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Method: The Good Luck Charm – Green Mung Sprouts

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Green mung – also known as green gram, green moong and mung beans – is considered to be “shukaan” in Gujarati culture, meaning that it symbolises good luck and all things auspicious. When we hold a housewarming ceremony, the first thing we do is make a Hindu svastika on the floor using the legume. Similarly, when Jains break a significant fast, such as a 9-day fast, the first item consumed is water in which green mung had been boiled. This infused water is easy on the digestion, and helps the system adjust to whole food again after the abstinence. The combination of faith in the luck factor and the fact that it is very healthy mean that the ingredient is used across Gujarati cuisine in a wide variety of ways. You may have noticed its recurrence on this blog too: green moong dhokla, green moong bhel and green mung khatta are among the recipes I’ve shared. This time, I wanted to start the new year off on a promising note by sharing the method for getting green mung to sprout.

There is a special shelf in my fridge that always holds my tomato purée, a selection of chutneys and sprouted green mung. This should tell you a lot about the versatility of the last item, since it has pride of place on that always-reached-out-for list. I steam the sprouted green mung and add it to salads, sauté it and have it with roti or dosa or rice, put it in my stir-fries… You can see why I always like to have it on hand.

You may remember growing sprouts from your school days, as I do. We would have projects in Science class during which we would keep mustard seeds on a cotton ball and sprinkle water on them, then watch what happened over the next few days. The process was so fascinating back then, and when I pause and contemplate it, it still is. When I was training in Macrobiotics a few years ago, we learned that all seeds and legumes are sacred, as they contain life within them intrinsically. They may hold this potential for thousands of years before a few drops of water awaken it. This is the mystical part of nature, expressed in the way the green mung holds life within it no matter what. We are so fortunate to have these sprouting wonders: for the nourishment they provide, as well as the inspiration.

This is why the method for growing green mung sprouts occurred to me as being the perfect post to start this year with. May hope and renewal fill your heart as you conduct this experiment. Here is to all your new beginnings, to good health and to all the positive intentions you put out to the universe beautifully coming back to you. May all our goodwill come back to each of us manifold.

Method: Green Mung Sprouts

1 cup green mung

2 cups clean water

 

Rinse and soak the green mung in clean water overnight or for at least 8 hours.

In the morning, the beans will have increased in size and part of the skin would have opened up.

Rinse the beans once again and place them in a muslin cloth. Tie the cloth gently. It’s okay if the cloth feels damp.

Place the cloth containing the beans in a deep pot and cover this with a lid. Store at room temperature in a dark place.

Take a look the following day and you’ll notice that the beans are sprouting slightly. Cover again and leave be.

Check again on Day 2, and you will see that healthy, sprightly mung beans have sprouted – grown and ready for use.

It really is so simple to grow these sprouts yourself, and to use them as much as you want to in a wide variety of meals. I mostly sprout green mung, but also use black channa (which takes longer), and as mentioned earlier from my school memories, quite few kinds of seeds and lentils can be utilised for this purpose too. Here in Chennai, it’s really very easy to grow sprouts, as the weather is very conducive for this, versus a colder climate. Do keep that in mind – the process may take a little longer for you, depending on where you are.

These sprouts are to me small manifestations of nature’s glory, which we also experience in the form of trees. Too often, we take them for granted. Down the road from my home, a beautiful old tree was recently chopped down as part of some construction work. Seeing this was heartrending. If we cannot revere them as they deserve to be revered, the least we can do is to preserve them. A marvelous book, Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees, teaches us that they communicate amongst themselves, in everything from the way their roots touch one another’s and the way they sway. There is so much we have not appreciated, respected or learnt fully about. We need to be more aware of the life-giving essence of nature.

In that spirit, I would like to share with you my New Year’s intention. We have a little farm that I’ve spoken about from time to time on this blog, and along with various crops, I’ve also slowly been growing flowers there. Local varieties, especially ones which are quickly being forgotten, are what I most want to have flourish there. I am hoping that this is the year that I really begin to design it and cultivate it, in a meaningful and long-lasting way so that the next few generations can enjoy my garden and carry forward my love of local blossoms.

What is your intention, and how do you plan to bring it to life? What is sprouting in your dreams right now? As always, I would love to hear from you.

‘

 

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Recipe: Made With Bits & Bobs – Vegetable Soup

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Given the heavy rain in Chennai, along with the fact that I recently recovered from a bad flu, I’ve been feeling like having more immunity-boosting foods of late. The turmeric tea that I have before bed is one among these – have you given it a try too? Another new item among my frequent meals is this simple, seasonal vegetable soup. It contains almost no processed ingredients and is a very healthy, can’t-go-wrong dish that really makes you feel well-nourished and warm.

This kind of weather also makes me feel like going into the kitchen less, so what makes this dish all the more convenient is that I can just make a large pot of it in one go, and then help myself to it whenever I feel hungry throughout the day.

The interesting part about how it’s made is that it’s really a “bits and bobs” kind of soup. You can prepare the soup stock by adding whatever you have around. For instance, I had some leftover ridge gourd, half an onion and other assorted vegetables, and all these went into it. The stock itself is a versatile item, and you can use it in dals and so on as well. As I’m a vegetarian, I’ve stuck to vegetables, but if you’re not, it’s a good idea to include some chicken while boiling the stock, and make it more protein-rich.

Making soup stock, and soup itself, with whatever is on hand came about because of necessity. All of you who are also in Chennai have faced a similar situation in recent weeks, with vegetables either unavailable or available only at skyrocketing prices. I believe that farmers have also had trouble being able to distribute the produce to the cities, in addition to flooding impacting the fields themselves. A combination of factors has led to this scarcity. The way I see it, and the way I choose to respond to it, is that it’s not so much about affordability as it is about accessibility. As a believer in Macrobiotics and someone who feels that seasonal and local ingredients are always best, I prefer to reach out for that which is most easily available at all times. That means that sturdier vegetables like potatoes, gourds, beans and carrots that still make it to our markets relatively smoothly and in good shape are what I’ve used in this dish, as well as in most of the dishes being prepared at home at the moment.

I tend to eat salads and raw vegetables at lunch, so cooked and steamed vegetables, which this soup is rich in, are my go-to for dinner. I prefer a light meal at night as it’s easier on the digestion. Also, while you’ve definitely heard quite a bit on other posts on this blog about how I’ve been cutting down on carbs, I’m in a new phase now where I let myself have some carbs at night. So sometimes I have a dosa or two, which is certainly a lighter dinner than the regular Gujarati thaali we eat at lunch. It’s all about listening to your body and adapting to the circumstances, including the weather and the vegetable supply chain!

Vegetable Soup

(Yield: Serves 3-4)

Stock

Thick peel of a potato

Cabbage leaves

Peel and parts of a ridge gourd

1 onion

Soup

1 tablespoon oil

2 cups finely cut vegetables (carrots, beans, onion, broccoli, corn)

A piece of ginger (grated)

3 cloves garlic (grated)

3-4 cups vegetable stock (above)

Salt to taste

½ cup rice starch (use corn flour if you prefer)

1 tablespoon soya sauce

1 teaspoon homemade chili sauce

A squeeze of lemon

Optional

Grated tofu

Sprouts

Leafy greens

Coriander garnishing

 

Prepare the stock by adding all the vegetables to about six cups of water. Allow this to boil until it reduces to ¾th the earlier quantity. Strain and cool. Set aside.

Then, begin preparing the soup.

Add the oil to a pot. Then, add the ginger and garlic and sauté for a few minutes.

Next, add all the vegetables and stir fry for a few minutes.

Then, warm and add the vegetable stock prepared earlier. Next, add the starch. Cover and allow to boil. I have opted to use rice starch from rice cooked earlier in the day, but you can use the usual corn flour, tapioca flour or any other thickening or gelling agent that you prefer.

Once it starts boiling, add the salt, soya sauce and chilli sauce. Cook for a little while and once it starts to thicken slightly, squeeze in the lemon.

The soup is ready now, but to make it go an extra mile, garnish with coriander and add some grated tofu or moong sprouts for a nice boost of protein. I added all these as well as some leafy greens I had on hand that day. Serve hot.

This vegetable soup works beautifully as a meal-in-a-bowl, or you can have it as an appetiser or complement it with a range of sides. Something like this cheesy, garlicky sourdough toast may make a lovely accompaniment. You can also check out some of the other delicious soups that I’ve shared over the years: minestrone, simple zucchini soup, broccoli and almond soup and vegan whole corn and lemongrass soup. Stay warm, and enjoy!

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Recipe: Tinged With Goodness – Turmeric Tea

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I was recently down with a virus (thankfully, it was not COVID), and that was when I began consuming this turmeric tea every night. I had long been making it on a nightly basis, for my husband who insists on a cup of it before bedtime. Despite his urging me to have it as well, I somehow never did. That bout of illness was an important reminder for me that we need to keep our immunity high. Healthy, homemade remedies are a time-honoured way of doing this.

It isn’t that I wasn’t occasionally consuming turmeric-based boosters – such as this turmeric shot and this sniffle-season tonic  – but making a point to have a beverage like this one every night was just not part of my routine until a few weeks ago. However, there was a nightly drink that my mother would prepare for us while we were growing up. She would put a drop of ghee in a cup, add two pinches of turmeric powder, pour hot milk over this, stir it and make my siblings and I drink it. Like most children, we hated it. Now that I am older and appreciate the medicinal values of common ingredients, it’s been a pleasure to bring some turmeric back into my bedtime routine. Now, I can’t get enough of it, and even look forward to it.

I first consumed this drink while visiting my son in Bangalore. The lady who comes in to do his cooking prepared it one day when the kitchen ran short of tea leaves. She called it “a healthy tea” and offered it as a substitute. It was so refreshing that it became a keeper in my family, and I got the recipe from her and began making it once I got back home too. It was reminiscent of the homemade remedies I’ve known, and easy to prepare as well. When I look back on my childhood, I hardly recall being given pills; nor do I recall falling seriously ill. Common, seasonal illnesses were always treated with traditional, natural cures.

It’s a healthy tea indeed, made with the goodness of turmeric. Turmeric is an antioxidant, anti-bacterial and anti- inflammatory ingredient, and has been trusted for centuries as a disease preventative. It is not for nothing that a turmeric stamp is re:store’s signature, and has taken pride of place in the brand logo for six years now. You can see it right there on this blog’s header and on my product packaging too. To me, it represents good health and vibrance in all aspects of life. I love the ingredient for its versatility: it’s as useful in a curry as it is in a beverage like this.

It happens to be turmeric season now, and I’m planning to go to the South Indian heartlands where it is harvested to track the process. This adventure is something I will be sharing with you in time.

Coming back to this turmeric tea itself: you can experiment with more spices to flavour it with, depending on the season and what’s on hand in your kitchen. In rainy or wintry weather like what we’re having now in Chennai, the spices can be warming too. I like to just add lemon and honey, and sometimes a cinnamon stick or star anise. At home, we are currently mostly off dairy so we prefer it as a turmeric tea. You can turn it into a turmeric latte by adding milk and eliminating the lemon. As long as turmeric is the base, you can play around with the rest of the recipe.

The best part of this drink is that unlike my other turmeric remedies, which I use seasonally or only when I have fallen sick, this is good as a year-round drink. Many of us enjoy a warm beverage at night, and this makes for a great replacement (especially if you prefer to be dairy-free). Also, it kills your night-time sugar craving. This is good news for those of us with a sweet tooth, and I’m telling you this from experience! Something about this drink just takes away that itch. Quite the benefit, in addition to all its healing properties, no?

Turmeric Tea
(Yield: 1 cup)

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 small piece of ginger
A few drops of lemon juice
¼ teaspoon honey
1 cup boiling hot water
Some star anise

Boil the water along with the ginger and star anise. In a cup, add the turmeric powder, honey and lemon juice.

Once the water boils, pour it into the cup.

Stir and drink while it’s hot.

Incredibly simple, yet so very soothing. As I said earlier, add selected spices to flavour the beverage further, as per your wish. Let this turmeric tea relax you, and heal you as you sleep. Sweet dreams!

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Recipe: Even Better At Breakfast – Bajra Rotlo Cereal

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Still on the theme of post-festive millet-based goodness, after the previous post’s millet upma, I’m glad to share another recipe that I’ve been turning to frequently. This is another breakfast dish, and what’s even better is that it makes use of the previous day’s leftovers, maximizing resources and minimizing time. There’s a long tradition of innovative dishes that do this, as we’ve seen in my second helpings series from a few years back, and this bajra rotlo cereal fits beautifully into that category too.

Bajra, or pearl millet, is a long-fingered crop with hundreds of grains on the cob. It has been cultivated on the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years, and is a staple across different cuisines in this region. As a darker coloured millet, which indicates that it is heavier on the digestive system, it is perfect for monsoons and Indian winters. It keeps the body warm, since the digestive system is active for longer, working on those slow-release carbs, and thus reduces hunger between meal-times. I have noticed that it is one of the key ingredients consumed by farmers, such as the people I’ve met on my travels to the Rann of Kutch, where the salt-harvesting community eats bajra with chutney daily.  It has a high iron quotient, is gluten-free and is rich in amino acids, fibre and antioxidants.

Bajra rotlo is a flatbread, one of many varieties enjoyed by the Gujarati community. It is most often accompanied by a garlic chutney, but while I was growing up my mother would usually serve it to us with jaggery and ghee or else with homemade white butter. In those days, the milk quality of brands that are still around today was pure and excellent, which meant we could extract our own buttermilk from the curd, and from this the butter. I remember watching my mother churning the buttermilk, which would make the butter float on top. She would often ask me for my help. We would collect the white butter and set it aside. Having it with some bajra rotlo over dinner was one of my favourite meals.

Of course, the homemade butter no longer exists and the store-bought ones just don’t compare when it comes to this purpose. Which brings me to my second-favourite way of eating bajra rotlo: as cereal.

It’s funny how things come full circle. As a child, this was a dish that I scorned at the breakfast table. My mother would always prepare a few extra bajra rotlos, to be kept overnight for my father and her to have in the morning. She would crumble these with her hands, turning them into a cereal consistency, and my parents would eat this cereal with milk. It looked like cornflakes to us kids, which was interesting in theory, but we did not like the taste back then. I grew to love it, however. In fact, I now enjoy this deconstructed version more than I enjoy the previous night’s freshly-made, unbroken bajra rotlos themselves!

Now, when I prepare bajra rotlo cereal, the memory of my mother’s hands and the way she would crumble the rotlos always comes to me. The dish is all the more special because of this.

For the time being, no one else in my family likes bajra rotlo cereal. But they watch me eat it, just as I once watched my parents eat it. I’ve never forced it on my kids, but maybe somewhere later down the line, they’ll reach out for this comfort food on some mornings too. Fond memories really are what make food palatable, above all else. Besides, as parents we always set an example. The next generation, be they little or a little older, will make similar choices to ours. So the more healthily we eat, the better a model we set for them.

Bajra Rotlo Cereal

(Yield: 4 servings)

1 cup bajra flour

½ cup water

A pinch of salt

½ cup flour for rolling

 

Optional (non-cereal version)

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

1 tablespoon finely coriander leaves

 

Put the flour in a bowl, add the pinch of salt and stir. If you plan on having the bajra rotlo as a bread, not a cereal, then make the savoury version and add the onion and coriander now. Skip these optional ingredients if you plan on having the cereal version.

Add the water. Leave a little bit behind in the cup – use just enough to make a malleable dough.

Once the dough is made you, don’t let it sit. You will have to roast the rotlo immediately.

Make four smooth balls with the dough. On a rolling board, sprinkle more flour. Place a ball of dough on it and use your palms to gently pat it out. Use your fingers to press down the edges of the rotlo. If you need the help of the rolling pin, you may use it, but very lightly and gently. Since there is no gluten, the dough will be soft and needs to be handled with care. Add more flour if necessary. Each rotlo needs to be ¼ inch in thickness. Keep dusting with flour at the bottom too. Make all four pieces.

On a hot griddle, place each rotlo individually. Use your fingers to wet the top of the rotlo with water.

Roast on one side and flip over. Cool on a medium flame. As it’s thick, it needs to cook well on the inside. Once it has spots on both sides, place the rotlo directly on the flame to cook further.

Remove from the stove and top with ghee. Allow to cool. You can now serve this bajra rotlo with chutney or dal, if you like.

To make a cereal, once it has cooled, either the same day or the next morning, simply crush or crumble the rotlo with your hands.

You can have this with cold milk, if you prefer that. I usually have mine with warm milk. Specifically, I enjoy it with almond milk, which I’ve been reaching for more and more in my quest to make my diet more vegan. You can also add some sugar, if you wish to sweeten the cereal. All in all, it makes for a complete and healthy breakfast.

The festive season also coincides with the wedding season, which means that there is a general period of celebration until February or so in most Indian communities, peppered with religious occasions as well as personal gatherings. Foods like this dish, which nourish the body and let it recover from the heavy, fried, sugary, buttery, ghee-rich foods that are eaten at special events, are welcome and appreciated after and between feasts. This isn’t to knock indulgent foods at all – in fact, I have noticed how traditional ingredients like gond or gum resin, which are used in laddoos, are a warming agent and boost immunity. There’s a culinary and seasonal logic to indulgence too. But the body really does feel better when some millets are in the mix, balancing out the treats.

I’ve got quite a repertoire of millet-based dishes in my recipe archive, if you are keen to bring this nutritious category into your kitchen more often. Having tried this bajra rotlo cereal, if you find that you’re a fan of pearl millet at breakfast, the traditional Gujarati bajra ghensh is also a fantastic option. Here’s to happy, healthy mornings!

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Recipe: Post-Diwali Downtime – Millet Upma

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After the abundance of sweets, treats and fried foods of Diwali and Navaratri, hopefully accompanied by equally large helpings of blessings and joy, it’s back to trying to eat clean and healthy. This month is all about giving the body’s systems time to settle down before the culinary excitements of Christmas and the New Year beckon again. In this part of the world, this is also a time of rains, which call for immunity-boosting and warming foods as well. With all of this in mind, and taking a cue only from what I’ve been preparing for my family and myself, I’m delighted to share the recipe for a type of comfort food that is ideal for this time of year: millet upma.

Upma is a kind of porridge that is consumed across South India, in several variations. Its base may be semolina, vermicelli, corn, whole wheat or rice. Here, I have chosen to use a millet as the base, specifically the little millet. Millets and soups are perfect for the current weather. While soups are not really a part of the local cuisine, millets have a very long tradition of usage here. I’m quite an advocate for cutting down on white rice consumption in favour of nutritious millets, and you can explore many more millet-based recipes in my blog archives if you’re interested in doing the same.

As well as being a great place to start if you’re new to millets, this dish is also just the perfect way to start your day. Now, the truth is that millets taste healthy, which you know means that the family will fuss over it and make faces – at first. But as I’ve observed from my own grown kids, a millet upma is most welcome at breakfast after a night of partying or feasting. It’s just the kind of thing that calms body and mind, and boosts energy levels at the same time. So I choose a millet upma at the right moment during other times of the year, but it’s whipped up quite frequently in my kitchen in the post-festive period. We also have it as a light dinner, with more vegetables added to the mix. It’s especially great if you’re like me and have dinner early, as the millet gives you energy for the remaining hours of the evening, while still being easy to digest at night.

When cooking millets, the amount of water you add will depend on the size of the grain. Heavier millets – bigger in size and darker in colour – are traditionally used in monsoons and winters as they take more time to digest, hence warm the body for a longer time. However, I’ve chosen a sort of in-between. The little millet, known in Tamil as samai, is a larger grain but has a lighter colour. Use the millet of your preference, and do remember that depending on the type, you may need to pressure cook it or soak it overnight. You will also need to figure out the water level so that the result is a dish that is tender and crumbly. The consistency of the cooked millet should not be sticky.

Millet Upma

(Yield: 2-4 persons)

¾ cup little millet

¼ cup finely chopped onion

¼ cup chopped beans and carrots

2 tablespoons oil

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon cumin seeds

A few curry leaves

1 green chilli

1¼ cups water

A squeeze of lemon juice

Salt to taste

Rinse the millet and set aside. Heat a kadai and add the oil. Once the oil heats up, add the mustard and cumin seeds. Allow them to splutter and then add the remaining vegetables, green chilli and curry leaves.

Cook until the vegetables become tender and then add the water. Once the water has boiled, add the millet. Then add the salt and stir well. Keep the flame low, cover the kadai with a lid, and allow all the water to be cooked. The millet grain should be tender and not sticky.

Add some lemon juice and stir gently. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot, and enjoy the taste of a healthy meal that your body will thank you for!

As I said earlier, there is a long history of millet consumption both in India as well as in my household, as shared here on my blog. I hope this millet upma recipe intrigues you into exploring this food category further. I’ve got a whole range, from the traditional – bajra ghensh, seven-grain khichdo, ragi dosa with peanut chutney, chakkara pongal, ragi kanji and little millet rice with green beans poriyal – to the innovative or internationally-inspired – vegan millet thayirsadam, vegan chili and Indian veg millet salad. I’d love to know about your own journey with millets, too!

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Recipe: Tastiness From My Terrace – South Indian Ridge Gourd Stir-Fry

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As a Gujarati who was born and brought up in Tamil Nadu, I am lucky to have the advantage of knowing and being a part of both cultures. Naturally, this extends to the cuisines as well. Although what is served for lunch nearly every day at home is a standard Gujarati thaali, which consists of rotis, a sabzi or vegetable and some dal, you can see the influence of my multicultural upbringing in the style of of some of the dishes. For instance, the sabzi of the day may be something cooked in a South Indian preparation. This ridge gourd stir-fry, or peerkanga pirratal as we know it in Tamil, is one such recipe in my eclectic repertoire.

I grow ridge gourd on my rooftop, and terrace gardening has also shown me firsthand the beautiful logic of Nature, which has designed things so that the produce that is most nourishing for those who live in the local climate is what grows best in that land too. Take the ridge gourd: high in water content, rich with fibre and minerals, and therefore just perfect for the weather of Chennai wherein our energy is easily depleted by the heat. If you live here, loading up your lunch bowl with this ingredient gives you exactly the boost you need for the rest of the day.

Of course, rounding out the standard meal would be some form of carbs, also known as the bane of my life. So here’s the trick: the Buddha bowl trompe l’oeil. Serving style and visual presentation always impact our perception of what we’re consuming. By putting just two tablespoons of white rice into a bowl and filling the rest with this ridge gourd stir-fry, I don’t have that miserable feeling of holding myself back by skimping on the main part of the meal. Instead, the vegetables themselves become the main part of the meal. This dish is very much in the category of comfort food, and I sometimes literally eat bowlfuls of it!

This South Indian ridge gourd stir-fry is very simple, very unassuming and very wholesome. Just salt and turmeric are quite enough to enhance the natural flavour of the chief ingredient. In addition to the ridge gourd on my rooftop, there are coconut trees in my backyard that yield fruit all year around. I use my own homemade coconut oil and add freshly grated coconut to this dish too, so almost everything in this dish is homegrown and pure. Even a little kitchen garden can make such a difference to our cooking. There really is something special about cultivating and consuming our own ingredients.

Doing so is also a link to a traditional way of living and a traditional way of eating, and these are subjects I think about a lot, given how we need both of these for the sustainability of our planet. M husband and I love time-honoured dishes, but our adult children feel they require much more novelty and diversity in their diets. Being in sync with Nature and seasonal rhythms is important for our vitality too, and I wonder if this is something one becomes more aware of as we age and our palates change. Growing bodies and younger bodies with dynamic lifestyles do need more carbs and sugars, certainly. As discussed in my previous post, it’s quite interesting how kids and senior citizens have very similar tastes. I have been listening more and more to what my body, somewhere between those two extremes of life, needs. In my case, vegetables are what it often craves. If you’re the same, you’ll find much for your repertoire in this blog’s archives. While re:store is all about baked indulgences, the recipes here are more often than not about bringing pleasure and nutrition into everyday meals.

South Indian Ridge Gourd Stir-Fry

(Yield: Serves 2-3)

 

4 cups peeled and chopped ridge gourd

A few curry leaves

¼ cup grated coconut (optional)

2 tablespoons coconut oil

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

¼ teaspoon cumin seeds

¼ teaspoon urad dal

Salt to taste

¼ teaspoon turmeric

½ cup water

1-2 green chillies

3 tablespoons soaked mung/yellow dal

 

In a pressure cooker, add the mung dal and the cut gourd. Add salt, turmeric and ½ cup of water. Allow to cook until tender (this should be about 2 whistles).

In another kadai, add the coconut oil. Once it has heated, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds and ural dal. When they start to splutter, add the curry leaves.

Immediately after, add the vegetables from the pressure cooker and stir well. Once the concoction starts boiling, turn off the flame and add the grated coconut. You can skip this ingredient if you aren’t a fan, or if it isn’t available. Mix well. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot. This is usually an accompaniment to rice or rotis.

This South Indian-style ridge gourd stir-fry is a recipe I picked up along the way, and prefer to the Gujarati version that my mother used to make, which required chili and coriander powders. That said, sometimes it feels a bit painful when I’m confronted with very deeply-rooted authentic Gujarati dishes and find myself at a loss about how to prepare them. Fortunately, my sister who has had much more exposure to that cuisine is within reach, as well as friends and fellow bloggers, and I usually find what I’m looking for and learn through trial and error.

In fact, this gives me an opportunity to ask you: is it true that ridge gourd peel can be used in a chutney? Have you prepared this, and if so, would you care to share the recipe?

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Recipe: Not Quite Authentic, But Quite Amazing – Green Quesadilla

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We can’t get enough of food inspired by Mexican cuisine at home, and after last week’s Mexican-style pineapple salad, I thought it would be perfect to share another delicious recipe in the same vein. This green quesadilla, truthfully speaking, is re:store style – a cross between Indian and Mexican, but leaning towards being an Indian dish with a Mexican name. For the culinary purists out there, no, this is not authentic. For the rest of us who love our fusion food and things that taste good under any moniker, I can assure you that this green quesadilla is quite amazing just the same. If you don’t believe me, ask my mother-in-law, who at 85 relishes it to the point of requesting it specifically when it’s been missing from our menu for even a week!

I can’t recall exactly how it came into being, but can make a vague guess that I must have had an excess of broccoli in my kitchen one day. I must have decided to pack it all into a quesadilla, to use up my stock while also ensuring that my family got a good load of greens that day. I do know that when I began serving it to them, my grown kids didn’t blink twice, distracted by the yummy cheese that holds the “tortilla” together (you’ll see why I use the quote marks when you read the method). I realised then that this dish is ideal for my readers with kids, especially younger ones who detest vegetables and need to be tricked into having them. In fact, calling it a quesadilla – even when you’re using ingredients that are so basic to an Indian kitchen – will also help with this, as children are always curious about trying new things and are likely to enjoy the novelty.

It has since become a staple at home, and I usually accompany it with a soup of some sort. Depending on your personal preferences, I can recommend several of my recipes for this pairing too. From the richly indulgent to the comfortingly simple, I have shared quite a range on this blog. Do check out my minestrone, zucchini soup, vegan whole corn and lemongrass soup, broccoli and almond soup or watermelon gazpacho at leisure.

Long before I encountered real quesadillas, and long before those of us who grew up in Chennai had the slightest clue what Mexican cuisine was all about, I enjoyed another dish based on the same concept at my friend Sharmila’s home. Whenever a small group of us would land up there after school, surprising her mother who would be unprepared to serve lunch for unexpected guests, she would take some rotis and whip up a simple, but extremely satisfying, treat for us. She would put some jaggery between two rotis and flip them on a pan with ghee. The jaggery would melt, bind the bread together, and would ooze out so appetisingly the moment you took a bite. Looking back, I can imagine how this clever innovation came into being. I’m sure you can too. Do you have a dish like this, one you put together in a rush one day that then became a regular?

The category of so-called quesadillas is, as proved by Sharmila’s mother, a highly diverse one. Sprinkle some idli podi on it and make it a South Indian version. Change up the veggies so they fulfill a specific dietary restriction, or to make a colourful version. Add textures or ingredients that you like. Just remember that the cheese is the main factor. Without it, the whole thing will literally fall apart!

This green quesadilla makes for a filling dinner, or even a healthy snack. I flatten and slice it like a pizza, but you can also roll it up like a kati roll. Serving it in different ways will also keep your kids (or their grandmothers!) happy and enthusiastic. Isn’t it so interesting how our tastes when we are very young often have much in common with our tastes when we are very old? With that in mind, I’m delighted to share with you my recipe for a green quesadilla that is sure to satisfy several generations of your family!

Green Quesadilla

(Yield: 3 quesadillas)

 

Dough

¼ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup water (or enough to make a tight dough)

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon oil

 

Filling

½ cup broccoli

¼ cup green bell pepper

¼ cup spring onions

2 teaspoons olive oil

Salt to taste

1 pinch pepper

½ cup grated cheese

 

Butter to cook

 

Make a tight and smooth dough using all of the dough ingredients and set aside. When it’s ready to be worked with, make six small balls of dough. Roll them out with the help of some flour. The method in my roti post may be useful here if you want to know how to do this.

Cook all six rolled-out rotis on both sides partially. Set them aside.

In a pan, add the oil. Once it has heated, add the vegetables. On a medium to high flame, stir the vegetables and cook them al dente. Add salt and pepper and mix well.

To assemble the quesadilla, place three rotis flat. Then, scoop the vegetables on top of them, making sure that most parts of the roti are covered. Now, sprinkle the grated cheese. Cover each of these prepared rotis with a plain one, sandwiching the veggies. Press down with your hands.

Add butter or oil on both sides of each quesadilla and cook on a hot griddle. Flip carefully. The cheese will hold the vegetables together, but be gentle anyway, else they will open up.

Cut them in half and serve. You may add jalapeños to the vegetable mix, or serve some alongside. As I said earlier, a soup makes a great accompaniment if you want to round it out into a full meal. A salsa or dip of your liking will also make it more delicious as a snack. You may want to adapt my peach salsa recipe, using complementary ingredients.

There you have it – a cheesy, nourishing dish that somehow blends the comfortingly familiar with the intriguingly foreign. Do you also make your own quesadilla-ish recipe, using the simple Indian roti, and how do you do it? I would love to know!

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Recipe: Sweetness Meets Nutrition – Mexican-Style Pineapple Salad

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With the fruit being in season, a wonderful meal of Thai-style pineapple rice led to an equally delicious pineapple curry, as you may have enjoyed recently too. I’m delighted to conclude this recipe series with a Mexican-style pineapple salad that I hope you’ll be just as excited by! As I had mentioned in one of the previous posts, I often grill pineapple for dessert. If you already have cut pineapple on hand, as I do with the abundance of it on the market right now, it’s so easy to do. As I was preparing some the other day, it occurred to me that grilled pineapple could make a perfect salad ingredient. In the magical way that food does, the idea transported me back to travels in South America, and I knew just how to prepare the dish.

I feel like I mention this in pretty much every blog post, but it’s true: I’ve been consuming a low-carbs menu for some months now, and am on a constant quest to diversify it. Salads are a reliable way to do so, and I’m always looking for new methods of preparing dishes in this category. You can turn this salad into a more complete meal by adding black or brown rice to it, which will fill you up while also being more nourishing than white rice. As an aside, if you’re a fan of black rice, be sure to try out this sticky rice and mango pudding from my archives. Also, while we’re on the subject of Mexican-inspired dishes, do try my peach salsa and Mexican-influenced Buddha Bowl recipes out too!

Despite my carbs-free diet, which I abide by as much as I can, I have also been trying to be kinder to myself about slipping off the bandwagon. Attempting to inculcate a mindset of judging my own food choices less is a work in progress, but it’s also a matter of practice. I know many of us struggle with this, which is why I’m sharing my own efforts to strike a balance. So nowadays, instead of chastising myself because a certain item or an extra helping may impact my health negatively, I am telling myself: “This will nourish me and give me joy”. Rather than eat something rich while feeling miserable and guilty about its sugar or carb quotient, which reduces my pleasure in the food or beverage itself, I am making it a point to mindfully enjoy it. This is a better attitude than self-criticism. It also helps you moderate your diet when you look at all parts of it the same way, rather than only the parts of it that you consider indulgent. Moderation in greens, moderation in goodies, and so on. It’s perfectly okay to eat what you’d like to eat – just eat it in the portions that are best for you.

This salad, as nutritious as it is, began with just such a spark of choosing joy over judgment. Of course I could have eaten the pineapple raw, but grilling it brought out flavours to the fruit that it wouldn’t have gotten to experience otherwise. Then, warm memories of a trip to Mexico embellished the rest of the recipe in my head: corn, jalapeños, kidney beans and chipotle sauce found their way into it. The result? Delicious, craving-satisfying and loaded with nutritional value even while it also packs a punch in the taste department.

One of the things I love about this dish is that while it’s internationally-inspired, the ingredients are locally grown or easily available. This gave me the idea of not just grilling the pineapple, but also giving the corn the Indian street food treatment. I wanted to bring the flavour of the wonderful roasted corn that we get at beaches all over India into the dish too, so I added some lemon and chilli powder and prepared that separately.

With the five year anniversary of this blog approaching (do follow me on Instagram for some celebratory fun soon!), I’ve been thinking about the broad range of recipes covered here, and I noticed that one of the things that many recipes have in common is that you can cook them no matter where you are. The ingredients used are largely simple and widely available, and the substitutes you can use to make them local or seasonal for you should be pretty intuitive. For instance, for this recipe, I found and ordered chipotle online, to add a bit of authentically Mexican flavour. If you’re unable to source it yourself, using paprika – which incidentally also originated in Mexico but which is widely available in supermarkets in India and abroad – will easily create the ideal dressing alternative. As I say often: good cooks always innovate, with what’s in reach!

 

Mexican-Style Pineapple Salad

(Yield: Serves 2)

 

1 medium-sized pineapple

⅓ cup finely chopped spring onion

2 tablespoons chopped jalapeños

½ cup kidney beans (rajma)

1 roasted whole corn

¼ cup coriander leaves

¼ cup finely diced bell peppers

 

Dressing

Juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon taco seasoning

1 teaspoon chipotle chilli (substitute: paprika)

Salt to taste

1 teaspoon olive oil

 

Slice the clean pineapple into circles. Grill approximately 2 cups of chopped slices in the oven or on a pan until charred. Allow to cool, then cut into small pieces and add to the bowl. Then, add the remaining vegetables.

Mix the dressing ingredients in a cup and pour over the assembled salad. Serve with some crunched-up nacho chips. If you have some fresh avocado, or some guacamole, these will also make a perfect accompaniment.

The nacho chips that I sprinkled over the salad evoked the texture of the maida-based tostada bowls that I’ve enjoyed similar Mexican salads in while travelling in the United States. Scrumptious and crispy, the bowl is a treat to eat along with the salad and the guacamole that is customarily served. While I know how it’s made, I don’t have a mould to make them with, and I’m wondering how to improvise. Would you have any suggestions? I’d love to scoop some of my Mexican-style pineapple salad into a homemade tostada bowl next time, and enjoy that crunchiness too!

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Recipe: Sweet On The Inside – Pineapple Rice

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On a trial basis, my son has been cultivating organic pineapples in Bangalore. They are mini-pineapples, about half the regular size. I had never seen this variant until I visited him shortly after a successful harvest. I found them incredibly sweet, and adorable to look at too. Back home in Chennai, pineapples stayed on my mind, which was perfect timing as they happen to be in season. Considering the possibilities of how to consume the fruit, aside from eating it just as it is, I decided to give making a pineapple rice a shot. As far as I know, this dish is of Thai origin. However, I feel it fits in well with Indian and especially with Gujarati cuisine, given our enjoyment of a bit of sweetness in every preparation. I think the Indian palate in general also likes to have something sweet, something tangy and something spicy at every meal, and this pineapple rice covers all three requirements.

Aside from pineapple rice being my preferred dish at local Thai restaurants, the memory of the one time that I had authentic Thai pineapple rice in Bangkok still lingers in my mind. Those flavours are the ones I am trying to recreate here in this recipe. Bringing culinary experiences from our travels into our own kitchens is a beautiful, and of course delicious, way to preserve those good times.

This dish is only one of the many ways that I use pineapple, one of my favourite fruits, in my cooking. It also makes a frequent appearance at my dining table in my pineapple salsa (you may want to try out my peach salsa, the recipe for which is here). It is my topping of choice when it comes to my homemade pizza, which I make on a sourdough base. Pineapple is a healthy way to satisfy my terrible sweet tooth, so what I do is to add a little jaggery, and then put the slices on a non-stick pan or stick them in the oven. This makes for a completely natural dessert that hits the spot, without any artificial or processed ingredients.

One recipe that I’ve not yet attempted, but hope to have the courage to give a shot one of these days, is my mother’s pineapple upside down cake. She often made it when I was growing up, and it was utterly delicious. I am quite tempted to try… Wish me luck! I’ll certainly keep you posted about my endeavours (most likely on Instagram).

As I said, I love pineapple, and while it would seem from my sharing above that I eat it all the time, this is sadly not true. This wonderful fruit is a pain to peel and slice up, and this often becomes a deterrent to consuming it as much as I’d like to. Yet, it really is worth it every time. Perhaps it is just as it is with everything else in life: whatever is most difficult often has a juicy reward at the end of it. Hard work does pay off. As for how incredibly sweet the pineapple is once you get past the tough exterior – ah, I suppose that’s the case with a lot of people as well. Wouldn’t you agree?

Pineapple Rice

(Serves 2)

 

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 cups cut vegetables (I used carrots, onions, yellow bell peppers and green peas)

½ teaspoon garlic paste

½ teaspoon ginger (grated)

1 red chilli (finely sliced)

1 teaspoon chilli sauce of your choice

2 cups cooked rice

¼ cup water (if required)

2 teaspoons tamari or light soya sauce

1½ teaspoons coconut vinegar

½ teaspoon brown sugar

Salt to taste

1 cup finely chopped pineapple

Finely sliced green onions (to garnish)

 

In a pan, add the oil. Once it has heated, add the cut vegetables. You may use the ones you prefer; as listed above, I have used carrots, onions, yellow bell peppers and green peas. Sauté on a high flame for a few minutes or until al dente. Add the sliced red chilli. Stir well until fragrant. Sprinkle some water if required.

Now, add the cooked rice. Partially cooked rice is best, and this is also a great way to use up any leftover rice that you may have.

Then, add the tamari, salt, chilli sauce, vinegar, brown sugar and another sprinkling of water. Stir well on a high flame. Finally, add the pineapple and mix well again. Garnish with the finely sliced green onions and serve.

Trust me – the moment that you take a bite, you’ll forget the effort it took to peel that pineapple! What the fruit adds to this fried rice is well worth it. It brings together all the elements that make up this dish. Flavours of sweetness and spiciness play harmoniously here. This pineapple rice is perfectly satisfying, evoking the flavours of Thailand while fulfilling Indian tastebuds. I hope you’ll try it out, and that you’ll enjoy it just as much as I do!

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Recipe: An Eggs-cellent Breakfast – Egg Stir-Fry

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As I’ve been whining over so many recent posts, I’m on a stay-off-carbs personal menu and this can sometimes be quite a challenge! The key is in creating meals that are not only healthy but also delicious, even as one watches what one eats. Here is another recipe in this category, a breakfast egg stir-fry that I have quite often.

While eggs are what I usually make this dish with, I sometimes substitute them with paneer or tofu, depending on the mood of the morning. The lovely part of this recipe is that whether you make it a vegan one or an egg-based one, it gives you a protein high that will carry you through your tasks all the way till lunch time. It’s perfect for a post work-out breakfast, and it also happens to be grain-free – just what the doctor prescribed!

It is said that a high protein diet helps you cut down on your sugar cravings. I’ve seen this proved true, in terms of my body’s own requirements. It’s no secret that I have an incredible sweet tooth, as the plethora of desserts I’ve shared will show you, if not my penchant for baking for others. Let me let you in on something: there was a time when I used to bake a tiny little cupcake using the batter of every cake order, under the pretext of ‘tasting’ it. Needless to say, that was quite a few tiny little cupcakes enjoyed, all in the name of quality control! I no longer do this, and I suspect that including more protein in my morning meal may well be the reason why.

That’s not to say that I restrict myself. I only mean that I no longer have an irrepressible sweet tooth. When I do indulge myself, it is mindfully done. The lovely variety of cake orders I’ve been fulfilling lately – a celebratory red velvet, a vegan vanilla lavender, a sugar-free date, an eggless almond – have certainly inspired me to make those tiny little cupcakes on the side for myself too. One should give in to temptation now and then, as long as it is within the limits of one’s overall healthy eating plan. If you feel like a slice or two of cake, I’d be more than happy to bake you one, and you’re welcome to tease me about the tiny cupcake on the side. Get in touch!

There are always reasons why our bodies crave any kind of food, be it sugar or spice or something else altogether. Listen to your body, understand what it’s really asking for, and give it the right nourishment. As is famously said, you are what you eat.

To return to the subject of our protein cravings and needs, it isn’t true that vegetarians or vegans have trouble meeting this quotient. I tend to eat a largely vegetarian or vegan diet, but flexibly so. Whether I put eggs, tofu or paneer into this dish is entirely a question of that day’s likes or dislikes. I’m a moody eater, and can be put off even by favourite ingredients for phases, just as I can be obsessive about certain ingredients for phases. I find that listening to my body’s likes and dislikes is a part of healthy eating, and it’s a skill I learned slowly. Healthy eating is never just about the ingredients or portions alone.

Egg Stir-Fry

(Serves 2)

 

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ cup finely chopped onions

3 boiled eggs (sliced)

2 cups chopped veggies (broccoli, bell peppers)

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon amchur powder (optional)

½ teaspoon garam masala

1 pinch of turmeric

½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder

¼ teaspoon black pepper powder

A generous sprinkling of coriander leaves

Heat a pan and add the olive oil. Now, add the onions and vegetables. Many vegetables complement eggs, so add whatever you prefer. Personally, I avoid starchy ones and use bell peppers and broccoli quite often. It’s a combination I like, and so I usually stick to it. Tomatoes are also a good choice, so do toss them in if you enjoy them.

Stir on a high flame until golden, then add the spices.

Mix well. Finally, add the boiled eggs. Garnish with the coriander leaves, and serve. Enjoy this delicious start to your day!

If you’re a fan of eggs, you may also want to try out a somewhat more extravagant (or should that be eggs-travagant?) and extremely filling Middle Eastern/North African dish known as the shakshouka, my recipe for which I shared here. As always, I’d love to know your thoughts!

 

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