PARUPPU THOGAYAL

This is my husband's favorite thogayal. It tastes the best when paired with vatral kuzhambu . Its is a delectable combination.

INGREDIENTS

• Moong dal - 1 fistful
• Toor dal - 1 fistful
• Red chilly - 2 nos medium sized ( 1 if long)
• Grated coconut - 1 tbsp ( optional)
• Pepper corns - 1 tsp
• Garlic cloves - 6 nos
• Salt - As reqd

METHOD

• Take a kadai and add a tbsp of oil. Fry the dals along with red chillies.
• Once its cool grind adding salt , grated coconut and little water to make a paste.
• Finally add the pepper corns and garlic cloves and grind well .
• Add little water if required.

Mix with plain rice adding sesame oil ..Enjoy !!

DAL PALAK

I tried this recipe from Mrs. Mallika badrinath's kurma book. It's a nice combination for roti.I made slight changes in the actual recipe according to our taste buds.I googled so many recipes before trying this one but i found most of the recipes used toor dal / moong dal . I used masoor dal as mentioned in the cookbook.Check out the amazing health benefits of masoor dal in kitchen clinic section. U'll surely try this recipe .

INGREDIENTS

Masoor dal – 1/4 cup Palak / Pasalai keerai – 2 bunches  (hope u all the know the size we get in india) (roughly 2-3 cups after chopping) Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp Salt and water – As needed, To grind Green chilly – 2 –3 nos Ginger – 1 inch piece To temper Cinnamon – 1 small piece Cloves – 2 nos Methi seeds – 1/4 tsp Jeera – 1/2 tsp Red chilly – 1 no (pinched into two) Garlic cloves – 5 nos (chopped finely) Big onion – 1 no (chopped) Tomato – 2 nos (-do-) Curry leaves – a few

METHOD

Pressure cook masoor dal and palak with turmeric powder for 2 –3 whistles. The dal should be mushy. Grind the ingredients given under "grind" to make a smooth paste by adding required water. Now heat a kadai and temper all the items given above in the same order. Add onions and tomatoes and saute till tomato turns mushy. Add the ground masala and saute well for few mins. Then add the cooked masoor dal & palak mixture and add the required water . Allow it to boil well for few minutes. Serve with roti.!! Note: If u want to serve this for rice , just omit the cinnamon & cloves and try the same.

KITCHEN CLINIC

MASOOR DAL Masoor daal is used in every household to make curries or sambar. It is a very common lentil and easily available as well. Masoor daal cooks very fast and does not need any kind of soaking before cooking it. Even tough people may treat it asa simple lentil; it has many properties which are good for health. People who are purevegetarians can eat this lentil everyday. They will get the same amount of strength that non-vegetarian people have. Many times we see that people complain about having less blood in their body. Doctors recommend some medicines which will increase the blood and red blood cells in the body for such people. Instead of eating those medicines such a person can have curry made of masoor dal twice a week and they would never complain of less blood. This lentil is good as a remedy when a person is facing dysentery problems. Masoor daal is good for the excretory system and helps keeping it clean. It is good for people facing illnesses due to impure blood. Masoor daal reduces the growth of cough in the lungs and helps reduce acidity as well. Soup made of this lentil is given to a patient suffering from fever. It will give strength to the body of the patient as well as keep the blood pure. People who have piles and bleed as lot during excretion should definitely have masoor daal. It will help reduce this problem. Powder made from masoor dal should be used instead of soap for infants and children. This helps restore the moisture in the skin of children. It brings a glow to skin and prevents it from cracking in the winter season. It is used as a face pack when people have very oily skin. It reduces the oil produced from the skin and helps reduce acne and pimples. It also prevents itching of skin. Our daily diet can include a bowl of lentil soup everyday. This will increase the protein content in our body and make us healthy and fit. Masoor dal will also help increase the digestion rate. Many Indian recipes are made using masoor dal.

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Technorati Tags: DAL PALAK FOR ROTI,PALAK DAL,MASOOR DAL RECIPE,MASOOR DAL PALAK FOR ROTI,DAL FOR ROTI,SIMPLE DAL RECIPE ..

Waiter, there's goat cheese in my burrito!

The first time I saw this recipe it didn't appeal to me at all. Goat cheese and burritos don't seem like they could go together. But the idea grew on me and we gave it a try. Loved it. The tangy cheese is brilliant with the beans and tomatos.

This is a very fast and low maintenance recipe. Other than cooking some rice there's only a bit of chopping and less than 10 minutes of cooking.

I altered the original recipe slightly - I'd say you could get 4-6 nice sized burritos out of this.

Goat Cheese Burritos

adapted from Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons

1 tb oil

1 bunch of green onions, washed well and finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 tsp ground cumin

3 tomatos, chopped

2 cups cooked rice

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

soft goats cheese (2 or more tb per burrito)

flour tortillas

sour cream

salsa

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add the green onions, garlic and cumin to the pan and cook, stirring often for 5 minutes. Meanwhile in another medium pan, heat the black beans and a couple of tablespoons of water over medium heat until hot. Drain off the water. Add the tomatos to the onion mixture and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in the rice.

Spread the goats cheese on the tortillas. Spoon the rice mixture on top of the cheese and top with beans. Add salsa and sour cream if desired. Roll up and dig in.

Noble Pig, Kamloops

(december 2010)

deep fried pickles

tropical pizza

cubano sandwich

the noble pig

650 victoria st

website coming soon (?)

Falafel Pita with Tahini Sauce Recipe

The Arabic Food Recipes kitchen (The Home of Delicious Arabic Food Recipes) invites you to try Falafel Pita with Tahini Sauce Recipe. Enjoy the Arabic Cuisine and  learn how to make Falafel Pita with Tahini Sauce. 

Switch up your lunch routine with a Falafel Pita with Tahini Sauce. Falafels are made with bulgur, garbanzo beans, herbs, and spices. Serve these Middle Eastern sandwiches with homemade Tahani Sauce inside a pita half with lettuce and roasted red peppers.

Yield: Makes 6 servings (serving size: 1 burger, 2 tablespoons tahini mixture)

Ingredients

2/3 cup bulgur
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 large egg white
1/2 cup packed fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1 garlic clove
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup tahini
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup water
4 cups torn lettuce
1 cup roasted red peppers
6 (6-inch) pitas

Preparation

Cook bulgur according to package directions; drain and set aside to cool.

In a food processor, combine cooked bulgur, garbanzo beans, egg white, parsley, 1/4 mint, garlic, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt, and pepper.

Form mixture into 6 (approximately 3-inch) patties and place on a large plate. Refrigerate until firm (20 minutes).

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook falafel burgers until browned and heated through (3 minutes per side).

Transfer to a plate.

Before serving, whisk together tahini, lemon juice, and water in a medium bowl until light and fluffy.

Divide falafel burgers, tahini mixture, lettuce, and roasted red peppers among pitas and serve.

Ellen Kunes and Frances Largeman-Roth, RD, CarbLovers Diet Cookbook, Health
JANUARY 2012

More Arabic Food Recipes:

Crispy Falafel with Yogurt Dip
Falafel in Pita with Yogurt Sauce
Falafel with Tahini Sauce
Falafel Recipe from Scratch
Chickpea fritters (falafel)
Make Best Falafel Balls

Save and share Falafel Pita with Tahini Sauce Recipe

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Wine of the Week: Sainsbury's Moscatel de Valencia

Moscatel de Valencia, a sweet wine from Southern Spain, has always been good value but it's extraordinary that it still costs only £3.89 a bottle (in most branches of Sainsbury's). A whole bottle, not a half, like most other dessert wines.

OK, it's not particularly fashionable but it tastes just gorgeous. It has a deliciously orangey character that would make it a fantastic pairing for apple tart, pie or crumble (served with cream rather than custard), light chocolate desserts (plain rather than with berries) and - thinking ahead to Christmas - Christmas pudding which is always a tricky one to match. You could also partner it with a Spanish style 'flan' or crème caramel.

As the name indicates, it's a muscat, fortified with a little spirit to bring it up to 15%. Drink it nice and cold.

AMMINI KOZHUKATTAI / SPICY RICE BALLS

I was searching for a low fat , steamed snack . I got this recipe from a blog . I did some changes and tried it.It was very soft & tasty.

 

 INGREDIENTS :

• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Water -  2 cups
• Oil - 1 drop
• Salt - As needed

TO  TEMPER

• Cooking Oil -  1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal -1 tsp
• Channa dal - 1 tsp
• Green chilly - 2 nos ( slitted)
• Ginger - 1 inch piece ( chopped finely)
• Curry leaves - a sprig
• Asafetida - 1 pinch
• Grated coconut - 1/4 cup

METHOD :

• Take the water in a kadai and allow it to boil by adding the salt & a drop of oil.
• As soon as it starts to roll boil add the measured rice flour and stir well without forming lumps.
• It will become a soft, non sticky dough.
• Let it cool. Then knead it well and make very small balls out of the warm dough by greasing ur hands with little gingely oil.
• Steam cook the balls by arranging them in idly plate.
• It takes nearly 10 mins to cook.
• Now remove the balls carefully and set aside.
• In a kadai heat the oil and temper the items given above in the same order.
• Add the balls at the end and toss well.
• Check for salt and mix the grated coconut.

Serve hot !!

ULUTHANKALI / URAD DAL KALI

I hope u all would have tasted this at the time of puberty. Generally grannys used to give this for the teen age girls to make the bones strong.When my paati gave this for me, i hesitated a lot to eat this .But now i know its importance. Nowadays at this early age, we get pains in joints and back very often.We are not able to bend continuously for sometime.We get pain in spine.This shows the weakness of our bones. So its better to have urad dal in our regular diet to avoid all these problems.Apart from eating idly/dosas and vadas , i feel this is also a good choice of including urad dal in our daily diet..

Now coming to the recipe,

INGREDIENTS:

URAD DAL – 4 TBSP JAGGERY or PALM JAGGERY  – 4 TBSP GINGELY OIL – 2 TBSP CARDAMOM SEEDS – 2 NOS WATER – AS NEEDED.

METHOD:

• In a kadai ,roast the urad dal till golden yellow. Powder it in a mixie adding cardamom seeds. Store it in an air tight container.
• Now take 4 tbsp of urad dal powder in a bowl and mix  2 cups of water.
• Cook the urad dal for 7-8 mins. It thickens . Stir well for sometime and make sure there are no lumps formed.
• Now add the powdered jaggery and mix well . Keep the fire in low flame. Allow it to boil till the raw smell of jaggery emanates.
• Add the gingely oil and stir well.U'll get a glossy , sliding non sticky kali is ready to njoy ..

Delicious , healthy uluthankali is ready to eat !!

NOTE :

• If u use palm jaggery instead of jaggery , dissolve in water and make a syrup. Strain and use.

KITCHEN CLINIC

URAD DAL Urad, also referred to as the urad bean, urad, urid, black gram, black lentil or white lentil (Vigna mungo) is a bean grown in southern Asia. It is largely used to make dal from the whole or split, dehusked seeds. Black gram originated in India where it has been in cultivation from ancient times and is one of the most highly prized pulses of India. It has also been introduced to other tropical areas mainly by Indian immigrants. The bean is boiled and eaten whole or after splitting into dal; prepared like this it has an unusual mucilaginous texture. Ground into flour or paste, it is also extensively used in culinary preparation like dosa, idli, vada, and papad. It is very nutritious and is recommended for diabetics, as are other pulses. Though very beneficial in limited quantities excessive intake causes flatulence, which some sources claim can be prevented by adding a little asafoetida, pepper and ginger in the culinary preparations. It is very popular in Punjabi cuisine of India and Pakistan where it is known as 'maanh'. The product sold as 'black lentil' is usually the whole urad bean or urad dal. The product sold as 'white lentil' is the same lentil with the black skin removed. HEALTH BENEFITS & NUTRITION Black beans with a white center are sold as urad in many Indian groceries. As halved beans, they are called urad dal. Urad dal is available unhusked with its black seed coat and husked. A one-cup of urad dal serving contains 189 calories, 13 grams of protein, 12 grams of fiber (about half a day's worth) and one gram of fat. Black gram requires only minimal soaking -- about half an hour -- before cooking, which takes another 30 to 40 minutes. In India, mung beans are the common man's meal. They're very popular and are eaten throughout India, from Kashmir to Tamilnadu in the south. Most popular South Indian dishes contain urad, e.g., Idli, Dosa, Uthappam, Vada etc.

 

Technorati Tags: kali,uluthangali,uluthangali for teens and ladies.

This week's best drink buys

You might be the kind of person who thinks the beginning of November is FAR too early to start planning what you're going to eat and drink over Christmas (me too) but the supermarkets have decided otherwise.

When I walked into Sainsbury's yesterday the drinks deparment was packed with special offers - and some quite spectacular ones too. Leaving frugal options aside for the moment you can pick up the particularly lush Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or whisky at the moment for just £25 instead of £39.99 (and £42.95 at royalmilewhiskies.com) Aged in Sauternes casks it's a lush cross between a sweet wine and a whisky that would be superb with the Stilton and maybe - though I haven't tried it yet - with mince pies. A terrific gift for any whisky lover.

They also had a couple of good champagne deals: Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top for £14.99 instead of £29.99* and the much improved Lanson Black Label for £21.99 instead of £31.99 - but then Morrisons currently has it for £15 according to The Wine Detective.

In terms of budget buys you probably couldn't do much better than Dow's Trademark port - that's also reduced by 50% in Sainsbury's from £13.43 to £6.71. The style is referred to as Finest Reserve which means it's halfway between a basic ruby port and a Late Bottled Vintage in quality. If you're looking for a sweet, brambly warming Christmas port from a reputable producer it would fit the bill perfectly. (I also like adding a dash of this style of port to a mulled wine).

Rather less good value is the current offer on Baileys cream liqueurs which are reduced in Sainsbury's from £19.79 to £9.89. I know it's a good reduction for a litre bottle but since when did they go up to that kind of price? Asda's regular price for the same size bottle is £14 and they currently have it down to £9 but there are loads of perfectly good own label versions around for a fair amount less.

Marks and Spencer, for instance, has its new Toffee and Pecan Cream liqueur on offer for £6.99 currently. I don't much like cream liqueurs but I must admit I did find it a bit moreish. M & S told me this week that toffee and pecan flavours are HUGE for them.

Anyway if you miss these offers don't panic. There will be plenty more where they came from over the coming weeks but don't leave it until the week before Christmas when I'm pretty sure a lot of the prices will shoot up again

* Asda also has it for £15

Note: this prices applied the day I wrote this post but may well have changed by the time you read it.

Great Gazpacho

I had a hankerin' (oh yes I did) for gazpacho now that our weather has turned more summery. I was going to make my usual version with V8, but in the freezer I found a bag of tomatos that I had oven roasted and frozen last fall.

I used this recipe as my inspiration, but I went much simpler.

2 bell peppers (I used one orange and one red) whizzed smooth in the food processor with a few cloves of garlic and a spoon of sugar. I added my thawed tomatos and juice and pureed until smooth. I stirred in a couple of shots of red wine vinegar and some salt, then chilled for an hour.

Serve with a piece of cheesy toast, and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

Top 5 Reasons Why I Love Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is hand's down, my favorite holiday of the year. I think I even like it better than my birthday, which is really saying something. So here's why:

1. There is nothing you have to do on Thanksgiving, other than share a meal. There are no religious ceremonies or gift giving. You can say a prayer before eating or watch a parade or play football if you want, but you can also take a nap! It's all good.

2. It's inclusive. Anyone who is in America (or outside of America for that matter) can celebrate this holiday if they want to. It's not about race or religion or nationality, in fact, it's about welcoming and helping those who are newcomers and celebrating the harvest.

3. It's about comfort food. I hear a lot of people complaining about traditional Thanksgiving food, they say turkey is boring, pumpkin pie is heavy and stodgy. To them I say, it's comfort food, not fine dining. Get over it. Besides, this holiday is about sharing a meal with friends and family, what you eat is secondary. Go out for Chinese food if you prefer, that is, if you can find a Chinese restaurant that's open.

4. It's two blessed days off. For most people anyway. That is reason enough to be thankful.

5. Leftovers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few favorite past Thanksgiving posts from the archives:

How Thanksgiving became a national holiday

Brussels sprouts with brown butter and hazelnuts recipe

Cranberry coffeecake recipe

Curried Butternut Squash Soup recipe

Pilgrim onion marmalade recipe

Turkey drumsticks braised in cranberry sauce recipe

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.

Planning for the Hunger Challenge

Shopping on a tight budget isn't impossible, but it does take work. Yesterday I started planning for the Hunger Challenge, a campaign to help raise awareness about hunger in our community. For one week during Hunger Action Month participants live on a very limited food budget, comparable to what food stamp recipients live on. In 2008 just seven of us participated in the Hunger Challenge and the budget was $3 a day, this year there will be over 50 250 people participating and the budget is $4.72 per day.

Tomorrow I will be shopping with CBS reporter and Hunger Challenge participant Juliette Goodrich at Foods Co. Yesterday I read the Food Co weekly flyer and planned my menu based on sale items and what I know I can afford.

Here is what I plan on cooking and eating, for new dishes I will post the recipes throughout the week:

Dinners:
Panela and Vegetable Kabobs - a new recipe I will be creating for the challenge. Panela is a cheese similar to haloumi but much less expensive.

Chicken and Bacon Quesadillas - another new recipe that I am creating for the challenge.

Chicken and Rice Soup - past participant Vanessa Barrington made this recipe a few years ago l based on a recipe by Andrea Nguyen

Moroccan Chicken & Lentils - I will be modifying a Bon Appetit recipe I found on Epicurious

Pasta Fagioli - truly cucina povera, something I made the first year of the Hunger Challenge, but this time I think I will add some spinach

Chili - I will make this using a variety of beans, corn, onions and peppers

Red beans and rice

For breakfast, I will eat oatmeal or eggs

For lunch I will eat leftovers or quesadillas. In past years, I have eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I just don't want to do that again.

Of course my plans may change depending upon what I find at the store and how much I can buy...

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.