Herby Pasta

I just realized that I have not blogged any non-indian dishes. Have to make sure I blog some dishes... Stay tuned for more. I tossed this pasta for a quick dinner. No much effort involved in it as long as you have some ingredients to go in the pasta



Ingredients

Pasta 2 cups
Olive Oil 1/4 cup
Onion 1 sliced
Sundried Tomato chopped 1/2 cup
Artichoke Hearts 1 cup
Peas 1/2 cup
Italian Seasoning 1 tbsp

Method of Preparation

1. Heat water in a pan and cook the pasta as per the instruction on the cover. Around 10-12 min depending on pasta.

2. Heat oil in a pan and toss in the onion

3. Once the onion starts to change colour, add the sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, peas and toss well.

4. Add the seasoning and some salt. Mix well.

5. Finally add the pasta and serve when hot. Or cool in fridge to serve as a pasta salad.

You can choose any vegetable to go in the pasta. You can also use fresh herbs if you have some at hand.

Cauliflower Moong Dal Curry

Cauliflower and Moong dal was a new combination for me and if you have not tasted this curry, I will highly recommend you try this once. It is very addictive.



Do you guys believe that we pass on a lot of habits to our kids in our day to day life. When I used to work, I used to cook at 8 after my son slept. So he was not part of my cooking adventures. Now a days I cook in the evening at around 4. My son hangs out with me while I am cooking. When I say hangs out, it is just not sitting there. He also has his own pot for making the dishes and keeps stirring and adding ingredients to his pretend cooking pot. I have to literally give him a tiny bit of all the ingredients I use in my cooking. He even brings his pot to the table to serve. Thank god he does not insist on anyone eating it. That's not it, I have to take photo of his dish as well. We find it so cute :-)

Ingredients

Cauliflower cut into small florets 2 cups
Onion 1 small chopped
Green Chilli 1
Ginger 2 inch piece
Curry leaf 3 sprigs
Moong Dal 1 cup

Mustard 1/2 tsp
Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Hing a little

Method of Preparation

1. Steam the cauliflower. I just stuck it in microwave for 4 minutes. Make sure it is still a little solid and not all mushed up.

2. In a pan, add the moong dal and cook with enough water. Make sure that it retains its shape and does not mush up when you stir it. Drain and keep ready.

3. In another pan, add mustard seeds. When it sputters, add the turmeric, hing, ginger, curry leaves and green chilli.

4. Saute for a few seconds and then add the onions.

5. When the onion becomes translucent, add the cooked cauliflower, moong dal and some salt. Toss it around and cook for couple more minutes.

Cauliflower curry is ready to serve. Note that all the flavour for the curry comes from the ginger, curry leaves and chilli. So make sure you are generous with it.

Fruit and Nut

Hello Friends - I am back after a break... Sorry for not keeping you posted. As this is a public domain did not want to post my travel plans here. I made this recipe before my trip to share with my family.

I saw the recipe of a fruit and nut pop in Vaishali's website and adapted from it. I was going to pound all the ingredients together. But my mixie broke at that time. Not my lucky day. :-( I have just hand mixed all the ingredients. That was not bad as it had a nice crunchy taste to it as well.

Now off to the recipe of a super healthy treat!



Ingredients

Dates 2 cups
Raisins 2 cups
Almond slices 1 cup
Cashews 1 cup
Cardamom Powder 1/4 tsp

Method of preparation

1. Deseed the dates and mush it up.

2. I crunched the almonds and cashews a little with my hands. You can pulse in a mixie as well.

3. Mix together all the ingredients.

4. Roll into balls. You can make small balls and stick toothpicks to make little lollies. I was not patient. I just rolled them into lime size balls.

5. Wrap them in cling wrap to prevent any drying.

All ready to be shared!!

Gobi Gulistan

This is my second month of  Blog Hop Wednesday. As I was going to be out for some part of this month, I asked Radhika to let me know my partner as early as possible. She was a sweetheart and said she will pair with me this month.

I looked at a lot of recipes and wanted to try quite a few of them. I was led to this one cause of the cauliflower sitting in my fridge. I love curries made of Cauliflower. But I sometimes just mess up when I cook it.  I followed the recipe and am glad I picked it.

You can see the original recipe in her site. Only thing I did not do was to bake the cauliflower. I just steamed them and added. It would have been nice and smoky if I baked it, may be next time



Ingredients

Cauliflower 1
Peas 1/4 cup
Onion 3
Tomatoes 6
Cashew 1 tbsp
Poppy Seeds 1 tbsp
Ginger 1 inch piece
Garlic 3 pods
Yogurt  1 cup
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Fennel Seeds 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder  2 tsp
Turmeric powder  1/2 tsp
Coriander powder  1 tsp
Garam Masala  1 tsp
Coriander leaves for Garnish

Salt, butter and oil to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Cut the cauliflower florets and steam in a steamer or microwave till it is cooked, but is crunchy.

2. Soak the cashews and poppy seeds in hot water for 30 min. Grind into a smooth paste and keep aside.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions. Saute till it is sligtly browned. Cook and grind into a smooth paste along with the ginger and garlic.

4. Heat oil and butter in a pan. Add the jeera and fennel seeds.

5. When it sizzles, add the onion paste and saute till it is dark brown.

6. Add the cashew and poppy paste and saute for a couple of minutes.

7. Add the chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala, coriander powder and salt. Saute for a couple more minutes.

8. Puree the tomatoes and add to the pan. Cook till it all comes together and oil starts to ooze.

9. Add the curd and bring it to a boil.

10. Add the cauliflower and peas and simmer for a few more minutes.

Garnish with coriander leaves. Enjoy with roti or nan.

It took me a little longer than usual dishes. But the taste was worth the effort. The above will easily serve 4-5 people.

Soya Pulao

I have not cooked with soya chunks in a long long time. I remember that my husband and I used to like it. Not sure why I stopped using it. When I walked into the Indian store a couple of weeks ago, I saw this and picked it up. I did not give much thought to what I was going to make with it. I guess I assumed it was going into some curry.

We were very busy this morning and it was already around 12 and I was still not decided on what I was going to make. That is when this soya chunks kept starting at me from the pantry. So I decided to do something with it. Since I did not have the time to make curry and roti, i decided to make a rice.

When it comes to rice, I almost always make a gravy or masala with the ingredients. Cook rice separately and then mix it up at the end. I have always wanted to try cooking all the ingredients directly in the cooker itself for some time now. Have been seeing quite a few recipes lately. So decided to give it a shot. It does give the rice a steamed kind of taste. We liked it. I read this recipe a little while ago in tickling palates and have adapted from there.



Ingredients

Rice 2 cups
Soy Chunks 1/2 cups
Onion 1
Tomato 2
Peas 1/2 cup

Cinnamon 1 inch piece
Bayleaf 1
Star Anise 2
Clove 2
Jeera 1 tsp

Turmeric 1/2 tsp
Hing a little
Garam masala 1 tsp
Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves
Ginger 1 inch piece chopped
Green chillies 2 chopped

Butter, Oil and Salt to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Heat some water in a small pot and when it boils add the soya chunks. Cook for 5 minutes. Drain and keep aside.

2. Heat oil and butter in the pressure cooker. Add Cinnamon, Bayleaf, Star Anise, Clove, Jeera, Turmeric, Hing, Curry leaves, Ginger, Green chillies

3. When it sizzles, add the chopped onions. 

4. When it turns pink, add the tomatoes and cook well.

5. Add the turmeric, hing, chilli powder and garam masala. Stir well.

6. Add the peas (add any vegetable of your choice), soy chunk and rice (you can soak the rice for sometime if you want). Mix well.

7. Add 4 cups of water and cook for 2 whistles. 

Yummy soy pulao is ready to be served with raita or side dish of your choice.