Love & Lentils

I Love My India Series: Rajasthani Dal Baati

2012-05-20T23:44:00.000-07:00

I Love My India.

India- a culture rich, heritage rich country. And the richness only continues when it comes to food. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, every state has its own set of traditional and gotta have foods. These wonderful foods have many times been conversation starters and one common language connecting strangers.

Let's say you're stuck in the elevator with a bunch of strangers and you just realize that you are going to be stuck in there for at least another hour. Obviously you break the ice and start conversing. Within minutes, you'll be talking about biriyani with the guy from Hyderabad and about Rasagolla with the guy from Calcutta. Oh yes, the Madrasi glorifies his dosa and the Punjabi just won't stop thinking about his mom's Makki Di Roti and Sarson ka saag. We Indians identify ourselves with our food. We work hard so we can get home and have a hot steaming plate of warm inviting food. It all boils down to that. It is this food that connects us all.

And this is what I'm going to be blogging about in the next few months. Here's the plan. I pick a state randomly. I pick some of the most popular foods in that state. I get my friends together from that state who make this food traditionally in their households. And we cook together. I learn these wonderful dishes from them and I get to take pictures and share the experience with you. You all view and enjoy this and hopefully leave me a comment on your experiences with this food or state. Sounds like a plan? Let's get started.

The first state on my radar is the Land of the Kings... Rajasthan. And the first dish that comes to mind when you think Rajasthan is Daal Baati. And the next thing that comes to my mind is my friend Hemal. Just because she's made this like a zillion times for us and we love it. So, we planned and she came over and we made a big batch in my kitchen. Thanks Hemal for patiently making this with me!

Before I get into making the batis, here's the prep work for the dal.

This is a kind of panchmel dal. This dal uses 5 different types of lentils. You can use any dal you have at home. Here's what I used -

1/3 cup toor dal

1/3 cup moong dal

1/3 cup masoor dal

1/3 cup channa dal

1/3 cup urad dal

Wash and pressure cook all the dals together and set aside.

Now coming to the baatis. Here's what goes inside them -

Equal quantities of Coarse Wheat Flour and Corn Meal. We were making a big batch and used about 1 1/2 cups each. Please adjust your quantities accordingly. With our measurements we got about 50 batis.

Ingredients:

Coarse Wheat - 1 cup
Corn Meal - 1 cup
Atta - 3/4 cup
Salt - to taste
Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Ajwain Seeds - 1 heaped tbsp
Ghee - 1-2 tbsp

Mix all the ingredients together. Traditionally baatis use a lot of ghee but we are kind of doing a diet version on the ghee here.

Add all the seasonings.

Using warm water, make a firm dough on the flours. I used my kitchenaid which made the process effortless. If you have a food processor, that works great too. If not just ask your macho man to make the dough for you.

Add the warm water a little by little to make the dough.

This is the consistency we are looking for.

Just press down on the dough a few more times to kind of bring it together. Take small rounds of the dough and press them between your palms and kind of make them into a smooth ball first. And then flatten them and press down a little indent at the center. Just like how my friend did it here.

Now there are a couple of ways to cook this. We used the more modern slightly healthier method below. The other more traditional and heavier on the calorie part method is to deep fry these in ghee. Yes, you read it right. Deep fry in ghee. No, I won't go there. I Love My India, yes, but I also love my heart. And out of respect for that, I'll stick to my more modern healthier method.

Once you make the baatis, treat them similar to bagels and boil them in water till they partially cook and start floating on top.

Remove all the water from the baatis and place on a baking tray that has been coated with a little ghee.

Now here's the richness part. Add few drops of ghee on top of each baati. Bake in a pre heated oven at 375 F for about 25-30 mins. Flip them in about 20 mins when one side starts to brown a little.

Bake them until they look done and have nice gentle brown crusts on either side of the baatis.

Using a clean cloth, just hold each of the baatis and break it up a little. This is done to keep the baatis soft or they will harden up and you can use them as hockey pucks. That won't be much fun ye.

And since we did stick to the healthier method, add a little more - maybe about a tbsp of ghee on top of the baatis. These are thirsty for ghee but remember this is still better than deep frying them in oil.

Baatis are ready. That seemed easy right. Who knew!

Now let's get the dal ready for soaking up the baatis.

Take a wide pan. Add about 1 tbsp ghee ( I know..more ghee...oh those Rajasthanis and their love for ghee!) And then add -

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds (Jeera) -1 tsp
Bay Leaves - 3-4
Cloves - a few
Fresh chopped ginger - about 1 tsp
Fresh chopped garlic - about 1 tsp
Fresh chopped green chillies - 1 tsp

Add everything to the hot ghee and fry for a min.

Next up, add some finely chopped Onions - about 1/2 cup and saute well.

Add 1 tsp of turmeric powder and mix well.

Next, add the cooked 5 dal to the pan.

While the dal is cooking, add about 1/2 tsp of jaggery (Gud) to the mix.

Then almost towards the end, add about 1 fresh chopped tomato. Mix well and cook for a few mins.

Finally add fresh chopped cilantro and an absolutely wonderful, flavorful dal is ready.

Get your baatis in order. Enjoy their prettiness while you do it.

Pour some delicious dal over it.

Sprinkle some sugar on top.

Sprinkle some chaat masala on top.
And finally, add a few drops of warm ghee on top. You know that was just coming, right?

Enjoy Rajasthani's total delicacy dish. And remember, I Love My India!

See you soon with another wonderful Rajasthani dish. If you have any suggestions on what I should make - add a comment here now!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Carrot & Raw Moong Daal Salad (Carrot Kosumalli)

2012-04-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

Wishing all my Tamil readers a wonderful and happy Tamil New Year! Make this a year to remember. Make this a year of wonderful events which will make even more wonderful memories once the year is done. Make this year a healthy one. That's the only happiness that lasts even when you don't realize sometimes that it is happiness. Only someone that was recently sick with the flu will have the inspiration to talk all this. So please excuse the generous free advice.

Here's a simple classic traditional raw salad that I want to share with you. This is a basic salad that I make so often while cooking a traditional meal. But never really thought to blog about it before. However, I realized all beauty must be shared no matter how simple or basic. Presenting to you - Carrot Kosumalli.

Here's another traditional Tamil New Year's dish - Manga Pachadi. Please click here for the recipe. The festive food is incomplete without this beauty on new year's day.

And here's usually how a Tamil New Year's feast looks. Enjoy yours and have a gastronomically blessed day.

Coming back to the salad, here's how simple this can be mixed up.

Grate carrots and set aside.

Wash and soak about 1/2 cup of yellow moong daal for about 1 hr.

And now on to mix the salad.

Mix the carrots and the soaked moong. (of course without the water)

Add finely chopped green chilli.

In a small tadka pan, add a tsp of oil and do a tadka of the following ingredients -

-1 tsp mustard seeds
-1 pinch asofoetida
- few curry leaves
- 1/2 tsp urad daal or gota

Mix all the above to the carrots and moong.

Next up, add finely chopped or scraped fresh coconut. I hear you asking - and yes, frozen will work too.

Add salt to taste and mix well. If you are the tangy type, add a few drops of lemon juice if you'd like.

And that's pretty much it. I told you it was simple. But this is just absolutely tantalizing good. Try it and I'm sure you'll love it.

Iniya Puthandu Nal Vaazthukkal

Enjoy! Peace Out!

Spinach Adai (Rice & Lentil Crepe)

2012-03-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

Spinach is a beautiful thing.

And I'm not even talking about all the wonderful health benefits of this supreme super food. You all should know it by now. If not, Google it today and educate yourself.

I'm talking about how often the beauty and versatility of Spinach is undervalued. One of the great things about Spinach is that it does not have a very distinct flavor or taste. Which means, it can be easily blended with other foods. And this could be anything from smoothies to soups to lasagnas or to baby food.

Forget food, there is even a recipe for a glowing and anti aging face mask made with spinach puree. Nature has all the answers - we just need to match those up with our questions.

I've kind of started making a lot of spinach blended food at home. That recently included parathas, rice, sauces for pasta, and now of course this beautiful and nutritious adai.

This adai uses rice and two types of daals - channa and toor daal.

Here are the ingredients -
Rice - 1 cup
Toor Daal (Split Pigeon Pea)- 1/3 cup
Channa Daal (Yellow Split Pea)- 1/3 cup
Fresh Spinach - 1 bunch cleaned thoroughly
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Red Chillies - 3-4
Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp
Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Fresh Coconut - chopped or grated 1/4 cup

For tadka:
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Channa Daal - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - a few

Wash and soak the rice and daal together for about 2-3 hours.

Pick the spinach leaves off the stems and wash the leaves thoroughly.

In a pan, heat up about 1/2 tsp of oil. When the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, red chillies and black pepper. Fry for a few seconds and add the fresh spinach in there. Cook for just a min or two until the spinach kind of wilts and shrinks. Don't overcook the spinach - let's try and keep some vitamins in here.

Here's the soaked rice and daal. The daal will be soft to touch now.

Move the cooked spinach and soaked rice/daal to a blender. Add the 1/4 cup of coconut. You can use grated frozen coconut or can use the fresh one as well. For a change, I had fresh coconut chopped up at home. So,in here they go. If you don't mind spicy food and got no kids complaining about it - go ahead and throw in a couple of green chillies in here. Add salt to taste.

Grind together to a beautiful green batter.

Do a tadka of mustard seeds, curry leaves and 1 tsp channa daal and add to the batter. Mix well.

Use a ladle full of batter and make a thin dosa like crepe. Usually adais are done really thick and they become very heavy to eat. Somehow I like to make them thin - just make sure your batter is smooth enough so you can draw it out thin.

Serve 'em hot.
Coconut Chutney makes a good side accompaniment for this adai. You could also make sambar if you'd like or avial which goes really well with all types of adais.

How can your kids say no to spinach this way? Make use of it! You can also add some grated carrots or finely chopped onions to the batter for a more wholesome adai. Be creative - make it all uniquely yours.

Can we have dinner now? My crispy adais are waiting..

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Brownie Pops

2012-03-19T17:21:00.000-07:00

Lollipops are a girl's favorite thing.

Brownie Pops are her mom's favorite thing. Really.

And that mom is not just me. That mom is you and your friend and her friend and her friend's friend and anybody else who've eaten one of these delicious easy little dessert.

Cake pops are good. Agree. But brownie pops are better. Simple reason is that brownies are any day better than cakes. Why waste so much air when you can condense that goodness into smaller bites, right? Now you can even condense it further!And somehow it becomes even more good.

Start off with one of the best boxed brownie mixes - the Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix. I swear, you can feed me a tray of these and I can spill all my secrets as I intoxicate myself with each brownie. By the time I'm done with my last one on the tray, you will know what I did last summer. This stuff is just plain real good.

Make a tray of this brownie.

I can just finish the post right here with this wrinkled son of a brownie!

But no, I won't.

Since I feel a little lazy today, I'm going with boxed frosting as well.

Some people suggest to put the whole box of frosting to make pops. But unless you want heartburn from sweet, don't do that. That's just way too much sugar. I take a big scoop out of the can - about 1/4 of the frosting in the can.

Microwave the frosting for about 30 seconds or until you can see flowing frosting.

Now mix the brownies and the frosting together. Remember not to add the crisp edges of the brownies. There is a better option you can do with the crisp edges - eat them!

Make little balls out of the brownie frosting mix. Unlike me, you can try and keep them all the same size.
Once this is done, move these balls to the fridge for a couple of hrs. Or you can even do them overnight. Keep em' covered in the fridge so they don't dry out.

Insert lollipop sticks into each ball.

I used Wilton Candy melts - melt them on a double boiler until they are flowy and easy to dip in. Now, you can use microwave as the packet suggests too - but with my experience, somehow microwave melting of chocolate never happens good. I always tend to screw it up and it turns out lumpy for me if I melt them in the microwave. I always prefer to melt chocolate on the stove top.

Pick each stick and swirl them around in the melted candy and gently tap off excess and let them set. Because the brownie balls are cold, it helps the chocolate set easily on top of them.

I found my colander the best place to let them sit to set fully. The holes at the bottom of the colander serve as perfect place holders. You don't need a fancy gadget to do this. Another thing you can use is a steamer - the type that usually comes with your rice cooker - the ones with the polka dot holes.

And of course I need color right? I was making these for a bunch of girls - so picked some purple for them!

Go crazy on the designs. You can use a ziploc bag or a little piping tool to draw lines or designs. Or just polka dots. Or maybe if you're like me in designs, your polka dot might look more like the medieval spear.

The most important thing to remember is to have fun making these.

And let your kids have fun making them too - my little one had a blast drawing all kinds of lines on top of the brownie pops. Don't worry about the mess - just indulge them! Keep a few plain and decorate the others - this provides a nice contrast.

This is actually my favorite picture of them all!

Go ahead. Pick one.

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Badam Kheer

2012-03-08T21:38:00.000-08:00

What are you favorite memories of attending weddings in India? Is it the bride and groom, or the emotional parents, or the throngs of people who visit, or the so called melodious music blaring on loudspeakers, or all the beautiful clothes that everyone wears and of course the jewelry, or that cute boy who stares at you while you are not staring at him, (or so he thinks), or that hideous aunty who surely wants to ask your parents all details about your education and gothram so that she will be the first one to suggest an alliance to her ladies club president for her son who apparently just got his first job with Microsoft. (of course the cute boy staring at you has no idea and has never been anywhere near Microsoft - but he is cute indeed) Phew. So many complications at weddings.

But there is one simple thing I remember that is worth remembering. The food. Forget the big spread of rice, sambar, rasam, mor kuzhambu, podimas, poriyal, kootu, oorga, appalam etc...skip all that and get straight to dessert. Badam Kheer. Wedding Style Badam Kheer.

I swear I dream about this stuff at times -this is absolutely one of my favorite desserts to complete a nice South Indian lunch. I've tried to make this many times but end up using a lot of almonds and making it thick and sometime ending up even eating it with a spoon. So, now I learnt the right way to making it as it is done in wedding. Watery, yet tasty and the flavor of almond in every sip. And its got the magic biteable seeds in there - the charoli seeds. I always called it the badam kheer seed - because the only time I used to eat this was at weddings.

Take about a handful of almonds. Blanch them in hot water.

Peel the almonds and grind it with a little milk until you get a almost smooth paste.

Heat a pan in medium heat and move the paste to the pan. Fry for a min taking care not to burn the paste.

Add 2 -3 cups of milk and mix well. Let this boil for about 5-8 mins.

Add 3/4 cup of sugar for 2 cups of milk. Use this proportion if you are making more.

And here comes the beauty. Saffron. A few strands - a lot of oomph. Dissolve a few strands in a tbsp ok warm milk.

When the kheer is almost done, add the saffron strands in and mix well.

And here's how a regular badam kheer becomes a wedding style badam kheer. Charoli seeds.

Take a tbsp of charoli seeds and fry them in ghee till they turn golden and puff up a little.

Add to the badam kheer and mix well. Can you see the consistency - this way you can drink it out of a cup. And don't even bother to wait for it to cool down - there is a specific pleasure that has to be experienced when drinking super hot badam kheer from a cup. Try it and you'll know what I mean.

Of course, share it with everyone in your family and spread the joy.

I'm all done here - but which one of you is getting married soon? Invite me and I'll be there to taste this in your wedding!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Thai Curry Pasta

2012-02-23T21:11:00.001-08:00

Fusion cuisine should have its own facebook page. And I'm sure I'll be a friend then. There are some great outcomes when wonderful cuisines are fused together. Ask Wolfgang Puck - and he'll say Amen. But then there are some fusion dishes that should not see the light of day. Like kofta balls in rasam. I don't think I want to go there.

But I surely want to go here - Thai Curry Pasta.

Long ago, when I was not so occupied (translation-lazy), I added a recipe request form to this blog. And promised to cook whatever someone asked. Like I said, that was long ago. My apologies for not keeping up my word. But I'm going to take baby steps and try to complete most of the requests. So, here's a post for Amrut who had asked for a thai curry pasta recipe. Amrut - I hope you still are interested in this. Here's the delicious dish just for you!

Cook Pasta al dente. I've used Penne here but you could use your favorite pasta. Linguini would be good here too and look like noodles. Add a tsp of salt to the water while cooking the pasta.

For the veggies, chop up some broccoli, carrots, green beans. Once the pasta is done, just strain out the pasta from the water and while the water is still boiling, add the veggies in there and switch off the stove immediately. You don't want the veggies to be over cooked - just blanched a little. Drain out the veggies in about 3-4 mins and pour cold water once to stop cooking.

And now on to make the curry paste. Here's what I used -

half a medium onion roughly chopped
Garlic - about 4-5
Ginger - about 2 inch piece roughly chopped
Coriander seeds - 2 tsps
Black Peppercorns - a few
Dried Red Chilli - 4-5
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Lemon Grass - 1-2 tsps (paste)

Just add all of them raw into a mixer to make a paste.

For a kick, add 1 tsps of brown sugar to the rest of the ingredients.

Grind into a coarse paste and then add a little oil and grind to a smooth paste.

In a wide pan, add about 2 tsps of oil. Throw in some onions and bell peppers and saute for a couple of mins.

For the curry, I used some light coconut milk. Add the paste and fry for a couple of mins, and then add about 1/2 can of the coconut milk. Add salt to taste just enough for the curry.

Add 1 tomato chopped and deseeded.

Then, add all the veggies to the curry. Mix well and cook for maybe a min.

Add fresh chopped cilantro to the curry.

And finally, add the cooked pasta to the curry. Mix well for a couple of mins.

And there you go - some delicious juicy curry pasta.

You could add some fresh or fried tofu to enhance this dish. Enjoy a nice warm meal with your family. And pass on my regards to them!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Black Forest Cake For Valentines Day

2012-02-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a Happy Valentines Day!

And what's a valentines day without some chocolate cake? It just has to be, right?

And when it just has to be, why not add some cherries as well?

This is another simple black forest cake recipe- source is from a favorite recipe app on my ipad. The Myrecipes.com daily indulgence app. If you have an ipad and love to bake, just buy the app. Even if you don't bake all the recipes on there, it sure brings a smile and a drool every single day.

Here's the ingredient list. I modified the original recipe very little - reduced the cocoa and used butter instead of shortening.

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

2 Large Eggs

All Purpose Flour - 1 3/4 cup

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsps baking powder

2 tsps baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup hot water

1 cup dark or semi sweet chocolate morsels

1 can cherry pie filling

Mix all the dry ingredients together - flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mix well.

Combine condensed milk, brown sugar, butter and eggs and mix well until combined.

When that's done, add the dry ingredients and mix well.

When the batter is almost done, add the 1/4 cup of hot water to the batter and mix once well.

Keep your pans ready. Since it is indeed valentines day, I used the two heart pans I had. I loved the cute little bundt pan...but it sure is little, so added my big heart pan as well. Grease and flour them.

Here's the batter ready. It looks chocolatey enough but wait..

...just go ahead and add the chocolate morsels. Trust me, this bite is beautiful while eating the cake!

Pour in pans and bake at 350F for about 25-30 mins or until it passes the toothpick test.

Here are the cakes ready to go..

This is pretty. Yes.

This is also good. Yes.

But this way, its pretty good indeed! YES!

Drizzle the cherry pie filling on top of the cake. And drool just like the cherry syrup.

I love you so much that I gave you more than one of my hearts!

Someone else here is also drooling at the cake.

Introducing to all you - my little girl Aadhya! Can't believe she's already three months. This is the reason you all don't see me often on here now. I can't believe how someone so little takes over the lives of multiple people! However all that is pure joy and I'm loving every moment of it.

Can I jump inside the cake daddy?

Make this luscious cake and impress your loved ones.

Happy Valentines Day to all of you!!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Spinach Ricotta Rolls

2012-01-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

I have a thing for Spinach and Ricotta. If not anything, I can just mix up the two and eat a whole meal with it. Its just one of those divine combos..made for each other type of food.

Anytime I make Italian and need an appetizer or a little bite food, my brain and heart both leap forward and scream Spinach-Ricotta. And I listen like a good kid. No questions asked.

This was one of those time when yet again, my brain and heart proved correct. And I was thankful I listened to them, no questions asked.

The recipe is very simple. Frozen chopped Spinach+ Ricotta+spices filled in little pre made dough and baked as per directions. Simple right? Let's see them here step by step.

Take about one pack of frozen chopped spinach.

Add about 1 cup of ricotta cheese to the spinach and mix well.

Add a few spices - black pepper, some oregano, basil and some parmesan cheese. Add a pinch of salt and mix well.

And here's what I used for the dough. The pre made packaged french bread roll from Pillsbury. Photo courtesy of the Pillsbury site.

Take the dough out and cut into small bits.

Stuff about a spoonful of spinach mix in the dough and fold over on both sides.

Make a little wrap and set on the seam side down on a foil lined baking sheet. It is ok if the spinach mix is spilling out like this. If you want complete rolls, just cut bigger sheets or use a pizza dough and roll into whole balls. You've then got yourself a spinach ricotta roll.

Place all rolls with a little breathing space on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 350F for about 15 mins or until the rolls are well baked and golden.

And you're done. Simple as that.

Serve em up as wholesome wonderful biteable appetizers.

This was a post thanksgiving italian dinner for my family. We had some bruschetta, ravioli and some fresh garden pasta.

This is what families are made up of - crazy people and good food. God Bless them all!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Nei-Appam

2012-01-06T14:07:00.000-08:00

Wishing all of you a very Happy New 2012 ahead. Hope you have made your resolutions and sticking to them for a few days at least. Hope you all have a healthy and happy year ahead. Make this the year where you do something new or unique for a change. Take up a challenge, accomplish something, try something new. Do that thing that no one would expect you to do. And even if it might not work out, at least you would have tried. Enjoy the year ahead.

This post is bringing you some comfort food along with it. There is comfort food and then there is this particular comfort food. Warm, sweet, ghee-laden comfort food. Now can it get any more comfortable?

Nei-Appam - little sweetened rice balls cooked in ghee. Thank heavens they are small..and perfect to be eaten in bunches. Now who would not want comfort in bunches? This is a traditional south Indian sweet prepared for festivities especially during karthigai. And that's when I prepared it too but of course this post is coming to you late.

There are a couple of different methods to make this delicacy. Some people add banana to this batter and then call them little unniappams - of course a specialty of Kerala. I prefer to do this however without the banana ..just because I'm not a fan of banana as many of you are aware. Let's get to the post.

Soak 2 cups of rice in warm water for about 2-3 hours. Once the rice is soft, grind to a smooth batter and set aside.

Melt about 1 1/4 cups of jaggery in a small pan with a few drops of water.

Add the melted jaggery to the rice batter and mix well.

Add a couple of pinches of cardamom powder to the batter and mix well.

In a little kuzhi paniyaram pan, add a couple of drops of ghee in each cavity and heat up.

Slowly pour spoonfuls of batter into each cavity and let it cook. Make sure the pan is in medium heat so that the appams cook inside and don't overcook on the outside.

Flip over each appam using a skewer and let cook for a few minutes on the other side.

And they are done. Easy as that. Comfortable to make and totally comforting to eat. Now that is what I call good food.

We also made some peanut ladoos for karthigai and here they are.

Say your prayers and dig into wholesome festival goodness.

They just look awfully cute to me. Can you imagine working on wall street in New York and you step out for a snack and there is a little vandi kadai vendor selling these hot off the grill. Poor little hot dogs will need a run for their doggy money.

Go ahead, grab some. And let me know if you liked them.

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Fruit and Nut Ricotta Cheese Muffins

2011-12-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

When you think baking is a cake is too much work, bake some muffins. Even though this is baker banter, the moral behind is that when something seems too big to accomplish, take baby steps.

Muffins always make me happy. They're easy to make, easy to eat and always handy. You don't need a fork to eat them. You can eat them while driving..while on the phone...while feeding your baby (which takes eternity by the way!)..while putting up Christmas ornaments..or just about any time you feel like eating one.

This muffin here is a "throw all you find in the batter" kind of muffin. My sister's left over dried jujubes, some dried sweet candy fruit, some coconut, almonds etc..all went in here. This recipe base is from Joy of Baking's chocolate ricotta cheese muffin. I used the flour, egg, sugar, butter measurements from there and then added the fruits and nuts sans the chocolate. (I know..I'm twisted).

Here's the basic ingredients and measurements -

Ricotta Cheese - 1 cup
Eggs - 2 large
1 1/3 cup Milk
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
4 tbsps Unsalted Butter melted and cooled
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Dried fruits - Jujubes, dried cherries, etc - 1/4 cup each if using 2 ingredients - if more or less, adjust the quantity accordingly. Total should be about 1/2 cup
Sweetened dessicated coconut - 1/2 cup
Sliced or broken almonds - 1/2 cup

Here are the dried Jujubes...courtesy my sister and her visit to the farmers market. These are chewy with a subtle sweetness and my mind screams granola bars when I see them. I will have to calm my mind sometime soon..

Some dried sweet 'tutti-fruiti' - I bought a whole big packet a while back and had major plans of baking a lot of things with this. And then days passed..the pack shrunk in size. All I have to say they make a great quick dessert after a meal..no wonder the pack shrunk..

Chop up some almonds if you don't have the pricey sliced almonds at home. These are roasted almonds.

And of course sweetened dessicated coconut. My favorite. If you have some of this, mix them up with melted semi sweet chocolate chips and you have a pronto german chocolate cream.

Add all the fry ingredients and mix together. Add the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder and set aside.

In another bowl, add the ricotta cheese, eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract and mix everything together until the eggs are well incorporated.

Finally add the milk in here and whisk together well.

Slowly mix together the dry and wet ingredients in low speed.

Mix all the fruit and nut ingredients in a bowl.

Add the mixed fruit and nuts to the batter.

Pour spoonfuls 3/4 way in a lined muffin pan. Bake in a pre heated oven at 350F for about 20 mins until the muffins are well done.

Take them out when golden and you know what to do next.

Stare at them for a while and then gorge down on them.

And here's how they look inside packed with the fruits and nuts. Delicious biteable muffins.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and a very Happy New Year!!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Mocha Chocolate Shortbread

2011-12-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

When there's happiness to be shared, it should always be accompanied by chocolate. Is that not true?

So, here I'am sharing happiness with all of you again. And that does come with chocolate too. There are many reasons to be thankful and happy - and my biggest reason now is that my little girl is here - she was born the first week in November. And yes, when the say a baby changes life, its all true. Now I have two little girls to spoil - and oh yes a lot more girly shopping that I can indulge in!

Another big reason to be thankful and happy is that my blog turns 3 today! My heartfelt thanks to all of you for being a part of the blog. Thanks for all your wonderful and supportive feedback even though I've not been very active the last couple of months.

Here's a super easy shortbread recipe - a favorite of mine from the Southern Living magazine archives. If you have an IPad - download the Southern Living My Recipes app - it provides a beautiful dessert recipe for every day of the year and some more. The app costs about 4 bucks but its all worth it if you enjoy baking or just looking at pretty pictures.

Here the link to the original recipe - Mocha Chocolate Shortbread from Southern Living

Get all your ingredients in place.

1 1/4 cup of All purpose flour
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
2 tsps of Instant coffee granules ( I used taster's choice)
2/3 cup of softened butter
2 cups of semi - sweet chocolate chip morsels
2 tsps vanilla extract - the recipe calls for it - but I was all out and just skipped using it. Trust me, I did not miss it

The great thing about this recipe is that it is an eggless recipe as well and takes about 5 mins to prepare. You can make this as a quick dessert when you have friends over for an impromptu dinner.

To a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar and instant coffee crystals.

Add the butter and vanilla extract and mix well in slow speed. It is very important that the butter is softened and not completely melted in order to get the crisp texture of the shortbread.

And this is how the dough looks once mixed well.

Now add 1 cup of the semi sweet chocolate chips to the dough and mix well using a spatula.

Spread out the dough in an ungreased 9 inch square pan.

Using a fork, poke in a few times to aerate the surface.

Bake in a pre heated oven at 325F for about 20 mins until the top gets a little brown.

Switch off the oven and immediately add the remaining 1 cup of semi sweet morsels. I added a few more of milk chocolate morsels ( because two little hands and a mouth ate some of my semi sweet chips in the pretext of helping me in the kitchen!)

In a couple of mins, the chocolate chips would be melted. Spread it around with a spatula and make an even coating of chocolate on top of the shortbread.

Can I just dive in here and swim??

Cut the shortbread into little pieces while its still warm. Then let it cool for about 30 mins to an hr. That's the hardest part of the whole process.

Obviously I could wait - who has 30 mins, right?? These were just oh so melt in your mouth good. Glad I did not wait...all the wet chocolate is worth the warm shortbread..if you know what I mean..just go ahead and indulge.

Since the theme for A Sweet Punch Series this month was anything that we'd like to bake, I'm sending this across there as well.

Enjoy. Peace Out!

And Thank You for making 3 years of blogging so much fun!

Seven Cup Besan Burfi

2011-11-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone! Its been a while since I blogged. I've missed all the interactions with you but guess what - I'm here now and hoping to show up on a regular basis as before.

Hope you all had a fun and festive Diwali season and also Halloween if you're in the US. Have you eaten all of that candy already?

What better way to start off from a hiatus with nothing but a wonderful sweet. This is a sweet that I did prepare for Diwali this year but could not get to posting it earlier. This is a really easy and basic recipe and I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with this. I've modified the quantities here just so I could make a lot of the burfi to share with friends for Diwali.

Here's the basic recipe.

I doubled the quantities to make a lot of burfis - so the pictures you see here are for double the quantity.

Besan - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cup
Coconut - 1 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 cup

Sieve the besan and dry roast it in a wide pan till the raw smell goes away.

Add the sugar to the besan and mix well.

Slowly add the milk and keep stirring so that no lumps are formed.

Mix well and keep stirring. Make sure the pan is in medium heat and not too low or too high. Have high heat would just burn the bottom and that won't make pretty or tasty burfis.

As you keep stirring, keep adding a few spoons of ghee at at time and mixing well so that the ghee incorporates well with the mix.

When the mixture starts to bubble and thicken up, add the grated coconut to the mix and stir well. Remember to keep adding that ghee a little at at time.

Can you see the whole mix starting to thicken up here?

And now, its pretty thick and almost ready to be taken off the heat. Make sure you have a well greased plate or a baking pan lined with parchment paper where you can transfer this hot mix into for it to set.

When the mix is thick and start to leaves the sides of the pan, switch off the heat and pour immediately to a well greased plate or a parchment lined baking pan as below. The mixture cools down pretty quick and starts to turn hard.

When the mix has cooled down a little bit, using a knife, gently cut across into the mix making little squares. And you're done!

All you have to do now is to pick a few pieces, eat it and make sure they all taste great! And I tell you from experience, yes, they do taste great!

Was that not an easy burfi to make? And don't they look pretty too?

So eat some, share some and don't worry if they are all done soon, you can just make them quick enough again!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Diwali Recipes

2011-10-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

Here's wishing all my readers a Very Happy and Exciting Diwali ahead. May the season bring upon a lot of joy to you and your loved ones.

My apologies for not being active on the blog all month long. I know its sounds cliche when I say that its just been really hectic. But that's the only reason I do have to say. Will come back in full foce once things settle a little bit.

Until then, here are some Diwali recipes from the archives.

Hope you all have plans to make a lot of exciting Diwali specialities over the weekend and next week. Enjoy the process and of course savor the results throughly!

Diwali Savory Recipes

White Murukku
Coconut Milk Murukku
South Indian Mixture
Thattai
Tukkada

Diwali Sweet Recipes

Mango Burfi
Chocolate Rolled Gulab Jamun
Paneer Basundi
Rasmalai
Sweet Somasi
Coconut, Chocolate and Nuts Burfi
Bhoondi Ladoo
Badusha
Mysore Pak
Jangiri

Enjoy! Peace Out and a very Happy Diwali to all of you!!

How to build Navarathri Golu Steps

2011-09-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

Navarathri season is already here this year! And that means its time for Golu if your family is into keeping Golu. When I was growing up, Golu was one of the most fun times in our household. It was the 9 days of constant buzzing activity at home. There was always some kind of sundal at home and every evening there were people walking in and we had to be at our best behaviour. Thankfully I was not as talented as my sister and she was the one who had to play her veena every evening to impress all the mamis walking in. Those were the days when we were dressed up in new pattu pavadais and my mom was always more sweeter to us because she just was so preoccupied with all the other stuff and we got to get away with whatever we wanted. I'm smiling thinking of those days and I'm sure my daughter is here smiling that her turn is coming up soon!

For all of us living in the US or away from India, the luxury of having to buy readymade steel steps for Golu remains a constant dream. However, there are always options. Building a set of steps in wood. But it did take me a couple of years to convince my husband to actually get to build this. The topic always came up and somehow things never materialized and the last two golus sat on well kept cardboard boxes. This year things changed. He actually listened to what I said and hence here I'am writing a post on how we built our golu. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone out there who needs a little motivational push.

When you decide to do something, why not just do it big, right? So, instead of our normal 5 step golu, this year we're going with 7 steps!

Building this will take probably a few hours and maybe a couple of trips to your local Lowes or Home Depot stores. Plan well and you can be all done one weekend morning before lunch.

Here's what you need to shop for a 7 step golu set up. I've also provided the approx cost involved of the materials.

2 5 Step Stair Riser - $ 22
2 3 Step Stair Riser - $ 17
Wood Nails - Flat Philips - 10 x 2 1/2 - a 25 ct box (you'll use most of them) - $ 3.00
Wood Premium Furring Strip - 2x2x8 - Get 1 piece cut into 2 pieces each at 4 ft length. - $2.00
Wood Board 1x2x2 -2 pieces - cut at 5 ft length (or however wide you want the planks to be. This is to connect both the stair riser and provide support)- $3.00
Wood Whitewood Board (Planks) - 9.25 inches depth, .75 thickness, 5 ft length - Get 7 pieces of this plank. Cost per plank - $ 8.00. (Make sure the depth of this plank is not more than the stair depth that this plank will sit on)

Total Approx Cost of materials only - $145

Take your specifications to Lowes and they will cut your wood planks to the length you want and this is free of cost.

In order to do a 7-step, place the 5 step stair riser and overlap the 3 step riser on top with one step overlapping each other.

You'll need an automatic drill to screw in nails on either side of the stair risers to join the 5 and 3 steps to make a 7 step stair.

Drill in 3 nails on one side and 4 on the other side. Make sure the steps line are even and not tilted while you do this.

Next, nail the 2x2 furring strip near the 6th step so that when the step is placed upright, this stick holds the weight. We had a small piece left over after the long one was cut into two pieces at Lowes and used that in the second step at the bottom for extra support.

Next place the two 7 step stair risers parallel to each other on the floor. For a little support and to make a skeleton structure, nail in the 1x2x2 wood board in the front of the first bottom step and another one in the back connecting both the 7th steps.

Next, place the wooden planks on top of each step. Get the planks so that they fit within the width of the step and does not cross the step. This way when you place the dolls, it won't hit the step above it.

Place all the planks on each step. And you're done. These planks are pretty sturdy and don't need to be screwed in. But if you are really picky, you can screw them in but remember, you'll have to disassemble them all after navarathri.

For disassembling, remove the planks and store them as is. Just remove the two boards connecting the stair risers and store as is. You can then store the stair risers with the legs as is. That way, it won't be too difficult to put it back the following year.

Sorry I don't have too many pictures of each step. But the hubby did this while I was away and I could only get these shots - will try to take some more when we disassemble and maybe add those here.

So, if you're waiting to build one, now is the time! Get your tools out and order some pizza. It will be a joyful day when you get something accomplished like this! I'm super happy and can't wait to start golu in a few days. Got our dolls out over the weekend. Will sure share some pictures once we are all set up!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Veggie and Paneer Kababs

2011-09-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

Summers are meant for barbecues and lazing by the pool side. Or at the beach. Well, we planned to do that all summer too but never really got around to it. School started back on but we were not the ones to let go of the idea just as easily. Its still a little hot out there and technically it still is summer. Why not make use of it, right? So, our group of friends planned to do a barbecue party over the weekend. And our family is the only one vegetarian one in the group. So the minute the barbecue was being planned, I knew I was going to get my favorite paneer kababs. I've posted a simple recipe of this before on the blog but this time wanted to make it a little more detail with all the step by step pictures. So, here we go.

This is a really easy recipe but it takes a little planning to marinate the veggies ahead of time. But with just a little effort, the reward is plenty. Imagine yourself sitting on a lounge chair, sipping on some beer or margarita in hand, chatting with your best buddies while the kids are busy by themselves. And in between every sentence, you get to bite into a juicy tangy piece of grilled paneer or veggie dipped in a flavorful mint chutney. I mean, are these not why weekends are made for? To stop and smell the roses or at least the kababs?

Let's get going with the marinade. Prepare this marinade a day ahead so the veggies and paneer get to soak in them for hours and pull in the flavors.

I was doing this for a big batch of kababs. Please adjust the quantity according to your needs.

Take about 2-3 cups of slightly sour yogurt in a mixing bowl. Add salt to taste.

Add 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder to the curds.

Then add about 1-2 tsp of red chilli powder - this will also add spice to the kababs not to mention the color.

In a small pan, dry roast these ingredients -

2tbsp of Coriander seeds
1 tsbp of Cumin seeds
2-3 dried red chillies

Grind the dry roasted ingredients above to a coarse powder.

Add the powdered spices to the yogurt mixture.

And now for the flavor kick, add about 3-4 tsps of ginger -garlic paste to the yogurt mix. This adds a whole ton of flavor to the kababs. I've made kababs before without this stuff but trust me, this version is definitely better. So, unless you don't eat garlic, don't skip this step. And if you are not a garlic person, at least add fresh ginger paste.

Whisk all the ingredients with the yogurt and make a smooth paste.

Finally add about 1-2 tsps of chat masala and whisk together well. Set aside. The marinade is ready. Now on to the veggies chopping.

These veggies tend to hold up well to grilling and maintain a good texture to eat.

Onions
Bell Peppers - Green, Red, Yellow
Zucchini

You can also use eggplants - my friend had bought a few grilled eggplants and they were absolutely delicious - so I'm adding them the next time for sure.

Wash and chop the veggies into big bits and move all the pieces to a ziploc bag where you can marinate them overnight.

Here's the zucchini chopped up.

Also chop paneer into big thick chunks that hold up well on skewers and offer a good bite.

Get all your veggies into individual ziploc bags. Or if you want it easier, just mix them up all together and soak together in one big bowl. But I somehow always like it when they are individually marinated. Makes me feel happy for them that each of them has its own space. Its my choice - so you decide what you want to do.

Pour equal amounts of the yogurt marinade into each of the bags and give the veggies a gentle rub so that the sauce gets in between spaces.

Seal tight and refrigirate the packets overnight. Every maybe 6-8 hrs, just pick them up and give a gentle rub so that all sides are mixed well.

When you're ready to barbecue them, arrange the veggies in order (or not!) on skewers. You can also get the kids to do this if you want to keep them entertained. I'm sure they'll enjoy getting their hands messy. I did these though - not the kids - they were no where to be seen - they just showed up when food was ready!

Grill on medium to high heat for about 20-30 mins or until you see them well done. Save some of the marinade and brush on top as your barbecue for added flavor.

Turn the skewers around in between so that all sides get cooked evenly.

They turn from this -

- to this in about 30 mins.

So get your grill going and start up some veggie panner kababs. And yes, don't forget some grilled corn on the side - make sure you rub that with a wedge of lemon dipped in salt and red chilli powder for a perfect bite.

You can either serve them on skewers itself or just remove the veggies from the skewers and serve alongside with some green coriande-mint chutney.

You can also serve these kababs along with some simple saffron tinged pulav. They go great with just plain jeera rice or ghee rice too. We actually had some simple Kadhi Chawal along with all the barbecued stuff and it was a perfect summer evening. Good food. Good friends. Great evening!

So wait no more - get kababing before the sun goes down!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Almond and Chocolate Chip Biscotti

2011-09-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Biscotti, a traditional Italian biscuit, means something that is twice baked. And that's exactly how this is made - twice baked. One of the best things about a biscotti is that it is relatively low in fat. There is no butter or oil used in the recipe. So, you can definitely indulge in a few of these along with a steaming cup of coffee. Just dunk one of these in your coffee and move them swiftly to your mouth. One bite into it and you will experience a little bliss that can guarantee a smile. And just biting into little almond and chocolate pieces do nothing else but increase that joy. So, what are you waiting for. Get the ingredients in line and start baking.

Thanks to the Sweet Punch team for picking this as the recipe for this months bake. It was an absolute joy to bake these and I ended up making a second batch almost immediately while the first one was still in the oven. We were on our way to a friends house for dinner and these were perfect to take with me to share.

I stuck to the same recipe as provided - the classic Joy of Baking site recipe here. The variations you can do with Biscotti is as vast as your imagination could take you. Add in any kind of nuts, raisins, dried fruits etc or bake them and then dip them in chocolate, or coat them with icing, or drizzle them with sugar - whatever your heart fancies.

Please check the Joy of Baking site for the entire recipe.

Let's look at the step by step process here.

In a mixing bowl, add the following and mix together well and set aside.

All Purpose Flour - 1 3/4 cup
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp

In an mixing bowl or an electric mixing bowl, take 2/3 cups of sugar.

Add two large eggs.

Whisk and combine the eggs and sugar well in high speed until the mixture turns pale and fluffy. Mix for about 5 mins or until the mixture falls back in ribbons when you lift out the whisk.

Now add the dry mixture to this wet mixture and combine together till all of it is mixed well.

The mix will look a little crumbly.

Now, to add the fun stuff - 3/4 cup of blanched whole almonds or chopped almonds. I had some slivered almonds and used those in place.

Add the almonds to the dough.

Next add the chocolate chips along with the almonds.

I used the semi sweet mini morsels.

Fold the chocolate chips and almonds into the dough until well combined.

Move the dough as a ball on to a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Moisten hands with a little water and press down the dough to form a flat log about 12 inches long and 3-4 inches wide.

Bake this in a pre heated oven at 350 F for about 25 mins. The top will firm up after baking. Take the log out of the oven and rest for about 10 mins.

Using a serrated knife, cut sidewise into long thick slices.

Move these slices again to a baking sheet and bake for a second time for about 10 mins on each side turning them once in between.

That's it - they're done.

Time to dunk some in coffee - u ready for some?

Enjoy. Peace Out.

Gobi 65

2011-09-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

What is the one food that comes to your mind immediately when you think of restaurant favorites? Think about it - what is it that you order every time you walk into your favorite restaurant? Or you've have had like a million times already but still look forward to it? Or like me, you've had a million times already but can't have it anymore since you moved out of the place?

That's what happened to me. This dish here Gobi 65 used to be on my 'always order' list - whether I eat it or take out from a restaurant in Salem called Argees. And then, they have a way to pack this when ordering take out. The fried Gobi 65 pieces are first packed in green banana leaves. And covered with newspaper. And then another layer of leaves around it with crisp onions, bell peppers and green chillies and a slice of lemon. Everytime I opened that package, I was assured of a wonderful dinner in front of the tv! And boy, do I used to love those?

So when the free spirit bloggers put up their theme this time - restaurant favorites - this came to my mind immediately. Actually the theme was main course - but I've just been craving this so much. So Siri - I hope you won't mind that I cooked up an appetizer. Trust me, I've eaten more of this than the main course..so that might make this qualify!

I made a whole big batch of this for a potluck party with our friends. So, the final pictures are not that great - they were taken using my IPhone. So, please excuse that. I just could not wait to dig in, you see!

Wash and cut a cauliflower into long pieces. Leave a little of the stalks so that you have sticks to pick on while eating.

In a bowl, add 1 cup of maida.

To that, add 1/2 cup of corn flour.

Finally add about 2 heaped tsps of rice flour.

Now comes the fun seasonings. Throw in all of these -

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1-2 tsps red chilli powder (the more spicier, the tastier!)
Salt - to taste

And for a kicker - 1 big spoon of ginger garlic paste. Or you can also add fresh finely chopped garlic and ginger. These really do add a ton of flavor.

And yes, a few drops of red food color. If you want it the restaurant way, that is.

Add a little water about 1/2 cup, a little at a time and mix well to make a thick smooth paste.

Now, if you want to make this more in an Indo-Chinese way, you can add a little bit of soy sauce and vinegar.

Dip the cauliflower pieces and deep fry in hot oil. Drain on a paper towel and set aside.

It seemed like there were a lot more pieces - don't know where a few went.

In a pan, saute some long cut onions and bell peppers individually till crisp. Add a pinch of salt to the veggies while frying those up.

Fry a few pieces of green chillies too and add to this.

Just before serving, mix all the crisp sauteed veggies with the Gobi 65 and mix well. Add 1 tsp of chat masala and mix well. Add in a couple of cut lemon wedges on top.

And the only thing left now is to dig in and enjoy. This was well loved by all my friends and a few folks were happy that there is an easy veggie alternative to Chicken 65.

Thank you FSB gals for taking me back home with this dish.

Check out all the awesome posts of FSB bloggers here - Siri, Lata Raja, Nags, Madhuri Kumar, Deepti Pawar, Mittu, Dhivya Karthik.

Enjoy and Peace Out!

Dum Aloo

2011-08-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

Potatoes are one of the most universally liked comforting food that nature has provided the human race. There is some kind of a potato intensive recipe in every part of the world - the Europeans love their fish & chips, the Italians love their Gnocchi, the Indians love their samosas and of course the Americans love their mashed potatoes and as a special mention, where ever there is a Mc Donalds in this world, all the people going there love their french fries! If mama potatoes are this famous, baby potatoes are not far off. At least us Indians know the true value of a tender moist cooked baby potato simmered in a tomaty yogurty gravy - let's just take a moment and thank who ever discovered this little delicacy called Dum Aloo. May God Bless you and may you always find potatoes where ever you are.

It used to be a struggle a few years back finding little baby potatoes in our local indian stores here - the kind perfect for Dum Aloo. Thanks to the new frozen food culture, a pack of baby potatoes are just at a cold shelf door distance. I wish they were a little more tinier but hey, at least we have the easy option now.

If you're using the frozen pack, just wash them once well and pat dry with a paper towel.

Some suggest to prick a few holes in the potatoes to they cook well inside. But really, this is so painful to with tiny potatoes. I have to confess I started doing it and then gave up mid way. And I don't think it made a difference. So, if you really want to hire your kid and give them the job - let them earn their dinner. But make sure they don't break them apart poking all the way.

Move the dry potatoes to a mixing bowl. Sprinkle some salt over the potatoes and let this sit for about 10 -15 mins.

Dry roast all these following ingredients -

Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp
Coriander Seeds - 1-2 tbsp
Black pepper - a few

When cooled down, grind to a coarse powder and set aside.

In a wide pan, add a couple of tsp of oil and when hot, add all these below -

Fresh Ginger - 1 inch piece chopped into bits
Fresh Garlic - a couple of pieces chopped roughly
Green Chillies - 2-3 or more if you like it spicy
Onions - about 1 cup chopped into bits

Fry all the above until the onions are cooked and are translucent. Move to a blender and blend into a smooth paste.

Next, chop up about 3-4 tomatoes and fry in a tsp of oil and cook well until they are soft and don't have the raw smell of tomatoes anymore. Move to a blender and blend into a smooth paste and set aside.

And here comes the sinful part. Deep Frying. Of the Potatoes. Paula Deen just smiled.

And yes, a few are missing already. Blame it on whoever stands to your left. That way its not you.

In a small mixing bowl, take 1 cup of yogurt. Add all of these below -

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
The fresh ground coriander -cumin seed powder above - half the quantity
Salt - 1 tsp to taste

Whisk everything together well.

Chop half an onion into really small bits.

In a clean pan (just rinse the one you used for the onions and tomatoes), add 2 tbsp of butter or ghee. Come on, let's just make Paula Deen really happy here. Add a couple of bay leaves and then add the finely chopped onions. Saute for a min until the onions turn translucent.

Now, add the onion paste that we prepared above. Fry for a few mins until most of the water evaporates.

While its cooking, add the remaining of the fresh ground coriander-cumin seed masala to the onion paste. Mix well and cook together.

Then, add the fresh made tomato paste and stir together well making sure they onion and tomatoes mix into a smooth paste.

Add a little bit more of the turmeric and red chilli powder. Let this cook for about 5-8 mins until boiling.

Now, reduce the heat and add the yogurt mixture. Let this cook on simmer for another 5-8 mins.

Add the delicious deep fried baby potatoes to the gravy. At least, whatever is left of it. Mix well and cook together for a couple of mins.

Finally, for a kick, add a pinch of cardamom powder. This really adds a subtle flavor to the already wonderful dish.

Finally, add some crushed kasoori methi to the potatoes for more added flavor.

And you're done. Can you see how the gravy thickens wonderfully and can you also see how every step I go, the potato count goes down - still blame the person on your left.

Serve hot with rotis or parathas. Or even with some hot jeera rice and daal. And thank nature one more time for potatoes.

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Strawberry Banana Muffins - Eggless

2011-08-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

I wonder - why did not Little Miss Muffet sit on a tuffet and eat Muffins? Why did she have to eat her curds and whey?

Just the smell of a warm muffin out of the oven is so comforting. Its like cupcakes for the grown ups. Just a wholesome warm little cup muffin. And if it has ingredients like strawberry and bananas in it, that's just added appeal.

Baking again this time for A Sweet Punch series, here's us presenting a Strawberry Banana Muffin with a recipe from the Joy of Baking site. I changed the recipe a little bit to make an egg less version to satisfy the entire family. But the timing was perfect - we had a impromptu planned picnic potluck at the park this evening and these muffins found a few friends to please.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with liners or use a no stick spray on the pan. This actually yielded about 18 muffins for me - since they were a smaller size muffin. So, keep a few extra liners ready.

Take about 21/4 cups of All purpose flour. For a healthier and grainier texture, you can add 2 cups of flour and 1/4 cups of rolled oats if you'd like.
Add 3/4 cups of brown sugar. I accidentally added 1/2 cup of white sugar first and then remembered the recipe called for brown sugar - so I added another 1/2 cup of brown sugar - and so I had a total of about 1 cup sugar.
Add the 1/4 tsp of salt and instead of the cinnamon, I added a pinch of cardamom powder on to the dry mix.
Finally add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp baking soda.
Mix everything well together and set aside.

Now, to make the wet mix, mash up a couple of ripe bananas and add to a mixing bowl.
Melt 1 stick of butter and when the butter is in room temperature, add it to the bananas

Add a few drops of Pure Vanilla extract.

Now instead of the eggs, here's where we'll add a good substitute to provide the moistness required - Applesauce.

Add the one cup of applesauce and mix well with the other wet ingredients.

Chop up a few strawberries into small pieces - about 1 cup of chopped strawberries. Thankfully, we might still get fresh strawberries for a few more weeks.

Mix the chopped strawberries with a spoon of flour and set aside. This flour helps the strawberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffins.

Next comes getting the batter ready. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry flour mix.

Add the strawberries on top.

Gently using a spatula, fold in the wet mix and dry mix. Don't beat too hard - just mix until well combined.

I felt the batter was too thick and did not want dry muffins, and hence added about 1/4 cup of warm milk to the batter and gently mixed that in. And I was thankful I did this - the muffins were perfectly moist and you could not tell that they were egg less.

Scoop up the batter into the lined muffin pan. Give it a tap or two on the counter to release a few big air bubbles. And send it on its way to its sauna bath in the oven.

My muffins on the top are done - and I still had batter for more muffins - so sent another batch in for its hot bath.

And just how happy one is when their muffins come out so perfect from the oven!! I wish you can see what a huge smile I have on my face.

What are you waiting for - bake up some eggless muffins - I won't say its easy as pie - it actually is easier than pie.

You can pick this one if you want.

Or this one.

I want them all.

Enjoy. Peace out!

Buckwheat Ice Cream

2011-08-03T09:45:00.000-07:00

When life gives you buckwheat, make ice cream out of it. Or something like that.

This post is a part of the Free Spirit Blogger series and the theme this month was selected by Lata Raja of Flavors and Tastes. She came up with this ingenious idea of having all us participants pick a number without knowing what ingredient was assigned to it and whatever we pick, we had to make a dessert with that ingredient. And mine turned out to be Buckwheat. Really of all ingredients, that is what I go pick! But, after I tasted what I made below, I’m glad I picked this. Thank you Lata!

The recipe is directly adapted from the Ice cream guru David Lebovitz recipe and this was recently also published in our local LA Times. I did not even have to look further. I made very small modifications to the recipe like using low fat milk instead of whole milk and using regular honey instead of buckwheat honey. If mine can taste good, I can only imagine how creamy the original recipe will taste. Anyways, my hips don’t miss the extra calories and my mouth and soul still remain satisfied. Mission accomplished.

Here’s the original recipe for Buckwheat Ice Cream from David Lebovitz.

So I picked up Buckwheat groats from my local Whole Foods store – you can either buy them pre-packaged or also in bulk and get just as much as you need.

Dry roast the buckwheat in a heavy saucepan in low-medium heat stirring continuously so as not to burn them. Roast until they turn a shade brown and you smell a nice aroma wafting around. Remove from the pan and set aside on a mixing bowl.

Take about 2 tbsp and set aside in a mortar or on a rolling board to crush later and use as a mix in to the ice cream.

In the same saucepan, heat about 2 ¾ cup of milk. The recipe calls for whole milk but I used 2% low fat milk. If you want a creamier ice cream, go with the whole milk.

Heat the milk in low-medium heat and when hot, pour the milk over the roasted buckwheat kernels in the mixing bowl.

Mix well and let this sit covered for an hour so all flavors get a chance to mingle and jingle together.

After an hour, strain out all the milk from the using a muslin cloth and squeeze out as much you can from the soaked kernels. Move the milk back to the saucepan.

Add ½ cup of sugar and stir well with the milk. Reheat the milk on low-medium heat until hot.

Meanwhile, in another small mixing bowl, take about 4 egg yolks after separating out the whites. Once the milk is hot, gently pour the milk on the egg yolks a little at a time while stirring continuously to form a custard. Add all the milk and whisk together well. Now move this whole mix back to the saucepan and heat again on simmer till the custard thickens a bit.

Before you heat the egg-milk mixture, make sure you keep this ready for the next step. In a mixing bowl, add 1 cup of heavy cream and 2 tbsp of honey. The recipe calls for buckwheat honey – but I just added regular honey for a more earthier flavor. Mix well and set this on a ice bath. I just used a bigger mixing bowl and filled the bottom with ice cubes and set this mixing bowl inside it. This will keep the cream chilled too and will also help temper the custard when added to the cream and honey.

Once the custard has thickened, switch off the flame and immediately move the custard from the saucepan to a strainer placed on top of the cream-honey mixture. Strain the custard into the cream and then fold everything together well using a spatula.

Add the crushed toasted kernels in here and mix well. And you’re done! Well, at least the cooking part if done. Now comes the hard part –waiting for this to freeze. This is where I wish we had a magic tv kitchen…where they cook up things one min and then the next min take out the same dish prebaked or pre frozen and go voila..oh well. I’ll just have to wait.

I refrigerated the ice cream for almost a day and then put it back in my ice cream maker -yes, I finally have one and have to thanks a dear friend for buying it as a gift for me - thank you my dear - you know who you are! Add the batter and mix it up for about 20 mins. This provides the perfect ice cream texture and creaminess required. Now I too can say Voila!

This ice cream was soft though similar to a soft serve. If you want a more firm ice cream, freeze this overnight. Here's my frozen block of icecream. I tried to take pictures with the soft serve but it really wasn't pretty for the blog! So, went ahead and froze it up again and cut into little blocks. Now this is pretty. These would be perfect for a party - just poke a toothpick in each piece and everyone has their own buckwheat kulfi pieces!

The verdict was that the hubby ate 2 cups of this and told me it tasted real good - but then after I told him it had buckwheat in it, he was like.. yuck. He could not believe that he just ate buckwheat. So, if you have someone in your house who make weird faces at weird ingredients, just don't tell them its in there. They won't know - trust me! But I do have to say that this is a low sugar sweetness ice cream. I would have liked it more sweeter but that's just me!

Serve up with some fresh fruit on the side or add a dollop of chocolate syrup on top. Chocolate makes everything only better, right?!

Check out all the other FSB blogger posts here - these are some awesome ingredients cooked up in ways you would not ever imagine. No kidding. check it out now!

Lata Raja - Apple and Strawberry Crumble with Barley Flour

Nags - White Chocolate Pomegranate Cupcakes

Madhuri - Sweet Corn Panna Cotta

Mittu - Quinoa Raisin Muffins with Lime-curd Frosting

Siri - Cornmeal Orange Cookies

DK - Eggless Chocolate Tapioca Pudding

Now for some exciting personal news on my side. Some of you have noticed and asked me about why my posts are so few and far apart these last couple of months. Well, the ones who asked me know it now but for all you others - here's why. With a lot of blessings and a lot of joy, I'm expecting another baby soon!!!Well actually in November. Just shuffling between work, home, my daughter, summer time, my parents in law visitng us here and of course my pregnancy, I haven't had a lot of time cooking up fun stuff and photographing for the blog. I resolve to get better this month and hopefully will stay on track with publishing many posts. There's always hope, right? And if not, I know you'll still save some love for me, won't you?

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Black Bean and Corn Quinoa Salad

2011-07-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

Here’s another good recipe for all you Quinoa lovers out there. How can I be so sure about it? Because I’m a love of Quinoa myself and if you made this for me, I would sit down happily and chow down a big bowl of it. And I’d be happy because I got my protein fix for the day.

Before I go into the recipe, here’s a question for all of you. What is Quinoa known as in Hindi and Tamil?

I heard that it was Thenai in tamil. But, after an extensive Google and Wiki research, I tend to disagree with that.

Thenai is a very common grown grain in India and the English name for that is Foxtail Millet. This is also known as Kangani in Hindi. And one of the points that Wiki talks about is how this grain feeds a lot of poor people in the northern part of India. That can just validate that this is not Quinoa at all because I heard Quinoa costs about Rs 500-600 per kilo. So, now it brings me back to the question – what is Quinoa called locally in India. Looks like even the Agriculture department has not yet categorized it – here’s a glossary for the names of many grains, pulses etc straight from the agri folks! So, if you’ve cracked the case, do share the knowledge!

Meanwhile, check out the Wiki facts on both Quinoa and Foxtail Millet. They clearly belong to different families.

Call it what you want, but this wonderful grain with its nutritious properties makes for a great salad or meal. Here are a couple of my other favorite Quinoa recipes on the blog – Cold Quinoa Salad and Quinoa Stuffed Cabbage Rolls. Just adding al dente Quinoa to any salad makes it more appealing and healthy. But today we’re going to look at a toasted salad recipe where Quinoa is the king. And of course the king has him many flavorful sidekicks!

I cook Quinoa similar to rice in a rice cooker. If you are using raw Quinoa, make sure you wash it clean multiple times. Some store bought packaged Quinoa comes already cleaned but I still wash it a couple of times. Yes, I have trust issues. For 1 cup of Quinoa, add 2 cups of water or veggie broth and cook similar to white rice.

The next step will be to organize the sidekicks. So, here I start with lots of ginger (my favorite), a couple of green chillies, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, corn and black beans. Feel free to substitute your favorite veggies here. Avocados would go great and I know one person who as soon as she reads this will make it along with avocados! Nod your head when you read this, you know who you are.

Now you could just add all these ingredients raw, throw in the Quinoa, mix well and refrigerate for a cold salad. But I wanted it to be a slightly toasted and then chilled salad. Your Kitchen, your wish. Do it anyway your heart desires.

In a pan, add a tsp of oil. Throw in the ginger and green chillies first. Then add the onions and don’t let this over cook or brown. Just sauté for a min and immediately add the bell peppers and tomatoes.

Again, let all the ingredients cook for only a few seconds – they should still be crispy when you eat the salad but at the same time, you won’t have to breathe out the raw onion on your family or co workers!

Add in the corn and black beans in the end. Sprinkle some salt to taste and add about ¼ tsp of paprika or red chilli powder. Toss in the Quinoa and mix well. Switch off the stove immediately.

Finally add some fresh cut cilantro for a fresh flavor.

This is ready to serve as is. I was actually making this late at night to take to work for lunch the next day. So, I ate it cold the next day and absolutely loved it. The onions were still a little crisp and perfectly done. And I could bite into all the veggies and that crunch provided the needed texture rather than all it being a smushy upma consistency. Sometimes that would taste good too – but today I just loved it all crunchy.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your protein fix for the day – cook up some Quinoa and get started. Here’s to a healthy you and me!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Slow Cooker Gajar Ka Halwa

2011-07-13T22:49:00.000-07:00

Gajar ka halwa has always been one of my favorite goto sweets in the sweet aisle. There is never a time that I have and ever will say no to Gajar ka halwa. When you say out the name loud, it almost seems that you are referring to a royal king of sorts. And this humble and yet royal dessert deserves all that loud royal name calling. Why not.

One thing with the traditional preparation of Gajar ka halwa is that it is a labor of love. You'll have to stand there stirring it, making sure it does not stick to the bottom and burn and if you don't have that whole hour to stand there and cook this, you might as well get some from the store.

But, there is indeed an easier way to go about this - the slower method. Even though the cooking time is way more than normal, this can be prepared much in advance and you don't have to lift a spoon while its cooking. Just pile up the ingredients, switch on the button and forget about it for 6 hours. And when your guests are ready for dessert, just open up a warm pot of delicious tasting gajar ka halwa.

Grate a bunch of carrots and even though I love my food processor like a child, I skip that and instead hand grate the carrots - just because I want a shorter grate than what my food processor gives me. Its complicate, I know. But I just can't get myself to compromise on this one.

Add all the grated carrots to the slow cooker. I was preparing this for a party dessert and hence grated about 7-8 carrots.

Add two cans of evaporated milk on top of the carrots.

And about 1/2 to 1 cup of regular milk. You can actually skip this if you are using lesser carrots and there is enough evaporated milk to cover the ca

Add one can of sweetened condensed milk. I love love the fact that we now get fat free condensed milk!! Yay for that!

Add about 1/2 cup of sugar - remember carrots themselves are sweet, and you also have condensed milk in there. So about 1/2 cup of sugar is all you'll need.

Gently mix it all up well. As you can see, there's just about enough liquid to cover the carrots. The more liquid you have in here, the longer its going to take you to make the halwa. But, the great thing is that you still don't have to lift a spoon - your slow cooker will do all the work for you. Just time it correctly so you don't have your guests waiting and this still not done.

Close the lid. Switch on the cooker and go take care of your to-do list for the next 6 hrs. Maybe once every 2 hrs, walk over back and give this a stir - not that it needs that, but you can get an idea of the consistency.

And don't fret if you see a little darkening around the pot. You see the white space in between the halwa and the scorched walls - that's how much the halwa has reduced in quantity in about 5-6 hrs. It still needs to go on for about 45 mins to get thicker.

When the halwa is completely done and pretty thick in consistency, add sliced almonds and pistachios and add about 1/2 tsp of cardamom powder and some saffron if you have it at home - this just adds a subtle flavor to the halwa.

What else do you have to wait for? Dig in and enjoy. And thank the makers of slow cooker for making life easier for us halwa lovers!

Serve hot as is or along with a cool scoop of ice cream. I also do love to eat this cold out of the fridge.
So just eat it anyway you like. This version is super moist and when you pick up that spoon and place it on your tongue and all that milk goodness just flows out, aaaahhhh..life is so good!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Red White and Blue - A colorful dessert with Pound Cake

2011-07-07T21:21:00.000-07:00

The timing to bake a cake for the Sweet Punch Series could not have been better. It was the 4th of July weekend and like every other year, we attend a neighborhood potluck to get together, chit chat and get to know our neighbors. And of course, all the getting to know happens in the middle of a lot of food. And I did not have to think twice on what to take. I just had the pound cake recipe ready and knew exactly what to do with it.

This is a really easy and basic recipe but gives you the the perfect pound cake. However, this recipe yields a smaller cake - perfect for one loaf pan. So, if you need more quantity, either double or bake it twice. I've made many pound cakes before because the pound cake is probably the only cake that my hubby actually eats. He calls it his tea cake and loves to bite into it with a cup of hot tea or coffee. Simple pleasures! Here another pound cake I baked for his birthday!

Pound cakes can be used as a base for many desserts or of coruse can be eaten as is. One of the best ways to use them is to make a trifle with some pound cake, whipped cream and fresh berries or cherries. That is a combination from dessert heaven! This time though, I wanted the same combination but wanted to change the presentation a little bit and make it all red, white and blue to celebrate the special day. So, I baked the pound cake, chopped it up into little biteable pieces, added some fresh strawberries for the red and blueberries for the blue and of course topped it off with some whipped cream. What's not to like in this!

Here's the recipe from Rose's The Cake Bible for a perfect pound cake. I actually made two cakes. Used one for the potluck and the other was just for the family to munch on and shared a little with friends from work too. Like I always say - good things are meant to be shared!

3 tbsp Milk
3 large Eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cup sifted cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
13 tbsp Unsalted butter , softened

Let's get started.

Sift together all the dry ingredients and keep in a small mixing bowl.

In another small bowl, add the milk, vanilla essence and 3 eggs. Whisk together well and set aside.

In the mixer bowl, add all the dry ingredients, softened butter and sugar and mix together, starting at low speed and moving up to medium speed. Add 1/3 of the egg mixture and mix till the moist batter starts to form. Then, while the mixer is still on, add the rest of the egg mixture in two batches. Scrap down the sides if needed. Mix just until you see no more dry ingredients. The batter is ready.

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan or a square pan. Since I was anyways going to cut them into small bits, I did not mind that this could be a flat cake. If you need tall slices, use a loaf pan or a small bundt pan.

Bake in a 350F preheated oven for about 25-30 mins or until the toothpick test passes.

Cool down the cake and serve it any way you like.

If you are making dessert for a small party at home for a few friends, this makes a wonderful individual trifle dessert. Mix it up with whipped cream or even condensed milk and add some fresh fruits in here. Can you imagine a condensed milk soaked pound cake topped off with mangoes?? How awesome would that be? If I made that, I doubt there will be any left over for the friends!

For a bigger party or a potluck, get your creative hat on and present it in a way to suit the occasion. You have one of the most versatile ingredients at hand - so go as crazy as you can and pep up the party.

Here's my red, white and blue platter lined with whipped cream and topped with some festive 4th of July confetti.

Thank you Sweet Punch team for making my potluck planning easy and also for a wonderful pound cake recipe!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

To all friends in the US, Wish you all a Very Happy 4th of July! Enjoy the fireworks and the barbecues!

Orange Paneer

2011-06-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

Vegetarian Orange Chicken anyone?? Well, I actually don't have that here - but I do have some glistening Sweet and Spicy Orange Paneer.

FSB Theme for the month was suggested by DK of Chef In You. This was a challenging theme and DK wanted us to prepare something vegetarian that looks like a classic or famous Non Vegetarian dish. When I read that first, I thought – this could be easy..and then I read further. She told us that we could not use any store bought mock meats to prepare the dish. Ok the first three dishes that came to my mind at the beginning just went back to where they were sleeping. Nevermind.

And then a few weeks passed by – I had this thought at the back of my mind that I have not come up with anything yet and time’s slowly running out. And then last Friday happened. Came home from work and was totally inspired to either order pizza or pick up Chinese food. But the big guy in the house was acting a little hyper about cooking up a nice homemade meal..and when I said order Chinese food, he said why not make Chinese food. Really?? Why can’t we both ever think on the same lines? And so he first told me that he’ll make dinner. I was happy. And he told me he wanted the sweet and spicy orange chicken done vegetarian. My heart went thud. Wait. That means I could achieve two things here. The name DK then flashed a few times in my brain. I brushed off my Friday evening laziness and decided I will actually make this sweet and spicy orange chicken – not to please the hungry guy in the house – but because I might have a post for this month’s FSB. Wink Wink. And to be honest, this has been a dish that my guy has been asking for a while now and I always just veto it because I’m never in the mood for a sweet and spicy thing. But, today I was more than happy to undertake this adventure!

Tofu would have been a great substitute here – but instead, I decided to use Paneer to make this. So, I can tell DK that Paneer really is not fake meat. Right DK? And honestly because I had a big pack of Paneer sitting in my fridge and I was not going out to get tofu just to make this – you never know, I just might end up bringing dinner back. Not a good idea!

So I looked at a few recipes for Orange Chicken and looked at the Panda Express site for some visual inspiration. And also came across this one which was a vegetarian version from Pham Fatale blog. I kind of get an idea and a plan sketched out in my mind. Time for executing the plan. And so I start. I have to tell you though, by the time this was done and we were eating, boy was I glad I cooked at home. Thanks FSB team!! This is now a keeper recipe for me and we have already planned when to make this next!

Enough of all the banter, let me just get to the recipe.
Chop up Paneer into uneven sized chunks. The weirder shaped the chunks are, the better!

In a plate, take about ½- 1 cup of corn flour (corn starch would also work great here). The amount you see here was actually too much – I ended up wasting half of it. So, ½ cup should be sufficient. Add salt to taste and also 1 tsp of red chilli powder for a little spice. Mix the dry ingredients well.

Add the paneer pieces in here and just mix well.

Sprinkle a few drops of water and just gently toss the paneer in the moist corn flour. You just want to coat the paneer pieces and not really dunk them and make them into bhajjias or pakodas.

Let this sit for a few mins while you get the sauce ready.

Here comes the saucy juicy part! This was fun to do – because I had no clue really and just kind of added everything I had. You should have seen our frightened faces when we were ready to taste the final product.
Let’s start off with the spicy stuff. Chilli Garlic sauce – add about ½ - 1 tbsp of chilli garlic sauce to a mixing bowl.

Then, add ½ tbsp of Chilli Soy sauce or regular Soy sauce to the bowl.

Add ½ tbsp of rice vinegar to the other ingredients.

Follow that with 2 big heaped tbsp of tomato paste.

Throw in some fresh chopped ginger to the paste mix.

And throw in ginger’s favorite partner garlic – chopped into little bits along with the rest.

Now, add the kicker in here – ½ cup of orange juice.

Followed by 1 tsp of brown palm sugar.

And for the real kicker – 2 tbsp of maggi hot n sweet ketchup.

Some last sweet thoughts - a few drops of Honey

And to seal the deal with a little spice – 1 tsp of red chilli flakes or you can use a red chilli asian paste if you have that or even some Sriracha sauce.

Now do you understand that I really had no clue. But don't lose faith in me yet. I won't let you down.

Whisk together all of the ingredients well. Add about 1 cup of water to this sauce and set aside.

Now, fry the corn flour coated pieces of paneer in hot oil and drain excess oil on a sheet and set aside.

Chop up 1 small red onion and also chop up a small bell pepper.

Add the sauce and just enjoy the sizzle.

Cook for 3-4 mins and you’ll start to see the water evaporate.

Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, add 2 tsps of corn starch and add ¼ cup water and make into a thin paste.

When the sauce begins to thicken, add in the corn starch paste. You’ll see that the sauce thicken instantly.

Quickly add in the fried paneer pieces to the sauce and mix well. Cook for a min until most of the sauce thickens. If you like it saucy, you can switch off the stove immediately after adding the paneer.

And you’re done people! Now, I don’t know if this looks like the Orange Chicken at Panda’s – but I surely know that it tastes awesome because we finished the whole damn thing in about 15 mins!

Serve with some hot white rice. I actually made ginger flavored rice. I added about 2 tsp of chopped ginger along with the rice and cooked it together. The rice holds a subtle flavor of ginger and it was delicious to eat along with this sweet and spicy Orange Paneer!

Check out here for some of the awesome stuff the FSB gals have come up with – Deepti, Lata, DK, Madhuri, Nags, Siri, Mitu. I’m sure when the hard core non vegetarian look at this, they’re going to finally stop thinking that us vegetarians eat only salads.

Enjoy. Peace Out!