Tahari

This is an easy and delicious rice item mostly found in Awadhi cuisine. As I was searching for Lucknow recipes for Lavi’s "RCI - Lucknow Cuisine” event, I stumbled upon this recipe. According to Lavi, if it is difficult to find vegetarian Lucknowi recipes, we can look for Awadhi cuisine's veg recipes too. I found this recipe here and was attracted towards its simplicity. It tasted just like vegetable biryani.

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups Rice, uncooked
• 3-4 Potatoes, peeled and cut into halves
• 1 tsp Garlic Paste
• 1 tsp Ginger Paste
• 6 Cloves
• ¼ tsp Cardamom Powder
• ½ tsp Cinnamon Powder
• ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 Large Tomato
• 2-3 Green Chilies
• 1 Medium sized Onion
• 3-4 tbsp Oil
• ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• 6 Black Peppercorns
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Wash and soak rice for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a pressure pan and add onions and fry for some time. Then add all the spices, green chilies, chopped tomato, and potato pieces and stir well.

Finally add pre-soaked rice to this mixture and mix well. Pour water in 1:1.5 ratios. Add salt to taste.

Cover and leave the pan on medium flame until 3 whistles. Switch off and let all the pressure go away before opening the lid.

Enjoy steaming hot tahari with some plain yogurt or any chutney.

This is my contribution to “RCI - Lucknow Cuisine” event, hosted by Lavi. RCI is originally started by Lakshmi.

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Chili con Queso

This is a classic Mexican dish I found in my recipe collection. I thought it would be perfect for Vaishali’s “It’s A Vegan World: Mexican” event. Original recipe said, “For extra good flavor, use small cubes of smoked cheese, and serve with rice”. But I omitted it as cheese isn’t considered as a vegan food! Original recipe also said that this delicious dish is well known as a “bowl of red”.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups red Kidney Beans (I used 2 cans of beans, drained)
• 1 tsp Oil (original recipe said 3 tbsp oil)
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1 red Bell Pepper, chopped
• 2 Garlic Cloves, crushed
• 1 fresh red Chili, chopped (optional) (I used dry red Chili as I don’t have fresh ones)
• 1 tbsp Chili Powder, (mild or hot) (I used just 1 tsp)
• 1 tsp ground Cumin (I used ½ tsp Cumin Seeds)
• 2 cups Water
• ½ tsp ground Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Sugar
• Salt as required

Preparation:

Heat oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion, bell pepper, garlic and red chili for about 5 minutes until onions become soft and cooked.

Stir in the chili powder + cumin and cook for another minute. Then add the beans + water + black pepper. Don’t add salt at this stage.

Boil for 10 minutes, cover and keep the flame on medium setting. Cook until all the water is absorbed.

Note: If using fresh kidney beans, soak for some time before cooking. Also add more (up to 4 cups) water so that the beans are cooked well.

When the beans are tender, add salt and mix well. Remove about a quarter of the mixture and mash to a pulp or pass through a food processor.

Add this puree to the rest of the beans in the pan and stir well. Add sugar and serve hot. If desired, eat with the cheese sprinkled on top.

This tastes great with plain cooked rice. But, I should warn you; this dish is so spicy with all the chili powder and black pepper. So add them as per your taste.

This is my contribution to the following events:

• “It’s a Vegan World”, hosted by Vaishali.


• As this makes a wholesome lunch and even good for kids if the spiciness is reduced, I am sending this to Srivalli’s “Monthly Mingle 31: Kids Lunches”. Monthly Mingle is originally started by Meeta.


• I am also sending this to Divya’s “Think Spice..Think Pepper” event. Think Spice is originally started by Sunita.

On a different note, I would like to thank AnuSriram for passing me the “The Adorable Blog”, “Amazing Blog”, “Triple Award” and “One Lovely Blog” awards. So nice of you Anu!

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Caribbean Rice

Are you ready to join me in the trip to the Caribbean Islands? Then come on, let’s go and join the fun by cooking some vibrant, scintillating Caribbean food for “Monthly Mingle: Caribbean Cooking”, hosted by Meeta of What’s For Lunch Honey! OK, OK! You can pack your swim suits and beach slippers too! :)

Before we head to the kitchen to cook something, let’s make ourselves little bit educated about Caribbean islands and its cuisine. Shall we?

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (most of which enclose the sea), and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America.(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean)

Caribbean cuisine is a fusion of African, Amerindian, British, Spanish, French, Dutch, Indian. These traditions were brought from the many homelands of this region's population. In addition, the population has created (from this vast wealth of tradition) many styles that are unique to the region. Another Caribbean mainstay is rice, but you'll find the rice on each island may be a little different. Some season their rice, or add peas and other touches - like coconut. Sometimes the rice is yellow, other times it may be more brown but overall it tends to just act as part of a dish. Though it comes in many forms, it is a common side dish throughout the region.(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_cuisine)

I have gathered so many delicious Caribbean dishes that gave me a hard time to decide which one to cook. All the recipes sounded delicious. You won’t believe if I say that I have spent two whole days in deciding what to cook for the event. Anyway, I finally settled for Caribbean Rice recipe as it sounded different and yummier. And I am glad I picked it, because we liked it so much. It’s a perfect blend of spices and health.

You can read the original recipe from here.

Ingredients: (Serves 3 persons)

• 1 (15 ounce) Can of red Kidney Beans, drained
• 1 (3 ½ ounce) Can of green Chilies, drained (I used ½ cup of chopped Jalapeno Chilies)
• 1 cup Canned Pineapple Chunks, drained and halved
• 1 Onion, diced
• 1 tbsp Oil
• ½ cup toasted Slivered Almonds
• Salt as required
• 2 cloves Garlic, minced
• 5 cups hot Cooked Rice (equal to 2 cups uncooked rice)

Preparation:

Heat oil in a pan and add onion along with garlic. Sauté for some time until onion becomes translucent. Let it cool for some time.

Add onion mixture to a blender along with green chilies and salt and grind into a smooth paste.

Add this puree to the hot rice along with kidney beans + pineapple + almonds and mix well. Adjust salt.

Enjoy delicious Caribbean rice! It’s a perfect blend of sweet and spicy ingredients.

As I used some almonds in this reicpe, I am also sending this to "Let's Go Nuts with Almonds", hosted by JZ @ Tasty Treats. Thanks for reminding me Priyanka!

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Pommes Frittes (Fried Apples)

These days I haven’t been contributing much to the events in the blogosphere, as I couldn’t prepare something specifically for these events due to the moving and stuff. Now I am settled and relaxed. So I would do more cooking for the events in the coming days (hopefully)!

I made this recipe yesterday for Dhivya’s “A.W.E.D-French” event. I searched a lot for some French dessert recipes and finally landed on this simple but yummy dessert recipe. These tasted so delicious and I can definitely say that these would be a hit among kids as well as grown-ups.

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 Apples (Any kind, I used Gala Apples)
• ½ cup Milk
• ½ cup All Purpose Flour
• ¼ cup Sugar
• Oil to deep-fry
  

Preparation:

Peel, core and slice apples into thin crescents. Keep aside.

Take milk and flour in different bowls.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep-bottomed pan. When the oil is hot, dip each apple slice in milk, roll in the flour and drop carefully in the hot oil. Repeat the same process with all the apple slices.

Deep-fry the dipped and rolled apple slices until they turn golden brown in color. Then take them out from the oil and place on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

After all the apple slices are deep-fried, transfer them to a mixing bowl, pour the sugar on top and shake the bowl so that all the slices are coated well with the sugar.

Note: You may reduce the sugar to a small amount if you don’t like too sweetness.

Enjoy these yummy fried apples any time of the day. I think this will be a healthy snack for kids as it is made of a fruit.

As I already told before, this is my contribution for Dhivya’s “A.W.E.D-French” event.

I think this will make a nice entry for Trupti’s “Recipes for the rest of us - Picnic Eats” event too as it involves very less work.

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French Vanilla Cookies

A simple way to enjoy Vanilla Cookies

Yesterday I felt like baking some cookies for kids. As I wasn’t so confident about my baking skills, I wanted to pick a simple cookie recipe to bake. So I searched for an easy recipe and finally landed on this French Vanilla Cookies recipe. I was attracted towards to this as the ingredients list and the method involved is simple.

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Italian Tomato and Basil Soup

I know, I know! This is my last minute entry for the two events: Dhivya’s “AWED: Italian” event and Dee’s “Herb Mania – Basil” event.

I got the recipe from here. I made minor changes to the original recipe such as using milk instead of whipping cream and dry basil flakes instead of fresh basil as I don’t have them on hand. Still, it tasted so great and refreshing.

Ingredients: (Serves 1 person)

• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 tsp dry sweet basil flakes (available in stores)
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
• ½ cup milk
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Chop tomatoes into small pieces. In a microwave safe bowl, combine chopped tomatoes + basil flakes + oil + salt. Place the bowl in the microwave, cover and run the microwave for 5 minutes (or according to individual MW settings).

Then stir well and leave it for some time to cool. Later transfer the contents to a blender jar and blend until soft. Add a little water if needed. Finally add the milk and run the blender again just to blend them well.

Remove and transfer to a serving bowl, sprinkle black pepper powder and enjoy.

If hot soup is preferred, reheat the soup in the microwave and slurp.

Note: This soup can be prepared on stove top too. Just follow the procedure and instead of microwave use the stove to cook the tomatoes. Rest of the process is the same.

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Basboosa

A delicious Middle Eastern Dessert

This is my 100th post. So I wish to celebrate this with a delicious dessert! Of course, it is not an Indian dessert. It is a traditional Middle Eastern (Arabic) dessert made of semolina flour, yogurt, and coconut. 

I took the original recipe from here. I didn’t make many changes to the original recipe. I just used cashews instead of almonds as suggested in the recipe. I also reduced the amount of time to 30 minutes instead of 40-45 minutes as suggested in the recipe. Everything else remained the same.

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Arroz Verde

Arroz Verde is the Mexican rice recipe meaning “Green Rice”. I got the recipe idea from here, which I customized to suit our tastes.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Long-grain Rice (I used Basmati)
• 1 medium Onion
• 4 stalks of Celery
• 4 small Jalapeno Chilies
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• ½ cup Green Peas, frozen or fresh
• 4 small Carrots
• 2 tbsp Oil
• Salt as required
• 3 cups Water

Preparation:

Cut the celery, onion, chilies and garlic into medium pieces. Peel the skin of carrots and cut them into dice sized pieces.

In a microwave safe bowl, add celery, onion, chilies and garlic with just enough water to soak them, cover with a lid and microwave for 10 minutes or until the vegetables become tender.

Meanwhile, wash the rice well and soak in enough water for 15 minutes.

When the vegetables are cooked, take the bowl from the microwave and remove the cover. Let it stand until the vegetables cool down a little bit. Then puree them in a blender into a smooth paste. Reserve the water used for cooking the vegetables for later use as it has so many nutrients. Keep the puree aside.

In a pressure pan, heat the oil and fry the raw rice gently, so that it cooks evenly without burning. To this, add the chopped carrots and green peas and fry well for some time.

Add the pureed vegetables to the rice and stir well again.

Later add 3 cups of water to the rice (use the reserved healthy water too) and adjust the salt.

Stir well, check the salt and cover the pressure pan. Switch it off after 3 whistles. When all the pressure is gone, open the cover and mix the rice well.

Serve hot with some chips or alone.

This rice item tasted so great and the good point is it has all the healthy ingredients. This Arroz Verde is my contribution to A.W.E.D. event being hosted by DK of Culinary Bazaar.

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Mexican Wedding Cookies

Yummy Cookies

These cookies are usually prepared during special occasions like weddings, festivals etc. So I decided to prepare the same for one such special occasion at DK’s Culinary Bazaar (A.W.E.D.). I stumbled upon this recipe here.

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Microwave Apple Jam

As I said previously, thanks to blog events, we are able to put our hand in so many new recipes. But, the satisfaction when we prepare them perfectly is unsurpassable. Here is one such recipe I have never even tried to make, but made it perfect for the first time. Hey! I am talking about the Apple Jam here!

I wanted to contribute for the wonderful event, “Putting Up” being hosted by Rosie of “Rosie Bakes a ‘Peace’ of Cake” and Pixie of “You Say Tomahto, I Say Tomayto”. It’s an event about Jams and Preserves. So I searched and searched and landed on this easy Jam recipe. I chose this recipe for two reasons: I have many apples at home and easily done in a microwave.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 Apples (any kind)
• 1 ½ cups Sugar
• 1 tsp Lemon Juice

Preparation:

Peel, core and chop apples into fine pieces.

Combine apple and sugar in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes until apples are tender.

Take out from the microwave and beat apple mixture with electric mixer until well blended.

Microwave on high again for 3-4 minutes until the mixture becomes thick. Stir once during the cooking time.

Then finally stir in the lemon juice. Pour into prepared jars, seal and refrigerate.

Apply on bread slices and enjoy!

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