easy onion drop biscuits: no eggs no butter, tender and flaky in 15 minutes!

These savoury, tender and flaky biscuits are really easy to make and go well with stews and soups and are good enough to munch away on their own. I crumbled them over this cumin  roasted cauliflower soup. The best part is that it uses very common pantry staples and yes,  no eggs and no butter. Still delicious.

There should really be nothing more for me to say to convince you to try them immediately. Now.

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cumin roasted cauliflower soup- hearty & healthy

“Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works” (Heb 10:24) BXVI: The Lenten season offers us once again an opportunity to reflect upon the very heart of Christian life: charity #Lent #Pope2You  - From the Pope's daily twitter updates during Lent

Sometimes an idea will come and settle in my head. Then it's like everything around me conspires to make me put that idea into action. That idea for some time now was earth shattering. Life changing. Actually it was just...cumin roasted cauliflower soup.

See, I discovered the joy of roasted veggies only after moving here with a large, lovely oven at my disposal. As a kid I wouldn't eat cauliflower unless it was crispy fried like in Gobi Manchurian a delectable but greasy Indo- Chinese dish. Since then I have grown to appreciate my veggies, but even more so after I discovered roasting them. Baked sweet potato "fries", broiled sweet bell peppers, smoky roasted eggplant and best of all, cumin roasted cauliflower bliss.
So while I have been routinely roasting my cauliflower sprinkled with a little cumin, pepper and salt and enjoying delicious cauliflower chips for some time now, one day I just had the idea to make them into soup.

Since that day I kept hearing cauliflower everywhere- the women at the table next to ours at a restaurant kept raving about the cauliflower soup they were having and which I then wished I had ordered. Then some good friends blogged about it or mentioned making it and by then I was longing/craving cauliflower soup and just had to make it!

There are lots of cauliflower soups out there. A friend recently made one that was light, refreshing and delicious and I'm looking forward to her recipe and hope to try it soon too.
This one is hearty, thick and robustly flavorful and very filling. Soup never makes me feel full. But this one does. And its healthy and yummy to boot.

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent for us Christians. It is a period of penance, abstinence and sacrifice, remembering the pain and suffering of Jesus Christ, Who we believe died painfully on the Cross to atone for all our sins. This period of around 40 days leads up to Easter which celebrates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and reminds us that we too must strive not for the fleeting pleasures of this life but of eternal life in Heaven.

During Lent we are called to pause and reflect on our own lives and turn away from sin. We are to do charitable acts and to observe fasts as a simple exercise of "showing our passions who is boss" and knowing that we can control our desires if we want. Even if our desires in themselves may not be sinful, indulging every one of them could be dangerous, making us more likely to give in to sin so we practice a little self restraint during this time.

Some people give up meat and alcohol or something else they really like during this time. There was a little girl who gave up the colour pink, her absolute favorite :) People find really creative ways to make their Lenten sacrifices like this girl I read about who is giving up fashion for a cause. In support of those giving up meat for Lent I plan to post several more healthy vegetarian dinner ideas in the coming month like this soup.

For me eating only veggies is quite a treat and not really a sacrifice so I will have to find something unpleasant but good for me to do. Any ideas? maybe giving up sweets or undertaking a major kitchen and paperwork re-organisation effort. Or I might have to take up some form of exercise especially after the two year old  bumped his head against my tummy today and then kept saying "bouncy-bouncy!"

You don't have to be Christian to participate in Lent. A little self restraint once in a while is good for everyone. But I must admit -this soup with some flaky onion biscuits for dinner? Not very sacrificial at all!

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Pizza for two with quick & easy homemade Challah dough

Growing up in a small town in India, pizza was a special treat enjoyed when we visited the city. This was before Dominoes and Pizza hut opened stores in every neighborhood there with guaranteed 30 mins delivery. Mom would sometimes make pizza as an after school treat, but sadly from store bought crusts that were really bad. We would just pick up and eat the toppings which were always delicious covered with amul cheese  and leave that soggy weak crust alone. Sometimes she would use bread instead which was only slightly better. If only she knew how easy it was to make the crust from scratch! 


Thankfully I have found out how easy and fun it is to turn my kitchen into my own pizzeria. There was a lot of outrage about Pizza being considered a vegetable  on school lunches but I kinda get what they mean! Pizza is the perfect vehicle for whatever you want to get your family to eat. Whether it is loads of yummy roasted veggies or whatever you can find in your fridge. Sausages, left over chicken roast...the possibilities are endless. You will feel an immense sense of power when you see that nobody says no to grilled eggplant if its on a pizza! 

This recipe is from the book that got me baking bread- Artisan Bread in Five.  I make a big batch of Zoe and Jeff's lovey Challah dough several times a month and put it in the fridge to make rolls, sweet breads like this cinnamon caramel bubble bread, and this apple braided bread.. It is my favourite dough because its so easy to make and tastes great in both savoury and sweet breads.  Zoe and Jeff  have come out with a whole book on Pizzas and flat bread with many different types of dough and fantabulous toppings.

I like rolling the dough out thin like New York style pizza, on a large half sheet baking tray for parties since the dough can be made upto 5 days ahead and actually tastes better after a day. When I am making it for just the two of us I use my cast iron skillet. Making it in a cast iron skillet makes the crust lovely and crispy but you can really make this in anything that's oven proof with very simple ingredients. 

I think making a heart shape pizza would be corny but cute for valentine's day and I may just do it but for now here is the recipe so that you can make pizza at home too!

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Red Moong and Squash Erissery for Veggie Belly as I'm off to India!

I am heading off to India next week! Am really excited-  this will be the little one's first visit to India to meet his adoring great grandmothers, uncles, aunts and cousins! Am also quite panicked because this will be the first time that I am travelling alone with the troublesome toddler, without his Pappa to keep him in check and provide entertainment.

As I am running around like a headless chicken packing tiny t-shirts and miniature nail clippers and all the other sundry things the monkey and I will need,  I decided I also wanted to do a guest post for Sala of Veggie Belly who is on a cross country road trip! How cool right? As a kid my parents would drive us down to Kerala almost every month and I LOVED it! making pit-stops at road side dhabbas for parottas, quarreling with siblings for the window seat, singing out loud and watching the changing landscape as we whizzed by, cities melting into villages and then forests and hills and fields, and the excitement as we spotted "our" river and the road curved into my grandmothers driveway.... and I might get to do atleast some of that soon. Hope that you are having an awesome time Sala, thank you so much for haing me over to guest post for you!

(Update: This picture won me my very first DMBLGIT award for photography! )

Since Sala is part Malayali and loves Kerala food, I am sharing one of my favourite everyday Kerala dishes, Red Moong and Butternut Squash in Coconut ( Van Payar Mathanga Eriserry ) -something simple yet comforting and delicious, and perfect for the transition to the fall season that I will be missing out on. I think it will  make a really different yet delicious addition to your thanksgiving feast :)

Eriserry is a typical lentil dish from Kerala like parripu (Dal or Yellow Moong stew) and cherupayar (Green Moong) and is part of everyday meals being nutritious and easy to digest. It is also often part of the Onam Sadhya or harvest feast. I like to serve eriserry with a heaping mound of rice, pappadam and pickle and don't forget the payasam for dessert!

Do head over to Veggie Belly for the rest of the post and the recipe and well as drool at Sala's glorious vegetarian fare including such awesomeness as chocolate beetroot cake and lovely Chettinad fare!

Also sending this off to this month's Kerala Kitchen hosted by the lovely Divya of Easycooking. Don't forget to send her all the Kerala inspired dishes you cooked up this month!

And please DO pray that the little monkey and I survive our trip ( and each other!) See you all next from India :)

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KK Challenge: Whole Wheat Chatti Pathiri- Savory layered crepes with chicken masala filling

This is my new favourite fancy party dish, the one that will wow my guests and have them think I am some sort of culinary Goddess. This is my new favourite, "Look T! see what I made for lunch!" dish. I may even make it for breakfast, infact this might be the biggest motivation to get up in the morning!


Chatti Pathiri also called Chatti pathal is commonly made by the Malabar Muslim community in Kerala during Ramadan at Iftar, the period where Muslims break their fast, and also at wedding and special occasions. It can be made with sweet filling as a sweet dish and also made with savory meat filling, it is also called Atti Pathal. (As from Shab's Cuisine) 


What it is- layers and layers of soft, spongy crepes with a spicy masala / or sweet cardamom scented coconut and raisin filled in between them. Malayli's Lasagna is definitely the best description for it! 

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Whole Wheat Dosas- Savory pancakes

The four year old me looked down at my plate and then at his. In his plate was a special dosa- it was darker than mine, and quite different. A quick look around the breakfast table confirmed it. My grandfather was the only one who had been served this unique dosa and thus it had to be really special. "I want Appa's dosa!" I insisted, which elicited smiles from the adults, because Appapa's dosa was the healthier whole wheat dosa or Godhamb dosa, specially made for him as he was diabetic while the rice batter based dosa that was the popular choice, was served to us. Since then,  my grandmother made sure to serve me wholewheat dosas, or whole wheat puttu ( usually made with steamed rice flour) rava idlis or whatever else Appapa was having and I beamed with pride to have these special things just for Appapa and me :)

It must have started then, my preference for this version, (and for whole wheat and whole grains in general) which may be healthier, but in my mind is special-ler! and oh soo much more easier to make!

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Basics:How to make Mung Dal/Lentil Soup the right way

We love our lentils, and to me a bowl of dal with rice is the perfect comfort food. Maybe because my mom used to pack dal and rice, with just a bit of ghee or pickle to school in my lunch box almost everyday. It is packed with protein and should be on every non-meat eaters meal plan, and is just plain delcious, in a homey non fussy way!
Dal is served in every home in every part of India and makes an appearance daily if not atleast once a week. In Kerala it is more commonly made with toor dar or split pigeon peas, though I prefer mung dal because it is easier to digest, soothing to the stomach and is considered "non-gas making" (Haha:) but mostly because mung dal takes less time to cook I think.
I have always thought that I make a pretty decent dal until I tasted my mom-in-law's dal and that totally blew me away. I had to make sure that I learnt the technique behind her perfect bowls of dal during her stay here. No garlic, no ginger, no bothersome frying of onions- the secret to her recipe is toasting the dal before cooking it. The result is a simple yet wonderfully flavorful, creamy and wholesome dish.

And of course I had to share it with you! This simple  recipe is for the beginners to Indian cooking. Dal is pretty much a staple and this delicately flavorful dish is great served as a soup on it's own, or rice. I found that it is a perfect accompaniment to my loaf of freshly baked healthy bread. So Ms just-moved-out-of-parents-home-into-new-apartment-with-roomies/husband & kitchen this is for you! Also if you like me have been making dal for years but thought there must be something missing, here's how to make dal the right way!

Dal/ Lentil soup
Recipe source: My mother-in-law

Ingredients

• 2 cups mung dal
• 4 green chillies
• 1 large onion
• 2 whole medium tomatoes (if using a pressure cooker no need to cut) or 3 tbsp tomato paste.
• 2 tsp salt ( 1 tsp for each cup of dhal)
• 1/2 tsp chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 
• 1/2 tsp oil

For tempering

• 2 dry red chillies
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 4 curry leaves

Method

• Wash the dal quickly (without soaking) and drain the mung dal for about half an hour until the water has drained out completely. 
• Put a pressure cooker/ heavy bottom pan or saucepan  on medium heat and add the dal, stirring occasionally to toast it. 
• (This step while it may take up an extra 10-15v mins is important and adds greatly to the flavour so skip only if you are in a hurry. You can also toast your dal ahead and store in an air tight container to save time later)
• Lower heat to low and continue to toast the dhal until it is crisp, crunchy and a light brown colour.
• Final test- when chewed the toasted dal should make a "krr krr" sound, indicating that it is well toasted.
• Make sure you don't over toast. Also make sure to stir occasionally so that the dhal at the bottom does not get burnt.
• While the dal is toasting, chop the onions finely and slit green chillies lengthwise.
• Add the onions, green chillies, salt, chilly powder and turmeric and 1/2 tsp oil and mix well, until the masalas are well mixed with the dal.
• Add 6-7 cups of boiling water, and the tomato paste/ tomatoes (If using a pressure cooker, no need to chop as they will explode and break into tiny pieces while the dal cooks )
• Cover and cook until the dal is soft. ( if using a pressure cooker, just until the steam begins to build- just about 5 mins. Do not wait for a whistle else it will be overcooked and pasty)

Prepare the tempering:

• Take a small saucepan and heat 1 tsp oil.
• Add the mustard seeds and wait until they sputter. Turn off the heat and add the cumin seeds, curry leaves, and red chillies. 
• Add the tempering to the cooked dal and mix well.
• Let it simmer for about 5 mins.

This delicious bowl of simple fragrant dal is going over to Legume love affair.

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How to cook rice

There is nothing more appealing than a bowl of fluffy, perfectly cooked, steaming hot rice. 
Although I love tasting food from around the world, comfort food to me is a bowl of rice and dal. 
From a lot of trial and error, I think I have learnt how to cook rice perfectly.
The secret to cooking perfect rice i found is to wash it 4-5 times before cooking to ensure that all the sticky starch has been removed. You should also soak it after washing for about 30 mins to ensure it comes out just perfect. I use a pressure cooker & put a little more than double the amount of water per cup of rice.You can also use a pan with a tightly fitting lid. I wait exactly until the first whistle ( about 10-20 mins) after which I quickly run the pressure cooker under cold water  to release the steam ( this step is of course unnecessary if you are not using a pressure cooker) & immediately strain the rice so that it doesn't get overcooked. If you leave the rice in the hot water in the pot you run the risk of it continuing to cook and turn mushy.


 However, accidents do happen. If they must, you could use some of the following little tricks that I found here and have used to rescue my rice, sadly a few more times than I would like to admit. 
 
 Problem: The rice is still very chewy or hard in the middle. 
Solution: Add just enough water to create a little steam, 1/4 cup or less. Put the lid on and cook the rice on very low heat for another 5 minutes. 

 Problem: The grains are split and the rice is mushy because of over cooking. 
Solution: This is the worst problem because you can't really fix over cooked rice. You could wash the sticky rice under cold water. That helps a little, but the best way to use it up would be to make rice pudding with it, 


 Problem: The bottom layer of rice has burned. 
Solution: Run cold water over the outside of the pot's bottom to stop it from continuing to cook, and preventing the burnt flavor from permeating the rest of the rice (don't add water to the rice itself).Tip out as much rice as you can salvage. Be careful not to mix the burnt part at the bottom with the rest of the rice.


 Rice is usually eaten with curries. It is also often flavoured and cooked with ingredients as in fried rice, biryani etc.

South Indians have an interesting variety of rice dishes like curd rice, mint rice, coconut rice, spinach rice, tomato rice, sambhar rice, tamrind rice and my favourite, the tangy Lemon Rice.

Lemon Rice
Ingredients: 
2 cups cooked rice 
2 tbsps vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil 
1 tsp mustard seeds 
3-4 curry leaves 4 green chillies slit lengthwise 4 dry red chillies 
1 tsp ginger paste or grated ginger 
1/2 cup peanuts (roasted and unsalted) 
1 tsp turmeric powder 
Juice of 2 lemons 
Salt to taste 


Preparation: Add salt and lemon juice to the cooked rice and mix well so that it is spread evenly. Keep aside Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, curry leaves and green chillies. Fry till the spluttering stops Add the ginger and peanuts. Fry for another minute. Add the turmeric powder and red chillies and stir. Turn off the fire. Add the rice and mix well so that it takes on the bright yellow colour from the turmeric. Can be eaten plain, with pickle or served with a raita ( Yogurt mixed with a little salt, finely chopped onion, cucumber or tomatoes)

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Stew in Coconut milk or Ishtoo

This "ishtoo" is typical to Syrian Christian homes in Kerala and I try to make this with Appam whenever family visits, especially for breakfast at Easter or Christmas.Stew with crispy lacey Palappams is an integral part of family gatherings and most definitely on special occasions. It is quite simple to prepare with coconut milk being easily available in tins but incredibly tasty especially if you like coconut milk based curries.

Traditional Syrian Christian Coconut Milk Stew
Recipe source: My mother and mother-in-law

Ingredients:

1. *Mutton 500 gms or Chicken 1/2 Kg ( Omit to make vegetable stew)
2. Onion-1 (large or 2 medium)
3. Green chilly- 3-4
4. Ginger - small piece about half the size of your thumb, smashed with a pestle ( no need to slice)
5. Curry leaves- a few about 5-6
6. Thick Coconut milk 1 cup
7. Cinnamon sticks (patta) 1
8. Cloves (karayampoo) 4
9. Cardamom (elakka) 4
10. Whole Peppercorns 4-5
11. Diced vegetables likes potatoes-2, carrots-2 are traditional but nowadays people also add beans, peas, corn, mushroom etc. especially if making a vegetable stew

Optional, for my mother in law's spicier variation: ( omit for traditional white coloured stew):

1. Garlic cloves 3
2. Coriander powder 1 tsp 
3. Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp
4. Garam masala powder 1/2 tsp 

Optional for garnish:

2-3 small onions ( shallots) or half a regular onion sliced thin and 4-5 curry leaves fried in a tbsp of ghee or coconut oil

Method:

1. Heat oil (I prefer coconut oil mixed with a little canola oil). Splutter cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom and pepper
2. Fry thinly sliced onion, salt to taste, smashed piece of ginger, curry leaves and slit green chillies until onions turn transluscent ( they should not turn brown)
3. Now if you want the  spicier yellow coloured stew like my mother in law makes, add and lightly fry the garlic, and then the spices mentioned - coriander, turmeric and garam masala and saute just until till spices no longer smell raw.
4. Add mutton/chicken and stir fry for about 5-10 mins and then add the chopped vegetables
5. Add 3 cups water ( can reduce water if you want a thicker gravy) and 1/4 cup coconut milk and cover and cook ( I use a pressure cooker)
6. When done- (usually for chicken 10 mins after the whistle goes, the meat should be white and cooked through, a fork should go through the potatoes and carrots easily), reduce flame pour first extraction thick coconut milk (or 1 cup thick coconut milk from a tin), and simmer for 10-15 mins on low heat stirring occasionally so that the coconut milk does not curdle
7. For added flavour you can fry curry leaves and 2 small onions till brown in 1 tbsp ghee/ coconut oil and pour on top.

* - You can choose to leave out the chicken or mutton to make a vegetable stew.

Stew is traditionally served with Appams or Idiappams  but it is also great served with soft warm bread rolls or rice too.

If you like this and coconut milk based curried check out my favourite super quick and easy chicken curry in coconut milk ( which I also make with just veggies)

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