I’ve always had trouble cooking for my vegetarian friends - especially when throwing a dinner party. I can make the traditional stuff all right, but when I make some fancy-schmantzy meat and seafood dishes, I feel bad serving some generic vegetarian dishes to the few non-meat eaters in the group.  So last week when I had friends over for dinner, I decided to mix it up a bit and try out a couple of vegetarian appetizers. Of course I made some of my trusty mixed vegetable cutlets too, just in case the experiments turned disastrous. The sautéed cauliflower with garlic and pine nuts was barely edible, but these beans turned out rather tasty, even the carnivores couldn’t keep away.  

This dish was done along the lines of my Green Beans with Shrimp recipe. The best part of that beans dish is the crunch from the dried shrimp pieces; so I used almonds to get a similar texture for the spice base in this one.  Honey was not part of the original plan, but when the almond-garlic-chile paste turned out to be extremely spicy; honey was all I could think of to balance the heat, which finally really made this dish I’ll have to say! Anyway, it is such a simple recipe, which yields a great end result, do try it sometime!

beans

BTW, this picture was taken after more than half the beans were gone! Someone suggested that I blog this recipe, so I quickly dumped the rest on to a clean plate and ran to “my studio” and clicked just one picture!

Ingredients

  • Whole green beans ends trimmed - 1lb (Use French beans or haricot verts if available)
  • 1/3 cup whole almonds
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 4-5 whole dry red chilies (reduce the number if you don’t like it hot)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette
  • 1 tbsp tamari /light soy sauce
  • salt to taste

Method

In a large pot, heat enough water to cover the beans. When the water starts to boil, add salt and the beans and cook for 2 minutes. Keep a large bowl filled with water and ice cubes ready. Remove the beans and plunge in the ice water immediately to stop the cooking. Once the beans are cool, drain on paper towels and keep aside. (This can be done a day ahead.)

Place the almonds, garlic and red chilies in a food processor and process to form a coarse paste.

In a large pan, heat the oil and saute the shallots till soft. Add the almond paste and salt and saute for a minute or two. Add the honey, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar and mix well. Cook for 1 minute on high heat stirring frequently. Now add the blanched beans and toss to coat the beans well with the paste. Saute till the beans are heated through. Remove from the heat and serve hot.

P.S. I know I’ve been MIA lately. Thank you all for the warm Diwali wishes and e-mails. I will get back to you all very soon!

29 Comments

On my eggplant theeyal post last week, Arundati commented that all gravies were known as “curry” in her house. It was pretty much the same in my house too. Theeyal, Aviyal, Pachadi and Sambar being a few exceptions I can think of! Even Kaalan and Pulisseri were known as Moru Curry in my house. Actually it was more like “kari” than “curry“. There was really not much in common between these curries - the base could be coconut, yogurt, lentils or just ground spices. If we Indians are so confused about the term curry, we shouldn’t be chastising the non-Indian folks for calling every Indian dish a curry.

Anyway this is one such generic curry. A very light gravy with subtle flavors, not a dish that can really hold its own, but makes a nice base for rice and a spicy dry side dish. The base is a generic ground coconut and spices mixture which forms the base of various gravies. Tomato adds the subtle tartness. Sliminess of the Okra is removed by slicing them thin and sautéing in oil before adding to the gravy.

Tomatoes and Okra in a Spicy Coconut Gravy

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Okra
  • oil
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 2 dried red chilies
  • 2 tbsp sliced shallots
  • a few curry leaves
  • 2 large tomatoes quartered
  • 1 green chili slit
  • salt to taste
  • To Grind
  • 3/4 cup grated coconut (Fresh or frozen)
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tbsp thinly sliced shallots
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
  • 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 garlic clove

Method

Grind all the ingredients under the to grind section into a smooth paste. Don’t add water unless necessary.

Slice the okra lengthwise into four. Heat 1tbsp oil in a large pan and saute the okra slices till the sliminess is gone and the okra starts to brown a little bit. Remove and keep aside.

Add a tsp more oil into the same pan. When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds.  When these start to splutter, add the red chilies, sliced shallots and curry leaves and saute till shallots are brown.  Add the ground paste and saute for a minute or so . Add 1/2 cup of water and salt to taste and bring to a simmer on medium heat.

Add the tomatoes, cover and simmer for five minutes. Add the sautéed okra pieces and mix well. Cook uncovered for two more minutes and remove from the heat.

Serve warm with plain rice and a side of something spicy.

Here are some options for a side dish to make this a complete meal

Vegetarian

Non-Vegetarian

25 Comments

Eggplant Theeyal

Monday, October 13th, 2008

Filed Under Eggplant, India - Kerala, Side Dish - Gravy, Vegetarian | 44 Comments

As usual I underestimated the power of laziness while promising a week of vegetarian gravies. I had four different dishes which fit the theme sitting in the draft with recipes, all I had to do was type up an introduction and click the publish button! Well, anyway with the rate at which I am blogging, I can safely say this is going to be a veg-gravy month here.

Theeyal is a generic term for dishes with a brown sauce made of roasted coconut and spices along with tamarind paste forming the base. I love all kinds of brown food, Theeyal being one of my favorite. The basic preparation is the same for all theeyals, you can add different kind of veggies to make okra Theeyal, onion Theeyal, bitter gourd Theeyal etc. This base is also great with chicken and prawns, although we never call it Chicken Theeyal for some reason!

This eggplant Theeyal is more veg-heavy than usual theeyals. Normally the pieces are sparse and the sauce is thinner, but I had to use up all the eggplants in the fridge. Also, made this way, it makes a wholesome meal with steamed rice.

Eggplant Theeyal

Ingredients
  • 1lb eggplants sliced into thick rounds
  • To Grind
    • 1.5 cups fresh or frozen grated coconut
    • 1 tbsp thinly sliced shallots
    • 2 tbsp thinly sliced ginger pieces
    • 6 dry red chilies
    • 1 tsp coriander seeds
    • 1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds
    • 1/8 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1.5 tbsp oil
  • 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
  • 2 dry red chilies
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
  • 4 cloves garlic whole
  • 4 green chilies
  • a few curry leaves
  • 1 tbsp tamarind paste
  • salt to taste

Method

In a deep pan, dry roast the grated coconut till brown and keep aside.

In the same pan, dry roast the red chilies, coriander powder, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds and keep aside.

Add a little bit of oil and saute the shallots and ginger pieces one after the other till brown.

Grind all the fried ingredients with a little water to form a smooth paste.

Add some more oil to the pan and saute the egg plant pieces till soft. Remove and keep aside.

Add a little more oil to the pan and add mustard seeds when the oil is hot.  When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the cumin seeds and red chilies and saute for a few seconds. Add the shallots, green chillies and garlic and saute till shallots are soft.

Add the ground spice paste, tamarind paste, curry leaves and salt. Saute for about 3-4 minutes stirring frequently. Add the sauteed eggplant pieces and mix well to coat the pieces well with the spice paste. Add 1/2 cup hot water to the pan and cook till the gravy thickens.

Serve with steamed rice.

44 Comments

I ran into an old friend a couple of weeks ago. We were meeting after quite a long time. After the initial pleasantries were exchanged, she asked me a question that shocked me a bit. Don’t you cook any normal food anymore? I wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, so I asked her to define “normal food”. Her definition was - stuff I can cook for a weekday dinner. According to her, lately I’ve been only posting party dishes.  I didn’t really agree with this analysis, since all that I’ve been posting lately were weekday dinner for two type of dishes. I guess normal is such a relative term anyway, so we parted after I promised her some normal recipes, though I didn’t have any ideas at the time.

After mulling over what she said for a while, I kind of understood what she meant by normal food. When we were young, my mom always used to make a vegetable “gravy” to go with rice and other more prominent sides. Those curries (for lack of a better term) were considered the “extras”, you know like the supporting cast. They never get the limelight, but you can’t make a movie without them. I think what my friend was talking about were such dishes, the everyday dishes that you just assume everyone knows how to make, but I remember a time when I had to look up such recipes. These days I don’t make such dishes that often, since our meals are really an amalgamation of various cuisines. I checked my drafts and found that I have a few so called “normal recipes” which never made it out here for various reasons. So I have decided to have a Veg Gravy Week here on Live To Eat. Next few posts are going to be everyday gravies that you can have with rice and a quick side for a weekday meal. I must warn you that all these dishes are coconut based, I am a mallu after all. But the three gravies I have in draft all use different forms of it – coconut milk, fresh coconut and roasted coconut.

The first dish I have here is probably the easiest of the lot. I am not a big fan of plain daal, so I always add coconut milk to it. The measures below are just guesstimates, since you can vary the amount of veggies and spice and coconut milk according to your taste. This is a light creamy gravy which is not too spicy and goes well with rice. I love this with papadams and a spicy pickle.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup mung daal
  • 1 cup light coconut milk
  • 2 green chilies split
  • 3 cups packed baby spinach
  • 1 cup potatoes – peeled and cubed
  • ½ tsp mustard seeds
  • ¼  tsp cumin seeds
  • ¼ cup thinly sliced shallots
  • 1 tbsp sliced garlic
  • A few curry leaves
  • ½ tsp cumin powder
  • ½ tsp red chili powder
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp oil

Method

Cook mung daal in a pressure cooker or in a regular saucepan with enough water to cover. Once the daal is soft, mash it well with the back of a spoon to form a thick creamy liquid.

Boil the potatoes in the microwave or stove top till the potatoes are tender.

Heat the oil in a large pan, and add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the cumin seeds. After just a few seconds, add the curry leaves, shallots and garlic and sauté till the shallots are soft. Reduce the heat and add the cumin and chili powder. Cook for a couple of minutes stirring continuously till the spice paste just starts to brown, making sure not to burn these.

Add the cooked potatoes and the slit green chilies and sauté till the potatoes are completely coated with the spices. Add the coconut milk and cook on medium heat for about 5-6 minutes till the coconut milk is heated through, but not boiling.

Add the cooked daal, salt and ½ a cup of hot water to the pan and mix well to combine. Add the baby spinach leaves and cover and cook on medium heat for 5-6 more minutes.

Serve with rice or rotis. If served with rice, I really recommend papadams, it is a great combo.

I have been missing all the events lately, so I am overjoyed to send this one over to Sra who is hosting the fourth installment of My Legume Love Affair. This is an event started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook. Knowing Sra, the strictest hostess in town, I am keeping my fingers crossed that this one qualifies, I didn’t bother reading all the fine print. :)

42 Comments

Poppy

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

Filed Under Capitol Hill, Northwest | 16 Comments

When I heard that Herbfarm ex-chef Jerry Traunfeld started his own restaurant in Seattle, that got added to my must-try-restaurants list. Then I got to know that Jerry got his inspiration for Poppy’s menu from the Indian Thali, that took Poppy right up to the top of that list! An Indian thali is a variety of dishes usually served in small bowls on a round tray. Poppy is not an Indian restaurant, they say that the menu borrows the idea of the thali to present Jerry’s own style of cooking, highlighting seasonal ingredients, fresh herbs, and spices.

With dishes like Curry Leaves Vadas and Tandoori Chicken, I thought the menu had a very Indian feel to it. But after eating there, I can say that it is definitely not an Indian restaurant, Indian-influenced is the right term. For example, yes, there is a Naan served with the Thali, but there is nothing Indian about the black Cod or the sunchoke soup. The braised lamb that came with the Thali, almost looked like an Indian saag-lamb, but with the huckleberries and wilted herbs it was very different from any Indian lamb dish I’ve ever tasted. In other words, don’t go to Poppy expecting Indian food, if you dipped a piece of naan into a braised lamb dish expecting a spicy lamb curry, then you might be disappointed. Just think of it as a modern Northwestern small plates restaurant with a prix-fix menu, then you are in for a unique experience!

Poppy is a fairly large restaurant in the middle of Capitol Hill. We called up for a table for two for Saturday night, but they had no tables available till 9:45! We could always walk in and try the bar area where they serve the full menu, they said, so we decided to try our luck. The 100+ seats restaurant was totally packed, including the bar area where plenty of people were lurking behind the seated patrons waiting for them to leave. Luckily I spotted a couple from the far end of the bar getting up to put their coats on, and we made a dash for it. With just sheer luck and quick movement, we got a table within five minutes of our arrival. We felt a little bad stealing the seats when plenty of people who came before us were waiting, but not that bad to give up the seats, as we were starving. 

Service was great, friendly bartender and knowledgeable servers. Our bartender explained the menu to us. We could start with some appetizers from the bar menu if we like, and get our individual Thalis as the entree. Thali is not really meant for sharing, even though some people have done that, each dish is really tiny. The starters looked really tempting - especially the Pork belly and the Tandoori chicken, both he said were big portions, those are almost entree sized portions. But we were there for the Thali, so we decided to get a couple of lighter fares to start with and get our individual Thalis. Our starters were Tandoor Lobster Mushrooms with thyme salt ($7) and Stuffed cherry bomb peppers ($6). The mushrooms were very lightly spiced and went nicely with the herbed yogurt dipping sauce. It was a little bit on the dry side though. The stuffed cherry peppers were my favorite. I was expecting these to be spicy, but these were quite the opposite, the roasted peppers were mildly sweet and the mixed nuts and quinoa (I think) filling had the sweetest crunch to it.

Then came our Thalis. They have the thali for $32 and a “smali” :) for $22. The Thali has 8 different items including a soup, salad and a chutney plus a sumac spiced naan.  Most of the dishes were vegetarian except for the black cod with savoy cabbage and matusake and the braised lamb with huckleberries and wilted herbs. They also offer an all vegetarian version of the Thali, I don’t remember what the substitutions were.

The sunchoke, celery and sage soup was very tasty, so was the farro pilaf. The five-spice fingerling potatoes were extremely salty on the crust, but pretty nice. The spicy chickpeas with fennel and oregano tasted very Indian to me. The cod was fresh and cooked very well, but I am very indifferent to cod to rave about it. The lamb was very surprising, as I mentioned before, when I saw a naan sitting on top of a braised lamb dish I expected it to be more of an Indian curry. Instead it was tangy and a bit sweet with no spices at all. The waitress told us that this has been braising all day, which was evident from the tenderness of the lamb pieces. I somehow think I might have liked this dish a lot, if I was in a different restaurant. Even though every dish was really tiny, we were quite stuffed by the end of it, there was no room for dessert!

Overall, the meal was a really nice experience, though none of the dishes were the
“knock my socks off” kind. We will go back there for sure and next time we will skip the Thali and stick to the bar menu. Cocktails were really potent, and should go nicely with the curry leaves vadas. Hope they keep the pork belly and the Tandoori chicken around in the bar menu.  The Thali is definitely a must try, but once might be enough, at least for me. 

Poppy on Urbanspoon

16 Comments

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