simple pasta salad

Summers without cool pasta salad has become unthinkable. It is my favorite picnic and potluck food during the hot summer months. It can be prepared ahead of time, and in fact tastes better that way, and I can throw in fresh vegetables and herbs from my garden - anything goes really, based on personal taste... it feels like the perfect food!

Although it is not officially summer yet this year, I have already made pasta salad quite a few times in the last couple of months. I prefer the tricolor rotini usually, but, whole-wheat penne or farfalle or even ditalini are good too. The dressing varies a lot depending on my mood and the ingredients handy, but, usually I keep it simple.

Procedure is fairly straightforward: cook the pasta al dente; throw in some fresh vegetables (steam them lightly if preferred), add some fresh herbs and seasonings, dress with any favorite vinaigrette, toss well and allow to rest in the fridge overnight.

Ingredients
rotini
broccoli
cauliflower
steamed green peas
carrots
kalamata olives
pepperoncini
sundried tomatoes
pickled capers

3-4 garlic cloves finely minced

toasted walnuts (optional)
toasted pine nuts (optional)

fresh herbs (from my garden, in season):
fennel leaves
basil leaves
oregano leaves
chives and chive flowers

vinaigrette:
olive oil (or canola oil, if preferred)
balsamic vinegar
any favorite hot sauce (like Tabasco™ or Franks Red Hot™)
paprika powder

Preparation

cook the pasta per package directions till al dente; drain, rinse in cold water, set aside

chop the vegetables to bite-size pieces; slit the olives if preferred, coarsely chop the sundried tomatoes; i use small capers so i leave them whole

finely chop the fresh herbs, and sauté the garlic and herbs till they bloom; set aside

combine the vinaigrette ingredients and stir well; i am leaving out the exact amounts as it can be varied to your taste;

combine the pasta, sautéed herbs, chopped vegetables in a large bowl, drizzle in the vinaigrette a little at a time and toss well; add wnough vinaigrette to coat all the ingredients so that they are not dry.

Cover and refrigerate overnight (or up to 12 hrs). Garnish with toasted walnuts and/or pine nuts. Serve cold with some rustic artisan olive bread.

snake gourd and brown lentils

Snake gourd (Trichosanthes cucumerina) intrigued me as a child - its shape and color, its soft spongy core, its hollow inside, its resemblance to bitter gourd... the only other vegetable that intrigued me equally when I was growing up was the Moringa (aka drumstick, murungakai).

My mom usually made koottu, molagoottal, or poduthuval out of snake gourd. It struck me as bland and tasteless, almost watery. And if not picked tender and cooked right away, they tend to become woody/chewy and rather unpalatable. The seeds and pulp inside are bitter. And, many a times, the flesh also happens to be bitter.

If buying fresh snake gourd, I usually try to taste a tiny bit before cooking and serving. They are also available frozen. So far, the frozen ones have turned out better tasting than the fresh ones I have used. Possibly because they are picked tender and frozen right away whereas the fresh ones travel a long way to reach my local produce market...

My preferred way to cook snake gourd so far has been to sauté it with some salt and turmeric powder, add some tempering and some grated coconut, and serve it light and simple with some rice and rasam or sambar. Every once in a while, I like to throw in some lentils to up the nutritional value, as in this recipe.

Ingredients
1 pkt frozen, sliced snake gourd
1 cup brown lentils, soaked overnight
¼ cup grated coconut
1-2 green chilies
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Madras curry powder
salt to taste
Tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp urad dal, 3-4 curry leaves

Preparation

cook the brown lentils till soft and tender but not mushy

coarsely blend the coconut and green chilies and keep handy

tempering: heat oil in a pan, when shimmering add the urad dal, when it turns golden brown, add the mustard seeds and when they pop add the cumin seeds and curry leaves, then add the turmeric powder and curry powder, stir a little to let the spices bloom

add the frozen snake gourd, cooked brown lentils, salt to taste, sauté a bit, cover and let the snake gourd cook till tender but not mushy; stir in the coconut-green-chili mixture

This Snake Gourd & Brown Lentils is my 'S' dish for lovely Nupur's A to Z of Indian Vegetables event.

it's good to be home!

After two weeks of wonderful break, it is good to be back at the nest. The trip was very exciting and relaxing at the same time - one big advantage of traveling with a baby - can't rush about too much trying to pack as many activities in a day as we would have liked to :-)

We managed to try some authentic Bavarian and Swiss foods both at restaurants and at wonderfully hospitable friends' homes. Spargel (white asparagus) was in season and my friend A was nice enough to cook some up with butter sauce for us one evening. I had it for the first time and enjoyed it! D enjoyed the typical Schnitzels and Bratwursts, and the popular Turkish Döner Kebabs, plus of course, an assortment of local cheeses and beers and wines...

Usually, I try to put in some extra effort before the trip and cook some favorite meals and freeze them so that comfort food is ready when I get back home. This time was no exception. I had made some cholay, arachu vitta sambar, snake beans & zucchini curry and simple potato curry. We will be enjoying these for the next few days...

I am looking forward to trying out new recipes based on the foods I have recently tasted, and of course, post them here if they turn out fine :-)

on a break!

Hello All!

Am on a much-needed (as if there is any other kind!) break...

Please check back in 10 days... Hope to see you then.

Ciao!

simple bento

Bento "lunch box" is amazingly simple and flexible in concept that I love it. While this is a great lunch, I like it for dinner too...

Bento typically consists of rice, maybe fish or chicken, some marinated vegetables and maybe some steamed vegetables with some sauces on the side. Typically ratio is 4:3:2:1 of rice: main meat or fish: vegetables: sauce. But, anything is fine as long as you like it... It is hard to go wrong with this kind of flexibility :)

If packing for lunch, allow to cool, pack and leave in fridge overnight. In this presentation, I simply assemble and serve it on a dinner plate. It is very easy and quick to throw together - about the time it takes rice to finish cooking. Or, if leftover rice is handy, then it takes just about 10 minutes for the vegetables to marinate or steam a bit. Any vegetable (or meat) is good - sometimes I throw in some steamed broccoli, or home-made pickled eggs, or some peppers, or lettuce...

Ingredients
marinade:
1 tsp white or red miso
4 Tbsp regular plain white vinegar
2 Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
vegetables:
red onions, thinly sliced
ginger, julienned
cucumber, thinly sliced
spinach, roughly chopped, steamed, and squeezed dry
pickled asparagus (optional)
plus any other veggies you have handy and like to thrown in...
rice:
1 cup jasmine rice (or sushi rice, if preferred)
2 cups water

Preparation:

combine the marinade ingredients, stir well; pour over the sliced onions, ginger, cucumber, and spinach; preferably, keep the veggies separate, even if they are marinating in the same bowl; allow to marinate till rice is cooked

combine the rice and water and cook till well done; spread the rice on a cookie sheet to cool

Dish up the rice on a plate. I used a pancake heart mould just for fun. Arrange the marinated vegetables on top of the rice, serve cool or at room temperature.

The last time I made bento, I made up a smiley face for my wee one, using a round pancake mould, cucumber and spinach for eyes, ginger for nose, red onions for a smiley mouth and pickled asparagus spears for mustache :)

Pan Fried Pavakkai Bitter gourd

Pavakkai is bitter gourd, in Tamil. It used to be one of my least favorite ones despite my dad extolling its virtues (antido­tal, antipyretic tonic, appetizing, stomachic, antibilious and laxative) in the health department. Not sure when exactly it happened, but around the time I "grew up", I started appreciating pavakkai more, and these days am so glad D loves it too, so I get to make it as often as I want :)

Bitter gourd, or bitter melon, that I have used so far are of two types:
1. small, dark green with pronounced ridges and bitterness
2. larger, light green, relatively smooth skin and mildly bitter

I cook each in different ways - the smaller one is good for stuffing and frying, the bigger one is good in sambar or pan-fried as a side dish in this recipe. The pronounced bitterness doesn't blend well with other vegetables to my liking.

Ingredients
1 - 2 large green bitter melon (Fu Gwa)
2 - 3 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp dry red chili powder
1 Tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste

tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 3-4 curry leaves

Preparation

chop the ends off, scoop out the innards^* and slice the pavakkai into rings; salt it and let it sit for about 10 minutes; drain, pat dry
^*If it helps, here's how I usually do it: I cut them into roughly 3-inch pieces, and insert my vegetable peeler or a spoon into the central pulp and rotate it like I am juicing a lemon, trying not to tear the flesh apart to scoop out the innards:)

tempering: heat oil in a pan, when shimmering add the mustard seeds and when they pop add the cumin seeds and curry leaves, then add the powdered spices, stir a little to let the spices bloom

add the sliced pavakkai, brown sugar, some salt, a few tablespoons of water, cover and let it sweat and cook a little; then remove the lid, turn up the heat and pan fry till done, adding a little more oil if needed; off heat stir in lemon juice

Serve warm with basmati rice and ghee, or rasam, or mor-kozhambu.

This Pan-fried Pavakkai is my 'P' dish for lovely Nupur's A to Z of Indian Vegetables event.

Creamy Swiss Chard Soup

A lot of the puréed soups I make start off the same - throw them with some flavoring ingredients and pressure cook, then mush it up manually or using a food processor/blender; to thicken it, i either use a simple roux or potato flakes or, as in this case, some heavy cream.

This is same as my usual spinach soup, just substituted spinach with Swiss chard. The main difference is that I added some heavy cream here which I leave out usually. Even though it is subtle, the two greens' - viz., spinach and swiss chards - taste quite different. I happen to like them both :)

Ingredients
1 bunch swiss chards
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 jalapeño or serrano chilies, chopped
1 Tbsp Madras curry powder
1 tsp brown sugar
salt to taste
1 Tbsp oil
½ cup heavy cream

Preparation

wash the greens and roughly chop them; combine the greens, onions, chilies and garlic with a pinch of salt in a pressure cooker, add just enough water for the pressure cooker to work, cook till mushy

when cool enough to handle, purée the mushed veggies in a blender

heat oil in a soup pot, add the curry powder and let it bloom, then add the purée, adjust salt to taste and let it simmer gently till thickened a little

stir in the heavy cream, adjust flavors as needed

Serve warm with home-made corn bread or rolls.

blueberry waffles

Waffles are a good Sunday morning breakfast. We still have about a gallon bag full of frozen blueberries we picked from a nearby farm last year and I wanted to use them up. Plus, the hyacinth and rhododendron are all blooming in the garden and I wanted to take advantage of the lilacs and purples :)

Any basic waffle recipe would work, but over the years, I've noticed just a few things that make a difference - viz., heat the waffle iron to pretty high temperature before pouring the batter in, not cut back on the butter or oil too much as it compromises the texture, milk or buttermilk work better than plain water, use baking soda if using buttermilk, baking powder if using milk, egg yolks can be left out, just whites alone when well beaten add some nice fluffiness, also, freshness of the baking powder and baking soda matters - if they are a bit stale, I increase the quantity a bit...

My mom being a chemistry teacher taught me about sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and how it reacts, but until I started meddling with baking recipes I didn't quite understand the role baking soda and baking powder play in these recipes. Baking soda is an alkali and likes to react with acid to produce gas (CO₂) which acts as leavening agent in baking. So, usually, recipes that call for baking soda also use yogurt or buttermilk to provide acidity. Baking powder usually has baking soda, plus an acid, plus some starch; most commercial baking powders are double acting - an acidic agent that reacts at room temperature, and another at a higher temperature during baking, thus providing the rise and fluffiness.

Ingredients
2 cups of flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
4 Tbsp applesauce (optional)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp baking soda
2-4 Tbsp brown sugar or molasses
4 Tbsp of cooking oil or butter
1 cup frozen blueberries

Preparation

heat the waffle iron - even after the light goes off, I let mine heat up some more before pouring the batter

thaw the blueberries in the microwave till just ready, not mushy; reserve some for topping, use the rest in the batter

combine all the ingredients and whisk well; if preferred, beat the egg whites separately till fluffy and fold it into the batter; it is best if batter is made right before cooking

cook per instructions on the waffle iron; sometimes I let it sit longer, even after the light goes out :)

Serve warm with just a touch of maple syrup, or home-made berry syrup (just throw in some berries in a pan with a little water, cover, simmer till mushy, add sugar if preferred, serve warm).

walnut orange butterfly cupcakes

This walnut orange butterfly cupcake is inspired by Susanna Tee's Cupcakes book. However, I merged two recipes from the book that caught my fancy to come up with this amalgam - viz., moist walnut cupcake and lemon butterfly cupcake.

I rarely follow any recipe closely (tut-tut, indeed!), but I draw a lot of inspiration from interesting recipes and, usually, I look at recipes as a guideline/technique which I can adapt: I didn't have lemon handy, but had quite a few oranges, plus, we usually have a bag of walnuts in the freezer to throw in salads and such, and so, when I had the compelling urge to try another recipe from the book, I decided to work with what I have handy and this hybrid turned out quite tasty :)

Ingredients
3/4 cup walnuts
4 Tbsp softened butter
½ cup sugar
3 Tbsp orange zest (or lemon zest)
2 eggs
½ cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder

for the frosting:
4 Tbsp butter softened
1/2 cup powdered/confectioners' sugar
3 Tbsp orange (or lemon) zest
1 tsp orange (or lemon) juice

Preparation

heat the oven to 375°F ; place about 12 paper baking cases in a regular muffin pan, or, just spray a mini muffin pan with some baking spray, or a combination of both - I made a few regular size and the rest mini size

pulse the walnut in food processor to break it down to a fine powder, but not overgrind as it will get oily

combine the walnut, flour, sugar, baking powder, butter, eggs, orange zest and blend into a smooth batter using a hand whisk or food processor

spoon the batter into the muffin pan and bake for about 20 minutes until well-risen and golden brown, cooked through on the inside; then, allow to cool a little on the wire rack before frosting

frosting: beat the butter in a bowl until fluffy; sift in confectioners' sugar, add orange zest and juice and mix well

when cupcakes are cool enough, slice a thin circular layer off the top to make a flat-top cupcake; cut the sliced piece in half, keep handy; spread a layer of frosting on the cupcake and press the the two cut pieces on top at an angle to suggest butterfly wings (or, kitty ears, or horns as D kept teasing me about it)

I love the bright citrus flavor from the orange zest and the nutty walnut flavor.

Opo Squash Mor-Kozhambu

Opo Squash (Pul Qua, Hu Lu Gua, Woo-Lo-Kua, Peh-Poh, Long Squash/Melon) is mostly bland and watery, so, it works well with a lot of Indian recipes which have interesting spices.

Mor-Kozhambu is a buttermilk/yogurt based dish, usually served with rice, and accompanied by some poduthuval or paruppusili. But, I like to eat a bowlful of cool mor-kozhambu as a summer soup sometimes :)


Ingredients
½ medium opo squash, peeled and diced
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup buttermilk
1½ cups plain yogurt
¼ tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
water as needed

cliantro for garnish

tempering: 1 tsp oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 3-4 curry leaves

for the spice paste:
½ cup dry (or fresh) grated coconut
2-3 jalapeños or green chilies
2 Tbsp grated ginger

Preparation

combine the spice paste ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend to a smooth paste; keep handy

place the opo squash, onions, carrots, some salt, turmeric powder in a pan, add just enough water, cover and cook the vegetables

turn down the heat, add the spice paste, stir well, then fold in the yogurt and the buttermilk, and heat through gently till well combined; turn off heat - buttermilk will separate if cooked for too long; garnish with tempering and cilantro

tempering: heat oil in a pan, when shimmering add the mustard seeds and when they pop add the cumin seeds and curry leaves, turn off heat

Serve warm or at room temperature with rice.

This Opo Squash Mor-Kozhambu is my 'O' dish for lovely Nupur's A to Z of Indian Vegetables event.