Not just for the Birds : Bajre ka seera

In a previous post on Millet, I made an Indian flat bread- Bajre ki Roti. I would like to add a dessert to the Gluten free theme.

Millet is great substitute for wheat berries or couscous. It's a great dish to make when feeling that urge to eat something sweet, but are hesitant to consume tons of calories, or if you have chosen a gluten free lifestyle.

The other special ingredient is Gula Melaka, an unprocessed sweetner that is a healthier option to white sugar. If you cannot find Gula Melaka, then substitute with natural maple syrup, agave nectar, palm jaggery, or jaggery.

Ingredients

1 cup Bajra/millet seeds

2 1/2 cups water or a equal mix of water and almond milk

1/2 cup Gula Melaka or jaggery

2 tsp raisins

2 tsp chopped nut of your choice, I used Almonds

2tsp ghee/butter

Few strands of saffron

Method

Heat ghee add raisins and almonds, allow to fluff up and remove and set aside. In the same pan add bajra and allow it to roast for a few minutes. Add saffron, water and cook until the millet turns soft (you may have to add more water if necessary. Add the Gula Melaka and cook until dry, mix in the nut and raisins. It tastes best when still warm.

Enjoy!

Pumped about Pumpkin: Pumpkin and Methi subzi

There has never been a more versatile vegetable than the Pumpkin, in my opinion.

Pumpkins are grown on every continent and blends so well into each unique food culture. In Africa they make a superb soup with pumpkins and peanut, in Brazil they make a refogada - a stewed dish, in Thailand they cook it with basil in a red sauce, in Italy they make pumpkin stuffed ravioli, and in Norway they make sweet pumpkin pickle, and I can go on endlessly!

When I lived in Connecticut, I used to exclusively buy produce at the farmer stands, except in the dead of winter!  Come fall we would be spoilt with the variety of different gourds and I particularly love spaghetti and Kabocha squash, however I always picked up the traditional red pumpkin. 

Coming to todays featured recipe, is a dish that my better half likes. He spent quite a few of his childhood years in interior Maharashtra( Indian state who's capital is Mumbai) and so is particularly fond of Pumpkin, as it a staple in traditional Maharashtrian fare. Over the decades, I have gathered quite the repertoire of Pumpkin dishes and this one is my particular favorites. I'm not sure if it is an authentic recipe from anywhere.....I don't really remember reading the recipe any where, so I can safely call it a Indian fusion dish. I would love to hear if you have eaten something like this, and what it is called.

This dish has a variety of different flavors, sweetness from the pumpkin, bitter from the fenugreek, pungency from the garlic and onion seeds and aroma from the fenugreek seeds. What I like about this dish apart from the flavors is the ease in prep and quick cooking, from start to finish around 15 minutes.

Ingredients

2 lbs pumpkin with skin on, cubed
1 cup fresh fenugreek leaves or 3 tbsp dried leaves (aka Kasuri methi) reconstituted in water (discard water before use)
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
1 medium sized tomato, chopped
6-8 large cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tsp ginger, grated
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp asafoetida

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp black onion seeds (kalonji)

1/2 tsp sesame seeds

1 + 1 tbsp oil and ghee/butter

Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil add whole spices and allow to sputter. Do not let the fenugreek seed blacken or it will impart a very bitter flavor. Add garlic, ginger and sauté for a few seconds, then add the onion and cook till they become translucent. Add the fenugreek leaves and sauté for another few minutes. Add cubed pumpkin and all spice powders, except the sugar. Cover and cook on low flame until pumpkins are soft but not mushy. Add sugar and serve with roti or rice and dal.

Pickle turns Green : Stuffed Green chili pickle

I like to have a little spicy something with my Indian meal. With kids at home my daily cooking is devoid of any chili spice and so to add the extra zing to my mealtime I turn to the humble staple in my kitchen, Pickles.

I make a variety of them depending on the season and the what is freshest at the local wet market, that's what the daily produce market is called in Singapore. 

On a recent Sunday I trudged down to Tekka market in Little India to buy some vegetables that are uniquely Indian, like snake gourd, Ivy gourd and the ubiquitous Alphonso mango that I had been craving to eat. While shopping, I spotted these little green chilies common in South Indian cuisine to make sun dried chili that is fried and eaten with Yoghurt rice, it's called Moar Molagai. Since I have a stock of last years Moar Molagai, I decided to make a North Indian stuffed chili pickle, which my better half loves! 

We usually have store bought Punjabi stuffed chili pickle, but I don't like the fact that they make them with really large  (3+inches) red chilies. At every meal I have to cut up smaller pieces that have to be used up within a few days or they lose flavor, so I decided to make a small single use version at home. 

Ingredients:

Dry Roast and powder the whole (5) spices

1/4 cup coriander seeds

2 tbsp Saunf/anise seeds

1 tbsp fenugreek seeds

1 tbsp black mustard seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

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2 tbsp dry mango powder

1 tsp black salt

2-3 tsp salt

Juice of 1 lime or 3 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 Cup mustard oil

200 gms green chili of your choice like Serrano, small jalapeños, but not the very hot varieties

Method

Wash and wipe dry the green chilies making sure that there is no moisture on them. Slit the green chillies carefully in the center, but not all the way through. You are creating a pocket in the chilli to stuff the powder mixture.

To the roasted whole spice powder add the salts and mango powder. Mix well and stuff the chillies. Sprinkle the lime juice/vinegar on the chillies. 

Heat oil and allow to cool completely. In a dry glass jar ( I reuse the pasta sauce jar)  drop the chillies in carefully and add the cooled oil. If you have any leftover stuffing powder left add this to the jar as well. Place the jar for a day or two in a sunny spot, giving it a good shake or two, twice everyday until you see the green color on the chilli fade. (See photo)

Keep it refrigerated if you make a large batch, keeping it cool helps the chillies stay crunchy.

Stuffed with Goodness – Vegetarian Calzone

I love everything Italian and of course their food is near the top of that list almost at par with their gorgeous men! Ahhh….amore……..

Pizza, the first thing one thinks of in Italian cuisine has been made world famous thanks to the Italian immigrants that brought it when they came over to the new world. A Calzone is the cousin to the pizza - basically one can describe it as a pizza turnover. The same goodness as in a pizza, just a bit more moist, and a crispier exterior making eating it even more delectable! A crunchy shell with the warm gooey cheesy interior makes this dish a winner all the way! 

 

You will find a million websites with an equal number of pizza dough recipes that do not really help; as most of them have copy/pasted someone else’s recipe and so most don’t work! After many years of trying the endless quest to find the best dough in my opinion, I found using bread flour makes the best dough (who would have thought)! My recipe calls for ¾ - 1tsp of yeast for every cup of flour. The reason why the amount of yeast is not exact is because if you make this recipe in winter, then you need more yeast and if you live in a warm place like Singapore (1° north of the equator) you need less. I use Prima bread flour, it’s not exactly King Arthur brand of flours, but a pretty good substitute.

Like any homemade pizza maker will tell you, cheese blends are a personal choice. While I was in the US I loved quarto formaggio from Traders Joes, now I use mozzarella, cheddar and add some parmesan for some extra sharpness. The stuffing is also variable, sometimes I like to add ricotta cheese and sometimes I just roast a whole bunch of vegetables on the stove top and add tomato sauce, and cheese. Since we are close to the weekend and I’m running out of vegetables options, I have decided to use eggplant, onion and bell peppers to make todays stuffing.

 

Eggplant Calzone 

makes 5-6 very healthy sized portions

Ingredients

5 cups bread flour

2 ½ cups water (keep an additional ½ cup, in case dough is ydry)

3 ½ - 5 tsp dry active yeast (about 1 ½ packets of yeast)

2 tsp fresh herb of your choice or 1 tsp dried Italian herbs

2 tsp sugar

1 + 1 tsp salt

1 tsp white pepper powder

¼ cup + 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 cup prepared tomato sauce

2 cups chopped vegetables

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and grated

2-3 cups grated cheese

2 tbsp hot sauce

Method

Proof the yeast by allowing it to rise in ½ cup warm water and sugar, it will foam up when ready. Mix flour, salt, herbs and oil and make a sticky dough. Keep aside in a warm place and let it double, punch down and allow to rise again.

 

Heat oven to the hottest setting, mine is a convection oven and the max is 220 (450). Cube eggplant, salt it lightly and allow it to drain in a colander. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan, add garlic, onion and  cubed eggplant and allow to cook for about 3-5 mins on a low flame. Remove and set aside to cool. Add prepared red sauce, hot sauce, salt, pepper and mix.

In the meanwhile, after the second rise, divide dough to make into 5-6 equal sized balls. Roll balls into 8-10 inch disks. Spoon in 2-4 tbsp of stuffing mix, add 2-4 tbsp shredded cheese onto one half of the rolled base, fold to create a semicircle. Using the fork tines, press down on the edges of the calzone to seal. Make sure the edges are well sealed otherwise the cheese will leak out. On the top of the calzone make a ½ inch slit with a knife to prevent the calzone from ballooning in the oven.

 

Cook for 12-15 mins until the outer shell is golden brown. Remove and allow the calzone to cool for about 10-15 mins before serving, so the insides have a chance to cool down.

Chilli Forecast- Green chili thokku / relish

With the weather cooling down, I thought it would be a good idea to post a much loved recipe for a HOT chilli spread/relish.

I use the recipe for Green ChilliesThokku from the book titled Cook & See by S.Meenakshi Ammal. This book is an important part of the "dowry" that a South Indian Iyer bride takes with her to her new home. My mother still has her dogeared copy and I too have one.

The beauty of this preserve or relish is you can choose how hot you want it depending on the pepper you choose! Sometimes I like using Anaheims and sometimes Jalapeños...so it is up to you. Bell peppers also are a good choice if you want it to be very mild, just cook the peppers a bit longer to make it as dry as possible.

Uses of the relish are so many, I spread it with cream cheese on my panini sandwich or on my bagel! I heat a slab of Haloumi cheese and spread some on top and have it with a salad...yumyum! I eat it along with roti or nan, or the traditional way of yoghurt rice and thokku.

Ingredients

1 lbs or 1/2 kg green chilli or peppers of your choice, stalked, rinsed, dried and chopped

1/4 cup skinned black gram/urad dal

2 tsp + 1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp Tamarind paste

1/3 cup sesame oil ( not the dark Chinese variety, but the light colored ones found in Indian stores)

2 tbsp jaggery/brown sugar

1 tsp asafoetida/hing powder

Salt to taste

Method

Heat half the oil, add hing and skinned black gram dal until a pale reddish color, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan add more oil if necessary an add green chillies and cook for a few minutes, until the chillies do not have much moisture.

Grind to a paste the dal, tamarind, salt and jaggery adding a little water, just until a smooth thick paste. Add chillies and grind to a coarse paste. 

Heat remaining oil, add 1 tsp musturd seeds and add the ground paste. Cook until the paste forms a ball or does not stick to the side of the pan.

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This recipe has been submitted for the event, Bon Vivant #9  hosted by Sumedha of Sumee's Culinary Bites.

Not just for the birds: Bajre ki roti

They say birds know what's good for them!

I knew Millet (bajra – hindi) to be the main ingredient in birdseed, however I did not know that it is one of the earliest cultivated grains. Millet is widely consumed in the Indian subcontinent and used in African and Eastern European cuisine as well. Millet is one of the least allergenic, non-glutinous grains available that is also very high in protein.

As a member the so-called “pseudograins”, (quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, and teff are actually seeds) millet might just be one of the most versatile of those “grains”. Millet has a nutty/earthy taste, and when it is hulled it can be used in making pulao, when pressure cooked or slow cooked one can make a Konji/Kanji/Soup, which would be great for breakfast or stirred raw into baked goods for an extra crunch, sprouted for salads, ground into flour, or popped like popcorn. Thirty five grams of bajra contains approx 4gms of protein, great for the vegan/vegetarian diet.

Better late than never, I‘ve started to consume millet regularly in my diet. I eat it pressure cooked as a substitute for rice (beware - it has a VERY chewy texture), but I like it! I also make roti’s- Indian breads with it, since others in my family are not so gung ho about it I make the rotis with equal portions of Bajra flour and whole wheat flour. I’ve found after many tries that the bread is best consumed fresh and the flavor is enhanced when eaten with raw sliced onions, blistered green chilli/salt or a powder of peanut, coconut, garlic and dry red chillies. Apparently this is how the peasants in India consume the rotis, which also go by the name Bhakri roti and thecha or lahsun chutney.

Millet flour roti

Ingredients

2 cups freshly milled millet flour

2 cups whole wheat flour (atta)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1-2 green chillies, finely chopped

3 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped

3-4 cups warm water

4 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Method

Mix both the millet and wheat flours. Add salt, onions, chillies, coriander leaves and 1 tbsp of the oil and rub into the flour mixture. Make a well and pour 2-3 cups of water and knead the dough for about 3-5 minutes or until the dough forms a ball and leaves the side of the bowl. Set aside. Meanwhile heat an iron griddle.

Make lemon sized balls of the dough and roll on wooden board with a rolling pin into the size of a quarter plate (6-7 inchs). The roti should be atleast 3-4mm thick, if you roll the roti too thin it will break while cooking. Using a fork make dimpled impressions all over  the roti and on both sides so that it will cook fast and evenly.

Once the griddle is hot slap the roti on and allow it to cook for 45 seconds and flip over and cook another 30 seconds. Apply a little bit of the reserved oil on each side and cook until light brown spots appear. It is important to cook the bread fast or it will become dry.

Serve warm with butter, sliced raw onion and pickle (see recipes below).

Roasted green chilli: Stick a green chilli on a skewer and roast on an open flame until it blisters. Serve it with salt. To eat, mash the chilli and salt together and apply on the roti.

Lahsun chutney 

(dry garlic/coconut/peanut powder)

Ingredients

100 gms dry roasted skinned peanuts

100 gms grated dry coconut

20-30 garlic cloves

1 tsp cumin powder

2 tbsp red chilli powder

1 tbsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Method

Pound all ingredients together in a mortar and pestle or gently blend in a food processor until a coarse powder is formed.   

It's all Maya

More than a decade ago we lived in Singapore and our wonderful neighbor, Mrs Khera had a very talented Nepalese cook – Maya. She let me in on a few cooking tricks to some wonderful Nepalese dishes, the most important being the Momo. Maya also introduced me to vegetarian Nepalese cuisine which is unusually very simple and subtle in flavor. The dishes are prepared using common flavoring ingredients and spices - like garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric, fresh red chilies, onions, cilantro and scallions.

I often make a nepali Kali maa ki dal / urad dal that Maya taught me which is always a hit and a recipe that is most often requested from dinner guests, as this dal does not use cream but still has a creamy texture and tons of flavor. For people who do not care for kali maa ki dal, this is a good variation.

Kali ma ki dal Nepali style

Ingredients

¼ cup split urad dal with skin

¼ cup skinless urad dal

½ cup channa dal, mix and wash all dals and pre-soak for ½ an hour

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 + 2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp ghee

½ tsp jeera/cumin

4-6 fresh curry leaves (optional)

8-10 cloves garlic – approx ¼ cup, grated

1 large very ripe tomato, finely chopped

1 tsp ginger, grated

¼ cup fresh coriander, chopped

1 -2 fresh red chillies split down the center, salt to taste

Method

Pressure cook the dals along with a tbsp oil and turmeric for 20 minutes or on a medium flame in a heavy bottom pan until the dals are well cooked – whisk dals with an egg beater when still hot and keep aside (very important step).

One can also cook the dals in a crock pot for 2-4 hours until the dals disintegrate (well cooked) and has an almost gelatinous texture.

Heat remaining oil and ghee in a pan, add the cumin and allow it to sputter. Throw in the grated garlic and curry leaves and cook for a minute, then add the tomatoes. Cook on low flame until pulpy. Add the cooked and whisked dal, salt and some water. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes, add the ginger, red chillies and coriander leaves.

Serve hot with whole grain bread, nan/chapati or steamed basmati rice.

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This recipe has been submitted for the event, Flavors of: Nepal created by Nayna of Simply food and hosted by Nupur of UK Rasoi.