Category Archives: Sides & Snacks

Appetizers, Sides, Snacks and Small Bites

Thanksgiving Menu – You voted, I cooked. Results are in!

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Thankyou all so much for participating in my Thanksgiving menu vote! I truly appreciate your input. The results are in!

We are celebrating thanksgiving at my in-law’s place. My father in law is making the turkey (which I dont eat) and I volunteered to bring the rest of the food. I had great trouble deciding what to cook for Thanksgiving this year. So I had a poll. Thankyou for your votes, you’ve picked a great menu and Ive cooked it!

Polled by www.polldaddy.com

Semolina cutlets won the appetizer category. Many of you were curious about this dish and voted for it so you could see the recipe!

In the side dish category, wine and thyme mushrooms was the clear winner. This dish was also the over all winner, getting the most number of votes. I’m not surprised you picked this, its a great tasting dish!

Minty veggie kebabs won as entree. But I did not make this dish today. I just found out that I will be the only vegetarian at thanksgiving dinner at my inlaws. So it didnt seem worth while to make an entree just for myself. That doesnt mean you wont get the recipe for the minty veggie kebabs. I made these last week, the recipe is in this post.

Dessert – up untill the last minute there was a tie between apple baklava and pumpkin pie. I guess tradition won in the end. Pumpkin pie it is!

Now for the loser. The least number of votes goes to Tofurky! No surprises here :)

So heres the Thanksgiving menu:
(click on each or scroll down for the recipe posts)

Appetizer – Semolina Cutlets
Side – Wine and Thyme Mushrooms
Entree – Minty Veggie Kebabs with Creamy Cucumber Raita
Dessert – Pumpkin Pie
Orange Mulled Wine (not in poll)

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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Thanksgiving Appetizer – Semolina or Rava Cutlets

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Ingredients

Semolina or Farina or Cream of wheat – 1 cup
Milk – 3 cups
Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped
Garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Ginger paste – 1 tbsp
Green chilli – 1, for less heat, use crushed red pepper
Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp
American cheese singles – 3 slices, cut into small pieces
Cilantro – 2 tbsp finely chopped
Corn starch – 4 tbsp
Flour – 4 tbsp
Bread crumbs
Vegetable oil – for frying, plus 2 tbsp
Salt

Heat 2 tbsps oil in a large non stick pan. Add the cumin seeds and finely chopped chilli. When the cumin is fragrant, add the chopped onion and sweat till translucent. Then add the ginger garlic paste and saute on medium for about 4 minutes.

Slowly add the semolina to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 minutes. Don’t let the semolina brown. Add the milk to the semolina 1/2 cup at a time. Stir well each time and let the semolina thicken. Let the semolina cook in the milk on medium heat.

Depending on the coarseness of your semolina, it should be done in 7 to 15 minutes. Mine was coarse and took 15 minutes. Finer semolina will cook sooner. The end result must be a tight dough like consistency (slightly thicker than polenta). If you can easily stir the semolina it is too loose and needs to cook more and tighten up.

Add the cilantro and cheese in the end and turn off heat. Taste the mixture, add salt accordingly and mix well. Cool the mixture completely. Once cool, refrigerate it for 2 hours (or freeze at this point for later use).

Take some of the mixture and roll it into a ball using your hands. Now flatten the ball slightly to form a cutlet. Repeat with the rest.

In a bowl, mix together the corn starch and flour. Add some water to make a slightly thick batter. Place the bread crumbs on a plate next to the batter. Heat oil for shallow frying.

Dip the cutlets in the flour batter. Place them in the plate with breadcrumbs and coat well. Shallow fry in hot oil till crisp and golden on the outside. Don’t crowd the cutlets in the pan while frying, otherwise they will get soggy.

Drain well on several layers of paper towels. Serve with ketchup.

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Whole wheat Flat bread with Pesto and Beech Mushroom

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I went on a spur of the moment trip to Atlanta last week to see my friend M. In the 21 hours I was there, we managed to have three and a half delicious meals, a couple of drinks, broke M’s phone and got her car towed. Trying to retrieve M’s car from the towing lot at 4am was quite an adventure. The second most memorable part of the trip was the lunch we had at Cafe Intermezzo. For starters, M and I shared a fabulous wild mushroom flat bread. Ever since, Ive been wanting to recreate the dish at home. I used whole wheat flour and some wheat germ in my flat bread. I made a version of this food network recipe by Kathleen Daeleman. I topped it with some beech mushrooms I bought at the Asian store. Also known as Buna Shimeji or Bunapi, these Japanese mushrooms grow on beech trees – hence the name. For a little mushroom, these guys pack a lot of flavor. Baby bellas, white button mushrooms or shitake will all make great substitutes.

Ingredients

For the dough (if you don’t want to make your own, just use store bought pizza dough)

Whole wheat flour – 1 1/2 cup
Wheat germ – 1-2 tbsp, optional
Active dry yeast – 1 packet (8.75 grams)
Fresh Rosemary or thyme – 2 tsp finely chopped
Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
Sugar – 1/4 tsp
Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Water at room temperature – 1/2 cup
Hot water – 1/4 cup

For topping

Pesto – 4 tbsp
Red bell pepper – 1, cut into thin strips
Beech mushroom – 1 cluster. Substitute with white button, baby bella or shitake mushrooms
Garlic – 2 cloves minced
Salt
Pepper

Place the yeast and sugar in a bowl and add 1/4 cup hot water. Water temperature must be 110 to 115 F. Stir to dissolve. In a few minutes, the water will turn frothy like the picture above. To the yeast, add all remaining dough ingredients except the oil. Knead lightly to form a dough. Brush the dough with olive oil, cover and keep in a warm place for about one hour. I live in a cold climate, so I turn on my space heater to 80 degrees F and place the dough near it. In about an hour the dough would have doubled in size.

Place the dough on a clean work surface and knead it well for about 5 to 7 minutes. Divide the dough into 2 portions. Form each half into a long rectangle either using your hands or a rolling pin. Dust some flour on the dough if it is too sticky while rolling. Place the dough rectangles on a cookie sheet.

Pre heat oven to 400. Cut off the base from the beech mushroom cluster and separate the individual mushrooms. If using a different variety of mushroom, slice into pieces.

Spread pesto on the dough rectangles. Then sprinkle minced garlic over the pesto. Arrange the mushrooms and red pepper strips on top. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Bake flat bread in the oven for 12-15 minutes or untill the bread is lightly golden.

Some Tasty Variations

Try these toppings: caramelized onions, kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes, zucchini, asparagus or pine nuts.
Sprinkle some cheese over the flat bread and then arrange the vegetables on top of the cheese(mozzarella, parmesan, fontina or brie will be great).
For a dessert flat bread, top with grilled pineapples and chocolate.
For a shortcut, use store bought pizza dough.

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Zesty Rosemary Baby Potatoes

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When I saw these beautiful baby potatoes at the market, I decided to bring them home and make roasted potatoes. I always roast them with some garlic, olive oil and either rosemary or thyme. This time I decided to add some lemon zest to kick up the regular roast potatoes. The zest brightens up the dish and pairs surprisingly well with potatoes. As a bonus, you’ll have delicious, lemony smelling fingers :)

Ingredients

Baby Potatoes – about 25 (the ones I used were quite small)
Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Rosemary – 1/2 sprig (or thyme 1-2 sprigs)
Garlic – 3 cloves
Salt
Pepper
Lemon – 1

Pre heat oven to 400. Take a rosemary sprig and pull half the leaves from the stalk. Cut each baby potato in half. If your potatoes are larger, quarter them.

In an oven proof dish, combine the potatoes, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Cooking time will depend on the size of your potatoes. Check the potatoes half way through, stir them with a wooden spoon and return to oven. Check doneness using a fork.

Zest the lemon, taking care not to zest the bitter white part. When potatoes are done, sprinkle the lemon zest over the hot potatoes, stir to combine and serve.

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Masala Popcorn for Election Night

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When I was growing up in India, we went to Madras a lot. Like every big city, Madras has great food and spectacular restaurants. But the highlight for me was a street vendor selling masala popcorn. The popcorn machine and cart was (still is) outside the Nilgiris grocery store on Radhakrishnan Road. The popcorn machine constantly gurgled freshly popped corn, yellow from the turmeric and spices. While my mother shopped at Nilgiris, I would buy a dozen bags of Suri’s masala popcorn and pack it into the car. By the time we reached home I would have eaten half my popcorn stash. My tongue would be numb from all that coriander and turmeric, but I relished the salty, spicy goodness so much, I even ate the unpopped kernels. Till this day, I am obsessed about Suris popcorn. Every time I am in Madras, I will buy that wonderful, warm, freshly popped corn that smells of cumin and coriander. I couldn’t think of a better snack than this for election night. I know I’m a week late in posting this, but I was so caught up in election fever, I forgot to publish this post!

There are two ways to make this recipe – in the microwave or on the stove. I used the microwave method, because its quicker and that meant less time away from CNN on election night! But I prefer the stove top method; it is much more flavorful and tastes closer to Suri’s masala popcorn. Here are both methods:

Microwave Method

1 bag unpopped microwave popcorn, I used Orville Redenbacher Simply Salted
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder- 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder – 1/4 tsp
Paprika – 1/8 – 1/4 tsp

With a sharp knife, make a very tiny slit along the side fold of the popcorn bag. See the picture below. The slit must be near the middle of the length of the popcorn bag because this is where all the corn kernels are sitting. Dont make the slit any wider than the tip of your knife. Now, using a butter knife, carefully add all the spices into the popcorn bag through the slit.

Microwave the popcorn according to the instructions. About half way through, quickly shake the bag so that the spices are distributed evenly. Return to the microwave and finish popping. Be extremely cautious when taking the popcorn out of the microwave and while opening it. The slit on the side will be hot and steamy.

Stove Top Method

Popping corn (not the microwaveable kind) – 1/3 cup unpopped
Canola oil – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder – 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder – 1/4 tsp
Paprika – 1/8 – 1/4 tsp
Popcorn Salt

Place a heavy bottomed vessel with a lid on the stove. Heat the oil in the vessel. Add the popping corn and all spices (except salt) to the pot. Turn heat to medium/medium high and put the lid on the pot. When you hear the corn popping, turn down heat just a little. If you need to vent steam, crack the lid open a little.

The paprika will burn easily, so watch the popcorn at all times. When the popcorn is done, sprinkle salt on top while still hot. If you don’t have popcorn salt, make your own by grinding regular salt to a fine powder using a blender.

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Cream of Fennel and Leek Soup

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When we went to Turkey, we frequented the bar at the Kybele hotel in Istanbul. The bar tender was a laid back, super friendly guy who even let me make my own drinks at the bar! One night, I wanted to try Raki – an anise/fennel flavored Turkish liquor. I took one sip of it and spat it out. It was terribly strong and tasted awful. “Women don’t like the taste of anise” said the bar tender. I believed him; after all I don’t like liquorice and didn’t like Raki. But all that changed when I first had fennel soup. I loved the light onion flavor of fennel. Fennel is also wonderfully bright, citrusy and mild. I saw a very nice recipe for fennel soup on the eatingclub vancouver blog. I liked that the recipe used white wine. So that’s what Ive done in my recipe as well to concentrate the flavors of the fennel and leeks.

Ingredients

Fennel – 1 bulb
Leeks – 1 stalk
Heavy Cream – 1/2 cup
Wine – 1/2 cup
Water – 3/4 cup
Olive oil – 1 tbsp
Salt – about 1 1/4 tsp
Pepper

Chop the fennel into rough pieces, don’t use the tough top green stalks. Reserve the fennel fronds for garnishing. Chop the leeks and clean them by soaking in cold water to remove the grit.

Heat a pot with olive oil. Add the fennel to the oil and saute for about 10 minutes. Then add the chopped leeks. Cook on medium another 3 minutes.

Add salt and pour in the wine. Increase the heat to high and let most the wine evaporate – about 2-3 minutes. Now pour in the water and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 5 minutes or till the fennel is soft. Cool the mixture and puree into a smooth soup in a blender. Return to heat, when the soup is hot, turn off heat, stir in the cream and some cracked pepper. Garnish soup with fennel fronds.

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Kale and Jumping Corn Saute with Chili Lime Salt

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I like blackened corn, so I was cooking some on my skillet on high heat for this dish. Just then, the big fat fly that has taken up residence in my kitchen appeared. Ive been trying to evict this fly for 4 days now. I even put some sugar by the window, hoping it would come for the sugar and I could shoo it out the window. But this is one healthy fly; it didn’t come for the sugar, but the minute i took the kale out, there it was! So I went chasing after it with tea towel in one hand and bug spray in another. By that time I had forgotten about the corn in my skillet. Having given up on the wild fly chase, I came back to the stove to find the sweet corn kernels jumping! They were all popping up and down in the skillet! (There was very little oil in the pan and it was very hot, I think that’s what made the corn kernels jump). So I decided to name them jumping corn.

Whether your corn is jumpy or not, this is a quick and easy recipe to make. I had it with left over quinoa. I decided to use the Chili Lime Salt I made a few days ago instead of regular salt. You can use regular plain salt and some paprika instead.

Ingredients

Kale – 1/2 bunch
Sweet Corn – 3/4 cup
Onion – 1/2
Garlic – 1 clove
Red Wine Vinegar – splash
Nutmeg – pinch
Chili Lime Salt (see this post for recipe) or substitute with salt and paprika
Sugar – pinch
Oil – 1 tsp

Slice the onion very thinly. Shred the kale into thin strips. Mince the garlic. In a non stick pan or skillet, heat the oil and add the onion and let it brown. When browned, sprinkle the sugar on top of the onion and push it off to one side of the skillet.

Turn the heat to high and add the corn. Position your skillet so that the heat source is right under your corn and not under the pile of onions on your skillet. Cook the corn about 3 minutes or till it turns brown (and jumpy!).

Now toss the onions and corn together. Lower heat. Add the garlic, saute till fragrant, about 30 seconds. Then add the kale, nutmeg, red wine vinegar and chili lime salt. Cook on medium heat till the kale is just wilted, about 2 minutes.

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Enoki Mushrooms, Snow Peas and Crispy Seitan in Sesame Honey Sauce

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Ive walked past boxes of snowy white Enoki Mushrooms at the Asian store. I’d stop to admire these floral looking clusters, but never bought them because I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. But this time I picked up a box, telling myself if they were so pretty to look at I’m sure they’ll taste good.

Enokis are a delicate, slightly sweet mushroom. They hardly need any cooking. Infact, you could use them raw in this recipe if you wish.

Crispy SeitanSeitan – about 5 large pieces. I use white wave seitan.
Rice or plain flour – 6 tbsp
Chili Powder – 1/2 tsp
Garlic Powder – 1/2 tsp
Salt
Oil

Mix the flour, chili powder, garlic powder and salt. Dredge the seitan pieces in the flour mixture. Heat one tbsp of oil in a pan, and pan fry the seitan till golden brown on both sides.

Now place the seitan on a cutting board and let it cool. Once cooled, cut into strips.

Enoki Mushrooms and Snow PeasEnoki Mushrooms – one 7 oz box
Snow Peas – about 25
Sesame Seeds – 2 tbsp

Cut off the end one third of the enoki cluster. You should now be able to separate the mushrooms into individual stems.

Saute the mushrooms in a pan with some oil on medium heat for about 1 minute.

You could also use the mushrooms raw.

Trim the ends of the snow peas. Boil water in a pot and add snow peas. Boil for 1 minute. Drain snow peas and place them in an ice bath. Drain before using.

Sesame Honey SauceSoy Sauce – 4 tbsp
Sesame Oil – 4 tbsp
Honey – 1 tbsp

Whisk all ingredients together.
Combine the mushrooms, snow peas and seitan in a bowl. Pour the sesame honey sauce over the vegetables. Toss carefully.

Sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

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