Black Bean, corn and mango salad

Ingredients:

Black Beans: 1 can
Red Onions(finely chopped): 1 medium sized.
Fresh Corn Kernels: 1/2 cup
Ripe Mango(chopped): 1/2 cup
Honey: 1 tbsp
Lime Juice: 1 tbsp
salt to taste
Olive oil: 1 tsp
Bell Pepper(chopped): 1/4 cup
Cilantro(finely chopped): 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Add oil to a pan and when the oil is heated add the corn kernels and cook until the corn is cooked.
Add the cooked corn to the remaining ingredients and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Garnish with cilantro.

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Coconut Rice

Coconut rice is a simple south Indian dish that can be fixed in minutes. If you have left over rice, this is a great way to use it. I personally like it better with hot freshly cooked rice. When the rice is hot it soaks in the flavors of the seasoning and the coconut very well.

Ingredients:

• Cooked White Rice( long grain or basmati) : 2 cups
• Fresh shredded coconut: 1/2 cup
• Salt to taste

Seasoning

• Oil: 2 tbsp
• Channa Dal: 1 tsp
• Urad Dal: 1 tsp
• Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp
• Cumin Seeds: 1 tsp
• Broken Red Chillies: 3
• Green Chillies: 4
• Curry Leaves: 5
• Asafoetida(Hing): a pinch

Procedure:

1. Add oil to the pan and when the oil is heated, add channa dal, urad dal mustard seeds and broken red chillies.
2. When the mustard seeds start spluttering add cumin seeds, green chillies, curry leaves and asoefetida.
3. now add the cooked long grain white rice or basmati rice and mix well until the seasoning is coated well to the rice.
4. Now add fresh shredded coconut and turn off the heat.
5. Adjust the salt and add the lemon juice.

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Tofu Cabbage Rice - An article inspired dish

Other day I was reading an article on CNN that had a list of some super foods that are good for you.
The list consisted of Cabbage, Tofu, Black Beans, Cinnamon, Tomato, Blueberries, Salmon, Cocoa, Basil, Yogurt.
Here is link to the article.While I was reading that, I thought most of them we use on a day to day basis in our Indian cooking.
 I don't usually come up with a menu for my meals before hand. I open my fridge stare at the veggies for a while and come up with something. It was lunch time and as always I was staring at the fridge and suddenly remembered this article I read in the morning. Then I was like why not combine all the foods that I have and those I can, mentioned in the article and make a single dish and came up with this cabbage tofu rice.
I covered cabbage, tofu, tomatoes, cinnamon in the fired rice, and yogurt I used for the raitha.
Could not incorporate blue berries and cocoa.
Could have combined salmon, basil and balck beans too into the fried rice, but I did not have them readily available.

Ingredients:

Long grain white rice/Basmati Rice(cooked): 2 cups.
Shredded cabbage: 1 cup.
Firm Tofu(cut into pieces): 1/2 cup
Onions( finely chopped): 1/2 cup
Tomatoes: finely chopped: 1/2 cup
Pepper: 1/2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil: 2 tbsp
Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp
Garam masala: a pinch
MDH Kitchen king powder(or any curry powder): 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

Add oil to a pan and when the oil is heated, add onions,salt and sauté them till they are soft and brown in color.
Now add shredded cabbage and tofu and cook until the cabbage is soft.
Add the tomatoes, cover with a lid and cook for another 5 minutes.
Now add the cooked rice. Add pepper, cinnamon powder, garam masala and kitchen king powder and mix thoroughly.
Adjust the salt. Garnish with cilantro.
Serve with Raitha.

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Pachi Pulusu - no cooking required

When I started this blog my main intention was to treasure some of the traditional recipes from my family.
There are certain recipes from my grand mother that only my mom knows now, after grand mother passed away. If I don't learn those recipes from her and pass on to future generations, that's it. They are gone.
Saving those authentic traditional recipes in a blog on the world wide web is a great way to preserve them for ever I thought and that's how this blog was born.

This is an instant no cooking required recipe. My mom usually makes this during summer.
When the temperatures are in 100s, and the last thing you want to do is stand near the stove, these no cooking required recipes come in handy.

Ingredients:

Water: 2 cups
Tamarind juice: 2 tbsp
Jaggery: 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Onion(large): 1/2 finely chopped
Green chillies: 2
Cilantro(finely chopped): 2 tsp

Procedure:

Add tamarind juice and jaggery to the water and mix well until the jaggery completely melts in the water.
Add chopped onions and green chillies.
Adjust the salt.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Serve with hot steamed rice.

Suggestions: Jaggery can be omitted if you don't like it sweet.

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Tres Leches Cake - 3 milk cake

My friend "S" told me about this Tres Leches Cake some time back and then she sent me pics of the cake she made. I have never heard of this cake before and the gorgeous pics she sent made me drool. When she told me Tres Leches means 3 milks and this cake contains the three milks whole milk, evaporated milk and the condensed milk, I had to try it immediately being a milk fan.

I generally like anything made with milk. I am not a sweet person, but tend to like the ones made with milk products.

The first time I tried this cake, it was a big flop. I did not beat the eggs properly and the cake turned out to be hard and not at all fluffy. It did not soak the milk syrup. I still liked the taste of it:)

So decided to try it again and this time its a success! I followed the recipe from this site.
She has beautiful step by step instructions with pictures. I followed the recipe exactly with only one modification.

The cake was awesome and juicy!

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour: 1 cup + 2 tbsp
• Baking powder: 1-1/2 tsp
• salt: 1/4 tsp
• Eggs: 5 separated
• Sugar: 1 cup divided
• Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
• Whole Milk: 1/3 cup(for cake) and 1/2 cup(for syrup)
• Evaporated Milk: 1 can
• Sweetened Condensed Milk: 1 can
• Heavy Whipping Cream: 1/4 cup
• Store bought whipped cream fro topping.
• Canned cherries( for topping)

Procedure:

1. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a large dish.
2. Separate the egg yolks in to a mixing bowl and beat  them with 3/4 cup sugar until the yolks turn pale yellow.
3. Stir in milk and vanilla to the yolk mixture.
4. Pour egg yolks mixture to the flour mixture and stir gently until combined.
5. Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. withe mixer on, pour the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry ( This step I did not get stiff peaks after i added the sugar. But the cake was good and fluffy)
6. Fold the egg white mixture into the flour batter until combined.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
8. Grease a baking pan and pour the cake batter and bake for 35-40 minutes until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
9. While the cake is baking prepare the milk syrup combining Condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and the 1/2 cup whole milk.(The actual recipe did not have the 1/2 cup whole milk or syrup. The syrup was too sweet for me so I added 1/2 cup milk) You can actually omit this and if you feel the cake is too sweet, you can just pour some milk on top in the end.
10. Once the cake is baked, cool on a wire rack and pour the milk syrup over the cake.
11. Cool it in the fridge for 2-3 hours before serving.
12. Add some whipped cream and cherries on top before serving.
13. You can use any fruit as topping.

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Pepper Rasam

I am not a big fan of sweets. Spicy, tangy are my flavors. Today's post pepper rasam is a spicy tangy soup made with lentils and falvoured with freshly ground pepper.
Back home in India, our meal often comprised of a dal, rasam/sambar or pulusu and a curry or a fry. Rasam/sambar was a must every day and my mom can cook at least 10 different varieties of rasams.
This pepper rasam tastes heavenly specially when you are down with cold/cough.

Ingredients:

• Toor dal: 1/4 cup
• Pepper Corns: 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
• Tamarind Juice: 1 tbsp
• Salt as required.
• Chopped Cilantro: 2 tbsp

Seasoning:

• Oil: 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
• Curry Leaves: 4
• Red chillies( Broken): 3
• Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
• Asoefetida(hing): a pinch

Procedure:

1. Boil the dal with enough water in a pressure cooker until you get 2-3 whistles.
2. While the dal is boiling prepare the spice mix grinding the pepper corns and cumin seeds in a spice grinder into a fine powder and set it aside.
3. When the dal is cooled, mash it well into a paste or you can use a blender to make a thin paste.
4. Add more water to the dal paste and mix well and let it boil for 10 minutes.
5. Add tamarind juice, salt and the pepper cumin powder and mix well. Boil the liquid with spices for few more minutes.
6. Now add the seasoning ingredients to a pan in the order mentioned and when the seeds start spluttering, add it to the boiling dal. Turn off the stove and garnish with Cilantro.
7. Serve with steamed rice.

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Alu Palak/Potato Spinach Curry

Other day when we were watching the soccer finals, hubby asked me if I knew why Holland dress color was Orange. I was like may be it was a color from their flag or a random color that they chose. Honestly, I did not know the answer. Then he told me that Dutch were the first ones to make orange carrots!
I laughed and said Carrots were supposed to be orange and what was it that they had to make specially. He then said that carrots were originally in purple color and the Dutch made the first orange carrots. I did not buy that. How could they even make an orange carrot from a purple carrot and even if they did what happened to the original purple carrot? They should have co existed right? How could a new invention totally eliminate an existing breed of carrots? There were so many questions in my mind and I quickly did a google search to find the answers.

To my surprise what my hubby said was true. Dutch created the orange carrots in honor of the House of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family. They created this by cross breeding pale yellow with red carrots and not from purple carrots. Hmm...so carrots existed in red and yellow colors too other than purple. Reading few more results I learned that carrots existed in purple, white, red and yellow colors. So what happened to all those now? I have seen a purple cabbage but never a purple carrot.

I have never seen a carrot any in any other color other than orange. May be I have seen some red carrots in India. We call them gajar. You can read more facts about the on carrots here. Well.... it was interesting to know about the different colors that carrots were/are available.

Okay, coming to the recipe part, it is not a carrot recipe. I just thought the carrot story was interesting to share.



Ingredients:

• Potato: 1
• Spinach (chopped): 1 cup
• Tomatoes(small): 1
• Onion(large): 1/2
• Salt as required
• Green Chillies: 3
• MDH Kitchen king masala or any curry powder: 1 tsp

Seasoning:

• Oil: 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves: 3
• Asoefetida(hing): a pinch

Procedure:

1. First chop the onions, potatoes and tomatoes into small pieces and keep aside.
2. Finely chop the spinach.
3. Add oil to a pan and when the oil is heated, add the seasoning ingredients in the order mentioned.
4. When the seeds start spluttering, add the chopped onions, add salt and cook until they turn golden brown in color.
5. Now add the potatoes and 1/2 cup of water and let the potatoes cook well.
6. when the potatoes are like half cooked, add the spinach and cover the pan with a lid and cook for few minutes.
7. When the potatoes are cooked well, add the tomatoes, green chillies and the kitchen king masala.
8. Add another 1/2 cup of water,cover with the lid and cook for another 5 minutes.
9. Make sure that you add tomatoes only after the potatoes are cooked. Potatoes do not cook well in the tomato gravy.
10. Remove the lid, mix well and adjust the salt.
11. Serve with roti or steamed rice.

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Green Beans Fry

Beans fry is a quick fix meal when I run out of options or groceries or when I am just lazy to cook.

I usually buy green beans in bulk form cotco/sams, clean them and cut them into small pieces and store in the freezer.

That makes it even more easy to cook. No cutting/cleaning required. Just toss the veggies in oil and add the spices. Hardly takes 10 -15 minutes from start to finish.

Ingredients:

• Green Beans( cut into small pieces): 2 cups
• Channa Dalia: 2 tbsp
• Salt as required.
• Red Chilli Powder: 1 tsp

Seasoning:

• Oil: 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
• Cumin Seeds: 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp
• Broken Red Chillies: 2
• Curry leaves: 4
• Asoefetida(hing): a pinch

Procedure:

1. Add oil to the pan and when the oil is heated, add the seasoning ingredients in the order mentioned.
2. When the seeds start spluttering, add the chopped green beans and mix well. 
3. Fry them cover with a lid for few minutes. 
4. In a spice grinder, grind the channa dalia into fine powder and set it aside.
5. Now, take off the lid and cook them for few more minutes until the beans are soft.
6. now add the channa dalia powder to the beans and mix well.
7. Add salt and red chilli powder.
8. Serve with steamed rice.

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Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken..........the name itself makes my mouth water. Who doesn't like butter chicken? Butter chicken and naan......can there be a better combo?
This recipe is by my friend 'S'.
Vegetarians can substitute chicken with paneer and that makes Paneer butter masala.



Ingredients:

• Chicken – 1.5 lbs, boneless skinless thighs
• Lemon Juice – 3 tbsp
• Red Chili Powder – to taste
• Salt – to taste
• Yogurt – 1/2 cup
• Ginger & Garlic Paste – 4 tsp
• Tandoori Masala – 2 tsp
• Unsalted Butter – 1.5 tbsp
• Garam Masala – 2 tsp
• Big Cardamom – 3
• Green Cardamom – 4
• Cinnamon Stick – 1″ pc.
• Bay Leaf – 2
• Tomatoes – 3 large, pureed
• Sugar – 1 tsp or to taste
• Dried Methi Leaves (Kasoori Methi) – 1 tbsp
• Green Chili – to taste, finely chopped
• Heavy Whipping Cream – 1 cup or to taste
• Cilantro – 3 sprigs, finely chopped

Procedure:

1. Cut the Chicken to bite-size pieces and wash it well.
2. In a bowl add the following to the chicken pieces – Lemon Juice, 2 tsps of Ginger & Garlic Paste, Tandoori Masala, Red Chili Powder, Salt and Yogurt.
3.  Mix well and marinate in the refrigerator overnight for best results or atleast a couple of hours.
4. Grease a broiler dish with ghee, oil or cooking spray and layer the Chicken in a single layer. Broil on high for 5-7 minutes on each side. Keep an eye on it as every oven varies.  The size of the chicken pieces makes a difference and where you place the rack in the oven plays a big role in how long the chicken needs to be cooked.
5. For the gravy, in a medium size pan on medium heat, melt and heat the Butter.
6. Once hot, add the Cardamoms, Bay Leaf and Cinnamon Stick. Fry for 1 minute.
7. Add the balance of Ginger and Garlic paste and fry of 30 secs.
8. Add in the Green Chilis and the Tomato Puree. Mix well.
9. Add in the Salt, Red Chili Powder and Garam Masala and mix well.
10. Allow it to come to a boil and then lower the heat and let the gravy simmer for 10 minutes till most of the juice from the tomatoes evaporates.
11.  Add in the Sugar and the Dried Methi Leaves and allow it to cook for another 2 minutes before adding broiled Chicken pieces. Mix well to coat Chicken.
12.  Add the Whipping Cream, mix and allow it to come to a boil and take it off the flame.
13.  At this point, do a taste test and adjust the salt, sugar and the liquid in the gravy.
14.  Mix in half the Cilantro in the dish and garnish the balance while serving.

Alternatives-

  If you don’t have access to a broiler dish …use metal skewers or wooden ones (soaked) or just barbeque them on the grill.
* Use Oil instead of Butter. But butter gives good flavor for butter chicken.
* Substitutes for Heavy Whipping Cream – Half and Half, Evaporated Milk, or Milk Powder

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Egg Fry - A simple dish for a busy day

Ingredients:

• Eggs: 2
• Onion(large) : 1
• Salt as required
• Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp

Seasoning:

• Oil: 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds: 1/2tsp
• Cumin seeds: 1/2tsp
• Red chillies(broken): 2
• Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves: 4
• Asoefetida: a pinch

Procedure:

1. Boil the eggs in water. Peel them and set them aside.
2. To a pan add oil and all the seasoning ingredients in the order mentioned.
3. When the seeds start spluttering, add onions and fry them until they become soft.
4. Now add the hardboiled eggs to the onions and fry for few minutes.
5. Add salt and chilli powder.
6. Serve with rice or roti.

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