Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon finely shredded orange peel
• ½ teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon orange extract (optional)
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• Powdered sugar

Method

• Add butter and sugar to a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy
• Beat in vanilla extract, and orange extract
• Beat in flour, and corn starch
• Mix in orange and lemon peel.
• Shape dough into a about 6 – 8 inch log and wrap in a plastic wrap and chill for about 20 minutes to ½ hour
• Preheat oven to 375F
• Cut log into about ¼ inch thick slices
• Place them in an un-greased cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or edges are lightly browned
• Cool on wire rack for about 15 minutes
• Add powdered sugar to a plastic bag and add the warm cookies and shake gently to cover them with sugar
• Cool completely on wire rack
• Yields: about 15 cookies

I have been making bulgur with different vegetables.  I kind of started getting bored making the same bulgur dish again and again.  So I thought to make this new and interesting version of bulgur dish.  Grilling in butter gives this dish a distinct flavor.  I used salted butter (I know too much sodium).  But it gives even a better taste.  But if you are a health conscious person and want to avoid any fatty stuff, you can use oil spray instead.

Ingredients

• ½ cup uncooked bulgur
• 1 ½ cups water
• Salt to taste
• About 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 small onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 4 oz white mushroom
• 1 small green squash
• 1/3 cup dried kidney beans
• 1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons Sri Lankan chili powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin powder
• ½ teaspoon coriander powder
• Butter for skillet

Method:

Cook Bulgur

• Bring water to boil in a covered saucepan
• Wash bulgur thoroughly and add washed bulgur to saucepan and bring to a rolling boil
• Reduce heat to low and cover and simmer until all water is absorbed
• Let for about 5 – 10 minutes
• Transfer bulgur to a baking tray and level with a spoon
• Cool to room temperature
• Cover and chill in refrigerator for about half an hour to one hour

Cook Vegetarian Chili

• Soak beans overnight.  Drain water and wash them thoroughly
• Add beans to a saucepan, add enough water and cook until soft (I used a pressure cooker since its fast.  I cooked for about 8 whistles).  Let cool.
• Meanwhile thinly slice onion, garlic, and mushrooms.
• Chop squash into ½ inch cubes
• Add oil to a saucepan and add onion and garlic and sauté until soft.
• Add mushroom, squash, beans, chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, ½ cup water, tomato paste and salt and cover and cook on medium flame for about 10 – 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender and the gravy has thickened

To Serve:

• With a sharp knife, cut chilled bulgur in to diagonal pieces (about 6)
• Melt about 1 tablespoon butter in a non stick skillet
• Add bulgur cakes to the skillet and cook on both sides until lightly browned and crisp
• Drain on paper towel
• Place 2 bulgur diagonal pieces on each plate and top each serving with vegetable chili.

Serves 3

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.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz pasta such as Penne, Rotini etc.
• 1 teaspoon cooking oil
• ½ cup chopped onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1, 10 oz pack frozen mixed vegetables
• ¼ teaspoon cumin (optional)
• ¼ teaspoon paprika
• 1 ¾ cups pasta sauce
• ¼ cup low fat ricotta cheese
• About 1 cup or more mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Method:

• Cook pasta and drain.  Set aside
• Add pasta saucepan and ricotta cheese to a saucepan and cook on medium heat until ricotta cheese is melted and sauce start bubbling.
• Set aside
• Pre heat oven to 400F
• Add oil to a skillet and when hot add onion and sauté until soft
• Add garlic and sauté for another minute or two
• Now add cumin and fry until fragrant.
• Thaw vegetables and add to the skillet and cook until all the water is absorbed and the vegetables are soft.  Add chili powder
• Now add the cooked sauce to the vegetables and mix well.
• Add cooked pasta to the vegetables and mix thoroughly
• Transfer to a oven proof dish and sprinkle generously with mozzarella cheese.
• Bake for about 15-20 minutes or the cheese is lightly browned and bubbly
• Let cool and when serving sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese
• Serves: about 2 – 3 as a main dish

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar
• 2  oz butter melted
• Juice and grated rind of one orange
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup mashed banana
• ¼ cup pureed dates
• 2 oz walnuts chopped

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 350F.  Butter a 9x9x2 inch cake pan and set aside.
• Sift flour and baking powder and set aside
• To puree date, add about ¼ cup hot water to dates and leave aside for about 15 minutes
• Puree dates in a blender
• Make juice from orange and add enough hot water to make 1 ¼  cups liquid.
• Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• Now add orange juice, vanilla extract, mashed banana, pureed dates and beat on low speed
• Add the flour and beat mix well.
• Now add chopped walnuts and mix until all the ingredients are mixed well
• Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about one hour or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
• Cool on wire rack.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados
• About 4 – 5 teaspoons generous castor sugar
• ¼ cup cold whole milk
• Cashew nuts lightly toasted and broken into small pieces

Method

• Cut avocados and scoop out the flesh
• Mash it with a fork until it is almost like a paste (you can leave a  bit small pieces)
• Add sugar and milk and beat/mix thoroughly.
• Chill for about an hour or two
• Equally divide the dessert into 4 bowls
• Sprinkle with toasted cashew nuts
• Serve cold.

Note: Try serving it with a scoop of ice-cream or just sprinkle a bit of chocolate syrup over the avocados.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb frozen pizza dough
• ¾ lb potatoes
• 1 medium carrot shredded
• ¼ cup green peas
• ¼ cup chopped onion
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1-2 teaspoon canola oil
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon crushed red chili
• Few curry leaves
• Salt to taste

Method

• Thaw dough according to package directions or lightly oil the dough and leave at room temperature for about 6 hours
• Boil potatoes until three-quarter done
• Drain and let cool.  Peel off the skin and chop them roughly into very small pieces
• Heat oil in a skillet and add onion and sauté until lightly golden
• Add cumin seeds and sauté for another 30 seconds
• Add potatoes, carrots and green peas, chili powder and cook on low flame mixing thoroughly
• If needed sprinkle little water at a time until vegetables are quite done
• Add crushed red chili and curry leaves and cook for another minute
• Let cool
• Pre-heat oven to 375F
• Take the thawed dough and place on a floured surface.
• With a rolling pin spread the dough into square about 10 inch x 6 inch

• Spread the cooked vegetable on the dough evenly leaving about 1 inch around the edge.
• Roll the dough carefully and seal the edges

• Snip off the excess dough from the ends and seal them firmly
• Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes
• To serve, cut them into thick slices.

Note:

Instead of rolling like this, you can also make buns – take the thawed dough and make small portions.  Make a well in the middle and add a spoon full of cooked vegetable and seal it to make a bun.  Bake as mentioned above.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium zucchini
• 6 oz sliced white mushroom
• ½ cup red onion sliced
• 1 green chili slit lengthwise
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½  teaspoon red chili powder
• ¼ cup coconut milk

Method:

• Slit zucchini lengthwise and cut diagonally into thin slices and set aside
• Dry roast coriander and cumin seeds lightly and let cool.  Once cool grind to a fine powder
• Add oil to a covered saucepan and sauté onion lightly golden
• Add green chili and sauté for one more minute
• Add ground coriander-cumin and chili powder to the saucepan and mix well.  Make sure the flame is set to very low.  Otherwise it will start smoking
• Add zucchini, mushroom, and coconut milk and cook on medium flame for about 6-7 minutes.
• If the curry starts drying out, sprinkle a little water – about 1 – 2 tablespoons.
• Serve warm with rice or Rotis

Yields: 2-3 servings as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• ½ lb vegetables such as green beans, bell pepper, cauliflower, mushrooms.
• ½ lb sweet potato
• 5 red radishes
• About 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons flax seed grounded
• ½ teaspoons roasted cumin seeds
• ¾ cup white quinoa
• 1 ¼ cups water
• Salt to taste

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 400F
• Slice bell pepper into thin slices.  Break the cauliflower into small florets.  Slice mushrooms into thick slices.  Chop green beans diagonally into 1 inch pieces
• Cut sweet potatoes into about ½ inch cubes
• Add all the vegetables to a cookie sheet with salt and sprinkle with olive oil and mix well
• Bake for about 45 minutes
• Let cool
• To cook Quinoa: add quinoa to a skillet and roast lightly on medium flame.  About 5 minutes.
• Stir water and salt to quinoa and bring to a rolling boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until all the water is absorbed.  About 10 minutes
• Let cool.  Now mix vegetable with quinoa and season with salt and pepper
• Serve with mango pickle.
• Serves 2 as a main dish

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.