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Recipe: Happy Snacking – Coriander Hummus

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These days, we seem to be entertaining quite a bit at home. This is partly because our kids are all grown up and live in other cities. As parents, we feel proud of their achievements and love it when they visit, but we are also filling up our “empty nest” with friends and socialising as a couple. With people dropping by on a frequent basis, I try to make sure that a steady repertoire of healthy snacks, that are also good-looking and good-tasting, are easily whipped up. This beautiful pistachio-green coriander hummus hits the right spot in terms of its visual appeal, its nutrition quotient as well as its deliciousness.

Hummus originates in the Middle East and I make some whenever I prepare my versions of Lebanese dishes such as pita bread and falafels. It’s quite a favourite at home, and we are currently in an obsessed phase (do you have this habit too – of enjoying a dish so much that you just have to keep having it till you get tired of it and move on to the next big addiction?), so I’m making lots and lots of it.

The idea came to me after noticing colourful hummus varieties such as beetroot hummus, which comes out in a pretty pink. I wanted to use an Indian ingredient as a major one, and coriander seemed perfect. I had explored a curry leaf and green chilli hummus quite a while back too, which has a similar concept.

This dish contains one more surprise ingredient from our local backyards that you’re sure to love, and which you may remember from a recent recipe! If you guessed moringa, you are right. The powder is easy and quick to make, and I like to sprinkle a bit over the hummus to boost its healthiness, as well as to deepen the colour. I’ll probably try out a moringa hummus soon.

Hummus is truly simple to make, and the method for most varieties is more or less the same. In my family, different members have their own preferred type – curry leaf, beetroot, coriander, etc – so I am constantly whipping up some version of this dish and can assure you that it’s a basic recipe. In fact, it is quite easy to replace the coriander with other vegetables. You can see in the photographs that I’ve done a beetroot one too, using roasted beets. That one is more colourful than flavourful, but it is good for novelty in presentation. Guests love pretty snacks, remember?

Chickpeas are the core ingredient, and they are available abundantly in India so I don’t have to resort to the canned ones, although those will work just as well if they’re what you have on hand. I do the traditional method of soaking, boiling and so on – which is very familiar from so many Indian dishes. It’s funny: my cook at home, who is not well-versed in foreign cuisines, calls any kind of hummus “channa ka chutney” (“chickpea chutney”). He is not far from the truth! Several of the ingredients really do feel rather local, and are certainly used in Indian cuisines.

That said, despite its seeming Indian-ness, I was not exposed to hummus while growing up either. I discovered through my travels and culinary explorations that it’s a fantastic starter. It is healthy, tasty, simple to make and versatile in its usage as a dip. Despite the high summer temperatures at the moment, it keeps well in the fridge for at least a week.

Coriander Hummus

(Yield: 1 portion)

¼ cup chickpeas

Water (to soak and to boil)

2 tablespoons tahini

½ cup coriander leaves

Salt to taste

3 pods garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped jalapeños

 

Soak the chickpeas overnight in sufficient water. Once soaked, they will have enlarged in size to almost 1 cup. Strain them.

Boil the chickpeas in fresh water in a pressure cooker with sufficient water, until tender to the touch. This will take about six whistles.

Once boiled, strain the chickpeas from the hot water. Set the water aside. This is called aquafaba. Aquafaba, boiled chickpea water, becomes an ingredient of its own with varied uses including as an egg substitute!

In a blender, add the tahini, salt, jalapeños, coriander leaves and garlic. Blend coarsely.

Next, add the boiled chickpeas. Now, add as much aquafaba as required to help blend the mixture once again until you have a creamy texture.

Spread the hummus onto a flat dish. Garnish with olive oil and any toppings of your choice. If you have za’tar, a spice combination commonly used in Middle Eastern cooking, you could sprinkle some. As I mentioned earlier, moringa powder is my preferred substitute.

Your coriander hummus is now ready to serve. Eat it with the accompaniments of your choice. It goes perfectly with chips, vegetable sticks, apple slices, pita bread, falafels and more.

As I said earlier, you can swap out the coriander for other kinds of vegetables. You can also use sprinklings of different condiments or flavours. Let your imagination go wild – this is a basic, safe dish that responds well to play. Thinking out loud, a hint of mint could also be a nice flavour contrast. Maybe I’ll try that next time. Or maybe you can, and if so I hope you’ll let me know what the results are like?

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Recipe: Slices Of Perfect Deliciousness – Pesto Parmesan Toastie

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Many of you know that I’m a fan of sourdough, and have been practicing and perfecting the techniques for this slightly tricky but rewarding form of bread-making for years now. As with everything else, the more you attempt it, the better you get at it. I bake sourdough loaves a few times every week, and I’ve seen this for myself. The more you use your hands on the dough, the more deeply you understand its nuances through touch. Feel is a very important part of sourdough making. But the best part comes later, of course: taste. This beautiful pesto Parmesan toastie is one of the many ways that we enjoy a beautiful sourdough loaf at home, and I’m delighted to share my pesto recipe with you today.

Basil, the core ingredient of pesto, is very easily available in many Indian cities, including here in Chennai. I doubt very much that it is Italian basil, and I think that it is likely to either be grown in the hilly regions or else is imported from nearby countries like Thailand. Either way, I have found that basil leaves are easily accessible all year round. So I always have a jar of pesto sitting in my fridge, alongside my tomato purée (which also works well on toast and in so many other dishes too).

Pesto is a sauce that originated in Italy, and its name comes from the Italian word for crushing or pounding, “pestare”. I guess that I honour the traditional method of preparation, because I have observed that I much prefer the South Indian mortar and pestle to the electric blender when I make it. The hand-crushed way results in a coarser and more flavourful paste, which is how it is meant to be. Pesto is versatile, and is often eaten as a pasta sauce. I make it with either walnuts or pine nuts, whichever I have available.

You may recall from other posts that I like making all my masalas powders at home, drying the ingredients in the sun and sending them off to a small local mill to grind them. This has been one of the benefits of the intense heat this year. I’m presently making amchur (raw mango) powder, and I’m also making sun-dried tomatoes – which I use in this toastie.

What this means is that with the sourdough bread, pesto spread and sun-dried tomatoes all being made at home, this pesto Parmesan toastie is almost entirely made from scratch. I don’t have the skills to make Parmesan cheese, unfortunately, but I would if I could!

A good, flavourful Parmesan (both in the pesto and as a garnishing) makes all the difference in this dish. I recently read an article about how the market is flooded with fake Parmesan cheese, with a shocking global turnover rate of billions! This means that finding and choosing a good, authentic Parmesan can be a bit of a challenge. In case you don’t have access to this fabulous cheese variety, you can still make up for it with a good pesto and a good bread. For the pesto, bear in mind that a high quality olive oil is one of the key ingredients to invest in. When it comes to the garnish, you can be flexible. For instance, if you don’t have sun-dried tomatoes, some other vegetable or topping of your choice will work well too.

To return to the sourdough itself briefly, I tend to generally bake it for dinners or for Sunday brunches as it’s a great accompaniment to our family weekend favourite, shakshouka. This summer, with temperatures simply soaring, I tend to take the dough with me whenever I sit in an AC room. This is to protect it, as temperature plays an important role in the fermentation. That’s how committed I am to my sourdough practice! This is why there’s always a lot of it at home, and since pesto is also a sauce that I also often have plenty of, they are a perfect pairing. As exotic as it may seem, pesto is surprisingly easy to make, as you’ll see in the recipe below.

 

Pesto Parmesan Toastie

(Yield: A small jar of pesto; two half-toasties)

 

Pesto

2 cups fresh, clean basil leaves

3 garlic pods

¼ cup olive oil

Salt to taste

2-3 tablespoons pine nuts (or walnuts)

A pinch of pepper

½ cup Parmesan cheese (grated)

 

Toastie

2 slices sourdough bread

2 tablespoons pesto

3-5 sun-dried tomatoes

Butter for the bread

4-5 slivers of Parmesan cheese

 

This recipe focuses on how to prepare the pesto. In a blender, add the pine nuts and garlic. Pulse until coarsely mixed. Add the Parmesan and repeat. As I said above, you can use a mortar and pestle instead if you prefer the same.

Then, add the basil leaves and pulse once again, careful to keep the mixture coarsely blended. A smooth blend is not preferable for pesto.

Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, while occasionally using a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the mixer jar.

Finally, add the salt and pepper before storing the pesto in the fridge. Use a clean glass jar, and top it up with a little bit of olive oil. You can prepare it a day ahead of when you need to use it. It will still be fresh.

To assemble the toasties, take two slices of sourdough bread and apply butter to one side of one of them. Generously slather one side of the other slice with pesto, creating a nice, thick layer. Top this up with sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese, as desired.

Close the sandwich by bringing the two slices together. Butter the top and toast it on a pan until the bread turns golden. Cut into halves and serve. I like to have this as an early dinner, and I find that I don’t get hungry again for the rest of the night. It’s also great as an any-time snack.

Dishes like these are easy to assemble and are great ways to enjoy a slice of good artisanal bread, or to elevate any regular bread that you may have. I hope this pesto Parmesan toastie will delight you! If you enjoyed this recipe, you may also want to try out my cheesy, spicy, garlicky sourdough toast.

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Recipe: An Eggs-cellent Fusion Dish – Moringa Leaves Omelette

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Moringa leaves are considered a superfood by many. For us in South India, the moringa plant literally grows in our own backyards and we take it for granted. In fact, the English word comes from the Tamil word for the plant – “murunga”. As you may know, my family are Gujaratis who have been settled in Tamil Nadu for generations, so it was very much a staple ingredient in my growing years. It was just convenient for my mother to go to the back garden, pluck some moringa leaves, chop them up, cook them and throw them into our theplas if there were no methi (fenugreek) leaves on hand. Moringa leaves are versatile that way, and lately I’ve been taking my mother’s Gujarati-Tamil fusion to another level with a Continental-Tamil fusion: moringa leaves omelette.

Unlike other green leaves, moringa cannot be eaten raw and takes some time to cook. Also, the stalks are not usually consumed, as they can cause indigestion. Funnily enough, I have noted that the stalks can be safely used in soups. The vegetable of the tree, which is commonly known as drumstick, is certainly edible of course.

If you don’t have access to fresh moringa leaves in your part of the world, you can easily replace this ingredient with kale or another type of leafy green, or with moringa powder. I make moringa powder at home, since the method is quite easy during the summers. I pluck the leaves, pat them to clean them, and leave them out in the sun. The heat at this time of year is so intense that the leaves dry up in just a few hours. I then dry-blend them to create the powder. I usually prepare about six months’ worth of stock, to reach for when I don’t have fresh moringa leaves or the time to go out and pluck them for a dish.

 

The eggs I use in this recipe come from our hens – happy, bullying free range hens that produce organic eggs. I use the whole egg, and I don’t believe in removing the yolk, which is full of nutritious goodness, including protein. While I’m on that thought, I should also say that I don’t believe in using skim milk. Skim milk is processed milk; I would much rather drink natural milk with all the fat in it and retain all the nutrients we are supposed to get.

I realise that vegetarians or vegans may be wondering if there’s any chance of salvaging this recipe for them, and this is what I suggest: besan chilla is often known as vegetarian omelette, and you can make it with moringa leaves. Moong dal is also a good substitute.

The idea for this recipe came because I had eaten eggs with spinach and feta cheese at many places, and one day I thought – why not moringa? Why not indeed, given that I routinely throw those leaves into dals, rotis and theplas just like my mother used to. It’s a very simple and very satisfying recipe, I hope you’ll try it out.

Moringa Leaves Omelette

(Yield: 1 omelette)

2 eggs

½ cup finely cut moringa leaves

Salt to taste

A pinch of pepper

¼ cup feta cheese

1 tablespoon butter

 

Heat a pan and add the butter. Once it sizzles, add the moringa leaves. Allow to cook for a few minutes.

In a bowl, crack the eggs and beat them well. Now, add the sautéed moringa to the eggs and beat again.

Heat the pan again and pour the egg mixture into the pan. Allow to cook on a medium flame and then flip until both sides of your omelette are well done.

Serve with any garnish or accompaniment of your choice.

As you can see, this is a very easy recipe with minimal ingredients – moringa leaves, eggs, seasoning and some cheese (which is optional). If you’d like to boost both the protein and fusion quotients of this dish, you could even sprinkle some paneer on top. It will make the omelette more filling overall, as well.

Omelettes go well with any main meal, so I’d love to know what time of day you wind up eating this one! Let me know in the comments if you enjoy it.

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Recipe: Staying Fresh In The Summer – Sprouted Salad

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Summers in India are usually a time when many people prefer to eat lighter meals, but a heatwave like we are experiencing now makes this all the more important. You may find yourself automatically desiring light meals when the climate is hot, and there’s a science to this. Heavy food affects the metabolism, taking longer to digest, and this process increases the heat in the body. The lighter the meal, the lower the amount of internal heat generated during the digestion process. For some, a light meal may be some cooling yogurt and rice, or may even constitute simply of a tall and refreshing glass of buttermilk. As a lover of salads, I find that they are ideal for this season, and can pack many nutrients into a simple (and yes, light) dish. This sprouted salad, using homegrown sprouts and an assortment of fresh veggies, is one I’ve been making very often, and I’m glad to share it with you too.

At the start of this year, I shared the method for growing sprouts at home. You can use any legume of your choice, including fenugreek, beans and more. I love my green mung sprouts, as you may recall from that post, along with brown chana sprouts. Brown chana, also known as black chickpea, is believed to be high in iron due to its colour. As a darker legume, it’s usually eaten in the winters (as it’s heavier on the digestion than the lighter looking ones). Nature has a wonderful logic to it, which we can attune our appetites to, so as to make the most of seasonal produce. For me, I have found that the health quotient of brown chana makes it appropriate even for summer consumption, and it has made its way into this dish. It is rich not only in iron but also in protein, vitamins, calcium, phytochemicals and magnesium, and has benefits for the heart and brain functions and regularising cholesterol and blood sugar.

I’ve had my share of carb binges, partying, exotic meals in exotic destinations and culinary indulgences of all sorts. As I’ve said before, moderation is key. For me, eating right is a conscious choice, especially as I get older, and I’ve found that one of the key elements to this is ensuring that I get adequate protein in every meal. From experience, I can tell you that there is no scarcity of choice for vegetarians. This sprouted salad is an excellent example. Adding sautéed pieces of tofu or paneer will also increase the protein component of the dish.

Now, there may be something familiar about this recipe to long-term friends of re:store. That’s because re:store was one of the first entrepreneurships in Chennai to open up salad subscriptions. Back when I started the company in 2015, salads were a major component of the menu, though I’ve since honed my focus on baked goods. This one was among the bestselling items, and if you’ve eaten it before and had a craving for it anytime since, here you go – this is the recipe I used then and still do, shared with love.

That also reminds me: that was around the time when complimentary food stopped being served on many flights, so I began to pack a small container of this sprouted salad as my mid-air snack on many occasions. I still do this, in fact. This healthy salad is my preferred travel companion for short flights. It ensures that I’m feeling nourished and energised by a protein boost when I land and head into my appointments at my destination. It has the same effect on tired minds and bodies in need of rejuvenation in the summer heat.

Sprouted Salad

(Serves 2)

 

Fresh Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons spring onions

¼ cup capsicum

¼ cup raw mango (grated)

a handful of cherry tomatoes

½ cup steamed sprouts

1 tablespoon jalapenos (finely chopped)

a handful of coriander leaves (finely chopped)

¼ cup cucumber

 

Dressing ingredients

Salt to taste

1 pinch pepper

1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup

Juice of ½ a lemon

1 teaspoon pomegranate balsamic (optional)

 

Pumpkin seeds

Chopped almonds

 

In a bowl, add all the fresh ingredients. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Just before serving, add all the ingredients for the dressing and mix well.

When ready to serve, assemble all the ingredients, including the seeds and nuts, the dressing and the fresh ingredients. Mix well and gently. That’s all there is to it. Enjoy this delicious, nutritious salad and let it bring its refreshing qualities to your heat-busting methods.

You may have noticed the use of raw mango in this dish. I know some of you may be wondering whether my long-standing tradition of sharing ripe mango recipes and desserts, since the fruit is in season, will continue this year. However, given the heatwave, I thought I’d do something different and focus on replenishing and energy-boosting recipes. Don’t forget to drink lots of water, and you can always keep hydration interesting with a hearty lassi. On the subject of mangoes and indulgences, the recipe archive is right here for you to explore!

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Recipe: Fighting Carbs, The Fun Way – Vegan Fig & Chia Smoothie Bowl

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My ongoing sad saga is that I am trying to avoid carbs. I say “saga” because you’d have heard me repeat this time and time again on this blog over the last few months, as I sincerely share recipes that help me stick to my dietary plan. Truth be told, I probably say that I’m off carbs more often than I am actually off carbs, but to give myself due credit, I am constantly trying. The fruits of those efforts are recipes like this one, which indeed contains literal fruits! In addition to helping me in my anti-carb struggle, this vegan fig and chia smoothie bowl is also a great dish on my journey towards increased veganism. But the best part? Despite all these healthy-sounding proclamations, it’s simply delicious.

I have a mental block when it comes to smoothies: when I drink them, they don’t feel as filling as when I put them into a bowl. It’s a visual trick, convincing myself that this is indeed the full meal that it is. It also looks beautiful once you garnish it in a bowl setting. Whenever I prepare this for myself, some family member of mine inevitably walks by and says, “Hey, what’s that? It looks so good.” This reiterates the fact that presentation is key. We always eat with our eyes first.

The chia in this smoothie also makes it look and taste like a pudding, which dials down the feeling that one is consuming it only for its nutritional benefits. In addition to being a superfood, chia is a thickening agent, which is what provides that pudding feeling. Of course, this ingredient is also doing double duty as a superfood, being chock-full of antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, calcium fibre, magnesium, iron, Vitamin A and other very good things. One more advantage to it is that it has no flavour of its own, so it enhances the texture of whatever you put it into.

I tend to eat this fig chia smoothie bowl for dinner on days when I have had a very heavy lunch. Naturally, it will make an equally good breakfast. The versatility of this dish is fun to explore. This extends to the ingredients as well. Try your own variations with different flavours and garnishings, using the milk and chia base.

Vegan Fig & Chia Smoothie Bowl

(Serves 2-3)

 

5 dry figs

2 cups almond milk

A pinch of cinnamon powder

1 tablespoon chia seeds

Ice cubes (optional)

Soak the figs in enough water so that they are fully covered. Allow to soak for 2-4 hours.

In a blender, add the soaked figs, almond milk and chia seeds and blend until smooth and frothy.

Add the cinnamon powder and blend again lightly.

Pour into bowls, or into tall glasses, and add ice if you prefer. Top with any garnishings of your choice. Serve chilled.

As mentioned earlier, you can scoop this up as I do, with a spoon from a bowl, or you can drink it from a tall glass. You can also replace almond milk with dairy. It all depends on your dietary needs or preferences, as well as whether you enjoy experiencing this dish as a smoothie or as a smoothie bowl.

For instance, I’ve used a pinch of cinnamon powder as I find that refreshing; you may wish to eliminate this and replace it with another refreshing ingredient such as chopped apples. While I’ve used dried figs in the smoothie blend, I’ve used fresh ones to decorate the bowl. You can use either, based on seasonal availability. I’ve also added pomegranates in the garnishing for some colour. Nuts will boost nutrition as well as add more texture and flavour.

This fig and chia smoothie bowl is naturally slightly sweet due to the fruits it contains, so it does not need additional sweetening. However, if you’d like to increase that taste, I would recommend going with honey, maple syrup or jaggery rather than refined sugar. There are wonderful ways to indulge one’s sweet tooth without having to use unhealthy ingredients.

Another showcase of its versatility is that this fig and chia smoothie bowl could indeed work as a dessert replacement. Although if that’s what you’re looking for, let me suggest some summer-friendly chia-based recipes, such as this chia-vetiver coconut pudding or this strawberry smoothie.

What will you have it as: breakfast, lunch, dinner or in lieu of dessert? Try it out and let me know!

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Recipe: Cool As Kheer – Orange Kheer

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If you’ve been using my recipes for awhile, you may already be quite experienced with kheer, having tried out sitaphal kheer, rose-coconut kheer and even kheer poori. So this orange kheer should be a nice, fresh twist on a milky Indian dessert that I hope you’ve been loving.

When I first heard of orange kheer and then tasted it for myself, I was a bit surprised. I had always assumed that citrus would separate the milk and ruin the dish, so when my mother-in-law brought it out for her meal once in the early days of my marriage, I was incredulous at first, and then very impressed. The trick is to have two distinct cooling periods, thus ensuring that the milk has already set before the orange is introduced and combined. When you make it this way, you can quite confidently add quite a lot of orange, which I do – fruit segments, fruit juice and even a fruit cup.

The fruit cups – using hollowed-out orange peels to serve the dessert – were my innovation on my mother-in-law’s recipe. I suggested this idea to her after first eating her orange kheer. We found that it further enhances the experience as this style of serving makes it all the more fragrant. Of course, you also save on clean-up time afterwards. Neither do you waste water doing the dishes, making it a creative and eco-friendly choice as well.

I recently made this orange kheer after several years, much to my mother-in-law’s delight. She asked for a second helping, and she reminded me that it had been my father-in-law’s favourite. A flood of memories came back to her, and she appreciated the sentimental value of the dish very much. Watching her delight made me think yet again of how food truly is emotional, and has such a nostalgic quality. This isn’t something that we food bloggers say just for fun – when something beautiful like this is evoked in a person as they eat, the evidence is clearly seen.

My late father-in-law was diabetic, so we ensured that the sugar quantity in this dessert was always low, so that he could enjoy more of it. I generally avoid using too much artificial sweetening or sugar in my cooking anyway, so this low-sugar version fit nicely into my overall culinary approach, and I retained the recipe. The natural sweetness of the fruit also comes through. Oranges are currently in season, and I used the Nagpur variety which is especially flavourful at this time.

It’s so fitting that a sweet dessert like this inspires such sweet memories. I hope you’ll enjoy it just as much as my family does.

 

Orange Kheer

(Yield: 4-5 servings)

 

1 litre milk

Segments of 2 oranges

Juice of 1 orange

1⁄2 cup sugar

3 oranges (for cups)

Boil the milk on a medium-low flame, for roughly an hour, until it has reduced to 1⁄3. Stir frequently, making sure it does not stick to the bottom. The milk will be thick.

Once it has reduced, add the sugar and stir well. Take off the flame, cover and set aside to cool. Then, refrigerate for 2 hours.

Once it has cooled, remove from the fridge and add the orange segments and orange juice. The juice is optional, but elevates the overall flavour quite a bit. If you have some orange blossom extract on hand, go ahead and add a few drops too. Stir and put back into the refrigerator until cooled again.

When you are ready to serve this dish, you can either do so with your regular bowls, or else try my method of using the orange peel. To create the orange peel cups, cut each orange into half. Scoop out the flesh, being careful not to damage the peel. Set the segments aside for later. Pour the cooled kheer inside. Garnish if you’d like to (toasted pistachio can be a nice touch) and enjoy!

This is a cheerful dessert, as orange simply has that quality of boosting the mood. The aroma and the taste come together beautifully. I wouldn’t be surprised if, like my mother-in-law did today, you’ll be reaching out for a second helping too.

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Recipe: Yummy, Yummy! – Yam Chips

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When I shared the recipe for sabudana wada last week, I also remembered the other delights that my mother would prepare when she observed Farali fasts, in which grains were not permitted. The food was the only part of those fasts that I enjoyed as a child, but how much I enjoyed it! Sweet potatoes, fruits, a variety of tubers (and really, who doesn’t love tubers?) filled our plates and our tummies during those days. I presume the diet was carb-heavy to compensate for the lack of energy-boosting nutrients in the forbidden grains. My mother would often prepare sliced yam, which was boiled then deep-fried or pan-fried. Years later, I encountered yam chips in the home of a dear friend, and these came back to mind. So this newfound recipe contains elements of my childhood memories too.

As with most recipes that I learnt from my mother, and that I continue to share here on this blog, the masala or spices she used were very simple – salt, pepper and an optional dash of lime was all she used in her fried or sautéed yam dish. This ensured that the flavour of the actual vegetable or produce being used came through. This version, however, plays with more spice. One day, when I was visiting my dear friend Sujata Pelletier, her cook Annapurna spontaneously put together a crispy yam snack that reminded me of my mother’s fried yams, but was also distinct. In Annapurna’s version, the slices were thinner and the spices more pronounced. This was the one I wanted to prepare, so I called them up for the recipe and to double check that my ingredient guesses were correct. They were elated to hear that it was going to be written about, and I’m excited for them to see the photographs in this post.

Annapurna really is such an appropriate name for a person who cooks. “Annam” means “food”, and “purna” means “filled to the brim, overflowing”. Annapurna is also the name of the Hindu goddess of nourishment. That little bit of trivia makes recreating this dish in my home all the more delightful for me.

Yam is a very nutritious ingredient, absolutely packed with Vitamin A, C and B5. It helps with the absorption of other nutrients as well, and has a positive effect on cognitive function, menopausal symptoms, your metabolic and respiratory systems and more. I sometimes feel it is under-rated, and to this I say: never judge a book by its cover. While it’s rustic and not particularly attractive to the eye, it’s a vegetable with a fabulous taste. If you’re fairly new to this ingredient, a word of caution: be sure to oil your hands before you cut into it. Raw yam contains calcium oxalate, which makes the fingers itch!

But once they’re nicely fried, your fingers will itch in a different way – you won’t be able to stop at just one!

Yam Chips

(Yield: 2-4 servings)

 

1⁄4 kilogram yam

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon chilli powder

1 tomato (only pulp)

¼ teaspoon turmeric

 

Slice the yam and boil in water, along with the turmeric, until slightly tender. Drain well and keep aside.

On a plate, place the yam slices and add the chilli powder, salt and tomato pulp. Mix well until well coated. Let sit for half an hour.

In a pan, add the oil and once it has heated, place the slices gently on the hot oil. Allow them to turn golden and crisp on both sides. You may prefer to air-fry them as well (you can do the same for the sabudana wadas, by the way) They are now ready to serve.

You can enjoy your crispy yam chips just as they are, as a delicious snack, or have them along with hot rice and dal to add more texture and flavour to your meal.

Looking back, I can now see how a wide variety of other dishes from around the world would be suitable for Farali fasting too. These Spanish-style patatas bravas come to mind immediately. Do you observe similar fasts, and how do you plan your menus for the fast-breaking, or within the parameters of what is permitted?

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Recipe: More Peas, Please! – Pea Soup

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I have been very inspired to make some pea soup thanks to seeing it on the Instagram feeds of many people whom I’ve been following keenly lately. I find the bright green hue of pea soup very, very attractive. We feast with the eyes first, as I say often. The colour green itself denotes good health, promotes a sense of calmness, and has associations with healing. Peas are still in abundance on the market right now, as I mentioned in my previous post on peas paratha (I hope you enjoyed that one; always happy to hear from you!). So my inspiration, which became both my photographic and culinary craving, was fulfilled. So, of course, was my appetite.

The technique that I find works best while making soup is to ensure that the flavour of the vegetable used is not drowned through the addition of too many spices. What I also enjoy deeply is tasting the flavour of the vegetable itself. You may have noticed this about my zucchini soup recipe too, which kept things minimal so as to elevate the key element. Personally, I also prefer my food in general to not be intensely spicy. This is rather un-Indian of me, but I do love to savour every ingredient. To me, when you cook and eat mindfully, you can taste the season of the harvest, the sunshine and natural elements that raised the crop, the work of those who brought it to us, and of course the love within the preparation itself. There is something about such an experience that contributes to well-being, just as much as power-packed ingredients ensure that our health and immunity stay strong.

In fact, when I was studying Macrobiotics, we were taught to hand-crush rather than use a blender. So the ingredients would be coarsely ground. In a soup, we have not just the liquid, but could also chew on the small pieces. This was where I learned the unique pleasure of slowly tasting the vegetable properly. Coming from a traditional Indian household, I hadn’t really grown up with soups, even though my mother was very inquisitive about culinary methods and was among the first in our community to take baking and foreign cooking classes. So I did not get into them until much later, and my fondness for them is associated with that time in my life where I learned all about the Macrobiotics ethos and began to observe the difference it made to my life. In fact, have a slight preference for soups over salads (although I do love both, as you know), and that is probably for this reason.

A mindful and mildly-seasoned method of preparing soup helps you distinguish between the different kinds, the different vegetables used. In the case of this recipe, if you have access to homegrown or organic peas, you will especially notice the distinct flavour. Those can be particularly sweet and fresh. They also cook faster. Soups are easier to consume as well, and are both filling and light at the same time. I hope you’ll explore my other recipes in this category if you are a fan of them too.

 

Pea Soup

(Yield: 2 servings)

 

1 cup shelled peas

¼ cup spring onions

2 teaspoons olive oil/butter

Salt to taste

A pinch of pepper

2 cups hot water

1 tablespoon fresh cream (for garnish)

 

Add the olive oil in a pan. Once it has heated, add the spring onions. Sauté for a few minutes, until tender.

Then, add the peas. Stir, lower the flame and cover with a lid. Allow the peas to cook until they are tender to the touch.

Add the hot water and then add salt and pepper, to your preferred degree of seasoning.

Stir, then remove from the flame. Allow to cool. Then, blend this peas mixture into a thick, coarse purée. You may use your blender for convenience, or you may experiment with the Macrobiotics way described earlier.

Return the blended mixture, now a proper soup, to the pot. Allow to cook, stirring occasionally. You may adjust the water quantity to your preference.

One it has cooked, scoop out the soup into bowls and serve garnished with fresh cream. You could also sprinkle some more spring onions, fresh and finely chopped.

As I said earlier, the secret to this one is really in keeping the spices as minimal as possible. I believe that salt, pepper and a hint of lime (if you like tanginess) are more than enough to add flavour to a good soup, and everything or anything else is an additional twist.

Soups are always soothing to consume. They really are a comfort food. I hope you’ll enjoy this one as much as I do, and that you have the kind of experience that I do when I have it – savouring the taste of the peas slowly and enjoying the warmth of the soup.

 

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Recipe: Gujju-Style Cluster Beans – Guar Dhokli

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I’m the inquisitive type, and I love to know about everything that I eat. Recently, an ice cream recipe I was trying out called for guar gum, which made me wonder about its relationship to guar or cluster beans. With a little insight from Wikipedia, I learned this fun fact: guar gum, widely used internationally, comes from the guar seed and is exported from India. Guar gum is a thickening agent, and used in food industries around the world. Unfortunately, the processing the raw seed undergoes renders the final product rather unhealthy. Still, that takes away nothing from the goodness of guar itself. This wonderfully healthy vegetable hasn’t made an appearance on my blog so far, probably because it is not enjoyed by most of my family. But I know from experience that it is an acquired taste. I’ve been making it in a typical Gujarati style recently, in the form of guar dhokli. You may remember my dal dhokli recipe from years ago, and will be familiar with the stew-like concept behind it. This is similar: parcels of dough, known as dhokli, are cooked in a gravy – this one, full of nourishing guar.

Cluster beans are a bitter vegetable. The dhokli part of the dish balances this flavour out. Guar dhokli on the whole is a dish with several textures and flavours, and healthy too. As someone who enjoys a wide variety of vegetables, including unpopular ones like this one, I can safely say that a nice preparation, along with awareness of the benefits of an ingredient, can change one’s mind about it. This one contains: glyconutrients and a low glycemic index (making them good for diabetic diets) and folic acid (good for pregnancy diets). More generally, it is good for blood circulation, lowers bad cholesterol, and is rich in minerals, iron and Vitamins A, B and K.

As I mentioned, my family members aren’t fans, but I am. However, I too detested guar when I was growing up. My mother would make guar dhokli often and I would pick the guar out of the gravy and just eat the dhoklis, much to her fury! Funnily enough, once I got married and moved away, whenever I visited her I would request guar dhokli. It had a nostalgic quotient, and it truly began to grow on me. At this point, I would even go as far as to call guar one of my favourite vegetables. Some day, when my kids find themselves having a strange craving for it, they can look up this recipe. I am certain they will also have a change of palate as they get older.

The typical thaali that we eat at my house daily consists of a dal bhaat (dal and rice), rotli and a shaak, which is some kind of vegetable curry. This is the most basic Gujarati meal, and will be found at most households at lunch-time. Some may make it more elaborate by having one dry vegetable and a gravy one, or a savoury item and a sweet. But the core three elements remain. What happens in my home is that I often end up cooking some guar or some ridge gourd (which I I enjoy in a South Indian stir-fry, and have shared the recipe before) or some other vegetable that the others don’t like. So this just-for-me preparation becomes one extra dish, in addition to the core three.

When it comes to my kitchen, there are certain items that only I make. This guar dhokli happens to be one of them. Another one of my specialties is this Gujarati potato and brinjal curry. These recipes were transferred from my mother’s hands to mine, and somehow they just don’t taste the same unless I make them myself.

While preparing this guar dhokli, I pondered about how this authentic recipe has been preserved through the generations. My mother was only 19 when she moved to Chennai, and my siblings and I were born and raised here, just as my own children were. Still, we speak pure and perfect Gujarati at home, and the majority of the dishes we ate growing up were authentic ones. Even as I enjoy fusion food and amalgamating cuisines, I still find a way to maintain cultural and language traditions, even while integrating elements and influences. Food, of course, is the most beautiful way to do this – it’s amazing how we can enjoy diversity and also enjoy authenticity at the dining table.

Guar Dhokli

(Yield: 3-4)

 

Gravy

¼ kilogram cluster beans

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)

Salt to taste

A pinch of turmeric

1 tbsp dhaniya jeera powder (coriander and cumin powder)

½ teaspoon sugar

2 cups water

 

Dhokli

¼ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup chickpea flour

Salt to taste

A pinch of turmeric

A pinch of chilli powder

1 teaspoon oil

¼ cup (or less) water

 

First, prepare the dhoklis. Make a tight dough with the above ingredients, adjusting the water accordingly. Now, make small discs with the palm of your hand. Set aside.

Then, prepare the gravy. First, wash and cut the guar into the desired size.

In a pressure cooker, add the oil. Once it has heated, add the ajwain. Next, add the chopped guar. Add 1 cup of water and allow the vegetable to cook until it is tender. This takes no more than 1 whistle.

Once cooled, open the lid and add another cup of hot water and then add the dhoklis that were set aside earlier.

Add the remaining spices and stir gently.

Once cooked, allow to cool for about 5-8 minutes. Your guar dhokli is now ready.

This dish is best served with rotis or rice, since it has a gravy component.

There you have it – guar dhokli, a dish that can turn a rather unpopular vegetable into a hit. Try it yourself and tell me what you think. I hope this recipe inspires you to bring the cluster bean into your repertoire, on repeat!

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Recipe: Perfectly Pleasing – Peas Paratha

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Peas are in abundance right now – they are in season, cheap to purchase, good for health, and I for one am glad they are flooding the local market. It feels like I am making something with them every day. Recipes I’ve shared with you in the past, like this harra bhara kebab, pea-pomegranate festive kachori and chura matar are being relished at my dining table. I’ve even begun using peas as substitutes for staples. For instance, I usually send my family members off to their offices with some aloo paratha in their tiffin carriers, but the potatoes have been swapped out for – you guessed it – peas. I would like for you to experience the lovely pea-stuffed parathas that they are enjoying at the moment too, so that’s exactly the recipe that I’ve decided to share this week.

Since I am now preparing as well as eating these pea parathas daily, I’ve observed that they are healthier and lighter than aloo parathas, which makes them more suitable for the mid-day meal when one’s work has to be resumed after. The best accompaniment for them is yoghurt and a cup of simple salad – add these two elements and you’re all set with a nice lunch. Traditionally, parathas are meant to be generous in size, but I prefer to make them small. They look pretty and dainty, fit more easily into your Tupperware or tiffin carrier, and the overall presentation just looks and feels nicer. That’s quite important for any meal, not just a special one. When a loved one opens their lunchbox at the office, the dishes within would have been prepared hours earlier and may no longer be warm or as fresh, so making them look attractive makes a difference.

I’ve been using peas grown in my region, but I must admit a preference for those harvested in Jaipur or Delhi at this time of year. The weather there is more conducive to this vegetable, and the yield is smaller in size and so sweet that it can be eaten raw (and even used in desserts, like in peas halwa). I have friends who grow peas on farms there, and visits from or to them during this season would always include some fresh produce. Sadly, no one is able to travel much at the moment, but the local variants are still much enjoyed in my home.

As I was preparing the peas for my photo shoot, I smiled as I recalled helping out in the kitchen when I was growing up. When we were kids, my siblings and I would have a competition about who would peel and shell the most peas. These were a chore that our mother often assigned to us, and this is how we would make it more interesting. The winner had no reward and the loser had no punishment, but this game was just a way for us to pep up a boring activity. Once again, as I did while sharing the previous recipe, I reminisce about how kids of my generation always found ways to keep ourselves entertained. We were innovative and creative in the absence of technology. What sorts of games did you play to make chores go by faster?

Peas Paratha

(Yield: 4-6)

 

Peas stuffing

1 full cup crushed green peas

1 teaspoon aamchur powder

1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder

1 teaspoon ginger/green chilli paste

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon oil (to roast the peas)

 

Paratha dough

1½ cups whole-wheat flour

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon oil

+ Oil for shallow frying

 

Divide the dough and the stuffing separately into equally-sized small balls (lime/lemon-sized).

Roll one dough ball out, and place a spoonful of the peas stuffing in the centre. Gather the dough around the peas and make a smooth round ball, using gentle pressure.

Dust some flour onto the ball and roll out again delicately, making sure the peas do not come out of the dough.

The method of stuffing the paratha with peas is similar to the method for making puran poli, which you can refer to in this post here.

Heat the tava over a medium flame. Once it is hot, place the rolled paratha on it and cook. Flip and spread a ½ teaspoon of oil evenly around the edges and shallow fry both sides until light golden brown spots appear. Repeat with the remaining parathas. Serve.

As I said earlier, some yoghurt and a bit of salad are great accompaniments, but even eaten on its own this peas paratha is flavourful. It is a perfect light meal, and it is lunchbox-friendly, cost-friendly and health-friendly too!

 

 

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