Mexican Green Rice with Spicy Fried Potatoes

Work has been very stressful lately. All I want to do is get home and start blogging. But at the end of the day I have literally no energy left. In fact, hubby dearest has been cooking dinners too. It’s been raining outside, and I have no time to enjoy it :( . I’m missing watching MasterChef on TV :( . I am craving for my end of the month vacation. I hope for it to be my much needed relief. Until then, my blog will have to be my only source of relaxation. *End of ranting*

Now, back to my sane self. Forgive me, sometimes “Hyper-Stressed out-Worried Anu” makes an appearance here. This post is going to cater to those with lack of time – like me. One pot meal. The answer to a busy night. I know the name sounds simply Exotic. I’ll let you in on a secret *hush* it is only coriander rice *hush*. Yup, you heard it right. Coriander/Cilantro is abundantly available in India, albeit it’s gotten really costly off late. I pay Rs.40 for a bunch :( in Bangalore. I did try growing it. It grew too, though not enough to suffice and the heavy rains killed almost half of my saplings :( . Too many sad smileys. Isn’t that an oxymoron? Sad smiley. Or is there a more appropriate name for it?

For a lot of communities, rice is a side dish and the main is something else. But for us Indians, especially South Indians, rice is the star. Everything else is a side dish. I have seen a lot of friends for whom a meal isn’t complete if they don’t have a spoonful  of curd rice at the end. If you have never seen a paddy field, I suggest you do see one, especially in or after the monsoons. That is probably the brightest green nature can throw at you. It really relaxes the eyes and the mind.

The original Mexican rice obviously uses Mexican chillies, I had no time to find exotic chillies, so I just used the regular desi chillies. They are probably a little spicier than their Mexican counterparts, so use it carefully to match your taste buds.

I toyed with the idea of different accompaniments and finally settled on the spicy potato fry. I did seriously consider the raita, but gave it to my greediness of having some fried potatoes *feeling guilty*

So on a slightly free weeknight, we enjoyed a part Mexican and part Indian meal of Green rice with spicy fried potatoes watching another exciting episode of MasterChef. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Mexican Green Rice with Spicy Fried Potatoes

Rice flavored with Coriander and Spinach served with spicy fried potatoes 

Recipe Type:  Main Course
Cuisine:          Mexican
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     60 minutes
Yield:              2 servings

Ingredients:

Mexican Green Rice:

3/4 cup Basmati Rice
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/2 cup spinach leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic
1-2 green chillies
4 tsp oil
1 Onion
1 tsp Lemon juice
1.5 cups Water
Salt

Spicy Fried Potatoes:

2 Potatoes
3 tsp oil
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
4-5 Curry leaves
Salt

Method:

Mexican Green Rice:

• Wash and drain the rice.
• Lay it out on a towel to dry.
• Grind the spinach, coriander, garlic. onion and green chillies into a coarse paste
• Heat oil in a pan/kadhai and add the rice
• On a medium flame fry the rice until it is slightly golden appx. 5 mins
• Add the green paste, water and salt
• Cover and cook on low flame until the rice is cooked
• Add lime juice and garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot

Spicy Fried Potatoes:

• Peel and chop the potatoes
• Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds
• Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and the potatoes
• Add the spices and salt and mix well
• Cover and cook until the potatoes are done
• You can have this with roti/chapati also

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Menthe Pathrode | Methi Pathrode

I never knew gardening could be so much fun. My heart swells with pride every time a seed I sowed, breaks the mud barrier and rises up to face the earth. Those two little green leaves soaking in the sunlight, fill me with hope and love. Some of the easiest things to grow have never worked with me - tomatoes & chillies. For some reason these just refuse to bear fruit in my garden no matter what I do or how much nutrition I give them :( But there are some others which ask for nothing and just give give and give. Spinach is one of them and the other is Fenugreek or Methi or Menthe. I had my own fresh bunch of methi leaves, so I decided to make something special.

I love Pathrode. Traditionally, pathrode is made by rubbing a paste of rice, lentils, coconut and spices onto 

Colocasia leaves/ Kesavina ele, rolling and steaming them. Colocasia leaves are a little difficult to find in Bangalore, they are more common along the Konkan coast of India. In their absence, Methi makes for a good substitute. Here instead of rubbing the leaves with the spice paste, the leaves are chopped and added to the paste and steamed wrapped in banana leaves. If you cannot get banana leaf, do not worry, you can just just steam them in greased bowls.

Clockwise L-R: Ground rice, Spice paste, Steamed pathrode, Pathrode to be steamed

Once they are cooked and cooled, crumble them and stir fry with a tempering of mustard and curry leaves. And don't forget to garnish with desiccated fresh coconut.

Menthe Pathrode | Methi Pathrode

A traditional Mangalore snack made by steaming rice and fenugreek/methi leaves together with a spice paste

Recipe Type:  Snacks / Appetizer
Cuisine:          South Indian / Mangalorean
Prep Time:     8 Hours (Includes soaking of rice)
Cook time:     90 minutes
Yield:              3-4 Servings

Ingredients:

1/2 cup White Rice
1/2 cup Red Rice
2 cups chopped or 1 bunch Methi
2-3 Tbsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Tamarind paste
3-4 dry Red Chillies (I used 3 red chillies and added 1/2 tsp of chilli powder)
1/2 tsp Jaggery (You can use sugar instead)
1/2 Tbsp Urad dal
2-3 cloves Garlic
4 Tbsp dessicated Coconut
2-3 Tbsp Water
3 tsp Oil
8-10 Curry leaves
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
Salt

Method:

• Soak rice overnight.
• Drain out all the water and grind it. It should not be fine, it should remain coarse. It will attain a sticky consistency.
• Dry roast the urad dal and coriander seeds until they are slightly brown.
• Add 1 tsp of oil and fry the red chillies until they are crisp.
• Allow them to cool and then grind into a powder along with the coriander seeds and urad dal.
• Add the coconut, jaggery, garlic and tamarind and grind into a paste along with 1-2 tbsp of water.
• Add this masala to the rice and mix well. Preferably just mix in the mixer.
• Add salt.
• Add the chopped methi leaves and mix well.
• You now need to steam this.
• If using a cooker or an idli steamer, allow it to heat up and produce steam before placing the pathrode in it.
• It is better to steam it wrapped in banana leaves, but if you don't have it steam in bowls. Grease the bowls before you spoon in the pathrode.
• Steam on medium flame for 18-20 mins until it is cooked. Depending on the size of the parcels or the bowl, you may need more or less time. If using banana leaf, the change in colour is a good indication that it is cooked.
• Allow it to cool and then crumble it using your fingers.
• Heat the remaining oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds once the oil is hot.
• After they splutter, add the curry leaves and pour this tempering into the crumbled pathrode.
• Add dessicated fresh coconut and mix well.
• Serve hot as a snack/ appetizer.

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Fried Rice with Ginger Garlic Sauce

This fried rice is so tasty, I cannot believe I never tried it before. Sigh.

When I went veggie shopping this weekend, I was extremely disappointed to see that my regular vegetable vendor has closed shop. Nothing excites me as fresh veggies, and he kept really fresh veggies. I’m still in denial. I’m sure it was a one off thing, may be a birthday or something (I’m sooo hoping it’s a onetime thing). So grudgingly I had to find a few new places to shop. To brighten my day, I picked some all colored peppers aka red, yellow and green capsicum. I even picked up zucchini and broccoli in the first shop. The next shop had more of my weekly local vegetables. I picked up some French beans and carrots. I add French beans and carrots to so many dishes – dalia, uppit, sambar, mix veg sabzi etc.

Ok, so I bought all these vegetables, but I just realized today, that I’m out of town the whole of next week and hubby dearest is not going to bother about my precious exotic vegetables lying in the fridge and by the time I come back they will be all shriveled. I had to cook them today, when they are still fresh and smiling

And I did have some wonderful fragrant Basmati rice with me. So I decided to make fried rice. Only this time, I’ve added a twist. This is my own recipe and I simply love it. Henceforth, this is how I will always make fried rice.

.

So grab your sharpest knife and get to work. It’s quite a bit of chopping, I accept. I julienned the peppers, French beans and carrots. I broke the broccoli into small florets. I cut the zucchini into thin semicircle slices

The recipe below makes yummy fried rice for 2.

Fried Rice with Ginger Garlic Sauce

Vegetable Fried Rice tossed with a ginger garlic sauce

Recipe Type:  Main Course
Cuisine:          Indian Chinese
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     60 minutes
Yield:              2 Servings

Ingredients:

½ each Red, yellow, green Capsicum / Pepper
½ Zucchini
10-12 small florets Broccoli
1 Carrot
10-12 French beans
1 Onion
8-10 cloves Garlic (Garlic cloves in India are very small, 3 of them may make 1 garlic clove abroad)
1.5” piece Ginger
1-2 Green Chillies
1 cup Basmati rice
4 tsp Soy sauce
2 tsp Sesame oil/ Olive oil
2 tsp Rice vinegar or any white vinegar
½ tsp Sugar
1 Maggi magic cube or ½ tsp Ajinomoto (Optional)
6 tsp Oil
Salt
Water

Method:

• Wash thoroughly and soak the rice for half hour. Drain the water and cook it with 1.5 cups of water in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles or until done. Alternatively, follow the instructions for cooking the rice mentioned on the packet.
• Once the rice is cooked, fluff it and keep aside.
• In a blender/ mixer, grind together the garlic, ginger, green chillies, soy sauce, olive/sesame oil, vinegar, magic cube and sugar. It doesn't have to be a fine sauce, it can be coarse.
• Julienne the capsicums, French beans and carrots. Slice the zucchini into semicircles. Break/cut the broccoli into small florets and slice the onion.
• We will cook each of these vegetables separately as they have different cooking times.
• Heat 2 tsp oil in a wok/kadhai. Add the French beans and carrot and fry until they are cooked but still crunchy.
• Remove them and keep aside.
• Add 1 tsp of oil into the kadhai and now add the peppers. Saute them until they are partially cooked, we want them crunchy.
• Remove them and keep along with the beans.
• Add 1 tsp of oil and now add the broccoli and zucchini and cook until they are done.
• Remove and keep with other veggies.
• Heat the remaining oil in the kadhai and add the onions. Once the onions are cooked, add all the other vegetables and the sauce.
• Add the rice and mix well.
• Add salt if required.

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Karela Subzi | Bitter melons with tomatoes

Life is bitter sweet, but some of the tasty things in life are just bitter :) Bitter melon or Karela is one of them. As I have previously proclaimed, I love karela. I can eat it in any cooked form. 

Bitter Melons or Karela

But the same was not the case with my sister. She hated it. But someone managed to turn her into a karela lover (Well... may not be lover, but at least a liker). And she came up with one of her own recipes. And her's is sooo much more tastier than many I've made and had over the years. Of late, I've been cooking karela only her way unless I'm in a more patient mood.

Karela Subzi | Bitter melons with tomatoes

Karela or bitter melon cooked with spices and tangy tomatoes

Recipe Type:  Main Course
Cuisine:          Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:              2 Servings

Ingredients:

2 medium Karela / Bitter melon
1 large Tomato (Preferably the local or NaaTi variety)
2 marble sized ball of Tamarind
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
3 tsp Oil
1 Tbsp Desiccated Fresh Coconut
1/2 cup Water
Salt

Method:

• Soak the tamarind in the water and keep aside
• Slice the karela lengthwise and remove the pith and seeds
• Now chop the karela finely
• Heat oil in pan and add the mustard seeds
• Once they splutter, add the karela and fry
• Cover and cook on low flame for 2 mins
• Chop the tomato finely.
• Add the tomato to the pan and stir well.
• Squeeze out the tamarind and remove the pulp
• Add the tamarind water to the pan
• Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt
• Cover and cook on low flame until the karela is cooked
• Sprinkle desiccated coconut and serve hot with chapatis

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Baked chapati chip | Baked wholewheat nachos

Chips are irresistible, and of those, I love Nachos. Loaded with beans and cheese or with simple guacamole, they are simply my favorite kind of chips. I made these cause I really wanted to eat nachos. I searched far and wide for masa harina, the flour from which tortillas are made in Mexico. But nobody carries it here. In fact, I cannot even find makki ka atta in Bangalore to make makki roti :( So I stuck to what I had. I always have chapatti atta at home. Chapati is essentially Indian flatbread that resemble tortillas. You can deep fry the chips or bake them. I baked them and they turned out crisp and equally tasty. And incidentally I had a nice ripe butterfruit / avocado in the fridge to make some yummy guacamole. 1 chapati makes around 25-30 chips.

Baked chapati chip | Baked wholewheat nachos

Baked whole wheat chips/nachos

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:          Mexican
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:              75-100

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole wheat flour/ atta (This may make 3-4 chapatis)
Whole wheat flour for dusting
1 tsp Olive oil per chapati
A pinch Salt
Water

Method:

• Take the whole wheat flour in a large bowl. Add water by the tbsp. and start kneading. Knead until you get a soft smooth dough. The dough should not be shaggy and stick to your hands.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
• Take a small lemon sized dough ball.
• Dust the counter surface with whole wheat flour and roll out the chapati as thin as you can. I suggest making a fresh chapati instead of using a leftover one. You can use leftover dough though.
• Heat a tava/griddle on the gas stove, reduce the flame once the tava is hot. Put the chapati on the tava and cook until small bubbles appear on one side.
• Flip the chapati and cook on the other side.
• Remove from heat. Allow it to cool for 5 mins.
• Cut into triangles.
• Place on a baking sheet. Do not let them overlap each other. Drizzle olive oil and sprinkle the salt.
• Bake for 6-8 mins until browned and crisp.
• Enjoy with guacamole or salsa.

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Eggless Butter Cookies

“Sometimes me thinks, what is a friend?

And then me say.

Friend is someone to share last cookie with.”

~Cookie monster

How true is the wisdom of the little Muppet called Cookie monster. We should share our cookies with our friends, but when cookies are as tasty as these butter cookies, sharing becomes really really difficult. I am an absolute cookie/biscuit lover. Ah! The pleasure of dunking a biscuit into tea or milk. As kids, we could eat up entire packets of biscuits in a single go. My sister recently remembered that there was a time when she was given tea but there were no biscuits and she was confused on as how to have tea without any biscuits to accompany it. This was apparently the reason why my mom ended up restricting out biscuit consumption to 4 a day. My love story with cookies has come a long way now, instead of just eating them, I’ve moved on to baking them.

I saw some awesome cookie recipes recently and really wanted to try them out. But they all contained eggs, and as I am an eggless baker I had to improvise. I did take the basic recipe and modify it a little to come up with what’s below. Previously, when I made cookies, I added some leavening agents to it. The difference here is, there is no leavening agent whatsoever. This makes the cookies crisp and they don’t end up being cakey. The only advice I have is do not skimp on the butter. The butter is essential to give the cookies their correct texture.

Eggless Butter Cookies

"Light and crunchy Butter Cookies made without using Eggs"

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:          International
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     2 Hours (Considering 6 batches)
Yield:              40-50

Ingredients:

120 gms unsalted Butter
80 gms Sugar (powdered or icing)
30 gms Corn flour
120 gms Flour / Maida
½ tsp Vanilla essence
½ tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Milk

Method:

• The butter needs to be very soft. I left it out on the counter overnight. 
• Preheat the oven to 170 degree Celsius. 
• Add the sugar and salt to the butter. Start with around 60 gms and then add more depending on the sweetness of the sugar and your taste. I like my cookies sweet and the sugar I had was very mild, so I used up all the sugar. 
• Beat/ whisk it until it is almost 4-5 times the volume. This will take around 10 mins with a hand mixer. 
• Sift the corn flour and the flour together. 
• Add the flour in 3 additions to the butter mix along with the vanilla essence and milk, and beat until just mixed. Do not over-mix this. 
• Line a cookie sheet with butter paper. 
• Fill the cookie dough in a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe out swirls. 
• Space them at least 1-1.5 cm apart as they will flatten and spread out while baking. 
• Bake for around 13-15 mins until the sides of the cookies are slightly brown. Mine took 14 mins. Wait for around 5 mins and then move them to a wire rack as they are very fragile when you remove them from the oven. 
• The recipe made many many cookies :) Somewhere around 50 (I really did not count) but I have a tiny oven and I had to pipe out 6 batches. Don’t be overwhelmed by the number and decide to cut down the recipe to make less, cause they are sooo delicate and melt-in-your-mouth cookies that you won’t even realize where the 50 or so just disappeared :) 

Notes:

I made 4 batches of regular butter cookies. To the remaining dough I added 2.5 tbsp of dried desiccated coconut. If you plan to do so, add a little more milk, else the dough becomes very hard and difficult to pipe. You can top it with dry fruits like raisins or almonds.

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Aam Panna [Without Boiling] | Sweet and Spicy Raw Mango Cooler

During these hot summer months in Bangalore, I catch myself day dreaming about summers in Goa. Summer vacations, back then was our right, now just a dream. Off to play by 9am and back home only by 8.30pm managing to squeeze in a lunch only cause my friend was called in for lunch and I would be alone in the sun. It was bliss! Hot & sweaty, all tanned up, we would play everything from lagori to chor police. When the heat got to us, we would take juice breaks. Rasna was an all time favorite among kids back then. Come summer, and all the moms would make a bottle of Rasna and keep it in the fridge for these breaks of ours. It was in times like these, my best friend N introduced me to a more natural homemade drink - Aam Panna. I loved it so much, that she had to bring me some every summer when her mom made it.

Aam Panna is a raw mango cooler. So easy to make and oh so tasty. These days we catch it staring at us from the pages of restaurant menus, but that bright green concoction tastes nothing like the real thing. Firstly, the real thing isn't even bright green :) The recipe I have below is N's mom's. The extra additions I have made to it are all the optional ingredients. You can make it without all the optional ingredients and it will still taste equally good.

Aam Panna | Sweet and Spicy Raw Mango Cooler

A sweet and spicy beverage made using raw mangoes

Recipe Type:  Beverage
Cuisine:          Indian / Maharastrian /Goan
Prep Time:     3 Hours (Includes soaking time)
Cook time:     10 minutes
Yield:              4-5 Glasses / 750 ml

Ingredients:

3 or 500 gms Raw Mangoes
500-750 ml Water
8-10 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Pepper powder
A pinch Salt (Optional)
1/4 tsp Black salt / Kala Namak (Optional)
1/2 tsp Cumin powder / Jeera powder (Optional)

Method:

• Wash and peel the raw mangoes
• Take 500ml of water in a large container
• Grate the mangoes and add them to the water
• Cover and leave aside for 2-3 hours
• Drain out the water into another container. Squeeze the pulp to remove any more juice available.
• Add sugar, pepper powder, salt, black salt and cumin powder and mix well until sugar dissolves.
• If it is concentrated, add more water and serve it on a hot summer day.

Notes:

1) The above recipe made 750ml of diluted juice for me. If the mangoes are very sour, you can store this as a concentrate and dilute it while serving.
2) The amount of sugar, salt and spices, all depends on the sourness of the mangoes being used. I suggest starting with half the quantity of sugar/salt/spices mentioned above and adding more as required.
3) N suggested this is usually served at room temperature, however I generally serve is slightly cooler.
4) This may not be suitable if you are suffering from throat infections, it may aggravate it. There is a slightly different version you can make if you are suffering from throat troubles, boil the mangoes until then are half cooked and then peel and grate. Follow the rest of the recipe as is. This version apparently does not aggravate throat infections.
5) This stores well in the fridge for 18-20 days. However, I doubt you will ever get the chance to test this :). Mine barely lasted 3.

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Beetroot Pulao with mixed Vegetables

It's been over a month since my last post. I can attribute it to nothing but heat, laziness and of course, my travels. With so many recipes in the backlog, I must be more diligent but sometimes laziness just rules :) Anyway, better late than never.

You can love it, you can hate it, but ignoring the bright vibrant magenta vegetable is very difficult. I hate the way it colours almost everything it touches from my chopping board to my hands. But its earthy sweetness lets me forget this. I generally just stick to the simple beetroot palya or sambhar. But this time thought of doing something different. I assumed a beetroot pulao would end up being red and sweet. I was wrong on both accounts. The colour is actually due to turmeric and spices rather than the beetroot and the taste was very earthy rather than sweet. I added other vegetables because I had them. You can add any vegetable you like or skip them altogether. This is one simple one-pot meal I've made multiple times...

Beetroot Pulao with mixed Vegetables

Pilaf / Pulao made with beetroot and other mixed vegetables.
Recipe Type:  Main Course
Cuisine:          Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:              2-3 Servings

Ingredients:

3/4 cup peeled and cubed Beetroot
3-4 Babycorn
1 small Capsicum
1 Onion
1/4 cup Green Peas
50gms Paneer (cut into small cubes)
1/2" piece or 1 tsp paste of Ginger
2-3 cloves or 1 tsp paste of Garlic
3/4 cup Rice (uncooked)
1 Bay leaf
1 tsp Cumin seeds
2-3 dry Red Chillies (as per taste)
1 Tbsp Coriander Seeds
1/2" piece Cinnamon
1-2 Clove
1 Cardamom
A pinch Nutmeg
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Milk
3 tsp Oil
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 Maggi magic cube (veg)
Salt


Method:

• Wash the rice 2-3 times. Soak the rice in the 1 cup of water and keep aside.
• Dry roast the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf, cardamom, nutmeg and red chillies until slightly brown.
• Remove from heat and allow it to cool.
• Grind into a fine powder. You can store this powder in an airtight box for 1-2 months.
• Heat the oil in a pressure cooker.
• Add chopped onions and fry until translucent
• Crush the ginger and garlic into a paste and fry along with the onions until fragrant.
• Add the pulao powder and mix well
• Add all the vegetables and mic well. Stir fry for around 30-60 secs.
• Add the rice along with the water.
• Add the milk.
• Add the turmeric powder, maggi cube and salt.
• Pressure cook for 3 whistles.
• As soon as you can open the cooker, fluff the rice with a fork to prevent it from forming a sticky mess.
• Serve hot with some cool raita.

Note:

1) If you are in a hurry, you can replace the pulao powder with 1/2 tsp or more of garam masala or store bought biryani or pulao masala
2) The vegetables used here are optional. You can replace it with anything available and still have a wonderful pulao. By anything available, I mean any of the traditional vegetables used for pulao/biryani and not vegetables like brinjal/eggplant, okra which may mush up on cooking.
3) Maggi's magic cube is a taste enhancer. You can replace it with a pinch of ajinomoto or skip it all together. It is better to skip this if you plan on giving this to kids.

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Spicy Cauliflower with Tzatziki (Yogurt Sauce)

We Indians love our gobi / cauliflower, especially in North India. But our Gobi Manchurian is a favorite all across the country. While cauliflower tastes great when deep fried, it actually tastes equally awesome when baked. I’d never eaten baked cauliflower, but this recipe called out to me. So easy to make and also, so quickly it disappears.

The original recipe I looked up is from here.

I modified it with the spices I had available. The fragrant Indian spices go very well with the versatile cauliflower.

Tzatziki is a Greek yogurt dipping sauce. The coolness of the sauce complements the spiciness of the cauliflower. 

Spicy Cauliflower with Tzatziki (Yogurt Sauce)

Cauliflower marinated with spices and roasted in the oven. Served with a cucumber and yogurt sauce.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:          Indian / Greek
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     40 minutes
Yield:              4-5 Servings

Ingredients:

Spicy Cauliflower:

1/2 head Cauliflower
1 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1 Tbsp Kasuri Methi
6-8 Curry leaves
3 Tbsp Olive oil
3-4 cloves Garlic
Salt to taste

Tzatziki:

2 Tbsp Yogurt / Thick curd
1/2 Cucumber
3-4 cloves Garlic
1 tsp Olive oil
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Salt to taste


Method:

Spicy Cauliflower:

• Wash and dry the cauliflower head and cut it into bite sized pieces
• Mix all the spices, crushed garlic, salt and olive oil in a large bowl
• Add the cauliflower and mix well, let the spice mixture coat the cauliflower
• Preheat the oven to 220 degree celsius
• Bake for around 20-25 mins until the cauliflower is crispy
• Serve hot with tzatziki

Tzatziki

• Peel and chop the cucumber into rough pieces
• Blend all the ingredients until it is fine
• Serve this dip with the cauliflower or bread or chips

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Coconut Laddoo

We Indians love our sweets. I don’t think there is any other place in the world that has as many varieties of sweets as much as we do. Every festival or any good news is marked with at least one type of sweet. We even invented the art of refining sugar from sugar canes. So our love story with sugar and sweets is a long and strong one. 

These days with our hectic lives, we mostly  end up buying sweets outside except may be on festivals. What if we could make an awesome sweet in less than 30mins? Yes, 30 mins aka half an hour. I saw this easy coconut laddoo recipe on Fox Traveler’s Food Safari when they showed the India episode. Since the day I saw how easy it was, I wanted to make it. And to think I didn’t even like coconut laddoos (until of course, I made it myself and ate it). So on a weeknight, when I came home early from office, I thought why not make these yummy laddoos. It needs only 4 ingredients. I always have cardamom at home and butter/ghee is also generally available. So I needed to just buy the coconut powder and condensed milk. I found the coconut powder at Nilgiris. I know that FoodWorld also stocks it. I’m sure a lot of supermarkets stock it. Coconut powder is not the same as coconut milk powder. Coconut powder is just desiccated coconut but it is slightly dried. You get this in all Indian stores abroad.

The below recipe made 20 small laddoos.

Coconut Laddoo

Sweet Indian fudge made with coconut.

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:          Indian
Prep Time:     5 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:              20

Ingredients:

200gms Sweetened condensed milk
1.5 cups Coconut powder
2-3 pods Cardamom
½ tsp Ghee / Unsalted butter


Method:

• In a kadhai or a pan (preferably nonstick), pour the condensed milk., 1.25 cups of coconut powder to it and mix well.
• Add powdered cardamom and mix.
• Place this on the stove and on low heat cook for around 8-10mins stirring occasionally. Be careful and don’t let it burn. 
• Remove from heat and allow it to cool for 5 mins. 
• Grease a plate with ghee/ unsalted butter.
• Now very carefully, take little of the mix and make a ball with it. Remember, the mix is hot but this can only be done when it is hot/warm. It will set as it cools. 
• Roll it in the remaining coconut powder and place it in the greased plate. 
• Leave it to cool for 20-30mins. 
• Serve it with love

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Baby Corn and Capsicum Masala Recipe [Video]

Babycorn and Capsicum Masala is a vegetarian curry made by simmering sliced baby corn and diced capsicum in a restaurant style browned onion based gravy.

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There are days when all you want to eat is something simple, down to earth and closer to the heart. Something familiar. But there are those days too when you want that restaurant style dish. If you eat out often, I'm sure you have realized that there are just a few types of gravies in Indian cooking and most places just change the vegetable added. The most common of these is that brown colored gravy. I used to always think that since it is brown, it must be made of tomatoes, but it never tasted of tomatoes. The restaurant brown gravy was always a mystery. I then found out the base, browned onions. Yes, just browned onions.

I used to love capsicum as a kid, in fact I was nicknamed "Dabbu menasinkayi" (capsicum in Kannada) by my dad, I'm sure the fact that I was a chubby kid just added to the name. But somehow I outgrew loving it. Now a days, I buy it for hubby dearest and then think of various ways to transform it so I can eat it too. One experimental evening, I decided to try the brown gravy to go with the capsicum. And this time, I nailed it... I however, deviated from the regular recipe a little, generally cashew nuts are used to add creaminess. I did not want to add too many of those (watching my fat & cholesterol intake), so I added just a few and I added a bit of boiled cauliflower. It gave the same taste and the same creaminess. Next time, I'm going to try it without any cashew nuts.

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Video Recipe

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Baby Corn and Capsicum Masala

Baby Corn and Capsicum in a restaurant style gravy

Recipe Type:  Main Course
Cuisine:          Indian
Prep Time:     20 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Total time:     65 minutes
Yield:              Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 large Capsicum
10-12 Baby Corn
3 small Onions
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
18-20 Cashew nuts
0.5 tsp Red Chilli powder
0.5 tsp Turmeric powder
0.25 tsp Garam Masala
2 Tbsp Fresh Cream
1 tsp Jaggery or Sugar (Optional)
6 tsp Oil
Salt to taste
Water as required

Method:

1. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a kadhai
2. Once it is hot, add chopped onions. Fry until the onions are brown. Be careful,do not burn them. I prefer cooking them on low heat.
3. Remove it onto a dry plate and allow it to cool.
4. Blend together the browned onions, soaked cashewnuts and ginger garlic paste with a little water until it is a smooth paste.
5. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a kadhai and add sliced baby corn and diced capsicum.
6. Saute until the vegetables are cooked. Remove from heat and keep aside.
7. Heat the remaining oil in a kadhai and add the onion-cashew paste.
8. Add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt. Mix well.
9. Cook on low heat for 4-5 minutes while stirring frequently.
10. Add a little water and simmer for 4-5 minutes.
11. Now add the cream and mix well.
12. Add 2-3 tbsp of water and cook on low flame for 3-4 minutes.
13. Add the sugar or jaggery if you are using. Add water to get the desired consistency.
14. Add the capsicum and baby corn and allow it to cook for 1 min,
15. Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
16. Serve hot with roti or chapati

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