Dal Makhani

It had been so long since I made dal makhani, I just had to!



1. Soak Kidney beans and black gram lentil overnight in the ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 whatever you prefer but more than half and half.
2. Boil the beans till they get soft.
3. In the meantime, fry 2 small roma tomatoes with 2 tsp oil and add dal makhani masala.
4. Mash the tomatoes to make a paste. Add the beans and simmer for 10 minutes. Add butter and whipped cream. Ready it is!

Serve with white rice.

Dry Spicy Okra

I had eaten so much steak, I felt bad for the animals. Thought I should eat some veggies. And I noticed some okra at Pike's place so why not?



1. Wash all the okra and cut the ends off. We don't need them.
2. Chop all the okra length-wise as shown in the picture. I kinda like this picture. Good shot. Pat on the back :) This is like 1-2 lbs.
3. Now heat some oil in a non-stick deep pan.
4. Add some cumin and black mustard. Wait for these to crack...bla bla blah
5. Add okra, salt and turmeric.
6. Now stir and cook on medium flame till it's not slimy any more. When it's completely cooked, it gets kinda mushy and the color dulls out.
7. Once it's done, add plenty of cumin-coriander powder and red chilly powder. Add a pinch of compounded asafoetida. And you're done :)

Serve with white rice/ whole wheat tortilla

Crumb baked chicken

Sooo I prefer crumb baked chicken (fry if you want) to popcorn to go with a movie.

it's so simple!!

1. Beat one egg in a bowl. Add salt and pepper.
2. Take the skin and fat off chicken thighs/drumsticks whatever you prefer. Party wings are preferred.
3. Rub some cornflour on the surface of the pieces.
4. Dip in egg and coat 'em with breadcrumbs.
5. Either fry or bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
6. Turn sides. Continue baking for 10-15 minutes.
7. Squeeze lemon on top. Add cilantro if you want. Or lettuce by the side works too.

Don't forget the movie :)

Egg curry

Was craving curry. Its been some time you know.

1. Fry 4 tbsp of fresh ginger garlic paste in 2 tbsp of oil in a pressure cooker.
2. Add 1 chopped one medium onion and stir every 30 sec. Cook on medium flame.
3. Add salt.
4. Fry till onions turn transparent golden brown.
5. Add tomatoes in 1:1 ratio to onion or more. Not less - tastes terrible!
6. Stir stir. Make a paste. Cook for about 20 minutes. Boil 6 eggs by the side.
7. Blend the paste and add meat curry masala. Cook for another 10 minutes. Keep stirring all the while.
8. Add eggs and cook for 20 minutes. I wait till the steam smells nice enough :)
9. Add fine chopped cilantro and eat with whole wheat tortillas.

Enjoy!

Dill Salad

I moved 2 blocks away from Pike's market so I had to try some SALMON :)

There are 2 versions of this recipe - one with salmon and one that replaces it with red skinned potatoes. I have pictures of both too.

I made both. Here's how:

1. Boil about 3/4 packet of barilla's medium pasta shells
2. In the meantime bake 1 pound salmon or boil 1 pound red skinned potatoes
3. Chop a bunch of green onion, half a cucumber. Toss in a small can of sliced olives.
4. The recipe says to add 8 oz of sour cream and 8 oz of mayo. But I cut that quantity down by may be half.
5. Once the salmon/potatoes are done, mash them and add them to the mixture. Add the pasta. This dish is supposed to be served cold so rinse pasta with cold water before adding.
6. Add dill, salt and pepper.

Yellow lentils and white rice

Was craving carbs so made some rice and dal.

1. Cook 1/4 cup yellow lentils with plenty of water in a pressure cooker till it becomes soggy. I cooked them on medium flame for 20 minutes.

2. Fry (in order)

2.1. 1 tsp minced garlic

2.2. 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

2.3. 1/2 tsp cumin

don't burn any of the above so quickly add:

3. 1 vine tomato

4. Add 1 tsp turmeric (1/2 tsp), 2-3 curry leaves, salt, red chilly powder (4 tbsp) and keep stirring till it becomes a paste.

5. Add 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, cumin, cinnamon and butter in another utensil and cook on medium flame.

6. Now add the yellow lentils to the tomato paste. Stir and cook till it simmers.

7. Add a small pinch of compounded asafoetida. This is the wasabi of Indian spices. Don't go crazy.

8. Chopped cilantro would have been nice to add. It tasted a little grainy today so squeezed a thin slice of lemon on it. Much better!

One the rice is ready, mix and eat :)

Sweet Corn Chicken Soup

Hello Audience!

My blogs are going to be about my cooking experiments in Seattle. I am an amateur cook. My focus is:1. Should be low cal 2. Should be tasty 3. I shouldn't have to order pizza too often.

I like trying various cuisines and cooking almost every dish I know in rotation. I feel if your body is deficient of a certain food group, your stomach will crave some food that has it and you gotta think of a quick recipe around it.

Once again:

food group deficiency (example: iron)-> stomach craves food that has it (example spinach) -> think of a recipe (example spinach soup/ salad etc)

cool

Today I had a cold so I made this.

I don't measure ingredients. Just use my own estimation. Its better to develop that skill. Why? Let me give you an example: You have a recipe that needs a pound of chicken. You go to the store and your options are: 9.5 pounds and 1.15 pounds. You spend the rest of the afternoon playing with numbers of your supercool infallible recipe. *dislike or waste the remaining chicken or save it in the fridge (worst of the three)

So I'll just give you a rough idea about measurements.

Lets start:

On bowl of sweet corn chicken soup. See picture.

1. Take a small utensil and pour a bowl of water in it.
2. Add 2 chicken party wings, salt and pepper
3. Boil till you cook the chicken thoroughly. It takes me 20 minutes.
4. Add corn flour. I added approx 4 tbsp but more would have been better
5. Beat an egg loosely with a spoon.
6. Add slowly while stirring around with a fork
7. Add whole kernel sweet corn. Rinse first.
8. Add some soy sauce.

Tada you are done!