Coriander Lassi

Last few days were spent in preparations for traveling and I am enjoying the amazing weather in Bangalore now. I am still recovering from the jet lag induced due to the 13 1/2 hour time difference in California and Bangalore time zones. Currently, I have said ta ta to my kitchen and having a great time with my parents and sister. I have few ideas in mind to try the traditional dishes with vegetables and locally available ingredients...but that will have to wait for a few days now.. I guess :)) I had a few drafts and thought of posting this lassi. I try to use a lot of coriander in my dishes as it is beneficial for overall health. We make this lassi at home during summers as my husband is a great fan of it. It is very soothing during the summer season, but due to the cold weather, we do not make this in winters. But I guess we can make it year round in India. Mint leaves can also be used to substitute coriander. I usually have this with khakra to satisfy late morning hunger pangs.

Ingredients
1/4 cup curd or 1 cup buttermilk

1/8 teaspoon jeera or cumin powder

salt for taste

3 tablespoon coriander leaves

1/8 teaspoon chaat masala powder or jal jeera powder or samahan powder

Method
Blend all the ingredients in a blender. Add ice cubes if desired.

Paneer Tandoori with Green Masala

I made tandoori paneer a few weeks back for dinner. Lately we have been eating lot of the regular panner dishes with the red- onion + tomato+adrak+lasun masala, so last week I made this green paneer tandoori for a change. The concept is not new to me as I occasionally bake fish or mushrooms coated with this paste.

In the past few weeks I am caught up with work, vacationing and engaged in doing shopping and packing for my upcoming India trip. I have been keeping a close track of posts by my blogger friends but I have not found much time on hand to write and post any of my drafts. In fact I was lucky to see my to do posts in my drafts folder in the nick of time and posted this recipe just few minutes before the event deadline :P. This recipe goes to the JFI:Paneer event. Enjoy the tandoori paneer with basmati rice.


Ingredients
500 gm paneer or Indian cottage cheese
vegetables (I used onions, tomatoes, capsicum)
handful of coriander leaves or as per taste
10-15 mint leaves or as per taste
250 gm curd or yogurt or 150 gm cakka or hung curd
2-3 green chilies or as per taste
1 teaspoon jal jeera powder or chaat masala powder (optional..if you are not using this add a pinch of black pepper to the marinate)
1 tablespoon chopped ginger
1/2 medium sized onion
1/4 teaspoon garam masala
3 tablespoon oil
salt for taste

Method
If yogurt or curd is used, hang it in a muslin cloth for about an hour to allow the water to drain and to obtain curd of thicker consistency. Chop the vegetables andpaneer into 2 inch pieces. Grind all the ingredients except the curd, vegetables and paneer into a smooth paste. Mix in the hung curd or cakka well with the ground paste. Apply to the vegetables and let it marinate for about 1 hour.



Line the vegetables on a greased pan or on skewers. Bake in a pre-heated oven for around 30-40 minutes at 450 degrees. I baked the paneer for around 20 minutes and the vegetables for longer time.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you and family a very happy and wonderful Thanksgiving!


Thanksgiving special at my home:
Vegetable Pot Pie
Pumpkin and Corn Soup
Butternut Squash Soup

Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji is a very popular street food served especially in the western part of India. I am reposting this post from one of my archives and sending it for the RCI MUMBAI event orgamized by Lakshmi event and Lakshmi. Read more about pav bhaji here.

Ingredients

For Bhaji:
4 medium sized potatoes
1/2 capsicum
1 carrot
1/2 beetroot
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup finely chopped french beans
1 medium onion
3/4 cup tomato paste or 3 tomatoes
1 1/2 teaspoon pav bhaji masala (I used Badshah Bombay Pav Bhaji Masala)
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 green chilies
1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon jeera or cumin seeds
4 pinches asafoetida or heeng
1 teaspoon chili powder or as per taste
1 tablespoon butter
salt as per taste
oil


Garnishing
1 medium onion
2 tablespoon pomegranate seeds (optional)
chopped coriander leaves or cilantro
lemon
1 teaspoon butter

For Pav
pav slices
butter for frying

Method
Boil the potato till soft. Finely chop the vegetables(carrots, beans, beetroot, peas) and boil them with very little water. Chop onion very finely. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Add heeng, garlic paste and ginger. Add onions, chopped capsicum and finely chopped green chilies. Fry till the onions are light brown. Add tomato paste or chopped tomatoes and fry till the tomato is cooked. Add pav bhaji masala, garam masala, turmeric powder and chili powder. Fry for a minute and add all the vegetables. Cook uncovered till the vegetables are well coated with the masala. Peel and mash the boiled potatoes and add to the bhaji. Add water as per desired consistency. Stir and cook well till. Mash the bhaji with a masher. Add salt for taste and mix in butter.

Fry the pav on both sides with butter on a tava. To serve, garnish the bhaji with finely chopped onions and coriander leaves. Serve with a lemon wedge on the side.


Preparation time: 1 hour
Serves: 3-4

Italian Bread

Few weeks back, it was a cold rainy day when we visited this nice, cozy Italian restaurant in downtown Palo Alto (Bay Area). We had given up on a hike in the hills earlier because of the extreme cold weather. We searched for Italian restaurants around on the GPS and found one called Bella Luna and decided to try out this restaurant. Both of us were cold and hungry, and the soft, warm and sweet smelling bread they served looked like heaven. They serve this comforting bread with garlic and olive oil dip. It was only 6 pm, so we had our dinner leisurely. That's when I decided I should try baking Italian bread at home. Italian bread is such a versatile dish- it can be made into bruschetta, served with soup or any other entree. Or it can be served in a simpler way, like with just some cracked pepper, salt and olive oil. I tried making this bread with both white flour and also using whole wheat flour or roti atta. Both the version turned out to be very tasty. The best part is that it doesn't take much time to make this bread. The dough can be made prior and stored in the freezer and can be baked whenever needed. The online recipe called for water, but I used milk to knead the dough. I am so excited with the success of this recipe that I am planning to bake different breads like olive bread, garlic, jalapeno bread and spice bread with this basic dough.

Ingredients
2-2 1/2 cups flour. All purpose flour or maida can be used. I used 50% whole wheat flour and 50% all purpose flour
1 packet rapid rise yeast
3 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
warm milk or water

Method
Combine yeast, salt and flour and mix well. Add olive oil and warm milk and made a smooth dough. Add rest of the flour and knead for 8-10 minutes till a smooth dough is obtained. Cover with a cloth towel and keep aside for 15 minutes or till the dough doubles in size. Knead again for 4-5 minutes. Grease the bread pan with olive oil and pat the bread dough inside the pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or till light brown on the bottom at 400 degrees. Glaze the top with olive oil as soon as the bread is removed from the oven.


Garlic-Olive Oil dip:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
5-6 garlic cloves very finely chopped
sea salt
pepper

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together and leave aside for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavor of garlic to infuse into the olive oil. Serve with warm Italian bread.

Peanut Chutney / Moongfali Chutney

Peanut chutney is another of my mom's speciality dishes. This chutney is heavily influenced by Maharashtrian cuisine and it uses peanuts as its main ingredient instead of coconut. It is ready within minutes when one doesn't want to spend time grating coconuts. It goes well with spicy dosas (Indian crepes), rava idli, rava upma and I specifically love to have this with sabudana khichdi. I am re-posting this post sending this recipe to My Legume Love Affair hosted by Sra and Susan.

Ingredients
1 cup roasted peanuts
1 teaspoon chana dal
1 tablespoon grated coconut (optional)
1 teaspoon oil
small piece of tamarind (size of 2 peas )
3-4 tablespoon coriander leaves
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
5-6 curry leaves
2-3 thai green chilies/ 1/2 Jalapeno or as per taste
salt for taste

Method
Fry the chana dal on low flame till light brown. Roast the peanuts till crisp and brown on all sides.
Grind all ingredients except mustard, oil, curry leaves and asafoetida into a fine paste with as little water as possible. Season the chutney with mustard, curry leaves, asafoetida.