Spinach Rice

Dear Appu,

Usually, this is a quick dish that I learnt to put together for Winkie’s lunchbox. Sauteed spinach leaves with the usual tadka ingredients, mixed in with rice for a quick lunch box. But today I learnt a brand new way of spicing up this recipe a bit more for adults. I think you won’t be disappointed with the result.

INGREDIENTS

Roughly chopped spinach – 3 cups
Onions – 2, chopped
Peas – 1 cup, frozen
Ginger – 1/2 inch piece, grated
All spices – Salt, turmeric, vangi bath powder or a combination of sambar powder, coriander powder & jeera powder
Rice – 1 cup, cooked

METHOD

1. In a pan, pour some oil. Add mustard and jeera seeds. Followed by sliced green chillies (optional) and ginger.

2. Add the onions and saute till golden brown.

3. Add the spinach and peas and allow it to cook for a little while.

4. Once cooked, add all the spice powders. Cook till all the flavours are absorbed and the spinach has absorbed all the flavours.

5. Mix in with cooked rice.

The best way to eat this, as we discovered today, is with a big bowl of curd and some chips on the side for that crunch!

Kadhai Paneer

Dear Appu,

This is a fun paneer dish to make, and not very hard, and a little unique. At first glance, it might seem like that’s a lot of coriander seeds to use, but it truly enhances the taste of the gravy and doesn’t stand out in an odd way. The step by step video is linked at the bottom, so you can have a visual before you try it out!

INGREDIENTS

Vegetable oil – 2/3 oz
Coriander seeds – 1/2 oz
Paneer – 8 and 3/4 oz
Green peppers/Green capsicum - 2, cut into squares
Kasoori Methi – 1 tsp
Coriander leaves – 1 bunch
Red chillies – 2 whole
Coriander seeds – 1/4 oz
Garlic – 1 oz, finely chop
Vegetable oil – 1 and 1/2 oz
Red chilli pdr. – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
Tomatoes – 6, chopped
Salt – to taste
 
For the Kadhai Sauce
 
1. Blend the red chillies (2) and 3 tsp coriander seeds coarsely.
2. 3 tbsp  of oil in a pan > add powder > stir, turn down to low heat and fry for 3 min.
3. Add garlic to the pan and fry for 5 min until golden.
4. Add tomatoes, turn to high heat and cook for further 2 min, stirring occasionally.
5. Add 1 level tsp of red chilli pdr., 1/2 tsp of haldi and stir.
6. Turn down to medium heat, cover and leave for 20 min.
 
For the Paneer
 
1. Pan > 1 tbsp oil on high heat > add paneer > fry for 1 min > place in a bowl of warm water.
2. Heat 1 and 1/2 tbsp of oil > medium heat > 5 g coriander seeds > seeds crackle and pop > add paneer > fry for 2 min until golden > add peppers > stir for 1 min.
 
For the Mix
 
Add a little water to the pan. Allow to boil. Pour kadhai sauce, add a large pinch of kasoori methi and stir. Roughly chop fresh coriander leaves and add to the sauce.

[Recipe source : Videojug.]

Penne with sun-dried tomato pesto

Dear Appu,

This is one amazing, extremely simple, yummy pasta recipe that I have done over and over again many times. I reserve it for those days when I just don’t feel like cooking much. The boys love it, and it goes great with minestrone soup with all the thick, lumpy vegetables, and a glass of red wine!

INGREDIENTS

Penne pasta – 12 ounces
Sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil – 1 (8.5-ounce) jar 
Garlic cloves - 2
Salt and freshly ground black pepper 
Fresh basil leaves – 1 cup (packed)
Parmesan – 1/2 cup freshly grated

METHOD

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite (al dente), stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

2. Meanwhile, blend the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil, garlic, salt and pepper, to taste, and basil in a food processor and blend until the tomatoes are finely chopped. Transfer the tomato mixture to a large bowl. Stir in the Parmesan.

3. Add the pasta to the pesto and toss to coat, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper and serve.

[Recipe Source : Food Network]

Mango pie in 20 minutes!

Dear Appu,

This is one of the quickest desserts to whip up! And what’s more, its interesting too. Guests have always been fascinated with whole act of drizzling the whipping cream and adding that luscious cherry on top. Curious? Here’s the inside details!

Ingredients

Bananas – sliced, 1
Mango Nectar – 1 and 1/4 cups
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Ginger powder – 1/8 teaspoon
Cinnamon – 1/8 teaspoon
Lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
Cornstarch – 3 tablespoons
Cold water – 3 tablespoons
Baked pie shell – 1 large round one, or individual pie shell cups (such as the graham cracker crust shells, which I get with 6 in one pack)
Whipped cream – I used the fat free one
Maraschino cherries – for topping (can alter the topping to anything you like, even raspberries, strawberries)
Chocolate syrup – for final drizzle (Optional)

Method 

1. Combine mango nectar, lemon juice, sugar, ginger, cinnamon and salt in a pan. Bring to boil on a low flame.

2. Mix cornstarch in the water to a smooth paste and stir into mixture. Stir until thickened and clear. (about 7-8 minutes)

3. Allow it to cool. Then add the bananas, mix it in and pour into the pie shell. Store it in the fridge until ready to serve.

4. Just before serving, drizzle the whipped cream on top and add a maraschino cherry for topping and that pretty as pink look!

5. All done!  

Banana Bread!

Dear Appu…

This is another quick and easy alternative to use overripe bananas, that can’t be used anywhere else! They taste awesome when baked as bread with toasted walnuts and spiced with cinnamon powder! Mmmmmm! And I am sure there are tons of recipes and variations out there to tweak it to the most moist, delicious batch possible, but here’s the one I tried in my maiden attempt from Joy of Baking. The details…

1 cup (115 grams) walnuts or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe large bananas (approximately 1 pound or 454 grams), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Garnish: (Optional)
1 large banana, sliced or dried banana chips

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place oven rack to middle position. Butter and flour (or spray with a non stick vegetable/flour spray) the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Set aside. (I used a regular round loaf pan because that is all I had!)

Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool and then chop coarsely. 

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky. (The important thing is not to over mix the batter. You do not want it smooth. Over mixing the batter will yield tough, rubbery bread.) Scrape batter into prepared pan and  place the slices of banana on top of the batter for garnish. Bake until bread is golden brown and a  toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. This bread can be frozen. Makes 1 – 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

Appams!!

Dear Appu,

Gone are the days when I buy bananas near raw from the store, and try to have them consumed while they are still firm and fresh. For the longer it sits on the counter and the riper it gets, the more yummy things they make! Let’s start with things traditional, shall we, and plunge into the world of appams! Do you know how many times I have endeavoured to make this, only to fail miserably each time!!! I started off with thinking that all you had to do to make appams was mash the bananas, mix them up with rice flour and then fry them over the oil to get the softest, plumpest appams. WRONG!! That was disaster # 1. They turned out rock hard and so chewy and rubbery that your mouth ached from the effort to swallow a bite.

So I tried again, but this time after a quick consultation with the MIL. She told me to soak the rice (raw rice) and then grind it with minimum water, together with the bananans and jaggery and deep fry. I thought I had followed instructions, but this time, the batter became sooo.. watery (had to add more water, because I was blending in the regular mixer), and ate up soooo much of oil that you were drinking grease by the end of it! Several more patient trials followed, none of them yielding that desired result, of what I had seen the MIL and Amma accomplish. How was it so easy for them and not for me???

Some 5 more trials must have happened in this interim and I finally had the brainwave of making the batter in the grinder. So it was…

Raw rice – 1 cup, soaked for about 2 hours (I have used basmati too, when the rice shortage here happened)
Jaggery – 1/2 cup
Cardamom pods – 2-3
Urad dal – 4 tbsp (soaked)
Ripe Bananas – 2
Wheat flour – Just a little to adjust the consistency of the batter

 I added all the ingredients to the grinder, except for the wheat flour. Grinder works beautifully for a situation where you have to use very little water. Additional water comes from the jaggery and the bananas. It should take about 20 minutes or so. Add a little of the wheat flour if it is too watery. Once the batter is ready, heat some oil in a kadai, and use a regular karandii (scooping ladle) to pour the dumplings into the oil. Cook on a medium flame and turn every few minutes so it doesn’t brown too much and remove from the oil when it is a nice golden brown. In the picture, a lot of mine went one step beyond golden, but were not burnt. And they tasted….divine!

Carrot cake – to die for!

Dear Appu…

In honour of R’s birthday, I searched online for a nice new cake recipe. Something I had not yet tried before. My search criteria on google was ‘awesome birthday cake recipes’, and the second link led me here. I have tried recipes from AllRecipes before and this sounded like a very good one.

Now R loves carrots. And I love carrot cake. And I guess, on its own it would have been quite amazing. But being a birthday occasion, I wanted icing, so I could write something on it. So instead of following the made from scratch cream cheese frosting recipe from this one, I tried out this recipe instead. Oooooo! Totally out of this world. And instead of plain cream cheese, I got one pack of strawberry flavour and the other was plain and mixed together, there was this pale pink look and a faint strawberry flavour which was amazing. Here’s the process in detail.

Ingredients for the cake

3 cups grated carrots
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine grated carrots, flour, white sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

3. Stir in eggs, oil, 1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, pineapple and 3/4 cup chopped pecans. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Directions for Frosting

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (I used one part Strawberry, and one part plain flavour)
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese, butter and the pecans until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners’ sugar. Spread evenly on the cooled cake. Store in the refrigerator after use. I also put the frosted cake in the fridge, and took it out just before it was time to cut it.

This recipe, of course, can also be used without any frosting. If you have noticed, the cake does not use any butter, which is such a pleasant change. And what’s a little unusual is that it uses pineapples alongwith the juice. Enjoy!

Doodhi Kofta

Dear Appu,

This is one dish I have struggled with for a long time. And I think I finally found some success this time. The balls didn’t break and fritter away in the oil and the gravy wasn’t as dominated by tomatoes as the last time I made it. I was looking for a recipe that gave it the creamy rich taste much like what it is in the restaurants. I think the following recipe fulfils all these conditions.

Ingredients 

1/2 mid-sized bottlegourd
1/2 to 3/4 cup besan (chickpea flour)
1/2 cup blanched almonds (Just put some in a bowl, over with water and heat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.)
slivered almonds – for garnish (I was too lazy to do this!)
1 medium onion
2 medium tomatoes
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup whipping cream (Skipped this too…with the badam and the milk, it was creamy and rich enough.)
1-2 cups water
3-4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp garam masala powder
3-4 tsp red chilli powder
salt – to taste
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
Chopped cashews
Raisins
chopped fresh coriander – for garnish

Method

For the kofta balls : Take the doodhi and grate it in a bowl. Then press it through a strain or your fingers to remove all the water. It’s important to do this else the koftas will break in the gravy. Now add the turmeric powder, salt, red chilli powder, some chopped cashews, raisins, the besan and also a boiled and crushed potato. You can also add some lemon juice to your taste. Mix well and form small round or oval dumplings from the mixture. Add more besan flour if required to give proper texture and shape to the koftas. Fry it on a medium flame turning it over to get an even golden tone. Keep it aside.

For the gravy : Take the onions and garlic and blend them to form a smooth paste. Take the blanched almonds, peel off the skin, then blend them with 2 tsp water or milk to form a thick paste. Blend the tomatoes separately and keep aside.

Now take a pan, put 2 tbsp oil and add the cumin seeds. When they start spluttering, add the onion-garlic paste and sate till it turns light pinkish with a glaze. Now add the garam masala, tomato paste, salt, the remaining spices and slowly add the milk, stirring it. Now add the almond paste, a little water to make a rich gravy, then cover with a lid and allow to simmer on medium flame.

Now increase the flame for the gravy so it starts boiling, then gently add the koftas (dumlpings)into the gravy. Cover with the lid and reduce flame. Let them cook for 3-5 mins, then gently flip the koftas over, taking care not to break them. Add more water to the gravy if required. Once its done, gently remove the koftas first and transfer them into a serving bowl, then top it with the remaining gravy. Garnish with chopped coriander and slivered almonds, and serve them hot with Parathas or Rice!

Lemon Berry Muffins

Dear Appu…

Its been ages since I posted here, and you’ve nagged me enough about it. You don’t have much access to the internet now, so I figured this is a good time to catch up and surprise you when you finally come online.

Baking always puts me in my happy place. And its one of the best things I have shared with Winkie so far. He has been helping me bake for a few years now, ever since he was around 3. Its one of his favorite things to do with me, and a cheer-upper any day. If I have been particularly nasty to him and want to make things up…I invite him to bake with me. That’s how special it is.

So today after a long time, I came across an interesting recipe I wanted to try out. And I didn’t want to do it alone. I asked Winkie before school, if he’d like to come home and do some baking. He started jumping up and down and hugged my legs and said he loved me. So nice!

Well….from this point on, the recipe takes over. Enjoy! 

Ingredients

2 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup of castor sugar (a little more if you want it sweeter)
2 teaspoons of grated lemon rind
1/2 cup of frozen mixed berries
60g melted butter
1 egg lightly beaten
1 cup of milk

Makes about 12 muffins.

Method

1. Sift flour into a large bowl.
2. MIx in lemon rind, sugar, then egg, butter and milk.
3. Stir in the berries.
4. Spoon mixture into greased muffin pans.
5. Bake in 180C oven for 25 minutes until golden.
6. Drizzle with lemon icing glaze on muffins while hot.

Lemon icing glaze

1 tablespoon of lemon juice
icing sugar

Mix juice and enough icing sugar to make a watery icing for glazing. About 1 teaspoon of glaze for each muffin.

The taste, to be honest, wasn’t spectacular, but it was very likeable!

Aloo roast

Dear Appu,

Right after Amma’s amazing ginger tea, her aloo roast deserves a separate mention of its own. She would be so tired after a long day at school, that dinner on most nights would comprise of aloo roast and rice. We never complained about it, because who in their right mind, would complain about yummy potato crispy curry??? But more than the weekday nights potato curry, its the Friday afternoon potato curry that I remember best.

Glorious Friday afternoons, after waking up late and having some of her tea, followed by a nice long oil bath, really fired up our appetites and that was the one day she would go all out and prepare a slightly more elaborate lunch than the weekdays, when we all ate a mostly cold lunch from our lunch boxes. It would be late by the time she finished cooking. Almost 2′o clock and we’d be ravenously hungry by then. We’d lay out the mat and sit down to eat, and not say a word. On such afternoons, it would almost invariably be aloo roast with some piping hot avial or thenga araccha kuzhambu and good old fashioned laban yoghurt to wash it all down at the end. And once lunch was over, and everything cleared away, Appa and Amma would go off to take their naps, and we would curl up on the couch and doze off too. The perfect and only way to digest a delicious meal! Without further ado, here’s how I tried to recreate that magic today…

Ingredients

Potatoes – 6 medium (boiled in pressure cooker for 3 whistles, and skin peeled and cubed)
Spices – Either Sambar powder or Chilli powder/Coriander pwd/cumin pwd/garam masala
Channa dal – 1 tsp for seasoning
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – a stalk
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Oil – 4 tbsp
Coriander leaves – chopped, for garnishing

Method

1. Take 2 tbsp of oil in a cup, add the sambar powder and some turmeric powder. Pour it over the cubed potatoes like a marinade. Mix in well.

2. In a pan, take the remaining 2 tbsp of oil, add mustard seeds and when it pops, add the channa dal and the curry leaves. Then add the potatoes, sprinkle the needed salt and cook open. Keep tossing the potatoes inside the pan so all the sides get evenly crispy. This is to be done on a medium flame and takes a little time to get that crispy texture. This process should take about 20 minutes or so.

3. Once done, remove from fire, garnish with fresh coriander leaves and its ready to indulge in!