Quinoa with Crunchy Sprouted Beans

Bean sprouts has a crunchy and nutty flavor.  They are rich in vitamins, minerals, amino acids, protein and phytochemicals.  Usually I add these sprouts in salads which give a nice crunchy taste.  But due to the recent outbreaks of salmonella, or Escherichia coli I started cooking them in high heat so it will at least kill the bacteria to some extent.

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup Quinoa
  • 1 ¼ cups water
  • About 2 teaspoons canola oil
  • ½ lb mixed vegetables (such as bell pepper, mushroom, squash etc)
  • About ½ inch piece of ginger
  • 1 small red onion

  • 1 cup mixed bean sprout
  • Few cashew nuts (optional)
  • ½ teaspoon chili paste
  • 1 teaspoon crushed pepper
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Roast quinoa on low flame for a couple of minutes or until fragrant (make sure not to burn it or turn brown)
  • Add water and salt and bring to a rolling boil.  (When adding water to the roasted quinoa, it might splatter since the pan is quite hot).
  • Reduce flame and cook until all the water is absorbed. When quinoa is cooked you will see a tiny tail coming out of the grain.  (See my image for recipe quinoa with vegetables).  Let cool
  • Chop ginger into very small pieces (you can also grind and crush them)
  • Chop bell pepper, squash, and mushrooms into thick sliced.
  • Add oil to a skillet and add ginger and fry for about a minute.
  • Add red onion and sauté until lightly transparent.
  • Now add the rest of the vegetables and sprouted beans and stir fry on medium to high flame for about 5 minutes
  • Reduce flame and add chili paste, crushed pepper and mix well and cook for another minute
  • Transfer cooked quinoa to the skillet and mix well.
  • Season with salt.
  • Roast cashew nuts and sprinkle on the top and mix into the quinoa.
  • Serves about 2

Note: you can use any vegetables you want for this dish.  For example snow peas or sugar snap peas can be another option (I did not have those).  If you are non vegetarian, you may want to try a bit of fried shrimp on the top.

Vegetable Rotis

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup shredded leeks + carrots
  • ½ cup chopped red onion
  • 1 green chili
  • 2 teaspoons canola oil
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Water to mix dough

Method:

  • Shred carrots and chop leeks into fine pieces
  • Chop green chilies into small pieces (rounds)

  • Add oil to a skillet and when hot add chopped onion and sauté until transparent.
  • Add carrot, leek, and green chili and sauté on low flame until cooked
  • Season with salt and let cool
  • to make the dough, mix flour salt and oil and add the cooked vegetables
  • add enough water to make the dough
  • transfer dough to a bowl and cover with a plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for about ½ hour.
  • To make the roti, divide dough into 10 portions.
  • Take a portion and place on a board and sprinkle a little flour and roll out with a rolling pin into thin rotis

  • Cook rotis on a skillet on both sides until done.
  • Serve warm with chickpea curry or any other curry

Variation:  You can add other vegetables like cauliflower, green beans etc.  But make sure you cut them into very fine pieces.

Spicy Beet/Beetroot Curry

In Sri Lanka Beets are commonly called as Beetroot.  Fresh beets have an earthy flavor like no other vegetable.  They are very easy to cook and have a very distinct sweet taste.  Beets can be used in salads, as a side dish and boiled/steamed.  My mother used to make this spicy beet curry, and beet varai.  I used to run away whenever she cooked beet curry.  But I always loved the beet varai.  So last week when I bought a bunch of fresh beets, I thought of making this dish again.  It came out quite good but still I am not a fan of beet curry.  I added coconut milk which gives a distinct flavor to this dish – in combination of the earthy beet flavor.  If you are health conscious you can replace coconut milk with normal 2% milk or soy milk.  But I think you will be missing that distinct flavor.

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium beets/ ½ lb beets
  • ½ cup sliced onion
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 2 green chilies split lengthwise
  • ¾ cup water
  • 2 – 3 teaspoons chili powder (Sri Lankan Version)
  • 2 tablespoon thick coconut milk
  • Few curry leaves
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Peel and wash the beets
  • Cut them into thin cubes and set aside
  • Add oil to a covered saucepan and when hot add onion and sauté for about lightly golden
  • Add green chilies and sauté for another minutes in low flame
  • Now add beets and mix well and sauté in medium flame for about 5 minutes stirring often
  • Add water, chili powder, salt, coconut milk and bring to boil
  • Lower heat to medium and cover and cook for about 7- 8 minutes or the gravy becomes quite thick.
  • Add curry leaves and cook for another minutes.  At this point the curry should be thick and very little gravy.
  • Serve warm with rice
  • Serves about 3 as a side dish.


Sesame Rice (Ellu Satham)

I had some left over rice and was wondering what to do.  I wanted to do some thing quick and simple.  Making fried rice or vegetable biryani will take a lot of time.  So I settled with the sesame rice which is easy and quick to make.  I mixed white and black sesame seed for this recipe.  Black sesame seed has high nutritional value since it has the skin.  Also black sesame seed has a much stronger taste and flavor.  But you can completely replace the black sesame seed with white one.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup cooked basmati rice
  • 2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
  • 1 tablespoon white sesame seed
  • 1 teaspoon shredded unsweetened coconut (optional)
  • 3 dried red chilies
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon mustard seed
  • 1 teaspoon urad dhal
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seed
  • 1 strand curry leaves

Method:

  • Dry roast sesame seeds until they start splattering
  • Dry roast one red chili and coconut until coconut is quite dry (lightly golden).  If not using coconut, just dry roast chili for a few seconds (make sure it does not get burned and start smoking)
  • Add sesame seed oil to a saucepan and add mustard seed
  • When they start splattering, add urad dhal and fry for about 25-30 seconds in low flame
  • Now add cumin seed, curry leaves and the rest of the dried red chilies (bread the red chilies into 3-4 small pieces) and sauté for about 30 seconds
  • Add rice, ground sesame seed mixture and salt to the saucepan and cook on low flame for about a minute.  Sprinkle just a little bit water and cover the saucepan.  This is to keep the rice moist and soft
  • Serve warm with appalam or moar milagai (curd chili)

Potato Stuffed Roti (Kilangu Roti)

 

Ingredients

For Roti:

  • ½ teaspoon dry yeast
  • ¾ cup warm water
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • Pinch of salt

For Stuffing:

  • ½ lb potatoes
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon mustard seed
  • ½ cup chopped onion
  • 2 green chilies chopped
  • ¼ cup green peas (thawed if frozen)
  • ¼ teaspoon chili powder
  • ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • Strand of curry leaves
  • Salt to taste

Make the dough:

  • Add yeast to a bowl and dissolve in warm water
  • Let stand for a few minutes
  • Mix flour and salt and add to the yeast mixture
  • Stir with wooden spoon until smooth (you may have to use hand since it might be too sticky and tight to stir with a spoon)
  • Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 3 minutes
  • Shape the dough into a ball and add to the bowl and cover with a plastic wrap
  • Leave in a warm place for about 15 minutes
  • Uncover and knead again for about 5 minutes.
  • Divide the dough into 4 portions and shape them into balls

  • Lightly coat the balls with cooking spray and cover with a plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes

Make the stuffing

  • Boil potatoes with skin until ¾ done
  • Drain and let cool.  Peel the skin off and chop them roughly into small pieces
  • Heat a skillet with oil and add mustard seeds.
  • When the mustard seeds start splattering, add onion and sauté until lightly golden
  • Add green chili, cumin seeds and green peas and sauté for another 2 minutes.
  • Add potatoes, chili powder, salt, and curry leaves and cook on low flame until potatoes are done and soft.  If needed sprinkle with water about 1 tablespoon at a time

Make the Roti:

  • Working with one dough (ball) at a time, carefully flatten the dough on a board (I added a plastic wrap sheet to the board to prevent sticking.  Plastic wrap sheet works better than a floured board, also add a little bit of oil to hands)

  • Add a spoonful of the curry mix in the middle of the flattened dough.

  • Bring the edges together and seal it.  Now slowly flatten again and make sure the curry does not come out
  • Spray a little oil to a skillet.  When the skillet becomes hot, add the rotis and cook on both sides until done
  • Serve warm.  Makes 4 rotis.

Iddly Upma (Iddly Uppuma)

 

Ingredients

Whenever I have left over iddlies I make this simple dish which is really delicious and quite easy to make

  • 8 left over Iddlies
  • 1 medium red onion
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 3 green chilies
  • 2 dried red chilies broken into 2 – 3 pieces
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
  • ¼ teaspoon mustard seed
  • 1 inch piece ginger grated
  • Strand of curry leaves
  • Salt to taste

 

Method:

  • Crumble iddlies with your hand or using a food processor
  • Slit carrots lengthwise and then cut them diagonally into thin slices
  • Chop onion and green chilies into small pieces
  • To a skillet add sesame seed oil and when it’s hot add mustard seeds
  • When the mustard seed start cracking, add onion and carrot and fry until golden brown
  • Add grated ginger, dried red chilies, and curry leaves and fry for another minutes
  • Add crumbled iddlies and mix well
  • Season with salt.

Spicy Cauliflower in Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/8 teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 12 oz cauliflower florets
  • 2 large cloves garlic
  • ½ inch piece ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cooking oil
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • Pinch of turmeric
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ cup coconut milk
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • Dry roast coriander, cumin and fennel seeds and let cool
  • Grind them together to powder (curry powder)
  • Chop ginger and garlic into very small pieces (or you can use a mortar and pezzle to crush them)
  • Add oil to a saucepan and add crushed/chopped garlic and ginger and sauté for a minute or until garlic is golden
  • Add curry powder and stir and fry for about 30 seconds on low flame
  • Add cauliflower, chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and water and mix well and cover and bring to a boil
  • Now add coconut milk and cover and cook on medium flame until the gravy thickens – about 8 – 9 minutes
  • Serve with chapatti, roti, Nan bread or rice

Coconut milk can be replaced my normal milk (2% or 1%) but it will not give the same flavor as coconut milk.

இனிய பொங்கல் நல்வாழ்த்துகள்


இனிய பொங்கல் நல்வாழ்த்துகள்

Thai Pongal is the harvest festival celebrated by tamils throughout India and Sri Lanka (nothern part of Sri Lanka).   According to the tamil calendar, January 14th (or 15th) denotes the first day of January.  So according to a tamil saying “தை பிறந்தால் வழி பிறக்கும்” means the comencement of January (தை) paves the way of new opportunities.  Also its  the first day of spring and farmers thank the god surya (sun) for the good harvest.

Pongal is celebrated by making sweet milk rice.  Traditionally in Jaffna, Sri Lanka pongal is made in a new clay pot early in the morning – during sun rise.  Milk is added to the clay pot and when it starts boiling over, uncooked rice is added to the pot and cooked.   When the milk boils over, its considered good luck and brings prosperity in the following year.  Traditionally the pot is placed facing east  when making the pongal (sweet milk rice).   When the rice is cooked Jaggery, raisins, cashew nuts, ghee and cardamom are added.

The day after Thai pongal is called “Maattu Pongal” which means honoring the cattle that worked in the fields with the farmer.  In  Jaffna, Sri Lanka on the Maattu pongal, cows are bathed and their horns are painted.  Then pongal is made for the cows and they are worshiped.

Adai

 

Adai is not that common in the Jaffna Tamil cooking.  It’s healthier than normal Dosai since different kinds of lentils are used. This is quicker in comparison to dosai because this does not need fermentation.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup long grain rice
  • ½ cup urud dhal (lentil)
  • ¼ cup chana dhal (lentil)
  • ¼ cup toor dhal (lentil)
  • ¼ cup mung beans (split mung beans – dhal)
  • 2 dried red chilies
  • Couple of curry leaves
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup chopped onion
  • 1 small green chili finely chopped
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil for skillet
  • Sesame seed oil or butter or ghee (clarified butter)

 

Method

  • Wash the rice and lentils and soak in water together for about 4 – 5 hours
  • Add rice, lentils and red chili to a grinder/liquidizer and add 1 cup of water and grind coarsely (the batter should be thick – not like the dosai batter).  If the batter is too thick and difficult to grind, add little water at time and grind
  • Transfer the batter to a bowl and add chopped onion, green chili and salt and mix well
  • Heat a skillet or tava and with a paper towel spread some oil on the skillet

  • Add a spoonful of batter to the skillet and add about ½ teaspoon sesame seed oil or ¼ teaspoon butter and cover and cook.
  • Lift the dosai slightly to check whether the bottom is nicely browned.

  • Turn over the dosai and cook the other side until golden brown
  • Serve warm with sambar or coconut chutney
  • Makes about 8 adai

Kara Pongal (Spicy Pongal)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup long grain rice
  • ¼ cup mung beans (split lentils)
  • 3 cups water
  • ¼ cup lukewarm milk
  • 1 teaspoon cooking oil (canola preferable since it does not have any smell)
  • 1/8 teaspoon mustard seed
  • ¼ teaspoons black pepper
  • Small piece of ginger
  • 2 green chilies
  • 2 dried red chilies broken into 2 pieces
  • Curry leaves
  • Pinch of asafoetida (Hindi: hing, Tamil: Perungayam)
  • 2 teaspoons ghee (clarified butter)
  • Salt to taste

Method

  • Wash rice and  lentil
  • In a saucepan bring 3 cups of water to a rolling boil
  • Add rice and lentil to the saucepan and add a pinch of salt
  • Cook until rice is well done
  • If needed add hot water (I added extra 1 cup of water)
  • Now add milk and cook for a minute or two
  • Cover and set aside
  • Chop ginger into fine pieces and chop green chilies into small pieces
  • Add oil to a skillet and add mustard seeds and black pepper
  • Once mustard seed start splattering add ginger and green chilies
  • Fry for about 3 minutes
  • Now add curry leaves and dried red chilies and fry for another minute
  • Add asafoetida and mix well and add this fried mixture to the pongal and mix well
  • Add 2 teaspoons ghee and mix well
  • Serves: 2
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.