A Super Bowl (Veggie Lentil Curry with Jeera Rice)

Hi guys!! I know I know , I have been as bad as ever. Neglecting my blog again for days now. Just got caught up doing other things (like playing Farmville!!) . But now I am back and have something wonderful to share. Wonderful yet very very simple to make , but very nutritious ,mind you. I made this dish just 2 days back. Got the recipe from a diet magazine and the picture in it was so good that I had to make it immediately.
This dish is perfect for those days when you have the middle of the week dinner blues and can't think of what to put on the dinner table that day. Well this ones a winner. It's fast to cook and very little washing up to do later as it can all be eaten from a single bowl.


What you need:
2 medium onions chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
1 cup of uncooked masoor dal (split red lentils)
1 cup of green beans cut into pieces
1 cup of cauliflower florets
1/2 cup of green peas
1 tblspn each of garlic and ginger paste
1 heaped tspn mustard seeds
1 tspn cumin
1 tblspn hot curry powder
1 tspn chilly powder (more if you like)
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
Oil to cook
coriander to garnish


Method:


Heat about 3 to 4 tblspns of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds first. When they begin to splutter add the cumin and fry for about 30 secs.
Next add the onions and the ginger- garlic pastes and fry well
Add to this the curry powder, chilly powder and turmeric
Now add the lentils and the vegetables, salt and 3 to 4 cups of water.
Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer.
Cover and cook until the veggies are cooked and the lentils are mushy. The beans take the longest to cook , so if they have cooked , rest assured that the rest of the veggies have cooked.
Adjust the seasoning according to your taste and garnish with chopped coriander


Have this curry with a rice of your choice. I made simple jeera rice and  just made a salad to go with it. It makes  a quick and power packed supper with minimum hassle.


Right! Now  after that spicy curry here's something completely different. Recently I was introduced to the GrazeBox. What is a GrazeBox?  Well it  is just what it sounds like . It's a box which contains 2 or 3 types of nibbles which you can graze on throughout the week. It's the best thing to have to control those  4o'clock hunger pangs .It contains delicious things like nuts, raisins, seeds  dried fruit ,fresh fruit and even some exotic spicy nibbles.  This is what a graze box looks like from the outside. 

And this is my box from last week. I ordered  a graze fresh box and got all this delcious stuff in it. Believe me it's supposed to last you for atleat a week but it  was gone in minutes.

So if you are in the UK and interested in ordering one yourself  or would just like to know more about graze then  do visit http://www.graze.com/

If you feel like ordering one then please use the promotional code below. That will give you your first box free.

free box code: LYLD625A

So go Grazing!!

White peas with Sweet Potatoes (Some simple cooking after a very sweet Christmas)

Hi and a very bright and beautiful New Year to all my avid readers. May all your troubles this year be as short-lived as your New Year's resolutions:>)

So! ! I am back again from one of my long breaks . I know I have been taking so many long breaks between posts that I think you all are probably tired of hearing my reasons. But please hear me out one more time. The break in blogging started because of the Christmas holidays. 2 weeks of sheer relaxation. I like Christmas holidays particularly as it is a holiday without having the stress to celebrate the festival as we don't celebrate Christmas . Well we do it a little bit just for my son who still believes in Santa and reindeer and all the Christmassy bits that are so important and delightful to a child . So we have some fairy lights in the house and of course he has a Christmas stocking and his Christmas present of course.

But basically what the holidays mean is husband and son at home . (i.e son for 2 weeks of course and husband only for the long Christmas weekend and on New Years.) , no getting up early to pack lunches and no nagging them both to get out of the house on time for school and office late brunches and generally a sense of taking everything easy . I was practically getting up at half past eight everyday. Felt guilty sometimes but I easily pushed the guilt away. That was not difficult at all.

Before the Christmas weekend we made sure that the fridge and store cupboard were well stocked , made a trip to the library for some good books and magazines and DVDs to loan and we were set. What more does one need? Right? Christmas Day and the next two days were spent playing Monopoly with our son. It was great . The three of us really enjoyed our time together. I also did quite a lot of cooking (you have to cook a lot when all of you are at home). But that meant I could not find the time to blog. All the time was spent by the three of us together, eating , playing games, going out, visiting friends and of course visiting the sales on Boxing Day.

But now it's back to routine. I am alone at home again doing my thing while hubby and son have gone to their respective places of duty. The festivities are over and everything is back to normal which includes the cooking. No more puddings and cakes and mince pies in my kitchen. We have had our fill. Since a couple of days I have started googling the name of whatever vegetable I have in my fridge and checking what the net has to offer . It's the best way to come up with different combos and different ways to cook that same old veggie.

This time I had soaked a cup or two of dried white peas ( that's not chana ) and wanted to cook them with another veggie. Normally I use dried white peas only to make Ragda Patties . But yesterday I cooked them with sweet potato and the result was delicious to say the least. All three of us loved it with chapatis. It was simply cooked with no fuss and minimum spices. The dish looked beautiful too because of the sweet potatoes which are a beautiful coral colour.

Here are the ingredients :

• 1.5 cups of dried white peas to be soaked overnight (they increase in quantity to a little more than 2 cups after absorbing the water)
• 1 medium sized sweet potato cubed (keep them immersed in water until you need them so they do not discolour)
• 1 small onion chopped,
• 3 cloves of garlic finely crushed,
• 1 large tomato chopped
• 3 tblspns oil,
• 2 tspns mustard seeds,
• 1/2 tspn hing (asafoetida),
• 1 tspn whole cumin (jeera),
• 1 tspn each of coriander and cumin powder,
• 1/2 tspn turmeric powder,
• 1 tspn sugar,
• some fresh chopped coriander,
• salt to taste.

Method:

• Cook the peas in a pressure cooker with some salt and the turmeric powder.
• In a pan heat the oil and temper it with the mustard seeds, hing and cumin,
• Next add the chopped onion and garlic and fry for a few minutes on moderate heat,
• Now add the tomatoes and cook further,
• Add to this all the spice powders (coriander,cumin, chilly and some more turmeric). Cook these on low heat for a further 2 minutes.
• Now add the 2 star ingredients : Cooked white peas and the sweet potato cubes, add 2 cups of water
• As the peas are already cooked and sweet potato cooks very fast you will need to cook these further for a very little time just until the sweet potatoes are done and the spices are nicely mixed and absorbed in the whole curry. Add more waterwhile cooking if you find it getting too thick . Stir in most of the chopped coriander into the dish and use the remaining to garnish just before serving.

Eat with hot rotis or jeera rice. It makes a very simple but hearty and healthy meal.

Autumn in a plate

Fall : The most colourful and vibrant season of the four. The air is cold and crisp and Nature shows off it's most flamboyant side. It fills me with joy. Makes me want to be a child again and go frolicking in the multi-coloured leaves scattered all over the walkways. In fact last Autumn I did just that. On my way back home from somewhere I came across a stretch of footpath that was so thickly covered with coloured leaves that I just could not stop myself from kicking and blowing the leaves as I walked . Those are moments I will always cherish.

Even the markets are so colourful . There too the theme is red ,yellow and orange. My favourites are pumpkin, butternut squash , sweet potatoes,red and yellow peppers and of course last but definitely definitely not the least sharon fruit or persimmon as it is otherwise known. I could live on these for the next few weeks.

The Soup you see here is the perfect celebration of Autumn. It's the perfect food on a cold October night with warm crusty bread.

You need:

1 cup chopped butternut squash (you don't need to to chop too fine as we are going to blend it all in the end),

1 cup chopped sweet potato,

1 onion chopped,

5 to 6 french beans,

1 carrot chopped,

1/2 cup cauliflower chopped,

3 cloves of garlic crushed,

2 cups veg or chicken stock,

salt and pepper to taste

1 tblspn Cooking oil and tblspn butter.

Method:

1. Heat the oil and butter together in a saucepan and saute the garlic and onions until onions are translucent,

2. Add all the rest of the veggies and continue cooking for on medium heat for 5 mins.

3. Next add the stock and 1 cup plain water and bring to a boil,

4. When it comes to a boil lower the heat and simmer for 10 mins till all the veggies are tender.

5. Season with salt and pepper and give it a taste.

6. If you have a stick blender you can immediately blend the soup in the saucepan itself or let it cool down a bit and then blend it to a smooth consistency.

Accompanied by thick slices of crusty bread warmed in the oven this makes a perfect supper.

Stir-fried Sweet Potatoes (Delicious Fast Food)

Now fasting is something I have tried to do umpteen times. I have friends who religiously fast atleast once a week. The reason behind the fast may be religious or a self-imposed dietery restriction but they never fail. Taking inspiration from one such friend I have tried fasting on several occasions . What normally happens on the day I decide to fast is this:

I wake up that day full of conviction that today I will not succumb to my hunger and will successfully complete my fast by having only liquids throughout the day. Well , I do manage to survive on liquids (plain water,milk, juice and butter-milk) ,but only till 2 p.m. I drink something or the other on an hourly basis. After 2 o'clock my body and mind start their protests. The mind is already into overdrive and torturing me by conjuring up all possible images of delicious foods. Then the body starts protesting with the onset of a headache. And headaches are something I just cannot handle. I tolerate the headache for about 1/2 an hour and then resign to the fact that I cannot not go on with this fast. I have to eat something solid . And that is just what I do and thats the end of my fast.

Now another kind fasting is the one done by eating only certain kinds of foods that day and that is a different ball-game altogether. That is a treat. I really look forward to such days which are few and far in the whole year .I cook all the different types of food that one is allowed to eat on that day. And one of my favourite food is this dish I make from sweet potatoes . The sweet potatoes available in UK are just terrific in colour as well as in taste and this dish is the easiest thing in the world. Here's how you make this dish

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You need:

2 medium sized sweet potatoes (about 300 gms)

2 tblspns clarified butter (ghee),

2 tblspns coursely ground peanuts,

2 tspns cumin seeds,

2 green chillies chopped,

1/2 tspn sugar,

2 to 3 tblspns chopped fresh coriander

salt to taste

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What next:

1. Peel and dice the sweet potatoes into uniform cubes,

2. In a flat pan (kadhai), heat the ghee (ghee can be replaced with oil),

3. When the ghee is hot add to this the cumin seeds and green chillies and fry for 10 to 15 seconds,

4. Next add the diced sweet potatoes, sugar and salt and mix well,

5. Cook the potatoes by alternating between stirring them and covering the pan with a lid and keep the heat low.

6 Sweet potatoes cook very fast and should be done in 15 to 20 minutes.

7. Once the potatoes are cooked sprinkle the ground peanuts all over and mix well Just before serving add the coriander.

This dish can be eaten as a part of a meal or its great even on its own.

Sweet Potato Soup with Corn and Red Pepper

Now sweet potato is something that I have always thought of as food eaten when you are fasting. I mean back home in India in the city where I come from, people buy and eat sweet potatoes in all its different forms mostly on days when they are fasting. So Sweet potatoes with corn and peppers ..... unheard of.

But living in a foreign land means you get to experience different tastes and and cook different combination of foods which is so good. Much as I love India and indian food (thanks to my mother, mother-in-law and Tarla Dalal) , being in England and cooking here from different cook books authored by english chefs is so enriching. This recipe is one such new experience for me. I followed this recipe from Sally Mansfield's Cookbook "Potatoes: more than mashed.

Do make it and let me know how you liked it:

Serves 3 to 4

The ingredients are:

1 tblspn oil, (the recipe suggests olive oil but I used vegetable oil and that was fine too)

1/2 onion chopped,

1/2 a medium sized sweet potato diced,

1 clove of garlic crushed,

1 small red chilli deseeded and chopped (alternatively you can use 1/4 tspn of red chilli powder),

3 and a 1/4 cups of vegetable stock (you can prepare stock from scratch or use 2 oxo or maggi stock cubes for that much stock)

1 tspn of cumin powder,

1 tblspn of chopped red pepper,

1 cup sweet corn kernels ,

salt and ground black pepper and lime wedges to serve.

Now what do you do with all these:

1. Heat the oil and fry the onions for 5 mins until softened. Add the garlic and chiili and fry further for a couple of minutes.

2. In the same pan add 1 and 1/2 cups of the stock and simmer for 10 mins.

3. Add the cumin powder now along with the diced sweet potato,stir and simmer for 10 mins again. Season with the salt and pepper.

4. Finally add the red pepper, sweet corn and simmer again for 10 mins.

You can now process half of the soup until smooth and then stir into the rest of the chunky soup or you can simply procees all the soup andjust garnish with few kernels of corn and bits of red pepper the wat I did.

Serve with the lime wedges for squeezing over.

The combination of sweet corn and sweet potato is simply great and gives the soup a fab colour.