Pasta Pimento / Pasta With Red Bell Pepper Sauce

Last week in one of my conversations with my sister, she mentioned that she was bored with the food that she prepares. She attributed it to the use of the same old masala or spices. For dinner that evening she wanted me to give her a new recipe for pasta, something that tasted different from what she makes with the ingredients she had in her kitchen. Off my mind I asked her to make the pasta I have posted below without having prepared it myself. That day I ended up making the pasta for dinner,while she made Indian food. My take on this recipe is that it tasted a little like bell pepper chutney with an Italian twist. Recording this recipe for my sister to prepare when she wants to.This is also an entry to Cooking with Pasta event hosted by Sowmya of Creative Saga.

Gadgets:

Food Processor
Stock Pot
Cutting Board
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Knife
Cooking Pan

Ingredients:

Tomatoes - 4
Red bell pepper - 2
Red Onion - 1
Garlic - 5 cloves
Basil - 1 tbsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 pinch
Penne Pasta - 1 1/2 cups
Water - For boiling pasta




Preparation:

1. In a stock pot bring water to boil with some salt. Add pasta and allow to cook (8-10 minutes)

2. On a heated cooking pan add garlic, onion and salt. Allow the onions to get cooked. Add Bell pepper and tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes.

3. Blend in the food processor along with some milk. The sauce must not be smooth but a little coarse.

4. Pour the sauce back in the pan, add basil, pepper, chilli powder and sugar. Allow to simmer for 4 minutes.

5. Drain the Penne Pasta and add to this sauce. Mix well and allow to sit in the pan for a few minutes. Check for salt and serve it hot with grilled asparagus, grilled zucchini and garlic toast.

Pinto Bean Soup

Pinto beans is very commonly used in the Mexican cuisine. It is now my go to bean for preparing bean soup because it is super easy to cook. Once, trying to make some beans for burritos, I accidentally added a lot more water and ended up creating a soup out of it. Since then, I have been making it more often and is very popular among people who have tasted it. As for me,apart from the taste I like to cook with pinto because of its texture when it is pressure cooked. Most beans require a lot of  soaking before they can be used for cooking but, this one needs no soaking. Pressure cooking it on high and low heat creates the prefect beans that could be used not only for soups but  also in  other recipes that require pinto beans, I would opt for pressure cooked beans verses a store bought can of pinto beans any time. An entry to Anita's Vegetable Marathon-Beans.

Gadgets:

Pressure Pan /Cooker

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Cutting Board

Knife

Heavy bottom Pan

Ingredients: Recipe for 12 cups of soup 

Pinto Beans - 2 cups

Leaks - 1

Green Onions - 1 cup

Garlic - 5 cloves

Ginger - 2 inches grated

Red Bell Pepper - 1 large chopped

Tomato Paste - 2 tbsp

Cilantro - 1 cup chopped

Chilpotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce - 2 chopped

Cumin Powder - 2 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Butter - 1 tbsp

Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. In a pressure pan add the beans salt, red pepper and 10 cups of water.

2. On a heated pan add oil and butter together. Add garlic, green onions, leeks and ginger with some salt. Cook until the onions turn transparent.

3. Add cumin, tomato paste chilpotle pepper, black pepper and cumin and cook for 3 minutes.

4. Add this mixture to the pressure cooker and add cilantro.

5. Pressure cook on high for 3 whistles, on medium high for 3 whistles, on medium for 2 whistles and on low for 2 whistles. Allow the pressure to release, mix and serve them hot. 

Methi Paratha On The Go

All I know of methi paratha is what my friend's mom Ila Aunty used to make for us in her kitchen.The perfect balance of spice, salt and sweet. Its been years since I have had something some like that. Every time we wanted to indulge in some methi paratha we used to buy the ready made ones from the Indian store.Generally, at the grocery store I have always passed on the methi leaves because I have never enjoyed the process of prepping the leaves. A few days ago I was at the new International grocery store Laloush on Poway Road in San Diego asking for curry leaves. The helper got me 2 bunches of very fresh methi leaves thinking they were curry leaves. I had a hard time to refuse them and I ended up buying them. I looked at it in my fridge for 2 weeks and finally made methi paratha. Since I had no clue as to what Ila Aunty added in her paratha. I played around with some sugar, salt and chilli powder and somewhere I found the balance for a sweet, salty and spicy pratha. Here is for memories sack my version of Thepla or Methi Paratha. Harry, my biggest critic and fan here is the paratha I promised to post. My entry to Me and My Kitchens' s EFM event: Paratha and Gravies

Gadgets:

Bowl

Measuring spoons and cups

Bowl

Rolling pin

Thava or griddle

Ingredients:

Wheat flour/ Atta - 2 1/2 cups

Chilli Powder - 2 1/2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 1/2 tsp

Salt- 1 1/2 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Water enough to make a lightly sticky dough- 1 cup + 1 tsp

Methi Leaves - 1 bundles ( 2 cup )

Preparation: Makes 14 paratha's

1. In a bowl add the flour and the powders, salt and sugar and mix well.

2. Add the oil to the flour mix well to distribute evenly Then add the methi leaves and mix with flour well.

3. Add water and mix well to make a dough. Cover and set the dough aside for 5 - 10 minutes.

4. Taking 1/2 a gold ball size dough dab it in flour and roll it out thin dabbing a little flour to stop sticking when needed.

5. Make 8 inch circles and put it on the tava which has been heated on little over medium heat.

6. Cook until the bubbles start to form and flip the paratha over and cook on the reverse side.

7. Apply some(1 tsp) oil on both side and cook on both sides, remove and store in a covered box. This keeps the methi paratha soft. Best with pickle and yogurt.

Fresh Pink Orange Juice and Creation Of MFF Event

Two week ago at Henry's Market Place they were selling different types of oranges. One section of the store looked orange and was so beautiful. I was soon drawn to the bins and I was amazed to see so many varieties of oranges there.Navel,Valencia,Tangerine,Cuties or Clementines(kamala orange), Satsuma's (a.k.a loose jacket in India), Blood or Red and Cara Cara or pink oranges were heaped up in bins. All of them were California grown and had their own characteristics. Oranges are available through out the year that, when one variety goes out of season another is in season and thus we are endowed with a bounty of this vitamin C rich fruit.

Navel Oranges are commonly available in most stores. They are seedless, sweet, peel into segments easily and perfect for eating. The perfect time to buy them are from November through May.

Valencia Oranges are good for juices and they may contain some seeds. They are thin skinned and sweet are in season from Febuary to October.

Tangerine Oranges are commonly used in desserts, salads and main dishes. They are easy to peel and can be eaten easily. They have a sour taste. They are in season from November to April.

Cuties or Clementines are very small in size with a glossy skin and are seedless. They can be easily peeled and are available from November to January. They are referred to as seedless tangerines.

Sutsuma's (loose jacket) belong to the tangerine family. The fruit is sweet and seedless. They are largely grown in Japan.

Blood Oranges are very beautiful to look at, they have a red to dark maroon interior due to the pigment anthocyanin. This makes the fruit rich in antioxidants. They have some seeds and are very sweet. They are great in salads, juice or roasted. They are in season between January - April.

Cara Cara Oranges are a navel orange look alike but they have a pink exterior. They are very sweet and have a cranberry tangy taste to them. They are grown in California and are great additions to any cocktails, salad dressings and juices. In season between January - April.

The oranges were so tempting and I had to buy some Naval, Tangerines, Cuties and Cara Cara oranges from Henry's. We enjoyed Cuties and Tangerines as healthy snack on Saturday afternoon and made juice out of Naval and Cara Cara oranges for breakfast on Sunday. The color of the two juices very so vibrant that I had to take a click of them to share with you all. I closed my eyes and tried to taste the two juices. I felt I liked the pink orange juice a tiny bit more than the naval orange juice. If you come across red or pink oranges at your local stores please do pick them up and enjoy them. Pink or Cara Cara Oranges are My Food Finds for the week.

This gave me an idea to invite all bloggers and non bloggers to share with the rest of us some new fruit, vegetable, some store bought product that you find interesting, which you think makes life easy for you in the kitchen. Please create some thing out of your food find and blog. For example, sometimes we can find sauces that help in reducing the cooking time, powders that create magic flavor to the dish or some fruit or vegetable that goes unnoticed. I would encourage all to take a look at all those great things out there and share it with the rest of us who are not aware of it. Today marks the birth of My Food Finds Event. I hope this event helps everyone and make a difference to your cooking styles.


The rules are as follows:

1. When you find a special item(that is not a main stream product) for example:spices, products,fruits, veggies, nuts etc mention the product, its manufacture, where it is available
(stores, country, states etc), why the product is useful in your everyday food creation, pictures of the product if you have and post. Apart from food please do send in any appliances, gadgets, small tools, anything that aids the chef in you.

2. This is an on going event as we will always find something new in the market. I will however, post a round up every month.

3. Please mention MFF: The Month that you are blogging (e.g:March) in your post and link to this page.

4. Email me at foody.guru@gmail.com with MFF: The Name of Month in the subject along with the following info:
Your Name:
Your Blog Name:
Your Blog URL:
Your Food Find:
Recipe With Food Find:
URL of Recipe:
Picture of Recipe and Ingredient:





Gadgets:

Glasses
Orange Juice Maker

Ingredients: For 2 cups of pink and 2 cups of navel oranges

Cara Cara/ Pink Orange - 4
Navel Orange - 4

Preparation:

1. Cut all the oranges in half (around the middle) and using the juicer make the juice and serve it fresh.

This is my entry to Mashuri's Cookcurrynook's Summer Smoothi's Event

TIP:

If you buy cuties, tangerines taste very sour allow it to sit on your kitchen counter for 2 to 3 weeks. The same can be done to any orange that you want to juice. It will taste sweeter so don't through them away.

Hot Cross Buns!

Hot cross buns!

Hot cross buns!
One ha' penny, two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns!

Every time I think hot cross buns, I am reminded of this nursery rhyme.Well, I have never tasted them or seen them until I peeked into this book my friend Dhanu gifted me. It had hot cross buns recipe which got me very excited. I wanted to taste them for the nursery rhyme sakes.The photos in the Home Baking book looked mouth watering. I changed the recipe a bit and substituted all purpose flour and whole wheat white flour for bread flour as my pantry was not stocked with bread flour. When the buns came out of the oven they looked and tasted good.To me it tasted like raisin cinnamon bread. What my daughter and I liked most in the bun was the cross on top. Its texture was so flaky and buttery.This is my entry to Tangerine Kitchen's Bread Baking Day:Bread Buns Event, Yeast spotting Event hosted by Wild Yeast and BangalorBaker's Baked Foods Event.

Gadgets:

Cookie baking tray

Bowls

Dough hook attached electric mixer or use your hands

Spatula

Pastry brush

Cutting board

Lemon zester

Ingredients: Makes 12 hot cross buns:

Dry Ingredients:

Whole Wheat White Flour - 2 cups

All Purpose Flour - 2

Salt - 1/2 tsp

All Spice Powder - 2 tsp

Nutmeg Powder - 1 tsp

Cinnamon Powder - 1 tsp

Active Dry Yeast - 2 1/2 tsp

Browned Cane Sugar - 1/2 cup

Zest of lemon - 1 whole lemon

Currants - 1 cup

Candied fruit - 1/2 cup

Wet Ingredients:

Egg - 1

Milk - 1 cup

Butter - 6 tbsp

Oil -1 tbsp

Cross Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour - 6 tbsp

Butter - 2 tbsp

Cold Water - 1 tbsp

Glaze Ingredients:

Milk - 3 tbsp

Browned Cane sugar - 3 tbsp

Preparation:

1. In a big bowl add all the dry ingredients and mix well to mix the spices well.

2. Melt the butter, warm the milk to room temperature. Mix this together and add eggs and beat well. Add to dry ingredients.

3. Attach a dough hook to the electric mixer and knead the dough for 5 minutes.

4. Place in a oiled bowl cover and allow for the double itself. About 2 hrs.

5. Transfer the dough into a work surface, divide the dough into 12 parts and shape them into balls.

6. Make the cross dough by mixing the ingredients. Divide them into 4 parts. Roll each into a rope and make crosses over the buns.

7. Mix the glaze mixture and brush the buns and crosses and place in an oiled cookie tray and bake at 435 degree for 15-20 minutes. The top of the buns must be brown. If you have not achieved brush the buns with the glaze again and put it back for a minute or two in the oven. That should do the trick. Enjoy hot cross buns with butter or jam/jelly.

Thenga Thogayal/Coconut Coarse Chutney

When I started typing the title for this post, I was wondering what classifies something as thogayal. It appears to be like a regular chutney, so then how does one know the difference. Looking though a bunch of blogs here is what I found. It is very traditional to Tamil cuisine and is usually eaten mixed with rice. The very characteristic of thogayal is that, it has a coarse texture and is not very smooth as a chutney. Thogayal can be made with coconut, dhals and vegetables. When made with vegetables it has more water content than with coconut or dhal. It can get a little dry sometimes and to balance that dryness it is served with kootu, Kozhambu, pachidi, rasam or curd rice. The best kind of vegetable that goes with thogayal are those that can be roasted well like Eggplant, Okra, Snake gourd(Podalanga), Potato, (Cluster Beans)Kothavaranga etc. The texture of the thogayal is greatly influenced by the method one chooses to grind. According to my Appa, a blender, mixie or food processors can produce good thogayal but using a grinding stone(ammi) the texture and taste totally becomes divine.

Gadgets:

Blender/Mixie/Food Processor

Measuring cups and spoons

Wok

Ingredients:

Grated coconut - 1 half or 1 1/2 cups

Red chilli - 3

Asafotida - a few shakes

Thoor Dhal - 1/4 cup

Udad Dhal - 1/4 cup

Oil - 2 tsp

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Salt

Tamarind water - 1 tbsp ( soak a dime size tamarind in water and add the thick juice)

Water - 1/4 cup ( depends on the moisture in the coconut)

Preparation:

1. Heat the wok with oil. Add asafoetida, mustard seeds. Wait for the mustard seeds to pop. Add dry chilli, udad and thoor dhal and roast until the dhal turns golden. Remove from flame and allow to cool.

2. Add grated coconut to the above mix along with the tamarind juice and grind into a coarse paste and serve with hot rice, appalam , potato roast and kozhambu.

Falafel Sandwich

Falafel is very similar to masal vadai that we make in south India. The key ingredient in it is garbanzo beans while vadai is made with Channa dhal. So technically it cannot be that hard to make falafel having made vadai's a zillion times, right? Well, that is what I thought last Friday while I was preparing my nephew's birthday dinner on the Mediterranean theme. I had no clue as to what went wrong with my falfafel making process. As per the recipe, I deep fried the dough which disintegrated and left me with sediments in the frying pan. Disappointed with that outcome I went to plan B and used the appam pan thinking that it would work. That back fired big time. It was super sticky in my nonstick appam pan and started to partially disintegrate. Furthermore, I could not get it out in a decent shape. Looking at the big bowl of falafal mix ,I was left with no other option but to make patties with it and bake. I was comfortable with the baked falafel because I have made them before and it was good and healthy. Just then, I called my sister and my brother-in-law picked up the phone. I mentioned to him that I was baking falafel. He told me that it would not have the same taste or crunch as the fried ones and suggested that I fry the baked ones. So I was back to square one, taking his advice I deep fried the baked falafel. The result, some tasty, crunchy, nicely cooked and perfect looking falafels. One thing I learnt out of all this mishaps is that, if you bake and fry it takes very little oil.

Gadgets:

Food processor
Measuring cups and spoons
Bowl
Pan to fry
Spatula
Baking tray
Colander
Cutting board
Knife
Plate
Oven


Ingredients:

For Falafel:

Garbanzo beans - 2 cups pressure cooked.
Red Onions - 1 small
Garlic - 5 cloves
Mint - 1/2 cup
Parsley - 1/2 cup
Cilantro - 1/2 cup
Salt
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Cumin Powder - 2 tsp
Bread crumbs - 1 slice of bread
Rava/Cream of Wheat/Semolina - 2 tbsp
Oil - for deep frying and prepping the baking tray

For Sandwich:

Pita bread
Mediterranean Cucumber - 3 thinly sliced
Olives - 1 cup sliced
Onions -1/2 thinly julienned
Olive Oil - 2 tsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp
Tahini yogurt Sauce - 1 cup
Hummus - 1 cup
Feta Cheese - 1/2 cup crumbled.




Preparation:

1. Add all the above ingredients in a food processor and blend with adding water into a coarse mix.

2. Make flat patties(like tikkies) and place them on a oiled cookie sheet. Set the oven to 375 degrees F and bake them on each side for 15 minutes.

3. Heat the frying pan with oil on medium heat. Fry the falafel and place them on a paper towel to remove excess oil. (Did not find any)

Assembly of the Falafel Sandwich:

Before assembling the sandwich make the salad by add the sliced veggies to a bowl. Sprinkle some extra virgin olive oil and adding some pepper. Crumbling some feat cheese and giving it a toss.



1. Take a pita bread and warm it for 20 seconds in the microwave. Place it on a plate. Spread 1 tbsp of hummus over the full pita.

2.Spread 1 tbsp of the yogurt sauce on top f the hummus.

6. Add the salad on one side of the pita and top it with 3 falafel. Fold the pita and serve it with some couscous salad on the side.

Karadai for Nombu ( Festival Series)

Karadai Nombu is a ritual that is of great significance to married women in South India. As legend has it, Savitri with her great devotion was able to win back her dead husband's life. She made sweet, (kara) spicy adai and offered with butter (not melted) for the well being and long life of her husband. The recipe posted below is one that my sister shared with me after I got married. It is fool proof and makes 12 sweet and 12 salty karadai's.

Gadgets:

Rice cooker
Idli Plates
Sauce pan
Wok or heavy bottom pan - 2
Cutting Board
Knife
Measuring Cups
Paper towel
Bowl

Ingredients:

Long grain rice - 1 cup roasted until it turns white.
Green Chilli - 1 sliced
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - a few shakes

Curry leaves - a few

Cilantro- a few strands chopped
Karamani - 2 tbsp (soaked and cooked)
Salt to taste
Jaggery -1 cup ( use round darker color jaggery and please check the sweetness of jaggery.If not too sweet add 1/4 cup more)
Cardamon - 1 pod powdered
Coconut - 1/4 cup grated
Oil - 2 tsp ( 1 tsp for seasoning and 1 tsp for prepping the idli plates)
Water 2 cups for cooking the karadai and 1/2 cup water to melt the jaggery




Preparation:

1. Roast the rice and powder the rice. Divide the rice flour equally.

2. Add jaggery to 1/2 cup hot water and melt the jaggery.Boil 1 cup of water add 1/2 cup of rice flour and cook it until the water almost starts to disappear ( less than 2 minutes). Strain to remove any stones in the bottom.Start adding jaggery water and cook it to reach a uppuma consistency. Add coconut, cardamon and karamani. Cover and set aside.

3. Heat the pan. Add oil, mustard seeds and green chillis. When the mustard seeds pops add 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil. Add salt, karamani and 1/2 cup rice flour and cook it until it forms a dough. Add coconut, curry leaves and cilantro mix well and set aside.

4. Spread oil on the idli plates. Pour 1 cup of water into the rice cooker and turn it on.

5. Wet your hand with some water and oil. Taking a lime size of dough pat it to form thin patties and make a hole in the center and place it on the idli plate.

6. Place the set of idli plates in the rice cooker and steam cook it. ( I am hoping your rice cooker is big enough to hold the idli plate else use your idli cooker/pressure cooker.)

7. The color of both the sweet and salt karadai will look a little pale when cooked( 10 minutes).

8. Remove from the idli plate and allow to cool on a plate. Serve with unsalted butter.

Seasoned Couscous Salad

Last night I made some Mediterranean food for my nephew's birthday. Couscous salad was one of the items on my menu.Though it takes less than 10 minutes to prepare this salad, one has to take a few things into account before preparing the salad.The most important ingredient being couscous. I realized awhile ago that it is very crucial to smell the couscous before deciding to cook with it. It can have a very bad stale smell and in the end mess up the whole salad. I have been there and done that. It took me a while to fix the salad by adding lots of mint and cilantro. Almost made me not to work with couscous again. So to make your life simple, please do smell it and then proceed with my recipe. My entry as promised to Usha's Healthy Inspirations : Salad Event

Gadgets:

Bowl

Kettle

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Cutting Board

Knife

Pan

Ingredients:

Couscous - 1 cup

Hot water - 3/4 cup

Vegetable Broth - 1 packet from Trader Joe's

Salt

Pepper - 1/2 tsp or more for extra spice

Green Onions - 6 finely chopped

Roma or Cherry Tomato - 2 finely chopped

Cumin Powder - 2 tsp

Lime Juice - Juice of 1 whole lime

Garlic - 6 cloves finely chopped

Oil - 1 tbsp

Flat leaf Parsley - 1/4 cup finely chopped

Cilantro - 1/4 cup

Mint - 1/4 cup

Dry Cranberries - 1/2 cup( optional)

Raisins - 1/4 cup(optional)

Preparation:

1. Add couscous to a bowl and cover it with hot water. Add one packet of vegetable broth to it. Cover and let it sit for 7 -10 minutes.

2. Heat the pan with olive oil and add garlic,green onions and salt. Cook until it becomes soft.

3. When the couscous is done ( all the liquid would be absorbed and will appear fluffy). Use the fork and fluff it up.

4. Add salt, pepper, lime juice, cumin powder, cooked green onions, chopped tomatoes and the herbs and toss it well. Check for salt etc and then add dry fruits and serve with any meal.

White Chocolate Ricotta Mousse In Minutes

Sure, the title sounds very cool and so was the mousse. It all began this morning when I was pondering as to what I can make for dessert. I had a bunch of constraints: I was requested to prepare something pudding/mousse type of dessert. I was thinking of the recipe which Rachel Ray made some years ago for valentines day. Looking into my fridge I realized I was out of eggs and whipped cream but found some ricotta cheese. Rachel's recipe required eggs to make it all smooth and fluffy. I was also out of semi sweet chocolate but found some white chocolate chips. I decided to use them and came up with the recipe.

Gadgets:

Food processor

Bowl

Saucepan

Spatula

Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

White chocolate chips - 1/2 cup

Ricotta cheese - 15 oz

Vanilla essence - 1 tbsp

Butter - 1 tbsp

Whipped Cream - 1/2 cup ( makes it extra special, but will be fine otherwise)

Preparation:

1. Melt the white chocolate with 1 tbsp butter.

2. Mix in the ricotta cheese and vanilla essence and transfer into the food processor.

3. Blend until smooth and transfer into serving cups.

P.S: I think 1/4th cup or 3 tbsp is the best serving size for the mousse. Also folding in 1/2 cup whipped cream would make it perfect.

Eggplant rolls for TBMMC

It has been a while since I had blogged for "This Book Makes Me Cook(TBMMC)" blog event. I promised myself the all of last year that I would do so the next month but never came close to picking a book to read or get inspired by it. Under The Tuscan Sun is the book of the month. I enjoyed the book but I must confess that I had watched the movie some years ago and liked it a lot. It was one of those movies that ends making you feel good. For once a movie inspired me to read the book. I had only read a few pages before I hit the recipe pages. Eggplant rolls was what I was inspired to make. It was easy to prepare and highly rated by my family. Next time you are in the mood to prepare Italian food please give this one a try. An apt entry to the Vegetable Marathon event hosted by Anita's Kitchen.



Gadgets:

Baking dish

Grill Pan

Bowl

Measuring Cup and Spoon

Cutting Board

Knife

Oven

Colander

Ingredients:

Ricotta Cheese - 15 oz

Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Sun Dried tomatoes chopped - 1/4 cup

Basil - 1 tsp

Garlic Powder - 1 tsp

Salt

Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Japanese Eggplant - 4

Oil - 1/4 cup (for grilling)

Marinara sauce - 1 bottle ( I used store bought brand)

Mozzarella Cheese - 3/4 th cup

Preparation:

1. Slice eggplant 1/4th inch slices length wise and season with salt and place it in the colander for excess liquid to drain for 20 to 30 minutes.

2. Mix the ricotta, chilli, garlic and pepper powder, salt, basil and sun dried tomatoes in a bowl.

3. Heat the grill pan and spray the oil before placing slices of eggplant. Allow grill marks to appear before they eggplant is flipped.

4. Spread 1/2 cup of marinara sauce in a rectangle baking pan.

5. Take each slice of grilled eggplant and spread 1 tbsp or so of the cheese mixture and roll it up.

6. Place the open side down on the baking pan.

7. Once all have been rolled add 1/2 cup of the sauce on top of the eggplant and add the cheese.

8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degree F for 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes.

9. Serve with pasta, salad and bread - a perfect Italian dinner and feel you are in Tuscany.

Sabudana Kichidi

I love anything made with Sabudana be it Kheer/ Payasum . The fluffy texture and its pretty beaded appearance makes it enjoyable to eat and easy on the eye. For some reason I always felt it to be a little tricky when it came to using this ingredient. Soaking it in the right amount of water over 12 hours I think makes it fluff to the right texture. The addition of peanuts takes it to the next level and has made it one of my favorite tiffin items to prepare. It was not until I tasted my friend Dhanu's mothers sabudana kichidi, that I was completely hooked. I had to ask Dhanu for the recipe and and see if I could recreate the taste. Well, I think I like what I made and decided to share it. For those who are not aware of sabudana kichidi, please do try it. I am sure you will not regret it.

Gadgets:

Heavy Wok/ Kadai

Bowl

Spatula

Cutting Board

Knife

Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

Sabudana - 1 cup (use the white one verses the pale one)

Water - Just enough to cover the sabudana

Roasted Peanuts - 1 cup chopped roughly into small pieces.

Green Chillis - 2

Potato - 1 cut thinly into small pieces

Cumin - 1 tsp

Ghee/ Browned Butter - 1 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon juice

Salt

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Cilantro for garnish (optional)

Preparation:

1. Soak the sabudana in water over night ( 12 hrs). The water must cover it enough for it to fluff up.

2. Heat the wok and add ghee and oil.

3. Add jeera, green chillis and potatoes

4. Cook until the potatoes roast well.

5. Add sabudana ,lemon juice, salt, sugar and roasted peanuts.

6. Mix well and cover and cook on low flame.

7. Garnish with cilantro and serve it hot.