Freezer Cleanup Thali and MLLA Recipe

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It never goes away! - the nagging feeling that I am ignoring this blog and not being consistent in writing about what I love the most: F.O.O.D. The problem is I have not been cooking anything fancy or blog-worthy. Just basic meals like quick curries and lightly tempered dals with our usual rice. Another reason might be that these days I am into other interests like doodling (check out my #100DaysofDoodles project) and hand lettering. With a 9 to 5 job and a 3 hour commute to work, there is little time to spare and most of the times you will find me quietly sitting in a corner, with pen & paper in hand. :-)

..and what prompted me to publish a post is today's lunch which was all about emptying fridge/freezer as much as possible. Here is what I made just an hour ago....

[VeganMoFo 2014 | Easy Snack Recipes] Cabbage and Onion Vada/Vadai Fritters

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I love featuring those Indian food recipes that are easy to whip up and remind me of home every time I make them. All my childhood, breakfast on every Sunday was either Mysore Bonda or some kind of Vada, served with a chutney or sambar. When memories are attached to food we eat, they taste even better. Isn't it? Today's version of vada has cabbage and onion that are dunked in ground urad dal. Just remember soaking the dal an hour before and there you have it - crispy and crunchy fritters ready to be chowed down in minutes! 

[Recipe Redux | Cooking With Tea] Green Tea Broth with Rice Noodles and Vegetables Recipe

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"Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea? I am glad I was not born before tea.”

 ~ Sir Philip Sidney

Learn how to make a soothing broth with green tea, noodles and vegetables. The opening quote by Sir Philip Sidney should give you guys an idea on how crazy I am about my daily cuppa of tea. It is a therapeutic morning ritual of sorts with specific steps & amounts and I never tend to steer away from them!  :-) The benefits of tea are many and I have used it in almost all forms like in smoothies, made a cool iced version of it to beat the scorching summer heat, photographed a cup umpteen number of times and even read books on it. If you are looking for one energizing and invigorating chai, then check out this recipe. You will love it. 

Green Cabbage Lentil Rice Recipe + Canon Camera Giveaway (Open for Indian Readers only)

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Some tastes of childhood you can never forget and can never fade away. It is a taste you regularly try to recall. Sometimes it works and most of the time it does not, especially if you are in a foreign land away from your home where eating a home-cooked meal by your mother is a distant dream. I was in such a situation for 6 long years until we came back to India for good last year.

After hogging and devouring on festive food, my mother would always make this simple, one-pot meal of Cabbage with Lentil Rice. This year's Diwali was no exception. Its comfort food to the tee.

If you are here for to know more about and participate in the give-way , feel free to scroll down to the end of this post.

Enjoy!

Simple One-pot Weeknight Meal

Cabbage + Toor Dal 

{Recipe} Green Cabbage Lentil Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups basmati rice (or any other variety)
1 cup toor dal (yellow split pigeon peas)
2 cups chopped green cabbage
3-4 green chillies
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp chilli powder
few curry leaves
1 tsp garam masala powder
salt - to taste
1 tbsp oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
4.5 cups water

Preparation:

1. In a pressure pan, heat oil. Add green chillies, curry leaves, onions and ginger-garlic paste. Fry until light golden brown in color. Add garam masala, chilli powder and salt.

2. Add toor dal and cabbage. Saute for few minutes. Mix well.

3. Add rice and cook for 2 mins. Add water and stir everything once.

4. After 1 whistle, let the pressure cooker be on heat for 2 more minutes (don't wait until the second whistle) and turn it off.

5. Once the pressure has subsided, lightly fluff with fork and serve with any spicy accompaniment.

Below is a step by step pictorial of how to make Cabbage Lentil Rice. 

Rinse rice couple of times. No need of prior soaking.

In a pressure pan, heat oil. Add green chillies, curry leaves, onions and ginger-garlic paste. Fry until light golden brown in color.

Add rinsed toor dal . Saute for few minutes. Mix well.

Add chopped cabbage. Toss lightly.

Add rice.

Add water and stir everything once. After 1 whistle, let the pressure cooker be on heat for 2 more minutes (don't wait until the second whistle) and turn it off.. 

Once the pressure has subsided, lightly fluff with fork

Serve hot with any spicy side dish and/or raita. Yum!

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2012 Holiday Giveaway (Open for Indian residents only)

It is Holiday Season and best time to spread some happy cheer all around. Its time to give-away something special to my lovely readers who support me all along the way. One lucky winner who resides in India only (Others, Check these giveaways and enter there) will be chosen for an opportunity win this fabulous prize. A chance to win a Canon Powershot A810 Point & Shoot Camera (Choice of color - Black, Silver or Red) along with 4 GB SDHC Card + Case + Charger

Here is what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post. As simple as that.

To increase your chances in the random drawing, do one or more of the following and leave a comment once you did so. 

2. Follow Cooking With Siri on Facebook and/or Follow me on Twitter. - @sirime

3. Subscribe to Cooking With Siri feed.

4. Tweet about this giveaway. Feel free to use the below text - 

{Holiday #Giveaway} #Enter for a chance to #win a Canon PowerShot Camera at @sirime's blog. Details - http://tinyurl.com/canoncameragiveaway 

If you are already liked me on facebook, following on twitter or subscribed to RSS feed, just leave a comment letting me know and you are entered in the giveaway automatically! This giveaway is open for Indian residents only and You don't have to be a blogger to win the camera.

Last date for participation is November 30th 2012 midnight IST and one winner randomly picked will be announced on December 1st 2012. . 

Today is Day 19 of my NaBloPoMo challenge. Check out all of the posts previously published here.

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until tomorrow,

Beat the Heat: Minty Stuffed Parathas

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Like most of us, my body too has a tendency to build up a lot of body heat and have a lot of acidity problems from time to time. especially as I am recovering from my fever (since New Year's eve), I have been taking a lot of antibiotics and they, as we all know have their side effects and generate unwanted acids in the stomach which in turn results in a burning sensation that leads to Acidity. Not a good feeling, I tell ya!

Instead of popping antacid pills for cure the problem, I turned to some natural remedies. Alkaline foods like bajra, jowar, bananas, mint, ladies finger etc aid in reducing this acidity problem. 

..so is the today's recipe - "Minty Stuffed Parathas" which I made for today's dinner. Served with cool raita, they tasted fabulous.

Acidity or not, I think these make a lovely meal at anytime of the day.

Go on, dig in as I am not watching ;-)

Minty Stuffed Parathas

Mint has got many medicinal properties and is very well known to relieve acidity. Last night for dinner, I tried my hand on these absolutely delicious and mouth-watery parathas stuffed with veggies like cabbage, potato and peas.

I think to keep the acidity at bay, there could be a no better way!

Hey that rhymes ;-).

Adapted from Tarla Dala's Acidity Cookbook.

For the dough -

1. Blend into a puree - 1/2 cup mint leaves, little lemon juice, 1/2 tsp cumin leaves, 2-3 green chilli pieces along with 1/4 cup of water.

2. Mix the prepared mint paste with about 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour (atta flour), 1/2 cup bajra flour (optional, if not just use 2 cups of atta flour), 1 tsp of oil and 1 tsp of salt. Knead with about 1.5 cups of water, adding little by little into a soft dough. Rub a little oil on top and cover with some plastic wrap. Keep aside and rest for a while.

3. For the stuffing -

Sprinkle salt over 1 cup of cabbage. Keep aside for 10 mins. Then squeeze out the water using your hands. Cut 2 potatoes into halves and boil for about 10-15 mins, until tender. Peel out the skin and mash into a bowl.
Microwave 1/2 cup of frozen peas (no need to thaw) with little water for 2-3 mins. Drain water and mash.
Heat  a tsp of oil in a pan and add potatoes & green peas. Cook for 2 mins. Don't add any water. Add the cabbage & cook 2-3 mins.
Finally add 1 tsp of garam masala, little turmeric, 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder. Season with salt. Mix well. Allow it cool for a bit.

Preparation -

4. Take a lemon sized ball of dough & roll out into a chapati. Put about 1 tbsp of vegetable stuffing on each roti, close into a dumpling. Roll out slowly into a paratha.

5. Cook each paratha on a non-stick pan until you have small brown spots on each side. A little tip is to slightly press through its edges with fingers (on the pan itself) if you think the edges are a bit dough-y. Brush little oil and Store in aluminum foil until it is ready to serve.

These parathas freeze beautifully. Make them ahead, cool a little, fold them in aluminium foil and put them in a freezer bag. Refrigerate or Freeze.

I have made a couple for my breakfast tomorrow morning. Sending these minty goodies to Sanjeeta's WholeWheat for Breakfast event.

Hope you all had a relaxing weekend and all geared up for the week ahead. You all have a good one and take care.

until next time,
Siri

Your recipes..through my lens III

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Ok, one recipe at-a-time for YRTML (Your recipes through my Lens) is not-working for me as I already have so many of them. It would take months to finish posting the ones I have. So, here you have - two delectable recipes which absolutely made my day.

Twice cooked tomato chutney (Click here for the recipe)

There are very few recipes when I see a shiny *glitter* in TH's eyes. He is a simple man. No fancy meals needed to make him happy. Since, I knew he loved chutneys, one day I made Sala's (with whom I had the pleasure to cook at Karma's Kitchen, DC) 'Twice cooked Tomato Chutney' & Yes folks, I did get to see his tiny blue eyes (ok, not exactly blue, black) sparkle with satisfaction. This chutney was just yummilicious.

Cabbage Upkari (Click here for the recipe)

Did I ever tell you that Cabbage is my most favorite vegetable. We both simply love it and am always in quest for different cabbage recipes, across cuisines. If you know any such dishes, please leave the URL as a comment (no fried foods please). I would love to check it out and give it a try. With some grated ginger and finely minced chillies, this Cabbage Upkari recipe is from DK's site, who is my best gal-pal and I will be for-ever thankful to blogging because of which I met such a beautiful person, in-person. :).

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

until next time,
Siri

Andhra Style Cabbage Curry

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Imagine how would it be – the combination of simple and tender taste of cabbage with a unique taste of mustard seeds. Hmmmm.. yummy and very different …:D. this is how it looks like...

This Andhra style recipe is popularly known as “ Cabbage Aava pettina Koora” – especially made during marriages and important ceremonies in coastal Andhra. It’s a simple, healthy and No-mess, No-fuss curry.

Here it goes…

Ingredients:

Cabbage (medium size) - 1
Mustard seeds - 1 tbsp
Red Chillies - 2
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - 1/4 tbsp
Water - to boil
Green Chillies - 2
Curry leaves - few
Chilli powder - 1/4 tbsp (optional)

For Tadka:

Chana Dal - 1/2 tbsp
Urad seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Hing - a pinch
Oil - 1 tbsp
Jeera - 1/2 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Finely chop the cabbage and cook it with water, salt and turmeric. Drain the water and keep aside.
2. Grind the mustard seeds with red chillies into a fine powder. Its preferred not to roast them.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and put the ingredients for Tadka and finely chopped green chillies. Then add the cooked cabbage and season it with salt and chilli powder.
4. Then finally add the ground mustard powder & curry leaves and cook for 2-3 mins on low heat.

It tastes good with both chapathi/roti and rice.

This is my entry for the Think Spice : Mustard event hosted by dear Sunita. Thanks to her for such a lovely event.

Adieu for now ppl..:))

Cabbage Usili

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Cabbage Usili is a very simple and healthy dish with lots of proteins and fibre content. I got to know about this dish from Srivalli's Blog - "Cooking 4 all seasons".

You can find the original recipe here.

and Its my pleasure to send this recipe to Ashaji's RCI: Karnataka Event.



I added few more ingredients but tried to keep the original taste of the recipe. Instead of 5:1 ratio of cabbage and moong dal, I made with 5:2 ratio as I like the taste of moong dal.

Ingredients:

Cabbage - 500gms
Moong dal - 200gms
Salt - to taste
Turmeric - 1/4 tbsp
Green Chillies - 2 to 3
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp

For Tadka:

Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Urad seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Curry leaves - few
Hing - 1/8 tbsp
Cumin (Jeera) - 1/2 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Boil chopped cabbage and moong dal separately and keep aside.
2. Grind the grated coconut and green chillies till fine paste.
3. In a pan, put some oil and add the ingredients listed for tadka above. When the mustard seeds starts spluttering, add ground coconut paste and then after few minutes add the boiled cabbage and moong dal.
4. I served it with chapathis. But, this would taste good with hot rice and ghee too.

Enjoy folks..:D