When the flowers bloom...

..Desi goes just a little crazy with the camera. Here are some beauties he found in our otherwise still-messy yard.

Who says Dandelions are weeds? Look at this lovely lady:
On a balmy afternoon, a lazy lion and his sidekick sniff for trouble in their backyard kingdom:

Have a colorful Spring, everyone!

Banana "Cornbread"

One of the cakes that is most popular in my home is also one of the easiest to make-- banana nut bread.

While I love making this delicious bread which my hubby craves more often than he'll admit, I also like to make little changes to the recipe to make the experience of both cooking and eating it even more fun.

Now I love cornbread, and when I picked up two overripe bananas from my pantry last week to get ready to bake, I thought- why not?

For this bread (which really isn't a cornbread as we know cornbread to be) I mixed a small amount of stone-ground corn, which is very nutritious and fiber-rich, with whole-wheat pastry flour, my preferred flour for almost any kind of baking.

The result was gorgeous to look at- the corn meal flecked the bread with tiny golden dots, and gave the crust a hearty crunch.

I used about 1/3 cup of applesauce in this nut bread which gave it an intense sweetness and dense moistness that I loved, but if you'd prefer to have a cakier nut bread, you could scale the applesauce back to just 2 tbsp or even skip it altogether.

One problem with the applesauce was it caused the bread to sink slightly in the center once it had come out of the oven- too much moisture, perhaps? One way to fight this might be to leave it in the oven for an extra five minutes.

So here it is, my banana "cornbread." Enjoy!

Banana "Cornbread"

Ingredients:

Dry:

Mix together-
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup stone-ground yellow corn meal

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cardamom

Wet:

5 tbsp canola oil

2/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp molasses (can reduce to 1 tbsp or leave out altogether for a less sweet bread. I love the richness and also the beautiful color that the molasses contributes.)

Place the wet ingredients in a bowl and beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until well incorporated.

Add to it:

2 tbsp flax seed powder mixed with 4 tbsp water.

1/3 cup applesauce

2 small ripe bananas, mashed well

Beat until incorporated

Add the flour mixture gradually, stirring until it is well mixed in.

Add 1/2 cup pecans, toasted lightly

Pour into an oiled loaf pan and bake about 55 minutes at 250 degrees until the top is a rich brown.

Remove to a rack and cool.

I have made a change - or rather addition- to this recipe that I forgot to put in when I posted it yesterday. Cardamom. I love this wonderful spice that's a feature in many Indian sweets, and I must say it really punched up the taste factor.

Silky Soup: Butternut-Lima Bean

Desi and I are late sleepers. For a long time we both worked the late shift in newsrooms and it is hard, to this day many years after, for us to fall asleep before midnight. As a result, we have gotten into a late cycle with almost all of what we do, including dinner, which rarely makes it to the table before 9 pm and sometimes close to 10.

Now it's a well-known fact that eating your dinner pretty close to bedtime is just not a good idea, because your metabolism slows down during sleep. We try to combat this by making the meal a fairly light one, usually a chapati or two with some dal and subzi.

Sometimes, it is just a bowl of steaming soup with chunky, crusty bread.

When I make soup for dinner I like it to be as nutritious and hearty as possible without being too heavy. I love adding beans, because they offer you loads of protein and fiber for a handful of calories.

For the soup I am about to share with you, I went with lima beans which, for some reason, don't get their share of the spotlight in my legume-loving kitchen as often as they should. These amazing beans are not only super-healthy, but they are gorgeously creamy and delicious to boot. What more can you ask for?

I combined the lima beans with a butternut squash which made a wonderfully healthy addition to the soup.

For the garnish I used finely diced avocado- the creamy blandness of the avocado paired perfectly with the dish, as did its pale green color with the soup's elegant orange.

The soup was delicious-- silky and complex with the flavors of garlic and red chili powder. And it looked gorgeous to boot!

I am sending this soup as my entry to the Well-Seasoned Cook Susan, who is this week hosting the Weekend Herb Blogging event, started by Kalyn. Thanks, Susan, for hosting it!

Vegan Silk: Butternut-Lima Bean Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup large Lima beans, soaked for about 8 hours and cooked until tender

1 medium red onion

1 medium butternut squash, cut into big chunks and then roasted in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until tender. Peel the squash, cut into a smaller dice, and reserve

4 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp red chili powder

Salt to taste

1/2 avocado, pitted, peeled and finely diced

1 tbsp canola oil

Heat the canola oil in a saucepan.

Add the onions and saute on medium heat until translucent.

Add the garlic and stir about a minute.

Add the butternut squash and chili powder. Cook for about a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally, so the squash breaks down further.

Add half the cooked beans and salt to taste.

Bring to a boil.

Turn off the heat and, with an immersion blender or in a regular blender, puree the soup until it acquires a rich, creamy texture. (Pureeing half the beans gives the soup its creamy texture while the remaining limas go into the soup whole to contribute a hearty heft)

Return the saucepan to heat, add the remaining lima beans and season with salt if required.

Warm to a simmer, then turn off the heat and ladle the hot soup into bowls.

Garnish with the diced avocado and enjoy with some bread!

Crunchy Bliss: Masala Vadai with Avocado-Tofu Chutney

Last week was the Tamil New Year, and that always warrants something special. And what can be more special than crunchy, utterly satisfying deep-fried food?

I won't lie: although I like to watch what I eat, it is never easy for me to resist the golden deliciousness of foods dunked in bubbling oil. Given my sub-zero willpower around fried foods of any sort, I usually resist temptation simply by not keeping store-bought fried foods around the house.

But festivals are a great excuse to pull out that cast-iron pan and get some oil on the boil.

For the new year, Desi suggested masala vadai, one of his favorites.

Masala Vadai is pretty easy to put together and very versatile. It can be a snack, an appetizer at parties, a light meal, even, with some sambar and chutney.

You can add some veggies like cabbage or spinach to your vadais to make them more nutritious. But one ingredient is an absolute must if you want the true flavor of a traditional masala vadai: cinnamon.

I added some saunf and garlic and onion as well-- all traditional ingredients that together bring an exquisite complexity to the flavor of the vadai.

For a slightly untraditional twist, I served it with an avocado-tofu chutney that was really quite delicious and healthy to boot.

So here it is, my own chunk of deep-fried bliss, Masala Vadai with Avocado-Tofu Chutney. Hope you enjoy it!

Masala Vadai

Ingredients:

1 cup chana dal, soaked at least 2 hours

3-4 1-inch sticks of cinnamon

1 tsp saunf

10-15 curry leaves

3 red chilies or 1 tsp chili powder

1 red onion, diced

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

Salt to taste

2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

Oil for deep frying.

Put all the ingredients other than the cilantro and the oil into a food processor or blender and process until it comes together in a coarse paste. I ground up my vadai batter quite fine, but you could leave a few visible bits of the dal in there for a more traditional look.

Try not to add any water, because you want a stiff batter that you can shape into vadais. If your blender refuses to budge, however, add water 1 tablespoon at a time until it relents. If the batter gets too loose, sprinkle in just enough chickpea flour so the dough holds together.

Add the cilantro to the batter and mix in. Check the seasoning and add more salt if needed.

Heat oil in a cast-iron or other pan.

Make a ball about one inch in diameter with the vadai batter and then flatten between the palms of your hands into a disc.

Fry in hot oil until golden brown, about a minute on each side.

Serve hot with chutney.

Avocado-Tofu Chutney

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocadoes, peeled, pitted and diced

1 tbsp ginger, grated

1 green chili, jalapeno or serrano would work.

1 cup silken soft tofu

A few drops of lemon juice

Salt to taste

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until nice and smooth.

Garnish with coriander, if desired.

A Healthful Medley: Ezhukari Kuzhambu

When I told my hubby Desi, who is Tamil, that I was planning to cook Ezhukari Kuzhambu, he first corrected my pronunciation: something he loves to do.

The next thing he told me was that he had never heard of this dish. When I explained that it was a sambar made with seven vegetables, or ezhu kari in Tamil, his face cleared and he said, not a little smugly: "Oh, that's just kadamba sambar."

Now kadamba sambar (which translates to mixed-vegetable sambar, so, well, I guess it is like Ezhukari kuzhambu) is absolutely delicious, and Desi's little revelation didn't quite put me off making this dish. I found the recipe in one of Tamil cuisine's classic cookbooks, Samaithu Paar (Cook and See) by Meenakshi Ammal. The first edition of this book was printed way back in 1968, according to my copy.

I did tweak it quite a bit, though, not least because among the ingredients were 15-18 red chilies (gasp!) and more oil than I like to use. I also used canned coconut milk although feel free to substitute with fresh coconut if you have it.

If you happen to have fewer than seven veggies, don't worry - this dish will still taste wonderful because of the rich flavor of the ground spices. Also, you could use other vegetables like snake gourd or colocasia.

Remember to cut the veggies into similar-sized pieces, which always makes for even cooking and better presentation.

One way in which Ezukari seemed to differ from the sambar I make for kadamba sadam was the over-generous use of coriander seeds (1/4 cup) in the ground masala, which I didn't mind at all because I happen to love these flavorful seeds. I also added some sambar powder to the dish because I right now have a stash of absolutely delicious homemade sambar powder that my sis-in-law, Paddu, gave me when she visited recently. It's so good, I've been adding it to everything it can possibly go into.

So here's my version of Ezukari Kuzhambu, or Kadamba Sambar. Regardless of what we called it, Desi and I were unanimous about this: it tasted great.

Ezukari Kuzhambu

Ingredients:

4-5 small eggplants, diced, or 1/2 large one, diced

1 cup of red pumpkin, diced

1 medium potato, diced

1 sweet potato, diced

1 plantain, diced

3/4 cup okra, cut into 1-cm rings (I used frozen)

3/4 cup green beans, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 large lemon-sized ball of tamarind, soaked in 1 cup of water for a few minutes. Extract the juice by crushing the tamarind between your fingers, and discard the solids.

1 tbsp sambar powder

1 cup masoor dal or pink lentils, cooked until tender (you can substitute with tuvar dal)

For the ground masala:

1 tsp canola oil (or any other vegetable oil except olive)

1/4 cup coriander seeds

1/8 cup chana dal or bengal gram

3 red chilies (use more if you like more heat in your kuzhambu)

1 cup coconut milk (I used canned)

Fry the coriander seds, chana dal and red chilies in the oil until lightly golden and then grind into a fairly smooth paste with the coconut milk, adding a little water if necessary.

Cook all the vegetables until they are almost tender (I zapped them in the microwave with about a cupful of water for about 8 minutes)

Put the vegetables into a large saucepan over medium heat.

Add the tamarind water and cook another 2-3 minutes

Now add the cooked dal, sambar powder, and the ground masala paste. Give it all a good stir and allow it to come to a boil.

Add salt to taste. If the kuzhambu is too thick, add some water.

Let the kuzhambu cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes, turn off heat, and add the tempering (below)

For the tempering:

Heat 1 tsp canola or other vegetable oil

Add to it:

1 generous pinch of asafetida

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds

10-15 curry leaves

When the mustard seeds crackle, take off the heat and add to the kuzhambu.

Garnish the kuzhambu with coriander leaves. Serve hot with rice and poppadum.

Usal: Classic Comfort Food

My mom died when I was seven, but many of the few memories I have of her have to do with food.

You see, she loved to cook. She was a Maharashtrian, and the food she prepared reflected the ingredients and influences of her corner of the world.

Although I never had a chance to learn how to cook from my mom, she left me with an everlasting love for Marathi food. My own style of cooking reflects the many cultures that have influenced my life and the places I've lived in or visited, but to this day it is Marathi food that appeals the most to my tastebuds: in other words, it is my comfort food.

Growing up in Bombay, it wasn't hard to find Maharashtrian food. The ubiquitous but delicious vada-pav, the lip-smacking misal and the earthy zunka-bhakar are all part of the diverse smorgasbord that is Bombay street food. At my Marathi relatives' homes I'd eat everyday homecooked delicacies like whisper-soft polis (chapatis), the ethereal varan (a simple tuvar dal preparation) and the mouthwatering bharli vangi (stuffed eggplants).

When I started cooking on my own, I gravitated, quite naturally, to Marathi cuisine, learning largely through cookbooks and from memory. In recent years, I was lucky to find precious resources on Marathi food on the Web, like Nupur's One Hot Stove which, as many of you already know, is a treasure-trove of Maharashtrian (and other) recipes.

My recipe for today, Usal, is one of my favorites because it was one of the first Marathi dishes I learned to cook well-- yes, that's how simple it is.

I have eaten drier versions of this dish, but I like my usal with plenty of gravy that I can soak up with chapatis. I also made some modifications necessitated by the lack of ingredients in my temperamental pantry. For instance, usal uses goda (sweet) masala, which has a lot of the same ingredients as garam masala but also coconut and sesame seeds. I didn't have any prepared goda masala on hand, nor any grated coconut, so I made the goda masala minus the coconut and just added some extra coconut milk to the recipe.

One quick note for those not completely familiar with Indian cuisine on the matki or moth beans that are used traditionally for usal: these look like cute little brown capsules and cook up in a relatively short time, making this dish a heaven-sent for busy cooks.

So here it is, my version of usal: classic Marathi comfort food. Enjoy!

Usal

Ingredients:

1 cup matki or moth beans, soaked and sprouted

1 cup light coconut milk

1 tbsp canola oil

1 medium red onion, diced

1 tsp sugar

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 large tomato, diced

1 large potato, diced into tiny bits

1 tsp red chili powder

1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)

2 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped

Salt to taste


For the goda masala:

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tsp sesame seeds

4 cloves

4 cardamom pods

2 1-inch pieces of cinnamon bark

2 dry bay leaves

10 peppercorns

1/4 cup coconut shreds

Roast the masala ingredients in a dry skillet until lightly brown and fragrant. Fry the coconut last and keep a close eye on it because it can burn in an instant. Cool, powder in a spice grinder, and reserve.

Heat the oil in a saucepan.

Add the onions and sugar and saute until browned at the edges, about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and stir for a minute.

Add the tomato, the powdered masala, and chili and turmeric powders.

Let this cook, stirring a few times, until the tomatoes start to express the oil.

Add the potatoes and stir in.

Add the matki beans, about 3 cups of water, and half the coconut milk.

Cover and simmer on a medium heat about 20-30 minutes, until the matki beans have cooked and are tender but not mushy.

Add the remaining coconut milk, garnish with coriander and some raw onions and lemon, if desired.

Serve piping hot.

---

Meera pointed me to the wonderful Jihva for Love event being hosted by Prathibha and Jigyasa at A Tribute To Pedatha, and I am sending in this tribute to my mom. Jihva for Ingredients is a monthly event started by Indira at Mahanandi.

Paws Off The Plate! Chocolate-"Cheesecake" Bars with Pine Nuts

This spring, as you start cleaning out your homes, please think of your local animal shelter to donate items they can use.

Shelters are always in need of food, towels, blankets and toys, among other things, because of the tremendous number of animals that pass through their doors each day. I often stop by yard sales in my neighborhood to pick up stuff I can bring to the shelter, and the staff is always grateful.

One nifty trick is to clip newspaper coupons for sale items on cat and dog treats and food. Using these, I get products really cheap or even free (especially during store sales). The shelter distributes the food and treats to pet parents who might be facing hard times and cannot afford to feed their animals. It is a great way to keep animals in homes with loving parents and out of shelters.

Here's a list of some common items animal shelters are always in need of. Used items are perfectly fine, unless otherwise indicated.

* Blankets, towels, heating pads and animal beds
* Grooming items (brushes and combs)
* Tennis balls and hard rubber dog toys such as kongs
* NylaBones (new)
* Canned dog food, dog treats
* Esbilac for puppies
* Litter boxes (new only) and liners
* Cardboard scratching post
* Cat grass/nip
* Clay cat litter; Care Fresh Litter; Nonclumping
* Plastic or rubber cat toys (nothing furry)

Now for this week's paws:

As some of you already know, I highlight regularly one dog and one cat up for adoption at the Washington Humane Society in my hometown of Washington DC. My hope is to raise awareness about the wonderful pets available at animal shelters. You can also check Petfinder for other wonderful animals up for adoption in your area.

This week's dog is Dougie, a handsome 5 month old Lab mix who was surrendered by his owners because they were moving to a home that doesn't allow dogs. The shelter says Dougie is a very playful, goofy pup who loves to give licks! He adores squeaky toys, gets along well with other dogs and responds well to handling and touch. Dougie is so smart, he is a member of a training program run by the humane society called SIT!

Our featured kitty for the week is Cannoli (what is it about cats with food names?). Cannoli is a gorgeous 2 year old black and white beauty who is a fan of face rubs and nose kisses. The shelter says that once she warms up to you, she can be a real purr machine!

How gorgeous are those two?

Finally, here's today's recipe for quick and easy chocolate-cheesecake bars that will have you licking your fingers.

I know the word "cheese" sounds weird on a vegan blog, but we are talking vegan cream cheese here which tastes very much like regular cream cheese, and is great in baked goods like cheesecakes.

The bars are very much like brownies, but cakier and moister, and I used pine nuts to give them a buttery punch.

I also experimented here a little bit, and I am pleased to say it worked beautifully: I used silken tofu as a binder instead of the cornflour that I normally would use in such a recipe to substitute for eggs. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a tad nervous, but once the bars were baked and ready, no one would ever have guessed that part of their decadent richness came from this healthful ingredient. And that, to me, constitutes a winner!

Chocolate-"Cheesecake" Bars with Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1 cup sugar

4 ounces of vegan cream cheese (I used Tofutti brand from Whole Foods)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

2/3 cup soft silken tofu

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening

2 tbsp canola oil

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted slightly

2 tbsp chopped bitter chocolate (Ghirardelli's has a great vegan version)

A pinch of salt

In a bowl, beat together the shortening, oil and sugar until fluffy with a hand-mixer or in a stand-mixer set to a low setting.

Add the cream cheese and beat in until smooth and well-blended.

Add the tofu in three batches, beating in well after each addition.

Add the two extracts and cocoa powder and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Now add the flour to the cream-cheese-cocoa mixture, stirring it in gently.

Add the pine nuts and the bitter chocolate. (The bitter chocolate is optional, but gives the brownies a nice chocolatey boost without being cloyingly sweet).

Scrape the batter into a 9-inch square, greased baking pan, and smooth down the top with a spatula.

Bake in a 350-degree preheated oven about 25 minutes until the top feels firm.

Remove and cool on a rack at least 15-20 minutes before cutting in.

Enjoy!

Peppered Mushroom-Potato Stir Fry

This is a quick, weeknight post about one of my favorite quick, weeknight recipes. I created it on the fly one evening while craving something healthy but comforting.

Although really easy to put together with just a handful of ingredients, my Peppered Mushroom-Potato Stir Fry packs a huge flavor wallop, thanks mainly to the ground black pepper.

It's also quite versatile- as most potato dishes are. So here it is: hope you'll try it!

Peppered Mushroom-Potato Stir Fry

Ingredients:

2 large potatoes, cut into chunky cubes and then zapped in the microwave for about 5 minutes with a few tablespoons of water so they are tender but just short of well-cooked.

1 cup crimini or button mushrooms, halved or quartered (if very big)

1 red onion, sliced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 sprig curry leaves

1 tbsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp canola oil

Salt to taste

Heat the oil in a cast-iron or non-stick skillet.

Stir-fry the onions until they start to brown.

Add the garlic, curry leaves and black pepper and stir for a minute.

Add the mushrooms and stir to coat with the oil and pepper.

Add the drained potatoes. Stir occasionally until the potatoes are golden-brown.

Salt to taste. Serve hot!

***

I want to take a moment here to thank the lovely Madhuram who gave me the Nice Matters award- my fourth! Thanks, Madhuram, for the thoughtful gesture.