In case you are wondering where I had disappeared to, well, I did not.  I was very much here.  And I was bouncing with thoughts and ideas and excitement.  So much, that I just could not bring myself to sit and write down or concentrate enough to photograph anything!  It is all to do with the arrival of Summer, and with it the Holiday Season.  I am going to take off on a trek, this time to Sarkundi Pass in the lower slopes of the Himalayas along scenic, beautiful, Himachal Pradesh.  I however requested a few friends to help me keep the blog going.  Friends who started off as strangers whom I met in ‘Flickr’, ‘blogger’ or facebook.  They kindly consented to do guest posts so that the food section keeps getting updated here.

Today it is my pleasure to introduce Vera to you.  Veronika writes a food blog that goes by the apt title ‘The Kitchen Finesse’.  I was attracted to her beautiful blog since my first visit to her flickr stream.  Her finesse in photography and styling are unique and captivating.  She is not vegan, but she loves to experiment once in a while as she will tell you herself.  I hope you enjoy the lovely Mexcian spread she is sharing today.

Please welcome Veronika Studer.

Hello everyone out there. I just have one question to you. Are you a vegan? Quite silly question assuming you are reading Harini’s gorgeous blog so must have a great interest in veganism (is that a word at all?) or being a vegan allready. If you are, then you are my hero. I have to admit that I am everything but. Altough I deserve a bit of a credit since a decade ago I used to be a vegetarian.   (it just hit me that I am going to turn thirtysomething this year, I need a moment to wrap my head around it…)

Few weeks ago I decided to give it a try to eating vegan, how hard could this be. Well, if you are new around here, or  just thinking about turning to vegan I have to tell you, that it is much -let me correct myself, much much much- harder as it seems. Eating vegetables are not a problem, I love them but then every recipe that crossed my mind required either eggs, butter or milk for that matter.  I really strated to loose my mind. How the heck do people eat vegan? They must be all heroes. For me it seemed to be close to impossible. At the end of the week I finished up the whole vegetable section of the grocery store and was craving something spicy, a complete meal and it just hit me… I want Mexican fajitas very badly.  It turned out to be excellent, actually I could not stop eating them until I finished it all up. Was a great end to my vegan week. To sum it up, you people are my stars. Eating vegan is a great challange, not easy but refreshing. I have to admit, I am far from turning vegan, but since then I try to eat so at least once a week and feels great.

Recipe:  Mexican chickpea fajitas

Wheat flour tortilla:

Either store bought or make them yourself

250g wheat flour

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

Approx. 150 ml water

Mix the ingredients, cut the dough into 6-8 pieces and roll to 2-3 mm thick discs. Heat up pan and bake each side of the tortilla until truns lightly browned.

Tomato Salsa:

400g canned tomato (or fresh)

1 onion

1 minced garlic

Salt

Pepper

Mix the tomato with the small cut onion and garlic. Season to taste. (if you use fresh tomatoes, then cut a cross on the top and drop it few minutes into hot water, then peel them)

Chickpea fajitas:

500g canned chickpea (or dried, soaked in water and cooked until tender)

2 large onions

4 minced garlic

½ tsp ground cumin

1 bell pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Zest and juice of a lime

Chilli (according to taste)

4 Tbsp vegetable oil

Salt

Pepper

Serve with:  fresh avocado, tomato salsa and tortilla

Heat up vegetable oil in a pan. Add coarsely chopped oinon and bell pepper. Bake until slightly browned. Add strained chickpea, garlic and season to taste. Let it cook for about 10 minutes.  Stir in the juice of the lime and zest. Serve hot with avocado, salsa and wrap it in tortilla.

I am sure you want to know more about her kind of food after that delicious breakfast!

You can also connect with Vera on Facebook and flickr.

I shall be away for nearly the whole month with not access to the ‘web’, but my friends will bring you some really mouth-watering dishes to make up for my absence!  Stay tuned.  And when I return, I will show you a slice of the Heaven I am touring!

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

I remember as a child, a few of my friends were into the pen-friend thing.  Pen-friends apparently shared strong bonds.  I often thought, as young children are wont to think when not convinced, that the stories were made-up, just to ‘show-off’, until I heard a real life incident.  One of P’s friend actually traveled to Australia to meet his pen-friend after receiving an invitation and ended up working and living there for a long time!  Incredible, isn’t it?  The days of pen-friends through snail-mail mode is long gone.  And these days we have online friends, chatroom-friends, flickr-friends, and well – blogger-friends!  I have quite a few and I am sure you do!  Many of you are already my friends, and God bless you all for enriching my life with your touch!

I make friends easily with most people, that I knew, but till the blog happened, my friends were always those whom I met in real life.  I did not understand virtual friendships.  Slowly it happened, and without my knowing it, I started getting into conversations with  readers, fellow bloggers and they were some with whom I ‘connected’.  We exchanged numbers and would meet up if we visited each other’s cities.  At first I was cautious but so far all the people I have met have been really nice people, some with whom the friendship has gone from acquaintance to close friends.

Aparna is one of my closest friends amongst bloggers.  We have met a few times, and I have stayed at her place.  We converse a lot on phone.  Jr.H and Aparna’s daughter Akshaya are buddies.  We have a lot in common though as my daughter points out – “Ma, you both are so different!”  That is what makes it special.

Today, it is my pleasure to invite Aparna over to my virtual home.  Aparna writes a lacto-ovo, food blog called ‘My Diverse Kitchen’.  As the name indicates, her recipes belong to diverse regions.  She loves baking as much as I do.

Over to Aparna:

Sometimes the simplest of things can have you stumped. Sometime back, Harini came down to Goa with her family for a short vacation. We are good friends, and our daughters can spend a lot of time marvelling over how food and photography can turn their mothers in beings weirder than Martians might be!

So what does one food blogger take when meeting another one? Well, good food is always much appreciated, so I decided to bake some cupcakes for her kids. I don’t usually bake vegan but being vegetarian, I am now quite comfortable with it and only need to give my recipe of choice a bit of thought before I adapt it.

Harini’s daughter, whom she refers to in her posts as ‘Jr H’ also happens to be allergic to gluten and this, is what had me stumped as I have rarely done gluten-free baking! My native style of South Indian cooking is inherently gluten-free as it is mostly rice based, but gluten-free baking is something I have very little experience with.

One of my reference points for workable gluten-free recipes on the net is the Karina, the Gluten-free Goddess. She has an excellent variety of gluten-free recipes on her blog, which are vegetarian and many are vegan too. These gorgeous gluten-free cupcakes took my fancy but I didn’t have oranges or orange juice and some of the other ingredients in stock. But I did have lemons on hand, so adapted the recipe to suit my taste, make it vegan, and use whatever was in my kitchen cupboards.

And the result? Soft and delicious lemony cupcakes with a tangy lemon glaze. The softness and crumb texture is like that of a regular cupcake, and you wouldn’t even know there wasn’t all-purpose flour in it except for the somewhat nutty taste of sorghum flour. We liked them, and I remember Harini’s daughter telling me she liked them very much.

So when Harini asked me, a couple of months back, if I would do guest post for her, it seemed a perfect idea to make those very gluten-free cupcakes that I had originally for her daughter. So here’s my recipe.

One thing I would like to add, is that “xanthan gum” which is used in this recipe, is a corn-derived thickener and usually used in gluten-free bakes. It works by making the gluten-free batter thicker and the bakes like cakes less crumbly. I got my “xanthan gum” from the US, but if you don’t have it, you can substitute it with guar gum (if you can find it), or arrowroot starch or flax seed meal.

Might I also add that the lemon glaze really does make this cupcake special so don’t leave that out, or else you can use an icing/ buttercream of your choice.

Recipe:  Vegan & Gluten-free Cupcakes With a Lime/ Lemon Glaze

(Adapted from the Gluten-free Goddess)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sorghum flour (jowar)
3/4 cup corn starch (corn flour in India)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp oil
1 cup water
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, xanthan gum and the lemon zest.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together the oil, water, lemon juice and vanilla till mixed. Add this to the dry ingredients and beat with an electric mixer, on medium speed, for about 2 minutes till smooth and fluffy. This gluten-free batter is likely to climb up the beaters so it helps to beat in a “figure eight” motion while holding up the beaters a bit and at a slight angle while beating.

Let the batter sit a minute before spooning it into 10 medium sized cupcake lined cupcake tins. Bake the cupcakes at 180C (350F) for about 20 to 25 minutes till golden and firm to touch.

To make the lime/ lemon glaze, mix 1 cup icing sugar with about 1 to 2 tsp fresh lime/ lemon juice, or just enough to make a thick glaze. Drop a small teaspoonful of the glaze on the cool cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles if desired.

This recipe makes 10 medium sized cupcakes.

——————————

Aparna can be reached on Facebook and Twitter.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

It is not a recipe in keeping with my tastebuds. For me sweet and sour do not run well together. I can’t help it. My taste buds have a very one dimensional approach and like to distinguish the elements that they come in contact with!  And peculiarly this is restricted to sauces alone.

That is another reason why I prefer salads without dressings made with even a hint of sweetness such as date syrup or jaggery syrup. I can however tolerate bites of sweetness and like slivers of date or occasional bite into a fruit, which I often use to add the element of sweetness.

In short I don’t like ‘puli pachadi’, and unless my husband or son complain that I am biased and I cook only what I like, I wiggle my way out of preparing it and sometimes feign forgetfulness.  Interestingly, it was a visit to my parents’ house that introduced this dish to my husband.  He loved it so much that he ate up the portion that was made for all of us, and my mother was shocked!  My husband did not know that ‘pachadi’ is a miscellaneous accompaniment and not meant to be mixed with rice and eaten like rasam or sambar.   And he also came to know that I had been cooking only dishes I liked till then!

Role of ‘pachadi’ in a Tamilian meal
The traditional Indian menu, was designed to cater tastebuds other than mine. A meal would be incomplete without all the five elements, i.e., salty, sour, bitter, sweet and a fairly new element – umami [I still find it inscrutable. Refer this article to know more]. So if the main dishes were just savoury, a South-Indian meal would be balanced by serving ‘pachadi’ on the side. Pachadi is basically raw, cooked or fried vegetables in a sour sauce. The sourness may come from yogurt, tamarind or even kokum. Yogurt being moderately acidic is easily balanced with just salt, but tamarind or kokum are both highly tart and are usually balanced by adding jaggery. Sour in Tamil translates into ‘puli’, hence ‘puli pachadi’. Pachadi is a miscellaneous taste provider in the main meal and hence served in small quantities like chutney and is supposed to be consumed that way – dip the tip of the finger and lick off a bit every now and then. Puli pachadi is made in combination with rice and molagootal as the latter has a one dimensional or flat taste. However, in my house they cannot get enough of pachadi. On the rare occasions when I do prepare puli pachadi, I make lots. My boy likes to mix lots of pachadi into little rice and eat it with a bit of molagootal.

Like most Indian recipes, this too is easily adaptable. Go by instinct and listen to your tastebuds while sticking to the recipe as far as procedure goes.  There is no ‘right’ amount of sour and sweet.  It is adaptable.  Experiment.  Find your balance.  I am not sure whether everyone would agree to that but hey!  We have a right to eat the way we like, right?

Recipe: Vendakkaya puli pachadi
Yield: A soup bowl full

Ingredients:
Okra / Lady finger, washed, dried, and cut into thin rings – 1 cup
Tamarind – a lump, about 1” in diameter, soaked in water for at least 15 minutes
Jaggery – 1/2 tsp., or as per taste
Fine rice flour – ¼ tsp.
Water to dissolve rice flour – ¼ cup

Seasoning:
Sesame oil – 2 tsp.
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp.
Fenugreek seeds – 1/8 tsp.
Green chillies, chopped – 2
Asafoetida powder (Hing) – 1/8 tsp.
Dried red chilli, broken into small pieces – 1
Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Method:

Mash the soaked tamarind and extract thick juice, and set aside. Do not add much water.

Heat oil in a heavy wok and splutter mustard seeds. Add the ingredients listed under ‘seasoning’ and fry till the chillies change colour.

Add okra and sprinkle a little salt. Stir-fry on high flame till the okra are bright green and almost done. Do not close the wok as it will change the colour of the okra.

Add tamarind extract and let the vegetable boil till done, about two minutes. Add jaggery. Dissolve rice flour in water and add the paste. My pachadi is never very thick. I like to keep it a little runny. You can see the consistency in the photograph. If needed add hot water and boil to bring it to the right consistency. The sauce should coat the back of a spoon evenly.

Cool and serve. Pachadi is usually served at room temperature. It will turn thicker as it cools. If left over, dilute by adding hot water rather than warm the dish.

Serve as a miscellaneous accompaniment with rice and South-Indian gravy such as molagootal. Can also be served with upma kozhakottai and other snacks as per liking.

Tamilian cusine has a wide variety of pachadi, both tamarind based and curd based.  I like the latter better, made with cashew curd, and will try and post some soon.

Since this dish is very much a representative of my native place, I am linking it with #IndianFoodPalooza, an event conjured by Prerna, Kathy and Barbara.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

I will spare you the details of why I do not like Holi this year.  It’s a personal problem.  I have lamented enough about the ills as well as the reasons for the celebration in the last three years.  And because I do not have any fresh grudges.  We did not have water supply that evening and almost whole of next day.

I do enjoy some aspects – one aspect actually! The gastronomic indulgence Holi allows.

Sinful?  Yes, hugely sinful!  But then again, I rarely indulge.  As long as I grew up Holi was synonymous with gujiya, an Indian puff pastry that swaddles a sweet concoction of dense khoya (milk solids made by evaporating milk over slow heat for a long period) mixed with dry fruits and nuts.  To say, I don’t miss it would be an outright lie.  I do.  But I recently hit upon a very nice idea on making a vegan version that is tastier (that I promise is not an exaggeration) and easier.

The blurred visions of vegan gujiya, puff pastry and croissants are stronger and clearer, ever since I saw boxes of vegan butter spread at Foodhall.  I was such a pig I piled six boxes in my shopping trolley.  Imagine my shock when I was told that the bill came to Rs.6,000/-!  I checked the prices and found that a half kg box of vegan butter spread came at an outrageous price of Rs.637/-!  Worth it?  Totally, if you do are rolling in green, maybe.  I requested the cashier to bill two boxes and strike out four.  Whatever little guilt I felt were quashed by happy visions of flour and butter. Right now, I am using the butter very sparingly, but the visions are still there.  If you know me only through the blog you can expect it show up here, and if you know me well?  You might not recognize me.  I will try to camouflage the love handles with loose-fitting, flowing tops.

Coming back to Holi, since it was the first day of indulgence and guilt was still high, I stuck to making something that will use butter sparingly.  Not gujiya.  I made matthri (some of you might know it as matthi or suali as it is called in Rajasthan).  Mattris are very crisp, flaky, deep-fried Indian cookies made with refined flour.  All things evil – fats, gluten and oil.

Recipe: Matthri / Matthi / Suali ~ Deep-fried Indian crisp and flaky Indian cookies
Yield: 15-20 nos., depending on the size. (rough estimate)

Ingredients:

Refined flour / Maida – 2 cups
Salt (to taste) – ½ tsp. approx.
Carom seeds / Ajwain – 1 tbsp.
Kokum butter melted (see tips)– 4.5 tbsp
Warm water – 1 cup / 170g  approx.
A bit of vinegar – ¼ tsp.

Oil to fry [Sunflower or any neutral oil]

Method:

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.  Add salt and carom seeds and stir well to distribute the seeds in the flour uniformly.

Make a mound, and a well in the center.  Pour hot oil/warm melted butter.

Rub the flour and butter, first using a spoon till you can handle the heat, and then with the tips of your fingers till the mixture becomes crumbly.  You can add upto ½ cup of melted oil, but I have used a little less here.  And it makes a mighty difference.  But if you increase the fats remember to reduce water.

Add vinegar to water.  Stir and add sprinkle this over the dough, gathering into crumbs as you go.  The amount of water may vary by a tablespoon or so.  Gather the crumbs with your fist into a tight dough.  Do not knead as this will make the dough tough and resistant.

Let it rest for 15-20 minutes while the oil gets heated in a thick-bottomed deep-frying wok. It should come to medium heat.

Pinch ping-pong sized balls of dough and press between the hollows of your palms into a rough circular cookie.  Use a touch of oil to grease your palms before doing this.

When a few are done, fry in reduced heat only.  The cookies should not sizzle and come up as they will be bubbles all over.  The cookies are generally a little thick around the center and should be fried in low heat till half done.  Stir around a bit so that the browning is even.

When half done remove one batch and add a fresh one.  After three batches are made this way, re-fry the first batch to golden colour.  Similarly finish with the entire dough.

Let them cool at room temperature completely before transferring to an air-tight container.

These last well for as long as a fortnight.

Taste, look and texture:

Matthris should be flaky inside.  You should hear them softly crack when you break them.  They will not be as soft as cookies and will have a crack but a very light one.  They should be uniformly golden, and not pale.  Pale ones may remain uncooked inside.  They taste a lot like the outer covering of samosa but are a little harder than that in texture.

Notes, observations and tips:

For this preparation I used ‘kokum butter’.  The flower of the kokum plant is used widely in Konkani and Maharashtrian cuisines.  The butter extracted is generally used for medicinal values, but I have been told it is edible in small quantities.  You can use vegan butter spread, or hot oil instead.

The good thing is matthri is not the kind of thing that one can eat in large quantities.  It is the kind of snack you might bite on every once in a while, one at a time.  It is filling.

If you want to make it all prim and proper, roll out on a board and cut into circles with a cookie cutter.  I made it the rustic way, just taking a small ball and pressing it between my palms which is quicker and does not make a difference to the taste.

Never make a big batch if only for the family.  That way you might indulge less.

A few years back I blogged a whole-wheat, baked version, spiced with kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) which also makes a very tasty evening snack with tea.  If you like the recipe but think it has too many refined products, try the whole-wheat version.

I measured the ingredients in volume as well as weighed them.  Please note that Indian cup measures are said to hold less in weight.

The amount of water used to make the dough might differ depending on strength of the arms to persevere, and the strength of the flour.  Please adjust.  I have often found that my mother needs a little more water than I need.  I suppose I will be there, but not just yet!

You can vary the flavours by adding spices of your choice.  I like the addition of sesame seeds and kasuri methi (dry fenugreek leaves) too.  Carom seeds (ajwain) prevent bloating.

(Pretty bowl gifted by Saee – thank you!)

Hey healthy eaters!  Don’t go away please.  I tell you, I am not to blame for the indulgence. It’s the Season.

If you try my recipes, please let me know on my facebook page with photographs.  I will be happy to post them, along with your observations.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

This year saw surprisingly long Winter and Spring, which set the mood for soups, starters, and more-than-regular-quota of fried snacks in the TT household. We had abundant supply of fruits to see us through breakfast – oranges, more oranges, grapes, strawberries and bananas.  What is your favourite Season?  Why?

Lunch was the usual fare with rice, gravy and a dry side, if it was not gluten free flatbreads with gravy. I am not sure why, but Winter is one time when dinner becomes the most anticipated meal of the day.   I am sure you have one favourite meal too.  Do you?  I would start with a soup or some roasted vegetables late in the evening followed by a light meal. Its no secret. You know I love soups! Spring brought in beautiful green vegetables that seemed to speak to me aloud whenever I visited the market. I would end up coming home with tons of broccoli, spinach, peas and other greens with no way to use up except in soups. I could never tire of this one!

Normally when I make broccoli soup, it is only made with broccoli but this time I had less broccoli than needed. The amount of peas I shelled the day before made it right. And this soup happened. Peas complement broccoli by adding creamy texture and taste to the soup. They also help in adding volume.

By now you are probably aware that I never pair soup with breads. We enjoy it for what it is – a lean, healthy and nutritious snack! I saved some in a bowl to take photographs the next day. There is no other way to blog soup recipes otherwise.

Like most of my other soup recipes, this too is a steamed version. I added a few drops of olive oil for the amazing aroma. It was Jr.H’s bowl. For us I prepared some vegan sour cream. But in the end everybody wanted that drop of extra virgin olive oil. It has found a place in our hearts!

Recipe: Broccoli and pea soup
Serves: 4 bowls
You can make this oil free by not using the olive oil as garnish

Ingredients:

Broccoli, stalks trimmed and hard portions set aside and cleaned – 3 cups
Green peas, shelled – ½ cup
Vegetable stock – 4 cups or more as needed
Pink salt – to taste
Lemon pepper – to taste
Extra virgin olive oil – a drop or two per bowl to add flavour
Or Sour cream – A teaspoon per bowl (Recipe follows)

Method:

Steam broccoli and peas for two minutes. Remove the broccoli flowerets and steam peas further for a minute.

Cool and puree together to a coarse mixture, adding a little vegetable stock to make it easy. Do not add too much or you will have a green kitchen in not time when the soup shoots out of the blender!

Remove into a saucepan. Add vegetable stock, a cup at a time to bring the soup to a consistency of your liking.

Warm through, adding salt to taste.

Ladle into bowls. Add a drop or two of extra virgin olive oil while serving and crush fresh lemon pepper for taste.

Alternatively, garnish with a swirl of sour cream. [Highly recommended]

Vegan sour cream:
Ingredients:

Cashewnuts – ½ cup, soaked in warm water for 15 minutes
Freshly squeezed lemon juice – 2 tsps., or as per taste
Thyme, picked from the stem – 2-3 sprigs
Salt to taste

Method:

Drain cashewnuts and grind with thyme, adding water if necessary to form a thick creamy paste.

Add lemon juice and salt to taste. Mix well and garnish the soup. This cream tastes great as a spread on sandwich too.

Notes:

Steaming for two minutes retains nutrition as well as the bright green colour characteristic of this soup.

You can use coconut milk instead of vegetable stock or use part coconut milk and part stock. But with peas already adding creaminess here, I did not feel the need to add coconut milk at all.

———————————————————————————–

More soup recipes from Tongue Ticklers ~ The delicious vegan blog!

————————————————————————————

On a different note, if you have not yet subscribed to ‘Tongue Ticklers’ please read why you should, and what subscription is all about.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

Pulav (pulao or pilaf) is a one pot meal that is made in most Indian homes.  It is a good way for moms to make their kids eat vegetables, apart from the fact that it means less cleaning up.  For some reason my mother would make it more often when dad was on tour, or if she was not up to cooking a full meal. And for the same reason, it did not seem special enough, until one young lady made me realize that it was indeed something special and not just a dish everyone can cook well. The credit goes to Jr.H’s friend, Jr.K who did. No, she did not come up to me and say so in words.

One day Jr.H told me as I was packing her lunch, “if its pulav you better pack me a larger portion than you usually do. Otherwise, I don’t really get much to eat.” I know she loves pulav but I suspected whether she could eat more than what I pack for her, which is quite a lot.  And then she said, “You know what K says about your pulav, and she does not say this about other pulavs, ok?!”  This is the part where my ears stand up.  I hope something good will follow.  K is a Punjabi girl and a comment about North Indian dish from a North-Indian girl always matters!  I am a bit apprehensive – understandbly.  “Well?” I said, cautiously. “She says pulav was just pulav until she ate my pulav, and then it became – YAY! Pulav!” That sums it up. Doesn’t it?

To say the truth, it is not at all about the pulav.  It never is.

It is about the pulav masala.  The spice blend that goes in and the spice blend is my own concoction.  I have never used pulav masalas that come packaged.  If a blend contains too many spices, it loses its charm for me.  I like to keep my spice blends simple and uncomplicated.  I like to know what is in there.  And I love my cinnamon in most of my North Indian spice blends. In my kitchen cinnamon (dalchini) and bay leaves (tejpatta, the Indian varieties) rule the spice cupboard.  I cannot do without them.

My spice blend is not heady or strong but lends a very subtle, delicate flavour that perfectly compliments basmati rice, ambemohar or even everyday rice like kolam.  I said it before in some posts and I will say it again.  You do not need to use basmati.  Pulav tastes equally good with other fragrant varieties of rice.  If you can find ‘ambemohar’ rice in your area do try making pulav or puddings with it.  Basmati is definitely over rated and you will be convinced when you taste this variety of rice.  It is native to Maharashtra and is fast losing it original fragrance.  I am not sure whether the original strains are even available.

Another feature about my pulav that surprises most is that I always make it in a pressure cooker.  I swear by it.  It has never let me down, unless I have been watching a very interesting thriller.  In which case you should forgive me for losing track of time.  Even a minute more than the recommended time can ruin your pulav – not beyond repair though.  Two minutes more will definitely ruin it beyond repair.  One of my readers, Bharati tried my pressure cooking method and confirmed that the timing was perfect.  Of course the timing also depends on whether you are using an aluminium or a steel pressure cooker.  Aluminium conducts heat more uniformly which means that the chances of pulav cooks a minute or two faster than in Stainless steel.  My earlier recipes of pulav were made in an aluminium cooker but I soon switched over to steel.  The one given below is made in a stainless cooker. The time difference is hardly a minute or two.

Pulav is usually served with raita, rajma or chhole but we like it best served with kali dal. I do not add green chillies or red chilli powder because I like my pulav only fragrant, not spicy. But if you like some heat, go ahead and add 2 green chillies or a tsp. of chilli powder.

Recipe: Matar pulav ~ Green peas pulav
Serves: 3 pulav maniacs or 5 normal people

Ingredients:
Long-grained rice or any fragrant, low starch rice like basmati, kolam or ambemohar – 1.5 cups
Oil – 1.5 tbsps.
Cumin seeds [jeera] – 1.5 tsps.
Onions, sliced thin – 2 small ones or 7-8 shallots, thinly sliced
Bay leaves [tejpatta - Indian variety] – 2
Cinnamon [dalchini] – 2, 1″ sticks
Cloves [lavang] – 4-5
Whole black pepper [sabut kali mirch] – 7-8 [optional]
Slitted green chillies – 2 [optional]
Fresh, shelled green peas [matar] – 3/4 cup [as per your liking]
Water – 3 cups [twice the amount of rice]
Pink Salt (kala namak) to taste
or red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp. [optional]
Pulav spice blend [pulav masala] – 1/2 tsp. [recipe follows]

Method:

Half an hour before making the pulav, clean and pick rice. Rinse well and pour water just enough to cover the rice. Set aside.

Prepare the pulav masala or spice blend, following the recipe below. It usually makes a little more than required. I use 1/2 tsp. and reserve the rest for later use. If you would like it more fragrant use 3/4 tsp.

Heat oil in a cooker. When hot, reduce heat to medium and add cumin seeds. When they splutter add slit green chillies, if using.

Add the whole spices, saute till the cloves fill up and then add sliced onions.

Saute continuously till the onions caramalize. At this stage you might want to keep a few spices and onion slices aside for garnish, if you plan to take a photograph. If not, just don’t bother with that extra work!

Now add the water. When the water comes to a boil add drained rice and peas, followed by pulav masala (spice blend) salt to taste and red chilli powder (if using).

Cover the cooker with a lid and place the weight (whistle).

After one whistle, reduce the heat to sim. Let the rice cook on low heat for three minutes. Put off fire. Let the pressure fall naturally.

When cooled (about 15 minutes), open the lid and let the extra steam escape for another five minutes. Use a fork or a slotted spoon to gently cut through the rice in shallow scoops. If the grains stick, wait for another five to ten minutes and then scoop.

Serve with a side dish such as aloo-gobi rasedar [potatoes and cauliflower in tomato sauce], kali dal [mixed lentil stew], rajma, chhole or vegan raita.

I know what you will think when you read this recipe. So simple? Yes. That simple! But it makes a difference.

Recipe: Pulav masala [Pulav spice blend]
Yield: A tablespoon or so

Ingredients:
Star anise [badiyan] – 2 petals
Mace [Javitri] – Tear off two or three thin strands, a little is a lot
Cinnamon [dalchini] – 1/2 inch, broken into smaller pieces
Green cardamom [chhoti elaichi] – 5
Bay leaf – 1/2 a leaf

Method:

Grind in a spice grinder for a minute. It does not grind very fine because of the bay leaf.

Sieve and use as desired.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

It’s once more time for me to introduce another inspiring blogger.  This time a vegan, a good friend and very talented ‘monster’ and jewellery maker – Susmitha.

Before I visited Bangalore in October, Susmitha, Karol and I had already plans to meet up for dinner via facebook.  I told Sush I had to look at her cute creations before dinner.  I can’t praise her house enough.  Her love for art shows all over her house.  This is one of the coziest homes I have ever visited – aesthetically appealing, little corners to display her jewelery and little monsters, happy photographs that exude positivism, a little plot for her green thumb, and her warm kitchen!  I am not sure whether the enticing aroma of delicious choco-chip cookies had anything to do with the magic I felt.  I not only devoured a few but also got myself a goodie bag to take home.  Unfortunately it was late when I reached and I did not get good pictures. I learnt then, that sometimes one should use the flash on the camera.  If not for my insistence to shoot without flash, I would have been able to treat you to some lovelies today.  For the time being I will just leave you with a picture of the bright, vegan girls – Karol and Susmitha.  Some other time when I visit Bangalore I shall make it a point to visit her early when there is light and share with you some of the dainty aspects of the home I mentioned.

As soon as I tasted the cookies, I knew I had to get her here and share her blog with my readers.  Susmitha is a vegan and animal activist and believes in creating treats that are wholesome and easy to make.  Today, she has brought us all a very easy and special treat.  I am sure many of you will associate with this healthy snack as the one your grandmom made.  I did.  I was also very impressed that the recipe uses ‘finger millet’ kernels harvested at home! Mighty fine, isn’t it?

Please welcome Susmitha Veganosaurus.

—————–

I vividly remember the first time I laid eyes on Tongue Ticklers last year (it was at its old tumyumtreats url at that time), the featured recipe was for Idli. Being a vegan food photographer/blogger myself with friends from all over the globe with impressive vegan blogs, it isn’t very easy to bowl me over with food photography but one look at Harini’s work and I knew I would be a fan for life.

I had the pleasure of meeting Harini in person when she was visiting Bangalore last year and I was stoked to be able listen to the story behind her signature prop, the blue wooden board, in person.

She asked me to write up this post for her many months ago but I never got around to doing it until now, partly because life got in the way but mainly because I really had no idea what to write about. Or rather, which recipe to share. I could have easily just taken something I was writing up for my own blog and passed it along but I wanted to do something special. Then a few weeks ago I made this sweet dish with fresh Ragi kernels that I’d grown in my own house and somehow I knew *this* was the recipe which I wanted featured on Tongue Ticklers.

This is my very first guest blog post ever and I’m truly happy to be starting here.

I remember eating this simple dessert when I was kid. We lived in a joint family then and my aunt had somehow got her hands on fresh Ragi (which isn’t easy to come by unless you live on or know someone with a Ragi farm) and made this yummy thing for all of us. I ate it just that once but I never forgot how delicious it was.

Flash forward to adult me… A few months ago, I was trying to sprout grains of Ragi at home but they were taking forever and after a couple of days they did start sprouting but they also grew small amount of fungus on them. Since I felt bad to just throw them out, I just dumped them into flower pots in the hope that they would compost in the soil. Instead, they started to turn into beautiful little green, grassy plants.

When it was about 3 inches high, I tasted the Ragi grass thinking maybe I could make a Wheat grass like juice out of it but it really doesn’t taste that great. However, not having the heart to uproot the plants I just continued to water them. Over time they got longer and longer, one even grew as tall as me! And just when I was beginning to think that I had a very pointless Ragi grass forest in my limited garden space, I spied a wee little kernel of Ragi on one of the plants. I was super thrilled!!

When I was able to harvest a decent handful of plum, yet green Ragi kernels I made the delicious dish from my childhood. And having quickly clicked some pictures, I proceeded to relish it.

The recipe in itself is very simple. You just need to patiently grow your own Ragi and you’re all set.

Recipe: Quick sweet dish with fresh ragi [finger millet]

Ingredients:

2 handfuls freshly harvested Ragi

3 T freshly grated Coconut

1 T Agave Nectar (the original recipe calls for Jaggery but I’d run out, however Agave did the trick)

Method:

Steam the Ragi for about 20 minutes. Add the Coconut and Agave/Jaggery. Enjoy!

——————-

Delicious and healthy snacks should ideally be such.  They should retain nutrition and save time on cooking!  For more delicious vegan desserts, both simple and exotic, please visit Susmitha’s blog or follow her on facebook.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

There was a time, when I started blogging, that I used to hunt for blog events, cook food to fit the theme, blog that very day and send my entry across. I don’t do it anymore. I just do not have that kind of drive anymore.   I have become more choosy.  If the photograph does not satisfy me, I would rather not post the recipe.  Yet, there are some events that I long to be a part of each month. These days, the events that interest me revolve around health or photography, both of which seem to have consumed my living. I am just glad that these addictions at least guarantee sanity.

Once Lubna had invited me to write a ‘food photography’ post and I had mentioned that the best way to learn is by looking at what the masters do, set up table and try and take pictures like they did. Sometimes by copying you learn to move out of your comfort zone and try things that you otherwise will not, and some of the new things you learn might actually help you improve your own style. It is for this reason that I love the monthly contest Simone hosts. DHSPC, short for Donna Hay’s Styling and Photography Challenge, is now in its sixth month, and this time Simone has chosen a photograph taken by Con Poulos from the cookbook ‘Seasons’.  Donna Hay is the Goddess of food styling.  Her signature style is to keep the food setting clean and simple, calling the viewer’s attention to the food.  The photograph chosen for this month is;

I faced a few hurdles while setting up and had to make some changes.

I could not bring all the elements together in one frame, try as hard as I did.  My table stands at an end where I do not get light.  It is wrought iron and heavy to disturb.  In order to do justice I placed my tea table and a low level chair behind, but this was a rectanglular table.  I wanted the bottle to fall in completely and angle the camera so that the bread would receive prominence.  Because Summer has already set in, the light was turning harsh every few minutes.  It did not give me much time to manipulate the settings or change lenses and try a second photograph.  I needed time to do my own set ups too.  I generally place my boards on the window sill and manage all my photography there.  That is my studio, filled with natural light.  I replaced tahini for the bottle and poured some fresh orange juice in a glass as I wasn’t sure what the transparent liquid was.  Next time for such a photograph I must remember that I should use my 24-105mm and not the prime lens! That was a big mistake.

Food-wise:
I made a vegan version of the arugula pesto using nutritional yeast flakes and hazelnuts as my daugher is allergic to pine nuts, and instead of regular bread, used the English muffins I baked the previous evening.  And, I realized when I later saw the photographs that I had completely forgotten to place a napkin below the plate and had placed my plate off center!  I am also a bit irritated that I let my own character emerge in a photograph that was supposed to be someone else’s.  Well, one makes mistakes and learns.  Next time I am going to have the laptop open with the picture and then do my setting.

Having tried the above, I decided to move on with my style.  For me, this was a foreign scene – not one that would happen in my home.  We consume only fruits till 12.00 in the afternoon.  Today, was an exception.   I drank all of the orange juice and ate many fruits, but could not resist having one muffin as it looked very inviting with all that pesto on top.  My husband and children were surprised that we were to have a rare, hearty breakfast. Pleasantly.

Since this post is only to do with the challenge, I will post the recipe associated with the challenge today.  My vegan recipe for the English muffins will follow in another post.

Elements of breakfast:

English muffins (forked and split into halves)
Extra virgin olive oil – as needed for toasting the halved breads
Toffuti cream cheese – as needed
Zucchini ribbons – About 1-2 for each bread
Lemon flavoured black pepper
Arugula pesto – About a tablespoonful for each slice of bread – recipe below

Recipe: Vegan arugula pesto
Adapted from Donna Hay’s recipe, as appearing in Simone’s post

Yield: Enough to top 8-10 slices of bread

Ingredients:

Basil – 1/2 cup
Arugula / Rocket leaves – 1 cup
Toasted hazelnuts – about 10 [Can use pine nuts instead]
Nutritional yeast flakes – 1/4 cup
Fresh garlic cloves – 2
Extra virgin olive oil – 1/8 cup [Can use more if you like]
Pink salt to taste

Method:
Rinse the leaves (basil and arugula), and pat dry between kitchen towels.
Place arugula, basil, hazelnuts, nutritional yeast flakes and garlic in a mixer and grind. Open once or twice in between and add extra virgin olive oil, and scrape the sides. Grind to a thick, coarse paste. Mine took about three to four minutes.
Heat a cast iron griddle.
Fork the muffins in the center and pull apart to form two slices. Toast both slices to golden brown and crispy. Rub this with half a clove of garlic and sprinkle some extra virgin olive oil.
Top the toast with a bit of tofutti cream cheese, and dab lots of pesto.
Top with zucchini ribbons and finish with some salt and pepper.

Come,  join me at the table as I breakfast for lunch!  The pesto has a peppery edge coming from the arugula leaves that is very tasty, but one who is not used to the taste of arugula (also known as rocket leaves) might need some inititation.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.

A few days back Miguel wrote to me about grain intolerance, and how it makes simple meals a difficulty. God, I thought, that must be so tough, right? But Miguel is probably doing the thing that is best for all of us. He eliminates most of the acidic foods right there, that is of course, if his diet is coupled with being vegan. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods are mostly acidic in nature.

Not very long ago – a couple of years ago – I used to have three full meals a day, each with the inclusion of some grain. Breakfast was made up of dalia (broken wheat), oats, parathas or roti with vegetables on the side. Lunch consisted of rice, a gravy and a dry vegetable side. Dinner was mostly the same as lunch with an occasional salad thrown in for a change. I am not at all a salad person. I assumed I was being healthy despite the salad being less – that I knew. During that time my health quest was in full force and I was reading up a lot.  Sharan, Dr. Nandita Shah’s initiative to promote vegan lifestyle, runs a library in Mumbai at Fort. The library has a small but very impressive collection of books by note-worthy authors on health and aspects surrounding the vegan lifestyle. It was here that I came across books on alkaline Vs. acidic food that made me curious to read more, learn more on this subject.  Pleasantly for me, the topic was discussed by Dr.Vijaya Venkat when I started attending her ‘health re-education program‘.  She and Dr.Anju Venkat make ‘Science of foods’ a very interesting subject and breakdown the scientific terms into simple everyday words that makes these fundas easy for all to understand.

It is now common knowledge that the ‘ph level’ of our stomach in its natural state is alkaline. Obviously this is the state the body tries to achieve all day, and it works round the clock – non-stop – towards this goal. Have you ever thought about this? Are we taking our bodies for granted? Is it not ours to be taken care of? Then, why do we stuff it with loads of acid? Grains, pulses, milk and meat are all acidic in nature, each more acidic than the previous. I am not saying that we eliminate all these from our diets completely. Great, if we can, but at least we can gradually eliminate and eat right, helping our bodies conserve energy, work less, work more comfortably, channelise that energy towards attaining a calmer state of mind. It is not difficult. I suggest you note down your daily eating habits, making an honest list of your breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Try and reduce the acidic portion in each meal by substituting it with raw salads. Try to have only fruits till your lunch time, and allow your body to effectively cleanse your system each morning.

This is getting long, right? I guess I will leave you with a beautiful grain-free, gluten-free, decadent chocolate cake for today. The next time we meet, I will let you on to more of the secrets I learnt. Sharing is caring, after all!

Would you like to hear more? Tell me. Whenever I meet people like Nandita Shah, and the Venkats, I only think of how beautiful it would be if I could get them over here for you readers, to listen to them, speak, through the written words. I want you to have those joys I derived by listening, understanding, and applying them to my life. Would you like to? I will have to ask them and hopefully they might agree. I will try, if you let me know for sure.

I am not big on any of the ‘Days’. V-day, birthday, festivals are all just another day for me. Of course, I expect the better half to profess his love for me, but not just on one of those designated days.  I do love it when there is a gift that professes the love! This time P brought me two wooden planks. I need to stain them, colour and prepare them for background but it was the ideal gift for V-day! I made these chocolate cupcakes in appreciation – today. I do not usually frost cakes. I am not good at frosting. I am naturally a little clumsy and sloppy by nature, but I tried my best. On the other hand, I don’t need frostings. My cake base is very good. Kidding! Not about the cake, but about those excuses. I can’t ice. Period.

Miguel, I hope you like this. Soon enough, I will surely post grain-free meal ideas as well. But I like to start things on a sweet note, and so it had to begin with a cake! And this one is very delicious. Its a bit dense because of the bean flour and the hazelnuts but it makes up in flavour and in a way it is a boon, because it is so easy to layer. I used a thread to cut and it was quick.

Notes to be read before trying the recipe:

The one thing I did not like about this cake was that it cracked a lot. I had to trim half an inch off the cake to level it for the icing. The cupcakes were no problem, as the cracked portion settled down as the cake cooled. But with the large, round cake I had no such luck. I ground the portion that I had trimmed and saved that for making left-over cake truffles or cake pops, as some call them.  I will have to do this till I find a way to minimise the cracks.

I used bean flour, made by grinding whole black-eyed peas. Black-eyed peas are also known as chowli, lobia or payaru. I got mine from THAC, run by Dr.Vijaya Venkat.

Potato starch used in this recipe can be substituted by equal quanity of arrowroot, cornflour or tapioca starch.

Coconut milk is what I prefer as my daughter is allergic to almonds and cashew. Both these nut milks can be substituted in same quantity. If you have vegan buttermilk use that instead of milk and vinegar. In fact I did not have non-nut buttermilk and so I added vinegar to coconut milk and let it stand before using.

I used more sugar than I would normally as I used dark cocoa powder to make this cake. If you are using plain cocoa powder you may want to reduce the sugar by a quarter cup.

Olive oil can be substituted with any other neutral oil in the same quantity.

Corn syrup can be left out if you do not have it readily. I feel it lends softness to vegan cakes but its absence does not have any marked effect.

Measure hazelnuts and grind to a powder before adding the dry ingredients to it.

You can use synthetic vinegar instead of rice vinegar. I just make sure its gluten free.

You can use almonds/walnuts/macadamia nuts instead of hazelnuts. I used hazelnuts as my daughter is allergic to most other nuts.

My children like bits of molten chocolate in their cupcakes, so I inserted dark chocolate pieces after half-filling the cup cake moulds and then pour a tbsp of batter to cover it.

For beginner bakers – I received a few mails asking me to clarify these aspects, hence this note:

Always bake cakes in the center rack of the oven.

Your oven will have three or four indicators against the knob for setting the oven-heat. The one that shows dots on both sides of a horizontal line indicates that the heating rods on the top and bottom of the oven are lighted. This is your normal cake mode. The one that shows dots on top of the horizontal line indicates that the top rod alone is heated. Use this for your grill mode. Similarly the one that shows dots below the horizontal line indicates that only the bottom rod is heated. You can use this for toasting.

Recipe: Grain-free, gluten-free, chocolate cake with strawberry-cream frosting
Adapted from my recipe for perfect vegan sponge cake
Yield: 3 cupcakes and one 6″ round cake

Ingredients:
Dry:
Bean flour – 1 + 2/3 cups [200g]
Potato starch – 2 tbsp. [22g]
Baking powder – 1.5 tsp. [9g]
Baking soda – 1/4 tsp. [2g]
Raw sugar – 3/4 cup [106g]
Hazelnuts – 1/4 cup [32g]
Dark cocoa powder – 1/4 cup [20g]
Vanilla pod, scraped – 1

Wet
Instant coffee powder – 1 tbsp. [4g]
Water – 1/4 cup [55g]
[Boil the water, remove from heat, add coffee powder, mix well and set aside till needed in the recipe]

Thick coconut milk – 1 cup [194g]
Corn syrup – 1 tsp. [10g]
Rice vinegar – 1 tbsp. [9g]
Olive oil – 1/2 cup [80g]

Oven temperature : 160 degree Celsius
Line a loose bottomed six inch round cake pan with parchment paper on the base and the sides. I used the rest of the batter to make three cupcakes.

Method:

Grind hazelnuts to powder them. Do this in spurts so that it does not clump into an oily mass. You can also prevent clumping by adding some of the bean flour to the hazelnuts while grinding.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the hazelnut powder and grind to get a uniform blend.

At this stage, set the oven for pre-heating at 160 degree Celsius.

Set aside the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Add all the wet ingredients to the mixer and blend to form a liquid emulsion. Add the dry ingredients back to this and blend to form a thick, pourable batter. It should be like a custard – not too thick or thin.

Pour into the prepared pan till two-thirds full and the rest of the batter into prepared cup cake moulds.

Bake the cup cakes for twenty minutes or till a tooth-pick comes out clean. The larger cake needs about 30minutes to bake.

The cakes will rise high, crack well. Do not panic. Its normal. Once the baking is done and the cake is brought out, allow it to cool for ten minutes in the moulds. The crack actually reduces as the initial rise reduces. No, it will not sink!

This cake is naturally dense as compared to a cake made with grain-flour. It does have a beany flavour but no one knows it until you tell them. I found.

The cake is also firm and easy to handle. I am not goot at layering and yet I was able to cut it into thin layers! That speaks for the firmness.

Do not eliminate the nut-flour. They reduce the beany flavour and add texture.

You can serve the cakes as is, or cut them into layers, frost them in any way you please.

I beat soy cream, added pureed strawberries as these are in season, made a nice thick buttercream and used that for frosting.

The less I speak of my frosting skills, the better it is! Need I say that? Also please let the cakes cool in the refrigerator if you are frosting. The photographs comes out beautiful after the creams sets.
I clearly am not patient!

I made a similar cake with carob powder and millet flour recently! Recipe to come soon.

On a different note, Mocomi, a childrens’ site thought I was a professional photographer and wanted to interview me to showcase a ‘cool’ profession.  I told them this was a hobby, a passion, and I work 9-5 for a living.  They somehow found my profession ‘cooler’.  You can read more about me in the interview on their site here.

The original post can be found with pictures at tongueticklers.com. Please visit the site for more tasty recipes and mouthwatering pictures.