Eggless Mango Bread

I have recently tip toed into baking, with a few easy looking cake recipes. I had been doubting all along if my old Microwave-Convection oven is up to the task of making cakes, cookies and breads, as that's the only oven I have as of now, and I have been happily surprised at how much this little oven can do.

Today I tried making mango bread, which I have been wanting to try ever since I saw Vaishali's version on her blog. I did not have whole wheat pastry flour, so i substituted with what I had, and it turned out great. Thank you Vaishali, for an awesome recipe.
I made a modifications to Vaishali's recipe, so I'm putting down my recipe here.

1.5 cups AP flour

¼ cup semolina (sooji)

¼ cup whole wheat flour (atta)

¾ cup fine grained sugar ( I only had ½ cup sugar at home, so the bread was a little less sweet than what it should be)

2 cups Alphonso mango pulp ( I used tinned: The brand was "Mother’s Recipe, I think, sorry, I threw the tin away before getting the name)

4 tbsp oil
1 tsp baking powder

0.8 tsp baking soda (recipe calls for 1 tsp)

A pinch of fine sea salt

2 tbsp flax meal

1 tsp cardamom powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

Baking spray

Preheat oven to 180C using the convection mode. Sieve together both the flours, sooji, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together mango pulp, oil, sugar, flax meal, cardamom powder & vanilla extract. Spray 9X5 inch loaf pan with baking spray. Mix wet ingredients to dry with a spatula. Bake for around 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. ( I baked for 45 minutes).

Let it cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes. Unmold and cool for at least an hour or more before slicing.

I ended up slicing within 10 minutes, so my slices were not all that neat. However, the taste and heady smell of the warm bread that we were rewarded with made up for it.

Here's another great sounding recipe for mango bread, that I plan to try next.
 

Samosa

 

I have made samose ( plural for 'samosa') many times before, and while they've always got eaten quickly,  this is the first time that I'm 100% happy with how they turned out..okk, i agree, they could have been more uniform, but when I'm making like 40 of them for a potluck, do you think I'd care:)

My earlier attempts almost always resulted in a crust flecked with tiny bubbles, or chewy samose like so.

 

There are a few things to be kept in mind to avoid this from happening:

1. The crust needs a reasonable amount of oil to work, there's no getting around it, if you seek "proper" samose.

3. The doough should be firm, yet smooth. If there are dry cracks in the dough, you won't be able to roll it properly. If that happens, sprinkle a few drops of water, and knead some more.

3. Finally, the samose should be cooked on a low-medium flame to ensure that the crust has enough time to get cooked inside.

So here's the recipe that worked well, while its still fresh in my memory

Makes 40 dainty samose/ 20 large ones, I suppose

The crust:

4 cups of AP flour (maida)

4 to 6 tbsp of oil ( I first added four, then a little more to get a crumbly mix)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)

Mix the flour, salt and ajwain in a big bowl. Add the oil, and mix it well with the flour, till you get a somewhat coarse breadcrumby consistency. Now add water, and knead it into a firm dough ( will be firmer than roti dough, and would depend on the humidity and temperature around). I used about a little less than a  cup of water. Now cover it with a well fitting plate/ damp towel/ plastic wrap, and allow it to rest while you start work on the filling.

The filling:

Here you can be as imaginative as your pantry allows you: spinach & paneer, cooked and mashed mung dal, soya mince, minced & cooked mushrooms are all good bets. I stuck to the more traditional filling of potato and peas, which is always a crowd pleaser.

5 medium potatoes, boiled and slightly coarsely mashed

1 cup of peas ( defrosted if frozen, boiled if using fresh peas)

1 tsp of chili powder ( or to taste)

2 tsp of coriander powder

1 tsp of cumin powder

1 tbsp of lemon juice

1 tsp cumin seeds ( zeera)

1/2 tsp garam masala ( optional)

salt to taste

1 tbsp of oil

1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

Heat oil in a pan ( I used  non stick ), and toss in the cumin seeds. As soon as they start spluttering, take the pan off heat ( so that spices don't burn), and add all the spice powders.

Now put it back on heat, and add the potatoes, peas and salt, and mix well with the spices. Cook for about two minutes, the turn off the flame. Add the lemon juice, and cilantro and mix once more. Turn it out into a plate to cool.

Divide the dough into 4 parts, and divide each part into five equal sized piceces. Work with one part, while you keep the others covered. Keep some water handy in a bowl to seal.

Shape each piece into a ball, and roll out into a thin, round circle. Now cut it through the middle to get 2 semi circles. Dip your finger in the water and trace the circumfrence of the semi circle with your wet finger. Now pick up the semi circle, overlap the edges, and stick them together to form a cone. Stuff potato mixture in the cone, making sure not to overstuff, or else it will be difficult to seal. Pinch the edges together, to seal, making sure there's no opening.

Repeat till you finish making the samose. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a wok, making sure the oil is not too hot, else the crust will colour without cooking through. The oil should very gently bubble when you slip in the samosa to fry. Cook till they turn a light golden colour, then dish out on a plate.

Serve with green chutney, ketchup, barbeque sauce, salsa, chili sauce or any dip you fancy. 

Undhiyu

Hello there!
Hope you're all having a lovely summer.
I'm kicking back and enjoying a break from studies at the moment, which brings me back me to my little internet kitchen.
Over the past one year, I barely registered what I ate and hardly ever cooked, as we had someone to help with cooking. But on the stray occasions when I did enter the kitchen, it would be cook something special but not too involved. Thus, over the next couple of months, I plan to post recipes from my draft, which for us are what we used to eat as a break from everyday food.
To begin with, let me share a quick, breezy and light undhiyu that is based on a number of recipes off the internet.The undhiyu I have had thus far have been supremely tasty but supremely oily too. Since it's such a richly flavoured and fragrant dish, I thought that a healthier version should work too, and work it did, for us. Do try it sometime, and tell me if you like too.

An undhiyu that worked
Serves 4 (accompanied by dal)
4 small eggplants, slit halfway cross wise (slit only halfway, so that we can stuff it later)
1 raw banana cut into discs of about3/4th to 1 inch thickness, I kind of prefer it unpeeled, but peel is fine as well.
1 sweet potato, cubed
1 potato, cubed/ 8 baby potatoes slit cross wise, halfway
a bunch of surati papdi, stringed, if needed
1 purple yam ( i couldn't find it but do throw in some if you have)

Stuffing:
1 bunch of green garlic/ 6 small cloves of garlic
1 small bunch of cilantro
4 tbsp grated coconut (frozen worked fine)
1/2 inch piece of ginger
5 green chillies
a pinch of sugar
1/ tsp salt
Make a coarse paste,and stuff the eggplants and baby potatoes.
Check out this great picture of the stuffed veggies in Nupur's undhiyu post on One hot Stove
Methi muthia
a small bunch of methi, coarsely chopped (leaves only)
5 tbsp besan
1 tbsp atta
salt, turmeric, chili powder
Mix and make a firm dough using a little water. Make discs and shallow fry two at a time in 1 tbsp oil . This way, I found some oil remains after frying, which can be used for frying the vegetables. ( You can also use an appe/abelskeiver pan if you have one). Of course we can also deep fry little blobs of muthiya, which is the traditional way of making it.
Using the same oil, splutter ajwain, hing, add chili powder, dhana jira powder
and the leftover stuffing. Fry for 2 minutes and add the vegetables and 1/2 to 1 cup of water.
Sprinkle salt to taste and a pinch of sugar, transfer to a pressure cooker and give 1 to 2 whistles (Adjust according to your cooker).Open when steam releases, there should be some gravy left. Add the muthiya now.
Sprinkle some water if needed and cook for another 5 minutes or so, till the muthiyas absob the flavours. (if your muthiyas turn out hard, you can add them with the vegetables and cook for one whistle too).
Enjoy your undhiyu with soft, warm phulkas.

P.S: I must add here that the generous use of oil, does lend a better clinging sauce to the dish, which together with fried muthiyas enhances the taste. However, I'm happy enough with the healthier version to not miss the oil:)

Vegetable Momos

Wish you all a blissful 2010.

To ring in the new year, here's a popular Nepali snack, that's probably been the staple diet every college goer in Delhi University (or good old DU!), particularly in the North Campus.

For a long, long time, I was afraid to try momos, as getting that pretty crimped ghujiya like pattern looks like painstaking work. However, I discovered, it's just as good without the pattern, in the taste department, if not in looks, so like me, if that's been holding you back, give it a go!

Vegetable Momos
The dough :
2 cups plain flour
Water to bind the dough
A few drops of oil (optional)
Knead the flour to smooth but not sticky dough, and keep aside. You may smear a little oil on the dough to keep it from drying, else cover it with a damp cloth. I tried the dough both ways, with and without oil, but didn't find much difference, so I prefer the oil free version.
As much as I avoid using maida(refined flour), I cannot imagine atta (wholewheat) momos, but if any of you, health conscious friends were to try it, do let me know the results.

The filling :
Finely minced carrots, cabbage, onion, paneer, ginger, garlic
6 grains, each of methi seeds & Sichuan pepper(timmur in Nepali) (these are optional, but they lend the dish that distinct nepali flavour), a pinch each of turmeric & red chilli powder, salt to taste.
Heat a tsp of mustard oil and add methi & timmur, if using, ensuring that they don’t burn. If you’re concerned about biting into them, you can remove them at this stage, they would have imparted their flavour to the oil.
Add the ginger, garlic ,veggies, paneer and haldi & chilli. Fry for a minute. Then add salt, mix well and leave to cool. If there is any water, drain well before using. The filling should be dry, and this is why we add salt in the end.

Take a ball of dough and roll out thinly. Stamp out rounds using a steel glass or katori, or cookie cutter.




Flatten and elongate the edges a bit as you put in some filling so that the middle portion of the wrapper remains somewhat thicker than the edges until you get around a 2.5 inch circle. Keep them covered with a bowl, till you get the others done, unless you have the help of your friends, kids, or other half , in which case it becomes a smooth assembly line operation.

For stuffing them, place the circle on the palm of your left hand (or on the right hand for the lefties), put a small heap of the filling in the center, fold it over, bring the edges together and crimp them making sure that the filling is enclosed. It doesn’t need to be perfect so seal in whichever pattern is manageable, as long as it gets completely sealed. Also try that edges don’t become too thick, or else they’ll be chewy when cooked. Steam for around 10 to 12 minutes, till they get done. Serve with Tomato Achar.
Tomato Achar
2 medium tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
3 dried red chillies
Salt to taste
Though it’s called achar, it’s more like a salsa. Roast the tomatoes in an oven, or a griddle until charred. Optionally, you can roast the garlic & chillies too, if you don’t care for the taste of raw garlic. Peel the tomatoes, and then pound everything together till you get an almost smooth sauce, of course you could use a blender too. Enjoy it with momos.
If making all those momos has drained out and you want to keep the dipping sauce simple, try this Spicy Soy-Based Dipping Sauce , courtsey tulsi regmi, which I haven't yet tried myself. She also has lots of momo recipes at this link.
Sherpa momo achar
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon mustard oil
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 teaspoon fresh garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon ground timur (Szechwan pepper)

In a small mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients. Serve with steamed momos.

Oh, and before I forget, you could also fry them, or better still, kothe them, which as far as I gathered, means pan fry them. Either way, it's a treat you won't regret.

P.S : Here is a plate of gorgeous momos, made by my dear friend Swati, who's left food blogging now. Miss you, Swati

Tom Yum Fried Rice

For those of us who like making thai curried from scratch at home, what do you do with the bounty of leftover herbs and spices? Since I make thai food often , this has been a frequent problem, which prompted me to look for home style thai recipes that use them creatively.

This is one such recipe, a quick and spicy rice dish, redolent with thai flavours of lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime. The Singaporean version served in most restaurants rely on readymade tom yum paste, however, the thai way of making it with fresh herbs is so much better.

Serves 2:

1.5 cups of cold rice

2 Tbsp each Lemongrass (only the inner,tender part), Galangal : very finely chopped

a couple of kaffir lime leaves (very finely shredded)

1 tbsp garlic (finely chopped)

fresh red chillies, finely chopped (optional)

Chili paste

shredded vegetables of your choice

a sliver of deseeded tomato, chopped (optional)

lime juice ( 1 to 2tbsp or so), sugar (a pinch) & salt, to taste

light soy sauce, to taste

Heat some oil, and add the garlic and chillies (if using), quickly followed by lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime. Fry for a minute or so, then add whatever veggies etc. you are using ( I kept it really simple with french beans and corn), and fry for another minute. Now add cold rice, chili paste, soy sauce, salt and sugar, and mix well. Taste for seasonings in case it needs adjustment. Mix in the lime juice. Done.

Tinda masala

My apologies to all those, who came here looking for updates and were disappointed to find none. I went missing again, and I can't even promise that it will be the last time. Studying at this age and stage is keeping me a lot busier than I thought, which means that blogging got relegated to the list of chores that kept sinking lower and lower in priority. And when something you enjoyed becomes a chore, it’s better to step back for a while and return to it when you can honestly feel joyful about doing it again. Meanwhile, I surely and sorely, missed you guys, although I tried to keep up with reading all my favourite blogs at every opportunity, found a few of my posts plagiarised and discovered some delightful new blogs.

Today’s recipe is especially for someone who’s very special to me, my elder sister, Manju didi, who discovered my blog awhile back, which was ironically just when I stopped posting ( No didi..I did not stop posting because you discovered my blog!!)

Didi is the only person I know who LOVES tinda, the only veggie that I was never fond of. Still, I was delighted to chance upon it at the grocer, got it home and started hunting for recipes, hoping good ol’ Manjula auntie will have some nice recipe for tinda. Instead, I found this video from a program called Food afternoon with Farah, unfortunately the link for which I cannot find any longer. She got the recipe from a dhaba in Sindh , and this recipe does bring about that distinct dhaba taste. The garden fresh tomatoes that I found added oodles to the taste and colour ( the colours have been totally untouched in that picture).

The recipe is pretty straightforward, but makes one helluva’ tinda:

250 gms tinda, scraped lightly and quartered
1 medium onion, sliced
2 ripe, medium sized tomatoes, chopped
½ to 1tsp red chilli powder ( more or less to taste)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Crushed black pepper
Green chillies (optional)
cilantro

Sauté the sliced onions in oil till they just turn golden, then add the tomatoes, turmeric, salt and chilli powder and fry till they turn pulpy, and the masala leaves the sides, add just a splash of water to keep the spiced from burning. Add the tinda, mix well, add some more (around 1/4 cup) water and cover. Cook covered on a low flame till tinda gets tender, (should take around 15 minutes, but really depends upon how fresh the tindas are). Once done, garnish with fresh cilantro and crushed black pepper ( the recipe calls for green chillies too, but it was already spicy enough for us). Enjoy with warm roti or rice.

Here are some of the recipes from your blogs that I have made and enjoyed many times over the past few months:

Meera's dalimbi bhaat (delicious!)

Sharmila's suji roti with jolkhabarer torkari (now that's some brekkie!)

Swati's chole bhature (true blue stuff!)

Bharti's stuffed parathas for dummies (this is an absolute lifesaver!)

Sig's mambazha pulissery (great way to use up not too sweet mangoes)

Kajal's bittergourd with raw mango (sweet & sour & really interesting)

Thukpa:Noodle Soup for the Soul

Thukpa is a hearty tibetan noodle soup, which can be made spicy or plain as per individual taste. It is a wonderfully nourishing and warming dish and therefore an ideal one dish meal for the coming monsoons.
The mustard oil in this thukpa gives it a Nepalese twist, try it if you adore mustard like I do, else use any cooking medium that you like. You could leave out the green chilli and the spices and it's still tasty. I'm giving here the maximum spice version that I learned, so feel free to eliminate any one or as many spices as you like :)

Thukpa
1 to 2 servings
Ingredients
1/2tsp butter or ghee (clarified butter)+ ½ tsp oil(I used mustard)
(You could use 1 tsp of any oil, I find that this combo gives it a lovely flavour)
1 tsp each minced ginger and garlic
1/4 medium-sized red onion
A really tiny pinch Garam masala (optional)
1/2 tsp. Red chili paste ( optional)
½ tsp chili powder (optional)
1 red baby potato ( or half a medium potato)
1/2 chopped fresh tomato (medium sized)
1 fresh green chilli, coarsely chopped
2½ cups water
2 to3 oz noodles of your choice( This time I used a local brand of low fat instant noodle called Koka)
1 cup mixed veggies (I used cauliflower, long beans, mushrooms, carrot, cabbage, baby spinach)
1-2 tbsp light soy sauce (or to taste)
Salt, a pinch of sugar (& black pepper/optional)
Fresh cilantro
lime juice

1. Boil or MW potato till it's almost soft(I microwaved it for 1.5 minute with 1 glass water)
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, lightly saute onion, ginger, and garlic about 1 minute (until transparent)
3. Add all remaining spices (including chili paste) and fry about 1 minute or until the aroma is released from the spices.
4. Add tomatoes, chilli and potatoes, and all the veggies except cabbage and spinach
and fry for about a minute
5. Add water and bring to a boil, cook for 2 minutes
6. Add half cooked noodles and boil about 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
7. Season with sugar, salt, pepper, and soya sauce to taste.
8. Add cabbage & spinach and boil another minute
9. Garnish with cilantro, and add a little lime juice.
10. Slurrp!
Here's another recipe for Thukpa, that looks really delicious, by Bindiya. Do check it out.

Lucknow style dry urad dal

Back after a whirlwind holiday with the in laws and the house seems very lonely and desolate all of a sudden.

Here's a traditional and tasty little recipe that'll bring the simple yet sophisticated taste of Lucknow to you.

Serves 4

1 cup dhuli (split and washed) urad dal

1 onion, finely sliced

2 dry red chillies

3 tbsp oil

1 clove of sliced garlic

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

a pinch of turmeric
salt to taste

Rinse and wash the dal as you usually do and then soak for around 2 hours.

Now heat one tsp oil, add cumin seeds and cook the dal with salt and turmeric in around 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker or a saucepan, so that the water absorbs completely. 2 whistles in my cooker does it. It could get done in even one, or take three whistles. The idea is that the dal should get completely cooked, but each grain should be separate. Leave it covered for a while after cooking so that any extra water gets absorbed.

Meanwhile, fry the sliced onions , garlic and dried chillies in the remaining oil, till the onion turns a rich brown colour, and pour this tarka over the dal. That's it!

P.S: The leftovers make a neat stuffing for paranthas

A quick update

No I haven't done the ditching act again. In laws are visiting for a fortnight and even though a lot of cooking is planned, blogging unfortunately will have to take a backseat. Will be back soon and if I'm lucky, with a couple of ma in law's traidtional awadhi recipes:)

Miss me.Please.

Korean noodles: Japchae

Japchae is a healthy and light Korean dish with noodles made from potato starch. they have a smooth & springy texture and a unique taste. I tried them simply because they look like a lot of fun, and they were!

Serves 2

around 100 gms dangmyeon (korean potato starch noodles)

1 carrot, julienned

1 onion, sliced

5 re hydrated dried shitake mushrooms

two generous handfuls of spinach, leaves separated & blanched lightly

some spring onions( I did not have any)

a few drops of oil (preferably sesame)

1 to 2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp of soy sauce ( or to taste)

Gochujang: Korean hot pepper paste(optional)

toasted sesame seeds for garnish

The veggies in the picture are for a single serving only

Boil the noodles in plenty of water around 5 to 6 minutes (after the water starts boiling) or according to the packet instructions. Wash with cold water, snip into manageable lengths and toss with a splash of soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil to keep them from sticking

Then, prepare the veggies by lightly cooking them individually with a few drops of oil and some soy sauce each, without browning them. While this ensures that all the vegetables are cooked perfectly, next time I'm going to try to cook them in one go, and see if it really makes a difference. Finally, fry the garlic & add the noodles with a bit of gochujang(if using) and all the vegetables and mix well

None of the recipes actually called for gochujang but since I had purchased a bottle with the noodles, I just wanted to use it. You could add a pinch of sugar though, if you are not using gochujang, which is sweet and spicy(not very spicy though, by Indian standards!)

The noodles need to be cooked for only a minute or so to warm them and mix them thoroughly with everything else. Sprinkle sesame seeds ( I like lots of it!)

Nasi Goreng

Hello people, it's me again..back once more and hopefully for good this time!
What's my story now? Nothing actually..just plain laziness and lack of motivation. The stark, white hospital ward look of my blog doesn't help either, but then I better leave the interior decoration bit for another day. Right now, I want to start dwelling here again, before I get caught up with the rigmarole of student life after nearly a decade! Yes, I'm going back to school:)

Over the past two years that we have been in Singapore, I have had the opportunity to see an astounding variety of Asian food and ingredients. I would love to share with all of you, the ones that we have enjoyed most and managed to re-create at home successfully. Starting this post, I will be posting vegetarianised versions of popular Asian dishes and look forward to hearing from you about your favourite Asian foods.

Let me begin this series with the very easy, but delicious 'Nasi Goreng'

Nasi in Malay means rice and goreng is anything fried- regardless of whether a dish is stir fried, shallow or deep fried. This dish is the Malay/Indonesian version of fried rice, and is a popular breakfast in these parts. While it's a total throw in what you like sort of meal, the mainstays are pre-cooked rice, soy sauce, onions/shallots and garlic. One protein item (usually meat based) is invariably added and the garnishes that make it a meal are cucumber slices, crackers(typically shrimp/prawn) and an optional fried egg. A little tamarind or tomato paste is sometimes used to add a bit of tang, which my sambal already included, so I did not use them. Go ahead and customize it to suit your taste buds, even leaving sambal out totally, if you don't care for spicy food, it'll still be authentic and delish!

Ingredients

2 cups of cooked rice

1.5 cups of mixed veggies-do try to include cabbage, adds a nice crunch

( I used cabbage, broccoli, carrots and french beans)

1/2 cup of paneer/tofu/soy chunks ( your protein of choice basically)

2 tbsp sliced shallots/red onions

1 tbsp sliced garlic

1 fresh red chili-totally optional

2 tsp sambal ( recipe follows)

soy sauce-preferably both light and dark-1 tbsp and 1 tsp, resp.

salt, only if needed

a pinch of sugar*

* For total authenticity, use kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), a standard Indonesian ingredient, which lends a lovely caramelized taste and colour to the rice. Since most of us can't find it easily, a similar effect can be achieved with a combi of dark soy sauce and sugar.

For those who want to know the different varieties of soy sauce, see the Soy sauce primer here.

Sambal: use any of your favourite ready made sambal(check for shrimp paste) or chili paste, chili/sriracha/hot sauce, or if you're crazy and have lots of time like me, do this:

Boil 10 to 12 red chillies for a couple of minutes and grind together with one shallot, a little salt and 2 cloves of medium sized garlic to a paste. Heat a few tablespoons of oil, add this and cook until the oil separates. Add a little tamarind juice (approx. 1 tbsp) and a 1/2 tsp ( or to taste) sugar, cook for another minute, check taste, cool and store in the refrigerator.

Step 1 : Prepare the soy chunks by soaking/boiling according to package instructions and squeeze out the excess water, so that they are ready to soak in the quick marinade we are going to make. The tofu can be just rinsed, patted dry and marinated. Paneer is a star regardless. If you're in a hurry, skip this part, but know that tofu & soy chunks can be pretty much flavourless on their own.

Mix a generous splash of light soy sauce, a pinch of sugar & a few drops of lime juice/vinegar and marinade soy chunks or tofu just for as long as it takes to get the other ingredients going. Believe me, it takes much longer to write all this, than to actually make it!

Step 2: Prep the veggies and the garnishes and pleeasse try it with cabbage at least once.

Step 3: Heat 1 tsp of oil in a wok/non stick pan, and lightly fry the soy chunks/tofu/paneer till it gets a slightly crispy coating. I cut them into two at this point as I find that a better size. Keep aside.

Step 4:Add another 2 tsp of oil, add shallots & garlic, stir, add the veggies (except cabbage) and lightly fry them for a minute or so. Now add the rice and the cabbage. Also, add back the soy /tofu/paneer and the seasonings as well as the sambal and fry for a couple of minutes. You can add a little splash of water, if the rice starts sticking, although this is unlikely if you're using leftover rice and a well seasoned pan.

Step 5:Plate it with a few cucumbers, tomatoes and any crackers you like ( I used baked corn chips) and a crispy fried egg if you eat eggs. Here's the plate I did for hubby, with my (admittedly tacky) attempt at a heart shaped fried egg!

Now I'm off to read my favourite blogs, to get much needed inspiration and motivation to keep blogging. See you again..soon!

Thai Papaya Salad: Som Tam

After all that curry-vurry,kheer-sheer, of the past few days, me craves some cool salads.
Till sometime back, salad conjured up images of a pile of limp greens in a bland creamy dressing, but having discovered thai salads, I have had to completely revised my concept. The thais love their salads, like we love our chaats, and with steamed rice , it often becomes a lovely, light meal.

The most well known of these is Som Tum, or raw papaya salad, which is made with shredded green papaya tossed with a spicy dressing. This is how it goes


One small coarsely shredded green papaya ( around 1.5 cups)
7 to 8 cherry tomatoes, or one medium, firm tomato, quartered
a handful of long beans (around 1/4th cup), snapped into manageable bits
1 to 2 cloves of garlic
1 fresh green/red chilli
Lime juice, salt, sugar to taste ( I used the juice of one lime & 1 tsp sugar)
a few splashes of light soy sauce (optional)
1/4th cup roasted peanuts, coarsely crushed or chopped

For those who would like to make it the traditional way, these videos explain it . Pound the garlic and chili with a little salt in a mortar and pestle, if you have one.

Else,smash the garlic and chili and finely chop them. Toss in the long beans and pound a bit more, or smash those too. The tomatoes also need to be pounded (only lightly )to extract the juice. You could also, slice them and mix. Add the shredded papaya and the seasonings, sprinkle the peanuts and you're good to go. It does taste a lot better than it may look!

Off this goes to It's a vegan world-Thai, hosted by Priya at Akshaypaatram, an event created by Vaishali

Birthday celebrations with Zafrani Kheer

(Belated)Happy Birthday, DelhiBelle!

5 days back, this blog of mine quietly turned one, and true to my track record, I am late with my own blog's birthday post! However, one interesting observation is that this will be my 53rd post, which means that I have posted at the rate of exactly a recipe a week. Not as bad as I thought,what say?

To celebrate, let’s take a walk down memory lane with a delicious reminder of long forgotten days, when simple was beautiful, mangoes were to be had only in summer and vacations meant the grandparent’s farmhouse, not Spain!
Make and enjoy this sweet, decadent pleasure, on a leisurely weekend, the way it was made in the good old days. Put away the pressure cooker, skip the condensed milk, bring out your best, heavy bottomed pot and get down to making kheer, the traditional way. The resulting labour of love will not only be superior tasting, but will also be much more satisfying to make.
The inputs

5 cups (1 litre) of whole milk
1/4th cup (4 tbsp) rice
1/3rd cup (around 5 to 6 tbsp) of sugar
1 tbsp ghee or clarified butter (use unsalted butter if you cannot find ghee)
Flavourings:
½ tsp saffron strands, soaked in one tbsp of milk
¼ tsp cardamom seeds, crushed
Garnishes:
Toasted, slivered pistachios, almonds & cashews
The process

Heat the ghee on medium heat and toast the rice until it smells nice and slightly nutty (takes only about a minute or two). Slowly add the milk and bring to a boil. Now, turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and stir occasionally to ensure milk does not stick or burn, till it is reduced to almost half its original volume( approximately 25 to 30 minutes). At this point, add the sugar, cardamom, soaked saffron & raisins if using, let it cook for a few more minutes till the sugar completely dissolves. Check for sweetness, bearing in mind that cooling will considerably blunt the sugariness. Bring down to room temperature, or cool in a refrigerator, sprinkle with the toasted nuts and serve.

If you're feeling fancy (I was!), decorate it with some silver varq. This makes it look really festive.

The output

This is how it looks after a few hours in the refrigerator, which is how I like it best.

Fun & modern Twists
Flavouring: Rosewater, Kewra (Screwpine), Cinnamon, Vanilla
Garnish: Strawberries, mangoes, oranges, cranberries, raisins
Regional variations and cousins :Kheeri, Payesh, Phirni, Payasam, Bhat Payasa

Kheer Trivia
Did you know that in the Jagannath Temple in Puri, nearly 800 cooks make kheer using a 2000 year old recipe, as Prasad for almost 10,000 devotees each day!

Delhi’s arguably best known kheer can be sampled for all of Rs.12 (S$0.40) at Bade Mian’s kheer shop in Hauz Qazi, Old Delhi

Sri Lankan Jackfruit Curry and Ceylon fried rice

Sri Lanka's spices has attracted numerous traders over centuries, even though the spice trade is no longer the gold mine it once was,Sri Lanka is still one of the leading exporters of cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, mace and even vanilla.
It should not come as a surprise then that an ordinary Sinhalese curry can contain upto thirteen herbs and spices!
My very first attempt at a Sri Lankan meal convinced me that it is completely blog worthy and so here it is,bad pictures and poor lighting at dinner time, notwidthstanding.

This super fragrant yet mild Ceylon Rice complements the curry perfectly and is really quick to rustle up using leftover rice.

Since I could not find any definitive recipes for Sri Lankan curry on the internet, this is what I came up with based on the nearly half a dozen recipes that finally seemed workable.
Polos(young jackfruit in Sinhalese) is one of my favourite vegetables(fruit?)and is believed to have such a high medicinal value that it was a staple diet of ancient Lankan royalty. Together with potato, it lends the perfect texture to this curry.

• 1 cup raw jackfruit, chopped
• 1 medium potato, cut into large chunks
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 medium cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• curry leaves , 6 to 8
• 2 tsp oil
• 1 cup coconut milk
• around 5 cloves & cardamom each
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1tsp tamarind pulp

Spice powder:

• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp fennel powder
• a dash of powdered cinnamon
• a pinch of garam masala

I didn't want to add another bottle of spice powder to my burgeoning collection so I used individual,powdered spices to make up the spice base.

If you'd like to whip up curry powder from scratch these are two of the recipes that I liked. My chilli quotient is a bit higher than what they recommend though.

Heat 2 tsp oil and fry the mustard, curry leaves,whole spices, onion and garlic till the onion begins to brown.Add the jackfruit and potatoes and the spice base and mix well to coat them with the masala. Now add the coconut milk, little by little and stir fry till you can see some specks of oil. Add around half a cup of water and salt to taste and transfer the whole thing to a pressure cooker. Cook for 2 to 3 whistles and let the cooker release steam naturally before opening it. Cook uncovered for a few minutes till it reaches a creamy consistency. Check salt and take off the heat. After a couple of minutes, mix the tamarind pulp(adding it too soon can cause the coconut milk to split) and serve.

Ceylon Fried Rice

The Sinhalese love for cashewnuts and fragrant spices makes for a crunchy, nutty and very flavourful rice.

• 2 cups cooked rice
• whole cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and black pepper(leave out if you don't enjoy biting into pepper)
• a pinch of saffron soaked in a tbsp of milk
• a handful of frozen peas, defrosted
• 1 tsp of ghee
• as many cashews as you'd care to eat
• salt to taste

Heat ghee, add cashews, whole spices and cook till the cashews turn a pale brown. Add the frozen peas, rice and salt to taste and mix well. Finally add the saffron milk, turn off the heat and cover for a couple of minutes. Serve with curry.

Besan wali gwar ki sabzi

As I turn another year older tomorrow, I find myself missing the simple and delicious UP baniya dishes of my childhood.

This is a quick recipe for one of those homey veggies: gwar phali(cluster beans). Gwar is one of those vegetables that has both fans and detractors and I now happen to be the former.

This is a typical UP style way of cooking this veggie, that is sans, onion or garlic, thereby retaining the original taste of the vegetable. I tweaked my recipe from here, a site that has lots of UP recipes.

Since the author has learnt this from her sister in Lucknow, I hope this can also qualify for RCI Awadhi:)

Ingredients
250 gm. (1 1/2 cup prepared) gwar ki phali/cluster beans
2-3 tbsp oil
1/3 tsp. carom seed or ajwain seeds
A pinch of asafoetida or heeng powder
1 heaped tbsp besan or gram flour(chickpea flour)
1/4tsp turmeric powder or haldi
1/2tsp. chilli powder or to taste
1 tsp. coriander or dhania powder
1/2 tsp. Amchoor (dry mango powder). Can be substituted with lemon juice.
salt to taste
Method

1.Top & tail guar phalli. Chop into 2-3 inch pieces.
2.Boil/microwave lightly, so they are softened but not mushy. In my microwave it took around 5 minutes on high power.Drain water off.
3.Heat oil in a pan. Add asafoetida powder and carom seeds . As soon as the seeds begin to splutter, sprinkle besan and fry on low heat for 20 to 30 seconds, until lightly browned.
4.Add turmeric, coriander powder, chilli powder, and then the beans. Add salt and stir fry until all water has dried and beans look shiny. Cover and cook for a few minutes, if beans are still undercooked. Mine were.
5.When they are cooked through, add mango powder, mix well and check salt.Serve hot with roti.

Although the original recipe calls for adding amchoor early on, I prefer adding it later as I have been taught that sour stuff slows the tenderizing/cooking process.

Note: It is not advisable to be too measly with oil here, as the besan clumps can turn dry and brittle if the oil is too little. A generous but reasonable quantity (3 tbsp) makes the dish moist and tasty.

Bisi Bele Bhath

Hope Holi was fun, colorful and full of good food for everyone. Our Holi lunch this time was Bisi Bele Bhath (BBB).
Although I am a big, Big, BIG fan of BBB,I never thought it was possible to make a decent one at home from scratch. I have made it a couple of times using the MTR mix, but it could hardly compare with some of the better reneditions of this fabulous dish I have had.
Finally, I came across a recipe that works well, and brings out the fresh, vibrant flavours that I associate with this dish.

Yesterday after enjoying it for the second time, I know this one is a winner.This is a recipe by Lali who has some neat cookery videos on youtube, and this is her mom's favourite dish. I also referred to this video on youtube, which uses the speedier way of cooking rice, veggies & dal together.
Based on the two videos, I came up with the following method, although I stayed true to Lali's BBB masala paste . You can add onions which I didn't use this time, as I avoid it on festivals. It still tasted wonderful, though, so it's really up to you.

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup thai rice
3/4 cup dal (80% arhar/toor+ 10% dhuli moong+ 10% red masoor)

2 cups of mixed veggie ( carrots, French beans, potato, peas)

2 tomatoes, quartered

1 small capsicum, cubed

a handful of soaked, cooked chickpeas (optional, don't fret over it if it's not handy)

fresh green chillies, optional
BBB masala,as below
1/2 glass tamarind juice( 1 lime sized lump of tamarind), soaked and strained
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
A handful of peanuts
A handful of curry leaves ( 15 or so)

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

a pinch of red chili powder, if desired

BBB Masala

5 cloves , 1 inch cinnamon stick , 5 dried red chillies, 1 tsp chana dal, 2 tsp coriander seeds

Method

Step 1:

Soak the dal in warm water and rice in room temperature water for half an hour, while you prep the veggies (I used carrots, french beans, potato and peas). Also chop the tomatoes, capsicum and chillies as below.

Step 2:

Cook the dal, rice and veggies together in a pressure cooker for around 20 minutes (3 to 4whistles).

Step3:

Get the masala ingredients together. The peanuts are not part of the masala, they go in later.

Step 4:

Roast cloves, cinnamon, chana dal and coriander one at a time in a few drops of oil and keep aside.

Step5:

Grind together with the grated coconut into a coarse paste.

Heat oil in a wok,fry the peanuts and then curry leaves.Once they start to crackle,then tip in the tomatoes, capsicum & green chillies and cook for a bit.

Now add the masala dissolved in tamarind juice and more boiling water as needed to get a loose mix. Add salt,turmeric and chilli powder,if using, mix well and cook on low heat till it reaches a slightly runnier consistency than you want as it will thicken considerably on cooling.

Drizzle some ghee if you like and serve with fresh curd,your choice of vadam and salad.