Long beans with red beans

Long beans with red beans fry

Long beans with red beans fry

Ingredients:

1. 1 bunch long beans cut into 1 cm long pieces
2. 1 cup canned red beans or black eyed peas drained and rinsed
3. ½ cup paneer cut into 1 cm pieces (optional)
4. ¼ cup dessicated coconut
5. ½ teaspoon each of cumin, urad dal, mustard seeds, coriander powder, salt, chilli powder
6. Few curry leaves
7. 2-3 dried red chillies broken
8. 1 table sppon oil

Heat oil in a pan and add the urad dal, cumin and mustard seeds along with curry leaves and red chillies and fry till they start to splutter. Add the long beans and cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add paneer if using and fry for a few minutes. Add red beans or black eyed peas and add all the spices and mix to combine. Fry for 5 more minutes. Add dried coconut and fry for 2 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with roti or steamed rice and kakadi dal

Ground beef curry

I have been making dry ground beef recipes recently quite a bit for my Meat pockets. They have become my kids favorite school lunch. They are taking it to school quite often

Ground beef curry 

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb ground beef or lamb
2. 1 teaspoon each of finely chopped garlic, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilli powder
4. 1 cup black beans (canned) -drained and rinced
5. 1 cup corn (optional)
6. 1/2 cup chopped onions
7. 1 cup chicken broth
8. 1 potato and 1 carrot (optional)
9. cilantro for garnishing

Heat a pan and fry the onions without any oil for 5-7 minutes. Add the beef along with all the spices and salt and cook for 5-7 more minutes or until its cooked through. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 15 minute stirring occasionally. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with hot steamed rice or roti of your choice

Mauritian Dhol Puri

These days most of my new dish inspiration comes from the TV...no surprise there I think. So...the country of interest this time was Mauritius. It is an interesting fact that Mauritius is the only African Island that is predominantly Hindu.

But anyway, the recipe I made today is the Mauritian all famous Dhol Puri...which is basically dal stuffed paratha and it is super delicious. And it is typically served with Lima bean curry. But since the roti already had lentil stuffing in it, I served mine with Aloo curry


Mauritian Dhol Puri (Lentil stuffed Indian bread)

Dal stuffing

Dhol Puri with Potato Curry

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup chana dal
2. 4 cups all purpose flour
3. 1 teaspoon salt divided
4. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin powder, coriander powder, chilli powder (optional)
6. oil for frying

Dry roast the chana dal on low heat for 10 minutes. make sure it doesn't burn.

In a pressure cooker , cook the dal with 1.5 cups of water for 6-8 whistles. Once the pressure escapes, open the cooker and let it cool. Grind the dal to a course powder and mix with 1/2 salt, cumin powder, coriander powder and chilli powder if using and set aside.

Mix the remaining salt and turmeric to the all purpose flour and mix it with little water at a time until a smooth dough is formed. apply oil to your hand and roll the ball of dough so that oil is applied to it all around. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes.

Dive the dough into 12 parts. Spread one part to 4-5 inches circle. Add a tablespoon full of the dal and make it into a dumpling. Spread some flour on a smooth surface ad roll with rolling pin into a thin circle.

Heat a griddle. Add some oil and spread it and add the rolled roti to it. let it fry for 1 minute. Add some oil on the top and flip the roti and let fry for 1 minute. Flip again and cook for 1 more minute if needed else take it to a plate and serve with your favorite curry or Potato curry

Eggplant and lamb rice

This week's trip to the Indian store got us some dill weed and I wanted to use it as fast as possible.  I made Dill and Lima Beans Rice and I was planning to make it again and make some lamb side dish to go with it. But then I decided to make some rice with lamb and I followed this Labanese lamb rice recipe to the A...meaning I changed it quite a bit

So...my recipe for today is Eggplant and lamb rice with Dill

Eggplant and lamb rice with Dill

Eggplant and lamb rice with Dill

Ingredients:

1. 1 lb lamb cut into 1 inch pieces
2. 2 tablespoons oil
3. 2 bay leaves
4. 1/2 cup chopped onions
5. 1 medium small American eggplant cut into small cubes (and if possible peel the thick skin)
6. 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
7. 1 cup dill weed
8. 2 cups long grain Basmati rice
9. 1 teaspoon each of salt, turmeric, coriander powder
10. 1/2 teaspoon each of chilli powder, cumin powder, garam masala
11. 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
12. 1 teaspoon sambar powder (Optional)

Note: Because I was feeding kids with not so strong teeth I pressure cooked the lamb pieces for 3 whistles with 1/4 cup water and half of the salt and turmeric

In a pan heat the oil and fry the bay leaf for a minute. Add the onions and fry till they start becoming brown. Add the peeled chopped eggplant with all the spices, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the pressure cooked lamb and stir to combine. Add 2 cups of rice and sambar powder if using and stir to combine. Add 3.5 cups of hot water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add the dill and lemon juice and stir to combine. Give it a taste test and add more salt if required. 

For serving, spread a tablespoon of plain yogurt on a plate and serve lamb and dill egg plant rice on top of it. And serve with sliced onions

Cabbage rice

I was going to make Chicken Tikka and I was looking to serve it with some vegetables and rice. But then I found the rice recipe which has lots of cabbage in it and thats what is our dinner today.

Cabbage rice with Chicken Tikka (Spicy marinated roasted chicken...aka red chicken)
and Raita (Yogurt side with onions)

Cabbage Rice

Chicken Tikka

Dahi Raita

Cabbage Rice
Ingredients:

1. 2 cups cabbage sliced thin
2. 1 cup rice cooked as per directions
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, urad dal, mustard seeds, salt, finely chopped garlic
4. few curry leaves
5. 2 dried red chillies
6. 1/2 cup sliced thin red or white onions
7. 2 tablespoons sambar powder or less to taste
8. 1 tablespoon each of  oil and fresh squeezed lemon juice, roasted desiccated coconut
9. 1/2 cup fresh green peas

In a pan eat the oil and fry the cumin, urad dal, mustard seeds, curry leaves and dried red chillies for a minute. Add the onions and fry for a few minutes. Add the cabbage abd fry for 7-10 minutes along with the salt. Add garlic and peas and stir well. Add flushed up rice and the sambar powder and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and  add the lemon juice and cover and let cook for 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with dry  chicken tikka or chicken tikka masala and raita

Spinach Rice

Sometime I want to eat rice but I do not want to eat the plain white rice. So I made different recipes with rice like

Eggplant and Lamb rice
Fried rice
Beet root rice
Sorrell leaf rice
Cilantro rice
Avocado rice
Cabbage rice
The recipe I made today is with Spinach and it is great to get some good spinach into the kids stomachs. And its pretty delicious and quite easy to make

Spinach Rice (Rice cooked with spinach)

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups rice
2. 1 cup spinach from a can drained
3. 1 tomato chopped fine
4. 1 tablespoon oil
5. 1 medium small onion sliced thin
6. Few curry leaves
7. 2 green chillies slit
8. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin and salt (or to taste)

In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin and curry leave for a minute. Add the onions and fry till they start turning brown. Add the tomatoes and slit chillies and cook for 5 minutes. Add the ground spinach and stir well. Add 3 cups water and bring to a boil. Add washed rice and lower heat to simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes until the rice is cooked through. Enjoy

Cheese cake

Cheese cake is something I had no idea about when I first came to the US. The first time I had it, I hated it. I was expecting the texture to be more like the pastry cake we used to find back in India, but it is sooooooooo different. But by and by I got used to the taste and now its one of my favorite deserts.

Please thing it is so difficult to make it and they just go buy it. I think its much healthier (if I may say so...wink wink ) to make it at home. And it is pretty easy also. So here is an easy recipe for Cheese cake

Cheese Cake 

Cheese cake

Ingredients for crust:

1. 11/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 crackers or 4 full length crackers from the pack)
2. 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
3. 3 tablespoons melted butter
4. 1 pinch salt

Ingredients for cheese cake:

1. 16 oz 1 pack  or 2 packs of 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
2. 2 large eggs
3. 1 cup confectioners sugar
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the ingredients of the crust and prepare a 9 inch round pan. Add the crust mix and press it onto the bottom and by the sides

For the filling, beat the cream cheese with the sugar well. Add the eggs and vanilla to the mix and mix again until everything is incorporated. Add the filling to the pie pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Cover the pan and bake for 20 more minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. 

Let it cool and serve as is or with some fruit topping