Persian Spinach and Black-Eyed Peas

This is a Persian recipe which I pulled out of WIKI (http://recipes.wikia.com/wiki/Persian_Spinach_and_Black-Eyed_Peas) when I googled Persian recipes to contribute to the AWED event
This again reminded me of our very own keerai kootu or spinach gravy curry and I add some legumes to my kootus simply because my kids love it

Here is how I made it

Ingredients

1 pack of frozen spinach
1/2 cup of black eyed peas boiled
1 tsp of tamarind pulp (instead of the suggest lemon juice)
I replaced the cinnamon and parsley recommended with cilantro and ginger powder
I did not have leeks so did not use it
Preparation
Followed the instructions on the website almost exactly except I mixed the tamarind in some water along with the spinach.
I am pasting the instructions below

1. In extra-large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add leeks and cook, stirring often, until wilted and tender, 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add spinach, parsley, scallions and 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook just until spinach has wilted, about 8 minutes.
3. Stir in black-eyed Peas, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook, uncovered, just until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Serve hot.

It was very tasty and I served it with home made chappatis and love :)
http://sweetartichoke.com/2011/01/06/a-w-e-d-event-announcement

Breaded Mozzarella (Bhajjis)

This is a cinchy quick fix if you are want to eat something cheesy and well - fried :) You gotta get in the fried stuff once or twice or month or, if you are like me, you will have a craving for it and go berserk when you get your hands on them -- Just a small dose of the bad stuff, every now and then :P

Ingredients:
Fresh Mozzarella balls diced to your preference (you do not want to cut them too thin)
For the batter:
1/2 cup of either gram flour or all purpose flour
spices of your choice (I used rosemary, and some herb De Provence)
For spicing
1 tsp ground peppers or
I used 1 tsp of rasam powder
1 cup of bread crumbs
Water to make batter consistency of pancakes or slightly thicker (FOR FLAVIA)

Preparation
Heat sufficient oil to fry
Make the batter fairly thick
Keep the mozzarella slices, the batter and the bread crumbs organized and follow the pick, dip, roll and drop formula
Pick up a slice, dip in the batter until it is covered
Then roll them a few times in the bread crumbs
Then drop them gently in the oil
Keep the heat in medium, so that the outer shell and the inner batter layer have time to cook - should not take too long at all -
When the color is just right (see photo) remove them from the pan and drain in a paper-toweled colander

Serve Hot - with your favorite dip -
I made a really quick yogurt dip which i will blog soon :) Happy snacking

Daily dose of fruits smoothie - Drink Up!

Ever since we got out Vitamix, which i want to say is about 4 years, at least, we have had the morning ritual of fruit smoothies going - I remember clearly, we were in Queenstown, NZ and every morning, we would walk down the main drag and there was this incredible smoothie/fresh juice place. The Fruits and veggies looked SO fresh and SO inviting and tasted SO delicious that we came back and as providence would have it, Sam's Club was having a promo on Vitamix, we grabbed one right away! I must say that the Vitamix has been the best addition to my kitchen helping me grind idli batter, giving me smoothies, lassies, chutneys, thogayals, soups  --you name it..Vitamix, I LOVE you!  But Any blender will do the trick!

Going back to the smoothie, I also learned,  from the several health shows I watch and health magazines and websites, to add a flax seed powder and wheat germs to the smoothie. We also add some Gojji  berries for good measure (these are available like dried raisins and are a great snack to have around as well) I found out too that Gojji berries are none other than our Yellandha Pazhams!!! Fancy that :)) Does that bring back the fond memories of LR Eshwari's crooning of that fruit?? yellandha payeh... It did for me:)) besides, my dear sister who does one helluva an imitation of LRE never lets me forget any of her songs...
But seriously the beauty is they blend in so well, unless you want to be fussy about it, it is totally unnoticeable. Now I present your 5 servings of fruits a day in one delicious glass - Drink up!

Here is the dope on Wheat Germ and flaxseed
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/benefits-of-flaxseed

Wheat Germ Can Be Used As A Natural Supplement

As with vitamin supplements, wheat germ can be used in the same way, but in a natural form.

Wheat germ is a good source of:

* B vitamins such as folate, niacin, thiamin, and vitamin B6
* Calcium
* Complex carbs
* Fiber
* Iron
* Magnesium
* Manganese
* Omega-3 fatty acids
* Phosphorous
* Potassium
* Protein
* Selenium
* Vitamin E
* Zinc

Ingredients: All the fruits you like, or are available (frozen or fresh)+ 1 tbs of Wheat germ + 1Tbl spoon of Flaxseed powder + 1 Table spoon of Gojji berries - Blended. -

NOTE: If your fruits are too sour and not sweet enough, add a couple of spoons of brown sugar or sugar substitute...You want to enjoy what you drink even if you're doing it to get your 5 servings of fruits 

Tip for moms with little ones who don't like their fruits - Blend the fruits and add their oatmeal or rice cereal and feed. MY little one has practically been raised on this since she started on solid foods.

Here's to a healthy start to your days :) Signing off with Love until I blog about my veggie smoothie :)

http://fussfreeflavours.com/

Clementine Orange Rasam/ Tradional Indian tomato-lentil soup with a hint of clementine

Oh My darling, Oh my darling, Oh my darling clementine season is upon us :)) The crates are home, esp with my son popping one in each time he passes the kitchen counter - But i had my first taste of it in the rasam tonight and I must confess (with modestly) that this was a superb impulse -

E-How describes Clementine oranges a cross between an orange and a mandarin orange. They were crossbred to be seedless, sweet and easy to peel. It is pretty much like what we in India referred to as loose jackets (with perhaps tighter jacket or santras and no seeds) Although on second thoughts, I think loose jackets could be tangerines

It really tasted amazing and I wish some of my blogger friends or even follower friends lived by me to taste it :))

Ingredients

1 can of diced tomato/tomato puree

1/4 cup of finely cooked and mashed toor dal (split pea) 

the pulp of 1 clementine orane

2 table spoons of rasam powder

cilantro to garnish

Ghee or butter to sautee with

Mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves to sautee with

Preparation

If you are using diced tomatoes, put in the blender along with the rasam powder and the dal and turn it for a minute to blend them together

Put in a deep pot and allow the blend to come to boil

Add salt

In a small pan, palce the ghee or butter - wait for it to heat and then pop the cumin and mustard seeds and the curry leaves.

Pour into the rasam or soup and swtich off the stove.

Peel the orange and run it in the blender until it is juicy

Pour into Rasam and serve HOT

As with lemon rasam, do not heat after - I have no proof of what might, since the pot was cleaned out :)

Love to please and tease your tastebuds

Sending this to Veggie Hut's winter warmers event!

Zucchini peel & Zucchini pulp Chutneys (Thogayals)

Two different tasting chutneys result from zucchinis - The peel chutney and the pulp chutney - Almost the same recipe goes for both as with all thogayals, but one stands on its own while the peel chutney gets a small dose of coconut - coincidentally, as I mentioned in my kadambam idli recipe, I made these chutneys and they color-coordinated perfectly with the the green and orange idlis (spinach and carrot)
In Words
Common Ingredients

2 zucchinis  peeled and cut
1 table spoon each of kadala parrupu (bengal gram)(channa dal) and Urad dal
3-5 dry red chillies (cayenne)
1 teaspoon of oil

For the peel thogayal
1/4 cup or roughly 2 tablespoons of grated coconut

For the pulp thogayal
1 tsp of turmeric

Preparation of the Peel

In a pan heat oil and add the dals and the chillies and fry. When they are light brown add the peel. Add the coconut and stir and cook for a few minutes until the coconut starts turning golden and the peels soften and flag

Remove from stove, cool and grind with some water.

Preparation of the Pulp
In a pan heat the oil, add the dals and the chillies and fry. Add the cut zucchini and allow to tenderize - Note that I tend to salt my chutneys now. Switch off the stove, cool and grind.

For both
Saute in a spoon of butter, curry leaves, mustard seeds and a pinch of asafoetida.
Enjoy with idlis or on sandwiches or use with rice.
Serving with love

In Pictures

Sending this as another entry to AKheela's Food palette Green

Idli Kadambam (A medley of Steamed Rice Cakes)

Happy Republic Day 2011 to all my friends and fellow bloggers
Sometimes patriotism can induce creative ideas :P My tribute to India and its flag with its most loved dish - IDLIS

So I decided to make tri-colored Idlis - Regular White Idlis, Regular Idlis with spinach and and some carrot Rava Idlis - I was tempted to make blueberry chutney for the wheel - alas! :( you'll just have to imagine that)

Very coincidentally and inadvertently I made some chutneys/thogayals that matched almost exactly with the green and orange idlis - I will be blogging these soon.

Regular Idlis 

You can also refer to http://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/2010/12/perfectly-pink-idlis-and-dosais.html for a detailed recipe for making idlis

4 cups Ponni Par boiled (available in Indian stores)

1 cup of Urad Dal

Soaked separately for 4-6 hours

 Ground finely separately and mixed with 3 tsps of salt - Allowed to ferment overnight

Consistency should be fluffy yet flowing

Spinach Idlis

Same procedure except

 You use 1 pack of frozen spinach (or 250 gms of fresh spinach)

Cook or thaw in microwave

Grind in blender using appropriate amount of water to grind Idlis

Use this blended spinach in place of water and allow to ferment overnight

NOTE: this blend takes a little longer than regular idlis - i am guess the iron in the spinach inteferes slightly with the fermenting process

I made idlis and dosais - According to my little on :Oscar idlis and Oscar dosais - (Oscar as in the Sesame Street character -Oscar the Grouch ;)

Fine dosais result too - 

Carrot Rava Idlis

Take 2 fresh carrots. peel them and snap them into smaller sticks. Add 2 cups of yogurt/thick buttermilk and blend very finely

I just added the amount of rava that I needed until I reached the correct consistency

Thadka with curry leaves, 1 spoon of ghee and mustard seeds (chillies optional) and mix in with the batter. Add the salt and set aside for about an hour

Then make them like you do regular idlis

Enjoy Y'all brought to you with love and national pride :)) Huamra Indian Mahaan!

 

I would like to send this to Twist the Traditional Idli event by Satya of http://www.myinnovativekitchen.com/2011/01/twist-traditional-idli-new-event.html

Crumpet Delight

This is a recipe from my daughter who pampered me after I returned, jet-lagging and out of it. She prepared this simple yet SO delicious breakfast for me. I am adding this to my own event of fast food not fat food

                           Plain crumpet

Ingredients
2 Crumpets or if you cannot find them - Uthappams
mayonnaise
spring onions (finely diced)
mushrooms (fiely diced)
marinara sauce (or make your own tomato based sauce)
Any pickle/chutney that you may have (optional)
cheese
Herb De Provence
Basil
Chilli flakes

Preparation
First toast the crumpets
Spread the mayonnaise, sauce and some oinon thokku (in this case)
Lightly sautee the veggies and sprinkle over it
Grate some cheddar/mozzarella cheese and add on top
Add your herbs
Microwave for 30-40 seconds to melt the cheese

Enjoy in less than 10 minutes
This was truly served to me with Love of the truest kind :)))