Okay! I have been lazy all these days... Kept cooking and taking pictures but did not really feel like blogging about them. So here is the backlog of all the posts that should have seen the light of day a little earlier :)
Rewinding now << << << << << << << << <<
There were no vegetables in my refrigerator except the shriveled up or near to that stage carrots! So had to use them up. Made carrot rice.
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| Carrot Rice |
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Carrot Rice
2 cups cooked rice
6-10 carrots shredded
3 green chillies slit
1 tbsp of cumin seeds + 1 tbsp of coriander seeds + 1 tbsp of chana dal + 1 tsp of coconut to be dry roasted and then ground to a coarse powder
Handful of curry leaves
A pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp turmeric pd
Salt and chilli pd to taste
Add oil in a pan and add a tsp of cumin seeds to splutter, followed by the asafoetida and the green chillies and curry leaves. After a minute add the carrot and fry till the carrot is cooked but not too mushy. You can sprinkle some water and cover and cook to retain the color and cook faster. Now add the salt and chilli pd and cook for a minute more till the chilli powder loses its rawness. Now add the cooked rice and mix well till all the grains of rice are well incorporated with the carrot mixture.
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Want to know the easiest way to beat the heat - sit in an air conditioned room (or a good cool room with lots of shade), eat a bowl of ice cream and watch movies with lots of snow!!! I tell you - it works!
I did that today - nice bog bowl of Thandai ice cream from Naturals - they make the yummiest ice creams with all the natural fruits. Yummmmm!!! I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!! And I watched a christmas movie - Fred Claus - the movie itself nothing great but I like Christmastime movies..
For dinner made Beetroot Paranthas and Potato peas masala from one of my favorite cook books of all times - Indian Vegetarian Cookery by Rajalakshmy Subramanian. I got this book from my parents when I left for the US more than a decade ago! It has survived the journey to and back and been there throughout like a trusted companion. The recipes are easy to follow and no fancy ingredients make it a very easy book to refer to.
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| Beetroot Paranthas and Potato peas masala |
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Beetroot Paranthas
2 beetroots ground to a paste
1 tsp cumin pd
1 tsp coriander pd
1 tsp garam masala pd
A pinch of cumin seeds and asafoetida pd
Salt and chilli pd to taste
Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds to splutter followed by the asafoetida pd. Now add the beetroot and saute it till it is almost cooked. Add the spice powders and the salt and cook for a minute more. There should be no water in the mixture.
Use this mixture as a stuffing inside the chapatis to get beetroot paranthas.
Potato Peas Masala
3 Potatoes boiled, peeled and cut in to cubes
1 cup peas
1/2 cup of beaten curd
Salt to taste
To be ground to a paste
2 tomatoes
2 dry red chillies
2 tbsp grated coconut
1 small capsicum
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp chopped ginger
3 cloves
1 inch piece of cinnamon
3 cardamom pods
Grind all of the above to a fine paste and reserve.
Heat oil in a pan and add the ground masala. Saute till the masala is cooked well for about 3-5 minutes. Now add the peas and potatoes and saute for an other minute. Add the curd and a cup of water and salt and cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
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Had a reall craving for paav bhaji today. The kind you get in aamchi Mumbai. Absolutely lip smacking! So decided to make that for dinner. A breather from the usual daal roti sabji!
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| Paav Bhaji |
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Paav Bhaji
3 cups of mixed vegetables - potatoes, carrots, peas, capsicum and cauliflower
2 onions minced finely
3 tomatoes ground to a paste
3 green chillies ground to a paste
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tomatoes chopped finely
2 tbsp paav bhaji masala
Salt and chilli pd to taste
Butter for frying
Heat oil in a pan and add three fourth quantity of onions. Saute till light brown. Add green chillies paste and ginger-garlic paste. Stir-fry for half a minute. Add half the quantity of tomatoes and cook on medium heat for three to four minutes, stirring continuously or till oil separates from the mixture. Add mixed vegetables and half a cup of water. Bring it to a boil and simmer for ten minutes, pressing with back of the spoon a few times, till all the vegetables are completely mashed. I cooked the vegetables in the pressure cooker for a little while so they were soft to begin with.
Add paavbhaji masala, salt and remaining tomatoes. Cook on medium heat for two minutes, stirring continuously. Heat half of the butter in a thick-bottomed pan or a tawa. Slice pav horizontally into two and pan fry in butter for half a minute, pressing two or three times or till pav is crisp and light brown. Garnish the bhaji with chopped coriander leaves, butter and serve hot with pav accompanied with remaining chopped onion and lemon wedges.
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Ordered out on one of the weekend from Thai Express (
http://www.thaiexpress.com.sg/restaurants.htm)
I love Thai food. Had the Olive Rice and Thai Laksa with Veg in Yellow Curry. The curry was fiery enough to make you shoot out flames from your hair!! Olive rice was nice but non olive lovers might need some time getting used to the flavor.
Watched the Lake House starring Keanu Reaves and Sandra Bullock. It is a supernatural chick flick. I love supernatural stuff and happy endings in love stories so this one had a healthy dose of both. And the house in question was not bad at all! Right on the lake - built on stilts - a little low on privacy, what with the glass walls - but an awesome house nonetheless. So my vote for the movie - watch it if you are low on good movies to watch. I was not ecstatic but enjoyed the movie.
Did not want to cook so decided to use a ready made masala mix today. Chose the butter chicken one - Yes. I am a vegetarian. So decided to use this mix with boiled eggs. Well, the result turned out ok but it tastes no where close to the real deal. All these ready to cook mixes - whether they are the masalas and you add your own main ingredient - like the one I used or the ones that are ready to be eaten after just being warmed up - they all have the same smell and flavor. Not very gourmet!! They are passable if you are not up to cooking and yet want to have something at home but otherwise I would rather go the extra mile and make it from scratch.
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| Daal shorba and Eggs with the butter chicken masala mix |
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This meal was a last minute thought. Had fresh mushrooms that I had bought the previous day so I had to use those. And had the methi leaves from a little while back (okay a really long while back!!) so made a sabji with those. And had the foresight to soak rajma the night before so made Rajma masala to go along.
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| Rajma masala and Mushroom methi and matar |
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Mushroom Methi and Matar
1 packet of mushroom chopped
1 bunch of methi leaves (mine were pretty sad looking! :()
1/4 tsp Pepper pd
1/4 tsp turmeric pd
1/4 tsp garam masala pd
1 onion finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt and chilli pd to taste
Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds to splutter. Add the onions and ginger garlic paste and fry till they are golden brown. Add the tomatoes and fry till they turn mushy. Now add the mushrooms and peas and cover and cook till they are almost cooked. Now add the methi leaves and salt and all the masala powders. Cover and cook for another two minutes.
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Watched Sin City the other day. Very interesting - the way the whole movie is in black and white. Very comic bookish (the stories in the movie are based on marvel comics). Could not finish the movie though. The cd was damaged so it just kept hanging after a certain point. What a bummer!!
Cooked double beans masala and Palak paneer. Just the same basic onion - tomatoes - spice mix for the double beans.
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| Double bean masala and Palak Paneer |
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Was again in the "what to cook for tonight" quandry tonight! Had a lot of curry leaves lying around and wanted to use them up. I am very fond of the "karevapaku podi" (curry leaves powder) that is quite famous in the Andhra cuisine. So decided I will use that to make a sabji. And I think I had made lauki daal to go along with it (it has been a while since I made it and the picture is not jogging my memory enough to recollect what daal it was!!!)
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| Mystery Daal and Curry Leaf potatoes |
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Curry leaf potatoes
2 bunches of curry leaves - separated, washed and dried
4 potatoes chopped and parboiled
10 cloves of garlic
3 dry red chillies
1 tbsp urad daal
1 tbsp chana daal
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
4-5 pepper corns
1 marble sized ball of tamarind
1/2 tsp of asafoetida pd
Salt to taste
Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin, coriander, asafoetida pd and then the daals and garlic and dry red chillies. Saute till the daals turn light brown. Now add the curry leaves and tamarind piece and saute well till the curry leaves are well roasted and turn crisp. Cool and grind to a powder.
Heat oil in a pan and add a little cumin seeds to splutter. Add the potatoes and saute them for a while. Then add the ground powder and salt and mix till the potato pieces are well coated.
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I am nearly halfway through my catch up blog... The problem is the longer I take to catch up - the longer it gets - with the addition of new meals each day!
One weekend I decided to get food in from "Mast Kalandar" (http://www.mastkalandar.com/). From all the reviews that I had read about them in WOW ( magazine) and the daily news papers I was expecting some really good food! But it was a let down. I tried four different paranthas from this place - Paneer methi corn, mixed veggie, chilli paneer and cheesy spring onion. And all of them were more 'aata' and less of the fillings. The paranthas came with daal makhani and that was fine.
I am not ready to write them off yet - Will give them one more chance :) But the reviews were all so over the top for the food that I ate. Makes me think if the reviews are really genuine. Either that or the person who wrote the review has not sampled paranthas from Creme Center (in Mumbai and now in Chennai as well). Absolutely sinful! Note to self - make a trip to Mumbai for the vada pav, paranthas from creme center and the pav bhaji. Soooon!!!
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| Parantha Combo from Mast Kalandar |
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Made mushroom rice today. Nothing to it really. Just the usual fry the onions, slit green chillies, ginger garlic paste and tomatoes till well done. Add the chopped mushroom, chilli pd, salt to taste and add the cooked rice. You are done! I had it with some hot and sour soup from Knorr.
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| Mushroom Rice and Hot and sour soup |
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Today did not make anything excpetional. Avaraikka fry with peanuts and Ridge gourd curry - at the risk of having left overs (hubby is not too fond of this curry so will have leftovers. In all other cases the fridge will be swept clean!!)
I followed the recipe from one of the blogs that I frequent - http://saffronhut.blogspot.com/2006/05/superlative-subji-ridgegourd-curry.html
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| Ridgegrourd curry and Avaraikka fry with peanuuts |
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Fast food - real fast! That was the theme today! Got some frozen vegie burgers from the super market. Sauteed them and assembled the burger. Accompanied them with cucumber and used cabbage instead of lettuce (I forgot to get lettuce!!). Made some home style french fries (chop the potatoes, rub them with some olive oil and salt and chilli pd and some oregano and bake them till cooked) and you have a complete meal (almost completely healthy!!!) Eat your heart out people!
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| Homestyle french fries and burger |
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Thai food yet again today! Well it was my version of Pad Thai noodles. I had a very little bit of some wholewheat pasta lying around. That was not quite enough for the meal so had to use 2 packs of maggi along with it!!
But you would not know I had added Maggi if I had not told you! So just cooked the noodles till al-dente. Then sauteed julienned carrots, broccoli and paneer (instead of tofu) with some garlic and dry red chillies. Add some salt and red chilli paste (soak the red chillies in hot water for about an hour and then grind them to a paste). Mix peanut butter and a little hot water in a cup and add it to the veggies. Now mix the cooked noodles and you have Pad Thai - well my version of it anyway!!
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| Pad Thai Noodles |
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Had to take my son for his vaccination today so did not have much time to cook in the evening. Was browsing for some one pot rice recipes and came up with this one from Sanjeev Kapoor. I used to be a huge fan of his program on Zee TV a while back. Now I think he is so full of himself!! His food is still yummy but his personality has undergone a sea of change - not all of them good!!!
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| Baoli Handi with Cucumber raita |
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Baoli Handi
Carrot, 1/2 inch cubes 1 medium
Green peas 1/4 cup
Green chillies 4
French beans, chopped 7-8
Potato, chopped 1 medium
Tomatoes, chopped 2 medium
Split green gram 1/4 cup
Rice, soaked 1 cup
Soya granules 1/4 cup soaked in hot water
Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon
Onion , sliced 1 large
Salt and chilli pd to taste
Turmeric powder 1/2 teaspoon
Garam masala pd 1 tsp
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds and after they have spluttered, add the ginger garlic paste and onions and salt and fry till the onions are browned. Now add the vegetables and saute them for a minute. Now add the green gram daal and saute for another minute. Add all the spice powders and the soaked rice and soya granules and saute for another minute till everything is well mixed. Now you can either pour the water directly in to this pan and let it cook or do what I did and transfer the contents to an electric rice cooker and let it cook till done. Garnish with coriander leaves (optional).
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Phew! I am all caught up now!! Can't believe it took so long.. I hope this will serve as a lesson to keep on top of my blogging each day.... Ya right!!
Good night people!!
