Spinach Soup!

This cold weather calls for comforting, hot cups of soups and the one I prefer to make is this easy Spinach Soup.  The ingredients are very few but you won't compromise on the taste. Do not be put off by the number of steps, the process is very straightforward :)

Spinach: 1 big bag (family pack) or maybe a couple of bunches of Palak
Chestnut Mushrooms: about 10-12
Onion: 1/4th of an onion (sliced or chopped.)  yes, a quarter of an onion.
Garlic: 2 pods, crushed and chopped.
Stock Cube: 1
Water: 500 mls or more to adjust the consistency
Salt, pepper: to taste
Cream: 50mls
Butter: 25gms
Olive Oil: 2 tbsp

-Take a big pot and heat a tbsp of oil+ half of the butter.
-Put the water to heat up or switch the kettle on.
-While still warming, add the garlic and let the butter heat up. This imparts flavour to the dish.
-When it is hot and the garlic has cooked, add the onion and cook until it turns pale. do not brown it!
-If you prefer, you can add 2-3 roughly cut up mushrooms at this stage.
-Now when the onions are done you can add the crushed stock cube and the whole bag of spinach leaves.
-Cover and let the spinach wilt. About 2 mins. Turn them once or twice.
- When wilted, pour in some water to almost cover the spinach and season with salt and pepper and boil.
-Take it off the stove and blend with a hand blender or cool and blend in a mixer.
-Put it back on heat and let it almost come to a boil. Pour the cream and reduce the heat and let it simmer.
-When heated through, season a final time with pepper and take it off the stove.
-For added flavour, you can heat the butter and saute the remaining mushrooms until brown and add to the soup.

People who don't like mushrooms can add some croutons/fried cubes of bread for a nice crunch.

Serve this piping hot with a nice bread and this will be the best dinner for a cold cold night.

Gajar Ka Halwa

What do you do when you get scrummy red, plump, fresh, Indian carrots? Make halwa of course! It helps that it is not too tough and yummy to boot. You can make it with regular carrots as well. But you will have an orange coloured halwa. Bleh!

Carrots, scrubbed, peeled and grated medium on a machine/box grater: 2 cups
Milk (preferably, full fat) : 2 cups
Sugar: 1/4 cup
Almonds, Cashew for garnish: 2 tbsp each
Cardamom powder: a pinch or two (personal preference)
Ghee: 5 tbsp

-Heat a thick bottomed pan with a couple of tsp of Ghee and roast the nuts and keep them aside.
-To this ghee, now add the carrots and stir fry for 7-8 minutes until soft and colour has changed
-Now, add the milk to  the carrot and keep stirring occasionally and cook on a medium heat.
-Wait until the mixture is almost dry and this takes about 30 -40 minutes.
-Now, add the sugar. This will make the mixture wet. Keep stirring and pour a few spoons of ghee as you stir on.
-Now add the cardamom powder and mix and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
-Serve hot on a cold winter's day.

This Halwa is not very sweet and you can increase the sugar if desired.

Pancakes: Eggless!!

This is the easiest, tastiest and the best pancake recipe ever!!! Thanks to a dear friend for sharing this one with me! Most eggless pancake recipes call for buttermilk and I am didn't want to a) buy it or b) look for a substitute. This recipe is simply perfect for me!

All Purpose/Plain flour: 1 cup
Sugar: 1 tsp
Salt: a pinch
Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder: 1.5 tsp
Baking Soda: 1/2 tsp
Milk: 1 cup
Oil/Melted Butter: 2 tbsp
Vanilla Extract: 1 tsp

• Mix together the dry ingredients. The best thing to do is to sieve them together.
• In a separate bowl/jug mix together the milk, oil and vanilla.
• Pour this into the flour mix and stir to combine. Please be kind to the batter and don't whisk it to within an inch of its life! Lumps are OK. Gentle stirring will do fine!
• Now heat a pan, spray it with oil and pour a ladleful of batter onto the pan. When you see bubbles on top, flip them and cook for a minute more. Do not squish them down like you do with Dosa!! 
• Remove them to a plate, butter them, drizzle some honey/maple syrup and top with fruits if you'd like to. Makes a perfect Sunday breakfast! 

[The above measurement gives me about 6 medium pancakes. ]

Tawa Chole or Chickpea Stirfry

Making chole the traditional way is usually a long, drawn out process. Today, I was short on time and had some store bought naans handy and made this easy but yummy chickpea dish!

Chickpeas/Chole (cooked): 2 cups
Salt: To Taste
Chana masala (store bought) : 2 tablespoons
Garam Masala: 1 tablespoon
Coriander Powder:  1/2 tsp
Cumin Powder: 1/2 tsp
Paprika/hot chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Pomegranate seed powder (optional) : 1 tsp 
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Ginger, Julienned/cut into thin strips: 1 inch piece
Green Chilli, sliced thin : 1 (optional)
Tomato, chopped: 1 medium

Corriander leaves: to garnish
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Ghee/clarified butter: 4 tablespoons ( I used only about 2, but 4 would be ideal!!)
Ajwain/Carom seeds: 1 tsp (optional)

• If using canned chickpeas, drain and rinse the peas. Remove all excess water and place it in a bowl. 
• To this, add all the powders listed in the first part and mix well to combine.
• You will need 2 pans for this. In a larger pan, place the chickpeas and in a smaller one, heat the ghee until it almost smokes. 
• While the ghee is heating, add the chilli, tomato, ginger to the chole and mix. 
• When the ghee starts smoking, add the ajwain (if using) and pour it immediately to the chole.
• Mix well, and let the chole cook in the ghee and spices for about 4-5 minutes. 
• Garnish with corriander leaves when done, and serve it hot with naans/rotis/pita.

How easy what that? 

The most addictive Granola!!!

I love Granola and hate the ones we get in the store! I set about attempting to make my own, and this is the best version I have had so far!

Rolled Oats (NOT instant/quick cooking) : 3 cups [I used Scott's Porage]
Chopped Almonds: 1/2 cup
Chopped Hazelnuts: 1/3 cup
Cinnamon Powder: 1/2 tsp
Almond Essence: 1/2 tsp
Vanilla Extract: 1/2 tsp
Oil: 1/4 cup
Maple Syrup: 1/3 Cup (get good quality American ones if you can!)
Brown Sugar : 1/4 - 1/2 cup (depending on sweetness required.)
Coconut: 2-3 tablespoons (optional)
Raisins/Cranberries/Dried Cherries/Dates: Any mix of your choice: 1/2 cup (optional) save it for the last

-Pre-heat your oven to 165
-Grease and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
-In a big bowl, mix all the dry ingredients except the dried fruits.
-In a saucepan, mix the maplesyrup, sugar, oil and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Takes about 3 mins.
-Mix this liquid with the oat mixture and stir well to combine.
-The mix will be clumpy and heavy. This is how we want it.
-Stir to coat the oats evenly.
-Spread this onto the baking sheet and level it.
-Bake it for 30-35 mins, stirring and mixing every 5-10 minutes.
-at about 25 minutes, add the dried fruit (if using) and bake.
-Cool, store in an airtight can and it lasts for upto a month!

Indian-ish Pasta!

I have an issue with buying pasta sauces. I need half a bottle, the other half stays in the fridge and I forget about it! The next time I pull it out, it is all mouldy and gone. I would go out and get another one and the story repeats itself! This time I had no sauce at hand and it was too cold to go out and get it. So here goes:

Pasta : 1 Cup (preferably, penne or fusili)
Onions: 2 medium sliced
Garlic: 3-4 pods, crushed and chopped
Jeera: 1/2 tsp
Olive Oil: 2-3 tbsp
Carrot, shredded: 1 (check recipe for a tip)
Capsicum: shredded: 1/2
Tomato: 1 large
Tomato Puree: 1-1.5 tsp
Jeera powder: 1tsp
Corriander powder: 1tsp
Chilli Powder: 1/2 tsp (fix it to your desired spice level)
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Corriander leaves: To garnish
Chilli, Tomato pesto: 1 tbsp (OPTIONAL)

- Boil the pasta, drain and keep it aside.
-To shred the carrot, peel them. Put the carrot down on a chopping board and continue peeling into strips. Don't worry about uniform size. Finally, put the strips together and shred as thin as you can. Takes no more than 2 minutes.
-Heat oil, crackle jeera, add garlic and onions and saute until brown.
-Now add the veggies and masala until the carrots are soft and tender. About 3-4 minutes.
- Add the sliced tomato and cook until soft.
-Now mix in the puree and cook for a minute or so.
-Adjust salt and add the pasta and stir well to combine and garnish with corriander.
-I prefer adding the Chilli, tomato pesto because it adds a nutty flavour and makes it richer!

Dry Fruits Laddu

This is a diet-friendly and diabetic-friendly laddo. Thanks to Jayashree Iyer for this awesome recipe!!!

Yield: about 8 laddoos.

INGREDIENTS

Ghee: 1/4 tsp
Dates: 12-14, cleaned, de-seeded and chopped.
Mixed nuts and raisins (unsalted) : a small handful.
   I used Cashew, Walnuts, Pista and Raisins.  You can also add dried figs, if you can get hold of some.

Heat a heavy bottomed pan, add the ghee and then the dates.
Keep Stirring and cook until it is mushy and coming together.
Now, add the mixed nuts and raisins and combine well.
Stir for a minute or so.
Now, remove to a bowl, allow to cool and make it into balls.
For Flavouring: you can add cardamom powder. Since I don't like it, I added Saffron and it tastes lovely! 

Pacha Pulisheri/ MorKuzhambu

This is probably the easiest thing to make if you have the ingredients at home!

Grated Coconut: 1 cup

Green Chillies (Bird's eye) : 4-5 depending on the desired spice level

Raw Rice: 1 teaspoon or Raw Rice Flour: 1 tsp

Curry Leaves: 1 sprig

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Grind the above into a very fine paste and place it in a bowl. 

Yogurt: 1-1.5 cups. (the sourer the better) 

Beat the yogurt in a blender and mix with the paste. 

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Heat a pan with some ghee and add mustard, fenugreek seeds, broken red chilli and curry leaves.

Once that splutters, pour the ground paste+yogurt and mix. 

Take the pan off the stove when the mixture begins to froth. 

Add salt to a bowl and pour this cooked mixture into that and mix well. 

Serve with rice/Idlis/Dosa.

Chundal

It is navratri time and this is the most favoured dishes of all! And it is a breeze to make as a snack as well!

Canned Chickpeas/ Blackeyed peas/Rajma: 1 can, drained.
Oil: 1 tsp
Mustard 1/4 tsp

Urad Dal 1/2 tsp
Chana Dal 1/2 tsp
Dried Red Chilli 1, broken into pieces
Curry Leaf : a sprig
Hing : a generous pinch
Salt : to taste
Coconut (optional) : 1 tablespoon

Heat Oil, and add the mustard, dals, red chilli, Curry leaves and hing.

When the mustard splutters, add the chickpeas and saute for a minute.

Finish with salt and coconut.

Masala to accompany Puris/Masala Dosa/Rotis

This is possibly the simplest curry that can ever be made!!

Potatoes: Cooked, 3 large, Crushed roughly. Make sure it has bite sized bits.

Onion: 1 large, Sliced. (Red Onion.)

Green Chillies: 3-4 Sliced (birds eye)

Ginger: 1 inch piece, chopped

Curry Leaves: a sprig

Mustard, Urad Dal, Red chilli: To temper

Turmeric: a pinch

Heat oil in a kadai, add the tempering ingredients and curry leaves.

When it splutters, add the green chilli, ginger and stir for a minute.

Now add the sliced Onion and salt and mix until the onions are cooked.

Add the turmeric, mix well and then add the potatoes. Mix well.

Now, add about a cup of water and adjust the consistency.

I make it a little thin for puris and rotis and of course, for Dosai it is thick.

Garnish with corriander leaves and enjoy!

The best Rajma Recipe

This guy is just awesome! Check out his Chole and paratha recipes!

Aloo Capsicum

Potato: 3 medium to big ones, cubed.
Capsicum: 1 large Cut into bigger chunks
Corriander Seeds: 2 tablespoon
Jeera: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder: 1 tsp
Kasuri Methi: a pinch (optional)
Ginger: 1 inch piece chopped
Salt: to taste
Oil: 1 tsp

-Cut the veggies and keep them ready.
-Heat the oil, add the whole corriander seeds and jeera and let it splutter well.
-Now, add the potato, mix in the red chilli and turmeric and salt.
-Mix for a minute, pour a cup of water and cover and cook for 3-4 minutes.
-When they are half done, add the ginger, capsicum and mix well.
-Stir in between. Add kasuri methi now and mix well.

Chettinad Veg Masala

Boiled Veggies (potato, carrot, beans): 2 cups -> alternatively you can use frozen mixed veggies
Onion: 2 small chopped
Tomato: 1 ripe, chopped
Curry Leaf: a sprig
Cinnamon Stick: 2 pieces
Saunf/fennel seeds: 1 tsp
OIl: 2 tablespoon
Coconut: 1/4 cup
Corriander Powder: 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder: 3/4th tsp (as per taste)
Turmeric: a pinch

-Boil the veggies, drain and set aside.
-Heat the oil, add the saunf and cinnamon sticks.
-Add curry leaf, onions, and saute well.
-Grind the coconut with a little water to a coarse paste and keep it ready. ONLY coconut
-Once onions are done, add the paste, tomato and all the dry masala and salt.
-Cook for 4-5 minutes or until the oil separates from the mixture.
-Add the veggies and mix well. Serve garnished with corriander leaves

Oil-Free, One Pot Dal

OK. So, Going forward, I will have posts of curries/dals for Rotis. Here's an easy peasy dal. :-)

Mung Dal/Tuvar Dal/Masoor Dal: 1.5 cups
Water: 3 cups
Turmeric Powder: 1/4 tsp
Hing: a pinch
Red Chilli Powder: 3/4th tsp
Jeera Powder: 1 tsp (leveled)
Coriander Powder: 1/2 tsp
Ginger: 1 inch piece, grated.
Garlic: 4-5 pods, crushed
Tomato: 1 or 2 crushed
Onion: 1 sliced
Green Chilli: 2-3 slit
Salt to taste

-Mix all of the ingredients in a pressure cooker. Cook for 2-3 whistles.
-Stir, add some lemon juice, coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or rotis.

Rava Dosai

This is one of those dishes which almost never gets made in my house.... I think it is because I always found it difficult to make the dosai with the MTR mix. I then found a recipe for making this and it was a breeze to make and took me almost no time to make this.

Rava: 1 cup

Rice Flour: 1/2 cup

All Purpose Flour/Maida: 1/4 cup

Salt : to  taste

Water: As needed

Tadka Ingredients

Hing/prungayam: 1/4 tsp

Jeera, Mustard, curry Leaf, PepperCorn: To taste

Ginger (chopped) : 1 teaspoon

Green Chilli (chopped): 2-3 nos

[optional: 1 chopped red onion]

METHOD:

Combine all the dry ingredients with salt and mix in water. It should be a very very thin batter, the consistency of milk.

Keep the batter aside for about 15-30 mins.

Heat some oil, add the tadka stuff and after the mustard pops, add the chilli, ginger and onion and saute well.

Add the mix to the liquid, stir well.

Take a tava, make it smoking hot and pour in a ladle of maavu/batter.

You cant make it like a regular dosa, just splash it on the pan in a way that its only one layer. Do not pour over this layer.

Add some oil or ghee and let it cook.

Flip, cook for some more and it is ready to eat.

Product Review: Priya Biryani Paste

Have you ever tried to make biryani from the scratch? I have and it is probably one of the most difficult things to get right. I love Biryani. Having lived in Hyderabad, my love for Biryani has only grown. Here, we do get to buy some killer biryani but it costs £7 a pop. For the last 2 weeks, S has been nagging on and on for Biryani and at the Indian store he found the Priya Paste and brought this home. I was very  very apprehensive. Usually these pastes taste like Vinegar and that's it.

How to make it was pretty straight forward. 2 cups of rice, 2 cups of cauliflower, carrots, beans, peas and potato, 4cups of water, salt, 2 tsp Ghee and 2 tsp of paste into a rice cooker and cook away. While making this, the fragrance was HEAVENLY! I mean, we couldn't wait for this to get cooked.

This tastes EXACTLY like a hyderabadi biryani. If you know Hyderabad House biryani then this is it. I will Definitely recommend this paste for everyone. :-) Go get it.

Paneer Burji

We were at the Indian Store, and we found a good, fresh block of Paneer. I simply could not resist buying it and I am glad I did! I usually do not prefer paneer when I am at a restaurant because of the deep frying process. However, this Burji has been something I have been meaning to make for S and he has now fallen in love with this! I am certain this will be one of the dishes he demands for a while at least. Get some store bought Naans and you are set!

Panner: 250Gms, Grated
Oil: 1 tablespoon
Onion: 1 medium, chopped finely.
Green Chilli: 2 chopped fine
Bell Pepper: 1 chopped fine
Tomatoes: 2 chopped Fine
Turmeric: 1 pinch
Red Chilli Powder: 1/2 tsp
Corriander Powder: 1/2 tsp
Jeera Powder 1/2 tsp
Kasuri Methi: 1 tsp
Lemon Juice
Corriander chopped

-Heat a pan with some oil and add the onion and green chilli. Saute with some salt.
-Once done, add the bell pepper and the masalas and stir for a minute.
-Now add the tomatoes and cook until done. You should get a nice thick, cooked paste
-Add the Grated paneer and stir well until combined.
-Finish with some corriander and lemon juice. Make sure you do not overwork the paneer.

Venthaya Keerai Thogayal

The last 2 weeks have been interesting in terms of the kind of food I cooked at home. I happened to lay my hands on a lot of keerai varieties including the original Indian thandu keerai, agathi keerai, baby spinach and of course, Venthaya Keerai. We prefer venthaya keerai either in a paratha or in aloo methi. I tried out this thogayal today and I reckon that it is a pretty awesome dish.

Methi Leaves/Venthaya Keerai: 1 bunch, washed, stalks removed, roughly chopped
Urad Dal: 1/4 cup or 3 tbsp
Red Chillies: 4-5
Hing
Salt
Tamarind: a small marble size, soaked in water and extracted or 1 tsp pate

Heat a skillet/pan, dry roast the urad dal till it turns pink and keep it aside.
Now, add a tsp of oil and roast the chillies, keep aside.
In the same pan, add the leaves and stir fry for about 2 mins until wilted and cooked.
Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend well until smooth.
Adjust seasoning and serve with hot rice/idlis/dosai.

Keerai Masial

I think this is one of the most healthy ways to eat spinach and is definitely the tastiest. I prefer to use the Frozen Spinach simply because it saves time on chopping. If you use fresh leaves, make sure to wash it atleast in 3-4 changes of water and chop as fine as you can. Also, once cooked you need to mash it up by hand/blender.

Spinach: Frozen Cubes: about 4 per person.
Salt: to taste (spinach holds much lesser salt than any other veggie. So use less and add more later)
Turmeric: a tiny pinch
Hing: 1/4 tsp
Water: 1/4 cup.
Rice, Urad Dal, Mustard Seeds, Red Chilli: For tadka.
Oil: 1 tsp. Use coconut oil for added flavour.

--Take water in a sauce pan and bring to boil with salt and turmeric.
--Add the spinach cubes and cook until it is thawed and for another 2 minutes.
--Add the Hing, remove from the hob.
--Make a tadka with Rice, Urad Dal, Mustard seeda and Red Chilli. Pour on top of Spinach.

This is a great combination with Pulisheri/Vatha Kuzhambu/Curd Rice.

CousCous Salad with Roasted Vegetables

Salads are obviously healthy, but can be incredibly boring. I had a packet of Cous Cous and was wondering what to do with it, when I remembered a sald I had at M&S. It was very very tasty and filling!

CousCous: 1/2 cup
Chickpeas: 1 tin, drained.
Mixed chopped Veggies: aubergines, carrots, potato, onion, Swede, Courgette: total 2 cups
Garlic: 2 whole, unpeeled cloves
Salt
Olive Oil
Butter: a small teaspoon
Cumin Powder: 1 tsp
Lemon
Mixed Salad Leaves

--Take the couscous in a bowl. Add the butter, some salt and pour 1.5 times boiling water and cover and leave for 10 minutes.

--Pre-heat oven to 200C.

--Take a baking tray, add the veggies and garlic and mix in olive oil and cumin.

--Bake for about 30 minutes or until the veggies are well roasted. You can prepare this in bulk and store in a fridge for upto 3 days.

-- Now, combine the chickpeas and couscous. Add the cooled mixed veggies, season with some lemon and adjust salt.

--Serve on a bed of salad leaves.

An added flavour would be Mint/Basil Leaves. But entirely optional.