Colorful Vegetarian Briyani

Okay, You might say, where are those beautiful rainbow colors of the briyani?

Briyani is supposed to be colorful with red, green and yellow colored rice, layered one on the top of another with variety of vegetables glimmering through the grains, but No! Thank you! I don’t use food coloring in my cooking, I use colorful vegetables instead, differently-colored-vegetables can also give a colorful effect. And, of course, if you still  insist, I do have an option to use natural food colors like turmeric for yellow, beetroot juice for red color and crushed spinach for green, but that is unnecessary.

Every responsible chef will agree that food coloring is not good for health. I, too, am very much against those bright color dyes used in toffees and ice-creams. Sure, those colored food look very appealing and makes food look brighter, but at what cost?

Food dyes—used in everything from M&Ms to Manischewitz Matzo Balls to Kraft salad dressings—pose risks of cancer, hyperactivity in children, and allergies, and should be banned, according to a new report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. A top government scientist agrees, and says that food dyes present unnecessary risks to the public.

If your child is hyperactive, or has a behavior problem, blame it on dyes and stop his artificially colored candies immediately.

The food will taste good if it is nutritious and made with interest, color is just a feast for the eyes.

I believe that every vegetable has its own taste and its own cooking point. If we cook all together, there is uneven tenderness in vegetables that is good only if you wish to mash them up to make ‘Pav bhaji’, but if you wish to bite each vegetable and relish them, then its better to cook each one differently, some to cook the proper way, with/without gravy as you wish, some to stir-fry and some to deep fry, its just the matter of understanding what kind of taste would suit your dish.

I agree my Briyani does not look beautiful, but it was so tasty that I was very happy that my family enjoyed it.

It takes me about 2 hours to cook Briyani and I really have to be in a very good mood to cook it for you.

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati Rice

4 medium size Onions

6 tsps Olive oil

1 tin(200gms) Soya chunks

1 cup Yogurt

3 tsp Garlic

2 tsp Ginger

2 tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Cumin powder

1 tsp Turmeric powder

1tsp red chili powder

2 Cumin sticks

4 Cardamom

4 Bay leaves

4 Cloves

A pinch of saffron strands

1 medium size Carrot(diced)

1 medium size Capsicum(chopped)

1 large Potato (diced)

1 medium size Eggplant (diced)

2 medium size Tomatoes

1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves

2 tbsp chopped mixed dry fruits(almonds, cashew nuts, walnuts, raisin)

2 tbsp lime juice

4 tbsp milk

oil for deep frying

Salt to taste

So this is how I make……

Step one: Deep fry 3 medium sized onions (sliced evenly) till dark brown, keep it aside.

Step two: While the onions are frying, start chopping other vegetables, and marinate soya chunks in yogurt, 1tsp garlic, 1tsp ginger, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, and salt.

Step three: Par boil the rice (that has been soaked for 30 minutes before parboiling), strain the water, spread it on a big plate and add cumin sticks, crushed cardamom, bay leaves, cloves, saffron strands and 1tsp olive oil

Step four: Fry 1tsp garlic in one teaspoon of olive oil, and stir fry carrots and capsicum, add salt and keep it aside.

Step five: Deep fry potatoes and egg plant

Step six: In a pan, fry one (finely chopped) onion in 2 tsp of olive oil till light brown, add ½ glass of water, cook till onions are tender, add 1tsp garlic and 1tsp ginger, add marinated soya chunks, add tomatoes and cook till oil separates.

Step seven: Grease the pot with 1tsp olive oil, arrange fried onions at the base, cover it with ¾ of spiced rice, add the layer of stir-fried carrot and capsicum, add the layer of cooked soya chunks, add the layer of fried potatoes and egg plant, cover it with remaining rice.

Step eight: Garnish with remaining fried onions, coriander leaves and dry fruits, sprinkle lime juice and milk and I tsp olive oil. Cover with aluminum foil, then with a lid and keep it on low heat for forty-five minutes

Serve with onion raita and potato chips.

Vegetarian Tortilla

Tortilla is the favorite snack in Tenerife and is available in every bar and in a restaurant. It is normally an egg dish that is stuffed with assorted meat, fish or vegetables. I had blog earlier about this Spanish omelet. I had a guest from Panama city who had demonstrated her way of preparing this dish.

Since this requires egg, therefore this could be limited to non-vegetarian folks only, right?

Wrong!

Vegetarians can be quite creative and those who cannot eat egg will find a way to relish this dish by finding a suitable combination that will replace egg.

Today when I entered the kitchen, I saw M prepare the vegetarian version.

So what did she do to change it to a vegetarian dish. I walked closer to have a look. She was mixing 1 tbsp of wheat flour, 1 tbsp of corn flour and 1 tbsp of gram flour with 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of milk.

Good enough, egg is the binding ingredient, well this flour batter would serve the purpose too.

So all she needs to do was to prepare the vegetarian stuffing.

She finely chopped the onions, red and yellow capsicum, coriander leaves and green chilies and set them aside.

Potatoes are must in a tortilla dish. Some use the boiled potatoes and some use deep fried. But M is the careful cook and tries to avoid fried stuff, so she diced two potatoes in small bits and steamed them.

For vegetable stuffing, she fried 1 tbsp of garlic in 1 tbsp of olive oil and then added chopped cabbage, carrots and mushroom, and stir fried till they were tender.

Now was the time to mix gently all the steamed potatoes, the stir fried vegetables, onion, red and yellow capsicum, coriander leaves, green chilies and avocado into the flour batter.

The mixture was gently transferred to a non stick frying pan, covered and cooked on medium flame for 12 minutes.

after 12 minutes, it was flipped over to other side and cooked for another 7 minutes

The Spanish enjoy this dish with hard drinks, vegetarians will enjoy this with fresh fruit juice. I tasted a slice....no difference at all, so much resemblance in taste too....

PS: But those who are still interested in using egg. You make take 6 eggs. separate the egg yolk and beat the whites till they are stiff. then add egg yolk and all the other ingredients and follow the same method.

Vegetarian Risotto

Italian Restaurants are good for Pizzas or Pastas. I am happy to munch on garlic bread and try few starters with assorted sauces and pesto’s.

But I have never really relished risotto because I find them too bland and too rich with butter and cheese. I have seen people dumping various sauces to improve its taste, to suit their palate, but eventually, destroying the authenticity of a real risotto dish.

A properly cooked risotto is normally rich and creamy, still has some resistance or bite and should have separate grains. Its’ traditional texture is fairly fluid but still not too watery like a broth. It is served on a flat dish and it should easily spread out but should not have excess watery liquid around the perimeter.

The rice that is used in this recipe is short-grained type which has good absorbing properties, has an ability to release starch to make it stickier than the normal rice, giving it a creamier effect.

Italians use rice like carnaroli because this variety of rice keeps its shape better than other forms of rice during the slow cooking, that is required for making risotto .

For me, a rich dish is rich if it contains not only assorted vegetables but also the right quantity of cheese and olive oil. A tasty dish for me is one that is spicy too. 

Normally, in a traditional risotto, they use wine and vegetable/meat stock to cook rice, but I have not used wine, (wanted to make it completely vegetarian) and also have used vegetable stock ‘cubes’ instead of vegetable stock that they normally make.

Oh! And yes, I love green chilies.

Since no restaurant will serve me the way I like, I prefer making it on my own.

What you need to prepare before cooking

As usual, chop all the vegetables required for this dish and bring out all the other ingredients from shelves or fridge or wherever you have stored them......

5-6 garlic pods, 

1/2 inch ginger, 

2 green chilies, 

1 vegetable stock cube, 

1 cup rice.

2 tbsp olive oil

5-6 mushrooms, 

1 carrot, 

1 medium green capsicum, 

1 medium Zacchini, 

1 medium red capsicum, 

1 tsp dried basil leaves

1 tsp 5-spice-powder

1 tsp red chilly flakes

1 tbsp black pepper sauce

10-12 olives, 

1 cup grated cheese,

So now that you are ready, lets begin.

Step 1

Pound garlic, ginger and green chilies in the mortar

Step 2

Fry the garlic, ginger and chili in olive oil

Step 3

Add rice and vegetable stock cube and toast it well

Step 4

Add water, let it cook on slow flame.

Step 5

In a separate pan, stir fry vegetables in olive oil 

Step 6

Add basil leaves, red chilly flakes, 5 spice powder, black pepper sauce and salt.

Step 7

Transfer the stir fried veggies into the rice pan

Step 8

Mix it well and add 1 more cup of water and let it cook till the rice is tender.

Step 8

Remove from flame and add grated cheese and chopped olives, mix it well.

It must be eaten at once as it continues to cook in its own heat and can become too dry with the grains too soft.

Hope you like it. I had made chilies in vinegar, which tasted quite good when I sprinkled on it.

Baked Dish- Macaroni and Vegetables

Just bought a packet of macaroni and have been longing to cook for somebody, which friend to invite? Has to be some-one who enjoys my food and is not too critical, not that I am shy of critiques, but I like to cook at my own pace and if somebody is watching and expecting me to create a competitive dish, I am sure to disappoint. Some of my friends (and family too) know that I cannot cook the same dish twice, even if I followed the recipe to the point, word by word  (but hey, what are friends for,) if they can forgive me for a bad dish and enjoy the dish that I have made especially for them, I am most willing to experiment. After all, the main ingredients that we use in every cooking is always  love and interest, so understand that if I love you and I am really interested in impressing you , I am sure to cook a tasty meal for you..go figure….

Pastas of any kind if mixed with vegetables can make a complete meal, and it’s is used all around the world. There were records of pasta in Italy 500 years before Marco Polo returned from China.

Pasta is science and an art. Everybody had their own style of cooking the pasta to suit their palate. You can call it by different name; it’s just to identify it by its shape. Visit Europe and you discover spaghetti, gnocchi, tagliatellea, ravioli, vincisgrassi, strascinati, fancy names with sexy curves of pasta, each with an identity of its own.  Travel to Asia, and you have noodles of all shapes with an amazing history of its own. Americans not only cook bad pasta but they also use wrong sauce with noodle. Many are confused as to which sauce could match with which type of pasta.

Have you sometimes floundered as to when to add salt? How much to boil? Sometimes it’s too soggy, sometimes too raw and sometimes an embarrassment. Such knowledge cannot be achieved by reading encyclopedia of pastas, all we need is to wear our apron and discover it our self. With experience we learn and with every recipe we discover how to improve it the next time.

Ah well, all I care is that I need to eat the pasta that will suit my palate. So this week I dared to make pasta again and it behaved. I know it did because I saw my guests go for second helping…….

Step 1

Collect all the ingredients:

1 cup macaroni

1 tbsp olive oil

2 pods garlic (grated)

3 green chilies (cut slant wise)

200 grams Mushrooms (chopped)

1 medium carrot (thinly diced)

100 grams corn

1 medium Capsicum (diced)

10-12 leaves Spinach

20 grams baby tomatoes

20grams olives

20 grams white cheese

1 tbsp butter

1 cup chopped spring onions

1 tbsp white flour

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Step 2

1.     Boil the pasta adding salt and oil,

2.     Add in 1 cup of cold water.

3.      Keep it aside

Step 3

1.     In a pan, stir fry garlic and green chilies in olive oil

2.     Add mushroom and mix,

3.     Add carrots, corn, capsicum

4.     Strain the macaronis  and add to the pan, stir it lightly

5.     And add spinach and salt. Mix it well.

6.     Transfer it to a baking dish.

7.     Garnish with baby tomatoes, olives and white cheese.

Step 4

1.     Stir fry spring onions in butter.

2.     Add white flour and roast a little.

3.     Add milk.

4.     Add cheese.

5.     Stir till white sauce is creamy.

6.     Pour it in the baking dish on the top of pasta and vegetables.

Step 5

Bake it for 45 minutes at 180 degrees.

Serve it with garlic bread and a glass of orange juice.