TGIF! Salad, Roasted Asparagus and Cottage Pie

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   Ahem! It's been a long while.  I have been apartment huntung in the new place we are moving to and it has  not been easy.  To add to the chaos, I was out, for a week, with influenza.  Hmmm! Yeah, a lots been going on.

  Now I am sitting here watching the snow white garden in our friends Indiana apartment, and this weekend will move to our new place in Illinois, very close to CHICAGO.  So, we are with friends and to say I had a good time except for the cold will be an understatement.  I feel a lot younger because most of the activities resemble the kind I had during my college times.  Cooking together with friends, eating out and general banter and pulling each others leg. We have been busy, enjoying ourselves, which could be the reason house hunting was such a trial task!

  Getting back to what you might be more interested in listening to, here is what we had on a Friday.  A foodies haven.  We have had a lot of Indian food the last couple of weeks, but I just didn't take any photos, a shame indeed.  However, will share some other fun stuff we cooked and ate and I hope you will enjoy.



We served up some green salad to begin, dressed up with a simple vinaigrette of extra virgin olive oil and white vinegar, equal portions.  Seasoned it with a clove of garlic finely chopped, two shallots chopped and a generous sprinkle of oregano.  Add all the ingredients and salt , shake it up well and pour over the salad before serving.

 To make grilled or baked asparagus start by cleaning and snipping off the hard ends of the asparagus.  Dry off and put them in a zip lock bag and pour extra virgin olive oil, black pepper and salt and shake well.  Marinate this for about 1/2 hour and then either grill, bake at 400 F for about 10 minutes to 15 minutes or until soft.



Cottage Pie cooked in red wine and seasoned with thyme and rosemary. Yum!  Follow the method here but change the seasoning to a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme, finely chopped garlic about 1 Tbsp, red wine vinegar 1/2 cup and paparika and black pepper to taste.  Do not forget to add beef broth to keep the pie moist.




Moist beef with a rich and creamy potato top.  Don't forget to enjoy.

Contributor: Sunitha

Mixed Veggies Thoran

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   Today, I have a simple recipe of a 'thoran' for you.  As you can see I got a little excited about the photography even though this is a simple recipe, then again, isn't presentation vital in cooking?   A good time to make recipes like this is when you don't have enough of one vegetable but have an assorted little of many.  Really, thats what I did! Mixed up this and that to make a thoran and I really loved this combination. 

Have fun!



Did you like the broccoli tree with carrot flowers? My kids did ;-)



A great way to use up the leftover veggies in your fridge




Ingredients:

Broccoli Florets,cut into small- 1/2 cup
Carrots grated- 1/4 cup
Beans ,chopped finely- 1/4 cup
Cabbage ,chopped finely- 1/4 cup
Coconut Grated- 1/3 cup
Green Chillies- 3-4
Turmeric Powder- a pinch
Salt- To taste

For seasoning:

Shallots, chopped finely- 2-3
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Dried Red chillies- 2-3
Curry Leaves- 1 sprig
Oil- 2 tsp


Method:

1.Make all the veggies ready for thoran, by cutting them like I've mentioned above.
2.It's up to you whether to grate or cut the broccoli florets.
3. Grind(not much-maybe for a couple of seconds) coconut and green chillies together. If you do not have a grinder/small bowl for your mixer grinder, leave this step and just add more green chillies slit into halves.
4.Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds followed by rice.
5.Add sliced shallots and saute it till golden brown.
6.To this add red chillies and curry leaves and saute .
7.Add the Broccoli and beans along with, turmeric, salt and coconut mix from step 3 and add into the pan.
8.Mix everything together and cover the pan.Add a couple of spoon full of water.
9.Cook on medium flame for about 5-6 minute.Open and stir everything well.Add the carrots and cabbage now. Continue cooking till all the veggies are cooked, but still a bit crunchy
10.Open the pan and cook till the thoran is free of any water by stirring in between.

Kappa/Tapioca Biryani-Ellu Kappa,Kanjirappally Style

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Can I say snow is falling like cats and dogs? Well, maybe it’s not the right usage of the phrase but you get the ideal. Therefore, am I wrong to be feeling lethargic? I think not, and I know you agree ;) It has been snowing and the mercury levels continue to drop.

I made this biryani a couple of weeks back, and was lucky enough to save a bowl full to take photographs. Once you taste this dish you will know why photographing it before the bowl is emptied is a challenge, believe me! It's so yum! My mouth is watering and running over just thinking about it. All this is if you like Tapioca. If you do, you will definitely fall in love.. This is a hot selling dish in "thattukada"/roadside dhabas these days. If you have seen the "No reservations"(featuring Kerala) by Anthony Bourdain, then you probably got to see this dish.



It is just wonderful even without any side dishes:-)





For Kappa/Tapioca:

Tapioca/kappa- 1 kg or 2 lbs
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Salt- to Tatste
Grated coconut-1/2 cup
Green Chillies- 2-3
Shallots- 2
Curry Leaves- 1 sprig

For Chicken/Meat Gravy:

Chicken/Meat of your choice,with bones- 1/2 kg / 1 lbs
Onion chopped finely- ~3 cups
Ginger paste- 1 Tbsp
Garlic paste - 1 1/2 tbsp
Salt- to taste
Turmeric- a big pinch
Red chilli powder- 2 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 Tbsp
Meat Masala- 2 tsp(a mixture of 5-6 black pepper corns, a small cinnamon stick, 2-3 cloves and one cardamom)
Curry Leaves- 1 sprig

Method:
For Tapioca/Kappa:

1.Peel off the skin from Tapioca and clean and cut it coarsely to get medium sized pieces.
2.Boil water, enough to cover the tapioca in a deep pan.Once it starts boil add the chopped tapioca pieces and cook with salt and a pinch of turmeric until it is done. The time varies from 5 minutes to 20 minutes once it starts boiling,depending on the variety of tapioca you use.So keep checking in between.
3.Meanwhile grind the coconut, chillies,turmeric and shallots coarsely.
4.Drain all the water once tapioca is cooked.
5.Throw in the ground ingredients and salt and mix well.Mash the tapioca pieces well while mixing.
6.Cover and cook on medium low heat for 3-4 minutes or until steam starts coming.

For Chicken/Meat:

1.Heat oil in a pan and saute the onions till they start to turn brown.
2.Throw in the ginger garlic and saute till the raw smell leaves.
3.Add the spice powders and saute for a couple of minutes.
4.Add the curry leaves and the chicken/meat pieces and mix well till the meat is coated with the masala.
5.Cook on low heat till the chicken/meat is done.The time depends on the meat you use.If you are using any meat other than chicken, you could do this process in a cooker and let 3 whistles come before you switch off the heat.

6.Mix this chicken/meat masala with the tapioca and serve warm.




Notes:

1.Traditionally we use the beef that is near to the bones for making this and the dish is called "Ellu kappa", which is literally translated to "bones n Tapioca".
2.To get that authentic taste, use the meat with bones and use coconut oil while cooking the meat.
3.You could add more chillies.I used less for the kids at home ;-)
4.You could serve a raita or mulaku chammanthi, if you need more spice.
5.You may want to start with cooking your meat first, since that takes longer time than tapioca.
6.Serves 3-4

Contributor: Namitha