Recipe for Sundal from Samayal

I got "Samayal - The Pleasures of South Indian Vegetarian Cooking" as a gift a while back from V and since then I have used it just a couple of times falling back more heavily on the trusted "Dakshin" whenever I had the yen to cook South Indian.

An overall review of Samayal will come later, but here is a recipe for "sundal" adapted from the book.

Ingredients:
Kabuli chana (chick peas) 1 1/2 cups
Kala chana (black chick peas) 1/2 cup

Grated fresh coconut - 4 Tbsp
Grated ginger - 1 Tbsp
Green chilies - 4
Dried red chilies - 4
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Perungayam (Asafoetida powder) - 1 pinch
Karuvepilai (Curry leaves) - few
Cooking Oil - 2 Tbsp
Salt to taste
For the powder:
Coriander (Dhania) seeds - 2 Tbsp
Dried Red chilies - 4
Cumin (Jeera) seeds - 1 tsp
Some chopped cilantro for garnish

1. Mix both the chickpeas together, and soak in warm water. Leave it soaked for a whole day. Also if possible, rinse it out and change the water after about half a day. After soaking for a day, pressure cook the chickpeas. They will be soft and ready to snack on right away and far superior to the canned stuff.

2. Make the powder: Roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and red chilies and grind into a fine powder.

3. Heat the oil, and add the mustard seeds. When they start popping, add the red chilies (broken up), asafoetida powder and karuvepilai leaves. Add the green chilies, grated ginger and stir for a minute.

4. Add the cooked chickpeas, and heat through. Add salt, and grated coconut and stir.

5. Switch off the heat. Add the garnish powder, and stir.

6. Sprinkle chopped cilantro on top and serve.

I submitted this recipe to "Vegan Ventures" for the National Vegan Month. Click below logo to enter your own!

Deepavali recipe - Butternut squash halva

South Indians celebrate Deepavali early just at the break of dawn to symbolically banish darkness and evil from our lives. Ofcourse wearing new clothes, bursting fire crackers, and being on a sugar-high through the day is an absolute must in the whole evil-banishing regimen.

This year, my Deepavali sweet of choice is butternut squash halva a la carrot halva. It was an experimental project last year which turned out to be a hit, so this is a repeat performance.

Butternut squash is in season now and is just starting to show up at Farmer's markets and is really hard to resist. Besides it is very healthy and I end up using a lot of butternut and acorn squash through the winter when it is readily available.


Ingredients:

1 large butternut squash
8 Tbsp butter (2 of the little slabs in a package) to make ghee

3 cups milk

1/2 cup sugar (add more if you need more sweetness)
1 small 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
5-6 pods cardamom - seeds removed and powdered
1/4 cup cashews and sliced almonds

1) Make the ghee - In a small heavy saucepan melt the butter on low heat for about 1/2 hour. It becomes frothy on top and then becomes clear and you get the wonderful aroma of ghee. Don't let it burn.
2) Reduce the milk - In another heavy pan, boil the milk and then simmer on low heat. Add the cardomom powder, sugar and condensed milk and continue to simmer so that it reduces to less than half the amount.
3) Peel the butternut squash using a peeler, slice it into big pieces and shred using a grater or food processor.

4) In a large pan, heat about 2 tbsp of ghee. Fried the sliced nuts until golden brown and remove with a slotted spoon.
5) Add 5 tbsp more ghee to the pan. When it is warm, add the shredded squash and let it cook on medium heat for about 10 mins.

6) Now add the reduced milk and let it cook for 10 more mins and switch off the heat.
7) Garnish with fried nuts before serving.

I am submitted this recipe to the Vegetarian Thankgiving Recipe Carnival where you can get more ideas!!


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Shangri-la in San Francisco

What a wonderful day in San Francisco! Despite the fact that V and I didn't get the fog-free day we hoped for (which it usually is in the months of October and November), we had an awesome time. We started our hike at the Legion of Honor museum at Land's end, went North up to Eagle's point, turned around and walked back through Sutro Heights and Golden Gate park to Shangri-La Chinese Vegetarian restaurant in Outer Sunset district.

When we got there at 2 PM ravenous from our walk, the place was practically empty. The menu was not too different from other Chinese vegetarian places. We ordered the "Stuffed Goose" from the appetizer section. For the main course V got his usual kung-pao called "Vegetarian Chicken" with extra peanuts on the side, and I got the "Pie Pa Tofu balls" that was recommended by our waitress.

The food arrived very quickly. the vegetarian goose was light and tasty and it was gone in no time.

The main entrees came with brown rice (a nutty mixture of brown and wild rice actually). The "Kung-pao" was just okay, I couldn't tell the chicken from the veggies and the sauce was not very tasty. V passed the same verdict for the kung-pao. However the Pie-pa tofu was very tasty. It reminded me of "kofta balls", a North-Indian cream sauce-based dish. Similar to kofta, the pie-pa balls were made of mushed-up tofu and other veggies and spices and deep-fried. The fresh lightly-steamed broccoli on the plate was refreshing.

To my surprise, V decided that we would go back to Shangri-la. He is usually not so kind to restaurants who don't get the kung-pao right.

The bill came to $27 with tax and tips for both of us. Our walk back to the parking lot at the Legion of Honor museum was adventurous, and I will save that story for another day and another blog!

Our very own hiking snack - Aval Pori

V has been in search of our very own trademark hiking snack. Finally this week, he thinks he has found it! So here's the recipe for Aval Pori for other hikers.

Ingredients:

Puffed rice (Pori in Tamil)
Pressed rice (Aval in Tamil, Poha in Hindi)
(Puffed rice and pressed rice are readily available in huge packs in Indian markets.)
Nuts - walnuts, almonds, peanuts (I know, peanut is not a nut)
Salt and chili powder to taste
Just a smidge of oil for roasting

Roast all ingredients individually until crisp in a pan with a teeny smidge of oil coating the pan. Mix all roasted ingredients. Season with salt and chili powder and shake. Pack in zip lock bags for the hike. Don't forget to throw in a spoon in the bag - you don't want to get the chili powder in your hands from where it might make it to your eyes (ouch!).

If you are enjoying this at home, then leave out the almonds and walnuts. Just use peanuts. You can also add some finely chopped onions and tomatoes, and squeeze some lime/lemon juice. Do it just before eating to retain the crunchiness.

Roasted Aval

Opportune time for Investing in Muni Funds

A post from V

Given the catharsis that has been going on the financial market, we have been looking for areas where we can squirrel away our savings without worrying about the "Greed is God" gang running away with it. The answer is FSPXX, Fidelity CA AMT Muni Market Fund. You need $25,000 as minimum investment but it returns 4.72%. After adjusting for after-tax returns it runs ~8% (at the highest tax brackets). Vanguard also has similar Muni funds.

Let's take the money below our pillows and get those critters to work…