Mirch Masala

Mirch Masala has moved to a new location!

2011-01-20T10:57:00.002-08:00

Those of you who follow Mirch Masala on Facebook will know about the recent changes that has happened. For the others, it is my pleasure to let you all know that Mirch Masala has moved from Blogger to Wordpress and also that So I Married a Meat-a-holic has finally been merged with Mirch Masala. To celebrate that there was a Fish Molee post that was up a couple of days ago. There is also a delicious Satsuma Mocha Pudding Pots post that was updated yesterday. Don't miss these posts any more and update your book marks, feeds ets with the new links.

The address for Mirch Masala now is http://www.mirchmasala.me/ The blogger account has been getting redirected to this domain for a long time now, but it will no longer do that. So please update your book marks, feeds etc. The new feeds link will be http://feeds.feedburner.com/mirchmasala/LdLK.

Thanks a lot for being there seeing this blog grow and for the tremendous support I have received from all of you. I will continue to see you guys at the new place!

Steamed Persimmon Pudding

2011-01-02T19:10:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!! Hope you all had a great beginning to the new year. It was a busy and relaxing first two days of 2011 and I hope that combination lasts for the rest of the days of the year as well. It was a great start for the blog as well as I made quite a lot of things and we had two gorgeous sunny days for me to take some good photographs as well. This steamed persimmon pudding was one of those things I cooked. We got some nice persimmons as part of our box of produce from Full Circle Farms last week. I did not know what to do with persimmons and was looking around for some recipes when I found this a recipe for Spiced Persimmon Tea Cake on The Kitchn which led me to the Steamed Persimmon Pudding on Lovely Morning.

Steamed Persimmon Pudding – The Recipe

from Lovely Morning (adapted from Local Flavors)

1 stick unsalted butter
3 Fuyu persimmons, pureed
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup 2% milk
1.2 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder

Before you start with this recipe, make sure that the persimmons you have are really really ripe. If not wait for a couple more days. Grease the pudding dish. Use a pudding dish that when kept over a small inverted heatproof bowl (I used a cookie cutter ring as the stand for the pudding bowl), will fit into a dutch oven or a similar pan with lid. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and keep aside. Puree the persimmons and keep aside. They may have some seeds sometimes but the ones I used did not have any at all. Mix the butter, pureed persimmons, sugar, egg, vanilla and milk. In another bowl, sift the flour and add the baking soda and cinnamon powder to it. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients mix and combine well. Pour this into your pudding bowl(s).
Place the stand in the dutch oven, bring some water to a boil in a kettle, place the pudding bowl on the stand, pour the boiling water into the dutch oven till about 2/3rds of the pudding bowl. Close the pan with the lid. Cook on medium heat for about an hour or so or until when a knife when inserted comes out clean.

The texture of the pudding will be like a cake, so you can either invert in onto a plate and cut it to slices and eat or just eat from the bowl as it is, like I did! :)

Happy New Year!!

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

2010-12-31T13:26:00.001-08:00

Here is wishing all the readers of Mirch Masala a very happy and flavorful New Year!! Everyone must be busy at this time planning parties – at home or elsewhere, making resolutions, wondering whether your resolutions are doable, wishing friends and family and all the other fun things. I always get very antsy at the end of a year. I am of course, very excited about the upcoming year, but there is always this thing at the back of my mind as to whether there was anything else that I wanted to do this year that I forgot to. But that is what the next year is for right?, to do all those things that you have wanted to do always :) Leaving you guys with a easy party appetizer recipe for you New Year party and the many more parties in the year 2011.

Spinach and Artichoke Dip – The Recipe

1 can artichoke hearts – drained and chopped
1 bag frozen chopped spinach
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup grated parmigiano reggiano or grated parmesan
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp red chilli flakes
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper

Boil some water in a saucepan and add the spinach and artichokes to it. Boil for 2-3 mins and then drain and keep aside. Heat the cream cheese in the microwave for 30 secs or so, if is not softened enough. Whisk well, add the sour cream, cheese, garlic powder, red chilli flakes, salt and pepper and mix well. Add the spinach and artichokes to this and mix well again. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve. You can warm it a little before serving or serve it as it is with fresh veggie sticks and/or tortilla chips.

Happy New Year, again!

Brunchtime Seattle : Citizen

2010-12-28T14:54:00.003-08:00

I have to admit - the first time AJ and I went to Citizen was because we had a Living Social coupon. We had heard from friends about this nice little cafe on Queen Anne and when we saw an amazing deal on Living Social we bought the coupon. It is one of those coupons that we used sooner than many of the others which wait around till the last possible valid date. I am super glad we discovered this place and now we have been here a couple of times already.

Citizen is this nice cozy comfortable cafe with equally warm people who work there. We have been there on a sunny Seattle day where we made use of the patio seating and on a drab rainy day where we sat indoors to the comfort of warm dim light and a cozy set up. We have had the sandwiches, crepes, breakfast specials, dessert , everything from here and loved all of it! I absolutely love ordering their coffee drinks made from Lighthouse coffee, as not only are they almost perfect to my liking but they come in giant mugs that I love to hold (sometimes more than my coffee ;) )

That is the Citizen Crepe and a Latte in the picture above. Citizen is one of the savory crepes filled with Avocado, caramelized onions, roasted asparagus, apple smoked bacon, spinach & goat cheese and topped with house made crème fraiche. ($8.95). That is what AJ had while I had the Caramel Pear Brulee -caramelized apples, fresh pears, brûléed sugar & topped with caramel sauce and served with fresh whipped cream. ($7.95) because, if I remember correctly I was in the mood for something sweet that morning. Well, that said, when am I not in the mood for something sweet?

On our next visit here, we had the French Toast (Served in the style of bread pudding with seasonal berries & fresh fruit and topped with maple syrup, fresh whipped cream & dusted with powdered sugar. $7.95) to share which we both LOVED and I tried the Vietnamese Style Sandwich with Cilantro, jalapeño, cucumber, Vietnamese mayo & pickled veggies with spicy tofu (chicken or roasted pork can be had instead of Tofu) and served on french style bread. ($ 5.95) and AJ tried the Citizen Cheese Steak Sandwich with Sliced beef, sautéed mushrooms, bell peppers, caramelized onions, swiss, white cheddar, pepper mayo with a drizzle of Worcestershire sauce & garlic butter and served on soft warmed french bread with chips. ($8.95). The sandwiches were really good too ( A word of caution if you order the Vietnamese Style sandwich - the jalapeno peppers are just sliced in rounds and put there without removing the seeds / flesh inside which can be a little too spicy for some)

Overall this place falls somewhere on top of the list of our favorite brunch places in Seattle and I think saying that is enough!

Christmas Fruit Cake

2010-12-27T12:55:00.000-08:00

Having lived in Kerala for most of my life with many malayalee Christian neighbors and friends, Christmas never went unnoticed. Even though Carols and Christmas stars put up in front of everyone's homes reminded you that Christmas was here, the highlight of the holiday season were the numerous fruit / plum Christmas cakes and home made wine that we used to get from our friends and neighbors. Only much later did I realize that some of these cakes were in incubation for almost a year, with the fruits being soaked in rum or brandy for that long before they were put in the cake. It was not always for that long that these fruits were soaked, sometimes it was only for a few months, weeks or even a few days. But the longer they soaked, the better they were. Obviously!

I have always wanted to bake one of these cakes but never actually got around to doing that. What pushed me into baking one this year was that I forgot to bring back one from Kerala when I visited India last month. Now I had two choices – bake one or wait till someone went to Kerala to bring me back one. I did not really have the patience to wait that long but was lazy to actually bake a cake too. After much debate I finally decided to bake it myself but by then it was a little late and I could soak the fruits in rum for only a few days. It still turned out to be a lot better than what I expected it to be. I found a really good recipe in the New England Malayalee Association's blog and while using that as the base, made my own Christmas fruit cake. The measurements for ingredients are the same from this recipe, only I changed some of the ingredients a bit.

Christmas Fruit Cake - The Recipe

Candied fruits and peels - 1 box (you get it in the produce section at the grocery store - 8 to 12 oz tub)
Raisins - 2 cups
Rum - 1 1/2 cups
All purpose flour - 4 cups
Baking powder - 3 tsp
Butter, softened - 4 sticks (1 lb)
Sugar - 4 cups
Caramel - 4 tbsp (the original recipe called for making caramel from scratch but I had a tin of readymade caramel I had bought on one of my trips, so I used that)
Eggs, at room temperature - 12
Powdered cinnamon - 1 tsp
Powdered nutmeg - 1 tsp
Powdered cloves - 1 tsp
Powdered dry ginger - 1 tsp
Pumpkin spice powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 3 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Add the rum to the dried fruit mix and raisins and keep them soaked in the rum, at room temperature for about 2 weeks ( I managed to soak them for only 3-4 days).
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease two square/round cake pans. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl. In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar and whisk the eggs together one at a time. Add the caramel, powdered spices, salt and vanilla and mix well. Now add the dry ingredients to this. Once mixed well, add the rum soaked dried fruits to this. Spoon into the prepped pans and bake for 1 hr or until done. Once done, remove from oven and let it rest on a cooling rack. You can pour some more rum on top of this at this point of time. Once cooled, wrap it tight and refrigerate.

Restaurant Review : Galerias and Watercress Asian Bistro

2010-12-22T11:15:00.001-08:00

Its time for some restaurant reviews again. These are some reviews that I wrote sometime back for Yubit.com, a local startup that offers deals from local businesses in and around the Seattle Area. Since I have put in some effort (read: EAT and of course, write the review too), I thought I might as well put it out here as a reference for my readers. In the rush of trying out new places each time, I really haven't been to any of these places after this but I am sure it still holds true.

As in one of my earlier posts, because of various reasons (click here to see what they are), I have decided to start writing mini reviews (these two are not so "mini" as I had written them before I started the mini reviews series) – just including what we ate, whether we liked it or not, whether we will go back there or not etc ad of course some pictures. That way it will be a quick list for someone wanting to know where to dine in Seattle and surrounding areas.

(Pics will be up soon as I am still trying to locate them after I moved them when I changed my computer)

Galerias, Capitol Hill WA
A brunch at Galerias was one of the best things that happened during the otherwise drab weekend. We went in with not much expectations and it turned out to be a very pleasant experience. It is one of the first times that we had a Mexican brunch and I was pretty impressed with the interpretations and twists to some of the classic breakfast dishes. Galerias is located on Broadway Street in Capitol Hill and is not easy to miss with the colorful “Weekend Brunch at 6.95” banner outside the restaurant. As soon as you step in you are greeted with bright yellow and lime green drapes hung around the room and it feels so fresh and pleasant, all at the same time. The chairs are the old fashioned curvy types with color coordinated fabrics as that of the drapes and the fans in the ceiling blow in a gentle breeze and you feel like you are in a completely different place altogether.

It took us some time to figure out what we wanted as there were so many choices in the menu and each one seemed as appetizing as the other. Finally I settled in on the Huevos Benedictos, a Mexican interpretation of the classic Eggs Benedict with masa corn cakes in place of the English muffin, ham, poached eggs and a spicy (probably poblano) hollandaise. I savored every single bite of that and wished there was more. I asked for the ham to be given on the side and they did serve it that way. AJ had the Mole Poblano – sautéed chicken breast in a delicious mole sauce with fried plantains on the side. A friend of ours who also came for the brunch had the 3 Eggs Omelet and he liked it very much. All the dishes came with roasted potatoes and a mini baked cup with beans in it, which was a little odd in taste by itself but was an interestingly good combination with the rest of the plate. The potatoes were really good with the spices in it not at all over powering its taste, but some of the bigger pieces were undercooked, so that wasn’t all that good. The Mole Poblano and the Omelet were ordered from the main brunch menu as entrees, so we could help ourselves to the brunch buffet which had some of the most delicious and moist cakes, fresh fruits, yogurt and granola. The best part of the brunch was the giant margarita we ordered, to share. It was a tad too early in the day to be drinking but I was told by a friend to not miss the margarita if I ever went to Galerias. So I just had to try that. Our waiter was a little surprised by that order, I must say. But it was one delicious and potent drink!

This definitely was one of those brunches that I will always remember and will look forward to going back again. The food was indeed very flavorful with a lot of fabulous choices to pick from and the quantity was not only just right to be able to finish it but also to keep you full till dinner time. The service was good even though it took a little longer than usual for our food to arrive, but the food from the buffet kept us busy till then. I will totally recommend this to anyone wanting to try out something different for a brunch.

Price: $ ( below $10 for an entrée) – just the brunch
Ambiance: 3/5
Food: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5

Watercress Asian Bistro, Redmond WA

Watercress Asian Bistro – the name is very familiar to us as we have seen it all the time whenever we drive by on Redmond Way. Even though it is set in a strip mall – I liked the atmosphere as soon as we stepped in.

We were served water immediately and since we were already really hungry we did not even bother to go through the drinks menu and directly ordered some Shanghai Style Spring Rolls for appetizers. I have heard that Watercress has one of the best happy hours and I am waiting to make another trip there for that. It wasn’t really crowded as it was a Tuesday evening but still there were many tables that were occupied. Our spring rolls came in real quick and they were gobbled up in no time. I loved the sweet dipping sauce – plum sauce on the side.

For our main course, we ordered the Eggplant Sichuan Style for me. I like eggplants for their versatility and invariably have tried the eggplant dish in most restaurants we visit often. So, it is like base test for me to see how well a restaurant makes its eggplant dish. It might sound easy and not possible to mess up, but I have had real horrible ones in some places. The Mango Curry Chicken was what we ordered for AJ as he likes the hint of sweetness that you find in some dishes in Asian cuisine. We ordered a Vegetable Fried Rice to share. The Eggplant Sichuan Style was good; the taste was pretty much as expected – except that the taste of the gravy had not soaked in to all the eggplant pieces, but overall it was very flavorful. AJs Mango Curry Chicken was exactly word-to-word from the menu – subtle flavor of mango with curry overtones and it is chicken, so one just cannot go wrong there. He liked it and I am glad I made AJ order it. The best of all was the fried rice. I don’t know whether it was the authentic one or not – but it totally reminded me of the Indo-Chinese fried rice that I love so much. There wasn’t anything left of that to box!

Overall, we had a wonderful evening. It was good, especially for a weeknight dinner as it took us just a little over an hour to get in-eat food-pay-get out. The service was fast and efficient and the food was flavorful with enough vegetarian choices on the menu. Only thing we felt that the entrees were a little overpriced for the quantity as well as the kind of food that was served -the menu had very normal dishes that most Asian restaurants offer. Will I go there again? Thats yet to see.

Price: $$ ($10 and above for an entrée)
Ambiance: 3/5
Food: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

Shimla Mirch Kadhi ~ Bell Peppers in a Tangy Yogurt Sauce

2010-12-09T17:20:00.002-08:00

I have been lazy and busy all at the same time. Wondering how one can be both of that at the same time? Ask me! :) We were in India for a good 3 weeks and had one of the most amazing times out there. It was only 3 weeks but we managed to do a lot of things, meet a lot of people and eat a lot, A LOT, of good food! We came back last week and got back to our usual routine - it took me more than a couple of days for that, but well, thats where we are now. Loving the holiday feel around me and waiting for some snow.

Here is something that I made on a Sunday before we left for India. This is from Raghavan Iyer's 660 Curries which is sort of my bible for Indian cooking. I made a mushroom-peas curry and a spinach-shallots curry along with some rice for a rainy Sunday lunch. Take my word for it, make more of this and store it in the refrigerator for you will want to eat more of it later too - seriously, its THAT good! Don't believe me? Make it for yourself and see.

Kadhi is a preparation with yogurt and chickpea flour as the base. You can add chickpea flour fritters/dumplings to it which is the more common variety, called Kadhi Pakoda or you can also add vegetables like in this recipe.

Shimla Mirch Kadhi ~ Bell Peppers in a Tany Yogurt Sauce
Adapted from 660 Curries

Yogurt - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup
Besan / Chickpea Flour - 2 tbsp
Salt, to taste
Thai green chillies - 2
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Red Chilli / Cayenne powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Roasted Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Roasted Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Green Bell Pepper, deseeded and chopped - 1
Green Peas ( I use frozen, most of the time) - 1/2 cup
Cilantro, chopped - 2 tbsp
Canola/vegetable oil - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Mix the yogurt with the water, add the chickpea flour to it and mix well so that no lumps are formed. Crush the ginger and green chillies using a mortar and pestle and add that to the yogurt mix. Add salt, cilantro, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin and coriander powder to it and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds to it. Once they splutter, add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle. Add the bell pepper and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add the green peas to it as well. Now mix in the yogurt mix and lower the heat. Do not let the mixture boil or else the yogurt will separate. Keep it on the stove till the raw smell of chickpea flour disappears.

Serve with rotis/chapathis or rice!

Spaghetti with Home-made Tomato Sauce

2010-10-24T22:02:00.001-07:00

Its been a while but things have been busy, so let’s leave it at that! Its gonna get even busier when I take off to India in a week. I have plans of documenting, taking pictures and blogging about all the delicious food I am going to eat there and I really hope I remember to do all that and not get carried away by just eating. We all know that can happen right?
But the good news is that I have atleast 3-4 more good posts waiting and you will see them all in the coming week.

You know I am a big proponent of cooking from scratch. It IS tedious, time consuming and all that but believe me once you go down that path you will never go to store-bought or ready made pastes, sauces, whatever else that maybe. Use the freshest of ingredients that you can get your hands on, make whatever you can from scratch with love and I swear there will not be a more delicious food that you will ever make. Pasta sauces are one my recent obsessions to cooking from scratch. The tomatoes and the onion used in this sauce are farm fresh from my CSA box from FullCircle Farms.

Start by scoring and X at the bottom of each tomatoes, dunk the tomatoes in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the boiling water and put them in ice cold water. Peel off the skin, remove seeds – just keep the nice fleshy part, it makes the sauce thick and gives it a great color too. Now keep the rest of the ingredients for the sauce ready – crush the garlic, dice onions and drain the oil off the sun-dried tomatoes.

Heat some olive oil and throw in the garlic and onions into it. Saute till the onions become translucent and add the chilli flakes, dried basil and oregano to it. Give it a good mix and then add the sun-dried tomatoes. Saute for a little while more, switch off the heat and keep aside to cool a little. Add this mix and the blanched tomatoes to your food processor and process to a smooth puree. Put this back to the pot and bring to a boil, add salt and crushed black pepper to it. Now you can add this to your favorite pasta or store it in the refrigerator for a week or so.

Sprinkle a little grated parmesan on the warm pasta just before serving and enjoy with your favorite glass of wine.

Spaghetti with Home-made Tomato Sauce – The Recipe

Tomatoes – 3-4

Olive Oil – 1 tbsp
Yellow Onion – 1, chopped
Garlic – 3-4 cloves, crushed
Sun-dried tomatoes – 3 tbsp
Red Chilli flakes – 1 tbsp
Dried Basil – 2 tsp
Dried Oregano – 2 tsp
salt
crushed black pepper
Spaghetti – 1 box
Parmesan Cheese, grated – 2 tbsp

Method

Blanch the tomatoes (

Start by scoring and X at the bottom of each tomatoes, dunk the tomatoes in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the boiling water and put them in ice cold water). Peel off the skin

remove seeds – just keep the nice fleshy part, it makes the sauce thick and gives it a great color too. Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the onion and garlic to it. Once the onion turns translucent, add the red chilli flakes, dried basil and oregano (Note: If you have fresh herbs, use them as they are way more flavorful than the dried ones). Mix well and add the sun dried tomatoes too. Season with salt and crushed black pepper. Switch off the heat. Let it cool down a bit. Add this mix and the tomatoes to a food processor and grind to a smooth puree. Pour it back into the pan and heat it up a little. Cook the pasta to al dente, mix in the sauce. Grate some parmesan on top of the plated pasta just before serving.

Kathirikkai Kuzhambu ~ Baby Eggplants in a Tangy and Spicy Gravy

2010-09-14T21:38:00.005-07:00

Sometimes some vegetables are irresistible because they are fresh, sometimes you find a rare vegetable – something you don’t see everyday and want to buy it but it also happens that sometimes a vegetable is “cute” that you want to buy it. Yes, you heard me right. Cute!! A couple of days ago I saw some absolutely cute baby eggplants – tiny little round purple eggplants and I immediately wanted to make this kathirikkai kuzhambu with them. It is not very often that you see these cuties here. I brought a bunch back home and only today I finally got a chance to make something with them. I usually make this kuzhambu with regular Indian eggplants cut into small pieces. This time I just cut the baby eggplants in four just about 3/4 of the way so that they cook well inside but still remain intact and whole. This spicy and tangy kuzhambu with some rice and yogurt made an awesome dinner.

Kathirikkai Kuzhambu ~ Baby Eggplants in a Tangy and Spicy Gravy – The Recipe

8 – 10 Baby Eggplants, cut in four 3/4 of the way
1/2 tsp canola oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp urad dal / lentils
5-6 curry leaves
1 onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tomato, sliced thinly
4 tbsp sambar powder
1 tbsp black pepper powder
cherry sized ball of tamarind, soaked in water and pulp squeezed
a pinch asafoetida powder
salt, to taste
a handful of cilantro leaves, minced

Heat the oil in wide heavy bottomed pan on medium heat and add the mustard seeds to it. Once they splutter, add the fenugreek seeds, lentils and curry leaves to it.

Keep an eye on the fenugreek seeds – they can blacken very quickly and can turn extremely bitter because of that.

Add the onions and garlic to the pan and saute well. Add the turmeric powder at this point and the tomatoes as well. Saute for a few mins and add the eggplants. If you want you can add some oil to the pan to coat the eggplants well. Increase the heat a little to help cook the eggplants. Add the sambar powder, pepper powder and salt. Add the tamarind pulp to the pan and add a little water to it to dilute and cover the eggplants. Let it boil and cook for a few minutes till the gravy begins to thicken a little. Sprinkle the asafoetida powder and finish off with the minced cilantro. Enjoy the tanginess and spiciness all infused in the tender eggplants.

Quinoa Salad with Farm Fresh Vegetables, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Walnuts and a Lime-Cilantro Dressing

2010-08-27T12:46:00.004-07:00

Last month we signed up for a CSA with Full Circle Farms here in Carnation, WA in an attempt to try and eat local and organic food. I went through a whole lot of other options before I decided on this one and the reason why I chose FCF is because they have a home delivery system apart from the regular pick up locations and the options for delivery are every week or every other week. These days I don't cook dinner at home every day - every day. It is mostly 2-3 times a week and I was pretty sure that if I get veggies and fruits delivered every week then most of it is going to go waste, so the every other week delivery works perfectly fine for me. We have got two deliveries now and so far we love it! It is always a surprise till the week before (when they send out the list of vegetables that are going to be there in your box, so that if you want you can substitute with other vegetables or order more from their seperate list of Green Groceries) and it makes me think to see what I can make with the produce I get rather than decide what to make and then buy produce accordingly.

So, yesterday I got some of these awesome baby carrots ( I managed to save some for the salad as I kept eating them as it is, they were so juicy and delicious) and zucchini along with a whole bunch of other produce - this time it is a lot of greens , rainbow chard, arugula, lettuce, rapini - that I just wanted to make something fresh with them for dinner the same day. I was at work and during the low period of the day, I started thinking about food and recipes and photo set ups, which happens many a time, and came up with this recipe for a Quinoa salad.

Look at those fresh limes. I got them from FCF too. It was a substitute I ordered for some fruit that we did not particularly enjoy the last time we got it.

So I sauteed the carrots, zucchini and some onions in a little olive oil for just a little bit.

Those are part of the dressing - the chopped cilantro, green chilli, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil along with the lime juice. The toasted walnuts and dried cranberries were tossed into the salad after mixing the salad with the dressing.

In goes the olive oil into the lime juice, cilantro, green chilli, garlic mix.

The sauteed veggies get tossed up with the cooked quinoa.

The dressing goes on top of that. Give it a little toss again and add the walnuts and cranberries and your dinner is ready. This salad is not only healthy because of the whole grains and the veggies, it has such a wonderful flavor from all the aromatics and such a great combination of texture from the chewy dried cranberries and the crunchy toasted walnuts. It was totally an amazingly fresh salad! Go try it and see for yourself.

Quinoa Salad with Farm Fresh Vegetables, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Walnuts and Cilantro-Lime Dressing - The Recipe

Quinoa - 1 cup
Baby Carrots, thinly sliced like matchsticks - 5-6
Zucchini, cubed - 1
Yellow Onion, diced - 1/2
Olive Oil - 1 tsp
Dried Cranberries - 1/4 cup
Broken Walnuts - 1/2 cup
salt and freshly cracked black pepper

For the dressing:
Lime, squeezed - 1/2
Garlic, minced - 1 clove
Cilantro, minced - 3 tbsp
Green Chilli, minced - 1
Olive Oil - 4 tbsp
salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Wash and boil the quinoa in 1 1/2 cups water and a little salt till all the water evaporates and the quinoa is cooked. Fluff it with a fork and let it cool. Toast the walnuts and keep aside.

In a saute pan, heat the olive oil and saute the carrots, zucchini and onions lightly with some salt and pepper. Keep aside.

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together. Add the sauteed vegetables to the cooked quinoa, pour the dressing on top and mix well with a fork. Add the cranberries and walnuts too and mix well. Check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if required.

Enjoy your salad!

Olan ~ Winter Melon / Ash Gourd & Red Beans in Coconut Milk

2010-08-26T19:43:00.004-07:00

The spirit of Onam continues and this time it is yet another one of the vegetable sides that is a part of the Sadya (the traditional feast). One specialty of all the vegetable sides that are served in a Sadya is that, there is just about enough spices and other flavoring ingredients used so that it doesn't overpower the natural taste of the vegetables but brings out the best in the dish as well. Mostly it is a little of ginger or green chillies to bring that spicy zing and sometimes a little cumin is added to give a different dimension. The base is mostly coconut – grated, ground or coconut milk and/or yogurt. It is amazing how various combination of these with different vegetables bring out such a wide variety of curries. Olan is one such dish where the green chillies cooked in coconut milk gives that special flavor to the gourd/melons.

Olan – The Recipe

Winter Melon / Ash Gourd, cut into cubes – 2 cups
Red Chori / Azuki Beans / Red Beans or Black Eyed Beans – 1/2 cup
Coconut milk – 1 can
Green Chillies / Bird’s Eye Chillies / Thai Chillies, slit in half up to three quarters of the way – 3-4
Curry Leaves – 8-10
Salt
Coconut Oil – 1 tsp

Cook the melon/ gourd and slit green chillies in about 1/2 cup boiling water till it is fully cooked but still maintains its shape. Wash and cook the beans well – pressure cooking may work out the best. Add the beans to the cooked melon, add coconut milk, curry leaves and salt to it. Let it almost come to a boil and remove from heat. Pour the coconut oil over it when it is is still hot so as to release the flavors. I usually do not temper any seasonings for olan but if you want you can temper some mustard seeds and dried red chillies and pour over the olan as well.

Your olan is ready to be served for the sadya. I bet you cannot think of any other simpler vegetable dish that is equally tasty!

Pumpkin Erisseri

2010-08-22T18:44:00.003-07:00

Onam, Vishu, Diwali – all these festivals make me very nostalgic of the good times I had celebrating with family back home and sometimes a little sad too as I start to miss those times. In the last few years we have been building a family of friends here and it feels just as great to celebrate such special occasions with them. Over these 3 years I am pretty impressed with myself at having never failed to make a full fledged home made sadya for Onam and Vishu. This year for Onam we had a few friends over for a home made sadya and it was lot of fun sitting on the floor and eating on banana leaves together with everyone just like times back home.

The menu had Vendakka Kichadi (Tempered Crispy Okra on a Coconut-Ginger-Yogurt gravy), Pineapple Pachadi ( Crushed Pineapple in a lightly spiced Coconut-Jaggery gravy), Avial ( mixed vegetables in a coconut- yoghurt gravy), Erisseri ( Pumpkin with ground coconut), Olan (Melon and Red Beans in Coconut Milk), Kalan (Plantains and Melon in a Coconut-Yogurt gravy), Sambar and Parippu Curry (Lentil and coconut curry). For dessert we had Ada Pradhaman (Rice Flakes cooked in Jaggery and Coconut milk) and Semiya Payasam (Vermicelli Pudding). You will find most of these recipes in some of my earlier posts here. I will be posting the ones that are missing there one by one starting with the Pumpkin Erisseri. Erisseri (also Erissheri or Erissery) is a spiced ground coconut dish that can be made with a variety of vegetables like Pumpkin ( can be substituted with Kabocha or Butternut Squash), Raw Plantain, Mixed Vegetables etc. I made the pumpkin version this time.

Pumpkin Erisseri – The Recipe

2 cups peeled and cubed pumpkin
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 cup red beans / red chori / azuki beans ( can be substituted with black eyed peas)
salt

For Grinding
1/2 cup ground coconut
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 Thai bird chilli
1/2 tsp cumin seeds

For tempering 1/2 tsp coconut oil
4-5 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 dried red chillies

Soak the beans in water for a few hours and cook them well. (I pressure cooked them). Bring 1 cup water to a boil and add the pumpkin and the turmeric powder to it. Cook till the pumpkin is soft and tender. Mash and keep aside. Grind all the ingredients together, under “for grinding”, to a very smooth paste. Add this to the mashed pumpkin. Add a little water if it is too thick and cook a little more over medium heat. Add the cooked beans and salt. Heat the oil for tempering and add the mustard seeds, once they splutter add the curry leaves and red chillies and pour over the erisseri.

Happy Onam to all my readers!!!

Honey Dates Ice Cream

2010-08-17T20:06:00.001-07:00

I almost did not post this recipe here thinking that summer is going to be over soon and who is going to make or eat ice cream now. But then we had a couple of really hot days and out came the ice cream maker as well as the ice cream. My Cuisinart ice cream maker is probably one of the best things I bought this summer. I was debating buying it mainly because of lack of storage space in this apartment but I am really glad I finally bought it. I have been going crazy with it all summer! Once you get a base idea of how much milk, cream and sugar you need to make ice cream then its like an empty canvas out there to try out innovative combos of ice cream flavors – I still haven’t done anything supremely wild yet. Maybe, next year.

Honey Dates Ice Cream – The Recipe

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup honey
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup chopped dates

Prep the ice cream maker according to instructions. Mix together all the ingredients and pour into the ice cream maker. Run the ice cream maker for about 20 mins to half hour. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer safe box / container and freeze for a few hours to have a firm texture. You can also eat it immediately if you are like me!

Asparagus Cheese Tart

2010-08-12T19:32:00.001-07:00

This is probably one of the single most delicious, filling and easiest side that you can make for a weeknight dinner. It even tastes great as a leftover for lunch the next day (it may get a little soggy, but still very tasty). Have I told you the story of how I used to HATE asparagus at one point of time. It was around the time I first came to the US. I had steamed asparagus on the flight to Seattle from India and also the same tasteless steamed asparagus on my way back from our honeymoon in Fiji. It was December and asparagus was not even in season then. Wonder why I had to get the same disgusting tasting thing, that too twice in a span of 10 days! That was probably the first time I ever tasted asparagus and I had made up my mind that I hate this vegetable. Well, I should have known better not to make up mind based on airplane food. A year or so later I decided to give asparagus another chance after seeing some fresh ones at a farmers market and boy! did I love it what??!! It is right now on top of the list of my favorite veggies.

Asparagus Cheese Tart

1 sheet Puff Pastry + a little flour to roll it out
about 20 stalks Asparagus
1/2 medium Yellow Onion, sliced
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 tbsp Red Chili Flakes
salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Olive Oil to drizzle

Preheat the oven to 350F. Thaw the puff pastry sheet, if you are using the frozen one. Sprinkle a little flour on the counter top and roll out the sheet a little. Snap out the woody ends of the asparagus and keep aside. Grease a jelly pan / cookie sheet and place the puff pastry sheet on it. Spread the onion slices on it in a single layer. Arrange the asparagus on the onions, again in a single layer. Sprinkle the chili flakes, salt and pepper it. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle the cheese on it.

Bake in the oven till the puff pastry become all crisp and the cheese has melted. Slice and enjoy it warm as an appetizer or as a side!

Singapore Fried Rice Noodles - The Vegetarian Version

2010-08-09T13:08:00.003-07:00

This gorgeous spicy noodle dish was made for dinner one night along with the Steamed Dumplings, some Egg Fuyong and Butter Prawn. I spent about 2 hrs making all this and then ended up making some dosas to eat with the chutney powder amma had sent to me through a friend who visited India. Sounds crazy to you??! But it was one of the most amazing meals for me. Remembering the good old days when I used to demand a sambar and a chutney to accompany my dosas or idlis and now just the chutney powder seemed so heavenly.

So coming back to the fried rice noodles, I saw this recipe on Rasa Malaysia and it was a guest post by Nate and Annie of House of Annie. Both these blogs are on the list of the ones I read very regularly and absolutely enjoy doing so and this is the first time that I actually made something from here. I omitted the prawns and the pork as I was making this for both of us. I do not remember how exactly I made this but I know for sure I made a few changes here and there, so I am just going to give you guys the recipe as it is from Rasa Malaysia. You can see the original recipe from Rasa Malaysia to see how to make this with the prawns and the pork.

Singapore Fried Rice Noodles - The Recipe

Adapted from House of Annie's recipe on Rasa Malaysia in turn adapted from e Cooking Magazine, Nov 2005, pages 64-65

2-3 cloves garlic, crushed

2" piece ginger, minced

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 stalk celery, sliced

1 carrot, peeled and julienned

a handful shitake mushrooms, sliced thin

1 green pepper, deseeded and sliced thin

a handful bean sprouts

2-3 green onions, chopped (both white and green parts)

1 packet fine dry rice vermicelli (usually about 12 oz)

1 tsp canola oil

1 tbsp oyster flavored sauce (optional)

For the sauce:

2 tbsp curry powder (it usually has a lot of turmeric in it, but you can add some turmeric, if you want to, to get the color)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1" piece ginger, minced

1 cup vegetable stock

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tsp sugar

2 tsp hot chilli paste

1 tsp canola oil

Cook the noodles by putting them in a heat proof bowl and immersing them in boiling water. Keep covered for about 8 mins unti soft. Drain and keep aside.

Make the sauce by heating the oil and sauteeing the ginger, garlic and curry powder in it. Add the rest of the ingredients and let it almost come to a boil. Keep aside.

Heat the oil in a wok. Add ginger and garlic and stir fry till the garlic becomes golden. Take care not to burn it. Add the onions and the other vegetables and stir fry on high heat. Add the noodles to it and mix well. Add sauce, toss well and switch off the heat. Serve hot.

Melon Papaya Salad with Honey-Lime-Mint Dressing

2010-07-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

I had sort of taken a break from blogging for a couple of weeks and I have noticed that this is becoming a trend for me during summer. Even last summer I stayed away from blogging for a while. I think its because a lot of outdoor activities, travel etc come into your weekend and weekday routines that atleast I find myself staying at home way less during summer than at other times. So as I spend less time at home, I cook less, photograph less, stay in front of the computer less and as a result blog less. See the connection? Any "cooking", if at all you can call it that, I do these days is make icecreams!! Lots and lots of it! But sadly, I am yet to take any pictures of it, so the icecream posts will just have to wait till then. Meanwhile, I leave you to enjoy this simple refreshing summer salad that I made recently. Chill in the refrigerator before serving and/or serve with some icecream on the side!

Melon Papaya Salad with Honey-Lime-Mint Dressing - The Recipe

1 small watermelon, seeds removed and balled

1/2 ripe papaya, seeds removed and balled

1/4 cup olive oil

3 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

2 tbsp honey

juice of 1 lime

1/ 4 tsp salt

Mix the olive oil, mint, honey, lime and salt together. Combine the melon and papaya balls - the fruits can also be cut into little pieces instead of balling them and you can use other fruits like strawberry, pineapple, mango etc. Add hte dressing to the fruit mix and toss well. Refrigerate to chill a little and serve chill as is or with some icecream of your choice.

Enjoy the summer!

Brunchtime Seattle : Portage Bay Cafe & ART Restaurant & Lounge– Four Seasons

2010-07-13T20:07:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since a restaurant review has been posted here at Mirch Masala. I have been pretty busy lately and have been mostly concentrating on making and photographing something blog worthy and somehow managing to post at least one recipe a week. Going at that rate I don’t think I will write a full-fledged restaurant review for a long time. Also, after reading Dianne Jacob’s Will Write for Food I have been very skeptical about writing any reviews at all. The amount of trips made to a particular restaurant, the kind of observations made – most of the time I don’t even do half of that.But I want to put it out somewhere – the new places we try out, whether I recommend it or not, what I like and not like about it etc. So, consider these as just pure personal recommendations from a friend who has dined at a restaurant and sharing her experiences / views with you.

Because of these various reasons, I have decided to start writing mini reviews – just including what we ate, whether we liked it or not, whether we will go back there or not etc ad of course some pictures. That way it will be a quick list for someone wanting to know where to dine in Seattle and surrounding areas.

Portage Bay Cafe We thought going to Portage Bay on a weekday ( a holiday weekday! so maybe that counts as a weekend) will be a good idea as we will be able to avoid the crowd, but we were totally wrong. The place was packed! We had to wait for 20 mins before we got a table – not complaining. We were super hungry and ordered the Goat Cheese Omelette -

Organic baby spinach, mushrooms, green onions and Laura Chenel goat cheese. Garnished with nicoise olives - $12, the Rancher’s Breakfast -

Three organic eggs any style, your choice of pepper bacon, black forest ham or Isernio’s chicken-basil sausage and two organic pancakes or two slices of challah French toast. Includes a trip to the toppings bar - $13, with the sausage and the pancakes and a

French Toast - Three slices of organic challah bread are dipped in organic egg batter and grilled - $10. I thoroughly enjoyed the Goat Cheese Omelette and AJ had a hearty breakfast with the Rancher’s breakfast he ordered.

The French toast was meant to be shared but what with so much food that we ate already, we had to box it. The best part of the brunch was the trip to the toppings bar – mind you, only one trip allowed and you can take all you want but you have to eat all you take! Overall it was a great experience although I would have liked it a little less crowded – but I think we just ended up being there at their peak -est time.

Price: $$ (10-15 per entree)
Ambiance: 3.5/5
Food: 3.5/5

Overall: 3.5/5
Will I go there again? Definitely!

ART Restaurant & Lounge - Four Seasons

ART is the place to go to if you have out of towners, you show them around the Pike Place Market and want to head in to a fancier place to eat – modern chic is how it can be best described. This place has lovely breathtaking views of the bay as well. We went here during a sunny Sunday with some friends, of course with a trip to the market later.

Between the four of us we ordered the

Crab Cakes -

sweet butter, cured lemon, garlic, chives 15,

Three Egg Omelette -

choice of three fillings:

ham, smoked salmon, aged cheddar, fresh herbs, vine-ripened tomatoes, mushrooms, grilled onions, spinach, peppers 15,

Eggs Benedict -

applewood smoked bacon, hollandaise sauce 15,

Smoked Salmon Benedict -

hollandaise sauce 18 and shared the

Belgian Waffles -

warm maple or chocolate syrup 14. The food was fresh and tasty but best of all I liked the little tomato tartlets and the roasted potatoes that came on the side. Overall the food was ok, nothing that knocked my socks off,the prices a little on the higher side for the kind of food and the quantity of food served but the view totally compensated for it.

Price: $$$ (15-25 per entree)
Ambiance: 4.0/5
Food: 2.5/5

Overall: 3.0/5
Will I go there again? Maybe

Steamed Vegetable Dumplings

2010-07-07T22:23:00.001-07:00

Looks like summer has finally decided to grace us folks here in Seattle. The temperatures have been in the 80s for the last two days and is forecasted to increase or stay the same for some time to come. We have a camping trip planned for the weekend and hope this awesome weather stays so till then. Now I can start making all those summer dishes that I have been waiting to make. I bought an icecream maker last weekend and have the perfect icecream recipe for this weather. I just need to make some space in my tiny freezer. So, till then I leave you with this easy steamed dumpling recipe.

Ingredients:

12-15 dumpling / gyoza wrappers
1/2 cup chopped napa cabbage
1/4 cup carrots cut match-stick size / grated
2 stalks scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 egg,beaten
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp hot sauce (Sri Racha)
1 tsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
salt, if needed
freshly ground black pepper
water to seal the wrapper

Mix together all the ingredients except the wrappers and water in a medium bowl for the filling. Take one wrapper and slowly smear some water around the edges with your finger. Spoon enough of the filling on the wrapper in the center – avoid the water smeared edges. Now fold the wrapper with the filling intact inside but do not make the two sides meet. Make the sides meet on just one end. Keeping one of sides as it is, fold the other side and keep pressing it on to the intact side, till you reach the other end of the wrapper. I know the step sounds confusing as I write it. I tried to take some step by step pictures but I am not sure they came out all that well for you to understand clearly.

If it is still confusing, here is a great video from which I learnt how to fold the dumplings.

Once one dumping is done keep it covered so that it does not dry out and repeat with the others till the wrappers or the filling is over.

Steam it in a bamboo steamer or any other steamer of your choice till the wrapper becomes a little transparent which tells that it is done. If you are using a bamboo steamer like I did, line it with parchment or wax paper ir else the dumplings will stick to it.

Variations : You can easily make a meat dumping by adding some ground meat or chicken to it.

Mixed Vegetable Pakodas /Pakoras /Fritters

2010-06-29T22:31:00.002-07:00

One can easily make this any day in Seattle and more than 50% of the time can’t go wrong with it – cos its always pakoda season here in the Emerald City. These pakodas are probable the only thing that I cooked during the weekend. This saturday AJ and I ran/walked our first half marathon – Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon (I walked and AJ ran).

My timings were not great but im glad I managed to walk 13.1 miles within the time frame allotted, with no traffic chasing me ( yes, I came to know that there is actually a time limit till which the traffic is stopped on some of the main roads and then they are allowed normally – imagine trying to walk.run with cars honking behind you!!) with little – almost no training at all. We kept blaming the rain for a lousy day to go out for a run and then suddenly realized that we had only 3 more weeks to go! Still managed to do only two decent walk/runs and a few small ones thrown in here and there. Towards the end the aim was to complete without any major bodily injury. We had three more of our friends who had signed up for this and it is purely because of the company that I managed to finish this. Thanks everyone who encouraged and supported us in this! So because of this I was totally wiped out and we mostly ate out or managed with leftovers during the weekend except for these pakodas which I made for tea on Sunday. It was a perfect end to our lazy weekend except for the marathon of course.

Pakodas are fritters that can be made with onions, eggplant, spinach, mixed vegetables, pretty much anything and are generally savory. Umm actually I don't think I know of any non-savory pakodas.

Mixed Vegetable Pakodas – The Recipe

Cauliflower florets , really small florets to make sure they cook while deep fried – 1/2 cup
Onions, sliced thinly – 1/2 cup
Green bell peppers, cut into thin strips – 1/2 cup
Besan / Chickpea flour / gram flour – 1 cup
All purpose flour – 1/4 cup
Fennel seeds or Ajwain (carom seeds), use any one – 1 tsp
Red chilli powder / Cayenne – 3 tsp ( I used Kashmiri Chili powder for the bright color – use more of that as it is less hot that regular cayenne)
Asafoetida – a pinch
salt – to taste
Canola or Vegetable Oil – to deep fry

Mix all the ingredients together with just a little water to bind them together. Do not add too much water or else it won’t crisp up. Heat oil to deep fry. Once hot enough, add the mix to it a little by little using a teaspoon. Deep fry till crisp. Drain on paper towels and serve hot with ketchup / chutneys and a hot cup of tea / coffee. Here I have served it with some chilli-garlic sauce by Maggi.

Raspberry Almond Buttermilk Cake

2010-06-27T14:34:00.005-07:00

It was a sunny Tuesday last week and any guesses what I would have done? yes, of course I baked! I had bookmarked this Raspberry Buttermilk Cake - Smitten Kitchen for a while now and recently saw a Raspberry Almond Bread in Snacksgiving and I had to make a raspberry- something-baked-something! I decided to go with Deb’s (Smitten Kitchen) recipe as I was more in the mood for a tea cake than a bread like goodie. So the basic recipe for this one is the one from Smitten Kitchen and I just added some almonds and almond extract to it. It turned out to be one yummy and moist cake!

Raspberry Almond Buttermilk Cake

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar + 2 tbsp more
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup frozen/fresh raspberries
1/4 cup blanched almond slivers

Preheat the oven to 400F and place a rack in the middle. Grease a round 8 or 9” cake pan and keep aside. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with a hand mixer till its all fluffy. Add the egg, beat it in and then the vanilla and almond extract and beat just once more. Now mix in the buttermilk and the flour mix alternately to this, starting and ending with the flour mix. Mix with a spatula until just about combined. Add the almond slivers as well and mix once more.

Now spoon the batter to the greased pan and spread it evenly. Layer the batter evenly with the raspberries and sprinkle the sugar on top. Bake for 25 mins or so until a knife when inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pan for a few minutes and invert on to a cooling rack. Slice and enjoy with your tea!

Raspberry Almond Buttermilk Cake

Strawberry Lassi

2010-06-21T23:36:00.009-07:00

I waited and waited and waited for summer…still waiting, in fact but it looks like summer doesn't have Seattle in its plans for the year and we may directly move to fall and then winter. We hardly had a few days of 70+ temperatures and bright sunshine. I had plans of buying an ice-cream maker this summer and making tons of ice-cream and popsicles (i finally got the molds a couple of months ago), along with some nice refreshing summer drinks. Well, I think I just have to settle for a strawberry lassi that I made for dessert. That's pretty much any refreshment that one can have in this weather – like I said, it is still very chai-pakoda kinda weather here.

I have always associated lassi with Punjabi food – as in butter topped parathas to be finished off with a lassi. Only here in the US, I have seen lassi been served in any Indian restaurant and it is always mango lassi. I wonder why no one makes lassi with other fruits, just for a change. The idea of strawberry in lassi looked very enticing to me and here it is. I also used a little honey flavored Greek yogurt as well for that extra creaminess and a hint of sweetness. This is also an easy weeknight dessert!

Strawberry Lassi - the recipe

Thick yogurt – 1 cup
Honey flavored Greek Yogurt – 1/2 cup
Strawberries – hulled and halved – 6-7
Sugar – 2 tbsp (optional)

Pulse the strawberries in the blender to make a puree. Add the yogurts and sugar and pulse a few more times till combined. Enjoy chilled as just a drink or as a dessert!

Everyday Chocolate Cake

2010-06-06T22:51:00.001-07:00

Chocolate is something that I can get a craving for instantly – by seeing a picture of a chocolate something, reading a chocolate something recipe, sometimes even after I have just finished eating one of the giant chocolate muffins I get at deli at work. I came up with this recipe last day work after one such post chocolate muffin craving. I used my basic cake recipe - added some cocoa and changed the ratio a little to accommodate for more sugar. I was to bake this last week sometime but I was a little extra lazy after a super busy week before this and so this became my weekend baking. I did not add any icing to this cake as this is a everyday kind of cake. If you are making this for an occasion, I would suggest icing the cake and also making it a two layer cake with some icing between the layers as well, so its more moist.

Everyday Chocolate Cake – The Recipe

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup oil (canola)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 eggs
1/4 cup cream – milk will also do
1 couple of handfuls of chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp espresso powder

If you want to follow the easy way like I did, just add all the ingredients together, mix well, pour into a greased pan and bake well.

Or else you can mix the dry ingredients together, mix the wet ingredients together, add the dry mix to the wet, fold well and bake. The oven needs to be preheated to 350F and baking time is about 40-45 mins. Check for doneness by inserting a knife and it should come out clean. Let it cool in the pan and turn it out. To sugar or not to sugar is your choice. Enjoy warm!!

The next time I try this I wanna add some raspberries or strawberries in it. Berries and chocolate is such a wonderful combination. Orange is something else that I would like trying in this cake recipe. You may have noticed that I added a little coffee - it enhances the flavor of chocolate. It is completely optional. What other flavors do you think will go well with this chocolate cake –either to add to the cake or to have on the side?

Coconut Cornflakes Macaroons

2010-06-02T20:00:00.001-07:00

…and finally, I am checking something off my wish list. You may have noticed the not so small wish list of things I would like to make once at least. I made that list quite some time back but have never got around to making anything from it. The coconut macaroons have been on my mind for a while now. I kept shuffling between the idea of making macaroons or nanaimo bars. The macaroons ultimately won purely because they took a lot less time to make. This recipe is a mix of various recipes I found online. Adjust for consistency depending on the moisture in the coconut and whether you use fresh frozen shredded coconut or the drier version or the sweetened one. If you are using the sweetened one, then you don’t need to add sugar.

Coconut Cornflakes Macaroons – The Recipe

1 egg white
2 cups cornflakes
1 1/2 to 2 cups shredded coconut
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 to 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 325F. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer till soft white peaks form. Mix in the rest of the ingredients together. Drop a little of the mixture, icecream scoop size on baking sheet with parchment paper on it. Bake for 18-20 mins till the sides become golden brown. Remove the macaroons with a spatula and let it cool on a wire rack. Enjoy with your evening tea!

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu ~ Lentil Balls in a Spiced Tamarind Gravy

2010-06-01T16:00:00.003-07:00

Its been years and years since I have tasted this. It never was one of my favorites and I used to like it just because it was a change from the regular sambar or pulisseri or pitla. But some dishes like this just bring back good old memories and you want to have them just for that. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a friend of mine about what all amma used to make on a daily basis and on special occasions and happened to mention Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu to her. That is when I realized that I have never made that by myself and worse, I did not even know the recipe for it. Made it a point to ask amma the next time I spoke to her – got the recipe from amma – made it – photographed it – ate it – loved it and now blogging about it! Paruppu is dal/lentils, urundai means balls (more specifically something spherical) and kuzhambu is a generic term for any gravy based dish and here is amma’s recipe for this delicious tangy lentil gravy.

Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu - The Recipe

To Soak in water;
Kadala Paruppu / Bengal Gram Dal – 1 cup
Curry Leaves – 4 to 5
Dried Red Chillies – 2 to 3
Salt – 1 tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch

A lime sized ball of tamarind – soaked in warm water and the pulp squeezed out
Sambar Powder – 3 to 4 tbsp
Salt – 2 tsp or to taste

For tempering :
1 tsp canola oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3-4 curry leaves
2-3 dried red chillies

Wash the lentils well and soak them in water with the curry leaves and red chillies for 1/2 hour to 1 hour. Grind to a coarse paste (just pulse one or two times) with the salt and asafoetida. Take out almost all of it leaving behind maybe 1/4 of it in the food processor. Grind it to a very smooth paste and keep aside. Make small key lime sized balls of the coarse mixture and keep aside.

Squeeze out the pulp from the tamarind and keep adding more water and squeezing the pulp from the tamarind till when you add water next its almost pale. Repeat this for maybe about 4-5 times.
Keep a pot over medium heat and pour the tamarind pulp in it. Add a little water if it is too thick. Bring it to a boil and add the smooth lentil paste to this. Add salt and the sambar powder too. Let it boil for a while and add the lentil balls to it very slowly. Make sure they dont break. Let it cook for about 15-20 mins without stirring.

Heat the oil for tempering and add the rest of the ingredients. Once the mustard seeds splutter and the curry leaves and red chillies have toasted a little, add them to the gravy and mix well. Enjoy with some rice, a side of vegetables and maybe some yogurt too :)

Paneer Pita Pockets

2010-05-18T20:34:00.001-07:00

Paneer in this form is usually made as a filling for katti rolls or atleast thats how I make paneer katti rolls. Katti rolls, also called frankies are rolls made out of chapathis / flat bread (sometimes dipped in egg and then cooked on a skillet) rolled with meat or paneer or vegetables as filling along with some chutneys. They are one of the yummiest street foods! Well of course there are variations in this from region to region in India as always is the case with any food.

Just a couple of weeks ago, I had bought some pita pockets to take some falafel-pita sandwiches for lunch. I was to make katti rolls for dinner when I thought I’ll make the paneer filling and put them in the pita pockets instead of chapathi rolls. So, thats how these came into being.

The recipe looks like it has a lot of ingredients, but it is super easy to make. As for all other recipes, adjust heat according to your taste. Also for the chutney if you are not a fan of mint, use very little or if you love it feel free to use more than what is given in the recipe. AJ and I are not really big fans of mint but we do like its tastes in taste in chutneys like this.

Paneer Pita Pockets – The Recipe

For the paneer filling:

2 cups paneer cubes
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp red chilli powder
1 to 1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 to 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp garam masala powder
salt to taste

For the chutney:

1/4 cup yogurt
1/2 cup cilantro, torn
1/4 cup mint leaves
2 green chillies
salt to taste

Pita Pockets – 8 to 10
Salad greens – a couple of handsful
Red onions – sliced into half rings – 1/2 cup
Tomato – sliced into half rings – 1 cup

Marinate the paneer cubes with the rest of the ingredients under “for the paneer filling” and keep aside for 1/2 an hour or so. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lay out the paneer cubes on a flat sheet and bake till the marinade looks all cooked and the paneer is also cooked in the inside. It wont take a really long time, maybe about 15-20 mins or so depending on how big your paneer cubes are. Just make sure they dont get all crispy and hard on the outside as that is not how we want it. It should just feel dry on the outside which shows that the marinade is cooked.

Grind all the ingredients for the chutney in a food processor or blender and keep aside. Warm the pita pockets and tear them in half. Open them up and put some salad greens, onion slices and tomato slices in it. Put about 2 tbsp of the paneer cubes for each half pocket. Pour a tsp or two of the chutney over the paneer and serve them warm.

This can be a good barbeque dish too if you grill the paneer instead of baking them. With the same marinade, add some pepper cubes along with the paneer cubes. Skewer them and grill!

Blueberry Coffee Cake

2010-05-15T13:08:00.001-07:00

I don't know what it is with good weather and baking. Whenever it is nice and sunny outside, all I want to do is bake! I have been meaning to bake something to go with tea for sometime now and zeroed in on blueberry coffee cake. Our balcony/patio is all cleared up now of unwanted pots. I decided not to do any gardening this year and instead wait for next summer when we will have a big enough backyard to do full fledged gardening with raised beds and fruit trees and what not..Ok, *snapping out of the daydream*. So right now I am content in our little balcony where I have got some pretty outdoorsy-patio thingys to make us want to sit there and drink coffee while reading a book!

Coming to the coffee cake, I wanted to try it with a modification of one of my own recipes, the strawberry rhubarb loaf cake. I did some changes to it in terms of adding more milk to increase the liquid content and all that. Otherwise it is pretty much the same recipe. I am glad that I have a recipe of my own which can be changed to incorporate different ingredients :)

Blueberry Coffee Cake
My Recipe

1/2 stick (2oz) butter, at room temperature
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup (2 oz) canola oil
1/4 cup (2 oz) milk (2%)
2 eggs

Dry Ingredients :
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour ( you can use all purpose flour too)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 cup frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a bundt pan.

In a big bowl, beat the butter using a hand mixer. Add the sugar also and beat the butter and sugar well. Slowly add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Add the oil and milk as well and beat well. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients, little by little to the wet ingredients mix and mix using a spatula/wooden spoon.

Add the frozen blueberries to it and give it a quick mix. Do not over mix, you dont want the blueberries to break and make sure the berries are frozen when you add them to the mix.

Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and place in the middle rack of the oven. Bake for about 40-45 mins or until a knife when inserted comes out clean. Take out the pan and place it on a wire rack to cool a little. Turn out the bundt and let it cool completely. Enjoy the sun, the cake and a nice hot cup of coffee/tea!

Aloo Methi Capsicum – Spicy Potatoes with Bell Peppers and Dried Fenugreek Leaves

2010-05-11T21:44:00.001-07:00

I don’t know what it it - Either I have lost the patience to take good photographs or I am just getting bad at it. Or maybe its just that I only have a window of a few hours in a day to cook and take pictures, that I totally have to rely on whatever or however the light is during that time. Also I am so very hungry by the time I cook that I just want to eat. Whatever the reason is, all I can say is that there are a lot of posts not being written and posted because of poor photos. This one here is also not something I am particularly proud of, but I really like the recipe and so here it is – one of my all time favorites and also one of the easiest weeknight recipes.

When I was making this, I was thinking of ways to make it easier. One would have been to use store bought ginger-garlic paste but I am a huge proponent of using as much fresh ingredients as possible. Fresh spices, herbs, ginger, garlic – all bring such great flavors to food that no dried, frozen, store bought ingredients can bring. Of course, there always comes the question of convenience. I am not saying that I always freshly grind my spices – but I do try to do that when I have the time. But there are certain things that I just cannot imagine not using fresh as it is. One such thing is ginger-garlic paste. I always ALWAYS make fresh paste using ginger and garlic. For some reason I hate using the store bought paste – its got some weird cardboard-ish smell and taste to it. When I don’t have enough time to make a paste, I simply crush them well or just mince them into tiny pieces and put them in. But of course, home made food, even if it is with store bought ingredients is always better than frozen or restaurant food.

The Recipe

2 yellow potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 green bell pepper, cored and cut into big pieces
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
2- 1” pieces of ginger
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp kashmiri mirch powder (a type of red chilli powder that has less heat than regular cayenne and has a wonderful bright red color)
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 – 1 1/2 tsp kitchen king masala ( substitute with garam masala or skip it altogether)
salt to taste
2 tsp kasuri methi – dried fenugreek leaves

Boil the potatoes for about 6-8 mins in the microwave in a microwave proof bowl with enough water covering the potatoes. Drain and keep aside. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan and add the chopped onions to it. Grind the ginger and garlic together or crush them with a mortar and pestle and add to the onions. Give it a quick stir. Once the onions start to become translucent, add the bell peppers and all the spice powders. Stir every once in a while. Once the bell peppers have softened, add the potatoes and salt and toss well. Tossing helps to keep the potatoes intact. Cover and let it cook for a few mins. Add the kasuri methi and toss well again. Switch off the heat and keep it covered till its time to serve. Serve hot/warm with chapathis.

Well, you may wonder why I used dried methi leaves after preaching about fresh ingredients just now. I have seen that dried methi leaves are more fragrant than fresh leaves and has very distinct flavors as that of the fresh ones. Also they are less bitter. Its just a personal taste preference.

Guava Jalapeno Margarita

2010-05-05T19:11:00.001-07:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!! Here is a special exotic margarita recipe to celebrate the day. This is also a toast to the “triple 5” couple, friends of AJ and I, who are celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary today! Here’s wishing you many many more to come – V & N!! :)

Going to the recipe - A couple of weeks ago when we had some friends over for dinner, I was looking around for a drink recipe. I had some orange juice, guava juice, mango pulp and cranberry juice. There was also tequila, vodka, grand marnier, kahlua and irish cream liqueur. I did not want to make the same old margarita or mojito with the drink mixes. I looked around a little bit and had almost decided on something when I remembered a guava something by Ingrid Hoffman that I had written down in my recipe cards long time ago. I fished that out and found the guava jalapeno margarita recipe. I did not have fresh jalapenos then, only the pickled ones were there in the refrigerator. I tried this margarita with those pickled jalapenos and they really did come out great and everyone loved it, of course! From then on, I have made this drink a couple of times and its always been a hit.

The base recipe is the same as that of Ingrid Hoffman's but I made my own little modifications, especially in the method. Try this and let me know.

Guava Jalapeno Margarita – The Recipe
Adapted from Ingrid Hoffman's recipe

Makes 6-8 glasses

1 or 2 jalapenos, sliced into circles
3/4 cups tequila
1/4 cup grand marnier
1/4 cup lime juice
1 cup guava juice
1-2 cups crushed ice
kosher salt, for the rim

Mix all the ingredients together, except the ice and salt in a pitcher. Keep aside for 10-15 mins for the jalapeno’s taste to seep in. Strain the jalapenos and add the crushed ice and mix well. Reserve the jalapeno rounds. Taste and add more alchohol or lime juice or water according to need. Wet the rims of the glasses with a lime wedge and turn it upside down on a plate of salt, till the rim is coated well with salt. Pour the margarita into the glasses. Make a slit in the jalapeno circles and place them on the rim of each glass. Serve immediately.

Spinach Fettuccine with Garlic-Basil Oil, Kale, Red Peppers, Walnuts and Shaved Parmesan

2010-05-03T20:18:00.001-07:00

Sauce less pastas – they are my current favorite! They are as easy to make as pasta with any sauce and I see a lot more creativity coming in when I make these. Maybe its just because I am not that good at making pasta sauces. Whatever the reason is – I like these and AJ likes them too. That means easy weeknight dinners without a worry.

As I am writing this, it is pouring outside and there is thunder and lightning which makes a storm what it is. I always say that the rains here in Seattle are not as high spirited as Kerala monsoons. The monsoons in Kerala are crazy with heavy rains lashing the state as soon as schools reopen after the 3 months long summer holidays. New clothes, new shoes, new bags all get drenched in the rain but still I used to love the rains. I almost relived those moments today when I had to run in today so as not to get drenched. Loving the day :)

Ok, coming back to the recipe, I made this pasta a really long time ago and this post has been there in my drafts, so I am not very sure about the ingredients and how much I put in them. But if I were to make it again, this is how I would.

Ingredients:

Spinach Fettuccine – about 6 oz
Garlic oil – 3 tbsp
Basil oil – 2 tbsp
Red Peppers, diced – 1
Kale, washed and torn into bite sized pieces – about 1 cup
Walnuts - 1/2 cup
Crushed chili flakes – 1 tbsp
Shaved Parmesan
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Cook the fettuccine al dente or according to package instructions, drain and keep aside
2. Heat the garlic and basil oil in a large pan and add the walnuts to it. Toast them well.
3. Add the red peppers and kale to the pan and sauté till the peppers are a little soft.
4. Now add the pasta and toss well. Add the chili flakes, salt and pepper and toss well again.
5. Add the shaved parmesan just before serving!

Enjoy your easy weeknight pasta as it is or with a glass of wine if you have had a long day!

Vegetable Balls in Hot Garlic Sauce

2010-04-27T22:06:00.003-07:00

Indo Chinese food – now, you just have to taste it once, JUST ONCE to fall head over heels in love with it and continue to love it until death do you apart! For a really large part of my life, I grew up thinking this was “Chinese” food that even now I find it very difficult to think and know that Vegetable Manchurian or Chilli Paneer is not Chinese. That’s how popular this fusion cuisine is in India. Seriously!! This is no laughing matter.

Indian Chinese cuisine is basically Chinese cuisine that is adapted to the Indian taste by using a lot of spices and other ingredients that are more common in Indian cuisine than traditional Chinese and its a lot spicier too. For eg, the use of paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese), Cauliflower, cilantro, tamarind and even cumin and coriander sometimes. Ketchup is also a very common ingredient. I read up a little bit about the origin of this cuisine and it looks like it came from the Chinese who have settled in Calcutta (a North Eastern city in India) for probably a couple of centuries now.

Coming back to the post, a couple of weeks ago, I made some vegetable balls in hot garlic sauce inspired by a couple of recipes in Tarla Dalal’s Chinese Cooking and in memory of the restaurant All Spice in the small town of Kollam (Quilon) in Kerala (a Southern state in India) for about 7 years of my life including my undergrad. AJ and I used to sneak out and go there for our “dates”! Aah, good old days!

Recipe : Vegetable Balls in Hot Garlic Sauce
Adapted from 3 different recipes in Tarla Dalal’s Chinese Cooking

For the Vegetable Balls:

1/4 head of a cabbage, finely chopped
2 carrots, grated
1/2 red onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch piece ginger, minced
2 Thai green chillies, minced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp corn starch
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray

For the sauce:
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch piece ginger, minced
2-3 Thai green chillies, minced
Schezuan Sauce, 1 cup ( that is not a typo – that's how Sichuan is spelled in Indo Chinese cuisines) – recipe given below. Pls don’t buy the sauce available in stores here in the US – it is not the same.
tomato ketchup – 3 tbsp
soy sauce – 2 tsp
1/2-1 cup vegetable stock
1/2 tsp sugar
salt, if needed
scallions, chopped, for garnish

For Schezuan Sauce :

To make into a paste
15-17dry red chillies ( yes, you saw it right, that’s 15. Pls feel free to reduce as per heat tolerance)
2 tbsp Sichuan pepper corns
1/4 cup garlic, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Thai green chillies, minced
1 inch piece ginger, minced
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1 celery, finely chopped
1 cup vegetable stock
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with some water
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp oil
salt

For the Schezuan sauce : Boil a cup of water and add the dry red chillies, Sichuan pepper corns and garlic to it. Simmer for 5-6 mins and let it cool. Drain the water and grind to a smooth paste. Now heat the oil in a pan and sauté the garlic, ginger, green chillies and onion. Add the celery to it. Add the chilli paste at this point and sauté for a few mins. Make sure to keep the vent fan on and the windows open. It can get quite irritating from all the chillie. Mix in the cornstarch paste and pour in the vegetable stock and vinegar. Add sugar and salt and bring to a boil. Keep aside.

To make the vegetable balls : Combine all the ingredients in a moxing bowl and add a little water to hold them all together. Make small lime sized balls out of the mixture and keep aside. Preheat oven to 350F. Lay parchment paper on a cookie sheet and place the balls on it. Spray the cooking spray over them and bake till they are a little golden brown on the outside.

For the sauce: Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add the ginger, garlic and green chillies and stir fry for a few mins. Add the veggie balls and fry for some more time. Now add the Schezuan sauce, tomato ketchup, soy sauce, vegetable stock, sugar and salt and bring to a boil. Garnish with chopped scallions. Serve hot with some vegetable fried rice or hakka noodles.

This seems like a lot of work. But trust me, its totally worth it!! Enjoy!

Hazelnut Cookies with Chocolate Chips

2010-04-25T13:35:00.001-07:00

Nutella has just changed the way I look at Hazelnuts now. Hazelnuts and Chocolate – now, there cannot be a more divine combination than that. Just a few weeks ago, I saw these hazelnut chocolate thumbprint cookies on one of my favorite blogs of all times – Smitten Kitchen and I made them, why? Cos, they are awesome!! Just go see the pictures on Deb’s blog and you will know what I am talking about. Mine are just half as good. I did not exactly follow the recipe ( I knew I should have) – these are not even thumbprint cookies. I just put in the chocolate chips, that's all.

But still, its got hazelnuts, chocolate and they are cookies…so what more do you want?!

Hazelnut Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup hazelnuts, toasted,skinned and cooled ( I did not have the patience to toast and skin it, so I just tried to skin it without toasting which did not work exactly so I just put them in as is)
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter , melted and cooled
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsps hazelnut syrup
chocolate chips, about 3 for each cookie

Pulse the hazelnuts, flour,sugar and salt in a food processor until fine. In a medium sized bowl, add the egg, beat well and add the vanilla, hazelnut syrup and butter. Pour the flour mix to this and mix to combine.Cover and chill for 20-30 mins.

Preheat oven to 350F. Place the rack in the middle. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop 1 tbsp of the dough on it, about an inch apart. Make sure the dough is chill when you put the sheet in the oven, or else just pop it in the freezer for a couple of mins. Top the cookies with the chocolate chips and bake for 12-15 mins till they are done. Transfer to a cooling rack and enjoy them with some milk to dunk them in or just as it is.

Simple, Easy and Spicy Potato Fry

2010-04-19T19:22:00.002-07:00

There are some preparations which are so common that everyone knows how to make it – infact everyone will have their own recipe for it as well. This is one such dish. I was even thinking whether to post this or not, but I got some awesome pictures of these crispy potatoes (i don’t always get them this crispy) and I had to share it with everyone. The recipe is so so very simple that you can make it easily to add to number of dishes you are making for a dinner party or for a quick weeknight side! Kids will love it too and of course you cannot go wrong with potatoes and spices. My favorite combo for this is rice and hot rasam..ohh my!! *maybe I’ll make that for dinner instead*

The Recipe

Yellow New Potatoes, peeled and diced – 3 to 4
Canola oil – 3 tbsp , divided
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Curry Leaves - 5-6
Red chilli powder / cayenne – 1 tsp (more or less depending on the heat level you want)
Asafoetida – a pinch
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp
salt, to taste

1. Place the diced potatoes in a microwave safe bowl. Add enough water to just cover the potatoes and microwave them on high for about 10 mins. Keep an eye on them as you don’t want them over cooked. You want them just about right or else they will get all mushy when you try to shallow fry them. Drain the water, if any is left and keep aside.

2. In a pan with a bigger diameter, so that all potatoes fit in it in one layer, heat 1 tbsp of the oil. Add the mustard and cumin seeds.

3. As soon as they splutter, add the curry leaves, asafoetida and the potatoes. Spread the potatoes in the pan, so they are in one single layer. Keep the heat at medium to medium-high. Keep in mind that the potatoes are already cooked, you just want to crisp them.

4. Sprinkle the cayenne, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt on the potatoes and flip the potatoes around using just the handle of the pan. Do not try to stir the potatoes. You can use a spoon or something to just push any potatoes to the pan, if they have landed on another potato piece during the flipping.

5. Add the remaining oil little by little to aid crisping the potatoes.

6. Once they are all crisped up, serve them hot with rice or chapatis.

MLLA 21 – The Round Up – Part 2

2010-04-18T22:08:00.002-07:00

Life has just been crazy busy with some sudden new things and I didn’t even know how it is almost the end of second week of April. I did not mean to delay this round up so much, but with so many entries it really was difficult to get it out there on there. Thanks for being patient with me. So here is part two of more awesome legume dishes! The entries continue in the order I received them and read them row by row, left to right in the pictures.

29. Slow Cooker Dal Makhani from Usha of Veg Inspirations
30. Masala Pathiri and Black Chickpea Curry from Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen
31. Vankaya Tomato Pappu - Eggplant Tomato Dal by Suma of Veggie Platter
32. Black Bean Soup by Rupali of Recipe Grab Bag

33. Aloo Matar Ki Subji from Jyoti of The Veggie Hut
34. WURSTEL IN UMIDO CON RAPE E FAGIOLI / WURSTEL stewed WITH TOMATOES and beans from Simona of A Tutta Cucina
35. Chickpea and Spinach Salad with Cumin Dressing and Orange Yogurt Sauce from Janet of Taste Space
36. Bitter Gourd Pitlai from Padhu of Padhu's Kitchen

37. Roasted Artichokes Chickpeas and Garlic Salad with Lemon and Sesame from Soma of eCurry
38. Hari Moong Ki Dal from Priya of Mharo Rajastan's Recipes
39. Sprouts Corn Mango Salad from Priya of En Veetu Kitchen
40. Ringna Vatana from Priya of En Veetu Kitchen

41. Mint Vadai from Latha of A Peek Into My Kitchen
42. Veggie Puff Pastry Parcels from Nayna of Recipe Grab Bag
43. Gugni Chat from Rachna of A Veggie Fare
44. Fried Moong Dal Kofta Yogurt Curry from Shama of Easy 2 Cook Recipes

45. Orange Glazed Tempeh from Johanna of Green Gourmet Giraffe Blog
46. Chilled Chickpea and Everything Salad from Sweatha of Tasty Curry Leaf
47. Green Garbanzo Stew with Spinach from Doris of For the Love of Food
48. Chickpea Soup from Lubna of Yummy Food

49. SriLankan Style Chickpeas Salad from Maninas of Food Matters
50. Dal Makhani from SP and MJ of Turmeric and Spice
51. Drumstick Sambar from Valarmathis of Simple and Yummy Recipes
52. Appam with Moong Dhal Curry from Sumi of Sumi's Kitchen

53. Poricha Koottu from Kalyani and Gayathri of Adiruchi
54. Mexican Red Lentil and Brown Rice Stew from Katie of Eat This
55. Chana Dal Poori from NotYet100 of Asankhana
56. Bean Pockets from Silpa of Anita's Kitchen

57. Channa Masala from Shabitha of My Home Kitchen
58. Black Eyed Peas Gravy from Shabitha of My Home Kitchen
59. Kimchi stew, Kimchi jjigae from Christine of Kits Chow
60. Dahi Vada from Jyoti of The Veggie Hut
.
61. Broccoli Dal Vadai from Rachana of Sizzle N Spice
62. Peas & Potato in Coconut Milk Gravy from Nithu Bala of Nithu's Kitchen
63. Tapioca & Peas Vada from Nithu Bala of Nithu's Kitchen
64. Spinach & Peas Pulav from Nithu Bala of Nithu's Kitchen

65. Black Channa Gravy from Sharmilee of Sharmi's Passions
66. Healthy Porridge with Greens and Legumes from Kiran of Sumadhura
67. Chole-Bhathure from Jagruti of Joy of Cooking
68. Tomato Black Eyed Beans Soup from Jyoti of the Veggie Hut

69. Chickpea salad from Tazaika of Food Capital
70. Soybean patties from Tazaika of Food Capital
71. Rajma Curry from Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes
72. Peas Masala from Jayashree of Jayashree's Blog

73. Kadhamba Pakoda/Mixed Veggies Pakoda from Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
74. Spaghetti With Soy chunks from Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
75. Baked Bread&Chickpeas Cutlet With Bean Sprouts from Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes
76. Bitter Gourd, Pinto Beans N Raisin sliders from Cool Lassi(e) of Pan Gravy Kadai Curry

77. Multi Legume Dosa/Crepe from Yummy Team of Yummy O Yummy
78. Whitebeans and Chickpeas Burger from Rajee of Everyday Cooking
79. Sweet Potatoes and Chick Peas Chaat from Aquadaze of Seved with Love
80. Health Sandwich from Vidya of Sugar N Spice

81. My Minestrone Soup from Cooking Foodie of 365 Days of Eating
82. Falafel from Cooking Foodie of 365 Days of Eating
83. Hummus from Cooking Foodie of 365 Days of Eating
84. Matar Methi Malai from Cooking Foodie of 365 Days of Eating
And finally Susan’s and my entries for this event. The fabulous looking Cannelini Bean Chili from Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook and Parippu Vada – Lentil Fritters and Sambar Saadam – Lentil Rice from Mirch Masala. Now how can I leave you hanging there without letting you know about the winner of the random drawing. So the random generator decided to pick the number 83 which is Cooking Foodie of 365 Days of Eating. Congratulations!!!! Susan will be contacting you regarding this and you will be getting:

1) Randomly selected and purchased by Susan (shipped worldwide): The New Food Lover's Tiptionary: More Than 6,000 Food and Drink Tips, Secrets, Shortcuts, and Other Things Cookbooks Never Tell You by Sharon Tyler Herbst.
2) Hurst Bean Box - A case of six bags of the winner's choice of Hurst Bean products, suitable for every diet, donated by Hurst Bean. (Due to shipping restrictions, this prize can only be awarded if the winner is a U.S. resident.) Susan does not receive any product nor financial compensation for her arrangement with Hurst Bean to provide this prize supplement for My Legume Love Affair.

Hope you all had as much fun participating in this event as I had hosting it! Thanks everyone and I apologize again for the delay in posting the round ups. Please do let me know if I have missed out any entries or if any of the links are not right.

Red Curry Deviled Eggs

2010-04-10T17:57:00.003-07:00

Deviled eggs are an easy and great way to have some appetizers ready for a party. It doesn’t take much time at all to prepare, you can just let your imagination go wild in terms of what flavor you want – there is no worry about getting the consistency wrong, getting it over/undercooked etc and you can be sure that your guests will love it! I was initially going for a sun-dried tomato deviled egg only to find out during the last few hours before the party that I had run out of sun-dried tomatoes. I panicked a little and then was about to put in just tomato paste instead of sun-dried tomatoes when I saw the little jar of red curry paste sitting next to the tomato paste. You know the rest of the story..

Red Curry Deviled Eggs – The Recipe

Hard boiled eggs, peeled – 6
Red Curry paste – 2 tbsp
Lemon grass paste – 1 tbsp
Mayonnaise – 1/4 cup
Dijon Mustard – 1 tbsp
Fresh/dried basil leaves – 3 tsp
salt and fresh ground black pepper
Scallions, chopped – 1 tsp for garnish

Cut the peeled hard boiled eggs into half lengthwise. Take out the yolk and put in a mixing bowl. Mash it up well until there are no lumps. Mix the rest of the ingredients with the yolk. Put them into a piping bag (even just a regular ziplock with a hole in one corner will do) and pipe the mixture into the egg whites. Garnish with chopped scallion. Refrigerate till you serve them.

Since I was busy making the rest of the appetizers for the party, AJ took these pictures. He is good at it, isn’t he??! Thanks sweetheart! :)

MLLA 21 – The Round Up – Part 1

2010-04-09T18:15:00.003-07:00

So finally, the round up for MLLA 21 is here, even if it just the first part. I am not even going into the reasons why this got delayed by 5 days. Lets just say there were things that kept me REALLY busy! First of all thanks to Susan for letting me host this lovely event and a bigger thanks to all the participants. I was just overwhelmed by the response for this event. I tried replying by email or by visiting the blogs of the participants, but later I just couldn’t keep track and I am sure I missed replying to some of you. But anyway, one more round of MLLA is over and it was fantastic with some of the most awesome entries! The entries are in the order I received them. In the second part of the round up the winner will be announced. In each of the collages, read each row one by one from left to right.

1. Aloo Mattar Paratha from Nandini of Usha Nandini's Recipes. – I love that blob of butter on the paratha.
2. Moon Dal Rasam from Shama of Easy2Cook Recipes. – that bowl screams comfort!
3. Masala Bhaat ( Maharastrian Style Fried Rice) made with Sambar Masala from Laura of The Spiced Life - the spices for the masala are shown in the picture
4. Chana Dal from Nayna of Simply Food – creamy yummy dal!

5. Tomato Poppu from Jayashree of Desi Food Bytes – love that color of that dal.
6. Oat Pea Dosa from Priya of A Healthier Me – can it get any healthier?
7. Corn Patties with Coconut Sauce from Graziana of Erbe in Cucina – simple snack!
8. Chickpeas and Paneer in a Spicy Creamy Gravy from Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen – So creamy that gravy is!

9. Curried Lentil Soup from Usha of veg Inspirations – thats my kinda food.
10. Adai from jayashree of My Experiments with Food - mmm i love them!
11. Chickpeas Salad from Kalai of My Recipes Diary – yes, salad can also be made delicious!
12. Gatte Ka Pulao from Preeti of Relishing Recipes – love everything that goes into this.

13. Gatte Ki Subji from Preeti of Relishing Recipes – look at that lovely color!
14. Sprouted Chana Masala Rice from Sowjanya of Ruchika Cooks - looks delicious.
15. Chana Masala from SriVidhya of Vidhu's Kitchen - an all time favorite with anyone
16. Fresh Pigeon Peas Stir Fry from Kamala of Cook @ Ease – now, I really have to make that once!

17. Rajma Masala from Deepti of A Hint of Spice – creamy and spicy!!
18. Cholle Bature from Deepti of A Hint of Spice – look at those bature with the cholle masala. Mouthwatering, truly!
19. Black Bean Pumpkin Soup from Nupur of One Hot Stove – comfort in a bowl!
20. Black Eyed Peas Cutlet and Sandwich from SS of SS Blogs Here – thats such a change from regular veggie cutlets.

21. Green Beans with Coconut from Kiran or Sumadhura
22. Parupu Usili from SriVidhya of Vidhu's Kitchen
23. Pakarkai Pitlai (Bitter Gourd with Chickpeas) from SriVidhya of Vidhu's Kitchen
24. Menthula Pappu from Suma of Veggie Platter – all these four dishes are such classic South Indian daily preparations.

25. Kandi Podi from Suma of Veggie Platter – spicy podi with some ghee is the perfect companion to rice.
26. Peas Pulao from SriVidhya of Vidhu's Kitchen – a classic rice dish, ever popular at potlucks!
27. Mediterranean Chickpeas Salad with Roasted Potatoes from Sayantani of A Homemakers Diary – Ohh my! Just read the title and you know its delicious!
28. Pesarattu / Moong Dal Dosa from Silpa of Anita's Kitchen – that looks like a smiley pancake :)

Wow! That's quite a lot of ways legumes can be cooked. Look out for more in the second part!

Pomegranate – Blackberry Smoothie

2010-04-01T00:56:00.002-07:00

Pomegranate and Blackberry – Now, that smoothie screams antioxidants! So what, they are only good for you. In general I love smoothies/milk shakes – be it for a quick lazy day breakfast or an evening snack or as a treat after coming back from the gym. I try to bring in variations in the flavor as well as the texture. I bought POM after a really long time and had some black berries too. My favorite to make a smoothie with is vanilla soymilk instead of yogurt. So, that also went it along with some ground flax seeds and some honey, mostly as an afterthought. You can skip that if you want.

Pomegranate – Blackberry Smoothie – The Recipe

Well, I just said what all is there in the smoothie, but here is the recipe with the measures, in case you want it.

1 cup organic vanilla soymilk
1/2 cup POM pomegranate juice
a handful of black berries
1 tsp ground flax seeds
1/2 tsp honey (optional)

Blend together all the ingredients, except honey with some crushed ice. Mix in the honey if you want it to be more sweet. Enjoy it cold!!

Over the last couple of weeks a bunch of fellow bloggers have passed a couple of awards to me. The Yummy Team, Silence Sings and Sashi have shared the Honest Scrap Award, Sunshine Award and Blog Lovin Award with me. Thanks you guys!! As for sharing these, I don't think I can pick a few handful of my followers/fellow bloggers, so these awards for all those of you who support me and who visit Mirch Masala always :)

Restaurant Review - Huiyona

2010-03-29T23:51:00.002-07:00

I saw this restaurant for the first time when I went to Tidbit Bistro in January this year. The name captured me instantly and I wanted to go back and check it out. I came home, looked up for Huiyona and found out that it was a “relatively” new restaurant at that time – opened some time in June 09. Huiyona , pronounced Hee-YAWNA, is owned by Rachel and Mark Apuyan and Huiyona is Rachel’s birth name. The cuisine is very global with an Asian influence to it. Going into the restaurant felt like going in through a tunnel. But after the entry way is a lounge like place and then the bar and then three rooms for dining, one behind the other with small archways separating them. Each dining area had only 5 tables in each and altogether it felt very warm and cozy - a perfect first date kinda place.

As always I had already gone through the menu before going to the restaurant and I knew what to order. The menu has tapas like small plates and entree sized big plates too. We thought of trying out a whole bunch of things from the small plates section. We started with the Seasonal Soup ($7)- A Puree of roasted kabocha and pumpkin, garnished with goat cheese crumbles, 5 spice and chive oil. It had this wonderfully creamy texture and was on the sweeter side. AJ ordered the Shrimp Toast ($7) - Shrimp, water chestnuts and chives on top of a sourdough bread slice toasted golden brown and the Steamed Pork Buns ($8) - House-made steamed buns, crispy pork belly, hoisin glaze, cilantro. He didn’t particularly like the shrimp toast but the pork buns, even though they looked pretty normal were delicious – the meat ever so tender and there just was something in it that made every mouthful very juicy and bursting with flavors! Sorry about the really unfocused picture of the shrimp toast. I went for the Sweet Corn Pot stickers ($7) - Corn filled dumplings tossed with olive oil, thai basil and balsamic reduction and the Lumpia ($7) - Filipino style egg-roll. Ground pork, shiitake mushrooms, carrots, shallots and served with a citrus sweet chili sauce – minus the pork. There are very few things which even after a month after I ate it I will still remember the taste – it has to be that good! The sweet corn pot stickers were just that. Im not a big fan of balsamic vinegar but the reduction totally did it to me. I think i may give balsamic vinegar another try. The lumpia was just ordinary – nothing great, nothing bad either. To finish it off, we had a Tres Leches Cake. I don’t remember how much it cost as they don’t have a dessert menu and the waitress just told us what all they had for the night. The cake was really good, but only the side of it were nice and moist. As we dug into the cake it had not absorbed the tres leches (the three milk) that well. Probably the “authentic” ones are supposed to be like that but we like ours soaked right all the way through. What AJ said at this point was one of the best complements ever – he said that the Tres Leches I made once was way better than this one. :) Overall we had a good night at Huiyona. Some of the food was great, some not so much. The ambience was awesome and the service was also above average. Prices were great too. But nothing about the food totally popped out, so I am not very sure about going there again. But we still might – you never know!

Rava Idli with Kothamalli Chutney ~ Steamed Semolina Cakes with Cilantro Chutney

2010-03-28T19:59:00.003-07:00

Idlis - wonderful pillowy steamed white cakes - are one of the staple South Indian breakfast dishes. Regular plain idlis are made from fermented batter of rice and urad dal (skinned black lentils). Since they are steamed and there is no oil or any other form of fat added to it, they are perfect for easy digestion when you have a mild flu, fever or something. Idlis can also be made from semolina. These are much easier and quicker as there is no need of soaking the rice and lentils and then grinding them and fermenting the batter. To get the fermented effect, some yogurt and/or buttermilk is added to the semolina - rice flour mixture and left aside for 15-20 mins. So, literally you can get up one morning and decide to make rava idlis then and there as opposed to regular idlis!

I wasn’t a big fan of idlis when I was a little girl and the only way that I would eat idlis was with some sugar mixed with ghee/clarified butter smeared on top. Only later I got addicted to idlis with chutneys , sambar and / or podi (a lentil spice mix that Idlis and Dosas are eaten with). Aaahh, just writing this post itself is making me want to break a piece of a soft idli, dunk it in sambar and devour it. A cup of steaming hot milky frothy filter coffee is all you need to complement it!

Now what on earth is that? You may ask. It is one of the special apparatus needed to make these idlis. They are idli plates with a stand. They are available on Amazon for around $16.00. I think you get to buy them in Indian stores as well, but I am not sure about the price. You pour the idli batter into each of those round depressions and place them in a tight closed pan ( I use my pressure cooker without the pressure weights) and steam till the idlis are done.

Rava Idli - The Recipe Recipe adapted from RedChillies with a few changes that I made.

1 cup semolina / rava
1/2 cup rice flour
1 cup yogurt
1 cup sour cream
1/2 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, as per need
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp minced ginger
a handful of cilantro leaves, minced
salt, to taste
For the tempering 1/2 tsp oil
2-3 green chillies, minced
6-7 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida

In a wok, dry roast the semolina and rice flour on medium-low heat till they turn very light brown and a nice aroma of roasted flour comes. Keep aside and let it cool a little. To this, mix the yogurt, sour cream, baking soda, ginger, cilantro and salt. Mix well. Add the buttermilk, a little at a time, mixing after each addition till the batter is slightly lighter than a pancake batter. Heat the oil for tempering, add the mustard seeds and once they splutter, add the curry leaves, green chillies and asafoetida. Pour this on top of the idli batter and mix it in.

Grease the idli plates and pour the batter into each of the depressions. You can fill them almost to the brim. Just be careful when putting all the plates together and transferring them to the steamer. Steam them till the idlis are done. Try inserting a toothpick and see if it comes out clean. Enjoy the warm idlis with some of the cilantro chutney.

Kothamalli Chutney - The Recipe

1/4 cup grated coconut
1 cup cilantro leaves
1 clove garlic, peeled
2-3 green chillies, chopped
salt, to taste
For the tempering 1/2 tsp oil
3-4 curry leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp urad dal

Grind together all the ingredients by adding a little water, to a smooth paste. Heat the oil, splutter the mustard and add the curry leaves and urad dal. Pour this on top of the chutney. It is a long post already, but one last thing – you must have seen the new pages in Mirch Masala. You will find the tabs for them just under the Mirch Masala banner. Pls go through these pages and if you have any trouble navigating through them or have any suggestions regarding them, pls do leave a comment. Hope those pages are helpful to you and that they make your time spent in Mirch Masala much more easier and more valuable!

Caramel Peanut Butter Banana Bread

2010-03-25T14:14:00.004-07:00

Did I just say banana bread?? Again?? Yes, such is my love for this baked goodie that I make it very often as it is and with variations. Last week I was in the mood for some variations.

Now what do I add to the plain old banana bread?

Other fruits? Naah. I have had not so good luck with adding pears and strawberries before. They just made the bread denser and I did not like it.

Nuts and Chocolate chips? Wait a minute, don’t I add that in the plain banana bread anyway?

Ok, one last try - lets look in the pantry. Aahh, there it is. Peanut Butter.

Wonder how that will be? I'm sure it will be great!

Should I just add some strawberry preserves and make it PBJ? Don't go overboard Manju!

Ok, ok. But I just need one more thing!! Now, there's that jar of caramel that can be put to some good use. Awesome idea!

And there you go, that is how I ended up making this version of banana bread!

The basic recipe that I always follow for banana bread is this one here. I just added the peanut butter and caramel and adjusted the sour cream ratio accordingly.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 egg white
2 ripe bananas, mashed
4 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp caramel
1/4 cup fat free sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease a loaf pan and preheat the oven to 350F. Sift all the dry ingredients, except sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar to it. Mix the wet ingredients to the pureed bananas in another bowl. Stir in the wet mix to the dry ingredients. Do not over stir after this. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 - 45 minutes or till a knife comes out clean, when inserted. Cool on a wire rack. Then cut into slices and serve warm!

For the Best Sandwiches in Seattle - Paseo

2010-03-24T01:05:00.002-07:00

This is undoubtedly, undisputedly the best sandwich place around! It is totally the love at first taste, knock your socks off, the one that you dream of kind of a place. Well, don’t look at me like that – no one paid me to write this stuff. You’ve just got to eat it to believe it! Paseo with its two locations in Seattle is a Cuban/ Caribbean sandwich place. The surprising thing is that till I went to this place the first time I had not heard of it before. So we were a little skeptical at first. But just one look at the line of people waiting outside this shack of a place and we knew we are going to get something good from there. It wasn’t just good – it was great! Plus its a great place with benches outside for a good spring/summer day.

That is the Cuban Roast ($6.75) which is the most popular sandwich there that you are seeing in the picture above. It is slow roasted Pork shoulder covered in Paseo marinade served with jalapenos and caramelized onions. As described in the menu the meat pieces really were falling apart into succulent morsels. AJ totally enjoyed his sandwich. The caramelized onions are just so awesome that they are there in all the sandwiches (atleast in all 4 that we have eaten) and there is a vegetarian sandwich - Onion Obsession Sandwich ($5.50) with just caramelized onions, garlic tapenade and fresh cilantro. That was a pretty awesome sandwich too.

Now that is the Ham and Queso Melt ($6.50) which has smoke cured ham over banana peppers and melted Swiss cheese over it. Of course, there is the caramelized onions here too. Another vegetarian option here is the Tofu Delight ($6.75) with organic tofu sautéed in olive oil and served with garlic tapenade and the caramelized onions. I'm sure even the tofu haters will love this one!

I promise - this is the last picture I have here of the sandwiches. No more tempting!

Paseo has two locations in Seattle – Fremont and Ballard. If you are ever in Seattle visiting, or if you are a Seattleite and you are in the Ballard/Fremont vicinity please do make sure that you go here. Make sure you go well ahead of the time you may feel hungry and also pls carry cash on you as there is no plastic accepted here. It is a good idea to grab a bunch of napkins before you start eating as these sandwiches can be quite messy. If you are still embarrassed pack up and go home to eat. If you can’t wait long enough to reach home, which I'm sure is gonna be the case, eat in the car!!

Kaalan ~ Plantains in a Coconut – Yogurt Gravy

2010-03-21T20:00:00.003-07:00

Kaalan was not something that was very commonly made at home, even though other similar preparations like Pulisseri and Mor Kuzhambu was a daily affair. I used to love the Kaalan that a friend of mine used to bring for lunch at school and also used to devour it at wedding feasts. But somehow it never occurred to me to ask Amma to make it at home – she would have, if I had asked her – i just somehow assumed it is not something we make at home! Silly, yeah! Kaalan is soo very easy to make and is an ultimate comfort food with some rice and any spicy vegetable stir fry on the side. Even though I have used plantains here a variety of other vegetables like cucumber, winter melon, yam etc can also be used.

Kaalan – The recipe

2 unripe plantains – it is ok even if they are a little ripe, it will render a subtle sweetness to the dish – top and bottom chopped off and skin cleaned (not peeled) and cut into cubes
1 tsp red chilli / cayenne powder
1/2 turmeric powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
3/4 cup grated coconut
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup plain yogurt + 1/2 cup sour cream
salt, to taste

For tempering:
1/2 tsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
4-5 curry leaves
2-3 dried red chillies

In a sauce pan, add about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water, plantains (or whatever vegetable you are using), red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder with the salt and bring to a boil. Lower the temperature to medium and let the plantains cook for a while. Let some of the water evaporate as well. Grind together the coconut, cumin seeds and yogurt + sour cream to a very smooth paste and add it to the saucepan once the plantains are soft. Give it one quick mix and when it just about to come to a boil, lower the temperature to low and let it simmer for a couple of mins. Do not let it boil or else the yogurt will curdle. In a smaller saucepan, heat the oil for tempering and add the mustard seeds to it. Once the mustards seeds splutter add the rest of the ingredients for tempering. Pour them all onto the prepared coconut-yogurt gravy. Serve hot with some rice, veggies and pappadams.

Roasted Red Pepper and Carrot Soup

2010-03-19T22:18:00.001-07:00

Spring is here and the weather is definitely getting a lot warmer. Time for soups and stew is almost gone. Well, you can enjoy a hot bowl of soup anytime but the extra comfort that it gives during winter is something different altogether. There are still a couple of chilly evenings here and there and I thought I might as well utilize them to make some good soups. I love the flavor of roasted red peppers in pretty much everything – sandwiches, hummus/spreads, soups, anything..It has the nice fresh smell of pepper enhanced by the roasting but not so much of the heat. I had some red peppers in hand to make the butternut squash and roasted red pepper soup but I happened to see this recipe in the latest edition of Vegetarian Times and I could somehow visualize it and taste it and knew that it was going to be awesome! So, here is the recipe with my additions marked in red. I also changed the quantities a little.

Roasted Red Pepper and Carrot Soup – The Recipe

Adapted from Vegetarian Times – Feb 2010

2 red bell peppers and a little olive oil or 2 cups bottled/canned roasted red peppers
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp curry powder/ curry seasoning
2 tsp dried cilantro
1 tsp cayenne pepper 2 bay leaves
1 yellow onion, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp lemongrass paste 2 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

Few red pepper strips, a tsp cream and some crushed black pepper, for garnish

If you are using fresh red bell peppers – preheat the oven to 350F. Place the peppers on a baking sheet and brush a little olive oil on them. Roast till the skin is balckened, turning them around every once in a while. Once they are done, take them out and let them cool. Cover and keep so that it steams which makes it easier to peel them. Remove the seeds as well.

Heat the oil in sauce pan and add the curry powder, dried cilantro, cayenne and bay leaves to it. Stir well and add the onions and carrots to it. Saute for a few mins and add the garlic and salt to it. Cover the pan and cook for a few mins till the onions become translucent. Add the vegetable broth and let it come to a boil. Lower heat, add the lemon grass paste and let it continue to cook, till the carrots soften. Switch off the heat and let it cool slightly. Pour into a blender and add the roasted red peppers and puree well. Add the lemon juice and give it one more run. Garnish and serve with your favorite bread!

Cream Scones & Fun at “Baking For Breakfast” Class

2010-03-18T16:48:00.006-07:00

Those of you who follow me on Twitter or are on my friends list on Facebook must have seen all the updates about this baking class that i went to a couple of weeks ago. Indhu of Thayirsaadham was the one who saw this class on Not Without Salt and asked whether I wanted to go for this. I have followed Not Without Salt for a very long time and absolutely love that site! I have seen the classes there once or twice but the thought of actually attending one never occurred to me. Thanks to Indhu and her love for baked things (especially with cream cheese! ;) ) that I got the opportunity to have gone for this class :)

The class was organized by Julie Hubert of The Golden Piglet at her home and was taken by Ashley Rodriguez of Not Without Salt. It was a well spent half a day. We were about 8 of us and Julie made us feel right at home. Indhu and I arrived a little late and as we entered Julie’s house we could already smell some of the cream scones baking in the oven. We registered, got our name tags and the recipe file and sat down to see what Ashley was making. There already was some coffee and mimosa for us to help ourselves with.

First on it was puff pastry. I always thought making puff pastry was like really really difficult, but Ashley completely changed that for me. Yes, it does require some work, a lot of patience and a whole lot of butter to make puff pastry, but atleast now I know i can make it. The pictures show the different steps involved in making puff pastry. The one at the bottom left is how it looks like with all the butter bits in it, when it is folded. After this it is beaten again and then folded in 3 times. I will someday make this and post the recipe as well. After this, we took a small break and had breakfast. There was a yummy breakfast casserole (Julie specially made a sausage-less one for me – thanks! :) ), fresh cut fruits with a lemon-mint vinaigrette, the cream scones, praline bacon, coffee and orange juice. I was soo stuffed by the end of it, that I kept nibbling on the casserole for a long time :) Just to tempt you, here are some pictures of what we ate.

Ashley went on to make some apple turnovers with the puff pastry that was made. And then some brioche beignets were made which were stuffed with some yummy pastry cream made by Julie. Just seeing them all made itself made me soo full but still I wanted to eat all that was given out! It was overall some fun time that a bunch of girls had – cooking and eating, discussing favorite cookbooks, what brand of knives we think is good, sharing many tips and techniques. Ashley was really awesome in terms of making everything look so simple that you wanna go back home and try it out. Not without salt is coming up with more classes – if you have the time, pls try going for atleast one of them. I know I am going for more :) This post does not exactly do justice to the class but its been a couple of weeks and that’s all the details I remember. I tried out some of the cream scones and they came out perfect! It does help to “see” how something is made.

Cream Scones – Recipe

From “Baking for Breakfast” Class at Not Without Salt – adapted from Cooks Illustrated

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1/2 cup currants or any other dried fruit – i used prunes as that is what I had in hand
1 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tbsp turbinado sugar, can use regular sugar too – i used demerara sugar.

Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the cubes of butter and with your hands or using a food processor, break up the butter into smaller pieces. Add the cream and stir to combine. Do not over stir!! Dump the mixture out on the counter where a little flour has been sprinkled and gently mix. No need to knead well. The mixture need to just about hold together. It will still be crumbly though. Mound the dough in a rough circle, about 8 inches and press well to just hold together. Brush on the 2 tbsp heavy cream and sprinkle the sugar on top. Cut into 8 triangles and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Chill for 30 mins. Preheat the oven to 375F. Place the scones in the oven. Make sure that the butter is still cold when you put it in the oven, if not, pop it in the freezer for a few mins. Bake for about 15-20 mins till it is golden brown on the edges and the top. Serve while it is still warm, with some jam/preserves or butter or just as it is. Enjoy with some tea or with breakfast!

Tried and Tasted by Others:

Kirbie of Kirbie's Cravings tried this recipe to make Strawberry Scones

Parippu Vada / Masala Vadai / Aama Vadai – Spiced Lentil Fritters

2010-03-16T22:52:00.007-07:00

This is a request from a dear friend P. I made this for tea during one of our “meetings at each others place”. 3 of us friends – M, P and I used to meet at one of our homes for a whole day during the week – lunch and tea. We got to sit and chat a lot but the main motive was to eat good homemade food cooked by someone else. We all know how we get bored of eating food cooked by you all the time. With each one of us getting busy with stuff happening in our lives we haven’t met in a while and don’t know when we will next meet – just the 3 of us. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Parippu Vada, as it is called in Kerala or Masala Vadai / Aama Vadai as it is called in TamilNadu is a favorite and very common teatime street food that you get in Thathukadas (street food stalls). It is best served with “cutting chai”, which is milky frothy tea served as 1/2 or 1/3 portions and is meant to be shared.

At home, these fritters are made mostly during festivals as an accompaniment to the sweet payasam (pudding) or kesari/halwa at breakfast. When amma makes it for festivals, she generally doesn’t add any onions. It still tastes awesome though! I have seen that a lot of recipes use toor dal or a mix of toor and masoor dal for this, but amma has always made this with chana dal and that is how I like it! So, by no means am I claiming this as an authentic recipe ( well, who decides what is authentic anyway!) – it is a very traditional recipe as far as I am concerned and I can vouch for its taste.

Parippu Vada / Masala Vadai / Aama Vadai Recipe

1 cup chana dal / kadala parippu / split polished baby garbanzo beans , soaked in water for about 2-3 hrs
4-5 dried red chillies , soaked with the dal
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
3-4 thai green chillies, chopped
a sprig of curry leaves, torn
1/4 tsp asafetida
salt, to taste

canola oil, for deep frying

Grind together the dal and red chillies in a food processor using no extra water other than that you get in your hands while straining the lentils from the water to the food processor. Do not grind it to a very smooth paste. Let it be a little grainy, that's where it gets its crispiness a little from. The consistency should be as thick as possible. ( Visit DK of Chef In You's post on this recipe for step by step pictures and to know just how the consistency should be like) Add the rest of the ingredients to it and mix well. Heat the oil in a pan. Make lemon sized balls of the lentil mixture and flatten it out on your palms and drop it into the oil. Deep fry till it is golden colored and crispy on both sides. Serve hot with coconut chutney or just plain ketchup. Ohh and don’t forget the chai!!This is another entry to MLLA 21 hosted here on Mirch Masala. The previous editions of MLLA can be found here.

Sambar Sadham / Sambar Rice ~ Rice with Spiced Vegetables and Lentils

2010-03-11T18:26:00.003-08:00

Even though other varieties of carbs / starches are slowly catching up, rice is still the staple food for most of South India. A South Indian at heart, that I am, I need my quota of rice at least every couple of days. My lunches are mostly rice with any gravy like sambar, rasam, erissery or some for of vegetable koottan and a vegetable stir fry as a side dish. Some days when I am lazy or when I really feel like it, I make a one pot rice dish so that just a little yogurt and some pickle on the side is more than good enough. Of the many one pot rice dishes I make, some of my favorites are sambar rice, khichdi, curd/yogurt rice, tomato rice and vegetable pulao. Sambar Sadham/Sambar Rice

1 cup rice
1/2 cup toor dal / pigeon peas
1 tsp oil
2 dried red chillies
5-6 curry leaves
1/2 tsp hing / asafetida
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 medium sized potato, peeled and cubed
1 carrot, cut in half lengthwise and then cut into small pieces
5-6 red pearl onions, peeled
1/2 cup any other vegetable, cubed – okra, small Indian eggplants etc
1 tomato, chopped
1 tsp turmeric powder
2-3 tbsp sambar powder
a gooseberry sized ball of tamarind soaked in 1/2 cup water
salt, to taste
chopped fresh cilantro, to garnish
1 tbsp ghee/ clarified butter to serve on top

Heat the oil in the pan of a pressure cooker. Add the dried red chillies, curry leaves, asafetida and mustard seeds. Cover lightly and let the mustard seeds splutter. Add the onions (both red and pearl) at this point and sauté well. Add the tomato, turmeric powder and the sambar powder. Fry a little till the spices lose their raw smell. Do not wait for the tomatoes to get soft. Add the tamarind pulp now along with the other vegetables and give it a good mix. Wash the rice and pigeon peas well and add this to the pressure cooker as well. Add salt and pour in 3 cups of water. Pressure cook for 3 whistles and switch off the heat. Wait for the pressure to escape and open the cooker. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with a dollop of ghee on top and some fried papaddam/papads on the side. This is my entry to MLLA 21 hosted here on Mirch Masala. The previous editions of MLLA can be found here.

Penne in Brown Butter Sage Sauce with Asparagus, Brussel Sprouts and Toasted Pine Nuts

2010-03-09T14:02:00.002-08:00

Pasta is one of the easiest weekday dinners to make. So, I am constantly trying to make it in different ways incorporating different ingredients in it. I remember at one time, I used to ALWAYS make pasta with a tomato based sauce. Later I graduated to white sauce, which I wasn't too fond of, so I used to mix tomato and alfredo to get a slightly pinkish sauce and was in love with it! But then knowing me, I had to get bored of it sometime or the other and that happened. Then it was the carbonara style pasta for a while and it quickly gave way to pesto. I used both store bought and homemade pesto. The latest craze is brown butter. Well, not craze exactly, I have used only this one type of sauce which I have made two times so far. That's as far as the craze goes as of now. Brown butter or beurre noisette as it is called in French is nothing but butter that has been browned – one step less then making ghee or clarified butter. A few things to keep in mind while making brown butter :

** Use medium heat and keep a close watch on the butter. It can quickly turn from brown to almost black.
** Try to use a stainless steel pan and try not to use a non-stick or black bottomed pan, as it will be hard to notice the color changes.
** Skimming the milk solids on top and/or straining is optional, which is what makes it ghee. It is a lot tastier when you leave it as it is.

Penne in Brown Butter Sage Sauce with Asparagus, Brussel Sprouts and Toasted Pine Nuts

Penne – 2 cups
Irish Butter ( you can use regular butter too) – 2-3 tbsp
Fresh Sage, chopped – 2 tbsp
Brussel Sprouts, cut in half – 1 cup
Asparagus, cut into 1” pieces – 1 cup
Toasted Pine Nuts – 3 tbsp
Goat cheese, crumbled – 1/3 cup
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

In a stainless steel sauce pan, add the butter and heat it on medium heat. Watch carefully for it to turn brown in color. As soon as it does, switch off the heat and add the sage leaves to it and leave it for a while. (Another version of this sauce calls for adding some vegetable/chicken stock along with the sage and keeping the heat on to medium-low and let it thicken). Meanwhile, cook the pasta in salted water till al dente. Drain and keep aside.

In a larger pan, add the butter with the sage and add the brussel sprouts and asparagus to it. Let the brussel sprouts brown and crunch up a little on the cut side. Add the pasta to this and season with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Add the goat cheese to this and mix well. Finally, add the toasted pine nuts too. Serve hot!

Spice Mixes – Punjabi Garam Masala

2010-03-02T17:46:00.002-08:00

The aroma of dry roasted whole spices and the freshness of which when it goes into a dish, is all that is required to make it taste fabulous and not just good! Having said this, I have to confess that I do not make all spice mixes at home. There are a lot that I buy from the store and then there are some that I make at home. When you make spice mixes at home, you can easily control the quality of ingredients that go into it. I get most of my whole spices from Kerala whenever I visit India and I have seen that none of the whole spices that you get here even come close to it. But if that is all that you have access to, then atleast you can make fresh spice mixes/masalas at home than those store bought ones. As far as whole spices and mixes go, I love Market Spice at Pike Place!
Garam Masala (Garam meaning hot and masala meaning spices/spice mix) is generally a mix of various spices that impart a certain spice-heat to the food – the heat is very different from the chili-heat! Everyone has their own way of making the garam masala and certainly it varies from region to region. This particular Punjabi Garam Masala is a recipe adapted from Tarla Dalal’s Punjabi Khana and is a must-have basic spice-mix that is required to make any Punjabi dish. Now, you can very well substitute the regular garam masala in Punjabi Cuisine instead of this, but trust me it lends a very special taste if you use this version.

Punjabi Garam Masala - Recipe
Recipe adapted from Punjabi Khana by Tarla Dalal

1 tbsp cumin seeds
3/4 tbsp cardamom seeds
3/4 tbsp black pepper corn
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
3/4 tsp cloves
2 1” piece cinnamon
3/4 tsp mace
3/4 tsp caraway seeds (shahjeera)
2 bay leaves, crushed
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger powder

Dry roast all the ingredients except the ginger powder on a griddle till you get an aroma of the spices. Make sure that they dont get burnt. Grind them to a fine powder in a spice grinder/coffee grinder. Add the ginger powder. Store in an air-tight spice jar.

I have used this spice mix in the Achari Bhindi recipe. Try it in place of regular garam masala also and see how you like it!

Announcement : My Legume Love Affair (MLLA) Edition 21

2010-03-01T13:53:00.003-08:00

I am happy and honored to host the 21st edition of My Legume Love Affair, brainchild of Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook on Mirch Masala. I never thought that I will be able to snatch a slot for hosting one of most popular blog events. Thanks to Susan for giving me the opportunity. The round ups of the previous editions of MLLA can be found here
Now what exactly is a legume? Is it only lentils or beans or what? Wikipedia defines legumes as “A legume in botanical writing is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or a fruit of these specific plants. A 'legume' fruit is a simple dry fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually dehisces (opens along a seam) on two sides. A common name for this type of fruit is a pod, although "pod" is also applied to a few other fruit types, such as vanilla. Well-known legumes include alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, lentils, lupins, mesquite, carob, soy, and peanuts.” So, basically fresh or dried beans, lentils, pulses, and/or the sometimes edible pods that contain these seeds, derivative products like tofu or besan, fenugreek, carob, peanuts, etc are all acceptable ingredients for this event. A good source of proteins with low carbohydrates, legumes are an important part of a well balanced meal.

Here are some of the rules for participating in this event.
- Post any recipe on your blog with any legume as the main ingredient.
- Multiple recipes are allowed (although only one submission will be counted towards the random drawing).
- Recipes submitted to other events are also allowed
- Recipes from archives can be accepted ONLY if updated and reposted as current.
- Posts should be linked to this announcement and the MLLA host line up on The Well Seasoned Cook
- For those who dont have a blog, pls send me the recipe and other details and I will gladly add that to the round up as well. Such entries also make eligible the participants to win the random drawing.
- Use of logo is optional.
- Photo is preferred, but not essential.

Send in your entries before the 31st of March 2010 to mirchmasala [at] live [dot] com with the following details

* Your name
* Blog Name
* Name of the recipe
* URL of the post
* URL of your blog
* Your location (this is a MUST)
* Photo of your dish

Now here come the best part. Susan is graciously offering two prizes ( all prizes awarded to one winner), to be won by participating in this event.
1) Randomly selected and purchased by Susan (shipped worldwide): The New Food Lover's Tiptionary: More Than 6,000 Food and Drink Tips, Secrets, Shortcuts, and Other Things Cookbooks Never Tell You by Sharon Tyler Herbst.
2) Hurst Bean Box - A case of six bags of the winner's choice of Hurst Bean products, suitable for every diet, donated by Hurst Bean. (Due to shipping restrictions, this prize can only be awarded if the winner is a U.S. resident.) Susan does not receive any product nor financial compensation for her arrangement with Hurst Bean to provide this prize supplement for My Legume Love Affair.

So what are you waiting for? get cooking and send in your entries soon!

A Simple Slow Cooker Recipe for Coconut Custard

2010-02-23T17:59:00.003-08:00

I had not used my slow cooker at all this year. AJ was telling me just a couple of days ago that I have been ignoring the slow cooker. Last year I at least used it a couple of times to make some soups and stews. Soups and Stews – that's all I have ever made in the slow cooker. Today the weather is back to same old Seattle type after a few good days of sunshine and so, I decided to give the slow cooker a try! I had this chickpea stew in mind, but I was just going through one of my slow cooker cookbooks and I saw this easy coconut custard recipe. Not only is it easy, it just needs 4 pantry staples that we all are bound to have in our pantry anytime! And that became the thing I made out of the slow cooker today and I am yet to think of something for dinner. *silly smile*
Coconut Custard – Recipe

Adapted from 500 Slow Recipes

Serves 4
4 eggs
1/3 cup light brown sugar, add more for extra sweetness
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of saffron (optional)
3 tbsp toasted coconut. for garnish (optional)

Pour about an inch of of hot water into the slow cooker and switch it on to the low setting. Keep it closed. In a small bowl, crack the eggs and add the sugar to it. Whisk with a hand mixer till fluffy and smooth. Slowly add the coconut milk, saffron and the vanilla to it and whisk well. Pour these into 4 ramekins and cover each with a plastic wrap.
Place the ramekins in the slow cooker ( I was able to keep only one at a time) and pour more hot water, if needed. The water should come till about halfway up on the sides of the ramekins. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low setting for about 2 1/2 to 3 hrs. You can keep it on the high setting, if you want it done quicker. It will take about an hour and a half in that setting. There is only a very slight difference in the fluffiness of the custard between the two settings. The custards are set when a knife when inserted comes out clean. Lift the ramekins out of the slow cooker and let it come to room temperature. Refrigerate till cold and garnish with the toasted coconut before serving.

Other variations I plan to try the next time I make these :

- Add other extracts like almond or add spices like cardamom and cinnamon

- Add thin slices of banana to the batter

Tomato & Onion Chutney

2010-02-20T19:24:00.003-08:00

Chutneys are one of the main accompaniments to traditional South Indian breakfasts like Uttappam/Dosa (Rice and Lentil Pancakes/Crepes), Idli (Steamed Rice and Lentil Cakes), Upma (a thick porridge like preparation with semolina or vermicelli) or Pongal (Spiced Rice and Lentils). Chutneys are usually made with coconut, pottu kadalai (dahlia), tomato, onion and various combinations of these. These are ground to a smooth mixture with various additions to it - cilantro/mint/garlic/ginger for a little extra taste, tamarind for a little more sourness, green or dried red chillies for the heat. Then some curry leaves, mustard seeds, more dried red chillies, urad dal etc are tempered in a little oil and added to the ground mixture. The tomato-onion combination for chutney is one of my favorites. I make it in many different ways but here is one of the most common recipe that I use.

Tomato Onion Chutney

2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 red onion, roughly chopped
3-4 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp canola oil
salt to taste

For the tempering
1/2 tsp coconut oil ( you can use any oil, i just prefer coconut oil for this)
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
4-5 curry leaves
2 dried red chillies

Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat and add the onion and red chillies to it. Saute for just about 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and sauté more for a few more mins. Let it cool a little. Add to a food processor/mixer and grind to a smooth paste. Mix in the salt. Heat the oil for tempering in the same pan and add the mustard seeds. When they are just about to splutter, add the curry leaves and dried red chillies. As soon as the mustard seeds are done spluttering, add it to the chutney. Mix well just before serving.

Brunchtime Seattle! – Cafe Flora and Artisanal Brasserie

2010-02-16T02:11:00.004-08:00

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The last two weekends have been awesome. Sun finally decided to grace Seattleites and AJ and I got back on our brunch-ing routine . We have been eating out a lot for dinners and somehow missed on our weekend brunches this year. I am happy we are back at it. There are soo many new restaurants popping up everywhere that I am finding it extremely difficult to shorten my “to-go restaurants” list.
Cafe Flora has always been on my list, but I kept bumping it down the list as at some level I felt guilty about taking my meat-lover of a husband to a vegan-vegetarian place. Not that he would mind at all. Its just me. So, on this beautiful sunny Seattle morning – yes, morning ( I stayed up through the night with friends, that's how I got to see a morning on a weekend!) we decided to go to Cafe Flora at Madison Park for breakfast. A Laundromat converted to a restaurant, this almost 20 yr old place has always been committed to local farms and other local organizations and has strived to serve the local community organic and sustainable food. This was one of the first restaurants that I came to know of when I was still new to Seattle – about 2 1/2 yrs ago.

We reached there by 9.30 am and thought we will be one of the first, but the place already had what looked like their regular patrons in for breakfast. We were promptly seated and I asked for my regular coffee and AJ his orange juice as soon as we sat. The menu was like a candyland for me. I really could order anything from it. It is a first for me :) It was tough but we decided to go with a Coconut Mango Waffle (Our crunchy cornmeal waffle laced with hints of garam masala; topped with house-made mango raisin chutney, silky coconut cream and sweet toasted coconut flakes $8.00)to share, the Root Vegetable Hash and Eggs (Pan-fried seasoned purple potatoes, yams, parsnips,yellow onions and red bell peppers topped with a horseradish-sour cream sauce; served with two eggs over-medium and whole grain toast. $10.00) for me and the Santa Fe Sunrise Scramble (Scrambled eggs with whole black beans, corn, and red onion; topped with warm-spicy chili-verde, crumbled Cotija cheese and crispy tortilla strips, served with fruit garnish and choice of roasted potatoes or cheesy grits $10.00)for AJ.We didn't go totally crazy with the waffle. Personally I would have liked it a tad bit sweeter and found that the mango flavor was hidden. But it was good and we did finish it! Both of us liked what we individually ordered and it took us only a little time to polish our plates off. I really want to come here again for their lunch or dinner. Pretty soon!
Artisanal Brasserie was our Valentine’s day brunch. Not that we celebrate Valentine’s day or anything (we believe everyday is special, kinda corny, I know!) – it just happened to be that day and that's all. This is again another restaurant that has been on my list for a while - ever since Bravern opened. It is a totally awesome place – very classy and elegant and excellent service all for not all that extravagant a price. It was somehow just perfect for that perfect Sunday morning. The Apple Mascarpone Crepe ($9.50) was to share but we wished we had ordered individual portions. It was totally divine – not so sweet and very well balanced flavors. I ordered the Vegetable Quiche with Wild Mushrooms, Spinach, Talleggio & Salad ($14.50)which was also incredible – very creamy and smooth. AJs Eggs Benedict which he ordered with the Artisanal with Lomo Ham & Pain Campagne ($15.50) choice was good but nothing extraordinary. Since it was Valentine’s day, we were given complimentary sample of Raspberry-Banana smoothie which was also good but ordinary. I also ordered some black tea to wash down my quiche. Overall it was a great experience and we are sure going to come back here, especially considering that it is on the Eastside with no parking troubles.

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies – A Dorie Greenspan Recipe

2010-02-11T23:24:00.007-08:00

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This is probably the only anything that I have had to make twice in the same week due to popular demand! I made this first on Sunday for the Super bowl party. There was already soo much food at the party that I had my doubts on whether anyone will even bother to eat the brownies in the midst of all the chicken wings and pigs in blanket! I was soo totally wrong. Not only did everyone have a double helping of the brownies, they were also promptly packed to be taken home. I also brought back one only to find out that the next day when I wanted to have some of it, it had already vanished. I soo soo badly wanted to eat some that I made another batch the same night and it was almost midnight! It again got distributed among friends and is almost over now. The dark chocolate, semi sweet chocolate, cocoa, milk chocolate and the glaze with the white chocolate makes these brownies very chocolate-y and absolutely a delight to eat! I don't think I have to say anything more about these brownies now. The proof is in the picture! Only thing to take care is to cool the brownies to room temperature before you pour the glaze over it. Otherwise the warmth of the brownies will melt the chocolate further and you will hardly see the glaze. The taste is still the same though. Also, pls pls make the glaze. It doesn't take much time to make and it is what makes them stand out from the rest of the brownies that I have made and had.

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies
From Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours

For the brownies
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter (unsalted), cut into small cubes
3 oz semisweet chocolate morsels
3 oz dark (72%) chocolate morsels
2 tbsp strong coffee ( i used 2 tbsp instant espresso with enough warm water to dissolve it – about a tbsp)
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped nuts – i used walnuts and macademia

For the glaze 1 cup white chocolate morsels
1/3 cup whipping cream

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325F. Line a 9” square baking pan with aluminum foil and grease it. Sift the flour, cocoa and salt and keep aside.

Place the butter, dark chocolate, semisweet chocolate and coffee in a double boiler and warm until just about melted and smooth. Stir together and set aside for 3-5 mins till it cools down a bit. Using a rubber spatula, mix in the sugar to this. Do not over mix. The idea is to get the sugar coated with the chocolate mixture and not to stir so much that all the sugar dissolves. Basically, don’t add too much air into the batter. Now add the eggs to this one at a time and the vanilla extract and stir till the eggs are incorporated into the batter. Now add the flour mix and mix only until they are just incorporated into the batter. Finally, stir in the milk chocolate morsels and the nuts. Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for about 35-40 mins or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a cooling rack and let the brownies come to almost room temperature for about 30 mins. Turn the brownies out and let cool completely.
For the glaze: Place the white chocolate in a mixing bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and add to the white chocolate. Wait for 30 secs and mix well till the chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth. Pour the glaze on the center of the brownies and spread them all over. Don’t worry if some spills over. Those brownie pieces are going to be the best tasting :) Place in the refrigerator for at least 20 mins till the glaze sets and cut into 16 pieces.

MEC : Dips and Spreads – Round Up

2010-02-11T15:35:00.002-08:00

Here is yet another round up on this blog. It was my first time hosting an event and I ended up hosting two simultaneously. Not a smart idea, now that I think of it. I was so caught up with things and what with the hunger challenge also happening during the last week of January, I couldn't even come up with a recipe for one of my own events. Well, there were quite a lot of innovative microwavable dips and spreads entries that I got.

First up is a Thai Peanut Sauce / Dip from Priya of Priya's Tasty and Easy Recipes

More from Priya - A Chunky Red Bell Pepper and Cream Cheese Dip One look at the color of that and you know it is fabulous!

Another colorful and tasty dip from Kamala of Cook@Ease - Red Tomato Dip

What dips and spread event is complete without the ubiquitous mayo?! Usha Nandini sends us an Eggless Mayonnaise!

Among all the savory dips is this mildly sweet and sour StarFruit Apple Dip from Rachana of Veggie Fare

And there is yet another entry from Priya, a very aromatic Carrot and Dill dip.

Thanks to all those who contributed to this event. Those are some fabulous entries! :)

Sunday Snacks : Cheese – Round Up!!

2010-02-08T21:51:00.003-08:00

So, finally here is the round up of the first ever event hosted on Mirch Masala. I was supposed to have posted it during the weekend, but there were some other things that kept me occupied. Well, its just a day more, so I hope all of you don’t mind that :) I am so very thankful to all of you who took the effort to make something cheesy and also remember to send it for this event. This was a two month long event and for the first month I did not receive many entries and I was kind of disappointed, but the second month came in and along with it a lot of entries too. I guess that is how it works. Well, I am still learning… Here are the entries in the order of how I received them.

~ DK of Chef In You has sent these delicious Greek treats - Spanakopita Triangles, with step-by step instructions and pictures! ~

~ Cheesy Brown Rice Cakes from Siri of Siri's Corner - Crispy golden patties made from a medley of Brown rice and other whole grains with lots of cheese. ~

~ Mouthwatering Grilled Indian Pizza made from Thanksgiving leftovers from Rahin of Lazzat... ~

~ How can anyone have a Cheese snacks event without Jalapeno Poppers?!!? That is what Yasmeen of Health Nut has sent us ~

~ A colorful and delicious tea time snack – Tomato Olive Bruschetta with Mozarella from Sumi of Sumi’s Kitchen ~

~ Ruchika of Ruchika Cooks has sent something with Paneer, which she calls the desi answer for cheese - Paneer Koftas! ~

~ Next on is some beautiful looking and easy to make Dill Canapes from Graziana of Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs) ~

~ More canapes with a mix of veggies and cheese – Bread Canapes from Usha of My Spicy Kitchen ~

~ Feel like something sweet after all these savory cheese snacks?? Here are some decadent Cream Cheese Brownies from Sudha of Malaysian Delicacies ~

~ Nayna of Simply Food sends us two easy to make but simply sensational cheesy entries! Baked Potato Skins and Toasted Cheese and Tomato Sandwich. ~

~ Next is a whole bunch of cheese snacks from Dips to Buns to Cheesecakes from Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes ~

From the top left corner moving clockwise – Oats Rasagulla, Cream cheese dip, Cheesy Spinach and Oat Swirl Buns, Cheesy Pizza Swirls, Saffron Oats Peda, Eggless No Bake Mango Cheesecake

~ Who wouldn't want some yummy veggie pizza for an evening snack?? Here is some from Jyoti of Panchpakwan ~

~ A simple and spicy open faced cheese chilli sandwich from Tushita of Good Eats from India ~

~ For some yeasty goodness, here are some Spinach Feta Buns from Richa of Hobby and More ~

~ Finally the home entry - Cheesy Spinach Bites from Mirch Masala ~

Thanks again for all those wonderful cheese entries! It indeed was a pleasure hosting this event. For all past, current and future round ups of the Sunday Snacks series pls go here . Last but not the least, thanks Pallavi for letting me host this edition of Sunday Snacks.

Crêpas de Hongos ~ Mushroom Crepes

2010-02-01T17:49:00.002-08:00

I used to be someone who hated (almost!) Mexican food. Not anymore. A couple of good restaurants and some brilliant recipes completely changed that. I won’t say that Mexican is my first choice of cuisine, but I have started to appreciate it and like it a lot more now. I again, picked up a new cookbook – William Sonoma’s “Savoring Mexico” and have been meaning to make some dishes from this. This particular crepe dish was supposed to have been our dinner last to last week sometime but I found myself coming back home a little later that I would like to, to make something new for dinner. Please do try this if you get the time. It is just fantastic!!

Crêpas de Hongos ~ Mushroom Crepes
From Williams Sonoma’s “Savoring Mexico”

For the Crepes:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
some fresh cilantro, finely chopped
more unsalted butter or oil, for frying crepes

For the Filling:
2-4 tbsp olive oil
1 poblano pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup shitake mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and cracked pepper, to taste

For the Sauce:
1 tbsp butter
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 cup cream
salt and cracked pepper, to taste
some fresh cilantro, chopped

For the garnish:
1 cup Mexican cheese blend
some fresh cilantro, chopped

Making the Crepes : In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the crepe with a hand mixer. Add a tbsp or more of milk to make it thinner. Cover with a plastic wrap and let stand for 45 mins to one hour.

Before making the crepes, stir the batter and add more water if it is too thick and heat an 8 inch sauté pan over medium high heat. Add just about a little bit of butter and let it spread over the pan. Ladle about a 1/4 cup of the batter onto the pan and swirl it around a little so as to thinly spread the batter all over the pan. Cook until the bottom is lightly browned, for about a minute. Using a spatula loosen the edges and flip the crepe over to the other side. Let it cook for about half a min or so. Transfer to a plate. Continue with the remaining crepes. Makes about 8-10 of them.

Making the filling : In a pan, heat the oil and add the pepper, onion and garlic and sauté till onions are golden brown. Add the mushrooms at this point and sauté till the mushrooms are soft. Remove from heat, add salt and pepper and cilantro.

Making the sauce : Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium low heat and add the garlic and saute for a few minutes. Before the garlic turns brown, add the flour and cooks for a few seconds. Add the milk, cream, salt and pepper and let it almost come to a boil. Lower the heat and let it simmer for a few minutes till the sauce thickens. Mix half of the sauce into the mushroom mixture. Add cilantro to the remaining sauce.

Assembling : Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a baking dish. Spoon an equal amount of filling onto each crepe, roll it up and place it in the baking dish, seam side down. Repeat with the remaining crepes and arrange them in a single layer in the baking dish. Pour the sauce over the crepes and sprinkle the cheese as well. Bake for about 8 - 10 mins until the cheese is brown and bubbling. Garnish with cilantro and serve warm.

Hunger Action Week Wrap up

2010-02-01T01:38:00.001-08:00

The Hunger Action Week is over now and I am happy we did it again this year and that we once again managed to stay well within the budget. Only $47.08 of the allotted $62.00 for 5 days. The best thing is except for snacks, we didn't exactly skimp on any meals and we managed to have pretty well balanced meals as well. I also managed to get in some meat and seafood in AJ’s diet, but the fact that I am a vegetarian and that our meals were predominantly vegetarian is what helped us a lot in terms of saving money. Apart from that, meticulous planning, knowing where to buy, what to buy, how to cook and what to cook is what will help you keep your food under budget. The only pinch that we felt was that of not being able to go out and eat if we suddenly wanted to and not being able to entertain, not that we entertain a lot on weekdays. But even things like telling friends to drop by for a cup of evening tea was something we had to not do during these 5 days.

Another major thing I realized that I had this time was fear and anxiety – as in what if I'm not able to reach home on time to cook, how will i manage to cook if I'm not keeping well, what if something i make gets spoilt or burnt or i add salt twice without realizing or something like that and there will be no back up of a take out? Not that any of these things happen that often or have even ever happened, its just a what-if thing always nagging you. The only solace was that, this was just for a week! But i understand it is not so for many people out there and my heart goes out to them. I once again am glad that I was able to be a part of the Hunger Action Week this time around too. Thanks to Yuri and the rest of the UWKC team for making this happen.

This is how we did on our last day on the challenge : A total of just $2.92

Morning : Coffee - $0.18, Cereal and milk for both of us - $0.50

Lunch : leftovers from the day before

Dinner : Maggi Noodles - $0.66, Omelet - $1.03 ( I wasn't really keeping well that day, hence we had to resort to instant noodles)

Evening Coffee : $0.18 ; Banana for snack : $0.37

Again, here is where you can find all of my last year’s Hunger Challenge Posts and a list of the blogs participating in this year’s Hunger Challenge can be found here. Pls click on the link on my sidebar to donate!

Cooking from scratch helps! - Day 4 at $11.08 : Hunger Action Week 2010

2010-01-29T15:26:00.004-08:00

Cooking from scratch can be delicious as well as economical. That is something I have learnt from making my own spice mixes, curry pastes etc. The individual ingredients don’t cost as much and for the same price that you pay for a spice mix, you can always make thrice as much at home. And the fresh aroma and taste of making these at home, oh my!, nothing can compare to that! Last night we had a Thai inspired dinner of Yellow Curry, Garlic Sautéed Shrimp, Jasmine Rice and Bananas in Coconut Cream for dessert. I made the yellow curry paste by myself. It did not take much time at all – only thing i needed to have all the ingredients at hand. Not only did I have enough to make the yellow curry for dinner yesterday and lunch today, I even have some paste stored in the freezer for later use. Before I get to the recipes, here is how our day 4 was:

Breakfast

Coffee	$0.18
Milk and Cereal	$0.25

Lunch : leftovers from the day before

Dinner

Jasmine Rice	$2.04
Yellow Curry	$2.65
Garlic Sautéed Shrimp	$2.63
Bananas in Coconut Cream	$1.78

Evening Coffee : $0.18

Recipe : Yellow Curry Paste

3 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
4-5 dried red chillies
2 stalks lemongrass, chopped or 2 tsp lemongrass paste
4 Asian shallots, peeled
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp turmeric powder
a 2” piece ginger or galangal
1 or 2 Kaffir lime leaves

Dry roast the coriander seeds and cumin seeds separately and grind them together to a fine powder in a food processor or with a mortar and pestle and keep aside in a small bowl. Meanwhile, soak the dried red chillies in hot water for 2 mins and chop them well.

Grind together, the red chillies, lemongrass, shallots, garlic, turmeric powder, galangal and lime leaves to a fine paste. Add the coriander-cumin powder to this and grind again. Add some oil while grinding, if the mixture is too thick.

The paste can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks and in the freezer for longer, maybe a couple of months? not, sure about that.

To make the yellow curry – in a wok, heat 2 cans of coconut milk and add 2 tbsp of yellow curry paste to it. Mix well and keep the heat at medium. Add any meat and vegetables of your choice , i used bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, eggplant, green beans and tofu. Add salt as per taste and increase heat a little to allow the vegetables to cook. Once cooked, serve hot with jasmine rice!

The recipe for Garlic Sauteed Shrimp can be found in So I Married a Meat-a-holic… . H

ere is where you can find all of my last year’s Hunger Challenge Posts and a list of the blogs participating in this year’s Hunger Challenge can be found here. Don't forget to Donate to “Yes We Can!” Project to raise money for Hunger Action Week!

Hunger Action Week 2010 : Day 3 with an Indian Vegetarian Dinner at $9.78

2010-01-28T17:27:00.003-08:00

We are now on the Day 4 of the Hunger Action Week, just one more day to go and I am really looking forward to it. This time it has been tougher than what it was last year. For one, my snacking has increased a lot over the last one year and I have conditioned my body to get something to eat every couple of hours. Also since Im prone to acidity if I don't eat per my habit, it is kind of tough on me right now to just eat three meals and one snack a day. Looking at how much we spent on day 3, i easily could have had a couple of snacks in between, but I wasn't sure how much we ended up spending that day and didn't want to go overboard. The second thing is that, this year the challenge is at a certain point in my life where I am busy with something and need to focus on that. Whereas last year, I was just out of my recent job and had all the time in the world to cook all three meals a day. In spite of all this, we are still surviving and doing great in terms of keeping within the budget. Our day 3 looked like this :

Breakfast

Coffee	$0.18
Cereal and milk	$0.25
Scrambled Eggs	$0.38
Blueberry Banana Smoothie	$1.25

Lunch : leftovers from the day before, which is already accounted for.

Dinner

Vegetable Pulao ~ Basmati Rice with Carrots and Beans and spices	$3.88
Tadka Dal ~ Yellow Split Lentils tempered with spices	$0.96
Aloo Gobhi ~ Potato and Cauliflower dry curry	$0.75
Raita ~ Yogurt with grated carrot and cucumber	$1.95

Evening Coffee : $ 0.18

Here is what we had for dinner, with the recipes.

Vegetable Pulao

2 cups Basmati Rice
4 cups water
1 tsp oil
2 bay leaves
1” piece cinnamon
3 cloves
3 cardamom pods
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 carrot, cut in half lengthwise and chopped
1 cup chopped green beans
Salt to taste

Wash the rice and keep aside. Heat the oil and add the spices to it. When the cloves begin to splutter, add the onions to it. Add the carrots and green beans too. Sauté for a couple of mins and add the rice to it. Add 4 cups of water, salt and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let it cook, undisturbed, till small holes form on the surface and steam starts to escape from it. Switch off the heat and let it sit on stove, covered.

Tadka Dal

1/2 cup yellow split lentils
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 dried red chili
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 Thai green chillies, minced
salt, to taste

Cook the dal / lentils well with the turmeric powder, until mushy. Mash and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds. Let it splutter, add red chillies and the onions and green chillies too. Saute for a few mins, Add the tomato and after a few more mins, add this to the lentil mix with some salt. Turn on the stove to medium heat and let it just about come to a boil. Switch off and serve hot with pulao.

Aloo Gobhi

2 potatoes, cut into big cubes
florets from 1/2 a cauliflower
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 tsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
3 tsp chopped cilantro
salt

Heat the oil in a wok. Add the cumin seeds, let it splutter, add the onions to it. Let them brown. Add the potatoes, turmeric, red chilli, cumin and coriander powder. Mix well. Saute for a while and add some water to cook the potatoes. Once potatoes are just about cooked, add the cauliflower too. Add salt and let the cauliflower become soft. Garnish with cilantro.

Raita – For the raita, grate a peeled cucumber and half a carrot. Beat the yogurt with some water. Add the cucumber and carrot to it. Add some chopped green chillies and cilantro too. Add salt as well. Garnish with a pinch of toasted cumin powder.

Again, here is where you can find all of my last year’s Hunger Challenge Posts and a list of the blogs participating in this year’s Hunger Challenge can be found here. Don't forget to Donate to “Yes We Can!” Project to raise money for Hunger Action Week!

Day 2 at $11.71 & Recipe for Gourmet Mac and Cheese: Hunger Action Week 2010

2010-01-27T16:02:00.002-08:00

So, we managed to get through the Day 2 as well. It was slightly a mess, with me skipping my breakfast and then after an afternoon meeting in Bellevue, I was soo famished, that I had to go to Starbucks! I ended up buying a short (8oz) latte and a banana bread. AJ was going to pick me up from Crossroads for us to go shopping to Uwajimaya later and I knew he will be hungry too, so I saved half of my banana bread! Well, that took a lot from me to not eat that half!! So here is the breakup for day 2.

Breakfast

Coffee (for me)	$0.18
Cereal and milk (for AJ)	$0.75

Lunch : Leftovers from the day before ( the whole price is accounted for yesterday itself)

Snack

Latte and Banana Bread

$3.20

Dinner

Udon Noodle Stir Fry with veggies, egg and shredded chicken breast (for AJ)	$5.65
Orange Juice	$1.08
Banana	$0.37

Late Night Snack , for me : A small bag of popcorn : $0.99

The latte and snack from Starbucks took a HUGE $3.20 from our budget which was not a smart thing to do, I agree. But, since we were able to manage our lunch with leftovers from the day before, we managed to stick to the day’s budget.

Gourmet Mac and Cheese : Recipe The picture is from my drafts, so there may be other ingredients which I have not listed out in the recipe here.

1 tsp Olive oil
3 cups elbow macaroni
half a bunch of Spinach, chopped
1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
4 tbsp Gorgonzola cheese
3-4 tbsp Asiago cheese, grated
1 can mushroom soup
1 cup milk
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
salt and pepper, to taste

Cook the pasta in salted water till al dente. Drain and keep aside. Heat some oil in a deep pan and add the spinach to it. Saute till the spinach wilts and add the mushroom soup and milk to it. When it is about to come to a boil, add the cheese and the pasta as well. Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve on plate and top with walnuts.

Other ingredients that I add sometimes are fresh green peas, red Swiss chard etc. Just to make it more healthy and to eat the mac and cheese guilt free! :)

Hunger Action Week 2010 – Day 1

2010-01-25T22:14:00.001-08:00

It is yet another year and the Hunger Action Week is back and we are participating in it this year too. I should have posted the announcement earlier, but the last couple of days I was sick from a mild case of food poisoning and only yesterday evening we managed to do the shopping. Initially I had plans to go to farmer’s markets and buy more local food and stuff like that, but it just couldn’t happen. That will have to wait for next year now. The Hunger Action Week is an initiative by the United Way of King County (UWKC). The purpose of this initiative is to create awareness about hunger and to get more people talking about it. How some of us, food bloggers, are going to help is by living on a food stamp budget for 5 days and letting people know of our experiences and of course to share some recipes of healthy everyday food that can be made at home within the budget. Here is how you can help : Donate to “Yes We Can!” Project to raise money for Hunger Action Week!

The rules for participating in this challenge are: Individuals can spend $7 a day for the challenge. We chose that amount because it is the maximum food benefits a single person can get on Basic Food. And while Basic Food is designed to be a supplement to food budgets, the reality is that many rely solely on their benefits for food because they don’t have enough money to handle food as well as all the other expenses that they need to take care of.

This table shows how much allowance you’re allowed depending on family size:

Household Size	Hunger Challenge Budget (for 5 days)
1	$33.00
2	$61.00
3	$88.00
4	$111.00
5	$132.00
6	$158.00

A few things that I had mentioned about planning the shopping part during last years hunger challenge:

Try the bulk foods section of your grocery store. Many things are a lot cheaper there and you get to buy how much ever quantity you want to as opposed to what the standard packaging is. But make sure to check the branded food items as well, some of them are cheaper than those found in the bulk food section. Yes, even i was surprised by this, but a couple of brands of the whole wheat pasta at Fred Meyer were cheaper than the one in the bulk bin.

Always go for the store brands, especially for canned foods. There is easily a difference of 20-30 cents per can between the store brand and other brands, the store brand being cheaper.

Look out for daily specials in your grocery store. You can easily know that by looking at the internet or the flyers that the stores send to you. Think before throwing them out in the trash!!

Coupons!!! Use them wisely. It is easy to buy something, just because something is on sale, even if you don't need it. Also, a lot of time you tend to buy the one with the coupon and forget to notice that another brand of the same item is cheaper even without the coupon savings. Spend some time looking around in the various isles.

Even if you have to pay a membership fee to join places like Costco and all, it is totally worth it, especially for families with kids. Get together with another family that you know and share the membership.

All these worked this year too. I had saved up some coupons and especially looked out for specials in the grocery store. We did most of our shopping from Safeway, Fred Meyer and some from Trader Joes and the total came to around $50.00. I still have a few vegetables that I need to buy from Uwajimaya. Here is what our first day looked like: A total of $11.59

Breakfast:

Coffee (for me)	$0.18
Milk and Cereal (for the two of us)	$0.50

Lunch:

Roast turkey sandwich (for AJ)	$1.06
Rice,Yogurt and Sautéed Green Beans (for me)	$1.83

Dinner:

Gourmet Mac and Cheese – w/spinach and walnuts	$6.03
Garlic Sautéed Broccoli	$0.69
Rice Pudding (Kheer) – for dessert	$0.75

An extra evening coffee: $0.18

A banana for snack : $0.37

The recipe for the Gourmet Mac and Cheese will be up tomorrow…

Meanwhile, here is where you can find all of my last year’s Hunger Challenge Posts and a list of the blogs participating in this year’s Hunger Challenge can be found here.

Granola – Banana Smoothie with Carob Molasses Sweetener

2010-01-20T13:49:00.002-08:00

Cereal or Granola or Oatmeal is my staple breakfast. Only on a rare weekday does an egg or a pancake or even toast come into the picture. There are days when I am even lazy to eat my cereal. I wait wait for it to soak in the milk so that I can just gulp it down..disgusting?? eh!! *shrugging my shoulders* that’s what I call heights of laziness. Some times I try to incorporate fruit into my breakfast by making a quick smoothie with either bananas or berries or other fruits. I feel great on such days! Today was one such day of making a fruit smoothie, but out of laziness. It had nothing to do with trying to eat healthy. I did put my granola into the bowl and poured cold milk on it, but somehow didn’t feel like *eating* it. There were some bananas desperately in need of consumption and I put a banana, the bowl of granola and milk, added some carob molasses to sweeten it and in went some TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) and wheat germ as a last minute addition and it was one YUMMY smoothie.

Thanks to FoodBuzz for that box of Special K granola they sent my way! Loved it! A little something about Carob before we proceed to the recipe:

“Carob is a natural sweetener often used in place of Cocoa and is
called as “healthy chocolate”. Carob powder which is obtained from grinding the pod is protein packed and is free of caffeine, theobromine and other psychoactive substances found in Cocoa. It is also fat free, has less calories than chocolate and has no oxalic acid ( which is known to interfere with the absorption of calcium).” (Source : Various, from the internet)

The Recipe :
2% milk – 1 cup
Special K Granola – 1/2 cup
Banana, chopped into small pieces – 1
Carob Molasses – 1 tbsp
TVP – 1 tbsp
Wheat Germ – 1 tbsp

Blend well in a blender, add some ice if you want and enjoy!!

Simla Mirch Paneer ~ Cottage Cheese in a Red Pepper Gravy : From 660 Curries

2010-01-18T20:25:00.003-08:00

Yeah! Im a hoarder! I admit it. I own over 50 cookbooks and at any point of time I have atleast 4-5 borrowed from the library. Of all these books, there are some which are my favorites and it will take any new book a lot of effort and a hell of a lot of awesome recipes to push these out of the top 5 or 10. 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer is bang on top of this list. I love love love this book! I have tried over 20 recipes from this and each and every one of them has been a huge success. It is my go to book when I have a few vegetables in my refrigerator and its been a few days since I stocked up the pantry. There is always something in there that I can find to cook, any day. So what are your favorite cookbooks?

This is a very simple and easy to make curry and a really different one that your usual Paneer Makhani or Palak Paneer to make for guests. The gravy gets it nice color from the red bell pepper and the creaminess from cashew nuts. Here is one of my earlier posts on How to Make Paneer at Home, incase you want to try that.

Simla Mirch Paneerfrom 660 Curries
1/3 cup raw cashew nuts
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1” pieces
2 white cardamom pods
4 Thai green chiles
1 tsp cayenne / red chile powder
2 cups paneer, cubed
salt
freshly cilantro, finely chopped – for garnish

Bring 1 cup of water to boil in a sauce pan. Add the cashew nuts, bell pepper, cardamom pods and chiles to it. Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat to medium-low and cover and cook till the bell peppers are tender. Cool and puree them in a blender/food processor. Bring it back to the pan. Add the salt, red chile powder and the paneer cubes. Simmer on low heat till the paneer absorbs the gravy a little, about 10-15 mins. Garnish with the chopped cilantro. Serve hot with rotis or basmati rice.

Tried and Tasted by Others:

Divya Vikram of Dil Se tried this. Check out her version here

Pongal Duo – Venn Pongal (The Savory One) and Chakkara Pongal (The Sweet One)

2010-01-14T17:51:00.003-08:00

Pongal as it is called in TamilNadu, India or Sankranti as it is called in various other parts of India is the harvest festival and sun, rain and all that has helped in a good harvest are worshipped. It usually falls around the 15th of January and also signifies the beginning of Uttarayana where the sun starts moving towards the north pole and the days begin to get longer from here on. On the day of Pongal, two different rice preparations, also called Pongal, one sweet and the other savory are prepared and offered to God. The Savory Pongal also called Venn Pongal or Khara Pongal is also a very popular breakfast dish in TamilNadu. It is usually had with coconut chutney and sambar on the side. The Chakkara Pongal is sweetened with jaggery and is also made during other auspicious occasions.

Venn Pongal – Recipe

White rice, raw or parboiled – 1 cup
Moong Dal – 1/2 cup
Milk – 1/2 cup
Ghee – 2 tbsp
Cashewnuts – about a dozen
Black Peppercorns – a handful
Ginger – a small slice, minced
Curry Leaves – a few
Salt

Cook the rice and moong dal in the pressure cooker with about 3 cups of water. Mine is a pressure pan that I got from India and it takes 3 whistles for the rice and dal to cook almost mushy. Let the pressure get relased from the cooker and then open it.

Heat the ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the cashews to it. Let it brown a little. Crush the pepper corns with a mortar and pestle and add it to the hot ghee. Add ginger and curry leaves as well. Now add the rice-dal mixture to this and mix well. Add salt and the milk to this. The milk will get absorbed very quickly. It is just to give the pongal a little creaminess. Serve hot with some coconut chutney.

The recipe for Chakkara Pongal is here in one of my old posts. Usually some dal/lentil is also added to this Pongal, but i like mine without it. The sweet and savory tastes of both Pongal dishes balance each other out and you tend to eat a lot more because of it :)

Happy Pongal / Makar Sankranti!

Asian Pear and Walnut Cake

2010-01-13T13:49:00.002-08:00

There are generally two different reasons for me to bake something – one when there is nothing at home to snack and I bake something and that serves us as tea-time and midnight snacks for a couple of days , the other time is when I bake for the sake of baking, say, I haven't baked in a while or I bought a new ingredient or cookbook or I see an interesting recipe that I want to try out etc.

This time it is reason number two. I got a box of nice and crisp Asian pears from Trader Joes and I wanted to make something out of it, other than just slicing it up and eating. Last time I made something with Asian pear was a pear and Gouda grilled sandwich and it was really yummy. The pear and Gouda cheese combo was really good. I looked around for any cake recipes and found a lot of upside down cakes which I am not really fond of. I then came across this Asian Pear Cake with Cinnamon and Pecans recipe. I had run out of pecans but walnut worked out fine as well.

Asian Pear and Walnut Cake

Asian Pear, diced – 3 cups (about 2 pears)
Chopped Walnuts – 1 cup
Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp
Sugar – 1/3 cup
All purpose flour – 1 1/2 cups
Whole wheat flour – 3/4 cups
Brown sugar – 1 cup
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp
Ground nutmeg – 1/2 tsp
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Canola Oil – 3/4 cup
Vanilla – 2 tsp
Eggs - 3

Preheat the oven to 325F. In a small bowl, toss together the pear, walnuts, cinnamon and sugar and keep aside. In a bigger bowl, mix in the rest of the ingredients. Add the pear-walnut mix to this and mix well. Grease a baking pan and spoon the mixture into this. Bake for 1 hr to 1 hr 15 mins or until a tester when inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 mins or so. Turn onto the rack and cool completely. Serve with some powdered sugar on top or just serve it plain as it is. Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days.