Vegan Gumbo

Gumbo... I read somewhere that in western Africa it is used to refer Okra. It is a very smoky, tangy, soupy broth served with a little rice. I heard it's first reference in the movie Forrest Gump. I Actually tasted it recently when I visited New Orleans. Gumbo is usually non-vegetarian, We got lucky as we found this wonderful place in New Orleans which served Vegan Gumbo and to our good luck, it was introduced just three days before we visited the beautiful city.

I have a perfect and natural substitute for liquid smoke in this recipe. Try it, you will be surprised. 

It is a very simple recipe. So let me get to it fast.

Prep time: 10-15 mins.

Cook time: 40 mins.

Servings: 3 - 4.

Ingredients:

1. Onions - 1 cup, finely chopped.
2. Tomatoes - 1 cup finely chopped or 1 to 2 tbsp paste.
3. Garlic -  5 cloves minced or grated
4. Okra/ladies finger -  4 cups cut into 1/2 inch pieces
5. Red Beans - 1/2 cup cooked. 
6. Rice - Cooked, about 1/4 cup per serving
7. Dried Thyme - 1/2 tsp.
8. Dried Rosemary - 1/2 tsp.
9. Dried Oregano - 1/2 tsp
10. Dried Red Chilli -  1, choose the heat level for the chilli you are comfortable with. 
11. Nutmeg - grate a little powder.
12. Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 tbsp
13. Dijon Mustard - 1 to 2 tbsp based on the flavor you may like.
14. Ground Pepper - To taste
15. Chilli powder - To taste
16. Soya Sauce - 1 tbsp or a little more, adjust according to how it tastes after the broth cooks
17. Salt - To taste
18. Oil - 2 tbsp.
19. Water - add enough to cover all the ingredients in the vessel and a little more to make good broth. Ready to eat broth must be around lentil soup consistency.
20. Soya nuggets - a few cooked  (optional)
21. Vegan Balls -  a few (optional)

Procedure:

• Heat oil in a medium sized vessel which can fit all the above ingredients and fit water as well.
•  Add garlic and all dried herbs except dried chilli. Saute for a few seconds.
• Add onions, a pinch of salt and saute for a few minutes till it starts to turn slightly brown. Add nutmeg powder, mix well.
• Add tomatoes and cook till it softens.
• Add okra, beans and add water and let it cook. If you use soya nuggets, now is the time to add.
• Now mix vinegar, soya sauce and dijon mustard in a bowl and add it to the vessel.
• Take the red chilli and on an open stove hold it on the fire. Let it smoke a little bit (be careful not to burn it completely). In a mortar now make a coarse powder of this chilli and add it to the mixture. If you do not have a mortar, you can chop the chilli finely and drop it in the broth.
• Add enough salt pepper and chilli powder and let the broth cook till okra is well done. Be careful with salt, you also add soya sauce , hence add salt, only if necessary 
• After gumbo is cooked, serve it in a bowl with a dollop of rice over it. If you are using vegan balls, now just drop them in the broth. You can garnish it with scallions or parsley or cilantro.

Tip:

Burning the chilli and adding the powder to the broth gives it a very nice smokey flavor. This a great substitute for liquid smoke. 

Udon Noodle Soup

Hi friends... It has been a long time since I updated the blog with any recipe. Sorry about that. From now on I will try to be regular. Since it is winter and all I want is a hot bowl of soup, I thought why not put up the recipe of this simple yet delicious soup. It if filling but not heavy. Good for dinner or lunch, just add some tofu to it and it is a complete meal. This soup calls for some sea weed and miso. Miso is fermented barley paste. You can get miso from your local Asian stores or whole foods market. There a a few different kinds of miso, but if you haven't tried it please get the white miso, it is very soft in taste, other types may get a bit over whelming. Sea weed can be omitted from the recipe, but this makes the soup a lot flavourful, try using it if you haven't tried it yet.  I have not used udon noodles in this soup [the picture], I ran out of them and had to have this soup, so managed with what i could get from the store near by. If you do not get udon noodles, you can use any thick noodle for this soup. Enough of me yappi'n...So here goes the recipe.

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

1. Udon noodles - 1 bundle, cooked as per the instructions on the bag.
2. spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
3. carrots - 1, peeled and finely chopped
4. Garlic - 3 pods well minced
5. Bell peppers - 1/2 a cup of any or all colours mixed, finely chopped 
6. Sea weed - 1 sheet
7. Miso - 2 to 3 tsp
8. Tofu - 1/2 cup cubes [optional]
9. Oil - 2 tsp
10. White or Rice vinegar - 2 to 3 tsp
11. Soy Sauce - 3 tsp
12. Salt and pepper - to taste
13. Water - enough to make a thin borth of all the ingredients and boil noodles

Method:

• Put the noodles to cook as per instructions on the bag it came in. Make sure to add adequate salt to the water to slat the noodles.
• Heat oil in a pot which can fit in all the ingredients.
• Add garlic, carrots, spring onions, bell peppers one after the other sauteing each for a few seconds till the sweat.
• Add a pinch of salt to let them cook faster.
• Add enough water to make a broth it has to be watery. Let the water come to a boil.
• Now add vinegar and soy sauce and let it cook for a few minutes.
• Now mix miso with a bit of water to make the paste easily soluble in the broth so that it does not form lumps. Make sure you do not make it very watery. Add miso to the broth and let it cook for a few seconds.
• Now tear the sea weed sheet into a few pieces and add to the soup. stir well.
• Add the cooked and drained noodles to the broth stir ... turn the stove off. Taste it if you need salt and pepper.. if you do, this is the time to add it. Miso and soy sauce are pretty salty, you have to be careful with salt when you use both of these ingredients together. let it sit for a few minutes and serve.

Lemon Coriander Soup

I am sure you all must have tasted this delicious soup in some Indo-Chinese restaurants. It is a very simple soup to make it will get ready in about 20 minutes. Add some quinoa/barley into the soup it will become a one pot meal. I tasted this for the first time when our friends Venu and Usha took us to a restaurant near their house. So, without further adieu, i give you the recipe for this light yet satisfying soup.

Perp time: 15 Minutes

Cook time: upto 20 minutes

Serving: upto 3

Ingredients:

1. Lemon Juice - 1/4 cup
2. Coriander - a handful, not too much though.
3. Green chili - 2 to 3 (more if you like it  very hot)
4. Vinegar - upto 3 tsp
5. Garlic - 4 pods grated/minced or upto 3 tsp paste
6. Water - upto 6 cups
7. Tofu - 1 cup diced (optional)
8. Mushroom - 1/2 cup finely chopped
9. Spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
10. quinoa/barley - 1/4 cup (optional) [if you choose to use barley, soak it for 4 hours prior to use]
11. Corn Starch - 2 tsp (use only if not using quinoa or barley)
12. Salt - to taste
13. Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

• Heat oil in a pot which can hold all the ingredients.
• Saute garlic and spring onions for a minute.
• Add Mushroom and saute for a minute.
• Add water and 2 tsp vinegar and add quinoa or barley if you are using them and let it boil. 
• In the mean while, take the coriander, green chili, 1 tsp vinegar and two pinches of salt and make a paste of it.
• Add tofu and the paste to the soup and stir to mix well.
• Now add the paste, salt and boil for 5 minutes.
• If you are not using quinoa or barley, mix the corn starch in cold water and mix it in the soup while adding water in the beginning. 
• Add half of the lemon juice, stir and give it a taste, if it is not sour enough, add more till you get your desired taste. Add salt mix and enjoy this soup hot.

Tip:

If you do not eat green chili, you can eliminate it and use pepper powder instead. just add some cracked pepper in to the soup after it cooks and stir well.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Hmm... Yes, I know, I know... have been lazy again. So to compensate that, I am going to post a mouthwatering, easy recipe which will make good use of left over rice. You can make fresh rice as well, however, this will taste better with a day's old rice. My friend Nivedita told me that she ate this is in KL when she went to visit her brother, since then I had only been dreaming of it's taste, I can make it now :)... to make it more interesting, you can serve it in a cored pineapple half, not only will the presentations look splendid, rice will absorb more flavour. Also you can add soy nuggets or tofu to make it a complete one pot meal.

Prep time: 10 Mins 

Cook time: 10 Mins, (If the rice is ready)
Servings: upto 3

Ingredients:

1. Cooked rice -  2 cups
2. Spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
3. Garlic - 4 pods, minced/grated, or 2 tsp paste
4. Ginger - 1 tsp grated/minced or 1/2 tsp paste
5. Pineapple - Fresh 1 cup coarsely chopped or 1 14oz can pieces
6. Tofu - diced, 1 cup (Optional)
7. Soy sauce - 2 tsp if dark if a lighter use a bit more
8. Red chili flakes - 1/2 tsp or to taste
9. Salt - to taste
10. Sugar - 1 tsp (optional)
11. oil - 1 tbsp
12. Turmeric - 1 pinch

Method:

• Heat oil in a wok or a vessel which can fit all the ingredients.
• Add ginger and garlic and saute for a few seconds and add finely chopped spring onions, keep sauteing for a minute.
• Mix soy sauce, chili flakes, salt, turmeric and sugar in a small cup and set aside.
• Add pineapple and saute for a minute. Saute Tofu for a minute as well.
• Add rice and mix all the ingredients together
• Add the sauce mixture to the wok and mix till everything is well blended.
• Serve and eat hot. 

Suggestions:

As I suggested earlier, you can serve this rice in a cored pineapple half..yummm!! 

Tips:

You can add 1/8 tsp of pineapple essence to the dish, it will make the entire preparation smell more pineappily :)

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup

Roasted bell pepper soup needless to say is very tasty. One sip and you will be a fan of this delicious sweet, sour and peppery soup. It takes few ingredients and is also very easy to make. You can either roast all of your vegetables and make a smooth puree of them or just roast the bell peppers and saute the rest of the ingredients. Either way, this soup will taste good. If roasting all the vegetables, you will reduce cook time to a large extent. 

This soup can make a good starter, it is not too heavy. To make it more tasty, use a little sour cream or cream. 

So, let us see what it takes to make this soup.

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 10 to 40 mins depending on the method you choose.

Servings: about 4

Ingredients:

1. Red bell pepper - 2 big ones
2. Tomato - 4 medium
3. Onion - 1 small
4. Celery - 1 stalk
5. Garlic - 2 pods or 2 tsp paste
6. Salt - to taste
7. Parsley - 1 tsp dry or finely chopped fresh leaves
8. Basil - 1 tsp dry or finely chopped fresh leaves
9. Black pepper powder - to taste
10. Sour cream or cream - upto 2 tsp per cup (optional)
11. Oil - 3 tsp

Method:

• You can roast bell peppers or all the vegetables 4 ways, 1. on the stove top, 2. In the oven, 3. Grill and 4. In the broiler. Whatever method be, you have to put the roasted bell peppers and vegetables in a container after roasting and cover the lid, let it cool and then peel off the skin from bell peppers and tomatoes.
• If you choose 1., then just roast pepper on the flame. If you choose to do it in the oven, rub oil on the bell peppers, wrap them in an aluminium foil, place them on a cookie sheet or a oven safe container and roast them at 450F for about 30 minutes in the mid rack of the oven. If you grill them, make sure to drizzle a little oil over them to retain moisture. If you choose to broil them, rub them with oil, line a broiler safe sheet with foil and broil for 10 to 12 minutes.
• For roasting vegetables in oven or broiler, chop them into rough chunks, apply oil, put them on a sheet lined with foil and roast in the oven for 25 mins at the same temperature as bell peppers. To Broil them, do it all just the same except you will be roasting all the vegetables including bell peppers all at once for 10 - 12 minutes. For garlic in both the cases, do not peel the skin off, just rub some oil and put them with the rest of the ingredients to roast. After it is done, garlic will slide out when you gently squeeze it.
• After peeling tomatoes and bell peppers, blend them all in the blender and follow the rest of the instruction after blending from below.
• If you do not roast all the vegetables, then saute all the rest of the vegetables one after the other in the following order. Heat oil in a pot which will hold all of the ingredients plus some more water. Now saute, grated/paste garlic, coarsely chopped onion, coarsely chopped celery and coarsely chopped tomatoes. 
• To the above ingredients, add peeled roasted bell peppers, salt, black pepper and saute for  2 minutes, turn the stove off and let it cool for a 10 minutes.
• Blend all the ingredients in a blender and transfer it to the pot in which you have cooked them. add a little water to thin the soup if it is too thick. Turn the stove back on. Add parsley and basil, cook for 5 more minutes.
• Garnish with croutons or parsely and basil or cream or all of them and serve hot to enjoy.

Tip:

• While using broiler in apartments, please open the oven door and turn the exhaust fan on at full speed. Otherwise, it will get too hot to stand anywhere in the kitchen.
• Fire roasting vegetables gives a smoky flavour, so try roasting them for this soup and see if you like the flavour.

Aloo Parantha [Stuffed Indian Flat bread with spicy potatoes and herbs]

Aloo Parantha is one of the most filling and tasty breads I have every eaten. There are a gazillion ways to make it and every north Indian household will have a special family recipe of their own. I think I learnt to make it from my friend Bhavna's mom, I do not know the exact recipe as I am used to the one of my own. I have to say what ever my friends' mom made was like heaven... I still remember, whenever i fell sick, she would take me to her place ask her mom to make some thing tangy and spicy. It is a privilege and good luck to have a friend like Bhavs... love ya!! and thanks for all the yummy food... It makes a very heavy breakfast and good lunch and dinner item.. If your kids are a lot into sports, this may be one item which will provide them with whole lot of carbs.

Prep time: 40 mins [including the potato cook time]

Cook time: 7 mins each parantha, approx

Servings: 4 or 8 pieces

Ingredients:

For spicy Potatoes:

1. Potatoes - Medium sized, 4 boiled and mashed
2. Onion - 1 medium sized, finely chopped or made into a paste
3. Coriander/cilantro - a handful, finely chopped
4. Green chilly - 4 finely chopped
5. Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Cumin powder - 1 tsp
7. Coriander powder - 1 tsp
8. Amchur [dry mango powder] - 2 to 3 tsp [substitute with 2 tsp lime juice, depends on how tangy you like it]
9. Turmeric - a pinch
10. Ajwain [celery seeds] - 1 tsp
11. Kalanamak/black slat - 1 tsp
12. Salt - to taste
13. Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp [optional, I have not added it in this recipe]

To make bread crust:

1. Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
2. Maida/all purpose flour - 1 cup
3. Salt - 1/2 tsp
4. Water - enough to make dough 
5. Oil - to roast paranthas, about 1/4 cup

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients for the spicy potatoes together and keep aside.
• Mix the ingredients for the bread crust. the consistency of the dough has to be like the bread dough. not too soggy, not too dry. The idea behind mixing both whole wheat and all purpose flours is to give enough elasticity to the the dough as just the whole wheat makes the crust pretty thick as it does not stretch like all purpose flour and just all purpose flour would make the dough very elastic and chewy. Mixing these two will give the dough the right amount of elasticity.
• Take dough out and make a tangerine sized ball and roll it out as shown in the video below:

   

• Heat a pan on medium high place the rolled out parantha on it. let it roast for a minute turn it over, add a tsp full of oil all around the top of the parantha and spread. Flip to the other side and repeat the same. Let both the sides roast to a nice golden brown colour and till you know it is well cooked. Aloo parantha is read to eat, Enjoy!

Serving suggestion:

Goes well with a wide array of sides like baingan bartha and etc. Also can be served just some lime pickle and yogurt... yumm!! Parantha has a lot of flavour by itself, so it can just be had as it is.

Raw pasta and sauce

Have you ever tried eating raw food diet, not salads but trying to eat salads with a twist. I love raw vegetables in any form... with a little dressing I wont complain if I have to eat it all the time. Throwing a twist on it by making pasta and a sauce gives it much more oomph. I saw this recipe while browsing somewhere and made it the same day. I just love this recipe for the ease of making and and the taste it packs. If you hate eating vegetables, try this recipe, you may just change your mind about them. This is a raw vegan recipe, if you want you can add a bit of Parmesan cheese to it. 

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

1. Zucchini: 2 medium sized
2. Plum Tomato: 2
3. Red bell pepper: 1 medium sized
4. Sun dried tomatoes -4
5. Garlic - a small clove, peeled or 1/4 tsp paste
6. Red wine vinegar/plain vinegar - 2 tsp
7. Salt - 1/4 tsp or 2 pinches
8. Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
9. Olive oil/any oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Chop the tips of zucchini and peel the skin off and dispose it. Continue peeling the flesh of the zucchini into strips till you end up at the seeds.. do not use it, dispose. Put the peeled strips in a bowl and refrigerate till you make the sauce.
• If you do not have pre-marinated sun dried tomatoes either in oil or water. Boil water and soak them for about 1/2 hour before you would use them.
• To make the sauce, chop all the vegetables into big chunks and make a smooth paste in the blender by adding all the ingredients together. Sauce is ready.
• Take the peeled zucchini pasta, arrange it on a plate and pour some sauce on top and chomp it down.. :) .Make sure to put the sauce right before you would eat, other wise it gets soggy and you wont like it much. 

Tips:

Kids can help you peel zucchini, so let them do it if they want to.. parents and kids can certainly have fun in the kitchen while making this recipe.

If you do not have zucchini try using cucumber... it will be slightly more watery, but is a good substitute. Since Zucchini and cucumber do not have much of taste on their own, they absorb the taste of the sauce well.

Saaru/Rasam

As per request of dear Dhan uncle i am posting the recipe of Saaru. Called saaru in Karnataka and rasam for the rest of India is a thin broth which is mixed with rice. Like spaghetti and meat balls are comfort food for many people, saaru anna (rice and rasam) is comfort food for may south Indians. What makes saaru or rasam tasty is the masala powder, I will give the recipe to make it. You can also cut it short and use store bought rasam powder...it is totally upto you. I will give a few variations of rasam here today, however, the masala powder remains the same. Make and enjoy!

Ingredients:

1. Toor dal [split lentils] - 1 cup, cooked well
2. Rasam Powder - 1 1/2 tsp, [recipe follows]
3. Tamarind - 1 tsp
4. Tomato - 1 cooked with toor dal
5. Jaggery - 1 small block
6. Salt - to taste
7. Coriander - finely chopped
8. Grated fresh coconut - 2 tbsp [optional]

For tempering:

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
4. Asafoetida  - a pinch
5. Turmeric - a pinch
6. Curry leaves - 1 string

Ramsam Powder:

Ingredients:

1. Coriander seeds - 1/2 cup
2. Cumin seeds -  2  tbsp
3. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp
4. Whole black pepper - 2 tsp
5. Red chilly - 1/2 cup [use according to taste]
6. Dry coconut - 1/4 cup [grated or cut into strips]

Method:

• Dry roast all the above given Ingredients one after the other till the raw smell goes away and they start smelling fragrant. Let it cool completely make a powder and use it as and when required.

Method to make rasam:

• Heat oil in a vessel to make tempering. add mustard seeds, let them splutter. Add cumin and let them splutter. add the rest of the tempering ingredients and saute for 2 seconds.
• Now add the water from the cooked lentils. Mash the lentils and tomato to a paste and add them to the vessel. Thin it out further if it seems thick. The consistency should be of butter milk.
• Add tamarind, rasam powder, salt and jaggery and let it boil for 10 minutes.
• Add coriander and coconut, cook for 2 more minutes and rasam is ready to eat.

Variation 2

• Follow the above method. except for cooking lentils. This is plain tomato rasam.
• Make the tempering, add 2 finely chopped tomatoes, saute for a few seconds.
• Add salt and let them cook well. 
• Add enough water and the rest of the ingredients and cook the same way as above... this cooks in 10 minutes and is a quick fix when u need dinner fast.

Variation 3

• Instead of cooking tomato with the lentils, grind tomato, rasam powder, coconut and salt and add them to tempering... cook for 2 minutes to get the rawness out add lentils and rest of the ingredients and boil till done.

Serving suggestions:

Goes best with steaming hot rice, clarified butter [ghee] and tempered green beans.

Tips:

For just the tomato rasam, you can choose to add a pod of crushed garlic, it makes it much more tastier.

Sushi

Need I say more? Sushi in Japanese means vinegared rice, contradictory to wide belief that it is "raw fish". The thing about sushi is except the rice everything else is raw in it. Sometimes the "nori", which is sea weed used is roasted. I am totally in love with this. I can eat it anytime anywhere. The wasabi and ginger served with this makes it more kickin' ... In my experience with wasabi, it can clear the most severe of sinus blocks... the kick it packs is out of this world... You won't be able to handle it unless you take a bite of vinegared ginger along with wasabi.  To drink you must try "sake" rice wine... it is sort of sweet and tart at the same time, best had when warm. We tried suhi in a Korean restaurant once which was good then we had sushi in a vegan restaurant and fell in love with it. If you ask me, I fall in love with tasty food very easily, my weakness I suppose. So let me not dealy anymore in giving out the recipe of Sushi..

Prep time: 45 mins

cook time: 25 mins for rice

Servings: 24 pieces

Ingredients:

1. Rice - 2 cups, use very starchy rice.

2. Nori sheets - 4 [sea weed sheets, I bought them at whole foods store]

All Raw vegetables are Julienne sliced. Julienne is nothing but match stick thin slices. You can use a wide array of vegetables. Do not use something like potato or starchy ones. There is already rice in it. You can also use flavoured or just plain firm tofu...

3. Carotts: 2

4. Red bellpepper - 1/2

5. Green bell pepper - 1/2

6. Avacado - 1

7. Spring onions - 1 bunch

8. Ready wasabi paste or powder[prepare it according to insturctions on the box] or a horse radish (which has to be peeled, chopped and run in the blender to make a paste. Add a little salt, sugar and vinegar)

7. Raw ginger - 1 medium sized piece

8. Rice vinegar or white vinegar - up to 3/4 cup

9. Sugar - 4 tsp

Method:

Cooking rice:

• Wash rice and put it in a filter to drain all the water and let it stand for an hour.
• Now boil 4 cups of water in a vessel in which you would cook rice. 
• Add rice and cook till well done and all water gets evaporated.
• After the rice cooks, transfer it into a large plate in which you can move it easily.
• Mix 2 tbsp of vinegar and 2 tsp sugar till all the sugar dissolves.
• Add 1 tbsp of this sugar-vinegar mixture and thoroughly mix in the rice by fannig on the rice with one hand. If you have a table fan, then switch it on and mix the rice and vinegar.
• After 1 tbsp of it is incorporated, add the next tbsp and repeat the process till rice and vinegar gets mixed well. The point of the whole fanning process is to get the water to evaporate from rice faster and making rice more workable, this process makes rice sticky and soft enough to hold any shape you make it in to and cuts easily. Set this aside and let it completely cool. Keep in mind, you don't have to use all the vinegar. If you think rice is getting watery, stop using Vinegar.

To prepare Ginger:

• Boil 1/2 cup vinegar and 2 tsp sugar in a pot till sugar dissolves in it. cool completely before using.
• Younger the ginger root the better. 
• Wash the ginger root and peel out it's skin and throw it away
• Now peel ginger in to strips, add it to cooled vinegar sugar mixture.
• Soak it atleast 2 hours before you would use it.

How to roll Sushi?

There are a lot of  videos, this one I found was most user friendly for beginners. She demonstrates with a rolling mat, Actually you don't need one, I did not use one, your bare hands are perfect to roll them.... I made them for the first time, the ones in the picture, not so professional looking... but with practice they will get better... So do not fret too much when they do not turn out to be a perfect shape. They don't hold the shape inside your mouth now, do they? LOL! I am posting a video here as watching it makes it very clear than reading about it... you can google further for more interesting informative videos... This is a very fun recipe to try with kids...Make and enjoy.

 

Serving suggestions:

Sushi becomes so much better with wasabi and vinegared ginger... please try it. The possibilities with sushi are just endless. You can add cucumber, zucchini and many such veggies. Try and experiment. This dish can be experimented a lot with.

Tips:

Never soak the nori sheet with water, it will tear. when you use water to wet your hands, make sure not even a drop lands on the nori sheet. Keep dipping the knife in water while you cut these rolls, or all the rice will stick to the knife making it impossible to cut further and all your rolls will go bad.

Fajita and burrito bowl

Fajita, Pronounced as "fa-he-ta" is a tortilla, onion and bell pepper free recipe. If you like them, add them. If you add onions and bell peppes, it is called a burrito bowl in the Mexican fast food chain "Chipotle"You just have to put everything together in the taco recipe and eat it without hard or soft taco shells... Very filling and must say, super tasty... I would eat this all the time if I had the patience to cook so many varieties to put together one dish. My words won't explain the taste and freshness, you have to make it to know..Vegans can use vegan sour cream and cheese or totally eliminate it...so can diet conscious people.

This will take an hour to put together including cleaning...With left overs, it takes less than 10 minutes to arrange.. 

Ingredients:

1. Cooked Beans - Recipe below

2. Guacamole -  Recipe below

3. Tomato Salsa - Recipe below

4. Chopped vegetable - Red\green\yellow bell peppers, sweet corn, onions and tomato (seeded) [slightly saute them on a skillet]

5. Sour cream (reduced fat)

Cooked Beans:

Ingredients:

• Pink\black beans - 1 16oz can
• Onion - 1 big\2 small, finely chopped
• Garlic - 3 to 4 pods, grated or minced, if using paste, 1tbsp
• Coriander\Cilantro - a handful, finely chopped
• Oil -  2 tsp
• Dry oregano - 1 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Jalapeno - 1, seeded and finely chopped

Method:

• Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat and add onions with a pinch of salt and saute.
• After onions turn transparent, add garlic and saute for a few seconds, add oregano and saute for a few seconds. Add jalapeno and saute for a few seconds.
• Drain and wash beans and add it to the skillet. Add a little water if it is sticking to the pan. Cook for a 5 minutes and it is done.

Guacamole:

Ingredients:

• Avocado - 1 (use hass avocado, it has the best taste)
• Garlic - 1 pod grated or 1/2 tsp paste
• Jalapeno - 1 seeded
• Lime juice - 2 tsp
• Cilantro\coriander - A handful
• Salt - to taste

Method:

• Cut the avocado into half, take the seed out and scoop the fruit out of the skin.
• Take all the ingredients in to a blender or a chopper and give it a whip till all of 'em mix well together. Guacamole is ready.

Tip:

• To choose a good avocado, just press it with your thumb lightly, it has to give slightly to know it is ripe enough for use before you buy it. Trust me, you will not want to use a raw avocado.
• To take the seed out, cut the avocado in to half vertically, take your knife hit the seed with the bottom sharp side of your knife, give it a slight turn and it comes out clean.
• DO NOT BUY RIPE AVOCADO IF YOU ARE NOT PLANNING TO USE IT THE SAME DAY OR THE NEXT, THEY GO BAD VERY FAST.
• You can not store anything made of avocado for more than a day even in fridge, so make it fresh as and when you need it.

Tomato Salas:

 

Ingredients:

 

• Plum tomato - 3 to 4 medium, finely chopped
• Green bell pepper - 1 medium, finely chopped
• Jalapeno - 1 or 2 depending on your taste, seeded and finely chopped.
• Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped
• Garlic - 3 pods, minced/grated or paste 1 to 2 tsp
• Cilantro- a handful, finely chopped
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

• Heat oil in a pot on medium heat. Saute onion and garlic till onion gets transparent with some salt.
• Add bell pepper and jalapeno and saute for a minute.
• Add tomatoes, saute for a few minutes, put a lid on the pot and let it cook till it is well done. You can add water if you need. It has to be slightly watery than ketchup.
• Add cilantro and lime juice and salsa is ready to eat.

This salsa stores well, for upto 2 weeks in the fridge, so cook a big batch and eat it with rice, salad, tacos chips and whatever you want to try it with.

Method To put fahita together:


Layer beans, rice, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cheese one after the other and just spread slightly sauteed corn, onion and green bell peppers on the side and fahita is ready to eat...

Stuffed peppers with Quinoa

Talking of healthy food, how can I go without talking about a great grain called Quinoa? Grain basically from Peru, has won hearts all over the world for it nutritional quality. Very high in iron... about 12% to 20% iron in a single serving... can anything beat that? 5 to 7% protein and 10- 15% carbs. Easy to cook and will blend with almost any cuisine. you can make upma or puliogare out of it.. just use this grain in lieu of rice/rava.  It is basically very bland, making it very absorbing of other flavours.  Here goes the recipe

Prep time: 25 mins [includes quinoa cooking time]

Cook time: 15 - 20 mins

Servings: upto 4

Ingredients:

1. Bell peppers - 4, any colour of your choice, just make sure they are round and have some space to be stuffed and stand upright.
2. Quinoa - 1 1/2 cup
3. Cranberry raisins/ regular raisins - 1/4 cup
4. Spinach - 1 bunch washed and finely chopped
5. Garlic - 2 pods grated/minced or 1/2 tsp paste
6. Spring onions - 1 bunch, finely chopped
7. Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp - 1 tsp
8. Slat - to taste
9. Grated cheese - a handful, any cheese on hand  [optional]
10. Oil - 2 tsp
11. Water - 3 1/2 cups to cook Quinoa

Method:

• Wash quinoa and cook it in a vessel by adding water, 1/2 tsp salt and a few drops of oil till it is well done. That is, you will be able to see white sprouts kind of lines on the grain once it is cooked. It takes about 17:00 mins to cook.
• In a pot, heat oil and add garlic and saute for a few seconds.
• Add sping onions and a pinch of salt and saute for a few seconds.
• Add carnberry raisins and saute for a few seconds.
• Add Spinach and close the lid on the pot till all spinach wilts. Now add salt enough for the dish and add pepper.
• Add cooked quinoa and mix all the ingredients well to let it stand for a minute.
• Add the cheese now and stir for a few minutes. turn the stove off. Save a little cheese to top the peppers.
• Now chop the top of the peppers, the part where you see the stem. Remove all the seeds and stuff the peppers upto the brim with the quinoa mixture and top it with a little cheese. Repeat the  process till all the peppers are filled. Set them on a baking tray.
• Preheat oven at 375F and place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, till all the cheese on top melts and peppers become soft and cooked.

Serving suggestion:

A ranch dip goes excellent with this pepper stuffing. 

Tips:

If the pepper does not stand upright, cut a very thin slice below the pepper to make it straight. keep in mind not to make a hole while cutting the bottom. By chance you do, do not panic, just take a section from the cut part and place it inside the pepper to cover the hole and then stuff it.

If you don't have an oven, place these peppers in a pan add a little oil and place a lid over it. Cook it on a low flame. Or in a big vessel, pour water till 1/4 of it's capacity, place a pan which can cover the mouth of the vessel. Place the peppers on this pans, cover with lid and cook till the pepper gets soft. After 15 to 20 mins, check if the water has evaporated and pour some more water in to the vessel.

Penne with Butternut Squash, Asparagus and Portobello Mushrooms with dill pesto on side

Hmm.... the title pretty much sums up whatever this dish packs. A very good one to make on special occasions, I would say a romantic occasion. This recipe won't have too much salt or pepper in it. Just enough to enhance the flavours of the contents in the dish. It is very delicate on the pallet, so if you are a person who likes some taste buds kickn' action, this wont do any magic for you. However, if you can appreciate the subtle flavours of vegetables and pasta, this will be a hit with you. If you want to make something different and rocking, go ahead and try it out. 

Prep time: 20 mins [includes chop time]

Cook time:  45 mins

Ingredients:

1. Penne Pasta - 1/2 the box [use the whole grain one if possible]
2. Butternut Squash -  3/4 cup, cubed in to bite size pieces
3. Asparagus -  1/2 cup, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4. Baby Portobello Mushrooms -  1/2 cup cut into quarters [slice each mushroom into 4 pieces]
5. Garlic - 3 pods grated/minced or 1 tsp paste
6. Dry Basil - 1/2 tsp [if you get fresh, use 1 tsp finely chopped]
7. Salt - 1 tsp for cooking pasta + a pinch or two for baking and 3/4 to 1 tsp for the recipe.
8. Ground black pepper - a pinch or two for baking tsp for baking + 1/2 tsp for recipe
9. Parmesan Cheese - 1/4 cup
10. Water - Enough to boil pasta, follow instructions on the box
11. Olive Oil - 2 - 3 tsp

Method: 

• Preheat the oven to 475F or 245C. In a bowl, mix cubed butternut squash, salt pepper and 1 tsp of olive oil till they coat the pieces well.
• Now lay these pieces on a baking tray and bake it for 15 to 20 minutes or till the squash softens enough to let a fork through without much resistance. Remove from oven and keep aside.
• In the mean while cook penne pasta according to instructions on the box.
• Heat oil in a big pot which can hold all the above ingredients on medium flame.
• Add garlic and dry basil and saute for a few seconds.
• Add Mushrooms, saute for a few seconds, add a pinch of salt mix in well, close the lid and let it sweat for a minute.
• Add Asparagus now and saute for a few seconds.
• Add the roasted butternut squash, mix in well and add cooked pasta to this.
• Now Add enough slat and pepper to enhance the flavours  and mix all the ingredients to get them well coated wit salt and pepper.
• Pasta is ready to be served 

Dill Pesto: A pesto is more like an Italian chutney... easy to make a yummy to eat. You can simply make a pesto and mix it to cooked hot pasta, it is a recipe by itself. Pesto is generally made with pine nuts, they are not available everywhere, even if they are, they come very expensive. if you want to use pine nuts, go ahead and use them instead of cashew. Make sure you dry roast them before you make pesto. .  The pesto I made was with dill and capers. Capers in Hindi is kabra, you can see them in Punjabi pickles and I have heard they are used in Tamilnadu pickles as well. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Dill -  a handful

Capers - 1/2 tsp(optional)

Cashew nuts - 1/2cup

Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 1/4 cup

Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method:

In a food processor, make a powder of cashew nuts. then add Dill, capers salt and pepper, run them all for 30 seconds. Now slowly keep adding the oil till you get a nice silky paste. You may not use up all the oil you take.

Serving Suggestions:

This is a good entree, you can serve a salad with sun-dried tomato dressing. This will compliment the flavours of the pasta.

Sprinkle some more Parmesan cheese on top to make it more enticing.

To make a complete Menu, you can make a soup or salad for starters. Soup suggestion would be Spinach, Zucchini and Lemon with Roasted Chiabatta Bread and herbed Extra Virgin Olive oil. To end it with a sweet, you may bake a cannoli cake to make the whole theme Itlaian.

Tips:

Change the ingredients from, butternut squash, asparagus and mushroom to grape tomatoes or regular tomatoes chopped into bite size, chopped green bell peppers and chopped red onion. Saute all these one after the other and instead of Black pepper add a little red chilly powder. This will make the dish more easy and faster to cook and is an entirely new recipe... Don't have to bake a thing here... but the taste is great. [use the rest of the ingredients and follow the method except baking]