Procedure 1 Switch on the oven to 400F. In a large cookie sheet (use the one which you think will fit the pizza dough) add all the ingredients except the pizza dough. That is, the thinly sliced peppers, onion, garlic, oil and the seasonings. Mix it well and spread it on the baking sheet.

2 Cook it for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. I also broiled it for another 5 minutes, keeping the oven door open. Transfer the caramelized vegetables to a plate or wax paper.

3 Usually while baking the pizza dough you have to oil the baking sheet. Since we have roasted the vegetables already you can see that the baking sheet is already greased. So simply remove the dough from the can and unfold it on the cookie sheet. Spread it evenly to cover the cookie sheet. The dough may tear, but don’t worry, because you can always repair it using your fingers to stretch the dough and cover the holes.

4 Top the dough with the cooked pepper and onion mixture evenly.

5 Bake it for 12-16 minutes, until the bottom turns golden brown and the top is also baked enough.

6 I did not want to scratch my baking sheet while cutting the pizza, so removed it from the cookie sheet before cutting it.

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This is yet another low fat pasta recipe from the book 1001 Low Fat Vegetarian Recipes. Earlier I had prepared the Curried Pasta and Vegetables from this book. This pasta dish is also very simple to prepare, healthy without heavy sauces and cheese, but at the same time very flavorful also.

Recently I have been seeing a lot of Indian/Indianized recipes in the Western cookbooks. The Curried Pasta and Vegetables is one such recipe from the book “1001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes”. As the name suggests the book has 1001 low-fat vegetarian recipes; from appetizers to desserts the recipes are classified under 17 categories. I think I have to keep renewing this book in the library at least for 2-3 months.

Coming to this recipe, I adapted it from one of the recipes in the book. This is also a vegan pasta dish, without any cheese. Since the pasta gets it’s flavor from the curry sauce, the taste gets even better the next day. So you can prepare this on Sunday evening and have it for Monday’s dinner. The curry sauce can also be prepared ahead and it’s also versatile. Just throw in the vegetables you have at hand, the curry sauce and the pasta, you have a wholesome and nutritious meal ready in no time.

This is my entry for the following events
1. Suganya’s Vegan Ventures
2. Mansi’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving

For long time now, I have wanted to prepare vegetarian burgers, or rather it was my husband’s long pending request and I finally made it yesterday from Jai and Bee’s blog. Their Spicy Kidney Bean Burgers is a fantastic recipe. I was able to prepare it for dinner in no time.

I used canned and drained kidney beans (2 cans, 15.5 oz each). It was also the “No Salt Added” store brand canned beans, this allowed me to control the sodium content in the burgers.

I don’t have a food processor, so at first I just drained one can and rinsed it well and mixed all the other ingredients listed in the recipe and blended it using my Indian mixer. And let me tell you, it was little tricky to get the right consistency. Initially it did not grind at all and once I added a little water it became very mushy. I was glad that I reserved the other can. Now I opened the 2nd can, drained and rinsed it and mashed the beans nicely with a potato masher and mixed the ground mixture to this. Even then I was not able to make balls out of it. So instead of adding flour to the mixture as they had mentioned, I added a handful of quick cooking oats and I got the desirable consistency to shape them into burgers.

I also used curry powder and Maggi’s tomato chili ketchup to give it a desi taste. The original recipe mentions to use either ajwain (omam) or cumin, but I strongly suggest to go with ajwain, because I felt that it gave a very good flavor and aroma to the burgers. I also did not have nutritional yeast, so used roasted chick pea flour (besan) instead. Also don’t forget to add the 1/4 cup of chopped almonds, because this gives a nice crunch to the burgers, which you don’t want to miss.

I used a stove top non stick griddle to cook the burgers. Sprayed the grill with non stick canola oil spray and placed the burgers on it. It took around 8 -10 minutes for one side. Let it cook completely on one side, don’t be in hurry and bother to turn them immediately, because it will lose it’s shape. After 8 minutes or so, slowly flip it over the other side and let it cook for another 7-8 minutes. For 2 cans of beans I got 8 medium size burgers.

For the buns, I used Arnold’s Select 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins. It is a mere 100 calories, with 6gm fiber and 5gm protein and it doesn’t taste like mulch also

We had our burgers on a bed of iceberg lettuce, grilled zucchini with a side of potato/sweet potato fries. (Ya I know, was trying to reproduce their original menu!)

Jai and Bee we loved them absolutely. Thank you very much for such an easy and healthy recipe. Your Recipe Rocks!

This is also my entry to Zlamushka’s Tried and Tasted event.

Usually I add little sugar to the cooked beet water and give it to my son as juice. This time my mother gave the idea of preparing Rasam (Chaaru) using it. Back in India, my grandmother and mother used to prepare Goddu Chaaru, which does not require toor daal, rasam powder. It’s prepared when you want rasam immediately, or when you are not cooking daal that day. As simple as it may look, it’s very tasty though. I had some toor daal water so I used it in the rasam, but it’s not at all necessary for this rasam.

Ingredients
Beets cooked water
Tamarind – 2 teaspoons or sour tomatoes (I used 2 tablespoons of crushed tomatoes)
Salt
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee – 1/2 tablespoon
Red Chillies – 1 (or as per your taste)
Mustard Seeds
Cumin – 1 teaspoon
Garlic cloves – 2

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I saw this recipe in Woman’s Day magazine under Heart Healthy Recipes category.  I wanted to try this recipe because it had bulgur wheat as the main ingredient, which I have not tasted before.  I use cracked wheat regurlarly, so I always have it in home.  I thought that both were same.  So before using it in the recipe, I wanted to be sure and check if there was any difference between bulgur wheat and cracked wheat and found out the following; (Source: www.epicureantable.com)

Bulgur Wheat:
Partially hulled whole wheat kernels that are soaked, then steamed (hence pre-cooked if you will), dried and then crushed are called bulghur.  It requires no or little cooking.  Though modern processes involve oven drying or roasting some villages still sun dry bulghur on their rooftops. 

Cracked Wheat:
Raw whole wheat berries that are crushed to varying qualities of texture are called cracked wheat and require cooking.  These are also found in 3 grades of coarseness: fine, medium and coarse, the choice of which depends on use and preference.

To simplify it even more bulgur is wheat cracked after cooking and drying, whereas the wheat is cracked in raw stage for cracked wheat.
 
Are they interchangeable? 
This depends on whether the recipe requires cooking or not and your own degree of purism.  A salad recipe such as tabooli is uncooked, and so requires true bulghur as do recipes where bulghur is brought to the boil, cooked for a moment then left to rest off heat to swell as in a pilaf.   Recipes requiring longer cooking times or coarse grain bulghur can be replaced with cracked wheat, but will need more cooking time.
 
But both bulghur and cracked wheat are excellent sources of fibre, minerals and vitamins for your diet.

Moving on to the recipe,  I have scaled down the measurements given in the original recipe; still we had a lot of chili.  I made it for dinner and it was very filling.

Ingredients:
Water – 3 cups
Bulgur Wheat – ½ cup
Olive Oil – 2 teaspoon
Onion, chopped – ½ cup
Red Pepper, chopped – ½ cup
Chili Powder – 1 tablespoon or as per taste
Garlic, minced – 1 tspn
Ground Cumin – 1 tspn
Water – 2 cups
Crushed Tomatoes – 1 cup
Pumpkin Puree (canned) – 1 cup
Zucchini, medium, diced – 1
Frozen Corn, ½ cup
Black Beans (canned), drained and rinsed – 1 cup
Cilantro, chopped – ¼ cup

Accompaniments/Optional:
Reduced-fat Cheddar
Reduced-fat sour cream

Procedure:
1.  Put 3 cups of the waer and bulgur in a medium microwave-safe bowl.  Cover and microwave on high until bulgur is tender, about 13 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet.  Add onion and pepper; saute 5 minutes.

3.  Add chili powder, garlic and cumin; saute until fragrant.

4.  Add remaining 2 cups water, the tomatoes, pumpkin, zucchini and corn; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

5.  Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender.

6.  Stir in beans and bulgur; heat through.

7.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

My Notes:
My husband loved the chili.  The only thing I didn’t like was the flavor of the red pepper.  I will be trying it without the red pepper next time.

I saw this recipe in Parents magazine.  The original recipe was not completely vegetarian, so I changed it a little bit.

Ingredients:
Asparagus, sliced – 1 cup (approximately 10-12 spears)
Yellow Peeper, diced – 1 cup (1 medium size)
Plum Tomatoes, seeded and chopped – 2 (I used 1/4 cup of crushed tomatoes instead)
Garlic, minced – 1 clove (I used 2 cloves)
Olive oil – 1 teaspoon
Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
Italian seasoning
Pepper – 1/4 teaspoon (not mentioned in the original recipe)
Refrigerated Pizza tube – 1 (I used Pillsburry Pizza Crust)
Italian blend Cheese, shredded – 1 cup (I used part skim pizza blend cheese)

Procedure:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a glass bowl, combine asparagus, peepers, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, Italian seasoning and pepper.

3. Mix them well and here is how it looks:

4. Cover and microwave for 4 minutes, stirring once in the middle. Let cool 5 minutes. Drain off excess liquid. (But I did not have any excess liquid)

5. Unroll pizza dough onto baking sheet and shape into a rectangle.

6. Place half of cheese onto bottom third of dough along its length.

7. Spread veegie filling onto cheese.

8. Top with remaining cheese.

9. Roll up to shape stromboli (into a log).

10. Bake for 25 minutes.

11. Let cool 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

I got around 23 pieces for this measurement. My husband and I loved it. A different twist to the regular pizza.

My Notes:
1. This was a bit salty, so you may want to increase the amount of pepper if you want it spicy.

2. I suggest to cool the baked stromboli even for 10 minutes, so that slicing will not be difficult and you will also get neat slices.

This is my entry for Mansi’s Monthly Mingle originally started by Meeta.

This is a very simple side dish for chapathis/naan without lot of spices, yet very flavorful and healthy.

Ingredients:
Oil – 2 tablespoons
Garlic Cloves – 2, minced
Onion, medium size – 1, finely chopped
Salt – as per taste
Curry powder/garam masala – as per taste
Yogurt – 1 cup (I used low fat yogurt)
Milk – 1 cup (I used 2%)
Frozen chopped spinach (10 0z) – 1, thawed
Canned chickpeas (15 oz) – 1, drained and rinsed

Procedure:
1.  Heat oil in a skillet.
2.  Add the onion, salt and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
3.  Now add the curry powder and cook for another 1 minute.
4.  Add yogurt, milk, thawed spinach and the drained chickpeas and let it simmer until all the flavors blend together.

My Notes:
1.  The dish was nice and creamy.  I actually added a mixture of full cream and milk, that definitely gave a richness to the gravy. 

2.  Be careful while adding salt because the canned chickpeas already has salt in it.

3.  Update:  I did not make the Naan.  It’s the frozen variety we get in US, Deep Brand.   Just heat it in the oven for 2 minutes, it’s ready to eat and you get a very nice fluffy naan.  I also broil it for another 1-2 minutes to get a crunchy texture.  The one in the picture is Garlic Naan and we absolutely love it.  It’s so handy while entertaining friends also.  But be sure to heat it just before eating and serve it immediately or else it tends to dry.

Dear Ranjeetha of Ranji’s Kitchen Corner has passed me the Nice Matters award.  My another friend Divya of Dil Se has passed me the Rocking Girl Blogger Award.  Thank you very much Ranji and Divya.

I would like to pass both the awards to my very good friend Dee of Ammalu’s Kitchen.

Earlier this week my friend Smitha, left a comment in my blog saying that she tried the oven baked zucchini fries and it came out very well.  Couple of weeks back she also mentioned that she tried the Easy Basundi for a party and it was a hit too.  When I posted a recipe for making Easy Baklavas another friend SS prepared baklava the traditional method and sent me a picture also, telling that it was inspired by me.  Last week another visitor A also mentioned that she tried the Zucchini Dal and Zucchini fries.  Thanks a lot buddies.

I’m mentioning all this because, even though I started this blog as a hobby to pursue my passion for baking/cooking, I feel very happy when I read each and every comment and exhilirated when somebody tells me that they tried the recipes in my blog and it came out well.  So I thought why not pass this happiness to other food bloggers too.  Even prior to starting my own blog, I have visited many blogs and have kept bookmarking interesting recipes but tried only a very few.  Call it laziness or lack of time.  Since I have a food blog now, I know how happy I would be if somebody tried my recipe and complimented it.  So I want to make a conscious effort to try at least one recipe every week from other blogs and hence this ode to the food blogging community.  There are so many food blogging sites which have great recipes!!!

I know what you all are thinking, this is very similar to MBP (Monthly Blog Patrol) created by Coffee of The Spice Cafe.  Yes it is, but I want to make it more current. Since we all know that there is a shortage of rice supply in the US, I thought why not try to go on a rice strike for atleast one meal every week.  Even now in my family we eat rice only for lunch and it’s a light meal in the evenings. But again being a south indian our light meals are limited to idli, dosa, pongal, arisi (rice) uppuma and it also has rice as the main ingredient.  I do make soups and salads regularly but considering the pressing issue of increase in the price of rice I wanted to do something more.  So I thought why not try one more non-rice main dish from other food blogs once a week (more than 1 meal would be great too) and post the final picture/pictures every Sunday.  This is my own way of thanking all the food bloggers for the wonderful recipes produced in their kitchens and reproduced in their virtual kitchen.

By cooking 4 non-rice main dishes a month we will not only limit our rice consumption but we will also be experimenting various other cuisines, food grains, and increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables which is healthy as well.  More than anything we can bring a smile in the face of our blogging friends more often.  I don’t want to call this an event, instead a tradition and name it Your Recipe Rocks (YRR). 

Anybody interested in joining me to start this small tradition?

P.S: Everything said I would like to add one final note.  This is neither a competition nor compulsory. I know how tedious food blogging can get, having to cook/bake something interesting regularly and taking pictures, participating in so many food events and other stuff.  So don’t stress yourself too much.  It’s ok if you are not able to cook something new every week.  Just consider what I have written and do it whenever you find time, and post it in your blog the following Sunday.

Dee, thank you very much for your time and support.

This week I tried Cham’s Idli Rava Kichidi.  Cham had prepared this kichidi and chutney for JFI: Garlic.  Instead of using idli rava I prepared the kichidi with regular rava (semolina), crushed tomatoes instead of fresh ones and added a handful of frozen peas while the water was boiling.  The kichidi tasted very good.  I added only one 1 garlic clove in the chutney to suit our palette.  My husband loved the flavor of garlic both in the kichidi and in the chutney.  

Thanks Cham for the wonderful recipe.   Looking forward for many tasty recipes from you.  Your Recipe Rocks