Potato sandwich filling with chilli sauce

This is a mild-flavoured filling I came up with for an evening when N and I were both down with a cold. Low on effort and high on comfort.

Ingredients:

8 lemon-sized potatoes or about 1 cup of potato mash.
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
2-3 tsp chopped green garlic/spring garlic
3 tsp red chilli sauce
1/2 tsp crushed black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
Cooking oil
Salt to taste

Boil, peel and mash potatoes.

Heat some oil in a pan and on medium heat add chopped onion. Saute until translucent and add the chopped green garlic. Saute for a minute but not too long to avoid drying up the moisture in the garlic or onion.

Add the potato mash and mix well. Add salt, red chilli sauce. Take off heat and add the pepper and oregano or herb seasoning of your choice.

This is a quick, low fat recipe. The filling can also be served as a side dish.

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.

Raw banana cutlets

Just wanted to try out something interesting with unripened bananas and wanted to find out how different they tasted from potatoes. And although green/unripened banana mash resembles mashed potato the taste is far from similar and the two have a distinctly separate texture.

So I tried cutlets trying to keep the ingredients mostly green or rather avoiding the use of anything like red chilli and garam masala powder.

3 unripened bananas (gave just under 1 cup of mash)
1 large green pepper
2 tsp green chilli paste
2 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp powder of roasted fennel seeds
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
4 tsp lemon juice (or adjust to taste)
Salt to taste

For coating:

Rice flour or all purpose white flour or egg whites if you prefer
Fine suji or bread crumbs.

Cook bananas along with the peel until soft. I cooked them in a pressure cooker with water only at the bottom of the cooker but none added to the bananas.

Peel, cut and mash bananas once cool. Finely chop green pepper. Mix in the pepper and flavoring ingredients (pastes and powders), lemon juice and salt with the mash.

Make a runny paste with the flour. It should be a consistency like egg white. Spread suji or bread crumbs in a thin layer onto a plate.

Shape the banana mash into flattened cutlets. Give each one a quick dip in the flour paste and then a roll over the suji or crumbs.

If the paste appears to thicken add some water or milk to maintain consistency. The cutlets should not be too wet or the covering will not be crispy enough.

Heat a pan and coat with oil. A nice non-stick pan will mean hardly any more oil will be needed. Arrange the cutlets on the pan and reduce heat to just over sim. Flip over after a few minutes, repeating again once for even roasting. The cutlets should be done in just over 15 minutes.

Green banana is said to have cooling and astringent qualities which calm the pitta dosha but encourage the vaata dosha. It is rich in carbohydrates and minerals. Cutlets were quite filling in any case. And were a welcome change of taste.

Baked whole wheat apple pie pockets

These are as the title says baked whole wheat pie pockets. I had to come up with a recipe of my own because none of the posts I found on the Internet used whole wheat. Also the recipe draws inspiration from Indian sweet dishes so is a fusion so to say.

Because no fine white flour or baking powder is used the pie pockets don't become very crispy. When shared with friends at work the next day I got a comment saying the stuffing was worth trying out but in deep-fried pockets. You can add 1/2 the proportion of fine white flour to get crispiness and still bake it. The baking duration might be 5-7 minutes lesser depending upon the oven if fine white flour is used.

Took me about an hour for preparation. Baking time was 45-50 minutes.

Ingredients:

For the stuffing:

4-5 medium-sized red apples
3/4 cup coarsely chopped dry fig, cashewnuts and dates
1 1/2 tbsp poppy seed
1/4 cup or less of sugar
1-2 tsps cardamom or nutmeg powder

For the cover:

2-2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
Salt
Milk
Cooking oil
Butter for shallow-frying

To do:

Warm the milk just a bit and mix in the vanilla essence.
Add some salt to the flour for taste and mix it well. This is optional.
Mix in the milk with the flour gradually as you knead it into a dough. The dough shouldn't be too moist but soft enough that it gets moulded into shape without getting cracks.
Shape into lemon-sized balls and set aside covered with a moist cotton cloth.

For the stuffing:

Chop the apples into small pieces. I didn't peel them.

Add about half a tbsp butter to a pan. Heat it and before it reaches smoking point shallow fry the poppy seeds first and then the chopped cashewnuts separately. Set aside to cool.

Tip the apples in the pan and let cook until the juices are released. Add sugar if you are going to use any sugar. Let cook until apples are tender and most of the juice evaporates. But not for longer than ten minutes after the sugar is added.

Take down pan off heat, mix in all the dry fruit and poppy seeds. Add cardamom/nutmeg powder and mix well.

Take some milk in a small bowl before beginning with the pie pockets.

Roll out the dough into discs or squares about two inches in diameter. Lay out the stuffing flattening it gently at the center of each disc. For semi-circle shaped pockets lay out the stuffing at the center of the lower half of the disc.

I shaped them semi-roundish:

Pre-heat oven at 180 C for 15 minutes.

With your fingertips or a teaspoon line the sides of the disc with a few drops of milk. Close the pockets to wrap into square-shaped envelopes or semi-rounds. Use a drop of milk as glue at places where any open ends need sealing in.

Brush cooking oil on all sides of the wraps and lay them out on a mesh. Put in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Get them out and flip over.

You'll know if the temperature is too high or the other side needs to be baked longer than 25 minutes. Brush oil on the surface again if needed.

Let bake for another 20-25 minutes and let the pockets be in the oven for another 5 minutes before they are taken out.

The pockets taste better when warm or just give a quick round of re-heating before serving.

Quick Salsa Puri (crunchy canapé)

A quick side to serve as starter or finger food for a party or simply as a relaxing treat with tea after a long day.

30-40 flat chaat puris/canape bases
2 medium green peppers
1 large tomato
1 medium onion
1-1/2 tbsp sweet sour red chilly sauce
1/2 tbsp lime juice
salt to taste

Pre-heat oven at 160 C for 5-7 minutes. Temperature will need to be adjusted according to your oven. But basically on low temperature.

Finely chop the vegetables and mix in the red chilly sauce, salt and lime juice. Top each puri with half teaspoonfuls of the mix. Arrange on the grill and set in the oven to bake. Reduce temperature to 155 C and let bake for about 7 minutes.

Other canape bases like pre-toasted bread or crackers can be substituted for the flat chaat puris.

Baked vegetable cutlets with basil pesto

1 small beetroot

1 small carrot

1/2 sweet potato

1 small green pepper (capsicum)

1 tbsp basil pesto

4 tbsp rice floor

Cooking oil

Salt to taste

(Makes about 10 cutlets)

Pre-heat oven at 180 C for 10 minutes.

Peel, cube and blanche the carrot, beetroot and sweet potato and blend through a mixer/blender. Finely chop green pepper.

The basil pesto was made at home with basil leaves, black pepper corns, garlic and almonds ground together with some olive oil.

Mix pesto and salt with the vegetables. Blend in the flour gradually as needed. The mixture is high on moisture because the vegetables have been blanched _and_ blended through a mixer - mashing them would be a better idea but blending is quicker and veggies do not need to be cooked soft.

Shape the mixture into cutlets and arrange on a grill. Put this in the oven and bake at 180 C for 25 minutes and then at 200 C for just about 7 minutes - or just enough so they are more firm around the outer layer but do not burn.

The pesto gives the cutlets all the flavour, so it is really the magic ingredient of the dish. None of the root vegetables used have a sharp taste and blend well with the pesto. Rice flour is one of the most subtle flours I've known and it almost softens the sharp taste that the baking brings out of basil pesto.

Just before they went into the oven:

Stir fried french beans with tender coconut

This is like a cooked salad, quick and healthy recipe for any season. Rather a fusion between Indian and Thai cooking. But who knows what influences played in the past upon what is known to be 'Indian' and 'Thai' today.

Ingredients:

150 gm French beans
3/4 cup tender coconut paste
1 large red chilli (Kashmir chilli if you like)
10-12 black pepper corns (depends upon how much heat is desired and how much the peppers offer)
2 tsp cooking oil
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp shredded ginger, optional
Salt and sugar

Blanche beans, I prefer to leave them with a bit of a crunch. Grind the tender coconut just about in a food processor if you are using pieces. Little bits might remain but they will be very soft and unobtrusive. Blending it too much will make it watery in consistency.

Shred the lemon and ginger for garnish. Deseed chilli and coarsely crush the pepper corns.

Heat the cooking oil in a pan and tip the pepper and chilli in it. Toss well. Chilli fries in a few seconds, wait until the oil has a reddish tinge but taking care to not let the chilli burn on any side.

Add beans, stir for a minute and coat them with the oil. Add salt to your taste. Stir in the tender coconut, mix well. Add sugar (brown sugar will also go well), lemon zest and shredded ginger if you are using it.

Switch off the heat within a minute of adding the garnish. Add some lemon juice if preferred.

This will go well as a side. Boiled potatoes and carrots could also be added or used instead of the beans. Fish or chicken? Might need a little marination beforehand?

Multigrain Rawa Dosa

2 cups wheat semolina/rawa (not dry roasted or soaked)
3/4 cup ragi flour
1/2 cup rice flour
2 cups curd, whipped to a liquid consistency

For garnish

1 tsp ghee or butter
1 green chilly chopped
1 tsp cumin
3 tsp coarsely chopped cashewnuts
Curry leaves
Chopped coriander

Mix the rawa, flours and curd adding only a bit of water as needed to make a smooth thick batter. Add salt and let it stand for half an hour, an hour if possible.

Heat the ghee in a pan, make a tadka with the garnish ingredients except for the coriander and stir in into the batter. Add the coriander. Adjust salt and we are good to make dosas.

Evenly spread out a ladle-full of batter on a hot pan into a thin pancake. These dosas don't need to be covered to be cooked, just wait to flip over until it begins to get lifted from the sides.

Serving idea:

Add crushed black pepper to the batter. And top dosas with sweet mustard sauce. Green fresh coconut chutney is my favourite with this dosa.

Banana and tender coconut smoothie

Another tender coconut smoothie.

2 bananas
2 tbsp curd/yoghurt
3/4 cup tender coconut
Cocoa powder to taste

Blend all in a blender until smooth. I had some raisins soaking overnight. They were deseeded and added for extra nutritional punch. Garnished with chocolate mocha cocoa powder. This makes for two small servings but is considerably filling.

Fig and tender coconut smoothie

A cup of cut figs - about two whole figs
Half a cup of tender coconut
Half a cup of yogurt
8-10 raisins and sultanas
1 1/2 generous tsp of dry date powder (or almond?)

Blend all in a blender. Add half a teaspoon of sugar if you must. Honey would be a healthy substitute.

The tender coconut and yogurt help cool the body temperature and are excellent for acidity amongst other benefits. The other ingredients are all very nutritious but I am too lazy to list them here.

Multi-grain stuffed paratha

The paratha cover/wrap is made of flour of two grains and the stuffing with whole (sabut) brown lentil (masoor) and split black lentil (kaali urad daal) so it contains plenty of roughage and protein.

The intent was to cook the flour with some water and then use it to make stuffed parathas but I was running out of time that evening as the recipe inspiration came quite at the last moment as I got back home from work. I also didn't have enough rice flour. So a usual dough was made, standard one for any paratha/roti. But without any oil :-) .

The stuffing needs some preparation - soaking and then cooking lentils. I had some mixed soaked lentil ready as the original plan for dinner that day was daal makhani.

The dough should be mixed just about a few minutes before you're ready to roll out parathas. As it has a higher proportion of ragi which isn't as sticky as wheat and also because no oil is used in it moisture evaporates pretty quickly off the dough and the paratha cover begins cracking as it is rolled out.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

2 cups of Ragi flour

2/3 cup of rice flour

Warm water for kneading

For the stuffing:

3/4 cup split black lentil

1/4 cup brown lentil

1/4 cup chopped red onions or spring onions

1/4 cup chopped coriander

2 small green chillies, slit, stem removed and chopped

1 tbsp lemon juice / 2-3 tsp dry mango powder

2 tsp ginger paste

2 tsp red chilly powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp carrom seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp asafoetida (optional)

2 tsp sugar

Salt

(The measure and proportion of spices really depends upon how strong/weak the spices you use are, and upon your taste.)

Making the stuffing:

The lentils are soaked for about 4-5 hours in water and cooked "dry" - take some water in a cooker/larger pot and on a ring/stand place in it the vessel with lentils. Add about 2 or 3 teaspoonfuls of water to the lentil but no more. Shouldn't take more than 5 whistles with a pressure cooker, or about 20 minutes cooking slow over a flame. Once cooked and cooled, mash the lentils. They should turn out a dry powdery consistency. This is important to be able to roll out the parathas with this filling inside.

Roast the cumin and carom seeds and lightly crush them but not to a powder. Mix in this crush and all the other ingredients for the stuffing with the mashed lentils. Don't add all of the lemon juice and onion at once - leave out some of it if the lentils feel a little moist as onion and lemon juice will release further juice when mixed with salt and the spices.

The dough:

Mix together the flours with some salt and add warm water to it gradually to make soft dough. It should be a consistency that allows being rolled out. The rice flour provides bonding to the mix. Dough can be covered under foil or wet muslin cloth to keep it from drying.

Parathas:

Roll out the dough in about 3-inch diameter circles. 

Place a portion of stuffing upon it and close in the cover from all sides. Gently flatten at the top. 

Sprinkle some rice or wheat flour on the rolling board and roll out the paratha gently. Rolling out by the moving the pin in relatively vertical or linear motion and not in a circular movements. Roast on a flat pan (tawa). This variant of paratha can literally go zero oil.

Miscellaneous Comments: 

Even if the stuffing does make an appearance at a few places it does not quite ruin the paratha. As this is dry cooked lentil it begins to bond and form a layer once on the heat and catches up with the cover in terms of texture. The reddish colour given by ragi isn't very appealing, but the taste of the filling more than makes up for the looks.

Using a nonstick pan is recommended to roast/shallow fry these parathas to minimise risk of frustration and worse, delayed or missing dinner. Ragi in the covering is rather fussy and difficult and tends to stick if the pan is too hot as a cast iron pan might get.

Nutrition Facts:

The lentils are a little hard to digest being protein-heavy, so the carom, cumin, ginger, coriander and asafoetida are added to aid digestion. The paratha cover itself is very light to digest. Ragi and rice, rich in calcium and minerals and cooling. But the stuffing is a bit spicy and with the lentils used some people might not be very inclined to make this at the height of summer.

White ragi flour could be used instead of red, both have their own nutritional benefits.

The parathas do taste better when topped with ghee. Some things will never change.

Soyabean fried rice or pulao?

I wanted to make a soyabean fried rice but something more pulao than a Chinese fried rice. Yet something that used up the red chilly sauce as well as homemade white butter which was available. Many times I tend to stick to authentic cooking styles when cooking a dish. The intention is to get authentic taste. But anyone knowing a little bit about history and food history will question when claims are made of something being "purely" Indian. Influences from other cultures have been absorbed and assimilated in all aspects of human life everywhere across the globe since centuries, food being no exception. 

Using this thought as inspiration I decided to do just as I pleased and came up with the below outcome. Others who ate the rice thought it was "interesting", a second helping was had and the bowl was scraped empty. One must warn though that the dish has a fairly earthy taste so it is not for those days when you are more inclined towards fresher flavours. It is hot but not spicy and subtle once you get used to the soyabean.

Ingredients:

2 cups of cooked rice (white rice recommended over red rice)
1 1/2 cup mince of blanched soya chunks
1 cup chopped red onion
1 large red chilly
1 inch of ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic peeled and crushed
1 tsp red chilly sauce
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp butter
7-8 cashewnuts, halved or coarsely chopped
5-6 sprigs of coriander
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp butter or olive oil or ghee for cooking the rice
Salt

Preparation:

Soak the red chilly in warm water for about 45 minutes and chop finely or coarsely grind to a paste.

Soak rice in twice as much water for ten minutes before cooking. Add some butter/oil/ghee and a pinch of salt to it while cooking. Butter/oil/ghee prevents the grains from sticking to each other. Leave rice uncovered once cooked so that the steam escapes and no excess moisture is retained. My rice was soft, moist yet the grains well-separated from each other. Using red rice will enhance the earthy/dense taste the dish acquires because of soyabean so I recommend white rice instead to balance it out.

Blanch soya granules/chunks for about 5-7 minutes, drain away all the water and run through the blender for just a bit.

Steps:

1. Heat half the butter in a pan. Fry cashewnuts to a light golden brown, remove to a bowl and fry 1/4 of the chopped onions to a light pink. 

2. Heat the butter in the pan again and add the ginger and garlic to it. Add chillies and the remaining of chopped onion. Fry the onion to a light pink (not brown as it would dry the onion of moisture and also change its taste) and add the soya mince. Saute for a minute and ensure any remaining water evaporates. 

3. Now add the rice and mix gently to avoid breaking the grains. Add salt but remember some was added while cooking the rice.

4. Add the chilly sauce, cumin and coriander powder and the remaining butter and mix well. Garnish with the fried cashewnuts, onion, lemon juice and plenty of coriander. I agree mine didn't have plenty of it.

Here's what I got:

Mixed Lentil Adai Dosa with a twist

The Adai dosa comes out to be quite thicker than the usual one because of the mix of lentils that go into it. This makes for a perfect open wrap to fill in with whatever one fancies. It is also a very healthy way of eating lentils as they are soaked which helps in optimal absorption of protein when our body processes the food.

I made Adai dosas the other day and some fresh mushrooms and capsicum in the fridge inspired me with this filling:

(makes for two wraps):

4 button mushrooms
1 medium capsicum
red chilly flakes
white pepper (optional)
Parmesan cheese (grated, optional)
salt to taste

Finely chop veggies. In a pan, heat some oil and add the capsicum followed by the mushrooms after a couple of minutes. Add chilly flakes, salt and the crushed white pepper if you want to and let sit on a low flame until the liquid released by mushrooms evaporates.

Spread the filling onto half of a hot dosa straight off the pan, top with grated cheese and watch the cheese melt :) Fold the remaining half of the dosa over the filling (as if this needs to be told).

Now the dosa needs preparation at least 8 hours in advance. A great recipe for Adai dosa can be found on this blog: http://spillthespices.blogspot.com/2012/02/adai-mixed-lentil-dosa-dal-dosa.html .

My dosas turned out like this:

And with the filling:

A version of broccoli rice

Came up with this version of Broccoli rice recently. Stir fry, minimalistic, and as others found it, delicious.
One cup of boiled rice
About 8-10 florets of broccoli depending upon their size
1/5 th cup white shallots
1 1/2 tsp chilly flakes
1 1/2 tsp crushed white pepper
1/2 tsp garlic paste, freshly ground
Olive oil for cooking
Salt to taste
Finely slice shallots, remove broccoli stems and finely chop florets. I boiled the stems separately and minced them to add to the rice.
As goes the usual sequence the olive oil is to be heated, garlic paste added, burn it a bit at this stage and keep aside. Now add the onions, they will take long to turn pink or not turn pink at all assuming they are white shallots. So let them fry for about two minutes, then add broccoli, let fry for a couple minutes, add the rice. Add in the salt, chilly flakes and pepper and the burnt garlic. Mix well and you're done.
The broccoli lends distinct taste to the dish but the magic ingredient is the white pepper. Taste the dish before adding pepper and find out for yourself. I had thought of adding some lemon juice but believe me it is not needed.

Banana Kaju Katli

Kaju Katli is a dry Indian sweet. A simple quick recipe I found in a local magazine.

What:

2 large ripe bananas (not too soft)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup powdered cashewnut
1/2 cup full cream milk
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
2 tsp finely chopped pistachios
Few strings of saffron mixed with warm milk, optional.

How:

Roughly chop bananas and blend in a blender along with all ingredients except for the saffron and pistachios.
Pour in a nonstick pan and cook on low to medium heat, stirring constantly.
This should become slightly less thick than soft dough so it can be rolled out.
Take off the heat and stir to make sure the mixture is smooth. Add powdered sugar if needed.
Roll out on a plastic sheet in a large round shape, no thinner than 3 mm.
Garnish with the saffron and pistachios.
Cut into square or diamond shaped pieces.

Red pumpkin in coconut gravy (Mathan Erissery)

This is just to make a copy of this recipe I found on http://beyondcurries.blogspot.in. Because it is something which can be made for everyday meals I wouldn't want to lose this. A new way of making red pumpkin. Reminds me of some vegetable dishes I had tasted in Coorg.

Called as Mathan Erissery, this recipe is a speciality of Tamil residents in Pallakkad, Kerala. "It is not an everyday dish owing to the rich coconut gravy but occupies a special place as it is generally served during important occasions like 'Vishu' (Kerala New Year) or household ceremonies".

Ingredients:
2 cups Red Pumpkin, diced into 1.5 cm cubes
About 2 cups of Water
¼ tsp Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Ground to smooth paste:
½ cup Coconut, freshly scraped
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds
2 Dry Red Chillies (or more as per taste)
½ cup Water

Tadka/Tempering:
1 tbsp Coconut, freshly scraped
1 tsp + 1 tsp Coconut Oil
1 spring Curry Leaves
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Dehusked Split Black Gram Dal/Urad Dal

Preparation:

1. Cook the red pumpkin in enough water to cover it alongwith half the salt and turmeric powder till cooked through but firm in shape.
2. While the pumpkin is cooking prepare the coconut paste. Grind the coconut, cumin seeds and red chillies adding water little by little to chutney consistency (fairly smooth paste). The paste should not be watery.
3. When the pumpkin is cooked through stir with a ladle so that the pumpkins mix with the water, and some of them break into pieces. Add the ground paste and bring to a boil. Stir so that the gravy and the vegetables come together rather than remain separate.
4. Heat a seasoning wok with a drop of coconut oil. Add the coconut kept for tempering and roast till golden. Scrape the roasted coconut into the prepared gravy. Clean out the wok and heat 1tsp. of the oil. When hot add the mustard seeds. When they splutter add the urad dal and fry till pink. Add the curry leaves and when it crackles pour the seasoning into the gravy. Drizzle the other tsp. of raw coconut oil over the gravy. Mix well and adjust the salt.

Serving Suggestion:

1. Take a ladle of rice. If not vegan, drizzle a tsp. of ghee over the rice. Top with a ladle of erissery (or more as it is pretty irrestible!). Mix, take in the aroma, savour and enjoy:)! Erissery is best accompanied by appalams or pappadams (Rice and lentil fritters)

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Special Notes/Tips:

• ¼th cup of cooked pigeon peas (arhar/tuvar dal) may be added to the cooked pumpkins but this is optional and used when one runs short of the vegetable.
• Erissery is a Kerala speciality and is prepared with minor variations from region to region. The recipe above is essentially how Palakkad Iyers prepare the dish. However one many add a few sambar onions to the paste or a fistful of cooked black eyed peas to the pumpkins for variation.
• Do not forget the raw coconut oil in the end. It adds quite a punch!

Veggie pancake wrap, Indian style

This one's inspired by Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe (besan pancake, http://www.sanjeevkapoor.com/besan-pancake-with-sprouts-and-paneer-foodfood.aspx) but with touches from me, Maharashtrian style.


Ingredients:


For the wrap:

Gram flour	1 cup
Jauwar flour	1/2 cup
Rice flour	1/2 cup
Ajwain	3 tsp
Ginger, green chilly paste	2 tsp or to taste
Red chilly powder	1 tsp or to taste
Salt	to taste

For the stuffing:

Green capsicum, onion, tomato, coriander finely chopped            1 1/2 cups

Sprouts           1 cup, boiled

Salt                  to taste

Mint chutney 3-4 tsp, optional

To Do:

Saute the veggies on a tadka of ghee and cumin and cook for 5 minutes until just tender. Add coriander.

Make a thickish batter of the ingredients for the wrap. Lay it out in ladlefuls as for a dosa and let be done until crispy underneath. Don’t turn it. Spread the green chutney if you have it and add the stuffing. Fold, and serve hot optionally with some butter/ghee/cheese on top, along with tomato ketchup or amsul chutney.