Curd rice with mango and avocado

Curd rice or rice with yogurt is such a satisfying meal when eaten on a hot and humid day. It is cool creamy  and can be as simple as plain soft rice mixed with salt and creamy yogurt or it can be seasoned according to taste. I made this by seasoning it with ginger, chillies and curry leaves and mixed some avocado and mango  in it. It was creamy, delicious and very filling.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked rice (should be cooked in more water so that it is soft)

2 cups yogurt

a splash of cream (optional)

1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger

2-3 dry red chillies

1 green chilli

1 sprig curry leaves

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon urad dal

1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (optional)

salt to taste

1 sweet mango cubed

1 avocado cubed

a few salted pistachios (sliced)

Method

Mash the cooked rice with the back of a spoon and add whisked yogurt and cream and mix everything well. Add salt and mix. Prepare the tempering by heating some vegetable or peanut oil. Drop the mustard seeds, as they start spluttering add the urad dal, ginger, both the chillies, curry leaves, and hing. Cover and let it stand for a few seconds. Now pour this over the rice and add the cubed avocado and mango. Serve with a side of stir fried potatoes or chips and spicy pickle.

Brussels sprouts stir fry

Most people I know are aware of the benefits of eating healthy. That means avoiding too much salt and fried food or desserts that have too much fat and sugar. There are always some articles or television programs  giving out a list of "super foods". Every once in a while there is a documentary or movie about the obesity epidemic or the food served to kids in schools, exposing the unseen side of corporate farming  (Food Inc.), making healthy choices (Hungry for change), or  the new HBO documentary "The weight of the nation".
And there are some food items that always come up in the list of good food. For example, blueberries, kale, spinach, oranges, beans, walnuts, salmon etc. It is not always easy (for me) to avoid everything unhealthy, but with an excess of processed food and unhealthy options available, I like to make conscious choices now when it comes to food. And one of the things I like to do is include as many 'good foods" that I can in my diet. One of the vegetables that gets mentioned for its micronutrient properties is brussels sprouts. But I never really liked it. So I decided to try it with Indian spices. I grated the brussels sprouts and stir fried it with some spices. It tasted really good this way and now I am looking forward to using it more often.

Ingredients

1 cup brussels sprouts

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon hing (asafoetida)

1 green chilli

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

1 sprig of curry leaves

1 teaspoon pav bhaji masala (or garam masala)

salt to taste

1 teaspoon sugar (optional)

a few raw cashews  and cilantro for garnish

juice of half a lemon

Method

Grate the brussels sprouts in the food processor. Heat some oil in a pan. When it is hot enough add the mustard seeds, let them splutter, then drop the curry leaves, green chilli and hing. Quickly drop in the grated brussels sprouts along with the turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. Mix everything well. Cook on medium heat of about a minute then add the pav bhaji masala, and sugar. Taste for seasonings and adjust the spices if required. Cook uncovered till the brussels sprouts start  wilting but are still crunchy. It should not be overcooked. Remove from the heat and garnish with broken raw cashews and cilantro. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon. Serve with plain rice or chapatis.

Spicy black chickpeas (kala chana)

This is a very common North Indian dish. Kala chana (black chickpeas) are delicious even in salads. I like to sprout them sometimes and after boiling them in salted water they can be added to salads with lots of chilli powder, chaat masala, lemon juice and cilantro. They can also be used to make absolutely delicious vegetarian kebabs. Here is a link to that recipe. The recipe that follows is spicy and flavorful. It tastes even better a day after, when all the spices and flavors get soaked in. I topped the chana with a potato side dish and served everything with brown rice and creamy Greek yogurt.

Ingredients

1 cup black chickpeas soaked overnight
2 black cardamom and 1 bay leaf

1 red onion

1 large tomato

1 sprig currypatta

2-3 green chilies

2 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

2 heaped teaspoons garam masala or chana masala

1 tablespoon coriander-cumin power

 1 teaspoon red chilli powder

salt to taste

cilantro to garnish
1 tablespoon oil

Method

Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add the cardamom and bay leaf. Saute for a few seconds, then add the onion. Fry well till they just start getting brown, add the curry patta. Now mix all the dry spices with some water and ginger garlic paste. Add the paste to the fried onions and stir well. Add chopped green chillies and tomatoes. Once the tomatoes become soft add the black chickpeas. Season with salt and add enough water to cover the chickpeas. Cover the pressure cooker with the lid and let it cook for at least 10 minutes or 5-6 whistles. Sometime I boil the chickpeas with salt and then prepare the onion gravy separately and mix the two. It tastes excellent when cooked in a slow cooker. I served it with a side of potatoes that I sauteed with onion  and red chillies and served it over some brown rice.

Mixed vegetables and Liebster award

Last week I was pleasantly surprised  to see an award from Janiene of Thebishopfamilysite  It lead me to discover her blog where she journals about her life, homeschooling and her beautiful three children. Thank you Janiene!

 

Now it is my turn to forward the award:

Here are the rules:

• Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
• Link back to the blogger who awarded you.
• Give your top 5 picks for the award.
• Inform your top 5 by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Post the award on your blog.

So here are my picks for forwarding this award:
1.Kitchenkarma
2.Steamingpot
3.Myfacnypantry
4.Maayeka
5.Spice n Sugar Tales

I love all the above blogs for their innovative recipes, photographs and beautiful write-ups.

Today's recipe is again a simple mixed vegetable. It is very flavorful without too many spices and cooks in the juices released by the vegetables. I added some cashew paste to make it richer. But it can me be without adding cashews too.  I love to use panch phoran as a spice mix in my vegetables and even lentils.

Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower florets

1 potato cubed

1/2 cup peas

1 cup spinach leaves

1/2 cup paneer cubes

1 tbsp panch phoran

1 tsp turmeric

2 dry chillies

curry leaves

1 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp mustard oil

salt

1/2 cup cashews soaked in water for half and hour and ground to a fine paste with water

Method

Heat mustard oil and add the panch phoran seeds, asafoetida, turmeric, red chilies, and curry leaves. As the seeds start spluttering add the cauliflower and potatoes. Add the salt, cover and cook for about 5 minutes. The potatoes should be almost cooked, when you add in the frozen peas, paneer, spinach and garam masala. Mix everything well and stir around for a minute. Now pour the cashew paste and add more water to get the desired consistency.


 

Palak Paneer, Meethe Chawal

Palak Paneer is something I make quite often. I like to mix other greens along with the spinach and this time I used kale. I like kale for its taste and also its nutritional properties, but it is time consuming to wash trim, chop and then cook the leaves. But I learned a trick from a friend (thanks "A") who freezes the leaves in a zip lock after they have been washed. Whenever you need it just take out the bag and crush the leaves in the bag. The leaves crumble easily and can be added to soups or other vegetables.  Here I mixed it with spinach. I also made a sweet saffron rice which is a popular North Indian rice dish but I had never made it before. It tasted quite nice with the palak paneer and kale and balanced the slight bitterness that kale leaves tend to have.

Ingredients

1 cup frozen spinach leaves (thawed)

1 cup kale leaves

1 medium onion (sliced)

2 tbsp. ginger garlic paste

1 tomato (chopped)

1 green chilli

2 sweet peppers (optional)

1 cup cubed paneer

6-7 cashews (soaked in water)

1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, turmeric powder, garam masala, red chili powder

1 bay leaf, 2 black cardamon, one stick cinnamon.

salt according to taste

1 tbsp. oil for cooking

Method

Heat the oil and add cumin seeds, black cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon. Fry till the seeds splutter and the cinnamon swells up. Now add the sliced onion and green chilli and fry till the onion just start turning golden. Mix the ginger garlic paste and all the dry spices. Fry for a minute and add the tomatoes and cashews. Cover and cook till the tomatoes wilt. Now remove the whole spices with a fork (cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf). Add the spinach and mix everything well. Transfer into a blender or using a hand blender grind the vegetables. Pour it back into the pan and add water if needed. Stir fry the paneer and sweet peppers with a teaspoon of oil and mix it with the spinach. Cover and cook for another 5-10 minutes. I served it with this sweet rice.





Methe chawal (sweet saffron rice)

1 cup rice (soaked for an hour)
2 cups water
1/2 cup milk
 sliced mixed nuts (cashews, almonds, pistachios, walnuts)
a few raisins
3-4 cloves
3-4 green cardamom
3/4 cup sugar
a few strands of saffron soaked in milk
1 tbsp ghee



Heat ghee in a pot, add the cloves, cardamom, raisins  and all the nuts. Give a quick stir and add the rice. (Drain the water from the rice before adding). Mix well. Boil the 2 cups of water along with the milk sugar and saffron in a separate pot. Once it boils add it to the rice. Cook uncovered till most of the water is absorbed. Reduce the heat to very low and cover the pot. Cook for another 10 minutes till the rice is completed cooked. Fluff the rice immediately.

 

Roasted eggplant raita

This raita is for those who love bold, spicy and pungent flavors. The taste will linger in your mouth even after you have finished eating it. It can be adjusted easily to make it more palatable for those who cannot take the heat by reducing or omitting the green chillies and mustard oil. But that is what makes it so flavorful and delicious. It has to be eaten as a raita or can be used as a dip with pita bread, used in a sandwich with falafel.

Ingredients

1 medium sized eggplant

1 small red onion

1 tomato

3-4 green chillies

1 lemon

2-3 cloves garlic

bunch of cilantro 

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

2 tsp roasted cumin powder

2 cups yogurt

1 tbsp mustard oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

black salt and chaat masala (optional)

salt to taste

Method

Roast the eggplant till the outer skin is completely charred. Remove the skin and mash the eggplant. Chop the onion, green chillies, garlic and tomatoes in a food processor and mix with the eggplant. Add juice of half a lemon, chopped cilantro leaves, salt, red chilli powder and mix well. Beat the yogurt with a little salt and mix it in. Drizzle the mustard oil over it and sprinkle with roasted cumin powder, chaat masala and black salt.
Instead of raw mustard oil a tempering of heated oil and cumin seeds can also be poured over the raita. 

Simple every day food

Simple everyday food.
Long beans (barbati, I wonder what are these called in other languages) cooked with onions, garlic and potatoes, along with red lentils (masoor dal). Serve with cumin flavored rice or just plain rice, roti and a side salad.

Ingredients

(Long beans)

2 cups chopped long beans (should be tender)

1 small red onion chopped

1 fat garlic clove (minced)

1 medium potato (cubed)

a few curry leaves

mustard and cumin seeds (one teaspoon)

1 green chilli (chopped)

1 tsp. turmeric powder

1tsp coriander cumin powder

salt to taste

Method

Heat a tablespoon of oil. Add the mustard and cumin seeds. As they splutter drop the chopped onion, garlic, curry leaves, and green chilli. Cook till the onion start wilting. Add the turmeric powder, coriander-cumin powder and red chilli powder. Now add the chopped long beans and potatoes. Mix everything well. Cover and cook till the potatoes are soft and the beans are cooked through.

(For the dal)

1 cup masoor dal

 (about 3 cups water)

1/4 cup chana dal

2 cloves garlic

1 tomato

1 tsp. cumin seeds

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp asafoetida 

1tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 teaspoons ghee 

juice of half a lemon

 chopped cilantro

Method

Wash the lentils and soak it in water for half and hour. Add salt and turmeric and boil it till well done.  I use a pressure cooker (3 whistles). Mix the cooked lentils well. Mash a little if needed and if it is too thick then add a little water. Grate or finely chop the tomato and add to the lentils.  Now prepare the tempering by heating ghee. Drop the cumin seeds and let it splutter. Now add minced garlic, asafoetida, and red chilli powder. Pour this over the lentils and cover. Just before serving add the lemon juice and garnish with finely chopped cilantro.