Eggless Apples & Berries Cobbler

September is nearing its end, and some of us are still in denial that Summer is over and 2014 is in its last quarter. But, as with most things in life, the only available choice is to embrace the present and do the best with it. 

Fall is a lovely season of its own - especially where I live. The leaves morph into bright, fiery colors, the weather takes on a crisp, manageable chill, and together, the colors and the clean, cool air brighten my spirits, if only for a few moments per day. 

So, embracing the weather, and our love for Nature, we went apple and berry picking at a local orchard/farm, and had a lovely time roaming through the rows upon rows of immaculately grown trees, and plucking several different varieties of alluring apples straight from the trees. Now, we have enough apples to last us for weeks!
 

Since it had been a while since I baked, I made some cobbler with the fresh fruits. It makes a comforting Fall dessert.

Tomato Pickle with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

As I mentioned in my previous post, tomato pickle is usually prepared by first sun drying the tomatoes and then frying and coating them with spices. Since the availability of sunshine and heat is no longer a luxury in some places, I thought I would experiment by roasting/baking the tomatoes instead of sun drying. 

I was pleasantly surprised and satisfied with the results. If you have tasted sun-dried tomatoes, you must be familiar with the tangy,  concentrated flavor that comes through. So, tossing such intensely flavored tomatoes in spices, enhances the overall taste of the pickle - in a good way. And good news is, these tomatoes are not as chewy as sun-dried tomatoes. 

So, all in all, this was a successful experiment, and is way easier than the instant version I shared in my previous post.

Instant Tomato Pickle

Pickles are a nice way to preserve fruits and vegetables for a while. As Indians, we are almost always preparing pickles all throughout the year, but especially during the tail end of a harvest season, when we want to prolong and preserve the fruit or vegetable. 

My husband and I are fans of tomato based pickles and thokkus, and chutneys. So, it was natural for me to think of preparing some tomato pickle with some of the tomatoes from our garden. 

This version is a slightly different way of preparing tomato pickle. Usually, to extend shelf-life, the tomatoes are seeded and dried in the sun, and then pickled. But, in this version (which is more of an "instant", faster method), I just saute and cook the tomatoes really well and then add spices and seasonings. This pickle will not last as long as the sun-dried version, but is quite delicious, nonetheless.

Tomato and Beetroot Jam

We've been having a healthy harvest of tomatoes from our vegetable patch. It is a real blessing and a highly rewarding exercise. As summer wanes, my ritual is to prepare some fresh fruit/vegetable jam from the summer harvest. This year, the overflowing bag of fresh, plump tomatoes lured me to make some jam with sweet beets.

Although the flavor combination of tomatoes and beets is not obvious, the two come together to make a really delicious combination. The sweet flavor of the beets perfectly complement the tartness of the tomatoes. I have vague memories of this particular jam stewing and cooking away in my grandmother's (and her sister's) kitchen. My scent-memory can smell the beets cooking in the tomato puree, and my taste buds vividly recollect the subtle bite of the juicy beets and the burst of cardamom that seeps through and perfumes the jam. So, suffice to say this is one of my favorite spreads. After several years, I was happy to make a batch of this jam along with my mom.

Indian Vegetable Sides: Sauteed Cabbage with Coconut

The most simplest way of serving vegetables is to saute them with just a few seasonings; seasonings that truly bring out the flavor of the vegetable and showcase it boldly. 

Along those lines, the recipe I am sharing today is one of the simplest and most elegant forms of preparing Indian vegetable sides. This technique is popularly utilized in South-Indian cooking. There is minimal spice and flavorings, but the presence of coconut gratings and a small amount of green/red chillies and black gram are enough to make the dish tasty. 

This same approach can be used to prepare green beans, carrots, beets, cauliflower etc.

Indian Vegetable Sides: Swiss Chard Masiyal

Leafy greens are plenteous in any tropical place, and India is no exception. It teems with a mind-boggling array of herbs and greens, each of which has some medicinal and nutritious value. So, fresh greens are a common vegetable side that features in our meals. In this version, fresh leafy greens are pureed, cooked, and spiced with red chillies, coconut, cumin, and some black gram to make a delicious side that is extremely nutritious.

I have used chard to prepare this masiyal, but you can substitute it with any greens.

Quinoa Paayasam

Ever since my mom laid eyes on quinoa, she's wanted to make some paayasam (sweetened Indian porridge) with it. Not sure why quinoa triggered that thought in her. But, anyway, she recently acted on it and made some simple and "healthy" quinoa paayasam to mark an occasion.

The porridge tasted really really good, not to mention it is extremely straightforward and simple to prepare! It is truly a guilt-free dessert if you use palm sugar instead of jaggery.

Olan

Olan is a simple coconut stew prepared with black-eyed beans and white pumpkin. It is a popular Kerala / Palakkad stew, that's prepared during festivals like Onam.

The simplicity of the dish belies its wonderful and lovely taste! It can be prepared in no time and is nutritious with vegetable/fruits, and protein from the black-eyed beans. And going from recent nutrition "research", coconut is great for you too! I wish some of my grand (and great grand) relatives were alive to hear this, because it's hard not to use coconut in our cuisine, and until recently, we were scorned for the same reason, and our food used to be labeled unhealthy. Of course, moderation (and a sensible head) is the key. No research will validate deep frying pastries in coconut oil... so, moving on ;)

Last month, when I visited one of my aunts, she generously gave us some ripe vegetables/fruits from her lush garden. Amongst those, she gave me an acorn squash and suggested that I make a nice pot of olan with it. Although olan is traditionally made with white pumpkin, any vegetable or squash can be added - we make up rules as we go along :). So I came back home to make a simple and delicious pot of olan with the fresh acorn squash and some carrots.

The lovely acorn squash from my aunt's vegetable patch

Here's how I prepare this simple stew. 

Indian Vegetable Sides: Spicy Roasted Potatoes

Every cuisine and culture has its version of crispy, roasted potatoes. Call it by whatever name, roasted potatoes exist everywhere on the planet! And it's amazing that every cuisine has its own little twist on how to roast and crisp potatoes.

Indian roasted potatoes have to be bundled in spices - it's a given! As it goes without saying, each family has its own unique twist on how to spice (and what spices to use) and roast potatoes. This is a version that I have settled on - it borrows my mom's version and combines a few lessons I have learned through my experiments over the years.

So, here's the simple method to spice and roast potatoes. Use the same procedure to roast any starchy vegetable!