Microwave Vegetable Makhanwala ~ Mixed vegetable curry in creamy gravy

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If cereal is your standard breakfast each morning then you already probably know that buying cereal is not as simple as it seems. There are a variety of cereals available and some of them provide a good balance of daily fiber and low sugar whereas some of them can be very sugary and contain absolutely no fiber.

Reading labels can be a boring and time consuming activity when you are short of time but sometimes that seems to be the only way for us to be able to decide which products are good and which are not.... Of course articles such as this one are also useful in breaking down some of the facts so that we know which products to avoid. I was quite surprised to see granola on this list and finding out that granola can contain up to 9g of sugar. I don't think this is the kind of sweet start I would want for the day :-)   Read this list, if you want to see if your cereal/ granola made the list, and to see how much sugar/ fiber it contains. 

Moving on to the post, Makhanwala usually refers to a creamy gravy curry from North Indian cuisine. I made this curry inspired by a recipe I found in Tarla Dalal's Microwave recipes book. I modified the original recipe quite a bit. I used a combination of mushrooms and bell peppers, added ginger and garlic and enhanced flavor with kasuri methi. This curry was a big success in our home and it also has the honor of being one of the rare curries I have made entirely in the microwave :-)

 


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Ingredients and Method to make Microwave Veg Makhanwala

1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms (optional, can be substituted with equal quantity cauliflower florets)
1 cup green peas ( fresh or frozen, I used frozen)
2 large carrots cut into little pieces (yielded about 1 cup cut carrots)
1 1/2 cups mixed colors sliced and deseeded bell peppers ( I used frozen)
(Or 6 cups of vegetables of choice like cauliflower, carrots, green beans, green peas, bell peppers/capsicum)
1/2 tsp minced ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 medium onion cut fine
1 tbsp butter/ oil / clarified butter (ghee/nei) (for a vegan version use oil)

1 tbsp all purpose flour (maida)
5 tbsp ketchup
3 generous pinches kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
3/4 tsp chilli powder
salt to taste

3 tbsp raw cashew nuts soaked in water for 30 mins (see notes)
1/2 cup milk (see notes for vegan substitutions) 
handful cilantro (coriander leaves) cut fine for garnish

Puree the soaked and drained cashew nuts with a little bit of milk  (see notes)

Assemble items 1 to 4 in a shallow glass dish or any other microwave safe dish. Sprinkle about 5 to 6 tbsp water on it and cook on high heat in 3 minute increments, stirring every 3 minutes ( it took me 12 minutes)

Keep the cooked vegetables aside.

Heat butter/ clarified butter in a shallow dish in the microwave (about 45 seconds) or heat oil for about 30 seconds if using oil.

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Add cut onion to the oil/ butter and cook on high heat for 2 minutes or until it turns pinkish.

Add all purpose flour, ketchup, kasuri methi, salt and chili powder and mix well. Add cooked vegetables and mix again.

Add pureed cashews + balance of milk and cook on high for about 5 minutes so that the flavors blend together.

Garnish with cilantro and serve hot on a bed of plain rice, or with pulao or with rotis.

Serves approximately 2 to 3

Notes
If you want to make a vegan version of this curry and want to avoid milk, you can increase the cashew nuts to 5 tbsp and puree it with just water. Add to the curry as suggested above, add water to achieve required consistency and continue with the recipe.

Since the strength of each microwave varies, cooking times can vary too, so check often to see if done.

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Instant Ragi Oat Idli

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Since the first time I made this  Instant Oats Idli (steamed cakes)  I have been making it regularly at home, so much so, that  the word instant idli  almost became synonymous with oats idli in my home.Almost but not quite:-)

Anyway for a while now I have been wanting to try making idli with cracked wheat and ragi. I wanted to make it as low carb and healthy as possible, not only for our sake but also because a few of my friends have been requesting something that is very low carb and diabetic friendly.

Ragi or Finger millet is said to be very healthy, you can read about its health properties here and here. In the past I have used it to make this dosai/ crepe  and some other varieties of dosai I have yet to post. For the first time I tried it in idli and loved this soft, simple and quick to make idli very much. I know that  this is going to provide serious competition to the oats idli I mentioned earlier, in my home :-)





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Ingredients and Method to make Ragi Oat Idli
3/4 cup cracked wheat powdered to rava consistency or wheat rava (broken wheat / dalia / fada)
3/4 cup quick oats powdered coarsely
1/2 cup ragi flour (finger millet flour/ nachani/ keppai)
1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp baking soda

seasoning
2 tsp oil
1 tsp split chick pea lentil (Chana dhal/ Kadalai parappu)
1 tsp split black gram lentil (Udad dhal/ ulatham parappu)
1 tsp mustard seeds (rai/ sarson/ kadagu)
4 Indian or Thai variety green chillies cut fine (or to taste) (hara mirch/ pachai molagai)
4 tsp broken cashew nuts
1 tsp dried curry leaves (or 1 stalk fresh curry leaves cut fine) (optional) (kadi patta/ karapillai)

Just before steaming add
In 1: 1 ratio plain yogurt (curd/ dahi) (Total 2 cups for this quantity)
for this entire quantity about 5 tbsp of freshly grated coconut ( or to taste) (see notes)
handful cilantro cut fine

Powder cracked wheat to semolina (rava ) consistency and keep aside.

Similarly powder quick oats coarsely and keep aside.

In a large container or bowl, mix together powdered cracked wheat, powdered oats and fingermillet (Ragi) flour. Add salt and baking soda to this and mix well.

In a small pan, heat oil, add chana dhal, stir for a few seconds then add usad dhal and stir for a few seconds. When the udad dhal is begining to turn reddish add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds splutter add green chillies, when green chillies start to turn color add cashews and stir till cashews begin to redden. Then quickly add curry leaves stir a couple of times and pour the entire oil + lentils+ cashew mixture on the dry powder and mix well.

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At this point the mixture can be stored in an airtight container for a week or so if required and only what is needed can be removed and used.This yields 2 cups of dry mixture

If you are planning to use entire mixture at once then, just before steaming add yogurt to the dry mixture and mix well.

Then add coconut and cilantro and immediately pour the batter on pre-greased idli plates ( I do not grease my idli plates and it still works fine for me), place idli plates in pressure cooker  and steam without the weight for about 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool for a minute or so and then remove idli from mould and serve hot with chutney or sambar of choice

Total yield approximately 16 (Yield will depend on the size of the idli moulds, mine are medium size so larger moulds will yield less and smaller moulds more )

Notes
The grated coconut adds a very nice flavor to this idli so skipping that may change the taste of the idli quite a bit.

This idli along with my Ragi dosai is off to the JFI- Ragi event being hosted by Madhuram

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Black Bean Vegetable Soup

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Having soup on the menu always gives me a lot of satisfaction especially if the soup is hearty, healthy and low fat. So even when I eat out, I often find myself ordering soups. My last couple of visits to Panera Bread I knew even before I went in, what I was going to order, their cumin flavored black bean soup.I tried it once and was immediately hooked on to it. Surprisingly for me, R who is not a very bean soup kind of person also took to this soup a lot and has been wanting to have it at home too.

I can never resist an invitation to cook something healthy and protein filled.So inspired by Panera bread's Black bean soup I set about recreating its taste at home. The major deviation I made, I added a lot of vegetables to the soup making it even more hearty. I guessed at the ingredients and did not follow any particular recipe to make this soup. We thoroughly enjoyed this soup with some crusty bread and this soup is definitely going to make regular appearances in my menu :-)



Click here for a printable view of this recipe

 Ingredients and Method to make Black Bean Vegetable Soups

1 1/4 cup black beans soaked overnight in sufficient water with a pinch of soda (the soda is optional)
3 medium onions cut into little pieces
3 large carrots cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 can diced tomatoes (approximately 200 gms)
4 stalks celery cut into little pieces
4 cups of water or vegetable broth
salt to taste
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp red chili powder (or according to taste)
4 tsp cumin powder
2 tbsp oil

Drain the water that the black beans were soaked in, place in a container with water about 1/2 an inch or 3/4 of an inch above the beans, place container in pressure cooker and cook until beans are soft but not mushy (for me it took about 4 whistles in the pressure cooker). Keep the cooked beans with any remaining liquid aside .

Alternatively place the black beans in a large heavy bottomed pan with sufficient water and let it cook on a stove top until the beans are soft but not mushy. Keep adding water and stirring occasionally during this process. Keep the cooked beans along with the balance liquid aside

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan, add onions and saute until onions turn transparent. Add minced garlic and stir for a few seconds.

Add diced tomatoes and saute it until the tomatoes become a little soft. Add the cumin powder, chili powder and stir a few times.

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Then add chopped carrots, celery, salt to taste and water or broth and allow the vegetables to cook until they are still a bit firm and not too soft and mushy.

Add black beans and allow the entire mixture to simmer for about 20 to 30 mins on a low flame.Adjust water if required at this point to achieve required consistency.

Remove from heat and serve hot with a crusty bread, or croutons or just plain bread too.

Serves approximately 3-4


This soup is off to the Healthy Inspirations Event- Soups being hosted by me

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Slow Cooker Pista Kheer

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One of the items at the top of my  to buy list for my kitchen was a slow cooker for quite a long while.I was fascinated by the concept of a slow cooker couldn't wait to get it. Finally during the latter part of last summer I made the move, researched rival products and purchased my slow cooker.

I was so excited about it, the first thing I made with it was this paal payasam (milk pudding) and it turned out fantastic.Unlike making payasam on the stove top, the slow cooker requires almost no baby sitting to complete it. You do not have to worry about milk either sticking or burning, you just switch it on and and the end of the time voila, payasam ready :-)

Since the first time, mostly my slow cooker gets used for savory dishes like choley, rajmah and dal makhni. But last week I had another opportunity to make dessert and I settled on pista kheer. Since I was cooking many other items simultaneously, I decided to use the slow cooker. The kheer got ready in four hours, but four hours that I was able to use going about my business. I went for a walk, got the entire dinner ready and completed quite a few of my other errands, at the end of that time I got this kheer as my reward ! Cool huh ? and the best part was.....the kheer tasted awesome....I love when gadgets make my life easier, don't you?



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Ingredients and Method to make Slow cooker pista kheer

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups half & half
3 cups whole milk
2 pinches good quality saffron (kumkuma poo)
1/3 cup plain pistachios (pista)
5 green cardamom seeds

Place condensed milk, half & half, milk and saffron in a slow cooker and set on high heat to cook for 4 hours.

Soak the pistachios in water for about 30 minutes. Drain and using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder powder the pistachios coarsely, I used mortar and pestle.

Powder cardamom seeds until fine.

Add pistachios and cardamom seed powder to the kheer about halfway into the cooking time, mix well and allow the mixture to cook for the balance of time.

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Remove cool to room temperature, then refrigerate and serve this chilled.

Serves approximately 2 to 3

Notes
If you want to make this on the stove top, place the ingredients as mentioned in step one in a large heavy bottomed pan and allow to simmer, stirring continuously until the mixture begins to reduce and thicken to about 3/4 of original quantity.

Add pistachios and cardamom seed powder and allow to simmer a little longer stirring continuously on low heat until the mixture becomes 1/2 its original quantity.

If you do not have half & half and want to use milk instead you can do that, only you will have to set the slow cooker to cook on high for 5 to 6 hours instead of 4

Or if you are making it on the stove top with milk entirely instead of half & half and milk, you would have to simmer the mixture longer and stir it frequently as mentioned above.

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Panchratan Dhal ~ Five Lentil dhal

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The last few days the weather here is finally beginning to warm up a little and we are seeing day time temperatures in the mid fifties. After all that freezing and near freezing days we have seen in the last ten days or so, mid fifties or even the forties feels great.

So one of the first things we did when the weather got better was to resume our daily walks and just doing that makes me feel so much better. Exercise at home or in the gym just cannot compare to a good brisk walk outdoors, at least in my book :-) The last couple of days I have added one more reason in favor of walks....the sky. What has the sky got to do with walks,you are wondering ?  When the sky looks as brilliant as it has for the last few days here, clear and beautiful with a multitude of stars , I would say everything :-)  I have decided to make the most of this weather until the cold and the rains, that have been forecast, makes its way back into our area.

Moving on to the main reason for this post, panchratan dhal, which originates from North India. Panchratan literally means five jewels and this dhal probably got this name because of the five different lentils that  are used in making this dhal. Needless to say, this dhal in addition to being tasty , creamy and low fat is also super nutritious.It is also very quick and simple to make and has universal appeal :-)



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Ingredients and Method to make Panchratan dhal
1/2 cup split mung bean lentil ( moong dhal/paytham parappu)
1/2 cup split red lentil (masoor dhal)
1/2 cup split pigeon peas (tur dhal/ tuvaram parappu)
1/4 cup split black gram lentil ( udad dhal/ ulatham parappu)
1/4 cup split chick pea lentil (chana dhal/ kadalai parappu)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi/manjal podi)
2 medium onions cut fine (pyaaz/ vengayam)
3 medium tomatoes (tamatar/ thakkali)
1 tsp minced ginger (adrak/ inji)
1 tsp minced garlic (lehsun/ poondu)
3/4 tsp chilli powder (or to taste)
salt to taste (namak/ uppu)
1 Tbsp oil

For the seasoning
1 tsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera/ jeeragam)
5 Thai or Indian green chillies cut fine (or according to taste) (hara mirch/ pachai molagai)
1 tsp garam masala (or to taste) To make your own garam masala check out this post

For garnish
cilantro (coriander leaves/ hara dhania/ kothamalli) one handful washed and cut fine

Wash the five lentils together, drain. Soak it in sufficient water with 1/4 tsp turmeric powder for at least 30 minutes.

Pressure cook the lentils in the same water until soft. ( For me that took 5 whistles in the pressure cooker)

Alternatively in a large heavy bottomed pan, place the lentils and the water and cook on low heat adding water as required until all the lentils are cooked and soft.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pan, add onions and saute until onions are transparent.

Then add ginger and garlic and stir for a few seconds.

Then add tomatoes and saute until tomatoes are soft and mushy.

Slightly mash the lentils and add it to the sauteed onion + tomato mixture. Add water to achieve required consistency and salt to taste, and chilli powder and allow this mixture to simmer for about 10 to 15  minutes on low heat so that the flavors blend together.

In a separate small pan, heat 1 tsp oil, add cumin seeds.

When cumin seeds start to splutter add green chillies. When green chillies start to turn color, add garam masala powder to the oil, stir it into the oil a couple of times and pour this entire seasoning on the dhal.

Mix in the seasoning and allow dhal to simmer for a few additional minutes.

Remove from heat and garnish with cilantro.

Serve hot on a bed of plain rice or along with jeera rice or to go with any type of Roti/ Phulka/ Chapathi/ Indian flat bread or Kulcha/naan.

Serves approximately 5-6

Notes
You can easily halve or double this recipe to get required amount of dhal.

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Easy Kadai Paneer ~Indian Cottage Cheese curry ~ With Stepwise pictures

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Few people can seem to resist the taste of paneer (Indian cottage Cheese). Frankly I have yet to come across anyone who dislikes or hates paneer. In addition to be universally well liked, paneer also tends to be very versatile and can be used in a variety of savory and sweet dishes.

 


Kadai paneer is a classic North Indian curry that can be seen on the menu of most Indian restaurants around the world. The taste of this curry defies the simplicity of its preparation. This curry is quick to make, uses mostly regular pantry items and tastes fantastic. You could just as easily use this curry as a filling for a sandwich or a wrap as use it as a side dish with Indian flat breads like naan or chappathis.

If you are looking for recipes with paneer, you can also check out ~
Paneer Masala
Paneer Bhurji
Another version of kadai paneer



Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Kadhai Paneer
2 medium onions or 1 very large onion preferably red onions cut fine
2 medium bell peppers (capsicum/ koda molagai) deseeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 medium tomatoes blanched and cut fine
400 gms (14 oz) paneer (Indian cottage cheese) cut into 1/2 inch long pieces or cubes
My post on making paneer at home with stepwise pics can be found here 

1 tbsp oil/butter/ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp chilli powder (or to taste)
3/4 tsp garam masala (or to taste)
4 pinches kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
salt to taste
1/2 cup milk ( see notes)
handful cilantro (coriander leaves) for garnish

Blanch tomatoes, cut them into little pieces and keep aside. My post on blanching tomatoes with stepwise pictures can be found here

Heat oil in a medium to large heavy bottomed pan. Add cumin seeds to it.

When cumin seeds splutter, add onions and saute until onions turn transparent.

Add blanched and cut tomatoes and saute until they start to become soft and mushy.

Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala and kasuri methi in quick succession and stir for a few seconds.

Add bell pepper, stir well and place the lid on the pan to allow bell pepper to soften a little (about a couple of minutes)

Turn down the heat to low to medium low. Add cubed paneer, salt to taste and milk.

Cover the pan with a lid and allow the paneer to cook on low heat until it softens. Remove lid and allow the paneer to cook until most of the milk is absorbed. Stir gently so that paneer holds its shape.

Remove from heat, garnish with finely cut cilantro and serve hot with Indian flat bread or naan or use in sandwiches or in wraps as a filling.

Serves approximately 2-3

Notes:
Its not absolutely essential to add milk, I've seen many versions without milk. Have even made it a few times myself without milk :) , but I find that adding a little milk makes the paneer a little more softer with a better texture that I enjoy, especially when I use store bought paneer.

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Dried Apricot Pachadi (chutney)

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Pachadi is a sweet tart type of chutney originating from Southern India. The ones made with raw mangoes are an absolute favorite of mine,but since we do not get raw mangoes here all the time, I have switched to making pachadi with green apples The green apple pachadi is so similar in taste to the raw mango ones that I don't miss the raw mangoes any more.

Last week I wanted to make pachadi with dried fruits for a change from the usual fresh fruit ones. I thought of trying it with dried apricots because dried apricots that I find here are a little tart and I thought it would work well in a pachadi. I threw in a handful of dried and fresh cranberries too into the pachadi. The end effect was a delicious tart sweet pachadi with the taste of apricots shining through.



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Ingredients and Method to make Apricot pachadi

1 1/2 cup dried apricots cut in half
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 cup fresh cranberries washed and drained (about 20)
one handful of dried sweetened cranberries (I used Craisins) (Optional)
3/4 cup crushed, grated or cut into fine pieces jaggery

In a sauce pan, add apricots, cranberries both fresh and dried, salt, turmeric powder and water and place on heat.

Keep stirring frequently until the apricots begin to become soft and mushy.

Add the crushed/ grated jaggery and keep stirring while the jaggery melts.

After the jaggery melts, allow the mixture to simmer until it starts to thicken.

Remove from heat and serve along with a south Indian meal as a side dish or as a side dish for Indian flat bread (chappathis)

I skipped the seasoning in this pachadi, but if you would like to season it, then refer to my recipe on green apple pachadi and season this one in the same manner and same proportions

Refrigerate unused portion of the pachadi and use within 3 to 4 days.

Notes
You can skip the cranberries both fresh and dried entirely, but if you do you may need to reduce the amount of jaggery by a few teaspoons.

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Indian Lentil Soup

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If you had an hour or two, with no pressures and no responsibilities, time to do whatever you wished, what would you do? Would you go for a long walk, read a book, listen to music or do something else. All of us have our own ways of taking a break and for relaxing.

If I had such an opportunity, I would happily curl up on a chair with a good book, some soft classical instrumental music on the stereo and a hot cup of ginger tea in my hand. Since I am creating fantasy scenarios, mine also includes the above mentioned hour or two as being completely uninterrupted by telephones, cell phones or the door bell. Ahh bliss !

I am a voracious reader and reading good books is always at the top of my great ways to relax list. I also hate to leave a mystery book or a whodunit unread or worse half read. Unfortunately time to read is not something I have much of these days.

That does not mean I have stopped visiting my local library. The library still provides a treasure trove of books that I never seem to find when I visit bookstores. One such book that I recently checked out was called 1001 Vegetarian recipes. I am not able to recall the name of the author, but it had a lot of interesting recipes in them.

One recipe that caught my attention was an Indian Lentil soup. I loved the simplicity of the recipe and made it soon after I saw it. I modified the recipe quite a bit and loved the final taste of this soup. It reminded me a little of dal makhni, only lighter and not as creamy. The substitution of yogurt instead of cream also makes this soup comparatively low fat.




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Ingredients and Method to make Indian Lentil soup

1 large onion cut fine
1 1/2 cup dry lentils (brown)
3 cups stock or water ( I used water) + approximately 3 cups water

1 tbsp olive oil (or any other oil)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
1/2 tsp garam masala ( my recipe for homemade garam masala can be found here )
1 tsp kitchen king masala (or any other curry powder to taste)
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste) (optional)
salt to taste

Crush together (see notes)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 inch piece ginger

1/4 cup plain yogurt (curds/dahi) (Can be skipped for a vegan version)

Additional yogurt (can be skipped for a vegan version) and red pepper flakes as required for garnish

Crush cumin seeds, coriander seeds and ginger with a mortar and pestle and keep aside. Alternatively dry grind the cumin seeds and coriander seeds in your spice grinder, then add ginger, a few drops of water and grind to a fine paste. I used the mortar and pestle (for a quicker version see notes)

Wash lentils, drain and keep aside.

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan, add onions and saute until onions are transparent.

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Add crushed spices, turmeric powder and the rest of the spices and stir for a second or two.

Add lentils and about 3 cups of water and let it simmer until lentils cook.

When the lentils are almost cooked, add salt to taste and add additional water as required.
I needed about another 3 cups of water but it will depend on how much evaporation has occurred etc. Continue to cook lentils until soft but not mushy.

Lower heat and add the yogurt and mix it in thoroughly.

Serve this soup hot with a dollop of plain yogurt and red pepper flakes with some crackers on the side. Or for some fusion try this with some crushed tortilla chips on top :)

Serves approximately 2 to 3

Notes
You can use whole red or brown lentils for this soup, I used brown lentils

In a pinch, you can use 1/2 tsp cumin powder and 1/2 tsp coriander powder instead of crushing spices. Grate ginger if you plan to use powdered spices. After onions are sauteed until transparent, add ginger then cumin and coriander powder, stir a few times and proceed with the rest of the recipe as above.  

Suggested variations:
You can sprout the lentils for a day and add to the soup for added nutrition

This healthy, low fat and protein rich soup is my first contribution to the Healthy Inspirations event with the theme soup that is being held on this site.

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Event Announcement

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With the start of the new year comes the time most people start setting goals for in a lot of areas, most especially health. Most health goals I have heard of almost always involve losing weight and becoming fit or staying fit. I have rarely come across any one whose new year goals involved gaining weight :-) From personal experience what I have learned is that the easiest way to lose weight is a combination of healthy diet and regular exercise. Healthy diet means inclusion of right amount of protein, grains,healthy fiber, vegetables and fruits in one's diet. This is not really very difficult, it just involves a lifestyle change, in the sense one has to learn to incorporate better eating habits,make healthier substitutions where possible, reduce the consumption of processed flours, sugars etc, include more grains like oats and wheat etc etc. Most of you might have heard these points several times so I will not go into it at length here.

But making lifestyle changes is easier said than done, knowing what to eat and knowing how to use the above mentioned healthy ingredients in our day to day cooking in a way that is appealing not only to us but to our entire family can present a challenge at times. I have often found that eating healthy is so much easier when you are inspired to make healthy dishes. And what can be more inspiring than a collection of healthy recipes in one place. That is the thought behind my first event on this site called " Healthy Inspirations"



For this edition of the Healthy Inspirations event, I chose the topic of soups.Healthy soups are very diet friendly and can be a great tool in aiding weight loss or in maintaining good health. Soups are simple to make, even those just learning to cook can make them easily. They are also a great way to include healthy vegetables, protein, grains or all of the three into our diet.

I invite all my readers, both bloggers and non- bloggers, to participate in this event and am hoping to see a lot of healthy and inspired soup recipes here which can help all of us to achieve our health goals.


Looking forward to your inspired recipes.Here are some of the guidelines of participation...

If you are a blogger and want to participate

Cook any kind of healthy vegetarian or vegan soup. Post it on your site and link back to this announcement page.

Please feel free to use the logo, this will help in spreading the word.

Email you submission to events@veginspirations.com with the subject " Healthy Inspirations Event-Soups"

In your email please include your name, your blog name, your recipe name, the recipe URL and a picture of the dish.

Entries should be submitted no later than Feb 21st ,2010 for this event

Update: Unfortunately I have had to disable the right click on my site, so if you want to use the image, please click on the image and copy it from the image page. Or  please email me using the contact form above or leave a comment and I will email the image to you. Sorry for the inconvenience...

If you are a non blogger and want to participate, please send your email to events@veginspirations.com with the subject "Healthy Inspirations Event-Soups"

In your email, please include your name, your location, the recipe name,complete recipe of the dish and a picture of the dish.

If you have any further questions about this event, please leave a comment below or send an email to the above address with subject " Questions on event" and I will respond asap.

The first part of the roundup for this event is here 

The second part of the roundup for this event is here 

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Vegan Thai Curry Soup

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Thai curry soup is one of my favorite items to order when I visit Thai restaurants. But the thought of attempting to make this soup at home daunted me, not because it is difficult, it isn't but by the list of exotic (at least for me) items like lemongrass, galangal etc that are required for authentic Thai dishes. These items are not available at my regular grocery and making a special trip to an Asian market to get these spices was not high on my list of things to do.

So I shelved the idea of making Thai curry soup at home until I came across Thai red curry paste in my regular grocery and it struck me that I could try making Thai curry soup with it. And that is just what I did,it was so simple and quick to make this soup. And the taste was just perfect, I absolutely adored this soup and it tasted just like the restaurant curry soup I usually have. This soup, I know for sure, is going to appear regularly in my weekly menu from now on:-)





Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Vegan Thai Curry Soup
2 small onions (or 1 large) cut fine
3 large carrots (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
2 1/4 cup sliced button mushrooms ( about 8 oz)
1 large sweet potato (skinned and cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
3 1/2 cups of water or vegetable broth ( I used broth)

1 tbsp oil
2 inch piece of ginger minced
3 tsp of Thai red curry paste ( I used Thai Kitchen brand) (see notes)

salt to taste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or according to taste) (optional)

1/2 cup of coconut milk (fresh or canned) ( I used canned)
handful of fresh cilantro (coriander leaves) for garnish

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan, add onions and saute until the onions are cooked and transparent

Add minced ginger and stir for a few seconds.

Add rest of the vegetables, salt to taste, water or broth and thai red curry paste and let it simmer until the vegetables are cooked.

Finally add coconut milk heat gently till the soup begins to bubble and simmer again. Add additional red chilli powder at this point if you want more heat.

Remove from heat and serve hot after garnishing with fresh cilantro

Notes
If you want to tone down the spice level in this soup and want a very mild soup you could use lesser quantity of Thai red curry paste or increase the quantity of coconut milk to 1 full cup

Some varieties of Thai curry paste have fish sauce in them, so please check the labels to be sure that the paste you buy is vegetarian/ vegan if you want to avoid fish sauce. This particular brand specified that it is vegan.

Suggested variation
Add some spinach in addition to all other vegetables to the soup for a slightly different flavor.

This Thai soup is off to Lisa's Thai Soup Event

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Carrot Oat Dosai ~ Carrot Dosa~ Savory Indian Crepes

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Yes this is Veg Inspirations, you have not come to the wrong place. It just looks a lot different since your last visit. The reason for that? I have been wanting a new look for this site for a while now and the combination of the New year and a new domain motivated me to work on the site layout and bring out a new look for the site too :-) I would love to hear your opinions on this new look, so do let me know what you think....



Moving on to the recipe of oat carrot crepe/ dosai. Almost all the time these days I make instant dosai's instead of the ones that require grinding in the interest to complete my work more quickly. But the last time I made dosai I actually had a little more time and I decided since it has been a long time since I made dosai that required soaking and grinding, this might be a good time for it. I did not ferment the batter so this is still much quicker than the traditional type of rice and lentil dosai. These dosai's turned out to be ultra soft and tender thanks to the rolled oats and both the carrots and red chillies provided a nice flavor and color to this dosai. Try this if you want a fairly quick and healthy dosai one of these days, it does not take very long and it tastes fantastic :-)

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Carrot Oat Dosai

3/4 cup raw rice (chawal/ pachai arisi)
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup split black gram lentil (udad dhal/ ulatham parappu)
2 carrots cut into little pieces
2 dry red chilies (or to taste)
salt to taste

sesame oil (or any other oil) few drops to shallow fry the dosai (crepes)

Soak raw rice, rolled oats and split black gram lentil together in sufficient water for at least 2 hours.

Grind this in batches along with red chillies and carrots.

Add salt to taste and adjust water as required to achieve pouring consistency for the batter.It should not be too thin, should be slightly thicker than buttermilk consistency. This batter does not need fermentation, so you can make dosa with it immediately.

Heat a griddle/ tawa/ flat pan, smear a couple of drops of sesame oil on this pan and spread it.

Pour a ladleful of this batter in the center of the pan and spread quickly into a circle making it as thin or thick as you prefer.

Add a few drops of sesame oil around the crepe/ dosai or on top of it and let it cook until the lower side starts to brown. Remove with a spatula and flip over.

Let the other side cook until a few brown spots appear on it and then remove from heat and serve with chutney, sambar or spice powder.

Tastes best hot.

Yield depends on quantity of batter used per each crepe/ dosai.

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Cereal Muffins

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I often find myself with several packages of cereal in my pantry which are open but not completely used. These are what I call flop ideas, because I would have bought them thinking it would taste good but it would have failed the taste test at home miserably. Lying in my pantry these opened packages manage to simultaneously occupy space in my pantry and make me feel guilty every time I see them for not using it up. And since I hate to waste stuff especially food, throwing away these cereals is not an option for me.

One day when I was getting dinner ready and the tv was as usual turned into a local news channel, a cooking segment came on where the chef prepared raisin bran cereal muffins. When I saw that clip I went "Hey ! I like this idea". So promptly I looked around for cereal muffin recipes and came across this one. I altered the recipe considerably and found these muffins were very good. They were soft and chewy on the first day with a delightful crunch from the cereal, the second day they were a little more chewier and warming them in the microwave helped regain their fresh from the oven taste. This really is a great way to use up any type of cereal and many variations in taste can be made with this basic idea.



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Ingredients and Method to make Cereal Muffins
Dry Ingredients
1/2 cup barley flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (unbleached, see notes)
1 cup fiber one cereal (or any other cereal of choice)
1 cup Post's Cranberry Almond crunch cereal (or any other cereal of choice)
1/2 cup dried raisins
1/2 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder (aluminum free)
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
2 tbsp flax seed meal+ 6 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 350 deg F

Line a regular sized muffin tray with paper liner or grease the muffin cups and keep aside.

In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients

Whisk together flax seed meal and water until it becomes gelatinous

In a bowl mix together flax seed meal mixture and oil.

Add this mixture to the dry ingredients slowly, mixing it in as you pour.

Add milk and vanilla essence to this mixture and mix well.

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This mixture will be a little thick, spoon this mixture into the paper lined muffin cups upto 2/3rd level.

Place the tray in the oven and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of muffin comes out clean.

Yielded one dozen regular sized muffins

Tastes best on the day of baking or within a couple of days. If using the day after, warm in the microwave for a few seconds before serving to get a more softer and right out of the oven feel.

Notes

I used flour from white wheat different from wheat flour which is bleached, which is also lighter in texture and feel. You can substitute this with regular whole wheat flour or all purpose flour.

Similarly in case you cannot find barley flour you can substitute it with either all purpose flour or whole wheat flour as per your preference.

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Tea Spice Powder ( Chai Masala)

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To call me a chai enthusiast would be somewhat of an understatement, a bit like saying that the sun can be a little bright :-) For me chai can in turn refresh, revive or soothe depending on my current frame of mind, and I am convinced that only the prospect of having morning chai gets me out of my bed. When I say chai I mean tea that is made with spices and has some milk added to it, what is known as chai latte in the coffee shops these days, not black tea. I am pretty specific about the strength of the tea, the quantity of the milk, ginger and spices to be added to the tea. In short, about tea, I am very very picky :-)

Since I am so specific about my chai I find that the masalas(tea spice powder) that I get in the stores just do not cut it with me. The solution.... I make my own chai masala and find that I vastly prefer it to the store bought ones. This chai masala is something that I keep in hand most times. I make it with the spices I like in my tea. I have not referred to any particular recipe but have used proportions that work for me. I use this chai masala in pretty much the same proportion in my chai as I had used this other masala I posted a while ago . If you like masala chai, try this masala you will be sure to stay away from the store bought versions after using this:-)




Here is a picture of some of the spices used in this chai masala



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Ingredients and Method to make Chai Masala

25 whole green cardamoms (elaichi/ ellakkai)
2 (2 inch pieces) of cinnamon (Dalchini/ pattai)
1 tsp whole black pepper (Kala miri/ Milagu)
1 tsp dried mint (optional)
2 star anise (Anas phal)
5 whole cloves (laung)
1 tsp ginger powder

Break down cinnamon sticks with a mortar and pestle into smaller pieces.

Grind together all the ingredients mentioned above in a spice grinder until fine

Keep in an air tight container and use as required

I use this tea masala in the same proportion in my tea as this one I posted a while ago.

Yields about 7 heaped teaspoons of masala

Notes

You can easily double the quantity of spices to make more masala and store up for a little while.

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