Dishin' about aviyal!

Aviyal:

[Wikipedia] a dish that has a unique place in typical Kerala cuisine. It is a thick mixture of a lot of vegetables, curd and coconut. It is seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves.

A search for aviyal revealed a zillion similar, yet subtly different recipes. I didn't quite realize the ubiquity of this motley assortment of vegetables! Hell, there is even a aviyal.com site - just a placeholder, but exists nevertheless!

And here is the icing on the cake: a mallu rock band called Avial! I couldn't understand a word of this song except for 'Nada Nada' - walk, walk? Not right now, I'm comfortably ensconced on my couch! But the song does rock :) All you mallu folks out there: translation please?

So, last night's dinner involved Aviyal - the neatest thing about this dish is how adaptable it is. Yes, most traditional versions call for raw banana, drumsticks, potatoes, some yams ... but then again, variations almost seem welcome here - the slight twist in flavour induced by a different vegetable is always exciting! That was one of the fun things about eating aviyal when we were kids - it made for the perfect guessing game :)

This most recent aviyal version chose to skip the bananas. I can hear those traditionalists screaming"Sacrilege!" :) Well, it was a warm evening and I really wanted something lighter - the olio of vegetables included some golden beets, carrots, chayote squash, butternut squash, fava beans and green beans. This along with a dollop of some chewy brown rice made for a perfectly happy meal.

Aviyal Recipe for May 2008
Well, this recipe could hold for atleast a month, right? :)

Servings: 4

Vegetables:
1 chayote squash - peeled
1/2 butternut squash - peeled and deseeded
12-15 fresh green beans
1 cup fava beans (shelled or frozen)
2 carrots
1 golden beet

Gravy:

1/2 cup coconut flakes
4 thai green chillies
1" ginger
2-3 black peppercorns
1 t cumin seeds
1 t turmeric powder
Lightly sour curd/yogurt - 1 cup
salt for seasoning

Garnish:
2-3 bay leaves (I'm yet to drag myself to the indian store to get some curry leaves - are they even back in the stores?)
1 t coconut oil

Cut the squashes, green beans, carrots and beet into long thin fingers.
Toss these veggies into a stockpot, add about a cup of water and boil them till almost cooked - this should take under 10 minutes.

If using fresh or frozen fava beans, blanch them before tossing them into the stockpot. Cook for a couple of minutes once they're in.
If using dried beans, cook them in a pot of water till done before throwing them into this mixture.

Grind all the gravy ingredients, adding water as needed.
Throw this paste into the pot with the veggies and boil for a few minutes.
Heat the coconut oil (low) and saute the bay leaves till lightly browned.
Garnish the aviyal with these leaves.


Opinion?

*zing*! Those thai green chillies packed a wallop! The aviyal turned out really flavourful, the coconut and spices danced quite happily with the veggies. I might be hooked onto this Aviyal-Lite - didn't miss the bananas or potatoes at all!

Chaat - Bollywood style!

Bollywood ...

Crazy hindi movies ... guy and gal running around trees ... melodrama with moms and moms-in-law ... crazy villain dude coming after defenseless heroine ... hero flexing his skimpy muscles as he pounces on the villain and his cronies and beats them to pulp ... guy and gal dancing on a train ... the plots go on and on ... and on! :)

The most popular question ever encountered about desi movies:

"So, are all Bollywood movies musicals?"

No! Atleast, I think not :) I mean, bollywood movies have oodles of songs, and folks break out into dance at every opportunity ... but they aren't "musicals", just doesn't seem right to brand them such ... guess they're just insanity-filled movies with tons of music? Does that even make any sense? :)

Anyway, Meeta set off ripples of excitement when she picked Bollywood Cooking as the theme for the current edition of Monthly Mingle. Who doesn't want to think of crazy indian movies and delicious food at the same time?

So, what food could be quintessential Bollywood? Chaat is the first thing that came to mind! "Chaat" literally means "to taste or to lick", so how about some chatpata chaat to honour Bollywood? And what food epitomizes Bombay more than Pav Bhaji? It is probably only rivaled by Vada Pav - and after eating that on the streets of Bombay, there is no way in hell I'm attempting to replicate it. Some things are best preserved in memory, and vada pav is one such thing ... until I can troll those dusty Bombay streets for some'o'that vada love!

So ... what is Pav Bhaji? Simply put, a motley assortment of veggies mashed together on a flat tava and cooked up with tomato puree, some spices, a wonk of butter? Throw in some pan-fried bread, sliced up onions, slivers of lime ... and you're in heaven!

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According to Wikipedia:

The origin of this dish is traced to the heyday of the textile mills in Mumbai. The mill workers used to have a short break for lunch. A full lunch which was not rushed probably needed more time than what was available. A light lunch was also preferred given that physical work followed immediately. A vendor understood this and came up with this dish using items or parts of them available on the menu. The role of Indian bread or rice was taken up by pav and the curries that usually go with Indian bread or rice were amalgamated into just one spicy concoction-the ‘bhaji’. Thus was born– the celebrated pav-bhaji!

Initally, it remained as the food of the mill-workers. The dish was then patronized extensively by the upcoming Mumbai underworld. This resulted in the dish finding its way into restaurants and spreading over Central Mumbai and other areas. The pav bhaji was made famous by the various roles played by Bollywood heroes as pav bhaji vendors, notable amongst them being the one played by Sanjay Dutt in the movie Vaastav.

Ooo ... an obvious Bollywood connection! I couldn't ask for more than that :)

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Anyway, PB recipes are a dime a dozen - often guarded jealously to protect the "secret" ingredients. But then again, it is one of the most flexible chaat recipes - most random assortments of veggies usually do the trick. Obviously, the flat tava on the open fire adds the ultimate flavour ... along with the flitting flies and the street smells!

Chatpata Pav Bhaji
Bollywood ishtyle! :)

Servings: 4

1 small vidalia onion - finely chopped
5 cloves garlic - minced
1" ginger - minced
3 green chillies - sliced long
2 cups frozen peas
2 carrots - chopped
2 medium yukon gold potatoes - chopped
1 red bell pepper - chopped
1 tomato - chopped fine
5-6 T San Marzano tomato puree
2 T pav bhaji masala
1 t sumac powder
1 t red chilli powder
3 T lime juice
2 T butter
salt to taste

Garnish

Slices of limes
Thin rings of red onions
Cilantro

Steam the veggies (potatoes, carrots, peas and bell peppers) till well-cooked (Alternatively, you can throw them into a pressure cooker)
In the meantime, heat 1 T of butter in a shallow wok and saute the onions till they start to brown.
Throw in the ginger, garlic and green chillies and saute some more.
Add 3 T of the tomato puree and cook for a couple more minutes.
Add the sumac powder and red chilli powder along with the chopped tomatoes and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Once the veggies are cooked, add them to the wok and stir.
Mash the vegetables with a potato masher or a hand blender.
Add the pav bhaji masala and remaining tomato puree and cook covered for 2-3 minutes.
Add 1 T butter and stir for a few more minutes.

Seriously, the longer the veggies simmer together, the better the flavours blend. And if you can get your hands on a giant flat tava, go for it! :)

Season with salt and take off the stove.
Stir in the lime juice after a couple of minutes.

We served the bhaji with slices of lightly buttered herbed bread browned over open fire.

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Notes:

* We just happened to have our homemade pav bhaji masala on hand, I'll remember to post the recipe for it later this week.
* Most PB recipes call for cauliflower, but we skipped it this time around. And we didn't really miss it.
* San Marzano tomato puree honestly kicks ass - the ultimate plum tomato flavour, if you can get your hands on it, don't settle for anything else!

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Opinion?

Mmm ... *so* close to the real thing. I closed my eyes and I could see Junior Dutt-saheb dishing out plates of PB on Juhu beach (I have no idea if he really did that in the movie!) :)


Off this goes to Meeta for MM. This is *so* not a glamorous or elegant dish by any means, but it seems so evocative of the sights, sounds and smells of Bollywood. Besides, I can't imagine this hunk ever declining a plate of Pav Bhaji!




P.S.: I finally get to pay homage to the very first song in my running mix :)

Mushroom Lemongrass Soup (Tom Yum Het Mangsawirat)

No, I did not know the full name of that soup. Like most other people, all I call it is Vegetarian Tom Yum. I just looked up the name so I could increase my coolness factor tenfold :)

I've often felt like writers' block is nonexistent when it comes to talking about food. Except for today. I read Mele Cotte's post about her Cooking to Combat Cancer event a few days ago and finally figured out a recipe I wanted to try out in honour of it. But attempting to write about it has been insanely difficult. As I've sat here typing/editing/erasing sentences over and over, I've can't stop thinking of people I've encountered who have battled the disease - some survived, others didn't, in all cases the disease seemed to take a toll on everybody involved. And, in all cases, the indomitable strength displayed by everybody involved is just phenomenal. The will to live, to battle it out, the will to stand by friends or family - it makes for amazing stories of humanity.

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Mushrooms - apparently, they're a powerfood when it comes to foods that fight cancer.

• All wild mushrooms ostensibly contain the complete natural range of trace ingredients (72+).
• Several mushrooms contain polysaccharides, especially Lentinan - that help build immunity. They also contain lectin, which attacks cancerous cells and prevents them from multiplying.
• Mushrooms that contain thioproline can stimulate the production of interferon in the body.
• Extracts from mushrooms have been successfully tested in recent years as an adjunct to chemotherapy.

Feeling empowered by all this new found knowledge, I marched off to a couple of stores determined to find atleast one mushroom variety that I wasn't familiar with! Well, that's a pretty easy task - there are probably a zillion that I've never eaten before :) The booty for the day ended up being a pretty fun stash:

Enoki - These insanely cute looking mushrooms have a delicate fruity flavour and are usually served raw.
Clamshell - Apparently, these have a taste evocative of shellfish (I wouldn't know anything about that!). They're best when blanched or cooked.
Brown Beech - Also known as hon-shimeji mushrooms, these are highly esteemed in Japan. These are often grown on wood, especially beech trees hence the common name beech mushroom.
Crimini - Probably the most familiar of all - apparently, these are portabellos that are harvested real young! They tend to retain their firmness with cooking and work great in sauces and soups.

End-of-Botany-Lesson :)

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So, in spite of the disappointing adventure with drunken noodles last week, the craving for thai flavours has not mellowed in any way. Tom Yum flavours are always so light and comforting, and with the mushroom booty on hand, how could one resist trying out this soup?

TYHM is the vegetarian version of Thailand's most popular soup - spicy and sour, it is usually served scalding hot in a pot with a fire underneath - very exciting! :) Well, we didn't quite go for that ultra traditional effect, though the spice in the soup more than made up for the flames! :)

The original recipe was for a clear soup with just mushrooms and tomatoes. I went for a couple of variations - some shallots, a slew of grated carrot and a few spoons of coconut milk. Also, we ground the thai chillies so the spice blended in a little more - which it totally did, the last batch of bird's eye chillies from Uwajimaya pack a whopper!

Tom Yum Het Mangsawirat
Oodles of mushroom goodness!

Servings: 4 cups/2 bowls

2 small shallots - sliced long and thin
3 cups water
1 lemongrass stalk - cut into 4" pieces and smashed
4-6 whole torn lime leaves
3 slices galangal (about 1 t)
8-10 crimini mushrooms - sliced
4 small thai chillies (Prik Kee Nuu Suan)
2 cups of mixed mushrooms (enoki, brown beech, clamshell)
1 medium carrot - grated
1 tomato - cut into eighths, lengthwise
3 T coconut milk
2 T white soy sauce
1 t sugar
3 T lime juice
1-2 stems cilantro
1 t sesame oil

Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the shallots till lightly browned.
Add the water along with the crimini mushrooms and boil covered on medium-high (6-8 minutes).
Once the mushrooms are completely cooked and soft, remove them from the water.

[We only want the "mushroom stock" flavour from the crimini - I have a couple of ideas on what to do with the cooked crimini, I'll try to post about it in the next week.]

Crush the lemongrass in a mortar and add it to the water. You could alternatively just shred/separate the lemongrass if you don't want to deal with fishing out small pieces from your soup later :)

Add the torn lime leaves along with the galangal.

Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, for about 5 minutes - to release the flavours of the herbs. The water should be murky brown/green when done.

Add the mushrooms and ground chilli paste. Boil for 2 minutes till the mushrooms are just starting to get soft.

Add the tomatoes along with the coconut milk and cook for another minute.

Take the soup off the heat and stir in the soy sauce and sugar. Add the lime juice just before serving - you want to hold off on this till the end since lime juice loses its tartness when boiled.

Check the flavours before serving - tom yum is traditionally served *hot* and is insanely spicy and sour!

Transfer into bowls and garnish with sprigs of cilantro.

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Opinion?

Yum! This was exactly what I wanted tonight. Simple, flavourful, elegant, insanely spicy. If someone threw me into a giant bowl of tom yum, I could just swim around and drink it forever!

I'm sending this to Chris for her awesome event - Cooking to Combat Cancer - Stay strong and healthy, Chris!

This is a shout-out to all those incredibly brave survivors and fighters out there - we raise a toast to your strength and hold many good thoughts for you as we revel in this simple and healthy meal.

Trying to get wasted on drunken noodles ...

Pad Kee Mao.

Three magic words that can make me skip around in circles. Easily my favourite Thai food, I'm pretty much the informal PKM taster of the city. In fact, there are so many joints that dish up a killer PKM that I've hardly felt the need for attempting a recreation at home.

Until today. We had this hankering for chef-fin' it out. We wanted to be the masters of our own Pad Kee Mao destiny. For some reason, hitting Typhoon or Thin Pan just did not seem enough. So, we embarked on this PKM journey. It was our first time working with those crazy wide rice noodles. When we first saw this dense package in the refrigerated section of Uwajimaya, we weren't quite sure if that was what we wanted - where were the ribbons or pieces of noodles? This just looked like a giant brick! Well, guess we'd have to figure it out. We loaded up on thai basil, a slew of vegetables and sauces and got to work! :)

The insanely delicious drunken noodles is a multi-step dish - with a fascinating assortment of sauces and spice - tamari, soy sauce, oyster sauce, white soy sauce (or fish sauce), red chillies, thai bird chillies, the list goes on!

So, we have to talk about our pitfalls upfront here. For some bizarre reason, we decided to try some additional seasoning here and went for a spoon of chili bean paste. *bad* idea. Don't even try it. I mean, this might work well with other szechuan dishes, but it is not a thai flavour by any means. And the bean bits add a weird flavour to drunken noodles. So, don't do it. Don't.

(Which is why I've excluded it from the recipe.)

Pad Kee Mao
*hic*

Servings: 4

7-8 oz wide rice noodles (sen-yai)
1/2 cup firm tofu - cubed
3 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 small onion - sliced long
3 T white rice vinegar
3 T white soy sauce (See-yew Khaaw)
4 T palm sugar
3 T lime juice
2 T tamari
4-5 T vegetarian oyster sauce
2 T ground dried red chillies
2 green jalapenos - finely chopped
1 small thai chilli - chopped (Prik Kee Nuu Suan)
7-8 broccoli florets
7-8 cauliflower florets
2 small carrots - sliced
1 tomato - cut into eighths
1 baby bok choy - chopped
1 cup fresh thai basil leaves
2 T peanut oil
1/2 cup egg whites

Soak sen-yai noodles in water for 15 mins. Place soaking sen-yai noodles on the stove and bring to very slow boil, removing the sen-yai noodles while they are still firm (after about 10 minutes). Drain with cold water and set aside.

Spray the tofu chunks with oil spray and stick them under a broiler till browned.

Blanch the broccoli, cauliflower and carrots in a pot of boiling water for 3-4 minutes till al dente.

Heat the oil in a wok and saute the garlic till it starts to brown.
Throw in the onions along with the jalapenos and saute briefly.
Add the scrambled egg whites and saute a bit longer.
Now throw in the rice vinegar, dried chillies, lime juice, sugar and white soy sauce
Turn the heat to high and let the sauce thicken.
Once the sauce reduces, add the thai basil leaves along with bok choy, oyster sauce and tamari.
Saute for a couple more minutes before adding the blanched vegetables.
Add the cooked noodles and tofu and saute for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Keep tossing the ingredients to mix the sauce completely with the noodles and vegetables.

Top with the tomatoes and cilantro before serving. Maybe even garnish with sliced green onions or chopped garlic or jalapenos.


Opinion?

*mediocre*. Firstly, we killed the drunken high by adding that damn chili bean paste. That was a serious mistake. It'll never happen again! But the main issue here was that we're so damn stuffed from the flu that plagued us for the past week that our sense of smell is still on vacation. And that in turn is still greatly hampering our taste buds. *grr*. Even a nice dose of spicy thai chillies couldn't quite fix it! Another thing we did, as odd as it may sound - we used too many vegetables! Next time around, we're only going with broccoli and some carrots, no cauliflower - that's a bit of an overkill in our PKM.

So, we didn't end up being the Iron Chef of PKM. We barely got drunk on our noodles! But we learned our lessons. And the PKM flame burns bright now - we're itching to try it again :)

Silly Fusilli!

Estelle Costanza: Where have you been? You were supposed to fix the stove! I've been waiting for hours!
Frank Costanza: I fell on some Fusilli!

Estelle Costanza: Fusilli?
Frank Costanza: You know, the corkscrew pasta. It was a Fusilli Jerry. It got stuck in me. Had to go to the proctologist.

~Seinfeld, Episode: The Fusilli Jerry

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Could I ever cook fusilli with a straight face after watching this? :) Guess not! As long as I can keep cooking and eating fusilli, I'm happy - straight face, screwy face, who cares! :)

This was one of those meals thrown together when we were craving healthy carbs - we had whole wheat fusilli on hand, a slew of bell peppers waiting to be worked with ... some onions, garlic, a slew of juicy baby carrots ... let's get the meal on!

Fusilli with Peppers, Carrots and Onions
Damn, that corkscrew pasta tastes good! :)

Servings: 4

1 lb red and yellow bell peppers
3 T olive oil
1 large red onion - thinly sliced
8-10 baby carrots - cut into long chunks
4 cloves garlic - minced
1 lb whole wheat fusilli
salt, freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3 T finely chopped fresh parsley


Place the peppers under a hot broiler and turn occasionally until they're blackened on all sides. Turn off the broiler and let the peppers sit for 5-10 minutes.
Peel the peppers, cut them into chunks and remove the stems. Most recipes ask for the seeds to be discarded, but we like the pungent zing of the seeds, so we usually incorporate them in our recipes.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and the pasta to the boiling water and cook until the pasta is just al dente.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions and cook over moderate heat till translucent (about 5-8 minutes).
Stir in the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes.
Now, add the carrot chunks and saute for 3-4 minutes.
Throw in the peppers and mix together gently.
Stir in about 3-4 T of the pasta water and continue to stir.
Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the parsley.
Drain the pasta and tip it into the pan with the vegetables.
Cook over moderate heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to mix the pasta into the sauce.

Serve topped with Parmesan.

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Those who forget the pasta are condemned to reheat it.
~Author Unknown

Opinion?

Simple, flavourful, insanely quick! And honestly, being condemned to reheat the pasta sounds like a pretty good option to me :)

A certified candidate for Ruth's Presto Pasta Nights!

Mélange - Soups

Wow! This is the longest blogging break ever. Long enough that I started going into withdrawal! Guess that's what happens when work mania takes over. Long hours, little sleep, and not enough cooking - that does not bode well for me!

Guess given how the drafts are piling up, it is time for another Mélange post. This time about a certified favourite subject - soups. We love soups - chunky, pureéd, spicy, hearty ... just bring it! And these bowls of goodness end up being even more appetizing on those cold snowy or rainy days - nothing like a cup'o'soup to warm the soul, huh?


I'm actually having to rack my brains about these recipes as I start to type them up - we made them a few weeks ago and I never did get a chance to write about any of them. Guess that's just one more reason why this whole blogging mania is so awesome - the e-trail that I can use to look up recipes!

All 3 soups featured here are relatively chunky or thick - guess that was a sign of wanting to warm the insides on a cold evening! And all of them have a zing - be it cayenne or green chillies or a healthy dose of garlic. So, if you're hankering for a read about some spicy healthy goodness, you're home!

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Spiced Cauliflower Soup

I'm sure cauliflower soups and bisques are a favourite in most households - who can resist the creamy, yet light flavours of this insanely cute looking vegetable? Yes, call me crazy, but I really think the cauliflower is a hottie in the world of vegetables! And this simple soup totally showcased the cauliflower - one of those recipes that completely relies on the quality of the vegetable rather than trying to force a plethora of flavours on it.


Servings: 4

1 small cauliflower - chopped
1 onion - chopped
1 T safflower oil
1 garlic clove - crushed
1 T grated ginger
2 t turmeric powder
1 t cumin seeds
1 t black mustard seeds
2 t freshly ground coriander
4 cups vegetable stock or water
1 cup nonfat yogurt
salt and freshly ground pepper
cilantro or parsley for garnish

Put the cauliflower and onion in a large saucepan with the oil and 3-4 T of water.
Heat till bubbling, then cover the saucepan and turn the heat down.
Cook the mixture for about 10 minutes.
Add the ginger, garlic and spices and stir occasionally for about 2 minutes.
Add the stock (or water) and season with salt and pepper.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Once cooled, puree the liquid to a coarse texture.
Stir in the yogurt and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Garnish with cilantro or parsley before serving.

Opinion?

Pretty good! We skipped using any potatoes, so the soup was not quite as creamy as we liked, but it ended up being much lighter - which was a good thing. Next time we make this, I think I want it chunky, not pureed - I'm a big fan of cauliflower chunks :)

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Vegetable Curry Soup

One fine evening, we were hankering for desi flavours, but nothing too heavy or intense. After poking around some, we decided to go for a light soup-like version of a sambar - we skipped several of the traditional sambar seasonings, even the tamarind and instead settled for the earthy flavour of freshly ground coriander. And the sweet-tart Meyer lemon totally completed the flavours of this soup!


Servings: 4

1 cup red lentils (masoor dal)
2 scallions
3 cloves of garlic - crushed
1" ginger - grated
1 red onion - sliced long
2 carrots - sliced long
1/2 red bell pepper - sliced long
1 cup fresh (or frozen) peas
1 T freshly ground coriander
juice of 1 Meyer lemon
2 bay leaves
1 T olive oil
1 t cayenne pepper
salt

Wash the lentils and put it in a saucepan with 3 cups of water.
Cook covered on low for about 15 minutes till the lentils are cooked, but not mushed up.
In the meantime, heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the onions, ginger and garlic along with the bay leaves.
Chop the whites of the scallions finely and add them to the saucepan.
Add the carrots, bell pepper and peas and saute for 4-5 minutes.
Add the cooked lentils along with the spices and seasonings.
Simmer covered for another 4-5 minutes.
Once the soup is off the stove, stir in the lemon juice and check the seasonings.
Garnish with the chopped scallion greens before serving.

Opinion?

Simple and tasty- the perfect quick fix soup that makes for a lighter version of comfort flavours. And Autumn made a fabulous veggie roast - parsnips, carrots and potatoes from her PO box - the perfect complement to this soup.

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West Indian Peanut Soup

Groundnuts - also known as earth nuts, goober peas (That's right!!!), peanuts ... Mmm! I can't imagine a life without these - they're ubiquitous in tropical foods, especially in stews and sauces. I love natural peanut butter over the commercial one which contains salt, sugar and several additives. This soup, often known as a Groundnut Stew, is a great showcase of tropical flavours - we replaced the potato with a turnip and skipped the okra - I'm sure traditionalists will cringe at that, but it takes a *lot* to make me eat okra :)

We adapted this soup from Jay Solomon's recipe in A Taste of the Tropics - a fabulous book, replete with mouthwatering Pacific and Caribbean recipes. Another favourite book of his is the truly brilliant Great Bowls of Fire.



Servings: 4

2 t safflower oil
1 medium sized onion - diced
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 cup of turnip - peeled and diced
5 cups water
5 T unsweetened chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup crushed tomatoes
2 cups shredded kale
2 t dried thyme
2 t ground cumin
1 t freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
cilantro to garnish

Heat the olive oil in a stockpot and saute the onions, ginger and garlic.
Add the turnip and water and cook for 10-12 minutes till the turnip is softened.
Throw in the peanut butter, kale, crushed tomatoes and seasonings and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently.
If the peanut butter clumps together, whisk it to blend it into the soup.
Remove from the heat and run a blender through the soup to make a coarse mixture.
Garnish with cilantro before serving.

Opinion?

*wow*! This is seriously one of my favourite soups now. I can't wait to try the chunkier stew version. *drool*! I might even throw in the okra next time around. Cyn, if you're reading this, you better tell me more about variations I can try here - I'm seriously hooked! :)

Bread, Soup and happiness

Sometimes, that's about all that's needed to put a smile on the face! A bowl of hot soup, some crusty bread to mop it up and soon life is all goodness.


I was wandering around Columbus Foodie's insanely fun blog - brimming with a wide variety of recipes that I could pick from for T&C VII. Just as it seemed like I was going to drown in eternal indecision, I saw this recipe for beer batter bread. Whoa! That sounded really delicious. Plus I've been hankering for more baking lately, so this sounded perfect. And the plan was to try this recipe out right away - how insane would it be if I posted a recipe for an event a couple of weeks in advance? Do things like that ever happen?!!

The Abster was coming over for dindin and said she was hankering for a soup. And when I mentioned bread, I could pretty much hear her jumping around on the other end of the phone line! But wait ... she *hates* onions! Well, the recipe could be reworked to use garlic instead, can't go wrong with that! And then she said she wanted swirly soup. Hmm ... I was kind of hoping to kill 2 food events with one meal here :) If we made a spicy soup instead, I could totally ship it off for March's edition of No Croutons Required!

Yay for food agendas :)

We poked around several cookbooks and the Pupp found a really simple and elegant spicy soup - a plethora of veggies, some marjoram, kicked up with some cayenne ... sounded pretty good!

We also ended up reworking the bread recipe to use whole wheat flour. And we made some muffins and scones instead of a big loaf - worked out pretty well.

Beer Batter Muffins and Scones
Mmm ... garlic! Mmm ... cheese!

Servings: 12-14 muffins/scones

2 heads of garlic - peeled and chopped into bits (not minced, unless you don't want to feel the yummy sticky garlic chunks in your mouth!)
3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 T olive oil
3 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 cup grated light cheese
1 12 ounce beer (we used amber ale)
3 T butter - melted

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Heat the oil in a large skillet and saute the garlic until lightly browned.

Sift the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder into a bowl.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add in the cheese, beer and garlic.
Stir/knead until the mixture is just moist and well-mixed.

Grease palms with cooking spray before taking handfuls of the mixture and plopping them onto a greased baking tray.
Another option is to drop dollops of it in a muffin pan.
(We did both!)

Drizzle 1.5 T of butter over the muffins/scones and set in the oven.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove the muffins/scones, drizzle the remaining 1.5 T of butter over them.
Set back in the oven for about 12-14 minutes till they are lightly browned.
A toothpick or knife inserted into the muffin should come out clean.

Cool the muffins and scones on a wire rack.

Opinion?

Weeeeeeee! Enough garlic to chase all those vampires away! The scones were chewy and tasty. We did think that maybe they needed a little zing - think we'll add some minced jalapeno next time around. And they tasted better today than yesterday - seemed moister than ever! And the beer definitely gave the bread a yeasty flavour - very appetizing.

Thanks Becke for this recipe, we're definitely going to try it out again!

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The Drunk Muffin
Photo Courtesy: Abbie

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While the bread was baking, we started the soup. We were a little dubious about how hearty this soup would be - it didn't seem to ask for a lot of ingredients, but my fears were totally unfounded. Simple is good, especially in soups.

Spicy Chunky Vegetable Soup
*so* fresh and happy!

Servings: 4

1 red onion - chopped
4-5 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 small carrot - diced
1 large potato - diced
4 oz green peas (we used frozen petite peas)
2 cups of drained tomatoes
1 L reduced sodium vegetable broth
2 scallions - sliced diagonally into thin pieces
1 T butter
1.5 t dried marjoram
2 t cayenne
salt to taste

Saute the onion in butter till browned.
Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and add the tomatoes, garlic and marjoram. Cook for about 15 minutes.
Stir in the carrots, peas and potatoes along with the cayenne and salt.
Cover partially and cook on medium for 10+ minutes till the potatoes are cooked.

Opinion?

The recipe had likened this soup to minestrone, but described a much lighter flavour. We didn't quite grok that when we first read it, but one spoonful and we knew exactly what that was about. The consistency was just right, the drained tomatoes were *perfect*, the soup tasted *so* damn fresh! Like if I was running through a garden and noshing on all the veggies! Well ... no, not quite like that. But you know what I mean - it just felt ... so right. And spicy too.

Eat (bread), drink (soup), make merry!

***

Off this goes to Ms. Tinned Tomatoes for No Croutons Required.

Many thanks to Nicole for another fun edition of T&C.

***

And I'll leave you with a snapshot of the craziest cat around hereplace :)

A twist on Banh Mi Chay

The sandwich world can sometimes be a bare desert for vegetarians - often one, maybe two items on a menu at a sandwich joint might be veggie friendly. Can be such a pisser! Until we see one of those silver linings on the meat-filled sandwich cloud - those fabulous vietnamese sandwiches. Mouthfuls of crunchy, flavourful goodness. *sigh*

Tonight called for a quick fix. A quick, delicious fix. A quick, delicious and healthy fix. Hmm ... how about a Banh Mi Chay? That fabulous vietnamese sandwich. Wait, did I say that already?!

Well, like always, any meal calls for variations, right? This one was no exception. I realized I only had this absolutely fabulous multi-grain bread to work with, no hoagie roll - which is what the banh mi usually comes in. That's cool, multi-grain makes me happy, am sure them vietnamese folks wouldn't be too insulted if I used it! And I figured it would be fun to add a few more twists here - maybe some marinated parnsnips? And spinach instead of lettuce or cilantro? And how about some habanero mustard instead of mayo?

Banh Mi Chay of the day
A new look for the vietnamese favourite!

Servings: 2

4 slices of multi-grain bread
1/2 carrot - sliced into thin long strips
1/2 parsnip - sliced into thin long strips
160 gms of extra firm tofu (2/5 of a block)
a couple of handfuls of baby spinach

Marinade for tofu:
1 T sambal oelek (I make my own, but you can buy this at any store)
2 T soy sauce
2 T muscato vinegar
1 T coconut flakes
1 T minced garlic

Marinade for veggies:
1 T habanero mustard
2 T water
1 t soy sauce
1 T white vinegar
1 t horseradish paste

Slice the tofu into long thick strips about 1/2" thick.
Mix the tofu marinade ingredients, except for the coconut flakes.
Place the tofu in a baking tray, pour the marinade all over it and dust with the coconut flakes.
Broil the tofu till it gets browned.
Mix the marinade for the veggies and soak the carrots and parsnips in it for about 1/2 hour.
Toast the bread before assembling the sandwich.
Layer a handful of the spinach, then the tofu, followed by the veggies on a slice of bread.
Serve it open-face or top the veggies with a second slice of bread.


Opinion?

*yum*! This was seriously the quickest, easiest and tastiest sandwich I've had in a while. The coconut totally added a crispy kick to the tofu and marinade, the spinach was crisp and fresh, the parsnips added an earthy flavour - made for the perfect french countryside salad sandwich :)

Vegetable Ribbons in gravy

If you ate pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?
~Author Unknown

I felt like eating some pasta. And some vegetables. But if those veggies were my antipasto, does this mean I was going to end up hungry after my meal? Well, what if i combined my pasta and antipasto - or even better made my antipasto the pasta? Have I confused you yet? :)

All this started when I stumbled upon a recipe for pasta-like veggie ribbons. Fascinating! Ribbons of zucchini and carrots in a lemony sauce. I could totally work that! Well, I did ... except it only took an hour and a half of peeling those damn vegetables into ribbons. Why didn't anyone tell me this was a ton of work? I want a vegetable ribbon maker *now*!

Veggie ribbons in gravy

Vegetables a la fettucine

Servings: 4

4 long zucchini - peeled
4 long carrots - peeled
8-10 brussel sprouts - halved
1 cup silken tofu
juice of 2 meyer lemons
2 T fresh parsley
1 t cayenne
1/4 cup - grated feta cheese
salt
freshly ground pepper

Ok, get ready for applying some serious elbow grease here!

Peel the zucchini and carrots.
Use a potato peeler and peel long strips of the zucchini and carrots - we basically want strips/ribbons of these veggies. I found that it was a lot easier to make strips of zucchini than carrots - those damn carrots are *so* damn hard!
Once the veggies are all ribboned out, throw the zucchini into a pot of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. No more or it'll turn into mush! Throw the zucchini into a bowl.
Do the same 3-minute cooking thing for the carrots, drain the carrot strips and add them to the bowl.
Now cook the brussel sprouts in the boiling water for 4-5 minutes before draining them out.
Puree the tofu with the lemon juice, parsley and cayenne, season with salt and pepper.
Cook the tofu puree on medium-low for 2-3 minutes before adding it to the veggies.
Toss the vegetables with the sauce, season with salt and pepper.


Opinion?

It turned out pretty tasty. The vegetable ribbons were perfectly cooked and picked up the flavours really well. The tofu sauce had this mildly nutty taste that blended really well with the sweet-tart flavours of the meyer lemons - that was really yummy!

The only thing I wasn't super happy about is how my ribbons turned out - they were a real pain to work with, I'm wondering if I needed a different peeler here to make life easier. Plus the carrot strips did not turn out as long and dainty as I wanted them to be. Whatever, it tasted pretty happy :)

I meant to send this out to Lady Coffee yesterday, but totally zoned out. This is my entry for JFI-Lemons/Limes.

Winter warmer soup

Well ... yes, it isn't officially winter yet, but it is *so* damn cold outside! And yet, there isn't enough snow in the mountains! Where's all the fresh powder, huh? *grumble* *grumble*

Cold weather often brings nostalgic cravings for warm and cozy food - a cup of piping hot chai (like Nags' daily drink :)), yummy onion pakoras, my mum's rasam or maybe a bowl of thick soup replete with late fall flavors!

Well, the last is what I settled for, especially with all the yummy bread left over from the Daring Bakers' Challenge. An old favorite cookbook - the Complete Encyclopedia came to the rescue here with a fabulous sounding smooth soup - just the ticket to warm the soul!

The original recipe called for potatoes and turnips - well, the bread was teeming with potato flavors, so I chose to skip that. And I was sans turnips, so that was out too! Instead, I went with some extra parsnip and some garlic.

Winter Warmer Soup
Perfectly legal on a cold fall day! :)

Servings: 4

2 carrots - chopped
1 large parsnip - chopped
1 medium onion - chopped
4 cloves garlic
1" ginger
1 T olive oil
1 t red pepper flakes
3/4 cup of milk
1/3 cup yogurt
freshly ground pepper
salt
1 t fresh lemon juice
a handful of chopped basil

Heat the oil in a stockpot and lightly roast the vegetables (other than the ginger) along with the red pepper flakes for about 3-4 minutes.
Once you can smell the roasted veggies, especially the parsnip (trust me, you can! :)), add about 1 cup of water and cook partially covered on low for about 20 minutes.
Strain the veggies (retain the water in the stockpot) and puree them along with the ginger in a food processor.
Add the puree back into the stockpot and mix it with the residual water.
Add the milk, heat gently and stir for about 2-3 minutes.
Take the soup off the stove and stir in the yogurt along with the pepper, salt and lemon juice.
Stir in the chopped basil before serving.


A few slices of the potato bread topped with tapenade was the perfect accompaniment to this yummy winter soup. I used a couple of variations here - one was to use minced olives with bell peppers and feta cheese. The other one was chopped eggplant, zucchini and peppers marinated lightly in an olive-oil/wine vinegar reduction.

Happy! Very Happy!

I think Kalyn will like this for her current Weekend Herb Blogging event - basil is always a favorite - especially with all the cultural associations. I love memories of the tulsi plants in our backyard - my mum would do the puja for it everyday while my sis and I nibbled on the leaves! *so* delicious :)


This soup is totally in honor of Bindu - a true reminder of all the fall days we spent together eating, talking and hanging out.

Enchiladas, por favor?

When the yen for mexican flavors descends upon me, there is little I can do to resist it :) Besides, why even try? Especially when I have all the makings for something as awesome as enchiladas!

I still remember my first enchilada experience - Azteca - not exactly top of the line mexican food! And I still remember being shocked at the sizes of the platters of food they bring out - not plates, but platters, giant platters of seemingly never-ending mounds of cheese and tortillas and lettuce and beans and cheese and ... Oyy! But I'm super glad that didn't swear me off real mexican chow - it would've been quite tragic if that had happened!

In case you didn't get it already, I'm not a fan of big wonks of cheesy overbaked tortillas :) But I do love the ones that have fun stuffings and spicy sauces drizzled all over. Mmm ... that's what I wanted to make - flavorful, spicy, nutritious enchiladas. Didi Emmons' Vegetarian Planet had this really interesting recipe for veggie enchiladas with a spicy nutty red sauce - it sounded almost perfect, but not quite - the recipe called for a carrot+onion+tofu+beans stuffing - that sounded a little on the heavy side, so I chose to skip the tofu (I didn't have any anyway! :)) and add a bunch of baby spinach instead. And use a mix of black and pinto beans instead of just the black beans. The only variation I made in the sauce was to use a mixture of nuts instead of just almonds - I have to say that turned out to be a killer idea :)

Spicy Nutty Enchiladas

(This makes for many many servings)

Stuffing
-----------
12 Red chile tortillas (from Whole Foods - they come in bags of 6)
5 carrots - grated
1 medium red onion
1/2 shallot
3-4 handfuls of baby spinach leaves
1 can black beans
1/2 can pinto beans
1 t allspice powder
1 T olive oil
salt
a few dashes of habanero sauce

Mince the onion and shallot to a coarse paste.
Heat the oil in a work and saute the onion mixture till it starts to brown.
Add the carrots and cook for about 5 minutes.
Toss in the spinach and cook uncovered till the spinach starts to wilt - takes about 2 minutes.
Add the spices and salt along with the black and pinto beans and stir for about 2-3 minutes.
Finally season with as much habanero sauce as your palate can handle :)
Take this stuffing off the stove and let it cool while the sauce gets made.

Oh, turn on the oven - we need it at 350 F for our enchiladas.

Sauce
--------
4 medium roma tomatoes
1/2 vidalia onion
4 cloves garlic
1 T freshly ground spices (mix of coriander, cumin, cinnamon, dried arbol chile)
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup cashews
1/4 cup sherry
3 T red wine vinegar
salt

Grind the tomatoes, onions and garlic into a fine paste.
Cook this tomato paste in a saucepan along with the spices and salt for about 10-12 minutes - the tomatoes should taste totally cooked and the flavors should start blending in.
Roast the almonds and cashews for 1-2 minutes in a pan over medium heat and grind them into a fine paste.
Sitr in the nuts paste into the tomato sauce - this can be a bit tedious since the nuts tend to clump and we really want it to blend smoothly into the tomato sauce. Often, it helps to turn the heat down to simmer and keep stirring with a wooden spoon till the sauce gets smooth again.
Now toss in the vinegar and sherry and stir for 2-3 minutes.


Assembling those yummy enchiladas
------------------------------------------
This is the really fun part. I *love* rolling those enchiladas :)

Garnish:
a handful of chopped parsley
1/3 cup grated mahon cheese

Take a scoop of the stuffing and place it in a tortilla along the center.
Roll the tortilla tightly and place it in a baking dish - I'll remember to take a series of pictures of the rolling process the next time I make enchiladas. The rolled tortilla reminds me a lot of veggie frankies that we used to get in des - especially at Hot Breads in Chennai :)
Repeat this fun rolling action with the rest of the tortillas.
Now drizzle the nutty red sauce over the tortillas and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Sprinkle the cheese all over the sauce and let it sit in the oven for 1-2 minutes till the cheese is melted all over.
Garnish with some chopped parsley.

Eat! :)

What was our verdict?
Drool-worthy! Seriously! Flavorful, spicy, nutritious enchiladas! :)


Wine
====
This was another meal with a successful wine pairing. We opened a bottle of Waterbrook Melange from 2002 - not a super big wine, but ripe and fruity and tasted great with the mexican spices. It had just the right amount of tannins and a decent finish. The best part is that it is inexpensive - $16 a bottle, me thinks!

Bring on some Balti

I was craving desi food tonight (I blame all those awesome desi food blogs that I've been reading lately!), but didn't quite feel like anything rich or creamy. And I wanted something different. So, I did what I love doing - started reading a cookbook trying to find the recipe for tonight. I got India's 500 Best Recipes as a gift a while ago, but hadn't tried too many recipes from it. Tonight, I stumbled upon the Balti section -this sounded like the best of all worlds - all the desi flavors, but much lighter than authentic punjabi cooking.

The recipe I liked asked for chicken in a green sauce - I started morphing it to work with the veggies I had on hand. Half a ridge gourd, bell peppers, fava beans, broccoli, hmm ... seemed like I could do it! Also, I cut down the apple in the sauce and threw in some green tomatoes instead.

Balti vegetables in Hara Masala Sauce

1/2 ridge gourd
2 bell peppers
8 fava bean pods - shelled and boiled till cooked (only took about 7 minutes)
1 small head of broccoli

1/2 green apple - cut into cubes
3 small green tomatoes
1 shallot - chopped
3 green chillies
1" ginger
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup of yogurt
4 T coriander leaves - chopped
2 T mint - chopped
1 t sesame oil

Garnish
---------------
7-8 chopped almonds
12-15 chopped sugar plum tomatoes

Puree the apple, green tomatoes, garlic, ginger, mint, coriander, yogurt and shallot into a coarse paste.
Heat the sesame oil in a wok and pour in the yogurt mixture. Cook for about 2-3 minutes.
In the meantime, chop up all the veggies other than the fava beans into large chunks (atleast 1"). Toss all the veggies into the yogurt mixture and cook covered on low-medium for about 12-14 minutes till they are fully cooked.

Garnish with the almonds and tomatoes and maybe some cilantro.

Obviously, this dish was begging for some roti to go with it. After poking around my fridge, I finally decided to go with some carrot parathas. After boiling a couple of carrots, I mashed them into the dough (mix of organic pastry and stone ground wheat flours) and added some sumac and garam masala for seasoning. This seemed like an easier option than stuffing the parathas with the carrots, I only have my sheer laziness to blame here :) Turned out decent, so no complaints!


Asma asked for more details on how I made the carrot parathas, so I'm attempting to outline proportions here:

Carrot Parathas

3 cups of whole wheat flour (I usually use the organic flour from the bins at PCC, but regular atta should totally work)
1 T salt
1 T cayenne pepper
2 carrots - boiled and mashed
1 t sumac powder
1 t garam masala
1/2 cup warmed milk
1 T olive oil
warm water for kneading the dough

Mix the spices and carrots with the flour, constantly adding the milk to soften it.
After kneading for about 5-6 minutes and the atta starts getting mixed in, add warm water one tablespoon at a time till the dough gets an elastic consistency.
Now add the oil and continue kneading for about 5-7 minutes.
Cover with a damp paper towel for about 15 minutes before rolling it out into parathas.
Make 1.5" balls of the dough and roll each into a flat circle.
Fold this circle into half and then a quarter.
Roll this quarter out again till it gets the right thickness for a paratha.
Cook each paratha on a tava, adding oil spray as needed (Obviously, you can use butter or oil here :))