Now to the name of the recipe- sandhaza- according to my dad they called it that because it was the chutney from hell, you get the drift? The after effects of eating something that hot? ). Anyways, we only know it by that name and Rajesh has been enjoying this hot chutney with dosa and even spread on a piece of toast.

Shallots – 1.5 cups, chopped

Garlic – 3 pods

Tamarind paste – 1 tsp

Dried red chillies – 5-6 ***

Salt to taste

For seasoning

Oil – 1 T

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Curry leaves – 5 to 6 (optional)

• Grind shallots, red chillies, tamarind, salt and garlic to a coarse paste, adding as little water as you can.
• Heat oil in a saute pan and fry the ingredients listed under seasoning ( roughly 30 seconds), add the chutney and cook on medium low for roughly 5-8 minutes.

Like I said earlier, you can have this uncooked, the traditional way. In that case, drizzle the seasoning over the chutney and it is ready.Store this chutney in the refrigerator and it will last for a week. My favorite way of having this chutney is to  butter the bread, and spread this spicy goodness and toast it on on iron skillet. Have this with a cuppa Indian tea- BLISS!!!

While I love to make most dishes from scratch, there are a few that I just rather buy from the grocery store. Tahini sauce is one of them, so why this post? Marlena, add a bit of a kick to the store bought Tahini sauce.

Tahini Sauce – ½ cup

Water – 2 T

Lemon Juice – ½ tsp

Garlic – 1, finely minced

Cumin powder – ¼ tsp

Olive oil – 1 tsp

Red chillies – ¼ tsp or to taste

Chopped parsley – ¼ tsp, optional

• Whisk the tahini sauce with water until smooth and well incorporated.
• In a small bowl, mix lemon juice, garlic and cumin powder. Pour that over the sauce and fold it well.
• Drizzle olive oil over the sauce and garnish with chillies and chopped parsley. ( we used  chopped jalapenos on oil)

Drizzle this over your salad, falafel or just a dipping sauce for pitas chips. Eileen has used tahini sauce in her recipe today and Mel has some tasty looking chicken and deep dried artichokes. YUM!

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

There are days when I just don’t want to cook, don’t want to go out, but yet eat something fresh and delicious. I am sure you all go through that every once in a while. This weekend was just that.  After my cooking class, I like to browse through the aisles at Sacramento Co-op, they have incredibly fresh produce .  The first that that I eyed was baby artichokes, they looked simply cute.

All I wanted was a snack for lunch and this baby came in handy. Marlena in her recipe uses onions as well, like I said I did not want to do any of that , it is beautiful  outside J.

Baby Artichoke – 1

Water – to cook the artichoke

Lemon juice – 1 T

Extra Virgin olive oil – 1 tsp

Garlic – 1 pod, thinly sliced

White wine – 2 T

Parsley – 1 tsp, chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

• Prepare the artichoke, by snapping off the tough leaves.
• Cut the artichoke in to 4 pieces
• Heat water in a saucepan with lemon juice and salt.
• Cook the artichokes until tender and drain.
• Heat a sauté with olive oil, and when the oil is hot, sauté the garlic for 10 seconds.
• Add white wine and artichokes and cook until the wine is absorbed
• Season with salt and pepper, garnish with parsley and serve
• PS: I drizzled a  little bit of meyer lemon olive  on the top.

Check Eileen and Mel’s blog, they have cooked up some delicious food.

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

Horef in Hebrew roughly translates to hot peppers. The peppers we used were not so hot, bell peppers simmered with green chilli, garlic, tomatoes and a few spices. A very simple condiment to put together and like Marelena says, you can have this dish with chicken, over rice or like we did with bread.

Olive oil – 1 T

Red Bell pepper – 1, thinly sliced

Garlic – 3 cloves, minced

Ginger – ½ tsp, minced

Serrano pepper – 1, thinly sliced

Tomato – 2, roughly chopped

Garam Masala – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

• Heat oil in a sauté pan and when the oil is hot, add the garlic, bell pepper and Serrano chilies.
• Saute on medium high heat for roughly 6-7 minutes
• Add garam masala, tomatoes , ginger and salt.
• Cook until the tomatoes have softened.
• Check for seasonings and adjust to taste.
• Serve at room temperature.

The recipe called for curry powder, but we did not have any at home, so we used garam masala instead. Serve this French bread , they are simply made for each other. This can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

Mel and Eileen have simple recipes to share with you as well, so hop on to their blogs!

When you walk into a store armed with list, but find the freshest of produce lovingly looking at you, you want to take the babies home. Fresh  asparagus is in the markets now and this is an easy recipe to put together for dinner along with maybe grilled chicken?

The idea behind this recipe is to dress the asparagus very lightly, that you will want to munch on them like they are a snack.

Asparagus – 1 bunch

Dressing

Vegetable oil – 1 T

Sesame oil – 1 tsp

Soy Sauce – ½ tsp

Freshly minced ginger – ¼ tsp

Orange juice – 1 T

Honey – 1 tsp

Orange Zest – ¼ tsp

Sesame seeds – ½ tsp for garnish

• Chop the tough ends of the asparagus and cook in boiling water for 3 minutes.
• Remove the asparagus  and allow it to cool
• In a bowl whisk well the oils, soy sauce, ginger, orange juice, honey and zest.
• Taste and adjust to your taste.
• In a large bowl, place the asparagus , drizzle the dressing  over and toss well to coat
• Arrange in a platter and garnish with sesame seeds.

Variation: Garnish with roughly chopped roasted peanuts for an added crunch. You can make a double batch and use this as a dressing for salad.

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

We have not had mushroom stroganoff before or at least I don’t recollect having something like this before. We enjoyed this rich and creamy sauce over our whole wheat pasta. We had to have something healthy to make ourselves feel less guilty while indulging in such a luscious sauce.

We can easily make this dish with variety of mushrooms, but we only had the button mushrooms on hand.  We will definitely be making this dish for parties and other special occasions. We both enjoyed it over pasta and the left over’s tasted even better the next day.

Butter – 2 T

Button mushrooms – 2 cups, sliced

Garlic – 1 T, minced

Onion – 1 cup, chopped

Flour – 2 T

Heavy cream – ½ cup

White wine – ¼ cup (I am sure R added more when I was not watching)

Milk – 1 cup approx

Dried basil – ¼ tsp

Nutmeg – a small pinch, freshly grated

Lemon juice – ¼ tsp

Salt & pepper to taste

Parsley for garnish

• Melt butter in a pan; add mushrooms, onions and garlic and sauté until brown.
• Sprinkle flour and sauté on medium low until the raw aroma of the flour goes away and you get a nice aroma
• Gradually add the cream and wine and stir constantly
• The sauce will begin to thicken, add the desired amount of milk to thin down the sauce as much as you like
• Stir in the dried basil, nutmeg, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
• Allow the sauce to simmer for at least 6-8 minutes on medium low
• Check for seasonings and adjust according to taste
• Garnish with parsley and serve over brown rice or pasta.

Mel & Eileen always have tasty treats for us, go check their blogs out.

I submit this dish to Ruth for Presto Pasta nights.

Pickled/Preserved lemons are a big part of our culture.  It is made in a myriad of ways. Lemons are chopped up and preserved in plain salted water  or we add a few spices to it as well. We have been making Manisha’s lemon pickles for the past few years and we were proud to feature it at the Slow Food Nation two years ago. After which, Lynn gave me a jar of preserved lemons which was fantastic.  We just rinsed and ate them.

This week was extremely busy and we hardly cooked. When Eileen dropped by to see me at my cooking class, she brought some home grown Meyer Lemons, we were inspired to make some preserved lemons. They are so easy to make that it does not call for a recipe. Marlena’s recipe is even simpler than this one, simply salt, lemon juice and some boiling water. What can one do, if the hand has a mind of its own and starts throwing a few spices into the bottle?

Lemons – 6-8

Cardamom – 4

Cloves – one to two studded in each lemon

Cinnamon – 1 small stick

Fenugreek Seeds – ¼ tsp

Whole Black Pepper – 1 tsp

Fennel seeds – ¼ tsp

Lemon juice – 2 T

Sea Salt – roughly ¾ cup

Place a thin layer of salt in the bottom of a clean jar

• Wash and clean the lemons thoroughly
• Cut the ends of the lemons and start cutting a cross into the lemons, but don’t go all the way through
• Pack salt into the lemons and you can pierce a clove or two on the sides of each lemon and place it in the bottle.
• Finish by drizzling lemon juice on top and all the spices.

You can start using the lemon in roughly 20 – 30 days, Store it in a cool dark corner of your pantry, It can be used in salads, flavoring rice, in a lot of Moroccan dishes or like us eat it as is.

Eileen had made some Doro Wat and Mel some awesome looking Chicken. Go take a look!! We just realized we don’t have a pickles category on our website Hmm, we have to make some pickles this year!

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

Pierogi, what is it you ask? To quote Wikipedia, “Pierogi are served in a variety of forms and tastes (ranging from sweet to salty to spicy) in Polish cuisine. Pierogi were traditionally peasant food, but eventually spread in popularity throughout all social classes, including nobles. They are served at many festivals, playing an important role as a cultural Polish dish. Polish pierogi are often filled with fresh white cheese , potatoes, and fried onions; in this form, they are called pierogi ruskie (Rusyn or Ruthenian pierogi), which is the most popular variety in North America. In Poland more popular are pierogi filled with ground meat, mushrooms and cabbage, or for dessert an assortment of fruits (various berries, with either strawberries or blueberries being most common). Pierogi are usually served with melted butter and sugar, or melted butter and bacon bits. Poles traditionally serve two types of pierogi for Christmas Eve supper. One kind is filled with sauerkraut and dried mushrooms, another – small uszka filled only with dried wild mushrooms.”

Make the filling a day ahead and cook the pierogi on the day you are ready to serve. The recipe called for eggs in the filling, but we omitted it.

Baking Potato – 2, cut in half

Unsalted Butter – 2 T

Onion – ½ cup

Chilli flakes – 1 tsp (optional, not traditional)

Parsley – 6 T, finely chopped

Wonton Wrappers – 16

Salt & pepper to taste

Sour Cream to serve

• Cook the potatoes in a sauce pan  with lots of water
• Peel the potatoes and mash well
• Melt 1 T butter in a sauté pan and sauté the onions until browned
• Add mashed potatoes, chilli flakes if using,  salt , pepper and 2 T of the chopped parsley
• Mix well and allow it to cool completely
• Spoon in a teaspoon of the filling in the center of the wrapper
• Brush water on all sides and top with another wrapper and seal well with your fingers or a fork.
• Boil a large pan of salted water and when the water comes to a boil, gently slip in all the dumplings and allow it cook in medium heat (just a simmer) for about 2 minutes.
• Use a slotted spoon and remove the pierogi .
• Drizzle the rest of the butter over the pierogi, garnish with 2 T of the parsley
• In a small bowl fold the sour cream with the rest of the parsley and serve.

Hop on Eileen and Mel’s blog as well.

We are also sending this to Ruth for Presto Pasta Nights. Presto pasta nights is celebrating it’s 3 rd birthday, Congratulations Ruth!

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

We would like to call this lazy man’s pasta. It is quick, easy and delicious too if you are looking for something light for dinner after a heavy lunch or brunch. The ingredients are really things you will most definitely have in your pantry, at least ours did. This is served cold and cooked the previous day by the Italian Jewish community and eaten on Shabbat, when no cooking is allowed. You really don’t need a recipe for this, it is that simple

The recipe called for Egg noodles, olive oil, Green Olives, garlic, parsley and salt to taste. We used wheat pasta, pimento olives and smoked olive oil. Our dear friend Cynthe, sent us this bottle. It is extra virgin olive oil that has been naturally wood smoked. It adds great depth and flavor to this simple dish. We loved the addition of  the smoked olive oil, Thanks Cynthe!

Dried pasta – 9 oz

Garlic – 1/2 tsp, finely chopped

Extra Virgin Olive oil – 2 T

Chopped Parsley – 2 T

Salt to taste

• Cook the pasta in water that has been salted
• Drain the pasta, add garlic, chopped parsley, chopped olives and olive oil
• Toss well and refrigerate overnight.
• Serve cold.

Make sure you check out what Mel & Eileen have cooked!

We are also sending this dish to Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by Michelle of Italian Mama Chef.

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

Kugel is a Jewish casserole normally made with egg noodles or potatoes. Marlena introduces us to this this is a surprisingly light and quite healthy vegetable kugel. Vegetable kugel is a dish you can easily make on a weekday. It is brown and  crispy on the top and really tender inside. Try it and we assure you, you will love it. It tastes great the next day too.

Zucchini – 2 cups, grated

Carrots – 1.5 cups, grated

Potatoes – 2 cups, grated

Onion – 1, grated

Eggs – 3, lightly beaten

Garlic cloves – 4 , finely chopped

Sugar – 1/8th tsp

Basil – 2 tsp

Matzo Meal – 2 T

Olive Oil – 4 T

Salt – to taste

Chilli Flakes – 1 T (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together to form a thick batter
• Pour half of oil in a oven proof dish and spread it on the dish
• Spoon in the batter and drizzle rest of the oil over the dish
• Bake for 40-60 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the top is browned well
• Serve hot.

Variations: Feel free to use other herbs that you like. Italian seasoning can be a good variation.

Don’t forget to check Eileen and Mel’s post.