Courgette/Zucchini Kootu (Zucchini Lentil Stew)

Courgette/Zucchini Kootu (Zucchini Lentil Stew)
Courgette is suppose to belong to the squash family. It is usually hard to come by vegetables from the squash family that I was used to at home. Especially chayote squash (bangalore kathrikai in tamil) as mom used to make kootu with it quite often. Although I do buy courgette every now and then mainly so that I can grate it and include it my wee ones vegetable mix and use it is pasta dishes, I had not really tried any Indian dish with it. This kootu was pretty much the first attempt and the result was good as my husband liked it and my wee one was happy to bite into the courgettes as well. This is sort of how mom used to make kootu...

1-2 courgettes, cubed
1 onion finely chopped
½ teaspoon ginger garlic paste
½ cup mung dal
¼ cup channa dal
Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Cooking oil

For the masala paste:
1 teaspoon roasted cumin seeds
2 tablespoons grated coconut or dessicated coconut
2 green chillies
2 dry red chillies, roasted
For tadka:
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
Asafoetida

Grind together the masala paste adding required amount of water

Heat some oil in a skillet and add cumin seeds. Once it crackles, add curry leaves, asafoetida, ginger garlic paste, onions and courgettes. Cook until courgettes become soft. You could add a bit water so the food does not burn

In the meantime cook the mung dal and channa dal together in a pressure cooker

Add the masala paste, some water and the cooked dals

Bring to boil and simmer for few minutes adding required amount of salt

Garnish with some coriander leaves and serve with rotis or rice

I was preparing this to eat with rotis but if it was for a south Indian meal I may have skipped the onions and the ginger garlic paste. Just reduce the amount of chillies to make this a great toddler/baby food as the veggies and dal are very good for them as well.

Onion Garlic Rice

Onion Garlic Rice


There have been a good few occasions when I have spent a lot of time just making a variety of side dish and run out of time and energy to make a nice rice dish. Although a simple pulav may not take much time I somehow don’t feel very enthusiastic about putting the same vegetables I put in the side dish. I wanted a fool proof rice recipe that is quick and awesome and bingo, this is the one. It can be made in minutes and can be enjoyed with a variety of side dishes loaded with vegetables. My husband absolutely loved this rice and it made me feel great as it is such an effortless recipe. This one I am sure will appear on our table very often. Reading the recipe, you may think it is way too simple for it to taste good but you got to trust me on this one. Here is my way of making this…

1 cup rice, cooked and fluffed
1 bunch salad/spring onions, chopped (both green and white part)
6-8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Cooking oil
Salt to taste

Heat about a tablespoon oil in a wok and add the minced garlic and allow it to brown slightly and add the spring onions and cook until all raw smell goes off and the onion looks wilted and soft

Add the rice and required salt, mix and serve

I tried this recipe with Jumbo spring onion as well but it was not as good as normal ones. You could also cook the rice, refrigerate it for a while and then add to the garlic and onions as this was the grains remain separate.

Rolly Polly Cookie (Rugelach based Jam Cookie)

Rolly Polly Cookie (Rugelach based Jam Cookie)
If and when I manage to get some time I try to watch Ina Garten’s cookery show on the TV. I have watched a few shows but never quite tried any of her recipes. One of the reasons was most of the main courses was non-vegetarian and the desserts usually needed a high tech mixer or good few eggs and not to mention a lot of fat. One recipe sounded really interesting and also had no eggs so I thought I will give it a try. It is called rugelach and it is suppose to be a Jewish recipe. It involves making a dough with cream cheese, flour and butter. For some reason, it did not hold its shape and the jam filling in it came out. I still tasted it and it was heavenly! How deceiving appearance could be! Despite thinking it looked awful my husband liked the taste as well. That is all well but this is not quite rugelach recipe. The thing is I had bought a bottle of apricot jam and had to finish it off so I tried a similar recipe from an Indian book. The recipe said the biscuits should be cut to individual pieces after baking. I wanted to see what happens if they were precut and suggest just stick to cutting later. I must say that this is not like a regular biscuit and it is more a cookie that can be served as a dessert like a pie. It does not matter when you serve but you just got to try this when you decide it is ok to indulge occasionally. The final texture is pastry with a nice flaky crispness. Here is the recipe adapted from the book...

150gm flour
70 g butter,softened
30 g sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
4 tablespoon jam (I used apricot jam but you could use any you like)
Flour for dusting
2-3 tablespoons milk

Sift the flour baking powder, salt together and add the butter and mix with finger tips and add sugar, mix and add required milk to make a tight dough like poori dough. Do not knead too much. Wrap in a cling film and refrigerate for atleast 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into two portions and roll each into a disc about 3-5 mm thick using some flour for dusting. Remember you should not roll like chappatti where you apply pressure when moving rolling pin towards nd away from you. Apply pressure only one way and if it breaks, just use your hand to correct it.

Spread jam evenly over it and roll it like a mat. Bake at 180degC for 15 minutes.

Once baked, cut into desired size pieces when it is hot (ignore the precut pieces in above pic).

Serve!

 
Next time I hope to put some chopped nuts along with the jam making it closer to a rugelach