Quinoa Upma

I made this as an entry for a Breakfast items contest in my orkut community.
The only thing that differentiates this from a normal upma / uppittu recipe is the grain used.
Quinoa (pronounced as "keenwa" ) is a grain like seed of the plant.
It is a complete protein with very less fat. ( This is very good news for vegetarians ! )
Its high in fiber and provides a good source of iron and magnesium.
Its very easy to digest, making it a good choice for kids too.
Its a good substitute for rice / rice products like rava )

Quinoa is available in whole food stores and at Sprouts.
For every 1 cup of quinoa, add 1.5 times water and pressure cook for one whistle.
Alternatively , it can also be cooked over the stove top.




The recipe is as follows :

Ingredients :
1/2 C quinoa, washed , rinsed , drained.
1/2 onion , chopped / sliced thin
1/4 C diced bell pepper (of your choice, for more colour, use all 3 ! )
1/2 C mixed frozen veggies
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp dhania powder
1 tsp garam masala powder ( optional)
1 pinch ( black pepper powder)
1 - 2 tsp salt ( or to taste)

Seasoning :
2 tsp canola oil
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp jeera
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 - 3 red chillies
2 -3 curry leaves
1 pinch hing
2 - 3 tsp peanuts (optional)

Method:
1. Cook the quinoa either in the pressure cooker or on the stove stop.
2. Fluff the grains with a fork. Set aside.
3. Prepare seasoning in the pan in which you plan to make the upma.
4. Heat oil on medium flame. Add peanuts, urad dal, jeera , mustard seeds.
When the mustard starts spluttering, add hing, red chillies, curry leaves and fry for a few more seconds.
5. Add the onion and the ginger and fry until onion is slightly cooked.
6. Then add the bell pepper and the mixed veggies and cook until the bell pepper is slightly soft ( you dont want mushy vegetables).
7. Add the jeera , dhania, garam masala , black pepper powders. Also add the salt.
8. Mix thoroughly.
9. Now add the cooked quinoa and mix well with a gentle hand.
10.Taste for flavour and adjust accordingly.
11.You can add lemon juice and coconut for more flavour.
12.Garnish with coriander leaves and serve !





This can be paired up with a nice milkshake and served as brunch !
Try it and let me know !

Hearty apologies for the bad pictures, these come from my cell phone !

The Bindi Club ??

Seems like a very strange title for a post, right ? Outside the Indian community, I am not sure how many people are aware of what a bindi is and what its significance is ...A short explanation seems to be in order then...A Bindi (from the Sanskrit word 'bindu' meaning a dot ) is a forehead decoration worn traditionally by women from India..It used to signify the married status for women, but nowadays its no longer relegated for that purpose alone...Bindis come in various colours, shapes, can be stuck to the forehead or can even be painted on ! Its no longer restricted to the Indian community, either !
Continuing from where I left off before I began the definition of the 'red dot', I recently read a book with the alluring title of 'The Hindi-Bindi Club'. Its written by American author Monica Pradhan, who is of Indian origin. I had to wait a long time before I could get my hands on a copy from the local library; there seemed to be quite a demand for it.. Not surprising...I loved the book ! ( Now don't worry, I am not going to review the book ! My (ahem..) talents don't run in that direction..I decided to write this post because that book struck a chord in me ..Read on and you'll know why !
The story is about a group of friends, three women , in fact who immigrated to the US about 30 years back and have made their lives there.
They come to know each other through mutual acquaintances and although they come from different states and backgrounds, they quickly form a bond and a friendship for life. At the time of the story, these women are about 60 years old, each of them has a daughter, each has a different kind of a relationship with her daughter. The story unfolds with some twists and turns. The reader is regaled with phrases in native languages ( Marathi, Punjabi and Bengali, to be precise ) and is also presented with numerous recipes (yes, actual working recipes) of different mouth watering native delicacies...(In case you are wondering, I have already tried a couple of the recipes and they turned out very well indeed..I cant wait to try out some more ! )
I could relate more to the "Aunties" in the book rather than the contemporary daughters ...Not surprising, perhaps, because even though seperated in time by almost 40 years, I am in the same position that the mothers were in, when they first left their home countries and came to the States..Granted that life for Indians is less traumatic now than it must have been four decades back, there is no dearth of Indian groceries or Indian entertainment. Scores of Indian families dot the communities, in case you want to make friends, most major American cities have temples for the religious minded. In fact, but for one fact, its almost as if you never left India at all !
That fact is the absence of close family, a support structure, a warm blanket of love and understanding and empathy that is not available anywhere else in the world at any cost.
It is to make up for this absence of family that the fictional Hindi Bindi club came into existence. Without divulging anything from the book, I will just reveal that the American daughters named the get-togethers of their mothers because they wore bindis and spoke in Hindi (The national language of India). The friends were able to create a surrogate support structure, one that they could rely on in times of strife and happiness, a kind of an extended family that might speak different languages but would still be able to relate to their individual experiences and opinions.
Drawing a parallel from the book, when I compared my life to that of the mothers in the book, I realized that I wanted to be a part of such a group as well. To belong in a group of people with whom I could share my anxieties, my fears, my joys. To be able to narrate an anecdote and have them understand. To be able to share in their celebrations. To console and be consoled when in pain. To be able to raise children together. To be able to create a surrogate family. To be able to enjoy life together.
It also struck me that I already have the makings of my own bindi club..I have a wonderful group of friends, who might not always agree with each other on every point, but are always willing to listen to the others' opinions. Friends who are willing to help under any circumstance and are also willing to ask for help, if needed. Friends who welcome us into their homes like family and are always willing to be a part of ours.
Here's to my very own Bindi club, may we have many more years of friendship bestowed upon us, may we only become closer in our relationships, may we become more open minded and understanding, may we dispel each others' fears and give each other hope,
may we travel together on our journey by clearing the thorns and sharing the blossoms !!!

Towe - Simple comfort food

Every once in a while, I get tired of cooking dishes that are rich with spices or laden with a whole lot of vegetables. My palate craves for simple meals that soothe the stomach as well as fill it up without burdening it with too many calories..
That is when I dish up a simple lentil soup which is the basic recipe that almost every Indian has savoured. Its known simply as Daal in Hindi , consumed as Varan by Maharashtrains and slurped up as Towe by Kannadigas ! This is one of those recipes that would vastly help a beginner cook or an ambitious bachelor trying to navigate the way in the kitchen.
(Now if only I could motivate my brother to learn how to make this recipe, it would be a great change for him from his almost daily curd rice dinner menu !!! )

Without further ado :

Towe



Ingredients:

1 Cup Tuvar Daal (can be substituted with Masoor Dal or even Moong Dal )
1 tomato - diced
1 - 2 green chillies, slit and chopped into two pieces
1/2 inch fresh ginger, grated or chopped finely.
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt (or to taste)

For Tempering :

1 tsp ghee ( canola/ vegetable oil can also be used )
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp jeera
1 generous pinch of asafoetida

For Garnishing
few springs of fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves - washed and chopped finely)
couple of tsp of fresh grated coconut


Method:

1. Boil the dal along with the green chillies,ginger, tomato and turmeric, with at least 2 Cups of water.
I usually use the pressure cooker ( 3 whistles) for this, but the dal can be boiled directly on the stove as well.
2. Once the dal is boiled, add salt, more water to get the correct consistency and boil again.
3. Meanwhile prepare the tempering. Heat the ghee or oil, add the mustard seeds and the jeera seeds and heat through until the mustard seeds start spluttering. Take off the heat, add the asafoetida, mix well and pour slowly over the dal.
4. Garnish with coriander leaves and coconut and serve hot over a bed of steaming white rice !
5. You can also sprinkle some black pepper for a stimulating taste.

This is wonderful with a dollop of ghee on top, but it can easily be skipped for the figure conscious population :-)
Its really really simple recipe, doesn't ask for too many ingredients, of course there are several ways to jazz this recipe up, if you are up to it ! For added variations, a handful of peas or diced potato can also be added to the daal before cooking it.

The dal and the rice provide complete protein. if you add vegetables to the daal, that's an added bonus ! For me, this rustic, simple recipe is almost a comfort food...When the weather cools and temperatures dip, enjoying the daal and rice is as good as wrapping a warm blanket around me ! Try it !!

Baking Bread - From scratch !

When I have time to indulge in , all I like to do is hop , from one fabulous blog to another.
In doing so, I have come to one conclusion - food bloggers out there are extremely talented !!!
To get fussy kids to eat and more importantly like what they eat, takes creativity of an entirely new level.Each blog that I visit, adds so many more recipes to my repertoire and more importantly stretches my mind just that bit, allowing me to see how much I can let my fledgling imagination soar and work wonders in the kitchen.
Well...I have miles to go before I reach that level of expertise, but every journey must begin with a single step. And every goal of becoming an experienced bread baker must begin with the first loaf of bread ! With such an exalted aspiration, I began scouring the virtual kitchens for easy sounding bread recipes. Most of them sounded either too intimidating or too time consuming..Eventually I stumbled upon this recipe ..
I decided to try it out and was nothing short of stupefied at the result !!!

I couldn't believe at the delicious looking and smelling loaf that came out of my oven and sat alluringly on my counter top ! When it finally cooled and let itself be sliced into generous sized slices, I was more than glad that I had embarked on this quest to try my hands at making bread from scratch ! It was crusty and crispy on the outside and tender inside...perfect !

I followed Trent's recipe to the letter, so I will not bother writing it up again, until I have enough courage to tweak it and make it my recipe ! I have already made this loaf twice now and anticipate making it again and again with different flours and flavours !
Will keep you posted !


Notes:

• I do not own a stand mixer and did the kneading by hand. For the dough that is required for a couple of loaves' worth, I didnt find it too hard to do the kneading. As has been mentioned in scores of blogs, it is indeed therapeutic to get your CLEAN hands into the dough and knead it until it goes from a sticky messy mass to a smooth, round , impressive looking ball of dough.

• I have only used white unbleached bread flour. I intend foraying into whole wheat and whole grain breads, because I am not too fond of including white bread in our diets.

• Temperature of water, freshness of yeast and allowing the dough to rise are very important to the end result !

I will leave you with some pictures and some links to expert bakers who can explain thge process so much cleary than I can !


http://www.thefreshloaf.com
http://ayearinbread.earthandhearth.com
http://breadbasketcase.blogspot.com

No doubt there are loads of helpful and expert resources available on the internet as well as in your local public libraries.I am just listing a few that make me drool every time I see the pictures!

Do you have any bread recipes that you rely on ? Do you have any tips and tricks that would make it easier for novice bakers to attempt this wonderful art ? Do share !

Green Thumb Series:Enthralling Flowers !

This is a continuation of my previous post in the same series.
This year being our first attempt at gardening, TH and I tentatively began with only a few flowering shrubs. One of the first ones that we purchased was a hibiscus plant (actually two). Hibiscus shrubs are very common in India and almost every backyard is home to at least one plant, if not more. The hibiscus flowers come in various colours, each more brilliant and enthralling than the previous one !
Although short lived ( they stay fresh on the plant for only a day), they provide a burst of blooming freshness and colour throughout their flowering season.
The hibiscus is not planted for only aesthetic purposes, however. The entire plant can be used in a variety of ways.

• The seeds are used for their oil .
• The leaves and fruits have diuretic properties.
• Leaves are also used in some parts of the world as a soothing cough remedy.
• Hibiscus flower extract is also used for liver disorders and high blood pressure.

There are recorded culinary uses as well !

• Tender leaves and stalks are eaten in salads.
• The flowers are also used in jams, jellies and the like.
• A good friend has also posted a very delicious sounding idli recipe made with the leaves of the white hibiscus plant.

People familiar with Indian deities should also note that hibiscus flowers, especially red ones, are considered to be the favourite flower of Lord Ganesh.

That done, here are a few pictures of my thriving hibiscus plants. The only problem being, these are not tropical hardy hibiscus, which means that in all probability, these beauties will not survive the winter here. That would really be a shame.
Had I known in advance, I would have either opted to plant these in big containers or would have gone for the hardy variety.I guess all I can do now is take some cuttings from these plants, mulch them heavily, and pray for a tiny gardening miracle !


How can any self respecting aspiring gardener not have roses ? With hundreds of varieties to choose from, getting a few is that much easier (or that much harder, depending on how you look at it :-) )
These are the fragrant flora that bloomed in my front yard !


I couldnt resist taking a picture of this okra bud in my vegetable garden !



I will leave you for the moment with these few peeks into my humble garden. Hopefully I will have more pictures to share!
Until then, may the grass be always greener on your side of the fence !