Spaghetti & Sauce

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Tomato and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Sauce seemed too long and descriptive a title, so I settled for the blasé Spaghetti & Sauce

Not all meals need to be exotic and exciting, right? Take the good old spaghetti and sauce, or mac-and-cheese, or even just rice-and-sambar, they can be jazzed up no doubt with our creativity as the limit... or they can be presented without much ado, as-is, hearty and rustic. Ah, yes, "rustic", a term guaranteed to perk up D's interest. (not!)

Anyway, the other day, we had this whole-wheat spaghetti with some peas and green beans, some herbs, tossed with a tomato-roasted-bell-pepper sauce - just the regular array of ingredients handy in my kitchen on an average day. It was tasty and hearty is all I can say.

And since I managed to make it on a weekend daytime rather than a weeknight meal, the picture seems to have turned out half-way decent considering it was a gloomy day and I don't have any special props/lighting for my photos than the good old Ball of Fire in the sky... so, mustering up the courage, this goes out to CLICK: Noodles November 2007 event created by Jai and Bee of Jugalbandhi

Ingredients

Sauce: 1 small jar roasted red bell peppers packed in water (or roast the peppers over open flame or under the broiler) 1 can diced tomatoes 4-6 cloves of garlic, minced 1 medium onion, diced finely (optional) 1 Tbsp chopped fresh (or dried) rosemary 1 Tbsp dried marjoram 1 Tbsp dried oregano leaves ¼ cup chopped fresh basil 2 Tbsp cayenne pepper powder 1 Tbsp paprika salt to taste (or any of your favorite herbs and seasoning)

Noodles: Whole wheat spaghetti, or fettucini or penne or any favorite pasta 1 cup frozen peas 1 cup chopped green beans (any other vegetables handy) salt to taste water as needed 1 tbsp olive oil

Preparation

1. Sauce: Blend the roasted peppers and tomatoes, bring to boil in a pan, toss in the other sauce ingredients including the herbs and seasonings to taste; optionally, I like to set aside a little of the diced canned tomatoes as I like the chunky texture it adds to the sauce
2. Noodles: boil the noodles in plenty of salted boiling water till al dente, throwing in the veggies if using
3. toss the noodles with sauce to desired sogginess, serve warm with favorite bread

Simple Egg Curry

For a while now, we have been getting our hen eggs from a colleague who has a smallish farm, where the chicken roam free and are as well cared for as I can imagine. As I had noted in my other blog, I find that these farm fresh eggs taste a whole lot better than commercial eggs, so we have given up buying commercial eggs... for now.

You've probably not met Helga if you have not stopped by my general rant space, but, she happens to have a special place on my crochet shelf. Anyway, the farm fresh eggs were perfect for a warm weekend meal of egg curry with coconut rice.

This egg curry is not as elaborate as my usual egg curry recipe, or as spicy as Gulai Telur, and has fewer ingredients than Telur Balado. But, it came about quickly one evening with ingredients handy at home and tasted quite good that I wanted to save it here.

Ingredients
6-8 hard boiled eggs, shelled
1 medium onion diced finely
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp brown sugar
salt to taste
water

garnish: chives, cilantro or any other favorite fresh herbs

masala paste:
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
6 sundried tomatoes† (not packed in oil)
3 Tbsp grated ginger
3 Tbsp sambal oelek (or 2-3 Tbsp cayenne pepper powder)
2 Tbsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp cumin powder

† Pour some hot water over the sun dried tomatoes in a shallow bowl till just immersed, and reconstitute them before blending into paste

Preparation

1. masala paste: combine the masala paste ingredients and blend to a smooth paste
2. heat oil in a pan, add the onions and sauté till translucent
3. then add the masala paste and sauté it till rawness is gone, about 5-8 minutes over medium heat
4. add the shelled hard-boiled eggs with some slits on the surface, or halved if preferred, add some salt, and a little water to make sure the eggs are submerged in the gravy, cover and simmer till flavors meld
5. taste and adjust salt, garnish with chopped chives and cilantro

Serve it with plain hot rice, or even simple rotis. I was in the mood for coconut rice, a simple version, so, here it is...

Coconut Rice:
4 cups cooked rice
½ cup dry unsweetened dessicated coconut
salt to taste
tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp urad dal, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp mustard seeds

1. start the tempering: heat the oil in a pan, add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown add the urad dal and when it turns brown add the mustard seeds, and when they pop add the coconut and toast a little
2. add the rice and some salt, stir well

p.s: thanks to bee's thoughtful comment, I would like to send this out to CLICK: the photo event

Green Blog Project: Summer 2007

Garden 2007

Summer gardens are always fun. We did most of the planting in late Spring for the Summer garden. We sectioned off a portion of our backyard for vegetable gardening.

Usually, unless it is something exotic and needs special care, we just get seedlings from local nurseries. As to tips for growing, it is not easy to jot down here - each year/season is different.

One thing that helped when we first started the backyard garden a few years ago is to have the soil tested. There was a free soil testing organized by the county, I think, and we took a sample and got it analyzed and followed the recommendation of the experts there - mainly pH was too low and we put some lime to add some alkalinity to help neutralize, and they recommended adding bone meal as needed as it contains some nitrogen and a lot of phosphorous as well as calcium.

Since then we didn't do much to the soil... except common things like rotate the plants each year, plant peas in Spring so it prepares the bed for summer garden by encouraging nitrogen-fixing, enrich soil with organic compost etc. Composting has been easy as we got this Earth Machine for home composting ($35) as soon as we moved into this house and have been throwing our organic waste in there pretty much daily.

This year, we went to local nurseries and got some seedlings where appropriate - like eggplant, some varieties of tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries, grape vines, greens, and chilies. A few varieties of tomatoes, okra were germinated at home. And, of course, corn and sunflowers - we just threw the seeds on the ground and they sprouted fine.

Basically, just talking to the experts at the nursery, sprinkling water as needed, adding compost from home-composting, and weeding is all we did. No pesticides, no fertilizers. We read up a bit on the web to see what common bugs affect the plants we have. If needed, we were prepared to get some praying mantis or other bugs to keep the plant invaders in check, but, we didn't need to this year, just like last year.

Most of the plants did well. The Okra didn't. We just got a handful from 4 plants. I think it never got warm enough for the okra to thrive.

Although I cook several of my favorite recipes over and over, it makes sense to post them only once unless I drastically changed something... So, some of the recipes listed here were already posted at an earlier date even though I cooked them over and over this summer so we could use the fresh garden goodies...

Instead of sending individual entries, or meshing all my garden photos and recipes haphazardly, I decided to list my recipes relevant to Green Blog Project Summer Event hosted by Deepz

Eggplant: Sautéed Eggplant, Ennai Kathrikkai, Thai Red Curry, Godhsu, Eggplant Rasavangi

Greens: Ethiopian Meal, Creamy Chards Soup, Chards Masiyal

Potatoes: Potatoes Lyonnaise, Swiss Rösti

Summer Squash: Summer Squash and Eggplant dish

Raspberries: Raspberry Chipotle Chicken

Tomatoes: I ended up canning most of the tomatoes as sauces, stewed whole, thokku and salsa; made some tomato rice, green tomato koottu, and stuffed tomatoes, plus of course, used tomatoes in many of my recipes as one of the ingredients...

Herbs: Some perennials like Rosemary, Lavender, Mint have been around from last year, and we planted some cilantro, oregano, basil, fennel and chives and they all did well, thankfully.

It is getting chilly already, so we dug out most of the plants. Tomatoes are still fruiting, so we have left it on for a few more weeks. Brussel Sprouts is just getting ready, so, in about a few weeks we might be able to harvest it as well.

We finally laid a major portion of the summer garden to rest. It was not easy to say good-bye, but, we are not planning on any winter gardening as we are not set up for any sort of greenhouse arrangement.

The few indoor plants we have are well out of the kitties' and baby's reach, so they are surviving fine. But, to grow any more indoor vegetables and herbs this winter would have to remain a dream. Even if we can teach our baby to stay off, the kitties stay home when we are gone for the day and end up messing with the plants, even if out of curiosity or by accident...

So, dear garden, Au Revoir!

Potatoes Lyonnaise

We had a few varieties of potatoes in our garden this year. We picked as many as we needed over the last two months. Now that it is getting quite chilly, we dug up all the remaining potatoes. If left in a cool dark place, these should stay fine and usable for a long time. But, I have a feeling we will probably use it up before Halloween.

Rather than the usual hash browns or potatoes au gratin or roasted potatoes, I decided to make Potatoes Lyonnaise a few days ago - a simple, earthy, wholesome French style potatoes smothered in onion and topped with some herbs.

As I understand it, this dish came about as an easy way of using up cooked potatoes, but later was adapted to become a classic French bistro cuisine. In its simple form, it is sliced potatoes browned in a skillet, intermingled with sweet caramelized onions, with perhaps a touch of parsley and salt. Just a four ingredient dish.

I started out with all sincerity, as this was a simple dish, and decided to serve some home made corn bread muffin for the mid-week dinner. I took the easy way out with corn bread muffin: I used Marie Callender's™ just-add-water, ready-to-bake corn bread mix. It was a weeknight dinner and I wanted something quick :)

The potatoes were par cooking in the microwave, the onions were caramelizing on the stove over medium heat, the cornbread muffin was part-way done in the oven with about another 15 minutes to go, when my little toddler announced that she had to go to the potty.

Now, she is just getting potty trained and I didn't want to ignore it... so, I walked her to the bathroom, turned on the bathroom light, made sure she got her pants and underpants down and out of the way, helped her sit on her little potty, and left her with a few books... forgetting the beautifully caramelizing onions on the stove! So, by the time I got back to them they had turned a little dark at the edges... Oh Well.

Anyway, here is my version of the basic Potatoes Lyonnaise. The classic recipe calls for quite a bit of butter, but, used a combination of olive oil and a touch of butter as I didn't want to slather butter on to potatoes and have it for dinner...

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes, medium-starch variety or even baking potatoes works fine
1 large sweet onion
1 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp Olive oil
salt to taste
water as needed
fresh herbs I used*: rosemary, chives
*grassy green parsley is classic, but, I didn't have any handy; however we have a fairly big rosemary bush and the chives are still doing fine, so, I decided to improvise. Besides, there is something about the combination of rosemary and potatoes that makes it irresistible for me :)

Preparation

1. Onions: Slice the onions thinly, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a pan, add the onions, a pinch of salt, stir to coat and cook for a few minutes, turn heat down to medium, cover, and allow the onions to caramelize, deglazing with water part way as needed
2. Potatoes: While onions are getting ready, skin, clean and slice the potatoes (I used a mandolin slicer), toss them with a hint of oil (or butter), and par cook them for about 3-5 minutes (exact time depends on microwave power settings) till potato slices are mostly opaque and bend little but don't break or remain stiff when bent
3. Remove the caramelized onions from the pan, keep handy; add 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp Olive oil to the same pan, when the butter bubbles and subsides, add the par-cooked potatoes, some salt, shake the pan gently to coat with oil and form a single layer, and leave it alone for a few minutes till bottom browns a little, without stirring, on medium-high heat; using a spatula, gently turn the slices over to brown the other side
4. when potatoes are nicely browned on both sides, return the caramelized onions to the pan and heat through; add chopped herbs and pepper if using, taste and adjust salt

It took less than 30 minutes to cook these Potatoes Lyonnaise and the muffins, and that's about the ideal duration in which I prefer to have a weeknight meal ready :)

p.s: adding this to GBP: Summer 2007 event listing as I used garden potatoes.

Ennai Kathrikkai (stuffed eggplant)

We had four varieties of eggplants in our garden this year: Ichiban, Neon, Cloud Nine and "Red Ruffled" eggplant (it bore orange-colored fruits)... We had a good yield of Ichiban and Neon, moderate yield of red ruffled, but only a few Cloud Nine. The plants are preparing to give up as the weather is getting quite chilly already.

Over the summer, with the Ichibans and Neons, I had made several delicious meals of my favorite eggplant dishes:
Eggplant in Miso Sauce
Eggplant Rasavangi
Sautéed garden eggplant
Eggplant and Summer Squash
Eggplant Parmesan
Eggplant and Tofu
Thai Red Curry
Eggplant in Garlic Sauce
Eggplant Rice
Sambal Terong
Chutta Kathrikkai Pachadi
Baba Ghanouj and Baingan Bhartha (recipes to come).

I was trying to think of something different to do with the last few Ichibans from the garden as I lazily skimmed through my treasured copy of Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan searching for something that we have not had lately when happened upon the Ennai Kathrikkai recipe therein.

Now, this is a dish my mom used to make a lot when we were little. In fact, eggplant and okra were featured liberally in our meals in those days. But, while I love Stuffed Baby Eggplant in curry and have made it often, I feel like I have not made this South Indian style stuffed eggplant often enough.

Ennai=Oil, in Tamil, and the name suggested that this is an oily eggplant dish, but it is not really - just a few tablespoons of oil and pan sautéing gives it a great taste and texture.

Ingredients
4-5 medium (5" long) Ichiban eggplants
2-3 Tbsp canola oil
cilantro and fresh grated coconut for garnish

masala stuffing:
2 Tbsp chana dal
1 Tbsp urad dal
3 Tbsp coriander seeds
¼ cup dry grated coconut
3-5 dry red chilies
1 tsp tamarind concentrate
1 Tbsp brown sugar
salt to taste

tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp urad dal

Preparation

1. masala stuffing: dry roast all the ingredients except tamarind, brown sugar and salt; then combine all the ingredients including the tamarind and brown sugar and grind to a coarse powdery paste; keep handy for stuffing
2. assembling the eggplant: slit the eggplant lengthwise, keeping the stem end intact; stuff with the masala stuffing made above
3. tempering: heat oil in a pan, add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown add the urad dal and when it turns golden brown add the mustard seeds and lower heat when mustard seed pop
4. cook the eggplant: Add a few Tbsp oil to the same pan, gently place the stuffed eggplants in the pan, add a few Tbsp water, some salt, any remaining masala stuffing, cover and cook over medium low till eggplant is cooked through but not mushy; turn them around once or twice carefully; remove cover and allow to cook till all the water is gone and eggplant looks "perfect" ;)
5. Garnish with grated coconut and cilantro

Serve warm or at room temperature with rice or roti.

p.s: need to add this to the Green Blog Project GBP:Summer 2007 event.

Chicken Kebabs with Green Grapes Chutney

I was in the mood for good old Rava Upma for dinner, but D wanted something a little more exotic as it is a weekend dinner. He loves upma but only on weeknights as a simple wholesome meal...

Also, I hadn't thought of anything for AFAM:Grapes event this month hosted by Swapna at Swad. So, I set aside my dreams of Rava Upma with peas and carrots, and decided to make chicken kebabs for D, as well as for AFAM:Grapes :-)

I settled on kebabs as they are quick and easy to make, very light, and satisfying. D liked it because I don't care for chicken so more for him!

To make it interesting, I added grapes to the mix, and served it with green grapes chutney, thus showcasing the AFAM (A Fruit A Month) star of this month. I would have liked to try a dessert or a drink with grapes for this event, but, maybe another time...

Now, it is a bit early in season, and the handful of vines in our garden are very young, but, we did have a little bunch of local Pinot Noir! I was quite thrilled. It was quite tasty... not that we are planning to make our own wines, but, one can dream, right?!

Chicken kebabs are simple: Thaw and marinate boneless skinless chicken breast in a preferred marinade, arrange in skewers with favorite veggies, grill till chicken is done. I used some bell peppers, potatoes, grapes and pearl onions. If using potatoes, preferably par-cook it before grilling. Grilled grapes added a nice sweet-sourness to the kebabs.

Grape Chutney is a version of Sweet-and-Sour chutney. The variety of grapes used and its tartness would determine the proportion of ingredients. I used fairly tart, yet mildly sweet seedless green grapes.

Ingredients
Marinade:
1 tsp tamarind concentrate
½ cup light soy sauce
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp Shatta, an Arabic hot pepper sauce (or any favorite hot sauce)

Green Grape Chutney:
1 cup coarsely chopped green grapes
4-6 green chilies
½ cup coarsely chopped cilantro stems, cleaned
¼ cup white wine* (I used Pinot Grigio as we had it handy)
salt to taste
*optional: I liked to carry the theme of grapes for this AFAM:Grapes event

Preparation

1. Green Grape Chutney:Combine all the chutney ingredients, except the wine, in a blender or food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Pour it into a pan and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes, adding the wine if using.
2. Kebabs: Cut the chicken to bite-sized pieces, and marinate it for about 30 minutes. At the same time, soak some bamboo skewers in water. If using vegetables, cut them to bite-sized pieces as well and marinate them separately till ready to assemble the kebabs
3. Assemble the pieces in the bamboo skewers and grill till chicken is done

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...

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.

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!

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.

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!

Capsicum Paruppusili

Last year, when my mom visited us, our garden was bursting with peppers, squash, eggplant and tomatoes. My mom was frantically trying to find different ways to cook up these veggies. That's how capsicum paruppusili came about.

And since this qualifies as the JFI ingredient this time around, I am dedicating this post to the same. JFI:Chilli Peppers event is hosted this month by my dear pal, the lovely and talented Nandita of SaffronTrail

Capsicum is a genus of plants from the nightshade family (Solanaceae), native to Mexico, and now cultivated worldwide. Some of the members of Capsicum are used as spices, vegetables, and medicines. The fruit of Capsicum plants have a variety of names depending on place and type. They are commonly called chili pepper, red or green pepper, or just pepper in Britain and the US; the large mild form is called bell pepper in the US, capsicum in Australian English and Indian English...
...
The chili pepper, or more simply just "chili", is the fruit of species of the plant Capsicum from the nightshade family, Solanaceae.
The name, which is spelled differently in many regions (chili, chile or chilli), comes from Nahuatl via the Spanish word chile. The term chili in most of the world refers exclusively to the smaller, hot types of capsicum. The mild larger types are called bell pepper in the USA, simply pepper in Britain and Ireland, capsicum in Australasia and paprika in many European countries. -- Wikipedia

Paruppusili is basically, red gram lentils soaked with some dry red chilies, ground into a paste, steam-cooked and then pan fried and added to vegetable of choice, which in this recipe happens to be Capsicum. The procedure is the same as my Kovakkai Paruppusili. The only difference is, instead of Tindora/Kovakkai, substitute your favorite chilli peppers - in this case, it happens to be mild and sweet green and yellow bell peppers.

chilli thokku

Chillies - green or red, fresh or dry - have always been an integral part of my mom's kitchen. And now, chillies have a special place in my kitchen as well.

When I was growing up, there was very rarely a period when we didn't have home-made pickles and chutneys handy. In addition to regular food, that is.

Thokku is a form of pickle where the main ingredients are ground into a paste and preserved in oil and spices. The most common ones at home are tomato thokku, ginger thokku and chilli thokku.

This chilli thokku recipe is a bit different from how my mom usually makes it. The primary ingredient is, of course, chillies - both green and red - plus, I decided to throw in some dry hibiscus flowers that I had handy as I like the color and the mild flavor it adds. Now, I love the deep rich color and the smoky flavor of dry ancho-pasilla chilies, so, I went with them here. But, if this is not readily available, substitute any favorite dry red chilies - adjust quantity based on heat.



I usually make fairly small batches and store it in the fridge. It lasts for about 2 weeks (if we don't eat it all up, that is). But, sometimes, I can them and put them away for later. It tastes even better when it has had time to age gracefully and develop deep flavors.

And this chilli thokku recipe is my post for JFI: Jihva For Ingredients, started by Indira of Mahanandi fame, hosted this month by a dear pal, the lovely and talented Nandita of SaffronTrail
.

Ingredients:
6-8 dry ancho-pasilla chilies
15-20 green chillies
a handful of dry hibiscus flowers
--------------
plain white vinegar
brown sugar
salt
oil

Preparation

Soak the dry red chilies and hibiscus in some warm water for about 15 minutes.

Remove the stem and some of the seeds, if preferred, and coarsely chop the soaked chillies; in a blender or food processor, grind the three ingredients together.

Heat 4 Tbsp oil in a pan, add some mustard seeds and when they splutter, add the ground chilli paste. Add about ¼ cup plain white vinegar, about 2-3 Tbsp brown sugar, and some salt to taste.

Stir well, and keep stirring till the rawness of the chillies go away, all the liquid is evaporated, the oil starts separating and the thokku comes together. Taste and adjust flavors.

The tang from the vinegar and the sweetness of the brown sugar counter-balance the heat from the chillies and make this a wonderful condiment to have handy at home. The heat is not overpowering, killing the taste buds, so-to-speak...

How to use this chilli thokku?

1. mix a small amount with cream cheese and use it as a sandwich spread
2. spread a thin layer of this wonderful thokku on rotis or parathas (or even tortillas), roll them up and munch as a quick snack
3. mix a small amount with fresh hot rice and ghee and enjoy!

Stuffed Baby Eggplant

Eggplant, Brinjal, Aubergine, Vazhuthananga, Kathrikkai... whatever name it goes by, it has been one of my favorites since childhood.

I think a number of recipes I have collected here feature eggplant as the primary ingredient - be it Japanese, Malaysian, Indian or Italian recipes :-)

Original eggplants were white and about the size of a hen-egg apparently, hence the name... Then hybrids started defaulting to deep purple as they don't look as bad as the white ones when bruised ;-)

The lovely purple flowers the plant puts out early in the season in our garden is a sight to behold. And, as many would know by now, eggplant is a fruit, a berry in fact.

While calliopes, ichiban, black beauty and a few other varieties are just as good, my favorite has been what are called "baby eggplants" - what I call Indian eggplant or brinjal - that are a gorgeous purple, with smooth tender flesh, not too many seeds, about the size of a large hen-egg.

The best way to enjoy these "baby" eggplants in my opinion is to slit and stuff them with favorite spices and pan cook them as in this recipe :-)

And this is my post for JFI's Eggplant event hosted by Sangeeta at Ghar ka Khana

Ingredients
8-10 baby/Indian eggplant
3-4 Tbsp oil

for the stuffing:
4 Tbsp dry grated coconut
3 Tbsp chana dal
2 Tbsp urad dal
1-2 dry red chilies
1 Tbsp brown sugar
salt to taste

plus, 4-6 tbsp tamarind concentrate/juice


Tempering: 1 tsp coconut oil or canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp urad dal, 1 tsp chana dal, 2 Tbsp dry grated coconut

Preparation

tempering: heat oil in a pan, when shimmering add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown add the urad dal, when it turns golden brown add the mustard seeds, and when they pop add the cumin seeds and dry grated coconut; sauté till coconut turns golden brown; turn off heat and keep handy for garnish

stuffing: dry roast the stuffing ingredients, then coarsely grind them to powdery consistency, then add a little tamarind concentrate at at time to make a thick paste

slit the eggplants in quarters, taking care not to cut all the way to the stem - leave them attached at the stem

stuff each eggplant with the prepared stuffing, taking care not to break them apart

heat oil in a pan, place the stuffed eggplants gently on the pan, add any remaining stuffing, sprinkle a dash of salt and a tablespoon or two of water (not too much), cover and cook on medium low till eggplant is cooked and the skin develops a slight crispness, turning once or twice to get the skin crisped all over

take care not to break the eggplant, try to keep them whole when handling :-)

Garnish with the tempering and serve warm with rice or roti.

Vazhakkai Mezhukku Varatti

Vazhakkai is the Tamil word for Plantain. Green unripe plantain is something I grew up with - it was pretty much year round item and very common in Palakkad (Palghat) cuisine. It is usually cooked as a vegetable in mor-kozhambu and south Indian style curries.

One of my favorite curries is mezhukku varatti or upperi that my mom makes with plantain. The others include vazhakkai podimas (which is streamed and grated with coconut), vazhakkai pulikari (with tamarind), and as a prominent ingredient in avial (vegetable medley).

This recipe here is an adaptation of the mezhukku varatti and pulikari.

The specialty about this recipe that gives the texture i like is powdered par-boiled rice that has been lightly toasted first before powdering. And of course, the tang from the tamarind. Plus, I like to add coarse crumbled toasted peanuts, and some dry grated coconut...

Ingredients:
2 plantains
2 Tbsp tamarind concentrate (adjust to taste)
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp dry grated coconut
3 Tbsp coarsely ground toasted peanuts
2 Tbsp par-boiled rice (or jasmine rice), dry toasted and coarsely ground
water as needed
salt to taste

Tempering: 1 tsp coconut oil or canola oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp urad dal, 1 tsp chana dal, 4-6 curry leaves (optional)

Preparation:

peel the plantain with a vegetable peeler, and dice it; keep it in a bowl of water till ready to throw in the pan for cooking

mix the coarsely ground dry roasted rice, dry grated coconut and coarsely ground toasted peanuts and keep handy

tempering: heat oil in a pan, when shimmering add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown 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 plantain some salt, turmeric, chili powder, tamarind concentrate, brown sugar, some water, stir well, cover and cook till plantain is tender and cooked; adjust flavors to taste

stir in the rice+peanuts+coconut powder mix and stir it in; the cool thing about this is it absorbs any extra water and makes the dish come together with a wonderful texture - not too dry, not too runny

I had some spring onions in the garden that I used for garnish, but, curry leaves, or cilantro leaves or even sliced green chilies is a good garnish for this recipe.

Serve warm with rice and rasam or sambar. I like it better with hot rotis :-)

This Vazhakkai mezhukku varatti style recipe is my 'V' dish for lovely Nupur's A to Z of Indian Vegetables event.