Mixed Vegetable Curry

One of the most redeeming lessons being a graduate student and being in America has been about money. 2 years ago, I didn't have a job and the feminist in me became stingier (I've always been stingy) by the day before I asked A for money. Being a graduate student and paying through my nose without a loan has brought out the stereotypical inner South Indian in me (My rather bindaas about money and generous parents will be horrified) and I think 100 times before doing anything. And the tree hugger in me, of course, wants to buy only food that is 'good' for the body and the world. Unfortunately, these two factors clash in my life right now and I'm forced to be stingy all over again. To this dilemma, let's add a no sugar, most of the times no polished carbohydrates diet and watch the fun unfold.

It has truly been fun - this past year. Customizing food, cooking quick-fix meal, making cakes with honey and applesauce, eating mostly vegetables, eggs, beans (God bless them!), Dals or lentils, fruits at almost every meal has made me way fitter and way more determined to stick to my diet. I tweeted a couple of days ago how my comfort food has moved from Dal-Chawal or Curd rice with pickle to a quick roasted vegetables or quinoa with dal or veggies on top. I do indulge once in a while. Wednesdays are bad days for me. I come home at 9 PM after a rather exhausting day. It's no fun in the cold at least. And I don't take to hunger that well. Earlier, during such times, I'd come home to eat a tortilla while I was cooking or make rice and gobble it up with some curd. Nothing more comforting for a Tamilian :) Nowadays, thanks to my diet, I'm way more creative. I end up using canned beans or frozen veggies on Wednesdays and quickly make myself a meal. Last Wednesday, I made this curry. It was really quick and absolutely lickable, dare I say so myself. This doesn't even require a recipe considering this blog's followers, but this is for all those Twitter friends of mine who tweet every night about food :)

Ingredients

2 small Potatoes - sliced lengthwise

1 carrot - peeled and cut lengthwise

1/2 an onion

1 Jalapeno/Green Chilli, chopped

Any other random vegetable - I didn't have anything else!

1 tsp Kalonji (Substitute with Jeera/Cumin seeds)

2-3 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper (Chilli powder)

1 tsp turmeric (I didn't use it because I didn't have any!)

2-3 tbsp water

1-1.5 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

1. Heat oil, add the Kalonji or Jeera. Let it splutter. Add the onions and jalapeno or green chillies

2. Let it cook for 2-3 mins, add the potatoes, sprinkle some water and close and let cook for 7-10mins. Thinner the slices of the potato, the better it is.

3. Add carrots to this mixture and the rest of the spices, some more water IF the mixture is dry and let it close to let it cook.

4. Once they are partially cooked, take the lid off and let it cook for a good 5-7 mins. Stir if you think it's getting burned.

Voila! It's done. The spice level may be high for some people. I love spicy, hot food and so, the cayenne pepper, the Garam Masala and the chilli. You can adjust it accord to your preference. The quantity should be enough for one really hungry person or two people who behave decently when there is food around!

I didn't pay much attention to this curry. I throw one ingredient, wash the vessels lying in the sink or clean up. On this day, I made rotis along with the curry and that kept me occupied. One can think of a 101 vegetables to add to this mixture. Adding cabbage or beans, peas or bell peppers could work brilliantly. Or, even peanuts for the crunch factor. If you are the type to use the Microwave which I admit I have become, you can zap the potato or carrots in the microwave for a quick 3-4 mins before adding to the onions on gas. You can add some coconut milk to make this a gravy or some tomato sauce. I ate a satisfying meal that night - yogurt sprinkled with some Garam Masala (friend's care package again!) and rotis and this curry. The pictures certainly may not scream, 'make me now.' But then, this blog hasn't been about that at all. So, this is all I can manage in the kitchen I have with yellow lights with a camera whose battery is dying as I click and a grumbling stomach at 9.30 PM on a weeknight :)

Sometimes, I'm so exhausted, just the thought of cooking when I have assignments and deadlines to catch up with tires me. Like this time, I didn't think I was going to make rotis. I thought I'd stuff my tortillas (I always have a pack of Whole Wheat tortillas in my fridge and readymade Rotis just in case) and top it with some cheese or an egg and make a meal out of it. But when I started working on the vegetables, new energy took over and I cleaned the kitchen, made rotis and washed vessels - all by the time this sabzi was ready to eat. Cooking meals like this everyday in order to keep to my resolution of not buying food to eat has made me feel more productive and I feel better at the end of every week. Twitter friends help me a lot in this regard. Every night, someone posts about the #dinner they're eating or they want to eat. And I end up thinking how I can't skip a meal or how I can't eat crap. I feel responsible. I feel responsible as a food blogger who is aware of the positive effects of food and cooking, as a person who believes earnestly that good food makes me and this world better. Then, I cook for myself. It isn't as bad. It is emotionally tough sometimes, but it is liberating most of the time.

Try cooking yourself a meal today. It doesn't have to be as fancy as we food bloggers make it out to be sometimes. It doesn't have to involve a lot of money or eating out. It could be something as soul satisfying as a bowl of dal or a curry made in 15 mins in a pressure cooker. If I can do it, you can do it. There's no one lazier than me and I've been spoiled all my life with adoring grandmothers, fantastic room-mates who didn't let me enter the kitchen, a mother who got interested in cooking for our sake, a food and cooking crazy husband and a chef of a mother-in- law.

Cook something. Eat well. You will help yourself and without knowing, this world that we live in.

Alu Bhindi and Manisha ni Kadhi!

First of all, I'm really sorry I haven't come around peeking into your fantastic blogs. Things have been hectic at my end. My sis is visiting me and each day is crazier than the one before, I have tons of guests for the holiday weekend, college apps that are just lying around, waiting to be finished, laundry to be done and dishes to be thrown into the dishwasher. Anyway, A and I are having a blast with my sis because we finally found a person who has come to our place JUST to eat. And that's all she does. I make a lot of fun about that, but I'm glad that she eats every 20 mins :) Helps me exercise my cooking skills and get through my bookmarks. Coming to bookmarks, our old computer crashed and with that, went the bookmarks as well. Sigh! I can always come up with a story and an excuse :D

Last night, we had some of my sister's friends over and a friend of mine stayed over for the night since she was leaving for home from Atlanta. It was a blast with some sinfully rich Biryani and Salan and Gulab Jamoons. I realized yesterday how demanding I was, as a teenager. I moved out to Hyderabad to study and every time I came home, I'd ask my mom to make me and my hostel mates (all 30 of them) GJs (they seem so cooler this way!) So, magically, the day I was leaving, there'd be 2 huge Horlicks bottles full of GJs. I never asked her when she made them, how she made them and why she never said no. Yesterday, while making GJs with my sis, I blew my fuse more than once and almost gave up at every step. The amount of sugar and oil that goes into this delicacy has blown off all the work in the gym for the last 2 months. But it wasn't all bad (though my GJs kinda sucked!) We had a blast with the food, friends, games and talking. I remembered this was exactly how it was back in college. Everyone brought food from home, talk about boys, girls, hot professors and eat through the night. No one worried about how eating Namkeen at 3 AM was probably the worst thing to do to your waistline. Or, how we finished 2 big bottles of GJs in 2 days flat. That reminded me of this draft lying around, begging me to post it :)

Apart from Biryani and Salan which are a Hyderabadi staple, Alu Bhindi holds fond memories of many a night in the Hostel Mess/Dining Hall. We were served Biryani every weekend, while Alu Bhindi made its apperance once a week for dinner. Our Mess wasn't the best. We had political and other issues to battle with, apart from some really bad food. But I'm sure all my batch mates would agree that nothing, not even our mothers' Alu Bhindi could meet our expectations. Our Hostel Mess Cook made the BEST Alu Bhindi ever. Hot, crunchy, greasy and served in a smaller quantity than other sabzis(curries), this was a favorite. We went early during the dinner hour, just so the Alu Bhindi doesn't get over! I don't make it often. A and I eat Indian food once or twice a week and it does not necessarily have Alu/Potato. (Its squash once a week in some sorta cuisine. eww. Just saying.) However, the first time I made this, I cried. Not because it was good. It cannot be. But because of the number of times I served this to others (I was a Mess Secretary!) and prayed to God that there should be some left for me. This, apparently, is the Andhra version of a North Indian sabzi. It contained peanuts. Atleast, that is what our Malayalee cook told me. Here is the recipe, with approximate measurements.

Ingredients

1-1.5 lb Ladies Finger/Okra/Bhindi

A couple of potatoes ( I added more, since I had less Okra)

Half an onion, sliced/chopped

A handul of roasted peanuts - chopped or whole

Cayenne Pepper - lots :D

Salt

4-5 tbsp Oil

1. Chop the potato into cubes/slices and slit the Okra lengthwise and each one into half. Meaning, I cut it criss-cross ( it looks pretty, fries better!) and each long Okra is cut into two pieces and then slit lengthwise into two pieces.

2. Semi-cook the potatoes in the Microwave oven. I'm not giving the time here because it is different. It should be fork tender, but not falling apart. It should hold its own.

2. Heat 2-3 tbsp of oil, add jeera and after it splutters, throw in the onion. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the Okra. Leave it for a good 2-3 mins. Then, stir and make sure the other side is touching the hot pan. I usually make this in a really hot cast iron pan and it is pretty quick. Add salt.

3. Strain the potatoes of all water and throw it in with the okra. Make sure there is space for every single piece of vegetable in the pan. Add about 1 tbsp oil over the potatoes and season with salt and cayenne pepper.

4. When this is almost done, add in the roasted peanuts, stir every 2-3 mins. Make sure you don't keep stirring them. Otherwise, they won't get brown and crisp. Let it be for some time.

5. Ta-da! This tastes great with Rotis or Yogurt/Curd Rice or just like that ;) If I don't finish it off the pan, then maybe A would realize that too!

Every time I make this particular curry, I make something else. Dal, another sabzi or have pickle ready. Because, sometimes, I just eat it off the pan waiting for A to come home for dinner. Its that good. And greasy. And greasy is always good. At our Hostel Mess, they deep-fried the Okra. But since I can't get myself to do that, I shall stick to sauteeing. This time around, I made Manisha's Gujarati Kadhi (2 different links here!). I've made this several times now and love it. I'm not a huge fan of sweetened curries for entrees or even sweetened yogurt based sweets (err.. ya!) The story moved me. Even before I food-blogged, I read this recipe on Anita's blog. Okay, I read the story. I didn't care about the recipe. This was when I worked and ate Dal-Chaawal everyday for dinner! I got to reading somehow about an April Fools' Joke and followed it around to Anita and Manisha's blogs. My faves since then. I never commented or anything of that sort, until I met Manisha on Twitter. Needless to say, I'm super active on FB and Twitter. Anyway, Manisha was telling someone about this Kadhi (on Anita's blog, where she'd posted it, instead of Anita) Long story. And I'm too impatient to type right now. Ever since I got married to this guy who studied in Gujarat and lived there and loved Gujju food, I've been looking for this recipe. On Manisha's blog. This, she calls it Vimlaben ni Kadhi. Or hot yogurt soup (not :D) I searched for Auntyji ki Kadhi and what not, but never found it. All because it was on Anita's blog. (yes, you can kill me for this later)

FINALLY, I found that piece of information through Twitter and I made this lovingly for A when he fell sick. Since he loved it, I made it again with Alu Bhindi and it was just perfect. The recipe is so perfect that even a klutzy cook like me can make errors with this, and still be successful with this :D Thanks Manisha. And Anita, of course ;)

Okay, I should stop no? Or, should I? I should. Okay, ta ta bye. Thank you.

P.S.- Since I always have to add something after I say bye - how the hell does one use Flickr? it blogs every time I add a pic? And no, don't tell me copy paste the code until you send me the code every time I post. Maybe, that is an incentive to post everyday. ya? Okay, apart from saying this is a great recipe ;), make sure to leave tips about Flickr ok? Ok.

BBQ Bulgur

I haven't really been on this space for sometime now. However, I'm still active on the food blog scene though I haven't commented on any of your posts, even those that I loved. I've surely bookmarked them for the umpteenth time hoping to make them soon :) I was wondering why I hardly seem to blog nowadays, and why I hardly seem to want to go around commenting. I realized its tiring. A's stopped doing it. He's tired of the 'you comment- only then I comment back' world of food blogging. And frankly, so am I. We didn't start this blog to receive comments. A cooks rather well, he is an inventive cook, while I play the supportive role. I cook fairly well, support him by eating his food by not being overly worried about what I put into my mouth which will affect my waist (I know I should be :P) Anyway, we cook fun stuff almost everyday because of his never ending enthusiasm and imagination. Sometimes, we're just too tired to take pictures, post them, write a post around it... not because we don't want to do it, but because thankfully, we stopped where we started - to cook for the blog alone. And not for ourselves. I keep in touch with several food bloggers through Facebook or Twitter and its way easier to hold a sane conversation there than just comment on the blogs. Also, its not a question of gratitude, its a question of keeping up with the number of food blogs.

This is again not just the reason why I haven't come down to your blogs. I respect the effort you guys put in and by first hand experience know what it is like. I admire some of you for having full-time jobs, kids, other issues and still garner the energy to blog about what you're passionate about: food. I was weary of the blogs, the food, the comments. Especially the false ones. We are not really old in the blogosphere, but that doesn't make us new either. I've noticed that there is a mad rush to comment on every post of every blogger's and discover more and more blogs just to make sure they come back to yours. There is a mad rush to say: 'nice recipe' or 'great click' for everything. See, one could see these as encouraging comments, but at the same time, I personally find it way more encouraging when I understand why you think this is a nice recipe and how I can improve the picture (especially when its not the best). Oh yes, I've been guilty of doing the same and that is why this post comes so late. Sometimes, I don't know what to say about some recipes. I'm not and will not expect everyone to post only stuff that I've never done before or tried before or stuff with exotic ingredients. But I'd like the comments I receive on my site to be genuine, to be respectful of my efforts and help me do better. Tell me why you think this is a great recipe. Tell me how my pics can improve. I'm someone who believes food should remain looking like food and not as a painting. And some of us achieve that balance between homeliness and great photography not bordering on artificiality. I'm still striving for the same and only ask for support and not blind admiration for nothing. I will not promise to find every recipe of yours great and every picture of yours brilliant, but I promise to keep an eye out for you, admire your effort and remember that at the end of the day, our blogs are just a chronicle of our memories with food, our passion and most importantly something we chose to do out of love and not for competition.

After losing several regular readers after that longish first part of the post, let me resume with the recipe for those that are still hanging on to say: great recipe ;) hopefully! A's fallen in love with bulgur. Literally. He wants to eat it everyday now. For lunch and dinner. (Thank God, he's not a breakfast person) I used to love bulgur, but thanks to A, I've become jaded with the idea of bulgur and couscous. Either way, this is a recipe we tried long back and loved it. This is one of the very few ways I enjoy zucchini. Zucchini type of veggies are not my faves. They are very much A's faves. I have no idea how I married this guy. To come back to the recipe:

Ingredients

Zucchini - 1 medium sized - cut into discs
Potato - 1 medium - cut into chunks

For the barbeque rub

2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp cayenne pepper/red chilli powder
1 tsp vinegar. We used Rice vinegar
1 tsp Olive oil

Bulgur - 1 cup soaked in hot water (I have no measurement, really. Make sure to cover the bulgur though) - season with salt, lemon juice and olive oil while soaking in water itself.
2 tsp Vegetable oil
1 tsp red chilli powder or cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried herbs.

1 Jalapeno/green chilli, diced

1. Mix all the ingredients for the rub and rub on both sides of the zucchini and let it sit for 15 mins.

2. In a skillet, add vegetable oil and let it get hot. The pan should be searing hot. Then arrange the marinated zucchini slices on the pan ( we used a cast iron pan) and let it get brown on both sides.

3. In the meantime, microwave the potato chunks with little water until they are fork tender. Drain the potatoes and keep aside.

4. Once zucchini is done, remove them and keep aside. Add the potatoes to the same skillet, add salt and let them roast until tender. They shouldn't be falling apart.

Note: The zucchini lets out water while marinating. Don't throw this away. Use that water while charring the potatoes. Adds a wonderful flavour.

5. Heat a tsp of oil, add the jalapenos/green chillies. Saute the bulgur (which by now should have absorbed all the water) with some red chilli powder and any herb you like in the same pan. We used dried oregano. Serve warm with the charred veggies!

Simple ain't it? Since I'm not a huge zucchini fan, I added a couple of more potatoes for myself, but after I tasted the zucchini, I'm a convert now and have tried several zucchini recipes on my own now! Frankly, I'm always skeptical of A's experiments and this time around, thanks to his bulgur obsession, I didn't want no part of it. Yet again, I was proved wrong and I regretted adding more potatoes to the veggie mixture!

Do try this. Its really simple and the flavours shine through. I don't really have a sophisticated palate like some, so flavours are categorized into: I love this, I like this, I can manage to eat this and I hate it. This fell into the 'I love this' category. For once, I could identify what went into the barbeque like rub than just gorging on the food.

P.S. - I don't know if I've made myself clear with this post. Again, the intention is to make a lot of things clear in my own big head. And to reiterate to myself why I blog in this space and why I need to continue to push through with my opinions without worrying about the number of followers I lose or gain or the number of people who will stop visiting me. Thanks for listening. Really.

Low fat Crepes...Bon Appetit!

The mention of crepes makes me drool. I think of all the cream, all the butter, IHOP and other such gooey images creep into my head. Creeping crepes? :D Sorry, I couldn't resist that alliterative joke. However bad it was. So, ya, getting back to crepes. A and I love crepes. Every time I order a crepe at a restaurant, I usually tell myself that I'm more of a savory crepe person and I cannot handle all the cream and the syrupy sweet crepes. But then, once I eat the savory crepes and start people-watching and gossiping about random people in the restaurant, I realize everyone else has a sweet crepe and that I need dessert to round off the meal. So, I end up ordering a sweet crepe. Now, you know why I have to be on a diet? Sigh.

Now, obviously, you didn't come here to read about my fascination with dessert and about how I plot to make sure I get the best of both crepes. We had crepes for dinner today. We made crepes because we wanted to send it along to A.W.E.D - France event. Ya, we are like that :P

While I sulked that we didn't have berries, so there couldn't be crepes, A, the patient, the calm and the experimental one between the both of us tried a savory crepe. He made a simple potato-mushroom curry or stuffing while I continued to figure out a plot in my head to have a sweet crepe. This is how he claims he rustled up the absolutely amazing crepes and the stuffing! We topped it with some barbeque sauce and it was heaven, indeed.

Ingredients

For the Crepes

2 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 tbsp butter (melted)
a pinch of salt

For the filling

2 medium potatoes, diced.
1/2 cup chopped french beans
8 oz mushrooms (we used canned)
1/4 cup finely chopped onions
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground thyme
1/2 tsp ground sage
red chili flakes and salt to taste

First, let's make the crepe batter since it has to 'sit' for half hour. Mix all the ingredients well in a blender. Pour it in a bowl and let sit in the refrigerator for 30 mins.

1. Heat one tbsp oil in a skillet. Add the potatoes and stir well to coat with oil. Add the onions and the mushrooms.

2. Add the remaining tbsp of oil. Stir until the onions are translucent. Then add the beans.

3. Add the spices. Cook on medium heat until potatoes are tender but they shouldn't fall apart.

4. To make the crepes, heat a non-stick skillet. When hot, pour some batter and spread it by turning the skillet to make a nice circle. Cook for about a minute, flip it and cook for another minute.

5. To assemble, put the filling on one end of the crepe and roll it. You can top it with sauce or sprinkle some other spice on top of it. Or even rub some butter to make it glisten. We didn't. Didn't I say low-fat at the top? Easy-peasy, filling and may I say, a very French meal was had ;)

But of course, I ended the meal with some leftover Rasmalai and some chocolate cookies. What did ya think? I'd not eat dessert? But then, some sweet crepes'd have been perfect no?

*stops writing, wanders into kitchen thinking fruit instead of sweet crepe*

*After 5 minutes, comes out with a plate :D *

Just before hitting 'publish,' this is what I turned up with ;)

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 :)