Teel Gool!

My grandma's recipe for teeL gooL made on Makar Sankranta. This year amazingly, Sankranta is on the 15th of Jan.

1/4 kg (250g or 1 lb) sesame seeds, roast on low flame. Roast evenly and thoroughly(smell test) as it will taste uncooked in the final 'vadi' or cake otherwise. After roasting, grind them in a mixer where they are just ground, not fine powder, just ground looks like some powder, most sesame seeds broken and some fully intact seeds.

Keep elaichi i.e. cardamom powder ready to be added, about 2 tsp.

1/4 kg grated jaggery ( I used powdered Jaggery which needed little ghee at the outset for it to melt smoothly instead of into crystals first) to be melted over low flame. Add 2 tablespoons of ghee along to aid the smooth texture. While still on low flame, add 2-3 tea spoons of milk. The mixture rises with bubbles and this is to be expected. Let the molten jaggery cool to the point where it just feels too hot to touch (45-50'C). Add the teel and elaichi in batches while stirring with a strong ladle until evenly mixed. Keep on going until most of the teel is incorporated. Take a small amount of mixture, roll in ball in your fist and open the hand. If the mixture breaks open, then add milk DROP by DROP!! If the ball stays intact but is too shiny, add some more teel.

Either roll them into balls or flatten mixture over wax paper in a tray. Sprinkle desiccated coconut on the top, pat down the mixture to compact the sheet so that when cut later, it doesn't crumble. While still slightly hot, use pizza cutter to make squares. Let it rest and then transfer to a container when at room temperature.

Eat at a slow pace with a good tea. Too many of them at 1 time and you are sure to have pimples the next day and more than that you'd be seeing a lot of the bathroom!! ;)

Other tips - Use a light colored jaggery to make the final dish look more appetizing. If individual cakes are to be made, the mixture utensil needs to be covered all the time.

Butternut Squash Casserole

I try and make a casserole every week for a weekday meal. My son loves the sound of the dish and so far we have not had any trouble getting him to eat one.

Yesterday, I didn't have all the ingredients for our regular squash-corn casserole. I tweaked this http://allrecipes.com/recipe/butternut-squash-casserole-2/detail.aspx recipe with what I had at home. And the casserole was super delicious. Much much better than a regular weekday meal.

Noting the recipe down here:
1 Butternut Squash
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
a pinch of salt

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F. Line a cookie tray with foil. Cut the butternut squash into two halves, scoop out the seeds. Place the two halves face down on the tray and into the oven for about 45 minutes.

2. In the meantime, in a big bowl mix the following:
. 2 eggs beaten
. 1/4 cup butter melted
. 1 1/2 cups milk
. 1/2 cup sugar
. 1 tsp vanilla extract
. 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
. 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
. a pinch of salt

3. Grease a casserole dish with butter. I used a 9X10.

4. Once the butternut squash is cooked, peel the skin, and mash the rest. After it is relatively cool, mix it in with the rest of the ingredients and pour in the casserole dish.

5. Bake for 45 minutes at 375 F or until its set.

It would be a wonderful side-dish for a holiday meal. It is that festive.

Quinoa Salad with Apples and Pecans

I haven't yet managed to create my own recipes. Got this recipe from a friend's son, and am noting down just so that I don't forget.

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2 tbls olive oil
1 tsp garlic paste
3/4 cup chopped onion
1.5 apples chopped fine
1 bunch parsley - chopped fine
1/4 toasted Pecans (optional)
2-3 tsp Lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Rinse the quinoa and let it cook 2 cups of water. Once the water comes to a boil, lower the heat, put a lid on the pot and cook for about 10-15 mins or till the water evaporates.
2. Meanwhile chop the onion, apples, and parsley.
3. In another pot add the olive oil and garlic. After about a minute or so, add the chopped onion. Stir till it is cooked a bit, it should not get brown.
4. Add the chopped apple and stir for a couple of minutes.
5. Add the finely chopped parsley, stir it and turn the heat off.
6. Add quinoa and toasted pecans. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Add some lemon juice and serve.

almost no knead bread!

This is step 1. All ingredients in and some on the carpet below. The dough is wrapped and to be kept for 18 hours! This photo from yesterday.

Ingredients - salt, flour, yeast, white vinegar, beer(a table spoon full), water

Dough this morning after about 12 hours of sitting. I see the bubbles from the yeast working.

I gave it 10-15 kneads, rolled the dough on a lightly floured surface, put oil on parchment paper then let it rest again for 2 hours.

Before the 2 hours were up, the recipe called for a dutch oven to be put in the oven. I don't own a dutch oven, so we converted a stock pot into one by sealing some of the lid openings with bread dough itself! Pre-heat the stock pot at 500'F. Once ready, holding the parchment paper, I lowered the dough(put some flour on top for looks, also tried to cut a slit in, but that didn't happen because dough didn't rise enough) in the pot, covered and then baked for 30 minutes at 425'F and then for 20 minutes with lid off to brown the top.

Padron peppers poppers (PPP)

Ingredients-

• Bunch of padron peppers. The ones that are small in size are sweet. Medium sized ones have a probability of being hot. We found 2 hot peppers among 6 of the sweet ones.
• Goat cheese!
• Panko bread crumbs.
• Egg
• Salt
  
• Sauce/ketchup as condiment.

Preparation-

1. Turn the oven on, convection bake on 400'F.
2. Hollow out the insides of the peppers making sure the seeds are miles away.
3. Fill with goat cheese.
4. Dip in 1 whisked egg.
5. Roll in a mixture of panko bread crumbs mixed with salt/other seasonings that you think you can take assuming the flavor of the pepper and goat cheese is overwhelming.
6. In your preheated oven, put in the poppers neatly arranged on an aluminum foil. I sprinkled these with little oil.
   
7. Take out when the cheese starts oozing out and the crumbs turn brown. Serve hot with hot chai and sauce of your choice.

Potato patties with California vegetables

This is a recipe I make for my son once a week. It incorporates vegetables and is easy to eat for a messy toddler. Additionally, it can be dipped in tomato ketchup which is a vital condiment in the foods that all toddlers consume.

Finely minced onions, cummin seed powder, oregano, parsley, lemon grass get sauteed. In go frozen california veggies followed by whole milk(instead of water). Cooking covered steams the vegetables. Microwave potatoes while you are doing this. Whole potatoes go into the veggies which get ready in 5 minutes. Add salt and fresh pepper to taste. Toddlers help to squish the veggies together with a potato masher. I made patties the size of a golf ball and put them on a pan which had vegetable oil sprayed. Turn the patties..you can add bread crumbs to make it fancier..and voila.

For the adults in the house, the following very original chutneys are made and consumed-
1. Soy ahoy.
2. Garlic ka jhatka

1. Soy ahoy - reduced sodium soy sauce, sriracha, salt and orange marmalade. Mix in vinegar/water to reduce sharpness of soy.

2. Garlic ka jhatka - Raw Garlic, Olive oil, basil, salt, pepper(just a tad bit), chilli powder, paprika get ground in a counter top mortar. To be added in minimal quantities to keep the taste of the combination well tied.

Farasbee chi bhaji - with Asian twist

Ingredients-
Cut french beans
Sesame seeds
Kala Masala
Chilli Pepper
Mustard Seeds
Turmeric
Brown Sugar
Salt to taste

Preparation - Prepare tadka with vegetable oil and mustard seeds. To it add hing, tumeric, masala, chilli powder. Saute a bit before adding cut beans. Salt, water and some brown sugar follows suit. Cover for 10 minutes until beans are almost cooked. Cook uncovered for the rest of the time until the vegetable loses its water and looks drier.

Serve with rice or rotis - your choice.

Return of haricot-verte

Tangy, quick, healthy.

Ingredients -
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 medium sized lemon
12 oz haricot verte bag x 2
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation -

Boiled water, salted it, added beans, let them boil for few minutes. Drained water, pot back on heat. Drained beans were run under cold water.

Skinned the lemon. Made slices and added them to butter and olive oil mixture. This makes the tangy syrup that will eventually coat the beans. Toss in the beans and make sure the syrup gets on each and every one of them. A pair of tongs with some serious twists of the wrists do it. Salt and very freshly ground pepper completed the dish.

To bring down its health index a notch or two, served the beans finally with roasted onions. This dish is here to stay.