Red Therapy

A plate full I can deal with, a food processorful is daily fare, but there has been much more than usual going on. I am reaching the end of something I have worked on for a while but am really loosing steam on the project.

Also, my son is getting to a new phase, we are trying to get him more independent for next year. It might seem long, but is not that much in the real scheme of things. Aadi and I don't deal with change well. I am really struggling with little things like not helping him with the t-shirt that both of us know he can handle by himself. I have a harder time being firm with him. In general, there is just too much going on, as with other things when I am stressed out I cook. Lately I have been blogging a little more than usual, oh well there are worse things that I could be doing.The beetroots and the beetgreens are quite normal this time of the year, but yesterday I stared at the latest batch like I had never seen them before. Well, if you really focus on the vivid color it is truly quite stunning - hence beetroot red. Well, I have to confess now that I put this in perspective I dont think anyone other than the beet can mimic this stunning color. So it really is not an apt expression but then again, neither is turning tomato red.

I decided to capitalize on the natural sweetness of the vegetable and made beetroot halwa. This is my first attempt at making this, I have for some reason just not done much with beets except roasting them. I loved the results. I used lowfat milk some sugar and clarified butter.

We ate this greedily for breakfast before we set off on a one-day trip to explore the valley. You shall hear about that later.

Beetroot Halwa

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients

6 small to medium sized beets

2 cups lowfat (2% milk)

3 cardamoms

1/2 cup sugar (adjust this to your taste)

2 tablespoons ghee

Toasted coconut to garnish

Method of Preparation

1. Peel the beets and grate them in a food processor.

2. Place these in a heavy bottomed pan and pour the milk over the beets. The effect of the milk turning pink is quite dramatic.

3. Add in the cardamoms and cook the liquid on medium low heat stirring occasionally until the milk is almost evaporated, you can seed the beets again in clumbs with the thick liquid boiling away around the sides.

4. Add the sugar and continue cooking until all the liquid is evaporated.

5. Add the ghee and mix well the the mixture is a soft, dry glistening mass. I cook this to leave some texture in the dish, you can grate the beets finer for a completely mashed variation.

The theme for this month's Sugar High Friday is vegetables, so I am sending this red creation over to the expatriate kitchen, that is hosting the event for August. The event was started by the Domestic goddess.

Gajar Halwa - Simple but takes so .......Long!

Relationships like everything else in life are full of surprises. My husband takes this day pretty seriously, well I do not necessarily get 101 roses, but I do feel appreciated and special and he does do something nice ( last year he gave me a collection of movies by my favorite director, which took some time to find, things like that). The reason I find this surprising is not because he is generally not appreciative, but he generally is not especially a fan of what we call Hallmark pressure.

Anyhow, I am the dessert person in this house and unfortunately it shows. My husband does have a couple of favorites - good gulab jamuns and gajar halwa. He likes the former the way my MIL makes it but the later my way. I do this with a few basic ingredients and other than the time, it is fairly simple.

Gajar Halwa - Carrot Fudge

Makes 35 servings

Ingredients

4 lbs carrots
3/4 gallon whole milk
4 green cardamoms
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp ghee
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup chopped nuts

Method of Preparation

1. Peel the carrots and process them in a food processor or grate them.
2. In a heavy bottom pot, bring the milk to a boil and add the carrots cardamoms.
3. Turn the heat to very low and keep cooking stirring occasionally till fairly dry, this process takes 3-4 hours.
4. Add in the sugar and let the mixture turn fairly dry and shiny orange.
5. This takes about 40 minutes and it needs to be stirred frequently at this point.
6. Add in the ghee and raisins and nuts and cook stirring well for 10 minutes.
7. Cool slightly and serve warm. I like this with ice-cream.

Meeta is keeping us dishing out suggary treats with the sweet love theme.

Thinking Winter

I have to tell you this season is one of those mixed blessing seasons, I do not like to deal with ice, although we have been lucky thus far in New York, around February the bare trees start bothering me, but, I do like drinking good hot tea especially in winter, love soups, love all warm flavors, and along with my tea I like snacking. I was thinking of these amazing snacklets that someone I worked with called Nivedita had once made for a potluck. She has currently formed an organization called RagaChitra, where she teaches children BharatNatyam and Indian classical music.
Anyhow, I googled for Masala Vada and eventually landed on Lakshmi's blog and found this recipe for Pappu Chekkalu.


I at once decided to try it, made some very tiny tweaks, some for convieniece and some for fun and now since I am sending these with Anshul for a snack tomorrow, I also have a happy man at home. This is the recipe as I did it. I actually tried half the recipe from Lakshmi's blog and used the moong dal that she had suggested, but I used the whole variety since that was all I had.




Pappu Chekkalu - Mixed grain crisps

Makes 10

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole moong dal soaked in 1 cup water
1.5 tsp garlic paste
1 cup rice flour
1/4 cup besan
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1.5 tsp ajwain
1 tsp dried methi
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 red cherry pepper
1.5 cups oil for frying


Method of Preparation


1. Grind the dal with the garlic and mix in the remaining ingredients except the pepper. I did this in the food processor.
2. Thinly slice the cherry pepper, (yes, I discovered these in the market for the first time, they are really too spicy for me, but I am using them in tiny doses wherever I can). Mix into the dough.
3. Shape these into small balls and flatten between parchment paper, as shown above. I think this is a really neat tip, I would not have thought of it.
4. Heat the oil and fry in medium heat till golden brown.

Chettinaad Chicken

This recipe with its generous doses of black pepper is certainly one for the spice lovers. In the good old days my husband loved spicy food, ever since our little ones have taken over my cooking regime there is not that much space left for fiery spices. Anyhow, I cooked this today and hope writing this up will in some very small measure help the little ones who do not have enough to eat.

Chettinaad Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 small cornish hen skinned and cut into pieces (1.5 lbs)

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp salt

1 lime

6 pods garlic minced

2.5 tbsp whole blackpeppercorns

3 tbsp oil

2 onions chopped

1 tbsp ginger grated

4-6 green cardamoms

3-4 cloves

1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder

3/4 tsp red chilli powder

2 tomatoes chopped

10 curry leaves

2 tsp chopped cilantro

Method of preparation

1. Marinate the chicken in the salt, lime juice, turmeric and garlic.

2. Coarsely crush all but 1tsp of the peppercorns and add to the mixture.

3. Heat the oil and add the onions and ginger and cook for 7-10 minutes.

4. Add in the chicken with cardamoms, cloves, cumin-coriander and chilli powder.

5. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

6. Add in the tomatoes and curry leaves and cook till the tomatoes are soft.

7. Add one cup water and simmer for 20 minutes. The chicken should be soft and the mixture fairly dry.

If you want more gravy you can add upto one more cup water.

8. Remove from heat, garnish with cilantro and serve.

Stuffed Mini-Pepper Dolmas

Dolmas in Indian cooking also orginate from Bengali cooking in eastern India. Traditionally a green vegetable called potol is lightly fried and stuffed with fish or paneer and cooked in a seasoned sauce. This is a firm and nice sized vegetable. I have replicated this dish using mini bell peppers that are more readily available in the local markets, this add more color to the dish and the baked version is actually lighter and easier to prepare.

Capsicum Dolma – Paneer Stuffed Mini Peppers in an onion cardamom sauce

Serves 6 people

Ingredients

1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp black cumin seeds
1 onion finely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger grated
1 cup freshly prepared paneer crumbled
2.5 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin coriander powder
½ tsp garam masala powder
20 mini peppers (try using a mixed color combination)
3 tbsp oil
1 onion ground
1 tsp ginger paste
4 green cardamoms
4 cloves
1 small stick cinnamon
2 bay leaves
2 green chillies minced
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

Heat the ghee and sizzle the black cumin seeds.
Cook the onions and ginger till the onions are soft and begin to brown.
Add in the paneer with half the salt, cumin powder and garam masala.
Cook for 10 minutes till the mixture is dry and appears well mixed.
Gently cut the tops of the peppers and remove any ribs from the insides.
Stuff the hollows with the paneer mixture and arrange on a greased baking dish.
Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
Heat the oil and cook the onion and ginger paste till browned. Add in the whole spices.
Add the yogurt in small batches cook till the oil reappears.
Mix in the salt and ½ cup water and cook till thick.
Pour on top of the peppers.
Cover and bake for 25 minutes.

Lal Saag Chorchori - Red Spinach with vegetables

Laal Saag
It is amazing how much you miss little things when they are not readily available. This is a leafy vegetable very close to spinach but red. The bengali name translates to red spinach. I have worked with red swiss chard to replicate some of the recipes, but I was besides myself with excitement when I saw this brilliant bunch at the local Bhavik store. This looks beautiful but unfortunately, these leaves are rather tough and should have been picked earlier. Anyhow here is my recipe with this.
Laal Saag Chorchori
2 tbsp mustard oil
1 tsp panch phoron
1 large bunch laal saag
1 eggpant cut into pieces
2 green chillies slit
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup bori
Method of Preparation
1. Heat the mustard oil and add the panch phoron.
2. When this crackles, add in the saag and eggplant. Stir briskly till the saag wilts, add in the chillies, salt and cover for 15 min on low heat. The eggplant should be soft and the mixture should be a mush.
3. Heat the oil and fry the bori and drain. Mix into the chorchori and serve with rice and dal.

Khaman Dhokla - Indian Chickpea Bread

Khaman Dhokla

Like rossagollas, this dish has taken me some time to master, this recipe from a Divya Mehta worked for me.

Khaman Dhokala
Ingredients: 1 cup channa dal 1 tbs. chili ginger paste Salt to taste 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder 1/2 cup yogurt 2 tsp. sugar Apinch of asafetida 1/2 tsp. baking soda 3 tbs. oil At the time to prepare Dhokala 3 tbs. lemon juice or 3 tsp. citric acid
To temper -- 2 tablespoons oil 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, coriander leaves and coconut to garnish

Method:
Soak the dal for five hours. Grind it to paste with the yogurt.
Mix with salt, chilli-ginger paste, turmeric and sugar.
Beat mixture with hands to make it light and fluffy. Then cover with a tight lid and keep aside in a warm place for about five hours to ferment.
Now combine oil, lemon juice or citric acid in a small vessel. Add half-tsp. baking soda. It will bubble.
Stir with a spoon and pour it in the fermented batter. Mix well.
Take a vessel, big enough to hold an a deep plate.
Put about four cups of water in it and a metal ring in the center to put the plate on. Cover with a tight lid and boil water. Meanwhile grease the plate with oil and pour the batter in. Put it inside on the ring. Cover and steam for 15 to 20 minutes. The batter will rise and make spongy dhoklas. Remove carefully from inside and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Cut into square pieces and transfer to a serving plate. Prepare tempering by heating oil and mustard seeds until seeds pop up. Add sesame seeds and Switch off gas. Pour over dhoklas evenly. Sprinkle coriander leaves. Serve khaman dhoklas hot or cold with green coriander chutney.

Matarshutir Kachori - Puffed bread with pea filling

Kachori with green peas

Ingredients:

1/2 cup self raising flour
1 1/2 cup Indian whole wheat flour ( atta), if unavailable substitute with regular flour.
1 tsp nigella seeds.
4 small green chillies
Salt to taste
1 tbsps fennel seeds (powdered)
3 tbsps ghee,
¼ tsp asafetida
1 cup frozen peas
1-inch piece ginger
Oil for deep frying
Method of Preparation
1. Mix the flours with 2 tsp ghee salt and nigella seeds.
2.Add enough water a little at a time and knead to a soft dough.
3. Cover and set aside.
4. Grind the peas, ginger, chillies and fennel seeds to a fine paste.
5. Heat oil .Fry the asafetida till light brown.Add the peas paste and salt.
6.Fry well till the paste is cooked. Remove from the fire and let it cool.
7. Divide the dough into 8 balls.
8. Roll into thin discs, put 2 tsp pea filling in one disc. Cover with the other disc like round empanadas.
9. Roll out to flatten and seal.
10. Deep fry in hot oil on slow fire till golden brown.
11. Drain excess oil and remove from oil . Serve hot with Cholar Dal.

Chicken Tikka Masala - Chicken in a creamy tomato sauce

Chicken Tikka Masala (Serves 6)

INGREDIENTS:
For the Chicken Tikka

Ingredients
1 cup yogurt
Juice of one lime
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tbs tandoori masala
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
Salt to taste
2 lbs cut into bite-size pieces

Preparation
Mix the yogurt and spices to form a smooth paste.
Marinade the chicken in the above ingredients for 8-10 hrs.
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Put the chicken on a baking tray sprinkle with oil.
Bake the chicken for 15 min and broil till lightly brown (5-7min)

Sauce.
Ingredients
Remaining marinade (very important)
½ cup yogurt
3-4 tbs butter
2-3 tbs oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 tbs dried fenugreek
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 green chilies finely chopped
½ green pepper finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
3 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 tsp Garam Masala
3 tomatoes finely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat oil in a pan and add onion and garlic.
2. Add the cumin, paprika, fenugreek and salt.
3. Cook for 5 minutes and add the tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes soften to a pulp.
4. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
5. Blend the sauce with the cream.
6. Return to heat and add the chicken. Cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes.
7. Add the butter and cook till melted
8. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro and garam masala.

Besan Ladoo

Besan Ladoo (Chick Pea flour confection)



My husband likes this North Indian specialty.
I thought of giving these a try since I was looking for
a wheatless holiday treat for my neighbour.

Ingrediants

1 cup ghee, you can substitute 3 sticks of unsalted
butter.

3 cups ladoo besan (coarsely ground chickpeas)
This is different from regular besan

1 1/2 cup sugar

1tbs ground cardamom

1 tbs saffron Strands

3/4 cup chopped almonds and rasins


Directions

1. Melt the ghee, if using butter this needs to be melted on slow fire and simmered till fragnant. This evaporates some of the water.

2. Add the besan and slow roast till aromatic and evenly browned. This takes about 25 to 30 min.

3. Remove from heat, stirr in the cardamoms and sugar and nuts.

4. Let this cool separately. This should be cool enough to handle but still warm and pliable.

5. Shape into walnut sized balls and store in an airtight container.