Food Recipe

Here’s a fantastic dinner for two!

Pan seared tomatoes:

Get your non-stick frying pan (preferably one with a thick bottom) screaming hot but not smoking. Drizzle some olive oil (extra virgin preferably as that does have a rather nice flavour) and once hot enough, just add tomatoes which are smallish in size (I used cherry tomatoes). Smallish in size because it’s all about the volume to surface area thing — smaller the size, better they sear! Throw in a pinch-full of any spices that you may choose EXCEPT salt. Add salt once you are ready to serve. (‘Coz adding salt too early just leaches out the oil and you have congealed red gunges instead of pan seared tomatoes). 

Roasted peppers:

I prefer red bell peppers over green peppers but you are free to choose the peppers of your liking; red, green, blue… whatever does the trick for you!  I sliced my peppers in halves as my oven has heating from the top and bottom. Chopping them in halves increases the surface area that you expose to the heat. 

Pre-heat your oven to 400F (roughly 200C), grease a pan and the peppers and pop them in the oven until they look close to getting charred. You can get them out of the oven earlier if you’d prefer.

In the mean time, dice some parboiled potatoes and fry them in your beloved frying pan. But this time WITH VEGETABLE OIL!

Here is why: To brown potatoes, you need a temperature of about 375 F. You CANNOT use olive oil because it starts SMOKING at 325-330F (which is a bad thing unless you are trying to reduce your potatoes to black dust). Vegetable oil doesn’t smoke for a bit beyond 400 F so you are quite safe. Toss in any spices of your liking and once done, spread out on paper napkins to soak up any excess oil from the potatoes.

Stuff your partially roasted peppers with the fried and seasoned potatoes and pop back in the oven which is still at 400 F until done (if you’ve got so far in this recipe, you should be able to tell when they are done!)

HINT: The peppers are done when they are partially shiny, partially burnt and generally sizzling! Of course, there is no rule against getting the peppers out of the oven, testing them for completeness and then popping them back into the oven!

PS: I used Mozzarella cheese strips to make a cage over the openings of the peppers!!

In one our previous health article we read about Health Benefits of Pepper, So I decided why not have a pepper based recipe today.  When you are down with cough and cold, having “pepper rasam” is a popular home remedy and also relaxes and soothens you. Popularly known as ‘Milagu rasam’ in Tamil, even in regular days, makes a good gravy for piping hot rice! Let’s see how to make pepper rasam.

Ingredients to make pepper rasam:

Pepper (whole) – 1 tbsp

Red chilly – 1

Garlic – 10

Jeera – 1/2 tbsp

Asafoetida – 1 pinch (optional, incase you don’t like the flavour)

Turmeric powder – little less than 1/4 tbsp

Tamarind – 1 small lemon size (as per your taste you can increase the quantity)

Cooking oil – 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds – 1/2 tbsp

Curry leaves – 4-5

Salt – as per taste.

 Step 1:

Grind all ingredients,  except tamarind coarsely as show in pic.

Step 2:

Mix well the tamarind in 2 cups of water and strain it. Add salt to it.

Step 3:

Add 2 tbsp oil in cooking pan and saute mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Step 4:

Add the coarsely grounded ingredients into the fry pan and stir in low flame for 1 minute.

Step 5:

Add the tamarind water and if needed add required quantity of salt. In medium flame, allow it to boil but don’t let it boil too much.

That’s it! Pepper rasam is ready to be served…

Last week we had here  the Mushroom in coconut milk gravy recipe. In the comment section, Pallavi had asked if the mushroom can be substituted, may be with Paneer. So I decided to try the same recipe with Paneer instead of Mushroom. Well, though the original mushroom gravy had a dexterity and Mushroom’s uniqueness, this paneer recipe was not bad either.  You can give it a try, its kind of good.

So here is the recipe of Paneer in coconut milk gravy.

Ingredients:

• Paneer – 400 gm
• Onion – 2 (big)
• Coconut milk – 2 cups (depends on its thickness)
• Ginger – garlic paste – 1 table spoon
• Garam masala – 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
• Jeera – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder
• Red chilly powder (as per taste)
• Green chilly – 2
• Curry leaves – 7-8
• Coriander leaves
• Salt – as per your taste
• Tomatoes (optional) – 2

Step 1:

Dice the Paneer into cubes.

Step 2:

In a frying pan, add little oil and saute mustard seeds, curry leaves.

Then, add the chopped onions, followed by ginger-garlic paste and green chillies.

Stir fry till the onion turn golden yellow.

Then add  rest of the ingredients except Paneer and coriander leaves. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Step 3:

Add the stir fried ingredients into a pressure cooker.

Add little water.

Switch off the gas when the first whistle comes from the cooker.

Step 4:

Transfer the content back into kadai.

Add the coconut milk into the ingredients.

Step 5:

Add Paneer cubes.

Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Step 6:

Paneer  in coconut milk gravy is ready to serve.

I tried the dish with Roti and it went well with it.  Unlike the mushroom in Coconut milk gravy, I doubt this dish will go well with Idly and Dosa. The gravy would but not the Paneer with Idly and dosa, atleast not for me. It might do well with rice items too.

Neverthless, its worth a try

There are very few mushroom recipe that goes well with South Indian main dishes like Idly, Dosa, Idiyappam, Aapam etc. Mushroom in coconut milk gravy is one recipe that makes an wonderful accompaniement to the above mentioned main dishes. And yes, it also goes well with roti,jeera rice,biryani,pulao,ghee rice etc.

Ingredients:

• Button Mushroom – 400 gm
• Onion – 2 (big)
• Coconut milk – 2 cups (depends on its thickness)
• Ginger – garlic paste – 1 table spoon
• Garam masala – 1 tbsp
• Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
• Jeera – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric powder
• Red chilly powder (as per taste)
• Green chilly – 2
• Curry leaves – 7-8
• Coriander leaves
• Salt – as per your taste
• Tomatoes (optional) – 2

Step 1:

Cut the mushroom into pieces and keep aside.

Tip: Before using mushroom, sprinkle little turmeric powder, coat them well on mushroom and keep aside for few minutes. If the mushroom turn blue, discard them since they are not fit for eating and might be poisonous.

Step 2:

In a frying pan, add little oil and saute mustard seeds, curry leaves.

Then, add the chopped onions, followed by ginger-garlic paste and green chillies.

Stir fry till the onion turn golden yellow.

Then add  rest of the ingredients except mushroom and coriander leaves. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Step 3:

Add the stir fried ingredients into a pressure cooker.

Add the chopped mushroom and salt (as per taste, note we have added little salt during frying process also) and mix well.

Add little water.

Switch off the gas when the first whistle comes from the cooker.

Step 4:

Transfer the content back into kadai.

Step 5:

Add the coconut milk into the ingredients.

Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes and switch off the stove.

Step 6:

Mushroom in coconut milk gravy is ready to serve.

The dish goes well with variety of main dishes like Idli, Dosa, Roti, Jeera rice, Ghee rice, Biryani etc. My favourite being with Idli.

Kothu Parotta (minced parotta)  is a popular recipe from Tamil nadu, where one finds many street joints serving piping hot delicacy thronged by people. The original Kothu Parota recipes is non-veg, where we have chicken, mutton, egg variants. Though now we find restaurants serving vegetable kothu parota, it does not come close to the original recipe. Being a vegetarian family, my mom and dad figured out an unique magic recipe  some 15 years back to bring out a veg variant of Kothu parotta that could be a rightful alternative to the original non-veg recipe.

So presenting our family secret recipe for you. No royalties, just enjoy the dish and pamper us with your feedback

Ingredients for Veg Kothu Parotta

1.       Parotta – 5

(south Indian parotta that is made out of maida)

2.       Soya nuggets – ¼ kg

3.       Onion – ½ kg

4.       Tomato – 3 or 4

5.       Ginger  - 1 finger size piece

6.       Green chilly – 3

7.       Garlic – 6 or 7 flakes

8.       Red chilly powder

9.       Salt

10.    Curry leaves

For masala :

10.   Clove (Lavang) – 5

11.  Cinnamon stick (dal cheeni / pattai)– 1 piece

12.   Saunf  (fennel seeds)–  1 tsp

13.   Khas Khas – ¼ tsp

Tip:

• Optionally instead of the above masala ingredient you can simply use Garam masala powder.
• If one does not like the masala flavor , you can do the dish without the masala added.

So now lets see how to make Veg Kothu Parotta

Step 1:

Soak soya nuggets in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Squeeze out the water and shred it coarsely in dry mixer grinder.

Step 2:

Break the parota into small pieces and grind it coarsely in dry mixer grinder.

Step 3:

Keep ready chopped onions, tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste, the masalas, green chilly and other ingredients.

Step 4:

Add oil in a large fry pan and saute the ginger-garlic paste, green chilly and curry leaves.

Step 5:

Add chopped onions, red chilly powder and salt to the already cooking ingredient.

Step 6:

Stir fry the onion until golden brown and the raw smell disappears.

Step 7:

Add the coarsely made soya nuggets to the cooking ingredients.  And keep frying in between till the raw smell of soya disappears.

Step 8:

To the cooking ingredients, add the coarsely made parotta. Remember during all the process to keep the flame in low.

Step 9:

Mix well the parotta and keep stirring in between.

Step 10:

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook it for sometime.

Step 11:

Your tasty veg Kothu Parotta is ready to eat.

Enjoy the dish!

Ingredients:

Gram flour  – one cup

Semolina – one cup

Curd – 4 spoons

Eno (Regular) – one small packet (5gms)

Mustard seeds – two tea spoons

Asafoetida – half a tea spoon

Oil – two tea spoons

Green chilies – 2 to 3

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Water

Salt – according to taste

Procedure:

Mix gram flour, semolina and curd. Add water till you get a smooth runny mixture. Add Eno and salt to this.

Take a pan and grease it with few drops of oil. Pour this mixture in it.

Take a cooker / steamer, add water to it and place the pan in it. Cover with the lid (remember to remove the cooker whistle) cook for 20 mins on a slow flame.

In a small pan heat oil and add mustard seeds and chilies. Add asafetida powder in the end and turn off the flame.

After the khaman dhokla is done (poke it with a knife, if the knife is clean after you pull it out then the batter is cooked well), remove it and add the tadka and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot.

You can eat it with tamarind chutney, green chutney or with curd as well.

This is a quick and easy snack. You can also use it as a starter. I’ve tried some stuffing , you can try and make many many variations with it. So much fun!

Firstly, slice off  very thin slices from the top and bottom of the tomatoes. Then cut the tomato into two pieces. Scoop out the centre carefully. It would look like this:

Now the tomato is ready to be stuffed.

I’ve tried out three themes for it, as I said, you can make many different varieties with this.

Mr. Tomato goes to Italy

Ingredients:

Carrots – chopped into small pieces

Spring onions –  finely chopped

Garlic – 4 cloves, chopped

Milk – 5 spoons

Cheese- one cube

Pepper powder

Oil – one teaspoon

Salt

Procedure:

Heat the oil in a pan. Add garlic spring onions and carrots to it. After a min, add milk to it. Turn the flame off after a few seconds. Add grated cheese to this, and after it begins to melt, mix well. Add a pinch of salt. Let this mixture cool down.

Stuff this in the tomato and sprinkle some pepper powder over it and serve.

Mr. Tomato goes to China

Ingredients:

Cabbage

Capsicum

Carrot

Garlic – 5 cloves

Soya sauce – One teaspoon

Oil- 1 teaspoon

Pepper powder (as per taste)

Salt (as per taste)

Procedure:

Chop cabbage, carrot and capsicum into thin, long slices.

Heat the oil in a pan and add garlic and the chopped vegetables to this. Mix well and let this cook on a high flame for a couple of  minutes. Then add salt according to taste and pepper powder. Add soya sauce to this and mix well. Let it cook for a minute. Turn off the flame and let this cool down.

Stuff this in the tomato and serve.

Mr. Tomato goes to India

Ingredients:

Boiled potato – cut into small pieces

Amla – cut into very thin slices

Ginger – finely chopped

Tomato sauce – 2 teaspoons

Salt

Coriander for garnishing

Procedure:

Mix together all of these ingredients.

Stuff this in the tomato and garnish with coriander and serve.

INGREDIENTS:

For marinating:

• Silver Pomfret (2-3)
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp red Chilly Powder
• 2 tsp turmeric Powder
• 2 tsp ginger –garlic paste
• 1 tsp rice flour
• Pinch of asafoetida
• Salt to taste
• 3-4 tsp of water
• Oil for frying

For garnish:

• Onions
• Carrots
• Curry leaves
• 2-3 green chillies
• Lemon wedges
• Mint leaves or coriander leaves

METHOD OF PREPARATION

• Wash and clean the fish by making a slit at the side. Wash with salt and 1tsp of lemon juice. Make 3 – 4 slits on both sides of the fish.

• Mix chilli powder, turmeric powder, rice flour, ginger-garlic paste, remaining lemon juice, salt, asafoetida and water to form a smooth paste. Apply the paste evenly on both sides of the fish and allow to marinate for 30-40 mins in the refrigerator so that the marinade seeps through the slits.

• Heat oil in a shallow pan. When the pan is hot, gently place the marinated fish and fry on a medium heat until the fish is cooked (usually it takes about 10-15mins).  Make sure both the sides are fried by gently turning the fish every few seconds without breaking.

• Once the fishes are fried, fry the finely chopped onions, curry leaves and green chillies in the same pan. This can be used for garnishing.

Silver pomfret fry is ready to be served.

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour(maida),
2 cups warm water,
1 packet(2 teaspoons) of dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar,
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon salt,
2 Tbsp Olive oil,
1 cup Pizza sauce,
1 cup shredded cheese(mozzarella)
Cut Vegetables of your choice

Method for preparing dough:
Step 1: Add sugar and dry yeast to warm water and set it aside for 5 mins to allow it to bubble.
Step 2: Add flour,salt,oil and the mixture(prepared in step 1) to the Food Processor. Mix the ingredients and prepare soft dough. If you do not possess a Food Processor,use your hand to knead the dough for 15-20 minutes.
Step 3: Smear olive oil in a bowl and place the dough in it.

Step 4: Roll the dough in that bowl for oil to be spread evenly.
Step 5: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and keep aside for 1 hour 30 mins in a warm place such that the dough doubles itself
Step 6: Punch down the dough and divide the dough into 2 balls.
Step 7: Keep the dough balls seperate bowls for 10 minutes.
Step 8: Place the Pizza Stone and preheat the oven for 450 degrees for at least 30 minutes

Method for preparing Pizza Crust:

Step 1: Take the dough and press and pat it to make a circular base about 10 -12 inches wide and thickness about 1/2 an inch.
Step 2: Take a cutting board and sprinkle some “corn meal” on it. Transfer the Pizza base on it
Step 3: Apply olive oil on the Pizza base.

Step 4: Add 2-3 Tbsp of Pizza sauce, 1/3 cup of cheese and cut vegetables on the crust.

Step 5: Again sprinkle some “Corn meal” on the Preheated Pizza Stone,place this pizza crust on it and bake for 15 minutes.

Delicious, yummy home made pizza ready to eat!

This is a simple, easy to make , healthy traditional snack made with black sesame seeds ( black til seeds) . In Tamil the dish is called Ellu urundai.

Ingredients:

• Black Til (black sesame seeds)
• Jaggery

Step 1: Roast the til (sesame seeds) in low flame till they crackle.

Step 2: Grind the roasted til in mixie grinder  to make a powder. Add shredded jaggery to it and grind again. You will get the final mix like how its shown in the picture below.

Step 3: Make balls  with the mixture. Your delicious black til laddu is ready to eat.

Black til laddu makes a healthy, nutritious and delicious  laddu for your kids.

Eat healthy, Stay healthy.