Madhu Knits and Cooks

Recipe, knitting, and sewing project notes

Tag: Cooking — Healthy Options

  • 2013 Holiday Party – Our First Major Party Spread

    We held our first holiday party in late December, and putting together a menu for 10 – 15 attendees with varying taste preferences was definitely a new challenge for me.  I decided to combine mostly a set of the usual suspects with a few options that seem like they could be a) made ahead of time, or b) were relatively simple to construct within a day because I was traveling for work until the night before the gathering.  The biggest challenge was to figure out the right quantity of food to prepare, especially because we didn't know if people would be showing up for dinner, a snack, dessert, etc. given that we might have other holiday parties to compete with.

    We ultimately settled on the following menu, which ended up being perfect for this set of guests for this wintery season, albeit during a temporary winter heat wave of 60 degrees! 

    2013 Holiday Party

  • An Easier (and Quicker) Way to Make Vegetable Korma

    My aunt's vegetable korma recipe is definitely a favorite dish of mine, despite my historical lack of favor for korma dishes.  My mother recently taught me a slight modification to this recipe, which makes the korma easier and quicker to construct, without a loss in flavor.  The modification is incredibly straightforward – substituting coconut milk for the shredded coconut, poppy seed and almond mixture – and I hope it will help simply your korma attempts in the future as well!

    Updated Korma

    Updated Vegetable Korma (with Coconut Milk)

    Ingredients:

    • 1 2-inch piece of cinnamon stick
    • 3 cloves (whole)
    • 2 cardamon pods (whole)
    • 2 dried bay leaves
    • 3/4 tsp. cumin seeds
    • 1/2 tsp. turmeric
    • 1/2 tsp. garam masala
    • 3 cups chopped onion
    • 1.5 tbsps. ginger-garlic paste (available at an Indian grocery store, or blend equal parts ginger and garlic to a paste at home)
    • 3 medium potatoes, cut into 1.5-inch pieces and soaked in salt water for at least 15 minutes
    • 1/2 head of cauliflower, roughly chopped into bite size pieces (approx. 1.5 – 2 cups)
    • 1 cup green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
    • 1 cup carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces, or substitute baby carrots
    • 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
    • 3/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
    • 4 – 5 green chilies (to taste)
    • 1/2 cup green peas
    • 5 tablespoons of coconut milk (canned – approximately 1/2 of a 5.46 oz. can)
    • vegetable oil
    • water
    • salt

     Directions:

    • In a large pot, heat approx. 3 tbsps. of vegetable oil on medium-high heat.  When hot, add the cinnamon, cardamon, cloves, bay leaves, and cumin.  Saute for approx. one minute or until fragrant.
    • Add the chopped onion to the pot, stirring to coat the onion with the spices.  Cover and cook until the onion is translucent.
    • Then mix in the green chilies, turmeric and ginger-garlic paste, and cook until the ginger-garlic paste is fragrant.
    • Add the potatoes, 1/4 cup water, 1 tsp. salt, and cook with the spices for 5 – 7 minutes or until the potatoes are partially cooked (can be partially pierced easily with a knife).  
    • Add the cauliflower, stirring to coat cauliflower with vegetable and spice mixture in the pot.  Cook for 4 – 5 minutes or until cauliflower is partially steamed.
    • Mix in the green beans and carrots, an additional 1/4 – 1/2 cup of water (to retain a curry-like consistency to the dish, an additional 1/2 tsp. salt, and cook for five minutes or until vegetables are approx. 3/4 cooked.
    • Mix in the green peas, the coconut milk, and the tomato.  Bring the mixture to a boil, adding up to 1/4 cup of water to ensure the dish retains a soupy consistency.
    • Finally, stir in the cilantro, up to 1/2 tsp. of garam masala if desired, additional salt to taste, and cook until the vegetables are cooked to your taste.  If you would like an additional creaminess to the dish, you can stir in a bit of plain yogurt.
    • Serve with rice or Indian breads.

  • A Baby Corn Manchurian Success!

    After previously attempting Baby Corn Manchurian – one of my favorite Indian-Chinese dishes – with somewhat limited success, I recently pushed myself to attempt the dish again because of the dearth of Indian Chinese restaurants in Brooklyn (sad, but true).  The result was really good – flavorful, spicy and salty – and also much healthier than the first attempt because I sauteed the baby corn instead of deep-frying it.  The recipe details follow the picture below – definitely a dish that will be tried again and again in my kitchen!

    Baby Corn Manchurian v2

    Baby Corn Manchurian

    Ingredients:

    • One can baby corn, drained and rinsed
    • 1 tsp. minced fresh ginger
    • 3 – 4 tbsp. soy sauce, divided
    • 1 tsp. white vinegar
    • 1 tbsp. olive oil
    • 1 onion, chopped
    • 3 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1/4 green bell pepper, chopped (approx. 1/2 cup)
    • 2 green Thai chiles, sliced
    • 1 tsbp. tomato paste
    • 1 tsbp. chile garlic sauce

    Directions:

    • Marinate baby corn with ginger, 1 – 2 tbsp. soy sauce and vinegar for 15 – 20 minutes.
    • Heat olive oil on medium-high heat in a medium saucepan.  
    • When hot, add onion and garlic and saute until the onion is translucent.  Add water (or more oil) if vegetables stick to the pan.
    • Add the remaining soy sauce, tomato paste, and chili garlic paste and blend until combined and fragrant.
    • Add the baby corn plus marinade to the pan, and cook on high heat until baby corn is slightly browned.
    • Mix in the bell pepper and chile pepper, and saute until bell pepper is cooked to your preference.  Add salt if necessary to taste and serve.

  • Rajma – A New Healthy and Cheap Household Staple

    After purchasing some red kidney beans from the bulk section at the grocery store as part of my new attempts to integrate more protein-rich legumes into my diet, I decided to finally make Rajma, the north Indian red bean dish that has been on my mind to make for several years.  I ultimately decided to use the Madhur Jaffrey World Vegetarian Rajma recipe, though probably don't need to use a recipe in the future.  

    I soaked the beans overnight, and then cooked them for approximately 1 – 1.5 hours or until tender.  I then placed the cooked beans in a seperate dish, and used the same pot to cook a chopped onion, garlic, ginger, chiles, tomatoes and spices, which included coriander, cayenne, and cumin.  I then added the beans back to the pot with what I think was the secret ingredient – amchoor or dried mango powder.  I think the amchoor powder really helped add a complex flavor to the bean dish.  Although Jaffrey provides lemon juice as a substitute for the amchoor powder, I am not sure if the beans would have as interesting and nuanced of a flavor with that substitution.  

    Rajma Cooking

    The result was really fantastic – flavorful, complex and very filling.  These beans totally blew out of the water my previous attempts at New Orleans red beans and rice, which had placed some doubt in my mind of how good cooked bed beans could ever be.  I can definitely see rajma as a new part of our standard meal rotations.

    Rajma

  • Another Set of Attempts at Kale Salad – Still Not a Household Favorite

    Over the past few months, I've been back to experimenting with raw kale salads after having a particularly delicious kale salad made by a friend this summer.  She said her trick was to really let the lemon juice and olive oil soak into the salad before serving to remove the bitterness.  Mimicking her recipe, I started with a few variations of a salad that generally included:

    • One bunch chopped kale, usually lacinto but have used Red Russian 
    • Approx. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    • Approx. 1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • Finely chopped apple
    • Grated parmesan to taste
    • Homemade salad dressing:  Usually a combination of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, 1 clove chopped garlic, black pepper, and salt.  I've tried different ratios of each ingredient, and haven't found a "perfect" combination yet.

    I generally first toss the lettuce with the lemon juice and olive oil, and then let the greens sit for approximately 30 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients and serving.  I have generally found that the salad is better the next day, but unfortunately the continued bitterness of the kale makes eating the salad feel more like a chore than anything else.  Hopefully one day I will actually be able to replicate or create a raw kale salad that I look forward to eating!

    Standard Kale Salad

  • Amazing Healthier Caesar Salad Dressing – and Take Five Minutes to Prepare

    While wasting time online one day, I came across a list of 7 "slimmed down" salad dressings on Shape Magazine's website.  Shockingly enough, one of those recipes – for the "Skinny Caesar Salad Dressing – became a recent recipe attempt in my kitchen.  I think what ultimately took this recipe from a random browser bookmark to an actual attempt was that a) it used ingredients that I easily have in my cabinet at home, b) it omitted the anchovies that usually make me shy away from Caesar recipes, and c) I recently bought some cut romaine at the grocery store which I really needed to use ASAP.

    True to my original impression, this recipe took maybe 5 minutes max to prepare.  I didn't perfectly measure the ingredients, but the result was pretty outstanding.  Complex, tangy and rich enough to transform some plain leaves into a great lunch or simple dinner.  I can't wait to make this dressing again – it really is that good (and you can really make it with just a fork in a leftover Talenti container!)!

    Shape Mag Caesar Salad Dressing

  • Fresh and Fast Tomato Sauce for Pasta

    Andy's parents recently experienced a late summer tomato bonanza in their garden and gave us a large bag full of fresh summer tomatoes.  We quickly realized that the best way to use these tomatoes would be to make a large batch of tomato sauce that we could hopefully freeze and use in the coming weeks as well.  

    The good news with our recipe attempt was that we produced a really wonderful, fresh and light sauce.  The bad news was that we consumed all of the sauce within a few days, so were unable to freeze and enjoy later as our original goal contemplated.  

    We used the Cooks Illustrated Quick Fresh Tomato Sauce recipe because it seemed like the simplest – and fastest – recipe we could find.  We seemed to basically double the recipe with the amount of tomatoes we used, though we ended up using about half of the basil that a double recipe would call for.  We also peeled and seeded the tomatoes using the Cooks Illustrated recommended technique for raw tomatoes.  Next time though, I think I may boil water to more easily remove the peels and perhaps skip the seeding step because it required a lot of prep time.

    The only other modification I would make is reducing the amount of oil used – I found the sauce to be a bit oily, which offset the wonderful fresh flavor from the tomatoes.

    Fresh Tomato Sauce

  • Refried Black Beans – Very Easy, Healthy and Delicious Meal Addition

    I have been making the Cook's Illustrated Mexican Rice with such frequency that I realized recently that I may not be getting enough nutrition because all I seem to be eating is rice!  To help supplement this amazing dish with a healthy side, I turned to the Vegetarian Times, and found their Refried Black Beans recipe.  

    The refried black beans definitely stand up to the Mexican rice, and are almost good enough to eat alone as well.  I've made the recipe twice – first with canned black beans, and the second with dried beans (though I think the beans may have been old, and so were relatively tough even after many hours of cooking).  The result is flavorful, smooth and filling.  The only modification I made both times I made this recipe was to include a frozen tablespoon of lemon instead of the lime juice, which seemed like a fine substitution.  The citrus definitely made a difference to make the flavors "pop" more, so I'll be sure to include lime or lemon juice in the future.

    Refried Black Beans

  • Greek Dinner, Final Post: Gigantes

    The final main course dish I made for my recent Greek dinner party was gigantes.  Gigantes are a favorite accompaniment of mine for any Greek meal, and in particular, the gigantes at Stamatis in Astoria are completely out of this world (as is almost everything at Stamatis).  

    Gigantes are baked large white beans with spices and tomatoes.  I used Goya brand large lima beans, which seemed like the best substitute for large Greek beans.  I ended up following the Bobby Flay version of the online available recipes (sadly, none existed in the Diane Kochilas book) because it ultimately seemed to have the best reviews and seemed that it might include more of the same ingredients as the Stamatis version than others.  

    Unfortunately, the dish was a bit of a bust from my perspective – though my dinner party guests did seem to genuinely enjoy them.  I found the beans to be a bit mushy or overcooked, and to lack flavor overall.  I altered the recipe by halving the honey called for in the original recipe because I did not want the beans to be too sweet, and I reduced the baking time to 1 hour because the beans seemed to get cooked enough on the stovetop before baking.  Both of those modifications sadly did not save the dish, which appears on the right side of the picture below.

    Maybe I'll try to bribe one of the Stamatis chefs for their recipe because I definitely see myself attempting another version of this dish in the future 🙂  

    Greek Dinner Full

  • Greek Dinner Continued: Baked Okra with Tomatoes, Potatoes and Basil and Spinach and Rice Pilaf

    My Greek dinner post continues with two dishes that anchored the meal – the Diane Kochilas Greek Vegetarian cookbook Baked Okra with Tomatoes, Potatoes and Basil and Spinach and Rice Pilaf.

    This cookbook was another Brooklyn Public library check out, and unfortunately I don't think it's one that I will ultimately buy based on this test run.  Both of these dishes turned out fine, but I think they could have had more flavor and more interesting consistencies.  

    The Baked Okra dish in particular was somewhat bland, I think a result of the recommendation to cover the dish contents with a layer of 1.5 inches of water (!) to bake the dish.  Thankfully, I reduced the amount of water to just be level with the vegetables in the dish, but even then, I had to pour out a good amount of the remaining water (and probably flavor) post-baking to make the dish less soupy.  The vegetables were cooked nicely though, just lacked flavor and the consistency was perhaps a little too homogeneous.

    Greek Okra
    The Spinach and Rice Pilaf, by contrast, was fairly flavorful though I think the water to rice ratio was a little low because the rice was a little burnt at the bottom of the dish and not that evenly cooked throughout (so maybe it was the cooking temperature that could have been the problem?).  I made a few alterations to this dish:  I halved the recipe, substituted approx. 1.5 tsp. of chopped fresh oregano for the dill, and did not sprinkle feta on top.  If I make this recipe again, I would probably make a full recipe and continue to use oregano because it really helped this rice seem unique.  The pilaf is pictured in the middle of the spread below.

    Greek Dinner Full