Salt And Pepper With a Lot of Spice: A Lookback

Facebook lookback videos have become quite a trend. It is a brilliant concept that uses analytics to create a snapshot of your 'story' on Facebook. I have a Facebook page for this blog: Salt and Pepper With a Lot of Spice for which I wanted a lookback video... but Facebook hasn't put in that option. So I went ahead and made one myself!

Here is the lookback video... hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it!

Oats Upma Recipe

Nowadays oats have become a cupboard staple in Indian homes. This trend includes me too - I always have a packet of oats at home for making quick and healthy breakfasts.

Oats: The New Cupboard Staple

Many people have heard of oats, their health benefits and have gone ahead and bought it into their homes. This has led to a frequently asked question on food forums that I am a part of - "What are some good recipes for oats?" 

Oats Upma

I am still discovering new recipes and ways in which to use oats in our Indian kitchens. 

Oats Upma

I have been thinking of making oats upma for quite some time now, but every time I think of upma, I think of the classic rawa (semolina) upma or masala upma, so this recipe has been on the back burner for quite some time. I woke up today morning thinking of the same classic upma, but plans changed when I found there was no rawa at home... and that is the story of how I finally tried my hand at making oats upma!

Oats Upma Finally!

Oats Upma Up Close

Oats Upma Recipe

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 tbsps oil (peanut or olive)

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2/ tsp asafoetida 

10-15 curry leaves

2 green chillies cut into 3-4 pieces

1 1/2 tbsp udad dal

2 medium onions finely chopped

1 cup oats

1 1/2 -2 cups hot water

Salt to taste

Lemon wedges and corriander leaves to garnish and serve

Method

Heat oil in a pan. Temper with mustard seeds and when they start to crackle add in the asafoetida, the curry leaves and the green chillies.

Lower the flame to medium high and add in the udad dal. Fry till it turns reddish brown. 

Now add in the chopped onions and saute till they turn translucent.

Next go in the oats. Keeping the flame medium high, roast the oats in the prepared tempering till they turn reddish and let off a nutty aroma.

Pour in the hot water till it covers the oats. Add in the salt too. Turn the flame to high and cook for about 3 minutes till the oats cook and the water evaporates.

Serve hot with a dash of lemon juice and some corriander leaves! 

Waldorf Salad Recipe

Waldorf salad: an American classic that has been accepted very well and relished by the world. The salad is so named as it was first created in 1893 by the maitre d'hotel of the Waldorf hotel (currently Waldorf-Astoria hotel). 

It was a loved one's birthday very recently and I wanted to make something new, interesting, delicious and yet simple for the occassion. I was thinking of and chalking down ideas when I remembered that Waldorf salad is a particular favourite of this person; rather it is one of the very few salads they eat. Since it is the first time I had bought celery, I thought what better than this salad's surprise. 

Fresh and Crunchy Waldorf Salad

I had a trial run of half a bowl of this salad at around 8 p.m a day before, and it turned out okay-ish, so I put some back in the refrigerator, wondering what the hoopla about it really is! Since I had nothing to show for my efforts and I was still thinking about what to make, I couldn't sleep. So at night at around 11:00 a.m., I went back, took out the salad from the refrigerator and tasted it again to try and make some sense of it... and it was perfect then! The simple thing was to refrigerate it before serving because it makes the salad really crunchy and delicious to eat!

Waldorf Salad

And with this great salad served on fresh lettuce, I could say a very interesting and lovely Happy Birthday!

Crunchy Waldorf Salad Served on Fresh Lettuce

Waldorf Salad Recipe

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Refrigeration Time: 1 hour

Total Time:  1 hour 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For the Salad

1 red apple chopped into 1/4 inch cubes

2 stalks celery finely chopped

10-15 walnuts roughly chopped

For the Dressing

2 tbsps mayonnaise 

1/2 tsp lemon juice

For Serving

4 fresh iceberg lettuce leaves

Method

Combine the chopped red apples, the chopped celery and the walnuts.

Mix well the mayonnaise and lemon juice for the dressing.

Add the dressing to the salad ingredients and toss well so that the dressing coats the salad well. You can mix and add more of the dressing if you wish.

Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Around 15 minutes before taking the salad out from the refrigerator to serve, take a large bowl of ice cold water. Dip the iceberg lettuce leaves in it. Arrange them in a bowl and serve the cold salad on top.

Enjoy it cold and crunchy! 

Indian Spices: Lal Mirch (Red Chilly)

Go to your kitchen... or any Indian kitchen. Open the spice box that is within your hand's reach and stores the spices you use everyday. What do you see? A rich red powder. One that you have been told since childhood not to touch. Or if you do, then wash your hands immediately before touching anything else, especially your eyes. If you aren't Indian, then this is the spice you are probably afraid of in Indian food. Yes, I am talking of red chilly.

People often say that Indian food is spicy. The 'spice' that is often referred to in this statement is the pungency of the red chilly (especially dried red chilly powder) that gives Indian food much of its characteristic flavour.

Red chillies are available in both fresh and dried forms. Fresh red chilly is seasonal, and is used to make pickles and chutneys that can be stored for around the year. The most commonly used form of red chilly in the every day Indian kitchen is whole dried red chilly and dried red chilly powder. Whole dried  can be used for while tempering or to add to purees and gravies.

Kashmiri Whole Dried Red Chillies

Dried red chilly powder is used both for flavour as well as colour in Indian food. No Indian snack, curry, lentil or rice dish is complete without a dash of this spice. It is also added to some types of flatbreads such as parathas when making stuffed parathas or just spiced (masala) parathas.

Dried Red Chilly Powder (Kashmiri)

There are various kinds of chillies depending on their pungency and colouring power - for e.g. Kashmiri red chillies are the ones used at my house because of their mild pungency and the deep red colour it lends to food. We also use cherry red chillies (called boriya marcha - boriya meaning berry because of its shape) for some types of tempering like that of kadhis. Spice mixes that use chillies can often have more than one kind of chilly to bring about a balance of flavour, pungency and colour effects.

Simply to sum it up, we Indians love chilly and simply cannot do without it! Indian cuisine wouldn't be 'Indian' without a dash of this spice!

Pumpkin Soup with a Mirepoix Base

I am a big soup person. Which means that the short so-called winter in Mumbai is not really my good friend. When I had made this soup about a week back, there was still some semblance of winter in the air, but now it is already summer in Mumbai. And I already miss the 'cold' weather. Anyways, people around the world who are still enjoying winters can always make and enjoy this soup! And I can for health reasons!

Pumpkin soup with a mirepoix base: the reason why I tried this recipe was I had celery to use up from my recent shopping trip at the Crawford Market about which I have already written in quite some detail. And I am so glad I had that to do that! It gave me the push I needed to try using mirepoix at least once as a base for some soup!

Pumpkin Soup with a Mirepoix Base

Mirepoix or a mixture of onions, carrots and celery in the ratio of 2:1:1 is a traditional base used for soups, stocks, stews and sauces. While I have always read about it, I have never tried using it in any of the soups I have made till date. This time I thought, why not? Also, after my success with making pumpkin parathas, I have fallen in love with the vegetable, and have wanted to use it more often and I thought what better way to display the true flavours of a vegetable than making soup out of it.

Pumpkin Soup

This pumpkin soup is a rich, creamy, lightly spiced, delicious concoction is low on calories and high on nutrients. It can be eaten by itself as a meal with just some bread and a bean salad for some proteins and there is your balanced meal. Or it can form a great appetizer to start a meal in a smaller quantity.

Pumpkin Soup

So, here is my recipe of pumpkin soup using mirepoix  as a base.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Total Time:  30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 tbsps olive oil
100 gms onions finely chopped
50 gms carrots finely chopped
50 gms celery finely chopped
2 bay leaves
500 gms red pumpkin diced
400 ml water
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp black pepper powder
Salt to taste

Method

In a pressure cooker heat the oil.

Add in the onions, carrots, celery and bay leaves and saute till the onions turn translucent.

Now add in the pumpkin and saute for around 3-4 minutes.

Pour in the water till it covers all the mixture, close the pressure cooker and cook for about 8 minutes till the pumpkins are tender and cooked through.

Fish out the bay leaves and then blend the mixture using a hand blender till it forms a thick soup.

Put the soup back on the heat. Add in the milk, salt and black pepper and bring to a boil.

Enjoy steaming hot!

Thai Green Curry

The first time I was introduced to the Thai green curry was in 2010. My best friend had just returned from England after her post-graduation. We had gone to get our quota of some good, intellectual movie or a mindless one (I can't remember which one it was, but yeah, we watch both kinds!) and the mall had a Thai restaurant. My friend turned to me and squealed in her characteristic way that it had been so long since she had had some Thai food. Well, what was to be done? We went in.

I trusted her to order, not having eaten much of Thai food back then. She ordered the green curry as it was her favourite. And I fell in love with it too! I have been cooking for so long, and I have made Thai Red Curry often at home, but this has been a recipe I have not felt confident enough to attempt somehow. I tried it recently and it turned out to be as good as the restaurant one, so here is my recipe of this green soothing
goodness!

Thai Green Curry from Scratch

Thai Green Curry

Thai Green Curry

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the Green Curry Paste

1/2 cup tightly packed Thai basil leaves
1 cup tightly packed fresh corriander leaves
1 lemongrass stalk thinly sliced
3 kaffir lime leaves thinly shredded
1 inch piece of galangal or 1/2 inch piece of ginger
4 cloves of garlic
1 medium onion sliced
2 green chillies
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp corriander powder
1/2 cumin powder

For the Thai Green Curry

2 tbsps oil (peanut or olive)
1 medium green bell pepper diced into 1 inch cubes
1 medium red bell pepper diced into 1 inch cubes

1 medium yellow bell pepper diced into 1 inch cubes
5 baby corns cut into 3-4 pieces each
6-8 button mushrooms cut into half lengthwise (optional)
6-8 broccoli florets (optional)
6-7 Thai brinjals cut into half (optional)
3 tbsps Thai Green Curry paste
400 ml fresh coconut milk (thick)
Salt to taste

Method

Grind together the green curry paste ingredients with about 1-2 tsps water in a mixer/ food processor till a smooth paste is formed. And that is your green curry paste that people buy in stores!

To make the curry, heat oil in a pan.

Add in all the vegetables - the bell peppers, the baby corns, the mushrooms, the broccoli florets, and the Thai brinjals and saute till the vegetables are cooked.

Now put in the Thai Green Curry paste and mix well with the sauteed vegetables.

Finally add in the coconut milk and stir. Bring the curry to a boil while you keep stirring.

Add in salt. Be careful, Thai brinjals add a salty flavour to the curry, so taste and then add based on how much salt you'll need.

Serve with steamed rice. No, it doesn't taste good with any form of bread. It is to be had only with rice or noodles.

Thai Green Curry with Steamed Rice (the ONLY way to eat it!)

Salt Pepper and Spice Tip#3

For all lemon lovers like me... how to get more juice out of them in an easier manner!