Kitchen Kapers

Last weekend, I was planning to cook a Mexican feast, in honor of Cinco de Mayo. Thankfully, guilt over the lower number of visits to the gym in the previous week prevailed and I decided I should be eating more vegetables, instead. Hence, I decided to cook South Indian food including a sambar full of vegetables and green coriander-coconut chutney. After all, what could be healthier than that? Best of all, this obviously delighted my husband, who loves rava idlis and sambar.

Nevertheless, I always get scared cooking something for someone who might know that food very well and knows exactly how it should taste. In fact, when I invite Indian friends over, I try not to cook Indian food, so as to avoid any comparisons with their own cooking

However, my guilt prevailed (I have been really irregular with the gym, and my brain is revolting, I guess:-)), and I made my version of sambar (with all kinds of veggies, the turnips which I had bought for Gogji razma the previous weekend, broccoli, shallots, french beans, etc.) These may not be traditional, but they sure do taste good in a sambar

There isn’t much to blog about here as I followed the recipe on the back of the sambar powder pack and only used my creativity for the choice of veggies. I also made coriander-coconut chutney, which I had learnt on a trip to visit my cousin in Rhode Island. Thanks, cousin M and Congratulations on the baby! Finally, I made rava idlis from a ready mix. Sorry, all you die hard idli fans, I just don’t have the patience to make it from scratch.

Here’s a pic.

However, to me, a south indian meal is incomplete without my Mom’s Aloo Pyaaz sabzi, especially since I like eating the sambar less with idlis or dosas, and more with plain steamed rice. In fact, this has been one of my favorite recipes for a long time and was one of the recipes I carried over the oceans with me, not on the Mayflower , but on Air India’s flight from Bombay to Newark, when I first moved to the US. Best of all, my Mom probably thought the level of complexity involved in this dish was probably just right for my level of incompetence in the kitchen

Anyway, here’s an easy South Indian recipe from a North Indian girl

ALOO PYAAZ

Ingredients:

• 4 medium yukon gold or red potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 3/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• Salt, to taste
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped (optional)

Steps:

1. Cover the potatoes with enough water in a saucepan and boil until the potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.
2. Drain and set aside.
3. In the meantime, slice the onion (cry as much as you need to :-)) and heat some oil in a large skillet.
4. Saute the onion until golden.

    5. Add mustard seeds, turmeric, red chilli powder and salt. Stir to mix.

    6. Let everything cook for a minute and then add the drained potatoes.

    7. Cook until the tasty masala sticking to the edges of the pan turns brown (or so my notes from when I watched my Mom make this recipe say :-))

    8. Turn off the heat and cover.

    9. Serve after a few minutes, garnished with fresh cilantro, if needed.

Last weekend, I was planning to make some Gogji Razma from Jugalbandi, but we finished with all the patio furniture shopping pretty late, and I also saw the black eyed peas (lobia), that I had bought a few weeks back on a whim, lurking in my pantry.

Hence, I abandoned plans to try an exotic recipe and went with something that seemed easy and extremely quick. I looked in the Madhur Jaffrey book that I own, An invitation to Indian cooking, and found this recipe.

Of course, I didn’t read it in as much detail as would have been necessary to deter me from trying it, namely the extensive simmering required. Hence, when I got to that portion, I used all the quick cooking techniques that I have learned over the past few months of reading Mallika’s blog and made this dish super fast. Thanks, Mallika!

Here’s my version.

Black Eyed Peas with Tamarind

(Serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp oil
• A pinch of asafetida
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 2 cans of black eyed peas, drained
• 1 smallest size can of tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

 Steps:

1. Heat the oil in saucepan.
2. Add the asafetida and the cumin seeds. Wait for it to sizzle.
3. Add the onions and fry them till they are golden.
4. Add the turmeric, coriander and red chilli powder and stir to mix and cook.
5. Add the drained black eyed peas and the tomato sauce.
6. Mix and cook everything till it comes to a boil.

    7. Add the tamarind paste and stir to mix.

    8. Cook on high for 5 minutes or until some of the sauce evaporates.

    9. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.

This was pretty good on Day 1, but was even better on Day 2, as the sauce thickened overnight in the refrigerator. Best of all, it was super easy and fast. 

Even if it is outside our house We finally bought some patio furniture last night and made 4 trips to the store to get it  Here’s a pic from a proud blogger.

Anyway, in celebration of having finally bought our patio furniture, I decided to make some fun food. No, that’s not true. I was planning to try a recipe from my favorite magazine in the whole wide world, Good Housekeeping, and just made the patio furniture an excuse

Anyway, Good Housekeeping has been my favorite magazine for many many years. I grew up reading the British version from the British Council library, where my Dad was a member and where I became a member when I turned 18. I remember it would always be a rush to get the best magazines before anybody else every Saturday. I loved the “A Look for a Lifestyle” feature and I loved reading the recipes, never mind that I had absolutely no intention of actually trying them.

When I moved to the US, it was no surprise to anyone in my family, when I immediately started subscribing to the US version. And when I started cooking, Good Housekeeping was one of my first sources for tried and tested (triple tested!!), interesting recipes from the GHI kitchen.

Getting back to the topic at hand, this weekend I tried their Spanish Tortilla with Chorizo and Peppers recipe from the May issue. Of course, as usual I made a few modifications based on what was available to me at home.

Unlike the name, this dish actually does not involve any tortillas in the way that we usually think of them. Instead, a tortilla is a traditional Spanish dish and is a thick omelet of potato, onions, and egg.

Here’s my version of the recipe.

Spanish Tortilla with Chorizo and Peppers

(Makes 8 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb bag of small red potatoes (I always have these on hand due to my husband’s love for oven-roasted potatoes)
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
• 8 large eggs
• 4 links of fully cooked chorizo sausage (I used D’Artagnan brand), casings taken off and diced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/4 cups of parsley leaves, roughly chopped (I used some from my own plant..Yippee! It’s actually thriving quite well! Thanks Bee for inspiring me to start with a few herbs..My tomato plant is getting some flowers and my rosemary is doing pretty well too!!)
• Black Pepper

Steps:

1. In a saucepan, boil the potatoes with enough water to cover and salt to taste, until fork tender.
2. Drain the potatoes.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

4. Heat 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in an oven safe non-stick skillet or any other non-stick skillet that you can make oven safe by wrapping the handle with a double coating of foil.

5. Add the onions and peppers and saute until the onions are golden and the peppers are soft.

6. Lightly beat the eggs in a large bowl. Mix in the chorizo, parsley, salt and black pepper.

7. Gently mix in the potatoes and the sauteed onions and peppers into the egg mixture.

8. Add 1/2 tbsp of olive oil in the skillet and return the egg mixture to the pan.

9. After cooking it on medium for about 30 seconds, place the pan in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

10. After removing this from the oven, invert the skillet over a circular baking dish or a plate.

11. Cut into wedges and serve.

True to my experience with Good Housekeeping, this was an awesome dish. It made for a very filling lunch when served with the Corn Chowder I made from scratch.

So my busy-ness is continuing and I have been going crazy trying to keep everything straight. I finally have a few seconds to myself and hence am posting as I was really getting desperate to write for a while now.

To move towards the recipe… I have always been a big fan of Madhur Jaffrey. She was immensely famous in my house, for who knows what reason. In fact, when I moved to Georgia as a student, her books were the first few cookbooks I actually read and photocopied. Since then, my cooking has evolved and although I still have a lot of respect for Madhur Jaffrey’s recipes, I do find that some of them tend to take a little too much time for my taste. However, there are many others which are very light, easy and remind me of my Mom’s UP-style cooking growing up.

One of these is the Green peas with coconut and cilantro recipe. After I made it, I realized that it was actually very similar to one my mother makes (just without the coconut).

And the best part about this recipe..if you skip the cilantro, there isn’t a single bit of chopping to do (especially no onions, which make me cry and cry for hours). I wish there were more recipes where chopping wasn’t needed, even if hubby dearest does do the chopping in the house

I got this recipe off the internet using the first search result that came from “madhur jaffrey recipe” and adapted it a bit.

Green Peas with Coconut and Cilantro

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp oil
• a pinch of asafetida (hing)
• 1 1/4 tsp mustard seeds (rai)
• 3/4 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 15 curry leaves (curry patta)
• 3 cups frozen peas (about 1.5 of the medium bags)
• 3 small chillies from the Indian store (diced fine)
• Salt to taste
• 1 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 3/4 tsp coriander powder
• 1 cup frozen grated (or shredded) coconut (Its great if you have fresh, but this is fine too)
• 4 tbsp cilantro (chopped)

Steps:

1. Heat the oil and when it is hot, add the asafetida.
2. When that sizzles, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves.
3. After a few seconds, add the peas, chillies, salt, sugar, turmeric and coriander powder.
4. Let this cook for a couple of minutes.
5. Add a 1/4 cup of water (I added too much and had to turn the heat up to high to evaporate it all) and let it come to a boil. Wait for the water to evaporate.

   6. Finally, add the coconut and the cilantro and mix it all together.

This dish was very pretty when done. It reminded me of how the combination of emeralds and diamonds or emeralds and pearls is my favorite combination in jewelry (hubby dearest, are you listening? :-))

I don’t think I have ever been so busy in my entire life. Right now, all I am sustaining myself on is Thai Village and Salt Creek Grille on the office account.. not much home cooked food for me.

Anyway, I worked from home this Monday to recover from the blisters. I don’t know why but whenever I work from home all day, I get inspired to bake. Also, I broke an egg while making myself breakfast earlier and wanted to use the two forlorn looking remainin eggs that had been hanging around for a few weeks. Hence, this Monday it was a simple chocolate cake to take care of my multiple needs.

Here’s my cheer up recipe..which was actually just an adaptation of the first search result that came up on Google for “easy chocolate cake recipe“.

EASY CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients:

• 1cup whole wheat flour + 1/4 cup all purpose flour (thought I’d make it a little healthier :-))
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 pinches salt
• 1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 cup baking Splenda and 1/4 cup organic raw cane sugar)
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil (any flavorless oil)
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup walnuts

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease a 9 inch round cake tin.

3. Mix the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.

4. Add the milk, oil and eggs slowly while beating at a slow speed with a hand mixer. You could also mix everything with a spatula.

5. Finally add the walnuts and mix them in lightly.

6. Pour the batter into the greased baking tin (top with more walnuts to make it look pretty) and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes clean (about 35-45 minutes, depending on your oven).

7. The cake is ready to be sliced and served.

(By the way, I sliced the cake as I wanted to eat it before it cooled completely , and then remembered to photograph it. Also, it sadly cracked on top )

So, we did go camping this weekend which was great fun and we had a blast, although sleeping in a tent would probably have been more fun if we had an airbed..the hard ground made me compare myself to the Princess and the Pea. and the excessive hiking I did because I was the “Josh machine” on day one led to bad and huge blisters. Oh well, at least I learned that fashion needs to take a back seat when hiking and skechers are not a substitute for sneakers.

We got back on Sunday afternoon and of course I needed to cook for the week as well as dinner. I decided to make a quick garden fresh pasta with whatever I had on hand.

This is a recipe I often make when I have little time or creativity at hand and have no motivation to look up a new recipe to try. I also usually have all I need at hand, or if not, know clever substitutions. Eitherways, this is more a method than a recipe and can be adapted to whatever ingredients you have at hand.

Here it is…my first recipe with pictures!

GARDEN FRESH PASTA

(Serves 6 or food for a week!!)

 Ingredients:

· 1 box of penne rigate or any short pasta of your choice. I used Healthy Harvest Whole Wheat  Penne Rigate to up the health factor. I also like Penne rigate because I feel it holds up to sauce better than regular penne

· 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

· 4 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

· 1 onion (any type) chopped fine

· 3 bell peppers (of different colors, if you like to up the pretty factor) (sliced)

· 1 head of broccoli, broken into florets

· 2 packs of sliced mushrooms (I used regular white and bella mushrooms)

· Italian seasoning (1 tsp)

· Salt (to taste)

· Pepper (1 tsp freshly ground)

· Red pepper flakes (1 tsp)

· 1 jar of any red pasta sauce you like. I used Classico Spicy Red Pepper pasta sauce

· 4 sundried tomatoes (soaked in hot water for 15 minutes and then chopped) (optional)

· 4 tomatoes (chopped) (optional)

· Dried basil (optional)

· Dried thyme (optional)

· Garlic salt (optional)

Steps:

1. Boil water for the pasta following directions on the pack. Cover the pot to enable faster boiling (a trick I learnt from Rachael Ray! ).

2. Meanwhile start working on the sauce by sautéing the garlic and onions in the oil in a separate pan.

3. After a minute or two, add the bell peppers and mix in.

4. Once the onions change color, add the broccoli and the mushrooms and mix everything.

5. Add the sundried tomatoes and regular tomatoes, if using.

6. Then add the seasonings and stir to mix.

7. Next, add the pasta sauce and the water used to soak the sundried tomatoes (if applicable)

8. Mix everything, wait for the sauce to come up to a boil and don’t forget to cook the pasta in the boiling water in the other pot following the directions on the pack.

9. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Stir to mix and serve.

10. You could garnish with chopped fresh parley, if you have some, and parmesan cheese.

11.  I served this with roasted green beans, oven “fried” baby potato wedges and roasted carrots.

One of hubby dearest’s friends has invited us to go camping with them this weekend. However, never having gone camping before, we were a little unsure. We also need to rent a tent and sleeping bags before tomorrow morning and we don’t even know where to begin. His friend mentioned renting a tent at REI, a store I had never heard of before, but their nearest store is an hour away. Should we go and try a new activity or not? In the back of my mind is the nagging thought of how I hate bugs and how I am petrified of snakes. Hence, I am not sure if camping will be enjoyable for me.  But my inherent Sagittarian love for adventure is pulling me in the opposite direction.

Anyway, if we don’t go camping, I have a full plan of action for the weekend too. I was planning to go to the Italian market in Philadelphia, touted to be the largest open air market in the country, and maybe go see (as in literally see from afar :-)) the Pope in NYC. I’m not Catholic, but I did study in Jesuit institutions, hence the concept of the Pope is quite ingrained in me.

Other plans include exploring Morocco (Don’t worry, its only through its cuisine :-)). I might cook Black eyed peas with herbs, a Madhur Jaffrey recipe but of Moroccan origins with couscous and Chicken Tagine. But we will see how those plans go!

Anyway, Happy Friday to everyone and talk to you later!

The wonderful weather this weekend led us to go looking for patio furniture…one more time. Believe me, we have looked for furniture in so many places, it really isn’t funny anymore. Whether it is a couch for the living room or patio furniture, whether it be Raymour and Flanigan, Ashley or Jack’s Famous furniture :-), its been there done that for us. We have gone to each place more than once and no furniture store has been able to pass the “sleep on it” test yet. This test was invented by us to curb impulsive buying of expensive furniture, but has in fact led to NO buying of any furniture for us.

Any ideas on how to know the couch you saw is the perfect one for your house?

Hence, to drown my sorrows over not having bought any furniture again, I decided to make some chaat. As earlier documented, my love for North Indian chaat is very deeply ingrained in me. This weekend, rather than making my favorite chaat (dahi papdi chat), I decided to make my Mom’s favorite chaat, which was often even made for breakfast in our home when I was younger, matar ki chaat.

The matar or peas used in this dish don’t look much like the fresh green peas we often see in grocery stores. Yes, they are round, but they are definitely not green. Although you can get a green version too, I have only seen this chaat being made with the whitish yellow version. My Indian store called them White vatana, (and yours might too). I just got it on a whim, even though I wasn’t entirely certain they were the same as the matar I was looking for. Good guess on my part!

I did use a few sources on the internet, before I mixed all of them to make my own version. Luckily, it turned out exactly the way I remember it from home.

Here’s the recipe.

Matar Ki Chaat

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry yellow peas (known as white vatana, sookhi matar, etc.)
• 3 green chillies (Thai or the tiny Indian store variety J) minced
• 1 inch ginger, minced or 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp chaat masala (easily available in Indian stores)
• 1 tsp roasted jeera (cumin) powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp red chilli powder
• ½ tsp black salt/ rock salt (kala namak)
• Salt to taste
• ½ tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp amchoor or dry mango powder (Use extra lemon juice if not using amchoor)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 medium red onion, chopped fine
• 4 tbsp coriander/ cilantro chopped fine
• 1 additional lemon, cut into wedges to serve
• Tamarind-Date chutney (to serve)
• Coriander chutney (to serve)

I used bottles bought from the Indian store for the last two items.

Steps:

1. Most recipes recommend soaking the peas overnight or atleast for 2 to 3 hours. But who has that kind of time and I wanted my chaat right then. So, I washed the peas and then soaked them in sufficient water which I then heated in my microwave for 2 minutes. One good stir and then I let the peas soak for about half an hour. Then I heated the water once more for about a minute.

2. Next, the peas went into the pressure cooker with about 4 cups of water. It’s essential to not use too much water as all of this water needs to be finally absorbed by the peas. After 6 whistles (Yes, the peas need to be very soft, almost mashed), I switched off the stove and let the cooker cool.

3. Once I could open the cooker, I put the pan onto the stove on medium heat and mixed in the ginger, chillies and all the dry masalas. The only thing to remember here is that my Mom always says the garam masala and the amchoor should not be added too early, but at the end of the cooking process in any dish.

4. Then I raised the heat in order to evaporate all extra water, while continuing to stir. Of course, this also helped to soften the peas which I would not have had to do if I had soaked them longer.

5. Finally I squeezed a lemon over it and garnished with the red onion and the cilantro.

My adorable matar ki chaat was ready to enjoy with tamarind and coriander chutneys with lemon wedges on the side. We ate it by itself as a snack, as well as with Gujarati Kadhi (another of my favorites) and steamed rice for dinner.

One of my many experiments that turned out very well is a recipe I downloaded from Tarla Dalal’s website and adapted to our tastes. This is a recipe that my husband loves so much that he claims he could eat it every day (ok, maybe that’s going a little far…let’s keep it to every week! :-))

The really nostalgic thing about this recipe is that the flavor reminds me of my Mom and me eating chaat from Bengali Market in Delhi during winter vacations. I don’t think you get really good North Indian chaat anywhere but there, and definitely not in New Jersey. 

Please do let me know if you know if any good chaat place in New Jersey, the ones that serve dahi papdi chaat (not Bambaiya bhel puri, which has its own place, but isn’t North Indian chaat. :-) )

I follow the original recipe quite diligently except for a few changes. So, here’s my version.

ACHARI PANEER

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

·          1 small pack of paneer, cubed (I use Nanak’s small pack, but any good brand should do. You could make your own homemade paneer (lower calorie, if made with 2% milk!) too, if you like. If so, about a cup and a half should do)

·          1 teaspoon fennel seeds (saunf)

·          1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds

·          5 to 6 fenugreek seeds (methi)

·          1 teaspoon nigella seeds (kalonji)

·          1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

·          1/2 teaspoon asafetida (hing)

·          1 medium sized red onion, sliced

·          1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)

·          1/2 teaspoon chili powder

·          1/2 teaspoon rock salt (kala namak)

·          1 cup plain yoghurt (diluted with a little water, if using packaged yoghurt)

·          3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

·          2 tsp oil

·          Salt to taste

Steps:

1. Heat about 2 tsp oil in a saucepan and shallow fry the paneer. (For a lower calorie version, bake the paneer in a baking tray sprayed with some oil.)

2. Add the fennel seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds, cumin seeds and asafetida to the leftover oil from frying the paneer.

4. When the seeds begin to crackle, add the onion and sauté it till it turns golden brown.

5. Add the fried paneer, turmeric, chili powder, black salt and mix everything gently.

6. Add the yoghurt and mix well.

7. Add salt and wait for the sauce to come to a boil.

8. Finally garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with parathas, roti or rice.

I have often read that pictures are half the battle of having your blog read…unfortunately, my hubby dearest, being the adorable procrastinator that he is hasn’t had a chance to get us a memory card for our digicam..Nevertheless, I promise that nagging may help in this case and I will upload pics of all the food I cook very soon!

Hope to see you all here often!