Sweet potato buns and Minestrone soup

This months tried and tested event features vegi inspiration. I had a few recipes I had book marked and I decided this was a good time to try these. I picked two of her recipe to make a light dinner. The first one is Sweet potato buns. This was a simple and a healthy bun to prepare. Made very few changs to the original recipe.

Ingredeints:
- 3/4 cup oat flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour ( atta)
- 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
- 1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 cup mashed cooked, mashed sweet potato
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- red chili flakes to taste
- 2 tbsp oil
- ground cumin and whole pepper, flax seed

Method:
1. Mix the oat and wheat flour with salt.
2. Add the ground cumin, black pepper and flax powder. Mix in your crushed red chili flakes with salt and brown sugar.
3. Now add the salt, and yeast (as I am using bread machine yeast I typically skip the proofing part). Add the sweet potato and now kneed the dough with required water until you get a soft and a pliable dough. I kneeded mine for 10 minutes.
4. Add 11/2 tbsp of olive oil and kneed it more until the dough absorves all the oil. Coat this soft dough with more oil and keep in a clean bowl that is twice the size of the dough.
5. Keep this in a dry place and let it rise for an hour or so. It should double its original size.
6. Now take the dough and seperate them to small balls. The size depends on how big you want your bread to be. Now line these dough balls in a greasd baking sheet. Let it raise for another hour.
7.Meanwhile preheat your oven to a 375 degree. Bake these buns for 20 minutes. Adjust temp to suit your oven.

Serve them hot with a soup which is exactly what I did. I made a minestrone soup to go with these delicious bread which was another recipe from veg inspiration. Here is a link to the original recipe. I had the day to myself and I was planing this soup for dinner. So I used a cast iron pot and simmered it all day. When I served it at night it was very flavorful and the vegi's had become very tender.



Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup white beans (I used lima beans) cooked
- 1 cup dried pasta ( I used shell pasta)
- 1 medium yellow onions
- 2 medium carrots chopped
- 2 stalks of celery chopped
- 3 very large tomatoes
- 1 tsp each of dried basil and oregeno
- 1 tsp red chili flakes
- 1 tsp of black pepper
- 1 tbsp of sun dried tomatoes (I used the one soaked in oil)
- 3 tbsp of tomato paste (I used this because I did not have vegetable stock)
- 1 tbsp oil
- salt to taste

Method:
1. In a large cast iron pot add oil and saute your onions. Once they become translucent add the carrots and celeray.
2. Cook them for a couple of minutes. Now add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and 2 - 3 cups of water, salt and let it simmer. I let this go at a low flame for an hour.
3. Now add your sun dried tomatoes, and all the spices. Add more water if needed. Mix in your boiled beans.
4. If you have time then I suggest you keep the cast iron pot in a low heat and let it cook through out the day. Otherwise try to use a vegetable broth. In spite of not using vegetable stock cooking it in a low flame just made the soup very flavorful.
5. About half an hour befoe serving add the uncooked pasta and cook till the pasta becomes aldente.

Garnish with parsley and serve hot with a som bread or bun. This was a real easy and healthy dinner.

Sending this to Tried and tested hosted by the taste space – steam, bake, boil, shake!

Sprouted Wheat berry salad

Did you know you can sprout wheat berries? Wheat berries are whole wheat kernels which have had their husks removed. They are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and to me sprouting them could only make them better. I made a salad with these sprouts. I did not cook these berries so they were a little chewy. The common way to use this berry is to boil them for an hour. I took the alternate route of sprouting them.

Ingredients:
- 1 cup sprouted wheat berries
- 1/2 cup nuts _ I used a combination of pecans and walnuts
- 2 stalks of celery chopped
- 1 green onion chopped
- 1/2 cup craisins
- 1/2 cup cilantro - Keep 2 tbsp aside
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (Add more if you would like this tart)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- black pepper and salt to taste

Method:
1. In a small bowl whisk the olive oil, pepper, salt and lemon juice to make a salad dressing.
2. In a bowl toss all the ingredients except the nuts and the 2 tbsp of cilantro. Mix in the salad deressing. Refrigerate this for an hour.
3. Before serving toss in the nuts and garnish it with the remaining cilantro.

Serve it chilled with a hot soup and bread. Perfect for a hot day.

Massor Dhal with Methi Sprouts

I am suddenly becoming a big fan of sprouting. It is such a easy and simple thing to do and in all my research it seems to be one of the best ways to consume these grains. Typically I soak the grain overnight. I drain and wash the soaked grain few times. I then keep these soaked grains in a strainer covered with a moist paper towel, with a vessel beneath to catch any excess water. I keep this in a dark place and the grains start to sprout overnight. Now once they sprout I store them in a airtight container in my fridge. Now I have sprouted grains to use throughout the week for my cooking.

So recently I sprouted a bunch of Methi seeds. They sprout very well and once you sprout them they tend to loose their bitter taste. I made a simple dhal using these methi sprouts

Ingredients:
- 1 cup massor dhal
- 1/2 cup toor dhal
- 2 tomatoes chopped finely
- 2 tbsp sprouted Methi. If the Methi is not sprouted then you might want to use 1/4 tsp
- 1 tsp jeera
- 1 green chili slited
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp oil

Method:
1. Soak your dhal for atleast an hour. Microwave it for 10 minutes removing it frequently in between and giving it a stir.
2. In a seperate tawa add oil and jeera. Once it starts to splutter add the chopped chili and tomatoes. Cook until this turns to a mushy consistency. Add salt.
3. Add the sprouted Methi seeds and cook for a minute. Add this to your cooked dhal and microwave it again for 4 minutes. If you feel it is a little dry add 1/4th cup of water.

Serve it hot with roti or rice. With the addition of Methi seeds this becomes one healthy dish.

This one finds its way to Think -Spice - Think Fenugreek hosted by Priya Mitharwal and originally started by Sunitha.
I am also sending this to Priya's Easy N Tasty - Let's sprout event.

Our First Award

We are so thrilled to recieve this first award from Priya(Yallapantula) Mitharwal of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes. Thank you so much for the award and all the wonderful comments. We are grateful and honored to receive this award.

Now seven things about us -
1. We both never in our wildest dream thought about starting any kind of blog.  But now we are so lucky to have it grow in its own steady pace.
2. We love travelling to exotic places like (Alaska :-) although we never seem to get time to do this.
3. We have very different likes and dislikes in food but blogging has made us try various cuisine.
4. We chat for hours when we call each other.
5.  We love baking.
6.  We used to fight a lot for clothes when we were young. :-)
7. We both have kids about the same age so it is always fun to visit each other and cook and enjoy together.

I would like to pass on the award to 10 fellow bloggers

1. Satya
2. Usha
3. Srivalli
4. Madhuram
5. Sangeejeeta
6. Mahima
7. Srividhya
8. Kitchen Queen
9. Jagruti
10. Sanyukta

Milagu Kulambu

We make different type of kulambu as a side dish for rice. We make Vetha kulambu atleast once a week. This weekend in our local Tamil Channel I saw a program called Aaha Enna Rusi,a cookery show . In that they showed how to make a spicy milagu kulambu.  It is a very simple recipe. This recipe needs lots of oil, so don't skimp on the oil. The original recipe had some onions and garlic. I skipped those and made it plain. Try this out if you really love spicy dish. The milagu kulambu with hot rice and parrupu thogayal is a perfect combination.

Ingredients

- 10 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp Mustard
- 1 tbsp Channa dhal
- 1/2 tbsp Uradh dhal
- 1/4 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 1 tbsp Pepper
- 10 curry leaves
-  2-3 Red chillie
- 1 tbsp Red chillie powder
- 1 tbsp Pepper powder
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric
- 1 Big Lemon Size Tamarind (Soak in hot water)

 Method

1. Heat oil in a frying pan. Once its hot add mustard seeds, chana dhal, uradh dhal, fenugreek seeds, pepper and red chillie
2 Once it splutters add the curry leaves.
3. Take the tamarind extract. Add it to the frying pan. Now add in red chillie powder, turmeric, pepper powder
3. Let this mixture boil for 15- 20 min or until the kulambu becomes thick. Turn off heat

Serve it with hot rice

This one finds its way to Think -Spice - Think Fenugreek hosted by Priya Mitharwal and originally started by Sunitha.

Misal

I first tasted Misal when I went to dinner to my cousin's house.  I have never tasted Misal before and I really loved this dish. I wanted to try it out for a long time but never got to cook it. After making my sprouts pulav, I had some sprouted moth beans left. I was tempted to make this dish with that. So I researched the internet and found lot of good recipes. Finally I came up with my own simple recipe. This is not the traditional way of doing Misal but we all still loved the dish. It was a wholesome and delicious food. This is also a very healthy dish.

Kolhapuri Masala Ingredients

- 11/2 tbsp Coriander seeds
- 1 tbsp Jeera
- 1 tsp Sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
-  4-5 Cloves
- 1/2 inch Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Fennel seeds

1. Dry fry the above spices in a pan. Once the spices turn brown remove from heat
2. Cool it down and grind the spices to a fine powder


Misal Ingredients

- 2 onions
- 1/2 cup coriander
- 1/4 cup frozen coconut
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 handful peanut
- 3 cup sprouts
- 5-6 potato
- 1 -2 tbps Jaggery/ Brown sugar
- 1 tsp tamarind paste

For Tempering

- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp hing
-  2 tsp oil

1. Pressure cook the sprouts moth beans and potato.
2. In a pan add a tsp of oil. Add onion, garlic cloves and fry until the onions turns  brown.
3. Add coconut and coriander and fry for few minutes
4. Once it cools down grind this mixture in the blender to a smooth paste.
5. Add oil to the pan and once its hot add mustard,cumin,hing. Once it splutters add peanuts and fry until the peanuts becomes brown. 
6. Add the paste to the pan and fry it for few minutes until the oil separates from the paste. Add the Kolhapuri masala, red chillie powder and salt.
7. Now add the cooked sprouts and potato mixture. You can add water if the gravy is thick. Let it simmer in heat for 10 -15 min
8. Mix in tamarind paste and jaggery and simmer for few more minutes. 

To Serve

Take a bowl and add misal. Drizzle yogurt on top of it. Add chopped onion,tomato and farsan/sev/bhel mix/crushed potato chips and serve it with pav or white bread.

I am sending this to Priya's Easy N Tasty - Let's sprout event.

Watermelon and cherry juice

The last few days have been HOT. So I am trying to come up with juices and cold salads to make the heat bearable. We had quite a lot of cherries and a huge watermelon sitting in our counter top. I ended up creating this for our mid day snack. It was simple to put together and was quite refreshing.

Ingredients:
- 5 cups of watermelon
- 30 cherries pitted (Keep a few aside for garnish)
- 1 inch ginger
- juice of 1 lemon (adjust to taste)
- 1 tbsp mint leaves chopped (Optional)


Method:
Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend them until they become smooth. Strain it if you want it like a juice but if you like it pulpy you can skip that step. As my watermelon was very sweet I did not have to add additional sugar.

Serve it chilled.