Fenugreek Leaves (Methi) cooked two ways

I love all green leaf vegetables. There is always kale and spinach in my fridge at the minimum. Or other greens such as chard greens, mustard greens, collard greens, amaranth leaves, and red sorrel leaves.

But fenugreek leaves is a whole different story.

While I admired the patience with which my mother extracted, cleaned, chopped and used them in cooking and enjoyed the end product, I am lazy when it comes to following the arduous process involved!

I rarely buy fenugreek leaves, but on a rare occasion I do commit and often regret, which was the case this past week. Good news is, these days you can buy fenugreek leaves in the frozen section of an Indian grocery.

The most common recipe that we used to make at home was to cook fenugreek leaves with toor dal (pigeon gram). I scoured the web for other ideas and finally decided to also try a curry recipe with it.

Here’s how I used my bunch of fenugreek leaves.

Peas, Methi Malai (Creamy Peas & Fenugreek Leaves Curry)

3/4 bunch of fenugreek leaves, extracted, rinsed and chopped
1 cup frozen peas, washed
1 small onion chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped
small piece of ginger, chopped
2 Roma tomaotes, blended
3-4 tbsp of sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
1-2 tsp oil
dash of tumeric
1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Extract, rinse, chop and set aside the fenugreek leaves.

Heat oil in a pan. Add tumeric and cumin seeds and fry till lightly brown.  Add onion, garlic and ginger and fry till lightly brown, about 5 minutes. Add peas, and fenugreek leaves and continue flying for another 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and spices as desired.

Add milk, sour cream and a cup of water. Bring to boil, and reduce flame and continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes until the curry thickens. This is very lightly seasoned, always adjust seasoning to personal preference. You can also add paneer if desired.

Garnish with cilantro and serve with naan, roti or a bowl of rice.

Methi dal

 

I previously posted the recipe for Methi dal and you find the recipe for Methi dal here.

Note: Fenugreek leaves have a very strong flavor, and unlike other greens, using a whole lot of them in dal can make it bitter. I usually like to err on the lighter side and use less rather than more!

Black-eyed Peas and Collard Greens for the New Year

I am a little late in posting this. Following the tradition from the last few years I made black eyed peas and collard greens on New Years Day.

For lunch, I made these Mediterranean flavored wraps with steamed black eyed peas seasoned with salt, sun dried tomatoes in oil, black olives, sliced cucumber, sliced orange pepper, banana peppers and roasted pepper hummus.

For dinner I made soup loosely following the recipe here.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup black eyed peas, soaked over night and steamed
2-3 large collard greens
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 bay leaf
1 inch ginger, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup broth (or use use water like I do)
1/2 tsp berbere spice
touch of turmeric
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
cilantro to garnish
squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional)

If using dry black eyed peas, soak in water overnight. Steam in a pressure cooker with twice the amount of water.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large dutch over or pan. Add bay leaf, turmeric, onion, jalapeno, ginger and garlic and fry till lightly golden. Add berbere, salt, fresh ground pepper and tomatoes and continue cooking for five minutes.

Add broth or water, coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce flame to medium low and continue to simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cooked black eyed peas. Add more broth or coconut milk as needed and continue to simmer for another 15-20 minutes.

Add chopped greens and mix well. Keep cooking for another 5-10 minutes.  Garnish with some cilantro, drizzle of lemon juice  and serve warm with some rolls.

See Also:

Black-Eyed Peas for Prosperity in the New Year
Hoppin’ John
Black-eyed Peas and Greens with Navrattan Spices to start the New Year
Black-eyed Peas and Collard Greens

Best of 2016

I slacked off in 2016. But that is understandable. My schedule was so busy, that I had less time to try new recipes. I did try some new, retried several old, and tasty recipes!

Here are some favorite recipes from 2016.

In January, I  kicked off the year,  with some another fun Black-eyed Peas and Collard Greens recipes. This one is a keeper!

I even tried two roll recipes: Jalapeno, Scallion and Garlic  and Sun-dried Tomato and Jalapeno. Both were so delicious, that I continued to make them throughout the year!

I attempted the 21-day beach body diet in early 2016, and here’s my version of Bulghur Wheat Upma, designed to meet the container requirement (Disclaimer: I am not a certified Beach Body coach, so use at your own discretion!)

Another fun recipe in February from the beach body diet was the Brown Rice Paella.

March was all about Cauliflower Nirvana. Period!

Come April, I put all else aside for a two week vacation down under. What an incredible trip!

May is always, typically about Cherries.

I also experimented with other recipes like Mango Coconut Scones

And learnt to make Bagels… Sun Dried Tomato and Jalapeno bagels, of course 🙂

Summertime, to beat the heat, I experimented with many Popsicle recipes, many of them with mango or cherries: my two favorite fruits.

I maintained a scant patio garden this summer, which was plagued by over zealous squirrels. The most exciting vegetable from my patio garden this year  was zucchini!

August was about Savory Sun-dried Tomato Kalamata Olive and Jalapeno bread.

Two fun recipes from September included, plunging into Cauliflower Rice and Stir Fried Vegetables.

And these delicious Cherry Friands!

And another variation of the Quinoa Bisibele Bath.

October, I found Mango Chia Pudding, and it was terrific. It has fast become my go-to breakfast items!

November was incredibly busy. Come December, I did try the Tian.

But, December is all about the holidays… about Airplane Cookies!

Have a very Happy New Year!

Hope to see you back here next year!

Quick Lunch Series: Cauliflower Fried Rice

I have been meaning to make Cauliflower Fried Rice since I saw this Coconut and Lime Cauliflower Fried Rice recipe and this one.  Although, I had a cauliflower at home and could make the rice from scratch, I found a bag at Trader Joes and this is how I ended making my dish.

Ingredients:

2 cups cauliflower rice
1/4 cup lite coconut milk
some lemon juice (optional)
1 cup mix vegetables – I used shredded carrot, corn, peas, red pepper sliced, broccoli florets and sliced red onion
1-2 tsp chili oil with crushed red pepper
1 tsp coconut oil
drizzle of soy sauce
salt to taste

Heat the coconut oil in a pan. Add the cauliflower rice and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add coconut milk, lemon juice and cook on for 8-10 minutes or unitl the liquid evaporates and the rice is cooked.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan add the red chili oil and stir fry the vegetables on medium high for 5-10 minutes until lightly browned. Season with salt, red crushed pepper, and a drizzle of soy sauce. Mix in the cauliflower rice and serve warm.

It turned out delicious! It looks very much like brown rice, but once you taste it, it was pleasantly tasteful. Especially being cooked in coconut milk gives it extra flavor.

Makes 3-4 servings.

Quick Lunch Series: Quinoa Bisibele Bath

I’ve been meaning to try this for a while, and finally cooked it this weekend. It is perfect for an office day meal. I do love one pot meals!

I swapped in  Quinoa, instead of rice, as has been the norm lately in my routine.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup white Quinoa
1/3 cup Toor dal (Pigeon Pea)
1 small white or yellow onion cut into 1in pieces
1 jalapeno, sliced
1 Chayote squash, peeled and cut into 1in pieces (typically bottle guard is used, but I often substitute with Chayote Squash)
1-2 medium tomatoes, chopped into large pieces
2/3 rd cup tamarind juice
1.5 cups water
1 tsp oil
a dash of turmeric
a dash of asaphoetida
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 dry red chillies
2-3 tsp Bisibele powder, I typically use the MTR variety
2-3 tbsp fresh (or dry) grated coconut
a few curry leaves
cilantro to garnish
coconut slices to garnish
salt to taste
2-3 tbsp ghee (optional)

I like to use a pressure pan to cook this. Heat oil in the pressure pan, add turmeric, asaphoetida, cumin, mustard and dry red chillies and fry for a minute till lightly brown. Add onions, jalapeno,  curry leaves and squash and fry lightly. Add tomatoes and mix well.

Rinse and add Quinoa and toor dal and mix well. Add bisibele bath powder, salt and coconut powder and mix well. Add water and tamarind juice and mix well. Close pressure cooker lid and let simmer on medium low for 2-3 whistles. What makes this dish especially yummy is to add 2-3 tbsp of ghee!

Let cool, before opening the pressure pan. Garnish with cilantro and coconut slices and serve warm.

Makes 3 servings.

Savory Sun Dried Tomato, Kalamata Olive and Jalapeno Bread

I have been wanting to try this bread for sometime. While I was reluctant to turn on the oven considering the temperatures, I am glad  I finally did recently…

The only change I made to the original recipe, is to add 1 chopped jalapeno and reduce the cheese in the recipe.

It’s savory, fun and delicious with some soup for that office day meal!

Go here for the recipe.

Enjoy!

Links:

Check out A Soup A Week for some delicious soup recipes!

Cherries are in the air

Cherries are most economic in April/May, and I hoard up on them. More than I can eat anyway.

Sometimes too many!

While they are refreshing and fun for that late afternoon snack, there are many cherry recipes I love to try when this happens…

Salads

Cherry and Avacado Salad

Baking

Mini Cherry Crumbles

Cherry and Cardamon Cake

Cherry Cake

Healthy Whole Wheat Cherry and Chocolate Muffins

Homemade Granola

Ice Cream

Cherry,  Dark Chocolate and Coffee Popsicle

Cherry Swirl, Dark Chocolate and Cherry Bits

Refreshing Drinks

Refreshing and Homemade Cherry Lemonade

Patio Garden 2016

I normally get very excited with growing my vegetables in my small patio garden. But lately I have been too busy with work and classes, and frustrated with the squirrels, but not so much that I would give up entirely!

I didn’t try my organic seeds this Spring, but I did finally plant a tomato, zucchini, red bell pepper, fresh herbs: basil, parsley and mint and blueberries!

I still have my curry leaf plant, safely indoors tucked away from the elements!

So far so good…

My Patio Garden this year is not to its usual standard. But I still hope to plant some greens, once there is a breather…

Will keep you posted.

See:

Patio Garden 2015
Patio Garden 2014
Patio Garden 2013
Gardening

 

Mediterranean in May

Fun recipes from last May…

Farro & Sun Dried Tomato Foccacia

Eggplant and Tomato GratinRosemary Scented Vegetable Phyllo Tart

Stuffed Tomato

Mediterranean Grain Soup

Baklava

Eggplant and Tomato Gratin

Sprouted Mung Bean and Thai Green Curry Soup

The Thai Flavored, Sprouted Moth Bean and Vegetable Soup was delicious, so this time I decided to try a theme of green curry. This gets even more green than my Green, Green Soup!

As usual, I made this up as I went. To me, Thai green curry  is not complete without coconut milk, baby corn, bamboo shoots and green curry paste. And of course broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery and kale bring out the green in the soup!

I ended up using more coconut milk that I originally envisioned, so it ended up a lot more creamy. The flavors are mild enough that it can be eaten as soup or serve with some warm Jasmine rice.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sprouted green gram
3-4 green onions, chopped
2 cups of vegetables: broccoli florets, sliced Brussels sprouts, baby corn, chopped celery, and sliced radish.  Can also use snow peas, zucchini, asparagus, lemon grass, dried lime leaves, green or yellow bell pepper.
1 cup chopped kale
2 cups coconut milk, I used 1/2 creamed coconut and 1/2 lite coconut milk
2-3 tsp Thai green curry paste
salt to taste
1-2 tsp red chili in oil (optional)
2 cups water
some fresh chopped basil leaves
dash of lime juice
dash of sugar
salt to taste

Bring coconut milk, water and green curry paste to a boil. Add in sprouted green gram and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes. Add in the vegetables, except kale and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes. Season with salt and some sugar. Add in kale, fresh chopped basil and red chili in oil (optional) and cook for 5-10 minutes until the kale is wilted.

Drizzle some lemon juice and serve warm, with some fresh bread, bowl of Jasmine rice or with some crispy spring rolls!