2 Cook the soy chunks/nuggets as per the package instructions. (In a medium pan add about 4 cups of water and let it boil. Once it boils, switch off the stove, add a teaspoon of salt and the soy chunks and leave it aside for 15 minutes. Then drain the water and squeeze out the excess water from the soy chunks and keep it ready). The soy chunks will be very hot, so pour some cold water and leave it for sometime before squeezing.

3 In a large skillet add the oil. When the oil is hot enough add the cumin seeds and let it crackle.

4 Then add the sliced onions and a pinch of salt. Fry the onions and then add the cut peppers and the seasonings. Also include the soy chunks and sautee it a couple of times.

5 Now depending on the size of the pan you are using add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water to the vegetable mixture and let it cook. The water should be absorbed and the vegetables should also be cooked.

6 Now add the cooked couscous to the vegetables and mix it well.

7 Drizzle few drops of lemon juice, cilantro and mix it once again.

2 I have used three color bell peppers because I had it, but you can use just one too.

1 Peel the skin, cut each potato into 4 pieces and cook it.

2 Heat oil in a frying pan and add the cumin seeds. Once it splutters add the onions and fry it until its soft.

3 Also add the green peas, salt, turmeric powder, chili powder and coriander powder and fry it for another 5 minutes.

4 Now add the cooked potatoes and mix it well, coarsely mashing the potatoes. Cook it for 2-3 minutes and switch off the stove. Add the lemon juice (if using) and coriander leaves and mix it well. The potato filling is ready.

1 Soak urad daal in water for 3-4 hours. You can either soak the idli rava or not. My grandmother used to soak it in lukewarm water. I have tried both methods and have not found any difference in the idlis. After at least 3 hours drain the urad daal, reserving some of the water.

2 If using a wet grinder, switch it on, add 1/2 cup of the water and let the grinder run. Then slowly add the urad daal. Grind it atleast for 25-30 minutes until it’s nice and fluffy.

3 Add the idli rava to the urad daal batter while it’s still in the grinder and let the grinder run a couple of minutes more so that everything is combined well.

4 Transfer the batter to a bowl, add salt and the oil and mix it well. Use a big size bowl so that there is enough room for the batter to rise while it ferments. Ferment it for at least 12-15 hours and use it the next day.

1If using rice instead of idli rava, the measurement I follow is 2 cups of par boiled rice, 1 cup of raw rice and 3/4th-1 cup of urad daal. Soak the rice together. Soak the urad daal separately. First grind the urad daal as mentioned above and transfer it to the bowl. Then grind the rice to a coarse consistency. It should take only 5-8 minutes if grinding it in a wet grinder. Then mix both the batters, salt and oil and combine it well.

2 I also soak for adai whenever I’m going to grind for idlis. First I grind daal and rice for idlis, transfer the batter and in the same grinder grind for adai. So we have adai for dinner and idli/dosa for the next 2 days. So with extra 10 minutes of work 3-4 days’ dinner/breakfast is taken care off. Also less clean up, because you have to wash the grinder only once as against twice if you soak for adai and idlis on two separate days.

I had a dried red chili at home which is not at all spicy but gives only the color. I used that in addition to the spicy chillies to get the red color. So I did not use tomato. Grind everything together to a smooth paste. Usually I fry this chutney in little oil to get rid of the raw smell from onions. I didn’t do it this time because anyway I was going to steam it with the idlis.

Grind everything together adding little water as needed.

Grind everything together adding little water as needed.

2 Meanwhile in a big frying pan add the oil and heat it. Once it is hot enough add the mustard seeds. After it splutters add the peanuts (if using) and roast it. Then add the urad daal and channa daal and fry it until golden brown.

3 Add the chopped onions and slit green chili. Add little salt, so that the onion would cook faster.

4 Once the onions are cooked add the other vegetables, 1/2 cup (or more) water as required, salt and close the pan with a lid. Increase the heat and in about 10-15 minutes the vegetables would have cooked enough.

5 To the cooked vegetables mixture add the prepared bulgur and combine it well. Garnish it with cilantro and it’s ready to dig in.

2 This bulgur upma is good both hot or cold. I had some leftover which I kept it in the fridge. It tasted so good (or even better) the next day, even straight from the fridge.

3 Bulgur before soaking may look very less but after it absorbs the water and especially with so much vegetables it makes huge quantity. You can really feed an army. Try it when you are having a potluck or friends over. When I first measured 1 cup of bulgur, I thought it would not be enough for the 2 of us. Usually I use 1 and 3/4th cups of vermicilli or cracked wheat for preparing upma. So I measured another 3/4th cup of bulgur to prepare this upma. Gosh! that was so much for us. So I did not add the entire bulgur to the cooked vegetables. I reserved some for later. Luckily I got another idea to make use of the excess bulgur. That dish turned out very good too. Will post it later.

4 Next I want to cook pulav using bulgur. I’m sure it would taste equally good.

2 Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, until softened.

3 Stir the tomato sauce into the skillet with the cooked beans and seasoning of your choice. I used 1
teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning.

4 While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta as per package directions. Once the pasta is cooked,
drain it, reserving 1/2 to 1 cup of the water. Add the reserved water to the sauce if required.

5 Increase the heat and bring the sauce to a boil, stirring. Add baking soda, if using and lower the heat, partially cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until th sauce has slightly reduced.

6 Add salt/pepper to the sauce as per taste, transfer to a serving bowl. Serve the sauce over pasta and enjoy a hearty meal.

1 I read in a magazine that adding baking soda to tomato sauce or any other tomato dish would reduce
the acidity of the tomatoes. Since we are slightly sensitive to excessive tomatoes I added it.

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.

2 This pizza is slightly on the sweeter side because of the sweet peppers. I think that’s the reason my son liked it so much. So for the adult version you may want to spice it up with some extra black pepper powder and red chili flakes.

1 Wash the zucchini and grate it with the skin and place it in a bowl. Add the required amount of salt.

2 In a small frying pan heat the oil, add the mustard seeds. Once it splutters add the sliced green chillies, hing and fry it.

3 Add this to the zucchini and mix it well.

4 Mix the yogurt to the zucchini when ready to serve.

2 You could also buy the frozen Avial vegetables available in Indian grocery stores and save time chopping vegetables.

3 I have pressure cookers in all size so I used one for cooking the vegetables and one for cooking rice/daal. You can also cook both in any vessel on stove top, but as far as I’ve read brown rice takes more time to cook like that.

4 We don’t eat spicy food, so I used only 2 red chillies for the masala powder. The heat was very mild. If you prefer it more spicy use about 4-5 chillies.

2 Saute peppers, onions and garlic in oil in large skillet for 2 to 3 minutes.

3 Add water; cook covered, over medium-high heat until soft, 2 to 3 minutes.

4 Stir in sugar; cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat until mixture is very soft and browned, about 20 minutes.

5 Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6 Toss with spaghetti; sprinkle with cheese if desired.

2 Don’t be tempted to omit the sugar in this pasta recipe because it makes the vegetables and the onions to caramelize and that in turn gives a nice flavor to the dish. If you think that the dish is sweet, you can spice it up at the end by adding black pepper powder.

3 If you have some left over peppers, try these chili fries. Unlike other fritters which use all purpose flour or chick pea flour for the dipping batter, this recipe uses whole wheat flour. I also added some rice flour to make it crispier.