Tamatar Kanda Pohe | Tangy Tomato Pohe

Back in the day when we were still in school, Mum made yummy tiffin every day. I still marvel at the thought that she would prepare such a variety of tiffin for us early mornings, before we all rushed to the school bus. One of my favourite packed lunches was pohe. While North Indian style pose with onions, potatoes, and cilantro was a regular on weekends, Mum would make delicious Tomato Pohe or Peas Pohe for tiffin.

Shimla Mirche ke Chawal | Spicy Green Bell Pepper Rice

Fried rice recipes are so easy to put together. A well spiced fried rice dish tastes wonderful warm or cold and makes for a simple and flavorful recipe for a packed lunch or a picnic lunch. Though fried rice recipes are often made with leftover rice, I love to make them with fresh rice too. They make a great one pot meal for lunch or dinner and then if I have any leftover I use it for the lunchbox. If you have an office microwave, you can carry this for lunch the next day too.

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!! 

MultiGrain Onion Capsicum Bread | Pyaz Shimla ki Dabal Roti

Earlier this summer I made my Zesty Onion Chile Bread and it was a big hit. Visiting India, I made a similar bread at my Mum's place (big thanks to her for the beautiful props, her super camera, and tonnes of natural light!!). I used a different mix of flours for the bread and thought I should share the recipe for this delicious loaf with my readers.

Sour Cream Bread with Onions and Peppers

Here is another of my favourite go-to bread recipes. Whenever I make soup or stew this is the bread I bake to accompany it. Not only does it have a great texture, it slices and toasts really well too. Making bread sometimes seems like a really tricky job. But I can assure you that it is not. In fact whats really difficult is staying away from it once it ready to eat!! Try this beautiful loaf. After the compliments you receive, you won't regret it!!

Lasun wala Shimla Mirch Aloo | Garlicky Green Peppers and Potatoes

We have been visiting the farm  every two weeks. The harvest has been fantastic and unexpectedly so given the heat we experienced this summer. I have been making pickles, chutneys, and we are enjoying fresh vegetables on our table every day now!! Last night I made a simple vegetable dish with farm fresh green peppers and potatoes. No store bought vegetable that has made it to the table via the cold chain can compare. Enjoy this simple and tasteful vegetable with chapatis, parathas, and plain curds (yogurt).

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.

Chili Tofu | Indo Chinese Kitchen

Chili Tofu is a take on the very popular Chili Paneer served in Indo Chinese establishments! I tasted Chili Paneer many years at Sakoni's - a Gujarati restaurant in Wembley, London. It was such a popular dish that Desis (colloquial for South Asians) living in London would plan special trips to Sakoni's just for a stab at the dish. I was dragged across town by just such an eager friend. Unfortunately at the time the dish I was least impressed with was, you guessed it, Chili Paneer. I am guessing that it was overshadowed by other delicacies like Chaat, Lassi, Samosa, that I focused on during the meal!!

Kadai Tofu | Tofu with Fenugreek in a Tangy Tomato Sauce

Here's another Indian Style Tofu Recipe I'd like to share. After posting Tofu Tikka Masala and Palak Tofu, I was swamped with requests for more spicy tofu recipes from family and friends. Lately I made a delicious Kadai Tofu and here is the recipe for you!!

Ingredients:
1 block extra firm tofu
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 tbsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
1 green bell pepper
1 large onion, chopped fine
1" ginger, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 green chili,chopped fine
1 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp haldi (turmeric powder)
1/4 tsp zeera (cumin seeds)
1/2 tsp lal mirch (red chili powder)
1/4 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp dhania powder (coriander seeds powder)

Method:

1. Cube the tofu into bite size pieces. Dry roast it on a pan. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add the cumin, and then the ginger and garlic. Reduce heat and fry for a couple of minutes. 
3. Next add the onions and fry until translucent. Now throw in the spices including the turmeric, red chili powder , and dhania powder.
4. Stir well, fry for a minute, then add about 2 cups of water, stir to blend. Cook on medium heat until the water has reduced to about half its original amount and the sauce has begun to thicken. 
5. Add the kasuri methi, garam masala, and salt to taste. Stir and continue cooking for 5-6 minutes.
6. Now add the tofu, reduce heat to low, and allow the tofu to absorb the sauce. 
7. Add the green peppers, give a final stir, heat, and enjoy.

There is just so much flavour in this recipe you can almost feel juicy tomatoes in your mouth when you eat it. Kadai Tofu can be enjoyed with Roti, Parathas, Naan, and even rice. Just prepare a simple dal | lentils to go with it and you have a complete meal! Sending this recipe out to Vardhini @ Cook's Joy. She is hosting Kalyani's Kitchen Chronicles - Only Vegan event this month.

Vegan Recipe

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

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!

Daring Cooks October 2011: Moo Shu Tofu with Hoisin Sauce

Looks like chappati - bhaji right!! I too was surprised to discover that October 2011 Daring Cooks Challenge was a Chinese recipe that closely resembled and Indian dinner platter or a snack popularly called a frankie roll!! Though I was aware of varying types of Chinese, breads, including pancakes, these Mandarin Pancakes came as a big surprise to me. When I got the dough together for them, I found myself looking at chappati dough and not traditional pancake batter. The rolling and cooking process was similar too!! And they did taste wonderful.

Healthy Vegetarian Tacos

Tacos are a great favourite in my home and I am very experimental with the filling I make for for them. Here's a version of some yummy healthy vegetarian tacos that I made last weekend.

Jeweled Quinoa Pilaf with Pepitas and Cranberries

Quinoa has been a great favourite of mine ever since I discovered it!! I use it not only as a grain substitute but for an amazingly wide range of cooking. Its extremely versatile and can be combined well with a really wide multitude of flavours. It inspires creativity :)

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.

Hot and Spicy Black Bean Fusili

The great thing about pasta is that its just so so versatile. I simply love to be innovative with it and every time I decide to make some, I try to work with ingredients in my refrigerator and pantry. Last Sunday, after a beautiful and very fun day out, I was rummaging in my pantry when I suddenly felt a craving for black beans. I love black beans in Vegetarian Tacos, acaraje, and salsa. But I have never tried them with pasta. So I asked myself - why not? And below is the result :)

Spinach & Mushroom Rotini

Spinach and mushroom make for a wonderful combination. And with whole grain rotini, the taste is almost heavenly. This is one of my favourite recipes, one I created on one of those long winter evenings when I had a craving for a hearty yet healthy meal!! I am sharing this with all pasta lovers via Presto Pasta Night, hosted by the lovely Ruth.

Dreamy Vegetarian Pizza

So, I was surfing the internet for interesting food events.... Yup, feels like I have been doing a lot of that lately!! But then there are so many wonderfully enthusiastic chefs out there, each dreaming up new ways to challenge our skills and creativity!! I still continue to be quite literally gobsmacked at the variety and range of food events online.

Anyway, the first site to pop out from the blogosphere was Stephanie's blog announcing a Pizza Party. Just perfect I thought. And then, almost simultaneously - what exactly is a pizza? I mean I know what a pizza is, I have eaten it often enough, I bake it at home quite frequently - and yet - what is a pizza?? Quite simply, a pizza as we know it today is an Italian open pie usually made of thin bread dough spread with a spiced mixture of a.k.a tomato sauce and cheese. According to the Smithsonian, the pizza could be said to be a descendant of the focaccia or bread rounds covered with herbs and spice which made their debut in Naples around 1000 years ago. Essentially a peasant food, it was a way of recycling leftovers by placing them over thin crusts of dough and the baking them. Indeed there was no tomato on the earliest pizzas as Europeans came to know of this beautiful fruit sometime in the 16th century, and it was added to the pizza only subsequently.