Roasted sweet potato

I absolutely love this recipe. I serve these roasted sweet potatoes as a side with burgers, vegetable stew, pasta or just as a snack on a cold day. Sweet potatoes with a glass of milk makes a great filling breakfast too.

Sweet potatoes are very healthy. They are high in fiber, protein, vitamins A, C and B6, iron and calcium. This recipes uses very little oil and is really easy. So here we go.

For two good sized portions, you'll need:
2 sweet potatoes.
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp red chilli flakes (more if you like it spicy)
Salt to taste
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450F. Peel and dice sweet potatoes. In a baking tray or cake tin, mix sweet potatoes, oregano, chilli flakes and salt. Spray with olive oil. Alternately, add 1 tbsp olive oil and toss until well distributed. Bake for twenty minutes to half an hour until cooked. Keep flipping them even 10 minutes or so to cook uniformly. Once done, change oven setting to broil. Flip even 1 minute to get a nice char on all sides of the cubes. The broiling part is optional. I broil for about 2-3 minutes total.

That's it. You could drizzle some lime juice just before serving. I like it without the lime juice. This keeps well in the fridge and tastes good hot or cold.

Enjoy!

Black Bean burger patties

With the big "3" "0" lurking around the corner, I am finally beginning to realize that my body ain't what it used to be. It used to be this wonderful calorie cruncher. Dump a yummy fried potato cutlet in and its gone. But as years went by, more and more of that cutlet found its ways to places I'd rather have hidden from it. I saw the jean sizes go higher and higher. But no more!

But, I refuse to eat tasteless healthy food. I will beat the system. Here is one of my earliest attempts at something healthy and very tasty. I prefer this to any of the veggie burger patties out there.

For 4 patties you'll need:

1 can black beans (or soak black beans and cook)
1/2 an onion chopped fine
cilantro chopped fine
1/2 bell pepper chopped fine
1 chilli/serrano pepper chopped fine
salt to taste
1 tsp red chilli flakes
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp flour/atta
Add cheese (optional, I don't)

Preheat oven to 450F. Drain the black beans. Mash and add rest of the listed ingredients. Divide into four parts. Shape each part into a patty. Dip each patty into a bowl full of bread crumbs until the patty is well coated. Place patties on a greased cookie sheet. Spray with oil. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip and make for 15 more minutes. Done!

I usually add some roasted mushrooms, sliced tomato, chopped lettuce, and ketchup to the burger.Jalapeno peppers and pickles will taste pretty good too. I serve it with a side of roasted sweet potato (recipe coming soon).

Enjoy!

Garbanzo Beans Sundal

Garbanzo Beans - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - a spring
asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
oil - 1 tsp

To grind together:
shredded Coconut - 1/4 - 1/2 cup
Dhaniya (coriander) seeds - 1/4 cup
Dried Red chillies - 10-12 small or to taste
 

Optional Step:
Sprout Garbanzo Beans - http://www.sproutpeople.com/seed/garbanzo.html

If not sprouting, soak the beans overnight.
Pressure cook (un)sprouted beams till cooked but not mashed up.
Grind Shredded coconut with dhaniya seeds and dried red chillies.

In a pan, sputter mustard seeds and curry leaves in oil and add asafoetida and the ground mixture and roast till raw dhaniya seeds smell is gone. Then add the cooked garbanzo beans and salt.Cook till the beans are all al dente and dry. Enjoy the protein-rich snack.

Momo with Tomato Achaar

Momo? Yes Momo! Those hot, juicy, straight out of the steamer, healthy, spicy, and oh so heavenlyNepalese dumplings. Oh those things you get at the Boulder farmers marker, the Viatnamese veggie dumplings. Well, yeah, but this is served with a spicy, fiery tomato chutney. Trust me, much better!

I had some Nepalese friends in Grad school. One of them introduced me to Momo's. Well, when I say introduced, I mean, she made them, and I devoured them. Did I learn how to make it from a true blue 100% Nepalese who would be more than willing to demonstrate the art of Momo making? Nope. (Duh! I know!) No I did not.

Now, with zero access to a "willing to demonstrate" Nepali, I had to rely on recipes online, youtube and what not. But viola! the Momo's turned out absolutely delicious! Without further ado, let me jump straight into the steamer... I mean the recipe.

For about, 24 Momo's (They disappear fast, so 24 is not that much), you'll need:

Momo wrapper:
1 cup Maida (or atta)
salt
1 tbsp oil
Water

Knead well with as little water as possible. Then cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for half an hour.

Filling:
About 2 cups of very finely chopped (I used a chopper) veggies. I used carrots, cabbage, bell pepper and (crimini) mushrooms.
Onion
Green chilli
Cilantro
Ginger
Garlic
cumin

Chop the onions, ginger, garlic, and green chilli very fine in a chopper. Heat a little oil, roast the onion etc etc. Once cooked (does not have to be brown), add all the other veggies. turn the heat off. Roast for 1-2 minutes. turn the heat off. Add salt, cilantro, cumin powder (optional), and keep aside. The veggies should not be fully cooked and dry.

Tomato Achaar:
3 tomatos
1 inch ginger
1-2 garlic cloves
4 green chillies (I used 4 serrano peppers with 3 tomatoes)
Salt
Cilantro.

Bake tomatoes in oven at 450F for about half hour. You could also just boil them, but I feel baking gives them a more concentrated flavor. Get them out. Peel them, and puree them with the green chillies. In a pan add a little oil, add chopped ginger & garlic. Once roasted, add the tomato puree. Add salt. Heat for about 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro.

Assembling the Momo's
After the dough has rested for half an hour, knead it again for about a minute. Then make small little balls out of it. Probably half the size of a poori ball. Roll it thin (as thin as a wonton wrapper). Make sure the edges are thinner than the center. This is very important.

Once rolled out, keep about 1 tsp full of the filling at its center. Wet the edges with a little water, and then seal shut (half moon shape). You could also close them like you close paranthas before rolling them out, like a little pouch. The key thing is that it better be sealed. You dont want all your filling pouring out of it mid way through steaming.

Make sure to keep them under a damp cloth as you go to the next one. Make your husbands part of the assembly line ladies , or else you'll take forever.

Once you are done, grease your idli maker. Make sure to grease it well. You dont want your momo's sticking to the idli stand and tearing open. I placed a cabbage leaf so that I didnt have to use too much oil.

Steam for about 10 minutes.

Thats it! All done. Enjoy with the spicy tomato achaar.

You could also pan roast them once they are cooked, or deep fry them.

Enjoy!

Kale leaves pesarettu

I am in love with this dish right now for its protein content and the tasty use of Kale leaves. It is so similar to murungai keerai adai (drumstick leaves adai)

Makes 10 pesarettus

For the batter:
sprouted Mung beans - 4 cups(can substitute soaked mung beans 2-3 cups)
Soaked Rice (1/3 cup) or rice flour (1/4 cup)
green chillies - to taste
salt to taste

Kale leaves - half a bunch
 sesame oil

Instructions for sprouting:
http://www.sproutpeople.com/seed/mung.html

I use the jar method - I fill yogurt containers with mung bean and soak in water for 8-12 hours. If seeds are soaked more than required time, they may 'drown' and will not sprout. Then I cover the container with cheesecloth fitted with a rubber band and drain out the water. Rest the inverted container in a colander or plate (if using plate tilt the container so the seeds don't rest in water that may have pooled in the plate) I keep filling and draining water every 12 hours to keep the seeds moist. Sprouts are ready in 2-3 days.  Grind the ingredients together.The batter should be of pouring consistency but should not at all be runny.

Chop up the kale leaves fine enough to allow spreading of batter and add to batter. The stems are crunchy and tasty as well but chop up real fine to allow them to be cooked and for easy spreading of batter. Add to batter and spread on tava or pan. Thinner the spread, it is crispier and cooks faster. However pesarettu does not spread as evenly or as thinly as dosas do. Add sesame oil to the edges and flip to cook the other side.  Press down the thick portions with a flat flipping spoon to for crispier results only after the pesarettu is flipped.  The leaves may smell super raw and 'green' while chopping but they transform to a tasty cooked addition to the pesarettu and truly enhances it (just like drumstick leaves)

Troubleshooting:

If the pesarettu is too soft, and hard to work with on the tava, add more rice flour. if the pesarettu is too dry and cracks on the tava, rice flour is too much.

Let me know your favorite side dishes for pesarettu. I like Grand Sweets Kothamalli thokku and green chutney.

Use the rest of kale leaves to make very yum parathas by adding it to roti dough and (rolling like radish parathas)

STRAWBERRY JELLO PRETZEL DESSERT

Hello Ladies!
This recipe is from cooks.com
These are the changes I made to it:
- I used very thinly sliced fresh strawberries instead of frozen ones. Worked out pretty fine.
- Also, I used those really thick big pretzels instead of the small ones. Figured less salt on the bigger ones for the amount of pretzel powder you get.
- I tried setting it in small cups instead of a pan. Was a lot easier to serve. (Baked layer 1 in a pan and spread the baked stuff in small glass cups and did the other 2 layers on top as usual)

LAYER #1:

2 c. crushed pretzels (grate in food processor)
3/4 c. butter, melted
3 tbsp. sugar

Mix above ingredients into 9 x 13 inch pan. Press flat onto bottom of pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Let cool.

LAYER #2:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 c. sugar
8 oz. Cool Whip

Mix together until smooth. Spoon over pretzel layer.

LAYER #3:

2 (3 oz.) pkg. strawberry Jello
2 c. boiling water
2 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen strawberries

Mix strawberry Jello and boiling water together. Add sliced strawberries. Refrigerate for about 1 hour until slightly jelled. Pour carefully over cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate.

Agra ki Kachodi with Aaloo ki Subji

Karnataka express used to chug into Agra Cantt. at about 7:50AM. A quick cycle rickshaw ride later, there I was, in my Nani's Koti (Bunglow), savoring Garama Garam Kachodi, aaloo ki subji and Jalebi for breakfast while my Nani lovingly piled more on my plate. Sinful? yes, but absolutely delicious.

Here I am now, In Denver, on the other side of the globe from Agra and those hevenly Kachodi's. The only thing that keeps me going? I can make them now! And no, its not that hard.

In this post, the recipe of the standard, no frills Kachodi with Aaloo ki Subji. This is what you'll see most people eat in Uttar Pradesh. The stuffing is with urad daal. The subji is very spicy, and has more green chillies in it then potato. It is not served with chutney. Just kachodi & subji. Enjoy kachodi the Agra way!

Servings: 10 Kachodi's
Dough:
Maida (All purpose flour) - 1cup
Oil for kneading - 3tbsp
Salt - 1tsp
Water - 1/3 cup

Stuffing:
Washed urad daal - 1/4 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - To taste
Red chilli powder - 1tsp
Dhaniya powder - 1tsp
Amchoor powder - 1tsp
Ginger powder - 1tsp (or 1tbsp grated ginger)
Fennel powder - 1.5tsp
Hing - pinch

Prep Work:
1. To begin, soak the urad daal for a couple of hours.

2. Mix salt into the flour. Rub salt into the flour. At this stage if you try to bind the flour with your fist and then release your fist, the flour should retain shape. Note: More the oil rubbed into the flour, lesser the water needed to knead it, more flaky the kachodis will be. The same holds true for Samosa's. Now start adding water into this slowly, while stirring & mixing with your hand the whole time. In a few minutes you'll have a soft dough. cover it with a wet cloth and keep it aside.

3. Once the urad daal is soaked enough, grind it to a very coarse paste. Now, heat one Tbsp oil in a pan, and add all the dry masalas and ginger (powder or fresh) to it. Then add the daal and salt. Roast it for sometime. If its too dry, sprinkle some water. Make sure to roast it until the daal does not taste raw anymore.

Now for Making the kachodi:

Take a small ball of dough. (Size of a ball for poori's). Flatten it slightly. Fill 1 tbsp of stuffing in it and close it like you would close a parantha. Keep it aside for a few minutes while the dough relaxes a bit. Stuff all the balls you have. Then one by one, flatten them either with a rolling pin or by hand. Make sure to not put too much pressure on it, or else, the dal may make holes in the dough and then you'll have oil filling up in your kachdi's when you fry them.

Now comes frying:

A few things to remember: First, with both kachodi's and samosa's, the oil should NOT be too hot. I usually fry it at 4 or so. If you put the kachodi in the oil, it should not start coming up and bubbling and hizzing as soon as you put it in. Second, keep the oil on low heat until the very end. Once they look done (should not be soft), then turn the heat to high and brown them.

So start adding kachodi's to the oil. Don't pile them on top of each other. And then sit and wait patiently until they get done. You'll see them puff up around the 2 min mark. Turn them over and continue frying.

Once they look done (cooked , but not brown), turn up the heat. Fry them till they are brown.
Thats it!
Now, the alloo ki sabji is really simple. Boil potatoes. Heat ghee/oil in a pan, add hing, jeera, grated ginger, as many green chillies (finely chopped) as you can tolerate. Then some red chilli powder, dhaniya powder, Amchoor (dry mango powder).
Add one finely chopped tomato (this is optional. They dont really add this, but I like it). Roast for a minute or so, Add about 2 cups of water and the boiled potatoes (slightly mashed).
Boil for 2-3 minutes. Then add a good amount of garam - masala. Garnish with cilantro and done!
Amazing amazing kachodi aur aloo ki sabji tayyaaar!