Halwa-in-a-Hurry

Here is a quick way to make Halwa if you're in a bind. Halwa is a North Indian/Middle Eastern dish.

Ingredients

4 small or 2 big zucchinis(green)
8 oz of ricotta cheese
pinch of cardamom powder
blanched almonds
2 table spoons of sugar
1/2 a stick of butter

Peel and grate the zucchinis. Make sure they are tender and not old or overripe.
Put them in a microwave-safe bowl and cook for 5 minutes.
Stir it as you add the ricotta cheese, the butter and sugar.
These days, I use fructose instead of sugar because then my diabetic friends can still eat
it without fear.
Microwave for another 10 minutes, but take it out every 2-3 minutes and re-stir.
Let it cool and add the cardamom powder and almonds on top for a garnish.
Done.

Mango Chitra-Anna (Mixed Rice)

Serving for 4 people
Total preparation time is 20 minutes
Ingredients
2 cups of rice
3 cups of water
one raw mango
2 table spoons of peanuts
1/4 mustard
pinch of Asafoetida
1/4 bunch of cilantro
2 table spoon of olive oil
4 green chillies
pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
Peel the mango, grate it and keep it aside.
Wash and cut green chillies and chop the cilantro.
Cook 2 cups of rice with 3 cups of water. Once the rice is cooked put it in a wide tray and let it cool. In a skillet fry 2 table spoons of peanuts about 3 minutes in the oil, until it turns a golden color, then keep it aside. Add mustard, asafoetida and let it splutter. Then add the green chilies. After a couple of minutes remove it from the heat and add this mixture to the rice. Also add turmeric, cut cilantro, grated mango and salt and mix well.
The Mango rice is ready. Its usually eaten as a side dish to the main lentil-and-rice dish which is a main course in south Indian meals.

Bitter Gourd Gojju

A gojju is a sweet-and-sour vegetable stew-type side dish from Karnataka.

I have not written recipes for a long time as I was in India for a long time to celebrate my daughters wedding. Today, I got some free time to write a recipe for hagalkai/bitter gourd/karela (different people call it different names) gojju.

Cut 4 or 5 bitter gourd, remove the inner seeds. Cut it into pieces that are about 1/4th of an inch. Put the cut vegetable in a container and sprinkle some turmeric powder. Let it sit for about 30 minutes so that the turmeric absorbs the bitterness.
In a pan, take about 2 to 3 table spoon of oil (it can be vegetable, olive, peanut, or canola oil). I use olive oil. Heat the oil moderately.
Wash bitter gourd nicely and take out the water completely by squeezing excess water. Put it the warm oil and fry it. It needs occasional stirring. When the gourd turns light brown take it out in a plate.
In a separate pan take one tea spoon oil and for that add 1/2 spoon fenugreek (Methi) seed. Fry till it turns light brown. Add 2 table spoon urad dhal or black gram ( available in Indian stores), and when the dhal turns light brown add 5 or 6 whole dried chili peppers (according to taste). Fry it for about 5 minutes in medium heat. Then, in a blender, add dessicated coconut about 1 heaped table spoon of this fried mix, add one and half table spoons of sugar and about 1 cup of water. Blend it until its a fine mixture. In a dish take one tea spoon oil and add hing (asafoetida) and mustard let it splutter for that add fried gourd or hagalkai and add salt and about half tea spoon of tamarind paste and 2 cups of water. Let it get cooked for about 5 minutes for that add blended mix and stir well.
Gojju is ready
Bitter gourd has been proven to bring blood sugar down. People who have diabetes drink gourd juice every morning. It also helps insulin production.

Cranberry Chutney

Ingredients
1/2 a cup of fresh cranberries
1/2 cup of fresh coconut
4 or five mild or hot chili peppers (adjust to preference)
1 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon black mustard
pinch of asafoetida
2 teaspoon olive oil
Preparation time 5 minutes
Cook fresh cranberries for about 1 minute in high heat with about 1/2 cup water. In a skillet take one teaspoon of oil, add very little mustard let it splutter. Put the tender cranberries along with the water, salt, sugar and the coconut, red pepper in a blender. Blend it till it mixes well. Season with mustard and pinch of asafoetida.
You can eat this chutney with cooked rice or spread it on bread or pita bread or Naan.

Orange-Ginger-Carrot Soup

This recipe is originally Moroccan but I Indianize it a bit when I cook it. When I first saw it, it reminded me of summers when we would cut up slices of oranges and guava and spread salt and either black or chilli pepper on it. Of course, if your little brother or sister came to bug you while you were eating it you could always spray a little bit of it on their face and they'd swiftly go away. Until your mother came to yell at you that is ...

Ingredients
10 grams of whole ginger
3 oranges
10 baby carrots
1/4 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of chili powder (or rasam powder if you have a good one)
2 teaspoon chopped cilantros
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon of salt (or to taste)

Directions:
Cut and blend the ginger and carrots along with the water. Take the teaspoon of oil and cumin and heat it over the oven until it splatters. Then add this to the blended ginger and carrots and add the salt. Let this mixture boil for 3-5 minutes. Then turn of the stove and squeeze the orange juice into this mixture and serve. Can be eaten with rice or bread.
Serves 3-4

Mango-Lentil Soup

My mother's family used to have a mango-grove (and a coconut grove) in Anathi, a small village 80 miles outside Bangalore. Due to the abundance of mangos there, my mom tended to add a bit of mango flavoring to otherwise pure-lemon-juice dishes. The thing about south Indian cooking is that we believe that food should be a bit salty, a bit sour, a bit sweet, and even a bit bitter at times to stimulate all the areas of your taste-landscape. This lentil soup is a twist on the usual Thove or plain lentils that are served in every feast.

1 raw mango diced
2 jalapenos (4 of any milder pepper like banana peppers)
1/4 bunch of finely chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon of cumin
pinch of asofotedia
1/4 teaspoon of mutard
1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
2 tomatoes diced
1 cup of lentils
1/2 of a lime
3 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt


Directions:
Cook lentils along with mango and tomato (in a pressure cooker, if available). Keep this aside.
Now prepare the seasoning as follows: pour the tablespoon of oil into the pan along with the mustard, asofotedia, and heat the pan until the mustard seeds splatter (use caution). Then add the jalapenos and let them lightly fry for a minute. Now the seasoning is done. Pour the cooked lentils, mangoes, tomatos and salt into the pot. Let it boil for 2 minutes. At the end add the cilantro and squeeze lime juice and stir thoroughly. This can be eaten with rice or used to dip indian bread.

Onion Gojju

At home we speak Kannada (a south Indian language related to Tamil). Gojju is a Kannada word for a type of "saucey dish" that is characterized by sweetness and spicyness at the same time. Gojjus often have a lot of the same spices as curries but also brown sugars, sweeter vegetables such as yams and onions, and tamarind for that sour kick. Usually, we eat gojjus with rice (soft thai rice) or bread and they form a playful middle dish that comes between more serious foods.

Ingredients:
4 or 5 onions
4 whole red peppers
quarter tea spoon of mustard
1/2 table spoon of rice flower
1 table spoon of brown sugar
cut fresh coconut 1 cup or dry coconut
1 tablespoon oil (olive or peanut oil)
1/2 teaspoon of tamarind paste or if you can't find tamarind 2 finely cut tomatos
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Cut onions, put the oil in a pan and prepare seasoning. Put the cut onion into the pan and lightly saute until golden brown. Add the salt and tamarind into the pan add 1/2 cup water and let it boil on low heat
Gojju sauce: put the rice flower, brown sugar, coconut, and 1/2 cup water into the blender until it forms a smooth paste add this to the boiling vegetables let it boil for a minute or two
Can be eaten with toast, rice, tortilla etc.

Mango Paisa (Srikarani)

I remember that we fasted during every ekadasi (11th day after a new moon) back in Bangalore when I was growing up. However, "fasting" was nothing more than a code-word for eating fruity, light foods which did not include the rice-and-lentil staple. My mother would make scrumptious fruit salads topped with honey and sweet spices, porridges, and cream of wheat dishes with yoghurt and grapes. One of my favorite dishes was "Shrikarani". This is a simple mango porridge that can be eaten alone or with roti (flat Indian bread). These days, I serve it chilled at dinner parties. Here is my recipe for it:

1 ripe mango (peeled and cut)
10 almonds
1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
pinch of spanish safron
2 cups of fat-free milk
handful of raisins
few pistachios
2 tablespoons of sugar

Puree the almonds and mango with the milk. Add the cardamom, safron and sugar and stir well. Pour this mixture into a container to chill. Top with raisins and chopped pistachios before serving.

First Post

Hello Everyone
I plan to write about my daily cooking experiments in this blog. I will share directions and recipes with you as I create them. I cook vegetarian food of all different types including Indian, Middle Eastern, Italian and French foods. I always add twists to give my recipes a kick or spicy burst! I hope people will give me feedback and try these recipes.
Thanks