The word "khana" in Indian Khana Made Easy means food. So come on, let's explore and cook some easy Indian food together including gluten-free and vegan dishes.

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April 26, 2010

Everything Stew with an Indian Touch!

You've heard of the Everything Bagel, right?

It has different kinds of seeds, onions, salt and other ingredients on it. Well, we have something in the same line but it's a stew. It's called the Everything Stew! It's like a Minestrone Soup. 

It has all the vegetables that were in our vegetable drawer plus beans, grains, different kinds of spices and sauces.
I always believe that the best recipes are the ones that you make up on a whim. Everything Stew is just that. My mom started making the stew this way when we were running out of ideas for lunch and needed to make something healthy and hearty. At first, I was not excited about it, I was like, stew? Come on mom.

But you know what, as usual I was wrong. I think my mom knows I'll change my mind once I taste it (I'm the Official Taste Tester in the family). Kind of like how back in the Kings and Queens era, they had peons and servants taste their food before they ate it. It was to ensure that the food was not poisoned or spoiled. In my case, I tell her whether the food requires more or less of a certain ingredient.

I know, it might seem like I'm being biased to my mom's cooking. Everyone would say their mom's cooking is the best. You just have to try it. I would recommend making this when you want to spice up cooking regime. I like to eat it with potato chips, toasted bread or pita chips.

This recipe makes 6-8 servings and you know what....in just 4 steps you have The Everything Stew!!

Click image to enlarge
Ingredients:
- 1 cup or 1 packet of Brown rice/ Uncle Ben’s rice (cooked)
- 1 bunch of Celery, finely chopped
- 1 medium Onion, chopped
- 1 can (14.75oz/418g) of Sweet Corn, regular or cream style
- 1 medium size can of Beans (any variety), wash and drain well
- 1½ cup of Crushed Tomato
- 2 tsp of Ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp of Red chili pd / paste
- 2 Red/green/yellow peppers, cut into ½” pieces
- 1 tbsp of Smoked barbeque sauce (optional)
- 2 tbsp of Olive oil or any cooking oil
- 1 tsp of Marjoram (Italian spice)
- ½ tbsp of Salt

Procedure:
1) In a heavy bottomed pan (casserole), preferably of 4 Qtz size heat oil and sauté onions and ginger garlic paste. (Indian Touch)

2) Add celery and peppers until celery is soft and firm. When celery is cooked, add chili paste and tomato pulp for 1-2min.

3) Then add corn, beans, cooked rice, marjoram and salt & cook well (add water to bring the stew to a thick soup consistency).

4) Serve it in a bowl along with veggie sticks or garlic bread or toast. It makes a very satisfying healthy lunch. Can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-week.


Quick Tips: 
- Barley/ Cracked wheat (dalia) or regular rice can be substituted for brown rice. Any variety of vegetables like carrots, zucchini, cabbage, cauliflower, beans or spinach can be used.
- If available, frozen mixed vegetable packets are convenient and save time in chopping and cooking.

April 21, 2010

Spice It Up Baby!!

According to Wikipedia, there's a difference between "to season" and "to flavor" with herbs and spices. For instance, to tenderize meat, one may add salt which improves the flavor. Other seasonings like black pepper and basil may transfer some of their flavor to the food.
In addition to how seasonings are used as described above, the timing of when spices are added to the dish is also important. In Indian cooking, there is a technique you could say is used to enhance the flavor of the food. Besides Chaunk, other words for seasoning are Talimpu, Tadka, or Popu which can be all translated to say tempering in English. This technique is often used in dishes from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Whole spices are fried briefly in oil or butter to release essential oils which enhance the flavor of the dish. Then this mixture with the oil is combined with the dish you have prepared.
It is the last thing we do before the dish is done. One time, my mom was making mango daal and she put it aside to make some other dish. I was so excited about the daal, that I just spooned it up with some rice and ate it. Immediately, I realized something was missing. Can you guess?? The chaunk wasn't added to the dish and it tasted weird to me. Anyways, she took her little saucepan out and heated up the oil, added all the spices and mixed it into the daal and Voila! I ate it twice that night.
Here is the little secret I have been dying to share with you so far. Most Indians keep something called a Spice Box (Chaunk or Taalimpu box) in their spices cabinet for easy access. This box contains the following ingredients from counter clockwise: cumin seeds, mustard seeds, dried red peppers, red chili powder, coriander & cumin powder, garam masala, and turmeric.


It is easy to prepare this box; just use a container (with a tight lid) that can hold smaller containers to hold all these spices which can be placed in a kitchen cupboard. You would be surprised to know that this box isn't just used in everyday cooking. Professional chefs use this too to enhance their cuisines. Don't take my word for it, just take a look at the Iron Chef episode with Executive Chef Maneet Chauhan (from At Vermilion restaurant) vs Chef Morimoto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDMsVs8PjjISpeed up the video to :40 seconds to see the camera focusing on the Spice Box. In our box, we included the spices we use most and we have salt in a separate container because we use that in everyday cooking. If you would like to learn how to make seasoning for your dishes, please follow this link or take a look on our Cooking 101 page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x96rO6JWUQ&feature=player_embedded

Well, my friends until next time...keep on Cookin'!!!