Veggie Sandwich

I wanted to post this a long time back but whenever I make these sandwiches they disappear before I can reach for my camera. Today was my lucky day, I was back with my camera before they were gone:)

If you want to be creative this is the recipe for you.. the choice of vegetables is immense, really, sky is the limit. I throw in whatever vegetables are in my fridge. Some of my favorites are shredded carrots, slices of beets, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, avocados, olives, lettuce, and more. It takes roughly about 5 mins to put together and you have a meal ready! Its a personal favorite on days when I am back from work tired and in no mood to cook anything elaborate.

Ingredients:
2 tsp Mint-Cilantro chutney or Coconut Chutney
2 tbsp Shredded cheese any kind will do (I prefer Mozzarella)
1 tsp Butter
Veggies of your choice either sliced or julienned. This time I had:
2 slices each of - tomato, avocado, boiled potato
Julienned- Onion and Bell Pepper
Salt and Pepper as per taste

Method:
1. Spread butter on one side of both the slices and on medium heat let them become a golden brown. Repeat on the other side.
2. Spread chutney on one side of both the slices
3. Take one slice, with chutney side up add shredded cheese and then assemble all the veggies on it.
4. Put a dash of salt and pepper
5. Place the other slice on top.

Go for it :)

Rajma Masala

It was when I was with my parents and my brother vacationing in Shimla, I was about 10. I still remember the day, it was pouring, all of us were soaking wet and we were famished. It was the time when there was no GPS or google maps to help us with directions, we had managed to locate our hotel through all the rain and heavy winds. Once we got there my dad ordered food from the hotel kitchen menu. We had dried ourselves and changed into something warm and in about half an hour there were hot rotis and rajma masala waiting for us in our room. I remember wiping the bowl clean with my last piece of roti and it was probably the best rajma I would ever have.
The recipe that I am sharing today is probably as close as it gets to the one I had in Shimla. Quite recently I discovered the secret to good rajma masala is LOTS of onions and tomatoes, sauteed well to make a thick gravy base.

Ingredients:
1 can Rajma beans(Red Kidney beans) washed and drained
1 Large Onion chopped roughly
3 Large fully ripe Juicy Tomatoes chopped
1 Bell pepper chopped finely
2 Tbsp Rajma masala powder or Garam masala powder
1 tsp red chili powder or as per taste
Salt as per taste.


Method:
1. Heat oil in a pan on med-high heat.
2. Sautee Onions followed by bell pepper and tomatoes(take your time on this one, its better you do not cut your time on this one). Let all the veggies cook through.
3. Add Rajma powder and red chili powder, stir. Let it sit on the heat for a couple of minutes
4. Add Rajma beans and stir in some salt.
5. Cover and cook on medium for about 10 mins before you turn off the heat.
If you like more gravy add a little water before step5.

Serve with Rice or Rotis.

Sabudana Wada

Sabudana wada is a popular dish in Maharashtra usually made during fasting days. Its sago, potatoes and spices mixed together and then deep fried into golden dumplings.

Ingredients:
1 cup Sabudana (aka sago) soaked in water for 2 hours
1/2 cup roasted crushed peanuts
3 medium potatoes boiled and cubed
2 sprigs mint finely chopped
2 sprigs cilantro finely copped
3 green chilies
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt as per taste
Oil for frying


Method:
1. Drain the sago and mix it with the rest of the ingredients except oil. Make round ping pong sized balls and flatten them in your palm.
2. Heat oil in a deep pan and fry them in groups of 2-3 until they are golden brown on both sides.

Serve with chutney or hot sauce like I do :)

Green Coconut Chutney

Back in India, Mom would make Idli or Dosa on Sundays for breakfast and serve it with coconut chutney. There are 3 variations of coconut chutneys and they come in 3 different colors- white, green and red. Today I am sharing the green version.

Ingredients:
1 cup Shredded coconut
3 green chilies
2 sprigs of mint
2 sprigs of cilantro
1/4 tsp Tamarind powder or Lemon juice
Salt as per taste


Method:
Grind all the ingredients together. Can be served with Dosa, Idli, vadas.

Banana-Berry Smoothie

One of my favorite smoothies is right from my kitchen. It takes about 2 minutes to make and I prefer it over any smoothie we get in Robek's, Jamba Juice or any of the myriad smoothie stores. Plus its very easy on your wallet and you get to control the calories. This juice has no added sugar and uses 2% fat milk.

Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas- make sure they are ripe, because ripe bananas are generally sweeter and they give a thicker consistency to the smoothie
8-10 frozen Black Berries (I usually have strawberries, raspberries and blackberries stocked in my freezer just for smoothies, any of these would do)
1/2 cup cold milk
1/4 cup water or some ice

Method:
Blend all the ingredients together until you dont see any chunks of bananas or berries. Serve cold!

Bollywood Batata Bowl

Boiled potatoes spruced up with spicy cilantro-mint chutney, sweet-sour tamarind chutney and Sev, served in a papad bowl. I picked this recipe from Marlena Spieler's 'Yummy Potatoes'. I have a few recipes bookmarked from the 65 potato recipes it carries.
Making bowls from papads is new to me but it turned out fairly easy. You fry a papad, immediately transfer in a deep bowl when its still tender and press it gently into the bowl, so that it takes the bowl's shape. It couldn't get any simpler!


Ingredients for Batata Bowl:
4-5 medium sized potatoes, boiled and then cubed into small bite sizes pieces.
1 cup Sev
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 green chili finely chopped.


Assemble the bowl:
Start with putting potatoes in the papad bowl, next add a tbsp of chopped onions and a little chopped chilies. Pour mint-cilantro chutney on one side and sweet-sour tamarind chutney on the other. Sprinkle sev on top. Repeat with rest of the bowls.

Tamarind Chutney

Tamarind chutney is a thick sweet and sour chutney usually used as a dip or topped on chaats for a tangy taste. It gets its sweetness from Dates and sugar, sourness from tamarind and lemon juice. I took this recipe from Marlena Spieler's 'Yummy Potatoes', pretty much followed the recipe as is. I have not dared make this chutney before because all the recipes I have come across called for soaking or boiling for long hours. This recipe beats them all because I got it ready in less than 10 mins!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp Tamarind paste or powder. If using fresh tamarind, remove seeds and then soak in hot water for about 20 mins.
5 seedless dates. I had the wet kind we get in Costco.
2 tsp Cumin seeds
1 cup water
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

Method:
Boil all the ingredients together for 5 mins. After it cools down grind it to a fine paste.