Huli Pudi

When do cooks back home feel they have come of age and are no longer amateurs in the kitchen? My answer would be when you make pickles and pudis. I few weeks back I ran out of my stash of Huli Pudi that my MIL brought last summer. I had been conserving it for quite some time but I had to see the bottom of the bottle one fine day. So I rolled up my sleeves and got to do what was needed. I had the recipe from my grandmother who makes the best in the world Huli Pudi. So I set out to make Huli Pudi for the first time.
It was a long labour intensive process. Imagine with food processors we feel it is time and labour intensive, if only I was born in the previous century I did be pounding the wicked spices as it blew into my lungs! huff huff. I know that is how my grandmother started making it. Some where later in her life that those flour mills started to pop up and she got the wicked spices ground at those noisy mills.
This time my pudi turned out sort of good, not as half as good as my grandmother, not as good as my mother or MIL would make but still I prefer this over the silly stuff sold in Indian stores labeled 'Sambar Powder'.

Here we go,

Chillies  1/2 kg
Dhania 1/2 kg
Jeera 360 grams
Pepper 60 grams
Turmeric 60 grams
Hing 60 grams
Channa Dal 120 grams
Uddina Bele 120 grams
Fenugreek seeds 120 grams
Mustard seeds 120 grams
Curry leaves 2 giant bunches (washed and dried)
Cinnamon 50 grams
Marati Moggu 3-4
Jaggery 60 grams
Salt a generous fist full

Method:

• Measure out all the spices carefully and keep it handy. A choice of chillis can be used. I prefer 3/4 Byadagi  and 1/4 Guntur or the spicy varieties because Sunny boy still prefers milder food. My grandmother and mother do  1:1 for Byadagi:Guntur.
• Open windows if any all over the house. Turn on the exhaust at full speed.
• Set a heavy kadai on medium flame. One the kadai is hot, start toasting the Dhania. When the Dhania is toasted and is fragrant, remove into a big wide platter and allow it to cool.
• Mean time, start toasting the other spices one at a time starting with the spice after Dhania up until curry leaves.
• Once the curry leaves are done start toasting the chillies. This one is the wickedest of all. It will make us cough and gasp for breath. Toast them till they change color.
• Remove the chillies to the same platter. Allow it to cool.
• Once cold throw in the Jaggary and salt. Grind the spice mixture in a coffee grinder till fine but still has some texture left.
• Combine the ground spices in the large platter and allow it to cool slightly. Mix the spice blend using a dry spatula. 
• Once the spices are cool, fill it in bottles and use as required.

Thanks Chitz and Nagashree  for thinking of me

1. If you were allowed to change something about yourselves, what would that be? :I would definitely be more organized and be detail oriented. 
2. Your favorite time pass other than cooking :Reading
3. According to you which is most important in a blog - presentation, recipe or pictures? : Well I did say the story
4. Your ultimate dream: Win a lottery perhaps?
5. Three qualities you would love to see in others: Patience, kindness and reason
6. One prank that you played on someone: write anonymous love letter to a friend and giggle when she did show it to us.
7. Your favorite vacation spot: erstwhile Kovalam beach
8. Cooking according to you is: stress buster
9. Who influences you the most? Like you would always listen to what this person says: my mom
10. Your favorite dessert: Rasgolla
11. One habit that you cannot change for life: over-eating when I like something.

Here are a set of questions Nagashree sent me.

1. What was your reaction when you received the Liebster award? :Wow 
2. What do you most look forward to with your blogging? Comments
3. What is your all time favorite ingredient or spice in cooking? Ghee
4. Do you always give credit to a recipe source or blogger when you use one? yes
5. What are your hobbies outside of food blogging? reading and eating
6. What appeals to you most in other food blogs (writing style, blog layout and visual appeal, pictures, recipes and anything else)? story and the pictures
7. How has blogging changed your life? Make new friends with the same feathers
8. How do you feel about plagiarism in food blogs? uh! despicable , come on gals it is supposed to be a creative outlet.
9. Who is the one person that influenced you most in starting your blog? LG
10. Who is your all time favorite cook/chef and why? Jacques Pepin, his philosophy is waste not want not. Love it.
11. What is cooking currently in your kitchen?Mixed vegetables from left over vegetables.

Spring Break Brownie

It is time for spring break in this corner of the world. Sunny boy too enjoyed a sort of spring break last week. We had a wonderful time. We hit a milestone that I have been looking forward for a long time. We baked together for the first time. No prize for guessing that we did a brownie. Sunny boy helped me measure out everything. He stirred the mixture and of course he licked my beaters clean.
I have always had him in my kitchen as I cooked. Long before he was 15 months old he knew the names of the vegetables and ingredients.  This very morning he was playing with his father and then all of a sudden he said, "Appa, will you please move away a bit?" Honey was perplexed and asked him why. Sunny boy said, "I am preparing Oggarane and it will splatter all over you". It make my heart puff up in joy. Like me my son. I am so very looking forward to having him in the kitchen and of course cook with him. I certainly hope that when he grows up, he will put together healthy from the scratch meals for his family in which ever part of the world he did be.

The brownie we put together was gone before I could snap a few pictures. But here is the journey which was way better than the destination. Sunny boy mixing batter. The end product looked like it was over mixed. The brownie had a cake like texture to it because of the over mixing. But  Sunny boy liked it anyway.Between me and him, we polished half the 8" we made that day.

After mixing the batter and popping it into the oven, Sunny boy got to lick the beaters.By the way, licking is supposed to be very bad etiquette back home. That is a strict no no. My grand mother would be livid if she gets to see this. Any way grand mother is  far away from my kitchen and will probably not eat any thing from my kitchen any way.

In short, we had a great time! I cannot believe that my little sunny baby is old enough to cook with me.

Tondekayi Fry

After three short years my laptop battery decided to die on me stalling my life as a blogger for weeks. Just happened to receive my shipment and guess what the first thing on my mind, write up a post. I have a bunch of photographs from the previous weeks that needs to be done and sent to blogger heaven!


Here is the first one. Tondekayi or the Tindora /Ivy goud is one of my favorite vegetables. It makes a wonderful Huli, Palya and also Gojju. This one is a fry. In my lexicon, that means a more elaborate dish than a Palya but less so than a Gojju. Mom makes a delicious version but that one seems to take forever and also she uses like a cup of oil for every kilo of the vegetable which is a little too much even by my standard. But sure enough it is absolutely tastey. This version is my modified version with much less oil almost the bang taste wise.

We will need,

Ivy Gourd/Tondekayi/ Tindora 2 lbs (cleaned slit into four length wise, ends discarded)
Peanut oil 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Hing a dash
Curry leaves a handful
Turmeric a generous pinch
Green chillies 4-5 chopped
Dhania powder 1.5 tsp
Jeera powder 1 tsp
Jaggery  about a tsp crushed
Amchoor powder 1.5 tsp
Kopra 1/4 cup (coarsely powdered)
Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat peanut oil in a non-stick wide bottom skillet. 
• Throw in the mustard, Jeera, Hing and curry leaves. Once they stop sizzling, throw in the Ivy Gourd. Cover and cook for about 7-10 minutes till they are every so slightly tender. 
• Throw in all the spice powders, stir well cover and cook till three fourth cooked. It took me about 10 minutes on very low heat. 
• Once the Ivy gourds are tender-crisp, throw in the Kopra, adjust salt and remove from heat immediately. 
• Serve hot with hot rice and a little ghee. Goes well with Rotis as well.

Pinto Beans Toge

Winter is such a sad time for a vegetable lover like me. There are very few great looking produce in the super markets. So this is the time of the year that I end up buying all kinds of beans and lentils. This past week I got a big bag of Pinto beans. They looked good and they ended up in my Toge. The toge was rich and creamy and very rich even though there was hardly any added fat.
We ate this with Chapatis. I can imagine this particular dish going very well with rice.

We will need,

Pinto Beans 1 cup
Turmeric a pinch
Hing a generous dash
Coconut oil / peanut oil 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Onions 1 large
Tomatoes 2 medium
Garlic 2 cloves
Dhania powder 2 tsp
Red chilli powder 1 tsp (more if preferred spicy)
Jeera Powder 2 tsp
Green chillies 2 
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

•  Pick and clean the pinto beans. Wash it in multiple changes of water. Soak it in a wide mouth bowl with  plenty of water overnight. 
• Drain the pinto beans place it in a pressure cooker along with 2 cups of water, hing and turmeric. Cook till the beans are soft. (As my mom tells me, its  belly should be soft enough to squeeze). Set it aside.
• Heat oil in a thick bottom pot. Throw in the mustard seeds. 
• Once the seeds splutter, throw in the onions. Cook till the onions are deep brown in colour. Keep stirring making sure they do not burn.
• Once the onions are brown, throw in the garlic and cook for a minute or so just to get the garlic warmed up a bit. 
• Throw in all the powders. Stir the mixture and cook for a few minutes till the spices are aromatic. 
• Throw in the tomatoes along with all their juices. Pick up the masala and onion bits from the bottom of the pot. 
• Add a little water if the spices are burning. Cook till the tomatoes are mushy and the spices have come together. 
• Pour the beans along with the water into the Masala. Bring it to a boil and simmer for a few minutes.
• Adjust salt and lemon. Throw the green chillies slit length wise. Cover and remove from heat. Serve warm with rice or roti.

Mushroomy Onion Soup

I had heard so much about the french onion soup. I had to try it. Long long ago, when I landed a job, I took Honey out for a treat to a local restaurant. I saw the soup on the menu and was very excited about trying it. I asked the waitress if the soup contained meat. She said no. I was ecstatic. I ordered the soup ate it and enjoyed it. As a new bee to this country and to the culture, I did no know the difference between 'something containing meat' and something being 'vegetarian'. It did hit me like a tonne of bricks watching a cookery show where they called for beef stock in their french onion soup. The next time we were in the same restaurant I asked the waitress the right question. No it was not vegetarian. I did not want to know what was in there. It was sad. So if you are new to the States and what to know if the food is vegetarian, shoot the straight question. Never try to state a complicated problem the way I did.
The was my only experience with the soup. But I did enjoy the soup. I had been thinking of making my own version of the soup. This time I did and loved it. It is quite simple to substitute chicken stock/beef stock call for in most recipes. Just use Porcini/ dried shiitake mushrooms. Soak them and use the soaking liquid as a substitute to stock. Throw in a few bay leaves, cloves and a piece of cinnamon. The broth will be as flavorful as any meat based stock. I routinely use this method and get excellent results all the time. The Shiitake mushrooms does smell sort of fishy but I am ok with it. I did rather do the fishy mushroom than an over processed junk called bouillon/ stock cubes. Just a look at the ingredient list of the cubes is good enough to put me off for the rest of my life. No thanks Nestle, I am good on my own.

We will need,

Mushrooms 1/2 lb chopped
Onions 2 large chopped
Shiitake mushrooms 5-6 caps soaked in hot water
Kashmiri chilli (dried)-1
Butter 1 tbsp
Olive oil 1 tbsp
Garlic 2 cloves
Soy sauce to taste
Rice vinegar/ lemon juice to taste
Ginger root 1/2"
Mint for garnish.

Method:

• Heat the butter and oil in a thick bottom pot. Throw in the chopped  onion. Cook the onions till the onions are deep brown in colour. Keep stirring making sure that the onions do not burn. It took me about 30 minutes to get there.
• Push the onions to the side and throw the chopped garlic. Cook for a quick minute.
• Throw in the chopped mushrooms , the soaking liquid. 
• Chop the shiitake mushroom and throw them into the pot as well.
• Puncture the Kashmiri chilli and throw it  into the soup pot. Bring it to a boil.
• Simmer and cook till the mushrooms are tender and the soup has come together.
• Adjust the soy sauce and vinegar.
• Garnish with fresh slivers of ginger and chopped mint. Serve warm with some crusty bread or with cheese toasts.

Spicy Orange Baby Bok Choy

Sunny boy wants to be a chef these days. He is in the kitchen all the time, trying his little hands in making one pretend dish after another. After endless chocolate, strawberry pancakes, Doses and Paddus, he finally graduated into a dish of his own. He said he was making 'strawberry chicken and ......may be banana chicken'. I am like wow! He will probably grow into a foodie like me. That reminded me of orange in savory foods and I had to try it. Soon enough, I got a box of baby bok choy. Any way there are not many options during this time of the year, except for greens, leeks and mushrooms. So Bok Choy it was in a sort of orange glaze. I make a generous batch of this glaze and enjoyed it over cheese toast, over shredded Romain and will be trying it on a lot of other things as well. It is a super yummy versatile glaze/ chutney.

We will need,

Baby Bok Choy 1 lb
Peanut oil 1 tbsp
Garlic cloves 2 
Ginger 1/2"
Oranges 2
Soy sauce 2 tsp
Chilli flakes 1 generous pinch
Sugar scant tsp
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

• Sqeeze the juice from and orange, place it in a thick bottom sauce pan. Heat and reduce the juice to half.
• Stir in the soy sauce, sugar and chilli flakes. Cook it down till it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and refrigerate it in a air tight bottle.
• Trim and clean the Bok Choy. Separate the white parts and the green parts.
• Heat peanut oil. Throw in the garlic and ginger. Once the garlic is golden, throw in the white part of the Bok Choy. Saute it till it softened a bit. 
• Now throw in the green parts and cover and cook just for a couple of minutes till the greens slightly wilt. 
• Remove it to a serving platter. Drizzle the orange glaze, salt and lemon juice and serve immediately.

Lentil and Spinach Soup

They say Indian Agriculture is a gamble with the weather gods. My blogging shares a similar equation with the weather gods.  If the weather is bright and sunny, I get a chance to get some decent photographs. If I have decent photographs in my folder, I force myself to weave a story around it. Once I have a story ready, I can have the post up and running in no time. But the past few weeks, I have been at the loosing end and the weather gods have been brutal. It was one cloudy day after another and then another and it stretched into weeks. I tried my best to cox my camera to click some decent photos, but the camera could do just as much and gave me sub-par output. I kept deleting picture after picture and the entire fortnight went without a decent picture. Today the sun god was merciful enough peek through the clouds just long enough for me to get a few pictures. So here it is, a lentil soup.
I love lentils. Right now I am also loving soups. The mercury plunged long and deep enough to freeze my bones that even a spring like day a couple of days ago could not thaw it. So I am attempting to thaw my frozen bones with bowls full of spicy soups. Sometimes it does help.
I call this one a soup because we ended up eating it out of a bowl. I can equally enjoy the soup in the form of a Saaru, generously poured over hot rice with may be a dash of ghee. Serve it which ever way you like.

We will need,

Lentils / Sabuth Masoor dal  1/2 cup
Turmeric a generous pinch
Hing a generous pinch

Kashmir chillies 2

Garlic 2 cloves
Onion 1 small
Spinach 1 lb chopped
Ghee 2 tbsp
Jeera 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

• Boil about 1/4 cup of water, throw in the chillies and cover it for a few minutes.
• Pick and wash the lentils in multiple changes of water. Combine it with 2 cups of water, hing and turmeric in a pressure cooker and cook the dal till soft. Remove from heat and set it aside.
• Skin the onions, stick it to a fork and hold it on to the stove flame till the onion develops blisters and is slightly charred. Remove from heat.
• Now combine the soaking chillies, the soaking liquid, garlic and the charred onions in a blender and pulse till smooth.
• Heat ghee in a pot. Throw in the Jeera. Once the Jeera sizzles, gently pour the chilli paste. The mixture will splatter and got to be careful with this one. Cook till the spices are fragrant, about 3-4 minutes.
• Pour the cooked dal and the cooking liquid into the spice mixture and bring it to a quick boil.
• Once it boils, reduce heat and fold in the spinach. Give it a few minutes. Adjust salt and lemon juice. Remove from heat. Serve hot like a soup or over a bowl of rice.

I would have loved the spinach to retain the vibrant green, indeed it was yesterday but sitting in the refrigerator overnight the spinach has become dull. Thanks to the weather gods. Had the sun made an appearance yesterday, the photograph would have been a lot more vibrant.  I loose the gamble once again. 

Eggplant Salad / Badanekayi Salad

Eggplant aka Brinjal aka Aubergines, are versatile vegetables. They are great in curries, steamed, fried, grilled, in pickles, pizzas, with rice ....the list goes on. I love them. I got to pile them onto my cart every time I look at them in the super market. It reminds me of a friend who I happened to meet in the supermarket, back during my university days. I was as usual piling on more eggplants. This friend smiled at me looking at all the eggplants in my basket and said earnestly, 'Anybody can cook with these many eggplants and not go wrong'. I smiled and nodded. Another friend who was with me was almost giggling. She hated eggplants and could horribly go wrong with them. We looked at each other and reminded ourselves of the dangers of blanket statements.

Today, I have some eggplant salad. Well I would say this is just a twist on good old Badanekayi Gojju . It is just jazzed up a bit and served in a fancy way.

We will need,

Eggplant 1 (the giants one)
Peanut oil 2 tsp (divided)
Peanuts 3 tbsp (about a handful)
Green chillies 2-3 (chopped)
Grape tomatoes 4-5 chopped
Ginger 1" (grated)
Soy sauce 1-2 tsp
Juice of one lemon
Fresh Coriander  a handful (chopped)
Salt

To serve,
Romaine lettuce 1

Method:

• Slice the eggplants into 1/4" discs.  Heat a skillet with about 1/2 tsp of oil. Saute the eggplant slices, if necessary in batches. Remove once it is soft.
• In a separate  skillet, toast the peanuts and remove from heat once fragrant. Set it aside to cool.
• In a bowl, mix the green chillies, ginger, soy sauce, lemon juice, grape tomatoes and fresh coriander.
• Chop the cooled eggplants into bite size pieces. Crush the cooled peanuts.
• Stir the eggplants, the green chillies mixture and peanuts. Check taste and adjust salt-lemon juice. Sit this mixture for a few hours.
• Clean the lettuce and shred the into large pieces. 
• Place the lettuce on serving platter and fill the lettuce with spoonfuls of eggplant mixture. Serve immediately.

Caramel Custard

My favorite movie of all times is perhaps 'You've Got Mail'. I love books, I love love stories, I love Tom Hanks, I love internet and there it is. My favorite movie. I watch it when ever I feel like watching a movie but cannot decide on one. Fair enough! right. Well what has a caramel custard to do with an old movie... This time it is a spiced rum called Brinley, which reminds me of Tom Hanks pet dog in the movie - Brinkley. I love the way Tom Hanks describes his dogs eating bagel bits off the street sidewalks!

Caramel custard is one of the dishes I learned to make back when my father was posted in Punjab. This is one of the many dished our erstwhile landlady taught me. She was a petite women, in her sixties, the widow of an army Brigadier. She lived alone and hardly cooked much for herself. But then she offer to teach me the nuances of Punjabi cooking. I fell in love with Punjabi cuisine right then and there. Caramel custard is certainly not Punjabi but very very European. It did assume some Indian characters like cardamon, and of course cooking in a pressure cooker. But these days I like to bake it. The baked version is a lot more creamy than the pressure cooked version. It has been a long time that I cooked one in the pressure cooker.  Will give it a shot sometime.

This is definitely not the best photograph. This version had to endure a very warm journey 50 mile journey. Will do one for a picture sometime later.

We will need,
(Serves 4)
For the caramel custard:

Heavy cream 2 cups
Eggs 4
Vanilla 1 tbsp
Lemon zest 1tsp
Sugar 1/3 cup (upto 1/2 cup if preferred sweet)

For the Sauce
Sugar 3/4 cup
Brinley spiced rum 2-3 tbsp (or more if preferred)
Lemon juice 1 tbsp

Method:

• Pre heat oven to 350.
• Heat about a third of the sugar mentioned for the sauce with about 1/4 cup of water. Cook till the sugar is golden and caramelized. 
• Pour the prepared caramel onto the bottom of a souffle dish. Spread the caramel evenly to coat the bottom completely. Set it aside.
• In a heavy bottom pot, heat the cream and the sugar. Once the cream is very hot, turn the heat off. 
• Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat them lightly. Temper the eggs with a spoonful of the hot cream. Stir well. Temper the eggs again with another spoonful of hot cream and stir well. Repeat till all the cream is used up. Pour this mixture through a sieve.
• Stir in the vanilla and the lemon zest. 
• Pour the cream mixture into the caramelled souffle dish. Place the souffle dish in a tray and pop it into the oven. Pour hot water into the tray. Bake till the caramel is set. It tool me about 40 minutes.  
• Remove and cool on the counter and refrigerate for a few hours before serving with the spiced rum sauce.
• To make the sauce, place the remaning sugar and about 1/2 cup of water in the same pot used to prepare the caramel and cook. Reduce the syrup to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Stir in the flavorings and bring it to room temperature.
• Serve the sauce on top of the chilled custard.

Palak Panner

I love Palak Panner, Saag Panner all those green dishes with Panner in it.  Unlike the buttery greasy versions, Palak Panner can be made with very less fat but taste heavenly. I make this dish quite a few ways but this is the simplest version,  my erstwhile land lady taught me decades ago. This was probably the first dish I learned to cook. At first I used to find it daunting,  getting the Palak to be vibrant green, not the sloppy,gloomy brownish mush it turns into if overcooked. But not I can dish it out in my sleep. These days I make it quite often because it is healthy and Sunny boy refuses most vegetables but is ok with this one. Also dishing out this one for parties is easy as this one scales up easily. Besides everyone loves Palak Panner.
The temperatures being what they are right now, it is the perfect time to ladle bowl fulls of Palak Panner and mop it up with warm tandoori rotis! Add a dollop of cultured butter and it is a piece of heaven on dinner table.  Tandoori roti is for another day. For now it is Palak Panner.

We will need,  (This recipe makes a ton. Good for Potlucks and dinner parties. I would say it serves at least 8-10)

Spinach (tender ones preferred 2.5 lbs
Panner 1 lb
Peanut oil 2 tsp (optional)
Green chillies 6-8 (adjust according to taste)
Onion 1 large
Garlic 4-5 cloves
Ginger 1.5" piece
Ghee 2 tbsp
Jeera 1/2 tsp
Dhania powder 2 tsp

Jeera Powder 2 tsp
Black pepper powder 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala 1/2 tsp (yes that is a lot)
Fresh cream up to 1/4 cup (optional)
Salt to taste
Lemon juice to taste

Method:

• Wash the Spinach and zap it in microwave, high for 3-4 minutes till the greens are wilted but still vibrant green. Remove from the microwave, allow it to slightly cool down and grind it into a puree.
• It using ready made Panner, heat the oil in a heavy skillet and fry the Panner till golden in colour on all sides. If using home made Panner, this step can be skipped. The deal is Panner that has been sitting on the store shelf is rather sad tasting but once it is fried, it makes it little lively. Fresh Panner is delicate and needs nothing but tossing right at the end.
• Combine the onions, chillies, garlic and ginger in a blender and puree it adding a little water if necessary. 
• Heat the ghee in a thick bottom pot. Throw in the jeera. Once it stops spluttering, throw in the onion paste and the dhania-jeera powder.Cook till the paste smells fragrant, about 15 minutes. Add water periodically and make sure the mixture does not burn.
• Once the mixture is fragrant, throw in the Palak puree. Reduce heat and bring it up to a gentle boil. 
• Fold in the Panner and Garam Masala. Adjust salt  and lemon juice. 
• Stir in the cream if using. Milk can be substituted for cream as well and I do most of time. 
• Remove from heat and serve hot with tandoori rotis. This dish freezes well (save the cream/ milk, and add it after reheating) and can be frozen for months. It can also be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave.

Happy Sankranti

Wishing everyone a very happy Sankranti. Love this celebration of a bountiful harvest. Love the Ellu Bella, sugarcane, Sakkare acchu and of course the riot of colours on cattle back in Mysore. Like a true harvest festival, Sankranti is actually a celebration of peasants and his way of life. Cattles being a major asset along with land in peasant households,  occupies the center stage this time of the year. After a good meal of assorted pongals, boiled sweet-potatoes, Avarekayi and peanuts, evenings are the time to decorate and celebrate the cattle of the household. They are adorned with little bells, tiaras and other pieces of jewelry.
As a little girl I would go out to all our neighbors and exchange Ellu-Bella etc. Love the celebration and festivities. Now it is all about the next generation, unfortunately little guys are not supposed to do much here and my Sunny boy did rather play than go with other girls to exchange Ellu-bella. But the spirits are high and Happy Sankranti

Deviled eggs Kannada style!

We are just past the season of eating. So my inbox is full of stuff I served at dinner parties these past two weeks. We are right now in the season of resolution, mostly of eating well and probably loosing weight. It never worked with me. So this time thinking of the longer horizon, and no resolutions!

Appetizers often are the most unhealthy of all courses (may be except desserts). They are tasty though. I love them, as I have been for a long time a appetizer-dessert girl. The main course be damned. It is actually easy to put together healthy appetizers. Even before the fitness season kicked in we decided to give it a shot. So all through this eating season we did our best to put out healthier options on the dinner table. It was mostly a variety of salsas and baked chips, olives platter, Masala cucumber and deviled eggs Kannada style.
These deviled eggs have nothing in common with their original counterpart except perhaps the name. But they are delicious and very well accepted in dinner parties. I am not happy with the photographs, they really looked prettier in person, but the low light conditions of winter evenings could not have yielded anything better. Here it is..

We will need,

Eggs 6-8
Yogurt 1/4 cup
Lime juice 2 tbsp (adjust according to taste)
Green chillies minced 1-2 (adjust according to taste)

Fresh coriander a handful
Red chilli powder a generous pinch
Chat Masala a generous pinch
Salt

Method:

• Place the egg in a wide mouth pan and cover completely with water. Place on high heat. Once the water starts boiling, reduce the heat and cook the eggs are completely set, about 15-20 minutes.
•  Remove from heat. When cool enough to handle shell the eggs and cut each egg into two lengthwise. Separate the egg whites and the yolks.Reserve
• Place the yogurt in a cheese cloth and allow it to drain. After about 15-20 minutes, remove the hung-curd  from the cheese cloth into a mixing bowl. It should be pretty thick.
• Combine the hung-curd and the yolk. Stir them together with a fork. Once the mixture is roughly combined, throw in the rest of the ingredients except the red chilli powder.
• Taste the yolk mixture, adjust salt and lime juice.
• Arrange the white halves on a serving platter and  place spoon fulls of the yolk mixture into the cavity of the whites.
• Sprinkle red chilli powder on the yolk mixture. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Mooli Pomogranate Raita

New year kicks in. This time around, I have no resolutions. It never did work with me, figured out any  day is just as good as the 1st of Jan to do good things. Just not reading News as voraciously as before, to sort of keep the mind away from all the bad news floating around.
Now for a new recipe. I wanted to present a Raita for a dinner party, something that says winter in a mouthful but cools the spicy Chole that went along. That particular day it was Punjabi style meal with spicy Chole, Saag Panner and Pulkas. It reminded me so much of the Punjabi winters that I had to serve Mooli along, just the way they do back in Punjab- a simple salad of Mooli, onions and green chillies.  Dressed it up a bit to use up some Pomegranates procured in bulk from Costco!

We will need

Mooli /Daikon (tender ones) 1 cup (grated and drained)
Pomegranate seeds   1 cup 
Yogurt 1.5 cup (fresh and sweet preferable)
Mint leaves 3-4 chopped
Pepper a dash
Salt to taste
Sugar a generous pinch

Method:

• Press and drain the grated Mooli very well. 
• Beat the yogurt well. Fold in the Mooli, Pomegranate seeds and Mint.
• Add salt, sugar and pepper just before serving. Serve it along a spicy main course.