Learning-to-cook: Event Announcement - Dish Name Starts With C

NOW SERVING has sent the creamless muttar puneer recipe for this one :-)
Learning-to-cook: Event Announcement - Dish Name Starts With C

Stuffed Green Peppers (capsicum)

Green bell peppers lend themselves to a variety of cuisines, assuming the flavors with great ease, be it on Italian pizza or in South Indian sambar or vethakozhambu. They are also an incredible candidate for stuffing - forget turkeys! Thanksgiving has come and gone - Let's keep it green y'all!
And another beauty about this dish is you can pretty well pick any veggies for the stuffing - no hard and fast rules - be creative and go with what you like best - Hopefully though, even if you are not a fan of Bell peppers, this could be the turning point :-)

I will give you a step by step pictorial to follow - try this one and let me know how it turns out

Ingredients for serving 4 people

4 Green bell peppers / capsicum  (count 1 per person)

For the stuffing
3 Sweet potatoes
1 small bag of frozen mixed veggies (or) 1 carrot, a handful of shelled peas, handful of green beans, 1 cup of corn kernels.
1/2 big or 1 small onion
3 green chillies (optional)
1 big tomato
3-5 curry leaves
Brie
eated cheddar and mozzarella
1 teaspoon each of 
Rasam podi  (rasam powder)
Curry podi (curry powder)
1/2 stem of fresh rosemary (optional)
1/2 spoon of garlic salt
1/2 spoon of regular salt

Preparation

Make the stuffing like you would a curry/sabzi/ sauteed dish using all ingredients and letting them brown in 1 teaspoon of olive oil
Set aside
Cut out the stems of all the beel peppers and gently clean the inside of seeds and white flesh
Wash, dry with paper towel
Grease the outside of the pepper with olive il and a little yogurt (optional)
Take a slim spoon and start stuffing the pepper almost to the top
Grate some cheddar and mozzarella and take a tablespoon full to top the stuffing
Add 2 small cubes per pepper of Brie

Set Oven at 350 and cook for about 25 minutes or until the shell of the pepper turns light green

Remove and serve HOT

                                                         Oven-ready

                                                       Cap off and deseeded

marinated with some yogurt

The stuffing curry

                                                       Stuffing

                                                            Almost there

Now the brie

Finished product

Sending this to only greens event!

Pumpkin Halwa

With Halloween and Thanksgiving, people see orange everywhere - esp in the form of pumpkins - We bought 2 medium-small ones and of course, I wanted to make something with it. I used one for the Halwa and one still awaits a  form - I am thinking soup...for now it has been peeled, cut and frozen for future use. Will let you know when i prepare it :-)

Ingredients

1 small-medium pumpkin peeled and grated about 4 cups grated)
2 cans of condensed milk
3 cups of whole milk
1 teaspoon of crushed saffron
1 teaspoon of powdered cardamom
1 - 2 tablespoons of ghee for frying a 2 tablespoons of raw cashews and golden raisins (optional)

Preparation

Pressure cook grated pumpkin in 2 cups of milk
In a big pan empty condensed milk cans and add 1 more cups of milk
Add the crushed saffron and cardamom
Allow it to gently boil
Add the pressure-cooked pumpkin and stir into the milk
set stove on low heat and allow the milk to thicken stirring occasionally - I set my overn clock for every 6 minutes to check in and see ...
You will see the Halwa thickening and the Khoya forming (looks like curdled milk)
When all the milk has evaporated, and the halwa is thick, add the cashews and raisins and stir in

NOTE: Tastes best when served HOT

Secret tip: 1: Add 1/2 cup of extra sugar if you find that it's not sweet enough
2: You can crush cashews and sprinkle on top too...

Mouth-Watering Paneer Kebabs

Thanksgiving lunch was a big fare. Spent it at my sister's in NY. Lots of incredible food prepared by my sister and her children and visit was relaxed and fun.  My nephew and niece whipped up an appetizer dish of paneer kebab which were outstandingly delicious and I had to put it on my blog. Way to go Rum and Raj ...So here goes...

Ingredients for marinade

1.5 cups of yogurt (they used Fage Greek yogurt)

1 teaspoon of cumin

4 teaspoons of Tandoori powder (we were pretty generous with this)

1 teaspoon of ground red chilies

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 teaspoon of ginger paste

salt/black pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cube paneer into half inch pieces along with  and veggies like mushrooms, tomatoes, and peppers

Generously spread marinade evenly over all the veggies and paneer, keeping each of them separate

Refrigerate cheese and veggies for 3 hours

Put on skewers and grill - 

 EAT and enjoy!

Ulutham Poornam Sevai - Urad Dal florets with rice sticks

The recipe for this is much like the paruppusili - (follow link given below) Link appears below this recipe - scroll down for the recipe of beans paruppuisili
http://priyasnowserving.blogspot.com/search?q=paruppusili

Preaparing the Sevai or rice sticks 

Take 1 pack of rice stick (I use 777 sevai)
Boil 3 quarts of water in a big pot. pour the sevai sticks inside, close and keep for 10 minutes
Drain
and mix with the poornam

Bon appetit!

Black Bean Dip

This was a quickie project for my son's Spanish class. Super easy and super tasty.

Ingredients

1 can of black beans (washed and drained)
2 green chillies
1/2 teaspoon of crushed cumin seeds
1/2 red onion
1 tomato
a pinch of garlic salt
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of cilantro chopped finely

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients (except the lemon juice) in a bowl with a whisk  until you've somewhat crushed the black beans.
Add the lime juice and mix one more time
Serve chilled with tortilla scoops

Rosemary Omapodi

You read that right - Folks reading my blog might be becoming aware of my penchant for using rosemary in my preparation - For those of you have have not had the pleasure of rubbing that herb on your fingers and taking a good sniff of it, you don't know what your missing - it is out of this world!
This was my evening to try new things - tweaking the traditional, so to speak, just to see...or taste.

Making omapodi is quite cinchy  The only bummer is you think you're making a lot about 10 birds nests and then you crumble them and they turn into this small amount :-(  So you need to double the amounts if you are making it for a sizable number of people - My little girl calls it the crunchies and has been digging in!

Ingredients

3 cups of besan/ kadalamavu/ gram flour
one handful (small or big) of rice flour
2 table spoons of ghee
2 teaspoons each of  
Aijwan/thyme
Black pepper
Dry rosemary (yes!)

Preparation:

Sift the flours
Grind the spices and herb dry in a coffee grinder or magic bullet
Sift these on to the flour
Add salt
Add the hot ghee and mix in
Slowly add water until the batter is a thick yet smooth mixture

Get the press greased and ready with the small holes disc
In a pan, fill 2/3rd with oil ( I used Mazola or corn oil)
Make the birds nests
It cooks really fast so make sure not to burn
Remove and put in a paper-towel lined colander

Crush and put in air tight box after it cools down - Yenja-E

TG update Lots To Share

Stay tuned  for these upcoming recipes
Omapodi with Rosemary (publishing today)
Pumpkin Halwa
Kathirikai Sadham ( Eggplant rice, Vangi bath)
Kaala choley
AND
Ulutham Poornam Sevai (Urad Dal)

                                                

Oats Idlis

Experimenting in the kitchen, like many of you do, leads to some interesting outcomes - My oats idli was one such experiment and frankly, it turned out SO good! They are like Rava idlis, only tastier! Also Oats is a healthy grain and gives you a better alternative to rice...

Ingredients:

2 cups of instant oats
1/2 cup of Rava
2-1/2 -3 cups of yogurt
1 table spoon of Besan/ Kadalamavu/ gramflour
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon each of
cumin seeds
mustard seeds
urid dal
asafoetida
A few curry leaves

Preparation

Mix your oats, rava and besan together first, sift if necessary
Add the yogurt a cup at a time until you get a regular idli - sort of like pudding?
In a small pan, thadka or sautee the spices and throw into mixture
Add cashews if you like
Get your Idli pans greased and pour and steam for 10-11 minutes of medium high flame

Enjoy with sambar, chutney or molagai podi :-) Stay healthy

Mani's Bajjis

Bajjis are quick, Bajjis are tasty, let's all make some bajji's today -just for a snack, snack snack
Don't mind me - I have just been listening to a lot of Barney thanks to my little one and the words above are to the tune of Let's read book....

As you know the bajji mavu or batter is what matters - you can put whatever veggies you like and fry them up
It used to be that I had to mix the batter up for my husband and he would fry them up, but now he makes a stellar batter all by himself and has actually made it his signature dish...hence the name

NOTE: None of my recipes will have store bought red chili powder ever, because we've noticed a horrible burning in our stomachs as an after effect. I strongly recommend that you prepare your chili powder yourself as and when you need it. for this very reason I make my own curry podi (powder for all my veggies)

Ingredients

1 cup of besan/kadalamavu/gram flour
1/2 cup of rice flour
1/2 teaspoon each of cumin powder, coriander powder
2 teaspoons of Sambar podi  And/Or
3 dry red chillies first fried in a small dab of oil and ground in a dry blender
a pinch of asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon of my favorite herb rosemary
salt

Preparation:

In a pan sift the flours and add the spices and ingredients.
Take a cup of water and start mixing it in to make the batter
It should flow like a thick syrup from your hand - So go easy on the water as you get further into the mixing- In all you will need 1-1/2 cups, approx

Prepare the veggies
In this case, we made Zucchini and Musrooms,  Onions - We made Capsicum bajjis too but sorry forgot to take a picture of it - rest assured it is SUPREME in taste!

For the frying:

Heat a medium-sized deep dish pan 2/3 filled with oil
Soak the veggies in the batter and drop them carefully but briskly into the oil - the idea is the batter should be thick enough that it does not drip into the oil or off the veggie
Wait until golden brown
Eat hot

NOTE: In most of my recipes, I try to make the batter self-sufficient in taste, in that it does not taste dodh or tasteless - And no sides are required. But I know lots of people love some ketchup of coriander chutney (the recipe of which will follow soon) on the side.

Secret Tip: Chop up some curry leaves and mix in with the batter for additional flavor
Happy Thanksgiving
                                                                            ZUCCHINI BAJJIS

                                                              BATTER CONSISTENCY

                                                                MUSHROOM BAJJIS

                                                                     ONION BAJJIS

                                                                THE FRYING PROCESS

Nithu's Kitchen: Guest Post - 37 : Today's Guest - Priya Mahadevan

Nithu's Kitchen: Guest Post - 37 : Today's Guest - Priya Mahadevan

Beans Paruppusili

Of all the dishes to make, this can be one of the most long-drawn out, because it does not fit into my under 45 minute guarantee given its prep time - but with the modern gadgets and gizmos we all seem to have in our kitchens, this process does not seem as tedious. This is a once in 2-3 months deal in our home for this very reason. But if you see tender beans or snake gourd, you tend to weaken and say that's worth an Usili ... We fell for the beans - Plus with a simple (Pepper-cumin) molagu-jeeraga rasam or vetha kozhambu (recipe of latter is on the blog already - have to add picture) can be an outstanding combo...

Once I made paruppusili with broccoli - outtasight! Will post pics the next time I make that!

Ingredients

1 cup of Thuvar dal/ thoran paruppu/ bengal gram
2 green chillies
2 red chillies
1/2 cup of grated coconut
2 lbs of  fresh beans

Preparation

Soak the dal and chillies for couple of hours and grind coarsely -like for vadai in a food processor - drain out the water from the soaking before grinding.
Once ground, add the salt and mix in really well
Grease your idli plates and steam cook like idlis for about 12-13 minutes

FOR THE BEANS
Cut and steam cook beans
Thadka or Tmeper with
A pinch of asafoetida
2 Whole red chillies
1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds small black)
Curry leaves
Set aside

Once it the usili idlis are fairly cool, get our your cheese grater and rub the idli against it so it crumbles into small florets.
Slightly dry roast the grated coconut in a small pan and top it on to the usili mixture and stir in.
Add to the beans and mix well

Beans cut and steamed

                                                                     Making the Idlis

Grating the Idlis

                                                                     Doesn't this look nice!

                                                                Making the beans curry

                                                                     The Usili with the coconut
Enjoy!

Spicy sweet potato stuffed croissant

Try saying the title a few times :-) This recipe, I totally stumbled upon, because I was craving for the vegetable puffs, an old favorite which a Malayalee vendor used to bring to our doorstep in his little TOP box balanced behind his bicycle - The onions were cut too big and long and the potatoes sometimes not cooked enough and often too the turmeric was sort of raw and smelt funny - Amma always wondered why we ever wanted to eat that c---p, but she indulged us nevertheless, just because she was just the best mom! But obviously there was something to those vegetable puffs that left an indelible impression on me - Cravings being what they are during pregnancy, I decided I wanted vegetable puffs and I wanted it now -  as in 21/2 years ago -No potatoes at home - that is the most unusual situation - No carrots and peas either - I am talking frozen mix - The one thing that was readily available was sweet potatoes and I kinda balked at it before realizing that was better than no puff at all - the rest is history - Everybody, baby in belly included loved it so well, it became a standard fall back snack in out home - so check it out - very simple and healthy if you use reduced fat croissant crescents from Pillsbury - not endorsing the company or anything ...

Ingredients
6 small sweet potatoes, peeled
1/2 -1 red onion depending on size
2 green chillies
1/3 teaspoon of mustard seeds (small black)
2 teaspoons of curry powder
A few sprigs of rosemary
Garlic chives (optional)
1Pillsbury croissant roll (12 triangles)
1 teaspoon of olive oil

Preparation
Microwave cook the sweet potatoes until they are soft and mushy
In a shallow non stick, heat the oil and pop the mustard seeds.
Fry the onions and add the green chillies and 1 teaspoon of curry powder
Remove the cooked sweet potatoes and break down into a mush
Add to the onions and stir
Add the salt and the rosemary and let it all cook for a couple of minutes
Remove from flame and allow it to cool

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
Prepare a flat pan by wrapping it with aluminium foil

Open the croissant roll and separate the triangles
take one scoop of the curry and place it on the broad side of the triangle.
fold in the corners over the curry and then roll down
Once the fillings are rolled in, place the tray in the oven and cook for 12 -13 minutes per the croissant instructions - remove when the top is golden brown

Serve with ketchup or enjoy by itself
                                                                         The final product

                                                             Peeled Sweet potatoes

                                                                 onions, rosemary and garlic chives

                                                                 browning the onions

                                                                 mushing the potatoes

                                                         mixing the two on the pan

                                                          rolled out croissant dough

                                                               filling in place

                                                          turn in the corners

                                                                       oven-ready

                                                                        ta-dah!

Sending this for the tried and tasted event hosted by pj

Panakam Lemon Twist Con Agave

http://usmasala.blogspot.com/2010/11/event-announcement-virtual-party.htmlEverybody knows a cool drink when they drink one - I mean cool as in awesome or refreshing - Panakam, supposedly Rama's thirst quencher during his years of exile is a popular summer drink. I am sure, as with all other foods and drinks, there are plenty of different ways to skin this cat.  AS ALWAYS, I follow my tongue and the tastes buds that lie within to guide me with the recipe - While I did not deviate too far from the standard recipe for Panakam, I tried something new, especially because I intend to send it for a Virtual Party :-)

A special not on Panakam - Other than forever reserving its place in the annals of Hindu Mythology, this truly is the one drink that can take care of ALL your cravings at one go - sweet, sour, salt and spice -which the ginger takes care of - What a splendid drink - Thank you RAMA - You showed good taste in your beverage :-)

                                                            With dark brown sugar

                                                              with jaggery

Ingredients to make for 6 - 8 drinks depending of your requirement for sweetness)
6 cups of water or 8 if you like less sweet)
1 cup of Jaggery (or dark brown sugar)
1 table spoon of grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon of powdered cardamom
1 tablespoon of lime juice
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons of Agave Nectar (this is just to add a flavor - the drink will taste just as good, if you cannot find agave to use)
A sprig of mint to float on top

Pictures of ingredients

Preparation

In a blender blend all the ingredients. The drink will either be a yellowish drink or a darker brown drink depending on 3 variables - the color of the jaggery mine was yellow as you can see) or brown if it is dark jaggery or dark brown sugar like picture above

Blend

pour in a clear container

Chill and serve with a sprig of lemon on top  - If you want to get all cocktaily with it, glaze the rim of your glass with the salt rather than putting it in the blend and sip away
No umbrellas no fuss for this drink, but the taste is matchless - simply divine :-)