Appe - Amchi breakfast

Appe is one of my favorite Amchi breakfast. When I say Amchi it means from my community - Saraswat Brahmins. We have a huge collection of breakfast items to boast about. Growing up my mom would make a variety of amchi breakfast items.I haven't even tried my hand at quarter of them.
These are like little UFO's and you can make them plain or add mustard seeds while making it or some people layer some jaggery and coconut mixture in between the batter to make them sweet.
We like ours plain with some fresh coconut chutney. The batter used is the same as dosa batter you just don't dilute the batter. There is a special tawa you use for this.

So here goes the recipe:

1 cup urad dal (split black lentils)
2 cups rice
handful poha (optional but helps make them soft)
1tsp methi seeds/fenugreek seeds (optional - I add this just for the health benefits of methi)
Salt
Oil

Method:
Soak urad dal and rice in water for about 6 hours or more. Grind with poha (washed in water to make it soft or you can soak it with the rice). Now grind this with very little water. Keep overnight for fermentation in a warm place.
Mix salt in the morning as sometimes adding salt before makes the batter ferment more and sour. It also depends on the weather. During summers its easier to ferment the batter but during winters you can add a little salt and close the vessel the batter is in and keep in a warm dark place like in the oven (the oven should be switched off)
Mix the batter well after adding salt.
Heat the appe tava & spray little oil or use less than a drop in each appe space. Pour the batter in the appe tava. Cover and cook. When it is fried from one side, turn & cook on other side. Serve hot with chutney.

Chutney Ingredients:
1 cup fresh grated coconut ( if using frozen defrost it before use)
3/4th cup Cilantro/coriander leaves or more as per taste
1 small piece of ginger
3 cloves of garlic
3 green chillies
Salt

Grind the above ingredients for cilantro chutney OR

1 cup fresh grated coconut ( if using frozen defrost it before use)
1 small piece of ginger
1/4 tspn tamarind extract
2  green chilies
Salt
Grind the above ingredients for ginger chutney
 
For tadka/seasoning:
Oil
1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
5-6 curry leaves
1 red chili broken into 2 pieces

Heat oil in a small pan add the mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add curry leaves, broken red chilies. Fry for few minutes and add this tadka over the ground chutney.

You can also make garlic chutney with 1 cup coconut, 3-4 cloves garlic, 2-3 Kashmiri red chillies grind this together and add tadka. You can also add me tamarind extract while grinding the chutney.

 

Slow Cooker Bean and Beef stew

We have lots of dried beans in our pantry which we rarely cook.The other day while I was cleaning the pantry my hubby suggested we use these beans. I was wondering if I had to cook one bean dish a day to consume so many different types of beans. Hubby said why don't we make some bean soup (which he is good at making but doesn't have the time to) so I decided to make a bean and beef soup with some veggies.
Our internet was down that day so I couldn't go online to check any recipes so I ended up making my own version. You will find many different ones online. To be honest anything that you cook in a slow cooker tastes good so I was not worried. I had a can of Hunt's tomatoes which was supposed to go bad in two months and I had no clue why I had purchased it as we don't eat canned food. I thought I should add it in here and use it up.

Ingredients:

2 cups Bean mix (you can use the store bought mix but I just mixed different beans like Garbanzo, Kidney, lima, black eyed peans, big white beans, red lentils, whole brown lentils, whole yellow peas etc.) Soaked in water for atleast 6 hours
4 carrots peeled and cut into big pieces
1 potato peeled and cut (optional I didn't add it)
1 can Hunts Tomatoes or 2 big tomatoes chopped into small pieces
6-8 cloves of garlic chopped
lamb/Beef cut into small pieces fat cut out and washed (use cuts for stewing)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
6 peppercorns
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
Salt

Soak the beans/lentils for atleast 6 hours in water. Discard the water and wash them once before use.
In a slow cooker add  the garlic, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes, meat, beans, all the dried herbs, peppercorns, bay leaves and the spice powders. Add around 1-2 cups of water and some salt. Close the slow cooker and set on 10 hours slow cooking (I did 6 hours slow and 4 hours high).
You will smell the flavors blend and the whole house will be filled with the flavors of the hearty bean soup.
Once the soup is ready adjust salt mix well and enjoy.
The soup is very filling so I didn't serve it with any bread.

Note:
You can skip the meat and only add root veggies like carrots, potatoes, butternut squash, sweet potatoes etc.
Some people add 2-3 tbspn of peanut butter for flavor - it's the African bean soup recipe.
If you don't have a slow cooker you can make it it a high pressure cooker or just in a pot on the stove top. Just make sure you soak the beans for longer preferably overnight.
I did freeze some soup for later use and it was handy when we didn't have time to cook and were starving.

**Apologies for the messy bowl I just poured the soup in the bowl and clicked the pic will do a better job the next time.

Grilled Cajun Fish

We have been walking and trying to eat healthy. The walking part is not a challenge, eating healthy is! I am not a diet food fan and I need my meals to be tasty. I am fond of spicy food so I thought a combination of spices and fish will be a tasty and healthy idea. I looked through my freezer and found a packet of Mahi Mahi fillets. Mahi Mahi is a white fish from the pampano dolphin fish family. It is not dolphin and not related to the dolphin family according to wikipedia. I guess it is a Hawaiian fish and it is pretty expensive.
So I defrosted the fish while I attended to other chores and decided to grill the fish and serve it with steamed veggies. I had a bunch of Chinese broccoli at hand which my hubby is in love with so I decided to steam it.

I had a big bottle of Tones Cajun Seasoning which interestingly my aunt back in India had introduced me to. She used it as a marination for frying pomfret (a sea fish found in India). My MIL, mom  and sister love it too so I end up taking bottles back to India when I visit. Cajun is the name for Louisiana style cooking which is spicy and has some French influences as well. Cajun seasoning is a blend of herbs, garlic, hot peppers (cayenne, paprika), black pepper and salt.

Ingredients:

4 Mahi-Mahi fillets or any firm white fish
1-2 tsbpn Cajun Seasoning or more if you want it spicier
PAM's olive oil spray or few drops of olive oil
1 lime (juice)

Defrost fish fillets and wash and dry them with a kitchen towel.
Now in a bowl put the fillets and coat them with the Cajun seasoning. Make sure all the fillets are coated well. Keep aside for 15 mins and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Now drizzle some olive oil or spray it on the fillets and on a baking pan lined with foil. Place the fish on the foil and place the pan in the oven for 20-22 mins or until the fish is cooked. Broil for a min or two for a crispy fillet.
Squeeze some lime juice and enjoy.

Note:
If you can't find the Cajun seasoning just marinate the fillets with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, thyme, oregano, black pepper, red pepper flakes and salt.
The seasoning already has salt so I didn't add an more but taste your seasoning before using it and add salt according to your taste.
You can use the Cajun seasoning with turmeric powder and some red chili powder and marinate any fish then coat it with semolina or rice flour and fry it. This is the Indian way of frying fish.

Noodle Soup

When you are on a full blown cleaning spree and have no time to cook something elaborate, this is  the end result, a yummy soup. I am not sure how healthy the noodle part is but the clear soup is surely very healthy. I just added the noodle so it would be a filling bowl of soup and suffice both of us.
I had lots of chicken broth from boiling chicken, to make chicken salad for pita pocket sandwiches for our lunch. I always save the broth and make soups or use it for fried rice, it gives the rice great flavor.

Here goes the recipe

2 cups chicken broth (boil chicken till it is cooked removed chicken and use broth - I used plain skinless chicken breasts)
1/2 cup shredded boiled chicken
Rice noodles or any noodles or pasta
2-3 tbspn green/spring onion
1/4 tsp red chili paste/sauce (I used Sriracha)
Salt & pepper

Heat the broth if it is cold add 1 cup water to it and boil add the rice noodles or pasta, shredded chicken, some green onion, chili paste, salt & pepper.
Let it boil adjust seasoning. Once the rice noodles are cooked put them in a bowl and garnish wth more green onions.
Enjoy a cup of this soup on a rainy day!

Note:
My Chinese friend Z once told me when you boil chicken or any meat to make the broth they first place the chicken in a pot add cold water and once it boils they throw away that water and refill the pot and let it boil again. This ensures all the fat and toxins from the meat are washed away.
Guess this is one of the tricks the Chinese use to remain skinny ;)  I have started doing the same!

Quinoa Pulao

I am literally starving while typing this post. Though I have a plate of this delicious and healthy quinoa pulao ready but its piping hot so I have to wait for it to cool down a bit. I bought few packets of quinoa from Trader Joe's. The one that I used in this pulao is a mix of white and red quinoa.

Quinoa is a grain packed with proteins and is native to south America. It's a good substitute to rice.
Usually I make a salad out of it but today I thought I should give it a desi tadka and make an Indian version of it.

So I went ahead and made some quinoa pulao packed with Indian spices..here goes the recipe..

2 cups Quinoa (Soaked in warm water for 20 mins and drained)
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped fine
1/2 cup peas
whole garam masala (1 bay leaf, 4 peppercorns, 1 small piece cinnamon and 1/4 tsp whole cumin)
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
1tsp oil


Heat oil in a kadai/wok once hot add the whole garam masala when they sizzle then add the onion and garlic and fry till brown. Now add the tomatoes and all the dry powders and mix well till the tomatoes are soft. Now add the peas and mix well and and the drained quinoa. Mix well so all the masalas coat the grains. Add salt and 3 cups hot water cover and cook for around 20 mins or till quinoa is cooked.
Fluff with fork and garnish with cilantro/coriander leaves.

Note:
You can add other veggies like corn, carrots, potatoes etc.

Fish Hariyali/Hirwa Masala

I 

I am trying to cook healthy dishes these days.. yeah I am undoing 31 years of eating! I wish there was a delete button for that. Ofcourse I have enjoyed every bite of food till date but I wish good food was not fattening or I was inclined to work out everyday!
So I decided to make chapati and fish hariyali masala or hirwa masala. I remember eating this at Chakra at Saki Naka (Bombay) they make the best fish green masala, I guess that's what they call it! Even Bharat Excellency at Fort (Bombay) makes it well.. they make it with crab meat I guess that is my favorite dish there. Slurp! I am salivating inspite of having a tummy full of this green goodness ;)

Ok so I made this without any coconut. Traditionally you add coconut milk or grind fresh grated coconut. I added spinach instead to give the gravy a good texture.

1 Pomfret cleaned and sliced (or any white fish)
1 bunch spinach
1 tomato roughly chopped
1 onion chopped
1 bunch cilantro/coriander leaves, cleaned and chopped
4-6 mint leaves (optional)
1 tbspn ginger-garlic paste
1green chilli broken into 2 pieces
1/2 tsp Jeera/cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp tandoori masala or malwani masala
1 tsp garam masala (use half in spinach mixture and half on top of the fish once done)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
 oil
salt as per taste

Rub some turmeric and salt on the fish pieces and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan add cumin seeds when it sizzles add onions fry for a bit. Then add ginger-garlic paste and fry till the onions are brown. Now add tomatoes fry and add all the dry spice powders and mix well. When the tomatoes are soft add spinach, green chili, cilantro leaves and mint and mix till it wilts.
Once this is cooked turn off the stove and let this cool down. Once the mixture is cool enough grind to a smooth paste. Add very little water only if needed.
Now heat the same pan add the spinach paste give a good stir add some hot water about 1/4 cup mix well. Now add the fish pieces cover and cook.
Adjust salt. Add some garam masala and mix gently.
Serve with roti or rice.

Note:
If you want to add coconut milk add around 1/2 cup once the spinach paste is heating before adding the fish pieces.
If using fresh coconut add it just before grinding the spinach paste.
I didn't have malwani masala so I added tandoori masala instead.
If you don't have tandoori or malwani masala you can just use red chilli powder and garam masala

Blackeyed Peas & Potato Curry

Everytime we go to the Indian store we almost raid it like there is a famine coming. Our pantry is full of  Indian groceries like lentils, beans, rice, etc. etc. I always forget to cook any beans unless my hubby reminds me that he wants to eat any particular dish. So today I thought I should take a look at the pantry and the freezer. So I found this big bag of black eyed peas lying in there staring back at me! I love blackeyed peas and wondered why haven't I used it until now.

I looked again for some veggies and found a potato, few onions, tomatoes and cilantro/coriander leaves. So I thought I should make black eyed peas pulao and I was all set and started my pulao and I ran out of salt in the middle of the curry. I had to literally scrape it out and use the last grain of salt. So instead I settled in for black eyed peas & potato curry and steamed rice instead of the pulao. So it would also be good for hubby's lunch box the next day. It's almost the same dish only I didn't mix the rice and the curry as I didn't have more salt to add once I mixed both.

So here goes my recipe

2 cups Black eyed peas (cooked and drained)
1 potato cubed into small pieces
1 big tomato chopped
3tbspn cilantro/coriander leaves chopped
ginger one small piece minced
3 cloves garlic  minced
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp Jeera/cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
whole spices/garam masala (2 cardamons, 4 cloves, 4 peppercorns, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds)
1 tsp or more oil
Salt as per taste

In a wok/cooking pot/kadai heat some oil. Now add the cumin seeds and the other whole spices. When they sizzle add the onions, garlic and ginger and fry till the onions are brown. Now add the tomatoes and 1 tbspn cilantro and mix well. Add the dry powders and mix well. Cook till the tomatoes are soft and you can mash it with the back of a wooden spoon. Now add the potatoes & 1 cup hot water and mix well cover and cook till they are soft. Once the potatoes are cooked add the cooked and drained blackeyed peas. Add some water if you want more gravy. Mix well. Adjust salt.
Garnish with cilantro.
Serve with steamed white rice or with chapati/roti's

Note:
If using dry blackeyed peas soak it in water for alteast 4-5 hours and then pressure cook it for 1-2 whistles in fresh water or cook it in a pot till the beans are cooked but not mushy.
You can use canned or frozen ones too. If using these you can directly add it after the potatoes no need to cook separately. They will cook fast in the curry.
You can also add 1/2 cup coconut milk if you want a creamier gravy to eat with rice or bread.