What I Want Now: Madras Mashed Cauliflower

Love the look of this mashed cauliflower and potato along with madras curry powder.

Recipe and photo courtesy The Veggie Test Kitchen:

Onion, Cinnamon, and Dry Fruit Pilaf

This is a really nice comforting rice dish with caramelized onions, a ton of cinnamon, and made richer with cashews, raisins, and green grapes. I made mine using red rice, which is notorious for having a really long cooking time (40 minutes!).

Miso-Sesame Baked Tofu

In this cookbook I have, there's this recipe on baked tofu that uses dark soy sauce, tamari, honey, ginger, garlic and toasted sesame oil as the marinade. Notice the little golden chunks of tofu below? Pretty, right?

Veggie Takeaway Day - Kashmiri Biryani and Tomato Bharta

One of those days when you just want a break from work, watch cartoons, and order greasy takeaway foods. For lunch, a Kashmiri biryani which is sweeter than the usual Hyderabadi biryani and with chunks of pineapple (YUM! But since when did Kashmir become synonymous with a tropical fruit like pineapples?!). It was served with a yoghurt raita (thrown away) and a spicy pea-based gravy and a papad.

Kashmiri Biryani

Potato and Turnip Rösti

Rösti would be a fancier term for the humble potato pancake. I added a couple of turnips in mine, seasoned with only fresh black pepper and salt.

Parsi Ras Chawal (Spicy Tomato Gravy with Rice)

I usually have one meal a week with my family, with me taking a break from making my own meals or ordering takeout. I do ask my mom to either make a vegetarian Parsi dish or to make my portion seperately and then add the meat to their portions later on. This time, its a dish called ras chawal, which would translate to spicy tomato gravy with rice. It's quite unknown compared to other Parsi specialities and I can't find a single recipe of it online.

We usually add mutton to this dish, or serve it with boiled eggs. But this one's all vegan with just potatoes and drumsticks. You're supposed to suck the flesh inside the drum stick, not eat the chewy fiberous outside. The recipe is a rough gist I got from my mom.

Savory Indian Pancakes

Inspired by Andrea's Japanese savory vegetable pancakes, here's my Indianized version using leftover vegetables like corn, cabbage, and french beans. Sort of like an eggless omlette or frittata using maida (all purpose flour) as the base, peppered with tumeric and chilli powder.

Blueberry, Vanilla, and Bread Pudding

I had my first taste of blueberries today. We don't get blueberries around here - like ever, not because its winter. So, I'd bought a can of blueberries a couple of weeks back. Having heard about a friend gorging on wild berries in another part of the world, I just decided to bust open the can and have some. I was quite disappointed - the berries looked purple rather than blue, for one; and they were swimming in a sugar syrup and I just tasted sweetness rather than any real flavor from the berries. That's Rs 270 gone down the drain. I was so looking forward to making a spinach and blueberry salad later this week. So, the only sensible thing to do with these sugary babies is to make dessert and put the syrup to good use.

My blueberry and bread pudding turned out quite nice. Would be so much better had I had some fresh berries. But then again, if I had fresh berries, I wouldn't dream of cooking them.

5-Minute Veggie Stir Fry

An absolutely yummy and lightning quick stiry fry using hoisin sauce as the base, and an assortment of vegetables. Adding a few slices of pine apple just pushed the dish into one of my all-time favorites I have ever had.

5-Minute Stir Fry with Mushrooms, Peppers, Pineapple, Tomatoes, and Cabbage

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• Approx 10-12 button mushrooms
• 1 green pepper
• 1/2 tomato
• 1/2 onion
• 1 cup cabbage
• 1/2 cup pineapple
• 1 teaspoon oil

To make:

• Chop your vegetables into fairly even chunks.
• In a pan, heat the oil and saute the onions for a minute.
• Add the hoisin sauce and ginger garlic paste and let it come to a boil (2 minutes).
• Add the remaining ingredients and coat them in the sauce.
• Turn off the gas after a minute and serve immediately.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Cabbage and Sunflower Seed Parathas

Between Bobby Chin's Punjab-special episode, and a live tandoor station at the back of my own building for some function I wasn't invited to, I just had to make some parathas, or Indian flat bread, for myself. These are generally made of spinach, cauliflower, potato, or paneer stuffed inside or mixed alongside the dough made of wheat. I made mine with wheat and soy flour, added sunflower seeds. I would have liked to have added some saffron too, but didn't have any handy. And finally, I used very little water - instead just used extra virgin olive oil and coconut milk to bind the dough. I'm usually very yucky about getting my hands dirty while kneading the dough, but soldiered on nonetheless.

I had the parathas with a green and red pepper relish I got a couple of weeks back from the farmers market.

I wish I had access to that tandoor oven at the back of my building. I later learnt it was 10 days since some old chap died and they were celebrating with tandoor-cooked breads and such.

Oil, water, and flour measurements are approximations only. I just kept adding them as needed.

Cabbage and Sunflower Seed Paratha

Servings: 4 parathas

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups wheat flour
• 0.5 cups defatted soy flour
• Approx 0.5 cups of olive oil
• 1 cup cabbage
• 1/2 an onion
• 1 green chilli
• 2 handfuls of sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons of coconut milk
• Lukewarn water, as needed
• Salt to taste

To make:
Chop your chilli, cabbage, and onion finely.

Mix the veggies with your flour with salt, olive oil and coconut milk.

Add the sunflower seeds and water, as needed, to form the dough. Keep kneading till the dough is not sticky  - when you lift it off the plate, it comes off clean. If its too sticky, add more flour. If its too dry, add more water.

Divide the dough into four pieces and roll them into a ball using your hands.

Dust some flour on your rolling board, and roll the dough ball into a thin round roti. Hopefully, more round than mine. :)

In a flat frying pan, add some olive oil. Remember you're not frying the paratha - the oil is just so the paratha doesn't stick to the pan. When the oil and pan are hot, gently place your paratha and let it cook for 3-5 minutes on each side.

Enjoy immediately with some pickle, or yoghurt.

Veg Biryani and Cabbage, Onion, Tomato Upma

Lately, I've been feeling a bit lazy to cook anything for myself and also feeling a bit stifled with having so few fresh ingredients to work with. I'm waiting for this sunday when I can buy a truckload from the farmer's market. So, last night, I just ordered a Vegetable Dum Biryani. It came with a yoghurt raita, which I chucked away. My brother's always amazed why someone would pay Rs. 120 for a vegetarian biryani, when for only Rs. 10 more you get the chicken version. Ten rupees - that's the worth of a chicken's life?!

And this morning, for breakfast, a cabbage, onion and tomato upma, along with my coffee-coconut milk concoction.

Cabbage, Onion, Tomato Upma

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cup semolina or an upma premix
• 1 cup chopped cabbage
• 1 tomato
• 1 onion
• 1 cup of water
• Teaspoon of olive oil
• Half a lime
• Handful of coriander

To make:

• In a pan, gently dry roast the semolina/upma premix for a minute or two.
• Add water to the roasted semolina and cook for approximately 7-10 minutes.
• Once the semolina is cooked, add the chopped up vegetables and stir for 1-2 minutes.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve immediately with lashings of lime juice.

Cauliflower, Green Beans, Peppers and Quinoa Salad

I haven't had quinoa in a while and seeing my depleting stock of vegetables, I made a big pot of quinoa with green beans, cauliflower and red and green peppers, flavored with sumac, sage, and black pepper. I did pop the beans and the cauliflower in boiling water for a minute or two. I did taste the beans raw and they tasted awful and the vegetable vendor explicitly said they can't be had raw. 

Cauliflower, Green Beans, Peppers and Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups of chopped green beans
• 1 cup cauliflower florets
• 1 green pepper/chilli
• 1 red pepper
• 2 leaves of sage
• 12-15 black pepper corns
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sumac powder

To make:

• Chop up your vegetables.
• Cook your quinoa in 2-2.5 cups of water for 15 minutes, along with the sage leaves and sumac powder.
• In a pot of boiling water, cook your beans and cauliflower for 2 minutes. Drain into a pot of ice cold water to stop the cooking.
• Add the vegetables to the qninoa and mix well.
• Season with freshly ground black pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Thai Eggplant and Lentil Curry

I use the term 'curry' loosely - It's more of a lentil stew, or dal, with curry powder in it.

The suprising thing about lentils is, how little you have to use to make a cheap and healthy meal. I used just half a cup of yellow lentils.

I had a small packet of Thai brinjal (eggplant/aubergines) that was starting to wilt. And since I'd never tastes these tiny brinjals - and the packet did warn me they'd be "surprisingly pungent and bitter", what better way to try out a new ingredient than using it up in a familiar curry dish?!

These brinjals are ridiculously small - more like green peas. But if you cut one open, you see the same innards as a full sized brinjal. (Yes, that is the blade of my knife - they really are that small)

But if you don't find them, you can use your regular brinjal, or even peas! These little babies are suprisingly spicy with a really bitter aftertaste. Good thing I refrained from adding an additional green chilli to my curry, as was previously planned. Would I try them again? Well, let's just say they were different.

Thai Brinjal and Lentil Curry

Ingredients

• 1 cup thai brinjal
• 1/2 cup yellow lentils
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 tomato
• 2-3 stalks of fresh garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of curry powder
• 1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
• Teaspoon of sugar
• Handful of coriander
• Half a lime

To make:

Chop your tomatoes, onion, and garlic finely.

Cook the lentils in 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt and the curry powder for about 15-20 minutes. If you have the time, presoak the lentils for a couple of hours before cooking.

Add the brinjal, onion, and garlic to the lentils. Add more water in case it's getting too dry. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the chilli flakes and the sugar. Finally, add the tomatoes, and coriander before turning off the gas.

Squeeze the lime juice and serve with plain rice or with chapatis (as I did).