Aloo Bhaji

by Trisha Vaz
UPDATE: Over the years, I’ve made one little addition to this recipe, that I think makes this recipe even more delicious. After the mustard seeds sputter, add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and let it release its aroma, should take a few seconds. Then continue with the recipe. Nothing else changes. Keep a close eye on the cumin seeds and don’t let it burn.
Also, I have come to realise that there is a difference in the size of sour limes found in India and other countries. You need just a few drops, maybe a teaspoon of it for a mild change in flavours.

I’ve been having such crazy days of late, I just don’t know where all the 24 hours off the day go. Things such seem to be happening at such a frenzied pace, and that too for no reason in particular. I wonder what brought this on. Since I haven’t been able to devote much time to this space, I decided I was going to make up for it by posting one of my all time favorites – the humble aloo bhaji (A mildly spiced potato stir fry.) I do love my fries and mashed potatoes, but sometimes I find myself longing for a portion of this stir fry.

Making this stir fry can be super quick, not to mention easy, if you have a few boiled potatoes at hand. Make sure that when you’re boiling potatoes for this stir fry, you don’t overcook them, else they will not hold their shape and get all mushy. It’ll still taste great, but just won’t be as much of a visual treat. I usually wash the potatoes and pressure cook them with some water and salt for about 10 minutes after the first whistle. Remember to turn your gas to low after the whistle. If you don’t want to use a pressure cooker, peel and cube the potatoes and cover them in water, add a little salt and boil them on the stovetop till tender.
This stir fry is a versatile side dish. In India, every region tweaks it a little and uses it in loads of different ways.  It can be served with some hot chapatis (Whole wheat flat bread), pooris (savory deep fried flat bread), used as stuffing for masala dosas (savory crispy crepes filled with this potato mix) and so on. I’m going to try to post each of these in the future. Oh! and by the way, this potato mix makes for a lovely topping on a slice of toasted bread or can also be used as a filling for a grilled sandwich. How about that!

Watch the video here –

Aloo Bhaji
(Serves 4)
3-4 large potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed (about 1/2 kg)
1 large onion, chopped
2 birdseye / green chillies, sliced (or to taste)
8-10 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp (scant) turmeric powder
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt, to taste
1/2 tsp sugar

Heat the oil in a pan. 
On a medium flame, add the mustard seeds and let them sputter.

Add the curry leaves and the chopped chilly. Let it fry for a few seconds.

Add the cumin seeds and immediately after tip in the chopped onions and saute it for a few minutes till the onions have softened and turned a light brown.

Add the turmeric powder and stir well. Let it cook for about a minute. Stir to make sure it doesn’t stick to the pan and burn.

Tip in the potatoes and stir well till the potatoes are well coated with the spice mix. 
Add the lime juice and salt to taste and stir well. 

Add the sugar and stir well.

Check for seasoning and adjust, if needed.

Once the potatoes have heated through, sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves and toss lightly. Take the pan off the heat.
Serve hot.


This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday
Mangia Mondays
My Meatless Mondays
Just Another Meatless Monday
Hearth and Soul

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Goan Recipes, Mains, Recipes, Sides, Vegan, Vegetarian

A Weekend Breakfast – French Toast

by Trisha Vaz
Our weekday breakfasts are usually hurried as we get ready to make our way to work and get on with our day ahead. So on weekdays, its usually a couple of slices of buttered toast, a cup of coffee and a fruit or some cereal or porridge and a fruit. So over the weekend, I feel its only fitting to have a more leisurely and stepped-up-a-notch type of breakfast. Some of you will remember that one of these types of breakfast is a helping of pancakes. Another such fairly simple, yet very satisfying breakfast option for me is French Toast.

There are a few variants to this basic French toast that I’ve tried and I’ll list them at the bottom of the post. Something that I’ve been longing to try is a stuffed French toast. I seriously hope I get around to trying that sometime soon; I have so many ideas for those. This basic recipe I picked up from watching my mother in the kitchen. People find it hard to believe that when I was a kid, I didn’t fancy spending much time in the kitchen watching my mother cook. One exception was  when she was making something sweet. So when she was making us French toast for breakfast or when we were making goodies to go on the Christmas platter, it was hard to get me out of the kitchen. Till this day, I really enjoy making the sweeter stuff, desserts, cakes, cookies etc. Its the everyday cooking that sometimes leaves me lacking inspiration. 
Anyway back to the French toast. What I really like about making this at home is that you get to decide what flavors you want to work with and just how sweet you’d like it to turn out. When frying the slices of bread be sure to let it color a little. Its the browning that caramelizes the sugar and gives it a delightful crunch. 
What’s your favorite French Toast recipe? Drop in a line in the comments section and let me know. I’d love to try some new variants.
French Toast
(This recipe should make enough to dip about 4-6 slices of bread)
4-6 slices of bread
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
Sugar, to taste
A few drops of vanilla extract
Butter / oil to fry
Heat a knob of butter or a little oil in a pan.
Whisk the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla till well combined. Use a shallow bowl that is wide enough to fit the slices of bread in.
Dip the slices of bread in this mix, one at a time to cover well on both sides and soak in some of the liquid. I usually do a double dip on both sides. 
Carefully place the slice in the hot pan and let it cook on a medium flame till it caramelizes a little. Flip and cook the other side as well. 
If your griddle or pan is large enough, you can do multiple slices at a time. You’ll finish off faster. 
Enjoy it warm with a nice cup of coffee. 
If you’d like, you can drizzle some honey over the slices when you’re ready to eat. Don’t drizzle the honey before hand, it will make your toast soggy. If you don’t fancy honey, you could dust it with some powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar as well.
Variants
– You can substitute the vanilla with some cinnamon powder. You could also use a combination of both.
– You can also substitute the vanilla with some freshly grated nutmeg. 
Both this variants are gloriously flavorful. Try them all and see which one you prefer.
This recipe is linked to – 

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Breakfast, Recipes

Sprouted Moong Salad

by Trisha Vaz
I love sprouts. If you do some reading up about moong sprouts, you’ll realize what an amazing superfood this is. It has all sort of medical benefits. Once sprouted the moong bean is an amazing source of Vit C that the seed in itself can’t provide. It’s also a great source of protein. These are just a few benefits that I can remember off hand. I’m quite sure the list goes on.

Here’s something that I’ve had floating around in my head for a while now. Each time I’d pass the sprouts shelf at the supermarket, I’d long to pick it up. For reasons even I’m not aware of, I just never did. So recently when I was buying my grains and pulses at the local store, I decided to pick up some dried whole moong (mung beans) and try sprouting it myself.

It’s such a simple process, I wonder why I have never considered sprouting beans at home, before. Better late than never, I’d say. So back to the salad. The only thing you need to ensure is you prep the moong the previous day. If you’d like to omit the sprouting yourself, there’s no harm in using store-bought sprouts. This is not so much a recipe but a guide. Feel free to adapt to your liking.
How to Sprout Moong at home – 

Soak the dried whole moong in sufficient water. (The water level should be atleast an inch above). Soak for about 8 hours or overnight. 
After soaking, drain off excess water. Gently rinse with fresh water. Cover with a wet muslin cloth and keep till the beans have sprouted (approx. 8 hours).
I usually soak the beans in water before going to bed at night, drain and cover with a damp cloth in the morning and its ready for use by the evening.
Sprouted Moong Salad

A handful of Sprouted Moong
1 small onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 green chilly, finely chopped (optional)
Fine Sev, for garnishing (optional) (Sev is a snack that can eaten just about anywhere at anytime. These are thin noodles of dough made from chickpea flour and deep-fried until they’re crispy enough to eat. )
Fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Salt, to taste
Lime juice, to taste
Mix the sprouts, onion, chilly, tomato and cucumber in a bowl. 
Season to taste with salt and lime juice. 
Sprinkle some fine sev over it. Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves.
** I tuck it in the fridge till I’m ready to serve it.
You can also switch this salad up a bit by adding some plain unflavored natural yogurt, beaten well, to the salad veggies in the bowl in the first step mentioned above. Continue by seasoning and garnishing it.
Again, refrigerate till ready to serve.
This recipe is linked to – 

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Recipes, Salads, Vegan

Mixed Raita

by Trisha Vaz
This is a salad like accompaniment that is widely served with Indian food. The dressing is a yogurt based one, which makes this salad ideal for warmer climates and hot summer days. Its really healthy, refreshing and tasty, of course. You will find a number of varieties of raita being served at an Indian restaurant. The base to all of these is  identical, the veggies you find in these salads will vary. Today I’ve made a basic raita with an assortment of salad veggies which you can adjust to your liking.

You can serve this with biryani, jeera rice or any other spicy Indian food. The yogurt helps soothe the palate.

Mixed Raita

1/2 cup curds / natural unflavored yogurt
Salt, to taste
Lime juice, to taste
A pinch of black pepper powder
1 small onion, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1/4 yellow pepper, chopped
1/4 red pepper chopped

Mix the veggies in a bowl and season with salt, lime juice and pepper to taste.

Beat the yogurt in a bowl. You can add a little sugar if you’d like to. Add the beaten yogurt to the veggies.

Mix well.

Check for seasoning and adjust, if needed.

You can garnish with some chopped coriander leaves.

Refrigerate till ready to serve.

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Recipes, Salads

Moussaka

by Trisha Vaz
This baked delight is supposed to be a classic Greek dish. Typically, it is made of eggplant and lamb mince. We’re not overly fond of lamb mince for regular eating. So I used the next best thing, beef mince. I find it more flavorful. Now let me tell you something about this dish. It is good, really good, so very good. Sometimes, I wonder why I don’t make it more often. Hmmm. Anyway, each time I make it, it gets polished off. Ofcourse, one casserole lasts us a couple of meals atleast. But what I’m trying to say is none of it ever goes to waste. I use Nita Mehta’s recipe from her book “Continental Cooking for the Indian Kitchen”. I’m pretty sure this recipe will not be a classic Moussaka recipe, but nevertheless, its pretty darn good.

The inside still remains luscious, moist and full of flavor.

Moussaka
Adapted from: Continental Cooking for the Indian Kitchen by Nita Mehta
(Serves 6-8)


2-3 eggplant, thin long variety
2 tomatoes, chopped
500g beef mince (you can use lamb if you’d like to)
2 large onions, finely chopped
6 flakes garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp red chilly flakes
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
Salt, to taste

For the Cheese Sauce – 
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
1/4 – 1/3 cup Grated cheese
1/4 tsp mustard
Salt to taste

Thinly slice the eggplant and arrange them on a platter. Sprinkle salt on both sides of the slices and let it stand for about 1/2 an hour to drain the juices. Rinse in cold water and pat dry.

Heat some oil in a pan. Fry the slices till brown. Make sure you do not burn them. Drain on absorbent paper towels and keep aside.

Heat the olive oil in a pressure cooker.

Add the onion and stir fry till they soften a little.

Add the chopped garlic and stir fry till the onions turn pink.

Add the tomatoes and stir fry till the juices evaporate.

Add the mince and cook on a high flame till brown and dry.

Add the tomato puree, chilly flakes, oregano, salt and pepper. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water and pressure cook. After the 1st whistle, simmer on low flame for 2 minutes.

Remove from the gas and cool till the pressure dies down.

Open the cooker, check for tenderness, adjust seasoning if needed and cook till almost dry. Dry the excess liquid but don’t make it too dry. Keep aside.

For the cheese sauce, heat butter in a saucepan. Add flour and cook on a low flame for a minute till it changes color slightly. Remove from the heat. Add the milk and mix well. Return to heat and cook till the sauce thickens. Add salt, pepper, mustard and cheese. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.  Add the beaten egg to the cooled white sauce. Keep aside.

To Assemble
Spoon half the meat mixture in a shallow ovenproof dish. Top with half the eggplant slices. Repeat with a layer of the rest of the meat and top that with the rest of the eggplant slices. Pour the cheese sauce on top.

Cook in a preheated oven at 200ºC for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbling hot and browned.

Serve hot with some garlic bread.

This recipe is linked to –
Tuesdays at the Table
Hearth and Soul
A Little Birdie Told Me
Delectable Tuesday
Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try
What’s on the Menu Wednesday
What’s Cooking Thursdays
It’s a Keeper Thursday
Full Plate Thursday

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Beef, Mains, Recipes

Eggplant Slices

by Trisha Vaz
These batter fried eggplant slices take me back a long way. My mum makes these for us. They were my all time favorite way to enjoy eggplant. But mum never made these too often because they were fried. But when she did, my brother and I couldn’t get enough. If you have trouble getting your kids to eat eggplant, you may want to try this out. You never know, they may enjoy it. If you are going to serve these to kids, make sure you adjust the amount of spice that the chilly powder adds to it. In a short while, you’ll be sitting down to some lovely crunchy, not to mention really tasty, eggplant slices.

Eggplant Slices


Oil, for shallow frying
1 large round eggplant

Wash the eggplant, cut off the stalk and cut into slices and as you slice the eggplant, put the slices in a bowl of salted water (enough water to cover all the slices and 1/2 tsp salt dissolved in it). This will prevent any discoloration off the slices.

Let it stand in the salted water till you make the batter.

For the batter:
1 cup chickpea flour / besan
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/3 -1/2 tsp red chilly powder
1/4 tsp. carom seeds / ajwain
Salt, to taste
A little water

Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl and gradually add water to make a smooth batter without any lumps. The batter shouldn’t be too think and neither should it be too thin. It should coat the back of a spoon when you dip it in.

Heat some oil in a pan. Dip the slices into the batter and carefully place them on the pan. Let them cook on a medium flame till they are a nice golden brown.

Turn the slices over and brown the other side as well.

Drain on some absorbent paper towels to get rid of the excess oil.

Serve hot.

This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday
Meatless Mondays
Just Another Meatless Monday
Meatless Mondays
Mangia Mondays
Mouthwatering Mondays

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Goan Recipes, Recipes, Sides, Vegan

Prawn Cocktail

by Trisha Vaz
This is one knock out treat that I usually save for an occasion like a birthday, an anniversary or guests coming over. Just the other day, I felt that we deserved a treat, for no particular reason, but just because I felt like it. I am a little funny that way. When I get fixated on something, I usually end up doing it. Very seldom do I change my mind. Exception to the rule being, if I don’t have the necessary ingredients at home. Then, off course, I have to improvise and work with what I have at hand till I can get to the store and stock up again. Anyway, back to the prawn cocktail. This beauty is a hit every single time. It is ridiculously easy to make and you can make it a little ahead of time. Get ready to wow your guests with this one.

Prawn Cocktail
(Serves 2)

1/2 cup iceberg lettuce, cut into strips
10-12 prawns, cleaned, de-veined and boiled with a pinch of salt and a few drops of lemon juice
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp tomato sauce
 A few drops of Tabasco sauce (I used a combination of pepper sauce and smoked jalapeno – both Tabasco products)
A pinch of crushed black pepper

In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, tomato sauce and Tabasco sauce. Add the pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. If you want it more tart, add some more tomato sauce. If its too tart, add a little more mayonnaise to balance it. Up the spice levels with the Tabasco sauce.

Tip in the prawns and mix till well coated. You should typically have more cocktail dressing than whats needed to simply coat the prawns.

To serve – 
If you’re serving individual portions as a starter, place some of the lettuce at the bottom of a cocktail glass and top it off with the prawn cocktail dressing mix. Garnish with a prawn placed on the rim of the glass.

If you’re serving it more like a salad that people need to help themselves to, place a bed of chopped lettuce on the plate. Pour the prawn cocktail dressing mix over.

This recipe is linked to –
Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try
What’s On the Menu Wednesday
Real Food Wednesday
What’s Cooking Wednesday

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Recipes, Salads, Sides, Starters / Appetizers

Chicken Mayo Sandwich

by Trisha Vaz
Here’s a quick way to deal with hunger pangs after a day at work using just a few things that most of us will be able to assemble at any point. The humbly chicken mayo sandwich. What I love about sandwiches, is that like salads, they are extremely versatile. You can use a number of ingredients or leave out certain ingredients according to what you like or dislike and you can literally do no wrong. So even those of you who have never cooked before will be able to put this together. Serve it with a piece of fruit or some yogurt and you have a decent packed lunch. Honestly, I love a working lunch like this rather than having a fussy meal. I don’t mind something more elaborate for dinner.

This sandwich is really simple to put together if you keep a few things at hand. For example, having some leftover grilled or roasted chicken is a life saver. But even if you don’t here’s what I do. I simply marinade a chicken breast, cut into smaller pieces with some salt, a dash of lime juice and some ginger garlic paste for about 15 minutes and I add some water (not too much) and boil it till its done. You can then keep this refrigerated till you need to use it.

Chicken Mayo Sandwich


2 tsp Homemade Mayo (you can add more if you like)
Some shredded chicken
A couple of leaves of iceberg lettuce, chopped
1 tomato, sliced
Salt to taste
Freshly crushed black pepper, to taste
2 slices of sandwich bread

Mix the mayo, chicken and lettuce and spread this on one of the slices of bread.

Placed the slices of tomato on the other and season with some salt and pepper.

Place one over the other and enjoy.

This recipe is linked to –
Tuesdays at the Table
Tuesday Night Supper Club
Real Food Wednesdays
Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try
A Little Birdie Told Me

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Recipes, Sandwiches

Mango Lassi (Mango Yogurt Smoothie)

by Trisha Vaz
I honestly think that the mango is my favorite fruit. There was a time where our ancestral property in Goa yielded huge amounts of fruits like mango, jackfruit, bananas, papayas, chickoos and cashew to name a few. So back in the day we had access to a seemingly endless supply of some of the most delicious mangoes I’ve ever had. I haven’t been there ever since my grand-aunt and grandmother passed away. I miss them and the good old days terribly.

Just the other day, when my mum came over for lunch, she brought us some mangoes. They were not my favorite variety but I knew that this particular variety was excellent for milk shakes and such. I didn’t have too much milk lying around, but I did have a couple of tubs of plain, natural yogurt. So I figured, why not make some mango lassi?

This is a wonderful way to use up fruit. You may  remember the strawberry lassi from some time ago. The mango lassi as well is cool and refreshing, perfect for the crazy summer months, not to mention it also has the deliciousness of mango. Its easy to whip up and in a few sheer minutes you’ll have a lovely cool treat in hand.

Mango Lassi
(Serves 2)

1 tub natural unflavored yogurt (We get it in 400g tubs)
Flesh of 1-2 mangoes
2 spoons superfine sugar (optional)
A few ice cubes (You wont need this if you can chill the mango before blending)

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blitz till is well incorporated.

Serve.




This recipe is linked to – 
Just Another Meatless Monday
Monday, Mmm … Dessert

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Beverages, Breakfast, Recipes

Sheera with a twist … of Saffron, that is

by Trisha Vaz
In India, Sheera, a sweet dish made from semolina is a much loved snack. It is usually served in Udupi hotels for breakfast. In my house, however, we usually had this as an evening tea time snack. My grandmother used to whip up a little plate each, for my brother and me. She would add a some crushed cardamom seeds, a few raisins and slivered almonds right at the end, to add to the deliciousness and the healthiness of the dish. She would lovingly, flatten it out to look like a thin round cake, engrave scallops around the edges using a spoon and carve out our initials in the center, so that we’d know which one to pick. She would also add a couple of drops of food color to tint it. I still remember the excitement at seeing two delightful plates on the table, waiting for us as we came back in the evening.

My version is a little less fancy looking, but tastes the same. I know my Nana would be proud. I use roasted semolina to make this and roasting it brings out a wonderful nuttiness that the unroasted version lacks. I added a few strands of saffron as well. In mere minutes, you will be sitting down to a lovely warm, hearty treat. It is equally yummy if had once its cooled down to room temperature.

Sheera
(Serves 2)

1/2 cup semolina, dry roasted till it emits a light nutty aroma
1/2 cup milk
1/2 – 3/4 cup water
2-3 tbsp sugar, or to taste
1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
A few strands of saffron, added to the milk
Seeds of 2 pods of cardamom, crushed
Slivered almonds and a few raisins (optional)

Heat the ghee in a vessel.

Add the roasted semolina and let it fry off till the ghee is incorporated with the semolina and the semolina has fried off. Make sure you don’t burn the semolina in the process.

Add the sugar and the crushed cardamom seeds.

Add the water and milk and stir continuously while the semolina absorbs the liquids.

When the liquids have almost dried out, add the slivered almonds and raisins and stir well.

Once all the liquids have been absorbed, the sheera is done.

You can garnish it with some more almond slivers, if desired.

This recipe is linked to –
Sweet Tooth Friday
Sweets for a Saturday
Savory Sunday
Meatless Mondays
Mangia Mondays
My Meatless Mondays

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Breakfast, Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Dessert, Goan Recipes, Recipes, Snacks