`Tamota Per Eeda' - Tomato - Poached Eggs

I have a great attraction for authentic and traditional dishes. It certainly tells one about the culture and evolution of food . I think what attracts me the most is understanding and learning the provenance and history of original dishes. What is even more fascinating is when one finds similar or sometimes even identical dishes across culture. One such dish that i recently came across is a parsi poached eggs in tomato sauce. when P and I were visiting a parsi family in Mumbai we were introduced to this awesome dish which is now a regular at home.
Parsis migrated to India many centuries ago from the Persia and settled in Mumbai. Amongst many things that they are known for they are also known for their distinctive cuisine which is mostly a combination of sweet and savoury .
Having mentioned about Parsis poached eggs - `Tamota per eeda' i found two other culture that makes exact same dish with very mild variation. It is known as `Huevos Rancheros' in Mexico and Shakshukah in Israel.
Huevos Rancheros is typically served on Tortillas while Shakshukah is served with a liberal topping of feta cheese. I love my Tamota per eeda on a thick chunk of rustic bread.


The creamy and sweet tomato sauce with the soft poached eggs is fabulous on toasted or grilled bread too.

It is super easy and perfect for anytime of the day.

Now for the recipe :


Paarsi Tomato - Poached Eggs

(Adapted from Anjum Anand's Indian Food Made Easy)
1 medium onion peeled 1/2 Green pepper finely chopped
3 tbsp oil
2 large cloves finely chopped or grated
1tsp ginger finely chopped
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1heaped tsp ground coriander
1/2 to 3/4 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
8 plum tomatoes blanched , skinned ,deseeded and chopped (phew!)
6 eggs

Method:
1. Heat oil in a medium pan and fry the onion till golden brown
2. Add green pepper and cook for sometime.
3.Add garlic and ginger and cook for about a minute
4.Now add all the ground spices and salt and cook for few seconds
5. Add the tomatoes and stir well . Bring the pan to simmer and cook covered for 15- 20 mins. Cook till it becomes a creamy mixture. Add a splash of hot water if required. The gravy should be loose yet creamy !.
6. Smooth the surface of the mixture and make six hollows with the back of a spoon . Now carefully crack an egg in each hollow.


7. Cover and cook till the eggs are done to your liking. Roughly for about 2-4 mins.
Serve with grilled rustic bread or Tortillas!!!

' Aeblezkeiver'...

When my Mil's sister from Malaysia very sweetly carried this pretty 'flowered moulds' which weighs a tonne for me as a gift ,i was extremely touched and thrilled . I knew instantly that i could use it for a regular south Indian recipe that is made at home . She also mentioned that it is used to make a certain 'Danish Pancakes for breakfast menu's in restaurants in Malaysia...

My pretty flower moulds...

So i took it from there and started googling for danish pancakes and came upon this amazing stuffed roundels called 'aeblezkiver'...

Maybe some of you are already familiar with it.. But for those of you who, are like me unaware of , they are traditional dutch pancakes that are prepared in a special pan to create their ball/sphere shape. A typical 'aeblezkeiver' comes with a small slice of apple placed in the centre of each pastry. I made mine plain .

The ingredients are similar to that of a pancake but one can get adventurous with the flavouring though....

One can use lemon zest, cardamom, cinnamon, or vanilla ... or anything that catches ones fancy and stir it into the batter.

Now for the ings:

2 cups flour
3 to 4 tbsp sugar
1tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 th cup milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
4 eggs
2 tbsp melted butter


1. Mix all the dry ings together...

2. Separate the eggs and lightly beat the egg whites and keep aside

3. Now add milk, egg yolks melted butter and mix well

4. Fold in the egg whites gently

The batter should be of dropping consistency.

Heat the 'abelezkiver ' pan, i did not use the traditional one but used the flower mould. Pour oil in each section of the mould and Pour in a spoonful of the batter and wait till it bubbles up...

Cook it covered till it is not wet anymore on top...


Now turn the pancakes over and cook it for a little while
Dust it with icing sugar....

and there you go ... Ablezkeiver ready!. The serving options are plenty. You can team them with jams, jellies, honey, maple syrup, nutella or fruit preserves...or can eat them plain as well. Similarly u can make stuffed pancakes too by inserting fruit pieces ,or chocolate, or jams or even marshmallow when the batter is still wet and turn them over and cook. I served mine with freshly made apple and cinnamon sauce.

If one uses a traditional mould i am sure it needs some practice to get it right... So i found this video which shows how to use the mould and also gives interesting anecdote about the origin of the pancakes...

They taste lovely and will be a sure hit with the kids...
They are super fluffy ,moist and definitely a change from the regular pancakes!.

Strozapretti with oven roasted cherry tomato sauce

Strozapretti, gnudi and Malfatti are some of the names of this popular Italian dish. This recipe has been on my list for sometime now and when i got a tub of ricotta last week i decided to give it a try.

This dish comes from Lombardy and actually means 'not pretty' in Italian. Now that is being ultra rude to this beautiful fluffy pillows which i thoroughly enjoyed making. Though they look like gnocchi they certainly are not dense and heavy . The fact that it uses very little flour more as a coating makes it super light and delectable.

I adapted this recipe from Delicious days and it was served with sauteed cherry tomatoes. Instead i made a super simple oven roasted tomato sauce and sauteed the spinach dumplings with the sauce and served it with loads of Parmesan flakes.

Loved the fruity flavour and sweetness of the sauce with the delightfully soft and light malfatti . I am sure this is a dish that i will be making very often.




Strozzapreti with sauteed cherry tomatoes

Recipe source: adapted from Delicious Days
Ingredients (serves 2-3):
200g spinach175g ricotta
30g grated Parmesan
1 egg
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
freshly ground nutmeg
flour for hands
50g butter
Oven roasted Cherry tomato sauce - 3 tbsp
to serve: grated Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper


1.Wash the spinach, remove bigger stems and cook or steam until soft. Let the spinach cool down, then squeeze out any excessive liquid and chop finely.
2.In a large bowl mix together spinach, ricotta, egg, grated Parmesan and season with freshly ground black pepper, sea salt and nutmeg.
3.Meanwhile heat a large pot of salted water.
4. Dust your hands with flour and take a spoonful of the mixture in your hand and flap it from one hand to the other to give it the proper shape and get rid of the extra flour. But you could also try to dust a spoonful (tbsp) of the mix with some flour and carefully roll it with your hands into the desired shape.
5.Now drop them carefully into the pot with the simmering water, in small batches. They are done, as soon as they float on the surface which takes about two to three minutes. Remove with a skimmer.
6.Heat some butter in a pan and add the Strozzapreti and some cherry tomato sauce and Saute for one or two minutes and shake the pan occasionally, then serve on a plate with freshly ground pepper and grated Parmesan.





Oven Roasted Cherry tomato sauce :

1 bag of cherry tomatoes washed and halved

3 garlic finely minced

1/3 cup olive oil

sea salt to taste

1/2 tsp chili powder

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

freshly cracked pepper to taste.

1. Toss all the ingredients together and place it in a dish and put in a moderate oven (180) for about 50 Min's .



Malfatti Served.....

Chocolate Beetrootcake...

This cake took a long time for me to be convinced... Been seeing this a lot in several versions but never ventured beyond curiosity. I was not too sure about having beetroot in my chocolate cake. This week i had a glut of beetroot in my fridge and thought why not !!.

It was both surprise and revelation to me. Not only the cake came out super soft and super moist i could never smell or feel any beetroot in there, which is what i was totally skeptical about. I layered and lathered it with rich chocolate ganache and served it with fresh strawberries . I think it is one of the best chocolate cakes i have ever tasted.

Though there are several recipes available i followed chef Ross Burden's version simply because his recipe suggests to cook and puree the beetroot though many other recipes add just plain grated beetroot like we do for carrot cake. I think the puree blended well with the cake mixture and gave it a sort of rich purplish brown colour and great texture.

Ingredients:
85g dark chocolate
3 medium eggs
300g sugar
240ml sunflower oil
300g cooked beetroot, peeled and pureed
30g cocoa powder
200g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
250ml double cream

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and flour a 25cm spring-release cake tin.

2. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water.

3. Meanwhile, lightly beat the eggs with the sugar and oil in a large mixing bowl, then gradually beat in the beetroot puree. Stir in the melted chocolate.

4. Sift the cocoa, flour and bicarbonate of soda over the surface and mix in thoroughly.

5. Spoon the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes or until the centre springs back when lightly pressed. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

6. While the cake is cooling make the ganache. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream almost to boiling point, then pour over the chocolate. Beat together until the chocolate has melted into the cream making a ganache.

7. While the ganache is still warm use to ice the chocolate. Set aside to cool and harden. Serve the cake with ice cream and fresh strawberries.

Sweet and sour Mango Pickle

It is just March and the mango trees are full of blossom and buzzing bees . But the mango tree in my back yard seems to be in bit of a rush and we are already having round green ones ready for harvest. What i have in the backyard are the varieties good to make pickles and they dont taste good when they ripen. So I have this family recipe - maybe i can even say heirloom recipe which is a hot and sweet one and has a very long shelf life ...

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At my grand moms all the seasonal fruits and vegetables when they are found in abundance were either pickled and bottled or sun dried and stored . They were made in such huge quantities that they would last through the year. As i write this i have the image of giant glass containers neatly covered and tied with pure white muslin cloth sitting pretty near the window sill with varieties of pickles. My favourite was juicy green gooseberries (Amla) in salty syrup. Oh my! i miss those soaked and swelled treats!. They are like murabas but saltier version . Store bought ones dont taste half good as the ones tended and made with loving hands!.

This pickle tastes great when made with 'Bilbiskin/kilimooku' variety the reason being it is not too sour and has good flavour. The mango should be half ripe and not too mushy. I did not use 'kilimooku' and i dont know what variety they are but they tasted just as good!.

Ingredients :

2 cups mango cut into small square pieces
1 cup sugar
salt to taste
chili powder 1 1/2 tsp
mustard - 2 tsp
fenugreek seeds - 1tsp

Method:
1. mix the sugar and mango pieces and keep it covered for two to three hours..
2. The sugar should have melted and mixed nicely with the juice from the mango .
3. In a wide and heavy bottomed pan put the mango with the syrup and cook on medium heat
4. The sugar will start to caramelize and will begin to coat the mango. Also it will start to bubble at this stage. It is important to get the consistency right at this point. Another test is to feel the caramel syrup in between your fingers. When it gets stringy it is time to take off the pan. Remember it should be stringy and not sticky!!.
5. Add the salt, chili powder and return to heat. Check for taste.. It should have a fine balance of Sour, salt , chili and sweet ..
6. Take off the fire and let it cool
7. Dry roast the mustard and fenugreek seeds and add it to the pickle.
8. Now it is ready for bottling.

Well it is a simple pickle that u can make with no fuss... It has incredibly long shelf life . Tastes terrific with curd rice and rotis too...

It has got a sticky chewy and carmalized texture and if u noticed there is not a drop of oil to it.

Burnt Corn Salad..

Sometimes simple ingredients is all you need to put together a delightful recipe. During one of my evening walks along the beach i was drawn to the smell of burnt corn which made me forget about everything else ..

With summer approaching beach is full of these vendors roasting fresh and milky corn which is generally rubbed with lemon juice and a nice mix of salt and chilly powder..Yum!. The smell of burnt corn was lingering in my head that i went straight to the market and bought a nice lot of corn and decided to make a salad for dinner.

Salad is definitely a very important and favourite part of my meal. I need variety and it has to be super simple that i can toss it in a jiffy...

I go by the colours of the vegetable largely and textures too. This salad was inspired by the vendors on the beach.. I wanted similar taste but with some extra crunchiness of crisp vegetables .

So I took

2 Corns

2 Tomatoes
1 red onion

1/2 or 1 small capsicum

fresh bunch of coriander - 1/2 cup

ground cumin - 1 tsp
ground coriander - 1 tsp
salt to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
4 - 5 drops Tabasco

1/4 tsp lime juice

1. Finely cut the red onion

2. Grill the corn on gas stove or better in a coal grill ...till it is mildly burnt .

3. Cut the tomato in half horizontally and squeeze gently to remove seeds ; chop finely

4. Remove membrane and seeds from capsicum and chop finely.

5. Place the ground coriander and cumin an a small pan, stir over medium heat for one minute to enhance fragrance and flavour; cool.

6. Add all the ingredients to the corn in a salad bowl and gently combine . Refrigerate it and serve chill . It also tastes good at room temperature.

Well it certainly has Indian taste and flavour . I would have loved to add a bit of raw mango for the sourness..but i guess i will have to wait till may for it. Still it became a substantial dinner for me last night along with a bowl of pumpkin soup.

Goodness in a bowl...

Well, frankly i am not at all a porridge person. I hate the texture , the smell and the idea of adding milk in it...
I would run miles at the sight of porridge in any buffet and often wondered its presence among croissants, jam filled donuts, buttered toast, and muffins. Absolute misfit! wont you agree!!.

So when my dear friend 's' who is helping me shed my flab suggested that i should definitely reconsider my opinion - :-((( it was hard!!.


But truly i have been so biased!. Also when i followed her recipe i realised i have not been doing it right either. I think i was over doing on the milk and the quantity of oats often ending up with a mushy mess !. Of course i agree it is individual taste. I like mine when it is not too thick and gooey. I like it when it is more on the saucy and syrupy side. But the most interesting part to the recipe was adding seeds to it!.

Now we all know the goodness of flax seeds -and sunflower seeds

-Increased energy
-Lowered blood cholesterol
-Lowered high blood pressure
-Sense of calmness under stress - that's something i can do with!!
-Cancer fighting
-Increased metabolic rate with a positive impact on weight management - that's it ! my search ends here!!!!

So now for the recipe you will need -

2 -tbsp oats
Milk as required
1/2 tsp of brown sugar / honey
2 tbsp of sunflower seeds
2 tbsp of flax seeds
2 tbsp of raisins
and a dash of cinnamon - for flavouring.

I soaked the oats in water for few mins and added milk and cooked it to for few mins till it is well cooked and added all the other ings - flax seeds, brown sugar sunflower seeds and raisins and mixed it together and enjoy!

The nutty and crunchy texture of the seeds and the mild sweetness of the raisins and the sweet smell of cinnamon - all put together certainly makes me enjoy my breakfast these days!

So here you have the bowl of goodness!