Recipes Cooking: fresh

Showing posts with label fresh. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

FRESH HERB VEGGIE DIP

I learned to cook with dried herbs because fresh herbs were not always available where I live. Fresh herbs not only measure differently, but they taste entirely differently, so learning to cook with them is an on-going process for me.

This summer, I have several pots of herbs growing fairly successfully. I am growing rosemary, thyme, basil, chives, sage, oregano and apple mint. I am on the search for recipes calling for fresh herbs, so if you have a favorite one to share, please let me know.

Many of us will be entertaining company over the 4th of July. This is a recipe for a very light tasting cream cheese dip, using fresh herbs. It is sure to please your company.

FRESH HERB and VEGGIE DIP

12 ounces of whipped cream cheese spread
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
dash of salt
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup green onions (sliced extremely thin)
3 radishes diced very small

Mix everything in a small bowl and let it sit (covered) in fridge overnight. Serve
with crackers, pretzels or raw veggies.
NOTE: Next to my herb garden, I have a large planter of catnip growing; it is just starting to show a few small blue flowers. Our cat, as well as our neighbors cat, sit next to it and purr loudly while they rub up against the planter, lol.

I think Tabithas had enough catnip for today...dont you??

Monday, January 27, 2014

Fresh green peas parathas

Tis the season of fresh green peas and while I always have on hand large packet of frozen peas, the taste of fresh green peas is something else.

There is an extremely simple recipe - which my friend had shared with me last season, where if you buy large quantities of peas, say 2 kilos or so, you shell them and grind with chillies, ginger and salt, then on a slow flame with a tadka of some cumin, saute this paste with some amchoor powder till quite dry. Store in freezer in small containers and use as a stuffing for parathas to make instant lunches or dinners when required. My version is a slight modification on this as I had just a cup of shelled peas on hand, so I ground them, sauteed and mixed in the flours directly to make these green parathas. These are lovely for a hearty weekend breakfast or your kiddies lunch box.

Recipe for Green Peas Parathas

Makes 4

Under 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup fresh shelled peas

3 green chillies

1 largish knob of ginger

1 tsp or so salt

2 tsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

pinch of asafoetida (hing)

1 tsp amchoor powder (dried mango powder)

1/2 cup atta

1/2 cup makkai atta (corn meal) [you can use just 1 cup atta instead of a mix of atta and makkai atta]

some flour for dusting

Directions

In a mixer, grind the first four ingredients to a coarse paste.
Take the oil in a non-stick kadai (preferably), heat on medium flame, splutter the cumin seeds, add a pinch of asafoetida to this.
Transfer the pea paste to the oil and saute on medium flame with the amchoor powder till nearly dry. The amchoor not only adds a tangy taste but also helps in drying out the mixture faster - due to its astringent quality. For this quantity, the process will take 7-10 minutes.

For preparing large quantity of peas-masala to freeze, the procedure is same up to this stage. Just add more chillies, ginger and adjust spices / seasonings.

Transfer the ready masala to a bowl. Add the flours and some salt if required and knead to a dough sprinkling some water if needed to bind ( I had to use just a tsp of water of so).
Make four balls and roll out gently into thick parathas, using some flour for dusting.
Heat a skillet, cook the parathas on both sides on medium flame till golden spots appear, brush with butter or ghee if you like once the sides are cooked.

If youd like the masala as a stuffing, then use whole wheat atta for the outer cover and prepare like you would any other stuffed paratha.

Serve hot with a chilled raita and pickle of your choice.

I love these chunky parathas which have equal quantities of peas and flour, so its a cross between a hara-bhara patties and a paratha. You could substitute other shelled veggies like fresh green tuvar or fresh green garbanzo instead of peas.