Baby Brinjal and Peanut Masala Recipe

I love adding peanuts to stir-fried masala recipes like you would for variety rice recipes like lemon rice and puliogare. The usual suspect that always needs to share the limelight with peanuts is okra. Any time okra masala is made, in go a handful of peanuts.

The other day I got some gorgeous baby brinjals (new-born, even) and had to make something non-fussy and flavourful. Although vatha kozhambu was on the cards, that didn't end up happening so I adapted a quick dry masala recipe for the baby brinjal and peanuts to have a go at each other. I think they like each other. This is a no-onion, no-garlic recipe.

Baby Brinjal and Peanut Masala Recipe 
Serves: 2 

Ingredients:
8-10 baby brinjal
1/2 cup raw unsalted peanuts
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
A pinch of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
A few curry leaves
2 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
A small piece of tamarind or 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
Salt to taste

How I Made It: 

1. Cut baby brinjal into thin long pieces. I cut each small brinjal into 8 long pieces, lengthwise.

2. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the jeera and curry leaves. Once the jeera sizzles and turns a darker share of brown, add the hing and fry for 5 seconds.

3. Now throw in the cut brinjal pieces and the peanuts. Mix well until well coated in the oil. Reduce flame and cook partially covered until the brinjal is soft yet cooked and the peanuts are sufficiently roasted. This should take about 12-15 mins. Sprinkle water if necessary but don't add too much.

4. Now add the turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder and the tamarind and mix well until well combined. Cook for another 3-4 mins, add salt, and remove from fire. Serve hot with steamed rice and any curry of choice.

Baked Garlic Potato Wedges Recipe

I have made this recipe many many times, each time with some variation or the other, and it has always come out super well. Its a pity these baked potato wedges took this long to show up here but the main reason is, this is a recipe I always use to show off how awesome I am (works each time like a charm) so its almost always made when I have someone visiting.

Changed watermark to centre of picture because 2 hours after posting this recipe, the picture got copied to two different sites with no credit back to me. 

Finally, I decided enough is enough and managed two quick photos on the side table before I served them. I should say that my skills of cutting potato into wedges have greatly improved since the first time, purely out of practice. I had plans to make a video of how to get perfect potato wedges but that will have to wait for another time.

Meanwhile, make bake these! Its garlicky potato wedges that are tastier than the fried ones, uses minimum oil, is crunchy on the outside and super soft on the inside, its pure deliciousness!

There's a reason why they are the most popular recipe on Shaheen's blog.

Baked Garlic Potato Wedges
Serves 2
Adapted from Purple Foodie and Lottie + Doof

Ingredients:
2 large russet potatoes (or whatever type of potato you have locally)
8 small garlic cloves, freshly crushed
6 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp cornstarch/cornflour
1 1/2 tsp sea salt (or regular salt)
1 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp paprika or Kashmiri red chilli powder
½ tsp garlic powder (optional)

How I Made It:

0. Warm the olive oil (either in a microwave or in a small pan over the stove) and add the crushed garlic pieces. Let the olive warm up and the yummy juices of the garlic seep into it. Dont heat the oil too much, just nicely warm it. Set this oil aside to infuse well until you need it. Pre-heat oven to 200C /  390F. 

1. Bring a saucepan with 4 cups water to a boil. Scrub the potatoes clean (don't peel) and insert into the boiling water. Simmer and let the potatoes par-boil. It usually takes me 10-12 mins. When a knife is inserted it should go in without effort but make sure the potatoes don't become cooked soft or mushy. Remove from water and let it cool on a plate.

2. Cut the cooled potatoes into wedges. I cut each lengthwise into half. Then each piece gets cut into further halves and each of that half into 3 more wedges. Sorry for making you do math when all you want is some baked garlic wedges but that makes 12 wedges in all, per potato.

3. Transfer the potato wedges into a large bowl. Pour in the infused olive oil (remove the crushed garlic pieces), and add all other ingredients into the bowl. Mix gently until well combines. Its important to make sure that the corn flour coats all the pieces well. I usually do this step by hand, rubbing all the ingredients gently into the potato pieces. Crack some pepper on top again if you'd like once you are done mixing.

4. Lay the pieces on a baking tray (you can either use a baking sheet like Silpat, parchment paper, or aluminum foil to line the baking tray) without overlapping. If your baking tray is small, bake in two batches but make sure that you line the potato wedges in a single layer.

5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-40 mins until the wedges are golden brown and crisp on the outside. It may be a good idea to turn the baking tray around once during baking so that all the pieces get uniform heat, more or less. My oven has uneven heat in some corners and I am positive yours does too.

6. Once baked, serve hot with ketchup, mayonnaise, chilly sauce or Sriracha.

Note:

- I have tried many variations in this recipe like adding minced garlic directly into the potato wedges mixture, using regular oil instead of olive oil, cutting potatoes into wedges first and then par-boiling, etc. The quantities and ingredients above gave me the best result so I stick to that now. I have a small bottle of powdered garlic that I have bought specifically to make these baked garlic potato wedges. It really adds to the flavour. 

Vegan Mango Bundt Cake Recipe

I brought back 4kg of mangoes when I came back after my two-week vacation back home. 4-5 days after I got back, they all they started ripening at the same time and pretty rapidly at that. I started panicking and quickly looked up mango dessert recipes. After indulging in a good amount of mango lassi and mango milkshake, I was still left with more mangoes than we could just eat up (what a lovely lovely problem to have!) so I started looking for mango dessert recipes. Although I was tempted to make the no-bake mango cheesecake, the fact that we would both end up finishing it in 2 days deterred me.

If I had Photoshop installed in my Mac and some patience, I would have edited that grey line out of this pic.

Since I was out of eggs, I started searching for eggless mango cakes. Quite a few popped up and most had some other ingredient that I didn't have either - like sour cream or buttermilk. Then I saw this vegan mango cake recipe in Holy Cow Vegan and decided this is it!

I've always wanted to take an artistic shot like this. Since I don't use a tripod, it was tricky. Shaking the sieve with my left hand and holding camera and clicking with the right (all the while fearing that the camera would fall and the lens would break *shudder*)

Vegan Mango Bundt Cake Recipe
Serves 10
Adapted from: Holy Cow Vegan

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

1 1/2 cups ripe mango puree

1/3 cup neutral oil (vegetable, canola, etc)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

How I Made It:

1. Preheat oven to 350F / 180C.

2. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom powder well together.

3. In another bowl, whisk the mango puree, oil, sugar and vanilla until well combined. Add this to the flour mixture and fold until there are no traces of flour left. Don't overmix, just use your hand whisk or a silicon spatula to do this.

4. Transfer to a a greased bundt pan and bake in the pre-heated oven until the cake is cooked through and a skewer passed through it comes out with a few crumbs in the end. It took my cake about 40 mins to reach this stage.

Transfer to a cooling rack, dust with some icing sugar and serve warm or at room temperature with some mango puree drizzled over it if you'd like.

Notes:
- Although this cake came out just fine, I realised that I am not a fan of eggless cakes using oil as a substitute. I think the mental image that this piece of cake has oil in it turns me off. Although for this mango cake, the flavour of oil was at a minimum, I would just add 1/2 a cup of melted butter next time when I try it. Of course, then it will no longer be vegan.

- If you don't have fresh ripe mangoes in stock, just use canned mango puree. Works just as fine too.

Also, HUGE thanks to Sakshi for the super cute cake stand she gifted me while we met and roamed around the Bay Area and SFO. You the best!

Mushrooms and Fettuccine in Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce

I've been sitting with the compose box open for the past 20 mins and I can't think of a single thing to say except that this fettuccine recipe rocks. I made it for dinner one night and hadn't meant to post it on the blog but after tasting it, I had to take some pics so I can share it here.

Its adapted from the fabulous VeganYumYum.

Note: Fettuccine is traditionally pasta with egg in it so its not vegan by default. I bought vegan fettuccine from an organic store in Singapore. If you are vegan, please double-check the fettuccine you buy.

Fettuccine in Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce
Serves 2

Ingredients:
5 bundles* of (vegan) fettuccine
1 cup mushrooms, sliced thin (use any kind you like)
2 ripe tomatoes
4 cloves of minced garlic
1/4 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1 tbsp tomato paste (important)
1/3 cup water
1 tsp black pepper
Fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Boil enough water to cover the fettuccine with some salt. Once its come to boil, slowly immerse the fettuccine and cook until its soft yet firm.

2. Chop the tomatoes and blend with the tomato paste, cashews and the water. Start with 1/4 cup water and add more as you go. I didn't blend it too smooth since I wanted the texture the cashews would give.

3. Heat olive oil in a pan and add the garlic. Fry for 30 seconds until lightly browned. Then add the mushrooms and saute for 2-3 mins until they soften a bit and sweat a bit.

4. Add the blended sauce with some salt and simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water if necessary to thin it out. I added more water than original recipe when blending so I didn't need to. The cashews will make the sauce thick.

5. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and mix well until combined. Add the chopped basil and freshly cracked black pepper. Adjust salt if necessary. Serve immediately.

*The fettuccine I bought was in bundles. If you buy in packets or any other measure, please use your discretion for quantity.

All pictures taken in the homemade light box for food photography. 

Dal Panchratan / Pancharatni (Dal Curry with Five Lentil Types)

Dal or lentil curry is my go-to dish when my vegetable tray looks empty and I need a quick-fix lunch or dinner. Both TH and I love it with roti and if I am in no mood to mix, roll, and cook up rotis, I just make an easy jeera rice (please ignore the pictures in that jeera rice post. kthanx) and we are good to go.

What's better than a simple dal tadka or dal makhani? Dal Pancharatni! Panchratan means five jewels and in this particular recipe we use a mix of five different types of dal or lentils. A dal cannot get more interesting than that!

I got a bag of mixed dal from a  supermarket in Delhi when I was there last. This makes the job of making panchratan dal so much easier because otherwise you'd have to buy the dal separately. I haven't seen this in Singapore though.

Dal Panchratan / Pancharatani Recipe
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
4 tbsp chana dal (split Bengal gram)
1/4 cup tuvar (arhar) dal
1/4 cup moong dal (split green gram)
3 tbsp urad dal (whole black lentils)
1/4 cup masoor dal (split red lentil)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 large tomato, pureed
1 large onion, ground to a paste
1" piece of ginger, grated
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste

For tempering:
2 tsp ghee (or oil)
1/2 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds (optional)
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the mixed dal (lentils) with 5 cups water and the turmeric powder for 4-5 whistles or until the dal is cooked mushy. Alternately, bring the dal and water mixture to a boil and simmer on low heat until cooked. This will take between 45 mins to an hour.

2. Heat oil for tempering in a kadai (that's big enough to hold everything) and add the ingredients in the given order. Let the cumin seeds splutter and turn brown and the mustard seeds (if using) pop. Next, add the ginger and garlic and fry for a minute.

3. The onion paste and red chilli powder go in next. Cook until the paste is fried to a ligher colour (about 3-4 mins). Next, add the pureed tomato and salt. Mix well and let it simmer for another 3-4 mins.

4. Finally, add the cooked dal, mix well and simmer for 5 mins until all the flavours have blended. Check salt.

Best served hot with roti or lightly flavoured pulao / pilaf.

A 'meaty' recipe idea for vegetarians

Last month, DK chose the theme for the Free Spirit Bloggers. She wanted us to come up with vegetarian dishes that have ingredients that resemble meat, fish, etc. The idea was immensely challenging and the creative options are endless.

However, last month was a vacation one for me and my brain doesn't work for the blog when I am home in Kerala.

I couldn't let the theme go though so here's more of a recipe idea if you are cooking up brunch for a few friends and you have vegetarians in the pack. Here's a disclaimer, this will only work if you have access to Trader Joe's in your neighbourhood (sorry, non-US folks!)

When I was in the US in March, I met up with some friends for brunch at Joann's place. Since one of us was vegetarian, her menu was eggetarian-friendly. She had a pack of these Soy Chorizos from Trader Joe's. I loved it so much that I smuggled a pack back for TH and I.

All we did was to chop up some onions finely, add 1 tsp oil to a pan and fry them until transparent, add the chorizo to the onion, heat through, and serve! Its an amazing alternative for vegetarians and protein-packed to boot. Doesn't it look exactly like minced meat? I can think of some creative uses for it too, like topping for pizza, wrapped in a chapati, baked up in some pastry sheets like puffs, etc.

Try it!

This goes to Dhivs as my entry to her FSB theme for June! Check out her space to see what others contributed.

Eggless Blueberry Pancakes for 1 in 10 Minutes

I am married to a guy who doesn't like pancakes. Atleast, he thought so until I made these perfect pancakes and that kinda sorta turned him around but not completely. But I knew for a fact that if I added a fruit to the pancakes, he is not going to touch them so I devised this recipe meant for one - just me! Its also eggless because I didn't have any eggs at home. Sometimes, necessity creates masterpieces.

Well, I know these pancakes are not really the Brad Pitt of pancakes but they come together in 10 mins, and are eggless. So, stop being shallow. After all, the rustic look is in these days. The more dilapidated-looking the plywood for for your food photo base, the better. Haven't you noticed?

Btw, you do need some maple syrup to serve these up because they aren't super sweet on their own. Of course, you can add more sugar to the batter but why would you. Pour on the maple syrup (or the ones that masquerade as maple syrup, your choice). I got the real deal in US this time and its worth every gram of the weight I had to lug back.

Eggless Blueberry Pancakes Recipe
Prep + Cooking : 10 mins
Serves: 1 (about 3 medium-sized pancakes)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup plain flour
1/3 tsp baking powder
A pinch of baking soda
1 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste)
A pinch of salt
2 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp milk
1/4 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
2 tbsp butter to spread on pancakes while cooking

How I Made It:

1. Mix all ingredients together (except for the butter).

2. Heat a pan or griddle and spread some butter on it. Pour about 1/3rd of the batter into the centre of the pan and let it spread naturally. Keep the fire on low.

3. When small bubbles start to appear on the pancake surface, drop some blueberries on the pancake. I used about 5-6 per pancake. Flip over gently. Don't press down hard on the pancake, otherwise the blueberries will burst and create a mess. Handle very gently and always keep on low flame, otherwise the edges will burn like one of my pancakes did.

4. Cook for another minure or two and transfer to a plate.

Eat warm with a generous drizzle of maple syrup and be glad you don't need to share!

Falafel with Tahini Lemon Sauce Recipe

Remember the free spirit bloggers who baked with all sorts of egg substitutes last month? Well this month, I got to pick the theme and I went with savory party appetizers that can be cooked up in bulk.



Of course I picked the theme fully intending to deep-fry, why do you ask? My initial idea was to go with cocktail samosas but had to ditch it for falafel because the shaping and filling of cocktail samosas is not exactly quick and this had to be a recipe that can easily be multiplied, leaving you time to make an effort to look good for your party.



The Egyptian version of falafel is flatter,bigger, and greener because of the use of Lima beans. I know because I had that in Egypt. Sorry for showing off.



My version however, is the kind you would get in your local Middle Eastern restaurant. Its flavourful, easy to make, and absolutely delicious, not to mention photogenic.

Falafel Recipe
Makes 16 small-ish falafels (easily doubles or triples)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry chickpeas, soaked overnight or atleast 10 hours (will be about 1 cup when soaked through)
1 tsp cumin seeds / jeera
1/2 tsp coriander powder / dhania
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp minced or crushed garlic (about 4-5 cloves)
One bunch fresh coriander leaves / cilantro, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped fine
1-2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2-3 tbsp plain flour (or crumbs from 2 slices of stale bread)
Salt to taste

Oil to deep fry

How I Made It:

1. Drain the soaked chickpeas on kitchen towels or leave them in a colander with a suspended base. Its important to drain out as much moisture as possible.

2. Transfer the chickpeas with rest of the ingredients to a food processor or mixer jar and grind until smooth and dry. You should be able to shape them easily into small discs. If the mixture is too moist or sticky at this stage, which it shouldn't be, add more flour but don't be liberal.

3. Shape into small discs and deep fry on medium heat until dark brown on both sides. Make sure you regulate the flame, otherwise the outside will get burned or cooked too soon and the inside will be raw.

4. Drain on kitchen towels and serve with tahini lemon sauce (recipe below).

Tahini Lemon Sauce Recipe

I didn't use any particular recipe or measurement for this. I thought of making hummus to go with with the falafel but didn't remember to soak enough chickpeas. I had fresh tahini that my ex-boss, brought from his home town Lebanon so it would've been a sin not to use it in some way. Thank you Charif!

Here's what I did to make the sauce:

Mix 3 tbsp of tahini, 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, a pinch of paprika (or maybe pepper?), salt to taste and enough water to make a smooth paste. You can add some roasted garlic pieces to this but I didn't have the patience time patience.

Dip the falafels in and enjoy.

Special thanks to Joann for the super cute sauce bowls she gave me when I 

went brunching to her place!

Notes:

- canned and drained chickpeas should work as well but I read in many places that freshly soaked ones taste better. I have used canned chickpeas for hummus and liked it just fine so it should definitely work for falafels too

- if you plan to make this for a party, grind the ingredients and leave it in the fridge. You can take it out in advance the next day, shape up quickly (doesn't take more than 4 seconds per falafel, I timed myself) and fry up in batches.

- falafels taste just fine when gone cold too and the sauce can hold its own until a party winds down too. Just make sure you add water if the sauce thickens up on you.

Here's what the other Free Spirit Bloggers cooked up for this month's theme!

DK
Lataji
Siri
Mads
Deepti
Anu

Crispy Fried Karela / Bitter Gourd / Pavakka Recipe

I can't believe I am posting a bitter gourd recipe. TH and I avoid the vegetable like a plague and although those small, very green, very bitter variety is available here in Singapore, I hardly ever give it a second glance. In Kerala, bitter gourd, or pavakka, is fatter, a very light green, and significantly less bitter than the darker green ones we see everywhere else.

But I've never seen bitter gourd like this before. It was white and very chubby. These are from Taiwan and they were so cute that I had to pick them up, even if its pavakka and TH was gasping at the idea!

I used the same strategy on this bitter gourd that I do on another vegetable that we don't like much - okra. I fried it. It was delicious and for once I didn't mind the bitterness, although TH still didn't have more than one spoon.

Crispy Fried Bitter Gourd
Serves 2
Adapted from the Colocasia Fry Recipe

Ingredients:
1 medium-sized bitter gourd, cut into thin 2" pieces
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 tbsp rice flour
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
A generous pinch of hing/asafoetida/perungayam
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp pepper powder
Oil for deep frying

How I Made It:

1. Rub salt into the cut bitter gourd pieces and set aside for an hour. Once the hour is up, squeeze all moisture from the bitter gourd pieces and transfer to another bowl.

2. Add rest of the ingredients to the pieces and stir well to dredge. There should be enough rice flour to coat all the pieces well (not too thickly) so if you feel you need more, adjust the quantity. The initial salt you added should be enough but add more to taste if you feel you require it.

3. Let the dredged bitter gourd pieces rest for 15 mins or so while you heat up the oil to deep fry. Fry in batches until dark brown and cooked through. Drain on kitchen towels. Its important that you make sure the pieces are thin, otherwise the inside won't be cooked.

Serve hot with rice, rasam, and vadaam.

Veg Dalia (Broken Wheat) Upma Recipe

This is one of those recipes I can't believe I haven't posted yet. Its true that I mostly make it for dinner and I do prefer dalia upma over rava upma anyday!

This is one of those healthy dishes that don't taste healthy, atleast to me. Its delicious piping hot with some steaming sambar and chutney. I didn't grow up eating this but I definitely make sure we have this for dinner atleast once every 2 weeks. Its perfect for weeknights if you use frozen cut vegetables to jazz it up. 

Vegetable Dalia (Broken Wheat) Upma Recipe

Source: Amma

Total cooking time: 25-30 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1.5 cups broken wheat or dalia

3 cups water

1 tbsp oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup mixed vegetables (I use frozen peas, corn, carrots and French beans)

1 tsp powdered ginger or 1/2" grated fresh ginger

2-3 green chillies

Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the onions and green chillies and saute until the onions turn transparent (about 2-3 mins). 

2. Add the ginger powder or grated ginger, whichever you are using, and fry for another 20 seconds. Next, add the vegetables and 3 cups water. Bring to boil and cook closed until the vegetables are soft (about 5-6 mins). 

3. Add salt and the broken wheat in a slow trickle, stirring as you do this. Once you have added all the broken wheat, there should be enough water to cover it completely. If not, add more. Stir frequently and cook until all the water has been absorbed and the upma comes together, soft and fluffy. Pop some of the wheat in your mouth to see if its soft. If not, add more water and keep stirring until its fully done. Also adjust salt at this stage. 

Serve hot with sambar and/or chutney. 

Stir-Fried Raw Papaya / Kaplanga Mezhukkupuratti Recipe

Amma makes a mean raw papaya mezhukkupuratti. We often use raw papaya grown in our frontyard for this but since I live in the land of raw papaya salads, its not hard to find it here in vegetables stores. 

Look! Smoke! I love the effect. It wasn't super intense because the stir-fry had spent some time on the table while I fixed the lens, etc. If its fresh out of the stove, the effect will be nicer!

Stir-Fried Raw Papaya / Kaplanga Mezhukkupuratti Recipe

Serves: 2

Source: Amma

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized raw papaya

A generous pinch of turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 tbsp (coconut) oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

6 shallots, crushed

1/2 tsp minced garlic

3 dry red chillies, broken into halves

A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Peel the papaya and cut into thin pieces. Boil in sufficient water along with turmeric and salt until the pieces are soft. Ideally, add about 1 cup water and add more if needed. This is better than having to drain excess water. 

2. Heat the oil in a pan and add all ingredients listed below oil. When the mustard seeds begin to pop and the shallots and garlic give out a nice flavour, add the cooked papaya. Stir-fry for another 5-6 mins and remove from fire. 

Serve hot with rice and gravy of choice. 

This recipe goes to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Ria this month. 

Veg Thai Tom Kha Gai Soup Recipe

Thai recipes are not supposed to be vegetarian. They like their seafood and their meat, and create magic with it. 

Since some of us like to be vegetarian and eat Thai food, we need vegetarians versions of Thai recipes. Someone's got to do it! 

While I may not be the first, this is an awesome vegetarian Tom Kha recipe. Tom Kha is my favourite Thai soup and I usually order the one with chicken and mushrooms. However, my homemade vegetarian version has tofu and no mushrooms (because I was serving this to someone who doesn't eat mushrooms either!). 

In Singapore, we get something called a Tom Yam set on most supermarkets that has all the essential ingredients to make vegetarian Tom Kha soup, namely, galangal, lemongrass, thai chillies, kaffir lime leaves, lemon, and shallots. 

Galangal is not optional and ginger is a very poor substitute. Galangal tastes nothing like ginger, although they look very similar. 

Tom Kha soup is supposed to be watery, not thick, so water is a reasonably good base for the soup. However, if you have the patience to make your own vegetable stock or have access to good vegetarian stock cubes, please use that for added flavour. 

Vegetarian Thai Tom Kha Gai Soup

Serves 2 generously

Ingredients:

1.5 cups thick coconut milk

1 cup water / vegetable stock

2 stalks of lemongrass

2-3 1" pieces of galangal

5-6 kaffir lime leaves

4 shallots

1 block of soft tofu cut into 1" cubes

12 button mushrooms, quartered (or any other variety you like)

4-5 Thai chilli padi / serrano chillies

1 tsp sugar

1 lime

Fresh coriander leaves / cilantro to garnish

Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Discard the bottom 2 inches of the lemongrass. Discard the top woody part and use the middle portion (about 8" of it) for the soup. Cut this part into small circles and set aside.

2. Roughly chop the galangal, chillies, and shallots. Tear the limes leaves into two.

3. Bring water or vegetable stock to a boil and lower fire to a simmer. Add the galangal, lemongrass, shallots, chillies, sugar, and lime leaves. Keep on simmer for 5-7 minutes.

4. Add the coconut milk and the tofu and mushrooms with some salt. Keep on simmer for another 7-10 minutes until the mushrooms are soft.

5. Remove from fire. Squeeze in fresh lime starting with half a lime and then increasing the quantity as you like. Garnish with roughly torn coriander leaves / cilantro. Serve hot.

The flavour should be spicy, sour, and sweet from the coconut milk and added sugar. Adjust the ratios according to personal taste. 

Chow Chow Kootu Recipe

No kootu I've ever made has looked this pretty. The mom-in-law made this the day after they landed in Singapore earlier last month. Thank God I had some chow chow languishing in the fridge. Sometimes, letting vegetables stay in there results in good things - like this kootu. 

 Chow Chow Kootu

Ingredients

• 1 chow chow cut into small cubes
• 1/2 cup channa dal / Bengal gram / kadala paruppu
• 
  
• Grind Together:
• 1/2 cup grated coconut
• A pinch of turmeric
• 1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 green chilli (optional)
• Salt to taste
• 
  
• For Tempering:
• 2 tsp (coconut) oil
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp urad dal (optional)
• A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
• A few curry leaves

Instructions

1. Wash the Bengal gram and add to the cut, cleaned chow chow. Add 4 cups water and cook on a low open flame until the chow chow is cooked soft and the Bengal gram is cooked yet firm (about 15-20 mins). Add salt and turmeric.
2. Grind the ingredients in the list well with a bit of added water and add to the cooked chow chow mixture. Mix well and simmer until all extra water is absorbed and the mixture takes a thick consistency.
3. Heat oil for tempering and add ingredients in the order given. Once the mustard seeds pop and the urad dal turns brown, dunk everything into the kootu mixture and mix well. Adjust salt. Serve hot with rice and kozhambu of choice.

Yield: Serves 4
Prep Time: 00:10
Cook time: 00:30

Notes: 

- If the kootu is too watery even after simmering for a while, mix 1 tsp rice flour with some water and add to the mixture. Bring to light boil and the mixture should get thicker. 

- Another alternative is to drain the water once the chow chow and channa dal have cooked. I don't prefer this method too much because of the loss of nutrients through the water. 

Simple Indian Potato / Aloo Roast Recipe

Confession: The Husband doesn't cook often or even at all, but he makes the best basic potato roast ever. I didn't mention this to him the first few times he made this but when I once asked him what he adds to it, he was like "are you asking me for my secret recipe so you can put it in your blog??" Ahem. Maybe.

So here it is. Its simple of course, the man doesn't believe in complicating food, especially when he is cooking! But you will love this. It gets done in 12-15 mins and is such a comfort food that when I was down with fever last month, TH made this and rasam for me after he got back from work! Ah.. yum.

Basic Indian Potato Roast Recipe

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

2 medium-sized russet potatoes

1 medium-sized onion

1/4 tsp mustard seeds/kaduku

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp coriander powder/malli podi/dhania podi

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp or 2 flakes minced garlic 

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

How its made:

1. Cut the potatoes into small cubes. Chop the onions into similar-sized pieces as the potato. 

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the chopped onions and saute until lightly browned. 

3. Add the coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder and garlic and fry for a minute. Add the potatoes, mix well and sprinkle some water. 

4. Cook partially closed until the potatoes are cooked and soft. Add salt. Make sure you mix every 2-3 mins to distribute the heat and avoid the potatoes from burning from the bottom. 

Serve hot with steamed rice and rasam. 

My Notes:

1. TH doesn't like jeera much so he doesn't add it. If you feel the recipe is incomplete without it, then you should add them in. 

2. I've tried squeezing half a lemon over this when its still hot but didn't like the taste much. It still rocks the plain way that TH makes it.