Vegetable Pot Pie

After seeing pot pie being mentioned in many Tv serials, I would always wonder about what pot pie exactly is. The Ingalls family in the Hallmark channel serial, Little House On the Prairie would eat pot pie for diner. Then, the other day I watched Ina Garten make pot pie on one of her shows on the the Food channel. She made chicken pot pie. As my husband does not eat chicken, I usually make only vegetarian dishes at home. So I tried to make vegetable pot pie with a variety of vegetables and it turned out to be very tasty. It has been raining here today and the pot pie made a perfect dinner on a cold rainy day. I guess this is a very healthy and sizzling winter dish and I have decided to make this very often. I also carved my own Jack o lantern for Halloween and thought of displaying it with the pot pie. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour or maida
4 cups of chopped vegetables(choose from or mix and match from pumpkin, corn kernels, peas, potato, sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, beans, mushrooms, zucchini)
1 green pepper
1 medium onion
pepper for taste
2 tablespoon heavy cream (optional)
3 tablespoon oil
salt for taste
1 cup milk

For the pastry:

2 cups whole wheat flour or roti atta
ice cold water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg

Method
To make the pastry, mix the wheat flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Then put the flour mixture into a food processor and add the butter. Give a pulse or two, so that the butter blends with the flour. Add cold water and blend it in the food processor till it forms a soft dough. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator for around 30 minutes. This will prevent the flour from getting sticky while rolling it.

For the stuffing:
Chop the onion. Fry onion in 1 teaspoon oil till transparent. Chop the green pepper and fry it with the onion till soft. Add all the vegetables and cook covered till soft. In another pan, add the rest of the oil and flour. Fry the flour till it is light brown in color. Let it cool down. After it cools down, add milk to the flour and mix it well so that there are no lumps. Add salt and pepper Cool down the vegetables and mix it with the white flour sauce. Check for salt and pepper and season it accordingly as per taste.

Assembly
Beat the egg in a small container.
Fill the bowls or the baking tray with the vegetable filling. Sprinkle some flour on the rolling board and roll the flour into the shape of the bowl or the baking tray. Brush the top outer edges of the bowl or the baking tray with the egg wash so that the flour sticks easily to the edges. Now gently put the flour cover on top of the bowl or the baking tray and seal the edges. Make a slit on top of the flour covering to let out the steam while baking.
Brush the remaining egg wash on the flour covering. Sprinkle pepper over the flour covering if you want a very spicy pot pie. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the pot pie for 40 minutes or till the top is browned. Serve hot.


Variation:

-You can add garam masala to the vegetables.
-Coriander leaves or cilantro can be added to the vegetables.
-If you want it tangy, you can add tomato ketchup to the cooked vegetables.
- Cooked soy chunks can also be added with the vegetables.
- Shredded and cooked chicken can be added along with the vegetables.

Bottlegourd or Dudhi Halwa/Gardudde Halvo

 

This is a Konkani specialty and is very popular dessert at my home. This recipe goes to the event Iftar Moments Hijri 1431 hosted by Umm and Joys from Fasting to Feasting  by Lubna..

 Ingredients
3 cups grated bottle gourd
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
3 teaspoon raisins
2 tablespoon heavy cream
2 tablespoon chopped cashew nuts
3 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter

Method

Soak the raisins for 20-30 minutes in warm water. If the grated gourd is left around for a long time, it oxidizes and turns brown. So use it immediately after it is grated. Put the grated gourd and sugar in a pan and cook it covered on low heat. Stir it occasionally and avoid browning of the gourd. Cook the gourd till it turns transparent. Adjust the sugar and add more sugar as per your taste. Fry the cashew nuts till brown. Frying the cashew nuts brings out the flavor of the nuts. Add the cardamom and heavy cream to the halwa. Stir well. Garnish the halwa witht he nuts and the raisin. Serve it hot or chilled.

Corn Soup

This is the one of my favorite winter soups. It has all my favorite vegetables and especially the yummy flavor of corn. This recipe goes to the event Iftar Moments Hijri 1431 hosted by Umm. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
2 cups sweet corn
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon vinegar
1 tablespoon onion
1/4 cup carrot and peas
1 egg
pepper for taste
salt for taste

Method

Boil the corn till soft. Grind the 1 1/2 cup corn with onion into a smooth paste. Cook the carrot and peas. Add the carrot, the remaining 1/2 cup corn and peas to the soup and get it to a boil. Separate the egg white and beat it well. Add this to the soup and stir it well to form thin strands of the egg white. Cook for 3-4 minutes and remove from heat. Add salt, pepper, soy sauce and vinegar. Stir soup well and serve hot.

Tips: If you want chicken corn soup, you can add shredded chicken to the soup and use chicken stock instead of water.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Pumpkin Dosa

This is one of the dosas I make very often. I add pumpkin to these dosas and is another way to make good use of pumpkin. I prefer these dosas to the urad dosas in winter as they are very light and digested more easily. Traditionally, grated coconut is added to the dosa batter. Coconut makes the dosas more softer and tastier, but I usually avoid using coconut in this dish due to the fat content in the coconut. I serve these dosas with ridgegourd peel chutney. It makes a very healthy breakfast.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup grated pumpkin
2 cups rice flour (optionally, wheat flour can be used instead of rice flour)
1/2 cup grated coconut (optional)
2 green chilies
1/2 teaspoon salt or as per taste
oil for frying
Method
Chop the green chilies into small pieces. Mix in pumpkin, rice flour, grated coconut and salt as per taste. Add water to make a batter. The batter should not be very runny. Oil a pan or tava and spread a ladle full of batter on the tava. Cook covered till the side is cooked. Flip the dosa over and cook uncovered on the other side. Serve hot with chutney.

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4

Cashew Nut Candy / Batasha

This is another of my grandmother's recipes. She would usually make it for my evening snacks when I was around 4 years old. I would also feed some of the candy to my dolls - Nikita and Milli. I would store the rest in my small toy containers for the next day. When you make the candy, you need to stir the sugar syrup till it reaches a single thread consistency. I would be very tempted to put my pointing finger into the syrup and lick it as I would not realize that it is very hot. So my grandmother would keep strict eye on me while making the candy and prevent me from sticking my hands into the hot syrup. The other day I saw Paula Deen making nutty candy and I remembered my grandmother's batasha. I made this for me and my husband and we enjoyed this candy in the evening.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped cashew nuts
1 tablespoon clarified butter or ghee

Method
Put the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan with ghee and 2 tablespoon water. Spread ghee on a china plate or an aluminum or steel plate in advance to spread the hot candy. Heat sugar till it melts and gets to a point of single-thread consistency. I test it by adding a drop of the sugar on the plate and check it if it solidifies. If it does not solidify, heat further. When it solidifies, add the chopped cashew nuts and mix well. Put the mixture on the plate immediately, else it will harden in the pan and form a solid mass. Spread the mixture well on the plate with help of a spoon. When it cools down, cut it into pieces. Enjoy the candy.


Preparation time: 15 minutes

Yardlong beans Sabzi / Chawli Upkari

Chawli sabzi is one of the easiest sabzi's to make and is also very nutritious. It is served with spicy curries like rasam or sambhar. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
1 bunch of yardlong beans
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon coconut oil or any other oil
2-3 green chilies
3 tablespoon grated coconut
salt for taste

Method
Wash the yardlong beans and chop them into 1 inch pieces. In a pan, add oil and heat it. Put mustard in the pan and when it splutters, add green chilies. Add the cut yardlong beans. Add 2 cups water and cook the beans till soft. Add salt for taste and mix well. Garnish with grated coconut.


Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4