Plant to Plate

Its been a long dream of mine to have a vegetable garden at home, an organic vegetable garden. In our family, we are famous for having killed a cactus! So I didn't hold out much hope.

A friend and some family started to have their own gardens and I decided I should try before I gave up. So I decided to start it in a very small way.

I got some boxes made out of old cargo boxes that were being thrown away. I lined them with plastic and made some holes in them. I filled them with soil and topped it with a layer of compost that I bought at a local nursery.

My kids and I then planted some seeds. We decided to go with super low maintenance vegetables that should grow quite easily in the bright hot sunny weather. We planted radish, ladies finger, eggplant, beans, tomatoes and green chillies, and a type of spinach.

That was about a month ago or maybe a month and a half. Here's the progress so far. The spinach grew so fast that we actually got to eat it!

From Plant to Plate.

Beans

Tomatoes

Green Chillies

Ladies Finger

And finally, the spinach was made into a nice salad. 

Next, we are going to start our own compost pit at home!

Idimee

Idimee is a fusion dish of Malaysian/ Burmese flavours of Mee Goreng and Indian idiyappam/ sevai or string hoppers. This was brought to India by the Chettiars, a successful business community in India.

This is easy to make and is a great one dish meal.

Mee Goreng

1 cup Idiyappam (I've linked to my recipe of it, but you can now even get store bought which just needs to be steamed. If you can, do try to make it at home. Its a bit of a lengthy process but worth it).
1/2 cup Carrots, julienned
1/2 cup Beans, julienned
1/2 Onion, sliced
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
2 Green Chillies, chopped
1 Spring Onion, green and white parts chopped separately
4-5 tbsp Soy Sauce
Cilantro leaves, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Cook the carrots and beans until tender but still firm. Saute the onions and green chillies and stir fry until translucent and caramelised. Add the whites of the spring onions and saute. Add the cooked carrots and beans and stir fry until crispy.

Add the idiyappam and toss to mix with the vegetables. On a low heat continue to fry the veggies and idiyappam. Add the soy sauce and mix through.

Serve hot sprinkled with the greens of the spring onions and the cilantro, if using.

Enjoy.

Vegetable Biryani

So we learned how to make great chicken biryani in my previous post. Now we turn to vegetable biryani. I love this recipe. Being vegetarian, I'm glad that people like the chicken biryani, but really, I'd rather make up my own mind by tasting. And that's why I love the vegetarian version - and it's really delicious.


Vegetable Biryani

1/4 cup Peas
1 Carrot, peeled and chopped
10 Green Beans, chopped
1 Potato, chopped
1/2 bunch Mint Leaves
2 Onions, sliced
2 Green Chillies, slit
1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
1 tbsp Biryani Masala
1/4 tsp Chilli Powder
1 cup Basmati Rice
1 tbsp Ghee
1 tbsp Oil
1 piece Cinnamon
2 Tomatoes
2 Cardamom
1 Bay Leaf
1/4 tsp Fennel Seeds
2 Cloves
Salt, to taste

Heat the oil and ghee in a pan. Add the cloves, fennel, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf. Saute for a minute or two. Add the sliced onion and green chillies and continue to saute for a minute. Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute until the raw smell of the paste disappears. Add the mint leaves and saute for a minute.

Add the tomatoes to the mixture and continue to saute. Add the vegetables, biryani masala, chilli powder and fry for five to ten minutes. Add 1 3/4 cups of water and let it come to a boil. Add the salt and mix. Add the basmati rice and stir to combine. Close the pan and allow to cook until rice is tender. Keep checking to make sure there is enough water. The rice should be just tender and not mushy.

When done, mix together to combine the rice, the spices and the vegetables in the pan. Serve hot with yogurt.

*Biryani Masala: This is available in most Indian stores. But you could also make it at home. The spice powder is a mixture of red chilli powder, coriander powder, cloves, cinnamon, aniseed, cardamom, ginger, garlic, onion, star anise and salt. Roast these ingredients on a dry pan and then grind to a smooth powder.

Yams

This recipe is a huge favorite of mine. I found it in a wonderful cookbook, Flavours of the Spice Coast by Mrs. K M Mathew. If you are the kind of cookbook fiend that I am, then go out and buy this book!


Kerala Yam
(adapted from here)

2 cups Yam, diced
4 cups Water
2 tsp Shallots
3 dried Red Chillies
1/2 tsp Peppercorns
6 cloves Garlic
4 Curry Leaves
2 tsp Oil
Salt, to taste

Cook yam with the water, and add salt to taste. Drain.

Crush onions, red chillies, garlic, peppercorn, curry leaves together. Heat oil and saute the crushed ingredients.

Add the cooked yam pieces and when gently coated, remove from oil. Serve warm.

Kootu #3

And ta-da, another popular kootu. As you might have noticed, its really a very simple way to make a curry and is packed with vegetable and lentil goodness.


Kootu # 3

2 tbsp Bengal Gram/ Kadalai Paruppu
1/2 cup White Pumpkin, cubed
1/2 cup Yam, cubed
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp ground Pepper
Salt, to taste

3 tbsp Coconut
1 tbsp Cumin Seeds

Seasoning:
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
3-4 Curry Leaves
2 tbsp Coconut
A pinch of sugar

Cook the bengal gram in a little bit of water and keep aside.

Cook the pumpkin and yam with turmeric, chilli powder, pepper and salt. Keep aside.

Grind together the coconut and cumin seeds. Keep aside.

Heat about a tablespoon of oil and add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and coconut and saute until a brownish color. Add the ground coconut and cumin mixture and keep frying until brown. Now add the sugar and brown. Add the cooked bengal gram and vegetables and cook until you get a thick curry.

Serve warm with cooked rice.

Kootu # 2

Here we go with the next kootu in the series, called, very imaginatively....


Kootu # 2

2 tsp Urad Dal (split Black Gram)
1/2 tsp Black Peppercorn
2 Red Chillies
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds
1/4 cup Coconut
1/2 cup Moong Dal (split Green Gram), cooked
1/2 cup Vegetables, cooked with water (here I've used carrots and peas)

Pan fry the urad dal, peppercorn, red chillies, cumin, coriander seeds and coconut until golden brown. Add water and blend together in the blender. Add 1/2 tbsp moong dal and blend.

Cook the moong dal and veggies and mix together.

Seasoning:
Heat some oil and add urad dal, cumin, curry leaves, asafoetida and red chillies. When golden brown, add to the cooked dal.

Kootus

Kootus are a form of south Indian curry. Usually had with rice and featuring vegetables and lentils cooked together. There are several ways to make kootus and any number of combinations of lentils and vegetables. Here, I'm going to give you a series of three popular kootus that we make at home.

When I was learning how to cook, my aunt gave me this simple recipe to make a basic kootu. Good vegetables to use for kootus are gourds, beans and peas.


Kootu # 1

1/2 cup Vegetables, chopped and cooked (here I've used snake gourd)
1/2 cup Moong dal, cooked
3 Green Chillies
1/2 tsp black Peppercorn
1/4 cup Coconut
2 sprigs Coriander Leaves, chopped

Cook the vegetables and dal together with some water.

Grind the rest of the ingredients and add to the cooked dal and vegetables.

Stay tuned for Kootu # 2 coming up soon...

Kerala Egg Curry

Kerala Egg Curry

5 Pearl Onions
1 tsp Ginger Paste
1 tsp Garlic Paste
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
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
1 cup Peas, cooked
1/4 cup Coconut Milk
6 Eggs, hard boiled, sliced halfway

Grind the pearl onions, ginger, garlic, chilli powder, coriander powder, cardamom, clove and tomatoes. In a little oil, fry the bay leaves till brown. Add chopped onions, sugar and saute till onions become brown. Then add the ground paste, turmeric and salt. Keep stirring till it becomes dark. Now add the veggies. Add one cup of water and let it boil for a few minutes.
Add the coconut milk and eggs.

Egg curry is wonderful with rice and rotis. Other egg curries in this blog: traditional egg curry, egg curry.

Vegetable Adai

Adai is a sort of thick pancake made with lentils usually. Here, I have added vegetables to give it a healthier twist. This is a wonderful breakfast - packed with protein and vegetable goodness.


Vegetable Adai

1 cup Parboiled Rice
1/4 cup Urad Dal
1/4 cup Toor Dal
1/4 cup Bengal Gram Dal (Kadalai Paruppu)
6 Dried Red Chillies
1 tsp Asoefetida
3 tbsp Coconut, shredded
1 Onion, chopped fine
1 Tomato, chopped fine
1 Carrot, cooked
1/4 cup shredded Cauliflower, or cut into tiny pieces, cooked
1/4 cup Peas, cooked
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 cloves Garlic
Salt, to taste
1/4 cup Cilantro Leaves, chopped

Soak the rice and the dals for 2-3 hours. Grind the soaked mixture to a grainy consistency after washing well.

Heat some oil and add the garlic, coconut, mustard seeds, cumin, onions and saute well. Add the vegetables and continue to saute. Add this mixture to the ground rice and dals. Add the tomato, asoefitida, salt, cilantro and mix well. If needed, you can add a 1/4 cup water to get the batter to a pouring consistency.

Heat a dosa/ crepe pan. Pour a ladle-ful of the batter onto the heated pan. Wait for a few minutes for one side to brown and then flip it over and cook for a few more minutes. Repeat the flipping every couple of minutes for about 6-8 minutes.

Serve with chutney or sambar.

Milagushyam

My husband's family is from Kerala and I've learnt a lot of food from my mother in law who is a superb cook! Her cooking, though, is totally on the fly and she hardly uses or writes down any recipes or ingredient quantities. I've tried my best to document her cooking.


Milagushyam
(vegetables in a spiced coconut curry)

1 cup Toor Dal, cooked
1 cup Vegetables (any vegetable except okra, cabbage and eggplant), diced
1 cup Coconut, shredded
1 tso Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Peppercorn
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
Salt, to taste
Seasoning:
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
3-4 Curry Leaves
2-3 Dried Red Chillies

Cook the diced vegetables with the turmeric, chilli powder and salt. Meanwhile, grind together the coconut, cumin and peppercorn and add to the cooking vegetables. Add the cooked dal to the veggies as well.

Heat some oil in another pan and add the seasoning ingredients. When the mustard seeds pop, add the seasoning to the vegetable curry.

Kadamba Sadam

After many days of making cookies and brownies, I couldn't bear to "cream butter, add sugar". I needed something savory to work with. And what better blog to turn to than Suganya at Tasty Palettes. Her recipes are amazing and her photographs are beautiful. And hers is the chosen blog this month at Tried And Tasted, started by Zlamushka and hosted this month by Curry Leaf at Experiments, Emotions, Experiences with Food.

This is a recipe that we enjoyed growing up but I haven't had it in a long time and had no idea how to make it. I was excited when I found it at Suganya's blog and decided to make it for lunch. As she says, its truly comfort in a bowl.

Kadamba is an assortment or string of similar things and sadam means rice. So this is basically a vegetable curry (made with as assortment of mixed vegetables in a spiced tamarind curry, mixed with rice). When we made this at home, I remember the curry cooked with the rice so that they were all mushed together, but I couldn't wait to try Suganya's version.


Kadamba Sadam
(recipe from Tasty Palettes)

4 cups Mixed Vegetables (I used carrots, peas, shallots and beans)
3 tbsp Tamarind Paste
1 Tomato, chopped
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/4 cup Coconut Milk (I left this out)
1/2 cup Toor Dal, cooked till soft and and mushy
1 pinch Asafetida
2 tbsp Cilantro leaves, chopped
Salt, to taste

Spice Mixture:
2 tbsp Chana Dal
1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal
6 dried Red Chillies
1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1/4 cup Grated Coconut
1 tbsp Oil

Roast the spice mixture ingredients in the oil. Cool the mixture and grind with the coconut to make a smooth paste.

Tempering:
1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
3-4 Curry Leaves

The directions, exactly from Tasty Palettes:

Dissolve tamarind paste in 1 cup of water. In a deep vessel, boil tamarind water along with salt, turmeric powder, tomato and mixed vegetables for about 15 minutes. The vegetable should be fully cooked and the tamarind shouldn’t smell raw anymore.

Add the cooked dal and spice paste and allow sambar to boil for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Finally add the coconut milk, if using and switch off the flame. Mix well and let the coconut milk to heat through. Stir in asafoetida and cilantro.

In a small skillet, heat oil/ghee and splutter mustard seeds. Remove from flame and add curry leaves. Add this seasoning to the sambar. Serve this sambar with rice and additional ghee, if preferred.

Mix generous ladles of sambar into rice (called saadam in Tamil), mix well and serve warm ‘Kadamba Saadam’ with crunchy cucumber slices, vegetable chips or appalam. The rice should not be dry, but porridge like consistency.

If you want to include onions, slice ‘em thin and sauté with mustard seeds while seasoning and add to the sambar. Omit asafoetida though, as it doesn’t go well with onions or garlic.


This was true comfort food for me and my family. We loved it. Thanks Suganya!

Buns

I'm always trying to take part in the Bread Baking Day organized by Zorra. This month it's hosted by Notitie van Lien, one of the most beautiful photographers in the blogosphere. This month the theme is Potato Breads. I've been wanting to make savory stuffed buns for a long time, and I took this opportunity to do just that.


The buns have mashed potato added to the flour. And the buns are also stuffed with a spicy potato filling. I also did some spicy chicken ones for my family. Both were very well received. The nice part is the combinations/ fillings are endless. The bread can be flavored. The fillings can be altered to suit your tastes. And its really simple.


Buns

For the Bread:
4 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tbsp Yeast
2 tbsp Sugar
1 1/2 cups warm Water
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 large Potato, peeled, chopped, boiled and mashed
2 tbsp Crushed Red Pepper (optional - I just wanted a spicy bread. You could add any herbs/ greens of your choice like fenugreek/ cilantro/ cumin/ fennel/ za'atar).

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, until it comes together as a ball. Empty the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for 8-10 minutes until it becomes soft and elastic. Put the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with a muslin cloth. Keep in a warm place and leave aside for an hour or until doubled in size.

Divide the dough into 10 or 12 equal parts (I got 10 but depending on the size of the buns you want, you could get 12). Flatten each ball into a thin circular shape, with your fingers. Put about 2-3 tbsp of the filling in each (recipe follows). Bring the edges around the filling until it is fully covered. Pinch the seams together to seal. Place seal-side down on a baking tray. Repeat for all the balls.


Cover the buns with muslin cloth and leave aside for approximately an hour. Bake at 180 deg C for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway for even baking. Remove and brush with melted butter when warm (optional - this just gives the buns a softer crust).

For the Peas and Potatoes Filling:
6 small Potatoes, peeled, chopped and boiled
1/2 cup Peas, boiled
2 Onions, chopped
1 Tomato, chopped
1 tsp Chilli Powder
2 tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

Tempering:
1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 small piece Cinnamon
2-3 pieces Cardamom
1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds
2 cloves Garlic, chopped

Heat some oil and add the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard seeds begin to splutter, add the onion, garlic and tomato. Saute until the onions are brown. Add the potato, peas and the powders and salt. Continue to saute until well browned and mixed through. Sprinkle with a few teaspoons of water and cover and cook for 10 minutes.


For the Chicken Filling:
1/4 kg boneless Chicken pieces, shredded
1 Tomato
1 Onion, chopped
2-3 cloves Garlic, chopped
1" piece Ginger
(Grind the garlic and ginger together to a paste. OR use 1 tsp readymade ginger garlic paste)
1 tsp Chilli Powder
2 tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

For the tempering:
1 Bay Leaf
1 small piece Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds
1-2 pieces Cardamom

Heat some oil and add the ingredients for tempering. Saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the onion, garlic, tomato and continue to saute for 3-4 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Add the shredded chicken. Stir fry for a few minutes. Add the ginger garlic paste and the powders and saute well until the raw smell of the paste disappears. Add 1 cup of water and continue to stir fry until the water has been completely absorbed. Keep aside.


Enjoy the buns! Next time I'm going to try a cheese and broccoli filling. Or maybe even some cottage cheese and veggies. The possibilities are endless.

This is off to Notitie van Lien for Bread Baking Day #17: Potato Breads. And to Susan @ Wild Yeast for YeastSpotting.

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.

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.

Vegetable Il Gianfornaio

I bought a book recently that had a picture of an Australian bread called Vegetable Il Gianfornaio. It looked beautiful and I flipped through the book frantically trying to find a recipe, but it was just a picture. No recipe in the book! That must be the worst thing a cook book could do - have lovely pictures with no accompanying recipes! What's up with that?

So I diligiously searched the Web and couldn't find a recipe though I did find many references to the bread. So I decided to make up my own recipe. And it was a huge success.

Australian vegetable il gianfornaio is a bread made up of different strands woven together into a round shape. Each strand gets its color from vegetable juice. Not food coloring. Vegetable juice - I mean, how healthy! It looked and sounded wonderful.


Vegetable Il Gianfornaio

Make the basic dough 4 times. That is, start out with 4 different bowls and proceed from there.

Basic Dough

1 cup All-Purpose Flour for each bowl (4 cups Flour)
1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast for each bowl (1 tsp Yeast)
3/4 tsp Salt for each bowl (3 tsp Salt)
1 tbsp Sugar for each bowl (4 tbsp Sugar)
1/2 tbsp Butter for each bowl (2 tbsp Butter)
110 ml Juice for each bowl

Juices:
110 ml each Spinach Juice, Beet Juice and Tomato Juice. Leave one plain.

Add individual juices to each separate bowl. So you'll have one spinach dough, one beet dough, one tomato dough and one plain (white) dough.


Mix the dough until it comes together. Empty the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 8-10 minutes until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap. Repeat for the other bowls. Set in a warm, draft-free area of the house and allow to rise (approximately 1-1 1/2 hours).

Take the dough out of the bowl and gently roll back and forth to form a thick rope (about 10" long). Repeat for the other dough. Now line all the ropes next to each other and pinch one end so that they come together. Now twist the ropes into a swirl and end up on top (next time I would tuck it into the center, so you don't see the ends).


Place in a well-oiled round baking tray and cover with a tea cloth. Allow to rest for about 45 minutes to an hour. Preheat the oven to 240 deg C.

Place the baking tray into the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the bread is done (test by gently knocking on the bread, you'll get a hollow sound when it's done). Remove from oven and cool for about 1/2 hour.


It's a gorgeous bread and when you cut it open, the insides are sure to get some cool reactions from guests!


It was soft and the vegetable juices definitely added a lightness to the bread. I think breads with spices and herbs are more flavorful, but this looks and tastes delicious too. Next time, I might add some pieces of mashed vegetable as well as the juice to get more flavor.

This is off to Boaz @ Grain Power for Bread Baking Day #14 - Colored Breads.
And to Susan @ Wild Yeast for Yeast Spotting.


To find out what my other marathoners are up to today, check out the links:

DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya, Lakshmi, Raaga, Lakshmi, Sripriya and Viji.

Tempura and Flavored Dipping Salt

Recently I went to a Japanese restaurant whose specialty is soba noodles and soup. I asked if they had anything vegetarian and they looked at me almost kindly, as if to say, how sad that you can't eat our food. She said she'd check with the chef - I really really wanted to try the soba. But the chef said that all the broths were fish based, so that was out. And then he said he could make me some vegetarian tempura.

The fabulous plate of tempura arrived, but no fabulous dipping sauce. I asked for it, only to be told that all tempura dipping sauce is made with fish sauce in restaurants! I looked down to see that she had provided a dipping "salt". There were two kinds - green tea salt and sea salt. The green tea salt was superb!! I asked the chef and he said he just whizzes green tea leaves and salt together! Now, why didn't I think of making flavored salt?!

A week later, I had a craving for the tempura with the salt. And so this story ends here! I never realized how easy it is to make tempura - and I'm going to make it many times over - and have it with fabulous flavored salts. Mmm. You have to try this.


Tempura with Flavored Dipping Salt

For the Batter:
1 Egg, beaten
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 cup very cold Water

Beat the egg. Add the water and mix. Now sift the flour into the egg mixture and combine lightly. Do not over mix. There'll be a few lumps but that's okay.


Good vegetables to use for tempura are carrot sticks, potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach. I tried okra too (hmm... not so good). You could experiment with most vegetables. And of course, shrimp tempura is a traditional favorite with the Japanese. Remember that vegetables take longer to cook than seafood when you deep fry.

Dip the vegetables in the batter and coat it very lightly. Now carefully deep fry in hot oil. This was the first time that I was deep frying anything! But the tempura was well worth it.

It was delicious! I served it with green tea salt and paprika salt. And my orange "squid" chopsticks!

Bombay Grilled Sandwich

I first saw this sandwich on Delhi Belle's blog and followed her links to the Gourmet Cartographer. I 'googled' the sandwich and found it was very popular and a huge street food favorite. I just had to find out what the fuss was all about.


Bombay Grilled Double Decker Sandwich

3 slices Sandwich Bread (I used brown bread)
1/4 cup Chutney (grind together 1 cup cilantro leaves + 1/4 cup mint leaves + 1 green chilli + 1 tsp water)
1 Tomato, sliced thin
1 small Onion, sliced thin
1/2 Green Bell Pepper, sliced thin
1 Potato, boiled, peeled and mashed with a tsp of salt
2 tsp Chaat Masala
1 cup Cheddar Cheese, grated (I used Mozzarella)

Spread each slice of bread with butter on one side. Spread chutney over the butter. Sprinkle with chaat masala.

On one slice add the tomato and bell pepper slices. On the second slice, add the mashed potato and onion slices. Top both slices with the grated cheese.


Arrange the potato slice over the tomato slice (veggie sides up). Top the potato slice with the 3rd slice, chutney side down. Grill on a grill pan or use a sandwich maker. Its done when the cheese melts.

Serve with a spicy ketchup. If you can make it that far - I waited about 5 seconds before I ate it (and that was only because the cheese was so hot!). It was THAT good. Worth every word of all the fuss!

This is my submission for Waiter There's Something In My... Picnic. If anyone is bringing this to the picnic, it's going to be a huge hit.

I'd like to also send this to this month's SnackShots featuring Sandwiches!

Spicy Banana Blossoms

The banana tree is extremely versatile and most parts of it are used in Indian cooking in one way or the other. The leaves are used as plates to eat on, and of course the fruit is one of the most favorite parts of the plant. Banana Blossoms are used frequently in south Indian food - especially in Kerala. It takes a little bit of prep - but the result is a wonderful, mild dish which is also extremely healthy.

Spicy Banana Blossoms

1 Banana Blossom, peeled and chopped
1 cup or more Yogurt, mixed with 1 cup water and salt, to taste
2-3 tbsp Coconut, grated
1 large Onion, chopped fine

For tempering:
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal
2-3 Green chillies, chopped
2-3 Curry Leaves

Here's the lovely banana blossom.


Peel off the lovely red petals, and you'll find a bunch of tiny yellow and white flowers. Each petal houses several of these flowers. Put the flowers in a bowl as you peel off the petals. As you go deeper into the blossom, you'll find smaller flowers that are white and tender. Save all the flowers.


Each flower consists of 4 parts - one long outer cover, one short outer cover, one white hard thread with a tiny head and lots of little thread-like sheaths. Remove the long outer cover and the hard thread, as shown here. Repeat for all the flowers. You can read more about this here.


Chop up the remaining bits.


Soak the chopped bits in the yogurt mixture for atleast 15-20 minutes. This gets rid of any bitterness that the flowers might have.


Heat a saucepan with the oil. Throw in the mustard seeds, urad dal, onions, curry leaves and green chillies. Saute until the onions are browned.

Drain most of the yogurt from the soaking flowers (don't drain it completely - the yogurt adds a nice flavor to the dish). Add handfuls of the flowers at a time to the cooking onions. Continue to stir fry. When you've added all the flowers, add a couple of tablespoons of water and cover and let cook for about twenty minutes. Check on it a couple of times and drizzle with water if it appears too dry.

When cooked and soft, sprinkle with the grated coconut. Serve warm with rice or rotis.


This is off to Rachna @ Soul Food for this month's JFI - Flower Power. JFI was originally started by Indira of Mahanandi.