Kathi Roll

Veggie Burger

Fennel-Apple Pasta Salad/ Summer pasta salad

We are off to a summer picnic with friends and decided to make a cool summery pasta salad. I have always loved the concept of a good pasta salad but never liked the mayonnaise-filled-mess which seems to be so prevalent. Developed this recipe (obviously after some search on the internet) around the juicy, delicate fennel which I picked up at the Farmer’s market in Carrboro. Fennel and apple are a classic combination. I have added some dried fennel seeds to kick up the fennel flavor and some red chilli flakes for the heat at the end of the bite. I wish I could add something more to make the sald more colorful but the flavor of the fennel is so delicate that I am always worried about overwhelming the mild sweet licorice flavor.

4 cups boiled bow-tie or any short cut pasta

Below ingredients finely chopped –
½ apple
1 medium sized cucumber
1 medium sized tomato (deseeded, seeds make it watery)
1 banana pepper
A handful of Fennel fronds for garnish

Thin slivers of ½ a bulb of fennel

Roughly chopped almonds, a handful (the more the better for me!)
1 ½ teaspoon fennel seeds – lightly crushed to release the flavours
½ teaspoon red chilli flakes
½ teaspoon sugar
Salt

For the dressing –
1 ½ teaspoon mustard
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ cup good extra virgin olive oil

Whisk the dressing ingredients together and set aside. Let the boiled pasta cool to room temperature before you start building the salad. Mix all the veggies, almonds, fennel etc and toss in the salad dressing. Garnish with the fennel fronds.

Spinach-Portobello Quesadilla and Cumin-Spring Onion Spiced Black Beans

I saw this quesadilla recipe on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" along with a poblano pepper sauce.  Will have to try the poblano sauce soon, but here is my version of the quesadilla.  I tried to make a simple recipe.  The original recipe called for marinating the mushrooms etc, but I skipped those steps since the intention was to create a quick recipe for an easily packable lunch.

Spinach-Portobello mushroom quesadilla

4 small tortillas
1/4 red onion, finely sliced
1 portobello mushroom, sliced (baby bellas will also work)
3 cups baby spinach, (rough chop if using regular spinach)
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 jalapeno pepper (deseeded and finely chopped)
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
salt to taste
olive oil
grated Mozarella cheese or mexican blend

Filling:  Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet.  Once the oil warms up, add garlic, jalapeno pepper, sesame seeds and cumin powder and slightly saute for 30 seconds.  Add the onion and saute for a minute.  Add the mushrooms followed by vinegar, once the mushrooms have warmed through.  Stir well and add spinach.  Mix in salt and sugar and take off the heat after about a minute when the spinach wilts a little bit.

I use a non stick skillet to assemble my quesadillas. Place cheese, filling, cheese n half of the tortilla and fold over the other half.  I prefer mozarella because I find it holds a quesadilla better due to its stickiness.

Cumin-spring onion spiced black beans

Olive oil
1  jalapeno, deseeded and finely chopped
2 sping onions, finely chopped green and white parts
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 can of black beans, 16 oz
1-2 teaspoon lemon juice (as per taste)
salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

For me, a mixture of jalapeno, cumin powder, paprika and lemon juice is the essence of mexican cooking.  I may be completely wrong about this, but thats "mexican" in my kitchen!

Start wih a tablespoon of olive oil and add jalapenos, spring onions, cumin and paprika when the oil is warm.  Once the onions sizzle and the aroma fills your kitchen (less than a minute), add black beans, salt and sugar.  The canned beans are cooked, so it will only take a minute or two for them to warm up and soak all the flavors.  Finish with a squirt of lemon juice.

Now, thats a weekday lunch-box I am looking forward too!  I made 4 quesadillas and beans, enough for Salil and I for two lunches.

Eggplant and Mushroom in Hotpot

Eggplant and mushroom hotpot - S2 at Gourmet Kingdom

A mild yet flavorful vegetarian dish, brings a nice balance along with the other hot and spicy entrees!

Eggplant in garlic sauce

at Gourmet Kingdom.
http://www.thegourmetkingdom.com/

Bhindi fry

Bhindi or Okra is a favorite of both Salil and I.  With its tremendous potential to become slimy, okra need to be handled with some love and care.  This is my version of a popular Indian vegetarian okra dish.  Its simple, yet packs some good flavor and great nutrients. 

Before I go into the ingredients, I wast to introduce everyone to Fenugreek seeds.  Known as "methi" in India, this is a green vegetable - a bit bitter and honestly, not my favorite.  The seeds also have the same bitterness but if used in reasonable small quantities, it adds a complexity to the flavors.  Below is the wikipedia link for the geeks - notice that its packaged and sold to many "supplement-loving-healthy-eaters" and it will be nice instead to just incorporate in our diets in some tasty way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenugreek

Now coming to the ingredients:

1 pound okra, cut legthwise into long thin strips
15 fenugreek seeds crushed into a corse powder in a mortar
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon asafoetida or hinga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asafoetida)
2 TBS vegetable/ canola oil
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/4 teapsoon sugar
2 TBS fresh lemon juice
salt
coriander leaves for garnishing

In a flat and wide saute pan, heat oil.  Test to see if it is hot enough - drop a cumin seed and the oil is hot if it foams.  To the hot oil, add the cumin, methi powder, hinga and turmeric.  Once the oil foams move things around for about 15 seconds and add the chopped okra.  Saute the okra for about 10 minites stirring occasionally.  By this time, there will be mucousy strings going through the pan.  Add salt, sugar and chilli powder, mix well and cober for about 10 minutes.  The duration of cooking will vary depending the okra.  I personally never use the frozen okra - its too wet for me and the point of bhindi fry is to get a semi-crisy end product. 

Remove the lid and add lemon juice.  The acid gets rid of the slimyness and helps to dry things up a bit. Let the okra sit on slightly high heat to crisp up.  The surface area of the pan and thin-ness of the vegetable will be the key here! Garnish with chopped coriander/cilantro.

Lemon juice and sugra cut through the bitterness of the fenugreek/methi seeds and makes for complex, multiple layers of flavor.

Overconfident cook!

This is a follow-up to yesterday's post "Stuffed Banana Peppers - Italian Style".  Now that I have become quite the over-confident cook, I posted the recipe here while the peppers were in the oven without quite waiting for the final outcome.  (Notice the picture in the original post is raw stuffed peppers waiting for the oven to heat up.)  Here is the little story of the aftermath.  Needless to say, Salil teased me to no end calling them "Pooping Peppers" and even made my failure public via facebook.  But, I am an honest cook and for the scores of friends and family who follow our blog and depend on us for the next big idea., I had to come out clean ;).

After spending so much time to carefully pipe the filling in the peppers through the small hole on the top, we baked them.  The stuffing swelled and out it came through the same little hole.

Well, I saw the recipe on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and decided  to make my own version.  After stuffing, they battered the peppers and deep fried them.  I guess the batter and an appropriate oil temperture held the stuffing inside.

I needed to skip the frying part and decided to bake them instead and found these delicate little stuffable peppers.  Lesson learnt - slit them lengthwise and stuff.  Apart from the accident, the whole thing was quite yummy :).

Thats what I love about failed experiments in the kitchen over failed experiments at my lab bench.....I can still eat them!!

Stuffed Banana Peppers - Italian style

For 2 portions

4 small banana peppers (choose small, straight for ease of filling)
2 tablespoons ricota cheese
2 teaspoons pesto (I used home made frozen pesto, store bought will do)
Zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup ground roasted cashewnuts (or whichever nut you like)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 finely chopped de-seeded serrano peppe
olive oil to make a tooth past consistency stuffing

Cut the top off from the pepper and patiently de-seed it through the small opening at the top.  Mix in the rest of the ingredients to make the stuffing.  Using a piping bag (small plastic bag with a corner cut), fill the peppers with the stuffing.  It takes some patience to push it all the way to the end.  I used the blunt end of a skewer to push the stuffing deeper.

Brush some oil and bake in an oven at 350C for 10-15 minutes.

A Georgian Dinner Night

Due to my ignorance about Georgian food, I have no idea what the name of this dish is. So, I am going to call it Spinach-Walnut Balls. We had this at my friend Svetalana's house when we went over for dinner. Guys, this is Georgia ex-USSR not the south of USA! The meal was excellent and this was a first opportunity for Salil and I to sample authentic Russain food. When we go to Genya's house, its all about Halwa and Tea. His mom and aunts need to visit more often :). Svetlana had prepared quite a spread but for me, this dish was the star for the surprise quotient. I approched it gingerly....big green balls! But I took a bite and was blown away. Below is the recipe which Svetalana told me and I guessed from the taste and flavors.

Fresh Spinach - washed and boiled
Garlic
Walnuts
Pomagranate seeds
Salt and Pepper
Sauted finely chopped onions

I eyeball everything and the quantities below are my educated guesses. So, am hopping that some of you are like me and will figure out a way to make it.

Boil the fresh spinach leaves, squeez the water out and put in a blender. For about 2 cups of processed spinach, add one big clove of garlic. Process it in a blender. To the spinach mixture, add half a cup of onions sauted - just transparent and soft, dont let them turn brown. Add about a cup of ground walnuts and  a tablespoon of pomogranate seeds. Season with salt and pepper and make into balls. Svetlana served them in a lettuce cup. I think it made a great side dish with our meal of beef and plum stew, salmon, bread with caviar and salmon-dill dip, russian salad with beets, carrots, potatoes and pickles and oven roasted rosemary potatoes. End of the meal was a mild green tea in Royal Albert tea-cups with a slice of a berry-torte.

Thanks Svetlana!