Guest post series: Bachelor's Sambar by Radha Natarajan

My guest today is a blogger who is a very down-to-earth, unassuming person. For those who are unfamiliar with the blogging world, here is a little bit of background. Food blogging is a cut-throat world. People are always trying to find ways and means to increase traffic to the world. Nothing wrong in that. But what this also means is that if you are new to the blogging world, you will see that very few people share with you the tricks of the trade. Then there are those who think they are the best and everyone else is not worth the time of the day! I am blessed to have some good people around me, most notable amongst them being Sonal Gupta from simplyvegetarian777. It was Sonal who introduced me to Radha Natarajan. She blogs from Your Everyday Cook.

She is a woman after my own heart! She is someone who blogs with the genuine intent of helping others, especially working people like me! She is not a part of the rat race. She does not worry about how many people visit her blog or how popular she is on social media! Don't be fooled by her looks. She has an MBA in marketing and advertising and has worked in that area for several years before she gave it up to take care of her daughter. She started blogging in April, 2014 at the suggestion of her daughter, who suggested that she create a blog to archive all the recipes that she shared and were popular in quite a few food groups! That's how "Your Everyday Cook" was born.

I love her recipes! Every recipe in her blog has been made such that it makes cooking easier, simpler and food healthier. It is not often easy to simplify traditional South Indian recipes. But she manages to make even the most complicated authentic recipes simple! Visit her blog Your Everyday Cook, for all the culinary and visual treats!

Today she is sharing with a very quick and simple recipe which is geared towards those who are living away from home or are new to the kitchen: Bachelor's Sambar! Sambar is basically a spicy mixed vegetable stew that is served with idlis or rice. Let us now take a look at Radha akka's post.

Bachelor' s sambar recipe is nothing but a quick way of making a delicious sambar without compromising on taste .A time saving one .

Bachelors who are away form home constantly travelling may have very few utensils for preparing dishes or less time to cook , so this style of making a sambar all in one step comes very handy.

I personally dont think it is limited to bachelors alone, even busy moms and housewives can try this.

Most people living in temporary residences  will have at least one pressure cooker which doubles up as a cooking utensil too. So the washing chore is reduced greatly, no frying pan required.I find sambar tastier as the dals and vegetables get blended well with spices .This is a great way to make sambar especially in bulk.

Serving size: 2-3 

Ingredients:

1 small cup finely chopped onions or small shallots 

1 small cup finely chopped tomatoes
1 /4 cup or 1/2 cup cubed yellow pumpkins, carrots, or any vegetables ( drumsticks, capsicums).I used a mix of bell papers and yellow pumpkins.
1/4 cup toor dal ( keep soaked while prepping )
1 tsp asafoetida powder
2-3 tbsp sambar  powder
1 tsp kashmiri chili powder for the amazing colour ( recommended)
A pinch of turmeric powder if your sambar powder doesnt have it.
1 tbsp powdered jaggery (optional)
3 tbsp grated fresh coconut or dried. ( optional ) but sambar will taste great with little coconut.
1 tbsp tamrind paste ( or add more tomatoes ) if you dont have tamrind )
salt as required
curry leaves 
2-3 tbsp fresh chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp methi seeds
1-2 red dry chilis
2 tsp oil 

Method:

Take a pressure pan or pressure cooker.Add oil, heat it, add mustard seeds, let it splutter.

Add the methi seeds and  red chilies. add the curry leaves.

Add the chopped onions, or shallots , saute well for few seconds. 

Add tomatoes and saute more.Mash lightly.

Add other vegetables,  stir well. 

Add the fresh grated coconut.

Add 4 cups of water, add sambar powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida powder, salt and  tamarind paste.

Add the soaked dal .

Cover and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles.

When cooled, open cooker, lightly mash the dals, but make sure not to mash the vegetables too much.

Add jaggery if you like , garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

For further taste and flavor add 1 tbsp ghee into the hot sambar, stir well, keep covered. 

Serve hot with rice or idlis.

Notes:

Use tomato puree if you do not have tomatoes.
Onions can be skipped,however adding them gives a near restaurant like taste.
Add more tomatoes if you do not have tamarind paste or fresh tamarind.
While adding grated fresh coconut is optional ,adding 3-4 tbsp will give a yummy  taste to the sambar.
Coconut milk powder ( 2 tbsp ) may also be added instead of grated coconut .

Enjoy!!



I am bringing this delicious and useful dish of Radha akka's to all my friends at Throwback Thursday#37, Fiesta Friday#118  and Saucy Saturdays#43! Angie's Fiesta Friday co-hosts this week are Kaila @ GF Life 24/7 and Laurena @ Life Diet Health

Please do share your thoughts. Your opinion matters!

Bibbe Upkari ( Tender cashewnuts sautéed with gherkins).

Bibbo means tender cashewnut in konkani language. Bibbe upkari is essentially tender cashewnuts that are sautéed and garnished with freshly grated coconut. It is usually cooked with gherkins or sweet potatoes. When made with gherkins, it is served as a side-dish for lunch or dinner. When cooked with sweet-potatoes, it is usually served for breakfast. The reason for cooking tender-cashewnuts with either vegetable is because tender cashewnuts are extremely expensive. They are often served as status symbols at weddings. People who can afford it cook it all by itself. Tender cashewnuts are usually available only during spring in India. This dish has a presence for all major festivals and occasions.

Today is Ugadi ( konkani New Year) and making this dish on this auspicious day  is tradition for us.
I am sharing with you the recipe for Bibbo sautéed with gherkins.

This is a super-easy and a super-delicious dish!

Servings: 3-4

Ingredients:

Tendle ( Gerkin): 250 gms or 10 oz
Tender cashewnuts ( Bibbo): 250 gms or 10 oz.
Coconut oil: 1 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Dried red chillies: 1-2 medium sized, broken into two pieces.
Salt: as per taste
Water: 1 cup
Freshly grated coconut: 2 tbsp ( for garnishing)( optional).

Method:

Wash the tender cashew-nuts thoroughly. Separate the halves. Keep aside.

Wash gherkins thoroughly. Chop the tips off at both ends of the gherkin. If it is red inside, discard it. Slice the gherkin thinly along the length of the gherkin as shown in the picture. Each gherkin can be sliced into 6-8 slices. Thinner the slice, faster it cooks and tastier the dish. Slice all the gherkins in this manner and keep aside.

Heat coconut oil and mustard seeds in a sauté pan. Once the mustard seeds crackle, add dried red chillies.  Now add the sliced gherkins and the tender cashew halves. Add salt, water and mix well. Cover and cook on low flame until tender( around 15 mins).

Turn off the flame. Garnish with freshly grated coconut.

Serve hot with rice or flatbread/ roti.

Enjoy.

I am bringing this to Throwback Thursday#33, Fiesta Friday#114 and Saucy Saturday#39. Angie's co-host this week is Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook.

Cooking made easy:

People like us who don't have the luxury of having fresh tender cashewnuts have to use dried tender cashewnuts. You have to soak it water overnight,peel it and then use it.

The above dish can be made quicker if cooked in a pressure pan. After adding the sliced gherkins, tender cashewnuts, salt and water, bring it to a boil, close the pressure pan lid. Place the weight/whistle of the pressure cooker and cook on medium flame until you hear the first whistle. Turn off the flame. Wait for the pressure to be completely released before opening the lid. Garnish with freshly grated coconut if you wish.
This method has the risk that the tender cashewnuts may be overcooked!

Tip for healthy living:

Cashewnuts are protein rich.It is packed with energy, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins that are essential for robust health.Cashew nuts are calorie-rich. A little bit goes a long way. 100 g of nuts provide 553 calories. They are packed with soluble dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and numerous health-promoting phyto-chemicals that help protect from diseases and cancers.They are rich in “heart-friendly” monounsaturated-fatty acids like oleic, and palmitoleic acids. These essential fatty acids help lower harmful LDL-cholesterol while increasing good HDL cholesterol in the blood.Minerals, especially manganese, potassium, copper, iron, magnesium, zinc, and selenium are concentrated in these nuts.Cashews are also good in many essential vitamins such as pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), riboflavin, and thiamin (vitamin B-1).

References:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/445717-how-are-cashews-good-for-you/
http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/cashew_nut.html
http://foodfacts.mercola.com/cashews.html

Food for thought:

There are no strangers here; only friends you haven't yet met. William Butler Yeats

Eggless Chocolate Cookies; Meatless Monday

Almost everyone from a toddler to adults love cookies! My mother is one of them. There is a problem however: she is vegetarian, which means that she does not even eat eggs or anything that has egg in it. Most cookies are made with eggs and therefore she won't eat them. For this reason, I was very happy when I came across these very pretty looking cookies on a Facebook group that I belong to. Facebook is such a wonderful platform that brings so many of us together and helps us learn from each other. I looked at her recipe and thought that with a few improvisations to the recipe, it should come out well. I have made eggless cookies before : crinkle cookies, tutti-frutti-cookies , but I think I like this one the best! They are super easy to make, melt-in-the-mouth type! The testimony for this fact is that they were gone within 15 mins of being left out to cool down!! Do try it, I bet you will like it. These are perfect for the sudden guests that come without much notice!

Servings: makes around 18-20 medium sized cookies.

Ingredients:

Flour: 3/4 cup ( I used unbleached all purpose flour)
Corn flour: 3 tbsp
Baking powder: 1/2 tsp
Chocolate powder: 2 tbsp
Salt: a pinch
Butter: 3/4 cup ( at room temperature)
Sugar: 2/3 cup
Vanilla essence: 3/4 tsp
Milk: 2 tbsp

Method:

Beat together butter, sugar and vanilla essence until creamy.

In a different bowl, sift together flour, cornflour, salt, baking powder, chocolate powder.

Add the flour mixture  little at a time to the sugar-butter mixture and mix well. Add the milk and mix well.

Put this mixture in a piping bag with a Wilton 2D tip. Place the bag in the freezer for atleast 20 mins.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.

Take the bag out and pipe out medium sized cookies on an ungreased parchment paper lined cookie-sheet. Keep them atleast 1 inch apart.

Place the cookie sheet on the center rack and bake for 10 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cookie.

Take the baking sheet out and let the cookies cool down on it before taking them out to cool down completely on a cooling rack.Decorate it with sugar pearls in the center.

Makes for a great accompaniment for tea/coffee.

Store in an airtight container. I am bringing this to Throwback Thursday, Fiesta Friday #99 and Saucy Saturday! Caroline @ Caroline’s Cooking and Linda @ La Petite Paniere are co-hosting Angie's Fiesta Friday this week.

Cooking made easy:

Using the parchment paper for lining the cookie sheet helps prevent the cookies from sticking to the sheet and also helps with easy clean-up.

If you don't have parchment paper, you could use the cookie sheet alone.

Tip for healthy living:

While making cookies at home is definitely much healthier than store-bought ones, you can make them even more healthier by reducing the amount of sugar than what is called-for in the recipe. Also, when possible, use unprocessed sugar as opposed to white sugar.

Food for thought:

Are right and wrong convertible terms, dependent upon popular opinion? William Lloyd Garrison

Thanksgiving Meal:Nine Healthy options

Thanksgiving is next week. It is an American Holiday that is celebrated Nationwide. Everything comes to a standstill.Families come together for this special occasion from near and far. There is lot of food and merry-making. This kind of begins the holiday season here in the US which continues until New Year. All the rules of eating healthy is forgotten during the Holiday Season. But it does not have to be so... Amidst all the rich foods, you could sneak in some healthy ones to so as to balance your plate. With a little thought and planning, you can plan your meals to be a little more healthier by swapping some ingredients, offering smaller and /or healthier desserts. Here are some easy, healthy options for you to choose from. Just click on the title of the recipe and the link will take you to the recipe in it's entirety. I am bringing this to Throwback Thursday, Angie's Fiesta Friday & Saucy Saturdays. Loretta @ Safari of the Mind and Petra @ Food Eat Love are co-hosting the Fiesta.

Black bean chili garlic spinach

Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

Caribbean Black Bean Corn Mango Salad

 

Fruit Bouquet

Creamy spinach with mushrooms

 

Supergreen Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette

Butternut squash upkari/stir-fry

Nutella-Strawberry Cheesecake Bites

Mushroom Bruschetta

Food Day Blogger Takeover! #GreenMeal Recipes

I am a proud Meatless Monday Blogger. I am all for shifting from meat to healthier protein alternatives and even to a plant-based diet.The very purpose of my blog is healthy eating and thereby healthy living. So when the Meatless Monday Team  invited me to participate in the Food Day Blogger Takeover, I was quick to jump to grab this wonderful opportunity to promote healthy food choices.

Food Day is celebrated here in America on October 24th, to inspire Americans to change their diets and their food policies. Thousands of events occur across the country  to celebrate a better food system. The focus for Food Day 2015 is Toward a Greener Diet. The goal is to increase awareness about the critical importance of eating less meat and enjoying more whole plant-based foods so as to lead healthier lives and to help save/protect the animals and our environment. These are issues towards which all of us have to be more proactive and take a positive step for the better.

As part of this celebration, the Meatless Monday Team is running a week-long campaign starting from Monday, October 19 th through October 24th.The campaign has several options from how to transition to meatless meals or sustainably raised protein to small changes towards a greener diet. I chose to use #GreenMeal Recipes and round up my best plant-based recipes. Why did I choose you theme?? Because I wanted to drive home the message that one could eat, enjoy and live on plant-based food. You don't need meat to enjoy food. You DO NOT need meat to live. If humans were meant to eat meat, we would have had longer canines( teeth)  like carnivorous animals do. Did you know that the human digestive system was not built to digest meat? In fact, it is said that meat takes FOUR days to be digested in our gut!  Here is some living proof that we can live healthy wholesome life without meat: majority of Indians are vegetarians who don't even eat eggs.They have been vegetarians for generations and are absolutely healthy with healthy bodies and brains. How many doctors and engineers have you personally  come across who are vegetarians?? In my family, my mother, my in-laws, several aunts and uncles are all vegetarians and very healthy. This should prove that it is possible to live without eating meat.

As part of GreenMeal Recipes, I have rounded up 10 of my favorite plant-based recipes; recipes that I cook on a regular basis in my kitchen. Some of the recipes are very traditional that have been cooking in our kitchens for hundreds of years, while some are very modern resulting from the fusion of several cuisines . But, most important of all, is that these are simple and easy recipes that anyone can cook! You could easily make any of these recipes a part of your everyday life. Some of course, are easier than others. So just start with the easier ones and you can slowly get more adventurous . So without further ado, here are the recipes. Just click on them to read the recipe in entirety.

Tawa Pulao

Moon-Bean Sprout Pulao

Spicy Fall Salad

Tacos Made Healthy

Supergreens Salad

Batate Ambado

Avocado Cheese Burger

Avocado Cheese Wrap

Beetroot Raita

Bisibelebath ( Rice-lentil-vegetable medley)

Black-Bean Chilli Garlic Sauteed Spinach

Butternut Squash Fries

Caribbean Black Bean Corn Mango Salad

Also, do visit all these other wonderful bloggers for ideas to move away from meat towards a healthier diet and therefore healthier living.

Alli from Don't Panic Mom
Amanda from Produce for Kids
April from Gluten is My Bitch
Apsara from Eating Well Diary
Donna from The Hanging Spoon
Emily from Colorado Moms
Gina from The Multitasking Missus
Jen from Driftwood Gardens
Jessica from The Balanced Kitchen
Jill from Just the Right Byte
Jory from Teeny Tiny Foodie
Kristen from Fueling a Fit Fam
Lacy and Emily from Laughing Lemon Pie
Maaike from the Official Food Day Blog
Maybelline from Naturalmente Mama
Monica from Mommy and Love
Sally from Real Mom Nutrition
Siri from Cooking with Siri
Suchitra from Su's Healthy Living
Susan from Real Kids Eat Spinach

I am linking this post to Fiesta Friday #91, Throwback Thursday and Saucy Saturday so that we can spread more awareness. Do share this post on the social media and help spread the word.