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.

This is exactly what the name suggests. We cooked this rice today morning when we had a curry left over from last night, but did not have bread or rice to go with it. So I made this quick lightly spiced rice in a jiffy before we both left for work. It is a kid friendly dish  because it is very lightly flavored and if your kids like cashew-nuts and raisins, they sure will enjoy this rice.

Butter/Ghee – 2 tsp

Onion – 1/2, thinly sliced

Unsalted cashewnuts – 1 T

Golden Raisins – 1 T

Cloves – 3

Bay leaf – 1

Cardamom – 2 whole pods

Cinnamon – 1/4 inch stick

Basmati rice – 1.5 cups

Water – 3 cups

Salt to taste

• In a dutch oven or pressure cooker, heat butter and when it melts completely, add the onions
• Saute until the onions caramelize ( this takes about 8-10 minutes)
• As soon as the onions caramelize, add cashew nuts and raisins and saute for a minute
• Take it off the pan and place it in a bowl
• In the same dutch oven ( see if you need more butter), add all the whole spices and saute for 30 seconds
• Add rice and stir well. Stir in the water and salt.
• Check for seasonings and allow the water to come to a boil
• Reduce to simmer and close it with a lid
• Cook for 12- 15 minutes or until the rice is cooked
• Fold in the caramelized onions, raisins and cashew nuts and serve warm.

Our intention was to have this with the spicy mushroom curry we made last night. But I personally liked the delicate flavors of the rice so much, that I ate the rice first all by itself savoring every spoonful and then had the mushroom curry. The recipe for curry coming up next

Variations:  You can add peas and carrots to this as well.

These pastries can be made bite sized or large enough to have for dinner. But however you make, you will want more of this beautiful earthy combination of bulgur wheat and mushrooms garnished with fresh herbs and wrapped in puff pastry dough. We tweaked the recipe to our taste. Since we made this on a weekday, we did not have the time to make the pastry with sour cream as Marlena says in her recipe. We instead used puff pastry sheets. This tasted so good, that when we had two on the plate to take pictures and by the time the plate returned to the kitchen, there was only one! You know who the culprit is

Mushrooms and bulgur wheat for sure are made for each other. The caramelized onions and mushrooms folded in with fresh herbs and bulgur wheat is a match made in heaven. It is a whole dish and we can rave about it for hours together. As kids, we have had vegetable puffs (read loaded with potatoes). Around 4 pm, bakeries nears schools will bake them fresh and woo you to come there dragging your parents asking for just one puff and end up buying some pastries as well. Good marketing technique eh?

Here is our version of Marlena Spieler’s Knishes

Uncooked bulgur wheat – ¼ cup cooked in ¾ cup water, strained.

Butter – 1 tsp

Vegetable oil – 1 tsp

Onion – ½ cup, finely chopped

Garlic – 1 tsp

Button mushrooms – 6, finely chopped (large)

Cayenne – 1 tsp, optional

Cilantro – ½ cup, finely chopped

Italian Parsley – ½ cup, finely chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

Thawed Puff pastry – 1 sheet

To make the filling

• Heat a sauté pan with the oil and butter mixture.
• When the oil is hot, stir in the onions , sauté on medium low heat until they turn golden brown
• Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds,
• Add the mushrooms and cook for roughly 10- 15 minutes until the water the mushroom releases is completely absorbed and it turns a little brown
• Add the cooked bulgur wheat and allow the flavors to blend together for about 2-3 minutes
• Season with salt, pepper and cayenne. Sauté well so that it is all well incorporated.
• Add the chopped herbs and stir well. Allow this mixture to cool.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
• Roll out the puff pastry just a little bit  on a floured surface and cut into the desired shape and size you like
• Place the filling the in the centre, brush edges with water and fold up and pinch together to seal.
• Brush with egg mixture if you like or bake in the oven for roughly 8-10 minutes until they turn golden brown.
• Serve warm.

Variations:

• You can try different variations of herbs like rosemary , dill or a combination of herbs
• Of if you want to reduce the use of puff pastry, place the filling in lightly buttered ramekins, cover the ramekins with the puff pastry sheet and bake.
• For a potluck, place the filling in a tart/quiche pan, cover with puff pastry sheet and bake.

Go over and see what Mel & Eileen have cooked today.

On our face book page, we had asked readers what recipes they would like to see  on this website. We got a whole range of ideas. A few wanted one pot dishes, slow cooker recipes, Samosas, Southern fried chicken etc. We will definitely try to cook up all you asked for. To start off, lets make a one pot dish which is tasty and healthy all at the same time. It is easy to make for dinner and something you can carry to work the next day for lunch.

We used fresh vegetables, but if you are hard pressed for time you can always use a bag of frozen peas and carrot. Growing up, amma would try to make a lot of these one pot dishes which we loved to take to school for lunch. Rasam and sambhar were not our favorites as the rice would absorb everything and what we will encounter is a big hard blob of rice that one would not want to eat. We were lucky, there was a guy called Chimney( I think it was his nickname) who had the most number of hooks/handles in his cycle. He was paid a fixed amount for the month and he would come  at a certain time everyday to pick up our lunch to deliver piping hot food  to us at school. He carried more than 50 lunch bags on his cycle. We would wait for him in a designated corner and he would there for us to pick up our empty lunch bags. He was a fun guy who was always cracking jokes and handed our lunch box to us telling us a joke or having something really nice to say. Until we had him drop lunch off we had hot food. When we moved  to a different state and had to carry our lunch in the morning, one pot dishes like this was a blessing. I tell you we were spoiled.

Coming to the recipe, we liked the idea of using bulgur wheat instead of rice and we LOVED it. According to Wikipedia, “Bulgur is more nutritious than rice and couscous, because it contains more fiber and more vitamins and minerals and has a lower glycemic index than white rice or couscous.Bulgur has a glycemic index of 46.”

Oil – 1 T

Butter – 1 T

Whole Cardamom – 4

Wholes Cloves – 2

Ginger – 1 tsp, minced

Garlic – 2 tsp, minced

green chilly – 2 slit in half (optional)

Chopped Onion – 1/2 cup

Carrots – 2, small dice

Potato – 1, small dice

Peas – 1/4 cup

Mushroom – 4, sliced

Turmeric – 1/2 tsp (optional)

Mint – 1 T, finely chopped

Cilantro – 1 T, finely chopped

Cracked/ bulgur Wheat – 2 cups

Water – 4 cups

salt to taste

• Heat butter and oil in a saute pan with a lid
• When the oil is hot, add cardamom and cloves and immediately add onions.
• Sweat the onions and add ginger and garlic.
• Cook for about 30 – 45 seconds.
• Stir in all the veggies and saute well.
• Add turmeric, fresh herbs and bulgur wheat
• Stir well such they are all well incorporated
• Add salt and water and bring it to a boil.
• when it comes to a boil, reduce to the lowest setting on your stove, close with a lid and let it cook until the water evaporates completely ( about 25-30 minutes)

Notes: Use any vegetable you have in the refrigerator. You can add bell pepper, green beans or endamame as well.

Options: You can cook this in a pressure cooker or saute everything and transfer to a rice cooker ( than it becomes two pots cooking)

Variations: You can omit whole spices and that will give you a very delicately flavored pilaf

This recipe goes to Radhika and Sudeshana for the Tiffin or Lunch box event.

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

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.

A box full organic spinach, half of which was used and the other half seemed like it was crying to be used. We both love spinach and  all the health benefits that comes with it – A carotenoid found in spinach fights prostrate cancer, ovarian cancer and excellent  for our bones. We try to have as much greens and vegetables as possible. Tonight the menu was to use left over cauliflower, one carrot, a little bit of peas and a lot of spinach.

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.

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

We bought a cabbage wanting to make this dish and then forgot all about it when we were in a hurry to cook something real quick to carry with us for our lunches. There was a lit bit of  bell pepper and carrots, so we decided to throw that in as well.  We had left half a cabbage to make the Sephardi spicy cabbage and when we read through the  recipe, couldn’t help but smile, because we had made just that in the morning

Cabbage – 4 cups, thinly sliced

Olive Oil – 2 tsp

Onions – 1 cup, thinly sliced

Garlic pods -2, minced

Bell Pepper – 1, diced

Carrots – 1, diced

Garam Masala – ½ tsp

Cumin powder- 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder- ½ tsp

Chilli Flakes – 1 to 2 tsp

Tomato – 2, roughly chopped

Salt – to taste

Lemon Juice – 1 tsp

Cilantro – 3 T, chopped

• Heat oil in a pan and add the onions and fry until softened.
• Add the garlic pods, bell pepper, and carrots and cook for 3-4 minutes
• Sprinkle all the spices into the pan and cook for another minute.
• Add the cabbage, tomato and cook and cook for about 10 minutes
• Season with salt, squeeze lemon juice and garnish with cilantro.

We served ours with rotis and the next day had it over a slice of bread.

Check out  Eileen and Mel’s blogs as well. They always make something delicious.

Sundays with Marlena Spieler

Spinach is one of the most favorite greens in our household. I fondly remember one of our nephews watching Popeye all starry eyed and that made him eat his daily quota of spinach, he even demanded that on the menu every day.

While we love our traditional poriyals and kootus (spinach cooked in coconut gravy), we sometimes want a quick sauté and a recipe like this comes in quite handy. What can go wrong with a recipe that calls for spinach with scallions, a hint of garlic, walnuts for an added crunch and some raisins? Can you ask for more?

Marlena’s recipe calls for pine nuts and raisins and she does not include garlic, but she suggests we can use it.

Olive oil – 2 tsp

Spinach – 1 bunch

Scallions – 4 to 5, thinly sliced

Garlic – 2 to 3 cloves, finely minced

Raisins – 1 T

Walnuts – 1 T, roughly chopped

Salt & pepper – to taste

• Clean the spinach thoroughly and pat it dry a little bit with a towel. Chop it finely
• Heat olive oil in a saute pan and when the pan is hot, stir in the scallions and garlic and cook until they turn soft.
• Add walnuts and raisins and cook until the walnuts are toasted a bit.
• Add spinach and cook until spinach is cooked through.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Serve warm

Be sure to check Eileen and Mel’s blogs. They are for sure cooking something from the Jewish cookbook too.

I am sending this to Sudeshna of Cook Like A Bong who is the guest host for this months Monthly Mingle.