Fiesta pasta

One of my favorite restaurants is a Mongolian grill where you pick your choice of noodles, vegetables and sauces in a bowl and they grill it all together for you. I like to make mine spicy and love the grilled and crunchy texture of vegetables. I had recently purchased this pack of colorful whole grain harvest spaghetti and couldn't wait to try it. I decided to make it somewhat similar to what I eat at the Mongolian restaurant. I used broccoli slaw as it would blend well with the long spaghetti. I made the pasta spicy with an Indo-Chinese touch to it.

 

Ingredients

 Two fistfuls spaghetti

2 tbsp ginger green chili garlic paste

1tsp red pepper flakes

2 cups broccoli slaw (or shredded cabbage and carrots can be used)

1-2 tsp curry powder

1/2 cup frozen corn kernels

1/2 cup broccoli florets

1-2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1tbsp honey

1tbsp major grey's chutney

Cilantro for garnishing

1tsp toasted sesame oil (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Peanut oil for cooking

Method

Boil the pasta according to package directions and keep aside.

Heat oil in a wok or a pan, add ginger garlic chili paste and red pepper flakes. Stir for a few seconds and add the curry powder and the broccoli. Now mix in the spaghetti, broccoli slaw, corn and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and adjust seasonings according to taste.

Vegetable upma

Upma with peanut chutney

The last few days have been busy and I have not been able to cook much. We are living on the simple home cooked  dal chawal, which is not bad but  I needed a change.The freezer has been extremely useful too for times like these. Since I did not have the time for anything elaborate, I made upma (semolina) with vegetables and added some soy protein to make it more nutritious. The texture of soy granules blended well with the semolina. It was a nice and wholesome meal.

Ingredients

1 cup rava

1/4 cup soy protein (soy granules)

1 onion

1/2 tsp ginger (finely chopped)

1 green chili (chopped)

Mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, tomatoes, bell pepper)

Mustard seeds, urad dal, cashews, dried red chilies, peanuts

1 lemon

cilantro for garnish

Method

Dry roast the rava and keep aside. Heat some oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, urad dal, red chillies, curry leaves, peanuts, ginger and cashews. Stir for a minute and add the onions and carrots. Cook till the onions get translucent and mix in the pepper and frozen peas. Add about 3 cups water and bring it to a boil. Add salt to taste and slowly mix in the roasted rava and soy protein. Stir in between to mix well.  Add the chopped tomatoes I like to add a little sugar too (about half a tsp). Once the water gets  completely absorbed squeeze the juice of 1 lemon and garnish with cilantro.I served it with peanut chutney.

Dal dhokli

This is a typical Gujarati dish. It is dal cooked really well in spices. Later small pieces of chapati dough is rolled out, cut and added to the dal and boiled till done.

Ingredients

For the dal

1 cup toor dal

1/4 cup chana dal

turmeric

1tbsp garam masala or dal masala

1 large tomato chopped

2 carrots choppped

1 onion chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1tbsp jaggery or sugar

cilantro

1/4 cup peanuts (raw)

Juice of one lemon

salt to taste

For tempering the dal

1tbsp ghee

1tsp mustard seeds,

1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds

1/4 tsp asafoetida

1 sprig curry leaves

4-5 cloves

For making dhokli

Flour, water, black sesame seeds, carom seeds, cumin seeds, salt, turmeric powder, kasoori methi

Combine the ingredients for making dhokli to make a dough similar to chapati

Method

Wash and boil the dals with salt, garam masala, turmeric powder, peanuts, carrots and tomatoes. Let it cook till done. Mash the cooked dal well. Heat oil in a pan and add the onions and garlic. Saute till the onions turn pinkish. Pour the dal over it.

Prepare the dhokli. Roll out the dough like a chapati and cut it into triangular pieces. Add these to the boiling dal. Cover and let it cook for about 5-10 minutes. Now prepare the tempering

Heat a small pan with ghee for tempering. Once hot add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and asafoetida. Once the seeds splutter add the curry leaves and cloves.  Now pour the ghee over the dal.

Strawberry and mango shortcake trifle

 

 Recently, I stumbled upon a bookstore that was closing with huge discounts on everything. It was packed with people trying to find books or stationery or anything of their interest. I was very excited but nervous as it looked like a battleground. Most of the books were gone or were out of place. I am not very good at bargain hunting but I managed to pick a few books, calendars and a tangram puzzle. One of them was obviously a cookbook. It was a desserts book and even though I am not too fond of making desserts I picked it up, as it had recipes with just 4 ingredients. They looked simple, interesting and different.  The recipes that had caught my eye were creamy espresso pudding and key lime and peach trifle. Something, I will be trying soon. Most of the recipes in the book are easy  with no prep time  and can be easily adapted according to your taste or liking.

So this recipe is based on the strawberry shortcake recipe from the book. I decided to add mango too to it. Some chopped pistachios and almonds would make it extra special.

Ingredients

3/4 cup  cream

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 cup sliced strawberries

a few vanilla wafer cookies

2 mangoes cubed

Method

Puree half of the strawberries in a food processor. Whip the cream with the sugar until stiff. Divide into two portions. Mix strawberry puree in one. Puree half the mangoes and mix it with the remaining cream. Taste and adjust the sugar. Now spoon a little strawberry cream in a bowl or a glass, arrange a few cookies on top, then add a layer of fresh mango and strawberries, followed by mango cream, cookies then fruit. Add more layers if needed. Refrigerate for a few hours. Serve chilled. It is a rich dessert but great for kids as any fresh fruit can be sneaked in it.

Forsythias, spring and lemon rice

 We get a lot of wildlife in our backyard from raccoons, foxes, deer, gophers to wild birds and squirrels. Over the years I have really enjoyed the wild birds in the backyard. During the winter months when food is scarce the birds flock to the feeder until the pesky chipmunks completely overtake them. Nothing can deter the chipmunks who apparently are fearless and indestructible. Some of the birds that visit and are the American gold finch, chickadee, cardinal, robin, blue jay, sparrow, nuthatch, and the hummingbird during the summer months.

Even though I like snow I am happy when winter ends and the beautiful forsythia usher in spring. It has been nice and pleasant for the last couple of days with forsythias in full bloom in the backyard and other flowering trees just ready to bloom.  Looking at the beautiful and bright yellow flowers I decided to make lemon rice which is golden yellow. It doesn’t take too many ingredients and I already had some left over rice in the fridge.

 Lemon rice is light and refreshing and it can be a complete meal if had with a bowl of rasam. Sometimes I add  vegetables to it but today I did not.

Ingredients 

2 cups cooked rice

a few peanuts or cashews

1tsp each of mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal (soaked in water for half and hour)

1 sprig curry leaves

a pinch of asafoetida

1 slit green chili

1-2 dried red chilies

juice of 1 large lemon

1 tsp lemon zest

salt to taste 

oil for cooking 

Method

Heat oil in a pan and and add the mustard seeds, once they splutter add the red chilies urad dal, peanuts, chana dal, curry leaves, cashews, asafoetida, green chili and turmeric. Stir well and and mix in the rice. Mix everything well and cook for about 1 minute till the rice is well coated with seasonings. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Garnish with cilantro.

Carrot and tomato soup with fresh basil

 

Comfort food.

My all time favorite soup!

Ingredients

1 can diced tomatoes or 4 fresh tomatoes

4-5 carrots diced

1 large onion chopped

3-4 garlic

1tsp grated ginger

4-5 fresh basil leaves

1tsp Italian seasoning (herbs de Provence)

3 cups vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

1 small cinnamon stick

2 tbsp brown sugar(or as needed)

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil to cook

butter for taste

Method

Heat some olive oil and add the onion, garlic, bay leaf and cinnamon. Cook for about 1-2 minutes then add the diced carrots, salt, and dried herbs. Cook for a little while then add the tomatoes and stock.(If using fresh tomatoes, 1/4 cup of tomato paste is require to get the right consistency and color).  Cover and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add sugar  and basil leaves and check for seasonings. Now puree the soup using a blender till smooth. I use the immersion hand blender as it is easy and I can  blend the  soup in the pot. Add more water if needed. Top with freshly ground pepper and butter.

Ricotta cheese sweet treats

I like to use ricotta cheese as it is not too heavy and has a nice and creamy texture to it. I made a simple dessert with just ricotta cheese and sugar. It is a quick and easy recipe. Sometimes I fill it up in a puff pastry, bake it and then brush a little honey with rose syrup just before serving.

Ingredients

 1 cup low fat ricotta cheese

1/4 cup or less sugar

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 pinch of saffron

a few roasted and chopped almonds

Method

Mix the ricotta cheese, sugar and saffron in a bowl. Spread the mixture in an oven proof dish in a thin layer and bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Keep checking to make sure it doesn't burn. Remove from the oven and break or crumble it into pieces. Add the chopped almonds and cardamom.