Dipping your feet into Korean food? Here’s gochujang fried rice that you must not miss. quick and easy, this brown rice fry is gluten-free,  vegan and above all delicious.

The current bonding with my teens is learning the ropes of Korean pop. As I am getting educated on the song list, moves, selfie trends etc my brain runs fueled by flavours. Here is the first and easiest, gochujang fried rice. Hopefully, this imperfect gochujang fried rice version will be accepted by my teens. 

What is gochujang?

I am sure you all are familiar with fried rice. Gochujang takes fried rice to a whole new level, the one that you don’t want to put your fork down.  Gochujang is a unique fermented chilli paste made from taeyancho Chili peppers. It is not a ground chilli paste like gochugaru, rather has fermented soy paste, glutinous rice etc, that contributes to the umami flavour it develops. Gochujang does not have the fiery flavour of the chillies. Yes, there is the spiciness,  yet a bit of sweet mellowness comes from the fermentation. Gochujang is used in combination with gochugaru for heat in many recipes. In this fried rice, we have only used the gochujang to create the flavour.

What rice is best for gochujang fried rice?

Medium to long-grain rice is what is best for making gochujang fried rice. The key idea is that the rice is nonsticky, not a glutinous variety. Today I have used brown basmati to make this recipe. The brown basmati has a bite when cooked and fluffs ups perfectly making it easy to stirfry.

Prepping the rice for the perfect texture

Ideally, soak the rice after washing it for 10 minutes. Depending on the method you choose to cook the rice you will need 1l to 2 times of the water to get fluffy rice. Either cook and drain the excess liquid or use the absorption method. Once the rice is cooked, use a fork to fluff it so the rice grains separate better. To be fair, the best-fried rice makes use of leftover rice as it has dried out a little bit keeping the grains separate, yet soft.

Let’s get cooking

Once you have the rice ready, the gochujang fried rice comes together quickly.
Chop up some veggies you have like onions, capsicum, peas, cabbage, carrots etc. I have used sliced leeks, chopped carrots and capsicum to make it. This keeps changing based on what I have at hand.
Next comes the sauce. So, into the bowl goes gochujang paste, soy sauce and  2 tablespoons of hot water. Whisk this to get a smooth sauce.
I guess you are in ready-set-go mode. Fire up that wok and grease it well with oil. Fry the veggies and add the fluffed rice.  Pour the sauce and quickly start mixing. Use two turners to achieve this. So, it is dug and tossed, not stirred. In this way, the sauce and the veggies get evenly mixed without the rice turning mushy. Once all is mixed, the fried rice is ready to be served.

Serving suggestions for gochujang fried rice

The best dishes to serve with this gochujang fried rice are roasted tofu, some spicy cucumber salad. Pair with chilled baesook and the meal is complete. 

Stay connected

Gochujang fried rice is not an authentic Korean recipe. It is more so a fusion idea that we tried as a stepping stone into the cuisine. It is a very flavourful recipe that we have decided to bond upon. We will welcome your suggestions to try out vegetarian Korean dishes. Leave them in your comments and rate the recipe when you make this fried rice. 

The India trip is exciting in many ways. Not only do I love being with my parents,  the travel but also the foods that I hardly get to see in my daily run in Sydney. However, it was getting to a point where the cooked foods were constant and I missed the simplicity of forking some salad for lunch. Invading into the kitchen garden, the bilimbi tree was almost as if it was waiting for me. This was the first time my daughter saw me climb a tree. She really did not believe I had the monkey in me. Anyway, now that’s proven!  we made a sour spicy salad to accompany the meals (just because amma won’t allow the bilimbi salad as a meal).

What is bilimbi?

A close relative of the carambola tree the bilimbi, Averrhoa bilimbi is a small tree that grows well in the tropics and a native of South East Asia.  Flowering as deep red inflorescence these turn into soft-skinned green fruit. This is bilimbi fruit that has a lot of culinary interest. The whole fruit is edible. The fruit grows in clusters from the stem. The fruit in local Indian names is irumban puli(malayalam) bimbuli (kannada), kamias(Tagalog). (Share with us more regional names if you have any for this fruit please).

What does bilimbi taste like?

The crunchy and firm fruit is actually extremely juicy to bite into. The fruit is highly sour and acidic with a slight metallic after-taste. Unlike carambola, the fruit does not turn sweet upon ripening. If eaten raw, best tasted with a pinch of salt mixed with cayenne. Choose the younger fruit if you like a bit lesser intensity for the sourness, especially for salads. For curries, the ripe fleshy ones are more suited.

Ingredients for the salad

Apart from young bilimbi, you will need other ingredients. A small red onion that is finely sliced and a green chilli to add spiciness. You can either pound the chilli with salt to mix it in the salad or chop it in.  I have added a handful of fresh moringa leaves as the mesclun. If you don’t have access to them, use arugula or spinach in their place. Use fine salt to the season only at the end as it draws out a lot of juice from the bilimbi making the salad soggy.

The recipe card below gives the proportion of the ingredients. From this recipe card, you can directly save onto your pin board if you need to find some of the fruit too.

Pairing the moringa bilimbi salad.

Since the salad is sour and spicy, it will be a fabulous side to protein-rich preparations. Ideally, it will taste awesome with sheek kebabs, rajma cutlets,cheela or cutlets. If you chop the bilimbi fruit smaller, you can mix it with a basic bhel mix to make a tasty snack. We did not wait for all that but had it just as such with a classic South Indian thali.

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We love to bring you new ideas and recipes as we explore them. Hopefully, we will have more tree sorrel recipes I hope you like them too, rate us and leave a comment on your experience of our website. Check out our YouTube, Instagram and Facebook pages too.

Kothavarakkai poriyal is a basic stir fry made with cluster beans. Valued for its medicinal properties this cluster beans stirfry is a gluten-free, vegan addition to your everyday Indian meals.

The visit to Bengaluru this time has seen so many changes. My mother-in-law is finally hooked on blogger world. She is now curious about the new idea. She was talking about bloggers, YouTubers and plenty more who have daily appearances on her devices. So, the suggestion to be videoed while she was making the daily food was welcomed instantly. So as a start, we have kothavarakkai poriyal from her kitchen.

What is kothavarakkai?

The tender pods of Cyamopsis tetragonoloba are used as a vegetable known in regional languages as guar, gawarfali, the green seed pods that grow in clusters are the product of interest. Grown in crop rotation the guar plant notably provides the legume but also improves the soil by nitrogen fixation. The low-calorie pods are a good source of fibre and potassium.

Did you know?

The much-valued commercial flour improver guar gum is extracted from the endosperm of the mature dry seeds of this plant. This is used in breadmaking, the cheese industry and ice cream manufacture.

Ingredients for this kothavarakkai poriyal

This kothavarakka proiyal is made by my mother-in-law. It is one of the simplest stirfries yet very very tasty. Here is the list of ingredients you need to prepare this
Cluster beans or kothavarakkai is the main ingredient in this recipe. Wash and clean the beans. Remove the beans from the thick stalk. Pinch off the tail as it tends to be a bit chewy. Now slice the beans as thin as you like.
Tempering: the classic south Indian tempering is of mustard seeds that crackle to flavour the coconut oil, a touch of dals (split lentils ) for the crunch, followed by curry leaves and red chillies that further flavour the oil.
Seasoning: the recipe is usually just seasoned with salt. However, if you like it spicy use about half teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder can be added.
Garnishes: the final addition of the freshly grated coconut adds a lot of difference to the dish. Honestly, it doesn’t feel the same with the desiccated coconut. However, grated frozen coconut still manages a good bit of flavour.
Additional adds:
Shallots: sliced shallots can be added along with the curry leaves. This gives a wonderful aroma to the poriyal. However, this is not common in Tambaram kitchens so my mother-in-law doesn’t use it.
Cumin: if you don’t have mustard seeds, use cumin. The cumin (jeera) gives a different flavour to the oil.

How to make the poriyal?

As a part of this new journey, we have made a short mature video of how the poriyal is prepared. My mother-in-law is the one who is making this so the measurements in the video are approximate. However, you can follow the recipe card below to get the exact measurements and step-by-step instructions. Hope you will like and share this video too. 

Serving suggestions

Kothavarakkai poriyal paired with steamed rice, quinoa or millets with a classic gravy like sundakkai thengaarachukozhambu or podipotta sambhar is a perfect South Indian meal.
To make an easy wrap use a spinach phulka as the base and fill up with this poriyal. If you have cooked potatoes mash add it up to give a  filling wrap.

Meal prep and storage

The poriyal can be made and saved for about 3 days if refrigerated. If storing for a week, I avoid adding the coconut. Since the coconut added is fresh add it after thawing. The cluster beans stirfry is not the best to be frozen. It turns a bit rubbery if texture.

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A fantastic vegan alternative, walnut mushroom mince is a filling textually satisfying alternative to faux meat. Try out this simple gluten-free, low-oil recipe that is keto-friendly.

Walnut mushroom mince is one of my favourite fillers for tacos and to add to pasta or fill up a sandwich. The idea was developed as just veggies as filling in a taco was never filling, nor gave depth to that dish. When the recipe was meal prep friendly it was one that my friends loved too. Usually, this mushroom mince is what I go for if there is an omni potluck in which I participate. Throw in some store-bought tacos, a simple pico de Gallo and some shredded vegan cheese, and the plan sounds easy and achievable, doesn’t it?

What mushroom is best for this mince?

There are two mushrooms that work well with the mushroom mince. Portebella and the cremini. If you like a meatier version go with portabello. The cremini gives a nicer mouth feel with the walnuts. You can have a mix of mushrooms too. Baby Bella is not too bad, but it makes the mince much softer. Shimenji and enoki are not suitable for this recipe. I have not tried oyster mushrooms for this vegan mince. If it works for you, leave us a comment so we can try it.

Why walnuts?

Walnuts in this vegan mince provide that oily, crumbly texture. Plus it is a good bit of protein with crushed walnuts. The slightly bitter flavour of the walnuts complements the earthiness of the mushrooms. While mincing the walnuts make sure they are not overprocessed. The powdery walnuts leave the texture too soft.

Ingredients for walnut mushroom mince

This recipe is for a basic vegan mince. The flavour profile you want to develop depends on what you want to use it for. The recipe card below gives the measurements and step-by-step instructions to follow. 
Walnuts
Mushroom
Cumin
Oregano
Cayenne

Salt

Flavour variations
The walnut mince I make is predominantly used for taco filling and nachos, hence I have added flavours that taste towards it in my basic vegan mince. However, the mince base takes up flavours based on how you prefer to spice it up. You can add while cooking rosemary, oregano and thyme if you are just planning to be used in pasta or pasta salad. If making an Indian-based curry add to the mince some grated garlic, garam masala powder, some turmeric, cumin and coriander powders and chopped cilantro before cooking and then cook them. So it is up to your tastebuds how you like this walnut mince flavoured.

Serving the mince

Just as discussed above in this post this is a fantastic recipe to share with any of your vegan friends.
Taco platter: Put up a build-your-own taco with pico de Gallo, cheese, lemon and some soft wraps.  In addition, you can add it to salads or top up your nachos platter with it.
Make a sandwich: onto your slice of bread add some creamy Mayo (vegan-friendly ones are so tasty) a whole heap of the walnut mushroom mince, and some cheese and press it down with another slice of bread. Grill it or use a sandwich press and it is a filling sandwich on the go.
Build a burger: if you have leftover mince, mix it with breadcrumbs and some mashed potatoes so they hold shape. Now make them like a patty and this is your quick and easy mushroom burger patty.
Add some to your pasta: I would totally fork this on pasta to make this a wholesome meal. Mix it into the ragu or add it on top of your prepared pasta it tastes really good.
Make a good Indian curry: if you have some mince, thaw a small batch of buna masala and add the mince to it. Now Cook them together with a bit of water to bring them together. Adjust salt if needed. Garnish with julienne ginger, lemon juice and lots more coriander leaves. Keep the naan ready to mop up the curry.

Meal prep and storage for the mince

The mushroom walnut mince stays good on the fridge for a week. So if it is a busy week the mince will hold up your need for something filling and quick. Keep in an airtight box and use as needed. The mince can be frozen and thawed as needed, however, once you do that the texture changes slightly as the mushrooms are now a bit fibrous.

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The walnut mushroom mince takes a bit of effort to make, yet is one of the handiest meal preps I have ever done. When Shh cooking secretly group placed the theme for vegan dishes this time, this mince is the one I wanted to share. Working with Anu Kollon as my partner, who was so easy to convince to do this, the recipe is now yours too. Let us know in the comments and by star rating how we are doing with our recipe. If you have not subscribed to our content yet, don’t miss out. Follow the arrow below to keep new ideas coming your way.
Stay safe, meal prep and have a lovely week. 

Dry til chutney or ellu podi is a common accompaniment on the side of a home-style thali. This dry condiment is a melange of lentils and sesame seeds with spices. Make some of this vegan, gluten-free ellu podi to complement your meals.

Molagapodi or the dry chutney that is used with dosa or idly comes in many flavours like garlic chutney podi and dhaniya podi. This adds a lot of variety to the same breakfasts that we make day after day or the simple home-style lunch. Also, it is one with a fantastic shelf life, thereby a boon to providing some relief to busy mornings. Here is another one that is handy, ellu podi.

Black and white sesame seeds

Sesame seeds are one of the tiniest ingredients that are common in the Indian kitchen. In fact, it is one of the hardest to harvest due to its size too. In the Asian markets, both black and white seeds are available. Both varieties of oil-rich seeds are rich in iron and calcium. Black sesame seeds are explored for their ability to reduce oxidative stress.

Hulled and unhulled sesame seeds

The polishing process at times removes the edible outer coating of the sesame seeds. This is the Hulled sesame seeds. If the outer coat is intact, it is unhulled. Nutritionally they are not very different. In addition, both hulled and unhulled seeds are equally edible roasted or raw. The hulled ones are brighter white and the unhulled white sesame seeds are slightly browned.

Ingredients for this til chutney

Sesame seeds- for this recipe I have used unhulled white sesame seeds. You can use black ones too and the podi looks much darker in colour. Upon roasting the sesame seeds have pop slightly and release the oils. upon grinding if the til chutney looks too oily roast some more of the lentils and adjust to form a dry powder.

Black gram dal- Urad dal or ulundu parippu is the base of most molagapodis. The skinned version is roasted and powdered. If using black sesame seeds, you can use the skinned black ones too. Roast well till they turn golden or aromatic.

Chickpea Dal-Bengal gram or kadala parippu is roasted separately and powdered with the urad dal. These two form the lentil base for most molagapodis. Roasted till slightly deeper brown the dal is crunchy and easy to powder.

Curry leaves- you can’t miss out on the karivepelai to give the classic ellu podi aroma. Add a handful if you have one. Dried ones will work well too, slightly roast before powdering.

Red chillies: depending on the spice levels you prefer can use a couple of different varieties here. The bydige or Kashmir red chilli adds a deep red colour without adding all that heat. Whereas the Guntur varieties give lighter red colour with a lot more pungent heat packed in. The ellu podi in the picture has bydige as I am not a huge fan of the heat.

Salt: Seasoning with salt is an absolute must to flavour and keep a good shelf life for the powder.

Hot tip:

On the first day, the salt doesn’t flavour well as the fresh ground chillies take over the flavour. However, taste test the next day to adjust the salt levels as by now the lentils will start absorbing the flavours and the pungent heat is slightly toned down.

Steps to make the dry til chutney

Roasting: dry and slow roasting of each ingredient ensures that the lentils are cooked and also that they can be powdered well. The sesame seeds crackle when roasted releasing the oil needed to bring the powder together. Each ingredient has a different time to roast, so have to be done separately.
Grinding: A spice mill or a coffee grinder can powder the spice mix. Powder the lentils and seasoning separately and then mix them well together. At times the sesame seeds will become mushy upon grinding as they release a lot of oil. Add a tablespoon or two of the lentil mix and grind further to reduce the stickiness.

Storing the ellu molagapodi

The til chutney will become rancid if exposed to air much faster. If you are making a batch store it in an airtight bottle on the countertop for about 15 days.  Use a dry spoon to serve it. If keeping for a bigger batch keep it in the fridge to slow down the loss of flavour.

Serving ideas for the til chutney

With lunch thali- The dry til chutney can replace the thogayal in the classic south Indian thali meal. It provides a lovely pickle kind of side to add flavour to the dishes.
With idly and dosa- Just like using molagapodi, Ellu podi can be used to dip the idlis and dosas to have. You can add a touch of oil to make a paste that can be smeared on the idlies.
Make a thogayal- Add two or three tbsp of warm water to about the same quantity of til chutney powder and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. This will form a thick soft chutney. Further you can dilute it with water if needed.
In variety rice- Just like we make pickle masala rice, sprinkle the chutney podi on the stirfrying leftover rice and make a delightful ellu rice. You can add a tempering of mustard seeds and garnish with coriander leaves to make it more flavourful.
In parathas- Add a tablespoon of til chutney to the atta before kneading it and mix well. This gives a unique flavour to the paratha when cooked, yet cannot be seen much.
Add to sandwiches and wraps– Use the til chutney in your rolls, wraps and sandwiches as this dry spice mix will add flavour without going soggy. Add cooked and drained beans, herbs, or a basic salad to the wrap to make it filling. Smear a bit of the paste-like ellu podi on the slices of bread and make a basic tomato-cucumber sandwich, it tastes amazing.

Collaborations

The dry til chutney recipe is added to the A_Z collection of recipes for the Alphabet T. Sesame seeds are Til in Hindi and this long-stay chutney is what I chose to showcase.

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When you make this ellu podi, tag us or share with us how you like it. Leave us a comment with a 5-star rating to tell us how it is, we would love to hear from you. Stay subscribed as this year we will try our best to bring you a lot more recipes. Stay connected and see you again soon.

I was recently watching the Megan and Harry series on Netflix. There was one particular part I actually liked. The friends’ idea for the new year is to set a word. My instant reaction to that was wow,  that’s profound.  Rather than having a resolution that you drop off after a few days,  finding a word that is adding meaning to you in multiple ways sounded far better.
Guess what word I am choosing…after a bit of thought! Imperfect that is my word. As we evolve this year I will share with you how we are taking it forward. For now,  we are starting with imperfect produce. We have imperfect radishes that we are using to make this lesser-known South Indian style preparation.

Prepping the radishes

Radishes or Raphanus sativus, come in long cylinder ones or small round varieties. They have red or white skin. Inside they can be white, variegated or watermelon colour. I choose the small round red varieties to make this dish. The skin is red here and the flesh white. To prep, these, wash them thoroughly especially if they are not in perfect shape. I use a toothbrush to get rid of the mud in the folds. remove the leaves (don’t discard make mullangi keerai poriyal) and trim the root. Now slice the radishes into wedges. Save a few radishes to make our much-loved Radish pear salad with tahini dresssing.

Ingredients to make puli mullangi

Red radishes: prep the radishes as per the notes above. These radishes are crunchy and have a slightly stronger peppery flavour than daikon. Thus goes nicely with the spices added. If you are looking for a low food map option make it with daikon as this has been tested.

Sambhar powder: the archetypal curry powder for anything South Indian is the Sambhar podi. It works for this one too imparting the classic mix of heat from the chillies,  smokiness from the coriander seeds and complexity from the fenugreek.

Tamarind extract:  a thick extract of tamarind is the souring agent in this puli mullangi. This along with the salt and the sambhar podi forms that thick sauce that coats the red radish wedges.

Tempering: spices most South Indian dishes start or layer on with a spice-infused oil. This is created by crackling mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, curry leaves and red chillies in sesame seed oil.
Seasoning: to balance the flavours salt is needed. My mum swears by crystalline salt in anything she wants to keep for a while. This is not the pink rock salt but clusters of sea salt that are not powdered. The flavour this imparts minutely changes depending on the other minerals in it. For acutely trained tastebuds like hers, these are important.

Serving ideas for the radish in tamarind sauce

The puli mullangi is kind of a spicy side dish. You could pair it with a South Indian thali meal. For a simpler platter, I would choose keerai molagutal and puli mullangi with cooked millet.
Fill up a wrap with some cooked beans, stir-fried kalonji rice and pieces for puli mullangi spicy filling wrapped burrito lunch on the go.

Meal prep and saving for later.

The puli mullangi will stay well in the refrigerator for up to a week. In freezer-safe containers, they stay well for up to 3 months. The radishes do go a bit limp but taste fantastic even upon thawing. Save in smaller portions so you thaw only what is needed.

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This new year share with us what you think you will be doing. Stay subscribed to see how we are going with our word. Connect with us (instagram or facebook) as we plan to travel a bit more and share new locations and experiences with you.

Enjoy a delightful yellow tomato salad bursting with summer flavour. Make it a celebration of your homegrown produce with this salad with the best citrus dressing. Make some, share some and enjoy the sun.
It certainly feels so special when your garden provides you with a few good summer produce. Since it is a rainy summer this year, we have planted a few tomatoes. One of the varieties we have is the yellow pear tomato instead of the cherry tomato. These are smaller and sweeter and sunshine yellow in colour. To our surprise, this started fruiting as most as soon as the first rains started. So here are showcasing this beautiful produce with summer fresh cabbages and cucumbers.

Ingredients for the easy summer salad

Yellow tomatoes: these are a variety of cherry tomatoes. They are sweet with a burst of that tomato flavour. You really don’t have to go looking for these, cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes will also do the job. If you have extra squishy ones, try our cherry tomato soup recipe.
Cabbage:  sweet and crunch cabbage forms the leafy base for this salad. It doesn’t matter if it is the red cabbage or the sweet white one. You can swap this for lettuce, arugula or mesclun.
Cucumber: Lebanese cucumbers are the plain complement to yellow tomatoes. Since they are water laden, there are lovely to have during summer, especially in a salad.
Seeds: mix the crunch part is the one that makes the salads more appetising. My go-to mix is flax, chia, sesame seeds and hemp. Depending on what you have at hand, just go with the flow. Popped quinoa tastes brilliant in this salad.

Herbs: Herbs add a good freshness to any salad. Since we are picking up some from the garden we have spring onions, gotugola ( Brahmi) and mint from the garden. So today’s batch pick-up goes right into the salad. You can add what you have at hand to brighten up the flavours. 

For the citrus vinaigrette.

Summer certainly is for those strong citrus flavours. This basic citrus vinaigrette has lemon zest, lemon juice, whole grain mustard, grated garlic and grated ginger along with salt. It has no oil added, you can add a teaspoon of olive oil if you like. Do you really need a dressing for this salad, maybe just lemon and salt will do, but it is far nicer with this basic lemon vinaigrette. Since we are using sweet tomatoes,  I have not added sugar or date syrup to them. If you are using this dressing for, say, coleslaw or basic garden salad mix, add a tsp of date syrup.

Putting together a meal

Option 1: The salad is actually a fantastic idea to serve at a BBQ or lunch. Make some crusty toast, and creamy cheese to add to a platter. Don’t forget to keep some chocolate crackles for desserts
Option 2: Pop some vegetable sheek kebabs on the barbecue. Toast up some flatbreads. Whip up some cacik sauce and roll up a kind of Greek gyros.
Option 3: Keep light to follow up with a cold drink, like berry kombucha and then serve some chocolate dessert brownies to make it up.

The recipe card below carries step-by-step guidance to make this easy summer salad. You can directly pin this onto your board to make during the tomato season. Share with us how you feel making this recipe in the comments below with a rating of upto 5 stars

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As a home gardener, I get very excited when I see produce come up and the garden active with bees and butterflies. These have an emotional connection to the fruits kind of a sense of joy in their own way. Try your green thumb, you didn’t always have to get it right, but don’t give up.
When you make this yellow tomato salad, whatever type of tomato hope you enjoy the experience. Let us know in the comments how you feel about it and rate the recipe. Don’t forget the citrus dressing is perfect for kidney bean salad or edamame salad.
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Kolmi shaak baaja is a classic, slightly lesser-known Bengali-style side dish. This quick, easy, vegan water spinach stirfry is all about the greens and is flavoured with just a few ingredients classic to this cuisine. If you find a bunch of kolmi shaak, don’t forget to try this recipe and share with us your feedback.
My parents taught me to be fearless with vegetables. The common thing they say is to try it.. you will know! This has actually saved me a lot many times especially when I move from one country to another. Now I am able to confidently try a new set of greens with a fair approximation of how they will taste. A huge thank you to my parents to set this trend alive in me.
After moving from Malaysia I had not seen water spinach. The bunches in the greengrocer were certainly a surprise. So here we go again with a few dishes across the regions I travel all made with water spinach.

What is water spinach?

Water morning glory, water spinach, kangkong, vayal cheera, swamp valley greens are all Ipomea aquaticus. This green leafy species is a water-loving plant,  just as the name suggests. The leaves are slightly conical and dark green. The stem is tube-like, suggesting the aquatic nature. The leaves and the tender twigs are edible. The soft twig snaps till where it is edible, therefore cleaning is pretty much like snapping of asparagus. Don’t forget to check the leaves on both sides for bugs. This leafy green is know for its laxative property along with high mineral content.

Precautions while buying water spinach

Do not pick up this green if you are not sure of the source as it is a plant used in water remediation. Since plant loves to absorb minerals in large quantities, growing them near toxic sources helps to clean the water. Spinach sourced here is unsuitable for consumption as it may have toxic metals. Preferably pick up the greens from where you know their growth is or with clear labelling.

Ingredients to make this kolami shaak baaja

Water spinach: check the leaves ad snap off the tender stalks of the kolmi shaak. Wash thoroughly and drain. Chop the greens roughly, the stalk I chop bit smaller than the greens.
Spices: to add to the smokey flavour of mustard oil, it is kala jeera and ajwain that infuses the oil. Follow this up with garlic and red chillies. Now, these two depend on the flavour you prefer to have. For this dish, I choose to use a bit more garlic and keep the red chillies intact so they release the flavour, not the heat. If you want to have a spicier flavour, split the chillies.
Oil: you can’t miss the classic mustard oil flavour in this dish. It gives it that unique smokey intensity that it really needs. I don’t have any swaps here as another will just change the flavour altogether. We have used mustard oil to make Dal pitha and dudh sukto on this blog.

The recipe card below carries the detailed step-by-step recipe to make this baaja. You can save it onto your pinboard directly from here. When you make this recipe share with us how you paired it or how you liked it and please rate the recipe with a 5-star rating.

Can I make this baaja with other greens?

The same baaja can be made with any soft greens. So far, I make this with English spinach (palak), amaranth leaves, Swiss chard, Chinese mustard, beet greens or broccoli greens. You can try the same with the greens you have as well.

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The kolmi shaak baaja with some steamed rice and dudh shukto made us a wonderful dinner. Hope you enjoy the experience of a small Bengali cuisine platter. Finish off the meal with the unique plastic chutney recipe. Save up this recipe onto your pinboards to use later.
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Once we had gotten through some soup recipes last week, the taste buds needed a  gentle wake-up. Yet we are not up to the stage where stronger curries and foods can take over and run as a usual week. That will need a bit more time and getting back up to. Meanwhile, we have some veggies in the fridge that need to be used up. Here is a very easy shalgam ke baaji recipe made with fresh turnips. This dry turnip curry is vegan, gluten-free and free of nuts and coconut. Try out the shalgam ke baaji with fresh rotis and salad.

Understanding Turnips

There were two turnips I picked up with my grocery list. Turnips or neep are tap root vegetables with pale white skin or a green /pink top. They resemble beetroot in shape. Both the leaves and the bulbous root are edible. A fresh batch of spring turnips is delicious as salads similar to radishes. However, as the season progresses, I prefer cooking them to bring out the sweet flavour. To use the root, peel them and separate them from the greens. Chop up into pieces or wedges and proceed with your recipe.

What do turnips taste like?

Though the turnips look a lot like white beetroot, they taste a lot closer to radishes. Raw turnips have a characteristic crunch and a mustard green-like flavour. This flavour vanishes upon cooking replacing it with a mellow sweet flavour. 

Turnips in Indian cooking

Turnips are not alien to Indian cuisine and are called shalgam. Typically this is grown in colder regions where you will find it more popular in cuisine than in the hot humid regions. Turnips in curry, stirfry or grated as a salad. Today’s recipe is a semi-dry preparation called shalgam ke baaji.

Masalas and ingredients for this baaji

Shalgam/ turnips- Fresh turnip roots that are peeled and diced are the ones that are needed to make this turnip dry curry. A peeler will work to get the peel off n then dice the flesh. You can use the turnip greens in this recipe. Wash and clean the leaves. Strip them off the stalk and chop them to add along with the diced root.

Onion- a small bit of onion sauteed adds so much flavour to this dish. I have used half a small white onion. If you have shallots, use that for extra flavour.

Spices – two levels of flavour are created in this simple recipe. One at first by tempering the fenugreek seeds and the carom seeds. For the second layer of flavour, salt, turmeric powder, roasted cumin powder and curry powder ( like Ken’s) is all you need. This curry powder can be sambhar powder, rasam powder, garam masala or Kitchen king masala.

 The recipe card below gives the step-by-step details to make this recipe. Pin it onto your board from here for later use. 

Putting together a meal

Shalgam ke baaji on a cooler night with a couple of phulkas sounds like home. Leftovers find themselves comfortably hidden in a curry bun or a sandwich for lunch the next day. These are the easiest ways I have tried with the turnip dry curry. As we were unwell, we had it with payaru kanji.

Meal prep and saving the leftovers.

Usually, I prep and chop the turnips on the weekend to help my day at work. The prepared baaji will stay well for 3 to 4 days in the fridge. I have never frozen this shalgam ki baaji. If you have success with this please let us know in the comments.

Stay connected

Shalgham ki baaji is a very basic side dish recipe, best enjoyed warm. When you make this, write a comment with a rating. Share this recipe with friends and family who may also enjoy some turnips.

We have added this post to the A-Z recipe challenge,  ingredients in Hindi. Shalgam or turnips are one among the many ingredients which start with S. 

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Stay safe and see you in the next post.

The steamed perfection of idli beats any other breakfast recipe. As a child, this South Indian classic was my arch-enemy!! Now it is the best comfort that life can offer in two or three pieces of steamed perfections. Though classic rice idlies still rule my world, we add variety to this with some twists and turns. When the weekend is of limited hours and lots of work,  the rava-based idlies are a handy bunch. This kambu idli is one such that is fermented and with whole grains yet much faster to grind and prep than the usual rice idlies.

What is Kambu?

Kambu or bajra is edible seeds of, Pennisetum glaucum, the pearl millet plant. This winter-friendly millet is slightly greyish in colour. As a millet, it is a gluten-free grain that is popularly used as a cereal in Indian and African cuisines. This has a lower glycemic index than the popular white rice and wheat. We have shared pearl millet ladoos and bajra roti posts before that use whole bajra. This time, we have broken bits of pearl millet seed, the bajra rava.

Ingredients and proportions for bajra rava idli

The kambu idli batter is a combination of grain and lentils.
Bajra : the pearl millet grits are what I have used to make this set of idli. These are a pack of crushed bajra seeds. If you have the whole bajra, you can use that too to make the idli. However,  the soaking time will be 6 hours or overnight to soften the bajra.
Black gram dal: the ulundu or black gram dal is the skinned white cotyledon of the black gram. This is available either as two cotyledons stuck together (gota) or split ones. The black gram as such can be used for making the batter too, however, the idlies will be denser coz of all the fibre and the colour changes.
Salt: regular cooking salt will flavour the idlies well. It is approximately to taste that we add the salt.
Water: plain drinking water is what I use to grind the batter. In hot climates, my mother-in-law recommends using ice-cold water to grind the soaked dal as it will cool the batter and it will remain sticky.

Steps to make the bajra rava idli batter

The kambu idli batter needs a bit lesser attention than the classic rice idly. Here are the steps to achieve that perfect fluffy kambu idlies.
Soaking:

this idli batter is less cumbersome that the classic rice idlies. This is because the softening time is required only for the black gram dal. Since the bajra is broken into bits it is much faster to soak up cutting down the overall soaking time to two hours. Soak the dal and the bajra rava separately. Don’t forget to wash them both gently with 2 or 3 changes of water.
Grinding
Once the dal is soaked, that is the only one that needs to be ground to paste. This can be done with a blender or a wet grinder. The dal paste can be a bit more fluid than the rice batter as the bajra rava will soak up more water as it ferments.
Fermentation
The lentil and millet batter forms the fluffy idli when it is fermented perfectly. humid equatorial conditions are congenial for bacterial fermentation. It takes about 6 to 8 hours away from direct heat to ferment. However, if you are residing in a colder region follow the tips from the bamboo rice idli post to get a well-fermented batter.

How will I know if the batter is fermented well?

In the fermentation process for idli, we are taking the help of air-borne bacteria. This process makes the batter rise adding a spongy texture to it. When stirred with a ladle you can see the bubbles that break. The aroma of a fermented batter is also a good test. The batter starts from a bland aroma of grains and beans to a fruity slightly sour one.

Steaming

Greased idly moulds filled halfway through are placed in the steamer. A good 15 minutes of steam without any pressure ensure the rise is optimal. Steam can be scalding so be careful when you open the steamer. Once opened, rest the kambu idli for 5 minutes in the hot moulds. If the bajra idli is cooked through, the idly will bounce back if pressed gently on the surface (careful! it will be hot).

What if I don’t have an idli cooker?

Though the idly cooker is a handy piece of equipment it can easily be substituted. An egg poacher ramekin or small bowls can be used as moulds. To steam, place them in the instant pot, steam mode or in the classic Indian pressure cooker without the whistle. A simple vegetable steamer or a wok wide enough to place a raised plate will work well too.

Idli recipes on our blog

Classic rice idly
Quinoa and oats idli
Malligai poo idly
Bamboo rice idly

Stay connected

Hope this rice-free idli recipe comes of use to you. We have greatly benefited from using a variety of grains in our diet. This helped us mainly in reducing our staple white rice content and brings about a great bit of variety in our home menu. Share with us your thoughts and feedback when you make our recipes. You can save this recipe as a pin too. If you have idli leftovers, you can always make one of the three varieties of idli upma we have on this blog.

Stay on and explore more before you go.

It hunted us down again!! We are set for another session of home iso, with lots of liquids and panadol. Coming to the rescue this time is barley water soup. It certainly caters for lots of liquids part providing just that nourishment during the time when the throat is sore.

What is barley water?

The strained liquid that results from cooking pearled barley in excess of water is barley water. This is an easily digestible refreshing source of hydration. Barley water is commonly consumed in humid Asian countries to beat the heat. It is also recommended to get relief from kidney stones, urinary tract infections and remove liver toxicity.

Which type of barley to use?

The barley grain is processed in stages. Based on how they are processed it is used in different cuisines.
Unhulled:  the whole barley grain, just cleaned and chaffed unhulled barley. To use this, you need to soak it for 24 hours to soften.
Pearled: the polished barley where the hull and the outer layer of the bran have been removed is pearled barley. This is easier to cook with no soaking needed.
I have used pearl barley to make barley water with a ratio of 1 part barley to 6 parts water.

Ingredients for this barley water soup

The barley water soup is a refreshing idea that I can up with as I am not a fan of lemon barley and needed to keep up the liquids for the iso.
Vegetables:  quick cooking vegetables that you can easily put together make this soup’s flavour. I have used leeks, capsicum, spinach stalks and carrots here. You can add celery, shallots, cabbage, potatoes, swedes etc too to this soup.
Spices and seasoning:  salt and pepper is the only seasoning I have used here. Ginger would be nice in here too.
Barley water: the barley water was prepared using one part barley to 6 parts water. We used the barley to make a salad and the water to make soup.
The recipe card below has the images and step-by-step instructions to get the best-tasting barley water soup. hope you will like it. If you need to pin this for future use, do so directly onto your pin board from this recipe card.

What to serve with barley water soup?

Crusty bread at this moment when I have zero energy would do. If you feel lavish ghee croutons are what you should have with this. If you are a south Indian food lover, keep some vadam and vattal on the size as this soup will remind you of kanji a lot.

Other soups for the flu season

Flu busting soup   
Cabbage coconut soup
Corn quinoa soup
Broccoli peas soup
Cherry tomato soup

Barley water usage in other countries.

Roasted barley tea is a popular drink in Japanese culture. It is a robust flavour as the barley is dark roasted which is then steeped as tea.
Greek kykeon pounded barley (not powder) is cooked in excess of water and flavoured with penny royal. This is the post that I loved reading about this recipe.
Lemon barley is the British version of this drink, where there is a bit of lemon squeezed into the barley water to give it flavour. This is still recommended by doctors towards urinary tract infections.

Other grains are similarly used.

Kanji vellam the water drained from cooking matta rice in excess water is called kanji vellum. This is a household mid-morning drink in most south Indian houses (especially Kerala).  A pinch of salt is added and consumed warm. It functions like a light soup.
Soba soup while visiting Japan, a friend of mine introduced me to this. Freshly made soba noodles are cooked in water. The water gets thickened by the buckwheat and is then served as soup with some wasabi and bonito flakes. This was one of the most refreshing things to experience in Japanese cuisine without any hype attached to it.

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If you are making this soup let us know if you liked it. Rate our recipe with a five-star rating along with your comment. We would love it if you would like to subscribe to the blog and enjoy and interact with us. Thank you for your continued support. See you in the next post.