Cabbage Bhajia/ Gobi Bhajji/ Cabbage Pakora

Arctic wind has been the word for past few days. It's sweeping in US in its' brutal cold grip. Too cold is what I used to complain. Now I don't know what else to say because "too cold" doesn't seem to do justice. But what we can do is to stay warm and have hot pakoras or bhajia's. When your cold afternoon is filled with chat-pata snacks, all the cold day blues runs away.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time: 15 min | Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Cabbage/ Gobi - 2 Cups Shredded fine
Coriander - handful
Ajawain - 1 tsp.
Besan - 1 Cup
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp.
Chili Powder - 2 tsp.
Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Baking Soda/ Ino Fruit Salt - 1 tsp.
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Vegetable Oil - 4 Cups to deep fry

Method of Preparation:
~ Mix all the ingredients except Vegetable oil meant for frying. Keep it aside, since the vegetable will leave some water.
~ In a deep frying pan, heat oil. Meanwhile check the mixture to make sure you can form little balls which doesn't hold shape once you put it back. If you think it's too thick mixture, add few tablespoons of water and mix.
~ Oil is ready for deep frying when a small amount of mixture is dropped in the oil, it immediately sizzles and floats back up.
~ With your hand carefully drop small golf size ball amount into the hot oil. Be CAREFUL not to splatter the oil by dropping too high. Continue to to fill the frying pan.
~ Once they turn golden, turn on the other side and let it cook. Take out the cooked bhajia's with a slotted spoon and lay it out on paper towel to soak extra oil.
~ Serve it immediately with ketchup/ Chutney.

Savory Veggie Corn Muffins

Corn muffins are my kids favorite. Since they and we get enough sugar in other ways, I try to do the savory corn muffins more often. These are delicious and can be frozen up to a month. Just take it out and pop it into microwave and they are fresh as out of oven.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cooking Time: 5 min | Baking Time: 30 mins | Makes : 12 to 14 muffins
Serving: 1 Muffin | Calories: 182 | Carbs: 26 | Fat: 5 | Protein: 7 | Sugar: 4 | Sodium: 151

Inspired from here
Ingredients:

Olive Oil - 1 tsp.
Cream Style Sweet Corn - 1 Can
Onion - 1/2 Cup Diced
Red Bell Pepper - 1/2 Cup diced
Broccoli - 1/2 Cup Diced
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Jalapeno Peppers - 2 finely chopped
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp.
Corn Meal - 2 Cups * I used coarse stone ground
Multi-grain Flour - 1 Cup
Eggs - 2 large
Baking Powder - 2 tsp.
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp.
Shredded Cheese Mix - 1 Cup
Dried Thyme - 1 tsp.
Dried Rosemary - 1 tsp.
Thick Greek Style Yogurt - 1 Cup
Buttermilk - 1/2 Cup

Method of Preparation:

~ Saute all the vegetables in a tsp of oil. Add the the corn and salt. Let it cool.
~ Pre-heat the oven to 400 deg Centigrade.
~ In a small bowl mix together, corn meal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, thyme and rosemary.
~ Gently stir in the shredded cheese.
~ In a large bowl whisk eggs, add yogurt and mix them. Now add cooled mixed vegetables.
~ Add in dry ingredients in batches alternating with buttermilk, ending with dry ingredients.
~ Spray 12-hole muffin pan. Fill up until little below the rim.
~ Bake for 30 mins or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
~ Serve it with ketchup or a hot sauce.

Note: You can use any vegetables of your choice. Some of them that turn out really good are mushrooms, Fresh Corn, beans, any kind of green vegetables like spinach or kale,

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Disclaimer: Nutrition fact is based on ingredients that I have used and is an approximate. It is calculated using Recipe Nutrition Calculator from a health website.

Sending this to Vardhini's Bake Fest event @With A Spin

Macaroni and Black Bean Salad

Have you ever noticed how many variety of salads they have at the salad bar of big grocery shops? Well I have. And once I made a grave mistake of buying some. No, don't get me wrong. They were tasty. But super pricey! I came up with this salad when I had some leftover pasta from previous night. It was such a big hit that now I make macaroni for this salad. :o) I have used few of the vegetables when I clicked these pictures. But you could add many more veggies that you like. Some of them that I have tried are, corn and cucumber. Corn especially is the kind that I love.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time : 6 to 7 minutes | Serves : 4
* Serving Size: 1 Cup | Calories:130 | Carbs: 23 | Fat: 3 | Protein: 6 | Sugar: 2 | Sodium: 122

Ingredients:

Elbow Pasta - 3/4 Cup (If leftover cooked pasta - 2 Cups)
Bell Pepper - 1 finely chopped
Cherry tomatoes - 1/2 Cup Chopped
Black Beans - 1 Can
Coriander/ Cilantro - handful
Cayenne Pepper - 1/4 tsp.
Black Pepper - 1/4 tsp.
Lime juice/ red wine Vinegar - 2 tsp.
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Olive Oil - 2 tsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ Make macaroni according to package direction. You would want to cook it 'al dente' and not cook over. Because you really don't want a mushy salad. Drain and immediately rinse with cold water and keep it aside in a colander for all the water to drain.
~ Wash the black beans under running water and drain thoroughly.
~ Now mix all the ingredients with black beans and macaroni.
~ Leave it in the fridge for atleast half an hour before serving.

Disclaimer: Nutrition fact is based on ingredients that I have used and is an approximate. It is calculated using Recipe Nutrition Calculator from a health website.

Raita/ Yogurt Salad

This simple Raita can be served along with flavored rice or just as a coolant after a spicy lunch/ dinner. With the event on my space, Bon Vivant #8 - Rice Recipes, I thought I have to post the recipe for this raita, since it's the most common type of yogurt salad that I make whenever there is a rice dish. 
Below is a list of vegetables that we all prefer at home. You can change the quantity of veggies depending upon your taste.

Prep Time: 10 min | Serves: 4

Ingredients:
Cucumber - Finely chopped - 1 Cup
Tomato - Finely chopped - 1/2 Cup
Onion - Finely chopped - 1/2 Cup
Yogurt (Beaten) - 1 1/2 Cup - If the yogurt is too sour add 2 tbsp of milk.
Salt to taste

For seasoning:
Oil - 1 tsp.
Mustard - 1/2 tsp
Asafetida/ Hing - 1/2 tsp.
Green Chili - 2 slit
Kadipatta/ Curry Leaves - Few leaves

Method of Preparation:

~ In a serving bowl add all the cut vegetables and add salt.
~ Next prepare the seasoning. In a small pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds and let it crackle.
~ Now add hing, green chilies and curry leaves. Take it off of the heat and immediately pour it on top of the vegetables. Mix it all up.
~ Lastly add the beaten yogurt, mix and serve it cold.

Savory Zucchini Tots

Zucchini is such a versatile vegetable. It can blend in anything and everything. I make these little beauties whenever kids are in mood for a savory treat.

They are very low in calories. Zucchini itself is low in cholestrol and high in protein, Vitamin A and minerals. So it's a win win situation for me when kids ask for more every time. I had gotten this idea of tots from a fitness site and made it my own. It almost tastes like fried bhajiya's. Ever since, we all are big fan of these treats.

Ingredients:

Zucchini, grated - 1 1/2 cup
Onions, chopped fine - 1/2 cup 
Potato - grated - 1/4 cup
Parmesean Cheese - 1/2 cup
Bread Crumbs- 1/2 cup
Eggs - 1 Large/ 2 medium
Ginger - lime size - grated
Lime juice - 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil/ Butter spray

Method of Preparation:

~ Mix all the ingredients (except the spray ofcourse)
~ Preheat the oven at 400 degrees. Grease or spray the muffin tin.
~ Spoon in the zucchini mixture into all the muffin tin equally and pat it down.
~ Bake for 20 - 30 minutes or till the brown crust forms on the edges.
~ Serve it hot with your favorite sauce or ketchup.

Note:

~ Instead of grating, you can chop the vegetables finely in a food processor and use it.
~ You can use different variety of cheese, parmesean gives a nice taste, which we like.
~ Instead of using muffin tins you can tap it down in a oven safe dish and cut it into pieces to serve.

Sending this to event on my space Bon Vivant #7 - Baked Goodies

Linking this to Bake Fest hosted by FoodOMania

And to Radhika's I Love Baking event and Let's Cook - Starters

Kale Chips

Kale has been added to my diet since I got to know about how low their calories are. I mostly add it to my milkshakes or make this spicy green smoothie for breakfast all the time. I had read about Kale chips on my fitness pal and tried to create it. It came out pretty good. Kids doesn't really care about this one, though we both enjoy it. With easy to make steps it won't take much time and you can be rest assured this will be the healthiest chips you will be eating.

Ingredients:

Kale leaves - Washed and pat dried
Olive oil/ canola spray
Salt to sprinkle on top
Chili powder/ or Pepper

Method of Preparation:

~ Preheat the oven at 300 deg Farenheit.
~ Line a cookie sheet with foil, place kale leaves, spray oil.
~ Bake for 7 minutes and take them out.
~ Sprinkle salt and pepper/ chili powder on top. Toss it and put it back for another 3 minutes.
~ Crispy chips are ready to be served.

Note: I usually clip the sides off of the centre before serving. The center thick part of the leaf is bitter portion of the Kale leaves.

Sending this to event on my space Bon Vivant #7 - Baked Goodies

Linking this to Bake Fest hosted by FoodOMania

And to Radhika's I Love Baking event

Pita Cheese Pizza Bites

I have to say I got this idea from McCalister's Deli. Recently we discovered that kids loved Pita pizza on their menu. So later I tried out this at home and kids were excited since they were involved in making it too. Now it's a quick snack or no brainer lunch for them. It's been such a busy summer for us, so this has been featuring on our menu  more than often. I leave the kids to get it prepped as they wish and help them put it in the oven. They don't even have to wait too long to devour it.

Prep Time: 5 min| Baking Time: 5 min| Serves: 1

Ingredients:

Whole wheat Pita bread - 1
Pizza Sauce / Ketchup - 1 tbsp (as much as kiddo wants)
Shredded Cheese / Cheese Singles

Method of Preparation:

~ Preheat the oven at 300 deg Farenheit.
~ Place Pita bread on a cookie sheet and top it with pizza sauce & cheese.
~ Bake for 5 minutes, take it out and cut it into wedges and serve.

Sending this to event on my space Bon Vivant #7 - Baked Goodies

Linking this to Bake Fest hosted by FoodOMania

And to Radhika's I Love Baking event

Roasted Baby Potatoes

I recently caught a glimpse of baby red potatoes getting roasted beautifully in a pan on Giada's show on food network. Potatoes are my favorite and that glimpse of it was enough for me to try my own version. I eyed tiny yellow baby potatoes at Trader Joe's and I jumped for them. Below is the recipe that I treated to myself I think. Though my kids and DH loved it, I kept nibbling on it throughout the process and half of it was gone by the time it made it to the dining table. :o). Try these and believe me, you won't regret it.

Prep Time: 1 min | Cooking Time: 15 min. | Serves: (Depends) - 2 to 4 :o)

Ingredients:

Baby Potatoes - 1 lb/ 400gm

Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves, crushed

Rosemary - Fresh or Dried - 1 tsp.

Chili Powder/ Pepper - 1/2 tsp.

Olive Oil - 1 tsp.

Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

~ Bring a pot of water to boil. Add salt and washed baby potatoes.

~ Cook on high for about 7 to 10 minutes until potatoes get JUST tender. You can make out the potatoes almost cooked when there is froth begins to appear. Switch off and close with a lid.
~ Meanwhile, in a wide roasting pan, heat olive oil.
~ Add crushed garlic, rosemary and chili powder. Roast for few seconds until the raw smell of garlic and chili powder is gone.
~ Drain the water from potatoes, gently press each potato with a spoon to slightly crush it and add it to the roasting pan.
~ Coat all the potatoes gently and continue to roast while tossing them for about 5 minutes.
~ Serve them hot as a savory snack or side for baked fish or grilled chicken.

Notes:
~ You can bake these instead of boiling. Just combine all the ingredients with potatoes, pierce with fork and put it in the oven for 30 to 40 mins at 350 deg F.
Linking these up for my event "Bon Vivant #2 - Savory Items"

And also to Resh's Comfort Food, Nayna's Let's Cook Speedy Snacks, Rasi's I am the Star events

Crunchy Green Salad

This is an easy peasy, but no compromise on taste salad. I learnt this addition of cabbage from my MIL. And I must say I really loved the whole texture and taste the first time I had. It's a regular in our household. The other day I made it along with Bisi Bele Bhaath. Here is a quick rundown on the salad.

Prep Time: 5 min | Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Cucumber -1

Cabbage – 1 cup - Finely chopped

Colored bell pepper – ½ - deseeded and chopped

Tomato - 1 big one - deseeded and cubed

Salt to taste

Pepper - Fresh ground

Red wine vinegar (Optional)

Method of Preparation:

~ Wash and peel cucumber. Deseed and chop.

~ Mix all vegetables in a bowl, add salt and pepper and toss.

Note: You can top this on bed of lettuce and make a salad meal. But I was serving as a side dish, so didn’t use the lettuce.  

Tuna Kabobs

I am in India! Yes! I am sure my four weeks of vacation will zoom past me before I know it. My blog will be put on a slow gear for some time during this period. But nevertheless I wouldn’t have missed my blog hopping for anything. So I have planned ahead for these and here is my bloghopping for the day from Neha’s From My Heart.

Going through her blog, I thought I would try the baking something. Since I have never given bread a try, I zeroed on her banana bread recipe. But since my DH is a big fan of banana walnut bread, I modified it and fell flat on face. I did try a different banana walnut recipe and will be posting that soon. Coming back to blog hop I later tried her Tuna Kabob.  Oh they were just so good. It was very easy to prepare and we couldn’t stop snacking on it. So had to quickly take picture. I had never tried tuna in a kabob style so it was really refreshing.

I mostly stuck to her recipe making very few changes. Since I had made double the quantity of what is mentioned below, we had some leftovers for dinner. I simply heated them up and rolled it inside chapati and voila, kiddie wraps were ready.

Prep Time: 10 min. Cooking Time: About 7 to 10 min for a panful.

Ingredients:

White Tuna in water (no salt) - 1 Can

Onion – small ( about half a cup finely chopped)

Egg - 1

Potato – 1

Chaat Masala – ½ tsp.

Bread Crumbs – ½ cup

Green Chili – 2 (finely chopped)

Cilantro/ Coriander Leaves – handful.

Ginger – Lime size (grated)

Garlic – 3 pods (grated)

Oil to shallow fry

Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

~ In a microwave safe bowl cook potatoes. Grate and place in a mixing bowl.

~ Discard the water in tuna and add to the potatoes.

~ Add all other ingredients except oil and mix well. I used hands to give it a nice mix.

~ Make small patties out of the mixture and shallow fry on both sides.

~ Serve it hot with some green mint chutney and ketchup.

Note: Keep check on salt since tuna tends to be saltier.

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

This is off to Radhika’s blog hop event.

Green Tomato Chutney

I am posting many chutney’s and dips, coz we all love these little relishes at home. Also, the last few tomatoes in my veggie garden weren’t gonna get chance of ripening coz cold front. So that means we picked them when they were green. One of the numerous dishes I did with them was ofcourse this chutney.

Yields – 2 cups| Prep Time: 5 min.| Cooking Time: 15 min.

Ingredients:

Green tomatoes – 10 (about 1 ½ cups when chopped)

Green Chilies – 2

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp.

Flax Seeds – 1 tsp. (optional)

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp.

Sesame Seeds – ½ tsp.
Coconut - 1 tbsp.
Salt to taste

Oil – 1 tsp.

My DD picking up Green tomatoes & Chilies for me!

Method of Preparation:

~ Clean and chop tomatoes. Place it in a microwavable bowl with 1 tbsp. of water and microwave high for 10 min (with two intervals)

~ In a pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds.

~ Once they splutter, add cumin seeds, sesame seeds and flax seeds.

~ Fry for few seconds, and add green chilies.

~ Now add the microwaved tomatoes and continue to cook for few minutes.

~ Switch off the heat and let it cool.

~ Grind the cooled mix with coconut & salt to a smooth paste.

~ Enjoy with some rice and sambar. It can be served with Dosa or Chapati too.

Note:

- You can skip microwaving and cook tomatoes later on cooktop.

Spicy Gingery Strawberry Raspberry chutney

Did the name interest you? Well, I wanted to just keep it without ginger, but with all words ending with a “Y” I added gingery. :o) Strawberries and raspberries are almost going out of season. We always get those big boxes from Sam’s and the last few remaining start to soften and then kids don’t want to eat. I try not to waste them and do jam or sauce out of them. Below is one of spicy chutney that I do with these berries. I didn't really get or taste this recipe anywhere. I was just playing around with making sauce out of the fruits. This spicy variation made the cut and I was happy to have noted down so I could recreate it every time. Make variations with your favorite fruit and try it. This can be used to top toast, just as a side relish with rice, with roti or even with dosa.

Yields: 2 cups| Prep Time: 10 min. | Cooking Time: 20 min. ~ 25 min.

Ingredients:

• Strawberry - 1 1/2 cup
• Rasberry - 1/2 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Ginger - 1 lemon size - paste 
• Pitted Dates - 1/2 cup *
• Sliced almonds - 1 tbsp. (optional)
• Salt to taste (<1 tsp.)
• Sugar - 1 tbsp. (Increase if you like it sweet)
• Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp.
• Lemon juice - 2 tsp. (Skip it if the fruits are sour)

   

 Method of Preparation:

~ Wash and clean the berries. Pit the strawberry. Chop both of them coarsely.

~ Place berries, ginger and water in a pot and cook on low heat.

~ Once the berries are half way done (about 10 min.), add all the remaining ingredients and continue to cook.

~ The sauce with thicken and all the fruits should be nicely cooked. Switch off the heat and leave it to cook.

~ Put them in clean air tight glass jars and store it in fridge. Start using after 1 or 2 days. It will stay for a month or so.

Notes:

* - I usually have the softer variety of dates, so I add them half way through. If they are harder, add it earlier so they cook and soften.

- Tastes best when it sits for a day or two.
Enjoy! :o)

Avocado & Bell Pepper Muhammara - Syrian Dip

Time sure flies. Whether you like it or not it goes on ticking. I am loving it, coz next weekend I will be visiting India. Yey.!! We had booked our tickets in April and I remember thinking, oh, that's a long way to go. But here I am trying to go through last minute shopping and packing. I might have completely ignored my blog if it wasn't for blog hopping event by Radhika of Tickling Palates.


This week I am paired with Ayeesha's Taste of Pearl City. I have known her since I started blogging. Her "Anyone Can Cook" series are great for beginner cooks who are looking for some easy to do recipes. With so many things going around me, I decided to pick an easy recipe too and I found it in Muhammara. For original recipe and other great recipes visit Ayeesha here.

Muhammara is a syrian dip, which can be used to top warm biscuits (US kinda biscuits), pita bread, pita chips, toast or crackers. I think they are wonderful with Kebabs and Grilled fish or vegetables too. The original spicy muhammara doesn't call for avocado, but since Ayeesha had used it I gave it a try too, actually doubling it.


Avocados are not only rich in fiber, potassium and Vitamin E, it is also contains a good dose of heart-healthy mono and polyunsaturated fats. Looking some more online to give information to my readers I came across this study find on world’s healthiest foods - Recent research has shown that absorption of two key carotenoid antioxidants—lycopene and beta-carotene—increases significantly when fresh avocado is added to diet. What does that mean to us? These carotenoids are fat-soluble and would be provided with the fat they need for absorption from the addition of avocado. So show some love for these beauties.. :o)

I love making Guacamole with it, Muhammara was a good change. Also, since they are so creamier, I didn't have to use olive oil in the recipe. Read on and try this simple recipe and tell me what you would like them on. 

Serves: 6| Prep Time: 5 min. | Cooking Time: 25 min. (for roasting bell peppers)

Ingredients: 

• Red Bell Peppers – 2 [Or 2 Canned roasted Bell peppers. I used one red and other green one from my veggie garden. That's why it's more greener in color than red. ]
• Avocado - 2
• Bread crumbs – ¼ cup
• Walnuts – ¼ cup – Coarsely chopped
• Molasses – 1 tsp. (Original calls for pomegranate molasses. I had cane sugar one, which tasted perfect)
• Red Chili flakes – 1 tsp. (Or Cayenne pepper – ½ tsp.)
• Cumin/ Jeera powder – ½ tsp.
• Lime juice – 1 tbsp.
• Olive oil – 1 tsp. for roasting.
• Salt as needed.

Method of Preparation:

~ Skip this part if using canned roast bell peppers. Preheat the oven to 375 deg. F. In a baking dish, place washed and cut into half bell peppers (cut side down). Apply olive oil on top (you could use olive oil spray). Roast for about 20 minutes. Then turn the broil on and continue to roast for another 5 min.

~ After the bell peppers are cooled down, remove the roasted skin and place it in a blender.

~ Cut the avocado’s lengthwise. Hold both sides and twist in opposite direction, to pull out one without the seed. Now poke a knife in the seed, twist to remove the seed. Spoon out the flesh into blender.

~ Add all other ingredients in and blend until smooth. Yummy dip is ready to be devoured!

Check out my previous blog hop entries…

 

This is off to Radhika’s blog hopping event.

I am also entering this for Ayeesha’s event Eat Well Live well. If I win the giveaway I would love to add this Cuisinart blender to my kitchen

And Kalyani's 100 Days of Global Food Festival event

I wanted to also thank my fellow blogger Christy and Julie for sending these awards my way. :o)