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All Posts, Salads

Baby spinach and Apple Salad

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Spinach leaves are usually better consumed cooked, as fresh spinach contains oxalic acid, which prevents the absorption of certain nutrients. Baby spinach, on the other hand, has very little oxalic acid and if you ever get to lay your hands on them, grab a bunch and make this beautiful salad!

Time taken: 10 min
Serves 2-3

Ingredients

1 apple
2 cups baby spinach leaves
½ pomegranate
¼ cup chopped almonds and walnuts
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
Salt and pepper

Method

Core the apple and slice it thinly. Deseed the pomegranate.

Mix the lemon juice, honey and olive oil, whisk until it becomes a thick and homogeneous. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place the spinach leaves at the bottom of a bowl, and add the apples, pomegranate seeds and nuts. Pour the dressing on top and toss the salad.

Serve immediate or after chilling for a while.

All Posts, Desserts

Best Brownies

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brownie

It was a special day when I found this recipe on the internet. That was the day I stopped looking for any brownie recipes! Brownies can be quite a mess to make if you’re going to melt chocolates, and the recipes I had found before weren’t so much fun.

I wouldn’t have tried this recipe if she hadn’t insisted that it is better than the ones that use melted chocolate, because usually I would look specifically for the melted chocolate recipes. How else would one get the richness? But this recipe… is just awesome. You cannot tell that it is a cocoa based brownie.

I went a step ahead and substituted the plain flour with whole wheat flour, and the sugar with the jaggery. Now, your only sin is the butter!

Time taken: 1 to 1.5 hours
Makes a 8×8″ brownie

Ingredients

150 gm unsalted butter
1¼ cups (250 gm) sugar
3⁄4 cup + 2 tbsp (65 gm) unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
½ cup (65 gm) all-purpose flour
2⁄3 cup (75 gm) walnut or pecan pieces (optional)
¼ tsp salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C or 325°F. Line the bottom of an 8×8″ pan with parchment paper, leaving some extra paper on the sides to facilitate easy removal of the brownies.

Combine butter, sugar/ jaggery, cocoa and salt in a heatproof bowl and place the bowl in a larger vessel with gently simmering water.

Stir gently until the butter has completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Dip your finger in to test. If it is hot enough that you want to remove your finger immediately, take it off the heat.

Let it cool until it is warm. It gets grainy as it cools down, and this is ok and quite expected.

Add the vanilla and stir in the eggs one by one, whisking vigorously after each addition.

The batter should be thick and shiny. Now add the flour in parts until it is completely blended into the batter.

Beat vigorously for about 20 seconds. Stir in the nuts.

Spread evenly on the lined pan.

Bake for 30-35 min until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly moist with batter.

Now, oven fresh brownies are hard to resist, but if you’re keen on clean, crumble free pieces wait until it is cool before cutting. You could even refrigerate it for a while, for really clean lines.

Cut into squares and serve.

Serving suggestions

Dust with powdered sugar using a sieve, and serve as is.

I like to microwave it until it is hot, top it up with chocolate sauce (melted chocolate mixed with cream and butter) and pair this up with ice cream.

If you have a little sizzler plate, heat the plate, pour some chocolate sauce, place the brownie, add some more chocolate sauce and a scoop of ice cream, and you have a sizzling brownie!

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Scrambled Egg Wrap

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scrambled egg wrap

Wraps are one of my favorite summer foods. They are cool and light on the stomach, and when you choose your ingredients wisely, can be quite wholesome.

Although this is a scrambled egg recipes, if you aren’t into eating eggs, just substitute the scrambled eggs with scrambled paneer or tofu.

Time taken: 10 min
Makes 2

Ingredients

2 thin chappatis or tortillas
4 eggs, scrambled
1 cup chopped tomatoes
4-5 baby corns, sliced vertically and steamed
1 cup shredded lettuce
a handful of basil leaves
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard sauce (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place a chappati or tortilla on a working surface, and spread half the mayonnaise and mustard sauce on it.

Spread the lettuce and basil leaves, baby corn and tomatoes.

Add the scrambled eggs, sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.

Wrap and serve.

All Posts, Desserts

Carrot Cake

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My father is a vegetarian, and my mother loves fish. When they got married, they made a pact. No cooking non-veg at home, but dad would take her out to a restaurant whenever she had cravings, or parcel some of it home.

Now, in those days, families would frequently exchange food items, and it was tradition to never return a box empty. This carrot cake has been a family trademark for decades, and in those days, Indian women rarely made cake. Eventually what happened was, every family that made good fish, would send us fish fry and request for carrot cake in return. Win-win for all!

So, here’s the carrot-cake family’s carrot cake recipe.

Time taken: 1 hour
Makes one 9″ cake

Ingredients

2 cups plain or whole wheat flour
2 cups white or brown sugar
2 cups grated carrot
1½ cups oil
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp clove powder
2 tsp cardamom powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F and oil a 9″ cake tin.

Put the flour, salt, baking powder and spice powders in a bowl and stir well with a whisk to remove any lumps.

Mix oil and sugar together, stir for a couple of minutes

Add the eggs one by one, stirring well after each addition. Beat well.

Add the carrots, and the flour in parts, until well combined. Do not beat anymore, just gentle fold these in.

Pour into the greased cake tin and bake in a preheated oven for 40-50 min. When a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean, you know it is done.

Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top using a sieve, or frost with sweetened cream cheese.

Note: As this cake is dense and rich, you can easily substitute the white flour for wheat flour, without much compromise.

Serving suggestion

This cake tastes even better the next day.

If you haven’t frosted the cake, serve it with custard and chopped bananas and grapes. The combination is delicious.

All Posts, Easy Recipes, Mains, Sides

Thai Red Curry

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Serve with brown rice for a healthy meal

It was during my visit to Thailand many, many years ago, that I fell in love with Thai curry. We ate it everyday, and when I got back to India, I figured a way to make it. We didn’t get curry pastes in those days, OR the recipes online, and I had to manage with substitutes.

And then it became popular and Thai restaurants sprung up all over the city. My favorite Thai curries have been at the Nobel House in Jayanagar 4th block, and in Yo China!. Making it at home is also very simple, so you don’t have to spend a lot of money every time you have a craving. I make it with whatever I have at home. So if you’re missing a few vegetables in the list, just increase the quantity of the others.

If you have a lemon bush at home, add those leaves to the curry, it adds magic. If you don’t, well, just sow the seeds of the next lemon you cut, and you’ll have a little bush in no time 😉 trust me, it’s worth it!

Time taken: 20 min
Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 cup sliced halved zucchini
½ cup sliced halved carrots
1 cup broccoli florets
½ cup halved baby corn
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
½ cup red bell pepper chopped in squares
½ cup water chestnuts (optional)
a handful of kafir lime, lemongrass & Thai basil leaves (optional)

1 can (14 oz/ 400gm) or 2 cups coconut milk
1 tbsp Thai red curry paste
1 tbsp corn flour
1 tbsp chopped galangal (substitute: ginger)
1 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp sesame oil
Salt to taste, a pinch of sugar

Method

Heat the oil and sauté the galangal/ginger and garlic for a minute.

Throw the vegetables in, in the order of time required for cooking. So that means the carrots go in first, the baby corn, zucchini and bell pepper after a couple of minutes, then broccoli and water chestnuts, and lastly mushrooms and leaves. Cover and cook until nearly done, 3-5 minutes.

Mix the cornflour, ¼ cup coconut milk, Thai curry paste and add it to the vegetables.

Add the rest of the coconut milk, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil, take off the heat and serve.

Variation

For Thai chicken or prawn curry, substitute broccoli, baby corn and mushrooms with ½ kg prawns or skinless, boneless chicken. Also add 1 tbsp fish sauce along with the curry paste.

All Posts, Breakfast

Yogurt Pancakes

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Yogurt Pancakes
Yogurt Pancakes

The first time I learned that yogurt pancakes existed, was in Sweden, when a loving family friend make them for  breakfast to celebrate her son’s graduation. They were just so yummy, I copied down the recipe from her book.

Yogurt pancakes are special. They have a beautiful fluffiness which is impossible to achieve with traditional milk pancakes. You can make them healthier by substituting the refined flour with whole wheat flour and a dash of milk. The result will be a wee bit less soft, but you barely notice.

Makes about 4

Ingredients:

½ cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
150gm Greek Yogurt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda or 1 tbsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp Orange or Lemon rind, or 1 tsp vanilla essence (Optional)

Method:

Mix the yogurt, sugar and egg together.

Sift the flour and baking soda together and slowly fold it into the batter, along with the rind or vanilla essence.

Pour spoonfuls of the batter onto a skillet and flip when bubbles appear. Cook until golden brown on both sides

Serve with jam, whipped cream, or fresh fruit compote.

All Posts, Mains, Sides

Rajma Masala

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Rajma Masala with Jeera Rice
Rajma Masala with Jeera Rice

Rajma masala with jeera rice is one of my favorite combinations, and I haven’t met anyone so far who doesn’t like this dish. It is just so wholesome – tasty, nutritious, healthy.

Some recipes don’t call for grinding the masala. Now this, I have found, really pulls down the quality of the dish. I tried very hard to work around it initially, because I was too lazy to do all the grinding, but I have found that the difference is just too much to skip this critical step.

Time taken: 50 min (Overnight soaking required)
Serves 4

Ingredients

1½ cups rajma or kidney beans
4 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
2 tbsp chopped ginger
2 tbsp chopped garlic
2 green chilies

½ tsp haldi or turmeric powder
½ tsp lal mirch or red chili powder
2 tsp dhania or coriander powder
½ tsp garam masala powder
2 tsp kasuri methi or crushed dry fenugreek leaves

1 badi elaichi or black cardamom
1 tej patta or bay leaf
2 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
2 tbsp ghee (or mustard oil in the winters)
Salt to taste

Method

Soak the rajma overnight, atleast 8-10 hours. Drain.

Pressure cook the rajma with salt and 4-5 cups of water, for 15-20 minutes. When the pressure has come to normal, open and check if it is cooked through, or simmer for a few more minutes. (If you’re cooking without a pressure cooker, cook the rajma for about 1 to 1.5 hours). Drain the rajma and reserve the water.

While the rajma is cooking, heat 1 tbsp ghee and add the jeera or cumin seeds. Add the onions and cook until soft.

Now add the ginger, garlic, chilies and tomatoes. Cook until tomatoes are soft and mushy. Take off the heat.

Once cool, grind this into a fine paste.

Heat the remaining ghee in the same pan and add the bay leaf and black cardamom. Add the onion-tomato puree and cook on medium heat with constant stirring, until the paste starts to release ghee. The sides of the pan start to glisten when this starts happening.

Add the spice powders – turmeric, chili, coriander and garam masala.

Add the cooked rajma to this paste, and add 2 cups of the reserved water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 min without a lid.

Check the consistency of the curry and add more water if required. Adjust the salt if needed.

Garnish with cream or coriander leaves, depending on whether you want it rich or spicy. Serve hot with parathas, rice or jeera rice.

All Posts, Mains

Mavinakayi Chitranna (Mango Rice)

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mango chitranna

I love Ugadi. We hang fresh mango leaves at the door to purify and disinfect incoming air. We start the day by eating neem (a very, very bitter tree) flowers mixed with jaggery, to signify that we will take the sweet and the bitter that life has to offer, in the same spirit. That, undoubtedly, is my favorite part of the day and I often sneak in and eat everything that is remaining.

The next thing I love most about the day, is the mango rice. Oh, how I look forward to lunch. Ugadi heralds the start of the new lunar year, and also of the summer. It is the perfect time to start eating raw mangoes, something that helps the body cool down and stay healthy.

Time taken: 20 min
Serves 4

Ingredients

2 small raw mangoes
2½ cups rice
2 tbsp freshly grated coconut
1 tbsp udad dal or split skinned black gram
1 tbsp chana dal or Bengal gram
1 tbsp jeera or cumin seeds
1 tbsp rai or mustard
A pinch of hing or asafetida
3 dried red chilies
½ cup peanuts
A sprig of curry leaves
1 tbsp oil
Salt

Method:

Cook the rice and let it cool. A day old rice is also fine to use.

Deseed and grate the mangoes. I like to grate half and chop half of the mangoes, your choice.

Heat oil and add chana dal, udad dal, cumin seeds and red chili.

Fry until light brown.

Grind this along with mustard, coconut and asafetida into a fine paste.

Heat oil in a big pan and add curry leaves and peanuts.

When peanuts are done, add the paste and the mangoes. Cook for a minute and add the rice.

Mix well, take off the heat and serve with coconut chutney.

All Posts, Desserts

Black Forest Cake

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Super easy black forest cake
Super easy black forest cake

This is such a simple, easy dish really, but make it anywhere and everyone thinks you are a brilliant cook. It was something I threw together recently for a potluck during the group Reiki healing session. It was a hit and I had everyone asking me for the recipe.

I actually made this cake because I was feeling lazy. I just bought a cake mix, whipped cream, cherry pie filling and a bar of chocolate. The rest was cake walk.

Did you know that the name of the cake comes from a forest in Germany called ‘Black Forest’? The traditional name for the cake is schwarzwälder kirschtorte, which translates to ‘Black forest cherry liquor cake’. The main ingredient in this cake is the cherry liquor that comes from the black forest region.

So I guess our black forest cakes aren’t very black forest after all, but we make do. Sab chalta hai in India, after all!

Makes a 10″ cake

Ingredients:

1 sponge cake
50gm (1 packet) whipped cream powder
1 can cherry pie filling
100gm bar dark chocolate, grated
50ml cherry liquor, if available
½ cup sugar, maybe more
Water

Method:

Make whipped cream as per instructions. Typically, that would involve blending the powder with 100ml chilled water. Refrigerate atleast for half an hour, overnight if you can.

Check the cherry filling. If it is too sour, you might want to add some powdered sugar to sweeten it a bit.

Dissolve ½ cup sugar in a cup of water. If you don’t have cherry liquor, take ½ cup filling without the cherries, and add it to the syrup. Check the taste and add more sugar if required.

Once the sponge cake is cool, cut it in half horizontally. (If you want more layers in your cake and your sponge is thick enough, you could even cut it into 3 parts. Increase the quantities of whipped cream and chocolate accordingly) Using a thread to cut the cake is very effective and even.

Place the first layer of the cake on the plate you want to serve the cake on.

Drizzle half the sugar syrup and the liquor over the sponge.

Smear a centimeter thick layer of whipped cream, and spread a thin layer of cherry filling.

Place the other sponge on top, and top with whipped cream and cherry filling. Cover the edges of the cake with whipped cream and pat grated chocolate on the sides. Voila, you’re done!

Refrigerate and serve chilled.

All Posts, Salads

Avocado Egg Salad

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I spent a few months with a German friend, who (obviously) made awesome potato salads. And both of us being small eaters who are very fond of salads, that was almost always dinner. So we’d experiment with whatever was in the fridge. This came up one day as a result of those experiments.

Now, avocados are tricky to pick. If you need help with choosing good ones, click here.

Serves 2 – 4
Time: 20 min

Ingredients:

1 ripe avocado
2 boiled eggs
1 small potato, boiled and peeled (optional)
½ onion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped dill leaves
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp mustard sauce
Salt and pepper

Method:

Scoop the avocado flesh and shell the eggs.

Mash the avocado, eggs and potato gently. Too much pressure will make it pasty. You want it to retain some shape, so be gentle.

Mix in the onions, dill, mayo and mustard sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

To enhance the taste, refrigerate for about half an hour before serving.