I was introduced to muesli or at least the correct way to eat it, during our last vacation to Europe. I’ve bought store brand “Muesli” packages in the past and the Ikea variety but never really knew the right way to enjoy it. I used to just add milk and eat it like cereal. Our recent trip to Bali got us eating muesli everyday for breakfast at the hotel and it was a welcome change from the usual. I realized this was not only easy to make but could be a huge time saver during those busy mornings. You can actually soak the oats in juice and/or milk overnight and have it ready for the next day. I tried it this morning and my food critic, Nikhil loved it.

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)
Any granola (I prefer the granola since it has nuts and dry fruits already mixed in but you can also try rolled oats) – 1 cup
Milk – 1 1/2 – 2 cups
Yoghurt – 1-2 tbsp (I used greek yoghurt for added protein but you can use either plain or vanilla yoghurt)
Orange juice – 1/4 cup – optional
red apple, chopped into fine pieces – 1/2
Banana, chopped into small pieces – 1/2
Chopped raisins and pecans (optional) – 1 tsp each
Honey or agave syrup – 1 tsp

Method:
1. Soak the granola in the milk. You may also soak it in orange juice as a first step. This is entirely optional.
2. Add the yoghurt to this. (I used greek yoghurt with honey)
3. Add the chopped fruits, raisins and nuts.
4. Soak this mixture for about an hour to 8 hours. You can store this overnight in the fridge and enjoy cold the next morning.

Growing up, Pongal was one of my favorite festivals. As with the many festivals we celebrate in India, I loved the fact that we got to stay home and eat amazing food, and binge on Sakkarai Pongal:).

Pongal, as explained in my earlier post, is akin to Thanksgiving, marking the Harvest festival and obeisance to the Sun God. It is celebrated in South India as Sankranthi and in the North as Lohri. Sakkarai pongal is one of my all time favorite sweet dishes and I’ve been known to indulge in spoonfuls, um cupfuls of this dish laden with rice, sugar and ghee (clarified butter). I’ve tried to make a healthier version of Sakarai pongal with less ghee but the taste isn’t the same. I’ve given in and this is the version I’ve grown up with – it’s Amma’s version, which also happens to be my favorite recipe for Sakkarai Pongal.

We made the traditional venn pongal, Sakkarai pongal, vadai and Poli today to mark the Pongal and the Sun God must have been happy…it was such a bright and sunny day in Texas:).

Ingredients:

Rice – 1 cup

Moong dal – 1/3 cup

Jaggery – 3 cups

Milk – 1 cup

Water – 3 1/2 cups

Cashews, raisins, for garnish

Cardamom, crushed – 1 tsp

Ghee – 1/4 cup (you can use about 2 tbsp if you need less, but remember that the more ghee the better this tastes:)

Method:

1. Dry roast the moong dal till it is fragrant and turns light brown.

2. Add the rice and mix well.

3. Wash the moong dal and rice with water and drain.

4. Mix the water and milk in a large container and heat on a medium flame. When the mixture begins to boil, add the rice and dal and stir well.

5. After about 10 minutes, transfer this to a pressure cooker and cook for about 5 whistles. (If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can keep cooking it on the stove, while stirring. Make sure you keep the stove flame really low so as not to burn the mixture.)

6. Meanwhile, melt the jaggery in 3 1/2 cups of water on low heat. When the jaggery dissolves completely, strain the mixture to remove any impurities in the jaggery.

7. Continue to cook the strained mixture on a low heat until it caramelizes and becomes “stringy”.

8. Take the rice out of the cooker now, mash it well. Add this to the jaggery mixture and mix very well until its blended.

9. Now add some ghee and the crushed cardamom.

10. Lightly fry the cashews and raisins in ghee and add this to the pongal as garnish.

Vadai (fried lentil doughnuts)

Ingredients:

Urad dal, soaked in water for about 1/2 hour – 1 cup

Grated ginger – 2 tbsp

Green chilies – 5

Cilantro, chopped – 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Wash the grad dal well and soak it in water for about half hour.

2. Drain the water and keep it in a separate bowl.

3. Grind the soaked dal with the ginger and green chilies to a fine paste.

4. Make sure to grind the dal little by little with very little water until it resembles a smooth paste.

5. Add chopped cilantro and curry leaves if needed.

6. Heat some oil in a round bottomed vessel, kadai.

7. Take the ground dal paste on your palm, flatten a bit and make a hole in the middle (like a donut hole)

8. Add this to the hot oil and deep fry till golden brown.

9. Enjoy hot with some sambar and chutney!

Yes I’m a week late to realize it but I’m looking forward to many promising things this year so better late than never:) 2011 has been an eventful year, somewhat too eventful for my liking, so in my heart I’m secretly glad to leave it behind me.

I think it’s random that wordpress sends you a recap of your blogging year which surprisingly revealed to me that I had blogged a lot more often than years before. That may not be much to many given my bouts of absence but I’m quite proud of that little fact, even if I say so myself:) Hey, I’m making progress.

On another tangent,the annual 21 day Yoga Journal challenge starts today, and as I make a mental promise of being more focused in general, and being more positive and living healthy, I hope this trend that WordPress discovered continues every year.
We decided to round out the year with an extended trip to Singapore and Bali over the winter break, which I didn’t realize until after we returned how much we needed it. What you see in the picture is a snapshot of Singapore, the Lion city welcoming the new year. Here’s to a 2012 thats as colorful, breathtaking, filled with peace and joy and everything positive.

I just love, LOVE my Vitamix. It’s one of those complete kitchen machines – it juices, crushes, minces, chops, powders, grinds and did I mention, blends?:) And cleanup is a cinch. I know I sound like I’m a Vitamix infomercial and if they’re listening, they may just as well pay me for this:)
I’ve been making this smoothie for those crazy mornings and as a post workout pick me up so wanted to share my all time favorite smoothie recipe. I got this from their website so most of this is the original Vitamix recipe with a few tweaks.

Apple Pie In A Glass

6 ounces of 100% Apple Juice concentrate (thawed) or 10 oz regular apple juice
6 ounces of vanilla Soy Milk
1 fresh Fuji apple (quartered)
2 full sheets (4 crackers connected) of lowfat graham crackers
4 to 5 baby carrots
1/4” of cabbage (CAREFUL – small slice – more than an ounce but less than 2 ounces)
1/2 cup of non fat dried milk
3 or 4 shakes of ground cinnamon
1 cap of pure vanilla extract
Squirt of honey or agave nectar
3 cups of ice

Place all contents in the container. Put the lid on firmly and turn the machine on high speed for 1 minute or until you see the contents circulating downward toward the blades consistently. Enjoy!

From the Vitamix recipes site – When making thick drinks in the Vita-mix®, a good rule of thumb is to have a 50/50 ratio – 50% of the ingredients are frozen, and 50% of the ingredients are not frozen. Also, a trick of the trade is to use the tamper to help reduce air-pockets or frozen pockets, and better the flow of the contents in to the blades. When your drink is extremely thick, take the tamper and insert it through the lid and move it in an up and down and left and right motion. What you are trying to do is help the thicker (lower section of the container) portion of the drink rotate out of the way, therefore allowing all the remaining contents that you are blending to vortex (go up the sides, across the top, and then funnel back down through the center toward the blades)

These are just some Diwali goodies from this morning, some home made, some made by dear friends and some store bought.
Top left – Kaara Sev, Bottom left – Oma Podi, top right – Lavang Latika ( made by my dear friend Uma – will request a recipe soon;
Middle – my favorite south indian sweet- Manoharam from the famous Grand Sweets in Chennai
Bottom right- Rava Laadoo made by my mom (Amma)

To be honest, I was expecting this Diwali to be boring, almost a tad depressing with just Nikhil and I in a crazy schedule and Girish in another part of the world. But it’s so awesome to have Amma and Appa at home and make an effort to keep Diwali as resplendent as it used to be, sans crackers and sparkles but nonetheless steeped in tradition. We woke up bright and early for the traditional “Ganga Snaanam” (or the holy bath with the water from the river Ganga) and Amma applied sesame oil to our hair. Lamps in the puja room with the new clothes, the sweets, fruits and flowers. The traditional Snaanam with shikakai or the Ayurvedic conditioners for hair to wash off the oil. Then the customary phone calls and wishes with “Ganga Snaanam Aacha?” or have you had your traditional bath followed by a sampling of all the goodies, never mind that it’s about 6am when you are eating some of that fried stuff:)

This is what makes Diwali special to me, keeping those customary actions alive that are only made special when you are with family. I do long for the crackers and lights with friends and family and the noises in India. So thankful that Girish is able to experience that Diwali for us in India this year. It’s no fun being in different parts of the world for Diwali but its still special this year – we are both with our respective parents and siblings this Diwali which is a lot to be thankful for and cherished.
May this Diwali be for each one of you an occasion to cherish with your family and enjoy every moment with them. Happy Diwali!

The ambiance was quite contemporary and modern, with a full bar and an atypical decor for Indian restaurants which also didn’t really go with the name . Interestingly, the greeters and the waiters were all non-Indian as well, and from what we heard from the owner later, most hailed from London. We started off with some “Nimbu Paani” or fresh lime juice, and ordered samosa for appetizer. Samosa arrived before the Nimbu Paani which was good as we were famished. I have to say it was a pretty good start. The samosas were not re-heated in the microwave, seemed to have been fresh out of the frying pan, and were quite crisp and spiced right. The waiter came by to let us know that the Nimbu Paani was taking some time as it was being “freshly made”. We joked that they had probably gone to buy the fresh limes, but when the Nimbu Paani arrived, we had to eat our words, it was truly fresh and refreshing. So a good start to our dinner.

The menu was a pretty typical, traditional Indian restaurant menu, the usual vegetarian dishes, Dal Makhni, Bhindi fry, and non vegetarian dishes with chicken, lamb and goat. I have to say that when I saw that they had a lunch buffet, I had a biased opinion about what was to come. When a specialty restaurant introduces lunch buffets, I’ve noticed that it somewhat “cheapens” the menu. It’s probably the idea of “big batch” cooking that makes it lose it’s specialty charm. But most Indian restaurants tend to thrive on the concept of lunch buffets which is probably what sustains them.

Anyway back to the food. We ordered pindi chana, bhindi fry, and balti dal along with Laccha Paratha and Alu Kulcha. They asked for spice level of mild, medium, spicy and “Indian hot”. Of course we picked Indian hot and the servers were quite knowledgeable to gauge what we would have liked anyway. The owner soon came by to greet all his guests which also added a nice touch. We learned from him that this was their first restaurant in Dallas though they had been open in New York and New Jersey for a couple of years with the namesake (Mughal in New York and in Edison, NJ). He left us with the comment that he wanted feedback on what he could do to improve on the food . I liked that he was being genuine and open to feedback and criticism – something you don’t find often with restaurant owners and chefs, who are rightfully opinionated. So I was all ready with my food critic hat before the food arrived:). And of course, Girish, who has been to quite a few Indian restaurants in the US, thanks to all his travelling, was all set too to chime in. So we thought he was in for some pretty serious feedback all right:)

To our surprise – and I say that probably because of our low expectations to begin with – our experience was quite good. At the end of it, we would give the food 3 1/2 stars out of 5, 4 for the service and ambiance.
Now on to each of the dishes. I thought the pindi chana and the laccha paratha were the best items of what we ordered. The Balti dal needed some more “kick” to it but was tasty and the Bhindi could have been sauted a little longer.  The best part was when we actually provided this feedback to the owner at the end of our meal. He ordered the kitchen to re-do those dishes and sent us a “to go bag” with the bhindi, dal and a made to order kulcha for us to try at home. And he did take our feedback seriously which we gathered from our lunch the next day.

So overall, I’d say Mughlai was a good experience and we will go back again to try it. Hopefully the restaurant will survive unlike some others in the area. If they continue to strive for improvement like the owner’s mantra seems to be, I think they are here to stay.

Growing up in Dehradun, Punjabi Samosa used to be a treat during the monsoon and winter weekends. One person who remains in my memory is Sitap Singh, our house help, who also dished out scrumptious North Indian dishes. As my mom mostly cooked traditional South Indian, Sitap Singh’s Punjabi dishes were always a welcome change. From soft phulkas (thin wheat tortillas) with aloo gobhi (potato cauliflower dry curry) to his famous Punjabi Samosas, his dishes were delectable. Looking back, they were sadly taken for granted. As a 9 year old boy, I used to hang around Sitap Singh while he cooked and it amazes me that these are still etched in my memory.  I still remember his tips for making samosas, and the tip about rolling the dough to a thin,  transluscent disc (almost wonton like) which adds to the crispy flaky texture. We tried this for the first time ever last weekend and were quite proud of the results. Let’s just say this one was for Sitap Singh:)

Ingredients for Samosa Crust:

Olive oil – 3 tbsps
All purpose flour or maida – 1 cup
Carom seeds or ajwain – 1/2 tsp
Water – 1/4-1/2 cup as needed for dough consistency

Method for crust:

1. Mix the flour, carom seeds, salt and oil in a mixing bowl.
2. Add water little by little and knead to a stiff dough.
3. Cover with a damp paper towl and set aside for about 10 minutes

Ingredients for filling:

Potato, 1 inch cubes 4-5 medium
Green peas, boiled 1/2 cup
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Ginger, chopped 1 inch piece
Green chillies, chopped 3-4
Red chilli powder 1 tsp
Dry mango powder (amchur) 1 tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp
Coriander seeds 2 tsp
Fennel seeds 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Take the coriander seeds, fennel, cumin seeds and crush in a mortar pestle into a coarse powder

2. Boil the potatoes and roughly chop or mash them into cubes; do not over mash the potatoes into a mushy paste.
3. Add the thawed frozen or boiled peas.
4. Add the ginger, green chilies , ground coarse powder of coriander, fennel and cumin, and the garam masala, chili powder and salt to taste.

5.Add some oil to a heavy bottomed vessel and when the oil is hot, add the potatoes peas mixture.
6. Saute for a few more minutes, then add the dry mango powder or amchur. Mix well.
7. Cool before making the samosas.
8. Divide the filling into sixteen equal portions.
9. Divide the dough into eight equal portions and roll them into balls.
10. Apply a little flour and roll them into round chapathi or small tortillas.
11. Cut into half, apply water on the edges. Shape each half into a cone and stuff it with the potato and peas filling. Seal the edges well.

12. Heat sufficient oil in a kadai (wok) and deep-fry the samosas in medium hot oil till crisp and golden brown. Drain and place on an absorbent paper.
13. Serve hot with sweet date and tamarind chutney.

Contributed by Girish Ratnam

I use the word healthy to describe this recipe  from Girish as it doen’t call for an ounce of butter or ghee (clarified butter). It uses cashew paste as  the base for the gravy and, yes, more importantly, does not use any whipping cream. The best part is that you don’t compromise on the taste at all. You still get a creamy, yummy paneer “butter” masala, without the butter. Girish made this over the last long weekend and it was the perfect accompaniment to hot chapathis and stuffed bitter melon (bharwan karela). This recipe is inspired from the Sanjeev Kapoor version though it has been tweaked enough to call it an original Girish version:)

Ingredients:

Cottage cheese (paneer), cut into cup – 2 cups
Oil – 3 tbsp
Cloves – 3
Cinnamon – 1 stick
Dried red chillies – 5 (if you want it to be less spicy, use fewer)
Coriander seeds, crushed – 4 tablespoons
Green cardamom seeds – 1/2 tsp
Onion , sliced – 1 medium
Fresh Ginger sliced into 1″ strips – 3-5
Garlic – 4 pods
Tomatoes, chopped – 5-6 medium
Cashews – 1 cup
Salt to taste
Kasoori methi , crushed (dried fenugreek)- 2 teaspoon

METHOD:
1. Grind the cardamom seeds, red chilies and coriander seeds to a fine dry powder.
2. Take 2 tbsp oil in a heavy bottom vessel (kadai), add cloves, cinnamon stick. When this gets heated and gives out an aroma, add garlic and ginger strips.
3. When this cooks, add sliced onions, and saute till the raw smell goes away, and it becomes light pink in color.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook well till the oil separates.
5. In the meanwhile, take the cashews in a blender and blend it to fine paste with some water. If you have a powerful blender (like a Vitamix), you may not need to add water.
6. Cool the onion tomato mixture a little and transfer this mixture to the blender containing the cashew paste. Make a fine puree of the tomatoes, onions and cashews.
7. Take the remaining oil in a kadai again, add some of the kasuri methi and add the paneer pieces. Fry till the paneer is slightly golden brown, not too fried.

8. Take out the paneer and keep it separately.
9. Add the tomato taste and cook while stirring, till the paste begins to boil, and the raw taste of cashews goes away. Add the red chili, coriander, cardamom powder here, and mix well.
10. Heat for a few minutes more, add the paneer and continue to cook for 3-5 minutes.

Ingredients
Corn, husked and cleaned – 10
Olive oil – 2 tbsp (you can also use olive oil flavored with chili flakes for added spice)
Black pepper – 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Chopped fresh cilantro – 1 1/2 cups
Lime or Lemon juice – 1/2 cup
Garlic flakes, crushed – 2 tsp
Thai green chili, crushed (optional) – 2 tsp
Chaat masala, optional – 2 tsp (available in Indian stores)

Method:
1. Heat grill to about 350F
2. Mix the olive oil (I used flavored chili olive oil) with the salt, and garlic flakes.
3. Brush this mixture over the corn and place on the grill for about 10-15 minutes till done.
4. In a separate mixing bowl, mix the lemon or lime juice, cilantro, thai green chili, a little more salt to taste, chaat masala and combine.
5. Cut the grilled corn into about 5-6 pieces each. Toss in the mixing bowl and mix with the lemon-chili-cilantro mixture.
6. Serve with lime wedges and more cilantro for added garnish.

And you know by now, that we are a family that loves spicy food, from my 9 year old to my 75 year old mother-in-law:). So this conversation was enough to get the taste buds and curiosity stirred to look for this pepper in the local stores.

It may have been sheer coincidence but we were out shopping at Central Market that same day and Nikhil spotted this exact pepper in the produce aisle. I wasn’t expecting to find this so soon, and was amused that our conversation had fascinated Nikhil enough to look for it as well. This wasn’t the fresh but the dried ghost pepper, and the warning on the package was enough to tell us this was the right one indeed:)

We got right down to making Milagai Thokku with some serrano peppers and the ghost pepper. We used serrano only to balance the spice since one ghost pepper was said to be enough to get steam out of your ears:), but if you’re more courageous, try this chutney with thai chili peppers instead. I also think I would try to use fresh ghost pepper instead of the dry one. My only complaint with the dried pepper was that it had a slight smoky, almost chipotle pepper like taste that in my opnion, skewed the taste to a Tex-mex Milagai chutney instead:)

Ingredients:

1/2 pound serrano chilies, finely chopped

2 dried ghost peppers, soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes

Tamarind paste – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Sesame or til oil – 2 tbsp (you need the oil to preserve this chutney for a few days)

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Asafetida, crushed or powdered – 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Grind the chopped serrano peppers, ghost pepper, tamarind and salt in a grinder to a fine paste. Make sure you don’t ad any water to this paste. The salt will help liquefy it.

2. Heat oil in a heavy bottom vessel (kadai) and when hot, add the mustard seeds and asafetida.

3. Add the ground paste and fry in the hot oil.

4. You will need to fry for about 10 minutes or so while stirring occasionally, till the oil appears around the sides of the chutney. The color of the chutney will also change from bright green to about greenish-brown.

5. Cool and transfer to an air tight vessel.

6. You can enjoy this with dosa, idli, rice or just about any Indian dish!