Chaat Masala

I like to make mine from just 4 ingredients so that I can savor each individual ingredient's flavor instead of the store brand which has a TON of stuff !

- 1-2 Dry Red chilli ( Add more if you like it hot, less if you can't tolerate heat. You can use any variety available like cayenne pepper but make sure it is DRIED ie it shouldn't just be non-wet but sun dried kind of dried)

- 1 tsp fennel seeds

- 1 tsp cumin seeds

- 1 tsp coriander seeds

Roast all the spices in a nonstick pan on the stove. Turn off and remove from heat once they're fragrant. Let cool completely and then grind to a fine powder. This powder will stay fresh for upto 6 months if stored in a dry tightly closed container.

Bean Sprout Salad

OMG did my toddler love it or what ! I feel foolish for not having taken a picture of it. I didn't think she would like it and so I thought I would not be posting it on here. But wonder of wonders she had 3 helpings ! This is a great appetizer or even a snack and ofcourse, it is HEALTHY since it has all the good stuff - protein, whole grain, no oil no trans fat heck make that NO fat and if you take the raw route, you it doesn't even need you to turn on the stove !

I have a pretty decent sprout maker which makes enough for about 3 people. I use the green Mung dal (the one thats green in color) as shown here

Take about half a cup mung beans. Wash them thoroughly in a sieve. Make sure there are no stones or other stuff in it. If so, remove them. Now transfer the beans to a dish and add enough water to completely soak the beans. Then add about an inch more (since the beans will soak most of this water). Leave overnight or for about 6 hours. Once the seeds are plump drain the water and transfer to your sprout maker. If you don't have a sprout maker, you can follow this method to sprout the beans. It takes atleast 8 hours for the beans to sprout. You can leave them longer too but you will have to drain the water from the bottom of the sprouter and add fresh water (to stop the beans from getting smelly). The paper towel method too talks about how to rinse the beans and repeat the process if you want to leave them longer.

Now the salad ingredients remain the same but the sprouts can be served in two ways - as is (they will have a crunchy and 'raw' texture ) or steamed for about 15 minutes till they lose their 'raw' taste. I steamed mine for a few minutes since I personally think they're more gassy if eaten raw and my little person doesn't take to a gassy tummy well. So once you have them at the crispness you like, follow the instructions below

- 1/4th Onion finely chopped

- 1 tomato finely diced

- 1 small finely chopped green chilli

- 4-5 sprigs cilantro. Separate leaves from stem, discard stem and chop the leaves

- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice

- a pinch of table salt

- 1/4th tsp rock salt (you can skip this if you don't have it)

- 1/2 tsp Chaat masala (freshly ground is best and you can find how I make it here. You could also buy the ready made version from a store that sells Indian spices)

If the beans are steamed, wait until they're completely cooled. Then follow along. Add all of the above ingredients except lemon juice and cilantro. Mix well. Now add lemon juice. Mix again. Garnish with cilantro. This dish is best consumed immediately once the ingredients are all mixed in since the tomato and onion will make the leftovers soggy.

I promise to make this again (now that my little girl likes it) and post a picture soon !

Kheema Palav

I made this for dinner today as a special treat for my hubby who travels a lot (translates to eats outside junk food a lot) and didn't think my fussy toddler would like it (she's not a big meat fan), but, she DID !! Yay !! This is a Parsi dish usually served on special occasions. I had it at my friend Gulshan's place, loved it and have made it a few times since then. This is the first time I made it since my toddler started eating solid food tho'.

I won't say this is as quick as some of my other recipes, but its not hard. Just takes some chopping and lots of stirring to prevent stuff sticking to the pan. Helps to have all the ground spices on hand too to save on time. Here's the ingredient list and directions

For the Kheema (Kheema basically means Ground meat so Chicken Kheema is Ground Chicken) :

1 Lb Turkey or Chicken Kheema (I don't use breast because I think it is too dry. I like the one with 7% fat ideally chicken - not much of a turkey kheema fan in this recipe)

1 Onion - well chopped

Garlic – either paste, grated or very finely chopped (I usually use 1 tsp of giner-garlic paste but today I didn't have any so I used 3 cloves of chopped garlic)

Ginger - paste, grated or finely chopped (as said above I didn't have the paste on hand and so I very finely chopped a 1 inch piece of ginger after peeling off the skin)

1/8th tsp (about 2 pinches) Turmeric powder

1-2 Green Chillies - chopped, and/or chilli powder 1/2 tsp (or if you have a toddler like mine who can't tolerate heat leave this out. Trust me you won't be able to find a difference !)

1 tsp Dhania-Jeera powder

1/4 tsp Curry powder (if you are omitting the chillies and the red chilli powder you can use upto 1/2 tsp of this)

1/4 tsp Garam masala powder (again if you aren't using the green chillies you can add another 1/4th tsp of this)

Pasta/spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce (not ketchup) or grated/pureed tomatoes

Cilantro - chopped

Salt to taste

For the Pulav:

1 Cup Basmati Rice

Tomatoes – sliced

Cilantro – chopped

Mint Leaves – chopped (Iif using fresh use 4-5 leaves. I use dried mint which is crumbly so I use a pinch or two and sprinkle it lightly over the tomato layer)

Saffron soaked in 1 tbsp of hot milk for atleast 15 mins

3 tbsp Yogurt

1 tsp Oil (this is the ONLY oil used in the entire recipe! I try to make healthy food at home since hubby travels so much he gets enough of the artery clogging stuff on the road)

Whole Garam masala - Cloves (3-4), Dry Bay Leaves (1-2 leaves), 1/4th inch Cinnamon stick, 1 Black Cardamom (this imparts a really strong flavor so its best to use just 1)

Salt to taste

The Process :

Mash Kheema by hand. Then heat it on medium high heat, stirring occasionally till the meat releases off its juices (there's no need to add extra oil when cooking this). It helps to use a non stick pan . It'll help with all the stirring you'll have to do for the meat to release its juice. Now remove as much liquid as possible in a cup and keep aside. When kheema is dry, keep stirring so that it gets well browned but not burnt.

Then add the chopped onions and continue cooking till onions are almost cooked (light brown). Add ginger garlic and stir some more. Then add all the spices and 1 tbsp of water (don't add too much water !). Cook well. Add the tomato puree or pasta sauce continue cooking.

Now, remove the fat floating on the kheema liquid that was set aside and pour the lower liquid back into the kheema. Add more water if needed but making sure that the Kheema is wet but not “runny”. Mix in lots of chopped cilantro. Keep aside.

You can do this in parallel while the Kheema is cooking. Wash rice in water, rinse well and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan and add the whole garam masala (cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon and cardamom). Roast them until they start to crackle. Add rice (be careful since the oil may splatter since the rice is wet) and sauté gently so as not to break the grains of rice. Add water. I usually add 1X2 times (ie 1 cup rice 2 cups water). Add salt. Bring the mixture to a boil on high heat. Turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and cook the rice until all water is absorbed.

Once the rice is done, immediately separate rice into 3 parts before it clumps together. To the first part, add yogurt and mix well. To the second part, add the saffron in milk and mix well (this will turn the rice yellow). I love the fragrance of saffron in the rice. Makes me feel like I'm eating a feast. Leave the last part of rice as-is.

Now we need to layer the different rice. Take a serving dish. First add the rice-yogurt mixture. Over this, spread a layer of sliced tomatoes and sprinkle with mint. Then add half of the kheema. Next, spread the plain rice. Repeat layer of tomato slices, mint and rest of the kheema. Finally add the saffron-rice mixture. It helps to use a microwaveable dish since it makes reheating easy (in case you want to make it a couple of hours ahead). Just sprinkle a little water over the top before heating. That'll help prevent the rice from drying out.

This makes about 4 servings

Maura Dal Chawal

Which means Bland Lentils and Rice and is my least favorite food (other than tofu and cottage cheese[paneer]). I am not averse to eating it, but it wouldn't be one of the things I'll happily make. You might wonder why anyone would make food bland tho'. The reason is, that its usually served with a 'patio' (pronounced paateo) which is a tomato based gravy usually containing some kind of fish or shrimp and the patio is made SPICY so I guess it balances things out.

Now, since this was hubby's request (even tho' I was in no mood to eat it) I decided to make it. But of course, I had to modify the traditional one into something more palatable. Here's my take on it.

I decided I'd document it 'properly' this time so here's a picture of the ingredients I started out with. But then as I started actually making it, I added more stuff and my determination to take pictures went out of the window. Sorry!

Other than whats shown in the picture above, the only other ingredients I used were baby spinach, mustard seeds, 1 tsp oil, chicken franks cut diagonally into long pieces and curry leaves.

The Dal I used is a 40-60% mix of Masoor Dal and split Moong Dal (see link)

The way I made it :

Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and let them 'splutter'. Add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and let those get fragrant and brown but not burnt. Then add 4-5 curry leaves ( I wash and dry the ones I bring from the store and then keep them in an air tight box in the refrigerator. They get crumbly-dry after a few weeks but still keep their aroma and taste when added to food and the best part is, this way they don't spoil even with sitting 2+ months in the fridge !) Add finely chopped garlic (about 3 cloves) and the two finely chopped spring onions. Saute until the garlic and onion turn golden-ish. Then add finely chopped tomato. Saute some more. Toss in the chicken franks and saute for a few more seconds. Now add the chopped baby spinach. I buy a HUGE bag but don't use enough of it before it spoils in the fridge. So I store it in the freezer. All I do is take out a handful and crush it with my hand (no need for chopping hah !) works pretty well but the hands do kinda freeze lol. Now add the dal mix, salt and water. Shut the cooker lid and cook it until its completely cooked - about 3 steam lift-offs from the old-fashioned weight cookers.

This dal is usually served with plain white Basmati rice

Hubby said it would be super quick and easy for me to make (since I wanted something hassle free) and he was right because it took about 25 minutes total time and 10 minutes active chopping/sauteing time. Nice for a week night dinner followed by a quick lunch leftover recipe see below.

Add the left over dal into whole wheat flour (removing any left over chicken frank pieces from it) and knead it into a playdoh consistency ball adding very little water if required. Break this into 1.5 inch balls and roll these into quick protein filled lunch tortillas. Roast on a dry pan and have plain or with your favorite spread !

A healthy twist on Cheese stuffed tortillas

I had posted a recipe to "Cheese stuffed Tortillas" earlier. Last night I gave it a twist and it worked like a charm.

I had various kinds of purees sitting in the ice cube tray in the freezer so I thawed out a couple of cubes each of - Avacado, Cauliflower and Sweet Potato. I added these into the dry flour mixture and cut down on the water (since the purees provide the combining power anyways)

I felt the sweet potato puree made the rotis softer and fluffier. I was pretty happy with the result since my kiddo has, till date, NEVER eaten cauliflower, but yesterday, she couldn't tell the difference !

On a side note, if you hate getting flour under your finger nails and if you'd like to make Rotis at home more often, buy a food processor with a flour kneader attachment. I have one and it makes my life so much better !!

Finally you could cut the tortillas into smaller pie slices and serve as an appetizer !

Quick crockpot Butternut Squash Soup

Its been a while since I posted recipes here. The last two weeks into Christmas and New Year's were busy and with the Grandparents gone back to India, finding blogging time has become difficult. However, Bahaar's been loving most of the food I've been making so I've been simply 'putting off' the postings .. call me lazy ! Here's a recipe I made just last week. I got a huge box of cubed butternut squash from BJs. (I find cubing squash myself very difficult so I usually tend to avoid cooking it). Bahaar loved this soup

1 Butternut Squash cubed

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup

Pepper to taste (I ditched the salt since the canned chicken soup I think, has more than enough !!)

2-3 sprigs fresh Thyme (or any other fresh herb you may have on hand)

Directions: Dump this all in the crockpot and cook on high for 2-3 hours until the squash is tender. Puree in a blender and serve hot !