Green Mint Chutney & Cheese Sandwiches

Picnic food is fun to make, especially if you are not really going on a picnic but just pretending to on a rainy, weary weeknight.

About once a month, TH and I have sandwiches for dinner. Its just one of those inexplicable things we do.

Since I got my mint plant, there's no dearth of fresh mint and I love using fresh herbs in my cooking. Well, don't we all?

This is a quick sandwich recipe that works great for a picnic, tiffin box or even brunch or tea party. It tastes great and is filling too!

Mint Chutney and Cheese Sandwiches
Makes 4 - Serves 2

Ingredients:
8 slices of bread of your choice
4 slices of cheese

For the Mint Chutney:
A bunch of fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
1 green chilly
1/2 tsp minced garlic (optional)
A pinch of dry ginger powder or 1/2" piece of fresh ginger
Salt to taste

Grind all ingredients together with very little water to a smooth paste.

To assemble and toast the sandwiches: Spread a generous amount of the mint chutney on one side of the bread slice. Top with a slice of cheese and toast in a sandwich maker until done. You can also toast in a pan on the stovetop with a pat of butter until both sides are golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Serve hot with ketchup.

Green Mor Kozhambu / Buttermilk Curry Recipe

Mor Kozhambu / Moru Kachiyathu is my go-to kozhambu recipe when I am in a hurry or I have spent too much time making the side dishes. Its quick, easy, and delicious and both of us like it. 

There's a small twist to this recipe - I added fresh coriander leaves to the coconut paste. The flavour is distinct and very enjoyable. A great idea if you have coriander-indifferent people in the house.

Green Mor Kozhambu Recipe
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
2 cups buttermilk + 1 cup water
Salt to taste

Grind Together:
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2 tsp jeera
A pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 cup coriander leaves, loosely packed

For Tempering:
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
5-6 fenugreek seeds
1" piece of ginger, crushed
1 dry red chilli, halved
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil for tempering. Add the rest of the ingredients in the order given. When the mustard seeds pop and the fenugreek seeds turn a golden brown and fragrant (take care not to burn!), add the ground coconut paste. Mix well and turn off heat.

2. Add the diluted buttermilk, mixing well as you do. Add salt.

Serve with warm rice and side dish of choice.

Pictures taken in the home made light box for food photography

Kerala Parippu Curry / Kerala Yellow Dal Recipe

Ever had a Kerala sadya? If you have, then this parippu (dal) is the first thing you would mix with rice and ghee and feel the first flavour of what is essentially the essence of Kerala food. 

Before you ask, of course we add coconut to our yellow dal, we wouldn't have it any other way for a dal recipe that's uniquely Malayali! For Kerala cooking, split yellow lentils / moong dal cherupayar, is more used than toor dal. Moong dal is also a very important ingredient in Ayurveda based cooking and is said to have a better effect on our health than most other kinds of lentils. 

Kerala Parippu Curry Recipe
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 cup moong dal / cherupayar / split yellow dal
A pinch of turmeric


Grind Together:
1/2 cup coconut (fresh or frozen, not dessicated)
1 tsp cumin seeds / jeera / jeerakam
2-3 shallots
2-3 green chillies

For Tempering:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds / kaduku
3 shallots, sliced
1 red chilli, torn into two
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Roast the dal in a dry skillet until it turns a light golden brown. I generally do this in bulk and store moong dal this way to prevent bugs. It also makes the dal much more fragrant after cooking.

2. Grind the coconut with the rest of the ingredients and some water into a smooth paste.

3. Pressure cook the moong dal with 4 cups water and a generous pinch of turmeric. Once done, mash well to a smooth paste. Keeping the flame on low, add the ground coconut mixture and some salt to the dal. Cook until well blended - about 5-8 mins.

4. Heat oil for tempering and add the ingredients in the order given. Once the mustard seeds have popped and the red chilly starts to glisten a deep red, remove from fire and dunk everything into the dal mixture. Mix well.

Serve hot with steamed rice and ghee. 

This Kerala Parippu Curry goes to Kerala Kitchen hosted by Ria this month. 

Butterscotch Chip Cookies Recipe

Although I have made chocolate chip cookies a few times, its intereting that they've never shown up on the site before. But these butterscotch chip cookies were too good not to share. 

Chunky, fudgy, gooey, yum!

Nestle butterscotch chips are not always available in Singapore. I once saw a bag in Cold Storage in Bugis but it was overpriced and the expiry date was in another month so I didn't get it. Then, Sala sent me an awesome goodie bag and there were butterscotch chips in that!

The cookie dough comes together in a jiffy and this is really a no-fail, easy recipe. 

Butterscotch Chip Cookies

Adapted from Cooks.com

Makes ~16 cookies

Ingredients:

1/4 cup regular white sugar (see note below)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
A generous pinch of salt (if using unsalted butter)
3/4 cup butterscotch chips

How I Made It:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. 

2. In a bowl, combine sugars with the softened butter until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and the egg and beat well until well combined.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt well with a fork. Add this to the wet mixture and combine well. Then add the butterscotch chips. The dough will be thick. Make sure you distribute the chips as well as possible.

4. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a baking sheet. Use an ice cream scoop to drop the cookie dough on the baking tray. If you don't have an ice cream scoop, use 2 spoons, one to scoop up the dough and the other to smoothen it a bit and lower it on to the baking tray.

5. Bake for about 15 minutes until the top turns a light golden brown.

Note: Even though I reduced the amount of sugar and chips from the original recipe drastically, the cookies we still quite sweet. We couldn't have more than one at a time and that's just not done. So you can reduce the amount of sugar if you want it to accompany coffee/tea/milk. 

Aloo Bhindi / Potato Okra Dry Sabzi

Fact: Okra is slimy

Another fact: Potatoes are delicious

Fact 3: When delicious and slimy get together, it creates a pretty great dish. 

When I go to the nearby supermarket, I run out of vegetables to buy. There are about 5 rows of green leafy vegetables which I can't bother with over weeknights, and there are the usual suspects like beans and carrot and broccoli and capsicum. I just have to reach for the okra packet on those nights. 

Aloo Bhindi Sukhi Sabzi Recipe

Adapted from: Sailus Food

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 potato, cut into small cubes
10 okra, cut into 1/2" discs
1 tbsp tamarind water (add a small piece of tamarind to 1 tbsp water. Extract juice, discard pulp)
~ alternatively, use freshly squeezed lemon juice or a generous pinch of amchoor / dry mango powder

1 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida / perungaayam
1/2 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
1-2 tsp dhania / malli / coriander powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder (adjust to taste)
1/2 tsp garam masala or curry powder (whatever you have in hand)
A pinch of ginger powder (optional)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
A few curry leaves
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they pop, add the rest of the ingredients below in the order given.

2. Once the masalas have been fried for about a minute, add the cut vegetables and the tamarind water. Mix well until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

3. Cook covered, stirring frequently, until the potatoes are tender and the okra is cooked, non-slimy, and has learnt a thing or two from the potatoes. 

Serve hot with steamed rice and gravy of choice. 

Geetha Perima's Strawberry Milkshake Recipe

I suck at two things - taking a decent picture of drinks, and taking pictures with a dark background. So when your (husband's) aunt does these two super well and posts pictures on Facebook, you do what any self-respecting food blogger does - flick the picture, add your watermark, ask her the recipe, and post it on your blog!

Of course, it may be a good idea to ask her first! 

I have posted two recipes of Geetha Perima's before. The Instant Sambar Powder Mix recipe which was the answer to many a mothers' quest for a sambar powder to send their sons/daughters going off to a foreign land. You should check it out, its brilliant!

The other recipe I got from her and tried it myself (instead of shamelessly taking pictures of what she made or worse, flicking it from her FB page) - the amazing Palak Khichdi! 

Now on to her Strawberry Milkshake Recipe. Thanks for the patient answers to all the 11 questions I had on a recipe that uses 3 ingredients, perima. 

To serve 2, you need: 

7-8 fresh strawberries

2 cups whole milk

Sugar to taste

To prepare: blend the strawberries with the milk and sugar until frothy and well incorporated. You can adjust the number of strawberries depending on their size. On an average, you need 3-4 for each cup of milk. 

Garnish with sliced strawberries and serve cold. Yumville!

This strawberry milkshake goes to Pari's Veggie/Fruit a Month, this month featuring Strawberries - an event conceptualized by Mharo Rajasthan.

Super Quick Cauliflower / Gobi Biryani Recipe

Yes, I totally made this recipe up. There's no such thing as a Cauliflower Biriyani. No, you are right, cauliflower does get added on to vegetable biriyani occasionally there's no biriyani that's exclusively dedicated to cauliflower.

I am also going to say this up front before you read through the whole recipe and get disappointed. You need Biryani Masala to make this recipe. Its not one of those grind-your-spices-fresh type of recipe because that would make this a non super quick dish, and today we are all about super quick.

Its also a prerequisite to like cauliflower inorder to enjoy this dish.

Gobi / Cauliflower Biryani Recipe
Serves 3

Ingredients:
1.5 cups basmati rice (or any long-grained rice)
1 large onion + 2 green chillies, ground to a paste
1 large tomato, pureed
A handful of green peas (fresh or frozen)
1 medium sized cauliflower, washed and cut into florets (around 4 cups)
1 tbsp ghee (or oil)
Fresh chopped coriander leaves for garnish (optional)

The Masala
1/2 tsp jeera / cumin
1 tsp dhania / coriander powder
A pinch of turmeric
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 heaping tbsp of biryani masala
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Cook the basmati rice in 5 cups of boiling, slightly salted water until cooked but still firm. Set aside.

2. Heat the ghee in a pan and add the onion-green chilly paste. You can also slice the onions and chillies and add it that way but I felt like grinding it so I did. Fry the onion paste for about 2 mins. It will start losing moisture and get thicker.

3. At this stage, add all the masala ingredients in the order given. Fry well for about a minute till it starts smelling gooood.

4. Add the tomato puree, peas and cut cauliflower florets. Give it a good mix and cook closed on low fire until the cauliflower is cooked soft, yet retains its shape (about 5-7 mins). You can sprinkle some water if you feel the mixture is getting too dry.

5. Once done, check salt and then mix in the cooked rice gently until well combined. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with any raita and papad.

The preparation time for this biriyani is significantly less because you are not pounding any masala last minute. Depending on what biriyani masala you use, you will get a distinct flavour each time - I love that variety!

Mint / Pudina Coconut Chutney Recipe

I bought a mint plant the other day and its growing like a wild bush in its small pot. To use up some of the fresh and insanely flavourful leaves, I made a mint coconut chutney to go with wheat dosas. 

Yes, they are over-exposed, but too lazy to edit much :D

Its incredibly simple and takes all of 10 mins to whip up. That's my kind of dinner, any day night!

Mint / Pudina Coconut Chutney
Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh grated coconut (not desiccated)
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
2 shallots
A tiny piece of ginger
A tiny piece of tamarind
2 green chillies (adjust to taste)
Salt to taste

To make chutney - grind all ingredients with very little water. Serve immediately with dosa, or even rice. This goes really well with the slightly dense and bland wheat dosa.

All pictures in this post taken in the home made light box for food photography.

Fresh Basil Pesto Recipe

Its not super easy to get fresh basil in Singapore. Its not impossible either but somehow, when I do come across them in the supermarket, I feel they are wilted and cost too much. Why bother when there are a gazillion different types of other greens around, that are more local.



I did, however, manage to score an entire bag of super fresh basil in Giant supermarket a couple of weeks back. Ooh the flavour was mindblowing. Although I have tried pesto pasta and pesto chicken before in restaurants, making your pesto is way way better! I was a bit skeptical if TH would like it but he actually loved the pesto pasta I made with (recipe coming up next!)



Fresh Basil Pesto 
Makes about 3/4 cup

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 to 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

Dunk all ingredients into a mixer or food processor and grind to an almost smooth paste. Can be served in various ways, most popular being pesto pasta, over toasted bread, in pizza, etc. Can keep refrigerated in an air tight container for up to 3 days.

You can also substitue the pine nuts for walnuts, sunflower seeds (I tried these once and loved it!), or any other nuts you have in hand.



First two pictures in this post taken in the home made light box for food photography.

Sangria Recipe

There are a few things very off with this post, I must say. First of all, I hardly ever post recipes for drinks. In fact, among 400 odd recipes in this site, only a handful are drinks recipes.

Photograph taken in natural light

You should know that Sangria is not served in such huge portions. Use wine glasses. I don't have any. In fact, these are the only glasses I have and you may have seen them in may posts before, but ignore that. 

Also, this drink is alcoholic! Well, if you grew up in a heavily Catholic-dominated community where every other family you know makes wine at home, you would soon stop looking at it as alcohol and just shut up and drink already!

Photograph taken in homemade light box for food photography

So anyway, I thought since we have known each other for a while now, I should tell you all that my favourite drink of all times is Sangria. Since leaving Hyderabad, I've hardly ever had it but decided to make it the other day at home. TH hates any kind of alcohol so I got to drink this over the next month ;)

To Make Enough Sangria for 8

500 ml red wine (click here to see what types of wine work best)
2 tbsp brandy (optional)
1 apple, cut into tiny pieces
1/2 an orange, cut into chunks
2-4 tbsp sugar

Mix all the ingredients, refrigerate overnight and serve cold in wine glasses (very important!)


                        Photograph taken in homemade light box for food photography

Kathirikkai Kariamudhu Recipe / Curried Brinjal from Hebbar Iyengar Community

When it comes to recipes from Chandra Padmanabhan, I mostly follow them blindly, except to suit spice levels to our taste. This very interesting recipe from one of her books had me thinking though, and I adapted it by adding some curd in the end. Very tasty and very South Indian!



The ingredient list and method may look long but its really a very easy recipe to make


Kathirikkai Kariamudhu Recipe 
Adapted from Chandra Padmanabhan's Simply South
Serves 4 as a side

Ingredients:
1 small marble-sized ball of tamarind
10-12 baby brinjals, cubed
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp grated coconut
1/4 cup curd / yogurt (optional)
Salt to taste

For Spice Powder:
1.5 tbsp channa dal / husked Bengal gram / kadala paruppu
1.5 tbsp urad dal / husked black gram / ulutham paruppu
2 dry red chillies
3 tbsp coriander seeds (or use 1 tbsp coriander powder)
1/2" stick cinnamon
1 clove

For Tempering:
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp channa dal
1 dry red chillies, torn into half
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Soak tamarind in 1/4 cup water for 10 mins. Extract juice and discard pulp.

2. Lightly fry ingredients for spice powder in a dry skillet over low fire. Toss gently till dals are golden brown, take care not to burn them! Cool and grind to a fine powder.

3. Heat oil for tempering and the rest of the ingredients in given order. When the mustard seeds start popping, add the cubed brinjal pieces and saute for 2-3 mins. Then add tamarind juice, turmeric powder, and salt.

4. Sprinkle some water and cook closed over low heat for about 5-7 mins or until the brinjal is tender. Cook open for a minute until all the extra moisture is absorbed. Then add the grated coconut and the spice powder. Stir well to combine, adjust salt, and finally mix in the curd before removing from fire. (For authentic Kathirikkai Kariamudhu recipe, avoid the curd).

5. Serve hot with steamed rice or roti.

Schezwan Vegetables Recipe - Indo Chinese Series

Understandably, you all loved the Chilli Paneer Recipe I posted last week. Of course, frying up something and mixing it in a delicious spicy sauce should be up everyone's alley, no surprises there.



After moving into the new apartment, we had friends over and I decided on an Indo-Chinese menu. I was badly craving some and grabbed the opportunity to cook some up myself. I made the Chilli Paneer, Vegetable Fried Rice and Schezwan Vegetables for some gravy to go with the fried rice.

Schezwan Vegetables Recipe
Adapted from Sailus Food
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 large onion, cubed into 1" pieces roughly
1 carrot, cut into small, thin discs
8-10 french beans, cut into 1″ pieces
8 baby corns, each cut into 6 round discs
1 green capsicum, cut into 1" pieces roughly

2 tbsps oil

2 tbsps finely chopped spring onion greens (for garnish, optional)

For The Sauce:
2 dry red chillis, halved
1/4 tsp red chilli pwd
1 tsp crushed garlic (about 6 small flakes)
1.5 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsps tomato puree (or 1 tsp tomato paste)
1 tbsp cornflour
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups vegetable stock or water (I used vegetable stock)

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the onions. Cook until soft and transparent - about 3 mins.

2. Add the remaining vegetables with some salt and saute lightly for 3-4 mins.

3. Mix all the sauce ingredients together and add to the cooking vegetables. Let it simmer for 5 mins or until the vegetables are cooked, yet firm. If the gravy is getting too thick, add more water. Adjust salt and add pepper and spring onion greens - and its ready to serve!

This is one of those dishes where the preparation time is higher than the cooking time but the end result is very satisfying and can really help you get rid of your Indo-Chinese craving!

Chilli Paneer Recipe - Indo Chinese Series

Just like every other Indian, I love Indo-Chinese food. Deep fried goodness in a creamy sauce or coated in thick, spicy gravy - what's not to like! I even like the calories that come with it, I am very impartial that way!







I make Gobi Manchurian quite often but paneer usually gets made into Palak Paneer or Paneer Butter Masala and hardly ever an Indo-Chinese recipe, that too an appetizer. But it happened on the last day in our previous apartment. I was clearing out the fridge and realised I have a few cubes of paneer left which had to be made into something real soon or they'd die. No self-respecting Indian can kill paneer, trust me!



So they turned into a lovely plate of chilli paneer that gave some well-needed energy to TH and me to resume last-minute packing in full vigor.



Chilli Paneer Recipe

Serves 2



Ingredients:

2 cups cubed paneer (I used longer slices)

1 bell pepper / capsicum

2 large onions

4 green chillies, slit

1 tsp ginger garlic paste (use freshly ground paste if possible)

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp green chilli sauce

1 tsp tomato paste / ketchup

2 tbsp + 1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp cornflour + 3tbsp water (make a smooth paste)

Salt to taste



For the Marinade:

3 tbsp flour

2 tbsp corn flour / corn starch

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tsp minced garlic

A pinch of salt

Water



How I Made It:

1. Make a thick-ish paste with the ingredients for marinade. Dunk the paneer pieces in and let them soak in the marinade. It will be instant love, I promise.

2. Add 3-4 tbsp oil in a pan and shallow fry the paneer pieces, turning them over when the cooked sides are brown.

3. Drain and set aside. Its okay to slightly burn a few sides, especially when you are packing to move out of your apartment!

4. In the same pan, add chopped onions, green chillies, and capsicum. Cook until the onions turn transparent - 2-3 mins.

5. Next, turn the flame to high and add soya sauce, green chilli sauce, sugar and tomato paste. Stir-fry on high for about 30 seconds until well blended and turn the flame to medium-low.

6. Add the fried paneer cubes and the cornflour-water paste. Taste and adjust salt (since the sauces will have salt). Stir and cook for another 3-4 mins until the sauce comes around and thickens due to the cornflour.

Serve steaming hot as an appetizer!

New Year Morning Waffles Recipe

Most of you may already know this if you are in my Facebook list but here's the formal announcement - I bought a KitchenAid! It may not be a big deal to some but I had been wanting one for ages now and kept pushing back because of lack of counter space in my previous apartment kitchen and, its pretty expensive here in Singapore. Anyway, things worked out, we moved, and now I own one!

I wanted to use it the first day of the year (don't ask me why!) and decided to make waffle batter in it. Waffles are one of my favourite foods of all time and I have owned a waffle iron for a while but don't make it as often as I'd like.

I should though. In fact, I should make waffles for dinner, that's what I should do.

Basic Easy Waffles Recipe
Adapted from 3 Many Cooks
Makes 6

Ingredients:
1 egg, separated
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1/2 cup homemade yogurt mixed with 1/2 cup water)
1 cup plain flour
2 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste or omit completely)
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp cooking oil (I used olive oil)

How I Made It:

1. You don't need a stand mixer for this but if you do, just dunk in the following ingredients and mix it up on speed 2 for 1-2 mins. If you don't, just do the same with your hand whisk in a bowl. First add the flour and sugar..



2. Followed by the buttermilk..



3. Egg yolk..



4. Baking powder and baking soda..



5. Salt..



6. And oil..



7. Mix mix mix for about 2 mins or so on low speed. Then set aside.



8. Now you need to beat the egg whites until stiff. I used my hand-held whisk for this.



9. Whip well until soft peaks form on the top of the beaten egg whites.



10. Add to the batter you've prepared and fold in gently without over-mixing.



11. Heat your waffle iron until smoking hot.

12. Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup batter to the iron depending on the size of your iron. Remove when golden brown all over - mine took about 3 mins.



I know there are 12 steps up there for a simple waffle recipe but its because I took very detailed pictures to show the steps. Its really a very easy and yummy breakfast to make so go ahead, buy that waffle iron if you don't have one already (Huge thanks to Darsh for lugging mine all the way from the US) Even if you use it only once or twice a month like I do, its still worth it.



It was too early in the morning so I slightly burnt my waffles. But you still think I'm a decent cook right? Thanks! I knew confessing to you all would be totally safe :) Serve with a dusting of icing sugar or maple syrup to camouflage the burnt parts ;)

Now why don't you go check out my Project 365 site if you have a minute?