Whole wheat dosa(crepe)

I was too lazy to cook a whole meal last night. I decided to make something quick and light. My mom used to make a quick snack with wheat flour batter. Its called wheat dosa or crepe. It is usually eaten for breakfast in India. It is made with a mixture of wheat flour, rice flour and all purpose flour made into a batter. It tastes delicious with an kind of chutney. But, I like it best with milagai podi(dosa powder). Kids can make this with little supervision. It would be a great mid-night snack for teens!

Ingredients:

For the Batter:

1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
1/4 Cup rice flour
1/8 Cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 Cup sour plain yogurt
water
salt to taste
oil to make the crepes

For Tempering:

1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 green chili, chopped
2-3 curry leaves
oil to temper


Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. 

                                                                

2. Mix the yogurt with water and add to the the bowl to make a batter that is not too thick or too thin.

                                                                  

3. Heat 2 teaspoon oil in a small pan, temper mustard and cumin seeds. Add chili and curry leaves when mustard splutters. Stir into the batter. Set the batter aside for 10 minutes

3. Heat a griddle to medium heat. When the griddle is hot (test by sprinkling little water). Pour a ladle
of batter around the center of the griddle. Do not spread with the ladle. Instead, just pour it around to make a thin crepe. Cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes. Gently flip the crepe over with a spatula and cook the other side for a few minutes.

 

 

4. Slide on a plate. Continue making crepes with the remaining batter.

5.Serve with a chutney or milagai podi.

                                              

Mushroom Biriyani

I am really excited today. Getting the house in order and setting my mom's room. You may wonder why! She's coming back from India tomorrow! I was looking in my refrigerator last night and guess what, I found..2 packages of mushrooms, Baby Bella and Chanterelles.  My mom doesn't eat mushrooms, but I love them in all sizes and shapes. Well I can't use them much with my mom around, so I cooked the mushroom and soy nuggets(meal maker) with aromatic basmati rice in coconut milk.. oh the smell of rice and  coconut milk!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Basmati rice, soaked in water for 20 minutes
2 Tablespoon olive oil
2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 green chili, sliced
1 Cup sliced mushroom
1/4 Cup soy nuggets(meal maker), rinsed soaked in hot water
salt to taste
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 Cup coconut milk
1 Cup water

Masala:

1/2 inch cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1 cardamom
1 star anise
1 mace
1/4 spoon poppy seed
1/4 spoon fennel seed
2 green chili

Method:

1. Pound the ingredients for masala in a mortar or blend together in a mixer. Keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add bay leaves and 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed.
3. Add the ground masala and saute for a minute.
4. Add sliced onion and chili. Saute till translucent.
5. Squeeze out the water from the soy nuggets, add to the pan and saute for 3 minutes.
6. Add mushroom and saute till all moisture leaves, about 5 minutes.

Paneer Bhurji

Who doesn't love Paneer? Also known as Indian cottage cheese, paneer  is a very good source of protein. It can be cooked in many ways, sauteed, grilled, sandwiched and much more. My son loves paneer in any way. Paneer bhurji looks like scrambled egg. It could be a breakfast dish or used as stuffing for paratha or eaten as a side dish.

Ingredients:

1 Cup paneer, crumbled
1 Tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 Medium onion, chopped
1 Medium tomato, chopped
2-3 green chili, chopped
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon cumin-coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. When it splutters add onion, green chili and ginger-garlic paste. Saute till onion is cooked and the raw smell leaves. Add tomato and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Add turmeric, red chili powder, coriander-cumin powder, garam masala and salt. Saute for couple minutes.

3. Add crumbled paneer to the pan. Mix gently and cook for 5 minutes until everything is blended well.

4. Serve with toast or roti.

Notes: Paneer can be substituted with crumbled tofu.

Dal Puri

Always looking to try new dishes, I like to get tips and recipes from people I know. Recently a friend of mine mentioned that she made mung dal puri. I have heard of  dal katchori(stuffed puri). I got the recipe from her and tried it out. I know it is fried stuff, but don't feel guilty, it has mung in it ;). It is crisp and aromatic and is very good to have for brunch on a cold weekend.

Ingredients:

1 Cup yellow mung dal, soaked for 2 hours and drained
1 Cup fenugreek leaves(methi)
3 Cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon green chili, coarsely crushed
2 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder(optional)
1 1/2 teaspoon ajwain(carom seeds)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon garam masala
a pinch asafotida
salt to taste
water to knead dough
oil to fry

Method:

1. Grind drained dal to paste in a mixer.
2. Take flour in a large bowl.
3.  Add dal paste to the flour.

4. Mix remaining ingredients to the flour, except water and oil.

5. Mix everything and knead gently to make a soft dough. Add little water if needed. Cover and leave aside for 10 minutes.

6. Make small balls of the dough. using a rolling pin flatten the balls into small round puris.

7. Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil is hot enough add one puri to the oil. Cook on both sides. Remove from oil and drain.

 Serve hot with potato subji.

Notes: You can substitute fresh methi with kasoori methi(dried methi).
             This puri can be taken for travel. It stays good for few days.

Bihari Style Aloo Baingan

Bihari cuisine is a lot similar to North Indian cuisine,but also has a great influence from other eastern states of India like West Bengal and Orissa. Cooking with fish is very popuar in Bihar, the river fish. Cooking with mustard and mustard oil is a norm. I like to learn about various regional cuisines and try them out. A good friend of mine introduced me to Bihari style cooking. I'm not a big fan of mustard oil. I substitute it with olive oil. Today I made aloo baingan, Bihari style. It is basically, potato and eggplant cooked in mustard and garlic paste. dinner was awesome. I must thank my friend for the recipe. I made a few changes to it.

Ingredinets:

12 baby potatoes, quartered

12 round eggplant, quarterd

4 green chili, slit

6-8 cloves of garlic,peeled

4 Tablespoon yellow mustard or 2 Tablespoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds(methi)

1 Tablespoon coriander powder

2 teaspoon red chili powder

1 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon garam masala

salt to taste

Method:

1. Shallow fry potatoes and eggplant separately in 2 Tbsp oil until 3/4 cooked. Keep aside. Leave the oil in the pan.

2. If using whole mustard, blend to a coarse powder; add garlic and pulse until smooth. 

3. Heat pan with left over oil over medium heat. Add  cumin and fenugreek. Turn the heat to low and saute for a minute. Add the garlic paste and cook for 4 minutes or until oil separates.Mix coriander powder, chili powder, turmeric powder and garam masala with little water to make a paste. Stir this paste into the pan. Add 2 cups of water and salt. Turn the heat up to mediun and cook for 7 minutes or until oil separates.

4. Gently stir in potato and eggplant. Add more water if required.

 Remove from stove. Serve warm with phulka roti.

Notes:
Any kind of eggplant could be used in this recipe. I prefer to use the small Indian purple eggplant. In this recipe I used Thai green eggplant. 

I use red and yellow baby potato. Any potato can be used  

Burmese Samosa Soup

Living in California gives my sister the opportunity  to try out food from various cusines. When she told me about the famous Burmese Samosa Soup I wanted to try it too. It is hard to find too many ethnic cusines here in New Jersey.  I usually look for the best recipes online and try making them myself. I am fortunate to have a family that loves to try out new things.
Burmese food is influenced by various Asian cusines like Indian, Chinese, Thai and Korean. Their food is spicy and tangy. Different kinds of lentils are used in Burmese cooking. Chickpeas is an important part of their food. Chickpea tofu is very popular in Burma. So is tea leaf salad. Samosa soup is a spicy tangy lentil soup with cabbage and sprouts. I used the recipe given by my sister, who found it online. It is delicious spicy and tangy soup that is dinner by itself.

Ingredients:

1 Cup toor dal, soaked in warm water
1 Cup black chickpeas, soaked in water
4 teaspoon oil
1 Cup sliced onion
2-3 green chili, slit
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorn
2 tablespoon ancho chili
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon red chili powder(Kashmiri red chili)
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
6 Cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon garam masala
salt to taste
2 Cups shredded cabbage
2 Cups bean sprouts
6 samosas
12 falafel
chopped cilantro, for garnish
chopped green onion, for garnish
lemon, for garnish

Method:

1. Cook toor dal in a pot filled with water over medium heat until it is soft. Drain and keep aside.
2. Cook black chickpeas in pressure cooker until soft. Remove from stove and set aside.
3. Dry roast peppercorn, cumin and coriander seeds. Cool and grind in a spice grinder along with chili powder and turmeric. Set aside.

4. Heat oil in a stock pot over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds and as it splutters add onion
and cook for 6 minutes. Add slit chili.  Stir in spice powder. Add ancho chili and cook for 5 minutes.

5. Add tamarind paste, stock, cooked lentils,and chickpeas. Add more stock or water as needed. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

6. Add garam masala and salt. Add cabbage. cook for 5 minutes and remove from stove.

To serve:
Place one samosa, cut ito half,in each bowl.
Place 2 falafel, cut into half in each bowl.
Ladle soup into each bowl. Garnish with cilantro and sprout.
Serve the soup along with lemon wedges.

Note: Fresh samosas are the best to use. I used frozen ones. I used channa dal vada(masala vadai) instead of falafel.

Vegetarian Taquitos

Taquitos means little tacos. These are tacos filled with meat, beans and cheese, then rolled up like a cigar and baked. I filled mine with black bean, vegetarian Mexican ground and roasted corn. The filling can be made ahead and refrigerated. Taquitos can be assembled when required and baked.

Ingredients:

16(6inch)tortillas

Filling:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 Cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 habernaro pepper, chopped
5-6 mushroom, cleaned and chopped

1 Cup Mexican Vegetarian ground
1 Cup Black beans(15.5 oz)
1 Cup roasted Corn(2 corn on cob)
3 teaspoon taco seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream

Method:

1. For the filling  heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; cook onion, garlic, habernaro till  translucent. Add mushroom and cook till moisture leaves(3-5 minutes).

2. Add Vegetarian ground to the skillet. Add 2 teaspoon taco seasoning and salt. Cook for 3 minutes. Remove from stove.

3. If using canned black beans, rinse and drain beans. Microwave for a minute. Stir in 1 teaspoon of taco seasoning and mash well.

4. Place tortilla on flat surface. Spreasd taco sauce across the tortilla. Spoon mashed beans over it. Spread filling. Top with 1 teaspoon of roasted corn. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoon shredded cheese.

Roll up tightly; place tortilla on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.

Lightly spray tortilla with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining tortillas with filling and cheese.

5. Bake at 425 deg.F for 15 minutes or until rolls are crisp.
Serve with sour cream

Note: Taco seasoning can be substituted with 1 teaspoon coriander powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon red chili powder, 1/2 tesaspoon salt.