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.

Stirfried Cabbage with Shrimp

Yes! I am still surviving my healthy eating habits and thoroughly enjoying it. I have learned to use my cooking skills and create healthy and tasty dishes.
So as usual I was at our local farmer's market looking through the produce section. I was bored of eating grilled veggies.. well let me tell you I was very tempted to pick up a good steak and grill it. I had to literally talk fat Shilpa out of it and remind he that 30 years of eating rich food has shown its effect and I shouldn't try to enhance it. Well she can be manipulated easily at times and so healthy Shilpa won the debate and I picked up a fresh purple cabbage, some fruits and headed home.

So here goes my recipe for a tasty cabbage stir fry...

1 cabbage (white/purple) chopped lengthwise
6-8 big Shrimp (optional) cleaned
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
2 dry red chillies broken into 2-3 pieces
2 tbspn low sodium soy sauce (I use the vegetarian mushroom flavored soy sauce)
1 tsp olive oil

Heat a wok and add the oil. Add the chopped garlic and chillies and  let it sizzle. Fry for a min and add the shrimp now if using it. Stir fry till they turn pink. Now add the cabbage and stir fry for 5 mins. Add the soy sauce and give it a good stir. Stir fry till the cabbage is cooked.
I like to leave a little crunch to the cabbage.

Note:

I have made this dish without shrimp and it turns out well.
I use this as a low calorie diet food for lunch/dinner so I eat it by itself.
You can serve it with some grilled chicken if you are not adding shrimp.
You can use plain low sodium soy sauce and use any other seasonings of your choice.

Homemade Paneer

My husband is in India hence I have not been cooking much. I eat salads or grilled food and I am happy with that; atleast for few weeks. We had a huge bottle of milk in our fridge and I don't drink milk or coffee. I am a tea drinker hence I hardly consume any milk. The expiry date was close and I was wondering what could I do with it. Ofcourse I was not going to throw it away or make any dessert as I am avoiding sugar and fried food.
So I thought the best thing to do is make some paneer out of the milk. I had about a little more than a litre of milk.

Once ready the paneer was so fresh and soft (after cooking) I just grilled it with some salt and ate it just by itself.

So here goes the recipe:

1 litre milk (I used 2% fat milk)
Juice of 1 lime

Cheese cloth/muslin cloth (I used paper towels/Bounty kitchen towel as I didn't have cheese cloth)

Heat milk on medium heat. Make sure it doesn't burn. When the milk boils and rises add the lime juice. You will see the milk curdling and the fat and the whey separating. Turn off the gas.
Let it completely curdle about 5 minutes.
Now drain this through a thick layer of cheese cloth or kitchen paper towel. I lined a big colander/strainer with the paper towel and drained.
Collect the cheese cloth together and tie it /with the paper towel just collect it together and twist well. Press it so that the excess whey is drained.
I collected the whey in a bowl. Run some tap water on top off the paneer (still wrapped in the cloth and press). I have been told this will remove the sourness if any from the lime juice. To be honest I have forgotten to do this a couple of times. It doesn't matter if you are using the paneer in a gravy as the spices will overpower the sour taste. Even when I grilled it there was no sour taste.
Now you can tie and hang this on your kitchen tap and let the whey drain completely. Since I had my paper towel in a colander/strainer I rested it on a big bowl and kept some weight (chickpea cans or any cans or kitchen appliances) on this towel so the whey drains off completely.
This will take about an hour or little more.
Now open the cloth/towel and you will see your perfect paneer ready to be cut. You can cook this immediately or keep it in the refrigerator in a zip lock bag or wrapped in plastic wrap for 3 days.

Note:
You can use the whey to make roti's or bread. This is very nutritious as all the fat is gone in the paneer. The roti's will be very soft.

Beans & Veggie salad!

Today I woke up late (like really late at noon). So almost the whole day was over and I was feeling so lazy. I was very hungry as well. So I made myself a cup of chai/tea and looked in my pantry and fridge. I was super bored to cook or cut anything and I wanted to eat something healthy!

So first I thought maybe I should toss up a salad but I didn't want to eat any lettuce or spinach! So after taking another look at the groceries I decided to make a bean and veggies salad. It was ready in few mins and tasted so yummy yet simple and clean.

1 cup Kidney Beans/Rajma (cooked or use 1 can washed & drained)
1 cup Garbanzo beans/Chole Channa (cooked or use 1 can washed & drained)
1 avocado chopped (cut open, throw the seed and the outer cover, and chop into pieces)
1-2 stalks of green onions chopped (use both the green and white part)
1 tomato chopped or use 8-10 cherry tomatoes
2-3 tbsp Alpha Alpha Sprouts (optional)
1 small onion chopped (optional)
1 tsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & pepper

Mix the oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl and keep aside.
Take a big salad mixing bowl. Add the beans, tomatoes, onions, green onions, avocado, alpha aplha sprouts. Now add the oil dressing and mix well.
Adjust salt and lemon.

Note:
I use Vadalia Onions (only the white part as I had this at home)
You can add any kinds of beans like balck beans, pinto beans, red beans etc.
You can add any veggies of your choice.
You can add more olive oil but I wanted to keep the recipe healthy.
If you don't get alpha alpha sprouts don't worry the salad still tastes great.

Spinach & Kielbasa Noodles with Angel hair pasta

I love to try new dishes. So today I took on the challenge of making dinner with what is available in my kitchen without running to Wal-mart or the farmers market.
So I opened my fridge and aimlessly gazed through; trying to convince myself that my challenge was stupid as I had not gone grocery shopping over the weekend.
I found a big packet of baby spinach and 1 small turkey kielbasa. (Kielbasa is a polish sausage and it is very tasty. It is made with pork, beef or turkey or a combination of all 3).
Then I dragged my feet to my pantry and found some garlic and a packet of whole wheat angel hair pasta. I was not in a mood for any pasta with a creamy sauce and hubby is not too fond of tomato based sauces (not that I had any tomatoes here).

So I decided to try my hand at making some Asian noodles with all the ingredients I had. I immediately reached out for some soy sauce as well and headed towards the cooking area.
The end result was a yummy and interesting noodle dish. This dish was healthy too (if I may say so) with all that whole wheat pasta and spinach.. the only unhealthy part may have been the sausage but it was made out of turkey so I guess it was not as bad!

1 packet whole wheat Angel hair pasta
2- 3 cups baby spinach (washed)
1 cup Turkey kielbasa sausage chopped into small pieces
4 cloves garlic chopped
2-4 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp pepper powder
1 tbspn Olive Oil

Heat a pan add a few drops of olive oil and stir fry the sausages till they cook and keep aside (drain on a kitchen towel). The sausages don't need much oil as they will let out some fat.
Cook the pasta according to the package directions, drain and mix some olive oil and keep it ready to be used.
Now in the same pan which was used for cooking the sausages add some olive oil and the chopped garlic and fry. Then add the spinach and stir fry. I didn't wilt my spinach a lot as it was baby spinach which tastes good even if consumed raw but if you are using regular spinach cook it well. Now add the cooked sausage and mix. Add the soy sauce start with 2 tsp depending on how salty your soy sauce is or how strong a flavor you want.
Now add some pepper powder and the cooked angel hair pasta. Toss it well.
Serve.

Note:

I didnt add any other herbs or spices as I use a mushroom flavored soy sauce which has a good flavor. I have made the same with regular soy sauce and it still tastes great.
Also the kielbasa gives a good flavor.
The pasta needs to be tossed in some olive oil and covered if you are keeping it for sometime before adding it to the spinach mixture so it doesn't dry out.
Feel free to add any spices of herbs you feel like using.
You can make it vegetarian by omitting the sausage and adding few other veggies of your choice.

Prawn Biryani

The terms shrimp and prawns are often used interchangeably. I myself had to read on few different websites the difference between the two. I am not going to go into detail here. Though they are not the same they look very similar and taste quiet similar as well. Hence in my kitchen and I am sure in most kitchens they are interchangeable in any dish.

The other day hubby wanted to eat some rice dish and we didn't have any veggies and there was no time to defrost chicken. So I looked in my freezer and found some tiger prawns. So I immediately decided to make some prawn biryani. I took the frozen prawn out and put them in some water and left it for 30 mins and they were ready to be cooked. We buy our seafood from the farmer's market in Memphis. Oh I go crazy when I go there everything looks so fresh & yummy. It reminds me of our Indian fish markets.

So here goes my recipe for jhatpat/quick prawn biryani.

3 cups basmati rice (washed and soaked for atleast 15mins)
10-12 prawns/shrimp (washed and cleaned)
1 big tomato chopped
1 onion chopped
2 tbspn ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
whole garam masala/spices (2 bay leaves, 2 cardamoms, 3 cloves, 4 peppercorns, 1 star anise, 1 big black cardamon)
1/2 tsp cummin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp tandoori masala (I use Shan brand for the color)
1 tsp Kasuri methi 
Salt

Marinate the prawn with salt and turmeric powder and keep aside.

In a pan heat some oil add the whole spices if using any for the rice (check notes), add the rice  (drain the rice before adding) fry for 2 mins and add some salt and add around 5 or 6 cups hot water ( 1 1/2 - 2 cups of water for each cup of rice approx) and cover and cook. Once the rice is done open the cover and let the steam out to cool it.

In another pan add some oil and heat it then add the whole spices and fry. Now add the onions and fry. Add the ginger-garlic paste and cook till the raw smell goes away and onions are golden brown. Now add the tomatoes, cumin powder, coriander powder, tandoori masala and cook till tomatoes are soft and can be mashed with the back of the laddle. Now add the prawn mix well and cook.
Now add some kasuri methi mix and add some water (around 2-4 tbspn) to give it a good consistency. Adjust salt.

Now layer the basmati rice over the gravy and garnish with cilantro leaves. Cover and cook on low heat for 10-15 mins till the flavors mix.
Serve with salad.

Note:
While adding water to the rice start with 1 1/2 cups for each cup of rice so that the rice is not over cooked. You can add more when the rice is half cooked (midway) using your judgement.
You can add some whole spices (cloves, bay leaves cardamom etc.) while cooking the rice as well. I actually forgot to do so.
You can also add 1-2 tbspn of cilantro-mint paste after the onions are golden brown for more flavor.
You can layer this biryani in an over safe dish and cover with foil and keep in over for 10-15 mins for the flavors to blend as well. 
You can make the same biryani using any white fish. Be careful while cooking fish as it can break easily.

Guacamole

I am not a big fan of Mexican food but I do like some dishes. I guess I should say I am not a big fan of Tex-Mex as hubby says Mexican food in Mexico is awesome! He lives in Mexico every year for three months during summer for his research work and he loves it there. Every August when he gets back he cooks some authentic Mexican meal for me. I must say I love what he cooks so I can't wait to go to Mexico and enjoy some authentic Mexican food & Margaritas on the beach.

One of my favorite dips/salads is guacamole. I first tasted it when Kartick made it for us on his first visit back to India from the US in 2007. I wanted to make it for my sister, bro-in-law and friends. Then I had no clue about cooking so I was excited and headed off to the market in Bombay. I got only 2 avocados as they were super expensive, being an imported product.
I came home and cut it open and scooped out the pulp and proceeded to make the salad. Oh! I was so confident that I didn't even taste it till it was ready to be served at the dinner table. To my horror (of course I was unaware of the basics that the avocado needs to be soft/ripe!) I had picked out two raw ones and I made everyone eat it. My family and friends were sweet enough to taste it but never reached out for another helping or had the courage to finish what was in their plate ;)
I am surely going to make this for them on my next visit.

So here goes my guacamole recipe and mind you its good ;)

2-3 Avocados
1 tomato chopped
1 onion chopped (I dont like onion in mine but if you like raw onions go for it -tastes good)
2 tbspn Cilantro/Coriander leaves chopped
1 small green chilli chopped (optional)
2 tbspn Juice of lime (juice of 1 lime)
1/2 tsp cumin powder
Salt as per taste

Cut the avocados and scoop out the pulp using a spoon. Keep the seeds/pit aside.
In a bowl add the pulp and mash it with the back of a spoon. Now add the chopped tomato, onion, chilli, cilantro, cumin powder, salt and juice of lime and mix well.
Place the seeds in the middle  of the salad and refrigerate till you serve.
Serve with chips as a dip or can be eaten as a side dish.

Note:
The seeds/pits are inedible so please don't eat them
The seed is placed so that the salad doesn't go brown and maintains its nice green color. Avocado (like apples and few other fruits & veggies) changes color when exposed to air due to oxidation.
Avocado salad is similar to our Indian kachumbar/salad

Fish curry with raw mangoes - Kerala Ishtyle!

Oh! Fish is my first love among all the non-veg food. I love fish in all forms..I love the smell of raw fish! My best friend back in Bombay is half Mallu and when I visit India I go to her house for dinner. She makes the best kerala mutton sukkha and fish curry.
I love the Kerala style fish curry with raw mangoes, they make the same with prawn too. Yum! I am already drooling. I am typing this post while I wait for hubby to get home and have dinner. I made this fish curry this afternoon. By now all the flavors must have blended!

My friend G sent me the recipe last night so I made sure I had all the ingredients. I had bought raw mango and fresh pomfret (fish) from the farmer's market few days ago to make this curry.

1 pomfret (cleaned, washed and sliced into pieces - you can use any firm white fish)
1 raw mango/kairee cut into medium sizes pieces
1 chopped onion
1 cup coconut milk
2 green chillies
1 tsp ginger (chopped into pieces)
1/2 tsp methi/fenugreek seeds
5 tsps corriander seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilly powder
1 shallot chopped into small pieces (optional)
10 curry leaves
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp tamarind paste (or tamarind soaked in hot water and pulp squeezed out)

 In a small pan heat oil. Add the methi and coriander seeds and fry. Make sure you don't burn them it's easy to burn them, trust me! Now grind this with a little coconut milk, turmeric and red chilly powder, garlic and the tamarind paste.

In another pan take some water and add the chopped raw mango pieces and chopped onion and boil it till the onion becomes translucent and the mango becomes soft. Now add the coconut paste to this. Mix well. Add the slit green chillies, ginger and salt. Add the remaining coconut milk. Once this comes to a boil add the fish pieces.
In the small pan that you used to fry methi add some coconut oil and fry shallots and curry leaves and pour on the fish curry.  
You can also just boil the curry leaves and add a dash of coconut oil directly to the curry instead of frying.
Keep for few hours before serving with steamed rice and tapioca/kappa (will post recipe soon).

Note:
You can use freshly grated coconut/frozen coconut instead of the coconut milk.

Palak Paneer

I am very fond of non-veg food as mentioned earlier in my posts. I can just go on eating non-veg for days but I am trying to now eat veggies more. I am even thinking of eating meat only on weekends (ugh! that's gonna be tough!).
So we got some fresh spinach/palak from the farmer's market and I had some paneer in the freezer so hubby wanted me to make palak paneer.
My mom makes it so well. I miss her cooking. I never cared for it much while I was back in Bombay as I got to eat it everyday..while everyone else would crave for it. Now I crave for it ;(

When I was newly married I decided to make Palak paneer at my in-laws house in Bombay and I had to call my mom for the recipe as I didn't know how to cook. I followed her recipe to the T and the dish was a hit.
I don't remember all the ingredients my Amma had told me to add back in 2008 but I make it often and everytime its almost the same recipe I follow (as much as I can remember).

2 bunches Palak (washed well and ends trimmed)
1 cup paneer cubes
I onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
2 green chillies
few sprigs of cilantro (optional)
1 tsp Kasuri methi (optional)
3-4 cloves garlic cut into pieces
1 small piece ginger cut into pieces
2 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp corriander pwd
1/2 tsp garam masala/Everest meat masala (can add more)
oil

In a kadai add oil when it's hot add cumin seeds, cloves and let them splutter. Then add onions, garlic and ginger pieces and fry till onions turn golden brown. Now add the chillies and chopped tomatoes mix well and cook till tomatoes are soft. Add the spinach leaves and let them wilt.
Now turn off the gas and let this mixture cool. Once cool grind it with the cilantro to a smooth paste (don't add water).
Now back in the kadai add the paste, add the corriander powder and garam masala and mix well. Let the mixture boil. Add salt and slide in paneer pieces. Cook for 5 mins till the paneer cooks and turn off gas.
Serve with Roti's or with pulav.

Note:
Sometimes I dont grind the onions just fry them and add them to the spinach & tomato paste.
I added Kasuri methi and cilantro for the first time today and it turned out great.
Some of my friends fry the paneer pieces before adding them, if you plan to fry you need to soak the fried pieces in warm water till you use it. This will keep the paneer soft.

Mango Lassi

Lassi is a yogurt based drink originated in Punjab, India. it is either sweet made with yogurt and sugar or salted (salt and cumin powder and other spices). Every house in India will have it own version of lassi either sweet flavored with sugar and some fruits, salted or spicy.
One such famous lassi is Mango Lassi, not only is it popular in India but Americans love it too.

This is the best drink for the hot Bombay summers. I remember while in school we had a famous lassi place called Jain Dairy close to our school, we would actually save up to go get a glass of their famous malai lassi. Yum! I can still remember the taste.I have to make sure on my next trip to India I visit Jain Dairy.

So recently I was helping two of my friends N & Z to prepare mango lassi for 200 girl scouts as their project was on Indian culture.  We used 2-3 blenders and made enough for the girls to enjoy. We wanted to save a glass for ourselves but had to let go as we weren't sure if there was enough of the yummy lassi!

So here goes my recipe for Mango Lassi:

1 cup plain yogurt
3/4 cup Alphanso/Kesar Mango pulp (if using fresh mango peel it first and add fresh pieces)
1-2 tblspn Sugar
3 cubes of ice

In a blender add the yogurt, mango pulp or pieces, sugar and ice and blend till smooth.
Serve with a sprig of mint as garnish.

Note;
The ice should blend with the yogurt and no cubes should be left
If using canned pulp go easy with the sugar as the pulp is sweetened.
Some people in India like to add some cardamom powder as a flavor to mango lassi and top it off with chopped almonds and pistachios but I like mine plain as I love to enjoy the flavor of mango.
You can totally skip the mangoes and just make good old plain lassi
If you want to make salted lassi just skip the mangoes and replace the sugar with few pinches of salt & 1/4 tsp cummin powder and blend.

Pic courtesy Cook Eat Share India table

Oven Roasted Fish with veggies

 I am a big seafood fan and can eat fish almost everyday. Back home in Bombay my Amma makes the best fish curry, rice and fish fry.. ohh I am already drooling. She knows how much I love fish so when I land in Bombay dinner that night is always Halwa/Black pomfret ghassi, fry and rice Yum!!
Here we don't get fresh seafood and even if we do it's limited only to Catfish & Tilapia so I miss fresh seafood a lot. When I visited my cousin in California over the break she made sure I had good seafood meals during my stay there.
Edamame is soy bean and is very nutritious. It's very common in Japanese (Sushi) restaurants.

I had some frozen tilapia fillets in my freezer and I had some frozen edamame and fresh broccoli.
I was very bored to chop anything or fry the fish. So I decided on a one pot meal. So here goes the recipe:

1 lb fish fillets (you can use any firm fish)
Vegetables (wash and chop veggies -I used broccoli and beans but you can use any veggies)
1 tsp Italian herbs/oregano
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1-2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Pepper powder
Olive oil
Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Defrost fish if using frozen. Now mix the Italian herbs, red chilli flakes, pepper, salt and garlic powder with olive oil.
Rub some of this mixture on the fish and remaining on the veggies. Make sure all the veggies and fish are coated with it. Let it marinate for 15 mins.

Now grease an oven safe tray with very little olive oil and place the fish in the center and veggies all around and bake for 20-25 mins and broil for 2 mins.

Enjoy!

Note:
Once you finish baking for 20mins check with a fork if the fish is cooked if not bake for few more mins and then broil once the fish is cooked.
While using veggies ensure you use veggies which cook fast as root veggies like potato etc. may take longer and may need more time than the fish. So it's better they are in separate dishes while in the oven. So you don't overcook the fish.