No Oven Enchiladas.

Things have been very hectic lately and we've not been able to post anything for a week now. This certainly hasn't meant there hasn't been any cooking in our kitchen. Its amazing how the stuff we are too tired to take a picture of, or forget to write down the measurements/recipe for is tastier than the ones we post! We've also not replied to comments on the Pesto Pizza and the Coconut Soup post. Please bear with us while we get our mojo back.

Anyway, these Enchiladas were something A tried out when I was on one of my numerous diets. Ya, its become like that though it is not really! I just like to detox for a week once a month. And that is the week A cooks the most and the tastiest of experiments happen then :| I made him cook these again for me and trust me, I cursed myself for not having eaten it the first time. I love my Mexican food thanks to the bite in them. Nothing, I believe, beats jalapenos. Maybe Green Chillies :P

The recipe is simple and makes for a great weeknight meal. And super nutritious and very filling too. And hey, you don't have to bake these. On the stove-top, done in about 10 mins, just about the perfect meal when you are tired but want some hot, spicy, comfort, gooey, tangy, indulgent food! Trust me on this. Here is what you all hopefully came for ;) - the recipe.

Ingredients

2 big tortillas - You can use flour, corn or whole wheat
16 oz can of black beans - 1 no.
1/3 cup canned navy beans
1/3 cup canned Great Northern beans
1/4 cup low fat or fat free sour cream. We used the fat free one.
1 tsp Ancho chilli powder
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 tbsp Vegetable oil/Canola oil

Salt to taste

For the sauce:

1.5 cans Tomato sauce
2 tbsp Canola/Vegetable oil
1 tsp smoked Chipotle Chilli powder
1 Jalapeno, finely diced - NOT deseeded
Salt to taste

Before anything, you may toast the tortillas if you want, though it should not be crisp. We didn't do anything but used it straight from the packet. Didn't I tell you this was a weeknight meal?

1. Heat oil and once ready, fry the onions.

2. Once the onions are cooked, add the beans and the rest of the seasoning and cook for 5-10 mins to let the flavours soak in.

3. Add sour cream, mix and keep aside. Turn the gas off after adding sour cream

For the sauce

1. Heat the oil to high heat. Throw in the jalapenos carefully and let it sizzle. Stir to avoid burning for 2 mins

2. Add tomato sauce, reduce the heat to medium and add all the other spices/seasoning including salt. Cook for 3-4 mins.

3. Further reduce the heat to medium low.

Meanwhile, spread the tortilla on the kitchen counter. Stuff the tortilla with the bean mixture cooked previously. Place this mixture in the middle and fold the tortilla lengthwise from both sides and make sure one end is sealed by folding, much like the burrito wraps. When you are done stuffing the tortillas, place them in the simmering sauce- seam side down. Make sure to take some sauce from the sides and slather the top too. You don't have to turn the tortillas. In fact, don't. ( I'm sorry we couldn't take step-by-step pics. I know they'd have helped. We were busy counting the minutes to eat this!)

Top the tortillas with cheddar cheese/mozzarella cheese and close the pan. Cook in low heat until cheese melts. Ta- da! Your dinner is ready!

Let me tell you this. The dish is messy. Just like the pics show. We tried hard not to mess with it, but hey, it wasn't as fun when we tried to make it look good. So, we decided to get our hands, chins and clothes dirty (in my case!) and get down to licking the pan clean. Err.. ya, the sauce was that good! The jalapenos add such a bite to the sauce that it is lovely when your tongue burns and biting into the tortilla stuffed with beans gives you a new high. I'm hooked to this dish and totally making this my Mexican dish for the week ;) This, paired with a cool avocado salad is a treat!

And that sauce, make sure to add it to other stuff. I've tried dipping bread in it and its just what you need after a no-carb diet :) We've tried various beans with this, but black beans or a mixture of beans wins hands down!

If you think of variations with this one, do let us know. I'd love, love to try them.

The AnBurgers...for those who cant have Angus!

I love burgers and fries, but most of the stuff available is non vegetarian and very obviously doesn't fit my lifestyle. However, I realize that even if I was a non vegetarian, I wouldn't have touched the burgers served here with a barge-pole. I saw the movie SuperSize Me. I've wanted to watch this movie for ages now and finally got to watch it. I almost fasted that day. That movie scared me. I knew all the facts stated in the movie, but to watch it happen to this guy scared the living daylights out of me. I also remembered the book Fast Food Nation I'd read a couple of years ago. Then, I wondered if I could EVER eat a burger and be happy about it. And when I shared my fears to A, he, as usual, being the the one who thinks and come up with action plans decided to make a dinner out of this fear that night. We didn't have burger buns and didn't have the time at 7 PM to bake them either. So, A created these two types of patties - beans and Tofu-veggie and we had a burger w/fries dinner that night. One of the best dinners we've had and one of the best times together cooking in the kitchen :)

Here is the recipe for you guys!

Advisory: The burgers that you're about to witness are very healthy and do not contain any potatoes ;)

Ingredients (makes about four 4" burgers):

For the AnTofu burger (that's right...the first two alphabets are a shameless way of copying McDonalds and taking credit for it :D)

1/2 lb firm tofu
1/2 cup bread crumbs*
salt and red chili powder to taste
1/2 tsp crushed, dried oregano
1 tsp Kraft BBQ sauce
1 jalapeno, finely chopped (you can remove the seeds if you want)
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 cup corn cobs (thawed and drained if frozen. If using fresh corn, boil it in water and remove the cobs and drain them)
1 tsp olive oil

* the use of bread crumbs depends on how well you drain the water from the tofu so adjust accordingly. It is not necessary to drain all the water from the tofu. the idea is to have enough moisture to hold the burgers while cooking them.

For the AnBean proteinaceous Pattie (yup, we did it again!) (makes about six-seven 3" patties)

1/2 cup chick peas
1/2 cup navy beans
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup Great Northern beans
1/4 cup coarse corn grits
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp olive oil

1. For the AnTofu burger, wrap the tofu with a tea towel and place a 3 lb (or similar) weight and let it drain for 15-20 mins.

2. When done, crumble the tofu in a bowl and mix everything else.

3. Make large balls and flatten them to 1/4-1/3" thickness. Try to pack as much stuff as you can to make a nice dense ball. This will hold the burgers while cooking them. I guess one could try using a burger press, but we cant guarantee if it'll work ;)

4. In a flat bottomed pan, bring some oil to heat and cook the burgers on each side for about 7-8 mins on medium heat. Try one burger to see if it 'holds up'. If not, add some more bread crumbs and try it again. We had to do this once as our first burger fell apart a little bit. Once the burger doesn't disintegrate, you could make 3-4 at a time.

5. Take 'em out and place on a plate lined with paper towel to drain any excess oil.

6. For the AnBean patties, mix all the beans in a bowl by tossing them with your hands. take 1/4 of this mixture and pulse them 2-3 times in a food processor or a blender. Remove the resulting thick mass.

7. Mix this with the remaining beans and everything else.

8. Form balls (as big as you want) and flatten them to 1/4-1/3" thickness. cook them just like the AnTofu burgers.

9. Serve with accompaniments like pickled cucumbers, mustard, ketchup and fries. We had ours with some baked sweet potato fries.

This extremely healthy veggie burger/sandwich what with whole grain bread and all the beans and veggies goes to Srivalli who is hosting this month's Monthly Mingle, an event started by Meeta of WFLH.

These are two vegetarian burgers with totally different tastes. The AnTofu burger has the smoky taste from the BBQ sauce and the AnBean burger has its own distinct taste from all the beans.

Another thing is that these are essentially Vegan burgers. Or at least these can be easily adapted to suit your vegan appetite. neither contain any potatoes ;) As far as the event goes, we don't have any kids yet but we were kids ourselves at one point of time ;) So we KNOW how hard it is to feed them vegetables. These burgers are packed with nutrients. The AnTofu burger is a great source of proteins, vitamins and minerals. The AnBean burger is once again, loaded with proteins and is a good way to feed legumes to kids. And to make them aware of the existence of vegetables that are not called potatoes ;)

If that's not enough, you could ask your kids to make those patties for you...saves you time (or maybe not!) and it keeps them happy. And you could give them a couple of pointers on how to take pics so that they don't have any trouble creating their own food blog :D

Vegan Mexican 'Stuffed' Bread.

First of all, we'd like to acknowledge Jaishree of Ruchi and Trupti of Recipe Center for passing a galore of awards! These include One Lovely Blog, Triple Award, Uber Amazing Blog, Adorable Blog and a Friendship award. Thanks a lot :)

Coming back to the post, well, it was one of those days when N felt like eating some spicy Mexican food and I felt like baking. As N and I walked into the kitchen, our eyes caught a glimpse of a yeast packet staring right at us. So we thought of this really cool dish :) Its like a burrito but instead of a tortilla, the filling is inside a bread...a yeast bread ;) And we had ourselves (yet another!) feast :D


Ingredients

For the Bread

1 packet active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup warm water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp crushed oregano

For the filling

1 1/2 cups cooked red kidney beans
1 cup firm tofu (crumbled with hands)
1 medium onion coarsely chopped
1/2 cup tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp chili powder (we used Ancho and Chipotle chillies)
2 Jalapenos, finely chopped and not deseeded ;)

1. Dissolve the sugar into the warm water. If it gets cold, warm it again. Add the yeast to the water and let it become frothy. This takes about 10 mins.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients for the bread in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Pour the proofed yeast into the well and slowly work the flour into a dough.

3. Add the olive oil and continue kneading till you get a nice non sticky but moist dough. Add more flour if the dough is sticky. Coat it with some olive oil and let it rise until doubled in volume.

4. While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onions. When the onions start to become translucent, add the tomatoes. Add the turmeric, salt, chili powders and cook until tomatoes absorb some oil and start to disintegrate.

5. At this stage, add the remaining ingredients. Cook at medium heat until a nice thick consistency is obtained. The filling should not be runny. This should take about 10 minutes. Make sure that the filling has cooled down before you use it on the bread.

6. After the bread has doubled in volume, push it back and knead it a couple of times. On a floured work-surface, roll the dough into a 8" long X 5" wide rectangle. Apply the filling lengthwise next to one of the edges, leaving 1" margin on all sides. Wrap it like a burrito such that the filling stays in the middle of this 'roll'. Place this roll into a loaf pan and cover it. Let it rise for 20 mins.

7. Bake at 375 F until the bread is done. A skewer should come out without the bread dough. It might come out with a little filling though ;) We also applied some vegetable oil and broiled it for a few seconds to give it a nice golden crust.

Viva Mexico!!! This thing rocked :D I guess its harder to prepare this compared to a burrito, but I guess as far as I am concerned, very few things beat the smell of freshly baked bread :)

UPDATE: Sending this to Vaishali of Holy Cow for the Vegan- Mexican event, and to Susan of YeastSpotting fame. She is behind the immensely popular blog Wild Yeast.

Mixed Vegetable Curry!

N and I love to experiment with food! We try all kinds of cuisines. Also we always seem to have guests for who we are cooking. We generally cook elaborately for our guests. After one such draining week, we craved for simple food and regular desi khana. No other cuisine on the planet offers more regional diversity than Indian cuisine. You travel just a couple of hundred miles from Chennai to Andhra Pradesh and the food is very different! Travel a couple of hundred miles to the west and you enter Karnataka, a whole new culinary world!. You travel a few hundred miles southwest and you enter Kerala. All these 4 states belong to the southern part of india and they all have very different and unique ways of preparing and eating food. I haven't mentioned the other states across India which offer tremendous variety in terms of ingredients and the style of cooking. And I'm not talking subtle variations. There are truly some dramatic variations in Indian cuisine depending on the region.

Coming back to the weekend, I love my South Indian roots, but N and I suddenly had this craving for some good old North Indian Roti-Sabzi. It also helps that with Roti-sabzi, there are fewer dishes to wash :P So, we came up with this on a spur and made it every time since then to entertain guests.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cubed onions
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced beans
2 potatoes, cubed
1 green bell pepper, deseeded and cubed
1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup poppy seeds (khas-khas)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1.5 tsp garam masala (I used MDH brand)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp cumin seeds
Red chilli powder to taste
salt to taste

1. Microwave the cubed potatoes with some water for some time until they are semi-done. By this, I mean the outer part should start to soften. A fork should still not be able to cut through it.

2. Roast the peanuts and poppy seeds, cool them completely and pulse them in a blender or food processor into a semi-coarse powder.

3. Add 2 tbsp oil to a pan on high heat. Add the cumin seeds when the oil is hot. Add the cubed belle peppers first. I love the burn marks on my bell peppers. I think it goes really well with the smoky flavor of bell peppers and imparts additional 'smokiness' to it. Keep stirring to avoid burning.

4. After half the pieces have acquired the burn marks, add the onions, beans and carrots. Reduce the heat to medium-high. When the onions are translucent, bring the heat to medium and add the salt and all the dry spices. Keep stirring to avoid burning the veggies.

5. After 2-3 mins., add the potatoes. Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil. This way, I make sure that my potatoes are roasted but dont overcook and turn mushy.

6. When the potatoes are almost done, add the peanut-poppyseed powder. Mix well and cook for 2 more minutes.

7. Garnish with finely chopped coriander or some more peanut-poppyseed powder and serve hot with rotis

This dish was so simple and easy to make! Also, the nut mixture makes this dish seem rich, but there is hardly any bad calories playing here! Try it for a weeknight meal and let us know how it came out! Of course, you can add some paneer to it to lend more richness, and any other veggies that you like :)