Home grown for my mom's birthday!

a herbal bouquet from my garden

This tuesday was my mom's birthday. I usually cook something nice to make that day special, a wonderful cook as she was. I knew I was going to make something light this time as all our stomachs needed a break from eating too much as we had invited friends for a barbecue on the weekend and like always I had prepared too much and we were left with enough for the next day as well. But until her birthday I really didn't now what. Then, it so happened that I went with sunnyboy to have a look at our kitchen garden in the afternoon and realised that we could make something nice with the potatoes waiting to be digged out, as my mom would have been so proud of me - of my first potatoes.
Both of us got our gloves, sunny boy has got his from his aunt who keeps buying all kinds of fancy things for him everytime she comes. It was uttermost pleasure for both of us to take them out of the earth and collect them in our bowl. Every time sunnyboy found one, he would scream with excitement "here's one more!...". We just dug out one plant for this and we still have nine. Yipeeeeee!
I couldn't believe that planting them so spontaneously end of March (or was it April?!....don't remember, need to note it down next time) actually gave results. I had planted an early potato variety and they came through without any diseases. I think they will be the only ones in my garden without any diseases this year, as I found signs of tomato blight on a couple of my still green tomatoes today. I removed those I found. My zucchini, just like my Hokaido pumpkin, are suffering from mildew now. Luckily we have had enough Zucchinis and so far they don't seem to be minding the mildew on the leaves. But the pumpkins on the plant seem to have stopped growing and no new ones are comig either. I'll have maybe five pumpkins this year of which only three would be the normal good size. I think for a pumpkin it seems too little. But the mildew is getting stronger and stronger even though I have already sprayed a lot of baking powder on the leaves. Initially it seemd to help a lot but not anymore and I don't wish to use any chemicals.
But hubby says five is not bad from a plant, more than enough for us. Well, he's right that way!

So, coming back to the potatoes. I washed them and scrubbed them clean. I didn't need to peal them as the skin looked so fresh and thin. I prepared them along with the zucchini from our kitchen garden. And we ate them along with a simple daal, rice and an avocado guacamole made with cucumber instead of the onion in it usually.

Sukhi Aaloo ki sabzi (Potatoes sauteed with veggies)
Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
6 -8 small early potatoes, skin scrubbed clean and cubed
1/2 zucchini (or 1 small), cubed
3 spring onions, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into squares
1 tsp cumin
1 pinch asafoetida, crushed
1 pinch coarsely ground fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp Pav Bhaji masala (Everest) or any other curry powder of choice
red chilli powder to taste
salt to taste
rapeseed oil

Method:

• heat oil in a saute pan and add cumin and asafoetida to splutter, stir and add the potatoes immediately.
• cook on medium heat covered, keep stirring in between
• after about 10 minutes add spring onion, ground coriander and red chili powder stir and cook further
• add salt in between and stir. Once done, take out and set aside covered to keep warm
• add little or no oil as per choice in the pan and stir fry zucchini and red pepper on medium high heat till they get a golden brown colour and cooked through but still firm to the bite
• add salt and put back the potatoes into the pan and cook further for no more than a minute (if using an electric or ceramic cooktop, switch of heat and leave on the cooktop)
  
• serve warm with rice, roti or any kind of bread. We ate it with daal, steamed basmati rice and guacamole made with cucumber instead of onion.
• Bon Appétit!
  

I've been away too long (and Myyyyyy zucchini plant)

It could get too long to explain to you why I had to take leave from blogging. It was unexpected but the reasons are gone now, unfortunately. That was another reason why I didn't feel like coming back as I was in no mood to do anything. Since last month I have been thinking of coming back, but somehow during my absence here a lot new happenend and I also realised that I had been neglecting a lot of other important things.
So, today I want to show you what all I have been up to in the last few months. I started working in my tiny kitchen garden a bit late this year but just about managed to plant some plantlets and just about managed to start the tomato seeds, but I don't know if it won't be too late by the time the tomatoes come. Though this time the sun had the mercy of showing up more often this summers than last year so, they almost seem to have made up for their small size. I hope i get atleast one round of tomatoes.
This time I even planted potatoes for the first time with hubbys help. They have been growing like wild. I have planted one zucchini plant and one Hokaido pumpkin which I bought from a local small groccery shop. They have come out very nicely. Now I have sown carrot seeds, a bit late, I feel, but lets see. And also seeds of radishes and a lettuce called 'pflucksalat' which are salads from which you can pluck just the leaves and new ones keep coming.
The Zucchini plant has been producing zucchini endlessly, but so far we haven't gotten bored of eating them.



I have made very many different things with it. Here are a few examples:
You see I wanted to post about it last month but I'm getting the time now. Sunny boy actually ate Zucchini. Yes! the biggest wonder of this year happpened on the day I served this dish , Zucchini with chickpeas. These were his words: "this is the best zucchini of the world". He was as happy and proud of the zucchini from his own garden as me.
But, don't worry, his enthusiasm went as soon as it came! :(




My zucchini plant, still going strong....
Although hubby loved all the things I prepared so far, but this was his favorite, Gobi manchurian a la PG, with zucchini and a lot of other veggies. The basic recipe came from the awesome blog of Sailu's Kitchen.

So that you know I will be writing but it will only be every now and then. Time has made me change priorities. I loved each and every moment of food blogging and I have been wanting to post so often but to no avail. I still keep taking pictures hoping to post about it. :D Maybe one day I will have more time for this hobby of mine.
I'm sorry for not replying to your emails and querries immediately. And thank you so much for your concern! I hope to post a couple of more posts soon.

Roasted bell peppers salad

A German friend of mine is an "India"-freak, if I may say so. She is a vegetarian, loves Indian food (she had lived in England for a year), and has fullfilled her dream of seeing India on a trip with me and wishes to go again. Last year she even tried a class called "Bollywood dancing" with another colleague of hers. The first time I heard about it I had to laugh. Though I did not want to be mean to her tried to resist it not to make fun of it. But, with time I realised that I am the one not up to date, as it looks like, it is a serious business now. I was recently reading in the online New York Times an article and my eyes fell on this article heading in the sidebar on Bollywood Excersise (note: not Hollywood, just in case you didn't know about it) in Health blog column "Well" at NYT.
Bollywood is big in coming here, so much so that they now show Indian movies, as always translated in German, on German TV channels like RTL. And I have heard from a French friend of mine who is now living there, that there also they get to see these translated movies on TV. And from what I know they produce Bollywood films now keeping the 'global' viewers in mind with the third generation of 'Indians' growing up outside India and globalisation showing its impacts on Indian culture as well.

Now coming back to the lovely roasted bell peppers. I had been wanting to eat them like this since a while until I finally took out the book and checked the ingredients, got some nice fresh bell peppers and the anchovies in salt and brine I required for it and got going that very day.

Roasted mediterranian bell peppers

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Based on a recipe from the book Le Cordon Bleu 'Vegetables'

Ingredients:
1 red belll pepper, washed, cleaned, stem and seeds removed, and cut into stips lengthwise
1 yellow bell pepper, (same as above)
1 green bell pepper, (same as above) - I substituted it with red bell peppers
1 red onion, halved vertically and then thinly sliced
olive oil to brush on bell peppers while roasting/grilling
2-3 tbsp capers, optionally with a few tsp of the brine (if using capers in salt, soak in warm water and use the water)
4-5 anchovies, finely chopped
3 -4 tbsp fresh basil leaves, washed and chiffonaded
2-3 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped
1 garlic, finely chopped
5 tbsp olive oil (EVOO)
1-2 tsp lemon juice, as per taste


fresh green lettuce leaves like Roma
some Italian bread (like Ciabatta), sliced

Method:

• wash the salad leaves and set aside
  
• Clean and cut the peppers into 6-8 long strips each and brush the skin with olive oil
• spread the sliced onions in a small flat baking dish
  
• place the bell peppers on a baking try with the cut skin showing upwards along with the onion and grill in a preheated oven for 20 minutes till the skin gets charred and the peppers have turned soft
• set the onion aside to cool down
• place the bell peppers in a freezer bag, close it for a few minutes till the peppers cool down a bit
  
• remove the peppers from the bag and peel the skin
• In the mean time chop anchovies, herbs, capers and garlic and mix with the olive oil and lemon juice
  
• add the peeled bell peppers along with the onions to it and refrigerate for a few hours to let them take up flavour
• serve with some Italian bread slices and fresh salad leaves

NOTE: I for got to add the onion while taking the first picture, but you see it in the next one, which i just about remembered to take. :)

In addition to the salad and the bread I had also boiled some potatoes and to make them a little more flavourful I mashed the potatoes and fried a small onion in 1 tbsp olive oil in a fry pan till golden and added the potatoes on top of it and pressed it down and cooked for another two minutes to have a 'sort of' rösti.
We all enjoyed our meal fully. I had put a bit too much of olive oil at the very end before serving. But, no one of us minded that. :D I think I'll have to do some dieting soon, I've been eating so uncontrolled lately :I
Recently we got to know of sunny boy's allergies, right now we know that he is allergic, though mildly, to wheat, rye and spelt. Haven't tested it with other things like barley and he seems to be doing fime with oats, though I'm not 100% sure. The doctor says the important thing is to see how his body reacts to the food than the tests. But since we don't use barley as such much I don't care. Luckily he is only mildly allergic and we can live with it. Luckily his Kindergarten can offer gluten free food so I don't need to worry in that regard.
So, I always have to have an option for sunny boy which he can eat. Here it was potatoes, or we would have simply eaten bread, toasted or plain withthe peppers.

My Carribean adventure

This is how I feel like calling it and it took me some time to have enough confidence to try out these Carribean recipes. Like always I wanted to make things more complicated and wanted to get a feel of what Carribean food is all about before trying out something. Until I realised that the best way do it was to 'try out' the recipes than to just keep reading them all.
Initially I had no time at all and at the end I had just about a couple of days time left. Then came the problem of finding sources which I felt were reliable enough, but this post of Meeta at WFLH helped solve both the problems. Even now, I just about managed to cook these recipes I had choosen, to my utter happiness.

To make sure I got the 'Carribean' feeling just right I tried to buy all the ingredients I could get hold of yesterday. As I also happened to go to the city centre, I went to the Chinese shop there for cilantro and bought dried 'American' black beans (according to the packet) - not canned - and ground allspice from the local supermarket. I haven't used alllspice in this form so far and, infact, the last time I had bought whole allspice was more than 10 years ago and while cleaning up the kitchen on our move few years ago the remaining packet was discarded and I, somehow, never required to buy it again. But, things will change now that I have taken up this challenge! *smiling big*

These are the recipes I decided upon and took help of, after going through the links given by Meeta:

Carribean Rice and Carribean Vegetables (Sweet potato and Zucchini)

I tried to make them as true to the recipes as possible as this was my very first trial at cooking or, for that matter, eating Carribean food. However, I changed the first recipe slightly as I felt that a combination with sweet potato made the use of sqash unnecessary and because I just could not get this recipe of a Cuban Salsa Verde out of my mind and at the very end decided to add it as well to the rice and, despite my fears, it was fantastic!
Since I have modified the recipe of the Rice dish, I will write down the recipe here:

Caribbean Coconut Rice with Cuban Salsa Verde

Recipes by PG of My Kitchen Stories

A combination of two recipes of Caribbean Rice and Rice with Cuban Salsa Verde

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups chicken broth (I used vegetable broth)
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup parboiled rice (I used regular Basmati rice)
2 tbsp olive oil (EVOO)
1 cup red onion, finely chopped
1-3/4 cups (1/4-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (I left this out)
1 tsp chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (I used dried thyme)
1/8 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp black pepper from the mill
2 handfuls of black beans, soaked for 6-8 hours, rinsed and drained 3x in between
4 tbsp Cuban Salsa Verde*

Method:

• cook the black beans in a pressure cooker or a deep saucepan till very tender
  
• Bring the vegetable broth and coconut milk to a boil in a saucepan over high heat untill it starts to boil, add rice.
  
• Cover with a lid, reduce heat to minimum and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and uncover lid.
• In the meantime, heat 2 tbsp oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, add chopped onion, sauté for a few miutes till golden brown.
• Reduce heat to medium and add squash, if using, and cook until done, stirring occasionally.
  
• Stir in thyme and remaining spices, stir for a minute and add the black beans.
• 
  
• Add rice to beans mixture, stirring gently and not too much to combine but not to break the rice too much.
• prepare the salsa verde by grinding all the ingredients together and cooking in the microwave for 2 mintes at 900 W (optionally for 5 minutes on stovetop) until it starts to throw bubbles
  
• eat warm or cold combined with a salad
  

Cuban Salsa Verde*

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro leaves, washed throughly and chopped coarsely
2 green onions, cleaned and chopped
1 tbsp lime juice (I used lemon juice)
1 tbsp olive oil (EVOO)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried crushed red pepper (I used black pepper and a pinch of red chilli powder)

Method:
Grind all the ingredients in a food processor or with a hand mixer until smooth.

oh! What a lovely combination did it make! So flavourful. We all loved the spices in the sweet potato, even sunny boy, who initially was abit hesitant , but after persueing hin to tr it again, he finally was of the opinion that 'it tastes good'. I have a small portion of it left for me to enjoy tomorrow.
It feels good to send these entries, though almost last minute, to Carribean Cooking, this month's Monthly Mingle at Meeta's What's For Lunch Honey.

And it feels so good to be back blogging after a long break!

Turnip 'subzi' and the recipe for Blogger Aid Cookbook

I have been lagging badly in posting my recipes in the last few weeks. But, I know you all know such situations. Now, I have a long list of things to post about and so little time. Let's see when I manage it all. In a couple of weeks sunnyboy's birthday is coming and I'll again get busy planning about how and what to oraganise for the party which I want to do at home, at least this year, he's going to be four now. How time flies.
So, coming to the vegetable of the day: Turnips! Yes, I dared to buy them. *grin* Turnips are called weiße Rüben or also Speiserüben here. In all these years of living in Germany I never ever thought of buying them. I never liked turnips in India. When my mom did cook them (she didn't do it so often 'cause none of us, my dad included, liked it! LOL!) I did eat it, but it was always a "horrible" experience. :D But, they had a much stronger flavour in India.
Turnip is a very seasonal thing here and actually you don't come aross them in the supermarkets here, but either in small grocery shops or the farmers market. I had seen them a number of times before but knew for sure that I didn't want to try it. I had felt the urge to try making an Indian pickle with them when I saw them this year, though, but the lack of sun has never given me enough confidence to try it until now. But, it is on my list of things to do. Maybe next summers. I just have to remember it in time.

Turnip greens Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 20 kcal 80 kJ
Carbohydrates 4.4 g - Dietary fibre 3.5 g Fat 0.2 g Protein 1.1 g Vitamin A equiv. 381 μg 42% Folate (Vit. B9) 118 μg 30% Vitamin C 27 mg 45% Vitamin K 368 μg 350% Calcium 137 mg 14%
cooked, boiled, drained, without salt Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient database

But, after having tried this very new turnip variety recently I had never seen before, I got to realise that I must try turnips atleast once too and see how they really taste. And my hunch was right: they did taste quite different than the ones I had eaten before. Infact, these tasted wonderful! I almost feel stupid for not having tried them before.
Here is some information from Wikipedia (source) on the nutritional value of turnips:


Turnip subzi

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
1 bunch turnip greens, thick stems removed, washed throughly and chopped finely
1 large turnip (DE: weiße Rüben), peeled and cubed
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and grated (I used 1/4 tsp dry ginger powder, as I didn't have any)
1 heaped tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1-1/2 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
1/8 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil for frying
salt to taste

Method:

• heat oil in a pan and splutter ajwain
  
• add ginger, turmeric, ground coriander seeds and red chili powder, and stir shortly
  
• add turnip cubes, mix everything
  
• keep cooking covered on medium heat
• once the turnips are almost done, add the turnip greens
  
• cook covered for a few minutes till the greens turn slightly darker and shrivel (the volume will reduce a lot)
  
• serve with hot rotis or rice along with some daal.

For me this was a wonderful replacement for "Muli ki bhujiya" (stirfried radish greens) which I love, they tasted almost the same. I always cried that I don't get radish greens. These are again a seasonal thing and you have to go to the farmer's market for that. But, now I know that I can fullfill my wish to have this comfort food by simply buying the "weiße Rüben" now which are much easier to find than radish greens. Happy, Happy, Happy! That's what I am.

And now one more thing. I have been thinking for long now what to send to the Blogger Aid Cookbook.

After I made this dish (see below) and reliased that it is my very own version of a potato salad which I have learnt to make (and perfected :) ) after experimenting in the last few years, I felt this to be a good choice and here it is, another of our family favorite and one recipe for which I always get appreciation from family and friends on get-togethers. Especially in our barbecue parties this salad is never missing, though with small changes where I leave out the vegetables in it and add some cheese variety instead.

Baked Potatoes Wedges with Kräuter-Quark

Sunny boy is in bed sleeping, finally, after my third attempt after he got up and came out of the room everytime, I have hung the last round of clothes on the clothes horse, and now I'm sitting with the laptop on my knees. Hubby, after giving up on TV and going through some of our old CDs has put a CD of Sade in the player and I just can't stop moving my shoulders to the rhythm of it. LOL!
I knew that it was going to be a potato day, or should I say, a potato evening. I had bought a new packet of floury potatoes though I had not finished off my previous batch of (waxy) potatoes. So, I knew before I forget it and have to throw away these organic potatoes, better make something. I was going through this cookbook on potatoes (I always drool at the pictures in this one) this weekend when I came across this picture of Creole potatoes wedges and I realised that I haven't made baked potatoes since quite a while now.
So, when the time came to start preparing food in the evening sunny boy came asking to help me. I was happy as he had not been showing much interest lately with helping me prepare food like before. Cutting potatoes is one of his hobbys. :) But, unfortunately he has had two bad experiences with cutting up his finger with the potato peeler, so he didn't want to do that part. I think, at three I don't really expect him to be an expert, but he does a wonderful job at cutting the potatoes with a (comparatively-) sharp table knife. The only problem is to prevent him from keep cutting the vegetable into smaller and smaller pieces. LOL!

I wanted to make a simple dish with only very few spices but still, it had to be flavourful. To achieve this I just choose to add rosemary and used olive oil and the problem was solved. Simple, don't you agree?
I also chose to make a "Kräuter-Quark" with it. Typically Kräuter-quark is eaten with "Pellkartoffeln" (potatoes boiled with skin) as a complete main course dish here. But I feel it goes well with all types of potato dishes. It is simple to make, a quick fix and healthy at that.

Here are a few points I wished to put down here ( simple, dry facts) on potatoes:
Potatoes are high in carbohydrates which is mainly present in the form of starch. These tubers are the storage organs of the plants which are produced in response to decreasing day lengths. Starch is a typical form of carbohydrate energy reserves of plants and is composed of two main molecules: amylose and amylopectin. Both in turn are composed of one monomer sugar molecule - glucose. Amylose is a straight chain of glucose molecules while amylopectin branched. Depending on the ratio of amylose and amylopectin the potatoes are classified as floury or waxy or somewhere in between like I come across some varieties which are classified as "vorwiegend" ( predominantly) waxy here. Higher the amylopectin(branched) the more waxy the potato is, i.e., it does not fall apart while cooking and keeps its shape unlike the floury variety.
Personally I like floury potatoes a lot because of their floury texture once cooked through. Since they aren't as easily available as the waxy ones everywhere I'm always happy when I have them.
So, here comes the recipe:

Baked potatoes with Kräuter-Quark

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories


Ingredients:

Baked Potatoes:
10-12 small to medium potatoes*, washed, scrubbed or peeled and cut into 4-6 long wedges
1 large organic red bell pepper, washed, seeded and cut into large pieces
200 g small crimini mushrooms (brown), cleaned, and if required, halved or quartered
2 medium red onion, peeled and cut into thick wedges
4-5 small / thin garlic cloves, sliced into thick long pieces
5-6 sprigs rosemary, coarsely broken into large pieces
salt and pepper (optionally chilli pepper) to taste
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (I used it mixed with cold pressed rapeseed oil this time)

Kräuter-Quark:
250 g Quark
50 g yoghurt (optional)
50 g heavy cream
a few tbsp parsely, chopped (or herbs of choice; I used frozen parsely)
salt and pepper (optionally chilli pepper) to taste

Method:

• In a good sized baking dish mix all the ingredients for the baked potatoes together and bake in a preheatedoven at 210°C (190°C convection) till done
• for the first 30 to 40 minutes of baking cover with a baking sheet
• mix everything once in between
• bake further uncovered for another 15 to 20 minutes or until done
• for the Kräuter-Quark mix all the ingredients together with a small whisk untill a smooth and creamy texture appears and store in the fridge until served
  
• serve the potatoes withthe quark and maybe a warm bread to accompany it

*I had used in addition to the waxy potatoes a couple of the floury potatoes I mentioned in the beginning of this postand found that both the varieties tasted good in this combination.

By the time the potatoes were done, the kitchen was filled with the wonderful aroma of baked potatoes. We were hungry but nowhere near like my son this time. I have honestly never seen my son eat so much in one go. He ate three servings and didn't leave anything behind (except for onion and bell peppers, of course!). And I know this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't liked it. It really was delicious. I was more than satisfied with the results. All three of us enjoyed the meal.
I'm two days too late in posting this as I didn't get the time to post the pictures. Now that I'm done, I'm sending this to Meeta's Monthly Mingle at WFLH which is being guest hosted by Michelle at her What's Cooking Blog. I think this qualifies well for a Healthy Family Dinner.
Just in time!

Teltower Rübchen

I had some time to go to the farmer's market (DE: Wochenmarkt) just nearby. While searching for some nice vegetables I came across these beets which i wasn't sure if the were turnips or radishes. They wee shaped more like radishes but still looked different and did give the texture of turnips. On asking what it was I was told its name, even more strange to me with which I was even more lost - Teltower Rübchen. So I asked more details about it and got to know that it is a vegetable which tastes a bit like turnip but is "different" and is from the region Mecklenburg Vorpommern, a state in north eastern Germany. On checking about it in Wikipedia I found some more details. It is a type of turnip which got its name from the town Teltow in the state Brandenburg, Germany, where it was grown in plenty in and around that town. On smelling them I could smell this typical turnip like smell, but much milder than a turnip I felt. I don't like turnips, except pickled the Indian way. My mom made such lovely Indian pickles with them every winter, usually in huge ceramic +jars meant only for this purpose. But, all the kids would gobble them up within a few weeks along with our food.
The next day I wanted to make something Indian, and I had planned to cook daal (lentils), so, these beets found good use as an accompaniment. I quickly took a picture of these before starting with cooking them. It had turned a bit cloudy and dark by the time a took the picture.


To prepare the" subzi" (any vegetable preparation) I just used my gut feel and tried to make something full of flavours at the same time where the flavours blended well together. And this is what came out:

Teltower Rübchen

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
500 g turnips (I used Teltower turnips), peeled and cubed or cut into long strips
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed or cut into thick long strips
1 large yellow onion, sliced or chopped
1 inch piece ginger, peeled and grated
1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)
1 tsp turmeric
2 tsp coriander seeds, ground
1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds, ground
1/8 tsp red chilli powder
2 tbsp rapeseed oil for frying
salt to taste

Method:

• heat oil in a pan and splutter ajwain
• add potatoes, onion, ginger, turmeric and red chili powder, and stir
• add ground coriander- and fenugreek seeds , mix everything
• keep cooking covered on medium heat
• once the potatoes are almost done, add the turnips
• cook covered till done
• serve with hot rotis or rice along with some daal.

I was quite satisfied with the results and we enjoyed eating something new for a change. I purposefully didn't add too many or too much spices together or make any spice paste so as not to hide the flavour of this new vegetable. I used ajwain however, as I felt with its characteristic flavour it should make a good combination with the turnips.
The turnips were mildly sweet after I had fried them for long till they got slightly caramelised on the surface and the turmeric and ajwain gave a good contrast to balance out its flavour. After this experience I know for sure that we will be eating the other regular turnips also more often. Next time i do wish to cook them in a different way and try out other flavours too.

I'm sending this wonderful Teltower Rübchen "subzi" over to Sunshinemom's Food in Colours : Yellow









And it also goes to this weeks Weekend Herb Blogging started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen which has now been taken over by Haalo at Cook (almost) Everything Atleast Once and being hosted this week by Rachel of The Crispy Cook.

Brussels sprouts with kidney beans

Brussels sprouts is in season and is growing in plenty here. I have been making Brussels sprouts practically the same way since I tried it the first time, using a recipe from a German book, by cooking it with carrots, onion and garlic slices and a can of tomatoes and at the very end adding some parsley and after switching off the heat topping it with about 50 g of Gouda until it melted. I make some modifications sometimes by leaving out Gouda and making it a bit Indian by adding cumin, turmeric and ground coriander seeds to it in the very beginning. A few days ago I felt that I need to make a proper Indian curry with it and was surprised at the thought that in all these years I never tried it.
The next day I bought Brussels sprouts and also found a nice looking fresh coconut and again couldn't resist buying it, even though I have had bad experiences with it the last two times I bought it and had to practically throw them away. This time luckily after I opened it, it was all OK and looked very good. The water was so tasty that I even gave it to sunny boy to drink and he happily drank it all away.
So, I knew I would like to use coconut in the gravy and started thinking of how it would look like and got going that afternoon and was very pleasantly surprised by the wonderful results.

Brussels sprouts with kidney beans

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Ingredients:
350 g Brussels sprouts, outermost leaves peeled and the stems (the base) cut off, and halved if desired
3 medium potatoes, peeled, and cubed about the same size as the Brussels sprouts
1 can kidney beans (250 g), rinsed in water and drained - use more if desired
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rings (optional, I left it out this time)
1 small can (300 g) tomatoes, chopped coarsely
2 tbsp rapeseed oil or olive oil
salt to taste

Spices:
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 large pinch asafoetida, crushed
2 red chillies (optional) - I kept them separate as sunny boy doesn't eat hot food much yet
10 peppercorns
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp sambhar powder - home made (use 1 tsp if not using garam masala)
1/2 tsp garam masala (use 1 tsp if not using sambhar powder)
a few curry leaves (I used dried leaves)

Onion-coconut paste (grind with a blender):
1 yellow onion, chopped coarsely
1-2 large garlic, chopped coarsely
1 " ginger, peeled and chopped coarsely
3 square inch piece of fresh coconut, grated

Method:

• clean and cut the vegetables, prepare the onion paste
• heat oil in a large saute pan, reduce heat if required and add the mustard seeds when the oil is just about hot so that they splutter
• to check if the oil is hot enough, add one or two seeds first and see if they splutter, if yes, then proceed, but keep the vegetables handy so that the spices don't get burnt
• after adding the mustard, while it is spluttering, add the cumin and let both splutter for a few seconds and add the asafoetida, peppercorns and turmeric, mix once
  
• immediately add the onion paste, fry on medium heat till it gets a nice light brown colour
  
• add potatoes and stir everything to mix and cook for about 5 minutes covered, stirring in between
  
• add Brussels sprouts and carrots and stir
  
• add the sambhar powder, garam masala and the curry leaves, stir
• add 1 cup water and cook further till the vegetables are almost done, stirring in between
• add the kidney beans and cook for another 5 minutes
• serve warm with steamed rice

We ate the beans and Brussels sprouts with steamed rice. Honestly, none of us in my family is a big fan of Brussels sprouts, but we try to cook it at home as it is a seasonal vegetable and I believe that seasonal vegetables should always be coming on our plates, even if not too often. So, I always try to make them in some or the other way. But, this is the first time that I heard from hubby that he liked it and I also felt that it had turned out so good. All the ingredients blend so well with each other.
Apart from the coconut, what made this dish so special was the use of the kidney beans. They made the dish perfect and wholesome. I was very happy to have had this idea of adding the kidney beans. To me it was important that I add some legume, as without the legumes, if you want to keep the dish vegetarian, the meal is not so wholesome because of it being quite low and imbalanced in amino acids - the protein building blocks, especially when you also have a child at home.
Back home in India, I grew up with eating a legume dish every day as a vegetarian. My mom made it a point that we eat every day at least one katori (a small bowl) of Dal, which is any of the legumes, skinned or with skin, but split into the two halves -the cotyledons of the seed - a bean here). In India vegetarianism is a way of life, since ages. But, in a vegetarian diet it is very very important that one uses different sources of proteins to cover the complete variety of the 24 amino acids which our body requires to grow (for children) and maintain our body healthy. That is why I always try to cook legumes at least 2 times weekly, even though I do cook fish and chicken every now and then.
Now, I actually had planned to submit another dish, a daal, for the MLLA event, but after I made this dish I knew it had to be this one. So, here is my entry to this month's My legume Love Affair created by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook and being hosted this time by Suganya of The Tasty Palette (I know her mainly through a number of her wonderful shots in the CLICK events of Jugalbandi).

Bharma Bhindi (stuffed okra) - my favorite

Yes, this is one of my favorites! Now, it is already a while ago that I took these pictures and that too hurriedly, but then I didn't get time to post about this favorite food of mine - Bharma Bhindi (stuffed spicy okra), but then on hearing about Ivy's Weekend Herb Blogging , an event i have been wanting to take part in since a while now, this was just the right opportunity and motivation needed to finally post this recipe.
I got to eat it after such a long time. Hubby went to the Asian grocery store recently and got me these and even karela (Bitter melon)!! You can't imagine how happy I was. I love both these vegetables and it had been ages that I had eaten them. I will post about the karelas some other time, but here is the bharma bhindi recipe which I have learned from my mother, but this time I realised that it has been so long that I didn't even remember how to make it and some how the timing was so bad that I couldn't even call any of my sisters at that time, so I just thought hard and got it more or less right. Although, I did make a variation: I also added coriander powder which my mother didn't use while making Bharma bhindi. Another thing, which I wouldn't do next time: I roasted my spices before. I think this step is not necessary, as the okras get roasted long enough in the pan for the spices to be roasted separately.

Before I begin, I have to tell you something about the traditions of cooking in my family, which is not unique to my family alone but probably more to the region from where my family originates - the state of U.P., India. I still remember my mom telling me that my father's (paternal) grandmother - my great grand mother, was very particular about the kind of food served to her when she came to visit his mother - my grandmother. Over a short period of time we - my parents and us children- and my grandparents lived together and I remember the visit of my great grandmother - yes, I got to see her for quite some time of my childhood - something I was always so proud of, as I didn't know many friends or classmates who had great grandparents and I had two great grandmothers -one on maternal side and one on the paternal side with both of them we children had a lot of fun! :)
So, coming back to the topic, she was very particular about eating food which was cooked without any onions and garlic. If she ever saw a skin of onion or garlic in the house when she came to visit us, then she would surely not touch the food, that strict she was. My grandparents were one of the first generation of people who deviated from this culture and started including onions and garlic in their food. In contrast to his mother, my grandfather was a big garlic lover and attributed it many health properties. I still remember, how he used to say that one should swallow 1 clove of garlic (from the variety with very thin and tiny cloves) every morning and drink a large glass of water afterwards. His favorite chutney was also coriander(cilantro)-garlic chutney.

So, maybe you can guess that this is one of those recipes of okra I grew up eating which does not use any onions or garlic, but still is very tasty, being so full of spices.

Here it goes...

Bharma Bhindi (stuffed Okra)

NOTE: Recipe requires the use of latex gloves, if you don't want the yellow colour of turmeric to stay on your hands, which is otherwise quite healthy actually. I don't use it though, as it goes away after a few washings, which may however take a day.

Ingredients:

20-25 okras, washed, pat dried
2 tbsp oil for frying
1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds) (optional)
2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro, for garnishing

Stuffing:
1 heaped tsp turmeric
2 heaped tbsp coriander seeds, ground (optional)
3 heaped tbsp fennel seeds, coarsely ground
4 tsp Amchur (dried unripe mango powder) - sour in taste as it is made from unripe very young sour mangoes
1/4th tsp red chili powder (or more - to taste)
1/2 tsp black salt
2 tbsp oil, just enough to bind the powdered spice mixture
2 tsp salt, or to taste


Method:

• mix all the spices and enough oil to bind the mixture
• then add enough salt that it tastes a bit too salty, but not too much, as when okra dries out while frying, it does not require as much salt
• check each okra for freshness while preparing it, if it is fresh then you will be able to cut it easily with out it showing any resistance
  
• carefully cut off the lower tip of the okra, if required - sometimes it has become dark in colour and it is a good indication if it can be easily cut off that it is still fresh otherwise it has become too fibrous to be eaten
  
• cut off the caps of okras so that a thin layer of it is left behind to hold it together once they are slit in the middle
• slit the okra deep along the length on the concave side (inner side of the curve it often has), but not the ends - the caps and lower tips - keep them intact - prevents the stuffing to come out while frying.
• fill the stuffing with hands by taking a small amount between the fingers and pressing it gently into the slit in the middle and then pressing and moving your fingers on the filling sidewards in both the directions -sounds easier than it appears!
  
• Fill all the okras like this
• heat 1 tbsp oil in a shallow pan and add ajwain till it splutters, remove ajwain immediately and set aside
• add 1 more tbsp oil and put all the okras into the pan, keeping the stuffed / slit side upwards or sidewards
• fry on medium heat initially and then medium low heat, turning each one of them carefully once or twice till they turn soft
• if the pan gets too hot sprinkle with a tbsp of water in between
• as per your taste, you can either remove the okras once they are cooked or let them fry further till they start turning crispy
• serve warm (or even cold), garnished with cilantro, with any kind of toasted bread - Indian or others, or rice and daals as an option
  

Typically it is a part of an Indian Thali, where you have some cooked vegetables, daal (lentils), Rotis (Indian flat bread) and rice as the main ingredients. But, it can be eaten in any way as a spicy accompaniment to the food and is quite flexible and can be combined with meat or vegetarian dishes, as a stuffing for a nice sandwich or would make a wonderful combination with couscous.


I'm so happy to send this over to Weekend Herb Blogging, my first ever participation to it, and this time it is being hosted by dear Ivy of Kopiaste!

Fennel and Carrot Au Gratin

This is one of those creartions which you make when you find that there is nothing you can use to prepare food. No, not because I didn't have anything to cook, but because Rishab had some tests the following day and he was not suppose to eat any vegetables which would cause flatulence and very little milk products and no fruits rich in vitamin C. Although I had bought some vegetables like carrots, fennel, zucchini and mushrooms for the two days before the test, I hadn't given much thought to what I would make.
So, here I was standing in my kitchen and trying to figure out what to make. I knew that I would be making a simple chicken dish, with some herbs and black pepper (but no wine - reason : most of the alcohol added to the food remains in the food, even if you cook it for long, so it is not good for Rishab). And I didn't feel like using mushrooms at all with that. "...but, fennel and carrots,... but what do I do with them?...". And this is what I came up with.


Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Baking time: 1 - 1 1/2 hours
Baking temp.: 180°C
Main utensils: A baking pan with lid or a porcelain baking dish and aluminium foil (a Roemertopf is also good)


Ingredients:

1 large and thick fennel bulb, washed, trimmed and sliced
2 large carrots, peeled,trimmed and sliced into thin rounds
1 cup parmesan, grated
1/2 white onion, sliced
1 clove garlic chopped coarsely
1 level tbsp vegetable broth (organic)
250 ml water
1 -2 tbsp olive oil
salt to tatse (if required)

Method:

• whisk the broth together with water
  
• mix everything together in a baking pan or porcelain dish
• sprincle some parmesan on top, if desired
  
• cover with lid or foil and bake in a preheated oven at 180 °C for 1 hour - I baked it for 1 1/2 hours

This was so delicious, way beyond my expectations. Since I cooked it for long, it had become so stewey. We ate it with chicken and steamed basmati rice. It made a great combination. Hubby (do you remember - the "not so easy to please with food"-hubby!) loved the meal and Rishab too. What more can you ask for. And I felt it was a sensation for the low expectations i had put on this dish. The next day to eat the "left overs", the only thing I got to take a picture of - I hadn't planned to take one- with rice was heaven for me. I was just going "ummm... " all the time! I enjoyed it to the full. It was so very delicious. I almost felt that the next day it tatsed even better. That simple dishes don't have to be boring is so rightly proven by this one. If only I had known about it before, then I would have taken a nice picture for you to drool over before we started eating it. But, there will be a next time for sure.
I just realised that I could send this one to the Original Recipe event at Lore's Culinarty!

Pumpkin baked with Potatoes

Yesterday, it was a Sunday and I saw this lovely red organic Hokkaido pumpkin lying in my vegetable basket for much too long. With pumpkins you always take it easy. You buy when you see something nice and let it rest there with its other friends in the basket , thinking "it has time...."as you want to prepare something nice on a weekend when you have more time at hand". Now, I felt, it really was time and I also knew what I wanted to make.
Hubby dear was playing with Rishab or, so to say, giving in to all his demands of " Now...we'll do this ...." and a while later "..now let's read a book...this one of Rabe Socke..." So, I had the peace of mind to prepare the meal and many more things I had planned for the day. For me to be able to spend time in the kitchen at length undisturbed has become a luxury, now that sonny boy also requires his attention and I always loved to be in the kitchen, especially on weekends, as that was the best way I could relax... to cook a nice meal and enjoy it. Earlier I didn't have the time to cook so often like I do now, but the fun factor has still not gone and now blogging has surely added the icing on the cake.
Since I had chosen a recipe which has almost become like our family recipe, there wasn't much thought I had to give while preparing it. It just comes from the heart. You know what I mean...? I came up to it without referring to any recipes or books (blogs were unknown to me then). I have created it entirely trusting my own instincts and after trying to get a feel for the new fruit (variety) which it was then. Ever since the recipe has remained more or less constant with only a few small variations depending on my mood. As, this is our family favorite and we love to eat it this way every year in Autumn.
So, this time I did not put whole coriander seeds, but ground them in my coffee mill. And used a small bunch of fresh thyme leaves which I think go quite well with the Indian spices. Though, dried fenugreek leaves taste splendid with the pumpkin. And I always have pumpkin nuts and I somehow feel they should not be missing in the dish either.

Ingredients:

1 large Hokkaido pumpkin, seeds removed and cut into small pieces
6 potatoes, washed, peeled and cut into thick long slices / wedges
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds, optional
2 large cloves garlic, grated or thinly sliced
2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated or chopped fine
2-3 large tomatoes, sliced
1 tbsp fresh or 1 tsp dried herbs like thyme or dried fenugreek leaves
3 tsp salt, or to taste
4-6 tbsp olive oil

Roast separately:
1 tsp Fenugreek seeds,
2 tbsp coriander seeds,
1 tsp cumin,
6 cloves
2 star anise and
2-3 black cardamoms,
2 red chillies (or to taste),
10 peppercorns

Method:

• Roast the whole spices one by one and, clean and cut the vegetables.
• Mix all the ingredients together in a large porcelain baking dish
• Bake for 1 hour in a preheated oven at 175°C (160°C Convection)
• In between, take out and mix the vegetables
• At the end check if the potatoes are done with a fork, if not extend time as required to up to 20 minutes or until done
  

Both of us just love this very nutty flavour of Hokkaido and its smooth texture as compared to other pumpkin varieties and this fruit stays quite high in our list of favorite vegetables. And this time it was no different.
We ate this pumpkin with some Arabic whole wheat flat breads (they are just like Indian rotis) which hubby had bought at a shop in the city centre. We had made them warm on a cast iron pan before eating. But, this is also a perfect side to a nice pan fried fish or chicken breast. A bowl of fresh green salad would have made it even more better, but we were happy with it alone this time, as we had already had large portions of fruit salad I had made as a small midday snack for us.
Now that I am writing this post, I'm thinking that I haven't tried using pumpkin seed oil which I have been wanting to since a while now. But, I could imagine that a green salad with white wine vinegar vinaigrette with a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil must be a perfect match to it. I really have to get a small bottle and try it.
This one goes to Sensational sides at Meeta's What's for lunch Honey being hosted by Ruth of Ruth's Kitchen Experiments this time.

And I'm sending this off to another wonderful event World Food Day created and being co-hosted by Val of More than Burnt Toast and Ivy of Kopiaste.


Update:
This recipe also goes to the AFAM Event started by Maheswari at Beyond the Usual and being hosted this month by Madhuram of Egglesscooking.com.