A look back at 2011 with a few personal faves :-)

Tweet

It is amazing how quickly 2011 has flown by, it seemed like yesterday when the year started and we were discussing resolutions and  plans for the year and here we are, already staring at the end of the year.The end of the year also means its that time of the year when we look back and reflect and review the year that went by.......I thought it would be nice to look back at 2011 with a few of my favorite posts/ recipes that made it into this space :-)

Click on each title to go that post for the recipe

Curried Mung Bean and Barley Soup
As in any meal , I would like to begin with soup. This hearty Curried mung bean and barley soup continues to rank among my all time favorite soups. This simple and nutritious soup can double as a curry if required and is hearty enough for a light meal with some bread on the side.

Thai Inspired Pasta 

Thrown together on an impulse just because I felt like having something with Thai flavors rather than Italian, this pasta was a very pleasant surprise even for me when I first made it, now of course it has become one of my favorites and  features frequently in my kitchen:-)

Methi Thepla Spiced Flatbread 
Thepla (Spiced Indian flatbread) is a convenient handy dandy item to have on hand when traveling. It tastes good on its own, does not require refrigeration for a few days and beats some of the unhealthy food choices that one encounters when traveling.


 

Sundried Tomato Chutney
This sundried tomato chutney/dip that I tried on a whim has now become my favorite way to use sundried tomatoes.






Tandoori Paneer Pizza
I am always intrigued by fusion of two completely different styles of cuisine. No wonder I was enthralled by a paneer pizza I tasted when I visited India. In a bid to recapture and recreate that taste, I ended up making this pizza that has become a family favorite now. Of course my version is a little healthier because of this Oat wheat pizza base and this homemade tandoori sauce :-)

 

Instant Savory Wheat Dosai (savory Indian crepes)
Usually the instant dosais that I make have a mix of two to three flours, so I was pleasantly surprised when my sister in law Anu introduced me to this dosai that used only wheat flour as its main ingredient. Now whenever I am in a hurry and dosai is on the menu this one comes to mind since it is the least fussy and simplest of recipes :-)

Microwave Crunchy Mung Bean Snack with no oil
Snacks are my weakness and I tend to snack a lot at times. It figures then that I always try to keep some healthy snacks on hand, this one fits the bill beautifully. Its quick and easy to make and has absolutely no oil, just some lentil protein in a crunchy form to enjoy with movies or television.:-)

Peanut and Flax ladoo
I have a sweet tooth and feel guilty every time I make sweets because I know I am going to be tempted to eat more than I should :-) When I made this sweet the first time,  I thought now here's something that is so full of healthy and "good for you " ingredients that it makes me feel just a little better about indulging my sweet tooth :-) Did I mention that whenever I make this my entire family loves it and no one can make out there is healthy stuff like flax in this......

 

Maharashtrian style Rava Ladoo
I have always wanted to make the Maharashtrian style rava ladoo (semolina coconut sweet balls) and when my sister in law's neighbor was kind enough to share her recipe with us, I couldn't wait to try it. This has become my go to recipe for entertaining or when I am making sweets for friends and family :-) 

Dried Apricot Jam 
This dried apricot jam was the first time that  I solely used a dried fruit to make jam and the result surprised me. I do not even like dried apricots very much but in this jam I enjoyed them a great deal :-)  




So that's it folks, some of my  personal favorites from 2011. Hope you all enjoy your year end celebrations with friends and family. I'll be back next week and next year with some more posts, have planned a lot of fun stuff for the next year. In case any of you want to see something specific in this space do let me know and I'll see what I can do to post that here :-)

Read more ...

Oven Roasted Eggplant in coconut milk gravy curry ~ Baingan ki subzi ~ Kathrikai kozhambu

Tweet

Been a while since I posted any curries in this space. Not because I haven't been making curries, but because most of the curries that I made recently were already posted in this space earlier or were regular simple curries. The one exception was this roasted eggplant curry that I made a few months back for the first time. As soon as I tasted it, I knew that I would be making this curry again and again and that it would definitely find its way into this space. :-)

My mother in law watches a cookery show on television regularly and when she was here she used to put it on,  and some days I would join her in watching the program.I have to admit I am not one of those people that can sit patiently while watching tv, I get too restless. But this program was fun,  only because most of the times my mother in law and I would be talking about all the experiments we have tried in our kitchens and only glance occasionally at the tv when something looked interesting :-)  One such interesting idea that I got from the show was the idea of making a gravy combining tamarind and coconut milk for a curry, the lady used this gravy for a fish curry.

I decided to make a vegetarian version with eggplant. The first time I made this curry I used pearl onions and tamarind in the curry and loved it. Subsequently I changed things up a bit and made this curry with regular onions, used ketchup instead of tamarind and loved it even more. The slight sweetness that ketchup brings to this curry adds a very interesting and delicious dimension to this curry. And I must mention that using ketchup instead of tamarind means that the curry gets ready even faster than the tamarind version.  So this has become my new favorite eggplant curry these days, give it a try and see if it becomes your favorite too :-)

 


Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Eggplant with coconut gravy curry
1 large eggplant cut into 1/4 inch width and 2 inch length matchsticks (or 10 medium sized Indian eggplants cut into wedges) (Baingan/katrikai)
1 large red onion cut very fine (pyaaz/vengayam)
3 medium tomatoes cut fine (tamatar/ thakkali)
1 tsp chopped ginger (adrak/inji)
2 tbsp + 1 tbsp coconut oil (or any other oil)
1/4 cup plain ketchup (see notes)
salt to taste (namak/ uppu)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi/manjal podi)
1/2 tsp red chili powder (or to taste) (lal mirch/ molagai podi)
1/4 to 1/2 cup coconut milk (according to  taste) (nariyal ka doodh/thengai paal)
 
Optional garnish
7 to 8 curry leaves broken into small pieces

Pre heat oven to 425 deg F.

Line a tray or two (I needed two trays) with foil and keep aside. Spread the cut eggplant on the trays in a manner that it is not overlapping. Brush on a little oil on the vegetable and place in the oven.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until it turns a little golden,  turning once in between to ensure even baking. Remove from oven when done and keep aside.
In a large heavy bottomed pan, heat 2 tbsp coconut oil on medium low heat. Add onions and saute until it turns transparent. Add minced ginger and stir a few times. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes turn soft and mushy.

Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and stir a few times. Add ketchup and 3/4 cup water, mix well and allow to simmer for a few seconds.

Add roasted eggplant , salt to taste and allow to simmer for a few minutes.
The copyright of this content belongs to Veginspirations.com

Finally add coconut milk anywhere between 1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on your choice and taste. Add water if required to achieve desired consistency.  I used 1/2 cup coconut milk and little bit of water. Allow to simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat, garnish with curry leaves if using and serve on a bed of plain steamed rice.

This curry can also be served with Rotis/ phulkas (Indian flatbread)

Notes:
This curry can also be made with tamarind as I mentioned earlier. If you want to skip the ketchup and use tamarind instead, then soak 3 to 4 small thumb sized pieces of tamarind in sufficient water for 15 to 20 mins. Extract juice from the tamarind by pressing it and removing its juice. Fill with water again and do this a couple of times till all the juice from the tamarind has been extracted. Discard pulp and seeds. I got approx 1 1/2 cups of tamarind juice. Pour this water after the tomatoes are cooked and softened and allow to simmer for a few minutes until the raw smell from the tamarind disappears. Then add roasted eggplant and proceed with the rest of the recipe as above.

Read more ...

Keerai Oat Barley adai ~ Palak Dhal Dosa ~ Spinach Oat Savory Indian crepes

Tweet

Can there be anything more boring and mundane than having to clean up the kitchen after cooking a large meal? After cooking a large meal, all I want to do is to finish up in the kitchen and move on to the next thing on my to do list, instead I have to devote this fair chunk of time to cleaning the kitchen. Sigh !! As I result, I am always looking for tips that make cleaning up simpler and quicker.

Here is an interesting article that I came across recently in readers digest, it had some interesting tips on kitchen cleaning. I haven't tried any of them but a few of them sound quite interesting. Especially the one about cleaning the blender with a drop of liquid dish detergent and water and just running the blender sounded really cool. Will definitely be trying some of these in the future.



Of course, one simple way to avoid spending a lot of time on clean up is to make something simple, read that as a single dish meal :-) I do this occasionally and one of the dishes I like to make is adai (savory Indian crepe).  I have already explained what adai is in this post so I will not go into it again  This version of adai has brown rice, lentils, oatmeal , barley and spinach. In addition it takes very little time to make and is delicious, really, what's not to like :-) So if you are looking for ways to sneak in some oatmeal , barley or spinach, this adai here is yet another way to do it.......

 

Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Spinach Oat adai

1 cup brown rice (or white rice) (Chawal/ arisi)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup whole red lentils (masoor dhal)
1/3 cup split mung bean lentil (mung dhal)
1/3 cup split pigeon peas (tur dhal)

5 Thai or Indian green chilies (or to taste)
5 small whole dry red chilies (or to taste)
salt to taste
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder (hing/perungayam)
1 and 1/2 cups of packed spinach leaves (Palak/ keerai) 

In a large bowl mix together the first six ingredients, add water and swirl with your hand and drain water. Fill with sufficient water and allow the grains to soak for 3 hours.

Grind these soaked grains in batches along with red and green chilies adding only as much water as is required. The grains need only to be of a coarse texture so you do not need to grind it smooth.The batter needs to be on the thicker side, not runny so do not use water too liberally when grinding the batter.

Add a little spinach in each batch and give it another turn in the blender until the spinach is pureed too.

Add salt to taste and asafoetida powder to the batter and mix well.
The copyright of this content belongs to Veginspirations.com
 
When making adai, heat a flat pan/ griddle/ tawa on medium heat. When hot, pour a little batter on the center of the pan/ tawa and quickly spread it into a thin circle. Pour a few drops of sesame oil around the circumference of the adai. When the lower side is golden brown, flip over and cook the other side until it has a few brownish/golden spots on it.

Here is a video clip of the process of making adai. This clip is not of this particular but the consistency of the batter and the technique is similar so am attaching the video here, if you would like to get an idea of how it is done, take a peek....


Remove and serve hot with some Molaga Podi (spice powder) / chutney of choice/ honey or jaggery/ some aviyal :-)

Refrigerate unused portion of batter and use within a few days for freshest taste.
Yield will depend on the size and thickness of each adai.

Read more ...

Carrot Halwa (Gajar Halwa) on request and an update !!

Tweet

Updating the recipe index on this site, has been on my to do list for the last few months but I never managed to get around to doing it. Finally these last few days I managed to find some time and was able to devote my attention to it. I am happy to report that my index is finally up to date, hop on over to it if you want to have a look at the completed index:-) 

Today is turning out to be the day for completing a lot of things that have been sidelined for a few months. This carrot halwa is another one of the things that I have ignored for quite a while. It has been sitting in my drafts since August of this year, when I made it for my uncle and aunt and a few friends for lunch. Somehow there always seemed to be one other recipe that needed to get posted before it on this site,  and this carrot halwa got ignored.

Recently my aunt Kavitha, who liked this halwa the last time I made it for them, asked me why this recipe hasn't made it to my site yet and requested me to post it asap. I guess that was just the motivation I needed to post this recipe without any further delay, so here it is...... For those of you unfamiliar with carrot halwa it is a simple Indian dessert, a little like pudding, that is made with carrots, milk and sugar. It tastes fantastic on its own, but for a really decadent treat try this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Yum:-)  My picture doesn't do justice to this amazing dessert, I hope to update it at some future point with a much better one :-)



Click here for a printable view of this recipe

Ingredients and Method to make Carrot halwa
9 cups packed grated carrots
3 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half or milk (see notes)
2 cups sugar (see notes)
1/2 tsp cardamom seed powder (elaichi/ elakkai)
optional garnish
2 tsp clarified butter (ghee/nei)
3 tbsp broken cashew nuts (kaju)

In a large heavy bottomed pan add the grated carrots and milk and place on medium heat. Cook the carrots until soft and most of the milk has evaporated.

Add sugar and continue to cook until the sugar melts and the mixture simmers for a while. When the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan and begins to come together add cardamom powder and mix well.
The copyright of this content belongs to Veginspirations.com

Remove from heat and keep aside. For the garnish, heat clarified butter in a small pan and add the broken cashew nuts. Roast lightly, when the cashew turns lightly reddish, remove and pour the entire mixture over the halwa.

Serve halwa warm or cold. This halwa tastes awesome when served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

This recipe can easily be halved or quartered if you want to make a smaller quantity of halwa.

Notes:
The carrots can be cooked entirely in milk, half and half is optional. It just adds a little more richness to the halwa so I use it sometimes.
Since I like my desserts mildly sweet I only use this quantity of sugar, if you like your desserts sweeter do increase the quantity of sugar according to taste.

Read more ...