Few Minute Wonders

It was a crazy day during the championship games. We ended up making a bunch of dips to enjoy the game. It was such a breeze to make it and was done in 2 minutes. I had an idea for the recipe when I was getting ready for the game. Texture I thought was very important in the dip and so the addition of fried onions and sun dried tomatoes were perfect. The spices were all from my sisters pantry. The dip was very popular and I thought it would be great to share this as a video which my nephew put together. If you are getting ready for the super bowl party, this one will be a crowd pleaser.

Gadgets:

Bowl
Measuring Cup and Spoons
Cutting Board
Knife

Ingredients:

Sour Cream - 15 oz
Honey - 1 tsp
Fried Onion - 3/4 cup
Garlic Powder - 1 tsp
Pepper Flakes - 1 tsp
Rosemary - 1/2 tsp
Basil Paste - 1 tsp
Salt
Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Sun Dried Tomatoes soaked in oil - 2 tbsp chopped

Preparation:

1. In a bowl add the sour cream, followed by the rest of the ingredients, give it a mix and serve it with chips, sweet peppers, crackers.

My Amma is in town and that means, very sathu ( healthy) food will be served. Amma loves anything that is good for health. She will relish it and sometimes, makes one wonder if it is really that good. Last week, I got into the frame of enjoying sundakkai vathal with curd rice. Amma kept telling me it was so good for the body. As I was relishing the salty sundaika balls, I kept thinking that it would taste better if it was spicy. So the idea of the thogayal was born. This morning I made the sundakkai thogayal which I think can be enjoyed with plain rice or curd rice. You will not taste the bitterness of the vathal.

Just had it spread on toast for breakfast. Its awesome!

Gadgets:

Measuring cups and Spoons

Blender

Wok

Spatula

Ingredients:

Sudakkai Vathal ( already fried ) - 1/2 cup

Udad Dhal - 1 1/2 Tbsp

Channa Dhal - 1 1/2 Tbsp

Tamarind - small lemon size

Red Chillies - 3

Black Pepper - 1 1/2 tbsp

Water - Just enough to make a thick paste

No Salt

Oil - 2 Tbsps

Asafoetida - as big as 2 sundaikka's

Jaggery - 1/4 tsp

Preparation:

1. Heat the oil in the wok. Add asafetida and fry it. Add udad and channa dhal, red chillies, pepper and roast it until it is golden brown.

2. Add this to the blender along with the already fried sundakkai vathal, Jaggery and tamarind.

3. Blend all of this dry first. Then add some water to make it into a thick chutney or paste.

4. Transfer into a glass container and store them in the fridge and enjoy with hot rice or curd rice.

Every Friday, this is what we make at home. Salsa! as a part of junk night. My family and I enjoy the salsa from the farmers market and we secretly want to recreate the flavors and taste, like the farmers wife. In our various experiments we liked using the food processor to make the salsa to get the perfect texture. My nephew wanted to shoot his video of the salsa making process and we made our second video this weekend. Sometimes, it is hard to do video blogging because, by the time the salsa is prepared, there are a zillion people trying to taste it and we had to shoo everyone away to click some photos. It was a lot of fun working with my nephew who is full of ideas.

Gadgets:

Cutting Board
Knife
Food Processor
Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

Cherry Tomato -1 tub
Garlic - 4 pods
White Onions - 1/2 medium
Jalapeno and Serrano Chillies - 1 each
Honey - 1 tsp
Salt
Cilantro - 1/4 of a bunch with stock ( adjust this if you are not fond of cilantro)
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. In a food processor add tomatoes, chillies, garlic and give it a few buzz's in the food processor.

2. Add the onions, salt, cilantro, ( I like to add the stock of the cilantro because it gives a lot of flavor and my family loves cilantro) honey( smear the tsp with some oil before adding honey, it will come off clean), lemon juice and give it a buzz.

3. Serve with chips.

In the south, we have traditions for each family to follow in the tamil month of Thai and Adai. Each family, on one of the four Fridays of the month (Thai) or ( Adai) will light a lamp made with flour and ghee to their family god and goddesses. Later the flour is mixed with the ghee, coconut and made into ladoos, to be distributed to family and friends. This is popularly known as Maa (flour) Vilakku ( lamp). To keep up with the traditions, I offered maa vilakku on Friday as it was Thai ( Jan 15th - Feb 15th) Velli ( Friday).

Gadgets:

Plate

Measuring Cup and spoons

Wick

Matchbox
Bowl

Ingredients:

Makes 12 portions

Rice Flour - 1 cup

Powdered Jaggery or Brown Sugar - 1 cup ( makes it very sweet)

Cardamom Pods - 5 ( powdered)

Ghee - 1/4 cup melted

Fresh Coconut - 3 tbsps

Preparation:

1. Measure the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and make 2 equal heals of the dry mix on the plate.

2. Make a small well in the center of each heap with the fore finger.

3. Place the cotton wick and cover the well with melted ghee. Light the lamp and add ghee as required for the lamp to keep burning for some time.

4. Once the lamp put itself out. Remove the blackened wick and mix the ghee that is soaked in the flour along with the coconut.
Make a stiff dough and make into ladoos.

I am very excited to post my first you tube video, that my little nephew made for me last year. He is very passionate about making movies and you can find him with his little camera walking around the house like a director/ camera man making his movies. For months we have discussed about making food videos for my blog and at last we got a chance to make one. This is a recipe that I found in Mario Batali's book that we made for my sister's birthday. By using gluten free pasta, we made this allergy free. It was a big hit and what I liked about this recipe is that we could use regular veggies in pasta preparation. This allows our kids to eat pasta and veggies. Thank you Mario!

Ingredients:

Yellow Cauliflower - an whole one

Butter - 4 tbsp

Onions - 1 Medium

Garlic - 3 cloves

Crushed Peppers - 1 tsp

Water - 1 cup

Pasta Water - 1 cup or more to make a sauce

Salt

The chutney that is super popular in our family is the almond chutney. My sister Sowmya, had asked me to try it some months ago, and at last I decided to try the few minute wonder chutney. It was so perfect with any tiffin types ( upma, idli, dosai, adai etc) and has now become a staple in my household. Takes less than 5 minutes for me to prepare and it totally replaces coconut chutney. In fact, I start to grind the chutney after I place the idli or upma on the plate. Truly, a few minute wonder that I enjoy these days.

Gadgets:

Blender
Measuring Cup

Ingredients:

Almonds with skin - 1 cup
Green Chillies - 1 or 2
Garlic - a pinch
Salt
Warm Water - 1/2 cup

Preparation:

1. Place all the ingredients in the blender and blend into a thick chutney.

2. Check for salt and serve it with idli,

I had some pomegranates sitting on my kitchen shelf and I finally got around to cutting them open. What I found was ruby like seeds inside it. They tasted very sweet and looked very red. I thought of adding it to yogurt and serve it as a raita for lunch. The sweet tart taste from the pomegranate along with the yogurt and salt creates a very interesting texture and taste. Next time you want to try a new raita, try this one for sure.

Gadgets:

Cutting Board

Knife

Bowl

Measuring Cup and Spoon

Ingredients:

Pomegranate Arils - 1 cup

Yogurt - 1 1/2 cups

Salt

Cilantro - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Mix the yogurt in a bowl with some salt. Add the promogranate into it and mix well and serve.

Since we had family visiting us over the holidays, we decided to make something special for lunch. There was a great demand for paneer based side dish and so we made butter paneer masala. Most of the time, I make nut free side dishes as there is always allergy problems among people these days. But, this time I decided to indulge in nuts and recreate the side dish that most people love. Some months ago I had bookmarked Chef Harpal Singh's recipe. It resulted in a resturant style paneer butter masala for sure. The three quarts of silky, rich paneer butter masala soon disappeared and was a big hit.

Gadgets:

Stock Pot
Spatula
Cutting Board
Knife
Measuring Cup and Spoon
Blender

Ingredients:

Ripe Tomatoes - 1 box of grape wine from Costco ( about 13-15 tomatoes) cut into chunks
Paneer - 2 Pack from Costco
Red Onion - 3 medium cut into chunks
Salt
Garlic - 1 tbsp paste
Ginger - 1 tbsp paste
Green Cardamom - 4 pods powdered
Kashmiri Chilli Powder - 1/2 - 1 tsp
Fenugreek Leaves - 1 tbsp lightly warmed in a pan and powdered
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Cashew Nut - 1/2 cup
Butter - 4 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp plus 2 tbsp
Fresh Cream - 1/2 cup

Preparation:

1. On high flame cook tomatoes and onions.

2. Add 1/2 cup of cashew nuts and cook until they get soft.

3. Make a smooth puree of the onion tomato cashew mix. Strain the puree and set them aside.

4. Add 4 tbsp of butter and oil into the stock pot. Add ginger and garlic and cook until the raw smell leaves. Add Kashmiri chilli powder and cook it for a few seconds.

5. Add the puree to the mix and simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt cover and cook.

6. Add fenugreek leaves ( kasturi methi), 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp garam masala and paneer cubed. Allow it to cook for a few minutes.

7. Add fresh cream and cook for a few seconds and serve hot with rice or roti.

Instead of the spinach I used swiss chard to make lasagna for dinner today.I loved the flavor and taste of this lasagna. It received a big thumbs up from our in house food critic, my daughter. She wanted me to post it today in my blog. This lasagna happens to be very light and less cheesy. Maybe that is why we all went for seconds. If you would like your kids to have swiss chard, maybe lasagna is a good way.

Gadgets:

Frying Pan
Spatula
Cutting Board
Knife
Measuring Spoon and Cup
Lasagna Tray

Ingredients:

Makes 12 pieces

Lasagna No Boil Sheets - 1 1/2 boxes
Ricotta Cheese - 24 tbsps
Marinara Sauce - 2 bottles
Olive Oil - 3 tbsp
Onions - 2
Swiss Chard - 2 bundles
Garlic - 4
Garlic Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Pepper
Cheese - (4 cheese Italian blend Cello from Costco) - 2 cups

Preparation:

1. Slice onions and finely shred the swiss chard. Heat olive oil in the pan. Add onions allow the onions to get cooked. Add salt and swiss chard. Cook until the swiss chard gets tender. Add minced garlic and pepper and cook for 3 minutes. Allow to cool.

2. Set the oven to 375 degrees F.

3. Pour some marinara sauce in the lasagna pan, just enough to roughly cover the bottom ( 1/2 cup or so). Layer the no boil lasagna sheets. Add the swiss chard mix evenly on top. Spoon in 12 tbsp of ricotta evenly so that each portion gets a tbsp. Lightly flatten the ricotta. Pour some marinara sauce and sprinkle some cheese.

4. Repeat step 3 again. Place one more layer of lasagna sheets. Add marinara sauce and the rest of the cheese evenly. Sprinkle garlic powder ( 1/2 tsp or so)

5. Cover with the aluminum foil and place in the over for 35 minutes. At the end of the 35 minutes, remove the foil and allow for the lasagna to bake for 10 minutes, until all the cheese has melted.

6. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Had no clue that days have passed before I posted in my blog. Flu is a mean thing that takes away all the thrill from the holidays. Well, I am recovering and I wanted to post the spicy mooli paratha that I made for dinner. There are many ways to making this paratha. The cooked version, and the uncooked version. I prefer to make the cooked version. I like it because, it saves me from having a mess when it comes to assembling the paratha. The mooli or radish tends to secrete a lot of water and the addition of salt does not help it either. A very effective way to handle this problem is to cook the moli and allow all the water to disappear and have a dry filling. I love the taste of this paratha and love to share it here.

Gadgets:

Bowls

Box Grater

Knife

Cutting board

Peeler

Pan

Spatula

Measuring Cup and Spoon

Ingredients:

Stuffing:

Radish/ Mooli - 4 ( makes 4 cups of grated radish)

Cilantro - 2 tbps chopped

Salt

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Chilli Powder - 1 tsp ( adjust as per taste)

Coriander Powder - 2 tsps

Lemon Juice - a dash

Oil - 2 tbsp plus extra for making paratha

Roti Dough - 8 portions of golf ball sized dough

Preparation:

1. Peel the skin off the the radish and grate it in a box grater. (Note: I prefer this over the food processor grater, because it keeps the radish crisp).

2. Heat the pan with some oil. Add the raddish and start to cook it. The quantity will shrink. At that time, add the spices, salt, lemon juice mix well and cook until all water disappears. ( Note: I like to make the filling a little spicy).

3. Add cilantro as garnish and allow for it to cool.

4. Take the dough, roll and flatten it to 5 inch circle. Place the cooled filling inside, wrap the dough around the filling.

5. Roll it out into an 8 or 9 inch paratha. Heat the iron griddle to medium high.

6. Cook the paratha on both sides, add oil on both size and serve it hot with raita or fresh yogurt.

I woke up this morning to a light drizzle followed by heavy rain. I immediately made up my mind to make a pot of soup for dinner along with freshly baked bread. To most people rain is not a good weather condition, but for my daughter and me we celebrate it. She loves to drink hot chocolate while I love my chai. Sometimes, I love to bake or make warm food that nourished our soul. Inspired by a soup recipe in the local news paper, I decided to add some of the spices mentioned there to prepare my soup. Plenty of veggies, garbanzo beans and warming spices, I think I have found a soup that I would make often for supper to lunch.

Gadgets:

Cutting Board

Knife

Stock Pot / Pan

Ingredients:

Leeks / Onions - 1 cup sliced

Carrots - 1 cut into small cubes

Celery - 4 stocks chopped

Potato - 3 Skin pealed and cut into chunks

Beans - 12 cut into 1 inch pieces

Bell Pepper - 1 cut into chunks

Butternut Squash - 2 cup pureed ( or soup)

Dried Dill - 1 tsp

Tomato - 1 big

Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp

All Spice Powder - a pinch

Garlic Powder - 1 tsp ( or more as per taste)

Pepper - as per taste

Salt

Garbanzo Beans - 1 can

Olive Oil - 2 tbsp

Water - 2 cups

Preparation:

1. Heat the pan with the olive oil. Add leeks and cook until they are soft.

2. Add celery, carrots and give it a toss and cook it for 5 minutes.

3. Add butternut squash puree and cook for 5 minutes along with water.

4. Add the rest of the veggies (other than the tomatoes) along with salt, pepper, turmeric, coriander, garlic and all spice powder. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the veggies are done.

5. Add the tomatoes and garbanzo beans give it a stir and allow for it to cook for few minutes.

6. Taste the soup to check for salt. Serve it hot with some toasted bread.

Happy Diwali!

Its that time of the year, when I usually get super motivated to prepare sweets, but this year, not so much. I stuck to my usual sweets that I have blogged. For a while I have been thinking of preparing mixed nuts based burfi. The nuts used in my recipe are pine nut, walnut, cashew nut, almond and pistachios. I have been reading about how walnuts can taste bitter in a burfi and the safe way to fix was to soak the nuts. Soaking the nuts not only helped using walnuts, but also helped in removing the brown skin from the pistachios. My intention was to prepare a mixed nut burfi, but it required a lot of sugar. So I converted them into a fudge. It was loq on sugar but the nutty flavors came through.

Gadgets:

Heavy Wok
Spatula
Molds
Measuring Cups
Bowls
Blender

Ingredients:

Nuts ( Cashew, pine, almonds, pistachios and walnuts) - 1/2 cup each

Sugar - 1 1/2 cups

Saffron - a generous pinch

Milk - 1/4 cup

Hot Water - Enough to soak the nuts

Preparation:

1. Add the pine nuts, cashews and walnuts in a bowl. Add pistachios and almonds in individual bowls. Pour hot water into these 3 bowls and allow for them to soak for an hour or more.

2. Remove the almond and pistachio skin.

3. Drain all the water, add the nuts into a blender and blend then into a lightly coarse mixture by adding some milk.

4. Heat the heavy bottom pan on medium, with 2 tbsp of ghee, add the nut paste and mix it well for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and mix well. Allow it to cook and sprinkle in the saffron.

5. Cook until the nut mixture comes together. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

6. Make into the desired shapes and serve them, but I love it pipping hot.

I had a lot of fun making shapes with my wooden spoon that I had in my kitchen. It was as if I had a chance to play with play dough. The only difference here is, it is edible.