Jeera Aloo-Cumin flavored potatoes

Each time my go to India,I make a huge list.Not shopping list but foodie list!The dishes I want mom to prepare and some dishes that I must have in my favorite restaurants.

Its not just the dishes but also some vegetables that I don't get here too.Like the small variety of brinjal,drumstick,pearl onion,ladies finger and of course my favorite baby potato.

As soon as I tell mom when I would be reaching there,she is all set to dish out my favorites.This time she had got loads of baby potatoes and I prepared Jeera aloo.Jeera aloo is a typical North Indian dish that is equally popular elsewhere too.

I somehow like jeera aloo when prepared with baby potatoes though it can also be prepared with the regular potatoes.Here is what I did.

I used:

Baby potatoes-1/4 kilo
Jeera/cumin-2 teaspoons
Red chilli powder-1 teaspoon[adjust to taste]
Turmeric powder-1/4 teaspoon
Curry leaves- a few
Oil-1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

1. Pressure cook potatoes till cooked but not mushy and remove the peel.
2. In a pan heat oil and add the cumin seeds and saute till it crackles.
3. Add curry leaves,turmeric powder,chilli powder,salt and boiled potatoes.
4. Mix well and let the flavors blend for a few minutes.
5. Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice/Chapathi/or just enjoy it as a snack!!!
   

Note:

• If baby potatoes are not available,cube large boiled potatoes and follow the recipes.
• Sometimes I add a teaspoon of dry mango powder[amchur] / garam masala / chat masala for a different flavor.

An easy side dish ready in minutes!!

Happy cooking...

Sprouted fenugreek sambar

Fenugreek is considered to be a cleansing and heeling spice in Ayurveda but it does not earn its place in the menu owing to its bitter taste.

Health benefits of fenugreek:

• Fenugreek seeds are helpful in balancing cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
• It is a galactogogue ie it aids in increase milk secretion in lactating women. It is given in the form of meethi laddoo to the new mothers.However large doses of fenugreek should not be taken by pregnant women as it may induce uterine contractions.
• The large amounts of mucilaginous fiber in fenugreek seeds act as a laxative.
• They purify the blood.
• Purifies the liver and spleen.
• Good source of Carbohydrates,protein,Vitamin A & C,fiber,iron

With so much goodness,it is often neglected in our diet.Here is a tasty way incorporate this super spice in our menu.

Sprouted fenugreek sambar...


I used:

Sprouted Fenugreek-1 1/2 cups
Toor dhal-1/2 a cup
Tomato-1,chopped
Onion-1 chopped
Garlic-2 pods,minced
Green chillies- 2,chopped
Sambar powder-2 teaspoons
Tamarind extract-1/4 cup thick
Curry leaves- a few
Mustard seeds-1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds-1 teaspoon
Split urad dhal-1 teaspoon
Gram dhal-1 teaspoon
Oil -1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

1. Pressure cook toor dhal and sprouted fenugreek with enough water till soft.[I thought the fenugreek sprouts will disintegrate on pressure cooking but they didn't!]
2. In a pan heat oil and put in mustard,jeera,urad dhal,gram dhal,curry leaves and wait for the dhal to brown.Add minced garlic and onion and saute till onion is soft.
3. Put in green chillies and tomato and cook till tomato is soft.
4. Add the tamarind extract and boil till it reduces to half the quantity.
5. Put in cooked dhal+fenugreek mixture,sambar powder,salt and mix well.Adjust the consistency by adding water if required.
   
6. Let it come to a rolling boil.
7. Simmer for 2 minutes and remove from heat.
8. Serve with steamed rice.
   

To sprout fenugreek at home,soak fenugreek seeds ovenite.The next morning,drain the water and tie them in a cheescloth and set aside for a couple of days,away from direct sunlight.Sprouts can be upto an inch long.

Happy cooking...

Cardamom Latte

Cardamom is one spice that I am becoming used to.Until a few months back,I could not stand the aroma of this wonderful spice.That is not a good thing you know,especially when you are attending some function or wedding or during festivals at home,it is so embarrassing to say no to a delicacy just because it has cardamom in it.

Then I thought why not get used to it and then started adding tiny doses of it in my cooking and now I can gladly say I was bold enough to prepare this cardamom infused latte from Barathi's blog and I did enjoy it!!!The best part is,it just takes couple of minutes to prepare this in the microwave!!





Here is what you have to do:

In a microwave safe mug take a
cup of milk
Add-
1 teaspoon of instant coffee powder,1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder,sugar to taste
Microwave for 1 minute on medium heat
Mix well

and microwave again for 30 seconds or till steamed.
Let it stand for 30 seconds.
Strain and sip!

Your aromatic cardamom infused latte is ready!!!!





Here is a small tip.If you like to use cardamom powder in your cooking,you can prepare small batches and store them in an airtight container.When you powder the cardamom seeds add a teaspoon of sugar to get a fine powder and its much easier to powder cardamom this way than grinding it alone.

Happy cooking...

Seyal Pav

I had bookmarked this recipe from Alka of Sindhi Rasoi.It is a Sindhi dish that is served for breakfast.Alka explains that Seyal is a term that refers to the method of cooking with onions and garlic with little water and sometimes without water too.

I had got a pack of buns the last time I went shopping and I was preparing one dish or the other for the evening snacks that the pack of bun remained ignored.Finally one morning hubby asked me what I planned to do with the buns that has been sitting there for quite some days. I winked and said it would be his snack for the evening. Maybe he thought I was joking or that I was just going to pass around buttered buns with tea!

For this easy and delicious dish I used:

Buns-4, quartered
Potato-1,peeled and finely chopped
Tomato-1,chopped
Onion -1 ,chopped
Garlic-3 cloves,minced
Green chillies-2
Curry leaves-a few
Mustard seeds-1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds-1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder-a pinch
Red chilli powder-1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil-1 tablespoon
Coriander leaves to garnish

1. Microwave potato for 5 minutes or till soft.
2. Heat oil in a pan and put in mustard, jeera and wait for it to splutter
3. Put in curry leaves, garlic, green chillies and sauté for a minute.
4. Add the onions and cook till translucent.
5. Put in the tomato and cook till soft.
6. Next in goes the turmeric powder,red chilli powder,salt .[If you are want to cook the potato on the stove top,add it in this stage and cover and cook till soft]
7. Mix well and add about 1 cup of water to get a gravy consistency.
8. When it comes to a boil put in the bun and mix gently so that the gravy coats the bun pieces.
9. Simmer for a minute and serve garnished with coriander leaves.



A hungry hubby was indeed happy to see that the buns had turned into something better than he expected!!

Though this is a breakfast dish we had it as a snack with tea.Since this has become our new found favorite snack,this goes to EC for her WYF:Teatime snack event

Happy cooking…

Chegodilu for ICC

This month's Indian cooking challenge was a savory snack.Chegodilu /chakodi is a traditional snack from the state of Andrapradesh,India but also found in many snack stores in Tamilnadu.It is one of my favorite snack and I was very eager to try it out .

We were given two sets of procedures and I found the second one easy and tried it out almost as soon as the announcement was made.Yes,I was so eager to try it out.

Since I did not do a step by step procedure for last months Gulab jamun challenge,I made sure I captured each step.Now to the recipe


Chegodilu - Recipe 2

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 3/4 cup
All purpose flour/ Maida - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Ajwain - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric really a pinch
Salt as per taste
Oil to deep fry

Boil 1 cup water in a bowl, add salt to it.

When the water starts boiling, remove from stove, add ajwain, red chilli powder, turmeric and flours. Stir with a ladle to make sure it is mixed well. Pour ghee on it and cover.

Once it cools, knead it to form smooth dough.

Pinch out small balls of dough and roll them like threads between your palm, bring the ends together to form into small rings.You can either cover it with a plate or a cloth to prevent the dough from getting dried.


Frying the chegodilu/chakodi

Heat a pan with oil, enough to fry 3 -4 at time, if you conscious of not using too much oil. Simmer once it gets hot. The temperature should not be smoking hot.

Check if the oil is in the correct temperature, by dropping a tiny bit into the oil. Then gently slide the rings or the chakodis in batches of 4 -5. The flame has to be on high until the chakodis come up to the surface, then lower the flame to medium and cook till you get a golden colour on the chakodis.

When the chakodis are golden all over, using a slotted ladle, remove to a kitchen towel and cool. Store in an air tight container for longer shelf life.



Notes: Remember to turn the heat to medium to high and high to medium for getting the chakodis to golden color and also to be cooked evenly. Only this way you get crispy chakodis. These should not be cooked on low flame as they will absorb more oil and can turn soggy also at times.

My notes:

The first time I tried it was exactly the way mentioned in the procedure above.But I got a dough consistency somewhere between dosa batter and Chapathi dough and I had to add more rice flour to get the dough of the right consistency.The snacks were not very crunchy.

The next time I heated water with salt and kept it aside.In a bowl,I mixed the other ingredients except oil[for frying] and added water little by little till I got the right dough consistency.I still had almost 1/4 cup water remaining.

So I guess there is something to do with the texture of rice flour and how 'old' it is.The older the rice flour the better the result.

This time,my snack was crunchy and yummmm...


Happy cooking...

Kitchen mishaps...

Don't we all have some funny,memorable and of course some disastrous moments in the kitchen!!!

Malar of Kitchen Tantra has come up with an event to showcase the kitchen disasters,an event aptly named Kitchen mishaps




I have had my share of disasters in the kitchen.The first one being rava kesari.I tried that when I was in still in school.The dish tuned out powdery!!

After a few [or should I say many more] mishaps I have embarked on this culinary journey.Here are some of the mishaps from my kitchen..

Almost a year ago I tried sago vada.I was so excited to prepare this as mom had told me it would turn out well and it would be a great snack in winter.Also I had seen many recipes that made it look sooo easy.

I did follow the steps meticulously but it did not turn out like what I had seen or expected.There was a lot of spluttering when I put the sago balls into the hot oil and some popped and turned into weird shapes and I even got a duck shaped vada!!They were very chewy and not crisp.

Not to be disheartened,I turned it into a post rather than it be displayed on our table!And ofcourse the vada's landed in the dustbin..

Read more about the saga of the sago vada

Featured here is the duck shaped vada surrounded bu super-chewy double decker fritters!!!

Thats not all,I once decided to bake an egless microwave chocolate cake in a microwave and broke the bowl and set the microwave smoking.The oven was bellowing with smoke the the kitchen smelt of charred food!!

Wana read how it happened and how I baked another cake the same day that turned out perfect??Read Tale of two cakes

The charred cake...

Do you have any funny incident in the kitchen?Then send it straight to Malar!

Happy cooking...
.

Zhaoqian Noodles

Last night's dinner was at a Japanese restaurant called Zhaoqian Noodles.

This restaurant is just a few blocks away from our apartment and we go past it almost everyday but never once did we feel like dining there.

Last evening we planned to go to Walmart.The time was around 7.30 pm and not too cold.This sudden decision was announced by hubby and I was too glad to go out.Well,so was lil angel!They have recently launched this in our town and so the plan.By the time we browsed through the different sections and got a few things the time was well past 9.30!

Our initial plan was to go to hotpot as usual but then we changed our mind as we were returning home.

Hubby wanted to go to KFC but I was in no mood to eat there.The only thing I can actually eat there is the mini burger which is the only vegetarian option and of course,coffee.I was tired of eating those mini burgers anyway.

That's when we were walking past this Japanese restaurant and decided to check it out.

The decor was good with a lot of wall paintings and decorated cheerfully for Christmas.




The restaurant timing is from 8am to 10pm,but we went in at 9.45.The waitresses welcomed us with a warm smile and we seated ourselves comfortably.There were very few people in there at that hour.At other times,its always full of people.

I like the menu card.It did have the menu in Chinese,English and Japanese.Each item on the menu was clearly photographed so it was a lot easier to browse through.




I found just 2 items on the menu which were vegetarian-Noodles with assorted vegetables and Rice with mushrooms and kimchi.As the restaurant name suggests,the main thing on the menu was noodles with a wide range of options.Noodles with all types of seafood and meat.Rice dishes were also there with the same varieties.Appetisers were all fried meat items.The beverage section was tempting with pots of different kinds of teas like rose tea,jamine tea etc and the ice cream section made me drool.

I decided on the noodles with assorted vegetables[RMB 10] and hubby the same one with boiled egg{RMB 15].As for lil angel we found potato croquettes{RMB 10 for 2 pieces] that looked delish.


The noodles arrives in large bowls with a wooded spoon which looked more like a ladle!



My noodle was too bland for words.It had a few pieces of corn,carrots,cabbage and mushrooms.They had provided a jar of chilli flakes,fried garlic and soysauce in each table,so I mixed a little of chilli flakes and fried garlic.



Fried garlic added a new taste to the dish but the chilliflakes were of little help.

Hubby's noodles was had a hint of chilli that was too less for his choice.So he too landed up adding chiili flakes and fried garlic.

The portion was very less compared to the one we had at Miao Xiang mi xian.I shared my noodles with little angel and she was glad it was bland.

The potato croquettes were too sweet as they had red dates.Lil angle took one bite,twisted her face and gave the rest to me.I too didn't like it.Hubby didn't even take a bite of it as he is not fond of sweet stuff.

Will I go there again?Maybe just one more time to try the rice with mushroom and kimchiand the rose tea but am not so sure about hubby.

The service was good.It was well past 10.30 yet the waitress didn't hurry us up to finish.We were the only ones in the restaurant and lil angel and her slow way of eating the noodles delayed our departure.

On the whole,it was a nice evening but I was hungry by the time I reached home!