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.

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.

Alasande kalu palya (lobia/cow peas curry)

Alasande Kalu Palya

Hi there everyone, hope all of you who visit my blog are doing well. I have been away from blogging a very long time and after being nudged by a few friends to write more, I am back again. I had a perfect excuse for my laziness all these days, "My comp is not working"... it was not. We got it fixed a few weeks ago, however I was feeling so comfortably lethargic not do anything. After mentally posting quite a few recipes, I am now making an attempt to put my thoughts into actions (hopefully). It is like me against my lethargy... let me see who wins. 

This recipe of alasande, lobia, in Hindi and cow peas, in English, is fairly simple to make, not to mention very nutritious and exceptionally tasty. It is a good match with chapati and rice. Make a paste of this and you can spread it on bread and also use as a dip for your chips. A very versatile thick curry not only to satisfy your sense of smell, it will keep your body happy. Very high in protein, low in carbs and fat. 

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins (if using ready cooked alasande or about 45 mins)

Servings: About 3

Ingredients:

1. Alasande Kaalu/ lobia / cow peas - 1 cup soaked over night and cooked well. (use the small red variety if you can find, that gives the best taste)
2. Salt - to taste
3. Coriander/Cilantro - finely chopped

For tempering:

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Turmeric - a pinch
4. Asafoetida - 2 pinches
5. Curry leaves - 1/2 the string 

For Masala:

1. Green Chilies - 3 to 5 (depending on your taste)
2. Whole pepper corns - 5 
3. Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
4. Fresh/ Frozen Coconut - 1/2 cup (grated or pieces) 
5. Ginger - 1 inch piece or 1 tsp paste

Method:

• To cook the cow peas/lobia/alasande, soak it over night and pressure cook it with a little salt till it is well done but not mushy. If you do not have a pressure cooker, take a lot of water in a big pot, add the cow peas and enough salt and cook for about an hour or till well done on the stove top. After it is done, drain the peas and set aside. Keep a cups' worth water to dilute the curry as and when required otherwise we will not be using the water in this recipe. Please check the tips part of this recipe for suggestions on using the drained water.
• Grind all the ingredients of masala and set aside.
• Make the tempering in a pot or pan which can fit all the ingredients by heating oil on medium. Add mustard seeds and wait for it to splutter. Add turmeric, asafoetida. Add the cooked and drained alasande/cow peas/ lobia and saute for a few minutes. Add the curry leaves and a little water, close the lid and let it cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the ground masala and salt as required to the cooking alasande/cow peas/lobia and mix well. Add a little water from the drained beans if it is getting too thick too soon. Cover the pot/pan and cook for a 2 to 4 minutes.
• Garnish with finely chopped cilantro and serve with steaming hot rice or chapati. Or let it cool and then grind it in to a fine paste to use as a dip.

Tips:

You can make Saru/Rasam from the drained water or use the water in making soups. Just store it in the refrigerator, it will keep upto seven days.

Gome, ethiopian collard greens

One more item in the Ethiopian restaurant i was talking about... It is very nutritious, so make it as much and chomp away. This recipe is made many ways, this is just one of the ways to make it. This recipe uses a spice infused clarified butter called Netir Khebbe. In case you can not make netir khebbe, i have given an alternative in tips of this recipe... check it out. Kids may eat their greens this way, try it out, you never know this could be their next favorite.

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

1. Collard/spinach or both - 1 big bunch, washed and chopped
2. Garlic - 2 pods, grated or 1 tsp paste
3. Ginger - 1 inch piece grated or 1 tsp paste
4. Onion - 1 medium sized, diced
5. Hot pepper of your choice - 1 to 2 [depending on the heat you want]
6. Netir Khebbe / oil - 2 tsp [follow the link and scroll down for recipe]
7. Salt - to taste
8. Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• On medium heat, heat a huge pot which can fit in all the ingredients. 
• Make netir khebbe and add onions, saute for a minute, add some salt and saute till it gets slightly golden brown.
• Add ginger and garlic, saute for a few seconds.
• Add the hot peppers and saute for a few seconds.
• Now add the chopped greens and saute till the wilt a little.
• Add enough salt and pepper powder and saute till it is well cooked. Gome is ready to be served on Injera

Tips:

Instead of netir khebbe, you can use 1/4 tsp of garam masala powder when the oil heats up. 

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.

Cabbage Alecha

Mouth watering mildly spiced vegetable dish from Ethiopia. This is generally made with cabbage, carrots and potato. I dropped the potato and put in seeded jalapeno, it tasted better to me. It is slightly buttery creamy vegetable with the fragrance you won't forget. A special clarified butter/ghee called "Netir Khebbe" is used in this recipe. A recipe for which i will give you along with this alecha. I made this once and wanted to eat once more so I made it the next time and the next...:D .. really love it. Hope you love it as much as i do.Alecha is milder than a wat/wot and can compliment the flavor of wot/wat. Since wat/wot is really spicy, this can bring down the pallet a notch. Make this with any of the wot/wats you are making to compliment the pallet. There are a wide array of vegetables with which you can make this Alecha, I liked this particular one a lot. You can add green beans, potatoes, peas and etc... Netir Khebbe can be used in other recipes as well like Mesir alecha and etc. I have read that, in Ethiopia, they make this spiced clarified butter in a large quantity and store it to use for many varieties of dishes. The short cut to make Netir Khebbe would be to use garam masala instead of all the spice list i have given below. I believe in knowing all the recipes, you know like, teach a person fishing, they will eat for life kind of thing. It just gives more flexibility if we learn the basics and we can also improvise when we do not have a few things on hand.

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Servings: about 4

Ingredients:

1. Cabbage - 2 cups, roughly chopped
2. Carrots - 3, peeled and roughly chopped
3. Jalapeno - 1 seeded
4. Netir Khebbe - 2 tsp, recipe below
5. Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tsp
6. All purpose flour - 1 tsp
7. water - about 3/4 cup
8. Salt - to taste

Netir khebbe:

Ingredients:

[you can use 1/2 tsp garam masala in lieu of all these spices ]

1. Clarified butter/oil - 2 tsp
2. Clove - 1 or a pinch of powder
3. Cinnamon - 2 pinches powder or a small piece
4. Cardamom - 1 pods crushed or 2 pinches of powder
5. Nutmeg - 1 pinch of ground nut meg

Method:

• Heat clarified butter or oil in a pan which can hold all the vegetables. Add all the above spices and saute for 5 seconds

Method for Cabbage Alecha:

• In the pan of netir khebbe, add ginger garlic paste and saute for a few seconds.
• Add the flour and saute till the raw smell goes away.
• Add Jalapenos and saute for a few seconds.
• Add carrots, saute for a few seconds and all enough salt for the dish, mix in well, sprinkle some water, put the lid on and let it sweat for a few minutes.
• Add cabbage, mix in well and add about 1/2 cup worth water, put the lid on and cook till all the vegetables are well cooked. Cabbage alecha is read to eat.

Serving Suggestion:

Serve it with Injera or any kind of bread. Goes well with any kind of dosa or indian roti.

Tips:

If the alecha is watery, mix 1/2 tsp of flour with 1 tsp water well and mix it into the pan cook for 2 minutes, this should take care of the runny mixture. If it is still watery, add some more flour-water mixture.

Gulpapte - a fast dessert

One of the Karnataka sweets, so easy to make and tasty to eat. It is made with two kinds of flour, ragi or whole wheat. Since whole wheat is more accessible I am posting it's recipe. Same proportions apply to ragi flour as well. Making Gulpapte with ragi flour make it a gluten free dessert. This brings back memories of my childhood at my granny's place. She used to make it and ask all of her grand kids to eat.. I never ate coz I did not like sweets as a kid. Gran used get angry on me for not tasting... :D... Me is what me is, never listened to her. Now when I have to make it to eat, I realize the value of what she used to do. Miss you gran :(... I made Gulpapte last year for the first time and never in my life I imagined liking gulpapte so much that I would repeatedly make them. My mom's favorite and dear husband loves it too so it is a double bonus... It does not have the gran's touch however has her recipe...very simple to make and will get ready in 30 minutes max!!

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Pieces: About 8

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour - 1 cup
2. Jaggery - 3/4 cup, grated
3. clarified butter/ghee - 2 tbsp[can be substituted with 1 tbsp of unsalted butter or very mild flavoured oil]
4. Water - enough to cover jaggery about 1/2 to 3/4 cup
5. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup [optional]
6. Cardamom - 2 crushed or 2 pinches of powder

Method:

• In a small pot take jaggery and water and heat till all of the jaggery dissolves.
• In another pan, heat clarified butter, add cardamom and flour. Roast till all rawness goes away. You will know when your kitchen starts smelling very fragrant.
• Now add coconut and roast for a couple of minutes.
• Add the water jaggery mixture little by little and keep mixing so that it does not form lumps. Keep doing this till all the jaggery gets well incorporated into the flour.
• Cook till the mixture leaves the pan and forms a ball when you are stirring.
• Turn the stove of, set the pan aside and let it cool to touch.
• Oil your palms lightly and roll them into lime sized balls to enjoy!

Tips:

• If you want to make it richer, add finely chopped nuts and/or raisins.
• If you want to store them for longer time, do not add coconut since it will start spoiling faster.

Set Dose, [Pressed rice pan cakes]

How can I describe the joy it gives me when I put this dose along with sagu in my mouth? The experience is much more than words. Love this soft and sweet dose. An excellent breakfast or snack. Must say, one of the best contributions of Karnataka to the cuisine world.

Prep time: 14 Hours (Includes soak and ferment time)

Cook time: about 3 minutes for each dose

Servings: upto 15 pan cakes

Ingredients:

1. Raw rice - 2 cups
2. Poha (pressed rice) - 1 cup
3. Urad dal (Split black gram) - 1 cup
4. Fenugreek  seeds - 1 tsp
5. Salt - to taste
6. Oil - enough to make the pan cakes
7. Garnish - grated carrots, finely chopped cilantro and 1 green chilly.  About half a cup.

Method:

• Wash rice, urad dal and fenugreek seeds and poha and soak them for at least 5 hours.
• Make a smooth batter in the blender, mix salt and let it ferment overnight. Consistency of the batter has to be like pan cake batter. When you dip the ladle in the batter, it must cover it fairly thickly and evenly... not too runny and not too pasty.
• Heat a tawa or a pan well and ladle out some batter, pour on the pan, slightly spread it in a circular motion and pour a few drops of oil along the sides of the dose. You will see a lot of tiny bubbles form and pop, that is a good sign and let it get brown. sprinkle grated carrots, coriander and green chillies. Flip the pan cake and roast for a few seconds. Set dose is ready to be served.

Serving suggestions:

Goes well with Sagu and kobri chutney.

Tips:

If the pan cakes keep breaking, don't worry, just sprinkle 2 tsp of rice flour in the batter and mix well, this should do the trick.

Use non-stick tawa/pan to use less oil.

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...

Azefa/Azifa [Lentil Salad]

Azefa is an Ethiopian lentil salad. It tastes out of this world and is so healthy. High in protein and high in taste. Very easy to put together and will fill you up as well. Generally Azefa is served with injera,  my bet is it just goes well with any kind of bread or just plain as a salad. Azefa stores well, so you can make it ahead of time and store it for later use. It can be had as a salad, so go ahead and carry it for picnic lunches or just lunch on a work day...It is a starter in an Ethiopian restaurant at NYC... This could be one of those recipes spinsters or bachelors may love for the ease of making it. In the picture as you can see, I have served it with Indian dosa.... Personally, it tasted better with dosa than Injera :)... By the way lentils are just toor in India, not the daal, but the whole toor. In Kannada togari kaalu.

Prep time: 15 mins [if you don't have to soak and cook lentils]

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

1. Lentils -  1 16 oz can or 1 cup (soak it for an hour and then cook it with lot of water and 1 tsp salt for 20 mins till it is well done. Do not over cook, it has to hold it's shape)
2. Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped
3. Garlic - 2 pods, grated
4. Avocado - 1, finely chopped
5. Lemon or lime juice - 1 to 2 tbsp
6. Mustard - powder 1 tsp or 1 1/2 tsp paste
7. Plain white Vinegar - 3 tsp
8. Parsley - 2 tsp dry or 3 tsp fresh, finely chopped
9. Jalapeno - 1 seeded and finely chopped
10. Oil - 2tsp
11. Salt - to taste
12. Ground black pepper - to taste

Method:

Rinse the lentils from the can after, drain them well, combine all the above ingredients in a large bowl and enjoy. If you have cooked the lentils, Drain all the water and let it cool completely before you combine it with the rest of the ingredients.

Ranch Dip

Ranch dip is a very good dressing for salads, a fab dip for chips and veggies, good for burgers and you can eat it with almost anything just like ketchup... it is creamy and yummy!! I get the low fat or fat free cream cheese to make this dip... you can use the level of fat you want to eat. If you don't get cream cheese where you live, don't worry, hang some yogurt in a muslin cloth and let it drain completely, preferably over night... you will have a product which will resemble cream cheese very closely. The rest of the ingredients are mostly available everywhere... so make and enjoy!!

Prep time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

1. Fat free cream cheese - 8ozSpring onions - 1 bunch, roughly chopped (do not use all of it, just 3/4, eliminate dark green part)
2. Garlic - 1 pods (use less if you don't like)
3. Yogurt - 2 tbsp
4. White Vinegar - 2 tsp
5. Ground Black pepper - 1/2 tsp (more if you like)
6. Lemon juice - 1 tbsp or 1/2 tbsp lime juice
7. Salt - to taste
8. Capers/kabra - 1/2 tsp (optional)
9. Parsley - 1 tsp dry 2 tsp fresh
10. Water - 1 to 2 tbsp to thin the dip if required.

Method:

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and make a smooth paste of consistency of ketchup or slightly thinner.

Tips:

To give it more flavour, you can add 1 seeded jalapeno and 1 tsp dill leaves.

To make cream cheese from yogurt. Take the yogurt put it in a muslin/cheese cloth or good quality paper towels (ones which wont tear after getting wet like bounty sheets). Tie yogurt in it, place it in a filter, the ones you use filter fruit pulp or you can use a small vessel which has holes in it. The whole idea is to drain the water oozing out of yogurt into a vessel beneath it. Place this filter on the vessel, make sure it coves the mouth of the vessel, it must not fall inside it. Place tied yogurt in the filter and put this in your refrigerator. Let it drain for atleast 8 hours.

Paneer Butter Masala [PBM]/ Indian cottage cheese in spicy tomato gravy

Here is the queen of all dishes according to me. I have always loved it with naan in dhabas and restaurants. I bet nothing can beat a road side dhaba in it's taste. As the name suggests, it is a high fat side... however, in my kitchen, most of the high fat recipes shape up to medium to low fat.  Excellent for parties and to take to lunch. Goes well with roti, chapati and naan. My guess is it will also go well as a dip for pita bread and usual bread... try it, who knows, you may discover a new way to eat this dish. Here goes the recipe.

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Servings: 6 to 8

Ingredients:

1. Indian cottage cheeses/Paneer - 80oz/250 grams (chopped into small cubes and fried)
2. Onion - 1 medium sized, roughly chopped
3. Garlic - 2 pods or 1 tsp paste
4. Ginger - 1 inch roughly chopped piece or 1 tsp paste
5. Cashew - 4 to 5 pods
6. Tomato paste - 2  tbsp (6 oz can), 1/2 to 1 cup puree or 3 to 4 whole tomatoes
7. Garam masala powder- 1 to 2 tsp (depending on the spiciness you desire)
8. Coriander powder - 2 tsp
9. Cuminn powder - 1 tsp
10. Chilli powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp (according to taste)
11. Dry fenugreek leaves / Kasuri methi - 1 tsp
    
12. Salt - to taste
13. Milk - 3 to 4 tbsp
14. Butter - 2 tsp
15. Oil - 2 tbsp
16. Water - enough to make a runny paste of masala and to thin out the gravy to desired consistency
    
17. Fresh coriander leaves - 1 tbsp for garnish

Method:

• In a blender jar, make a paste of onions, gineger, garlic and cashew by adding very little water.
• Heat oil in a nonstick pot on medium heat and add the onion paste plus a pinch of salt and let it get slightly brown.
• in a bowl, take tomato paste and thin it out to consistency slightly watery than puree. If you use puree skip this process. If you use whole tomatoes, blend them in the blender without using water or as little water as possible and set aside.
• When the onion paste seems to get slightly brown, add the tomato puree and let it cook for a minute. 
• While the tomato puree is cooking, in a bowl, add garam masala, coriander, chilli, cumin powders, dry fenugreek leaves and add water to make a runny paste. Add this paste to the tomato cooking tomato puree and let it cook for 2 minutes or till it starts smelling aromatic.  If you think the mixture is getting too thick, add water to thin it down as much as you desire. Keep in mind, the gravy should not go thinner than tomato puree consistency.
• Add desired amount of salt at this point, stir in to mix all the ingredients. 
• Add fried paneer cubes to the gravy and cook for 5 minutes or till the paneer pieces absorb the gravy.
• Add milk and stir in to mix it. Adding milk gives a creamy texture without adding too much butter. 
• Now add butter and stir it in. You can save a small piece of butter and let it afloat when you serve.
• Transfer it into a serving container, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with hot bread.
  

Serving Suggestions:

Along with any kind of bread, serve a few lime wedges and sliced onion...Let your guests squeeze the lime to their PBM and after they put the roti and PBM in their mouth let them take a bite of an onion slice... you will see how much they will love it. Some serve very mild green chillies too... yummm.

Tips:

You can make this ahead of time for parties and heat it up the next day. If you refrigerate, it will absorb more Flavour.

To fry paneer cubes, Heat 2 tbsp oil in a big skillet, add these paneer pieces and saute them till they become golden brown on two sides atleast. You can also rub 1 tbsp oil on them and arrange them on a cookie sheet and bake the at 350F for 15 minutes on each side or till they become brown on both sides.