Summer Avocado, Cucumber, and Olive Salad | Farmers' Market Days

Saturday mornings during the summer months are reserved for a round of the Farmer's Market!! Its fun to walk around the square, looking for fresh local produce, munching on a bakery item while sipping coffee. Farmer's Markets are truly a family affair around here. Farming families selling their wares and city families hunting for salad greens, honey, maple syrup, and cheese.

Artichoke, Ricotta, and Chickpea Calzone | Italian Kitchen

Calzones make for a hearty and filling snack in a picnic basket or an entree for a meal on a hot platter. I love making calzones as they are so easy to put together, can be refrigerated for up to three days and taste super hot or cold!! Just add a salad and a cup of milk and you are good to go.

Chili Baby Corn | Indo Chinese Kitchen

Chili Corn is another dish that is a favourite at Indian Style Chinese Restaurants. Sometimes though I find that it had a little too much chili for our taste. Last week when it was raining cats and dogs here, we were craving some nice hot Chinese food with rice I decided to make Chili Corn. We enjoyed it with Jasmine rice that I had picked up from my last visit to the wonderful Asian store in our city!!

Spinach and Broccoli Mac & Cheese

Who does not love Mac & Cheese - its the ultimate comfort food. Deliciously simple and creamy with loads of cheese, Mac & Cheese in it many avatars has won the hearts of kids and adults alike. We love Mac & Cheese around here, but I always try to make a variation around this theme. This recipe is something that came to me as I sat down to plan dinner last week. I wanted to make something with broccoli and spinach, maybe add it to a pasta sauce or make a pesto of it.

Mushroom Pepper Pulao | Mushroom Pepper Pilaf

There is nothing a like a wholesome one pot meal on cold winter evenings. These days we are right in the middle of a cold spell, cold days and even colder nights. There are inches and inches of snow on the ground and pretty much everything is frozen. Luckily we have lots of sunshine and bright days that make the early sunset more tolerable. Thanks to the sunlight we see an endless stream of birds on the trees and the occasional squirrel and wild rabbit too!! 

Chana Masala | Spicy Chickpea Curry | Garbanzo Bean Curry

Kabuli Chana is a very popular and loved food in my family. Its made almost on every festival or celebration with Puri, Paratha, or Luchi. However we never really seem to stick to a particular recipe. As I was getting this post together, I realised I already have two recipes of Chole on my blog: Tari Wale Chole | Curried Chickpeas and Rice Plate Chole | Chickpeas with Rice. The first is a recipe that TH likes to make every so often, and the latter is a reminiscence of my days at DU!

Summer Sweet Corn and Tomato Pie

Its coming up to the end of summer and corn and tomatoes are available aplenty here. I made this sweet corn and tomato pie last week to enjoy both the flavours at the peak of the season. We had picked up some sweet corn from a farmers market and the tomatoes I got from the farm where I get my summer produce!! The pink tomatoes were just so gorgeous that the moment I saw them all I could think of was making a pie with them.

Daring Bakers July 2012: Crunchy Crackers

I was delighted that the July 2012 Daring Bakers Challenge featured four recipes for home made crackers!! Yes, that wonderfully salty treat that goes so well with cheese, a wide array of vegetables, and even fruit. Loved the recipes even more as most did not feature butter! I chose two types of crackers: the first Health Crackers. I made just one third of the recipe, replaced the egg with some milk, and topped the crackers with sesame seeds, red chili flakes, and roasted cumin.

Spicy Vegetable Chow Mein | Indo Chinese Kitchen

Continuing with the theme of Indo Chinese food I began last month, I made some delicious Vegetable Chow Mein!! Chow Mein is a staple at Indo Chinese restaurants and is typically a spicy main dish. Served with a side of some equally spicy dish with a sauce, its a whole different experience from meals at regular Chinese restaurants.

Paneer Bhara Pudina aur Kali Mirch ka Paratha | Mint and Crushed Black Pepper Flatbread

I made these delicious parathas last week for lunch. They are just yummy!! The combination of mint and paneer in a paratha reminds of Delhi summers when we enjoyed both in plenty. Eat these parathas warm with butter or enjoy them with plain yogurt. They also taste delicious cold and make a wonderful addition to any lunchbox!

Vegetable Manchurian | Indo Chinese Kitchen

Our city is cosmopolitan in character and this is reflected the wide food choices available in restaurants here. Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Indian, Caribbean, Peruvian, Afghan, Lebanese, Fusion, Korean, Vegan, Deli, French Bakeries, you name it and its available. But did you notice I left out Chinese cuisine. This is because this is possibly the one city in country that does not have a single Chinese restaurant with good food. Not even a a cheap and cheerful variety. This has become so obvious that people actually discuss it and not many send out for Chinese take-out, a staple of many other cities!

Oven Baked Potato Chips with Sage and Cracked Pepper

I last made Herby Oven-Baked Chips over three years ago!! This afternoon I was going through my refrigerator and I found I still had a few sprigs of sage left over from last weeks groceries. They were in great shape thanks to the chiller setting on my fridge and I wondered how I could best enjoy them!! Its too hot to really cook, so I settled on baked chips. Potatoes and sage go together beautifully. A little salt and pepper, a few wedges of onion, loads of garlic, and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, and you have the perfect combination.

Summer Pasta Salad with Feta and Pine Nuts

I love pasta salads and summer is the perfect time to enjoy them. They are easy to put together, delicious to eat, and packed with raw vegetables that just make a pasta dish so much more nutritious. You can be really creative with a pasta salad and I never follow a recipe when I make one. I create one using a combination of vegetables in my refrigerator and nuts and herbs in my pantry! I generally use whole grain pasta for salads. It has a nuttier taste and is more chewy that adds to both taste and texture of the salad.

A pasta salad can be a complete meal, a side, or indeed great on a picnic table along with your favourite burgers, grilled vegetables, and greens! Just pack a box of it in a food safe container and place in an ice box until ready to eat! On Saturday we had beautiful weather and drove to the lake for a picnic. I made this winner of a salad for lunch. It got the thumbs up from everyone at home.

Three Pepper and Sweet Corn Salad

Its unseasonably hot in my part of the world with temperatures touching the 90s!! Its the first time I have experienced such a warm May here. The average temperatures are in the 70s at this time of the year, warm but a cool breeze and some rain. On Sunday it was so hot that we actually went out for ice cream. Boy did it taste good!!

Daring Bakers October 2011: A Savoury Take on the Povitica

This Daring Bakers Challenge was interesting albeit after the festive season in October, I could barely stand to see more sugar!! So I decided to tweak this challenge a little to suit our tastes as well as make it savoury!! The filling for this savoury version of the Povitica is a delicious Spicy Walnut Paste, made with walnuts, parsley, green chilies,pomegranate molasses and garlic!! I have also not used egg in the bread or the filling.I could have replaced the egg with some oil for the filling and that's the reason why the whirls are missing on the inside of the bread! These changes aside, I have followed the bread recipe as is.

Daring Cooks June 2011: Potato Salad

With the 4th of July weekend coming up, no recipe could be better suited for a Daring Cooks Challenge than one of Potato Salad. Iconic at barbecue tables across the country the salad itself has become a great summer eat! Of course there are innumerable types of potato salads - creamy, spicy, hearty, light. The sheer versatility of the potato allows for much variation in flavour and accommodation of regional taste.

I chose to make a classic-ish style of salad - creamy, cheesy, with a burst of flavour that comes from a combination of cilantro, lemon juice, and sour cream!!

Ingredients:
4 potatoes, boiled and cubed
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 ts crushed black pepper
1/4 tsp mustard powder
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp honey
1/4 lemon, squeezed
1 tbsp olive oil, extra virgin
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cheese, grated

Method:

1. In a small mixing bowl, blend together the sour cream, honey, olive oil, and lemon juice.
2. To this mix, add salt, pepper, and mustard powder. 
3. In a larger mixing bowl, toss together the cubed potatoes, cheese, and the cilantro.
4. Pour the dressing over it and using a couple of forks, mix well enough to coat the potatoes well.
5. Turn into a serving bowl. Chill in the refrigerator before serving. 

Post Script: Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

Vegan Substitute: Try dairy free sour cream and vegan grated cheese in this recipe.

All content, text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2011. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Do Kaddu Erisseri | Two Pumpkin Erisseri

If you eat pumpkin, you will love this recipe!! On the other hand, I am tempted to say if you always ignored the this humble vegetable, this recipe may win your taste buds and possibly your heart. The spiciness of the curry paste and the sweetness of the pumpkin give this dish a delicious flavour. You can make this with any kind of pumpkin, but I like to prepare it with a combination of the acorn squash and butternut squash. The combination of these two different types of pumpkin helps balance the flavours in this dish beautifully.

Crunchy Vegetable Salad with Yogurt Dressing

I just crave the taste of garden fresh vegetables in the winter. Though we are under 9 inches of snow here and it is bitterly cold here, we are lucky to get crisp and juicy salad vegetables in our favourite stores. Last week, I bought sweet bell peppers: red, yellow, and orange, crunchy cucumbers, and some beautiful tomatoes for a salad. This is a salad I love - it has a light home made dressing that I make with yogurt and lots of nuts and seeds to add to the crunch!!

Winter Root Vegetable Soup

This is one of my favourite soups. I make some variation of it every winter when root vegetables are abundant and easily available!! The combination of parsnips, carrots, and turnips with celery turn out an astonishingly hearty and tasty soup. If you have home made vegetable stock, use that. If not, try an organic, low/no sodium variety for the most natural taste!!

Chana Dal Sookhi | Punjabi Style Bengal Gram Lentils

Dals or lentils are a staple of the Indian Kitchen. They are prepared in a variety of ways that can often be identified as regional. Dals from the Punjab are often hearty and made with a combination of big flavours!! Chana Dal Sookhi is a fragrant combination of lentils, spices, fenugreek leaves, onions, and garlic.