Clever food blog name

Vitamix ice cream (generic)

2012-01-28T20:42:00.000-06:00

Generic ice cream would be the following, without the flavorings (vanilla, basil)

1 cup half and half or whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup non-fat dry milk (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract (add 5 basil leaves, for basil flavoring)
4 cups ice cubes

Place in Vitamix in order listed. Go from 1 to 10 to high. Press with tamper, ingredients into blades.
in 60 seconds, 4 mounds form. Don't overmix, or melting will occur. SERVE IMMEDIATELY!

Soba noodles

2012-01-28T18:46:00.000-06:00

Recommended brand - King brand soba noodles (HEB)

Boil water
Add soba noodles to it. Wait about 8 mins. Check for softness. Turn off gas. Drain immediately. Keep covered.
Saute veggies - onion, cabbage, snow peas, corn, peas in sesame oil. Add rice vinegar, a little at a time. Maybe 1/2 cup finally was what it took (I can't remember!). Add sriracha hot sauce. And soy sauce (1 TBS??). Saute in these sauces, the veggies, and add the cooked soba noodles to it. Saute together for a while with added salt (remember soy sauce is pretty salty).

Tobbouleh

2012-01-28T18:42:00.000-06:00

This is Ellie Krieger's recipe.

Bulgur is a whole grain, that has twice the fiber of brown rice. It takes 15 minutes to cook a cup of it when added to 1.5 cups boiling water..
Tabbouleh ingredients:
1 cup bulgur
1.5 cups boiling water
2 cups seeded chopped tomato
2 cups seeded chopped cucumber
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 cups chopped parsley
1/3 cup chopped mint

Dressing:
1/3 cup lemon juice i.e. 1 whole lemon juiced
3 TBS olive oil
1 tsp cumin powder (main seasoning!)
salt and pepper

Drizzle dressing on tabbouleh, toss. Serve in pita or by itself.

Pomegranate salad

2011-12-18T14:29:00.000-06:00

Ingredients:
1. 1 pomegranate seeded
2. 1 soft pear, chopped
3. 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
4. 1/2 cup chopped spinach
5. olive oil and lemon juice, salt and pepper.
6. 1/4 cup walnuts, crushed into crunchy tiny bits

Method:
1. Toss all ingredients together
2. Marinate for 2 hours!

Madhuram's Vegetarian chili

2011-12-18T14:25:00.002-06:00

http://www.egglesscooking.com/2008/06/13/veggie-chili/

1 cup bulgur wheat (boil 6 cups water, bring to boil, add this in, 15 mins). 1 can black beans, 1/2 cup corn, 1 can pumpkin puree, sauteed 1/2 cup onion and 1 cup red or green bell pepper and 1 zucchini, 1 - 2 tsp garlic, 1 tsp chili powder (makes it mild-medium), 1/2 dabba chili flavoring from Central market (it doesn't list the spices, but I suspect it's mostly cumin and jalapeno).

Cauliflower piquant

2011-12-18T14:21:00.000-06:00

Ingredients:
1. 1 head cauliflower
2. 1 red bell pepper
3. 1/2 cup green olives
4. 1 tub salsa cheese spread
4. 1 tsp olive oil
5. salt and pepper

Method:
1. Saute chopped cauliflower and chopped red bell pepper in a tsp of olive oil for 2 mins. Add 1/4 cup water. Cover with lid. We don't want the veggies to get too soft.
2. After the above softens (in about 3 mins after adding lid), add olives, saute for a few seconds, and add the tub of salsa cheese spread. Mix cheese into veggies. Turn gas off, and cover with lid for cheese to melt.
3. Add salt and crushed black pepper.

Tamarind Date chutney

2011-09-17T18:08:00.000-05:00

This's the stuff you get with various appetizers in Indian restaurants, such as the starter pappadams. This is also great with samosas. Or dhoklas. I make this often.

I used food.com for most of this recipe:

1 cup tamarind paste (Laxmi brand, Indian grocery stores)
1 cup dates, pitted (or apple butter, to save time)
4 cups water
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon ginger powder
2 teaspoon salt
1.5 cups jaggery (unprocessed sugar - best in Indian grocery stores) or 1.5 cup brown sugar or 1.5 cup sugar

Method:
Boil the water and add the dates and jaggery to it.
Blend and transfer back to cook pot
Add tamarind paste and seasoning and bring to boil
Shelf life : 2 weeks

Coconut Date balls

2011-09-17T17:59:00.000-05:00

1. High quality pitted dates (2 cups)
2. Ginger powder - 1/4 tsp (or cinnamon, if you prefer that flavor)
3. Coconut flakes - 1 cup

Soak the dates for an hour, and blend with the other 2 ingredients. Make balls.
The challenge here is getting all the pasty stuff off the blender!

Chocolate Mousse

2011-09-17T17:57:00.000-05:00

3/4 cup cashews
1 cup pitted dates
1 can (15 oz) butternut squash
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup unsweetened coconut beverage
1 cup raspberries
1 TBS grated coconut (flakes)

1. Soak the cashews and dates in hot water, for 2 hours. Drain water fully.
2. Blend them to a paste.
3. Add all the other ingredients (except the raspberries and grated coconut) to the blender with the above paste, and blend again. In about 2 minutes, it ought to be done. Add some water if necessary (I didn't add any).
4. Chill, and serve with raspberries and a sprinkling of coconut flakes.

Note: A little less butternut squash next time...

Molagu kuzhambu masala, and molagu kuzhambu

2011-07-14T20:17:00.001-05:00

Molagu Kuzhambu == MK == Pepper Sambhar

4 TBS MK masala:

1 tsp each of
Channa Dal
Toor Dal
Udad Dal
Dhania seeds
Black peppecorns
and
1/2 tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
1 dried Red chili (dried)

Fry all of these in a little oil, grind in dry grinder.

MK (4 cups):

Ingredients:
4 packets curry leaves
4 TBS (or, to taste) MP masala
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp heeng (asafoetida)
4 TBS tamarind paste
2 TBS sesame oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds

Method:
1. Grind to paste, all ingredients except tamarind, together, with 1 cup water.
2. Mix 3 cups of water to the paste.
3. Heat 2 TBS sesame oil, tarka with black mustard seeds
4. When it splutters, add 4 cups of MP liquid to this, on low flame and bring to a boil.

p.s: Use the same masala to make Vatra kuzhambu, only decreasing amount of curry leaves.

Idli dosai molagai podi

2011-07-11T18:04:00.000-05:00

Make a small amount, so it doesn't go insipid/stale just lying around.

Ingredients

8 oz Udad dal
8 oz Channa dal
8 oz White til/Black til i.e. sesame seeds
2 tsp Heeng
2 tspt/to taste salt
Dry tamarind 1/2 Indian lime size or 5 tsp aamchur (dry mango powder).
1 cup dried red chillies (add more for increased pungentness)

Roast in 1/2 tsp sesame oil, each ingredient separately to a dark golden brown (honey oak color!). Everything has to be fried in very low flame. Til will splutter!!

Fry tamarind with oany one of the above (not til). Use aamchur if this's difficult.

Keep til aside after frying (without oil is fine).

Fry 1 cup of dried red chillies in 1/2 tsp oil.

Dry grind all ingredients except til. Adding til will make it all lumpy.

Dry grind til alone, separately.

Mix everything together.

Simple chhole (garbanzo beans)

2011-05-30T17:23:00.001-05:00

1 white onion, chopped
6 roma tomatoes, choppe and blended to a paste
1 TBS sesame oil
1 TBS garam masala
1 tsp cumin (jeera) powder
1 tsp chilli powder
3 15-oz cans garbanzo beans (low sodium) - rinsed in a colander to get the fluid off

Method:
Saute the while onion, add the red chilli powder. Doing this at least 7 minutes, makes it turn brown. Add the tomato paste, bing to a boil. Blend the mixture. Put back in the pot, and add garam masala and cumin powder. Bring to a boil with the garbanzo beans. Add salt to taste. Done.

Soba noodle salad with ginger-pumpkin-seed dressing

2011-05-16T23:59:00.003-05:00

This recipe came from "Quick and healthy 30-minute meals", a Vegetarian Times special issue.I chose this because it has greens (cilantro 1 cup), veggies, protein (seeds), and plenty of flavor. The soba noodles tasted whole grain, although I can't be sure now!

I replaced the peanut in the original recipe, with pumpkin-seed (pepita).

Ingredients:

Soba noodles (1 packet)
1 large red bell pepper
1/2 small cucumber
4 large carrots
1.5 cups pumpkin seeds,
2 TBS lemon juice,
1 cup cilantro leaves,
1/2 cup rice vinegar,
4 tsp low sodium soy sauce,
2 TBS minced fresh ginger,
2 cloves garlic,
2 tsp lemon zest,
1 TBS maple syrup.

Method:
1. Boil water in a medium to large pot.
2. Throw a packet (happened to be 8.8oz) soba noodles into it for 7 minutes (or follow the time in the package instructions).
3. Turn heat off, drain water from it in a colander, and keep it covered.
4. Chop red bell pepper (1), carrots (4 big), cucumber (1 small).
5. In the blender (I used Vitamix, wet grinder), blend to a paste, the 1.5 cups pumpkin seeds, 2 TBS lemon juice, 1 cup cilantro leaves, 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 4 tsp low sodium soy sauce, 2 TBS minced fresh ginger, 2 cloves garlic, 2 tst lemon zest, 1 TMS maple syrup.
6. Toss together the soba noodles, blended paste, and chopped veggies.

Curried butternut squash soup

2011-05-14T16:43:00.000-05:00

From Ellie Krieger's "healthy appetite"...

Curried butternut squash soup

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon canola oil
* 1 medium onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 (2 1/2-pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
* 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
* 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons curry powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more, to taste
* 2 tablespoons honey
* 4 teaspoons plain low-fat yogurt, for garnish

Directions

Heat oil over medium heat in a 6-quart stockpot. Add onions and garlic and saute until soft but not brown, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add the butternut squash, broth, curry powder and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until squash is tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat stir in honey and puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a blender until smooth. Season with salt, to taste.

Ladle into serving bowls and add a dollop of yogurt.

Easy Wilted Garlic-Sesame Salad

2011-05-14T16:40:00.000-05:00

The following was copied from realage.com

Easy Wilted Garlic-Sesame Salad

Toss dark green leafy vegetables in hot, garlicky oil for a cleansing -- and delicious -- dish.

4 servings, about 65 calories each

1 tsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. spinach, stemmed,
or 1 lb. Swiss chard, stems sliced, leaves torn
or 1 lb. mixture of spinach and watercress
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tsp. sesame seeds for garnish

Warm oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir until lightly browned, about 45 seconds. Add greens (do in two batches if necessary) and toss until just wilted, 2 to 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

My daily salad recipe

2011-05-14T14:21:00.011-05:00

We've been trying to make salads everyday, using some subset of the following, based on what we have at home. If we have all of this, it all goes into the salad - seriously!

Greens
1. Fresh greens (mixed greens/baby spinach). We buy it triple washed and wash again.

Protein source
1. Lentils like black beans or lobia etc/steamed tofu sauteed in turmeric and red chilli powder/ shredded cheese.

2. Hummus, mixed in at the end. Hummus is easy to make at home (Cooked chickpeas, lemon juice, chillies, tahini, salt)

3. Seeds (pumpkin/sunflower)

4. Nuts (walnuts/pecans) - broken up

Veggies
1. Fresh veggies (grated carrot & cucumber, grape tomatoes, broccoli)

2. Cooked veggies (sauteed green beans or sauteed spinach)

Fruit
1. Fresh fruit (apple/grapes/pear/pomegranate/mango/mandarin orange)

2. Dried fruit (dried sweetened cranberry or golden raisin) - not a lot...for sweetness.

Fats
1. Avocado slices (or guacamole mixed in with the veggies and greens)

2. Healthy fats (like olive oil, or sesame oil if the acid is soy or tamari), and spices (grated garlic, black pepper) and an acid (lemon juice/OJ/soy sauce/vinegar/tamari), for the dressing.

Grain (Too much makes the salad too carb heavy)
1. Cooked whole wheat pasta. Not a lot. This goes well with hummus.
2. Cooked wild rice or bulgur

More
1. Random freshly made chutney. Cilantro, small piece of raw onion, ginger, garlic, tamarind, lemon juice, salt, green chillies, back pepper, mango - blend together with lots of fresh spearmint from our backyard).

2. 2 cloves grated fresh garlic

3. Grated ginger in the dressing if soy sauce/tamari

An old post about salads.

http://areluctantchef.blogspot.com/2008/05/salad-basics.html

German style warm potato salad

2011-05-13T12:26:00.002-05:00

German style warm potato salad

This was really yummy.

Ingredients:
 4 cups fresh cut green beans
8 cups spinach leaves, coarsely shredded
6 green onions
3 cups small red potatoes boiled in water until semi-soft (edibly soft but not mushy), chopped into halves
2 TBS Olive or sesame oil
8 TBS white balsamic vinegar
3 fat cloves of garlic, grated
4 TBS tarragon or dill, finely chopped
2 TBS parsley, finely chopped (no stems)
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Method:
Saute green onions in oil for 2 mins. Put the green beans into that, and add some water and let it cook and soften. Add spinach and saute. Add cooked potatoes into it. Saute a little, turn gas off.
Drizzle some olive oil, add some salad greens, seeds, nuts, garlic, white balsamic vinegar, tarragon, parsley. Toss.

Seriously yummy Schezuan salad

2011-04-03T02:32:00.000-05:00

Gently mix together:
Schezuan sauce : 2 TBS
Red wine vinegar : 6 TBS
EV Olive Oil : 1/2 cup
white sugar : 2 tsp

Slice 2 avocado
Marinate in 6 TBS of lemon juice

1 14oz can black eyed peas (low sodium) - drain out water, add to bowl.
Fnely chop 1/2 cup red onion, 1 jalapeno, 1 medium bell pepper, 2tsp garlic. Add to bowl.

Mix these three sets of things together. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Rasams

2011-03-17T10:42:00.008-05:00

Rasam powder (rasa podi)

Makes about 2 cups of rasam powder.

2 cups red chillies
2 cups whole cilantro/corriander seeds
2 TBS Black pepper
1 TBS toor dal
1 TBS channa dal
3 TBS jeera
1 TBS black mustard seeds

Dry roast all of the above except the jeera and mustard seeds. Grind to powder all of the above (include the jeera and mustard seeds).

2 tsp of this powder for about 2 cups of rasam.

--------------------
All rasams, serve 4.
--------------------
Paruppu Rasam

Ingredients:

1.5 tsp tamarind paste
3 tsp Rasam powder
1/4 tsp asafoetida (heeng)
1 tsp pepper cumin powder (1:1 ratio)
4 ripe roma tomatoes (pureed)
4 cups water

1 cup toor daal, (pressure) cooked with 2 cups water and 1 pinch turmeric and salt, pureed.

Garnish:
1/2 cup cilantro leaves

Seasoning/tadka:
1 tsp sesame oil
1 dried red chilly
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
5 curry leaves
a pinch of asafotida

Boil together the 1st six ingredients. When it comes to a boil, add the toor dal. Salt to taste. Boil again. Turn gas off. Add the cilantro leaves and seasoning.

---------

Lemon rasam

3 cups water
Moong dal - cook 1/2 cup in 1 cup water, salt and a pinch of turmeric
1/8 tsp asafoetida
Ginger, 1/2 finger size, peeled and chopped lengthwise (thin strips)
1.5 tsp pepper jeera powder
Salt to taste

To add when the stove is off:
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
Juice of 2 lemons

Tadka:
1/2 tsp oil
mustard seeds
5 curry leaves
a pinch of asafotida

Boil the 1st six ingredients together. Turn the stove off. Add the lemon juice and cilantro leaves. Then the tadka.

---------------

Milagu rasam or Tanjaoor rasam

6 cups water
2 tsp tamarind paste
1/8 tsp asafoetida
2 tsp raw toor dal

Tadka:
1 tsp sesame oil or ghee
mustard seeds
10 curry leaves
3 tsp pepper cumin powder (1:1 ratio)
2 dried red chillies

Boil stuff in the 1st set (the toor dal needs to soften). Fry stuff in the 2nd set. Mix together. IF you add a cup of cooked toor dal to this, it's called Tanjaoor rasam.

---------------

Mysore rasam

3 tsp scraped coconut fried in a little oil to golden color

Fry the following in a little oil
2 tsp whole corriander/cilantro/dhania seeds
3 dried red chillies
1/2 tsp raw toor dal
1/2 tsp channa dal

Grind/pound to a coarse powder the following:
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds

Mix all of the above together (except the fried coconut). Plug this in, in the place of rasam powder, into the paruppu rasam.

Boiling fried coconut in water for too long, makes the rasam taste a little weirdly oily. So, add that at the very end.

--------------
Garlic rasam

1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves
5 cups water
2 tsp tamarind paste
Salt to taste

Masala:
Fry in a little oil (1/2 tsp):
1 tsp channa dal
1 tsp toor dal
2 tsp corriander/cilantro/dhania seeds
4 red chillies
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi ke daane / mendiyam)

Make 1.5 tsp pepper jeera powder in 1:1 ratio, and add with the fried masala to a grinder, to make a powder.

Method:
1 tsp oil in the pot, with the black mustard seeds thrown in. A few pinches of asafoetida. Curry leaves. Let the seeds splutter. Throw in garlic and saute for a minute (don't let it change color - it needs to stay yellow, not turn brown).
Add the water and tamarind paste and bring to boil. Add the powdered masala and let it come to a boil again.

------------
Brinjal Rasam

More rasam

Sweet potato (chakravallikizhangu) chutney

2011-03-17T10:39:00.002-05:00

Peel sweet potato, chop into big pieces - measuring 1 cup in volume, boil in water.

2tsp channa dal, 2 tsp udad dal, red chillies, 1/2 tsp tamarind paste, salt, asaefotida. Fry in a little oil, grind with cooked sweet potato.

Simple Avial and Yezhu kari koottu

2011-03-17T10:37:00.003-05:00

Avial and 7-kari koottu require the same vegetables, so I've lumped the recipes together. They're both side dishes.

Avial:

Cut veggies such as seepankizhangu (1), kottavaranga (1 cup), green beans (4 oz), carror (4 oz), white pumpkin (1 cup), bell pepper (1 small), potato (1 medium), drumstick (10 pieces), plaintain (1 medium sized one), eggplant (2 or 3 small ones), chayote squash (1/2 of one).

Boil in water with salt and turmeric. The amount of water must not exceed 1/4th of the volume of veggies.

4 oz grated coconut, 4-5 green chillies, 3 tsp cumin seeds : grind to fine paste.

Sour yoghurt (bulgarian) - 1/2 cup. Mix with above paste. Pour into boiled veggies.

Oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida. Pour into above.

The only big deal here is chopping the veggies - takes time.

7-kari koottu:

Fry the coconut in oil.
Masala:
1 tsp channa dal
1 tsp toor dal
3 tsp akka (whole) dhania
1/2 tsp black peppercorn
3 dried red chillies
curry leaves.

Fry these together to a golden color, wait for it to cool, and dry grind.

Cook veggies like for avial. Mix masala powder in it. Cook 1/4 cup toor dal and put it into mix. 2 tsp tamarind paste. Boil (not so long that the veggies get mushy).

Vegan baking basics

2010-09-08T22:30:00.000-05:00

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/tasty-vegan-food-cupcakes-show-it-can-be-done/?src=me&ref=general

Excerpt:
The biggest challenge of vegan baking is to create moist, light and rich-tasting cake without eggs and butter, the traditional binding ingredients for pastry dough. “I use a combination of baking soda and vinegar — it may sound gross, but it works chemically to bind the cupcakes,” Ms. Coscarelli said. “If the flavor is there, it doesn’t matter what kinds of ingredients you’re using to hold it all together.”

For frosting, traditional bakers use butter or shortening, whipping it with powdered sugar and other ingredients. Ms. Coscarelli substitutes organic refined coconut oil or nonhydrogenated margarines to achieve the same creamy texture. Other winning ingredients, like fresh raspberries and pure dark chocolate, are vegan to begin with.

Birdy's phenomenal punch recipe!

2010-04-24T09:16:00.001-05:00

In the punch bowl, throw in : 1 can frozen limeade, 1 liter raspberry (or razzleberry) juice, 2 liters ginger ale, 1 liter Welch's red grape juice (red grape is very hard to find - purple is easier), 1 packet frozen strawberries. Make sure all ingredients are cold.

Credit for inventing this goes to my friend Birdy.

Pesarettu (Andhra dosa) and Onion chutney

2010-02-25T21:02:00.001-06:00

At the behest of fans (yes, you two), this blog is back, baby.
I present here, my recipe for pesarettu and an accompaniment to the dish (onion chutney).

Pesarettu (dosa, Andhra style):
Assuming folks reading this know what a dosa is, I only post the batter recipe.

Makes : 10 dosas.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice.
2 cups uncooked whole green moong lentils
5 green chillies
1/4 tsp asafoetida powder ("heeng")
2 TBS fresh coconut
1 large white onion finely chopped
1 potato (boiled and mashed)
1 bunch cilantro (chinese parsley) leaves ("dhania")
Oil (preferably sesame oil) for shallow frying the dosa (a cooking spray such as Pam minimizes the oil used)

Method:
1. Soak moong for 45 minutes in 2 cups water, after picking out from it things that resemble rocks and other inedible foreign objects. Yes, this's a common occurrence! If you own a Vitamix, however, you can get in denial about it, because it really pulverizes it all.

2. Soak white rice for 10 minutes in 1 cup water.

3. Drain out the water from steps 1 and 2.

4. Grind the soaked moong and rice with 1 cup water and green chillies in the Vitamix (or other inferior blender) under high, for 1 minute, into a coarse paste. You're done when you see uniform consistency. You don't want to keep grinding until you see steam (which is a possibility if you have gone for 2 minutes under high with the Vitamix). Steam, implies the batter's cooking!

5. Add salt, asafoetida, coconut, mashed potato, cilantro leaves, and mix with a spoon to thick dropping consistency.

6. Make the dosas, using a high lid to cover it as it cooks (so it cooks better, with some steam). This takes up about 1 tsp oil per dosa. Pam cooking spray is an option.

Onion Chutney :

Ingredients:

1. 4 red onions, chopped coarsely.
2. 2 TBS tamarind paste.
3. 2 red chillies (dried)
4. 1 tsp oil.
5. 8 curry leaves (fresh)
6. 1 tsp black mustard seeds
7. 1 TBS udad dal
8. 1/4 tsp asafoetida (heeng).
9. 2 roma tomatoes.
10. salt to taste.
11. 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves.

Method:
In a hot saucepan, add 1 tsp oil, and the mustard seeds. Wait for it to crackle, and immediately add the red chillies, udad seeds and curry leaves and heeng. Saute the onions until browned (about 5 minutes), and then the tomatoes (about a minute). Add tamarind paste, and saute for a minute. Turn off heat. Wait for it to cool a bit, and throw into Vitamix (or other inferior blender), and run on high for 40 seconds. Throw in cilantro leaves and run the Vitamix for another 20 seconds.

Enjoy the pesarettu with the onion chutney as accompaniment!

Spicy desi cauliflower soup

2009-02-04T12:25:00.004-06:00

My 7-year old chose this from "vegetarian recipes", a book my husband bought in India last year.

1 medium sized cauliflower chopped
1 large white onion chopped
1 large potato peeled
1 large carrot peeled and chopped (I just decided to add this)
2 tsp corriander seed powdered (dhania powder)
2 tsp turmeric powder
4 cups vegetable stock (make note of whether it has salt in it)
1 inch ginger root, peeled and grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt
1 TBS olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp jeera
1.25 cup plain fat free yoghurt

Oil in pan, add mustard seeds wait for it to splutter, add jeera seeds, grated ginger, crushed garlic, and then onion. Saute for atleast 5 minutes. Add all the chopped veggies, and sautee with 3 TBS water. After 2 minutes, add the stock, and bring to boil. Then, lower flame and let it simmer for 20 mnutes. Wait for it to cool for 10 minutes and add the yoghurt. If it's added when the temp is too high, it separates.

For the record, we made an odd assortment today, of vietnamese soft spring rolls, bok choy sauteed with mushrooms, and a fast pizza Ellie Krieger has on her website, using tortillas, cheese, arugula and red onion. I'll have to record these recipes here sometime.

Mine, is the shadow blog, these days!!

2009-01-07T13:12:00.005-06:00

I have had so little time or energy to blog about anything original *I* do, that this could now be the shadow blog for my online friend Madhu (http://www.egglesscooking.com) and my friend Arundhati (http://chefatwork.blogspot.com). I look at their sites everyday, and cook just about everything they cook. Thanks to these two, and my 20 other food blogger friends out there - cooking's more fun!

Lemon Basil Limeade recipe

2008-12-30T17:46:00.004-06:00

BECKY BARSCH FISCHER’S LEMON BASIL LIMEADE RECIPE

1 C Lemon Basil leaves, loosely packed (substitute Lemon Verbena, Lime Basil, Lemon Grass or Sweet Basil)

3 C Water

3/4-1 C Sugar

Juice of 4 limes

Combine water and sugar and bring to a simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, and add the herb leaves. Steep 15 to 30 minutes to infuse flavor, strain leaves. Add the fresh squeezed lime juice and enjoy as is.

This is s summer drink, but Austin was 72 degrees today, December the 30th 2008...

Cabbage - nutritional powerhouse

2008-12-22T13:50:00.005-06:00

This was taken from nytimes.com, my favorite morning haunt. I am enjoying a break from cooking, as my husband took over for a few days, just for fun. He discovered that the garam masala at Central Market HEB is incredible - fresh, aromatic and powerful, albeit about 5 times the price of stuff by the same name in local Indian grocery stores. That was our addition to the recipe here.

From the nytimes:

Stewed Lentils with Cabbage

This humble and hearty combination makes a satisfying main dish, especially on a cold night. Lentils are an excellent source of folate and molybdenum and a very good source of dietary fiber, protein and manganese. Any type of lentil will work in this recipe.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, half of it chopped, half sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 pound lentils (brown, green, or beluga), rinsed and picked over. I used French Green lentils.

3 1/2 cups water (more as needed)

1 dried red chile

1 bay leaf

Salt to taste

6 ounces waxy potatoes, scrubbed and sliced about 1/2 inch thick

1 1/2 pounds green cabbage (1 medium head), cored and cut crosswise in 3/4-inch wide ribbons

1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

Freshly grated Parmesan for serving (optional)

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a 3-quart saucepan or casserole over medium heat. Add the chopped half of the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add 2 of the garlic cloves and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to a minute. Add the lentils, water, chile, and bay leaf, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer over low heat for 15 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon salt and the potatoes and continue to simmer gently for 30 minutes, until the lentils and potatoes are tender. Add more salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

2. While the lentils are simmering, cook the cabbage with the remaining onion and garlic in a wide lidded skillet. Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat and add the sliced onion. Cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and the garlic and stir together until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the cabbage and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring, until the cabbage begins to wilt. Add 1/4 cup water, turn the heat down to medium, cover and simmer 10 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender and sweet, stirring from time to time. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

3. Spread the cabbage over the bottom of the pan in an even layer. Top with the lentils and potatoes. Sprinkle on the parsley, and serve in wide soup bowls. Sprinkle with Parmesan if desired.

Yield: Serves 4 to 6

Advance preparation: You can make this dish up to a day ahead and reheat on top of the stove.

Approximate Nutritional Information per Serving (based on 4 servings): 346 calories; total fat: 7.6g; saturated fat: 1.1g; cholesterol: 0mg; sodium: 39mg; total carbohydrates: 54.0g; dietary fiber: 23.1g; sugars: 8.3g; protein: 18.0g; vitamin A: 5% Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) based on a 2,000 calorie diet; vitamin C 129% RDA; calcium 12% ; iron 30%

Replacing eggs in recipes : quick research

2008-12-18T09:23:00.003-06:00

Much of the following has been discovered and researched by Madhu at
http://www.egglesscooking.com

https://www.namastefoods.com/shopping/storefront/cgi-bin/news.cgi?Category=Frequently%20Asked%20Questions

Can a powdered egg substitute be used in place of eggs?

Namaste Foods products are formulated to be used with eggs. However, we have many customers who use a powdered egg substitute with success though some amount of experimenting may be necessary.

Our customers have found that, in general, adding the dry egg replacer directly to the dry mix without reconstituting, then following the package instructions works best. Some have also reported good results when increasing the amount of powdered egg replacer called for on package directions.

1 TBLS flax seeds plus 3 TBLS water replaces one egg. Finely grind 1 TBLS whole flaxseeds in a blender or coffee grinder, or use 2 1/2 TBLS pre-ground flaxseeds. Transfer to a bowl and beat in 3 TBLS water using a whisk or fork. It will become very gooey and gelatinous, much like an egg white.

Egg Substitute using Small Planet Organic Tofu
Attention: Tofu contains soy!!
Replace each egg with 1/4 Lb of Small Planet Organic Fresh Original Firm Tofu. Combine tofu, crumbled into a food processor, with the oil and water called for in the recipe, and puree in food processor until smooth, then add to mix.
www.smallplanettofu.com

Other suggestions from a customer:
For each egg, substitute one of the following in your recipe.

1 tsp baking powder + 1 TB water + 1 TB vinegar
1 tsp yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water
1 TBLS apricot, prune or apple puree
1 1/2 TBLS water + 1 1/2 TBLE oil + 1 tsp baking powder
1 packet gelatin + 2 TBLS warm water (don't mix until ready to use)

Namaste Foods, LLC
P.O. Box 3133, Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816
(208) 772-6325 or 1-866-258-9493 E-mail: admin@namastefoods.com

Chinese vegetable soup

2008-12-15T19:24:00.003-06:00

I found this at ndtv.com under the link "Recipes".
Real simple stuff.

Ingredients:

1 cup mixed vegetables-chopped fine
4 cups of stock
1 tsp salt 1 tsp
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp tomato puree
1/4 tsp powdered black pepper
2 tsp corn flour mixed with 1/4 cup water

Method: Bring the stock to a boil.

Add to it the rest of the ingredients except the corn flour solution and bring to a boil and then simmer till vegetables are bite-like.

Add the corn flour solution, simmer for a minute, serve.

Madhu's Baked Indian Tofu

2008-11-25T19:01:00.004-06:00

http://www.egglesscooking.com/2008/09/17/baked-tofu-indian/

This turned out super yummy.

Here're some minor changes I made, to her recipe.

-I used juice of an entire green lime
-I halved the amount of oil to 1.5 TBS (instead of 3)
-I didn't have a gallon ziploc bag and used a half gallon one
-I didn't have extra firm tofu on hand, and used firm, instead (this I was a little concerned about, but the concern was unnecessary!)

I baked it for 25 minutes. The marinade, prior to putting th tofu into it, was AMAZING itself. I plan to make it as a dressing the next time I am looking for a desi dressing.

This could be a really good appetizer, or addition to a salad. AFter-school snack too.

Tomato soup inspired by vahrevah.com

2008-11-18T17:14:00.004-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKm5Ji1Fr4U

I was inspired by this chap, and made a few changes to the above, for an AWESOME recipe.

Ingredients:
15oz can pumpkin puree
1/2 red onion chopped
2 big tomatoes chopped
1/2 cup celery chopped
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp grated garlic (2 cloves)
1/2 tsp jeera (cumin)
1/2 tsp ajjwain (nigella seeds??)
1 cup skim milk
2 slices toasted whole wheat bread de-crusted
1/4 tsp ghee/butter
1/4 bell pepper (green/red)

The recipe's easy. Oil in the pan, throw in the seeds, add all the veggies (onion first - saute until browned), saute the rest of the veggies for 5 mins, add pumpkin puree, milk and mix well and wait until it comes to a gentle boil. Turn off and puree. For the kiddo, I made the croutons by shallow frying the squares of bread with a litte ghee (or olive oil) added to both sides. Cut into squares after frying it. My 7 year old did this task with great relish. Serve with salt and pepper.

Channa masala / chhole

2008-11-09T12:38:00.014-06:00

I made the most amazing chhole today.

Ingredients :
2 cans low sodium garbanzo beans (wash and drain off liquid)
1 large red onion, coarsely chopped (blend, or puree - whatever the right term is)
2 roma tomatoes, ground to paste (I mean, blended)
2 TABLESPOONS everest chchole masala (this makes ALL the difference)
2 teaspoons any brans dhania (corriander) powder
2 teaspoons everest brand chat masala
2 teaspoons everest kasuri methi (these are dried leaves of fenugreek)
1 tablespoon canola oil
3 inches of fresh ginger about 1/2 inch diameter, grated (after the skin is peeled off)
1tsp turmeric powder
2-3 cups water
salt to taste

Notes:
In all North Indian dishes that use onion, I use red onion. I grind the raw onion to paste before I cook with it. Seems to make a ton of difference.

Method:
Start off with the oil in a hot pan. Throw in grated ginger (Keith, you'd throw in above mentioned preservative-laden paste), and paste of the raw onion. Then saute for atleast 5 minutes until the onion paste turns brown. Add all the masala powders listed and salt. Saute 5 minutes. Remember that the garbanzo beans from the can come salted. (Ideally ofcourse, you'd soak the garbanzo beans overnight and pressure cook in the morning for atleast 4 whistles - it does taste better than beans from a can).

Saute for a while until it tastes perfect, add the water to bring it to a desired consistency, and you're done.

Mac and cheese, with greens

2008-11-08T23:35:00.003-06:00

Pretty healthy, for the kiddos. Credit: http://www.angelvalleyfarms.com
This farm has a market that sells organic veggies in NW Austin every Wednesday, and they seem to have amazing vegetarian recipes at their site.

Ingredients:
Not quite 3 cups 100% whole wheat elbow macaroni

Up to 1/2-lb. sharp cheddar cheese (although I don't use that much), grated

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup white flour

2 cups milk

1 bunch greens, chopped

salt & pepper, to taste

Method:
Sauté the greens in a little olive oil until wilted, add a splash of lemon juice, and set aside. Cook macaroni until al dente, and drain. Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat, blend in the flour, stir in the milk, turn up the heat a bit and bring to a boil while stirring constantly until it starts to thicken, then add the cheese until melted. Stir into the cooked macaroni and add salt & pepper. In a buttered casserole dish, pour in half the macaroni & cheese, spread the cooked greens on top, then pour in the rest of the macaroni on top of that. Sprinkle with some parmesan and bake in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes or so, until golden.

Thanksgiving with a desi twist

2008-11-08T10:59:00.006-06:00

Thanksgiving's coming, and we have family visiting, much to my delight. I'd like to plan Thanksgiving dinner (which's actually lunch) and get ready for it soon. The goals:

-Use the traditional ingredients, only the vegetarian ones ofcourse. This means, corn, green beans, cranberries, pumpkin, mashed potatoes, yams, etc.
-Make traditional American things but with a desi twist.
-Everything has to be healthy.

My friend Denise sent me this:
excerpts-

http://www.avalonwine.com/East-Indian-Thanksgiving-Recipes.php

>well, they make a vegetarian turkey. i think it's called "tofurkey". they sell it >at whole foods. you have to have mashed potatoes. also cornbread, stuffing, and >candied yams.those are the main things. then people typically add their own ethnic >foods. in flo's family they did all the traditional dishes plus a bunch of >filipino dishes. i've had mexican friends that add refried beans to their meal. >in my family we'd always have lefse (norwegian potato tortilla thing), knackebrod
>(graham flour flatbread), and a wild rice casserole.this has some tasty recipes. http://www.indiacurrents.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=386628b7fa06cbb98358c7f693fd65ee
>what do your indian friends typically make? the challenge with a vegetarian >thanksgiving is the turkey and gravy. but indians seem to have an ability to make >anything vegetarian delicious.i can't wait to find out what you come up with! i >was just thinking about what we did last year. we did the turkey (typical) with >stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans or some other veggie (can't >remember), corn bread, candied yams, and pumpkin pie. it was delicious!

>--Denise

My friend Keith sent me this:

excerpt-
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/vegetarian-gumbo-recipe.html

>> we never have green beans or corn. we usually have gumbo,
>> turkey, potato
>> salad, stuffing, and sweet potato pie. i guess it would be
>> possible to
>> make a vegetarian gumbo, but i'm not sure how good it
>> would be.

Some raw data there to sift through.

We're back!!! And cooking.

2008-08-18T23:43:00.004-05:00

So, we are back from a gloriously satisfying vacation. We were determined to have fun in the face of significant odds. And we did it!! Three weeks of visiting remote mountains with no internet connection possible, national parks, sand dunes, little coastal towns, wonderfully smothering relatives - and we're back and in one piece (I mean, 3 pieces). Photos and stuff, later. The big discovery was, a recommendation from Chandra aunty (local wonderful person and amazingly supportive friend) : an electric skillet made of surgical steel available at $77 (when the original price was $359). We cooked a fair amount, but my proudest moment was coming home tired and discovering I had actually remembered to freeze 3 meals for all of us in the freezer at home before we left!!! I'd frozen whole wheat tortillas, a daal, a sambhar, and dosa batter. It was divine. Also, I'd left the house in spotless condition.

--Deepa

7 simple healthy dietary changes

2008-07-20T10:57:00.008-05:00

We have made several small changes for long term health, primarily inspired by getting pregnant before A was born, and wanting the best for the kiddo, and all.

It's amazing how low our awareness was prior to that.

1. Increase water intake. My goal is supposed to be 10-12 cups a day (my husband drinks about 20 - he's disciplined). It's based on your height and weight. I am 5 foot 3, my husband 6 foot 1. My theory is to drink a cup when I think about this goal!! I don't think I do more than 6 a day, unfortunately!! But hey, it's better than 5 a day!

2. I always find it easier to ADD rather than subtract things from my diet. We added omega3 fats to our diet, in the form of walnuts, and flax seed oil and soy milk. I don't give my son soy, as it has phyto-estrogens that MIGHT be bad for kids, specially boys. A TBS flax seed oil (Barleans' organic) for my son daily, and my husband does flax seeds in his daily smoothie (2 TBS after grinding). Note that flax seed loses the fatty chains if heated.

3. That brings me to the important point about refrigerating oils used daily. Oils get rancid if they lie around exposed to heat or even light. They start to oxidize. They're best put away in the frig. My olive oil SOLIDIFIES in the frig. But kept outside for 2 minutes, melts, fast enough. Also, you're supposed to benefit from storing oils in an opaque container (but we're not there yet). We store our canola and sesame and olive oils in the frig always. A related point, is to not heat oil to the point that smoke comes out of it, for "tadka", sauteeing, frying, etc. If it's smoking, then smoke point has been reached. That implies that it's starting to form free radicals. Free radicals have been linked to all the major diseases, as they cause inflammation.

4. Talking of anti-inflammatory foods - a typical Indian meal has many anti-inflammatory ingredients. Ginger, Garlic, and turmeric, for instance. I'd love to learn more about what the other good ones are. These are excellent to include as much as possible.

5. Iron intake is really hard for vegetarians. We're not going to get enough. LEntils, beans, green leafy veggies have them. But you want to have it with vitamin C rich foods, and away by 2 hours (before and after) from Calcium rich foods. It's really hard to implement all this. However, raisins and dates are easy additions to diets. Also, cooking in a well maintained cast iron pot. Getting iron from tablets is not at all ideal, as if it's not absorbed, the excess is stored in our livers permanently (as a toxin). And to some people, iron tablets are constipating.

6. We've thrown away our non-stick and our aluminium pans and pots, in light of all the evidence against them. We tried using non-stick pans and maintaining them well so they wouldn't scratch, but even then, the worry about teflon in general bothered us. There's no final evidence against these things, but I believe there will be. Teflon is now considered a "possible" (or suspected) carcinogen by the FDA. GOod enouygh evidence for me! Regarding Aluminum, they found plenty of it in patients' brains, when they examined bodies. These were Alzheimers patients. They don't know if these people RETAIN more Aluminum in their brains compared to other people, or if the aluminum in their brains was the cause of the disease. Again, it's easy enough for me to replace Aluminum, although it's a mighty fine conductor of heat!!

7. Which oil, what purpose?? We've switched to ONLY sesame or canola for Indian cooking (as these oils have a high smoke point) and olive oil for drizzling in salads. We do not cook with any oils except sesame and canola. We plan to do grapeseed, as it has only 1 g saturated fat, but it doesn't have enough of the good fats.

The following is not easy to do, and shouldn't be on this "simple changes" list! But it's so important, specially for young kids, to attract whom, many packaged foods for them are bright in color.

We try really hard to avoid artificial colors and flavors and preservatives. A good way is to simply shop at whole foods market (or other organic/health food stores). Indian store stuff has TONS of coloring matter and preservatives and artificial flavors in kids' candies, and particularly in all the pastes and sauces and pickles. The word "sodium benzoate" scares me! but it's in almost all packaged/bottled Indian store goods. This's why we keep away from garlic-ginger paste and other such conveniences...And, we buy candy at whole foods, and the baked things I have not made, we buy at Mr.Naturals. My husband used to do a lot of the baking around here, but I've taken over now. I used to be afraid to bake, but am learning a lot - and it's really easy! I substitute whole wheat flour, in place of 50% (or even more) of the maida. I use only jaggery. And I use oil/bananas etc in place of butter. Butter is still far healthier than margarine (that has trans fats). If you can control your portion sizes, I mean, how much of the final baked product you eat, it's just fine to add anything into it. But my son and I overeat the things that're yummy, specially sweets...

Those of you in India have a huge edge, with kids rarely eating coloring matter. But maybe things are changing now...

The avoidable 5 (ingredients)

2008-07-19T13:56:00.012-05:00

If you grew up in India or England, you probably read a lot of Enid Blyton! The Famous FIve, The Five Find-Outers...I didn't pick a magic number, but found all this information online, and it turned out to be 5 ingredients! I was writing/gathering this data for a friend. A friend, who, like me, needs real science (or atleast significant empirical data) to feel compelled to follow something. Plus, I put this together for my kiddo, who, much like me, will not follow a rule unless he knows why.

Eating healthy can become a habit. My husband's great at it, and I have high standards for my kiddo. And for myself, I am getting there.

In general, each ingredient should be a whole food that isn’t processed. That said it can still be a bit daunting.

Below, I’ve listed five typical ingredients that you should avoid at all costs. And if they are listed first, second or third on the ingredient list of a packaged product, you definitely want to take a pass and opt for something else.

1. Sugar: Refined sugars should be avoided for several reasons:
* They raise your insulin levels and as a result, can depress the immune system, weakening your ability to fight disease.
* Further, they cause weight gain and promote storage of fat.
* The sudden rise (and consequent plummet) in sugar levels in blood could, over time, increase risk for diabetes.
* Lastly, refined sugars provide you with no vitamins or minerals, so in order for them to be metabolized, they draw on the body’s reserves of vitamins and minerals, depleting your body’s nutrients.

Solution: Look for foods that are naturally sweetened (fruit or honey). If you must have sugar, opt for pure cane sugar that has not been refined. That's sold as Sucanat and is called jaggery/vellam/gudd in India.

The general goal is to understand what glycemic index means, and to try and eat foods low in glycemix index.

The information is fairly easy to find. But as a general rule, certain things that're "white" (white rice, white sugar, white flours i.e. maida, and white bread) are really important to make RARELY consumed foods). We've successfully replaced white rice with brown basmati rice (sugam brand) int he past 7 eyars. We love the taste of this brown rice now. White rice still feels great to eat on rare occasions (but I don't miss it anymore, amazingly!!). Idli/dosas are still an issue to be solved! My son and I have that 2-3 days a month...We've also added on other fun grains - cracked wheat, oat bran, quinoa, wild rice, himalayan rice, bulgur wheat, etc. For rotis, we buy the 100% whole wheat tortilla made by Margarita's, at the whole foods market. We freeze and toast when needed. 100% whole wheat spaghetti and pastas of various brands, are easily available everywhere now. These, are a bit unpalatable unless you really hide the wheatiness using tomato paste, masalas etc! For bread, we buy various multi-whole-grain high fiber breads.

2. Bleached White Flour: Unbleached flour is a somewhat acceptable ingredient. However, if the product has bleached flour, stay away. The bleaching process takes a lot of the nutrients and fiber out of the flour. As a result, the product ends up having mostly empty calories, providing little to no nutritional value to your diet. As soon as bleached flour hits the blood, it turns into sugar (with all the side effects resulting from consuming white refined sugar).

Solution: If choosing a wheat or grain based product, consume those that have 100% whole grains.

3. Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil / Hydrogenated Soybean Oil: Hydrogenated soybean oils are created because they have a higher melting point, which makes them attractive for baking and extends their shelf-life. Unfortunately, they aren’t attractive to you or your waist-line. These fats can cause coronary disease and may be linked to cancer. The gig is up with the partially hydrogenated ingredients!

Solution: Don’t consume products with these ingredients. Opt for those that have monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats instead.

4. High Fructose Corn Syrup: In short, high-fructose corn syrup is an unnatural product that is a very, very sweet, highly processed and refined cornstarch. This manufactured substance is sweeter than and digested differently than sugar.
* The body processes it directly through the liver and is then stored as fat.
* Further, there is once again, no nutritional value, giving you only empty calories to digest.
* Lastly, this sweetener may be linked to several diseases including type 2 Diabetes.

Solution: Opt for only natural sweeteners, foods that are naturally sweet (fruit or honey) or natural herbs, such as stevia. My choice is Sucanat.

5. Aspartame/Saccharin/Sucralose/Phenylalkaline: Any artificial sweetener is bad for you. They are unnatural and are processed derivatives of food and/or chemicals that aren’t natural for us to digest. They can cause havoc on your metabolism and your energy levels. Further, there is strong evidence that these are toxic and may cause cancer, as well as other diseases.

Solution: Opt for only natural sweeteners or stevia, a natural sweet herb. My choice is sucanat (vellam cleaned, powdered and sold in packages).

Notice, these five ingredients are all either fat or sugar related. In general, the more you can avoid bad fats and refines sugars, the better off you are. When possible, always look for natural and whole foods. If a food is packaged, there is a good chance that there might be unwanted added preservatives or ingredients that you want to avoid. Ingredients are labelled in misleading ways sometimes, and "whole wheat flour" is not as good as "100% whole wheat flour".

An example of a highly misleading product advertisement that's fooled generations, is this drink called Horlicks, that's extreemely popular. It's loaded with all sorts of unhealthy junk, and is unsuitable for everyone, particularly someone who is sick. Yet, it's hugely marketed to the sick.

Shopping at whole foods, is an easy way to avoid artificial colors and flavors and preservatives used in foods like milk, ketchup etc, as well. They just don't sell anything with those things, in the entire store. Milk is a whole entire other article (antibiotics fed pro-phylactically (i.e. preventively!!) to cows makes it to non-organic milk! Anyone who has nursed, knows that medicines you take go into milk. It's no different with cows' milk. Cows are also injected with a milk producing hormone, RBST, all over the world now. So, unless you buy organic milk, you're consuming this as well.

Oriya cuisine : dalma

2008-07-16T20:52:00.006-05:00

I found the dalma recipe online, at Maansi's cookatheart blog.

Here it is:

Ingredients: (the measures are good for 2 people)
1/4 cup Channa daal

1/4 cup Moong daal (lightly roast the daal)

Vegetables (this dish is perfect to make use of all vegetables u have!) I used 2 cups of mixed veges : Cauliflower, potato, French beans, carrots and peas.

1/2 medium Onion finely chopped

2 tbsp. oil

1 bay leaf

1 tsp Cumin/ jeera

1/2 tsp Panch Phoron (see below)

5 whole Dry red chilies

1/2 tsp grated Ginger

Salt to taste

Do the prep: Dry roast 1 tsp cumin and 3 red chilies. Cool and grid to a powder, this will be used for garnishing

Soak Channa Daal in water for 30 minutes. Dry roast the yellow moong daal.

Boil the Channa daal and Moong daal . When the daal is nearly cooked, pitch in the chopped vegetables and cook till done.

While the daal and vegetables are cooking merrily, heat oil in a wok/ kadhai.

Add Panch Phoron, tejpatta/ bay leaf.

After the PP pops, add the red chilli, ginger and then the finely chopped onion.

Saute till the onion turns translucent.

Add the daal and vegetable mixture. Add salt and cook this for a few mins. Add the cumin-red chilli powder. Dalma is ready!!

Serve with rice or roti.

This is from the wiki on panch puran:

> Panch Puran (also called Panch Phoran, Panch Phoron, or
> Bengali Five-Spice Mix) is a spice mixture used in Indian
> cuisine. It is made of equal parts of five spices:
>
> * fenugreek seed (methi)
> * nigella seed (kalo jira/carraway seed/ajjwain)
> * mustard seed (rai or shorshe)
> * fennel seed (mouri/saunf)
> * cumin seed (jeera)
>

Massive cookathon

2008-07-03T19:21:00.006-05:00

These are the things I made today, in a span of 3 hours, in order to finish off (almost) everything in the frig. A chose the music (SHankar Mahadevan's Breathless, and I'd forgotten how well he sang), and Raffi's children's songs. I chopped up an entire watermelon, which he devoured, while he read "Number Devil" and lazily sat around just reading it for 3 hours...

I had, 4 carrots, 3 cups cherry tomatoes, 4 large green zucchini, several onions, 10 cups spinach (organic baby spinach leaves in a large container), 4 avocado, 3 cucumber, 4 beautiful light purple eggplant, 1/2 cup cooked toor dal, a few lemons, garlic ginger.

Here's what I made:

sliced avocado (salted and lemon juiced it) - I almost made avocado soup but my husband said he could only have aa third of an avocado at night as it was too high in fat (albeit the healthy kind).

spinach kadi (sort of a punjabi style)
(from chefatwork)

spinach chandra-aunty recipe
(from May, right here)

carrot soup
(from http://foodntaste.blogspot.com/2008/05/carrot-tomato-soup.html)

zucchini tuvayal
(from May, right here)

tomato rasam

eggplant subzi ("kari") - tamilian style

grated cucumber with nothing added

raw white onion with lemon juice, salt, chilli powder (marinated 2 hours)

It was incredibly yummy.

Beet Salad

2008-07-03T17:32:00.001-05:00

BEET SALAD
Peel beets and grate them (a food processor will keep the juice contained). Add pistachios, dress with orange zest and orange juice, and olive oil. Add bits of goat cheese and chopped parsley.

Mango Karaichal - no stove

2008-07-01T23:55:00.002-05:00

This's from my mom:

I heard this broadcast over the radio.
Mango karaichal. [no cooking over stove]
tamarind paste 1/2 teasp mixed in 1/2 cup water
ripe mango pieces 1/2 cup
green chilly 1 chopped
sounf 1 teasp
cumin 1 teasp
salt to taste
sugar 1 teasp
water 1 cup
tomato chopped 1
mix everything together and blend with fingers. Eat with phulka.

Snack for a long car trip - chevdo

2008-07-01T17:52:00.007-05:00

We're headed to the Davis Mountains, to Fort Davis, to do some star gazing.. One concern is the prediction of thunderstorms all through July, but this is the month we're closest to the milky way, which's also at its brightest. The place we're headed to is called McDonald's Observatory - home to some of the world's most powerful telescopes. It's a 10 hour drive, and we'll need healthy snacks besides the Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal we're sure to much on!

Credit for the original version of the recipe below, goes to www.archanaskitchen.com.
I have made it healthier.

I have done a copy-paste and then edit, of Archana's recipe. The original is at www.archanaskitchen.com. Search for chevdo.

Ingredients

* 3 cups thin flattened rice/poha
* ¼ cup dahlia/roasted channa dal
* ¼ cup roasted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds
* ¼ cup roasted halfed cashewnut
* ¼ cup raisins roasted in sesame oil
(make sure it does not become stiff and hard)
* 10 curry leaves
* 3 chopped green chillies (optional)
* 1½ tablespoon sugar
* ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
* ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder
* 2 tablespoons of oil
* Salt to taste

Method

Heat frying pan to medium heat and roast the flattened rice a little at a time until crisp. Don’t allow it to turn brown

Transfer contents to a wide mouth mixing bowl

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan; add green chillies, curry leaves, turmeric powder, garam masala powder, sugar and salt to taste

Add roasted seeds, cashewnuts , dahlia and raisins to the above mixture.

Turn off heat.

Add the above roasted nut mixture to the roasted flattened rice and mix well.

Chevdo is ready.

According to my 7 year old, the third most fun part of any trip is the packing. The 2nd most fun part is the driving long-distance, and the most fun part is finally seeing what the hotel looks like :).

Oriental Bhel (with some "sun mere bandhu reeeaaayyyy..."!!!)

2008-06-27T21:17:00.011-05:00

S.D.Burman ROCKS!! What a genius. I listened to S.D, discussing the S.D effect, and that there used to be black and white movies, as I made this 10 minute Oriental Bhel with my 7 year old...

Crispy Bhel:
Baked Lays (baked Potato Chips made by "Lays") (It's potato, but atleast it ain't fried)

Sauce:
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1 tsp vinegar
1.5 tsp soy sauce
1 stalk of celery chopped into tiny pieces

Bhel:
1 tsp oil
1 clove garlic (grated)
1 small white onion (chopped) - to make about 1/4 cup
1 stalk of celery chopped (not too small)
1 small bell pepper (any color) cut into long thin strips
1/4 cup leaves of lettuce chopped randomly
1/4 cup grated carrots
1/4 cup cabbage
1/4 cup sprouted beans (the sort you see in chinese and thai food)
(actually this is called bean sprouts, legally speaking)

1. Saute the ingredients under "Bhel" together, no more than 1 minute, and keep aside. You want it not to get soft. Add sat and pepper to taste.
2. Boil together the ingredients under "Sauce", stirring occasionally.
3. On a plate, arrange the crip baked lays (potato chips), and spread the bhel on it and pour the sauce over it.

Credit for this recipe goes to Tarla Dalal's book.

Sesame toffee

2008-06-24T19:03:00.013-05:00

This is, to the best of my knowledge, a South Indian snack, hugely popular with kids, that exists in similar forms in other regions of India (such as the Lonavala Chikki)

Makes : 20-25 pieces of candy.

4 cups (1 lb) white sesame seeds
1/2 cup water
1.5 cups powdered jaggery (in the U.S, an alternative is "Sucanat" - the least processed form of sugarcane juice). This is not unhealthy, unlike processed white sugar.
1/2 a coconut cut into very small pieces (this's more interesting to eat than grated coconut, which's easily available frozen)

In a heavy saucepan, dry roast sesame seeds, until light brown. Set aside. Prepare syrup, by adding water to a heavy saucepan, adding the powdered jaggery and bringing the mixture to a homogenous boil. Add the chopped coconut pieces when the mixtures is boiling. Turn to low heat until the syrup becomes thick and sticky. Add the roasted seeds and mix thoroughly. Turn off the heat. Wet your fingers and palms and shape the mixture into small balls with your fingers. Store in an airtight container.

I made it with my kid today, and it was a very messy scene... I have refrigerated it, although that's probably not necessary. The sugar here is a healthy kind, although you could get too much of it.

I remember making this with my grandma as a kid, and those are really sweet memories. I will be sure to make this on July 25th, her birthday. She'd have turned 89 this year.

Whole Grain pizza with a desi twist

2008-06-23T12:05:00.004-05:00

http://www.abcdlady.com/2008-06/art9.php

I was excited to find this recipe. I vegetarianized it, subbing tofu for the chicken. Credit for this recipe goes to Priya Sastry, who writes for www.ABCDlady.com. She said she liked to cook healthy, and use a lot of shortcuts. Sounds very much like me - I'll be visiting her magazine often.

Steamed broccoli with lemon zest and garlic salt.

2008-06-21T14:13:00.005-05:00

I've finally found a way to make steamed broccoli taste halfway decent. Chop up into pieces, about 2 cups worth broccoli, so each piece looks like a little tree. Put into a thing with holes (thing 1). Boil water in thing 2. Thing 1 and Thing 2 ought to have the same diameter. AFter water reaches boiling point, place thing 1 on top of thing 2 and cover with lid, for no more than 2 minutes.

Take off stove, and sprinkle garlic salt. Lemon pepper was the thought, but we didn't have any. So we added black pepper and grated some lemon rind.

Watermelon Sorbet (dessert)

2008-06-20T18:06:00.007-05:00

My 7-year old's creativity has been exploding in all sorts of directions this Summer, more than ever before. He came up with this recipe for a watermelon dessert, ALL by himself. We made kulfi a few days ago, and possibly inspired by that, he suddenly said, "Why don't we freeze fruit and beat it into a sorbet?" We chopped up a lot of watermelon yesterday, and he decided to freeze it. Today, we took it out and it looked like this:

The juice inside the fruit had crstallised, and there were ice crystals on top too. He wanted to mixie it, and we did. He decided to add orange juice (store bought) and lemon juice (organic fresh squeezed lemon juice is amazing). We added about 1/2 a cup lemon juice, and 1/2 cup orange juice, to 3 cups frozen watermelon chunks. We added some basil leaves (from his "herb garden" - which basically amounts to 3 potted herbs in the dining room, that he keeps alive). And mixie-d it all together in our "National" blender that's really outlasted its expected lifetime. The result was this AMAZING dessert:

A's new idea is to try this with blueberries tomorrow. WHAT a great idea!!! To squeeze lemons, he used a lemon squeezer (the painted metallic thing which presses out the juice). I did the actual blending.

Cucumber cream cheese sandwiches

2008-06-20T17:01:00.005-05:00

From oprah.com. I'd use the very yummy fat-free Philadelphia cream cheese. Perfect picnic food.

INGREDIENTS

* 1 whole wheat loaf of bread, cut into 1/4-inch slices
* 2 pounds Philadelphia fat-free cream cheese at room temperature
* 1 English cucumber, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch dice
* Mint leaves from 8 stems, cut in strips
* Kosher salt and black pepper

Fold cucumber and mint into cream cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

Build sandwiches by spreading a 1/8-inch layer of mix between bread slices. Remove crusts, then cut into quarters and serve.

Moroccan vegetable stew with whole wheat couscous

2008-06-20T16:59:00.005-05:00

I found this at oprah.com, under Moroccan dishes. Whole Wheat couscous is what we have lying around in the pantry. And since we had all the rest of this as well, this was a good find for tonight's dinner.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 red skinned potatoes, unpeeled, cut into small chunks
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into small pieces
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rings
1 can (15 ounces) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup golden or brown raisins
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chopped or diced tomatoes in juice
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups couscous
1 1/3 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

In a large Dutch oven or high-sided skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add potatoes, squash, onions, and carrots. Stir frequently for about 10 minutes until onions are golden brown. Add beans, raisins, tomatoes, cumin, cinnamon, salt, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil; reduce to simmer and continue cooking for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender when pierced with fork.

Meanwhile prepare couscous as directed on package, using broth instead of water.

Stir cilantro into stew and adjust seasoning with salt if desired. Serve with couscous.

Avocado soup

2008-06-16T18:31:00.008-05:00

http://eating.health.com/2008/05/08/avocado-soup/#more-382

I found this link through an ad at Mallika's http://www.quickindiancooking.com blog.

Instead of the whole milk in the recipe here, I'd use evaporated milk (fatfree and creates a wonderful consistency for your soup!!). Alternatvely, use skim milk and some corn starch for thickening.

I copy paste the link here:

This recipe makes a flavorful, smooth-textured soup; serve with toasted 100% whole wheat bread.

Makes 4 servings
Prep: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
2 ripe peeled avocados
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 (4-ounce) can or jar chopped green chiles
1/2 cup whole milk (healthier alternative: replace with canned fatfree EVAPORATED MILK, or, skim milk plus a little corn starch (1 tsp) thrown in to thicken)
1 tablespoon lime juice
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Fresh cilantro and/or crushed tortilla chips for garnish

I am a bit concerned there's lime juice and milk going together here. We'll see how that goes.

Instructions:
1. Cut the avocados in half, and remove the pits.

2. Spoon avocado into a blender, add the remaining ingredients (except garnish), and puree until creamy. Chill the soup for up to 2 hours before serving, or serve immediately. Cover leftovers with plastic wrap, refrigerate, and use within 2 days. (serving size: 1 cup)

Nutrition:
CALORIES 194; FAT 16g (sat 3g,mono 10g,poly 2g); PROTEIN 3g; CHOLESTEROL 3mg; CALCIUM 58mg; SODIUM 396mg; FIBER 7g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 14g

(This recipe, credit Mallika of quickindiancooking, and eating.health.com)

Radha's dahi vada

2008-06-14T00:56:00.002-05:00

My friend Radha made this dahi vada, and I am waiting for her to send me the official recipe. It's fried, Arundhati, I am sorry!! I ate one and it was amazing. The kids gobbled up all the rest.

A super-fast healthy Indian dinner

2008-06-11T15:10:00.004-05:00

This was the quickest meal I have made in a long time. I started up the rice cooker with sugam brown basmati rice.

We had in the frig:
-tons of pre-washed baby spinach (that I washed again once)
-pressure cooked toor dal (yellow lentils)
-1 chopped onion
-grated ginger
-organic lemons

I had forgotten how yummy freshly squeezed organic lemon juice could be.

With the spinach, I made a raita:
1 tsp sesame oil, on the stove and do a "tadka" with a tsp of jeera (cumin), add some "heeng" (asaefotida). Add the grated ginger (about 1 tsp). Add the spinach leaves before the ginger can turn brown. Saute for a minute. Turn the gas off. Add rock salt (not regular salt), for a twist. Add fat-free plain yoghurt to it when it's cooled off a bit. This is courtesy our friends from our old neighborhood, S and S, who make this often.

Dal:
After this, I sauteed the chopped onion in a tsp of sesame oil. Added the cooked yellow toor dal. Added 2 cups of water, and some salt and turmeric. WHen it boiled, turned the gas off And added about 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice. And some chopped cilantro on top.

This was amazing with brown rice.

Tofu scramble, encyclopedia

2008-06-09T15:39:00.011-05:00

Tofu Scramble
Recipe courtesy of Tal Ronnen (www.oprah.com)
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

* 2–3 Tbsp. oil
* 1 sweet onion, cut into chunks
* 5 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
* 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
* 1/2 tsp. chili powder
* 1/2 yellow or green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
* 1 cup sliced mushrooms
* 4 tomatoes, chopped
* 1 pound firm tofu, drained well and cut into bite-size pieces
* Tamari to taste
* Freshly ground pepper to taste
* Fresh snipped chives to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet and sauté the onion for 5 minutes, until softened.

Add the garlic, nutritional yeast and spices, stir and cook for 1 minute. Add the pepper and mushrooms, stir-frying until tender and crisp.

Add the tomatoes and slices of tofu. Gently stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle with the tamari sauce and season with fresh pepper and chives.

A roti made from leftovers

2008-06-06T11:30:00.010-05:00

-aata (which's often not 100% whole wheat, but sometimes is close to that)
-sambhar/daal/any thing liquid and spicy with a lentil in it
-salt to taste
-a little oil

This's my mom's invention, and we used to make it fairly often. Mix the above together to a consistency that lets you make balls and roll out rotis with it. Put on the stove, on a cast iron stone used for making rotis/paranthas, and cook for a few minutes on both sides. Use oil if needed, to make sure it doesn't burn.

The Pam cooking spray we used to use for this, I don't like anymore (it has wierd chemicals). Even the organic one has nitrous oxide. I think I'd like to find something that'd turn oil into a spray without using expeller chemicals. I mean, a mechanical solution. We found one at Pampered CHef, but it didn't work well at all and was hard to clean. I guess I could use a pastry brush, to brush oil on both sides - so I don't end up using too much oil.

I'd say this cooks 3 minutes on both sides. The wheat tastes raw if it's not well done. Enjoy with pickle and yoghurt!

Hey, Arundhati, would this be a quick breakfast solution as well? I know Punjabis eat paranthas for breakfast!

Oh, and I just thought of something. You could probably use "besan" (ground chik peas flous) instead of wheat flour, as well.

Hummus (a healthy sandwich spread)

2008-06-04T18:13:00.003-05:00

I found this on oprah.com/foodhome...
We usually buy hummus at central market westgate.

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
15 ounces of garbanzo beans (1 can drained and rinsed)
1/2 cup tahini
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch red pepper flakes

In a medium bowl, use a fork to mash 15 ounces garbanzo beans (one can drained and rinsed), 1/2 cup tahini, 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 pinch red pepper flakes until a coarse puree forms. Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle with another 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Kitchen layout, and cooking with children

2008-06-03T22:18:00.013-05:00

http://www2.oprah.com/relationships/
webmd/200712/relationships_parenting_cooking_b1.jhtm

Wonderful wonderful article.

The way homes are constructed in America the past 15 years or so - open plan, kitchen in perfect location for communication between family room and kitchen and breakfast table to be enabled, is a sort of feminist victory, I think. Compare kitchens in India with these. The ones in India are closed, and the mom is usually isolated here with the maid (if she's lucky enough to have one). Makes communication really hard within the family, at a time that it's most feasible (no school, no work). I think it says something about the status of the woman in the family, because she's most likely the one doing all the kitchen work. AN open layout encourages the family to cook together.

Cooking with kids is so much fun. It takes a lot of patience, because there's greater mess, more cleanup later. But if you recognize the fact that there's deep learning and bonding going on through the whole experience of cooking with your kids, it seems like you're accomplishing much more than just a meal.

A1 sauce "secret" recipe

2008-06-03T14:41:00.008-05:00

What is A1 sauce?
It is a condiment for use with meat/game, as originally intended. We're vegetarians though, but love it on salads, specially potato salads - anything a little tart like that. This sauce, ofcourse, is vegetarian. I am going to try to explain the taste, to Tamilians reading this. It's a bit like "maavudu"'s water. And "maavudu" is the small-sized mango pickle thingy Tamilians are generally obsessed with during summertime (and in Tamilnadu, summertime is basically all year round).

My husband loves sauces and chutneys and pickles (pickle as defined in India, the substance that's full of salt and turmeric and other spices...). I am trying to expand my expertise in this area, and am starting with A1 sauce, for no particular reason...

A1 Sauce
1/2 Cup Orange Juice
1/2 Cup Raisins
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1/4 Cup White Vinegar
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp Bottled Grated Orange Peel
2 Tbsp Heinz Ketchup
2 Tbsp Heinz Chili Sauce
1. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes stirring.
2. Remove from heat. Allow to cool to lukewarm.
3. Put mixture in a blender till it is pureed. Pour in bottle.
4. Cap tightly and refrigerate to use within 90 days.

Cracked wheat uppuma, summer watermelon drinks and our day 2 and 3 of summer vacation

2008-06-02T14:34:00.007-05:00

Dinner's going to be cracked wheat uppuma:

1 teaspoon sesame oil
mustard seeds
10 curry leaves
1 pinch asafoetida
Grated ginger (1 inch)
1 tablespoon udad dal for seasoning
1 cup chopped onion.
Frozen peas - 1 cup
Grated carrot - 1 cup.
Cracked wheat, pressure cooked (1 cup wheat to 2 cups water).

Oil, mustard seeds. Saute all of the rest of the above (except cracked wheat) for a few seconds after the mustard seeds crackle, until the udad dal turns golden.

I don't do tomatoes for uppuma, but you could.

Add pressure cooked cracked wheat (2.5 cups when cooked) into this mixture.

Salt. Maybe chilli powder or even sambhar powder. And you're done.

This is super yummy and high in fiber.

Watermelon drinks for dinner:

Ingredients:

1 watermelon
10 fresh mint leave
fresh juice of 2 limes

1.) Begin by scooping out all of the watermelon from the watermelon. (Get the seeds out. --Deepa). Place the scooped watermelon into the blender along with the 10 fresh mint leaves.

2.) Blend the ingredients until they are liquified (1 min)

3.) I like to add fresh lime juice to the above.

I found this recipe online at http://www.mealsmatter.org/recipes-meals/recipe/22817

I have shortened it and added step 3.

Fruit Salad, "fabuleux " !!

2008-05-28T12:33:00.009-05:00

This turned out really well, much to my surprise. I wasn't expecting much, since honeydew is not a big favorite. I think it helped that the strawberries were truly sweet. If they'd been sour, it'd probably have been a flop.

1/2 honeydew melon (the green melon - one of the 14 superfoods, according to the book
http://www.amazon.com/SuperFoods-Rx-Fourteen-Foods-Change/dp/0060535679
)
cut in balls and drain juice. You could dice it instead, but I just needed an excuse to buy a melon baller with my bed bath and beyond 20% off coupon.

1 qt basket of strawberries (we found amazing ones at the farmer's market, which's really what prompted my search for a fruit salad involving strawberries and honeydew)

1 tbsp fresh mint (A has a little "herb garden" which he keeps alive - it contains a potted basil and potted spearmint plant)

1 tbsp orange water (it took a foodie to find this in Central Market - this's something pretty exotic, that's made from orange blossoms)

1 pint Bulgarian Yogurt (www.whitemountainfoods.com - the factory is in Austin, if you want to take your kids on a field trip).

Lemon flavor Agave Nectar (this is sold as a sweeter alternative to cane sugar, and is supposedly equal to cane sugar in calories per unit volume, but sweeter, so you use less volume for the same resulting sweetness, thereby consuming fewer calories in the process, assuming you want to!)

Zest of one lemon (bought an organic lemon for this purpose)

Combine melon, strawberry, mint, orange water in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine yogurt and agave nectar. Spoon the fruit into a dessert glass. Top with yogurt mixture. Garnish with lemon zest. Serve chilled.

It seems pretty important to use the right proportions of the ingredients here.

Credit for the recipe goes to the recipe card section of Central Market - an amazing place to browse.

Squash Tuvayal (sort of a chutney), yellow dal,

2008-05-28T11:16:00.013-05:00

This's a standard mix-in for hot rice. In a tuvayal, zucchini is a great sub for coconut. This's also a good accompaniment to idlis/dosas, and I've eaten this with idlis, at Raji's place. Since my friend Arundhati's made a peerkangai (ridgegourd) tuvayal today in New Delhi, I tried the same thing with zucchini (which I bought a ton of at the Farmer's Market this weekend).

Generalized Tuvayal:

Veggies that could be used:
chow chow (chayote squash), any type of zucchini (with skin), Parangikkai

Chopped veggie (with skin on) to make 1 cup
2 tsp channa daal
2 tsp udad daal
2-3 dried red chillies
4-5 pepper corns
1 tsp mango powder (amchur) or 1/2 tsp tamarind paste ½ tsp
1 pinch turmeric
2 shakes asaefotida
10 curry leaves

In 1/2 tsp oil, add all of the above (except the veggie). Fry.
Can add a small capsicum too (for color)
Saute the zucchini (not for too long).
Salt. NO WATER added. Blend (not too finely). Enjoy!

Pudina Tuvayal is another standrad chutney that's amazing:
Pudina (spearmint) leaves : 1 cup.
Same seasonings as above, in 1/2 tsp oil. NO WATER added. Saute leaves in turned off gas (else color will change in heat).

The zucchini chutney with brown rice, and moong daal, for tonight.

Moong daal:
Cook yellow moong lentils in pressure cooker (1 cup moong, 2 cup water, 2 pinches turmeric powder)
Add 1 cup water after taking this out of the cooker to waterify.

Seasoning (very basic):
1 tsp sesame oil, with
1 tsp jeera,
1 crushed dry bay leaf
1 inch ginger peeled and grated
2 shakes asafotida

Season the dal with the above, and squeeze juice of 1 lime in it after it's taken off the stove and cooled slight;y (the citric juice can cause some sort of disintegration in the substance it's added to, if the substance is too hot).

Chinese vegetables in Mon-pao sauce

2008-05-26T21:29:00.007-05:00

My husband cooked tonight, because there was a yummy pineapple that needed to be cut up and used today. He cut it, and decided to make something Chinese. This's what he told me his recipe was:

Sauce:
Some sesame oil
Add a few dried red chillies to the hot oil
Tons of garlic (to taste!)
Tons of ginger
Tons of tamarind paste
2 table spoons soy sauce
Taste and add salt if necessary (the soy sauce might have salt in it)
Saute for a while until the sauce looks good and ready.

Add (whatever we had in the frig that would pass for CHinese) - cabbage, zuchchini, peas, edamame. And the pineapple (which was the original inspiration for this).

Enjoy with brown rice.

We also had some leftover black eyed peas, grated carrots and fat free plain yoghurt.

Arnav enjoyed it so much he didn't ask for yoghurt to be mixed in with his food today. I named it Mon-pao sauce ;).

Amma, get me SOMEthing to eat...

2008-05-26T15:51:00.007-05:00

This's probably familiar to all the moms out there. "Amma, get me SOMEthing to eat...".

My "Ok, what sort of a thing do you feel like eating?" is usally followed by, "I don't know" (very sing-song). Then come my suggestions, "Something salty?", "Something sweet?" And I said finally, "Ok, I am going to make it a surprise. "

A has been coming up with and making salad dressings based on my basic guidelines for well over a year now. And he comes up with very interesting ideas. This time he said, "Just make sure it has grated tootsie rolls in it." I said he was welcome to come and grate it himself, and he did exactly that. He grated a tootsie roll chocolate candy, and wanted me to make something to sprnkle that on! We were out of icecream, which was my first idea. My second idea worked. It was bhel. I cracked up some baked tortilla chips we had hanging around, added some pori (puffed rice) to it, and some Indian store mixture of fried junk (a very small amount - for that little authentic kick), and dried sweetened cranberries, some date chutney I'd made (grind up seed less mejdool dates, add paste of tamarind (Laxmi brand seems best), salt and sugar and spices like chilli powder) and finally on top of that, the grated candy!! I couldn't resist chopping up some cilantro, and a roma tomato, and red onion (very small amount), and a small red potato microwaved for 3 minutes, and that was it!! Sorry I don't have a picture - it's just too much work. But it looked nice!! And he finished it all.

Next time, I think I'll add some "pottu kadalai" (split dalia (a dried bean)) or chopped walnuts for nutrition.

Ajjwaini vegetable subzi

2008-05-24T23:45:00.005-05:00

Just made this fabulous subzi for lunch. We ate this with roti.

Ajwaini Mixed Vegetable Subzi
by archanagk (from : www.archanaskichen.com)

Ajwain/ Carom seeds used in this mixed vegetable gives it a Mediterranean flavor

Serves: 4 persons

Cooking time: 30 minutes Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients : Ajwaini Mixed Vegetable Sabzi

* 1 cup carrots cut 1 inch long length wise
* 1 cup beans cut 1 inch long length wise
* 2 cups eggplant cut 1 inch long length wise
* 1 cup sliced onions
* 1 cup tomatoes cut 1 inch long length wise
* 1 teaspoon carom/ajwain seeds
* 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
* ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
* ¼ teaspoon chilli powder
* 1 tablespoon Vegetable/Sunflower oil
* Salt to taste

Method

Cook the carrots and beans. See Cooking Vegetables

Heat oil in a wok/frying pan; add ajwain seeds, onions and sauté until soft and tender.

Add the eggplant and sauté until cooked to tender.

Add turmeric powder, tomatoes, garam masala, chilli powder, cooked carrots and beans, and salt, sauté for few minutes until the tomatoes are cooked to tender. Leaving the tomatoes half cooked heightens the flavor.

Pinto Bean Salsa salad (food network), Ras Malai (C aunty)

2008-05-23T11:11:00.004-05:00

For dinner tonight, it's brown rice, this pinto bean salsa salad, and rasmalai.

I saw them make this bean salad on the Ellie Krieger show. I also read a "More" magazine article (while I was getting a pedicure yesterday) about how Ellie manages to look so good at age 50. I love the cinematography on that show - the lighting is perfect and the fresh foods they rinse and chop are clearly the focus of the show, not Ellie Krieger. She doesn't sell her personality (unlike some OTHER shows!!). I really haven't seen other food shows where this much attention is paid to cinematography with a focus on the food! The tomatoes on her show look so wonderful and plump you almost want to touch them.

Pinto Bean Salsa Salad

Dressing:
1 small clove garlic
1 1/2 limes, juiced (about 3 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:
1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/3 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 2 ears)
1 orange or yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small Hass avocado, halved, seeded and diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, leaves and stems

Make the dressing: Smash the garlic clove, sprinkle with a pinch of the salt, and, with the flat side of a large knife, mash and smear the mixture to a coarse paste. Whisk the garlic paste, lime juice, remaining salt and chili powder together in a bowl. Gradually whisk in the olive oil, starting with a few drops and then adding the rest in a steady stream.

For the salad: Toss together the beans, corn, bell pepper, and onions. Add the dressing and toss to coat evenly. Gently fold in the tomatoes, avocado, and cilantro. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.

For dessert, we usually have fresh fruit, but tonight we're going to make Ras malai using the lowest fat ricotta cheese we can find. Here's the recipe I got, from C aunty.

Rasamalai
1 tsp. Rosewater
32 oz. Ricotta Cheese
1 Cup Sugar (we plan to use sucanat)
6 cardamoms (
powdered)
1/2 cup sugar
16 oz fat free Half and Half
1 TBS. powdered UNSALTED pistachios (the default ones are salted in most stores!)
1 pinch saffron

Mix ricotta cheese and Sugar in a rectangular baking try.
Mash it into a paste with a fork and bake it in a pre heated oven at 350* for 30 minutes.
When done(the cheese mix will leave the sides of the pan), it will set like
a thick pudding.
Remove from oven and cool.
When cool cut into 1" squares and set aside leaving the pieces in the pan.
Boil fat free half and half with the 1/2 cup sugar in a pan for 5 minutes adding cardamom.
Then pour over the cooled rasamalia pieces. Sprinkle with rose water , pistachio
and saffron. Serve chilled.

Enjoy :)

What is a balanced meal??

2008-05-23T10:51:00.006-05:00

Some experts describe it as specific percentages of fat protein and carbohydrate. Our grandmas might say it is a starch and lentils and two vegetables. Here are 4 basic rules I found, for perfectly balanced meals. A balanced meal:

1. Contains at least 2 food groups,
2. The meal includes a vegetable/fruit and a protein. A grain (preferably 100% whole grain) is recommended, but optional. Some examples of the protein, are beans, nuts, or dairy.
3. A little sugar and saturated fat is fine, but too much throws it off balance.
4. Eat appropriate portions to leave the table satisfied but not stuffed.

Some things we've been trying to do, are: include plant protein (as in, not dairy alone) at every meal. This's not hard when you have either lentils/beans/tofu/nuts/seeds with all meals. (Tofu, apparantly, is not good for boys - as it's a plant source of estrogen. That's according to Mothering magazine, and I find that the things they scare you about, scientific medical studies scare you about 10 years later - Mothering magazine is always ahead on the list of things to worry about!). Our strategy is to eat a handful of nuts/seeds if we're in a hurry and didn't get protein at a meal. Also, eating a sweet WITH protein is a good way to eat the sweet, according to my online acquaintance M. I've been trying to focus on this for my 7 year old who gets the "wanties" for sweets right after school.

We have a whole grain, veggies, dairy (fatfree plain Horizon organic yoghurt), lentils, and often fruit, most nights (specially for A).

The challenges for vegetarians, is to get adequate amounts (as defined by the U.S F.D.A) of the following:
-protein
-iron
-Vitamin B12
-omega 3 fats

Many vegetarians claim this not to be true. Most doctors don't seem to have studied much nutrition, according to registered nutritionists, who probably make this claim. It's hard to know who is right. My own research suggests these are clearly lacking in vegetarian diets, but I am not an expert researcher in this subject. My area is computer science, and I just enjoy studying nutrition as a hobby...

By the way, the strongest animal, the gorilla, apparantly lives only on green leaves. WOnder how it pays for these deficiencies...!! There's no B12 in any vegetarian source at all - so unless you have a B12 fortified cereal (or something else) or a multivitamin, vegetarians are not getting enough...

Healthy punjabi khichdi

2008-05-23T09:13:00.002-05:00

This's something I cook when everyone at home is sick and doesn't want to be in the kitchen ..

Ingredients:
1 cup Sugam brown rice, wahsed
1/2 cup moong daal, 1/4 cup channa daal washed
1 packet frozen spinach (or really, any leftover green leaves you have - maybe even things that've grown out of what looked like radish)
1 packet frozen veggies of any sort (such as the corn, peas, carrot, beans mixture that's easy to find in just about any store with frozen veggies)
3 roma tomatoes
1 TBS garam masala or sambhar powder (based on your mood)
1/4 tsp turmeric
8 cups of water
1 chopped white/yellow onion (not red onion, basically)

Put everything but the onion in a pressure cooker with 8 cups of water. Turn it on with the load. Wait for a few whictles (2-3).

Meanwhile, if you feel up to it, saute the onion with ginger powder (an acceptable sub for grated ginger, specially in my 2nd tea of the day). Add it to the pressure cooker whenever it's opened.

This tastes really yummy and is packed with nutrition ..

Finding the Best Way to Cook All Those Vegetables

2008-05-22T23:53:00.002-05:00

This is a nytimes article I paste here.

Finding the Best Way to Cook All Those Vegetables

A growing body of research shows that when it comes to vegetables, it’s not only how much we eat, but how we prepare them, that influences the amount of phytochemicals, vitamins and other nutrients that enter our body.
The benefits are significant. Numerous studies show that people who consume lots of vegetables have lower rates of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, eye problems and even cancer. The latest dietary guidelines call for 5 to 13 servings — that is two and a half to six and a half cups a day. For a person who maintains her weight on a 2,000-calorie-a-day href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/food-guide-pyramid/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier">diet, this translates into nine servings, or four and a half cups a day, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. But how should they be served?
Surprisingly, raw and plain vegetables are not always best. In The British Journal of Nutrition next month, researchers will report a study involving 198 Germans who strictly adhered to a raw food diet, meaning that 95 percent of their total food intake came from raw food. They had normal levels of vitamin A and relatively high levels of beta carotene.
But they fell short when it came to lycopene, a carotenoid found in tomatoes and other red-pigmented vegetables that is one of the most potent antioxidants. Nearly 80 percent of them had plasma lycopene levels below average.
“There is a misperception that raw foods are always going to be better,” says Steven K. Clinton, a nutrition researcher and professor of internal medicine in the medical oncology division at Ohio State University. “For fruits and vegetables, a lot of times a little bit of cooking and a little bit of processing actually can be helpful.”
The amount and type of nutrients that eventually end up in the vegetables are affected by a number of factors before they reach the plate, including where and how they were grown, processed and stored before being bought. Then, it’s up to you. No single cooking or preparation method is best. Water-soluble nutrients like vitamins C and B and a group of nutrients called polyphenolics are often lost in processing. For instance, studies show that after six months, frozen cherries have lost as much as 50 percent of anthocyanins, the healthful compounds found in the pigment of red and blue fruits and vegetables. Fresh spinach loses 64 percent of its vitamin C after cooking. Canned peas and carrots lose 85 percent to 95 percent of their vitamin C, according to data compiled by the University of California, Davis.
Fat-soluble compounds like vitamins A, D, E and K and the antioxidant compounds called carotenoids are less likely to leach out in water. Cooking also breaks down the thick cell walls of plants, releasing the contents for the body to use. That is why processed tomato products have higher lycopene content than fresh tomatoes.
In January, a report in The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry concluded that over all, boiling was better for carrots, zucchini and broccoli than steaming, frying or serving them raw. Frying was by far the worst..
Still, there were tradeoffs. Boiling carrots, for instance, significantly increased measurable carotenoid levels, but resulted in the complete loss of polyphenols compared with raw carrots.
That report did not look at the effects of microwaving, but a March 2007 study in The Journal of Food Science looked at the effects of boiling, steaming, microwaving and pressure cooking on the nutrients in broccoli. Steaming and boiling caused a 22 percent to 34 percent loss of vitamin C. Microwaved and pressure-cooked vegetables retained 90 percent of their vitamin C.
What accompanies the vegetables can also be important. Studies at Ohio State measured blood levels of subjects who ate servings of salsa and salads. When the salsa or salad was served with fat-rich avocados or full-fat salad dressing, the diners absorbed as much as 4 times more lycopene, 7 times more lutein and 18 times the beta carotene than those who had their vegetables plain or with low-fat dressing.
Fat can also improve the taste of vegetables, meaning that people will eat more of them. This month, The American Journal of Preventive Medicine reported on 1,500 teenagers interviewed in high school and about four years later on their eating habits. In the teenage years, many factors influenced the intake of fruits and vegetables. By the time the study subjects were 20, the sole factor that influenced fruit and vegetable consumption was taste. Young adults were not eating vegetables simply because they didn’t like the taste.
“Putting on things that make it taste better — spices, a little salt — can enhance your eating experience and make the food taste better, so you’re more likely to eat vegetables more often,” Dr. Clinton said.
Because nutrient content and taste can vary so widely depending on the cooking method and how a vegetable is prepared, the main lesson is to eat a variety of vegetables prepared in a variety of ways.
As Susan B. Roberts, director of the energy metabolism laboratory at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition, put it, “Eating a variety of veggies is especially important so you like them enough to eat more.”
well@nytimes.com

Grains

2008-05-22T22:26:00.000-05:00

How do you know you're getting grains as whole as possible, by reading the ingredient label? Look for the phrase, "100% whole wheat" in the label. These ingredient lists could be written in a tricky manner, and misleading names are very common. Laws require them to list everything, but there're no laws against misleading labels. SOmething that's not 100% whole wheat, would still say "whole wheat". The goal is to make consumers feel a sense of "this's as healthy as this food can get".

"Maida" (hindi word), which's also called enriched wheat flour, because it's lower in fiber, has no nutrition (whole wheat has B vitamins), and is known to be harmful -has been implicated in all sorts of diseases. The starch content is the same whether a grain of wheat is whole or enriched (i.e. processed), but when the starch comes packaged in high fiber, it is more easily excreted by the human body, and therefore doesn't raise the body's sugar level in the same unhealthy way that the enriched wheat grain would. This means the glycemic index is different for the 2 (100% whole wheat being the healthier one, and enriched wheat being the unhealthy one). In other words, whole wheat raises blood sugar in a steady manner, not in a sudden peak followed by a plummet, that the enriched wheat is responsible for.
"Maida" is such a staple in Indian diets, specially North Indian diets, that it's worrisome. It's just as bad as white rice, which's common in South India.

Sugam brown rice, 100% whole wheat bread (nature's own) or Rudi's organic honey wheat bread, Margarita's 100% whole wheat tortilla - these are staples in our pantry. White basmati rice is too, but we eat it pretty rarely. Of all the white rices, basmati seems to have the healthiest glycemic index. We also buy 100% whole wheat pasta, spaghetti of various kinds. Whole Foods is best for this. Central Market is alright. Cracked wheat, specially in an upma, tastes wonderful.

Goals we're trying to come to agreement on as a family:

We're playing with arborio rice (risottos), and trying to learn about quinoa.
We'd like not to have too much wheat.
Wild rice is interesting and also worth exploring.

When we eat idlis/dosas, we get in waaay too much white stuff. I'd love to learn to make these with brown rice. Recipe, anyone? Ofcourse, there're the adais and pesarattus made with lentils and very little white rice. We need to do adais more often...

Salad Basics

2008-05-22T22:15:00.002-05:00

These ideas come from the nytimes.

A vinegarette is nothing more than 1 unit acid and 3 or 4 units oil (I like olive oil).

The acid could be vinegar, or citric juices such as freshly squeezed lime juice, orange juice or even grape fruit juice.

Lime, orange or grapefruit juice might need to be sharpened with a bit of mustard. Vinegar does,t - it is more acidic. Mustard can be bought in bulk in many stores. The addition of a little mustard helps bind oil and acid together, making for a more stable emulsion.

The oil could be just about any oil you like the taste of uncooked. Neutral-tasting oils such as canola, safflower, sunflower and grapeseed require less acid; more flavorful oils - extra virgin olive oil, most of the nut and seed oils - demand a stronger hit of acid for balance.

The best dressing in the world can't save a salad if the greens haven't been thoroughly dried before being dressed. That is hard to achieve. We try to put the leaves between 2 large paper towels and gently pat it. Some people buy a salad spinner to spin off excess water.

Oils

2008-05-22T16:28:00.000-05:00

There're several choices of healthy oils to use in daily cooking. I read that olive oil is great when you don't cook with it. It's perfect to drizzle on salads. However, if you're going to cook, specially Indian style, you want something with a higher smoke point. Once the smoke point is reached, free radicals start forming, and it's really bad for you. We alternate between grape seed oil, sesame oil, and canola oil. Sesame oil works better with Indian foods, and canola oil, until you get used to it, has a very slightly fishy odor to it. Grape seed oil is amazing in that it only has 1 g saturated fat. It doesn't have enough monounsaturated fat either, and you need it. Remember that 30% of your daily cals need to come from fat. You don't need saturated fat after the age of 2, according to western scientists (Ayurveda disagrees, telling people to have cups and cups of ghee daily - and I am only exaggerating mildly.)

Oh, and we store ALL oils in the frig. Reduces their oxidization rate.

Flax seeds : a sub for coconut

2008-05-22T16:21:00.000-05:00

We try and get in flax seeds into ourselves in some fashion everyday. If it's flax seed oil, just drink the ghastly thing, 2 tablespoons a day. Or, 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds, add to something. It can be used anywhere coconut is used for similar resulting taste. It's really important fo vegetarians. We pretty much have no other significant source of omega 3s, and if you read about omega 3s, one wonders how anyone in India is even completely formed - I mean, you'd think we'd have missing body parts - that's how important omega 3 is alleged to be. Specially for the brain.

A better but non-veg source of omega 3s, is fish oil. Nordic Naturals is a good brand (devoid of PCBs and Mercury). We're going to eventually do these daily because they contain less omega 6 (which is bad for you). They are supposed to leave an unpleasant after taste. And, being fish, they leave me with an unpleasant feeling in the head as well, as in, I just ate parts of a thing that used to swim and breathe. Ofcourse there're plants that swim and breathe. It's just how I was programmed in childhood, okay?!

Remember to refrigerate anything with omega3. It oxidises easily, forming free radicals and losing the omega3 fats when exposed to light or air..

I can't imagine the flax seeds in the breakfast waffles Arnav wolfed down, retained any of their omega 3 fatty chains after they were baked and toasted. It's insane how so many baked goods are sold with flax seeeds in them - what is the point??

More kuzhambu with ground flax seeds added in at the very end - super yum.

Spinach chettinaad

2008-05-22T15:58:00.001-05:00

Spinach chettinaad style..

Ingredients:

This spinach dish is from C aunty (one of my best friends in Austin) and tastes AMAZING.

1 tsp oil
2 pinches asafoetida
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 teaspoon whole corriander (cilantro) seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
Legally this requires an onion at this point, but I skip it.
10 cups organic baby spinach leaves (I buy central market or Earth's best - they're triple washed)

Pan on stove. Oil. Seasonings. All the spinach. Salt to taste. Lid. Cooked for a short while with 1 cup water. Cooked too much, the spinach loses its nutrition. Couldn't talk anyone into drinking the water used for steaming the radish thingy, and ended up adding it to the spinach. Grind coarsely using a hand blender. The magic ingredient here is the corriander seeds. The secret to cooking the spinach minimally, is this. Once the oil and seasonings are put in, add water first (no spinach yet). Add salt, bring it to a boil. THEN add spinach. You'll see the leaves wilting. Turn off gas. Wait for it to cool before pureeing.

Cucumber kosambari, black eyed peas subzi

2008-05-22T15:48:00.001-05:00

I made Arundhati's cucumber Kosambari for dinner tonight http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/search/label/cucumber and then a basic North Indian style black eyed peas subzi (see bwlow) as well. The subzi involved:

Ingredients:
1 tsp sesame oil

seasonings:
1 tsp jeera (cumin)
2 pinches heeng (asafoetida)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 inch grated ginger
3 cloves garlic

5 ripe tomatoes pureed in the blender
1 big red onion chopped up
4 small red potatoes (with skin to retain SOME nutrition - it's got a bit of iron I hear) - chop and boil in water until soft (but not flaky).
Black eyed peas
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 cup frozen sweet green peas, microwaved for a minute

Oil, all seasonings (tadka), red onion. Saute for 5 mins until translucent. Add tomato puree. Add the garam masala. Put the potatoes in. Add pressure cooked black eyed peas. And the sweet green peas. Add a cup or 2 of water, salt, and let it all come to a boil, and we're in business.

It looks nice - the different colors together, in the reddish gravy.

Blueberries for dessert. A twist, was lemon juice added to the blueberries - something we learnt to do from our Italian neighbor. Blueberries are suppsoed to be among the 14 super-foods, very anti-oxidant rich (which just means B vitamins). Margarita's whole grain tortillas from whole foods market for rotis, and brown rice for A and that was dinner. Horizon organic fat free plain yoghurt in the end, ofcourse. Every proper South Indian ends a meal with yoghurt. It has to be relished with the remaining curries, after the grain is polished off!

Brown Rice

2008-05-22T15:42:00.000-05:00

Brown rice is acquired taste. It took me years to get over missing white rice. Remember I am Tamilian - white rice is a staple and comfort food (specially when it comes seasoned with spices and with sour yoghurt, and lime pickle) . Polished fiberless white evil white rice! I really didn't want any kid of mine to have to deal with white rice withdrawal, or grow to love white rice too much. So. He started off with brown rice. To him, hopefully, this healthy stuff will be comfort food.

We get this wonderfully softenable brown rice (Sugam brand) from MGM foods http://www.mgmindianfoods.com/. It's not organic, but other brown rice brands are inedible in comparison to this one.

The owner of MGM foods, Mr.Matthews, is a sweetheart - albeit his Video-Nazi-ness. He takes one look at you to determine if you're the kind that will return movies late. If you are, he'll say "No video today" in his sweet Malayalee accent. He said "tomorrow it will come" to us for the longest time, until he was sure he could trust us. We told him, "Just charge us a fine if we return it late no?" And he was thrilled. It seems (he lamented) desis argue with him about fines all the time. My husband came up with the title of Video-Nazi for him. Quite perfect, like the Soup-Nazi of Sienfeld fame - quirky to the point of becoming a legend.

Back to brown rice, it's cooked like this. Rice cooker. 1 cup brown rice with 2 cups water. Turn it on. It's ready and soft and fluffy in 45 minutes. I can't see how anyone would not switch to this. Alright, I can, but really it's an easy switch.

Fun places to lose yourself in grocery shopping

2008-05-22T12:00:00.002-05:00

The most fun place to shop for veggies, is the nearby sunset valley farmers market. http://www.sunsetvalleyfarmersmarket.org/ We *try* to walk there (takes 10 minutes), and start off with one of their strange organic coffees. Then we go on to picking local veggies grown organically. They're not certified organic, but they're local and a good approximation to organic.. It's also a place A practises his addition and subtraction and making change, as he's in charge of making payments and getting change. It's open Saturdays 9 to 1.

The second most fun place to shop is the gourmet grocery store called Central Market. The 70,000-square-foot Central Market Westgate was designed to be reminiscent of a European-style market, with aisle upon aisle of fresh produce, meats, seafood and an incredibly large cheese department. You'll find more than 600 varieties of fresh produce alone. We live 5 minutes away from here (we recently moved out of the suburbs, into a new neighborhood near downtown Austin). Having ruled out public schools, and fallen in love with a private school that goes up to 9th grade (where they cook in class, by the way, watch birds, grow wildflowers and have the most incredibly designed math material imaginable...), we figured we might as well live close to it. This location is amazing. Every kind of store in walking distance - downtown sort of living (7 mins from downtown Austin), and a brand new development with green belt ("forests") in the back. The deer and other wildlife (snakes, scorpions etc) bring back fond memories of growing up in IIT Madras campus (also a forest). http://www.iitm.ac.in/The%20Campus/ (It's a beautiful setting - but clearly someone unimaginative wrote up the description of the campus!! They forgot to mention the deer, forests, snakes, and the occasional tiger!) Minus the tiger sightings, it's a pretty similar setting here! There's a wonderful community feeling here as well, and I got together with another neighbor and organized a neighborhood party to get to know everyone. We also started up a walking group to explore the nearby trails. The entire city only has 400 residents, and pour neighborhood has 35 so far (60 eventually). There aren't many young children A's age in walking distance, but there're plenty about 5 minutes drive away.

The 3rd most fun place to shop for us, is Whole Foods Market. It's designed to be a unique experience - healthy foods galore, amazing customer service ("can you find me eggless 100% whole wheat organic spaghetti made in the U.S " and they get it for you without batting an eyelid).. Since we try and eat 100% whole grains, and stay away from preservatives & colors, and organic produce - this's really quite an amazing place. The only snag is it takes 15 minutes to get there. Spoilt by 5 minutes to any place, 15 is really a bit too much. We have to go there once a week to buy organic walnuts and dried cranberries (that we try to eat everyday). There's so much more to explore here...http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/lamar/
There's a good reason it's called "Whole paycheck" though. Particularly now that gas is so expensive and they ship everything from Calfornia.

Sun Harvest is a great alternative to Whole Foods. So is Wheatsville co-op. At Sun Harvest, it's fun to talk to the people who actually moved things into bins. Whole foods is an army - people working at 2 ends of the store have never met.

Inspiration to cook with flair!

2008-05-21T19:44:00.001-05:00

My mom's of the view that if you have to do something anyway, do it with flair. She's extraordinarily creative, and everything she does is like a work of art. And science.

I learnt as a kid from my mom, that dosa while being poured on to a stone, needed a different temp stone than the poured batter did that needed to be cooked. A dosa poured straight on to a too-hot stone gets cooked as you pour it, making it hard to shape it as desired. Rotis, on the other hand, need the hottest possible stone. Julia CHild is a bit like my mom in her desire to understand why things are done a certain way.

And then there's my husband, who loves to cook, and does so "with emotion" as he calls it! I enjoy cooking with him, as rare as it has become!

Julia talks (like my mother does) about viscosity and separation of fluids, and makes things make sense.

What's more, Julia Child FAILED her first attempt at cooking college (as I would have!). She then set out to find "true meaning" as I now have! So there. Soul mates, all of us here.

However, the guy who's absolutely my main inspiration to cok withand for, is my 7 year old. He reads recipe books like they were amazing stories. Creative salad dressings we've come to love have been his ideas - such as olive oil mixed with sambhar powder and tamarind paste.

I was recently inspired by my friend Arundhati's food blog. http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/
The pictures and recipes and her little essays there really got me excited about cooking.

I am inspired by Ellie Krieger's show: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/ellie_kriegers_healthy_recipes
I also enjoy http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ea
He's funny, and often talks about nutritive value, and is the sort of person I enjoy hanging out with (nerdy, dry wit).

I am enjoying learning about various cuisines - and excited there's SO much I have not yet explored...