Indian Spiced Kale With Potatoes – Aloo Kale

Kale is one of the toughest greens I have come across, literally. A mere glance at those woodsy stems and chewy leaves isn’t exactly inspiring. But a closer look reveals much more. Kale boasts a nutritional value second only to spinach. Belonging to the Brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower are also members of the same family), this hardy green is rich in anti-oxidants, which may protect against cancer. So a readily available green, with so many health benefits and a lot less calories, has to be included in one’s diet.

Cooking kale to my likeness didn’t turn out to be that easy. Many recipes required just sautéing the green with red pepper flakes and garlic. No, it has to be something more than that. A mighty green as this one should stand up to robust Indian spices. The answer was with Pedatha. A recipe with greens with potatoes was to be modified to suit kale.

Before going to the recipe, I should talk about ‘Roasted Gram’ or pottu kadalai, as we call in Tamil. Bengal gram is obtained by skinning chickpeas/garbanzo. Bengal gram is then dry roasted and sold as ‘Roasted gram’ or ‘Roasted chana dal’. It is mainly used as a thickener in chutneys and curries. These buttery smooth lentils are great for snacking too.

Pedatha, in many of her recipes, uses powdered roasted gram for a creamy texture. And, kale very well needs that. Thank you Pedatha, for your inspiration and ingenious ideas. The recipes I have tried and techniques I have adapted from this book, have never failed me. Thanks to Indira for bringing this book to our perusal. So, here it is, Aloo-Kale, the second installment of 1-in-3 - Western Greens Indian Style.

Ingredients

Kale – 1 bunch
Potatoes – 2
Roasted gram – 3 tbsp
Grated coconut – ¼ cup
Ginger – 1 inch piece
Garlic – 2 cloves
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tbsp
Red chillies – 2
Curry leaves – few
Salt
Oil – 1 tbsp

Method

Boil potatoes in salted water until done, but still firm. Peel, dice and keep aside. Prepare kale by removing the tough stalks. Chop the leaves into bite sized pieces. Grind roasted gram, coconut, ginger and garlic.

In a kadai or pan, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds. Add urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves and roast till dal turns golden brown. Add kale, turmeric and salt, cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring in between. When kale is 3/4th done, add potatoes, coconut mixture and continue to cook on low flame, sprinkling water when necessary. After 5-7 minutes, when kale is fully done, check for seasoning and serve with roti or rice.

1-in-3 - Western Greens, Indian Style

Growing up in India, I was familiar with few different types of greens, keerai as we call it in Tamil. Right after dawn, our Keera Kaara Amma (translates to ‘old lady selling greens’) used to bring variety of greens, harvested few hours earlier, to our doorsteps everyday. Other than the occasional drumstick leaves, spinach, pennywort (vallarai keerai, for their power to boost our memory retention), my mom mostly cooked only amaranth or mola keerai. Nothing to complain about; those tender leaves and succulent stems were a favourite of mine. I am not exaggerating if I say that I solely grew up knowing only amaranth, as a leafy vegetable.

After coming to the US, I found it very difficult getting to know new greens. Salad greens were totally off limits (who ate salad greens in India? at least I didn’t), spinach did not taste the same and amaranth was nowhere to be found. Unlike vegetables, identifying a green, even if its already familiar, is very confusing to identify, if labeled under a different name. Apparently I am not alone.

Living many months without greens, I timidly put a step forward to try foreign leaves. Swiss chard was to be my first try. Boy, am I glad I did. Chards (Swiss, green, rainbow) gracefully embraced me from my fear of foreign greens, and afterward, there was no looking back. I have tried almost all greens in the market shelves. And I find the best way to try anything foreign, is to prepare it the local way, something you can relate to. And that for me, is Indian style. And that is what this series is about. Allow me to share a few of my favourite Western greens, prepared the Indian way, in this 1-in-3 series.

Mashed Greens – Swiss Chard

As I told you earlier, my mom bought amaranth quite frequently. But there is no complex spice mixture or procedure to cook ‘em. Cook, mash and season, that’s all. This recipe, as with many of the Indian recipes, believes in the flavour of the greens themselves, rather than relying on spice mixtures. So try using the freshest of greens. Since amaranth is not available in my area, I now make this with Swiss chard. Chards are mild, sweet and earthy that suits well with this recipe.

Ingredients

Swiss chard – 1 bunch, cleaned and chopped
Green chilli – 1, split
Tomato – 1, small, chopped (optional)
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp
Red chilli – 1
Asafoetida – a pinch
Curry leaves – few
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt

Method

Cook chard, green chilli, tomato (if using) in ¼ cup of water. Sprinkle more water if necessary. Chard turns translucent once cooked. Take a stick blender and blend till the greens are coarsely ground. You can also do this in a regular blender after cooling down the greens a bit.

Return the vessel back to heat on low and add asafoetida and salt. In a seasoning pan, heat oil, splutter mustard seeds, then add cumin seeds and curry leaves. Heat through, check for seasoning and serve with rice and sambar.

Mashed Swiss chard served with tomato sambar and radish salad.

This is my entry to Weekend Herb Blogging, Kalyn's brainchild, hosted by Vani of Batasari this week.

Dried Fruit And Nut Cake

Let me start this year by wishing all my readers ‘A Happy and Prosperous New Year’. Thank you for all your wishes through comments and emails.

No, I didn’t bake this cake. This is one of my holiday favourites though; fruit cake from Costco. A cake with so much dry fruits and nuts, and barely enough dough to hold them all together. Every year I buy one of these cakes and enjoy it slice by slice over the next few weeks. This year I got to make this cake at home, thanks to Alice Medrich, author of Pure Dessert. I have tried a handful of recipes from this book, and I should say I am happy with every one of them. The recipes are not atrociously laden with butter and other fatty stuff. And the ingredients are what one would usually have on hand. I am looking forward to trying many more recipes from this book.

I made two changes to the original recipe. I used a mixture of walnuts, almonds and pecans instead of walnuts only. After coming out of the oven, the cake was slightly dry and not so sweet. So I glazed the cake with warm agave nectar. That took care of both the issues, leaving the cake moist and sweet. I am planning to make this cake again, and this time I would add marinated cherries and candied citrus peel, for some colour and bite.

Ingredients

All purpose flour – ¾ cup
Baking soda – ¼ tsp
Baking powder – ¼ tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Brown sugar - ¾ cup
Dried fruits (figs, plums, apricots, pears, raisins) – 1 cup
Dates – 2 cups, pitted
Almonds – 1 cup
Walnut halves – 1 cup
Pecans – 1 cup
Eggs – 3
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
Agave nectar or honey – 1 cup

Method

Preheat oven to 300F. Grease 2 small loaf pans or 1 large loaf pan with oil or line the bottom and sides with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add brown sugar, all the dried fruits and all the nuts. Mix thoroughly with your fingers. In a small bowl, beat eggs and vanilla together. Pour this mixture over dry ingredients. Mix until everything is coated with eggs. Scrape the batter onto the prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 55-60 minutes. You can tell when its done when the nuts are aromatic and the top of the loaf is browned. Bake for additional 10 to 15 minutes for a larger loaf pan. Cool for 5 minutes. Pour warm agave nectar or honey over both the loaves. Let the loaves sit overnight. Slice and serve with coffee or as a snack anytime.

I am sending this luscious slice to Latha Mami and Lakshmi at The Yum Blog, who are hosting AFAM – Dry Fruits. I hope they accept my late entry.

Chocolate Chews

As the last installment of the chocolate trilogy, I leave you with these chocolate chews. As the name suggests, these are more than cookies. When eaten warm, they taste more like brownies with so little fat. When eaten cold, they are soft and slightly chewy. With so much chocolate, they got to taste great. It took only about 15 minutes to get ‘em into the oven. This easy, but tasty cookie is my entry to Eat Christmas Cookies, hosted by Susan of Food Blogga.

Ingredients

Semi sweet chocolate – ¾ cup
Butter – 1½ tbsp
Instant coffee – ½ tbsp
All purpose flour – ¼ cup
Brown sugar – ¼ cup
Egg – 1
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp
Baking powder – ¼ tsp
Salt – a pinch
Chocolate chips – ¼ cup

Method

Preheat oven to 375F. Melt chocolate, butter and coffee together in a microwave and let it cool. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat sugar and egg together until thick. Whisk the melted chocolate into the egg mixture along with vanilla extract. Gently fold in the dry ingredients. And finally stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop heaped tablespoons of the dough onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 to 19 minutes. The cookies cracks on top when they are done. Cool on a wire rack. This recipe yields 8 good sized cookies.

Nuts Divine

That’s what I would describe my favourite chocolate as, Ferrero Rocher. Its crunchy and creamy, with the right amount of sweetness. Nuts are this month’s theme for Click. I thought, what better way to appreciate nuts than to dip them in chocolate. And that is exactly what Ferrero Rocher is. A hazelnut surrounded by chocolate cream, encapsulated in a crisp wafer sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts.

It is one of those rare occasions that I get to photograph to my heart’s content, without worrying about the results. That’s right, the lovely duo at Jugalbandi have honoured me by inviting to the judges panel. If you haven’t clicked your winning shot yet, hurry, you have only a week left.

Chocolate Crème Pots With Truffles

For some reason, certain food photographs that I have seen in other blogs, magazines or cookbooks gets stuck in my head like glue, until I try it out at least once. This recipe is inspired from one such photo. An adult chocolate creme that looks and tastes divine. What I liked the most about this dessert is, its neither thick like a pudding nor thin like a drink, but somewhere in between. As a true chocolate lover, I served this velvety dessert with home made chocolate truffles. Overall, this dessert is elegant and easy. Prepare the chocolate crème and truffles 2 days before, refrigerate them separately, bring 'em to room temperature and serve your guests. Now that’s easy entertaining.

As always, I like chocolate slightly bitter and so I have used dark chocolate. But feel free to use semi-sweet chocolate. Also, I noticed that when refrigerated for more than 3 days, the chocolate crème thickens like a pudding. Not that it alters the taste anyway. So serve this at room temperature or slightly warm. Likewise, refrigerate the truffles and serve at room temperature. This dessert is so easy that everything is put together using microwave oven. Adjust the cooking times to suit your microwave. Since chocolate is the star of this dessert, try using the best available quality chocolate.

This quite fits Stephanie of Happy Sorceress’ theme and I am sending my Chocolate Creme with Truffles to her Blog Party – Another Bite of Dessert. This is also my entry to My Favorite Things - Chocolate, hosted by Bindiya of In Love With Food.

Chocolate Crème

Ingredients

Dark chocolate – ½ cup
Heavy cream – ¼ cup
Low fat milk – ½ cup
Egg yolk – 1
Coffee liquor – 2 tsp

Method

Microwave cream and milk together for 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on the sides. Stir in the chocolate and coffee liquor. Stir until melted. Add egg yolk and mix vigorously. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir once and microwave again for 30 more seconds. Pour into serving containers while warm. Cover with plastic wrap or foil to prevent the chocolate crème from forming a crust.

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

Semi sweet chocolate – ½ cup
Heavy cream – ¼ cup
Orange zest – ½ tsp
Chopped nuts and cocoa powder – for coating

Method

Microwave cream until bubbles appear on the sides, about a minute. Stir in the chocolate and the zest. Keep whisking until chocolate completely dissolves and glistens. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. When ready, scoop a tsp of the chocolate mixture, roll into a ball in the palm of your hands. Roll either over cocoa powder or chopped nuts. I have used pistachios.

When ready, top one truffle over chocolate crème and serve with dessert spoons. Leave additional truffles on the table and let the guests help themselves.

Later, I found adding a pinch of chilli powder/cayenne pepper to chocolate crème instead of liquor was over-the-top. After the initial sweetness of the chocolate, the chilli powder leaves a slight heat on the back of the throat.

If you don’t want to use egg yolk, use 1 tsp of corn flour in ¼ of water. Adding a tsp of butter to the crème will give it a silkier texture. I omitted it because between the heavy cream and the egg yolk, I felt there is enough calories already.

Acai

USDA advises consuming about 1 cup of berries each day to meet the recommended antioxidants daily intake. Reducing free radicals, slowing down cell-aging, reducing the risk of cancer are some of the benefits of regular intake of antioxidants. Hence I make sure I include ‘em in my diet. A handful of fresh or frozen berries in my fruit smoothie everyday takes care of it. Recently, I discovered a new kind of berry - Acai (pronounced Aa-sa-yee). What made it notable was its endless list of benefits.

Acai falls into the category of superfood. These are food categories that have significantly high levels of crucial nutrients and are recommended for a better health and quality of life. If I can get that kind of nutrition from nature, without higher calories and side effects, why wouldn’t I?

Acai berries are the fruit of Acai palm trees that grow in Amazon swamps and floodplains. Now, you don’t have to go that extent to get hold of these mighty berries. The pulp of these berries are sold frozen or powdered in many supermarkets. You can also find them in packaged smoothies, carbonated drinks, flavoured coconut water etc. I find frozen pulp easier to manage. All I have to do is to scoop a couple of spoons into the blender. But they are little bit on the expensive side when bought in small quantities. Recently, Costco has started carrying Sambazon Original Organic Acai pulp (labeled as sorbet) in three single pint containers. Easy to store, easy to use. Taste wise, as the package states, it is more of a rich berry flavour with hints of chocolate.

Acai and bananas are a top class combination. Acai topped with sliced bananas and chopped nuts is my favourite ‘ice cream’ sundae these days. But the real winner is Acai smoothie with banana and few chunks of honeydew melon. You have to taste it to believe it.