Finger-licking good

My husband suggested the title - much more friendly than the one I came up with - not too much of a guess! Here's another smart title for this one - A hitchhiker's nightmare -
This is a cookie recipe that i got from another blog I follow and the moment I saw it, I knew I had to try it - But I made a few modifications to the recipe to make it - er... more healthy?? But it's Halloween and we could do a lot worse with the candies....I had so much fun doing this with my daughter. Thank you Mriganayani for the cool, yet, macabre idea :-)

We made some fingers and a few toes...

Ingredients:

2-3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup of cane sugar - tunbinado
1 cup of softened unsalted butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon each of almond and vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
about 25 almonds halved

Preparation

Whip the softened butter, egg, baking soda and extracts together
Slowly add the flour to it and make into almost pizza dough consistency
Set in the fridge for half an hour
Remove and roll out thin like bread sticks
With a fork press in 2 places
Press almond half, pointy half as fingernail tip into the tip of each rolled stick

Preparing the almonds
In a bowl boil some water and raw almonds for about 3 -4 minutes and peal off skin when cooled.

Baking instructions
Set oven at 325 degrees and bake for 15 minutes

Secret tip: Be sure to roll them out thinner than a normal finger because they thicken as they bake, which accounts for the stubbies in our batch .... but they are fingers after all and come in all sizes and shapes!
For more fun: Add some jam at the tips of your fingers to give it the congealed blood look (heeeeehaaaawwww)


Happy Halloween! Not too late to try it!

Beetroot Rasam / soup

There are rasams and there are rasams, many of which will find their way to my blog, but today, it's all about the beet! To my white friends, rasam or even ras means juice or extract of a veggie or fruit. So this would be the equivalent of soup. To me, beets always only reminded me of the mouth-watering cutlets served by the India Coffee House in Pondicherry.

Again making time is under 15 minutes - truly! This is another one of my can recipes. I'd heard of this for the first time, when my sister called to tell me of my mom's passing - she explained that her last proper meal consisted of beetroot rasam, a recipe she'd actually called a dear family friend to get and make with her very own hands!!!

I've yet to get that recipe, but in the meantime, I could not resist trying it on my own. This the second shot at it and I must say, it has been a huge hit with my family - The seal of approval was strong enough for me to put out my version of this incredible rasam.

Ingredients:

1 can of  round cut or shoestring beets
3/4 can of Hunt's diced tomatoes
Note: Both should be plain with no added flavors
1/4 cup of coconut powder or grated coconut
2 teaspoons of rasam powder easily available at all Indian stores

For Sauteeing splutter
in 1 teaspoon of butter
1 spoon of cumin seeds
1/2 spoon of mustard seeds

Garnish with finely chopped coriander

I want some feedback after you try this recipe out - Results will vary depending on what Rasam powder you are using - IF I am not getting supplies from The Grand Sweeets and Snacks of Chennai or from Bhanuma, I make my own powders for all my needs.

Cukeapple Salad and Raita

I was not in a mood for a big lunch, so I just made myself the most appetizing, satisfying apple cucumber salad.

Ingredients:
1 apple
1 cucumber
a pinch of salt
a dash of lemon juice
and one twist of a pepper mill

Preparation:
Dice into bite sized cubes ( I peel my cukes - perfectly fine to leave on if you like it)
mix in the lemon juice (also prevents the apple from becoming brown)
salt and pepper

Top with a couple of fresh basil or mint leaves and enjoy

Variation 2
If you are a cheese lover, fresh mozarella is nice addition to this salad - Basil is still a good topping

Variation 3 & 4
Add 2 tablespoons of yogurt and make a raita out of it - Try a min topping of this one and remember to serve it chilled.
Make this a dessert by just dribbling some honey into it - quick fix for a sweet tooth :-)

Sugar snap peas - in a snap please!

Sorry, Could not stop myself from the the corny title -
Seriously, I've been seeing those darned peas in the market for years now, but always avoided them because I had no recipe in mind except of course the oriental style - Which is good depending on what they toss it with. I like salads but somehow not as sugar snap peas....However, I am a recipe blogger now and I need to be more adventurous - So this time I passed through Sam's fresh veggies section, I spotted the double pack of organic, washed and cleaned sugar snaps and they saw the light of day in my shopping cart...
I wanted to be authentic with this, in that I wanted elements of oriental in it, but I wanted it desi style - so I used shrooms and tofu but gave them an Indian flavour.

- I realize one thing  - I find cutting veggie extremely calming and therapeutic- I love arranging them side by side for pictures - It's like picking blouses for saris and matching them :-). Seriously, the goodness of all the veggies gets enhanced when I cut them...
The big part to making this is the cutting - Tender sugar snaps are a lighter green and it is not always necessary to snap the end of to pull the string off the beans. I lucked out and got some that required no stringing at all!
I cut the mushrooms length wise as did I the onions and tomatoes - I did not want a big mush -

Ingredients:
1 lb pack of Sugar Snap peas washed and slit down the middle
2 good sized tomatoes (I used Romas)
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
About 30 pieces of cubed tofu
2 green chillies (optional)
1 teaspoon of jeera or cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of white sesame seeds
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
1 teaspoons of Curry powder (mine is home made and very coriander based)

Preparation:
The trick is to cook each ingredient separately since they have different cooking times - The other trick is to cook them al-dente because once they are individually cooked, we mix the lot and let them cook for a minute or 2 to absorb each other's flavours.
Add the cumin and other spices along with the onions and mushrooms which I cooked together because they cook more or less at the same pace.
Serve with chappatis or naan

Secret tips:  - cook the peas last since they can get watery of left for too long. Also after you transfer into a bowl - get creative and top it with a nut of your choice - I have some pine nuts so that's what I did :-) And most importantly be sure to keep the peas crispy because that is what defines this vegetable!

cauliflower dip with pine nuts

A simple no fuss recipe executed in precisely 20 minutes...can you ask for more? I'm telling you, I like cooking fast and good... And you are going to love this - great to take to a party to serve with baguette, other veggies or pita or even with tortillas

Ingredients:

2 cauliflower heads 

2 cloves of garlic

1 cup of milk

1 teaspoon  of black pepper

salt to taste

1 table spoon of pine nuts roasted

Preparation

Cut the heads into small florets

In a pan pour the cup of milk (I used whole milk as the recipe demanded) and add the cauliflower and garlic and pepper and bring to boil - cook until the florets are tenderly softened.

Grind in a blender. Transfer the paste into a nice serving dish. 

Add the salt- 

Dry roast the pine nuts and sprinkle on top of the dip

Serve with bread, pita carrots or celery or bell peppers

Raagi Idlis and Dosais

So after all the navarathri sweets and murrukku binging, we are back to eating healthy, minding what goes in the mouth ... Since I started this blog, I have started looking at more recipe sites and I came across a recipe for Ragi  (finger millet) idlis (steamed cakes) and Ragi dosais (crepes) - From all accounts, millet is a healthy grain, contains protein like Quinoa and less carbs than rice... esp for us Indians who over do the rice, this is a good change and surprisingly, the idlis tasted almost exactly like the regular rice idlis and the dosais too. If there had been a great difference in the taste, this recipe would not have made it on the blog - A true idli and dosai lover like me would not have been able to compromise on the taste - but this is a must try - really simple  recipe and process.

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cup of  Raagi flour/ finger millet flour - available at all Indian stores and at whole foods. (please note that this is the purple kind)
1/2 cup of  black gram (urad dal)

Preparing the dough:
Soak the urad dal for a couple of hours and grind like you would for regular idlis, into a fine past
Soak in a small amount of water the raagi flour and keep for the same length of time
After grinding the urad, add the soaked raagi batter into the grinder and spin it for a minute so that the two batters mix well.
Add salt and keep closed and allow to ferment overnight
Note: The batter rises, but not as dramatically as the idli batter. Just put a drop in your mouth to taste to confirm that it has a slight sourness.
* Mix the dough well,  (you will find the top thick but the bottom watery) so that it is smooth like porridge consistency.
Prepare like regular idlis
Dosais come out great too with the same batter -

Eat it the way you like with your favourite chutney or molagapodi

Priya's Peanut Sundal

We are not on the Marina beach -most famous for its verkadalai or peanut sundal - Fact is, I don't remember ever having it since we were always cautioned about eating carefully if it was outside our home... Home where amma boiled peanuts with shells in salt water and we would take pleasure in snapping open the shell to delve in for the peanut or groundnut as we used to refer to it - I do remember licking the salt water that would trickle down to arm to the elbow during this exercise. Amma was expert at shelling and would present a whole bunch of them while we struggled along. Love you, ma!
However, the idea of peanut sundal has always been appealing esp since I LOVE that nut, especially in this form. Dry peanuts, roasted ones, well....I can leave sooner than take... but boiled peanut sundal is the ultimate in taste so of course I reserved it for the last day of Navarathri.
By now, I hope I've established that I do NOT like to labour over cooking - I like the simple and quick recipes without compromising on taste.

Ingredients
2 cups of raw peanuts (boiled in pressure cooker)

For thadka or thalichi or sautee
1/2 teaspoons small mustard seeds
1 teaspoon urad dal
2 green chillies
Curry leaves
1 teaspoon of olive oil

Preparation

In a pan heat oil, throw in the thadka stuff and let the green chillies spice up the oil. Add the peanuts and stir with thadka. Add salt. Stir and allow to cook on medium heat for 3 minutes.

Secret tip: The trick is to use the right amount of water to cook the peanuts. If there is too much water drain most of it, but save a little to use to cook with other ingredients in the pan - This water will also help the peanuts absorb the salt and spicy flavours. Try it out!

Sweetly Simple Coconut Barfi

This is one of the easiest sweets to make and tastes delicious, if you are the kind who likes coconut macaroons or coconuts and sugar :-) I was overwhelmed by how well liked it was by family and friends. T'is true that the proof of the pudding is in the eating... And it was all polished off, before one could say, (Quoting my wonderful, sweet-toothed dad) Jack Robinson. Why Jack Robinson, I have not figured out yet, but it sounds good and I am keeping it.

Ingredients
2 cups of freshly grated coconut
1- 1/2 cups white sugar
1/4 cup of water to dissolve the sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom -powdered from seeds
1 spoon of ghee to grease the tray into which you pour and cut.

Preparation

In a wide pan, get sugar and water going. Mix in the cardamom powder. Wait for the the sugar to get slightly stringy and then add the coconuts. Keep stirring until it thickens and becomes a little stringier. Remove from heat and pour on readied tray and cut when hot .... Enjoy!

Secret tip: Take a few roasted cashews, crush and sprinkle before removing from heat.

Kapaati's Pepper Thenguzhal (chakri)

This is first of the 3 recipes that I will post in the next couple days - making up for the week long hiatus I had to take on account of Navarathri. My mother in law was visiting during this time and it seemed a nice way to keep occupied. I named this Kapaati recipe after her - since that's how my children refer to her. I want to take credit though for the pepper part of it - I asked her to add it - Not a conventional thing to do to thenguzhal.

The ingredients are:
4 parts Rice flour
1 part urad flour
2 teaspoons of finely ground pepper powder
1/2 teaspoon of asafoetida
2 tsps of white sesame seeds
1 tablespoons of ghee
1-1/2  to 2 cups of water
salt

Preparing the dough
Sift both flours and drymic all ingredients into the flour mix - Slowly add the water to make dough, soft, but firm - The second cup of water is when you should start using caution.

You need: The Murukku press -with the disc that contains one starry hole - pictured below.

First get a piece of wax paper and spread it on your counter - you re fgoing to squeeze the theguzhal from the press on the wax paper. Spray the insides of the press with oil so that the ride out the disc hole will be smooth for the batter. This was a cinch, contrary to my fears! The number of thenguzhals you get depends on the number of circles made- I made a 5 circle ones and the batter yielded about 40 thenguzhals.

For frying
Pan with either corn oil or sunflower oil or sesame oil  - your choice. I used corn oil.
Pictures are self explanatory.

For some reason the pictures did not load in the right order, but you get the drift, I hope.

 Kapaati's demonstration

 Picture of our first batch

Wait for the sizzling noise to silence - - the thenguzhal will be light golden brown when this happens -remove from oil

This is me trying to get the hang of it ;-)

Weekend update

It's been a busy weekend with the concluding of Navarathri - lots of cooking and friends over - I have a bunch of recipes to share with you all, including Milagu Thenkuzhal - for my American friends these are a south Indian savoury which we make during the 10 days of Dussera - it's a delicious crunchy snack, not necessarily very healthy, but aren't all holidays and festivals about food binges??
Anyway, that's not all, we also made coconut Barfi our Indian version coconut macaroons, beetroot rasam - a tomato based lentil soup, wheat appam, and peanut sundal, dal vadai and payasam.

I am quite exhausted tonight, but I hope to churn out some good recipes for y'all over the course of the week  so look for it!

Homemade, Gourmet whole wheat Pizzas - get some!

This weekend, the whole family was craving true Italian style pizza. It was a long weekend and it seemed a good idea to make this a family project. I knew I wanted to make it with whole wheat, so I decided to use our very own Chakki whole wheat atta flour. Also, almost always, I waste most of the crust, either because it can be too thick and/or quite doughy and tasteless!!! So I decided to make the crust an Italian masala crust. By which i mean I used a bunch of Italian spices to make the crust a stand-alone dish - much like our masala parathas.
It came out better than I expected and it was a pleasure to make - Anything done for the first time can be quite a challenge. I made personal pizzas for each of us and put personal topping/sauce choices -
This entire preparation only required 3 teaspoons of olive oil -total! My son said it tasted very much like the gourmet pizzas we had in Italy - high praise, given he is best critic :-)

The crux of the matter is a tasty crust, besides a good sauce, of course!
Let me start with the ingredients and preparation of the crust
3 cups of  Chakki atta in which I added dry ground 1 teaspoonful each of black pepper; basil; oregano; rosemary; garlic; 3 red cayenne dry peppers; I also used a spoon full of pesto and wild garlic powders.
In a food processor, add the flour, the ground spices, 1-1/2 pouches of yeast, and three teaspoons of olive oil. Dry spin ingredients around for a minute to evenly mix the spices and yeast into the flour. Then add (about 2 cups of water) - I just poured as I kneaded (pun intended) Remove from the processor, and put it on a clean counter and knead some more! Put it in a bowl and keep closed for 10 minutes, allowing the dough to rise.

Now for the sauce:
2 cans of Hunt's diced tomatoes ground.
Add a little salt, fresh garlic and basil to the sauce and allow it to cook. Keep ready
I also used Classico's Alfredo sauce for a couple of them

Toppings
Fresh Mozzarella - 12 slices halved can be subbed with paneer)
1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar
2 green bell peppers
1 red onion

3 green chillies
1 pack of fresh white mushrooms
1 pack of green leaf spinach

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and cook for 12-15 minutes

I will let the pictures tell you how it came out :-)

 on the rise...

 felt light and good!

 folding the jagged edges to give it a pie look :-)

 close up of masala crust

 white sauce pizza for Samyuktha!

 First one!

 Shreya's pizza :-)

 The ingredients

 I think she likes it ;-))

For me and Mani - everything on it pizzas