Everything is new with a lot of Red Pepper Hummus!!!

Life has been quite a swirl after becoming a new novice home owner. After dealing with the usual barrage of legal papers, it was fun to sleep in your own master suite in a king size bed and cook in your huge kitchen where finally every kitchen tool has a cabinet place assigned for it.  It usually takes a fortnight to realize that home ownership comes in with a lot of work:)

With Amo finding the stairs quite an adventure. I might need a foot massager at the end of the day very soon. Mornings have been busy with shopping for accents, drapes, rugs etc., and fixing them in the afternoons. I love shopping in my new area. We have almost all shops within 10 mins of drive from home including Trader Joe's that caters for my organic needs. Evenings have been busy with walking around the neighborhood with Amo or playing on the deck with him.

Weekends are busy with grocery shopping and running to Lowes for some hardware fix. I guess owing a home always needs your constant care and attention for a happy American living. From lawn mowing to garbage disposal...all has been a learning experience. Now I clean 3 bathrooms, a foyer, stairs, fireplace, pantry-kitchen with the rest of the cleaning I did in an apartment.... and somewhere I am still pleased that I do all this although it tires me out. I guess its always a bitter-sweet story owing a home.

I am still baking cakes for family and friends and this avocation is awesome as it pays along with satiating my creativity. But the dough quickly disappears buying something pretty for my home :). Recently, I made the below princess cake for my friend's daughter. So at the end of the day all is good with my weight in check after all the running I do behind Amo. Although, I think it is time to start looking for yoga centers and begin my soul mender: crotchet.

Hummus and similar spreads have been my best friends for these few busy week and this one below is a keeper!!! Spread in on pita, bread or bun....its all fun!!!!

with some deep fried pita

Ingredients:-
1 can of garbanzo beans
1 large (or equivalent to 4 oz) of red pepper
1-2 pods of garlic
1 tsp of cumin seeds
2 tbsps of tahini
2 tbsps  of olive oil
1 tsp of cayenne (as per taste)
2 tsp of lime juice
1 tsp of chopped parsley
salt to taste

Method:-
Roast the pepper on a gas burner/ oven by rotating its sides every 5 mins until the skin gets charred.
The most easy way to peal the charred skin is to put the pepper in a bowl and covering the bowl with a cling wrap. This settles the hot vapor into moisture on the skin making it easy to peel. Wait for at
least 20 mins to remove the cling wrap. Peel and keep aside.

In a food processor add the beans, tahini, salt, cumin, garlic, roasted red pepper and olive oil.
Once the mixture is smooth like a paste add lime juice, parsley and cayenne for garnishing.

Kabuli Pulaw and Badenjan (Baingan) Boorani

 B.Boorani on top of Kabuli Pulaw

I love afghan food for its variety of vegetarian options. The first time I came across  Badenjan Boorani and Kabuli Pulaw was while reading Khaled Hosseini's "A thousand splendid suns". It is  a beautiful story every women should read. Read to remind each other that we are sisters. It is a story of how Mariam and Laila are bound to one another by a hateful relationship- wives of the same man. But during their journey become sisters and a family. They are not bound anymore by a man but by love and friendship. It is written in a time where women made boorani for her husband and his friends to eat and would disappear until they have eaten and gone. It is when her husband put pebbles into her mouth and forced her to chew (breaking her teeth) telling her how the pulaw tasted. It is a time where the other wife saved some halva and tea for each other to have in silence.

Kabuli Pulaw

Said that, I went to this restaurant where I tasted these two dishes. The restaurant's service was tad bit slow, decor was gloomy but the food was awesome. The felafels are surely the best in the capital region. I recreated badenjan boorani (BB) and kabuli pulaw today and avi couldn't just stop eating!!! Thank to Madhur Jaffery for the BB recipe :). I made the eggplant crispier and non soggy (oily) here. Instead of deep frying them directly, I lightly coated them with cornstarch and spiced. This worked wonders with the dish.

Kabuli Pulaw:-

2 cups of basmati rice
1 medium sized onion sliced
2 carrots julienned
5-6 black raisins (i used brown ones)
1 tbsn brown sugar
 2 tbl sns of butter  salt to taste

Method:-

Melt 1 tbsp of butter and fry the onions till pink.
Add the sugar and fry it for a min. (do not let it burn)
Add the washed rice and salt. Mix well.
Add 2.5 cups of water and let it boil covered.
Cover and reduce to low when the water has 90 % evaporated.
Cook until the rice is cooked and not sticky.
Melt the other 1 tbspn of butter in a pan. Saute the carrots and raisins.
Garnish on the rice and serve hot.

  Badenjan Boorani

Badenjan Boorani:-
Adapted and tweaked from Madhur Jaffery's World Vegetarian.

Ingredients:-
1 eggplant sliced in rounds
oil to deep fry (you can shallow fry as well)
1 tbspn corn starch
salt to taste
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of cumin powder

Tomato sauce:-
2 medium sized tomatoes
1/2 of an onion chopped  finely
2 garlic pod
1 tsp pepper
pinch of paprika
pinch of sugar
3 tsp of oil
salt to taste

Yogurt sauce:-
Thick yogurt whisked 1/2 a cup
mint leaved chopped finely
salt to taste

Method:-
Add the mint leaves and salt to the yogurt and keep aside.

Sauce:-
Heat oil in pan. Add the onions and garlic. Fry well.
Add the chopped tomato with all the other ingredients.
Cook well until the tomatoes are mushed and in a chutney (Thick sauce/ dip) consistency. The oil should have separated.  Cool.

Eggplant:- (Do this just before serving)
Mix corn starch, salt, cumin power and coriander powder.
Coat each of the sliced eggplants to this powder and deep fry until cooked and crisp.
Take out excess oil with a kitchen tissue.

Putting it together:-
In each fried eggplant slice, smear the tomato sauce generously and add a dollop of minty yogurt.
Serve immediately.

Here is my mum's grilled baingan ki boorani. It is a whole lot different story here. :)

Momos @ Druk, Phuntcholing

My very first encounter with momos were when I went to Phuncholing, Bhutan one lazy Sunday. My dad was posted in Hashimara, Assam (which borders Phuncholing) and our only escape to civilization was Phuncholing. One could taste awesome Bhutanese-Tibetan cuisine, go shopping for fancy fashion and cheap electronics. We air force base kids looked forward for this trip at the end of school week.

One day, with the help of my dad's colleague's friend, we went to the restaurant run by Druk company of Bhutan ( famous for making condiments). We ordered momos for starters and when they arrived they looked totally unappetizing for me. My mom being herself just put one into my mouth and said, "atleast taste it"! It took me a while to notice what was going on with a steaming hot dumpling stuffed in my mouth. At the end of it, I just loved it!!! I loved the stuffed vegetables, the soft flour shell and of course, the hot garlic-chili sauce. Momos being a soulful homely Tibetan food was like gourmet food for me. I was just used my grandma's south Indian, mom's north Indian and restaurant's Indian street food. Nevertheless, I must have gone to Phuncholing at least a dozen times more just to have Druk's Momos.

 Thanks to all our friends who came along with us and make the trip so awesome- Narendrans, Vijayans (who can forget bittoo asking for oonu+upperi after a lot of Druk's food) and Thakkurs (thanks to munna uncle for driving us in his Maruti Gypsy)!!!

I finally decided to re-live those days by making momos for my family. I am sure all these people above reminisce the times we had when they hear momos. I made momos last Sunday afternoon and surprised Amo and Avi. For those who have never tried making these before, don't worry, it is not that complicated as it looks to be. Just takes time as you need to rest the dough for at least 20 mins. Totally worth the wait time to make it. Absolutely healthy and yummmmm.

This entry goes to the pressure-cooking event over at Desi Soccer Mom. I steamed Momos in my Indian pressure cooker and it didn't blow up in my face!!!

One doesn't need bamboo momo steamers to make momos. All you need are idli plates and steam them for 12-13 mins in your normal pressure cookers. (Don't forget to take the whistle/seeti out while steaming). 

Tips to have a safe cooker experience:- (For ma)
1. Do not get distracted when the cooker is on the stove. No phone calls or TV.- Mom this for you.
2. Change the gasket  every 6-12 months  and safety valve in 12-24 months.
3. Clean after use and store in a dry place.
4. Do not open until the pressure has subsided- why do you have to hurry up ma??...just wait for 10 mins.

My prestige cooker and the idli plate freshly used and cleaned.

 

So here are the recipes
- Momos
- Garlic-chili sauce

Eggs purgatory

Life is sometimes crunchy and other times smooth. It can be tangy exciting but otherwise it is sweetly cozy. It can teach you lessons stiffly and sometimes just see you enjoying the rain and decides to let you go. Life can hit you with spice just so that you can be better at handling its surprises.  Life is complicated and so am I.

Eggs purgatory is a personification of life for me. It is complex. It is a lovely soulful dish where an egg is simmered in spiced tomato sauce. It has the right punch of spice, a stiff egg white and a runny  yolk....and all the vanity life has to offer has manifested in this one dish. So it egg purgatory dedicated to my wonderful life and how much I love it.

Here is the recipe.  I like my sauce thick so reduced it more than the recipe asked me to. 

Here is where my recipe comes from. Enjoy yourself.I added some broccoli for a little crunch. Try adding cooked black beans...it gives a lovely stew flavor.

Celery Noodles

I know it has been a long time since I wrote a post. A family tragedy left me with less inspiration and creativity. My FIL recently passed away after suffering from Liver cirrhosis. But, I am back now and back with something really healthy and yum.

I love noodles and who doesn't covet the yummy unctuous Chinese dish? This celery noodles is light and yummy. I recently read an article about celery and why it is called the negative calorie vegetable. Looks like the wonder diet mantra is to eat something that takes more calories to digest than the amount we gain when consumed. Celery just does that.

Recipe:-

I tad bit tweaked the recipe. I added some green chillies for lil heat, sun dried tomatoes for some tang and dry roasted peanuts for some crunch. I sauteed all of these in olive oil before I added the celery strips.  While in the plate, I dressed the noodles with some drizzle of light salad dressing. 

Click here for the awesome recipe from NY times.

Nei Appam...Yumm!!!!

 Avi loves this and I had to learn this from my MIL. We made this together for janmashtami this year ( I know I am almost a month late posting this post) and we loved it. I usually make makkhan-misri (Sugar sweetened butter) for janmashtami and this year it was great to pair nei appam with makkan-misri (MM- too looong to type every time).

My MIL has quick tips ans shortcuts to make life easier in the kitchen and yet turn the food into something salivating.  I can't wait to make this on my own again. May be next year even Amo can have some. This year all he could have is MM and didn't he love his prasad.

           Makkhan-Misri with Nei Appam                   

The caramel-golden brown hued sweet just melts in one's mouth. I should be spongy and soft to eat laden with ghee/ clarified butter. You may use 50% ghee -50% sesame oil as well. The later is a healthier option. You may increase the sponginess by adding half of a large banana. But by adding banana you also reduce the shelf life considerably.  Usually nei appam last for 2 weeks with no refrigeration, but with banana added to the recipe, they last not more than a week.

Recipe:-
1 1/4 cup of powered jaggery
2/3 cup of small pieces of coconut
1 1/4 cup of rice flour
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of ghee (or 50 % use sesame oil)
Half banana mashed up (optional)
Little tamarind needed to avoid the ghee to fuzz up initially before making appam.

Method:-
Boil the water with jaggery until it melts completely without lumps.
Strain the liquid and keep it in the flame again. Keep flame in medium high.
Add coconut pieces and keep on stirring until it becomes thick.
Add the rice flour and mix well. take it off the heat. The mixture will be lumpy.
Let it cool (until the next day). Add water little by little and make the mixture into a paste with no lumps.
Add the banana at the stage if needed ( I didnt this time)
Keep the appam chetti in flame (medium) with all the holes filled with ghee/ghee-oil mixture.
Add some tamarind in all the holes and let the ghee get hot. This somehow doesn't let the ghee fuzz up and over flow. Remove the tamarind from all holes.
Add the paste in all the holes and cook on both the sides until golden brown.

Making misri is no big deal. This is Lord krishna's all time fav prasad and a must make for us. I usually cannot finish the misri all in one go. I refrigerate the rest and use it in my cooking (like adding a spoon in pulav before serving makes the rice yummy).

Makkhan- Misri Recipe:-

Ingredients:-
1/2 cup of butter at room temperature.
2 tble spns of mixed nuts chopped up
2-3 tsp of sugar/misri to sweet the butter.
Pinch of saffron
Pinch of salt

Method:-
Mix all together and serve at room temperature.

This year I made some semiya payasam, nei appam, makkhan-misri and some namak pare to welcome kutty (baby) krishna.

Gooseberry Pickle / Nellikkai Oorkai

The best thing ever taught by my mother in law is her goose berry pickle. I love it and cant wait to have my curd rice to dig into some. For us south Indians, pickles are a must accomplice with curd rice at the end of the meal. Until now I have always been unenthusiastic about making pickles and preserves thinking they take a very long time and are a mess to make. I hate toiling in the kitchen with my 11 month old standing with the support of my pants. I am always wary when one day he will end up pulling my pants down!

This recipe takes not more than 15-20 mins to make and tastes lovely!!!! Thanks again to my MIL for sharing this and hoping the person (FIL) who loves this pickle recovers soon. It is time for them to leave! OMG! Time just flew this time.

With Curd Rice/ Thayir Saadam

Ingredients:-
1 frozen pack of gooseberries/ 1 1/4 cup of quartered boiled and soften gooseberries
3/4-1 cup of Sesame oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp of turmeric powder
6-7 tsp of kashmiri red chilli powder
1.5 tsp of fenugreek powder
6-7 tsp of salt (according to taste)
2-3 tbsp of sugar

Method:-
Heat the oil with mustard seeds and wait until they pop.
Keep the flame at medium high (7 out of 10)
Add the turmeric powder, red chili powder and fenugreek powder. Mix well.
Add gooseberries, salt and sugar.
Mix for 2-3 mins and switch off.
Wait for it to cool completely and store in a dry, clean bottle.
Use a dry spoon to take out the pickle every time.
Store out if you are planning to finish this off in a month or else store in refrigerator.