Comfort food...

Monday technically marks "back to cooking", but this week has been an extended weekend (well in the United States it is!!) So although what I cooked is not considered a full meal - it was for me :)

I can have rasam any time of the day so that is what I made for dinner. Accompanied with lady finger fry it is the best comfort food that I can have.

Rasam rice with lady finger fry

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Easy Instant Rasam

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp chana daal

1 tbsp tuvar daal

1 tbsp coriander seeds

4-5 pepper corns

Saute all of the below with a little oil and grind them to a powder and reserve.

4 medium tomatoes - ground to a paste

4-5 garlic cloves pounded

A pinch of asafoetida pd

2 green chillies slit

1/2 tsp turmeric pd

Salt to taste

Heat a little oil in a pan and add a little cumin and mustard seeds to splutter. Now add the asafoetida pd and the green chillies, followed by the ground tomatoes. Add the turmeric pd and the ground masala pd and salt. Cover and let it simmer till the tomato paste is cooked and it loses its raw smell. Add water to correct the consistency. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Lady Finger Fry

Just saute the chopped lady finger with salt, turmeric pd and chilli pd on low heat till they turn crisp. They do take a while but it beats using a lot of oil and getting them done quickly!

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But this is not the hubby's idea of comfort food so he actually got food from outside and Chinese nonetheless!! So guess what?! I had another dinner!! It was a carnival for my taste buds but not so much for my stomach or the other internal organs I think! Had to have Digene before going to bed!!!

Chow folks!

Indo American Ties!

Today's meal consists of side dishes - no main course!

Paneer tikkas and green bean casserole. Not a very popular combination. I wanted to do something with green beans and the ideal combo with that would have been a non vegetarian steak. The next best thing to animal protein for vegetarians is Paneer! Hence the paneer 'steaks' (tikkas)!

Cheesy green bean casserole

Green bean casserole and Paneer tikkas

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Cheesy green bean casserole

2 cups green beans chopped and boiled with salt water till they are tender

1 + 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 + 1/2 cup fried onions - I chopped the onions and then fried them with a little salt and oil till they turned brown

1 packet cream of mushroom soup packet - Make according to directions - just add a little less water so the end result is thicker than the usual soup.

1/2 cup of milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the beans, cream of mushroom soup, milk, 1 cup onions, 1 cup of cheese, pepper and pour the mixture in a casserole dish. Bake at 400 deg F for about 20 mins. 10 mins before the dish is done add the remaining onions and cheese and let the dish finish cooking. Remove, cool and serve.

Paneer Tikka

500 gm paneer cut into finger sized chunks

For the marinade

4-5 cloves garlic

1/2″ piece ginger, peeled and chopped
 Red chilli powder to taste
1 tsp kitchen king masala
1 tbsp cumin, roasted and ground
1 tsp oil
juice of half a lime
3 tbsp thick curd
Salt to taste

Grind all the above to a paste

Coat the paneer pieces with the marinade and let it sit covered in the refrigerator for a min of 30 minutes.

Ideally you would put them on skewers and grill them. I just roasted them on a non stick pan with a little oil sprayed to prevent them from sticking too much to the pan.

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That's all for tonight folks!