Aloo Methi

Simple rustic Aloo methi served with rice and salad

There are some memories which never fade and some which just evanesce into oblivion. But smell can be a powerful memory trigger. Smell so rustic and comforting that deep buried images stand bare and bigger, usually leaving you distraught. You will be tormented and distressed till you put all those cognizant images back to where they belong.

Now before you speculate extraneous theories, let me clarify. The smell that invoked such strong visuals of my past, was nothing more than potatoes and fenugreek being sautéed on a particularly hot humid day. It wafted from somewhere above. Where, who, when and how … I did bother, but soon all that dissipated when flashbacks of the mother’s kitchen loomed up at me. Someone was making food just like my mothers – this thought was eerily comforting.
I mean, how weird, I tell myself. Whats there to get excited to smell food like what your mother cooked for you. But I was.

Fenugreek has medicinal properties.

Aloo methi. Something so traditional and homey and simple….now why am I making a post for this? I am making this for all those young people out there who suddenly-mindlessly crave for food that they have grown up with. That cozy feeling – that you get out of familiarity.
And for documentation purposes too 😉
15 years down the line, I doubt if the daughter will ever call and ask for a recipe. She most probably will scan her favourite sites and lastly come to her mums where she will read this and nod and say yes, I miss my mother’s cooking too. And now I’m just being too hopeful! Am I not??! Never mind.

What all you need –

Just potatoes and fresh fenugreek leaves sautéed in some powerful mustard oil, with a bit of all Indian spices, and look how I am dancing with my words! Well, the above picture shows you all that you need to make this wonderful side to your everyday bread or rice.

That essential piece of lime!

There are plenty of variations for this vegetable side or sabzi as we call it. Mother used mustard oil, and no onions or garlic or any other paraphernalia for this dish. She kept it simple and it worked fabulously. A drizzle of lime and some fresh salad is all that you need to make your day.

Made my day 🙂

Ingredients

• 2 cups par boiled potatoes, diced into medium sized chunks
• 2 cups of fenugreek leaves, picked, washed and roughly chopped
• 2-3 green chilies, minced – optional
• 1 big whole red chilli
• 2 tbsp mustard oil or any other oil would also do.
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1-2 tsp red chill powder or as desired
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and mustard seeds mixed
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida powder – I don’t skip this!
• salt to taste.
• Lime wedges to serve with

Method

In a large skillet or pan, drop a tsp of oil. Gently roast the potatoes till it gets a golden coating all over it. Regular tossing and turning help. Once done, remove from the pan and keep aside.

In the same skillet, heat rest of the oil. Crackle cumin and mustard seeds. Add asafoetida and whole dried red chili. Fry chopped fenugreek leaves and green chilies till they wilt. Now add potatoes, along with all the masalas and salt. Saute for another minute or so.

Serve with chappathis or rice or any bread.

No onion, no garlic. So easy peasy!

Note: if desired, 2 tsp chopped garlic can be added before adding the fenugreek leaves.

you will not regret making this 🙂

Like someone rightly said We live on the leash of our senses. Taking this wonderful aromatic side to pair with Angie’s gorgeous phulkas, for her 41st Friday Fiesta. come take a look, she make these chappathis and every single one puffs up! P
Happy Cooking dear foodies!

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Rakshabandhan Special – Eggless Whole Wheat Oat Cookies

Rakshabandhan – the bond of protection, is a beautiful Hindu festival celebrated with much fan fare and gusto in all parts of India. This auspicious day falls on the full moon(Shravan Poornima) of the Shravan month of the Hindu lunisolar calendar.

The central ceremony involves the tying of a rakhi (sacred thread) by a sister on her brother’s wrist. This symbolizes the sister’s love and prayers for her brother’s well-being, and the brother’s lifelong vow to protect her. Wow, Right?!!

Whole Wheat Oat Cookies

My brother does not reside in the same city as I do. But distance never deters any sister to send this sacred thread across to her loving brother. A box full of cookies, some very dark chocolate brownies and fancy beautiful threads to adorn my little brothers wrist, I send these little beauties across and make sure the recipient gets it well in advance.

Sacred thread

A simple sacred red-yellow thread was the norm many many years ago. But now things have changed. Indian market is flooded with designer rakhis which usually cost a bomb. They are visually very appealing, studded with stones and pearls.
Mom always made sure we girls tied a simple thread first and then the fancy shancy ones which we splurged on. The thread adorned the brother’s wrist for days to come, where as the decorative ones usually came out within an hour or two of tying.

So, what do you do if you don’t have a brother? Well, with changing times, this brother sister celebration extended even to sister-sister and brother-brother fanfare. Now, usually boys being boys never indulged in extra ‘frivolous’ things like these. You will never catch a guy tying any thread on another guy’s wrist, but what you will find is this – chirpy cheery girls tying the most decorative piece on their sister’s wrist.
I know this, because that’s what we sisters did for a very long time, until my brother was born. To this date, I send girl rakhis(called Lumbas) for my sisters and they love to showcase them on their bangles.

One to adorn your wrist

My brother is all of 17 years old. I was 16 when he was born – oh please don’t do the math to my age 🙂
Having such a small brother is like having a grown up son. He is smart, naughty, caring, witty and hates girl talk. Imagine him living his life surrounded by very talkative sisters, the kind who nagged, the kind who bullied, the kind who also gave in to all his wishes and demands.

I remember him being my handy until I got married and moved away. He would run to do my work, but not before he bullied me into baking some chocolate cake or maybe a bowl full of hakka noodles. Sigh! Those were the days, now the stuff he wants scares the hell out of me – mobile phones, PSP’s .. and what not.

I made them crisp and crunchy.

This year, along with the threads, I decided to send some good bakes as well. Its sheer joy when someone, anyone, sends you something hand made – home made. And the insatiable sweet tooth in my brother also gets satisfied with these sweet delights – yay!

I’ve never baked cookies before, so when I came across this easy breezy recipe, I bookmarked it. With the goodness of whole wheat and oats, laced with a hint of cinnamon powder and pure vanilla extract, these cookies were a big crowd pleaser back home.

Cinnamon Flavored

What we have here is an eggless whole wheat oat cookie recipe. They are dense, crisp and crunchy. If you prefer soft chewy bites, then simply bake them for a lesser time.
For lighter-fluffier cookies, use plain flour/maida instead of whole wheat.

Sweet Delight

The recipe:

To make 16 medium sized cookies –

Ingredients

• 50 gms butter
• 80 gms powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 2-3 drops of essence
• 1 tbsp of milk
• 50 gms oats
• 75 gms whole wheat flour or plain flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 3/4 tsp baking powder

Optional: gems or MnM’s to decorate

Method

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla and milk until smooth and creamy. Mix all the dry ingredients, oats, flour, cinnamon powder and baking powder.

Preheat the oven at 175 C.

Mix in the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and knead briefly until the cookie dough comes together. Grab small handfuls of the dough, and shape into small balls. Place on a greased or non stick cookie tray at a distance from each other. They will rise and spread.

Bake @150 C for 15 to 20 minutes for a chewy cookie and 25 to 30 minutes for crisp cookies.

To place the MnM/Gems: Midway while baking, wear a glove, place a gem each in the center of every cookie and return to bake.

Once done, allow to cool. Sample if you crave a bite, and store in an airtight container.

Thats it.

Tea time treats

My daughter does not enjoy plain sweet treats unless they have a little bit of chocolate in them. Now with the success of these, I am itching to try them with choco chips or even Nutella swirls or maybe some nuts and saffron! The mind does race ahead of its time 🙂

The brother pleased as a punch, hijacks the entire box, merely handing down a piece or two for the others to sample, relishes these sweet delights, calls me up and complains, “Why you didn’t send something savory to eat with all these sweets?”.
No how-are-yous. No Thank-yous. No saccharine talk. Sigh! Brothers.

Raksha Bandhan

Easy Biscuit Chocolate Fudge – Century Post

6 months back all I could think of was to put up a few tried recipes and some serious journaling of my boring life.
Then Time happened. And along with time, 99 posts happened.
These two changed my priorities, wants and needs. Now I disarmigly try n concoct recipes and formulas, view my once mundane life with a story in every moment, capture those timeless-fleeting occasions in my heart as well as in words, be fascinated with pixels and ISO settings, play around with picasa and instagram, make new friends and the best bit – wake up to ‘likes’ and kind ‘comments’!!
Life has been fun since.

Biscuit Chocolate Fudge

Exactly 6 months and 99 posts later, I bring this sweet delicacy for you dear foodies to celebrate my 100th post. Biscuit Chocolate Fudge, a gooey-chewy soft sweet mouthful – a perfect way to enhance my festive spirit.

Soft, gooey, chewy

Milee was already celebrating. Not my 100th post dear friends. But ‘Friendship Day’. Frankly, I never got around understanding all the special days that come in a year – friendships day, women’s day, father’s day, mother’s day, wife day, this day, that day. Phew! tiring.

But the child’s zest and spirit to make friends and share threads of amity made me tickle her demands of little friendships bands and some chocolate candies.

It might sound strange, but I never made a band for my friends to declare and pledge my loyalty towards them. And others around me did it and were subject to ‘Hmph, so silly’ looks. But like said before, Time taught me to never say ‘never’ again. My kid, who has a very fine mind of her own and she makes that very clear, announces loud that she needs those threads for all the people on her list. The girl was on a mission, I could make that out.

Milee’s friends eye the fudge…

And now a little word on Milee’s social skills. My kid is sensitive, touchy and easily offended. Comradeship doesn’t come easily to her. She usually gets left out or kicked out from games and teams. We can see she is eager to make friends and join in all the fun, but the kid struggles with social skills and team spirit.
Hmm… so now her agenda was to bribe her way into games and groups. Well..I could not say no, and moreover I needed a sweet treat to ceremonialize my 100 posts.

Sticky stack

The band making project turned quite a dampner when we realized crocheting threads is no joke. We struggled, wasted and finally flung the thin satin yarns. Leaving a room full of fine threads, scissors and lots of mess for another time in the day, we enter the kitchen in lieu of creating some magic there at the least.

The recipe simple, the ingredients ready, the zest back, we set to work. And it works like a charm.

Ingredients

• 1 tin condensed milk, I used nestle
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder
• 100 gms butter
• 200 gms coarsely crushed biscuits/cookies, I used Hide n Seek
• Gems/ MnM’s to decorate

-THAT’S IT!

Method

Mix the condensed milk, cocoa powder and butter to a smooth paste in a pan or kadai/wok. Place the mixture on low flame and while stirring all the while, cook for at least 10-12 minutes. You will find it thickening and becoming one cohesive mass. Once done. Throw in the coarsely crushed biscuits. Mix well.

Pour the contents into a well greased plate. Let it cool. I refrigerated it once the fudge had cooled down. After a couple of hours, remove, cut into square pieces, decorate with MnM’s or gems.

Serve!

Keep the rest refrigerated else it starts to get all sticky and melty.

A milestone reached

We later did get back to the band making project. And we did complete it, though with not any outstanding results. But it pleased Milee like no other. She was very proud of her handi work, joyous about the little goodies cooling in the fridge and hopeful of all those beautiful relationships she was going to make.

No, I am no witch. I didn’t burst the bubble that was floating so high up in the air. I let her dream. I let her hope. I let her be.

Of Journeys and Ends

And with this new-found hope that both mother daughter found, we embark on our respective journeys with similar roads to travel and familiar destinations.
So, here’s one, for many more to come.

Thin Crust Classic Margherita – 100% whole wheat!!

An impromptu picnic at the very beautiful Kanheri Caves(Mumbai), relentless rain, a homely sweet birthday party, hot steaming cups of chai, some sweet succulent corn on the cobs and a very runny nose – the weekend just zooms away. Before it fully whooshed past, I grabbed the chance to make some very healthy crisp thin-crust Margherita!

Divine Bite

A confession – I have never been a fan of pizza – don’t worry, I’m real.
When we were growin up, pizza hut made its presence felt loud and clear. I still remember my first bite, the when and the where… a brand new sleek looking pizza shop on Cunningham Road. An afternoon out with friends. We- a bunch of teens, eager to try the enticing cheesy gooey triangle, with barely 100 bucks in our tiny pockets. All smiles and chatty till I have my first bite! And oh! how I disliked the doughy mass gulped with gallons of coke. I was so upset – (more with the fact that I just wasted my precious money on something so highly distasteful!).

Tempting triangles

Seven years back, a tiny quaint little pizzeria in Times Square of NYC transformed my charred taste buds. Super thin crust – fresh simple ingredients, incredible flavors and the fact that I could eat with my fingers… (pick,fold and bite!) was a revelation to me. That one huge slice satiated and more than made up for all the years that I had given it all up for. Since then I have been eating this ultimate deliciousness but of course on my terms and conditions 🙂

Fresh Basil to garnish

This(Blogging) wonderful medium has introduced me to new people, new cuisines, awesome photography and of course stupendous new recipes! I stumbled upon this very enticing formula to make whole wheat pizza sans the refinery, using very little ingredients and emphasizing the simplicity of the procedure. I had to bookmark it. With ingredients readily available in your pantry, a classic thin crust margherita can be created, all you need is – Time.

So simple

The Recipe:

Ingredients

For the pizza dough:

• 2 and 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 and 1/2 tsp yeast
• 2 tsp sugar
• salt according to taste
• luke warm water
• 1 tbsp olive oil

For the Assembly:

• 6-8 tbsp of pizza sauce
• 8-9 tbsp of grated mozzarella cheese
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• chopped sweet basil to garnish

Method

For the Dough:
Proof the yeast according to instructions on the pack. I have given a small tip at the end of the post. In a large mixing bowl, add flour, salt and 1 tsp sugar. Make a well in the center, add olive oil, proofed yeast and luke warm water to bind. Get all of it together. Knead for at least 5-6 minutes. Then in a well oiled bowl, place the kneaded dough and cover with a plastic film. Let the dough rise to double the volume. This takes approximately 2 hours.

For the Assembly:
Once done, preheat your oven to 250 degree C for 5-6 mins.
Remove the cling film, punch the dough and grab a handful of it, and using extra flour roll it out or spread with your fingers to form a pizza base. Carefully pick the base and lay on a pre oiled parchment paper. Brush little olive oil on the base. Spread your desired quantity of pizza sauce and loads of grated mozzarella.

Carefully pick the parchment paper, place in the pre heated oven and bake for 10-12 minutes at 200 degree C till the edges brown and cheese melted.

Once done, remove. Stay for 5 minutes. Sprinkle chopped basil.

Serve with seasoning n tabasco.

Scrumptious Slice

Proofing the yeast: I dissolved 1/2 tsp sugar in 1/2 cup luke warm water. Then added 2 and 1/2 tsp of active dry yeast. Mixed it vigorously, till a pasty structure was formed. Covered and kept it aside for 10 minutes. After the said time, the yeast was all frothy and bubbled up. Ready to be used. Sorry I forgot to click it, I was way too excited to get going with the dough.

Classic Easy Peasy Pizza Sauce: Heat olive oil, saute garlic(5-6 pods), 1 chopped onion, 3-4 dry red chilies, and 5-6 round fat ripe red tomatoes(skin peeled), along with 1/4 tsp sugar and salt to taste. Simmer for at least 30 minutes till the oil leaves the sides. Cool. Coarsely grind. Add oregano and 1 tbsp chopped basil. Ready to use!

No cook super simple Pizza sauce: 1 cup tomato ketch up, 1 tbsp butter, 3 minced garlic, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp red chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste. Combine all together, microwave for a minute or two. Mix well. Use!! Its good.. seriously. When you don’t have time to make the original, this works like a dream.

Link to the original: http://www.thecomfortofcooking.com/2013/05/100-whole-wheat-pizza-dough.html

Simple comfort food

Ginger Scallion Red Curry Thai Noodles

Such a long name for a noodle which is so simple to put together.

Thai red curry ginger scallion noodles

Such is life. We complicate simple things. But then, if we don’t add drama to simplicity, what’s the fun huh?
I could just call it Noodles or maybe Scallion Noodles( to be more descriptive), but chances are you would have just ignored the post and carried on with something else. So, I try to elaborate. And I try to emphasize the Thai part. 🙂
We make traditional noodles all the time, but a Thai dish topped with toasted sesame and peanuts has the birthright to YELL out for attention. Yep. This simple dish is that awesome.

Scallions add flavor!

I did not add any vegetable apart from sweet corn( because that’s all I had in the refrigerator), and it took me less than 10 minutes to put it together(took more time to think of a name. wierd. Funny right?)

This meal was a last minute improvisation with what ever was left in my pantry, and the husband being bitten by the traveling bug, dinner was just for me and Milee.
Since I added red curry paste, I was doubtful of the heat that the noodle carried, so quickly made a cheese paratha for the child. But the final outcome was sooo good(and not too spicy) that Milee literally grabbed and made me swap dinner plates with her. Kids!

Red Curry Fire

Recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 cups boiled noodles, I used plain ones, but I believe egg noodles taste great in thai curry.
• 1/2 cup scallion/spring onion whites
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
• 2 tbsp red curry paste, or as much as you like
• 4 tbsp scallion/spring onion greens
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 2-3 tbsp toasted peanuts, coarsely crushed
• 1-2 tsp sesame oil or peanut oil
• 1/2 cup sweet corn or any vegetable(mushroom/broccoli) – optional

Method

In a large wok, heat oil. Saute ginger garlic. Throw in the scallion whites and thinly sliced onions. If you are using any vegetable – add it now. Once almost done, mix in the red curry paste, soy sauce and salt. Saute on high for a minute or two. Quickly add the boiled noodles, salt and 3/4th of scallion greens. Throw in 3/4th of sesame seeds and peanuts saving some for garnishing. Switch the flame off. Mix well with gentle hands. Just before serving reheat in a microwave, garnish with leftover sesame, peanuts and scallion leaves. Serve hot!

How easy is that?!! 🙂

Toasted sesame and peanuts to garnish

So, the long name describes my supper best. Just ‘that’ is enough for you to guess and put the ingredients together. In between big mouthfuls of red curry noodles, some crisp cheese coriander paratha, mother daughter duo made some awesome memories and a wonderful-definitely-repeating recipe.

Life is simple. 🙂

Take a big bite

Bread Croutons – Garlic Flavored and Baked!

Garlic Herbed Bread Croutons

It’s inanely easy. Really, making baked croutons is no rocket science. Pleasantly surprised by the simplicity and the crunch of the little bites, has coerced me to make several batches ever since my first.

Crunchy crisp bites

A french bread gives the best results, but leftover sandwich bread also would do. I had some whole wheat bread on my counter top waiting to be used. Just 5-6 slices is enough for a bottle full of croutons! They are great as add ons on soups/stews/salads or as it is.

Bottle Full of little bites

First time I tried these, no special flavors were added. Plain crunchy beautifully toasted they were. But I’ve been experimental. Pounded garlic and mixed herbs add such drama to the flavors…. you will be in for a surprise!

Toasted to perfection

Use whole wheat bread, top with a little olive oil, add any flavoring you like and BAKE! See. So simple. And not to forget, HEALTHY too. Try munching on them with your evening cup of tea. Delightful.

Cold Lettuce + Fresh Veggies + Mayo + Mustard + Bread Croutons = Yummy Salad

When you want some body to your salad, cottage cheese or boiled peanuts or croutons are the keys to a filling satisfying meal. Top these crunchies on your soup or stew, and relish the carb with the slurrp.

Perfect Accompaniments

The Recipe:

Ingredients

• 6 slices of whole wheat bread or 1/2 a loaf of french bread, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed/pounded
• 7-8 pepper corns, pounded
• salt to taste

Method

Preheat your oven at 150C.
Mix the olive oil, crushed garlic, pepper powder and salt. Gently envelop the bread pieces with this oil. Spread the croutons on a baking sheet/parchment paper on a tray. Bake at 150-170C for 8-10 minutes, until they turn slightly brown and hard.

They can go from brown to black like in no time, so keep an open eye. Once done, cool and store in an air tight container. Use within 3-4 days.

Flavored with garlic and pepper

Try different flavorings:

• pepper and salt – plain simple
• garlic and basil
• garlic and pepper
• garlic and parsley
• mixed herbs

Bits of Baked Bread

Milee’s Very Handy Tip:

Use these croutons as sides to a dip! She mixed cheese spread and green chutney, made a light green dip. Dunked these bites generously into the beautiful hued spread and relished every bit. Kids! They come up with the best ideas.

Carrot Beans Stir fry Salad / Poriyal

Carrot beans poriyal

Simple vegetable stir fry seasoned with chana dal and mustard seeds flavored with coconut and coriander is PORIYAL in Tamil. Poriyals can be made with any vegetable of your choice. It is inanely simple to prepare and delicious with hot soft white rice(SIN!!).

Settled in Mumbai for the past 5 years has not diminished my love for South Indian food. Infact, since I am not in Bangalore anymore where ever increasing in number Darshinis(self service South Indian restaurants) serve awesome authentic Karnataka/Tamil food, I try to make as much of it at home.

Almost a salad!

These simple poriyals have fresh diced veggies in minimal spices and oil with just a wee bit of tempering. SO, its almost a salad. Most of the time you will find yourself eating it all by itself sans the sinful rice. Along with a big bowl of lentil soup(Daal), it accomplishes to make a complete meal for those weight watchers.

Great alternative to those chewy boring salads.

A list of different vegetables that can make a yummy poriyal awaits for you at the end. But for now, its the recipe in queue:

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup chopped french beans
• 1 spoon oil
• 2 tbsp channa dal, split bengal gram
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 pinches asafetida
• 3-4 curry leaves, torn
• 2 green chilies, slit lenghtwise – use accordingly
• 1 tiny piece of ginger, grated
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 2-3 tbsp grated fresh coconut – reduce the quantity if you don’t like the taste
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp coriander leaves to garnish

Method

In a pan, heat oil. Roast channa dal on medium heat till light brown. Splutter mustard seeds at this stage. Sprinkle asafetida. Next goes in the curry leaves, green chilies and ginger and the diced veggies. Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder. Cover and cook till almost done. I like some bite to the veggies, so I leave it at 3/4 th done. But I personally know many who like their vegetables fully cooked. So, your call.

Once done, sprinkle coconut, lime juice and coriander. Mix well. Turn the flame off.
Serve with hot rice or chappathis or enjoy them on their own.
This is one dish that need not be reheated. It tastes yumm even when cold( and I don’t mean, straight out from the fridge).

Orange and Green… reminds me of our Indian Flag.

Note:
If you want your veggies to reflect the natural bright color, don’t cover and cook. Let the veggies be done without the lid and stir frying in between so as not to burn the contents.
Chances are your mom would scold you for doing this. The nutrients vanish in thin air .. literally, but when we lidd the contents, the goodness doesnt go away. So they say.

But, what I do is: When Im having guests over, and if this is on the menu, I let the colors shine, as presentation and colors should appeal to my guests. But when I make it regularly at home, I retain the goodness.
PS: For the pictures that you see… you know what I did..;)

I like some crunch!

Vegetables that you can use:
1. Single vegetable can be made from using only carrot/beans/beetroot/cabbage/bottle gourd/potato/radishes/pumpkin
2. Combination of two – carrot-beans / carrot-beets / carrot-cabbage / beans- potato / beans cabbage
3. Boiled chickpeas can be used, and the dish is called “Sundal”, for this you skip the fried bengal gram.
4. Boiled peanuts made into a poriyal make a very tasty and healthy snack.

If you know of any more combinations, do drop me a line.

Regular fare in any South Indian Home