Peerkangai Poriyal (Ridge gourd Stir fry)

Like I mentioned in my previous post on Peerkangai Thol Chutney, peerkangai or ridge gourd is a versatile vegetable where the peel and the flesh can be used separately to make different dishes. Since the peel is kinda tough we need to remove it before making a stir fry. You can use the peels to make a chutney, for which you can find the recipe here. The stir fry or poriyal is very simple and quick. You can make it dry to go with rice or a little soggy to go with rotis.

Some things you may want to know about the vegetable are

• They let out a lot of water, so watch out.
• Once cooked the vegetable shrinks a lot, so if your cooking for large number of people you may want to buy more.
• You can use the seeds in the middle if they are tender, if not remove them before cooking.
• Save the skin (peel) to make a chutney (Dip). Recipe here

Ingredients:

• Ridge gourd/ Peerkangai - 2 large ones, peel and chop them.
• Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Garlic - 3 or 4, chopped
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• Mustard seeds - 1tspn
• Urad dal - 1tsp
• Channa Dal - 1 tsp
• Dry red chillies - 2 or 3, broken
• Coriander powder - 1 tspn
• Curry leaves - 1 strand
• Salt - to taste
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tspn
• Coconut,shredded - 2 tblspn

Steps: 

• Add oil in a pan, when hot add the mustard seeds, when they crackle, add the urad dal,channa dal, dry red chillies and the curry leaves.
• Immediately add the chopped onion and garlic and sauté till the onion changes colour lightly.
• Turn heat to medium high and add the coriander powder and chilli powder and sauté well till the raw smell of the coriander is gone.
• Then add the chopped ridge gourd and sauté. Add salt to taste.
• Sprinkle some water to start the cooking process and cover.
• In about 5 mins the gourd would have let out a lot of water, so remove the cover and cook it for another 5 mins. 
• If you like it to be soggy to go with rotis, add shredded coconut now, stir it in well and turn off heat.
• Or raise the heat to high and let the water evaporate, stir occasionally. Then add the shredded coconut, stir it in well and turn off heat. 

Peerkangai Thol (Ridge Gourd Peel) Chutney

This is a versatile vegetable I should say, you get two dishes out of 1 vegetable. The skin is bit tough, so you can peel it off and make a chutney (dip) with it and a poriyal (stir-fry) with the rest, for which you can find the recipe here, Peerkangai poriyal. So lets get started with the chutney for now. 

Ingredients:

• Peekangai thol (Peel of ridge gourd) -  from 2
• Coconut meat - 2 inches, chopped
• Dry red chillies - 2 or 3, to taste
• Ginger - 1/4 inch, chopped
• Urad dal - 2 tsp
• Gram dal - 1tsp
• Asafoetida - A pinch
• Tamarind - 1/2 inch
• Oil - 1 tblspn
• Salt - 1 tsp, or to taste

For tempering

• Oil - 2tspn
• Mustard seeds - 1tspn
• Urad dal - 1 tspn
• Dry red chillies - 1, broken.

Steps:

• Heat oil in a pan, when hot, add ural dal, gram dal, red chillies, asafoetida, and ginger and sauté for a minute.
• Then add the peel, coconut, tamarind and salt and sauté well for couple of mins.
  
• Cover and cook for 5 mins.
• Turn off heat. Cool and grind to a paste by adding water. Grind to desired consistency.
• Tempering: In a pan, add oil, when oil is hot, add mustard seeds, once it crackles add the rest of the ingredients. Add this hot oil mixture to the ground chutney. It will sizzle. Mix well. 
• Serve with idly, dosa or mix with plain white rice. 

Oven baked Tandoori Chicken (Whole)

Thanksgiving (Canadian) is usually celebrated with turkey, but my husband and I are not big fans of turkey meat, so we decided we will start a new tradition of an Indian thanksgiving with Tandoori chicken :) . I've always wanted to roast a whole chicken instead of cut pieces and this was a good opportunity for me to try it, and it was awesome. Its real simple. Just marinate and bake.

Here are some things you need to know before you start: 

• You have to marinate the whole chicken over night for the best result.
• Use yogurt (Curd) that is thick. 
• You need at least 1 hour to bake, so plan before you start. 

Ingredients:

• Whole chicken skinned - 1

Initial rub:

• Salt - 1 Tspn
• Lemon juice - from 1/2
• Chilli powder - 1 Tspn (optional, if you like it spicy)

For Marinate:

• Yogurt (Curd) - 3 Tblspn
• Ginger garlic paste- 1 Tblspn
• Tandoori chicken masala powder* - 2 to 3 Tblspn based on how spicy you want it (I suggest you taste the powder first, yes! taste it, to see how salty and spicy it is)
• Coriander powder - 1/2 Tspn
• Salt - 1/2 Tspn 
• Corn flour - 1 Tspn + 1 Tspn (For top coating)
• Oil - 2 Tspn

* Or use 1 tspn each of cumin powder, chilli powder, garam masala, dry fenugreek leaves and 1/2 tspn of red food colour.

Final Touch after baking:

• Lemon juice - from 1/2

Steps:

• Clean chicken well and pat dry with a paper towel or clean dish cloth.
• Pierce the chicken with a knife, push it really well into the chicken, not just the surface so that the marinate will get into the flesh. You may want to do some deep cuts in the chicken's breasts as they are white meat, the toughest.
• Mix the ingredients of the initial rub together and spread all over the chicken and into the cuts and pierces.
• Next mix the ingredients of the marinate.
• Spread the marinate well all over the chicken again and inside the cavity too. Cover and refrigerate over night.

Next day:

• Take out the chicken from the fridge and keep it out for about half hour at least to come to room temperature (preferably 1 hour)
• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• Now, dust the marinated chicken with corn flour using a stainless steel strainer for even coating. This will give you a nice crisp layer on top. 
• Drizzle oil all over the chicken.
• Place chicken breast side down on a rack* and bake. This will ensure even cooking all over at the same time.
• Bake for 25 minutes, then flip the chicken around and bake for 20 minutes. Then again flip it and bake for extra 20 mins.
• After the 65 mins, raise temperature to 425 F and bake for 5 mins for the final browning on the top. Not for too long or you will dry out the chicken.
• Remove from the oven and squeeze a fresh lime or lemon all over the chicken.
• Cover the cooked chicken with aluminium foil for 5 to 10 mins to rest before you serve.

* - I used a cooling rack, I placed it on a foil covered baking pan so that the dripping does not stain the pan. If you have a roaster with a rack at home use that. 

If you do not have a roaster or a cooling rack to bake on, don't worry, place chicken on a foil covered pan and remove the drippings from the chicken each time you turn.

Quick Channa (Chickpeas) Masala

This is a quick take on the traditional Channa masala recipe. I always have 3 kinds of store bought spice powder/mix at home, biriyani masala, chicken masala and tandoori chicken masala. The one I mostly use is the chicken masala, any curry (gravy) I make and I toss a spoonful (or sometimes more) in it. On my son's birthday I was making so many things and  in a hurry instead of adding chicken masala I ended up adding tandoori chicken masala and it turned out better than usual :) and I have stuck with it ever since. You just need few ingredients and 1 pressure cooker for fast results.  

Ingredients:

• Channa / Chickpeas - 1 or 2 cups (Soak in water for couple of hours)
• Onion - 1 chopped
• Tomato purée / crushed tomato - 3/4 cup
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tblspn
• Tandoori chicken masala - 1 1/2 tblpsn
• Coriander powder - 2 tspn
• Water - 2 Cups
• Salt - To taste
• Lime - 1/2
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• Fennel seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Cinnamon stick - 1

Steps:

 
• In a pressure cooker, heat oil, when hot add fennel seeds, cinnamon stick and onions and sauté.
• When the onion changes colour slightly add the ginger garlic paste and sauté. 
• Add the tandoori chicken masala, salt, Coriander powder and Tandori chicken masala and sauté, add the tomato purée and sauté for 3 mins.
• Drain the soaking channa and add to the mixture in the pressure cooker. Stir.
• Add water. (water should cover the channa and be 1 or 2 cms above it. Add more or less water depending on this measurement)
• Add more salt if needed. Close and put the weight on the pressure cooker. 
• Cook for 15- 20 mins. 
• Release pressure and open. Squeeze lime in. Randomly mash the channa with a potato masher to make a thick consistency of your choice, or take some channa out, blend it in a blender and add it back to the mixture. 

Quick n Easy Prawn (Shrimp) Dry Roast

I love prawns for 2 reasons. One for the taste (obviously) and the other for its quick cooking time. Trust me this is the simplest, yet tastiest recipe I've come up with so far. I came up with this when I was cooking in a hurry one day and have stuck with it ever since. It takes less than 10 mins depending on how much prawns your cooking. No chopping onions or tomatoes or sautéing them endlessly. The best thing is you can make as little as 5 prawns too. 

Also, check out my recipe for Quick & Easy Chicken.

Ingredients:

• Prawns/Shrimps : Desired amount.
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tblspn 
• Salt - 1tspn (adjust according to amount of Shrimp)
• Chilli powder - 1 tspn (adjust according to amount of Shrimp)
• Oil - 2 tblspn
• Curry leaves - 1 strand (optional, but gives real good aroma) 

Steps:

• Clean and wash prawns. Drain water.
• Add the ginger garlic paste, salt and chilli powder to the wet pawns and mix well.
• Heat oil in a pan.
• When the oil is really hot, add the prawn mixture. Sauté, the prawns will let out moisture. Close and cook for 3-5 mins till the prawns are done. Don't over cook prawns, they will become like rubber.
•  Open lid, and reduce heat to medium high and let the water dry up. Occasionally sauté.
• When it dries up, you will find that the mixture sticks to the bottom, its good, we want it to. 
• Raise the heat, add a splash of water, it will loose the dried up mixture, scrape the dried mixture well and mix with the prawns and sauté. 
• Add curry leaves, turn off heat. 

Prawn (Shrimp) Dum Biriyani

This is an easy 3 step recipe. Fry Prawns, half cook rice, layer rice over prawns and cook.  I followed the Varevah chef's recipe. Have to tell you, he is a talker, I was not a big fan of his work becos he spoke too much before he started cooking. Half the time I would loose interest and move on. But my friend Subha recommended that I follow his recipe for chicken dum biriyani and it was a huge success. So I followed his recipe for prawn dum biriyani as well. 

Tips to know before you start:

• Soak rice half hour before you start.
• When cooking rice, salt water generously
• When frying prawns, do it in batches, we want to fry them so they have crispy out side and only half cooked, not boil and cook them fully.
• Use a heavy bottom pan. 

Ingredients:

• Oil - 4 Tblsn
• Prawns (shrimp) - desired amount
• Chili powder -  To taste
• Coriander powder - 1 Tspn
• Salt - To taste
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tblspn
• Basmathi Rice - 2 Cups (Soaked in water for half hour)
• Biriyani masala - 1 Tblspn (I would recommend North Indian brands, cos they are light and has whole spices in them)
• Coriander leaves - 1 cup
• Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
• Curd - 1 cup
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
• Cinnamon Sticks - 2
• Cloves - 4-5
• Fried onion - 1 cup (Store bought fried onions or sauté onions till dark brown and use them)
• Ginger garlic paste - 1Tblspn
• Green chillies - 3-4
• Cumin seeds - 1 tspn 
• Caraway seeds (Shahi Jeera) -  1 tspn
• Orange food colouring - 1tsp

Steps:

Fry Prawns:

• Marinate prawns with 1tspn of the following- salt, chilli powder, coriander powder and ginger garlic paste. 
• Heat couple of table poon of oil in the pan you plan to make the biriyani. When oil is hot, add 1 cinnamon stick and 1 tspn of cumin seeds.
• Then add prawns in batches and fry till they are crispy and brown on the outside ( No.4 in picture). 
• You can start cooking the rice simultaneously (No.3 in picture)
• Remove just the prawns from the pan and leave the oil in the pan to finish cooking the biriyani.

Cook Rice:

• When the prawn in marinating, Boil water in a large vessel.
• Drain water from the soaking rice. 
• When the water starts boiling, add, 2 tblspn of oil, caraway seeds, 1 cinnamon stick and couple of cloves.
• Salt generously. The water needs to be slightly salty when you taste the water. 
• Add the rice and cook till its 90 % done. 
• Drain rice.
• You will find that your rice will be done, about the same time you finish up with the prawns. So use the oil in the pan to do the next step.

Finishing:

• In the same pan used to fry the prawns, add a bit more oil if you need, and add Curd, green chillies  coriander leaves, mint leaves, biriyani masala, turmeric powder, fried onions and 1 tsp salt and sauté. (No.5 in picture)
• Stir in the fried prawns. Sauté for a minute or 2. (No.6 in picture)
• Add the cooked rice on top of the mixture. (No.8 in picture)
• Sprinkle a handful of fried onions, coriander leaves, and Orange food colouring over the rice. (No.9 in picture)
• Cover and cook over medium high heat for 7-10 mins.
• Turn off heat, gently stir the rice and mixture together. Cover again and let it rest. 
• As tempting as it might be to eat it immediately it tastes better if it rest for 15 to 20 mins. Trust me :)

Kerala Chicken Stew

Kerala is a state in the Southern part of India known for their beautiful cities and aromatic cuisine with coconut. My introduction to Kerala's cuisine and culture was through my Uncle who was born and brought up in Kerala. My aunt used to make Syrian beef and Kola puttu often because of his influence. But my real experience in tasting authentic Kerala cuisine was when we visited my uncle's family in Allepey, Kerala. His mom and sister were amazing people and wonderful cooks. It was then I first tasted chicken and beef stews, Pariappu biriyani, beef stuffed parotha and lots more. 

Honestly I had forgotten about the stew until today. Luckily I remembered it when I was wondering what I could do different with chicken rather than the usual curries. Chicken stew is real simple and tasty, hope you enjoy making it. I have made slight changes to the traditional recipe, usually it is very thin (watery), I just made it a bit thicker and added a bit more flavour by adding ginger garlic paste and coriander powder.

Ingredients:

• Oil - 3 Tblspn
• Cinnamon stick - 1
• Cloves - 5 or 6
• Bay leaves - 2 (Fresh or dried)
• Cardamom - 3
• Whole pepper corns - 1 tspn
• Chicken -  1/2 kg or desired amount
• Onion - 2, chopped
• Green Chillies -  6 or more, slit
• Ginger Garlic paste -  1 tblspn
• Potato - 1 Large or 2 medium ones, chopped into big chunks
• Carrots - 2 or 3, chopped in semi-circles
• Coriander powder - 1 tspn
• Pepper powder - 1 tspn
• Salt - 2 tspn or more
• Curry leaves - 2 strands
• Coconut Oil - 1 tspn
• Thin Coconut milk - 1 1/2 cups (just milk, use canned or squeeze out the coconut and use milk alone mixed with a little water)
• Think Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
• All purpose flour - 1 tblspn
• Water - as required 

Steps:

• Heat oil in a pan, when hot, add the whole spices. Then add the onions and green chillies and sauté well. Add salt.
• When onion slightly change colour, add the ginger garlic paste.
• Then add the coriander powder and sauté well.
• Next add the chicken and stir well. Then add the potatoes and carrots.
  
• Add the thin coconut milk and 1 stand of curry leaves and let it boil. When the broth starts to boil, lower heat, cover and cook till the the chicken and veggies are done, maybe 10 to 12 mins.(Your kitchen will be filled with wonderful aroma from the boiling coconut milk :))
• Add this point, add more salt if needed and add the pepper powder. 
• Once the chicken and veggies are cooked, dissolve the all purpose flour in 1/4 cup of water and add to the stew. Let it boil well. Add more water if the stew is too thick.
• Now add the thick coconut milk, stir and bring to a boil for a min or 2. Turn off heat add the coconut oil and one strand of curry leaves. Let it rest for a couple of mins before you serve.

Mango Salad

I love mangoes, I think most Indians do, after all India does have the best mangoes :) Here in Canada we get mangoes from California and Mexico, don't get me wrong, they are good, but they cannot compete with Indian mangoes when it comes to taste. If you have not tasted Indian mangoes you've missed something great, even the skin of Indian mangoes taste great.

I found some green Mexican mangoes the other day at the supermarket, they taste like half ripe Kili mooku (parrot- beak) mango, but have bitter skin. I remembered eating a salad made of mangoes long time ago and decided to make it. The mango salad is very refreshing and light. 

Ingredients:

• Mango - 1, thinly sliced. (Any variety of mango, that is firm and not too sweet will work) 
• Carrot - 1, medium size, thinly sliced
• Red Onion - 1/2, thinly sliced
• Red pepper (Capsicum) -1/2, thinly sliced. You can use green pepper if you cant find red.
• Coriander Leaves -  Handful, finely chopped.

Dressing:

• Lemon juice from half a lemon
• Ginger - 1/4 inch, finely grated
• Hot sauce/Chilli sauce - 1/2 tsp or more
• Salt - 1/4 Tsp
• Sugar - 3/4 tsp

Steps:

• Mix all the sliced veggies and mangoes together.
• Mix together the ingredients of the dressing.
• Combine the dressing and the salad well using your fingers. 
• Refrigerate for a while, it will bring out the flavours really well. Then serve.

Kadalai Paruppu (Channa Dal) Chutney

Kadalai Paruppu chutney is my all time favourite chutney. I think my mom first made this when I was in grade 5, from then on if my mom made this chutney I never missed breakfast. I have even taken idly and kadalai paruppu chutney for lunch to school. That's how much I like it :)

Ingredients:

To cook:

• Red onion - 1 sliced (Small red onion a.k.a pearl onions are actually great for this)
• Tomato - 1 Roughly chopped
• Kadalai Paruppu (Channa Dal) -  about 3 handful heaps (Sorry, I'm not used to measuring these, I just eye ball them)
• Ginger - 1/2 inch, sliced
• Dry Red Chillies - 3 or more as per taste
• Curry leaves - 1 or 2 strands (optional)
• Tamarind - 1/2 inch strip
• Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
• Oil - 1 tblspn
• Salt - 1Tsp

For seasoning:

• Oil - 1/2 Tblspn
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Ulundhu (Urad dal) - 1/2 tsp
• Dry red chillies- 2
• Curry leaves- 1 strand

Steps:

• Heat oil in a wok/pan, when hot lower heat to medium and add all the ingredients one by one, to cook.  
• Saute now and then to keep them from sticking to the bottom. (Add more oil if too dry).
• Cook till the tomatoes are nicely cooked. Turn off heat and cool a while.
• In a blender /mixer grinder, grind the cooked mixture to a paste by adding water slowly as needed. Grind to desired consistency.
• Transfer contents to a serving bowl, taste and add more salt if needed.
• Now season it. In the same pan, heat oil and when hot add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the rest of the ingredients. Turn off heat and add the hot oil mixture to the ground chutney. It will sizzle.
• Mix and serve with hot idlies or dosai.

Aloo Paratha - Potato stuffed Chapathi (Roti)

Aloo Paratha comes to your rescue when you really don't have the time or the mood to be chopping up veggies to make a curry for your Chapathi/Roti. Just some plain yoghurt (curd), raitha or pickle is enough to go with it to make a yummy meal. 

Here's what you will need

• Oil - As required 

For the Dough:

• Whole wheat flour - 1 cup, extra for dusting
• Warm Water- 1/2 to 3/4th cup
• Salt - a pinch

Potato Filling:

• Potatoes : 2 large one, or 3 small ones
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves  -  Handful, finely chopped
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Chaat masala -  1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
• Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp or more (or use chopped green chilis)

Steps:

• Cut potatoes into big chunks, and place in a microwave safe dish and fill it 3/4th with water and microwave for 7 - 10 mins. Or you can pressure cook the potatoes. We want to mash them, not make it runny.
• Mean while, combine the flour with salt and add half the water and start kneading, gradually add more water as required. The dough must form a ball without sticking to your fingers. You can add more flour if you feel the dough is too sticky. 
• Lightly apply some oil on the dough and let it rest while you prepare the filling.
• Remove the peel from the cooked potatoes and mash it. Add rest of the ingredients in the potato filling list and mix really well.

Stuffing the Paratha:

Step 1: Dust your rolling surface and pin with flour.  Make a small ball of dough, slightly smaller than your fist. Roll it out slightly. Place a same sized ball of filling in the middle of the dough. (You can press the potato filling and compress it as much)

Step 2:  Bring all the edges of the dough to the top and pinch it to close.

Step 3: Take a few drops of oil in your palm and cup the filled dough ball between your palms, do not roll it between your palms, but gently cup them to make it smooth. Do the same with the remaining dough and filling. 

Step 4: Again generously flour the surface. place a filled dough ball and flour the top again. 

Step 5: Apply flour on your rolling pin and press in the middle, then roll once on top and then bring it to the bottom. Add more flour if its sticky. Turn the rolling surface around, do not flip the flattened dough it will crack, just turn the surface and roll the other sides gently.

Step 6 :  In a hot tava/ pan, lightly apply oil and place paratha. Again lightly apply oil on top of the paratha. Flip the paratha after a min and gently press the paratha, cook both sides till its light brown.

Inside the paratha

Cranberry Banana Oat Muffin

Last year during Christmas a baking ingredients company sent a free copy of a little recipe book using their products and coupons for the same to everyone in our city . It had some really nice and simple recipes, so I saved it and after 8 months tried one today. Its called a breakfast muffin, Its health and literally has everything you eat for a breakfast in it.  I made some changes to the ingredients, like swapping white sugar for brown sugar, oil for butter, added vanilla extract and adjusted the amount of Banana added. Don't worry if you can't find cranberries, you can substitute cranberries with raisins, it will be just as yummy.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour - 1 1/4 cups
• Oats -1 1/4 cups (300 mL)
• Brown sugar - 2/3 cup (Taste batter in the end and add more if you like it sweeter)
• Baking Powder -1 1/2 tsp 
• Baking Soda- 1 tsp 
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Egg - 1 
• Vanilla extract -1 tsp
• Banana - 2 mashed ( Original recipe calls for 2 cups of mashed banana, I'm sure it will be more than 2 bananas, I had only 2 at home, so added 1/4 cup of milk to add more moisture)
• Oil - 1/3 cup 
• Milk -1/4 Cup (You can avoid this and add more mashed banana)
• Dry cranberries or raisins -3/4 cup 

Steps:

• Sift the flour and combine first six dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Mix well.
• Beat egg, mashed banana, oil and vanilla extract together until smooth.
• Add banana mixture to dry ingredients. Stir, add the milk. Stir gently until well combined and moistened. 
• Stir in the cranberries or raisins.
• The batter will be thick.
• Line a muffin pan and fill it 3/4.
• Bake at 375ºF for 15-20 minutes based on your oven. You know your done when you insert a knife and it comes out clean

Home made Mediterranean Burgers

I decided to make my own burger patties after watching an Ad on TV. So I searched the Internet for recipes  and combined ideas from each and here is the result. 

Ingredients:

• Ground (minced) beef : 500 gms
• Egg -1
• Garlic cloves - 3, finely chopped
• Onion - 1/2 finely chopped
• Green chilli - 3 finely chopped. (You can remove the seeds if you don't like too much heat)
• Mint leaves - 2 strands, finely chop the leaves alone
• Bread crumbs - made from 1 slice of bread, recipe here
• Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
• Black pepper powder - 1 tsp
• Sun dried tomato in oil - 1 finely chopped  (optional)

Steps:

• Beat egg with salt and pepper.
• Add rest of the ingredients and combine well. Punch, squeeze and run your fingers through the mixture till the meat is smooth and combined. 
• Take a handful of the mixture, make a ball and then flatten it. Make a small depression in the middle, not too deep tough just a little with your thumb. This will make sure that the patties stay flat when its cooking.
• Keep the patties on a separate piece of parchment paper or aluminium foil. It will be easy to flip them on to the grill.
• Light the grill and when it reaches 400 F, spray oil on the grill and place the patties and close the grill.
• Cook for 10- 12 mins closed. Then flip them, close and cook again for another 10 to 12 mins.
• If you like cheese, place a slice of your favourite cheese on top and close. Turn off heat. Open after a minute. 
• Your done. Use condiments and topping of your choice.

For those without a grill, use a flat pan or a grill pan to make it on the stove top.

Condiments and topping suggestions:

• Lettuce
•  Tomato slice
• Mayonnaise
• Mustard
• Tomato ketchup
• Hot sauce

Vegetable (Soup) Rasam

I came up with this recipe when my son fell sick 2 weeks ago, with fever and throat infection... long story short, he refused to eat anything. Tried making soups for him and he did not like them.. then since he likes rasam, I thought OK, rasam might be soothing to his throat and be nice to taste while sick. But  had to come up with a healthy alternate to Rasam; to make it a little nutritious for him. Rasam is tasty and good for digestion, but in the end its just tamarind water. So, I incorporated the vegetable soup I had made for him in the rasam and he liked the tangy taste and ate a little. This will be a good way to incorporate veggies into children's and adult's  diet too.

Ingredients:

• Tamarind - Soak a small lemon sized ball of tamarind in 1/2 cup of warm water
• Cumin seeds - 2 Tsp
• Pepper Corns - 1 Tsp
• Garlic - 2 cloves
• Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
• Tomato - 1
• Mustard seeds - 1Tsp
• Dry red chilis - 1
• Curry leaves - 1 Strand
• Coriander leaves - Finely chopped, handful or less

For Vegetable soup:

• Vegetables : Whatever you have at home, except bitter ones. Here is a list of what I use, I had these at home, nothing specific.
• 1/2 Onion
• 1/2 tomato
• 1 Potato
• 1/2 Zucchini
• Handful of Spinach leaves
• 5 florets of Broccoli
• 1 stick of Celery
• 1 Carrot

• Tumeric - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - To taste
• Cumin Seeds- 1Tsp
• Ginger - Small piece, chopped roughly
• Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves
• Water -3 or 4 cups

Steps:

The steps are easy. First make soup, then use the soup to make rasam.

•  Make the soup: In a Presuure cooker, put all the ingredients listed under 'For Vegetable soup:' and add enough water to cover all the vegetables.
• Cook on medium high until you hear 3 - 4 whistles. We want to all the vegetables to cook and disintegrate in the water.
• Switch off cooker and wait for pressure to release. 
• Then open the cooker and strain the contents, into a big vessel. Nicely press and mash them thru the strainer and get all the water out of the cooked vegetables. Don't throw the mashed vegetables just yet. 
• Put it back in the pressure cooker and add just a cup or 2 of water and pressure cook it once more for 1 or 2 whistles.
• Repeat the whole straining process. This way we have not left any valuable nutrients in the vegetables.

•  Prepare for rasam: In a mixer grinder, grind together cumin seeds, pepper corns, garlic and asafoetida into a course paste.
• Heat oil in a wok. When hot add mustard seeds. When they crackle add Dry red chilli and the ground mixture and saute.
•  Then add the tamarind pulp (Squeeze the tamarind soaked in water to get pulp, use the soup to dissolve the tamarind a second time and squeeze again, repeat until all the flavor is extracted from the tamarind). 
•  Now add the soup into the wok and stir well. Cut the tomato into big chunks and add into the rasam. You can squeeze the juices into the rasam as you add it. Add salt as required.
• Add rasam powder if you like, I did not. 
• Bring the contents to boil.
• Now add the curry leaves and coriander leaves. Let boil for a min and switch off. I like to add curry leaves in the end as it gives out more aroma than when adding first. 
• Your done.

Fresh Bread Crumbs

Bread crumbs is one of those not-so-frequently used ingredients. In the past I used to buy big boxes to make something and would have more than half the box full of bread crumbs sitting in my pantry for months together and finally end up in the garbage. But in the last three years or so I have started making my own bread crumbs with the end pieces of a bread loaf that no one wants to eat or left over pieces of bread. 

Once a loaf of bread gets over I just wrap the end pieces and pop it into the freezer. And when I need bread crumbs I take those end pieces from the freezer and make bread crumbs. It is super easy and its a nice way to avoid wasting precious food.

Ingredients:

Bread - Any kind. (bread ends or old bread, but not spoilt ones) 

Steps:

•  Toast Bread: Toast bread till brown on  both sides. I use a toaster to do it, its easy and fast. You can also pop the bread into the over at 400F for sometime or use a pan on stove top and toast the bread on both sides till. If using bread from the freezer, let it thaw before you toast it. Or is if toaster has option to toast frozen bread go ahead and toast it directly. 

•  Grind the toasted Bread: Once the bread is cool, break it into chunks. Use a mixer grinder or food processor to grind the bread chunks into desired texture. If you want it extra dry, just spread the ground crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for couple of mins.

Here's a recipe I used these bread crumbs on  Baked Tilapia

Okra - Chickpeas Stir fry (Vendakai - Kondai kadalai poriyal)

This is a simple and tasty dish. My MIL saw it on a cooking show aired in India and shared it with me couple of years a go. I have not made for a long time now, so the other day I had made some cooked chickpeas left over from making Sundal, and thought this is the chance to make it finally. Hope you like it.

Ingredients:

• Chick peas (cooked) - 1 Cup
• Okra (Ladies finger) - 400 to 500 gms chopped.
• Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Dry red chillis - 2
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 1/2 tsp
• Salt - To taste
• Chilli powder - To taste
• Oil - 1 or 2 Tblsp
• Grated coconut - 1 Tblspn

Steps:

• Add oil to a pan and when hot add mustard seeds. When seeds crackle, add dry red chillies and Urad dal.
• Add chopped onions and saute. When slightly cooked add coriander powder and saute. Add little oil if too dry.
• Add chopped okra and saute well, so that the coriander sticks to all the pieces of okra.
• Add salt and Chilli powder to taste.
• Slightly reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 5 mins. Add a dash of water if you feel the dish is drying up too fast.
• Once the okra is 3/4th cooked. Add the cooked chickpeas and stir well. Cover and cook okra fully.
• Then open lid and add grated coconut and saute till all the moisture is evaporated. 

 

Chewy Brownies

This is one of the best and simple recipes I found after a long time for a brownie. I decided to bake some brownies as I had some left over cocoa powder. I then realized that I had lost all my recipes while moving,  not that I missed my brownie recipe, my brownies were more like brownie-cakes,  they were soft, not dense. Nor were they chewy, but it did taste good. So I started searching the internet for an easy brownie recipe within minimum ingredients and steps and luckily my search was just 2 clicks away and I found the recipe for the Chewiest Brownies from allrecipes.com. The secret to Chewy brownies - no baking powder or soda, now why didn't I think of that! They only ingredient I added were some chopped walnuts.

Ingredients:

• Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1 cup
• Melted butter - 1/2 cup
• White sugar - 2 cups
• Eggs -2
• Salt - 1/2 Tsp
• All-purpose flour - 1 cup
• Vanilla extract - 2Tsp
• Walnuts : 1/4 cup (Optional)
• Icing sugar for decoration - 1/3 cup (Optional)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line pan with greased parchment paper.
• Combine the cocoa, melted butter, sugar, eggs, salt , flour and vanilla. Mix until well combined. It should be very thick and sticky.
• Spread mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Cool. 
• Dust the icing sugar over the brownie using a metal strainer.

Mac n Cauliese (alternate to Mac n Cheese)

Healthy and quick  alternate to Mac n Cheese

I know the name is Cheesy :) but true to the name, the recipe has cauliflower substituted instead of the loads n loads of cream and cheese you add. I came up with this after getting inspiration from watching a show featuring a book called 'Hungry girl', the author talked about replacing carbs with loads of veggies to increase portion size, that way even when your dieting your eating your stomach's full without increasing the calories, smart isn't it? She gave an example of adding cooked cauliflower florets to a small portion of mac n cheese.

 So, I started my search for a healthy version of making mac n cheese so I can add cauliflower in it. I was looking for a recipe which also didn't call for lots of ingredients. I like to cook with ingredients readily available in my pantry, certain ingredients are like one-off gadgets that you rarely use, I hate buying stuff like those as they rot in my fridge after one use.  None of the recipes I found on the internet made that possible, they needed sour cream or heavy cream this and that. So I gave up and told myself I'll do it my way, and lo and behold I was surprised with my creation :) and my husband loved it. 

Here's a list of what you need. Don't worry if you don't have all the veggies mentioned, use what you have. Traditional mac n cheese does not have any, so don't worry, the reason for adding so many veggies is to decrease the amount of pasta (macaroni) and make people eat veggies.

• Pasta (macaroni) - as required, I use one handful for each person + 1 extra handful
• Cauliflower - Half cut into florets
• 1 Onion - finely chopped
• 4 cloves of Garlic - finely chopped
• 1 Carrots - diced into small cubes
• 1 Capsicum / Green Peppers -   - diced into small cubes
• 5-6 Mushrooms - Halfed
• Chili sauce -  as preferred 
• Salt - as preferred 
• Pepper - as preferred 
• 1Table spoon oil
• Grated cheese -  as preferred (quantity n type, I used mozzarella) 

Don't worry, I did  not leave any ingredients behind, there is no need for flour, butter, cream or milk, the cauliflower is gonna be the white sauce! 

Steps:

1. Cook the cauliflower: place cauliflower it in a microwave safe dish, fill 1/4th of the dish with water, add salt. Cover and pop it in the microwave for 10 mins. 

2. In a large vessel bring water to boil, add salt generously then add pasta and cook till tender. While the pasta cooks, heat another pan, add oil and saute the onions and garlic. When the onions changes color, add the chili sauce, little salt and the veggies and stir well.  Add 1/4th cup of water n let the veggies cook.

3. Drain the cooked cauliflower and puree it in a blender/mixer grinder using the water it was cooked in. Add to the veggies, still on stove. Mix well, add pepper as desired. Salt if required.

4. Drain the cooked pasta and add them to the veggies and cauliflower mixture. Turn heat off.

5. Transfer to a oven safe dish. Top with grated cheese and broil on high till the cheese melts and turns light brown. Keep an eye, you don't wanna burn them. And your done.

Enjoy! :)

I took the end product picture in the morning while packing them as  lunch for my hubby.  I made the dish last night for dinner.