Cucumber Peanut Salad

Source:  eCurry

Even though this probably is the simplest and quickest recipe I've posted to date, I must say that I am quite proud of myself for making this.  My 2012 resolution is to #1- Use up whatever I have in my pantry, and #2- Not waste any food in my fridge.  Ironically, Food Network had a show yesterday called The Big Waste which addressed America's food waste issue.  According to the show, 40% of food in America goes uneaten – 200 pounds per person per year!!! I am ashamed to admit that I am guilty of contributing to this.. well not anymore!

Unfortunately my grocery shopping has been driven by the recipes I'm inspired to make.   Most of the time these ingredients end up in the back of my fridge and get forgotten.  One victim of this is the poor cucumber.  I always buy them hoping to make yummy sandwiches throughout the week, but end up with leftovers which slowly scoot to the back of the fridge.. but not today!

Ingredients

• 1/2 - 1 chopped cucumber (use your leftovers!)
• chopped red onion (use your leftovers!)
• lime juice
• coriander
• chopped peanuts
• red chili powder
• chat masala
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Lime juice dressing: Grind together lime juice and coriander
2. Combine rest of ingredients above with lime juice dressing

Kuty's Twist

I simplified the recipe from eCurry.  You can add other veggies such as carrot and raw mango.  Note that I didn't specify measurements above since it's really all up to how much of the ingredients you have and what your taste is.

How easy was that? :)

Dal Makhani

Source:  One Hot Stove

This past week I was traveling for work and as a result consumed all sorts of unhealthy foods.  I was dying to come back and eat some home cooked comfort food.  But I still had to stick to my new cooking resolutions which are: 1. Try to cook based on what you already have in your kitchen, 2. Cook healthier.  I looked at all of the dal sitting in my pantry and realized that I had not touched urad dal in a really long time... so that's how this recipe came about!  :-)  

This was just the perfect food to indulge in and not feel guilty about! 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup red kidney beans
• 1/2 cup black urad dal
• 1/4 cup chana dal
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 inch piece ginger
• 2 cups tomato puree
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• 1.5 teaspoon red chili powder
• 10 cashew nuts
• 1 teaspoon garam masala

Directions

1. Soak the beans and dals overnight (I ended up soaking them for ~16 hours), then rinse
2. Pressure cook the beans and dals along with 3 1/2 cups water
3. Heat 1 tablespoon butter and add cumin seeds, pinch of asafoetida, and fenugreek seeds.  After they splutter, add the ginger and garlic and simmer for a few minutes. (Add a little bit of water if it starts to stick.)  Note:  The original recipe said to use ginger/ garlic paste.  I used fresh ginger and garlic and just blended them into a paste.
4. Add the tomato puree and paste.  Cook for another 5-7 minutes, stirring often.
5. Coarsely mash the beans and dals and add them in. (I drained the beans/ dal and added them in, keeping aside the extra water.) 
6. Add salt and bring everything to a boil
7. Blend the cashew nuts and a little bit of the dal water to form a paste
8. Stir in red chilli powder and cashew nut paste.  Simmer for 10 minutes (add additional water leftover from the dal if it ends up being too thick)
9. Turn off the heat and stir in garam masala
10. Garnish with coriander leaves (and butter if you wish!) and serve with rice or rotis

Kuty's Twist

I slightly modified this to be a healthier version.  I used less butter and replaced the cream with cashew nut paste.  I also added tomato paste, which I feel gives dishes a bit more flavor.  If you have really juicy tomatoes, you may not need this.

Lemon Coriander Soup

Source: Sanjeev Kapoor

The Christmas holidays is the one time of the year I really look forward to. With my mom, sister, and I all in the same house, food somehow ends up being the center of our activities :-) My mom wanted to try my pineapple fried rice, so I decided to make this soup as a nice pairing. Since we had been eating so much, I decided to make a light soup which was not cream based.


Ingredients

• 1/2 bunch Coriander leaves
• 1 medium Onion, chopped
• 1 medium Spring onion bulb, chopped
• 1 inch piece Ginger grated
• 6 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
• 2 Tablespoons Gram flour (besan)
• 4.5 cups Vegetable stock
• 1/4 head of Cabbage, chopped
• 1 medium Carrot, cubed
• 10-12 Black peppercorns, crushed
• 3-4 Green Chilies, finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• Lemon juice- 2 tablespoons or more to taste

Directions

1. Heat 2 Tablespoons oil in a pot
2. Add onion, spring onion bulb, ginger, garlic, green chilies and saute till translucent
3. Add gram flour and continue to saute till you get a nice aroma
4. Add vegetable stock, coriander stems, cabbage and carrot cubes and bring to a boil
5. Add crushed peppercorns and continue to boil
6. Add half of the chopped coriander leaves and cook for five to ten minutes
7. Strain and keep aside cooked vegetables (you won't be eating these)
8. Heat the strained soup
9. Add salt, lemon juice and bring to a boil again
10. Season with the remaining chopped coriander leaves. Add more lemon juice, coriander, salt to taste.

Kuty's Twist
The original recipe did not call for green chilies. I made this with 5 green chilies and it ended up VERY spicy, so please add the green chilies with caution :-)

I also thought that straining the vegetables was a very odd step. I understand why we should take out the cabbage, carrots, and coriander stems, since this soup is meant to be a clear simple soup. Unfortunately straining also takes out the onions, ginger, and garlic. What I ended up doing is straining about 3/4 of the vegetables, so it ended up being a vegetable lemon coriander soup. Something I may try next time is setting aside the onion, ginger, garlic, and green chilies once they are sauteed, then adding the vegetables and broth til the soup boils, then removing the vegetables and re-adding the ginger, garlic, and green chilies. I am still curious to know what this tastes like without adding the carrots and cabbage. Does the soup really need it? If you try it, please let me know!
The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of coriander, which I did not feel was enough. I also wasn't able to chop the coriander very finely, so I just chopped it in the blender. I kept adding coriander and tasting the soup until it tasted right.
This is perfect for a cold snowy Christmas Day in the house. Enjoy! :-)

Barbati (Yardlong Beans) Curry

Source: Tamalapaku

I'll keep this one short and sweet. I'm trying to be better about eating more vegetables and fruit (we'll see how long this lasts). Barbati is a vegetable I've only recently noticed in the Indian Grocery stores here on the West Coast. I think I actually like these better than regular green beans!


Ingredients

• 1 bunch Barbati (Yardlong Beans)
• 1 medium onion
• 3 tablespoons roasted peanuts
• 4 tablespoons coconut (optional. I didn't put this)
• 2 green chilies
• 1 tablespoon coriander leaves
• 1 teaspoon cumin (jeera)
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons urad dal
• 2 teaspoons chana dal
• 3 red chilies (crushed)

Directions

1. Chop the barbati into lengths of 2-3 inches, depending on your taste and finely chop the onion

2. Boil the chopped barbati til tender

3. Prepare the peanut-coconut masala: Coarsely grind together the peanuts, coconut, coriander, cumin, garlic, and green chilies

4. Heat oil in a separate pan and add mustard seeds, chana dal, urad dal and red chilies. Then add the turmeric.

5. Add the onions after the above stops spluttering and saute til golden brown

6. Add the cooked barbati and peanut-coconut masala

7. Cook together for 3-4 minutes, adjust salt and spice accordingly

Kuty's Twist

I wanted this to be a simpe dish so I didn't add the coconut and onion. It still came out great! I would also grind 3-4 green chilies next time to make it more spicy.

This is a nice dish because the peanuts add a twist to the regular beans curry most of us are used to.

Pineapple Fried Rice

Source: Closet Cooking

My apologies for the lack of posts last month. Although I had been doing PLENTY of cooking, I didn't have time to blog due to family visiting me. The good news is that I was able to try a bunch of experimental recipes on my family, which will be coming your way!

So for some reason, I have never had much luck with creating Asian dishes. I'm convinced it's because I'm not adding some "bad for you" secret ingredient like MSG or fish sauce (which the restaurants love to sneak in even though you are ordering a vegetarian dish.) Well this dish is jam packed with flavor and more! The original recipe has shrimp and fish sauce in it. I stripped it down and added my own veggies to create a vegetarian Thai Pineapple Fried Rice!


*Note: The other dish in this image is a failed attempt at making garlic eggplant tofu so I did not post the recipe :-)

**Update: Due to popular demand, you can find the original recipe to the eggplant dish here.

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked rice (I used basmati)
• Oil
• 1 red onion
• 5 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 6-7 red chilies
• 1 red pepper (diced)
• 3-5 tablespoons vegetable broth
• 3-5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1.5 tablespoons curry powder (I used garam masala)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup cashews (roasted)
• 1 medium sized pineapple, cut into small chunks (you can use canned, but I was ambitious and used fresh)
• 1 medium head of broccoli
• 1/4 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 2-3 spring onions (sliced)
• 1/4 cup cilantro (chopped)

Directions

1. Cook rice and completely cool. It's preferable if this is day old rice

2. Cut and steam cook broccoli

3. Heat oil in large vessel

4. Add onions, garlic, red chillies and red pepper and stir-fry until fragrant, about a minute.

5. Add the vegetable broth, soy sauce, garam masala powder and sugar and stir-fry

6. Add the cashews and stir-fry for 30 seconds

7. Add the rice, break up any clumps and stir-fry for a few minutes

8. Add 3/4 of your pineapple, peas, broccoli and raisins and stir-fry to mix them in

9. Taste and adjust the following as needed: soy sauce, garam masala powder. You may need to add salt and as well. Add some red chili powder if the spice isn't enough for you. (If it's too spicy, add more pineapple or sugar.)

10. Remove from heat and serve garnished with chopped green onions and cilantro

Kuty's Twist

---

So this dish is actually a good 3 day process. Day1- Cook Rice, Day2- Complete Recipe, Day3- Optimal taste day!

This dish needs to sit for a while for all the spices and pineapple juices to blend together in order for it to have maximum flavor. It should be very spicy after you make it because the spice will die down by the next day. When I made this it was so spicy that I couldn't finish what was on my plate! The next day it tasted perfect because all the pineapple juices had blended in.

You can also add tofu and scrambled egg to this dish.

For the pineapple: Don't be afraid to use fresh pineapple because you have to cut it! I recently embraced my knives set, which I've had for 3 years. Up until now I only used the smaller knives in the first row. I've just started to use the bigger knives and it has made chopping SO much easier and faster. Don't be scared to use the big knives! You'll have your pineapple chopped up in no time. Also, if you want to be fancy, you can serve the rice within the empty pineapple shell :-)

Summer Salads #1- Grilled Vegetable Orzo Salad

Source: Kuty's Kreation

So I think the majority of all of us have a desired "weight range" we strive to be within. Unfortunately summertime has arrived and all the delicious California food has caught up to me. I've found myself past my weight spectrum.. so it's time to buckle down and start cooking some Summer Slimdown dishes!

I'm hoping that this a first in a long series of Summer Salads. My goal is to find healthy yet flavorful recipes.


Ingredients

• 8 oz Orzo Pasta
• 1 Head of Broccoli
• 1 Bunch of Asparagus (8-10)
• 1-2 Tomatoes
• 1 Red Onion
• 1 Cucumber
• 1/4 Bunch of Coriander
• 1 Avocado
• 2-3 Tablespoons Feta (Optional)
• 2-4 Garlic cloves
  

Seasonings:

• Oregano
• Cayenne Pepper (for some spice)
• Pepper
• Salt
• Olive Oil (optional)
• Lemon Juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to the broil setting (Can you tell that I LOVE to broil? :) )

2. Boil water and cook orzo until al dente (don't overcook!)

3. Wash and chop the broccoli into small florets. Chop the asparagus into 1 inch sections.

4. Spray a pan with cooking spray and toss in the broccoli and asparagus. Season with Oregano, Cayenne Pepper, Pepper, Salt, Olive Oil (optional). Broil for 5-6 minutes. Toss around and broil for another 5-6 minutes until fully cooked and charred.

5. Chop the onion, cucumbers, tomato, avocado into cubes

6. Toss together the orzo, all vegetables, coriander with garlic, lemon juice, and salt to taste

7. Sprinkle on some feta cheese for an extra burst of flavor

Kuty's Twist

You can either steam or broil the broccoli and asparagus. I prefer the taste of vegetables when they're broiled.

I wanted to pack this for lunch for a few days this week so I stored the orzo, broccoli, and asparagus separately from the other veggies. The salad has a nice flavor if the orzo, broccoli, and asparagus are warmed up and then combined with the other cold veggies. The avocado should also be added right before serving since it tends to go brown.

Bagara Baingan

Source: Edible Garden

Really, Edible Garden has just NAILED this recipe and even provides step by step pictures. I'll keep this short. This dish came out perfect! I'll try and provide instructions which will help you multi-task and make the dish faster.

Ingredients

• 7-10 purple baby brinjals/ eggplants (depends on the size. My store sells very small ones)
• 2 Tablespoons white sesame seeds (I don't use these often, but was able to buy a small packet for $1 at my local Latin market)
• 2 Tablespoons peanuts
• 2 Tablespoons grated coconut
• 1 Red Onion, chopped fine
• 1 Tablespoon ginger paste
• 1 Tablespoon garlic paste
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon jeera/cumin seeds
• 1 Tablespoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder (I used 2 Tablespoons)
• A small lemon sized ball of tamarind
• Salt to taste
• Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to the broil setting

2. Dry roast the peanuts and sesame seeds until golden brown

3. While this is roasting clean your brinjals, trim the stems, and make deep perpendicular slits at the bottom of each. Place on a pan coated with a little oil and broil. Broil on each side for about 7-8 mins until it's soft and slightly charred.

4. Place the roasted mixture along with a little bit of cold water and shredded coconut in the blender. Allow to cool for a little bit.

5. Place the tamarind in 1.5 - 2 cups water. Microwave on high for 1.5 mins. Break up the tamarind and let it soak.

6. While your roasted mixture is cooling, chop up the onions

7. Fry the onions and ginger garlic paste until golden

8. While frying, grind the roasted mixture with coconut to form a smooth paste. You can add as much water as you need to grind it.

9. Add the ground paste to the onion/ginger/garlic and fry for 1 minute. Add water if it starts to stick.

10. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, jeera, coriander powder and salt. Mix well and fry for another minute.

11. Add the tamarind water, mix and cook for 5 mins. Taste the gravy and add more spices/ salt if necessary. If it is too watery, boil it for some more time. (If it is too thick, add more water and boil.)

12. Add the brinjals and cook closed for 5-10 mins

13. Garnish with coriander leaves

Kuty's Twist

As I said before, the recipe from Edible Garden will come out great if you just follow the recipe. The only change I made was how I cooked the brinjals. I like to leave the stems on so it is easy (and more fun :P) to pick them up and take a good chomp out of them. I also broiled them rather than frying them. I am sure frying them (with a lot of oil) will make the dish taste better!

Avocado Gazpacho w/ Spiced Croutons

Source: Food Network- Torie Ritchie

This is perfect for a hot day and is both vegan and raw.

Ingredients

Gazpacho

• 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and diced (I only used One)
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1/2 to 1 cup vegetable broth (I used 1 bouillon cube w/ 1 cup water)
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, plus additional, for garnish
• 1.5 jalapenos, chopped
• 4 green onions, sliced (including green tops)
• 2 ripe avocados
• 4 garlic cloves (I love garlic, you can put less)
• 1 Tomatillo
• Salt

Note: Only the Gazpacho is raw and vegan. The Croutons are not.

Spiced Croutons

• 3 big slices of sourdough bread (or any bread you have)
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• 1 Teaspoon Red Chili
• Black Pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F. Cut bread into medium cubes and spread on a baking sheet. Toast in oven until crisp and golden, about 10 minutes. Melt butter and stir in ground chili powder, salt, cumin, and pepper to taste. Toss and coat bread cubes. Return to oven and toast 5 minutes more.

In a blender, puree cucumbers, lime juice, 1/2 cup broth, 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, jalapenos, green onions, garlic, tomatillo, and 1 of the avocados, diced. Season, to taste, with salt. Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hours or until next day.

To serve, thin gazpacho with additional broth if desired. Dice remaining avocado finely and add to gazpacho base. Pour into bowls and garnish with cilantro leaves and croutons.

Kuty's Twist:
Croutons come out great with sourdough bread!

I only added 1 cucumber since I've heard it doesn't keep too long. My other additions included garlic and a tomatillo. Tomatillos add a nice tangy flavor to this.

If you are desperate to eat this right away, which I was, pour a small amount into 1-2 bowls and stick it in the freezer for 10 mins!