Tag: nuts

Tofu, egg and sprouts Salad with Peanut sauce

main meal

( Tofu ,beansprouts and egg salad with peanut sauce)

ALSO KNOWN AS TAHU TELOR .

This delicious dish can be called a cousin to the famous gado gado salad of Indonesia. Easy to make and assemble.
Having lived in Indonesia since 35 years, my taste buds have got used to the delicious food available here except for tofu or tahu as its known here. For me given a choice between tofu and paneer, paneer wins hands down anyday. But on the other hand, tofu and tempe are staples in the Indonesian diet, and a good source of protein . Both tofu and tempe are also present at afternoon meals in our home too. Fried, sauted, steamed..any which way. So, i have learnt to befriend tofu in some dishes.
Growing up in India, we did not really know much about tofu, even with the advent of chinese restaurants, which started mushrooming all over India during the 1970’s., tofu was not part of thier menu. Chinese food was of course egg fried rice, hakka noodles and veg manchurian😊. The awesome chindian food, especially catering to the Indian Palette. Frankly speaking, I still love that particular chindian food which i definetely make it a point to have when in Pune. The spring rolls at chinese room are my favourite. Tofu is now easily available in India, and many people have replaced paneer with tofu in the new fad vegan diets.
So on to today’s recipe..pls do try it.
Best eaten with warm sauce.


Ingredients.
Tofu/ paneer 300 gms cut into small cubes.
3 eggs
100 gms fried peanuts with skin or without
Plus 4 tbsps fried peanuts.
100 gms beansprouts, blanched.
4 tbsps chopped celery
4 tbsps finely chopped spring onions
4 kaffir lime leaves ( middle stock removed)
1 big cucumber slit and chopped in semi circles.
4 tbsps fried onion
1/2 tsp white pepper
Salt to taste
Veg stock powder, or msg 1/4 tsp
3 bird chillies, 3 red chillies
3 pods of garlic
30 gms palm sugar( I have boiled the palm sugar with little water , and strained to get rid of impurities.)
3 tbsps tamarind pulp

Method
1. Saute the red chillies, bird eye chillies and garlic in 2 tbsps oil.
2. In a mixer jar, add fried peanuts, chillies and garlic. Add salt, pepper and veg stock powder., the kaffir lime leaves. Add some water and blend to a thick paste.
3. Heat 2 or 3 tbsps oil, and put the peanut paste. Saute for a while, and add palm sugar and tamarind water. Also add about one cup water and let it cook till oil starts seperating.
Keep aside.
4. Now beat 3 eggs, season with salt and pepper.
Add tofu cubes to the eggs and mix.
Heat 1 tbsps of oil in a wok, slide in a laddle of the egg and tofu mixture., you can do it it in batches.( I got about 8 small omelettes)
Stir for a bit and let semi set. After a while flip it over.
Slide onto a serving platter.
Top with cucumber, beansprouts, peanut sauce, celery leaves,spring onions, fried onions and some fried peanuts.
Serve warm. Enjoy.

      Jhatpat cabbage sabji

      main meal

      One of the most humble and quick cooking vegetable. Cabbage can also be used raw in salads like coleslaw where purple and white cabbage leaves are mixed with mayonaise and carrots…served cold this is an amazing summer salad. Todays recipe is an amazingly quick sabji, have this with phulkas, and a raita. Based on gujrati cooking, I have added crushed peanuts for added crunch, and besan to absorb the water let out when our cabbage is cooking.

      Growing up in Pune, I remember my mom making cabbage in sindhi style, which she always served with pan fried boiled eggs. Then it was not my favourite vegetable. I started loving this humble vegetable after I ate coleslaw at a restaurant, when it was served as a side dish with burgers.

      Years later, it has found a niche in my kitchen where it is used in stir fries, soups and yes in my Indian cooking also. True to my love of regional indian cooking, this recipe has a permanant place in my cook book. Do try it.

      Ingredients

      200 gms finely sliced cabbage

      1 finely sliced green paprika

      1 boiled, peeled and cubed potato

      1 tbsp besan, ( chick pea flour)

      1 tsp sugar

      1 tsp cumin seeds

      1 tsp mustard seeds

      1/4 tsp hing

      1 tsp chopped garlic

      1 tbsp lime juice

      2 tbsps mustard oil

      Salt to taste

      1/2 tsp turmeric powder

      1/2 tsp red chilli powder

      2 tbsps roasted and coarsely crushed peanuts

      1 tsp kitchen king or pao bhaji masala

      1 sprig curry leaves

      Chopped corriander leaves.

      Method

      Heat oil and add mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

      Next add hing, curry leaves and garlic.

      Saute well

      Add the cabbage, paprika and saute for a minute.

      Add the boiled potato, sugar, lime juice, salt, turmeric, red chilli powder, pao bhaji masala and stir till cabbage lets out water and becomes limp…about 5 mins. Now add the besan and stir.

      Lastly mix in peanuts and chopped corriander leaves.

      Serve piping hot with chappatis/ phulkas and a raita.

      Beetroot Halwa

      dessert

      Awesome rainy weather calls for food which is rich, sweet and hot. Watching the rains pitter pattering from the comfort of our home gives all of us a warm comfortable feeling, of course childhood days of running around in the rains, deliberately jumping into puddles of rain water just for the fun of it are treasured and fun filled memories.

      Foods which are energy giving are of course preferred during winters and monsoons, which brings us to the recipe I will be sharing today with you, beetroot halwa. This dish was never cooked at home maybe because mummy normally stuck to sindhi cuisine, of which she was master chef. But beetroot was definitely served in the form of salad, be it the simple garden salad which consisted of boiled beet cut into circles, topped with grated carrot, sliced red onion and dressed with salt, pepper and a squirt of lime juice and garnished with freshly cut corriander leaves, or in a boiled vegetable salad tossed with homemade mayonnaise, to which it imparted a lovely pink colour. Those were the basic salads which were served at home while we were kids, simplicity being the norm in the good old days. The other form of beetroot which I personally love to this day , is the beetroot cutlet served at the Priya restaurant , main street.. Pune. No visit to Pune is complete without me eating this wholesome cutlet, still served exactly the same way it was served in the early seventies, deep fried crispy goodness enclosing a soft sticky beetroot mixture, slightly sweet, topped with shredded lettuce leaves, and sweet tomato sauce and spicy green chutney, the balance of flavours is amazing.This amazing root is full of vitamins and is a super healthy vegetable, advised by doctors to consume on a regular basis,

      20160722_122300

      especially for those who are anemic Back to the recipe of beetroot halwa, I came across this simple recipe while browsing the net , changed it to my liking, made it and loved it. It is unbelievably simple to make. Best had chilled, and in small servings. Do try this delicious recipe .

      Beetroot Halwa

      Ingredients

      250 gms peeled and grated beetroot

      1 cup milk

      2 tbsps ghee

      3 tbsps sugar or to taste

      2 tbsps condensed milk

      1/4 cup of coarsely chopped nuts( cashew nuts, almonds and some pistas)

      extra nuts finely chopped for garnish

      1 tsp poppy seeds for garnish

      1/2 tsp cardamon powder

      Method

      1.. Heat one tbsp of ghee in a non stick pan and add grated beetroot.

      2.. Saute till moisture starts evaporating and ghee separates from the beet.

      3.. Add the milk and cook on a medium flame till it reduces and thickens.

      4.. Add sugar at this point and the condensed milk, stir frequently till the liquid reduces totally, and the halwa starts leaving the sides of the pan..

      5.. In a separate pan, heat one tbsp of ghee and add the coarsely chopped nuts and saute till light golden brown. Add the nuts along with the ghee to the halwa. mix well and add the cardamon powder.

      6.. Halwa ready to be served .

      7.. Dust with the finely chopped nuts and poppy seeds.