A Vegetarian Mediterranean Brunch menu

So I was up early this morning (if you consider 6.15 am early for a Sunday morning). I was going to have some relatives over and I had no clue what to cook, except for the fresh vegetables and ingredients I had for inspiration. Since 'what to cook' and 'how to plan the menu' is pretty much the biggest problem for most cooking enthusiasts, I've decided I'll share my menus whenever I end up cooking something fun like today.

I shopped for some of the ingredients at Total Mall (Sarjapur) picking up some interesting stuff from the Pesticide Free section. The baby carrots and baby bell peppers in bags were pretty much the inspiration for this menu. Then I decided to add a simple pasta dish to the menu. The unbelievable heat at this time of the year was the inspiration for the juicy watermelon-grape-feta salad. And because I have a no-fail Focaccia recipe that I often fall upon, and I had some extra time on hand and I knew the oven would be running for the other dishes anyway, I added that to the list. The dessert was an after thought, but there's a divine eggless chocolate dessert on Aparna's blog that doesn't involve much effort or ingredients, but is sure to be a win. I tried it for the first time today and it sure wont be my last. I wish I had taken pictures of them all, but apart from a couple of pics during prep, I don't have any to share.

Menu

Rosemary Onion Focaccia

Watermelon-Grape-Feta salad

Baby bell peppers stuffed with herb garlic millets

Roasted baby carrots with shallots

Penne in Marinara sauce with hidden veg

Chocolate Creme pots for dessert

Rosemary Onion Focaccia 
Adapted from this Bon Appetit recipe, I skip the chilling overnight step.

Watermelon-Grape-Feta salad with fresh basil
Follow my recipe, but add sweet red grapes and use basil instead of mint

Baby bell peppers stuffed with Herb & Garlic Millets (can be made vegan)
Cut out the tops and scoop out seeds and membranes from bell peppers. Cook millets as per this recipe. Saute finely chopped garlic, onion, carrots, sprouted moong in olive oil. Add plenty of fresh basil and the cooked millets. Season with salt, pepper, chilli flakes and dried basil. Stuff the bell pepper halfway with prepared millets. Add a chunk of mozzarella cheese for a surprise and fill it with millets till the top. Cover with the cut out bell pepper tops which will serve as a lid. Brush with oil and bake at 200C for 20 mins. This recipe is vegan if you omit the cheese.

Roasted baby carrots and shallots (vegan)
Follow this recipe  adding shallots along with the carrots. Toss with olive oil infused with sea salt, fresh or dried rosemary and black pepper. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes. These carrots were really small so didn't need longer baking time.

Penne in hidden veg marinara sauce (vegan)
Adapted from this video 

Chocolate Creme Pots (eggfree, vegetarian)
Eggless dessert from Aparna's blog

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Cauliflower Potato Cold Salad with Middle-Eastern Flavours

Summer is upon us. As usual, the desire to heat piping hot food has evaporated in the heat. Cold salads, smoothies, seasonal fruits and lots of yogurt are all that I'm craving for.

While I love to make (and eat) Tandoori Cauliflower where partly blanched florets are marinated in a onion-tomato-ginger-garlic-spices paste and baked off in oven for 20 minutes, even that is no incentive to turn on the oven in this kind of weather. So the plan took a turn from Tandoori to cold Middle Eastern Salad.


The bottle of Tahini and the spices like sumac, za'taar, dried mint were calling out to me and the idea of tossing just tender cauliflower and potatoes in a Middle Eastern dressing and spices was too appealing.
It's another quick recipe that doesn't need you slaving near the stove for anywhere more than 5-10 minutes.





Although I am a vegetarian, I think the same recipe can be followed using cooked or grilled chicken breasts to make a meal by itself, or combine the chicken with vegetables.

Cauliflower Potato Salad
Time taken- Under 20 minutes
Serves 3-4
Salad or Main Course


Ingredients
4 cups of medium sized cauliflower florets
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 tsp salt


Dressing
1/4 cup Tahini
1 cup yogurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Za'taar
1/2 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1/2-1 tsp red chilli flakes or powder
Upto 1 tsp salt
Pinch of sugar (optional)


For garnish
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
Few mint leaves
Pinch of sumac (optional)
Pinch of Za'taar or dried mint


Directions

1. In a large pan, bring two cups of water to boil with 1 tsp salt. Add the washed cauliflower florets and cubed potatoes to this. Cover and cook till just tender, around 7 minutes or so. Drain immediately until dry and keep chilled until dressing is ready.
2. Mix all ingredients for dressing in a medium sized bowl. Reserve a few spoons of dressing to pour over the top in the end.
3. Remove the vegetables from the fridge and toss well with tips of fingers in the dressing until coated well.
4. Arrange on a platter. Top with pomegranate, mint leaves, sprinkle dried mint, sumac and za'taar over this.
5. Refrigerate until serving time.

P.S.

If you notice somewhat better pictures in this post, it is thanks to my new Canon EOS550D and the 50mm/1.8 lens. Any links for SLR newbies are welcome. This is my FIRST food shot with the new camera and it is therefore special to me :)

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In search of a good vegetarian Stroganoff - Mushroom Stroganoff

I have been glued and addicted to watching Masterchef Australia on Star World. It is the classiest reality show to be aired on Indian television, in my humble opinion, of course. Trolls, please excuse. What's a vegetarian's interest in watching this predominantly meat based show, you may wonder. It is the passion for food, the techniques, the presentation, the tips given by the stalwarts in the field, that make this show very endearing to the foodie in me.

When a couple of weeks ago, they made the Beef Stroganoff in an elimination challenge, I liked the way the dish had layers of flavour to it. I just had to find the right substitute to the beef and serve it with some plain steamed rice or spaghetti.

Also, I had to look around for authentic paprika, which is essential to this Eastern Europen dish. Some of the Indian spice brands sell spice bottled as paprika, but it is essentially just chilli powder. Finally, I found this real paprika, in the Waitrose aisle of Hypercity. Pricey, but authentic and the husband egged me on to put it our trolley and take it home.

Here are some of the recipes that I found good to try out -

Mushroom Stroganoff with mustard and chive mash from The Vegetarian Society

Rose Eilot’s Mushroom Stroganoff from The Guardian

Vegetarian mushroom stroganoff from Mushrooms.Canada website - which is the one I adapted.

 

I had some fresh button mushrooms, dried oyster mushrooms and another variety of large sized dried mushrooms that our friend had gotten us from Bangkok. Combining the three, I had a good mix of flavours and textures to proceed with a recipe.

 

 

My Version of Mushroom Stroganoff

Adapted from Mushrooms.canada

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients

1/2 cup of dried oyster mushrooms or any other dried mushrooms

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves finely minced garlic

1 large onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp of fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp of dried thyme

1/2 tsp of fresh marjoram or 1 tsp dried marjoram (optional)

10-12 sliced button mushrooms (upto 200 grams)

1/3 cup tomato puree

1 vegetarian stock cube (I used Maggi seasoning cubes)

30-45 ml of brandy or sherry or red wine

1 tsp English mustard

1 tsp paprika (substitute with Kashmiri Chilli powder if you cant find paprika)

1/2 cup sour cream 

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp salt or to taste

To serve

3-4 cups of steamed rice or Spaghetti cooked according to instructions and tossed in olive oil with some dried or fresh herbs

Preparation

First, wash the dried mushrooms under running water and then soak in 1-2 cups of hot water, cover the vessel and keep aside for 10 minutes. You can either snip the soaked mushrooms under the water or drain them and chop into even sized pieces. Do NOT throw away the water in which they were soaked as it is full of flavour and we will be using it later to build the sauce of the stroganoff. 

Directions

1. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, fresh thyme and marjoram. Saute on medium heat, till they are soft.
2. Add the chopped fresh and rehydrated mushrooms, stir well to mix with the aromatics. Let this cook on medium flame till nearly done, say 5-7 minutes. 
3. Add the tomato puree and cook it off for 2-3 minutes on high flame.
4. Add the stock cube, the water in which the mushrooms were soaked. Cover and let this simmer till the mushrooms are soft, for about 5 minutes.
5. Next, add the brandy, mustard, paprika. Make a slurry of cornstarch in a little cold water and add it to the simmering stroganoff along with the sour cream. Add some water if you think the sauce is drying out. Add salt and let this simmer for 5 minutes until all the flavours infuse into the mushrooms. 
6. The final dish should be a stew of very flavourful mushrooms in a good quantity of thickish sauce that you can eat the rice / spaghetti with.

I was tasting stroganoff for the first time and I quite loved it. I had prepared this in the afternoon and by dinner time, the flavours had intensified. It went perfectly well with the mild spaghetti. The husband relished it thoroughly too. Will I be making this again? You bet, I will.

Making sour cream at home

Collect the cream from the top of boiled and cooled milk for 3-4 days and storing it in freezer. Once you have half a cup of cream, remove this in a cup and add a tsp of yogurt to it and mix well. The cream will sour in 5-6 hours, depending on the weather. Keep it for longer if the weather is quite chilly. Refrigerate the sour cream in an airtight container for a day or so, until use or in freezer if you are not going to use it soon.

Shopping for ingredients in Hyderabad

• Dried oyster mushrooms - available at Spar, Begumpet - for around Rs.20 a pack. Look in the Noodles / Chinese ingredients aisle
• Real paprika - Waitrose shelf in Hypercity, Inorbit Mall or you can buy the Keya's Kashmiri Paprika
• Fresh Thyme, Marjoram - Spar, Begumpet ; Dried herbs in any Fabindia or Keya's brand in most supermarkets

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Moroccan Chickpea stew

Update: Starting this post, I will try and list the places where you can procure ingredients that feature in the recipe, if it is not a regular pantry item. Since I am currently located in Hyderabad, I will be featuring places from this city, and the areas I am familiar with. Readers are welcome to leave their comments about availability of such ingredients in other parts of Hyd / other cities.

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A few weeks ago, a fellow foodie friend dropped by home and told us how he loves to dish out Moroccan food in his kitchen and how he managed to get a local potter to make him the tagine dish too! The foodie in me did not need more kindling than that to start craving a hot pot of Moroccan stew with robust flavours, not very unlike our Indian flavours.

My first brush with Moroccan cuisine was in the Momo Moroccan restaurant in London a few years ago. The vegetable stew and couscous was just perfectly spiced and delicious to suit my vegetarian palate. Chickpeas are another common ingredient in Moroccan cuisine and a chickpea stew sounded like the perfect way to satisfy the cravings.

You can easily pair this stew with some hearty bread like ciabatta or a rye loaf. Couscous is fairly easily available in most Metros. [See end of post on where to buy couscous in Hyderabad.] I usually give a laundry list of foodie items to the husband when he travels abroad and he is only too happy to comply.I don't call him my (eating) partner for nothing!

I adapted from a Food Network recipe - Recipe courtesy Dave Liebermann

Recipe for Moroccan Chickpea Stew

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 cup dried chickpeas

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
1 large onion, thinly sliced
6 cloves garlic, crushed roughly
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 cup chopped tomatoes
3 cups water plus 2 cubes Maggie Super seasoning or 3 cups of Vegetable stock
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1-2 cups of fresh greens (I used spinach)

Preparation

Soak the chickpeas in lot of water with a pinch of baking soda (optional) for 6-12 hours

Directions

Drain the chickpeas - cover with 2 cups water and pressure cook for 10 minutes, till soft but not mushy. Keep aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the oil. Saute the onion and garlic on a low flame till soft and cooked, around 7-8 minutes.

Add the spice powders, chopped tomatoes, boiled chickpeas with water and seasoning cubes.

Taste before adding salt as the seasoning cubes contain salt.

Simmer for 7-8 minutes on low flame for the chickpeas to absorb the flavours and the tomatoes to cook.

Add the roughly chopped greens. These will wilt in a couple of minutes.

Grind some black pepper on the top and serve hot / warm with bread or couscous.

For directions on How to Prepare Couscous, check my post on Couscous with roasted Vegetables

Places to buy couscous in Hyderabad

SPAR - Begumpet

QMart - Road 2, Banjara Hills

Hypercity - Inorbit Mall, Cyberabad

Places to buy gourmet breads in Hyderabad

Deli 9, various outlets

Sweet Nirvana Patisserie, Madhapur

Beyond Coffee, Road 36 Jubilee Hills

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Couscous with roasted vegetables - Happiness in minutes

Sorry, sorry, sorry - for this long absence from the blog. Each time I thought it was time to get back here, something would come up and I would think that deserved more priority. Now I realize, that with a baby on hands, baby will always be priority, but I've got to assign some degree of priority to other things in life as well, blog included.

Today was a nearly perfect day - with things going as planned, rains generously hitting the city, water crisis in the house somewhat better, chores getting done before schedule and one dirty window sill cleared of pigeon droppings, and me managing to catch 2 episodes of Jeeves and Wooster in the afternoon while Atri was sleeping. And hey, the little boy entertained himself with a kitchen towel, a tomato and a cooker-vessel. Was that a sign??

If so many nice things in one day could not propel me to start posting on this beloved food blog, then probably nothing could. Besides, what I cooked this evening for supper turned out so colourful and camera friendly, especially to a person behind the camera who off late has been clicking just her baby.

It's a simple couscous and veggies, one plate dish - very high on the health quotient and surprisingly high on taste factor too....in short it is a speedy way to make ourselves happy at dinner time. You can choose any variety of squash on hand as an addition along with any number of fresh herbs as a garnish. I used what I had on hand and the result has turned out superb. Next time I will also consider throwing in some eggplant wedges to roast along with the other veggies. I have added Nutrela granules to up the protein content, but it is optional.

Couscous with roasted vegetables
Makes one generous plate
Time taken - Under 30 minutes, but under 5-7 minutes of active time

Ingredients
1/2 cup couscous
2 tbsp Nutrela granules
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 - 2 cups boiling hot water

1 tbsp olive oil
4-5 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 medium carrot - peeled, cut into diagonal slices
1/2 medium beet - peeled, cut into diagonal slices
1 medium green bell pepper - cut into strips
1 small onion - peeled, cut into thick slices
1/4 cup shredded cabbage
Handful of frozen peas
2-3 green chillies, whole
1 tsp dried oregano (I used one sachet of oregano seasoning that comes in with pizza delivery)
Fresh basil leaves and freshly ground black pepper to garnish




Directions
Place the couscous, Nutrela granules and salt in a large bowl and pour a cup and a half of boiling water on the top. Mix with a fork, cover and let it sit for 5 minutes. If it gets too dry, add some more water, cover and wait a few more minutes, before fluffing up with a fork. Keep aside.

In a large skillet, heat a tbsp or more of olive oil. Throw in smashed garlic cloves, let them turn light brown on a medium flame. Next add all veggies except frozen peas (if using fresh shelled peas, then add that in along with the rest). Turn them around on a medium-high flame for 2-3 minutes. The veggies must not overcrowd the skillet - let them be spread out in a layer as they get roasted on a low to medium flame for 7-10 minutes.

Season with salt, pepper and oregano. You can add some chilli flakes for extra spice.

Spread the couscous on a large plate and transfer the roasted veggies over it. Flavour with some extra virgin olive oil on top, fresh basil leaves and more freshly cracked pepper.

Dig in.

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Orange-Sesame Soba Noodles

There are some recipes that the minute you lay your eyes on them, you know it's going to taste great. And you can't wait to make it and taste it yourself. This was one such yummy recipe that I came across in Prevention magazine a couple of months ago. It featured soba noodles, which I had in the pantry; peanut butter which I had just made a bottle of; fresh oranges for the dressing and there was nothing to stop me from trying this one out.

The result was so delicious that the hubby and me lapped up the noodles with our chopsticks in pin drop silence, except for the 'hmmm this is good' every two minutes. If you don't have soba noodles, try this out with any sturdy noodles, because the dressing is to die for.

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Recipe for Soba noodles in a sesame-orange-peanut butter dressing
Category : Asian cuisine, Vegetarian Asian, One dish meal
Serves : 2
Time taken : Under 20 minutes

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Noodles
2 portions soba noodles (about 250 gms)
Cook the noodles as per directions,remove and rinse in cold water and drain. Keep aside.

For dressing, in a jug, whisk together :
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 tsp finely grated orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 to 1 tsp red chilli powder
(Have a taste of the dressing to adjust the salt depending on the salt in the soy sauce. It's quite addicting. I must have taken several licks of this :)

Vegetables
Lightly steam 1 cup julienned beans and thin carrot sticks from 2 medium carrots OR Microwave for 3 minutes with pinch of salt and sprinkles of water.

Bringing it together
In a large bowl, toss the noodles with the steamed vegetables. Pour the dressing over the tossed noodles and toss well to coat evenly.
Top with diagonally sliced spring onion greens.

Serve warm or cold. You can prepare this in advance and serve it the following day so that the noodles can absorb all the flavours of the dressing. This kind of combination was very new to me, and the orangey-peanut butter dressing is something I want to make again very soon.

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Weekend Breakfast Blogging # 21 is being hosted at 100% Microwave cooking and the theme is Microwave Breakfasts. Last date for entry is 30th April, 08. Event details here.

After I lost all the matter on the sidebar widgets, I've prepared an exclusive WBB Archives & Updates page - which links up to all the previous 20 editions, plus who's hosting next etc. Anyone who is interested in hosting, please leave a comment on the WBB page and I shall get back to you soon.

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Tags: soba noodles, peanut butter dressing, asian vegetarian recipe, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

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Steamed vegetable manchurian in gravy

I have written about Indo-Chinese food earlier on, in this space. One episode of Vir Sanghvi's A Matter of Taste was dedicated to this cuisine [he calls it Sino-Ludhianavi cuisine], its origins in India and its evolution. While the taste is absolutely lip smacking and addictive, it can be very high in fat content. The ingredients are fried on a high heat and to keep them from burning, large quantities of oil are used, which is why you see the rich gloss on the noodles and rice served.

One of my early favourites during my introduction to Indo-Chinese food was the vegetable manchurian. The manchurian balls are made using finely minced vegetables, coated with corn flour mixed with spices and deep fried till golden brown. These crispy balls can then either be coated with a mix of sauted ginger - garlic bits to make a dry cocktail snack. These balls can be floated in a spicy tangy sauce to serve as a main course dish with rice or noodles. Bits of minced meat, fish or chicken can be used as a base to make the balls to suit the meat-lover's palate.

I'm alright with eating the fried manchurian in places like Dynasty (my favourite Indo-Chinese eating joint near my place), but since I hate deep frying at home, plus because I think deep frying is the most non-creative way of cooking - i decided to try the steaming method.

In the deep fried method, the main veggies used are cabbage and carrots, which are relatively dry compared to gourds, which is why I used a portion of watery gourd to give the volume and lightness while steaming, going by the logic that using very dry vegetables in the balls would lead to tough bouncy balls after steaming.

My logic did work this time and post steaming the manchurian turned out light and well cooked inside, and they increased in size by 50% - without any addition of baking soda or powder whatsoever.

After soaking them in the sauce, they became even more succulent and flavourful on absorbing all the flavours from the sauce.

So when in mood for healthy Indo-Chinese, I would surely go for this dish with a plate of plain noodles or lightly spiced rice and greens.

You can even wilt a bunch of your favourite greens to make a heartier sauce. This can be thinned out to a soup like consistency too - a dumpling soup kinda.



Steamed vegetable manchurian

For the manchurian balls

1 loosely packed cup grated bottle gourd or zucchini
2 medium carrots, finely grated
2 cups finely grated or minced cabbage

Upto 1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp finely minced / grated ginger
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper powder

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients, except flour.
Add flour gradually, while kneading, without using any water. The salt will drain out the water in the gourd. Add upto one cup flour until you get a soft pliable, non sticky dough.

2. Place 4-5 cups of water in the steamer, bring to a boil.

3. Make small balls - about over an inch diameter and arrange them on the oiled perforated vessel to be kept in the steamer. You could also use a bamboo steamer or idli maker.

4. Steam for 10-12 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the balls comes out clean.

While the balls are steaming, you can get the sauce ready.

For sauce:

2 fresh green / red chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
4-5 flakes of garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp oil
1 green bell pepper or carrot, cut into strips
1 medium red onion, finely sliced
1 cup chopped spring onion greens
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp wheat flour dissolved in one cup water
1 cup water or vegetable stock

Directions to make sauce

1. In a large wok, heat a tbsp of vegetable oil. On high heat, saute the chillies, ginger and garlic for a few seconds.

2. Add the bell pepper, onions and half the spring onion greens, rapidly stir on high heat for 1-2 minutes, till somewhat cooked yet crunchy.

3. Add the soy sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper, stir well.

4. Pour into the wok the wheat flour-water mixture. Let this come to a boil and thicken.

5. Adjust the thickness of the sauce to your liking, using the remaining one cup water or stock.

6. Garnish with remaining spring onion greens, put in the steamed balls. Let this come to a simmer. Let the balls soak in the sauce for around 15 minutes before serving hot with rice or noodles.

We loved this dish. Steaming really did not take away anything from the dish, in fact we had more pleasure in eating knowing that our dinner was a whole bunch of healthy steamed and sauteed veggies.

Try it out and it is sure to surprise you, that something so healthy can be so yum :)

What you can serve this with-

Chinese style Cucumber Salad
Fried rice
Ginger Sesame Hakka Noodles
Mango Pudding

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Farka - a Tunisian breakfast porridge

(If you love trying out something new, then do prepare something ethnic for breakfast, something different from your own culture and send it across to Glenna for WBB #14 by 27th August, 10 pm Central Time, details here)

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Picking a recipe from a place I've never visited and preparing it to the best possible level using locally available ingredients gives me a kick of experiencing at least part of the culture of the place. After all, food is a large part of one's culture.
Ever since Glenna announced an ethnic theme for WBB, but different from your own culture, I have been doing searches and looking up a couple of world cuisine books to see what vegetarian breakfast I can make.

All the research narrowed down to a North African breakfast dish from Tunisia called Farka. According to Wiki Cookbook -

Tunisian meals have shown to incorporate various traditional cuisines from the surrounding ares of the Mediterranean, North Africa, and many Arab countries. For this reason, it is no surprise that Tunisian recipes incorporate many of these traditions including couscous and generous amounts of seasonings and spices. It goes without saying that it is almost guaranteed that any single Tunisian entree will be prepared with peppers, since the Tunisians enjoy a rather spicy meal. Also, Tunisian meals are considered social events, so expect a typical collection of dinner recipes to contain several appetizers, a selection of main dishes, and a vast array of desserts.

Traditionally Farka is cooked with couscous, sugar, oil & water - enriched with nuts and dates, the mix is baked off in an oven and served with extra milk and sugar. While you would think, this seems like dessert, Tunisians actually have it for breakfast. And you could too....reduce the sweetness a bit and it is actually a healthy whole grain breakfast, high in fiber and protein.

I have modified the recipe to suit the availability of ingredients and the time on hand.


Tunisian Farka
Category - Breakfast porridge, Whole grains
Time taken - Under 30 minutes
Serves - 2
Recipe Source - Adapted from here

Ingredients
1 tsp ghee
1/2 cup broken wheat
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp jaggery
2 tbsp mixed nuts and dried fruit, chopped
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger or 1/4 tsp dried ginger powder

Prepared ingredients for Farka

Directions
1. Take ghee in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the broken wheat along with chopped nuts to the pan and saute on low flame for 3-4 minutes. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, keep 1 1/2 cups water to boil adding in the sugar, jaggery and grated ginger.
2. Once the water has come to a boil and the broken wheat has turned golden brown, add the sweetened water to wok over the wheat. Close the wok with a lid and let this simmer (on a low flame) till wheat is cooked and the water is absorbed. This will take 5-10 minutes depending on the size of the broken wheat particles. (See pressure cooking shortcut in notes)
3. Once the wheat is dry and almost cooked, add in 1/2 cup milk, stir well and keep covered for 2 minutes until it is absorbed and the grains are fluffed up. Switch off the stove and keep this covered for another 10 minutes, till all the moisture is absorbed and the porridge is dry.
4. Serve warm with some extra milk by the side to add if necessary.

Notes

• You can try this porridge with any whole grains you have on hand - eg. couscous, bulghur, semolina (not very fine).
• Use of ginger is entirely optional, I prefer some spicy notes in any sweet dish to make it suitable for my kapha constituency (Ayurvedic body type). You could substitute it with cinnamon or cardamom too, or leave it plain. To find your dosha (Ayurvedic body type), take the quiz here.
• Jaggery is my preferred sweetener, it also gives a rich golden colour to any dish. You could use plain sugar, demerara sugar or any sweetener that works for you.
• Instead of cooking it off in the wok, you can also transfer the sauteed broken wheat with the water into a small pressure cooker and pressure cook for 5 minutes, taking care that there is enough water to prevent the mixture from burning.

This is my submission for Weekend Breakfast Blogging # 14 hosted by Glenna of A Fridge Full of Food.

Tags: north african cuisine, tunisian recipe, breakfast, tunisian breakfast recipe, farka, WBB, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

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Ratatouille with Cochiglie Rigate - Dinner last night !

(Inspired by the cute promos of the Pixar movie - Ratatouille (Rat-a-too-ee) in the papers. This movie releases in India on August 24)

We all have a slight hesitation when it comes to cooking foreign foods in our kitchen especially because of the unavailability of some ingredients and also doubting its acceptance by the people we are cooking for. But there are some dishes like Ratatouille that can be tried in any world kitchen due to its simple ingredients and procedure.

It is a traditional French Provencal stewed vegetable dish that originated in Nice. You can either have it as a meal by itself or serve it with simple bread, rice or mashed potatoes. I've discovered that using it as a chunky hearty sauce with your favourite pasta will make it an unforgettable meal. The people you serve this to, will want to kiss your hands for the rest of their lives. So be careful, whom you serve it to!!


Ratatouille with pasta
Category: French-Italian fusion
Time Taken: 30 minutes
Serves: 3 or two really hungry people
Source: Adapted from Sara Moulton's recipe

Ingredients
1-2 tbsp olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic – peeled, smashed and chopped
1 large onion - thinly sliced

1 cup diced eggplant (Use the big sized roasting variety eggplant)
1 large bell pepper, cut into short strips
1 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 ½ cups chopped tomatoes (with seeds)
1 loosely packed cup finely shredded spinach

200 ml tomato puree (unsalted)
1 tsp red chilli powder /chilli flakes
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp crushed coriander seeds
1/4 tsp crushed fennel seeds
½ tsp dried thyme
½ cup basil leaves
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper powder

For pasta
Take 1 ½ cups of your favourite pasta (short variety like penne, spirals, conchiglie )
A large pot of salted boiling water
Cook pasta according to pack instructions, drain and keep aside.

For Ratatouille
In a large soup pot / saucepan, heat 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Start with the smashed, chopped garlic, saute for a few seconds. Do not brown. Add the sliced onions with a fat pinch of salt and stir it on a low flame for 3-4 minutes till soft.

Put it in the diced eggplant and bell pepper strips. Stir this occasionally until they are half done. This will take about 4-5 minutes. Next, add the zucchini, mushrooms and tomatoes. Season with chilli powder, remaining salt and cook for 5 minutes till vegetables are cooked. Lastly throw in shredded spinach, stir for 2 minutes until the leaves wilt and blend with the rest of the vegetables. Add spices and dried herbs, torn basil leaves, black pepper powder and give it a good stir.

Add the cooked pasta and combine well with ratatouille. Serve hot garnished with some more shredded fresh basil.

Notes:

1. It is not necessary to chop all vegetables before you place the pot on the stove. Just keeping the garlic and onions chopped, the remaining vegetables can be chopped and thrown while the previous ingredients in the pan are cooking.
2. The red chilli powder is added to give it more flavour as it is combined with bland pasta.
3. You can substitute the oregano and thyme with herbs de Provence if you have it on hand.
4. It is a very good idea to double / triple the recipe and freeze the extra portions. You will be rewarded for the extra effort, on a day you come back home late and you have this splendid meal waiting for you in the freezer.
5. This is a great way to use up any leftover vegetables in your fridge as you can add almost any non-starchy veggie into the pot.
6. Eggplant with pasta may seem like a crazy idea, but do try it once. You will be fascinated by the amalgamation of flavours and I can guarantee that the plates will be licked clean.

Let me add that this was the best pasta meal we've ever had (yes, hubby agreed with me too) and we had to give it a equally grand finale like a shot of the golden Remy Martin XO!

Tags: Italian, French, ratatouille, low-fat, vegetables, pasta, vegetarian, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

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Eggplant dip and Red Bean dip - Party starters

Dip, dip, dip!

Sometimes, you just want something light to nibble for dinner. While I've labelled this recipe under Party Starters, you need not necessarily have a party to enjoy this kind of finger food. This is perfect stuff to share with your partner while watching your favourite movie on a Friday evening.

My evening menu this Friday was oven baked roti chips, plenty of them to dip into an oven roasted eggplant dip called the Badenjan dip and a red kidney bean dip. The Badenjan dip is quite different in preparation and taste, from the Baba Gannouj which I've shared earlier with you. While it may sound light, it is quite filling as the components are the same as any other Indian meal - Chips (roti), Eggplant dip (Vegetable) and Kidney bean dip (Dal / Lentils). This can be served with a salad like Fattoush and you have a complete meal.

For a party, I'd highly recommend Nigella's own spread for exotic evenings from her book Feast - Pita chips with Eggplant dip, Red bean dip, Fattoush, a Bulghur salad and the tiny lamb meatballs. You can get recipes for the entire exotic menu from her Nigella Feats show.

Eggplant goes exotic!

Badenjan Dip / Roasted eggplant dip with pine-nuts and mint

Category - Dip for toasted pita chips or pita bread, Party starter
Serves - 4
Time taken - 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on how you roast the eggplant
Source - Nigella Feasts

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ingredients

1 large roasting eggplant to make about 1 1/4 cups when roasted, pulped and sieved
2 tablespoons olive oil (not extra-virgin)
1 large onion, finely diced
3 fat cloves garlic, minced or grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup homemade / Greek yogurt
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, soaked in 2 tablespoons warm water
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, to garnish
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted, to garnish

directions
Roasting the eggplant - You could do this in a broiler or direct on the flame.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Dribble extra-virgin olive oil, to garnish. Prick the eggplants with a fork and put them on a baking sheet and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until soft to the touch. Allow to cool before peeling and mashing them, then leave the pulp in a sieve to drain.

Alternately prick the eggplant and keep it on a medium flame. Rotate at intervals so that the whole exterior is charred and interior is pulpy. This will take roughly 10-15 minutes.

Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook until golden and then add the drained eggplant mush, cooking it with the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes over a gentle heat, stirring frequently. Take off the heat and turn into a bowl to cool and season with salt and pepper. Add the yogurt to the cooled eggplant mixture together with the saffron in the now golden water, stirring together well. Turn into a bowl and sprinkle over the mint, toasted pine nuts, and a dribble of oil.

Note
I served this with oven-baked roti-chips. Make regular thin rotis from whole wheat flour. Cook them very lightly on both sides and keep aside. Don't put them directly on flame to puff them etc. Cut the rotis into triangles and spread in a single layer. Bake them in a 250C oven for around 5-7 minutes till they are light brown and crisp. Store in airtight container.

Don't miss out on the saffron and the mint. These two spices lend the touch of exotica that you'd never find in a Baba Gannouj or any other roasted eggplant dip recipe.



This is my entry for Meeta's Monthly Mingle - Arabian Nights

Tags: eggplant dip, eggplant, exotic recipes, dips, party starters, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

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Poro - the jewelled Parsi Omelette

Parsis love their eggs. Well, that is an understatement. Their Akuris are made with a dozen eggs into a tall frittata stuffed with onions, coriander and chillies that suffices the entire family at breakfast. Poro is an omelette that is as beautiful as the Parsi women. I'd like to christen it the Jewelled Omelette.

24.03.07 Update -
While browsing in the Crossword bookstore this afternoon, I flipped through Katy Dalal's Jamva Chaloji - A Parsi cuisine cook book and she recommends that you have the Poro with chips, buttered bread and sour limes. This is one dish that Parsis make when the whole family is together for breakfast or also for a dinner when they are too lazy or tired to cook anything elaborate. Poro is also made on days when they must abstain from meat or fish.



Poro
Category - Eggs , breakfast
Time taken - Under 30 minutes
Serves 4
Recipe source - Best ever curry cookbook by Manjula Baljekar

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ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic, crushed
1-2 fresh green chillies, finely chopped
a few sprigs coriander, chopped, plus some more for garnish
1 firm tomato, chopped
1 small boiled potato, cubed
1/4 cup boiled green peas or frozen green peas, thawed
1/4 cup sweet corn, cooked / microwaved
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup grated cheese (optional)
salt and ground black pepper

directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large pan. Fry the next nine ingredients until well blended but the potato and tomato are firm. Season with salt and ground black pepper.

Turn up the heat and pour the beaten eggs. Reduce heat, cover and cook till the bottom layer is golden. *Turn the omelette and let turn the heat to low. Let this cook for some 5 minutes.

*If you have a grill or broiler, you could turn the omelette to the other side, sprinkle cheese and place under a hot broiler until eggs are set and cheese is melted.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve it for breakfast in true Parsi tradition. Along with a salad, this would serve good for lunch too.

This is my entry for WBB # 9 - Eggstraordinary breakfast at Live to Eat

Not forgetting about my Friday Food Video for you, its more eggs coming your way.

How to make the perfect Egg Bhurjee - Indian style scrambled eggs brought to you by Alfred Prasad, Head chef at London's Michelin-starred Tamarind restaurant.




If you cannot view the video, click here to see it.

Tags: Eggs, Parsi cuisine, Omelette, breakfast, WBB, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

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Whole wheat pita bread

Coming up soon - Red bean dip to go with the pita breads!


The satisfaction of seeing some smelly yeast and lifeless flour turn into a bunch of sweet smelling bread is something you must experience to understand. Sometimes, the laziness of getting out of a cozy home into the supermarket can lead to some heart warming things. I'm talking about this bunch of pita bread. It's not that I've not played around with yeast before. While foodies from US and Europe talk of fresh yeast, instant yeast and active dry yeast, I have access only to one kind of yeast - Active dry yeast granules - the brownish coloured beads whose efficiency is highly unpredicatble.

My last baking attempt ended with a smelly creamish slurry in the bowl, no bubbles, no foam, nothing. Probably because the yeast had been sitting in the refrigerator. This time I didn't want to make any mistakes. The yeast was bought fresh (as fresh as a store can sell), stored in a cabinet, used in a water that was just warm and kept in the sun. The result being a really foamy, happy yeast. With the soaring yeast, my anticipations of making some fresh bread soared too. Here are the step by step instructions with pictures to making your own batch of pita bread.


The basic recipe is from my all time favourite baking resource - Baking Sheet and Nicole's reference to Tyler Florence's Food 911 show. I made just half the recipe and used mostly whole wheat flour.

Whole wheat Pita bread

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Category - Yeast breads
Time taken - Roughly two hours including rising time
Makes - 6 pieces
Recipe source - Adapted from Baking Sheet, Food Network

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ingredients
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/2 cup AP flour
1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1-2 tsp of oil

directions

Activate the yeast - Slightly warm 3/4 cup water with 1/2 tsp sugar. Put in the yeast granules and keep in the warmest corner of your house. You can keep it in the microwave / oven. If the yeast is active, in 15 minutes, you will see furious activity in the bowl. The top layer will be all foamy and bubbly. The yeast is now ready to get into the flour.


In a large bowl, mix the flours with the salt lightly with a fork. Make a well in the center and pour the yeasty water. Bind the flour into a smooth dough with the poured liquid by kneading with the heel of your palm for some 5 minutes, just like you would for chapati aata.

In a well oiled bowl, place the smooth ball of dough, cover and place in a warm corner for 1-1 1/2 hours until the dough is over double the volume.

Punch down the dough and place it on a floured surface. Remove all air from the dough with a good bit of kneading. Shape into 6 equal balls. Flatten them slightly and keep them a little away from each other on a greased plate. Keep covered for 15-30 minutes until they rise some more.


Keep a large, heavy bottomed griddle on high flame. With a rolling pin, roll out each ball into ovals, about the thickness of 1/4". Use a bit of AP flour for dusting if needed. On the hot griddle, cook both sides of the bread, until it fluffs up. This will take 3-4 minutes per bread. If you use a large griddle, you will be able to cook 2-3 of them at a time.


Place the cooked breads on a clean kitchen towel. Keep covered so that the breads are soft until use.

Note
The original recipe recommends broiling the rolled out dough for 3-4 minutes until they fluff up in the oven. Since I have the counter top oven, these were done on the griddle and this method worked perfectly too.

Accompaniments
Pita bread either toasted into chips or just as it is, is best used to mop up hummus, baba ganouj or a red bean dip. If you want to make this mezze meal for dinner, you'll find recipes for Hummus, Baba Gannoush and Fattoush (Lebanese salad) on Saffron Trail.

The red bean dip is coming up soon, so stay tuned!


Technorati tags: yeast, pita bread, baba gannoush, hummus, mezze platter

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