Mozzarella Salad with Oxheart Tomatoes

Oxheart Tomato Salad with Mozzarella

After I published pictures of an unusual tomato in this post, many of you asked me what variety of tomato it actually was. I didn't know then, because as I mentioned in that post, I took the snaps at a friend's place, and she didn't know what they were called. In her comment, our fellow-blogger Linda was kind enough to point out that it could be an 'heirloom' variety. I had never heard of that term, and I definitely wanted to find out what exactly it was. So, I just found myself on the way to the vegetable vendor at the farmers' market in Düsseldorf's city centre one day. The same place where my friend had bought her tomato.

I was lucky. The French veggie vendor had some more of those tomatoes. To be precise, the 'Oxheart' or the 'cœur de bœuf' tomatoes. It is a variey of beefsteak tomatoes. The ones coming into Germany are grown in France. These tomatoes are grown in the USA as well. Has anybody of you come across it? There is this article on it on Wikipedia; it's in German. Unfortunately, there is none in English.

Anyway, after bringing home this tomato, when I cut it, I saw this beautiful pattern of compartments inside. The slices look like flowers, don't they? So, I dropped all ideas of chopping it up. I had to use those pretty slices just the way they were. The only thing I thought of making with it was the simple Tomato salad with Mozzarella. And that's what I made.

From left to right: Mozzarella slices, Oxheart tomato slices

Recipe for Mozzarella Salad with Oxheart Tomatoes

Serves 2-3 .

Ingredients:

1 large Oxheart tomato OR two medium regular tomatoes
One ball of Mozzarella cheese (approx. 75g. - 100g. drained weight. I used the low-fat version with 8.5% total fat content.)
a few Basil leaves for garnishing

For the dressing:
2 tsp olive/walnut oil (I used walnut oil.)
a dash of white wine vinegar (optional)
3-4 Basil leaves, torn
salt & pepper to taste

Clockwise from bottom left: fresh Basil leaves, tomato, pepper mill, white wine vinegar, walnut oil, salad dressing ready to be used

Method:

1. Cut the tomato(es) horizontally in not very thin slices. Arrange them on a serving plate.
2. Cut the Mozzarella in slices. Arrange the slices on top of the tomato slices.
3. Mix all ingredients listed separately to make the dressing.
4. Distribute the dressing with a spoon evenly over the arranged tomato and mozzarella slices.
5. Sprinkle some salt and freshly crushed pepper over it, if you like.
6. Garnish with some fresh Basil leaves. Serve.

This salad is one of the few dishes, which take hardly any time to prepare, but are full of flavour in every bite. Moreover, if the tomato slices are beautiful to look at, then nothing like it. :)

Since tomatoes are rich in anti-oxidants, I'd like to send this post as an early entry to Cate's ARF/5-a-day Tuesday. Nandita suggests that I should send it to Kalyn for her Weekend Herb Blogging event. So, I shall do that too.

Tags: salad mozzarella oxheart tomato

Do you know your blog-buddies?

When I saw this quiz on spices by Santhi, I thought : Why not a quiz about our fellow-bloggers? Ok, we don't know each other that well, but there are always a few bits of information to be seen in some corners. :)

By the way, before I start, let me make it clear that the questions are not in any particular order. No preference or priority here. I just went on writing as it came to my mind.

If you know who I am talking about, then just leave your answers in the comments section. I'll publish the answers, when the time is right(!). And hey, if I have not included you in the quiz, it's just that I didn't think of anything quizzy. I appreciate you as a fellow-blogger anyway.

One more important thing: Do you really wanna get into the temptation of reading others' comments? (You must have got caught copying in school exams then!)

----------- Spoiler follows ----------------

Ok, then. Get ready for the answers, Folks.

1. If it is weekend, she must be baking. - Pushpa with her Weekend Baking Sessions

2. No, they don't preach Geeta here. It's just a food blog. - Krishna & Arjuna's World

3. Let's see how her lemon pickle turns out in the end. - Manisha. Check out her lemon pickle.

4. He is a ... well, that itself is a clue. Mela kya? Sorry, mila kya? - Tony with his Curry Mela. The only man running a food-blog apart from VKN .

5. She shows us the 'roads' to healthy weight-loss. A weight-watcher's Utopia? - Neelu of Crossroads. http://neelusutopia.blogspot.com/

6. It's two separate bloggers. Both of them have non-Indian partners and both went on separate trips to the US recently. Do you know them? - Meeta and Shammi.

7. She never got to celebrate her birthday in school with her mates. Neither did she cut a cake as we know it. - Ashwini of Food for Thought. Read this post for more info.

8. Her name is Nalyavan. Doesn't sound right? Well, you just have to change your perspective and you'll know it. - Lavannya aka Perspective.

9. She always writes 'without fax'. Sorry, what was that again? - Mythili. She often ends her posts with the words 'without wax'. An important line from this Dan Brown novel.

10. I wonder why she took her turtle-neck sweaters from the US to Mumbai. - Nandita. The answer to this question is here.


Thank you ALL for participating. It was great fun!

A Ton Of Protein # 7 + Nigella Awesome - Dal Fry

Dal fry garnished with chilli powder

One of my blog-buddies, Ashwini of Food for Thought did an informative post on nigella Seeds (Kalonji) a few days back, in which she appealed to the blogosphere in general to let her know about recipes using this spice, since it is not easy to come across any that easily. As she points out in this post, Nigella seeds seem to be under-appreciated in the Indian cuisine. Or maybe there is a treasure of recipes using this spice, which is just waiting to be unearthed. As our first little attempt at unearthing this treasure, some of us food-bloggers are blogging today about the dishes using Kalonji in our informal event, Nigella Awesome. (A take on the British celebrity cookbook author!) Please feel free to blog about your recipes using this black beauty in the coming days. The event should not end today; let this just be the beginning.

What I have got today is the ubiquitous Dal Fry. This is one dish, which we order each and every time we go out to a Punjabi restaurant in India. Although Dal Fry can taste different at every restaurant, it is one of those dishes which you can always bank upon. The recipe that I use for making this lentil dish is by Tarla Dalal. I follow it exactly the way given by her (which is not quite my style really!), because it turns out really well. With a characteristic earthy flavour of the awesome nigella seeds.

Recipe for Dal Fry

Dal Fry shake, anyone? :)

Ingredients:

1 cup red Masoor dal (red lentils in the earlier picture)
¼ cup yellow moong dal (yellow lentils in the earlier picture)
1 green chilli, slit
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp grated garlic
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 onion, sliced
1 tomato, chopped
salt to taste

1 tbsp ghee/oil
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
½ teaspoon nigella seeds (the black seeds in the earlier picture)
1 red chilli

chopped coriander leaves / some butter for garnishing

Method :

1. Wash the dals. Pressure cook them together along with the chilli, ginger, garlic, turmeric, salt and 2 cups of water.
2. Take the chilli out and discard it. Whisk the dal till it is smooth. You could use your hand-held blender for this. Keep the dal aside.
3. Heat the ghee/oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds, nigella seeds and red chilli, once the oil is hot.
4. When the mustard seeds pop, add the onion and sauté till it is translucent.
5. Add the tomato and sauté for another 3 to 4 minutes.
6. Add the dals & 1 cup of water, mix well and bring to a boil.
7. Garnish with chopped coriader leaves or a dollop of butter. In case the Dal Fry is not hot enough for you, you could garnish it with some chilli powder like in my first photograph.

Serve warm with rice/rotis/naan/paratha or phulkas.

Dal fry served with rice and a wedge of lime

As their participation to this event, this is what our fellow bloggers have got.

Ashwini : Achaari Baingan
Krithika : Squash Subzi
Priya : Achaari Aloo, Naan, Namakparas
Shammi : Savoury Cheddar cheese biscuits

Check them out!

Sakharbhaat (Mildly spiced sweet rice)

Sakharbhaat
(It looks much better than this actually. My sorry camera could capture only 35% of its beauty.)

It is my father's birthday today. Just the way it has more or less become a tradition at my parents' place to make Puranpoli for my birthday, it always used to be kinda predecided that it would be Sakharbhaat for my father's. That was until his high blood sugar levels were detected. Even now, it is us, his family, who are not in favour of this tradition any longer. He would still be happy to find this dessert on his plate. Because he strongly believes that Diabetes is a curable disease, and that his is nearly cured. :) Well, who said that only children can give their parents a tough time? The opposite is equally possible. That is the reason why I have made this dish only as a virtual treat for him. (Technology is not all that bad after all, is it?) I hope he enjoys it. And so do you, when you make it.

A little about this Maharashtrian/Goan dessert: Sakhar=sugar & bhaat=rice. This sweet rice has a wonderful aroma of cloves and cardamom. Traditionally, desserts are always served with the meal itself in Maharashtra (and in many of the Indian cuisines that I know.) So is this one. It is rarely seen at big ceremonies like weddings, at least in the urban parts of Maharashtra. It is a pucca home dessert. And this is how it is made.

Recipe for Sakharbhaat

Ingredients:

1 cup Basmati rice
1 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp ghee
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup sugar
a little less than ½ cup water (for the sugar syrup)
2 cloves
3-4 cardamom pods
1 tbsp sugar (for clove-cardamom powder)
8-10 cashewnuts, halved
saffron strands, the more the better

Method:

1. Grind the cloves and cardamom with sugar. You could also pound them with a pestle and mortar.
2. Cook the rice with lime juice, ghee and salt in just enough quantity of water, because we want every rice grain to be separate. (If cooking it in the microwave, add only 2 cups of water for 1 cup rice.)
3. Once cooked, spread it on a wide plate/tray with gentle hands, making sure that the rice grains do not break. I often use a fork for this. Let the rice cool down.
4. In the meanwhile, mix the sugar and water and put it to cook. Boil it until you get thick sugar syrup. It is thick enough, if a drop of it, when put on a metal plate, does not run but stays firm. We call this 'golibund paak' in Marathi.
5. Add the saffron strands to the syrup. Add the cooled rice too and cover the pan. Steam-cook the rice for a couple of minutes.

Rice cooking in the sugar syrup

6. Open the lid, stir the rice and steam-cook it for another couple of minutes.
7. Add the powdered/pounded cloves & cardamom and the cashewnuts. Mix them all well with the rice. Cook it uncovered on low heat until all the water has evaporated.

Serve it preferably warm or at room temperature. Sakharbhaat is not really enjoyable, if served cold. It tastes even better the following day. I often take advantage of that, and make it on the previous day, when I am entertaining. That helps me gain more time on the day of the lunch/dinner to prepare other dishes.

Note:
Although the procedure looks lengthy, it is one of the easiest desserts to prepare, in my opinion. If you make it once, it is child's play the second time around.

I would like to send this one as my entry to Paz for this month's From My Rasoi event.

Tags: rice , Maharashtrian , Indian dessert , 101 Indian sweets

'Confessions in Groups of Five' Meme

I have been tagged by the ever-friendly Nandita for this meme. Thanks, Nandita. I was really looking forward to being tagged for this one.

5 items in my freezer

1. Frozen vegetables
2. Frozen herbs
3. Frozen strawberries
4. Our first tub of ice-cream this year (It's a yummilicious walnut ice-cream with lots 'n' lots of walnut pieces.)
5. Frozen leftovers

5 items in my closet

1. My broken Mangalsutra. My daughter pulled and broke it last December. I haven't gone to India after that. That poor thing is still awaiting repairs.
2. My perfum bottles. Too precious to be kept on the dressing table coz my little one pulls down everything from there.
3. A couple of sarees and Salwar Kameez sets, which haven't seen the light of the day in the last 7-8 months.
4. Lesser number of hangers than clothes. Some of the hangers are carrying three pairs of trousers on them. :)
5. Dust from the lint of clothes. Eewwww...

5 items in my car

1. My daughter's toys
2. Music cassettes - some with Hindi songs, some with nursery rhymes
3. One Europe atlas, one Düsseldorf Atlas
4. Tissue
5. A chewing gum, which is badly stuck to one of the rear mats. I think it came there clinging to somebody's shoe and then just decided to make our car its home. That darn thing doesn't want to come off at all. Any suggestions there?

5 items in my purse

1. My daughter's and my own health insurance cards
2. Several store loyalty cards. I love the whole business of collecting reward points and then dreaming of all the nice things that I'll get for 'free' by redeeming those points. Oh, how I love it!
3. A one rupee note, which has been there for a couple of years now. There was no reason behind keeping it there in the beginning really. Now I have got superstitious about it.
4. My Driving License
5. My husband's visiting card. Just in case I fainted on the road, they should know whom to call up!

I would like to tag Ashwini, Linda, Nila, Pushpa, Shammi and Sumitha for this meme.

You guessed it right! - Kohlrabi/Knol Kohl/ Navalkol

You guessed it right, Guys. It is indeed Knol Kohl or Kohlrabi. It is called Navalkol in Marathi. Continuing the discussion on the origin of words, we can again see on this example how a foreign word like 'Knol Kohl' was changed to fit into the local language, and became 'Navalkol'. From the comments to my quiz, I can see that the names for this veggie in other Indian languages are similar (Navila Kosu-Kannada, Nool Kol-Tamil).

As for this vegetable, I have seen that it is not very popular in India (at least in Maharashtra) because it has a strong smell, which many find obnoxious. I remember, I used to be one of the very few ones in my class in school, who used to bring this vegetable for the packed lunch, in their 'dabba'. Having said that, I must mention that it is a popular and much-loved vegetable here in Germany. No wonder then that one of its names, Kohlrabi, happens to be German. (Actually, I feel that the roots of the name Knol Kohl are also German. Knollenkohl, maybe. What do my German-speaking readers think?) However, an interesting fact is that the 'Kohlrabi Capital of the World' is in Michigan, US. Read here more about it.

Well, anyway, what I made with it is a simple Maharashtrian preparation. Navalkolchi Bhaji.

Navalkolchi Bhaji served here with wholewheat chapatis

Recipe for Navalkolchi Bhaji

Serves 3-4 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

3 medium sized Kohlrabi
¼ cup Chana Dal
½ tsp chilli powder
a pinch turmeric powder
2 tsp jaggery (optional)

1 tsp oil
½ tsp cumin seeds

chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

From left to right: Chana dal, whole peeled Kohlrabi (above) and diced Kohlrabi (below), Kohlrabi peels

Method:

1. Wash the Chana Dal and soak it in ¼ cup water for about half an hour.
2. Peel the Kohlrabi until all the fibre is gone and you have only the smooth flesh. The fibre neither cooks well nor does it taste good. If the Kohlrabi is fresh and tender, then it won't need much peeling. Please refer to the earlier photgraph for this.

3. Dice the Kohlrabi in bite-sized pieces. Pressure-cook the pieces until soft. Roughly, they take the same time to cook as lentils.

Clockwise from top: coriander leaves, cooked Kohlrabi dices, soaked Chana dal

4. Heat oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
5. Add the soaked Chana dal with the water, turmeric powder and the cooked Kohlrabi and steam-cook it for a couple of minutes.
6. Then add the chilli powder, salt and jaggery. Let the Bhaji simmer on low heat for about five minutes.
7. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve warm with chapatis/phulkas or rice and dal.

Note:
1. Cabbage can be cooked in the same way. Only that it does not require pressure-cooking. It can be added raw with the soaked Chana dal.

Enjoy this vegetable and wish you a Happy Longest Day!

Tags: kohlrabi , Maharashtrian

Do you know this vegetable?

Do you know this vegetable? And no, it's not Lady's finger. ;-)

Low-fat Sweet Lassi with a hint of Rose

Low-fat Sweet Lassi ready to drink

The mercury has again gone up here in Düsseldorf. It wasn't exactly warm last week, but the weekend has been nice and summery. It has been, yesterday as well as today, bright and sunny. Ideal weather for going to a park or generally doing something outdoors. But you know what? Hubby dear has got hay fever! The doctor has told him : Whenever it is nice and sunny with clear skies and gentle breezes, don't go out. Isn't that sad? :(

Well, anyway, since the World Cup is on, sitting at home is not really boring. And if your hands are holding a glass of a cooling drink to sip onto...hmm, not a bad idea is it? :) What we had today to cool our throats after shouting 'Goal Goal' several times is this Lassi. Easy to make, low-fat and very satisfying. Here is how I made it.

Recipe for Sweet Lassi

Makes 3 glasses.

Ingredients:

3 cups chilled, plain low-fat youghurt (I used readymade yoghurt with 0.1% fat content.)

1 cup chilled water

heaped ¼ cup sugar

heaped ½ tsp salt

½ tsp pure rosewater (not essence)

a pinch jeera powder (for a very subtle spicy hint)

ice-cubes (optional; I did not use any)

some more brown/white sugar to coat the glass rims (optional; only for garnishing)

How to decorate the glasses:

1. Spread the sugar meant for garnishing in a saucer. Take the glasses and wipe their rims with a piece/slice of a lemon. Dip the glass rims in the sugar and let them get coated with sugar crystals. Like this.

Keep the decorated glasses aside.

Method for Lassi:

1. Add all ingredients to the blender attachment of your food processor/mixer.

2. Blend them together until well-mixed and frothy.

3. Pour into the prepared glasses, add the ice-cubes, if using and serve.

A perfect drink for lazy summery afternoons or evenings!

Barbara of Tigers and Strawberries has been very kind and has accepted this post as my entry to her event The Spice is Right III: The Perfumed Garden. Thanks, Barbara.

A Ton Of Protein # 6 - Tomatochi Aamti

I saw this wonderful looking tomato at my friend Mrs. G's place the other day. Luckily, I had my digital camera with me, so I could photograph it. Isn't it beautiful?

By the way, none of the traditional Maharashtrian dishes ask for tomatoes. None whatsoever. Maybe a proof of the fact that tomato is not indigenous to India? When they are used in a dish, they are often a substitute for some other sour ingredient like tamarind or kokum. Having said that, I must mention that this vegetable (or is it a fruit?) has been accepted well in the Marathi cuisine and the dishes made with it are utterly delicious. One of them is this Dal with tomatoes. It is like any other Dal, which you too must be making every other day. I mean, I didn't really have to do a post on it. But then how else would I show you the photographs of that attractive tomato? It deserved a proper post to go with it, didn't it? So, here it goes.

Recipe for Tomatochi Aamti

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

½ cup Toor dal
1 large tomato (or 2 small ones), diced small
a pinch turmeric powder
¼ - ½ tsp chilli powder or 2-3 green chillis, cut into ½ inch long pieces
approx. ½ cup hot water
a pinch sugar to balance the taste (optional)
salt to taste
chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

1 tsp oil
¼ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp cumin seeds
a pinch asafoetida (optional)
7-8 curry leaves

Method:

1. Pressure-cook the Toor dal with 1 cup of water. Mash it well so that no lumps remain. Keep it aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. When they start to splutter, add the cumin seeds.
3. Add the asafoetida, if using. Add the curry leaves.
4. Add the green chillis, if using (not the chilli powder, though). Add the diced tomato(es). Please take care at this step, because the oil tends to jump high at this point, and is likely to cause burns. To avoid this, you could cover the pan as soon as the tomato pieces are added.
5. Let the tomato pieces cook a little. Then add the turmeric powder, cooked Toor dal and hot water. If using chilli powder, add it now.
6. Let the mixture come to a rolling boil. Add salt and sugar, and continue boiling the dal on high heat for about five minutes or till it reaches the consistency/thickness that you like.
7. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve piping hot with rice or phulkas/chapatis.

Tomatochi Aamti served with rice

This is one of the simplest Aamtis and can be prepared with the most basic ingredients of Indian cooking. It is one of my favourite ones. However, my fondness for it is nothing compared to the love my cousin, R has for it. He can have it every single day of the year - for lunch as well as for dinner. (That's 730 meals! Omigosh!!)

Anyway, R, this post is dedicated to you.

'Ten dishes I miss the most' meme

Ashwini and Revathi have tagged me for this meme. We are meant to write about what we miss most of our moms' cooking. As I have mentioned here, my cooking is equally influenced by my mother and my mother-in-law. It would be unfair then, if I wrote only about my mom's cooking. Although I have a really looooooong list in my mind, I will try and restrict myself to five of my mother's dishes and five of my mother-in-law's. Let me begin then.

What I miss most of my mom's cooking:

1) Simple everyday subzis: My mother cooks a lot of different vegetables. Hardly any vegetable that is easily available in Pune's markets fails to make an appearance on the dining table, and all of them taste so good. It is thanks to her, that I have always been an 'unfussy' eater.
2) Goda Masala: This essential ingredient in Maharashtrian cooking looks rather easy to make. I have a few recipes for it too. However, my blend of Goda Masala and hence the subzis cooked with it never taste as good as my mom's.
3) Ice-cream: My mother has a simple, no-fuss method of making this without any ice-cream maker. But the kind of ice-cream she makes is divine. You should taste her mango ice-cream - smooth (no crystals whatsoever!), creamy and very mangoey. Baskin-Robbins and the likes can hang their heads in shame.
4) Gulab Jamun: Ambrosia...no jokes! All balls of the same size, with an appetizing dark-brown complexion, cooked to the centre and dunked in a wonderfully aromatic, cardamomey sugar syrup. If I am around while she makes the Gulab Jamun, I eat them in every stage : the raw dough, hot fried balls just out of the pan, Gulab Jamun still warm in the sugar syrup and Gulab Jamun well soaked in the sugar syrup. The Gulab Jamun are never seen around beyond this stage, because they are all resting in my tummy by then.
5) Puranpoli: I love her Puranpoli, and she knows it. So, if I am in town for my birthday, then everybody knows what the menu for lunch/dinner would be. Well, this year too I will not have that pleasure.

What I miss most of my mother-in-law's cooking:

1) NanKhatai: She calls these cookies Narayan Katar. So much for adapting the word to become more tongue-friendly. But the cookies are addictive. No one can eat just one!
2) Coconut Chutney: My ma-in-law prepares various kinds of coconut chutney to go with the yummy goodies for breakfast every day. All of them are too good to resist. When I am in Bangalore at her place, I suddenly forget all my 'healthy eating' fundas and start looking at the good properties of coconut. Cholesterol? What's that?
3) Breakfast: Having mentioned the chutneys, I must say that they are not the only attraction. The daily ritual of breakfast itself is something to look forward to. And mind you, she always prepares it on her own. My help comes into the picture, only when she starts cooking for lunch/dinner. If getting pampered at your in-laws' place is being lucky, then yes, I am lucky.
4) Curry leaves chutney powder: Spicy and yummy! I always get one large bottle full of this, whenever she comes to visit us in Pune or we visit her in Bangalore.
5) Konkani vegetable preparations: The vegetables that make an appearance in her kitchen are very different from what my mother cooks. Her selection is more of typical coastal produce, much of which was unknown to me until marriage. However, it is because of her cooking that I took to all those veggies, the very first time I ate them. I find it great, because bringing in variation in my cooking is quite easy for me, using the double set of veggies (my mum's and my MIL's) that I am familiar with.

Oh God, I just did a preview of this post and my, I have written a pretty long meme, haven't I? Thank God, that neither my father nor my father-in-law ever took any interest (much to their spouses' dismay) in cooking. Imagine how much I would have written otherwise!

I would love to read some more memes, so I am tagging Luv2Cook, Meeta, Mythili, Nandita and Veda.

Toasted Sandwiches with Cabbage Bhaji

Toasted sandwiches with Cabbage Bhaji served with mint chutney and tomato ketchup

The kind of guessing games we food-bloggers have for each other remind me of Navratri during my childhood. Back in those days in Pune, Dandiya was nearly non-existent for us Maharashtrians. What we as little girls would celebrate was 'Bhondla/Hadga'. During those nine days, each one of us would host it one evening in the garden or on the terrace of our houses. There used to be an elephant drawn either with Rangoli on the soil or with a chalk on a slate in the middle, and we girls used to go around it in a circle, holding each other's hands and singing the Bhondla songs. All the Bhondla songs were traditional, innocent songs passed down the generations. Many of them were funny too.
There used to be a set of roughly ten songs, with a particular song, which was always sung in the end. This song used to end with the words '...khiraapatila kaay ga?' (meaning 'What's for Prashaad?/What is the special dish today?) Now, this is where the food part comes in. This 'Khiraapat' used to be a special dish often made laboriously by the mother of the host girl. Sometimes, it used to be several dishes. The rest of the girls had to guess that dish/those dishes, until which the food would not be served. Our mothers too - very sweet of them - used to come up with rare dishes or combinations, which used to be difficult to guess. I still remember us begging to the host girl to tell us the name of the dish after about half an hour of futile guessing and salivating mouths. However, I used to enjoy it the most when I was the hostess, and I used to so test the girls' patience. (Wicked me!) Those were fun days.

I rarely hear any young girls talking about Bhondla these days. I wonder how many of them even know about it. Are the days of innocent fun gone then? Is it only something like 'Jhankaar Beats Dandiya Nite' that interests them now-a-days?

Anyway, let's come back to our little guessing game with Cabbage Bhaji. All of you were great, I must say. I love the enthusiasm with which you went about guessing the end product. All of you were correct in guessing one important thing : That I used the Bhaji as a filling/stuffing for something. Well, as you must have already noticed, I used it as a filling for toasted sandwiches. Here is how I made them.

Recipe for Toasted Sandwiches with Cabbage Bhaji

Makes 8 sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1 recipe Cabbage Bhaji
16 bread slices (I used some white and some wholewheat bread slices.)
Butter for brushing the outer surfaces of the bread

Cabbage Bhaji and bread slices

Method:

1. Remove and discard the chilli pieces from the Bhaji, if you don't want them in your sandwiches.
2. Divide the Bhaji into 8 portions and fill it into the bread slices to make 8 sandwiches.

3. Brush some butter on the outer surfaces of the sandwiches.

4. Toast the sandwiches in a Sandwich Toaster until golden brown. (Normally, the Sandwich Toaster takes care of this part.)

Serve these sandwiches hot with any relish/chutney (e.g. mint and coriader chutney) or tomato ketchup. They are perfect for those evenings, when you crave for something 'snacky', but don't want to go for any fried/fatty stuff like burgers or cutlets.

At my parents' place, the Sandwich Toaster used to come out whenever my father used to be away on tour. Us three ladies - my mother, my younger sister and I - would then have such 'harmless junk food' for days together. Sigh, those were the days...

Anyway, let me just come out of that nostalgia mood and send this recipe over to Cate for her ARF/5-a-day Tuesday event. Off to Sweetnicks.

Cabbage Bhaji - What did I do with it?

Cabbage Bhaji

This is a simple and quick-to-make Bhaji made with cabbage. I have used white cabbage, but Savoy cabbage or Brussels sprouts can also be used to make it. It is great for dieters too.

It is very much a side dish on its own, but I did not serve it as a side dish. I used it as an ingredient in 'something'. Can you guess what I made with it?

In the meanwhile, here is the Recipe for Cabbage Bhaji

Ingredients:

4 cups shredded cabbage
3-4 green chillis

a generous pinch turmeric powder

salt to taste

a pinch of sugar (optional)

chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

1 tsp oil

¼ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

Clockwise from top: a wedge of whole cabbage, coriander leaves, shredded cabbage, green chillis

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add mustard seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter too.

2. Add the shredded cabbage, chopped green chillis and turmeric powder. Sprinkle a little water.

3. Cover the pan and steam-cook the cabbage. Stir it every now and then, especially if you are not using a non-stick pan. Sprinkle some more water, if you see the cabbage sticking to the bottom of the pan.

4. Add sugar, if using. Add salt, stir the cabbage and steam-cook it further until it becomes as soft as you like it.

5. Garnish with the coriander leaves and serve it with chapatis or rice and dal. *

*But but but, I didn't serve it with any of these. I served it as a part of 'something'. Can you guess what that 'something' is?

A Ton of Protein # 5 - Matki Farasbee Bhaji (Green beans cooked with Moath sprouts)

Matki Farasbee Bhaji

Etymology, the origin of words, has always fascinated me. Especially the words brought into Indian languages by European traders and colonial powers. Many of them are so well incorporated in the local languages that it is often hard to believe that they were 'foreign' once upon a time.

For example, the Marathi word for soap. A soap is called 'saaban' in Marathi. Mind you, the 'n' is not pronounced like 'n' in English, but is a distinct nasal sound written phonetically as 'tn'. (Click here for the audio key for 'tn'.) The point is that this word which has this distinct Marathi sound is not even Marathi. It is derived from the Portuguese word 'sabão'. No wonder, because the Portuguese ruled much of the coastal region in Maharashtra before the Britishers arrived. Moreover, there was no concept of 'soap' in the Indian culture before the European traders arrived. The toiletries used by us before that were totally different. (And maybe healthier too, because they were Ayurvedic??)

'Farasbee', the Marathi word for green beans is another such example. It comes from 'French beans' in English. Now, French beans is just a way of preparing green beans and not a vegetable in itself. Also, these beans are not indigenous to India. Maybe the 'natives' (who were perhaps working as cooks for the Gora Sahib) heard only this term whenever they saw these 'new' beans. And when they tried to say it, their Marathi tongues forced them to say a word which fitted better in the pronunciation pattern. So, French beans became Farasbee. And if the pronunciation could be changed to become more 'local sounding', then cooking the vegetable to suit the local palate could have been no big issue. Let the Sahib have his bland French beans. What we will serve on our brass thalis is 'Farasbee chi Bhaji'. :)

What I have got for you today is a version made with Matki/Moath sprouts. High in protein and a perfect marriage of local beans with 'phoren' ones.

Left to right: whole and chopped green beans, sprouted Matki

Recipe for Matki Farasbee Bhaji

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped Green beans (approx. ¼ kg. will yield 2 cups)
1½ cup sprouted Matki/Moath
a pinch turmeric powder
1 tbsp Goda Masala (or any other not-too-overpowering-the-taste Masala)

1 tsp chilli powder (or to taste)
2-3 tbsp crushed jaggery or Muscovado sugar
3 tbsp fresh/frozen grated coconut (optional)
salt to taste
½ - ¾ cup hot water
chopped coriander leaves (optional)

1 tsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
a pinch asafoetida

Clockwise from left: chopped green beans, sprouted Matki, grated coconut

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Then add the asafoetida.
2. Add the chopped beans, sprouts and turmeric powder. Sprinkle some water on them. Cover with a lid and steam them till they are cooked yet have a slight crunch.
3. Now add the hot water and all the other ingredients. Let the Bhaji simmer very gently for 3-4 minutes.
4. Garnish with some more chopped coriander leaves or grated coconut.
5. Serve warm with phulkas/rotis/Bhakri.

Easy? Very.
Tasty? Very very!!

Berry Easy Yoghurt Cake

Strawberry Yoghurt cake with white chocolate-dipped strawberries

This cake can be considered as one of the milestones in my baking adventures. (Oh Boy, I am so good at making myself sound important!) I started baking cakes rather early. Late school days, as far as I remember. It was with my mother's help, who is a meticulous baker. Also, she has a degree in Home Science, so she used to see to it, that we used the correct amount of all ingredients. I always used to enjoy it, although it sometimes used to be a tiring experience. Because
a) We didn't have a hand-held blender then. My mother still doesn't. Turning the batter by hand can definitely take the sweat out of you towards the end.
b) Being very particular about the quantity of the stuff that goes into it, checking whether none of the utensils/spoons are wet, making sure that you turn the batter always only in one direction can at times be strenuous for the brain.
But as I said, it still used to be fun. Also, the delicious cakes that then used to come out of the oven (which, by the way, was a basic model with no temperature regulator) were always so delicious, that we (my younger sister and I) would look always forward to the next baking session.

So, this particular cake, that I have baked for the Jihva for Ingredients event, was the one which shook the basic foundation of cake-baking for me. It was N, my ex-colleague in UK (French by birth and tired of all the Froggie jokes & presents), who gave me this recipe. By the way, she did not really give me the recipe, she just shouted it out from across the desks. Moreover, the quantities were all approximate. Like she said (read yelled): Two-three eggs. Two-three eggs??? How can anybody be so casual about this? It has to be either two OR three eggs. Same was the case with baking powder. She said that she always used self raising flour for this. But what if I want to use regular flour? Well, I had to work it out myself.

All said and done, N was very very charming. And so is this cake. And the recipe is more so, because it does not require any measuring cups or spoons. What do you measure the ingredients with then? Well, yoghurt pots. That's right. Yoghurt pots. To be precise, a yoghurt pot. You use the same pot, which has the yoghurt that would go into this cake. Great, isn't it?

And yes, N, this post is dedicated to you.

Recipe for Easy Yoghurt Cake

In the centre: Strawberry yoghurt;
In the outer circle, clockwise from top: egg, flour, sugar, egg, oil, sugar, egg, flour, flour

Ingredients:

1 pot strawberry yoghurt with real strawberry pieces (I assume that the quantity is 150g. everywhere.)
3 pots self-raising flour (I used two pots white and one pot wholewheat.)
2 pots sugar
½ pot vegetable oil (I used sunflower.)
1 egg (as opposed to the three featured in the earlier picture as well as in the introduction)

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
2. Grease a loaf tin. (I use one made of silicone. Can it technically be called a 'tin'?) Line the base with greaseproof paper, if you like.
3. Beat the egg in a bowl.
4. Add the yoghurt. Measure sugar and oil with the same pot. Add them too and combine well.
5. Measure the self-raising flour again with the same pot, add to the batter and mix thoroughly. You could add all of it in one go, in case using a hand-held mixer. If turning the batter by hand, adding two spoonfuls at a time makes it much easier.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer/knife inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
7. Take the tin out of the oven and let it cool for five minutes.
8. Turn the cake out on a wire rack and cool completely before serving/storing in an airtight container.

Easy? I told you so.

Strawberry Yoghurt cake

Some handy Notes:
1. In case not using self-raising flour, adding 2 tsp of baking powder to the regular flour gives the same results.
2. You could use yoghurt with any fruit. My personal choice, however, is always strawberry.

Tags: strawberry , strawberries , yogurt , cake

Mistress of Spices - Asafoetida / Hing

My stock of asafoetida

Mythili of Vindhu has urged us food-bloggers to write about our favourite spice for her event 'Mistress of Spices'. And no, we are not talking about Aishwarya Rai here, as Mythili too is prompt to point out. (A more apt title for Ms. AR would be 'Mistress of Failed Relationships', whaddya say? Anyway, her personal life is none of our business, right? Right??)

Coming back to the spices, I chose to write about Asafoetida because
a) It is one of my favourite spices. Meaning I would feel handicapped, if I didn't have it in my kitchen.
b) I use it a lot. A lot more than my mother and the women in my parents' families. It is the Konkani influence, I guess. (A proof of that is that my mother-in-law says the word 'Hingu' at least five times, when she is explaining a recipe to me, and that even when the recipe does not include asafoetida. )
c) I have three small plastic bottles of asafoetida in my kitchen drawer right now. Need I say more?

So, here are the facts regarding Asafoetida

Name

Asafoetida gets its name from the Persian aza, for resin, and the Latin foetidus, for stinking. Its pungent odour has earned itself a lot of mean names e.g. it is called Teufelsdreck in German (literally meaning Devil's Dung). C'mon, it's not that bad, is it? In many North Indian languages and in Marathi, it is called 'Hing'; in Konkani 'Hingu'; in Telugu 'Inguva' and in Tamil 'Perungaayam'. Please do let me know in your comment the name for asafoetida in your language, in case it is not mentioned here.

Cultivation and Harvest

Asafoetida is mainly grown in Iran (the country of its origin), Afghanistan and in India. Can you guess where it is grown in India? In the land of saffron, Kashmir. Surprising, isn't it? I didn't know this until I started looking for information about this spice on the internet, thanks to Mythili.

The plant of asafoetida is found in natural forests, where rarely anything else grows. It grows about 2 metres tall, and is useful only once it is about four years old. The older the plant, the more productive it is. The time to start harvesting the gum from the rather succulent stem and the root is just before flowering, which is in the months of March / April.

An incision is made in the upper part of the root/lower part of the stem and the exuding gum/latex is collected. Several incisions can be made in the root/stem till there is no more gum oozing. This process can last up to three months and one plant can yield up to 2 pounds of gum. The resinous gum is greyish-white when fresh, and darkens to a deep yellow/amber when dried. Chunks of asafoetida resin are broken off to be sold commercially. The gum is seldom sold in its pure form. It is often combined with Arabic gum, wheat/rice flour, turmeric, etc. and sold as Compounded Asafoetida.

Which brings us to its Culinary Uses

I will write here about the use of this spice only in Indian cuisine, because I am not familiar with any other.

1. Asafoetida is used in many ways in lentil and/or vegetable preparations. Three ways known to me are
a) Adding the powder/granules to the hot oil while making Tadka.
b) Adding the powder to the preparation just before turning the heat off and putting the lid on.
c) Adding water in which a piece of asafoetida has been dissolved to the preparation before putting the lid in the end.

2. Asafoetida is used as an important condiment in pickles, relishes/chutneys and papads.

Asafoetida is usually used only in minute quantities, because even a little of it goes a long way. Although its smell is strong (I like it actually) when raw, it turns into a pleasant aroma when cooked. Indian preparations with lentils and beans are quite unthinkable without the use of this spice. The reason being its medicinal properties.

Medicinal Properties

The biggest property of asafoetida is that it aids digestion. It can lesson flatulence and give relief from painful gas. Since lentils and beans are supposed to be hard to digest, it is always a good idea to add a pinch of this stinking gum to the dish.

A medicine that comes to my mind when I think of asafoetida is the Ayurvedic preparation, Hingashtak Choorna. Earlier, families used to have their own recipies of Hingashtak, because it is apparently easy to make, since the other herbs and spices, which go into it are easy to find in an Indian kitchen. I don't think it is made at home any longer. However, several boards advertising the Choorna of various brands are always hanging in drug stores/pharmacies back in Pune.

An interesting fact that I came across on this website was that it was believed that asafoetida enhanced singers' voices. In the days of the Moghul aristocracy, the court singers of Agra and Delhi would eat a spoonful of asafoetida with butter and practise on the banks of the river Yamuna.

A common home remedy up my sleeve for painful gas is to have a generous pinch of asafoetida dissolved in buttermilk or lukewarm water. You tend to give out a loud and hearty burp (A happy burp? ;-)) within minutes of drinking it, and that gives immediate relief. However, never have more than 1/8th of a teaspoon of asafoetida at one time. Otherwise, it can result in loose motions.

Do you know of any other home remedies using asafoetida? Please do let me know.

For some more information on this spice, please visit here.

(And by the way, can you guess what the white plastic bottle at the back in the picture on top is standing on?)

Couscous Paella

Clockwise from left: green pepper, red pepper (Do you like the straight-out-of-the-fridge matte finish on it?), leek, carrots, mushrooms, garlic

I made this Couscous dish the other day based on a recipe from a German book. Two main reasons that tempted me to try it out were:
a) I like cooking and experimenting with Couscous.
b) The quantity and combination of vegetables in the recipe appealed to me.

Making it was sure fun. So was photographing the colourful vegetables. However, the Couscous turned out to be way too bland for my taste. There aren't any spices listed in the recipe and I was aware of that. However, I thought that all those vegetables would lend their taste to the Couscous and make it tasty. I also added lots of Harissa paste, which was not mentioned in the recipe. My conclusion is that this dish needs many more spices. Although the book says that this dish can be had on its own for the main course, I now think that I shouldn't have believed it. Like I didn't trust the book when it asked for 500 grams of Couscous for 4 portions. (Now, portions are usually large in Germany. I never manage to finish mine when we eat out, although I have a large appetite.) So, I reduced the quantity of the Couscous by half to 250 grams. However, I did not scale down the quantity of the vegetables, because my husband and I like to have lots of vegetables in our food. Moreover, my husband has 'problems of a certain kind', if there is not enough fibre in the food. Oops, sorry, I was not supposed to write that. I hope, he does not read this post. ;-)

What I was saying is that this Couscous preparation cannot be had on its own. Hence, I prepared something to go with it, but only the following day, when we were finishing leftovers. (Yes, 250 grams still managed to make 4 portions. I can't imagine what I would have ended up with, had I used 500 grams, as asked in the recipe.) I'll blog about that 'something' in the next few days. Sorry, don't have the time for two posts right now.

Most important is, that this 'Paella' (I don't know why the book calls it that coz I don't see much of resemblance here.) is very good, if had with something spicy. Since it is loaded with vegetables, I would like to send it over to Cate for this week's ARF/5-A-Day event.

Here's the recipe for Couscous Paella

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

250 grams Couscous
One can of chopped tomatoes (The quantity is roughly 400 grams here in Europe.)
2 carrots
2 spring onions or one leek (I used the latter, as you can see in the picture.)
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper (Using 2 green peppers should be fine too.)
250 grams white/brown mushrooms (I used white ones.)
2-3 cloves of garlic (Corresponding quantity of readymade garlic paste should be ok.)
2 tbsp olive oil
Harissa paste to taste (Please add only a little first, check, and add more, if required.)
salt to taste

Method:

1. Take the Couscous into a large container or shallow dish. Sprinkle about ¼ liter of water on it and mix it with the Couscous using your fingers so that it spreads evenly all over. Let the Couscous rest for about half an hour, after which the grains will have fluffed up nicely and will have grown about three times in quntity.

In the glass container: Couscous half-risen after about 15 minutes of mixing with water

2. In the meanwhile, cut the leek/spring onions (white as well as green part) into roundels. Peel the carrots, if you like, although it is not always necessary. Just rubbing them hard while washing them suffices often. Cut them in 5cm. long sticks.

3. De-stem and de-seed the bell peppers. Cut them in long slices. Clean the mushrooms with a soft brush. (I have come to know only recently that you are not supposed to wash them. Does anybody of you know why? Please enlighten.) Cut the mushrooms in bite-sized slices.

4. If using fresh garlic, peel it and chop it fine. Open the can of tomatoes. ( I always happen to open the can in such a way that the tin sheet stays attached to the can in at least two places. And to think that I am otherwise quite good with other tools and gadgets in the house. Does anybody of you have this problem too? Or is it that I require a new can opener?)

5. Heat the oil in a wide pan or wok. Once it is hot, add the carrot sticks. Sauté them for two seconds so that they are coated with oil, then close the pan with a lid and cook the carrots for 4-5 minutes. Add a sprinking of water to the pan, if you see the carrots sticking to the bottom.

6. Now add the sliced mushrooms, sliced bell peppers and sliced leek/spring onions. Sauté all vegetables on high heat for 5 minutes while stirring them often. The vegetables should cook, but should still be rather crunchy.

Vegetables cooking in the pan

7. Add the garlic pieces/paste, canned tomatoes, Harissa paste and salt now. Mix thoroughly. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

8. Add the softened Couscous and again mix thoroughly. Cover the pan and cook for further 10 minutes. Stir the mixture occasionally while it is cooking.

Couscous Paella is ready when the vegetables are coated with cooked Coucous grains, like this.

Couscous Paella

Serve it on its own, if you don't mind it bland. I served it the first day like that, but it did not satisfy our taste buds. The following evening, I served it with a spicy preparation, and it was perfect. Watch this space for the recipe of that preparation. Bye for now!

A Ton Of Protein # 4 - Moong Dal Usli

Moong Dal Usli

Ayurveda, as much as I have read about it, rates Moong Dal the highest amongst all lentils. Perhaps because it is the easiest to digest, and Ayurveda insists that foods be easy to digest. I don't know about other foods, but I am sure Moong Dal should be rather easy on the stomach, because in Maharashtrian households, a Khichdi made of rice and Moong Dal (Mugachya Daalichi Khichadi) is served to people when they are ill and later when they are still recovering.

Apart from the digestibility, I feel, that Moong beans and the dal are also quite versatile. They can be used in all possible forms and in all possible dishes. Sample this. Moong beans can be used as is, or after sprouting; the Dal can be used with the skin still on it (Moong Dal Chhilka) and without. Moreoever, the skinless Dal can be used to cook Dal, in Khichdis, as a thickening agent in soups, as a fried snack and in desserts too. The rich Moong Dal Halwa of North India is quite famous. Equally rich with ghee and coveted amongst Maharashtrians is the Mugachya daalicha Shira. More on that sometime later perhaps.

What I am writing about today is a Konkani breakfast dish, the Muga Daali Usli. Having this kind of a dish for breakfast was totally new to me when I got married. I was curious but also slightly apprehensive of having a Bhaji-like thing with bread early in the morning. Of course, being born and having grown up in a Maharashtrian family, I was hesitant to do a lot many things once a part of a Mangalorean Konkani family. Like eating coconut oil. It gave me a feeling in the beginning as though I were eating hair. I know it sounds gross, but my only association of coconut oil was with hair. But I am totally comfortable eating it now. I mean coconut oil. Anyway, more on that sometime later.

Coming back to the Moong Dal Usli, I totally love it now and it's on my breakfast menu quite often. It was earlier eaten with roasted puffed rice (Churmure in Marathi/Murmura in Hindi). However, it has become a common practise to have the Usli with white sliced bread now, maybe for the sake of convenience? I am actually a wholemeal bread freak, but I have noticed that this particular dish pairs better with white bread. Ayurveda will never approve of it, but there you go. :)

So, here goes the recipe for Moong Daal Usli

Serves 2 (hungry persons after a whole night's fast!).

Ingredients:

1 heaped cup Moong/Green gram Dal
2 ½ cups water
2 tsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
7-8 curry leaves (I used 12-15 because I used dried curry leaves)
3 green chillis (3 red chillis can also be used once in a while for a change)
salt to taste

½ inch piece ginger
a handful coriander leaves (or to taste)

At the base: Moong Dal; On the base (clockwise from top): dried curry leaves, fresh coriander leaves, green chillis; In the centre: ginger

Method:

1. Wash the Moong Dal and keep aside.

2. Make a slit in the green chillis, making sure not to cut them in two. In case using red chillis, break them in 2-3 pieces each.

3. Chop the ginger in tiny pieces. Chop the coriander leaves. Set aside.

4. Heat the oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add the mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the curry leaves and chillis.

5. After about two seconds, add the water. Stir in salt.

6. Bring it to a boil, then add the washed Moong dal. The water will 'jump' high at this point. Take care not to burn yourself.

7. Reduce the heat to 'medium' and let it continue boiling gently. Do not cover the pan yet, or else the water will boil over.

8. Once the water is the same level as the Dal, cover the pan, but leave a gap for the steam to escape.

9. Stir the mixture every now and then, especially if you are not using a non-stick pan. The Dal can easily stick to the bottom.

10. The Usli is cooked, when the Dal is soft to touch (can be pressed easily with two fingers), and all the water is absorbed. It is ok, if the Dal looks somewhat mushy, that is how it is supposed to look - with half the grains still retaining their form and half of them mushy.

11. Add the chopped ginger and coriander leaves now, stir the Usli and cover the pan tightly for about five minutes for the ginger to release its aroma into the Usli.

12. Serve hot with some bread and a fruit juice for a tasty and satisfying breakfast.

Moong Dal Usli served with white sliced bread

Have this breakfast, and you'll be ready to face the day with a smile!

Date & Apple Shake

Date & Apple Shake served with potato crisps

Football fever is hightening every day here in Germany. All possible things are being sold in the shape of a football - bread rolls, cakes and pastries & tarts with icing made to look like a football. You name it, they have it. Pizzerias are advertising that they are open all throughout the tournament and are also offering special deals for larger groups. Almost every pub has hung a board outside saying that the patrons can enjoy the tournament inside on their large screen (and buy bottles after bottles of the local 'Alt' while watching the game). I am sure most of them are going to make so much business during that month, that they will afford to shut down the place for several weeks after the World Cup is over.

No wonder then that my 'goals' have changed temporarily. I am thinking football and thinking of eating football all the time. (Eating football?) What I mean is that I often find myself thinking of making something innovative for the 'Monthly Mingle' organised by Meeta. I prepared something a few weeks back, but could not sit quiet after that. So, what innovative thing did I make? Well, nothing. And that is because whatever I thought of making is being sold here in the shops anyway. For example, I thought of making a pastry with a football icing. But they are selling it now in shops, as I have already mentioned. (Copy-cats!) What I could have done is that I could have just photgraphed a readymade pastry and posted it as 'mine'. (They are never gonna know about this in the US and in India, are they?) But hey, what about integrity? Ah, those darn values!

The moral of the story is that I made only a milk shake to wash down my pizza. Well, it's just a milk shake, but then you can always have it, even well after the football season is over. Moreover, it's nutritious and tasty. Good enough to make your son the next David Beckham. (That's of course, if you are ready to accept somebody like Posh yuk! Spice as your daughter-in-law!)

Anyway, here's the recipe for Date & Apple Shake based on one by Tarla Dalal

Ingredients:

4 cups Low Fat Milk
1 large apple
10 black dates, deseeded and finely chopped
a few drops vanilla extract/essence or 2 tsp readymade/homemade vanilla sugar
3 to 4 ice-cubes (optional)

Clockwise from top left: vanilla bean, milk, apple, dates

Method:

1. Soak the dates in 1 cup warm water for about half an hour.

2. Chop the apple. You could peel it, if you like. But please don't forget, that there is a lot of nutrition right under the peel!

3. Mix all ingredients in a blender and blend them till you get a fairly smooth and frothy shake.

4. Garnish them with any chopped nuts or pieces of a bright-coloured fruit e.g. strawberries. My garnish were the special football glasses. ;-)

A few Notes:
1. In case using readymade vanilla sugar in sachets, just empty one of those into the blender without bothering to measure. The quantity in those sachets is normally 8 grams here in Europe. Hopefully it is the same in the US.

2. You can make vanilla sugar at home like this: Buy a vanilla bean as shown in the earlier picture, use the pulp in a cake or in any recipe that asks for it, and then insert the remaining outer cover in a jar filled with sugar. You’ll get wonderfully aromatic vanilla sugar in about a week.

3. You could use a banana instead of the apple, if you like.

4. This shake tastes equally good, when made without ice-cubes. On the other hand, if you want it really chilled, you could use vanilla ice-cream instead of the milk (barring that used for soaking dates), vanilla essence and ice-cubes. Visit here for another great recipe for a similar milk shake.

Enjoy the shake! Enjoy the game!! And may Brazil Germany win!!!

Flower Matar cha Rassa (Cauliflower & Green peas cooked in a green gravy)

Clockwise from top right: cauliflower, coriander leaves, red onions, garlic, frozen green peas, green chillis, ginger

Rassa, in Maharashtrian cuisine is basically a dish cooked with a gravy. Having said that, I must mention that there are not many Maharashtrian vegetarian dishes that would come under this heading. Vegetables are prepared most often by steam-cooking or by stir-frying. Very few vegetables are cooked to make Rassa, the most common being potatoes, onions, cauliflower, green peas and tomatoes. (Have I forgotten any?) However, there are quite a few recipes for Rassa with eggs, chicken and mutton in Maharashtrian cuisine, none of which will get to make an appearance on this blog, because I neither eat nor cook meat. I do eat eggs, but that's limited to cakes and muffins.

Moving further with the Rassa, this one is my mother's recipe and a big favourite in the family/amongst relatives. My mother is aware of this, and makes it a point to cook it whenever guests from within as well as outside family are invited over for lunch/dinner. I, too, have managed to impress many a guest at my place with this dish. It has a wonderful, complex flavour of coriander leaves, garlic, green chillis......I think it makes more sense if I just got on with the recipe now. Btw, does anyone of you know where the word 'Matar' for green peas originates from?

Recipe for Flower Matar cha Rassa

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

½ head of cauliflower or 3 packed cups cauliflower florets
1 cup green peas, fresh/frozen

For the paste:
1 medium-sized red onion
1-2 green chillis (These will be ground into a paste, so it’s better to go easy on them.)
½ loosely packed cup coriander leaves
2-3 fat cloves of garlic or 4-5 medium ones
¼ inch ginger piece
¼ cup green peas, fresh/frozen
1 tsp oil (not necessary, if cooking the onions in the microwave oven; see Step 3)
salt to taste
a few drops of lemon juice (optional)

1 tsp oil
¼ tsp cumin seeds

Method:

1. If using fresh cauliflower, cut it into small florets. Put those into salted water and let them stay in it for about five minutes. This will make the worms, if there are any, sink to the bottom of the container. Take the florets out into a colander then and let them drain. Skip this step, if using frozen cauliflower.
2. Steam the cauliflower (fresh/frozen) and green peas. This can be done in a covered pan using some water on the stove-top or in the microwave oven. We don't want to boil the veggies until very soft. They should retain the crunch in them, because we are going to cook them again later. If using frozen cauliflower, cut it now into smaller, bite-sized florets.
3. For the paste, chop the onions and sauté on some oil until soft. This can be done in the microwave oven and without oil. Roughly 1.5 minutes of cooking on HIGH should suffice. If using frozen green peas for the paste, thaw them by either dipping them for a while in warm water or using the DEFROST mode in your MW oven. (Are you getting a feeling that I am a microwave freak?)
4. Make a smooth paste by grinding the cooked onions, green peas and all other ingredients listed for the paste. Please note that adding salt at this stage is important, because the green chillis tend to turn bitter if ground without salt. The Rassa carries a somewhat unpleasant taste then.
5. Now heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter.
6. Add the ground paste and fry it only for a few seconds, not longer.
7. Add the cauliflower florets, green peas and about a cup of warm water.
8. Let the curry come to a gentle boil. Simmer it then for 3-4 minutes. Check the taste for salt and adjust the quantity. Please keep it in mind that there is already some salt in the paste.
9. Take it off the heat. Serve hot with rice or chapatis/phulkas and some Raita.

Flower Matar cha Rassa (right) served with Waran-Bhaat

Notes:
1. The green peas in the paste can be substituted with roasted peanuts. This, too, tastes great. However, the Rassa does not become as green then.
2. Boiled and diced potatoes can be added to the Rassa.
3. Readymade ginger-garlic paste can also be used instead of the fresh ingredients. It should be added at Step 7.

Apparently, cauliflower and green peas are rich in antioxidants. So, let me just send this post over to Sweetnicks for the next ARF/5-a-day event.

Tags: Curry, Cauliflower, Green peas, Cilantro, Coriander