Chauli-Makai nu Shaak

Mélange! (Medley of life)

That's going to be the buzz this week.

No I am not teaching you french, rather it's about the combination of vegetables you try to get a new dish.I always experiment dishes to see how the combination of vegetables taste like and can I call it a dish of my own. Well the following vegetable is just that.

All gujaratis know chauli ( for others it is the long beans sometimes also called chinese long beans and in hindi it is called lobia). I made a combination of chauli and corn to see how they taste together, and it worked out well. I was bored eating chauli just by itself or mixed with potatoes, so I tried this one. I know corn is so versatile that it can be mixed with almost any thing, but sometimes corn also makes the dish sweet overpowering the dish with the sweet taste but with this it was just perfect.

The recipe:

1 pound of chauli (long beans) chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

1 cup corn (canned or frozen)

3 garlic clove minced

1/2 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp dhania-jeera powder

1/2 tsp haldi

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garam masala powder

1 tbsp oil

salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, as they splutter, add cumin seeds, once they pop add the minced garlic and saute for 2 minutes, add the tomato paste, and all the masalas except garam masala. Add a little water so the mixture doesn't stick to the bottom. Simmer till the oil floats, now add the chopped chauli beans and corn and add 1/4 th cup of water and salt, cover the pan and let the vegetables cook for about 10-15 minutes or till the choli is fully cooked. Once done, sprinkle the garam masala and mix well. The sabji should be semi-dry. Squeeze some lemon juice and serve it with hot phulkas as I did.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you !!

My 4 year old made me a Mother’s day card at school.

Tears welled up in my eyes, as I did not have words to express how I felt when I saw the card and the poem written on that card. The whole thing looked like his palm grew like a flower from that pot with a little heart in it.

Here is the poem :

Pav Bhaji

I think this week it's gonna be like series of comfort food.
The other day I made this, my all time favorite PavBhaji.

Here is the recipe:

4 potatoes boiled and mashed
1 cup tomatoes chopped
1/2 cup green peas boiled
1/2 cup green beans chopped boiled
1/2 cup carrots chopped boiled
1/2 cup cauliflower florets boiled
1/2 cup green pepper chopped
1 big onion chopped
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp haldi
2 tsp pavbhaji masala
1/4 cup oil or butter
salt to taste





You can boil all the vegetables together or you can boil potatoes separately and then boil the other vegetables together.

Heat the oil or butter in a pot or a broad pan and saute the onions. Once they are golden brown, add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for about a minute or two. Then add the chili powder and fry for 1/2 minute. Add the tomatoes and fry till the oil floats on top. Add the chopped green pepper
and haldi. Fry for sometime. Now add the boiled vegetables and fry the bhaji for about 5 minutes and add the pavbhaji masala and salt and stir so that the masala blends with the bhaji.
Cover and simmer the bhaji for 10 minutes on low flame. Adjust the seasonings according to your taste.
Serve with chopped onions, pav ( I used hambuger buns ) and lemon wedges.

Aloo Mutter

Today I was in a mood for comfort food, and cheese or any food made with cheese tops the list of my comfort food, I was trying to stay away from the cheesy stuff and was considering the second best, third best in my food list, choley, (no preparation) khichri (out of question), aloo mutter, yes , I checked my pantry and was fully equipped with what required for aloo mutter.

So here is the good old Aloo mutter my style.

You will need

4 medium size potatoes boiled and cubed

1 cup shelled green peas (I was lucky I had fresh green peas I bought a day ago from Indian grocer, but you can use frozen peas as well)

1 cup chopped tomatoes ( I used the diced canned tomatoes, you can use fresh if you don't want the canned ones)

1 medium onion chopped

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2 cup yogurt

1 tsp jeera

1 tsp Dhania-jeera powder

1 tsp haldi

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp gound cumin (jeera powder)
1 tsp garam masala powder

salt to taste

3 tbsp oil or ghee

Heat ghee or oil in a pan and add jeera, once it splutters, add chopped onion and saute it for 5 minutes, till its golden brown. Now add the ginger-garlic paste. Fry for a minute or two and add haldi, chili powder, dhania-jeera powder and fry the masala for about 2 minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes and fry the mixture till the oil floats on top. Now add the jeera powder and yogurt and again fry the mixture till the oil floats. Now add the chopped potatoes and green peas and simmer the sabji for about 5-10 mintues, now add the garam masala powder and salt and adjust the seasonings according to your taste.

Sprinkle chopped coriander/cilantro when you serve it.

I ate it with paratha, you can serve it with naan/ rice whatever suits you.

Enjoy!

Khatte Jimikand

Ya, I know I haven't been that regular in posting new recipes. But can't help it. My kids have just took over my life. But still I haven't been that irregular, right?.





Well the other day I was viewing trupti's new post and saw the list of what she craves to make and saw the name Khatte Jimikind and besanwali puri. So instantly clicked on that and came across musicals blog. Now once I saw the picture of it, I had to make it because it looked fantabulously good. So here it is. I just followed musicals recipe.
As she mentioned about using Jimikand they were
sweet potatoes, they are called
yams in the US.
I also used sweet potatoes as I had them on hand.


Here is the link to Musicalskitchen recipe for Khatte Jimikand

Superfood No. 1: Açaí

Nature's Energy Fruit

It may seem odd to start this list of superfoods with one you’ve likely never even heard of. But studies have shown that this little berry is one of the most nutritious and powerful foods in the world! Açaí (ah-sigh-ee) is the high-energy berry of a special Amazon palm tree. Harvested in the rainforests of Brazil, açaí tastes like a vibrant blend of berries and chocolate. Hidden within its royal purple pigment is the magic that makes it nature's perfect energy fruit. Açaí is packed full of antioxidants, amino acids and essential fatty acids. Although açaí may not be available in your local supermarket, you can find it in several health food and gourmet stores (often in juice form). A new product featuring the unsweetened pulp is now also available, and I highly recommend that you choose this form of açaí.Açaí pulp contains:A remarkable concentration of antioxidants that help combat premature aging, with 10 times more antioxidants than red grapes and 10 to 30 times the anthocyanins of red wine.
A synergy of monounsaturated (healthy) fats, dietary fiber and phytosterols to help promote cardiovascular and digestive health.
An almost perfect essential amino acid complex in conjunction with valuable trace minerals, vital to proper muscle contraction and regeneration.
The fatty acid content in açaí resembles that of olive oil, and is rich in monounsaturated oleic acid. Oleic acid is important for a number of reasons. It helps omega-3 fish oils penetrate the cell membrane; together they help make cell membranes more supple. By keeping the cell membrane supple, all hormones, neurotransmitter and insulin receptors function more efficiently. This is particularly important because high insulin levels create an inflammatory state, and we know, inflammation causes aging.

Since the Acai Berry is so perishable we are not able to go to the local fruit market and buy a basket of Acai berries. The good news is, companies like Sambazon have developed a process to export frozen Acai pulp and freeze dried Acai powder.
The highest quality Acai supplements will be made with Sambazon freeze dried acai. Spray dried and "extract" Acai supplements should be avoided at all costs.

When it comes to pure Acai, one company stands head and shoulders above all others – it is Sambazon.

(Image: Acai roots, excerpts Dr.Perricone's superfoods)

Asparagus Soup

I have always liked vegetables from all around the world. So this time it was asparagus and thought about giving it a try. I have eaten asparagus straight out of the can, but never really prepared anything with it. So here it is my vegetarian version of Asparagus soup.



And it is followed by roasted asparagus which my 4 year old loves.

You will need:


1 pound asparagus
6 cups vegetable stock or just plain water
1/2 cup minced onion
1 potato, grated
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Plain low-fat yogurt or low-fat sour cream for garnish
Couple of asparagus tips for garnish




Peel and trim the asparagus, reserving the trimmings.

In a large saucepan bring stock or water to a simmer, add trimmings and let stand 15 minutes. Rinse spears, pat dry and cut into 1 1/2 pieces, reserving tips. Strain stock or water into a large saucepan and add the asparagus stalks, onions, potato and salt and pepper to taste. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes, or until asparagus is tender.
Meanwhile, in a saucepan of boiling salted water blanch the asparagus tips until just tender, drain and refresh. Puree the soup in a food processor or blender in batches until smooth, adjust seasoning and return to saucepan. Heat until hot.
To serve: ladle soup into bowls and garnish with reserved asparagus tips, sour cream, or yogurt.











For Roasted Asparagus you will need:

1/2 pound asparagus spears washed (trimmed and peeled)

2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste



Preheat the oven to 400 degrees


Pat dry the asparagus spears and coat them with olive oil. Spread them on cookie sheet and sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Roast the asparagus for 20 minutes or until crisp tender.
Serve as a side dish or eat just like that.