Cabbage and peas curry

Dear foodies,

Hope you guys are having a great weekend. I surely am having fun, cooking up a storm from the bags of fresh veggies and fruits I bought at the farmers market here. The one I visited this time is the largest I've ever been too, and it was overwhelming to see the abundance of fresh produce and deli items in one place. Here are a few photos from the trip. And as expected I bought more than I planned too. I went to one of the fruit stalls to get a basket of strawberries and ended up buying a huge pineapple :-P The guy at the stall force fed me a piece of pineapple and after tasting the juicy fruit I could not resist, and the story repeated itself for the pound of plums and nectarines that I have sitting on the kitchen counter...and oh, the bag of cherries too :) I made a yogurt & berry cake for breakfast y'day and a second batch of strawberry-rhubarb jam to accompany the whole wheat bread that I also bought at the market.

Today, I slow-roasted a pound of tomatoes for trying out Nupur's pasta salad recipe, pan roasted colored baby carrots with a herb-balsamic glaze and made some super yummy tomatillo salsa :D Hopefully that will all make it to the blog, and to you, before the summer fades off. I am loving the long days of summer. Though it has completely messed up my sleep routine, I am enjoying the long hours of sunlight that allow me to take photos of the food I cook for dinner. I'm still not sure if I am cooking so much because the photos turn out good, or if its the fresh produce from the market thats more tempting.

After reading Shaheen's beautiful Malabar food post on Sailu's blog, I was carving some cabbage thoran. Luckily, I had a beautiful head of cabbage & fresh green peas in the fridge and I set out making the curry and roti's for dinner that night. I made it the way my mom makes it, which is only slightly different from the way Shaheen explained. My mother also substitutes the coconut with soaked moong dal sometimes, this time though I stuck to the former.

Cabbage & Green Peas curry

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head of Cabbage (~ 3.5 cups, shredded)
• 1/2 cup - fresh, Green peas (or frozen)
• 4 Tbsp - freshly grated Coconut (or frozen)
• 2-3 - Green chillies, slit lengthwise (adjust to taste)
• 1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp - Jeera/Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp - Channa dal
• a sprig of Curry leaves (~ 6-8 leaves)
• 1 Tbsp - Oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

1. Peel the outer layers of the cabbage, and halve it. Discard the thick core and shred/cut it in thin long strips.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard & jeera seeds, as they start to splutter add the channa dal. When the dal starts to change color add the slit green chillies, roughly torn curry leaves and saute for a few seconds.
3. Toss in the shredded cabbage along with some salt, cover with a lid and cook for 3-4 mins. The salt releases the inherent water in the cabbage which should be sufficient to cook it in.
4. Finally add the grated (thawed, if frozen) coconut, mix well and cook for a additional 2-3 mins to allow of the flavors to mingle. Fresh cabbage hardly takes time to soften, so check to see if its tender. The cabbage should retain a bit of crunch when done.
5. Turn off the heat, add the fresh peas, cover and let the curry rest for 5-7mins before serving with warm roti's or rice.

* You could also soak soy granules (eg: nutrela brand) in some warm water for 10 mins, squeeze out the water and add it to the curry in step 4, instead of coconut ~ Mom's update.

This a dish that gets done in minutes and blows you away with its simplicity. No overpowering spices, just a basic tadka and the flavors of the veggies that come together harmoniously. I made some chapati's to go along with it, but it pairs really well with rice and sambar too. My fav combu though it with rice & buttermilk. The mild cabbage along with the juicy peas is a delight to eat. If using moong dal, pre-soak it in water for 15-20 mins and add it along with the cabbage. Since it has a short cooking time, it will be done along with the cabbage. In this case, you can skip the coconut. I occasionally add slivers of ginger to the initial tadka, which lends some spice to the cabbage and a variation of taste. Sodhi is another interesting dish that I use cabbage in or this raw salad.

Fresh spring rolls & citrusy dipping sauce

Dear foodies,

So all of you have your dipping sauces ready right ? Good. Last week, I was going through those Thai cookbooks, I browsed through the appetizers & snacks section too. There were a variety of offerings, from steamed dumplings and lettuce rolls to deep fried spring rolls and even samosa's, inspired by the Indian snack. Thai spring rolls are filled with noodles, veggies, shrimp/meat and rolled in rice wrappers and deep fried. The moment I saw the title spring roll, for some reason fresh spring rolls came to my mind. I know, there must be something wrong with the wiring in my brain! And no matter how many times I saw the word ' deep fried' in the end of the recipe, my mind had decided it was going to be fresh rolls. So I used similar ingredients for the fillings and made these fresh rolls that seem to perfectly compliment the spring time that's blossoming around me. And to my credit, an online search did result in some hits for 'fresh Thai spring rolls' ;)
Before we get started with the rolls though, I made a quick sauce to drizzle over the rolls. Its a very simple citrusy sauce that perks up your taste buds and is very refreshing with the spring rolls. I meant to make this post earlier, but I could not find the source for this recipe :( I jotted down the recipe in my book, but did not note down where I got it from :( I will continue looking for it and update this post once I track it down, promise!

For the dipping sauce, mix together -

• 1 nos - Thai bird chili, minced
• 1/4 tsp - Salt
• 1/2 tsp - Jaggery/ Palm sugar
• 1/4 cup - Orange juice
• 1/4 cup - Lime juice
• 1 Tbsp - Peanuts, dry roasted & skinned

Fresh spring rolls are part of Vietnamese cuisine. They need almost no cooking and can be the perfect platform to showcase fresh vegetables. You can serve them as an appetizer/snack, but with a combination of vegetables & protein they can easily stand on their own for a light meal. The cellophane noodles used in this recipe have the shortest ingredient list - mung bean starch and water. They are also called glass noodles or bean thread noodles. You should be able to find them in the Asian foods section in the grocery store. They need to be soaked in warm water to soften up, same is the case with the rice roll wrappers, no other cooking involved.

The choice of filling for these spring rolls is limited only by your imagination. You can include veggies, a protein, herbs, seasonings/dressings. I used carrots, savoy cabbage, red & purple radishes and asparagus. Other options could be mung bean sprouts, cucumber, blanched broccoli, avocado, lettuce, spinach or any other greens of your choice.

Fresh Spring rolls

Ingredients

• Rice roll wrappers

Filling: the quantities for each are dictated by how much of it you like in the spring roll.

• Extra firm tofu - cut into matchsticks
• Cellophane noodles - soaked in warm water for 8-10mins
  
• Carrots, cut into match sticks
  
• Savoy cabbage, thinly sliced/shredded
• Red/purple radishes, sliced thinly
• Asparagus
• Cilantro/mint, chives/scallions & Basil leaves
• Peanuts, dry roasted and skinned
• Salt and pepper to taste
• dipping sauce

Method:

1. Grease a baking sheet with some oil, and coat the tofu matchsticks with the same. Broil on 'low' for 5-7mins until the outer layer starts to blister and has brown spots. If using asparagus, bring some water to a boil, salt it and blanch the asparagus for 1-2mins. Prep the rest of your veggies and have them ready to go, the dipping sauces too.
2. Fill a shallow vessel, wide enough to hold the rice roll wrappers, with some warm water. You will be dipping your hands in it, so don't make it too hot :-) I work on one roll at a time. Soak the wrapper in water, depending on how warm the water is and the thickness of the wrapper it might take 30sec to 1min to soften and become flexible. A little longer and they will turn to a mush.
   
3. Place it on your work surface, layer the filling, horizontally, on the bottom 1/3 rd portion of the circular wrapper, leaving just enough wrapper area to fold it over the filling. Don't overdo the filling, use a couple of pieces of each and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Top with fresh herbs, peanuts and dipping sauce. I alternated between the grilled salsa, peanut sauce and the one above. Fold the bottom part of the wrapper over the filling, roll it once, and fold over the left & right portions of the wrapper onto it. Holding the filling tightly together, roll it till you reach the end of the wrapper. Try to remove as much air as possible while rolling, it makes it easier to eat.
   
4. Repeat the steps to make as many rolls as needed and line them up with a little room between each other so they don't end up sticking to each other.

I am sure you will mess up the first wrapper while soaking it ( a few more for me :-P) but, once you get the hang of it, nothing can be easier. For a wrapper that thin, they are pretty sturdy and can be easily filled and rolled. Its so much fun to play around with flavors and fillings for these rolls. I can surely say you will make them often after the first time, there is no real recipe here, so you cannot really dislike it! Keep experimenting till you find the one you like, and then... move on to the next combination :) The citrusy dipping sauce brightens the flavor of the veggies. The slight heat from the grilled salsa, crunch from the veggies and peanuts, and protein from the tofu and noodles make these a complete package. Oh, and did I mention its healthy ?!

P.S: Puthandu nalvazhthukkal to all the Tamilians reading this, Happy Vishu, and Happy New year to everyone else welcoming a new year today :-) Have a wonderful day all!

Cabbage salad - 3 way !

Dear Foodies,

Spring arrived here with a sudden peak in temperatures a couple of weeks back and its funny that as I am writing this post the temperatures have dipped again and the cold weather outside is unbearable. Not because the temperatures are so low, but because the mind has lost its tolerance towards it. It wasn't expecting this bout of cold air for another 6-7 months :-(

Have you guys heard of this fast food place called Gold Star chilli....its a Cincinnati based restaurant chain and well, is located only in the tristate area. They hardly have anything vegetarian in there, but I came up with this combo that I liked very much when in the Univ. It had red kidney beans cooked rajma-style, topped with onions with hot sauce, crackers and a wedge of lime. But this was not a usual combo offered by them. They would have these 1-way, 2-way and 3-way chilli combo's where 1 was for beans, 2 for cheese and 3 for onions and the default being chilli in all of them. I would call mine a '3-way veggie chilli with no cheese' and they would get totally confused :D

The guy who actually plated the food new what I wanted due to sheer repetition, but the ppl at the counter would be different every single time. So the moment I went to their store, this guy would have the food ready but the person at the counter would still be debating about the cost :D I paid a different amount every time I ate there I think! One would ask me to call it a '2 way with onions, no cheese', and the other would christen it a '3 way veggie without cheese' and I would try remembering who said what so I wouldn't have to go thru the whole explanation every single time :D

So back to the salad, my way! Last weekend we had pretty good weather, and I was in no mood of eating anything hot. I was also in a cabbage eating mood all of last week and had a raw salad once during the week. I tried out another version of it and tossed in some quinoa to make a really tasty and quick meal.


Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups: Cabbage, Shredded or thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup: Carrots, thinly sliced
• 1/2 nos: Bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 nos: small Onion, thinly sliced (I had tiny white onions, but would have preferred red ones)
  
• 1/2 slab: packaged Silken firm Tofu, cut into thick matchsticks
• 2 nos: Spring onions, chopped (green and white portion)

for the dressing:

• 1 Tbsp: Tamari/Soy sauce
• 1 tsp: Tobasco
• 1 tsp: toasted Sesame oil
• 1 tsp: Honey
• 1 tsp: Red wine Vinegar (or any vinegar)
• 1 tsp: Thai green curry paste
  
• 1/2 Tbsp: Olive oil

for the garnish:

• 1 Tbsp: Sesame seeds
• 1 Tbsp: slivered Almonds
• Salt and pepper to taste

Optionals:

• 1 cup: Quinoa, cooked as per instructions
• Lettuce leaves
• Wanton wrappers
  

Method:

1. Spray a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil with some oil and line the tofu sticks. Broil them on low for 6-8mins until they start turning a little golden around the edges.
2. Toast the sesame seeds and almonds, either on the stove top or in the microwave.
   
3. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together and adjust the individual amounts to your taste.
4. Next toss in the veggies and coat well with the dressing and check for seasonings. Add the tofu sticks and load up your salad bowl, topping it off with the sesame seeds and almonds OR add some quinoa, check for seasonings, toss them well for a tasty quinoa salad OR fill some crunchy lettuce leaves with the salad and make lettuce cups OR use the salad as a filling and make potstickers like so.

You could add other veggies you have in hand and play around with the ingredients to suit your palate.

There you go, you have three different dishes from the same salad, and all of them are super easy and flavorful :) ...


...and you also have three pics of the salad with 3 different backgrounds. So which one do you like better ??


Confession # The chopsticks are only for the camera, I tried eating with it and could hardly get any of the salad into my mouth with them :))

Happy Wednesday!