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.