Apple Betty

A "betty" is apparently an old-fashioned baked fruit dessert prepared with crisp bread cubes. 

I was perusing through Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, which happens to be the one and only cook book owned by my husband from his bachelor days. How the book came to his possession is a funny story in and of itself, but the fact that it has faithfully kept its place on the bookshelf, is funnier still. The book has a lot of American classic recipes, so I have referred to it on many occasions. 

We went on a merry apple picking expedition a month ago, and I was confident that I would put the two generous bags of apples we plucked to good use. And I did, while internally repeating the saying - "An apple a day, keeps the doctor away". But like losing those last few pesky pounds, it became a task to finish the last bunch of apples. I was running out of ideas, so I flipped through the above said book, and landed on a recipe called "peach-berry betty".  Betty? Intrigued, I went through it, and it seemed easy and different; it almost wholly showcases the fruit without the addition of too much sugar, so I tried it out by using apples, and everyone quite liked it. 

It is a simple, comforting, and spicy dessert for a Fall evening. The smell of baked apples and spices evokes the flavors of Fall like no other. Who needs scented candles, when you can bake and eat this aromatic dish.

Gulab Jamun

Gulab Jamun is a rich, melt-in-your-mouth delicacy of fried globules of milk solids that are dunked in a sweet syrup flavored with rose-water, cardamom, and saffron. It is one of my all-time favorite sweet indulgences. 

While there are several easy to prepare gulab jamun mixes that are available in the market, I decided to prepare this from scratch for Deepavali, and I am so glad I did, because it is extremely easy to prepare and is quite fail-proof. Usually, mawa or khova/koya is kneaded along with all-purpose flour to prepare the balls, which are then deep fried and soaked in sugar syrup. I wasn't too keen on spending time preparing khova, so my mom suggested that I use milk powder instead, and the jamuns turned out great - soft, luscious, and delectable in every way. 

Happy Deepavali to everyone!

Wheat Thattai

Tomorrow is Deepavali - the Indian festival of lights. As the most celebrated and popular Indian festival, Deepavali symbolizes the entry of light and goodness in everyone's lives. 

Specialized sweets and savories, firecrackers, and shiny new clothes are just some of the many indulgences that the festival brings with it. 

Half away around the world, during a quiet Fall weeknight, people like me celebrate Deepavali by invoking the spirit of warmth and cheer. I usually prepare at least one sweet and savory dish to mark the festival. This time, I thought of trying a slightly different version of thattai - a crunchy snack. Instead of rice flour, I used wheat flour, thanks to the inspiration from Meenakshi ammal's cookbook. 

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!

Mint Paratha with Paneer and Onion

Pudhina Parathas are Indian flat-breads made with layers of aromatic mint leaves and a light dusting of spices. This makes a truly fragrant and delicious paratha, especially if you enjoy minty flavors.

My cousin and I frequently exchange notes on what we are cooking just to inspire and motivate each other, especially on those days and evenings when we are looking for excuses to not cook ;). So, when she told me she was making pudhina parathas for dinner a few weeks back, I needed no more inspiration! I was so motivated that I got carried away and added paneer and onion as well. This is yet another simple and flavorful flat-bread!
 

Pressure Cooker Sambar

To those who are familiar with sambar, the title of this post perhaps makes little sense. This is basically an easier, one pot (well almost) version of making sambar - a vegetable and lentil gravy cooked in a tamarind broth. Usually, yellow lentils are cooked separately, the vegetables and spices are stewed in tamarind juice, and then the two are mixed together. In this version, everything is plopped into a pressure cooker and the sambar is ready within minutes. While the cooker is working, I usually saute some onion and tomatoes in spices and then add it to the sambar to make the dish a little more tastier. If you choose to not do this extra, then this is truly a one-pot-dish!

I must thank my cousin for introducing me to this version. It is one of my frequent go-to methods of making dinner. I rummage the fridge and throw in all the veggies I can get my hands on into the cooker, add the lentils, spices, and tamarind juice and after two whistles, sambar is ready, and surprisingly it's so much more tastier because the flavors of the vegetables truly seep in to the sambar. The only thing to do ahead of time is to soak the lentils for at least 30 minutes so that they cook in time with the vegetables in the cooker.

Vella Cheedai / Seedai

Today is Janmashtami or Gokulashtami - Lord Krishna's birthday. On this festive day, cheedai/seedais, which are deep-fried balls made primarily with rice flour and black gram flour, are prepared. As with most Indian delicacies, there are sweet and savory versions of cheedai. 

I'm sharing a popular sweet version of cheedai today. It is a simple preparation with jaggery syrup sweetening rice flour and black gram flour. Some toasted sesame seeds, coconut and cardamom season the cheedais with crunch and flavor. 

Cheedais have a notorious reputation for bursting when frying in hot oil. It has led to many unfortunate accidents. However, sweet cheedais are less prone to bursting than its savory counterpart. So, if you are attempting this for the first time, be a little cautious and step slightly away from the oil, keeping your face and limbs at a safe distance when the cheedais are frying. But, don't fret much. If an accident-prone clumsy person like me can make this cheedai safely, so can you!

Murukku / South-Indian Chakli

Murukku is a very popular deep-fried savory snack that's made during festive occasions like weddings, Diwali, and other religious days. Tomorrow is Gokulashtami - Lord Krishna's birthday. So, this is one of the many savory dishes that's made to celebrate the day. 

My husband and I love murukkus, however, these murukkus are made entirely by hand instead of using any equipment to press out the spirals. The prepared dough is slowly spun in a twisted rope-like fashion to make the murukkus, as shown in this video. Now, to do this one needs a special skill and dexterity that I lack! My mom always says this skill is something that you are born with - like the ability to touch your nose with your tongue ;). I have resisted this idea and have tried several times to make these murukkus by hand when I was a teenager, but my success rate has been erratic. I don't want to discourage anyone, though! This is just my limitation. 

So, I have started to make these murukkus using a press. After all, the ingredients are the same, and consequently, the end product tastes the same. If the murukkus are made using a press, they resemble chaklis - another Indian deep-fried equivalent of murukku.

Here's the simple procedure to make murkkus.

Tiffin Sambar / Hotel Sambar

Sambar, the most common South-Indian gravy/side dish has many avatars with slight variations. The most common form of sambar is made by stewing spiced vegetables in a tamarind broth and cooked yellow lentils. In this version of sambar that mirrors the version that's served in hotels, cooked mung beans (moong dal) is added instead of yellow lentils. Also, there's freshly ground spices such as coriander seeds, red chillies,  coconut, cumin, ginger, and garlic. Finally, as an irrevocable rule, there's ghee (clarified butter)! Un-apologetically so.

I have added radish, eggplant, onion and tomatoes. You can add any kind of vegetables, but try to always include onion and tomato. They make a difference to the flavor. 

This sambar goes great with dosas and idlis. It's simply a fantastic combination, which is why this is specifically called "tiffin" sambar (in South-Indian lingo, dosas and idlis are called tiffin items). 

Here's how it's done.

Honey Dew & Watermelon Sorbet with Cardamom

Just a few more weeks of summer left! As much as I love Fall, I miss bright sunshines, different colored birds hopping in the yard, and fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and the greens all around. With a thunder-storm every other day, all the colors just look so much brighter to my eyes.

Before summer slips out, I wanted to post this simple sorbet recipe. Sorbets and granitas have been popular choices in the freezer this summer. And this particular sorbet was something I threw together on impulse, more than a month ago. Its simple and refreshing flavors are ideal after a heavy or spicy meal. Since we are fans of honey dew and cantaloupe, and of course, watermelon, we loved this sorbet. Honeydew and watermelon are sweet by themselves, but since I have insatiable people with sweet tooth (teeth, rather), I added some simple syrup made with palm sugar. The guilt level zooms down when I pull out palm sugar, and everything is well with the Universe!

Indian Vegetable Sides: Spicy Tindora Stir-Fry

Tindora, also known as Ivy Gourd is commonly had in Indian cuisine. Until I read the wikipedia page, I had no idea that this fruit had so many medicinal properties! There's always something to learn in this wide world. 

In Indian cuisine, tindora is frequently cooked and stir-fried with a spicy curry powder such as sambar powder to make a vegetable side that goes well with rice or rotis. 

This style of cooking and stir-frying vegetables with spices is one of the most basic, simplest, and common ways of preparing Indian vegetable sides. This is almost like a formula. If you know this, you can pretty much prepare any vegetable by currying it!

(Side note: I know tindora is not exactly a vegetable per se, but we are used to regarding it as one because of its prominence in savory dishes. So, please look past the glaring term!)

Eggplant Masiyal / Brinjal Masiyal

This side dish is called as dosai masiyal, because it is prepared as a side dish for dosais. We don't make this dish often, because dosai is heavenly as it is, and all it needs is a simple sambar, chuntey, or milagai podi to dip into. But, when one has excess eggplants or brinjals in the kitchen and is bored out of their mind to make the same kinds of dishes, this is a nice dish to resort to. 

It is tangy, spicy, and very simple to make - a concentrated mixture of eggplant and tamarind to spice up dosais, idlis, and even rotis!

Mango Dal

Dal (Indian lentil stew) prepared with raw mango is an Andhra specialty. The mango takes the place of tomatoes, tamarind or lemon juice, and it imparts a delicate tartness and a wonderful raw mango flavor that goes really well with savory stews and dishes.

There are many ways to prepare this simple dish. As with most dals, you can either cook the lentils and then stir fry the other ingredients and then add them to the lentils, or you can take an easier, faster route and just cook most ingredients together, and then lightly season. This mango pappu makes an awesome comfort food at the end of a long day.

Indian Vegetable Sides: Plantain Podimas

Podimas is a classic and unique vegetable side prepared by South-Indians. I am sure it is called by different names, but Brahmins call it Podimas, perhaps because the cooked starchy vegetable is shredded and spiced with a simple combination of ginger, green chillies, turmeric, coconut, and lemon juice. 

Podimas can be prepared with potatoes as well (in the case of potatoes, instead of shredding, just gently crumble the cooked potatoes and follow the same procedure), and other starchy vegetables.

Podimas finds its way on plates and festive banana leaves during special occasions, but it's so easy to prepare that it can easily be a regular vegetable side to feature with simple home cooked food.

Spicy Potato Masala

Continuing with the potato fest from our home, here's a spicy potato gravy made with freshly ground aromatic whole spices and a smooth chickpea batter. This is a slight variation of the dish my grandma used to make.

Every once in a while, it's nice to turn up the volume of spices in classic dishes to make them bolder and different. So I just tried this to spice up a monotonous evening and get some brownie points from the husband.

Aloo Bonda / Batata Vada

When it comes to indulging my husband with food, potatoes feature prominently and repeatedly in the list. I am sure it tops everyone's list! So, there's been a potato fest at our home recently. 

If there's potatoes and a fest, it has to involve something deep-fried. And one of the most popular Indian street-foods that calls for deep frying spicy potatoes has to be aloo bonda, or known as batata vada in Mumbai. How can a food that calls for deep frying spicy balls of potatoes dipped in a thick and tasty batter not be popular on any planet (involving humans)?

Making these vadas at home brings in the pungent and nostalgic smell of hot oil meeting batter and potatoes - an inescapable aroma that's sure to assault your senses if you take a walk down a busy Indian street that clamors with food, lights, colors, sound, and chatter.

Chocolate Chip and Mocha Ice Cream Cake

What do you give someone that delights in the most simplest things in life? A combination of some of their most favorite things: cookies and cream, chocolate and coffee, ice cream and cake, and all the melodious sweet notes of tiramisu. If I could have included caramel and peanuts, it would have been ambrosia on a plate for him.

Instead of searching low and high and complicating things, the best gifts are the most simplest, easiest of them all - provided they come from the heart. 

So, here is a very easy "cake" that is a breeze to make.

I baked Nestle Toll house chocolate chip cookies (the best kind of cookies that I have baked and that's been approved by my husband) and layered them over mocha-mascarpone cream for a lush and lip-smacking cake. Just follow the recipe that comes on the package of Nestle chocolate chips to get a perfectly baked cookie that's chewy in the middle, crisp on the outside, and that melds the flavors of sweet and salt with the perfect amount of gooey chocolate chips. 

Chocolate Fudge Bites

My mom made these simple chocolate fudge balls for my husband's birthday. It's wondrous how just a few ingredients can come together to create a simple treat that puts a genuine smile of happiness and appreciation on someone's face.

This is a soft, chewy dessert that melts in your mouth. This is a variation of a popular Indian dessert called Sandesh. Instead of using paneer/cottage cheese or milk khova, my mom uses condensed milk and milk powder. And of course, cocoa powder. 

Eggless Black Forest Cake with Whole Wheat and Finger Millet Flour

That's a long title for a post!

My mom has a sweet tooth and is also a chocoholic. So, I knew I was going to make a classic chocolate cake for her birthday to keep it simple and enjoyable. However, as much as she loves sweets and chocolates, she is also very particular (and sometimes obsessive) about eating healthy and staying away from refined flour and sugar. Since millets have always been her favorite, I knew I had to make this incredible cake when I saw this recipe. Prior to this, I'd never heard of finger-millet flour used in baking, so it was quite intriguing to me! I adapted the recipe a little and made a black forest cake with cherries and cream. I was slightly wary about my adjustments to the ingredients, and also a tiny bit skeptical about whether the cake would hold itself and taste ok. 

I needn't have worried. I was beyond amazed and happy with the results (and so was my family) that such a healthy cake could be baked! Let me list the ways in which this is really a "healthy" cake: 1) it has no butter (just 1/4 cup of olive oil), 2) it has no refined sugar (just some palm sugar), 3) it has no refined flour (just a combination of multi-grain whole wheat and finger millet flours), 4) it has yogurt and milk, and 5) bonus points: it has chocolate!!

Such a cake sounds mythical doesn't it? But it exists! In terms of texture, the cake holds well, and it looks and tastes moist and spongy. However (you knew there was one such a pause...), experienced and sophisticated palates can tell that the cake was not made with regular flour. You can taste just a hint of earthy, grainy texture in the cake. But, in the grand scheme of things, this is not really such a flaw!

So, without much rambling, here's how it's done. 

Ghee / Clarified Butter

This is not a recipe post. At least, for the most part. This is mostly a post on what is clarified butter (better known as ghee in India). To Indians, ghee is one of the most basic ingredients in our kitchen. We have never stopped to think twice about it. However, like most other people living outside of India, I have rediscovered and delved much more deeply into my own roots, traditions, and culture only in the midst of a foreign country surrounded by eager and curious non-Indians. Their thoughtful and simple questions always take me by surprise and make me pause as I dig into my brain to find a logical answer for their "why" "what" and "how" questions. I have learned so much more about where I come from, thanks to those questions.

In that same vein, I remember nine years ago (wow nine years!) some of my newly formed American friends asking me incredulously, "Gee? what did you just say? Sorry, I don't understand what it is".  And I giggled. It was my turn to be incredulous. I thought they didn't understand my accent. So I spelled it out for them. G H E E. The stuff that comes from butter, that we use in our.... and I trailed off. I couldn't say "our food". And that's when it struck it me for the first time. There's so much about who I am that's alien to these people. As the immigration papers indicated, I truly was an alien in their midst!

Coming back to ghee, I had no idea how to explain it. It's melted butter, I began to say. But it's not just melted butter, I told myself. Thanks to google, I brought up wikipedia to form words to my thoughts. But in these nine years, so many things have changed in the West. People have become more aware and familiar with different cuisines, including Indian cuisine and culture. The concept of clarified butter is no longer that alien. Still, every time I bring it up, people continue to be fascinated and curious.

I know there are tonnes of videos and posts online on how to prepare clarified butter, clearly expounding on its properties, uses, etc, so I am not trying to educate the world with this post that's going to be tucked and buried in a far-flung corner of the internet. This is just something I felt like writing, both for the sake of completeness within this space, and for myself.

Milagu Vadai / Pepper Vadai (Anjaneyar Vadai)

Milagu vadai is a thin deep-fried disc prepared from coarsely ground whole black gram and lots of cracked black pepper. It is a common religious offering to the Hindu God, Hanuman (also known as Anjaneyar). Ever since I was three years old, I have had a special fascination and reverence towards this particular Hindu God. So, this vadai is a special favorite. I love its simple taste, and the feeling of peace, quite, and hope it evokes.

This is a very simple and easy preparation that takes no time at all to make.

Ragi & Jowar Porridge / Sweet Millet Porridge

Millet flours make excellent porridges, grubs, and cereals. They are cooked slightly with water, sweetened a little with jaggery or palm sugar, and served with warm milk. This makes an energizing breakfast, and even a quick and nutritious dinner that's both light and filling. In terms of healthy dessert options, this is really quite a nice one! 

My mom makes different kinds of porridges with millets and whole grains. I have written about one of them here. This is another very simple version with just two types of millets. To tone down the earthy aromas of the millets and to increase the flavor of the porridge, freshly ground cardamom and mace (javetri) are added. 

As a dessert, this is truly a yummy alternative!

Paneer & Onion Ragi Adai

Ragi (finger millet) flour is a hardy and nutritious substitute for rice or wheat. However, it is not always easy to directly substitute this millet for rice or wheat, because its structural properties interfere with the texture of the food and its visual appeal. But, if one looks beyond how the dish looks, there are many tasty, filling, and healthy meals that can be prepared with such millets. 

One among them is this adai (or savory pancake). My mom often prepares these, but when I was growing up, no one was a fan of these, mainly because of a preconceived notion and determination that it would not taste good if it looks weird! And most often, these adais are prepared with no other embellishments, and are simple and bare-boned with just ragi flour and salt. Doesn't sound particularly appetizing if put that way, does it? Sometimes, vegetables such as carrots and beans are added, but again, as kids, very rarely did we look forward to beans or carrots! So, it's partly all about the packaging and bells and whistles.

And like many others, I am also of the belief that one doesn't have to necessarily compromise on taste and flavor by choosing to eat healthy. Therefore, to market this dish, one can add an endless variety of spices or popular foods that carry mass appeal. So, in this adai, I added paneer and onions to boost the appeal and flavor of the dish.

Indian Vegetable Sides: Brinjal or Eggplant With Freshly Ground Spices

South-Indian cooking heavily uses four ingredients to prepare a common spice blend to season vegetables and lentil-based stews. The four ingredients are: bengal gram, coriander seeds, red chillies, and coconut. These ingredients are dry roasted (or roasted in a little oil) and ground to make a distinctly flavorful blend that elevates the taste of any simple dish.

So, it's no wonder that this blend is used to season and spice vegetables. In this version, brinjals (the small eggplant variety common in South-Asia) are stir-fried with turmeric and seasoned with this aromatic spice blend for a truly delicious vegetable side! This can also be mixed with rice for a really delicious brinjal-flavored rice called vaangi-bath. A small difference is that vaangi-bath is commonly prepared with green-colored eggplants that are first cooked by stewing in tamarind juice. Since it's next to impossible (currently) to find green eggplants in many places outside of India, regular brinjals are good enough substitutes. 

Commonly, really small brinjals are stuffed with this spice blend and then pan-fried for a crunchy and spicy dish called yenna kathirikkai. Since we don't get such small and tender brinjals here, I prepare this version, which is the deconstructed form of the former (plus this version takes way less oil)! My mom often prepares this at home.

This recipe can be used to prepare vegetables such as plantain, elephant yams, and other starchy but hardy vegetables. I know many people are not fond of eggplants/brinjals. But this dish might make them reconsider :)

Jowar Roti / Sorghum Flat-bread

Jowar/Sorghum is a type of millet. It is called Cholam / Solam in Tamil, and is a very commonly available cereal in villages. Jowar flour has a pleasant and mildly sweet taste to it, so it's also being used in baking circuits in the West. It's also gluten free, rich in protein, iron, calcium, fiber etc., making it a truly wonderful substitute for regular flour.

India (and South-Asia) grows plentiful amounts of a variety of millets. Before the allure of polished white rice, most families had a heavy intake of millets. Somehow, millets lost their appeal and came to be branded as a lowly, peasant food. It was not fashionable to say you had millet-based porridge for breakfast or that you ate some archaic sounding food.

Now, with the surge of popularity in quinoa as a nutritious substitute for grains like rice (and even wheat), there has been a resurgence in millet consumption in places like India where quinoa is sold at exorbitant prices! In the last couple of years, people have rediscovered their very own indigenous crops, millets, and grains that help the local economy and their health! Everything has come a full circle now, and it's become fashionable to use millets again :).

Anyway, regardless of all that, it's good news that people are taking millets more seriously. For example, jowar has been a staple for hundreds of thousands of hardworking agriculturalists in Karnataka and Maharashtra. Flat-breads made from jowar  (known as Jolada Roti) are even served in many restaurants in Bangalore, and that's how I know of these rotis.

The only slight hitch with regularly making jowar rotis is that it requires skill and experience. It's an art to make Jowar rotis paper thin and round by just beating and shaping the dough with the palm of your hand and fingers! This requires years of experience. So, over the years I have often given up on making these, because it used to be hard to get sorghum flour in stores here, and it was always intimidating to make these rotis without the use of a rolling pin! But, experience comes with practice, and you practice by repeatedly trying and not giving up :)

So, with that in mind, here's the simple recipe to make these rotis. I'm not an expert, so don't judge the shape of my rotis! :). You can even start by adding some sorghum flour to whole wheat flour to make rotis that can be rolled. 

Indian Vegetable Sides: Beans with Moong Dal

I often get asked how Indians cook their vegetables for sides. Do we add them to the spicy tomato-onion gravy served at restaurants? Do we roast them? Blanch them? Steam them? Saute them? Stir-fry them? What spices and ingredients go into them? etc.

So, I am going to be posting some basic recipes on the different ways we prepare vegetable sides. Since, I am most familiar with South-Indian cuisine, most of my vegetable sides are derived/based on that cuisine. 

Here's a very common and simple vegetable side that we prepare with minimal spices/seasonings. In this version, green beans are cooked with some moong dal (mung beans) for a tasty and healthy vegetable side that truly showcases the inherent flavor of the vegetable without the distraction of strong spices and smells.

You can use the same procedure to cook other vegetables such as cabbage, carrot, beetroot, cauliflower etc. (basically any non-starchy vegetable that doesn't have too much water content in it so that it can withstand its texture while being cooked with the dal).

Arachu Vitta Sambar / Sambar with freshly ground spices

Arachu vitta sambar, meaning, sambar made with freshly ground spices, is a slightly special and tastier version of regular sambar (which is a tamarind and lentil stew made with vegetable/s or greens). It is commonly made during festive and special occasions, but in our house, I usually make only this kind of sambar, because it so much more flavorful with just a little extra step. Plus, adding freshly ground spices makes the sambar attain its optimum consistency every single time! It's rich, thick, and a very easy crowd pleaser!

In this recipe, I have added pearl onions and radish/daikon to make this sambar. Pearl onions (chinna vengayam) are a popular choice for this kind of sambar. You can add any (diced) vegetable/s of your choice using this basic procedure. Here's how it's done.

Vella Sevai / Indian Rice Noodles with Jaggery

The last few days, I have been boring people with my posts on Indian rice noodles called sevai. I dedicated some time to make these noodles using two different methods, and prepared the most common savory and sweet versions using the noodles.

In this post, I am wrapping up the series (at least for now!) by writing about another method of preparing the rice (to make the noodles), and summarizing all the different ways in which the noodles can be prepared. Firstly, you can either make a rice batter or rice flour. Then, you can either steam the rice batter to form "idlis" and then put the idlis through a noodle press and make the noodles, or you can make a rice dough with the batter/flour, cook the dough and then press through a noodle maker, or you can put the rice dough through a noodle press to make noodles and then steam the noodles. Sounds a little confusing? I have tried to elaborately list out the steps below. Hope it helps!

I'm also sharing a very simple recipe to sweeten the noodles. Savory versions of the noodles are more common than sweet versions. But, this sweet version is really the easiest of all. All it takes is to make a jaggery (or brown sugar) syrup that's flavored with coconut and cardamom. Mix and cook the sevai in this syrup for a fragrant and soft dessert

Ulutham Sevai / Indian Rice Noodles Spiced with Black Gram

Sevai is a short and delicate rice noodle that's popular in South-India. It takes on the flavor of the seasonings in which it is mixed, so there are many different ways of spicing these noodles. I have been posting some of the more common versions in this space. In this version, the rice noodles are mixed with a simple spiced seasoning made from black gram.

There are also a few different ways of making the rice noodles with either rice batter, or rice flour. I have written about two methods here and here. Today, I am writing about a third method.

This is a method that is very commonly used by most families. My in-laws follow this method, but this requires one to act fast and with skill, because the noodles need to be squeezed out when the cooked rice balls are hot. When they cool down, it becomes hard to squeeze them. This method also works much better using a traditional sevai nazhi made with iron and with a rotating equipment on top to squeeze out the noodles.

Paruppu Usili Sevai / Rice Noodles with Spiced Lentils

Sevai is Indian rice noodles. It is prepared through a slightly involved process with ground rice flour or rice batter that is cooked, thickened, and made into noodles. There are a few different ways of preparing these rice noodles.  I discussed one method here, here is another slightly varied method, which actually works much better using a traditional iron noodle press (sevai nazhi) because it  requires a stronger set of arms! My mom and her side of the family often use this method.

The prepared noodles are mixed with many types of spicy seasonings. In this version, bengal gram and yellow lentils are ground with chillies and curry leaves and fried to a crispy crumbly mixture. The noodles are then mixed with the spiced lentils to make a really tasty dish that is packed with protein, making the dish more healthy and nutritious, in addition to being delicious.

Sevai: Coconut Sevai and Lemon Sevai

Indian rice noodles are called sevai (or idiyappam). In terms of major South-Indian food types, sevai/idiyappam is a prominent category. These rice noodles are thin, delicate strands that are fluffy, airy, and very versatile, because they take on the flavors that you add to them. So there are so many different flavors that can be infused into the noodles, and they all taste good.

If the long strands of coiled noodles are served as such, it is called Idiyappam. When the long strands are broken to short strands and flavored with some seasoning, it is called sevai. Sevai is commonly had during certain religious days when people take a break from regular meals. Idiyappam is an extremely common breakfast food in most parts of South-India, especially in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

It's amazing that almost every culture has its own version of starchy noodles. The interesting fact about noodles is that it's a great way to economize on raw ingredients. In this case, rice. I find it incredible that home-cooks and women who'd been in kitchens all their lives had the ingenuity to come up with a series of labor-intensive processes to effectively convert rice into noodles. So, this is yet another dish that was on my to-blog list for a really long time. And every time, I put it off because I am hesistant of the manual labor required of this dish.

Mint & Coriander Thogayal / Pudina Kothamalli Thogayal

Everyone in my family is a fan of mint. I am thankful for that, because I know some that hate the smell and flavor of mint! I can't even imagine how people could hate mint! Anyway, this is a very common side-dish that's prepared at home. My mom loves green chutneys and thogayals, and everything green, and she makes them well too (my husband has his answer for why I'm obsessed with all things green ;)). And pudina (mint) thogayal, cilantro thogayal, and curry-leaf thogayal are her specialties.

Now that summer is in full swing, there is no shortage of herbs, fruits, and vegetables, especially mint. They take over your yard in no time and are so hard to control or get rid of (if you really wanted to). So with fresh mint galore, this is a wonderful way to make a flavorful, fragrant condiment that perfumes the entire house as it cooks. Every year, I wait for summer to make rich mint chutneys and thogayals. So, here it is!

Vendhaya Keerai Sambar / Methi Sambar

After almost 350 posts and three years of writing about South-Indian food, I finally get to sambar, the most ubiquitous of all South-Indian foods. What a cardinal sin this is! I have no excuse for putting off this post for so long, other than mere intimidation and self-doubt.

 Do I know enough about making a good pot of precious sambar? Good enough, at this point. But there's always things to learn and improvise.

Anyway, sambar is a basic lentil gravy/stew that is flavored with sour tamarind extract, vegetables or greens, spiced with a rich set of spices that make sambar powder, and seasoned with ghee or coconut oil to make a truly one-of-a-kind dish.

The recipe I am sharing today is the most basic form of sambar - no frills attached. This is the kind that is made almost every single day in most families in South India. In subsequent posts, I will write about slightly more nuanced versions of sambar.

Making sambar is all about knowing how much water to add. Water? Yes, water :). You can measure the water/liquid you add today and try to replicate it tomorrow, but if the chemistry is not just right, you will upset the sambar Gods. I am not saying this to make it seem like this is an unconquerable, finicky, complicated dish! But just to highlight the fact that although the procedure is simple and straightforward, there is a certain amount of skill (and a rabbit's foot) that is required to make a pot of sambar that truly balances all the spices, tartness, and flavors from the vegetables such that it hits all the right notes on your palate. But, worry not, I have a little trick that I mention in the end to make sure you can work around the uncertainties of sambar :)

Sambar is usually prepared with vegetables and very rarely prepared with greens such as fenugreek leaves. As I have mentioned before, fenugreek leaves are also nutrient rich like most greens. They have a slightly bitter taste to them, so stewing them in sambar with tamarind juice and spices is a great way to cut down the bitterness. But the leaves also have a nice aroma, so the whole dish becomes infused with a lovely aroma, thanks to the greens.

Methi Thepla

Methi Thepla is a dish that comes from the state of Gujarat in India. It is a flat-bread made from fresh fenugreek leaves mixed with wheat flour and chickpea flour. It is healthy and flavorful, and a popular picnic/travel food. 

I have had theplas from my sweet Gujarati friend in school. Her mom used to generously pack extra theplas for her so that she could share them with us. And for us folks, thepla was a truly exotic dish! Anyway, those were fun times. 

Methi theplas are very similar to methi parathas except that theplas have chickpea flour, which brings in some protein to the flat-breads. 

Thayir Saadam / Yogurt Rice

This post had to come some day :). A South-Indian cannot ignore the most humble and distinctive dish in our community for too long. What is yogurt rice? It is just as it sounds. It is yogurt mixed with rice. That's it, you ask? That's it, I say.

Well, almost.

Before I go further, I must clarify one thing. This post is by no means a recipe for yogurt rice. If I call this a recipe, I am inviting unending mockery from my entire community! This post is just an ode to thayir saadam where I highlight a few additions to make it really special. It would have never even occurred to me to talk about yogurt rice until a few years back.

Bisibelebath

Bisibelebath is a popular Karnataka dish. It is a uniquely spiced sambar dish (a spicy tamarind and lentil gravy) with lots of vegetables. Also, the lentils, rice, vegetables and spices are cooked and stewed together. Doing so, melds all the flavors nicely. Bisibelebath is also extremely moist, so it is cooked with generous amounts of water.

I love bisibelebath because it is as healthy as it is flavorful. It has copious amounts of vegetables and lentils, so it is an excellent one-pot-meal. In terms of the spices added, in addition to the usual combination of coriander seeds, bengal gram, coconut, and red chillies, aromatic whole spices such as cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom are added. I usually add a couple of more pulses/seeds in my enthusiasm to make the spice blend :).

Most people successfully prepare bisibelebath in a pressure cooker. They throw all the ingredients into it and cook it in no time. However, I have been apprehensive to use the pressure cooker to cook rice, lentils, and vegetables, all of which take different times (and different amounts of water) to cook. So, I have never experimented with the pressure cooker to avoid the risk of getting a mushed up mass of everything. Ideally, we cook the lentils, rice, and veggies separately and then add everything together for a final mix and boil with the freshly ground spices. But, the lazy cleaner in me would go to great lengths to use just one pot rather than three pots! So, this is my version of a one-pot-dish that you can carefully control as it cooks on the stove top.

We made bisibelebath for a recent dinner party. In all the flurry of activity to get things done, I didn't have the luxury of time to take pictures. So, the bisibelebath seems dry and unappetizing in the pictures. I will hopefully replace the pictures soon. 

Paal Poli / Milk Poli

Soft, fried discs of all-purpose flour soaked in a sweet, delicious and fragrant milk spiced with cardamom, saffron, nutmeg, pistachios and almonds, this is an elegant and classic South-Indian dessert!

My mom makes excellent polis (both jaggery based polis and this milk based polis), but specifically, her milk polis are always stellar winners! It's one of my absolute favorite desserts. Just the aroma of the spiced and sweet milk draws me to this dish. The milk base is very similar to that of ras malai, so this is sure to be a hit with everyone.

During a recent dinner with a big group of friends, my mom made these polis for dessert. They disappeared in no time and people couldn't stop gushing! So, this is perfect for entertaining too. Just a little planning a day ahead will make the process even more simpler. It was great to make this dish with my mom and learn some of the finer nuances of making this dessert taste really good!

So, here's the recipe (I halved the measurements for a smaller group).