Chhole (pronounced Cho-Lay) - Garbanzo beans cooked with vegetables and spices

This is one of my favourite dishes. And very versatile..serve with rice, bread, with samosas, naan or just eat it by itself! And the best part is, it's so easy to make. It's one of the most popular Indian party foods!

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients: Garbanzo beans(2 cans), Onions (medium - 2), Tomatoes (large - 1), Ginger(1 inch), serrano peppers(2),cilantro(1/2 bunch), Tamarind extract(1/2 cup), salt, Garlic (2 cloves), red chilli powder (1 tsp), Chhole Masala(3 tsp)**

**Chhole Masala - Store-brought, available in all Indian Grocery stores and some local american stores as well. If you don't have this on hand, no worries. You could also throw in some garam masala (if you have it) or some cumin and coriander powder and some cinnamon powder instead.

Ingredients for tempering: Canola oil or EVOO (1 tbsp), Cumin seeds(2 tsp), mustard seeds(2 tsp), turmeric (couple of pinches)

Blend ginger, onions, tamarind, cilantro and serrano pepper with salt



Cook the blended paste with onions and red bell pepper



Finished Product..delicious!

Cook Away..

> Slice the onions into thin, long strips, dice the tomatoes, roughly chop the ginger, peel garlic and slice the serrano peppers

> Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans and set aside

> Rinse and roughly chop the cilantro

> Soak lemon-sized tamarind in half a cup of water and set aside

> Throw the onions (set aside some of the sliced onions and use the rest), ginger, garlic, cilantro (set aside a little for garnish), half of the tamarind extract, 1 serrano pepper and some salt into the blender and blend to a fine paste with some water

> Heat a pan on medium high on the stove and add the oil and tempering ingredients

> Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the remaining sliced onions, turmeric and remaining serrano pepper and saute for a couple of minutes until onions start to turn golden brown

> Add the diced tomatoes

> Add the blended paste and let it all cook together for a few minutes

> Add the garbanzo beans, remaining tamarind extract, red chilli powder and Chole Masala and combine thoroughly and let it all cook together for about 3-4 minutes

> Do a little taste test and if needed, add a little bit of salt

> Transfer to a serving bowl, garnish with the remaining cilantro and serve hot!

My Thoughts..

> You can throw in all of the sliced onion in the blender if you like, I put some of it aside and drop it in the oil so you can actually taste the onion a little bit more

> If you or someone in your family is not big on garlic, you can skip the garlic in the paste. What I typically do in that situation is roast the garlic separately and serve it on the side. That way the garlic lovers don't miss out on it!

> Sometimes I also use thin long strips of red bell pepper (half) and throw it in while cooking with onions and tomatoes. It adds a little bit of sweetness to balance the tangy tamarind

> If you don't have tamarind on hand, you can use juice of a lime instead

Enjoy!!

Flatbread Veggie Pizza

This is a super easy snack/lunch/dinner item and quite healthy too.. a nice alternative to regular pizza. I made this for dinner tonight and it was a big hit at the table.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients: Whole wheat Flatbread( from Costco!) -2, Fire roasted tomatoes in sauce(canned - 1/4 cup), Garlic (4 cloves), Tomatoes(medium - 1), olive oil (2 tsp), broccoli (10-15 florets), red chilli flakes (1 tsp), shredded pepper jack cheese(1/4 cup), salt

Bake Away..

> Preheat the oven at 350 degrees

> Heat a pan on medium high heat and add a teaspoon of olive oil

> Add the broccolli, red chilli flakes and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes until garlic is lightly roasted and add a little salt to taste

> Place the flatbreads on a baking sheet and spread the tomato sauce

> Add the sauteed mix evenly on both the flatbreads

> Sprinkle the cheese on the top

> Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes, checking often (bakes pretty fast!)

> Eat while hot!

My Thoughts..

> The should work fine with naan bread to, if you have on hand

> You could add sauteed onions or other vegetables too, like roasted red peppers or zucchini

> Cut back on the garlic if you feel it's too much..I love garlic and tend to add a LOT of it, same goes for the red chilli flakes

Fried Potatoes with Cumin and Dried mint

This is a really quick and easy one to make. In our household, fried potato is the real go-to side dish, when all I have is a few minutes to put together a simple meal. Pair this up with some white/brown rice and have some crispy pappadums (baked/fried lentil chips) and a spicy mango pickle along with this and you are all set! I typically just fry the potatoes in olive oil and add some salt and red chilli powder, but this time I added some dried mint and cumin seeds and I loved the new depths of flavor!

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients: Extra virgin olive oil(1-2 Tbsp), Potatoes (6 medium), salt to taste, Red chilli powder(2 tsp), Cumin seeds (1 tbsp), Dried mint(1 Tbsp)

Cook away..

> Peel and dice the potatoes into small cubes

> Heat a wok on medium high heat and add the oil

> Add the potatoes and saute on medium high heat for a few minutes (make sure you stir often because woks get pretty hot pretty fast and you don't want burnt potatoes, just deep fried and crispy)

> Once the potatoes start to brown, add the red chilli powder, cumin seeds and dried mint

> Fry some more and once potatoes are crispy add salt and turn the heat to low and cook for a couple of minutes

> Turn off the heat, transfer to a serving bowl and serve hot with rice!

My thoughts..

> If you don't want to deep fry, bake the diced potatoes with the spices in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes and then transfer to a pan and do a quick fry with a teaspoon or two of oil. Should still be quite yummy although nothing beats the deep-fried taste :)

La Dolce Vita!!

We've been frequent visitors of "Olive Garden" restaurant lately..since my toddler turned a year about a year ago..mainly because the place is kid friendly (crayons and scribbling papers are life-savers!), plus I love the Minestrone soup they serve and their bread is not bad at all and my husband is a fan of the never-ending pasta bowl! We never really bothered looking at the dessert menu, until today that is. We went to OG for our Sunday lunch today and for some reason I decided to give the dessert menu a quick peek. And what caught my eye were the newly introduced mini desserts, what they called "Dolcini'" or little dessert treats. There were six flavors to choose from and we decided we'd give it a try...particularly after I saw the words "dark chocolate" "cake" "caramel sauce" and "chocolate mousse" all under the same item! I ordered the Dark chocolate cake with Chocolate mousse and caramel cream (delicioso!) and my husband ordered Chocolate mousse with Dark chocolate cookie crust(yum). They were just the right size..not too big where you'd feel like you over-indulged and not too small where you hardly take a bite and you are done. Just enough to really get all the flavors of chocolate and the cream. Mine was a good balance of bitter dark chocolate and the sweet caramel cream, my husband's was slightly more bitter, but good rich-dark-chocolate kind of bitter.They had some other interesting flavors too..I am going to try the Amaretto Tiramisu with Almond cookie crumbles next time!

**From the Olive Garden website

Mixed Vegetables with Kidney Beans

I attempted this recipe over the last weekend and it turned out great. I particularly enjoyed this with Chapathis. I am sure it would taste equally great with Naan or Whole wheat bread or even rice.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4 people

Ingredients:  Kidney Beans (1 can), Onion (medium -1), Grape tomatoes(10-12), Cauliflower florets (1.5 cups), Serrano pepper(1), Green peas(1/2 cup), Mint leaves(4-5), salt to taste, Curry powder( 2 tsp), turmeric(couple of pinches)

Ingredients for tempering: Canola oil or EVOO (2 tsp), mustard seeds(2 tsp), Cumin seeds(2 tsp), dried red chillies(2)

Cook away...

> Drain the liquid in the kidney beans can and give then a good rinse and drain

> Dice the onions, serrano pepper and roughly chop the mint leaves

> Heat a pan on medium high and add the oil and all the ingredients for tempering

> Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the onions and saute until golden brown

> Add serrano pepper, grape tomatoes and cauliflower, turmeric and combine them well

> Reduce the heat to medium and add the mint leaves and green peas and cover with a lid and let it cook for about 5-7 minutes

> Now add the salt and curry powder (recipe coming up soon!!) and cook for an additional couple of minutes

> Turn off the heat and transfer to a serving bowl

> Serve hot with rice or bread or chapathis

My Thoughts..

> You can also use roma or large tomatoes  but I think the grape tomatoes add that sweet and tangy taste that comes out really well with the rest of the vegetables in this dish

> You could also add some green beans and carrots (diced) to this dish

> Curry powder is so easy to make, I will post my mom's recipe soon. If you have easy access to an Indian grocery store or your local market that sells Indian spices, you can buy the "MTR curry powder". I sometimes substitute that when I don't have the homemade one on hand and it is quite tasty as well.

Enjoy!

Festival Feast - Steamed Rice cakes (Undrallu) with Ginger and Cilantro Chutney, Coconut Jaggery Sweet dish

Today's post is special..these are dishes that I usually make once a year .Today's celebration is Vinayaka Chavithi, the birthday of Lord Ganesha and the steamed rice balls and the sweet dish are considered the favourite food of Lord Ganesha. And the Ginger chutney is so yummy, I make it pretty often to eat with White or Brown rice. The pairing of ginger chutney with the Undrallu or the steamed rice balls is really good because the Undrallu by themselves are kind of bland, but when paired with the chutney, you can easily lose track of how many you eat!

Recipe 1: Undrallu (Steamed Rice balls)

Prep time: About 30 minutes

Serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients: 1.5 cups of white rice (basmati, long grain or sona masoori), 3 tbsp Chana dhal (Split pea Lentils), Cumin seeds (3 tsp), Salt to taste, Ghee (Clarified butter - 2 tsp)

Cook away...

> Wash the rice and let it dry completely and grind to a coarse powder

> Wash and drain the Chana dhal

> Heat a thick-bottomed pan on medium high, add the ghee and add cumin seeds

> Once they splutter, add about 4 cups of water and the Chana dhal and salt and bring to boil

> Now reduce the heat to medium and add the coarsely ground rice powder while stirring continuously

> Stir for about 5 minutes on medium heat until the rice powder is completely cooked and it becomes a lump-free paste

> Let it cool for a few minutes and make the paste into balls (I would say the size of a really small lime, maybe smaller)

> Steam cook these balls for about 10 minutes (I usually do this in a pressure cooker)

> Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with Ginger chutney (recipe follows)

Recipe 2: Ginger and Cilantro Chutney

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4-6 people

Ingredients: Ginger ( 2 inch piece), Cilantro(1/2 cup), serrano pepper(1/4), canola oil (3 tsp), mustard seeds (2 tsp), coriander seeds(1 Tbsp + 1 tsp), black gram dhal (2 tsp), chana dhal (2 tsp), dried red chilli (2), jaggery (2 tsp, finely chopped), Tamarind juice (1/4 cup), salt to taste

Ingredients for tempering: Canola oil (1 tsp), mustard seeds (2 tsp), black gram dhal (2 tsp), curry leaves (3 to 4)

Fry spices to make Chutney

Spices, Tamarind, Ginger and Cilantro

Finished Product!

Cook away...

> Chop the ginger into small pieces, wash and drain cilantro

> Soak couple of tablespoons of tamarind pulp in about 1/4 cup of water and set aside

> Heat a pan on medium high and add oil, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, black gram dhal, chana dhal and dried red chilli and heat until mustard seeds splutter and turn off the heat

> Let this cool a little and add this to the blender and grind to a fine powder

> To the blender add chopped ginger, serrano pepper, cilantro, jaggery, salt, tamarind extract and blend everything to a fine paste. Transfer to serving bowl

> Take the same pan and add all the ingredients for tempering (except curry leaf) and once mustard seeds, splutter, add the curry leaf and turn off the heat

> Add the tempering to the Chutney and mix with chutney before serving

> Serve with Undrallu (or even white rice or chapathis)

Recipe 3: Sweet dish with Coconut and Jaggery

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients: Fresh shredded coconut (1 cup), Jaggery ( 1 cup, shredded/finely chopped), Milk(1/4 cup), cardamom powder (1/2 tsp), Ghee(2 Tbsp)

Cook Away..
> Heat a thick-bottomed saucepan on medium heat
> Add the coconut and jaggery and stir contiuously until jaggery and coconut combine well (around 15 minutes)
> Add the cardamom powder and ghee and stir some more until the mixture starts to harden a little bit and turn off the heat
> Allow the mixture to cool down
> You can serve the sweet dish at this time (by making round balls from the mixture) or you could take the rice powder paste from the Recipe 1 above (before steaming it) and stuff with the coconut and jaggery mixture and then steam it
> I prefer the latter because the salty/savoury flavor of the rice balls nicely balance the sweetness of the coconut and jaggery mixture

Coming up soon...Tamarind rice..yum! Enjoy your weekend..

Tempering - Basics

Almost every Indian recipe that I've posted, I start the cooking process with tempering. I've been asked by a couple of people what the purpose of tempering is.

Not until I actually started cooking did I stop for a second and think about why we actually add tempering to all (or almost all) Indian dishes. As a kid growing up, all I knew while I watched my mom cook was that it was an integral part of the daily cooking. You had to add "tadka" or "bhagaar" or "popu" (which is what we refer to as tempering in English) to "make it taste better". One of my food-related memories as a kid was tasting a yummy tamarind rice dish that my mom made and biting into the dried red chilli that she added with the tempering and frantically drink tons of water and eat some sugar, all to calm down the fire in my mouth! It was then I realized that, dried red chillies are to be added to enhance the flavor of the dish and add that little heat to the dish and are not meant to be actually eaten.

So what is the purpose of tempering? Quite obvious, actually - Frying all the potent spices in hot oil releases the flavours of the spices and the aroma, and cooking the dish in this flavorful oil adds the subtle taste of the spices to the dish, without overpowering the actual dish itself. There are two ways to temper your dish. Start the cooking process by adding spices to the hot oil and then cooking the dish in this or cook the dish and add the spices to oil separately and add to the cooked dish. I've seen that in some dishes adding it later enhances the dish a little bit more. Ingredients used in tempering vary with different cooking styles (north Indian vs south Indian). You must have noticed that I invariably use mustard seeds, cumin seeds, black gram dhal, (lentils) dried red chillis, turmeric and asafoetida (sometimes). A lot of these spices are known for improving digestive health and healing powers. Turmeric, for example, has anti-oxidants for  building immunity and also heals wounds etc. Cumin is known to improve digestion.

clockwise: dried red chilli, black gram dhal, split pea dhal, cumin seeds, mustard seeds

Another way to introduce spices to your dish is to roast them (dry or in oil) and blend them to a powder and add while you cook. Or blend to a paste and add to your dish. These are commonly referred to as Masalas (The very popular, Garam Masala for example). More about masalas in a future post.

There are so may many more spices that make Indian cooking so delicious and bursting with flavor, but these basic ones I mentioned are a good place to start. I'll introduce a few more spices in my future posts (cardamom and cloves, anybody??) :)

What was for dinner tonight?

Simple, healthy and hearty Indian fare for dinner tonight in our house. All easy-to-make dishes. Appetizer was Tortilla chips with Garlic, cilantro and mint hummus (see my previous post for recipe). (Going anti-clockwise in the picture below)Baked Yam with olive oil, Dhal with green and red tomatoes (Cooked lentils), Green bell pepper with curry powder( curry powder recipe in a future post) and Sambhar (lentil soup with tons of veggies) all served with brown rice. Yum-my! And tons of left overs too, so we are covered for lunch tomorrow.

Wheat Tortilla Chips with Basil and Chilli AND Garlic, Cilantro and Mint Hummus

Quick and Delicious snack item. The Hummus is to die for!

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients for Chips:  Whole Wheat Tortillas (medium - 3), salt, Basil (dried - 2-3 tsp), red chilli powder (1-2 tsp), olive oil (about 2 tsp)

Ingredients for Hummus: Garbanzo beans (1 can), garlic (2 cloves), cilantro (1/2 cup), mint (2 Tbsp), lime juice (2 Tbsp), salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil (2 tbsp)

Blend away...

Hummus:

> Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend to a paste. Transfer to serving bowl

Chips:

> Cut the tortillas into long strips

> Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

> Place the tortilla strips on a baking sheet and sprinkle with olive oil, salt, basil and red chilli powder

> Bake for about 10 minutes until crisp

Enjoy!!

Tomato Rice

Another one of my favourite rice dishes. You will love this if you love your tomatoes and it's easy to make too.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients: Basmati Rice (1.5 cups, uncooked), Tomatoes (medium, 5-6), Onion (large - 1), Serrano peppers (2), Cilantro (for garnish), turmeric ( a couple of pinches), salt (to taste), Coriander powder (2 tsp), cashews (20 halves)

Ingredients for tempering: Extra virgin olive oil or canola oil (3 tsp), dried red chilli (2-3), mustard seeds (3tsp), cumin seeds (2 tsp), chana dhal (yellow lentils) 2 tsp, black gram dhal (2 tsp), cinnamon stick (1/2), cloves (whole - 2 -3)

Cook away...

> Cook the Basmati rice per instructions on the package

> Heat a pan on medium high heat on a saucepan and add oil

> Add all the ingredients for tempering and cook until the mustard seeds start to splutter

> Slice the onions into long thin slices, dice the tomatoes into 1/2 inch pieces, slice the serrano peppers

> Add onions and peppers and saute until the onions start to turn golden brown

> Add turmeric and add the tomatoes and cover with a lid and cook for 5-6 minutes till the tomatoes are cooked

> Add salt and coriander powder and saute for a minute

> Add the cooked rice to the tomato and onion mixture and combine thoroughly  and transfer to the serving bowl

> Roast the cashews in a little bit or oil or butter and garish

> Chop cilantro and garnish

> Serve hot with some yogurt chutney on the side (maybe some potato chips too!)

My Thoughts...

> Cut back on the serrano peppers and/or the dried red chilli to reduce spice level

> If you want to add some protein to this dish, cook some soy granules along with the onion and tomatoes and combine with the rice

> I sometimes do 50:50 of white basmati rice and brown basmati rice for this dish