Baked Mung (mugachi / Yellow Split lentil dumplings) Bhaji

In Seattle, it rains half of  the time of the year, and the remaining half is covered with clouds. Although I don't have any complaints, as I am the one who don't like the Calif weather at all.. Too much sunshine for me..:) I am better off with less sunlight and so this is perfect for me, except I definitely crave for a cup of hot tea and some bhajis to enjoy this kind of weather to the fullest.

It's been more than a couple of years that I gave up on the traditional Indian black tea for hot Green tea, simply for it's enormous benefits. I don't crave for black tea anymore. Speaking about bhajjis, as much as I want to have deep fried bhajis that tastes delicious, I feel guilty about eating them for next few days. In order to avoid this guilt forever, I came up with baked bhajis.

Traditionally, a hot black tea goes well with onion bhajis. I tried making Moong bhanjis, just because I was cravings for them. Mung daal  in itself has so many wonderful benefits. Why not include mung daal in to your diet on a regular basis?

All you need is:-

Soaked Mung daal- 1 cup
Ginger- 1/2 inch
Garlic- 2 to 3 cloves
Green chillies- 1to 2 depending on how hot they are.
Cumin seeds- A pinch,  just for flavor
Cilantro- chopped.
EVOO
Salt to taste

Soak the mung daal in water for about 4 hours. Drain all the water and grind the daal. Do not make it too smooth, leave it a little bite coarser. Make a past out of ginger, garlic, green chillies and cumin seeds in to a mortar and pestle( khalbatta in marathi). Mix the paste in to the mung daal batter. Add the chopped cilantro. Mix well. Grease a baking sheet with EVOO and spoon the batter on to the sheet. Toss some EVOO on top.

Bake the oven to 375F and bake these little buddies for about 20 minutes. Less or more time might be required as per your oven. Turn them once and bake  for 5-10 minutes. They should be golden brown in color.

Just like these-:

Enjoy them with your favorite dipping sauce or just with a cup of  tea (Green Tea??)

Oh... and I am sending this recipe to My Legume Love Affair 27, hosted by The Well Seasoned Cook. I love MLLA event and as always it is so much fun to enter in to.Thanks Susan for hosting.

Four entries to Pasta Party event

Jo from Panch pakwan is hosting a Pasta Party. Few recipes I posted in the past are ready to dive in to the event. Re-posting the links here. Thanks Jo for hosting such a wonderful event with a wonderful logo!

Pasta with roasted vegetables
http://manaliscravings.blogspot.com/2009/12/baked-pasta-with-roasted-vegetables.html




Asparagus Pesto pasta
http://manaliscravings.blogspot.com/2009/08/asparagus-pesto-pasta-with-sundried.html




Sun dried tomato pasta
http://manaliscravings.blogspot.com/2008/12/hhdd-24-pesto-another-entry-for-round.html




Simple yet tasty pasta
http://manaliscravings.blogspot.com/2008/08/really-simple-pasta.html

An entry to No croutons required.

Hello everyone, here is a small request to all of you out there. If you like my Spinach Soup recipe, then please vote for my recipe at Tinned Tomatoes. The winner will receive a plaque to display on their blog.

I would love to win my first plaque, so if you like my recipe and it's presentation and if you feel it's worth winning the plaque, then please visit Tinned Tomatoes and vote for my recipe. The last day to vote is coming Sunday.

I would appreciate your effort.

Thank you.

After completion of one year of blogging here comes my first entry to the next year's. Well this was posted last year, but the theme of the event is matching to my post, so I am sending the entry to one of my favourites " NO CROUTONS REQUIRED"!!!

This is a monthly food blogging event. This time it is hosted my Lisa's Kitchen. They are looking for a soup or a salad that feature leaves.

I decided to send my spinach soup recipe.

So here you go:

I wanted to serve something in a cute little white bowl that I recently bought. The first thing came to my mind was a colorful spinach soup which is full of nutritional value as well as rich flavor. Every time I make this soup I use different recipe, the reason is I don't remember the recipe I used last time. It's funny, because I make this soup all the time, at least once a month or so...:)

So this time I am documenting it down so that I won't forget it. Although I kind of like the newness of this recipe every time. So I guess I might document it today in my blog, but I don't think I would be using it next time......lols!!!

Whatever, here is how I made my favorite soup-:

1. Heat some unsalted butter in the pan, add chopped onions fry for a minute
2. Add 1 chopped potato to it.
3. Add half a cup of vegetable stock and and half a cup of 2% reduced fat milk( I used 2 % , you can certainly use whatever you have on hand.) Bring it to a boil. Allow to cook for about 10 minutes on a lowered heat.
4. Add cut spinach leaves, keeping aside few leaves to add later when you blend the mixture.
5. Add 2 cups of stock to it. Bring it to boil. Allow to simmer for 10 more minutes with a lid on it.
6. Allow the mixture to cool down, before you blend that in a mixture.
7. When you blend the mixture, make sure you add remaining spinach leaves. This will give your soup nice green color.
8. Return the mixture to the pan heated with little more butter. Heat the mixture, add some salt, sometimes I add crushed cumin seeds that gives nice fresh taste to the soup. But you can skip that. Do not allow the soup to boil. Serve in a nice plate garnished with spinach leaves and some Parmesan shaves or any grated cheese you like.

This is a perfect soup for cold winter weather. Spinach has tons of nutrients, it's a very good source of iron as well. So make a bowl for you and savour the warmth in the cold winter or on a gloomy rainy day.

Enjoy......:)

Toasty Edamame!!!

Snacking is my favourite past time. I am always looking for something to munch on-- Pita chips with any kind of hummus, tostitos with salsa or simply a bag of potato chips or corn chips.......ummmmmm yummmmmmmm!!!!

Well who doesn't like all this options, packed and ready just waiting for you in the grocery store!!

If not for the health reasons, I would have never went out of the box and considered the little shelled edamame to be a part of my snacking ritual....:)

For those who don't know what the edamame and it's benefits are, ...well here they are...:)

Edamame-

It's basically known as a Soybean. One of the part that attracts me more is it's low sodium, fibre rich food. Besides having high protein content edamame also help:

• Reduce risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women
• Decrease the risk of osteoporosis.
• Promote prostate health
• Protect cells with their antioxidant properties.

WOW!!! who knew?? right??

It's interesting how much we underestimate (or simply forget?) about these wonderful products when we cross the aisle and stop to grab a pack of Ice cream instead.....,.........,...

Anyways...So Soybean or edamame for that matter is a legume and so this entry goes to an event My Legume Love Affair Seventh Helping hosted by Srivalli.

and here is the link to Susan's event page.

Just when I was browsing through the blogs, I came across the recipe of roasted chickpeas. I wanted to try the same, that's when I remembered I have half a bag of cute little edamame in my freezer that I bought a week or two back to toss with my salad. My colleague in my previous company used to add this healthy kids in to her salad, and that's the reason I wanted to try those. Although I must admit I didn't really liked the raw and kind of bitter taste of edamame in to my salad.

With a due respect to it's nutritional value, I then decided to turn them in to a snack, just by roasting them in the oven with the spices of my choice.

Only 3 ingredients (excluding edamame) makes this a yummy fulfilling snack and a great substitute for unhealthy, guilty inducing potato chips.

• I used Half a bag of frozen edamame;
  
• Salt to taste;
  
• Chili powder to taste.
  
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil

Wash the edamame under running cold water, and it will have the same effect as the defrostation. Take away the moisture from the edamame by spreading them on a paper towel.

In a bowl, mix edamame, salt, chili powder and the olive oil. Mix them well.

Line the cookie sheet with an aluminium foil and spread the edamame's on the sheet.

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Let the edamame's roast for 20 minutes.

It will have a crunch on cooling. Use it as an afternoon snack or simply toss with your salad as a great substitute for croutons.

Enjoy....:)

My entry to Indian Adventure round up!!

I was sending something for a round up after a gap of almost 2 and half months. I was surely excited.  Joelen of Joelen's Culinary Adventure hosted this roundup and I had more than dozen of recipes to send her on this topic. I choose masala okra, that I posted on my blog recently.

 

You can take a look at the round up here.

If in case, you want to take a look at my blog post, it's  here.

Thank you Joelen, for considering my entry for the round up. I learned a lot from other entries too.

Corn Patties

There are two reasons for this post.

1. I wanted a breakfast item, which I can partially prepare a day before. Ever since we are on a healthy mode, me and my husband A usually have cereals for our breakfast,. But I love to start a day with a healthy yet yummy snack which does not distract me from loosing weight as well as help me break my everyday cereal ritual.
2. There is an event due today called Sunday snack on the Taste of India and I wanted to participate.

So let me talk a little bit about this event-:


This event is hosted by Hima of SnackORama. The theme for this month's Sunday snack is Bake it.
So here it goes-: Corn Patties

All goes in one bowl-

• 1 cup Yellow corn kernels ( I used fresh kernels, you can also use frozen)
  
• 1 boiled smashed potato.
• 1/2 inch ginger grated (about 1 tsp)
• 2 cloves of grated garlic
• 1 chopped green chili.
• 1 tsp chaat masala ( you can find one in any Indian grocery store)
• Half a lemon/ lime juice
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1tsp of cumin seeds
• half a palmful of coriander finely chopped
• olive oil. about 2 tsp
• salt to taste
• One last thing is breadcrumbs or a good substitute for breadcrumbs is sooji (rava).

I prefer breadcrumbs over rava, simply because I always want a nice brown crust from outside, and breadcrumbs does that just perfect. Wait until you see my pictures...:)

Toss all ingredients above in one bowl except breadcrumbs, and oil. Mix everything together.

I was using fresh corn, so it was very soft and sweet naturally, but if you use frozen, thaw them and microwave them for about 5-6 minutes. When you are using fresh, if you feel that the corns need to be more soft , cook them a little bit.

Make small round balls of the mixture, and press them a bit to give them patties shape.
Spread the breadcrumbs on a plate. I used Italian style breadcrumbs. I love them because they are already seasoned with parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, different spices, and my favorite Pecorino Romano cheese....:) But you can use anything of your choice. I also happened to like Japanese style breadcrumbs called panko.

When all your patties are ready, place them on a baking sheet, which is sprayed with non- stick cooking spray. Toss a little bit of olive oil on the top of the patties. Just enough to give them a golden brown crust.
Turn on your oven on 350° and slide your baking sheet inside for about 12-15 minutes on one side, then turn the patties and 10 more minutes on the other side.
You should get a nice crust on both sides, if you feel you can keep them inside for a couple more minutes, but make sure you check on them.

You can also, shallow fry them in the pan/ tava. But this oven version is a figure friendly option to cut down oil to just 2 tsp. And olive oil is always better for you right? An oil which has a good cholesterol which keeps your heart in good condition. And guess what you don't have to sacrifice the taste. It gives me a satisfaction of doing good karma to my body....:) feels great.

This is how they look when they come out.



Scrumptious ..........Isn't it? I just love them. Try them out, I am sure you won't miss the fried version.

ohh.. and they are great with mint chutney, or a ketchup.

Just like that!!! Yummoooo!!!!

Masala okra

This is my entry to Indian/ Jewish Cuisine adventure event.Hosted by Joelen's Culinary Adventure.

One of the most common fresh vegetable you can find in India....Okra....(Bhindi)
It's hard to find fresh okra all around the year here in US. Masala okra is one of my favorites school lunches. I used to like it because of it's perfect consistency. It has a consistency of something between a dry and a curry version. That way it really holds itself for a longer time. Great with chapati/naan as well as rice. I prepare okra in 2/3 ways. Here is how I make the okra with masala. I will hold other 2 types for later.

You have two options for Okra, you can use frozen or the fresh variety. I used frozen here. I believe frozen versions are partially cooked, so you don't have to cook them more that 7-10 minutes, makes your life a little bit simple.

Look for this type of cut okra as shown in the picture.


Make sure that you don't thaw the frozen okra, just use as it is from the packet for the better taste.

Prepare the masala for Okra -:

• 2 tsp. coriander powder (Cilantro seeds are called as coriander)
• 2 tsp cumin powder
  
• 2 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. ground fennel seeds.
• 1 tsp. dried mango powder( amachur) I used chat masala here...just the ingredient I like to use in almost everything.
• 1/2 tsp chili powder, you can also you paprika
• salt to taste

Toss all the ingredients together.

Next thing you want to do is be ready with following ingredients:-

• 1 shallot
• 1/2 medium size tomato
• 1/2 tsp. Cumin seeds
• 1/2 inch of freshly chopped ginger
• 1 green chili chopped
  
• 1/2 tsp. Asafetida (hing)
  
• 2 tsp oil
  

Coat the pan with the oil on a medium flame, add cumin seeds. Add asafetida when cumin seeds splutter. 1 shallot chopped goes next in to the pan. After 2-3 minutes add tomatoes to it and wait until you get a consistency like pulp. Now it's time to add frozen okra to the pan. After a minute or so the masala mixture joins the hot tub...:)

Make sure you coat all the okra with masala. Add little bit of salt if needed. Keep it on the medium flame for about 4-5 minutes. Turn off the flame when you feel the okra is cooked completely.

Add freshly chopped cilantro at the end. It's a good finishing touch for the yummy masala okra.....!!

My entry to herb mania- Round up

I made my first entry last month in one of the events - Herb mania- Basil.
Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen has posted the round up recently here. You can view all the pictures of the participant's recipes here. I really like the experience and I am looking forward to next one...:)

Vegetable puffs with basil- An entry to Herb Mania

Alright I really loved this idea. Herb mania- Any vegetarian dish you are allowed to prepare using specific herb, this time it was basil. I was sooooooo excited to read about this event here. I love herbs. There are so many different types of herbs available around, with culinary as well as medicinal values attached to them. One of my favorites is basil.

So little bit about why I decided to go with this one. I wanted to work with puff pastries for a really long time. This recipe came to my mind when I was going through one of stack of cookbooks I have. I thought this might be the right time to use the recipe from the book and add couple of ingredients to make it more tastier.

So I started with picking up the fresh basil first, of course what would I do without that. I bought puff pastry and paneer. Yes this was the one of the ingredients I decided to add.

here is what I used:-

• Onion chopped
• Garlic chopped- 1 clove
• carrot- Just half- medium sized
• A small potato
• A palm full of peas
• 1/2 a cup of vegetable stock.
• a really good amount of fresh basil leaves.
• And one egg lightly beaten.

I started with a some oil in a pan, added garlic and onions. I added some salt after onions, to bring out sweetness from the onions. This way onions gets evenly cooked. Then I added carrot and potato. After adding vegetable stock in the pan I lowered down the heat and simmered it for 10 minutes, until the stock got entirely absorbed by the vegetables cooking them completely. Add little more salt as per taste, and some red pepper flakes. And the lastly I added the peas and the paneer and basil leaves. I crumbled the leaves with my hands and added in to it. Kept it on the stove for a minute more and that's it. This was my mixture to stuff in to the puffs. One thing to remember here is basil is the last thing you want to add, because it will loose the flavor if you add them early in the preparation.

Now it was the time to deal with puff pastries. As I said this was my first time to use them. I was a little nervous. But they were more perfect than I expected. I wanted to make rounds out of it and then fill in the mixture and fold them in to a half circle. But I ended up by making square and folding them in half. It was more easy to handle. I bordered the cut sheet with water, added a spoonful of mixture in it. After folding it, sealed the edges. Brushed the beaten egg on the both sides of the puff.

And then I spread the oil in the baking pan and layered the puffs on it. Heated up the oven on 415o F. Left those puffs for about 20 minutes. And the result was great.
Beautiful golden puffs with aromatic basil in them. They were just perfect.

To make them more perfect I made a gourmet sauce, which was even more delicious.
Try it and you will love it.

Ingredients for sauce-

• 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• some onion chopped
• 1/4th cup of wine (I used red here)
  
• 1/2 cup of vegetable stock
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
  
• dried basil
• dried oregano

I started with heating some olive oil in a pan, added some onion and tomatoes. After a minute added wine and vegetable stock. I boiled the mixture and simmered it for 15 minutes and allowed to cool. Then I made a puree out of it and returned it to the pan. Then I added the tomato paste and dried oregano and the dried basil. A little bit of salt and it's ready. The sweetness of tomato and the sourness of wine was great together.
You can serve the sauce hot or cold.



The combination was way too perfect. My idea of adding basil in to the puffs was worth it. A little hint of basil at the very end of every bite. Neither too much nor too less.
So try these once. They are really fun.
Lets grab a plate and enjoy while they are hot.

This is how they look from inside:-


Coming Up: Rosted onions and potatoes with rosemary

Blueberry Yogurt Muffins

This one is my entry to the Sweet and Simple Bakes Monthly Baking Event, hosted by Rosie and Maria. 

Thank you Rosie and Maria for hosting this wonderful holiday season baking event for beginner bakers like me...:)

                                                                 

I am not a baker. In fact it was just 2/3 months back, when I started to think about baking. The credit goes to my co-worker Ivy from little Ivy cakes. She inspired me to start baking, and not just baking but also for this blog. HOW???? Check out her blog and you will know.
She has some really delicious recipes, that you will feel you should try.

Baking is not a part of regular Indian cooking. Baking takes place on a really large volumes for making cakes, pastries or different kinds of breads and biscuits in the bakeries in India. During last 10-15 years or so people started buying small ovens for making cakes at home.

So here is my second attempt of baking.
First time I baked was the oatmeal bran muffins, by using the recipe that was on the Quaker oatmeal bran packet. They turned out well. One thing I loved about baking is you have to be precise with the quantity of ingredients you are putting in and you are good. There is no room for eyeballing things. This was really hard for me to begin with. I am very comfortable eyeballing stuff. My mother always cooked the same way. I guess that's true for most of the Indian cook. But again you are good eyeballing when you are making food for a few people.

So this one is the inspired recipe from Bunny's warm oven. Which is inspired from Stonyfield farm. As I am a newbie to baking, I could not make much changes in to the recipe.

Here is what you will need-:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 stick of butter, melted
1 tablespoon lemon zest, grated( I used lime zest)
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

I used fresh blueberries. I love Costco for the fruits. I love fruits in a large quantity. They are never too much for me. I am a regular Costco shopper for apples, oranges, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries. I love them all and they never go waste on me.
So this time I decided to use my blueberries and make these muffins.

Blueberries are high in fiber and low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. It's all good right?
Not just that, blueberries are full of antioxidants which prevent cancer causing cell damage and limit age related diseases. So there are reasons why one should eat as much blueberries as they can.

So you should start with mixing the dry ingredient -the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in one bowl.
In other bowl combine the eggs, melted butter, yogurt,sugar, cinnamon, lime zest. Mix them nicely. Now mix dry ingredients in to this mixture and just mix until blended. Do not over mix it.
Now add the blueberries in to it and just mix it once.


Preheat the oven to 375ºF . Spoon the batter in to each muffin cups, filling each cup about two thirds full. It will be done in 15 minutes. They should be brown on top. You can check by inserting a fork or a knife in the middle of the muffin, If it comes out clean, your muffins are ready.
Allow them to cool , and then remove and serve warm.


My muffins turned out great. The only thing was the sugar. Some more sugar would have been fun.

Coming up: An entry to an event - Herb mania