Kale Juice

Serves 2

Ingredients:

5 large Kale leaves
2 Cucumbers
1 Carrot
1 Lemon (Juice)
1 Granny Smith Apple
1 inch Ginger (Peeled and fresh)
2 Celery Stalks





Method:

Grind all the above ingredients chopped.
Since I don't own a juicer, I use a strainer to separate the juice from the fiber.

I think the fiber can be added to Roti\Chappati dough to get healthy and nurtritious Roti\Chappati. I use store-bought Roti - so don't keep it.

Will keep thinking of other ways to use them instead of throwing them away as I do right now.

I make the above quantity - I keep one glass for the next day by wrapping the glass with wrap to make it air-tight. I don't find the drink tasty - but knowing it is good for health is what makes me keep making it.

Inspired from the recipe here.

Sabudana Upma - Pearls of Tapioca!

Every ingredient needs to be processed and cooked in it's own appropriate method. Tapioca pearls aka Sabudana is one such delicate ingredient. You have to handle it one particular way - else you end up with the gooey mushy bubblegum-texture dish - which is definitely not appetizing at all! :)

With a few disasters behind me - or as few of us would proudly pronounce that as experience - this time round, I was determined to get this right. The first time I had it as hubby's friend Jyoti's place. She had made it as an appetizer and it was delicious. She had mentioned about the overnight soaking to get the right texture - but I had totally forgotten the bit about putting just enough water till the surface of the Sabudana in the container. Anything more or less will make it go "crazy" - too mushy or the other extreme of under-cooked! :) 

Ingredients

Sabudana - 1 cup, soak overnight. Put it in a container and soak it overnight with water such that the water just covers it, not more, not less. Leave it covered.

Canola Oil - 1 tbsp
- Begin of Seasoning
Curry Leaves - 7-8, fresh
Dry Red Chillies - 3
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Chana Dal - 2 tbsp
Urad Dal - 1 tbsp
Asafoetida - 3-4 pinches
- End of Seasoning
Peanuts - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 Medium
Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp, or as per taste

Method

Soak Sabudana overnight.
Heat Canola Oil.
As the Oil warms up, add the Seasoning ingredients and let it flavor the Oil.
Add the Peanuts and let them roast and turn golden brown.
Add the chopped Onions and let it cook till transparent and the raw smell is gone.
Add the soaked Sabudana and cook till the pearls are transparent. Takes about 5-10 mins. They should not turn back to white again - if they do, then they have been overcooked. Keep stirring them to prevent them from sticking to each other and turning into a gooey mess. :)
Turn off the heat, cover it and let it sit for 10 mins.
Add the Lemon juice and mix well (optional). Some garnish it with chopped Coriander (optional).

Serve hot with Garlic Pickle, Roasted Papad, or just as-is.

Mudi (Puffed Rice) Mixture

We Baripadias (my paternal grandparents place is in Baripada of Mayurbhanj district of Odisha) love our Mudi (aka Puffed Rice). If you have been following this blog, you would seen a few other posts where I mention this.

I can have Mudi with almost every curry. I am not kidding when I say that my mom literally blackmailed me as a kid with it to make sure I eat my veggies.

One favorite breakfast item is mixing Mudi with milk (cream adds richness) and eating it with Potato fries (not French fries) or some other dry curry like Aloo Dum/Brinjal fries/Saag/what not.

Marriage celebration is not complete without one meal of Mudi with fresh-caught Fish fries. And another meal of Mudi and Mutton curry. Yes, we are a non-veg centric cuisine. If the host does not provide this, they are judged severely irrespective of whether they did everything else right and treated the guests royally!!;)

One common snack item is Mudi Mixture. It is nothing but mixing an Indian spicy mixture (store-bought) with Puffed Rice. You can add chopped Onion, Green Chillies, Lemon Juice and Coriander leaves - everything is optional. It is pretty close to the Bhel Puri sans the chutneys.

Modak

Modak prepared by my lovely friend aka sister aka partner-in-crime Vrinda for Ganesh Chaturthi!

Recipe link : http://www.aayisrecipes.com/sweets/modak/

Bon Appetite!

Kala Chana Pulao

A Rice preparation that is wholesome, delicious and also an one-pot wonder - what is not to like in it? :) Found the recipe here - Thank you, Ujwal!

Ingredients

1 cup Rice - soaked for 1 hour
2 tbsp Canola Oil
3/4 tsp Jeera (Cumin Seeds)
1 Onion sliced, medium in size
1/2 tsp Ginger Paste - 1/2 tsp Garlic Paste (I used 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste)
1/2 -1 tsp Garam Masala Powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Vegetable Curry Powder
Salt (to taste)
2 tsp Lemon juice
Coriander leaves (A few with stalk)

Soak together overnight
1/2 cup Kala (black) Channa
1  Cinnamon
2-3 Cloves
2 cups Water




Method

1. Soak Channa overnight with all the ingredients given under "Soak together overnight" and pressure cook for one whistle, Keep on low flame for 20 mins thereafter. Reserve the stock.
2. Strain Channa. Measure stock and add enough water to make it upto 2 cups (double the volume of the rice).
3. Heat Canola Oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add Jeera. When it turns golden, add the sliced Onion and stir fry till the raw smell is gone.
4. Add Ginger Garlic paste and fry for a min. 
5. Add in cooked Kala Channa, Lemon juice, salt, Garam Masala, Vegetable Curry Powder, Red Chilli powder. Fry for 2 minutes. Add Rice. Mix. Add coriander leaves.
6. Add the measured stock and water mixture. Boil.
7. Cover with a well fitting lid. cook on low flame until almost done.
8. Fluff with fork to let the steam escape so that rice grains do not stick to each other. If needed, cover it for a few mins to continue cooking the Rice in it's steam.
9. Garnish with a sprig of Coriander leaf or Mint leaf.

Serve hot with cool Raita!

Bingsu .. no cousin of Bingo!

Tried this dessert this past weekend and how I regretted not having tasted it so far. Sometime back, I had carried it out and of course, it was a disaster. Never ever carry it out - even if you do, have it soon after.

Bingsu is a Korean dessert consisting of shaved ice, condensed milk, chopped fruits and red bean paste. The wikipedia page for the same is here. I had this at Shilla's Patisserie at Centerville, VA. It is served in large portion - two or three people can easily share it depending on appetite. Do check it out! As well as the Mango Souffle Cake pic below - so light, creamy and delicious.

While we are on Korean food, sharing a pic of the Vegetable Pancake and Mushroom Tofu Soup from Lighthouse Tofu next door. I can have this seven days a week - that should tell you how much I like it!! Enjoy!!

Fragrant Lemon Rice

It is surprising that we eat Rice often and yet I had not made Lemon Rice ever! From childhood memories, there was one Holi (the color festival of India to welcome Spring season) when my mom had prepared Lemon Rice. After the exciting morning playing colors with friends and family, the Lemon Rice was distinctly fragrant and flavorful. It is one of those meals that leaves a distinct mark in your memory.

When having friends over for a simple dinner this past weekend, I decided to try my hand at making the Lemon Rice. So scoured the websites and VahReVah! video tutorial on the same. Finally decided to use the recipe posted here at "Chef In Making - Recipes with a twist" and slightly modify it. Thank you, soniaabrol, for the recipe.

To prepare for approx. 20 people, use the following measure of ingredients when you have a few appetizers and other side-dishes to accompany. For more or less people and more or less menu items, change the rice amount accordingly.

Ingredients

Rice - 4 cups (raw)
Canola Oil - 2 tbsp
Asafoetida (Hing) powder - 1/8 tsp or 6-7 pinches
Mustard Seeds - 1 tbsp
Dry Red Chillies - 6-7 (or depending on taste)
Curry Leaves - a bunch, approx 15-20 leaves
Peanuts - 1 cup (more or less on preference)
Cashews - 1/2 cup (optional)
Chana Dal - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Turmeric Powder - 1/8 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp (or depending on taste)
Sugar - a pinch
Lemon Juice - 2 tbsp (or depending on taste)
Coriander Leaves - to garnish (optional)

Method

1. Soak and clean the Rice. Keep it soaked for 10 mins or so.
2. Boil a large pot of water. I cook Rice in open pot instead of Rice cooker. So the Rice should be nicely submerged in water and boiling. I let the Rice boil and continue cooking for approximately 10-15 mins. The Rice should be cooked so that it retains it's shape and is not mushy. Strain the remaining water from the Rice.
3. Spread out and cool the Rice under a fan so that it does not continue cooking in the steam. Stir it every now and then so it uniformly cools down. I use a flat large plate or container for this part to increase the surface area of cooling.
4. Take a large pot. Add Canola Oil.
5. Add Asafoetida (hing) powder and let it sizzle a bit and flavor the Oil. 
6. After a couple of seconds, add Mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter.
7. Add dry Red Chilies, Curry leaves and raw Peanuts.
8. When the Peanuts are almost roasted, add the Cashews if you are adding. Cashews get browned faster, so keep a close watch once you add them.
9. Add Chana dal and Urad dal. Let them cook until they are nicely brown and fragrant. Keep a close watch here as well as they brown quickly. You want them roasted and have a light golden brown color on them.
10. Add Turmeric Powder, Salt, Lemon Juice and Sugar. Mix well. I don't like the Rice too sour, so I add less Lemon Juice - depending on your taste, you will want to add more or less of the same.
11. Stir in the cold rice and fold it into the spice mix. The rice will turn a beautiful light yellow in color.
12. You can garnish with fresh chopped Coriander leaves. I skipped this part coz the Rice was flavorful as-is and did not want the dominant smell of Coriander leaves to take over the same.

Enjoy with Cucumber Raita. It can be made with left-over Rice as a quick breakfast as well. This can be a one-dish meal as well.