Food Mamma

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indian food

indian rice pudding…and a giveaway!

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Earlier this year, I participated in Anyday Magic’s Recipe Makeover. For the makeover, three food bloggers were asked to add a twist to a recipe. I participated in the dessert challenge and was given the task of transforming rice pudding.

Every time I think of rice pudding, I think about Kheer. It’s an Indian rice pudding with much more depth than just regular rice pudding. The cardamom powder provides a nice warmth to the dish and the saffron adds an exotic touch. I added another twist by adding berries, which provided a freshness to the rich comforting dessert.

Since my recipe won the dessert round (yay!), I get to reward my readers with a prize pack from the Dairy Farmers of Canada. Each pack contains a spatula and a whisk and there are a few to be given away.  Entering is easy! Just comment here, facebook me or send me a tweet and let me know how you would makeover rice pudding.  Be sure to leave contact info so that I can get a hold of the winners.  Contest closes on Sunday, December 2nd, 2012 at 11:59pm MST.

Indian Rice Pudding (Kheer)
Makes 4 servings

½ cup rice
1 cup water
2 cups milk
½ cup whipping cream
¾ cup sugar
½ can evaporated milk
½ teaspoon cardamom powder
pinch saffron
½ cup almonds
½ cup pistachios

1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup whipping cream, whipped, not sweetened

Combine the rice and water and cook over medium high heat. When water is absorbed, add the milk and cream and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.

Mash the rice with a masher and then add sugar, evaporated milk, cardamom, saffron and half the nuts and simmer for a few minutes.

At this point, you can garnish with the remaining nuts and saffron or top it with sliced strawberries and the whipping cream with the nuts and saffron on top. Delicious both ways! 

kofta curry

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Hubby came home today after being away for ten days.  Yay! It felt like he was gone for ages and Q and I were really happy to have him home.  I made sure to welcome hubby home with one of his favourite meals – kofta curry.

This recipe is his mom’s recipe, kinda sorta.  She has mastered every dish without a recipe so, although I was able to get the ingredients, I had to guess on some of the measurements.

The meal turned out great!  The curry was tasty and flavourful and the meatballs were soft and tender.  Hubby ate his over rice while I ate sopped mine up with delicious roti.  Even Q loved it, licking his fingers and saying “mmmm….”.

Kofta Curry

1.5 pounds ground beef
1/2 heaping TB crushed garlic
1/2 heaping TB crushed ginger
1/2 TB ground cumin
1/2 TB ground coriander
1/4 tsp tumeric
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
handful chopped cilantro

2 TB oil
6 TB crushed tomatoes
3 TB fried onions
2 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp salt
1 TB garlic
1.5 cups water

Mix the ground beef with the spices until incorporated.  Make into small balls.

Add the tomatoes and spices to the oil and cook the spices for a couple of minutes.  Add the water and let it come to a boil.  Carefully place the meatballs into the pan and cook on high for about 10 minutes.  Reduce the heat and let it simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes.  Sprinkle with cilantro and serve over rice or with roti.

chevdo

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It’s exactly two months until my sister gets married!  We are super excited for her big day so she can marry the love of her life.

A huge part of an Indian wedding is the food.  With lots of people traveling for the wedding, it’s nice to have snacks around, like chevdo.  Chevdo is an indian snack mix, mostly filled with fried lentils and peanuts.  With my sister’s allergies, this is something she has had to stay away from.

I was intrigued when I saw Aarti Sequeira’s recipe for chevdo that had no chickpeas.  The peanuts were easily replaced and it made for a dish that my sister can actually enjoy.  I knew I had to give this recipe a try.  I made an addition of coriander seeds, which added a lemony taste to the mix.  I still had some Christmas Rice Krisipies left which added some fun colour with flecks of red and green.

Looking forward to my sister’s return so that she can finally try some chevdo.

Chevdo
Adapted from Aarti Sequeira of Aarti Party.

2 cups Corn Flakes
2 cups Rice Krispies
1/4 cup almonds, halved
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
2 TB oil
1 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
5 dried curry leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup plantain chips
salt

In a large pan over medium heat, toast the cereals, pumpkin seeds and almonds for about 2 minutes.  Remove from the pan.

Warm the oil in the same pan over medium heat.  Add the mustard seeds, coriander seeds, curry leaves and turmeric.  Cook for 30 seconds and remove from the heat. 

Add the cereal mixture and plantain chips.  Season with salt and toss until combined.

nylon bhajia (potato pakora)

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It was nice to finally spend a day at home.  Things have been crazy lately and there’s been a lot of running around to do.  We finally got to sit back and relax on Sunday.  It was a hot day and it was nice to spend some time on our neglected deck.  We were hungry and needed a snack so I fired up the side burner on the bbq to fry up some pakoras (bhajias).

There are so many different versions of bhajias.  These particular ones are referred to as nylon bhajias.  They are thinly sliced potatoes, covered in a pancake like batter and fried until golden.

Q sat on his lawn chair and happily ate these as they came out of the fryer.  He devoured them, and kept asking for more – always a good sign.  To use up the batter, I added an onion that was thickly sliced.  These are perfect served with tamarind chutney or ketchup.

Nylon Bhajia

2 large potatoes, thinly sliced
2 cups gram flour (chickpea flour)
1 cup water
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
handful cilantro

Add water to the flour slowly until it is the consistency of pancake batter.  Add the spices and cilantro and mix well.  When the oil is ready for frying, add the baking powder to the batter and mix well.  The batter should be a little foamy at this point.  Add the potatoes to the batter until they are all coated.  Fry until golden brown.

chicken and spinach curry in less than 30 minutes

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We have been eating way too much red meat lately.  It was time to take a break and start making more chicken and fish dishes.  Looking through my fridge, I found I had some chicken and spinach, so I figured I would make hubby happy and make an Indian dish.  Indian food does not have to be complicated or time consuming.  In less time than it took Q to watch an episode of “In The Night Garden”, this dish was ready to eat!


Chicken and Spinach Curry

Oil
3 chicken breasts, cubed
1/2 pound baby spinach
3 TB crushed tomatoes
2 tsp tomato paste
3 TB fried onions
1 tsp crushed ginger
1 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
coriander for garnish

Saute the chicken in the oil until half-cooked.  Add the spinach and continue cooking until chicken is cooked and spinach is wilted.  Add the tomatoes, onions and spices and cook for a few minutes.  Add water and let simmer for 10 minutes.  Serve with rice or naan.

chana bateta

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It was quite the week last week, even though I had it off!  My parents had gone away with the family for the week and since I had no childcare, I was lucky enough to spend the week with my toddler.   I thought that I would be able to update this blog every couple of days, completely forgetting how much attention little ones need.  We enjoyed our week with playdates and trips to the zoo and I even managed to do some experimenting in the kitchen.

This is a dish that I have eaten since childhood, called Chana Bateta.  Literally, it translates to “Chickpeas and Potatoes”.  I would consider this as more of a soup or a stew than a curry as it is not eaten with rice or a bread, like naan or chopati.  It is eaten with a spoon, topped with the indian snack Chevdo, or what I prefer, potato chips!  If you have some tamarind chutney, add a bit of that too.  I couldn’t believe how easy this vegetarian recipe was to make, 20 minutes and it was ready to serve. 

Chana Bateta

1/2 tsp mustard seeds
3 curry leaves
2 TB gram flour
1 large can of plum tomatoes, blended + 1 TB of its liquid
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 medium potatoes, boiled and cubed
1 large can of chick peas
1 cup water
3 TB lemon juice
salt

Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and curry leaves.  When the seeds start to pop, add the gram flour and cook for a few minutes.  Add the tomotoes and cook for another five minutes.  Add the turmeric and some red chili powder next.  Mix and add the chickpeas, water, lemon juice and salt and cook for 10 minutes. 

stampede breakfast with pancakes and beans

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It’s Stampede time in our beautiful city of Calgary, which means an abundance of pancakes, cowboy hats and country music.  For 10 days, people come together to celebrate “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth“.

This past weekend, we attended the Ismaili Muslim Community Stampede Breakfast.  Feeding nearly 5000, this is the 14th year of the annual breakfast.  This year, the community partnered with the United Way of Calgary, and the Ismaili float was decorated to highlight the importance of high school completion for overall lifetime success

It was so great to have friends and co-workers join us at this event.  Everyone enjoyed the pancakes, eggs and bharazi – an East African dish of pigeon peas in coconut curry.  Since so many requested the recipe, I called up my aunt who is on the catering committee and she shared the recipe which is below.  She is a genius at cooking and she was able to rattle the recipe off in seconds.

Bharazi (Pigeon Peas in Coconut Curry)

1 can of pigeon peas, drained
1 onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp green chilis, blended
1/4 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 can of coconut milk
1/4 can of evaporated milk
cilantro
salt

Cook the onion in oil until softened.  Add the tomatoes, spices and milk and cook until mixture starts boiling.  Add peas and cook until curry thickens.  Finish the dish off with a generous amount of cilantro.

prawn curry

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I am a huge fan of prawns so naturally, one of my favorite curries is prawn curry.  Thankfully Q is a huge fan as well, making it an easy excuse to have it often.  I tried a different recipe this time, one from my mother-in-law, who is an amazing cook.  Try it out, you’ll love it!

Prawn Curry

2 TB oil
2 onions, sliced
1 lb. prawns
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. garlic
pinch tumeric
1/2 tsp. coriander powder
1/2 tsp. cumin powder
2 tomatoes, blended (or 1/2 c. crushed tomatoes)
1 TB tomato paste
salt
1 TB lemon juice
1 TB garam masala

Saute the onions in the oil until soft and translucent.  Keep the heat on medium-low and add the shrimp.  Add the ginger, garlic, tumeric, coriander, cumin, tomatoes and salt and let the shrimp continue to cook.  Once the shrimp are done and you have reached the desired consistency, add lemon juice and garam masala and serve!

coo coo for kuku paka

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My husband loves indian food.  Its not one of my favorite things to cook but I do feel such a sense of accomplishment when I do and it turns out.  This past weekend, I made for the first time, kuku paka – chicken in a coconut curry sauce.  Chicken, tender potatoes and boiled eggs in a creamy yet mild curry – yum!

This was a hit with both husband and Q….definitely a make again meal.

Kuku Paka3 TB fried onion (or 1 small onion, sauteed)
3 pounds of chicken, cubed or in pieces
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/2 tsp each of garlic, ginger, cumin powder, coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
4 potatoes, cubed
2 1/2 cups of water
2/3 pkg of pure creamed coconut mixed with 450 ml of water (you can use a can of coconut milk instead)
4 boiled eggs

Mix together the onions, chicken, tomatoes and spices and cook for a few minutes on medium heat.  Add the potatoes and water and cook on medium heat until chicken is done.  Add the coconut and continue cooking until the curry has reduced.  Add eggs.

Garnish with parsley or coriander.  Enjoy!