Roti Stir-fry......quick snack, using left over roti

As I mentioned in my previous post now a days lunch is home made ice cream, so on one such day after gorging on home made vanilla & mango ice cream around late afternoon when stomach started to rumble that was the sign that I need to go to kitchen & cook something. So this quick dish is result of all the above. I had some left over rotis(Indian flat bread), instantly the idea of roti poha on the lines of bread poha came to my mind. This dish was done in within less than 10 minutes start to finish, it's just a guideline one can add any veggies of their choice.

What U need :

• 4 left over rotis/chapatis, cut into around 1 x 1/2 inch pieces
• around 1 & a half cup of thinly shredded cabbage
• 1/3 cup of frozen peas
• 1/3 cup of frozen corn
• 3-4 green chillies, chopped
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds (rai)
• few curry leaves
• 2 Tbsp. of cooking oil
• pinch of asafoetida(hing)
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder(haldi)
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder(lal mirch powder)
• 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 1 Tbsp. dry roasted sesame seeds
• cilantro or green onions, chopped for decoration
• juice of 1/2 a lime

What U do :

• Take a wide pan/wok/karahi, heat oil in that.
• Add mustard seeds once they splutter add curry leaves, also add hing.
• Turn the gas to high & add cabbage & cook it for 1-2 minutes on high heat only and then add peas & corn. Keep stirring veggies as it's on high heat.
• After another minute or so add salt, turmeric, chilli powder & chopped green chillies.
• After another minute or so add roti pieces, mix everything together. Once rotis get coating of all the flavors, around 2 minute, turn the gas off.
• Sprinkle peanuts, sesame seeds and lime juice. Garnish with green onions or cilantro.

Note : this dish is done on high heat & no liquids are used, only little oil, so make sure U keep stirring the veggies otherwise they might stick to the bottom of pan. If needed use only a spoon or two of water. Cooking them quickly on high heat helps in retaining the crunchiness of cabbage. If  U prefer little water can be used & cabbage can be cooked till it's fully soft. Once dish is done Covering the pan with lid will also helps in getting some moisture to the dish & making it little more soft.

So next time U have any left over rotis, try this recipe it's perfect as anytime snack or as morning breakfast, healthy and filling, enjoy.

Spinach Pulav with Spinach Raita

Today it's double dose of spinach. Usually I serve Spinach pulav with plain homemade dahi/yoghurt but I had some baby spinach needed to be used so result was Spinach raita, which can also be used as a dip for any type of finger food : vegetable sticks, tandoori chicken etc. This pulav is another one pot dish I rely on whenever I'm in time crunch, not only easy to prepare but tasty too....

For Spinach Pulav :

What U need : 

• 1 cup basmati rice, rinsed & soaked in water for at least 20 minutes
• a big bunch of fresh spinach, washed & chopped
• few small size frozen bhalle/vadas(fried lentil dumplings *see note)
• 1 carrot finely chopped
• 2-3 dry whole red chillies
• around 1" piece of cinnamon stick
• 3-4 cloves(laung)
• 1 tsp. cumin(jeera)
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder or 2-3 green chillies
• salt
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• clarified butter(ghee)/cooking oil

What U do :

1. In a heavy bottom pan heat little ghee/oil(1 Tblsp.). Add cumin, cinnamon stick, cloves & dry whole red chillies.
2. Add drained rice & gently stir them so that they get the coating of oil.
3. Add all the dry spices, stir. Add spinach, carrots & bhalle/vadas(if using). Do not soak the bhalle first in water.
4. Add 2 cups of water. Cover & cook till the rice are done.

* Note : Use of ghee will make it more aromatic. Addition of bhalle makes this dish complete meal as it provides the protein. Whenever I make bhalle for dahi-bhalle I usually make few additional small bite size bhallas also, and freeze them which come handy in dishes like this. 

Variations : Instead of bhalle to get the dose of protein one can use nutri soy chunks, chicken or paneer cubes(Indian cheese). But in case of paneer add it once the pulav is cooked.

For Spinach Raita :

What U need :

• 1 cup dahi/plain yoghurt
• 1/2 cup chopped baby spinach (in case of regular spinach blanch it first)
• salt
• black pepper

What U do : Whisk the yoghurt & add rest of the ingredients. Serve it as a side dish for any kind of pulav or in this case with spinach pulav.

Creamy Spinach Pasta

To me pasta is very versatile. It can be prepared as a complete meal in itself or as a side dish or even as a salad. Another good thing about pasta is being a one pot meal it's hit at my place. I love pasta so much that I can even eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon snack or even late night snack. I don't need lot of cheese in my pasta, but yes lots of veggies are kind of must. Pasta is regular at my place but every time with little twist depending upon what veggies I have. This one with spinach is one of my favorite. Now talking of spinach, sometime in the beginning of this month DH decided that he want spinach for at least one meal everyday. In my household we cook most of the veggies & greens but when you want to eat spinach everyday you need to think out of the box, regular palak paneer, saag they are good no doubt but I'm sure no one can eat it day after day and most importantly for eating one good thing you can not give up other good things. So, for next 7 days I will try to post one recipe with spinach each day, just to give some idea that how easy it can be to include spinach in your everyday diet, you don't have to be Popeye and eat your spinach direct from the can you can make it more tasty & visual treat for your eyes before you eat that healthy stuff.

Some of the health benefit of including spinach in your regular diet are:

1. 
   
   Excellent source of vitamin A, C & folate.
2. Flavonoid compounds in spinach function as antioxidants and as anti-cancer agents.
3. It's an excellent source of  bone-building nutrients including calcium and magnesium.
4. Promotes Gastrointestinal Health
5. The anti-inflammatory nutrients in spinach can also help with conditions in which inflammation plays a role. For example, asthma, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis are all conditions that involve inflammation.
6. Cooked spinach is an excellent source of Iron.

Now for the recipe :
What U need :

• half pound of small pasta like macaroni, shell or farfalle
• 1 8oz. box of white button mushrooms
• 1 cup of cooked chicken cut into bite size pieces
• salt
• black pepper
• red chilli flakes
• 1 Tblsp. chopped garlic
• 1 bunch of fresh spinach cleaned or 1 frozen box(10 oz. ) of spinach defrosted
• around 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 Tblsp. of evoo

What to do :

1. Boil pasta as per the packet direction, Boil it for a minute or two less than the specified time as we gonna finish cooking it in the sauce.Reserve the pasta water.
2. In the mean time while pasta is boiling, clean & roughly chop the mushrooms.
3. Heat oil in a big pan, saute garlic & mushrooms in it. If you chop the mushrooms thin it should not take more than 5 minutes. Once done sprinkle some salt & black pepper.
4. Add milk to it & let it boil, simmer cook for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Cool little bit, take it out & puree it. That's the creamy sauce for the pasta.
6. In the same pan pour little pasta water & add chopped up spinach to it, let it cook for few minutes(roughly 4-5 minutes). Don't add any salt to this as we are using pasta water which is salty.
7. Once spinach looks like cooked add boiled pasta(drained), cooked chicken & mushroom sauce to it. Sprinkle some red chilli flakes. If it's little dry add some of the pasta water. Let everything cook together for a minute or two.
8. If you like sprinkle some Parmesan or any other cheese of your choice on top of it.

Note : I puree the mushrooms into sauce as this is one thing which my DD doesn't eat no matter what recipe they are in, so disguising is the only option I'm left with. You can leave it chunky as per your taste. Also for the vegetarian version, chicken can be left out & may be another packet of mushrooms can be added sliced & sauteed for the dose of extra protein.

Wheat Pulav - Vegetable Dalia

Dalia-cracked whole wheat, many of you must have eaten it in the form of porridge, roasted then boiled with milk or water sprinkled with some sugar or honey. It's a very common breakfast in Northern India. It's one of that thing you like it or don't.

This is not only healthy but truly one-pot dish gets ready in 15-20 minutes. It's kind of regular in my house, I usually serve it with home made dahi(plain yogurt). I always loved dalia(cracked wheat), the sweet version with milk but no one other than me likes it over here. Few years back when I ate this savory version of dalia for the first time, at my MIL's friends house I didn't liked it much( I was so use to of eating sweet version) but I liked the idea. After coming back to my house I decided to try it for my DH, he instantly liked it. Since then it's regular in my house, many a times when nothing else to cook or don't want to spend time in kitchen this is one dish which comes to my mind. And now I enjoy it more than the sweet version. Here's how it goes :

Ingredients :

• 1 cup cracked wheat(dalia) available at Indian grocers
• 1 & 1/2 cup of chopped mixed veggies (like carrots, beans, peas etc.)
• 2 & 1/5 cup of water
• salt ar per taste (I used 1 & 1/2tsp.)
• 1 Tblsp. freshly chopped ginger
• 2-4 green chillies
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper(kali mirch)
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 2-3 cloves(laung)
• pinch of asafoetida (hing)
• handful of chopped cilantro
• lime or lemon juice
• plain yogurt(dahi) to serve with
• 1 Tblsp. of clarified butter( desi ghee) or evoo for vegan version

Method :

1. Heat ghee/evoo in the pressure cooker add hing to it and after few seconds add cloves. Now add ginger & then add dalia to it & roast it for few minutes(may be for 5-6 minutes), you'll know it with the aroma, that it's roasted. OR instead you can also dry roast dalia in a big pan in advance & keep it in a air tight container for later use so you can avoid roasting it at this stage.
2. Once it's roasted add chopped veggies & all the dry spices along with the chillies & water. Close the lid of the pressure cooker.
3. After one whistle turn the gas to slow for another 3-4 minutes and then turn it off.
4. When all the steam escaped open the lid add lime juice & fluff up the dalia using a fork & garnish with fresh cilantro before serving.

It's very healthy dish, and very full filling also. You can change the flavours by using spices of your taste, but for me & my family this works really well. It's very healthy for little ones also, my little one started to enjoy this at the age of 10 months or so.

Note : 1) Cracked wheat is usually available in two types one is very finely cracked which is good if making sweet version or using it for babies. Other type is of little coarse consistency which looks very similar to cous-cous pasta, and that is the one I prefer for this savory version.

2) Proportion of water can some time vary according to the quality of dalia, if it comes out too wet , next time reduce the quantity of water by little bit.

Veggie Paneer Macaroni

There's no recipe for this pasta. In fact many times I quick fix this kind of lunch with whatever is available or whatever need to be used, today I had very little time to fix lunch for myself & the little one, so decided to cook some pasta. Here's how it goes :

Keep water for boiling and at the same time add around 1/2 cup of frozen mixed vegetables. When water comes to boil add some salt & pasta, preferably small type(I used macaroni). When pasta is cooked drain water add some home made fresh paneer( Indian cheese), black pepper, red chilli flakes & herbs(parsley, oregano) of your choice. Mix everything together, let it cook for a minute. Turn of the gas & enjoy your Veggie Paneer Macaroni.

I'm sending this quick & easy, one pot dish to Radhika & Sudeshna's Food for 7 stages of life : Kids event. This post is quite small so I guess I can share some clicks I had in the Thanksgiving weekend.
Something man made :
but no one can beat Nature......

Here it's called Stuffing, Back Home it was called Bread Poha

Before we move to today's recipe....what is this Fruit or Vegetable ???

Now for the recipe, nope it's not using the produce from the above pic, but it's the recipe from our thanksgiving dinner, something so important that you can't think of having a turkey dinner without it....it's stuffing.

It's typically made with bread croutons, some veggies, nuts & dry fruits. You can either fill the big bird with it (which I don't like) or another popular way is you cook it separately and serve it as side dish (it's called dressing when cooked separately). This time when I cooked bread stuffing, it reminded me of bread poha my Mom makes with lots of veggies & nuts, though it's not exactly same but has many similarities. I ate the leftovers for the next day breakfast & loved it.

Ingredients :

• 2 cups bread croutons(check notes for making your own)
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped granny smith apple
• 1/4 cup or more roasted & chopped almonds & walnuts
• 1/4 cup chopped apricots
• 1/4 cup raisins plus dried cranberries
• 2 Tblsp. of unsalted butter (or U can use all evoo instead)
• 2 Tblsp. of evoo(extra virgin olive oil (or you can use all butter instead)
• 1 Tblsp. of evoo for sauteing the vegetables
• 1/2 cup of vegetable stock or water ( I used turkey stock)
• salt as per taste
• black pepper as per taste
• 1 tsp. dried parsley

Method :

1. Heat butter & oil in a big heavy bottom pan. Add bread croutons to it & toss them to get coating of butter. Cook them on a med. heat for about 5-7 minutes, stir them in between. When they start to turn brown, take them out of the pan. If you don't have big pan do it in two batches using 1 spoon of butter & oil each, for each batch of croutons


2. In the same pan heat 1 Tblsp. of evoo & add celery, carrots & apples. Cover and cook them till they get soft, if needed add little stock or water at a time.


3. Once the veggies are soft add croutons, nuts & dry fruits. Also add salt, black pepper and parsley. Mix everything & add 1/2 cup of stock/water. cover & cook for couple of minutes.


4. Turn of the gas. Let it sit for sometime before serving.


5. This can be served as a side dish or can also be eaten as a snack or breakfast by itself. You can also top it with fresh cilantro(instead of parsley) & sprinkle some lemon/lime juice before serving. If you like you can also add other veggies like peas, bell pepper, green beans etc.. My mom makes bread poha version with some tomatoes in it.

Note : to make your own croutons, take 5 slices of 2-3 day old bread, preferably french bread or any hardy bread. I use whatever kind I have at home. This time I used multi grain bread. Cut the slices into 4 stripes & then further cut each strip into 4 pieces. Spread them onto cookie sheet & toast in the oven 350 degree F for roughly 10 min. or so. Shake them in between, once they turn crispy they are done. Remember if croutons are not crispy stuffing will turn mushy.

For Vegan version instead of butter evoo can be used.

This dish is quite healthy as I used multi grain bread to make croutons plus it has lots of veggies, nuts & dry fruits. Specially with all the other flavours going on kids can't figure out that it has multi grain bread in it(so no complaints). I'm sending this to WYF-Speciality event as I cooked it specially for Thanksgiving dinner and I'm also sending it to Yasmeen's HealthNut Challenge-3 : Healing Foods as it contains all the healthy ingredients from carrots to apples & almonds to cranberries. Last but not the least it goes to Radhika & Sudeshna's Food for 7 stages of life : Kids Event.

And yes, before I sign off did you guys guessed what the name of the fruit in above pic is. It's persimmon, known to the ancient Greeks as "fruits of the Gods". Saw it in the local Chinese farmer market, there were two varieties, one was sold in the pack of 6 or 8 that looked more like round tomatoes. The one I got was sold loose, so I got just one to taste, later checked on the wiki it's called "Hachiya". It was too(when I say too I really mean tooooooo) sweet, pulp inside had similar texture like ripe mango pulp but it was too sweet (we, in fact he only ate one bite, ate it just raw) may be I should have made milk shake with it.

Chana Dal Pulav

This recipe came to life in my kitchen only after i saw it on SEDenufood. In one of my childhood memories i remember eating rice & chana dal pulav while sitting in a train going for vacation, one of my aunt made that. It was so simple but so vibrant at the same time....white basmati rice like they are smiling & yellow vibrant chana dal peaking from every where. I still remember that it tasted good and that picture is still there in my mind.So, on Monday when I saw it on SE's blog I told to myself i have to make it. Originally I was planning to make it white only but.......when I opened my cooler box to get something I saw the bottle of rasam paste..........(I know what you all must be thinking store bought rasam paste......who use that......well, we wanted to try it). Anyways, so plan changed a little bit, here's my version of this pulav.

Ingredient :

• 1 cup chana dal(bengal gram)(Soaked for 2 hr.)
• 2 cup basmati rice (soaked for 25-30 min.)
• 1 tsp. jeera(cumin)
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
• 3-4 cloves
• 2 dry red chillies
• 1 Onion thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 inch piece of ginger(thinly sliced lengthwise)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of rasam paste(I used store bought)
• salt as per taste
• 2 tablespoon oil/ghee

Method :

1) In pressure cooker heat the oil then add jeera, cloves, cinnamon stick, mustard seeds & red chillies, when seeds start to splutter add sliced onion.

2) On med. high gas saute the onion till they become brown.

3) Now add rasam paste & 3-4 tblspn. of water to loosen up the paste.Add salt, paprika, rice & chana dal, stir everything together.Let everything get coated with the masala(spice & onion mixture)around two minutes.

4) Add 4 1/2 cups of water* and pressure cook it on med. high . After a whistle turn off the gas. If your stove is electric make sure you take the pressure cooker off the heated stove.after around 5 minutes open the cooker & using fork fluff up the rice.Serve it with plain yogurt/raita.

Note : *I use 1(rice) : 2(water) ratio while cooking rice in the cooker and I added 1/2 cup extra for chana dal.If you pressure cook rice, make sure not to let them sit for a long time in the pressure otherwise they will be overcooked & become mushy.

Pasta Primavera

Past Friday night was the Pasta night in our family. This pasta dish is one of the favourites in my family, even my 11 months old loves this one. Though her favourite is pasta in this but a little veggie here & there is welcome. It's not only easy to make but also tasty and satisfying One Pot Dish. There's no fixed list of ingredients for this dish as one can easily put vegetables of there choice, as I believe it's more of a method then a recipe. I make this almost once a week, and every time it has different things in it. Many a times it's the dish which I make usually when I'm cleaning the fridge(a day before fresh groceries)So whatever veggie is sitting alone in the fridge gets to go into this melody of veggies.It's also a good one for make-ahead, just warm it up when ready to eat.

As far the dictionary meaning of Pasta primavera, It's is an Italian-American dish that consists of pasta and fresh vegetables. A meat such as chicken, sausage or shrimp is sometimes added, but the focus of primavera is the vegetables themselves. The dish may contain almost any kind of vegetable, but cooks tend to stick to firm, crisp vegetables, such as broccoli, carrots, peas, onions and green bell peppers, with tomatoes. Pasta primavera is usually highlighted by light flavors, aromatic herbs and bright colors ('primavera' meaning the season of spring). Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasta_primavera

Ingredient :

1. 4 cups or more of diced raw vegetables of your choice.(e.g carrots, zucchini,peas,onions,celery,cauliflower etc.)
2. 5-6 cloves of garlic - minced.
3. 2 cups of chopped ripe tomatoes or marinara sauce (whatever is handy)
4. 1/2 lb. sausages (any kind u like)
5. 1/2 lb. of any small pasta(elbow,fussili,bow tie)
6. salt as per taste
7. 1 tsp. red chilli flakes
8. 1 tsp. black pepper
9. 3-4 green hot chillies chopped (optional)
10. 1 & 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning(or one can use only basil, parsley, thyme or oregano as per taste)
11. 2 tbsp. olive oil
12. Handful of grated Parmesan cheese(optional as per taste)

Method :

1. Boil the pasta according to the package direction & while pasta is boiling get the veggies ready.
2. Heat the oil in a large size skillet/pan & then add garlic to it. Once it get cooked around 30-40 seconds add diced veggies to it & gently stir everything so that all the veggies get coated with the oil. Saute the veggies for around 5-7 minutes or until they are tender but crisp. Add salt,pepper,chilli flakes & green chillies.Stir everything together.
3. In the meanwhile if using sausages cook them acc. to the package direction & slice them.Once the sausages are done add them to the veggies.
4. Now add tomatoes & italian seasoning.Stir everything together.Let everything cook together for around 2-3 minutes. Now add boiled pasta(drained) to the veggie sauce mix it gently.
5. Serve with grated parmesan cheese on top.I don't do this everytime b'coz that's the beauty of cooking at home u can totally omit something, u don't want.But my DD loves her's topped with grated mozzarella cheese so do my husband, i just love it without any cheese.

Note : For Vegan version one can simply omit chicken/sausage part & cheese.Also i usually make it with marinara sauce as my DD tends to find the tomatoes in her portion & separate them as --not to eat category food, but she loves to eat raw tomatoes in salads isn't that funny.

Variations : For this part the credit goes to my brother, as this is one dish he also makes very frequently but with the twist. Twist here is that instead of making it with Italian seasonings he makes it Chinese style with a dash of soya sauce & ketchup, no tomatoes & instead of sausages he puts scrambled eggs, One of his all time fave.

As I wrote in the beginning of the post that this is a favourite food as of now for my little one also. When i say fav. means I even don't have to turn on any music or t.v to make her eat this (my fingers crossed).And yes, if cooking for kids please omit or reduce chillies. So here it goes, my little ones favourite, to Srivalli of Spice your life for her First Blog Anniversary with Kids Delight,an event to focus on Kids and also my best wishes for the same. I feel excited, as this is my first time ever, being a part of any blogging event.