Sweet Corn Tofu Masala

Hey everyone , yesterdays dinner was just "fabulous" .. so S told me.
I was out of subjis to make for dinner to go with chapathi.I opened my refrigerator to find absolutely no vegetables :( even the ones i had , i wanted to make something else out of them for lunch the next day).So i had the usual tomatoes,onions, bell peppers and peas.I also opened the freezer to find tofu and sweet corn. And thats when i decided to do something with sweet corn and tofu for dinner.

I understood now that with the ingredients we have, it is up to us to creatively do the rest. So this is what i did yesterday night:"Sweet Corn Tofu Masala"

Ingredients:
Tofu - 12-15 cut to small rectangular pieces
Sweetcorn- 2 cups( i use the frozen one , just microwaved it in the bag )
Onions-1 (big)
Bell Peppers-1
Tomatoes- 2
peas-1/2 cup
green chillies-2-3 (according to our own spice degree)
garlic-2-3 cloves
ginger - small piece (optional)
Spices used:
bay leaves-1
cinnamon- 1 small stick
cloves-4 pieces
fennel seeds- 1/2 teaspoon
cardamom-3 pieces crushed(Optional some people dont like the taste of it)
cashew- 3-4 pieces
cumin seeds-1 teaspoon
paprika-1 teaspoon (optional just for the color and a little spice)
Garam masala- 3 teaspoons

How i made it:

1. In a pan i added oil and  fried the spices bay leaves,cinnamon,cloves,fennel seeds,cardamom,cumin seeds and the cashew.
2. After the raw smell goes off from the spices, i added the green chillies and garlic and fried for about a minute in high flame.
3. Next, i added the onions and  sautéd it till golden brown and then added the paprika which is optional.
4. After this, i added the bell peppers and when it is half cooked  i added the tomatoes along with salt.
5. After frying the tomatoes, next i added the Garam masala which is also according to ones own taste.
6. Next came the Tofu which i added to the mixture and i let it absorb all the spices for about 2-3 minutes.
7. At last i added the sweet corn and peas as they needed to be cooked only for a little amount of time.

We can garnish it with coriander leaves if we want to. Everything lies in our own hands. We develop the taste of the dish according to our own mind set. This dish is a little sweet so we can add a little more spice to it if we want to.

Variations include the addition of mushrooms (yummy!) , cauliflower or even paneer instead of tofu.It all depends on the availability of the veggies and what we want to eat!!! :)

Just try it out.. am just a novice and not an expert.. suggestions are welcome to improve my cooking skills too.. :)

Zucchini Kootu without coconut

My husband and i went to a place called Sunflower market , a place which has farmers fresh vegetables and fruits.We try to finish shopping there for the week but yeah we get so carried away with all the fresh veggies that we finish shopping stuff for 2-3 weeks.

So yes as i was saying , being new to the united states i dint know half the names of the veggies there.. so i took something that looked like cucumber and asked my hubby what it was.As it turned out its name was zucchini squash and was something like a cucumber but tastes a little different. So anyways i decided to get it.

Both my husband and i are sort of conscious about our health so we try to make healthy stuff for lunch and dinner. So what i did today was i tried to make a healthy Kootu out of it which is something of a mix of ingredients like dhal and spices. As i avoid adding coconut to my dishes as much as possible i decided to go ahead and do it without coconut.

It took me around 35 minutes for the whole process as i am pretty slow in doing this stuff.

Ingredients:-

1. Zucchini - 2 (chop it into small cubes)
2. Moong dhall - 1/2 cup (paasi parupu)
3. Toor dhall - 1/4 cup (Thuvaram parupu)
4. Big yellow onion-1/2
5. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Channa Dhall - 1 tbsp
8. Urad dhall - 2 tsp(ulutham parupu)
9. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
10. Red chillies - 2
11. Asafoetida powder - a pinch
12. Oil - 1 tsp
13. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
14. Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp (for garnishing)
15. Curry leaves - few
16. cardamom-1 piece ground * optional, just for taste

How i made it :

First,i pressure cooked thoor dhal and moong dal with 2 cups water with a pinch of turmeric powder.

Next, i fried channa dhall, urad dhal, cumin seeds, red chillies and Asafoetida powder to golden brown in little oil and then let it to cool.After this , i put them in a mixie and made it to a fine paste.

In the meanwhile , in a little oil i put one piece of cardamom(optional) and fried the onion pieces for 5 minutes. Then i added the zucchini pieces ,a pinch of turmeric(manjal) and salt to taste. The Zucchini cooks fast so it lets out some water itself while cooking.

When it is half cooked,i added the ground paste and mixed it well for about 2 minutes.

Then i added the cooked dhal to this mixture and added some water to make it into a little watery consistency. we can adjust how we want the Kootu to be thick or watery depending on the amount of water we add.

The last step is to sputter the mustard seeds , then add urad dhal and some curry leaves to oil or ghee( ghee makes it so yummy but its a no-no for me when i have an option! with so much fried stuff in this recipe already its hard for me to diet :( ) and pour it on top of the Kootu.

Variations in this includes addition of sambhar powder ,coconut and coriander leaves.I think all kootus have the same recipe just the main ingredients may vary. Since i am a beginner , this is my perception of a Kootu.

Thanks all, let me know how it came out.

Fresh start....

Hey everyone ...!

Am new to this type of blogging..but i wont be so new from now . Let me start with an introduction to myself and this blog. I am a desi girl living in the US of the A , happily married from last August (Yeah yeah am a fresher).

I came here on a H4 with my hubby so i cant work for now.. till then i am keeping myself occupied with things i like the most which are Food , art and Gossip in that order.

Let me tell you something about myself . I am an average Indian of this generation which means i know nothing about cooking , and a lot about cellphones latest movies , music and new trends.

My Mum used to try teaching me cooking but uh huh no use... :D well i thought it might be a problem once i come here to the states cause i might have to start cooking from the scratch.. but god has been so kind to me :) my Hubby dear cooks really well!!

But that still dint stop me from trying to learn cooking(duh! as if it would) so i started experimenting with food ... well i dint burn down the house but yeah i made a lot of mistakes.. and i am still making a lot too... oh! just now remembered.. Have to switch off the oven :D

This blog might be a mighty useful tool in helping me remember the start and keep track of my progress. Also my darling sis is such a newbie to cooking.. so i might post my recipes here so that she can "try" to start cooking.

I hope this also helps many others like me in the states who had everything back home(grandma, mum ,aunt or even a cook)to help..... but now only internet and their own skills to win the hearts and stomach of many.

I have art and gossip in this blog so that it doesn't get too boring for everyone.. i like to draw and paint... but i am a rookie in that too so developing my skills this way can help everyone along the way.