Moroccan vegan chick pea stew/Soup

Moroccan cuisine is totally new to me. After lavi announced the IAVW- Moroccan event , I had been browsing the net for some vegan moroccan recipes and found a few recipes suitable for the event. I did not have one or the other ingredients and kept postponing and finally it is the last day for the event and am posting a very hurried entry to Lavi. But it was really interesting cooking something which closely resembled the Indian cuisine, yes even the spices and flavours.
The stew with chick peas went very well with my rotis. I would say it tasted good, but not great!! You can find the original recipe here. I omitted a few ingredients which was not available with me, though I am not sure how much it would have altered the taste. Here's how I made it. Look for the original recipe if you are trying for the authentic taste.

Ingredients-

Chick peas - 1 can or a cup soaked overnight and cooked in pressure cooker till soft
Olive oil- 1tbsp (I used canola oil)
Onion- 1 large chopped
Garlic- 3 cloves chopped
Cinnamon powder- 1tsp
Cumin powder- 1tsp
Black pepper powdered- 1tsp or more
Tomatoes/tomato puree - 2 chopped
Spinach- 2cups chopped
Salt- to taste
Sugar- 1tsp

Method-
Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onions and saute till they turn translucent. Then add the garlic and saute for some more time. Add the spices along with the chick peas,tomatoes and sugar and mix well. Add water /vegetable broth till the chick peas are immersed. Add salt. Cover and cook for around 35 minutes.
Now try mashing the chick peas with a potato masher. Add the chopped spinach and cook till it wilts(only for a few minutes). Add salt and pepper if necesary drizzling a little olive oil on it.

I am sending this entry for Lavi's IAVW- Moroccan event, a vegan food event started by Vaishali.

Strawberry jam

Berries are in plenty now and each time I visit the supermarket, the strawberries and blueberries are too tempting to resist buying them even if I know that I may not find time to use them in my cooking or baking. But I did mange to make a strawberry jam and a blueberry cake(will be posting later) and then finished a tub of blueberries by just popping a few into my mouth everytime I opened the fridge and another tub is still lying in my fridge waiting to be used in something good. I hope so!!
My son loves to have his rotis with jams and I thought it was a good idea to make different jams and preserves with the fresh fruits available. Actually , I found the recipe in a Tarla dalal's microwave cookbook. But I made it on the stove top using the same ingredients. I did not use pectin. So here's how I made it.

Ingredients-
Strawberries- 1 1/2 cup (chopped)
Sugar- 3/4 cup (Add more if strawberries are tart)
Lime juice- 1 1/2 tbsp

Method-
Mash the chopped strawberries a little. Heat a pan and add the strawberries. Add the Sugar and stir till it mixes well. Keep in a low flame and keep stirring in between for about 20 -25 minutes. Then add the lemon juice and stir. Place a drop of the jam on a clean plate. If its runny, stir for some more time. If it stays in one place, then remove from flame. The jam is ready.
Store it in clean sterile bottle.
To sterilize bottle, immerse the clean bottle in water and boil for 15-20 minutes. Also you can place them in a hot oven for sometime.

I am sending this to Happy cook who is hosting strawberry feast event in her blog.

Capsicum chutney

Climate in Singapore is so hot and keeps on changing everyday. As a result , both me and my son are affected by this and so blogging had to take a back seat and other things kept me busy. So this is the reason for the silence.I hope everything comes back to normal soon.
Meanwhile I made this chutney with capsicum the other day and it tasted great. I had seen some similar chutney recipes in different blogs using red and yellow coloured peppers and was quite tempting. As I had green peppers in hand, I used them. It goes well with chapatis. This is really something different than the usual curries made with capsicum.
I am sending this for the AFAM - Bell pepper event being hosted by priya, an event started by Maheshwari.
And yes one more thing, I had updated my craft blog last week and forgot to mention it here. Do have a look in case you interested in looking at a cute picture made with glitter colours.

Ingredients-

Capsicum- 2 chopped
Onion- 1 chopped
Garlic- 2 to 3 cloves chopped
Green chillies- 2 chopped (add more if you can take the heat.)
Salt- to taste
Peanuts- 1/2cup
Oil- 2tsp
Cumin seeds-1tsp
Asafoetida- 1/2tsp

Method-
Roast the peanuts and de skin them.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. Then add the garlic and green chillies along with onions and fry till the onion turn translucent. Then add the chopped capsicum and salt and saute till they turn tender.
Now blend this in cooked mixture in a blender along with peanuts.
Serve with rotis.

Set dosa

I think this is a popular delicacy in karnataka. My aunt in bangalore made this when I visited her and it was good. There's only a slight modification to the usual dosa.A nice breakfast recipe, so I am sending this to divya who is hosting the "show your breakfast" event. Here's the recipe for it.

Ingredients-

Raw rice- 2cups
udid dal-1 cup
Poha - 1/2cup
Sabudana/sago - 1tbsp
Fenugreek seeds- 1/tsp
Salt- 1tsp
Oil- 1/2 cup

Method-
Soak all the ingredients overnight. Grind this to a smooth paste. The consistency should be like that of a dosa batter. Pour a ladleful of batter on the tava/girdle and spread it into a circle (with the bottom of the ladle) ,slightly thicker than the usual dosas. Pour some oil on the sides of the dosa and cook them on both the sides till it turns into golden brown.
Serve hot with sambar and coconut chutney.

Round up of SWC- Cooking with greens part 2

I am so glad that you liked the spinach round up part 1. As some of you have stated , it sure would be a good reference when you want to cook the healthy greens in some unique way. In this round up , I will present to you all the other different greens. Hope you enjoy them.

Please do click on the Images for enlarged pictures/for viewing the photo gallery).

Coriander


First row
1. Tangy green salad by notyet100
2. Bari chutney by notyet100
3. Kothimeera dosa by Uma
4. Kothamalli morkozumbu by Sowmya

Second row
1. Coriander pulao by Sowmya
2. Vankaya kothimeera karam by kavya
3. Kothamalli thokku by sree vidya
4. Dhania paneer by Pinky

Third row
1.Coriander and paneer pulao by Priya
2.Cilantro yogurt chutney by kavya
3. Aloo peas in cilantro gravy by kavya
4. Potato fry with coriander chutney by priti


Mint




First row
1. mint tamarind chutney by Srinitya
2. spicy mint pesarattu moong dal dosa by Uma
3. Mint and lima beans khichdi by srilakshmi
4. Mint rice by Nandini
5. Pudina kothamalli powder by my scrawls

Second row
1. Mint rasam by viki xavier
2. Mint leaf chutney by viki xavier
3. Mint bengal gram brown rice quinoa by A2Z vegetarian cuisine
4. Minty cashew peas pulao by Priya
5. Mint pakoda by Priya

Third row
1. Mint leaves rasam by Priya
2. Mint Coriander rasam by Pooja
3. Pudina chutney by sapthanna abhilashini
4.5. Repeated images


Methi/Fenugreek


First row
1. Aloo methi fry by Sapthanaa abhilashini
2. Methi chapati by Sapthanaa Abhilashini
3. Methi rice by home cooked Oriya food
4. Vendhaya keerai masiyal by Hema

Second row
1. Methi aloo by srilakshmi
2. Aloo methi by Padma
3. Methi na muthiya Dhokla by A2Zvegetarian cuisine
4. Methi paratha by Sowmya(creative Saga)


Drumstick Greens



First row
1. kayal's drumstick leaves adai
2. Drumstick greens by Malar gandhi

Second row
1. Iron adai by Nithya
2. Go green dosa by Nithya


Brahmi



1. Brahmi/timare tambli by Sush
2. Brahmi Thuvayal by Sush

Gongura /sorrel leaves




1. Gongura pickle by srilakshmi
2. Gongura leaves pachadi by sireesha

Cabbage/lettuce



First row
1.Salad greens with orange balsamic dressing by Ning(heart and hearth)
2. Lettuce and chinese cabbage sabji by sapthaana Abhilashini

Second row
1. Evergreen italian salad with nuts by A2Zvegetarian cuisine
2. Cabbage channa dal by priti(Indian khana)
3. Jain cabbage subji by priya

Broccoli



First row
1. Broccoli pirattal by Sapthanaa Abhilashini
2. Srilankan broccoli fry by Priya

Second row
1. Broccoli gratin by Lisa Henderson
2. Broccoli uralakizhanga uperi by prajusha
3. Instant microwaved broccoli pachadi by Priya

Bokchoy




1. Bokchoy stir fry by Priya
2. Bokchoy poricha kootu by priya

Curry leaves



1. curry leaves chutney by kayal
2. Karivepillai podi rice by lavi

Sping onions



1. Sping onions piratal by Sapthanna abhilashini
2. spring onion stir fry by pooja sekar


Recipes with 2 or more greens



First row
1. Kuku subji by Pooja
2.Authentic spinach methi gota pakoda by A2Zvegetarian cuisine
3. Spinach celery soup by A2Zvegetarian cuisine

Second row
1. Methi mint multigrain paratha by A2Zvegetarian cuisine
2. Spinach mint rice by Dipali
3. Sindhi Saibhaji by Avisha

Other Unique recipes with greens



First row
1. Stamnaggathi by Ivy of kopiaste
2.Green chard stir fry by usha(my spicy kitchen)
3. Swiss chard masiyal by cham

Second row
1. Collard green stir fry by Cham
2. Kale leaf stir fry by viki xavier
3. Stir fry raddish greens by Indrani

Third row
1. Stir fry water cress by Indrani
2. Sarson ka saag by yasmeen
3. Chilled cucumber dill soup By valarmathi

Spinach(contd from part 1st)
(including some entries updated later)











1. Garlic greens by Nithi
2. Keerai parappu kootu by abhilashini Sapthanaa
3. Dill and spinach rice by Divya rao (updated recently)

So here ends the round up of SWC cooking with greens. I have taken care in the compilation so that I don't miss anything. But in case I have left out any entries , please do tell me in the comment section or you can mail me at creativesaga@gmail.com. Please check if the entries are properly linked to your site. I sincerely apologise if I have missed out your entries.

Do visit each others blogs through the links provided to view the recipes and also check out medicinal values and other information for each of these greens.

And I do thank each one of you for your active participation and lovely entries to make the event a success.
Don't forget to have your daily cup of greens!!!
Round up of part 1st (spinach)- http://creativesaga.blogspot.com/2009/06/round-up-of-swc-cooking-with-greens.html

Round up of Swc- Cooking with Greens part-1

I am so glad to present the round up of my first event Swc-Cooking with greens. Before that, I would like to summarize a few things. First, I would like to thank Lakshmi of taste of mysore who allowed me to host the SWC event this month. Then I would like to thank all the bloggers who participated in the event. Special thanks to enthusiastic bloggers who send me more than 5 to 10 entries. I received a total of 112 entries. So to round up the entries, I have cateogorised them into few groups according to the different greens used in the recipe.
In this part, I have presented the recipes ,with spinach as the star ingredient. Spinach in the sense, could be the keerai varieties, palak, chinese spinach, amaranth etc. In the next and final part, I will be presenting rest of the greens such as mint, fenugreek, mustard greens etc.
So here goes the recipes using spinach. I sincerely hope you enjoy the round up!!

Click on the image or click here to view the photo gallery.





First Row

1. Palak chole stir fry by veggie food journal
2. spinach poriyal by Padma
3. Vallarai keerai sambal by Abhilashini Sapthana
4. Palak egg fry by kavya
5. Aloo palak fry by kavya
6. Arakeerai muttai poriyal by abhilashini sapthanaa
7. Palak soya fry by kavya
8. Tomato spinach omelette by A2z vegeterian cuisine

Second Row

1. Plain palak curry by A2Zvegeteriancuisine
2. Palak paneer by SGD
3. Palong shaak sheddo by SGD
4. Mashed Spinach dal by Padma
5. Spinach kootu by Usha nandini
6. Palak paneer by Sreevidya
7. Spinach Moong dal saag by Priti
8. Spinach rice by Divya Vikram

Third Row

1. Mudhu Palya by LG
2. Keerai morkootu by Sowmya
3. Palak paratha by Sharmistha
4. Palak Saag by priti
5. Agathi keerai thuvaran by Sukanya
6. Mulai keerai kadaiyal by Kayal
7. Baked spinach koftas by Parita
8. Arakeerai kulambu by abhilashini sapthanaa

Fourth Row

1. Aloo palak by Pratibha
2. Lasooni palak by jyothi
3. Totakoora mamadikaaya pappu by Rekhas kitchen
4. Spiced creamy spinach by Priya
5. Water spinach stir fry by priya
6. Aloo palak tikki by Priya
7. Spinach with mixed vegetables by Indranid
8. Spinach mango pakoda by Vineeela Siva

Last Row

1. Minestrone soup by pooja
2. Spanakopita by pooja
3. Thotakoora pesarupappu podi koora by Pratibha
4. Spinach raitha by sowmya(creative saga)
5. Palak shorba of preeti(khaugiri)
6. 7. 8. repeated images in the collage

* Keerai pappu kootu By sapthanaa Abhilashini (also a recipe with spinach) was not included in the collage. It will be presented in the next part.

Ok, here I sign off and see you soon with the next part of greens. Enjoy!!!

Spinach raitha

This is a healthy and a simple side dish with spinach which goes very well with all kind of mixed rice variety and I usually make this for Bisi bela bhaat. Several years ago , I had tasted this at my cousins place and loved it so much,that it has become a regular thing at home. This one goes to my SWC- cooking with greens event.

Ingredients-
Spinach- a bunch chopped fine
Oil- 1tsp
Mustard- 1tsp
Green chillies- 1 chopped
Curd- 2tbsp
Salt- 1tsp

Method-

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and green chillies. Then add the chopped spinach and saute for around 5 minutes till it cooks well. Don't overcook it and don't add water making it mushy. Add salt and mix well.
Add this cooked spinach to the curd and stir till it mixes well.
Serve with any kind of mixed rice.

Thanks a lot for sending me your entries for the SWC- Cooking with greens event. I have received fairly large number of entries and am so happy about your active participation. You still have a few hours left to send the entries, so please do so if you haven't already. Do send me the email to include your entry in the round up. I will post the round up next week.

Kootu in microwave, Thengai burfi and a reminder!!!

Chow chow kootu in microwave

I remember having pestered my hubby to buy a microwave for me some 3 years back promising to use it in a very good way.I had told him microwave retains the nutrients in food, and if it had a grill and convection mode , I will get to try a lot of cakes and other wonderful things and so on...
I did bake a few cakes in the beginning and then tried out some indian delicacies too. Of course then I did bake many cakes , not in the convection option of my microwave oven, but in a huge in built convection oven I had in my new house. Microwave was then left only for reheating the food.
But no, not anymore, I really felt bad about it and decided to use it in a proper way now. And I started with a tamil sidedish called kootu.It tasted good and I am looking forward to use my microwave for many other purposes. And you guys will be seeing this!!!

Ingredients-

Chow chow/banagalore kathirikai/chokos- 1 chopped in cubes(You can also use ridge gourd, bottlegourd,snake gourd, a combination of vegetables)
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder- 1tsp
Tuvar dal- 1/2 cup soaked in hot water for 1 hour)

Tempering-
Mustard- 1tsp
Udid dal- 1tsp
Channa dal- 2tsp
Oil- 2tsp
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
Asafoetida- a pinch

To grind to a smooth paste-
Grated coconut- 1/2cup
Green chillies- 2
Jeera/cumin seeds- 1tsp

Method-

Add the oil in a microwave safe bowl along with the other ingredients mentioned under the heading 'tempering'. Microwave this for a minute using 100%power.
Then add the tuvar dal with 2tbsp of water and microwave again at 100% power for 3 minutes. Stir in between. Then add the chopped vegetable,salt and turmeric powder. Mix well. Microwave at 100% for 8 minutes stirring in after every 2-3 minutes. Ensure that the vegetables and the dal(lentils) is cooked well. If not, microwave for another 2 minutes.
Now add the ground paste. Mix thoroughly and microwave at 100%for another 2 minutes. Mix well.
Serve hot with sambar rice. Goes well with chapatis too.


Coconut burfi/thengai burfi

I have already posted thengai burfi in my blog. But I saw the recipe mentioned in chitramma's kitchen and found it really good and it did not use ghee. The measurements given are very accurate and the burfis were really good. So basically , this is for my records and will be following this recipe in future. Thank you Dibs for the wonderful recipe.

Ingredients-
Grated coconut- 1 coconut
Sugar- 2 tumblers
Milk- 1tumbler
I used a pinch of yellow colour. Thats totally optional.

Method

Mix all the ingredients together. Place this on a low flame and stir till sugar melt. Just keep stirring in between. When it thickens, it forms into a ball. Place this on a greased plate and flatten it with a ladle or knife. Allow to cool. Cut into squares or diamond when its still warm.
Store in a air tight container.


A gentle reminder-
Just 3 days lefts for the Swc- cooking with green event. So send in your entries before 6th of june . Do email me your entries, only then it can be included in the round up. Lot of entries have come up and am eagerly waiting for more!!!So hurry and send me your entries if you haven't already.