Baked Broccoli and Cauliflower in Herbed Oats

So when I decided to bake these flowers today, I knew I didn't want something heavy- no eggs, cheese and stuff. So what's a good binding agent then for this bake? Oats. I cooked the oats, looked at it and went, ewwwww! I don't wanna eat oats. But that was an unimaginitive reaction.

Once I hit those oats with herbs and breadcrumbs and spice, it was a thing of beauty. The flowers baked in it well and added their own aroma. This recipe is a keeper since it is a low-fat one pot dish, and those are my favorite kind.

Baked Broccoli and Cauliflower in Herbed Oats

1/2 cup oats
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 tbsp oil
20 almonds, in slivers
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
3 cups of broccoli and cauliflower florets
6 tbsp chopped spring onion leaves
salt, pepper to taste
1 tsp chilli flakes, 
2 tsp each dried oregano, parsley
breadcrumbs, as needed.

Cook the oats in the milk and water just so that the oats lose shape.
Cool a bit. To it, add the oil, almond slivers, peanuts, spring onion leaves, salt, pepper, chilli flakes, dried oregano and parsley. 
Place the florets in a baking dish and pour this oats sauce over it. 
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and gently fold it in a bit, making sure not to incorporate it fully. 
Bake at 180 C for 45 mins.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Almond Basil Pesto

Long ago, I made pasta. Today, I made it again. Some people never learn.

Moving on to the less painful part of this plate- pesto! I love pesto. I could write a poem about it. Like 'Pesto, it's besto, makes me zesto!' I could go on. But I'll just say- this is a good combo. I halved the amount of basil leaves other recipes call for because I don't like being overwhelmed with that particular flavor.

Since I must, I'll touch on the pasta a bit. It's plain wheat flour with salt and water. I didn't fancy putting eggs in there, so its your basic chapathi dough. Lessons learnt:

1) Don't overcook the pasta. Hover over the boiling water like an overprotective mother.
2)  Don't be a hero. Don't use a bottle cap and make circles with the pasta dough because it'll 'look cute'. It's not worth it. Just saying. Random suggestion.
3) Don't be an idiot. Just buy the god-damned pasta.

Almond Basil Pesto

1 cup almonds, dry roasted
1 cup of basil leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 dried red chilly
1/2 tsp salt

Blitz the almonds first- just one or two pulses. Then add the other ingredients and pulse a few times to get a coarse paste. This is drier than usual, so add olive oil or water to make it smoother. 

Veg Rolls with Sesame Dipping Sauce

With the new year, I've decided to cling less to sadness and be more open to joy. Though my father's passing will long remain in a corner of my heart, screaming fiercely, I hope to learn to live with it and still find happiness. It's kinda living next to railway tracks, I imagine- how people there live and sleep as if all the rattling and noise doesn't matter. One can get used to almost anything.

So instead of the usual, 'Bah! New Year is meaningless, it's just an arbitrary point on a man-made clock', I did things differently today. I made an effort.

In Bangkok, I frequented a salad bar in a market that had the most amazing sesame dressing. The nutty flavor made me a life-long fan. With these rice paper rolls, I decided to make a dipping sauce that could compare. I'm not a fan of soy sauce, vinegar, etc., mainly because I use them so rarely, they expire in the fridge, bottles almost still full.

This has got be to be the simplest sesame sauce, but it packs flavor, and doesn't need fancy (to me) ingredients!

Dry roasted sesame seeds - 4 tbsp
Dry red chilli - 1
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Water

Process: Blitz the dry roasted sesame seeds- because of their natural oils, you'll get a powder-paste consistency. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend. That's it! 

I think I'll try it with a dash of honey as well next time around. As for the rice paper rolls, this filling was a lightly sauteed mixture of thinly sliced carrots, onions and bell peppers with fresh lettuce from our terrace garden. For my mom, I made a version with slivers of fried potatoes. I love foods like this that are open to endless variety and experimentation.

I hope the new year brings such discovery to us all, outside the kitchen and beyond! :)

 

I'm Back, Baby...with Stuffed Peppers

7 years it's been. So much has happened since then! I've become a teacher, had a real relationship, lost my father, worked in Bangkok - basically, I've become the wreck that is the typical adult. So why am I back to food blogging, of all things? Especially when I have a personal blog that I vent in? I'm not sure, really. Food has never stopped being special, even when I wasn't cooking all that much. Maybe it's another way of sharing who I am, apart from words, that is. Or maybe it's not so profound and I just decided to stop being lazy and get of my bum. I've gone into the importance of the bum over at Blah, Blah, Bloo. Coming to which, both that name and the updated 'Plop the Slop' should not be taken as pure whimsy. Self-deprecating humor is just another added bonus of the disaster that is me. Yay! 

So, Stuffed Peppers, or Capsicum, as we call 'em here. One of my favorite dishes, and well worth the prep time. The best part is that it is even better after a night in the fridge. 

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

Corn- 1/4 cup

Carrot - 1/4 cup, chopped into small bits

Peas- 1/4 cup

Cooked Rice- 2 tbsps

Cauliflower- 5 to 6 large florets.

Garlic- 1 clove

Peppers - 3 large

Ketchup/ Pizza Sauce

Salt

Pepper

Oregano

Chill Flakes

Oil, for brushing

Method

Boil the corn, carrot and peas with a bit of salt in a little water, until the water evaporates. Add cooked rice to this. Pulse the cauliflower a few times in a blender and cook that with a chopped clove of garlic with a dash of oil. Combine with the cooked veggies and rice. This constitutes the stuffing.

Crumble the paneer (cottage cheese).

Wash the peppers, core them, cut in half, brush the outside with oil and fill them with the stuffing right up to the brim. Then pack on the crumbled paneer and press firmly. Brush a glob of ketchup onto each, sprinkle liberally with oregano, chilli flakes and pepper. 

Bake @ 180 C for 45 minutes.

 

Simple Cheese Cookies

I like watching Top Chef. You get to see a lot of mostly good food, shake your head at the judges, roll your eyes at the contestants and wonder who got Padma Lakshmi pregnant. Fascinating, right? But from time to time, there are a few people, gems who bring something to the show that really is 'real'. I remember Carla from Season 5, an underdog who made it to the finals. What a character! With her shock of hair and ready smile, that plaintive cry of 'Hootie', she was a pleasure to watch. I remember once, early on in the season, she said she was 'praying to her spirit guides'. It takes guts to say something like that on National Television :D Whenever I saw her on tv, I felt she was one of those people who were true to themselves.

When people say 'be true to yourself', there seems to be an underlying clause- but make sure you don't break social conventions. For example, 'rebelling against authority is wrong'. What happens when you're told that you've got to do something and you don't want to. Especially when everyone else is doing it. What happens when you're unique and the way you express yourself isn't comfortable to other people or doesn't fit in with the 'norm'. When I look back at my childhood, I gape at a path of such fearful docility, it appalls me- not that I was that way (I didn't know any other way) but that that was what was asked of me at every turn. Be who I want you to be. It takes conscious effort to break free of that kind of conditioning and I think all of us have it in us to some degree- things we don't question but just do, because its 'normal'. Time to raise questions, me thinks.

This recipe is a slightly modified version of what I saw on the semi-final episode of Top Chef this season.



Simple Cheese Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup goat cheese/cottage cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 cup flour
3 egg whites
black pepper
sea salt
3/4 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp chopped basil

Powder the sugar along with the lemon zest. Place the cheese and sugar in a bowl and with a hand mixer and cream it. If the cheese is too dry, add a dash of milk. Fold in the basil, flour and egg whites using a spatula and mix well. Spread out or pipe the mixture onto a flat greased baking dish and sprinkle salt and pepper on top. You could also sprinkle some sesame seeds. Place in the oven for 20 mins at 175 C.

Gulab Jamun

There's a new life in this world now, making it a richer happier place. True, she just laughs and poops at this point but eventually, she'll get around to the important stuff. She likes sweet talk, has two pistons instead of legs, blows spit bubbles to pass the time, fights sleep till her eyes roll around and speaks in a language no one understands. This kid is super cute. She is also my niece.

I'm doing something for her that I once read in a book- it really touched me... I'm writing letters to her, that I'll keep safe for her until she turns 21. On her 21st birthday, I'll hand over to her a lifetime of letters; my thoughts and feelings about her, all the little things about her that we usually forget with the passage of time, my take on life and so on...just like a time capsule :) But that's a long way away. Now, I look forward to the beautiful years ahead, anticipating an adorable little girl who will be well loved and truly cherished.

Meet Sahana, my beautiful beautiful niece!


The Gulab Jamuns came out wonderfully, nicely round and puffed just this little one's cheeks!

Ingredients

1 cup Skimmed Milk powder
1 tsp all purpose flour
Fresh Cream
1/2 tsp Baking powder

Ghee, to deep fry
2 Cardamom pods
3 cups Sugar
2 cups water

Place the skimmed milk powder in a bowl and add the flour and baking powder to it. Mix it up a bit. Now add cream in batches and use your hands to mix it in, till you get a slightly sticky dough. Cover and place aside.

Make the sugar syrup by boiling the water with sugar in it. Add 1 or 2 split cardamom pods into it. When it boils, remove from the flame and keep aside covered. In a thick skillet, heat enough ghee on low for deep frying. Take the dough and roll it gently but firmly into very small balls. Place the balls in the ghee on the lowest flame possible and allow them to cook, stirring often, until they become golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and place them immediately in the sugar syrup water. Repeat till all the dough is used up. Wait at least 15 minutes for the Gulab Jamuns to soak up the sugar. Serve hot!

Spicy Baby Potatoes

Jessie had a tumor removed this week. When things like this happen, it brings facets of yourself under the microscope- your strength and faith and love. Just a few weeks ago, I began working on my mind with books on positive thinking and faith, tackling worry and being peaceful. I had to call upon every ounce of what I read and found in myself to keep it together. As unnamed fears, sometimes too stupid or too helpless to be voiced chased each other in my mind, I put into practice what I've been learning. And to me, it reinforced something important- no matter how many people you have to support and love you, and I'm truly grateful for that, the most important person who you really really need, who you'll turn to is yourself. Keeping your mind peaceful and strong, courageous and positive- it is something that you get better at with practice and it's something that'll really take you through the tough times.

We were in my brother's place in Bangalore for the operation and this spicy baby potato dish of my mom's helped almost as much as anything else. Food is love, people ;)


Spicy Baby Potatoes

1.2 kilo baby potatoes
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large tomato, finely chopped
2.5 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp split black gram (optional)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp salt, or to taste
2 tsp chilli powder, or to taste
1 cup water
6 cloves garlic
3/4 inch piece of ginger
10 to 12 curry leaves

Scrub and wash the potatoes a couple of times to make sure there's no dirt. Place in a vessel with just enough water to cover the potatoes. Cover and cook on high till the potatoes are cooked through- about 10 mins. Remover, cool and slice each potatoes in half.

In a heavy skillet, place the oil. Once it heats up, add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, black gram and allow it to splutter. Add the onions and cook till translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring till its well cooked. Add the potatoes, the turmeric powder, salt and chilli powder. Stir to coat. Add the water, cover and on high cook till the water evaporates.

Simmer, remove the lid and spread the baby potatoes around the skillet so that they all touch the pan to become more brown. In a blender, place the garlic, ginger and curry leaves and pulse a few time to get a coarse dry blend. Add it to the potatoes and stir well. On low, allow it to cook, scraping and stirring from time to time till the potatoes are well browned. Serve with yummy flavored rice!