Fall Favorite: Chili and Cornbread

Suganya is celebrating a month of Vegan Ventures on her blog. One of my favorite fall dinners just happens to be vegetarian chili, which happens to be vegan, and I teamed it up with some vegan cornbread to make a satisfying Southwest-US inspired supper.

A few weeks ago, there was a chili cook-out at my workplace. A few folks who enjoyed cooking brought big crock-pots of chili, some others brought cornbread muffins and sweet goodies. All of this food was sold over lunchtime and the modest sum of money collected was handed over to a breast cancer organization. It was a lot of fun, and a nice way to do some small-time fundraising while enjoying a variety of home-cooked food. I make chili quite often during the cold months, but wanted to try something different, so I took this chipotle-"meatball" chili to the cook-off, and everyone enjoyed it. It sold out, and I was surprised and relieved, because this is Missouri, after all. Today I made the exact same chili again and decided to post it here so I won't forget the recipe a few months from now! This chili definitely tastes much better a day after it is made. It is perfect for a make-ahead dish to feed a crowd.

Here are the main components of this hearty chili:
1. Beans: I chose to use a combination of red kidney beans (apna rajma) and Dominican red beans. The latter are a pretty new addition to my pantry. When Indosungod wrote this post and said, "When cooked they tasted a lot like boiled peanuts", I practically ran out and bought a bag of these cute pink-white beans (I found it in the Mexican section of the store- Goya brand). I love the taste of these beans and use them quite often now. Pinto beans and black beans would also work well in this recipe.
2. Soy meatballs- I buy them from the frozen section. The meatballs soak up the delicious stew and simply melt in the mouth.
3. Vegetables: Onions and peppers feel like natural additions to this chili. But I omitted green peppers and only used the ripe sweeter ones- yellow, orange, red- here. I added carrots and yellow squash for more juicy vegetable goodness. If I were not serving this chili with cornbread, I would have added some corn kernels as well. Zucchini and eggplant would also be tasty here.
4. Tomato puree, as a base.
5. Chipotle peppers in adobo: These are smoked Mexican chillies (jalapenos) preserved in a spicy sauce.
These can be found in cans wherever Mexican foods are sold. Once the can is opened, I transfer the contents to a glass bottle and use the flavorful chipotles (and their sauce) over several months.
6. In several chili recipes, I came across "secret ingredients" being mentioned in conspirational whispers. A small amount of cinnamon or unsweetened cocoa powder really does bring out deep flavors in the chili!

Chipotle Chili

1. Heat 1 T olive oil in a large pot/ Dutch oven.
2. Saute 4-5 cloves minced garlic until translucent but not browned.
3. Saute 1 large onion, 1 medium carrot, 2 red/yellow/orange peppers, 1 yellow squash (all cut in large dice).
4. Stir in cooked beans (from 1 C dried beans), 2 C tomato puree, salt, 1 t cumin powder, 2 minced chipotle chillies and 2 t adobo sauce (or to taste), 1/2 t cinnamom (or cocoa powder).
5. Add 2 C water (or to desired consistency), bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Add 1 packet (1 lb) thawed vegan "meatballs" and simmer for 5 more minutes. Eat the next day, when the flavors really come together!

While a lot of people love eating chili on its own, I enjoy it best with some carbs (what else is new?)...either some Spanish rice, or some couscous, a corn tortilla, or some cornbread. I found a recipe for an award-winning vegan cornbread that looked delicious, and it had a delightfully short ingredient list too! There are two ingredients in this recipe that also are relative newcomers to my kitchen.

The first is ground flaxseeds. This was the first time I used flaxseeds as an egg substitute in baking, and I am very impressed. When mixed into hot water, this powder really takes on the viscous nature of beaten eggs! I often get comments and e-mails from bakers seeking to make eggless baked goodies, and I definitely suggest that they should play around with flaxseed powder- it is known to work well in many recipes. The second ingredient is cornmeal. I am happy to have found this whole-grain medium-grind cornmeal (this brand) because most cornmeal has the germ removed and is consequently less nutritious. I skipped the sugar in the cornbread because the almond milk was already sweetened. The sweetish note in the cornbread is delicious. The addition of sweet corn kernels and aromatic green onions makes the cornbread even tastier.

Cornbread

(Adapted from this recipe, makes 16 squares)
1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. In a small saucepan, heat 6 T water, then stir in 2 T ground flaxseeds until the paste becomes viscous. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients:
1 C AP flour (or white whole-wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour, or some combination of these)
1 C cornmeal
2 t baking powder
1 t salt
4. To the dry ingredients, add and mix
flaxseed paste
1/4 C oil (I used olive, but canola or another neutral oil is recommended)
1 C almond milk (or rice milk or soymilk)
5. Stir in the extra ingredients
1/2 C corn kernels (frozen, thawed)
3 green onions, minced (green and white parts)
5. Pour the batter into a greased 8x8 inch baking dish, then bake for 20-25 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes clean. Serve warm.

Serve piping hot chili with warm cornbread, garnished with green onions or cilantro, if desired.


Next time, I plan to make a chili casserole, by pouring warm chili into a baking dish, topping with cornbread batter and then baking the whole thing. That would be a delicious way to serve this combination, I imagine.

Stay warm, and a Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends in the USA, who will enjoy a Thanksgiving feast, good times with family and friends, and a couple of days off!

For a tempting array of vegan recipes, from appetizers to desserts and everything in between, go visit Suganya's round-up.

Pasta Pastimes...

...or Using Your Noodle.

Two games to play on a rainy afternoon, using dried pasta from the pantry. Once you are done playing with your food, you can eat it for dinner!

Tic Tac Toe

Tic Tac Toe (known to many as "noughts and crosses") was played here using whole wheat spaghetti to set up the board and some calypso blend pasta as the pieces. Anyone remember playing this game with a friend at the back of the lecture hall in Junior college?

Pick-Up Sticks

This is a very neat game I played with my cousins for hours on end. It is called Pick-Up Sticks and various other names like that. You hold a handful of thin sticks (usually made of wood or plastic, but dried long pasta is an awesome substitute) in your hand, then drop them on a surface. Then you try and pick up sticks one at a time as carefully as you can without disturbing the other sticks. You lose your turn when any other stick in the pile moves. This is a game of dexterity, skill and concentration- way more fun than you would imagine from such a simple set up. It is one of those timeless games that helped my aji keep a giggle of granddaughters occupied during hot summer afternoons, decades after she used the same faded box of sticks to keep her own kids busy during their summer vacations. Read more about this game here.

The first picture is being sent to Jugalbandi's Click: Noodles event, just for fun!

Lights...Camera...Diwali!

Images of our small Diwali celebrations this weekend...

A Diwali-themed Fabric Mural

This gorgeous mural was created as a unique gift for me by my two aunts and a cousin. It is a mixed-media collage: oil painting interspersed with bits of fabric, paper and scraps of embroidery and jewelry. It shows all the small touches that make Diwali so special: the kandeel or lantern in the top left which decorates the entrance of a home, the tulsi vrindavan or "home of the holy basil plant" which is lit with an oil lamp, a depiction of us girls celebrating with new festive clothes (I assure you that I have never worn an outfit quite like this; let's just call it their artistic license!), the tiny panati or diyaas or lamps that are lit around the home to symbolise this "festival of lights", the auspicious string of marigolds and mango leaves at the doorway shows at the top, and the colorful floor decoration called rangoli, made traditionally with colored powders (depicted by the diamond at the bottom of the panel). My aunts told me, "We know how much you adore dogs, so we put a little puppy in the picture just for you!" hence the little happy pooch in the bottom left :D If you wish to see details on this mural, click on the picture and see the higher resolution files in flickr.

Our makeshift lantern:


A friend and I got together, and with very little expertise (but a generous dose of enthusiasm to compensate), made a few sweet and savory goodies. I want to thank my fellow bloggers for sharing easy and detailed recipes for these sweets and savories, which made it possible for novices like us to give them a try:
Tikhat Shankarpale or spicy diamonds, inspired by Swapna


Cornflakes chivda, inspired by The Cooker




Besan Ladoo or Chickpea Flour Sweets, inspired by Nandita


Kaju Kathli or Cashew Diamonds, inspired by Saffron Hut


Pineapple Sheera


Carrot RicottaHalwa, inspired by Rajitha


Can you guess what it is? Hint: it is NOT a popular antacid!


Dale wants you to see his new Diwali scarf...


We celebrated Diwali on the weekend rather than on the official day, so my greetings come a little late- but with all my heart nonetheless...

Wishing all my friends, fellow bloggers and readers a very

Joyous Diwali

and a hope that a central theme of Diwali- the triumph of good over evil (and the triumph of good over apathy, perhaps?) comes true for the world we live in.

Recipe SOS: Thai-inspired Croquettes

It all started when Susan V., she of that sinlessly delicious blog, made croquettes with Thai flavors using pumpkin as a base for these little morsels. The taste of the pumpkin in this dish was all wrong to her, and the recipe needed some urgent help to rescue it from the failed-recipes bin. Susan called out for some emergency edible care by asking:

And thus was born this contest. I brainstormed a bit to think of all the main ingredients that would go well with Thai flavors. One of my favorite accompaniments with fragrant Thai curries is steamed rice and one of my favorite vegetables in the curry itself, soaking up rich coconut flavors, is eggplant and these were the two ingredients that I substituted for the pumpkin.

To cook the eggplant, I peeled and cubed it, then microwave-cooked it for about 6-7 minutes, stirring evert 2 minutes. Then I used a fork to mash the eggplant. I substituted cilantro for the basil in the recipe because that is what I had on hand. I used a pan to cook these on the stove-top because I didn't want to heat up the whole oven for this fairly small batch.

Here is my experiment: Thai-inspired Croquettes:

Ingredients:
1 C green beans, trimmed and sliced
1 C cooked eggplant puree
1/2 C cooked rice (white or brown)
1/2 C cilantro
3 T soy sauce
1 T Thai red curry paste
1 T. grated lemon zest
1 t brown sugar
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t ground flax seed
2 t cornstarch
Method:
Place the green beans and basil into a food processor and pulse to chop coarsely (do not puree!). Pour into a bowl and add all remaining ingredients. Stir well to mix everything. Form into small patties. Cook the patties on an oil-sprayed pan until golden on both sides.

Serve with the delicious dipping sauce from Susan.

These were delicious! Next time I might consider pre-cooking the beans until tender before proceeding with the recipe. Thanks for the opportunity to play with this recipe and have some fun, Susan! It is going to be fun to see what everyone comes up with.

A Sweet Snack, a Savory Snack and a Sweet Sweet Party Idea

I was in a holiday mood yesterday. Last year, at this time, my life was a nightmare of 18 hours a day spent writing and editing a thesis. This year, I am determind to make up for it by celebrating every holiday and festival that comes my way! All this coming week, I will be making sweets for Diwali, but today, it is a cookie.

Biscotti are traditional Italian cookies, and the name refers to the fact that these are bakes twice. The dough is first patted into a log, baked until it is about half-cooked, then sliced diagonally into long cookies that are baked again until they are dry and crisp. Traditional bicotti are made from simple ingredients such as flour, sugar and eggs, with an almond and anise flavor (the latter has a flavor similar to fennel/saunf). Biscotti is very hard; a cookie definitely designed for dunking (into sweet wine or espresso, traditionally) rather than just eating out of hand.

Like all other traditional recipes, people like to take the concept and run with it, coming up with all kinds of variations. The recipe I used is a decadent one- full of chocolate and walnuts. This recipe also calls for some butter, and results in a cookie that is soft enough to eat on its own, although it is still delightful when dunked! I used a recipe from Epicurious and, as a trial attempt, halved the recipe to make a dozen biscotti.

Chocolate-Walnut Biscotti

(Adapted from this recipe from Epicurious, makes about 12 biscotti)
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients:
1 C AP flour
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder (I use a fair-trade brand)
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
2. In another bowl, cream together...
3 T soft unsalted butter
1/3 C sugar
3. Beat in 1 egg into the butter-sugar mixture.
4. Stir in the dry ingredients to make the dough. Add 1/2 C toasted chopped walnuts and a handful of chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate).
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pat the dough into a log, place on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until firm to the touch.
6. Cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cutting board and cut into diagonal slices using a serrated knife. At this point, the log can start crumbling, so be careful not to overbake it.
7. Lay the slices on the baking sheet and re-bake for 10-15 minutes on each side or until they are dry. They will become fully crispy as they cool down.

The result was a delicious cookie that was chocolatey to the core! I'm sending the biscotti over to Zlamushka for the Spoonful of Christmas event. This event is all about making and giving home-made food gifts. Biscotti makes a great gift because it is a cookie with a longer shelf life than most other cookies (it does not have much moisture). Place biscotti in a bag, tie it with a beautiful ribbon and these crunchy cookies are all set to make someone's day!

For a gorgeous collection of sweet and savory gift ideas from the kitchen, go visit Zlamushka's round-up.

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I am a little bit of a snack addict. OK, I am ALL snack addict- I might as well face facts. Here is a snack I often fix for myself in the evenings when the snack cravings really attack. Making popcorn from scratch results in no trash (as opposed to the mountain of packaging from the microwave popcorn bags), takes about 5 minutes from start to finish, costs pennies per serving (even though I use organic corn), and gives me a serving of whole grain and some fiber. Apart from that heavenly popcorn aroma that just makes my mouth water in a classic Pavlovian response. I use a microwave simply because mine is a powerful one that does a beautiful job of making popcorn, but it can be made just as easily on the stove top. I remember eating popcorn flavored with salt and turmeric in Indian movie theatres (but V says he has never tasted popcorn with turmeric, so I am a little confused and wondering if my memory is playing tricks). One could flavor popcorn with just about anything in the spice cabinet. or with nothing, and just enjoy the pure corn taste.

Bagless Microwave Popcorn

In a glass bowl, toss together 1/4 C corn (the kind that is for making popcorn), 1 t oil, and a sprinkling of salt and turmeric powder. Cover the bowl *loosely* (I place a lid partially...one could also use a paper plate). Microwave on high. The popping will start, then slow down. Turn off the microwave when there are 2-3 second intervals between pops. In my microwave, this takes about 3.5 minutes.

I might also try popping some plain popcorn and then tempering it to make popcorn chivda. That might be nice for Diwali!

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"Drop In And Decorate"

I wanted to spread the word about a really fun holiday party idea. It comes from a blogger I adore and admire: Lydia of The Perfect Pantry. The festive season always translates into lots of happy gatherings of family and friends. While it is fun to just get together and chat endlessly and eat and drink, it is also a nice change to get together over a common activity. I always seem to have more fun when there is something more to a party, whether it is a board game or a poetry reading, or some arts and crafts.

Lydia has come up with a wonderful idea called Drop In and Decorate: Cookies for Donation. The idea is that family or friends (or neighbors or co-workers or all of the above!) get together and enjoy themselves at a cookie-decorating party: bringing cookies to life with all kinds of whimsical designs and outrageous colors. The cookies are then wrapped up as adorable little one-of-a-kind gifts and donated to any local organization where they will bring cheer to those who are perhaps not as fortunate as we are. After all, local shelters and food pantries provide basic meals, but it is unlikely that families and children facing adverse times will get special treats to make the holidays memorable.



Lydia tells us the engaging story of how this holiday tradition got started. The Drop In and Decorate website has a free downloadable guide for hosting your own cookie decorating party and advice on how and where to donate the beautiful cookies you create. What a wonderful way to have a lot of fun, create something one-of-a-kind with your own hands, and then get a chance to share it with others!

Mirchi ka Salan

Ever since I wrapped up the Indian Vegetables series, I have been slacking off as far as trying new Indian vegetable recipes is concerned. This is such a pity, because one lifetime is already too short to learn all the recipes out there, and I really should not be wasting time! This week, I tried an iconic dish from the city of Hyderabad in India. Mirchi ka salan consists of bell pepper strips cooked in a tangy sesame seed sauce.

The recipe comes from a "new" cookbook I have acquired: Madhur Jaffrey's A Taste of India. I say "new" because although new to me, this book was first published in 1985 and is currently out of print! I read about this book on Anita's blog and knew right away that I wanted to read it and cook from it. Having no luck finding a copy in the local library, I used a gift card given by my darling friend Sujayita (yes, I am so spoiled!) and found a copy online. The recipe calls for green peppers (bell peppers/ capsicums). I used a mixture of green peppers and red peppers for this dish and was very pleased with the sweet and delicately smoky flavor contributed by the red peppers. It also made the dish quite colorful and festive. Of course, one could use any peppers that are available. Don't skip the lemon juice; from what I can tell, it really pulls the flavors of this dish together.

Mirchi ka Salan

(Adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's A Taste of India, makes about 4 servings)
Ingredients:
3 medium-large green peppers
2 medium-large red peppers
1/2 C sesame seeds
1 t desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
2 T oil (I use peanut oil)
1/2 t nigella seeds/ kalonji
1 t mustard seeds
1 t cumin seeds
2 medium onions, chopped fine
2 green chillies, chopped fine
1/2 t red chilli powder (or to taste)
salt to taste
1/2 lemon, freshly juiced
Method:
1. Grind the sesame seeds and desiccated coconut into a fine powder in a spice grinder.
2. Cut the peppers into thick slices.
3. Heat 1 T oil in a heavy pan. Fry the pepper strips on medium-high heat until charred at the edges and slightly wilted. Remove them and set them aside.
4. Heat 1 T oil in the same pan. Temper it with nigella seeds, mustard seeds and cumin.
5. Saute the onion and chillies until the onions are transluscent (but not browned).
6. Add the salt, red chilli powder and sesame-coconut powder and saute for a few minutes.
7. Add a cup of water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the peppers, simmer for a couple of minutes more, then turn off the heat.
8. Stir in the lemon juice before serving.

This is a delicious way to eat those nutritious peppers! The sesame seed paste gives a very pleasantly bitter, rich, grown-up flavor to the vegetables; very enjoyable. For a well-known classic, this dish came together in minutes. I would love to experiment with this recipe- using other vegetables to make some non-classic variations. I imagine some fleshy (for lack of a more appetizing word!) veggies like ridge gourds and zucchini would be delicious in this sauce. Other chillies like poblano peppers would also work beautifully, I think.

I wanted to make some piping hot parathas to go with the vegetable dish. Putting together a use-it-or-lose-it bunch of wilting scallions (also called green onions and spring onions) from the refrigerator and this recipe for Chinese scallion hot cakes, I improvised a scallion paratha. I made some regular roti dough and minced the green and white parts of the scallion. Then, using Gattina's beautiful pictorial instructions, I made the scallion parathas: roll out the dough into a medium circle, sprinkle with scallions, roll into a tube, coil the tube up, flatten and roll again. It helps a great deal if the scallions are very finely minced. Once griddle-baked, these parathas were flaky and delicious, a nice change from the usual plain paratha that I make.

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My October article for the Daily Tiffin: Gifts from the Heart. Have a wonderful weekend!

Weekend Stuff

I have to warn you right now: go grab some garlic and get ready to meet...

Count Dogula has overcome his fear of sunlight, and he has arrived in St. Louis from Transylvania to continue his blood-sucking ways:

He keeps an eye out for his next victim...

...and then he strikes!

After his vampire feast, he needs to sit and relax in the shade for a while :D


So you see, we have had a fun afternoon! The pet costume party was a hilarious circus and all the pups seemed to enjoy themselves. For all those people in the "poor-Dale-tortured-with-costumes" camp, let me tell you that he did not mind it one bit :D

Many *many* thanks for the lovely costume ideas that I got from you all: Mocha suggested a turban and pearl necklace...Maharaja style, Namita suggested a cowboy look, Bulbul suggested "SuperDale" and Cathy and Lindy also suggested the superhero look, Moon Rani suggested "WatchDog" (superhero with a twist!), Reva suggested the "little devil" look, Dhana suggested "Underdog". I was torn between all these wonderful ideas and went with "Dogula" mostly because I found the right fabric for it, and thought the name was cute (I did not make up the name "dogula", by the way. I came across it on some website selling ready-made pet costumes). But Dale is set for the next few halloweens with these ideas :)

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These days, I have been cooking quick meals based on some of our favorite dishes, rather than trying anything new. However, here are some vegetable dishes that I tried in the last couple of weeks, inspired by fellow bloggers. With such delicious recipes, you can't help but gobble your vegetables.

1. Spicy Sweet Potato Fries from Kalyn

I have said this before, and I will say it again: it is a pity that we don't eat more sweet potatoes. This lovely vegetable seems to be reserved for rare occasions (Thanksgiving in the US, fasting days in Maharashtra) but is nutritious and delicious enough to be consumed once a week, at least. I jumped for joy when I saw this recipe on Kalyn's blog. The spice mixture in that recipe sounds delicious, but I have been making these with simple combinations like cumin-black pepper, chilli powder-cumin-coriander with superb results! The sugars in the sweet potato brown beautifully as it roasts, lending a delightful caramel flavor to the fries. I have been making this recipe once or twice a week since I laid eyes on it.

2. No-deep-fry Gobi Manchurian from Zlamushka

Now that I own a wok, I have been trying to use it more. This recipe caught my eye because it makes my favorite Indian-Chinese dish, gobi manchurian, without the pain of deep-frying those cauliflower florets. Here is the way I made it: Heated some peanut oil in the wok, stir-fried cauliflower florets at high heat until they seared well and were tender. In a separate pan, made a sauce using onion, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, red chilli sauce, sugar and some Sichuan chilli-bean paste. I thickened the sauce with some cornstarch paste. Then I added the florets to the sauce, along with some sliced green onions. I was too lazy to make fried rice on the side, so I cooked some whole-wheat noodles and stirred them into the sauce to make a one-dish meal. Yes, I know the food police can arrest you for using Italian-style pasta in place of Chinese noodles (the two are very different). Yes, I know that this concoction of noodles and faux gobi manchurian must seem very strange and "wrong". But we love the heartiness of the whole wheat noodles, and this dish just hit the spot! And that is all I really care about :)

3. Masale Bhaat from Ashwini

Moving from unholy concoctions to a very traditional and time-honored dish! Masale bhaat (literally, spiced rice) is a must at Maharashtrian wedding and feasts. Ashwini's recipe yields a masale bhaat that is astonishingly authentic- the aroma of the cooking rice itself will surely result in a skipped heartbeat among those who know and love this dish (and possibly have not eaten it for ages and ages). The rice requires only a dry spice mix (easy to make in a spice grinder) and comes together so quickly and easily that it is almost belongs on the weeknight menu. I never have access to the tondli (ivy gourd) that is traditionally used in this dish, so I use mixed vegetables instead, with great results. Here, I served it with some stir-fried mustard greens and some solkadi (the latter is a traditional accompaniment to masale bhaat). The solkadi turned out so incredibly tasty, and shocking-pink(!), because of the lovely newly-dried "kokum" sent by my aunt from the Konkan coast, which were so much better than the ones I usually buy from the store. Home-made trumping store-bought...what else is new, right?

4. Udipi Sambar from Padma.

I think by now everyone has tried this incredible sambar that Padma blogged about, and I am happy to jump on to the bandwagon. The usual sambar that I make (and love) is very different from the one served in those Udipi restaurants that I so miss. The sambar served with those endless idli and dosa platters has a hint of sweetness and a hint of coconut. I have been looking for a good recipe replicating that taste, and have found it! This sambar was so delicious, with its freshly-ground masala and a sweet-spicy taste. We enjoyed it with crispy dosas, then with plain steamed rice, and it was tasty every which way.

Many thanks to all the bloggers for helping me bring new tastes to our tables and keep meals interesting, even when life gets a bit busy! Have a great week, everyone!

Hummus and Kibbeh

A few people have recently asked me what I think of the vegetarian dining-out options in St. Louis. I am just starting to find out, actually. We moved here from NYC with zero expectations, and if every restaurant in town had been selling barbecue, I would not have blinked en eyelid. So it has been a pleasant surprise to find that almost every weekend, we are able to find a new place to try. I have no idea if any St. Louis residents actually read this blog, but more for my own record than anything else, I have started a small restaurant list here (there is a link in the right side-bar as well). Anyway, last weekend, we particularly enjoyed a dinner at a very cute local restaurant called "Stellina Pasta Cafe". It had been one of those exhausting weeks where the days went by in a blur, and with the rush between work and school and household chores and dog-rearing, V and I barely got a chance to have a normal conversation. A relaxed dinner with good food really cheered us up that Saturday evening! Grilled pita served with hummus and olives is probably the most common appetizer on restaurant menus in this country today, but this cafe did an exceptional job with it. I've made hummus once or twice before at home, it never really turned out well, and as we drove home, I reminded myself to give it another shot.

I happened to be thumbing through Suvir Saran's new book American Masala the next day (many thanks to the publishers for sending me a review copy), and lo and behold, came upon a recipe for toasted garlic hummus. I took it as a sign, and ended up making the hummus last night for dinner.
This is a very interesting cookbook- rather than focusing on one region, one course or one genre, it embraces the multifaceted nature of us home cooks. Like curious magpies hoarding shiny objects, cooking enthusiasts seem to collect recipes as they go along in their culinary lives. No matter what food we grew up eating and what cuisine we normally cook, our repertoire evolves into a unique collection that tells the story of our life- whom we met, where we have travelled, what tastes we lean towards. One recipe may be the hallmark of a local festival that we have started to celebrate; another may be learnt years ago from Grandma. Yet another may be from some out-of-print cookbook that we found at a garage sale. Well, this cookbook is essentially like taking a peek into Saran's personal recipe file- except that, instead of yellowing lined notepaper with ball-point scribblings (I only imagine his notebook looks like this because mine does!), it is a lush cookbook with vibrant photographs in jewel tones. This tendency of developing a wildly assorted recipe collection is especially true of those of us who live in foreign lands, and especially true of the US where so many cultures live and eat together. A single chapter in Saran's cookbook has dishes ranging from enchiladas to lasagna, from paella to biryani. Isn't this just the crazy way many of us eat today? Many of the dishes reminded me of the same things that so many bloggers tend to do: take a dish, apply a unique twist and make it your own. In this cookbook, for instance, I came across unusual flavor pairings such as cardamom-roasted cauliflower and chocolate-hazelnut torte with ginger, cloves and cayenne. The book has both vegetarian and meat-seafood dishes, everything from breakfast to desserts.

Coming back to the hummus: it is commonly made with canned chickpeas. In my hands, that does not work so well for some reason and I feel like the resulting hummus tastes "pasty" and "raw". This time, I soaked the chickpeas and pressure-cooked them, with much better results. I used way more (1 whole head) roasted garlic than what Saran suggested (2 cloves). Roasted garlic has a mellow flavor and I like using it generously. Also, he suggests using a broiler to toast the garlic- and I just used my toaster oven. The combination of toasted cumin and roasted garlic is so delicious here.

Roasted Garlic Hummus

(adapted from Suvir Saran's American Masala)
1. Roast 1 head of garlic until the cloves are soft (see methods here and here). Peel the skin off.
2. In a food processor bowl fitted with the metal blade, place 2 C chickpeas (preferably home-cooked, but canned should work too), 2 heaped T tahini (sesame seed paste), 2 T extra-virgin olive oil, juice of 1 lemon, peeled roasted garlic, 1 t toasted cumin seeds, red chilli flakes to taste, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Process, adding a little water if required, to a smooth paste. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice if required. Serve with olives (I bought some delicious marinated olives from the olive bar at Whole Foods) and wedges of toasted pitas.

I wanted a hearty main course to go with this hummus platter, and decided to try a recipe that had been long book-marked: Potato Kibbeh from Vegan Feast Kitchen. The post gives a lot of interesting information about kibbeh- delicious morsels of potato and bulgur wheat. The recipe is easy easy- olive oil and sliced onions layered in a baking pan, a mashed potato-soaked bulgur (uncooked)-cinnamon-herb mixture layered on top, drizzled with more olive oil and baked until golden. Cinnamom gives a unique aroma to this dish, for sure.

I halved the recipe but loved it so much that I will definitely be making it again, especially when I have hungry hordes to feed! I used coarse bulgur because that was what I had on hand- but will look for a fine one next time I make this. I was also a big bore, as usual, and reduced the oil in the recipe, but it was delicious anyway. To serve with the baked kibbeh squares, I made an impromptu tzatziki-inspired sauce with yogurt, minced garlic, minced cucumber, cilantro and salt, and the combination was delicious.

P. S. You know that fall/winter is here when my food photos take a nosedive :D When supper-time rolls along, it is already dark outside and I have to take pictures in artificial light. Hence that awful yellow glow on the pictures. I need to learn how to take pictures in artificial light. Have a great week, everyone!

Creamy Coconut-Tofu Rice

This recipe was born on a fridge-cleaning Friday night. We enjoyed it so much that I made it again a few times. One time, a friend joined us for dinner and asked for the recipe. I got the feeling that this dish had earned its place on the blog, so here it is. It just could not be simpler: vegetables and rice are cooked in a mixture of coconut milk and water. Cubes of soft tofu are added to the simmering rice. The resulting creamy rice, mildly spiced and dotted with melt-in-the-mouth tofu, is much more than the sum of its parts.

Coconut-Tofu Rice

Ingredients:
1 C rice (I used sona masuri)
2 C chopped mixed vegetables (eg. spinach, beans, peas, carrots)
1 t oil
1 small onion, sliced
8-10 curry leaves
1 t cumin seeds
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t red chilli powder (or to taste)
1 t sambar masala (or your favorite spice blend...I used a gava kadcha (rustic) masala gifted by an aunt)
Salt to taste
3/4 C thick coconut milk
2.5 C hot water
1 heaped cup soft tofu cubes (about 1/2 of a standard block)
Garnish:
Wedges of lemon
3-4 spring onion stalks (green parts, sliced) or cilantro, minced
Method:
1. Heat the oil, temper with curry leaves and cumin seeds, and saute the onion until the edges start browning.
2. Stir in the salt, turmeric, chilli powder, and your masala of choice, then saute the vegetables for a couple of minutes.
3. Stir in the rice, coconut milk and water, and bring to a boil.
4. Gently arrange the tofu cubes in the rice mixture, and then cover the pan and simmer until the rice is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.
5. Serve hot, garnished with fresh herbs and lemon wedges. This dish tastes best when it is freshly made. The picture you see here is of the leftovers, taken the next day, and by this time, most of the creaminess has been absorbed into the rice. Still tasty, though!

This rice is delicious when paired with a crunchy kachumbar, a simple salad of any combination of tomato-onion-cucumber-carrot-cabbage-radish dressed with a little salt, pepper and lemon juice. I have also served it with a medley of roasted vegetables with tasty results.

An interesting variation would be to use Thai curry paste instead of the Indian spices, to make a Thai-inspired rice. Or use generous amounts of either ginger or garlic (in the saute step) to make rice with a more distinctive flavor.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Soup and Spirals

The weather here in St. Louis is starting to change...fall is finally inching its way here. A few nights ago, a sudden chill inspired me to root around for something warm and hearty for supper. The fridge was rather empty, but I had half a batch of pizza dough in the freezer. Together with pantry supplies like brown lentils and canned tomato, this light meal was thrown together in 30-40 minutes. The aroma of simmering soup and baking bread in the kitchen is so therapeutic at the end of a long day.

The inspiration for the pizza dough spirals comes from a two-sentence post for savory bread rolls on the blog The Casual Baker. The method is analogous to that of the sinfully delicious cinnamon rolls, except that these are savory little bites with a tasty mixture of garlic, olives and red pepper flakes tucked inside. You could use just about any "filling" here- like pesto or chopped sun dried tomatoes, or minced herbs, or just crushed peppercorns. If you are a fan of cheese, that would make a nice filling too.

Pizza Dough Spirals

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
1. Make the filling by combining 3-4 cloves minced garlic, 1/3 cup chopped olives (I used black Kalamata olives) and 1 t red pepper flakes (or to taste).
2. On a floured surface, roll out/ pat out the (thawed) pizza dough into a fairly thin rectangle. I used a half-batch of this dough to yield about 10 spirals.
3. Brush the dough lightly with olive oil, sprinkle the filling on it and roll up into one long roll.
4. With a sharp knife, cut the roll into slices. Place the slices cut-side down on an oiled baking sheet. Brush with more olive oil (optional) and bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden.
5. Serve piping hot with some soup or just as a snack. It is a real treat to pull apart these crispy spirals and tuck into the fresh-baked bread.

The soup I made was an extremely simple Tomato Lentil Soup, essentially a tadka-less dal. Because I was serving the soup with these flavorful spirals, I did not load it up with other flavors. Otherwise, I would have added some garlic and red pepper flakes to the soup. There is barely a recipe here...but in case anyone is interested, here is the general method. It makes 3-4 servings.
1. Heat 1 t olive oil in a saucepan and saute 1 sliced onion until lightly browned.
2. Add 0.5 C washed brown lentils (whole masoor), 1.5 C tomato puree (fresh or canned), 2 C water, salt and pepper and let the whole thing simmer until the lentils are meltingly tender. Add more water if the soup feels too thick. Turn off the heat and taste the soup. Add some lemon juice or a sprinkle of sugar to balance out the flavors if necessary.
A garnish of fresh herbs would be delicious, but I had none on hand.

These fresh-baked spirals are my humble contribution to World Bread Day '07. Many thanks to Zorra for hosting this event. 2007 has been the year when I have really started to make breads- both our Indian flatbreads and other breads- on a regular basis, and it is such a rewarding experience each time! I look forward to plenty of bread-making inspiration in the round-up.

One in a Million

This is a non-food post

Actually, make that 1 in 6 billion. That is what each of us is, a teeny drop in an ocean of humanity. If, like me, you are a card-carrying pessimist, then that number will make you feel terribly small and insignificant, and helpless about doing anything for this wounded world we live in. But when I get melancholy about this, a little voice in my head says, "ek chidiya, anek chidiya"...the words of a Hindi children's animation that I simply loved as a kid (nostalgic folks can see it here on YouTube). To be fair, that adorable little animation talks about national unity, but the spirit is the same: if enough people put their mind to something, big changes can happen.

Blog Action Day

October 15th is Blog Action Day, when thousands of bloggers come together and post their thoughts on the subject of our environment. The environment can mean a lot of things- the air we breathe, our food and drink, the flora and fauna we share our world with. A healthy environment also means justice, fairness and an equitable sharing of resources. It means that people should stop exploiting each other and share a little. Or be made to.

I have realized that in our complicated world, an ordinary person like me has at least two trump cards in her hand: knowledge and money. Knowledge because I have the privilege of knowing how to read and write, and access to media of all kinds, including the behemoth internet. Money because every person (wealthy or not) who earns and lives in this material world is making a choice every time they spend a rupee, a dollar, whatever unit of currency. Instead of feeling helpless, I can try and learn about the world and its workings, and then use my power as a consumer to make choices about how I spend my money (or not) and how I live my life.

In the recent past, I have learnt...
...about the unfair trade practices that keep farmers in poor countries under economic slavery. I have started to vote for fairness by buying fair trade products whenever I can find them (coffee and cocoa are two that are starting to becoming widely available in the US).
...about the disgusting employment practices of companies like Walmart, who build their empires on the lives on those minimum-wage workers who toil for them. They won't get a cent from me if I can help it. I might find a dirt-cheap toaster at Walmart but someone else is paying the price for it.
...about supporting companies who manage to do a good job. Once companies realize that people want fair employee and trade practices, eco-friendly ingredients and packaging, and will buy products and services only when these conditions are met, then change will come fast.
...about the fact that "biodegradable" isn't! Products touted as "biodegradable" are tested under optimum conditions of degradation. Our trash ends up in a landfill where even a banana peel isn't likely to decompose! "Reduce" is the way to go, avoiding paper plates and the like altogether.
...about becoming less of a consumer altogether, and finding that life is much simpler and happier that way. My mother does a good imitation of me wringing my hands and saying, "I *hate* STUFF. Who needs all this stuff? Stop buying me more stuff, Aai, and stop buying all this stuff yourself". It amuses her no end when I start my hate-stuff rant, but hating "stuff" (random things cluttering up my home) makes me a happier person :D
...about the cruel nature of breeding pure-bred dogs to satisfy pet fanciers. If you want a pet, don't BUY it, adopt it from the streets or from the local animal shelter. You will have a pet who is one-of-a-kind look and personality, unlike the inbred near-clones with kennel club certificates. I'm proud to say that all my friends have rescued pets, and it is the cutest menagerie you ever saw.

I hope to keep reading and learning and increasing my awareness of how I could change my ways to more fair and eco-friendly ones. Meanwhile, action starts at home, and one of the top places in the home where potential waste can be minimized is the kitchen. Madhuli tagged me for the What's in your Fridge? meme. My experience is that an overfilled, messy fridge is the best way to waste large amounts of food, because (a) you never find anything you need and end up ordering take-out (b) you forget what you already have and buy more of everything (c) you never get to the food, and it sits there and is thrown out after a few weeks. For the last year or two, my fridge has strict "zones" and zero waste.

From the top...
Top shelf: Beverages on the sides (milk/ fruit juice on the left, coffee and beer on the right), cooked (ready-to-eat) food in the middle where I can see it and use it for the nest meal or two, or for lunch-boxes.
Middle shelf: Eggs, cheese, tofu on the left, right side is reserved for "carbs"- bread, tortillas, today there is some dosa batter as well.
Below that is a small compartment for Dale's canned food, then the shelf below has fruits, dry fruits and occasional sweet treats. We are not big fruit eaters, but when I cut up the fruit and save it in boxes, making it convenient to eat, it disappears fast.
Bottom-most shelf is for codiments/preserves that don't fit in the door, and for containers with some coconut milk/ canned tomatoes, half-used veggies...any ingredient that is left over from a recipe and needs to be used up in 2-3 days. The lowest crisper trays (not in the picture) are stuffed with vegetables, which get used all through the week and then in some fridge-cleaning recipe on Thursday or Friday night.
All the food we possibly eat can fit into one or the other zones, and then I know exactly where everything is, which means it is not left to perish in loneliness, plus I don't keep the fridge door open hunting down stuff. Rigid as this system sounds, it actually works :D What are your fridge-organization tips? Write this meme and tell us!

Subscribe to Smiles

On the subject of sharing what we have to make the world a better place, I wanted to spread the word about a very worthy cause. The Feed A Hungry Child campaign has taken on the mission of feeding hungry children, one at a time. This is the vision of a fellow blogger VKN of My Dhaba. Please chip in by clicking below and donate whatever amount you wish. Share a meal with a child...you will be rewarded with smiles!

Update: As if smiles were not enough, there are now some very cool prizes to sweeten the deal! Visit Mahanandi to buy one raffle ticket for every 25$ donation. The prizes in the raffle include cookbooks, photography books, spice extracts, children's saris and restaurant dinners!

Weekend Stuff

Dale places a possessive paw on his new toy, a moose.

Moose-y has a head that squeaks when it is pressed, and Dale loves to carry it around in his mouth all over the place. We have a Halloween pet parade in our neighborhood in a couple of weeks, and I'm dying to get Dalu into a costume for the occasion (he looks miserable every time I talk about it :D...Dale prefers the au naturel look). Any ideas for a simple doggie costume for this handsome pooch?

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Some delicious recipes from fellow bloggers:

1. I love roasted cauliflower in all its shapes and forms. Susan, the Food Blogga, posted a Crispy Breaded Cauliflower recipe that made my knees go weak. The idea of dipping florets into egg whites and then into breadcrumbs, then baking them to a glorious crispy finish- I took that concept and tried a variation of it. I made masala breadcrumbs by whizzing together 2 dried-out old slices of bread, 1 t cumin seeds, 1 t ajwain (carom seeds), red chilli powder, 1 T olive oil and salt in the food processor. The only problem: I was not able to get very fine breadcrumbs. I then dipped florets in beaten egg white, rolled them in the masala breadcrumbs and baked them as directed.

The result was so delicious and supremely crunchy. The coarse breadcrumbs did not stick on as well as they should have, hence the patchy look of the cauliflower, but this is totally worth a repeat. Maybe next time I will buy some panko (Japanese style breadcrumbs) and then spice them up. Of course, I also have to try out Susan's original recipe with the olive tapenade (there, my knees are going weak again).

2. For many months, I have been making my usual crunchy granola with minor variations. But I discovered an awesome granola recipe last week that is sure to become the new favorite. This recipe for small batch crunchy granola was shared by Anna of Cookie Madness.

I did follow the recipe exactly as it is, only scaling it up to 3 cups granola to fill a full-size cookie sheet. Oats and nuts are tossed with a sugar-water-vanilla mixture, then baked at a lower temperature for a longer time. The result, I have to admit, is a lot crunchier than my usual granola, and it stayed that way over the several days that we enjoyed this granola. And one ingredient is conspicuous by its absence; there is **no oil** in this recipe. YAY!

3. Finally, a delicious treat that I always thought was too challenging to make at home, made easy by a fellow blogger. Besan ladoos are made from a toasted chickpea flour-sugar-ghee (clarified butter) mixture, shaped into portion-controlled treats by loving hands.

Tee from Bhaatukli has shared an awesome recipe for microwave besan ladoo that takes all the effort out of besan ladoo-making. I followed her directions exactly and needed about 7-8 1-minute bursts in my microwave for the chickpea flour to get all fragrant and toasty. The last step, shaping the ladoos, is a workout that requires all the strength in your fist to get beautiful ladoos like Tee's. Mine were passable :) I took the ladoos over to the home of our friends. All four of us that were gathered there had not tasted besan ladoos for years and years, and the look of pure joy on our faces as we bit into these...priceless!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

The Heart of the Matter is a food blog event with a difference- like many other events, you make a dish every month based on a theme, BUT with one important criterion: the food has to be heart-friendly and healthful! It is a wonderful challenge to think of the food we eat and come up with something that is both delicious and better for the body. The round-ups are collected in the HotM blog so that we can all have a handy collection of recipes to try out. The theme this month, hosted by Joanna is something that is rarely heart-friendly: Baking.

I wonder if anyone ever goes out and buys bananas with the specific intention of making banana bread. Unlike other sweet treats, banana bread always seems to be an after-thought. An emergency culinary operation to save over-ripe bananas from the trash-can, and to save our conscience from the distress of having wasted good food. Well, the banana bread that follows was also a rescue mission to salvage two rapidly ripening bananas. I found a recipe on the Vegetarian Times website that looked a little different from the usual banana bread recipes. After trying it, I realized that it could fit into the heart-healthy theme of the event above and decided to send it in.

Why is this recipe more heart-healthy than most baked treats?
1. It uses fiber-rich whole-wheat flour.
2. The source of fat is mainly peanut butter, which is a rich source of protein, micronutrients and "good" fats.

I made a couple more changes in the original recipe: (a) reduced the sugar and added some molasses (see note below) instead, (b) substituted milk for half of the oil. One might think of making this recipe even less fatty by substituting 2-3 egg whites for the one whole egg, and applesauce for the oil. The chocolate chips are optional, but oh so delicious. Perhaps the most heart-friendly device with respect to sweet treat is sharing them, just like our parents always instructed us to: cutting the loaf into small portion slices and sharing them with lots of friends ensures that you enjoy it without over-indulging. Next time, I might bake this in a 8 x 8 baking pan instead of a loaf pan to be able to cut smaller portions easily.

A digression: Molasses is a by-product of sugar production.
It has a deep color and a robust taste to match (the way jaggery has a distinct taste; unlike refined sugar which is just baldly sweet). The taste of molasses might be an acquired one; I grew up in a region that is teeming with sugarcane fields and sugar factories, and did acquire the taste early in life (molasses is called kakvi in Marathi). It is a great choice for a sweetener because it has lots of micronutrients- these factories work hard to remove all possible nutrients from sugar while refining it and many of them end up in the byproduct, molasses. Of course, because of its deep taste, molasses won't work in all baked goods, but is delicious in banana bread (as I can testify) and ginger cookies and gingerbread, and worth experimenting with in other breads and baked goods. I've tried it in carrot halwa with delicious results. The bottle you see here is organic fair-trade molasses that I found in Whole Foods.

PB Banana Bread with CC

(adapted from Vegetarian Times, makes 1 loaf)
1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Spray a loaf pan with oil.

3. Dry ingredients: In a large bowl, mix
1 C white whole-wheat flour
1/3 C sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt

4. Wet ingredients: In a medium bow, mix
2 medium over-ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 C unsweetened crunchy peanut butter
1/4 C plain non-fat yogurt
1 large egg
1 T oil
1 T low-fat milk
2 T molasses

5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredient bowl and stir gently to combine. Stir in 1/3 C chocolate chips.

6. Pour the batter into loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool, slice and serve.

The Verdict: Utterly delicious! I ate a slice just after baking this loaf, and it was divine. The molasses and banana flavors seem to be made for each other. The crunch and richness of the peanut butter, coming upon the ocassional gooey chocolate chip- this recipe is a keeper. This is worth going out and buying bananas for!

P.S. If you don't like peanut butter, you might want to make this delicious nutella variation from Daily Musings.

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A note to fellow bloggers: If you are interested, please do participate in Blog Action Day 2007, simply by writing a post on any issue related to the environment on Monday, October 15th.

Indian Toast?

Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi are hosting a new themed food photography event. The event, called CLICK, kicks off this month with the theme: Eggs!



Eggs are on the weekend brunch menu nearly every weekend at our home. We are loyal to our favorite dishes, and I love a spicy, savory brunch, so it is usually a choice between Pateta par Eeda, Egg-Onion Float, Omelette, and a fourth eggy dish that I have not blogged yet, French toast, Indian style. 

This last dish is completely unlike American-style French toast, which is usually rich and sweet, and drenched in syrup or showered with sugar. Indian French toast kicks it up a notch, with flecks of green chillies and cilantro clinging to savory golden brown fried bread (I wonder what the French think of either of these two types of "French" toast). It would be so much more elegant to serve the Indian-style French toast with a sweet and sour chutney or relish, but I am a slave to nostalgia, and eat my French toast with ketchup, exactly the way I loved it as a child.

Indian French Toast

(makes 2 hearty brunch servings)
1. In a shallow bowl, beat 3 eggs.
2. Add 2 T finely minced onion, 1-2 finely minced green chillies, 2 T finely minced cilantro, 1 T milk/ cream and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Dip 4 slices of bread (stale bread works great!) into the eggy mixture for a couple of minutes on each side, to allow the egg mixture to soak through.
4. Fry on a lightly oiled skillet until golden brown on each side.

The food blog world is home to some highly talented photographers; their creativity far exceeds that of the pros whose pictures are splashed across food magazines and advertisements, in my opinion. I have a lot to learn from them. While I love taking pictures of food to go along with my posts, I never get around to spending the time and effort, and mustering the creative energy to pull off "real" shoots. A complex combination of greed and impatience (and hungry looks from friends and family who are waiting to dig in) ensures that I shoot my food on the double. So this entry to their event is purely for fun and in the spirit of participation!

The pictures, as usual, were taken at top speed, before the precious toast got too cold to eat. I used a Canon PowerShot digital camera with the Macro mode. I usually do use the Macro mode because food shots are close-ups. And I never use a flash, mostly because I have yet to take a decent food picture using a flash!

I liked these two pictures and I can't choose between them: #1 has three bright contrasting colors on the white background of the plate- green herbs, red ketchup (no food is as shamelessly red as ketchup, is it??), and the golden-brown toast. This looks quite cheerful to me. In picture #2, I tried to get arty :D with a fork tempting the viewer to take a bite (don't laugh, I'm trying my best here). Many thanks to Kalyn for the thoughtful gift of that gorgeous "prop" fork.

Please help me choose one picture as the entry. Leave a comment telling me whether you prefer picture #1 or #2; thanks a ton for your input! I'll count the votes on Thursday night and send off the higher-vote picture as my entry.

#1: A Bright Start to the Day


#2: Won't You Take a Bite?


P.S.: I spent some time working on the Recipe Index and I hope it will be a bit more user-friendly now. The internal links should make it easier to browse through the index.