Banana Leaf Rice

I first had this at a friend's house and loved it. The entire house smelled great and we really couldn't stop eating the rice. Gorgeous spicy rice steamed in a banana leaf - it was flavorful and delicious!


Banana Leaf Rice

For the rice:
2 cups Basmati Rice
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tbsp Ghee/ Clarified Butter (I used regular vegetable oil)
Salt, to taste

For the curry:
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
2 tbsp Ghee/ Clarified Butter (I used regular vegetable oil)

Grind to a paste:
1 medium Onion, chopped fine
2 tbsp Coconut
6 Red Chillies
2 tsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 pieces Cardamom
1/2" piece Ginger
3 cloves Garlic

For the rice: Parboil the rice and set aside. In a saucepan, heat the ghee and add cumin and fry till it turns a light brown. Add the cooked rice and some salt and mix to combine.

For the curry: Heat the ghee and fry the ground paste for 3-4 minutes or until the raw smell disappears. Add the tomato puree and salt and cook for a minute.

Cut the banana leaves or pieces of aluminum foil into medium sized squares. In each square, spread one portion of rice and top it with a few tablespoons of the curry. Fold the individual packets (fasten the banana leaves with toothpicks).

Steam the banana leaves for atleast 15 minutes. If using foil, bake in an oven at 450 deg F for 25 minutes.

Remove and serve individual packets to each guest, and let them unwrap the packets themselves - that way the rice stays hot and the aroma from the packets isn't lost.

Potato Chip Cookies

If you're looking for healthy and nutritious, I suggest you skip this post! But if you're looking for amazing flavor, read on.

Having a surplus of potato chips after a birthday party, I wanted to put them to good use and I remembered a cookie I had bookmarked from Baking Bites. These cookies have amazing crunch and a fantastic salty sweet flavor.


Potato Chip Cookies
(recipe from Baking Bites)

Makes about 40 thin cookies and about 25 thick, chewy ones.

2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Butter, softened
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar + 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 large Egg
1 1/2 cups Potato Chips, crushed fine (I didn't crush them too much but I will next time)

Combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda). In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and whisk together very well.

Mix the butter mixture with the dry ingredients. Fold in the crushed potato chips.

Shape into balls (about the size of a small lemon). Drop the balls onto a baking sheet and flatten them out a bit. Bake for 12-15 minutes (12 minutes for chewy and more for crispy cookies). Cool completely on a wire rack.


Here are some other cookie recipes from this blog: Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter Cookies and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Chocolate Christmas Cake

If you haven't checked out Sweet and Simple Bakes, you really should. Its great for amateur bakers. Started by Rosie and Maria, they challenge us every month to go a little further and bake something you probably haven't baked before. And every single recipe has been tried and tested and comes out perfect.

For November's Sweet and Simple Bakes, Maria asked us to make a chocolate Christmas cake.


Chocolate Christmas Cake
(recipe from Sweet and Simple Bakes)

Preparation time: 20 minutes + cooling
Cooking time: 1¾ -2 hours

Ingredients
150g (5oz) soft butter
150g (5oz) light muscovado sugar or soft brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
185g (6½oz) self-raising flour
40g (1½oz) cocoa powder
400g jar of luxury mincemeat (recipe follows)
80g (3oz) each of sultanas and raisins
50g (2oz) blanched almonds, chopped
100g packet of white chocolate chips

For decoration (decorate as you wish!)

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3/electric 160ºC/fan oven 140ºC. Line a 20cm (8inch) cake tin (see below for instructions).

Lining the cake tin: One of the keys to success when baking a fruit cake is the preparation of the tin before you start mixing the ingredients. Because of the length of cooking time, you need to use two sheets of greaseproof paper or baking parchment inside the tin.

Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat together for a minute or two until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 1¾-2 hours until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. You will probably need to cover the cake with foil towards the end of cooking to prevent the top from browning too much. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Decorate as you wish! (I didn't decorate it)


Vegetarian Mincemeat
(check here for the original recipe. Since a lot of the ingredients required aren't available in India, I made some substitutions).

To make 2 lbs mincemeat

Ingredients

450g (1 lb) mixed dried fruit (I used dates, figs, blueberries, cherries and cranberries)
100g (4oz) melted butter
100g (4oz) cooking apples or apple of choice - peeled and grated (weight when prepared)
100g (4oz) soft brown sugar
50g -100g (2-4 oz) of chopped nuts of choice (I used pecans)
100g (4oz) glace cherries (I used more blueberries and some raspberries)
100g (4oz) chopped candied peel (I used raisins)
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon mixed spice (I made my own spice mix - recipe follows)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
4 tablespoons brandy

Mixed Spice Mix:

Grind together 1 small cinnamon stick and 1 tablespoon each cloves, mace, ground nutmeg and coriander seeds.

Method

Add all the ingredients into a large bowl and soak overnight covering with a clean cloth. Mix thoroughly through together either with a large spoon or clean hands. Cover over with a clean tea towel and leave to stand for 24 hours giving the mixture a good stir as you pass by. Next day pack the mincemeat into sterilised jars, and top with greaseproof paper jam covers. Seal the jars tightly and store in a cool place.

*Note*: if you choose not to use glace cherries make the weight up with mixed dried fruit instead. If you wish not to add alcohol use apple juice or orange juice instead. We have given a recipe here for mincemeat without suet, but should you wish to use either beef or vegetable suet in this recipe omit the melted butter.

I sneaked a little taste when I was bottling the mincemeat, and it was so good. I knew the cake would be amazing.


Thanks, Maria for another interesting recipe.

Gnocchi

Gnocchi is a pasta made primarily with mashed potatoes and a little bit of flour. When it's good, they can be little pillows of heaven - light and flavorful. But when they're badly made, they are just lumps of lead. The key to making good gnocchi is a light touch and lots of practice! Let's just say the recipe I used from Smitten Kitchen was absolutely fantastic but I need lots of practice - mine were definitely not pillows of heaven, but they were full of flavor and we loved them.

Gnocchi
(recipe from Smitten Kitchen)

2 pounds Potatoes (the more flour-y the potatoes, the better. We don't get russet here, so I made do with large golden potatoes)
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 Egg, lightly beaten


Preheat oven to 200 deg C. Pierce the potatoes all over with a fork and bake in the oven until tender. Allow to cool slightly and peel the potatoes. Grate the potatoes using the large holes of a box grater.

Add the salt and the egg to the potatoes and mix well. Spoon the flour into the potato mixture a little at a time, just using enough so that the dough comes together and doesn't stick to your hands. Transfer the dough out onto a kneading surface and knead the dough for about 3-4 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 pieces. On a lightly floured surface, with a very light touch, roll each piece into a long rope about 3/4" thick. Cut 1" pieces from the rope.


Now comes the part that requires a lot of practice. Gnocchi has little ridges that are, I think, mainly there for cosmetic reasons, but they also trap sauce very well. And, hey, it just doesn't look like gnocchi if it doesn't have the ridges.


To get the ridges, pass each piece on the inside of a fork, pressing slightly on the tines. I was afraid of handling the dough too much and so didn't put enough pressure. The ridges were there, but not very prominent.

The gnocchi can be frozen at this stage. Remember to first freeze them on a tray and then drop them into a ziploc bag once frozen. If cooking them right away, drop the pieces into a pot of salted boiling water. The gnocchi will start to float to the top, let it cook for another minute and then remove with a slotted spoon.

I tossed the gnocchi with homemade spinach-walnut pesto and grated some fresh Parmesan over it. Delicious!


For some lovely unusual gnocchi, see the Celery Leaf Gnocchi at Ideas in Food, Sweet Potato Gnocchi at Wild Yeast, Olive Gnocchi at Vegalicious and Peach Gnocchi at 101 Cookbooks.


Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Traditional Egg Curry

A few days ago, I had posted a non-traditional way we make egg curry at home. And then I realized that I'd never actually written about how to make a traditional egg curry. Usually, eggs are hard boiled and then mixed in with a spicy curry. The non-traditional way is great in terms of flavor, as the eggs soak up the curry. But the traditional egg curry is a quick-fix curry and great when you're short on time.



Traditional Egg Curry

5 Shallots
1 tsp Ginger, ground
1 tsp Garlic, ground
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Coriander, ground
1 Cardamom
1 Clove

1 Tomato, chopped
1 Bay Leaf
2 small Onions, chopped
2 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Salt

1 cup Potatoes, cooked, skinned and chopped (optional)
1 cup Peas, cooked (optional)
1/4 cup Coconut Milk

6 Eggs, hard boiled, sliced halfway lengthwise

Grind the shallots, ginger, garlic, chilli powder, coriander powder, cardamom, clove and tomatoes. Keep aside.

Heat a little oil in a pan, add the bay leaf and fry till brown. Add the chopped onions, sugar and stir fry until the onions start to turn brown. Add the ground paste, turmeric and salt. Keep stirring until the mixture becomes a very dark brown. Now add the cooked vegetables. Add one cup of water and let it come to a boil. Cook for a few minutes.

Add the coconut milk and eggs, stir once and remove from heat.

Serve warm with rice and/or rotis.


Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Sambar

An important part of a south Indian breakfast is sambar. We eat it with rice, dosas and idlis. It's almost a competition between the rasam people and the sambar people (ie those who like rasam vs those who like sambar). I'm a rasam person myself - I find it has a subtler flavor and is light and delicious. But when you have a good dosa in front of you, you've just gotta have sambar!

Sambar can be made with any and all vegetables. My favorite is carrot sambar, but the shallot kind is probably the most popular.


Sambar

1 cup Shallots, peeled
1/2 cup Toor Dal
1 Tomato, chopped
1 tbsp Oil
4-5 Curry Leaves
1 cup Tamarind Water (about a marble sized piece of tamarind, dissolved in 1 cup warm water)
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

For the Spice Powder:
3 tbsp Split Yellow Lentils (Moong Dal)
1 tbsp Coriander Seed (Dhania)
3 Red Chillies
1 tsp Cumin Seed
1 tsp Urad Dal
1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seed
1/4 tsp Peppercorn
1/2 tsp Asafoetida

For Tempering:
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Urad Dal
1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 Red Chillies
2-3 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Oil

To make the spice powder: Heat a pan with the oil and add all the ingredients for the spice powder. Roast on medium-high heat until golden. Grind to a fine powder and set aside.

Cook the toor dal in 2 cups of water and mash very well when cooked. Keep aside.

Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil. Add the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the shallots and tomato and fry for a couple of minutes. Now add the turmeric and tamarind water. Allow it to come to a boil and continue to keep it at a boil for 5 minutes.

Add the ground spice powder and stir to combine. Let it continue to boil for 5 minutes. Add the cooked toor dal and boil again for 5 minutes. Add salt, to taste. If it is too thick, mix in some hot water. When it has reached a thick soupy consistency, remove from heat.

Serve with rice or dosas or idlis.

In this same method, you could substitute shallots with your favorite vegetable - some of the common sambar vegetables are drumsticks, carrots, eggplant, bell peppers, onions and okra.


Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Dosai

Sundays are sacred to most people. Its always the day for relaxation and getting re-energized for the upcoming week. And a way for the family to spend time together, away from busy lives. For us, when I was growing up, Sunday's food was always the same. And something we always could count on and look forward to.

For breakfast we always (and when I say always I mean for 40+ years now) had dosas and shallot sambar, with chutney and milagai podi. For lunch it was spicy potatoes, rasam, any left over sambar (from breakfast), a veggie (most often carrots and peas), and rice. It's incredible that even now sunday breakfast and lunch is sacred to me, and something I look forward to.


Dosai

2 cups Rice
3/4 cup Urad Dal
1 tsp Fenugreek Seed
1 1/2 tbsp Salt

Soak the rice in a bowl and the urad dal and fenugreek in another bowl, in water for 2 hours. Drain well and wash completely.

Grind the soaked urad dal and fenugreek with a little bit of water to a smooth consistency. Keep aside. Grind the rice now, with a little of water, to a smooth consistency. Keep aside.

Mix the two together and add salt. Stir to incorporate the salt. Cover and keep in a warm area of the house for about 8 hours or overnight. If not using right away, the batter can be kept in a closed container in the refrigerator for a week.

Heat a crepe pan (cast-iron works best; the heavier the better - but I've made it on a non-stick $2 flimsy pan and it worked fine :-) ). Make sure the pan gets very hot (test it by dropping a little water, if it sizzles at once, the pan is ready).

Pour about a 3/4 cup amount of dough onto the center of the pan, using a soup ladle (the ladles work really well for me), and very quickly spread the batter using the back of the ladle and a gently touch so that it starts to resemble a circular shape. Here's a video from a road-side dosai-making chap! And here's a picture:


When the bottom is browned, flip the dosai over and brown the other side.


Fold in two or three (letter style) and serve with sambar, chutney and milagai podi. This is a quintessential south Indian breakfast.


Dosais can be had either plain or with a filling of your choice - some people choose to break an egg onto the middle of the dosai (like the chap on the video), or you can fill it with spicy potatoes and make a masala dosai, or spread a thin layer of milagai podi on the inside of the dosai and have mysore dosai! It's going to be delicious regardless! :-) Now I can't wait for Sunday!


Here are some other popular types of dosais: Tomato Dosai, Neer Dosai and Pesarat.

This is off to Srivalli @ Cooking 4 All Seasons for her wildly popular Rice Mela.

Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Amazing Bread for a Great Cause

Aparna and Priya have tagged me to bake bread for a wonderful cause - to alleviate poverty in Africa. If I can help in any small way, I want to - and what better way than to bake bread, which is something I've come to enjoy. I find it relaxing and stress-relieving and to have the house smell of freshly baked bread at the end is the most wonderful part.

Breadline Africa is a charity based in South Africa works towards ending poverty in Africa by helping communities achieve long-term self-sustainability.

On Blog Action Day, Breadline Africa launched their Worldwide Blogger Bake-Off campaign. The aim is to raise $1 million in funds for a project to convert shipping containers into locations for food production and distribution in Africa.

If you would like to join The Blogger Bake-Off, details can be found at their site. Bloggers who would like to bake for this cause may use the widget on their blogs and tag 5 other bloggers to Bake Bread, Give Dough and Feed Africa.

I tag the following people, who bake exceptionally well, and whom, I hope will take up this tag for a great cause:
Lakshmi, Raaga, Jude, Sunshinemom and Zorra.

I saw this recipe on My Kitchen Cafe. Her blog is amazing and she has tons of tried and tested recipes that always come out perfect. This was one of the easiest and best breads that I've ever made (or eaten, in fact!).


Perfect Bread Rolls
(original recipe from My Kitchen Cafe)

4 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tbsp Yeast
2 tbsp Sugar
1 1/2 cups warm Water
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Olive Oil

Mix together the yeast, sugar and water. Set aside for 10 minutes until the yeast is activated and frothy.

Add the oil, salt and 2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture and combine. Add the flour a little at a time until the dough begins to come together and leaves the edges of the bowl.

Empty the dough out onto a kneading surface and knead for 7-8 minutes until it begins to feel smooth and oh-so-silky. Transfer the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover with a thin cloth or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise to double its size (about 1 hour - I think it's so short because of the large amount of yeast).

Gently deflate the dough and turn out onto the kneading surface. Divide the dough into 12-14 equal parts and roll each into a ball. Place them on a baking tray a couple of inches apart. Cover with a damp cloth for about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 200 deg C.


Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. For hard crusted rolls, spray water couple of times for the first 4-5 minutes while baking. For a soft crust, brush the hot rolls with some melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven.


Absolutely Divine!


This is also off to Susan @ Wild Yeast for Yeast Spotting.

(do you see that soft crumb? mmm!)

Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Vegetable Stew

For the appam that I posted yesterday, my favorite accompaniment is a vegetable stew. An Indian stew is quite different from its western counterparts in that it is never served as a soup by itself. It is always eaten with rice or dosas or, in this case, appams.


Vegetable Stew

4 small Potatoes, boiled and chopped
1/2 cup Peas
1 tsp Ginger, chopped
1 small Onion, chopped
3 Green Chillies, sliced fine
1 cup Water
1/2 cup Coconut Milk
1 tsp Salt
3-4 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Butter (optional)

In a heated pan, cook the chopped potatoes, peas, ginger, onion and green chillies in the water. When it starts to boil, add salt.

Let it continue cooking until the mixture has been reduced to 1/4 the pan. Lower heat to warm and add the coconut milk, curry leaves and the butter.

When it reaches a boil again, remove from heat. Serve warm with appams, rice or dosas.

Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Appam

Appam, or hoppers, are a common breakfast or dinner food in south India. They originated from Sri Lanka and Kerala, and are known as appams there, while here in Tamil Nadu, they are called aappams. Wikipedia says it well:

Plain hoppers are bowl-shaped thin pancakes made from fermented rice flour. They derive their shape from the small appachatti in which they are cooked. They are fairly bland, and always served with a spicy accompaniment. These hoppers are made from a batter using rice, yeast, salt and a little sugar. After the mixture has stood for a couple of hours, it can be fried in the appachatti with a little oil.

They are slightly sweet because of the coconut milk and sugar.


Appam

3 cups Rice, soak in water for 2 1/2 hours and grind to a thin consistency with a little bit of water.

the semolina mixture:
2 tbsp Semolina (Rava)
1 1/2 cups Water

the yeast mixture:
1 tsp Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
1/4 cup Water

the rest of the ingredients:
1/4 tsp Salt
6 tbsp Sugar
1 cup Coconut Milk

Combine the ingredients for the yeast mixture and set aside for 15-20 minutes until frothy and the yeast has been activated.

For the semolina, heat the 1 1/2 cups of water on medium heat. Add the semolina and cook until dissolved. Set aside to cool completely.

Combine the ingredients from the yeast mixture, the semolina mixture and the rest of the ingredients to the ground rice batter. Cover and set aside for 2 hours or until the mixture has started to develop bubbles on the surface. Transfer the batter into the refrigerator overnight (or at least 8 hours) for a cold fermentation. The batter keeps well for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.


When ready to make the appams, use a slightly rounded pan or appachetti. Here's a photo of the pan from Mahavir Metal Converters. This is the one we have at home and it's excellent.


Pour a ladle of the batter into the center of the pan. Swirl the batter around, so that the sides are thinly coated. The center will get cooked but remain soft, while the edges are thin and crispy.


Cover and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes.


When the sides of the appams are slightly crispy and browned, remove and serve warm with vegetable stew (recipe coming up tomorrow) or a spicy curry like a vegetable kurma or chicken curry. My daughter loves it with sugar filled coconut milk!


Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Simple Dal

Dal, usually made with cooked and mashed lentils, is a staple in the Indian diet. Made with a variety of lentils, it's a very important protein source in a vegetarian diet. As in most Indian foods, the dal is also personalized to each person's taste patterns. The most famous Indian dal is a Dal Makhani made with black lentils, mashed and made rich with the addition of cream and/or butter.


A simpler dal is one made of yellow lentils or moong dal. Here's a very simple dal that we make for breakfast almost every morning to get that much-needed protein boost. We add vegetables too, but you can skip that if you'd like.

Simple Dal
(serves 2)

2 tbsp Split Yellow Lentils (Moong Dal)
1 - 1 1/2 cups Water (depending on how watery you want the dal)
Salt, as needed

1/2 Carrot, chopped fine
1 Tomato, chopped fine
1 Green Chilli, chopped fine
5-6 pieces Green Beans, chopped fine
1 Onion, chopped fine

For tempering:
1 pinch Mustard Seeds
1 pinch Cumin Seeds

Cilantro, chopped, for garnish.

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan. When hot, add the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard begins to pop, add the veggies and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Add the water, salt and the lentils and let it come to a boil. When the lentils are cooked through, remove from the stove.

Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve with idlis, dosas or as a lentil soup for a healthy, satisfying meal.


Check out my fellow recipe marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Bread Upma

Upma is a common breakfast in most south Indian homes. Usually made using semolina or vermicelli, sometimes we also use bread to make this spicy upma.


Bread Upma

2 slices Bread (stale is fine)
1 cup Milk (OR) Yogurt

2 medium Potatoes, boiled and chopped
2 large Onions, chopped
1/2 cup cooked Peas
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Oil
2 Green Chillies, sliced fine
1 pinch Turmeric
1 tsp Salt

2-3 sprigs Cilantro, chopped fine, for garnish

Cut bread into small pieces. Soak the bread in the milk or yogurt for 2-3 minutes.

Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When the mustard begins to splutter, add the chillies, onions, turmeric and salt. Stir fry until the onions are tender and translucent.

Add the potatoes and peas. Toss to combine. Add the soaked bread cubes and stir-fry. Garnish with cilantro.

Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Rajma

Rajma or red kidney beans is extensively used in Indian cooking. In northern India, a very common way to eat these beans is in a spicy curry with hot rice or rotis. A huge comfort food, I would make this very often when I was a student with canned kidney beans - very quick and satisfying, this is a no-fail recipe!

Rajma

1 can (15 oz) Kidney Beans (if using dried beans, soak the beans overnight and cook in water until done)
2-3 Green Chillies, slit lengthwise
1 Onion, diced
2-3 cloves Garlic, chopped
1" piece of Ginger, minced
3 Tomatoes, chopped
1 pinch Turmeric
1 tbsp Garam Masala
1 pinch Amchur Powder (optional - found in most Indian stores as dried Mango powder)

Grind the ginger and garlic together with a little bit of water and keep aside. Grind the tomatoes and keep aside.

Heat about 2 tbsp of oil in a saucepan. Add the onions and saute very well until browned. Add the salt, turmeric, ginger and garlic paste and garam masala and continue sauteing until it begins to smell fragrant (about 2-3 minutes).

Add the cooked beans with 2 cups of warm water. Keep stirring and squashing the beans a little bit. Continue to stir until the curry thickens (about 7-8 minutes).

Add the tomato paste and amchur powder and let the curry come to a boil. Lower the heat to Low and allow to simmer for 7-8 minutes, until the curry thickens.


Serve warm with hot rice or rotis.

Check out my fellow marathoners:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Spicy Chutney Bread

My mother-in-law would make this very often for her kids when they came home hungry from school. My husband, eating this the other day, was feeling so nostalgic about it that I simply had to try it. Its a delicious, quick-fix snack for kids and adults alike.


Spicy Chutney Bread

6 slices Sandwich Bread

For the chutney:
1 tbsp grated Coconut
1/4 tsp Sugar
1 tbsp roasted Channa Dal/ Gram Dal (Pottu Kadalai in Tamil)
1 pinch Chilli Powder
1 pinch Turmeric Powder
1/4 tsp Fennel (Saunf)
1 clove Garlic
Salt, to taste

Grind the ingredients for the chutney with a little bit of water. The chutney should be of a spread-able consistency (similar to soft butter). Spread the chutney on both sides of the slices of bread.

Heat a saute pan with a little bit of butter. When heated, put the bread on the pan, two slices at a time. Allow it to brown and then turn over and brown both sides. Serve warm.

Your kids will love it (and make sure they're not looking when you sneak a couple of bites!).


Check out what my fellow marathoners are up to:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Pizza...Again!

Some of you may know about my love for pizza. Its a small obsession..um.. okay, its a huge obsession. And my one soft spot. Give me perfect pizza and ask for the impossible, you'll have it.

So when the Daring Bakers (of whom I'm not a member), baked beautiful pizzas, which were flying all over the blogosphere, I simply had to try it.

My other current obsession is with all things related to baking bread and Peter Reinhart. I've tried numerous recipes of his and every single one of them has been a success. I've gone ahead and ordered my own copy of his book (not an easy thing to acquire in India, let me say!).

I followed the recipe exactly as given by Rosa for the Daring Bakers challenge. This is a lovely thin crust pizza and we, at home, are thin crust people. Ahem...not that I would say no to a gorgeous slice of Chicago deep dish!


Basic Pizza Dough
(from Rosa at Rosa's Yummy Yums, and originally from Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice")

Makes 6 crusts (about 10 inches in diameter)

4 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour, chilled
1 3/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Instant Yeast
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 3/4 cups Ice Cold Water
1 tbsp Sugar
Semolina/ Durum Flour or Cornmeal for dusting

Day One

Mix together the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are distributed. The finished dough should be springy, elastic and sticky, not just tacky.

Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/ parchment. Lightly oil the paper. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces.

Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to three days. Note: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespoons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator. I left one in the refrigerator and five in the freezer.

Day Two

On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly two hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disk about 1/2" thick and 5" in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.


At least 45 minutes before making pizza, place a baking stone (I got some unglazed tiles at a local crafts shop here and started using those as pizza stones!) on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (260 deg C).

Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take one piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

Note: Make only one pizza at a time.

During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping. In case you have trouble tossing or the dough doesn't expand, let it rest for 5-20 minutes and try again.


When the dough has the shape you want (about 10" in diameter), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

Top it with sweet or savory toppings. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone or bake directly on the jelly pan for 5-8 minutes. After 2 minutes, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180 deg.

Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or a plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing and serving.


I made one with a pesto base with capers, roasted garlic and mozzarella, and the second one with a tomato base and jalapeno and chicken sausage as toppings. The crust was thin and chewy and flavorful. I'm glad I still have 4 in the freezer! :-) Here's the lovely upshot - see how thin it is - almost transparent!


Check out what my fellow bloggers have been up to:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Snickerdoodle

My daughter's current favorite book is "If you give a mouse a cookie..." by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond. It tells of all the unbelievable things that can happen if you give a mouse a cookie. And included in the book are the most delicious, kid-friendly recipes.

So my daughter and my niece spent the afternoon making these jumbo snickerdoodles, and they were scrumptious. I say were, because they were gone in about 20 minutes!


Snickerdoodles
(original recipe from Mouse Cookies & More)

I made changes to the original and I've italicized the changes

1 2/3 cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Nutmeg (I left this out)
1/2 cup softened Butter (I used 1/4 cup)
3/4 cup Sugar (I substituted brown sugar)
2 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup chopped Walnuts
1/2 cup Raisins
1 tbsp Cinnamon
1/4 cup Sugar (I ended up using only 1 tbsp)

Preheat oven to 180 deg. C.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a bowl, mash butter and sugar together until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture, and stir until well combined. Stir in walnuts and raisins.

Mix cinnamon and sugar on a plate. Roll pieces of the dough into one-inch balls. Roll each ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture, and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.


To know what my fellow marathoners are up to, visit their blogs:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Spicy Eggplant

I am so not an eggplant fan. I was scarred early in life when the only eggplant I got to see resembled something like monster road-kill - squishy, purple with little seeds that resembled lots of eyes (now I'm betting you won't be able to get that image out of your head the next time you see eggplant cooked to death!).

My mother, in her effort to get me to eat the vegetable, tried lots of different recipes. And this is the only one I've ever liked. So just to be able to help those who also cannot eat the stuff, here's some hope!


Spicy Eggplant

1 pound small Eggplants

For the spice powder:
1/4 cup Bengal Gram (kadalai paruppu)
3 dried Red Chillies
1 tbsp Urad Dal
1 tsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Fenugreek
1 tsp Oil
Salt, to taste

Take the stems off the eggplant and chop them up into small cubes. Cook until almost done (just tender). Drain well. Keep aside on paper towels to absorb moisture.

Heat the oil in a pan and add all the ingredients for the spice powder. Roast the spices and lentils until golden and fragrant. Grind the roasted ingredients in a spice or coffee blender until coarsely ground.

Heat a tiny bit of oil in the pan and add the cooked eggplant. Toss a couple of times and let it absorb the oil and heat - about 2-3 minutes. Add the ground spice powder and salt and toss to combine and let it heat through (another couple of minutes).

Remove from heat. Enjoy.


The recipe marathoners are running strong:
DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.