Sweet Potato Salad

When S was in St. Louis last month I had asked him to get me a couple of pounds of the white sweet potatoes. The last of those were used yesterday for dinner in a delicious salad from North Africa, adapted from World Food Cafe - 2. It was hard to not keep eating this salad as the rest of dinner was cooking!

Ingredients: Japanese White Sweet Potatoes - 2 boiled, peeled and diced; Ginger - 1 tbsp minced; Saffron - a pinch; Onion - small, diced; Cumin - 1 tsp; Cayenne Pepper - 1/2 tsp; Black olives - 1 handful; Cilantro - 2 tbsp chopped; Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp; Salt - according to taste; 

• Add olive oil in a hot pan, and saute onions and ginger for a couple of minutes. 
• Add the sweet potatoes, saffron, salt, cook for a few more minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients except lemon juice, cook for a few more minutes. 
• Turn off the heat, sprinkle the lemon juice, serve!

I made the easy version by cooking the sweet potatoes first in the microwave. Another option would be not to cook them ahead, but after adding them in the pan and using enough water to cook them through.

Kalki says...

every time we take him out for a swim!

Spicy Baked Falafels

These days, one of the utensils in the house that gets used a lot seems to be the mini-muffin pan. Snacks and finger food are a lot easier to bake in these and saves me a lot of time and effort of deep-frying. I have baked falafels before, and now I adapted the recipe some more. Loved how they turned out! 

Ingredients (For 24 falafels):  Chickpeas - cooked 2 cups; Egg - 1; Tahini - 1 tbsp; Onion - 1/2 diced finely; Cilantro - minced 1 tbsp; Garlc - 2 cloves minced; cayenne pepper - 1tsp; Cumin - 1/2 tsp powdered; Salt & pepper - to taste; olive oil - 1 tsp;  Water - as needed.

• Pre-heat the oven to 375F
• Coarsely blend the cooked chickpeas in a food processor. Transfer to a mixing bowl
•  Add all the rest of the ingredients with the chickpea and mix them thoroughly
• Take about 1- 1.5 tbsp of this mixture and add to each well of the muffin pan. Pat down a little
• Bake for about 20 minutes till they are golden
• Serve hot with a sauce on the side

I am sending this recipe to What's with my cuppa? hosted by Nandoo's kitchen and to Bake Fest hosted by Manjula, an event started by Vardhini.

Cucumber Sweet & Sour Pachchadi

As I was browsing through my food pictures to see what I want to post today, I came across this one from a couple of years back. Now that we are also getting a lot of cucumbers from the CSA work-share I am doing this summer, its time to revisit this easy recipe. This recipe is adapted from the book Cooking with Pedatha - A cookbook of vegetarian recipes from Andhra. 

Ingredients: Cucumber - 2 medium - chopped; Tamarind paste - 2 tbsp; Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp; Sambhar powder - 1 tsp; Sesame seeds - 1 tsp; Jaggery - 1 tbsp; Curry leaves & Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp; Green Chili - 1 diced;  mustard seeds & cumin & lentils - 1/2 tsp

• In a pot, add olive oil and once hot, temper the mustard & cumin seeds, lentils, green chili , curry leaves and saute till translucent
• Dry roast the sesame seeds and blend into a coarse powder
• Add the chopped cucumber, tamarind paste, sambhar powder, sesame seeds, jaggery and turmeric. 
• Add salt, adjust seasoning. Let it cook for about 5 minutes
• Garnish with cilantro & serve!

I am also sending this dish to ONLY Cookbooks Event hosted by Runner Girl in the Kitchen and started by Pari. 

Chocolate Mini-Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I had the opening reception for my biggest show of the year last night. The Gallery at Yahara Bay Distillers was a wonderful venue with gracious hosts and we all had a great time. The best part was when three of my paintings found a new home and I hit the big 100 (# of paintings sold/donated since I started showing in Feb 2012). 

As usual, I made the hors d'oeuvres for the evening. I spent a good chunk of time on Wednesday in the kitchen and all four items were baked (three of them in mini muffin pans)! At least the weather was a little cooler to manage having the oven on for a good 2-3 hours.

One of the dishes I made was chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter frosting. The batter was adapted from a cake recipe and improvised quite a bit.

Ingredients (For 48 cupcakes):  All-purpose Flour - 1 1/2 cups; Cocoa Powder (I used Dagoba drinking chocolate with spices) - 1 cup; Sugar - 3/4 cup; Butter - 2 tbsp; Vanilla - 1 tsp; Salt - dash; Baking soda - 2 tsp; Baking Powder - 1 tsp;  Eggs - 2; Yogurt - 1/2 cup;  Water - 1/2 cup.

• Pre-heat the oven to 350F
• Line muffin pans with baking cups
• In the mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients, mix them quickly
• Add the wet ingredients and mix well with an electric mixer
• Pour the batter into the baking cups, about 3/4th full (about a tbsp)
• Bake for about 20 minutes! 

For the peanut butter frosting, I whipped together 1 cup of creamy peanut butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, milk  2-3 tsp - as needed. Once mixed to the desired consistency, I used a ziplock bag to pipe some on the cupcakes!

I am sending this to Cupcake Fest, hosted by Sreevalli.

Cherry Almond Pie

Last weekend S and I were in Oshkosh, for the Paine Art Center's Faire on the Green. We had a good time with friends and a good day with our little booth at the fair. One of our friends has a cheery tree - and a couple of our other friends were gracious enough to share some of their pickings with us. So I spent a good chunk of time today pitting them and the first batch I pitted were used for a cherry pie.

I just mixed 3 cups of pitted tart cherries with 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp Almond extract and 1/2 cup chopped almonds for the filling. Poured the filling in a pre-made crust from Trader Joe's and baked for 40 minutes. Now I am ready for an early dinner and dessert.

Mtedza - Peanut puffs from Malawi

Tonight was African Night at home. I made a peanut - calabaza squash stew and mbatata (Sweet potato cookies) and mtedza - these delicious & nutritious cookies made with peanuts. I adapted the recipe from here and used almond meal in addition to the peanuts and also some candied ginger! I used very less butter and added a little milk to bring the dough together. Checking Malawi off my list and Snacks for the rest of the week :)

Ingredients (For 16 cookies):  Whole Wheat Flour - 1/2 cups; Peanuts - roasted, 1 cup; Almond Meal - 1/4 cup; Sugar - 1/4 cup; Butter - 2 tbsp; Vanilla - 1/4 tsp; Salt - dash; Candied ginger - chopped, 1/4 cup; Milk - 1 tbsp. 

• Pre-heat the oven to 350F
• In a pan, I roasted the peanuts, as I had raw ones at home.
• In the food processor add the roasted peanuts with the sugar and pulse till peanuts are chopped. 
• Add the rest of the ingredients except milk and pulse.
• Add the milk and mix a little till the dough comes together.
• Shape into small ball, flatten a little, and put them evenly spaced on a cookie sheet
• Bake till golden (15 - 20 minutes)! 
• These can be dusted with icing sugar if needed. 

Sautéed Eggplants

I never liked eggplants, or as the smaller Indian varieties are called - Brinjals, as a kid. These days I can't seem to get enough of them, especially as the smaller varieties are hard to find. My ultimate comfort food, cooking with them, is the Ennai Kozhambu, and the next best thing is to saute them with coconut or peanuts. I am not a fan of mushed eggplants and try to cook them in the microwave first and not turn them much when sautéing.

Ingredients: 6 small eggplants - quartered; Coconut - frozen is better than dessicated - 2 tbsp; salt to taste; Red Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp; Turmeric - a dash; 1/2 tsp cumin; 1/2 tsp coriander powder; 1/4 tsp Mustard seeds; 1/2 tsp Urad dal + yellow split peas; 1 tbsp oil. 

• Slice the eggplants, put them in a bowl with enough water and microwave, covered, for about 7 - 8 minutes.
• In the saute pan, add the oil, wait till it is hot, add the tempering - mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal and yellow split peas. 
• Wait for the mustard to pop and the lentils to turn red. Add the almost cooked and drained eggplants. 
• Season with coriander powder, salt, chilli pepper, turmeric. Mix well, taking care not to mush the eggplants.
• Let cook for about 5 minutes or so. Add the coconut powder, and cook for a couple more minutes.