Chilli Rellenos and A Cooking Class

Eating food from different cultures is now so common all over the world. It is so easy nowadays to procure ingredients to cook anything. Just check out the shelves of any grocery store in the larger cities.

They say that the Indian palate is so used to its own tastes that it is very hard to introduce new tastes. That I am not so sure is true. You find people trying out all types of food. But the thing is that it is always comforting to eat that which is already familiar to the palate.

Though from two ends of the world, isn't it strange to see the striking resemblance between the two cuisines in both the ingredients used and the methods of cooking. I guess the main reason Mexican food has an edge over the other cuisines of the world (in India) is because it is close in taste to Indian food. The use of tomatoes, kidney beans (rajma), onions, chilli, cumin, coriander (cilantro)... they are all the common factors in both cuisines. The tortiallas are very similar to our chapatis.. I think the only difference is in the use of cheese in Mexican food.

Mexican is one of my favorite cuisines and I can eat Mexican for all meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner and all other meals in between. Though I was almost 22 years old before I tasted Mexican food for the very first time, I took to it like a duck to water. Delicious is the only word that comes to mind.

Very recently, I went for a cooking class on Mexican food. It was quite a nice experience.. They taught us a few things which I came home and promptly replicated. Turned out well.

One of my all time favorites is the Chilli Rellano. Sounds foreign? Well it is simply our yummy Mirchi bajji with a different stuffing..

Ingredients:

6 Long chillis ( Bajji Mirchi)

100 grams cottage cheese

100 grams cooking cheese (or cheddar)

1/2 teaspoon Oregano

salt and pepper to taste.

100 grams toasted Bread crumbs

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

Oil to deep fry

Method:

Make a slit along the length of the chilli

Take out the seeds and the long white string inside.

Make a mixture of the stuffing.

Stuff the green chilli with the cottage cheese mixture.

Heat oil to a medium ( not smoking).

Make a paste with the flour and a little water. Put the bread crumbs on another flat plate.

Dip the stuffed chillis into the flour paste and then into the bread crumbs.

Deep fry till golden brown.

Serve hot with salsa and sour cream.

ENJOY!!!!!

Pancakes and Healthy Breakfasts

I think breakfast is the most important meal of the day. A lot of experts out there have always maintained that a good breakfast energizes you and makes you alert of the rest of the day. It makes the difference between being focussed and mentally drifting off into lala land. It helps in weight loss and also in avoiding constant snacking between meals. Calories consumed early in the day are far better utilized by the body than those consumed later.

Now the point is we all know this, but how many of us act on it?

I have a child who simply says "I cannot eat so early in the morning". What do you do? Try telling him it is good for you , you will do better in your work, it is to no avail. He just will not eat.

But once in a way, we like to make something different. Something that the kids look forward to eating. It may not always be the healthiest but at least they really enjoy every bite. Waffles and pancakes top the list of breakfasts that the kids ask for. Confession time: I don't make it as often as they ask but ...

It is pretty easy to make. Takes just a few minutes to assemble the batter. Few minutes on the pan and delicious pancakes are ready for joyful consumption.

PS: My son hated the pancake introductory picture I put up and so I have promised to make pancakes again on Sunday and take another 'better' picture and update...

STEP 1:

STEP 2:

STEP 3:

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons Butter melted

1 1/2 cups AP Flour

1 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 teaspoons Baking powder

1 tablespoon Sugar

1 1/4 cup Milk

1 Egg lightly beaten

METHOD:

Sift all the dry ingredients together

Mix in all the liquids (egg, milk, butter).

Make a pouring batter as shown above in the picture. Do not keep the batter too long as the baking powder will lose its strength.

Heat a non stick pan to medium heat.

Pour in a ladle of batter. It will immediately start cooking and. Toss when bottom is a golden brown. Cook the other side for about a minute.

Serve along with maple syrup, honey.

ENJOY!!!!!!!

Tomato Perugu Pachadi

The weather here in Chennai has been really crazy of late, alternating between hot and humid and cold and rainy. This has promptly resulted in most everyone at home falling sick, down with colds coughs or just feeling under the weather. This is the time when you feel like eating that one thing in particular which will stimulate your tastebuds and nothing else will do. My craving right now is for some super hot tasty rasam. While I go down to make me some, please go through the recipe for Tomato Perugu Pachadi (perugu = curd=yoghurt).

This simply has to be one of the easiest and tastiest raitas out there. It had a very distinctive taste thanks to the generous use of asafoetida which combines well with tomatoes. Goes well with most south Indian foods, or just by itself with rice.

INGREDIENTS:

4 tomatoes chopped finely

1 or 2 green chilli cut into small bits

1 tablespoon coriander leaves

1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon methi seeds

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/4 teaspoon asafoetida

salt to taste

1 cup curd/ yoghurt stirred well

1 teaspoon oil

METHOD:

Heat oil. When hot, add the mustard seeds and methi seeds.

When they crackle, add the green chilli and then tomatoes. Add turmeric and salt and cook till tomatoes get mushy.

When done, add the asafoetida and take off the flame.

Add chopped coriander leaves and mix into the curd.

Serve with hot rice, pulaos or mixed rices.

ENJOY!!!!!

Hariyali Dal

If there is one dish that is bursting with good nutrition, it has to be this hariyali dal.... full of greens or various types, it just screams "HEALTHY!!! HEALTHY!! Spinach (palak), methi (fenugreek), coriander are all added to this dal in generous quantities.

Greens are considered power houses of nutrition. They provide the most concentrated sources of vitamins and minerals. All this despite being very low in calorie count. I guess this why our ancestors used to run around eating plenty of greens and edible leaves from different plants whenever hungry.

Greens have hardly any carbohydrates and so make for the perfect food while on a low carb diet.

This is an easy dal to prepare and is very quick to make. Lot of the taste comes from the addition of amchur (raw mango) powder which adds the necessary tang.

Now for the recipe....

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups uncooked masoor/toor dal

2 cups mixed greens (spinach, methi and coriander are some options)

1 chopped onion

1 teaspoon jeera ( cumin seeds)

2 teaspoons amchur powder (raw mango)

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

3/4 teaspoon red chilli powder

3 tablespoons ghee

salt to taste

Paste:

6 cloves garlic

4-6 green chillies

1 inch piece ginger

METHOD:

Cook dal with 3 cups of water till soft

Heat ghee and when medium hot, add jeera . Once the jeera sizzles, add onion and fry for 2 minutes.

Add cooked dal, greens, amchur powder, tomato, turmeric, red chilli powder, ground paste and salt.

Cook for 10 minutes till it starts simmering and the greens and tomatoes are mushy.

Serve hot with chapatis, naans or rice.

ENJOY!!!!!

Chilli Paneer

These days, there is a gradual change in the food habits of people here in India. We are willing to try out ( mind you, only try out) various cuisines and experiment with different tastes. So with the first tastes of pizzas and burgers and other American Fast food taking hold, soon there was no stopping the Indian palate. Thai, Japanese, Mexican... all cuisines are tried and tested. But you will find the Indian touch in most every cuisine served in India. The pastas with Makhni sauce, the pizzas topped with tikkas...

Chinese is one which has always been popular in India. I think more because of the Indian Chinese cuisine. The original Chinese cuisine is far removed from our Indian Chinese. But this tastes good and I think that is the point. Whatever appeals to the tongue is good!!!.

Chilli Paneer is a spicy starter which is easy to make. The bland paneer lends itself well to the ginger, garlic and chilli flavors with the tang coming from the tomato sauce. One can use firm tofu also in the place of paneer. Usually Chilli Paneer calls for the paneer to be battered with cornflour and deep fried. But for health reasons, I prefer not to deep fry food. Therefore, this other method of simply shallow frying it in a saucepan till it is lightly browned.

Ingredients:

200 grams Paneer or Tofu diced into 1 inch cubes

1 teaspoon ginger very finely chopped

1 teaspoon garlic very finely chopped

4 green chillies chopped finely

1 onion diced broadly

1 capsicum diced in to 1 inch pieces

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

3 tablespoons Oil

1 teaspoon coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat 2 tablespoon of oil in a saucepan. On medium heat, place the paneer pieces flat till lightly browned. Turn over and brown the other sides as well. Keep aside.

Heat the remaining oil in a pan. Add the ginger and garlic to the hot oil and let it sizzle ( drooling here at the thought of the aromas in the kitchen at this point).

Add the green chillies and fry for a minute.

Now add the onions and caspicum pieces and let fry for a bit. They need to be left a little crisp and not cooked till totally soft.

Add the soya and tomato sauces and salt.

Mix in the paneer and sauté gently for a couple of minutes till the flavors come together.

Garnish with coriander leaves.

ENJOY!!!!!!!