Arisi Upma - A breakfast in minutes

Steaming hot upma is served

This recipe is another example of how simple traditional Tamil Brahmin cuisine is. No frills, no laundry-list of ingredients and yet divine in taste.

In earlier times, rice rava used to be painstakingly prepared at home by picking, washing and draining the rice. It then used to be left to dry on layers of old muslin cloth in the shade. The rice would then be hand-pounded into a coarse powder. My mother and grandmother still follow the procedure except that in the last step, the food processor has replaced the hand-pounding. Thankfully. 


As much as I love traditions, I am deprived of this virtue called patience. My husband will tell you the same thing. So I pick this packet of readymade Idli Rava from the supermarket and that makes life a lot easier for me.



Idli rava / rice rava (rice that is broken into a coarse rava) is a very useful ingredient to have around the kitchen. It cooks in a jiffy compared to whole rice or regular rava (semolina). You can use this to make delicious Upma Kozhakattai - which is one of the lesser known Tamilian tiffin items that I have never seen in a restaurant menu. This was one of the earliest entries on this blog.

You can also soak this instead of rice to grind idli batter. A simple rice porridge can be prepared in minutes for your toddler at a moment's notice if you have idli rava at home. And of course this breakfast recipe that you can virtually make in the time your family takes to settle on the dining table. 

This makes a quick weekday breakfast. To make it a more sumptuous breakfast, serve it with sambar and a variety of chutneys.

The coconut oil used in this recipe gives a deep aroma to the upma, but it's not a must really. Use any other vegetable oil or ghee instead.

This is way faster than the regular upma because you need not roast the rava nor chop any chillies, ginger, onions etc. and this cooks in almost half the time as regular rava.

So you have no excuses not to try this out. Just make sure you add 'Idli Rava' to your grocery list the next time :)

Arisi Upma - Broken rice upma

Serves 3

Time taken - Under 10 minutes

Ingredients

1-2 tsp edible coconut oil

Small pinch of asafoetida

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1-2 dried red chillies

1 tsp udad dal (ulutham paruppu)

1 sprig curry leaves (optional)

1 cup idli rava

3 cups water

1 tsp salt

1-2 tbsp scraped fresh coconut

1 small piece of jaggery

1/4 cup frozen peas (optional)

Directions

1. In a large non stick kadai, heat the coconut oil.
2. Stir in the asafoetida and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the udad dal and fry till lightly golden. Fry the curry leaves if using for a few seconds and the dried red chillies.
3. Add 3 cups of water, salt, coconut scrapings, frozen green peas (if using) and jaggery. Let this come to a rolling boil.
4. Reduce the flame to sim and add the idli rava while stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
5. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook until the water evaporates - this takes under 3-4 minutes. Give it a good stir. Check for salt. If you think the upma is too dry and the rice rava needs to be cooked some more, add few more tablespoons of water, cover and cook on low flame for 2-3 minutes more.
6. Once this water is absorbed and the rava is cooked, turn off the flame. Keep covered for 2-3 minutes. This will make the grains absorb the moisture from the steam and fluff up some more.
7. Serve hot garnished with some more fresh coconut if required.

Note:

• The jaggery will not make this taste sweet, but according to my granny rice-rava has a slight bitter tinge about it which this jaggery will neutralize.
• The original arisi upma recipe does not use peas. This is just to make it more filling and add to the protein content.

15 June 2010

Edited to add- Comment from my Dad on email after seeing this post:

Unnudaya uppumavai partha udaneye appdiye sappidanumbola irukku. Moreover, the garnishing is TOP. God bless you. Appa.

This made me so happy this morning :)

Read More...

Going down memory lane with icecream and recipe for Fig and Vanilla Icecream

"As a kid, the only thing I really cared about was candy. Candy is the only reason you want to live when you’re a kid. Ages zero through ten, candy is your life, there’s nothing else. Family, friends, school…they’re only obstacles in the way of getting more candy."

Jerry Seinfeld

I can say the same thing about ice cream.

As a child, my love for ice cream was pretty intense. More so because I was not allowed to eat it as frequently as I'd have liked to. I was predisposed to getting a nasty cold every now and then. The fact that my people thought eating ice cream led to colds did not help. Exam times, school competitions, all such times were strictly no-ice cream times. I wont say I was obsessed with ice cream the way Jerry was with candy. But being denied something makes you want it more. That's what happened to me.

My first favourite among ice creams was strawberry - no fancy schmancy REAL fruit ice cream - the pale pink synthetic colour and flavour of Amul suited my tastebuds just fine. Next in line came Tutti Frutti - which is it's mild orangey flavour and the colourful fruit bits (coloured and candied dried papaya for all we know) was pleasing to the eye as well as palate.

My aunt used to make these ice creams with seasonal fruits like Chikoo, Mango, Custard apple and also with those ice-cream mixes that were common in supermarkets as we were growing up. Those days, any guests coming to her place would unashamedly poke their head into her freezer to check if that aluminium dabba in which she usually freezed the good stuff was around!

Then entered Baskin Robbins. Probably that time I was low on my ice cream phase and don't recall any big favourites with them.

My short stay in the US made me a big fan of Perry's Death by Chocolate - my tastebuds could not believe that such a decadent icecream could exist. Then of course there was Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia and more such exotic flavours that made me regret that my stay in US wasn't long enough. On second thoughts, I'm happy today I gave all those excess calories a miss.

From US when we moved back to Bombay, we settled into ice cream land - Juhu - the place where Natural's Ice Cream was born. The ice cream of Juhu scheme. Anyone who has tasted Naturals will vouch for the real good taste that comes from fresh natural ingredients. Their home delivery box on any fruit ice cream will read just three ingredients: Milk, fruit and sugar. I trust them. My favourites here were the papaya-pineapple and real strawberry. When it comes to ice creams, I'll mostly go with fruit flavours or butter scotch. I'm not a big fan of chocolate in ice creams, I can eat chocolate by itself, thank you.

Today, I have all the freedom to eat ice cream as and when I please. The husband has nothing but words of encouragement when I say "I feel like having an ice cream today". Last week we shared a Willy Wonka Chocolate blast at the Cream Stone, which made me feel guilty as hell :(

There are some things you want to make more often, but we don't get around to making them. Making ice cream at home is one such thing for me. In all these years of frantic cooking, I've made kulfi twice and ice cream twice, including this one. I'll probably make it more often, now that I've almost cracked the jinx. 

I came to know after 5 years of being married to S that his favourite flavour in ice creams was Fig and Honey, which is why they say marriage is a process of continuous discovery of each other :) I saw him poking his head into the Baskin Robbins counter a few days ago searching for this flavour that was out of stock or something like that - which is when the idea of making this cropped up in my mind. And I wanted to start using the vanilla pods that I'd bought in Munnar on my holiday there in April. So this was a fantastic experience for me, handling real vanilla for the first time.

Since this can be made using basic household equipment, more ice cream lovers can try this out. So here's the recipe for the eggless fig vanilla ice cream - no ice cream maker required.

Fig and Vanilla Ice cream

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

12 dried figs

1" vanilla pod

800 ml milk ( I used toned 3%)

1/2 tin condensed milk (200g)

6tsp sugar or more to suit your taste

1 tbsp cornflour

Directions

• Soak the figs in hot water for 3-4 hours till plump and soft. Grind to a rough puree, using some of the soaked water if required. If some pieces of fig remain, it is fine - it will fun biting into the little chewy pieces later!
• In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine all but half cup of milk, condensed milk and sugar. Bring to a simmer.
• Slit the vanilla pod with the tip of a sharp knife - scrape out the seeds into the simmering milk. I added the empty pods into the milk too, to use any seeds that got left out inside. [If using extract, add in two teaspoons of extract after removing the mixture from the flame.]
• Mix the cornflour in the reserved half cup cold milk and add to the simmering mixture. Bring to a boil. The simmering milk will thicken as the cornflour gets cooked.
• Add the fig puree at this stage. Stir / whisk well and remove from flame. [If using vanilla extract, add at this stage.]
• Cool the content of the pan and pour into two plastic icecream boxes. (I used two old ice cream containers 500 ml each)
• Turn your freezer's setting to maximum and keep the boxes in the freezer for 4-6 hours.
• When the ice cream is nearly set, remove the contents of boxes into a large bowl and churn with an electric hand blender till soft and creamy, around 6-8 minutes.
• Return the content to the boxes and freeze again.
• You can repeat the same procedure after 3-4 hours and freeze for a creamier texture.

If you don't have an electric hand blender, use your food processor or else a wooden spoon to beat the mixture manually.

Taste: The ice cream was mildly sweet and very rich in flavours - vanilla with its intoxicating sweet aroma and the figs with their natural sweetness and textures. The combination worked beautifully for us. The condensed milk almost made up for the absence of the eggs - providing the rich creamy taste.

I used regular 3% milk, but you can use whole milk for better taste and more creaminess.

The only other ice cream on this blog is the Mango-coconut ice cream, which you might like to try if the mango season is still on in your part of the world.

Read More...

Minty Raw-Mangoey Ragda Patties

[If you would like to connect with me on Facebook then please join the Saffron Trail page by clicking on the badge in the right column here. I post recipes which don't feature on the blog for lack of pictures, my toddler's favourite food recipes and lots of food related banter.]

Ragda patties is a very very popular street snack in Mumbai and many other parts of Northern India. Its chunky, spicy, tangy, sweet all at once and in short mouthwateringly irresistible like all other 'chats'!

It is easy to assume that Street Food = Junk Food = Unhealthy Food. 

However when the premise of a street food like Ragda Patties is a balanced meal made of Potatoes (Carbs) and Dried peas (Protein and Fibre) and tomato-onion salad (fibre and vitamins) one can make it even healthier at home ! 

What makes this unhealthy outside is the deep frying of the patties in god-knows-what oil and the number of times the oil is brought to high temperature to fry different batches in a day or over several days. This procedure of reheating oil several times, produces trans-fats. Eating food containing transfats  is one of the biggest cardiac risks. 

At home, I prepared these golden patties on a non stick tava with just 2 teaspoons of olive oil, in total  (Honest!!) and I added grated tofu to the potato mix to make it richer in protein content. Tofu haters of the world - this one is for you. You wouldn't even know that there was tofu in it thanks to the fresh flavours of mint, raw mango, ginger, garlic and green chillies that went into it.

This is how a street food with a notorious 'unhealthy' tag attached to it can turn extremely healthy and even wear the crown of ' health food'.

Here's the recipe for you. This makes a hearty dinner for two or three.

Potato-Tofu Patties with Ragda

Ingredients

For Ragda

150 grams roughly 3/4 cup dried green or white peas - soak overnight in plenty of water

Salt

1 tbsp Coriander powder

1 tsp amchoor powder or 1 tsp tamarind puree

For Potato-Tofu Patties

3 Medium potatoes

1/4 cup finely grated firm tofu

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Salt to taste

Pinch of turmeric powder

Masala for both Ragda and Patties

Grind together to a coarse paste

3 green chillies

1/2 cup washed and picked mint leaves

handful of raw mango pieces

1 inch ginger

3 cloves of garlic

Toppings

1 large onion finely chopped

2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

Green chutney

Tamarind chutney ( I use Kitchens of India brand)

Fresh coriander

chat masala

Directions

Preparation :

Pressure cook potatoes for 5 minutes. Cool, peel and keep aside.

Drain the soaked peas. Wash well and pressure cook for 7 minutes with 3 cups of water. The skins will come off during this process and some of the peas may get mushy. Don't worry about this, use the entire lot for the recipe.

In a large bowl, mash the potatoes along with other 'Patties' ingredients and half the ground masala. If the 'dough' is not firm enough to make patties, then add some more bread crumbs to adjust. Divide into 6-8 balls. Flatten on the palm to make patties of around half inch thickness. 

Heat a non-stick tava (skillet). Brush with olive oil and place all the patties (or in batches if your tava does not accomadate all) On a medium flame, crisp each side for around 5 minutes, till golden brown. Use some oil around the sides to help crisp up.

For the ragda (gravy), place the pressure cooked peas in a saucepan with the remaining ground masala and coriander powder, amchoor powder, salt. Bring this to a simmer. Check for salt and adjust.

To assemble a plate - 

Cut 2-3 patties into quarters. Place in a deep dish.

Pour 2-3 ladles of ragda over this.

Top with chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander and your choice of chutneys. Sprinkle chat masala and serve.

Read More...

Eggplant-Mushroom-Cheese Melt -a Quick Dinner

Shaking off my ( Hyderabad heat induced ) lethargy, I have finally made a Fan Page for Saffron Trail blog. If you are on Facebook (really, who isn't??) I would really love it if you joined me there. 

Right now I am sharing some toddler food recipes that my toddler seems to enjoy as well as some interesting must-try bookmarked links from other bloggers. It will be fun to interact with you there. If you've liked my blog but been too bored to comment or Blogger hasn't made things easy for you - then join the fun on Facebook - I'd love to see my readers delurk :)

Here's yesterday's dinner in today's post - for you! :)

This is the kind of dish that comes together when one want to use up an overdue eggplant, a pack of fresh mushrooms that one doesn't want to go bad, a handful of beans leftover from the weekend's dinner and then throw in some bread to round it off. This Italian style of cooking it is really making me a fan of eggplant. Earlier it was strictly - "Thanks but no thanks" to eggplants of all shapes and sizes. Then it came to "I am okay with the big roasted ones converted into a tasty 'bharta'". Later it turned out that I'm so much in love in the caponatas of the world. Now, even if its roasted eggplant puree on a pizza, I am like - "Bring it on, baby!!" And when I brought out the 'Roasted eggplant soup' on the blog, fellow foodies must have shaken their heads and said 'Boy, is she losing it or what!'.

But this dish is not as crazy as the soup. Stir in some vegetables (peppers, eggplant, squash, mushrooms, onions - all work fine here) with garlic, tomato puree and herbs - bake it over moistened slices of bread and you have an Italian main course ready without even putting the pasta to boil. You can call it a mock lasagna. I have two packets of lasagna lying in the kitchen and I haven't brought myself to try out the real stuff yet. In the mean while making myself happy with this...Try it - I am sure you'll love it. And so will your kids!

Eggplant hater? No problem, just use the other vegetables I've listed above.

Recipe for Eggplant-Mushroom-Cheese Melt

Time taken – Under 30 minutes

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

2 tsp olive oil

1 tsp minced garlic

1 cup eggplant cubes

200 grams mushrooms – washed, wiped dry and quartered

¼ cup of any cooked beans like kidney beans or black eyed peas (optional)

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

½ cup tomato puree

½ tsp chilli flakes or powder

½-1 tsp salt

¼ cup grated cheddar or mozzarella

3-4 slices whole wheat bread

½ cup milk

Directions

1. In a wok, heat the oil and sauté the garlic for a few seconds.
2. Add the eggplant cubes and stir on medium heat till half done – around 5 minutes, sprinkling some water if required.
3. Then, add the mushrooms, and let it cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Add the cooked beans, herbs, chilli flakes and salt along with tomato puree at this stage. Mix well to combine, cover with a lid and let it simmer on low heat for 3-4 minutes until the eggplant and mushroom is cooked.
5. Stir in all but 1 tsp of the cheese.
6. Line the base of a baking dish with slices of bread dipped in milk and squeezed gently. I had to use 3 slices to cover a roughly 10 X 6 dish.
7. Spread the mixture on top of this, sprinkling the reserved tsp of cheese on top.
8. Bake / grill for 8-10 minutes. Remove each serving with the bread and the topping.
9. Serve hot.

I'd consider this a relatively low carb, high protein dinner as the main source of carbs here were there 3 slices of whole wheat bread shared between two of us, and mushrooms, beans, cheese are all high in protein. Taste wise, it was really high on flavours - if you store packs of tomato puree at home and cans of beans, it can be put together in a jiffy even for a weeknight dinner!

Read More...

Book Review : Modern Spice by Monica Bhide and a recipe from the book

Earlier this month, I got a teaser in the email, words that tantalized my taste buds...and then I finally received the book itself from Random House. Here's my review of Modern Spice by Monica Bhide.

Close your eyes. Imagine tamarind margarita, Kumquat and mango chutney with onion seeds, curried carrot and ginger soup, garlic smashed potatoes…Didn’t your mouth just water imagining the different spices and their flavours? That is what Modern Spice is all about!

Modern Spice is written by Monica Bhide, who is also the author of two other books – The Spice is Right and The Everything Indian Cookbook. The Indian edition published by Random House India, with a foreword by Chef Sanjeev Kapoor releases in India today and I must say the timing is just right. Indians trotting the globe want to bring global influences to local cuisine and vice versa. I’ll buy the asparagus and the broccoli but I don’t necessarily want to make a salad with it! Monica understands this need and presents this book – which is Indian at heart with a modern touch.

In Monica’s words “Just because we have always done something in one way, it does not make it the only way to do it” – that is clearly the essence of Moden Spice.

The book is divided into colour-coded sections:

• Chutneys and Marinades

• Modern Drinks

• Appetizers, snacks and salads

• Vegetables

• Fish and Shellfish

• Poultry, meat and eggs

• Rice and breads

• Desserts

My favourite section among these turned out to be 'Drinks' as this is one department I tend to neglect the most when I’m entertaining friends. Monica sure knows how to jazz up a good-ol’ Aam Panha (traditional raw mango drink) by turning it into an Emerald-ade or a nearly-boring Rooh Afza (Indian sweetened rose concentrate) into an exciting Rum and Roses. The Emerald-ade was the first recipe I tried from this book and I must say it's going to be my favourite drink in the summer of 2010 while raw mangoes are in season!

The chutney section has some exotic combinations like mango-almond chutney. The fennel-chilli dry rub which she recommends for meats, I used liberally on paneer cubes to make a delicious Saufiya-Paneer! The section on appetizers and snacks is the largest in the book and if you are someone who loves to host friends for dinner, you are going to love this section. Something like Cooling Cups which are cucumber cups filled with spiced yogurt takes no effort and will make a great impression on your guests. It has some other recipes like Paneer quiche which could well be a main course item for brunch / lunch served with a salad. Being a vegetarian, it would have been simpler had the recipes in this large section be divided into Vegetarian and others (eggs, seafood, poultry).

The vegetables part has been dealt with most creatively – making unusual combinations of spices and vegetables. The pumpkin with 5 spices was quite a delicacy and when I lay my hands on a bunch of asparagus, I am surely going to try out the Kalonji wala Asparagus.

From a vegetarian’s perspective – the vegetables are almost the main course, and featuring just twelve recipes was a disappointment . Besides, pumpkin turned out to the main ingredient in three out of twelve recipes, which I feel will be a sore point with vegetarians. Why repeat the same vegetable thrice when there is such a plethora of veggies to choose from?
However, being a book for people who eat their meat as well as vegetables, there are two sections covering seafood, poultry, meat and eggs – so that’s a lot of ideas and recipes for the meat eater.

There’s a reasonable variety of rice dishes – such as Indian Mexican rice and Rice and black eyed peas with crushed garlic. A couple of snacky items like Onion-Bread stir fry, Sooji-paneer pancakes also feature here. I tried a modified version of the onion-bread stir fry for breakfast with the stale bread I had on hand and it hit the spot. It is what our mums would churn out with old bread or rotis, calling it 'bread upma' - but made with the more exotic breads available in the market today, you can make it a fun dish.

The Indian-Mexican rice is what we had for dinner today - a simple recipe with rice, beans, corn and spices - something that can be made with pantry staples, ie. if you like me consider frozen corn, onions and tomatoes as staples. [Recipe given below]

In the Desserts section, most of them are quick, no-slave recipes such as the Soulful Granita (made with Rooh Afza) and the chilled mango papaya soup which seems like a saviour in the hot Hyderabadi summer. Given that almost all of the desserts featured are fruit based, it could have done with a bit more variety.

I did find that in some of the recipes that feature hard-to-source ingredients like pomegranate molasses and kumquats – adequate replacements or details have been provided in the notes section. That said, there is no real replacement for Phyllo pastry , and I am yet to find a supermarket that stocks it for a reasonable price!
I liked the idea of colour coding the sections for ease of use. The little stories related to the recipe in the introduction to some of them, made an interesting read.

Overall, this book makes cooking seem fun. You can make an impression on the dinner table without essentially stocking up on a 100 ingredients and slaving in the kitchen. If you don't have any dietary restrictions and you love Indian cuisine with a twist, then this book is surely for you!

Recipe for Indian-Mexican Rice 
(slightly modified to suit our tastes)

2 tbsp oil (I used 1 tbsp)
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp turmeric (I used 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (red chilli powder)

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp dried oregano
1/3 rd cup tomato puree
1 cup cooked rajma
3/4 cup fresh sweet corn kernels
1 cup diced red tomatoes
4 green chillies, chopped (I used just 1)
1 cup basmati rice
salt to taste
water as needed
coriander for garnishing
(the ingredients in purple are my additions, not in original recipe)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pan. Stir in garlic and onions, stirring around for 4-5 minutes till soft.
2. Add all spices - stir to cook for 30 seconds.
3. Add all remaining ingredients along with the rice, salt and water (around 2 cups).
4. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook for 8 -10 minutes or so until rice is done.
5. Serve garnished with fresh coriander.

My notes
This was a hearty filling  one-pot rice dish perfect by itself for a weekday dinner, if you pressure cook the rajma in the morning or over the weekend. Along with other accompaniments it can make an excellent main course dish for a Mexican dinner.
I added the oregano and cumin as we love the strong Mexican taste they impart to a dish. Also as the tomatoes I used were on the sweeter side, I used some tomato puree for added zing! Overall a simple recipe for a great tasting dish that I'll surely make again!

[Extracts taken from Monica Bhide’s book Modern Spice published by Random House]
More about Monica Bhide on her website.

Read More...

Yotam Ottolenghi inspired Mango Chickpea Salad

I am yet to read a cookbook written by Yotam Ottolenghi, but I follow his column on the Guardian quite avidly. Last week, I came across his recipe for Alphonso Mango and curried chickpea salad and I HAD TO make it. Not only because it is the mango season in India (that makes the unbearable summers kinda worthwhile) but also because I love salads with fruit in them. It is not one of those boring salads that make you go - "Oh nooo, it's a salad dinner" - but something you cant wait to dig your fork into - a bit of spinach, a few chickpeas and a juicy cube of mango for the perfect bite! What a delightful combination of flavours and textures they made, isn't that what a good meal is all about?

One point of emphasis for those who'd like to try this recipe out - please grind the spice mix fresh. I saw the ingredients - mustard seeds, cumin and coriander seeds - dry roast and grind. The lazy efficient cook in me said, "Wait, don't we have all those powders, why not just mix them up". The conscience spoke up. And I dutifully measured out the spices on to a hot kadai, roasted them for a bit and crushed them in the mortar pestle - the aromas that came up to my sensitive nose said - "well done girl! This was worth it". And then again, when we finally ate the salad, the fresh ground spices made ALL the difference!

Here's my adaptation of Chef Ottolenghi's recipe

Mango - Curried Chickpea Salad
Makes 2 BIG salads

Ingredients

150 grams dried chick peas, soaked overnight in water with a pinch of baking soda

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium hot green chilli, chopped

1 large onion, finely minced

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp fennel seeds (my addition)

1 tsp curry powder (I used Kitchen King masala)
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt

1 large ripe mango or 2 medium ( I used 1 big Banganapally mango)

50g baby spinach leaves

20g chopped fresh coriander
1 lemon

Directions

1. Drain and wash the soaked chick peas. Place in a medium sized pressure cooker. Cover with 2 -3 cups water and pressure cook till done. They should NOT be cooked till very soft as would be the case in chole. After 3 whistles, keeping it on sim for 5 minutes should be good for the regular variety of chickpeas. Also, do not add baking soda / powder to the water while cooking.
2. In a wok, dry roast the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and fennel seeds, till aromatic (1-2 minutes). Remove and crush to a coarse powder with mortal pestle or coffee grinder. Remove in a small bowl and mix in the turmeric powder, curry powder, salt and sugar.
3. In the same wok, heat the olive oil. Throw in the minced green chilli, sauteeing for a bit and then add the chopped onions. Stir on a low flame till onions are soft. 
4. Add the spice mix over the onions. Stir for a few seconds till mixed and then add the cooked chickpeas, turning around gently till well coated.
5. Remove into a bowl. Cover and keep refrigerated until you are ready to assemble the salad.
6. Just before assembly, skin and cube the mango into chickpea sized pieces. Wash and dry the baby spinach leaves.
7. In a large bowl, toss the curried chickpeas, the mango cubes and the spinach along with the juice of a lemon and fresh coriander leaves.
8. Serving this chilled is perfect for the hot summer evening! 

*The original recipe called for cauliflower too - but somehow the idea of combining cauliflower with ripe mango did not appeal to me, hence left it out.

This was clearly on of the top salads we have eaten and I'm sure to be making this several times while the mango season lasts!

Read More...

Spinach Peanut Pesto Pasta

Spinach Peanut Pesto Pasta or what happens when a Maharastrian meets an Italian

The Cooks Cottage was one of the first food blogs to go on my bookmarks list.Yesterday I visited that blog after ages to find an interesting Peanut Chutney with a very simple recipe -Roast handful of peanuts and grind with green chillies, tamarind puree and salt. Since I had time on hand, I went ahead with this - just that I did not use tamarind puree but used a fat pinch of Amchoor (dried mango) powder instead. The result was a very yummy chutney - somewhat moister than a podi because of the oils in the peanuts and the water given out by the chillies.
Even if you stop right here, this chutney can be mixed with plain steamed rice to make a Peanut Rice. Add a tadka of some mustard seeds, udad dal and curry leaves and it will make a protein rich rice dish to go with a raita. This peanut chutney is also a quick addition to a simple roti-sabzi meal. Also I'd love to sprinkle this on a large bowl of vegetable raita and devour it for a summer lunch.
But for me, it took a different route altogether...to Italy! I'd bought two large bunches of fresh spinach in the morning and they were cleaned, washed and chopped - waiting to be cooked. Since I was to make spinach and pasta for dinner and peanut chutney decided to jump over the dinner bandwagon - that's how this dish was born.

Spinach Pesto Pasta
Serves 2

Ingredients
8 cups picked, washed spinach leaves and tender stems
6 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 tbsp olive oil

Pasta for two people, cooked as per directions - I used whole wheat spaghetti

3 tbsp peanuts
2 green chillies
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp amchoor powder (optional)

1 tbsp dried basil

 Freshly ground black pepper


Directions

1. In a large saucepan, place 1/2 cup water with a pinch of sugar and add the spinach leaves to this - allowing them to wilt on a high flame. The sugar will keep the leaves green. This will take roughly 4-5 minutes. Remove from flame and keep aside.
2. Meanwhile keep the peanuts to roast on a medium flame for 7-8 minutes sauteeing them off and on, so that they don't burn. Once they are done, remove and cool. Grind the peanuts after they are cool with the salt, green chillies and amchoor into a fine powder. Keep aside.
3. Boil the pasta as per instructions - drain saving some of the pasta water for later if required.
4. In a large pan, heat the olive oil - add the minced garlic cloves and the wilted spinach - saute for a minute or so, then add the dried basil, peanut chutney and cooked pasta, tossing well to coat the pasta. Check for salt and adjust. Add fresh ground black pepper and toss gently.
5. Serve hot or cold.

Taste wise this was fantastic - the peanut chutney complimented the spinach-garlic-basil tastes superbly. Nutrition wise also it made a lot of sense to me - adding the protein component in the form of peanuts to the carb and fibre rich spinach pasta  was a great idea. All those who watch their calories and weight usually stay away from peanuts - but in small quantities, they are rich in unsaturated fats and are actually considered to reduce belly fat!
If your kid is not allergic to nuts, this is perfect toddler food too, probably easier to eat if the pasta is a smaller one like macaroni. Our boy loved to play with the spaghetti on my plate and our idea of placing a teeny bit of spinach and pasta on every spoon of curd rice (his dinner) was a hit idea to make quick work of his dinner :)

I'm sure any other nuts like walnuts, cashews or almonds will give a new twist to this taste and that's what I'll try this with next time! Do let me know how this recipe turned out for you :)

Read More...