Pulao with yogurt, peas and carrots

One of the problems we as parents have or maybe I should speak for myself and some others that I know, is that we like to take the simplicity out of kids lives particularly with food and then wonder why they do not eat what we cook for them.
When I first started cooking for my daughter, I used to go nuts, making elaborate stews, then blending them and going besides myself with disappointment when she did not like what I made for her. Over time, I learnt to relax, settle for a few essential stapples and building as the days passed. By and large, they like colors, they love yogurt, simple vegetables, dals and rice. Balanced, wholesome, sometimes a little boring but if they are happy and it is nutritious, why should I care?

This is a conversion of the essential matar pulao, into a complete meal by adding some more veggies, mung dal and buttermilk. It is absolutely comforting and actually rather good for lunch boxes on the go!

Garjar Matar Dahi Pulao - Rice with Carrots, Peas and Buttermilk

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp ghee
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion, finely chopped
A few pieces bay leaves, cloves and cardamom
1 cup basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes
1/2 cup split green mung dal
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup grated carrots
2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and ghee and add the cumin seeds.
2. Add the onion, bay leaves, cloves and cardamom and stir for a few seconds.
3. Add in the rice and dal and cook for 1 minutes.
4. Add the remaining ingredients with 1.5 cups water or broth.
5. Bring to a simmer and lower the heat and cover and cook for 22 minutes.
6. Remove the cover and stir well once.
7. Leave covered for 5-10 minutes and serve with additional yogurt if desired.



On a hectic week such as the one that just went by, meals such as these tend to be major lifesavers.


I shall be sending this recipe to Preety's Kitchen, who is the host of this months cooking for kids, an event very close to my heart, started by Sharmi.

Dal with Colllard Greens

I love lentils and greens. Spinach of course tends to be tested and tried, but I am always trying new greens. The lastest in my tested variety of additions in collard greens. The light bitterness of collards remind me of methi, they tend to be a little more textures. I pretty much tried to cook this the same way as this recipe, except for the difference in dal, greens, ok a bunch of things. This is a really lusciously lovely creamy creation!

Masuur Dal with Collard Greens

Serves 4

Ingredients

3/4 cup red masuur dal
1 cup chopped collard greends
1/2 cup corn
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp salt
2 slit green chillies
1 tsp turmeric
1 cup water

For the tempering

1 tbsp ghee
1/8 tsp asafetida
1 tbsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
8-10 curry leaves
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Extra lime for squeezing

Method of Preparation

1. Place all the ingredients for the dal in a pressure cooker and cook for 10-15 minutes.
2. Cool and throughly beat the mixture into a smooth creamy consistency, the corn will not dissolve and remains to add a little texture.
3. Heat the ghee and add the hing, ginger, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and cook till the mustard seeds start crackling.
4. Add the curry leaves and stir into the dal with the cilantro.
5. Squeeze the lime juice and enjoy with brown or white rice.

Cheering up colors!

Maybe it is all this excitement over Obama and now the comming down to reality, maybe just that I did not get enough sleep today, I was generally feeling a little blue. I did not feel up doing a lot of my usual stuff, I poked around to see what I could cobble up by way of lunch. I saw a half empy package of Phucka puris and was not sure what to do. My kids love them plain, they find dealing with the pani too spicy and messy.

I had been looking at all these posts of chats here and there, all across the blogosphere. Chaat masala is never far away from my reach, this is what I did, it was lovely, tangy, cheering, all at once. I served these in the puris and generally I was somewhat cheered...

Chana-Anar Chaat

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 cup cooked chickpeas
1 lime
1 onion finely chopped
2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tbsp chaat masala
1 tps salt
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup yogurt
6-7 puris per person

Method of Preparation

1. Squeeze the lime over the chickpeas.
2. Mix these chickpeas with the onions, cilantro, chaat masala, salt, pomegranate seeds, yogurt and set aside for a half hour to let the flavors mix together.
3. Fill into puris and serve.

I would like to send this post to Shrivali at Cooking 4 all seasons, who is hosting this months, my lentil love affair an event started by Susan at the well seasoned cook. This also doubles up for Jhiva for Chickpea, that was started by Mahanandi, hosted this month by sometime foodie.

Cooking Mediterranean in an Indian State of mind

Some of my recipes are not really intended to be fusion, but they just end up that way, for example I had eaten this really interesting cumin seasoned sauce at a local restaurant, I was trying to re-create that effect, but as the flavors gelled, I threw in some ginger and cilantro and there you have it a lovely fusion dish was created.

Tomato, Eggplant and Whole Splitpea sauce.

For the sauce


3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp miced garlic
2 tsp freshly ground cumin
1 onion very finely chopped
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 can tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp oregano leaves
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cooked whole chickpeas
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
Chicken broth as needed
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp grated parmasan cheese
1/3 cup heavy cream

For the eggplant

1 eggplant cut into wedges
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp ground cumin and blackpepper

Whole wheat pasta cooked per directions

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the garlic and cumin and saute till the mixture is very aromatic.
2. Add the onion and cook till soft and add in the tomatoes, tomato puree and paste and mix well.
3. Stir in the oregano, salt, sugar and about 1/2 cup chicken broth and bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
4. Add in the remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes and set aside.
5. Set the eggplant and salt in a colander for 30 minutes to drain.
6. Heat the oil and add the eggplant and cumin and black pepper. Cook on low heat stirring frequently till the eggplant is soft and cooked through.
7. Add the eggplant to the tomato sauce and heat through.
8. Serve over pasta with additional cheese and pepper as needed.

Carrot and Tomato Soup

Maybe it was the wrong soup, but the other night I tried a can of soup after ages and hated it, it was too salty and felt somewhat greasy. So last night, I decided to make a big bowl of soup for everyone. It somehow seemed exhausting and satifying at the same time to watch the events of the day. In some ways I was as touched as everyone around me, in other ways I could not help wondering whether hope would be enough to tide us through these difficult times. It does feel nervous even the daily events at work.

Carrot and Tomato Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lbs baby organic carrots
4 tomatoes
1 tsp rasam powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 quart chicken broth
1/2 cup broken rice


To temper and garnish
2 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
7-8 curry leaves
2 tsp chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Place all the ingredients for the soup in a pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 10 minutes.
2. Bring to room temperature.
3. Heat the ghee and add the mustard and cumin seeds and let them crackle and add in the curry leaves.
4. Pour this mixture onto the soup and stir through, garnish with cilantro and serve.

This recipe is another perfect example of how the flavors of the local garden can be converted into a perfectly wholesome meal. I am sending this over for the earth hour event, hosted by Anna.

5-Spice Cauliflower

Another weeknight wonder, this dish needs a little time to bring out its flavors and cook through but another close to nature homestyle dish.
Tastes great with any kind of Indian bread, nice parathas would hit the spot but it also tastes good with rice and dal.

5-Spice Cauliflower

Serves 4

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp mustard oil
1/2 tsp nigella seeds (kalonji)
2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp turmeric
2-3 whole green chillies, slit
A pinch of asafetida (hing)
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florretts
1.5 tsp salt

Method of Preparation
1. Heat the oil and add the nigella seeds and ginger.
2. After a few seconds, wait for the seeds to sizzle.
3. Add the turmeric, green chillli, asafetida and the cauliflower and salt.
4. Cook on medium heat, stirring frequently till the cauliflower is well browned in spots.
5. Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes till the cauliflower is soft. Serve immediately!

Bumped in a new ethnic grocery store in the area!

I had accidently taken a wrong turn last week and was heading on 119 Elmsford towards 9A trying to get back, I suddenly see this sign saying Shiraz Market. This was a very new sign, not that I go to that area often. I ran into the store to see what was going on. Sure enough, this was a new middle-eastern store, it was spacious, filled with all kinds of exotic ingredients, nuts, lentils, spices, hallal meat, cheese and yogurt.
I picked up a tub of yogurt, lowfat with a brand name Abali and some nuts, the packaging was so pretty, they would make a good gift just as is.

I wanted to explore more, but did not have the time. This weekend I dragged my husband along, one of the occupational hazzards of being a foodie's husband is just that, you get dragged to food places all over the world.
By the way, the yogurt was lovely, it was almost like greek yogurt, but better in that the 2% greek yogurt tastes rather chalky, while this yogurt tasted very natural. I got some tea, the cardamom tea smelt and brewed so fragrant.

We also, checked out the restaurant.


Host of appetizers - a mild chicken and egg salad with carrots and peas, an eggplant puree that was sweet and tangy garnished generously with fried onions and yogurt. Their grape leaves were most and minty served in a rather oriental patterned dish possibly left over from the korian restaurant that used to occupy the place. This was served with warm lavash bread.


The carrots for garnish were a little dry, could have been blanched before placing on the plate. We had also ordered this steamed spinach that was served with yogurt- this I guess was the original version of the yogurt that I liked so much. The richness made me want to get the whole fat version.



Lastly we ordered these cornish hen kababs, enticingly flavored with saffron and sumac, served on a bed of rice also laced with saffron.

The food and atmosphere was very good, the meal was priced well. The couple serving us was very attentive but did seem to have some trouble understanding us on occasion, this resulted in them sending us an extra dish, which did however catch my husbands interest - a pomegrante walnut based stew, so we came home with the rest of this.

Overall, I certainly think this is worth trying. They also had interesting teas and some desserts. I had actually not checked to see if they had a wine list which actually is a testimony to how facinated I was by the rest of the stuff. I certainly will be back to the market again.

Quick Cook Bhartha

I often end with having to deal with the "gap" factor when I am interviewing people, while I am sometimes skeptical I do realize that taking a few years off is ok! Actually, in my mind what is the purpose behind the time off, this is hard to discern. I have to tell you, two days back I had taken the morning off to deal with a few kid related issues, and let me tell you the multi-tasking that I needed to accomplish within the three hours in my mind was nothing short of fantastic. Granted some of this does get compounded by the fact that I have a compressed but busy work day waiting for me, but nonetheless this multi-tasking is pretty intense and can certainly be gainfully translated to the workplace if placed in perspective.


Well, my morning was like - I woke up saw the snow realized we would have a school delay, it gave me some more breathing roon with the breakfast routine, I actually used that extra time to place the eggplant on the gas to char roast it. What happens with this is that the eggplant is cooked till the skin is burnt and blackened. I remove from fire and set aside to cool.

It needs pretty minimal attention. I got dressed, left my KG going daughter with hubby, went out cleaned the car, took my son to the doctor in Briarcliff (20 min NW), spent an hour, went 15 minutes north dropped off my son to pre-school/daycare (late). Braved off 40 minutes north, stopped at Costo to pick up a couple of things then, picked up my contact lenses and made it into work. Lord, did not feel like I had any time off.


Well, back in the evening I had the charred eggplant waiting for me. I literally took 15 minutes to cook it though.

For the Little ones!

Three years ago on a visit to India, my daughter developed a taste for pomegranates. It used to be a stretch to find these fruits readily available, now thanks to Pom - a california based company these fruits are readily available in most markets. These pretty seeds were photographed right out of my daughter's lunchbox! I was quite taken by their beauty at about 7:45 in the morning. I am actually sending this for the Click, that is a themed food photography event. This is one of those chance things, the theme was right shall we say!

Easy and Satisfying Naan

Someone told me about this method, I have to tell you, I am yet to teach a class where I do not get a request to make saag paneer and then asked about naan making. I like to make naan using yeast but realize that it is not quite the same. This recipe is a little heartier and textured because I have used white whole wheat flour and some rye flour. If you do the same using white flour as is done in restarants you shall get something really close.

So this is what I did,

Naan - Puffed Indian Breads

Makes 6-8

Ingredients

3 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1.5 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups yogurt

Extra flour
Butter for topping (optional)

Method of Preparation

1. Sift the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda.
2. Rub in the oil and mix into a smooth dough with the yogurt. Add the yogurt gradually, the dough should be moist but not sticky.
3. Cover and let this sit for 2 hours in a warm place.
4. Knead the dough well, adding extra flour if needed.
5. Divide into 6 pieces, roll out into round or oval 1/4 inch thick pieces.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 525 degrees.
7. Place the naan on a hot tawa and let this cook till puffed and lightly browned on both sides.
8. Quickly place this in the oven and let this cook for 3-4 minutes till puffed up and browned on both sides.
9. Brush with butter if desired and serve hot.

Thinking Sprouts! - Palak Lobia Chaat

Well, we really do not have a consistent thing so to speak for the new year, actually the only so called holidays we do something set and planned for is valentine's day where it is Anshul's job to figure out what to do and thankgiving which is my big thing. Actually Christmas is also becoming a tradition too, where we go to Laur's house who is probably the most amazing baker. Anyhow this year, we decided to go to the Indian restaurant Royal Palace that tends to do a news year's eve shing ding.

One of the good things about having generally low expectations is that you are less likely to be disappointed. Actually in this instance I was pleasantly surprized the food was very good and the bartender was very jovial and music appropriately noisy. They had this interesting appetizer that I had to come and try to re-create. Mine looks a little different, overall a somewhat complex preparation with all its multiple layers but in my opinion worth the effort! Actually the highlight of this exercise was sprouting my own lentils, I used small red lentils (lal lobia) and used the method loosely described here. I opted for the jar method.

Palak Lobia Chaat - Sprouted Lentils and Spinach Spiced Salad

Served 4-6 people

Ingredients

For the pakoras

1 cup besan (chick pea flour)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp red chili powder
2 green chillies minced
1 tbsp finely grated ginger
1 tsp black salt
1 bunch fresh spinach (not baby)
Oil for frying

Other Ingredients

1/2 cup tamarind chutney
1 cup yogurt
2 tsp chaat masala
1 tsp salt
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
3/4 cup sprouted lentils
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Beat the besan to remove all the lumps and stir in the spices.
2. Add about 1 cup water to make a batter.
3. Heat the oil.
4. Stack the spinach leaves together (about 4-5 per pakora), remove any thick stems if needed and dip lightly into the batter (enough to coat and bind.
5. Fry on medium heat till well crisped and browned on both sides.
6. Set aside to drain on paper towels (we would need about 4 pakoras per person).
7. In a large bowl lightly toss this with the other ingredients and serve while the pakoras are still warm for a good contrast of textures and flavors.

A very interesting creation but I think this would be more of a meal than just a starter for me.

Grilled Masala Vegetables

As I have mentioned earlier, I get insprired to work with some of my best vegetarian recipes when my in-laws visit. Yes, they are mainly vegetarian. Some of these creations are a result of practicality and some like these lovely vegetables are dishes that almost make putting up with other aspects of their visit worthwhile.
I used my indood little grill, which is a lovely little weeknight addition to my household that I use in spurts. Well, I try something wonderful, then another, and yet another, until another kitchen toy gets my attention. This has been such a full week, I have been fight a cold, the post holiday jolt... you get the drift. Anyhow here is what I did.

Grilled Masala Vegetables

1/2 peeled cucumber
1 cup yogurt
1 inch piece ginger, peeled
2 pods garlic
Plently of freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/3 cup orange juice
2 tsp salt

For the vegetables

1 pgs extra firm tofu (pressed and drained)*
2 cups brocolli florrets
2 tomatoes quartered
1 onion cut into large pieces
1 bell pepper cut into large pieces
Oil or melted butter for basting
Chaat masala for garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Blend all the ingredients for the marinage into a smooth paste.
2. Marinade the ingredient for several hours.
3. Turn on the grill and cook the tofu and brocolli with the cover on for 6-8 minutes.
4. Take off the grill and arrange on a plate.
5. Cook the tomatoes, onion and pepper till somewhat softened.
6. Mix with the vegetables.
7. Sprinkle very liberally with chaat masala and serve.

* Place the tofu between two place and top with something heavy to drain the liquid out

Cider-Pomegranate Ham

The holiday meat that I do a good job with is Ham. This New Year, I was lucky, just before the holidays I recieved a case of Pom wonderful pomegranate juice from Pom Blogger.

I have been playing around with the juice since then. I added this to the ham that I made over the holidays, I had a dazzling red ham, tangy and very, flavorful! I have done a bunch of other things such as a pomegranate berry ice-cream and pomegranate chicken boti kababs. I promise to blog about them soon.

Well, I start with an approximately 8 lb ham and create the following marinade for this.

2 cups cider

2 cup pommegranate juice

1/3 cup tandoori masala

1 tsp fresh rosemary

2 tbsp red chili powder

1 cup brown sugar

2 tsp salt

I left the ham to brine in this overnight.

I bake it at 350 degrees for 4 hours using the liquid as a "bath". Sliced it up and serve it with fresh pineapple. Everyone loved it!

Welcoming 2009!!!

I think it is always a greater challenge to cobble together New year's breakfast/brunch than to mannage the a new year's eve party. This is especially tricky if you have partied the night before. I do not know if this is any indication of the rest of the year, but today was an absolutely perfect day!! We enjoyed ourselves last night as well. Anyhow, for the few friends who chose to join us today, we had a lovely breakfast. The eggs are actually based on my son Aadi's request for cheddaring food! I personnaly was amazed at how good these very simple flavors tasted.

The flavors of the tomato, Cheddar and the cilantro mesh very well.

Cheddaring Scramble!!!
Serve 6
Ingredients
2 tbsp butter, 1 onion finely chopped, 1 tsp chopped garlic, 1 tomato chopped, 5 eggs, 1/2 cup lowfat milk,1.5 tsp salt, 1/2 cup diced ham, 1/2 cup grated NY cheddar, 1/3 cup chopped cilantro, lots of freshly ground pepper.
Method of Preparation
1. Heat the butter on low heat saute the onion and garlic. 2. Add the tomato. 3. Beat the eggs with the milk and salt and pour onto the pan. 4. Add the ham and the cheddar and gently rake the egg, when partially set, stir in the cilantro and pepper. 5. Turn of the heat when the eggs are moist but not runny and enjoy.
It has been a while since I sent something to WHB, actually it has been a while since I sent anything to any events. Just been lazy! The event has found a new home, Haalo's Blog, where it is also being hosted this week.