Light and Hearty Gazpacho Recipe

                            

I was searching on the net for a healthy soup recipe and I stumbled upon a Spanish chilled tomato soup called 'Gazpacho'.I liked the name, I liked the idea and I thought 'why not give it a try'. I am lazy and I don't have a food mill or a food processor. This recipe is perfect for me. Trust me cooking cant get easier! 

                          

I believe this was invented for a hot summer. However, to lose the extra pounds I put on for the holidays I need to take some extra measures. And here comes gazpacho for my rescue. You can any vegetable you like, as long it is fresh and can be eaten raw. Here is my version of Gazpacho

Ingredients

                                 1 large tomatoes                                    

1 cucumber

1 red bell pepper

1/2 lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

A handful of cilantro(You can also parsley) a

2 shallots

1 clove of garlic

1 chilli

Tomato juice( I used POM crushed tomatoes) 1/2 cup

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (for non-vegetarians)

Few ice cubes

Paprika 1/4 tsp

Salt and pepper

Method

Cut the vegetables into pieces. I reserved some chopped cucumber and tomatoes. Mix 1 tbsp olive oil, lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and pour it over the vegetables and mix well. Transfer this into a food processor or mixer. Pour tomato puree over this.(Psst....Keep adjusting the salt).Add all the rest of the ingredients and grind till coarse. Mix in the chopped tomato pieces.

Garnish with some chopped cucumber and cilantro. You can serve this as a chilled soup or as a drink.

OR you can serve this with crusty french bread or some grilled shrimp. I like  it the way it is,

 Light and hearty!

HAPPY COOKING!

Palak Dal or Spinach Lentil Curry

I started eating rice with dal on an everyday basis when I moved to Hyderabad. That,s where my husband and I lived for 2 years after we got married. Initial days I didn't have to cook so much. Then came days where I had to fight in the kitchen with knives,rice and the everything else. I didn't know how to even make rice.I realized cooking is an art. Yes I said it. It is a balance of taste,aroma and presentation that tickles your senses. On the other hand, cooking is a form of science too. Ingredient A+  2 Ingredient B--> 3Ingredient C and you get 3 Ingredient D if you apply heat.  

I grew up in kerala which in South India and in my parents house dal was made only once in year - for Onam. Hence, cooking dal was rocket science for me. My husband was used to seeing delicious dal on the dinner table everyday. And I hated  to make dal because every time I made it, I would get so disappointed. I remember telling my mother in law if she could pack a little dal for me everyday. I loved the way dal was made in my in-laws house, 

After 3.5 years of marriage I have learnt how to make dal and I want to share how.

Pssst:- I use a pressure cooker for this . And, simple things like adding salt at the start itself can spoil the dish.

Ingredients

Channa Dal(Split Bengal Gram Dal)  1/4 cup  

Mung Dal(Split Green Gram Dal) 1/4 cup

Onion 1 small sliced

Ginger and garlic chopped 1.5 tsp each

Green chilies slit 3 or 4

Turmeric powder 3/4 tsp

Chili powder 1 tsp

Garam masala or curry powder 1 tsp

Curry Leaves 2 sprigs

Spinach 1 bunch chopped

Coriander leaves chopped 1 cup

Salt and Pepper
 Ghee or Oil 1 tbsp
 Shah jeera 1 tsp
  Garlic sliced 3 cloves

Method

Rince toor dal and mung dal and soak for 20 mins. Soak tamarind in half cup water. Transfer it into a pressure cooker with 2.5 cups of water. Add the slices onions, ginger, garlic, green shillies, turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala powder and 1 sprig curry leaves. Do not add salt at this point. Pressure cook this on medium flame and wait for  3 whistles.Let this rest for 20 mins. After 20 minutes,release any extra pressure.  When you remove the lid, you should see something like this:-

Extract the juice from the tamarind using a sieve. With the flat side of the spoon, mash the dal. Add salt, pepper and tamarind extract to the dal. At this point you can add a half chicken stock cube if you are a non vegetarian( I did).

 In a small pan heat the ghee, splutter shah jeera, sliced garlic and curry leaves and pour this over the dal.  Keep the pressure cooker back on the stove and let the dal for another 10 minutes. Add the chopped spinach and coriander leaves and give it a boil. And Voila! :-) There you have dal in front of you.

This is best had with rice and pickle or rotis.

Caulifower Stir Fry Recipe

Cauliflower cut into small florets- 2 cups

1 tsp butter

1 clove Garlic chopped

Half cup cilantro chopped

Chilli powder 1 tsp( I used kashmiri chilli powder)

Worcestershire sauce 1tsp

Salt

Melt butter in a hot pan.

On high heat add garlic, cauliflower florets and more than half of the cilantro

After a minute add chilli powder, worcestershire sauce and salt.

Add 2 tsp of water and mix well. When the water evaporates, squeeze some lime n lil more salt. Garnish with cilantro.

Had this as a snack drizzling more lime juice on top. Yumm!

Cherupayyar Thoran / Keralean Green Gram Coconut Stir Fry Recipe

Green gram, as you may know is rich in carbohydrates, dietary fibre and protein.In Kerala, green gram is commonly used to make a 'cherupayar thoran' and 'payasam'. Cherupayar thoran, in my opinion , should be served with steaming hot kanji, kachumor, pickle and pappadams.  If you have not tried this combination,trust me, you are missing on something that no restaurants or hotels can offer you. 

You can make this humble side dish in two ways. Either you can soak cherupayar overnight or cook this after dry roasting this. If you are soaking cherupayar overnight you would need to pressure cook this only for 3 whistle otherwise you go for 4 whistles. I went for the roasting method though.

Ingredients :-

I cup Green gram

2 1/4 cups Water

1 cup Grated coconut 

6 Sliced shallots 

3 Sliced green chillies

1/4 tsp Chilli powder

1/4 tsp Pepper powder

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/4 tsp Cumin seeds(optional) 

I sprig Curry leaves

salt

1 tsp oil

Method :-

Wash cherupayyar under running water(I soaked the cherupayyar for 1 hour) and dry roast on a nonstick pan. Transfer this into a pressure cooker.Without adding salt pressure cook this on high flame for 6 whistles. Let the pressure cookerrest for 15-20 minutes(do not open the lid yet) .

Meanwhile combine grated coconut, sliced shallots, garlic, green chilies, pepper powder, turmeric, powder, chili powder and salt in a bowl using your fingertips. However, I used a mortar and pestle to grind this a little bit. I want the flavour of each ingredients to come out.

After 15 minutes when you open the pan usually you won't see excess water but if there is excess water put the flame on and evaporate the water(we do not want to lose the nutrients, do we?).

Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they splutter add the curry leaves and coarsely ground coconut mixture. Cook this 3 minutes and add green gram. Add more salt in this stage if required. Mix well and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Serve with hot kanji or rice :)