thayirsaadham

Hey all,

I started 3 different posts and all three times, I could not write anything. I am by no means a writer. But this is seriously weird. I cannot get one coherent sentence. So, I am jumping right into the recipe.

Ingredients

1. Beans - 1 cup*
2. Onion - 1 (chopped finely)
3. Garlic - 1 clove**
4. Tomato - 2 (chopped)
5. Potato - 1 (chopped)
6. Green beans - 1/2 cup
7. Carrot - 1 (chopped)
8. Spinach - 1 cup
9. Pasta - 1/2 cup***
10. vegetable stock or water - 2-3 cups
11. Olive oil - 1 tbsp
12. Oregano - 1 tsp
13. Salt - to taste
14. Pepper - to taste

Method

Preparing the beans

a. Soak the beans in water overnight.
b. Drain the beans.
c. Bring water to a boil in a large vessel.
d. Add the beans and let them cook on medium heat for around 30-45 minutes. (The amount of time depends on the type of beans. You want the beans to be cooked well.)
e. Around halfway through the cooking time, add some salt to the beans so that it gets incorporated and the beans don’t end up bland.
f. Once the beans are cooked, drain them and keep aside to be used in the soup.

Soup

1. Take a heavy bottomed pan and add the oil to it.
2. Add garlic and saute a little bit and make sure the garlic does not burn.
3. Add the onions and the tomato and saute till the tomato breaks down. You can add salt at this point.
4. Add the potato, carrots, green beans and let everything cook for 5 minutes.
5. Add the vegetable stock / water.
6. Add the oregano.
7. Close the pot and let the soup simmer for 10-15 minutes.
8. Add the beans and let it simmer for around 10 minutes.
9. Now, add the dry pasta and let it cook for the amount of time specified on the pasta box.
10. When there is 5 minutes left for the pasta to finish cooking, add the spinach to the soup.
11. Let everything simmer for another 5 minutes.
12. Add salt and pepper according to taste and we are done.

I started this soup with no idea of what was going to be in it - hence the name. I was sure only about the spices - I was going to add only oregano, salt and pepper. A lot of the soups I make, I add a bunch of spices and the taste of the beans and vegetables gets overpowered by the spices.

I am sending this soup over to Usha’s Healthy Inspirations Event - Soup.

* I used a mix of kidney beans and pinto beans
** This was the first time I used garlic in cooking. I wanted to start slow and hence used 1 clove. Use according to your taste.
*** I used rigatoni because that is what I had. You can use any kind you have or you can skip it totally.

Hey all,

When I was young, I used to read a lot of books by Enid Blyton. Famous Five, Secret Seven, St.Clare’s, Malory Towers. I loved them all. I was particularly enamored by the Famous Five series. These kids had their own island for crying out loud. And oh boy! The adventures they had in those books. The closest I have ever come to an adventure is when my dad and I would try to steal the cashew nuts from under my mother’s really really sharp eyes and nose. She hates it when she runs out of cashews when she is about to make a payasam and finds out that we have simply eaten all the cashews. Hell hath no fury like a woman who finds out she is out of cashews.

But I digress. The main reason for my craze with that series - the food! The English sure know how to eat - scones, clotted cream, shortbread, ginger beer, icecreams… I could go on and on. Except for ice creams, I had no idea how the rest would taste or even look. Unlike now, there was no way to go online and look for images for these food items. (Typing that makes me feel old. Do kids nowadays realize how blessed they are with internet? ). I somehow knew all these would taste awesome. Up until recently, I thought shortbread was something similar to a bread - maybe smaller in size. Literal? yeah… that’s me. According to Wikipedia,

“Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word short). The cause of this texture is its high fat content, provided by the butter.”

The mention of butter sold me. I looked for shortbread recipes and I found the recipe for espresso-chocolate chip shortbread in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home To Yours . I made minor changes to the recipe.

* I did not add espresso powder as I did not want to make this with the coffee flavor the first time. But the next time I bake this (oh yeah.. there will be a next time), I will add the espresso powder.
* Also, I did not have any mini chocolate chips and hence added regular chips. But I would suggest going with the mini chips. You need to roll the dough and then cut it into squares. Mini chips will make it easier while rolling and while cutting. Otherwise, the square boundaries might span the area of a chip and it gets messy. Not a huge problem. But just wanted to give a heads-up.

The recipe says you can get 32 cookies. I got around 40 cookies. I guess I rolled my dough a little thinner than instructed.

Rolled out cookie dough

Ingredients

1. Instant espresso powder - 1 tablespoon ( I skipped this)
2. Boiling water - 1 tablespoon (I skipped this)
3. Unsalted butter - 2 sticks (8 ounces) (at room temperature)
4. Confectioners’ sugar - 2/3 cup
5. Pure vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon
6. All-purpose flour - 2 cups
7. 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (plain, or a toffee variety), finely chopped, or 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
8. Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional - I did not use this)

Method
1. Dissolve the espresso in the boiling water, and set aside to cool to tepid.
2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and espresso, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chopped chocolate with a sturdy rubber spatula.
3. Using the spatula, transfer the soft, sticky dough to a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn’t cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or for up to 2 days.
4. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
5. Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.
6. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The shortbreads will be very pale–they shouldn’t take on much color. Transfer the cookies to a rack.
7. If you’d like, dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.

Shortbread before baking

These cookies taste awesome and are really easy to make. They are crumbly and they just melt in your mouth. All that butter helps. These keep well at room temperature in an air-tight container.And the rolling technique? So cool. I am actually thinking of doing it for my other cookies as it makes for really pretty even cookies. Usually my cookies are all of different sizes since I do not have a cookie scoop and I just end up plopping different sizes on the cookie sheet. I console myself by calling it the rustic look .

I am sending these shortbread cookies to Mahimaa’s Contribute Your Recipes Event - Cakes and Cookies.

Hey all,

Happy New Year to all.

A New Year’s resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. ~Author Unknown

Do you have any resolutions for the new year? For a long time, I never made any new year resolutions. I was under the impression that I was perfect :). As I grew older (and hopefully, wiser), I realized I am not. So, I started having some resolutions - losing weight, eating healthy, etc. I feel that I am now at a comfortable weight. But I am not toned (not even close). You can pinch me almost anywhere and you will find flab. One of my resolutions is to start strength training. I want to reduce my body fat percentage. All I have done so far is to read up on strength training :). My other resolution (and the toughest for me) is to wake up early. I have lost track of the number of times I have tried to wake up early. The snooze button on the alarm clock is out to get me. I always find myself trying to do too many things and having to forgo some due to lack of time. I am aware that the issue is not lack of time but poor time management skills. My mother used to tell me that I need an alarm clock that would pour a cup of icy water on my head if I don’t wake up when it rings. If someone invents that, I think my mother will be the first one to order .

Eating healthy will figure on the list of resolutions for most of us. So, I thought I will start the new year with a healthy, easy and yummy recipe - granola. Granola is chock-full of healthy ingredients - oats, nuts, dried fruits. It also has a sweetener like honey or maple syrup. There are tons of recipes available for granola. Some people like it without nuts, some like it mildly sweet, etc. I have given my adaptation below. Feel free to tweak the recipe for your palate. I have also given some variations on this recipe at the end of the post. (I have included some step-by-step pictures for this post. This recipe is too simple to justify this . But I am just learning to take better pictures and I always feel that more pictures help in understanding the recipe better. Hopefully, I will be able to include better step-by-step pictures.)

Ingredients

1. Oats - 2 cups
2. Wheat germ - 1/2 cup
3. Sunflower seeds - 1/2 cup
4. Coconut flakes (sweetened or unsweetened) - 1/2 cup
5. Cinnamon - 1 tsp
6. A combination of almonds, pistachios, cahsews, walnuts or any other nuts of your choice - 1 cup
7. Honey - 1/8 cup
8. Maple syrup - 1/8 cup
9. Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
10. Olive oil - 1/8 cup
11. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
12. A combination of dried fruits (cranberries, raisins, blueberries, etc) - 1 cup

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 300 F.
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease the foil. (I used a non-stick spray for this)
3. Mix the dry ingredients (1-5) in a bowl.

4. Add the nuts to the bowl. I used a combination of almonds, cashews, pistachios and walnuts. Use whatever you feel like.

4. Add the oil and brown sugar in a saucepan set on low heat.
5. After 1 minute, add the honey, maple syrup and vanilla extract.
6. Let it mix for 1 minute. (As you can see in the picture below, I forgot the oil - not in the recipe, just in the picture )

7. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and toss to coat well. (I use my hands to do the mixing. I feel it does a better job than a spatula)

8. Spread this on the baking sheet and pop into the oven for around 45 minutes.
9. Every 15 minutes, just stir the mixture on the baking sheet to ensure even baking.
10. The granola will turn golden brown as it bakes. You can pull it out at this stage. Even if it feels moist, it is ok. It will dry out as it cools.
11. Once the granola has completely cooled down, mix the dried fruits and store it in an air-tight container. ( I used raisins and cranberries) (Granola keeps very well at room temperature)

Some ways to have granola

1. With milk as your cereal
2. With yogurt and fresh fruits
3. Just grab a handful and eat it as a light snack (My favorite)
4. Make a crisp with your favorite fruit and use this granola as the topping. I have not tried this one but I am gonna

Some variations for the ingredients

1. You can use chocolate chips and/or M&M’s to the cooled granola.
2. I used a variety of sweeteners because I like the combination. You can cut out any of the sweeteners and make it for your sweet tooth. Alternatively, you can use other sweeteners like molasses, brown rice syrup.
3. Experiment with other whole grains. I am considering a version made with spelt. Not sure how it will turn out though. Will update with results.

Also, please do let me know if you would like to see more recipes with step-by-step pictures from me.

As you can see for yourselves, homemade granola is ridiculously easy to make. Mix everything and pop into the oven. That is all there is to it. It lends itself to a lot of tweaks and variations. Really, there is no excuse to not try this. Go on then. Start the new year on a healthy note. Once again, Happy New Year

Hey all,

I am back (hopefully, this time to stay). Lots of reasons for my absence - the usual ones like work, moving apartments, laziness, etc. Also, somewhere along the way, I started feeling some kind of pressure if I did not post. The more I felt the pressure, the more I stayed away from posting. I think I forgot the reason why I started this blog. I did this because I love cooking and I love sharing it with others. I don’t know how to explain it exactly… But I am sure all of you must have felt it… a kind of happiness when someone says they tried your recipe and it came out good or when someone tries your recipe, changes some ingredients and posts about it. When I have questions on some recipes as to why they did not turn out as well as I hoped, you guys are always ready with your opinions and suggestions. I love that. I started missing these exchanges and that is when I realized I wanted to blog again

So, what was I up to the last few weeks? As I mentioned before, work took up a major part of it. I am working on a new project and loving it. It is very interesting and daunting at the same time. Also, I moved apartments. Twice! Within 3 weeks. The apartment that I moved into first was good in all aspects except for the fact that I could hear my upstairs neighbor breathe. (I should mention that some of my friends would say I am the queen of exaggeration). Seriously, the walls were so thin that I could hear EVERY SINGLE THING. And, they had kids - who would always wake up early on weekends and run around. I decided nothing was going to come between me and my sleep. After all, I am Kumbakarni. I have a reputation. So, I moved again and the place I am currently in is awesome. Oh… I have to share this. I baked a cheesecake. Two, in fact. A plain one and a chocolate one. I baked them for a party at work. I loved them, especially the plain one. The chocolate one was good too. But I felt that the chocolate completely overwhelmed the cheesecake flavor. I am definitely baking the plain one again.

Today, I have a very simple biscotti recipe. I love to have something to munch on when I am having my evening coffee/tea. Back home, my father used to always have his coffee with murukku/thattai or the Marie/Parle-G biscuits that we get in India. I think I got this habit from him.

Biscotti are twice-baked cookies, often containing nuts or spices. I have made the plain version before. I just added some chocolate chips this time. The basic recipe is from King Arthur Flour website. I did not change it much except to add some chocolate chips and cinnamon. I have no idea why I added cinnamon. My hand simply reaches for that spice and I add it to almost every thing I bake.

Ingredients

1. Butter - 6 tablespoons
2. Sugar - 2/3 cup
3. Salt - 1/4 tsp
4. Vanilla extract - 1 to 2 tsp
5. Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
6. Eggs - 2 large
7. All-Purpose Flour - 2 cups
8. Chocolate chips - 1/2-3/4 cup
9. Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) one large (about 18″ x 13″) baking sheet.
2. Beat the sugar, butter, vanilla extract, sugar and salt till the mixture is creamy.
3. Add 1 egg at a time and beat well after the addition of each egg.
4. Whisk together the flour, cinnamon and baking powder.
5. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix until the flour is incorporated.
6. Add the chocolate chips to the mixture.
7. Now, drop the dough on a greased baking sheet and shape it into a log 14″ long x 2 ½” wide x ¾” thick.
8. Bake the log for 25 minutes.
9. Remove it from the oven and let it cool for 20-25 minutes.
10. In the meantime, reduce the oven temperature to 325 F.
11. Now, cut the log into slices.
12. Place the slices on the baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes.(Take them out when the biscotti are just starting to brown at the edges. They will dry and get crisper while they are cooling. )

Just some things to remember while making biscotti.
1. While shaping the log, you can use a wet spatula or wet your hands and use them. This helps in working with the sticky dough.
2. When cutting the biscotti, try to use a serrated knife. This helps is getting clean slices.
3. A lot of people specify that spraying the once baked log with water will help in cutting without the log crumbling. I have not faced this problem and so did not spray with water. But please follow it if you find your log crumbling. Also, waiting till they are really cool will also help with in getting clean slices.

The one problem I had was that my log spread while baking for the first time. I think it was because I used too much water while shaping it. But it did not affect the taste or the ability to get clean slices. I would love to know the reason behind this though. Also, don’t worry too much about the measurements they have specified for the log. I can never get it to 14″ long. I just try my best in getting a rectangular shape with a decent amount of thickness.

You can add chocolate chips, pistachios, cranberries, etc. Anything goes, really. The King arthur flour website gives a list of additions.

I love muffins. I really do. They are very easy to whip up, can be frozen and reheated for a quick snack and are perfect as to-go foods. Plus they can be made as healthy as possible by reducing the amount of butter or oil and by substituting it with applesauce or yogurt or buttermilk. You can even add jam to the batter! Don’t ask me why I am so excited at adding jam to the muffin batter. But I am. Imagine biting into a warm, moist muffin and tasting blueberry or blackberry jam. I am drooling.

I do make muffins pretty often. I have never posted any here because I almost always finish them before taking pictures. I make muffins in batches of 6. As soon as I make them and they are cooling, I think to myself “I should take pictures.” Then I start looking for the camera and 99% of the time, as soon as I switch on the camera, it tells me to change the batteries. I am great at anticipating things and being ready for them, you know? So anyway, I charge the batteries and by the time they get charged and I remember to take the pictures, the muffins are gone. I swear I don’t know how but somehow I end up eating all the muffins. My waistline is not happy but who cares?

Today, I am posting this recipe for savory muffins. I made these corn muffins to go with this Moroccan Red Lentil-Bean Stew that I made sometime back. They were a perfect side to go with the soup. I searched online for corn muffin recipes and there were tons of them. I finally ended up using the common ingredients but I kicked up the heat a notch by grinding green chillies into the muffin batter.

Ingredients

Makes 6 regular - sized muffins

1. All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
2. Stone ground yellow cornmeal - 1/2 cup
3. Baking powder - 1/2 tbsp
4. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
5. Salt - to taste
6. Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp
7. Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
8. Butter milk - 1/2 cup
9. Vegetable Oil - 2 tbsp
10. Green chillies - 2
11. Corn kernels - 1/4 cup
12. Green onions - 4-5 (chopped finely)

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients (1-7) together and keep aside.
3. Grind the green chillies with 1 tbsp of water.
4. Mix the wet ingredients (8 & 9) with the ground green chillies.
5. Add the corn kernels and green onions to the wet ingredients.
6. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients.
7. Mix gently. This is an important step in making muffins. Overcome the temptation to be thorough with the mixing. It is okay to have some lumps and/or some unmixed flour. These will be covered when the muffins are baking in the oven.
8. Grease the muffin pan (or line them with paper cups) and fill the cups with batter up to 2/3-rds of the cup.
9. Bake for 15-18 minutes.
10. Check for doneness, remove the muffin tray out the oven.
11. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
12. After 5 minutes, gently pry the muffins out of the muffin pan.
13. Let the muffins cool on a wire rack for 5 more minutes. Serve with soup

A word of caution when using this recipe. This is a bit spicy. Please reduce the amount of green chillies/chilli powder/pepper according to your taste. Taste the final muffin batter and adjust accordingly. Some corn muffin recipes also have sugar in them. So, you can also add sugar to yours to compensate for the heat.

There can be a lot of variations to this recipe. You can add bell peppers, fresh cilantro. You can even add other vegetables and make it a more wholesome muffin. I am thinking of making a version with more vegetables and without the corn meal. Maybe I will try with whole wheat flour to make it more healthy. What do you think?

Hey all,

Am alive. It’s just that things are crazy at work and I have started swimming classes and that leaves me with less time to cook and even lesser time to blog. Excuses, I know. When am I ever going to master time management? I have this window in the morning from 6:30 a.m to 8:30 a.m which I currently use for snoozing the alarm clock and burrowing deeper under the covers. I should use that time to blog/cook. Even if I don’t use that time to do something useful, I could use it to get ready for work at a leisurely pace. Now, I just get up around 8 a.m and then run around the house like a headless chicken getting ready. I have always wanted to have a relaxed morning routine. Is that ever going to happen?

I also started reading Zen Habits . In the words of the author - Leo Babuta - “Zen Habits is about finding simplicity in the daily chaos of our lives. It’s about clearing the clutter so we can focus on what’s important, create something amazing, find happiness.” Please do read if you get time. Though I am not even kind of close in doing the things on that blog, I like to read and pretend that I have a plan for doing those things. The first step of all my plans are - Start tommorrow. I am doomed, aren’t I?

I am going to post the recipe today and run away. I need work out a schedule so that I can blog more frequently. Pray that I should get this plan to move past the first day.

The weather in Seattle is back to normal and by that I mean, we are back to gloomy, chilly, windy days. All I want to do is to settle down on the couch with a hot cup of coffee and a good book. Also, do get hold of Bill Bryson’s books. I should warn you though that they are not fit for reading in public. Unless you are the kind of person who does not mind when people around shoot weird looks at you for slapping your thighs and laughing out loud at sporadic intervals. Seriously, he is damn funny.

Soooo, back to the recipe before you guys go “grrrrrrrrrrr”… I was looking for a good soup recipe to chase away the chilly weather. I love soups. They are healthy to eat, easy to cook and taste yummmy. Do you need more reasons? I had this book - A Beautiful Bowl of Soup (by Paulette Mitchell) and saw this recipe for a moroccan red lentil stew there. This book is good with lots of vegetarian soup recipes. I changed the recipe a little bit going by what I had in my pantry.The original recipe had white beans, rosemary, saffron threads and fennel seeds among the ingredients. I did not have any of those. So, I substituted with chick peas, dried spices and no saffron. I also changed the spices used and added some ground cumin and coriander because I like that combination.

Moroccan red lentil-bean stew
Adapted from A Beautiful Bowl of Soup - Paulette Mitchell

Ingredients

1. White Chick peas - 1/2 cup
2. Black chick peas - 1/2 cup
3. Red lentil - 1/2 cup
4. Rice - 1/2 cup
5. Extra virgin olive oil - 1 tbsp
6. Onion - 1 (chopped finely)
7. Tomato - 2 (chopped finely)
8. Tomato paste - 1 tbsp
9. Cumin seeds - 2 tsp
10. Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
11. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
12. Italian seasoning - 1/2 tsp
13. Dried Oregano - 1/2 tsp
14. Salt - to taste
15. Cilantro - 1/2 cup

Recipe

1. Soak the chickpeas in water for at least 6 hours.
2. Pressure cook them for 2 whistles if you are using a pressure cooker. If you are using the stove top method, bring a pot of water to boil. Add the chick peas to it and simmer till the chickpeas are cooked a little bit. Make sure they are firm and not cooked to a mush.
3. Add the olive oil to the pot in which you are going to make the soup.
4. Add the onions and let it cook till the onions are browned.
5. Add the tomatoes and cook them till the tomatoes break down.
6. Add the tomato paste, dried oregano and italian seasoning and let it cook for 2-3 minutes.
7. Grind the coriander seeds and cumin seeds and add these to the soup pot.
8. Add the cooked chickpeas and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
9. In the meantime, wash the red lentils and clean them. Do the same with the rice.
10. Add the lentils and rice to the soup pot.
11. Add chilli powder and salt.
12. Bring the soup to a boil and then simmer for around 30 minutes.
13. Just before switching off the stove, add the cilantro and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.
14. Adjust for salt and spice level and switch off the stove.

When this soup simmers on the stove, there is this heavenly smell around the house. It makes you want to dig out your most comfortable (Read oldest) night wear and settle on the couch with a big bowl of soup and watch a rerun of your favourite sitcom (Read Friends). I had this soup with some corn muffins. I will be posting the recipe for those soon.

Off goes this recipe for AWED-Morocco event started by DK of ChefinYou and hosted by Pavani of Cook’s Hideout.

On an unrelated note, all you Seattle-ites, can you point me to good breakfast places near Seattle? Some place good for waffles? Stop drooling Indhu! I have been searching for one for a long time now. It is a completley different issue that by the time I wake up, they will be serving lunch. We will cross that bridge when we come to it

Hey all,

How you doing? (To be read in a tone similar to the one used by Joey in Friends). By the way, how many of you have watched Friends again and again and again? I know 99% of the dialogues by now and I am working on getting it upto a 100%. Wish me luck

I know I have been late in posting this. I really wanted to post this long back - just did not get the time. I joined a swimming class at the gym. So if any of you see a person wearing senthil trousers (I am sorry but I cannot explain that to the non-tamizh audience ) trying haaaaaard to stay afloat, please say a hi and send some prayers my way. I went to the gym today morning to practice and I was doing fine upto a depth of 6 feet. As soon as I realized I was swimming in waters with a depth of more than 6 feet, what did I do? I did the exact opposite of what I was supposed to do. I panicked! Instead of continuing to swim, I completely stopped moving my legs and sank like a bag of potatoes. Drank a lot of water and came back up sputtering and coughing. Not a pretty sight!

On to today’s recipe, I have been seeing a lot of cake and quick bread recipes with zucchini in them. I am sure a lot of you had the same question as me - a vegetable in a cake? I know there are carrot cakes. But somehow, zucchini seems a lttle weird. I finally decided to try one. I wanted to go for a plain zucchini bread. But I chickened out and made a chocolate version hoping it would mask the taste of the zucchini. Maybe I will try a plain version the next time. The basic recipe is from ClosetCooking. I modified it a little bit using the ingredients available in my pantry.

Ingredients

1. All purpose flour - 1 cup
2. Whole wheat flour - 1 1/4 cups
3. Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
4. Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
5. Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup (I used Hersheys unsweetened chocolate powder)
6. Cinnamon - 1 tsp ( I added 2 tsp because I love cinnamon)
7. Grated zucchini - 1.5 cups
8. Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
9. Honey - 1/4 cup
10. Oil - 1/4 cup
11. Vanilla yogurt - 3/4 cup (I used low fat)
12. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
13. Egg whites - 2 (lightly beaten)
14. Walnuts - 1/2 cup (cut into little pieces)
15. Chocolate chips - 1/2 cup

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F
2. Mix the dry ingrdients (1 to 6) together.
3. Mix the wet ingredients (7 to 13) together.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
5. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips. You can also omit the chocolate chips but please don’t. Once they melt in the oven, they give such a yummy taste and awesome texture to the bread.
6. Pour the batter into a greased 9X5 inch loaf pan.
7. Let it bake for 45-50 minutes. (I checked mine after 35 minutes and kept an eye on the bread.) Check for doneness and remove the bread from the oven.
8. Let it cool on the pan for 10 minutes.
9. After 10 minutes, remove the bread from the pan and let it cool on the wire rack.
10. Once it is completely cooled, slice and eat or store it in the refrigerator.

This bread is not too sweet. That is the way I like it. But if you want it to be sweeter, increase the sugar or the honey. Entirely upto you.

This bread tasted much better the next day. I read somewhere that whole grain breads taste better when you leave them overnight. Is that true? I popped it in the refrigerator and when I wanted to eat it, I let it sit on the counter for 15-20 minutes and zapped it in the microwave for around 15 seconds. Good to go

Hey all,

Loooooooooong time. I know. Thank you for all your comments and emails. It definitely helped to know that there are people wishing good things for me. This break was good in more ways than one. I spent some time doing a lot of things that I like - reading, walking, etc. So, the issues that I had mentioned in my last post are still there… but I have come to the zen conclusion that I can only try as much as I can… and the rest is upto … well, I don’t know… God??? not God.. I guess it is upto the people involved… including me… so, I have decided to do as much as I can to help the situation and then take it easy… and I also took this as an opportunity to get it in my mind that life is going to throw me all sorts of nasty challenges and I just have to tackle them as best as I can. Attitude is everything…right?

Anyway, I was catching up on my reading and I read an awesome awesome book - Ponniyin Selvan.It was spectacular. Reading it in tamizh was awesome. I am not sure how the English version will be but am glad I stuck with the tamizh version. Kalki was such a prolific writer. I don’t think I can describe his writing prowess. I am not even going to try.Those of you who can get hold of this book - please, please do read it.. And tell me when you read it, how many of you had a crush on Vandhiyadevan? how many of you had one on Arul Mozhi Varmar? and how many of you had one on both? That would be me

Coming to today’s recipe, summer is giving way to fall.. and I am trying to hold on to the last bits of summer - which means less time in front of the stove and more time outside. I was looking for something quick with pasta and I found this on Veganyumyum . I modified the recipe a little bit to suit my taste and pantry. I am not going to specify the exact measurements because I just eye-balled them and made this for 2 people. You can adjust the amount according to your preferences.

Ingredients

1. Whole wheat linguine - enough for two
2. olive oil - 2 tsp
3. salt - to taste
4. tomatoes - 2
5. cashew - 10
6. green chillies - 2
7. black pepper - to taste
8. capsicum - 1 (chopped)
9. red chillies - 3
10. lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Recipe

1. Chop the tomatoes and green chillies
2. Add the chopped tomatoes, green chillies and cashew nuts to the blender and grind them to a paste. You can add a little bit of water if you want.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
4. Salt it and add the linguine to it and cook according to package instructions.
5. Take a saucepan and add the olive oil and red chillies to it. Saute it for a minute.
6. Add the capsicum and let it cook for a 3-4 minutes (Make sure the capsicum stays crunchy)
7. Add the ground paste to the saucepan. Add salt and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes.
8. Add the pasta and freshly cracked black pepper and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
9. Switch off the stove and add some freshly squeezed lemon juice and serve.

This is a quick dish - the sauce can be made while the linguine is cooking and we can get the dish on the table in under 30 minutes which makes this a winner in my book

As good as this tasted, there are some things that I would like to change the next time I make this. I was in a hurry and I had just one sorry looking capsicum in my refrigerator and thus the measly amount of vegetables. This would taste great with some more bell peppers, carrots, peas, broccoli. Basically, anything you can load it up with. Also, I think I will add some basil to the sauce the next time - make it a kind of tomato-pesto-cashew sauce. Yup… am definitely adding basil the next time.

God.. it feels good to be back

Hey all,
I have been meaning to post something for the past 2 weeks. Every time I start to write something, I get stuck after a couple of lines and the result is that I have lots of 2 line drafts. There is a personal issue back home that is taking up a lot of my time and energy… I have just been sitting around the house in a depressed state. I haven’t been visiting other blogs and I seem to have lost the interest to cook. My work is also suffering as a result of this. Let me stop blabbering. I have decided to take a break. I don’t want this to be a long break and I hope I can come back. So, this is a temporary (hopefully) goodbye from me.
Hope to see you guys soon and please keep posting those awesome recipes. Bye!

Hey all,
It is awesome weather in Seattle… at least during the first half of the day. It starts raining at around 7 p.m and it keeps raining for most part of the night. But as long as it doesn’t rain during this weekend, I am happy. I have some friends coming to spend the long weekend and I am soooo going to get kicked if the weather doesn’t behave.

This is a recipe that I tried from Susan’s Fatfree Vegan Kitchen. Her blog is AWESOME. When I saw this event announcement on Vaishali’s blog, I hopped on to Susan’s site and I was amazed at the number of recipes. And the variety of recipes she has! Name any ingredient and she has a bunch of totally different recipes using that ingredient.

So, I was all set to make a pulao one night and I was going through her recipes and this jambalaya caught my eye. I had this block of tofu in my freezer that was screaming at me to use it before it died a slow, miserable death. I feel that a jambalaya is similar to a pulao - we use a lot of vegetables and there is rice involved. The spices alone are different. Instead of the Indian garam masala, jeera, coriander powder, curry powder, etc., the jambalaya uses cayenne pepper, dried thyme, basil, oregano. I followed Susan’s recipe for the spices. The only thing I did not have was the Liquid smoke seasoning and she had mentioned that it was optional. So, yayy! And yeah.. I did not use canned tomatoes. I had fresh tomatoes and I diced them and tossed them in.

You can get the recipe from from here. I really loved this dish. One mistake I made was that I did not squeeze out the water from the tofu properly. So, the tofu was kind of rubbery. Plus I can never make fluffy rice with each grain standing out separately :(. So, the grains were not as separated as they should be. But the dish was yummy and I am happy .

This goes to the event Tried and Tasted started by Zlamushka’s Spicy Kitchen hosted by Vaishali at holycow.