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Low Fat Samosas in a jiffy!

Madhuram — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:07:35 +0000

Can you believe if I tell that you can make tasty samosas in just 15 minutes? Thanks to the mini fillo shells, these bite size samosas are low fat and also very easy to prepare. I have used these shells to make instant baklavas, but the idea of samosa did not occur to me until I saw Red Chillies’ low fat pani puri recipe. Thank you very much RC for another interesting recipe.

Low Fat Samosas

Ingredients

Mini Fillo Shells as needed

Any Potato curry as needed

Procedure

1 Preheat the oven for 15 minutes at 350F.

2 Place the fillo shells in a cookie sheet and bake it for 7-8 minutes.

3 Take the shells out of the oven and let it cool for at least 2 minutes. Then spoon in the prepared potato filling in the shells and serve it. Crispy samosas are ready to be eaten.

My Notes

1 The potato filling can be prepared ahead of time. If you have not cooked it already, prepare it while the oven is preheated. It takes only 15 minutes to prepare the stuffing if you cook the potatoes in the microwave oven.

Potato Filling Recipe

Ingredients

Potatoes, medium size 3

Onion, medium size, finely chopped 1

Green peas (fresh or frozen) handful

Oil 2 teaspoons

Cumin seed 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder a pinch

Red chili powder as needed

Salt as needed

Lemon juice little

Cilantro/Coriander leaves to garnish

Procedure

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.

SunshineMom’s Recipes for the rest of us – Starters event. The event originally started by Ramki of One Page Cookbooks.

Bulgur Upma ~ An Indo-American Fusion

Madhuram — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:33:45 +0000

I love trying Indian recipes using American ingredients. Zucchini Kootu, Zucchini Pappu, Grits Adai, Grits Idli were few successful ones. To this list I can now add bulgur upma too. Many people confuse bulgur with cracked wheat. The terms are used interchangeably in many places, but they both are not the same. Broken wheat and cracked wheat are the same but not bulgur and cracked wheat. I’ve discussed it in detail in the vegetarian chili recipe. Check it out.

I had some bulgur lying in the freezer and wanted to finish it. Tabouli is “the” recipe when it comes to bulgur. I was not in the mood for a salad and also I wanted to use the bits and pieces of vegetables lying in the fridge before refilling it. So I decided to make an Indianized version of tabouli, which is nothing but upma. Just like making cracked wheat upma, I thought I would prepare bulgur upma. Let me tell you this is so much easier and tastier than cracked wheat upma. We liked the chewy texture of bulgur and it was filling too. I also see that bulgur has more fiber than brown rice. Another bonus, bulgur can feed a crowd. Also it tastes even better the day after it is cooked. It soaks up the flavor of the vegetables and tastes very good.

Ingredients

Bulgur, dry 1 cup

Boiling Water 1 cup

Oil 2 teaspoons

Mustard seeds 1/4 teaspoon

Urad daal 1 teaspoon

Channa daal 1 teaspoon

Peanuts (optional) 1/4 cup

Onion, medium, chopped finely 1

Green Chili 1 big

Potato, medium, diced 1

Beans, chopped 1 cup

Peas 1 cup

Carrots, diced 1 cup

Salt as needed

Cilantro, finely chopped 1/4 cup

Yield: Serves at least 3-4 adults.

Procedure 1 In a bowl add the bulgur wheat, boiling water and little salt. Stir it thoroughly and leave it until all the water is absorbed. It may take about 45 minutes.

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.

My Notes 1 If adding peanuts, it’s preferable to add it first after the mustard seeds splutter. Since it takes some time to roast, if it’s added after the urad daal and channa daal, by the time it turns brown the other daals would get burnt.

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.

This bulgur upma goes to Roma’s JFI-Wheat. JFI originally started by Indira.

Brown Rice Bisi Bele Bath

Madhuram — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:29:41 +0000

Last week I tried Pongal with brown rice and it came out very well, which made me think why not bisi bele bath with brown rice? Earlier I was very hesitant about using brown rice, wondering if we would like the taste or not. To my surprise both of us like it very much. I think this is one of the few things we both agree upon! Brown rice when cooked has a rubbery (is it even a word?) texture. Or simply it is not as soft as its white counterpart. You feel very full after eating a cup of rice, as against wanting more after eating white rice. I made zucchini raitha to go with the bisi bele bath. That’s easy to prepare too. You can find other facts about brown rice here.

Bisi Bele Bath

Ingredients for the Masala Powder

Channa Daal 1 tablespoon

Urad Daal 1/2 tablespoon

Coriander seeds (dhaniya) 1 tablespoon

Fenugreek seeds 1/2 teaspoon

Black Peppercorn 1/2 teaspoon

Cloves 2 to 3

Cinnamon stick 1 inch piece

Red Chillies as required (I used 2 small)

Grated coconut 1 tablespoon

Ghee/sesame oil 1 teaspoon

Ingredients for the Rice

Brown Rice 3/4 cup

Toor Daal 1/2 cup

Turmeric powder 1/4 teaspoon

Vegetables
(I used carrots, beans, potatoes and green peas, 1 cup each) 3 to 4 cups

Onion, sliced 1 medium (or pearl onions preferably)

Tamarind paste 1 tablespoon

Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon

Hing a pinch

Salt as required

Sesamme oil 1/2 tablespoon

Ghee 1/2 to 1 tablespoon (optional)

Procedure

1 Wash the brown rice and toor daal and soak it together (also add turmeric powder) in warm water for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better). Soaking the brown rice in warm water activates more enzymes, which makes it possible to obtain a more complete amino acid profile. For 1 cup of rice and daal use 2 and 1/2 cups of water, so I used 3 and 1/4 cups of water. I did the soaking straightaway in a pressure cooker. After soaking, leave it for 5 whistles and transfer the cooker from the stove if cooking on an electric range, because the heat from the coil will continue the cooking process and you will end up scraping burnt rice from the bottom of the pressure cooker.

2 Meanwhile prepare the masala powder, while the rice is cooking. In a small frying pan add ghee, once it heats, fry (until golden brown) one by one the ingredients mentioned in the list. Once it cools, powder it in a blender/spice grinder.

3 In a medium size pan add the 1/2 tablespoon of oil, once it heats add the mustard seeds, curry leaves (if using) and hing. Then fry the sliced onions. Add a pinch of salt, so that the onion cooks faster. Then add the vegetables and required amount of salt and let it cook for 5 minutes. Once it is half cooked add the tamarind paste and 1 and 1/2 cups of water and close the pan with the lid. Let it cook until the raw smell of tamarind leaves. Then add the masala powder and let it simmer for another 2 minutes.

Alternatively you can do the entire step in a pressure cooker easily. That’s how I do it. I have a small pressure cooker. So as usual I do the tempering, fry the onions. Then I simply add the vegetables, salt, tamarind and water and close the cooker’s lid and leave it for only 1 whistle. If you are using an electric range be sure to transfer the cooker from the stove after turning off the stove, because the heat from the coil continues the cooking process and you would end up having mushy vegetables. After opening the lid, add the masala powder and let it simmer for 2 minutes.

4 Then add the cooked rice and daal mixture to the vegetables gravy and mix it well. If you like you can add the 1/2 tablespoon of ghee or sesame oil now. If the rice looks a bit watery, don’t worry, it will thicken up. You can keep it on low heat for sometime and it will thicken up. On the other hand if it’s very thick add some warm water to loosen it. It’s very forgiving, so don’t worry.

Zucchini Thayir Pachadi

Ingredients

Zucchini, small, grated with skin 1

Salt 1 teaspoon

Yogurt 1 to 2 cups

Canola oil 1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds 1/2 teaspoon

Green chillies, sliced into half as required (I used 1)

Hing a pinch

Procedure

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.

My Notes 1 If you don’t have the time to prepare the bisi bele bath masala powder you can buy it. I’ve tried MTR brand and it’s good too.

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.

Arusuvai Ingredients & Cooking From Other Blogs!

Madhuram — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:28:37 +0000

Food blogging has given me a lot of new friends. One such very special person is Dee. Sometime (actually very longtime) back she had sent me a BIG package for the Arusuvai Friendship Chain. She had sent her delicious home made granola, koora podi, aam papad and a gorgeous Kitchen Aid Recipe Box.

The granola tasted unbelievably good, I was munching it on throughout the day and did not have anything left to prepare a dish using it. Sorry Dee it was not my fault that the granola was so delicious. The koora podi is also so good, it enhances the flavor of any dish it’s added to. It also tastes good by itself as a side dish for Idli/Dosa. I use it in all my curries. Above is the picture of the Potato Roast and and below is the Coconut Rice that I prepared using the podi.

Recently I also prepared her Broccoli Patoli/Usli. It’s something I have never tried before, so I was really skeptical about the taste. But I tried it anyhow because it’s my husband’s favorite vegetable. We were not at all disappointed, because it tasted very good and I’m going to make this one regularly.

Thank you so much Dee for your recipes, friendship and more!

Uma has given me a Giant Bear Hug. Thank you very much dear, hugs to you too.

Hetal and Ranji have passed me the Friendship Award. Thank you very much girls, I’m so happy that you thought of me.

It’s very difficult to choose only a few people to extend my hugs and friendship. Anyhow I extend it to

Dee
Akay
Roma
Laksh

Recently I also tried 2 other recipes from other blogs and this is going to be a regular in our house.

Kalva’s Gongura Pachadi: It was my first try with gongura leaves and we loved the chutney very much. Thank you Kalva.

Laavanya’s Bhindi Masala: Although I have prepared bhindi masala a lot of times earlier, the tip which Laavanya has given to microwave the okra for 5-7 minutes before sauteeing it is such a wonderful idea. Try it out ladies, the okra does not get slimy at all. Thank you very much Laavanya. Can’t wait to try your oven baked Idli Manchurians.

Potato Paratha with a twist.

Madhuram — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 10:25:17 +0000

I had a lot of mint at home and wanted to use it in a different way other than preparing chutney and pulav. Earlier I have made parathas too, grinding pudina, coriander and green chillies. So I wanted to try something new and came up with this idea of mixing it with the potato stuffing for the aloo paratha. The result was amazing. Not only did it taste good but the fragrance of the mint took it to another level.

Ingredients for the Paratha Dough:
All Purpose Flour (Maida) – 1 cup
Whole Wheat Flour – 1/2 cup
Salt – as per taste
Oil – 2 teaspoons

Ingredients for the stuffing:
Oil – 1 teaspoon
Mint (Pudina) leaves – 1 cup, coarsely chopped
Potatoes, medium size – 3, boiled and mashed
Garam Masala Powder - as per taste
Salt – as per taste
Juice of half a lemon

Procedure:
1. Combine the ingredients to prepare the dough. Add enough water to form a ball of dough, knead a couple of times and keep it covered for an hour.

2. To prepare the stuffing, add the teaspoon of oil in a frying pan and let it heat for a minute. Now add the mint leaves and sautee it for a while until it is wilted. Remove the pan from the stove and keep it aside.

3. Now to the mashed potato add the mint leaves, the remaining ingredients for the stuffing and combine together thoroughly.

4. Divide the paratha dough into lemon size balls and the stuffing into smaller size balls. I got 5 balls of dough for the above measurement.

5. Now roll each ball of dough into a small circle and place one ball of the stuffing and cover it with the dough and roll it back again.

6. Meanwhile pre heat the griddle (tava) and once the tava is hot, cook the parathas on both the sides, by adding little oil.

7. Enjoy it with yogurt and/or your favorite pickle.

My Notes:
1. I usually use only whole wheat flour for preparing parathas. Recently I saw this combination of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour, in a magazine. So I wanted to try it.

2. I grind coriander and green chilles and mix it with the the mashed potato to prepare potato paratha. This time I changed that too. The combination of mint, garam masala and the lemon juice was heavenly.

This is my entry to Srivalli’s Roti Mela.

Hetal of Isha’s Kitchen has passed me the Good Chat Blog Award. Thank you very much Hetal. Earlier she had also tagged me for a meme, 10 things I hate. I’m tagging my dear friend Dee for the same.

If you like my Finger Millet Sweet Dumplings, please vote for me here.

Coriander/Potato/Zucchini Rosti

Madhuram — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:51:10 +0000

This recipe comes from Sunita, who is yet another inspiration for me. I think she is an “Ace of Pastries”. The coriander rosti is both simple and delicious. You can find her recipe here.

When I first came across this recipe I thought she had skipped some of the ingredients, so ignored it and went further. I went back once again and checked the comments section to see if I could gather some information. Then only I was assured that the recipe really required only 3 ingredients. Baking can’t get any simple!

Potato Rosti:

Baking it for the first time, I tried it with 1 large potato. Peel the potato, cut into 4 parts and microwave for 4 minutes. Cool it and grate it. I divided the grated potatoes into 2 parts. For the first batch I simply followed her recipe, mixed half of the grated potatoes, coriander, salt and pepper. Baked it for 40 min at 400F. It was very crispy and tasty. It’s a very healthy snack without oil. I think that depending upon your taste you can also reduce the baking time to 35 min, so you may not feel that the bottom is burnt. I got 8 rostis for this quantity. It was good by itself, we also had some ketchup with it.

Zucchini Rosti:

I always like to give a twist to a recipe by adding some other ingredient(s). I think it’s fun to experiment. Moreover with a toddler around, I have to do a lot of sneaking vegetables. I don’t know why I chose zucchini, but as soon as I thought about making some modification, zucchini just flashed in my mind.

I used the other half of the grated potato, 1 medium zucchini (grated), coriander, salt and pepper to taste. Dropped spoonful of the mixture on a greased baking sheet and baked it for 40 min at 400F. These rostis were very green in color and the top was not fully cooked as in the previous case. So I set the oven to broil mode for another 2 minutes. I got another 10 rostis. The taste was very good but this one was not as crispy as the potato rostis. Either I should have reduced the quantity of zucchini or should have baked it for some more time. Anyway I was very happy because my son just loved it.