Corn Patties

These corn patties make a great snack or side. They are, in one word, irresistible. Quite similar to the ones that everybody makes a beeline for when they go to Mahabaleshwar. They have a thin cover of semolina over a layer of spiced mashed potatoes, gently enveloping a flavorful filling of corn and coconut.
Along with that there was Indian style alyacha gawati chaha (ginger lemongrass tea).

The recipe -

Makes 12 patties

For the outer shell -
potatoes         3 large or 5 small
cornflour        3 tbsp
bread             3 slices
chilly powder roughly 3/4th tsp
semolina        1/2 cup

For the filling -
corn from 2 cobs
fresh or frozen and thawed coconut roughly 1/3rd cup
onion, finely chopped 1/2 cup
curry leaves, thinly julienned
chilly powder roughly 1/2 tsp

Method -

1. Cook the potatoes (err on the side of overcooking) and mash them really well. There should be no lumps as this will make it hard to shape the potatoes into a cup to hold the filling.
2. Roughly tear the bread slices into a few big pieces and then put them in the blender to make fine breadcrumbs resembling sawdust.
3. Mix the mashed potatoes, breadcrumbs, cornflour, chilly powder and salt to taste.
4. Now for the filling. Saute chopped onion in a pan. Once it is translucent, add the corn, curry leaves, chilly powder and salt to the pan, mix well. And a little bit of sugar, say 1 or 2 tsp. Then add the coconut, saute for a few mins and turn off heat.
5. To assemble the patties, roll the mashed potato mixture into little balls with your hands. They should be slightly bigger than a golf ball.
6. Shape a ball into a cup shape with your hands, add a heaped tablespoon of the filling in the cup and gently close the cover over the filling. This may be frustrating at first. It took a few mangled patties for me to get a hang of it. But believe me, it is a matter of practice.
You can adjust the sizes of the potato ball and the filling to make it easier for you to shape them into patties.
7. Spread the semolina in a plate. Dab the patties in the plate to cover them with semolina on both sides.
8. Shallow fry the patties until browned from both sides.
Serve with ketchup.

Delicious Kale Salad

This salad is so good, I could eat it for dessert. And I love desserts dearly. To add to that, kale is a superfood with loads of vitamin K and anti-cancer and cholesterol-lowering properties.

Here's the recipe.

Serves 4

You will need -

a small bunch kale (roughly 5-7 preferably young leaves)
2 avocados, chopped
1 apple, chopped (substitutes: other sweetish fruits such as pears, grapes)
a small handful broken candied walnuts (substitutes: pecans, almonds)
quarter onion chopped length-wise (optional)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (you can try substituting other vinegars or lemon juice though I haven't tried it)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
black pepper
2 tsp sugar

Method -

1. Remove the thick veins of the kale leaves by folding the leaf and cutting the vein off. Then chop up the kale into bite-size pieces. Sprinkle salt over it and crumple the leaves in your hands and release. Repeat this several times. Massaging the kale this way makes it more palatable.
2. Add chopped avocado, chopped apple, walnuts, onion, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, sugar.
3. Add salt and pepper to suit your taste.
4. Toss the salad well. I try to make sure I don't completely turn the avocado into pulp because I like it when I encounter yummy avocado chunks in my salad. For that you may chop the avocados into bigger pieces.

My new love - Greek Yogurt

Have you wondered what all the buzz is about greek yogurt?

I was wondering the same so I tried it a few times and loved its creaminess. But the best part about greek yogurt as I found out eventually is that since it is made by removing water from regular yogurt it is more densely packed with nutrients - which means lots of protein per serving! AND lots of fat. Which is why it is all the more important that you choose non-fat greek yogurt.

In 226g of this creamy goodness there is 23g of protein (daily requirement for women is 40-50g) which is twice that of regular yogurt. There, you have a healthy and great tasting vegetarian protein source.

Now I almost always buy greek yogurt instead of regular.

It is very versatile and can be used in dips and instead of sour cream as a topping. Even as a creamy dessert. Stay tuned for more recipes with greek yogurt!

Warm Swiss Chard with Mushrooms

This Saturday morning we went out for brunch and were pleasantly surprised to see that it’s farmers market season already! It is just January, and while the majority of the country is covered in snow, I am so glad to be living in "feels like spring all year round" Bay Area. I have to admit, it wasn't particularly warm, but it surely was sunny and pleasantly cold - good enough to shop at a farmers market!

Anyway, in my excitement of shopping fresh, locally sourced produce, I picked Swiss Rainbow Chard from one of the stalls. In the past I have made some yummy chard salads using yogurt. This time, I decided to try cooking it.

Chard is like any other greens, delicate, has an earthy flavor and generally seems like a veggie that will get along with any other fellow vegetables.  Again, I spent less than 30 min cooking this start to finish, so I’ll categorize this one as a quick fix too. However, this can’t be your main entree. 

 

Ingredients:

- 1 bunch swiss rainbow chard, cleaned chopped

- 8-9 cremini mushrooms, diced

- 3 cloves garlic, minced

- half cup onion, minced

- 2 tsp EVOO

- 3 tsp balsamic vinegar

- salt pepper to taste

How To:

Heat 1 tsp EVOO on medium low heat and add garlic. Cook until fragrant. Add swiss chard and cook until wilted. I used some chard stalks too, so i let it cook a little longer until the hard stalks were soft, but you can cook it as you like. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat 1 tsp EVOO on medium heat. Add onion and mushroom, and let cook until onions are translucent. Add balsamic vinegar and cook until it is reduced. (4-5 mins). Pour over the swiss chard. Add salt and pepper. 

Serve warm or cold.

Hearty Veggie Soup

I like soup for dinner on foggy cold week nights – like this week. And hearty vegetable soups can especially be comforting on busy weeknights.  My mom made all sorts of soups when I was growing up and I have grown to love them.

I liked this soup because it took me only 30 minutes to make it from start to finish, the recipe consisted of cooking veggies by steaming them - a healthier way to eat them, and plus it made an awesome leftover.

Here goes the recipe –

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots cut into cubes
• 2 ripe tomatoes cut into cubes
• 1 onion cut into cubes
• 1 medium sized potato, peeled, cut into cubes
• 1 tsp butter
• Salt, pepper, red chili powder, sugar per taste
• 1/4^th cup 1% fat milk (optional)
• Cilantro, minced

Direction:

Pressure cook all veggies till tender. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can also cook all the veggies in a pan by adding water till they’re just covered. Puree cooked veggies. Heat butter in a stockpot and add pureed veggies. Add milk, salt, pepper, red chili powder, sugar per taste. Mix well. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

A and I like our soup with toasted bread with light ghee spread. I added red chilli powder as a garnish for some extra heat.

I am going to try this recipe with ghee instead of butter. Ghee doesn’t burn as fast as butter as it has a higher smoke point than butter.

Leek Salad

Yesterday Shal suggested that she and I contribute to this blog together. I accepted the offer without a blink. Nice idea, isn’t it? I immediately remembered the leek that had been staring at me from our fridge for 3 days since my “Return to Bay Area” therapeutic grocery shopping! A leek salad would be a good first blog post, I thought. Here it is...

This is a really quick salad that can put together in less than 10 min., pairs well with Indian home cooked food and serves as a satisfying substitute to traditional “koshimbir”. In fact now that I think about it, it is a better accompaniment dish, than a salad. 

Leeks appear to me like cousins of spring onion, they have a delicate onion-ny flavor, and so if you want a dinner time substitute to onions, leeks are a good option. An important aspect of working with leeks is cleaning them as they grow close to the ground, they will have dirt in the green layers.
Slice the leeks lengthwise down the center and rinse under water to remove all the dirt, especially dirt between the leaves.

Here’s the recipe, adapted from here.

Ingredients:

·         1 Leek (discard the coarse outer leaves and use the tender white and light green parts), sliced thinly, crosswise .

·         1 medium sized Persian cucumber (I like persian cucumbers in this salad because of their delicate flavor), peeled, halved and sliced.

·         1 medium sized heirloom tomato, cut into small cubes.

·         0.5 cup cilantro, cut coarsley

·         1 tbsp roasted groundnut powder (optional)

·         Salt to taste

Dressing:

·         1.5 tbsp lemon juice

·         3 tbsp EVOO

·         Salt, black pepper & sugar to taste 

Mix everything in a bowl and serve.

Healthy Chicken Fried Rice

My dad makes really good chicken fried rice. I remember it was my last meal in India before I first moved to the US. I've included some of his tips in the recipe below.

You will need -

• boneless skinless chicken breast - chopped, marinated in garlic and soy sauce
• cooked rice (I usually use a 50-50 mixture of white basmati and brown basmati. Please refer to 'notes' below on how to cook rice)
• minced garlic
• spring onions
• whisked eggs (optional)
• sesame oil (optional)

A few of the following -

• carrots
• bell peppers - any color. I used red.
• green beans
• cabbage
• broccoli, if you want to make up for some decadent sins from the day before
• peas

Seasoning -

• soy sauce
• fish sauce (optional)
• ketchup (optional)
• sriracha or hot sauce (optional)
• water

Method -

1. In a large shallow pan heat some vegetable oil and saute marinated chicken until fully cooked.  Keep aside.
2. Add eggs to the pan, saute to make a scramble, set aside.
3. Add vegetable oil and 1 or 2 tsp sesame oil to pan . After a couple of mins add the garlic, saute. Then add the veggies that take longer to cook - such as green beans, carrot, broccoli.
4. Once those veggies are semi-cooked add the other veggies that cook fast - such as bell peppers, cabbage, peas.
5. Meanwhile combine all the ingredients under 'Seasoning' in a small bowl.
6. Add seasoning mixture and chicken to pan. Mix well.
7. Add the rice, mix well. Be gentle with the rice, you want to avoid breaking the grains. Saute for 2-3 mins.
8. Add spring onions and scrambled eggs. Mix well.
9. Check the taste. If required add soy sauce/ hot sauce/ black pepper and mix well.

Some tips -

1. It is widely recommended that you use a day-old rice for fried rice. But I have got as good results by cooking the rice with slightly less water than usual and then spreading it out on plates for 1 to 2 hours in a well-ventilated area before using it. I sometimes put the fan on to dry the rice faster.
2. Cooking the eggs and veggies together will make your rice smell of egg. To avoid this  it's better to saute the eggs separately, keep aside and add to the rice towards the end.
3. All the steps should be done over medium to high heat. You don't want to slow-cook your veggies in fried rice.
4. It's always good to use a mix of colorful veggies - if you don't have red bell pepper, try to use carrot so that your fried rice looks colorful and appetizing. Eating all colors is also a good way to get all kinds of vitamins and minerals.