Cauliflower and chickpea curry

Recipe from Good Housekeeping

Made this when ma and pa were here. Came out well. 

1 cauliflower
1 large onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp vegetable oil
salt to taste
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed or soak about a cup of chickpeas overnight and pressure cook the next day
2 handfuls spinach, chopped
2 tbsp mango chutney (I didn't use this)
large handful fresh coriander, finely chopped
almonds, toasted and sliced

Bring a large pan of water to a boil and cook the cauliflower florets for 5 mts or until tender. Drain well and keep aside.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan and gently cook the onion for 10 mts. until softened. Turn up the heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is golden brown. Stir in the garlic, garam masala and cumin. Cook for a further 2 mts, then stir in the coconut milk, 200 ml water, salt, the chickpeas and cauliflower.
Heat until piping hot, then stir through the spinach, mango chutney and most of the coriander. Check the seasoning.
Garnish with remaining coriander and almonds.
Serve with rice, naan or crusty bread.

Corn chowder

1 onion chopped
1 pod garlic chopped
1 or 2 fresh corn on the cob - use a knife to cut corn from the cob
fresh fennel bulbs
1 tsp flour
2 potatoes, cubed
heavy cream, salt, pepper, tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper

heat oil and saute onions. Add fennel and garlic. Toss. Add flour. Toss. Add water slowly while stirring. Add potatoes and cook until just tender. Add corn and heavy cream. Bring to simmer. Add remaining ingredients, mix and turn off heat.

Theeyal

Grate 1/2 coconut
Fry 1 tbsp bengal gram dal, 1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds and 1 red chili.
Fry coconut separately till light brown.
Grind coconut and fried dals.
Add oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add 2 medium sized onions(chopped finely) and fry till soft. Add tamarind water and cook till raw smell goes. Add ground mixture and salt and let it boil for 5 minutes. Serve with hot rice.

Bissi bella bath

Rice 1 cup
toovar dal 1 cup
potato, 1 or 2
few beans
carrot, 1 or 2
cauliflower, a few flowerlets
peas, handful
turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp
tamarind paste, 2 tsp
salt
ghee or butter, 2 tbsp

Roast and powder (using little oil) - coriander seeds, 2tbsp
channa dal, 1 tbsp
red chillies, 2-3
cinnamon, 1 stick
cloves, 2
dry coconut, 4 tbsp

Cook the rice and dal in the cooker. After it is cooked, add vegetables, 4  cups of water, salt and haldi and cover and cook till vegetables are done. Then add the masala powder, tamarind paste and stir well. Cover and cook for few more minutes. Add ghee and mix well. Serve hot.

Capsicum usili

3-4 capsicums, chopped finely
1/3 cup bengal gram dal or tuvar dal
1 red chili
hing
salt
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

First grind the dal coarsely with red chili and hing. Make a dough with little water. Steam it on a greased plate. Then powder it with hand.
Heat oil. Add mustard seeds and turmeric powder. Add capsicum. Once cooked, add the dal mixture, and stir.
Can be made with beans or cluster beans also.

Carrot and peanut raita

2 carrots
1/4 cup, roasted salted peanuts
1 small flake garlic, coarsely chopped
1 green chili, coarsely chopped
salt to taste
1 cup thick curd
1 tsp sugar
coriander leaves, to garnish

Peel and grate carrots. Crush peanuts coarsely with a rolling pin. Mix garlic, green chili and salt and crush to a pulp. Beat the curd until smooth and stir in the garlic mixture. Add carrots, peanuts, coriander leaves and mix well. 

Simple vegetable soup

Simple Vegetable Soup
(Adapted from Donna Hay's recipe)

4 tomatoes, steamed and pureed
1 cup store bought tomato puree
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 medium white radish, peeled and grated
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely choped
2 cups vegetable stock (I used 1 maggi cube)
salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan. Fry onions and garlic. Add tomato puree and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Add vegetable stock and 1 cup water. Give it a stir and then add the grated vegetables. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes, till the vegetables are done. Add salt to season. Serve hot with a drizzle of olive oil and some grated parmesn cheese.

Healthy chutney

Cabbage 1 cup
Onion 1
Tomato 1
Tamarind paste 1 tsp
Coconut 1tsp
Green chillies 2

Roast all the ingredients in a little oil and grind. Good with idly, dosa, rice etc.

Spinach and corn balls

Maida 1 tsp
Corn 1 small cup
Spinach 1 small bunch
Boiled rice 1 cup
Salt to taste
Chilli powder (optional)

Chop spinach fine. Add butter to a kadai. Mix all the ingredients together, roll into balls and fry in oil.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

I have started making ricotta cheese at home. The recipe is from David Lebovitz's guest post at Simply Recipes. I use this cheese in cookies, tarts, and pasta.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese (makes 2 cups)
(from David Lebovitz's guest post at Simply Recipes)

2 litres whole milk (in original recipe, 2 quarts milk is used)
1 cup whole-milk yogurt
2 tsps white vinegar
1 tsp salt

Boil the milk. Add yogurt, vinegar and salt and very gently boil for 1 or 2 minutes, until the milk is curdled.
Line a strainer with 2 layers of cheesecloth and keep it over a deep bowl.
Pour the milk mixture into the strainer and keep aside for 15 minutes. Then, gather the cheesecloth and squeeze gently to drain excess liquid. Use within 3 days.

Eggplant Kothsu

I made this kothsu for D the other day and she loved it. K also had some with rice and he said it was not bad. Considering he hates eggplant, that was high praise indeed! 

Eggplant Kothsu

1/4 eggplant, chopped (I used the long purple one)
1 tomato, chopped
2 green chillies, slit
1/3 tsp tamarind pulp
1 tsp sambar powder
curry leaves, 1 sprig
mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp
salt
hing
cilantro
oil

Heat oil and burst mustard seeds. Add eggplant and stir. When it is partially cooked, add tomatoes, curry leaves, green chillies and cilantro. After two minutes, add sambar powder and hing. Stir. Now add tamarind pulp, salt and 2 cups water and allow to boil well. Simmer till it reaches required consistency. This goes well with upma, ven pongal etc.

Panchmel dal

Last time V came to India she bought lot of cookery books. S had jotted down  few recipes that she found interesting and after much begging and pleading, she agreed to give me a copy. This Rajasthani dal recipe is a favorite of mine. As the name suggests, this is made with 5 dals. I did not have green moong dal so today I made the dal with just four lentils.

Panchmel Dal

1/4 cup split channa dal
1/4 cup toovar dal
1/4 cup green moong dal (split green gram)
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tbsp whole moong

1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp haldi
1 tsp coriander power
1/2 tsp garam masala

3 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 green chili slit
hing
2 tsp tamarind pulp
oil
salt
juice of 1/2 lime (optional)

Clean and wash the dals. Add 3 cups water and pressure cook for 3 whistles or till the dals are cooked. In a small bowl, combine the chili powder, turmeric powder, dhania powder and garam masala and 2-3 tbsps of water and mix. Heat oil in a pan and add the cloves, bayleaves, cumin seeds, green chili and hing. When the cumin seeds splutters, add the masala mix and saute for 1-2 minutes. If it gets too dry, add few tsps of water. Add the cooked dal, tamarind pulp and salt and simmer for 5-6 minutes. This dal is very thick. If you want thinner consistency, you can add more water. Finally, add lemon juice and mix well. Serve hot.

Healthy Chutney

Ma got this chutney recipe from some magazine.


Healthy Chutney

 
1/2 coconut, grated
4 tomatoes
5 garlic pods
10 small onions
1 sprig curry leaves
handful coriander leaves
small piece of ginger
1 green chili
1 carrot, peeled and grated
hing
1/2 cup roasted bengal gram (pottu kadalai)
salt
oil

Fry onion and garlic in little oil. Add green chili, ginger and carrot.  Once carrot is cooked, add tomato and hing and fry till tomato becomes soft. Add the roasted channa dal and fry until light brown. Add coconut, curry leaves and salt and mix well. Keep aside and cool. Grind to a smooth paste, adding little water.