I could not go through Dasara and not make sundal, that would be blasphemous! I used to look forward to this festival so I can go around hogging on sundal, not just made my mom but everyone in the neighbor hood :P (now don't you bring this up!) So here goes this year's quota,Ingredients:
- 1 can - Chickpeas, or dry beans, soaked overnight and pressure cooked until tender but still holding shape.
- 1 tsp - Mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp - Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp - Chana dal
- 1 tsp - finely chopped Green chillies
- 1 nos -Red chili
- 5-6 nos - Curry leaves
- a pinch of Asafoetida/hing
- 2 Tbsp - grated, fresh Coconut
- 2 tsp - Oil
- Salt to taste
How do you like your pasta ? For me most times its just whats lying in my veggie crisper. I just throw things together, add some spices and toss in the pasta. Or its in a soup, and sometimes baked. But for the most part I do not follow a recipe. In the summer I bought a lot of fresh produce from the local organic store like, zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, beans, peppers, snow peas and made quite a few pasta lunches and dinners out of them, either lightly stir frying them or roasted in the oven. Summer does put a dash of freshness in everything it brings to life.Ingredients:Method:
- 2 cups - Cherry tomatoes
- 2 nos - Garlic cloves
- 1 Tbsp - Olive oil
- 2 tsp - dried Basil - substitute with fresh when available
- 1 tsp - Red chili lakes
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 cup - cooked pasta of your choice - any short size pasta/spaghetti/angel hair will work
- Grated cheese for serving - optional
- Pre-heat the over to 400F. Wash and pat dry the cherry tomatoes, spread them over a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil along with the two cloves of garlic. Coat them well with 2 tsp of olive oil, salt, freshly ground black pepper, and basil. Roast in the oven for 15-20 mins, until they start to pop and get a slight char on the skins.
- In the meanwhile bring water to a boil in a saucepan, add salt and cook the pasta to al dente. Drain, reserving about 1/2 cup of cooking liquid.
- Once the tomatoes are ready, heat a shallow pan with the remaining 1tsp of oil over medium heat. Add the red chilli flakes so it flavors the oil, give it about 1/2 -1 min without burning. Squeeze out the garlic cloves into the pan and add about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. The garlic will eventually melt into the water.
- Add the tomatoes next and stir, crushing a few of them with the back of your spoon. Simmer for a minute, check for seasonings. Toss in the pasta to coat well with the sauce, turn off the heat and serve warm with some garlic bread on the side. Top it with grated cheese if you like.
This was one of my weekend lunches. I had some white bread that I made a few days back. I cut a couple of slices and toasted them in the oven after the tomatoes were done. Once they turned golden I took them out and rubbed a raw garlic clove against them making a simple garlic toast to go with the pasta, yumm! I love tangy flavors and this pasta was really good with the concentrated tomatoes and the tiny char bits in it. I added some fresh mint leaves for garnish but totally hated it, it was way to strong for the tomatoes.
Seven days, seven posts, and I am a happy girl already :) Lets see how far I take it...
I've been whining about the weather here a little too much in the last two posts and I think I got heard :) Yesterday was beautiful! It wasn't exactly warm, but good enough for me to walk around with a light jacket. So armed with my camera I went around taking photos of the vibrant blue skies spotted by the fluffy clouds. Everything just seemed so much more beautiful and I bet ppl who saw me on the road thought I must be crazy trying to photograph fallen leaves and pine cones and playing hide n seek with a squirrel :))
This is when he saw me, and then he kept circling the tree a little faster than I could and when he had gotten me pretty confused as to where he was, he ran down to the foot of the tree, dug up a tiny hole, buried his nut a.k.a Ice Age., and scurried off into the parking lot behind :))Ingredients:Method:
- 1 can - Cannellini beans
- 3 nos - medium sized ripe Tomatoes, diced
- 1/2 cup - carrots, diced
- 1/2 cup - Onions, chopped
- 1/4 cup - green peppers/capsicum, chopped
- 1 tsp - Garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 tsp - Thyme leaves
- 2 tsp - Vegetable base + 2 1/2 cups water or veggie stock
- couple of handfuls of Greens - I used arugula.
Recommended options: Tuscan kale or savoy cabbage, increase the cook time to 5 mins if using these- 2-3 thick slices of day old Ciabatta bread, torn into smaller pieces
- salt and pepper to taste
- 11/2 Tbsp - Extra virgin olive oil + for serving
Notes: The recipe starts off with the trinity - onion, carrots and celery. I did not have the last one and used a little chopped green peppers instead, I also skipped the garnish of parsley, not a huge fan of it.
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook the onions, green peppers and carrots for 5-6 mins stirring occasionally. Add the garlic, thyme, salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste and continue to cook for 3-5 more mins until the veggies caramelize lightly.
- Add the tomatoes and cook for 3 min so they soften. Now add the drained & washed cannellini beans, water, veggie base and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10-12 more mins until the flavors come together.
- A few minutes before turning off the heat, add the washed greens, cover and cook. I switched the heat off as soon as I added the arugula as they are tender enough to get cooked in the residual heat.
- If serving immediately, stir in the bread pieces next and add more water if needed to have a thick consistency. Check for seasonings and serve with a drizzle of olive oil. Since I was having it for lunch the next day, I skipped the bread step to avoid a really thick soup.
The soup was really yummy, the thyme was the star. If you notice they aren't any extra spices used, the ingredients used shine through and give the soup all its flavor. I liked the arugula in this too, since I did not overcook them and also left them whole with no chopping, they had some texture left and remained a bright green. I had the soup with some toasted ciabatta bread with olive oil for lunch the next two days, aboslutely loved it! This is one hearty and satisfying soup, and its surely going to give me company many more times this winter.
to summer, cos winter is here, ALREADY! I think Fall flew past us overnight when we were asleep. The temperatures have dropped by 20 degrees and the trees are already shedding their leaves before changing colors...aah :(, very unfair! I am going to miss all those lovely bright hues of orange and pink that took over the skies every evening for the last 6 months. My patio faces the west and so every evening as I get back from work I get to watch a play of lights and shadows in my living room, and I sit right next to the window absorbing the warmth of the sun filtering through the glass sipping my coffee/tea, hmmm...I am going to deeply miss it.
I've been keeping myself warm by staying in the kitchen, baking :) I've gotten tired of having cereals in the morning and it got to the extent where I was skipping breakfast, bad, very bad. I told you how my body does not approve of it on the weekdays in my previous post that . So I switched to eating bread instead, and that allowed me to try my hand at baking too. The first few attempts were a huge success while the last one was not...more about that later though.
So the last two weekends I baked a white bread and a whole wheat+spelt one trying to capture the warmth from the sun in them. I used them in many ways through out the week for breakfast, evening snack and even dinner with a warm bowl of soup. Yes, winter is here :(( :(( The added advantage though of having bread for breakfast is, tossing the slices in the oven takes only a few seconds, and then I just need to add a dollop pf jam and I can head out with my 'to-go' breakfast :) So I can sleep a extra 3-5 mins in the morning that would have been spent eating cereals, every extra minute in bed is precious you see :) The recipes for these breads coming up :D along with the snack time ideas could you throw in your breakfast choices too ?
...at 3'o and its surprisingly regular. I have lunch at 12 on the dot on weekdays and its usually light, I don't want to fall asleep on my keyboard at the office and hurt myself, the table isn't comfortable either! So right around 3'o clock I get hit by a snack attack, I feel like munching on something which is also fun to eat. Sometimes even a cup of coffee or tea will do the trick, but the key is getting my hands on something, and yaa, they shouldn't be noisy to eat :D
I made these baked muthia's last weekend after seeing Aparna's post. I stuck to Ashwini's recipe for the most part and they were yummy though a lot thinner than the originals. I had a them with some home-made yogurt topped with coriander leaves and some aloo bhujia and it was part of my brunch :P
I din't know bambino wasn't the name of the product but just the brand name until a few years back. Just like how maggi == noodles until I discovered Italian cuisine :P and LG== hing/asafoetida! I started taking notice of the word vermicelli on the pack only after I came here I think...hmm, until then it was just a word in the jingle. How many of you thought the same ? (please don't single me out) But well, whats in a name, its the taste that matters. I absolutely love 
another day, another version...Ingredients :
Method:
- 1 cup - Vermicelli
- 1/2 cup - Peas and diced Carrots (I used frozen)
- 1/4 cup - sliced Onions
- 2 nos - Green chillies, slit through
- 1 nos - broken Red chilli (optional)
- 1/2 tsp - Mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp - Cumin seeds/jeera
- 10-12 - Peanuts (can be substituted with cashews)
- 1 tsp - Chana dal
- 4-5 Curry leaves
- 2 tsp - Oil
- Salt to taste
- 2 tsp - lime juice or lime wedges for garnish and coriander leaves (optional)
- 1 3/4 cups - water
- I like to roast the vermicelli a little even if its the pre-roasted kind. Heat a pan with 1 tsp of oil, on medium heat. Roast the vermicelli until it turns a light brown color, stirring regularly to avoid burning them. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add the rest of the oil to the pan, splutter the mustard and cumin seeds, roast the peanuts and then add the chana dal, once they turn a deep orange, the red & green chillies, curry leaves go in.
- Next add the onions and saute until they soften and turn translucent. The frozen (or fresh) peas and carrots go in next, saute them for a couple of minutes. In the meantime, microwave 1 3/4 cups of water and add it to the veggies along with salt.
- When the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat a bit, add the vermicelli, stir to avoid lumps. Cover and cook for 5-6mins until they soak up the water and soften.
- Take off the heat and add the lime juice or serve the wedges on the side. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with a sprinkling of sugar and some pickle.
I made this for a late brunch one weekend and had it with fresh cut-mango pickle my mom had made when she was here. Sometimes I skip the pickles and sprinkle some karapodi/idlipodi on top and some yogurt too on the side. When I was in school, my mother would make a tiny potlam/pouch of sugar for me to add right before I had it for lunch, cos the 
Have the celebrations begun at your place ? Here is a photo of the kolu/bommala koluvu/doll arrangement in my home at Hyd by my mother. This is a fun festival for kids I think, (not that the rest aren't :P), I remember helping my mom set-up a zoo, a village scene, cricket ground, temple scene and so many more each year, and this was just for the area beside the main arrangement. There isn't one this time :(
On the topmost level is the Ashtalakshmi set, below that the Dasavatharam (no, its not Kamal hassan! can you believe that all the results for a google search of the word relate to the movie!!) collection and below that in the chettiar family, the cutest of the lot. We had an older pair of dolls with the famous wobbling head, but over the years they got chipped. They represent the business class and have tiny vessels containing grains, salt and spices. We had other dolls to depeciting various mythalogical characters over the years, like Lord Rama, Lakshmana, Sita and Hanuman; Radha-Krishna; and then there were dancers, soldiers and many others. Each family has their own unique collection and some handed down through generations. My mom has three main steps this year with two tinier ones at the bottom (odd numbered always), we've also had six main steps a few years, aah miss those days. I have so many little stories connected to this festival, but I can't use up all of then in one day right?, so stay tuned :D
Ingredients:Method:
- 1 bunch - Mustard greens
- 1/2 tsp - mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp - Cumin seeds/jeera
- 1 tsp - Chana dal
- a pinch of asafoetida/hing
- 2-3 nos - dried Red chillies, broken
- 1/2 cup - sliced Onions
- 1 clove - garlic, sliced (optional)
- 2 Tbsp - coarsely powdered, roasted peanuts
- 1 Tbsp - grated/dessicated coconut
- 1/2 Tbsp - Oil
- Salt to taste
- Throughly wash and roughly chop the mustard greens. Slice the onions. Heat a cast iron skillet or pan with the oil. Splutter the mustard and cumin seeds. Add the chana dal, let it brown a little, then the broken red chillies and hing.
- Add the sliced onions ( & garlic) and saute until they soften and turn translucent. Toss in the greens, salt and about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of water. Cover lightly and cook on medium heat until the greens are tender, they take a while to cook ~ 8-10mins.
- Meanwhile, heat another small pan and dry roast the peanuts. Start them off on the cold pan and remove from heat when they starting changing color. Cool and crush them in a motar/pestle or coarsely powder them.
- When the greens are almost done, add the peanut powder and coconut. Stir and cook for a few more minutes. Serve hot with chapati or rice.
I had them with chapati's that night and had them in a sandwich the next day. I really liked the peanuts and coconut in this, they kinda a balanced the bitterness for me. The greens still had some texture to them and were not a total mush. How do you cook your greens ? Any other ways you use mustard greens ?
