Grill Cheese and Roasted Tomato Soup

You need : Oven roasted tomatoes, dried herbs, onion, 1 can whole fire roasted tomatoes, veggie stock, s&p.

Bring to boil, reduce to simmer.

Puree.

Serve.

Open Faced Masala Dosa

This is a variation on the traditional masala dosa which is a rice-lentil crepe filled with a spicy potato filling.  My mother in law recently made this for lunch and it seemed like an easy, tasty alternative to the usual masala dosa without all the potato fuss.

1.  Grate carrots and some cheese (optional)

2.  Chop up green chillies, cilantro

3.  Make dosa

4.  Top with carrots, chillies, cheese and cilantro.  Sprinkle molaga podi if you wish.

Devour!

Roasted Beets

400 degrees. 40 minutes = Pink deliciousness.

Happy Valentines Day!

Mexican Rice

I know, I get no points for a creative title.  But that aside, take my word that this is a really yummy and easy dish to put together. I imagined what I wanted the final "product" to taste like and then just added whatever ingredients I believed would lead to that result. :p Yes, very scientific. That's usually how a lot of my cooking takes place.

I will let y'all in on one secret for this dish though- Trader Joe's enchilada sauce. I cook the rice in a diluted version of the sauce so the rice absorbs all that flavour. Normally I would just add a packet of your favourite taco seasoning to the rice but I think the rice tastes better with the sauce and gives it added moisture.

Leftovers make a great lunch.

Ingredients:

-  1 cup basmati rice (which is what I use on a day to day basis)
-  1 cup Trader Joes enchilada sauce
-  1 can black beans
-  1 poblano pepper diced
-  1/2 onion diced
-  1/2 red pepper diced
-  handful of chopped cilantro
-  1/2 cup corn kernels (optional)

Directions:

1.  Cook the rice on the stovetop- 1 cup rice to 2 parts liquid (1 cup enchilada sauce and 2 cup water).

2.  In a large skillet, sautee onions, peppers, and black beans.

3.  When the rice is done (20-25 minutes), spread out in a large platter and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. If you try mixing the rice with the veggies right away, it's going to turn to mush and nobody likes mushy rice.

4.  Mix the rice with the veggies/beans mixture and season as needed. Remember that the sauce already is salted as may be the case with the black beans.

5.  Add the chopped cilantro. And please, if you dont like cilantro, leave it out. Don't substitute parsley. It's not the same.

Watermelon Lime Jalapeno salad

I know I've been MIA lately... there has been a lack of doodling but not a lack of cooking. I just wasn't inspired to try new things lately....been busy with the summer and the move into our new home etc.

Last year around this time I made a watermelon gazpacho and this year I received a recipe courtesy Vegetarian Times that basically had three ingredients: watermelon, lime, jalapeno. It looked refreshingly simple, perfect to beat the heat.  I've made it a few times already and tweaked it a touch.

Ingredients:

-  4 cups watermelon diced fairly small

-  juice of 1 lime

-  pinch of salt

-  1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
-  1 cup chopped cherry tomatoes (optional)

Toss it all together  and let it chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving.  I also added some chopped cherry tomatoes but you could skip it. I bet it would taste great with a bit of chopped mint too.

Tofu Makhani

One of my online running friends posted a link to this recipe and I was SOLD! It looked really easy to put together. I will post a detailed recipe shortly but for now, here's what it looked like and the link to original recipe.

Tomato Rice

For all you rice lovers out there, here is a uniquely south indian mixed rice recipe that is super easy to put together and tastes delicious! All it takes is a few spices, super delicious tomatoes and some rice. And bonus if the rice is leftover from the previous day!

Ingredients:
-  1 cup cooked rice
-  1/2 onion chopped

-  1 tsp tomato paste
-  1 pint cherry tomatoes (my favourite kind of tomatoes) or you could use any kind of fresh tomato.
-  1 tsp urad dal
-  1/4 cup roasted peanuts (optional)
-  1/4 tsp turmeric
-  pinch of asofoetida (optional)
-  1/2 tsp channa dal
-  1/2 tsp mustard seeds
-  few cilantro leaves for garnish

Masala (Spice Blend):
-  1 Tbsp coriander seed
-  1 Tbsp sesame seeds
-  1 Tbsp channa dal
-  2 dried red chillies
-  1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds

Directions:
1.  In a large sautee pan, heat 1 Tbsp oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal , channa dal. When they start to turn golden brown, add the onions and the turmeric and asofoetida. Sweat the onions for a few minutes.

2.  Grind all the spices in the Masala blend in a spice grinder. This is crucial to a very flavourful dish. I'm usually too lazy to grind spices all the time, but every once in a while, I give in .... :-)

3.  Once the onions have sweated it out, add the tomato paste, mix for a bit and then add the fresh masala you made in step 2.  Add salt.

4. Finally, add the rice and mix well and turn off the heat.  Garnish with cilantro.

Mango Lime Sorbet

One fine day, this recipe appeared in my inbox courtesy Vegetarian Times.  As some of you may know, dessert is not really my calling but I was totally fascinated with the idea of making my own sorbet and what better time to experiment when it's just beginning to get warm outside.. so I can perfect my recipe in time for summer. Right?  And the commercials on the local Indian Radio Station about the latest arrival of sweet mangoes were taunting me.  After all, I learnt in grade 1 that mangoes are the king of all fruit. So, why not make sorbet in its honor?

In India when I was little, my grandfather used to bring home the ripest mangoes during mango season. And if I was the only kid in the house at the time (meaning no cousins), I was lucky.. the pit was mine. Sucking the pulp out of that slimy pit was something else.  And if there were others competing for the pit, well, let's just say the strongest survived- LOL.

The original recipe uses frozen mango but in all honesty, frozen fruit just sounds blech to me, no matter what. Fruit is meant to be fresh. No buts. And in the summer I'm a fresh fruit fanatic.  A quick bit of research revealed I didn't need a sorbet maker or anything. Just a shallow freezer safe glass dish and some patience.  Ridiculously easy to put together.

Ingredients:
-  2 cups mango cut into little chunks
-  1/4 cup agave nectar
-  4 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

Directions:


Place mango chunks in blender or food processor, and purée with agave nectar and lime juice. Transfer to shallow glass or metal bowl, and place in freezer. Freeze 30 minutes. Stir purée with fork every 30 minutes until ready to serve.


The stirring is very important so the puree doesn't crystallize and turn into a mango ice block.

Shundal

This is an easy way to whip up a quick snack or side dish and one of my favourite ways to eat chick peas.
In South India, we make this dish (Shundal or sundal in Tamil) during a festival or as an offering for a particular religious ceremony. But that's not to say you can't enjoy it anytime because it literally takes 5 minutes to put together. Very healthy too!

Ingredients:

- 1 can cooked garbanzo beans
-  5-6 curry leaves
-  1 tsp mustard seeds
-  1 tsp urad dal
-  1 pinch asofoteda (hing)
-  2 Tbsp frozen fresh coconut
-  salt

Method:


1.  Heat 1 Tsp of vegetable oil till hot and add the urad dal. When it starts to brown, add the mustard seeds till it starts to pop. Add the curry leaves and hing.

2.  Add the garbanzo beans and sautee for 5 minutes.

3.  Finish off with the coconut and turn off the heat. Salt to taste.

You could totally add a green or red chill but I like mine without.

Easy Peasy Guacamole.. fit for a Superbowl

What says Superbowl better than chips and salsa? Or in this case, chips and fresh homemade guacamole. 


Guacamole or Guac for short- It's taken me my fair share of attempts and following many different recipes to settle on what I think is the perfect guac. I remember the days when I was first introduced to Mexican food- sadly I think the first burrito I had was at Taco Bell in Canada. There, they shoot guac on your burrito from a gun. Blech.  Anyhow, as the years went on, my taste for mexican food developed and I went on the quest to find the perfect guac recipe. Not the slimy nastiness in a jar. :meh:.

People- I kid you not, once you start making your own guac, you will, GUARANTEED stop buying that ready made stuff. I am serious- it's easier than spelling out guacamole.

Ingredients:
-  2 ripe avocados
-  1 tomato, seeded
-  1/4 red onion (or green onion if you prefer)
-  juice of 1 lime
-  salt and pepper
-  1 jalapeno pepper, finely minced, deseeded.


Cut the avocado in half. There is a huge seed in the middle so watch out for that. Actually I'll stop explaining and let this video do the talking.


Now that you have the pit out, as shown on the video, scoop out the flesh of the avocado by scoring the inside of it and then removing the flesh (light green insides) with a spoon and dumping in a bowl.








Congrats! The hardest part of this creation is over. Next, gently mix in the diced tomato, onion and lime juice. No smashing allowed!!! 

Just gentle mixing so that the chunkiness of the avocado is retained. Add a bit of salt and pepper and you are done. I garnish with cilantro but then I love cilantro and throw it in almost all Indian and Mexican foods. That's certainly optional. Cilantro definitely needs its own blog entry some day.

Do you not want to eat this fresh creation as opposed to the slimy stuff from a jar? I've tried many different versions that includes smashing the avocado, adding sour cream, adding taco seasoning (that was a weird one) but nothing even came close to this.

Give this a try and tell me you could not eat just one spoon. It goes great with tortilla chips, as a condiment in tacos, burritos, take your pick!


Or really, all you need is a spoon.