Food for Zero Karma Life!

Poached apples with carob sauce

2012-01-06T14:44:00.000-08:00

Apple probably keeps the doctor away but certainly me and my husband are not great fans of apple. We are big fans of all the fruits that come in the farmer's market...but apples? Well, we eat it in different forms like apple pie, apple sauce or apple crisp. Adding to the list of prepared apples are these poached apples which are straightforward to make and delightful in taste. There is nothing much to do ... really! You cook the apples, prepare carob sauce and sweeten the cream and ...serve! I don't have the proportions since this was one of the spontaneous preparations.

Method
1. Peel the apples and core them from the bottom leaving aside the stalk.
2. Poach them by cooking them by submerging them in a vessel with just enough water. I added very little sugar and cardamom pods without the cardamom (saved it for the sweetened cream). Remove the apples once they are soft. I did not add much sugar since I wanted the taste of the apple to remain and not be masked by other flavors.
3. Meanwhile, in a pan add a little butter, sugar, carob and melt them. Add little milk to make it into a carob sauce.
4. For the sweetened cream, you could use creme fraiche. I used plain old sour cream to which I added sugar, grated nutmeg and pound cardamom.

That's it.....when apples are warm, serve them!

Crispy Rice Noodle Salad + Roasted Hing dressing

2011-12-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

A good salad is very heart warming and that too if its a warm salad, that's even better! The inspiration to prepare this dressing came from our daily cooking. When my mother prepares the 'chaunk' for rasam, the aroma of hing roasted in ghee is uplifting. And mind you, its not the ready made powdered hing/asafoetida that you get in stores. I used the hard hing that is more closer to its roots than the powdered one and hence more aromatic and strong. I caramelized the sugar inspired by the mishti doi we made at home today. The rest of the ingredients support these 2 flavors. I did not measure the ingredients, so I'll just give the ingredients list.

Ingredients
Bok Choy - a bunch
Carrot - 1, peeled in thin strips
Slivered and toasted almonds
Crispy rice noodle (Recipe below)
Any other vegetable, nuts of your choice

Dressing
Hard hing/asafoetida
Sugar
Tamarind paste
Soy sauce ( I used liquid aminos instead)
Sesame oil
Salt, chilli flakes (optional)

Method
1. Heat a little oil and roast hing. Add sugar and let it caramelize and set it aside. Once it cools, add liquid aminos, tamarind paste, chilli flakes.
2. In the same oil, briefly saute bok choy with little bit of salt. Keep aside.
3. Mix the sauteed bok choy, grated carrots, nuts, crispy rice noodles and finally the dressing.

Note 1: You need to be careful with caramelized sugar. It might get hard once you add soy sauce if the sugar is not cooled enough. Even if it does harden, don't worry. Just add little water and reheat the mixture.

Note 2: Powder the hing before you put in oil.

Poli

2011-10-23T22:49:00.000-07:00

Typically this sweet dish is made during Pongal, a harvest festival celebrated in January. However since Narayan likes Poli, my mom made it for deepavali. And there are many ways of doing it and many names attributed to it. Few things that are common is, it is sweet and the sweet stuffing is encased in flour dough and rolled and cooked on a griddle.

I have seen my Maharastrian friends make the stuffing using some of gadget and it comes out powdery and poli is thin. At MIL's home the stuffing is made with channa dal, coconut and jaggery and they call it 'uppittu'. My Telugu friends call it 'obattu'. That's a short intro for Poli!

Ingredients
Channa dal - 1 cup
Jaggery. - 1 cup
Powdered elaichi/cardamom
White flour - 1cup
Salt - a pinch
Turmeric - a pinch
Oil

Makes 12 polis

Method
1. Cook the dal in water till its done (soft). Grind the dal to a fine paste.
2. Transfer the ground dal to a cooking pan and slowly melt the jaggery in it. Add the powdered elaichi. Keep aside till it cools down.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the dough. Mix flour, pinch of salt, turmeric (for color) and water required to form a tight rollable dough. In the end add a little oil and mix into the dough.

4. Divide the dough and the sweet stuffing into equal portions.

5. Flatten the dough a little bit and place the stuffing and completely cover with the dough.

6. Finally roll out the stuffed dough into a flatbread ...flour the surface if needed.

7. Finally cook it on the hot pan/griddle with little oil/ghee. Serve hot with plenty of ghee.

Most importantly, before serving warm the poli and serve with generous amounts of ghee!

Mullu Murukku/Manankombu

2011-10-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

For this festive season of deepavali, my mom made one of my all time favorite snack which goes by the name 'Manankombu' and I call it 'Mullu murukku' since this snack has tiny thorn (or mullu) like spikes. It is a salty kkkcccrunchy snack!

Kitchen utensils that you will need
Frying pan, slotted spoon and the most important item of "acchu". Acchu is like 'pasta machine' which cuts the dough into noodles/pasta. Acchu is hand pressed machine through which we extrude the dough and extruded dough falls straight into hot oil for deep frying. You will find acchu in any well stocked Indian store. It should have different "die"s to make different snacks.

Ingredients
Urad dal - 4tsp
Channa dal - 2 tsp
Rice flour - 2 cups
Sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Asafoetida
Chili powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt ~ 1 tsp or to taste
Water
Oil for frying

Method
1. Cook the two dals till they are soft. Then grind them.
2. Mix with rice flour, asafoetida, salt. Chili powder and sesame seeds, if you are using them.
3. Slowly pour water to make thick dough.

4. Make the dough into a ball and push it into acchu.

5. Close the lid & extrude the dough into hot oil in a circular fashion.

6. Fry till its golden brown and crisp. Turn it otherway around. Remove from oil when the 'hissing' sound goes away.

Sundried Tomato pickle

2011-10-18T17:33:00.000-07:00

When we got to California, I found it so hot that it inspired me to make pickle! And that too with a nice open back yard and fresh produce available from farmer's market, it made things easy and pleasurable to pickle some tomatoes. Although I prepared this few months back, I forgot to blog this prep and as you can see my pickle is almost over! Luckily I do have a little to take a pic and blog it :-)

Ingredients

Tomatoes - 2kg, 4.4lbs, or a dozen tomatoes
Salt ~ 2.5-3 Tbsp
Tamarind ~60-70gms or a lemon size
Methi/Fenugreek seeds- 2tsp
Asafoetida (preferably use the solid gum) , if not use the powdered asafoetida - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1.5tsp
Chilli powder - 4tsp
Sesame Oil - 1/2 cup

Method
1. Wash and dry the tomatoes. Cut them and mix with salt and tamarind. The picture below shows how the tomatoes look after day 1 under the hot Californian sun. After day 1, crush them with hand and I kept them again in the sun for day 2.

2. Keep in the sun again till its hardened and yet has moisture to grind it. I only kept them for 2 days.
3. In a pan , roast methi till its fragrant and little brownish and keep aside. Roast asafoetida (1 cube) in oil and powder them with methi. Alternately if using asafoetida powder use it along with chaunce/tempering.
4. For tempering - heat oil, put in the mustard, chilli powder. If using powdered asafoetida, add it here. Keep aside and let it coo. For some reason, its important to let the oil cool down.
5. In a blender or a mixie, grind the tomato and remove the any pit or fiber that comes from the tamarind.
6. Mix the pureed tomatoes with oil. Put it back on the stove and stir till the oil will "pulls out".
7. Finally, add the asafetida and methi powder.
8. If you think oil is less in the pickle, heat some more sesame oil and pour over the pickle. Once, it cools down then lid the jar. It should come for few months.
9. If you don't add as much oil, then keep it refrigerated.

Serve with hot rice, or dosa or with pesarattu as I did today.

Pesarattu (Green Mung Crepes)

2011-10-18T16:47:00.000-07:00

It has been long since I blogged since my kitchen has been taken over by my mom! She has been cooking delicious authentic south Indian food. I am totally enjoying it! And I hope to bring her cooking to this blog. Since pesarattu is made with green mung, its nutritious and filling as well. Serve it with ginger chutney. Since I had prepared tomato pickle at home, I served that as well. If you serve it with "Rava Upma" its called "MLA pesarattu" !!

Makes about 12 pesarattu.

Ingredients
Green Mung dal - 2 cups
Green chillies - 2
Red chillies - 4
Asafoetida - a pinch
Cilantro - few sprigs
Salt, to taste

Method
1. Soak the green mung dal overnight. (My friend adds little rice as well )
2. In the morning, grind the soaked dal with green and red chillies, asafoetida, few sprigs of cilantro and salt. Add water as necessary to make a nice smooth batter.
3. Heat a tava/griddle. Once its hot (not smoky), add a little oil, smear it on the griddle.
4. Pour about 3/4 cup of batter and spread it into circle using the back of the spoon. Pour about 1/2 tsp oil around it. Once its done on one side, turn it over and add pour 1/2 tsp oil around it. It should come out nice and crisp.

Ginger chutney

2011-10-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

Now that my mother is with me, I get to eat hot comfort food cooked by her with love! Here is one recipe for chutney that is tangy and full with flavor. It goes well with the Pesarattu.

Ingredients
Urad dal - 2 tsp
Red chillies - 2
Ginger - 1 to 1.5inches, cut in slices
Jaggery - 1 Tbsp
Tamarind - 1 Tbs, soak in a little bit of water beforehand
Salt, to taste
Oil

Method
1. In a pan, add a little bit of oil and once its heated up, add urad dal, red chillies, ginger and roast them.
2. Meanwhile, pound the jaggery. Squeeze the tamarind which is presoaked in water to extract the pulp.
3. Grind all the roasted ingredients, along with jaggery and tamarind pulp and salt to taste.

Serve with hot Pesarattu or with hot rice.

Chipotle inspired dinner

2011-10-01T11:26:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make and have something tangy, something crunchy and something spicy and something warm and soothing, but....tonight I did not want a delicious south Indian meal which would satisfy all those criteria! Well, I happened to see these chipotle (smoked jalapeno peppers) in my pantry and so, it is mexicano...!

In my limited readings of mexican food, corn, beans are their staple source of carbs and proteins. I tried to stay true to their spices 'n herbs and used mainly cumin and coriander powder, oregano and bay leaf in my 2 preps - the chipotle bean soup and tostadas. Only addition was adding some noodles in the soup for some bulk and texture.

For the Chipotle Bean Soup

Ingredients
Corn kernels from one corn
Cooked pinto beans ~ 1 cup
Tomatoes, diced - 2
Bay leaf - 1
Olive oil + butter - 2tsp
Hing - a dash
Chipotle - 2 tsp (crushed or finely chopped)
Cumin seeds - 1/2tsp
Cumin and Coriander powder - 1/2tsp each
Salt, to taste
Ground black pepper and/or red chili powder (optional, to add more spice)
Noodles, cut in 2 inch strips (optional)
Sour cream (optional)
Water or Veg broth

Method
1. Heat olive oil + butter in a cooking vessel. Add dash of hing (asafoetida), cumin seeds, bay leaf, chipotle. Saute briefly.
2. Add corn kernels, cooked beans and noodles and water.
3. Add cumin/coriander powder and if you think you will need more spice add ground black pepper and/or red chili powder, salt.
4. Let the soup simmer quite a bit till all the flavors come together.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Tostadas

Tostadas are similar to taco shells and made from corn, except it is flat. Traditionally, it is loaded with refried beans, lettuce, grated cheese, diced tomatoes.

For a different spin - I sauteed spinach in a little olive oil +butter along with hing, oregano, cumin/coriander powder and salt. Then, spread this mixture on a tostada, sprinkled some tomatoes on top. You could sprinkle some chili flakes or diced jalapenos for spice. Finally, placed a slice of vegetarian cheese on top.

Broiled it for a short bit till the cheese melted. Yumm! Crunnnnnccchhyy! :-)

Eggless Atta muffins

2011-09-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Muffin is one of those things that's easy to bake, tasty to eat and is potentially healthy too. It is also something that can be made in different ways, is fairly flexible and am sure everyone has their trusted recipes. I was done with whole wheat flour and so I tried this muffin recipe with Atta flour instead and lo and behold I got nice fluffy healthy muffins. My husband has posted a recipe for muffin previously with different set of ingredients.

Ingredients
Atta 1.75 cups
Baking soda 2 tsp
Pinch of salt
Yogurt 1/2 cup
Milk 1 cup
Oil or butter 5 tsp
Sugar 3/4 cup
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Strawberry 1/2 cup
Carob chips 1/3 cup

Method
1. Mix the dry ingredients. Then mix the wet ingredients. Finally, mix the dry and the wet ingredients.
2. Grease muffin tray and fill with muffin mix.
3. Bake at 350C for about 25mins
4. Check for 'doneness' before removing from oven. Cool it a bit and then remove the muffins

Spiced Watermelon Cooler

2011-08-14T18:22:00.003-07:00

I am sure I won't be alone when I say I get pretty excited to see fresh produce and high quality grocery items (for less price, ofcourse!). Where I live, we get organic produce and what's more this weekend, I even bought fresh whole wheat fettucine. While I decided to make fettucine with spinach and corn in pasta sauce...I was inspired to use fresh basil with watermelon and the result is ...quite interesting!

Yesterday for Balaram Jayanti we were served Varuni (a heady mixture of honey and condensed milk) at the temple...while that is intensely sweet,rich and creamy and indeed fit for the Divine....this watermelon cooler nontheless will for sure satisfy mere mortals like us during these long, hot 'n humid days.
Try it out and am sure you will come up with your own variety...

What did I do?
Blended chunks of fresh watermelon, handful of chopped fresh basil, a tsp of Pani Puri masala and a little bit of honey (optional)

Eat your veggies!

2011-08-08T15:34:00.002-07:00

A cool way to have veggies in this hot summer is to bake them lightly and mix with herbs and .... fresh mozzarella cheese! Fresh mozzarella makes the difference...I have seen people make caprini or caprese salad with fresh mozzarella...but it tastes good even with baked vegetables.

What did I do?
1 Potato peeled, thin wedges from 1 Eggplant, florets from 1 small broccoli crown, florets from 1/2 caulifower, 1 red bell pepper, slices of 1 peeled carrot.
Tossed them in olive oil, salt, pepper, some oregano....bake them for ~ 15mins at 350F....

Once salad cools down, add fresh mozzarella and lemon juice....its done...the veggies are just done and still juicy and very flavorful!

Carob Fudge

2011-08-04T12:56:00.004-07:00

For me, this carob fudge/burfi is associated with my childhood memories. When my mom used to prepare this sweet, my brother and I would be waiting on her and as soon as it is done, we both would first eat any bits of 'chocolate' sticking to the knife, to the pan and to the tray it has been poured into and then get to the real burfis. Once, when she made this 'chocolate', my fathers' colleague came home with his 2 children and they ate the --- whole preparation --- all by themselves !!!And, my brother and I were left drooling :) Well, thats how a personal favorite this is. Only variation I have done from what my mom used to do was use carob instead of cocoa powder. Another way to prepare this is using condensed milk, carob and butter.

Ingredients
Milk powder ~ 1 cup (I used 1 sachet and it had little over a cup)
Organic Cane Sugar - 1.25 cups
Carob powder - 2 Tbsp
Butter - 125gms
Almonds (or any nuts of your choice) - chopped, a handful

Method
1. In a big cooking pan (kadai), add the sugar and add a little water to dissolve it. Once the sugar is fully dissolved, add the butter and let it melt fully. Switch of the stove.
2. Now, add the milk powder, carob powder and nuts and stir well breaking any 'lumps' that might have formed. Once you have a uniform mixture, switch on the stove.
3. Keep stirring in medium heat till you see the mix coming 'off' the sides.
4. Meanwhile take an appropriate sized tray and grease it using butter or ghee. Butter the edges of the knife.
5. When you pour the carob mix into the tray is crucial. As you keep stirring, when the whole mixture starts offering 'resistance', that is when you switch off the stove and pour the mixture onto the greased tray.
6. As soon as you pour it, flatten the top of the surface (I used the backside of a flat bowl).
7. Before you start cutting, just draw lines on top of the burfi using the knife. Once you are done, then cut through the burfi.
8. It hardly takes 1/2 hr to prepare this sweet.

Note - How sweet should a sweet be is a personal choice. What I found is this organic cane sugar particularly more sweet compared to the normal sugar you get in stores. Personally, I can even handle 1.5 cups of sugar for the above recipe but my husband prefers 1.25 cups and so do many of my friends.

Paruppu Usili with Banana blossom

2011-07-31T11:47:00.002-07:00

Paruppu usili is one of my all time favorite. Making usili is a bit long winding procedure but the outcome is well worth the effort. And that said, it is a must have item is all important occasions like weddings. What's more? Since it uses dal, it is good in protein content as well! Paruppu usili is nothing but dal that is cooked and steamed with few spices and typically its blended with vegetables like beans, green bell pepper (capsicum), Banana blossom (vazhai poo in tamil). Here I have prepared Vazhai poo usili.

Ingredients
Banana blossom - 1 (Cut flowers came to 1.25 cups)
To Grind
Toor dal + Chana dal - 2/3 cup (in the ratio of 2:1 or you may skip chana dal)
Dry red chillies - 3 (for medium spice)
Asafoetida - 1 tsp
Salt, to taste
For tempersing
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch

Method
Preparing the usili
1. Soak toor dal and chana dal for about 3-4hrs. Drain the water and grind it to a coarse consistency with red chillies, asafoetida and the required salt . Adding salt is important since adding it at later stages might not be so effective.
2.Steam the dal paste and cut banana blossoms separately. I used a pressure cooker.
3. Using your hands loosen the steamed dal.
4. In a pan, add oil, temper with mustard seeds, urad dal and pinch of asafoetida. Add the loosened dal and saute for a bit (about 5-7mins) till it looks done.
5. Now, drain the banana blossom and add it to the cooking pan. Add a little salt if you think you might not have added enough to account for the banana blossom. Saute for ~ 10mins. You are done!

Preparing Banana blossom
1.The time consuming part of this preparation is preparing the vegetable i.e. Banana blossom. To remove the blossoms or the flowers, you need to remove the red covering and in there you see the blossoms. So, first pull the blossoms out and keep them.

2. Hold few banana blossoms in one hand and using the other hand rub the tops so that the flowers open up. Then, you need to remove the pistil of the blossom. My grandma and mom, my authority in south Indian cooking asked me to remove it as they say this pistil is something that cannot but cut and hence should be removed. *This* is the time consuming part.

3. Once you are done removing pistil from all the flowers (for the smaller flowers, it will come out as you are cutting it), chop them in small bits. Soak them in a little diluted buttermilk so that it doesn't oxidise.
4. This now is ready for steaming.

Variations
1. If you are using Kothavarakkai (Cluster beans) or green beans, you need to cut it small and steam it just like we did above for vazhai poo (banana blossom). Then, drain them and add to the usili.
2. If you are using raw banana or capsicum (green bell pepper) or Chayote (bengaluru kathirikkai or chow chow), you chop them small, saute in oil till it looks done and then add to the usili.
3. Some people just grind the dals and saute in oil directly skipping the steaming step. I like to steam since it uses less oil IMHO.
4. One of my friend uses non-traditional veggies like carrots in her recipe. She also adds more dal to her usili. I prefer roughly equal ratios of veggies to dal.

Serve with hot steaming rice, ghee and rasam....yummmm.....!

Eggless Buckwheat Upside down Cake

2011-07-26T19:36:00.004-07:00

I wanted to keep the title short, else it could have been Eggless Buckwheat Carob Strawberry Upside down cake :)

I don't bake often but these fresh strawberries from the farmer's market were so flavorful that I had to do something with them. Frankly speaking, I was fearful of baking this cake but I took my chance and I am happy to write that the outcome was pretty decent. Here is what I did...

Ingredients
Buckwheat flour - 1.5 cups
Carob powder - 1/4 cup
Pinch of salt
Sugar - 1/2 cup (mild sweetness)
Baking soda - 2 to 2.5 tsp
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/3 cup
Oil - 5 tsp
Strawberry - handful, sliced
Sugar for topping - 2 tsp
Oil to grease the pan

Method
1. Sieve together the flour, carob, soda in a mixing bowl. Add sugar and pinch of salt to it.
2. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 350C and grease your baking pan with oil and sprinkle the sugar coating allover the baking surface.
3. Wash and cut the strawberries in thin slices. Line the baking tray with single layer of strawberries.
4. Now back to the cake mix...add yogurt, oil, milk mixture to your dry ingredients and mix them. Once they are in a pour'able consistency, spread them over the strawberries. Bake for 23-25mins.

And, ofcourse you need to turn it upside down once the cake is done! To do that, loosen the sides... and turn the cake on a clean surface. Cut and serve with whipped cream or drizzle honey.

Some lessons learned
1. Buckwheat has a distinct flavor and hence 1/2 cup sugar might not be sweet enough for some. So, you could serve with sweetened whipped cream or add little more sugar.
2. Some important factors for a cake's baking success - quality of your ingredients, actual oven temperature, mixing well of dry ingredients, to name a few.
3. The cake did turn out with a little hump on top and when searched online for the reason, I found even the material for baking is crucial...like pyrex glass versus usual aluminum baking trays. Ofcourse people cut off the 'bump' and some use "cooling strips" around the baking tray.

Many lessons learned and a good cake eaten :)

Karela rings

2011-07-25T16:11:00.004-07:00

Many people like to have some crunchy dish along with their rice like potato chips or some fried snack. As for my home, I roast a papad or fry some 'vathal' or 'vadaam' that so many south indian homes know. There are some vegetables like karela (bitter melon or bitter gourd), Okra that can be roasted to a good amount to make it crunchy. And, its real simple...

Many don't like karela for its extremely bitter taste. However, it can be prepared such that a lot of that bitterness reduces to a bearable degree. Stuffed karela is one such recipe that I have posted.

Ingredients
Karela - about 4, medium
Ghee - 1.5 to 2 Tbsp and more if needed while roasting
Pepper
Salt, to taste

Method
1. Wash and pat dry the karelas. Cut them in circles and remove the seeds from the center. This might be the only time consuming step and even this is not bad on time.
2. Heat the ghee in a clean thick bottomed kadai. When hot enough (not smoky) add the karela and let it roast.
3. When the karela looks cooked add the salt and pepper and let it roast further till crispy. It takes about 15mins. That is all :)

Sprouted Mung bean soup with Konkani seasoning

2011-07-01T11:14:00.001-07:00

Lacto vegetarians are Vegetarians who don't eat eggs. Especially now that I am carrying and nourishing another soul, the constant query is what do you do for proteins? It is very important for a mother to eat lot of proteins so that her baby's muscles develop well without the wasting of mothers' muscles.

For vegetarians good source of proteins are legumes, peas, beans, nuts. So, Indians utilize different varieties of dal - Mung, Toor (Split Pigeon peas), Channa (Split Chickpea), Kabuli channa, Urad (Black gram) and so on. Another option is quinoa which is a good source of complete protein, something that has all essential amino acids. I recently posted a recipe for quinoa.

Anyways sprouting beans, peas and legumes is smart eating. Nutritional value of sprouts is way better than the original bean/seed- it increases quality of proteins for starters (Wikipedia). One thing we need to be careful is the possibility of contamination of sprouts through bacteria and the like if you buy from stores. I like to make sprouts at home. Just soak the bean (in this case, mung dal) overnight. Next day morning, drain the water and rinse the bean. Close the container and leave the vessel in a dry, warm place. You should see sprouts by the end of the day and if you want them longer wait for the next morning. Meanwhile, during the course of the day, you could aerate the bean by shaking the sprouting container (not absolutely necessary).

Rather than cooking mung sprouts as a dal, I decided to make it like soup using konkani dressing that I learned from our friend, Jayant from TX. One exceptional ingredient is 'triphal' or 'teppal' which is also called Sichuan pepper. It has a very strong flavor and aroma and it is apparently very good for digestion. So he uses it with black eyed peas.

Ingredients

Sprouted Mung bean - 3cups
Dry red chillies - 2/3 for mild spice
Whole pepper - 6 to 8
Triphal - about 6
Dhania or whole coriander seeds - 1 Tbsp
Kokam for sourness, I did not have it so I used Tamarind -
Grated Coconut - 1/3 cup (freshly grated coconut is best)

Salt
Water to cook the Mung beans

Method
1. Cook the Mung sprouts in water till its soft and done. I pressure cooked it.
2. Meanwhile grind the rest of the ingredients - chillies, dhania, whole pepper, triphal, kokam and coconut. Add little water as required while grinding to make a paste. (My friend ground everything including triphal although some blogs do ask you to not grind it but crush it slightly)
3. When Dal is done, add these ground spices, salt and let it cook for some more time. I added some finely cut green bell pepper and tomatoes too. Add water if necessary for a soupy consistency. And your soup is done!

However, if you want to make a dal that goes with rice/chapathis, you need to add more of all the grinding spices except may be triphal since it has a overpowering effect anyway!

Happy eating!

Potatoes in Mango coconut gravy

2011-06-27T13:51:00.002-07:00

Summer is the season for the king of fruits, Mango, in India. While I wanted to celebrate the Mango season, I only had mango pulp at my disposal. Traditionally many dishes are made from mangos -- with raw mango we make manga pacchadi and using ripe mangoes, mambazha moru kootaan is made. I will perhaps post these recipes if I find good mangoes.

For now, this recipe was an experiment but what came about was an aromatic, sweetish potato curry.

Serves 2 people

What did I use?
Potatoes - 2, large, cut into cubes
Mango pulp - 1/2 cup
Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
Ghee ~ 2 Tbsp
Green chillies - 1 (for mild flavor)
Salt, to taste
Lemongrass powder - 1/4 Tsp
Pepper - 1/4 Tsp
Nutmeg powder - a dash
Paprika - a dash
salt, to taste

What did I do?
1. In a heated pan, add ghee and slit a green chilli and saute it momentarily in ghee.
2. Add the cubed potatoes and salt required and saute till the potatoes look done.
3. Now, add the mango pulp, coconut milk and all the remaining spices and cook for 5mins.

An aromatic sweetish potato dish is ready!

a la Quinoa Risotto

2011-06-27T13:30:00.002-07:00

In this new place we moved into, we have a wonderful farmer's market where we get fresh organic produce. The tomatoes look like tomatoes and not some waxy counterfeit and the basil is not just aromatic but affordable. The fresh veggies inspired me to make this dish - a la risotto.

Risotto is made from rice and large part of the texture is due to the starch in the rice. Here some changes to the ingredients and procedure are made.

Serves 2 people when served along with some side dish.

What did I use?

Quinoa - 1 cup

Tomatoes - 2 (ground to a pulp in a blender), comes to a cup.
Fresh Basil - few sprigs, cut
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Mozzarella cheese - 1/4 cup
Ghee ~ 2 Tbsp
Water - 2 cups

What did I do?
1. In a heated thick bottomed pan (I used a pressure cooker instead), add ghee and the quinoa and roast it.
2. When the grains look whitish, add pepper, salt, tomato puree and water.
3. Close the lid and let it cook till the quinoa looks done ~15/20mins (or when the cooker whistles 3 times)
4. Stir in grated cheese and cut basil.

And, its ready!

Changes galore!

2011-06-10T10:55:00.001-07:00

Our life has undergone quite a change and so has this blog. Apart from the name change, we are planning to have sister blogs that presents a holistic lifestyle of which food is one part. Ideas are slowly gaining more concrete shape...so keep checking.

We moved from the sleepy, yet happening town in Pennsylvania to sunny California! We are expecting our first bundle of joy in Oct-Nov! My husband Narayan graduated with PhD and is now a scientist/researcher.

I made few preps for my husband's defense ... vegetable puffs, cookies and a graduation cake. So, the picture above was my second attempt at baking a layered cake. Thanks to my friend Nidhi from NJ who gave me tips. She is an amazing baker with formal training in cake decoration, etc. I used eggless sponge cake recipe by vah chef. I used 2 fillings - one cream cheese and other a homemade all-berry jam. I used buttercream icing with glazed fruit topping. The writing on the cake is carob icing. Probably not one of the best cakes to look at but not too bad for a second attempt :)

Bonda (Spicy Vegetable dumpling)

2011-05-19T14:03:00.003-07:00

Bonda, as it is called in Chennai or Batata vada, as it is called in Mumbai is a perfect snack anytime and especially so during rains. And, all you do for vada pav is place these bondas in between spiced and buttered 'pav' or bun or dinner rolls.

Makes 35 bondas. Preparation time - 30-45mins. Frying time - 45mins to 1Hr.

Ingredients
For the stuffing
Potatoes - 6, cooked and mashed
Peas - 1/2 cup
Carrot - 1, cut into tiny cubes
Green chillies - 2 (for medium spice)
Ginger grated - 1/2 inch
Mustard seeds - 3 Tsp
Urad dal - 3 Tsp
Asafoetida - 1 Tsp
Turmeric powder - 2 Tsp
Dhania Jeera powder (cumin coriander powder) - 2 Tsp
Cashews - 1/4 cup, cut in quarter
Salt
Fresh cilantro/coriander - 1 bunch, cut , for garnish
Fresh coconut - 2 Tbsp, cut in small pieces (optional)

The batter
Chickpea flour (Besan/Kadala maavu) - 2 cups
Water ~ 2 cups
Salt
Turmeric powder - 1 Tsp
Red chilli powder (optional) - 1 Tsp

Method
1.In a wide cooking vessel, add about 2 Tsp ghee (or oil) and when the oil heats up add the mustard seeds.
2.When the mustard seeds are done popping, add urad dal and let it roast till light brown then add the green chillies, asafoetida, grated ginger and cut carrots. Cook for a bit.
3. Then add turmeric powder, coriander-cumin powder, the potatoes, frozen peas (if its fresh you'd need to cook it earlier) & salt. Close with a lid and let it cook for sometime. ~5-10mins i.e. till the spices are taken in by the vegetables.
4. Garnish with cut cilantro and coconut. Mix well. Let it cool a bit
5. While the vegetables are getting prepared, you can make the batter. Mix the dry ingridients and then add water to bring to a consistency of cake batter.
6. In a wok or a frying pan, pour enough oil to fry the bondas. Heat it till a drop of a batter when poured into the oil immediately sizzles up to the surface. Oil should neither be smoky nor warm.
6. Divide the vegetable prep into equal portions (about 35) and make them into balls. Dip them in the batter and carefully drop them into the oil. Depending on the size of your frying pan, you can fry multiple bondas.
7. Keep turning and remove with slotted spoon when the outer covering looks golden brownish and done.

Spinach Pesto Pasta

2011-04-25T17:55:00.000-07:00

Right now, my modus operandi in my kitchen is -- clear my kitchen so that our move-out will be less painful! So it does seem necessity is the mother of invention. Anyways, I had these pasta that I wanted to finish and I did not want to make either the tomato-basil sauce or the creamy white sauce. On some reading I found that pesto really comes from pestle-mortar used for pounding.

Anyways, I used spinach, walnuts (instead of pine nuts) and cheddar cheese. I think purists will shrink away but it tastes as good as it can get!

What you need?
Spinach - 3 cups(loose leaves) or about 5 Oz
Walnuts - 1/3 cup
Dried Basil ~ 1 Tsp
Olive oil
Asafoetida
Salt, pepper (to taste)
Grated cheese
Ofcourse, pasta , cooked al dente

What to do?
1. In a large vessel add about 1/2 Ga water, salt and olive oil and let boil. When its boiling add the pasta (I had some whole wheat pasta and some regular pasta). Cook as per instructions...or about 10mins.
2. Meanwhile, in a blender, add walnuts and spinach and blend.
3. In a cooking pan, add 1 Tbsp olive oil and add pinch of asafoetida (replaces the garlic) and add the spinach puree, basil, salt and pepper. I like to do this since we keep hearing about some salmonella infection or the other. Right now its cucumber...so God know what next! Ofcourse, you might not be able to do with Basil.
4. Drain pasta and add it to the cooking pan. Grate cheese as much as required.

Pasta ready in ~ 15mins!

Poached Plantain

2011-04-25T09:02:00.003-07:00

These are super quick and super awesome! Well. I made the dish out of necessity...my husband got the raw plantain to make a traditional south indian vegetable dish and I waited on them too long till they ripened! So, I decided to make a dessert out of them. It is called "puzhingina pazham" in palakkad lingo...literally cooked plantains.

What you need?
Plantains - 3
Jaggery, coarsely broken ~ 1 cup
Cardamom - 6 pods
Grated coconut for garnishing

How to?
1. My FIL said the seeds of the plantain (nendram pazham in tamil) are hard to digest and hence it is traditionally cooked before eating them. So, cut the plantain into 4 pieces and cook them in a little water in a wide mouthed vessel. ~ 4-5mins. Make sure plantains don't get scorched.
2. Meanwhile, break the jaggery into pieces and melt it in another vessel with a little water. In India, my mom typically strains the melted jaggery as it always has some sand.
3. Pour the melted jaggery into the vessel with the plantains and let the plantain further cook and absorb the jaggery.
4. Break open the cardamom pods and pound the fragrant seeds and add them to the plantain. ~ 5-10mins, again make sure they dont get scorched.
5. Once done, just garnish with some coconut.
6. Serve with ice cream. Awesome!!

And, here's for the summer...carrot soup

2011-04-06T08:31:00.008-07:00

Sorry for the flurry of activity on this blog! Various reasons for a brief hiatus...one being I was not able to download the pictures from camera to my laptop for a long time.

Summer is here (well, almost... I hope) and we get fresh veggies from our local farm at Gita Nagari. Last summer they grew tomatoes, eggplant, okra, kale, potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, basil & other herbs and veggies.

So, here is one simple recipe for farm fresh cooking.

What you need?
Carrots - 3
Tomato - 1
Ginger - 1/2 inch, grated
Ground black Pepper
Salt

What to do?
1. Cook or steam the carrots & tomato. I steamed them in a pressure cooker.
2. Once it cools down, blend them.
3. To the carrot puree, add salt, pepper, ginger & some water for a preferred consistency. Bring to a boil & serve!

Pho Soup

2011-04-06T08:12:00.006-07:00

When I went online to look at the recipe for this soup, invariably it had beef stock. Or, the vegetarian versions had onion & garlic. So, this would not do for the yogis, right?! Well, believe it or not, here is the sattvic version of this soup. I got this recipe for this amazingly simple recipe for an amazing soup from my amazing roommate Janki from our college days. Thanks Janki!

I am sure people can add more things to make it more colorful, but here is one pic for starters.

What you need?
3/4 cup tomato puree or puree from 3 big tomatoes
1/2 green chilli (change according to your tastes)
1inch ginger, sliced
Few sprigs Cilantro
1 stalk of Celery, cut
Bean sprouts
Tofu, cubed
Rice noodles, cooked
Fresh basil, bruised

What to do?
1. The most important part of this soup is the broth. So, prepare the broth by placing the tomato puree, cut ginger, chillies, celery & cilantro in a 1/2 Ga vessel. Fill the rest of the pot with water. 2. Let it boil for sometime (atleast 1/2hr or even more if you have time). One of my Viet friends who came for my cooking class told me her mother prepares/boils this broth for a very very long time. Of course, add salt to it.
3. Now in a soup bowl, place some cooked noodles, sprouts & few tofu cubes. Pour the filtered broth on top. Add few bruised basil leaves.

And, Voila! Your soup is ready.

Malai Sandwich

2011-04-06T07:03:00.006-07:00

We wanted to make and offer Malai Sandwich on Gaura Purnima to the Lord. Malai Sandwich is nothing but Rasagolla with khoa (condensed milk, not literal translation) in between. So, the texture is very interesting, with juicy & chewy rasagolla with a creamy centre. You don't get khoa in United States or at least where we live...so, it was a bit of an experiment and bit of experience that brought this through. The description is long but really it doesn't take long to make it.

Ingredients
1/2 Ga Organic Whole milk
1 pint Organic Half & Half
Lemon juice
2 cups Water
2 cups Sugar
1 Tbsp rose water or kewda water or powdered cardamom/elaichi (optional, for flavor)

For the khoa
1/2 tin Condensed milk
2 Tbsp Yogurt
2 Tbsp Ghee (Clarified butter)

Makes 24-26 rasagollas

Method to make Rasagollas
1. Take a 4-6 Qt vessel and bring the milk and half & half to a boil.
2. Before the milk boils over, add lemon juice, one Tbsp at a time.
3. Stir in the lemon juice till the milk fat separates from the greenish whey. Now, I added some "Roohafza" in the milk to get pink Rasagollas :)
4. Pour the "broken milk" through a colander covered with cheese cloth to separate the cheese. You may collect all the whey to use in some other dishes like soups & stews.
5. Rinse the cheese under running water (while it is in the cloth) to remove traces of lemon juice. "Hang the curd" till all the water drains and to further drain the water, place some weight on it.
6. The cheese should neither be dry nor too wet. When it still moist knead the cheese to form a uniform 'ball of cheese'. Roll the cheese into 24-26 balls.
7. Meanwhile in a wide mouthed vessel add 2 cups water, 2 cups sugar & kewda water. When the sugar dissolves and comes to a boil. Add about 12 cheese balls into the boiling water gently. Close the lid and let cook for 10-15mins. I used a pressure cooker to do the same.
8. Now, the rasagollas are ready.

Method to make Malai Sandwich
1. When the rasagolla cools down, take a rasagolla, gently squeeze out some water and cut into half.
2. Now, since we don't get khoa here...we made it by microwaving condensed milk, sugar & yogurt for about 10-15mins (depends on the power of your microwave).
3. Spread the condensed milk in one of the halves of rasagolla. Put the other half on top.
4. Sprinkle with some broken pistachios. And, its ready!

Cut it, Fill in & Eat it! (Summer rolls)

2011-03-26T13:15:00.008-07:00

Yeah! You cut the vegetables, fill the rice wraps with it and (of course offer to Krishna) and then eat it! These are the Summer rolls...which unlike Spring rolls need not be fried and yet it tastes yummy! Mainly, the flavor is from the fresh herbs and texture is due to the crunchy veggies. Awesome combination!

Actually, we had some Japanese friends over and I thought I will make something that at least looks like Sushi! So, I made these and Pho soup (Vietnamese)
What you need?
Rice wraps (You should find them in some oriental/asian store)
Carrots, shredded - 2
Cabbage, shredded or cut long - 1/2 cup
Tofu - sliced long
Romaine Lettuce
Fresh basil
Fresh Cilantro

What to do?
1. Boil water in a wide mouthed vessel (diameter of vessel to be larger than diameter of the rice sheet)
2. The water should not be super hot or boiling. It should be medium hot. Carefully drop the rice sheet into the water and pick it up with a pair of tongs in 2-3 seconds.
3. Place the rice sheet carefully on a clean work area.
4. Start at one end. Place the lettuce, little bit of shredded carrot, cabbage, sliced tofu, cut basil and cilantro along the length of the lettuce.
5. Roll the lettuce such that it encapsulates the veggies. Now, start rolling the rice sheet too. (By now it would have absorbed all the water)
6. As you roll in the rice sheet, you may bring in the open edges to have a closed roll.
7. You may cut it into equal sized portions or serve the whole roll.
8. Serve with Peanut Hoisin sauce. Here's what I did - Soy sauce, roasted peanuts, sesame oil, honey, lemon juice, pinch of asafoetida, pepper powder and red chili powder - put them all in a blender and gave one pulse till it formed a uniform sauce consistency. Ofcourse you need to grind the peanuts first and then add then add the liquid ingredients. I made the sauce a bit chunky.

Two awesome home remedies for acidity or heart burn

2011-03-22T11:00:00.001-07:00

Remedy1:
2 or 3 tsp Apple cider vinegar
2 tsp Honey
1 cup water

Remedy 2:
Boil water with 2 to 3 tsp cumin seeds, filter and drink a cup every hour or so.

Samosa (pastries filled with potatoes)

2011-02-21T11:35:00.016-08:00

Samosa can be safely counted amongst one of the top snacks in India. Every street corner will have atleast one guy selling samosa. Crunchy, spicy and absolutely delicious! When I made samosa at home, our Iranian friend exclaimed "Saamose!" So, one look on Wikipedia & we can see Samosa is ubiquitous. Narayan was telling me his favorite chat item is samosa chat...so let's try that some other time. For now...

Ingredients for the dough

Flour (or Wheat flour or Spelt flour) - 2.5 cups
Butter - 1/2 stick,
Ajwain - 1 Tsp
Salt
Cold Water

Method
1. Cut the butter into the dough till it looks crumbly. Add salt, ajwain.
2. Slowly add cold water and start mixing all the flour comes together into a ball.
3. Knead it for a minute or so till the dough seems pliable and soft. Cover and set aside.

Stuffing Ingredients

Potatoes - 6 medium to large, cooked, peeled and cut
Peas - 1/4 cup
Carrots - 1/2 cup, small cubes
Cilantro - few sprigs
Green chillies - 6
Mustard seeds - 2 Tsp
Asafoetida - a dash
Turmeric - 1 Tsp
Garam masala - 2 Tsp
Cashews - 1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
1. Add 2 Tbsp of oil/ghee to a heated pan. Add mustard seeds and let 'em pop and then add few dashes of asafoetida. If you are adding frozen carrots and peas, they can come little later. If you are adding fresh peas and carrots add them now since they take some time to cook.
2. Add chopped green chilies and then roast cashews till brown.
3. Add potatoes, turmeric, salt and garam masala and stir well.
4. Let the potatoes cook for ~5mins till it takes in the masala and the salt.
5. Let it cool and mix with chopped cilantro

Method to make samosas
1. Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut into equal portions (~18 portions).
2. Take a portion of the dough and roll it into a circle and cut into half.
3. Take one half (i.e. semicircle) and make it into a cone by bringing together the diametrically opposite ends and pressing together along the edges. If the dough is dry, just wet the edges and seal them.

4. Holding the dough cone in your left hand, fill in the potato filling ~ 2-3Tbsp & seal the edges to make a triangle. Now, you can fry them this way if you are short of time. If you want to get the quintessential look of a samosa, then go on.
5. Make an overlap of the base of the triangle

6. Now, fold it over to form the base of a pyramid (so much for trigonometry!)
7. Fry them in hot oil or bake them for a healthier snack.

7. Serve with coriander chutney or sweet-sour chutney. (Picture above gives both uncooked and fried versions of samosa on the plate)

Variations - To make healthy samosas, try wheat or spelt flour. Also, apart from frying, you could bake them by applying some oil on it. Instead of potatoes, try adding other vegetables. I have tried kale and butternut squash. Since, squash might leave some water, cook it till the vegetables are done and not so moist.

Stuffed karela

2011-02-21T10:30:00.008-08:00

Karela is one vegetable I used to dislike until I tasted this version of karela i.e. stuffed with different spices. Since then I have made different items with karela - Karela sambar, pitlai, shukto, karela fry and I can handle it :)

I heard from one of my Bengali friends that Shukto is served first since the bitter gourd/bitter melon aids digestion. I know my mother used to serve bitter gourd to my father since he was a diabetic. Just searching online for karela gives its many benefits.

So, the stuffed karela (pahakkai in tamil and parikkai, the way my husband says it) is slit open and is deseeded (the way its shown in the picture). Be careful to not cut the bitter gourd fully, it should just open up like a purse. Now, the method and ingredients.

Ingredients
Bitter gourd - 5, medium or small is best
Ghee/Oil/Melted butter - 2 Tbsp
Salt to taste

Spices to grind
Coriander seeds - 3 Tsp
Peppercorn - 8
Dry red chilies - 2 (for medium spice)
Clove - 4
Cinnamon stick - 1
Fennel seeds - 2 Tsp
Sugar - 2Tsp (or any sweetener like stevia)
Amchur (dry mango powder) - 2 Tsp
Grated Coconut - 1/5 cup (fresh or frozen)
Cilantro - 8 sprigs
Cashew nuts/Almonds - 1/5 cup
Seeds of bitter gourd (optional)
Salt

Method
1. Wash and prepare the bitter gourd.
2. Grind the spices. Add little water if needed and make it into a paste.
3. Stuff the karela with the ground spices.
4. Lay the stuffed karelas in a baking tray and drizzle oil or ghee over it. Sprinkle some salt.
5. Bake at 350C for ~1hr . Turn the karela around midway.
6. Remove from oven when karela looks golden brown and it would look little shrunk from cooking. Alternately, you can cook the Karela in a cooking pan.
7. You could also make the karela without stuffing. Mix ghee with salt, pepper, paprika, turmeric and hing and spread this mixture on deseeded karela and bake it.

Quinoa Pulav

2011-02-14T08:47:00.005-08:00

Pulav is traditionally prepared with rice. However, here I have prepared it with Quinoa to match our current diets. To prepare rice pulav, replace Quinoa with rice.

Ingredients
Quinoa - 3 cups
Water - 6 cups
Carrot - 1, cubed
Red bell pepper - 1, chopped
Broccoli florets - 1 head
Potato - 1, peeled and cubed
Green chilies - 1, finely chopped
Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp
Ghee/Oil - 1 Tbsp
Cashew halves - 1/4 cup
salt to taste

For dry grinding
Clove - 6
Cinnamon stick - 1
Coriander seeds - 1Tbsp
Fennel seeds - 2 Tsp
Peppercorn - 6
Dry red chilies - 1
Fresh mint - 3 sprigs

Method
1. Take a 4 qt cooking vessel and pour oil and when the oil heats up add cumin seeds and chopped green chillies. When cumin turns brownish and aromatic, add the cut vegetables.

2. Wash the Quinoa and add it to the cooking vessel and add 6 cups water.

3. Meanwhile, grind the ingredients listed under “dry grinding” and add it to the cooking vessel. Add salt to taste. Let it cook in medium with the lid closed till the Quinoa looks cooked (~20mins)

4. Roast cashew halves in oil or clarified butter (i.e. ghee) and garnish. Can serve with Raita (i.e. yogurt with chopped tomatoes and salt, pepper and sugar). Serves 4 people.

Nachos cheese dip

2011-01-02T13:03:00.003-08:00

After quite some search and experimentation, here we present a tested recipe for Nachos cheese dip.

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Servings: 14 fl oz

Ingredients:

Melted butter - 2 tbsp
Flour - 2 tbsp
Milk - 1 cup
Salt - 1/3 tsp
Cheddar cheese (Cabot brand - uses non-animal renet) - 1 cup/3 oz/ 75 gms
Pickled jalepenos -1/4 cup finely cut

Optional:

Tomato paste - 2 tbsp
Bell pepper (red/yellow) - 1/2 cup finely cut
Asafoetida - a pinch
Paprika powder - 1 tsp
Oregano powder - 1 tsp

Procedure:

On a low-medium flame, melt the butter.
Add the flour and mix them well until you see no granules.
Add milk and stir at medium flame. Keep stirring till the mix thickens. This will take ~10 mins.
Add cheddar cheese and salt as you see the mix thicken. Stir well and you are done when the cheese melts.
Add milk to adjust consistency.

Optional steps:
In a separate pan, heat some oil and add a pinch of asafoetida. Saute 1/2 cup of red bell/yellow peppers. Then add 2 tbsp of tomato paste. Add dry oregano and paprika powder. Let the whole thing cook for a few minutes. Add this to the above nachos dip.

Please do comment and let us know how your experiment turns up!

Eggless Mayonnaise in less than 5 minutes

2010-12-23T10:42:00.002-08:00

Found this super wonderful recipe for vegannaise or eggless mayonnaise on Kurma Dasa's website. Have been using it for my sandwiches and as a dip for almost 3-4 years now.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Setting Time: 10 minutes
Yield: about 2 1/4 cups

Ingredients:
Evaporated milk (unsweetened) - 1 cup
Vegetable/canola/cooking oil - 1 cup (basically, 1:1 ratio of evaporated milk and oil)
Lemon juice/concentrate - 4 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Honey - 1 tsp
Mustard powder - 1.5 tsp

Procedure:

Place the evaporated milk in a blender.
While the blender is on, gradually add the oil until the mixture slightly thickens.
Add the salt, optional honey, lemon juice, and mustard powder.
Continue blending until the mixture thickens further.
Allow the mayonnaise to set for a further 10 minutes in the refrigerator (or if you are really impatient like me, place it in the freezer for 5 mins).

Notes:
If you feel the consistency is too thin, try adding a few additional drops of lemon concentrate and blend as mentioned above.

Variations:
Bring in your creativity by adding various herbs to give different flavors. I find myself adding dried cilantro or basil and a pinch of asefotida.

Thakkali thokku or Tomato chutney

2010-10-03T14:08:00.002-07:00

Thakkali thokku or Tomato chutney is also known as a life saver, especially when your wive is away on vacation :-) This is a traditional chutney that hails from the South of India that can be served with plain rice. It is more on the spicier side but with a tongue tingling blend of saltiness, sweetness and sourness. I also use it as a dip for tortilla chips. It goes well with rice crepes or dosas. So here it goes:

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 2 # medium sized
Colored bell peppers - 2 # medium sized
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Whole black pepper - 8#
Red dry chillies - 2 to 3 #
Asaofoetida - a pinch
Cooking oil - 2 tsp
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp

Preparation:

Heat up cooking oil and as you see vapors rise, add the mustard seeds and as it sputters add urad dal, asafoetida, whole black pepper and red chillies.
In this add cut colored bell pepper and cut tomatoes. Let it cook for sometime (~ 5-10mins) till the water is gone.
Meanwhile add tamarind paste into it and let it cook with the bell peppers and tomatoes. Let it cook for another 5 mins.
Once the mixture cools down, add appropriate salt and grind it to a paste.

Fall 2010 cooking class

2010-09-13T19:00:00.000-07:00

This semester we are having cooking classes in Pasquerilla Spiritual center on Mondays at 6:00pm.

Menu for the day - Chhole and Pulav

Paruppu vada / Multi - lentil fritters

2010-08-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

Menu for the day - Paruppu vada, Rice and sambar

Grind soaked dals with red chillies, asafoetida, salt and Kasuri methi (optional)

Summer 2010 cooking class

2010-07-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

This summer we are having cooking classes at Brad's home on friday evenings at 5:30pm. Today's menu is Aloo paratha, raita, mango lassi.

Whole wheat bread recipe for bread machine

2010-06-23T11:09:00.005-07:00

Here is a time tested recipe for a whole wheat bread that we use with our Sunbeam bread maker (model 5891).

Preparation time: 3 hrs
Yield: 1.5 lb loaf

Ingredients:

Stone ground wheat flour - 3 cups
Wheat gluten - 1 tbsp
Water - 1 1/4 cup
Butter/olive/veg oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Brown sugar - 1 tbsp
Yeast - 1 1/2 tsp or 1 packet
Sunflower seeds - 1/4 cup

Optional:

Aesofotida - a pinch
Dried herbs - Oregano, Basil, Cilantro

Preperation:

Add warm water to the bread machine container
Throw in the oil, salt, sugar, wheat gluten and sunflower seeds. Mix well.
Finally add the flour
Make a small indentation on top of the flour and add the yeast
Set up the bread machine for 1.5 lbs

Note: Some recipes have honey instead of the brown sugar. As per Vedic cooking or Ayurveda, honey is not to be baked as in a common practice in the West. You could certainly add it to a warm drink but never for high heat cooking.

Stuffed Focaccia

2009-08-23T11:41:00.010-07:00

On June 6th, we drove to MD for a Kirtan program by HH Radhanath Swami at Gauravani prabhu's place. It was awesome! The association, the prasadam dinner and the music was refreshing. Anyways, that trip our friend Lili gave us home grown Basil. Wow! It was aromatic and I wanted to do justice to it. Here is what I made:

Preparation time: 45mins to rise, 15mins to assembles

Bake time: 1/2 hr

Serves ~4 to 5

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 3 to 3.5 cups

Salt - 1.5 Tsp

Olive oil - 2 Tbsp

Sugar - 2 Tbsp

Yeast - 1 Tbsp

Warm water - 1.25 cups

for stuffing

Pepper - 1/2

Zucchini - 1/2

Olives - 1/4 cup

Basil, cut

Black pepper and salt, to taste

Cheese - 2 cups

Method

1. In warm water, add sugar and yeast and let it froth. Mix the flour, salt and oil and then slowly knead the dough as you add the frothy yeast water. Let the dough sit for 45mins till it becomes double in size.

2. Cut up zucchini, Pepper into cubes. Mix it with olives, basil, pepper, salt and cheese.

3. Divide the dough into 2 portions and roll them out into 14" circles. On one of the circles, spread the vegetable cheese stuffing till almost the edges.

4. Place the other circle over the vegetable stuffing and seal the edges tightly. Drizzle olive oil on top surface.

5. Bake at 350C for 1/2hr.

Rescuing soured Heavy cream

2009-08-23T11:28:00.006-07:00

This recipe is also by Paramatma creations, meaning the rescue mission is inpired by the Lord. It started off because my friend Smitha and I wanted paneer and we had some heavy cream. Little did we know that no matter how much lemon juice you add to the heated heavy cream, it won't break :) So, now we had whole lot of soured heavy cream and we did not want to throw it away. We made it into a lemon cheesecake :)

The other thing that is possible is add condensed milk or sugar to the soured heavy cream, whip it nicely and place it in the freezer. Every 1 hr remove it and whip it and place it back in the freezer. In about 6-8hrs you should get lemon ice cream!

Ingredients

Soured heavy cream ~1cup

Cream cheese - 14oz, room temperature

Sugar - 1/4 to 1/3 cup

Vanilla essence, optional

Pie tray

Method

1. Mix the heavy cream, sugar and cream cheese with/without the essence

2. Spoon in this mixture into the pie tray

3. Bake for an hour at 325C or till the top looks golden brown and springs back as you touch it.

4. Once it cools down, you can then spread some jam like raspberry on the top.

Pick Pockets! (whole wheat cheese pockets)

2009-08-23T11:11:00.004-07:00

When I made this dish, I felt like saying, Eureka! Ofcourse, Krishna resides in our hear as Paramatma and He is the one who inspires us. So, here's to Him.

Preparation time: 15mins

Baking time: 25mins

Makes 8 (what I call as) cheese pockets

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour 2 cups

Butter (warmed up) 2 Tbsp

Salt, to taste

Water, to knead the dough

Fresh corn - 1

Kale, handful

Tomato - 1

Mozzarella cheese - 1/2 cup

Basil - 1 Tsp

Sage

Thyme

Pepper and Salt

Oil

Method

1. Cut the butter into the flour such that the flour resembles bread crumbs.

2. Add salt and add enough water to knead it into a tight dough. Let it rest till you are done with the stuffing.

3. Remove the kernels from the corn by sliding the knife along the length of the corn. Cut kale and the tomatoes.

4. Put 1/2 Tbsp oil in a pan and very briefly saute the vegetables. Sprinkle the herbs and required salt.

5. Once the stuffing cools down, mix it with cheese.

6. Divide the dough into eight. Roll out one in a circle (~3") and place about 1/4 cup of the stuffing in the center.

7. Now, fold the dough into a semicircle and press the edges and seal it. Brush it with little oil.

8. Bake it at 350C for 25mins (or till you feel its done)

Very berry cheesy!

2009-05-02T17:54:00.003-07:00

Its nothing but baked ricotta cheese with sugar. Prepare the berry sauce by cooking them with little sugar & water. Once done, cool it and top over the baked ricotta. Simple (sinless) pleasure in life!

Optional: You could either add corn starch or arrowroot powder (ekadasi) to thicken the sauce.

Koottu (Vegetables in spicy coconut gravy)

2009-02-25T12:37:00.009-08:00

This is a South Indian (as in South South East Asian) delight that finds its way into the weekly menu of every traditional kitchen. There are two kinds of koottu one can make - with and without tamarind. In both kinds, the vegetable is cooked along with some kind of dal (lentil): Mung, Channa or Toor.

Here, I give a sample recipe for a preparation involving tamarind. I use bittergourd (karela) for this recipe.

Serves: 2 people.
Preperation time: - 30mins.

Ingredients
Bittergourd/Bittermelon/Pavakkai - 2 medium
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Tamarind - 6 pods of 1" length
For Chaunce/Tadka/Talimpu
Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
Urad dal - 1 Tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 Tsp
For Grinding
Roast Urad dal - 2 Tsp
Black pepper - 20
Red Chili - 2
Coriander seeds/Dhania - 2 Tsp
Grated coconut - 4 Tbsp

Method
1. Cut the Bittergourd lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut it into small pieces. Meanwhile wash and cook toor dal. Soak tamarind in warm water.
2. Heat 2 Tbsp ghee (Clarified butter) and add mustard seeds till it sputters and then add asafoetida, urad dal till golden. Then add the cut bittergourd and cook till its brown and crisp.
3. Meanwhile in 1 Tbsp oil roast urad dal and coriander seed till golden, roast black pepper (it sputters too) and red chili. Let it cool and grind this along with grated coconut and asafoetida.
4. Squeeze out the pulp from tamarind and add it to the bittergourd. It should be cooked till the raw smell of tamarind goes away.
5. Add the ground masala and the cooked dal to the bittergourd and required salt (~1 Tbsp).

The above preparation (with tamarind) can be made with Bittermelons/gourds, White pumpkin, Eggplant (Brinjal). Its called Puli koottu. Typically I cook puli koottu with channa dal and the plain kootu with mostly mung dal.

The other kind i.e. koottu can be prepared with cabbage, cauliflower, Snakegourd (podalangai), beans, eggplant(brinjal). For the masala, everything remains except that coriander seeds are not used. Ofcourse, fresh curry leaves can be used if available.

Can be served with rice and sambar. I like to eat it with rotis too.

Puli Pacchadi

2009-02-24T13:05:00.008-08:00

Puli pacchadi is sour, spicy hot and pungent (due to ground mustard) and is a perfect match for the sober molagoottal. I learnt this recipe from my MIL who cooks the typical 'Palakkad' way. I like to team it with Rotis.

Serves 2 people (2 cups).
Cooking time - 15 to 20mins.

Ingredients
Tomato - 1, cut
Okra/Ladiesfinger - 8, cut
Tamarind/Imli/Puli - 8 pods of 1" (or 1.5 Tsp of Tamarind paste)
For Chaunce/Tadka/Talimpu
Mustard seeds/Kadugu - 1 Tsp
Fenugreek seeds/Methi/Vendayam - 1 Tsp
Asafotida - 1/4 Tsp
Red chilli - 1
To grind
Grated coconut - 2 to 3 Tbsp
Green chilli - 1
Mustard seeds - 2 Tsp

Method
1. Heat 1 Tbsp cooking oil and add Mustard seeds till it sputters. Then add fenugreek seeds, red chilli and asafotida.
2. Add the cut Okra and tomatoes and add water. Let it cook.
3. Meanwhile, squeeze out the pulp from Tamarind by soaking it in warm water for 5-10mins. Then add this pulp to the vegetables being cooked. Once the raw smell of tamarind goes away, add salt.
4. Grind mustard seeds, green chilli and coconut and add it to the cooked vegetables.

This pacchadi can be made with Okra, tomatoes, White Pumpkin

Pongal

2009-02-18T10:40:00.006-08:00

Pongal (Vaen pongal and Chakkara pongal) is generally prepared for Lord Vishnu during the month of Margazhi (Dec 15 - Jan 15). Or, even on a normal day if you go to any Vishnu temple (at least in Tamil Nadu), you'd get Pongal as prasadam. My grandmother tells me that it should be made with so much ghee that when you lift the food to eat, the ghee should flow till your elbows :-O ! So pretty much the flavor of pongal is due to the fresh ghee!!

Serves 2 people.
Ingredients
Rice - 1 cup
Mung dal - 1/3 cup
Cashews - about 15, split or whole
Whole black peppers - 12
Jeera/Cumin - 1 Tsp
Hing/Asafoetida - 1/2 Tsp
Curry leaves - A few
Ginger - 1/2 inch, cut into small pieces
Ghee!!
Salt to taste

Method
1. Cook the rice and mung dal in a cooker. The rice/dal should not be overcooked such that it becomes one big lump. At the same time, it should not be separate like how one serves plain rice or pulav. Rather it should be nicely cooked.
2. Heat 2 Tbsp of ghee and add black peppers and jeera to it till its slightly brown and fragrant. Add ginger. Add asafoetida, curry leaves.
3. Add the above to the cooked rice and dal mixture. Also roast cashews in ghee and add them to rice. Now add required salt and more ghee (like 1/3 cup or more!) and mix well.

With all this ghee, tell me why it won't taste heavenly :)

Serve piping hot with coconut chutney or thogayal or vetthal kozhambu.

Thogayal

2009-02-18T10:06:00.010-08:00

This is my first posting this year. One of my resolution is to blog regularly!! Thogayal is like chutney with vegetable and can be had with just plain rice with generous ghee (oh, heavenly!) or on the side with Sambar rice. I even like it with Rotis.

This recipe serves 4 when served along with Sambar and rice.
Cooking time: 15 to 20mins

Ingredients
Tomatoes - 2 (if using Roma tomatoes then 3)
Red peppers - 4 (I used mini peppers. You can use just one big pepper)
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 2 tsp
Red chillies - 2 to 3 (3 makes it quite spicy)
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind - 1/3rd size of a small lemon
Salt to taste
Little sweetener like sugar or jaggery (optional)
Method
1. In a pan add 1 Tbsp of cooking oil and let the mustard seeds sputter and then add urad dal till it becomes golden brown.
2. Add chillies, asafoetida and let it infuse the oil with spices and fragrance. Add tamarind and cut tomatoes and cut peppers. Saute a bit till tomatoes and peppers are soft and cooked.
3. Let it cool and grind it with required salt and sweetener. Since tomatoes and peppers have enough water content, you wouldn't need to add water while grinding.

Thogayal is ready! Can be had with hot rice and a dollop of ghee (Clarified butter).

You can substitute the peppers and tomatoes with Mint (Pudina), Curry leaves (Karuveppalai). Coriander thogayal (use 1 bunch) and coconut thogayal (use 1 cup grated coconut) can be made too but, they need not be sauteed. Add water as required while grinding.

Stuffed Parathas

2009-02-09T09:21:00.006-08:00

Servings: 4

Instruments:
Rollin pin

Ingredients:

Wheat dough:
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp veg oil
1.5 cups water

Stuffing:
3 large potatoes
1/2 tspn turmeric
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 habenero pepper
1/2 tsp asefotida
3 tsp veg oil
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp garam masala powder (optional)
a lil bit cilantro

Procedure:

Boil potatoes
Prepare the dough:

To the 3 cups of whole wheat flour add 1 tsp salt and 2 tsp veg oil. Mix nicely.
Add *hot* water (a bit hotter than warm).
Knead the dough nicely. If the dough is very sticky add excess flour. The goal is to get a consistency of dough which is only very sligthly sticky.
Set aside wrapped in a moist cloth/paper.

Prepare the stuffing:

Heat oil in a pan until you see vapors
Add mustart seeds cumin seeds.
As the mustard begins to sputter, add the garam masala, turmeric, ginger and aesofotida.
Add the boiled potatoes and mash them nicely. You could add grated carrots and/peas to this too (optional).
Add salt, give it a nice mix and let it sit on low-medium flame.

Paratha prep:

Take a 1.5" dough ball . The way to make the patty - squeeze the dough as you roll it into a ball between your pals. You should see a kind of "whirlpool" in the patty. This kind of "pattying" ensures that the dough is homogeneous.
On a smooth surface, toss some dry flour. Place the patty and start rolling it into a 5" circle. *NOTE*: The edges must be thin. Focus on the edges and you'll get everything else right.
Add the stuffing to the center of this 5" circle and start folding the edges. The trick is to hold it with one hand and as you get the edges to the center, pinch them so that they seal. Look up the photos to get a better idea.
When you have sealed the stuffing, pat the dough and start rolling gently. Again, the thing to watch out is the edges - they must be thin(ner).

Heat a flat pan. Place the rolled paratha on the hot pan (the pan must be hot when you place it). Place the stove on medium-high heat.
After a minute or two, toss the paratha. You should see slight brown spots. Apply some butter or clarified butter (ghee) to this side).
After another minute or two turn the paratha back to the greased side. Apply butter to the non-greased face. Toss over again.
When both sides have golden brown spots, it is a good time to remove.
Serve with yoghurt.
Write me a comment and lemme know how it turns up!

Bombay Faluda (Iranian creamy delight)

2008-10-07T16:58:00.004-07:00

Faluda is my husbands' favorite drink/dessert, however you want to put it. I later found out from my Iranian friend that they too have 'Falude' albeit with some difference.

Ingredients

3 Tbsp semiya (vermicilli)
2 Tbsp sabja (basil seeds)
2 Tbsp Rose syrup (or Roohafza)
2 cups Milk + 2 Tbsp sugar
Ice cream (recipe below)
Pista, Badam nuts

Method

1. Soak sabja in 1/2 cup water along with rose syrup. Sabja when soaked becomes translucent.
2. Cook semiya in hot water for 4-5 mins. Drain the water and cook it in little milk for 2-3mins.
3. In a tall glass, put 2 Tbsp of semiya-rose essence. Put in 1.5 Tbsp of semiya.
4. Slowly pour in rose milk.
5. Top it with ice cream and sprinkle powdered nuts

I made the eggless ice cream at home.

1 cup (1/2 pint ~ 284ml) whipping cream

1 cup milk

1 Tbsp Corn flour

8 Tbsp Sugar

Food color

1 Tsp Food flavoring agent like Vanilla essence

1. Mix the corn flour in a little cold milk and slowly introduce that into boiling milk

2. Once the milk thickens, add sugar.

3. Allow the milk to cook and mix it with whipping cream and food color and vanilla essence

4. Beat the mix and freeze it.

5. After about 1.5-2hrs, when the ice cream is half done, beat it again. Freeze it.

Can add saffron strands (while the milk is boiling) and pista for kesar pista ice cream

Bless your heart tea-teetotalers

2008-09-23T07:20:00.002-07:00

Ok guys, here we go: The Claim - Grape Juice Has the Same Benefits as Red Wine

"Independent studies have found that like alcohol, grape juice can reduce the risk of blood clots and prevent LDL (“bad” cholesterol) from sticking to coronary arteries, among other cardiac benefits. One, conducted by scientists at the University of Wisconsin and published in the journal Circulation, looked at the effects of two servings of Concord grape juice a day in 15 people with coronary artery disease. After two weeks, the subjects had improved blood flow and reduced oxidation of LDL. Oxidized LDL can damage arteries."

- NY Times health article, 23 Sept 2008

Flat Rice - Saffron sweet mix (Kesari Poha)

2008-02-29T07:08:00.004-08:00

This is from Priya, Boston.

I was searching for a proper Aval Kesari that I hit upon this one. Since I did not have jaggery, I combined this recipe with another one using normal sugar. It came out good too. I felt this is an easy recipe to make in large quantities. Below is the one I made.

Priya.

Serves - 20

Ingredients:

5 cup Flat rice
1 cup clarified butter/ghee
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup raisins
1 tsp saffron threads
1 tsp cardomom powder
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cup water

Preperation:

Roast cashews and raisins in ghee and set aside
Roast Flat rice for 10 min in the remaining ghee (Roasting gives a good taste to the sweet than just boiling it)
Add boiling water
Add sugar, saffron, cardomom
Stir till it becomes a non-sticky paste
Add cashews and raisins

Cut pineapples in just under 2 minutes!

2008-01-22T15:06:00.002-08:00

Thought I'd show-ff my new toy - pineapple slicer or peeler or extractor :-) I'll let the images speak the 1000 words.

Tossed Peppers and Rigatoni

2008-01-19T13:38:00.000-08:00

Tried my hand at some "authentic" Italian. It came about after a complaint from my wife that every time we make Italian it is "tomatoey". Inspired by Paramatma (supersoul), here is a recipe that came out really really well.

Servings: 4

Time: 25 - 30 mins

Ingredients:

Rigatoni* (I used Delallo's "made with bronze plates" brand, available in Walmart)
Red, yellow and orange bell peppers (capsicum) - 1 each
Green bell peppers - 2
Squash - 1 large
Broccoli crowns - 2 cups
Tomatoes - 3 medium sized (I used good ol' Roma tomatoes)
Olive oil - 1/2 cup (I used Filippo Berio's Extra Virgin)
Thyme powder - 1 tsp
Sage powder - 1 tsp
Rosemary crushed - 2 tsp
Basil dried - 2 tsp
Parmesan* cheese for garnishing
Salt - 2 tsp
Pepper - 2 tsp

Preparation:

Boil the Rigatonis for about 20 minutes in water + 1 tsp olive oil + 1 tsp salt. Make sure its not over cooked (when you pinch a piece, it should be firm and you should not see the raw white color too).
In a pan, heat 1/4 cup olive oil. Add the bell peppers and toss it for about 5 mins.
Add broccoli and squash and stir for another 5 mins
Add tomatoes and immediately add rosemary, thyme and sage. Let the veggies cook for about 8-10 mins.
Towards the end of the 8-10 mins, add salt, pepper and basil.
In the meanwhile, your Rigatoni should be cooked. Strain them and add it to the veggies.
Add the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil. Mix nicely and let it sit for about 5 mins on medium flame.
To serve, grate parmesan cheese on top and a dash of heartfelt smile.

*Remember to buy cheese that does not contain enzymes from animals. Frigo is a brand that is known to use non-animal based enzymes for its parmesan cheese. Another brand is Bel Gioioso. (Although, they just mention it as "enzymes")

*Some of the macaronis are prepared in a facility that process eggs. So, I stay away from such brands since I'd first offer it to God before consuming. Krishna, in the Bhagavad Gita, mentions what are the food items he likes to accept - milk, fruits, grains and vegetables .... So we respect His taste and offer Him what he likes :-)

Yoghurt Cheese cake

2008-01-12T16:20:00.001-08:00

I am very fond of cheesecake and for a person like me this recipe is a great relief!!! This is the closest, I guess, you can get to a guilt free cheesecake!!

Courtesy: Acarya Das from Port Royal, PA

Time to gather ingredients and mix: 5mins
Time to bake: 1 hr
Time to chill: 4hrs

Serves 8 people

Ingredients:

3 cups Organic Yoghurt ( I have seen that yoghurt made from farm fresh full fat milk gives the best cheesecake!, But again if you want to have fat free cheese cake then try using fat free yoghurt, although I did not try that. But I don't see why the results might be disappointing)
1/2 cup Sugar
Vanilla essence
3 Tbsp Corn flour

Procedure:
1. Mix yoghurt, corn flour, sugar and vanilla essence and spoon it into a pie shell.
2. Bake at 350F for about an hour.
3. Remove when the top springs OR when the top is slightly browned.
4. Cool it outside.
5. You can spread some sort of jam (like raspberry, blueberry or strawberry) if you like and chill it in the refrigerator for about 4 hours.

Sweet Poha (Flat rice)

2008-01-12T16:13:00.001-08:00

Poha is something that Krishna likes (and so do their Lordships Caitanya and Nityananda who are Krishna and Balaram themselves). So, I wanted to make this when their Lordships Nitai Gaurasundar came to State College.

Courtesy: My Mother-in-law

If there are many other items then, it serves about 10 people.
Cooking time: 20mins

Ingredients:
3 cups Poha (Aval in tamil)
1 cup Jaggery (vellam in tamil**)
4 cardamom pods (powder the black seeds inside)
2Tbsp Ghee (Clarified butter)
1Tbsp water
~1/3-1/2cup fresh grated coconut

Procedure:
1. In a colander fill in Poha. Run water through it. And let it sit for about 5mins till its soft
2. In pan add the grated jaggery and add little water. Let it become watery.
3. Now loosen the poha and add it to the pan with jaggery. Add Ghee, powdered cardamom.
4. Give it a stir
5. Garnish with fresh grated coconut

PS - My friend tells me that she adds few Saffron strands (Kesar) and cut banana pieces.

**Jaggery is an unrefined sugar made by concentrating the sugarcane juice. You should be able to find this in the Indian and South East Asian stores

Instant Dhokla (Steamed spicy chickpea flour cake)

2008-01-12T16:01:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!
I guess it's been long since I posted/tried anything. Exam time you see. Anyways, here is one quick snack taught to me by my good friend Trupti.

Time to get things together, steam, garnishing: ~25mins
You get 14 pieces of Dhokla

Ingredients:

1cup Besan (Chickpea flour)
1/2cup Yoghurt
1/2cup water
1 green chilli
1/4tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste
1 tsp Eno Fruit salt (Not sure where else you get it other than Indian grocery store)

For Tempering (aka Chaunk/tadka/thalimpu) and Garnishing

1 Tsp Mustard seeds
1 Tsp White Sesame seeds
1 Tsp Lemon concentrate
2 Tbsp water
1 Tsp Sugar
1/4 Tsp Asafoetida (You should get this in the Indian grocery store)
1/2 bunch Coriander (Cilantro) finely chopped
1/3 cup Fresh grated coconut (I used frozen)

Procedure:
1. Mix Chickpea flour,salt,chopped chillies,Yoghurt,water to make a fine paste (much like cake mix)

2. Oil a vessel that fits into a pressure cooker and pour in the above mix and just before you the place this vessel into a pressure cooker add Eno fruit salt and quickly give it a stir. In a pressure cooker place an empty vessel and over this vessel place the above vessel with the mix. Steam it for about 12 mins.

3. Remove the steamed chickpea mix and cut it into either squares or diamonds.

4. In a pan with either ghee/oil add mustard seeds - let it splutter. Add sesame seeds - let it splutter and become aromatic and add asafoetida.

5. Meanwhile in a separate bowl take water, add lemon concentrate,sugar and as soon as
step 4 is done add it to this bowl with water mix.

6. Now, remove the steamed chickpea from the vessel and place it in a tray. Spoon the above water mix. Garnish with coriander and coconut.

Sabudana (Tapioca pearls) Kichdi

2007-12-06T14:57:00.001-08:00

Sabudana is one thing that we have for Ekadasi (11th day of waxing and waning moon). My husband and I have been experimenting with this recipe for a long time now! And our results were not consistent till I got this recipe from Rahul's (a friend) mom. It an incredibly simple recipe but so tasty that Narayan suggested I put it on the blog!

Makes Kichdi for about 4 people (If this is the only thing on the menu)

Ingredients
4 cups Tapioca Pearls (sabudana in Hindi or Javvarisi in Tamil)
3Tsp Jeera (Cumin seeds)
3 green chillies (cut into 1cm pieces)
1/4 to 1/3 cup peanuts (roasted and ground coarsely)
salt to taste
4 Tbsp Ghee (clarified butter)

Soak the Tapioca Pearls overnight (or for about 7 hrs) in water such that the water level is about 1cm above the surface of Tapioca Pearls. Next day morning with a spatula loosen the Tapioca Pearls.

In a pan, heat ghee. When hot enough add cumin seeds, stir till its aromatic and slightly brown. Add the chillies and then Tapioca Pearls. Add salt to taste and a tsp of sugar. Add the roasted and coarsely ground peanuts. Keep stirring. Reduce the heat (to medium heat), cover the pan. Once in every 4mins stir the Tapioca Pearls. It should be done in about 20-25mins. Main consideration is to cook it in the right heat. If the pan is too hot, it will quickly become lumpy. Another key is to keep stirring to avoid getting a sticky lump of Tapioca Pearls.

Serve with Yoghurt chutney (Yoghurt+sugar+salt+cumin powder+ground peanuts+chillies)

Eggless Rusk (Crusty bread)

2007-12-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

My friend Trupti sent me this recipe. She is a great cook and an amazing person!! Try one of her amazing recipe.

Ingredients
1/4cup Sugar
2 Tsp Dry Yeast
1cup+2tbsp lukewarm milk
1/4cup butter
1/4Tsp cinnamon
1/4Tsp nutmeg
1/2Tsp salt
2Tbsp Tapioca flour (Egg replacer)
4 to 4.5cups Unbleached flour

Procedure:
Stir together 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, the yeast and 2 tablespoons lukewarm milk in a small bowl; let the mixture foam and bubble.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining milk and sugar and the butter, just until the butter melts.Let the mixture cool to 100° to 105°F, or until barely warm. Then, combine the milk mixture and the yeast mixture in a large bowl. Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and Tapioca flour.

Mix in the unbleached flour, 1/2 cup at a time. When the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead in the remaining flour to form a smooth, elastic dough, just slightly on the slack side; this should take 5 to 10 minutes. Note: This dough is also easily prepared using your bread machine's dough cycle, or with the aid of an electric mixer (knead with the dough hook for about 5 minutes).

Lightly grease a large bowl, place the dough inside, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise until it's doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.

Punch the dough down, knead it briefly on a lightly floured work surface to remove large air bubbles, and divide it in half. Roll the pieces with your hands to form two 12-inch long cylindrical loaves. (If the dough resists rolling, let it rest, covered, for several minutes; when you return, you should find the gluten relaxed and the task much easier.)

Place the loaves on a well-greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 3-4 inches between them.Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let them rise until they've almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven until it's golden brown (about 20-25mins). Cool for 4-5hrs (or overnight)

With a serrated knife, cut the loaves into slices about 1/2-inch thick. Bake these slices at 250°F for about 25-30mins or till all the moisture is gone. Here you would need 2 baking trays .

After it takes slight brown color on top , place the tray on broil for 15 sec (very imp step...high chances of burning...so be near the oven)

To make a healthier rusk use whole wheat flour instead of white flour.

Aviyal

2007-11-25T10:31:00.004-08:00

Aviyal is a mixed vegetable dish that HAS to be served in all important South Indian events like weddings. This is an extremely simple and yet an elegant, tasty and healthy dish.

Traditionally its made with Yam (Senakizhangu), Colocasia (Seppankizhangu), Drumsticks (Murungakkai), Pumpkin, Raw plantain, carrots,beans etc. Since, we do not get most of the traditional veggies, I made aviyal with potatoes, carrots, beans, peas and butternut squash!

Serves about 8 to 10 people. Depending on if its one of the side dishes or if its the only side dish.

Cooking time: 30 mins (max)

Ingredients:
Potatoes (2 big) - peel and cut it to finger length
Carrots - 4 - peel and cut it to finger length
Butternut squash - peel and cut it to finger length
Beans - cut it to finger length
Peas - 1/2 cup (I used frozen peas)
Salt to taste
Jeera - 8 tsp
Green Chillies - 2
Coconut - 1 cup
Yoghurt - 1/2 - 3/4 cup
Fresh curry leaves and Coconut oil

Procedure:
1. Cook the vegetables with least amount of water possible. Add veggies which take the longest to cook first (like carrots and beans), then add potatoes and butternut squash and finally frozen peas. Make sure the vegetables are not over cooked.

2. Grind Jeera, chillies and coconut together.

3. Add the above mixture to the cooked vegetables and stir in the yoghurt. Add salt to taste.

4. Garnish with fresh curry leaves and 1tsp of coconut oil.

Can be served either with coconut rice or adai.

Eggless Paav (Bun) aka dinner rolls

2007-11-23T07:26:00.001-08:00

We love Pav Bhaji, but the only hurdle was buying Pav (Bun) from the store. Many a times baked goods from the store have mono and di-glycerides (mostly derived from animal sources). Also, in an effort to stop buying too much processed food from the stores, we were searching for a good recipe for Pav/Bun. This is also Rangavati's creation, typed out by Trupti. This is a great recipe to go with Bhaji (made Pav Bhaji way)

This recipe should ideally make 16-17 small buns

Ingredients:

4 and ½ cup All purpose flour or bread four

2 Tbsp Tapioca flour

½ tspn Salt

¼ Cup Olive oil or any vegetable oil

1 and ½ cup Warm water

2 and ½ tspn yeast

1 tbspn Sugar

Procedure:

In warm water dissolve Sugar and add yeast and allow it to froth.
Add all other ingredients.
Add warm water mixture to flour and knead it well. Cover it with wet cloth and keep it in warm place for an hour to rise.
After an hour, it will be double in size .Punch it, remove it and knead it well for 2-3 minutes.
Make small buns and place it on baking tray. Ensure you keep distance between the buns as they would rise again. You would require 2 baking trays .Cover it with wet cloth and keep it in warm place for around 25 minutes.
Pre heat the oven to 350 degree F and place the trays in the oven. It should take 15- 20 minutes to bake . Even if they look whitish - brown don’t worry .Switch off the oven and start Broil. Keep your tray only for 15-20 seconds under broil. This is a very important step and you need to be their near the oven to monitor it.The top part of buns will take nice brown color.
Immediately remove it and brush butter on top to keep it soft. Cool outside the oven. Enjoy your home made Buns!!!!

Wheat Pancakes

2007-11-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

This summer, when we went to Maryland, Rangavati had made these awesome pancakes for breakfast. She served the pancakes with maple syrup and carob syrup (Carob+butter+sugar)...yumm!

I thank Trupti for typing out this recipe.

This recipe should ideally make 8 pancakes

Ingredients:

2 Cups : King Arthur wheat flour

2Tbsp : Tapioca flour –this is used as egg substitute .

2 tbsp Sugar or sugar as per taste.

To make the batter, use ¾ butter milk and ¼ milk..Batter should not be too thick nor too watery (idli batter consistency should be ideal). Don’t add water at all.

1 Tspn Baking power

1 and ½ Tsp Baking soda. (You can add little more of it if its not puffing up well)

Procedure:

Make the batter and make pan cakes on not stick tawa .
Tawa should not be too hot nor too cold..Ideally keep it on medium flame or less.
The top side of pan cake should not get dry, turn the pan cake when its wet.

(Approx after 1 or 1.5 min) ..i.e. when the 1^st side has turned brown.

After you turn the pan cake , the other side will nicely puff up. Allow this side to turn brown. Keep it for 2 minutes.
To check if its done, put a small knife in center to see if its coming out clean. If not, allow it to cook for some more time.
Once done, remove and spread little butter on it. Add maple syrup and cut fruits and enjoy the yummy pan cakes!!! Can also spread carob syrup (Melt butter+sugar+carob powder)

Apple Strawberry Crisp

2007-11-04T08:12:00.001-08:00

Courtesy: Once, while returning from Chicago my spiritual mentor AnandaVrndavan mataji, packed us this dish. It was awesome and so here I am sharing her recipe with you all.

Ingredients:
· About 6 to 10 sweet apples, peeled and cored.
· Strawberries (about the same number. They add a delicious flavour and color)
· 2 tbsp lemon juice
· 1/2 cup brown sugar
· 1/2 tsp cinnamon
· 1/2 tsp nutmeg
· 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
· 1/3 cup granulated sugar
· 1/3 cup rolled oats
· 4 tbsp cold butter (1/2 stick)
· 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Serves 6 people

Preparation time: 15mins
Baking time: 45mins
Procedure:

Peel, core and chop apples, toss in a bowl with lemon juice to prevent darkening.
In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg; stir into apples. Set aside. (I pre-cook the apples a little before baking just so they are soft. the sugar can also be adjusted depending on the sweetness you prefer). Too much nutmeg makes you drowsy!
In another bowl combine flour, sugar and oats.
Cut butter into 8 pieces, and cut butter into flour until mixture looks like crumbs.
Stir in nuts.
Spread apples in bottom of six 4" baking dish then sprinkle with flour mixture.
Bake at 375° for 30 to 45 minutes, or until apples are tender and topping is lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.

You can serve this dessert topped with whipped cream/ice cream. Goes really well with it.

Mutter Paneer

2007-10-25T17:54:00.002-07:00

Today is the day for uploading recipes for large gatherings! So here I go again.

Serves: 15 people

Ingredients:
4Lb Peas (I used frozen)
3 cans of 14.5oz (411g) Tomatoes
3Tbsp Cumin
3Tbsp Chili powder
1-2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 inch ginger
1 tsp asefotida
2 to 4 medium sized Bay leaves
2 tsp Garam Masala (available in International section - Wegmans, State College PA)
2 tsp Coriander-Cumin powder
2-3tbsp clarified butter
Paneer made from 1/2Ga Whole Milk
Cilantro (coriander) for garnishing

Procedure

Take a 6qt. cooking pot and add clarified butter (ghee). When the clarified butter is hot (when you see vapors rise) add asefotida and cumin seeds. The cumin seeds should turn a slight brown. Turn down the flame and add turmeric powder, bay leaf, ginger and briefly saute till all the flavors come out. Add chili powder. Stir well.
Add the tomato paste and let it cook till the raw tomato smell goes away (about 10 mins).
Thaw the peas and add it to the tomato paste and let it cook for 5 mins.
In a pan take about 2tbsp ghee and when medium-hot, add the paneer pieces and shallow fry till the sides are golden brown. Set aside the paneer pieces.
Now, when peas is cooked add garam masala, coriander-cumin powder and paneer and let it cook for about 10mins.
Garnish with finely cut cilantro.
Top it with some love :-)

Vermicelli Porridge (Semiya payasam/Kheer)

2007-10-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here's a standardized ingredient list for making quick Vermicelli porridge (Semiya payasam) for 25-30 people. The method is a more spontaneous one, something that worked for me.

Ingredients:

1Ga Organic Whole Milk
2 Cans Condensed Milk
1.5-1.75 cups Semiya (Vermicelli - ypu'll find it in the pasta section of your supermarket)
Few strands of Saffron (Kesar/Kunguma poo/ or substitute with cardamom)
Nuts/Raisins
2tbsp clarified butter (ghee)

Procedure:

Roast Semiya in a tsp of ghee until it turns slight brown and set it aside.
Side by side boil the milk in a vessel bigger than or equal to 6qt.
When the milk is hot enough add the roasted semiya and boil it till the semiya looks as if its cooked (will turn translucent).
Add the condensed milk and kesar (or cardamom can't find saffron) and don't forget to keep stirring the pot to avoid milk/semiya sticking to the bottom. Semiya payasam, you will see, condenses very fast (about 45mins-1hr) compared to other payasams (porridges) like 'pal payasam' (milk porridge).
Once, the payasam looks creamy enough add the roasted (in ghee) nuts and raisins.

PS - Some people take the kesar and squeeze it in little hot milk, in between their fingers and then add it to the kheer.

Carrot Halwa (Gajar ka Halwa)

2007-10-25T17:35:00.000-07:00

I am more of a spontaneous cook when I cook for the two of us. But, when it comes to cooking for 15-20 people I prefer a standardized ingredients, although cooking might still be spontaneous. So here is a recipe for carrot Halwa which I made for about 20 people.

Serves: 15 to 20 people

Ingredients:

5 Lbs Carrot (grated)
750 gms (3 cups) Sugar
1.25L Organic Whole Milk
1Lb Butter (for clarified butter/ghee)
Cardamom (elaichi)
Nuts/Raisins

Procedure:

Make ghee from butter and pour the ghee in a 11/12 qt. pan
Cook the grated carrot in medium flame for about 20-25mins till the raw smell of carrot goes away.
Pour the milk and let the carrots cook in the milk for about 10 mins.
Add sugar and let the carrots cook for about 45mins-1hr i.e. till the carrot takes in all the milk and it leaves the sides of the pan. Halwa thickens once it cools down.
Keep stirring to make sure that the carrot does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
Add powdered cardamom
Roast nuts and raisins in the clarified butter (ghee) and garnish.

Variations: Some people add ricotta cheese to get the consistency of halwa made with khoa. Some people make halwa with just condensed milk, carrot and ricotta cheese, this reduces the cooking time drastically.

Palak Paneer (Saag Paneer)

2007-10-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

So our vegetarian cooking class finally kicked in. A bunch of us got together on a Friday evening and ventured into making of Saag Paneer and Cauliflower pakora. This particular dish is most common at the Indian restaurants in the US and seems to be a favorite amongst the common junta. We thought it would be nice start from Saag Paneer or Palak (Spinach) Paneer.

Servings: 4

Time: 30 mins - 2 hrs

Ingredients:

4 bunches - Fresh spinach
1 cup* - Tomato paste (plain unsalted)
1 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1.5 tsp Garam masala
2 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp salt
1 medium-large sized green serano pepper (green chilli)
1/2 gallon (1 lit) organic whole milk
Clarified butter or oil

Procedure:

0. Pre-make paneer. Click HERE for the recipe)

1. Boil spinach in a pot. It should take about 10 minutes. Set aside for cooling.

2. Shallow fry the paneer in oil/clarified butter (ghee) untill golden brown. Use a medium flame.

3. In a pan, pour 2 tsp of clarified butter(gheee) or oil. Add cumin seeds/powder. Add coriender powder. Toss in the ginger. Optionally, you may add a pinch of asefotida. Add the tomato paste.

4. While the tomato paste is cooking, strain the spinach and grind it into a paste along with the green serano pepper. You may want to collect the spinach stalk for soup or something.

5. When the tomato sauce boils, add the spinach paste. Add the garam masala and let it cook for about 5 mins.

6. Toss in the shallow fried paneer pieces. Add salt and let the gravy cook for another 3 mins.

7. Serve with wheat bread (chapati) or plain rice.

8. Don't forget to offer the preperation to your sweet Lord!!!

Home made wholesome granola

2007-10-15T07:32:00.004-07:00

For a long time, we've been wanting to put an end to having packaged foods ( a lot of which have animal derived mono and di-glycerides). The most difficult to move away from was - cereals. It was so convenient on the busy mornings - just pop in the cereals, add milk and you are good to go! But, as we learnt how the consciousness behind cooking is as important as the ingredients of the cooking, we made a deliberate attempt to move over to home cooked stuff. We cook with a consciousness of making it to please our sweet Lord. And consequently, when the consciousness behind cooking is transcendental, the people who consume it find an elevation in their consciousness too! Transcendental eating!

We usually make idlis, dosas, upamas (rava), poha, etc. But again, sometimes, it just gets a little too tight in the mornings. Am sure you guys can understand. Finally, we struck upon this awesome recipe for home made oats cereals, thanks to Ananda Vrindavan Devidasi, our spiritual mentor.

Serves: 7 to 8

Time: start to finish - 30 mins

Ingredients:

6 cups oats
1/2 cup wheatgerm
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup sugar (can add more according to your taste)
walnuts, pecans, almonds & raisins (use this as per your preference - I like to go a lil overboard with these :-)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup oil (canola/sunflower/vegetable)

Procedure:
Mix them all (except the nuts, raisins and craisins) together and bake them in oven at 325 F for 20 - 25 mins (keep stirring in between). I like to leave the mix in the oven after I have turned it off. The slow heating with make them crunchy. After the baking and when the granola cools down, add the raisins and craisins (sometimes, I've had these almost burn up if I add them at the start).

Note:
1. For larger quantities like say, 15 cups of oats, it typically takes ~90 mins. So keep stirring every 20 mins or so. Then, add the nuts towards ~60 mins and let them bake for another ~30 mins.
2. You can be as creative as you can get. You could substitute a cup of sugar with a cup of maple syrup. Instead of raisins, you could add chopped dates or dried figs. If you think of anything funkier, lemme know. Will add em to this list.

Whole wheat muffins

2007-10-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Tried my hand at whole wheat muffins. Inspiration from my dear wife.

Servings - 12 muffins

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp egg replacement powder (add it to one tbsp of milk, whip it)
1+3/8 cup organic whole milk
4 to 5 tblsp brown sugar (white sugar is fine)
2 tablespoons melted butter or ghee
Nuts - hazelnuts or walnuts or pine nuts
1/2 cup Raisins

Stir together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, stir together the liquid ingredients. Combine both sets of ingredients, mixing vigorously. Bake in greased or papered muffin tins for 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees.

To give it a maple favor, substitute 1 tbsp of sugar with 1 tbsp of maple syrup and use just 1 cup of milk. The sugar/maple can be adjusted to personal preference.

Cardamon short bread cookies (Elaiche Gaja)

2007-09-25T05:32:00.001-07:00

Boston meets State College. Trained by Priya Aravind, an expert cook who conducts vegetarian cooking classes at MIT, Massachusetts, Charanya introduced this simply delicious cookie biscuit to the residents of State College. I've had it twice and every single time, I've seen myself craving for more! Here is Charanya's suggestion on making the perfect cardamom short bread cookie.

Yield : 20 slices of cookies

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tspn crushed cardamon seeds or 2 teaspoons fresh ginger paste
1⁄2 cup superfine sugar or jaggery
2 1⁄2 cup unbleached white flour
1⁄2 cup fine semolina
1⁄4 tspn salt
1⁄4 tspn baking powder

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 250°F.

2. Cream the butter and cardamom or ginger in a mixing bowl, then gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. (If you are using a dried fruit puree, work it into the sugar-butter mixture.)

3. Combine the flour, semolina, salt, and baking powder on a sheet of waxed paper and mix well. (If you are using nuts, add them to the dry ingredients.)

4. Add the dry mixture to the butter and work with your hands until thoroughly blended into a dough. Alternatively, place all of the ingredients in an electric mixer and, with a dough hook, mix on low speed until thoroughly blended.

5. Press into an 8 x 10-inch rectangle on an ungreased baking tray. Score the surface to make 24 cookies, and prick the surface with fork tines at 1-inch intervals. Bake for about I hour or until pale gold but not brown.

6. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Carefully cut again over the scored markings. (If you want to sprinkle the surface with sugar, do so as soon as the pan comes out of the oven.)

Enjoy and lemme know how it turns out!

Pav Bhaji - Mumbai shtyle

2007-09-09T06:14:00.001-07:00

When you've had Pav Bhaji, you know you are in Mumbai!!! A favorite and regular for many Mumbaites, this delicacy has a good amount of vegetables to qualify it as nutritious. I remember when I was a kid, my mom would make Pav Bhaji very often so that some vegetable get into my system! Also, she used Pav Bhaji as one of the tools to clean the refrigerator of leftover veggies!!! Talk of efficiency. There is no hard and fast rule as to what veggies you could use (and I am always in for experimentation). The recipe of the Bhaji presented here is a consequence of the veggies in my refrigerator. But, to be faithful to the Mumbai spirit, potatoes, peas and tomatoes are mandatory. Pav Bhaji is served with butter toasted bread ('Pav').

Servings:
10 people

Ingredients:
6 large potatoes
3 medium size carrots (cut to circles approx 1/2 cm thick)
1 medium size cauliflower (cut to small florets)
2 cups of finely chopped cabbage
2 large green bell peppers/capsicum (cut to 1 cm cubes)
2 cups peas
1 cup diced tomatoes (cut to 1 cm cubes)
1 cup tomato paste
1.5 to 2 tblsp MDH Pav Bhaji Masala
1 tsp aesefotida
150 gms (or 4 oz or 1/4 lb) butter - use this as per preference. I usually use 200 gms.
1 tblsp ghee (clarified butter)
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 to 3 tsp salt

Procedure:
1. Pressure cook potatoes - typically 3 whistles. Remove from cooker, peel skin and set aside.

2. Boil carrots and cauliflower in water (enough to immerse them). If you are NOT using frozen peas, you'll need to toss these into the boiling pan. Else, just defreeze them and set aside until step 7.

3. Place a 8 quart pan on the stove. When the pan is warm, add ghee (1 tblspn). When you see slight vapors, add cumin seeds. Lower the flame after it sputters.

You can do steps 1, 2 and 3 parallely at the same time.

4. Toss the green bell peppers into ghee. Let it be in there for about 4 -5 mins at high flame, mixing it occasionally.

5. Add the finely chopped cabbage to the green bell peppers. Let it be in there for about 4- 5 mins at medium flame.

6. Add MDH Pav Bhaji masala. Mix well and let it be for 5-7 mins.

7. Add peas and tomatoes - diced as well as the paste. Mix well and let it be at high flame for about 8 - 10 mins.

8. While the tomatoes are cooking, mash the potatoes, carrots and cauliflower together. It is okay to have a few chunks. I usually use the back of a spatula to mash them up, one batch at a time.

9. Add salt to the cooking tomatoes and mix well.

10. Toss in the mashed potatoes+carrots+cauliflower(+peas - see step 2). Add it little by little, mixing well after adding each batch.

11. Add butter - I usually cut the butter into thin slices so that they melt quicker.

12. Mix vigorously and let it cook for 10 mins.

13. Add finely chopped cilantro/coriander.

14. Serve with a slice of lime or sprinkle lemon juice slightly.

15. Make this taste-bud-kicking delicacy and leave a note on this blogspot.

Rasgulla

2007-08-23T05:52:00.001-07:00

King of all sweets, pioneered in Orissa and later adapted and perfected in West Bengal, this famous dessert has won the hearts of millions. There are many variations of the basic rasgulla, limited only by one's imagination.

Here is a basic and quick rasgulla recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 Gallon (~ 2 lit) whole milk - organic milk gives better taste
3 cups water (per batch - 20 rasgullas)
2 cups sugar (per batch - 20 rasgullas)
rose water

Servings:
About 40-50 rasgullas.

Procedure
1. Prepare Paneer:
Boil milk in a pan and when you see it rise, add lime juice. Shut off the stove and stir vigorously. The milk will break. Add more lime if you do not see enough breaking. Leave it for about 5 mins. Prepare a colander with a cheese cloth (a cotton handkerchief will do) and strain the curdled milk through it. After most whey has fallen through, pick opposite corners of the cheese cloth and
strain it by tying it over the sink tap. Leave it hanging for about 20-30 mins. Then, turn the cloth so that excess water is pushed out. Try to remove as much whey as possible. Now, place the paneer under a heavy weight and let it sit for about 45-60 mins.

2. Remove excess moisture from panner in above step by pressing it between paper towels. It is very important to remove as much moisture as possible.

3. Use a grinder to turn the paneer into fine paste. There should be no granules. Also, it should not be liquidy. It may stick a bit, but thats fine. Make small (2 cm) balls and keep it aside.

4. Boil water and sugar (3:2 ratio) in a pressure cooker. When water boil, add 1 tsp rose water, lower the flame.

5. Add the paneer balls into the pressure cooker. Cover ot with its lid and place the whistle. The stove is kept at highest flame. You need to wait for one whistle. Shut the stove off and wait for the cooker to depressurize.

6. Transfer the inflated balls along with the syrup to make way for a new batch.

Try this recipe and lemme know how it turns out. Please do leave a comment.

Added a poll

2007-07-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

Guys, added a poll to guage what's the reader's eating background.

Serving Love

2007-07-18T19:25:00.000-07:00

Shredded Potato Quesadilla with Cheese and Spinach

2007-04-29T17:46:00.000-07:00

Source: Ranga's Kitchen

This is a slight modification from the original version.

Ingredients

6 tsp veg oil
1 large potatoe
1 Tbsp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tomato, chopped
1 bunch spinach leaves
1 bunch cilantro
1 tsp lemon concentrate
1/4 tsp asefotida*
salt
pepper

*for Ekadasi prasadam, leave out asefotida. It contains rice flour and cannot be consumed for ekadasi fasting.

Instructions

In a pan, heat 1 tsp of oil. When the oil is hot, add aesofoetida, salt, pepper and finely chopped spinach. Saute for about 3 mins and keep it aside.
Shred the potatoes coarsely.
Heat oil in a 9 inch pan. Spread the shredded potatoes in the pan to make them flat like a pancake. Potatoes must cover the bottom but not too thick. Let them cook for a few minutes (say, 4-5 mins) until a little browned then carefully turn over.
On one half of the cooked side of potatoes, spread cheddar cheese, spinach from step 1and finely cubed tomatoes. Garnish with cilantro and add pepper and salt to taste.
Fold the potato pie to cover the filling and let it cook a few minutes more until potatoes are tender and crispy and cheese is melted.

Quickie walnut cake

2007-04-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

This recipe was perfect by a close friend of mine, Rahul. After multiple iterations, he has finally struck on this absolutely fool proof, simple and inexpensive cake sure to impress your guests.

Ingredients:

4 cups - all purpose flour
1 cup - corn meal
1 tsp - baking powder
1 tsp - baking soda
4 cubes (4x113gms)- unsalted butter (melt it, but not clarify)
1 cup - warm water
1 cup - sugar
2 cans (14 oz / 396 gms) - eggless condensed milk (Nestle Carnation)
vanilla essence for flavor
walnuts for garnishing

Procedure:

Mix the flours, baking powder and baking soda.
Mix water, condensed milk, melted butter, sugar and add vanilla essence to this mix.
Add this mix to the flour mix from step 1.
Nicely mix all the ingredients with a hand mixer
Bake at 325 F for 40-45 minutes. Check every 5 mins after 35 mins to make sure that the surface is dark brown but not burnt.

Marinara sauce to go with your pasta

2007-04-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

I find this really useful when I want to cook something nice very quickly and in large quantities. I really don't find a difference in taste between pasta, tortellini, fettuccine, elbows, pipes or whatever they are called. They are all made from semolina. But you do get ones made from whole grain wheat, but I find a lingering bitter taste with these wheat ones.

The common procedure I follow is to prepare the tomato sauce and in parallel boil the pasta. Mix the sauce to the boiled (drained) pasta, add some veggies like broccoli, baby corn and green peppers (capsicum). Add parmesan cheese and bake the whole thing for about 10 minutes at 400F.

To make the sauce (servings 4):

You need -

fresh tomatoes cubed - about 6-8 ripe medium sized tomatoes or two cans of tomato paste
asefotida - a pinch
dry oregano powder
dry basil powder
salt to taste
cumin seeds - 2 tsp
olive oil

How:

Heat a lil bit of olive oil and when you see vapors add the cumin seeds
Add asefotida
Toss the tomatoes
Add the oregano and basil leaves
Add salt and let the whole thing cook for about 7-10 minutes

Notes:
Be extra careful when you buy the paste or whatever. Most of them have a note saying that it is processed in a facility processing Eggs. This is not acceptable for prasadam. There is however, one brand that is clean and will update it here as soon as I go home and check out the brand. Just beware that such a thing exists and make sure you read the labels correctly. Remember we are cooking as an offering to the Lord and we have to take whatever steps is required to make sure it is the best we can offer.

Rava Halva or Cream of Wheat pudding

2007-04-05T13:43:00.004-07:00

This is a sure shot disaster-proof recipe for making this popular dessert. Known by different names - halva, sheera, kesari,... you can make this vegan-friendly using oil (although purists like my MIL will frown on this idea!!).

Servings: 1 cup = 4 servings

Ingredients:

Rava or cream of wheat (coarse) - 1 measure
Water - 2 measures
Sugar (very finely powdered) - 1 measure
*Clarified butter (ghee) - 1/2 measure
Chopped almonds, cashew lightly roasted in clarified butter (ghee)
Saffron for garnishing

*Vegans - replace butter with canola oil

Method:

Roast the rava till its lightly brown. Use a pan to make sure the heat is uniform. Remove it from the heat on the first indication of brown color. Keep this aside.
Boil the water in a separate vessel.
When you see violent boiling, add saffron. Wait for about two minutes.
Next, add the roasted rava while continuously stirring in circles. This will prevent formation of lumps.
Immediately add sugar and give it a nice stir after adding
Immediately add clarified butter and stir vigorously
Add the garnishing (cashews + almonds)
Put the gas on simmer and cover with a lid. Time it for 5 mins.
Mix the contents nicely once again and again let it simmer for 3 mins.

Notes:

I usually make the ghee just before making this dish. Simply use a block of UNSALTED butter - heat it on high flame until it foams and later heat it on medium flame till the foam disappears, stirring it all the while. This takes less than 10 mins and is well worth the effort.
Instead of water, you may also choose to use milk.
Make it more exotic by adding fresh blueberries or bananas or pineapples!

On vegetarianism

2007-03-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

In itself, being a vegetarian is not enough; after all, even pigeons and monkeys are vegetarians. Its not just grabbing a sandwich and stuffing into our system. But, when we go beyond vegetarianism to a diet rich in love, it has a tremendous influence on the consciousness of the person eating your preparation. When you cook, do so with a positive frame of mind, with a mood of service, with a mood of love. Think about how you want to reach out to the person's heart. Its just like the ingredients of cooking - pure consciousness will result is complete satisfaction. The purer the consciousness, the richer the taste!

And this, my dear friend, is called 'prasadam' - transcendental eating. Its not longer food matter, its a package of love. There is no ingredient better than the mood of service and love. Never forget to keep stock of them!!!

And before you honor it, do make sure you offer it to the person who got it to this world in the first place, your sweet Lord. Of course, the Lord is not waiting to eat your food, but when it is offered with love, he kindly obliges by partaking the foodstuff. The foodstuff, after being offered to your sweet Lord, has a spiritual potency and you'll realize it over a period of time.

Pizza Punch

2007-03-05T12:03:00.002-08:00

Pizza is always my quick favorite. Its one of those things that can never really go awfully wrong. So here's a quickie on making a quick rising pizza.

Ingredients:

Pizza Bread

2 cups - whole wheat flour
1.5 cups - white flour
1 packet rapid rise yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
4 tblsp olive oil (or veg oil)
1/2 cup water or as per requirement

Pizza Topping

One can of organic tomato paste or 4 medium sized tomatoes cut into small cubes
2 tbsp of oregano leaves
1/2 tsp aesofotida
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp olive oil

Procedure:

Pizza Bread

Preheat oven to 350 F
Add oil to the flour and mix them thoroughly
Add warm water and knead it well. The dough should be only very very slightly sticky
Bake for 12- 15 mins

Pizza Topping

Start off with heating the olive oil till u see vapors rise.
Drop in the cumin seeds and aesofotida
Add the organic tomato paste / tomatoes and let it cook for about 5 mins
Add salt
Add oregano and let it cook for another 5 mins

I usually follow these steps for a well loaded pizza:

Pre-heat oven to 350F
Apply olive oil to the pizza bread
Spread the tomato paste prepared as above
Add a fine layer of Cheddar cheese
Add other vegetables: corn, green peppers (capsicum), broccoli, paneer, jalepinos
Add a final coat of Mozerella and Parmesan cheese
Bake for 12-15 mins.

Very Important:
When you buy the pizza bread, make sure the ingredients DO NOT contain Mono and Diglycerides. Mono and diglycerides are types of fat that are used to prevent water and oil from separating. They are found in a wide variety of products including baked foods, peanut butter, margarine, and shortening. Mono and diglycerides come from animal or vegetable sources. You should avoid products containing mono and diglycerides unless they are labelled as 100% vegetable mono and diglycerides.

Cheese - Ingredients called enzymes are needed to make cheese. Three enzymes used to make cheese are pepsin, lipase and rennet. These enzymes can be from animal, vegetable or microbial sources. Animal sources include pigs and cattle. Pepsin is derived from pigs, Lipase is derived from pigs or cattle. Rennet is derived from the stomach of calves. Microbial enzymes are not derived from meat and are okay for offering to the Lord. Most cheese products do not list the source of the enzyme (except for Cabot's cheddar which mentions "Renet - not from animal sources"). Below is a list of some common cheeses and acceptable brands.

Cheddar: Cabot, Horizon Organic, Land of Lakes, Organic Valley, Sargento, Sorrento

Mozzarella: Caso Blanco Fresco, Frigo, Horizon Organic, Mozzarella Fresca, Sargento, Sorrento, Bel Gioioso

Parmesan: Frigo, Horizon Organic, Organic Valley, Bel Gioioso

Others can be found here: http://cheese.joyousliving.com/

Gauranga Potatoes

2007-03-05T10:03:00.001-08:00

Gauranga means Golden. These baked potatoes derive their warm golden color due to turmeric. Mild taste blended with a rich and creamy texture, this preparation goes well with wheat bread (known as chapatti or roti).

Ingredients:

Potatoes (Yukon Gold, preferably), 8 medium
Ghee, 1 Tablespoon
Asefotida*, 1 teaspoon
Rosemary, dried, 3/4 Teaspoon
Black Pepper, coarse ground, 1 Teaspoon
Turmeric, 3/4 Teaspoon
Sour Cream (use Sorrento brand), 3 Cups
Butter, melted, 1 Tablespoon
Paprika, 1 Teaspoon
Salt, To taste

*For Ekadasi prasadam, leave asefotida out. It contains rice flour which cannot be consumed on ekadasi fasting days.

Servings: 4

Method:

Peel the potatoes and slice into ¼” pieces. Boil in salted water until they’re cooked but still firm. Drain off the water. In a large stove-top and oven-safe pan, add the clarified butter (ghee), asofoetida, rosemary and turmeric. Lightly brown, then add the sour cream, melted butter, salt to taste, black pepper, and ½ cup water. Gently fold in the potato slices. Sprinkle with paprika and bake for 30 or 40 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, until top is golden brown.

More: Incidentally, this prep is generally made on the birthday of Lord Caitanya, the golden (gauranga) complexion form of Lord Sri Krishna. The advent of Lord Gauranga was meant to freely distribute the love of God irrespective of the worthiness of the persons.