Kaala channa and chaawal

Cooking tonight's dinner was a time consuming activity. My original plan was to order in a Lasagna from this place: . But they stopped making the vegetarian version as no one ever ordered it:(.. I guess I shouldn't have waited so long. So I moved to plan B. Which was to make some thing at home. I decided to make 'Kaala channa and chaawal' which roughly translates to Black chick peas in a gravy with rice. Some more information here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickpea

This one is a bit time consuming by my standards, so reserve a good half hour of cooking and stirring.

Ingredients:

For the channa/cblack chickpeas:
I used one pre-boiled can of kala channa ( visit that Turkish store again!). Remember to wash the brine off thoroughly!
4 cloves
1 cardamom sticks
2 or 3 cinnamons
1 or 2 bay leaves

Boil all of this in some water, while you make the gravy

For the gravy:
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped tomato
1 clove crushed garlic
similar amount of crushed ginger
2 green chillies chopped (use 1 if you like it less hot)


Spices ( and there's many this time!) for the gravy:
1 spoon whole cumin
1 spoon red chilli
1 spoon coriander powder
1 spoon cumin powder
1 spoon dry methi/fenugreek leaves crushed
1 spoon turmeric/haldi
1/2 spoon garam masala
Salt to taste

How to cook the gravy:
Heat some oil and add the whole cumin and wait for it to splutter.
Add the chopped onion and stir till the onion turns brown. Takes 5 minutes
Add the garlic, ginger and chopped green chilli
Stir, stir and stir for 2 minutes
Add the tomato and the rest of the spices
Stir, stir and stir for 10 minutes

Scoop out around 3 spoons of channa from the boiling pot with channa in it.
Mash it and add it to the gravy mix
Stir some more - 2 minutes
Add the rest of the channa and 1.5 cup of the water in which the channa was boiling.
Let it cook for 20 minutes

I am writing this while the channa is cooking. So I don't know what its like yet. But it smells good...

Serve hot white basmati rice, when done!

Apple, carrots and spinach juice

I think it's very hard to get spinach right. I like it a lot, but have realized, that I only like it when other people cook it. My favorite spinach dishes include Saag paneer which I eat quite regularly ( from this restaurant: http://www.guttafracalcutta.no/)since its right next to work. I WILL one day attempt to make it at home.. but today I decided to stick with something that could use the Spinach that I purchased and required no cooking at all.

1. Take some apples ( I used 4 red ones)
2. Take some carrots ( 4 small ones)
3. Two cups of washed spinach leaves

Run it in a juicer/blender. And drink immediately!

Going green: Methi Theplas

I went grocery shopping in Grønland* with my friends yesterday, and bought some really fresh methi ( Fenugreek leaves) and fresh spinach. It was totally out of character. I don't eat a lot of greens, but writing on the blog made me wanted to extend my boundaries ( i.e. no potato for once:) .

Besides, there are these two recipes I always wanted to try. Here's the first

Methi thepla with tomato chutney and yoghurt

Woke up this Saturday to a clean kitchen. It was such a good feeling that it made me want to eat healthier. So as mentioned, I had some methi...

Ingredients:

For the dough
1. 1 cup Fresh methi leaves, washed and chopped
2. 1 cup regular flour
3. half a cup gram flour
4. Some red chilli and salt
5. Some water
6. One spoon yoghurt ( optional) and chopped green chilli ( optional)

To cook:
Mix all the ingredients listed for the dough, and knead until the dough is ready.
Let it rest for 15 minutes.
Roll out ( like a pizza base), try to get it as round and skinny as you can.
Heat on a pan on both sides until brown and crisp.
Brush a little oil on both sides while its on the pan to make it a little crisp.


For the chutney
1. 1 clove Garlic chopped
2. A handful of coriander leaves chopped
3. 1 tomato chopped
4. half a white onion chopped
5. Some cumin, salt, coriander powder and chilli powder
6. some oil

To cook:
Add all ingredients in a pan on high flame and stir until it turns in to a sauce ( takes 5 minutes!)

PS: I didn't have any pickle, that's why the quick fix chutney.

I was very pleased that something green can taste this delicious! This will be on the menu again :)

Tuesday cakes and quesadillas

I am trying to cut down on eating sugar, so of-course just about everyone brought cake to work today. The cakes were good-bye cakes. Was a bit of a challenge to not eat too much of it, since I am normally the most excited in the office when this happens. And it's difficult to refuse a goodbye cake...

But anyway, I didn't make the cakes and don't want to get in to the good bye discussions. This is a recipe blog, so here's what cooked for dinner today.:)

Quesedillas with pan fried vegetables ( + salad and 3 dips)

1. Some vegetables - I used some green and red paprika,carrots, red onions, sweet corn, 1 clove garlic ( minced) and potato. I do not like broccoli or mushrooms, but they 'could' have been added as well
2. Whole wheat tortillas
3. Sliced cheddar cheese
4. Spices: whole cumin seeds, coriander powder, red chilli flakes, some salt

To cook:
1. Fry the vegetables in a little oil. ( Garlic and cumin first, then the rest). Fry until crisp, don't cook for too long.
2. Add a sliced cheese, and the some of the vegetable mix to the tortilla and fold in half
3. Heat on both sides for 30 seconds, until crisp

I had company for dinner today, so this also called for some salad and dips. Salad was pretty dull,. but the dips turned out quite well. It was also fun just sharing a meal :)

For dips:

Simple guacamole
1. Avacado
2. some lemon juice
3. a little garlic ( shredded)
4. finly chopped white onion
5. some salt

Mash together, and there you have it!

Picante ( not complete... didn't have cilantro, and didn't peel the tomato either but tasted just fine)
1. fine chopped tomoato
2. some lemon juice
3. some green chilli chopped
4. some finley chopped white onion
5. some salt

Mash together, and serve

I wish I had actually made more of these really. I went running after the meal, and am hungry again.. so looking for something else in the fridge now..

Comfort food on Monday

This is one of my favorite meals. Its simple and filling, and something my mom made for dinner just about every other day. It was accompanied by other stuff, but that would be too much work if it's just me eating it. Its called:

Potato and cauliflower wrap with a yogurt cucumber dip
(or well Alu gobhi and raita;)

And all you need is:

Ingredients
1. Half a cauliflower
2. One medium potato and some peas 
3. Some chopped onion and lemon ( optional)
4. Some chopped coriander ( which I am doing without today, don't feel like gong to the store)
5. Any bread you like. I am using 'Khaboos', which is Iranian bread. My family ate this when we lived in Abu Dhabi, and its worth a try. You can get this at you friendly Turkish store. You can also use naan, or well, white bread if you like ( which again I would much prefer, but its a self ban for this week)
6. Natural Yogurt
7. Shredded cucumber
8. Spices: salt, red chilli powder, corriander powder, garam masala poweder( approx one a spoon each)
9. whole cumin

10. One spoon oil for frying

How to cook:

1. Heat the oil
2. Fry the cumin till it splutters
3. Add the rest of the spices, for 10 seconds and stir
4. Add chopped cauliflower florets and the chopped potato
5. Stir some more
6. Cover it up for 10 minutes, and stir every now and then
7. Heat the Khaboos/ or the bread of your choice
8. Wrap the cooked potatoes and cauliflower mix in the bread
9. Sprinkle with chopped onion and squeeze some lemon on top
10. Take some yogurt in a bowl and add some shredded cucumber in it. And some salt if you care more about taste than health.

11. Serve with a tall glass of lemonade ( made form left over lemon) and eat with a feel good movie.

PS: I don't have time for a full movie, so watching it with clips on Obama and the health-bill, which feels good too:)

Sunday brunch

This Sunday brunch includes:

1. Papaya salad

2. One bowl of Pomegranate seeds in natural yogurt, no added sugar

3. A glass of milk, no sugar ( just found out I don't have any vitamin B12 in my system, and none of you are allowed to say I told you so.. even though you probably will and I will still continue to not eat meat. So there is not point, really, except the glimmer of satisfaction you might get from this admittance :)

4. Linguini in a cheddar cheese sauce, topped with some grilled vegetables

5. Sadly no white bread will feature in this meal. I know, I miss it too. This is just an honorary mention. 

Recipe

Ingredients:

1. Linguine pasta.
If you try this recipe, please do not substitute. It gets on my nerves when people substitute pasta. A fusilli is not the same as Penne and Penne is not Spaghetti and Spaghetti does not taste like Linguine. They taste different. If they didn't they won't have such different names.

(On a side note: the first time I had Linguini was in Cape Town, its hard to find it in Oslo. I bought mine at my neighborhood Turkish store in Sagene. Meny stocks it sometimes, but none of the other regular stores do. Refer to Gerdur's post ( www.mediumgeek.com) on the joys of cooking in Oslo)

2. Some oil, Olive preferred, but I am using regular.

3. Cheddar cheese sauce from a packet purchased on a recent trip to Austin, USA. Since its hard to find it locally, I grudgingly accept if you need to change this to another sauce.

4. Today, the vegetables include: minced garlic, chopped potatoes, diced tomatoes, sliced paprika ( only the green onces), shredded green chillies ( feel free to skip), some fresh carrots, some frozen peas and spring onions.

5. In my attempt to keep things simple, a limited number of spices : salt, black pepper, white pepper, cajun pepper (skip again, if you want to taste the pasta that is).

Cooking:
Boil the Linguini
Grill the vegetables
Heat the sauce
Mix it all up, and serve in an elegant plate, normally reserved for company.

--
Remember to clean the kitchen.

Meal was accompanied by music and not TV, in another attempt to change things around a bit.

Thanks for keeping me company.

Food therapy

I am going through a lot these days. I've tried to go around it by drowning myself in work (didn't pay off), in people ( however tempting ;), - Or shutting down completely and putting my head in the sand like an Ostrich.

I am, however, not an Ostrich.

I am a cook. And in an attempt to stay afloat, here is hopefully a slightly healthier way of distracting myself out of 'the-situation-until-it-improves', staying over-ground and well nourished.

I give you my food blog. I hope you will share you recipes with me, and try some of mine.