Snap Peas Salad May 16, 2008

I had a few leftover spring onions (scallions), some methi leaves and two hands-full of snap peas, in the refrigerator. I had two options:
- let it hang out for some time in the fridge and throw it later OR
- use it right away.
I went with the later , and made this delicious warm Snap Peas salad. Cooking time was 10 minutes, and the flavors were delicious.

Ingredients:
- Snap Peas
- Spring Onions – 8 sprigs (can replace this with half an onion or shallots)
- Methi (Fenugreek) leaves – 1 cup (can replace this with 1 table spoon of Kasoori Methi (dried Methi)) (Alternatively you can use dried oregano or thyme, to flavor the salad)
- Jaggery (1 and 1/2 spoon) (or brown sugar)
- Pepper
- Salt
- Olive Oil
- Lime or Lemon Zest (not required, but adds to the fragrance)

Method:
1. Heat olive oil in a pan. Toss the snap peas and saute for 3 – 4 mins.
2. Add salt and pepper take the peas out on a plate. The peas should retain most of their crunch, when you take them out of the pan.
3. Heat some more olive oil, and add the onion part of the spring onions
4. When the onion changes color, add Methi and cook for about 4 minutes (If you are using Kasoori Methi, soak it in small amount of water and add. The water should evaporate for the next step.)
5. Add jaggery and a pinch of salt
6. Toss in the Snap Peas and shut off the heat.

Add zest of a lime or lemon, for a fresh taste. Serve warm. Watch the greens disapear from everyone’s plate.

Saambar Powder May 12, 2008

I claim to be no expert on Saambar and its varieties. 99% of the times when we have Saambar in the meal, it is made by my hubby. But I when I make Saambar, it is made with this home-made fresh Saambar Powder. The recipe belongs to my Mom. The mister claims that my saambar tastes like ‘kalyana-saambar’ (saambar made at South Indian weddings), which is a great compliment. I used it to try and impress my MIL (Mother In Law), who is visiting us in the US of A for the first time, on Day 1 itself. I would say my trial was successful! (Isn’t that a HUGE relief?) Anyhow, here is the recipe (for 6 hearty servings):

Ingredients:
Methi Seeds (1/2 tsps (teaspoons))
Coriander Seeds (1 and 1/2 tbps (tablespoons))
Jeera Seeds (1/2 tsps)
Peppercorns (6 – 8 )
Cinamon Stick (1 inch, 1 cm wide)
Cloves (4)
Chana Daal (1 tsps)
Chili Powder (1/2 tsps)

Method:
1. Heat a small vessel or a tempering vessel, on Medium
2. Add methi seeds and roast (till you can smell the methi)
3. Add chana daal and roast for 2 mins
4. Add the remaining ingredients, exclusing the chili powder. Roast for 3 – 4 mins, or till you get fragrace from all spices)
5. Finally add chili powder and take it off the stove top immediately. Leave it in the vessel for 5 mins. (If you leave the chilli powder on the stove, it will start blackening.)
6. Grind in a spice grinder
Use this wonderful fragrant powder in your saambar. Your guests will relish the saambar till the last drop.

Phajeto May 5, 2008

This year on Vishu day (April 14th), we had dinner with friends and their gang at the University. It felt nostalgic walking into Cooperstown (graduate housing), being regaled by ISA stories, and of course being served with delicious dinner. Kudos to the ISA Pres and her friends! One of the items of the meal was ‘Phajeto’. Made of mango and buttermilk, this kadhi-like item, is a perfect combination of sweet and sour flavors.

The Phajeto brought back memories of summer vacations with cousins. Fresh aam-ras (literally meaning mango pulp) in summer is a ‘hot’ favorite. I won’t start talking about Alphanso aam-ras; it will need its own dedicated space, and time. So anyways, Phajeto was a by-product of the aam-ras. My grandmother would soak the skin of the mango and its seed, in warm water, after extracting the pulp from it. This activity would occur before we kids woke up. More often than not, we would wake to the grinding of the aam-ras, or pounding of the cardamom for the aam-ras. After our daily ablutions, my cousins and I would work on removing the last bit of flavor from the remains of the mangoes. It was our contribution to the meal.

Here is the slightly modified recipe of Phajeto with a whole mango.

Ingredients:
1. Mango – 1 (from regular American or Indian store)
2. Buttermilk – 2 cups (or three heaped tablespoons of curd, diluted with water)
3. Chilli Powder – 1/2 teaspoon
4. Salt
5. Ghee – 1 teaspoon
6. Olive Oil (or any other oil that you use regularly) – 1 teaspoon
7. Jeera Seeds
8. Peppercorns – 6
9. Cloves – 4
10. Cinamon Sticks – 2 cm piece
11. Red Chilli – 1 (broken into 2 – 3 pieces)
12. Besan – 1 teaspoon

Method:
1. Peel the covering of the mango, and grate it.
2. Mix the grated mango, buttermilk, besan, chilli powder and salt, and set aside.
3. Heat a vessel on Medium with ghee and oil
4. Add jeera, cloves, peppercorn, cinamon stick and red chilli pieces when the oil/ghee combination is hot
5. Pour the mango and buttermilk mixture, when the flavors of the spices have effused into the oil and ghee
6. Heat till the phajeto is hot, and all the flavors have combined. (Takes a maximum of 10 minutes. Note: Do not set the heat on High and move away while cooking. Keep stirring intermittently. This will prevent the buttermilk from curdling).

Enjoy the Phajeto with hot rice, or pulao. Slurp!

Quick Pasta May 2, 2008

The mister and I are planning to catch Iron Man, this evening. I was looking for a quick but nutritious tasty dish, and found this ’scientific pasta’ recipe by Nupur:

http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2005/07/scientific-pasta.html

Maybe I will add some more veggies to the mix, but looks like it will be delicious.

Update 05/03/08: The pasta turned out to be fantastic. I added spring onions and a bit of garlic. It was a 30 minute meal. And the movie totally ROCKED! More on http://conversationgalore.wordpress.com/.