Cold Pasta Salad

This is definitely one of my go to Dishes. About a couple months back P suggested a picnic. And boy was I thrilled! I made a lot of stuff, Packed it, got a bag for trash, a nonsensical book, and I was ready! We sat in a bamboo grove, talked, ate, read, relaxed. Until the monkeys came. I think they liked the pasta too :) else it would have been pretty insulting!

This is something that can be whipped up in 10 minutes flat whether I am making it for 3 people or 30. Definitely my go to dish. With a slice of cheesy whole wheat or rye toast, I think it can pretty much make a complete meal.

You will need

1 handful of mini pasta per person (I'm making this dish to serve 2-3)

1 medium sized carrot, chopped into small bits

1 small handful fresh or frozen green peas

1 small handful fresh or frozen sweet corn

6 medium sized French beans, chopped into small pieces

15 large red grapes or 15 ripe small strawberries, quartered

1 handful chopped black olives

2 pinches dried parsley or one teaspoon fresh parsley

2 pinches dried oregano or one teaspoon fresh oregano

2 pinches dried basil or one teaspoon fresh basil

1 teaspoon chopped fresh mint

juice of 1 lime

1 or 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 or 2 teaspoons cheese powder

salt to taste.

Method:

Boil the pasta al dente, run cold water over it and keep aside (the baby pasta I get here takes me 7 minutes to cook. Just for the white backdrop and color riot, I stick to durum wheat pasta but whole wheat pasta is definitely a healthier option)

Blanch/parboil the vegetables and keep aside.

Mix the pasta, cooked vegetables, fruit (in the interest of both taste and color, these two fruits work the best), and olives.

Add the herbs, salt, olive oil, lemon juice, and stir.

Refrigerate if preferred at a lower temperature. If refrigerating, add lime juice just before serving.

Add cheese powder also just before serving.

Serve on its own or with cheese toasts.

Rasam 1 - Pepper Rasam

My MBA School stirs up some strong memories - very good friends and very bad food. Justifiably, I'm still surprised when one of those very good friends says, "I want to make Rasam, XIME style" Uh. Ok. But there are also memories from childhood, from when my Grandmom would force a big glass of this down my throat the minute I started to cough. Angana, here's a tastier, authentic South Indian variation. I hope it helps you beat the Switzerland cold also :)

You will need

3 large, fresh red tomatoes - very finely chopped or boiled and crushed by hand.

3 large cloves garlic, smashed once with a knife

2 pinches black pepper (or you can take it upto 1 teaspoon if you like it spicy) (available in most Indian stores)

1 pinch turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon Rasam powder (optional, if available, but pepper usage needs to be monitored)

10 curry leaves or 1 tablespoon cilantro/dhaniya patta, chopped

1 teaspoon tamarind paste OR juice of 1 lemon (I prefer lemon for pepper Rasam)

1 teaspoon light cooking oil or ghee

1 large pinch cumin seeds.

Salt to taste

Preparation:

1) Heat oil/ghee and add cumin seeds. When they swell, add the garlic and stir.

2) When the garlic starts changing color, add chopped tomatoes and salt and fry till tomatoes start cooking. If using boiled tomatoes, see step 3

3) When the garlic starts changing color, add the tomatoes and stir for 30 seconds on high.

4) Add the turmeric powder

5) Add about 600 ml of water, and salt if required. If using tamarind paste, add it now.

6) Let the Rasam boil for about 5 minutes, and add the pepper powder. Boil for another minute.

7) Add the lemon if using.

8) Finish with curry leaves/chopped cilantro leaves.

9) Serve hot with rice, or on its own as soup.

Note: Traditional Rasam uses cooked and mashed lentils (dal) as a binder. 1 tablespoon can be added to this version as well, but Pepper Rasam is more watery than the regular Rasam.

(Image Courtesy: rakskitchen.net)

Yellow Pumpkin Soup

Before I got married, I would subsist on soup. Every. Single. Night. Many thanks to Kanchan who made me relive those days. The days where I didn't need to keep stressing on the importance of vegetables, because I would get enough. And to emphasize how awesome a simple bowl of colored goop can be, I start here a soup series.

Soups are the most innovative way to eat vegetables, according to me. They cook enough so that the texture is not a bother, while retaining all the essential components. And the possibilities of experimentation are virtually endless.

This is the easiest, most flavorful and tasty variant I have ever made.

Serves 3-4. Preparation/Cooking time - 20 mins

Ingredients

1) Yellow/Red Pumpkins - about half a kg, or 1 1/2 pounds (You can use any species that belongs to the colored pumpkin family - squash, butternut squash, anything, as long as it is fresh)

2) Salt

3) 2 Bay Leaves

4) Red Chilly flakes - 2 large pinches

5) Coarsely ground black pepper - 1 large pinch

6) Chopped parsley - 1 large tablespoon

7) Saffron strands - a pinch

8) Yogurt (plain) - beaten (optional) - 1/2 tablespoon per cup

9) Toasted pumpkin seeds - optional.

Procedure:

1) Take the skin off the pumpkin - easiest way to to this is to cut the pumpkin into 12-16 pieces, skin and all, and slash off the skin with a knife. Steam the pumpkin in a CLOSED container - a cooker makes the most sense. Add a little salt and the bay leaves to the cooker to steam.

2) Once the pumpkin is cooked, puree the pieces into a smooth paste (after discarding the bay leaves).

3) Dilute with vegetable stock/water, add the chilly flakes and pepper and bring to a boil (on a low flame).

4) Add the saffron when the soup starts boiling.

5) Add 3/4 of the parsley and turn off the heat 5 minutes after doing so.

6) Garnish with a pinch of fresh parsley, a yogurt swirl, and the pumpkin seeds.

I like eating this with a slice of toasted brown bread with olive oil dribbled over it. Yumm!!

Red Coconut Chutney

This is a nice variation and a break from the mundane coconut chutney. Goes well with the lighter south Indian stuff like rava dosa, rice dosa, etc.

Ingredients:

1) 1 cup coconut pieces
2) 1 and 1/2 tablespoons black gram (urad daal)
3) 1 and 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
4) salt to taste
5) 4-7 dried red chillies (depending on how spicy you like it)
6) 1/4 teaspoon tamarind paste OR 1/4 teaspoon dry mango powder
7) 10 curry leaves
8) 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
9) a pinch of asafoetida
10) 1 teaspoon oil.

Ingredients:

1) Grind Ingredients 1-6 together to a dry powder
2) Add water at room temperature till it becomes a fine paste.
3) heat oil. Add Ingredients 7,8 and 9 till mustard seeds pop and curry leaves are crunchy.
4) Add the oil mixture to the chutney and serve hot!!

Stir Fry with White Sauce

I love any cream-based vegetables. It makes a wonderful accompaniment with bread, pasta, risotto, or a great side dish for an all-crouton salad. The ways to serve it are wonderful, and its a pleasure to eat.

Any vegetable available can be used here. My favorite happens to be zucchini, and a five vegetale mix (ive mentioned it in the recipe)

Stir-fry in white sauce.

Ingredients
1) 1 cup vegetables. Options:
a) Zucchini, cubed
b) mixed vegetables (tossed in boling water for 3 mins and parboiled - my personal favourite is a mixture of carrots, ring beans, sweet corn, peas, cauliflower florets and zucchini)
c) carrots, cubed
d) pumpkin or squash, cubed
2) 1 tablespoon cream (low fat cream, heavy cream, or half-and-half)
3) 1 teaspoon unflavored yogurt
4) 1 teaspoon butter
5) 1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder
6) 1/4 teaspoon thyme
7) 1/4 teaspoon fresh basil, OR fresh mint
8) salt

Procedure.
1) Heat the butter.
2) Add the vegatables and fry till bright in color.
3) Add salt, cover, and cook on low for 5 mins. Stir twice in these 5 mins.
4) Add the cream, the yougrt, a little water, and cook on high for a minute.
5) When the water evaporates and the sauce thickens, add the thyme and white pepper powder.
6) Add more salt if required, and turn off the heat.
7) Garnish with mint/basil and serve.

Footnotes:
1) Cream may be completely substituted with a think, unflavored, yougrt (even fat free yogurt may be used)
2) DO NOT USE OIL, USE ONLY BUTTER. Remember, always cook dairy with dairy for non-cheese bases (for cream, yogurt, etc, cook with butter, else the plant fat and animal fat can make you feel queasy)

Dal Fry

I know this sounds really simple, but I had to experiment for about two years to get it just right. Last night's was simply yummy so i thought I would share.

Ingredients:

1)Dal - 1 cup (I used the flat lentils here arhar dal but you can use just about any skinned lentils you have in your kitchen)
2)Tomato - 1 small, chopped finely
3)Onion - 1 small, chopped finely
4)Chilli - 1 medium to large, chopped into a long piece n then slit
5)cilantro - 1 teaspoon, chopped

Spices:
1)Mustard seeds - a pinch
2)Cumin seeds - 1/2 a teaspoon
3)turmeric - a pinch
4)all spice powder (garam masala) - a pinch
5)paprika / red chilli powder - a pinch
6)dry mango powder - a pinch (you can also substitute this with about 10 drops of lemon juice for the tang)
7)Salt to taste

Preparation:

1) Boil the dal with slightly excess water.
2) Heat 2 teaspoons oil. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they sputter, add onion. When onions start turning gold add the tomato and chillies.
3) Add the dal once the tomatoes start oozing oil.
4) Add the all spice, paprika, turmeric, dry mango and salt.
5) Add 1 tablespoon of water and boil for about 2 minutes. The dal should be medium watery.
6) Add cilantro before serving.

Peanut chutney

Another old-time favorite that I would love with bread. This too, is a great accompaniment to most Indian dishes.

Ingredients
1) 1 cup peanuts, dry roasted and skin removed (UNSALTED)
2) 2 green chillies
3) 1 clove garlic
4) a pinch dried mango powder OR tamarind juice (if you don't have any of these, use some sour yogurt - you may leave 2 tablespoons of yogurt out overnight to ferment it)
5) mustard seeds
6) curry leaf
7) 2 teaspoon oil
8) A pinch asafoetida (heeng)
9) salt.

Method:
1) Roast Ingredients 1,2,3 in one teaspoon of oil.
2) grind with salt and water and ingredient 4 till you get a smooth paste.
3) heat oil. Add ingredients 5,6,7 and add to chutney.
4) Serve with anything you like.