Black Pepper Rice (Milagu Sadham)

If you have lived in Chennai any amount of time and if you'd had the good fortune of living near Adayar (now they are everywhere) you just may have heard of and actually visited The Grand Sweets and Snacks. It is the go to place for wedding bhakshanams (mithai and savories). Or if you just wanted a wonderful afternoon snack. Everyday, TGS&S had a routine to serve a different kind of snack each day of the week and I want to say that it was on Saturday that they made Pepper rice which they served in a stitched leaf bowl or Dhonai as we call it. (Pls correct me if I got the day wrong). But this was the ultimate treat. The fragrant rice that oozed with unbelievably aromatic ghee, fresh curry leaves and cashews - just the right amount of spice and salt and the rice cooked soft to a mush - It always transported me to heaven. I have recreated this beauty in my kitchen so many times and yet I am shocked that I have not blogged it yet!. Just like I realize i have not blogged regular items like rasam and sambar - which is pretty pitiful -- like living in Agra and not visiting the Taj!
But never too late I say!
The easiest yet most satisfying mixed rice for a rice lover. I have replaced the ghee or at least part of it with sesame oil - just as tasty. Such a wonderful dish to take for a potluck, for a Sunday brunch or just about anytime the craving hits you, like it does me. EASIEST RECIPE

Ingredients

• 1 cup of basmati or other rice cooked with 2-1/2 -3 cups of water
• 2-3 tablespoons of fresh black pepper - ground fine
• 1 tbsp salt also ground with the pepper
• 1: 2 tablespoons ratio of ghee to sesame oil +1tbsp of butter
• Cashew, curry leaves
• pinch of asafetida

Method

1. Cook rice really soft to mush
2. Pepper and and salt ground fine
3. Get a wide bowl
4. hear ghee (butter ) once the water is gone it is clarified into ghee. Add the asafetida to this as you heat - Add the sesame oil to this and keep
5. Add 1/3 of the rice and 1 tbsp of the pepper mix topped with 1 tbsp of ghee oil mix 
6. With a fork mix the pepper into the rice
7. Once all the rice and the pepper are mixed, with a potato masher, mush the rice so it will absorb the pepper nicely
8. Heat the butter add the cashews and the curry leaves and roast until cashews are golden.
9. Pour over rice and mix in and let it rest for a few minutes.
10. Serve HOT

No Sides Required but you are free to have chips or appalam with it

Bhel Puri - Simple Indian Snack

Happy New Year to all my blogging mates. I have become a rather whimsical blogger since summer of  13 - but life, as it is won't to do, has been giving me a lot of lateral challenges and has made sure I am busy, one way or another.

A round up of the highlights of 2013 for me
First 5 months - working with my son on college applications, essays - working as in being on his case to complete tasks in a timely manner; blogging, jogging and getting physically fit for

1. wedding in the family and wonderful family reunion
2. graduation of my son and preschooler (lol) 
3.  helping my 11th grader make course selections for school
4. an idyllic summer with the family  
5. my new venture at the local market 
6.  new beginnings - one to college, and one to elementary school
7.  an unforgettable trip to Spain and San Fran
8.  trying to get my children's story critiqued by the powers that b
9.  Such fun cooking classes - my first venture
10.  Cooking, baking and super duper winter holidays that have alas come to an end now

New Year Resolves

To pray and love more, eat less - chocolate at any rate :);
To write more on my blog and other stuff
Be good about my Yoga and exercise, if my achy breaky joints will allow me
Be a better guide and role model to my kids
A more supportive wife for my hubby
Travel to a new part of the world
To be happy with all the blessings I already have been given.

A super response to my Facebook photo of the sumptuous lunch from Sunday has encouraged me to kickstart my blogging for the year with this fun and delicious snack which can become a meal, based on how much one consumes :)

For my Firangi friends, Bhel-Puri is a typical roadside snack in Mumbai and Maharashtra which is of course now as pervasive as french fries and can be had in any part of India.

Priya's Bhelpuri - serving 6

Ingredients

1) 16 cups of puffed rice
(A little dope on this - Puffed rice is available in all indian stores under the name of MURMURA - In tamil, Muru Muru means crunchy - the stuff gotten in these packets are not that and most always tend to have a stale smell to them,  just because it is the nature of the beast -short shelf life. But the best way to crispin and drive out the staleness is to set your oven to 250, spread the rice kernels in a cookie pan patted down in one layer and heated for about 5-7 minutes. This does wonders, believe me!)

2) 1 large purple onion (that would be pink for the not so color savvy) chopped finely

3) juice of 1 large lemon to be mixed into the chopped onions

 4)  FOUR medium sized red potatoes boiled and chopped into cubes and mildly salted

5) 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro

6) Sev -I made mine own so I will give you the recipe here - a tough call if you do not have the press- store bought is okay,  Haldiram's sev is recommended

 7) Peanuts a handful

Scroll down for chutney recipes

keep all ingredients separate in bowls as shown below

For chutney #1

1 tablespoon of tamarind paste
1/4 cup of water
I tsp sugar
a pinch of salt
2 tsp of Sriracha sauce
a pinch of cumin (entirely optional)

Mix in all ingredients together and keep

For chutney #2
1/2 cup of free yogurt
1green chili
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves
pinch of salt

Blend into smooth paste

Quick Sev

1 cup of besan flour sifted
1/2 cup of rice flour
1-2 tsp of salt (taste to see if you need more)
1/2 tsp of asafetida
3 tbsp melted butter
1 tablespoon thyme seeds 1 tsp of  whole black peppers soaked and ground in 1/2 cup of water
Mix all the dry ingredients so salt is evenly spread into the flour
Add the butter and knead it in
Grind soaked ingredients and strain through fine filter into the flour
The batter should be flow-y not dense, at the same time not watery (yes, this takes finesse and practice)

Fill the press(I usually spray non-stick olive oil into the hole so the batter sees out smoothly)
heat the oil and press away.

NOTE: although it seems highly procedural and a lot of work, it with practice takes probably 1/2 hour - only about as much time as it takes to run to the Indian store to get the sev - so I say why not make mine rather than settle for store bought -

RECOMMENDATION - I would suggest that until you want to take that step into making  your own sev, store bough will do just fine!

My local friends - please don't say I will just come and have it at your home -  I know you are perfectly capable of making this just beautifully, on your own - so please give it a shot :)

Now you have the puffed rice and all the ingredients ready

Take your plate or should I say like a true Maharastrian -tek your plet and add the bhel first, followed by the potatoes, the onions, sauces, sev and cilantro in that order - stir them together and eat :)

Hope you've enjoyed the first recipe of the year - I have a few more aces up my sleeve and I will share them with you soon

Love and peace to all.

Swiss Chard & Beet Greens Kootu (stew)

What has become of me? I seem unable to get the right moment to sit and blog - Heaven knows, with the veggie garden producing hearty veggies, I have been cooking up a storm. Something to be said for the lazy hazy crazy days of summer! Kids around, chillaxing when we are not hustle around the garden or doing other "summery" things, like keeping up late and trying to sleep in late - an impossibility with my rooster husband who wakes up the sun! So much so, the layers of lethargy that has built up is so high, it needs super will power to knock it down and get down to being productive in the blog world. My interest in cooking remains alive and steady. And, my experiments continue, especially with the homegrown veggies.  And it is with pride I present to you this super food in a most delectable stew or kootu

Beet greens (which are red, lol) and the ever so colorful and beautiful swiss chard together make for an excellent combination. Couple those with coconut and spices and man, have you made yourself a healthy dish that is a perfect combination with either rice or chapatis.

Here is my simple recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups of chopped swiss chard
• 1 cup of Beets greens chopped fine
• 1 beet chopped fine (I threw this in since I had it)
• 1bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper
• 1 red chili to grind and 1 to saute
• 1/4 cup coconut powder/ or grated coconut
• 1/2 cup of cashew, hazelnut, & almond milk (optional) (available in TJ's)
• 1 tsp of coconut /sesame oil) for cooking and 1 for tempering
• 2 cup of water

Method

1. In a saucepan, lightly fry the coconut, chili pepper and bay leaf in a tsp of oil
2. Pour a cup of water and grind and set aside
3. To the same pan, add the greens  and stir for a couple of minutes 
4. Add 1 cup of water and allow it to cook for a few minutes 
5. At this point, add the salt and stir in
6. Now add the ground coconut mix and allow all of it to come to a boil or two.
7. Remove from flame and transfer to a serving bowl
8. Temper with a tsp of oil some mustards seeds, cumin and 1 red chili
9. Serve with couscous, rice or chapatis.

Jalapeño -Paneer in Orange Juice

There are few Indians and non Indians who dislike Paneer - Not only is it a favorite cheese, but is also versatile in its ability to soak in any and all flavors that it's infused with. Of course, I would like to try something different with it. So I decide I will marinade in deliciously sweet and sour tangerine juice - I proceed to make fresh juice, dice up some onions, tomatoes, some paneer, and fresh jalapeños. Using a small amount of oil (olive or mazola) I stir fry the tomatoes, onions and jalapeños. I drizzle a tad bit of oil on the paneer and take a table spoon of bread crumbs in a plate and roll the oiled paneer in it, just to keep it from crumbling (ironic to use crumbs to prevent crumbling lol)  Anyhow, I add the paneer to the  stir fry along with salt. Then when everything is browning, I add the orange juice and allow the sizzling to happen. The bread crumbs facilitates the soaking of the juice.
Garnish with cilantro and fresh cut jalapeños  - Voila and Ta-dah!  This takes all of 15 minutes to make, cutting veggies included. Enjoy the tantalizing flavors of this dish - they dance on your tongue long after you're done eating - And that is a promise :)

Your ingredients

Orange Juice

Potatoes in Peanut & Onion gravy (Urulai Thiratal)

Let me start by saying this is was a runaway hit with my family. We are blog hopping for Avant Garde Cookies and I was delighted that my first hop in this category was to my blogger bestie, Priya Sreeram's  blog, Bon Appetite - First thing that struck me as i keep flipping web pages is - How did I miss this? My sweet friend is so -- because she is a dessert junkie! She has cakes, and brownies, and all kinds of delicious bakes and scattered in between are her savory/spicy dishes... I loved browsing and rereading some of her wonderfully written posts.

I had made a peanut and onion chutney not too long ago which was a super hit too and I thought, hmm, the potato monsters I have in my son, hubby and daughters would love this.  But for adding a few of my favorite tastes, I stayed pretty true to my soul sister's recipe and we enjoyed this to the last lick with chappatis- Thanks PS for enriching my repertoire with this fab dish. And to really confess, I am not big on potatoes at ll - clearly prefer sweet potatoes to the regular kinds and even I loved it

Off to the recipe now

Ingredients

• 8-10 medium sized red potatoes
• 1/2 can of diced tomatoes (or 1 big beef tomato)
• 1 huge red onion (or 2 medium sized ones)
• 1/2 cup of roasted peanuts (without husk)
• 4-5 of your spicy-est red chilies
• A pinch of turmeric
• A pinch of asafetida
• 2 tsp of olive or other oil
• Curry leaves, mustard seeds for tempering

Method

1. Boil Potatoes in pressure cooker or steamer
2. Peel, cube and keep.
3. In a kadai or deep pan,(nonstick to save on oil) add oil and heat
4. Throw in the asafetida, red chilies and sauté
5. Roughly chop the onions, and peanuts since they are to ground anyway
6. Let it tenderize
7. Add the tomatoes
8. Cook until the water is evaporated
9. Cool, grind and set aside

1. In the pan now add 1 tsp of oil and temper the mustards and the curry leaves. 
2. Add the cubed potatoes and some turmeric (optional)
3. Add some salt and cook for a few minutes until the potatoes absorb the salt - I also used 1tsp of rasam powder (you can use curry powder)  and cook for a minute longer
4. Now add the onion and peanut paste and let it simmer along with the potatoes

Transfer into a serving dish and go hung-ho at it with chapatis/naan/pooris or even rice

Enjoy this recipe until the next time I am coming back with some Jams and Tangerine Marmalade - so stay tuned!

Sabudana Khichdi - A Maharastrian staple sensation :)

This is one dish I have had several times at my sister's home in Pune and loved. I have been told that tapioca is a high calorie grain and if not done in a proper manner, this khichdi could be an oil guzzler - I have had a couple of sticky gooey efforts in the past simply because I refused to use the oil, but I'll be darned if I did not do it my way and yet make a hit of it - recently had it at someone's place who happened to be from Maharastra and I asked her and she led me to none other than Divya of Chef in You fame - I checked it out and the realized the two Key things to do to make this are
1) you must use the big sabudana for this dish and 2) you must soak in water just covering the top of the tapioca overnight or for a minimum of  5-8 hours

Garnish, spices, herbs etc are changeable and up to personal preferences. But peanuts are a must :)
It turned out spectacularly and I am happy that this ghost will rest, conquered - booyah!

Serving size -4-5
Ingredients

• 1.5 cups Sabudana (tapioca) soaked overnight in water barely covering the pearls
• 1/2 cup crushed peanuts
• 1 med. onion
• 1/2 cup grated coconut
• 3 spicy green chilies
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• curry leaves
• 1tsp of olive/sunflower/corn oil

For tempering

• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp urad dal
• a pinch of asafetida

For garnish

• Finely chopped cilantro

Method

1. Loosen the soaked tapioca pearls to separate
2. In a pan, sautee the urad cumin and asafetida followed up with the onions, ginger and green chilies
3. When they are getting caramelized, add the sabudana and stir in -you will notice them getting translucent from being solid white
4. Add salt at this point and mix well 
5. Follow up with the crushed peanuts
6. In a small pan, lightly dry roast the grated coconut to get rid of the rawness
7. Add finally to the Khichdi and mix well
8. Remove from flame 
9. Garnish with cilantro
10. Serve HOT

NOTE Common additions to this khichdi are finely cubed and roasted potatoes. You can be as creative as you want with your veggie additions. I plan to be the next time around

Enjoy folks until the next time, signing off with love.

Onion & Peanut Chutney

A simple quick and fabulous chutney to accompany dosa, (lentil crepes) Idlis (savory cakes) or even mix in with rice. Having the kids home demands that you be quick and creative - it is always a pleasure to have them home, but the problem usually is coming up with an idea for  a meal more than making it - I am sure all you experienced chefs out there would agree - Rava Idlis and Chutney seemed like a perfect light and simple lunch to make- So we did and it was enjoyable - And what was best is although it is frigid outside, the sun shines even brighter making for good pics - Lately I have made food that I wish to blog in the evening and Jan evenings are usually gloomy and dark even by 5, making for not so great pics of really good food - Will strive to be more efficient with the daylight hours for blogging.

Here is the recipe
Ingredients
1 big red onion
1 handful of roasted peanuts (husk free)
3-4 of your spicy dried red chilies
1tsp of sesame oil

For tempering
a pinch of asafetida
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
fresh curry leaves
1tsp of sesame oil

Method
In a wok/kadai/frying pan heat the oil and add the ingredients and cook until onion is translucent
Cool and grind
Temper with the suggested ingredients

Serve with Idlis, dosas, rice or chapatis - See here with hot and delicious Rava Idlis

Enjoy

Rosy Raita with Beets

My first post for the NEW YEAR was to be my peanut soup - but as I've lamented on my facebook page, both the times I made it were for parties not hosted by me and it got eaten up well before I could remember to take my clicks - But by golly, I will make it again anon and will present it with the aplomb it deserves. But for now let me feast your eyes and senses to this mind blowing raita.

When I first tasted this in Delhi at my sister's house, I was blown away by the color of it - So beautiful and the taste was no less incredible - That very moment, I had resolved to make this once I got back home. While it has taken me months to get to it, I finally did it and it was, as I'd predicted, a huge hit with friends and family alike.  This is a killer dish to brighten any dinner table, its rich color at once brightening the table and the eyes of those that lay sight on it.

What you need:

1. 1 big beet grated very finely or pureed
2. 1 carton (32 oz) of yogurt - I used Dannon PlainYogurt
3. For garnish
4. 1/2 tsp of fennel seeds
5. 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
6. 1 spicy green chili finely chopped
7. 1tsp mustard seeds 
8. 1tsp of oil to pop and sautee the above
9. Salt

Method

• Peel and puree (or) finely grate the beet - I chose to do the latter
• Pour the yogurt into a serving dish and whip it to make it smooth
• Add the beets and whisk it it
• Watch the magic of the beautiful rose color engulf the bowl :)
• Saute the seeds and chili and mix it into the raita
• Refrigerate until time to serve
• *Garnish with cilantro if desired.
• Serve with aromatic pulao like I did 

Enjoy and will be back soon with another yummy recipe - yup- the peanut soup

Easy, Peasy Cheesy Spread

This is my entry for the Hush Hush week of Avant Garde Cookies. Priya Sreeram gave me an easy ingredient - cheese. And I had just stocked the fridge with Feta from the Indian store (never again since it was too salty, but perfect for the dish I made) and Gruyere from Trader Joes.
What to make??? I also had some paneer sitting in the fridge from a previous purchase, however it was not an option for this meal.

I have been cooking but blogging has been a luxury I have been unable to indulge in! Other priorities, kid applying to colleges, baking goodies for all the teachers and friends who have enriched our lives, horrific news that makes me want to sometimes curl up under the comforters with my children and never come out! Oft are the times I feel like taking them all back in my womb where I can keep them safe! If only that were an option! Kids grow up, get bigger than you, finish school and flee the nest in pursuit of their own destinies. As parents you have to learn to dwell on their success and not at the void they leave in the home as they do so!

I want a safe environment for the children and for all the people of the US. Many countries survive just fine with no weapons in their homes - I dream of a gun-free country where people once again learn to love their neighbors and let go of this built up hate and frustration.

Sorry to digress, this is after all a food blog and I am happy that is one thing that can please, made the right way :)

This was an uber delicious spread and a perfect addition to any dinner table and for entertainment.

Ingredients
1 pack of frozen peas (12oz)
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of gruyere cheese
1/4 cup of creamy Feta cheese
3 spicy green chilies
2 tomato
2tsp of olive oil


Method
Sautee until all veggies are cooked.
Add the Feta to the veggies and melt
Cool and grind and put in a baking dish
Add grated gruyere
Bake at 350 for 20 -25 mins

Serve as dip or spread