Spicy Honey Dip

By Posted in Dips & Chutneys, What's cooking Tagged , , , , , , 14 Comments

When I signed up for this month’s Blogging Marathon and picked this theme of ‘Condiments’, my first plan was to finally make and post the ‘Dukkah’, an Egyptian spice blend that is used as a dip along with with olive oil for bread. But then I swayed towards hung curds and have been immersed in it ever since.

I figured I would complete the hung curd in my fridge as well as a trio of hung curd dips and leave the Dukkah for another day. That also gives me a reason to bake another loaf of bread!

I adapted this recipe from the book, ‘Diva Green’ by Ritu Dalmia which has some fabulous vegetarian recipes written in a simple style. I didn’t have Tabasco sauce and red chillies and so they were substituted. Also I played around with the proportions till I got a lovely sweet and spicy flavour rolled in one dip.

WHAT WE NEED

60 gms Hung curd

12 gms Honey

1 tsp Sesame seeds

1 small green chilly

1 tsp Hot & sour sauce

Pinch of ground peppercorns

Salt

WHAT TO DO

  • Add all the ingredients into a blender jar
  • Blend to a smooth dip
  • Else, you can also mix the ingredients by hand to get a comparatively coarse dip
  • Enjoy!

This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, ‘Condiments’.

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Mint & Coriander Dip

By Posted in Dips & Chutneys, What's cooking Tagged , , , , , 15 Comments

Continuing with my hung curd spree, today I am posting a quick mint and coriander dip with hung curd. We celebrated my daughter’s birthday over the weekend which is the reason I was left with some mint & coriander chutney as also a whole load of chips that feature in the photos.

So I just mixed the hung curd and chutney to get a creamy dip. It is a nice way to revamp leftover chutney and get a smooth dip. I need some carrots now with this dip to balance out all the cake I have been eating.

WHAT WE NEED

3 tbsp Mint & coriander chutney

2 tbsp Hung curd

Salt

WHAT TO DO

  • Mix the chutney with the hung curd with a whisk or in a blender
  • Check for the saltiness and add salt accordingly
  • Serve with carrots or chips (chips actually 😉
  • Enjoy!

NOTES

  1. To make mint & coriander chutney, take a small bunch of fresh coriander, 4 sprigs of mint, a couple of garlic cloves and 3-4 green chillies. Mix them all with salt in a blender. Add water to form a smooth mixture. You can replace the water with some extra virgin olive oil. If you are using water, drain it out before adding to hung curd.

This is my post for the Blogging Marathon for the theme, ‘Condiments’.

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Spicy Hung Curd Dip

By Posted in Dips & Chutneys, What's cooking Tagged , , , , 15 Comments

There are times when I get very hung up on certain dishes and ingredients and keep repeating them so often that the husband and daughter finally do an intervention only for me to get obsessed over the next dish. Now it is the hung cure time. I keep straining the curd in the cheesecloth and then hunt around for a recipe to use it up.

And is it not the perfect time to be hung up on hung curd when I have a ‘Condiments’ theme for the Blogging Marathon this week. This is a quick dip that only needs few basic ingredients always available at home and a blender. This dip works with chips as well as vegetables and is a nice one to have handy for guests.

Recipe adapted from here

WHAT WE NEED

1/4 cup Hung curds

2 Tomatoes, medium

1/2 tsp Curry powder

Pinch of Red chilly powder

Salt

WHAT TO DO

  • Chop the tomatoes roughly
  • Add it along with all the ingredients to a blender jar
  • Blend it to a smooth consistency
  • Enjoy with carrots or chips!

NOTES

  1. To make hung curd, add some regular homemade or store bought curds to a cheesecloth or kitchen towel. Tie the cloth and hang it over a vessel. The end of the cloth should not touch the bottom of the vessel to ensure the whey doesn’t go back into the curds. Keep it in the fridge for 24 hours and hung curd is ready for use

This is my post for the Blogging Marathon for the theme, ‘Condiments’.

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Stuffed crust Pizza

By Posted in Breads, What's cooking Tagged , , , , , , 15 Comments

The stuffed crust pizza has been on my list forever. It is surprising why I haven’t done this before considering I bake pizzas quite regularly. I always plan to make this but then I get into the unnecessary health mode and run miles from the cheese. That was one of the main reasons I picked this theme of ‘Stuffed Dishes’ for this month’s Blogging Marathon.

I didn’t have access to string cheese which is used for these stuffed crust pizzas so I just cut up strips from the mozzarella cheese I had at hand.

Makes 1 pizza

WHAT WE NEED

1/2 portion dough from here

2-3 tbsp Pizza sauce

50-60 gms Mozarella cheese cut into strips

Toppings of your choice

WHAT TO DO

  • Preheat the oven to 200C
  • Roll out the dough to 8″ on a greased baking tray
  • Place the cheese strips on the dough 1″ from the edge on all sides
  • Fold the dough to enclose the cheese inside and press it gently to lock the cheese
  • Apply pizza sauce on the rest of the dough and add the toppings
  • Bake for 20 minutes off till the sides begin to brown
  • Serve warm
  • Enjoy!

This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, ‘Stuffed Dishes’.

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Stuffed Idli

By Posted in Breakfast, What's cooking Tagged , , , , 19 Comments

This series seems to be one of hasty phone pictures. History repeated itself, as it often does in my house, when the daughter and husband claimed to be so hungry that waiting even for a second was impossible. It is so weird that there are days when I have the meal ready way before time and they would take forever to come and eat while there are other days when all I need is 10 minutes to click few photos but they would rant and rave and gobble up the meal before I take out the camera.

Today’s dish for the theme of ‘Stuffed Dishes’ is the ubiquitous idli. Idli has undergone so many variations and modifications yet it manages to retain its traditional charm. I decided to use up the last few ladles of my idli batter and some leftover veggies in making this stuffed idly. The veggies were left over from the pasta I made few days ago and so had carrot,golden corn,mushroom and capsicum. Needless to say, I was rewarded with beaming faces and a clean refrigerator. What more to ask for?

Makes 8 idlis

2 cups Idli Batter

1/4 cup cooked vegetables of your choice

Oil

Water

WHAT TO DO

  • If you don’t have any cooked vegetables, then sauté whatever veggies you plan to stuff the idli with in some oil till they are almost done and set aside
  • Take a large pan / idli vessel / pressure cooker and fill it with some water and put it on the gas to medium low
  • Grease the idli moulds with little oil
  • Pour the idli batter to fill half of the idli mould
  • Put in the veggies on top of the idli batter and pour some additional batter to cover the veggies
  • Steam for 10 minutes and let is rest for another 5 minutes
  • Unmould and serve hot
  • Enjoy with your favourite chutney, sambhar or as is

NOTES

  1. I have tried this with multiple leftover dry veggies and all work. My favourite is the leftover masala from making masala dosas. They are very tasty when stuffed into the idli batter

This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, ‘Stuffed Dishes’.

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Stuffed Pain d’epi

By Posted in Breads, What's cooking Tagged , , , , , , 16 Comments

It is so good that the summers are finally over. Not that it was too hot in Bangalore for most of May but I was visiting the hotter parts of the country and felt the full heat of the summer. Literally! But now we have rain and the weather is, well, not hot. That should do for now. Also, the school season starts and while I am a little sad to see the daughter growing up so quickly, I am also partly relieved that I would get a little more time on my own to finish up the ever long to-do list.

I made this bread couple of days ago when the husband suddenly decided to work from home and the daughter wanted something tasty for the evening. I had some dough left in the fridge and some coriander pesto and carrot pesto. So I mixed up the two pestos and stuffed it in the bread and cut it up. They didn’t even let me take pictures because they were in a tearing hurry to gobble it up. So all I have are these hastily clicked ones on my phone. Both of them loved it so much that we finished the entire loaf and skipped dinner. There is no better feeling than that – not having to make dinner, that is. It’s a blessing!

The coriander pesto again, was a result of the fridge cleaning I did a while back. I had some coriander, mint and paneer that needed to be used up. Then this awesome lady, Archana of The Mad Scientist’s Kitchen, visited Bangalore and gifted me a packet of cashew nibs. Ever since I have been churning out pesto after pesto. The creaminess from the cashew is irresistible and combined with the flavour of coriander and a bit of mint, it was heavenly. The carrot pesto recipe and story is for another day….

Serves 2-3

WHAT WE NEED

1 portion of dough from here

1 small bunch of coriander

Few mint leaves

1/4 cup paneer

1/4 cup cashew nibs (or finely chopped cashews)

2-3 tbsp olive oil

Salt

WHAT TO DO

  • Follow the recipe for the pain d’epi from my previous post till the first rise
  • Take the coriander, mint, paneer,cashew and salt in a blender jar
  • Blend to a coarse paste
  • Add olive oil as needed and blend to a smooth paste
  • Preheat the oven to 250 C with a tray at the bottom rack
  • Take out the dough and roll it out to a 10* 8 inch rectangle
  • Apply the pesto generously on the dough
  • Roll up the dough into a long tube and place it on a greased baking tray
  • Cut a small portion of the dough from one side with a pair of scissors and place it on one side as shown in the picture

  • Bake for 25-30 minutes till the bread is richly brown
  • Take out the tray from the oven and cool for 5-10 minutes
  • Serve warm
  • Enjoy!

NOTES

  1. The coriander pesto can be made and frozen for a month.

This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, ‘Stuffed Dishes’.

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Honey glazed carrots

By Posted in Munchies, Snacks, What's cooking Tagged , , , , , 14 Comments

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For my third and final dish in the ‘One vegetable three ways’ theme, I chose to do the ever simple and ever popular dish -honey glazed carrots. Usually baby carrots are used for this recipe but since those aren’t available in my part of the world, I picked the bigger carrots and sliced them to make this dish. I make it for the daughter for her snack box or an evening snack and she likes it most of the time. Kids!

Serves 2

WHAT WE NEED

300 gms Carrots (3-4)

1-2 tbsp Butter (Salted / unsalted)

1-2 tbsp Honey

A pinch of red chilly powder

A pinch of salt, if using unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups Water to cook the carrots

WHAT TO DO

  • Heat the water in a vessel
  • Wash, peel and cut the carrots into finger long pieces
  • Add the carrots to the water once it starts getting hot
  • The carrots should be tender in 5-7 minutes
  • Drain the water and set the carrots aside
  • In a pan, heat the butter
  • Once the butter melts, add the carrots and salt (if using) and mix well
  • After 2-3 minutes, add honey and mix well
  • If this is not for kids, then use red chilly powder to balance the sweetness of carrots and honey
  • Simmer for 3-4 minutes
  • Once the carrots are glazed well, take off from the heat
  • Enjoy!

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This is my post for the Blogging Marathon, under the theme, ‘One vegetable three ways’.

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Oven roasted carrot soup

By Posted in Soups, What's cooking Tagged , , , , , , , 15 Comments

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If you want to make anything delicious, I suggest you roast it in the oven. Tomatoes, yes…onions, yes….carrots, yes….sweet potato, yes….garlic ,yes. I think I have made my case. Roasting in the oven gives the dish a lovely aroma and an explosion of flavours that are otherwise not unearthed. I know I have two more carrot soups on my blog (here and here) but do you really believe there is a finite number of carrot soups in the world? Like I said before, carrots are able to marry any other vegetable easily and so the flavours to be explored multiply exponentially. Carrot’s natural sweetness can be balanced with any spicy flavouring and result in a magical soup. So try this one too and raise your glass to the humble carrot.

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Recipe adapted from here

Serves 3

WHAT WE NEED

3 medium to large carrots

1 medium sized onion

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 tomatoes

2 tbsp curds / yogurt

Salt

WHAT TO DO

  • Preheat the oven to 200C
  • Peel and roughly chop the carrots
  • Roughly chop the onion
  • Add the garlic, olive oil, cumin, pepper and some salt and mix well
  • Place on a baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes till they start turning brown
  • Turn the tray once during the roasting to ensure equal roasting on all sides
  • Take out the baking tray and cool slightly
  • In the meanwhile, soak the tomatoes in hot water for 10-15 minutes
  • Peel the skin, deseed the tomatoes and purée it
  • Add the roasted vegetables to a mixer / food processor and blend to a smooth mix
  • Add the purred vegetables and the tomato purée to a pot and mix well
  • Stir in the yogurt and adjust for salt
  • Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so till it is hot
  • Serve hot
  • Enjoy!

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This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, ‘One vegetable three ways’.

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Creamy Carrot Sandwich

By Posted in Breads, Breakfast, What's cooking Tagged , , , , , 19 Comments

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I don’t know about you but in my house, the carrot gets a bit of a step-motherly treatment. I take it for granted, don’t give it too much of importance, use it as a filler in combination with other vegetables and its presence solely dependent on the quantity needed and never stopping to consider its feelings. Basically, it always plays a supporting role and never gets its due limelight.  So when I picked this theme of one vegetable in three ways, I figured it would be nice to hero the carrot for once.

Since the husband is travelling I am having a dairy overflow – too much curd and too much milk. So, I figured I could make some hung curd and have a fabulous sandwich with it. It turned out creamy and delicious with the daughter happily munching away and I have been patting my back ever since.

Serves 2

WHAT WE NEED

8 slices of bread

1 carrot, grated

Hung curd from 1/2 litre curd

1 tsp chilly powder / curry powder / mixed dried herbs

Butter to toast the bread

Salt

 

WHAT TO DO

  • Toast the bread slices with butter
  • In a bowl, mix together the hung curd, grated carrot, spice powder and salt
  • Apply the carrot mixture on a slice of bread generously and cover it with another slice
  • Repeat the same for the remaining bread slices
  • Enjoy!

 

NOTES

  1. Though it is not mandatory to toast the bread, it is recommended because the bread otherwise is unable to hold it together and gets soggy due to the hung curd

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This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, ‘One vegetable three ways’.

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Cheese Masala Dosai

By Posted in Breakfast, What's cooking Tagged , , , , , 12 Comments

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The biggest difference I find between my previous working for a corporate self versus working for the home is that I used to crave for weekends then and now I absolutely dread them. I had Monday morning blues then and now I have Friday night chills. I simply can’t wait for the Monday morning when I can pack up the husband and daughter and let out a relieved sigh. The biggest worry for the weekend is to balance everyone’s taste and health, manage to spend time with them and also manage some respite for me. Not easy I tell you.

So this dish happened in one of the weekends when I wanted to eat masala dosai but had no potatoes or patience to make one. So I simply chopped up some onion, tomatoes and capsicum, topped it with loads of cheese and was rewarded with pleas for seconds and satisfied sighs. Miracles happen!

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Serves 2-3

WHAT WE NEED

3 cups Dosai batter

1 large onion

1 large tomato

1 large capsicum

2-3 green chillies

1 sprig curry leaves, finely chopped

2 tsp oil + for making dosais

Lots of shredded cheese

Salt

WHAT TO DO

  • Finely chop the onion, tomato and capsicum
  • Heat 2 tsp oil in a small pan
  • Add the green chillies and onion, tomato and capsicum and mix well
  • Add salt and let it cook till it is cooked well and the liquid from the tomato has almost dried out
  • Set aside
  • Heat a tava and pour a ladle full of batter on it
  • Spread it in concentric motion and make into a dosai
  • Add oil to the end of the dosai and let it cook
  • Add one spoon of the onion mixture on top of the dosai and spread it
  • Top it with as much shredded cheese as you want
  • Use the spatula to loosen the dosai and fold it into three
  • Repeat with the rest of the batter
  • Serve warm
  • Enjoy!

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This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, ‘One protein three dishes’

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