A Moroccan Feast: Vegetable Tagine, Black-Eyed Peas Stew and Everyday Bread

I'm late catching the plane to Morocco for this month's edition of It's A Vegan World, started right here on Holy Cow! and hosted this month by the gracious Lavi of Home Cook's Recipes. So I thought I'd make up for it by cooking up a feast.

It is not really a feast but more like every day Moroccan food. Still, it tasted so good to me, I couldn't call it anything else.

There is a vegetable tagine here with tons of colorfully delicious vegetables. A stew made with one of my favorite beans-- the rakish black-eyed peas. And a simple, utterly delicious and fluffy bread that was, honestly, the easiest bread I've ever baked (and I've baked a few), requiring just one single one-hour rise.

The natural flavors of these wholesome foods are infused and highlighted by the fragrance of herbs and some very simple spices, like cumin, paprika and anise.

All three recipes are loosely based on ones I found in the World Vegetarian which, as I've often said before, is one of my favorite cookbooks. Loosely because I changed many ingredients and some of the procedure based on what I had in my pantry and the time I had to cook.

Since I'm posting three recipes here, I'll keep the chatter short. But this I'll say-- it was one of the most flavorful meals I've ever had.

Thanks, Lavi, for highlighting a country with a cusine so rich and wonderful. Enjoy, everyone!


Moroccan bread

Mix in a large bowl:

2 tsp active dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup warm water

Let stand for the yeast to start "flowering" and bubbling, about five minutes.

Now add to the bowl:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I always use unbleached)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp anise seeds

2 tsp fennel seeds

Mix by hand or with the dough hook of a stand mixer set to low, trickling in warm water (about 1 cup) until combined.

On low speed, or by hand, knead the dough for another 8 minutes, until it is soft and smooth.

Prepare a baking sheet by greasing it lightly and sprinkling some corn meal on it.

Shape the dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly greased surface (I did this on my kitchen platform)

Pat out the dough to a disc about 1/2-inch thick.

Pick up carefully with both hands and transfer to the baking sheet.

With a very sharp knife, score a star or sunburst pattern in the center of the loaf.

Cover the loaf with a kitchen towel and allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in height, around 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Now pierce the loaf on both sides with a fork, and place in the hot oven.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until the top has browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Cool on a rack. Cut into wedges and serve.

Vegetable Tagine

Slice thinly into rings or discs:

2 red bell peppers (capsicum), seeded

2 medium potatoes, sliced

4 carrots, peeled

1 zucchini

Set aside and prepare:

2 cups shredded green cabbage

1 bunch scallions, ends trimmed and green and white parts chopped

You will also need:

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp cumin, ground

1 tsp black pepper, ground

Salt to taste

1/4 cup coriander or cilantro leaves, minced

2-3 sage leaves, minced

7-8 shoots of garlic greens (optional)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup water

(A tagine, an unglazed clay pot, is typically used to make this dish, but I just used a cast-iron pan with an oven-safe lid. Be careful lifting it in and out of an oven because it tends to be heavy.)

In a 12-inch cast-iron skillet, layer the vegetables in the following order, sprinkling equal portions of the cumin powder, paprika, pepper, salt, garlic, and the herbs over each layer:

Zucchini and carrots

Potatoes

Spring Onions

Cabbage

Red Peppers

Once you have sprinkled all the remaining herbs, spices and salt over the red peppers, mix together the olive oil and water.

Pour evenly over the vegetables.

Cover with a tight-fitting lid or with tin foil.

Place in a 350-degree preheated oven. Bake 60-70 minutes. In the last 20 minutes of baking, use a bulb baster or a spoon to scoop up liquid from the bottom of the pan and pour it over the veggies.

Serve hot.

Black-eyed Peas Stew

1 1/2 cups black-eyed peas, soaked and cooked until tender.

1 hot red dried chili

2 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

3 bay leaves

1 fresh sage leaf, chopped

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp garlic paste, or finely minced garlic (about 5-6 cloves)

Salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a skillet

Add the chili, and when it turns a few shades darker, in a few seconds, add the garlic and stir for a minute.

Now add the black-eyed peas with any cooking water that's left, all herbs, and salt.

Add water if needed, so the stew is fluid and not too thick.

Simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes. Specks of oil will rise to the top of the stew.

Check for salt and turn off heat.

Serve hot with the bread and vegetable tagine.

For another great Moroccan stew, try out Holy Cow's Chickpea Stew.

***
Michael Jackson's dead, and the world is devoid of music, at least for a day.

Michael was one of my first connections with my adopted country, America, when I was a little girl growing up in Bombay. I would listen to his music all the time, any time, even when I sometimes couldn't discern the lyrics sung in his quicksilver voice.

Later, it was a dream come true when I was among the reporters at the Telegraph assigned to cover the Michael Jackson visit and concert in Bombay in the mid-90s. While I hated covering celebrity stories, this was a huge exception.

My colleague Anita and I spent hours waiting to catch a glimpse of him in the lobby of the Oberoi Hotel when he arrived. With us in the crowded lobby -- so crowded you could barely move an elbow-- were thousands of guests from around the world, each one eager as a child. When we did see Michael, stepping out of the elevator, a shout of excitement went up in the lobby such as I've never heard before or since.

When his car was en route from the airport to the hotel, people lined the streets. People of all ages, people you'd think wouldn't be interested in his music, so far from America. At one point, he got out of his car and danced with the slum kids of Bombay whose plight finally resonated in Hollywood last year with Slumdog Millionaire. It was a thrill not just for the kids, shouting "Michael, Michael," but for every resident in the city.

At the concert, people passed out, which is apparently something that happened all the time at Michael Jackson concerts. A young woman who was plucked from the audience and called on stage became a tiny celebrity herself for days afterward, with every newspaper clamoring to interview her.

Years later, I saw Michael sing again, this time in DC, as part of the United We Stand concert to remember the September 11 victims. Many other musical stars had sung at the concert that evening, but no one else commanded the applause, awe and attention that Michael Jackson did.

What a loss this is for the whole world. We'll always remember you, Michael.

Baghare Baingan

I gave up cooking with non-stick pots and pans a long time ago. I am a gal who likes stuff to be low-maintenance and safe, and non-stick pans, it seemed, were neither. You had to be ultra-cautious in cleaning them, and if you got a scrape, heaven forbid, unwanted chemicals could leach into your food.

But non-stick pans do, of course, serve a valuable purpose: you need less oil to cook your food which is important in our health-aware world. And some foods, like a stir-fry, for instance, are better off cooked in non-stick pans. Of course, I never cooked in a non-stick pan that was 100 percent non-stick, but that's another story.

Anyway, when I decided to give up non-stick pans, I was in a dilemma. My sturdy stainless steel pots and pans were good enough for most every day cooking, but with low-fat stir-frys, for instance, I did feel the need for a surface that was slicker and more forgiving.

That's when I read a newspaper article on cast-iron pans. This was almost a decade ago, but that article so impressed me, I still have it -- yellowed and fraying-- in my kitchen cabinet. I prize it not so much for the information any more, which I have almost by heart, but for the fact that it marked a significant milestone in my kitchen routine.

In India, tavas, or flat griddles used to bake chapatis and such, are usually made with cast iron. But until I read this article, that was the extent of my knowledge about cooking with cast iron.

When seasoned, the article said, cast-iron pans made great non-stick pans one could fry, saute, stir-fry and cook just about anything in.

So the next time I went to the market, I picked myself a cast-iron skillet.

It was metallic-gray and I don't think it cost me more than eight bucks at the time, which was a steal compared to most good-quality non-stick pans. The article had details on seasoning the pan, which sounded really strange and really odd to someone who had never done anything like it before, but I gave it a go.

Then, I tried cooking in my cast-iron pan. It was a disaster.

Everything stuck to it, didn't come off, and tasted funny. Still, I wasn't about to give up. One of the most magical things about cast-iron pans is, they are supposed to improve with use. And so I continued to season my pan and used it only to do oily stuff like deep-fry at the beginning. Gradually, my cast-iron pan began to get that prized black, shiny hue and smooth texture that turns it into a naturally non-stick pan.

Now, I have an assortment of cast-iron pans in all shapes and sizes (except a dutch oven. Desi, are you reading?), and I use them all the time for everything from making pancakes to curries to veggies and, of course, to deep-fry.

I couldn't be happier. They look great, clean easily (forget all those stories about never washing your cast-iron pan. I do it all the time, sometimes even with soap, and it's never hurt them), and they are supposed to add iron to your food which is great when you are a vegan like me. You do need to take some precautions, like not putting them away when wet (I usually just put mine on the stove after washing and wiping to make sure all the moisture is gone), and you also need to season them a little more frequently when they are new.

This ode to cast-iron pans was just the precursor to this delicious stuffed-eggplant dish that I wanted to share with you, and which I cooked, surprise, in a cast-iron skillet.

Baghare Baingan is a dish from Andhra Pradesh, in South India. It's very close to Bharleli Vangi, or Bharli Vangi, which is a dish I often ate growing up at the home of Maharashtrian relatives, but has some differences that make it quite unique.

This dish typically uses a lot of oil, but I cut it down quite a bit. You do need the small, round Indian eggplants for this, usually available in Indian grocery stores if you happen to live outside India. These smaller eggplants have a more delicate flesh and skin, and they are the perfect size for stuffing.

Here's the recipe.

Baghare Baingan

Ingredients:

About 10 small round eggplants, washed and stemmed. Make two slits, crosswise, on the non-stem side, stopping short of making a clean cut, so the eggplant holds together at the base.

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 tbsp sesame seeds

2 tbsp peanuts

1 tsp poppy seeds (khuskhus)

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi seeds)

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp tamarind pulp

1 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

1-inch piece ginger, chopped

6 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 sprig curry leaves

1/4 cup canned (or thick) coconut milk

Salt to taste

Roast the onions on a dry cast-iron or non-stick skillet until they soften and brown spots appear. Remove to a blender.

Roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, fenugreek seeds and peanuts until they start to change color and smell fragrant, about a minute or two on medium heat. Add to the blender.

Now add the ginger, garlic, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, sugar, salt and coconut milk to the blender.

Blend until you have a fairly smooth paste.

Now stuff this paste into the prepared eggplants.

Heat the oil in a cast-iron or other skillet.

Add the curry leaves, stir for a minute, and then add the eggplants one by one, placing them away from you so the oil doesn't splatter on you.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 8-10 minutes or until the eggplants begin to soften.

Now add the remaining paste and 3/4 cup of water.

Bring to a boil, turn the heat to medium-low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, to ensure all sides of each eggplant get cooked.

The dish should be done when the eggplants are tender enough to be pierced through with a fork, and when specks of oil have risen to the surface.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves

This dish tastes best with hot phulkas or chapatis.

Enjoy!

As eggplants fill the summer vegetable market and garden, you can find some more of my favorite eggplant recipes here.

Pav Bhaji

In a time long ago, I worked in the Bombay bureau of a Calcutta newspaper called The Telegraph. The bureau was made up of a couple of dozen or so people, including four journalists, all crammed into four rooms of a high rise in Nariman Point.

Nariman Point is a mass of skyscrapers in South Bombay, and it is where a lot of the city's business gets done. It is cradled by the spectacular Arabian Sea, and is home to some of the city's biggest landmarks.

Mantralaya, the state legislative assembly, is here, round and with a distinctive honeycomb pattern. There's the Air India building, with an ivory-white facade crowned by a rotating image of the airline's icon, an archer. The National Centre for the Performing Arts, where a lot of the city's theatrical talent unfolds. Express Towers, home to one of India's oldest newspapers, the Indian Express, where Desi started his career as a journalist. And the posh Oberoi Towers Hotel which was one of the targets of last year's terrorist attacks in the city.

Nariman Point is the city's skyline, and an especially panoramic one when seen from the Queen's Necklace at Marine Drive, a curving promenade along the sea that lights up at night. The promenade is fringed by old buildings with spacious, curving balconies that are fast morphing from homes into hotels and restaurants as the city of 20 million gets busier than ever.

But elegant as it may sound, Nariman Point also throbs with the red-blooded reality of everyday life in a city that is so big and so vibrant, it is almost impossible to describe its rapacious pace. The noise of thousands of voices speaking together, car horns blowing incessantly in the streams of traffic clogging each road, and the dust and pollution kicked up by these cars is a constant backdrop here, but one you soon learn to accept and ignore.

All along the pavements straddling the high-rises, vendors bustle around, selling or delivering food and refreshments to make work and life a little easier for the thousands of people who pour in each day.

Chaiwallas deliver thick, milky, overboiled but still delicious tea in small glasses washed after each use by being dunked in a single bucket of water.

There's nariyal paani, or coconut water, the most deliciously refreshing weapon against Bombay's harsh humid summers. The vendor shaves off the top of the green coconut fruit with a sharp knife, flips open the top, and inserts a straw in it before handing it to you.

There's sugarcane juice, squeezed right in front of your eyes by passing long, bamboo-like canes through two metal wheels. A dash of lime makes the frothing green and very sweet juice extra delicious.

Vendors in makeshift stalls also sell all kinds of luscious fast street food, like bhurji, scrambled eggs, Indian-style, spiked with spices and onions, or vada pav, a Bombay veggie burger made by sandwiching a spicy chutney and a fried potato dumpling inside a bread or pav, among other treats.

With such delicious treats just an elevator ride away, it was hard to resist their call even as we slogged over our stories at the Telegraph bureau.

All four of us journalists were women, which made life at the bureau really fun (no offense, guys!). We had a small, narrow room lined with tables to ourselves. We'd take turns to make calls to sources on the only two phone lines and write at the two computers. In between, we gossiped about everything under the sun.

We had a lot in common. We were all roughly the same age, we all had very curly hair (which made us brand ourselves the curly-hair club-- sounds silly now but it seemed hilarious at the time :)) and we all loved to pop out, at the first excuse, for some food. Lucky for us, our waistlines were young enough to withstand the blitz.

We had favorites everywhere-- there was a place along Marine Drive, a 15-minute walk away, where you'd get some of the best pani puris in the city. It was amazing how, as he served a dozen people at a time, all buzzing around his cart, the vendor kept count of exactly how many puris each of us had consumed, so he could charge us accordingly.

There was a new restaurant with a great salad bar we sometimes went to whose name I forget but which was en route to the Regal Cinema. In those times raw salads were not wildly popular in India (we Indians prefer our veggies cooked most of the time), and it made us girls feel just a little ahead of our times. :)

And there was a tiny shack on the sea just around the corner from us called, appropriately, Bay Bites, which served a delicious brownie. It was the perfect dessert after you'd devoured one of their tasty egg sandwiches (this was, of course, in my pre-vegan days).

But when pressed by deadlines, as we usually were, we'd just step down to a busy fast-food restaurant in the same building that served a delicious Pav Bhaji on the fly.

There are restaurants in South Bombay with a cult-like following for their Pav Bhaji, like Sukh Sagar and Kailash Parbat. But I can honestly say I've never met a plate of Pav Bhaji anywhere in the city that I didn't love.

It is hard to go wrong with this dish even when you make it yourself, especially once you get your hands on some Pav Bhaji masala which is quite easily available in Indian grocery stores anywhere or online.

In the past, hit by a craving for Pav Bhaji so far from Bombay, I would make just the bhaji, depending on the soft rolls I could buy from grocery stores here as substitutes for pav. But as anyone who has ever eaten a pav in Bombay would tell you, the store-bought rolls don't come even close to emulating the soft crust and pillowy texture of a typical pav -- think of it as a brioche roll without all the butter.

Then, recently, I came across this recipe for pav from Vaidehi which made me squeal with delight. It looked perfect.

So Pav Bhaji it was this week. The pav was just perfect, and both Desi and I-- veteran Bombay street foodies-- agreed that it was as good as the real thing.

I think I am still on a bit of a high. Thanks, Vaidehi!

I made just a few very small changes to the pav recipe, so I have reposted it here, along with my own recipe for the bhaji. I used regular all-purpose instead of self-rising flour which Vaidehi used, so I added a small amount of baking soda because self-rising flour has baking soda added to it and I wanted to be sure my pav turned out as beautifully as her's had.

Here goes!
Bhaji

Ingredients:

1 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil

1 large onion, cut in a small dice

1-inch piece of ginger, grated

2 green chillies, chopped

Paste of 6 garlic cloves (I put them through a garlic press but you can also use your blender)

3 tomatoes, diced

1 cup green peas, boiled and then mashed slightly

3 potatoes, boiled, peeled, and coarsely mashed (I like to leave a few pieces in for texture)

1/4 or a medium head of cauliflower, grated or chopped really fine

1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into a small dice

2 tbsp Pav Bhaji masala. I have sometimes made the masala at home using a recipe similar to this.

Heat the oil in a wide skillet.

Add the onions and saute, until golden spots appear.

Add the ginger and garlic and green chillies and saute another minute.

Add two of the three diced tomatoes and cook over medium-high heat until the oil begins to express itself, about 4 minutes.

Add the cauliflower, peas, potatoes and green bell pepper and stir together.

Add the remaining tomatoes, pav bhaji masala powder, salt and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring the mixture to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer another 15 minutes or until the vegetables are really tender.

Very carefully, using a potato masher or the back of a ladle, mash the vegetables. I like to leave some texture in, so I don't overdo it, but you shouldn't have any very large pieces of vegetables in there.

Check salt before turning off heat.

Laadi Pav

(Adapted from this recipe by Vaidehi)

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour.

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 to 2 cups warm water

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp soy milk + 1 tsp canola or other vegetable oil for brushing the top of the rolls

3 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil

Mix the sugar, 1/2 cup warm water and the yeast in a mixing bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes until the mixture starts to froth, indicating the yeast is alive and well.

Sift the flour and baking soda into the bowl. Knead on low speed in a stand mixer or by hand for about 3 minutes, trickling in enough warm water until you have a dough that's smooth but slightly sticky (I needed 3/4 to 1 cup of water).

Add the oil and continue to knead until the oil has been absorbed by the dough, about 1 more minute.

Now place in an oiled bowl, turning over once to coat all over with oil, cover with a kitchen towel, and set aside for 2 hours until the dough has risen.

Punch down the dough and divide into 8 balls

Shape them into a slightly rectangular shape by pulling at the sides of the dough and tucking under on all four sides.

Place the tolls in a rectangular 9 X 13 inch baking dish smeared with oil and lightly floured, or on a cookie sheet, close enough but not touching each other. Let the rolls rise for 30 minutes. They will join at the ends when they have risen, creating a slab that you break the baked rolls off from. (In India, laadi pav is sold in slabs by a vendor on a bicycle who makes his rounds each morning or evening. Laadi, unless my Marathi's really rusty, translates to slab in Marathi.)

Preheat the oven to 370 degrees. Brush the tops of the pavs with the soymilk-oil mixture which gives them a nice color on top.

Bake 22 minutes. Then turn off the oven and let the pav stand inside for another 4 miuntes before removing it from the oven and allowing it to cool for 10 minutes on a rack.

But wait, we're not done. I also want to share with you the exact procedure for eating Pav Bhaji. As some of you already know, I am not a stickler for cooking in exactly one way or the other-- we each have to find what works best for us. But for Pav Bhaji, I make an exception. You do need to eat your Pav Bhaji with a few specific accompaniments and in a certain manner, or half the joy of eating it is quite lost.

Once you have the pav and bhaji cooked, slit the pav down the middle along three sides, leaving it joined along the spine, like an open book. Then toast it, cut side down, on a screaming-hot skillet with some melting hot vegan butter until golden spots appear.

The Bhaji also has to be served hot, topped with a scallop of butter (or vegan butter, in my case). It is at once spicy and sour and incredibly delicious.

Swirl the butter around the bhaji, mix in some chopped onions and chopped coriander, and squeeze in a few drops of lime.

Now you're ready to eat. Tear off a piece of the soft pav and dunk it into the bhaji and then into your mouth. No spoons and forks and knives here, folks. You can wash your hands before and after you eat. Even Desi, who can barely eat a chapati without a knife and fork, uses his fingers for Pav Bhaji. There just is no other way to enjoy it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Frankie, Eggless

In the days before burgers and pizzas descended on Bombay's food landscape, there was the Frankie.

The Frankie is a delicious, flaky wrap stuffed with veggies or meat. It was ridiculously popular, especially among the city's modern young crowd, perhaps because -- with a name like Frankie-- it appeared less homely than a vada-pav or a pav-bhaji, other popular street snacks.

My favorite place to grab a sizzling hot, just-made Frankie was at the super-busy Churchgate station, before I could hop on the train home. Eating a Frankie in this, one of the busiest railway stations in one of the world's most crowded megalopolises, as commuters literally elbowed past you -- almost knocking the food out of your hands-- was an experience by itself.

I still remember those wonderful, tantalizing tastes: the smokiness of the peppers and the spices and the soft, crispy texture of the wrap. There really was no flavor quite like it.

One of the key reasons a Frankie tastes as unique as it does is an egg wash that is brushed on to both sides of the wrap, after which it is baked on a super-hot griddle. The eggs give the Frankie a distinctive brown pattern on the outside and its crispy, flaky texture. I've seen vegetarian versions of a Frankie that do away with the egg wash altogether, but, frankly, all you are left with is a vegetable wrap that is not a Frankie.

So before making a Frankie at home, I spent a lot of time wondering what would make a good egg-wash substitute. Then it hit me.

Low-Fat Zucchini Bread

Zucchini is one of summer's delicious gifts. This slender, dark-green squash has tender white flesh and a pleasantly bland taste that can adapt to almost any dish, sweet or savory. It's great even raw, in salads or as crudites.

Like other summer squash, zucchini is rich in vitamin C and beta carotene and, of course, fiber, which makes it super-healthy eats too.

I have planted some zucchini in my vegetable garden this year, but it's still too young to bear any fruit. But it's easy enough right now to find plenty of fresh, bright zucchini in the markets, and the last time I was there I loaded up on some.

I'd been wanting to bake a low-fat bread or cake for Madhuram's Low Fat Baking event, and the idea of making a low-fat zucchini bread was tempting. This vegetable has a lot of moisture in it, which pretty much makes up for the lack of too much added fat. Also, having made FatFree Vegan's Zucchini Muffins last month, I was pretty sure that I'd end up with a version of zucchini bread that was at least edible.

It was that, and more. I loved this bread-- it was moist, tender and sweet, and the fact that it contained a vegetable, whole-wheat flour, and only two tablespoons of oil in each loaf made it pretty guilt-free.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy, everyone. And thanks, Madhuram, for making me think this one up!

Low-Fat Zucchini Bread
(Makes 2 loaves)

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp powdered cinnamon and cloves. You can also use one or the other.

1 cup lightly toasted and chopped pecans or walnuts

Mix the ingredients together and set aside.

In another bowl, mix together:

3 tbsp flaxmeal and 9 tbsp water

Add and mix:

4 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

Then whisk in:

3/4 cup applesauce

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups grated zucchini (about two small to medium zucchini)

Now add the wet mixture to the dry, whisking it in 1/3rd of the flour at a time, until well mixed. Do not overmix because you don't want to develop the gluten in the flour.

Grease and flour two standard-size loaf pans. Divide the batter equally between the two and smooth down the top.

Bake in a preheated 325-degree oven 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool on a rack about 15 minutes, then slide a knife around the edges to unmold. Place right-side-up on a rack to cool. This bread also tastes great slightly warm.

Corn, Mushroom And Green Pepper Subzi

I didn't learn to cook until after I was married. So when I did venture into the kitchen--very, very tentatively at first--I began by experimenting with the help of a few cookbooks recommended by friends and family.

But as any new cook would likely agree, actually seeing someone cook can be a more engaging experience than simply reading from the inanimate pages of a book.

Those were the mid-90s, when India's monotony-afflicted television was just opening up to new possibilities. Lucky for me, one channel began to broadcast one of the country's first cooking shows, Khana Khazana, which was hosted by a genial if slightly awkward host (at least at the time), Sanjeev Kapoor. Khana Khazana translates from Hindi, roughly but appropriately, to a Treasure Trove of Food.

The budding cook in me fell in love with this show. I'd wait for it all week, and when it was about to start, I'd wait eagerly by the television, pen and paper in hand, ready to jot down just about any recipe the chef chose to cook up that day.

Kapoor shared a lot of great recipes that I'd try to faithfully reproduce in my kitchen. Over the months, he helped me become a more enthusiastic and experimental cook.

Today, of course, I don't live in India, and I can no longer watch Kapoor's show that, I believe, is still running. But he does have a Web site now with hundreds of amazing recipes that I love browsing through whenever I can find the time. And although I have come a long way from being green behind the ears, I still find I can learn a lot from his recipes.

Yesterday, I cooked this simple but delicious subzi made with corn, mushrooms and green peppers, inspired by one of Kapoor's recipes.

I tweaked the ingredients, a bit, and the procedure, a lot. The recipe included cream which I left out, of course, but the end result was fabulous: like something you'd order at an Indian restaurant, but also extraordinarily healthy and rich with the flavors of summer.

I served this vibrant subzi with some simple phulkas: puffy and soft chapatis whose earthy flavor was perfect with the spicy goodness of the subzi.

Enjoy, everyone!

Corn, Mushroom and Green Pepper Subzi

Ingredients:

Kernels from 2 ears of corn. I place the corn, narrow side down, in a bowl, and run a knife --as deep as it will go, down the sides, to dislodge the corn. You can also substitute this with 1 cup of corn kernels.

1 large green pepper (You could use red at a pinch, but I prefer the less-sweet flavor of the green pepper in this recipe). Cut the pepper into half, and then into 1/2-inch strips.

2 cups of mushrooms (I used crimini and button), quartered

1 large onion, finely minced

1 tbsp grated ginger

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 heaping tsp garam masala

1 tsp canola oil

1 cup diced tomatoes (I used canned but if you use fresh, two large tomatoes would suffice)

1 tbsp tomato ketchup (one of my favorite ingredients to add a lot of depth of flavor to any recipe that calls for tomato)

2 tbsp vegan butter, like Earth Balance (as a substitute for cream). You can skip this, but try not to because it adds a wonderful richness.

Salt to taste

Heat the oil and saute the onions until they start to turn golden-brown.

Add the ginger and garlic and saute another minute over medium heat.

Add the tomatoes and ketchup. Saute over high heat for about 2 minutes or until the oil begins to express.

Lower the heat to medium. Add the coriander, cumin, turmeric and chilli powders and stir.

Add the mushrooms and corn kernels and stir well. Add salt to taste.

Cook for about five minutes until the mushroom and corn are cooked. Now add the green peppers.

Cook another five minutes. Add the garam masala.

Add the vegan "butter" if using.

Check salt and add more if needed.

Garnish with coriander and serve hot with phulkas or any Indian bread.

Coriander Adai

Come on, we all do it.

In the privacy of our cubicles or in our bedrooms, at a desktop or cocooned with a laptop, we pull up Google, type in the name of an old crush to see what they're up to or a new one to find out who they really are. We peek voraciously into the lives of the people we know, and the movie star we so admired in their last performance. Or we just look up information on something we want to learn more about, like how to fix drywall, prune a rose, or bake a carrot cake.

Much as I enjoy googling anything and everything that comes to my mind, I'll admit there's one more thing I enjoy as much, if not more, when I can find the time to do it: Looking in through the other side, at the terms others type in that bring them, ultimately, to my blog.

Most are pretty run-of-the-mill and matter-of-fact, like, say, "whole-wheat pancakes" or "holy cow vegan," and such. Some are a little more interesting and serious enough, but they put a smile on my face, like "can dogs eat chickpeas?" or "pasta sambar" (if the person who did that search reads this, please, please tell me how that turned out.)

There are some that make me scratch my head. Like this search term that went "Gujarati masala songs scene Jayashree T." I can imagine that searcher's disappointment when he (I presume) found my recipe for Oondhiyu instead of a hot and heavy video of Jayashree T, an old-time actress/dancer of Indian movies, gyrating to some '70s music. Better luck next time!

This one really stopped me in my tracks: "how to cook a tender baby." Presumably, the searcher had just missed typing in a word or words, or so I hope!

And then here's my absolute favorite one of all time: "Did Mohandas Gandhi make waffles?"

Now I'd definitely like to know the person who would have thought of that!

Coming to today's recipe, one of my most popular posts has always been my Golden, Delicious Adai, a South Indian rice-and-lentil crepe, which I shared in the early days of this blog. I love the Adai, far more than a plain dosa. A big part of it is because of how delicious it is, but also because Adai requires less soaking time and because I can add to it all kinds of flavors that make it extra-special.

This time, I decided to make a coriander-flavored Adai. I love the fresh, lemony-spicy flavor of coriander, and it really helps pack a punch into foods that start out with a bland base, like tofu-based dishes or dosas.

I tweaked my old Adai recipe, and added another 1/4 cup of green split peas, because my Lalitha Manni insists that split peas (you can also use yellow ones) add more crunch to the Adai.

I have a guest, Heidi, staying over, and she absolutely loved this Adai, as did Desi, so I guess it turned out all right. I served it with some sambar and green coriander-coconut chutney for a wonderful and healthy Friday night meal.

As always, I spread the Adai out very thin to make it extra-crispy, although most traditional versions of Adai tend to be thicker. It's really up to you and your tastes.

Here's the recipe. Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Coriander Adai

Ingredients:

1 cup medium-grain rice

1/4 cup chana dal (bengal gram dal)

1/4 cup udad dal (black gram dal)

1/4 cup green split peas (can substitute with yellow split peas or tuvar dal)

2 hot green chillies

1-inch piece of ginger, grated

1 cup packed coriander leaves (I use the stems too because I find they add a lot of flavor)

Salt to taste.

Soak the rice and the dals together for at least 2 hours. Drain, and place in a blender along with all the other ingredients.

Add enough water to keep the blades moving and grind until you have a fine batter. It should be just a little grainy so the adai turns out crispy, but not too coarse. The batter should be spreadable but thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Heat a griddle, either cast-iron or non-stick.

Using a ladle with a rounded bottom, scoop up 1/2 cup of the Adai batter.

Pour the batter into the center of the hot griddle and, quickly, spread it outward in concentric circles using the bottom of the ladle. Work fast, and don't panic if it doesn't look perfect the first time. No one gets it right in the beginning.

Pour a few drops of oil around the edges of the Adai and on top so it turns extra-crispy.

When the bottom of the Adai looks crisp and golden, about 1-2 minutes, flip over and cook the other side for another minute.

Serve hot with chutney and sambar.

Applesauce Cake

This Applesauce Cake is one of those recipes that you can make in a hurry with stuff that's presumably sitting in your pantry. But the end result is so delicious, you can even serve it to company-- as I have in the past, and trust me, it was gone in minutes.

I always have applesauce sitting in my pantry because it makes a great substitute for fat in baking-- I usually substitute it for part of the fat, and not all, because it does tend to make the texture of baked goods really tender. And while some tenderness is good, too much can make the cake or cookie fall apart.

Anyway, I am always in a hurry to use up the applesauce once I've opened a bottle because otherwise it tends to go bad pretty fast. I don't love to eat it by itself since I am no longer two years old nor toothless (yet), but when I bake it into this easy cake, it is quite a treat.

I usually make this cake with whole-wheat pastry flour but this time I was out, so I made it with all-purpose instead. There's almost no difference in the taste, although I do prefer the whole-wheat pastry flour version for obvious health reasons. I also use unsweetened applesauce, and flavor the cake with tons of spices.

So here's the recipe. If you adore quick and easy fruit-based cakes, you might want to also look at my banana cake (one of my favorites!) and my orange cake.

Enjoy, everyone!

Applesauce Cake

1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp of ground spices-- I used a combination of green cardamom seeds, cinnamon, all-spice and cloves. You can also add nutmeg, and vary the combination of spices per your taste.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl and add the spices. Whisk to mix together.

In a separate bowl, place:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola or other flavorless vegetable oil

Beat for a minute with a hand-mixer or in a stand mixer or with a whisk to combine.

In a small bowl combine:

1 1/2 tsp egg replacer + 2 tbsp warm water.

Add the egg replacer mix to the oil-sugar mixture in the bowl and mix.

Add 1 cup applesauce to the bowl and whisk in until combined.

Now add the flour slowly, and combine well. If you are using a motorized mixer, do not overbeat because you don't want the cake to toughen. However, your batter should be smooth, and not lumpy like pancake batter.

Add:

1 cup walnuts, lightly toasted (for 2 minutes in a microwave) and chopped

Mix together and pour the batter into a greased and floured standard loaf pan.

Bake 50-55 minutes in a 350-degree preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool on a rack for about 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edges, unmold, and continue to cool on a rack. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

The cake, once baked, has a wonderfully rich brown color that sometimes makes some guests wonder whether it has chocolate in it.

I am sending on this applesauce cake to Mansi who's hosting Sugar High Fridays this month, with the theme of Fruit and Nut. Thanks, Mansi!

Makki di Roti, Sarson da Saag

Last week, a worker painting some siding on our house told me, a little too late as it turned out, that he had spotted a cardinal's nest with a little baby inside it, in a tree right outside my kitchen window.

Delighted, I climbed on to the kitchen platform and hung precariously out the window to get a closer look the nest. But the baby was gone, most likely old enough to have flown away on its own. The little nest he had left behind looked a little sad but still really cute.

I was disappointed, but not for long. Summer is the season of avian abundance here in the Washington area, and there are many such delightful surprises and moments these beautiful creatures offer all through the season, making our humid summers more bearable and even fun than they would otherwise be.

Imagine this. We live not far from a busy road, but in the summer it is not the sound of traffic that floats in through the windows each morning...it is the morning raaga sung by hundreds of birds, each singing, cackling, even making cat-like meowing sounds. What a melody to wake up to!

Woodpeckers beat a rhythmic tattoo on tree barks, hummingbirds pause magically in mid-air, wings whirring, to sip sweet water, pairs of cardinals fly around in scarlet arcs...it is almost impossible not to adore these little fellows while at the same time feeling just a little jealous of their boundless freedom.

Now I am no bird expert, and I barely know the names of most of the birds I see, with the exception of the most commonly found ones.

But that's no reason why I can't enjoy the gifts they offer.

I can sit for hours at my window, watching birds drink water from the bird dish, or peck at the food I just put out in a birdhouse Desi fashioned out of an old lampshade. I especially love to watch them carefully and judiciously pick out pieces of grass and twigs, presumably for a nest. In fact, these little fellows often rip out my new little seedlings in the vegetable garden right out, making me mad, but only for a minute.

Anyway, coming to today's post, Makki di Roti and Sarson da Saag is exactly the kind of comfort food I crave after a great afternoon of bird-watching.

To understand just how quintessentially matched this duo of dishes from the North Indian state of Punjab is, think of cookies and (soy) milk, or biscuits and gravy.

While I have often made Makki di Roti and Sarson da Saag in the past, this time I was inspired after watching this video from Vah Chef, who, in case you're not familiar with him, satisfies my craving for Indian food shows without having access to an Indian television channel. Ah, what would we do without YouTube?

Makki di Roti is basically a roti made with corn and wheat flour, not very unlike a tortilla. The best way to eat this delicious bread would be to tear it with your fingers and dunk it into Sarson da Saag, a vibrant green vegetable dish made with pureed mustard leaves and spinach. Add to the plate a sliver of lemon and a few chopped onions, and you've got a meal to die for.

So here you go, with my recipe for an Indian classic, so delicious it is guaranteed to make you feel like you just went to Punjabi heaven.

Enjoy, all!

Makki di Roti

2 cups corn flour, like masa harina

1 cup whole-wheat durum flour (use regular whole-wheat if you can't find this)

1 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

Water to make dough

Place all ingredients except water into a large bowl or into the bowl of a stand mixer. Knead, adding a little water at a time, until the dough comes together. It should be soft and pliable but not sticky.

Set aside for at least half an hour.

Pull out a piece of the dough, enough to make a ball about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll into a smooth ball, then, using flour to prevent it from sticking, roll out to about 6 inches in diameter.

Heat a griddle, brush with some oil or spray some cooking oil on the surface, and cook the roti, about 2-3 minutes on each side or until golden-brown spots appear on each side.

Sarson da Saag

1 10-oz package mustard greens

1 10-oz package spinach

Place the greens in a skillet with 1/2 cup of water and boil until the greens are quite tender, about 10-15 minutes.

Set aside to cool for a few minutes. Then grind to a puree in a blender.

Heat 1 tbsp canola or other vegetable oil in a skillet.

Add 1 onion, finely diced, and saute until it begins to turn golden-brown.

Add 1 tbsp grated ginger and 6 cloves of garlic, minced, and stir together for a minute.

Add 1/4 cup of corn flour (the same flour used for the rotis). Stir with the onions until the roux is fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the puree of leafy greens and 3 chopped jalapeno or serrano peppers. Stir well.

Cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes until the greens are thoroughly cooked. Add some water if necessary to keep the greens from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Add 1 tbsp garam masala (recipe follows) and salt to taste. Mix well, then turn off the heat.

Serve hot with some chopped onions, some lemon, and Makki di Roti.

Garam Masala for Sarson da Saag:

3 pods of green cardamom

3 cloves

2 1-inch pieces of cinnamon

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

Toast all ingredients on a low flame in a skillet for about 5 minutes or until fragrant. The coriander seeds should be reddish-brown. Cool and grind to a powder in a spice grinder.

Tried & Tasted: The FatFree Roundup

So here, at last, is the roundup of recipes tried and tasted by people everywhere from Susan's FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog. As some of you already know, I hosted the event this month for Zuzana of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen.

I love cooking from other blogs, and this was no exception. And the fact that most of the recipes had no added fat was a big bonus.

This is a busy day, and I'm glad I finally just got all this together, so I am going to keep my chatter short. Enjoy, everyone, and let me know if I missed your entry. I'll add it asap!

Cheers!

A2Zvegetariancuisine’s Pineapple Coffee Cake


Amanda’s Mushroom Miso Soup with Sesame Broccoli

Andrea’s Spicy Carrot Salad and Asparagus Pesto Salad



Bindiya’s Dal with Paanch Phoran

Bindiya’s Peach Upside Down Cake


Clumzy Cook’s Lasagna

Daisy’s Strawberry Cake

Dipali’s Split Pea Soup
Emmy's Chocolate-Covered Cherry Pudding Cake

Hema’s Strawberry Snack

Indhu’s Tofu Jambalaya

Jamie’s Southern-Style Banana Pudding

Jugalbandi’s Soy Yogurt with Strawberries

Jugalbandi’s Lite Goddess Dressing

Jugalbandi’s Spicy Kidney Bean Burgers

Jugalbandi’s Brussels Sprouts in Lemon Mustard Sauce

Katie’s Vidalia Onions Stuffed with Rice and Lentil Pilaf
Ksenia’s Mushroom, Lentil and Wild Rice Timbales

Lisa’s Wasabi Roasted Asparagus

Mary’s Quick and Easy Potato Soup
Melissa's Pineapple Coffee Cake

Parita’s Baked Spinach Koftas

Pavani’s Strawberry Cake
Priyasuresh's Rassedar Rajma

Priyasuresh’s Cherry Date-Nut Balls
RedChillies' Chocolate Orange Cake


Sea’s Gluten-Free Pumpkin Waffles

Stephanie’s Zucchini Muffins

Stephanie’s Grilled Romaine

Sweatha’s Tofu and Vegetable Cacciatore with Microwave Polenta

Vidya’s Cauliflower Dal with Panch Phoran
Yasmeen’s Soba Noodles Tofu Vegetable Stir-Fry
Youaresexy’s Beet Chocolate Cake with Banana Peanut Butter Sauce

Zabeena’s Light Goddess Dressing

Zuzana's Okara Coconut Cookies, Panch Phoran Dal, Brussels Sprouts with Basil and Garlic, Spicy Kasha Vegetable Salad, and Spicy Red Pepper Hummus
My Zucchini Muffins, Apple Cake, and Ethiopian Berbere Stew

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Quick reminder here about June's It's A Vegan World: Morocco event which is being hosted this month by Lavi of Home Cook's Recipes. Do drop by her blog, and don't forget to send her your delicious entries!
Have a great weekend, everyone!