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Sprouts Dumplings in Yogurt-Coconut Curry

Sheesh. What a fancy title for morukuzhambu / kadi.

A few days ago I sprouted some mung beans and chanced upon the idea of a sprouts chutney. It was very tasty but quite heavy too. The texture was thick and I was playing with some of it in the kitchen, squishing it and wondering what to do with the rest (all those years of my mum yelling at me to stop playing with my food has no effect clearly) and I thought of making dumplings out of it. Like many times in the past, I just made up the recipe along the way.

What I ended up doing was making small balls from it, baking instead of frying them and put them in some morukozhambu. And since the dumplings were spicy by themselves, the mild coconut yogurt curry was perfect. That way I saved up on a lot of unnecessary / unhealthy calories from frying dumplings. The best part of this recipe is you can use as little oil as possible. It can easily be reduced from 1 tsp to 1/2 tsp. You can put the sprouts balls in the oven while the curry is cooking to save time too.

In the traditional south indian recipe, vegetables are added and in the traditional north indian recipe, fried dumplings are added. This falls somewhere in between!

I rolled the paste into balls and put them in my small toaster oven that has a bake setting.  It’s perfect for small batches of stuff when I don’t want to heat the big home oven all the way through.

and they turned out nice, firm and well browned. Perfect for dunking into curry!

Add them to the curry after they have cooled through. Since they are firm, they stay put.

Sprouts Dumplings

• 1/2 cup mung sprouts
• 2 tbsp channa dal
• 1 tbsp split urad dal
• 4 dried red chillies
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 1/4 ts turmeric powder
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 stalks cilantro
• 1 tsp ghee
• salt to taste

Method :

• Heat ghee in a pan, when hot, add the channa and urad dal. Saute until it starts frying and then add mustard and cumin seeds.
• Add asafoetida , turmeric. Add the rest of the ingredients and saute for a minute. Cover and cook on medium heat for 5-7 minutes until the sprouts are soft. This is important to eliminate the raw taste.
• Remove from heat and let it sit until cooled completely.
• Put the mixture into a blender and blend until smooth. Some water can be added along the way if required, a tbsp at a time,  but remember the consistency should be like clay – when made into a ball it should hold shape.
• Make small balls and arrange it on a baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 deg F for 15 min or until browned.

So the dumplings are done. Now, you just have to make the kozhambu or kadi and add it in at the end. They are going to be a bit heavy and will not float on top like light fried dumplings.  There are many ways to make the curry and this is what ~I~ do. This recipe is from a friend’s mom I think. I can’t seem to remember where I got it from. It’s been in my recipe book for years.

Yogurt Coconut Curry – Morkozhambu

Ingredients: 

• 1 tsp channa dal
• 1 tsp toor dal
• 1tsp oil/ghee
• 1/2 inch piece of ginger
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 4 tbsp grated coconut
• 1 or 2 green chillies
• 2 cups yogurt
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 5-6 curry leaves
• pinch of asafoetida
• 2 dried red chillies
• salt to taste

Method:

• Soak both the toor and channa dal for 15 minutes.
• Drain the water and grind along with ginger, coconut, green chillies, cumin and coriander seeds into a fine paste.
• In another bowl,  mix up the turmeric powder and yogurt. Add the ground paste to the yogurt.
• Heat oil in a deep pan. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and when they pop add the asafoetida, curry leaves and dry red chillies. Saute for 30 seconds and lower the heat to a low setting. Add the yogurt mixture and 1/2 cup of water. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes stirring inbetween to make sure the curry does not break or curdle.
• Add the sprouts dumplings and turn off the heat.
• Serve with steamed rice.

Like I said, they settle at the bottom since they’re not fried.

I’m not telling you not to fry them, but this is everyday healthy food. Or healthy weekend-when-I-have-the-time-to-make-the-dumplings food.

Drunken Jamun – Gulab Jamun in Brown Sugar Spiced Rum Syrup

I don’t make Indian desserts too much mainly because of all the frying, ghee and lack of chocolate. Growing up, I was always partial to bengali sweets and still am. I don’t get terribly excited at the thought of laddoos and kheer / payasam. The only payasam I would eat was if my mom made it out of the box. I have disturbing memories of being forced into eating bowls of payasam at people’s houses during festival season and tasting the milk in it. ugh. A lot of people don’t boil the milk and sugar properly resulting in um, an interesting milky flavor. Let’s just say that it was never my favorite.

 

Anyway, coming to the gulab jamun. I always felt it was too sweet and fried and never really tried to make them. And then the other day I had some at a cousins place and made a mental note to try and get them perfectly round and golden, just for a challenge. I suddenly thought of a rum based syrup.

Interesting huh? So I made the syrup using brown sugar, rum. and a few spices. I made the jamuns with real khoya and they were just slightly sweet unlike the ones that send you into a mild shock. I’m not sharing the recipe yet though.

 

Eggless, Moist Banana Bread With Mildly Sweet Creme Fraiche Topping

I made Creme Fraiche sometime back and was wondering what to do with a jar of it. I was cooking with it and ate some with fruit, when I thought of topping some banana bread with it.  I was going to make some anyway since there were two over ripe bananas sitting in our fruit basket. And so I decided to make some whipped creme fraiche topping.

When it comes to baking, I like everything to be on hand so I can just make it and not plan to go buy ingredients and all that. I realized I had just one egg, but most recipes called for 2 or 3. That struck me as a little odd though. We use mashed banana in place of an egg or two in cake which rises pretty well by itself, so why would we need to add eggs to banana bread?

Well, this recipe is mostly eggless.

I say that because I found this recipe, and after I started making the batter, I threw in that egg since the carton was taking up space in the fridge. You can totally skip it.

I used creme fraiche in the recipe too. I think that made it really moist and nice. I mean, you can go ahead and use the original recipe if you don’t have creme fraiche at home, but I really think it made a difference. And the topping was so good. Seriously, go make some. I did.  Fiiine, buy it if you want, but it might not be as awesome as homemade =)

Ingredients: 

2 mashed over ripe bananas
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 cups flour
3 tbsp Creme Fraiche
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract.
pinch of salt
1 egg   *optional

Method :

• In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter for about 5 minutes.
• In the meantime, in another bowl, combine flour, baking powder and soda, salt.
• Mix the bananas into the sugar and butter mixture along with vanilla extract.
• Add half the flour mixture, mix and then add the other half. Don’t overmix. Just unti combined well.
• Spoon into a loaf pan and bake at 350 deg F for 45 minutes. Mine took 45. Check cause oven times vary. Toothpick must come out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
• Top with creme fraiche only after it’s completely cool, if not the topping will melt.

Mildly Sweet Whipped Creme Fraiche Topping 

• 1 cup creme fraiche
• 2 tbsp superfine icing sugar

Whip the creme fraiche while adding a thin stream of sugar until light and fluffy. You can add more sugar if you want it sweeter. Spread on banana bread.

Just slather some on..

Home-made Creme Fraiche

I’ve had Creme Fraiche with fruits for dessert and sometimes in an entree at a fancy restaurant, but who would have thought that making it at home was so easy? I mean, seriously, it’s just cultured cream so what’s all the fuss about? It must be the fancy shmancy french name. I somehow assumed it would be a lengthy process and that’s why a box of it was so expensive. That was until I saw Chef John make it on foodwishes.com. I <3 him. Really. He’s so funny and makes awesome recipes! I wish he had a cooking show. That would be super. Here’s to sending good vibes his way and hoping he gets his own show soon Fine, I admit, my hero is a Chef. Boo to you too.

The process is super simple. I would say especially for those of us who grew up in homes where yogurt was cultured and made fresh everyday. It’s as simple as that.

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream –  I used ultra pasteurized heavy whipping cream
3 tbsps active culture buttermilk

Method

1. Take a very clean dry glass jar and fill it with the cream. Mine was actually cold, just out of the fridge. If you’re not sure, wait for it to come to room temperature first.
2. Stir in the buttermilk.
3. Cover the mouth of the jar with some loose cloth and store undisturbed for 24 hours in a warm place. The cream will thicken and become firm. I stored mine at the back of the oven overnight with the light on.
4. Close the jar with the lid and refrigerate for another 12-24 hours.

It’s ready! Look at that creamy deliciousness..

Yes, that’s it. As easy as making yogurt at home. Use it in baking cakes, cooking in sauces and curries, whip it into a dessert. It doesn’t break or curdle and lends the most awesome-est flavor to the dish. Chop up some herbs, stir it in and use it as a dip. It has a smoother, creamier, less tart taste than sour cream.

Here’s what I did with it

• Whipped it with some sugar for a topping with banana bread
• Mixed in some herbs and salt as a dip for veggies
• Used a tbsp of it when I made rajma masala.
• With fruits

It keeps for about 10 days, refrigerated. 

There’s so much potential, just go ahead and make some!

Chocolate cupcakes with Raspberry Filling and Frosting

Husband and I had just returned from Hawaii when the baking urge struck the following morning. It was also my cousin’s wife’s birthday and how could I not bake something for her? I settled on the idea of filled chocolate cupcakes with raspberry frosting. I had all the ingredients at home and wasted no time getting to work. Pretty soon the house was filled with the aroma of chocolate which brought out the sleepy spouse from the woodwork, pun intended . With him prowling around and waiting to start sampling I completely forgot about breakfast that morning! That’s half the work right? To keep them out of the kitchen so that there is actually a batch of cupcakes to show at the end of it all. Anyway, I found a really nice recipe for a moist cake and it turned out so well, it’s definitely a keeper. After baking, while I was mixing the frosting, I decided to glaze some and fill them too. The glaze was actually a result of an ahem.. ‘experiment’ that turned out a really nice raspberry glaze, so I will tell you how I made that as well. For those of you who want to use this recipe to bake a cake, just use cake pans instead of a cupcake mould and it will turn out perfect.

Hawaii was awesome, thank you for asking. We went to Kauai, a smaller, beautiful and quieter island. After lots of Mai Tai(s), snorkeling, zipling, lazing on the beach, driving around, and stuffing ourselves with fresh fruit, we weren’t exactly jumping with joy on the flight back. You are now reading a very tanned foodie’s blog! Mangoes.. ah mangoes, I <3 you!

The nicely browned me set out the usual suspects, flour, sugar, butter, cocoa powder and this time I used raspberry jam instead of fresh ones. We had some reduced sugar raspberry preserve from Trader Joe’s that was just perfect!

I used both brown and white sugar for the cupcakes. I have a weakness for brown sugar. It has a nice nutty flavor and enhances the chocolate. My trusty kitchen aid whipped up some perfectly moist chocolate cupcakes. Check out those shiny tops!

And then, I filled and frosted them.

Ingredients : makes 28 cupcakes (I know!! I had to reuse my pan too.)

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup white, 1 cup brown)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
• 1 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup strong coffee (I just mixed a tsp of instant coffee in hot water) 
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup unflavored vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method : 

1. Pre heat the oven to 35o deg F. Prepare the cupcake pan with liners.
2. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and soda, salt and whisk until mixed well.
3. Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and beat for a minute until well combined but do not over beat. The batter will be thin.
4. Pour the batter into cups until 1/2 full and bake for 15 minutes. Oven times vary so check after 13 min. For cake, bake longer, check after 20 min.
5. The toothpick should come out clean but with a few crumbs sticking to it, that’s when it’s moist and not dry.
6. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

For the Raspberry Frosting – I don’t have exact measurements for this since I go by consistency and taste. I don’t like my frosting to be too sweet, so I stop when I reach the desired sweetness level. You can add more sugar if you want. 

• 1 cup, Raspberry preserve / jam, at room temperature
• 4 cups icing sugar (I think I used just 2 1/2 or maybe 3 MAX)
• 1 stick butter, at room temperature

It’s VERY IMPORTANT that the ingredients are at room temperature if not the icing will break and will not come together smoothly.

Beat the butter and preserve until creamy and smooth. While beating, add the sugar in a steady stream 1/2 cup at a time until desired sweetness and consistency is reached.

Making the glaze is SUPER EASY – microwave 3 tbsps of the frosting for 15 sec. Mix and dip the top of the cupcakes in it.

I filled mine.

And frosted them.

And made some for cousin Callie’s birthday!
Happy birthday Callie!!

Asian Inspired Vegetable Quinoa – like fried rice, only healthier! (Or Indian-Chinese Quinoa?)

Quite a few people have been asking me about how I incorporate qunioa into our meals. Well, as I said before, I pretty much treat it like rice. I make Quinoa Pilaf quite often. It’s easy, 1 pot meal and very healthy. Today, I switched it up and made an Asian inspired version. I would like to call it ‘Indian Chinese Quinoa’ but that sounds kind of funny right? Indian Chinese is something only Indian people enjoy. I doubt chinese people would have even heard of it Chinese immigrants in India seem to have created a whole new cuisine genre by themselves.. thanks guys!

Anyway, so what I made here is tangy, spicy, garlicky, and full of vegetables. Feel free to add / delete more veggies, shredded chicken, other kinds of meat too. I didn’t use green chillies this time, but broken red chillies that I intentionally burned a bit in the oil. I find that once you fry chillies, they are not that spicy and can be eaten instead of thrown away. It also releases a very nice flavor and in this case, a smokiness to the dish.

Healthy, easy, tangy & tasty!

Ingredients – You can double the quantities easily.

• 1 cup, Quinoa, uncooked.
• 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 cup thinly sliced Onion
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 1 cup chopped Bell peppers
• 1 cup thawed, frozen peas and carrots (but feel free to use fresh)
• 1 cup chopped green beans (I didn’t have, but add some)
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2″ piece ginger, minced
• 1 1/2 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 (or 1/2) tbsp Sriracha sauce / sambal / red chilli sauce
• 1 tbsp all purpose stir fry sauce / any asian sauce you have
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala, optional, for a little extra spice
• Salt to taste

METHOD :

1. Wash the quinoa using a strainer/small holed sieve and cook just like you would cook rice, 1 : 2 ratio in a pot or a rice cooker. Mix it up once it’s done so it doesn’t get lumpy.
2. Heat oil in a large pan/wok, add the garlic. Stir for a few seconds. Break the dried red chillies into small pieces and drop it into the hot oil. Saute for about 20 seconds until it’s dark and crisp but not smoking. Add the ginger and onions. Saute for a few minutes until lightly golden brown. Add all the vegetables and stir until cooked but not mushy.
3. Add all the sauces one by one to the vegetable mixture. Stir till well incorporated.
4. Add the quinoa and mix
5. Serve! Enjoy this on it’s own or with a side salad / asian side.