Hello! I am not sure if anyone even visits this website anymore. Oh well, just for our benefit, I am going to add a recipe in here. We have been busy parents (oh it feels so good to even say that) . Ashwin keeps us busy. Rajesh hardly takes pictures of anything or anybody else other than Ashwin. I can’t think of anything else other than what else I can cook for him, how can I keep him entertained. He walks like a pro and he thinks he talks like a pro.  He says na no no when we touch things he is not supposed to touch. We control our smiles as we try disciplining him. He is a crack up and we have no clue how time flies.

We had a fantastic trip to India. We celebrated Ashwin’s birthday in India and had the opportunity to meet both sides of the families and introduce Ashwin. He enjoyed every little things- noise, people, rides in rickshaws and ordering everyone to switch on the fan even when it was on (he meant, “ I am still warm”)

Speaking of warm, it is still warm in California. So to cool off, we made a beet carrot salad. It is super simple and tastes great. Crunchy and refreshing!

Apple – 1 cup, grated (use pink lady or granny smith)

Beets – 1 cup, grated

Carrot – 1 cup, grated

Vegetable oil – 2 tsp

Ginger – 1 tsp, julienned

Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp

Lime juice – 1 tsp

Salt & pepper to taste

• Peel and grate apple, beets and carrots in a food processor and place in a large bowl
• Heat oil in a sauté pan; add ginger, mustard and cumin seeds. Sauté for roughly 30 seconds to allow the flavor of ginger infuse in the oil.
• Drizzle over the salad, stir in lime juice, salt, pepper and toss.

Hi Everyone, We are sorry that this blog has not been updated in a while. We have been cooking; we think of blogging and taking pictures and over time forget the actual recipe ( can you believe that Rajesh has not downloaded images from his camera in over 5 weeks, in-spite of the gentle nag for this soup pic).  This recipe turned out great and I had no trouble recalling it, because we loved it and want to make this more often.   We don’t like to eat the same dish all week. We begin craving for variety and may end up indulging in “comfort food” (read deep fried, potato, junk food etc). If we cook something different for lunch every day, then we do pretty well. With Ashwin in our midst, we want to begin eat healthy, so we live to see him go to college and be grandparents maybe. And if we eat healthy, hopefully the lil one will emulate us. But he will not be deprived of mac & cheese or an occasional deep fried vada.  When we grew up (gosh, it seems like that was decades ago) we played out a lot, walked and ran around like there was no tomorrow, climbed trees and things I don’t want to talk about for fear that Ashwin will read this years later and say, “but mom, you did that”.  But kids these days don’t want to go out to play and if they start leading such sedentary lives, then I think it is justified in watching what we feed. I hope Ashwin grows up to love playing outdoors than being cooped up in the house playing a video game.

Coming back to the recipe, I used to a slow cooker to make this soup and we used it also as a filling in our tortilla wrap. I am told that you can make this in your pressure cooker (no oil needed here either),  after you soak beans overnight. We had some frozen chicken that was marinated with salt, cayenne and lemon juice. So we used that in this soup.

Chicken breast – 2 cups, cubed (we used frozen)

Ginger – 1 tsp, grated

Garlic – 1 tsp, minced

Black beans – ½ cup

Tomato paste – 1 T

Chicken Stock – 8 cups ( approx)

Cayenne – ½ tsp

Salt – to taste

Cilantro- 1 T, for garnish (optional)

Lime juice – 1 tsp

Roast & powder

Coriander seeds – ½ tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 T

Whole Black pepper – 1 T

• Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker.
• Dry roast the spices in a sauté pan and grind it to a fine powder using a mortar & pestle or spice grinder. (Refrain from using spice powders from a bottle).
• Cook it on low for roughly six hours. Check for seasonings and adjust to your taste.
• Garnish with cilantro and a dash of lime juice.

The next day, when the liquid was all absorbed, we rolled it in a tortilla with spring greens. Add some tortilla chips for a crunch if you like along with slices of avocado. It was delicious. Vegetarians can make this soup with vegetables of the season.  I used the same spice mix to make another dish. That recipe coming soon, really

Wish you all a Very Happy New Year! 2010 ended off on a fabulous note for us and we know 2011 will bring more joy and happiness. Do you make New Year resolutions? I personally don’t. The goal is maintain a healthy life style. We have slowly moved from white rice to brown rice. The only days we eat white rice is when we go out or when we have guests over.
We are certainly cooking at home, but tend to make quick one pot dishes and just don’t have the time to take pictures to blog about it. I write a story in my mind, but it never ends up being typed. Ashwin keeps us on our toes. While he is not a fussy or demanding baby, work has quadrupled at home. Cooking takes a back seat and laundry (sigh) is the winner at home. In between laundry, feeding and changing diapers, we cook.
Last night’s meal was an Italian flavored soup. Simple ingredients, hardly takes any time at all and yet filling and healthy. I wanted to cook with ingredients we had at home. So here goes the recipe. Please feel free to use one tomato instead of paste and fresh herbs if you have them available. I used frozen parsley from Daregal and dried thyme.

Olive Oil – 1 T
Garlic – 3 cloves, finely minced
Red Onion – 1 cup, medium diced
Bell Pepper – 1, medium dice
Carrots – 3, small or 1 large, medium dice or rounds
Tomato Paste – 2 T
Sun dried tomatoes packed in oil – 2 T, finely chopped
Thyme (dried) – ½ tsp
Rosemary – 1 tsp, finely chopped
Vegetable stock – 4 cups
Cannellini beans – 1 can, rinsed
Parsley – ¼ cup, chopped
Salt to taste

• Heat oil in a Dutch oven and when the oil is hot, add garlic and saute until it turns slightly golden in color.
• Stir in the onions and cook until they turn translucent.
• Add bell pepper, carrots, tomato paste and sun dried tomato and sauté well, so that the tomato paste gets well incorporated.
• Add the herbs, give it a quick sauté and pour vegetable stock in to the pot along with the beans.
• Season with salt and allow the soup to simmer on medium low for 15-20 minutes.
• Garnish with parsley and serve warm

This soup is by no means an Italian soup. I used herbs that are used commonly in Italian cooking, that is all.

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

The sweet crispness of watermelon combined with salty feta cheese, a dash of cumin, lemon juice, salt and pepper takes this fruit to a whole new level.I was very skeptical about this salad and was in for a pleasant surprise.

This salad really needs no recipe.

• Cut half a watermelon into wedges.
• In a small bowl, whisk  a teaspoon of vinegar, ½ tsp of extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, ½ a tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp of cumin powder . Drizzle over watermelon
• Crumble feta cheese over and if you have some roasted pumpkin seeds, sprinkle a few and serve chilled.

Try this salad and you will definitely want more. Make sure you use good quality olive oil for this salad. I am coming almost to the end of cooking my way through Marlena ‘s cookbook, next Sunday will be the last of the two recipes.

Eileen and Mel have something special for you as well

With the coming of spring, we try to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible. We cook, but lightly dressed foods and one pot wholesome meals. My parents will be visiting us soon and I know we may not cook very much of  non Indian cuisine. I am cleaning up my pantry and using up handfuls of this and that.

I found that  sky is the limit when it comes to flavoring couscous. You can make a simple salad to something elaborate like pilaf. Here is what I did, this was basically cleaning up my pantry kinda dish.  Israeli couscous look like tapioca, and should be cooked like we cook pasta.

Israeli Couscous – 1 cup

Olive oil – 1 T

Vegetable stock – 2 cups

Cranberries – 1 T

Roasted Almonds – 2 T, chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

• Heat a sauce pan with olive oil and toast the couscous until it changes color (just a slight change)
• Add the stock, when it comes to a boil, reduce to simmer and close the pan with a lid for roughly 12- 15 minutes.
• Test to see if it cooked, and add more liquid if needed.
• Fold in the almonds and cranberries, add salt & pepper if needed and serve.

The nuttiness of the toasted couscous compliments the nuts and cranberries. For the next round, I wilted some spinach and added that in the end.

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

Cholent is a long simmered dish with beans, grain, meat, vegetables and seasonings. A healthy and yet tasty soup like dish in a bowl. This is a Shabbat dish, a day that no cooking is done in the kitchen. Cholent is put together on Friday and allowed so simmer overnight, such that it is ready for lunch on Saturday after one comes from the synagogue, the house will be filled with the aroma of the dish being simmered. I decided to use a slow cooker for this recipe and also substitute chicken for beef.  On reading the history of cholent, we found that it was traditionally made with garbanzo beans, barley, chicken and vegetables. Here is my version

Oil – 1 T

Onions – 1 cup, chopped

Garlic – 10 cloves, minced

Chicken thighs – 1 lb

Garbanzo beans – 1 cup, dry soaked overnight

Barley – ½ cup

Wild rice – ½ cup

Red Potato – 2 , each chopped in 4

Celery – 3 sticks, cut in large chunks

Carrot – 2, peeled and cut in rounds

Tomato – 14 oz can, chopped tomatoes

Paprika – 1 T

Cayenne- 1 T or to taste

Salt & Pepper to taste

Water- 4- 5 cups

• Heat a skillet with oil and saute the onions until it translucent and add garlic and cook for 30 – 45 seconds
• Rinse the garbanzo beans before adding it to the slow cooker
• Transfer to a slow cooker and add the rest of the ingredients and give it a stir.
• Set the slow cooker on high for an hour and then change the setting to low and let it cook for 6-8 hours.
• Check for seasonings and serve

Please check what Mel & Eileen have for us.

Variations: You can add fresh herbs right in the end.

Add a dash of ground cumin before you serve.

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

I have heard a lot of folks mention that they do not like beetroot and always wonder why? I love beetroot salads, beetroot halwa and beetroot steamed and seasoned with mustard seeds and a tiny bit of coconut. This recipe is a lot different from what I am used to and was surprised at how delicious it tastes with simple ingredients that you will most definitely have at home. We used pomegranate flavored balsamic vinegar for this salad.

Beetroot – 4

Balsamic Vinegar – ½ tsp

Olive oil – ½ tsp

Mint Leaves – 3 T, cut thinly

Salt & pepper to taste

• Cut the beetroot in half and steam for about 20 minutes.
• Peel and cut into small dice.
• In a small bowl, whisk  balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper
• Pour the dressing over the beetroot and mix it well.
• Garnish with mint leaves and serve chilled.

If you want add a kick to this, you can finish with a dash of harissa. Mel has a recipe for harissa. Eileen also  has an awesome salad.

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

The earliest memories I have of Barley is my dad asking amma to make him Barley water. As kids, we would shun away from it. My mom would incorporate barley water in vegetable soup and I would slurp on it happily clueless that it had barley water. But now, I embrace it. I have made chicken Barley soup and this is the next one I made. It is a rustic soup, kinda.

I made a few variations to the soup depending on what I  had in the pantry. It was pouring heavily and the day called for soup, but not venturing out of the house to go grocery shopping. I have used the split peas, left over wild rice and barley in this soup. Feel free to use some of your left over beans in the pantry that you have very little of and don’t know what to do with them. Beans and barley slow cooked with mire poix and garlic, garnished with parsley is just what you want on a rainy day.

Olive oil – 1 T

Onion – 1 chopped

Celery – 3 sticks, chopped

Carrots – 2 , peeled and cut in rounds

Potato – 1, peeled and cut in big chunks

Garlic cloves – 3, minced

Wild rice – ¼ cup

Barley – ¼ cup

Green Split peas – ¼ cup

Yellow split peas – ¼ cup

Water – 4 to 5 cups

Canned cranberry beans – 1 can (14 oz)

Salt and pepper to taste

Parsley – 1 tsp, finely chopped

• Heat oil in a Dutch oven and when the oil is hot, add onions, carrot and celery.
• Saute for 3-4 minutes and then add the minced garlic and give it a quick stir.
• Add all of the grains, salt, pepper and water and bring it to a quick boil, reduce to medium low and cover it with a lid
• Let it cook for about 40- 45 minutes or until the peas, barley and rice are well cooked
• Open the lid, add cranberry beans and let it simmer for 10 more minutes.
• If the soup is too thick for your taste, add another additional cup of water and adjust seasonings
• Garnish with parsley and celery leaves and a sprinkle of cayenne.

Variations:

• Marlena’s recipe calls for dried mushrooms. Use dried or fresh mushrooms
• I think this can easily be made into a slow cooker recipe.
• Use vegetables that are in season.

Check  what Mel and Eileen have cooked for you

Spring is around the corner and we have started having spring themed salads in the house. Tonight the theme was Asian- so an Asian inspired salad dressing drizzled over organic spring greens, sliced mushrooms, clementines and almonds. I was so good, I wrote down the recipe as I measured diligently. This is a go to salad on a weekday when you come home hungry and you have a box of salad greens in the refrigerator.

Salad Dressing

Sesame Oil – 1/2 cup

Juice of 1 clementine

Ginger – 1/2 tsp, minced

Soy sauce – 1 T

Chilli garlic sauce – 1 T

Peanut Butter – 3 T

Sherry Wine Vinegar- 1 T

Honey – 1 tsp

Sesame seeds – 1 tsp, toasted

• Whisk all of the ingredients in a bowl or pulse a couple of times in a blender
• Taste and check for seasonings and adjust to suit your taste
• Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

If you don’t like sesame oil, use vegetable oil and add just a tablespoon of sesame oil for flavor.

We added orange segments, chopped almonds, a few dried cranberries (just because it was staring at me in the pantry, crying to be used) to our greens along with thinly sliced mushrooms. Add shredded chicken too if you like.  This took exactly 10 minutes to put together.

Variations:

• Reduce the amount of oil and increase the peanut butter a little bit for an Asian inspired vegetable dip.
• Marinate your meats in it and grill, basting with the sauce

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

The first time I ever had coleslaw was at KFC. After eating some really gross oily chicken, coleslaw was a welcome diversion.  I have later had some really kick ass coleslaw and wondered how I liked the other one. Ah well, I guess it was not as gross as the chicken.

This was the first time we have made coleslaw at home and boy we were happy with the results. Rajesh made some spicy hot wings as well. The wings were wickedly good and the coleslaw complimented it very well. If you are very lazy you can always buy a bag of coleslaw mix (cabbage & carrots grated). But it really does not take too much time. If you have a food processor that you bought thinking you will use it and never did, now is the time to take that baby out.

Cabbage – 1 cup, thinly shredded

Carrots – ½ cup, grated

Red Bell Pepper – ¼ cup, finely chopped

Celery Sticks – ½ cup, finely chopped

Raisins – 3 T

White Vinegar – 1 T

Sugar – 2 T

Mayonnaise – ¼ cup or less

Salt & Pepper to taste

A dash of tobasco (optional)

• Place the cabbage, carrots, bell pepper, celery and raisins in a salad bowl.
• In a small bowl whisk the vinegar and sugar, salt & pepper together.
• Pour that over the salad and toss well. Set it aside for an hour or so.
• Stir as much Mayonnaise as you need, just enough to bring it all together.
• Add a dash of tobasco and check for seasonings.
• Drain any excess liquid before you serve.

The recipe called for green bell peppers, onion and celery seeds. If you are not a big fan of mayonnaise, use yogurt with a dash of lemon juice instead.

Eileen and Mel have some interesting recipes for you as well.