Besan Ka Amlate

Vegetarian "omelette"
(From "Gourmet Indian in Minutes" by Monisha Bharadwaj)

1 small onion, grated (reserve juice)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
7 ounces (1 and 3/4 cups) chickpea flour
Salt, to taste
Sunflower oil for dotting the pan (I'm sure you could use olive oil)

Combine the onion, tomato paste, cilantro, cumin, chickpea flour, and salt. Mix well. Add the juice from the onion and enough water to make a batter of dropping consistency.

Heat a frying pan and dot with oil. Ladle in a spoonful of batter and flatten with the back of the spoon into a 5 inch diameter disk.

After 2-3 minutes, lift the omelette, flip over, add a little oil to the pan, and cook on the other side. Both sides should be golden.

Tarka Dal

Lentils with onion and garlic
(From "Gourmet Indian in Minutes" by Monisha Bharadwaj)

One of the most popular and common Indian dishes. She buys ready made ginger paste and garlic paste, and mixes them together. With the tomato paste and ginger-garlic paste on hand, this recipe is a quick one when you need something for dinner fast.

10 ounces (1 and 2/3 cups) red split lentils
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 large onion, sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon ginger/garlic paste
2 green chilies, slit
Salt, to taste
Handful of chopped cilantro

Pour boiling water over the lentils and cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds.

As the seeds begin to pop, add the onion and stir until golden and slightly crisp. Remove half the onion with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels.

Add the tomato paste, ginger-garlic paste, chilies, and salt to the pan and cook until blended.

Carefully add the cooked lentils and adjust seasoning.

Serve hot over rice. Place reserved fried onions piled on top with a sprinkling of cilantro.

Rishta

Fennel Meatballs
(From "Gourmet Indian in Minutes" by Monisha Bharadwaj)

Normally this blog is meat free but these looked so good. And I haven't found a meatball recipe until now that was free of my long list of allergies.

1 pound lean ground lamb
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground fennel
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon chili powder
3 tablespoons sunflower oil

Put lamb, giner, half the funnel, and salt in a blender and whiz around once to get a smooth mixture. Form into golf ball sized balls and set aside.

Mix the turmeric, garam masala, chili powder, and the remaining ground fennel with 1 and 1/4 cups water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Pour in the oil and season with salt.

Gently place the meatballs in the sauce and cook until they are browned and cooked, adding more water as necessary. Baste them from time to time for flavor. The meatballs should be coated with the sauce, not floating in a gravy.

Serve with rice noodles.

Palak Aloo Bhajia

"Spinach and Potato Fritters"
(From "Gourmet Indian in Minutes" by Monisha Bharadwaj)

8 ounces fresh spinach leaves, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 cup grated potato
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup chickpea flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Sunflower oil for frying

Combine all ingredients except the oil in a bowl, and add water to make a thick batter.

Heat oil in a large, heavy frying pan and drop a tablespoonful of mixture. Cook, turning, until lightly browned on both sides.

Drain on paper towels and keep warm while you make the rest. Serve hot.

Spring Rolls with Sweet and Sour Sauce

SPRING ROLLS

Start with a stir fry for your filling.

Make sure your ingredients are finely chopped or shredded/grated. There's many things you can put into it, but we did:

Carrot (grated)
Ginger (grated)
Bean sprouts
Green onions
Spinach
Mushrooms
Garlic
Cilantro

Toss your freshly chopped ingredients in rice vinegar, salt, and pepper.
(Soy sauce or sesame oil would also be good instead of vinegar)
Stir fry and with a little oil (we did canola)

Make one rice wrap at a time:


Turn on your faucet in the sink and dip the rice paper under the running water, coating both sides in water. Put on plate, and scoop 2 Tablespoons of filling in the middle. Wrap up like you would a burrito. Brush all sides of the wrap with water and corn starch or water and rice flour.

Heat oil and fry. Spring rolls are usually deep fried, but we just lightly browned them on the stove with canola oil.

SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE

1/4 cup pineapple or orange juice
1/4 cup white vinegar
3 Tablespoons agave
1 and 1/2 teaspoons organic ketchup
1 teaspoon corn starch or rice flour dissolved in 2 tsp. hot water

Heat everything to boiling, stir and let boil for 30 seconds to a minute.
Put in fridge and let it thicken up as it cools.

Pol Roti

Sri Lankan Coconut Flat Bread

(From "The Complete Asian Cookbook" Charmaine Solomon)

2 cups rice flour
1/2 cup desiccated coconut (meaning completely dried, shredded. Regular shredded coconut is fine, although it will increase the moisture content. And watch out for added sweeteners.)
1 teaspoon salt
scant 1 cup water
oil for cooking

Mis flour, coconut, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add enough water to form a soft dough. Knead dough until it forms a ball and does not stick to sides of the bowl.

Rest dough for 30 minutes.

Shape dough into balls, approximately the size of a golf ball. Pat each one out to a circle the size of a saucer. Cook on a hot griddle or in a heavy frying pan very lightly greased with oil.

Serve hot.
Serve with curries or sambols. It is a popular breakfast in Sri Lanka.

Asian Pesto

(From "Simply Ming" Ming Tsai)

Makes about 3 and 1/2 cups
Lasts 2 weeks, refrigerated

2 jalapeno chilis, stemmed and seeded
8 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon sugar
1 heaping tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 cup roasted salted macadamia nuts or roasted salted peanuts
zest of 2 lemons
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
1 cup fresh mint leaves, packed
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, packed
salt and pepper to taste

In a blender or food processor, combine the chilies, garlic, sugar, ginger, nuts, zest, and 1 cup of the oil, blend until smooth.
Add basil, mint, and cilantro, and blend while slowly adding the remaining oil until a thick puree is formed.
Season with salt and pepper.

Store in a tightly covered jar and refrigerate.

Serving suggestions:
Spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and chicken breast.
Rice or pasta and sauteed mushrooms

Korean Jap Chae Noodles

(From "The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook" Jaden Hair)

2 Tablespoons soy sauce (I used rice vinegar)
1 & 1/2 Table. brown sugar (I used agave, could be left out)
3 oz sliced fresh shitake mushrooms (I used the cheapest white mushroom on sale)
8 oz dried Korean glass noodles -made from sweet potato starch
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil (I used canola)
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions, cut into one inch length, using the green stem too
6 oz thinly sliced sirloin beef (you could leave this out or substitute with a bean)
1 carrot, cut into match sticks
1/4 pound spinach leaves
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
*Handful of bean sprouts

Sit together and set aside-soy sauce and sugar. I did the vinegar and added a little sesame oil to the mix for added flavor since I wasn't using soy sauce.

Boiling water-cook glass noodles for 5 minutes. Immediately drain and rinse with cold water, drain well and toss with sesame oil. Cut up with kitchen shears into shorter noodles (they are really long)

Large wok or saute pan-High heat. When a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact, add cooking oil and swirl to coat.

Add-onion, garlic, green onion, and beef slices. Spread out in one layer. Stir fry 1 minute.

Add-carrots, spinach leaves, mushrooms, *and I added a big handful of bean sprouts.

Add-soy sauce/vinegar mixture and noodles. Toss until warmed through. Toss with sesame seeds. (if not using soy sauce, sprinkle with salt. My husband put soy sauce on after and I did a little sea salt)

If you're out of one of the ingredients, throw in whatever you have in your fridge. I added the bean sprouts, and they were awesome. Broccoli or bell pepper or anything would be so good.

3 Bean Mexican Soup

This recipe has some canned beans, and some beans cooked at home. I pretty much used what I had in my fridge and in my pantry. But I'm sure you could adjust the ingredients, if you would like to do all homemade beans, or all canned, or a mix like I did tonight.

Sautee in olive oil until tender:
1 large onion, finely chopped
2-3 small stalks celery, finely chopped
1/4 cup tightly packed cilantro, finely chopped

Stir in until it's all smoothly mixed in:
1 box (1 QT) organic vegetable broth
1 can Fat Free refried beans (it's just pintos and salt, no lard)

Add:
1 can organic black beans, undrained
2 cups cooked garbanzo beans
Juice of 1 lime

Add 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon each:
pepper
cumin
chili powder
onion powder
garlic powder
oregano

Simmer 20 minutes

Garnish with olives and green chilies