Sunshine blast!

It's drab and dreary outside and I am hoping for some sunshine. For crying out loud, it's April now. And I totally understand "April showers bring.......' and all that. But please, it's about time the showers bring some warmth too! So in a bid to coax some sunshine out from the clouds, here is my (anti) weather inspired salad. Let's hope this does it!

Golden beets and jicama salad

For the salad, you will need:
2 medium golden beets
1 medium jicama
1 stalk scallion
2 Tbsps. chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp. toasted sunflower seeds (optional)

And for the dressing, you will need:
1 Tbsp. Extra-Virgin Olive oil
2 Tsps. orange juice
1/4 tsp. cumin powder
1/4 tsp. coriander powder
1/2 tsp. sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Peel and cut the beets into thin slices, and then stack the slices to cut into thin matchsticks
Peel and cut jicama into thin slices, and then stack the slices to cut into thin matchsticks
Finely slice the scallions; both the green and white parts
Mix the beets, jicama, scallions and the chopped cilantro in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix all the dressing ingredients and mix it in with the salad. Sprinkle some sunflower seeds if using. Toss and serve.

Build a better burger!

...now say that 10 times. Tongue-twister this may sound, but tongue-tantalising it sure will be. Burger craving and some left over kidney beans (from my son’s Quesadilla lunch from the previous day) led me to put this meal together the other night.  

However, my cravings were not just for the burgers though. I wanted the whole nine yards...pickles, fries, slaw...et al! Feeling too lazy to step out and get the supplementary help with the trimmings, I decided to tackle the fridge and do it all. Had cukes, had vinegar, had rosemary, had slaw and most importantly, had my son’s help.

Needless to say, an hour- later, we had both created one healthy dinner and 3 very satisfied tummies thereafter. 

So go ahead and build yourself a better burger. Hopefully, you will enjoy it as much as we all did!

For the burger:

1 cup canned kidney beans; drained and rinsed

1/4 cup scallions; finely chopped

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

1 tsp. grated ginger

1 medium chili; finely chopped

1 tsp. fennel seeds

1/4 cup red bell pepper; finely chopped

2-3 Tbsp. finely chopped cilantro leaves

salt and pepper to taste

2-3 Tbsp. Olive oil

For serving: 

Whole-wheat Burger buns

Hummus (any variety)

Sliced red onions (I sautéd mine with a touch of oil on a non-stick pan)

Lettuce

Heat a non-stick pan on medium-high heat.

Put all of the burger ingredients in a food processor and pulse for few about 5-6 seconds until the beans are coarsely mashed and the mixture comes together. Taking about a golf-ball sized mixture in your hands, make small patties, 2-3 inches in diameter and about quarter inch high. 

Swirl 1 Tbsp. of oil on the pan and cook 4-5 patties at a time for 4-5 minutes on each side or until they are golden brown. 

Spread the hummus on the buns and serve the burger with some lettuce and onion and sides (see below) if desired. 

Broccoli Slaw: 

In a bowl, mix a cup of broccoli slaw with 1/4 cup sour-cream, 1 Tbsp. light mayo, 1 tsp. Dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. white vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes before serving. 

Pickles: 

Dissolve 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1 Tbsp. salt in about 1/2 cup of white vinegar and 1/4 cup water. Add 1 Tbsp. fresh dill sprigs; chopped, 1 tsp. whole coriander seeds, 7-8 whole peppercorns. Mix thoroughly. Add 3 small Persian cucumbers and 1/2 red bell pepper; both thinly sliced. Mix and set aside until ready to eat. Leftover pickles will stay in the fridge for 2-3 days. 

Oven-roasted rosemary-lemon fries: 

Pre-heat the oven to 450^O F. Cut 3 large potatoes into medium fries. Add to a large bowl. Add 3 Tbsps. Olive oil, 2-3 sprigs of rosemary, zest of 1 lemon, salt and pepper to taste.  Toss thoroughly. Spread the mixed potatoes in a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake stirring occasionally for 25 to 30 minutes or until it is cooked and slightly brown on the edges. Serve hot.

Cooking Class!

Hey friends....It's about time for my next cooking class! Feel free to talk about it, rave about it or quite simply, forward it! I cannot wait for spring; although in retrospect, I think our winter was not that bad; considering what the other parts of the globe had/have to face. Everyday is a blessing and putting things in perspective, changes the......perspective! Right?

I have added a jpeg of my class schedule and menu. I hope the items on the menu sounds enticing and lures you to my humble kitchen.

Looking forward to cooking with; and for my friends!

And as promised...here's another recipe from "Girls-night-in'.

Butternut squash, lentils and
goat cheese salad

For the salad:

2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash

3 cups green french lentils

1 medium onion; peeled and sliced

1/4 cup dry roasted sunflower seeeds

1/2 cup goat cheese

For the dressing:

In a separate small bowl, blend together 3 Tbsp. extra virgin
olive oil, 2 Tbsp. balsmic vinegar, 1 tsp. honey, salt and pepper to taste.

Pre-heat the overn to 425^oF. Spread the cubed butternut squash in a baking tray and mix in 1 Tbsp. olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Bake; stirring once or twice; for 25 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork.

Wash the lentils and boil in 5 cups of water for 20 minutes or until the grains are tender. Drain and set aside.

Heat 1 tsp. oilive oil in a pan on medium high. Add the sliced onions and saute for 3-4 minutes until translucent. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix in the cooled lentils, the cooked squash and the onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the
dressing and stir to combine all.

Sprinkle with the sunflower seeds and add dollops of goat cheeese and serve at room temperature.

Girls-nights-in

Few weeks back, I had the wonderful opportunity to feature my food at a 'Girls-night-in' at a friend's house. It was a great evening, spent, talking, mingling and networking with a bunch of awesome women. It was indeed a very inspiring night and am hoping that my friend's kind gesture to host the event will lead to more recognition and more opportunities for me to cook.

Here is one of the 5 recipes featured that evening. Stay tuned and will add more soon. Enjoy :)

Quinoa salad with cranberries and arugula

For the salad:

3 cups cooked quinoa (cooked as per package directions.)

¼ cup frozen corn; defrosted

¼ cup scallions; finely chopped

¼ cup green pepper; finely diced (optional)

1 cup baby arugula leaves
¼ cup cucumber; peeled and finely chopped

¼ cup halved green grapes (optional)

½ cup dried cranberries

2 Tbsps. chopped cilantro leaves

salt and pepper to taste

For the dressing:
In a separate small bowl, blend together 3 Tbsp. extra virgin
olive oil, 2 Tbsp. orange juice, 1 tsp. honey, salt and pepper to taste.

Combine all the salad ingredients in a large shallow bowl. Mix in the blended dressing. Serve either cold or at room temperature.

Fake sausages anyone?

I have been harboring this idea of making fake sausages for sometime now and finally, I acted upon it and made them. I hear you asking, fake what??? Is that even possible?? Well, yes, my friend, it is and on experimenting, I realized it was. The idea of mixing egg whites with some dill and beets was on my mind for quite some time; and so I did just that. Then put the mixture in a small cling-wrap square, gathered the edges up to make a small pouch and poached it in hot water. A few minutes in there and the mixture set and an almost-elongated shape was formed. After cooling it for sometime, I peeled the wrap away and then just like that 'faux sausages' was born! A quick fumbling in the fridge revealed spinach, tofu and some onions...and a quick sauteing of all these with the 'sausages' resulted in; if I may say so myself; a really pleasant dish.

Burp to my new and first post!

Necessity is the mother of invention—or so they say! Only, in my case, it's the father of invention. (And you'll see why, later.) Well, I didn't invent anything. Just an enormous appetite for food and an equally enormous passion for making it! I love eating and even more than that, I love cooking. This passion really didn't start until I turned 22. Being the youngest in a family of five, and from a family where my mom governed the rotisserie and the refrigerator, I had never cooked anything! Nay! Not even a cup of tea! But all that changed when all my sisters left the nest to warm their own hearths and I was the only one left behind.

My dear mother made wonderful meals every day. My father and I would lick our fingers and savor every morsel on our plates. So everything was fine in the world of my stomach, until one day, my mom decided to fly to Texas to help my sister deliver her first child. She handed me her apron; apprehesively and with a look that had more sympathy (for my dad) than assurance. Dinner the first day sans mom was scrambled eggs and toast. The next day, it was scrambled eggs, toast and ketchup. The third day...! Well, you get the point! It was as if the chickens were laying their eggs just for us! Then one day my dad decided to make some real food. My scrambled eggs had motivated him enough I guess! From that day onwards; and under my father's Gordon Ramsay-like-tutelage; I began my culinary training. I became his sous-chef, chopping onions into perfect little cubes, the garlic into perfect slices, the okra into pretty flower-rounds and so on. It seemed intense then, but all this training left me addicted to the dramatics and science of cooking. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know. My dear father had successfully instilled the likeness for everything culinary into me! This food fascination came with me as part of my trousseau when I got married and moved to US.

What started as a simmer in India, became a full-boiled fancy in America. While I was waiting for my work permit to arrive, (I was a Green card holder then) I would sit in front of the TV and watch the then-new Food TV Network. As was typically required of an Indian bride; I would spend my afternoons event-planning our evening dinners! First, I cooked only the things that my husband liked. Then, came the things that I craved for. Then came the experiments...The afternoons were spent perspiring in front of the stove, while the evenings were spent waiting in anticipation for my best critic, my husband, Vineet, to come home and judge them. For the most part, he liked what he ate, and if he didn't, he would simply say, "Let's not make this again, please!"! Hundred and one recipes later, I became brave enough to work with the likes of asparagus, broccoli and avocado—ingredients, I had never even seen before in my country.

If you are what you eat; then I am a foodie. A self-proclaimed foodie, and a culinary coach since past 2 years. Just as I love adding visuals and colors to the pages of a magazine as a graphic designer, I also love painting a plate with my culinary creations and teaching the finer nuances of Indian food to my students.

Now, if only my passion for both designing and cooking would culminate into a cookbook! Then, I'd say 'burp' to that!