Saturday, 31 October 2015

(EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT ) HOSTING-MY LEGUME LOVE AFFAIR(MLLA) # 89



I am pleased and humbled to host My Legume Love Affair #89, for the month of November 2015. MLLA is an ongoing, monthly event since 2008 in which, bloggers from any country or cuisine can take part in this event by presenting their vegetarian legume recipes. This event was created and started by Susan of The well seasoned cook in 2008, and has been hosted by Lisa of Lisa's kitchen since February 2013.

This is the first time I am hosting this prestigious event/ blog party since I have started blogging in the month of May 2014. Though from the last few months I am sending my recipes as my blog post entry to many blog hop parties, I feel it is now the time for me to get the experience of hosting an event. I am really obliged and would like to give thanks to Lisa from Lisa's kitchen, who gave me this chance and believed in me to host this event.

My legume love affair started a long time ago, being born in a vegetarian family, and later growing up in a family where lentils were made every single day. My mother was a total vegetarian, who never tasted any meat, seafood or even egg in her life. Lentils play a vital role in a vegetarian's diet because they are the main source of protein. We vegetarians consume some or the other type of legumes almost every day in our diet to get the constant supply of protein and their nutrients in our diet.

In Indian cuisine, lentils are used in many ways e. g. all lentil curries (Stew) are a regular thing, with many lentils made as a dry side dish/salads. Many traditional sweet items and snacks are also made with lentils or their flours- in which chickpeas flour is the most common one.

Legumes include all types of lentils, pulses, fresh or dried beans, peanuts etc, the list is endless. You can even include chick peas flour or any other lentil flour too, all you need to do is to present your legume-centric dish on this event page.

Rules and Guidelines for this event

  1. All world cuisines are welcome, vegetarian or vegan- all entries should be egg free, meat free, seafood free.
  2. All courses of meals are accepted-starters, main meal, snack, desserts etc
  3. Any derivative such as chickpeas flour, any other lentil flour or even tofu is accepted, as long as the main ingredient is LEGUME.
  4. For your dish to be included in the roundup, it must contain more than just a few tablespoons of legumes. Or the main ingredient of the dish should be a legume.
  5. Please, ONE entry per blogger.
  6. Please link to this announcement page, Susan's page and Lisa's page (It is compulsory)
  7. This event will close on 30th of November 2015.
  8. Any suitable archived entry should be re-posted in this month of the event.
  9. Use of logo is optional but appreciated.
  10. Please link your entries below.Round-up will be posted on 2nd of December 2015 on my web page.
  11. Nonbloggers can send their recipes through e-mail together with the photo of the dish, I will consider them and include them in the round-up.
  12. Any questions or queries should be directed to me on- herbsspicesandtradition@gmail.com



Grab this party button and put it somewhere in your blog.

Thanks for stopping by, I can't wait to see what you are going to share here in this event. Use the link below to add your entry







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Monday, 26 October 2015

PUMPKIN HALWA

PUMPKIN HALWA

 #Edited- This post was featured as the best post at " Friday Free for all" on 6th November 2015. This can be viewed at Friday free for all link.

 # Edited:- This post was featured as the best post for Real Food Friday, this can be viewed at Real Food Friday blog hop on 5th November 2015. 

 Happy Halloween to all those celebrating.


When I was in Kenya, I lived with my husband in a remote area for one year, where there was only one big secondary school; it was a boarding school with hostels, a few residential settlements, a few shops and a post office outside the school. This boarding school had a population of around 500 plus students. There were teachers’ houses within that boarding school. We lived in a big house with a big kitchen garden at the back. To get Indian vegetables and grocery, we had to travel to 60 km far to a city of Kisumu.


In that kitchen garden, we had some fruit trees like banana and pawpaw (papaya) and many other tall trees which were found in that region. Kenya is a green country, in that climate, we get a lot of sunlight and rain throughout the year, which is suitable for the growth of so many agricultural products. Few papaya trees (4-5) in my kitchen garden, were very tall like coconut trees, maybe 15-20 feet tall. So the big problem was to get the fruits from those tall trees. I assume they were so tall because they must have been very old.


Many times, during school holidays or sometimes during weekends some young boys from the nearby villages, used to come and ask for piece jobs in the garden. And I used to give them the job to climb those trees to get fresh ripe and raw papaya; those boys were really expert climbers. They would help bring down baskets and baskets of papaya, some raw, some about to ripe, and some ready to eat, and that means a lot of papayas. Then the next job was to distribute those papayas to friends in surrounding areas before they got rotten because surely I couldn’t use up all of them. I have tried and tested many recipes with that raw papaya. Raw papaya skin is very hard to peel and inside the flesh is also very hard like that of a pumpkin. Though the inside flesh is white which is unlike of a pumpkin.


So for this pumpkin halwa recipe, I am using the same recipe and method as I used in papaya halwa, except instead of papaya, I’m using pumpkin. When I tried it for the first time, it came out super nice, plus the colour was also very nice and appealing without adding any artificial food colour. The other surprising thing about this recipe has very few ingredients.


This is the season of pumpkins and Halloween here in Canada, and all the shops are filled with many different sizes of pumpkin- from very small to very large. In North America when people celebrate Halloween, a lot of pumpkin carving is done to make jack-o-lanterns and decorate in front of their houses. Even in schools, kids are taught to do pumpkin carving, as my grandson is taking a big pumpkin to school to carve it tomorrow.


RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

  • One small pumpkin around 400 grams
  • 100 grams sugar (or more to taste)
  • 4 tbs ghee (clarified butter) OR unsalted butter.
  • 50 grams sliced almonds or any other nuts
  • 50 grams raisin (optional)
  • ½ tsp cardamom/nutmeg or cinnamon powder

METHOD

  • Peel, wash and slice the pumpkin into small pieces, then boil it in a pot, adding the small amount of water at the bottom of the pot. ( I used pressure cooker, which took only 3 minutes after the whistle)
  • Mash the pumpkin pieces with the potato masher.
  • Heat ghee in a fry pan or wok, when hot, add mashed pumpkin and cook for 5 minutes.
  • Add sugar and again cook for some time till the water melting from the sugar disappears, stirring occasionally.
  • Add nuts and cardamom powder, and serve hot as a dessert.


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Wednesday, 21 October 2015

CHICKPEAS FLOUR ROLL/ GUJARATI KHANDVI

CHICKPEAS FLOUR ROLL/ GUJARATI KHANDVI



Some people like talking too much, when we are in their company, we will not get a chance to say our bit. One of my family friends is like that, whenever I visit her, I have never seen her husband talking. She does not give any time or chance to him to talk. Even if the husband will get a small chance to intervene in the middle of the conversation, she will try to correct him by her own style or way as if she knows better than him..... Poor husband. Though she is very good at heart and very good in her profession, I think this is just her habit.


These type of people will not listen to other people's views or opinions during the conversation, whatever the topic might be, they will be so busy either talking about their own things or giving their own views on that topic, and they are not bothered to listen to others.



I read somewhere a very good quote- “Thinking you are good in something is self-confidence but when you think that only you are the best person in something then this is your ego”. I think this type of ego is dangerous. But I also think sometimes people's profession influences the way people talk. Teachers like me would like to explain things with examples even in discussions. But all this depends on the individual or their personal habits too, I guess. Why I am writing all this-- I think I am missing that family friend, because this Khandvi is her favorite dish.



Coming to the dish, this is very simple and light dish with very little ingredients. Light because oil content is very little, still it is very tasty. It goes very well with evening tea or can be eaten as a light breakfast. It can be served as a light snack as a starter with other meals. Even though this dish is simple, it can get tricky because the cooking time is variable so care should be taken when cooking the chickpeas flour; it should be cooked enough so that it can spread thinly on a flat surface smoothly, yet not overcooked and too thick. I think it comes with practice.



RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup chickpeas flour
  • 1 cup yoghurt (dahi)
  • 1 cup water
  • salt to taste

For Garnishing
  • 3 tbs dry desiccated coconut
  • 3 tbs oil
  • 1 tbs mustard seeds
  • 2-3 green chillies thinly sliced (optional)
  • 3 tbs sesame seeds
  • Green coriander thinly sliced

Method

  • Mix dahi, water and chickpeas flour, it will look like a paste.
  • Heat wok on a medium high flame and cook this mixture for 25-30 minute till it is slightly thicker and can be spread easily on a flat tray. (Quickly check on a plate, if it is spreadable and can be rolled when cool).
  • Spread the mixture thinly on a greased tray, and leave it to cool.
  • When cold cut into strips and roll in one direction as shown in the picture.

For Garnishing

  • Heat oil in a frying pan, add sesame seeds, when they change the colour slightly, add mustard seeds, green chilli.
  • Spread on khandvi rolls and decorate with green coriander.






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Monday, 12 October 2015

TURNIP AND PEAS SIDE DISH

Turnip and peas side dish
Shalgam aur matar ki subji



October is the most beautiful month if you are living in northern America. This is the season of “Fall”, I really enjoy the beauty of nature at this time. This is the time, when the colours of the leaves on all the trees are changing - some leaves are light yellow, some are dark yellow, some turn into light orange, some dark orange. Many trees in this area are pine trees, which are also called Christmas trees, or even green trees so their leaves do not change colour and remain green. As I sit on my couch and work on my post, I am really enjoying the autumn view from the big window of my living room. Today is a windy day, to me, it seems as if these colourful trees are dancing, and it seems some trees that are far away bending and glancing from behind other trees at me. This is the view I was describing of my garden...



 Turnip is not a common vegetable like potato, it can neither be mixed with many other vegetables nor many different types of dishes can be made with it. But still, as advised by the health professionals to eat different varieties of fruits and vegetables, turnip is a good change, particularly when they are fresh in shops in their season.


Their season starts in October here in Calgary, I mean in the northern hemisphere.When I was in Botswana, they were not available there, so I missed them for many years. I have already shared a recipe for its pickle with cauliflower and carrots, check the recipe here- .


Yes I know, turnips have a very distinct taste, that is the reason some people do not like or eat turnips. Even me, I was not a great fan of a turnip before I ate this side dish, but after eating this dish, I have changed my opinion, now I can say, yes I like turnip Though people have different tastes and opinion about different vegetables but a lot also depends on how the vegetable is cooked or how the dish is made. Any simple vegetable can be converted into a nice side dish depending on how it is made and how efficiently the spices and herbs are used in it etc. I think cooking is an art and it depends a lot on the artists (home cooks or chefs) to play around with ingredients to create a wonderful item out of it.


I really like this particular side dish. The first time when I tasted this dish in my sister-in-laws place, I couldn’t believe that the main ingredient in it, is turnip. Then I asked my sister-in-law to give me the recipe, now it is always made in my kitchen, whenever turnips are in season.


I am sharing this recipe on my blog for those, who particularly do not eat this white/nice vegetable which is full of good nutrients, to give it a try. I am very sure, you will definitely enjoy this dish.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS:-
  • 500 grams white turnips
  • 150 grams peas frozen/fresh
  • 4-5 garlic cloves, grated
  • small piece of ginger, grated
  • 2 tbs tomato puree
  • salt and red chilli powder to taste
  • 1 tbs coriander powder
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds powder
  • 2 tbs oil
  • 1-2 tbs fried onion
  • Few leaves of fresh coriander for garnishing.
METHOD
  • Peel, wash and boil turnip in pressure cooker for five minutes after the whistle.
  • Mash turnip in food processor or with potato masher.
  • Heat oil in a fry pan on medium heat.
  • Add mustard seeds, garlic and onion till light brown.
  • Add tomato puree with little water, add coriander and chilli powder, roast for few minutes.
  • Add mashed turnip and green peas and cook for 8-10 minutes till the extra water evaporates.
  • Garnish with fried onion and coriander on top.
  • Serve with Nan, roti, parathan or rice.
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