Gajar Marcha no Sambharo | Fresh Carrot Green Chili Pickle

Fresh pickles are famous in India. Every year when the first vegetables or fruits of the season make an
appearance, people rush out to but these tender treats and make fresh pickles with them. Fresh pickles are generally made with raw ingredients and seasoned with spices and a little oil. They are meant to be eaten with the meal for which they are prepared. Sometimes they may be kept in the refrigerator for a day or two but no more.

Palak Pakoras and Kanda Bhajis | Spinach and Onion Fritters

Pakoras or chickpea fritters are a great favourite in our family. But as they are deep fried I try to make them only for a special occasion. Of course, there are times when some special foods make a day special. Pakoras can make the most simple of meals into a treat!!

Makkai Fras Beans | Sweet Corn with French Beans

I have written about my love for green beans before. I guess it goes back to the days when my Mum grew a vegetable garden right next to our kitchen. Beautiful, green creepers climbed up a pretty trellis yielding crisp green beans which we would pick in the late afternoon sunlight.

Tamatar Moongphali Pachidi | Tomato Peanut Chutney: Version 1.0

Few days back I made rava idli at home. It was a real treat. My desi mixer-grinder stopped working a few months back and I have not been able to make any of our favourites including idli, dosa, uttapa, chutney since. Having sworn off buying another blender until I find something that is truly heavy duty and will fulfill the needs of a desi kitchen, I am stuck with pursuing recipes that require at the most a dry grinder!! Finding one to do replace the conked machine is no easy task. Any one with any suggestion, do leave a note in the comments section - I will truly appreciate any input in this matter :)

Phool Gobhi ki Bhurji | Scrambled Cauliflower

Mashed cauliflower - always reminds me of school dinners - tasteless, dull, watery!! Now think cauliflower bhurji - creamy, melt in the mouth, divine. Bhurji (scrambled) is a popular way of cooking vegetables in the north of India. Deliciously spicy vegetable bhurjis are in fact quite common in a Uttar Pradesh Kitchen. In a bhurji, the vegetables are overcooked just a bit so that they soften and can be coarsely mashed. Then suitable spices added, and the vegetable refried at the end of the cooking process to get a creamy well cooked consistency. Cauliflower is one vegetable that makes for a wonderful bhurji - select a tender, fresh, organic piece for this recipe.

Khumbi-Matar Pulao | Mushroom Peas Pilaf

I always have a box of mushrooms in the refrigerator. They perk up stir-fries, pasta sauces, bakes, soups, grilled toasts, and salads!! Interestingly, mushrooms do well with Indian dishes as well - they can and do take on the flavour of Indian spices and herbs beautifully.

Tamatar -Shimla-Paneer Bhurji | Tomato-Green Pepper-Cottage Cheese Scramble

Paneer or Indian Style Cottage Cheese is a real favourite of mine. When I first moved to this city, there was only one Indian store and I never quite trusted the fresh/frozen paneer there. I took to making paneer at home and have stuck to it ever since. Last evening I was craving just some of these creamy home made cheese curds, and I made a quick batch. I let them stay a little soft as I wanted to make this delicious creamy Paneer Bhurji - scrambled with vegetables and spices.

Shimla Mirch-Aloo Bhaji (Green Bell Pepper | Capsicum Potato Stir-Fry)

Sweet Green Bell Peppers are commonly referred to as Capsicum in India. In the Northern part of the country, they are also called Shimla Mirch. It usually comes into the market in the winters, and has an incredibly distinct crunchiness and sweet taste! Paired with potatoes, it makes for a wonderful stir-fry.

Boondi Ka Raita (Yogurt Salad with Mini Chickpea Flour Dumplings)

Fresh plain yogurt is an integral part of everyday Indian meals. In fact, it is prepared and set at home every morning so that it is ready for the meals of the day! Sometimes fresh yogurt is combined with multiple ingredients and spices to make a delicious tasting salad. Boondi ka Raita is one such yummy addition to any meal. It tastes super with any paratha (Stuffed Indian Flatbread), can be the star of a meal on a festive occasion, and is probably the quickest dish you can rustle up in event of unexpected guests for dinner.

I like home made boondi ( mini chickpea flour dumplings), and always make a batch whenever I get deep frying. But as I fear running out, I also like to keep a stash of good quality store bought boondi in my pantry. You can find it quite easily any Indian grocery - in fact now pre-spiced versions are also available. The key thing to to remember when buying boondi is that the packet in which they are sold must not be lined with grease.

I like to make Boondi ka Raita in multiple ways! Though the basic principle of making the Raita always remains the same, I do like to spice it differently every time. This recipe is made with a Tarka or an oil seasoning that adds a delicious kick to this very simple salad!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups plain yogurt
3/4 cup boondi
Salt, to taste
1/2 tsp red chili powder
8-10 curry leaves
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 green chilies, chopped
1 tsp canola oil

Method:

1. Beat the yogurt until smooth. Blend in salt to taste.
2. Beat in the red chili powder. 
3. Add the boondi.
4. Prepare the tarka by heating the oil in a small pan. 
5. Add the mustard seeds. When they begin to pop, add the cumin, curry leaves, and green chilies.
6. Fry for a minute or until the curry leaves become crisp. Add the turmeric, turn off the heat.
7. Season with the tarka just before serving.

Good to know:

• You can reduce the oil content in the boondi by soaking it in warm water for two minutes. Squeeze the water out of the boondi before adding it to the yogurt.
• Place prepared Raita in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours before serving. This allows the boondi to soak in the yogurt and spices adding tot he flavour of this dish.

All content, text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Masaledaar Appe | Spicy Mini Appams

Sometimes, when there is extra time on the hand, or we are expecting visitors, I like to make a snack for our evening tea!! Usually, it is something light and salty. At times, its a matter of using the leftovers!!!! Today, it was the latter - I had idli batter left over from the weekend. I decided to make spicy mini-appams using my aebleskiver or appe pan.

Cucumber Salad with Peanuts

We've just got past the first few days of spring and already we are feeling the difference in the weather. Its a tad warmer, the snow has almost entirely disappeared and green shoots of grass pushing their tiny heads out of the barren ground!

Warmer weather definitely encourages a change in the menu and I am really enjoying making fresh and light salads now-a-days!! Here's one with cucumber and peanuts! The beauty of this salad recipe is that its very easy to put together, can be added as a side dish to a meal, and serves as a wonderful and tasty starter too :)

Ingredients:
1 medium cucumber, peeled & diced
2 green chilies, minced
1/2 tsp ginger, grated
2 tbsp cilantro, minced
2 tbsp fresh coconut, shredded
1/4 cup peanuts, roasted & crushed
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Salt, to taste
Pinch of sugar

Method:

1. Mix the cucumber, chilies, ginger, coconut, and cilantro. all the ingredients together. Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Blend salt and sugar into the yogurt. Add to the cucumber mix and coat the cucumber well.
3. Add the peanuts.
4. Mix and serve immediately with a meal.

This salad goes well with parathas, bhaji, or dal. But I often dish it up separately as a starter with roasted papads (poppadums) or as a dip with crunchy corn tortillas. This refreshing recipe goes to Neha @ Easy & Tasty recipes who is hosting AFAM Cucumber this month.

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2009. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Sookhi Rajma ki Dal | Spicy Red Kidney Beans

What would Aloo Tikkis be without an accompanying sauce? Of course, every self-respecting chef does stock up on an assortment of chutneys and ketchup!! But the simplicity of the tikkis is somehow jazzed up wonderfully with a tasty legume of some kind - often spicy chickpeas. I simply adore that combination which I love to serve up with tamarind and mint chutney. Yummy:)

Gajar Koshambir Ver 1.0 | Carrot-Peanut Salad

Apart from their nutritive value, carrots are a crunchy, tasty, and deliciously sweet vegetable. Carrots are ideal for snacking, desserts, bhajis, and salads. The wonderful thing about carrots is that they take on flavour very well. Gajar Koshambir or Indian-style Carrot Salad is a great salad to add to an afternoon meal. Its fresh citrusy flavour is superb in adding balance to any curry, vegetable, and even rice. Here's how I make Gajar Koshambir.


More Raw Carrot Recipes @ Annarasa:
Gajar Koshambir Ver 2.0 | Carrot Yogurt Salad
Gajar March No Sambharo | Fresh Carrot Green Chile Pickle
Gajar Adrak Chatni | Carrot & Ginger Chutney

Ingredients:
3 large carrots
3 tbsp peanuts, roasted
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp cilantro, chopped fine
1 green chilli, chopped fine
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp sugar

Method:

1. Grate the carrots and place in a mixing bowl.
2. Crush the peanuts coarsely. Mix in the peanuts with the salt, sugar, cilantro, and green chilli.
3. Squeeze the lemon into this mix. Blend well.
4. Pour into a serving bowl. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

This recipe goes to The Cooker who is hosting JFI: Carrots this month. JFI,the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi blog. It also goes out to Mansi of Fun & Food Cafe who is hosting a Vegetarian Thanksgiving Recipe Carnival.

Vegan Recipe, Dairy Free Recipe

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Masala Chana Dal Vadas | Spicy Lentil Fritters

This year I decided to make some typical and traditional treats for Diwali. Apart from the sakarparas and namakparas, I thought it might be a good idea to have some nice food from the South for Choti Diwali and something from Delhi for Diwali. So I made tamarind rice, masala vadas, and sambar on the 27th! And while I often make tamarind rice from scratch at home, I usually make my sambar using MTR sambar masala. I always plan to make the sambar masala at home but just never get round to it. So this time I decided I just had to make the masala at home and I did. And I have to confess - the sambar was the best I have ever tasted. Well, enough said about my adventures with masalas and onto the Masala Vadas!! (And of course, you might well ask: what did you make for Diwali? Keep tuned for some delicious Delhi Chaat!!)

Spicy Panner-Filled Rolls

Paneer or Indian-Style Cottage Cheese makes a delicious filling for these quick and easy bread rolls. Paneer is usually made with buffalo milk and is rich in calcium and contains upto 500mg calcium in a serving of a single cup. Quite simply, its good for you. These rolls taste delicious warm or cold. They are perfect as a snack, great for a party, but throw in a salad or soup and you get a yummy meal that's nutritious at the same time.

Lemony Chickpea & Macaroni Chaat

Here's another original from my kitchen - Chickpea & Macaroni Chaat!! As all my friends and family know, I love to be creative in the kitchen. So, when we got home last Saturday, exhausted after some biking, we couldn't wait to get some lunch. Well, it was closer tea time and the breakfast we'd eaten had long been digested. Of course, we could have eaten out. But our new mantra is to avoid eating out as much as possible - primarily with the aim of avoiding unnecessary calories from restaurant food and hence to replace any such meal with a healthier home-cooked alternative.

Methi-Kanda Pakoras | Fenugreek-Onion Fritters

Something for a rainy day? How about pokaras? A tea-time staple, these Indian-style fritters are quickly rustled up and served with tea especially when there are unexpected visitors. Loved by kids and adults alike, pakoras come in all shapes and sizes. Vegetables of choice are cut in bite-sized portions and covered with seasoned chickpea flour and deep-fried. In my home we love onion pakoras. I usually make them on a really rainy day and serve them hot with a steaming cup of sweet tea!!

Methi-Kanda Pakoras or fenugreek-onion fritters taste divine. The somewhat bitter taste of fresh fenugreek leaves combines very well with the sweet flavour of the onions. I usually use the red onions as they turn out more crispy when fried. I have found that the white or yellow onions are more watery that the red ones and do not acquire or retain the desirable crispness when deep frying.

Ingredients:
1 cup fenugreek leaves, tightly packed
1 medium onion, chopped fine
3/4 cup chickpea flour
2 green chillies
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
Water, just enough to make a batter
Oil, for deep frying

Method:

1. Place the chickpea flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the cumin seeds, chilli powder, and salt. Sift together.
2. Now add just enough water to make a batter. Make sure that the batter is completely free of any lumps.
3. Chop the fenugreek leaves coarsely, mince the green chillies, and mix with the onion. Pour this into the prepared batter and blend together, making sure that all the vegetable has a coating of the batter.
4. Heat oil for deep frying in a heavy bottomed wok. Reduce heat to medium. Gently drop spoonfuls of the onion-fenugreek batter into the oil. Fry on medium heat until the pakoras are well cooked and golden brown in colour.
5. Serve hot with fresh green chutney.

This delicious treat goes out to Herb Mania hosted this month by Red Chillies.

Vegan Recipe

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Moongachi Usal | Sprouted Mung Bean Bhaji

Maybe one of the most widely eaten legumes across the world, the Mung Bean is as tasty as it is nutritious. Packed with fibre, calcium, protein, and potassium - this bean makes a wonderful part of a healthy diet. Now sprouted Mung Beans simply pump up all this nutritional content! Indeed, sprouts are rich in protein quality, energy, vitamins A,B,C, and E, minerals, essential fatty acids, and beneficial enzymes.

Palak Ke Parathe | Spinach Flatbread

My earliest memories of parathas come from seeing them in my school lunch box. My Mum is a genius with dough, and when I was in school, and she would create the most amazing parathas, make rolls with them with vegetable filling, and place them in our lunch boxes. This always a made a very tasty, filling, and nutritious lunch, and needless to say - much in demand amongst my friends.

I like to think I am as experimentative as her as creating with new tastes and flavours is something I adore. The great thing about these spinach parathas, apart from the fact that they are delicious, is that they taste great hot or cold. They can be prepared in advance, wrapped in foil and served hot with lime pickle, sliced cucumbers and yogurt. And as they travel rather well, they can be cooled after cooking, and used to make rolls with whatever filling you fancy, foil wrapped individually for a nice healthy picnic lunch. Either way, they are yummy!!

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup spinach cooked
1/2 onion chopped fine
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 green chillies, chopped fine
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oil
Ghee, as needed
Extra flour as needed



Method:

1. Sift together the flour, salt, chilli powder, and cumin seeds. Add the oil and rub into the flour with the palms of your hands.
2. Once the spinach has cooled, puree it.
3. Next add the onions, garlic, green chillies, and the pureed spinach to the flour mix, and using water if needed make into a semi-soft dough. Knead it for 2 minutes.
4. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.
5. Divide the dough into golf ball sized portions. Using the extra flour to dust the kneading board and roll out the dough into discs 4 inches in diameter.
6. Heat a non-stick griddle. Reduce the heat to medium, and place one paratha. Cook, then turn over and cook the other side.
7. Remove from the griddle, brush with ghee, and place in foil to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining dough.
8. Serve these nutritious parathas with yogurt and chutney.
   

These Spinach Parathas are my contribution to Joanna's Heart of the Matter HotM - Picnics!! Interestingly, Johanna of the food blog The Passionate Cook has chosen the theme of picnics for this month's WTSIM. I hope I can tempt at least some summer picnics with these Spinach Parathas!!

And as greens (yes greens!!) are my favourite foods, these parathas also go out to Easycrafts at Simple Indian Food for her wonderful event WYF - Colour in Food!

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007-2012. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

A Protein Rich Snack: Acaraje

Acaraje or a bean fritter comes from a fusion of African and Brazilian cuisines. It is a kind of street or fast food that is served with a spicy vinegary sauce!!Typically the acaraje fritter or patty is made with black-eye beans which are then deep fried in palm oil. Delicious, but I wanted to do something different with this recipe - mainly try to make a more healthy version of it. I made this acaraje with red kidney beans, and shallow fried them with very little oil.