Recipes from Kadapa and Beyond

Comfort Food - Tomato Pappu

2007-10-03T01:20:00.000-07:00

There is something really soothing about a big bowl of hot rice, tomato pappu, neyyi(clarified butter/ghee) and some Andhra avakaya. I get the avakaya from my aunt ( Mom's elder sister) in India with an appadam on the side. She makes it the best and none of these store bought ones give that taste.

Let's get to the tomato pappu recipe. It's super simple. I use roma tomatoes for this because they give slightly tangy taste compares to the beefsteak variety.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
Kandi Pappu(toor dal) - 1/2 cup
Roma Tomatoes - 3 diced into big chunks.
Onions - 1/4 cup diced into big chunks
Green Chillies - 3 sliced length wise
Garlic - 3 cloves crushed
Salt - To taste
Turmeric - pinch
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp - 1tsp ( depending on your palate)
Oil - as needed

For Popu:
Curry leaves - 4
Dried red chillies - 2
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Inguva ( Asafoetida) - pinch

Procedure:

- Wash the lentils and pressure cook it with 2 cups of water, tomatoes and green chillies for one whistle.
- If you do not have a pressure cooker. Cook just the lentils in a pot and add tomatoes and chillies to the pan in the next step.
- Heat oil in a wide wok. Add the popu ingredients. Once the mustard seeds start sputtering, add garlic and onions and saute till onions are soft.
-Add the cooked lentil, tomato and chillies to this.
-Add salt, turmeric and red chilli powder.
- Check for seasonings and cook on medium-low till you get a thick soup like consistency but not too watery.
-Remove from heat and serve it with hot rice.

Maggi Noodles

2007-10-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

My cousin Vittal called me couple of weeks ago asking for this recipe because my nephew wanted it for dinner :). I gave him the recipe on the phone and I thought I would share it here.

These are like Indian version of Ramen Noodles. They recently came up with whole what noodles with sambar tastemaker. I tried that variety today and boy was it good. You can use frozen mixed vegetables if you want but I used fresh ones today. I used a big carrot but use small or medium.

Ingredients:
Maggi noodles - big pack ( has 4 sets of noodles)
Water - 3 cups
Carrot - 1 small diced
Green beans - 1/3 cup cut into small pieces
Corn Kernels - Handful
Napa cabbage - 4 leaves chopped
Onions - 1/4 cup
Zuchhini - 1/4 cup diced
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
Red Chili powder - 1 tsp.
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 tsp.

Procedure:
Bring water to a boil in a deep vessel. Add the noodles and taste maker and cook till noodles soak up all the water and are soft to touch. Mix well so that the tastemaker masala gets into the noodles ( don't over do it though)

Heat oil in a wide skillet . Add cumin, garlic and red chili powder.
Add onions, and all other vegetables. Season with salt.
Cover and cook on medium-low flame for 5 - 8 minutes till the veggies are soft.
Once the vegetables are cooked, add the noodles to this mixture.
Mix well so that noodles and veggies are blended in.
Check for seasonings.
Serve hot.

My parents like to use ketchup on the side with this but let me tell you that using ketchup on this dish is a crime in my book. It tastes great just the way it is. Add hot sauce or something if you want but not ketchup. It ruins the whole taste. Also Prabu likes chips with it for the crunch factor :)

Jaden's Silver Noodles

2007-10-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

I am addicted to Steamy Kitchen. I am so close to stalking her and her blog :). When she posted my favorite noodle recipe, I had to try it at home. It came out very good except I forgot to add spinach. Here is her recipe.

It took me so long to try it because I had to go get me that julienne peeler first. Prabu tried, "I can cut them for you like that without the peeler." No thanks hon, I haz my peeler ;).

Verdict from the family is that I should include these noodles on my menu rotation. Now Prabu is hoping, I will try different things on the menu when we go out instead of ordering glass noodles every time.

Here are the sad pictures :).

One more of Jaden's dish ( or is it Jeremy's)

2007-10-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Jaden goes to extreme lengths to get certain recipes (you know dating guys from different countries). When she doesn't get a recipe from the guy directly she harasses his wife to get it for her :). This is one such recipe and boy am I glad she took the trouble to get it. Here is her recipe for Dukkah.

I decided to try it simply because it has two of my favorite ingredients: Chili flakes and garlic powder. I didn't have malden salt so I used regular salt. I modified the quantity a bit because I didn't want to make a pound of dukkah as we are leaving for a 5 week trip soon. And I also used this on a different vegetable. I used what in English is called bottle gourd. It's called Louki in hindi, anapakaya or sorakaya in telugu. You can get it in any Asian store.

Ingredients:

Anapakaya - 4 cups - diced
Oil - as needed
Salt - to taste.

For Dukkah:

Almonds - 1 cup toasted in the oven at 375 degrees
Cumin seeds - 1 Tbsp toasted
Chili flakes - 1 Tbsp.
Garlic Powder - 1/2 Tbsp.
Lemon Zest - pinch - dried in the oven

- Grind them all into fine powder and keep it in an air-tight container.

Procedure:

Heat oil in a wide skillet. Add the anapakaya pieces. Season with salt. Cover lid and cook on medium-low heat for 3 to 5 minutes. remove the lid off and cook till the pieces are tender but not too mushy. Sprinkle 2 Table spoons of the dukkah on the vegetables and turn the stove off. Mix well and check taste. If you are like me who just falls in love with the dukkah because it smells so good, add 2 more Tbsp.:).

Chicken Curry - Part One

2007-10-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

There are a gazillion ways to make chicken curry. None of them involve curry powder event hough it's called a curry. You can play with your spices with these curries. Here is my try for today. This is a little gravyish curry. You can have it with roti or hot rice.

The red chili powder I use is very very spicy. You can adjust the quantity depending on your taste palate :).

Ingredients:

Chicken - 2 lbs - Boneless and skinless cut into bite size pieces
Ginger and garlic paste - 1 tsp.
Yogurt - 3 Tbsp.
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp.
Turmeric - 1/2 + 1/2 Tsp.
Red chili Powder - 2 tsp.
Garam Masala - 1 tsp.

- Marinate chicken in above spices. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Mean while, get your other ingredients ready.

Grind to paste:
Coconut- 1/2 cup grated (I used frozen grated coconut)
Green chillies - 2
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp.
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Cinnamon Stick - size shown in the picture :)
Cloves - 7
Cardamom - 3
Water - 1/3 cup

For the curry:
Red Onions - 2 cups finely diced
Tomato - 1 medium finely diced
Red chili Powder - 2 tsp.
Turmeric - pinch
Oil - as needed
Salt - to taste

Procedure:

Heat oil in a thick bottomed dish. Saute onions till golden brown with little salt.
Add red chili powder and turmeric and saute for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, chicken, the ground coconut paste and mix well. Add1/3 cup of water. Cover and cook on medium flame till chicken is tender. Remove the lid, season with enough salt and cook till you get a thick gravy. Turn of the stove and serve hot.

I used a pressure cooker because meat comes out much tender when cooked in it. You could cover and let it cook for 1 whistle.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

2007-10-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

My grocery store carries black beans which are brown in color. Don't ask, they are just dark brown but the can says black beans. Whatever.

I made this salad for my mom as she eats only salads for lunch now a days. Dressing is very very easy too. If you do not have balsamic vinegar, just use regular lemon juice.

Ingredients:

Black Beans - 1 can ( 8 Oz)
Corn Kernels - 1 cup ( If using frozen kernels, microwave them for 1 minute)
Tomatoes - 1/2 cup seeded and diced fine
Red Bell Pepper - 1/2 cup diced fine
Yellow Bell Pepper - 1/2 cup diced fine
Red Onion - 1/2 cup diced fine
Jalapeno - 1 seeded and diced

Balsamic Vinegar - 2Tbsp.
Olive oil - 1 tsp.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper - to taste

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and serve chilled :).

So easy even a caveman can do it;)

Penne Alla Vodka and Curried eggs

2007-10-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

I committed a crime last night. You see, I swore I will never do anything to original Italian recipes. Oh well I lost it last night. I got too creative. Granted it wasn't a perfect match but the dish was good. And no, I don't make my sauces from scratch all the time. Especially anything that involves liquor like Vodka. I have alcoholics in the house who will finish those before I get the bottles to the kitchen ;).

I pressure cooked beaten eggs. If you do not have a pressure cooker you can cook these eggs in frittata style.

Ingredients:

Whole wheat penne pasta - 2 cups dry
Vodka Sauce - 1 heaping cup
Large Eggs - 3
Egg whites - from 3 eggs
Onions - 1/2 cup sliced thin
Olive oil - 1tsp + as needed for pasta
Curry Powder - 1 tsp. ( I bought Mccormicks brand)
Garlic powder - 1/4 tsp.
Red Chili flakes - per taste
Salt - as needed
Freshly ground pepper - per taste
Butter - to coat a pan

Procedure:

- Beat eggs, egg whites with curry powder, garlic powder, slat and pepper, 1 tsp. olive oil till well blended.
- Transfer this into a butter coated vessel and pressure cook for about 15 minutes till cooked.
- Loosen the edges of the vessel and transfer it into a plate. After cooked it should look something like below. Cut it into bite size pieces and keep aside.

- Mean while, cook the pasta according to package instructions with oil and salt. When the pasta is 3/4ths cooked, heat oil in a wide skillet.
- Add red chili flakes, onion slices and suate till onions are golden brown. Season them with salt.
- Add the steam cooked egg pieces to this and saute for 30 seconds, remove form the pan and keep aside.
- Bring the pan back on to the stove and heat the vodka sauce. If the sauce looks too thick add 1/4 cup of pasta cooking water to it.
- Add the pasta to the sauce and mix well for a minute or to.

- Transfer the pasta into a bowl and add the curried egg on top.

Suji's Vegeterian Gumbo

2007-10-18T20:39:00.000-07:00

I add my "Suji's" tag to any dish I create based on a traditional recipe. I have to for veggie and grocery shopping this weekend and when I checked my freezer and pantry, I had few things. After debating for 2 minutes as to what to make for dinner, here is what I came up with. I served this gumbo with brown rice. Also, I think I will add some shrimp next time ;).

Ingredients:

Cut Okra - 1lb ( I used frozen cut okra)
Ready cut diced tomatoes - One 15 OZ can
Chick Peas - One 15 oz can
White onions - 1 cup finely diced
Red bell pepper - 1 finely diced
Celery - 1/2 cup finely diced
Garlic - 3 cloves minced
Salt - to taste
Water - 1 cup
Butter - 2 tsps.
Oil - 3 Tbsp.

Seasonings:
Paprika - 1 Tbsp.
Red Chili Powder - 1.5 tsps.
Oregano - 1tsp
Rosemary - 1/2 tsp.
White pepper - pinch
Nutmeg - pinch
All spice - pinch

Procedure:

- Heat butter and oil in a skillet or wide bottomed pot.
- Add garlic, onions, celery and bell pepper. Season with slat and saute till soft.
- Add everything under seasonings and saute for one minute.
- Add the tomatoes, okra and chickpeas.
- Stir the pot or pan without using the spatula.
- Add the cup of water, adjust seasonings, cover and cook for 15 minutes on medium-low flame.
- Check in between but do not mix too much.
- Remove the lid to see okra is cooked. You will notice that okra is not sticky at all (something about canned tomatoes sourness).
- Now cook on high for a minute or two till you get a thick consistency.

Remove form heat and serve over hot brown rice.

Comfort Food - Bisibela Bhaath

2007-10-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

My colleague asked for this recipe last weekend. Since I never made it before, I came up with a recipe of how it should be made and gave it to her. She said it turned out awesome which is always nice to hear. So I decided to make it today and changed couple of things around than the original recipe but here it is.

As I mentioned earlier, anything with rice is comfort food for me. And when you add lentils and vegetables, hmmmmm.........

Note:
1. If you do not the instant bisibela bhaath mix - here are the standard ingredients that go into making the powder.
- Coriander seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, Chana dal (senagapappu/bengal gram), asafoetida, dried red chillies.

2. I bought bisibela bath mix which has tamarind pulp in it. So I did not use tamarind paste. If you buy the powder add a table spoon of tamarind extract to this.

3. I added edamame instead of green peas.

4. The mix I bought was very salty so I used very little salt. You can adjust this mix according to your taste.

Ingredients:

Toor dar/Kandi pappu ( lentils) - 1 cup dry
Rice - 1.5 cups dry
Ground nuts - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 3 slit length wise
Carrot - 1 cup cut into 1/2 inch strips
Green beans - 1 cup cut into small pieces
Edamame - 1/2 cup shelled
Corn kernels - 1/2 cup
Red pepper - 1 diced
Bisibela bath mix - 3 Tbsp - 5 Tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Inguva ( asafoetida) - pinch
Dried red chilli - 2
Curry leaves - 6
Salt - to taste ( the mix had salt so I used very little)
Butter - 2 tsp.
Oil - 4 tsp. +2 tsp.
Water - 1/2 to 1 cup

Procedure:
- Wash and cook lentils with 6 cups of water. If you have a pressure cooker you can use 2 cups of water and cook it for 2 whistles.
- Wash and cook rice with 4 cups of water.
- In a wide pot, heat oil and butter. Add ground nuts and fry them till they turn pale brown.
- Add green chillies and all the vegatbles.
- Season with little salt and saute for 2 minutes.
- Add 1/4 cup of water, cover and cook till vegetables are tender.
- Add the bisibela bath mix. Mix well with veggies.
- Add cooked lentils and mix well.
- Add cooked rice 1 cup of water and mix well. Make sure the heat is on medium to medium low.
- Turn the stove off and serve hot with papadams.

I served it with oven baked crinkle fries:). I will post pictures for this later tonight as the battery died while uploading them.

Edited to add: I added the picture of the veggies. I do not have any pitcures of the final product because the familia finished it off before I could take a picture of final prodcut.

Lemon Rice

2007-10-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

There are 3 different ways that I make lemon rice.

- Kadapa Way with putnala pappu (Dhalia) podi and ground green chillies and ginger
- Easy way with basic popu(tadka)
- Mother in law's way with roasted ground fenugreek, mustard and cumin seeds.

Yesterday I did the easy way. Here is a picture of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

Rice - 2 cups (Uncooked)
Green Chillies - 5 cut into small pieces ( adjust this according to your spice level)
Curry leaves - 8 to 10
Ginger - 1 Tsp Grated
Senaga Pappu ( Chana dal) - 2 Tsp.
Minapappu (Urad Dal) - 2tsp.
Peanuts - 1/4 cup
Dried Red Chillies - 2
Cumin Seeds - 2 Tsp.
Mustard Seeds - 2Tsp.
Asafoetida - Pinch
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp.
Lemon Juice - 4 Tbsp. (Adjust according to your taste)
Salt - to taste
Oil - as needed

Procedure:

- Cook rice with 4 cups of water and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a wide skillet. Add mustard, cumin seeds and asafoetida.
- Add senagapappu, minapappu, dried red chillies, curry leaves and pea nuts.
- Saute them for few minutes. Once the lentils start to turn golden brown, Add green chillies, ginger and salt.
- Cook for 30 seconds. Add lemon juice and turmeric.
- Turn the flame to low and mix the cooked rice to this mixture. Adjust seasonings.

In Kadapa, they would always serve this rice with a dryish wet potato curry. Since the family is on all sorts of diet, we rarely cook potatoes. I did serve with some dondakaya fry. Recipe for it later :).

Fried Egg Sandwich

2007-10-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

The quantity for ingredients below makes 4 sandwiches. Me and my familia are not a big fan of runny eggs. So the nicely cooked eggs and the sandwich. We had it with macaroni salad and pickle on the side.

Ingredients:

Whole grain bread - 8 slices
Eggs - 4 large + 2 egg whites
Onions - 1 small cut into circles
Tomato - 1 small cut into circles
Romaine Lettuce - few leaves
Mayonnaise - 1 Tbsp.
Spicy Mustard - 1 Tbsp.
Chilli Oil - dash ( optional)
Salt and pepper - per taste
Oil - as needed.

Procedure:

- In a bowl, whisk 4 eggs and the 2 egg whites with slat and pepper.
- Make an omelette with the eggs in a wide skillet. You can do individual small ones. I made one big one and cut it into 4 parts.
- Mix mayo, mustard and chilli oil.
- Toast bread and spread the mayo mixture on one or both sides as you need.
- Arrange omelette on one side and lettuce, tomatoes and onions on the other.
- cut in triangles and serve.

Macaroni Salad

2007-10-24T09:03:00.001-07:00

I am not a big fan of sugary gooey macaroni salads. So I came up with this one which uses the left over ingredients from the fried egg sandwich I created the other night. Feel free to increase, decrease, add, remove the ingredients the way you want. This is all about your personal taste and style :).

Ingredients:

Macaroni - 2 cups cooked
Onion - 4 Tbsp. minced
Tomato - 1/4 cup chopped roughly
Sun Dried Tomatoes - 1/4 cup chopped
Garlic powder - 1/4 tsp.
Dried Basil - 1/4 tsp.
Olive oil - 2 Tbsp.
Salt and freshly ground pepper - per taste

Procedure:

- Mix everything except macaroni in a bowl. Set aside for 5 minutes.
- Add macaroni. Mix well. Adjust seasonings and serve.

Goruchikkudukaya Koora (Cluster Beans Curry)

2007-10-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Before I start the recipe, just wanted to let you guys know that I added links to Rayalaseema and Kadapa on to the left side. Because I will keep using them a lot in my write-ups and I don't wnat you to go, "What the heck is Kadapa?" :).

Today I made this curry for lunch. Goruchikkudu is also called as mattikkayalu in Rayalaseema region. I found out that they call it cluster beans in English after I came to this country. In Hindi, It's Guvar. I used to buy them fresh but lately I realized, the frozen variety are much better and they are already pre-cut for you.

So here is a recipe that one of my neighborhood aunty use dto make in Kadapa. She used to add dried coconut powder but I did not as mom's on a diet.

Ingredients:
Cluster Beans - 1 Lb
Red Onion - 1 cup finely diced
Green Chillies - 6 (increase or decrease this per your spice level)
Garlic - 3 cloves crushed
Curry Leaves - 8
Putnala Pappu (Dhalia) - 2 Tbsp.
Senagapappu (Chana Dal) - 2 Tbsp.
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Mustard Seeds - 1Tsp.
Turmeric - Pinch
Oil - as needed
Salt - Per taste

Procedure:
- Roast Senagapappu and putnala pappu.
- Grind it with green chillies and half the curry leaves.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard, cumin seeds,curry leaves and garlic.
- Saute for 30 seconds and add onions.
- Season with salt and turmeric and saute till onions are soft.
- Add the beans and half cup of water.
- Cover and cook on medium to low heat till the beans are fully cooked.
- Add the ground putnalapappu powder to this and mix well.
- Saute till all the water is evaporated and beans are well mixed with the masala.

Remove from heat and serve with hot rice and some sambar or pappu.

Dosakai Pappu

2007-10-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

Give me any vegetable and I will make a pappu put of it ( basically lentils with veggies). This one is with Dasakai. Not sure what It's called in english but that's what we call it in telugu land. I was surprised t find this vegetable in my local Asian grocery store under Japanese vegetables category with the name "Dose-Kai".Hahaha funny I know.

Anywho, my cousins were visiting this weekend and I served this pappu with Goruchikkudu kaya koora, rasam and fried vodiyalu (dried lentil fritters depp fried).

Ingredients:
Kandi pappu ( Toor Dal ) - 1 cup dry cooked with 4 cups water
Dosakai - 1 medium sized cubed.
Green Chillies - 3 - 5
Onions - 1/4 cup cubed (Optional)
Garlic - 3-4 cloves chopped roughly
Curry Leaves - 4 to 6
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Turmeric - Pinch
Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Salt - As needed
Oil - As needed

- If you look at the picture above, you can see that there are seeds in the center of that vegetable. Scrape that off completely and you will get something that's next to it.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard, cumin seeds. Once they start to splutter add garlic, curry leaves, green chillies and onions.
- Saute for few minutes and add the dosakai.
- Add slat and turmeric and 1/4 cup of water. Cover and cook till the veggies are tender.
- Add chilli powder and fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the cooked lentils to this(you can add any extra water you have left over form cooking the lentils).
- Cover and cook on low heat for 5 minutes.
- Uncover and cook till you get a thick stew like consistency.
- Turn off stove and serve with hot rice and some melted butter.

Vegetable Biriyani

2007-10-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

I am not going to go into the difference between biriyani, pulao and all. I know you can easily look it up on wiki or even "google" it. So I am just going to give you my recipe of what and How I make biriyani.

Most of the dry spices can be bought in regular stores or you can even look them up in your ethnic food stores.

Depending on how mushy your rice becomes use either 6 or 8 cups of water for 4 cups of rice. Since I used sona masori rice instead of basmati, and the brand I used takes lot of water I used 8 cups. However I usually follow 1.5 cups of water per 1 cup of rice.
Rice – 4 cups dry
Water – 6 to 8 cups
Red Onions - Onions – 1.5 cups sliced
Roma Tomatoes – 2 medium chopped fine
Mixed vegetables – 1.5 cups ( mix of carrot, corn, bean, peas)
Ginger Garlic paste – 1 Tbsp.
Mint – few sprigs
Curry Leaves – 6
Green Chillies – 4
Lemon Juice – 4 Tsps.
Garam Masla – 2 Tsp.
Red Chilli Powder 1 tsp.
Salt – To taste
Butter – 2 Tbsp.
Oil – ¼ cup
Dry Masala:
Cloves – 8 (2 per cup of rice)
Cinnamon – 1 inch piece
Cardamom – 4 (1 per cup of rice)
Japatri ( mace) – 2 crushed to pieces
Marathi Mogga ( badi Elaichi) – 2
Cumin Seeds – 1 Tsp.
Dry Bay Leaf - 2

Procedure:
- Wash rice and soak it in water.
- Mince curry leaves, mint and green chillies together.
- Heat butter and oil in a pan. Add all the dry masala. Fry for 30 seconds on medium flame making sure they don’t burn.
- Add curry leaves, mint and chilli mixture to this. Stir and fry for 20 seconds.
- Add onions and ginger garlic paste.
- Season with just enough salt for onions and cook till onions are soft.
- Add mixed vegetables to this. Season with salt. Cover and cook till vegetables are tender.
- Add garam masala, red chilli powder and sauté till the raw smell of hcilli powder is gone.
- Add tomatoes and lemon juice. Cover and cook till tomatoes are soft.
After this you can cook in two different ways
Procedure 1:
- Remove rice from water and add it to the cooked masala mixture. Stir till the rice grains are mixed with masala.
- Add 8 cups of water to this. Season with salt. Water should be a bit salty.
- Cover and turn the heat to high and bring it to a boil.
- Turn the flame to low and cook till rice is done. To check if you stick a spoon it should come out dry.

Procedure 2:
- Add 8 cups of water and rice together to the masala mixture instead of frying the rice first.
- Follow the rest of the steps as above.

Starting at the top from left:
Cumin seeds, bay leaf, garam masala, cardamom pods broken
cloves and cinnamon, japatri ( mace), Red Chili Powder, Marathi Mogga

Final Product - I am no food porn photographer;)

Prabu's Bread Upma

2007-11-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

Oh yes he did. He cooked after what it seemed like an eternity. We had to finish all the produce and bread we got before we leave for our 5 week trip this Saturday. So he took over bread upma. I did not give him any suggestions or tips. He did everything on his own ;). It was good.

Ingredients:

Whole grain bread - 10 - 12 slices cut into cubes
Red Onion - 1 large thinly sliced length wise
Yellow pepper - 1 julienned
Green Chillies - 4 sliced length wise (take the seeds out if you want it to be less spicy)
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp.
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Oil - as needed

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard and cumin seeds.
- Once they start to sputter, add green chillies, onions and pepper and saute till soft.
- Season with salt and add cut bread pieces to this mixture.
- Turn the flame to medium-low to low and cook the bread to make sure it forms a crust all around with the help of the heat from the wok.
- Prabu says the key is to stir in between making sure it gets an even crust.

Suji's Peas Pulao

2007-12-17T07:11:00.001-08:00

Husband wanted peas pulao to go with the chicken curry I made yesterday. here is what I came up with. Sometimes I look up recipes and sometimes ( I should say most times) I cook based on what the title suggests. Peas pulao obviously has peas and since Prabu wanted a light flavored rice here is how I did it.

I used frozen peas that I got from Indian grocery store. The reason I specify the grocery store is simple. The peas you get in Indian grocery stores are not sweet. Also, i get frozen coriander cubes from Trader Joe's which makes my life easier. I hate chopping coriander :).

Ingredients:

Rice - 1.5 cups
Peas - 1 cup
Onions - 1 cup thinly sliced
Coriander - 1 Tbsp. Minced
Green Chillies - 2 slit length wise
Cumin seeds - 1.5 tsp.
Black Cardamom ( badi elaichi) - 1
Cloves - 6
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece broken
Dry Bay Leaves - 1 big broken into pieces
Oil - 3 Tbsp.
Butter - 1Tbsp.
Salt As needed
Water - 3 cups

Procedure:

- Heat oil and butter in wide skillet.
- Add all the dry ingredients ( cumin, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf and black cardamom).
- Saute for 30 seconds and turn the flame to low.
- Add coriander and green chillies. and saute for 20 seconds. Add onions.
- Season onions with salt and saute till they are soft.
- Add green peas and season them with slat. Cover and cook on medium- medium low flame till peas are cooked through.
- Wash the rice and drain water.
- Add the rice to the peas and onions mixture and stir till all the rice and spices are mixed well.
- Add 3 cups of water and turn the flame to high and cover the skillet.
- Once water comes to a boil turn the flame to low and check for seasoning. The water should taste tad bit salty for it to get to the rice.
- cook for 10 to 12 minutes checking in between to see rice is not sticking at the bottom
- Let the skillet be covered with a lid all the time.

Once you se ethat the rice is cooked, turn off and serve.

Coriander Cubes

2007-12-20T15:00:00.000-08:00

I do not like coriander at all. I very rarely use it as a garnish. I do use it discretely in many dishes as long as I don't see the leaves. I started buying the frozen coriander cubes from Trader Joe's as I hate all the work associated with cleaning, chopping of these leaves.

However, I am also trying to save money for this ;), so I decided to try making these cubes myself. I bought the ice cube tray from ikea.

Here's what you need and here's how I did.

Ingredients:

Coriander - 3 bunches
Water - 1/2 to 1 cup

Procedure:

- Tear individual leaves nad tender stems of coriander and rinse them thoroughly under cold water.
- Mince them in a food processor with 1/2 to 1 cup of water. It should be a tad bit liquidy.
- Pour the coriander into the ice molds and freeze them

Good Ol' Potato Fry

2007-12-20T18:38:00.000-08:00

Again, super easy. For me everything is easy. If not I try to make it easy :). The key to this dish is not to mess with it too much by stirring and mixing and things;). Check the picture below to see how I cut the potatoes. I will try to come up with a better picture next time. I cut them into thin pieces.

Ingredients:

Russet potatoes - 4 cut into small pieces

Olive Oil - 1/8 cup
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp.
Red Chilli powder - as spicy as you want
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp. (optional)
Salt - to taste

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a wide pan (preferably non-stick). Add potatoes.
- Season with salt, turmeric and mix well.
- Turn the flame to medium to medium low and let it do it's thing.
- stir once in between and make sure potatoes are not sticking to the pan (they won't)
- When potatoes are 3/4 cooked, add cumin seeds and garlic powder. Mix once.
- Once potatoes are completely cooked through, add chilli powder. Saute till the raw chilli smell is gone. Remove from heat and serve.

Saturday Lunch

2007-12-22T19:52:00.000-08:00

After eating leftovers for lunch on week days, Prabu prefers a nice sit-down meal for weekends. It's usually a vegetarian luncheon on Saturday and non-veg lunch on Sundays.

This week I made:

Tomatillo Pappu
Mustard Greens Masiyal
Plantain fry
Fire roasted pappad ;)

Recipes coming soon. Till then enjoy the fugly pictures:)

Curried Corn stuffed Yellow Chillies

2008-01-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

I found these chillies in my super market the other day and decided to try them. They are super spicy with the seeds inside but once you deseed and take the veins out, they are very good for stuffing. I was debating between a cream cheese filling and others. Decided to go with corn. I used Mccormick's curry powder. As far as I know, none of the Indian curry powders taste that way. use very little of the curry powder as it tends to overwhelm the dish.

Ingredients:

Yellow chillies - 6 washed, deseeded and split in half
Corn Kernels - 1 to 2 cups
White onion - 1/4 cup diced fine
Curry powder - 1/2 tsp.
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil - as needed
Pam or any oil for spraying the baking sheet

Procedure:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Boil the corn and just mash them lightly ( don't make it into a mushy paste)
- Heat oil in a skillet. Saute onions till soft and add corn to this.
- Add curry powder and season with slat and pepper to taste.
- Remove the mixture from heat and let it come to room temperature.
- Spray a baking pan with oil and arrange the chillies. Season them salt and pepper and brush them lightly with little bit oil.
- Add the corn and onion mixture to these chillies. It's usually 1 to 2 tablespoons of mixture per chilli.

- Bake them for 10 o 15 minutes.

Easy Peasy Spicy Toast Suji's Style

2008-01-10T09:51:00.000-08:00

Say that title fast 10 times ;). I used whole grain white bread for this, you can even use wheat bread if you like.

Ingredients:

White bread - 6 slices edges cut off and sliced into 4 squares
Tomato - 1/4 cup deseeded and chopped fine
Onions - 1/4 cup chopped fine
Green Chillies - chopped
Cheese - American cheese slices ( optional)
Salt and pepper - to taste
Mustard Oil - 2 Tsp.

Procedure:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix onions, tomatoes, green chillies, salt, pepper and oil in a bowl and keep aside.
- Spray cooking oil in a baking pan and arrange the bread pieces.
- Scoop little bit of the onion and tomato mixture onto the bread slices.
- Bake them in the oven for 8 to 12 minutes or till bread is lightly toasted.
- If you are adding cheese, add them few minutes before you take the toast out of even so you get melted cheese and not burnt cheese.

Creamy Corn Soup ( From One Steamy Kitchen to the other)

2008-01-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

I decided to do a fried rice, soup and some sort of stir fried vegetable for lunch today. Ask me why? Because I bought new set of cute soup spoons, a nice new wok (ignoring Prabu's "Don't we have one wok already?") and I had to use them ;). I also put my microplane grater to use for the first time.

I got the soup recipe from Jaden's Steamy Kitchen. Here is the recipe.

I made very few changes to the soup in my kitchen.
- Used 2 cups of vegetable broth + 2 cups of water instead of the chicken stock.
- Used frozen corn kernels instead of fresh ears of corn
- Used dried parsley instead of fresh because..well I just forgot to pick it up at the grocery store :).

I have to say it turned out very good.

Vegetable Fried Rice

2008-01-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

Super simple fried rice :).

Ingredients:

Cooked Rice - 3 cups
carrots - 2 Finely diced
Celery - 2 finely diced
Snow peas - 12 - 14 chopped fine
Fresh water chest nuts - 6 finely diced
Onions - 1/4 cup finely diced
Garlic - 2 cloves minced
Ginger - 1 tsp. minced
Chili oil - 1 tsp.
Sesame Oil - 1 tsp.
Vegetable Oil - 3 Tsp.
Soy Sauce - 3 Tbsp. + 3 Tbsp.
Salt and pepper - to taste

Procedure:

- Mix 3 Tbsp. soy sauce to the white rice and keep it in the refrigerator.
- Heat chili, soy and vegetable oils in a wok.
- Add ginger, garlic and onions and saute till fragrant.
- Add the vegetables and stir for 3 minutes.
- Season with slat and pepper and add 3 Tbsp. soy sauce.
- Add the cooked rice to this mixture and stir till you can see the grain separate.

Turn off and serve.

Zucchini Pancakes or Cutlets

2008-01-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of Ina Garten. I am in the process of starting to collect her cook books and bought her "Barefoot Contessa At Home" couple of months ago. I made Zucchini pancakes from that book earlier and it came out good. It's a very simple recipe with grated zucchini, eggs, flour and stuff.

However, I made these yesterday without eggs as my mom doesn't eat eggs on Thursday's ( don't even ask;)). I added a 8OZ can of washed cannellini beans that I had on hand. I have to say it was very very good and was able to make V try one. he came back asking for more :).

Ingredients:

Zuchhini - 2 grated
Onion - 1 small chopped fine
Cannelini beans - One 8 Oz can drained and smashed (not puree)
Garlic powder - 1/2 tsp.
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp.
All purpose Flour - 1/2 to 1 cup
Baking powder - pinch (optional)
Salt and pepper - to taste
Oil - for pan frying

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a wide skillet
- Mix all the ingredients except flour.
- Add flour little bit at a time to get the Zucchini batter to a thick consistency. It should be thicker than usual pancake better.
- Make patties and pan fry them turning after 20 to 30 seconds on each side.

Serve hot with any hot and sour sauce.

The picture of these cutlets standing up has been taken with an inspiration from Jai and Bee's Sweet potato Crisps :).