Brussels sprouts and cabbage with sesame masala

Cabbage and brussels sprouts are not most people's favourite vegetables, but I love them. I made this recently for the first time when a friend came to dinner. It went down very well with rice and sambar, but it would also be just as good with rotis. Cabbage love is such a heartwarming thing when it happens naturally... Please don't ask me what that means, because I don't know. The sentence/sentiment just popped into my head and out through my fingers. Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy this dish, readers mine, so do try it.
Recipe for: Brussels sprouts and cabbage with sesame masala

Ingredients:

2 cups cabbage, shredded

1/2 cup brussels sprouts, shredded
2 tsp oil
1/8 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp mustard seeds

3 dry red chillies, broken into 1" pieces (or to taste)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 fenugreek seeds
10 curry leaves (optional)
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Dry roast the chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves in a small pan on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the seeds and chillies turn aromatic and a little darker in colour (about a minute).

Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Now dry roast the sesame seeds separately until they turn a shade darker and start to sputter a little. Let it cool down, then grind the sesame seeds along with the rest of the roasted seeds into a fine powder.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and asafoetida powder. When the seeds stop spluttering, add the shredded cabbage and sprouts. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is cooked but not mushy.

4. Sprinkle the sesame seed powder over the cooked cabbage and mix it in. Serve hot as a side with rice and sambar, or with chapaties.

RECIPE: BRUSSELS SPROUTS AND CABBAGE WITH SESAME MASALA
Ingredients:

2 cups cabbage, shredded

1/2 cup brussels sprouts, shredded
2 tsp oil
1/8 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp mustard seeds

3 dry red chillies, broken into 1" pieces (or to taste)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 fenugreek seeds
10 curry leaves (optional)
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Dry roast the chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves in a small pan on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the seeds and chillies turn aromatic and a little darker in colour (about a minute). Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Now dry roast the sesame seeds separately until they turn a shade darker and start to sputter a little. Let it cool down, then grind the sesame seeds along with the rest of the roasted seeds into a fine powder.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and asafoetida powder. When the seeds stop spluttering, add the shredded cabbage and sprouts. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is cooked but not mushy.
4. Sprinkle the sesame seed powder over the cooked cabbage and mix it in. Serve hot as a side with rice and sambar, or with chapaties.

Garlicky roasted tomato soup

I’ve been wanting to make tomato soup from scratch for the longest time – actually for the last 20 years or so, ever since a very dear friend, A, described in detail the tomato soup that he made at home. This guy, a dedicated cook and an even more dedicated foodie who had traveled extensively on his stomach (not literally), was also blessed with the gift of the gab.

His description of the cooking process, and the taste of the finished product, had me riveted, and when I finally turned my attention back to the tomato soup that I had ordered (we were having lunch at the Mathura Restaurant in Madras), it had morphed into tomato ketchup diluted with water. Strange, that, because until that point I had loved their tomato soup and ordered it pretty much every time I went there. (Another friend of mine religiously had the French onion soup every single time – now there’s a completely true and completely useless fact for your collection, folks.)

Anyhow, since it was A’s fault that the Mathura tomato soup (with four croutons, no less) had been ruined for me forever, he promised to treat me to his home-made specialty – an occasion that never did materialise for one reason or another, as is wont to happen.

But he is more than aware that he owes me (because I keep reminding him), and at some point when I make a trip to Vancouver, he knows he will have to make good.

The point is, ever since that occasion, home-made tomato soup has always seemed the aspirational apex of home comfort food to me, even though we were not big on soup in my family, really – it was mostly an eating-out thing with us, not made at home. Still, that impression about tomato soup stayed with me over the years, although I never got around to making it myself even after I got interested in cooking... partly because it was so tied-in with A and his promise (something like if I was going to have home-made tomato soup, it was going to be HIS soup or nothing at all).

Luckily, stupidity of even that intensity has an expiry date, and after I’d read a few recipes for tomato soup – not just plain ol’ tomato soup, but roasted tomato soup - I finally twigged to the fact that I might be able to make it myself. Once that realization sank in, it took hardly any time to get around from thought to action. (Well, compare it with the pace of evolution and you’ll see how quick I was. Evolution took Nature millions of years. It only took me four.)

Recipe for: Garlicky roasted tomato soup



5 ripe medium-size plum tomatoes, quartered
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and quartered



1/4 red scotch bonnet chilli, de-seeded (or use any milder chilli to taste)
5-6 large garlic cloves (unpeeled)
4 medium shallots, halved



3-4 cups vegetable stock
Coarse sea salt (optional)
1/4 tsp regular paprika powder
Large pinch of smoked paprika powder
1/4 cup full-fat milk/cream
3-4 generous tbsp olive oil
Plenty of fresh coarsely-ground black peppercorns to taste

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Line a shallow baking tray with foil and grease it with olive oil.

2. Mix together the tomatoes, shallots, peppers, chilli and garlic in a bowl along with the 4-5 tbsp olive oil,



about 1 tsp of the sea salt



and about 1 tbsp coarse-ground black pepper.



3. Pour the coated vegetables onto the greased tray



and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, stirring them after 15 minutes



so as to let them brown evenly.

4. When the vegetable juices begin to caramelise and turn brown, and the tomatoes and onions are soft, turn off the oven.

5. Remove the garlic cloves and squeeze out the pulp into a blender along with the rest of the roasted veg.

6. If there is a lot of caramelized bits sticking to the foil, pour 2-3 tbsp boiling water on the bits and gently scrape with a plastic spatula. Pour the resulting liquidy bits into the blender as well.



7. When sufficiently cool, add about a cupful of stock to the veg, then puree them to your preferred consistency - you can make it really smooth, or leave some chunky bits in. (I made mine fairly smooth.) Add more stock to the blender while pureeing, if required.



8. Mix the soup with the remaining stock in a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Stir in the whole milk or cream if using,



the paprika, and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Check for seasoning, adding more freshly ground black pepper if required.

9. Serve hot in bowls with fresh crusty bread, toast or grilled sandwiches, topped with a little chopped parsley or basil for garnish.

KiwiGee's Recipes from Down Under - Groundnut chutney powder

It's been so long since I've posted a recipe on here, and I was feeling so reluctant to move my a** after a hugely long travel blog that I decided the only to ease myself back into the food blog world was to post a simple recipe. Preferably from someone other than me. That someone, of course, is my Kiwindian friend, KiwiGee, and the star of the recipe is the groundnut.



This recipe has been languishing in my "recipes to make" folder for ages, mainly because I was not able to get my hands on copra (dry coconut). On being informed that desiccated coconut would do just as well, I bought a bagful - only, of course, to have two holidays come up in quick succession with not much time in between for anything much except to write a Slavonian food-logue.

And now, since no more holidays seem to be in the offing this year, I have no more excuses to put off writing food posts! So here goes.

In her email to me, KiwiGee said: "This recipe is a variation of the traditional thengai podi (for Tamilians) and chutney podi (for Kannadigas). I learnt the original chutney podi from my MIL and the variation is from sister Gayathri in NZ. I tend to use quite a few peanuts in my cooking nowadays as I keep exploring more and more avenues of vegetarian iron sources…"

So here it is, the perfect vegetarian iron source and a very scrummy powder to mix with plain rice and ghee.

Two things to note:

1. Powder the peanuts separately and do it in short bursts so as not to heat the motor of your mixie. Otherwise you'll end up with peanut butter. Which is nice enough, but not the result we're looking for here.

2. Be careful even while grinding the desiccated coconut - it also tends to exude oil and lump up if you run the mixie for too long and the coconut gets warm.

Recipe for: Groundnut chutney powder



Ingredients:

250 gms peanuts (I cheated a bit and used ready roasted peanuts)
50 gms dried red chillies (not Indian red – u’d die then, this is the mild sort that I get here* - in NZ)
50 gms copra (dried coconut, grated fine), or unsweetened desiccated coconut
Salt – to taste
Hing powder – a pinch
Jaggery (or sugar) – 1 tbsp
Tamarind - 1 tbsp (small ball) - NOT the paste!
Methi (fenugreek) seeds – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Dry fry methi seeds till they are dark brown, keep aside.

2. Dry fry peanuts (if using raw ones) till they go slightly brown, keep aside.

3. Then dry fry the copra/desiccated coconut powder, red chillies and tamarind and keep aside. (Note: I tore up the tamarind into small pieces so that they would fry more evenly) Let all the ingredients cool completely.



Important: All the ingredients have to be dry fried separately as indicated. This thing won’t work otherwise…

4. First, grind the red chillies, along with copra, tamarind and methi seeds as finely as you can.


This picture is at the half-way stage of grinding!

5. Then grind the fried peanuts to as smooth a powder as possible, after adding hing and salt.



Beware: the peanuts are really oily so they can stuff up your food processor when you grind them. That’s why you need to grind them last, after all the other stuff has been reduced to powder…

6. Mix well and store in dry bottles/jars. DO NOT refrigerate.



7. Serve with ghee and hot rice (yuM).



Can also be used as side dish for idli, dosa and with sandwiches etc…

Maddur vada

Yep, they look nice, dont they? :) They WERE nice. Ever since I saw the recipe for maddur vada on Latha's blog a few weeks ago, by sheer chance (I'd googled "maddur vada"), I'd been hankering to make them. They're simple to make, and really best eaten fresh while they're still fairly crisp. I personally liked their chewy texture a day on, but I think that could just be me, a one-woman fan club.

I used the same ingredients as specified in Latha's recipe, but made a small addition of my own - urad dal that had been soaked for 2-3 hours. I think I had a vague of idea of the really really scrummy "Tirupati vada" that I'd eaten long ago, before the Tirupati laddoo became the only prasadam (holy offering) available. The Tirupati vada was dark brown, very chewy, and had urad dal in it. I havent a clue about the rest of the ingredients in that prasadam - all i remembered was the texture and the fact that there was urad dal in it.

The urad dal DID make a difference to the maddur vada - if only in taste. I'm quite glad I made the addition!

Recipe for: Maddur vada



Ingredients:

1 cup fine semolina
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp red chilli powder
5 tbsp hot oil for kneading
2 onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup urad dal, soaked for 2-3 hours
1/2 cup coriander leaves, chopped
10-15 fresh curry leaves, chopped
Fresh green chillies to taste, minced
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a deep pan.

2. Put the rice flour, plain flour, semolina, red chilli powder and salt in a bowl. Add 5 tbsp hot oil and and mix well with a wooden spoon.

2. Add the chopped onions, urad dal, coriander, curry leaves and chillies.



Mix with enough water to make a rough dough. Use your hand for this.



3. Take a small ball of this dough and flatten with your fingers (or use a glass, greasing its bottom well) on a non-stick sheet.



4. Drop into hot oil and deep fry on medium-high heat until golden brown.

5. Serve hot with any dipping sauce.