flavors to the soup along with some coconut milk to make it thick and tasty. Substitute ginger with garlic, omit the cumin seeds and red chili powder. Use cream or half-n-half instead of coconut milk and make a American style thick tomato soup.

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Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

Buffet on Table: Week 1 -- Combos from Countries

Day 3: US -- Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup

We are stopping in the United States for a hearty and comforting combo of grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. This is a such a classic combination; crunchy, buttery bread and melted cheese just begs to be dunked in a big bowl of hearty tomato soup.

One good thing about this combo is that both the sandwich and the soup can be customized to ones palate. So I took the liberty and made them both with Indian flavors. Skip the green chutney and caramelized onion in the sandwich and you have an all American sandwich.

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Tomato Dosa with Oats

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Lentils -- 3 Ways

Dish: Tomato Dosa with Oats

I have an interesting dosa recipe for the final day of this month's blogging marathon. Dosas are an excellent mix of lentils and rice and give a good dose of protein and carbohydrates to the body.

I saw this recipe for dosa with tomato and oats on a Telugu cooking show and immediately noted it down in my book. I made these couple of days ago and they turned out great. Adding oats makes these dosas a little more nutritious.

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3 Ingredient Marinara Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: 3 Ingredient Recipes

Dish: Marinara Sauce

As I was wondering what to make for Day 2 of '3-ingredient recipes', I got the recipe for this marinara sauce in my inbox from Everyday Food. Knowing my kids love for pasta, I knew I had to try this recipe right away.

I always keep store bought pasta sauce in the pantry, but there are occasions when I run out of my stock and this recipe is comes in very handy.

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Cherry Tomato & Kale Pasta

I love cherry tomatoes and usually keep a pack of red or yellow cherry tomatoes in the fridge. They are so juicy and can be eaten just as is. They are great to add in salads, pastas and even on crostini.

This recipe is from 'Meatless' cookbook by Martha Stewart Living. Cherry tomatoes are cooked till they burst and then stirred with pasta and kale. It is a very simple recipe with few ingredients and can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes, perfect for a busy weeknight.

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Asparagus Tomato Dal

Blogging Marathon# 52: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Seasonal Veggies & Fruits

Dish: Asparagus Tomato Dal

My theme for the second week of this month's marathon is 'Dishes with Seasonal Veggies & Fruits'. First up is a simple dal with asparagus and tomato.

Asparagus is a spring vegetable and I look forward to buying it when in season. Asparagus has a delicate flavor and is composed of 93% water. It is low in calories and very low in sodium. It is a good source of vitamins and minerals, dietary fiber, protein etc etc.

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Baked Eggs Fra Diavolo (Baked Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce)

BM# 51 -- Baking Marathon: Day 14

Bake of the Day: Breakfast -- Baked Eggs Fradiavolo

As I was looking for recipes of baked dishes, I wanted at least a few to be without flour, sugar and the other usual bread ingredients. I got this recipe for baked eggs in a newsletter from Chef Central. I immediately added it to my mega marathon list.

We are a egg loving family -- both my kids absolutely love eggs in any shape or form. I stopped baking with eggs though because I find eggless bakes are so much easier and most of my extended family prefers eggless bakes. So after all the flour based bakes without eggs, here's a really simple recipe for baked eggs.

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