Bhindi/okra curry

It's a cold and frosty morning as I blog this and snow showers of about 4-8 inches predicted, which pretty much means the kids will be out of school for the rest of the week, because where we live, this much snow is unprecedented and we are ill-equipped to handle it - besides, its all hills and valleys and makes it a lot more difficult to carry on snow-plowing operations. But it is a good day to blog about one of the most favorite and versatile green veggies - OKRA -Lady's fingers, vendakai or bhindi -

These have to be cooked when they are fresh - Did you know that picking okra is an art? yes I remember my mom buying okras from the ladies who cam around selling them, freshly plucked on their baskets balanced so casually on their heads! We could literally smell the freshness and see the green caterpillars that made their way into the basket too ... My mom would bend the tip of the okra and if they snapped off easily, they were tender and fresh - If they bent without breaking, they are over ripe or -Moothal so we would not take those.

We are not so lucky now, but I am thankful that I can get the veggie at all -- The indian stores here are not fond of people testing the tips of the veggie so I gently squeeze on the belly and see if it crackles or remains soft and submissive - you want submission, people!

Anyway, this is not news to Indians, but I thought my "foreign" friends woul be happy for this info. I know most of my friends from the 'south" make gumbo soup with this ... here is another way to consider using this fine veggie!

To serve 6-8 people

Ingredients
3lbs of Okra
2 tablespoons of oil
2 whole red chillies (optional)
3 tsp of curry powder (or sambar powder)
For Sautee
1/2 tsp of mustard seeds
curry leaves
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
a pinch of asafoetida

Preparation
Wash and cut the heads and tips of the okra
Cut them into small cylindrical shapes
Heat most of the oil in a big pan, pop the mustard seeds,
Add the turmeric, the red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves
Add the cut okra and stir it into the oil
Close with lid and cook for 3 minutes
Stir again and cook closed for 2 more minutes
Add the curry powder and salt
After adding, add the last bit of oil and keep open and roast briefly, making sure to maintain the greenness of the veggie.

Serve with phulkashttp://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/2011/01/phulkas-or-whole-wheat-chappatis-indian.html) ( and dal or any which way you fancy it - remember the love you cook finds its way into the bellies of loved ones :))

Ginger Garlic Broccoli

It's easy as ABC... and takes precisely 15 minutes to make this wholesome, healthful and superbly delicious dish/snack/ side --- however you choose to eat it. In this very blog, i will also blog the recipe for Butter Broccoli for your Baby....

Ingredients
1 broccoli head
6 - 8 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of ginger powder (fresh crushed ginger is even better)
1 tsp of olive oil to sautee
3 whole red chillies or if they are super long broken in halves (optional)

Preparation
In a pan, heat the oil, bung in the garlic and broccoli, and ginger
Take 2 tablespoons of water and add some salt to it and throw that into the pan as well
Be sure to be cautious with thee salt - It is easy to go over with this
Close and steam for 2 minutes
Open the lid and allow the water to evaporate
There you have it - A scrumptious dish!
Enjoy with lots of love

 The raw garlic and broccoli washed and ready to go!

 In the pan - adding the salt water

 Steaming for a couple of minutes

In your bowl - to ENJOY :))


Butter Broccoli for your Baby


If you have a baby or a 2yr old like I do, who sometimes gets influenced the right way after watching some TV, this is a great dish - She comes up to me this morning and says, I want to eat some brocklee" in as many words - I kid you not! She is a talker ... This request became a whine and the easiest way to quieten her was to make it

Preparation

Cut broccoli into small florets. And do exactly like you did with the version above without any of the extra ingredients. At the very end, add some butter and stir it into the broccoli - Served with tender and nurturing love~

It's ALL GOOOOOOD


Sending this to: Sara's Corner


And Akheela's

Veggie-Infused Phulkas or Chappatis (Indian tortilla) - An innovative twist to a most popular dish :)

So Chappatis/phulkas with a twist - You have your veggies, goodness of garlic and other herbs and carbs in one go - Isn't that a sweet deal :)

As you can see, I am on a roll here (pun intended :) For those who saw my recent blog on phulkas, Indian flat bread, you will know that I recently mastered the art of phulka making and am mighty proud and psyched by it. Enough to say that I decided I will try to be a bit more creative with it. It really helps to have a fussy 2 yr old - She LOVES chappatis and other dry finger foods, but to make her eat her veggies in their actual form has been a bit of a challenge - She does like some veggies and will have them without a fuss - but I reckoned that if i were to somehow insert the veggies into her "liked" food, she would have it so long as the taste does not change too dramatically. We do this even with her Vitamins - just crush them and add to her cereal and juice. 

I always grind the carrots and tomatoes and use that as the base for her upma, which too she likes, although she often says no - no umpa even as she is opening her mouth for a bite of it :)

For those friends who may not understand the difference between phulkas and chappatis, they are both made of whole wheat flour in exactly the same way, except, phulkas are semi cooked on a pan and then transferred on to open fire for the final puffing up - And too, phulkas usually do NOT have any ghee/butter or oil.

Here is my recipe - Again one of those quickie ones - I made about 20 start to finish in 45 minutes.

In Words

2-1/2 cups of whole wheat flour/atta

The strained juice of 2 carrots and one large tomato

3 cloves of garlic

2 sprigs of rosemary

salt

1/2 tsp of turmeric

1/2 of any curry powder/or spice

Preparation

In less than a tsp of olive oil, lightly sautee the garlic and rosemary and other spices to get rid of any raw tastes. Add to the veggies and blend

Strain out the pulp from the veggies into a bowl

To whatever amount of juice you get, add sufficient amount of flour - I added 2 and a half to the numbers of veggies I've used.

Knead well and make lemon sized balls

Roll out

Keep the Tawa or pan ready

Place one rolled out phulka on it and cook slightly on both sides.

Remove the pan from the fire

Holding the pan with the left hand (or right hand if you are a lefty) transfer the chappati on to the open fire (see pic below) 

Allow it to puff up, then transfer into a contatiner

Serve hot with favorite veggies and dal  - which I will be blogging after this one. Serve with Love :)

In Pictures

 The Veggies

 The spices

 In the blender, chopped

 Strain

 The juice

 Knead

And some more

 Roll into balls

 Roll out

 On the Tawa or pan

 On the flame, small puff

 getting bigger and...

 Viola and Presto! there you have it - a blow by blow pictorial demo :)

Shrooms and Garlic rice - Chinese style

I made 2 different kinds of this rice, first one I Indianized by mixing in some garlic podi from Grand sweets and snacks. This tasted good, but I think the second was an even bigger winner and deserves a place on this blog - Another healthy recipe with very little oil...so here goes

Ingredients
About 10-12 good sized shrooms (white ones)
Green spring onions - three stems
Garlic cloves- 4-5 crushed
4-6 green chillies (this can be adjusted according to tolerance levels
the juice of 1 medium sized tomato - strained
1 cup of basmati or jasmine rice
1 tsp of olive oil

Preparation
Cook the rice separately and keep warm
Dice and grind the tomato and strain the juice from the pulp
Finely mince the mushrooms, green chillies and spring onions
In  big pan, heat the tsp of oil, crush the garlic directly into it and add the veggies
Sautee for a couple of minutes before adding some salt and I used a dash of  seasoning herbs (I got a schezwan seasoning spice from Fab India on my recent visit) but any other asian seasoning will do just as well
You want to put just a dash literally!
Add the tomato juice and let it simmer for a minute
Break up the rice so it is nice and fluffy.
Add to the sauce and let it cook
The tomato juice will get quickly absorbed by the rice and will look moist but dry
Allow it to cook for a minute or so longer, stirring so it does not get burnt at the bottom

Serve hot with spring rolls on the side or enjoy as is...
Don't forget the key ingredient - Love - to make it and serve it

 The shrooms, onions and chillies vut and ready to go

 the tomato puree

  The crushed garlic sauteeing in the pan

                       The veggies saute

                    The final product

Bread Upma

This is always a quick and handy recipe which we resort to at least if not twice a month. My husband sometimes teases me that it looks like turkey stuffing - he used to not be a vegetarian, but that changed after marrying moi!
You want to eat light, and yet you want to pep up the simple bread so here's how you can do it...and in 15 minutes flat!

Ingredients

4 slices of multi-grain or whole wheat bread
2 table spoons of luscious buttermilk or yogurt
1 med-sized red onion
2 tablespoons of grated carrots
2 green chillies
A pinch of
turmeric
urad dal
asafoetida
cilantro, cashews and a tsp of molaga podi for garnish
1 teaspoon of olive oil

Preparation
Cut the bread
In a pan, heat the oil, add the condiments and allow the urad dal to brown
Add the chillies and onions
When the onions are brown, quickly dip the cut bread in the yogurt and directly toss into the pan
Cook with the rest of the ingredients until it turns crispy brown
Remove from flame and garnish with cilantro and or molaga podi and the cashews
Enjoy this savory treat
And Love it:))

Masalvadai

Two big memories crowd my mind when I blog this dish -- The famous cry in the Pondicherry beach (was it) for "Samsa, Masalada, Samsa" and my dance classes... I used to get off the bus on Big Brahmin Street and head on to Mme. Sinhas's dance class and tuition with Ms. Dasappa...the bus would drop us off on (I think it is anna salai) and at the very corner of the street was the Andhi Kadai - He always set up shop at 5 and made fresh hot vadais. Amma gave me a rupee which got me about 5 vadais - fresh off the stove, steaming hot. The other Andhi kadai delicacy was the fried kadala-paruppu which was 10 paise per sachet ... Just good  chick pea stuff :)) Good fuel for all the energy i was to expend dancing and doing math!!!!

Now I make my masal-vadais as a homage to Andhi Kadai Narayanan who in my memory still makes the best Vadais! Funny how we carry all our childhood memories and tastes with us!
Ok- Long enough walk down memory lane - now to business

In Words
Ingredients
1 cup channa dal or kadala paruppu or bengal gram
4-6 green chillies
Oil to fry
1 BIG red onion
curry leaves
asafoetida a pinch

Preparation
Soak for exactly 1 hour, the dal, curry leaves, chillies
Drain all the water our of the dal - NO water needs to be used for grinding-
Grind coarse in the blender - (Use spatula to move the batter around)
Cut the onions small
In a pan place 1 tsp of oil and lightly fry the onions for about a minute or 2
Add it to the ground atta/batter and mix in
Add some safoetida and salt as well and mix in

Heat oil to fry
Flatten a small ball of batter on to your palm and drop it into the oil.. repeat until your pan has a sufficient number
Brown and remove and eat HOT HOT HOT
The unspoken ingredient would be Love without which no measurements work!

In Pictures

Poondu Rasam/ Garlic Rasam/ Indian soup

It is the season for coughs and colds! The goodness of garlic is almost as famous as its flavor which I have grown to love after marriage - Amma hardly ever cooked with garlic with probably the yearly exception of making poondu rasam - I literally ran from this dish and amma would always have to make plain rasam for the few of us who could not stand the smell of it. Another growing moment happened 17 years ago when my husband cooked me pasta with a goodly amount of garlic! And now I wonder I have ever lived without it - I must quickly add that even now, i do not like the indiscriminate use of it in my preparations, but a subtle hint in the appropriate dishes only enhances the taste of it.
Poondu rasam has been a huge favorite among my kids and hubs and I make it at least once or twice a month.

Start to finish, this take me 30 minutes including pressure cooking the lentils

Ingredients

1/2 cup toor dal/thoram paruppu split peas pressure cooked with a dash of turmeric and oil
1 can of Hunts diced tomatoes
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon each of
coriander seeds
cumin seeds
black pepper
1/4 cup of grated coconut
4-6 cloves of garlic
1 table spoon of rasam powder


Preparation
Pressure cook the dal and keep
In a pot, heat a small amount of oilive oil (or oil of choice)
Lightly fry the cumin, pepper, coriander, coconut and the garlic
In a blender add the diced tomatoes and some water along with the fried ingredients and blend nicely

Back to the pot, pour the mix from the blender and allow it to cook, adding 1 more cup of water
When it starts boiling, get the dal ready by beating it with a hand blender and then pour into the boiling pot.
Add the salt

Sautee
In a saucepan, add some ghee/butter. Thadka some mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves.
Add to the rasam once the seeds have popped.
Sprinkle some crushed cilantro at the very end

Enjoy HOT.

As always, the key ingredient would be that pinch of love :))