Pineapple-Rosemary-Cilantro Popsicle

On one of his recent trips, Anand chanced upon an interesting popsicle flavor and recipe included in a tiny section of an airline magazine. He immediately took a picture of it and dutifully showed it to me, requesting that it be made as soon as possible. How convenient for me! :).

But these days, I can’t seem to obediently stick to a given recipe. I am always tempted to add a bit of this and that, and eliminate things that I believe won’t go well together. I was very skeptical of adding a bunch of coriander leaves (cilantro) along with pineapple. I associate cilantro with savory, aromatic dishes and not sweet, fruity dishes. Licking cilantro bits from a popsicle just didn’t fit well with my tiny flavor-related-mental-model. And so, I adapted. I’ve been experimenting with other herbs available on this side of the world, and have recently fallen in love with fresh rosemary and tarragon. Rosemary has a wonderful, lavender-like pleasant fragrance, but it doesn’t make the dish taste/smell flowery. Similarly,  Tarragon has a strong fennel-like note to it, except it is much sweeter and subtle. They are strong, aromatic herbs which go a long way in subtly enhancing the scent and flavor of a dish. A few months back, I had a rosemary-ginger-lemon soda and I swooned over the refreshing flavors! Since I was convinced that these ingredients would play very well with the sweet and tangy pineapple to give a refreshing zing to the popsicle, I added them. But Anand vehemently insisted that I add cilantro and not digress from the original recipe. And so, cilantro went in too - and I am still not in great favor of it! But Anand and other friends loved it, so I guess I’m the minority in this!

Rosemary

 
Ingredients

1. 3 cups of finely diced fresh pineapple
2. ⅓ cup of sugar
3. ½  a teaspoon of salt
4. Juice of half a lemon (or lime)
5. 2 sprigs of cilantro
6. 2 small sprigs of fresh rosemary (remove the leaves from the inedible stem)
7. a pebble-sized piece of ginger

Preparation

1. Add all the ingredients in a blender and pulse, grind, puree until smooth. Do not add any water. If it’ easier, puree the pineapples first and then add the rest of the ingredients and give it a blitz.
2. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for 4-5 hours.

 

Pineapple-rosemary-cilantro-ginger popsicle is ready! This might seem odd to many, but it did taste good and the flavors were unique. The only change I would recommend is adding mint leaves instead of cilantro to make the posicle even more refreshing. It will turn into a pineapple-mojito on a stick - without the rum ;).

Spinach Adai

Adai is a lentil based savory crepe that closely resembles the popular Dosai, differing from it on one major aspect - adais are thicker than dosai, and are hence not as crispy. But true to every other less-oilier, less-crispier food, adai is a very healthy combination of par-boiled rice, lentils, and other protein rich pulses like bengal-gram dhal and urad dhal. Due to the heavy concentration of protein, Hing (asafoetida) and ginger are usually added to aid in digestion. And of course, as always, to give it some flavor and spice-kick, red chillies, curry leaves, and vegetables such as spinach, onions, tomatoes, and bell-peppers are usually added. To make a wholesome meal, I added spinach to my adai batter last week.

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of par-boiled rice
2. 1 cup of toor dhal
3. ¾ cup of bengal gram dhal
4. ¼ cup of de-husked urad dhal
5. a small piece of ginger
6. 5 red chillies
7. 2 teaspoons of Hing
8. A couple of sprigs of curry leaves
9. 2 cups of chopped spinach
10. 2 teaspoons of salt
11. some sesame oil

Preparation

1. Soak the par-boiled rice, toor dhal, uradh dhal, bengal gram dhal and red chillies for 4-6 hours.
2. In a mixer/grinder/blender, grind the soaked dhal/rice along with the chopped spinach, red chillies, ginger, Hing, curry leaves, and salt. Add about a cup of water and grind the mixture into a paste that is neither too soft, nor too coarse. Neither too light nor too dense. The consistency should be such that the batter does not pour when tilted, nor does it stay together as a lump when tilted.
3. Taste for seasoning, and add more chillies or salt as required.
4. In a skillet (ideally a cast-iron one), drop 1.5 ladles of batter into the center and gently spread it into a circle with the back of the ladle. As I said earlier, adais are not spread too thin, for when they cook they tend to be stiff. They will be soft, chewy and reasonably crispy if they are made slightly denser that dosais (very close to how thick a pancake is). Spoon some sesame oil around the edges of the adai, and tear a hole at the center to ensure even cooking. Cook on medium heat, else the adai will burn on the outside and remain raw on the inside.
5. After 3-4 minutes, flip the adai on its other side. Gently press down on the adai to cook and crisp the other side just as well.
6. In about 3 minutes time remove the adai from the pan and serve with chutney, sambar, rasam, yogurt, pickle, chilli-powder, or other such side-dishes that complement its flavor. 

   

My mom has adai with jaggery and a few ripe pieces of banana. Odd combination, one might think! But it is actually a very common and traditional combination. I never like it though, because I want something mushy and liquid-y to contrast the dry adai. Yogurt, sambar and rasam are my personal favorites.

While adding vegetables such as onions, bell-peppers, carrots, tomatoes etc., do not grind them with the batter. Instead, finely chop them and sprinkle some on top of the Adai as it cooks on the skillet. Carefully turn the adai on either sides and press down to ensure the vegetables cook and char in the heat.

Adai batter is much quicker to prepare than dosai-batter, and it also lasts for a few days in the fridge. It is ideal to store some when confronting a hectic week that leaves little time for elaborate cooking!

Spiced up Nachos

Nachos are popular Mexican starters and fillers. It is made of simple corn-tortilla chips (imagine crisped up mini Naans), that are piled high with beans, salsa, sour cream, cheese, and guacamole. I don’t think I need to explain what salsa or guacamole is, but on principle, let me. Salsa is nothing but tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapeno peppers, corn kernels, and beans, bathed and preserved in vinegar, salt, lime juice, and coriander leaves. There are several kinds of salsas, so this is just the basic form. Guacamole is a rich, creamy paste of avocados, onions, garlic, tomatoes, lime juice, and coriander leaves. Both salsa and guacamole are yummy dips for all kinds of chips.

I don’t know why I never thought of making nachos at home until I feasted on some of my friend’s home-made, lip-smacking nachos. Nachos are very easy to assemble at home, and they make excellent appetizers. So, I finally tried making (or rather, assembling) one recently, with a little bit of Indian twist to it.

Ingredients

1. ½ bag of corn tortilla chips (easily available in stores these days). Else, they are easy to make from tortilla. Cut tortilla into triangular wedges, and bake at 350 F for 15 minutes or longer until the wedges crisp.
2. 3 cups of Black beans ( one can even use cooked garbanzo beans or kidney beans - channa or rajma)
3. 1 onion finely chopped
4. 2 tomatoes finely chopped
5. handful of coriander leaves
6. 2 teaspoons of Chaat masala powder
7. 2 teaspoons of salt
8. 2 teaspoon of pepper
9. Juice of 2 limes (or the juice of 1 lemon)
10. ¾ cup of grated cheese (any cheese of your liking - but cheddar is fool-proof with this)
11. 1 ripe avocado
12. ½ cup of low-fat sour cream

Preparation

1. Prepare the Salsa by mixing together the beans, onions, tomatoes, chaat masala, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper, coriander leaves and juice of 1 lime.
2. I took a shortcut and prepared my own version of “guacamole”. I mashed the creamy pulp of the avocado with sour cream, and spiced it with salt, pepper, and the juice of ½ a lime.
3. Line the tortilla chips on a baking tray layered with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
4. Pile the chips with a spoonful of salsa, and the mixture of sour cream + avocado. Top it with a sprinkle of grated cheese.
5. Broil the chips in the oven for 3-4 minutes (or until the cheese melts). Do not over-bake/broil the chips, for they will burn easily and will become stiff and hard.
6. That’s it! Serve hot.

You can even add other Indian spices like turmeric, red chillies, and cumin while preparing the guacamole the authentic way.

This cannot get simpler, can it? :)

Vegetable Pulao

Pulao, Biryani, and other such variants are flavored rice made from aromatic spices and sauteed vegetables. I have always loved Pulaos/Biryanis. I used to pester my mom to make it, but she being an authentic Tam-Brahm lady, never really liked making spicy dishes that require a dozen or so masala ingredients. Although she has made several milder and tasty versions of the dish, they were never what I was looking for. I finally started experimenting on a formula that suited me, inspired from a host of sources, I have now arrived at an easy to prepare, go-to Pulao. In my early student days in the US, this used to be my signature dish - i.e., a dish that no roommate scoffed at ;).

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium-sized red onion - sliced into long pieces.
2. 1-2 cups of mixed vegetables (neglected veggies in the fridge will do, or use some from a bag of frozen mixed vegetables)
3. 5 cloves
4. 6 cardamom pods (the whole pods with the seeds)
5. 1 cinnamon stick
6. 1 Bay leaf (optional)
7. 3 teaspoons of Sindhi Biryani Powder (I don’t know why, I picked this up a few years back, and I love the flavor of the masala). Or you can use any garam masala, or biryani powder.
8. 2 cups of raw rice (I used plain white rice, not basmati)
9. 4 - 4.5 cups of water
10. Salt to taste
11. A tablespoon of oil
12. Some coriander leaves
13. Two tablespoons of yogurt.

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a skillet.
2. Add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf and saute on medium heat until the spices turn fragrant (you could also slightly crush the spices in a mortar and pestle to bring out more flavor)
3. Once the spices are fragrant and begin to sizzle, add the chopped onion and saute till it turns translucent.
4. Add the mixed vegetables and saute till they become a little tender.
5. Add the biryani masala, and salt and stir well into the vegetables. You may additionally add chilli powder if you need more spice and heat.
6. Once the masala is well mixed into the vegetables, add raw rice and mix it well with the vegetables and the spice. If raw rice is sauteed in the oil and spices, it doesn’t stick to each other and turns out fluffy when cooked. Usually, Basmati rice is used, and it undoubtedly imparts a lovely, unique flavor. But ordinary white/brown rice should be fine too.
7. Transfer the rice+vegetables into a rice cooker (or pressure cooker).
8. Add 4 cups of water (or 4.5, if you don't like your rice to be al dente).
9. Sprinkle a handful of washed and cut coriander leaves. I add the leaves before cooking the rice, because as the coriander cooks and seeps into the rice, its flavor becomes much richer.
10. Mix two tablespoons of yogurt into the water+rice+coriander. I learnt this from my mother-in-law. The yogurt adds creaminess and a subtle flavor to the rice.
11. Cook the whole thing till the water is fully absorbed.

That’s it! Stir the cooked rice when ready so that it gets fluffed up, and serve with chips, vadaams, or raita.

As a variation, I sometimes add tomato paste to the vegetables. This turns out good too. Some friends of mine add black cardamom and star anise as well. Both are strong, potent spices, so go easy on them - perhaps add one each. Other friends add minced ginger and garlic before adding the onions. Coconut and poppy seeds are favorite spice blends too... but I will dedicate another post to one such exhaustive variation!

Since it is really simple to throw in spices, saute the vegetables and cook the rice, anybody can prepare this flavored rice dish.

Tapioca Upma

Tapioca upma is commonly known as Sabudana Kichidi in Maharashtra. Tapioca pearls are cooked and sauteed in a spice ground that mainly comprises of roasted peanuts and chillies to result in a warm, spicy meal. But when such dishes make their way to the south, hard bred people like me convert it into an Upma by adding familiar South-Indian spice blends to it.

So, this is another recipe that I took down from my mother-in-law and tweaked it generously to arrive at a Tamil variation of the Kichidi.

Ingredients (feeds four)

1. 4 cups of Tapioca pearls soaked in water for 8 hours. If you forget to soak it on time, worry not, just soak the pearls in lukewarm water for 4-5 hours.
2. ¾ cup of unsalted, shelled, peanuts
3. 5-6 dry red chillies (or green chillies if you prefer)
4. 1 medium onion, finely chopped
5. 1 teaspoon of brown mustard seeds
6. 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds / jeera
7. 1 teaspoon of Hing
8. 1 teaspoon of turmeric
9. 3 teaspoons of coriander seeds (dhania)
10. 1 teaspoon of bengal gram dhal / kadala paruppu / chana dhal
11. 1 teaspoon of Toor dhal / yellow or orange lentils / thuvaram paruppu
12. 1 teaspoon of urad dhal / spilt dehusked black gram / thuvaram paruppu
13. 2 tablespoons of oil
14. Salt to taste
15. Curry leaves and coriander leaves for granishing
16. The juice of half a lemon

Preparation

1. Dry roast the peanuts, coriander seeds, bengal gram dhal, toor dhal, urad dhal, red chillies and Hing.
2. Grind the roasted spices
3. In a pan, heat some oil. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add cumin seeds, pinched curry leaves, and turmeric and stir.
4. Let the diced onions join the party in the pan. Saute onion till it turns translucent. Stir on medium heat.
5. Next, add the drained tapioca (make sure to drain and squeeze out water, without mashing up the tapioca). Stir the tapioca to incorporate the onions (about 4 minutes)
6. Now add the ground spice powder (of peanuts and others) and stir well. Keep stirring the tapioca so that it blends with the spices and doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
7. Add salt, and cook the tapioca for about 8 minutes (stirring often). When the tapioca pearls cook, they turn glossy and translucent.
8. Finally, switch off the heat. Squeeze some lemon juice and garnish with coriander leaves. I made the unforgivable sin of not stocking up on enough coriander leaves - so my upma was devoid of its lovely aroma.

Since Tapioca is high in starch, the upma will be a little sticky. The spices may seem excessive, but they are absolutely necessary to add some flavor to the otherwise bland and starchy Tapioca. This upma goes down well with some creamy, cooling yogurt that cuts the edge off of the spices.