Pepper Salad

Here's my first dish made in Germany: A salad with curly lettuce, rucola, red and yellow bell peppers and pickled chillies, seasoned with oregano, juice of half a lemon, and olive oil.

To make, combine:

• Half a curly lettuce head
• Handful of rucola
• Large handful each of chopped red and yellow bell peppers
• 4 large pickled chillies
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil 

 

 

 

 

 

Celery, Carrot, Lettuce, Cauliflower Salad

After long last I finally made my own lunch (almost a week)! Have been superbusy getting my visa in order, and have just been eating cooked meals at home or a plate of fruit in the office canteen. Why now? Because I was dying to try out my celery. We get orange+celery juice in many juice shops, but for some reason I've never seen celery being sold at the supermarket or veggie vendors. So, when I saw some at Nature's Basket, I immediately grabbed some!

Celery, Carrot, Lettuce, Cauliflower Salad

Ingredients:

• 3 large stalks of celery (including leaves)
• 1/2 icebery lettuce
• 1 red carrot
• Handful of cauliflower florets

Dressing:

• Juice of half a lime/lemon
• Tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon madras curry powder
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Piquant Pineapple Salsa

The post title may say "salsa" but I'm having this for lunch as a salad. Very simple recipe with pineapple, cucumber, onion. The veggies are dressed in red wine vinegar, liquid jaggery, chilli flakes, basil, and garlic.

Carpaccio of Pineapple

Carpaccio (an appetizer of thinly sliced stuff, usually meat or fish) sounds like such a sophisticated term for what is, essentially, just sliced fruit. But astonishing as this association of fruit (pineapple), oil (olive oil), and spice (vanilla bean) is, they are in perfect harmony. And I dare you to not like it!

Cabbage, Grapes, Olives Salad in a Red Wine & Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

I had a bit of salad left over from yesterday - the lettuce was wilted, but the rest was fresh. So, I reused the kalamata olives, gherkins, and peppers; and added cabbage and black grapes to the mix. The vinaigrette is made of 1 part red wine vinegar, 2 parts extra virgin olive oil, sprigs of oregano, and a heaping of poppy seeds. I'd bought the poppy seeds ages ago and hadn't even opened the pack till today -  Had seen a salad dressing somewhere with poppy seeds added, so why not?!

Kalamata Olives, Lettuce, and Green Pepper Salad

An old flame of mine used to say "If you have't eaten kalamata olives, you've wasted your life." If that is so, then today was the first day of putting my life to good use. Since the salad below has that tang from the olives and the gherkins, I just dressed it with rosemary-infused olive oil.

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?

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.

Apple, Strawberry, Lettuce, and Cashew Salad

Tart apples, sweet strawberries on a bed of lettuce, with cashews for crunch, all dressed in red wine vinegar and olive oil.

Spinach, Mushroom, and Tomato Salad

A quick salad with fresh, organic spinach, mushrooms suateed in garlic, and tomato, dressed in red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and more garlic. Garnished with my new favorite ingredient - chives! My aversion to eating tomatoes raw is slowly and surely fading away!

Spinach, Mushroom, and Tomato Salad

Ingredients:

• 4-5 cups of chopped spinach
• 1 large tomato
• 12-15 button mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Dash of dry chives

To make:

• Chop your spinach and tomato into bite sized pieces, and slice your mushrooms into half.
• Heat a teaspoon pf olive oil in a pain, and add the mushrooms and thinly sliced garlic cloves.
• Sautee for 5 minutes or until brown.
• Add to the spinach and tomatoes.
• Make a dressing combining the remaining olive oil, red wine vinegar, and the garlic powder.
• Pour over the salad.
• Finish off with a flurry of finely chopped chive.

Papaya and Lettuce Salad

A simple salad with red/lolo lettuce, papaya and olives - dressed with red wine vinegar and chives. I think the olives ruined it for me...the next time I make this, I'd leave out my salty olives. Can't wait for mango season in April - This would taste so much better with mango!

Check out the little tentacles on my organic papaya - Scary looking. Never seen anything like this on another papaya.

Papaya and Lettuce Salad

Ingredients:

• 1/2 a papaya
• 5-6 cups of red/lolo lettuce
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Handful of olives
• 1 teaspoon chives

To make:

• Peel, deseed, and dice your papaya.
• Dress your lettuce in red wine vinegar.
• Add the papaya and olives.
• Sprinkle with finely chopped chive.

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.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Mushroom, Potato and Pepper Open Sandwich

I love Scandinavia - I'm currently reading Stieg Larson (the second book); have always had a very soft spot for hunky Scandinavian men - they've got a wicked sense of humor and their blue-eyed/blonde hair look, preferably with a golden tan acquired sunbathing (Cough: naked) in Goa, really does it for me. Indian men are like goats - and not in a good way. And the daily recipe emails from My Danish Kitchen had me yearning for magically being in Sweden or Denmark this morning.

If I can't be magically teleported there, at least I can take my first jab at their cuisine. An open sandwich - what's more Danish than that?! Well, the Danish Pastry is, but I ain't got the time or requisite skill to attempt something so complicated. I had a nice loaf of organic multigrain bread from the farmer's market that was unused. And I had a boiled potato (the advantages of living with your family) and chives (I love chives - they seem so buttery). So, made an open sandwich for breakfast. But Indian that I am, I did make it a bit spicy with some green chutney. Good thing I only made one slice, coz the bread was really hearty and filling.

Mushroom, Potato and Pepper Open Sandwich

Ingredients:

• 1 slice bread/baguette
• 1/2 boiled potato
• 2-3 white button mushrooms
• 2 teaspoons coconut milk/cream
• Handul of finely chopped green pepper
• 1 tablespoon green chutney
• 1 teaspoon chopped chives
• 5-8 black pepper corns
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

To make:

• Mash your potato along with some coconut milk to make a thick gooey paste. Ideally, do this while the potato is still hot.
• In a pan, heat the olive oil.
• Chop your mushrooms and add to the pan, along with freshly ground black pepper.
• Saute the mushrooms for 3-5 minutes until brown.
• Slice your bread (fairly thick). You may want to toast/grill your bread if its too flimsy.
• Spread the green chutney over the bread.
• Next spread the mashed potato over the bread.
• Layer the sauted mushrooms next.
• Next come some finely chopped green pepper.
• Finish off with a sprinkling of finely chopped chives and a dash of olive oil.