Lentils, Pumpkin & Sweet Potato stew : One pot dinner

I cannot be a self respecting food blogger and not post a pumpkin recipe for that time of the year when pumpkins are omnipresent on the internet. Actually, I didn't even realise this when I made this stew for dinner. Indians don't need a time of the year to use pumpkin. It is cooked round the year in several dishes - curries, sambars, a kootu with dals and lots more. In fact, pumpkin is such an everyday thing, that most Indian families love to hate it (familiarity breeds contempt and so on) and cannot understand what the hype & hoopla over pumpkin is all about, during this time of the year in other countries. Using pumpkin in desserts like cakes, cookies, muffins, pies etc. is not a very Indian thing, because none of the above dishes are primarily of Indian origin. There is of course a delicious Pumpkin Halwa (fudge) served in wedding feasts and other such auspicious occasions.

This stew is a healthy way to eat pumpkin and a perfect one pot dish for a chilly evening. Very little chopping and the fact that it simmers itself into a dish without much of supervision, makes it an easy post-work dinner too. This recipe serves two but you could easily double the quantities for a larger families. It's not something I'd call a glamourous dish, but something that's surely hearty, comforting and super healthy.

Lentils, Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Stew
Serves 2

Ingredients
1/3rd cup dry whole masoor dal, soaked in warm water for 2 hours
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup diced yellow pumpkin ~200 grams
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and sliced, 1 cm thick slices
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp tomato paste* or 3 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp ground cumin or ground fennel
1 tsp of ground black pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp of hungarian paprika or 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder

Directions
In a medium sized saucepan, heat the olive oil. 
Add the garlic and saute for few seconds (do not brown), add the diced pumpkin and sweet potato slices. Saute on high flame for 30 seconds. 
Reduce the flame. Drain the soaked (rehydrated) whole masoor and add to the pan. Stir for a minute or so. 
Add all the spices & herbs, stir well for few seconds, add 3 cups of boiling water to this and bring to a simmer. 
Cover and let this simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are soft but holding their shape. Towards the end, add the tomato paste dissolved in 2 tbsp of hot water, to the stew, bring to a simmer and then remove into a bowl to serve.
Serve hot with a slice of crusty bread or crackers or as it is. 

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The recipe for my best salad ever - Grilled paneer salad with edible flowers

I love cooking for friends. They bring out the best dishes from my kitchen. Ajit & Nandini are always generous with their praise for my salads, often telling me to either open a salad bar or start taking salad making classes. While I've done neither, I love to up my game when I'm making salads for them. You see the effect of positive reinforcement right there :-)

Last weekend, they were planning to get an Asian starter and main course for dinner, so I promised to make an Asian inspired salad. I had made up my mind to use the edible flowers from my garden. Edible flowers are quite the current culinary rage with chefs using them as garnishes in salads, drinks to making whole dishes using them. I wanted to use the beans flowers, rocket flowers, basil flowers along with the baby leaves of Malabar spinach, cinnamon basil (tastes similar to Thai basil), regular spinach and baby bok choy leaves.

I collected the flowers in a little bowl, soaked them in cold water to refresh them and dried them on a tea towel. The baby leaves were washed delicately in cold water and dried on towels. The bigger lettuce, rocket leaves were washed, chopped into bite sized pieces and dried on towels. So yes, salads mean more work than other dishes. Leaves need to be carefully washed and dried, which is half the battle won. You could say that a salad spinner could simply this process so much. I whole heartedly agree, but somehow I haven't got myself one yet. I guess this is why salads are so overpriced in fine dining restaurants - the work that goes into the leaves.



And yes, I used paneer in this salad. Purists can turn up their noses saying "HUH Paneer in an Asian salad"! But hey, it's better to use paneer instead of not-so-good tofu and marinated in Asian flavours, it could beat the pants off any tofu.

Grilled paneer salad with edible flowers
Serves 4-5

Salad ingredients
6 big handfuls of mixed salad greens (prepared as explained above- baby leaves left whole & bigger leaves chopped into bite size)
1 large green bell pepper, very thinly sliced
1 small onion or 3 shallots, finely sliced
2 small carrots, peeled and thinly shaved
2 plums, thinly sliced
200 grams paneer, sliced thickly into 8 long pieces

Edible flowers (optional)
Coriander flowers, beans flowers, rocket flower, basil flowers - soak in cold water, drain and dry on towels. I also used rocket pods.

Marinade for paneer
1 tsp finely grated ginger
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
big pinch of chilli flakes or chilli sauce as per taste
pinch of salt (if needed, as soy sauce has lots of salt)
2-3 lemongrass leaves, crushed
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Toss all the above in a large bowl and gently toss the paneer slices in this. Keep covered for 15-30 mins.

Marinade for salad - add all the following ingredients to a jam jar and shake well until you get an evenly mixed dressing
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp honey
chilli flakes
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 garlic clove, finely grated
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander
freshly ground black pepper

Grilling the paneer
Grease hot stove top grill pan / grill / tava. Once the pan is very hot, place the marinated paneer slices (after removing the lemon grass stalks from marinade) in a single layer, press gently with a spatula and do not disturb for 1 minute or so, until the grill marks appear. Turn and grill other side similarly. Remove from the grill pan and keep aside.

To assemble salad
Place the prepared salad greens in a large bowl. Scatter the bell pepper, carrots, plums over the leaves. Pour 3/4th of the dressing and toss gently. Arrange this on a platter. Place the grilled paneer and top with edible flowers. Pour any remaining dressing & marinade over the top.

Verdict
The paneer was the star of the dish, marinated in those Asian flavours and the stunning grill marks. The others lent an excellent supporting role and the dressing brought the whole dish together. A small note of appreciation for the cute flowers who added a lot of prettiness to the dish. We LOVED this dish and wished there was more :)

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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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The secret to making fully loaded Nachos

It's been unbearably hot this month in Bangalore. And being the good girl I am, I have been focussing on making the most of the sun, such as sun drying tomatoes, making sun tea and getting my daily dose of vitamin D. 

Those who follow me on Instagram might have seen my gleeful updates on restarting my kitchen garden. We sowed a ton of seeds 3 weeks ago and each morning, I would take my coffee up there to talk to the little seedlings and watch each one come out from the soil and take head count (just kidding there!). As usual, I jumped too soon. There's this nut-job of a stray dog who climbs up on our terrace garden every single night and he has taken it as is life's singleminded motto to dig out every inch of soil in the garden, and along with it every thing that I sow. It is such heart ache for me that I cannot bear to step into the garden and see the mini earthquake unleashed by that 10 kilo dog. He sure was an earthmover in his previous birth! Now that I've vented my anger and frustration, I can get back to talking about good food things. 

Since the last few Fridays, I've been making a big platter of these fully loaded nachos for dinner. It's like a big salad with lots of veggies, beans, cheese and of course tortilla chips. If you get down to baking these chips, then you have a completely healthy, high fibre, high protein snack ready to serve for a house party. I plan to bake these chips in advance for this weekend.

This is the perfect party dish, easily scaled up. You can assemble these in smaller foil containers, sprinkle cheese and bake so it can be shared between two people. 

Preparing the beans:
These are not exactly refried beans because in the former, they are mashed to a coarse paste. Here the beans are pressure cooked until soft but each holding their shape and not mushy. They are then sautéed with some seasonings and kept aside for use in the nachos. You could  make these ahead of time and refrigerate up to 10 days in an airtight container.

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw rajma ( I use the smaller Kashmiri variety) 
pinch of baking soda
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp cumin powder
1 chipotle chilli or a regular dried red chilli, finely chopped or 1/4 tsp chilli flakes
3/4 tsp salt or to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander

Directions
Soak the rajma overnight with a pinch of baking soda.
Drain, wash well and add 1 cup water to this or enough water to completely immerse the beans in a utensil that goes inside the pressure cooker.
Pressure cook the beans for 10-12 minutes. (After two whistles, keep on sim for 10-12 minutes) The cooking time depends on the size of the rajma, for bigger sizes you may have to cook for slightly longer time. You want the beans to be cooked thoroughly, pressing with the back of the ladle or the thumb should mash it to a paste but it should hold its shape. Drain any excess water and keep aside.
In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt until the onions are soft. Add the drained cooked rajma, cumin powder, chipotle, salt, coriander. On a low heat, gently saute and let all the seasonings coat the rajma for 5-7 minutes. Once this is done, keep aside until use.

Fully Loaded Nachos
Printable version here
Serves 4

Ingredients
200 grams Tortilla Chips - salted or flavoured (I use the salted variety of this brand and find them extremely crisp with good taste) 
1 big onion, finely chopped
2 medium tomatoes, deseeded and finely chopped
1 large green capsicum, deseeded and diced
1/4 cup cooked corn kernels (optional)
some sliced pickled jalapeño (how much or how little, depends on your preference)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 cup of seasoned rajma beans (method above)
Fresh coriander, chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 200C. If you are using an OTG with heating coils on the top and bottom, make sure the top heating coil is on, for the cheese to melt.

In a large oven proof dish place half the chips in one layer. Top with half the onions, tomatoes, capsicum, corn, jalapeño, rajma and cheese. Place the remaining chips in a single layer over this and sprinkle all the remaining ingredients with coriander and half the cheese right on top.

Place this in a hot oven for 7-8 minutes until the cheese melts.
Remove from oven and eat right away. If serving young kids, make a small portion separately minus the jalapeños and use plain boiled and salted rajma in their dish.


Some tips:
Use fresh and crisp chips for a crispy crunchy dish.
Once you top with all vegetables, do not waste time. It needs to go into the oven immediately or the tomatoes will start making the chips soggy.
The more cheese you use, the more delicious it will be. Use a sharp tasting cheese for a tastier dish.
If you dont have an oven, this dish will taste good as it is, only the cheese wont be melted :)

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Tandoori Aloo & Tandoori Broccoli [no tandoor required]

Let me start by saying that I don't have a tandoor. When I moved into a home with a little garden, I did have this wild idea of building my own tandoor (a cylindrical clay oven used for baking / cooking heated by burning coals inside it). I can't say I have completely abandoned that idea but this tandoori recipe doesn't need a 'tandoor'. If you have a microwave oven with a grill or the grill function in a regular convection oven, that's great. If you don't have either ovens, you can use a non stick skillet to grill these.  

The best part about this recipe is you can make perfectly delicious appetisers using minimal or no oil. Use a low-carb vegetable like broccoli, cauliflower or bell peppers (stuffed or as it is), and you have a perfect low carb vegetarian side dish. For any vegetable, the basic steps are the same. 

Step one: Clean and partly cook the vegetable.

Step two: Marinate the vegetable

Step three: Grill

I use the same marinade for both recipes, mostly eye-balling the ingredients to make roughly over a cup of marinade.

Tandoori Marinade

3/4 cup thick yogurt

2 tsp chickpea flour

1 tbsp kasoori methi* (key ingredient, do not omit. Crush between finger tips to a coarse powder and then add)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp coriander powder

2 cloves garlic, grated

2 tsp oil (optional)

In a large bowl, mix all of the above. Cover and refrigerate until use.

For Tandoori Aloo

Parboil 2 dozen baby potatoes with the skins. Either boiling in water for 3-4 minutes or pressure cook for two whistles. Remove, drain well and poke 3-4 holes per potato with the skewer. This is so that the flavours of the marinade can go inside the potatoes.

Immerse the skewer sticks in water for 2-3 hours. 

Marinade the par-cooked potatoes with skins in the prepared mix. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, skewer them and place on a grill safe plate. Grill for 5 minutes. Turn to the other side and grill another 5 minutes. Serve with tamarind chutney and green chutney.

For Tandoori Broccoli

Break a broccoli into medium sized florets (around 2 dozen florets). Immerse in a bowl of salted water for 10 minutes. Wash thoroughly. Place them in a microwave safe bowl with lid, add 2 tsp water and microwave on high for 3-4 minutes until partially cooked. Once slightly cool, place in marinade for 30 minutes (refrigerated).

Either skewer them or place them in a single later on a grill safe plate and grill for 5-7 minutes.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon along with a hung yogurt dip or mint chutney

[inspiration for tandoori broccoli came from the brilliant dinner we had at Blue Terrain where this was one of the dishes served]

*Kasoori / Kasuri methi is just dried fenugreek leaves, which when crushed and used in any dish gives a very distinct fragrance and flavour. You cannot use fresh fenugreek leaves or fenugreek seeds instead of this. This can be found in the spice aisle of most supermarkets in India or Indian supermarkets abroad.

Feedback from people who tried this recipe

Tandoori cauliflower for lunch! Thanks @saffrontrail for posting this simple, healthy and delicious recipe :-) twitter.com/Ayeshazh/statu…

— Ayesha (@Ayeshazh) March 2, 2013

Grilled veggies, inspired by @saffrontrail good fun only twitter.com/maxdavinci/sta…

— maxdavinci (@maxdavinci) March 2, 2013

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Eggless Buckwheat Crepes : Health on a plate

Last Saturday, I looked at my dinner plate and I felt "Damn, it should be illegal to eat this healthy on a Saturday night." Yes it was so good that it was bad. And we were watching a brilliant brilliant series to add all the necessary wickedness and spice to this healthy plate. 

You may think food bloggers have proper weekly menus and they are always on the top of what to feed their families every single day. In my case, that's so wrong. I print out menu formats. I order my weekly produce and groceries and think of making a plan that will use them in the most systematic manner. But no, that never happens. I'm best when I'm impulsive. And sometimes there are so many bits of assorted vegetables leftover that even the most creative part of my brain wont figure out how to put them together. 

I've come up with an idea for such situations. One is to make this all forgiving Tamil dish called Poricha koottu where you throw in every possible vegetable (well, not actually, but it works), add mashed dal, a freshly ground masala and you're done. It tastes fabulous with steamed rice or broken wheat or any such grain. The other idea is if there are 3-4 leftover veggies, microwave them individually and then saute them individually in some olive oil and garlic, adding a pinch of salt and lots of pepper in the end. This is much better than 'boiling' them. Microwaving them for a short burst of time with very little water (1-2 tsp) keeps them crunchy while not keeping them raw and then everything tastes fabulous with garlic and olive oil. 

But this post is about buckwheat crepes. Having had the authentic French style buckwheat crepes (galettes) from our local pizzeria run by a French lady and her husband, I was inspired enough to buy a bag of buckwheat flour. I tried making crepes using a traditional recipe (using butter, milk, eggs). While the crepes turned out beautiful, the smell of eggs was not the most pleasant feeling for me. This is my own improvised recipe that's egg free and gluten free, because I've used rice flour along with buckwheat instead of all purpose flour. You do need a good non stick skillet / dosa pan to be successful with this. 

Recipe for Eggless Buckwheat Crepes
Makes 5-6 crepes

Ingredients
1 cup buckwheat flour*
1/3 cup rice flour
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp vinegar
butter or oil to grease pan

Directions

1. In a mixer jar / food processor, add the flours, salt and water. Spin for 30 seconds, open the jar and bring the contents together using a spatula. Run the mixer for 30 seconds more until you get a smooth batter. Remove this into a bowl and keep covered for 30 minutes. 
2. You can refrigerate this if you plan to use this much later.
3. Just before making crepes, add baking soda, add the vinegar on top of the soda and 1-2 tsp of water and beat the mixture well. It will fizz up a bit and the batter will become light.
4. Grease a non stick skillet. Wipe off excess oil / butter with kitchen tissue. When the skillet is moderate hot, take a ladleful of batter, pour it in the centre and with back of ladle quickly make outward circles to spread the batter to an 8" thin lacy round. As soon as bubbles appear all over the crepe (around 45 seconds) turn it to the other side. Cook for 20 seconds, fold it in half and half again and keep warm.

There's another indulgent way to eat buckwheat crepes. Smear Nutella throughout the crepe and roll it up. 
Also, my other favourite way to eat these is with a filling of sautéed spinach and ricotta or feta cheese.

Buckwheat flour is  naturally gluten-free, high in iron, fiber, protein, selenium and zinc. Read about the numerous health benefits of buckwheat.

*Food Shopping Guide:
You get buckwheat flour in the Gluten Free shelf of Godrej Nature's Basket. It's also available in various organic and health food stores. The one I buy from Nature's Basket is ground along with the skins making it healthier and higher in fibre.

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Foxtail Millet Salad - An old grain in a new avatar

Foxtail Millet

Recently, Hindu carried a story on Foxtail Millet on how it used to be the staple of people in rural Andhra and how it was put away when people were supplied with subsidized rice. It has a very short crop cycle of 60-90 days and it can be grown in any season. The article states the re-emergence of this forgotten grain as a diabetic-friendly food, high in fibre, protein and low in glycemic index (causes steady increase in blood sugar post consumption as compared to rice). 

In India: Tinai, chamai, kavalai, kambankorai are some of the names for millet in Tamil. Nuvanam is millet flour. The gruel made from millet, the staple of Ancient Tamils, is called kali, moddak kali, kuul, and sangati. Korralu (Telugu), Navane (Kannada) [Source: Wikipedia]

It cooks as easily as rice in the pressure cooker or using the boiling method. It can be easily eaten with all the side dishes that you would eat with rice - eg. sambar, rasam, curds, dal etc. You can even make pulao, khichdi, pongal, upma and other such dishes with this. If you cook it carefully, each grain stays separate after cooking, and it goes beautifully into salads, adding a lot of body and fibre to your salads. I've read that you can soak and sprout them similar to 'ragi' and powder the sprouted millets for making gruel like weaning foods for babies. The fact that it's naturally gluten free is a boon to people with gluten intolerance. 

Other health benefits of foxtail millet include reducing bad cholesterol and high antioxidant levels. 

This is my first time cooking with this grain and I'm extremely happy with the ease of cooking, texture and taste. It comes close to couscous in texture, only more easily available, much cheaper and locally grown. You can easily precook and refrigerate this so you can add it to soups, salads, burgers, muffins, pancakes - the list is quite endless.

Foxtail Millet Salad 
Time taken: Under 30 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
1/2 cup raw Foxtail Millet, soaked for 2 hours in water
1 tsp rice bran oil (or any other cooking oil)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 cups of any lettuce, washed, dried and cut into bite sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, grated
2-3 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 medium potato, boiled, peeled, diced
4 strawberries, diced (optional)
1/2 tsp dried mint
Juice of 2 small lemons or 1 big (3-4 tbsp of juice)
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or cold pressed coconut oil, if you like the flavour)
Salt to taste

Directions

1. How to cook foxtail millet: Pressure cook the drained millet with 1 cup water, 1 tsp cooking oil and 1/2 tsp salt for two whistles. Turn off the flame. Remove once cooker is cooled and spread on a plate to cool.
2. In a large bowl, assemble the bell peppers, onion, lettuce, garlic, coriander leaves, potato, strawberries. 
3. Crush the dried mint between finger tips and sprinkle around the bowl. 
4. Add as much freshly ground black pepper as you like. Add the lemon juice, olive oil and the cooled millets. 
5. Toss well, and add up to 1/2 tsp of salt (or as per taste) and gently get all the seasoning into the salad with a couple of forks.
6. Serve chilled or at room temperature. 

You can find Foxtail Millet at stores like Namdhari's in Bangalore. I buy it from Towness- our produce and grocery supplier. I'm assuming in other cities, you would get it at the traditional grain merchants, organic stores or health stores over regular supermarkets. 

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Savoury sweet potato bake with a peanut crumb

Ideas lurk everywhere. The other day I was at my son's classmate's house after school as the kids wanted to play and I was hanging around in the kitchen with the parents, drinking tea and chatting up. The dad was preparing an early dinner and one of the dishes was a savoury starchy bake using potatoes and sweet potatoes. I'm not a big fan of sweet potatoes, but I've always loved the Tamil style sweet potato stir fry curry with sambar-rice or in desserts (yes, brownies!) or randomly in some other dishes. I find that sweet potatoes that we get here need a lot of flavour boost to taste great.

This time, I wanted to try out a savoury bake with them. I had noticed our friend preparing a kind of béchamel sauce to go on top of the layered sweet potatoes, topped with cheese. But since we had no cheese at home, I had to improvise with something else. And that's how the peanut crumb happened. It did provide a fantastic texture to the otherwise melty dish, not to mention upping the protein content of the dish.

Recipe for Savoury Sweet Potato Bake
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
2 medium sized sweet potatoes
1/2 cup fresh or frozen green peas
2 cups milk
1 tbsp butter
1.5 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1-2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup roasted peanuts, skins removed (you could use ready available roasted salted peanuts too)

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180 C.
2. In a large pan, bring 2 litres water to a boil with 1 tsp salt.
3. In a mixer / food processor pulse the peanuts till coarsely crumbed.
4. Meanwhile, scrub the sweet potatoes well with a scrubber and lots of water to remove all the soil. Do not peel. Finely slice them, and add them to the boiling water. Add the peas too.
5. Check in 4 minutes, if they are partially cooked. If yes, drain the water in a colander and keep aside the veggies.
6. In a saucepan, heat butter. Add flour and make a 'roux' until all the flour is absorbed in the butter and turns lightly aromatic. Add the milk with constant whisking. If a few lumps remain, it's okay with this dish. Add the salt, dried rosemary, pepper and nutmeg. 
7. Lightly grease a mid-sized baking dish. Place the partly cooked sweet potato slices and peas, gently flattening them down. Sprinkle some pepper over the top.
8. Add the sauce, lightly smoothening it out with a spatula.
9. Top with peanut crumbs.
10. Place in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes or so. 
11. Serve warm with a salad or a soup.

Notes

Feel free to try with other vegetables, similarly sliced - eg: Potatoes, carrots, turnips etc.

If you wish, you could add chilli flakes or chopped chipotle chillies to make this dish spicier. This recipe turns out reasonably seasoned but not spicy at all, suitable for kids of all ages.

You could substitute the peanut crumb with a mix of bread crumbs and grated cheddar. I'm sure that tastes better :)

Leftovers can be warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds and had the following day.

Like what you see here? Follow my Facebook Page. I promise that it's updated much more regularly than my blog with engaging content on food, nutrition and food news and a lot more insights into my kitchen. 

The first picture is also my submission to the Food Photo Contest being run by the most awesome Town Essentials from whom we get most of our vegetables, groceries and other home supplies. If you are in Bangalore, you MUST try their service at least once. It's a fantastic experience to be able to shop for stuff at 5 am sitting under the quilt and knowing that you'll get the freshest produce delivered later that evening. 

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Crustless Quiche using homegrown Swiss Chard

Crustless Chard Quiche 

There's something wonderful about quiches, they fit perfectly as a meal for any time of the day - be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. The only thing that probably deters people from making this is the mess (well, a little) of making and blind baking the crust and the quantity of butter that goes into it and the thought of burning all that butter off the next day on the treadmill. Well, may be that's just me but yes, if the crust is eliminated, the quiche becomes healthy, quick while still tasting delicious. It's also a great way to use up spinach, mushrooms, corn and bits of any cheese you may have in the refrigerator. 

Freshly plucked swiss chard

I used chard because they were just plucked that evening, all fresh and luscious green, you could by all means use spinach, or a combination of other greens and add any other lightly sautéed vegetables like zucchini or bell peppers to this. A spinach quiche is also the best way to make kids eat their greens up without much fuss.

Recipe for Crustless chard quiche 

Adapted from a recipe on Food.com

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

3 cups of roughly chopped chard (include tender stalks too) or spinach

1 medium onion, sliced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

3 medium sized eggs

3/4 cup milk 

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

1/2 cup cheese (grated or crumbled, as per the cheese used. I used fresh mozzarella, crumbled)

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground pepper

Handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped or 1 tbsp dried herbs (Oregano and thyme)

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease a 6" pie dish or a baking tin.
2. In a pan, heat olive oil. Add the sliced onions and garlic, lightly saute for 3-4 minutes on medium flame, until onions are soft. 
3. Add the chard or spinach and saute for 2-3 minutes until just wilted.
4. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, herbs well and add the crumbled cheese.
5. Transfer the chard mix from the pan into the bowl and mix with a fork.
6. Pour into the greased pie dish. Top with bread crumbs, more freshly ground black pepper and dried herbs and bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

Serve with a salad for a light lunch. 

Crumbled feta pairs well with spinach and it's a classic combination in Greek cuisine. 

You can easily scale up the recipe and bake in a bigger dish with increased baking times. Leftovers make great breakfast, just microwave for 30 seconds or so before serving.

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Raw banana (plantain) kababs

Vazhakka or plantain is one of my favourite vegetables. There are at least three favourite ways I make this in true Tambrahm style. One is a roast, where it is sliced thinly and slow roasted until it turns crispy. The other way to make it is to cube it, cook it and saute it with whole red chillies, udad dal, mustard seeds and curry leaves with a garnish of coconut. The third one is a vazhakka podimaas. All three taste yummy with rasam-rice or mor kozhambu and rice. 


Since there are three yummy ways to make this vegetable, I rarely end up making anything else. This time I picked up the plantains with the sole idea of making kababs so they don't end up in one of my favourite curries. I did a quick google search for plantain kababs and the one that appealed most was from Vah Chef Sanjay Thumma. Mine is an adaptation of that recipe.


Kababs are best served with roomali rotis, which are not that difficult to make at home provided you have a tough aluminium/ cast iron kadai that you can turn upside down on the flame and cook the roti on the upturned kadai. Please don't try this with your expensive teflon coated non-stick kadai. 


Also, there is no need to indulge in the dramatics of the chef in the Punjabi restaurants of the 80s and 90s where they would throw a roomali roti in the air in open buffet counters to grab the interest of the diners. 

Roomali Roti

 For the dough, I use a mix of 3 parts atta and 1 part maida, salt and water, rest it for 30 minutes and then roll them out into big sized rotis as thin as i possibly can. I cook this on the upturned kadai kept over a big flame for a few seconds until golden spots appear and repeat on the other side. Fold into quarters and keep in airtight casserole until ready to eat.

Carrot-Radish-Rocket Salad

You can serve this with sliced onions soaked in vinegar for some 30 minutes. I shredded a radish, carrot and sliced a small bunch of rocket leaves-dressed it with lemon juice, salt, pepper and tiny pinch of sugar. It tastes better if you cover this bowl and leave it in the fridge for sometime.

Dinner is served

Recipe for Raw Banana Kababs
Makes 16-20 1" kababs




Ingredients
2 raw bananas
1 potato
1 medium carrot
3 green chillies, finely chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
1/4 cup grated paneer / tofu
handful of finely chopped coriander
1 heaped tsp amchoor powder
1-1.5 tsp salt


Dry roast till fragrant:
1 tsp caraway seeds (shahjeera) or cumin seeds
1 tsp aniseed (saunf)
1 tsp coriander seeds
5-6 whole black peppers
4 cloves
2 green cardamoms


Once cooled, grind to fine powder in spice grinder


Directions:
Halve the raw bananas. Place 1 L water to boil and put the halved bananas. Boil for around 10 minutes, until bananas are tender. Remove from water. Cool, peel and grate.


Pressure cook potato, peel and grate.


Peel carrot and grate.


Add the grated raw banana, potato, carrot along with all the other ingredients included freshly ground spice powder and 1-1.5 tsp salt to the mix and knead until all ingredients are well mixed to make a smooth dough.


Roll into small lemon sized balls and flatted on palm to make 1" sized patties. Place on hot greased tava and cook on medium flame until golden brown. Flip and cook on other sized for 5-7 minutes until golden, adding some oil around the sides, if required.


Serve with roomali roti, salad and chutneys.


I served it with a simple shredded radish-carrot-rocket salad seasoned with salt, sugar, pepper & lemon juice and spicy green chutney.

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Lasagna Verde with roasted vegetables and tomato-mushroom sauce

If there is one country I want to visit, it is Italy. For its wine, its food and the culture. La Cucina Italiana...I find beauty in this food. The vibrant colours, flavours that burst in your mouth tantalizing your taste buds, the freshness of simple ingredients like a raw tomato, fresh mozzarella cheese and locally extracted olive oil, just writing about these is making my mouth water. And how can I leave out Basil? There is NO aroma dearer to me that that of a freshly plucked sweet Italian basil leaf crushed between my finger tips. It transports me to the romance of that far off land. 

Needless to say, when I got the chance of growing my own little vegetable and herb garden, I pleaded, blackmailed, sweet-talked friends into getting me basil seeds when they were coming from abroad. This was the first thing I wanted to grow. And now, I have 4 Indian varieties and 3 other varieties for cooking purposes (Sweet, Thai & Lemon Basil) For those who don't have generous friends like mine, Namdhari's in Bangalore sells freshly packed sweet basil, so fresh that when i get back home from the shop with a packet of basil in my shopping bag, the car smells like i'm in a basil field. Namdhari's also sells basil saplings at very reasonable costs. The kind of sunshine we get in India, it is not a tough one to grow at all.

Coming back to this recipe, lasagna was one of the things I was always scared to make. While I make regular pasta almost twice a week, this was more of a fear of the unknown or the mental block to cooking a dish that has a number of steps. This was my second attempt and except for the pasta sheets which could be more cooked that they were, the tastes in each bite were quite beautiful. Next time, I want to roll out my own pasta sheets. Lasagna sheets should be the easiest pasta to make by hand, given that we are good at rolling out the thinnest of rotis!

The number of steps can seem intimidating, but the sauce can be made ahead, the vegetables roasted ahead of time. What remains is the grated cheese and the assembly, which is hardly time consuming. 

This for me is a perfect weekend dinner paired with a very simple salad and a glass of red wine. I made this for our little impromptu dinner with Nandini & Ajit and they offered me constructive feedback like starting the layering with some watery sauce at the bottom of the pan so the steam from it will cook the upper pasta layers as it bakes in the oven. I have incorporated in the recipe.

The components
Around 9 sheets of lasagna
Tomato Sauce
Roasted vegetables
Grated Cheese ( I used Britannia's Pizza cheese)
Baking tin / glass bakeware
Some more fresh herbs


Making the tomato sauce
8 large tomatoes
5-6 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion
1cup finely sliced button mushrooms
Salt
Handful of fresh basil leaves, finely sliced
1/4 cup red wine (optional)


Place 2 litres of water in a 4L pot. Bring to a boil. Slit crosses on top of tomatoes and gently put them in boiling water. Once the water comes back to a boil, switch off the flame and cover for 5 minutes. Fish out the tomatoes from hot water at the end of 5 minutes, place it in a bowl to get cool. Peel the skins, finely chop and keep aside.

In a large wok, heat 1 tbsp olive oil on a low flame. Before oil gets hot, throw in finely chopped garlic cloves and finely chopped onion. Saute on a medium flame for 4-5 minutes, before adding finely sliced mushrooms. Add 1/4 tsp of sea salt, 1/2 tsp of freshly ground black pepper, any fresh herbs of your choice (I've used fresh basil) and saute till the mushrooms and onions are soft.

At this stage add the finely chopped tomatoes kept aside from earlier step. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a simmer. Add red wine and allow to simmer for 5-7 minutes until it all comes together like a sauce. Check for seasoning and adjust as per your liking. If you find this a little too sour, add a fat pinch of sugar and boil it till sugar dissolves (around 2 minutes). Remove the sauce into a bowl and keep it aside.


For the roasted vegetables
1 medium eggplant
2 large red bell peppers

Slice the eggplant into 1 cm thick slices. Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/4 tsp of sea salt. Arrange on a greased foil lining a baking sheet.

Bake at 180 C for 25-30 minutes, until soft.

Slice the red bell peppers (1/2" width), toss with 1 tbsp olive oil, sprinkle a pinch of salt and bake similar to the eggplant, until soft but not mushy (around 20 minutes)

Grated Cheese
Place the block of cheese in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. Grease the grater with fingers dipped in olive oil. Grate up to one cup cheese and keep aside. Mozzarella or Cheddar or a mix of both, is fine.

Assembling
Lightly grease a 9X4 or 9 X5 ovenproof pan (glass or tin). Spread 2-3 tbsp of tomato sauce at the bottom with 2 tbsp of water and keep aside.
Bring a large wide pan of water to boil. Add a fat pinch of salt to this. Keep the lasagna sheets ready.
When the water starts to boil, dip the lasagna sheets in boiling water, one at a time for 2 minutes each. Remove and do the first layer in the baking pan, two sheets length wise side by side and one cut to size to place horizontally where the pan is exposed.
Cover this layer with 1/4rd of the sauce and 1/4 th of the cheese. Sprinkle some dried / fresh herbs, freshly ground black pepper over this.
Boil 3 more lasagna sheets, one by one and layer on top of this as explained above.
Cover with a layer of roasted vegetables and 1/4th of the sauce thinly spread in the gaps.
Boil the last three lasagna sheets, layer as explained above.
Pour all of the remaining sauce, any vegetables left over from the previous layer, all the remaining cheese, fresh herbs and some black pepper.

This can be covered and kept aside for a while if you have made this ahead of serving.
Otherwise, place the baking pan in a preheated oven at 180C. Bake for 30 minutes until the pasta is cooked through and cheese melted.

Cut into 6 servings and serve hot with a light salad on the side.

Food Shopping
Lasagna sheets are available in most supermarkets, or you can try and make your own by making pasta dough, rolling it out into thin rotis and cutting them to fit the shape of your pan.
Herbs, both fresh and dried are available at most supermarkets. Keya's or Fabindia for dried herbs and Namdhari's for fresh are my personal preference.

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