by Currylicious | Jul 26, 2012 | Nandini's Food Court
ACTIFRY by TFAL was introduced to me by one of my friends Michele. When she said to me that ACTIFRY uses 1 teaspoon of oil to fry anything starting from potatoes to any veggies like beans, carrots, zucchini you name it and these veggies get crispy in 20 minutes or less with ONE teaspoon of oil!
My blog screams out healthy and I was skeptical but knowing me, I knew I was going to try and test it out. My first trial with ACTIFRY was with BITTERGOURD also known as BITTERMELON! I am not sure how many of you have heard about this vegetable or eaten it but from the name it is a bitter vegetable that has to be seasoned well to cut out its bitterness.
Why Bittergourd?
Bittergourd is a popularly used and scientifically proven vegetable that has the ability to lower blood glucose in diabetics.
Very low in calories. The pods are rich in phytonutrients like dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants.
Bitter melon notably contains phyto-nutrient, polypeptide-P; a plant insulin known to lower blood sugar level
Fresh pods are an excellent source of folates, vitamin-C and flavonoids such as beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthins. It also contains good amount of vitamin A.
Also a good source of Niacin (vitamin B-3), Pantothenic acid (vit.B-5), Pyridoxine (vit.B-6) and minerals such as iron, zinc, potassium, manganese and magnesium.
Generally, people try to avoid this vegetable for its bitterness but if you weigh the health benefits and if you can find a way to cook it well by cutting off the bitterness then
its a gifted vegetable that should be included in all our diets!
My recipe also includes the use of 1 red potato just because I have tried the combination of bitter gourd with potatoes and it is truly delicious!
I used 2 Bittergourds and to cut the bitterness initially, I chop off the spikes that it has on the surface a little bit because that has the most bitterness.
Then I chop the ends of the vegetable and start cutting it out in round circles or rings. I did not use the pods and took them out but you may throw that in as well if you like! I also chop 1 red potato into wedges and 1/2 an onion lengthwise:)
The ACTIFRY comes with a green teaspoon that can be used to measure oil. I open the ACTIFRY lid, throw in the cut bittergourd as well as the wedged potatoes and the onions.
I sprinkle some salt, lemon pepper(i love tangy!!!) cayenne and a pinch of curry powder. I then add the oil that I have taken in the green teaspoon and pour it so that it covers most of the veggies!
I close the lid, set the timer(there’s a timer button where you can set for 20 minutes and if you want more crispy increase the timer to another 10 minutes or so).
and then PRESS THE BUTTON “ON”! I sit on my couch, watching MASTERCHEF on Fox and wait for the timer to beep! People, I am thinking how crisp can it get(saracasm)
and I am completely mistaken and the “ACTIFRY” truly proves me wrong:(
In 20 minutes I get crispy bitter gourd and potatoes and I ATE A WHOLE BOWL!!!!!TRUST ME guys- its worth the money- IF U LIKED FRIED AND ARE A HEALTH FREAK like me -get the “ACTIFRY”!
Its fantastic to have in everyone’s kitchen.
Hope you enjoyed and promise to try BITTERGOURD- ITS A MIRACLE VEGETABLE!
With much love as always…….
by Currylicious | Jul 11, 2012 | Nandini's Food Court
Last weekend, I was at this brunch place in Montclair, New Jersey- Absolutely fabulous and I was thrilled to see their Vegan and Vegetarian selections on the menu.
After pondering over an extensive menu:) and the indecisive person that I am esp when it comes to food- I decided to try their Vegetarian Chickpea burger with baked Sweet Potato Fries. I must tell you this that during my stay at Double Tree in L A prior to filming Master Chef, I happened to order their Vegetarian burger made of chickpeas and it was falling apart/ crumbling to say the least and dry!!!!
This one that I tried at Montclair was phenomenal!!!! Moist, crisp, dense and came with onion, tomato, sprouts:) and pickle!
OK now, I was also thinking of coming up with a bunch of dishes with Tempeh and have been experimenting in my kitchen. Suddenly, after we finish brunch, I run across the street to WHOLE FOODS and my husband thinks I have lost it as always 🙂 I grab an organic slab of 5 GRAIN TEMPEH. Now many of you may wonder what TEMPEH is?
TEMPEH is made of natural culturing process with organic grains like soybeans, brown rice, millet, barley, rye, apple cider vinegar and tempeh culture (typically Rhisopus oligosporus)LOL (thats my inner Microbiologist speaking out). It is low in calories and a great substitute to meat due to its HIGH PROTEIN content. Tempeh originated in Indonesia and has a distinctive nutty taste and nougat-like textured.
The thing about TEMPEH I have learnt over the past few months is that it easily absorbs the flavors of the other foods with which it is cooked making it adaptable to many types of dishes. I tried substituting TEMPEH with the Indian Cottage Cheese that I use in my traditional Curry and it turned out delicious!!!
According to my research- the soy protein in tempeh tends to lower cholesterol levels, while consuming protein from animal sources tends to raise them, since they also include saturated fat and cholesterol.
I can go on and on about health benefits and effect of TEMPEH on cholesterol ………After 3 days of trips to the park with kids, I decided to take a break today and cook up something with the Tempeh that I had picked at Whole Foods. I decide to make an awesome burger with TEMPEH. I love beets and so decided to use a beet sauce and bake some squash chips to go with my burger. The key is to season my tempeh with a bunch of my toasted spices and to use a binding agent !! The binding agent that I used in this case was CHICK PEAS and it turned out beautiful. I could use potatoes but chose to give Chick peas a shot! I use olive oil and use fresh GRAY SQUASH from my Farmers Market to bake some chips to go with my TEMPEH burger:)
by Currylicious | Jul 5, 2012 | Nandini's Food Court
We have almost no family here in the US, meaning my parents, cousins, relatives, in laws live back in India. But I must say this: what we do have are friends whom we have made along these years, some of whom have turned into family and are very special to us!
So I invited a special couple who are like family to us for lunch on July 4th. I decided to make something different that they would enjoy too! The last time we had them I made this traditional Indian flat bread with Indian Cottage Cheese Curry and Lentil Soup and so forth. This time, I put a lot of thought into the menu.
We started with a chilled Lemonade drink topped with some cumin and “chaat” mix! My husband decided to take this up since he is very good at it:)
For starters, we planned on making a pesto which is made of basil and pistachios. I came across some fresh corn at my Farmers Market and decided to pick some a few days back. So why not use the corn to go with the pesto!!!!!
I grilled some fresh corn in the grill till I saw beautiful char marks on them and then sprinkled some salt, pepper, cayenne and a squeeze of lemon for acidity!
Then, I take a knife and cut off the corn into a bowl and mix my pesto thats filling up the room with its fragrance:)
My husband had also gotten this Crostini bread from the store so we cut slices and serve my “Corn Pesto on top of my Crostini”
Now for the main course! For a very long time, I have been looking to find whats called as King Mushrooms. I have a blog friend Tim and we exchange comments and feedback on our posts and he had mentioned to me that “King Mushrooms” were very flavorful. I had finally picked some from the Farmers Market and was contemplating on making a dish with these gorgeous looking King Shrooms!
So I decided to roast some garlic with these mushrooms in a pan and to place them on what I call a “Beet Carrot Puree”. I love the color that you get when you puree some beets and carrots!!! Its phenomenal and tasty too. The key here is to counter balance the sweetness by the beetroot- and this I accomplished by roasting some garlic (and I mean a good amount of garlic cloves)with some cayenne, salt, cumin, coriander and lemon pepper. Then I blend this roasted garlic infused with my spices along with the carrots and the beets. The cayenne and the spices in the garlic render some heat which knocks out the sweetness of the beets and the carrots and balance them in such a beautiful way!
“Our family” who was visiting us yesterday also wanted to taste my Baked Cauliflower dish. Every single time I make this dish, I always try to make it different, change up ingredients a little bit to see how it turns out! So this time, I made “Baked Cauliflower with Caramelized Onions, Pistachios in a Yogurt Cilantro Basil Sauce”
I baked the cauliflower with my special blend of Indian spices in then oven along with the pistachios. I caramelized some onions and garlic and plated it along with my baked cauliflower!
We also prepared some “Quinoa with Onions, Tomatoes, Jalapeno’s, Slivered Almonds and topped with Pomegranates” that went really well with both my dishes and my guests were introduced to something new that they have promised to learn and cook once they go back.
They simply loved everything and my day was fulfilled and efforts paid off by the smiles that lit up their faces topped with some absolutely wonderful conversation around the table!!!
I hope that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed making them for special people close to heart!
With much love as always………
by Currylicious | Jun 11, 2012 | Nandini's Food Court
I have been cooking up a storm this last weekend! Why? The reason being………YAY I am one of the Top 36 in Master Chef USA Season 3 &
all my friends have been calling me and wanting to just barge in and see whats cooking in my kitchen:)
Me and my family love one vegetable and thats OKRA!!!! Some of my friends are not huge fans of it so I decided to make something creative yet healthy and currylicious for them so they fall in love with it:)
I made whats called “My Baked Okra Lasagna” – thats right! I baked my Okra after slitting ’em and applying my special curry rub on ’em!
Then I layer it with a curried onion tomato sauce and its ready in no time……This is such a great dish to prepare if you have guests to entertain who are vegetarians!
Slit the okra, apply my curry rub, throw ’em in a baking pan and in goes it for about 20 minutes at 360 degrees! Meanwhile I chop up some onions, garlic and tomatoes real fine and make an onion tomato sauce with my blend of curry powder & spices ….
Take your baking pan with the okra out and stack’ em up one layer of okra and one layer of onion tomato paste!
Absolutely healthy and currylicious….try this out and you will thank me:) for falling in love with “Okra”
by Currylicious | May 31, 2012 | Nandini's Food Court
Have you ever heard of flavored Indian Cottage Cheese, commonly called Paneer??
I always used the store bought Indian Cottage Cheese for the longest time before it struck me its too much of a hassle and maybe I can add my own twist to it at home. This was particularly fun because I tried this during one of my travels and we had literally only a gas burner where we stayed at this guest house!
I wanted to make Paneer from scratch and trust me I thought it was going to be so hard but it came out beautiful at the end of it and if I can do it with just a gas burner, a gallon of milk and some vinegar then so can you!!!!
I always try to incorporate something new to an old recipe so I tried to flavor my Paneer this time with some cumin, coriander powder and my favorite Indian herb which is Fenugreek leaves:)
All you need is:
1 Gallon of Whole Milk/ Low Fat
1 cup of Vinegar
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp dried Fenugreek leaves
Mesh Strainer
Clean piece of Muslin Cloth(or any thin clean cloth through which water will pass)
Preparation
As in every case, the more fat your milk contains the end product which is your Indian Cottage Cheese is likely to be creamier than if you use low fat or fat free!
1) Pour milk onto a crock pot and bring it to a boil and immediately lower the gas as you see it boil!
I told you I had the bare minimum to work with:(
2) Add cumin, coriander powder and the dried fenugreek leaves to the milk and stir well so that it blends into the milk.
3) Now add the Vinegar slowly into the milk stirring continuously but gradually.
4) You will see the milk curdle almost instantaneously but give it some time to curdle completely.
5) Pour this mixture through a muslin cloth to separate the water from the curdled milk.
6) Drain out all the excess water carefully without burning your fingers:) through the muslin cloth.
7) Tie a knot and squeeze gently through a strainer to take out all remaining water. I used a strainer in this step so that even if the crumbled cheese manages to escape through the cloth I can still get it in the strainer:)
8) I wanted to use something to weigh over this knotted cottage cheese so I used a steel vessel(the only one that I could get a hold of!) that would serve the purpose and let it rest undisturbed for about 10 minutes or so.
9) Open it up after atleast 10 minutes and you will see the beautiful Indian Cottage Cheese staring at you:)
Use your home made Indian cottage cheese in curry. You can also refer to my recipe: Creamy Cottage Cheese Curry Prepared in a Wok. I would appreciate your feedback and thanks much. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Currylicious | May 25, 2012 | Nandini's Food Court
Its been raining and I feel like making a hot bowl of my spicy currylicious tomato soup but with a twist as always! LENTILS:) yes, I add some lentils to my tomato soup. The room fills up with flavor and fragrance of the spices that I add to it which makes it spicy as well. It’s Currylicious and healthy on a rainy day like today and the best for stuffy congested sinuses! Check out the recipe in my recipe section!
