Palko Mogar

Palko Mogar is a combination of moong daal and spinach. Palko Mogar is a name I adopted in Jodhpur and modified the recipe a bit. The term 'Mogar' refers to the moong daal, which is yellowish in colour and without outer skin. The leafy vegetable 'Palak' means spinach.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• 1/2 cup mogar ( moong daal without skin ) 
• 2 cups of spinach
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/8 tsp cumin seeds 
• 1/8 tsp asafoetida ( hing )
• 1/2 tsp subrus masala 
• 1 cm ginger root finely chopped 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• Cilantro chopped (optional)

Ingredients (mogar in bowl)

Cilantro

Directions:

1. Wash daal 3 times
   Add 1 cup of water and start heating on medium heat. 
2. As water starts boiling, lower heat little so that it does not boil over.  It will be cooked in 10-15 minutes.
3. Add spinach and cover for 5 minutes so that spinach shrinks a bit. Adjust to the desired consistency by adding water.
4. Add salt, ginger, and cilantro.
5. Prepare tadka (roasted spices) separately. I find metal measuring cup (1/2 cup) with handle useful for this purpose. In oil put 1-2 grains of cumin for checking oil temperature. When the oil is hot enough, add cumin seeds, then asafoetida and masala.
6. Add tadka to dal, mix and let it simmer  for few more minutes

The Palko Mogar can be consumed as a soup or as a part of dinner with roti or rice.

Here it is as a part of dal roti sabzi combo:

   

Green Beans Potato Sabzi

This is another simple sabzi to make, similar to the tiranga sabzi described in a previous post.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• 2 cups of cut green beans ( about 1/2 to 3/4 " length) 
• 1 red potato cut into 1/2" cubes
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/8 tsp asafoetida ( hing )
• 1/2 tsp subrus masala ( spice mix - see prior post for details )
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 stems of cilantro leaves and stems cut separately ( optional )

Chopped ingredients

Directions:

1. In a non-stick pan, put oil and start heating. 
2. Put 1-2 cumin grains to check oil temperature.
3. When oil is hot add cumin seeds, then asafoetida, subrus masala, and potato. 
4. Stir well to cover potato pieces. 
5. Add beans, salt and  mix well. Add 2 tbsp water, and cover while on stove to steam.
6. After 10 minutes reduce heat, add cilantro stems. 
7. Add 1 tbsp water if needed, cover, continue heating for 5 minutes
8. Check if potato and beans are cooked by mushing with spoon a piece of potato and bean. Cover and heat for 5 more min if needed. Garnish with Cilantro leaves. 

Below are the three stages of cooking:

After adding potatoes

After cooking 10 minutes

The finished sabzi

NYTimes Kale Salad With Apples

I had an over-supply of kale which I needed to use up quickly. A quick Google search led me to this NYTimes recipe for Kale Salad with Apples and Cheddar. This is very simple but I will post it anyway, with my variation on it as well my sense of how it came out.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 4 cups of kale, thinly sliced
• 1 apple (I went with Gala), diced to 1/4"
• 10 almonds, chopped
• 10-20 raisins
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 5 tbsp olive oil (EVOO)
• Pinch of salt

Ingredients before prep

Ingredients after prep

Directions:

1. Prep the ingredients as above
   
   If you notice the knife in the photo above, it is a Victorinox 8" Fibrox Pro Chef's Knife. I am not much of a cook, but I bought it because of the rave reviews, and it has lived up to the reputation! Especially when paired with the NYTimes Basic Knife Skills guide.
   
   
   
   
2. Place the kale, apple, almonds, and raisins in a salad spinner
3. Stir the salt, lemon juice, and olive oil until it is homogenous
4. Add the dressing to the spinner and push push push!

The dressing

Unlike the original recipe, this one omits the cheddar, mostly because I did not have any at hand. Overall, it came out pretty good! The total prep time was about 15 minutes. The last tip from the NYTimes was key though: letting the entire mixture sit for 15 minutes after mixing helped break down and soften the kale a bit. I would happily make this salad again!

The finished product: Kale Salad with Apples

Tiranga Sabzi

One of our favorite vegetables is Tiranga Sabzi, or Three-Colored Vegetables. The name is generic but in my case, the three vegetables we use are green / bell peppers, red potatoes, and carrots. Coincidentally, these are the colors of the Indian flag (more or less, haha). The last three ingredients comprise the 'tadka', so named for the sound it makes when the oil becomes heated.

Chopped carrots and bell peppers

Ingredients (Serves 3-4):

• 1 Bell Pepper
• 2 Carrots
• 2 Red Potato medium size( your favorite potato variety )
• 1 to 2 tbsp Vegetable or olive oil
• 1/2 tsp hing (asafoetida) 
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp chili/cayenne powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Chop all the vegetables in strips approximately 2.5 x 1 cm (see photo)

Vegetables fully cut to size

2. Add the oil to a frying pan and heat it on medium-high heat (6 out of 10 on my stove)
3. Add a small amount of the cumin to the oil until it starts to simmer. 
4. Once it does, add all the 'tadka', lower the heat to low-medium (4/10) and add the potatoes. 

5. Partially cover the potatoes to steam them and heat for 7 minutes.
6. Add carrots
7. Add bell pepper, mix and heat for 5 more minutes

8. Make sure all three kinds of veggies are cooked. If not, heat for another 5 minutes.
9. Add salt, mix well, lower heat, and heat for 5 minutes. 

The dish is easy to make, quick, and relatively healthy. It is usually paired with roti, a common type of Indian bread. This is arguably the most patriotic sabzi an Indian can make, as the colors match those of the Indian flag!

Ready to eat!

Is Emeril's Vegetarian Chili Any Good?

We attempted to make Emeril Lagasse's Vegetarian Chili last week. The full recipe can be found on The Food Network under the title Vegetarian Chili Recipe:

Ingredients
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 cup chopped red bell peppers
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 to 3 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded, and minced, depending upon taste
1 medium zucchini, stem ends trimmed and cut into small dice
2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 ears)
1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms (about 5 large), stemmed, wiped clean and cubed
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespooon ground cumin
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
4 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
3 cups cooked black beans, or canned beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup vegetable stock, or water
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Cooked brown rice, accompaniment
Sour cream or strained plain yogurt, garnish
Diced avocado, garnish
Essence, recipe follows, garnish
Chopped green onions, garnish 

Directions
In a large, heavy pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, bell peppers, garlic, and serrano peppers, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the zucchini, corn, and mushrooms, and cook, stirring, until soft and the vegetables give off their liquid and start to brown around the edges, about 6 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and stir well. Add the beans, tomato sauce, and vegetable stock, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro. Adjust the seasoning, to taste.

To serve, place 1/4 cup of brown rice in the bottom of each bowl. Ladle the chili into the bowls over the rice. Top each serving with a dollop of sour cream and spoonful of avocado. Sprinkle with Essence and green onions and serve.

So, a few notes about our concoction. First, we could not find any zucchini in our local market, so we substituted in yellow squash. We did find some pepper jack cheese though! Yum! Anyway, we also omitted the garnish. The most important distinction though may have been that we used water instead of vegetable broth.

The recipe estimates prep time of 25 minutes and cook time of 30 minutes, serving 6 to 8. Our experience was more like prep time of an hour, cook time of 30 minutes, and servings of at least 8, but maybe as much as 12 (we're still eating leftovers!). Admittedly, we are slow preppers but there are a lot of individual ingredients to wash, clean, and then chop up so the time adds up quickly. But, there were two of us working on this so you would think it would be faster, right?

After cooking the chili, we dug in. While the chili was highly edible, it was somewhat lacking in that "oomph" punch we were expecting. That may have been our fault in how much we added as far as spices, so perhaps err on the side of more rather than less if you give this a shot. Oh, and I think we definitely should have used vegetable broth. The chili was just too.... soupy for my tastes as I was expecting a thicker product. Oh well, it's still edible which is the very low bar I set for myself, and tasty - I think the main downer is that it wasn't very "chili" like. But hey, it's great as a chunky soup!

Is Cabbage Underappreciated?

A recent article in the New York Times praises cabbage as the most unappreciated of vegetables, especially in winter. As a longtime anti-Cabbabrigian (neologisms are fun), I was surprised to hear such high praise for such a humble veggie. However, the article does make some intriguing points about this much maligned mushy greenleaf. Read on to learn more: 

January 11, 2011: Cabbage’s Sweet Side - By ELAINE LOUIE

Chefs praise cabbage. They embrace its sweetness. They delight in its crunch in raw slaws and its melting smoothness in cold-weather braises.

More often than not, their customers do not share this love.

“I personally love cabbage,” said Floyd Cardoz, who was the executive chef of Tabla in Manhattan until it closed last month. He offered lightly caramelized cabbage wedges that had been spiced with cloves, black mustard seeds, shallots, garlic and ginger. Mr. Cardoz brought out the sweetness of the cabbage, and in the plating of it, its beauty. But few people ordered it.

“They have eaten overcooked cabbage so often, they begin to hate the mushiness and the smell,” he said.

Cabbage is often an unloved, homely vegetable. It’s smelly. It’s cheap. It’s the food of the poor. But those who can get past this initial aversion know it as one of winter’s quiet overachievers.

Right now, when green beans are selling for $4 a pound, and baby spinach for $9 a pound, red and green cabbages from local farms can be had for around 75 to 99 cents a pound. The low price is in part a reflection of cabbage’s longevity. It stays fresh in the refrigerator from two to five weeks, and even longer in farmers’ bins.

For more on the benefits of cabbage, click here to read the rest of the article at NYTimes.com. For a Desipe that involves cabbage, check out the Desipes Tehri recipe, or search any recipe site for 'cabbage.'

Indian-Style Eggplant Dish (Eggplant Sabzi)

Eggplant is prepared in many ways. It has many names, such as Brinjal, Baingan, Ringna and Waange. Eggplant comes in many varieties, shapes, sizes, and colors. Here I am going to describe how to prepare Japanese eggplant in an Indian style.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 2 Japanese eggplants (about 10 inches long, 1 inch diameter).
• 1 medium size red tomato
  
• 2 tsp Rajah Garam Masala
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida powder (hing)
• 2 tsp subrus (haldi-dhania-mirch concoction)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• Chopped coriander leaves for garnish
  

Directions:

1. Dice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick discs.
   
2. Dice tomato into medium size pieces (about 18).
   
3. In a 2 quart pan, add oil. Heat on medium heat.
4. Add mustard seeds. When they begin to make noise, turn off the heat.
5. Add cumin followed by fenugreek, asafoetida, and subrus.
   
6. Add eggplant and toss so as to cover all pieces with oil and spices. Add 2-3 tbsp water. Put on medium heat with cover for 10 minutes.
7. Add tomato pieces and Rajah Garam Masala. Mix well. Cover and simmer for another 7 minutes.
8. Add coriander just before serving.

It can be made as a mixed vegetable by adding complementary vegetables such as potato, carrot, peas, or spinach.

Aloo Paratha

Aloo paratha is one variety of Indian flat bread that is quite popular. It is invariably included in most Indian restaurant menus. The recipe below is slightly modified from the traditional aloo paratha recipe.


Ingredients (Serves 4):

• 2 large potatoes (2 inch diameter, 4-5 inch long Russet potatoes)
  
• 2 tsp ginger paste
• 3 tbsp chopped cilantro
  
• 4 tsp subrus
• 1 tsp hing (asafoetida)
• 2 tsp aamchur
• Salt to taste
• 2 cup chopped raw spinach
• 4 cups wheat flour for dough
  
• 1/2 cup wheat flour
• 4 tbsp oil
• Oil to shallow fry or Pam Original No Stick Cooking Spray
  

Directions:

1. Boil or microwave potatoes to cook them.
2. Peel the potatoes, then mash them.
   
3. Add ginger paste, cilantro, hing, subrus, aamchur and salt.
4. Mix well. Make 8 balls of potato stuffing
   
5. Mix spinach, flour, oil and salt to taste. Make a dough soft to touch but not sticky. Make 8 balls.
6. Making the paratha ball: In left hand take a dough ball and with right hand thumb and fingers start making a bowl. Put potato stuffing ball on top. At this stage both hands work: the right one pushes the potato ball gently downwards and then the left thumb and fingers gradually cover it by dough. At the end, it looks like a big ball of dough. Pat it and make a patty.
   
7. Using rolling pin on a clean surface covered with dry flour, make a circle of about 8 inches diameter. This is a raw paratha.
   
8. Frying paratha: If afraid of lifting paratha without breaking by hand, use aluminium foil. Put on non stick gridle at medium hot temperature. Flip it when color darkens. Put some oil and cover whole surface. One can use brush. Alternatively use Pam Original No Stick Cooking Spray. Again flip and cover the surface with oil. In a few minutes, paratha starts showing bumps and developes few brown patches on the bottom surface. Flip the paratha over and cook it until both sides show brown patches.
9. Put on cooling rack. After cooling briefly, the paratha is ready to serve.

I usually serve it with plain yogurt and mango pickle. Instead of potato stuffing, one can use grated paneer, grated cauliflower, grated raddish/mulee or any other combination to create your own variety of paratha. The only consideration is that the stuffing and dough should have similar dryness and soft texture. You may serve paratha as a full meal and dessert of pie or cake.

If you are interested in seeing high quality images of many Indian dishes, some of which are described on this blog, I strongly recommend browsing Cooking with My Indian Mother-in-Law: Mastering the Art of Authentic Home Cooking

Nankatai

Nankatai is an Indian style butter biscuit. In winter, we were to enjoy it with hot pakoda or hot samosa. The shortbread cookies Lorna Doone from Nabisco remind me of Nankatai.

Ingredients (For approximately 48 pieces)

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Cream Of Wheat
• 1 and 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp mixed spices
• 4-5 cardamom pods
• 12 almonds or 24 pisachio
  

Directions

1. Mix sugar and powdered cardamom. Add butter and beat until smooth.
2. Mix flour and cream of wheat. Add this to butter sugar mix gradually and make a soft dough.
   
3. Make small round balls and press them to make thick circle. At the center of each press 1/4 th almond or 1/2 pistachio. Bake on cookie sheet at 350 degree Fahrenheit for 20 minutes or until turns light brown.

The crumbs of Nankatai can be used to make a base for cheese cake.
Looking for more vegetarian dessert ideas? Check out BabyCakes!

Gulab Jamun

Gulab jamun is a common Indian dessert, made of milk powder, flour, and using rosewater flavoring. The word gulab means rose.

Ingredients (Serves 4 to 8) :
For balls (Jamun)

• 4 cups milk powder
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda (not baking powder)
• 2 cups yogurt (Vary according to the firmness of yogurt to get soft dough)
• Vegetable shortening or ghee for frying

For Syrup

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cups water
• For flavor (a) Rose water 1/4 cup, OR (b) Cardamom powder 1/4 tsp and 1/8 tsp saffron

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix the milk powder, flour, and baking soda.
2. In a cup, beat yogurt to make it uniform.
3. Add yogurt gradually to the mix and make a dough that should be soft to touch.
4. Make 1/2 inch diameter balls (use ghee on palm to reduce dough sticking).
   
5. In a frying pan with ghee on medium heat, deep fry 4-5 balls at a time till they turn brown. Put balls in strainer to get out the excess ghee.
   
6. In a pan, mix sugar and water. Heat until sugar dissolves completely and mixture starts boiling. Turn off heat.
   
7. Float the balls in syrup and cover them completely with the syrup.

Several variations are possible. While making the jamun balls, one can put at the center a variety of ingredients such as saffron, nutmeg, cardamom, sugar cube, or pistachios. Or, you can try the jamun-within-jamun approach: mix a small portion of dough with powdered spices of your liking and place this at the center of a larger jamun ball.


Related Posts:

• Halwa
• Eggless Cake Recipe
• Shortbread

ChocoFrost Chocolate Cake Frosting

Want something besides vanilla frosting for your cake? Try this chocolate flavored frosting from Denise (1986).

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2-3 tbsp milk
• 1 cup instant powder milk
• For Spicy Flavoring, use 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves, or 1 tbsp grated orange rind, or cut milk powder to 2/3 cup and add 1/3 cup chocolate powder.

Directions

1. Mix butter, honey, vanilla in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
2. Add powdered milk, flavoring and milk gradually while mixing well and keeping the preparation light and fluffy.

This amount of icing should cover a 10" diameter cake. Adjust proportionately for different sized cakes.

Puri

Puri is a deep fried Indian flat bread preparation made of wheat often served on special occassions. Various curries or desserts such as kheer, Srikhand, or Aamrus often accompany puri. Halwa and sabji go well with puris also.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• 4 cups of wheat flour
• 1/2 cup besan flour (Gram or Soya flour: optional)
  
• 2 tablespoons oil (increase amount for fragile crisp puris)
• Salt to taste
• 2 teaspoons sugar (for crisp puris)
  
• Oil or ghee to fry
  

Directions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients.
   
2. Work in oil and knead dough to firm consistency.
3. Divide dough in to 24 parts and make balls. Apply some oil to keep balls from sticking to each other.
4. Using a rolling pin, flatten each ball to about 4" circle (puri). Use a drop of oil if needed.
   
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan. After the oil is heated, fry each puri as follows:
6. Details of frying: As soon as each puri is dipped in hot oil, it should be covered with oil. When it comes to the surface, it should swell up; if not, help it by gently pressing with a spatula (zaara) in the oil. Once sufficiently puffed, turn it over and fry till lower side becomes light brown.
7. Remove from the pan, and put it in a big sieve to drain excess oil.
8. After 5 minutes, put it in a plate with absorbent paper at the bottom.
   

The left over puris can be stacked like Pringles and wrapped in foil.

Puran Poli

Puran poli is a flat bread dish popular in central India, particularly Maharashtra and Karnataka. It is similar to paratha with sweet stuffing of jaggery and gram daal.

Ingredients (Serves 2):
For dough

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
  
• 4 tbsp oil
• Wheat or rice flour for rolling poli
  

For Puran

• 2 cups Chana-daal
• 2 cups Jaggery
• 2 tbsp Nutmeg fine fresh powder
• 6 pod seeds of cardamom, freshly ground
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp oil
  
• Salt (optional)
  

Directions:

For making dough:

1. Depending upon the quality of wheat, the amount of water needed will change, so add water gradually while kneading. The final consistency of the dough should be soft, like a cheese spread.
2. In a bowl, put oil. Add a little more water, and knead dough to make it glutenous. Cover with extra oil and set aside for an hour.
3. Make 1 inch diameter balls.
   

For making puran:

1. In a 2-1/2-Quart saucepan, wash Chana-daal 2 to 3 times, and add 2 cups of water, turmeric, oil.
2. Start cooking on medium heat.
3. Remove the foam that forms and keep cooking on medium heat. Add 2 cups of water if want to make "Katachi Aamti" when daal is completely cooked. To check, put one grain in spoon and press with finger tip. Cooked daal will be crushed and feel soft. Note: Steps 1 and 2 are combined if a pressure cooker is used.
   
4. Remove excess water and add jaggery. Mix well and while stirring intermittently cook till mixture becomes moist but solid.
5. Make a smooth paste using food processor or crush it and pass through sieve. Add nutmeg and cardamom. Mix well.
   
6. Make 1 inch diameter balls.

For making Puran Poli:

1. Start heating 10 inch non stick griddle (tawa) on medium heat.
   
2. Take a ball of dough. Using your index fingers and thumbs, make a bowl with a small opening out of the ball.
3. Put the ball of puran in it and slowly cover the puran ball with dough without breaking it. Make a nice ball and press gently. Note: Depending upon the quality of wheat and the stretching capacity of dough, experts put almost double the quantity of puran. For very soft poli, add excess puran; for increased stiffness, reduce the amount of puran.
   
4. Use dry flour to cover the ball. Sprinkle some dry flour on the clean, dry surface (use smooth cutting board or Chakalota) and roll the ball in to about 6-8 inches diameter poli.
   
5. To remove it from surface without breaking, use an aluminium foil square bigger than the roti and flip the roti on the square supported by one spread out palm.
6. Immediately flip it onto pre-heated griddle.
7. When color starts to change and roti becomes little firm, flip using spatula. Brush both sides with oil and cook until both sides develop reddish-brown patches.
   
8. Remove from the fire and put on cake rack for 5 minutes to cool.
9. Serve with ghee and milk.

Puran poli will stay fresh for 2 to 3 days. This dish can also be modified by adding khoya or coconut. Coconut milk can be substituted for plain milk. Areas such as Ratnagiri may opt for coconut milk, whereas dairy producing areas like Gujrat are more likely to use milk.

Banana Mango Smoothie Shake ( Banangilla! )

Bananas and mangoes are pretty simple as fruits go. However, as I sit here sipping my first and newest concoction made on my new Oster Cube 12-Speed Blender, I can't help but marvel the richness of the flavors produced from these two fruits. I like to call my drink "Banangilla" after its 3 main ingredients. Enjoy your first Banangilla today!

Ingredients (Serves 1)

• 1 cup mango juice or puree
• 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
• 2 bananas, sliced about 1/2 inch thick

Directions

1. Pour 1 cup of mango juice into the blender.
2. Scoop out 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream and add them to the mix.
3. Slice two bananas to approximately 1/2 inch thick slices, and add them in.
4. Set the blender to puree/cream and blend for 1 minute.

To make more servings, simply increase the amount of ingredients proportionally. Blending time should remain about the same.

Tehri

Tehri is the name given for rice preparation with thirteen ingredients. In fact, one can add many varieties of vegetables and dry fruits. The dish can be easily prepared in a crock pot.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 1 cup rice
  
• 1 potato
  
• 1 carrot
• 1 tbsp Cprriander seeds
  
• 1/2 cup chopped cabbage
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 15 split cashews
• 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped or paste
• 1 tsp Rajah Garam Masala
• 2 tsp subrus
• 1 tsp ghee
• 2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a 2 quart pot , add 2 cups of water and 2 tsp of salt.
   
2. Dice all vegetables and then add to pot along with corriander seeds.
   
3. When water starts to boil, add ghee and rice. Mix well, cover, and steam for 5 minutes at medium heat.
4. Add garam masala, subrus, and dry fruits. Mix well, cover, and steam for 10 minutes at medium heat
5. After 10 minutes, check that the tehri is well steamed, then lower the heat.
   
6. Cover and let it simmer for 5 minutes at low heat.

For easy preparation, put all the ingredients into the crock pot in the morning and set it to low heat. By the evening, it will be ready! Simple! You can't beat easy beginner crock pot recipes =)

One can alternatively use 1 cup of water and 1 cup of V8 Vegetable Juice (Low Sodium) to add more flavor. The tehri goes well with yogurt, raita, papad or simple diced tomato and cucumber mix.

Homemade Pizza

Pizza has become our favorite f00d 0n weekends. Also while out of town we typically eat pizza to replace a few meals. Pizza is simple, fresh, and appetizing when done right. Here is a pizza recipe that I have modified to suit our tastes.

Ingredients (Serves 4) : 15" pizza and 8 bread sticks OR two 12" pizza
for pizza dough (modified from booklet accompanying bread maker)

• 1-1/4 cup warm water
• 2 tbsp olive oil in dough + some to brush
• 4-1/4 cup whole wheat flour + dry flour to roll
• 2 cups chopped spinach
• 1 carrot coarsely grated
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 packet Fleischmann's RapidRise highly active yeast
  

Pizza sauce:

• 2 ripe tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp fresh basil leaves chopped
• 4 stems of celery chopped
• 2 tsp subrus
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp salt

Pizza toppings:

• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 large bell pepper seeded and diced into 1/4" square pieces
• 1 cup olives sliced
• 1 cup pineapple chunks from can or fresh

Directions:

1. In a bowl, put all the dry ingredients for dough and mix well.
2. Add spinach, carrot, and oil and mix well.
3. Add warm water and knead well for about 5 minutes to make a ball.
4. Cover bowl and set aside to rise for about 2 hours.
5. Get sauce and toppings ready meanwhile.
6. For sauce: in a pan, put oil, and add celery, diced tomato. Fry on medium heat till soft.
7. Add tomato paste, subrus, herbs, salt. Stir to mix, cover and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat. Cool it to room temperature.
8. When dough is raised enough, punch it down and take out dough to make eight 1/2" balls.
9. For bread sticks roll, balls into about 5" long strands. Arrange them on baking sheet and brush with oil.
10. Roll remaining dough in to a circle about 15" diameter. Put it on a lightly oiled pizza plate.
11. Keep 4 tbsp sauce aside for bread sticks. Spread the remaining sauce evenly on pizza base.
12. Arrange pizza toppings evenly and cover with cheese.
13. At this point, adjust time by refrigerating pizza and bread sticks. About 25 minutes before serving time, follow the remaining steps.
14. Bake pizza at 425 degrees Celsius on middle rack for 12-15 minutes. Start bread sticks at the same time but remove when they become brown in about 8-10 minutes.
15. Take out of the oven. After 5 minutes cut pizza into 8 slices. Serve hot
    

For making pizza pockets, divide dough in to 8 balls. Roll each ball in to 4-5" diameter circle . Mix sauce, toppings and cheese. Use it as a stuffing. Make 4" x 2" rectangles or half circles like calzones. Bake as in Step 14 above.

You can also prepare the dough using a breadmaker. If interested, check out the following products:

Khichadi

Khichadi described here is a mild but nutritious dish that can be served to person under weather because of upset stomach, fever, headache or kids just starting to eat solid foods.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup mogar (yellow moong daal)
• 1 tsp haldi (turmeric)
• 1/4 tsp hing (asafoetida)
• 2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. In a pot, rinse rice and daal together.
2. Add 4 cups of water and put on medium heat.
3. Add haldi, hing, and salt. When it starts boiling, cover pot partially.
4. Check after 15 minutes. If needed, add water, cover, and reduce heat to low.
5. After 10 minutes, adjust consistency to semi-solid or soup-like by adding water.
6. Let it simmer for anther 10 minutes.
7. For a smooth consistency, mix well with swirling motion.
8. Serve with ghee.

Khichadi can be served with mango pickle, kadhi, papad, yogurt, or on its own. There are also regional variations of khichadi. In Gujrat, khichadi has ginger, raika tadka, and curry leaves. In Maharashtra, "Mugachi Khichdi" has rajah garam masala and is served in place of pulav.

Aloo-Muter-Tamater

This soupy preparation can be made mild, zesty, or rich by varying the spices added. Yogurt or mashed potatoes can be used to thicken the preparation. On special occasions, one may use almond paste, and add cashews or raisins.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 2 medium sized potatoes
• 1 cup peas, fresh or frozen
• 1 medium ripe tomato
• 2 tbsp oil (use ghee if adding yogurt)
• 1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
• 1/4 tsp hing (asafoetida)
• 3 tsp subrus
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• Corriander leaves, finely chopped
  
  

Directions:

1. Peel the potato and dice them into about 1/2 inch cubes. If not using immediately, store in cold water. Alternatively, use steam-cooked potato, remove skin, and make 1/2 inch cubes.
2. Dice tomato into 1/2 inch cubes.
3. In a 2 quart pan, start heating oil on medium heat. Add 1-2 seeds of jeera.
4. When a seed of jeera puffs, add remaining jeera, followed by hing and subrus.
5. Add potato and fry so as to cover all pieces with oily mix. If using raw potato, cover and let simmer for 7 minutes.
6. Add 2 cups of water, salt, and peas. Cover and let it simmer for another 7 minutes.
   
7. To thicken the gravy, mash 4 pieces of potato. Add diced tomato, ginger paste. Cover and let it simmer for 7 more minutes.
8. Add corriander just before serving and mix. Serve hot in a bowl.

This dish with rice or bread serves as a simple meal. Many vegetable soups can be made this way. With little modification it can be made in a crockpot. Non-vegetarian friends coming over too? Share these crockpot bbq recipes with them.

Kadhi

Kadhi is a yogurt preparation that goes well with rice and goes well with the heavy greasy food to change the taste. Like Daal Chawal, Kadhi Chawal, Khichadi Kadhi are the combinations used commonly. Generally Kadhi replaces soups, rasam, daal. Moong Chawal and Kadhi or Rajma Chawal Kadhi type of triplets are popular also.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• Yogurt 1 cup
  
• Besan 1/2 cup
• Kadhipatta ( Curry leaves ) 2 twigs
  
• Ajwine 1/4 tsp
• Methi (Fenugreek) 1/2 tsp
• Jeera (Cumin ) 1/2 tsp
• Rai (Mustard seeds) 1/2 tsp
• Hing (Asafoitida) 1/8 tsp
• Ginger paste 1/2 tsp
• Subrus 2 tsp ( may replace with 1 Jalapino cut in 10 circles added in Tadka)
• Salt 2 tsp
  
• Ghee (seperated butter) 2 tbsp

Directions:

1. In a bowl mix yogurt, besan, subrus, Ajwine, ginger paste, salt to make a uniform mix
2. Add 2 cups of water and mix well this is the kadhi mix
   
3. In a 3 quart pot put ghee at medium heat for making tadka
4. Ghee is hot enough when single mustard seed added makes sound, reduce heat and add all the mustard seeds
5. Add other ingredients in given order, Jeera, Methi, hing, kadhipatta (and Jalapeno)
6. Partially cover the pot and add 1 cup water
7. Add kadhi mix and stir to make a uniform mix. At this stage one can adjust the consistancy by varying the water quantity
8. Let it boil on medium heat

One can add Pakode(fritters) to make Baddon ki kadhi or Childa (spicy pancake) or Gutte
to the boiling kadhi at the end. Kadhi has an appetizing effect.

Kachumera ( Koshimbir )

Any vegetable that can be consumed raw can be used to make this dish "Kachumera". The vegetables used commonly, alone or in combination are carrot, cucumber, cabbage, radish, tomato. Below I will describe the cabbage carrot combination.

Ingredients (Serves 4):

• Cabbage finely chopped 2 cups
• Carrots 2 coarsely shredded
• Olive oil 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
• crushed pepper 1/2 tsp
• Fresh lemon half or lemon juice 1 tbsp
  
• salt to taste 1tsp
• roasted peanuts powder 2 tbsp (optional, works as a binding agent)

Directions:

1. In a 1 quart pan add olive oil and heat on medium heat till a cumin seed added puffs up immediately.
   
2. Remove pan from the heat and add cumin seeds followed by crushed pepper immediately.
   
3. Add cabbage followed by carrot and cover the pan
4. After 10-15 minutes add salt, lemon juice and if desired peanut powder and mix well

It is ready to serve. One can add chopped cilantro for added flavour. Also lemon can be replaced by orange or grapefruit. If red pepper is too hot for you reduce the amount or replace it by black pepper. It can be used in sandwich also. Other favorite combinations are Cabbage Tomato, Cucumber Tomato, Carrott Cucumber, Spinach Tomato.