Quesadilla

I love Mexican food. It is pretty nutritious and balanced.I often try to make some of them at home. A healthier version of course! I do not care for the sour cream and use very little cheese. Today I made quesadilla for dinner. "Queso" means cheese in Spanish. It is basically tortillas filled with melted cheese. Traditionally flour tortillas are used but I use corn tortillas as I avoid flour. Apart from cheese the tortillas can be stuffed with anything you please.. Different veggies like onions, tomatoes, peppers, & avocado can be used or if you wish you can stuff it with chicken and make chicken quesadilla. I made the vegetarian one with different peppers, cabbage, onion and avocado. Again raw veggies can be used or you could lightly cook them. I have stir-fried my veggies in a little bit of olive oil. The tortillas after being stuffed are generally folded into half and then cut into wedges. Since I use corn tortillas which are much smaller than the flour tortillas, I could not possibly fold them. Hence I have used two tortillas for each quesadilla and then cut them into wedges. Being a avocado aficionado, I have used chopped avocados in my stuffing and served the quesadilla with guacamole.

Here is the recipe for my quesadilla.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Corn Tortillas: 8  ( 2 for each quesadilla )
Onion: 1 small, chopped
Red bell pepper: 1/2,diced small
Orange bell pepper: 1/2, diced small
Yellow bell pepper: 1/2 , diced small
Carrot : 1 small, cut julienne
Cabbage: 1/2 cup shredded
Avocado: 1/2, diced
Spring onion: 2, chopped
Sharp cheddar cheese :2 oz, cut into thin slices
Salt: 1/8 tsp
Pepper: 1/4 tsp
Adobo seasoning: 1 tsp
Olive oil: 1/2 tbsp+ 1 tbsp

Method:

In a frying pan, heat 1/2 tbsp oil, sauté onions for a minute on medium heat.

Now add carrots, cabbage, chopped peppers, scallions and sauté for a minute or two.

The vegetables should be crisp and not soggy. Add the adobo seasoning, salt and pepper. Mix well and keep aside.

Heat a skillet/ griddle on medium heat. Smear a little oil/ butter and warm the tortilla on it for 30 seconds on both sides on low flame. The purpose of applying oil/ butter is so that the tortilla does not become crispy. You want the tortilla to be soft and pliable.

Now spread a layer of shredded/ sliced cheese .

Spoon 2 tbsp of the vegetable mixture. 

Top it with 1 tsp of chopped avocados. Top it with another layer of shredded/ sliced cheese.

Place the second tortilla on top of this and with the spatula press lightly. Now gently flip the quesadilla so that the top tortilla is now laying on the skillet. Warm it until the cheese slightly melts .

Now you can cut the quesadilla into wedges on the skillet itself. Transfer to a plate.

Serve hot with guacamole , sour cream , salsa or little bit of all of them.

Enjoy!

Cooking made easy:

Make a little extra of the stir-fried veggies and store in the fridge for yummy tacos or noodles for dinner the next day! You could also store just the chopped veggies and make the stir-fry fresh the next evening.

Tip for healthy living:

Drinking a glass of warm water with 1/2 lemon in it first thing in the morning helps detoxify the body . It also helps rejuvenate the liver. 

Food for thought:

Talk less work more. ( Unknown)

Meatless Monday Tingalavre Ani Cauliflower Song ( Navy Beans and Cauliflower in spicy onion-tomato sauce).

We Konkanis make several types of songs. Not the musical kind; the gastronomical kind. Song is basically the type of sauce or gravy that is make out of sautéed onions and tomatoes. Loads of onions and tomatoes are used in this dish. Song can be made with coconut ( masolu ghalnu) or without coconut in which case it is referred to as mirsange pitte song ( which essentially means song made with chilli powder). This is a nice tangy , spicy,delicious dish. Like I mentioned earlier there are several types of song: batate song( made with potatoes), mushroom song, tingalavre song ( made with navy beans).It is again one of the favorites in my household. The best part is that it is quick an easy to make!

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Navy beans: 1/2cup
Cauliflower : 15 florets, washed.
Onions: 2 medium, diced small
Tomato: 1 medium, diced small
Cooking Oil: 1 tbsp( I use coconut oil)
Chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder: 1/4 tsp
Haldi ( turmeric powder): pinch
Hing ( asofoetida powder): pinch
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves( cilantro): 4-5 sprigs for garnishing.
Water: 1 1/2 cups + 1/2 cup

Method:

Cook navy beans in pressure cooker with 1 1/2 cups water until tender. Generally about 15 minutes on medium heat.

Make sure you don't overcook the navy beans as the dish will turn into a mushy paste.Do not open the pressure cooker until the pressure has completely been released. Keep aside.

Cook cauliflower in 1/2 cup water until slightly tender. Make sure cauliflower is not over cooked. It will become mushy. Once cooked, strain it and keep aside.

Heat oil in a frying pan/ wok on medium heat.

Add the chopped onions, sauté until they turn almost golden brown.

Add the chopped tomatoes and sauté until the tomatoes start leaving oil.

Now add turmeric powder, coriander powder and sauté for 30 seconds. Then add chilli powder and sauté for another minute.

Now add the cooked navy beans( without the water) and the cauliflower( without the water) and mix well. 

Add the water left behind from cooking the navy beans/ cauliflower as needed based on your desired consistency of the dish. 

Add salt, mix well. Simmer until it comes to a gentle boil. Turn off the flame.

Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Serve hot with rice/ roti/ bread.

Enjoy!

Cooking made easy:

In the above recipe, as you are waiting for the navy beans and cauliflower to be cooked, you could chop the onions and tomatoes and sauté them. This way by the time the navy beans are cooked and ready to be used, your sauce is ready. It saves you a lot of time!

Navy beans are one of the few legumes that does not need to be pre-soaked overnight before cooking. It can be used anytime you wish as long as you have it in your pantry!

Tip for Healthy living:

Do not compromise on your sleep. An average adult requires 7-8 hours sleep every night. When we are sleeping the body is repairing and rejuvenating itself. Inadequate sleep leads to muscle fatigue, spasm and pain. There is no such thing called "catching up on your sleep".Catching up on your sleep one day to compensate for lack of sleep does not work. The body requires an adequate amount of sleep daily . So go get your zzzzs!

Food for thought:

Once bitten, twice shy. ( unknown)

Meatless Monday Moolangi ( Radish) Sambar

I am the kind who drools over vegetables! Today, I am proud to be part of Meatless Monday.Meatless Monday is a organization whose goal is to reduce global meat consumption.For more information about Meatless Monday go here.I am thankful to Mrs Sonal Gupta for introducing me to this movement.She has a great blog http://simplyvegetarian777.wordpress.com.

As a child, I never ate moolangi/ radish. This is because my mother never bought or cooked moolangi. Why???because she does not like the smell that it imparts while cooking. I always wanted to find out how it tasted. When I started living on my own, I started using radish. I like it, especially when I make this sambar out of it. The smell of it when it cooks is a little unpleasant , but that's only temporary. The taste is great.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Moolangi /White radish: 2 medium length ones.
Onion: 1 medium chopped
Tur dal: 1/4 cup
Sambar powder: 1 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder:1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp
Jaggery/ brown sugar: 1/2 tsp
Tamarind: marble sized if dry,( 1/4 tsp if pulp)
Water: 1 cup+ 1 cup
Mustard seeds  : 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Asofoetida: pinch
Cilantro ( coriander leaves): 1/4 cup chopped.

Method:

Cook tur dal  thoroughly with 1 cup water in the pressure cooker and keep aside. When cooled, whip it lightly so that it becomes homogenous.

With a knife/ peeler scrape the peel of the radish. Wash it and slice it into 0.5 cms thickness slices.

Add one cup water, salt and cook it on the stove-top. When half cooked, add the chopped onions. Should take about 10-15 mins max for the radish to cook.

In the mean time take 1/2 cup warm water and make a tamarind solution. Add sambar powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, jaggery and mix well.

To the cooked radish, add the tur dal. Mix well.

Now add the tamarind & sambar powder mixture and let it come to a boil. Turn off the flame.

In a small frying pan, heat oil, add mustard. Once the mustard splutters, add curry leaves and asofoetida powder. Add it to the sambar.

Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro/ coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice/ idlis.

Enjoy!

Cooking made easy:

I tend to clean as I cook. This makes sure that I do not have a whole pile of dishes and a messy kitchen waiting to be cleaned when I am already tired of cooking. 

Tip for healthy living:

Radish has a whole lot of health benefits. They are potent detoxifiers and therefore purify the liver. It provides much needed dietary fiber and roughage hence preventing constipation.It also is filling and helps us get satiated quickly.They also are supposed to have anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties.

Food for thought: 

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. ( Lao Tzu).

Ghosale Upkari ( Ridge Gourd Stir-Fry).

Ghosale ( Ridge Gourd) is another one of my father-in-law's favorite vegetables. My mother-in-law teases my father-in-law with a small poem that she has made connecting the days of the week and his favorite vegetable to be cooked that day!

Ghosale aka Ridge gourd is also known as Luffa or Chinese okra. It has different names in different parts of India. It is known as Herekayi in Kannada, Adavi Beera in Telugu, Peechinga in Malyalam, Dodka in Marathi and Turai in Northern India and so on. You can find more herehttp://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luffa
This is another one of the vegetables that is gentle on the digestive system and can be safely eaten when one is sick or is on any kind of elimination diet. It also is known to have several medicinal values.

The stir fry is easy and quick to make and requires very few ingredients. This too is one of my favorites for weeknight dinners.

Servings: 4 

Ingredients:

Ghosale ( Ridge gourd) :2 medium sized.
Mustard: 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds ( jeera): 1/4 tsp
Green chillies: 1-2 (as per your spice level) ( I use one when I am making it for my little ones.)
Coconut oil: 1 tsp. ( you can use any cooking oil of your preference, I use coconut oil in mine).
Jaggery(molasses)/ sugar:1 tsp
Salt to taste.
Freshly grated coconut: 1 tbsp ( optional).

Method:

With a paring knife/ peeler,peel the ridges off the Ridge gourd.

Cut the ridge gourd (poddale) lengthwise twice.Then slice thinly horizontally so that you have 2 cms long thin slices and keep aside.

Slit the green chillies and keep aside.

Heat a sauté pan/ wok on medium heat,add 1 tsp coconut oil. Now add the mustard seeds. 

Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the cumin seeds, then the slit green chillies.

Now add the sliced ghosale( ridge gourd) and sauté.Add a little bit of salt and 1tsp sugar. 

Reduce the flame to low, cover the pan and cook until the vegetable is soft enough to eat. Generally takes about 15 minutes.

Garnish with freshly grated coconut. Serve with rice / bread.

Cooking made easy:

Make sure you cook on low flame as you want the vegetable to cook in it's own juices. Increasing the flame, makes the fluid evaporate quickly thereby increasing the chances of burning your vegetable.

Vegetables in the US tend to have higher water content and hence do not require additional water to be added while cooking. But if you find the pan getting too hot or you are in danger of burning the vegetable
then you can sprinkle some water and let it cook to your desired level of softness. It should not be mushy.

In India, for the above recipe, you can add 1/2 to 1 cup of water as needed. You can also cook it in a pressure pan. If you are doing so, add 3/4 cup of water, cover and let it cook on medium flame with the pressure cooker weight on, until you hear 2 whistles from the cooker. Turn the flame off and weight for the cooker to cook down completely before opening the lid. This is the pressure cooker method for most vegetables to be cooked in India.

Cooking the vegetable in it's own juices also has the advantage that we don't lose much nutrients.

Tip for healthy living:

"Activity, activity, activity ", this is the mantra for healthy living. When you are physically active, you automatically burn calories. This is especially true for the elderly and retired people. When you work you automatically move, walk and get out of the house. Whereas after retirement, most people don't find the necessity to get out of the house. This significantly limits the amount of physical activity. You have to find reasons to get out of the house atleast once a day. Find stuff to do around the house.This will get your joints moving. The more active you are, the better you will be.

Food for thought:

To err is human; to forgive is divine.( Alexander Pope).

Quick Egg Curry

When I used to live in a shared apartment , one of my flat mates, Aleyamma was from Kerala. I had the good privilege of learning some of the dishes from the Malayali cuisine through her.One of my favorites was the egg curry that she used to make.It is simple, easy to make and requires very few ingredients.Here is the recipe for Aleyamma's "motta curry" as she used to call it.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Eggs: 4 boiled and peeled.
Coconut oil: 1 tbsp
Mustard: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Garlic: 4 cloves,chopped fine
Ginger: 1 inch, chopped fine
Onion: 1 medium, chopped fine
Haldi( turmeric) powder: 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder(cayenne pepper): 1 tsp
Garam masala: 1/4 tsp 
Water:1/4 cup
Coconut milk: 1/2-1 cup ( as per your taste).( I used canned coconut milk).
Salt to taste
Cilantro/ coriander leaves

Method:

Heat oil in a wok/ sauté pan on medium heat.Temper mustard. Once it splutters, add curry leaves, garlic.Sauté for few seconds.

Then add ginger, sauté for few seconds. Now add the chopped onions. Sauté until the onions turn golden brown. 

Now add haldi( turmeric powder), chilli powder, garam masala and sauté for a minute.

Add 1/4 cup water. 

Add the coconut milk and simmer for 2-3 mins. 

Slice the eggs into two and drop it in the above sauce. 

Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice/ idlis / bread.

Cooking made easy:

The ideal method of boiling eggs to perfection is to drop them into boiling water, let it boil for 10 minutes. Then turn off the stove, cover the pot with a lid for another 10 mins. Promptly cool it in a bowl of cold water and peel it.

Tip for healthy living:

A lot people tend to eat egg whites alone, throwing the yolk away. They do this believing that the yolk in the eggs will lead to increased cholesterol and heart disease.Egg yolk is rich in omega-3 fatty acids and is beneficial to the body.Most of the nutrients in the egg is concentrated in the yolk.The yolk is rich in minerals like calcium and magnesium and important vitamins like RIboflavin, folate,vitamin B6, B12, vitamin A & E.Harvard School of Public Health states that eating one egg per day will not increase the risk of heart disease in healthy individuals.Of course, people with established heart disease and diabetes have to try and be cautious with egg yolk consumption.

Food for thought:

Necessity is the mother of all inventions. ( Plato)

Garlic Sautéed Beets With Leaves.

I have to have some greens everyday.  While I was familiar with the greens available in India , and often cooked it,here availability is a issue as these are only available in Indian grocery stores.During winter,my trips to the Indian store are rather infrequent. This got me on an adventure experimenting with the greens available in the vicinity.We have a  farmer's market nearby which I often frequent and came across fresh beets with its leaves. 

Back home we use the beets alone and throw the leaves. I decided to try and use the leaves. It came out yum. 

Here's the recipe:

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Beets with its leaves: 4 nos
Coconut oil: 1 tbsp
Garlic: 4 cloves, chopped and lightly crushed
Dried Red chillis: 4 nos
Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the beets with leaves in cold water for 5 minutes. This allows the sand / mud settle at the bottom. Separate the leaves and stem from the beets. Now chop the beet leaves and keep aside. Peel the beets,dice them and keep aside.

Heat oil in a sauté pan/ wok on medium heat. Add crushed chopped garlic, sauté  until you smell the aroma of garlic. 

Add red chillies/ chilli pepper flakes.Add the diced beets and the chopped stems, lower the flame, cover and cook for 5 -7 mins. 

Now add the chopped leaves, salt  and cook on low flame until done without covering, approximately for another 10-15 minutes.

Serve hot with rice/ bread/ baked chicken/ baked fish.

Cooking made easy:

The above recipe can also be made with other greens like spinach, broccoli rabe. The only additional ingredient to be added is 1/2 tsp jaggery/sugar. This combats the bitterness of the greens. Beets being naturally sweet, does not require additional sugar/jaggery to be added.

Tip for healthy living:

Beets are great for good health. They are supposed to support anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and detoxification effects in the body.Beet is a liver-protective food and apparently helps reduce blood-pressure.Beet is a favorite part of raw-food diet and beet juice is very popular.

Food for thought:

An idle mind is a Devil's workshop.(H.G.Bohn)

Beans Upkari (String Beans Stir-fry)

For some period of my life, I lived with my uncle Nammi mam and Lata aunty. They have a cook whom we fondly call "Namma",who cooks excellent Konkani meals. Anything she makes tastes delicious. She can infuse deliciousness into the simplest of dishes. One of the dishes she made is green beans upkari. The beans are chopped fine and cooked to a crisp finish. They look like bright green emeralds and taste great. Her dish calls for more oil. Being health conscious, mine has little oil and at times I also garnish it with freshly grated coconut. I absolutely love the taste of freshly grated coconut and find reasons to put it in my dishes :).This is a great side-dish for weeknight dinner.Here's the recipe:

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Fresh green beans( string beans) : 1 lb (450 grams). Chopped into 0.5 cms length pieces.
Coconut oil: 1 tbsp( can use 1/2 tbsp for even more healthier version.) ( Any cooking oil can be used, I prefer to cook in coconut/ olive oil).
Mustard seeds: 1/4tsp
Dried Red chillies: 2 nos
Freshly grated coconut: 1 tbsp ( optional)
Salt to taste

Method:

Heat a sauté pan/ wok on medium heat. Add oil and mustard seeds. 

Once they splutter, add the red chillies and the chopped green beans. Add salt. 

Reduce the flame, cover and cook until done, approximately 15 minutes, sautéing in between.

Note: If cooking in India, you can add 1/2 cup water while cooking. Vegetables in the US tend to have higher water content, hence additional water is not required while cooking. If in India( or you are in a rush),the above dish can be made in a pressure pan. After adding the water, let it come to a boil, now cover the cooker lid, let it cook until you get 2 whistles. Open the cooker lid only after the hissing stops completely.

Garnish with grated coconut( optional)

Serve hot with rice.

Cooking made easy:

The above dish can be made with several other vegetables like potatoes, Chinese potatoes, okra, long beans (alsande) to name a few.It is quick, easy to make and healthy.

Tip for healthy living:

In recent years, there was a huge uproar that coconut, coconut oil should be limited in your diet as it is a saturated fat and would increase the cholesterol in the body and clog your arteries. Many people either switched to "healthy" oils like canola or corn. I have always believed that the way our ancestors lived was a healthier way. They lived closer o nature, and had healthier eating habits. So I wondered could all our previous generations who cooked exclusively in coconut oil be all wrong? In fact, my mother exclusively eats food that has been cooked only in coconut oil . Any other oil upsets her stomach and makes her sick. We now understand that the whole"coconut oil is bad for you" was a myth propagated by the big companies who wanted to promote canola and corn oil industries. In fact canola and corn production is a big industry! Today, health proponents are strongly promoting the use of coconut oil and sing praises of the health benefits of coconut . People are even encouraged to eat dry coconut pulp as a snack! 

Coconut oil apparently has medium chain fatty acids that are healthy and whose breakdown helps the liver burn energy in an efficient manner.It also acts as an anti-oxidant in the body.

Food for thought:

What goes around, comes around.(unknown)