Indian meal for the end of September

This week I made carrot-beetroot fry (top left), lassoni dal raspalak (chard; top right), bendakaya pulusu (okra; bottom right) and green beans patoi (bottom left).

A Somewhat Mexican Dinner Party

For a dinner party last night I made oven roasted chickpeas which were served with beans and rice and spinach salad (not pictured).  For the people eating meat, there was also chicken mole (no photo; I was eating vegetarian).  I use this simple recipe for the fajita seasoning instead of buying a mix.

 

Masala Dosa and Unexpected Companions

Once again I found myself with some leftover dosa batter. I had some friends over on Sunday and we ate masala dosa with sambar; the sambar was finished but the rest wasn’t.  So I made masala dosa on Monday and paired it with bottle gourd in milk gravy, an aubergine curry, and the Gujarati-style ridge gourd I also made last week (it was that good).

Almost Healthy Gingerbread

Origin

I started out with a broonie recipe and adapted it to be a little healthier.

Ingredients

• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup agave syrup
• 1/2 cup date syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 cups whole grain rye flour

Process

Preheat the oven to 350° F/180° C.  Lightly grease a baking pan.

In a bowl, pour the boiling water over the oats and set it aside.

In another bowl, cream together the butter and syrups.  Mix in the applesauce and eggs.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger.  Blend the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients.  When it is mixed, add in the oats, which should have absorbed the water.

Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (about 1 hour).

Let the gingerbread cool slightly before cutting it into pieces.  Or just cut in like I did,which will result in ragged edges and fresh hot gingerbread on your plate.

Chili and Carrots

This is chili with chickpeas, kidney beans, green bell pepper and chocolate, served with ginger-orange carrots.

Chard/Mangold stems with Parmesan

Earlier I used chard/mangold leaves to make a side dish, which left some stems to use. Both the leaves and stems are nice, but I don’t like to use them in the same dish as they cook rather differently.  I decided to bake the chard stems with Parmesan for lunch.

Lentils, Pumpkin, Zucchini/courgette and Gourd

This week’s Indian meal consisted of Gujarati style urad dal (upper left) and ridge gourd curry (lower left),  pumpkin curry (upper right), and zucchini/courgette (lower right).  I used oil instead of ghee in the dal to make it vegan.

Sunday tea: plum cake

On overcast Sunday afternoons, who doesn’t enjoy a bit of tea and cake?  On Friday I picked up some cheap plums which were on the cusp of spoiling with the intention of making plum dumplings.  Instead, I decided I wanted to try a new recipe, so I made this plum cake.

Potato latkes with apple-cranberry sauce

That’s last night’s dinner: potato latkes with apple-cranberry sauce (recipe from Marlena Spieler’s Recipes from my Jewish Grandmother) with a side of creamed chard/mangold.  Creamed chard is basically creamed spinach, but with chard leaves replacing the spinach for extra calcium.  Look for the chard stems to make an appearance later in the week.

Vegetable lasagne and apple strudel

We had a vegetable lasagne with one layer of spinach and cheese, and another of zucchini/courgette, eggplant/aubergine and carrots simmered in wine.  It was served with a salad of sweet peppers, onion, tomato and cucumber in apple cider vinegar.

Afterwards, we ate my friend’s Bosnian-style apple strudel.