Recipes With a Twist
Chana Biryani
Jun 13th
Chana Biryani
I read a similar recipe years ago and found the combination of chickpeas or chana in a biryani dish very different. Usually a vegetarian biryani is made with assorted diced vegetables and I have never seen one with chickpeas served anywhere (or the places I ever ate at). Over the years I have made chicken biryani countless times (even with different recipes) and trying this one out was I guess on a back burner. Lately, I have been using chickpeas a lot – seems like I have found my long lost love for them as I don’t remember making dishes with chickpeas so much. Since these days I always have boiled chickpeas on hand, last weekend I finally decided to make this biryani for a potluck dinner with my family. In addition to chickpeas I also added potatoes as they go very well together. We ate at our neighborhood lake park, and hot biryani with chickpeas on a cool evening just hit the spot!
You need:
3 cups long grain (basmati) rice
4-5 medium onions, sliced
3 large tomatoes, chopped
3.5 cups boiled chickpeas (chana)
3 medium potatoes, diced
2 bay leaves
3 black cardamom
2 green cardamom
3-4 cloves
1/2 tsp cinamon powder
3 tbsp Canola oil
pinch of Asafoetida powder
6 cloves garlic
2 tbsp MDH Meat Masala
2 tbsp MDH Kitchen King
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3-4 tsp salt – or to taste
10 fresh mint leaves
3 tbsp fresh cilantro leaved, chopped
3 tbsp milk
1. Boil 10-12 cups of water in a large pot. Add rice, few mint leaves and some salt. Boil rice until almost done-a rice grain breaks in two when pressed between two fingers. Do not overcook, drain water.
2. Heat oil in a deep pan/karahi. Add Asafoetida powder, bay leaf, cardamoms, cloves, garlic and saute for few seconds.
3. Add onions and fry until golden brown(medium heat). Take out about 1/3rd of onions and keep aside.
4. Add tomatoes, all spices, salt and cook on medium heat until tomatoes are mushy and the tomato-onion mixture start to leave oil.
5. Preheat oven to 350 F
Cook chickpeas and potatoes
6. Add potatoes, remaining mint leaves,1/4 cup water, cover and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add 1 cup water, chickpeas/chana cover and cook on low heat for another 10 minutes. Cook uncovered for couple minutes.
7. Take a large baking dish-9*13″ or larger. Grease its base with oil. Spread a layer of rice. Spread a layer of chickpeas (along with the curry). Sprinkle little fried onions (saved from before)
Chana Biryani prepare layers
8. Alternate layers of rice and chickpeas (number of layers depend on size of the baking dish used). It is up to you whether you want the top layer to be chickpeas or rice. I just had a handful of chickpeas left I spread them on top layer along with some fried onions (saved from before).
9. Spread milk all over the top layer.
10. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for about 18 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with some sliced white onions on side and yogurt.
Serves – 8
Mili-Juli Sabzi (Mixed Vegetable medley with chickpeas)
Jun 5th
Mili Juli Sabzi-mixed vegetables medley
Here is very easy Indian dish that just needs few minutes of preparation and needs very little attention while cooking. Mixed vegetables are traditionally made with several variations using different combinations of vegetables like peas, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, green beans, peppers and the list is endless. Basically whatever you have on hand 
. Last time I made it, besides using some of my favorite vegetables, I also added chickpeas (garbanzo beans) to add some protein and increase the nutritional content.
You need:
2 cups chopped carrots
2 medium potatoes, chopped
1 cup boiled chickpeas (you can use canned to save time)
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup peas
2-3 tbsp Canola oil
pinch of Asafoetida
1 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 whole kashmiri mirch (red chilies)
1 tsp Mango powder (Amchoor)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1/2 tsp red pepper
2 tsp salt
3-4 tsp MDH Kitchen King masala
Directions:
1. Heat oil in a wide wok or karahi.
2. Add Asafoetida powder and after couple of seconds add whole kashmiri mirch and cumin seeds.
3. After the seeds splutter add the remaining ingredients and saute on high heat for couple of minutes. Cover and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes (stirring occasionally) or until all vegetables are tender and spices are nicely blended. (You may need to add couple of teaspoons of water if vegetables seem to stick to the wok.
Serves 6
Enjoy this rainbow of vegetables with yogurt or raita with nan or rotis (Indian flatbreads).
Steamed Date and Sago Pudding (Eggless)
Jun 3rd
By Heidemarie Swanepoel
Steamed Date and Sago (Tapioca) Pudding
This is the type of pudding I make on a day when I have time to spare, and when I have planned well ahead. The mixing and preparing takes only minutes, but the sitting time, and the steaming time are far apart. How I manage this, is this: Just after lunch, I put the sago in the milk, to swell out. At tea-time, I quickly mix all the ingredients in a bowl, and start the steaming process. That continues while I can make tea,, enjoy a few minutes of quiet, and then start making supper. By the time we have had our supper, we can finish it off with a slice of this delicious pudding.
Ingredients:
½ cup sago (tapioca)
1 cup dates – chopped and destined
1 cup raisins
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup milk
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tablespoon butter
1. Place the sago in the milk, and allow to stand for 1 – 1 ½ hours. Add a little more milk, if required (if the sago has lapped up all the milk, and is still partially cloudy / white). The sago is ready when it is completely see-through and jelly-like in consistency.
2. Put a large pot of water on the stove and bring to the boil.
3. Mix all the ingredients well.
4. Place in a well greased tin or pudding bowl (heat resistant)
5. Place in the pot of boiling water. The water should come to nearly the level of the pudding in the bowl.
Simmer the pudding for 2 hours. Top up the water from boiling water in your kettle as needed.
6.Remove the pudding from the tin, and serve hot with whipped cream or ice-cream.
Note: It does not matter if the sago stands for a bit too long. It does however matter if the sago does not sit long enough. So rather get the sago into the milk early, than be racing for time and taking it out too soon.
Moroccan Style Red lentil and Garbanzo Soup (Low Calorie)
May 31st
Moroccan Style Red lentil and Garbanzo Soup
Today I tried Moroccan Lentil and Garbanzo soup at Sweet Tomatoes. The soup was great- light, chunky, flavorful and apparently low calorie just the way I like my soups. I guess I liked it so much that I came home, looked up a few recipes and decided to make a batch for dinner (while I was cooking Mint Chicken Biryani for my husband!). The soup I tried had brown lentils but I did not have any on hand, so I decided to go with Red lentils. The mint aroma from the chicken biryani was so appetizing that I decided to throw in some fresh mint leaves as well. So an addition here and an omission there, what I have is Moroccan ‘Style’ Red lentil and Garbanzo Soup. The soup turned out great, we all had big bowls including my son- I added some rice and butter in his bowl. It has all ‘good for you’ ingredients-yellow squash, lentils, garbanzo beans, garlic and spices minus the not so needed cream and extra fat! Bonus: It passes my ‘toddler test’ so I am happily tagging it as toddler friendly. A large bowl or this soup with a side salad or bread also makes it a perfect filling 400 calorie lunch or 500 calorie dinner.
You need:
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium yellow squash, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 x 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
a pinch saffron strands, crushed
20-25 sprigs fresh cilantro
10-15 mint leaves
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1/3 cup red lentils cleaned and rinsed
8 cups water
1 1/2 cups garbanzo beans, boiled
1 bay leaf
Directions:
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add bay leaf, followed by garlic and cook for few seconds. Add the onions, and cook for 5 -6 minutes until tender, stirring occasionally. Add celery and cook for couple of minutes. Add squash, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, salt, saffron, cilantro, mint and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes until spices and herbs are nicely blended with the vegetables. Add 8 cups of water and bring it to boil. Add red lentils, reduce heat and simmer covered for about 20 minutes. Add garbanzo beans and simmer on low heat for another 20 minutes. Add black pepper to taste and serve hot.
Serves 8- if you like big servings
Tortellini with roasted vegetables
May 27th
Tortellini with Roasted Vegetables
Here is a great example of under 500 calorie dinner. Very easy to prepare and great on taste buds. 500 calorie dinners are part of Fitness magazine’s popular diet plan when combined with moderate exercise helps you lose weight in a healthy manner.
Tortellini pasta is anyways filling and addition of roasted vegetables adds a lot of flavor and bulk without adding too many calories.
You need:
1/2 cup boiled tortellini pasta (I used 3 cheese filling)
1/2 cup pasta sauce (about 90 calories )
3/4 cup roasted vegetables
1 tsp grated parmesan cheese
dash of Tobasco or red pepper flakes (optional)
1. Boil pasta as per package instructions
2. Add pasta sauce and heat through
3. Add roasted vegetables
4. Sprinkle parmesan cheese and red peppers flakes (if using)
You can also substitute any other pasta for cheese tortellini. If you have roasted vegetables on hand and are using store bought pasta sauce, this certainly qualifies for a quick meal.
Easy Turkey Meatballs
May 24th
Turkey Meatballs
It is always great to have some meatballs on hand when you are in hurry and need to put together a quick and delicious meal. You can make sandwiches, wraps, pizzas, serve with pasta and even throw in soups. I usually make lean turkey meatballs instead of fatty beef ones and make more than I need so I can freeze some for quick meals (as a full time working mom I am usually short of time!). This is very basic recipe and is great for little ones since the meatballs do not have any kind of strong flavor. Even better, all it needs is just 10 minutes of prep time. I made a batch last weekend and made some meat sauce for my 2 year old.
You need:
1 lb ground Turkey meat (lean)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
3 tbsp Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp garlic spread seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 egg
Turkey Meatballs-Mixed ingredients
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well
Turkey Meatballs-shaped
3. Grease your palms with Olive oil and make about 12 meatballs, rounded or small patties size
4. Line a baking dish with foil and thinly coat it with olive oil.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes
For the meat sauce: Cut up few pieces, simmer for few minutes in your favorite pasta sauce. Serve with pasta or rice. Since my son enjoyed the meat sauce – 2 days in a row, I am happily tagging this recipe as ‘Toddler Friendly’. They also make healthy snacks for adults and great finger food for the little ones – just cut them in small pieces and serve with ketchup.
More to follow as I put together more meals with these Turkey meatballs. Although I must say, for my ‘Indian taste buds’ I will certainly work on this recipe and add more spices. Will surely post the ‘Indian’ version soon!
Hot and Sweet Mango Salsa
May 12th
Hot and Sweet Mango Salsa with chips
With Mangoes in season, fresh mango salsa has become a ‘hot’ condiment. Mexican restaurants, fast food places, grocery stores, recipes in magazines – everywhere you would see one variation or the other. This is my first attempt to make this hot and sweet salsa and I think I will try few more recipes this season. I added some grapes to add some texture and made it hotter than usual.
You need:
1 medium mango, diced
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
7-8 pickled sliced Jalapeño peppers, chopped
10 red grapes, halved
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp white vinegar
Few dashes of Tabasco sauce
Salt to taste
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 tsp taco seasoning
Take a medium bowl and toss all ingredients together and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
Serve it with your favorite tortilla chips. I also tried it with my salad tonight and it added a nice kick to it!
Serves 4-6
Hot and Sweet Mango Salsa
Mediterranean Red Lentil and Pumpkin Soup
May 9th
Mediterranean Red Lentil and Pumpkin Soup
Couple of weeks ago I tried red lentils soup at a local Mediterranean restaurant. It was light and flavorful and perfect for lunch. Although it did resemble a bit like Indian red lentils dish and we call it ‘lal masoor dal’ and it is commonly served as a main dish with rice or Indian flatbreads for dinner. I tried to make a similar soup but decided to add fresh pumpkin as well. It added nice sweetness to otherwise meaty flavored red lentils. My two year old son liked it as well so I am tagging it as ‘Toddler Friendly’.
1 medium red onion, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium tomato
2 cups chopped pumpkin
1 cup red lentils
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
salt to taste ( 1 tsp or so)
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker/large pot. Add bay leaf and garlic and fry for few seconds. 2. Add onions and fry until medium brown.
3. Add tomatoes, pumpkin, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, nutmeg and cook on medium high for about five minutes.
Mediterranean Red Lentil and Pumpkin Soup-chopped pumpkin
4. Add red lentils, 6-8 cups of water and pressure cook for about 15 minutes. If using a pot, bring to boil and cook on medium for about 30 minutes (until lentils and pumpkin are well cooked and blended with water).
5. If needed, blend the pumpkin with lentils using a ladle.
6. Stir in fresh cilantro, sugar and lemon juice.
Serve hot with bread to make a complete meal.
Apple Crumble
May 5th
By Heidemarie Swanepoel
Apple Crumble
Apples are in season and there is nothing better than eating a fresh, ripe apple. But this apple crumble comes very close. Sometimes I double up on the crumble part, and firmly press half the dough into a baking dish, and then continue as in the recipe, and serve it as a pie, but for a quick and healthy pudding, that can be eaten straight out of the oven, nothing beats this apple crumble.
Ingredients:
8 – 10 large, fresh apples
½ cup sugar – adapt to the tartness or sweetness of the apples
A handful of raisins (optional)
½ cup sugar (again)
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
½ teaspoon aniseed seeds (optional)
Juice and rind of 1 lemon
Crumble topping:
5 ½ oz flour
4oz sugar
3 ½ oz butter
A pinch of salt
Directions:
Prepare Apples
Peel the apples, and remove the core. Cut into thick slices. Place the apples, and a little water in a large saucepan, and gently simmer in a little water for 15 – 20 minutes. The apples must be cooked, but still firm. The time needed will depend on the type of apple you are using. Drain any excess water at the end of the cooking time, add the first half cup of sugar and the lemon juice to the apples. Cool slightly.
I often prepare a whole basket of apples to this point at a time. I either bottle them, or freeze them for later use.
Crumble topping
Preheat the oven to 350 ‘F. Mix the salt and sugar into the flour. Add the butter, and rub in with your fingers, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Crumbled Flour
Grease the bottom of a pie dish. Line the bottom of the dish with the apples. Sprinkle with raisins and aniseed seeds. Mix the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle liberally over the apples. Do this according to taste, and according to the tartness of the apples. Sprinkle the crumble mixture on top.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, until the crumbles are lightly browned.
Serve hot or cold with whipped cream or ice cream.
Baby spinach salad with carrot and cucumber ribbons
May 2nd
Baby Spinach Salad with carrot and cucumber spinach ribbons
With days warming up a bit, I prefer having salads for lunch or as side (sometimes bigger than a side portion) for dinner. I am big fan of low calorie salsa based mexican style salads-which one of these days I will put together for my blog as well. However, these days I am experimenting with baby spinach and carrots and I am loving it. Here is a low calorie salad with a light home made dressing made with buttermilk. I use carrot and cucumber shavings that add lot of crunch to the salad and the buttermilk dressing is absolutely refreshing.
You need:
For Salad-
3 cups chopped baby spinach
1/2 cup yellow corn (I used canned)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots
2 cucumbers
topping of your choice – I prefer some crushed baked pita chips (Stacy’s)
Garlic Buttermilk Dressing-
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp garlic spread and seasoning
few dashes of Frank’s hot sauce (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients and mix well before serving.
Directions:
1. Put the chopped baby spinach leaves in a large salad bowl.
2. Using a potato peeler, peel the carrots and cucumber into thin ribbons. Cut them with shears, if needed
3. Microwave the corn for couple of minutes ( put in a bowl with some water) anddrain. Add to salad.
4. Add the peppers and dressing and toss. Do not pour all dressing at once, increase quantity as you prefer.
5. Optional – add a topping of your choice – handful of croutons /baked pita chips
Serve with a side of soup and/or bread. Serves 3-4.
Fitness tip: Depending on your portion size you can create your custom 300/400/500 calorie menu. A large salad plate with 2- 2.5 tbsp dressing should not exceed 200 calories
