Vegetable Croquettes

This is a delicious recipe which is full of nutritious and delicious vegetables, has chickpea flour and bread crumbs and can make for a complete meal on a busy weekday. These are cooked in an appe pan also known as an abelskiver pan to keep them nutritious without impacting taste or texture. You can also deep fry them.

Ingredients

1/2 small cauliflower
3 potatoes, peeled
2 carrots, peeled
1/2 inch ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 onion, finely chopped
15 green beans
1 green chili (can increase to make it spicy)
2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp haldi
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp dhania powder
Salt to taste
2 cups panko bread crumbs/ regular bread crumbs 
1/2 cup besan flour
Rava/semolina and bread crumbs to coat the croquettes
Oil

Method
Chop all the vegetables (except onion, ginger and garlic) and put them in a pressure cooker vessel. Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles till the vegetables are mushy and completely cooked. Drain any water released from the vegetables and mash the vegetables. Then add the seasonings - salt, chili, ginger, garlic, onion, garam masala. Mix it wee. Then add the bread crumbs and besan. Taste and adjust salt and if you want to make it spicy you can add chili powder or more green chilies. Mix all of these ingredients well. The resultant mixture shouldn't be sticky but should come together like a dough. Spread bread crumbs or rava on a plate. I made some flat patties that were coated in breadcrumbs and rolled the ball shaped croquettes in rava. Rava can withstand the heat from the cast iron appe pan better than the breadcrumbs and the outer crust doesn't burn or char while the inner part of the croquette ball is cooked. 

Heat the appe pan and add a little oil to each appe mold. Place the croquette balls in the appe and roast them evenly by turning them throughout the process on medium heat. Add a few drops of oil as necessary when rotating the balls. 

Cut croquette to show how a completely cooked croquette looks from the inside

You can also flatten them into patties and roast them on a pan. To cook the flat patties, I added a couple of teaspoons of oil to a pan and roasted them well on both sides, till the bread crumb coated crust was golden brown. 

You can also deep fry these croquettes on medium heat.

Tips

You can steam cook or boil the vegetables till cooked to a soft texture where they can be mashed.

Whole Wheat Pancakes with Blueberries

I have made been making pancakes for the longest time, but I have never had a go to recipe that I knew would always taste good. Most of the times I used to fall back on using multigrain flour pancake mix from the local store. Or once in a while I tried out a new recipe, though nothing really stuck as "the one".

I am a fan of America's Test Kitchen, and while perusing their cookbook, I came across their recipe to make blueberry pancakes. This has now become my go to recipe for whenever I want to make pancakes. The main reason is that all the ingredients needed to make the pancakes are generally always available in the pantry and fridge. I tried this recipe a few times as and then substituted whole wheat pastry flour for the all purpose flour.  The all purpose ones are great and I like the ones with whole wheat pastry flour even better. The whole grain adds texture and depth to the taste and this is my go to recipe to make pancakes.

Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups milk

1 tbsp lemon or lime juice

1 egg

3 tbsps unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
1-2 tsp oil
blueberries (optional)

Method
Melt the butter and set aside to cool. Whisk together milk and lemon juice and set aside. The milk will thicken (the solids start to separate from the liquid in the milk. It is more noticeable if the milk is at room temperature than when milk is cold). Whisk or sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Whisk together egg, vanilla essence, and add to the milk. Add the butter as well and mix the liquid ingredients together. Make a well in the center of the flour and add the liquid ingredients slowly to the flour. Mix the ingredients together with a whisk until they are just combined. Some lumps will remain. Do not overmix.

Heat your pan or griddle, and add some oil to the pan. Pour one ladle or about 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan. If using blueberries, sprinkle about 8-10 blueberries onto the pancake.  Cook until bubble appear for 1-2 minutes and then flip the pancake over and cook in the other side till golden brown for another 1-2 minutes. If pan is large enough, you can make 2-3 pancakes at a time.

Tips
Do not overmix the batter. Once the batter looks mixed in and you cannot see the dry flour anymore, stop mixing. Even if you see clumps in the batter, do not give into temptation to mix and make the batter smooth. Over mixing the batter can lead to chewy pancakes. The original recipe calls for all purpose flour, however I have used whole wheat pastry flour.
Note: Whole wheat pastry flour is different from whole wheat flour. Whole wheat pastry flour is closer to all purpose flour in color and texture whereas whole wheat flour is darker in color and heartier in taste.
I have used cold milk directly from the fridge and also milk at room temperature and haven't noticed any change in taste or texture.
You can substitute buttermilk instead of the milk and lemon juice mixture. Use 2 cups of buttermilk instead, if available.

Buckwheat Crepes

The first time I ate crepes was about a decade ago. I was was at a very upscale French restaurant for dinner and ended up ordering the crepe with cheese and spinach. While it was tasty, I couldn't eat more than a fourth of it because it was just too heavy. So, I was a bit put off by crepes after that experience. I didn't order crepes again for  a while.  The next time I tried dessert crepes. These were delicious and had fruits fillings. I thoroughly enjoyed them. However, I was never motivated to try making these at home.

All this changed after a visit to Montreal. There was a shop there selling amazing ice cream and crepes. We ordered the desert crepes there and I noticed that there was something different about the crepes. They didn't seem like they were made of all purpose flour and had a great texture and taste. They didn't get chewy even when they had cooled down as all purpose flour ones do. We enjoyed the crepes so much, that I finally asked the person making these what was different about these crepes. This was when she told me they also had buckwheat flour in addition to the all purpose flour. I had never heard of this grain before and I looked for it as soon as I cam back home.

I experimented with the recipe and was able to create one which tastes the same as the one we had in Canada. Once you have the crepe batter ready, you can use it to either make savory or sweet crepes.

Ingredients
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 all purpose flour
3 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence (necessary for sweet crepes. optional for savory ones)
1/4 tsp salt (if using to make savory crepes. do not add for sweet crepes)
2 tsp sugar (if using sweet crepes. do not add for savory crepes)

Method
Melt the butter. Put all the ingredients together in the blender and pulse a few times till the batter is well mixed. The batter is ready to use.

The key to making good crepes is to have them be very thin. For this just enough batter to cover the base of your non-stick pan in a thin layer. You may have to make a couple to figure out how much batter you need. I generally need one large layer for a 12 inch skillet. Heat your pan and coat it with a little oil. You can either use a spray or a paper towel dipped in little oil.  Oil is needed because you don't want to heat an empty non-stick pan.  Once the pan is hot, pour the batter using a ladle into the pan and swirl the pan around in one direction to coat the base of the pan. Since the pan is hot, you will not have enough time to use a spatula to spread the batter before it starts cooking. So it is important to swirl it fast enough to spread it around.

Cover the pan for a minute or so. Remove the cover and check if you can easily move the crepe. If so, flip the crepe over and cook it on the other side for another minute.

This is the basic technique to make the crepe. Stack the crepes on top of each other.

You can stuff it with any stuffing you want. Desert crepes can be stuffed with a combination of berries, banana,  sweetened cream cheese or nutella. You can stuff crepes with savory filling of spinach and ricotta cheese. Last time, I made a stuffing of fresh mozarella, spinach, basil and tomato.  This was based on the caprese salad. The crepe was delicious.

You can be creative and try out different options.

Tips
Always use a non stick pan. Do not apply oil after the first crepe. Since oil is applied to the pan surface before the first crepe is made, this crepe may not spread well. You can heat your oven to 200F and keep the stacked crepes in it on a wire rack to keep the stack warm.
The batter will last for a couple of days, if refrigerated.
If you are making savory crepes, and do not want to taste the egg, you can add some spices like a mix of oregano, basil and rosemary or any one of these spices to mask the egg taste. If you decide to add vanilla, reduce the amount you add because vanilla essence makes the crepes smell sweet. 

Apple Crumble - A delicious fruit dessert

This is a delicious fruit dessert. It is warm and perfect for a cold winter night. Add in a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it is the perfect dessert to satisfy your sweet tooth. Now, there are several recipes of apple crumble out there, however, when I wanted to make this, I turned to a recipe from America's Test Kitchen Cooking School Cookbook. I wanted a recipe which would taste great and have a crunchy crumble and knew that I could rely on this recipe. I needed to make it nut free, and the original recipe called for almonds, so I made a few substitutions and it turned out delicious. Best of all it could be eaten by everyone and I didn't have to worry about those with allergies.

Ingredients

For the crust

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar + 1 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/8 tsp salt

7 tbsp butter, cut into cubes at room temperature

1/2 cup traditional rolled oats

2 tsp vanilla essence

For the filling

8 medium sized apples, peeled, cored and diced into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 tsp cornstarch

4 tsp lemon juice

2/3 cup sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp nutmeg powder

1/8 tsp cinnamon powder

Method

Preheat the oven to a temperature of 350F. Place one rack in the middle of the oven and another baking rack at the lowest level in the oven.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the lemon juice and cornstarch. Add in the apple pieces, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg powder. Toss all this together till the apple pieces are well coated. Pour this into a 8 inch square baking tin and cover it tightly with aluminium foil. Keep aside

Keep 1 tbsp of sugar aside. In a food processor, mix together the all purpose flour, salt, both sugars, and vanilla essence. Then add the butter pieces and 1/4 cup of rolled oats. Pulse it all together till the mixture comes together into lumps. Use a spatula to scrape the bowl down. Add the remainder of the 1/4 cup of rolled oats and pulse a couple of times till it is blended into the the mixture, but not completely powdered down.

Place this on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Shape it in a square similar to the size of the baking tin containing the apple crumble. It will be about 1/2 inch in thickness. Place this baking tray with the topping  mixture onto the middle rack and the baking tin containing the apple mixture on the lower rack in the oven.

Bake these for 20 minutes. Turn the baking tray once by 180 degrees, so that the crust gets cooked evenly. The crust will be lightly browned at this time.

Remove both the baking tray and tin from the oven. 

Increase the temperature of the oven to 375F.

Remove the foil covering the baking tin and then by lifting the mat/paper slide the crust onto the apple mixture. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of sugar on the top of the crust. Place this tin back into the oven on the lower rack and bake it for 25 minutes till the crust is browned and the apple mixture is bubbling.

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Tips

If you do not have 8 apples, you can also substitute some pears instead. 

You can use a spatula to break the crust and place it piece by piece onto the apple mixture, till the mixture is covered completely.

Bisibele Bhath - A Rice Delicacy from Karnataka with a twist

Bisibele bhath is a speciality from Karnataka. It is a rice and dal preparation which is akin to "khichadi" another dal and rice preparation. My mom used to make this recipe when I was a child and I remember not really liking it because it had so many vegetables. She used to serve it with a lot of ghee (clarified butter) though, which used to make it finger licking delicious. Now that I am older and wiser, I understand the beauty of this dish. First, it is a one pot meal. Second, it has all the nutritional components, it has proteins from the lentils/dal, carbohydrates from rice and you can add many vegetables to it which take care of the vitamins and fiber aspect. And best of all, it is all cooked together with yummy spices in one single pressure cooker. It is a perfect dish for that very busy weekday and you can have the satisfaction of serving something healthy and good.

I make it in the fastest way possible and that is what this recipe is about. I use store bought spices. MTR brand's Bisibele Bhath masala is easily available in the Indian store and I generally have a packet of this at home. Next, I cut vegetables that I have on hand if I have time, or I open a pack of frozen mixed vegetables ( generally contains green beans, carrots, peas and corn) and use that. That makes it easy to cook and absolutely delicious too. The twist in this recipe is that I experimented with a new grain instead of rice this time. I replaced the rice entirely with quinoa and make the dish using the exact same method and I must say the result was amazing. If it had been a blind tasting, I couldn't have differentiated between the one made with rice and one made with quinoa. I am thrilled that I have been able to make this dish even healthier. The recipe and method stay exactly the same irrespective of whether you use rice or quinoa. So here goes.

Ingredients
1 tbsp ghee or oil
1/8 tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp cumin seeds
a pinch of asafoetida/hing
7-8 curry leaves
1-2 green or red chillies, to taste
1 onion, diced into small pieces
1 tomato, diced into small pieces
2 cups of frozen vegetables mix (washed) or you can cut fresh vegetables like potato, carrots, green bell pepper, green beans etc. into bite sized pieces
1 cup tur dal/pigeon peas
1 cup rice or quinoa
4-5  tsp bisibele bhath masala
1 tsp tamarind pulp (you can use store bought pulp or make fresh paste)
salt to taste
6 cups water

Method
Mix the dal and rice/quinoa and rinse the mixture 2-3 times with water and set aside.
In a pressure cooker, heat the oil and add the mustard and cumin seeds. Once they start to crackle, add the hing and curry leaves and chillies. Next add the onions and let them cook. Once they start to turn a little brown, add the tomatoes and let this cook till the tomatoes are cooked through. Then add the diced vegetables mix and stir. Let the vegetables fry for a minute and then add the dal and rice/quinoa mixture and mix all the ingredients well. Then add the bisibele bhath masala to this and again mix well so that all the vegetables and grains are coated with the masala. Then add the water, the tamarind paste and salt. Stir once and then close the lid on the pressure cooker and cook it based on how much time it takes to cook tur dal in your cooker. It takes about 3-4 whistles in my cooker. Serve this hot with ghee/clarified butter, accompanied with some raita and chips or papad.

Tips
Bisibele bhath when hot is runny and very soft. It thickens as it cools down.
Quinoa is rather small, so when you rinse it, it is difficult to drain the water using your fingers or a colander. So I use a tea strainer to catch the quinoa and drain the water.
To make tamarind paste from tamarind, soak a lime sized ball of tamarind in a little warm water (just enough to cover it). You can even microwave it for 20-30 seconds. Then squeeze out the pulp and use the tamarind. Cut the green chillies lengthwise, so they will be easy to spot and you can remove it later. I generally taste a little bit of the water to determine if I need to add more salt or spices when I make such rice dishes.

Chunky Vegetable Soup - Healthy, Delicious and Low Fat

I have been quite busy for the past couple of months, spending time with family and visiting them and I have a lot of catching up to do with regards to my blog. I am hoping to be more regular with the posts.

Today's recipe is absolutely delicious and suprisingly very healthy. I had bought ingredients to make minestrone soup and didn't get around to making it. After a couple of days I realised that some of the vegetables would spoil if not used soon. It also happened that I didn't have a lot of time to cook that evening and I wanted to put dinner together real quick. So, in an attempt to use those vegetables and also cook in under 30 minutes, I decided to make this soup and fried rice. The result was just delicious. The fried rice turned out scruptious too, but that is another recipe. Another great feature of this recipe is that it is made with very less amount of oil and as a result is very healthy. I can't wait to eat this again.

Ingredients
1/2 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 tsp dry basil leaves
1 zuccini, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cups of vegetable stock
salt to taste
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

Method
In a deep pan, heat the oil and add the onions and garlic and let them cook till the onion is transparent. Then add the basil and stir. Next, add the carrots and cook for a couple of minutes till they are slightly softened. Next add the zuccini and again cook till slightly softened. Then add the can of tomatoes, stir and then the vegetable stock. Bring the soup to a boil. You can let it boil for a couple of minutes till it is slightly thickened.  Add salt as needed. This is a clear soup and the broth will not be thick. Enjoy hot.

Tips
Taste the soup before adding additional salt to it as the vegetable stock will already have salt. It is easy to forget that and it may result in the soup being too salty. You can substitute vegetable stock with any other stock or even water. You can also use fresh tomatoes. If you do, then use at least 4 tomatoes. The base of the soup has a tomato flavor and that should be the prominent vegetable. It does take longer for the tomatoes to cook if you add fresh ones to the pan and then boil them in stock or water. Alternately, you can cook the tomatoes separately in a pressure cooker. Cook for one whistle and then use these instead of the canned tomatoes in the recipe.

Vegetarian Burrito- An Incredibly Flexible Recipe

This is one of those easy recipes that you can pull together with ready made, store bought ingredients or make most of them a day previously and put them together when you are ready to eat. Another great feature of this recipe is that it is very flexible. You can change many of the ingredients based on what you have in the pantry and your fridge. The main components are tortillas, rice, beans and you can add different vegetable and salsas and make it as decadent or as healthy you want. You will notice that a lot of ingredients in this recipe are optional or ones that can be substituted for something else.

 Ingredients (for 1 burrito)
1 large tortilla - whole wheat/ flour/ corn
2 tbsps cooked rice
2 tbsps cooked beans - red or black beans (can use canned or read tips)
1 tbsp fresh salsa
ready made salsas- to taste (optional)
hot sauce - to taste
avacado (can be used instead of guacamole- optional)
shredded cheese - mexican blend/mozarella/cheddar
sour cream (optional)
guacamole (optional)
pinch of cumin powder
bell pepper, sliced- green, red/orange/ yellow (optional)
onion, sliced (optional)
1 tsp oil
cilantro
salt, to taste

Method
In a pan heat the tsp of oil and once hot, add the sliced onion and cook till softened and light brown. Then add the sliced bell pepper and cook till the bell pepper is cooked through. Alternately you can also cook this on the grill for a smoky flavor.

Add a little oil (optional) in a pan and then add the cooked beans to the pan with a little water (about 2 tbsp). Then add the cumin powder to it and a little salt to flavor these beans. Set them aside. It is now time to assemble the burrito.

Warm up the tortilla. In the center, add the cooked rice. Top it with beans and then add the cooked onions and bell pepper mixture. Next add the salsas that you want. These can be fresh or store bought. Then add guacamole if you have some ready or avocado. It gives a nice decandent taste to the burrito and you can easily skip the sour cream. Then add a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle cheese on it. If you like your burrito hot, then add some hot sauce into the burrito itself. Sprinkle a little cilantro. Then fold the burrito to create a neat packet. A complete meal created in a matter of minutes.

Tips
You can use canned beans, which are pre-cooked. If you want to start from scratch, then soak the dry beans overnight and then cook the beans with water in a covered pan, by boiling it till the beans are softened. Or you can cook the soacked beans in a pressure cooker. It takes about 5-10 whistles in my cooker depending on how well the beans have been soaked and is much quicker than waiting for it to cook in the pan.
The grilled pepper and onions mixture is called Fajita and you can even grill these.  The grilled smoky flavor really flavors the burrito. This addition is optional.
Guacamole or just plain avacado adds a buttery rich taste and is a great substitution to the sour cream. The plus point is that avocado has healthy fat, rich in omega 3. You can also whip up some yogurt and use it instead of sour cream.
When you cook rice, add a little salt to flavor the rice and then you can mix in chooped cilantro into the warm rice which will impart a nice herby flavor to the rice. You can also squeeze some lime on it for additional flavor.
You can also use chapatis instead of tortillas.