Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Appetizers

  • Cottage Cheese Pakoras — My Favorite Snack (and Sometimes an Entire Meal)

    My absolute favorite snack are cottage cheese pakoras.  Whenever I go home, I always ask my mom to make them for me (and they are often ready when I come in the door!).  My mom recently emailed me the recipe she uses, which is from Saranya Auntie's (Saranya Mandava) Indian cookbook.   

    I recently "became an adult" in the sense that I am now finally able to start making pakoras at home (I received a small professional deep-fryer for my birthday which is really helpful to making these delicious fried snacks).  And yes, I have that I have been going a little overboard and have started to make them ALL THE TIME. 

    The recipe, which I recommend EVERYONE try, follows the picture:

    Cottage_cheese_pakoras

    I usually double the recipe (and have tripled it once) and it works out just fine.  Doubling the recipe maybe creates enough for 8 people for a snack portion, and 3 people eating them for a heavy snack/full meal.

    Ingredients:

    • 8 oz lowfat cottage cheese (I prefer smaller curd)
    • 1 cup all purpose flour
    • 3/4 cup chopped onion
    • 2-3 green chillies, chopped (I use serranos or jalapenos)
    • 1 tsp salt
    • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (or more — to taste)
    • 3/4 to 1 tsp cornstarch
    • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
    • A healthy pinch or two of baking soda
    • Oil for deep frying

    Directions:

    • Preheat oil to approx 355 degrees Fahrenheit (I use a professional mini-deep fryer, and I found this temperature to be the best)
    • Mix salt, cumin, flour, cornstarch, and baking soda.
    • Add cottage cheese to the dry mixture and mix well
    • Add chopped ingredients and mix well.
    • Loosely take walnut-size portions of the dough and place in deep fryer for approx 6-7 minutes.  The pakoras should be a light to medium golden brown color on the outside and cooked through.
    • Lay cooked pakoras on paper napkins to drain the excess oil.
    • You can serve within a few minutes or frying, or keep out for a day or two (they best served while hot out of the fryer).

    Typing the recipe has made me hungry for them.  I think I will make them right now.  I wish I was kidding — they are really addictive!

  • Phenomenal Chilled Artichoke Dip (and it’s low fat!)

    I first had this wonderful artichoke dip at Becky and Rob's home — Becky is Andy's boss.   It's a chilled dip that has a lot of different flavors working together to make it completely irrestible.  Becky serves the dip in a bread bowl, and I did the same when I made it twice in one weekend — using a fresh-baked french bread bowl from the local Dominicks.  I didn't cut into the bread too deep to make the bowl though because there is only about 1.5 cups of dip that this recipe makes.  The only modification to this recipe that I made is to add many more chopped green onions and use canned artichokies instead of frozen artichokes (couldn't find frozen artichokes at the store).  I highly recommend you try this dip — it's fantastic!  And you won't feel guilty making it twice in one weekend before it's not bad for you at all.

    The recipe was from the New American Heart Association Cookbook, and can be found online here.

    Low_fat_artichoke_dip

  • Roasted Red Pepper and Bean Dip — A Super Healthy Snack that YLS Students Love!

    So I made this Roasted Red Pepper Dip with the Quinoa Tabbouleh ( http://madhuknitsandcooks.typepad.com/madhu_knits_and_cooks/2006/09/quinoa_tabboule.html) and they worked really well together.  The dip goes very well with pita bread as well (preferably warm or toasted whole-wheat pita). 

    Roasted_red_pepper_and_bean_dip

    The dip is low-fat and a great source of protein because it has both tofu and beans (and trust me, that is a great combination — for those who don’t like tofu, there is no way you’ll know it’s in here!).   You can find the recipe at the Vegetarian Times:  http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/recipe_details.cfm?recipe_id=9707

  • Quinoa Tabbouleh — Suprisiningly Tasty, Filling, and Super-Healthy!

    So as the multiple categories for this post indicate, this dish can be consumed as an appetizer, snack or main course.  Quinoa, according to the box I purchased, is a super-grain that was widely consumed in the Incan empire.  According to Wikipedia, "Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete foodstuff" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa).  So why not make this fantastic dish AND give the gift of "a balanced set of essential amino acids" to those who are lucky enough to eat it?

    Quinoa_tabbouleh

    I got this recipe from the Vegetarian Times, and thankfully you can find it online:  http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/recipe_details.cfm?recipe_id=9866. 

    The variations to the recipe that I made:  I doubled the recipe, used a little extra garlic, and I used 1/2 the recommended fresh lemon juice.  The reason I used only half the lemon juice is that I accidently spilled the juice from one of the lemons I juiced, and I only had one lemon more so I could only get a little over 1/4 cup of fresh juice.  BUT I am happy that that was the case, because I think any more lemon juice would have made it a little too lemony. 

    I also made the quinoa in a rice cooker, which I thought was a great time-saver while I was the chopping the parsley, etc.

    The next time I made it, I think I will also increase the amount of chopped parsley to the recipe to make it a little more "tabbouleh"-like, but I think that is just up to you and what you want to use the recipe for.  If you use it for a main dish, I would recommend increasing the amount of parsley, but if you use it as part of a Middle Eastern platter or the like, you probably don’t need to increase the amount of parsley because there will already be a lot of flavors in the dish. 

    I would really recommend trying it with the Roasted Red Pepper and Bean Dip (http://madhuknitsandcooks.typepad.com/madhu_knits_and_cooks/2006/09/roasted_red_pep.html ) because the combination of the warm quinoa tabbouleh and the cool dip make it not only a fun heat contrast, but the flavors go really well together as well.

    One final tip — make sure you fluff that quinoa once it is done cooking!  It really makes a big difference.

    Quinoa_tabbouleh_top_view