Easy Lentil and Veggie Kofta Curry

Lentil and Veggie Kofta Curry

Working from home has become the norm in the last year. It has its advantages because you don't have to commute and you can spend more time with family. The downside is that everyone in my household has been home for school or work and we had to figure out how to work cooperatively. It's been tough but we are working on it. 

One thing is for sure...working from home means more time to cook and experiment. In the beginning, we didn't do take out and cooked mostly at home. We tried to cook meals that weren't too fattening so we don't gain too much weight. 

We are constantly looking for new ingredients and recipes to refresh our meal plan. If you ever dined at IKEA, you'd know that they are known for their "balls" on the menu. Whether it is Swedish meatballs, chicken meatballs, or Veggie balls.  

Frozen Huvudroll Vegetable balls

The picture above is of the Vegetable balls, which are made from pea protein and vegetables. The serving size is 5 balls with 7 grams of protein in each serving.  

We incorporated these veggie balls and made curries; specifically kofta curry. The balls are the koftas so there is minimal preparation of the koftas. The most you have to do is make the gravy for this dish. It's so tasty. We wished we bought more of these Vegetable balls bags so we make this curry again. You won't be disappointed. 

Ingredients

• 15 frozen Huvudroll Vegetable balls*, microwaved for 1 to 2 minutes
• 1 cup Crushed tomato (alternately you can use 1/4 cup tomato paste)
• 1 medium onion, diced and crushed for few pulses
• 1/2 tsp chili powder (or as per taste)
• 1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 cup heavy cream*
• 1 cup water (or as needed)
• 1/2 tsp salt (or as per taste)
• 1/4 cup Fresh coriander/cilantro, chopped (optional)
• 1 Tbsp cooking oil (Vegetable, canola, coconut, or as per taste)
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp sugar

Procedure

1) Heat oil in a saucepan or a saute pan on medium heat. Add cumin seeds and when cumin sizzles, add crushed onion and stir fry it until transparent. Now, add chili powder and stir for about 10 seconds. Next, add ginger-garlic paste and garam masala. Stir again for another 30 seconds. Follow up with crushed tomato (or paste) and sugar. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes. 

2) Add the vegetable balls into the gravy and cook under a closed lid for 2 to 3 minutes to allow the balls to soften and absorb some spices.  Now, add water and salt, mix into the gravy and bring the curry to boil, mix in the heavy cream and cook for another couple of minutes. 

3) Remove from stove, transfer into the serving bowl and garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve hot with naan, roti, rice, or quinoa. 

Quick Tips

• You can substitute heavy cream with coconut cream, nut cream, or evaporated milk. Please note that the consistency may be a little different depending on what you use.
•  You can substitute the Huvudroll with other vegetable balls if there isn't an IKEA close by. Check out our other kofta curry recipe. 

Mushroom and Bell Pepper Schezwan Stir Fry

Inspiration can come to you at any given time...when you're dining at your favorite restaurant and you get a whiff of the dish that's passing by. 

When you are roasting a blend of spices and the aroma of these spices hits your nose just right and you think of your next dish.

It can also happen when you open your fridge and see the ingredients laid out in front you. I'm pretty sure the last one is what inspired my mom to make I will be talking about today. 

My mom likes Indo- Chinese cuisine; some dishes that she likes are Cauliflower Manchurian, Chili Paneer, and Szechuan noodles with vegetable stir fry. There are restaurants in my hometown that specialize in this cuisine but we can't go there all the time. Whenever we like a dish, we try to re-create it at home.

She likes the idea of vegetable tempura where the vegetables are lightly battered and fried. You can still taste the vegetable inside and it's crispy. She also likes the various sauces in Chinese cuisine that are spicy and salty. However, these sauces aren't always made with vegetarian ingredients. That's when she discovered Ching's Secret products. Ching's Secret is an Indian brand of Indian Chinese cuisine with a product portfolio which includes instant noodles, instant soups, Desi Chinese masala, sauces and Schezwan chutney.

With vegetables: white button mushrooms, bell peppers, and onions...and the Ching's Secret Schezwan sauce in hand, she sprang into action to create something yummy.

Ingredients
- 8 oz white button mushrooms (large size), sliced
- 2 medium green bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1" cubes
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut into 1" cubes
- 2-1/2 to 3 Tbsp Ching's Schezwan sauce
- Approximately 1/2 cup of vegetable oil*, for frying 
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour* (add a pinch of salt to the all-purpose flour and mix it with some water to make a sauce like consistency for the batter)


Procedure

1) Toss the sliced mushroomed into the flour mixture or batter.

Heat oil in a saucepan on high to low medium flame and add the flour coated mushrooms into the oil, ensuring they lay flat in small batches.

2) Fry them for 5 minutes turning them over intermittently. When the mushrooms turn slightly brown, remove them from the oil and set aside. *Helpful hint: Let the mushrooms cool in a bowl covered with paper towel so it can absorb the excess oil.

Then, add handful of bell pepper pieces in the remaining batter and fry them too. Transfer the fried pieces into the bowl as well. 

Next, add the remaining bell pepper and onion into the oil and fry them lightly on medium to high heat. When they start to brown lightly, remove them and add them to the bowl with the other fried vegetables. 

3) Transfer the remaining oil and bring back the pan to the stove with medium heat and add all the vegetables, the Szechuan sauce and two pinches of salt. Mix well and stir fry with sauce for 3 to 4 minutes.

. 

4) Transfer into a serving dish and garnish with chopped scallions. This dish can be served as an appetizer or as a main dish with brown rice. 

We love re-creating dishes we tried when we go out for dinner. We can add our own little touch to them. We are so fortunate to have brands like Ching's Secret that make it easy for us to experiment with new cuisine.


*Quick Tips: 

• A low calorie and gluten free version of this recipe can be done by skipping the tempura frying with all-purpose flour. Quickly stir fry the veggies in 3 tablespoons of oil on high heat with a pinch of salt and toss them further with the Schezwan sauce.
• Not all of the oil is consumed in the final recipe

Bring Home the Tropics

Let's recap the events of the past few weeks: snow, more snow, and even more snow. Most of our time was spent shoveling, scraping, and salting our driveway, porch and cars for the umpteenth time. I know it sounds like I'm complaining but this is my way of venting and I know some of you feel my pain.

My sunny getaway

With all this awful weather, I just want to escape to a tropical island and relax. For now the vacation will have to wait...and since I can't go to the tropics, the tropics will have to come to me.

You're probably confused as to what I'm talking about...

While we sent my dad on a mission to the grocery store for some ingredients, my mom and I decorated our table with Hawaiian leis, lit some aromatic candles and made Pineapple Paneer Biryani for dinner. It almost felt like we were on an island with the beautiful setting and warm house.

Ingredients:

•Basmati Rice........................................... 4 cups
•Paneer (cottage cheese).......................... 6 oz (approx. 175g), cut into cubes
•Pineapple............................................... 1 small size fruit (or 20oz can of slices)
•Biryani masala / garam masala (mild)....... 1 ½ tbsp or adjust to desired spice intensity
•Peas & carrots (frozen)............................ 1 cup
•Red onion.............................................. 1 large, sliced finely
•Garlic.................................................... 4 pods, chopped finely
•Salt....................................................... ¾ tbsp or as per taste
•Cashews or almonds............................. 10 – 12 nuts chopped
•Vegetable oil......................................... 3 tbsp


Procedure:
1) Soak rice in plenty of water for 30 minutes. Core and cut fresh pineapple into cubes or cut the canned pineapple slices into ½” pieces.

2) Heat oil in a non-stick wok or Dutch oven. Fry onions and garlic until they start to brown (a pinch of sugar can make onions caramelize faster). Add Paneer cubes and fry until they start to brown, mix in pineapple cubes and stir for 2-3 minutes. Remove from container and set aside.

3) Place the wok/oven again on low heat and add biryani masala and rice (drained from water). Stir for 4-5 minutes until the aroma comes out. Now add 4 ½ cups of water and salt, close it with the lid and cook rice until all water is absorbed (approx. 15-20min).

4) When most of the water is evaporated, add the onions & pineapple mix into rice and mix well and cook the rice until done completely.

At the end, stir in the frozen peas and carrots.

5) In a small pan heat 2 tsp of oil and fry the nuts until golden brown and add to the biryani. Serve hot by garnishing with fried onions for additional taste.

Quick Tip: Fried firm tofu can be substituted for Paneer.

South Indian Treasure: Pongali

Pongali

The main ingredients of Pongali are rice and lentils...and of course lots of love. We decided that instead of making a totally different sweet for the festival, we would make two types of pongali: one sweet and one savory as mentioned in the post about Pongal. It is preferred that you eat them both when they are warm for the optimal taste. First we will discuss how to make Pongali (the savory kind). 

Ingredients for this dish make 6 servings:
- Basmati Rice......................................................... 1 cup
- Moong dal............................................................ 1 cup
- Salt....................................................................... 1 tsp or as needed
-Unsalted butter....................................................... 3 tbsp
For seasoning:
  - Cumin & mustard seeds...................................... 1/2 tsp each
- Vegetable Oil..................................................... 1.5 tbsp
- Asaphoetida (hing)............................................. 1/4 tsp
- Curry leaves ...................................................... 5-6 leaves (optional)
- Black peppercorns............................................ 1/2 tsp coarsely ground
- Dried red chilies................................................. 2, broken into two pieces
- Cashew nuts......................................................15-20, as halves
- Ginger.............................................................. 1 inch piece, grated or chopped finely

Procedure:

1) Take rice and dal in the electric rice cooker (>5 cups size) container, wash them thoroughly and drain well. Start off with adding 5 cups of water and add more water if needed. Then add salt and cook (if using smaller size cooker, start with 4 cups of water and add remaining one plus cups at intervals as the water is being absorbed).

OR

If cooking on stove top, use appropriate heavy-bottomed container so that water will not spill over and cook on low to medium heat. Cook until the dal is soft (approx. 20 - 30min). 

2) When the rice and lentil mix is cooked, mix in 3 tbsps of butter.

 

3) In a small saucepan, add oil and heat on medium. When oil is heated, fry cashews until light golden, add red chilies and mix for 30 sec later add cumin & mustard seeds. When they splatter, add pepper powder and a pinch of salt, hing, grated ginger and curry leaves. Mix well and transfer the seasoning into the cooked pongal and mix well.

Quick Tip: To add an extra lil kick serve it with any type of  Indian pickles such as Achar or chutneys.

HO HO HO Holiday Rice With Beets!!

 

Have we got a treat for you! We decided to spread some holiday cheer by cooking up this colorful and healthy rice dish for everyone to enjoy during the holidays. We call it HO HO HO Holiday Rice. We prepared it just in time for Christmas...so even Santa can have a taste.  I figured he's so used to eating cookies that he might like to try something new.

Main Ingredients

You can make 6-8 servings by using the ingredients listed below:

• 1 large Beet Root, peeled and grated
• 1½ cups Rice (prefer Basmati), washed and cooked
• ½ cup Carrots & Peas (frozen)
• 4 Green chilies, split lengthwise
• 1" piece Ginger, chopped finely
• 1/8 cup Fried onions
• 1½ tbsp MTR Vangibhath powder
• 4-5 leaves Curry leaves (optional)
• 1 tsp each Whole Mustard and Cumin
• 1 tbsp Black Gram Dal (optional)
• 3-4 tbsp Vegetable oil
• Salt, as needed

Procedure:

1) Cook rice with little less water than normal so that it separates individual grains. After the rice is done, separate it with a wooden spatula and add a tbsp oil to avoid sticking.
2) Heat oil in a saucepan, add mustard and cumin seeds, when they splutter, add the gram dal and stir until it is golden brown (1-2 min). Add green chilies and ginger and stir for 1min and add grated beetroot and ½ tsp salt mix well and place the lid and cook for 4-5 min.

3) Add another tsp of salt and cooked rice in portions mixing it with season until it is uniform. Mix in fried onions, frozen carrots & peas and vangibath powder, stir well and cook for 3-4 minutes.

4) Serve it hot garnished with fresh coriander.

My Favorite Festival – Ganesha Chavithi

Yesterday was an auspicious day for all Hindus. It was the day we celebrate Ganesha Chavithi, a festival dedicated to Lord Ganesha. He is known to help people overcome obstacles in their lives and bestow great wisdom and wealth. It is important for this pooja and every pooja that we prepare prasad (offering to the God) and wear new clothes.

So our day started with making his favorite dishes, cleaning and decorating the place where the pooja will take place.

We also drew rangoli (colored chalk/powder drawings) in front of our house. Usually, we create more colorful drawings but we were really tired and just decided to keep it simple.


My parents told me that the story goes that Lord Ganesha's favorite dishes are steamed sweet rice dumplings, rice kheer (pudding), besan ka ladoo, and boondi ladoo.

However, we are health conscious and so we made steamed rice and lentil dumplings with ginger & coriander chutney, vermicelli & tapioca pudding, and beet root rice. Don't you just want to grab a couple of the balls off the screen.

Steamed Rice & Lentil Dumplings (Undrallu) Ingredients: 

- 2 cups of Idli rava/cream of rice/coarsely powdered rice 

- 1 cup of Moong dal

- 1½ cups of fresh grated coconut (frozen grated coconut can be used as well)

- 2 tsp of Salt or as needed

- 4 tbsp of Vegetable oil

  

Procedure:

1) In a pressure cooker or heavy bottomed sauce pan cook the moong dal with two cups of water until it is soft & firm (Hint: should be able to split it when pierced with the nail). Remove excess water and set aside.

2) Add 3 cups of water into the pan or cooker (including the water collected from the dal earlier). Add 2 tbsp of oil and salt and allow the water to come to a boil. Reduce heat and add idli ravva into it and mix.

3) If using cooker, close the lid and cook in medium to low heat under pressure for 5-6 minutes. If using pan, cook under low heat until the rice and dal is fully cooked (may require slightly more water in the pan).

4) Transfer the cooked mixture into a wider container and add remaining oil and spread the cooked rice to cool. When it is cooled down, add grated coconut and mix well.

5) Make lemon size balls with the mixture and put them into a container. Cook them under steam by adding 1-1 ½” height water and place the rice balls container in it. Close the inner container and the outer and steam cook in medium heat for 10 minutes.

6) When done, eat the dumplings with ginger chutney. 

Quick Tip: To enhance the taste of the dumplings, just add a drop of ghee on it.

Vermicelli & Tapioca Kheer (payasam) Ingredients:

- 2 cups of Vermicelli (sevia)

- ½ cup of Tapioca (sabudana)

- 1 liter of Milk

- ½ can of Condensed milk

- ½ cup of Sugar

- 6 pods of Cardamom, seeded and powdered

- 15-20 Cashew nuts, halved and roasted

- 15-20 Golden raisins

Procedure:

1) Roast vermicelli & sabudana separately in a 1/2 to 1 tbsp butter and keep aside. Soak the sabudana in 1 cup of water for atleast 1-2 hours (this will reduce the cooking time immensely).

2) In a heavy saucepan or crock pot add milk, vermicelli, and sabudana. Allow them to cook on low heat (15-20 min) stirring the contents frequently to avoid caking and burning at the bottom. Cook until the sabudana turns opaque to transparent and vermicelli is soft.

3) Now add sugar, condensed milk, raisins and cardamom powder and bring it to boil on low heat stirring continuously. Taste the kheer and add more sugar as needed. Remove from heat and then add cashew nuts.

4) This kheer can be enjoyed when hot or chilled and served as pudding (thickens when chilled).

Quick Tip 1: While use of condensed milk gives a rich taste, you can replace it with extra milk or evaporated milk and sugar if preferred.
Quick Tip 2: The kheer can be made with vermicelli only if sabudana is not available; adjust the milk and sugar accordingly.

Spinach Nuggets...Beyond Appetizers!!

Remember Tater Tots from your high school lunches? What about spinach nuggets from fast food restaurants with some spicy dipping sauce. Did you ever think you could make an Indian curry out of them? Here's what my mom had to say. The following is our conversation between mother (M) and I, the daughter (D):

M: Traditionally, Koftas (dumplings) are made using the following method: you first grate vegetables like potatoes, long squash, plantains or even Paneer (Indian Cheese). Then mix the grated vegetable with bread crumbs or gram flour, and then make them into balls. Next you fry these balls and add them to the gravy which you also have to make.

D: What?? All this sounds like a long process. Isn't there a way to shorten this recipe and still eat healthy.

M: I'm glad you asked because there's a way out. You can use tater tots or spinach nuggets as the dry koftas. No more grating or mixing and making balls. All you have to make is the gravy, which is not that difficult.

D: Okay, how do you make it? Oh, maybe we can make this for our guests tonight.

M: That's a good idea. It makes 3-4 servings, so we will have enough.

Here's what you will need:

Ingredients for koftas:

• 1 Packet Veggie Patch Spinach Nuggets - (12 pieces total)

Ingredients for the gravy:

• 2 tbsp Cooking oil
• 1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
• ½ tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
• ½ tbsp Garam Masala
• ½ cup Red Pack Crushed Tomato puree
• 1 tsp Chili Powder
• 1 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1 tbsp Cream cheese
• 1 tbsp Regular Sour Cream
• 1 tbsp Fresh Coriander, finely chopped
• Salt to taste

***It's a good thing we have our Chaunk box (spice box) for some of the ingredients. It makes it easier to store them for cooking.

Procedure:

1) Bake the koftas in a toaster oven at 350°C for 20 minutes, alternately they can be toasted mildly on both sides in a non-stick pan.

2) Heat oil in a saucepan and sauté crushed onions until light golden brown. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for 1-2 min. Then add turmeric, chili and garam masala powder and mix well.

3) Stir in crushed tomato / puree and mix well, add cream cheese & sour cream and mix it into the tomato mixture.

4) Next, add water to make the gravy to a soup like consistency and salt & boil the sauce. Evaporated milk (small can) can be used instead of cream cheese and sour cream to make the gravy.

5) Drop the nuggets into the sauce and continue to heat the curry to boil and remove and transfer into a serving dish.

6) Garnish with fresh coriander and serve the vegetable with rice or any type of bread.

***Quick Tip:
- To avoid koftas /nuggets from breaking, arrange them in the serving dish and pour hot gravy over them. Microwave for 3-5 minutes if needed.

- Fat-free or non-fat ingredients could be used to make a low-calorie dish.

- Mushroom and broccoli nuggets, Tater tots, or Ashoka's Hara Bhara Kebabs can also be substituted for spinach nuggets.

Mazzedar Naan Pizza

'The day after the big storm last week, my mom and I decided to spice up things in the kitchen by making our very own pizza. We had shoveled the driveway for 2 hours and wanted to treat ourselves for all the hard work. Below are the list of ingredients and procedure for making 4 individualized pizzas. It became a party once we announced we were making pizza from scratch. (shh… almost from scratch!)

• 4- Tandoori Naan (Costco, Indian or local grocer)
• 1 cup of Spaghetti sauce (any variety)
• 1 small can of Sliced olives
• 1 ball of Fresh Mozzarella cheese thinly sliced
• 1 large Red Bell Pepper sliced
• 1 large Green Bell pepper sliced
• 1 medium Yellow onion sliced
• 6 fresh Mushrooms (baby bella) sliced
• 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
• ½ tsp crushed Red pepper
• Extra Virgin Olive oil (EVOO)

Procedure:

1. In a non-stick saucepan saute the peppers and mushrooms with a pinch of salt for 5-6min and keep it aside.


2. In a bowl mix together spaghetti sauce, ginger garlic paste and crush peppers (for a bit of kick to your pizza)
3. Place a non-stick griddle on medium/low-med heat. Brush the bottom of the naan with EVOO and place it on the pan.


4. Spread the sauce on the naan evenly and arrange cheese slices to cover the naan.


5. Spread the sauteed vegetables and sliced olives evenly over the cheese and drizzle a little bit of EVOO.


6. Allow the naan to grill for at least 5-min or until the cheese melts and the bottom is browned evenly.

7. Voila! Your personal pan pizza is ready to enjoy. Slide the pizza into a plate and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese for added flavor. It's great for parties of all sizes.


***Other toppings include: canned or fresh pineapple pieces and olives, shredded grilled chicken (for meat lovers), or even leftover veg. curry. Also try using hummus instead of pasta sauce for a Mediterranean taste).  

Chapata Pineapple

Leftover cabbage curry

How do you eat your naan pizza? Please share your ideas?