Chilli Garlic Noodles

Green chilli - 2, chopped fine

Garlic - 5-6 cloves, chopped fine

Onion - 1/2

Green peppers - 1/2 ; use other colored peppers too, if available

Carrots - 1

Tomatoes - 1

Source of protein - shelled Edamame or Lima beans or sprouts

Cabbage - 1/4, if using

Spring Onion - a bunch , use only whites for cooking

Noodles - 2 cakes; cooked per instructions

Chilli sauce - 2 Tbsp

Soy sauce - 1/4 C

Greens from the spring Onion - For garnishing

Lime juice - from 1/2 lime

Method

1. Chop all the Vegetables length wise

2. Heat the oil, saute the garlic and green chillis together.

3. Now saute the rest of the onions, and the vegetables, till cooked

4. Add the chilli and soy sauces and mix well. Add salt to taste.

5. Mix this vegetable mixture with the cooked noodles. 

6. Top with garnishing , sprinkle lime juice and serve hot 

Cauliflower greens soup

 It always looked like such a waste... throwing away all those greens that come with the cauliflower head. I knew they had to be healthy, but never knew how to cook them.
A quick internet search landed me at this page, which inspired me to go make this soup.

Foxtail Millet Biryani

First of all, The Meal Algorithm wishes you a very happy new year!

May your year be filled with healthy and delicious food, shared with loving family and friends.
And may your plates always be colorful and your glasses clinking!

For sometime now, I’ve been looking for good and healthy rice substitutes, some complex carbs which are healthy , easy too cook and very easy on the pocket too. In that endeavor, am experimenting with various kinds of millets. And I must say I’ve got quite comfortable with incorporating them in my meals. Which is why I gathered the confidence to share one of my millet recipes here. There are more on the way, but this one’s an easy , tasty and full meal!

Korralu, as they are called in Telugu or Foxtail millet is one of the easily available millets, and can be used in almost any dish as a rice substitute. I pack these millets for my lunch box also, and mix them with dal and sabzi for lunch. For dinner, I resort to recipes like this which make a full meal.

Khao Soi, Thai style

The last time I tried something in this style , I had decided to make the Burmese version too... I had loved the method of eating curry with noodles so much that I now intend to make noodles this way only. :)

Hummus, the Ethiopian way

Hummus is a beauty that goes well with almost anything – bread, rotis, or as a dip, and is an all-time favourite even in our highly-Indian-food-loved household.

When I soaked the chick-peas the other night, I had something else in mind… trying out the Ethiopian Hummus.
Now, I haven’t eaten that before or even heard about it, had it not been for a friend who messaged me on my FB page asking for a recipe for this. Some reading up pointed me to some recipes and the story behind Berbere mix, and this link which had a good recipe.

Hyderabadi Dum Biryani, Vegetarian with Mirchi ka salan

Show me one self-respecting Hyderabadi who doesn’t like Biryani and I’ll cook you a free meal! ;-)

I love it too, but I don’t generally prefer eating Biryanis at restaurants. I’d love to eat my mother-in-law’s Biryani which she makes with amazing precision week after week (and is simply awesome, btw. Recipe for that will follow soon!) or make my own imitation of hers (which is also good, but seriously my MIL rocks!)

Grilled Tofu with Sesame Rice

Yeah, I know its been a while since I turned up here… The reasons are plenty, I can safely hide behind the curtain and say its been work, but who am I kidding… I’ve been lazy, plain lazy. And anything else is just a silly excuse. There are too many things happening on the home front, all of which will make it into a detailed blog post on The Other Side, but I really hope I will get over the laziness and start being more active in my kitchen!

Every month, I read the BBC GoodFood magazine the minute it arrives and then make a list of all the dishes I’d like to try. This dish is from one such list, customized of course to suit my taste buds and choice.

Healthy & Skinny Lasagna

What has melted, almost-roasted cheese on top and makes your heart skip a beat and your mouth drool a bit? Yes, that's right, Sherlock! Its a Lasagna. :-D And vegan one, if you want it to be!

Are you one of those who doesn't try out a lasagna because of all the fatty ingredients in it? Do you think putting up a lasagna is a lengthy process and the result is often something that sits on your hips?

Creamy, easy Tomato & Broccoli Casserole

Creamy. Cheesy. Chunky .Crusty.
Roasted cheese and tomatoes. Spicy & Served warm.
And its a casserole.
Need I say more?

When I think of a pasta casserole, I think of something in red sauce. Not being a fan of white sauce myself, I don’t generally attempt to make anything with white sauce in it. But now, that’s gonna change.

Rava Khichdi with Tomatoes!

The weather is awesome in Hyderabad these days. Its super pleasant and rains quite bit. It does disrupt the lives a bit, but with the summer we’ve had, I bet no one is complaining about the rains this year! :-)

Rains always make me crave comfort food. Food that is easy to make, and food that reminds me of something warm and makes me feel fuzzy. :-) As a true foodie, I have a huge list of comfort food, stuff that makes me feel good when I am down or lazy or when it rains.

Top of this list is Khichdi for me. Khichdi is a versatile dish and its preparation and ingredients change with the place you eat it in. Every house has its own Khichdi recipe, and am on a mission – To learn as many different varieties of Khichdi as possible ! And why not? Its warm, its healthy, its packed with veggies if you like and its ultimate comfort food.

Check out my other Khichdi recipes here & here.

Risotto, with Thai Green curry flavours!

Risotto, like Indian rice is versatile, I’ve gathered. You can make it in a lot of flavours with a variety of vegetables, not to mention the meat options. One idea that I got from GoodFood [May, 2012] magazine is to cook Risotto with Asian flavours, and I was like – why didn’t I think of this before!

This is perfect for families like mine, where one member wants to eat only Indian flavours, and another wants to experiment with the meal. It took me a while before I could actually try this , but when I did try, I knew I had a winning recipe at my hand!

Chickpea-Cumin wrap with yogurt dip

I’ve subscribed to GoodFood magazine for two months now, and it is one of the best sources of inspirations I’ve had, in terms of recipe and also the photography angles. All of them are so professionally done, and are so well styled that even an attempt at attaining that level of perfection makes me a better photographer and cook. :-)

This recipe is from the April edition of GoodFood India, and is one of the easiest and healthiest dinners I’ve prepared. It took me exactly 15 min to put together the filling for the wrap and another 5 min to get the dip ready.

Fada ni Khichdi + Tambuli

Like most of the recipes on this blog, I came home this evening craving for some comfort food. And comfort food at dinner time for me is Khichdi. But tonight I wanted to eat something which wasn’t same as my regular khichdi recipe. I disturbed some Gujju friends at work, and searched around the web for some Gujju recipe for Khichdi, something healthy, and light, and finalized on this one.

I improvised the recipe from Tarla Dalal’s website to suit just one person, yeah, yet another meal for one. And decided to pair this with a Mangalorean no-cook curd-dish called Tambuli instead of Kadhi.
So here it is… born out of a craving to eat something North Indian and Mangalorean, my dinner menu for one :)

Moroccan Veg Tagine Curry

I have been interested in exploring Mediterranean , Middle Eastern and African cuisines after discovering the number of vegetarian dishes they contain. The usage of yogurt and vegetables like aubergines, tomatoes and the different spices…very interesting. And flavourful. And quite close to being Indian as well… I’ve cooked couple of Mediterranean stews and dishes before, but never ventured into Morocco, which is North African, but very similar to Mediterranean method of cooking.

Moroccan Tagine curry has been on the To-Do list for a while now, and the couscous that I bought a long time ago was literally begging to be cooked. I read up on the internet for a couple of Tagine curry recipes, but did not find ONE recipe which would suit my requirements. So I adapted this recipe from the two links – This & This.

Tagine curry derives its name from the earthen pot that the curry is cooked in and are predominantly meat-based. However, I resorted to using Chickpeas, rich sources of protein, along with other vegetables, and cooked them all very slowly in my regular pan.

Panang Curry flavoured Fried Rice

Am not a huge fan of Chinese food, especially the ones that have Ajinomoto in them and because of my allergic reactions to soya sauce. And so, Fried rice was never a favourite. But this evening as I was wondering on what to eat (cooking for one is a chore, and if I have to drag myself into the kitchen I might as well make the experience interesting), I thought of Fried rice. But not the plain old fried rice, something with a flavour in it. And that is how this dish was born.

I used Panang curry paste while sautéing the vegetables and then followed the regular method of making fried rice. The result was a slightly sticky, because of the curry paste, but very flavourful fried rice, which in my opinion would’ve been great without Soya as well.

Good old Khichdi!

Am a South Indian, and I hadn’t tasted Khichdi for the first 25 yrs of my life, but now it is my all-time favourite comfort food.



Known to be eaten when one is not well , every household has its own recipe for this dish.
Khichdi is something I eat when I am all by myself. I have Khichdi when am travelling and have to order room service. It is my first option when I don’t know what to eat, and is still my first option even when I have a fridge full of veggies. Healthy, easy to make, and packed with proteins, what’s not to like in this one?

Spanish rice, with a slight twist

This was dinner tonight. Yes. :-D

I start thinking about dinner generally by 5 PM, make that 4 PM if I am really hungry. So in the mental trip that I took around the fridge today, I saw a big bowl of roasted tomato puree (recipe here) and some bell peppers. I suddenly wanted to cook rice in tomato puree, and it sounded kinda bizarre in my head. A quick internet search told me that it is an actual method of cooking rice, called as Spanish rice. And that’s how this dish was born.

I found couple of recipes on the internet, and no two of them were similar. Hence, I decided to make my own modifications to the recipe, add the herbs I liked, and cook it in the flavours I wanted it to be in. Thyme and Red Chilli flakes got in as a part of this decision.

The rice was cooked in roasted tomato puree, as opposed to the regular tomato puree or salsa method I found in my internet search, and I added 1:1 quantity of puree and water to cook the rice. I, however , did follow the method of browning the onions and garlic, but added the peppers after that to be sautéed along with them before adding rice.

The result was a very fragrant , fluffy and a colourful rice, which was a hit with the rice-lover husband guy.

Recipe inspired from – Simply Recipes

Ingredients

Roasted Tomato Puree – 1 cup
Yellow , Red and Green bell peppers – diced in inch long pieces – each one half of a medium sized one
Onion – diced in thin pieces, 1 medium
Garlic cloves – diced/crushed – 8-10
Dried Thyme – 2 tsp
Red chilli flakes – 1.5 tsp
Sea Salt – 1.5 tsp or to taste
Long grained rice (or Basmati) – 1 cup
Olive oil – 1 tbsp

Instructions

Wash the rice , and let it drain in a sieve.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions and garlic. Once they turn to a brown colour, add the pepper slices to this and sauté them too.

Add the rice to this mixture, and sauté this for 5 mins, on a medium flame. Add thyme and chilli flakes now and mix well, but very carefully to not break the rice grains.

Add the tomato puree and boiling water. Cook on high flame till this boils, and cook on a low flame till the rice is completely cooked.

Garnish with cilantro leaves, if required. But serve hot. Super hot!

Masala Milk

 

Every Sharad Purnima, this friend of mine hosts a fabulous dinner party for some friends of hers. We chit-chat a lot, eat dinner and have the masala milk , my favourite part. She reduces about 10 litres of milk to approximately 7 litres, adds a lot of spices that make the milk taste yummy and serves them hot. I fell in love with this milk the first time I had it, but never thought I should/could try it. This time, I stood by her when she was adding the masalas, pestered her for the recipe, promptly forgot it and came back home to try it.

I am not sure if this is the recipe for the masala milk she served, but it tastes similar, and I love this taste. Now this is a regular in my after-Sunday-night-dinner menu. I reduce about 3/4 litre milk to be 1/2 litre, the exact measurement of my milk mug, sit with this in front of the TV or the computer and get on to work. My favourite part of the evening, it is.

Ingredients
3/4 litre milk
1 tbsp MTR Badam Milk powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsps nutmeg powder
1 tsp cardamom powder
2-3 strands saffron

Instructions
In a thick bottomed saucepan, heat the milk. Add the sugar, Badam milk powder, half the nutmeg, the cardamom powder and heat the milk. Keep the milk on the stove till it reduces to 1/2 litre. Let the cream on the milk mix into the milk again. (I know this adds to the fat content of the milk, but trust me, it makes the milk taste heavenly). Mix in the saffron strands, and boil the milk some more.
Pour it in the mug, garnish with the mug. Sit back and enjoy the milk.

Seasoned Cornbread casserole

 

Oh well, there is no story behind this dish. I was just browsing through the Wine & Dine section of NYTimes and saw some gorgeous Thanksgiving recipes. Though that is not a festival celebrated in India, and it is still weeks away for the actual festival, I thought, why not make it this weekend !Also since the winter is finally arriving in Hyderabad, making something with cornmeal sounded just appropriate.

And there… I tried this, and loved the way it tasted. Its like a whole package – taste with great health packed in it.
Since we are not vegans, I did not feel the need to use applesauce or non-dairy milk. Yogurt did the trick for me, as usual.
Also, I didn’t have any Cajun seasoning at hand, so I reached out to my herb tray (one of most favourite items in my kitchen. This tray full of dried herbs – oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary, dill, parsley, chilli flakes, two varieties of basil, some seasonings, couple of varieties of pepper – most of these from Keya) and mixed the seasoning per the family’s palette, and that worked too.
By the time the vegetable mixture was made, the whole kitchen started smelling curry-like, and very appetizing. :-)

Original recipe here.

Ingredients
For the vegetable preparation-
Tomatoes , medium sized – 6, diced
Onion , medium sized – 2, diced
Garlic cloves 6
Bell pepper –1 seeded and diced
Mixture of kidney and chick-pea beans - 1 cup , soaked for atleast 6 hours and pressure cooked
Olive oil – 2 tbsp

For the cornbread-
Cornmeal or makkai ata – 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 1/2 teaspoons
Pinch of salt
Yogurt – 1 1/4 Cup
Garlic – 3 cloves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning (commercial blend, or make your own)

For the seasoning -
Equal measures (atleast 1 tbsp) of the following -
Coarsely ground black pepper
Coarsely ground white/green pepper
Dried Basil
Dried Oregano
Dried Thyme
Ground Coriander
Ground Cumin
Red chilli flakes
Chilli powder

Instructions

1. In a skillet or a pan, heat the oil and sauté the onions and bell peppers till they are cooked. Add some seasoning, approximately 2 tbsps to this so that the vegetable mixture has its own flavour.
2. Add the boiled kidney beans and the chick-peas and mix well and take the skillet off the heat.
3. Now prepare for the bread. Preheat the oven to 200 C
4. Mix the corn bread, baking powder, salt, finely chopped garlic and the seasoning. Add yogurt to this and mix well. This mixture should be spreadable.
5. In the baking dish, pour the vegetable-bean mixture and press well.
6. Now spread the bread batter on top of this evenly and bake for 30 mins, or till a tester comes out clean

My Notes

1. Since cornbread was never a favourite in the house, the next time I make it, I will add more seasoning to the cornbread batter. And also some green finely chopped green chillies, may be some roasted onions and some cilantro leaves. This is just to remove the very corn-like smell from the corn-bread
2. In an attempt to salvage the nutrients in the tomatoes, I did not drain out the water from them. This , thankfully , did not make the bread soggy but all this water settled at the bottom of the dish, along with the vegetables. So next time around, I will add some salt to the tomatoes and let the water drain by. May be I will drink the water just as it is, like how I did to the water left over from the boiled kidney beans :-)

Rice… Jamaican !

Sundays are generally my-time days. Typically I wake up early on a Sunday, tell the cook the lunch menu, wait till the maid leaves, and laze on the couch all day. Yes. All day long. I read. I watch movies or I sleep. All while I am watching the sun streaming into my living room and telling myself – this is life. Lazing around doing nothing, and not feeling guilty. Yes, the art of doing nothing.

I do this till about noon after which I have lunch, and go back to perfecting the art of doing nothing. At about 6’o clock after we , husband and I , have our chai in the balcony, one of us asks the most important question of the day – What’s for dinner? Now, after having spent the last 15 odd hours in utter laziness, its very tough for me to get my lazy ass into the kitchen and cook. Something or anything. But then, the loves-to-cook-self in me provokes guilt in me by asking when exactly I plan to cook something new if I don’t do it on the one time the cook takes off for the entire week.

At about this point, the time would be 7’o clock, and its too late for me to make anything fancy. You see, the next day being Monday and all, I need to get into the Monday zone by 8’o clock all the while watching the sitcoms I would’ve downloaded. So I quickly get into the cook-mode, go to the pantry area and make a list of all the possible ingredients, which would be next to nothing because of my late decision to cook something and get to cooking, if I find anything at all. Either this or the pizza at this awesome Over the Flame place. One of those.

Today happens to be the cooking day. By noon, I had decided I wanted to make something fancy. I wanted to eat something Jamaican. And since I wanted to be nice to the husband , I decided it would be something to do with rice. I read on some cooking site that kidney beans are an important ingredient in Jamaican rice. Some search resulted in a big box of unopened Kashmiri rajma , which were promptly soaked. Jamaican rice with kidney beans, it was going to be.

So when I had to actually get to cooking, I opened up the laptop and searched for some recipes online which would have kidney beans and rice in them, and got quite some. A mix-mash of all the recipes and cooking methods I read online added to the Indian style of making flavoured rice, I ended up with this beauty.

Oooooh yes. Beauty indeed. With a perfect combination of flavours. Coconut, thyme, some pepper for the hot palate, and caramelized onions and garlic. Perfect. Almost Indian, if we safely ignore the beans, which is why it was a hit with the husband also. I also added a dash of lime juice to the finished rice and lo, the flavours burst in the mouth as I took my first spoonful. And gastrorgasm it was, all the way! :)

Ingredients

Basmati rice – 1 cup, washed and soaked for at least 15 mins
Kashmiri Kidney beans – 1/2 cup, soaked for at least 5 hrs
Onion – 1, sliced fine
Garlic – 8 pods, chopped or crushed
Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Coconut milk – 1/2 cup + 2 tbsps
Dried thyme – 1 tbsp
Crushed pepper – 1 tsp
Salt – To taste
Boiling water – 1.5 cup
Lemon juice, for garnish, per taste

Instructions

Wash the soaked beans well, pour 2 cups of water, 2 tbsps of coconut milk and some salt to taste and pressure cook for at least 30 mins

In a thick bottomed non-stick pan, heat the oil, add the onions and garlic , some thyme , some pepper and roast them all till golden brown.

Add the washed rice and the drained the kidney beans to this, and let them roast in these spices for a bit.

Now, add the boiling water and coconut milk, rest of the thyme, pepper and salt. Close the lid of the pan and let the dish simmer for about 15-20 mins.

You can open the lid and see if the rice is cooked, which is when it is ready to be gobbled up!