Spaghetti Squash Coconut Sevai

First of, thanks to all my Facebook friends who drooled and went gaga over this dish - that is my best motivation to keep trying new recipes and blogging them

I have worked with Spaghetti squash in the past, but once to bake it and one other time to make a halwa, all well before I started writing this blog. However, this unbelievable gem of a veggie went off my radar for a long time. This was one of the easiest recipe decisions to make in so far as keeping the preparation simple yet tasteful.
The trick is to allow the squash to shine and be the hero of the dish and not overpower it with too many spices. Add a tsp of coconut oil and  fresh grated coconut enhanced the taste of the squash and made for a delectable meal. Without further ado here goes

My sweet husband putting in the muscle to unstring the squash

And voila

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized squash cut down the middle vertically and spaghetti unstrung from the sides and into a bowl
• 1/2 cup of fresh frozen grated coconut thawed
• 2 Tbsp roasted cashews
• 2-3 finely chopped green chilies (ours were homegrown)
• 1/tsp of mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric
• 1tsp of urad dal
• 2 tsp of olive oil
• 1tsp of coconut oil
• pinch of asafetida
• 1/3 cup of water
• Salt to taste
• 2 tsp juice of freshly squeezed lemon
• Cilantro for garnish

Method

1. Splutter mustards, urad and hing in the said amount of olive oil
2. Add the chilies and allow them to cook for 30 secs 
3. Add the squash noodles
4. Add the the water and keep closed for about 3 minutes and allow it to cook until al-dente
5. Open and allow the water to evaporate. 
6. Add salt and coconut  and cashews and turn them in to the squash
7. Once cooked, transfer to a serving dish squeeze the lemon and.garnish with cilantro and serve hot

Ginger Sesame Watercress Soup

The first legit snow day. Kids are home today and tomorrow has been declared a holiday already. Outside 10 inches of snow waits to be shoveled and my Canadian man has geared up to shovel, since the man who blows snow for us has just undergone a knee replacement surgery. And, it had to be the heaviest snow!  So my older daughter gears up too, to help. She is excited to be out as is the little one heavy snow makes good snow people . So booted and jacketed from top to toe, the three head out each on their personal pursuits. I am at home trying to get my valentine's project for my kiddos, esp the little one finished - this is a big deal in our house and for some reason the kids have always been into it, the girls especially. And I try to draw energy from their enthusiasm and end up making Nutella cookies with my daughter's help yesterday.

Three hours and some later, I poke my head through the garage door to enquire about lunch and in unison they demand something warm and yummy.  I rifle through the fridge to see what I can rustle up at short notice. Like a scanner that beeps when it spots things, so to my eyes zoned in on the half used tofu, spring onions begging to be eaten before they go rotten, baby carrots and a big whopping piece of ginger. Pulling these out from the fridge I sprint downstairs to my other fridge to see what else catches my fancy and voila watercress.
I sprint back up, go to the pantry and get down some TJ vegetable stock. At this point I feel like I was on one of those cooking shows where they assign you one ingredient and you had to race to come up with some ideas around it.

I place my big pot on the stove, threw in some olive oil to sauté the veggies and then just like the last few clicks of a rubric's cube, things fell in place so naturally and believe you me, I have never heard my hubby rave so much about anything quite as much as he did about the soup. He also insisted I blog it right away so that I would archive the recipe for keeps.

RECIPE
For 6 hearty portions
Can be made in 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1medium bunch of watercress (as sold in whole foods)
• 6-8 baby carrots slit in 4 
• Half pack of extra firm tofu  cubed (Trader Joe brand)
• 1carton of vegetable broth (Trader Joe brand)
• 4 stalks of spring onions finely chopped
• 2 inches long and as thick of a ginger piece chopped roughly
• 1tbsp of sesame seeds (white or brown)
• 1tsp of olive oil

For the flavoring

• 1 heaped tbs of peanut butter
• 1tbs stir fry Szechuan sauce
• 1 tbs Sriracha sauce
• 1 cup of water

Method

1. In a pot, add olive oil and the sesame seeds. 
2. When they start turning golden, add the veggies and stir in high heat for a minute before lowering to a simmer
3. In a blender, add the chopped ginger to half the carton of veggie stock and blend smooth
4. Add to the pot and allow the veggies to cook in the ginger broth. Add also the rest of the broth. 
5. In the same blender, add the water, and all the flavoring ingredients and blend until smooth.
6. Now add this to the boiling soup
7. Allow the whole soup to boil for 2-4 minutes before taking off the flame.
8. Serve hot

I guarantee you that this will be a super hit plus it is such a quick recipe.

I have another wonderful preparation to share with you next time - until then stay warm or cool as the case may be.

Baked Zucchini Noodles with Pistachios and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Ever since I learned how, I have been making these and absolutely LOVE it  and make it at least once in 2 weeks - It is healthy, guilt free and what's more so tasty - dress it up with your favorite nut, some of your favorite cheese and if you want sauce and you've got yourself a wholesome no carb meal

For making these you need the sharp julienne peeler which will strip you zucchini into thin noodles - be mindful, these instruments are viciously sharp so please use caution while using it

How many zucchini's you use depends on how many people you are making for - I used 3-4 for  4 of us - While stripping, stop when you come to the seedy part of the vegetable. By then it will start breaking anyhow.

Instructions
Strip, arrange in a baking dish; crumble cheese, sun dried tomatoes and toss in some walnuts, some pepper - Do not salt now or it will become watery … salt before eating.

I broiled for 15 -18 minutes or until the cheese has melted - BTW, I used some goat cheese. SO GOOD!

Enjoy and repeat :)

Brussel Sprouts and Peanut Stir Fry

Sometimes, we can underestimate the quantity a certain vegetable can shrink to when steamed/cooked - Such shrinkage happened with the Brussel Sprouts that made the other day - Not enough to feed 2 adults and two perpetually hungry teens - So I did the next best thing - got creative and decided to boil some peanuts and bung it in. Could've well created the best combo ever with the baby cabbages. Enjoy this simple and simply delicious curry by itlsef or with some rasam or even chapatis.

Ingredients

• Brussel Sprouts
• 1 cup of  raw peanuts boiled
• 1 tsp of sesame seeds
• 2 red chilies
• 2tsp of olive/sesame oil
• cheese optional

Method

1. Dice into 4 and steam brussel sprouts for about 10 minutes
2. Boil peanuts simultaneously
3. In a frying pan, add the oil and splutter the sesame and red chilies
4. Add the sprouts and the peanuts along with some salt
5. Sprinkle a tsp of water and keep closed and cook for a couple of minutes
6. Serve as is or as side
7. As an Entree this could be served with freshly grated Cheddar  (extra Sharp) and /or Mozzarella melted or plain

Enjoy the goodness of this curry with the greatest relish

Apple-Cauliflower Soup

Listlessness. Exhaustion. Insomnia. Hence Inertia. This pretty much sums up the way I've been feeling for the past several weeks. I am not able to get myself to blog as often as I'd like to even if have made numerous delicacies and photographed some if not all of them. Give me some motivation guys - tell me something in your comments that makes me want to come back. I thank all the wonderful souls who have stopped by to comment on my blog - you are the reason I feel responsible to be consistent (to the best possible) with my recipes. 

Did I tell you that we got snowed in like the dickens and had no electricity or water (yes primitive living conditions in the most advanced nation - simply because we are on a well)  - Cold frigid nights, melting snow for water - need I say more - We have resolved to invest in a genie this year. 

Getting to recipe, this soup was conceived of a cauliflower waiting to be cooked and an apple, the last of the lot. I decided I would put them together and make this delicious soup (for the soul) and that's exactly what I did - My littlest one LOVES soups and she devoured it verily!

Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower hear 
• 1/2 onion (optional)
• 1stalk of celery
• 1 apple (I only buy Pink Lady apples)
• 1 can of evaporated milk (optional can be subbed with water)
• 1pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
• 1tsp of freshly ground all spice
• 1-2 tsp of olive oil

For garnishing since this is a rather mild soup

• 1 jalapeño (optional) or freshly ground pepper kernels, cilantro
• roasted almonds or cashews or freshly grated parmesan

Method

1. Cut cauliflower into florets
2. dice onions and apples and cook in olive oil.
3. Add the evaporated milk and let it all cook together
4. Add salt and remove from flame
5. Grind into a smooth soup 
6. Add the spices 
7. Pour back into pan and let it cook some more

Serve hot with recommended garnish

Baked Stuffed Zucchini

This wonderful dish is at once light, delicious and awfully simple to make. It can be light based on what you choose to stuff the zucchini with - If you are thinking mozzarella, cream cheese,  meat, or some other high calorie stuffing, think again - We had this dish at a local restaurant and even as we were eating it, I had resolved to make it. This falls under the gourmet category and certainly has the WOW factor when it comes to impressing your family, friends or a very special person in your life. So go ahead and give it a try - takes all of 30 minutes to make and the end result is most "appointing" - used as an antonym to disappointing :)

Ingredients

• 2- 3 medium sized fresh Zucchinis
• 1/3 cup of greek yogurt (I recommend Fage)
• 3 tbps of mascarpone ( entirely optional) Can be substituted with more greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp of Miscuglio (a fine blend of italian herbs and spices)
• Tomato Sauce - We made ours with diced tomatoes, garlic and some red chilies and italian herbs
• 2/3 cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese for topping before baking
• Olive oil for brushing
• Bread crumbs for sprinkling

Method

1. Set oven to 400
2. On the slicer side of the grater, make long thin strips of the Zucchini 
3. Arrange on a baking pan and gently brush with olive oil and bake for about 10 minutes
4. In the meanwhile, prepare your baking dish
5. Add the tomato sauce to the bottom of the dish and keep
6. In a bowl, mix the yogurt and the mascarpone together along with the Muscuglio. 
7. Remove Zucchini from oven and let cool for a few minutes (else the yogurt will get liquify in the heat)
8. Once cooled,  add a tsp of he yogurt mix to one end of the strip and roll the zucchini as shown in the pictures
9. Once all of them are made
10. Place gingerly on the tomato sauce in baking dish
11. Top with the smallest amount of break crumbs
12. Add the grated cheese over the rolls
13. Bake again at 400 for about 15 minutes 

Serve HOT :)

Garden Fresh Salsa

When you have a garden that gives you the freshest ingredients to make the finest salsa, I say, heck why not make the most of it! :) The garden truly is on its way out with the chill of Autumn setting in. Nevertheless that chilies are putting out their last produce for the season as are the tomatoes. The cilantro is still going strong although not for much longer, perhaps and the bell peppers are finally making an appearance. So whatchya waiting for? That's right! Get that salsa made already, will you?!
Chop up some onions and garlic and squeeze some fresh lime juice into the above ingredients and a smidgeon of salt and voila - And what is the secret ingredient? Habanero peppers of course :)
A quarter goes a looooooooong way so be judicious in your use of this dynamite pepper

Ingredients

• 2- 3 medium sized tomaotes
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 cup of fresh cilantro
• 1/2 habanero
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 2cloves of fresh garlic
• 1-2 tsp of lime/lemon juice
• salt

Method

1. Chop all ingredients finely if you do not have a mixer that can make the salsa for you
2. Otherwise, chop roughly and put in your vitamix or magic bullet and let it go until it is blended but retains some texture
3. Refrigerate immediately if you are not using right away

NOTE: this tastes best fresh or made half an hour before use - keep refrigerated for best taste.

Enjoy amigos!

Cashew-Peanut Vegetable Stir Fry

A nutty idea but trust me when I tell you you could eat it all up and hanker for more - This is another of those one the spot recipes - a new take on stir-fry which was hugely successful with the family - The only time it takes is to cut the veggies... and when it comes to cutting multiple veggies, I love to do it since I always get so turned on by the brilliant colors of them all and I feel like an artist creating amy own color palette.

Here are the veggies I used - 

• 1 each of orange and yellow and green peppers
• 1 perfectly juicy and ripe tomato (big)
• 1 big red/purple onion
• 2 small (long) eggplants

Nuts, herbs and spices

• A fist full of 
• cashews, peanuts, sesame
• 2tbsp Spicy Schezwan sauce

Plus 2 tsp of sesame oil to saute the veggies in

Method

In a wok/wide pan, heat oil and throw in the veggies

Cook until tender but still crunchy

Powder the nuts together

Add the sesame whole and the nut powder along with the sauce and stir until all the veggies are coated with these

Cook for a minute or two longer

Serve hot with noodles, chappatis or eat as is.

Broccoli & Coconut Usili Curry

This is the simplest and tastiest and healthiest broccoli preparation if one is looking to Indianize this green and great veggie. It is light and delicious and can be paired with chappatis or rice or couscous or can even be had as is. Takes 10 minutes flat to make and is highly satisfying.

Ingredients

• 2 medium broccoli bunches
• 1/2 grated coconut
• 2red chilies
• 1/2 tsp urad dal
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp oil

Method

1. Grate the broccoli with the bigger scraping side
2. Steam broccoli until tender (not soggy) this keeps the lush green color intact
3. In a pan, heat oil, add urad and brown
4. Add chilies and broccoli and turn in the pan
5. Add the salt and the grated coconut and let all the flavors blend
6. Serve as desired

Green Chili Thokku (Preserve)

My garden was bursting with green chilies and we kept collecting in the hope that we would get some spicy ones - Alas to our disappointment, although they were extremely aromatic and flavorful and raised our expectations no end about its spiciness. Ironically, they lacked the sting which is a quality all of us proper South Indians look for in our green chilies.  We have learnt now that we have to plant the different varieties of chilies at least a 10 feet away from each other because what can happen if you plant spicy ones and sweeter peppers side by side, one takes over the flavor of the other, in our case the sweet dominated the spicy :(  So a lesson learnt for next year. Joke is I had to use store-bought green chilies and a few red chilies to spice up my chili chutney (lol)  But it smells phenomenally good and and tastes incredible, esp with thachu mammu or yogurt rice; a fab spread on sandwiches and with chappatis and cheese...

Presenting to you my Green Chili Thokku/Preserve - also sharing a couple of fun art I made with them.

Ingredients

• 3lbs of Fresh green chilies 
• 4 thai green chilies (not required if you have spicy chilies already)
• 1/2 cup of urad dal
• 1tsp of tamarind paste
• 1/4 tsp of asafetida
• 1tsp turmeric
• 5tbsp Gingely/sesame oil
• salt
• Tempering with mustard seeds

Method

1. de stem the chilies and keep ready
2. In 2 tbsp of oil roast the urad dal until golden brown
3. In a wide pan add 2 tbsp of oil and add the green chilies and allow them to cook until lightly browned
4. Add the salt, tamarind and asafetida to this and stir for a little longer
5. Cool and grind 
6. Add a tbsp of raw sesame oil to the top to keep it preserved. Enjoy in any which way you want to :)

Chili Thokku

Colorful Veggie Stir Fry – Indian Chinese Style

Some days the sun shines brilliantly and makes for the best day to click some good pictures – especially of food – A day like that presented itself and I was beside myself with joy since I had invited some friends over for lunch and I was planning on making this veggie stir fry. Colorful veggies can be a big turn on for the gastric juices and a visual treat. And I hope to achieve this with this recipe. For those who see my FB page, you will have seen this as my "cover photo" and on the slide above on my homepage :)

This is an all too simple recipe, the only hard or interesting part (depending on how you view it) is the veggie cutting – I made this a fun chore and you can see the result of it in the pictures below.  A few ingredients to spice it up and I was good to go.

Here now is my recipe

Ingredients

Veggies of your choice

Hot stir fry sauce

1tsp Sambar powder

1 tsp or squirt of Sirarcha sauce

1tbsp Ginger

1tbsp Garlic

1tsp sesame seeds

1tsp of Asian spices

Nuts (optional)

1tbsp +2tsp of sesame oil
Fresh green Thyme to garnish (can use basil or other too)

Method

Heat 1tbsp oil

Add the garlic and ginger and sesame seeds

Roast till garlic is golden

Add the chopped veggies
Add all the spice powders – The sambar powder infuses a fine Indian aroma to this dish while the Asian Spices confirms that it is indeed a Chinese dish with an Indian twist JThe addition of Potatoes also lends some Indianness to the dish.

NOTE: If you are using potatoes, like I did, you may want to cook it for a few minutes in the microwave or steam them ahead of time for a 3-4 minutes

Cook on high flame stirring/tossing them

Once they are tender, but still crisp, add the sauce

IMPORTANT – The veggies should be Al dente and retain their shapes and their own individual flavors – that’s what makes this dish special

Serve HOT Over noodles or as a side with Jasmine Rice J

Serving with Whole Masoor dal "soup" & Pappads

This is my week 3 Cuisine of the month at AGC posting- Do check out my co-AGCians recipes - Anusha, Jayanthi,Kavi, Priya, Radhika, Roshni and Veena