One of my most favorite dishes in this world is Meditteranean- nothing like crunchy falafels with some home made tahini, creamy hummus and babaganoush!
Tahini sauce is nothing but roasted sesame along with Olive oil, lemon, salt and garlic. Its the most delicious dip ever. Hummus is also easy to make with chickpeas, garlic cloves, lemon, oilve oil, tahini and salt.
Tahini thick sauce ( I stick this in the fridge and dilute 1 spoon of this with 2 tsp of water every time I use)
Babaganoush is slightly tricky to make since it involves smoking the eggplant or aubergine in flame to cook and peel off the outer layers. I personally throw the chunks of eggplant after peeling the outer skin into my Vitamix with salt, olive oil, garlic cloves, freshly squeezed lemon and tahini paste. Finally garnish with parsley and mint.
I have always looked at meat balls in a sauce and wanted to create the same exact vegetarian or vegan version of it. So here goes:
Ingredients for the spinach balls:
1 cup of spinach finely chopped
1/2 cup potato cooked really well
Spices- turmeric, salt, cayenne, garam masala or curry powder, coriander and cumin seeds crushed-all 1/2 teaspoon
Rice flour- 1tablespoon
Oil for frying- any
Preparation:
Take a big bowl, add all your spices and mix well, add chopped up spinach and toss then throw in the well cooked potatoes and mix with your hands to make a dough. Let it rest in the fridge for a half hour. Once you take it out prior to frying them add 1 tablespoon of rice flour and mix well again. Rice flour gives you that golden brown surface.
Take a frying pan, add oil and you could either deep fry if you like it really golden brown or you could shallow fry and it still tastes delicious.
Ingredients for the Sauce:
Onions- 2 large chopped
1 tsp Ginger garlic paste or 1/2 inch of fresh ginger and 5 cloves of garlic
Green Chili- 2
Tomatoes- 4 diced
Oil
Salt to taste and 1 tsp of turmeric powder and curry powder
Preparation:
Place a pan under medium flame and saute ginger garlic in 1 tablespoon of oil and as soon as garlic starts to turn golden, throw in chopped onions, green chili’s and diced tomatoes along with the spices and salt and let it cook down with a lid to a pasty consistency. Blend this to a sauce with 1/4 cup water and cook for another 5 minutes until simmer and then transfer the spinach balls.
I belong to the Southern part of India and we make a lot of traditional dips otherwise popularly known as “Chutneys”
in the Indian food culture. One can play with this idea and make so many variations of chutneys once you have a basic understanding of making a chutney.
I have picked 3 of my best Chutneys for you—-
1) Coconut Chutney
Toast 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen but thawed coconut in a pan under medium flame with 1 teaspoon of coconut oil with chopped green chili, 2 teaspoon of roasted Bengal gram lentils and salt to taste. Blend in a food processor or blender to turn into a semi smooth paste.
Garnish with Cilantro, mustard seeds and curry leaves.
COCONUT CHUTNEY
2) Tomato Chutney
Take a pan under medium flame and add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil, 1 cup of chopped tomatoes, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds,
1 teaspoon of red cayenne/ chili powder, 1/2 inch of grated fresh ginger or paste, 3 garlic cloves finely chopped and sauté with 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder and salt to taste and blend to a fine paste. Garnish with mustard seeds and curry leaves.
TOMATO CHUTNEY
3) TRADITIONAL “THOGAYAL” OR LENTIL CHUTNEY WITH COCONUT
For this chutney, you need 2 teaspoons of Black gram lentils or Black Lentils – although its called black gram these lentils are white on the outside with black seed inside -its called ” Urad dal” in the Indian food culture. You also need 1 teaspoon of Split chickpeas which is yellow in color. Toast both these in a pan under low flame with a teaspoon of coconut oil. Add 1/2 cup of coconut- fresh or frozen grated thawed- and toast with salt and 2/3 fresh red chilis. If you don’t have fresh red chili substitute using cayenne powder. Throw all of this in a blender and grind with as little water as possible. I also add a small piece of fresh tamarind. If not available you can add a teaspoon of lemon juice for acidity. In my household growing up this was one chutney that was never garnished and was gobbled up before it got to the table:)
TRADITIONAL NAME “THOGAYAL” OR LENTIL COCONUT CHUTNEY
My way of coping amidst this panic of Covid 19 is by cooking. It helps me calm down and release my stress.
This morning I decided on cooking a big breakfast. The thing about Huevos Rancheros is that it is a Mexican dish rich in protein from the beans and the eggs. You may skip the yolk and even make the eggs with simply egg whites if you like.
This recipe is simple yet a bit time consuming in terms of the number of ingredients and plating or layering involved. If you want to make it quick you may skip few ingredients as per your liking.
Ingredients:
Eggs -1
Onion- 1 medium chopped fine
Garlic cloves- 4-5
Habanero lime tortillas from Trader Joes (you may use any brand tortillas or any kind)
1 Can of black beans
1 jalapeno diced
Cheddar Cheese or any mexican cheese blend
Salt to taste
1 avocado sliced
Sour Cream
Salsa -either homemade or any store bought (I use Ghost pepper or Habanero salsa because our family loves spice)
Butter or oil
Cilantro for garnish
Preparation:
Take a pan and place over medium heat, add 1 tsp oil, garlic cloves, onions and black beans along with salt and saute for about 5-10 minutes. Then take another pan and make half fry eggs over medium flame. Toast the tortillas in medium flame and I add some cheddar cheese over the toasted tortilla while its warm so the cheese melts over it.
Take a plate -place the toasted tortilla with cheese
Tranfer 2-3 spoons of the beans with onion and garlic on top of the tortilla
Place the half fried egg over
Add some salsa
Add a dollop of sour cream or more as per your liking
Add sliced avocados
Add jalapenos if you like the crunch and spice
Garnish with cilantro
Layering or Plating:
Tip: I always try to make the yolk runny since that elevates the quality of the dish so much.
Khow suey, is a noodle soup made of egg noodles and curried beef or chicken with coconut milk, served with a variety of contrasting condiments.
I have tried to make a vegetarian version with no meat but eggs is optional. Our family loves eggs so I always think thats a nice addition. You may also add tofu for protein.
A squeeze of lemon also adds tanginess to khow suey. The dish is similar to the Burmese noodle dish- ohn no khauk swe, literally ‘coconut milk noodles’.
