EASY BRINJAL CURRY|KATHRIKAI PORIYAL

I learnt this recipe from my neighbor. I am a big fan of brinjal but my hubby is just opposite to me. So i rarely buy this veggie and cook for me specially. I love my mom's brinjal stuffed poriyal very much. Next to that , this is the second best. It can be made in jiffy. It tastes best with dal , sambhar and morkuzhambu rice. I relished with keerai kuzhambu ..!!

 

INGREDIENTS

Brinjal – 4 nos (medium size) Sambhar powder – 1 – 1.5 tsp Tamarind – small gooseberry size Jaggery – Small piece (Add more if want sweetish) Salt & water – As needed To temper & saute Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp Urad dal – 1/2 tsp Jeera – 1/2 tsp Channa dal – 1/2 tsp Curry leaves – few Big onion – 1 no (slice cut) Oil – As needed.

METHOD

• Slit cut each brinjal into 8 pieces .Make thin slices so that it cooks quickly.Immerse in water till use. Soak tamarind in little water.
• Heat oil in a kadai and temper all the items given above in the same order.
• Saute onions till it turns transparent.Add the brinjal slices and saute for a minute.
• Add the sambhar powder ,saute for sometime.Then add the tamarind extract , jaggery ,required water & salt.
• Cover and cook for sometime.Switch off the flame once the brinjal is cooked.

****If u want in semi gravy consistency , switch off the flame when little water remains.It can be mixed in plain rice topped with ghee !!

Yummy brinjal curry is ready is to serve with dal rice , sambhar & morkuzhambu rice!!

NOTE

1. Use long green brinjal variety. But i used the normal purple ones.
2. When i made this curry , i had cut the brinjal into 4 pieces so it was big to eat. Then my neighbour told me cut into very small , thin slices the next time. I found the taste was blended well when brinjal is small.

KITCHEN CLINIC

BRINJAL Commonly known as the eggplant, brinjal is one of the most easily available and affordable vegetables. In its unripe form, it is a large greenish-whitish vegetable and when ripe, it turns a deep violet. Brinjal can be cooked in many different ways and provides many essential nutrients that are needed for overall well-being of the body. In fact, one can even take brinjal soup to attain maximum benefits from this vegetable. It is a very good source of potassium and contains a high content of water and fiber. Check out the nutritional value and also the health benefits of eating brinjal. Nutritional Value of Brinjal Given here is the nutritional value of a serving of 100 grams of brinjal. Calcium - 525 mg Cholesterol - 16mg Dietary Fiber - 4.9g Iron - 6mg Potassium - 618mg Protein - 8g Saturated Fat - 5.2g Sodium - 62mg Sugars - 11.4g Total Carbohydrates - 17.8g Total Fat - 27.5g Vitamin A - 6.4 mg Health & Nutrition Benefits of Eating Brinjal Take brinjal in a mashed form or as a soup and add some garlic and asafetida to it. It will help you get rid of flatulence and adjust the wind humor of the body. Brinjal can also be eaten after being roasted directly on fire. Just peel off the skin, mash it and add some salt in it for flavor and eat it. It will help cure phlegm, congestion and reduce the formation of gas. In order to increase appetite and digestion, take soup made of mashed brinjal and tomato, along with some salt and pepper. In case you are unable to fall asleep easily, eat a soft brinjal (along with some honey) after baking it directly over fire. If taken regularly, it may also cure insomnia. In order to cure enlarged spleen caused due to malaria, eat soft baked brinjal along with raw sugar on empty stomach, preferably in the morning.

Technorati Tags: Brinjal poriyal,brinjal curry,kathirikai poriyal,kathrikai curry,Brinjal recipes,easy brinjal poriyal.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/sBff/~3/fIDBEVNhKs0/root-vegetable-gratin-notes-from.html

[I hope you enjoyed our first and last Dostoevsky reference] Whenever I see those big piles of rutabagas at the market, I always think to myself, "who the heck is eating all these root vegetables?" 

I understand that there've been times when we literally had no choice – it was either gnaw on a parsnip or perish, but nowadays with so many other delicious choices, why would anyone eat root vegetables on purpose? Has anyone ever stumbled out of a smoky dorm room late at night, in search of a big plate of steamed turnips? Probably not. 

So, while you'll never catch me boiling up a batch of these fugly roots to enjoy their intoxicating sulphurous savoriness, I have been known to tolerate them in the occasional gratin.

Of course, I cheated and added some potatoes to mellow things out, but still, all kidding aside, this is a very delicious and enjoyable way to eat them, and would make a fantastic side dish for the holidays. And yes, I do know that potatoes are tubers and not roots, so save your emails. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 turnip

1 rutabaga

1 small celery root

2 yukon gold potatotes

1 parsnip

* root vegetable sizes and shapes vary, but bottom line, you'll need enough to fill a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish up 3/4 of the way

salt to taste (be sure to generously salt the boiling water!)

2 tsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

3 cloves minced garlic

1 cup cream

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of cayenne

1 tbsp fresh picked thyme leaves

1 1/4 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Favorite Foods of Hawaii

During the plantation era workers in Hawaii sat together at lunch and ate a bite of whatever their co-workers brought. It might have been adobo, fried rice or teriyaki. Call it potluck, Hawaii style. Trying new flavors has long been part of Hawaii's heritage and something you should do too when you visit. Trying local specialties and discovering new (and old under-the-radar) places in Hawaii is one of my favorite vacation activities.

Everyone has their 'must try' things to eat in Hawaii. Here are just a few of mine and where to find them on Oahu. Each one of these dishes tells you a little something about the culinary history of Hawaii.


Poke (pronouned po-kay)
Where to find:
Everywhere, but Alicia's Market has a big selection

This is perhaps one of the most 'authentic' dishes from Hawaii. It's primarily raw fish and it comes in many varieties such as wasabi, tobiko, and Maui onion, but traditionally it was just chunks of fish such as ahi, salt, seaweed and a bit of toasted kukui nut, all native ingredients.


Manapua
Where to find:
Royal Kitchen in Chinatown

These filled buns look like cha siu bao, but the version you find in Hawaii is larger and a little sweeter and much lighter. The dough seems a bit more Portuguese than traditional Chinese. You can also get it filled with Kalua pork which you definitely won't find outside of Hawaii.


While at Royal Kitchen don't miss the 'pork hash' Hawaii's version of siu mai. It's unique and succulent with less ingredients than siu mai, but it's very tasty all the same. Both the manapua and the pork hash are very inexpensive.


Taro Chips
Where to find:
Everywhere but for freshly made chips go the Hawaiian Chip Factory Outlet

You may or may not appreciate poi, but you are sure to enjoy taro chips. The Hawaiian Chip Company opened in 1999 and makes very popular vegetable chips served at restaurants, on Hawaiian Airlines and they are widely available in stores. But at the factory shop you can get a freshly made hot bag of chips and season them yourself. You can also get a snack, like the killer sliders they serve on Saturdays.


Malasadas
Where to find:
Leonard's Bakery

These Portuguese donuts are a must. The big neon sign at Leonard's letting you know when they are fresh will lure you in. I don't know anyone who doesn't love these hot, yeasty, moist-in-the-middle pillows of love, better than any Krispy Kreme, that's for sure.


Shave Ice
Where to find:
Many places, but I like Tats the best

Better than a snow cone, more like a snowball, the best shaved ice is super fluffy. Shave ice first appeared as a cooling treat on the plantations, and was brought to Hawaii by the Japanese. Get it flavored with something tropical like lilikoi. It's sweet and cooling which is the perfect combination when temperatures rise. Favorite spots are widely debated. It's often said the older the shave ice machine, the better the shave ice.

My thanks to the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau and especially local girl and Oahu writer Catherine Toth for introducing me to some (but not all) of the items featured here

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.

Blackberry Mini Tarts Recipe

Last week Driscoll's held a wonderful event for bloggers that I got to have a hand in planning. Bloggers brought dishes made with fresh blackberries, got insider cooking tips from cookbook author and cooking teacher Rick Rodgers and an inspiring food photography tutorial and demo from food photographer Caren Alpert.

I learned about pastry tampers, (the secret to quickly forming small tart shells in mini muffin pans) improvising with FedEx boxes and tin foil to get more light in food photos, ate a fabulous of dinner made from Rick's recipes, and tasted some divine desserts from some of my fellow bloggers. I particularly loved Irvin's tangy lemon and blackberry pie. I hope he posts the recipe soon! Rick made a cream cheese crust pastry with a savory filling and a blackberry topping. It was surprisingly similar to my dessert recipe.

I got the original recipe from the Land 'O Lakes website. I adapted it for Thanksgiving using cranberries and no nuts or glaze, then tweaked both the ingredients and the techniques to make it work with blackberries. Driscoll's blackberries are so good right now that I wanted to use them raw. I like desserts with at least some tangy flavor and blackberries have such a great balance of sweet and sour, thanks to a good ratio of natural sugars and organic acids. You could top the custard filled tarts with any kind of fresh berry you like. What makes this recipe so easy is that you mix the dough and the filling in a food processor. You could probably do it using a stand mixer if you prefer.



Blackberry Mini Tarts
Makes 36

Crust;
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt

2 6-oz packages blackberries, each berry cut into two or three pieces

Heat oven to 325°F. Combine flour, butter, cream cheese and salt in food processor. Blend until dough forms a ball.

Divide dough into 36 equal pieces. Place 1 piece of dough into each ungreased mini muffin pan cup. Press dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of cup or use a pastry tamper! Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile in a bowl or food processor, cream together the sugar and butter then mix in egg, vanilla and salt. Spoon about a teaspoon into each tart crust then bake another 10-12 minutes until the crust is golden and the top of the custard begins to brown. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes then remove from pans using a knife if necessary. Place about 3 pieces of berry in each tart shell.

Enjoy!

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.

Waiter, there's goat cheese in my burrito!

The first time I saw this recipe it didn't appeal to me at all. Goat cheese and burritos don't seem like they could go together. But the idea grew on me and we gave it a try. Loved it. The tangy cheese is brilliant with the beans and tomatos.

This is a very fast and low maintenance recipe. Other than cooking some rice there's only a bit of chopping and less than 10 minutes of cooking.

I altered the original recipe slightly - I'd say you could get 4-6 nice sized burritos out of this.

Goat Cheese Burritos

adapted from Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons

1 tb oil

1 bunch of green onions, washed well and finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 tsp ground cumin

3 tomatos, chopped

2 cups cooked rice

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

soft goats cheese (2 or more tb per burrito)

flour tortillas

sour cream

salsa

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add the green onions, garlic and cumin to the pan and cook, stirring often for 5 minutes. Meanwhile in another medium pan, heat the black beans and a couple of tablespoons of water over medium heat until hot. Drain off the water. Add the tomatos to the onion mixture and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in the rice.

Spread the goats cheese on the tortillas. Spoon the rice mixture on top of the cheese and top with beans. Add salsa and sour cream if desired. Roll up and dig in.

Spanish Recipes

Easy to cook spanish recipes pic by pic! Genuine and traditional recipes. Restaurants recomendations and more...

SPROUTS PULAO AND MIXED VEGETABLE RAITA

 

I made this for my hubby' lunch box today . I got these recipes from Tarla dalal's website.Both the recipes were given under Protein rich , low calorie , healthy food category. So i chose these recipes for our lunch.I made some slight changes to the actual recipe according to our tastebuds.It was nice & filling too.. Thanks to tarla dalal…About the raita , i should have named this as beetroot raita because the color of beetroot is predominant here. I've added carrots and cucumber to the raita. But its not visible .So adding beetroot is purely optional. If u want a nice color , please omit or add less beetroot pieces.Please find the raita recipe below.

INGREDIENTS

Sprouted green gram / Sprouted moong – 1/2 cup Carrot – 1 no Rice – 1/2 cup Water – 1.5 cups (adjust if u use basmati ) Salt – As needed. To temper Cooking oil – 1 tbsp Cinnamon – 1 small stick Cloves – 2 nos Bayleaf – 1 no Ginger- Garlic paste – 1/2 tsp Green chilly – 1 no (chopped finely) Big onion – 1 no (-do-) Coriander powder – 3/4 tsp Chilli powder – 1/2tsp Turmeric powder – a pinch Garam masala powder – 1/4 tsp Lime juice – few drops Coriander leaves – to garnish

METHOD

Heat the pressure cooker base with a tbsp of oil and add all the items given under "to temper" one by one in the same order. When the onion becomes translucent , add the carrot pieces and sprouts. Saute well for a minute. Then add all the powders. Mix well for a few minutes and add the rice. Toss it well. Finally add the water & reqd salt. Pressure cook upto 1 or 2 whistle. Add a zing of lime juice and garnish with coriander leaves. ENJOY EATING HOT WITH RAITA !!

MIXED VEGETABLE RAITA

INGREDIENTS

• Cooked carrot and beetroot cubes – 1/2 cup
• Cucumber pieces - few
• Fresh curd – 1/2 cup
• Green chilly – 1/2 no (Chopped finely)
• Roasted jeera powder – to sprinkle
• Water – as needed to dilute the curd
• Salt – as reqd

METHOD

• Cube cut carrot and beetroot into small pieces.Cook them for 1 whistle adding little water.
• Mix the fresh cucumber pieces with the cooked vegetables.
• Add the thick curd , reqd water and salt.( sometimes water may not be needed as the water in the cooked vegetables may be enough)
• Finally sprinkle the roasted jeera powder..

Serve with parathas and pulao !!

KITCHEN CLINIC

Green gram arose in North-eastern India and there is a long history of its use throughout Asia. Its popularity stems not just from its medicinal and nutritional properties, but also from its adaptability to drought conditions and inferior soils. The nitrogen fixing bacteria in the plant's root help replenish the nitrogen content of the soil, which makes it a valuable inter-crop in rice and sugar cane cultivation. Nutritional value of Green Gram (Per 100 grams) Energy : 30 calories Protein : 3 grams Carbohydrate : 6 grams Dietary Fiber : 2 grams Health benefits Unlike other pulses, green gram is free of flatulence-causing agents. This makes it an acceptable food for convalescents and pleasant weaning food for babies. The protein is especially rich in the amino acid, lysine, but it is somewhat deficient in sulphur-containing amino acids. The seeds are rich in calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, folate and other B Vitamins. They also contain appreciable amounts of Vitamin C. Raw seeds are rich in trypsin-inhibitors that block the effects of protein digesting enzymes in the gut. Sprouted green gram has lower amounts of these inhibitors, but the best method to eliminate trypsin inhibitors is boiling. Cooking does not affect the protein profile of this seed. Food Uses Green gram's use in creating dishes is widely prevalent all over India. It is eaither used whole or split into dal. Whole green gram is the most popular sprout worldwide. Green gram in its split form is used to make khichdi, dal, barfi, payasam (a sweet dish) and other sweets. Deep fried and salted moong dal (green gram) is a popular Indian snack. Processed green gram is a common soup base, and gram flour is a common ingredient in many fried snacks. Medicinal Uses Chinese medicine uses green gram as a remedy for oedema, fever, headache and generalised anxiety, and as a diuretic. It is also a folk remedy for arsenic poisoning and other mineral toxins.

 

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