I usually get a huge pack of mixed greens from Costco that gets used enthusiastically for few days. Since it goes bad quickly, I try to make few different recipes – this also makes sure we consume all of those greens in two-three weeks’ time. This Mixed Greens Khichdi is one of those dishes. It tastes great, it is a one-pot dish that comes together quickly, it is healthy, so it checks all the right boxes.
I prefer making this dish in InstantPot because I can start the dish and walk away. But this can be easily prepared in a normal pressure cooker – I prepared it pressure cooker before I bought InstantPot.
You can make this Khichdi with just spinach or with a combination of few different greens. I have tried both and it comes out great with any combination. I have used masoor dal here, but this can also be prepared using moong dal.
During Christmas holidays we visited our cousins in Boston. My cousin’s place, we had delicious and comfort vegetarian food, something I was craving a lot. At V’s cousin’s place, we had all non vegetarian meals. I was in a foodie’s heaven, amazing food at both places and we had a very relaxing time.
Make a big batch of it, as it is just out of this world and it disappears in no time.
Chicken Biryani with Coconut Milk
This dish was prepared for us by V’s cousin’s wife Poornima Vaini. She made all-chicken dinner and lunch for us. Since I am a big Biryani lover, I really enjoyed this Biryani with coconut milk in it. She shared her recipe with me. I might have missed one or more steps, but this came out really well when I came back and made this. It is extremely easy one to make (I don’t know why it is called Biryani, because rice is not cooked separately here. Everything is mixed and cooked at once, but I will still stick to the name).
Ingredients: 1/2 kg (17oz approx) chicken 1/2 cup potato(optional) 2 cups basmati rice 2 cups(1 can) light coconut milk 3/4 cup onion slices 1/2 cup tomato 4-5 strands coriander leaves 1 tea spn biryani powder 1-2 tea spns chilli powder A pinch turmeric A tbl spn yogurt/curds 1 tea spn ginger paste1 tea spn garlic paste Ghee/Oil Salt Whole Spices : 4-5 cloves 2″ cinnamon 4 green cardamom 2 bay leaves
Method: Add ginger paste, garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder, yogurt, biryani masala and salt to chicken pieces. Mix well and keep aside for about 30mins. Heat ghee/oil (I add both ghee and oil) and add all whole spices. Now add onion, salt and fry till they are brownish. Add tomatoes and fry for few mins. Add chicken along with all marinade and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add potatoes(optional). Add rice and fry for few more minutes. Now pour in the coconut milk and about 1 and 1/2 cups water, salt, mix well. Cover the lid and cook on a medium heat till done. Garnish with coriander leaves. Switch off heat and leave it as it is for about 15-20mins. Serve hot. Serve with cold raita.
While growing up, I loved the spicy stuffed breads available in most of the bakeries in India. The aroma of fresh stuffed bread coming out of bakeries was divine. Even after more than a decade of living here, I can still remember the aroma/taste of it. I used to search for any savory breads here in bakeries, but so far I have not found anything close. So once in a while, when I want to eat those, I bake at home. Few days ago, I baked these paneer stuffed pull apart rolls.
I started buying avocado when Ishaan was a toddler. He used to love eating it with a pinch of salt and lemon. Then there was a period of time, I totally forgot about them. Whenever I bought them, they sat on the kitchen counter and got overripe before I could use them. A friend suggested to refrigerate avocados to increase their life. Now I buy a bunch of them and put in fridge. I mix them in chapati dough to make super soft chapatis. So this time I wanted to try adding them to bread and the bread came out delicious.
Pictorial: Spread paneer stuffing on the rolled dough. Roll the dough. Cut and keep in the baking pan. Ready to eat.
Paneer Stuffed Pull-Apart Rolls
Soft avocado bread stuffed with spicy paneer filling makes a great dinner or snack.
Heat oil and add onions, ginger-garlic paste, salt.
Fry till onions are translucent.
Add garam masala, chilli powder and fry for a min.
Now add the paneer, coriander leaves and mix well.
Let it cool to room temperature.
For bread:
Take honey and warm water in a bowl and add the yeast.
Leave it around for 10mins till yeast gets activated.
Now add mashed avocado, softened butter, milk.
Add 1 cup flour at a time and mix.
Knead till dough comes together in a ball (it will still be sticky). I mix in my KitchenAid stand mixer.
Take on a flat surface dust with flour and knead for few minutes.
Take oil in the same bowl, keep the dough and move it around to coat with oil.
Cover the bowl and leave for about 2 hrs, till it is doubled in volume.
Punch the dough to deflate all the air. Knead for a min.
Assembling:
Roll the dough into a thin (about 1/4") thick rectangle.
Spread the stuffing on the bread.
Make a tight roll, tightly seal the edge.
Cut into 1 and 1/2 to 2 inch pieces.
Take a baking dish and apply little oil to it. I also dusted it with a little flour to avoid sticking.
Keep the bread pieces one beside the other.
Cover and keep it aside for about 1 hr.
The rolls would have risen well by now.
Preheat the oven at 350F.
Brush the rolls with butter or olive oil or milk.
Bake the rolls at 350F for about 45mins. (check after about 30mins).
Serve hot.
Notes
You can replace 1 cup of all purpose flour with 1 cup of whole wheat flour or multigrain atta. Add 1 tea spn of wheat gluten when using whole wheat or multigrain atta which helps it get fluffy.
There was a time when Ishaan was around 2 years of age when I used sweet potatoes very regularly. But that did not continue for a long time. He does not like anything sweetish, so I stopped. Now I am trying to include them back in our diet because of their nutritional values and also because Ayaan is almost that age now. He has a big sweet tooth. Few months back, I saw these very tender and beautiful sweet potatoes at Farmers market. I made a simple stir fry with half of them. The remaining went into these stuffed parathas.
I used a combination of sweet potatoes and normal potatoes for this. I did not want the parathas to be too sweet. I also used lot of masalas to make them a little spicy. I think I need to make these more often, they were just delicious.
Pictorial: Cook sweet potatoes and potatoes(I do not have them in picture below) in pressure cooker. Peel them when they are cooled down. Add the spices and mash them to remove any lumps. Make the dough. Take small balls of covering, flatten it on the palm and then stuff a small ball of stuffing in them. Seal properly.
Roll each ball and then roast them on tava.
Sweet Potato Parathas
Sweetish spicy parathas with sweet potatoes, tasty and very filling.
Ishaan started going to Kindergarten few weeks ago. I was a bit stressed about him going to new school right after coming back from India. On the first day of school, I went to have lunch with him, totally prepared to bring him back home if he was too tired. He assured me he was fine and I can pick him up after school. I came home relieved, thinking he is grown so much that he can handle it.
I send him lunch every day. I stress about does he have enough time to eat? can he open his lunch box? did I forget to pack his spoon etc. I asked him to get help from some grown-up in opening the box. Now he says he asked first couple of days but now he can do it all by himself (he takes food in a thermos and it is hard to open it sometimes!). He is a slow eater and if there are friends around, talking and then running out to play takes higher priority!. Now that he has settled down a bit, I ask him what lunch he wants in his box, so that he is excited about eating.
Last week he asked for pulav. At home he loves pulav/biryanis with yogurt or raita. But eating yogurt with it at school would be too much to ask. So I decided to make it with less spices but packed with nutrition and flavor. This carrot pulav was a perfect fit. I packed it with a big dollop of ghee for him. Even my 1 and half year old loved it.
Pictorial: Heat oil/ghee and fry spices, then onion, ginger-garlic paste, green chilli paste.
Add garam masala, fry. Then add rice, carrots.
Pour water, cover and cook.
Carrot Rice
A simple and delicious pulav loaded with carrots, makes a perfect lunch/dinner for kids and adults alike.
Few years back, I saw this recipe in some book. What attracted me to this was, it uses garam masala which is usually available in every Indian home, unlike the special vangi bhath masala which is used in many other recipes. Over the years, I have changed it to suit our taste buds. Last time when we came to US, I prepared this frequently to send in my son-in-law’s lunchbox. It soon became his favorite dish. This time again I prepared this many times for him. On Shilpa’s request, I thought of posting this here. I make it like a pulav by cooking the rice in the masala. I prepare this in rice cooker, so it does not need too much attention. Ingredients: 1 cup basmati rice 1/2 cup onion 1/2 cup tomato 1 tea spn garlic paste 2 cups chopped eggplant 1 tea spn garam masala 1 tea spn chilli powder A pinch turmeric Oil Salt
Method: Cut the eggplant in small pieces and put them in water. Heat oil/ghee and add garlic, onion. Fry for few minutes. Add tomatoes, eggplant, let them cook for few minutes. Then add chilli powder, garam masala, salt, turmeric, mix well. Now add the rice and fry for few minutes. Pour two cups water, cover and let it cook till done. Serve hot.
Who doesn’t like corn? Although we find very good corn around the year here, I miss fresh babycorn. I haven’t seen it yet here in Kansas (not a fan of canned one). So when I found it in Bangalore during my last India trip, I had to try it. I made couple of dishes with it and loved to eat every last bit of babycorn.
Here is a simple pulav I made with babycorn. I used one of my favorite spices – Dagad phool. Please note, it is not same as star anise. This looks like dried flowers or lichens that are often seen on trees. It has a very strong smell.  Aayi uses this in her chicken curry, so for me, this spice has typical chicken curry smell  .
Ingredients: 2 cups basmati rice 1 cup chopped babycorn 1 cup vegetables like carrot, cauliflower, capsicum(bellpepper) 1 tea spn chopped ginger 1 tea spn chopped garlic 3 green chillies 1 tea spn coriander seeds 1 tea spn dagad phool 1 tea spn cumin seeds 1 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut 2-3 cloves 2″ cinnamon 1/2 cup onion Ghee/oil Salt
Method: Heat a little oil and fry coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon, 1/4 cup onion, dagad phool, ginger, garlic, chopped green chillies and fry for few minutes. Grind  this with coconut to a paste.
 Heat ghee and fry remaining onion. Now add the paste and fry till a nice aroma comes out. Add all the vegetables and saute for few minutes.
 Now add rice and fry it well. Pour in 4 cups of water, salt. Cover the lid and let it cook on a medium-low heat till done. Serve hot.
Pongal has become one of our go-to comfort foods these days. I end up making a simple pongal with rice and moong dal or a simple pej(Congee with red rice) on many days when I do not want to cook elaborate meals. Some days when I want to make it more healthy, I add some vegetables to it, then it becomes a one pot complete meal (although my family prefers plain pongal, they don’t complain). Few days back, I added some quinoa to it, which turned out pretty good. I served this quinoa – vegetable pongal with our favorite huli gojju.
Read more about quinoa  (and I do not know if it has any Indian names or if it is available in India). I hear so much about this protein packed, slightly bitter quinoa on TV, magazines etc. I have tried so many different dishes from it, but we have a long way to go before we can say we love it. So I usually try to hide it in some dish – it is a bit hard to hide because the quinoa smell comes out no matter where you add it. I feel it is a very acquired taste. My family is slowly warming up to it, when I add it in smaller quantities in other dishes.
I used matta rice/peje tandul here because it gives some body to pongal – I had first read about it at Mahanandi and loved the idea. It does not disappear like the normal white rice.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup quinoa 1/2 cup red boiled rice /matta rice/peje tandul 1/2 cup moong dal 1 cup vegetables – corn, peas, carrots 1/2 tea spn black pepper 3-4 green chillies A pinch tamarind 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds A pinch asafoetida(hing) 4-5 curry leaves A pinch turmeric Ghee Salt
Method: Wash quinoa in cold water couple of times. Wash rice and moong dal. Keep aside. Heat ghee and add cumin seeds, green chillies, pepper, curry leaves. Fry for min and then add asafoetida. Add the vegetables and fry for a minute. Then add quinoa, moong dal, rice, salt, turmeric fry for another minute. Now add 4-5 cups of water (start with 4 and if you want it more watery consistency, add one more). Cook till rice and vegetables are done. I normally cook it in rice cooker. Serve hot with your favorite sidedish.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 45 mins
PS: If you do not find quinoa, leave it out and follow the remaining recipe.
Today was one of those days when I tried to do a little more than my usual weekday work. I left work early and decided to do grocery shopping, so that I don’t have to spend time on it over the weekend. By the time I reached home carried everything to our apartment on 2nd floor, I was tired. Then I picked Ishaan from daycare and reached home totally exhausted. I wanted to make something simple, but then I found a plantain that was sitting in the refrigerator for a while. I thought of making alsande randayi, which is one of my favorite Konkani dishes, but didn’t have grated coconut. So I thought of making a simple pulav which would taste almost like the randayi. I had bought a pack of coconut milk powder a while ago which was sitting unopened in the pantry. So I used that. It took few minutes of prep time.
While that was getting done, I thought a mint chutney would go well with it. So I made this chutney/tambli. It was a very tasty and filling dinner.
Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cups basmati rice 1/2 cup black eyed beans (alsande) 1/2 cup plantains chopped into tiny pieces 1 tea spn finely chopped ginger 1 tea spn finely chopped garlic 1/4 cup chopped onions 4-5 curry leaves 1/2 tea spn chilli powder 1/2 tea spn coriander powder A pinch turmeric 1 cup thick coconut milk 2 cardamoms 2" cinnamon Ghee/oil Salt
Method: Heat ghee/oil. Add cardamoms, cinnamon, ginger, garlic, onion. Fry for few minutes. Then add rice and fry for few minutes. Add turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder and fry for few minutes. Add black eyed beans, plantains, salt, curry leaves. Mix well. Add coconut milk and 2 and 1/2 cups water. Let it cook till done. (I used a steel vessel to make the pulav. After the above steps, I transferred the vessel to rice cooker. I use my rice cooker like normal pressure cooker. Easy to clean up. I just add a cup of water to the rice cooker, and then keep the steel vessel with food in it. The rice comes out very well).
Mint chutney : Grind together 5-6 strands of coriander leaves (along with the stems), 4-5 leaves of mint, 1 green chilli(optional) and 1 cup yogurt, salt to a smooth paste. Serve with pulav.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 20mins + cooking time
It was around 3 years ago, I found a packet of 16 bean soup mix while doing some grocery shopping. The inspiration came from this post. It was very interesting to see so many types of beans in one packet. Since then, I have bought this very regularly. I have tried different combinations of veggies, sauces, spices in this soup. I make it for our lunch. This makes a very hearty and filling lunch.
I have been down with very bad cold for more than 2 weeks now. So yesterday I made this. I thought I would note down recipe as this must be my favorite version so far. If you cannot find this soup mix, just mix all kinds of beans and dals – like red kidney beans(rajma), chickpeas, white navy beans, brown lentils, black eyed peas (alsande), dried peas(vatana), chana dal, etc, – you have at home.
Ingredients: 1 cup 16 bean soup mix 2 cups vegetables – carrot, green peas, corn, celery, green beans, yellow pepper 1/2 cup sauce (recipe below) 1/2 tea spn dried basil 1/2 cup elbow pasta 1/4 cup barley 1/4 tea spn chilli flakes 1/2 tea spn chilli powder 1/2 tea spn pepper powder 1 tea spn chopped garlic Oil Salt
Sauce: Cook 2 tomatoes and 1 carrot, chopped in big pieces, in water. Grind to a smooth paste. Heat oil and add 1/4 cup onion. Now add the ground paste, a little sugar(optional), salt, dried basil. Cook till the sauce becomes thick. Store in airtight container. (This sauce can also be used with spaghetti or any other pasta).
Method: Soak the beans in water overnight. They increase considerably in volume. Heat a little oil and fry the vegetables for 3-4mins. Now add the beans, barley, chilli flakes, basil, salt, pepper. Add the sauce. Add about 2 cups water. Cook till the beans are soft – I use either pressure cooker or rice cooker to cook this. You could also use a slow cooker if you have one. Separately, cook the pasta with salt. Add the pasta to the soup and cook it again for another 1-2mins. Serve hot.
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