Breakfast time

Dear foodies,

Divya asked us all to show her what we have for breakfast. Breakfast is my undoing, I know I've said it before, but no matter how hard I try, things haven't changed. Weekdays I try to squeeze in a bowl of oatmeal or cereals or toasted bread with jam (which I eat in the car :D) From my trip to the farmers market last week, I got some freshly baked whole wheat bread, cucumbers, tomatoes and a lot of cilantro. I had the green chutney I made for the ragda patties

This is my dad's recipe, he uses the soft milk bread we get in India, but any soft bread will do. Slather each slice with softened butter, and then a layer of green chutney. Add slices of cucumber and juicy tomatoes on one and top with the other piece of bread. Thats it...thats all you need for the perfect breakfast ( or lunch or dinner :-P) For an Italian twist, skip the cucumber and top the tomatoes with fresh basil leaves instead.

This is the real deal, made by dad with mom's special pudina chutney.

Other breakfast options that I've cooked in the past are here. What are your quick weekday breakfast options ?

Tempeh - barbecue style

Dear foodies,

Remember the post when I told you I had bought a slab of tempeh and sent it into long-term storage ? Ya, that was still there until a few weeks back. I was then having a tough patch with my cooking, nothing I made came out the way it was supposed to and I had a tough time swallowing the food I made. I filled most my days with soup from Panera bread and simple bread sandwiches (luckily the bread came out well) that did not lead to any complications. The other step I took was to follow a recipe to the T and not use my brain, it worked most times and this was one of them.

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon and I was feeling hungry with nothing at home. I had borrowed another Moosewood's book after the previous success and so started flipping thru thier sandwich section to see if anything interested me and if I had everything needed to make it. The first recipe I saw was for a tempeh sandwich and it sounded really good. This was my first time tasting and cooking tempeh and I am glad it worked out well. A first attempt failure usually puts me off things for a long long time. The ingredients list is the same as that in the book, but the quantities are not.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 pack of thawed Tempeh, cubed ( ~15, 1" cubes)
• 1/2 nos - red bell pepper, sliced
I used a couple of cherry peppers
• 1/4 cup - Onions, sliced
• a clove of garlic, chopped
• 2 tsp - Oil
  
• 1/2 tsp - coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp - fennel seeds/saunf powder
  
• 1-2 tsp - Tabasco sauce, adjust to taste
  

• 1 Tbsp - Tamari/soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp - Tomato ketchup
• 1 Tbsp - brown sugar/molasses
• 1/4 cup -water

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Next add the peppers and cook for a few more minutes until they soften.
2. Add the cubed tempeh and saute on medium heat until it browns around the edges (add more oil if needed). Meanwhile, mix together the sauce ingredients (last 4 listed separately) and adjust the quantities to suit your taste. Ground the coriander & fennel seeds if you don't have them in the powdered form.
   
3. Sprinkle the spice powders over the tempeh and stir to coat well, pour the sauce in next and simmer for 5-7 mins until the sauce thickens. Add the tabasco sauce and check for seasonings.
4. Serve with crisp lettuce as a stuffing in pita pockets or on bread as a sandwich.

This was quick to make and super tasty I tell you. I did not have any form of lettuce but did not miss it that much since the tempeh was delicious with the crusty, toasted bread. I absolutely loved the sauce too, I usually don't like barbeque flavored snacks due to the smokiness I think, but this one was just right for me. The tempeh did not taste as funky as it looked :D It had a soft texture which you could may be equate to a dense and chunky paneer piece ?! This was a whole grain tempeh, and was spotted with flax seeds here n there. It could be because of the sauce but I did not get any strong flavors from the tempeh itself.

I liked the sandwich so much that I immediately used up the rest of the package of tempeh and made a slightly thinner sauce a.k.a munchurian style using cubed onions and green peppers and this time made delicious hors d'œuvre's on toothpicks, lip-smackingly good, especially when you are enjoying a book and can conveniently pop a few of these into your mouth as you flip through the pages. Do try this recipe when you get a chance.

Primo Veggie Burger

Dear foodies,

Finding a good veggie burger is soo tough, isn't it? Not many places even have them on their menu. During my Masters, I survived on the Wendy's veggie burger, which had a slice of cheese, onions, cucumber and couple of pickles inside a bun, for well more than three months. And it still remains a favorite because of lack of better options around. Except for Burger King I haven't seen a fast food place serve veggie burgers and well, and I haven't seen it at the restaurants I have been too either. The only way you can take a easy route to having a veggie burger is by grabbing a pack of frozen Boca burger patties or veggie patties at the grocery stores and making your own burger at home. I've made my own burger patties at home inspired by the masala burger patty from Trader Joe's and the delectable recipes from Bee & Jai, but I don't make and stock them that often.

So when I went to this local deli near my office and saw that they have a veggie burger with a spicy black bean patty I was shocked! Is that really on their menu?? I just had to try it and was hooked to it. Our team goes there for lunch may be once or twice a month and I have to have it every single time. Its loaded with crunchy grilled vegetables and the bread has the perfect texture. Now the lunches have stopped but my liking for the burger is far from over. A few weeks back my brother suggested I try the frozen black bean burger patties from the grocery store. I haven't liked any frozen patty until now and was skeptical about this one too, but I was wrong this time. Filled with all the fresh vegetables that spring has to over, this is a perfect way to enjoy them. I ate these burgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner a few weekends back :))

The main specialty of this deli is they make their own bread. Theres something purely magical about the aroma and flavor of freshly baked bread and these guys have mastered it. They use a hard kaiser roll for this burger and thats what I used. This is how I assemble the Primo burger, highly inspired by the burger served at the deli which goes by the same name. Their rolls are bigger and the burgers are filled with a lot more veggies.


Ingredients:

• Snow peas, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Bell peppers (any color), fresh Spinach/bok choy, Onions (optional), Cucumber - no quantities here, you can use as much as you want
• hard Kaiser rolls
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Hummus, ketchup (optional)

Method:

1. Heat a grill pan or a cast iron pan on medium high heat. Spray some oil and line thin slices (0.5 cm) of zucchini and yellow squash. Cut the bell peppers into thick match sticks and slice the onions. Line them up as well if your pan can accommodate them. Once they brown on one side turn them over and brown the other side too. Cooking on low heat with soften them, which is not what we want here, the veggies need to retain their crunch.
2. Boil some water in another pan, salt it and add the snow peas. Blanch them for a minute until the green color brightens up and transfer them on to a plate to drain. Once the veggies are out of the pan/griddle toss the snow peas too and saute for a 1-2 minutes along with the greens.
3. Thaw the burger patty, I usually microwave it for a minute and then pat it with a paper towel to absorb the fat coming out of it. Place it on the pan to crisp the exterior. Cut the kaiser rolls in half and toast them on the pan too. I don't find the need to add any oil or butter for the rolls, the initial oil spray will suffice.
4. Layer a few slices of zucchini, yellow squash and the greens on the bottom half of the roll, next goes the burger patty a few more slices of zucchini and squash, snow peas and bell peppers. Season the veggie layers with some salt and pepper and top it with the other half of the roll.
   

There, you are all set to have a scrumptious veggie burger now. You will surely love this one! It has soo many veggies with none of the usual onion/lettuce/tomato combo. The kaiser rolls are sturdy enough to hold all of them, and the spiciness in the black bean burger is enough to balance the rest of the veggies. I was cooking with yellow squash for the first time and I really like it. It has a very different flavor from zucchini (well, I thought it was just a yellow colored zucchini until then!!) with a slight peppery or may be jalapeño'ish twist to it (!). The grilled veggies are extremely good for munching on their own too, so definitely make extras. They are surely my most favorite part of the burger!

This burger does not need any ketchup or hummus but you can surely spread a little of it for a change of taste, try it without them first though. I like the spicy black bean burger for this one since it closely resembles the deli burger, but you can surely try it with any burger patty. I had the burger with a few fresh strawberries and some orange juice for my weekend brunch. (Did you notice that the hungry photographer drank a lil of the juice even before the shoot was over ? :D) Oh, and the deli serves it with some melted provolone slices on top of the veggies, I skipped that part, but you can surely add a cheese of your liking.

Happy Wednesday!

Craving... for Potato Bread !

Dear Foodies,

Take a bite..

I am sure none on you missed all that talk of potato bread from the daring bakers this week. It just got me badly craving for some of it !! The only words that stuck on my mind from their posts were soft & moist. I could already taste the bread and imagined myself digging my teeth into one. How much I hate food bloggers for doing this to me :(( Their posts did not dare me to make my own but surely tempted me to pick up a few potato bread buns in the grocery store, not a potential daring baker there eh ! The bread aisle was next to the antipasti section and I bought a couple of different varieties of cured olives - hot olives, stuffed with sun dried tomatoes. I also added a spoonful of roasted garlic cloves to my container. Some fresh corn on the cob and my dinner was made :)

How it all fell in place :

• The first thing I did when I got home was to set the oven on Hi-Broil. I shaved the corn off the cob and tossed it with some toasted sesame oil and olive oil. Seasoned it with some salt and pepper. As an afterthought I threw in some cubed green peppers/capsicum. I broiled these in the oven for about 15 -20 mins, mixing them once in between.
• In the meantime I chopped up a handful of olives, picking a few from each variety I had. I also chopped up a few cloves of the roasted garlic.
• I also attempted a vinaigrette by mixing 1/2 tsp - Dijon mustard, 1/2 tbsp - Olive oil and a few splashes of the sesame oil.
• Once the corn and peppers had a nice char on them I added them to the bowl of vinaigrette and along with the chopped olives and garlic.
• I sliced the potato buns in half and charred them in the broiler too. This happens really really quick. I almost burnt them !
• Spoon some of your corn & olive salad into t he buns and Enjoy 1

The olives are salty, so taste before you season it with more salt. I was close to adding some dried herbs but the corn was so nice and crunchy that I did not want to overpower it with other flavors. The corn was crunchy and crisp, the olives salty and delicious. The buns were extremely good, they were so soft & I absolutely loved the whole sandwich. One kind of the olives I got were called hot or spiced olives, but I did not like the chilli powder used to stuff them. I will avoid them the next time.

I cooked some cous-cous and mixed it with the corn & olive salad for my lunch the next day. The cous-cous soaked up all the flavors of the salad by lunch time and it was a wonderfully light and yummy meal.

Ashwini's Gobi Kheema

In between all this bread menace, I spotted Ashwini's Gobi Kheema. That bowl has been haunting me ever since, I just had to try it. I could not find a small head of cauliflower in the store but since I could not wait I got home a huge one. I used half of it last night to make her dish and also made her tomato gravy. Both were superb ! I was in no mood of making the chapati's I intended to make and so, I toasted up some of the yummy potato bread, squeezed some lime over it pav-bhaji style and sat down to eat one of my best dinners ! You guys MUST try her recipe. I have some of the kheema left and I can't wait to get back home for a replay of the dinner :)


Ashwini, a huge thanks to you for the recipe. It is awesome and I am surely going to make it often, especially when I have friends visiting. I cannot let them miss this one ! The tomato gravy is a keeper too. I wanted to make her garam masala too for this dish, but I was too impatient to taste the final product and so used the MDH garam masala I have.

On another note, I tried Nabeela's Spicy tomato soup and Chickpea stew. Both were excellent heart warmers ! I loved them as a purrfect winter night, light meal and along with a few slices of toast wrapped in foil, I enjoyed them for lunch too. Thank you Nabeela :)

Now for a super quick dessert for you guys. Some cubed pears and mango dressed with honey and gulkhand, served chilled :)


Happy Cooking !!