We get awesome sweet corn at the farmers market. We usually get 8-10 cobs to last us for the whole week. I usually boil it in the pressure cooker as it is faster. Sometimes we roast it in the oven, but that takes quite some time. We don't have gas (we have electric coil gas) at our home and we can't roast it like we do in India. This weekend, I made a butter-based sauce and applied it over the corn, and it enhanced the taste of the corn by a zillion times. This is one step ahead of the namak-mirch and limbu applied by the "bhutta wala" in India. This also makes a excellent snack to satisfy the late afternoon hunger pangs.
Ingredients
2 corn
1 teaspoon lemon juice
salt for taste
1/4 teaspoon chili powder or as per taste
1 tablespoon coriander leaves or cilantro
2 tablespoon butter
Method
Boil corn and cut each cob into 2 as it is easy to hold. Soften the butter to make it spreadable. Mix salt, chili powder, coriander leaves into the butter.
Apply this butter on every cob. The butter will melt when you apply it on the hot cob. Serve immediately.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serves: 2
Muskmelon is one of my father's favorite fruit. It is called "chibbad" in Konkani. My mother makes chibbad harsale usually on weekends. It can be had as an dessert after lunch or dinner. When selecting muskmelon, check if it has a sweet smell. This will ensure that it is ripe. If not, then keep the muskmelon near bananas, and it will ripen within 2-3 days. Don't try this recipe with Honeydew melon. The recipe uses coconut milk, which can be easily found in Indian stores in the US or can be prepared using the following recipe. This recipe goes to the event Iftar Moments Hijri 1431 hosted by Umm.
Ingredients
1/2 muskmelon (cut into cubes)
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup jaggery or as per taste (if you don't have jaggery, use sugar)
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
Method
Dilute the coconut milk as per desired consistency. I use fat free milk to dilute it, but water can also be used if you don't want the flavor of milk in the salad. Cut jaggery into small pieces and add it to the coconut milk. Let it stand for about 10 minutes, then mix with hand to dissolve the jaggery completely in coconut milk. Add cardamom powder and muskmelon pieces. Served chilled.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Serves:2-3
Carrot koshimbir is a konkani salad. It can be made with yogurt or without it. Carrots are a rich source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C potassium among other nutrients. This salad should be served as soon as it is prepared as carrot loses its nutrition if kept exposed for a long time. It can also become watery as carrot or any other vegetable loses water when salt is added to it. Also we buy carrots and radish from our local farmers market and they taste sweeter and tastier than those available at the regular grocery store. This same salad can also be prepared by replacing carrot with radish or mooli or beetroot. Coconut is used for garnishing if lemon juice is used. I usually avoid using coconut due to the fat contents present in it, but traditionally it is used as a garnish. I am sending this to roundup organized by Suma and Siri.
Ingredients
2 medium sized carrots
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon oil
1/2 lemon juice or 1/2 cup curd
1 tablespoon grated coconut (if lemon juice is used)
1 tablespoon coriander leaves or cilantro for garnishing
1/2 teaspoon sugar or as per taste
1 chili finely chopped
salt for taste
Method
Grate the carrot. In a seasoning pan add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add green chili and remove from heat. Add this to the carrot. Mix in sugar, salt, curd or lemon juice and mix well. Garnish with Coriander leaves and coconut .
Another day, I found yellow beet root at the farmers market. I half-boiled it and grated it and added it along with the carrot. So, the beetroot was a little cooked, but still had its crunchy texture. The yellow-orange salad looks yummy too!!.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2
This chutney uses less coconut, so I make this most of the time instead of the traditional coconut chutney. This is very easy to make and if you don't have much time to make breakfast, the onion and dals can be fried the previous day and chutney can be made for breakfast in 5 minutes the next day by grinding all the ingredients. Here is the recipe.
Ingredients
1 onion
1 teaspoon urad dal
1/2 teaspoon chana dal
2 green chilies
2 tablespoon coconut
1/4 teaspoon jeera
1/4 teaspoon tamarind concentrate or small piece of tamarind
1/4 teaspoon chopped ginger
4-5 coriander leaves
2 teaspoon oil
salt for taste
Method
Fry onion in 1 teaspoon oil till transparent. Fry urad dal and chana dal in another teaspoon oil, till brown. Add all the other ingredients to the onion and dals and grind into a fine paste.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2
Last week I made soup from summer squash and other vegetables. My husband loves vegetables and I make lot of soups and salads. This is a light soup and can also be had as a light dinner.
Ingredients
1 cup chopped summer squash (zucchini, yellow squash, pattypan squash)
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 handful peas
1 tomato chopped
1 1/2 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon oil
1/4 tablespoon sugar
salt
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro or coriander leaves
pepper for taste
Method
Boil squash, tomato, peas and carrot till well cooked. Mash the vegetables so that some of them are mashed. This will help to thicken the soup. I blend it for around 5-10 seconds using a hand blender. Fry onion in 1/2 tablespoon oil till transparent. Add this to the vegetables. Fry flour in rest of the oil till light brown in color. Cool the flour and mix well in 1/2 cup cold water so that no lumps are formed. Mix the white sauce in the soup, add salt, sugar, coriander leaves and pepper and heat it on a low flame for 20 minutes. Serve hot with soup sticks or bread. I served it with vegetable wheat thins.
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Serves: 2
This is a comfort food which can be prepared in a jiffy. It is great to also just sip it like soup on a cold day. It goes well with rice or pulao. My husband prepares this with vatana bhat. My husband loves ginger and adds it in this Kadhi, but if you don't like it you can skip it.
Ingredients
2 cups curd
2 tablespoon besan (chickpea flour)\
2 green chilies
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger (optional)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
5 pinches asafoetida
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon oil
salt for taste
8-9 curry leaves (optional)
coriander leaves or cilantro for garnishing
Method
Mix curd, ginger and besan so that there are no lumps. Add water as per desired consistency. Heat the mixture till it comes to a boil. In a seasoning pan and oil and mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add asafoetida, turmeric powder, chopped chilies and curry leaves. Add this to the kadhi. Add salt as per taste. Serve with khichidi, rice or peas pulao .
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 3-4
