A homey lentil dish

I made this very basic lentils about a week back, actally right after I returned from India. I was rather tired, I had gone into work right after I came in however the lagged exhaustion hit later, I came back in around 3 pm and went straight to bed. I was woken up a couple of hours later by two excited people jumping on my bed. It was actually wonderful to see them. It was a nice break but a really conflicted one without the little ones.

All in all, I caught up with some old friends thanks to Facebook, and also bought a lot of reading material. I am looking forward to reading some of the books, the cool weather is just right for that. I made this immensely simple lentils and was really stunned by the flavor, I did not even temper it, all it had was the goodness of toor dal (yellow split pigeon peas), tomatoes, garlic, lime and cilantro. I finished it off by melting some butter into it. It was pure and simple wonderful.

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An early fall weekend...

The start of September this year, could not pronounce more loudly that Fall was here. It was almost like Mother Nature had come in with a big magic wand and waved it around us, “Ok folks, it’s back to school time and my favorite season fall is here!” Aadi started kindergarten this year, stealing the thunder a little from Deepta. His first day went well he is missing his old pre-school and friends. I shall miss it too! It has been a part of my life for almost seven years, since it included the daycare for Deepta. My son is a lot like me, he needs to ease into change but once settled he does well.

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The passionate tofu

A lot of people I know treat tofu as the poor step sister of paneer, the creamy rich Indian cheese. I first began using it in my cooking as a convienience (since it is more readily available) and later in my classes, to accomodate my vegan students. Eventually, firm or extra firm tofu has now become more of the norm for me rather than an exception. It actually absorbs flavor beautifully. This lovely delicate sauce that showcases two of the seasons gifts - tomatoes and red peppers offer a perfect match for the mild tofu.

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Bruised tomato mint salad in yogurt

This is a really simple inspiration from all the lovely tomatoes that we have in the house and the tons of fresh mint that is blossoming in a planter. Ok, the mint and all the summer herbs are really a big deal, because they are actually being grown by me and not the husband. I have had them from May, they are this far thriving. I have mint, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, lemon thyme and lemon verbana. I have been doing things with them as and when I can. Today it was the mint and oregano's turn. This recipe is almost like an meeting of Tzatziki and tomato raita, the flavors certainly work well together, but then again I always, say, if its fresh and local it works!

Bruised tomato mint salad in yogurt

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 7-8 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

4-6 small fresh tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh mint leaves

1 tablespoon fresh oregano

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/3 cup olive or raw sesame oil (sold as gingely oil in Indian stores)

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1 cup strained or greek style lowfat yogurt

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup lightly roasted coarsely ground peanuts

Cilantro and green chilies to garnish (optional)

Method of Preparation

1. Place the tomatoes in a bowl.

2. Finely chop the mint and oregano and add all but 1 tablespoon of the chopped herbs to the tomatoes.

3. Mix in the garlic and the oil and chili powder and set aside for 10 minutes.

4. Cook lightly on a grill for 3-4 minutes, till the skin of the tomato is barely bruised.

5. Place in a mixing bowl as they are done and pour any remaining oil marinade into the bowl over the tomatoes.

6. Whip the yogurt with the salt and pour over the tomatoes.

7. Lightly mix in the peanuts and garnish with the reserved mint and the cilantro and green chilies if using.

Note: This salad can be served warm or chilled.

Almost bengali tomato chutney...

Well, if people feel that they are getting deluged with recipes and blog posts, there is actually a reason. I am actually grounded from several things, including work all because of my bum shoulder... This is a crazy problem that I have been dealing with for the past over 2 years and now it has come to a head - I have 101 restrictions, including having to leave work. Is cooking and bloggin allowed, dunno about blogging -part of the don't ask don't tell policy... Well until the dr finds out, shall catch up on all those post that I wanted too...

Today as a part of class, I made this really lovely tomato chutney, well, what I really love about was,//with /really low effort, it tasted much like my mom's...

I offered it with papads, bengali wedding style and what is rare is later, I feasted on the chutney with roasted (er microwaved papads)...

So, how did I make this,

Bengali Tomato Chutney

Cook Time: 25 minutes
Makes 1 cup chutney

Ingredients

1 tablespoon oil
1.5 teaspoons panch phoron
1 tablespoon diced ginger
1-2 dried red chili
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 small can diced tomato
1/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
Papads or pappadums for serving

Method of Preparations

1. Heat the oil and add the panch phoron and wait till the mixture crackles.
2. Add in the ginger and the red chili and saute lightly.
3. Add in the salt and the canned tomato mixture.
4. Add in the raisins and the sugar and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes, till the mixture is thick and fairly sticky.
5. While the chutney is cooking, cook the papads by microwaving on  for 1.5 minutes.
6. Cool the chutney slightly and serve with the papads.

Slow Cooking in the oven!

What caught my attention the other day was this post, about boris. A bori is essentially a sun-dried lentil nugget that I have never really tried making at home. It is just something that I have never seen done and with the indifferent sun we have in the northeast, it has hardly been something I have ventured to do. However the recipe of doing this in the oven seemed very tempting. I did make the boris and I shall post pictures of what I did with them, the interesting thing here was that I oven roasted a whole bunch of tomatoes. I did not have much hopes of anything serious materializing from this exercise so I kept is simple and did not really take any pictures. I had a fussy husband reminding me of the carbon footfrint from my activities. I was going to make my usual fish in the oven fare,so I had a pound of wild salmon steaks that I through in the refrigerator marinating in a zip-lock bag with a paste of 1 small red onion, 2 green chillies, some fresh ginger, mint and garlic. I was heading to Queens to check out something, so I stuck in the boris and the sliced tomatoes drizzled (very lightly) with olive oil and grated ginger and some salt. I had them sitting along with the boris in the oven at 200 degrees and had this timed for 3 hours and went off for my event. Well, I was back about 4 hours later. I found some lightly browned bories and shrivelled tomatoes. I sliced and ate one half and I was in love. This is how the rest of the meal was created.

Masala Salmon with oven roasted tomatoes

Cook time: 4 hours (mostly unattented)

Ingredients

8 small tomatoes

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon very finely grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

1 lbs salmon steaks

1 small onion

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 cup mint leaves

2 green chillies

2 cloves garlic

Extra salt and pepper for the fish

2 tablespoons ghee

Cilantro, lime juice and black pepper to garnish

Method of preparation

1. Cut the tomatoes in half and place on a greased casserole, drizzle with the oil, ginger, salt and chili powder.

2. Place in a oven set to 200 degrees and cook for about 3 hours.

3. Mix the onion, ginger, mint, chillies and garlic into a paste and add in salt and pepper and marinate the salmon for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator with this mixture.

4. Remove the cooked tomatoes and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Place the salmon in a single layer in a greased casserole. Dot each piece with half the ghee.

5. In the meantime, coaresly slice the tomatoes.

6. Cook for about 10 minutes. Turn and dot with the remaining ghee and cook for another 5 minutes. Spead with the tomatoes and add as much black pepper as you wish.

7. Turn off the heat and place the casserole back into the oven and leave in for at least 10 minutes. This allows the juices to flow and meld.

8. Remove from the oven and add in some lime juice and cilantro. I did not have mashed potatoes, but this dish would be perfect with mashed potatoes.

You Say Tomaayto...

The tomatoes in our garden are begining to make their appearance as are the "friendly squirrels. This esplains why some of these beauties have been picked a little before they have been vine-ripened. We do eat a lot of tomatoes, but I have been having a little difficulty keeping up with the harvest.
Also while some of these tomatoes are being put away in paper bags to ripen, I am also getting a few tomatoes that are slightly damaged and green. These would spoil if I actually did not use them right away, so I tried making this jam. It is really very close to a bengali chutney in the light tempering but it is then a jam, thick and sweet. I used lemon juice actually lime juice to add a little bit of tartness, and I think we were very happy having this with some bread and cheese.

Spiced Tomato Jam

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Makes 1.5 cups of Jam

Ingredients

1 teaspoon ghee

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

2 dried red chillies

1 large red tomato (firm) (coarsely chopped)

3 green tomatoes (coarsely chopped)
Juice of 1 lime
1 1/4 cups of sugar

1 large stick cinnamon

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the ghee and add in the fennel seeds, when they being to sizzle add in the red chillies.

2. Add in the tomatoes and the lime juice followed by the sugar.

3. Cook on low heat until the sugar is melted, stirring frequently.

4. Add in the cinnamon and cook till the mixture is fairly thick, this takes about 30 minutes. The mixture should be thick and soft like a thick jam.

This would be lovely on thick bread!

Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

A good sauce takes time to makes, not necessary a lot of effort but a lot of time. Sometimes the interesting element is that like a good broth a good sauce can be really versatile. This one initially seemed fussy as I started it - with red peppers and tomatoes, all picked up from our local markets. Initially roasting the peppers seemed like a good idea, especially since I was letting them do their thing, watching the black creep up and envelope the vivid red as I sat and chatted with my sister-in-law. Well, then I cut up the tomatoes, at again all of this seemed easy enough. As the sauce cooked for some reason it seemed like it was going nowhere, it look bright but rather insipid. But this ended up being - "mommy can I get this for lunch worthy!" with pasta. The key to justifying such an effort really make a large batch.

By the way on a totally different note, if like me you want a little lovely pick me up, try reading this piece. Totally touching and beautiful!

Anyhow as the sauce simmered, I could not help thinking we are living in bizzare times in terms of gubenatorial escapes, from the MIA man taking off to meet his lady love, to Ms. Fiesty non-conformist, who thinks it is cool to up and leave for greener pastures.

Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Makes 5 cups of finished sauce

Ingredients

3 red bell peppers

10 large ripe tomatoes (I used 4 lbs, vine ripened tomatoes)

1/3 cup fruity extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons grated garlic

5 shallots, cut into a dice

15 basil leaves

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon red chili pepper

2 cups white wine (I used a chardonay)

1 tablespoon sugar

Method of Preparation

1. Roast the red peppers on an open flame until the skin is blackened evenly, remove from the flame and place on ice cubes to rub and remove the burnt skin.

2. Coarsely chop and set aside.

3. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and set aside.

4. Heat the oil and butter add the garlic and the shallots. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently until they are transluscent and begining to turn golden at the edges.

5. Add in the peppers and tomatoes and stir well. Cook on medium heat for 45 minutes. By now you should have a pot of bubbling red liquid and chunky by fair well cooked tomatoes.

6. Add in the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat on low and simmer for another 2 hours, Stirring occasionally.

7. Cool the sauce and blend into a smooth puree. This yields a very flavorful sauce that can be used over pasta or actually as a base for anything that you can think off.

Tomato Soup with Ginger and Oregano

When we were on vacation last week, I had tried a couple of interesting cobbled together creations. Well, we had this condo with a really well equiped kitchen so I felt that it would be quite a waste not to use my time at least doing what I so love doing, - cooking. However, naturally since the supplies in terms of spices etc were minimal these turned out to be different from what I might have otherwise done. However, this soup worked wonders with grilled cheese that I made with pepperjack cheese to lend a little zing.

Tomato Soup Recipe

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

2 onions finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 large piece of ginger, peeled and grated

8 vine-ripened tomatoes quartered

1/2 cup canned tomato puree

2 tbsp crushed peppercorns

1.5 tsp salt

3 tbsp butter

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp fresh oregano

1 cup lowfat (2%) milk

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and saute the onions, garlic and ginger for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, peppercorns, salt and butter with 3/4 cup water and simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes.

3. Cool for 10-15 minutes and add the garam masala and oregano and blend in the blender till very smooth.

4. Return to the heat and heat but do not boil. (If this boils the milk will curdle, you can use cream if you want a richer and piping hot flavor).

5. Stir in the milk and serve with your grilled cheese sandwich or by itself.

Basil and tomatoes - Fare thee well - Summer 07

There is a distinct nip in the air, heralding the arrival of fall, this weekend we have had crisp, cool sunny weather. Going to the store however I found these really beautiful baby roma tomatoes. I was thrilled to see them! Of course, nothing better to pair them with other than basil. Made a simple pasta, that was something that the kids loved and made everyone else happy. So here we are,

Farfalle with green peppers and roma tomatoes.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 cup dried farfalle
3 tbsp extra virgin olive
1 green bell pepper thinly sliced
1/2 cup homemade or prepared pasta sauce
1.5 lbs baby roma tomatoes, halved
1/3 coarsely torn basil leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method of Preparation

1. Cook the farfalle according to the directions on the package and drain.
2. Heat the oil and add the pepper and saute for 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the pasta sauce and the tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add the pasta and basil and toss.
5. Mix in the basil leaves and the salt and pepper and serve hot.

This week's WHB is being hosted by Katerina at "Daily Unadventures in Cooking!". Her blog features wonderful, practical everyday food and is hardly "unadventureous". This post is for her.

Basil - Pat's Marinara Sauce

I work with Pat who originally
hails from Abruzzi in Italy.
Well, rather, that is where her parents are from. Making marinara sauce is a big deal for them. It is a summertime activity starting with the growing of the tomatoes. She has been extolling the wonders of this sauce for a very long time.
For someone like me, who is used to 20 ingredients in a basic dish, it was dificult to comprehend the beauty and richness of slow cooked tomatoes until I tried it. I have made some tweaks to the recipe since I do not always have tons of fresh tomatoes available, but, I think this marinara is still pretty good. This shall teach me to scoff at the simple beauty of tomatoes and garlic.

This is how I have adaped it. BTW, here is a nice post on making marinara in India

Marinara Sauce

Makes 4 cups

Ingredients

1/3 cup olive oil

1o cloves of garlic minced

1 onion finely chopped

1 large can tomato puree

1 can tomato paste
20 tomatoes blanched and quartered

1 bottle(750 ml) deep red wine (I use about 3/4)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped basil

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the garlic and onions and cook till turning golden.

2. All the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

3. Cook on low heat for 2 hours stirring occasionally, using small amounts of the wine to thin the sauce.

4. During the last five minutes add the basil.

This sauce is great on simple pasta but can be a wonderful base for anything you can think of. I sometimes break 3-4 eggs over a small casserole of sauce and bake in the oven for 20 minutes and serve topped with black pepper.

The key ingredient here is basil. This is a herb that I love with tomatoes and in pesto. I make a lighter version of pesto, I shall post someday. I have recently learnt to appreciate its subtle sweet taste and use it in rice dishes and of couse Thai dishes.

WHB is being hosted by Anna at morsels and musings. From what I gather she is recently married. Congratulations!

Working with the Haas Avocado

I first disovered Haas Avocados when I tried them as a guacamole. They tasted wonderful, with warm tortilla chips. I delved further when my daughter was born. They were a neutral, heavy, and mild tasting fruit that most children if given a chance liked. This link will give you everything you may or may not want to know about this fruit.

Well what I made was working with the Haas Avocados. Grape Tomatoes co-stars with avocadoes in this recipe to produce a simple wholesome Guacamole.

We had this for lunch with my healthy, flavorful nachos, described in the next post for a simple but satisfying weekend brunch.

Guacomole with Grape Tomatoes

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 Haas avocadoes

1 lime

1.5 tsp salt

3/4 cup grape tomatoes

1/2 red onion

3 green chillies

1/2 cup cilantro chopped finely

A spash of balsamic vinegar

Method of Preparation

1. Mash the avocadoes, with the juice of the lime and salt.

2. Chop the grape tomatoes into quarters.

3. Finely chop the onion and mince the green chillies.

4. Mix this into the avocado mixture.

5. Finally add in the vinegar and cilantro and serve with homemade tortilla chips.

Home Made Tortilla Chips

Makes enough for a 3 person snack

Ingredients

2 tortillas

1 tbsp olive oil

Method of preparation

1. Spread the baking tray with some oil.

2. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.

3. Cut the chips into pieces and spread flat onto the tray.

4. Bake for 10 min, turn the chips and bake for 5-7 min more.

5. Serve warm with the guacomole

Off this goes to Pookah at What's cooking in Carolina, who is hosting WHB this week.

Chicken Tikka Masala - Chicken in a creamy tomato sauce

Chicken Tikka Masala (Serves 6)

INGREDIENTS:
For the Chicken Tikka

Ingredients
1 cup yogurt
Juice of one lime
1 tsp chilli powder
2 tbs tandoori masala
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
Salt to taste
2 lbs cut into bite-size pieces

Preparation
Mix the yogurt and spices to form a smooth paste.
Marinade the chicken in the above ingredients for 8-10 hrs.
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Put the chicken on a baking tray sprinkle with oil.
Bake the chicken for 15 min and broil till lightly brown (5-7min)

Sauce.
Ingredients
Remaining marinade (very important)
½ cup yogurt
3-4 tbs butter
2-3 tbs oil
1 onion finely chopped
2 tbs dried fenugreek
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 green chilies finely chopped
½ green pepper finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
3 teaspoons salt, or to taste
1 tsp Garam Masala
3 tomatoes finely chopped
½ cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat oil in a pan and add onion and garlic.
2. Add the cumin, paprika, fenugreek and salt.
3. Cook for 5 minutes and add the tomatoes. Cook till the tomatoes soften to a pulp.
4. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
5. Blend the sauce with the cream.
6. Return to heat and add the chicken. Cook on low heat for 10-15 minutes.
7. Add the butter and cook till melted
8. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro and garam masala.