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

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!

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

Colonial Virginian Peanut Soup

I got the opportunity to make this soup for a women's get together - Our host lived in a home built in the time of Jefferson's era and Monticello and we were excited to get a tour of the house. The theme for the potluck was also colonial. When the wonderful lady that organizes the events wrote to us the food she wanted brought, I plumped for the peanut soup - 1) another great soup to my repertoire 2) more importantly, I was for the first time in 10 years of living here making an authentic Virginian recipe - how cool was that! This soup is said to have some roots in Africa and could've have come to the US when the slaves were brought in (not times I like to dwell upon). But the fact that Virginia is so well known for peanuts, make it easy to assume that they found various uses for their peanuts and the soup was one of them.

I have made it twice so far, an this be my third attempt - Both the earlier occasions, I missed out on taking pictures, but this time I made the soup just to take the pictures, lol

I got this recipe off the web from Colonial Williamsburg's old King's Arms Tavern The recipe is quite simple and absolutely delicious. But it is pretty bland and using a little all spice and nutmeg took the soup to a whole new level of satisfaction

For those who know me well, I tried to make a less-guilty more contemporary version of this highly rich and fatty soup - without a single compromise to the taste, I guarantee.

So here goes.

Ingredients 

• ¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter (substitute with 1tbsp olive oil)
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 celery ribs, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons flour (NOT required - Soup is creamy and thick enough without this)
• 8 cups Chicken Stock* (or low-salt canned chicken stock)This I definitely substituted with Trader Joe's Vegetable broth)
• 2 cups smooth peanut butter (I used the natural kind from Skippy)
• 1 ¾ cups light cream or half-and-half (You can safely cut this down by a half or even less)
• Finely chopped salted peanuts, for garnish

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat ,heat the oil. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring often, until softened, three-five minutes.
2. Stir in flour and cook two minutes longer.
3. Pour in the broth, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until slightly reduced and thickened, about 15 minutes. Pour into a sieve set over a large bowl and strain, pushing hard on the solids to extract as much flavor as possible. Return the liquid to the sauce pan or pot.
4. Whisk the peanut butter and the cream into the liquid. Warm over low heat, whisking often, for about five minutes. Do not boil.
5. Serve warm, garnished with the chopped peanuts.

A perfect soup for winter days and autumn days, rainy days and basically any day :) Enjoy with friends and family - A lot more cooking chez moi - will be back soon with another winner recipe :)

Check my Facebook page for more pictures about the process