Melange of Coloured Bell Peppers

There is something very appealing about a riot of colours. I try, as often as possible, to eat in colour. Most times, the colour is in our fruit boxes and not as much in our main meals. My pulaos tend to have almost the colours of the rainbow in them. But I don't seem to cook mixed vegetable dishes as often as I used to.

In 2012, we visited the US to attend my graduation ceremony. After the ceremony, we spent a couple of days with my uncle and aunt in New Jersey. One of the things I enjoyed about that stay was their fridge that was always full of food. My uncle says he likes to eat a variety of food everyday and so he just cooks whenever he has the inclination or time or both. And then, every meal is a feast.

One of the dishes that I enjoyed during that stay was a dish made of red bell peppers. I tried it the day we landed in Singapore. Then I forgot about it. More recently, I was at the supermarket with A. He picked out one green, one yellow and one red pepper. I decided I had to make the dish again. However, I had forgotten how. A quick text to my uncle and I had the recipe again. I've made this a couple of times since and while we love it, everyone we have served it to also seems to like it.

1 Red Capsicum

1 Yellow Capsicum

1 Green Capsicum

1/4 cup Red Gram Dal (Chana Dal)

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric

1-2 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Salt to taste

Dry roast the red gram dal for 5-7 minutes or until nicely browned, but not burnt. Grind to a coarse powder with some salt. (Any extra powder can be frozen for use later.)

Chop the capsicum into small pieces.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the asafoetida and curry leaves. Add the capsicum pieces and fry for a minute. Add the chilli powder, turmeric and a little salt. When. the capsicum is half done, add the powdered red gram dal, a little by little (2 tablespoons or so). Stir from time to time, until the capsicum is cooked.

This dish goes very well with rice and dal/sambar and I think of it as a cheater's paruppu usli. I am quite sure it will make a nice side for rotis too. I love it just by itself as a quick snack and it could even be a carb free meal. I find this dish to be the easiest way to eat in colour.

Capsicum Rice

This weekend saw a lot of cooking as I had invited two friends from my college days over for dinner. One of them has two children and the older child loves baking. I had never really taught a child how to bake anything and I had a great time making chocolate brownies with the girls. For dinner, we had Bisi Bele Huli Anna, Coconut Sevai, Lemon Sevai, Cucumber Pachadi, and Carrot Peanut Kosumbari. For starters, we had some potato wedges and pizza.

One of my friends stayed over and we had more fun on Sunday too. I woke up this morning thinking of college and all the fun that we had back then. I decided to make Capsicum Rice for lunch today as that is a dish I learnt from another classmate's mother. It is a simple recipe, but it is always a great hit.


1 cup Basmati Rice, cooked
2 Green Capsicum, seeded and finely chopped
2 Onions, finely chopped
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
7-8 Curry Leaves
Salt to taste


Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. When the cumin crackles, add the curry leaves. Add the onions and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the capsicum and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add the salt, turmeric, chilli, and cumin powders and stir well. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Mix the cooked rice into the capsicum mixture and cook for another minute.


This is about as simple a dish as you can think of and it tastes great. I have made it often for train journeys and once when I traveled to Bombay to celebrate my aunt's 70th birthday by taking her to a restaurant, she said the best gift I could give her was to make this capsicum rice for lunch. This has to be the most effortless way to win some appreciation.

Pav Bhaji Buns

I have resumed baking and suddenly there's no stopping me. I was going through the recipes on this blog and decided to make some stuffed buns since Amma had been mentioning them for a while. I couldn't decide which kind of buns to make.

I remembered that S once ate Vada Pav at the Bombay airport and he told me the vada had been baked inside the pav. I thought that was a great idea. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that Pav Bhaji would be as good a candidate for something like this as Vada Pav was. The idea took shape in my head and soon the buns were taking shape in my hands.

We enjoyed this mess free "pav bhaji" for dinner tonight.

For the dough:

3 cups Bread Flour

3 tbsp Oil

3 tbsp Fresh Yeast/1 Envelope Active Dry Yeast

3 tbsp Sugar

11/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Boiling water

1/2 cup Milk

1/4 cup Coriander Leaves, chopped

For the filling:

 

1 large Potato, washed and chopped finely

1 Onion, finely chopped

1/2 Capsicum, finely chopped

1/4 cup Cauliflower, finely chopped

2 tbsp Carrot, finely chopped

2 tbsp Beans, finely chopped

2 tbsp Peas

1 tbsp Tomato paste

1 tbsp Oil

1/4 tsp Garlic Paste

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Cumin-Coriander Powder

1 tsp Pav Bhaji Masala

Salt to taste

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the flour, coriander leaves, onion-garlic mixture and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).

 

Knead the dough for a minute and then divide into 16 equal portions.

For the filling:

Pressure cook the peas along with the chopped carrots, beans, cauliflower and potato. Drain.

Heat the oil and add the onions and garlic paste. After a few minutes, add the capsicum and fry for another 2-3 minutes. Add the tomato pasteand fry for a few minutes. Add the other vegetables, salt, chilli, turmeric and cumin-coriander powders. Add the pav bhaji masala and fry for 2-3 minutes. Cover and cook the mixture for 4-5 minutes. Remove the lid and cook until the mixture is dry.

To Proceed:

 

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Take a portion of the dough and spread it on to your palm. Place some stuffing in the centre and bring the edges and seal. Place on a greased baking sheet or tray. Repeat with the other portions.

Allow to rise for 50-60 minutes and then bake for 12-15 minutes.

Cut the buns in half and spread a little butter on them. Enjoy them hot.

This turned out to be the easiest way to eat "Pav Bhaji" sans the mess. I suppose one could mix chopped onions and coriander along with the bhaji and then stuff it into the dough for a more authentic street side experience.

Stir Fried Mushrooms with Spaghetti

The new year has been around for over three weeks and I have not visited this space to post anything. I haven't really cooked anything new. And if I have, I haven't had a chance to take a picture. In those rare cases where there is a picture, I haven't uploaded it. If I have, I simply haven't gotten around to blogging about it. I have been actively participating in the Project 365 and a fair bit of my attention was diverted there. I have also started reading and am onto my fourth book for 2010 already. To all my readers here at The Singing Chef, wishing you a happy new year.

I took part in the Taste & Create event almost two years ago. I really enjoyed it. I made the most amazing pumpkin cake from Ben's blog. More than the actual act of recreating a dish, I enjoyed going through the blog in detail. So, when I decided to participate in the same event this time around, I was paired with Vanilla Strawberry Springfields. Everytime I went to her blog, I got lost. One visit there and you will know why.

I dragged my feet on this event and suddenly I remembered that the last day for the event was round the corner. I went to the blog once again and I was, at the same time, wondering what to make for lunch. The very first post on her blog that day caught my eye. I had almost everything the recipe called for and this recipe called out to me. Without further ado, I bring to you Stir Fried Mushrooms with Pasta.

It is a keeper recipe and everything comes together rather quickly.

100g Spaghetti, prepared according to instructions on the pack

200g Mushrooms, sliced

1 cup Spinach, roughly chopped

1 cup Spring Onions, chopped (whites and greens)

1 cup Capsicum, sliced (I used red, yellow and green)

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Groundnut Oil

1 tsp Garlic paste

1 tsp Soya sauce

1 tsp Chilli Sauce

1 tsp Sugar

Salt to taste

Heat the olive oil and fry the spring onion whites and garlic paste. Add the mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the capsicum and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the groundnut oil and the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts. Add the spring onion greens along with the soya and chilli sauces, sugar and salt.

Serve over a bed of spaghetti. See, I told you. It doesn't get much easier than this. A wholesome meal is ready in minutes.

If you miss the train I'm on...

... you will know that I am gone. You can hear the whistle blow a 100 miles.

I'm sure you're all wondering what these lines have to do with my food blog. Agreed that this is the blog of The Singing Chef and that music has to be a part of this journey. Read on till the end if you want to unravel this little mystery. This is a long post.

I have always talked about why blogs and cookbooks will co-exist. Each fixes a different problem, a different need. There is a certain joy in going through a cookbook, getting inspired by it, cooking something from it and enjoying it. There is a different joy in blog hopping, finding a recipe, cooking it, letting the blogger know (or even seeking inputs where necessary) and then telling the whole world what a nice recipe that blogger put up. Overall, it fosters a sense of camaraderie. This post is my way of saying thanks to my fellow bloggers for putting up some delicious recipes that have added much needed variety to our dinner table. Some of the recipes that I tried (and we loved) are:

Pumpkin Erissheri from the Jugalbandits.

Tomato Spinach Pulao from Nags' Edible Garden.

Indian Style Baked Tofu from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking.

Pasta the forgotten way from Arundati's Escapades.

Mushroom Stroganoff from Aarti's Life Goes On.

Baby Carrots and Thyme from Nandita's Saffron Trail.

Chukku Kaapi from Mishmash

I have told you all that I didn't intend for this blog to become what it has. All this is a bonus. I only hoped to create a repository of recipes that I can access easily. Today, there are so many people who write back and let me know they tried something from my blog. I feel thrilled. When my "forced-to-be-bachelors-for-a-week" friends write in and tell me they cooked a simple meal from my blog which spared them another night of Maggi, I feel honoured. Then there are some folks out there who would make it seem like I am a celebrity (one even said as much!) and have nominated this blog in the Best Baking Blog category in the FoodBuzz 2009 Food Blog Awards!

This post is as much one to thank each and everyone of you who has visited this blog, encouraged me to continue blogging (especially at those times when I felt like giving up). I want to acknowledge the friends who have come into my life through this very medium. I want you all to know that I am deeply grateful for your presence in my life today. To all of you, I say:

I'm on the top of the world lookin down on creation

And the only explanation I can find

Is the love that I've found ever since youve been around

Your love's put me at the top of the world

But why am I singing the song by Carpenters, when I started with that beautiful song by Peter, Paul and Mary?

If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone

You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles,

A hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles,

You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

Lord I'm one, lord I'm two, lord I'm three, lord I'm four,

Lord I'm 500 miles from my home.

500 miles, 500 miles, 500 miles, 500 miles

Lord I'm five hundred miles from my home.

Because Lord I'm one, lord I'm two, lord I'm three, lord I'm four, Lord I'm 500 posts from my home. And to reach this wonderful milestone on the day that S and I celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary makes both the celebrations that much sweeter! Happy Anniversary Sachin. You've made the last three years so memorable and I look forward to all the memories we will create together.

Mushroom Capsicum Pizza

This is the pizza I've always spoken so highly of. The pizza we grew up on. Long before Pizza Hut and Pizza Corner or Domino's came into India, this pizza replaced dinner on Monday nights. After talking about it for ages, I bring to you Amma's famous mushroom and capsicum pizza.

For the dough:

1 1/2 cups Flour

1 tbsp Yeast

1/8 cup Oil

1/2 tbsp Sugar

3/4 tsp Salt

1/4 cup Water, boiling

1/4 cup Milk

For the sauce:
1 Onion, chopped finely
2-3 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely
1 Capsicum, chopped finely
4 Button Mushrooms, chopped finely
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to Taste

100g Mozzarella Cheese, grated
1 tsp Oil

For the dough:

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the flour and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum and mushrooms and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the oregano, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the puree and ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.

To Proceed:

Grease a pizza plate.

Spread the dough over the plate. (You could roll the dough using a rolling pin. I prefer doing this by hand.) Spread the oil over the dough. Spread enough sauce over the base. Sprinkle the cheese over the pizza.

Bake in a hot oven (400 F) for 20 minutes. When done, cut into wedges. Enjoy your meal.

Roasted Bell Pepper and Egg Tarts

S and I don't host too many dinners or get together. (Have I mentioned before that I am lazy?) So, whenever we are invited to a dinner, I try to take something along. Especially when it is a weeknight and I know that both the people go to work and they don't have a cook. One such Friday evening, we were invited to an impromptu dinner at a friends' place. I made these tarts and took them along. They were great tasting (though the pictures were taken in pretty poor light and make the tarts look so unappetizing).

1/2 cup Flour

1/2 cup Whole Wheat Flour / Atta

1/3 cup Margarine

2-3 tbsp Ice Cold Water

1 tsp Salt

Oil for greasing the tart tins

Grease 4 5" tart tins.

Place the flour, salt and butter in a bowl and mix together till the mixture resembles small peas. Gradually add the water and knead gently till it forms a dough. (Do not knead as you would for chapati/poori dough.) Divide the dough in four portions. Roll out each portion and place it in the tart tin. Bake at 450 F for 10 minutes.

For the filling

2 Onions, sliced thickly
1 each: Red, Green and Yellow Capsicum, chopped

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Basil
2 tsp Chilli flakes
1/2 tsp Garlic Paste
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 slice Low Fat Cheese (optional) or 1 cube cheese, grated

2 Eggs, beaten

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and fry for a minute. Add the parsley, basil and chilli flakes and fry for another minute. Add the capsicum and fry for a couple of minutes. Transfer the vegetables to a foil. Wrap and bake at 400F for 5-6 minutes.

To proceed, fill the semi baked tart shells with the vegetables. Pour the beaten egg over the vegetables and add the cheese, if using. Return to the oven. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Carefully remove from the tart tins and serve.

I'm sending these to Roma who is hosting this month's edition of JFI: Wheat.

Sunshine Pasta

I love pasta. I love how I can throw in just about any vegetable into it and make the dish look and feel like a million bucks. This pasta was the result of what I had in my crisper one morning. Just like my Green Salad "happened", this sunshine pasta came together with a little bit of this and some of that.

1 cup Fusilli, prepared according to directions on the package
2 Medium Carrots, sliced and steamed
1 Orange Pepper, sliced
1 Yellow Pepper, sliced
1 Red Pepper, sliced
2 Tomatoes, sliced
1 Onion, sliced
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Oregano
½ tsp Basil
½ tsp Parsley
1 tsp Chilli Flakes/Paprika
1 pod Garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to Taste


Heat the oil in a pan and add the garlic. After a minute, add the onions and the chilli flakes/paprika. Fry for a minute more. Add the herbs and the tomatoes. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the peppers along with the carrots and cook for 4-5 minutes. Toss in the pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

This could be a quick fix lunch or dinner. I love the colours. What about you? Off this goes to dear Aparna as she hosts this month's edition of FIC-Orange, an event started by SunshineMom. That's quite a bit of Sunshine!

Capsicum Paruppu Usli

About 2 months ago, I had not attemped to make paruppu usli. I always thought it was one of those labour intensive dishes. And I had eaten just three types of paruppu usli: Beans, Cluster Beans and Vazhaippoo (Banana Flower). Last year, when I posted Stuffed Capsicum on this blog, my other namesake had this to say in her comments:

"my mom makes a variation of this where she stuffs the capsicum with capsicum paruppu usli and then sprinkles rava on top and bakes it. The rava gives the crunchy layer and the capsicum is fabulous!"

I knew that I would try this out sometime. I love paruppu usli and I love capsicum. So what's not to love about a dish that has both? I don't think Arundathi has blogged about it yet, and so I asked her for the recipe, and modified it a little. This was part of the Dasara spread at my place that included avial, puliyodarai, tayir vadai, sundal, and semia payasam.

1/2 cup Toor Dal, soaked for 2 hours

1/2 cup Capsicum, chopped

2-3 Red Chillies

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

7-8 Curry Leaves

2 tsp Oil

Grind the soaked dal and the red chillies to a coarse paste and mix it with the turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt. Steam this mixture in a cooker for 10 minutes. Crumble when cool.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the mustard seeds. When they crackle, add the curry leaves and the capsicum. Fry for 4-5 minutes. Add the steamed dal mixture.

Cover and cook for another 5 minutes over a low flame. I served this with a multitude of dishes and it was good for 4. On a normal day, it would probably be enough as a side dish for 2 people.

I'm sending this to dear Sug for the second edition of Vegan Ventures.

You could follow Arundathi's mother's method as well. The next time we have a party at home, I'm quite sure I will. In the meanwhile, here's some food for thought: Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.

Vegetable and Corn Chowder

I love soups. At my parents' place, soup and crackers or soup and toast was a dinner staple. My friends and colleagues have mde fun of me endlessly for eating a bowl of soup for dinner. I make soups very rarely here as S is also not for soup alone for dinner. So this is an occasional indulgence. This soup sort of walks the middle path. It is soup, but it is chunky. It pleases both of us.

I found this recipe in the same book (Favorite Vegetarian Dishes) that I found Grilled Garlic Potato Wedges, Garlic And Sage Bread, Pumpkin Soup, Middle Eastern Salad, Potato Mushroom Cakes and Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda. I had to modify it as I didn't have everything the recipe called for.

1 tbsp Oil

1 Onion, chopped

1 Red Pepper, chopped

2-3 cloves Garlic, crushed

1 Potato, diced

2 tbsp Flour

2 cups Milk

1 cup Water

8-10 Broccoli florets

1 cup Corn

1/4 cup Cheddar Cheese, grated

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, red pepper, garlic and potato. Saute for 2-3 minutes over a low flame. Add the flour and fry for about a minute. Add he milk and water along with the broccoli and corn. Bring this mixture to a boil and then coninue to cook for aout 15-20 minutes. Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper.

I served this with some chunky garlic bread. Recipe coming up very soon.

How Green was my Salad?

Warning: This picture definitely doesn't do justice to this fantastic salad.

OK, so you've all heard me talk about how my pictures are all so bad that they never do justice. But these pictures have been languishing in my drafts and I have to post them now. But when I make this again, I promise to take a better picture and upload that instead of this one!

At the start of this year, we were only eating salads for lunch. I still have loads of salad recipes sitting in my drafts and I hope that from August onwards, I'll have new recipes to talk about. This salad caught the attention of several people who'd tasted it. It was one of my first colour coordinated salads. It started off accidentally, but when I found that 5 ingredients that I'd picked up to make the salad were green, I decided to hunt for more green stuff to put in.

1 Cucumber, sliced and quartered

1 Green Capsicum, sliced

1/2 cup Green Chickpeas

1/2 cup Sprouted Moong

2-3 leaves Iceberg Lettuce

1/3 cup Broccoli florets, steamed

1 bunch Spring Onions, chopped

1 tbsp Lime Juice (optional)

For the dressing (chutney)

1 cup Coriander Leaves

1/2 cup Mint Leaves

2 pods Garlic

1" piece Ginger

1 Green Chilli

Salt to taste

Grind together all the ingredients for the chutney. Toss the chutney with the salad. Add some lime juice if you like. Dig in! It is as simple as that!

Capsicum Semia Upma

I have talked often about my undying love for upma. It is funny how I don’t make it very often anymore. I think that’s what blogging does to me. I want to make newer stuff so that I can update my blog and thanks to that, I forget about my favourite foods. Because I’ve already blogged about them, I don’t bother to make them. Have you faced this too?

Anyway, here’s a simple breakfast number that doubles up as a lunch or dinner number when you’re rushed for time. It combines two of my favourites, capsicum and upma, in one dish.

1 cup Roasted Vermicelli

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 Capsicum, finely chopped

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard, asafoetida and cumin seeds. When the mustard splutters, add the onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the chopped capsicum and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Add the roasted vermicelli along with a cup of hot water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

This is off to me for the WBB: Express Breakfasts.

Vegetable Hakka Noodles

I love noodles. I prefer it to rice any day. I have no idea why. It is not as though I grew up eating noodles all the time, but I’d prefer it any day. And I love noodles in any form. As sevai, as spaghetti, as the instant Maggi variety, bean noodles, glass noodles, rice noodles, whole wheat noodles… the list is really endless. Hakka noodles would rank as no.2 in my all time noodle rankings. No prizes for guessing the no.1.


Hakka noodles, when made well, can take you to heaven. But this is one dish that can also be spoilt very easily. Our University cafeteria served noodles and fried rice. Our staples when we didn’t have time enough to get to the hostel for lunch. But if I were to go back today, I doubt I’d be able to eat as much of it. It used to be extremely oily, has more cabbage than I could handle and could only be eaten with oodles of tomato ketchup. From the beautiful beaches of Pondicherry, I moved bag and baggage to Bangalore. I was a trainee with one if India’s homegrown majors, TTK, and had to get by on my really small stipend. I stayed with my uncle and aunt who left me in charge of their house for aout a month when they went to Bombay for Janmashtami and Ganpati. During that time, if I didn’t feel like cooking, I couldn’t really afford to eat “out” and that’s when this place seemed like a Godsend. The Chinees gaadi near the Malleswaram market. Everything on his menu was priced at Rs. 15. And I get by with very little food. A plate of hakka noodles would last me two meals. So, it didn’t get better than that. I’d also get a plate of vegetable/cauliflower/mushroom Manchurian to go with my noodles. I didn’t have to spend more than Rs. 15 on a meal.


I’ve tried to recreate the magic at home, but I’ve almost never succeeded entirely. Recently when S and I were waiting for a plate of noodles at Vyapar Kendra in Gurgaon, I noticed the amount of oil the guy used per plate. I figured it made sense to make a healthier version at home, even if meant compromising on the taste. I found this recipe on Swapna’s blog and found it similar to the way I make it. I suddenly realized that I’d not made Hakka noodles at home since I started this blog. It used to feature very regularly on our weekly lunch menu and for some reason, I’d not made it in a long time. So after reading her post and me-me, I decided it was time to treat S and I to a trip down my memory lane. I modified the recipe a bit.


1 packet Ching’s Secret Veg. Noodles
½ cup Cabbage, shredded
½ cup Capsicum, sliced thinly
½ cup Carrot, julienned
½ cup Onions, sliced
1 tbsp Oil + 1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1 tsp Chilli Sauce
1 tsp Soya Sauce
1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
Salt and Pepper to taste


Bring about 3-4 litres of water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook for 3-4 minutes. Drain the noodles, wash in cold water and pour the teaspoon of oil over it.


In a large wok, heat the tablespoon of oil. Add the chilli flakes and onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the capsicum, cabbage and carrot and fry for 4-5 minutes. Add the soya sauce, chilli sauce and tomato ketchup. Add the cooked noodles and toss well. Season with salt and pepper. This recipe serves two.

I wanted to make some chilli tofu to go with this, but it tasted perfect without any accompaniment. Thanks Swapna, your recipe is a keeper. I’m quite thrilled to send one of my favourite street foods to Sia of Monsoon Spice for this month’s MBP: Street Foods. If you haven’t already done so, do send in your entries before the 30th. Since the AWED event celebrates Chinese cuisine this month, I am also sending this to DK at Culinary Bazaar.

Spaghetti in Bechamel Sauce

I love pasta in any form and shape and can eat it any number of times. I have some folks at work who believe that eating pasta is a sign that you are snooty and, hence, look down on rotis and rice. I am sick and tired of explaining to people that I like variety. I am even sicker of explaining to folks that I grew up eating the stuff. Somehow, people are totally unable to believe that my mother made these part of our every day meals. Long before pizza sauces and bases made their appearance in supermarkets, she dished out pizzas from scratch as Monday night dinners. And I don’t count pizza and pasta in my list of junk food. These are full meals and can be as nutritious as you want them to be.

I’ve had some spaghetti lying in the cupboard for months now and somehow never got around to making it. I love spaghetti with tomato sauce and S loves his spaghetti carbonara. In fact, he’d try and order it at every Italian restaurant. I had a lot of milk in the fridge waiting to be used up and dished this out a couple of weeks ago. I loved this dish especially for the colours. (I really wanted to add corn for the yellow, but S didn’t want corn in his spaghetti!)

150g Spaghetti
1 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup, Broccoli, steamed
1/4 cup Mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup, Red Capsicum, sliced
1 tbsp Butter/Olive Oil
1 tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Basil
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1/2 tsp Garlic Paste
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 slice Low Fat Cheese (optional)

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the capsicum and fry for a minute. Add the garlic paste, parsley, basil and chilli flakes and fry for another minute. Add the flour and fry without browning the flour. Add the mushrooms and fry for about 30 seconds. (Do not fry the mushrooms for too long as the water in them gets released.) Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously. If adding cheese, add it at this point and stir the sauce well. As the sauce thickens, add the salt and pepper. Add the broccoli and cook for a minute.

Boil 2 litres of water with a little salt and 1 tsp oil. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.

Serve some spaghetti on a plate. Pour the sauce over it. Dig in.

Tomato Red Pepper Saar

Soups and I have had a long lasting affair. So, it is really no wonder that I picked Soups and Salads as a theme for this month's MBP. Given that summer was upon us, I thought I'd pick a cold soup or a salad as spending even a few minutes over a pot of soup didn't seem very exciting. It was something I could have done without. But then the weather changed. All of a sudden, it was a pleasure to slave in front of the stove. The storm that we've been having for this past week has given us a wonderful respite from the heat. And so, all I wanted was to get my hands around a bowl of soup and feel warm. Since S was out most of the week before last and I was out on a camping trip later, we were out of vegetables. I had just what it took to dish out Nupur's Tomato Red Pepper Saar. I know for a fact that this will be made often. The addition of onions and red pepper to my ordinary Tomato Saar took it to a different level.

I modified Nupur's recipe a wee bit and we had it with some Pulao and Egg Curry.

4 Tomatoes, chopped

1 Onion, diced

1 Red Pepper, diced

1 tsp Oil

3 pods Garlic, chopped

2 Green Chillies, sliced

100 ml Coconut Milk (about 2/3 cup)

1 tbsp Jaggery

Salt to Taste

Heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic, chillies and red pepper. After 3-4 minutes, add the tomatoes along with 1/2 a cup of water. Cook until soft. (Alternatively, you could do this in a pressure pan and pressure cook for 1 whistle.) When cool, blend in a liquidizer and strain. Add the coconut milk, jaggery and salt and bring to a boil.

I skipped the seasoning that evening, but will make it as a traditional saar the next time. Thanks Nupur for a simple and fantastic recipe.

Today is the last day for this month's MBP: Soups and Salads. If you haven't already sent in your entries, now is the time to do so.

Vegetable Focaccia

My father-in-law gifted me a book called "Everyday Light Meals". I have no idea why he picked out a book that has less than 10% devoted to meatless meals. It has 4 main sections: Poultry Meals, Beef Meals, Pork Meals and Seafood Meals. The section on Meatless Meals is almost an afterthought. But it is a gift and while I may never have picked such a book up for myself, it is not like I am going to return it. I might as well make good use of what I can.

I leaf through the Meatless Meals section quite often and one night I decided to make this Vegetable Focaccia. We wanted pizza but didn't have any cheese at home. This seemed like a great way to have pizza with no cheese. I modified the recipe as I didn't have all the ingredients on hand that night.

1 cup Flour

1 cup Wheat Flour

1 tbsp Fresh Yeast

1 tsp Salt

1 cup Water, warm

1 tbsp Olive Oil

For the topping:

3 Tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup Mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup Capsicum, chopped

1/4 cup Olives, sliced

1/4 cup Onion, chopped

3 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tsp Red Wine Vinegar

3/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Garlic Paste

1/4 tsp Oregano

2 tsp Cornmeal

1/4 tsp Pepper

For the dough:

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil and salt in it. Add the water and mix well. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the flours and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Set aside for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the topping and keep aside.

To Proceed:

Grease a pizza plate. Spread the dough over the plate and prick all over with a fork. Bake at 475F for 5 minutes (or until browned). Top with the vegetable mixture and bake for another 10 minutes.

We had this with some red wine and were very satisfied with our "guilt free" pizza dinner. This vegetable focaccia is also off to Anupama's Sandwich festival.

Running strong on Day 6 is the Recipe Marathon. The recipes for today are:

Arundathi: Raspberry and Blueberry
Srivalli: Onion chapathis Lakshmi: Kashayam
Divya: Cauliflower-Peas Poriyal
Ranji: Simple Jhovan
Swati: Mint Coriander Chutney
Bhags: Baked Chapathi
Dhivs: Vegetable Chips
Siri: Tomato Coconut Chutney

Pizza Style Sandwich

Thank God I overcame my fear of yeast last year. I have been baking bread, pizza and rolls regularly since then. Each time I make a yeast bread, I wonder why I hadn't started earlier. Pizzas have become weeknight regulars at our place. The weather ensures that my dough rises to the occasion. I baked a pizza a couple of weeks ago and had some sauce leftover. (Lightning does not strike liars, does it?) No, I didn't have sauce leftover. I kept aside some sauce so I could make sandwiches for breakfast later on.

4 slices Brown Bread

1 tbsp Butter(optional)

2 slices Low Fat Cheese

For the sauce:

1 Onion, sliced

2 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely

1 Capsicum, sliced (I used small portions of green, red and yellow capsicum)

2 tsp Chilli Flakes

1/8 cup Sweet Corn

1/8 cup Paneer, cubed

3 pods Garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Olive Oil

Salt to Taste

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum, paneer, and corn and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, oregano, chilli flakes, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.

To proceed:

Place a slice of cheese on a slice of bread. Place 2-3 tbsp of the sauce over it. Cover this with another bread slice. Repeat with the other 2 bread slices as well. If using butter, apply some butter to both sides of the sandwich (outer sides) and grill in a sandwich maker.

This is great at breakfast time as long as you are able to eat pizza in the morning. (My brother and I can eat pizza at any meal and as many times.) Else, you can have it as a snack or a light meal.

This is off to Anupama's Sandwich festival.

This is Day 5 of the Recipe Marathon and my fellow bloggers have posted:

Siri: Hash Brown Melts
Lakshmi: Mango Fool

Arundathi: Bell Peppery curry

Srivalli: Andhra Mutton Pepper Fry

Dhivs: Fried Herb Mozarella

Swati: Aloo n Gobhi

Divya: Carrot rice

Ranji: Banana Chips

Bhags: triangularly yours

Potato Capsicum Curry

This is a very simple side dish that pairs equally well with rice – dal and rotis. It is one of those “curry in a hurry” type of dishes. The addition of capsicum to this plain jane potato dish takes it to a whole new level. It is a different matter that I love my plain jane potato dish just as much.

2 large potatoes, washed and scrubbed

2 large Capsicum, roughly chopped
1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Cumin-Coriander Powder
Salt to taste

Cut each potato (with the skin on) in two. Cut each half lengthwise in 2 and then cut finely width wise. You will have quarter circles (kind of triangular) pieces.

Heat the oil, add the mustard, asafoetida and cumin seeds. When the mustard splutters, add the chopped capsicum and fry for a minute or two. Add the potatoes, salt, chilli, turmeric and cumin-coriander powders. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, remove the lid and allow the potato pieces to crispen to a nice brown.

Sometimes, I mix this with hot rice and eat it as it is. At times, it goes in our lunch box with rotis. At others, it is a side dish with dali saar and rice or sambar and rice. I'd been meaning to post this during the Potato festivals, but it looks like it will now make its way to this month's JFI.

Macaroni Salad and Anouncing MBP - May

The heat is killing. Much as I love cooking, it is the last thing I feel like doing these days. I don’t even mind cooking in the morning, but when I get back in the evening, the mere thought of entering the kitchen to dish up a meal is enough to kill any remnants of an appetite.

Monthly Blog Patrol or MBP an event started by Coffee of The Spice Cafe, is an event I participated in totally by chance. That too, because I happened to make something from her blog which fit very well into that month’s theme. After that, I have tried to be a regular. I know I've missed one or two, and then I missed the event itself for a good 6 months or so. I am guest hosting this event this month. And what I am looking for is a host of stuff that I cam make through summer without having to really toil over the hot stove. The theme for this month is Soups and Salads.

A few simple rules to enlist yourself in the patrol:

1. Make a Soup or Salad from fellow bloggers posted recipes, not food sites.

2. Post a picture of the final recipe on your blog linking it to the blogger, whose recipe you made. You can either post the recipe, or just the picture. Any variations to the original recipe will make interesting reading. One final picture and a link to the original recipe is a must.

3. Don’t forget your hosts! Please add a link back to this event announcement and/or the logo below, and to Coffee’s MBP page.

4. Email the following details to onlineraga@gmail.com with MBP – Soups and Salads in the subject line.

• Your name
• Your blog name
• Name of the Soup or Salad
• Permalink to your post
• Permalink to the original recipe
• A photograph of the final dish.
  

5. You may send as many entries as you like.

6. The deadline for this event is May 24th.

I will post the round up before the end of May (but forgive me if I am delayed as I am planning a trip to Madras around then!)


Here’s a simple salad to get you all in the mood.

1 cup Macaroni, boiled
1 Onion, chopped
1 Tomato, chopped
1 Green Capsicum, chopped
1 Carrot, finely chopped
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Mixed Herbs
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lime Juice, optional


Add the herbs and chilli flakes to the olive oil and set aside for 10-30 minutes.

Combine the macaroni with the chopped vegetables. Pour the herb infused olive oil over this. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add a little lime juice if you like. Toss together and enjoy your meal.

Cornmeal Vegetable Salad

I moved to a hostel about 11 years ago. For someone who ate vegetables everyday until that point even if it was bitter gourd, hostel food was an eye opener. The food that was cooked seemed specific to no region. At least no region I know would claim that they cook beetroots until they turn green. Horrible would be the best word to describe the “vegetable” served at lunch time. No, wait. That might be an understatement. Also, every vegetable dish had loads of coconut, onions, fennel seeds and chana dal. Finding the actual vegetable of the day was like a treasure hunt. I went off vegetables during that period and ate rasam rice and papads for lunch. But I was not used to not eating my dear vegetables. On my way back from French class, I would stop by at the market to buy some salad vegetables. That was difficult too as I couldn’t buy just one of each and I didn’t have a fridge where I could store any thing I didn’t consume the same day. Finally, I found one vendor in the Muthialpet market who’d give an assortment of vegetables for a fixed price everyday. A salad to me somehow always meant chopped cucumber and tomatoes seasoned with salt, sugar and pepper, garnished with some coriander leaves. It was almost as if there could be no deviation from this. But I got tired of that pretty soon and started adding radish, cabbage, carrots, onions and whatever else I could to increase my fibre intake. I would recommend a stay at the Pondicherry Central University girls’ hostel to any of you who want to lose weight. Thanks to my focus on academics, the breaking up of an 8 year old relationship, and the wonderful food, I lost 10 kilos in 6 months flat. I still like to think of it as the food. I doubt acads and relationships had anything to do with it.



Thankfully, my awareness about salads has increased over the years, especially so in the 9 months that I have been blogging. I have found recipes for a variety of salads. I look at ingredients and then work out substitutes if I have to. At times, the end result is lip smacking and at others, the less said the better. Here’s one lovely recipe that I cooked up. It was very tasty and filling. But what I loved about it was the fact that it was perfect eye candy!


½ cup Cornmeal
½ cup Green Chana (Green Garbanzo Beans)
½ cup Chickpeas, soaked and cooked
1 Cucumber, cut into strips
1 Carrot, cut into strips
½ each Red, Yellow and Green Capsicum, cut into strips
1 Tomato, cut into strips
1 tsp Mixed Herbs
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tsp Roasted Garlic flakes
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Lime Juice
Salt and Pepper to taste


Place the cornmeal in a microwave safe bowl. Add 1 cup of hot water and cook for 3 minutes on high.

In another bowl, place the salad vegetables along with the green chana and the chickpeas. Mix the olive oil and lime juice together and add the herbs, chilli flakes, garlic flakes. Add the cornmeal to the vegetables and pour the lime juice mixture over the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper and toss well.

This salad is so simple to put together that I am fairly certain I’ll make this more often. I’m sending this to

Coffee who is hosting this month’s Jihva for Ingredients.