59 posts tagged “cooking”
With microwave semolina idlis and coconut cilantro chutney.
The hardest part of this recipe was mashing my perfectly cooked, long, separate grains of fragrant Basmati rice into the creamy mush that is curd rice. [That's conditioning for you.] The mashing is important to give it the creamy texture, though, and for a proper melding of flavors.
- 1 cup raw rice (medium grain is good)
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup sour plain yogurt ( Activia plain yogurt comes closest to homemade.)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- a pinch asfoetida (optional)
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tbsp ginger green chilli paste
- a few curry leaves (I used dried ones that my mother mailed from her kitchen garden in India.)
- 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
- a handful of seedless grapes, or pomegranate arils, or fresh cherries
- In a saucepan, soak the rice in the water for 20-30 minutes.
- Place the saucepan on high heat and bring to a boil, covered. Then lower the heat and simmer until all the water is absorbed. Keep the lid on as much as you can.
- Turn off the heat, and add the salt and the milk to the rice, stirring and mashing the rice with the back of your spoon. The rice will absorb most of the liquid. Cover, and let it cool.
- Once cooled to room temperature, add the yogurt and mix it in.
- Heat the oil in a small skillet.
- Add the asfoetida and the mustard seeds. Let em pop.
- Add the curry leaves and the ginger green chilli paste. Saute for a minute.
- Add this tempering to the rice along with the fruit and the cilantro. Mix well.
- Chill in the fridge for half an hour.
Serve with your favorite hot pickle.
The first time I tried polenta, it was out of those supermarket tube shaped packages, disappointingly bland, barely rescued by our spicy marinara. This killer homegrown version is a different animal grain altogether, rendering the accompanying pesto superfluous.
Broccoli Polenta cakes (recipe adapted from the smashing Veganomicon)
- 1 cup stone ground coarse polenta
- 3 and 1/2 cups water
- salt and fresh black pepper to taste
- 1 cup broccoli, chopped fine ( I used frozen)
- 2 oz Queso Fresco
- Bring the water to boil in a heavy saucepan. Slowly pour in the polenta, stirring constantly with a whisk.
- Add the broccoli, salt and pepper.
- Lower the heat to a simmer and keep stirring for 10-15 minutes until it thickens to creamy pudding consistency. (Be careful of hot splatters.)
- Cover and turn off the heat. Let it rest for ten minutes, until it is thick enough to be picked up on a flat spatula.
- Pour the polenta into greased muffin pans and cool. (Silicone pans are perfect for this..don't even need greasing.)
- Once cooled, turn over on a foil-lined baking sheet, crumble half the queso on top and place under the broiler until the cheese turns golden.
Sun-dried tomato cilantro pesto
- 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup almonds, ground
- 1/2 cup cilantro, packed
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
- Soak the tomatoes in boiling water for ten minutes. Then, grind everything together in a food processor or blender.
Serve the polenta over the pesto, with roasted vegetables on the side, and more crumbled queso for garnish. I broiled a couple of zucchinis, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and vinegar, on the same tray with the polenta.
* Omit the queso for a vegan version.
* Serves 4. Per serving about 250 calories.
Okay, so I really shouldn't have. We were both craving dessert, and I couldn't help but remember the Gorgeous wheat pudding recipe the folks at my favorite food blog had posted recently. Wheat flour pudding, aka aate ka halwa, was a Sunday breakfast staple in our house. Pretty much every household in India has a variation on this pudding..using wheat flour, gram flour, mung flour, or semolina. We made the semolina version tonight, which is a popular temple prasadam, served to God and people alike.
1 cup semolina (or cream of wheat)
1/4 cup almonds, coarsely chopped (use peeled ones if you like, or use golden raisins)
1 cup raw cane sugar
2 cups hot water
2 green cardamom pods, powdered
- Heat the butter in a heavy metal skillet until it melts completely.
- Add the semolina. Turn the heat to low medium, and stir the semolina constantly, for about ten minutes. This is where you need patience. Stir until it gets really toasty and turns a rich gold brown.
- Add the almonds and stir for another few minutes.
- Gently add the hot water, stirring contantly. The semolina will soak it up in seconds.
- Still stirring, add the sugar and the cardamom. Stir until the sugar melts and the halwa gets a sexy caramel glaze.
- Serve warm.
- Add a scoop of vanilla icecream if you dare.
I think I will lay off Jugalbandi for a few days..the food cravings are killing me! :)
Do not let anybody tell you chili can't be made on a weeknight. All you need is beans soaked the night before and a pressure cooker. If you have neither, use canned beans. :)
Ingredients-
1 cup dried kidney beans, soaked overnight, then pressure-cooked ( or about 2 cups canned)
1 onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 green bell pepper, chopped coarsely
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed
30 oz canned diced tomatoes in juice, or 3-4 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 canned chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped
1 tsp dried ancho chili powder (or 1 dried ancho chilli pepper, soaked and chopped)
1 tsp mexican oregano
1 tsp cumin seeds, ground
1 tsp coriander seeds, ground
Juice and zest of one lime
1/4 cup TVP granules (optional- soak them in hot water, then rinse under cold water and squeeze dry)
1 tbsp canola oil
salt to taste
Handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
- Heat oil in a large, heavy pan.
- Add onion and saute until golden brown.
- Add garlic, cumin, coriander, oregano, and stir around for a few seconds.
- Add bell pepper, carrots, corn, lime zest and saute for five minutes.
- Add tomatoes, TVP, chipotle, ancho chili powder, salt, and bring to a boil. Now turn the heat to medium low, cover and simmer for five minutes. (The soy granules will soak up a lot of flavor and be really good to your tongue.)
- Add the beans, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until all the flavors are mixed well. Taste and season
- Add lime juice and cilantro before serving.
Serve with Isa's vegan cornbread.
I'm not a big bean person, but I lurve cornbread. Chili seems to be a good compromise..it has enough beans to go well with cornbread (and satisfy A's protein fetish) and enough veggies to suit me. It also goes well with a bunch of things..rice, Indian breads, chips..
I made a chickpea curry for brunch yesterday (along with the English muffins; hubby craves salt post-call). In the afternoon, we threw some veggies in the oven. We roast vegetables All the time. They are delicious, versatile, and so sin-free. For supper, then, it was only natural to throw it all together with some couscous. This is my favorite way of cooking- when I can combine all the leftovers to make something new and clean out the fridge in the process.
- 1 and 1/2 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp asfoetida (optional)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp powdered coriander seeds
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp ginger-green chilli paste
- 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- salt to taste
- cilantro for garnish
-
Cook the soaked chickpeas in a pressure cooker ( twenty minutes after
pressure builds up) or in a pan with 4 cups of water, and 1 tsp salt,
until firm but cooked through. Canned chickpeas do not need to be
cooked.
- Heat the oil in a sauce pan. Add the asfoetida, cumin, coriander seeds, chilli powder, turmeric (in that order) and wait till they sizzle.
- Add the ginger green chili paste and stir for a few seconds.
- Add the diced tomatoes, season, and bring it to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the chickpeas with the cooking water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for ten minutes.
- Adjust seasoning. Garnish with cilantro and garam masala.
- Serve with yogurt, plain rice and flatbreads. This curry is quite similar to the Moroccan chickpea recipes I've seen, a great companion for couscous.
Roasted veggies (Ways to try yellow squash, for RD)-
- 4-6 yellow squash, thickly cut into half-moons (or zucchini, or broccoli, or cauliflower)
- a handful of baby carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp each dried thyme and oregano
- salt and black pepper
- Pre-heat oven to 420 degrees.
- Toss all the ingredients together. Spread out on a baking tray lined with foil.
- Roast for about 30-40 minutes, until veggies start to brown a little bit.
- Serve over couscous, toss with pasta, add to a quesadilla, or make soup.
Pine-nut Cranberry Couscous-
- 2 cups couscous
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries (or golden raisins, or chopped dried apricots)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cups vegetable stock, warm
- Juice and zest of two limes
- 1 tsp garam masala
- salt and black pepper to taste
- a handful of chopped fresh cilantro
- Heat oil in a Dutch oven.
- Add the pine nuts and saute until lightly browned.
- Then add the couscous and toast it for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add stock, salt and pepper, cranberries, lime juice and zest. Mix well, and bring the mixture to a boil. (Should happen very fast).
- Cover, and turn the heat off. Take the pan off the hot surface.
- Open after a minute, fluff with a fork, add garam masala and cilantro.
- Serve topped with the roasted veggies and chickpea curry.
It was so good. We'd gone out to see four One-act plays being performed by local theater companies as part of a city festival, and I surprised A by saying I wanted to go back home for dinner. Usually, I'm the one begging for a restaurant dinner. If you're reading this, dear hubby, I want you to come home with hummus from you-know-where. :)
I'd been wanting to make these ever since Singing Horse made them. Her blog took me to this recipe, which linked to Alton Brown's original. I stuck with his recipe, using dry milk instead of fluid, but skipping the shortening. The muffins turned out well, with a good crumb, but a little chewy for my taste. Maybe a little whole wheat flour the next time.
During my usual food blog patrol, I stumbled upon this cool idea for the Monthly Blog Patrol event started by Coffee at The Spice Cafe. July's MBP theme is 'Less is More', and people are invited to cook any recipe from a blogger that has five or less ingredients. The event is being hosted by one of my favorite food bloggers, Nupur at One Hot Stove.
I really like the idea of cooking with less, of using spices only to highlight the main ingredient. It also helped that I'd had my eye on the perfect recipe for a very long time.
I'd first read about Haak, a simple Kashmiri recipe for slow-cooked greens, in Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. Soon I started noticing it on all over the blogosphere. This Haak is from A Mad Tea Party's recipe, though I subbed the Veri Masala with Jugalbandi's Kashmiri Garam Masala.
Not counting the salt and the oil, Anita's recipe has 6 ingredients. The lack of fresh green chillies in our fridge took care of that, and we ended up with exactly five ingredients:
2 lbs collard greens/kohlrabi greens/dandelion geens, chopped and tough ribs removed (You can leave them whole if tender)
1 tbsp mustard oil
2 dried red chillies, broken
a hefty pinch of powdered asfoetida
1 pinch of soda bi carb
1/2 tsp Kashmiri Garam Masala (or Veri masala)- optional
salt to taste
- Heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed pan.
- Add asfoetida, red chillies. Let them sizzle.
- Add 1 cup water. Bring it to a boil.
- Add a pinch of soda (it helps retain the fresh green color) and the greens. Stir them around until they wilt, then add salt, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Once the greens are done, uncover, turn up the heat to evaporate most of the remaining water.
- Sprinkle the garam masala at the end.
- Serve with steamed rice and yogurt.
We love everything about the haak, the simplicity, the slightly bitter green taste of the collards, the gorgeous flavor that the mustard oil, asfoetida and the red chillies lend the dish. Having lived in Mississippi for a year and eaten a LOT of collard greens in proper southern manner (with cornbread soaking up the pot liquor), this similar yet very different Kashmiri recipe is my new favorite. It even has pot liquor if I decide to soak my rice in it. :)
Sweetening it up in the kitchen post-call. After making savory appey in the aebleskiver pan, today we made traditional aebleskiver, apple stuffed danish pancakes, dipped in powdered sugar and served with raspberry preserves.
For the apple stuffing (from here):
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, shredded
1 tsp butter/oil
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp orange juice
a pinch nutmeg powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- Mix all ingredients on low-medium heat in a nonstick saucepan. Cook until apples are softened, about 5 minutes. Remove, drain, reserve the liquid.
For the aebleskiver:
1 and 1/4 cup all purpose white flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1 and 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water ( I used the liquid from stuffing)
2 tbsp oil/butter
2 tbsp maple syrup/brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together in another bowl.
- Mix the dry and the wet ingredients together. Avoid over-mixing.
To make aebleskiver-
- Heat the pan. Add 1/2 tsp of butter/cooking spray to each cup.
- Add 1 tbsp of pancake batter, then 1 tsp of apple stuffing, finally, another tbsp of batter, to each cup.
-When the top bubbles and bottom browns, turn them gently about 90 degrees with a knitting needle/fork. The filling will spill down into the bottom of the cup (thats the idea).
- Let the bottom brown, then turn another 90 degrees, completing the flip. Let the bottom brown again.
- Remove, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and serve with raspberry jam.
Makes 25 aebleskiver, per pancake 55 calories, 1.6 gm fat, 9.9 gm carb, 1.1 gm protein.
Sunday's party was the first time I made a full Indian meal on my own for guests...people loved it!
Clockwise from the white bowl- lentil croquettes with yogurt and date-tamarind chutney, cucumber-mint yogurt, baked peas with cottage cheese, baked cauliflower, and black lentils.
Baked cauliflower
1 medium cauliflower
a handful each of mint and cilantro
1/4 cup grated coconut
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste
1 green chili pepper
1/2 tsp garam masala (optional)
For the curry sauce:
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp coriander seeds
2 red chillies
2 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp cashew nuts
1 tbsp oil
2 cups tomato puree
- Soak the poppy seeds in just enough water to cover.
- Remove as much stem from the whole cauliflower as you can.
- Grind the mint, cilantro, coconut, salt, lemon juice and chilli pepper together in the food processor. Add 1 tbsp or more of water if needed to grind well.
- Rub this chutney all over the cauliflower and stuff the rest between the florets. Sprinkle the garam masala on top.
- Place the cauliflower in a microwave safe dish, cover, and nuke for 6-8 minutes, until the cauliflower is steamed through, but remains firm. Let it cool, then remove and place in an oven-safe dish.
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Heat oil in a saucepan. Add the cumin, coriander seeds and red chilies and let them sizzle. Then add the cashews and brown them.
- Turn off the heat. Add this mixture with the poppy seeds and tomato puree to a blender and blend well.
- Return the puree to the saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Pour half of the sauce over the cauliflower and bake for 20 minutes.
- Pour the other half and bake for 10 minutes, then broil the top until golden. Serve with flatbreads.
In the original version of this dish, the whole cauliflower is deep fried, then covered with the curry sauce and baked. Nothing in this world can taste like fried cauliflower, but this healthier version comes close enough.
Coz Brown Suga' reminded me of this lovely, light, nutritious snack. Instant microwave-cooked savory gram flour cakes. Take about 15 minutes from start to finish. From the queen of Indian cooking, Tarla Dalal. Now the real khaman dhokla requires grinding rice and lentils and then fermenting them, but that's more time than I want to invest in a snack.
Ingredients:
1 cup gram flour (chickpea flour/besan)
1 1/2 tbsp semolina
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp citric acid
1 tsp ginger green chilli paste
3 tsp sugar
Add 3/4 cup water and whisk together to make a smooth paste.
Add 1 1/2 tsp Eno fruit salt (or use 1 tsp soda bicarb with 1/2 tsp citric acid) on top, add 2 tbsp water, and mix well. The whole batter will become foamy.
Quickly pour the batter into a microwave safe, greased bowl and steam, covered for 3 minutes. Let it stand for two minutes.
For the tempering:
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 pinch asfoetida (optional)
4-5 curry leaves
1 tbsp grated coconut
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/4 cup water
Juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tsp sugar
Heat oil in a small pan. Add asfoetida, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and let them sizzle. Add curry leaves and coconut and turn off the heat. Then add the water, lime juice and sugar. Let it cool. Add the tempering to the top of the cooked dhokla and let it cool in the fridge for half n hour. Serve garnished with cilantro, with green chutney or ketchup.
Makes about 8 wedges.
2 wedges: 164 cals, 5.8 gm fat, 6 gm protein, 22 gm carbs.
