Saboodana kichdi

This is a maharashtrian dish made with Sago rice (saboodana, seeme akki).

Ingredients

1. Sago rice - 4 cups (you get these in any indian store. They look like white pearls)
2. Ground nuts - 2 hands full.
3. Jeera- 2 for powder and 1/2 tsp for garnish
4. Green chillies - 2-3 (depending on your spice level)
5. Oil for the garnish - 2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Wash the sago rice and soak it in water for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. The soaking time depends on the brand of sago rice you got. Some become soft quickly and some need a little more time. So best thing is after about an hour, press some of the grains and see if it is soft. Some may remain hard. Don't worry about those as long as most of the rice is soft.
2. Then drain all the water out and let it dry for a few minutes on a plate. The best thing is to take little at a time in your hand and squeeze the water out and lay it on the plate. Sago tends to become sticky when cooked. So less the water, better it is.
3. While the sago is soaking, take a flat pan and dry roast the groundnuts and jeera. First fry the groundnuts till they start to turn brown and then in the end add jeera. Jeera roasts very quickly in about just a minute.
4. Let that cool. Then grind the roasted groundnuts, jeera and the green chillies to a coarse powder. Don't make it too soft a powder. Coarseness adds a nice texture.
5. Add this ground powder to the soaked and dried sago rice. Add salt to taste and mix it well.
6. Heat 2 tsps of oil in a pan. Add 1/2 tsp of Jeera for garnish. In a few seconds you will smell the Jeera roasting. At that time add the sago mixture and start frying.
7. Keep stirring/mixing the sago mixture frequently on medium heat. You will see that the color of the sago starts to turn pale from bright white. Also the groundnuts start to leave oil. Keep stirring till all the sago has turned to the pale color and the raw smell of the sago and green chillies are gone.

Saboodana is now ready to eat.

Tips: Do not add too much oil for the garnish since groundnuts also give out oil. Add salt to the dry mixture instead of when you add it to the pan as once sago starts to cook, they form clusters because of the stickiness and it becomes hard to mix the salt well.

Happy Ganesha Gowri!

May Lord Ganapathi and Goddess Gowri shower you all with blessings!
Enjoy some pictures!

Pita Bread Wrap

This is a middle eastern snack/meal that takes minutes to prepare with hardly any effort.
One of our friends, Sunny, first introduced us to Pita bread and zatar. Then sometime back we had a wrap in a middle eastern restaurant that had baba ghanouje. We thought the combination of zatar and baba ghanouje would be great and here is that version for you.

Ingredients

Baba Ghanouje - 1 small can - This is a paste of roasted eggplant, tahini(sesame seed paste) and olive oil. You will get it in all middle eastern stores and in some indian grocery stores too.
If you buy canned baba ghanouje, it is advisable to finish it the same day or in a day or two as it may get spoilt.
Zatar - This is dried oregano powder with sesame seeds. Again you will find this in middle eastern store. Since this is a dried powder, it will last longer if tightly sealed and stored.
Pita Bread - you get this in middle eastern store too. And you even get whole wheat ones.
Olive Oil - 2 tsps per pita bread
Cheese - Mozzarella or goat cheese - whatever you like. If you are a strict vegetarian, you want to buy cheese with vegetable rennet. Many times, cheese that you get in regular stores usually have animal based rennet in them. In US you get cheese with vegetable rennnet in Whole foods, PCC, QFC and Traders Joe among those I know.
Juice of half lemon

Veggies:

Onion - 1 either finely chopped or cut into rings
Tomatoes - 2-3 chopped or cut into slices
Cucumber - diced or cut into slices

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven at 200 degrees.
2. In the mean time, take a pita bread and smear 1-2 tsps of Olive oil.
3. Apply about 2 tbsps of baba ghanouje in the center of the bread and with a spoon, spread it to uniformly coat the bread.
Sprinkle about 2 tbsps of zatar.
Do this for as many pitas as you like.
If you are using cheese, sprinkle pieces of cheese.
Place the pitas in the oven for 5-10 mts or till the cheese melts.
Once the pitas are out of the oven, add a handful of veggies in the center, sprinkle few drops of lime juice and fold it in the middle and its ready to eat.

You can fold the pita and eat like a sandwich or cut it into slices like a pizza.

Enjoy!!!!!!

Catching Up

As you might have noticed, we updated our blog for the first time yesterday in more than 4 months. So we had a lot of catching up to do. When we cook, we usually make sure that we take enough pictures so that we can post them here. But posting the blog entries itself is something we are unable to do as frequently as we would like.

We had a bunch of recipes ready. Some with pictures, some without. We just posted all of them. The pictures will be up soon for most of them.

Enjoy the food.

Tomato Rasam

Ingredients:

For Rasam:

1. Tomatoes - 5 medium
2. Tamarind Paste - 1 tbsp
3. Rasam Powder - 2 tsp
4. Turmeric Powder - 1 pinch
5. Jaggery - a small piece (say a size of a grape)
6. Salt
7. Curry Leaves - 1 stalk

For Rasam Powder:

1. Dhania (Coriander Seeds) - 4 cup
2. Dry Red Chillies - 1/2 cup
3. Jeera (Cumin Seeds) - 1 cup
4. Methi (Fenugreek Seeds) - 1/4 cup
5. Black Pepper - 1/2 cup

For Seasoning:

1. Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
2. Ghee - 1 tbsp - You could use cooking oil, but ghee gives an amazing flavor and aroma to the Rasam. And, 1 tbsp won't do you any harm.
3. Hing - a pinch

Preparation:

For Rasam Powder:

Roast all the ingredients with 1/2 teaspoon cooking oil. Cool the mixture and finely powder it.

For Tomato Rasam:

1. Cut tomatoes into small pieces and use a blender to make a thin puree.
2. In a sauce pan, add the puree, some water and bring the mixture to boil. The puree-water mixture quantity should be about 6-7 cups.
3. Lower the heat to medium-low, and add Rasam Powder, turmeric, salt and jaggery.
4. Add curry leaves and let the rasam slow boil for 10 mins.
5. Now add the tamarind paste and continue to slow boil the rasam for another 5-10 mins, and switch off the stove.

Seasoning:

1. Heat ghee. Add mustard seeds and hing to make the tadka.
2. Add the tadka to the Rasam.
3. Cover it.

Enjoy it with rice, or idlis.

Capsicum Potato Curry (with panchpuran)

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 4
Capsicums - 2
Onion - 1

For seasoning

Oil - 3 tsps
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1/2 tsp
Panchpuran - 2 tsps (You will find this in Indian grocery stores. You can get it in powdered form or as roasted whole ingredients that you can powder yourself.)
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp or depending on spice
Aamchur Powder (dried mango powder) - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Chop onions. Cut Potatoes and capscums to bite sized pieces.
2. Heat oil in a wok. Add cumin. Saute for a few seconds (not long. cumin chars very quickly).
3. Add Onions. Saute till they are transparent.


4. Add capscicums and saute for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add potatoes, saute for a minute.

6. Add salt to taste. Turn the heat to medium-low and close the lid to cook the vegetables. Stir occasionally to prevent charring. If needed sprinkle some water too.
7. Add the chilli powder, aamchur powder and panchpuran powder. Mix well.

8. Close the lid for 5 minutes till the raw smell of chilli powder is gone.
9. You may garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with rotis, parathas or naan.

Carribean Vegetable Soup

This is a mixed vegetable soup made with lot of starchy vegetables, lentils and pasta/noodles/rice. You can use all of the vegetables below or any combination of those.

Ingredients:

Onion - 1
Garlic - 1 clove or 1/2 tsp paste
Carrots - 3
Potatoes - 2
Yam(yucca) or Sweet potato

Rajma (Red kidney beans) - 1 can or 1 cup raw beans soaked overnight and pressure cooked

Black eyed peas - 1 cup ( I use frozen)
Celery - 2 sticks

Green Bananas - 1
Squash - Chayote or Acorn
Zucchini - 1

Vegetable stock - 2-3 cups (optional)
Pasta - 1/2 cup (optional)
Noodles - 1 cup (optional)
Rice - 1/2 cup (optional)

For Seasoning:

Butter - 1/2 stick
Bay leaves - 2 -3
Thyme - 2 sprigs
Rosemary - 1/2 spoon dried
Oregano - 1/2 tsp dried powder
Black Pepper - crushed /whole. About 1/2 tsp or depending on spice level
Chipotle adobo or adobados sauce - 1 tsp

Preparation

1. Cut all vegetables to bite sized pieces. When cutting green bananas, peel the skin and as you are cutting, put the pieces into a bowl of water to prevent them from turning black. For acorn squash, you can keep the skin. But remove the seeds inside. For other vegetables, it is up to you to peel the skin or keep it.

2. Melt butter in a pot. Add pepper. Saute for a minute.

3. Add the other spices under seasoning above and saute for a minute.
4. Add onions and saute till onions are transparent. Add all the vegetables. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the vegetable stock and/or 2-3 cups of water. You can add more later if the soup is too thick.
6. Add bay leaves and salt to taste.
7. Close the lid and cook the vegetables under medium heat. Keep stirring occasionally.
8. When the vegetables are almost cooked, add the cooked rajma and either pasta or noodles or rice and let it cook.

9. Add the adobo sauce. You can find the can of chipotle style adobo sauce in the mexican isle in almost all grocery stores. This sauce has roasted red peppers. So it is on the spicier side. Add depending on spice level desired.
10. Mix well and boil for a while. The starchy vegetables and pasta give the soup a thick consistency. Add more water if desired and bring it to boil.

The soup in itself is very filling. It can also be served with bread.

Poha (Atukulu) Upma

Ingredients:

Poha (Thick) - 3 cups
Onions - 1 medium sized chopped
Potato - 1 medium sized cut into pieces (optional)
Tomato - 1 medium sized chopped (optional)

For tadka:

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Hing - a pinch
Turmeric - a pinch
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Channa dal - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies: 1-2 (depending on spice level)
Curry leaves - 4-5

Preparation:

Remember to use ONLY thick poha for this upma. Do NOT use thin poha, as it will become a paste, and you will not like the consistency of the upma at all.

1. Soak poha in water for 1 minute. Drain all the water and keep it aside.
2. Heat 2-3 tsps of oil in a wok.
3. Add mustard seeds. Let them splutter. Add hing, turmeric, urad dal, channa dal, green chillies, curry leaves and fry till the dal starts to turn brown.
4. Add onions and saute till it turns almost transparent.
5. Add potatoes. Saute for 2 mts.
6. Add tomatoes. Saute for a min.
7 Add salt to taste and close the lid, and turn the heat to medium. Keep stirring in between to prevent charring.
8. Once the potatoes are cooked, add the soaked poha and mix well.
9. Garnish with finely chopped coriander.

Serve it alone or with Yogurt. You may add the juice of half a lime at the very end.

PS: Photos to follow.

Semia Upma

Ingredients:

Semia - 2 cups (pre-fried or not)
Onion - 1 chopped
Potatoes - 1 cut into small pieces
Ghee - 1 tsp
Oil - 2-3 tsp
Curry leaves - 4-5

For tadka:

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Channa dal - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Hing - a pinch
Green chillies - 2-3 (depending on spice level)

Prepapration

1. Shallow fry semia (if it is not pre-fried) in a tsp of ghee till the semia starts to turn brown and you smell the aroma. You can fry it in oil too. Ghee gives a better aroma and taste.
2. Spread it on to a plate to cool.
3. In the meantime, heat oil in a wok. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add hing, green chillies, channa dal, urad dal, curry leaves and turmeric. Saute for a minute till the dal starts to turn brown.
4. Add chopped onions and saute till onions turn almost transparent.
5. Add potatoes. saute for a few minutes.
6. Add 4 cups of water (proportion: 1 cup semia = 2 cups water) and salt to taste.
7. When water starts boiling (and potatoes are pretty much cooked), turn the heat to medium and add the fried semia stirring constantly to prevent lumps. If the semia is fried well, it won't usually form lumps.
8. Mix it well and close the lid (keep the heat at medium low) till all the water is absorbed and you get a solid consistency.
9. You may garnish with fresh grated coconut and/or chopped coriander if you like.

Serve with coconut chutney and/or mango pickle and/or sour yogurt.

PS: Photos to follow.

Kadag Ogre (one kind of tamarind rice)

This is a simple and quick spicy rice with tamarind flavor. It is predominantly made by Iyengars in Bangalore.

Ingredients:

For the paste:

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Dry red chillies - 4-5 (depends on spice level)
Tamarind - size of small lemon
Grated coconut - 1/4 - 1/2 cup
Hing (asafoetida) - just a pinch

For Garnish:

1. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
2. Hing - just a pinch
3. Urad Dal - 1 tsp
4. Ground nuts - one handful
5. Curry leaves - 5-6
6. Oil - 3-4 tsps

Preparation:

1. Grind all the ingredients above to a smooth paste with very little water.
2. Cook rice and keep it aside.
3. Heat 3-4 tsps of oil in a Wok.
4. Add mustard seeds. let it splutter. Then add Hing and ground nuts. When the ground nuts start to turn a little brown, add urad dal. When urad dal starts to turn brown, add curry leaves. Saute for few seconds.
5. Then add the ground paste.
6. Keep the wok open and saute the paste on medium heat for few minutes. When all the water content is gone and the oil starts to separate, add the cooked rice, salt to taste and mix well.
7. It is better to mix when the rice has cooled, so that it doesn't get mushy while mixing.

It is nice to eat with yogurt/rasam on the side (my taste :-) )

Arvi Curry

This is a tangy curry made with Arvi or Taro Root. It has a tamarind juice based gravy.


You need:


1. Arvi - Choose those with no nodes. Arvi is a root. It is hairy too. When picking, brush off the hair and see if it has too many nodes on it. When you boil the Arvis, the nodes don't get cooked and they form lumps. Something that you would want to avoid.


2. Rasam Powder - 2 tsps
3. Jaggery (Gur) - 1 tbsps
4. Tamarind Paste - 1 and half tbsps
5. Salt to taste
6. 2 tbsps cooking oil
7. Mustard Seeds
8. Hing
9. Turmeric Powder


Preparation:


1. First off, boil Arvi in enough water in a pressure cooker. Once the Arvi cools, remove the skin and keep aside. If you have picked the right kind of Arvi, the process of peeling the skin becomes very easy. One more thing, Arvi is very slippery, so be careful while handling them.




2. In a wok, add the cooking oil and once it heats up, add the mustard seeds and hing to make the tadka.


3. Now add a pinch of turmeric powder to the tadka. This way, when you add the Arvi to the tadka, the turmeric spreads out uniformly.


4. Add the cooked Arvi. If they too big, you can use a spatula to just break them into bite sized pieces. Stir in with the tadka. Saute for a few minutes. You can see parts of Arvi turning brown. That's the sign.

5. In the meantime, dissolve the tamarind paste in 2 cups of water. Once the Arvi are sauted, add the tamarind juice and mix in. Bring it to a boil. Lower the heat.




6. Add the rasam powder and mix in before it forms lumps. Now add the jaggery and salt. Cover and cook on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When you see the oil floating on top, you know its done.



Enjoy with rice and/or rotis.

Parp Dosa (Toor dal dosa)

This is a spicy dosa made of Toor dal (yellow split pea, togari bele).
You can find toor dal in Indian grocery stores.

Ingredients:

Toor dal 1/2 cup
Rice 1 1/2 cups
Dry red chillies - 3-4 (more if you want it spicier)
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Hing (asafoetida) - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Preparation:

Batter

1. Soak toor dal and rice in water for 4-5 hrs (till the dal is soft enough to grind) . Overnight is best.
2. Drain all the water. You can save this water to use for grinding.
3. In a blender grind the soaked dal, rice and coconut to a smooth paste adding little water at a time. Keep the consistency similar to any other dosa/pancake batter.
4. Add hing, turmeric and salt. Mix well.
The batter is now ready to make dosas. Unlike the usual urad/rice dosa batter, this does not need to sit for a while to slightly ferment. You can use the batter immediately to make dosas.



Dosa

1. Heat the tava (griddle)
2. With a medium sized serving spoon, take the batter and slowly spread it on the tava in circles to make a thin layer.
3. Put few drops of oil around the dosa.

4. Leave it for 1-2 minutes. When the top layer starts to dry and the edges start to turn brown, you can flip the dosa to cook the other side. Again leave it for a minute or 2 and take it out.


5. Serve with Pickle or Chutney.

Minestrone Soup

This is the Vegetarian Minestrone soup that you get in Olive Garden restaurant.

Ingredients:

1 can of tomato chunks (i have noticed that canned tomato gives the restaurant taste compared to fresh tomatoes)
2 cups of Rajma (Red kidney beans)
1/2 cup of chopped celery (small bite size pieces)
3/4 cup of shell pasta
1 tsp butter
1 small bunch of basil leaves (10-12 leaves) finely chopped.
1/2 tsp Oregano powder
1/2 tsp crushed black pepper
Few leaves of Rosemary (the dried ones will also do)
1/4 tsp of dried Tarragon
1/4 tsp of Thyme
1/4 tsp of Red chilli powder (papparika)
salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Soak Rajma overnight. Then pressure cook rajma. If you are using canned red kidney beans, you don't need to cook it. Use it as is.


2. Heat butter in a pot/vessel. Add pepper, oregano, rosemary, thyme and tarragon.

3. Saute for a few seconds. Then add chopped basil and saute for another minute.

4. Add tomato chunks and celery.

5. In the meanwhile, boil water for pasta. Add a pinch of salt and 1 tsp olive oil and pasta to the water and boil till the pasta is cooked al-dente.

8. Add this pasta along with the water to the boiling tomato/herb mixture.
9. Add salt and chilli powder to taste and boil it for a good 15-20 minutes for all the flavors to be incorporated.

10. You may add more water and boil if you think the consistency is too thick.

Soup is now ready. If you like, you may add some croutons or have it with bread.