Aloo Palak (Potatoes with spinach) - gravy version

Ingredients:
Potatoes, peeled and cut into bite size pieces - 3 large
Spinach leaves, fresh - 1 big bag
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Onions, finely chopped - 2 med
Green chillies, slit lengthwise - 2
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Water - 1.5 cups
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp or to taste

Time: 10 min prep + 30 min cook
Servings: 4-5

Method:
Heat a tsp of oil in a wok and sautée the potato pieces for a few minutes. Set aside.

Blanche the spinach leaves and immediately dunk in cold water. Drain and set aside.

In a wok, heat 1 tbsp of oil and add the cumin seeds. When they start to splutter, add the onion and fry until translucent. Mix in the ginger-garlic paste and fry for a few minutes. Now add the red chili powder and coriander powder and mix to coat well. If the mixture is too dry, you can add a small amount (1 tsp?) of water and mix well. Add the spinach leaves, stir fry for 5 min and add the potato pieces and garam masala (once again, if mixture is too dry add a tsp of water). Cook for 7 min on low heat.  Add enough water to cover the potato pieces. Add salt and cook on medium flame until the potatoes are cooked through (10-12 min). Serve hot with chapatis or rice.

Author: Shrinkingsodacan
Source: Based on this recipe.

Sindhi Baingan Sabzi (Eggplant)

Ingredients:
Eggplants, diced - 4-6
Potatoes, diced (optional) -  2 medium
Tomato purée - about 2 cups (or 4 tomatoes chopped fine)
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Green chillies, slit lengthwise - 2-3
Ginger, chopped - 1" piece
Garlic, minced - 3-4 cloves (or use 1-2 tsp ginger-garlic paste)
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Coriander leaves, chopped - a handful (optional)
Salt - to taste

Time (cook+prep): under 20 min
Servings: 2-3

Method:
Heat the oil in a wok and add the cumin seeds to it. When the seeds start to crackle, add the green chillies and ginger-garlic paste and stir fry for 1-2 min. Mix in the potato and eggplant pieces and mix well to coat uniformly with oil. After 2 min, add turmeric, red chili, cumin and coriander powders. Mix well for a minute, then mix in the tomato purée and salt. Stir occasionally until the potatoes and eggplants are cooked and slightly mashed. Add a little water if necessary. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Author: Shrinkingsodacan
Source: This recipe

Green beans curry with coconut

Ingredients:
Green beans, cut into < 2" pieces - about 3 cups
Coconut, grated - about 1 cup
Garlic - 3-4 cloves
Red chili, dried - 2-3
Cashews, halved or broken pieces - 1/2 cup (optional)
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 3-4 (optional)
Hing (asafoetida) - a pinch (optional)
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp

Servings: 2-3
Time (cook+prep): 15 min

Method:
Bring water to boil in a large vessel. Cook the beans in this water so they are cooked almost all the way (less than 10 min). In the meantime, grind the garlic and red chillies with 1-2 tsp of water. Slowly add the grated coconut, adding extra water if necessary, and grind to a thick smooth paste.

Drain the beans. In a wok, heat the oil and add the cashews and mustard seeds and stir until the seeds splutter. Now add the curry leaves, hing and salt and stir well. Lower the flame to medium and slowly add the ground paste, mixing in some water if necessary. Add the drained beans and stir well. Add enough water so that the beans can cook, but not too much or the paste will be diluted. Cook covered on a medium or low flame until the beans are done. Serve hot with rice.

Author: Shrinkingsodacan

Ham Cake

While in Munich in 2003, a French friend brought over a loaf of what looked like yellow cake to a party at our place. He said it was "ham cake", which sounded very weird. However, when you got over the fact that it wasn't dessert, it was delicious. I decided to recreate it last week, and it was delicious. The recipe below is inspired by this food.com page. I'd like to try the same recipe with bacon, of course! Since I used sliced deli ham, I wonder if it would be just as easy to replace it with sliced turkey or chicken?

Ingredients:
Eggs - 4
White flour - 1 2/3 cups
Baking powder - 2 1/2 tsp
Olive oil - 1/3 cup
Butter, melted - 2 tbsp
Dry white wine (I used Prosecco) - 1/2 cup
Port wine - 1/4 cup
Green or black olives, pitted and sliced - 1 1/2 cups
Ham, chopped - 2 cups
Emmenthaler or gruyère cheese, cubed (I grated it) - 2 cups
Salt - use with caution, as the ham and olives probably already have quite a bit
Pepper
 

Cooking time (cook+prep): about 1 hr

Servings: 8-10 slices

Method:
Preheat oven to 200C or 390F
Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the flour, baking powder, olive oil, melted butter, wine and port. Now add the ham, cheese, olives, salt and pepper. Note: you may be able to get away with using no salt if the ham and olives are salty enough. Pour mixture into a greased bread tin (we greased it with ghee!) and bake for about 50 min or until well risen and golden brown. Slice and serve warm or cold.

Author: Shrinkingsodacan
Source: Food.com

Mushroom Cornbread Stuffing (James' Recipe)

This year for Thanksgiving, I emailed James for a recipe for stuffing. It turned out fantastic, we were able to find all the ingredients in Munich and it was pretty easy to make. Instead of repeating the recipe here, I'll just point to James' recipe page here.

Author: Shrinkingsodacan
Source: James Davies' recipe

Stir-fried green beans

Ingredients:
Whole green beans, optionally cut into halves - 1/2 kg
Oil - 2 tbsp
Rai (mustard seeds) - 1 tsp
Udad dal (split black gram) - 1 tsp
Dried red chillies - 2
Hing (asafoetida) - a pinch (optional)
Salt - to taste

Time (cook+prep): 15-20 min
Serves: 4

Method:
Bring 4-5 cups of water to boil in a saucepan. Add the beans and heat covered for 7-10 min. Heat oil in a wok, add asafoetida, rai, udad dal and red chillies. When the rai starts to splutter, add the beans and stir to coat with oil. Cook for a few minutes and add salt. Serve hot with plain rice or chapatis. (I discovered that it makes a very good companion to tomato rice).

Author: Shrinkingsodacan

Whole Moong Dal Khichdi

Khichdi is a mixture of rice and pulses cooked together. It is traditionally served with raita, papad, kadhi (yogurt soup), pickle[d vegetable]s or even just ghee or yogurt. This variation uses whole green moong dal and is first cooked in a pressure cooker until the dal is soft.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
Whole moong dal - 1 cup
Tomatoes, quartered - 2
Onion, finely chopped - 1 large
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 2 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Oil/ghee - 3 tbsp
Salt - to taste

Cooking time: 30 min
Servings: 6-8

Method:
Mix the rice and dal with the tomato pieces in 6 cups of water and cook in a pressure cooker for 6-7 whistles (about 30 minutes). In the meantime, heat the oil in a wok and add the cumin seeds. When they start spluttering, add the onions and stir to coat with oil. After a minute, add the ginger-garlic paste and mix well. Cook until the onions start turning golden brown. Add the garam masala and mix well. After a minute or so, add 1/4 cup of water and mix well. Cook until the oil separates to the sides. Add more water (totaling up to 2 cups) and transfer to the cooker. Add more water if required (up to 2 cups, depending on how much liquid you'd like to have in the resulting khichdi). Cover the cooker and steam without the weight for 10 min or until you smell the aroma of the masalas. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves (optional) and serve hot.

Author: Shrinkingsodacan