Stir Fried Tofu & Vegetables

Yes, Yup & Yeah! That simple!

Sambhar Vadai

Ingredients

1. Urad Dhal - 1 cup
2. Green Chilli - 1
3. Curry Leaves - 1 branch
4. Asafoetida - One small pinch
5. Salt - To Taste
6. Oil - To deep fry

Procedure - For Vadai

1. Soak urad dal overnight for atleast 8 hours. Finely (I mean, very finely) chop Green Chillis & Curry Leaves
2. In a grinder, finely grind the soaked urad dal. Don't add too much water, just add as much as it needs to keep the grinder working. (Yes, you can use a mixie too, but if you grind it, you'll get more for your buck!)
3. When its done, add the above finely chopped items to the ground mixture with salt and asafoetida
4. Now, take a ping-pong sized ball of this mixture, place it on your four fingers, make a small hole in the center of the vadai and slowly drop it in boiling oil
5. Keep the stove in medium flame so that you'll let the vadai cook properly and turn golden brown as well
6. In an electric stove with medium flame, it takes about 8-12 minutes for the vadai to come out properly. When its done, keep the fried vadai's on a tissue paper and you'll have a "Oh! My God! See how much oil!" moment, and that's perfectly Okay! No need to call 911...
7. Now, drop these vadai's (that is, after they've cooled down a bit) in some yummy sambhar and let it soak for atleast 6 hours. Don't worry, it won't become soggy
   

Procedure - For Sambhar

• Come on, now don't tell me you don't know how to make a Sambhar! Are you flipping kidding me?

Oh btw, one free advice - The best consistency (பதம்) for the ground mixture is, when you take it in your hand/spoon and keep it upside down, it shouldn't fall down.

Stuffed Peppers

By far, my favorite vegetable is bell pepper. I just love to buy it, cut it, cook it, eat it and the flavor of it in anything (stop your wild imagination right there! "Anything" = A vegetarian soup/salad/entree), is fantabulous.

Ingredients

1. Red Onion - 1
2. Bell (Green/Red/Orange/Yellow) Peppers - 6
3. Garlic - 4/5
4. Ginger - 1 tbsp
5. Serrano Chilli - 2
6. Potato - 1
7. Carrot - 1
8. Peas - 4 tbsp
9. Kernel Corn - 4 tbsp
10. Red Kidney Beans - 1/2 cup
11. Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp
12. Coriander Powder - 1 tbsp
13. Turmeric Powder - 1 pinch
14. Salt - To Taste
15. Oil - 4 tbsp (Olive/Vegetable/Canola)
16. Mozarella Cheese - 1/4 cup

Before Baking...



After Baking...

Procedure

1. Soak the Red Kidney Beans for 12 hours. Add salt to the soaked red kidney beans and pressure cook the same (one whistle)
2. Keep the stove on medium flame. Add oil & cumin seends and let it splutter
3. Finely chop Onions, Ginger, Garlic, Serrano Chilli and add it to the pan
4. Once the onions turn golden brown, add cut potatoes, carrots, peas, kernel corn & pressure cooked red kindey beans to the pan
5. Add Chilli Powder, Coriander Powder, Turmeric Powder to the above mixture and close the pan
6. Cook it like this for 10-15 minutes until the flavour of the powders gel well with the vegetables and beans
7. While this mixture is getting ready, wash the bell peppers thoroughly and cut the top portion so that it's like a cap for the bottom portion of the pepper. Goes without saying, you have to clean the seeds inside and trash them
8. Mix salt to 3 tbsp of oil and rub this salted oil mixture throughout the peppers (inside-out)
   
9. Now, stuff the vegetables and beans into each of the peppers and garnish it with cheese.
10. Close the stuffed peppers with the cut portion that and neatly arrange in a baking dish (Take a picture of the same if you'd like to post in your blog!).
    
11. If you are smart enough, you should preheat the oven to 350F before starting the stuffing so that you can shove it in oven right after you're done. Otherwise, its not the end of the world, preheat it now and put the stuffed peppers into your oven
    
12. It takes anywhere from 20-40 minutes depending on the oven, so, after 20~ minutes, keep looking at the peppers to see if they're done. If you like it well done, you can leave it for a while, but don't get your peppers black eyed!
13. And yes, its a little painful to eat the peppers as such, so, use your expertise with a knife and fork and I hope you enjoy it

Stuffed Tandoori Aloo

Ingredients

1. Big Russet Potatoes - 4
2. Green Peas - 2 tbsp
3. Finely Chopped Red Onion - 3 tbsp
4. Serrano Chilli - 1
5. Mozzarella Cheese - 6 tbsp
6. Coriander Leaves - 1 bunch
7. Turmeric - 1 pinch
8. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
9. Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
10. Garlic - 4/5
11. Ginger - 1 tbsp
12. Amchoor Powder - 1 tsp
13. Chilli Powder - 1 tbsp
14. Tandoori Masala - 1 tbsp
15. Oil - 2 tbsp (Olive/Vegetable/Canola)
16. Salt - To Taste
17. Cashew - 6 to 8
18. Raisins - 1 tbsp

Before Baking...



Procedure

1. Clean the Russet potatoes well in cold running water. Then, steam the potatoes with water and salt for like 5 minutes. You can 0it (or) put it in a cooker
2. When its done, peel the skin and cut the potatoes into two, length wise. Scoop the inner portion of the potatoes slowly with a spoon so that the scooped potatoes look like a small boat (Lousy example, I know, but for the lack of a better explanation, I had to do it!)
3. Don't throw away the scrap that you've scooped, we're going to need that for the filling
4. For marinating, grind the ginger, garlic, amchoor powder, chilli powder, tandoori masala, oil, a pinch of salt and a little bit of water in a blender. Take the cut & scooped pieces of potatoes and apply the above ground mixture on all sides of the potatoes. Set it aside for a few minutes
5. For the filling, take a bowl and put the scrapped potatoes, green peas, red onions, serrano chilli (chopped), mozzarella cheese (3 tbsp), Turmeric, Garam Masala, Chilli Powder, a pinch of salt and mix it really well. If you want to add little bit of hot water, please do, so that it'll jell better
6. Now, take the marinated potatoes and put the hollow portion with the filling you've prepared in #5 above. Be a little generous when you fill it
7. When you're done with the stuffing, lay the potatoes in a baking dish neatly. Garnish each filled potato with finely chopped cashew, raisins and mozzarella cheese
8. When you're done garnishing, shove it in the oven which is presumed to be preheated at 400F and ready!
9. It takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes depending on the oven, so, after 20~ minutes, keep looking to see if they're done or not
10. Serve it with Tomato Ketchup (or) Green Chutney (the kind you get in a chaat shop)

PS: The 'After Baking...' picture is not here because we ate the potatoes when they were done. Yup! the usual ஆர்வ கோளாறு!

Sweet Corn Soup

Ingredients

1. Kernel Corn - 2 cups
   
2. Carrot - 1
3. Peas - 4 tbsp
   
4. Onion - 1
5. Green Onion - 2/3
6. Coriander Leaves - 1/4 bunch
   
7. Veg. Broth - 2 (16 oz.) cans
8. Corn Flour - 2 tbsp
   
9. White Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
10. Soy Sauce - 2 tbsp
11. Chilli Sauce - 1 tbsp
12. Oil - 1 tbsp (Olive/Vegetable/Canola)
13. Salt & Crushed Black Pepper - To Taste
    

Procedure

1. Steam the corn in pressure cooker for 10-12 minutes
2. Grind half of the boiled corn in a blender with the corn flour
3. Finely chop Onions, Serrano Chilli and sauté in a pot with oil
4. Add the grounded corn mixture when the onions turn light brown
5. Put the rest of the boiled corn, cut carrots, peas to the above mixture
6. Add soy sauce, chilli sauce, white vinegar with a pinch of salt and black pepper
7. Let it boil for 10 minutes and garnish with coriander leaves and green onions
8. Done
   

Burrito Bol

An attempt to replicate the bestest Burrito Bol from here

Ingredients

Tomato Salsa

1. Medium sized fresh tomatoes - 3
2. Red onion - 1/2
3. Serrano chilli - 1
4. Lemon - 1 (For Juice)
5. Chopped Cilantro - 1/2 cup
6. Salt and pepper - To taste

Salsa Verde

1. Tomatillos - 3
2. White onion - 1/2
3. Green Onions - 4 stems
4. Chopped Cilantro - 1/2 cup
5. Lemon - 1 (For Juice)
6. Sugar - 1/4 tsp
7. Serrano Chilli - 1
8. Salt - To Taste
9. Cumin Powder - 1 small pinch

Guacamole

Buy it from a store, seriously. I did it from scratch and hence I know how big a pain in the rear end it is. Please, will you listen to me?

Pinto Beans

1. Pinto Beans (or) Red Kidney Beans - 1 cup
2. Red Chillis - 2
3. Salt - To Taste

Rice with Lemon Juice

1. Basmati Rice - 2 cups (uncooked)
2. Green Onions - 2 stems
3. Cilantro - 1/3 cup
4. Lemon - 2 (For Juice)
5. Salt

Procedure

Tomato Salsa

1. Remove stems and finely dice the tomatoes and Serrano Chilli
2. Finely chop the Onions and mix it with the diced tomatoes & chilli
3. Squeeze juice from 1 lemon and add it with salt and pepper to the above mixture
4. Now, garnish this with chopped cilantro, mix it really well & refrigerate

Salsa Verde

1. Remove stems from the tomatillos and Serrano Chilli
2. Add the tomatillos, Serrano Chilli, White Onion, Green Onion, Cilantro to a food processor and grind it for 15-20 seconds along with Cumin powder, Sugar & Salt
3. Consistency for this ground mixture should be a little coarse
4. Add fresh lemon juice to the ground salsa, mix it really well & refrigerate

Pinto Beans

1. Soak the Pinto Beans for 2 hours and pressure cook with the red chillis and salt
2. Drain the water and keep it aside

Rice with Lemon Juice

1. Cook the rice and let it cool for about 30 mins
2. Take a pan and saute` the green onions and cilantro a bit and add the rice with salt
3. Now, add freshly squeezed lemon juice on the rice and close it for a while so that the juices blend with the rice

Now, add all of these together, garnish with some sour cream, lettuce and enjoy maadi. Yes, its a bit laborious, but you can Añadir Cocina Mexicana su curriculum vitae!

Punjabi Kadhi with Spinach Kofta

Ingredients

For Spinach Kofta

1. Spinach - A couple of bunches, say about 1 lbs
2. Gram Flour - 1/2 cup
3. Breadcrumbs - 3 tbsp
4. Salt - To Taste
5. Serrano chilli - 2 Nos.
6. Oil - 2 tsp

For Punjabhi Kadhi

1. Gram flour - 1 cup
2. Chopped Onions - 1/2 cup
   
3. Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
4. Yogurt/Buttermilk - 1/4 gallon
5. Salt - To Taste
6. Turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
7. Asafoetida - A small pinch
8. Dry Red Chillis - 2 nos.
   
9. Oil - 2tbsp

Before Baking...



After Baking...



In the Punjabi Kadhi...



Procedure

For Baked Spinach Kofta

1. Parboil the spinach and have the Green Chillis finely chopped
   
2. Put the parboiled spinach and green chillis and grind it really well
   
3. Mix the ground mixture with gram flour, salt, oil, breadcrumbs with little bit of water
   
4. Keep mixing the above things until you feel you can make nice balls of kofta
5. Rub oil in your hand and make small kofta balls as shown above and place it evenly on a baking sheet
   
6. Bake it at 300F for about 15-20 mins

For Punjabhi Kadhi

1. Add turmeric powder, gram flour, salt and red chilli powder to the Yogurt/buttermilk and beat it really well so that there are no lumps
   
2. Take a cooking bowl and sauté the onions until it turns golden brown
3. Now, add the mixed yogurt/buttermilk to the onions and keep the stove in low-medium flame for about 10 minutes
4. Let the Kadhi thicken a bit and then do a Tadka with dry red chillis and asafoetida and pour it on the boiling Kadhi
5. By this time, the baked kofta should be ready and simmer those kofta balls in the kadhi for about 30 minutes before serving
6. Makes an excellent side dish for Roti's or Jeera Rice

Oh btw, the guilt feeling is a little less even after eating a lot of kofta's this way as its not deep fried. Obviously, the baked kofta's aren't as nice as the deep fried ones, but is definitely a healthy substitute and really, its not as bad as you think it might be. So, give it a shot.