Minty Creamy Vegan Pasta

          My daughter loves Italian food, I send her pasta for lunch at least once a week, but since I make it in the morning in a hurry, it's mostly pasta mixed with some pasta sauce and cheese. Only when I make pasta during the weekends, that I try out something different. Though I like cheese, I try to avoid it owing to the high fat, at the same time I try to bring the creaminess using other ingredients, this Minty Creamy Pasta is one such effort and it tasted really delicious. Since mint gives such a lovely flavor to pasta I  have added it, but guess what I have used for the sauce..

Need To Have

• Multi Grain Elbows - 11/4 cup
• Button Mushrooms - 3 cups, sliced
• Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped finely
• Ground Black Pepper - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chopped Mint - 2 tablespoons
• Salt - to taste

For The Sauce

• Quaker Quick Cooking Oats - 2 tablespoons
• Cashews - 8
• Dry Oregano - 1/2 teaspoon
• Dry Basil - 1/2 teaspoon

Method

          Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box. Grind together all the ingredients given for the sauce, adding a little water.

          Heat some olive oil, add the chopped garlic and saute till it starts turning golden and gives a nice smell. Now add the mushrooms and salt and keep sauteing on medium heat, till all the water released by the mushrooms dries up and they are cooked.

          Now add the ground paste and mix, add about 1/2 cup or more of the water used for cooking the pasta and the pepper powder. Keep mixing for about 2 or 3 minutes, if it dries up, add some more water.

          Then add the cooked pasta and mix well. Finally mix in the chopped mint and serve it warm.

Note
Don't overcook the pasta, otherwise the whole dish will be mushy.
Always the final dish should have a slightly thin sauce, otherwise, as it cools the pasta will become too thick and dry.
If you want more sauce and less pasta, increase the sauce ingredients.
You can also add some red chilly flakes if you like.

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Zucchini Chutney

          Hope everybody is having a relaxed weekend, of course many of us also have a lot of chores lined up for those two days. During the weekdays, most of the time we have some sandwich or cereal for breakfast, but on weekends I make something other than sandwich, today we had idlis for breakfast and I made this Zucchini Chutney to go with it. My daughter likes zucchini, especially she loves this chutney. If you leave out the seasonings, this chutney requires only three ingredients, and it goes very well with idlis, dosas or even with rotis..

Need To Have

• Zucchini - 2 cups, sliced
• Tomatoes - 1 cup, chopped
• Dried Red Chillies - 3
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad Dal/ Black Gram - 1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/8 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 6 or 7
• Salt - to taste

Method

          Heat some oil, add the chillies, saute for a few seconds and remove them. Now add the zucchini pieces, keep sauteing till they start turning slightly brown on the edges.

          At this stage add the tomatoes and the  salt and keep cooking till the tomatoes turn mushy.

          Cool this and grind it with some water, but don't make it into a smooth paste, it should have some texture. Heat some oil, add the urad dal and mustard seeds, when it starts spluttering add the asafoetida and the curry leaves and switch off. Mix and add this to the chutney and serve.

Note
Always taste a small piece of each zucchini used, some of them taste very bitter and will spoil the entire dish.
The red chillies that I use are less spicy, use yours accordingly.

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Strawberry Lassi/ Strawberry With Yogurt

          Few years back, strawberries were hardly seen in India, especially in Chennai, very difficult to get them. But now, I see a lot, not only in the big shops, the local vegetable vendor brings them too and they taste good too. Though we are happy to have them plain, as such, my daughter also likes to have it with some melted chocolate and we also like to have it in this lassi. It's not much of a recipe, just blending together the strawberries with yogurt and sugar..

Need To Have

• Strawberries - 10 medium size, chopped
• Curd/ Yogurt - 1 cup
• Sugar - 5 teaspoons or to taste

Method

          Blend the strawberries smoothly along with the sugar. To this add the yogurt and blend it well. Chill it and enjoy.

Note
Can replace sugar with honey.
I didn't add any other flavoring agent, you can add some cardamom if you want.
The above quantity is good for 2 servings.

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Vegan Choco Banana Cake

Hi! Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and husband offered to take me out for dinner. I was not  up to it but still went ahead. But before going out, I quickly baked this cake in the evening. This is a hassle free cake and takes a few minutes of mixing and then a quarter hour of baking and it’s ready to serve. My kid had it as an evening snack and also took it in his snack box to the school today and guess what? He did not even get a bite of it..but my kid was not unhappy as he knew there was more cake at home and also that he was also offered Maggi and Kraft’s Macaroni in exchange.The greedy fellow happily exchanged his cake for those items...

Being a  vegan preparation  it does not use any butter in it, instead oil is used. I have used Hershey’s  chocolate powder and I loved the bitterness it added to the cake. One can also add Choco chips to the cake but since I wanted to keep it vegan, I’ve avoided it. The cake turns out moist. The next time I make this I would love to add some strawberries and raisins for that extra flavor instead of the banana…

The batter made for this cake is quite liquid ‘y’ so do not worry, the cake turns out well and you might observe a few cracks on top. One has to be just careful with the fruit and oil ratio as these add to the moistness of the cake. The cake gets ready anytime between 40-55mins. Mine was ready in 43mins, so one needs to be careful after  35mins. Do not open the oven till 35mins after that if the skewer inserted comes out clean, the cake is ready. I used a 12”Bundt pan to bake this cake, one can use any tin of their choice of this size.

Sending this cake to my event ‘ONLY’ Vegan Cooking hosted by PJ.

Preparation Time: 5mins

Mixing Time:5mins

Baking Time: 40-55mins

Serves: 6-8people

 

Ingredients

2cups APF

1-1/2cups granular sugar

1-1/2tsp baking soda

1tsp vanilla essence

2/3cups Cocoa Powder (one can use less too)

5-1/20z banana Puree (one can add more too)

about 110ml oil

about 1–1/2cups hot water

Method

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl ( APF, cocoa, soda, sugar) thoroughly.

Add the essence, oil and water and mix. Finally add the banana puree and give a final mix. Do not over mix. The batter has a very runny texture, do not worry.

Bake it in a greased pan at 180C, preheated for 15mins for 40-55mins.

Remove it gently on a cooling stand and cool.

Cut and serve.

 

 

*In case you want to add more banana, reduce the amount of oil in that proportion.

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Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu/ Lentil Balls In Tomato Coconut Gravy

          The last few days have proved to me, how much I am attached to my blog, I had lost my internet connection last Saturday and got it back just an hour back, I felt so lost without it. Though I have taken breaks from blogging, this is the first time I was forced to do it because of this internet problem, made me so sulky and irritated. Coming to today's dish, Paruppu Urundai Kuzhambu, basically it's deep fried lentil balls in a tomato-coconut gravy. There are a couple of versions of this, I follow my mother's recipe, the lentil balls soaked in the gravy tastes so delicious, simply love it with some plain rice or even as a side dish for idlis, dosas or rotis, a must try dish..

Need To Have
For the Urundais/ Lentil Balls

• Chana Dal/ Bengal Gram - 1 cup
• Dried Red Chillies - 3
• Fennel Seeds - 2 teaspoons
• Onion - 1 medium, chopped
• Chopped Coriander Leaves - 1/4 cup
• Curry Leaves - 10, roughly torn into small pieces
• Salt - to taste

For The Gravy

• Onion - 1 medium chopped
• Tomatoes - 2 big chopped
• Garlic - 5 cloves
• Grated Ginger - 1 tablespoon
• Green Chillies - 2
• Tamarind - a small marble size
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Red Chilli Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Coriander Powder - 3 teaspoons
• Cinnamon  - 1" stick
• Cloves - 2, coarsely crushed
• Fennel Seeds - Coarsely Pounded , 2 teaspoons
• Chopped Coriander Leaves - 2 tablespoons
• Curry Leaves - 10

To Grind

• Grated Coconut - 3 tablespoons
• Cashews - 5

Method
To Prepare The Urundais

          Soak the chana dal/ bengal gram for 2 hours and grind it with the red chillies and fennel seeds without adding any water ( using the pulse button in the blender).

          To this, add the chopped onions, coriander, curry leaves and salt and mix it. Make lemon sized balls with it.

          Heat some oil for deep frying. Add the lentil balls, five or more at a time (depending on the amount of oil you are using for deep frying) and deep fry them. Don't wait for it to turn brown, remove it when you see it changing into a light golden color. Drain and keep them.

To Prepare The Gravy
          Grind the grated coconut and cashews and keep. Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup hot water, extract the juice and keep.

          Heat some oil, add the crushed fennel seeds, cinnamon and cloves. When it starts sizzling, add the chopped onions, green chilli, garlic and ginger, saute for 2 minutes till the onion turns pink in color.

          Now add the tomatoes and saute till it turns mushy. Then add the turmeric, chilli and coriander powders and mix for a minute. Add the tamarind extract and about 2 cups of water, salt, bring it to a boil and simmer it for 5 minutes.

          Now add the ground coconut-cashew paste and boil it for a couple of minutes. At this stage, add the deep fried lentil balls/ urundais and simmer for another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the chopped coriander and curry leaves and switch off. Leave it for 5 to 10 minutes for the balls to soak in the gravy, then serve it.

Note
If you fry the lentil balls too much, they will not soak up the gravy.
When you add the fried balls at the end, the gravy should be slightly thin, otherwise, once the urundais soak the gravy, it'll be really thick and without any gravy left.
Though I used 1 cup chana dal, I made only 15 balls and used in the gravy, the remaining I saved up for making vadais.
If you make more urundais, increase the gravy.
Can leave out the tamarind and use only tomatoes for this gravy, add one more small tomato or a tablespoon of crushed tomatoes instead of the tamarind.
Can double the amount of coconut for a much more richer gravy.

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Potato And Eggplant Curry

          Most of the times when I have potatoes and eggplants/brinjals, I make separate curries with them, very rarely I do a combo with them except in a kurma. I have made this curry only a couple of times. The two vegetables pair very well, especially if you choose the right kind of eggplants and potatoes. When sauteed with some freshly ground spice powder, it turned out to be very flavorful and tasty, it's a good side dish with both rice and rotis..

Need To Have

• Baby Eggplants - 11/2 cup diced
• Potatoes - 11/2 cup, boiled, peeled and diced
• Onion - 1 medium chopped
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Chopped Coriander - 1/4 cup
• Salt - to taste

To Powder

• Dried Red Chillies - 2
• Coriander Seeds - 1 tablespoon
• White Poppy Seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

Method

          Grind all the ingredients given under 'to powder'. Heat some oil, add the mustard and cumin seeds, when it starts spluttering add the asafoetida and the chopped onions and saute till it turns pink.

          Now add the eggplants and mix. Then add the turmeric powder and salt. Cover and cook till the brinjals are done.

          Then add the potatoes, mix, add the ground powder and mix well. Keep sauteing it for another 5 minutes. Finally mix in the chopped coriander, serve it warm with rice and dal or even with some rotis.

Note
I have used baby eggplants, you can also use the regular big ones too.
Choose potatoes which are not used for baking, that holds shape when cooked.

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Gobhi Keema..Minced Spicy Cauliflower, Step Wise & The Winner of January’s ‘ONLY’ Event Giveaway

 

Hi!

Here I’m with an interesting and tasty post today which is just apt for people who would like to enjoy the non-veg specialties the veggie way. This is a fuss free curry which I personally feel tastes best with paav or even naan.

I use this curry to make stuffed buns too. The buns are filling and amazingly tasty.

Ingredients

3 cups minced Cauliflower

2 onions finely chopped

2tbsp ginger-garlic paste

5tbsp tomato puree

2tsp red chili pwd

1/4tsp turmeric pwd

salt to taste

2tbsp coriander pwd

2-3 kitchen king masala

a pinch of garam masala

a cup of milk

1/2 cup chopped coriander

a mix of clarified butter and oil for cooking

whole spices-

2-3 bay leaves

1 small piece cinnamon

1 black cardamom

Method

Heat the oil-ghee combination and add the whole spices and sauté.

Add the g-g paste and sauté followed by chopped onions, cook till light brown in colour.

Mix the tomato puree, salt to taste, red chilli, turmeric and coriander powders and cook till oil separates. Add the kitchen king and garam masala.

Add the cauliflower and mix thoroughly.

Pour the milk and mix again, cover and cook till done.

Mix the coriander and serve hot.The coriander adds an amazing flavour to the curry, so do not miss on that.

 

The Gobhi keema can also be used to make sandwich which can make a very filling and healthy breakfast.

Coming to the winner of the giveaway of ‘Only’ Street Foods of the World hosted by Archana. Out of the 28 entries in the round up under the Indian category, I’ve used random.org to pick the winner. I had to count in the sequence of  round up as there was no numbering, so please others verify too…

No.5 is of Paneer Pav Bhaji, posted by Shruti Rasoi. Shruti Rasoi, as you must be aware that the giveaway is for bloggers Publically Following Foodelicious. Please inform me in which way are you publically following my blog. Once you have confirmed me your following, mail me your address with landmark and pin code, phone number to cookingoodfood@gmail.com. In case the current winner fails to respond in two days or she is not a follower of my blog, I will pick another winner.

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