Beet-Greens Masiyal

When beets are harvested fresh with their greens, it's a sight to take in. The fresh dewy green of the leaves and the striking maroon red of the beets is a contrastingly beautiful, appetizing treat for the eyes. Organic beets are often sold with their leafy greens. When they are available, we often gravitate towards them. This time, my father-in-law wanted to know if the fresh leafy greens could also be cooked. I did some research online and found that the greens were indeed edible! I am always amazed at how thrifty and resourceful the previous generations are! All this while it didn't even occur to me to cook the greens. I was mindlessly tossing them away to use just the beets.

So here is how my in-laws cooked the beet-greens. 

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups washed and cut beet-greens
2. 1/2 cup split yellow moong dhal / payatham paruppu
3. 1 teaspoon salt
4. 1 teaspoon jeera / cumin seeds
5. 1 teaspoon rice flour
6. 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
7. 1 teaspoon split urad dhal / ulutham paruppu
8. 1/8 teaspoon hing / asafoetida
9. 2 dry red chillies
10. 1 tablespoon vegetable oil / olive oil

Preparation:

1. Soak the moong dhal for half an hour (optional). Cook the moong dhal with about 1 cup of water until it is half way done.
2. Add the half-cooked moong dhal to the washed and cut greens. Cook with 1/2 cup of water and salt until the greens and the dhal are completely cooked.
3. Add a teaspoon of slightly crushed jeera to the masiyal. 
4. Thicken the masiyal by mixing rice powder with 1/2 tablespoon water (or slightly more) and whisking the mixture into the masiyal. Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.
5. Finally, heat oil in a small pan. Splutter mustard seeds when hot, and add split urad dhal, hing, and red chillies. Saute for a minute until the urad dhal begins to change color slightly. Add the garnish to the greens and mix well. 

Remove from heat and serve with rice or roti. Masiyal is another kind of gravy with mashed/cooked greens. 

The beet greens taste quite good! They are mildly sweet and easy on the palate. The whole dish is mildly spiced and extremely healthy.

Orange-Peel Pachidi

My great-grandmothers were truly thrifty. They always found some use for everything. Rather than discard the peels of oranges, they innovated and concocted a spicy pachidi (sauce) with the tangy and bitter flavors of the orange rind.

Although I have heard of this sauce all my life, I would have never been brave enough to venture into making this sauce on my own. There have been many times when my family has religiously saved orange peels only to forget about the sauce and eventually discard them. Actually, if you do forget to use the orange peels within a couple of days, you can still dry the peels in the sun and make a powder of it to use in facial treatments. 

But my in-laws were prompt in using the peels to prepare the unique sauce. Orange rind/peel is a little bitter, but we found that clementine peels (clementine is another variety of orange) are sweeter and less bitter. So that's what we used. 

Ingredients:

1. 3-4 clementine peels, finely diced into little pieces (clementines are smaller than oranges). Use the peels within two days of storing them in an air-tight container in the fridge.
2. One inch ball of tamarind
3. 2 green chillies, finely cut
4. One inch block of ginger, finely minced
5. 1 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
6. 1 teaspoon split urad dhal 
7. 1/8 teaspoon hing / asafoetida
8. 1 teaspoon turmeric
9. 1 teaspoon salt (or as per taste)
10. 1 teaspoon jaggery / brown sugar
11. 1 teaspoon rice flour
12. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil / olive oil

Preparation:

1. Soak the tamarind in a cup of hot water for 15-20 minutes. Squeeze the soft tamarind pulp to extract as much juice as possible. Drain the tamarind extract (through a sieve) and discard the pulp. 
2. Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan. When hot, splutter mustard seeds. Add split urad dhal, minced ginger, green chillies, asafoetida, and the diced peels. Fry for 10 minutes on medium heat. 
3. Add the tamarind extract, turmeric, and salt to the above orange-peel and spices. Add a cup of water to dilute and let the mixture come to a couple of boils on medium heat. Boil the mixture until the orange-peels cook. 
4. Now add the jaggery/brown sugar to round and balance the tangy and bitter flavors. Mix well and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
5. Finally, thicken the sauce by diluting the rice powder in 1/2 tablespoon of water (or slightly more if needed) and pour it to the pachidi. Whisk well and let the sauce simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. 

Remove from heat and serve as a side-dish to rice or rotis. The sauce is sweet and sour, with a hint of bitterness. It particularly goes well with yogurt rice. 

Mor Rasam

Mor Rasam is a variation of Mor Kuzhambu with slightly milder spices. It is also a tangy and flavorful side-dish when had with rice. 

Ingredients (serves 4):

1. Black mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
2. Mor Milagai - 5  (this is a special kind of chilly that is spiced and marinated in yogurt for a day, and then dried in the sun). If you don't have this kind of spiced chilly, substitute with dried red chillies (about 3) or green chillies (about 2)
3. Thoor dhal / thuvaram paruppu - 1 teaspoon
4. Fenugreek seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
5. Dried oregano seeds / omam - 2 teaspoons
6. Hing / asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
7. Buttermilk / diluted yogurt - 3 cups
8. Salt - 1 teaspoon
9. Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
10. Rice flour - 2 teaspoons
11. Vegetable oil / Olive oil - 1 tablespoon

Preparation:

1.  Heat the oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds on medium heat. Then add the red chillies/mor milagai, Thoor dhal, fenugreek seeds, oregano seeds, and hing until the the dhal and fenugreek seeds begin to roast. 
2. Add the roasted spices, salt and turmeric to the buttermilk. Dilute the rice powder with a tablespoon of water and add it to the buttermilk as well. Whisk well. 
3.  Bring the whole thing to a boil on medium heat. 
4. When it comes to a boil, remove from heat. Do not over heat. 

Serve with rice and papad.

Paruppu Urundai Mor Kuzhambu

As authentic as authentic can be, this is by far one of the most traditional Tamil Brahmin dishes there can be. Mor Kuzhambu (recipe from an earlier post of mine) is a gravy made from buttermilk or sour yogurt. Sometimes, steamed lentil dumplings (paruppu urundai) are added to the gravy to give it some additional texture and taste. The dumplings can be mixed with rice and had in combination with the spiced yogurt gravy. These are like little South Indian koftas to include more protein in our vegetarian diets. 

My in-laws are visiting, so this space will see a splurge of more authentic Tam-Brahm dishes!

To prepare the paruppu urundais (as per my mother-in-law's recipe):

Ingredients (for 8 urundais)

1. 1/2 cup thoor dhal / thuvaram paruppu
2. 3 dried red chillies
3. 1/4 teaspoon hing
4. 1/2 teaspoon salt or more

Preparation

1. Wash the thoor dhal and soak it in water for 2 - 2.5 hours. 
2. Rinse the dhal well and grind it with red chillies, hing, and salt, with just a couple of sprinklings of water (about 1 -2 tablespoons of water or slightly more if absolutely necessary). 
3. Coarsely grind the dhal (as much as possible) so that you can form small chunks of balls/ irregular shaped dumplings with your hand. 
4. Steam the lentil dumplings for about 15 minutes on high heat in greased idli plates (greased with sesame oil) or a vegetable steamer until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean and dry.
5. Slightly cool the dumplings before adding to the gravy

The steamed lentil dumplings - paruppu urundais

To prepare the mor kuzhambu with the dumplings (copy pasting most of the recipe from my previous post)

Ingredients:

1. 3/4  teaspoon coriander seeds
2. 1 teaspoon raw rice
3. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds / jeera
4. 3 cups buttermilk or diluted yogurt that’s slightly sour
5. 2 tablespoons shredded/grated coconut
6. 1x1 inch piece of ginger roughly chopped
7. 2-3 green chillies or dried red chillies (depends on how spicy they are and how spicy you’d like)
8. 1 teaspoon turmeric
9. 2 teaspoons vegetable / olive oil
10. 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
11. ¼ teaspoon hing / asafoetida
12. a few curry leaves
13. ¾ teaspoon salt
14. the prepared paruppu urundais / dumplings

Preparation:

1. Soak the rice, cumin seeds and coriander seeds in ¼ cup of water for 10 minutes.
2. Grind together the yogurt / buttermilk along with the coconut, the soaked coriander + rice + cumin seeds, ginger and green chillies. This forms the base of the gravy.
3. Transfer the ground mixture to a medium-sized saucepan, and add turmeric, and salt. Heat this on medium-heat for 5 minutes until the gravy heats through. 
4. Add the dumplings now. Heat on low-medium heat for 10 minutes or so until the gravy comes to one boil. If the gravy is too thick, add a little bit of water to thin it down and heat for an additional 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat. Do not over-boil the buttermilk or yogurt - it will curdle.
5. In a teaspoon of oil, splutter mustard seeds, add hing and a few curry leaves. Add this garnish to the Mor Kuzhambu. 

The more the paruppu urundais/dumplings soak in the mor kuzhambu the better it will taste. So the whole dish tastes better when it is well rested.

Mango Lassi

What does one do with left over mangoes or mango puree? Mango lassi, of course! Lassi is India's popular yogurt drink. Add mangoes and you get mango lassi. This is an extremely easy and refreshing drink.

Ingredients (serves 3):

1. 1 cup sweetened mango pulp/puree (mine was store bought)
2. 1/2 cup yogurt
3. 1/2 cup milk
4. 1/4 - 1/2 cup water (or use milk)
5. 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom powder (optional)

Preparation:

1. Blend the first four ingredients until smooth. Dilute with more milk if needed. If you are using unsweetened mango pulp or mangoes that are not as sweet, add some sugar as needed.
2. Finally add the cardamom powder and mix/blend once

Serve chilled or at room temperature for a refreshing tropical beverage.

Eggless Mango Cake

I have been trying to bake eggless desserts recently. One of my successful attempts was this mango cake. It also became my father-in-law's birthday cake! The cake packs tropical flavors and makes you wonder if it is really eggless!

I adapted the recipe from this vegan recipe that makes lovely mango cupcakes. I am convinced that baking powder makes most cakes dense - especially the ones that don't have eggs or butter. So, I left out baking powder and included more baking soda, mango pulp, and vegetable oil (as opposed to canola oil). 

Ingredients:

1. 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons sweetened mango pulp/mango puree (I used store bought Ratna brand Alphonso mango puree)
2. 2/3 cups sugar - or lower depending on how sweet the pulp is. Mine needed this amount.
3. 3/4  - 1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom (please use freshly ground cardamom if possible. It makes a tremendous difference!)
4. 1.5 cups all purpose flour
5. 2 teaspoons baking soda
6. 1/4 teaspoon salt
7. 1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preparation:

1. Butter/grease the sides of a 9-inch cake pan. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Sift together the all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and cardamom powder. 
3. With a spatula mix in the mango puree/mango pulp with sugar and vegetable oil.
4. Slowly add the flour in small batches to the wet ingredients, and gently mix until incorporated. Do not over mix. Do not beat the batter with an electric mixer. A rubber spatula works best. 
5. Transfer the batter to the cake pan and bake for 30-40 minutes until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine took 35 minutes to cake. 

Allow the cake to cool for 30-40 minutes. I decorated the cake with a few drizzles and dollops of melted semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate. 

I was quite apprehensive of experimenting this recipe for a birthday cake, but I was pleasantly surprised (and relieved) that it turned out quite good! This is a moist, light, and flavorful cake!

Honey Tea Cake

I am always looking for ways to showcase exotic Indian flavors in western dishes, especially desserts. I found this recipe for a Rosewater-Honey-Tea cake in this lovely little book - Piece of Cake. The cake brings out the flavors of India tea (chai) with its addition of cardamom and honey. Rosewater brings out a subtle floral aroma that doesn't compete with the cardamom. I thought it was an ideal cake to bring to a Christmas party. People were intrigued by the flavors and loved the unique taste. 

I adapted the cake slightly by reducing the prescribed sugar, removing baking powder, increasing baking soda, increasing cardamom powder, and cutting out on the prescribed frosting. Instead of frosting the cake, I used a light honey-lemon-rosewater drizzle to moisten and flavor the cake. And while the book is great with its wonderful collection of recipes, I am not an advocate of one-bowl-cakes. Dumping and mixing/beating all the cake ingredients using one bowl goes against the very grain of baking philosophy. The texture of the cake changes, the flour gets beaten more than necessary while the essential ingredients (like butter and sugar) don't get creamed as much as they should.

So here is my adapted version from the lovely source. 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1. 1 cup All Purpose Flour
2. 1/2 (or 2/3) cup granulated sugar
3. 1 teaspoon FRESHLY ground cardamom (it makes a huge difference to use fresh cardamom)
4. 1 teaspoon baking soda
5. 1/4 teaspoon salt
6. 3 large eggs at room temperature
7. 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8. 1/2 cup liquid honey
9. 1/2 cup milk
10. 1 tablespoon rosewater
11. 1 teaspoon lemon zest

For the honey-lemon drizzle:

1. 1 tablespoon honey
2. 2 tablespoons lemon juice
3. 2 teaspoons rosewater

Preparation (this is my version):

1. Beat (using an electric mixer/beater) the butter on medium speed for a couple of minutes. Add the sugar and continue to beat until it creams together - another 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed until the eggs are incorporated. Do not over beat the eggs
3. Add milk and honey and beat for a couple of minutes to mix everything. 
4. Finally add rosewater and lemon zest and mix well. 
5. Sift together the all purpose flour and baking soda and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients  and gently mix with a rubber spatula. Do not over mix. 
6. The batter will be slightly thinner than most other cake batters. 
7. Pour the batter into a buttered and floured 9-inch cake pan. 
8. Bake for 35-40 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 F until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs.
9. Let the cake cool for 20 minutes in the pan. Then run the edges with a knife, tap the pan down, and gently turn it into a wire rack and let it cool for 30 minutes.
10. Mix all the ingredients for the drizzle. Using a toothpick or skewer, poke holes on the cake and slowly drizzle the honey-lemon-rosewater over the cake. 

Serve after the cake has soaked in the drizzle. The cake tends to be moist because of the drizzle. If you would like, serve with some whipped cream. 

Paalak Paneer

Paneer is such a favorite among my people that we basically invent different ways to add it to our dishes. Paalak (spinach and other types of greens) is good for you, so we have a flavorful gravy made from it. To break the monotony of the unappetizing color and texture we add crispy paneer and then all becomes fine with the world!

Ingredients:

1. 5 cups spinach leaves (they wilt like crazy when cooked) OR 1 bunch of Red Swiss Chard (I highly recommend the latter!)
2. Paneer - 14 ounces or 400 grams - thawed and cubed
3. 2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
4. 2 tomatoes, diced
5. 2 tablespoons tomato paste
6. 1 block inch of ginger crushed/ground with 4 cloves of garlic
7. 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder / jeera powder
8. 1 teaspoon coriander powder / dhania powder
9. 1.5 teaspoons garam masala
10. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
11. 1 teaspoon jeera / cumin seeds
12. 1/2 cup milk / half & half / cream
13. 2 teaspoons lemon juice
14. 1/4 cup cilantro / coriander leaves
15. 3 tablespoons olive oil / vegetable oil
16. 1.5 teaspoons salt

Preparation:

1. Pan fry the paneer cubes with one tablespoon of oil on medium heat. Stir gently/ flip gently to make sure the paneer crisps on all sides to a slight golden brown. Drain on paper towels.
2. Cook the spinach leaves with 1/4 - 1/3 cup of water. The water would seem really less at first, but the spinach will cook/wilt really fast. Boil/cook the spinach on medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes until spinach wilts and softens. Let the spinach cool. When cooled, grind the spinach (and the water in which it was cooked) to a consistency of your preference. Keep aside.
3. In a separate pan, heat two tablespoons oil and add cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds begin to sizzle, add the onions and saute on medium heat until they turn translucent (about 5 minutes).
4. Add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for 1 minute. 
5. Add all the spice/powders - turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala. Reduce the heat and mix in the spices for about 30 seconds. 
6. Then add the tomatoes and stir/cook on medium heat until the tomato softens. Add the tomato paste, some salt and continue to mix everything in for 5 minutes. 
7. Now add the ground spinach and mix everything in. Add a little water if needed. Cook the gravy on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
8. Taste and adjust for seasoning. If the spinach tastes raw, let the gravy simmer for a few more minutes. 
9. Finally add milk/half & half and give everything a good stir. Let it simmer for 2 minutes. 
10. Remove from heat, and add the paneer. 
11. Garnish with cilantro/coriander leaves, and some lemon juice.

The more the paneer seeps in the gravy, the better it will taste. Serve with roti / bread. 

 Instead of cooking the spinach first and then grinding it, I sometimes grind the raw spinach with water, add it to the gravy (in step 7) and cook/simmer for a much longer period of time until the spinach cooks. 

Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce

It's been a while since I made this awesome pasta dish, courtesy of Ina Garten's foolproof recipe.

I made minor revisions. I used spinach instead of arugula, regular shell pasta instead of fusilli (just because it wasn't on hand), and regular tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes. I also sauteed (slightly roasted) the broccoli, tomatoes, and spinach rather than blanching. And most importantly, I used low fat half & half (half cream, half milk) instead of cream. But I followed the lemon-cream sauce recipe to the tee! It is an excellent sauce!

We both love the creamy, lemony sauce, the crunch of the roasted broccoli and the comforting hardiness of pasta. Highly recommend this recipe!

Rava Ladoo

Ladoos are our version of yummy, big truffles. One of the easier kinds of ladoos is Rava (semolina) ladoo. It is quite easy to prepare and is extremely mild and delicious on the palate. 

I adapted the recipe from this instructive video at Vahrehvah. Here are the measurements I used. 

1. 1 cup rava / semolina

2. 2 tablespoons nuts - cashews, pistachios

3. 1/2 cup sugar (1/4 cup would be extremely mild)

4. 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom powder

5. 1/4 cup grated coconut

6. 1.5 tablespoons ghee / clarified butter

7. 1/2 cup milk

The preparation was pretty much the same with some minor changes. The video was extremely useful! The nuts are roasted in ghee. Then the rava and coconut are added and roasted on low heat (about 2 minutes). Add sugar and cardamom and continue to mix on low heat for 5-6 minutes until the rava evenly turns light brown. Turn off heat, add the milk slowly and combine to form a thick mixture. When warm enough to handle, roll the mixture into balls/ladoos. Let them dry and harden slightly (takes about 30 minutes). They are then ready to eat!

You can adjust the milk measurement according to the rava and your ability to roll/form the mixture into balls.

Poricha Kuzhambu/ Poricha Kootu

This is a popular South-Indian side-dish that is considered as a healthier substitute for Sambar (I know, I am yet to write about the popular Sambar). Sans tamarind and with a generous amount of lentils and vegetables, it is healthy and sumptuous when had with rice or roti.

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 Cup Thoor Dhal / Thuvaram paruppu
2. 1.5 - 2 cups worth diced white pumpkin / or any kind of gourd / vegetables
3. 3.5 teaspoons split urad dhal /ulutham paruppu 
4. 2 teaspoons coriander seeds / dhania (my mother-in-law adds this)
5. 1/4 cup grated coconut
6. 1 teaspoon black pepper corns
7. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds / jeera
8. 2 dry red chillies
9. 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
10. 2 teaspoons sambar powder
11. 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
12. a few curry leaves
13. 2 tablespoons vegetable / olive oil
14. 1 teaspoon salt (or as needed)
15. 1/4 teaspoon hing / asafoetida

Preparation (steps 1, 2, and 4 can be done in parallel to save time and avoid over cooking the kuzhambu)

1. Cook the toor dhal / lentils with enough water to cover it. Cooking the dhal in a pressure cooker results in the best texture for this kuzhambu, but if you don't own a pressure cooker (or are apprehensive of cooking in one (like me)), cook the lentils for about 40 minutes or more (adding more water when needed) until it can be mashed. 
2. Cook the pumpkin/vegetable with about 1 cup of water along with turmeric powder and sambar powder on medium heat (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat when the pumpkin is almost done but not completely done. 
3. Add the cooked pumpkin/vegetable (along with the turmeric powder - sambar powder broth in which it was stewed) to the cooked lentils. Add a little more water if needed and bring the whole thing to a boil on low-medium heat. Add salt as needed at this point. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the spice-paste (below) is added. Do not over boil/cook at this stage. Just make sure there is no raw smell of lentils.
4. In a tablespoon of oil, roast the pepper corns, jeera, red chillies, dhania, and split urad dhal until the dhal begins to turn golden and pepper corns splutter. At this point, switch off the heat and add coconut and hing and stir/roast in the residual heat.
5. When cooled, grind the above roasted spices with 1/4 cup of water (or as needed) to grind into a smooth paste. 
6. Add the spice paste to the simmering lentils and pumpkin. Stir well and keep simmering for another 5 minutes. 
7. In the remaining tablespoon of oil, splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves. Add the garnish to the kuzhambu and remove from heat. 

Serve with steaming rice with a dollop of ghee!

Pumpkin-Chocolate Pie

This was my Thanksgiving Pie attempt - a creamy pumpkin chocolate pie. Everything tastes better with chocolate, doesn't it? I find it true especially with this pie because I don't seem to be a fan of pumpkin. 

This was an easy to make pie that was prepared using this recipe. I substituted ginger-snaps (ginger cookies) for the traditional graham-crackers to prepare the crust. But upon experimentation, I would suggest sticking to the graham-crackers. The ginger-snaps make the crust a little hard at first and then consequently, soggy. Secondly, I didn't go choco-crazy with triple layers of chocolate. I added bittersweet chocolate to the pie batter and skipped baking the crust with chocolate and drizzling milk-chocolate on top. And I was a little heavy-handed with the spices - especially nutmeg ;). 

I recommend trying this pie. It is mildly sweet, creamy, chocolatey, and spicy with just a hint of pumpkin flavor.

Notes on pie-baking:

I learned that over-beating or over-mixing the creamy pie batter results in air bubbles that leave cracks and "holes" on top of the pie while baking. Let the beaten batter rest until the bubbles subside, and then pour into the plate and bake.