Monday, August 29, 2011

Sprouted Moong Masala


So as promised, here comes the healthy side dish that I had made to pair up with the healthy vegetable chapathi! Very simple to make, provided you have sprouted moong in hand, takes very little time, hardly any oil and makes a yummy side dish. And you don’t have to have a bit of guilt either, as it is almost fat free and protein filled.

Go ahead and make it... you’ll love its simplicity and taste.

Sprouted Moong Masala

Preparation time : 10 min
Cooking time : 20 min, including cooking Moong
Serves : 4-5

Ingredients:
Sprouted Moong (Green gram) - 2 cups
Onion - 2 medium sized, chopped
Tomatoes - 2 -3 medium sized
Coconut - 2 Tbsp, grated
Coriander leaves - 1 Tbsp, chopped
Cooking oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - ½ tsp or as per taste
Green chilies - 1-2, vary depending on taste
Ginger - ½” cube, grated
Red Chili powder - ½ to 1 tsp
Method:
• In a pressure cooker, cook sprouted green gram and tomatoes, for less than one whistle. Make sure the gram is neither too hard nor overcooked
• Meanwhile, chop onions, slit green chilies
• After the cooker cools, remove the cooked tomatoes, grind it to a paste, along with half of the onions, coconut, coriander leaves and green chilies
• In a pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds and allow to splutter.
• Add the remaining chopped onion and grated ginger, and sauté till the onions turn translucent
• Add the ground paste, red chili powder and bring to a gentle boil
• Now add the cooked green gram and salt and let it boil well, for a few minutes, till the raw smell of onion disappears
• Serve with a chapathis / pooris / rice

Notes:
• Ensure the raw small of onion is gone.
• Be sure not to over cook or under cook the green gram. In my cooker, switching off just before the first whistle is blown, cooks the sprouted moong perfectly. Cooking in an open vessel takes a longer time and wastes more gas, so I avoid it.


Thursday, August 25, 2011

Vegetable Chapathi

There is always a quest to cook healthier and more and more nutritious food. Even when we’re pressed for time or don’t have much energy to cook, we still want to do whatever we can, to make the food we eat healthier, don’t we?
This was one such attempt to make a more nutritious variant of the usual plain and boring chapathis, by including loads of veggies, and some spices. The not so interesting veggies and plain and boring chapathis combine to give a tasty, inviting and nutritious meal. This can be had as is with some pickle or can combine with a healthy side dish; or as I did, you can make another healthy side dish of sprouted moong (recipe will follow soon). And enjoy a tasty and healthy meal.... The pics don’t do any justice at all, as I clicked them in a hurry and in artificial light, so sorry about that.
Preparation time : 15 min
Cooking time : 2 min per chapathi
Makes : 8-10

Ingredients:
Wheat flour / Atta - 2 cups
Grated vegetables - about 2 cups - Can use grated carrots, chayote, any other gourd that can be grated
Chopped coriander leaves - a Tbsp
Garam masala - ½ tsp
Red chili powder - ½ tsp
Salt - ½ tsp, or as per taste
Water as needed
Cooking Oil - 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp per chapathi

Method:
• Mix wheat flour, salt, chili powder, garam masala powder in a large bowl
• Add the grated vegetables and chopped coriander and mix in oil
• Slowly add very little water and knead into a tight dough
• The vegetables generally leave out moisture so make sure you do not ad too much water
• Coat it with a little oil and keep aside for half an hour
• Take the dough and pinch out lime sized balls
• Roll into thin chapathis using enough flour for dusting
• Heat a skillet and cook on both sides drizzling a few drops of oil on each side. Remove when small brown spots start appearing
• Repeat with the entire dough
• Serve hot with a gravy as side dish

Notes:
• Making very big chapathis out of this is difficult because of the addition of veggies - so a lime sized ball should be enough to make a 6” chapathi
• Be sure not to add too much water, which would turn the dough soggy


Friday, August 19, 2011

Arvi (Taro Root) Cutlets - Guest post by Sandhya

Today's post is a guest post from an old friend of mine - Sandhya Pradeep. She was my classmate in college and a smiling, calm, friendly girl. Of late she had been posting a lot of wonderful food pictures on Facebook and i was kinda impressed. When I asked her to start a blog, she didn't quite make up her mind. So I asked her to at least make a nice post for my blog, from her big collection of recipes. She immediately obliged and here is the recipe she sent about a week ago. Since I was on a vacation, I took time to post it, and now here it is for you!
Over to Sandhya...

Recently Sumana asked me to write a guest post for this delightful blog filled with delicious recipes. I was excited and started digging through my personal collection of recipes and found this one – Arvi cutlets an absolute favorite of mine.
When we think of cutlets, the first thing that comes to our minds is the regular potato cutlet. I have substituted taro roots for potatoes thereby making this snack a light, healthy and guilt-free alternative.
It is both quick to prepare and packed with authentic Indian zest.
I thank Sumana for inviting me to be a part of this culinary rendezvous and hope the readers will enjoy trying this recipe as much as I did.

Arvi (Taro Root) Cutlets

Makes about 8-10 cutlets

Ingredients:
• Taro root (arvi, colocasia) – 7
• Onion – 1 medium-sized finely chopped
• Ginger- 1” grated
• Garlic – 4 large pods finely chopped
• Salt- to taste
• Green chilies – 2 finely chopped
• Red chili powder – 1 tsp or adjust to your spice level
• Chat masala – ½ tsp
• Garam masala – ¼ tsp
• Mint leaves – a handful finely chopped
• Coriander leaves – few strands finely chopped
• Turmeric – a pinch
• Corn flour – 2 tbsp or as needed for binding
• Oil for shallow frying.
• Lime juice – to garnish

Method:

• 1. Wash the taro root with skin and place them in the pressure cooker and pour enough water to immerse them. Cover the lid and pressure cook them with 2 whistles. Allow to cool.
• 2. Once cooled, drain the water and transfer it into a large bowl. Remove the skin of the taro root.
• Mash well using your palms.
• To this add onion, ginger, garlic, salt, green chillies, red chilli powder, chat masala, garam masala, mint leaves, turmeric, coriander leaves and mix well.
• Add cornflour and mix.
• In a shallow pan heat 3-4 tsp oil. Swirl the pan so that the entire pan is coated with oil.
• Lightly oil your palms. Pinch off a lime-sized ball of the mixture and flatten it using your palms to form a round patty.
• Place the patties in the pan and drizzle oil and cook both sides until it turns golden to dark brown color.
• Remove onto a plate. Squeeze some lemon juice on top and serve with tomato ketchup.

Notes:
• The patty should not be too thick as it needs to be cooked evenly.

Thank you so much Sandhya, for a wonderful post for my blog.... I'm sure we'll all try your recipe and enjoy...


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

5-minute Eggless Microwave Chocolate Cake


What do you do when there is a group of unexpected guests and a need to fix up a cake for dessert? And you have not more than 15 minute? And being a foodie and home baker that you are, you do not want to rush to the nearest baker to buy a cake! And don’t you want to get acclamations for your own handiwork from your guests?

Well here is one recipe that fits into all the above and makes your guests go gaga about your baking... err microwaving :D
Yes, you read it right... you don’t need an oven for this cake - a microwave is sufficient. And all it takes is about 5-6 minutes to fix the batter and another 5-7 minutes for the cake to be done. And you’re ready to serve dessert. Isn’t it cool?

Made this for mom last time, since her oven was out of order and she wanted a recipe to try in her microwave. And it turned out good. In the following week, she made it again and it turned out equally good, and she was impressed. So here you go, with the recipe...


Source: Madhuri’s Cook Curry Nook
Preparation time : 5-7 min
Baking time : 5-6 min
Makes : 16 squares

Ingredients:
All purpose flour/Maida – 1 1/2 cups
Cocoa - ½ cup
Brown Sugar – 1 ½ cups (moderately packed) (normal white sugar will also do).
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking Soda – ½ tsp
Salt – a pinch
Flax seed powder – 4 tsps mixed in 1 cup warm water (substituting 4 eggs)
Milk – 1/3 cup
Water – 1/3 cup
Oil – 1/3 cup (any neutral oil)
Vanilla essence – 1 ½ tsps

Method:
• Grease a microwave-safe wide glass pan and dust it lightly with flour and keep aside
• Sift all the dry ingredients together (maida, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt) thrice and transfer to a wide bowl.
• Add the sugar, stir well to incorporate.
• Stir in the milk, water, oil and vanilla essence. Mix well.
• Lastly stir in the flax-seed powder mixed in warm water and mix well. The batter must have a ribbon-like consistency now.
• Pour the batter into a greased and dusted microwave-safe glass pan
• Now cook the cake on high for 5-7 minutes (In my microwave that sets to 900W at high power, it was done at 6 minutes. And in my mom’s that sets at 700W, it took about 8-9 min. Please check yours and increase/decrease the time by a minute or two, as required).
• Give it a standing time of 5 minutes and put it through the toothpick test to check if it is done well.
• If its still sticky in the middle, keep it in the oven for a couple of minutes more
• Once done, let it cool in the pan for a while. Turn onto a wire-rack and let cool completely before you serve it.
• Make slabs of required size and serve with a dollop of icecream, topped with nuts and chocolate sauce!

Sending this to Nutan's Microwave event started by Srivalli.