Vegetarian Thai Red Curry

I make Thai curries often and realized I hadn't posted my recipe for red curry in over 200 recipes I have managed to jot down here so far, even though I have posted the green curry recipe. So, here it is...

Now, as I am not fond of shrimp paste or fish paste, I try to make my own Thai curry pastes. There are a few brands of ready-made Thai curry pastes that leave out the shrimp paste and fish paste (or at least do not list them in the ingredients list on the label), but, rather than hunt for them, I use this adapted version at home, making this Thai red curry a vegetarian dish to my liking.

I had a few Neon eggplants and a bunch of Thai dragon chilies from the home garden that need to be used up, the weather is getting chilly and the plants are not going to survive for long in our garden... feel free to use bird's eye chilies, or Serrano, or even milder chilies to suit your taste. Any favorite vegetable combination would work for this red curry.

Ingredients
1 5" long Neon or Ichiban eggplant, cut into chunks on a bias
1 medium carrot cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium potato cut into chunks
2 cups chopped kale
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium broccoli stalk, chopped (not florets)
spring onions and cilantro for garnish
1 can light coconut milk
2 Tbsp canola oil
salt to taste


for the red curry paste:
8-10 red Thai dragon chilies
4 cloves of garlic
4-6 dry red chilies
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
3 Tbsp chopped galangal* (or ginger)
3 shallots, finely chopped, or one small red onion
2 Tbsp lemon zest (or kaffir lime leaves if handy)
½ cup chopped cilantro stems**
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp canola oil
4 Tbsp finely chopped lemongrass (I use just the bottom 4-inches or so of the stalk)
water as needed

* I buy the dried packaged galangal, and reconstitute in water before using
** I usually use the leaves for garnish, and save the stems for chutneys and curry pastes :-)

Preparation

1. Red Curry paste:Combine the ingredients above in a blender or food processor and blend to a smooth fine paste; adjust amount of chilies to your taste
2. Curry:
   • Heat the oil in a pan, add the red curry paste and sauté till aromatic, till it turns darker and flavorful - about 8 minutes on medium heat;
   • add the chopped vegetables, enough water to submerge the vegetables, add a pinch of salt, cover and cook till vegetables are cooked but not mushy;
   • add the coconut milk, simmer for a few more minutes; garnish with chopped spring onions and cilantro
   • 
     
3. Serve with warm jasmine rice, some crushed peanuts and sambal oelek or other sambals on the side

soba, tempeh and miso soup

It has been a while since I made Soba noodles. Somehow, Summer went by without much fuss. Not too many hot days. Fairly mild. We had salads and such simple meals for the most part.

Yesterday I came home with a nasty headache. D had many other things to do, so, I volunteered to cook something simple. Soba with Miso Soup sounded just like what the doctor ordered. To add some nutritional value so we can have a rounded meal, I threw in some Tempeh.

For the miso soup: recipe is the same as my usual one posted here. I used red miso paste.

For the soba: cook per package directions and steep in favorite flavoring or dipping sauce. Combined ponzu and a hint of mirin and let the soba steep in it till ready to serve - say about 10-15 minutes, while tempeh is getting ready.

For the tempeh: it is basically fermented soyabeans and adapts well to many flavorings. I carried the theme of ponzu and mirin, plus some cayenne pepper sauce to flavor the tempeh. Sautéed some onions and tomatoes, added the tempeh and flavoring, cooked for about 15-20 minutes.

Ana seemed to enjoy this meal, especially the soba. She doesn't care much for miso soup. That's OK. Studies have shown that soy inhibits absorption of iron (and maybe zinc), but, it has other health benefits that I am convinced it is safe in reasonable amounts, provided there are no other health concerns - soy has been shown to interfere with thyroid function...

Anyway, clearly, one has to evaluate one's health and diet and do what seems best, so I'll refrain from further discourse on the subject.

Sweet and Sour Shrimp

D was in the mood for some shrimp. He had bought some deveined, shelled, frozen cocktail shrimp. So, I made this sweet and sour shrimp dish for him.

Now, I absolutely cannot stand shrimp (I've tried it a few ways), nor can I down any lobster or crab. Quelle Horreur, indeed! However, I don't mind salmon or halibut once in a while, especially if smothered in spicy rich sauce which masks the fishiness :-)

When we were newlyweds, D and I went garage-sale-hopping as we were unemployed then, or partially employed doing pizza delivery and such, and therefore could not afford many things.

That's how the 2$ Pressure Canner came into my life and has become an inseparable and invaluable addition to my kitchen.

Also, that's how the Bread Machine came into my kitchen too - was a steal at 20$ as another newlywed couple in Troutdale was selling their Wedding presents that were multiples.

And, that's how this treasure of a book called The Thousand Recipe Chinese CookBook by Gloria Bley Miller came into our homes. At 5$, it felt practically criminal to take it away from this sweet grandma who told us that she won't be using it much more and would rather give it to someone who would appreciate it.

Anyway, this sweet and sour shrimp is really easy to make and takes less than 20 minutes. Cook the shrimp as desired, make the sweet and sour sauce, then, throw the shrimp into the sauce and it is done. I served it with some home-made pickled radish^† and slit kung pao chilies from our garden that D likes, plus some lemon wedges for extra tartness, if needed.

Now the sweet and sour sauce is taken from the above-mentioned The Thousand Recipe Chinese CookBook. Many sauce recipes in this book are very easy to follow and turn out quite good.

^† Pickled Radish can be made ahead: Just slice some radish and place in a container, heat some plain white vinegar and salt, pour over the radish, set aside to steep for an hour or more; if not using right away, allow to cool, cover and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Ingredients
10-12 cocktail frozen shrimp, thawed, patted dry
½ cup cornstarch
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
2- 3 cups canola oil for deep frying

for the sweet and sour sauce:

3/4 cup water ½ cup brown sugar (or sugar) ½ cup plain vinegar

1 Tbsp cornstarch 1 Tbsp soy sauce (low sodium) ¼ cup water

Preparation

1. heat the oil for deep frying
2. combine the cornstarch, cayenne pepper, salt in a bowl, toss together till well incorporated
3. just before ready to fry, throw the shrimp into this cornstarch mix, lightly toss with hands, throw into a colander and shake off excess mixture (if shrimp is allowed to sit in the mixture for long, it can get gooey and sticky, and won't be light and crisp when fried)
4. deep fry till golden brown, drain on a paper towel and keep handy
5. combine the first 3 sauce ingredients and bring to a boil
6. combine the last 3 sauce ingredients into a paste and keep it at room temperature
7. when vinegar sugar mixture is boiling, slowly stir in the cornstarch soy sauce mixture till well incorporated
8. toss in the fried shrimp, off heat

Serve warm over hot jasmine rice.

Pongal Godhsu

Pongal, Godhsu, Medhu Vadai and Chutney - all four together - evoke this wonderful memory of my childhood Sunday brunches. Many Sunday mornings, my mom made this combination which became a favorite brunch in our family.

Now, thankfully, D and Ana love it too, so I get to make it on and off on weekends. Plus, it gave me a reason to use up the eggplant, chilies and tomatoes from our garden.

Now, I was too lazy to make vadai, but I did make a simple chutney. And, as always, my recipes are adapted to my tastes, so they may not be quite traditional and authentic.

Ingredients

for the godhsu: 1-2 Ichiban eggplant (or any variety handy) 1-2 red paprika peppers (optional) 1 kung pao green chili (or any other variety) 1 medium onion 2 medium tomatoes salt to taste 1 tsp cumin powder 1 Tbsp coriander powder 1 tsp hot chili powder 1 tsp brown sugar ½ tsp tamarind concentrate Tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds curry leaves, cilantro for garnish

for pongal: 1 cup jasmine rice ½ cup yellow split moong dal 3 cups water salt to taste 1 Tbsp whole black pepper 1 Tbsp cumin seeds 2 Tbsp canola oil

for the peanut-coconut chutney:
½ cup dry roasted peanuts
¼ cup dry grated coconut
1-2 red paprika peppers, or red chilies
salt to taste
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Chutney:Combine the ingredients in a blender/food processor and blend to a fine paste, adding a little water, if needed. Optionally, add the tempering: heat oil in a pan, add 1 tsp urad dal, when it turns golden brown, add a tsp of mustard seeds and cumin seeds and when the mustard seeds pop, off heat and garnish the chutney.

Preparation:

Pongal: Combine the rice and dal in a pressure cooker and cook till slightly mushy; heat oil in a pan, add the cumin seeds and whole black pepper, stir a little till cumin seeds sizzle but not burn, add the cooked rice+dal, some salt, stir well, adjust to taste; add a little water if the rice is too thick; I prefer the almost-porridge consistency.

Godhsu: Finely dice the vegetables; heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds; when the mustard seeds pop, add the onions and other diced vegetables, sauté a little; then add the cumin, coriander, chili powders, salt to taste and the tamarind, some water to cover the vegetables, and allow to simmer on medium low till vegetables are cooked but not mushy. I like the godhsu to be fairy thick, not too runny...

Serve the pongal and godhsu hot and steaming. It makes a filling brunch especially on cold winter mornings. But, many a nights, I have served this for dinner too.

Poorna Kozhakattai

Among the few festivals I manage to celebrate to my satisfaction, Vinayaka Chathurthy is among the top, a few others being Gokula Ashtami, Navarathri, Deepavali, Arudra/Thiruvadirai, Karthigai, Karadayan Nonbu and, of course, Vishu - the New Year.

Apart from the symbolism and the rituals, each festival has its own special menu. The primary attraction I have is that most of the festivals we celebrate at our home are marked by mellow and subdued observances, solemn, meaningful and simple rituals, quite modest and unceremonious, yet, sincere and heart-warming.

The special menu item, offered as prasadam, that my mom usually makes for Vinayaka Chathurthi is this Poorna Kozhakattai aka Modakam pictured here. Today being Vinayaka Chathurthi, I was happy to make this poorna kozhakattai.

And, as with most of my recipes, this is probably not entirely traditional as I have adapted it to the ingredients handily available in my kitchen.

Kozhakattai, in general, is a steamed dumpling-like dish, which can be sweet or savory, with the stuffing inside making up the attractive part of the dish. Poornam is the term we used in my family to refer to a concoction of coconut+jaggery+water, (sometimes black sesame seeds+jaggery, instead of coconut) in proper proportion so it sets to a soft candy consistency. This poornam is usually encased in the dumpling shell made of rice flour+water, and then steamed to make this dish poorna kozhakattai.

The amount of dumpling dough and poornam can be varied, so, adjust the quantities as needed, while keeping the proportion of ingredients fairly the same. I usually make a small batch...

Ingredients

for the poornam:
¼ cup water (optional)
1/3 cup fresh or dry grated coconut or 1/3 cup toasted black sesame seeds
1/3 cup brown sugar* (plus a few Tbsp more, if preferred)
*jaggery if it is clean, else need to strain to remove mud and residue

for the kozhakattai dough:
½ cup water
2/3 cup fine rice flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp canola oil

Preparation

Kozhakattai: heat the water in a pan just to boiling, add the salt and oil, then gradually add the rice flour while stirring constantly till the dough just comes together; off heat, cover with a damp cloth till poornam is ready

Poornam: heat the water in a pan, add the brown sugar (jaggery if it is clean, else need to strain well to remove mud and residue), when it comes to a boil, add the coconut and keep stirring till it just thickens but not too long or it gets hard as a rock; off heat allow to cool for a few minutes, grease your palms and roll into 1" diameter balls while still hot. (Or any size you prefer, I like little ones...)

Shape a small portion (say 2" diameter ball) of the dough into a cup, add one poornam ball, and close it by gathering all sides and forming a cone-of-sorts at the top, all the while turning/rotating the dough cup so it seals tightly, and is shaped as in the picture.

Note: the dumpling can be oval or round, but traditionally, poorna kozhakattai is round as seen in picture.

Steaming: Place the prepared dumplings in a steamer or idlee cooker and steam them briefly - the dough turns a little translucent when done.

p.s: came across Yum Blog's Ganesha Chathurthi event on Ashaji's blog, and thought I must send this along...

Pulled Chicken

About three to four times a month, D gets to eat poultry or seafood, the only non-vegetarian foods he cares to eat. Even though I don't care to eat them much myself, I like to make it for D just to satisfy my culinary curiosity :-) Thankfully, D doesn't care for beef or pork, neither of which I can handle with confidence.

Anyway... This pulled chicken recipe was inspired by a barbecued pulled pork recipe on America's Test Kitchen program broadcast on PBS last season or so. Instead of BBQing, I simply cooked it on stove-top with lots of moisture to keep it juicy.

Recipe is simple:
Thaw and brine the skinned chicken (thighs, breasts, bone and all if you prefer), then, cook it in a large pot with flavors, submerged in broth, over low-to-medium-low heat for a l-o-n-g time - about 2 hours depending on how big the bird is - till chicken is fully cooked and the meat falls off the bones. We used a 3-lb chicken and it took about two hours to get it tender and cooked through - also depends on the heat, preferably, keep it medium low and steady. A slow cooker is a great option, only it might take longer to cook in a slow cooker than stove-top. Just need to make sure there is enough moisture throughout, and remember to turn the bird periodically till it is cooked all the way through. Then, gently separate the meat from the bones using a fork (ergo "pulled") shredding the meat, but not mushing it. Carefully discard all the bones. I had to let D do the handling of the bird before and after cooking as he is better at it than me.

Use the excess cooking liquid to make a reduction sauce, if preferred.

I threw in some red pepper flakes, parsley, rosemary, Patak's™ Tikka paste, garlic, onions and potatoes in the chicken stock (low sodium) and water that made the cooking liquid - but, use any flavors you prefer. And the potatoes can be fished out when they seem done and served on the side.

Pulled chicken makes a great sandwich, or can be served with simple rotis, or even with rice.

Raspberry Chipotle Chicken

I was skimming through some old food photos to see if I missed posting any recipe, and found this one I had made for D to commemorate Cinco de Mayo. It turned out quite fiery and delicious, and went well with some cold and delicious Dos Equis, some mango salsa and rice.

Mango Salsa is sort of thrown together, not really well planned. I love mangoes so I try to buy a few each week during the mango season and try to find ways to use them in recipes rather than eat them up as-is (which is great too!).

Mango-Avocado Salsa:
2 firm and ripe mangoes, skinned and diced
1 small red (or yellow) onion, diced
1 jalapeño, diced (seeded if preferred)
2 Tbsp chopped chives
1 ripe and firm avocado
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder
½ tsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice (adjust to taste)
cilantro for garnish
salt to taste

Combine the ingredients, adjust flavors and enjoy!

Chicken recipe is very simple. I thawed, brined and marinated the boneless skinless chicken breasts. But chicken thighs can work just as well. Made a raspberry+chipotle+tomato sauce. Pan seared the chicken breasts and then smothered it with the sauce and cooked till chicken was done.

Marinade I used: raspberry vinegar, cider vinegar, yellow mustard, minced garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, marjoram.

We had a bunch of raspberries in our garden and were quite excited. It has been yielding consistently this season, dwindling down to maybe a dozen raspberries once a week now that the season is almost over.

Raspberry Chipotle sauce:

2 cups loosely packed fresh raspberries
¼ cup chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (I used the store-bought canned variety)
4-5 garlic cloves minced finely
1 medium red onion, minced finely
1 medium red tomato, diced finely
1 Tbsp Agave nectar, OR, brown sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp raspberry syrup (optional)
salt to taste
2 Tbsp canola oil

Preparation

Heat the oil in a pan and pan-sear the chicken breasts on both sides till brown; remove from pan

in the same pan as above, add the minced onions and sauté till caramelized; adding a little more oil if needed

add the rest of the sauce ingredients, slide in the chicken breasts, add some water (or broth) as needed, and simmer gently till sauce reduces to desired thickness and chicken breast is fully cooked

Alternately, finish the chicken in the oven and smother it with the sauce to serve.

And since I got to use my garden raspberries in this recipe, I am glad to add this post to the Summer 2007 GBP event hosted by Deepz.

Chicken Satay

For small batches, just for the family, I prefer to broil in the oven, especially if am making Chicken Satay in winter. Grill gets used more in summer when it is not bitterly cold to be outdoors, and it is superbly hot to be indoors with the oven on.

Broiling time varies depending on the thickness of the strips and the oven. I typically start off with 5 minutes keeping a close watch because if the bamboo skewers get dry and hot they do tend to catch fire in the oven.

1. Marinate some boneless skinless chicken breast tenders for 30 minutes, even upto overnight in the fridge. 
2. Soak some bamboo skewers in water. 
3. Cut the chicken breast tenders into uniformly thin strips.  
4. Carefully threaded the chicken strips in the wet bamboo skewers. 
5. Grill, or Broil, turning the skewers as needed, and cook till chicken is done.

Serve with the Peanut Sauce/Dressing.

Marinade ingredients:
4 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Agave nectar OR 1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp tamarind juice or lime juice
2-3 garlic cloves crushed finely
1 Tbsp dry red chili flakes
2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp grated ginger

As always, adjust the marinade ingredients to suit your taste. I simply throw things together depending on my mood, so, the measurements above are approximate at best:-)

Some grilled or roasted vegetables and pineapple slices would make this a wonderful summer evening meal.

Mysore Masala Dosai

When I was really young, I remember going to Mavalli Tiffin Room in Bangalore (Lal Bagh). Known famously now as MTR, the South Indian food served there was quite special and had that incredible home-made feel to it. MTR now also sells high quality packaged foods and ready-to-eat foods that are a favorite among Indians world-wide.

Anyway, RCI:Karnataka made me want to dedicate a special post to one particular dish that I used to order consistently at restaurants: Mysore Masala Dosai.

What made it special for me the first time I ate it in Bangalore was that it had this fiery, spicy chutney spread on the inside of the dosa, plus potato masala on the side, along with onion and coconut chutneys. It was a meal fit for a Queen!

Use any regular dosai recipe - I used my brown rice dosai recipe - for the dosai batter.

The fiery hot chutney I make is with red chilies, a tiny amount of shallots, very tiny amount of garlic and some grated coconut.

The potato masala is the same as what I posted in my poori-potato recipe

Once the dosai is made, spread a little chutney on the inside, scoop some potato masala in and roll up the dosai. Serve it with an array of chutneys like: coconut chutney, tomato chutney, extra potato masala, and even sambar, if you like.

I used my large rectangular griddle on stove-top to get the dosai a nice big oval - and one such large dosai is a huge and filling meal by itself!

Rice Idlee

I had resisted posting a recipe for idlee for almost a year now, since I started blogging because, to me, it felt like posting a recipe for cooking plain rice... I mean, agreed, different varieties of rice need different handling, different amounts of water and such, but basically, it is nothing much to get excited about.

But, ever since my mom gave me this rice-cooker/idlee-steamer apparatus, and ever since I discovered a short-cut of sorts for the batter that works consistently, idlee has become a favorite at home.

Simply put, idlees are steamed savory rice cakes, a staple in most South Indian households, ubiquitous and mostly uncelebrated. Many prefer Dosai (rice crepes) to idlees, at least in my close circle.

The nice thing about this electrical gadget my mom gave me is it takes the guesswork out and consistently delivers perfectly done idlees - it comes with a measuring cup to add water for each batch of steaming and has an on/off light to indicate if it is done. Otherwise, I usually steam it in a pressure cooker (minus the weight) or a stove-top idlee-steamer.



The batter to make idlees is fairly standard but each family usually adds its own little touch to make it different. The traditional process is to soak the rice and urad dal overnight, in proper proportion, then grind it to a fine batter and let it ferment till fluffy. Once the batter is ready, add salt to taste, pour into idlee molds and steam them.

Now, at home, my mom always made the batter smooth and silky so that the idlees were soft and spongy. Whereas, every now and then, when we went to restaurants, the idlees there had a certain coarse texture (yet fluffy, not dense) that I liked better than the soft and silky home-made ones.

Over the last 5 or six years, I've been doing the soaking-grinding-fermenting for idlee/dosai batters as much as I can.

But, to save some time and labor, I started using what I creatively call the "Short-cut Method": use urad flour, rice flour and rice (idlee) rava^† for making the idlee batter. This eliminates the soaking and grinding phase and I can just jump straight to the fermentation phase and have the batter ready easily.

^†rice/idlee rava is sold in most indian stores as rice meal or rice farina - it is coarse grain rice (almost like cornmeal texture) - and adds some body and dimension to the idlees that I like better.

Now, fermentation is not easy when weather is not hot enough... so, I try to help the process along by adding a touch of active dry yeast and leaving it by the heating vent in Winters.

Idlees are usually served with an array of chutneys like mint chutney, coriander chutney, coconut chutney, tomato chutney and so forth; as well as with delicious sambar; but, my mom's favorite side always is the idlee milaga podi (recipe coming shortly) - a ground spicy dal powder mixed with gingelly oil.

Ingredients
1 cup urad flour
1½ cups rice idlee rava
2 cups rice flour
1 tsp active dry yeast
1½ cups warm water
½ cup buttermilk
salt to taste
1-2 tsp gingelly or canola oil for greasing the idlee molds

Preparation

Mix the dry ingredients and stir in the buttermilk and water a little at a time till a thickish batter is formed.

Cover and set aside in a warm place to ferment for about 24 hours - I start it tonight, and leave it fermenting to be ready for dinner tomorrow night.

When batter is fermented well it turns fluffy and bubbly and acquires a mild sour smell and taste which is perfect.

At this point, the batter consistency can be adjusted by adding a little water at a time to get it to pour-able consistency, like thickish pancake batter.

Gently stir in salt to taste without losing the air pockets - over-stirring punches down the batter flat and sometimes can leave the idlee hard and dense.

Pour into greased idlee molds and steam for about 10-12 minutes till done - i.e., a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

p.s: thanks to Ashaji's comment reminding me about RCI:Karnataka, I would like to enter this post for the same! Yay!

blueberry coffee cake

About 6 weeks ago, we went to pick some blueberries at Sauvie island farms. We go there pretty much every year for the last several years and this year was more fun as we had Ana help us pick berries with full gusto.

As always, we froze about 2 or 3 gallon bags full of blueberries to be used over the coming year, till next blueberry season. And I used up some of the fresh ones to bake some goodies. Plus I had canned several jars of blueberry jam last year and they needed to be used up as well. That's how this coffee cake came about.

As usual, I did not follow any particular recipe strictly or closely - and looks like coffee cakes are hard to mess up, even for me :-)

Note: if blueberry jam is not handy, just simmer some extra fresh blueberries with some sugar, stir in cornstarch to thicken into a spreadable consistency and use it instead.

Ingredients:

dry ingredients: 2/3 cup sugar 1½ cup all purpose flour ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda

wet ingredients: ½ cup buttermilk 4 Tbsp butter 1 egg beaten

fruit filling: 2 cups fresh blueberries 2 Tbsp blueberry jam

Preparation

Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease a baking pan, keep handy.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the the dry ingredients: flour, ½ cup sugar, baking soda and baking powder.

Cut in 3 Tbsp butter to the above mixture until the mixture has the texture of fine breadcrumbs.

Combine the liquid ingredients: eggs and buttermilk; stir or beat a little to form a smooth liquid.

Gradually stir in the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients until moistened, not too runny, not too thick either.

Spread half the batter at the bottom; add the fresh blueberries and blueberry jam over the batter layer; then, scoop the remaining batter and drop them in dollops or small mounds on top.

Mix the remaining sugar and butter together and sprinkle on top.

Bake in 350°F oven for about 30-45 minutes or until done - checking half way through.

Poori Masaal

"Poori Potato" is how my dad always refers to this classic breakfast/tiffin dish my mom used to make on and off when I was little. Pooris/Puris are whole wheat bread that are fried, and usually puff up in the process. Typical side dish it is served with where I grew up is a mildly spicy potato dish.

Pooris are usually made with whole wheat flour and are about 3-4 inches in diameter. Sometimes, I serve pooris with a hearty vegetable korma or curry.

Bathuras are made with all-purpose flour and about 6-8 inches in diameter. The mini bathuras, which are usually larger in size and served with Cholay/Chana, work just as well as pooris for a sumptuous weekend brunch.

Ingredients
1½ cups self-rising flour*
OR
1½ cups all-purpose flour + 1½ tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
½ tsp nigella seeds
½ tsp black cumin seeds
salt to taste
canola oil for frying
*(use whole wheat flour, if preferred)

For the potato masaal:
4 medium potatoes, cooked
1 medium onion, finely diced
2-3 green chilies, finely diced
1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
cilantro for garnish
Tempering: 1 tsp canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds

Preparation:

Poori: combine the flour (baking powder, if using), nigella seeds, cumin seeds, and some salt, add a little buttermilk at a time and knead into a soft yet slightly stiff elastic dough.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan for deep frying.

Potato Masal: Start with the tempering - heat oil in a largish pan, when shimmering, add the mustard seeds, when they pop, add the cumin seeds, then the grated ginger, chilies and onion, plus turmeric powder and sauté till onions turn translucent; add the cooked potatoes, adjust salt to taste, add a little water as needed to adjust the dish to the consistency you like. I don't like it runny...

Divide the dough into one inch diameter balls, and roll them out flat with a rolling pin to about 2 millimeter thick. Deep fry each of these and drain in a paper-towel lined plate.

Serve pooris/mini-bhaturas warm with potato masal garnished with cilantro.

falafel pita pockets

Every once in a while, I soak a huge pot of chana/chick peas/garbanzo beans and cook them and freeze any unused portion. A few weeks ago, I had the last of the frozen batch I needed to use up and that's how this falafel pita pocket meal came about. Plus, there were fresh, sweet, juicy cherry and grape tomatoes from our garden that needed to be eaten up as well :-)

Falafel can be made with fava beans or chickpeas. I've always used chickpea batter of sorts, with some za'atar/dried herbs thrown in for home-made falafels. Also, used chickpeas to make a simple hummus.

Ingredients

For hummous:
2-3 cups firm cooked chick peas
3-4 garlic cloves
3-4 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp sesame tahini
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp finely minced sun-dried tomatoes (optional)
salt to taste

For falafel:
2 cups firm cooked chick peas
1 Tbsp za'atar spices (optional)
OR
1 Tbsp dried spices like parsley, dill, coriander
salt to taste
oil for frying

Other:
fresh romaine hearts or any lettuce of your choice
fresh tomatoes
kalamata olives
feta cheese
pocket pita bread, cut in half, warmed up and opened into a pocket for stuffing

Preparation

Combine the falafel ingredients in a blender of food processor and grind to a thick paste

Heat oil in a pan for frying the falafel balls

Meanwhile, combine the hummous ingredients in the blender and grind to a smooth dip consistency

drop a dollop/ball of the chickpea paste into the hot oil and deep fry to make the falafel balls; drain on a paper towel and keep handy

Assembly: Stuff each pita pocket as you like with falafel balls, lettuce, kalamata olives, feta, tomatoes, top with hummous and enjoy.

Swiss Chard Masiyal

Keerai (aka greens) masiyal was not a big favorite when I was little as it was mushy, thick, bland and usually served with some pickle or pappadam.

Over the years, I have fallen in love with this and have added a few variations to make it more appealing to me. So, this recipe is not quite traditional in that sense. This chard masiyal recipe is very simple, quick to whip up on a weeknight and quite nutritious.

My mom usually makes it with spinach, but I use a combination of spinach and chard here. We had a bunch of chard in our garden and I decided to use it up.

Ingredients:
1 bag frozen chopped spinach (or fresh)
1 bunch swiss chard
3-4 green chilies, chopped
1 Tbsp grated ginger
2-3 Tbsp Madras Curry powder
salt to taste
¼ cup finely chopped fresh coconut for garnish (optional)
Tempering: 1 tsp canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, ½ tsp cumin seeds, 1 Tbsp chana dal, 1 tsp urad dal

Preparation

Chop and wash the chard and spinach (if using fresh) well. Drain. Steam in the microwave till wilted and tender, using very little water. Squeeze out excess water. Allow to cool a little.

Combine the steamed greens, chilies and ginger and grind to a fine smooth paste, adding very little water, preferably none.

gently simmer this greens paste, adding a Tbsp of water at a time as needed, add the curry powder, adjust salt to taste

Tempering: In a small pan heat the oil, when it shimmers, add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown add the urad dal, lower the heat, and when urad dal turns golden brown add the mustard seeds and when they pop, add the cumin seeds, and turn off the heat. Throw in the chopped coconut ,if using.

Garnish with the tempering. Serve warm with warm rice, papapdam, vegetable curry, or even rasam and indian pickle.

p.s: thanks to Ashaji's comment, I am now aware of the Green Blog Project event (GBP) and this will be an entry for my Summer 2007 GBP event hosted by Deepz.

A few plant facts: The chard in our garden were from a local nursery, we just transplanted the seedlings in  early summer. This is Zone 5, with an average of 200+ days of growing season.

Cut off the outer leaves 1 1/2 inches above the ground when they are young and tender (about 8-12 inches long). Be careful not to damage the terminal bud, at the center of the bottom of the growing rosette of foliage. Maintain sufficient soil moisture to keep plants growing well.

Nutritional facts

Chard packs a huge amount of vitamin A and it is naturally high in sodium. One cup chopped chards contains Vitamin C 32 mg, Folate 15 mcg, Calories 35
Protein 3 grams, Carbohydrates 7 grams, Calcium 102 mg, Iron 4 mg among other goodies

Lychee

My earliest memory of Lychee is when I was about 6 or 7 years old: It was summer holidays  in Calcutta when I got my first taste of this fruit.

Lychee was a strange fruit for me as the flavor was very strong, but the flesh was sort of like the fruit of the palm tree (nungu), and unlike nungu, it had a pit...

And over the last several years, I had not touched Lychee, not so much as thought about it and didn't really miss it much... Until, that is, I saw Sig's announcement that this edition of AFAM, A Fruit A Month, features the exotic Lychee!

We managed to find some fresh lychees as well as canned ones. While shelling/peeling the fresh ones is a pain, I found that pitting it was manageable with a cherry pitter. Of course the juice kind of flows out and the lychee-pits are more intimately bonded to the lychee-flesh compared to cherries, but, hey, it worked!

I decided to go all the way and satisfy my long-dormant Lychee craving thanks to this AFAM event:

1. Chicken Breast in Lychee Chilli Sauce: The sweetness of the lychee and the fire of the chillies made this sauce quite delicious, if I may say so :-)

2. Lychee Strawberry Frozen Yogurt: Now, having become a fan of the Cuisinart® Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt Maker, I had to make a lychee dessert, naturally...

3. Flaming Lychee Daiquirí : This is entirely D's idea, he enjoys this drink more than me and is a fairly good mixer of drinks!

Chicken Breast in Lychee Chilli Sauce

D likes chicken and fish, especially when served with some interesting sauce. Nothing special about the chicken breast: I used a couple of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed, brined for 30 minutes and then rubbed with a spice rub made of ground pancha phoron; pan-seared it on both sides in a stainless steel pan^‡ and finished off cooking in a 375°F oven till the thickest part registered about 165°F, so that it is fully cooked, yet juicy (about 10-12 minutes).
^‡ Non-stick pan does not develop the fond that is great for making such a reduction pan sauce

The sauce, now that was the interesting part for me. After pan-searing the chicken, I made the sauce in the same pan so as not to lose any of the fond at the bottom.

Lychee Chilli Sauce:
2 shallots, diced finely (or red onion, if shallots are not handy)
8-10 canned lychee, drained and minced finely
2-3 fresh lychee, if available, or canned is fine, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
1 Tbsp red miso paste
1 Tbsp sambal oelek
6-8 fresh green chilies^†, chopped
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar (optional)
¼ cup chicken or vegetable stock
4 Tbsp lychee syrup from the canned lychee
1 Tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
^†I used some green and red kung pao chilies from my garden :-)

In a blender or food processor, combine the lychees (reserving some), miso, sambal oelek, white vinegar and green chilies and grind to a fine smooth paste

Add the oil to the pan in which the chicken breast was pan-seared, then the shallots, grated ginger and garlic, and let the shallots cook a bit; then add the chicken stock to deglaze and then the ground lychee paste from above and let it simmer gently

Add the reserved chopped lychee, brown sugar (if using), stir the butter in and simmer till the sauce is reduced

Adjust salt to taste - miso is salty enough that I didn't need to add any more...

Smother the chicken breast in the lychee chilli sauce and serve warm.

(Am sure this sauce would be good with fish as well...)

Lychee Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Lychee Strawberry Frozen Yogurt recipe is pretty much the same as my Mango-Strawberry Frozen Yogurt recipe, just substitute lychee and lychee syrup in place of mango ;-)

Flaming Lychee Daiquirí

1½ shots Bacardi 151 Rum
1 shot lychee syrup
¼ tsp superfine sugar (optional)

Mix in a shaker filled with ice, strain and pour into a martini glass. Then carefully set it on fire :-)

Blow out the fire after about 15-20 seconds, and enjoy!

(overproof rum is best to get it flaming...)

Dalma: Oriya Cuisine

The only Oriyan dish I learnt to make (and that too am not sure is very authentic) is this Dalma. What attracted me to this dish was its simplicity, nutritive value, but most of all the combination of spices.

The spices here are standard in most Indian kitchen, but, the combination was new to me - I had never combined cumin and fennel until I saw it in this dish.

And, after making this a few times over the years, I started dry roasting the Pancha Phoron spices (Cumin, Mustard, Fennel, Fenugreek, Nigella sativa) in larger batches and grinding them to fine powder and using them to spice many dals and curries and even use as rub on chicken and turkey.

Also, instead of just regular cumin seeds, I use a mix of cumin and black cumin (kala jeera/ shahi jeera) seeds which is a good carminative, and complements the dals well - as dals do tend to cause gas if one is not used to it:-)

The recommended ratio of pancha phoron as tempering and garnish is 4:4:2:2:1. But to make the spice powder, I use equal measures of cumin (jeera), black cumin (kala jeera), mustard (brown or black) and fennel(saunf), half a measure of nigella (kalonji) seeds, quarter measure of fenugreek (methi) seeds, and leave out the chilli seeds as I can add chilli powder and adjust to taste as desired when cooking...

Ingredients
1 cup each of diced green plantain, pumpkin or squash, potatoes
1 cup toor dal
½ cup chana dal
2 Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp brown sugar (optional)
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp dry roasted and ground ground cumin seeds (i use a combination of black cumin + regular cumin seeds)
Tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil (or ghee), 2 Tbsp Pancha Phoron spices

Preparation

Cook the dal in a saucepan; meanwhile, also cook the vegetables in another saucepan with a pinch of salt

When the dal and vegetables are mostly cooked, combine them and add the spices - turmeric, ginger, garlic, brown sugar and adjust salt to taste and let it simmer gently

Tempering: In a small pan, heat the oil and add the Pancha Phoron spices, allow the mustard seeds to pop and the rest of the ingredients to crackle and brown, but not burn

Add the tempering to the dal, sprinkle the dry roasted cumin powder and serve warm with hot rice and ghee. (It is probably wonderful with hot rotis as well...)

And this is my post for the RCI: Regional Cuisine of India event started by Lakshmi at Veggie Cuisine, with RCI:Orissa hosted this month by Swapna at Swad

sautéed garden eggplant

Anytime I feel a little under the weather, my favorite comfort food is rasam and rice with some vegetable curry on the side. I had a bit of a stomach flu last week and didn't cook anything much as I couldn't stomach anything much, and a simple pepper-cumin-garlic rasam was all I could stand.

Finally, when I felt strong enough to have some solids, I wanted to have rasam+rice with some vegetable curry. The dozen Ichiban and Neon eggplants we harvested from our garden last week came in handy to make this sautéed eggplant side dish...

Nothing could be simpler, really - this eggplant curry is easy to make, yet tasty.



Ingredients:
6 Ichiban eggplants, chopped (or any other favorite variety, adjust quantity as needed)
1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
salt to taste
1-2 Tbsp cayenne pepper powder or red chili powder (lesser if preferred)
2 Tbsp canola oil
Tempering: 1 tsp mustard seeds, ½ tsp cumin seeds, 5-6 curry leaves (optional)

Preparation

Heat the oil in a pan, when it shimmers add the mustard seeds, when they pop, add the cumin seeds and curry leaves, then the onions; sauté till onions turn translucent; then, add the eggplant, salt, chili powder, toss around a bit, leave on medium high and stir every once in a while till eggplant is cooked and gets a little crispy on the skin.

Serve with hot rice and pepper rasam.

---

p.s: thanks to Ashaji's comment in another post, I am now aware of the Green Blog Project event (GBP) and this will be an entry for my Summer 2007 GBP event hosted by Deepz.

A few plant facts: The eggplant varieties in the picture are Ichiban and Neon, long fruits - about 6-7 inches long and about 1½ inches wide. This is Zone 5, in Portland Wilamette Valley, with an average of 200+ days of growing season.

We planted it early Summer/late Spring after the frost was gone. We still had some chilly nights, but warmer days, so these survived. It takes about 70 days to harvest, but this seems an early variety so we started getting a few fruits within 8 weeks of planting. Here is some information that helped us decide on when to plant these in our garden.

Eggplant is a cold-sensitive vegetable that requires a long warm season for best yields. The culture of eggplant is similar to that of bell pepper, with transplants being set in the garden after all danger of frost is past. Eggplants are slightly larger plants than peppers and are spaced slightly farther apart. Eggplant requires careful attention for a good harvest. Small-fruited, exotic-colored and ornamental varieties can be grown in containers and used for decorations.

cooking précisions

Being a food enthusiast, how can I let this pass by unmentioned?

Hervé This (pronounced Tees/Tiss) formulated the delectable chocolat chantilly over a dozen years ago.

Following his Grandes Écoles diploma in physical chemistry, he apparently was intrigued by what he calls "cooking précisions" when

One night, he invited friends to dinner and made a cheese soufflé from a recipe that said to add the egg yolks two at a time. "Because I was a rational man," he says, "I decided to put in all of the yolks together. It was a failure."

He then started testing these "cooking precisions" — rules he gleaned from disparate sources like 19th- century cookbooks, old wives' tales, and the tricks of modern chefs — to see which ones held up (the skin on a suckling pig really does crackle more if you chop off its head right after roasting) and which didn't (a menstruating cook won't ruin mayonnaise).

The standard way to hard-boil eggs in Europe and America—10 minutes in boiling water—is not ideal, says Hervé This. The trouble, he notes clinically, is that 212 degrees Fahrenheit is far higher than the temperature at which the egg whites and the yolks coagulate. Egg whites are made up of protein and water (yolks contain fat as well). As eggs cook, their balled-up proteins uncoil into strands, and the strands bind together to form an intricate mesh that traps water. In essence, the proteins form a gel, a liquid dispersed in a solid. Boiling causes too many egg proteins to bind and form dense meshes, "so there is less sensation of water in the mouth," says This. Voilà: rubbery egg whites and sandy, grayish yolks.

Molecular Gastronomy as a field of study, pioneered by Hervé This, has been around for a while. Especially with my baking fiascos, I started getting very curious about it. I haven't begun to even scratch the surface and already I find it quite fascinating. While my experiments in the kitchen are not so scientific, at least it is helping me pay attention to some "old-wives tales" passed on by my mom :-)

Enough of the rambling... today I just have a very simple yet wholesome recipe I enjoyed making, especially because it is the garden bounty:

Roasted Grape and Cherry Tomatoes

Recipe is very simple. Toss the tomatoes with some olive oil, sliced garlic, some chopped herbs (rosemary, marjoram, basil), some salt and roast it in a 400°F oven for about 8-10 minutes till skin blisters and the aroma is irresistible :-)

Our garden has started fruiting tomatoes in bunches and there was only so much of fresh, sweet, raw cherry and grape tomatoes we can share (and consume), so, I decided to roast some for an afternoon snack. The sample red chili in the picture is a paprika, the long green ones are kung pao chilies, and the light green one is some kind of large wax pepper, plus the yellow pear tomatoes...

Chaenai Elavan Koottu

One of my favorite sides when I was little was this Chaenai-Elavan koottu.

Chaenai ('ch' as in chair), aka Elephant foot yam, is a yam that seemed ubiquitous in India, which is not quite the same as the yam sold here. This Chaenai (Suran) has thick dark brown muddy skin, with slightly hard yellowish flesh and is a bugger to clean up and chop. So naturally my mom did not make it often.

Elavan is ash gourd or white pumpkin with spongy/watery white flesh, light green rind and lots of seeds inside. It is about the size of a water melon and is sold in wedges. It is fairly bland and cooks up fast.

I hadn't had this yummy chaenai-elavan koottu in many years until my mom managed to make it last year when I visited India. Imagine my thrill when the other adult came home one day from Indian store with this frozen cleaned-and-par-cooked chaenai!

I *had* to cook up my favorite koottu and share the recipe here - except, I didn't have elavan handy, so, substituted opo squash instead.



Now, one pot meals like red beans and rice make the best quick and simple meals on weeknights, especially if all the ingredients are handy and all you have to do is come home from work, start it on the pot, go play with the baby as you missed her all day, and in about 20-30 minutes yummy dinner is served!

What feels even better is presenting a typical homely comfort meal with a couple of dishes that complement each other and be able to cook and serve them in about 20-30 minutes.

A few short-cuts that I try to remember for Indian recipes:

• cook larger batch of toor dal/moong dal/chana dal and store 2 or 3 cup portions (for a family of 2 adults) in the freezer; so, when ready to cook, just thaw the small 3-cup-frozen-batch and cook it up as desired
• when making paruppusili, soak and steam a largish batch of toor dal balls, freeze the unused portion, again in small batches; thaw the frozen steamed lentil balls in the microwave for a quick approach, or leave it in the fridge overnight, and cook it up with favorite vegetable
• when making ground masala at home, make a larger batch and store the extra - like for arachu vitta sambar, I make a larger batch of the ground paste and freeze it; or, if it is powdered spices, even better, simply store it in air tight container

Why am going on and on about this? Well, I came across Mallugirl's Summer Express Cooking Event and thought I must dedicate a post for it since Quick and Easy yet Delectable Victuals are what this blog is all about (at least most of the time).

The menu is yam koottu served with pepper-garlic rasam and plain hot rice.

Ingredients:

1 packet frozen yam (chaenai/suran)
½ medium opo squash
2/3 cup chana dal
For rasam spices: 1 Tbsp whole black pepper, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 6-8 garlic cloves
1 tsp tamarind paste
4 Tbsp brown sugar (some for rasam, some for the koottu)
½ cup grated coconut
salt to taste
a few tsp canola oil
2 Tbsp coconut oil (optional)
For tempering: 1 tsp oil (canola or coconut), 1 tsp mustard seeds, curry leaves

And this simple menu can be cooked and served in under 30 minutes with a little bit of multi-tasking: (Ready? Set the timer to 30 minutes and Go!)

• Start the rice in a rice cooker.


• Set the microwave timer and thaw the frozen chaenai/suran a.k.a yam in the microwave.


• Add ½ to 2/3rd cup of chana dal to about 2 cups of water in a pan and allow the dal to cook in the back burner.


• Meanwhile, in a mortar and pestle, add a tsp of cumin seeds, a tablespoon of whole black pepper and 6-8 cloves of garlic and pound it to a nice powdery paste.


• Chop up a few tomatoes for the rasam.


• Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pot in the back burner, add the pounded paste and the tomatoes, 4-5 cups of water, some salt, tamarind paste, 1 Tbsp brown sugar and leave it on medium-low to come to a boil and simmer gently.


• Chop up elavan a.k.a white pumpkin/ash gourd or opo squash.


• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add the opo squash, some salt and water and start cooking; part-way through, add the thawed yam pieces and 3 Tbsp brown sugar - these frozen yam pieces are par cooked so they don't need to cook for long to be done - and allow them to cook through.


• (By now, the timer should be close to 18-20 minutes if you work at a fairly normal-to-brisk pace)


• The chana dal should be cooked through but not mushy by now; drain it and add it to the yam and opo squash cooking in the pan. Stir well and adjust salt to taste. leave it on low heat.


• Right about now, rasam should be done as well - the rawness should be gone, and it should have reduced a bit - taste and adjust salt. Off heat.


• Tempering: In a small pan heat 1 Tbsp oil, when it shimmers, add the mustard seeds and when they begin to pop add the curry leaves (if handy), remove from heat and garnish the rasam and koottu with the tempering.


• Then, in the same small pan, add the coconut oil and the grated coconut, toast the coconut till it is golden brown and aromatic, don't let it burn; off heat.


• Garnish the koottu with this toasted coconut.

By now the rice should be done and the timer close to going "beep" - just in time to serve the yummy wholesome meal!

Enjoy!

Eggplant and Summer Squash

Ichiban and Neon eggplants in the garden are fruiting about half-a-dozen or so every few days and am frantically trying to use them up. If the sun decides to blaze down this weekend, I would like to slice and dry some of them and make what are called "vatthal" in Tamil - sun dried anything is a vatthal,I believe - and eggplant vatthal would make a wonderful vatthal kuzhambu, I am sure... we'll see... it has been quite cloudy and mild here for the last several days.

Meanwhile, I decided to use the current yield and make a favorite: Eggplant in Miso Sauce. This recipe is pretty much the same as my older recipe, but, I used home grown summer squash in addition to eggplant. Also, this time I made a little more sauce so it doesn't just coat the vegetables lightly, but, sort of lets the vegetables float in it :-)

Eggplant recipes happen to dominate my recipe index... possibly because I have a variety of eggplant handy in my backyard, I suppose...

mango-strawberrry frozen yogurt

The Cuisinart® Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt maker is quite a handy apparatus. Especially now that warmer days are here, I try to make small batches of wholesome "healthy" stuff with it. That's how this mango-strawberry frozen yogurt happened.

I had 2 ripe juicy mangoes to be used up. (I was sick, else mangoes would not have had a chance to sit for long and wait to be used up). We had some non-fat strawberry yogurt handy. It takes about 20 minutes to get it ready using the super-duper Cuisinart® frozen yogurt maker. The basic recipe came with the book, I just improvised a bit.

Ingredients:
½ cup 2% milk
¼ cup sugar
2 cups strawberry yogurt
2 ripe mangoes, pulp only

Throw them all together in the machine and let it go for 20 minutes and voila! yummy guilt-free health-friendly frozen yogurt is ready. This makes about eight ½ cup servings (but who has ½ cup servings at a time, right?)

Ordinarily, I wouldn't dream of pairing two strong flavors like strawberry and mango, but, this time, I wanted to make mango flavored dessert, and the recipe called for yogurt but we only had strawberry yogurt... and what a wonderful stroke of serendipity that was!

Plus, our little strawberry patch in the backyard is yielding alright, and I managed to throw in a few fresh strawberries as well, and, save one for garnish for the picture!

Fortunately Ana doesn't know the difference between full fat rich ice cream and this leaner version of frozen yogurt. She loved this mango strawberry frozen yogurt and I had to ration it to make sure she doesn't overindulge.

The mango was the stronger of the flavors we could taste right away, and it didn't clash with the pleasant strawberry at all. All in all a good experimental flavor that I would certainly repeat, hopefully soon...

zucchini eggplant parmesan

This is the "diet" version of my Eggplant Parmesan recipe. I like it because it is easy to throw together on a weeknight and is filling, yet not heavy.

Ingredients
¼ cup fresh grated Parmesan
2 cups bread crumbs with herbs and any other flavoring of choice
2 eggs well-beaten, handy in a shallow dish
few Tbsp canola oil as needed
1 medium globe eggplant
1 large zucchini
salt to taste
1 cup grated part-skim, low-fat mozzarella
store-bought or home-made tomato sauce
some grated Parmesan for garnish

Preparation

Slice the eggplant and zucchini, salt them and let them sit for about 5-8 minutes, then drain and pat dry really well.

Combine the grated Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs and keep handy in a shallow dish; keep the beaten eggs handy in another shallow dish

Heat a non-stick griddle or skillet to medium heat; heat oven to 350°F; lightly grease a casserole or oven-safe dish and keep handy

Dip the eggplant/zucchini slices in egg first and then in bread crumbs; press to coat well and place on the hot pan, in batches; cook both sides till golden brown and the vegetables are cooked through, add a few teaspoon of oil at a time as needed

When all eggplant and zucchini are pan-fried as above, in the prepared oven-safe dish assemble the layers: eggplant/zucchini slices, tomato sauce, cheese; bake in the 350°F oven for about 10-15 minutes till cheese melts, the sauce bubbles and the dish comes together

Serve warm with extra tomato sauce and garnish with grated Parmesan cheese if desired.