I am always trying new stuff I find in the Indian store, Costco, Trader's Joe's and other stores. I find some interesting items which are founf in ome stores but are not found in other stores. Also stores like costco are so vast that it is impossible to know all the items which are found there. My recent find at Costco is Alphonso mango juice and masala burger's from Trader's Joe. I am hence starting this column to list all the interesting items found in various stores in the Bay Area.
The first in the series is sliced coconut. I get it from Coconut Hill grocery store. I have discovered that my curries taste delicious and flavorful when I use sliced coconut as opposed to grated coconut. Check it out.
I always look to make something good out of vegetables and hide them in dosas, idlis, rice dishes. I was delighted to see gharge recipe on Tee's blog. This dish is a very great way of eating pumpkin or squash. It is like pumpkin puri's made in north Indian cities but with an addition of jaggery and semolina. It is also similar to buns made in Mangalore. Click here for Mangalore Buns recipe. The best part is it can be stored for many days after preparing it. Gharge can be eaten as a dessert or as a snack. Visit Tee's blog Bhaatukli and click here for Gharge recipe.
Paneer palak or alu palak is another of my grandmother's favorite recipes. She would add a pinch of her home made garam masala and it would add a unique flavor to the alu palak. My 6 year old cousin would think that the alu's in the alu palak were chicken pieces. my grand mom would also call it vegetarian chicken curry. Paneer can also be made at home. We would mostly buy paneer from the dairy. But sometimes if the milk got curdled, then my mom would make paneer at home and make palak paneer.
Ingredients
4 cups palak or spinach leaves
1 cup cubed paneer or cubed boiled potatoes
1 medium onion
1 tablespoon tomato paste or 2 tomatoes
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
salt as per taste
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder or as per taste
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
oil
Method
Wash the palak thoroughly and boil the palak leaves. Grind them coarsely in a blender. If you are using paneer, then oil a tava and fry the paneer till it is golden brown on all sides. I usually don't fry the paneer. Chop the onions finely. Put 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet and heat it. Add cumin seeds and saute for around 5 seconds. Add onions and fry till brown. Add chopped tomatoes or tomato puree. Cook till the tomatoes are soft. Add the palak puree and cook it for 5 minutes. Add the paneer or potato along with turmeric powder, chili powder and garam masala. Add salt as per taste. Serve hot with roti or rice.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2-3
Coconut chutney is a versatile chutney which goes well with dosa and idli. This chutney can be made with the seasoning or without it. Traditionally it is seasoned with mustard seeds. But both I and my husband like it without the seasoning.
Ingredients
1 cup grated coconut
small piece of tamarind (size of 2 peas)
2-3 green chilies
salt for taste
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon coconut oil
4-5 curry leaves or kadipatta
Method
Grind the coconut, tamarind, chilies into a very fine paste. Heat oil in a seasoning pan and add mustard seeds. When the sesds splutter, remove from heat and add curry leaves. Add this seasoning on the chutney. Serve with dosa or idli.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves: 3-4
This dosa can be made with left over idli batter or masala dosa batter. Onion, coriander, green chilies, grated carrot or pumpkin make it a nutritious breakfast. This is another of my favorite tiffin recipe.
Ingredients
2 cups rice
1 cup urad dal or black gram
1/2 teaspoon methi or fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon salt
oil
1/2 cup grated carrot or grated pumpkin
8-9 tablespoon chopped coriander or cilantro leaves
1 medium onion chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger(optional)
4 tablespoon finely chopped coconut pieces(optional)
1/2 teaspoon chopped green chili (optional)
Method
Soak urad dal, methi and rice separately for around6-8 hours. Grind half of urad dal and methi till you obtain a very fine paste. Then add 1/2 of the rice to the urad dal and grind it as finely as possible. Repeat the same procedure for the rest of the urad dal and rice. Mix salt into the batter and keep it in a warm place for 10-12 hours. I turn on my oven on the "WARM" setting for 15-20 minutes and keep the batter inside the oven for fermentation in winter.
Take just the amount of batter you require to make the number of dosa you want to make and store the rest of the batter inside the refrigerator. If you add the chopped onion to all the batter and store it inside, the batter will acquire a strong and unpleasant smell of the onion. Hence, for eg. if you want to make 6 dosas, add onion and rest of the ingredients to the batter needed for 6 dosas, and store the rest of the batter in the fridge for later.
Chop the onion, green chilies, ginger and corinader leaves finely. Mix in these ingredients into the batter along with coconut pieces. Oil a tava or a flat skillet and spread the batter evenly on the tava. Cover and cook the dosa and once cooked flip it to the other side. Now cook uncovered on the other side. Serve hot with coconut chutney.
I had this sabzi at one of my friend S's home when she had called us home for dinner. I usually buy organic carrots from farmer's market. As carrots have greater tendency to absorb heavy metals from the pesticides and insecticides, it is safer to use organic carrots if it is being consumed daily as a part of the meal or salad. This is a very simple sabzi as it can be prepared in a jiffy and makes a great tiffin item. I am sending this to roundup organized by Suma and Siri.
Ingredients
3 cups carrots chopped into approx 1cm by 1 cm pieces. Optionally carrot can be grated.
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon chili powder or as per taste
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon jeera
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
3 tablespoon coriander leaves or cilantro chopped
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
pinch full of asafoetida
salt as per taste
oil
Method
Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Add asafoetida. Add the cumin seeds, coriander powder, chili powder and turmeric powder. Saute for a minute. Add the carrots and cook covered till the carrots are soft. Add salt as per desired. Garnish with garam masala and coriander leaves. Serve hot with roti.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2
