Tomato Rice / Takkali Saatham

Here is a quick, spicy and tasty comfort dish!



Prep time - less than 5 mins
Cooking time - 15 mins

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 1.5 cups
Tomatoes - 3 medium sized, chopped
Onion - 1/2 of medium sized, chopped
Ginger - 1.5 tsp, finely chopped
Cilantro - 4 sprigs, finely chopped
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp or as per taste
Green chillies - 2, chopped [ or as per taste ]
Oil - 1 tbsp

Seasoning :

Whole dry red chilli - 2, broken into 2 pieces
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts - 7-8, broken pieces
Curry leaves - 4 to 5 leaves
Asafoetida - 1/8 tsp

Procedure :

In a large sized pan ( on medium heat ) heat oil. Once hot, add in mustard seeds, once they splutter add cumin seeds and as they sizzle add in red chillies, chana dal and urad dal and stir till the dals turn golden in color. Then add cashew nut pieces, ginger, asafoetida and curry leaves. Stir for few seconds and add in the onions and stir again till the onions turn transparent. Add in the green chillies, red chilli powder and tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes turn real mushy and soft. [ Since we are adding whole dried red chillies, green chillies and red chilli powder, be carefull of how much of each you add. You want it spicy but not too hot!]

Once the tomatoes are mushy add garam masala [ optional ] and turn the heat to low and slowly add the fluffed up rice and salt. Mix nicely. Add  cilantro and mix again. Serve warm with raita and papad.

Greek Salad

D prefers the Greek salad over Ceasers salad mainly due to its rich taste from feta cheese, kalamata olives, grape tomato and ofcourse the awesome but easy to make salad dressing.

Prep time - 10 mins

Ingredients :

Veggies :

Romaine lettuce - 1/2 bunch, torn into small pieces

Cucumbers - 1, medium, sliced along with the skin

Cherry tomatoes - 15 nos

Kalamata olives - 10 nos, pitted

Green bell pepper - 1 medium ,thinly sliced

White onion - 1 medium, sliced [ I did not add this time ]

Feta cheese - 1/4 cup, crumbled

For the dressing :

Extra virgin olive oil - 1 tbsp

Lime juice - 2 tbsp

Oregano - 1 tsp

Salt - as per taste

Gound pepper - 1 tsp or as per taste.

Procedure :

Mix all the contents under the " for the dressing " section in a small bowl. Keep it aside.

Wash all the veggies properly and in a big bowl mix all the veggies and feta cheese. Pour the salad dressing over the veggies and toss the salad.

Serve the greek salad with a pita bread!

Eggless Dates and Walnut Cake

Today Nov 7th is my father in law's birthday and we are celebrating this special occasion with an eggless dates and walnuts cake. Happy birthday Boppi - from D and me. Thank you for all the loving things that you have done for us!

Though I have made this cake before, the cake turned out real soft this time.I think it mainly happend because :

1. I just used baking soda this time [ last time I added both baking soda and baking powder ].
2. I soaked the dates in milk for an hour. [ I am not sure if this really helped in making the cake soft].

Unlike before I did not add vinegar to this cake.[ Though I was contemplating about adding a tbsp of apple cider vinegar I chose to go ahead without it]. The cake raised close to one and half inches which made it look real sof and fluffy.

Inactive prep time - 30 mins
Active prep time - 10 mins
Baking time - 30 - 40 mins

Ingredients :

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Dates - 12 ( or upto 18 nos depending on your taste )
Milk - 1 cup
Melted butter - 1/4 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/8 tsp
Walnuts - 2 tbsp, broken

Procedure :

Soak the dates in milk half an hour prior to baking [ If in hurry soak the dates in warm milk for 15 mins. You can completely avoid this step, soaking helps in softening the dates which in turn gets grounded easily in a blender].

Preheat the oven at 350 F and grease a baking pan.

In a big bowl mix all purpose flour, baking soda and salt properly.

In another bowl keep the melted butter ready. Blend together dates, milk and sugar to a smooth paste. Pour and mix this mixture with the butter and mix till you get a homogenous mixture.

Make a small well in the centre of all purpose flour and slowly pour in the dates mixture . Mix properly without any lumps. [ Do not use a hand mixer, just stir everything with a large spoon. Over mixing an eggless batter will cause the cake to deflate after it is baked ].

Add in the broken walnuts and give the batter a final mix. Pour the batter in the baking pan and bake for 30 - 40 mins or till tooth pick inserted comes out clean. The color of the cake depends on the dates used.

Happy Birthday to my Father in law!!!

Ummali - An Egyptian Pudding

Today (Nov 1st) is my SIL’s first wedding anniversary! We would like to wish M and K both on this special day, and hope they have a great day and many more such wonderful years ahead. To celebrate this occasion I made a middle-eastern pastry dish known as ummali and would like to dedicate this to a long lasting relationship filled with love and companionship.

Out of the wide range of Middle Eastern desserts, I zoned in on three – Basbousa, Ummali and Baklava. I chose to make Ummali, mainly for the exotic, coconutty-crunchy-chewy and nutfilled flavor in a mix of baked pastry sheets. It loosely resembles a bread pudding, but is not very sweet and hence we can have it in large serving sizes.

This dish is also popularly known as umali or omali.

Prep time: 10 mins
Total baking time: 30 – 45 mins

Ingredients:

Phyllo pastry sheets – 8 ounces / 227 grams [store bought]
Almonds – 1/4 cup, chopped
Pistachios – 1/4 cup chopped
Raisins - 1/4 cup chopped
Dry coconut flakes – 4 tbsp [or as per taste]
Sweetened condensed milk - 7 ounces/ 198.5 grams
Milk – ¾ cup
Vanilla extract or rose water – 1 tsp [ I used vanilla extract ]

Procedure:

Preheat the oven at 350 F and slightly grease cookie tray with oil.

Line up all the pastry sheets (one over another) on the cookie tray and bake till the sheets puff up and turn golden in color. This should take approx 15 mins and make sure that the sheets don’t burn.

Once they turn golden brown, turn off the oven. Take out from the oven cool and break into pieces.

Grease your baking pan [the one in which you would serve] lightly. Place the pastry pieces into the pan and this would be the first layer.

In a small bowl mix almonds, pistachios, raisins and coconut properly. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the pastry pieces, thus forming the second layer.

Now, in a small bowl, mix condensed milk, milk and vanilla essence [or rose water] properly. Once mixed properly cook this mix on medium heat for 2-3 minutes stirring continuously. Once hot, pour this mix over the dry fruits evenly. 

Again preheat the oven at 350 F and place the pan in the oven and bake for 20 mins or till the layers become firm. Once the layers firm up, turn off the oven and set in broiler mode for 2-3 mins [or till the top layer becomes slightly brown]. Make sure that that the top layer does not get burnt. 

Ummali is a wholesome dessert by itself. You may also serve it with fruits or even ice cream !

Happy Wedding Anniversary!