Herbed mushroom in tomato sauce

I wanted to make something with mushrooms, with some gravy so it would go with bread. But not the usual mushroom masala. So I made this without any of the usual spices which would go in a curry.

This just about serves two.

7-8 button mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped green peppers
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp dry oregano and basil
7-8 fresh mint leaves
Salt and sugar to taste

Wash, peel if needed and slice mushrooms. Heat olive or any cooking oil (about 3/4 tbsp) or butter in a pan.

Add the onion and saute until translucent. Add tomato and cook on medium-to-high heat so the juices separate. Add a pinch of salt. Once the oil separates reduce the heat. Add half a teaspoon sugar. Stir for a few seconds.

Now add the peppers and stir. Let cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the mushrooms. Add salt, mix and cook uncovered for about 5 minutes. The consistency should be like a thick gravy. If it is dry add a little warm water and adjust the salt.

Add chopped mint leaves, stir and let cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the chilli flakes, pepper and herbs. Stir and cook for another couple of minutes.

Lemongrass tea

A soothing and refreshing tea which I made up when I was grounded at home with a cold. Lemongrass is said to help treat fever and lemon is good for cokds with its vitamin C and mint is good for the gut.

Some Ayurveda jargon - colds are usually an imbalance of vata and kapha and mint increases pitta while reducing vata levels.

So for a mug-full of tea:

1 and 1/2 to 2 tsp lemongrass cut into small pieces
2-3 leaves of mint
A few drops of lemon

Take a little more quantity of water than you would like tea as the water will be boiled about 10 minutes.

Bring the water to a boil, add lemongrass and simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Add the mint leaves and let simmer for another 3-5 minutes.

The tea should have a greenish tinge and smell of the herbs added.

Strain and let cool a few minutes or until you can't wait any more. Add the lemon drops.

If you want a medicine for cold add a teaspoonful of freshly grated ginger and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon powder with the lemongrass. Ginger powder can be used instead of fresh ginger. The ginger and cinnamon recipe is courtesy Dr. Vasant Lad's book "the complete book of Ayurveda home remedies".

Sweet potato sheera

This was done in 20 minutes even with some distractions. Inspired by a traditional dish my grandmother made which uses the same ingredients. But the potatoes are sliced in somewhat thick round slices. Adding jaggery in the end as in this recipe it forms a coating on the sweet potato which gives a thin crusty texture to the slices on the outside. We get this red sweet potato around here called as ratalu or ratale.

This type cooks pretty quickly. The usual potato will need to be steamed and cubed/mashed first. Typical sweet potato halwa recipes are with milk, this one is without so much quicker.

Ingredients:

3/4 -1 cup sweet potato peeled and cubed
1 tbsp ghee or butter
1 tbsp jaggery crush or sugar
1 dry fig
A pinch of finely grated nutmeg

Heat a pan, melt the butter/ghee. Add the cubed sweet potatoes, mix well.

Cover the pan and steam for about 10 minutes stirring occasionally so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

Grate the nutmeg, wash and chop fig.

Once the sweet potatoes are soft mix in the sugar or jaggery. Add the nutmeg and mix well, toss in the figs and you're done.

Pumpkin sweet paratha

This recipe is an inspiration from my mum and a traditional Marathi poori made with pumpkin.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cubes of peeled pumpkin
1/2 cup or some more wheat flour
2 tbsp sugar or jaggery crush
2 tsp coarsely crushed pistachio or cashewnuts
1/4 tsp powdered cardamom
Salt to taste (optional)
Milk for the dough

Peel and cube the pumpkin and transfer to a thick-bottomed vessel. Add water to about halfway the level of the pumpkin cubes or just short of covering them. The pumpkin should be steamed with as less added water as possible but without letting it stick to the bottom of the pot.

Cover and steam the pumpkin for about 5-7 minutes, stirring if needed so it doesn't stick or burn.

Leave aside to cool. In a small skillet toast 3-4 seeds of cardamom and let aside to cool. Heat a tsp of ghee or butter in it and lightly roast the crushed nuts of your choice, set aside. Finely crush the cardamom.

Transfer the pumpkin to a wide mixing bowl. Mash well. Add the powdered cardamom, nuts and sugar or jaggery and mix. Adjust sugar to taste. Add a pinch of salt if you wish.

Now add flour to the pumpkin mixture until a soft dough can be formed. To retain the taste and texture of the parathas mix in only so much flour as the pumpkin mixture can take. If it turns out flaky and needs more water add milk instead of water and roll into a ball. This dough doesn't need kneading.

Roll out into flat discs about 5-inch diameter. Heat a non-stick pan and dry roast the parathas evenly on both sides. Finish with some ghee when serving. These parathas can be eaten without any side but if you want to go over-the-top this would go well with some mango marmalade.