by Currylicious | Mar 20, 2014 | Nandini's Food Court, Recipes
I love baby eggplants but in India we always removed the skin and cooked it to a point where it gets mushy and it would drive me
nuts when my mom would insist that i eat this mushy eggplant curry with my rotis/bread. I wanted to come up with an eggplant dish that I would rather enjoy to eat than be forced to eat:(
So here goes people!
This is by far my best take on the Mighty Eggplant! and takes you less than 15 minutes to prepare this. Its an awesome dish to consider if you have guests coming over.
Ingredients:
4-8 baby eggplants
Olive oil
Goat cheese crumbs
5-6 Basil leaves
Salt to taste
Black Pepper
Lemon pepper powder 1/4 teaspoon
Garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon
Finely chopped onions- 1/4 cup
Habanero Mango Salsa( I sometimes make this at home using habanero peppers and finely diced mango cubes with onions and tomatoes but you can always find and buy a bottle of any salsa at the supermarket if you do not want to deal with the heat of habanero peppers)
Note: You can substitute any salsa depending on your or the guest’s tolerance to spice levels. BUT I strongly recommend this combination:) Trust me its delish!!!if you can tolerate spice or heat!
Preparation:
Cut the baby eggplants in half and place them on a baking pan lined with parchment paper(for easy clean up). Then sprinkle salt, black pepper, lemon pepper and garlic powder on top of each half to make sure that they are well seasoned. Then drizzle some olive oil on top of each half and top it with some chopped onions, 1/4 teaspoon of the habanero mango salsa and garnish with some crumbs of goat cheese and chiffonades of basil.
Stick this into the oven at 350 degrees F for about 20-30 minutes. Voila! I insist on a particular combination of salsa and cheese for this particular recipe since the habanero (heat) and the mango (sweet) in the salsa cuts the tanginess of the goat cheese and the flavors become so well balanced.
by Currylicious | Feb 26, 2014 | Recipes
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Cous Cous- 1 cup
Cayenne Pepper- 1 teaspoon
Chopped Green Beans- 1/4 cup
ChoppedYellow Squash- 1/2 cup
Green Peas- 1/4cup
Chopped Carrots- 1/4 cup
Onion- 1
Tomato- 1
Jalapeno- 1(optional for heat)
Fresh garlic- 3 cloves
Salt to taste
Garlic powder- 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds- 1 teaspoon
Curry powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Preparation
This recipe takes less than 10 minutes if you have all the vegetables chopped and ready. So if you are pressed for time or want to make a quick dinner all you need is to chop the veggies ahead of time or you can buy the chopped frozen vegetables from the supermarket. You can thrown in pretty much any veggie and improvise this recipe.
Firstly chop onion, tomato, jalapeno, green beans, carrots about 1/2 an inch and try to chop them evenly so they cook evenly.
Take a non stick saute pan and keep it on low flame. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and then add cumin seeds. Wait for the cumin seeds to get toasted and splutter. Now add the chopped onion, tomato, jalapeno and vegetables along with salt to taste, garlic powder and curry powder. Mix well and saute for about 2 -3 minutes.
Now add 1 cup of whole wheat CousCous and 1 1/2 cups of water.
Mix well and keep covered for about 5 more minutes till couscous absorbs all the water. Fluff cooked CouCous with a fork and serve with Tzatziki on the side.
I also make a chilled Raita with onions, cucumbers and green chillies to be served along with this salad.
Enjoy!
by Currylicious | Dec 11, 2013 | Recipes
Ingredients:
1 can of chick peas
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1tsp lemon pepper powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp turmeric
2 cloves of garlic
Salt to taste
Canola Oil
1/4 cup grated coconut- frozen or fresh
Preparation:
Heat a pan with canola oil. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and wait till splutters. Add turmeric, cayenne, coriander powder, salt and lemon pepper powder. Then chop garlic and add to the pan. Saute for less than a minute. Then transfer the chick peas from the can and mix well for about 3 min’s so it soaks in all the flavors of the spices.
Turn off the heat and add the grated coconut and mix well.
Enjoy! This is such a great healthy snack!
If you do not wish to use the caned chick peas, you can buy the packet of chick peas from the store and soak it overnight. Pressure cook it and use the cooked chick peas.
by Currylicious | Apr 11, 2013 | BLOG
My daughter goes to art classes in a small warm cozy art studio in Maplewood, NJ. The owner is an extremely talented, warm and nice. She was organizing an Art Show at her studio and wanted me to cater some short eats to go with wine for all the people who were invited. I decided to make Polenta but wanted to make it mess free for people to pick and eat. The first thing that came to my mind was the mini cupcake baking pan. I have baked so many cupcakes and done bake sales for my daughter’s school. I decided to use the cupcake bake pan to mold the polenta. I always try and use Bob’s Corn Grits or Polenta from the supermarket simply because its convenient and easy to prepare.
The instructions usually tell you to cook the corn grits with water but I do it differently.
Currylicious Tip: I whisk half heavy cream and half whole milk in a pot until it comes to a boil. Then, I add corn grits and whisk well to avoid lumps. By the way dont 
ask me why I whisk the cream/milk and bring it to a boil:))) lol I just feel that it tastes absolutely delicious when I make it this way!
Once the polenta is creamy and hot, I spooned it into the mini cupcake baking pans and leave it in the refrigerator to set for about 1/2 hour. Once you take them out of the refrigerator, you can scoop out the polenta cupcakes easily. I also made a baked 
eggplant dish which i used to top off the polenta cupcakes.
I also made a Tuscan ChickPea spread with garlic and tomatoes and it was served on toasted bread.
I took all the food to the studio as I was also invited to the Art Show. It was so much fun meeting several people and to see them taste my food and get their feedback and appreciation.
With much love …….
by Currylicious | Mar 28, 2013 | Event Schedule
Hello everyone
Having received a tremendous response from cooking workshop for kids last summer, I will be conducting a Kids Cooking Camp this summer as well and wanted to reach out to all of you who are planning camps for your kids. I have seen that the kids enjoy these cooking sessions so much because they are allowed to get messy and get to make their own plate of food in a fun way.
I have planned 2 weeks of cooking camp for the kids this summer. I am conducting
one week of cooking session for the kids in July from July 12 th through July 16th, Mon-Fri, 9:30 am- 12:00pm and the kids get to eat lunch at the end of each session.
I am also conducting another cooking session in August from Aug 12th through Aug 16th, Mon- Fri, 9:30 a- 12:00pm.
I have kept the menus for both the camps different so parents who want their kids to attend both sessions may do so.
KIDS SUMMER COOKING CAMP
Email me at curryliciousme@gmail.com
Limited spots only
JULY SESSION
July 15th VEGETARIAN QUICHES
July 16th PASTA with VEGGIES in a CHEESY ALFREDO SAUCE
JULY 17th VEGETARIAN QUESADILLA with homemade GUACAMOLE
JULY 18th PASTA with homemade PESTO topped with PARMESAN CHEESE
JULY 19th HOMEMADE CREPES filled with CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT & BANANAS
AUGUST SESSION
AUG 12 th CHOCOLATE CHIP PANCAKES
AUG 13th SPAGHETTI with PEAS in a PINK SAUCE
AUG 14th VEGETARIAN BURRITOS with homemade GUACAMOLE
AUG 15th CREAMY POLENTA
AUG 16th ART OF WAFFLE MAKING
(For kids with allergies, I will make sure that we do not use those ingredients and may substitute with others)
The main objective of this cooking camp is:
– for the kids to learn where their food comes from,
– to expose the kids to various cuisines,
– for them to appreciate the effort that goes into putting together a plate of food and
– of course to get them to eat their veggies in a fun way.
Look forward to hearing from all.
