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All Posts, Easy Recipes, Mains, Sides

Olan (Pumpkin & Black Eyed Peas Curry)

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Olan: A creamy, light, healthy curry
Olan: A creamy, light, healthy curry

It is quite easy to get me to like a dish. Just add coconut milk! I couldn’t stop eating this the first time I tasted it. And now it is the same story every time I make it.

This is another of those super healthy AND super tasty dishes. One may wonder where the taste even comes from, because there are barely any spices here. But make it once, and you’re hooked!

Traditionally, ginger is not added, but it is an addition I love.

Time taken: 25 min (Overnight soaking required)
Serves 2

Ingredients

1 cup lobhiya / van payaru or black eyed peas
1 cup cubed elavan/ ash gourd/ white pumpkin
2 green chilies
1 cup coconut milk
2 tsp ginger (optional)
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 tbsp coconut oil
Salt to taste

Method

Soak the lobhiya in enough water overnight, at least 8-9 hours.

Pressure cook the lobhiya for 8 min, or open cook until done.

Cook the pumpkin with a little water, salt, green chilies and ginger.

When done, add the lobhiya and coconut milk. Bring to a boil and simmer until it reaches the desired consistency. Check for salt.

Heat the coconut oil, add the curry leaves and pour it over the dish. Serve with rice.

All Posts, Desserts

Eggless Banana Cake

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Eggless Banana Cake
Eggless Banana Cake

I wonder why it is said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. The easiest way to make me happy is to gift me some great food! Isn’t it for most Indians?

Even better if I get the recipe along with the dish 😀

When a friend came over for an advanced Reiki class, he decided to bake a banana cake for me. And the moment I bit into it, I knew that it was made from atta – whole wheat flour, and not refined flour. I wanted the recipe immediately. He had it by-heart!

The most important thing to remember when baking anything with bananas is, the riper the better. It is ok if the banana looks as if it should be thrown away. All those bananas which you think need to go into the bin? Use them here.

This cake is so, so moist, it is amazing. It is also very easy to put together – do not use a blender as it will cause over-mixing and cracking on the surface. Just gently blend with a spatula.

Makes a 10″ cake

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour/ atta
1 cup brown sugar (or ½ white and ½ demerara sugar)
½ cup oil
¼ cup dry fruits and nuts (he used walnuts and cranberries)
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
4 cups mashed banana
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F.

Sieve together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt 3-4 times.

Mix oil and sugar together, using a spatula.

Add banana puree and mix for 2-3 minutes.

Now add the dry fruits, nuts, vanilla essence, stir 2 min and let it sit for 2 minutes.

Slowly stir the flour in, in 3-4 parts. If the batter seems dry, add a bit more oil.

Pour into a 10″ cake tin and bake for 30-40 min until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

All Posts, Mains

Pumpkin Rice

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Rice is a fundamental food in many cultural cuisines around the world. It has ability to provide fast and instant energy, regulate and improve bowel movements, and stabilize blood sugar levels, while also providing an essential source of vitamin B1 to the human body. Do you know that rice slows down the aging process? When I learned Vedic meditation from Tim Mitchell (http://www.vedicmeditation.eu/en/ayurveda/), he told me that after the age of fifty, one should eat rice and not wheat.

We love rice and I am always on the look out to create new preparations with rice. Here is a nice dish that combines pumpkin with rice.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
200 gms pumpkin
Salt
2 tbsps Oil
1 Bay leaf
½ tsp grated ginger
1 green chilli cut fine
A few curry leaves
¼ tsp Cumin seeds
¼ cup roasted and ground pea nuts
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsps water

Method:

• Cook the rice and keep aside.
• Clean and cube the pumpkin, smear with oil, add salt, roast in the pre heated oven at 250 degrees for ½ hour to 45 minutes. Keep a small bowl of water in the center of the pumpkin pieces so that they won’t dry out.
• Cut the roasted pumpkin into small pieces.

pumpkin
• Heat oil in a thick bottomed vessel; add cumin seeds, when they splutter, add the bay leaf, grated ginger, cut green chilli, and curry leaves. Stir for ten seconds.
• Add the pumpkin pieces, sugar and mix well.
• Add the cooked rice, salt, roasted and ground peanuts, and 2 table spoons of water.

ground nut
• Mix well and remove from the fire after about 4 minutes. Serve hot.

Pumpkin rice

 

All Posts, Breakfast

Palak Adai Dosa

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palak adai dosa

My mother was visiting a friend, when she was served this dosa. Her friend had learned it in a cooking class and was experimenting at home. My parents loved it and make it often, and it turns out that the friend never had the time to make the dosa again. Destiny.

The first time I ate this dosa, I went ‘wowwwww, its so crispy!’ Look at the edges of the dosa in the picture and you get an idea. If you grind the batter coarsely like I do, you get this delightful, crunchy texture.

You could make this dosa plain, or with add-ons. Traditionally, spinach is added, but I’m sure you could experiment with other things too. I often throw in a handful of other pulses as well. You can spot horse gram in the picture below.

As this dosa has so much more dal than usual, it is higher in protein. Also, because of the dal, I feel that it doesn’t pair too well with sambars or dals, and is best served with just chutney, or maybe even curds.

Time taken: 30 min (Plus time for soaking and fermenting)
Makes 10-12 dosas

Ingredients:

1 cup rice
½ cup toor dal/ pigeon peas
½ cup mung dal
½ cup urad dal or split skinned black gram
½ cup chana dal or Bengal gram

½ onion, chopped finely
1 cup palak or spinach leaves, chopped
1 tsp chopped green chilies (optional)
½ cup grated coconut

1 tsp saunf or aniseed
1 tsp jeera or cumin
2-3 dried red chilies
1 tbsp chopped garlic
Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the dals and rice together for 4-6 hours. Grind into a coarse batter.

 

Fermentation is an optional step in this recipe, so if you have the time, let it sit for a few hours or use immediately.

Grind together the aniseed, cumin, chilies and garlic. Traditionally, this is ground on stone, and that gives a different flavor, but you can use a mortar and pestle or a mixer.

Mix the onions, chilies, spinach, coconut, and the paste into the batter.

Spread on a hot oiled tava or skillet, and flip over when the bottom surface has browned sufficiently. You can check this by raising a corner.

Serve hot with mint and coriander chutney.

All Posts, Breakfast

Ragi Puttu

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Ragi puttu with kadala curry

Did you know that ragi has about 8 times the calcium that rice and wheat contain? Half a cup of ragi flour will take care of a third of your daily calcium needs and half of your daily vitamin B1 (thiamine) needs. How cool is that!

It is also a wonderful food option for diabetics, as it contains no gluten. It also has 3 times the fibre content that rice and wheat have, making it a wonderful digestion aid.

Making ragi puttu is one of the best ways to cook ragi, as it primarily involves steaming, which preserves much higher nutrition compared to other methods of cooking.

Serves 2
Time: 20 min

Ingredients:

2 cups ragi flour
1 cup freshly grated coconut
½ cup water
Salt

puttu-vesselSpecial Equipment:

The puttu vessel is traditionally used to prepare puttu

Substitutions: A coconut shell with one eye pierced and placed over the valve of a pressure cooker might be used as a substitute.
A steamer could also be used.

Method:

Mix boiling water into ragi flour in small quantities. The water is mixed in by rubbing it into the flour, so that the flour becomes granular, resembling the texture of bread crumbs. It should not be too dry or too wet.

Mix 5 tbsp of grated coconut and salt into the flour..

Place a layer of 2-3 tbsp of coconut at the bottom of the puttu vessel and then put the rice flour mixture, followed by another layer of coconut.

Steam for 10 minutes.

Remove the puttu from the vessel and serve hot with kadala or payar curry, plaintains or just sugar and ghee.

All Posts, Desserts

Banana Sheera

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Satyanarayana Puja Prasadams - Banana Sheera
Satyanarayana Puja Prasadams – Banana Sheera

Banana sheera for me always conjures up memories of being invited to beautiful satyanarayan pujas. This was a sweet we never ate at home and was my favourite part of the puja, something I would eagerly look forward to. It was always a bit frustrating to receive so little as prasad, although as kids, we would sometimes turn on the charm and ask for more. The elders were always happy to oblige.

It was such a joy to learn to make this, and it remains one of my favorite dishes to whip up when cousins come visiting, as this is always, always a hit.

Traditionally for the puja, they use 1 cup of all the first five ingredients, along with a cup of water. This being too rich and too sweet for me, I tend to reduce the quantities a bit.

Ingredients:

1 cup semolina/ suji
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup ghee
2 cups milk
1 cup mashed banana
3 tbsp raisins and nuts
¼ tsp nutmeg powder

Method:

Heat the ghee and add the rava. Roast.

While the rava is still roasting, heat the milk and sugar together.

Once the rava is fragrant, pour the hot milk in and continue cooking. Be careful at this stage as the milk tends to boil violently and splash all over the place. Be ready with a lid to be safe.

Cook until it is nearly dry, and then add the raisins and banana.

Take off the flame when it has reached a semi solid consistency.

Heat some ghee and add the nuts. When light brown, pour them onto the sheera.

Serve Hot.

Serves 2 for breakfast, or 4 as dessert

All Posts, Sides

Capsicum, Drumstick Flower Masala

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Ingredients

6 big green bell peppers (capsicum) de-seeded and cut into cubes
1 onion, cut into large pieces and separate the layers
¾ cup drumstick flowers, stem removed and washed
1 potato, peeled and cubed
2 cups water
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 bay leaf (tej patta)
2 pods cardamom (elaichi)
salt to taste

For the masala:

2 tsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp white sesame seeds
6-7 cashew nuts
2 tbsp peanuts
2 tbsp grated coconut
1 onion, chopped
1 green chili, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
½ tsp turmeric powder
⅓ tsp red chili powder
1½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp garam masala powder

Method:

Dry roast the pea nuts for about 8 minutes, add cashew nuts, poppy seeds and sesame seeds till they lightly brown, add grated coconut and stir for another 3 minutes. Remove and put on a plate to cool

Add 1 tbsp oil to the same pan, fry the finely cut onion and green chilli. When the onion browns, add the ginger garlic paste and fry for a few seconds.

Add the tomato pieces, stir and cook till it is cooked. Add all the masala powders (ingredients # 10 to 13), and cook till it starts leaving the sides.

Remove from the flame and let it cool completely

Grind the dry roasted ingredients and the onion tomato mixture with a little water to a smooth paste

Heat the pan again with 1 tbsp oil, add jeera, bay leaf and cardamoms.

When the cumins splutter, add the cubed capsicums, potato and drumstick flowers and fry till the capsicum pieces soften.

Add salt and 1 cup water. Cover and cook on low flame for about 8 minutes, till the potato pieces are almost done.

Now add the ground masala, stir well and add the remaining 1 cup water slowly, to adjust the consistency.

Simmer for about five minutes and remove from the flame.

It is a great accompaniment for chapatis, and goes well with steamed rice too.

All Posts, Mains

Kala Chana Pulao

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Kala Chana Pulao
Kala Chana Pulao

There are two kinds of cooks. Those who plan ahead, and those who open the refrigerator when they are hungry and wonder what they should make. I belong to the second category. I have, believe it or not, had to train myself to plan ahead, because as a result of my nature, I ended up never getting to make things like idly, or anything that needed planning.

Anyway, this dish came about as a result of exactly that lack of planning. I was visiting my sister, it was a lazy afternoon and suddenly we realized that we didn’t have a plan. It turned out that there was some soaked kala chana. And rice. I was too lazy to make kadala curry AND rice. So I just threw everything into one pot. We liked the result so much that I had to note the recipe down and email it to everyone 😀

Serves 2
Time: 30 min

Ingredients:

1 cup kala chana
1 cup rice
1 cup chopped vegetables – baby corn, potato, carrot
½ cup chopped onion
1 tsp chopped green chili
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 tsp chopped garlic
½ tsp haldi/ turmeric powder
¼ tsp chili powder
½ tsp dhania/  coriander powder
2 sprigs curry leaves
½ tsp mustard seeds
¼ cup fresh coconut, grated
2 tbsp coriander leaves
1 tbsp coconut oil or ghee

Method:

Soak overnight, and pressure cook kala chana in 2-3 cups water for 10 min.

Drain and reserve the water.

In a pressure cooker, heat oil or ghee, add mustard seeds, curry leaves, chopped ginger and garlic, and green chili. Add onion.

Add the vegetables and chana and cook for a couple of min, then add the rice. Add 2 cups water (can use the water in which the chana was cooking), salt, haldi, chili and coriander powder. Pressure cook for 5 min.

When done, add grated coconut and chopped coriander leaves. Yummy pulao is ready!!

All Posts, Breakfast

Neer Dosa (Rice Pancakes)

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This is a very special Manglorean dosa. It is my favorite among all dosas, and it is such a pity that even most South Indians have no clue what it is. Very very few restaurants serve it. In Bangalore, you can probably find neer dosas on the menu in restaurants that serve Mangalorean cusine.

The name is ‘neer’ dosa, which literally translates to water dosa. The batter is so, so thin, it is like cooking with water, hence the name. This is a recipe that can be very very hard if you don’t get the basics right, and very easy once you’re set. As I taught myself how to make it, it took me a few months to get everything right, but I pass on all my lessons here, and I’ve been told that many people have gotten it right thanks to the instructions. I hope you do too!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 cups rice
½ coconut, freshly grated
Salt, Water

Equipment:

Wet grinder/ food processor/ mixer
A flat iron skillet is the perfect skillet to make neer dosas in.
In its absence, you may use flat non-stick pans.

Method:

Soak the rice overnight in enough water. Drain.

Grind the coconut and rice along with a little water, until very smooth.

Add plenty of water to make a really thin batter.

Smear oil on a hot skillet and place it on high heat.

When it smokes, pour the batter onto the skillet. The batter should be thin enough to bubble, and holes should appear the moment it is poured on the skillet.

Reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook.

When done, fold and serve. (Since the dosa is so thin, it is not cooked on the reverse side.)

It is typically served with coconut chutney and a mixture of jaggery and grated coconut.

All Posts, Easy Recipes, Mains

Spaghetti w Tuna Marinara Sauce

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spaghetti with tuna sauce

This meal is for those days when you want a fairly nutritious meal but don’t want to work too hard. If you’re really lazy, you could even heat up ready-made pasta sauce, throw in canned pasta, and your sauce is ready in 2 minutes.

The time to cook might look a bit long here, but it’s really about some initial work, and then letting it cook by itself.

Time taken: 20 min
Serves 4

Ingredients

350 gms/ 15 oz spaghetti
1 150gm/ 5oz can tuna in brine, drained
6 big or 8 medium tomatoes
1 onion
4-5 cloves of garlic
2 tsp dried parsley
½ cup fresh Italian basil leaves
½ cup dry white wine (optional)
2½ tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Method

Bring a large pot of water to boil.

Meanwhile, chop up the tomatoes and onion finely. (I like my sauce chunky. If you like it smooth, puree the tomatoes and onion separately)

Heat the oil in a skillet and add the garlic, and the onion after the garlic turns light brown.

Once the onions are light brown, add the tomatoes. Add the salt.

Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, checking occasionally.

Once the water starts boiling, add the spaghetti and cook as per the directions on the pack. Drain.

Once the tomatoes are cooked and mushy, add the wine and allow it to simmer till the sauce is at the desired consistency.

Add the crumbled tuna. Stir and add the basil and parsley.

Remove from heat, serve on top of the spaghetti.