Spanakopita

Spanakopita is a greek dish - Spana meaning spinach and kopita as in Pita or pie :) The light phyllo dough is used to make the pie crust and I have tried to remain true to tradition. The only addition to the recipe was I added a few pine nuts
This is a simple, healthy and delicious meal which can be executed in as little as 20 minutes for prep time and and baking time of 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 pack of frozen chopped spinach
1tbsp of pine-nuts
One 4-ounce carton of feta cheese
1 dry red chili for seasoning - if desired
3-4 tsp of olive oil

Preparation
Remove phyllo dough from freezer and place in fridge 2-3 hrs hours before preparing this dish
Set oven at 400 degrees F
Thaw the spinach and season with chili and salt and cook for a couple of minutes with about a tsp of oil
Throw in your pine nuts (you can sub with walnuts or almonds or avoid nuts if that is preferable)
Keep ready
Prepare your pan by greasing the bottom with olive oil
Roll out the phyllo dough and place 6-8 sheets dribbling scant amounts of oil every two layers to keep it from drying out- you could also keep a damp towel and dab the dough if you think it is drying out
Next layer with the spinach, followed by the feta cheese
Add 6-8 more layers of dough again dampening them with oil/damp cloth
Bake for about 15-20 mins depending on the efficiency of your oven
Remove when the phyllo dough is crisp and golden brown
Enjoy with a side salad :)

Kanda Bajjis (Onion Fritters)

This is the fourth post for Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika of Tickling Palates– This time, I was paired with Bhagyashri of Taste Buds – She has a number of interesting recipes, but since I was shortchanged for time, so I picked a simple one although it was a fried one :( -AI am sorry to break the healthy spree of recipes that I’ve been posting with this universal favorite fried weakness! The dish is Kanda Bajji (pakoras or fritters) and here is the recipe with a few personal tweaks.

Ingredients

Besan 1 cup

2tbsp rice flour

1 big red onion

½tsp turmeric

3-4 Green chilies

Salt

A pinch of asafetida

Curry leaves

Grated ginger 1tbsp

Cilantro

Oil for frying

Preparation

Dry mix all ingredients except the onions and mix

In a wide pan, heat 1 tsp of oil and gently fry the onion without browning them too much – just to get rid of the raw taste

Add to the bowl and knead

I do not use any water in my mix - The water from the onion and the oil use to lightly fry is is plenty to knead this -
It should basically be some batter holding the onion strips together!

Heat the oil to fry and drop small quantities of batter to make the fritters

 Serve as is or with ketchup

Red Rice & Quinoa Ah-pums & Idlis

Attended a wonderful Remembrance day for 9/11 where my daughter sang as part of a choir - a wonderful show of patriotism and unity was presented and what's more parking was free :)

Of Up-pums and Ah-pums

After the first one, my daughter declares, “Ma, ah-pums are dosais with an idli in the middle J” I would not have put it that bluntly, but this is true – those who have the ah-pum pans will know that this is indeed true – I have made this for 2 reasons – one because I am hosting the Cooking for seeds and was experimenting with Quinoa and second, this was my humble tribute to Onam (: - I make the distinction by spelling it thus so that we do not confuse it with up-pums, the sweet delicacy that is also popular in the south. – I have made those as well and have yet to blog them :(

But I am putting few pictures of the up-pums as well

Here is my recipe

Ingredients

2 cups of Red Rice flour

½ Cup of Quinoa flakes

½ cup of Urad Dal

Preparation

Soak and grind urad dal

Soak the red rice powder in water

Mix both add salt and let it ferment

The beauty about this is you could make your ah-pums as soon as you grind the urad and mix the batters

However, an overnight ferment also yields the softest idlis

Before you are ready to make the crepes or dosais, add the half-cup of Quinoa and mix it in well.

The Up-pum – These I made another day with left over Idlima –or batter of regular idlis – I just added jiggery and cardamom powder to the old idli batter and made them in my awesome up-pum pan

Hope you enjoy the pictures :D

Linking this to the event I am guest hosting - cooking with seeds - Quinoa
Also linking this to Magpie Recipes' Kerala Kitchen

Black Beans in Guilt-free White Sauce

Entertaining this weekend? Need a quick, delicious dip to wow your family or friends? Well here is an under-10-minute wonder – And a guilt free white sauce at that! Here is my recipe do the Can-Can

Ingredients

Canned or boiled black beans (1 can or ½ cup) I used a can

1 Can Campbell’s Low Sodium Mushroom soup

½ cup of water

1 Habanero chopped round(optional)

1tbsp olive oil

1-2 cloves of garlic

Add caption

Preparation

Wash black beans and strain

Heat ½tsp of oil in a saucepan.

Add minced garlic

Add the beans and stir

Now add the can of mushroom soup and rinse the can with half cup of water and add to the pan

Allow the black beans to simmer in the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until you see it bubble

Remove from flame

In a separate pan, add about 1tsp of olive oil and add the chopped habanero and allow it cook for a minute in the oil

Note: if you do not want too spicy, remove the habanero and just dribble the oil into the dip

Some like it HOT – for you (and me) we garnish the dip with the habanero and serve with chips or soft tortilla

Hint: This can be served hot or cold – make and refrigerate for an hour or two before serving should you choose to serve it cold. This would also soften the tingle of the habanero! Decorate with a few sprigs of fresh basil before refrigerating so that its beautiful aromas infuse into the soup! 

Adios Amigos! Have a great weekend folks and hope to serve you again early next week!

Pineapple & Papaya Soup with Jasmine (Soup D'Ananas et De Papayes au Jasmin)

This soup is an adaption of the French chef par excellence, Roger Vergé ‘s Soup de Melon et De Papayes au Jasmin from his book Cooking with Fruits. My dear friend lent me this book to browse – I was totally fascinated at how wonderfully he was able to make a mélange of recipes with fruits.

This is a fantastic soup for all especially I believe my friends from South India who wear jasmines in their hair. The heady, intoxicating fragrance of the flower! I never thought that this could be used in cooking! Believe you me when I say that it infused the most exquisite bouquet to the soup and I felt in 7^th heaven at having reproduced, albeit with some changes, this soup delicacy and wowed my family with it… please enjoy the pictures and the recipe and it is one you can certainly try in the south given the abundance of papayas and jasmines and pineapples too.

Picture from the book

6 servings

Preparation 20 minutes

No cooking required

Ingredients

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 2 limes

½ Pineapple

1 medium sized papaya

¾ cup sweet wine such as Sauternes

(I subbed dark cherry juice)

1/3cup sugar

1 pinch of salt

36 very white jasmine flowers (you can sub this with few drops of orange blossom water when you are ready to serve)

6 sprigs of fresh mint

White pepper, finely ground (I used black)

Add caption

Preparation

Grate the lemon for the zest

Peel, deseed and cube papayas

Peel and dice pineapple

Juice the limes

Measure ¾ cup of cherry juice (you can sub with pomegranate or other easier available juices or use sweet wine if you prefer)

Add all the above in a blender with the sugar and the pinch of salt

Pour into a wide bowl and add the jasmines and gently stir them in

Chill for about 2 hours

Strain the soup before serving

Garnish each soup bowl with 2 jasmines and a sprig of mint

Enjoy (:

NOTE: The Jasmine I garnished the soup with was for decorative purposes and perhaps not meant to be eaten :)

Linking this to Taste of Pearl city's Anyone Can Cook, Priya's & Aipis Bookmarked Recipes, My event Fast Food Not Fat Food guest-hosted by Archana of Mad Scientist's Kitchen

Fig Mascarpone

This is one of the easiest deserts to put together, if you have some figs, some mascarpone cheese, fresh rosemary and some maple syrup handy – Let me rephrase – equip yourself with these ingredients to make this incredibly delicious dessert – It takes all of 10 minutes start to finish and I must thank 5 minute live videopedia http://www.5min.com/Video/Fig-Mascarpone-Recipe---Under-One-Minute-60117976for my resource where the chappie on the video claims it cam be done in under a minute – true if you have this recipe – The baking time I used was 10 minutes but I would recommend 5-7 minutes tops @ 350 if you don’t want you Mascarpone to melt and flow like a river (which mine sort of did). But it still tasted completely delicious

Here is the recipe

Ingredeints

4-5 sprigs of Rosemary

3tbsp Mascarpone cheese

8-10 ripe figs

2tbsp Maple syrup

1 square sheet of aluminum foil

Prepararion

Set oven at 350 degrees

Wash figs and from the conical top, make 2 cuts like an X and pinch the bottom of the fruit so it opens up like a flower

Lay the aluminum sheet flat

Arrange the sprigs of rosemary in the middle

Place the semi-diced figs over the bed of rosemary

Scoop 3tbsp of mascarpone cheese into a bowl

Add the maple syrup and gently mix so as to not liquefy the cheese

Now place a good-sized blob over each of the fig cuts

Bake for about 5 minutes

See If the cheese has melted half way into the fig

Leave for a minute or two longer and remove from oven

Place in a serving dish and serve hot or cold

Guest Hosting COOKING WITH SEEDS -QUINOA or Millet For Friends in india

Today, it is my pleasure to announce that I am guest hosting another seed event, initiated by star blogger Priya Suresh of Priyas Easy n Tasty Recipes. This event is simply called Cooking with Seeds and I have chosen Quinoa. Please see the rules of entry and use the linky tool given to submit your recipes :)
Quinoa has commonly been mistaken for a grain, but it is indeed a seed and now a popular one with various health benefits. I was blown away by how nutritional it is and this is also the reason I decided to go with this seed - we should all try and make that switch from rice to quinoa for many of our preparations. It tastes SO good and comes in 2 colors RED and YELLOW! Read more about this Wonderful grain here 

Rules of Entry
Vegetarian recipes only please :) (this include no eggs either-ty :)
Entries can be linked via Linky tool given below
Linky will be open from today until Sept 30
Please add event logo to the entered recipe on your website
Link back to this announcement and to Priya's blog
Multiple entries welcome
Archived entries are allowed to if you repost them on your blog :)
Non bloggers can email me their entries with the names and a photo
A running round-up is posting via the link tool on this page
Look forward to your participation on both seed events going on on my blog

Dear friends,  I had previously announced the event Cooking with Whole Foods -Subsegment With seeds and the seed of choice was Fenugreek - This event is a brainchild of Kiran of Sumadhura please click here to view that event.This event is ongoing until October. So please send in your entries to this event as well. Thanks and Love <3