Seasoned with love

I believe cooking does not stop with preparing the meal, washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen. People who love food and who are great cooks can be recognized with one trait, they love to feed people. They feed them with love, when they explain recipes your mouth starts to water, when they offer food you cannot refuse. I have known many who can differentiate, the elachi in the muthusarai,who can identify a dash of kasoori methi as a finishing touch to dhal, who wouldnt let someone to serve on their own and who would make you want to eat when serving and a Grandma who would ask " enda sweet pidikalaya?  ( Dont you like it?)" after one gobbles three badam cakes and refuses the fourth one !, the ones who have mastered the art of making perfect chais and coffees. All these people have increased my love affair with food and with cooking and eating.

This post is an ode to one such person Adina, who has taught me to appreciate and love food outside of  India. She looked at me like an alien, when I ordered veggie pizza with no broccoli, no mushrooms, no olives, no artichokes please. She asked me why don't you order plain cheese pizza? Mushrooms some one told me tastes like chicken, I am not a big fan of cauliflower so the green sister does not tickle my taste buds. Olives...oh no, I had them from a can once on a subway sandwich....it tastes rubbery!. Her reply was you will come one day to my home for dinner.

The couple were perfect hosts, the dinners usually started at 2:00, with chips & dips, feta cheese and tomatoes, eggplant salads and so on... Sergiu constantly filled the glasses with the red liquid when his better half made sure that the plates were always filled. We breathed, talked and ate food and the air was filled with aroma of olive oil and laughter and happiness. I have never declined an invitation to their home... what usually started at 2:00 PM will go on till 12:00...1:00.. and my dear friend would say make sure you pack some home... when we had no more to pack in our tummies. Such people not just fill your tummies but also your hearts.

Here are a few recipes from her kitchen:

Brocoli Baked:
Cut brocoli into florets, drizzle with olive oil, season with red pepper flakes and bake them at 350 in the oven. The crunchy Brocoli is hard to refuse

Mushrooms:
Slice the button mushroom into two, slice juicy campari tomatoes and place on top. Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt and bake at 350 and then broil for 10 mts till all the juices evaporate.

Varieties of Olives and Cheese:
She taught me to appreciate the cheese and made me stop buy the pre-cut cheddar cheese slices and enjoy Brie, Feta, fresh Mozerella to name a few...My love for olives began at her place too, Black olives, Olives with feta cheese, Olives with red pepper stuffing, feta cheese with tomatoes (I can eat that the whole day).

She made home made lima bean dip, hummus and Sergiu baked bread and pizza. I have tried all of these at home, but it never tasted the same, I have increased olive oil, increased pepper, decreased salt tried umpteen things, only to realize that the taste will never be the same as it was never seasoned with "Adina's love".

Spinach Pulav

A healthy nutritious and yummy dish that takes under 10 minutes to prepare. A blessing in disguise for a working mom, especially if your kids like it and are willing to take it for lunch.

Ingredients:

2 packs chopped spinach (I like either the Birds' Eye brand or the Lucerne/Dominicks brand organic chopped spinach)

1 cup basmathi rice (regular white or brown rice is fine too, but the basmathi gives the pulav a special flavor)

2 spoons of sambar, or rasam powder, or vathakozhambu powder (using each of these gives the pulav a slightly different taste)

salt to taste, a tsp of ghee or oil to saute

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 onion chopped

Deep fried paneer cubes (optional).

Preparation method:

Saute the cumin seeds in ghee or oil.

Add chopped onions and saute for a couple of minutes.

Add the basmathi rice, spinach, salt, sambar/rasam powder, and two cups of water.

Cook either on open flame (with the stockpot covered) or transfer contents to a rice cooker.

Serve with yoghurt, raita or any sabji, if a side dish is considered necessary. My kids eat this without anything on the side.

Optional: Adding deep fried paneer pieces after the rice is cooked gives this a rich taste.

A variation to this is carrot-peas pulav, made with frozen peas and carrot combo packets (replace spinach with carrots & peas in the above recipe).

Lemon Pickle - The easy way !

With the name of the blog being thachi mammu, I realized that there is not a single post for the most important accompaniment that goes with thachi mammu.

It is pickle....usually avakkai (Mango pickle), Vadumangai (Tender mango), Mixed vegetable go higher up in the order of preferences. Lemon pickle...is savored generally when nothing else interesting is available. I made my first attempt at this one and it came out pretty well.

When made in this method, the pickle does not last long. So make it in small quantities and enjoy it fresh !

Ingredients:
Lemons - 2 (big ones)
Salt - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
Gingely oil - 3 tbsp ( if you are not diet conscious, be generous with this one)
Fenugreek powder - 1.5 tbsp
mustard, asafoetida ( to season)
Chilli powder - 3 tbsp

1. Cut lemon into small pieces. Heat kadai in medium flame, and add the cut lemons with salt and turmeric and mix well
2. Keep the kadai closed with lid for 2 minutes, you can see that the mixture starts to get a little gravy
3. In a separate kadai, heat gingely oil, add mustard, asafoetida powder
4. Add chilli powder and fenugreek powder to the lemons. Before mixing, add the seasoned hot oil and mix it all together and leave it for a couple of minutes.
5. If you think there is not enough juice in the mixture, you may boil a little bit of water in the same kadai in which you heated the seasoned oil and add it to the mixture.
6. Leave it out for 8 hours or so and then refrigerate.

With this method, the pickles turn out spicy and tangy without tasting bitter !.

Enjoy with thachi mammu!.

Garden Vegetable and Bean soup - Indian Style

Ingredients:

Soak overnight
chick pea - 1 table spoon
red beans - 1 table spoon
rajma or kidney beans - 1 table spoon (any beans you want to add)

1 onion - finely chopped
1 small carrot - cut into large chunks or cubes
1/2 capsicum
1 pod garlic - crushed
1 inch ginger - crushed
2 green chillies - slit
3 large tomatoes - cut or can of crushed tomatoes

some pasta - either spaghetti or linguine anything just for starch
half potato for starch (not required)

Garnish:
cilantro finely chopped
grated parmesan cheese or powdered parmesan cheese

Spices:
Salt to taste
red chili powder (I even used little sambar powder :) )
coriander powder
oregano
pepper


Prep:

Add oil in a pressure cooker and add the onion, garlic and ginger. Saute until transparent and cooked. Then add the capsicum and saute them and add tomatoes and let it cook for a bit. Add all the spices and salt to taste except for the oregano and pepper. Until all the tomatoes cook, then add the vegetables, the pasta and the soaked beans. For how many ever cups of beans add 3 times the measure of water. Mix them all and check taste and if required at this time you can adjust the salt and spice according to your needs. Pressure cook them all.

Serve them in a bowl and sprinkle pepper and oregano to your taste. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and cilantro. Have it with a bread toast.

Healthy tasty food down your tummy.

Spring Rolls and Momos

Veg Momos/ Spring Rolls

Things Required:

Spring Roll wraps. You get it in many grocery shops. You should find it somewhere near the tofu and/or salad section.

1/4 Cabbage
1 Carrot
1 small Onion or 1/2 big onion - I prefer red onions
2 small Chillies
1 Garlic
1 inch Ginger

All these need to be very finely chopped. I grated the carrot in the big sized grater.

Spices:
1) Coriander powder - 1/4th to 1/2 tea spoon
2) Pepper powder - to taste
3) Turmeric powder - 2 pinch
4) Chilli powder - to taste
5) Salt to taste
6) Lemon juice

Mix all the veggies and spices together.

For the Momos:
Place a small portion of the mix on the middle of the wrap. Moist the 4 ends with little water and fold them to the center and make it like a kozhukattai.
Use the idli plates and steam them. Done!

For the spring rolls:
Place a small portion on the wrap and moist one side of the wrap. Roll it like a letter and stick them. Fold the other open sides and stick them with water. Place them in a greased oven tray. Grease them on top. (I used the oil spray.)

Preheat the oven to 350 F and then time it to 35 mins. After 20 mins flip the spring rolls over and place for another 10 to 15 mins until it all turns golden brown. Done!

Enjoy Momos and spring rolls with chilli and soy sauce. I liked them with Maggi hot and sweet sauce. :)

Oats Dosa - A healthy alternative.

Things required:

3 cups - plain oats (I used Quaker oats)
1/2 cup - wheat flour
1/2 cup - all purpose flour
2 or 3 - teaspoons Jeera or Cumin seeds
1 or 2 - teaspoons Crushed black pepper.
1/2 cup - Butter milk or curd
Salt to taste


Preparation:

1) Soak oats for around 1 hour until it gets soft.
2) Grind all ingredients listed above along with the soaked oats in a blender.
3) Make into a nice batter, not too thick or loose. Consistency like a dosa batter.
4) Pour batter in hot greased tava and make the dosas.
5) Have it with your favorite chutney or dosai molagai podi. Enjoy!



Variations: Add finely chopped onions and green chillis to make like uthappam. :)

Tip: Do not try to make the first dosa thin. Once the first dosa is made, you can make thin crispy dosas thereafter.

Idli

Idlies are the most favorite of all the south indian tiffins. Steaming hot idlies any day any time !

Ingredients
1. Idli Rice - 4 cups
2. Whole white ural dhal - 1 cup and a little
3. Fenugreek seeds - 1 tbsp

Steps:
1. wash and soak Idli rice in hot water for 1 hour
2. wash and soak the ural dhal with fenugreek for 45 minutes in hot water
3. Grind the urad dhal without water in mixie or grinder. In grinder it comes much more fluffier and softer than in the mixie. In mixie it takes a longer time, in my grinder it takes about 15 mts. You should not add water while grinding this one.
4. After this is done, remove the ural dhal mavu from the grinder and empty it in a container.
5. Add the rice and grind it, you can add a little bit of water to this.
6. After the rice is ground, add the urad dhal mavu and add salt. 1 spoon for 1 cup of rice and grind together. I do this as I am lazy to mix the salt, outside as it takes quite a bit of effort.
7. Put the entire mixture in a container . The container should only be 75% full. The rest of the space is for the maavu to pongify.
8. Keep the container in the oven. It takes about 8 - 10 hrs to pongify.
9. After the maavu pongifies the top portion can be used for idli and the bottom portion for dosais.
10 . Save the maavu in fridge for future use

Variations:
For folks, who dont have a grinder, instead of using rice, use rice rava. You need not soak rice rava for an hour and all. Just for 10-15 minutes and take it out and mix it with the urad maavu.

For making idlies:
Take the top maavu, add a little water, not too much. grease the idli plates.
Pour the maavu and steam and enjoy the idlies.

For me the joy of eating idlies is worth all the effort !!!