Category: This, that and the other

Baingan Mutter Makhini

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mymy k

I can not believe that my small break has (again) turned into a major vacation from my blog. Given the fact that I do this at least once in two years, I won’t say I am surprised by this behavior now.

With the overdose of information from social media, I find that I need a break more frequently than before. Now my everyday food is mostly from simpler sources like books and recipes from friends. I will be back to the blogging scenario, but right now I am taking it slow.

While we are on the topic of recipe from books, this one is also from Raghavan Iyer’s 660 curries. It’s a book that I really like and this recipe was also a success like the other ones I tried. It’s similar in some ways to baingan Bharta but with fresh cream and cashews involved :-). Read on for the recipe and stepwise pictures.

baingan_mutter_makhani2

Ingredients:

  • 1 big eggplant
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen green peas
  • 1/2 cup coriander leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 3 tablespoons ghee
  • 1 medium red onion, sliced
  • 1/4 cup cashews or blanched almonds
  • 2 tablespoons raisins
  • 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 2″ long piece of ginger, peeled and minced
  • 1 tomato chopped finely
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • salt as needed

Method:

Rub one teaspoon of oil all over the eggplant. Poke holes all over it using a fork and microwave it for about 8 minutes until its cooked. Take out keep aside until its cool enough to handle.

Peel the eggplants and discard the stem. Mash using a fork or roughly chop using a knife. Add this into a bowl and mix in 2 cups (fresh or frozen) peas, 1/2 cup coriander leaves, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder and salt. Set this aside while we prepare the gravy.

In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee or oil. Add one medium sliced onion, 1/4 cup blanched almonds (or cashews), 2 tablespoons raisins, 4 crushed garlic cloves, 2″ piece of chopped ginger. Cover and let this cook until the onion is caramelized, about 8-10 minutes. Add one chopped medium tomato half way through and let it also cook without mixing it in too much.

Once the mix is cooked through, let it cool a bit and grind into a paste, adding a little water if needed.

Clean the skillet and heat it now with one tablespoon of ghee. Add the eggplant and peas mixture and let it cook uncovered until all the moisture has been absorbed. Stir in between to prevent browning. This might take about 10 minutes. Add the onion paste to the cooked eggplant.

Add half cup of cream to the mixer jar to dislodge any remaining onion paste stuck to the jar. Pour the cream to the curry. Mix everything and cook for another 5 minutes, taste testing and adjusting the seasonings if needed. Serve with some ghee on top if preferred.

baingan_mutter_makhani

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Coconut Oatmeal Raisin cookies

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I was planning on a complete different set of recipes for this week’s theme of US based recipes. But one look at my drafts folder convinced me that I was done with the theme before I even started. A well stocked drafts folder (magic folder) is definitely helpful ;-). 

Cookies are a big part of US food scene. My son loves chocolate chip cookies but my favorite is the oatmeal raisin cookies. Last year one of our friends gifted us a batch of her oatmeal cookies. It was made with whole wheat and it had coconut in them. Oatmeal with coconut was an unexpected but delicious combination. 

I got the recipe from her and promptly lost it when I switched phones. Finally I ended up looking online for an alternative recipe and that’s when I came across the one at Allrecipes.com. I replaced the chocolate chip in the recipe with raisins  and reduced the sugar a tiny bit but didn’t make any other changes. This is not a whole wheat recipe either but I prefer plain flour for treats and desserts anyway. 

 Read on for the recipe and enjoy the treat. 


Makes 2.5 dozen cookies, depending on the size 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter (226 grams)
  • 1 cup light brown sugar 
  • 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 
  • 2 Tablespoon milk
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour 
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 cups rolled oats 
  • 1 cup desiccated coconut 
  • 1-2 cup raisins
  • 1 cup chopped nuts

Method:

  1. Bring the butter to room temperature. Beat it in a stand mixer with the two sugars until it’s soft and light. Add eggs one at a time and keep beating until well combined. Add in the vanilla extract, milk, baking soda and beat it in. 
  2. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the flour in batches. Follow it up with the oats and coconut in batches. The crushed nuts and raisins go in after that until everything is uniformly distributed. 
  3. Drop Tablespoon full of dough in a parchement lined baking tray leaving space between cookies to expand. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes. Take off the oven and let it cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Store in airtight containers once completely cool. 


BM # 82: Week 2, Day 2
Theme : USA
Recipe: oatmeal raisin cookies with coconut

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Creamy mushroom soup

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We have come to the end of a month long blogging marathon and this is the last recipe of the day. It’s adapted a little from All recipes site. 

The recipe is very simple – cook the mushrooms and onions, make a roux with flour and milk, and cook everything together. Usually cream is used for this recipe, but I decided to go lighter and used milk instead. I also didn’t want a really thick soup, so decreased the amount of flour a bit and increased the liquids. I usually add cooked white beans or black beans to my soups to up the filling factor. Here it would have helped with increasing the protein also, but I had to skip it since I didn’t have any that day. 

Read on for the recipe. 

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 4 cups chopped white mushrooms 
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 2 cups vegetable broth or water
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour 
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano 
  • Salt and pepper

Method:

  1. Heat 2 teaspoon butter in a pan. Sauté onions until it’s a little pink. Add the mushrooms and cook until it changes color. 
  2. Add one cup of vegetable broth or water and let the mushrooms cook completely. Take off the heat and once cool, purée in a blender, keeping a little aside for adding on top at the time of serving. 
  3. Heat the rest of the butter in a pan. Add the flour and mix it for a few seconds. Add the milk, seasonings and the puréed mushroom mix. Cook everything stirring frequently to avoid lumps. Add one cup of water or broth (or more) if the soup is too thick. 
  4. Take off the heat and serve with a piece of bread. 

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Kerala Egg curry

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1kerala_egg_curry

I usually buy vegetables for about a week to ten days. Most of the times by the weekend,  I am almost always out of vegetables. Good thing is that I am always stocked up in pulses, eggs and onions. So this is one of the dishes I end up making on weekends, mostly Fridays. 

This is a traditional recipe, with changes made according to each house’s preference. This pairs especially well with aapam, but also goes well with chapati, parathas or idiappam. The base for this dish is sautéed onions with coriander powder, chili powder and garam masala. Coconut milk and eggs will complete the dish from there. Tomato is an optional addition here, but I always add it. 

The base gravy can be used for almost any vegetables. Potato and peas, mixed veggies, cooked chana, potato and mushroom are all good substitutes for the eggs here. You can  cover and cook the veggies before adding the coconut milk or even after that. 

I buy canned milk here in US, which makes this dish extremely easy to make. The traditional way, of course, is to extract the milk from the coconut. Feel free to use the method that works for you. 

Now read on for the recipe. 

2kerala_egg_curry

Ingredients:

  • 6 large eggs, hard boiled
  • 3 tablespoons of oil 
  • 1″ piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
  • 3-4 green chillies, slit into two pieces each
  • 3 large onions, sliced 
  • 1/2 of a medium tomato, optional
  • 1 Tablespoon coriander powder 
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder 
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder 
  • Salt as needed
  • 1 (14oz) can of coconut milk 

Hard boil 6 eggs. I do this in Instant pot. Add 1 glass of water to the pot, keep the eggs on top of the trivet. Cook in Manual mode for 6 minutes and release pressure immediately.  Shell them, make slits and keep aside. Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan and saute 1″ chopped ginger, three big sliced onions and 3-4 green chillies.

Once the onions turn pink, add half of a medium tomato and follow it up by 1 Tablespoon coriander powder, 1 teaspoon each of chilli powder and garam masala, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder and salt as needed. Since the coconut milk will bring some sweetness, you can add a little more chili powder if you want to.

Mix everything, cover and let it cook completely. Add half a cup of water and add  the eggs. Add 1 can of coconut milk and bring it to a boil (I didn’t take a picture of this step). Taste test and add more garam masala or salt if needed. Take of the heat and serve with aapam or chapati.

3kerala_egg_curry 

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Oatmeal Stawberry Banana smoothie

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2strawberry_oatmeal_smoothie

Dish: Oatmeal Strawberry banana smoothie bowl
I am a big fan of overnight oats and chia pudding recipes. It’s as simple as mixing things in a bowl at night and waking up in the morning to a delicious meal. I make it very frequently and each time I try a different version of it. But now a days, a constant element in my recipes is peanut butter. I noticed that my hunger pangs are curbed a lot more when there is some peanut  butter in my oats or smoothie bowls. 

Smoothie bowls are also a staple at home, especially for my son’s dinner. Here is a recipe that’s a combination of a smoothie bowl and overnight oats. It’s as simple as adding overnight oats to a smoothie.  The recipe is rich in protein with oats and peanut butter. It’s a tasty as well as a filling recipe. 

Read on for the recipe. 

1strawberry_oatmeal_smoothie

Serves 1

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup oatmeal
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 5-6 strawberries
  • 1 medium banana, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • Toppings of your choice

Method:

  1. Soak and refrigerate oatmeal in milk overnight or for at least 3 hours.
  2. Blend this with strawberries, banana, peanut butter and honey.
  3. Serve in a bowl with toppings of your choice. Here I have used homemade granola from Pavani, raisins, strawberries and cashews and some more honey for drizzling on top.

3strawberry_oatmeal_smoothie

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