Why re-invent the wheel? A.K.A Jugalbandi's Poli

Someone does all the hard work for you and tells you exactly how to do a dish with step by step pictures. What do you do then? Well, you just print the recipe and do it that night.

I made Jugalbandi's Puran Polis last night and I am thinking with this and that Prabu will not be saying anything about my shopping spree this weekend ;) or better yet, he might even drive me to the mall ;).

I did not change anything to the recipe. Just did as they told me to . Prabu even took some left overs to work today to share with his friends :).

My pictures suck but here is the proof :P

Greek Dinner - Falafels and Hummus

I made a full fledges Greek dinner the other night. Menu Included falafels, mini pitas, hummus, yogurt sauce, and mixed vegetable couscous and for toppings I had sliced red onions and lettuce.

Home made falafels from Mark Bitman's "How to cook Everything - vegetarian". He had a different version to use black eyed peas which is what I did. It's very simple. Soak black eyed peas for an hour and grind it with some onions, chili, ginger, cumin and coriander powder. Deep fry in oil as patties and your falafels are ready.

Yogurt sauce is made with home made yogurt with mint, cucumber and salt. Puree them all together and sauce is ready.

Saute your favorite veggies in olive oil. Cook couscous according to package directions. Mix them together and you have your veg. couscous.

For hummus, I simply pureed 1 can of chick peas with garlic, olive oil and lemon juice. I topped it with some paprika.

Edited to Add this: I was debating about whether to call it greek, middle eastern or lebanese. Wiki said falafels and hummus are Greek. Oh well, what's in a name. I had good food ;).

Steamy Fries gets your bedroom steamy

I spoke to a celebrity chef on phone today. She is featured regularly on Florida channels and you know her from my previous posts(I am very close to stalking her). After I hung up with her, I was planning my dinner menu around Tex-Mex Veg burgers I bought from Trader Joe's and it hit me that I have been putting off trying Jaden's Matchstick Fries.

I made the fries exactly the way she said and let me tell you, I am definitely getting lucky tonight because in Prabu's words, "Dinner is very very very good". It's usually , "It's good" but when he adds "very" that many times you know he means it :).

I was too lazy to get my mandoline from the box, so I used the julienne peeler that I bought(Jaden made me buy the peeler).

I will upload the pictures tomorrow. There is no set recipe for the sandwich. I used fresh french bread and spread some mustard and my quick mint chutney. Cook the burgers per instructions and set it on the bread. Top it with some onions, tomatoes, romaine lettuce and your favorite cheese. I added some hot peppers I picked up from the olive bar at the store.

I served the sandwich with the fries and macaroni salad made with red pepper, celery and cucumber drizzled with balsamic and olive oil(no mayo and stuff).

International? I think so

I was just thinking about what I made for dinner few days ago and what I have planned for next fews weeks and boy do we eat food from different cuisines. So far we do/did:

American
Chinese
Ethiopian
Greek
Italian
Indian
Mexican
Middle Eastern
Thai
Vietnamese

I know I have been slacking and I will update the blog with new recipes for a Greek dinner I made the other night. Just hold on tight..

Daal Sowjanya

To go with the Aloo Parathas, I made my quick mint chutney and daal (lentils). At the end we called it "Daal Sowjanya". Why? Here's how it went down.

Prabu: Wow, it's so yummy, what is this daal.
Me: I think I wanted to do Butter Daal but this has only tsp of butter.
Prabu: You didn't look at any recipe:
Me: Nope.
Prabu: I think this might be that daal maharani I had few years ago.
Me:No maharani business. I will just call it "Daal Sowjanya".
Prabu: Well, you are the maharani.
Me: Thanks, I know though ;).

Ingredients:

I used green whole beans ( Mung beans or pesalu in telugu). Since i came up with this recipe 30 minutes before dinner time, I didn't soak the beans long enough. So i pressure cooked it for 6 whistles. If you plan ahead, soak the beans over night. Then they cook much faster :).

Mung beans: 1 cup soaked in water
Frozen Peas - 1 cup
Onions - 1/2 cup diced
Tomatoes - 1/2 cup diced
Amchoor Powder - 1 tsp.
Black Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Turmeric - Pinch
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp.
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp.
Oil - 2 Tbsp.
Butter - 1 tsp.
Yogurt - 1/2 cup ( I use TJ's creamy European Style Yogurt)

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a pressure pan
- Saute onions till soft.
- Add salt, turmeric, black salt, amchoor powder, chilli powder and garam masala.
- Saute for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes.
- Cook till tomatoes are soft.
- Add the beans and peas and 2 cups of water.
- Pressure cook till beans are soft.
- Check for salt and seasoning.
- Bring the beans back tot he flame and add tsp. of butter and yogurt. Mix well. It should be of a thick soup consistency and not liquidy.