Edible Garden

Eggless Whole Wheat Waffles Recipe

2012-06-04T09:30:00.000+08:00

I love waffles. They are a great breakfast option and I make them as often as I can, always defaulting to this basic waffle recipe that works well for me each time.

But I don't always have eggs in hand. And, the beating of the egg whites until stiff in that recipe puts me off sometimes. So I decided to come up with a super easy eggless waffles recipe. Just to kick it up a notch, I made it with whole wheat flour (not atta, the pastry flour) and it turned out nice.

I must say though, these waffles are not crisp when they get cold. They are more soft and spongy, and still taste great! You can substitute the whole wheat flour with regular flour in a beat.

Eggless Whole Wheat Waffles Recipe

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 cup of whole wheat flour (not atta, but the whole wheat flour used for pastries and cakes)
1 cup + 2 tbsp of milk
2-3 tsp of sugar
A pinch of salt
1.5 tsp of baking powder
1 tbsp of melted butter + more for greasing the waffle iron

How I Made It:

1. Melt butter in a pan and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well until the flour doesn't form any lumps. The batter should be thick-ish.

2. Heat the waffle iron until it smokes and grease with some butter. Pour the required amount of batter and cook until golden brown. My iron takes about 1.5 mins to cook it nice and brown.

Serve immediately with maple syrup.

My measurements are approximate. I want to try adding 1 tsp baking powder next time to see if it makes a drastic difference. Since these waffles have no eggs, I wanted to play it safe with the baking powder but you may not need that much. If you try with a lesser amount, please let me know.

On the milk, I added one cup first and felt the batter was too thick so added a couple more spoons. You can start with a cup and see how it goes.

To make vegan waffles, substitute the milk the soy milk and the butter with any neutral oil.

Check out a Belgian variation from DK here. It has mangoes too!

Mango - Avocado Milkshake Recipe

2012-05-23T13:47:00.000+08:00

I've had family over the past couple weeks and thinks have been crazy ranging from cooking to sightseeing to shopping to eating.

Along with 6 people came a carton of mangoes, my favourite fruit. Although we were eating them as fast as they ripen, we were still left with a lot of mangoes that needed finishing up, a problem I was most happy with.

So we made mango milkshake every day for 4 days and had it in the evenings. I had some overripe avocados which we threw into the mango milkshake one day and it turned out delicious.

Mango-Avocado Milkshake Recipe

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yields 4-6 glasses

Ingredients:
2 of ripe mangoes
1 of ripe avocado
2 cups of milk
2 cups of water (adjust according to consistency desired)
Sugar of as needed
A pinch of salt
A few drops of vanilla essence (optional but recommended)

How It's Made:

1. Chop up the mangoes and the avocado. Keep all other ingredients handy and get your blender out.

2. Blend the mangoes and avocado into a smooth paste with no lumps. It will be super thick. Now add the milk and water and blend until well combined. You can adjust the water as needed. We added quite a bit because the avocados make the milkshake extra rich and thick. You can use just milk if that's what you prefer.

3. Once you get a uniform mixture, add the sugar, salt, and vanilla and blend some more. Chill and serve.

Notes:
- the avocado gives the mango milkshake a greenish tinge
- if you want just plane jane mango milkshake, then omit the avocado
- we used full cream milk but you can also use low fat milk
- adjust the sugar level after checking how sweet the mangoes are. the ones we used were bland so we had to add about 3 tbsp of sugar for this quantity of milkshake

Ragi Semiya Upma (Vermicelli Upma) Recipe

2012-05-22T16:09:00.000+08:00

Amma made this delicious breakfast upma the last time I was in Kottayam. Although I am not a huge fan of semiya upma, I do make it now and then. Ragi semiya was new to me and I didn't expect to like it much but it was a very pleasant surprise!

Although I took pictures when amma was cooking, they didn't turn out great. I am always on vacation mode when in Kottayam and feel lazy taking step by step pics. I'd much rather sit on the high kitchen counter, dangling my feet, drinking hot tea, and generally not caring about anything going on around me. There are few exceptions to this and the day the ragi semiya upma was made, it wasn't one of them.

So I did the next best thing and brought back a packet of Anil Ragi Vermicelli to Singapore. This is the brand my mom swears by and trust me, she has tried all of them. It's not easily available in Kerala but you can find it everywhere in Tamil Nadu.

Ragi Semiya Upma (Vermicelli Upma) Recipe

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 cups of ragi semiya (vermicelli)
1 small onion, sliced
3-4 green chillies
1/3 cup of grated coconut (optional but recommended)
2 tsp of oil
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
1/4 tsp of split urad dal (ulutham paruppu)
1/2 tsp of grated ginger
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. Whey they pop, add the urad dal and fry until golden brown.

2. Next, add the sliced onion, ginger, and green chillies and fry until the onions turn soft and pink. Don't fry them too much; it tastes great in the upma with a little bit of crunch.

3. Once the onions are sort of done, add the ragi semiya. Mix well and add salt.

Now, sprinkle about 1/4 cup water on this mixture. Mix well. Continue this with little water until the ragi is cooked. This will take about 12 minutes or so depending on how much water you add. Take care not to add too much because ragi semiya will cook to a mush very quickly and become yuck. Sprinkle water a little at a time, keep stirring, and let it cook evenly

(PS: it was very hard to take a picture with one hand of me sprinkling water).

4. When the vermicelli is cooked soft and there's no extra water remaining in the upma, add the grated coconut. Mix well and heat through. Adjust salt.

Serve hot with coconut chutney. If you prefer your upma sweet, you can sprinkle some sugar on it and eat with a ripe banana. Either ways, it tastes great. Ragi vermicelli has a chewy texture that I absolutely love!

Note: the ragi vermicelli packet advices cooking it on steam. I haven't tried that since this method I've detailed above is easier but amma says steaming will result in much softer vermicelli upma. If you want to try it, rinse the ragi semiya in some water and transfer to a steamer. Steam for about 5-6 mins and then use as above, skipping the sprinkling-water step.

The text art on the first pic is, as usual, by Sindhu.

Punjabi Chole Masala (Channa / Chickpeas) Recipe

2012-05-21T12:09:00.000+08:00

Although I am always tempted to order channa masala when we out to eat, TH hardly ever agrees, saying "it's something we can make at home". Not that we can't make any of the other dishes at home, but somehow, dal and channa masala is a no-go for him.

It's strange because I have never really attempted restaurant-style channa masala at home. Not even once. But when I read this "controversial" post by Anita, I had to bookmark the recipe in question and make it soon. It took me a couple of years but here I am, finally.

Punjabi Chole Masala (Channa / Chickpeas) Recipe

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves 4-6
Adapted from: A Mad Tea Party

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 tea bag (optional)
1/2 tsp of baking soda (optional)
1" piece of ginger, grated
2 onions, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
2 tsp of red chilli powder
2 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of garam masala (I used Kitchen King Masala)

To Dry Roast:
3 tbsp of coriander seeds
A small piece of Indian cinnamon
4 cloves
1 tsp of whole black pepper
3 black cardamom
2 tsp of cumin seeds (jeera)
1 bay leaf
1-2 dry red chillies

How I Made It:

1. Drain the soaked chickpeas and rinse it once or twice. Add enough water it cover it by an inch and add the baking soda (I don't generally do this but you can if you want the chickpeas to cook up quicker and softer) and a tea bag (this is for the deep colour which I love in Channa Masala - totally optional). Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles or partially cover and cook in a pan until soft.

2. Dry roast the listed ingredients taking care not to burn any of them. I made the mistake of adding coarsely ground jeera which turned a bit bitter. Don't make that mistake, add whole jeera.

Cool, grind, and set this masala powder aside.

3. Heat oil in the same pan and add the grated ginger. Fry for 30 seconds until fragrant.

Add the onions next and fry until it turns pink and transparent. Next, add the tomatoes.

Cook until the onions and tomatoes turn mushy and the oil separates. As Anita says "there isn't much oil to separate here" so just do this for 15 mins or so (if you are impatient like me) and get on with the rest of the process.

4. Add the ground masala powder, red chilli powder and garam masala to the onion-tomato mixture. Stir well for a few mins until this mixture turns dark and fragrant (I let it cook together for about 3-4 mins).

5. Now, add the cooked, drained channa and combine well.

6. Add about 3 cups of water and salt to this and cook in the open pan for 10-15 mins until your desired consistency is reached. Since I served it with chapati, I wanted it to be a bit on the "watery" side but not too much.

You must serve this channa masala with hot chapatis and raw, sliced onions. It tastes fantastic!

Prop Alert (inspired by Sneh): The battered brass-copper bowl is from FabIndia - Rs. 750.

Text art on the first pic by the uber-talented Sindhu.

Also, a quick reminder to send in your entries for the Wellness Contest. We have a few more free health consultations to give away!

Pepper Rasam (Milagu Rasam) Recipe

2012-05-16T12:06:00.000+08:00

I have always associated pepper rasam with being sick. It's not a very positive way at looking at it but that's just the way it's been. What I am sharing today is my mom in law's recipe which is made not only when someone is sick but also when you crave something simple and spicy for lunch.

Pepper Rasam is quite unique in some ways though. MIL adds garlic in her milagu rasam (which is avoidable if you want it that way) and adds no toor dal which again you can play around with.

Pepper Rasam (Milagu Rasam) Recipe

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 lemon-sized ball of tamarind
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and slightly crushed
1 generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tomato, chopped
Salt to taste

To dry roast:
2-4 dry red chillies
2 tbsp of channa dal / kadala paruppu
1 tbsp of toor dal
2 tbsp of coriander seeds
1 tbsp of black peppercorns
1/2 tbsp of jeera / cumin seeds
A few curry leaves

To temper:
2 tsp of ghee
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds

How It's Made:

1. Dry roast the ingredients mentioned in the list until the dals turn golden brown. Make sure you keep the flame at low and keep mixing at all times for uniform browning. If you burn anything, I'd recommend starting over since that will ruin the flavour of the rasam completely. Cool this mixture, grind to a powder, and set aside.

2. Soak the tamarind in a cup of warm water, Extract juice and discard pulp.

3. Place the tamarind extract in a pan and add the peeled garlic, hing, turmeric, chopped tomato, and some salt. Bring to a boil.

4. When the mixture has boiled for about 3 mins, add the ground spice powder. You can add half of it to begin with and taste as you go for spice and flavour. The quantity need will change depending on how strong your tamarind is and your personal preference.

5. Boil this mixture for about 20 mins until the raw smell leaves the tamarind mixture. Thrown in more curry leaves if you feel like it. I will be honest, I did it for the pictures.

6. When the rasam has boiled long enough, remove from fire and heat the ghee in a small (tadka) pan. Add mustard seeds and 1/4 tsp jeera and when they splutter, dunk the entire thing into the rasam. Adjust salt.

That's it. Serve hot with steamed white rice and any curry of choice. I generally balance pepper rasam with some coconut-based side dish.

You can also drink this straight out of a mug. Yum!

Vengaya Kara Kuzhambu (with Coconut Milk) Recipe

2012-05-11T09:30:00.000+08:00

The kuzhambu (or pulusu, as we Reddiars call it) in my home and TH's home are very different. My mom-in-law's recipes are much milder, easier to make, and taste great with typical South Indian side dishes.

This kara kozhambu is something she makes very often and it goes best with rice although we have it with pretty much anything in hand, like ven pongal. In fact, some of you emailed me to ask for that kozhambu recipe when I posted the ven pongal recipe a couple months back.

I'm led to believe that this is her own concoction though. She adds coconut milk to the kozhambu to add flavour and thicken it up a bit. The end result is mild, flavourful, and absolutely delicious.

Vengaya Kara Kuzhambu (with Coconut Milk)

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients:
1 lemon-sized ball of tamarind
1 cup of peeled shallots / chinna vengayam
1 tbsp of coriander powder
1 tbsp of sambar powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
3 tbsp of oil
1/4 tsp of mustard seeds
A few methi seeds / uluva / menthayam
A few curry leaves
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder (optional)
A generous pinch of hing
1 tomato, chopped
Salt to taste
1 cup of thick coconut milk

How It's Made:

1. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup warm water for 10 mins. Extract juice and discard the pulp.

2. Peel and wash the shallots. Leave them whole, no need to chop them.

3. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the methi seeds, and curry leaves. When the methi seeds start to turn brown, taking care not to burn them, add the chopped tomatoes and the shallots.

4. Mix well and add the tamarind water, salt, turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, and hing. Top off with another cup of water and bring to boil.

5. Simmer for 10-15 mins, adding more water if needed, until the shallots are cooked soft. The mixture should be a bit watery.

6. Finally, add the coconut milk and when it just begins to boil, remove from fire.

If you find the kozhambu too watery, you can add 1 tbsp rice powder in 3 tbsp water and add to the mixture and bring to boil. Usually, the coconut milk gives the gravy enough thickness.

Serve the kara kozhambu with rice, poriyal, and chips.

Paneer Payasam (Chenna Payash) in 12 Minutes

2012-05-09T10:41:00.000+08:00

Before any of you get confused and wonder what Paneer Payasam is all about, let me tell you this is not Basundi or Rabri or any of those delicious things you get when you are super patient and have good-quality milk in hand.

What I have for you today is a delicious DELICIOUS dessert that takes all of 12 mins to make. This is another gem that Darsh introduced me to and I was floored, just like I was with her tiramisu recipe.

The name she gave this - Chenna Payash - leads me to believe that this is a Bengali dessert, not that we are surprised by that, so I want to leave a disclaimer that this may not be an authentic chenna payash recipe or anything. But did I mention it's delicious?

Paneer Payasam (Chenna Payash) Recipe

Preparation time: 2 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 2-4 people

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of crumbled paneer (here's how you can make paneer at home)
2 cups of milk (I used low fat)
1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk (adjust to taste)
2 of green cardamom pods
1/2 tsp of sugar
A few strands of saffron for garnish (optional)
A few pistachios (or almond slivers)

How I Made It:

1. Powder the cardamom seeds with the 1/2 tsp sugar until fine. I don't like biting into chunky cardamom seeds so I pound it fine. If you have powdered cardamom in hand, just omit the sugar and use a bit of that.

2. In a pan, bring the milk to boil on low heat.

3. Add the condensed milk and mix well.

4. Bring to boil again and then add the powdered cardamom.

5. Crumble paneer as fine as you can with your fingertips...

... and add it to the boiling milk. Stir well to combine. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes more. Test for sweetness and adjust the amount of milk/condensed milk as desired. You need to have enough liquid base for the paneer to swim in so keep an eye on the consistency. These proportions worked great for me.

That's it! You can serve it hot but personally we prefer it chilled for a couple of hours. So bring the payesh to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator.

Oh, and if you want to add saffron, add it at the end when the payesh is hot.

Garnish with pistachios before serving. The payesh looks very dull on it's own and doesn't convey how delicious it is without the help of the pistachios ;)

Free Wellness Consultations Contest + Book Giveaway + a B&W Picture

2012-05-07T20:41:00.000+08:00

I think this is the longest I've been away from this blog since that time I took 2 weeks off and got married. You know, since that's a very involved process and all that. Anyway, I was in Tokyo for a week and then I had to attend a marketing course at INSEAD for a week and needed the weekend to wind down and do nothing important.

But, I don't want to keep this amazing opportunity from you any more. My friend Megha is a certified yoga teacher (I have even taken lessons with her), a level III reiki practitioner, and a Certified Holistic Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, NY. You can find her over at The Balance Mantra.

Megha and I would like to invite you to take part in a contest. More details below:

The Contest Details

- Choose your favourite healthy snack recipe and post it in your blog (non-bloggers can take part by emailing their recipes to us) between now and May 31st, 2012

- The recipe post needs to be linked to Edible Garden and The Balance Mantra

- Once done, email the post URL to me at naagu.v@gmail.com and Megha at megha@thebalancemantra.com

- Only one entry accepted per person. Posts need to be made exclusively for this event. No older posts please

- Winners will be announced the first week of June

What's in it for you?

- 15 entries get a complimentary initial consultation with Megha. This means an hour of focussing on YOUR health and nutrition goals. You can learn more about her personalized six-month health counseling program too

- It gets more exciting! One lucky winner from the entries will also win the extremely informative and bestselling book The Self-Healing Cookbook: Whole Foods To Balance Body, Mind and Moods by Kristina Turner

- All entries will be featured in Megha's blog as they come in and winners will be announced both on her blog and on Edible Garden

- You can work with her on how you want to do the consultation. She's open to doing it over Skype, phone, in person, or a Google+ Hangout

So start cooking!

On an unrelated note, I want to send in this picture of Chocolate Fudge Doughnut Cakes to Susan's B&W Photo Event being hosted by Siri this week. Doesn't exactly fit in with the healthy snack event I just announced but ah well, we are all allowed indulgences now and then.

Recipe coming soon!

Blueberry Muffins with Yogurt | Guest Post

2012-05-02T20:16:00.001+08:00

I have a sister and a brother. I know many people do and it's not a huge deal but I like to believe my situation is a bit different. It is, actually. They are both more than 9 years older than me. So there's my brother and sister who are 1.5 years apart and then there's me, much younger than the two of them. This led to some interesting childhood events. I was bullied quite mercilessly, needless to say. But as we grew up a bit, my siblings were my almost-parents. My brother taught me how to brush my teeth and my sister and I have a TON of pictures together when she has made me up so much that I look unrecognisable. She also used to sing to me a lot and force me to scrub my face hard while bathing. Random, I know.

Anyway, this post is not so much about all that, it's more about my sister, her blog (my top three favourite recipes by her - tender coconut dosas, gobi manchurian, and sago upma), and her lovely Blueberry Muffins. I have been especially caught up in other stuff over the past couple weeks (a work trip followed by a vacation followed by marketing classes at INSEAD for those of you who are curious) and was lamenting to the sis how I am just not able to post something in here. She immediately offered to help me out by sharing her gorgeous pics and recipe for blueberry muffins.

PS: I am Bindya to my old friends and family. You really didn't think my parents call me Nags, did you?

Over to her!

Hi, I am Bharathy of Spicy Chilly. Many of you already know that we are sisters (rocking in our own ways..as many of you had mentioned a lot of times.. ahem ;)) with our own food blogs for the past five years.
Well, after reading her 5th year post I was pleasantly surprised when I realised the hard work she'd put in and the fruits she plucked; though we started blogging at the same time she has 16 times the viewership and earnings than mine!! This definitely isn't a simple thing for anyone who works, travels, socialises, maintains home, friends, and cooks too! The word A.W.E.S.O.M.E would be an understatement here!

As already said, she was the one who introduced me to this world of blogging and when she too joined within a month or so, both of us should admit the fact that we loved every moment being here with lots of food, friends, pictures, gossips ;) and more, ever since.

I have a few out there who (still) mail me or message me amazed at our relationship, the warmth and concern we always share. Honestly, let me tell you, we are like any other sisters...we yell at each other, we fight, we cry (mostly one of us) we pour out, we compromise blowing peace pipes dancing around the fire and see to it that ultimately nothing is taken too seriously :)..or at least amma's words ring in my ears.."Bharathy aren't you ashamed to be so immature.. she's nine years (stressing on the number!) younger than you!" which has an instantaneous impact on me ;)

The cocktail is here, if you had missed out, which had been the post that stood above all my recipe posts in 2011. I'm still overwhelmed by the love you all had showered on us!

I had never really thought of doing a guest post but recently have been wanting to do some so badly for her.

Bindya, this is for you...

Blueberry Muffins were the ones I wanted to lay my hands upon when my sister in law got me a small can of preserved berries. I was soon in search of a good recipe for moist and soft muffins. As always the recipe from Joy of Baking didn't let me down. I wondered how quickly these Blueberry Muffins can be put together as they had suggested! The key ingredient in these blueberry muffins is yogurt. It adds a lot of moisture and gives it a bread-like texture without adding much complexity or calories.

Blueberry Muffins with Yogurt
Source - Joy of Baking
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml) plain yogurt (regular or low fat)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup (60 ml) canola or corn oil
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (100 grams) fresh or frozen blueberries (I used canned blueberries)

How It's Made:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Position rack in center of oven. Butter or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

2. In a large measuring cup or bowl whisk together the yogurt, lightly beaten egg, oil, and vanilla extract.

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Remove 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss it with the blueberries. If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding them to the batter. With a rubber spatula fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Gently stir in the blueberries. Do not over mix the batter or the muffins will be too tough and hard.

4. Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Bharathy's Note: In spite of the warning given in the recipe source that "these Blueberry Muffins are always quick to disappear", guess I'd been a little careless and had halved the recipe which yielded 6 scrumptious ones and half of them were gone in no time with my children around! The pictures are of the remaining 3.

Apple Milkshake with Almonds | Recipe

2012-04-20T09:26:00.000+08:00

This is not so much a recipe post as it is my need to take some pictures of a drink. I don't have many drinks recipes in here because I hardly ever make anything at home. Or when I do, it's something ridiculously simple like this.

But I was in the mood to play with my camera a bit and what better way to do it than make some super simple and spend a lot more time on taking pics? It was pretty grey day so the pics are all dark toned. Also, special thanks to Sindhu for helping with the pretty text on the first picture. There are more coming guys, so stay tuned!

Apple Milkshake with Almonds

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 0 minutes
Makes 2 tall glasses

Ingredients:
2 apples peeled, cored, and cut into small pieces
5 almonds soaked and skinned (or 1 tbsp almond meal)
500ml of chilled milk
1-2 tbsp of sugar (adjust according to your preference)

How I Made It:

1. Transfer the chopped apples, milk, and sugar to a blender. Blend until the apple pieces break down a bit.

2. Add the soaked almonds or the almond meal and blend to a smooth consistency.

Serve immediately with a garnish of apple pieces or ice cubes.

Notes:

- the milkshake will be quite thick due to the almonds. Reduce amount of almonds, increase amount of milk, or just avoid it if you want a lighter, thinner milkshake. You can get away with using low fat milk because the almonds will give the milkshake the required thickness.

- I wanted to try adding some crushed cardamom to the apple milkshake but forgot to do it in the last minute. If any f you are willing, do try and let me know how that turned out. I think it will be apple milkshake meets badam milk if you do that. Maybe also throw in some saffron!

Celebrating 5 Years, 8 Million Hits, & Some Other Important Things

2012-04-18T12:14:00.001+08:00

It's been 5 years since I entered the crazy world of food blogging. Only, back then I didn't know it was a world out there, or that it was crazy. I saw this nice little blog with recipes and pictures (it's invite-only now) and decided my sister should do the same (and she did). She is a wonderful cook and I knew she would do full justice to it. But I loved the whole idea of it so much that I started my own blog a couple weeks later although I was barely cooking back then and knew all of 3 dishes to make without checking on a recipe online or in a book or through a phone call to my mom.

And so, this little blog was born. Although there were four blog-birthdays (or anniversaries, or whatever you want to call it) before this, I never celebrated them. I just took it as another day and trudged on, I have no idea why.

The first food picture taken for this blog - April 2007

But, it has been a whirlwind ride for sure and I want to share some of the highlights with you at least this year of completing 5 years. That's half a decade. That's how long it takes for a baby to be born, topple over, sit up, start talking, start walking, go to play school, start kindergarten, and learn ABCs (or start teaching in a college, I don't know, I am told babies are extremely bright these days). That's how long it takes for someone to become a doctor. That's one whole year more than I have been married!

So yeah, it's a pretty important milestone and I am glad I stuck with it and found the passion from within to continue on this journey. This is a LONG post so bear with me.

Some Stats

There are 646 posts in here of which ~600 are recipes
18,000 comments were posted, excluding mine
The site has been viewed over 8 Million times in 5 years with a current average of 16,000 page views per day.

That's a lot of views. I am overwhelmed every single day that people are enticed enough to click in and collectively view the pages in here 16,000 times a day. It makes me constantly worry that my pictures are not good enough, that I don't ever proof read my posts and I have hilarious typos in here, and that some recipe may not work for some people for whatever reason. Then I just tell myself to stop obsessing and go back to my day job, the one that pays the rent and for the shoes and bags I love to hoard, you know.

The picture that won me 200 USD in a contest. The camera I used cost less than that.

Talking about money, I monetized the site around a year after I started it, I think. Money flowed in very slowly (read: about a dollar a month) but steadily. Today, I make an average of USD 700 per month through this site. I know it's probably like shouting out my own salary from the top of the roof but I figured at least some of you may want to know, just in case you want to monetize your site and the going is slow and you are discouraged. Don't be. It takes time but it will happen if you just concentrate on the content.

BUT.

More than this, more than any of this, the true magic moments of blogging for me are defined by the people. Don't believe me? Read on.

Embarrassing Moments
I am seen as "the food blogger person" at work. A lot of my colleagues and friends from work check out the blog regularly, cook from it, and talk to me about food all the time. One instance went beyond that though. Edible Garden and I was mentioned in a Google Analytics event in Malaysia by the country head. There were 500 people in the audience (I was there to speak too) and I had no clue he was going to do this! Video here.

True Story 1
One random day I came across this food blog and started going through it because I liked what I saw. In the most bizarre of coincidences, I found that the owner of that blog was leaving comments on mine at the same time! We started talking through comments. We clicked, literally and otherwise. I emailed her, she emailed me back. We added each other on gtalk. After our second online conversation, she invited me to her home in Los Angeles. I didn't even know where that was on a map but I said yes, sure. Almost a year later, I went to Mountain View, California on work and she told me LA is in California and I should go see her. I agreed, made plans to visit her for 3 days, and booked flights. So there I was, one chilly spring morning outside the LA airport, waiting with my 2 huge suitcases for this person I have never met in my entire life, half across the globe from my home and family and life. If she (or he, who knew) turned out to be a serial killer or a rapist or a no-show, I was doomed. I would've redefined the word stupid. But she did turn up and did turn out to be a she (thank God!). I had the best time of my life without even going to any of the tourist attractions in LA, not even one. Anu - high five!

The meal Anu made for me the day I landed in LA

True Story 2
During the above-mentioned trip to Mountain View, I met Sakshi in real life for the first time but I felt like I'd known her much longer. She is a crazy energy-ball and insisted on driving me to every shoe shop in the Bay Area and also trudge along the ups and downs of San Francisco on a particularly bad-weather day. She waited endless hours outside fitting rooms as I shopped for clothes, steered me away from the gorgeous but oh-so-expensive goodies in Anthropologie and fully supported my interest and addiction to Lush Products, obligingly becoming a convert herself. Sakshi, you rock.

The Incident that was Mentioned in this Video
During that trip (again, ahem), I was in one of the cafes at the Google MV campus with another colleague-friend when this Googler walked by. He looked at me, looked at my friend, and then came towards us. And, AND, he went "are you Nags?". While I contemplated if I should admit to being said person, he gushed a bit and said "my wife and I are huge fans of your blog. We learnt a lot of dishes from there." I died, went to heaven, sent them heavenly blessings and wished them eternal happiness. Then I came back to earth and thanked him with words. I think I did, I don't remember really.

Random Fact
I bought a camera and a whole bunch of lens solely with the money earned from this blog. It was a very proud moment. It also funded our Egypt trip, one of TH's dream destinations.

TH and I in Egypt

Meeting People
We had 3 Singapore food blogger meets where I met some great ladies with similar minds. I am especially close to two of them and we meet regularly to gossip about our ~~in-laws~~ people in general! Jey and Raks, when is the next meet up and most importantly, what are you bringing me to eat?

True Story 3
A girl adds me on Facebook. I add her back. I land in Mountain View this year for trip number 2 and she emails me saying we should meet. I feel shy but I agree. She brings along a friend. We have so much fun that we meet again and again during the span of one week and I come back to Singapore and feel pissed with TH because he is not them and I want them. Sindhu and Kavya, I am coming back soon!

Meeting More People
Deepti, CL, Mittu, RV and I meet in New York. RV (her mom, rather) feeds us a hot South Indian breakfast and I go into a pongal-induced-coma after that. Also, I express a desire to show TH around New Jersey and Deepti immediately offers to drive us around. For almost an entire day she did just that and we saw places we'd have never seen without a local person and a car.

Steaming hot breakfast at RV's place in New Jersey

Exploiting Friendship
- Sia made a header for this blog. All I had to do was email her and ask for it.

- Around 4 years back, during a trip to Gurgaon, I called Deeba to have a chat. It was our first time talking on the phone and since I was roaming and had a prepaid connection, my money ran out after about 30 mins. Before I could even think about getting a recharge card, Deeba had done it. Just like that. That's probably the most generous thing anyone has ever done for me.

- Kannan made a tool that makes posting recipes a breeze if you use Flickr as the back-end. I use it for all my posts now.

Meeting Even More People
- Sharmi and I met in Coimbatore. She brought gifts and a daughter. I brought one sister and some ramekins. We bonded over pizza and a greasy food court table. Fun was had.

- I also met Siri, the mysterious DK, Sridevi and Sakshi in Mountain View last year. We had good Indian food, very strong-tasting lavendar kulfi and a major gossip session and we spoke about all of you behind your backs. Ok, kidding, but we did talk about some of you.

Getting Free Things
Sala was giving away an autographed book by Paula Deen and although I have lousy luck with these things, I won! She sent me a big package and I have some of those cupcakes liners still, not because they are bad but because they are so good that I don't want to ever run out of them.

And since I was on a winning spree, I won a beautiful clutch purse from Shaheen who has also put up with a lot of random emails from me. We've had good conversations, she and I.

Talking about conversations, Sig and I clicked at some point too. She is my muse or at least a favourite one and I want to be her when I grow up. Oh wait...

Did I mention that Jey cooked an entire meal for me the day I landed after a 19-hour flight ravenous and totally jet lagged. Yeah, that happend. Magic moment, see?

The meal Jeyashri cooked up for me that made me believe in humanity and the healing powers of vatha kozhambu

I get love letters all the time. More than I ever did as a teen and looked the best I ever will in my life for a whole of 3 weeks somewhere in there. It humbles me like you wouldn't believe. It also wants to me to drop my work, run into my kitchen, and cook dish after dish and take photo after photo so I can blog about it that instant.

Although I have typed out a ginormous post that took me 3 evenings to finish, I am sure I have missed out something or someone in here. Apologies for that. You all rock my life and this site is now an integral part of me that I can't severe. It took me 5 years to say this but yeah, I LOVE being a food blogger and I take total pride in the fact that I make hungry people wait while I photograph their food.

Here's to the next five years. *Clink*

Vishu & Tamil New Year Recipes 2012

2012-04-14T09:03:00.001+08:00

I wanted to do a round up post with some Vishu recipes (or Tamil New Year Recipes depending on what festival you were celebrating) but it completely slipped my mind.

Here's a quick list of recipes, although slightly late.
Sweet Mango Pickle
Vendakka Thayir Pachadi
Beetroot Pachadi
Mullangi (Radish) SambarKaalan
Olan
Erissery
Aviyal
Ethakka Thoran
Semiya Payasam
Cherupayar Payasam

Wishing all readers of Edible Garden a wonderful Vishu and a Happy New Year :)

Mysore Bonda / Mysore Bajji / Ulundu Bonda Recipe

2012-04-11T13:38:00.000+08:00

I didn't even realise that something called Mysore Bonda existed until I was complaining to my MIL that I can never master the shape of ulundu vadai and end up making them into round blobs each time.

She suggested I just alter the recipe slightly and call them Mysore Bondas instead. Genius! So while I master getting the shape of ulundu vadai right, here's something I am going to use in the mean time.

Make no mistake, ulundu vadai (or medhu vadai) and Mysore bonda have the same basic ingredients but they do have some differences. For instance, we add fresh coconut pieces (thenga kothu) in Mysore Bonda that gives it a lovely texture. Also, our version uses no ginger.

Mysore Bonda or Ulundu Bonda Recipe

Preparation time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes 20-25 bondas
Recipe Source: MIL

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of urad dal / ulutham paruppu / uzhunnu parippu
4 tbsp of fresh coconut pieces (thenga kothu)
2 of green chillies
1 tbsp of whole black peppercorns
A few of fresh curry leaves
Salt of to taste
Oil of for deep frying

How We Made It:

1. Soak the urad dal in water for about 2 hours. Grind with little water to a smooth paste along with the green chillies and salt. The amount of water depends on the quality and age of the urad dal you are using. Don't add too much water or the bondas will become too oily. Add little at a time and if the dal is grinding up fine, stop there.

2. Add the peppercorns, coconut pieces, and curry leaves to the ground urad dal batter. Mix well. The batter looks a bit looser in the below picture because of the mixing we did, so no need to add water after grinding.

3. Heat oil in a kadai and add spoonfuls of batter into it. I just use my fingertips, take a small blog of batter, shape it roughly into a ball and drop it in. Start with one bonda to make sure it's hot enough. If the oil sizzles around the bonda as you drop it in, then it's ready. Don't make it smoking hot.

4. Fry until the bondas are golden brown. Don't overcrowd them in the oil, otherwise, they oil temperature will go down too much resulting in soggy oily bondas.

5. Drain on a kitchen napkin. I usually fry one and test it for spice/saltiness/doneness and then proceed with the rest of the batch.

Notes:
- you can add some grated ginger to the batter if you'd like
- the fresh coconut pieces are a star ingredient so try to get your hands on some. grated coconut may not work so that's not a good substitute
- i served these with tomato thokku once and bottled vatha kozhambu from Grand Sweets another time. regular thenga chutney (coconut chutney) works well too
- serve hot or at least warm. if they sit for a bit, they get soft. still edible but definitely not as tasty

Paal Poli - Pooris Soaked in Thickened Milk

2012-04-09T17:15:00.000+08:00

Divya, my friend of the Corn Malai Subzi fame also happens to be good with traditional sweets. She came home for dinner one night with dessert in hand - paal poori to be exact. I had never heard of it before and I was not happy about that.

Here's why: Paal Poori is a delicious dessert which, true to its name, is pooris soaked in sweetened, thickened milk and then garnished with roasted cashew nuts and almonds. Yum much?

Paal Poli Recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves 6-8
Recipe source: Divya

Ingredients:
1.5 litres of milk
1 can (400gm) of evaporated milk
1 can (400gm) of condensed milk

Powder together:
2-3 tbsp of sugar (adjust to your preference)
6-8 pods of green cardamom

For the Pooris:
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp of oil
Salt to taste
Oil of for deep frying

To Garnish:
10-12 of cashew nuts, slivered
A few of almonds, slivered (optional)

How It's Made:

1. Mix the flour, salt, and oil with enough water to make a stiff dough. Let it stand for about 15 minutes.

2. Roll out palm-sized pooris from the dough, and deep fry in the oil.

3. Drain the pooris and lay out on a flat dish lined with kitchen napkins.

4. Boil together the milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk along with the sugar-cardamom powder mixture on medium heat for about 15 - 20 minutes to a thick-ish pouring consistency (neither too runny nor too thick).

5. Pour the milk mixture over the pooris and let it stand for a couple of hours, until the pooris soak about half of the milk mixture.

6. Garnish with roasted unsalted almonds and cashew nuts.

Paal Poori can be served warm or chilled in the refrigerator.

Note: If you are unable to source evaporated milk, just measure out one can of milk instead and add to the mixture instead of evaporated milk.

Update: Since many of you wrote to me saying this is in fact called Paal Poli and not Paal Poori, I have edited the title to reflect that :)

Tiramisu - The Classic Italian Dessert

2012-04-05T16:32:00.001+08:00

There are some dishes that I roll around in my head, itching to make but never do. It's a weird thing, I know. Tiramisu was one of them. For the longest time, I told myself I'd make them if I could get good ladyfingers in Singapore. The truth is, I never went out and tried to get them. Turns out they are quite easily available in Cold Storage.

Also turns out that I didn't need to make the tiramisu myself. I have this friend, Darshini. She made bread upma for me eons ago when we both lived in Hyderabad. Then she moved cities, I moved cities, and after a few years of just staying in touch over pings and emails, the stars aligned magically and she landed in Singapore.

She also happened to turn up for dinner with the most delicious tiramisu ever! I saved some for the next day just for pics before TH and I attacked it.

Classic tiramisu is not that hard to make at all. In fact, Darsh managed to whip this up with very basic kitchen tools and it still turned out fab so this is really not a fussy recipe at all.

Note: Classic tiramisu contains raw eggs so try to get the freshest egg you can lay your hands on. If you are not comfortable with this or you are pregnant, then this recipe is not for you. Please don't ask me for a substitute! Mascarpone cheese is another essential ingredient and I am really not sure if a substitute will work for that either.

Classic Tiramisu Recipe

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves 4-6
Adapted from here

Ingredients:
1 tsp of instant coffee powder
1/2 cup of hot water
2 tbsp of icing sugar or powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1 egg white
2-3 tbsp of cocoa powder
250gm of mascarpone cheese
About 15 ladyfinger biscuits

How to Assemble the Tiramisu:

1. Mix the instant coffee powder with the hot water and beat lightly for a minute with a spoon. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

2. Add the icing sugar (or powdered sugar) to the egg yolks and beat well with a fork. Add the cheese and beat well again. If you have an electric beater, use that.

3. Whip egg white until stiff. You can use your electric beater (use a clean dry one) or just your fork or whip which will take much longer. Fold this gently into the cheese-yolk mixture.

4. Dip the ladyfingers in the coffee and layer them at the bottom of a square cake tin. Sprinkle cocoa powder over this generously.

5. Layer half the egg-cheese mixture over the biscuit layer. You can add some berries at this time if you wish. On top of the mixture, layer biscuits (dipped in coffee) once more and top off with some more cocoa powder and the rest of the cheese-yolk mixture.

6. Freeze overnight or at least 8 hours. Once it has set, sprinkle more cocoa powder or powdered sugar on top and serve chilled.

Notes:

- the ladyfingers get soft very quickly so dip in coffee and layer immediately, don't linger.
- you can spike the coffee with rum or cognac, or (and I want to try this myself) use Kahlua to dip the biscuits
- it may be a good idea to move the tiramisu to the refrigerator for an hour or so before serving but getting clean pieces will be tougher

Pure Komachi Knives Review

2012-04-04T15:02:00.001+08:00

This post is long over due. I have wanted to share more about these amazing knives I use every day in my kitchen - the Pure Komachi knives.

They were first recommended by Anu when I was visiting her in LA. We came across the larger pink chef knife at TJ Maxx and she grabbed one and put them in my shopping cart before I could even protest. I am so grateful for her insistence because otherwise I'd have totally missed this awesomeness in my life.

Ok, so why are Pure Komachi Knives great?

A few reasons why I love them:

- They are super light and very sharp. The weightlessness particularly appeals to me because I don't always use a chopping board. And well, I am guessing we all like our knives sharp. I've been using the pink one for over a year now and the green one for about 6 months now and both are as good as new.

- They are colourful and pretty. Yes, that matters. But beyond the visual appeal, they make it colourful so that you can easily tell them apart especially if you use specific knives for specific items like meat or garlic or fruits or whatever.

- The paring knife (smaller green one) is perfect for peeling garlic and shallots and chopping herbs fine. I do these three things heavily for my cooking and it's perfect for the job.

- They don't cost a bomb. In fact, compared to other options I have seen out there, these knives are cheap!

Since I like to balance my reviews a bit, a couple of negatives I can think of:

- The lighter colours tend to stain if you don't wash them immediately after use. I used the pink knife to chop up vazhakka a few times and if I don't wash and scrub them immediately, the brown stains don't go for a long time. As you can see, they do go off eventually but it takes away from the beauty of the knife for a while. That said, my ergo knife got stained the same way but it was impossible to wash out so it's permanently scarred now.

- They are not easily available unless you live in the US. I have seen a set of Pure Komachi knives in Takashimaya in Singapore but they are way too expensive.

I bought the green paring knife and this purple slicing knife from Amazon when I was in New York last year. I have been using the paring knife as my primary one since then with excellent results. The slicing knife is a tad too long for me for every day use and it's still in its box for now. I have too many knives out in the kitchen anyway.

As you can see, I can't stop gushing about them because they are brilliant and you must ask your friends/family/whoever-offers, to bring them back for you from the US.

Buying them off of Amazon is the easiest and best method I can think of. I would love to get my hands on the Pure Komachi 2 Series Hollow-Ground Santoku Knife too. I mean, look at that colour!

Disclaimer: This is not a paid review. I bought the knives, used them, and absolutely loved them. However, if you follow the links above and purchase these from Amazon, I will get enough money for half of a Starbucks coffee. Or maybe not even that, I am not sure.

Pav - The Indian Burger Bun - Recipe

2012-04-02T12:21:00.000+08:00

I think any self-respecting cook would harbour the desire to bake her or his own pav (the soft white dinner rolls-type-thing that goes with bhaji to create the delicious combo of pav bhaji).

I did too, for a really long time. Then I went and did something about it.

I had bookmarked DK's recipe from Chefinyou ages ago and kept going back to it hoping to recreate it soon. Then one rainy day I decided it has to happen today!

It could be the humidity or the yeast or the kind of flour I used but her measurements did not work for me. I had to add a lot more flour and still ended up with a super sticky dough. I improvised, gulped a few times expecting all that flour and other ingredients to go into the bin, but magically, it turned out great!

I am sharing the proportions I used with a heavy disclaimer that you may need to adjust the ingredients and their quantities as you go. Ready?

Indian Pav Bread Recipe

Preparation time: 2 hours
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Makes 10-12 rolls
Loosely adapted from Chefinyou

Ingredients:
3 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of atta / chapati flour
2 1/4 tsp of instant yeast (one sachet)
1 cup of milk
1 of egg
1 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of sugar
3 tbsp of butter
2 tsp of melted butter (for brushing on pav before baking)
1/4 cup of warm water

How I Made It:

1 Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water and set aside until it turns bubbly and froths up - about 15 mins or so. If your yeast mixture doesn't froth up like below and smell awful, you need to buy new stock.

2. Warm the milk and add the butter and egg to it. Beat until combined. Add salt and the yeast mixture to this.

3. Add the flour a little at a time to this mixture and mix gently.

Once all the flour has been added, knead gently until the mixture comes together. I used my stand mixer for this but you can also do this by hand. Flex those muscles, that's the best part of bread-making, I am told!

4. I got a pretty sticky dough at the end of this. If you notice DK's pics, her dough is very smooth. Either ways, it's going to turn out fine so don't worry. Transfer this dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a cloth or cling wrap and set aside to rise.

After about 2 hours, my dough looked like this. Gorgeous, eh?

5. Punch it down gently...

... and pinch off large tennis-ball-sized balls and place on a greased baking dish, barely touching each other. Leave some space for the rolls to rise, but not too much.

6. Set side until doubled in size - about 30 mins to an hour. Brush with melted butter.

7. Bake in an oven pre-heated at 350F/180C for ~ 25 mins. The top should turn a nice golden brown. My oven has temperature variations inside so that's why one side is slightly overdone than the other. Rotating the pan while baking will help minimize the effect of this. I am just lazy to do that, don't be like me.

You can brush some more butter on top when it's fresh out of the oven.

Super soft rolls are ready to be devoured along with your favourite bhaji (pav bhaji) recipe.

I want to leave you with some stuff I learned while baking pav so the pics below are your reference on what not to do while baking pav. I had laid out most of the rolls in a square baking tray. However, I left too much space between the rolls. After rising, they spread out too much resulting in flat (although delicious) pav. Don't make that mistake, ok? Leave not more than 1" max between the rolls before you let them rise before baking.

Too much space between the rolls before baking

Too flat

Don't you love it when you can learn from others' mistakes and not have to go through the same yourself? Yeah, me too.

Chow Chow Chutney Recipe

2012-03-27T17:03:00.000+08:00

Chow chow chutney is tough to imagine, right? I mean, there's this vegetable, and I am saying I made chutney with it. It looks fine but you have no idea how it tastes. I know, I understand. But trust me when I say it was delicious. I had my moments of doubt too, but in the end, it turned out fabulous. What's more, this is a chutney recipe that uses no coconut!

I like chow chow and make chow chow sambar or chow chow kootu very regularly since it's easily available in the vegetable markets here. But a chutney? Let's see how that goes.

Chow Chow Chutney (Thuvaiyal) Recipe

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Makes ~2 cups chutney Serves 4-6
Adapted from: Dakshin by Chandra Padmanabhan

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized chow chow
1 tomato
1 tbsp of oil
1 green chilly
1 small bunch of coriander leaves (cilantro)
2 tbsp of toor dal
1 tbsp of skinned urad dal
2-3 dry red chillies
1/2 tsp of hing/asafoetida/perungaayam
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Peel and grate the chow chow. Chope the tomatoes into small pieces and roughly chop up the coriander leaves.

2. in 1/2 tbsp oil, fry both the dals along with the hing and dry red chillies.

When the dals turn golden brown, remove from pan and set aside to cool.

Grind the cooled dal mixture to a fine powder. MIne wasn't super fine, and that's just fine. Heh.

3. In the same pan, add 1/2 tbsp more oil and add the grated chow chow, chopped tomatoes, and the green chilly.

4. The chow chow will let out water and turn a duller colour. Cook until the water has evaporated and the tomatoes turn softy and mushy - around 5-6 minutes. Set aside to cool.

5. Once cooled, transfer the chow chow mixture to a blender, add the coriander leaves, and blend to a paste without adding any water.

Add the dal mixture and some salt and blend again scraping down the side a couple of times. Don't add any water.

Done! Goes super well with plain white rice and ghee. I served it with rice and kadala kozhambu.

In case you want to take a look at the book I got the recipe from, check it out on Amazon or Flipkart.

Kerala-Style Peas Masala Recipe

2012-03-15T10:54:00.000+08:00

I've been wanting to try Kerala Style Peas Masala for ages now. I rarely make appam or puttu and that's what this goes best with but it went beautifully with chapatis too, I must say.

Now, I really don't want to give you more reasons to think I am weird but in the interest of full disclosure, I want to admit that when I went to Delhi on work for a week earlier this month, I brought back fresh vegetables from the farmer's market. There, I said it. And before you ask, no, the Singapore customs didn't mind.

I can never ever resist fresh peas. I think I am wired exactly like my mom in that aspect. Fresh vegetables make us go weak in the knees and from the very early days, she managed to plant this idea in my head that frozen vegetables are just not vegetables anymore. So I rarely buy frozen peas but jump at the fresh ones if I can get my hands on them.

It was Sunday and I was talking to amma and as it often does, our conversation turned to food and recipes. I asked her for typical Kerala restaurant-style peas masala. The watery, spicy, peas-laden side-dish served with Kerala parotta in almost every restaurant. She boo-ed me. In her exact words "why do you want to make that at home? They add maida and who-knows-what-else to make it golu-gola" (referring to thickening of the gravy). I said fine, tell me your version.

And she did.

And it changed my life.

I am not kidding when I say this is the best side dish I have ever made for chapatis. Ever. It's a bit of grinding and sauteing and stuff but by God, it's worth it.

Kerala-Style Peas Masala Recipe

Source: Amma gave recipe verbally, I adapted it
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 cups of shelled peas, fresh or frozen (thawed)
2 tbsp of coriander seeds
3 dry red chillies
1 tsp + 1 tsp of oil
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
2 large onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
A small piece of ginger
1 cup of thick coconut milk
1 tsp of garam masala or any curry powder
Salt of to taste

For tempering:
1 tbsp coconut oil (or any oil you prefer)
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. In a small pan, heat the 1 tsp oil and fry the coriander seeds and red chillies until nicely browned. In fact, mine turned almost black, just short of burning, and that's perfect. Take care not to burn it because that will obviously spoil the peas masala. Set this aside to cool.

2. In a larger pan, heat another tsp of oil and add the chopped onions. Once they brown, add the tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Saute some more until the mixture cooks up and looks mushy - about 4-5 mins. Remove from fire, transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.

3. In the same pan, add the peas and enough water to cover it completely. Add the turmeric powder and bring to boil, then lower fire to a simmer.

4. Grind the roasted coriander-chilli mixture with some water (just to get it ground up nicely, doesn't need to be a super smooth paste) and add to the peas.

Mix well and continue to cook on low flame.

5. In the same mixer jar you used for the coriander-chilli mixture, grind the onion mixture to a smooth paste. Don't add water.

6. Add this mixture to the peas and continue to cook for another 5 mins or until the peas are cooked and turn mushy when you apply pressure. Don't overcook them though.

7. Add the coconut milk next along with salt. Mix and let it come to boil.

8. As soon as it comes to boil, add the garam masala or any curry powder you like and remove from fire. If you think the gravy is too thick, you can add some water along with the coconut milk. Mine turned out perfect with these proportions.

Time for tempering. Heat the coconut oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds and curry leaves.

When the mustard seeds start to pop, add to the cooked peas curry and mix well.

Serve hot with chapatis, appam, puttu, or parotta. It's delicious!

Using a Steamer for Rice & Indian Cooking

2012-03-13T12:47:00.002+08:00

Mom-in-law bought a steamer for TH's sister when she was in Singapore last year. It's a simple one, around 30$ from Morries and has a timer to control how long you want to steam stuff.

When I went down to Coimbatore after that, we gave it a spin to see how well a steamer works for Indian cooking (apart from the obvious stuff which you steam cook anyway like modaks or idlis)

We wanted to try regular vegetables, rice, and dal. The steamer comes with 2 oval-shaped containers with large-ish holes at the bottom that allows steam in from the water you need to pour in at the lowest level. The holes will allow dal to fall through so you need to use another container to hold it. We put some cut and washed cauliflower and beans together to steam along with a small container of soaked toor dal to be used in rasam.

After about 20 mins, the vegetables were cooked soft ready for poriyal and the dal was ready to be mushed up a bit further and added to the rasam.

Quite thrilled with the results, and especially the low time and maintenance to cook it up, we decided to give rice a shot. Steamed rice is usually much better in texture and doesn't clump up like pressure cooked rice does.

The steamer comes with a container that fits into the bigger one nicely. Experiment was with 1 cup ponni raw rice and 2 cups water.

Around 20-25 mins later, voila! The rice was perfectly done with a gorgeous texture.

Fluffed up with a fork, it tasted much better than pressure cooked rice.

Experiments for the day were deemed a success!

Here are some pros and cons in case you are considering a steamer for your cooking.

Pros

- most steamers are cheap and very low maintenance. You can steam/cook multiple things at the same time depending on how many tiers your steamer has. It also retains all the nutrients in the vegetable as opposed to par-boiling.

- you don't have to monitor the cooking process. once you set the timer, you can go about doing other stuff while it cooks.

- it's noise-less and non-messy, very easy to clean.

Cons

- takes up counter-space and an electric socket. while it's light enough to be stored away after use, you may not end up using it if you keep it away and this is something that would ideally be used every day in your cooking

- dals won't cook to a mush if they are not presoaked

- this depends on size but the one we got was a standard-sized one and you still can't cook enough rice for more than 2 people. also, nothing beats rice cooked in a rice cooker.

- you may not be able to use a steamer like this for all your steaming needs, like idlis. a standard mold won't fit in here and you will need a separare solution.

Overall, it's a nice gadget to have, especially if you like boiled vegetables and using simple flavours in your subzis. You end up using very little oil as well. But, make sure you have the space and the motivation to use it regularly.

Here's one from Amazon that looks great!

Note: not a paid review. just some thoughts I wanted to share on using a steamer in regular every day cooking.

Adai (Ada Dosa or Lentil Crepe) Recipe

2012-03-08T15:59:00.000+08:00

The plate of adai below is from my amma. She made it and the two chutneys, my uncle took the pic, and they sent it over a good few months back. I kept meaning to post the recipe but that never happened.

Then I went back home for Christmas vacation and amma made it again because I love adai (or ada dosa as we call it) but TH is not a fan and so I have never tried making them myself.

But they are delicious and protein-packed although not really an instant option. Just like regular dosas, some prior planning and soaking needs to happen to get them going.

Adai (Ada Dosa) Recipe

Preparation time: 3 hours
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes ~ 15 adai

Ingredients:
1 cup of par-boiled rice or dosa/idli rice
1 cup of whole skinned urad dal / ulutham paruppu / uzhunnu parippu
1 cup of mix of toor dal (or peas dal) and channa dal
5 dry red chillies
A few curry leaves
8 shallots sliced thin (or use 1 small onion)
1/4 tsp of asafoetida powder / perungaayam
1/2 cup of grated coconut (optional)
1 tsp of salt (or to taste)
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
Gingelly or Indian sesame oil for cooking the adai

How It's Made:

1. Soak the rice, urad dal, and the mixed dals separately in water for at least 2 hours and a maximum of 4 hours. Add the red chillies to one of the bowls and let them soak as well (or you can just add 1 tsp red chilli powder when grinding the dals).

2. Grind the urad dal first with little water. It doesn't need to be a smooth paste just more or less so. Then grind the rice, again not super smooth but just ground well.

3. Finally grind the mixed dals along with the chillies to a paste. Use adequate water to let them grind. You can add in the coconut at this stage too, if using.

4. Mix these together along with salt, asafoetida, chopped shallots, turmeric, and curry leaves torn roughly. Mix well with enough water to make a batter that's the consistency of dosa batter.

5. Pour one ladle-ful on an oiled griddle or tawa and spread into a circle. Make sure the dosa is not too thick.

6. Flip over after a minute or so and cook the other side until golden brown.

7. The above is one way of doing it, just like regular dosas, but I prefer the lacy dosas that amma makes. For that, add more water to the batter and make it much "looser". You won't be able to spread them on the griddle so just pour on it starting from the outer circle, filling the gaps as you go. I hope the pictures below explain this.

The batter should be loose enough to spread as you pour and cover up the gaps and you can help it along the way by fillng the gaps. This way, the crepes take much longer to cook but the patience is worth it. You end up with lacy adai with crispy edges and it's just delicious.

We usually serve adai with 2 types of chutneys (as shows in the first picture) or some random curry that takes amma's fancy (like in the above picture.

Traditionally, Tamilians serve adai with aviyal. In fact, most restaurants serve adai-avial as a combination like puttu and kadala. I don't think that's done in Kerala though, correct me if I am wrong.

Oh boy, I am craving ada dosa now. Too bad I have to go bury my face in some unhealthy snacks at work instead!

One-Bowl Chocolate Truffle Cake Recipe

2012-03-05T23:19:00.001+08:00

While the 5-min chocolate mug cake is great to satisfy instant chocolate cravings and is often quoted as the most dangerous chocolate cake recipe, sometimes you want the "real" deal. And you want it fast. I had one of those nights the other ...err... night.

I turned to Piece of Cake, the awesome book SJ recommended to me that gave inspiration to my Orange Cake Recipe. All the recipes are one-bowl, easy, and fuss-free and therefore perfect to whip up quickly even on a weeknight.

I made this super fuss-free chocolate truffle cake in the night and took pictures of the final pieces the next day morning. You don't even need to bring the butter to room temperature and you can easily make this eggless too. Oh and btw, these were used as the base for the Cake Pops I made for the first time.

One-Bowl Chocolate Truffle Cake Recipe

Adapted from: Piece of Cake by Camilla V Saulsbury
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Makes one 8" cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate chunks
6 tbsp of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 tsp of instant coffee powder
1.25 cups of plain flour
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/4 tsp of salt
2 of eggs, preferably at room temperature
3/4 cup of milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract

How I Made It:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C. Grease an 8" metal baking pan with butter. Add 1 tbsp flour to this and spread across by tilting the pan all around. Tap out the extra flour. Or, just use PAM baking spray.

2. This is a one-bowl chocolate cake so start with a large enough microwave-safe bowl for melting the chocolate and butter if you can. Add the chopped chocolate or chips along with the butter to the bowl.

3. Microwave on medium heat for a minute and increase to 2 mins if you need to. The mixture should look like below, just about melted. Add the instant coffee powder.

4. Use a whisk and combine the ingredients. Although they look solid, the butter and chocolate will soften pretty quickly so make sure you start with one minute.

Note: if you are using a regular pan over the stove and not the MW, then wait for the pan to cool down after this step before proceeding.

5. Add the eggs, flour, salt, sugar, milk, baking soda and vanilla to the chocolate mixture.

Combine together gently with a whisk. I used my electric beater's whisk for this and then proceeded to the next step. This step is optional - I do it so that flour won't fly into my face when I turn the electric mixer on.

6. Now, using an electric mixer, beat the batter on medium speed (if you can adjust, otherwise it's fine) for a minute. Scrape down sides and beat for another 30 seconds. Take care not to overbeat.

7. Pour into the greased tray and bake for 25-30 mins...

... until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with dry crumbs.

That's it! Invert onto a cake tray or just a regular plate after about 10 mins. Slice and serve as soon as it's cool enough to handle.

Notes:

- The book suggests chocolate ganache to be slathered on this cake but I used some toffee sauce I had lying around in the fridge (and I wonder why I don't lose weight!). If you serve it unfrosted, the cake won't be too sweet so adjust the sugar quantity if you'd like.

- You can easily make this eggless by substituting 1 egg with 1 tbsp flaxseed + 3 tbsp warm water beaten together. You can also substitute 1 egg with 1/4 cup plain yogurt. The texture will different slightly but should turn out delicious nevertheless.

- The measurement method used in this book is the scoop-and-sweep method. For measuring flour, scoop it into the measuring cup with a spoon and sweep the excess off the top making sure the cup is full but not packed. Don't scoop using the measuring cup itself or tap it when measuring since that will result in more flour going into the cake, making it harder.

- It's ok for the melted chocolate to be warm but don't let it boil on the stove top. Just melt it gently and that's enough. Also, if you are using the stove top, make sure you cool down the chocolate mixture before proceeding.

- The book Piece of Cake is awesome! I have tried 3 recipes so far, all with great success. Will do a detailed review soon but meanwhile, if you are looking for a great baking book to get next, I would recommend this for sure. It's the first cooking book I have seen on Amazon where 50 out of 51 reviews are 5-stars!

Chocolate Truffle Cake with Warm Toffee Sauce

Enjoy!

Methi Leaves (Fenugreek Leaves) Sambar Recipe

2012-02-29T17:25:00.000+08:00

Today is a leap day, a once-in-4-years type thing that I didn't want to miss so although I am in KL living out of a suitcase for the next couple days, I wanted to share something here using the very wonky Internet from my hotel room.

Any recipe that amma sends me, especially if it's along with 'styled' pictures that my uncle Radha mama takes, is special. Methi, or fenugreek leaves, are not very common in Kerala and you don't often see it in every vegetable stall. So amma grew her own (but of course). Then she made sambar with it and I think her argument was "if you can make dal with it, I can make sambar with it". Well of course you can amma. The cherry tomatoes you see in the pic are also from her small garden.

Here's the recipe, from her kitchen to yours.

Amma's Methi Sambar Recipe

Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins

Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh methi (fenugreek leaves), cleaned and chopped
1/2 cup toor dal, (pressure) cooked until soft and mushy
1 carrot, chopped (optional)
1 tomato, chopped (or a few cherry tomatoes, halved)
A handful of shallots, peeled
1 lemon-sized ball of tamarind
2 tbsp sambar powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
A pinch of sugar
Salt to taste

For tempering:
1 tsp ghee or oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp powdered jeera / cumin
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
A few shallots, sliced long

How It's Made:

1. Soak tamarind in 1 cup warm water for 15 mins. Extract juice and discard the pulp. Transfer this to a pan along with the sambar powder, salt, turmeric powder, tomato, shallots, carrot and chopped methi leaves. In Kerala, a typical sambar consists of a few vegetables all added in together and this is how amma makes her sambar. You can omit the carrot if you want to keep it simple but the tomato is definitely recommended.

2. Bring the above mixture to boil with 2-3 cups of added water for about 15 mins. Add sugar and the cooked dal. Bring to boil and mix well. Adjust salt. Remove from fire.

3. Heat a small pan and add the ghee along with the rest of the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard seeds pop and the shallots turn a light brown, remove from fire and dunk straight into the cooked sambar. Mix well.

Note: Don't add curry leaves or coriander leaves to this sambar. This is to ensure that the flavour of the methi is dominating. I know the picture has some coriander leaves but that's just amma trying to make the sambar look pretty for the picture :)

Huge thanks, as always, to Amma and Radhmams for the pictures and recipe :)

Malai Kofta Recipe

2012-02-27T14:41:00.002+08:00

TH loves Malai Koftas and they are a regular whenever we eat out (that or Palak Paneer!). I have eaten the whole range of Malai Koftas you can come across - the good, the bad, and the downright rubbery balls in goop.

I've been wanting to try some of my own and finally got around to it couple of months back. It's not a short and easy recipe, let me be honest, but it's all worth it at the end, trust me.

The first step is to make the aloo paneer koftas so go on ahead and do that, I'll wait.

Ready?

Ok now to the gravy to complete the Malai Koftas.

Malai Kofta Recipe

Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1 batch of aloo paneer koftas
1 large onion, pureed
1 tomato, pureed
12 cashew nuts, soaked in warm water for 30 mins and ground to a paste
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
1 tbsp of kasuri methi / dried fenugreek leaves
1 tbsp of tomato sauce (optional)
2 tbsp of cream
Salt to taste
2 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp of jeera / cumin, powdered
1/2 cup of milk

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil and add the cumin powder. Fry for 5 seconds. Add the tomato and onion puree. Saute for 2-3 mins until the raw smell disappears.

2. Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, salt, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, and hing.

3. Fry for another 2 mins. Now add the kasuri methi and the tomato sauce (if using). Top it off with the ground cashew pate. Mix well and let it cook for 5 mins on low flame.

4. Add the milk. Bring to boil and simmer for a minute.

5. Finally add the cream and mix well. Test for salt.

6. Gently drop in the koftas and cover with the sauce. Turn off fire and let it sit for some time for the gravy to soak through.

Serve with warm jeera rice or rotis, with a garnish of grated paneer or fresh coriander leaves. I

Notes:

- If you prefer a white base for your malai kofta, skip the tomato and tomato sauce and add more cream and cashew paste.

- Some prefer to omit the onion, and that's fine too but I feel like it gives the gravy a nice base. I also wanted to avoid using too much cream.

Food Photos Prop Shopping - Robinson's Singapore

2012-02-17T15:44:00.001+08:00

The magic words that lured me in!

Lovely riot of colours at the entrance. This is the Robinson's at Raffles City Mall.

Adorable Katie Alice tins for coffee, sugar, and tea. I bought ramekins from this collection which were very cute too.

Drool-worthy stoneware in shapes and sizes

Korean style soup pots of stone and ceramic. Love the colourful lids

Who doesn't love Le Creuset. These were tiny, ramekin-sized ones. I bought a few to gift people because I suddenly felt guilty for being a selfish shopper

White tableware. A food photographer's favourite colour. Mine, anyway.

Oh yes, I bought that black bowl down there. Gorgeous textured ceramic table-ware from Japan.

The cheaper more colourful kind from China. I have a set of those striped ones on the right and one floral one not shown here which sadly cracked the other day.

I wasn't sure if they would mind pictures being taken in the store so I was in stealth mode. I wish I could've taken more but if you are visiting Singapore and love kitchen things, definitely pay Robinson's a visit.

Check out this previous post from when I visited Fishs Eddy in New York