Love & Lentils

Kovakkai Poriyal (Tindora / Ivy Gourd Stir Fry)

2013-05-07T17:44:00.002-07:00

I know what you're thinking - a whole post on Ivy Gourd? Yes, this little humble vegetable needs its 5 mins of fame. And I'm giving it to her (anything awesome can only be a 'she' :) )

This little powerhouse of a vegetable has a ton of nutritional benefits even though its not widely advertised. Known as Kovakkai in Tamil and Tindora in Hindi, this is a common but usually considered boring vegetable served with a traditional Indian meal. You've heard of Ladies Finger right? Did you know that this featured veggie is sometimes referred to as - Gentleman's toes?? I was imagining myself walking up to a local grocer in India and asking for some ladies fingers and gentleman's toes. Oh the looks that might get me.

Ivy Gourd has an enzyme in it that helps regulate blood sugars. Hence this is a good addition to a diabetic meal plan. Its usually just cooked up blah with not much flavor and most of the time that's what makes it boring. But anything that is boring needs to be turned upside down on its butt and made interesting, right? That's what I've tried to do here. This has become the only way we eat this veggie now. I can cook it and just eat an entire cup of it for dinner - very satisfying. And the fresh curry masala adds all the goodness of lentils to the nutrition of the vegetable.

Clean the kovakkai and chop off the top and bottom ends.

Cut the veggie into small rounds or slice them vertically into thin slices. I usually prefer the thin slices - but hey, when someone else helps you by cutting the veggies, you don't complain.

In a dry pan, add the following -

Coriander Seeds - 1/4 cup
Channa Daal - 1/2 cup
Urad Daal - 1 tbsp
Dried Red chillies - 2 -3 pieces
Whole Black Pepper - 4-5 kernals

Dry roast all the ingredients till the aroma wafts out and they seem roasted. Cool down for a few mins.

Grind the masala in a small mixer until you get a coarse powder.

In a wide pan, add 2 tsps of oil and when hot add the following -

Black mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad Daal - 1 tsp
Channa Daal - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

When all the above sizzles in the oil, add the cut veggies and mix well. Add salt to taste along with a pinch of turmeric powder. Cover and cook for about 5 mins till the veggie turns a little soft and cooks inside. Add 2-3 tsps of the freshly ground masala to this and mix well. Cook for a few mins until done. Don't overcook - a little crispness is still desired and make the end product really tasty.

The fresh ground masala can be done in bulk and stored in a dry glass jar. Feel free to add heaped spoons of this to almost any veggie you cook. All it does is enhance the flavor and add a ton of taste - we can all use that anytime!

Enjoy the tasty and flavorful kovakkai. Serve hot with rice and Rasam or Chappathis.

Enjoy. Peace Out.

Oats Bisibelebath

2013-04-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Wow...this is a new post in a long time. Things are looking slightly better in terms of my personal stuff and also work. So, I have a slight hope that I might be able to continue her regularly. I've been busy with many things but wanted to share one of the those things with you guys. I've been trying to eat healthy and exercise and lose weight. I've been a little successful too, I should say. But I realize that I need to make life changes if I want to maintain this. And I also worked at making my mind understand that. So far, it seems to have. I think its just that we have to be aware of what we are eating and when we are eating and how much we are eating. If you can answer all this and if the brain understands it, that's half the mission completed.

Somewhere in all this, I also learnt about juicing and even tried it a couple of times now. Oh how I love that flat stomach while juicing. And then I start eating solids and there comes back the bloat and bulge. Arrgh. Have any of you tried juicing? Let me know how you like it and what's ur favorite juices? It is good but I don't think one should do it longer than a 5 day period. I think the best option would be to do for 3 days every two weeks or so just to cleanse the body and kind of refresh the whole digestive system.

In my quest of eating healthy, here's a recipe that I've always heard from a friend but had never tried it myself. So, after a quick call to her (Sashi - this is you!), I got down to making it and just had to take pictures for a post. This is a wholesome meal for the entire family - its got the grains, fiber, protein, veggies, lentils, flavor, consistency and pretty much the works. And its a one pot dish. Just serve with some cool raitha and you are done!

Start with separately boiling veggies with some Toor Daal. I added potatoes, radish, carrots, green beans, green peas and 1/2 cup of toor daal and pressure cooked for about 3-4 whistles or until they are cooked well.

In a pan, add a tsp of oil. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves. Then, add a bunch of chopped onion and tomatoes and saute well. Then add about 6 cups of water (for 2 cups of oats that we will be adding).

Add tamarind water, salt, turmeric powder, sambar powder and 2 tsps of bisibelebath powder. Let this come to a boil.

When the liquid begins to boil, add about 2 cups of oats. Mix well. Now, add the cooked daal and veggies to this. Add salt to taste if needed.

I used Coach's Oats which is cracked and toasted oats which provides a good texture.

Cover with a lid and cook well stirring intermittently so the oats don't stick to the bottom. Let this cook for about 10 mins in simmer so the oats cook well. If it gets too thick, add a little water.

Add a little dollop of ghee on top while the Oats bisibelebath is hot and inviting. And just enjoy a bowl of wholesome goodness.

Serve with a cold cup of cucumber raitha on the side.

Enjoy. Peace Out.

Deep Dark Chocolate Bar

2013-02-14T09:45:00.001-08:00

Wishing all my readers a Happy Valentines Day!

This valentines day is a little different for me. So, what's happening in my life is that I'm doing this 10 week weight loss challenge with my bootcamp group. Its going great and I love it - but the biggest change I made to my eating habits is that I cut out sugar. Totally. Big, huge, humongous step for me. You all know how much I love that nasty little thing. But I've given it up. And after 4 weeks, I don't even crave it. An orange seems way too sweet for me now.

But what's Valentines Day without a little chocolate right? I bravely told my husband not to bother getting me chocolates this year - he has my permission to get a box of protein powder instead. But I did hear a separate conversation between my daughter and him - and she made sure he still gets her a box of chocolates because she too is his valentine and that she's not off sugar or anything like that. What a loving family I have.

Anyways, on my quest for some healthy chocolate recipes (and also the fact that I indulged in a little impulsive shopping when I saw this little chocolate bar mold), I came across this wonderful recipe from a chocolate lover's blog - Three-Ingredient Chocolate Bars from chocolatecoveredkatie.com. Thank You Katie for making my dream come true! I'm saving this as a classic favorite recipe for all my life.

The recipe is very simple. Three Ingredients. About three minutes to make. That's it.

Start of course, with some Cocoa Powder.

Next, some Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil. I was surprised to see how relatively healthy this is compared to the other oils and butters. And it smells divine too. And no, I'm not a spokesperson for them.

The original recipe from Katie's blog uses Stevia extract to make a sugar free indulgence. But I chose to use Agave instead just because I wanted to make it in the 5 mins after I saw the recipe and I could not wait to go to the store to buy stevia extract and besides Agave is amazing as well!

The ratio of ingredients is 1/4 cup cocoa: 1/4 cup coconut oil: 1 tbsp Agave.

I doubled that ratio while making this as you can see below.

Measure out 1/2 cup of coconut oil. Add 2 tbsp of Agave to the oil.

Stir well together. I love this color btw.

Measure out 1/2 cup of cocoa powder.

Add to the oil mix and stir together scraping the sides.

There's some magic showing already. On a very tangential note, did you know you could probably get a facial done with this - well, maybe without the agave. Ok. let't not go there and just stick to the eating part here.

Pour into molds. Can you see why I was obsessed with making this. My new silicone chocolate bar mold. Love it!

I just poured the remaining on a parchment sheet.

Tried some sweetened coconut and almond toppings. We all need variety right?

I haven't yet perfected the art of filling these up just right - but hey, when has a little extra overflowing chocolate hurt anyone?

Pop them into the fridge and just in about 20 mins, they are solid and amazing. You can chop them neatly or break them rough. Just play with them. They've been good to you.

Since virgin coconut oil hardens at temperature below 76F, these turn solid really quick in the refrigerator Hence this recipe won't work with any other oils.

Enjoy some gorgeous Deep Dark Chocolate. These are great to make hot chocolate drinks too. Btw - these are bitter and I thought my daughter would not like these but she turned out a surprise and loved them!

Happy Valentines Day to all!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Sarkarai Pongal - Rice & Moong cooked with Jaggery and some Bliss

2013-01-08T20:11:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year to all my readers. It was a good 2012. Now, hope the goodness continues into 2013 and we all have a blessed year ahead. I resolved not to take new resolutions - there are plenty in my list already from the last few years that are yet to be fulfilled. One at a time, as they say.

Starting the posts this year with a family favorite, a traditional and heart warming Sarkarai Pongal. Besides, in a week's time, its going to be Pongal festival and this is a must prepare dish for the celebration. Today, however this is coming in a week early because of a request from my favorite and only brother-in-law of mine. We had a long chat yesterday on what to cook for Pongal and he is going to try his hands on making Sarkarai Pongal...or how we all fondly call it as Chakkara Pongal.

This dish automatically reminds me of our Oppiliappan Koil temple visits. The drive through the green fields to reach the temple, the colorful gopuram at the entrance and the messy shoe racks to the right, the lady who sells fresh flowers for Rs.10 for a mozham, tourist vans parked across the street, step inside and on the left are the water taps where you could wash your feet before you go in, and then there's the friendly big elephant trained to bless and thrill a few children for a few bucks, the big mandapam on the left side, the ticket counters, and the narrrow walkway to the sanctum sanctorum. You finish all the prayers and come out and as you walk to go around the temple, you cross the kitchen on your left just behind the Hanuman sannidhi. And that's when it hits you. The Aroma. The Ghee laden Chakkara Pongal wafting out of the kitchen and right under your nostrils. So, you forget the big round around the temple and walk straight in the kitchen. Someone is usually outside handing you the prasadam in little dhonnai cups. And you take a bite out of that suda suda chakkara pongal..that's when you feel it...God's complete blessing. Bliss. Nothing like temple chakkara pongal and puliyodharai.

Here's my attempt to get that experience of Bliss in my kitchen. And share God's abundant blessing with you all! All you need is this -

1 cup Rice
1/4 cup Moong Daal
2 cups Jaggery (powdered or broken into small bits)
Cardamom Powder - a pinch
Cashewnuts - a few
Ghee - how much bliss do you want? That much.
Saffron - a few more strands of bliss. Why not.

Wash and dry roast the moong daal till they turn golden.
Mix with washed rice, add 3 1/2 cups of water, and pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.

In a pan, add a little water. Melt the jaggery in the water till it all dissolves completely.

Filter out the jaggery to remove any impurities. You can see I did not have much but still there is a black dot and some few strands of something. Good riddance, my friend.

Add a little water and using a spoon, mash the rice and daal as much as you are able to.

Heat the clean jaggery and when it starts to boil, add the rice and daal and mix well. It will be a little watery at this point. No worries. Keep cooking in low-medium heat till this thickens up.

Add about 2-3 tbsps of ghee - a little at a time and incorporate it into the pongal. You can use a masher and mash you the rice further.

When this is thick and it start coming off like a ball from the side, stop the heat and add a pinch of powdered cardamom for aroma. You can add some saffron strings too if you have them.

Finally, fry some cashews in ghee and add to the pongal.

Now, all you have to do is eat.

If your pongal gets too thick, you can always add a little warm milk and mix well until you get the consistency. Some people even cook the rice and moong in milk. I always end up with a pressure cooker mess and hence don't do it.

Satish - hope this helps! Enjoy making Sakkari Pongal and have a great Pongal party!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

White Pumpkin and Garbanzo Kootu

2012-12-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

Gosh I miss this space so much! Its been a long time since I've been here and updated you with what's cooking in my kitchen. If any of you want to give me a good Christmas gift, give me a clone of myself so I could make that one post a recipe every other day.

The holidays are already here and I still can't believe the year is almost up. Where did the time go?

My little one turned one last month and it seems like she was just born. She is completely mobile now..so you can imagine how my life has become. She seems to be climbing on everything and everywhere. Anything that is inside a cabinet at her level is thrown out all the time. She seems to especially love the noise with which metal hits the wood floor. Yes, my life is noisy and messy but I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

This recipe is for a simple side dish to go with rotis or even to mix with rice. My mom makes this quite often for us. If there's a veggie that can be made into a kootu, we'd have kootu that day. Some kootu's have cooked daal in them and some don't. This is of the latter variety. And that make this an easy recipe with not much prep work needed.

Start with some white pumpkin - I miss the fresh cut wedges that are available back in India. This is how we get them here. Little blocks wrapped in plastic with a bar code and price on top.

Remove all the seeds and cut the veggie into small chunks.

Also, get the channa ready. I used a canned version which does not require any soaking. If you are using the dried version, it will need to be soaked and pressure cooked first...which makes this a little more difficult recipe.. all I use to measure difficulty is to see how many dishes you'll have to clean at the end of cooking!

In a small pan, add about 1 tsp of oil and let it heat up. When the oil is hot, add 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds and a few fresh curry leaves.

Add the chopped pumpkin pieces in and fry for a min. Then add a pinch of turmeric and salt and then add water enough to cover the veggies.

Add the soft garbanzo to the pan along with the pumkin. Mix well and let this cook together until the pumpkin pieces are tender and soft.

While that is cooking, let's make the seasoning paste. This is what is going to add all the flavor in the kootu.

Dry roast all these ingredients below until the aroma wafts out and then add them to a mixer to make a paste.

Channa Daal - 1 tsp
Coriander Seeds - 2 tsps
Methi Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Red Chillies - dried - about 2-3
Grated Coconut - about 1 heaped tsp

Grind everything together with a little water to make a smooth paste.

Once the pumpkin is cooked tender, add the paste to the kootu and mix well.

Let this cook in simmer for about 5 mins.

To top off with a tadka, add a tsp of ghee and when its hot, add some Shah Jeera or regular jeera to the ghee and 1 or 2 red chillies and 1/4 tsp of whole urad. As soon as it sizzles, pour on top of kootu and mix well.

And its ready for you now. Are you ready for it?

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Ragi (Finger Millet) Roti

2012-09-25T16:18:00.003-07:00

Ragi or Finger Millet is a power filled and protein rich food. This is many times made as a breakfast porridge. If you travel to remote villages in India, the farmers have this for breakfast so they have a whole bountiful of energy to get through farming and walking all day in the fields. I've also heard from the wise old people that eating this regularly helps in maintaining strong knees and legs. So, if you're planning to get old and wise, start eating this now.

Ragi roti, is an easy recipe to start with if you are new to this grain. These are just flat breads, spiced up with flavorful seasonings. I don't even need a side dip or dish to eat this with. Just love to bite them and chow them down.

Start with about 2 cups of ragi flour. Add about 1/2 cup each of regular atta and 1/2 cup of rice flour. The rice flour helps to make the rotis crispy.

Here's all these seasonings that go in the roti.

Chopped Onions - 1 cup
Chopped green chilli - about 2-3 chopped finely
Chopped Ginger - about 2 tsps
Chopped Cilantro - a small bunch (you can only see a little on my chopping board ..please take a little bit more than this)

In a small pan, add about 2 tsps oil. When the oil is hot, add all of these following ingredients -

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Chopped green chilli
Chopped ginger
Chopped onions

Saute the onions till they are cooked and turn soft.

Mix all the cooked onions and the other seasoning to the flour mix. Add salt to taste.

Finally add the chopped cilantro and mix well.

Adding water, a little at at time, make a stiff dough out of the flour.

Take a small portion, roll it into a ball and flatten it on a greased ziploc sheet. Ragi could get sticky and so you don't want to do it on a rough surface and have a big mess.

Apply a little oil on your hands and press down the flour into a round shape...well, almost round in my case.

Heat both sides on a tawa till the dough is cooked. Add a few drops of oil on top (not a lot, remember - we're trying something healthy here!)

And then...wait..we're done. Nothing else to do. Except eating of course. I don't think you'll need my help with that.

This would go great with a side of chutneys or even daal. Try some spicy tomato thokku with this. What are your favorite sides to go with this if you are a ragi regular. Let me know.

Enjoy making it and enjoy a healthy meal. Give it to your kids as well and they would not even know how much goodness they are eating.

Enjoy. Peace out!

Pudina (Mint) Paratha

2012-09-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hello to all my friends out there. I missed you all much. And hope you did miss me too.

I just came back from a crazy hectic vacation in India - traveled to almost 9 cities across India with a 9 month and a 7 year old and of course my hubby dear. But we all enjoyed every bit of it - I wish it was a longer trip and I could have done so much more and met so many other friends. To all my friends that I could not meet - so sorry..will make it up next time! And even without you asking, yes, I did eat a lot of wonderful food across all the cities. Will write a post dedicated to some of my favorite foods in India - at least the ones I was able to take pictures on.

Meanwhile, here's a recent favorite recipe of mine. Actually recent meaning, when the fresh mint plant started growing crazy in my backyard, this dish presents itself quite often in our house. It takes just a few minutes to make. And sometimes when I'm extra lazy, i don't have to make a side to go with this. This tastes great by itself or with achhar (pickles) and yogurt.

Ingredients Required -

Atta - 2 cups

Fresh ground Cumin and Coriander Seed powder - a couple of tsps

Green Chillies - 2 finely chopped

Ginger - about 1/2 tsp grated finely

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Boiled and grated potatoes - 1 big potato or 2 small ones

Fresh mint - 1 big bunch chopped finely.

White Sesame seeds - 1 tsp

Olive oil - 1/4 cup

Water - to make the dough

Start with regular atta. Add all the seasoning above. Finally cut the mint into small bits and add to the atta. I add oil to the dough itself - it helps in keeping the parathas soft for a long time - also, this way I don't need to add a lot of ghee or oil while making the parathas.

Boil a couple of small potatoes separately and grate them to small bits. Add this to the other ingredients.

Here's the fresh mint just plucked from my backyard. Wash the leaves thoroughly and then pluck out just the leaves and discard the stems. Hint: if you have a sink erator at home, discard some of the tender stems and run the motor - your whole sink would smell fresh and nice! No fancy chemicals needed.

Once you've added all the ingredients, either using your hand or a electric motor, add water a little at a time and make a soft dough out of it.

Doesn't the dough look pretty itself?

Take medium sized balls of the dough and roll out into a not too thick- not too thin paratha.

Heat the paratha on both sides until cooked. Add a couple of drops of oil on top of the paratha before you flip it over. For richer parathas, add ghee. Theres' no stopping you eating all of them then. Don't blame me.

Enjoy some warm and full of goodness pudina parathas!

Next time you find good fresh mint leaves, you know what to do.

Enjoy. Peace out!

Zuka (Choco-La) - Pondicherry

2012-07-31T11:57:00.002-07:00

You all know how much I love chocolate. I wish I can live in a place filled with chocolates. I wish I can dig my hands deep into chocolate and carve out beautiful things out of them. I wish I can stay around chocolate all day and always smell chocolate. I wish I can make a statue of liberty with chocolate and just stare at her beauty. I wish all my love for chocolate will make me so happy that I'll be ok to actually share it with others.

I just wish all this.

But I have a friend who loves his chocolate a little more than me...and he really lives this life I only talk about here. He has his own beautiful place filled with chocolates. He and his chocolate lab friends dig deep into their chocolate and create marvels out of it. He gets to stay at this chocolate place all day - laughing and smiling and smelling choocolate. And yes, he actually has made a Statue of Liberty and he and everyone else got to stare at it all day( I got to stare at it on FB too). And he is so nice coz he even shares all his chocolate. If my chocolate dream had a name, it probably will be Srinath Balachander, the young and vibrant owner of Pondicherry's Zuka (formerly called Choco-La)

Go visit him and he'll welcome you with chocolate flowers.

And maybe with some more chocolate.

Here's his beautiful store at Pondicherry. A must stop destination if you ever visit Pondicherry. And if you happen to live there, just go right away and get some chocolate. Its a tough choice to pick a favorite. But maybe give it all a try.

Try some pastries.

Or just super pretty little somethinssss...

Or maybe a big whole Taj Mahal. (Hint to all men here...be your wife's shahjahan and at least get her this...)

If you don't want to eat chocolate, do drink some. How about a spiced up chilli chocolate drink - I heard this is quite famous here.

Maybe so famous that it attracts the biggies...look who came to eat some chocolate..

Can you guess...He's gorgeous even when you can't see him really.

Dhoni of course....Thank God he is famous...so much handsomeness should never be wasted without the whole world seeing it. Can you imagine, sitting with Dhoni and sipping on some hot chilli chocolate - that would be my Super lotto win.

Well..this bought him there. All made with Chocolate of course.

Even Dhoni will have to pay his respects to this little Universal Wonder below. Thalaiva.. Vanakkam.

Who says fruit cake is boring? Look how much fun they have making fruit cake.

If this were me, the spoon would be at another angle - one facing my mouth.

His updated place Zuka now serves spicy and savory fare in addition to all this gorgeous sweetness. From Enchilladas to Sandwiches and Wraps..oh I wish I could show up there for lunch everyday.

What are you waiting for? If you live in Pondicherry, just go over now. If not, just take the train and go over there now.

Let's meet there for a cup of chocolate. I mean, literally.

Srinath - wish you the very best in your labor of love. Hoping I can visit you soon and enjoy all this!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Disclaimer: All the above pictures are not taken by me. These are all pictures shared on Srinath's Facebook Page and have been copied with his permission.

Rajasthani Pyaaz Ki Kachori - I Love My India Series

2012-06-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

Continuing my exploration into famous tastes of Rajasthan in the I Love My India Series, today's feature is Pyaaz Ki Kachori aka Onion Kachoris.

There's this feeling I go through when I prepare foods like this kachori. Initially, because its a new dish that I haven't prepared before, the whole thing its intimidating. Then, I sit down, look at it objectively and go through the steps in my head - trying to compartmentalize it and break it down into smaller steps. Which makes it easier in my head. Good progress. And then I procrastinate for a while. Don't we all anyway? Just say yes and make me feel good. I know the truth. Then one day, I finally get to it - there's the food excitement brewing in my head now. And when I start the cooking, the fun kicks in. There's light at the end of this tunnel. I see it now.

Shaping up these kachoris is a pretty thing. Like frosting a cupcake. Your heart wants to do it. And it brings joy when you see a perfectly fried kachori ..one that does not split open in the middle of frying...one that does not turn black while frying because you walked away to catch up on facebook...and one that does not limp and become an oily mess after it has been fried. Like I said, a perfect kachori brings joy. And so does losing 20 lbs in 3 months - but we'll talk about it when that happens too.

The most fun part of this recipe is all the exotic ingredients that go into it. I thought it would be easier to just show it to you rather than list it all here. So here I go yearbook style..

Top row has crushed coriander, cloves, bay leaves and cardamom.
Middle row has Poppy seeds, chopped garlic, chopped ginger and chopped green chilli (well, orange ones too)
Bottom row has saunf, ajwain and white sesame seeds.
Phew. I know. Is this not fun? Its like these little pieces of sparkle that go into the filling...take one bite at the final product and there's nothing but a great firework in your mouth.

In a pan, add about 1-2 tsps of oil. When oil it hot, add all the spices above except the sesame seeds. Saute for a min.

Then, add about 2-3 cups of finely chopped onions and fry till they turn pink. Add salt to taste, turmeric powder and a pinch of asofoetida.

In a small bowl, take about 1/2 cup besan. Add pinch of salt, pinch of turmeric powder and some red chilli powder for a kick. Add water to this and make into a paste without any lumps.

When the onions are cooked, add the besan paste and mix well.

Cook this for about 5-8 mins until the raw smell of the besan is gone.

Add finely chopped cilantro and mix well.

Finally add the white sesame seeds and mix well.

The filling for the kachoris is ready. I think one of these days I'm just going to make this as a side dish for rotis.

Now on to the kachori covers. My kitchenaid of late has become my trusted lieutenant in the kitchen - I seem to use it almost everyday and many times its not been for baking. I use it regularly for roti atta and just about any paratha - its a breeze with this. I just dump atta in this and throw in all the other ingredients and in a couple of mins, my parathas are cooking on the tawa.

For the kachori dough, add about 2 cups maida, 1/4 cup butter (that's half a stick), and salt to taste. You could also use ghee instead of butter if that's easily available.

Add water little by little to make a soft dough. If you are mixing by hand, mix up all the butter well with the flour and then add water little at a time until you can knead into a soft dough.

So this is how a little ball of dough turns into a pretty kachori.

Here are a few ready for their oil bath.

Fry the kachori is hot oil but make sure the flame is in medium - the dough has to cook fully and turn golden.

Drain on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

Serve them hot. If you are storing them, use a oven toaster for reheating or you could also use a tawa. Don't microwave to heat - that will just make it soggy.

And now I'll just stop talking and let you all enjoy this. Go ahead, grab a bite.

Click here for a printable recipe for this post.

Printable Recipe - Rajasthani Pyaaz Ki Kachori

Click here for more I Love My India: Rajasthan recipes.

Papad Ki Sabji

Dal Baati

Missi Roti and Gatte Ki Sabji

Enjoy. Peace Out!

I Love My India: Rajasthani Papad Ki Sabji

2012-05-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

Rajasthan - the land of the kings has been home for so many kingdoms historically. These kingdoms have left their mark on Rajasthan by building beautiful forts and palaces. Have you thought about how life would have been living inside these forts, villages and palaces. What would people do for entertainment since movies and Ipad were just not there then? How was the education for kids - did they still have to carry a truckload of stuff on their backs while going to school? How would these people travel everywhere - on camelbacks? On horses?

Well, one thing I do know is that they all enjoyed great food. Have you seen that thali of food that Aish serves Hrithik aka Akbar in Jodhaa Akbar. What a feast!

Continuing my experimenting with Rajasthani food, the next recipe I have here to share with you all is Papad Ki Sabji. This traditional dish can be compared to a kadi and is a really easy dish to prepare. And of course, there's that point of who would have thought to use papad in a curry? Well, someone did and I'm just glad they did.

Recipe starts with about 2 cups of sour dahi (curds).

Add
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsps coriander-jeera powder
Salt to taste

Whisk it all well together.

Now on to the papads, I used the Lijjat style masala papad. You can use regular urad papadums or rice papads.

Now one style of cooking Papad Ki Sabji is to just add the raw papads in the dahi mix and cook it together.

You could also roast them like I did here or fry them in oil and then add them to the kadi. Totally your choice.

Now that my papads are ready, let's move on to making the kadi.

In a wide pan, add a tsp of oil and then when the oil is hot, add a tsp of jeera. And then add a cup of finely chopped onions. Fry till they turn pink.

Reduce the heat on the pan, and slowly mix in the dahi mixture a little at a time and at the same time keep stirring it so that the curds don't curdle or separate.

Cook this mix in low medium for about 5-10 mins.

Add the roasted papads to the dahi mix.

Mix well and let this cook for a couple of mins.

Add some water to the sabji so its not too thick. Let it cook in medium heat for a few mins.

Almost done here. Wasn't that easy?

I was out of fresh cilantro. But if you do have it, chop them up nice and add to the sabji.

Who would have thought you could make one delicious sabji with papads? I think I'm going to start adding papads to more dishes from now - like on a mixed vegetable curry, or a aloo gobi sabji. I'm sure these papads would add flavor, texture and interest to those dishes.

The papads taste soft but also a little firm because they were roasted initially. So they don't taste sloppy and slimy as I imagined it would. There is a definite bite to these papads that feels very good to your taste buds.
So, don't wait longer. Go start making this now.

And what would I eat those with? This simple Onion Paratha.

This is not the traditional stuffed pyaaz ki paratha but rather a quick onion paratha. I learnt this from my Marwari friend Shantha who made this a few times when she was visiting me here. It became one of our favorites and when I need something simple and delicious, this is one that comes to mind immediately. We sometime just eat this with acchar and dahi. But of course, they taste better with Papad Ki Sabji. Thanks Shantha for introducing me to something that has been my dinner saver many a times!

Take about 2 cups of wheat flour (atta). Add about 1/2 - 1 cup of roughly chopped onions to the atta. I usually just add one medium onion chopped. Add salt to taste.

Then, add about 2-3 tsps of oil to the atta.

Mix well to combine the onions and the oil with the atta.

Add warm water and knead into a dough.

Make medium sized balls out of the dough.

Roll into a thick paratha. Its hard to get a perfect round shape on these because of the big onion pieces. So try but if you can't get a perfect circle, don't fret. Its just the nature of the food.

On a hot tawa, cook the paratha both sides and then press down the paratha in a circle - what this does is that it makes it thin and crispy and the paratha thins out into a bigger sized paratha. You can add more oil if you want on both sides while cooking. But I usually don't since the atta already has oil in it.

And there are the simple and easy Onion parathas.

Serve hot with a bowl of Papad Ki Sabji!

Hope you enjoyed the post. I'll come back soon with another delicious Rajasthani dish.

Enjoy. Peace Out!

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!

Update: Here's how my golu looked. Enjoy building your own steps and setting up your golu.

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!