Creamy Hummus - Vegan, Low Fat recipe

The Food Blogger in me misses talking to you all. I started this blog a few years ago as a way of documenting my food journey. I love the interaction with fellow bloggers and readers. Life sometimes takes a different turn and you lose focus in something. I lost a bit of focus in my blog when I started running. It takes up so much of my time, that I struggle to juggle!

Anyways, I am going to make an extra effort to click and post all the new things that are happening in my kitchen. Hope you will join me again as you did the first time I started this journey.

Today's recipe is super simple. We all love a good hummus. Be it in a wrap or sandwich, or as a dip with some breadsticks or crackers. And it is easy to pick up a tub from the supermarket. But trust me, it is easier and definitely healthier to make your own. The key to a creamy hummus is to use the chickpea water .

Pudina Thogayal - Mint Thogayal - South Indian Mint Chutney with Coconut - Vegan

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. I hope you all enjoyed a great holiday season. I have been seeing a lot of people post New Year Resolutions. I am very scared of them. They have failure written all over them. When it comes to resolutions, I think New Year ones have the highest failure rate. But that does not stop anyone of us from taking up a resolution, does it? So like every one I decided to change my life in some small ways possible. So for the sake of the blog, and my love for it i think I should get more regular in blogging. So hoping this to be the beginning of a wonderful year filled with recipes and friendship!

Today's recipe is a very simple one. Its a healthy side dish for your rice. For me, I love thogayals as a side for dosa and idlis better. It can be used as sandwich spread or instead of pesto :-) So whichever is your choice, do make this and enjoy with your family!

Tzatziki - Greek Cucumber and Yogurt Dip

Tzatziki is a Greek Yogurt based recipe. It can be used in a variety of ways. It can used a dip - will work great with some Pita Bread, Carrot or Celery sticks. It can be used along with fillings in a Pita Pocket. You can use this as a substitute for Mayo in Burgers. You can also use it as a Raita with Indian Style Rice or Parata.

Roasted Pumpkin Thogayal - No Coconut Recipe - Roasted Pumpkin Spread/Dip

Thogayals form a great part of meal in South India. Typically it is used in combination with rice and a dry side dish. In our family we love eat it with dosas and idlis as well. Thogayals can be made with or without coconut. This one does not use one and has the goodness of vegetables in it.

You can use this as a dip or a spread as well. Will taste awesome!



Ingredients

Roasted Pumpkin 1 cup
Urad Dal 1/4 cup
Dry Red Chilli 2
Tamarind paste 1/2 tsp
Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Cut the butternut squash into 2 vertically. Brush a little oil and bake in a preheated oven at 150C for 45 min. Scoop out the flesh and keep ready. I used half of a small squash to get 1 cup of roasted pumpkin flesh. You can alternately, just peal, chop and cook the pumpkin.

2. Heat a little oil in a pan. Add the urad dal. Roast till it turn slightly brown.

3. Add the broken red chilli as well.

4. Grind the dal, chilli, tamarind paste, salt and pumpkin into a coarse paste by adding very little water.

Enjoy as a dip for carrots/chips or a sandwich spread or as a chutney for dosa/idli.

Creamy Cashew and Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta

Pesto is one of my favourite Pasta Sauces. As with most things I love, it has dairy (parmesan cheese) and I cannot eat it. So while leading a life where I missed a lot of good things in life, I made a pesto with my homemade pasta. I served the family the real deal and made myself a modified version of the same. Recipe here. I have to be honest, you will not miss the cheese (unless that is the only thing you like in Pesto).



Now if you are looking for the best Vegan Pesto recipe (well, the best pesto recipe) in the world, look no further. You found it!! This has a blend of some amazing flavours, you will want to make a big batch. Everyone will ask for seconds and thirds!

Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients

Cashew 3/4 cup
Garlic 2 pods
Sun Dried Tomatoes 3/4 cup (almost drained)
Cherry Tomato 1 cup
Basil 1/2 cup (packed)
Parmesan Cheese 1/2 cup (optional, I have not used it. just sprinkled on the top of the pasta at the table for whoever was interested in)
Red Chilli  Powder 1/2 tsp
Pepper 1/2 tsp
A little salt (remember the pasta will be salted)

To make Pasta (Serves 3 generously)

Pasta 300 gms
Pesto Sauce 1/2 of above recipe
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Pulse the cashew in a food processor.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse till combined.

3. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add some salt. Cook Pasta as per package instructions. Drain (reserve a cup of pasta water).

4. Toss the pasta with the required amount of sauce. Add a little reserved water to loosen it up.

I served the pasta with no cheese for my husband and me. The Vegan version was just out of the world. My son enjoyed it with parmesan cheese. What a sneeky way to feed Veggies to kids and my little one truely loved this pasta!

Roasted Sweet Potato Mash - Vegan Sweet Potato Mash - Healthy recipe

Yes you read it right. It is roasted sweet potato mash, not your regular creamy mash. It is a healthier version of potato mash and I have not used cream in it. Just flavoured by roasting with garlic and herbs.



Ingredients

Sweet potato 2
Oil 2 tbsp
Thyme 3 tbsp
Garlic 3/4 tsp
Pepper 1/2 tsp
Salt as required.

Method of Preparation

1. Peal and slice the sweet potato into wedges and transfer to a bowl.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl. Toss well.

3. Roast in a preheated oven @ 200C for about 20 minutes.

4. Cool and grind into a smooth paste.

I served it as a side for my veggie burger.

Trenette al Pesto con Fagiolini e Patate - Trenette with Pesto, Green Beans and Potatoes - Fresh Homemade Pasta without Pasta Maker - Eggless Pasta Recipe - Step by Step Recipe - Vegan option

Making Fresh Pasta is a dream come true for me. We are all crazy Pasta lovers in our house. You would think we are a bunch of Italians and not Indians. We love Italian Restaurants. I usually get the dried pasta when I make at home. Some times, I pick up some fresh pasta from the shop. And I know there is a huge difference between eating dried and fresh pasta.

I always thought to make Pasta at home, I need expensive gadgets. Well, you do for some types of Pasta. But to just make simple Fettuccine, Linguine or Trenette you do not need those gadgets. Well, the gadgets will sure make life easier and you will get perfect Pasta. But who is looking for perfection, right? It is the taste that matters (well, at least to me)!

Avant Garde Cookies are all making fresh homemade Pasta this week. Am excited that we picked this theme. Am really looking forward to what the other cookies have whipped up!

I was looking for recipes to make Eggless pasta. Most places would tell you that an eggless pasta is not pasta at all. That kind of scared me. That is when I read about Trenette. Though it sounds quite fancy and different, it kind of looks like Linguine. And traditionally Trenette is made without eggs! Problem Solved.



Trenette is a pasta popular in the Liguria region in Italy. And the combination for this pasta is Pesto sauce along with Green Beans and Potatoes - Trenette al Pesto con Fagiolini e Patate. Nope, I do not know Italian. That is where google Translate comes handy!



Making Fresh Pasta

Each 1/2 cup of flour makes about 1 plate of pasta once you add the veggies and sauce. This pasta will be sooo good there will be atleast one person asking for a second plate. So make accordingly :-)

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour 3.5 cups
Olive Oil 3 tbsp
Water 11/4 cup (used a little less than this)
Salt a little (not standard ingredient)

Other Ingredients for putting together the Pasta 

Potatoes 2 (pealed and chopped into cubes, then boiled till it is cooked)
Green Beans (Cut into smaller pieces and boiled till it is partly cooked)
Pesto Sauce (recipe below)
Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan) Cheese to serve



Method of Preparation

1. Take the flour in a bowl. Add salt and mix together. Make a well in the centre.

2. In a bowl, add the water and oil. Give it a stir with a fork.

3. Pour the oil-water mix to the well in the flour.

4. Gently stir the flour into the liquid till it becomes a sticky mass.

5. At this stage, go in with your hand and knead well till it forms a firm dough. Cover and let it rest for atleast 30 minutes.



6. Divide into 7 portions. Take one portion. Roll it into a ball.

7. Roll into a very thin rectangle. (about 20" * 8"). I found that sprinkling generous amounts of flour on both sides made the rolling easier. The photo below is from my first batch. My rectangle got better as I kept making it :-)





8. Using a knife or pizza cutter run long lines across the rolled dough.





9. Separate the strips and place them on a sheet pan to dry for a couple of minutes.



10. Sprinkle some more flour and collect them in a pile.



11. Heat a big pot of water. Salt it a little. Bring it to a boil.

12. Add the pasta to the water and cook for 2-3 minutes. Give it a quick stir once in between.



13. Drain the pasta out of the water. Keep the water covered till you are ready with the next batch of pasta.



14. Start working on the next portion of flour, roll it into a ball and repeat from step 7.

15. Take the drained pasta in a bowl. Add a couple of tbsp of Pesta sauce. Add a few green beans and cubes of boiled potatoes. Toss well. You can add some olive oil or pasta water to loosen this up a little.

16. Sprinkle some Parmigiano Reggiano on top and serve!



Pesto Sauce(used only half of this for the pasta, rest for some other recipe)

Ingredients

Basil a big bunch (about 75 gm)
Sunflower seeds 2 tbsp (traditionally pine nuts are used)
Garlic 2 cloves chopped
Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan) Cheese 1/2 cup
Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1/2 cup
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Pulse together all the ingredients till it is all mixed together.

2. If you have a food processor, add the olive oil little at a time from the top. Mine is just an Indian Mixie. So I added everything together.

3. Refrigerate covered till you need it. The sauce starts to darken a little if exposed to air. So if storing for long time, add a layer of oil to the top. The darkening does not affect the taste. So don't worry.

Vegan Option

While making Pesto, I made a Vegan version as well. Add a small bunch of basil, 1 clove of garlic, 3 tbsp of sunflower seeds, 1/4 cup of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. It was actually pretty good. The Sunflower seeds gave it a nice texture. It tasted like the real deal. So now I am happy that I can make Pesto for myself without buying any fancy special ingredients.

Check out the other AGC thoughout this week 
Anusha, Jayanthi, Kavitha, Priya M, Radhika, Priya S

Bean and Corn Dip for Tortilla Chips

New Year sees me joining a new group called Goumet Seven. It is an effort from us food bloggers to present you some gourmet food. This month we are choosing dishes from BBC Good Food and the theme is Picnic food.

Made this bean and corn dip and some salsa to go with tortilla chips. This simple dip is sure to be a party pleaser. All my guests thoroughly enjoyed it.

Don't forget to check out other Mexican fare in my blog!



Ingredients

Kidney beans in chilli sauce 1 can
Mixed beans in chilli sauce 1 can
Sweet corn 1 can drained

Small Red Onion 1 finely chopped
Coriander 1 small bunch finely chopped
Salt to taste

Tortilla Chips (Doritos) to serve

Method of Preparation

1. In a blender, add 3/4 of teh kidney beans and 1/2 of the mixed beans. Pulse.

2. Transfer to a bowl.

3. Add the rest of the kidney beans and mixed beans, along with the drained sweet corn, finely chopped red onions, chopped coriander leaves and some salt.

4. Mix everything well and serve with some chips.



Check out the other Gourmet Chefs
Anusha, Anamika, Jayanthi, Kaveri, Radhika, Roshni, Sangeetha,Vardhini and Veena

Guacamole

Avacados are super healthy fruits (yes, they are fruits, not vegetables). It is probably the only fruit that is so high in fat. But don't let that bother you. It is packed with mono saturated fat. Usually whenever you read an article about super foods you will surely see avacado in the list.



Guacamole is my favourite way of eating Avacado.

Ingredients



Avacado 2
Finely chopped Onions 2 tbsp
Finely chopped Tomato 2 tbsp
Lime Juice 1 tbsp
Finely chopped Cilantro/Coriander leaves 2 tbsp
Salt a pinch
Pepper a pinch
Cumin Powder a pinch
Red Chilli Powder a pinch

Method of Preparation

1. Just starting with the method of cutting Avacadao (for those who are new to it). It is a super cool trick. Hold the avacado vertically and run the knife around it from top to bottom and then around from bottom to top. Now hold both the sides and rotate it a bit. It will come apart.

2. Next with the knife give the seed a hit. Then twist. The seed will come off.

3. Now go in with a big spoon near the skin and scoop out the pulp. Simple right??

4. Now take a bowl and add the pulp. With a spoon or fork mash it up a little. I kept mine slightly chunky.

5. Add lime juice and mix well. This prevents avacados from changing colour and darkening.

6. Add Finely chopped Onions, Tomato and coriander leaves. Mix.

7. Next goes the spices - Pepper powder, Cumin Powder and Red Chilli Powder along with a little salt. Mix everything well.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate till it is ready to be served.

Chunky Salsa

Salsa can be made in a variety of ways. Each one uses slightly different spices and combination. Common ingredient ofcourse is tomato, onions and lime juice. Below is a basic recipe of salsa.



Ingredients

Finely chopped Tomato 2
Finely chopped Onions 2 tbsp
Finely chopped Coriander leaves 2 tbsp
Finely chopped Green Chillies 1
Lime Juice 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Take the finely chopped tomatoes in a bowl. Crush it with the back of the spoon to release some juices.

2. Add the finely chopped onions, coriander leaves, green chillies and mix well.

3. Finally add the lime juice and salt.

Enjoy with some nachos or as a part of a Fajita.