Dahivadas-with a twist :)

The twist in the recipe is---'There is no frying involved!!'  For someone like me, who is not very fond of frying, this is a great option. 

We have new Indian neighbors in our apartment (We haven't met them yet) and every evening when Nisarg returns from the office, the whole lobby area smells of some delicious Indian food :). Last week or so, he informed me that the neighbors were having dahivadas, and I suddenly remembered that my bhabhi used to make this dish without frying the vadas!! So, I got on the phone with bhabhi and made these the very next day. 

Ingredients:

For Vadas:

1 cup green moong daal (husk makes the vadas softer)

1 tbsp ginger-chili paste

15-17 raisins

oil spray, salt as needed

For Garnishing:

2 cups yogurt

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/3 cup tamarind chutney

1 tsp sugar

chili powder, roasted cumin powder to sprinkle

salt as needed

Method:

• Wash and soak moong daal for about 4 hours. Grind in the mixie along with ginger-garlic paste and salt. Use minimum amount of water to make the vada batter.
• Heat up the sandwich maker and once it is hot enough, coat with oil spray and pour batter. Top with raisins and let it cook.
• Place the cooked vadas in lukewarm water and soak for 30-40 minutes. 
• Mix yogurt, salt, sugar with a hand-mixie and add some amount of water to make smooth consistency. 
• Squeeze the vadas gently to remove water and place in a large bowl. Pour yogurt mixture over it and let it soak for 15-20 minutes.
• Drizzle tamarind chutney over the mixture and sprinkle with cilantro, chili powder and cumin powder. 

Enjoy!!!

Red and Green Lasagna

Lasagna is an Italian pasta dish made with alternate layers of pastas and cheese. Traditionally, lots of Ricotta and Mozzarella cheese is used in Lasagna, but we are not too fond of Ricotta cheese, so I always used to avoid making Lasagna. This time I decided to make it, thinking that using very less Ricotta cheese and adding other veggies would be able to provide us proper flavor. 

I am using two kinds of sauces here: Marinara Sauce and White Sauce with Spinach, that's why the name 'Red and Green Lasagna':).  I browsed through different recipes and here is my mixed-and-matched version of Lasagna.

 

Ingredients:

8-9 sheets of lasagna no-boil noodles

1 1/2 cups marinara sauce (I used store-bought. Here is the home-made recipe)

2 1/2 cups white sauce ( 2 tbsp wheat flour, 2 1/2 cups milk)

2 cups frozen chopped spinach (thawed)

1/2 onion (chopped)

1/2 yellow pepper (thinly sliced)

2 small eggplants (sliced)

1 tbsp sundried tomatoes

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tsp chili flakes (optional)

2 tbsp ricotta cheese (I used fat-free)

2 tsp oil

cooking spray

mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper as needed ( I used fat-free cheese)

Method:

• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add chopped onion and garlic paste. Once the onion gets cooked, add marinara sauce. Simmer it for a while. Add 1/2 tsp chili flakes. Set aside.
• To make white sauce, blend wheat flour and milk with a hand mixie. Heat on the stove at medium flame. Add salt, pepper and stir continuously. Remove from the heat when it's thick. ( I like to make this as healthy as possible. You can make the white sauce the usual way by using butter, all-purpose flour and milk.)
• In a pan, add 1 tsp oil and add chopped spinach. Let it cook for a while and add sundried tomatoes. Remove from the heat and add in the white sauce.
• Preheat the oven at 375 F. Put sliced eggplants and bell peppers on the aluminium-foil wrapped baking sheet. Coat with cooking spray and sprinkle salt and pepper. Put in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
• Take a conventional-oven safe bowl and put some spinach-white sauce on the bottom. Cover with lasagna noodles. Put half of marinara sauce on top and cover with eggplants and bell peppers.
• Now, spread ricotta cheese on these vegetables. The next layer again will be lasagna noodles. Cover the noodles with rest of the spinach-white sauce mixture. 
• Put the final layer of lasagna-noodles on the top. Pour rest of the marinara sauce on top and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese.  Sprinkle some chili flakes on top if desired and put in the oven for 55-60 minutes.

     

I would like to send this dish to Mansi's Vegetarian Thanksgiving Event.

Enjoy!!!

Chilaquiles and my first Awards:)

I saw this recipe for the first time on Rachael Ray Show. Chilaquiles is a traditional Mexican dish. It is usually eaten at breakfast/brunch, but at our place we eat this for dinner.  In the traditional recipe, the tortillas are fried but the baked version works very well,too.  

Ingredients:

10 6-inch tortillas ( I use wheat tortillas)

3 cups frozen corn (thawed)

2 15 ounce cans diced fire-roasted tomatoes

2 15 ounce cans black beans

1 tbsp cumin-coriander powder

zest and juice of 1 lime

1 red onion (chopped)

3 cloved garlic ( grated)

1 green chili (chopped)

1 tsp hot sauce

2 scallions (chopped)

1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)

2 tsp oil

1 tsp butter

cooking spray

cheddar cheese, salt and pepper as needed

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• Stack the tortillas on top of one another and slice them into strips about an inch thick. Place into a mixing bowl along with cumin, coriander and lime zest. Mix well along with oil spray and place them into a baking sheet. Bake the strips untill they are crisp and golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.
• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and toss red onion, garlic, green chili. Once the onion gets cooked, add fire-roasted tomatoes. Season with salt-pepper and stir to combine. Put in the mixie and pulse it till it resembles salsa. You can add some store-bought salsa to enhance the flavor. Set aside.
• Heat butter in a pan. Add corn and cook until they are golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Stir only occasionally. Set aside.
• Use the salsa pan to cook the beans. Add 1 tsp oil and add 1 can of beans. Using a potato masher, mash the beans to a paste and then stir in another can of beans. Add hot sauce and some salt.
• Assemble the chilaquiles by putting half of the salsa into a 9x13" baking caserole dish. Arrange the toasted corn strips in the dish and top them off with black beans, followed by corn and the remaining salsa. Top with cheddar cheese and put in the oven for about 7-8 minutes.
• Squeeze lime juice on the top and garnish with scallions and cilantro before serving.

 

Yasmeen of Health Nut has passed me my very first blog awards- Great Buddy award and the Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you so much dear:).

  

My nephew is very fond of corn. Ever since he was small, one his all time favorite foods has been 'corn on the cob' :). When I heard about Sharmi's 'Cooking For Kids' event which has key ingredient 'corn', I knew I had to send in this recipe. I am sure other kids are also going to love this,too.

Enjoy!!!

Makai Handvo (Vegetable Handvo)

Recently I visited my cousin in New York and she showed me some hand-written recipes by my masi. Among these, I found this delicious vegetable handvo/corn handvo recipe which is a speciality of my other masi:). I always thought that this would be way too complicated for me. 

Also, in India we used to live in the same society, so whenever she cooked something special, she'd send the goodies to us,too. I never had to worry about how to cook all those yummy dishes;). But here in the US, if you want to eat authentic gujju dishes, there is no other option but to cook them yourself!!

So, I finally cooked it yesterday and it turned out so good!! Am planning to make it again soon...

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen corn (thawed and grated)

1 large potato (boiled and mashed)

1 cup cooked rice

1 cup chopped boiled vegetables(green beans, peas, carrots)

1 cup boiled corn

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 cup bread crumbs(toast 2 bread slices and then grind in the mixer)

1 cup milk

2-3 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tbsp coconut powder

5 tbsp chopped cilantro

3 tbsp crushed ginger-chili 

1 tsp ghee

1 tbsp oil 

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp mustard seeds

pinch of asafoetida

1 tbsp sesame seeds

5-6 cashews (halved)

5-6 golden raisins

7-8 curry leaves

salt, sugar, lemon juice as needed

oil spray

Method:

• Heat ghee in a pan and add cumin seeds. Add crushed corn, salt, 1 tbsp chili-ginger, 1 tbsp coconut, sugar, lemon juice, 2 tbsp cilantro and 1 cup milk. Let it thicken at low-medium heat. Stir continuously. Set aside.
• Add 1 tbsp chili-ginger, 1 tbsp cilantro, salt, lemon juice and sugar into mashed potato and mix well. 
• Take a large mixing bowl and add crushed corn mixture, mashed potato mixture, boiled vegetables, tomatoes, cilantro, rice and mix well. Add chili-ginger, sugar,salt, lemon juice if needed.
• Heat oil for tadka. Add mustard seeds, asafoetida, sesame seeds, curry leaves, cashews and raisins. When sesame seeds are golden brown turn off the heat and add this tadka to the mixing bowl. Mix well.
• Preheat the oven at 350 F.
• Coat conventional oven-safe bowl with oil spray and spread half of the mixture. Now layer with tomato ketchup. Pour rest of the mixture and layer with bread crumbs.
• Put in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden brown. 
• Serve with tomato ketchup or cilantro chutney.

I'd like to send this to Sharmi's 'Cooking For Kids' event, where this month's key ingredient is 'corn'. 

Enjoy!!!

Thai Red Curry

I fell in love with Thai food the first time I tried it!!:) We had gone to a restaurant called 'Bangkok Balcony' here in Pittsburgh. I am not a huge fan of coconut, so I was a bit skeptical about trying the curries, but all the dishes were so yummy!! Since then, it has became my favorite cuisine.  

We recently invited some of our friends for Thai dinner and the menu was Thai iced tea, Thai fresh summer rolls, Spring rolls, Cucumber salad, Thai red curry with brown rice, Pad thai noodles. Luckily for us, everything turned out quite good:). 

I am starting with the Thai red curry recipe. I'll be uploading other pics and recipes soon...

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetarian red curry paste( the one I use is by 'Thai Kitchen')

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 cups unsweetened light coconut milk

2 tsp oil

3 cloves chopped garlic

2 tsp ginger paste

2-3 chopped chillies

1 cup cubed firm tofu

2 cups stir-fried vegetables( green-red peppers, water chestnuts, broccoli, mushrooms, baby corns, carrots, soy beans)

10-12 roasted cashews, 2 chopped scallions for garnish

Method:

• Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Saute the vegetables until cooked. Add tofu and mix well. Set aside.
• Reheat the pan with remaining 1 tsp of oil over medium heat. Add the curry paste and stir to combine. 
• Add brown sugar and 1 cup of coconut milk. Add ginger, garlic, chillies, vegetables, tofu and remaining coconut milk. Cook for 10-12 minutes.
• Garnish with cashews and scallions and serve with jasmine rice.

I would like to send this to A.W.E.D. Thai Event hosted by DK's Culinary Bazaar.

Enjoy!!!

 

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Hi everyone,

Whenever I make something new or special, I usually share the photos of the dishes with my friends and family members. Stuffed bell pepper is one of the dishes that has aroused most interest. Many people have asked me about its recipe and have enjoyed it. Obviously, it makes stuffed bell peppers a worthy candidate for a blog.

   

Whenever we invite guests to our place over lunch/dinner, I always ask my husband "What should I make?", usually he is out of clue (and  mentions dishes that do not suit with rest of the items). Finally, I have to give him some choices, but his lifeline to save himself out of the trouble has been "stuffed bell peppers". This dish can easily match with different types of cuisines. The ingredients are basically Italian, but it can match well with North Indian or continental cuisines. It is a great dish for potluck too. You can add cottage cheese and Indian spices in the filling for an Indian version of the stuffed bell peppers.

      

Ingredients:

4 large bell peppers

2 chopped green onions

1 chopped tomato

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup boiled spaghetti(you can use other kind of pastas)

1/2 cup cooked rice

1 tsp chili sauce

3/4 cup tomato ketchup

1 cup white sauce(1/2 tsp butter, 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, 1 cup milk, salt, pepper)

oil spray

salt, chili powder, cheese as needed

Method:

• Cut bell peppers in half and remove seeds and stems. Put them in a microwave-safe bowl, add some water and cover the lid. The bell peppers will be almost cooked in about 5-6 minutes. Keep aside.
• For the filling, mix rice, spaghetti, tomatoes, green onions, cilantro, chili sauce, salt. 
• Add this mixture in the bell pepper halves. 
• To make white sauce, heat butter and roast all-purpose flour. Add milk and stir continuously till it becomes thick. Add salt and pepper. Remove from the stove and add tomato ketchup. 
• Preheat the oven at 375 F.
• Coat conventional oven-safe bowl with oil spray and then put stuffed bell peppers. Pour white sauce mixture over the peppers. Sprinkle grated cheese, some drops of butter, salt and chili powder and put in the oven for 15-20 minutes.     

  

Enjoy!!!