Sri Lankan Seeni Sambol Buns for #BreadBakers

Theme for this month's Bread Bakers is 'Stuffed Breads' and I have bookmarked quite a few stuffed breads from our recent mega marathon. But luckily, Priya picked buns for this month's 'Home Bakers Challenge' and she had these amazing looking caramelized onion filled Sri Lankan buns on the list.

Seeni Sambol is a Sri Lankan relish made with onions. (Seeni means sugar). This seeni sambol is a sweet, tangy and sour relish that is served with any savory meal or as a sandwich filling. So as the name suggests these buns are stuffed with seeni sambol or sweet onion relish.

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Curly Kale with Caramelized Onions (Thanksgiving Side Recipe)

I am continuing with my Thanksgiving recipes again for this week's Cooking from Cookbook challenge and today I have a healthy & delicious side dish made with Kale. It is quite simple to make too.

Kale is one of the tougher greens and needs to be cooked a little longer. This is one of the more time consuming dishes which involves caramelizing the onions and cooking the kale till tender. But thankfully the dish can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to serve. If you want to make it ahead of time, then caramelize onions and cook the kale -- cool and refrigerate. Reheat just before serving and then drizzle with vinegar and garnish with almonds.

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Lebanon -- Mujadara (Rice & Lentils dish)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: L for Lebanon

Dish: Mujadara (Rice & Lentils dish)

We are going to Lebanon, a country that is located in Western Asia. I think my first experience with Lebanese cuisine was at the local Mediterranean restaurant near my office. It was run by a super active mother-daughter team. They would memorize the orders in their heads and never wrote them down -- no matter how big the order was. They used to have the usual Mediterranean dishes like hummus, baba ghanoush, pita etc., but what I really wanted to order was their Lebanese Moussaka which they said was vegetarian. But unfortunately I never did and now that I'm not working there, I wish I had ordered that dish.

Well today, I didn't make the moussaka, but I made another really filling and comforting Rice & Lentil dish called Mujadara. Mujadara is a humble and comforting dish made with pantry staples, rice and lentils. There is nothing fancy about it, but it is a very flavorful dish with the grown cumin and the crispy fried onions on top. It is also quick dish to make and is usually served with a dollop of yogurt.

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Caramelized Onion & Leek Pasta Sauce

Onions are delicious, but they taste divine once caramelized. The pungent and almost spicy taste of raw onions transforms into silky sweetness once onions are slowly cooked until golden and caramelized. Slow cooking is the key to get the right taste and not end up with burnt onions. 

Caramelized onions are great as topping on pizzas, tarts or even on crackers. Stir some softened cream cheese and sour cream into caramelized onions for an instant dip for chips. 

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Curried Brown Rice Salad

After indulging in some chocolate cupcakes & creamy egg salad, today I have a healthy brown rice salad that is perfect for picnics or make-ahead lunches. Recipe is from here. I followed the recipe to the T and the end result was a super hit at home. Slight sweetness from the dressing is complimented very well by the raisins and the addition of toasted almonds gives the required crunch to the salad. A must try for all salad lovers and also for those you are not into green salads (just like me).

I soak brown rice before I leave for work and cook it after I come back in the evening; I found that the rice has a better texture this way.

Ingredients:
Brown Rice – 1 cup (I used brown basmati)
Red onion – ½ cup, finely chopped
Red pepper – ½ cup, finely diced
Chickpeas – 1 cup (½ of a 15 oz. can), rinsed and drained
Cilantro – ¼ cup, finely chopped
Raisins – ¼ cup
Sliced Almonds – 2tbsp, toasted

For the dressing:
Lime juice – 3tbsp (from one medium sized lime)
Agave nectar – 2tbsp (original recipe used honey)
Extra virgin olive oil – 2tbsp
Curry powder – 2tsp (I used MTR brand curry powder)
Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method:

• Cook brown rice and set aside in a wide bowl to cool. (I use 1:2 rice:water ratio-bring the mixture to a boil and simmer covered for 25-30minutes until all the water is absorbed and rice is completely cooked).
• Add all the other ingredients for the salad except for the toasted almonds to the rice and mix gently to combine. In a small bowl, whisk all the ingredients listed under dressing.
• Pour the dressing over the rice and mix gently, taking care not to mush the grains. Garnish with toasted almonds and serve either at room temperature or chilled.

Let’s check what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up for Day 6 of BM#6 (Can’t believe we are almost at the end of the marathon—time just flies!!).

Pyaz Ki Kachori for ICC

January & half of February was fairly uneventful (or rather post-less) blog-wise, though life in general was pretty eventful with 2 sicknesses and 1 car wreck incident. I have been cooking but nothing that is post worthy and was even thinking of emailing Valli on not being able to participate in this month's Indian Cooking Challenge. But things started to get better health-wise and on a much needed mid-week day off due to snow, I made these yummy fried goodies and I'm so glad I did because they turned out super delicious.

To be honest, I don't remember eating kachoris in a long long time and totally forgot how they looked. But after watching Manjulaji making them on You Tube, I tried my hands on making these and even though my kachoris are no where near her perfectly round ones, they tasted awesome.
I chose to make onion filling as I'm not a big fan of moong dal filling and caramelized onion filling sounded just scrumptious and they tasted great too.

Here's the recipe for Pyaz ki Kachori from Medhaa's Mom. Thanks Valli & Medhaa for this yummy recipe.

First make the dough:
Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour/Maida - 2cups
Oil/ Ghee - 1/4cup
Salt - 1/2tsp
Water for kneading

Method:

• Mix the flour and salt, Add the oil/ghee and mix till you get a bread crumbs texture.
• Slowly add water and make a soft dough. Knead well for about 8 minutes.
• Cover and keep aside to rest for atleast half hour.

Special Tips / Notes for the dough:

• Keep the dough covered at all times, if not it will dry up and not puff up when frying. If the dough is made right wet cloth can be used if not just a towel.
• The dough could spring back for many reasons:
• Dough is too cold (If wet cloth is used)
• Dough is not soft enough.
• Not kneaded for enough time.
• Oil is less.
• Not rested enough.
  

For the onion filling:
Onions - 2 cups
Nigella Seeds (Kalongi) - 2tsp
Fennel seeds (saunf) - 2tsp
Bay leaves - 2
Green chillies - 1 1/2tsp finely chopped
Bengal gram flour (besan) - 2tbsp
Coriander (dhania) powder - 2tsp
Chili powder - 2tsp
Garam masala - 1tsp
Coriander leaves - 3tbsp, finely chopped
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Heat the oil in a pan. Add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, green chillies and onions and sauté till the onions turn light brown in color.
• Add the gram flour, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the chopped coriander and mix well. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Allow the mixture to cool completely.
• Divide into 12 equal portions and keep aside.

Assembling the Kachoris:

• Make a small ball from the dough. Roll out into a 2 inch diameter circle. Or flatten the ball using your fingers having the center thick and sides little thin.
• Place about 1.5 tsp of the filling in the center of the rolled dough.
• Cover the filling with the dough by slowly stretching it over the filling. Seal the ends and remove excess dough. Repeat with all the balls and keep aside for 5 -7 mins.
  
• Then using your palm, flatten the balls by lightly pressing it, as using the rolling pin will make the filling come out. (See notes below). Keep aside covered. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• Meanwhile heat some oil for deep frying. The oil should not become smoking hot. Test to see if the temperature is right by dropping a tiny ball of dough and see if it is rising slowly to the top.
  
• Drop the kachoris in batches of 3-4 gently into the oil. It should rise up slowly. If you don't want to use lot of oil, use just enough for two or three at a time and fry them.
  
• After it rises up (about 2 minutes), turn it over.
• Cook for about 6 to 10 minutes till the side down gets a golden brown color.
• Turn and cook the other side for another 6 minutes or till its golden brown in color.
• Remove when done, cool and store in airtight container.
• Serve with coriander chutney and tamarind chutney

Special Tips / Notes for making the Kachoris:

• You can fry 3 kachori's at a time.
• The oil should be at a heat when you drop some dough it should come up slowly, if the dough comes up too fast the oil is too hot, if it does not come up then the oil is cold.
• It will not be crisp if the oil is too hot.
  

O for Onion Rice

This is a very basic rice recipe with caramelized onions and my entry for this week's A-Z Indian Vegetables hosted by Nupur (@ one hot stove).

Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups, cooked
Onions - 2 large, thinly sliced
Tomato puree - 2 tbsp
Peas - 1/4 cup
Red Chili powder - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1tsp
Bay leaves - 2
Cloves - 4
Cumin seeds - 1tsp
Method:

• Heat 2tsp oil in a pan, add bay leaves, cloves and cumin seeds, saute for 30 seconds.
  
• Add onions, fry on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes. Occasionally baby sitting the onions to make sure that they don't burn.
• After the onions turn golden brown and caramelized , add tomato puree and peas (boiled), cook for 2 minutes. Add chili powder, garam masala and salt, cook for about 5 more minutes.
• Mix rice into onion mixture, adjust seasoning and serve hot as is or with a curry/raita on the side.
  

Cooking Around Flavors - Sweet & Tangy

I was watching Rachel Ray’s 30 minute meals the other day and she was making a menu around smoky flavors. She used various ingredients like cumin, chipotle in adobo, smoked Gouda cheese etc to get the smoky taste in all the dishes. That made me thinking about Indian menus around one particular flavor.

I don’t usually like having the same flavor in all the dishes. I like to have complimentary flavors like hot & spicy with mild & slightly sweet. Well for this menu, I wanted to have the same flavor, sweet and tangy, in all the dishes.

I made Pearl Onion pulusu and Carrot & Coconut curry with white rice.

Potato fry, Carrot-Coconut curry, Onion Pulusu with Rice

Pearl Onion Pulusu (Chinna Ullipaya Pulusu)

Ingredients:
Pearl Onions – 12, peeled and cut in half
Tomatoes – 2 ripe, chopped
Green chilies – 4
Tamarind paste – 2 tbsp
Sambar powder – 1 ½ tsp
Jaggery – 3 tbsp
Rice flour – 1 tbsp, mixed with water
Turmeric – ½ tsp

For Tempering:
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Dry red chilies – 2
Curry leaves – 6-8
Asafoetida, hing – pinch

Method:

• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a saucepan, add the ingredients for tempering one after another in the same order. When the seeds splutter, add the onions and sauté on medium heat till they turn light golden.
  
• Add the tomatoes, cover and cook till they get mushy. Add tamarind paste, 2 cups water and bring the mixture to a boil.
  
• Stir in sambar powder, jaggery and simmer for 5 minutes.
  
• Add the rice flour mixture, cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in chopped coriander leaves.

This sweet and sour dish goes well with rice and plain dal (utti pappu).