Pumpkin Quinoa Dhal Pulao | Indian Quinoa Recipes

As I had mentioned in my Pumpkin cranberry scones recipe, I did make another dish with the leftover pumpkin. It was last Sunday when I made this Pumpkin and quinoa dhal like a pulao. Quinoa is an easy and healthier replacement for rice. Almost all Indian rice dishes can be replaced with quinoa and you wouldn't miss the rice at all. I am trying to use quinoa atleast twice in a week in the form of soups or pulao. This is an easy to make, healthy and filling one pot meal. Just a bowl of this hot pulao with papad made a simple and satisfying lunch.

Ingredients:
Quinoa - 1 cup
Toor dhal - 1/2 cup
Onion - chopped - 2 cups
Tomato - chopped - 2 cups
Pumpkin - cubed - 2 cups
Oil - 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Bisi bele bhath masala - 4 tsp (can substitute with sambar powder - but reduce the quantity as it tends to be more spicier)
Salt - to taste

Method:
Wash and soak the toor dhal for 45 mins. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the chopped onion and saute until light brown color. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell disappears. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until it turns mushy. Add the bisi bele bhath masala powder with salt followed by pumpkin cubes. Add the soaked dhal, quinoa along with 4 1/2 cups of water. Check for seasoning and pressure cook until done. Makes a great one-pot meal when served with just raita and papad.

Sending this to Healing Foods - Vegetarian Thanksgiving event by Siri.

Announcing Serve It Series - Serve It - Baked Sweet

Last month's Serve It - Savory Baked received 58 lovely entries ranging from frittatas to oven baked vadais. As we had promised last month, this month's theme is Serve It - Baked Sweet. December reminds the end of the year when we are all set to celebrate Christmas and welcome a new year. And speaking of Christmas, the first thing comes in mind to a foodie is the Christmas Cake and lots of baked goodies! So preheat your oven and start baking cakes/cupcakes/cookies or anything sweet.

Here are the guidelines for the event:

1. You may send in any entry that is only baked in the conventional oven and is savory. Only sweet entries are allowed like cakes/cookies/madelines/cupcakes to name a few. 
2. Only Vegetarian entries are allowed. Eggs are allowed.
3. Please link back to this announcement page and also to Denny's page.
4. New entries are appreciated, however if you are sending archived entries, please re-post as latest (with a date in December 2011) and update with both the links to the announcement page and logo.
5. Usage of links and logo is mandatory.
6. Last date for submission of your entries is December 31 2011, however you can link until Jan 1st.
7. To send in your entries, just link your entries using the below linky tool. 
8. Non-bloggers also can send their entries with a picture to the below email-id.
9. If you have a problem in linking email us your problem to serveit[dot]series[at]gmail[dot]com. We will try to resolve it. 
Please note that if the entries are inappropriate to the theme we would have to remove the entries from the linky sans notification. If there are other issues like link or logo missing we would definitely notify through email.

Vegetable Puffs & Egg Puffs

To begin with, sorry for the sudden absence from this space. I am so elated by the considerate inquiries from my blog buddies. It was totally an unplanned break but things are fine at my end. Thank you very much everyone for your love!
Do you remember the after-school snacks you had in your childhood. Ah! those are cherished memories aren't they? Well, anything involving food is a cherished memory or most (not all) of the cherished moments can be related with food. Coming home after a tiring day at school, wash up and dig in something to munch on with a glass of milk. Mostly it would be home-made goodies like kozhukattai, sundal, sandwich but occasionally dad would buy hot samosas and puffs from the bakery on his way back from work. I tried to reproduce the bakery flavors with this recipe.

Ingredients:
Puff Pastry Sheet - cut into 3x5" pieces - 5
Onion - 2 cups - thinly sliced
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp
Dry Mango Powder/Amchur powder - a big pinch
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp 
Milk - for brushing
For Veg Puffs filling:
Carrots - chopped fine - 2 tbsp
Frozen green peas - 2 tbsp
For Egg Puffs filling:
Egg - 1 - hard boiled - sliced in half
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch

Method:
Thaw the puff pastry sheet to room temperature for 45 mins and cut into pieces. Preheat the oven to 430F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the remaining oil and add the sliced onions and saute until it turns golden brown, about 15 to 20 mins in med-high heat. Add salt, chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and amchur powder. Saute until the masalas incorporate in the onions. When done remove half of the onion mixture and set aside to cool. 
For Veg Puffs:
In the remaining masala in the pan add the peas and chopped carrots with 1 tbsp of water. Saute for 2 mins until the vegetables get cooked. To assemble in one sheet place about 2 tbsp of mixture and apply water on the edges. And fold over to form a purse. Press the edges tightly so that the filling doesn't ooze out.
For Egg Puffs:
Heat 1/2 tsp of oil in a pan with turmeric powder and roast the halved eggs for about 10 seconds on each side. To assemble, in one sheet place about 1 tbsp of the (reserved) onion masala and place the egg cut side down. Bring together two opposite ends and seal together by applying little water. 
To Bake:
Place the prepared puffs on the baking sheet and brush with milk on the top. Bake for 20 mins. Serve warm with tomato ketchup.
Note: Play around with the spice powders for varied flavours.

Sending this to Serve It - Savory-Baked event by me and Denny, To Vardhini's Bake Fest and also to Srivalli's Snacks Mela.

Guest Hosting - Breakfast Club #17 - The Theme is..

Breakfast Club is a wonderful event started by Helen of Fuss Free Flavours, which I am guest hosting for the second time this year. My theme for last time was "Pancakes" and the event was a great success with 40 beautiful pancake entries. I would like to thank Helen for giving me an opportunity to host this event again.
The theme for this month's event is the most common breakfast of the world - "Bread"

Breakfast Club: Because breakfast should be more interesting

than tea & toast or coffee & cereal.

Bread is the oldest prepared food, the proof dating back to 30,000 years. Every part of the world has its own unique way of preparing bread, leavened or unleavened, baked or fried or steamed. The most common ingredients are flour, oil and water with spices, vegetables, nuts added to give different tastes and textures.
So for the next 45 days breakfast club is open for all your bread creations. Become a bread maker and send me your favorite or signature bread recipes. Do check out the rules list below before you start linking.
Guidelines:
1. Prepare any type of bread or any dish with bread. 
2. Any type of bread from basic white bread to Focaccia, Challah, baguette, Panetone, Brioche, Italian flat bread, Irish Soda bread, Pita, Tortilla, Buns, all varieties of Indian flatbreads i.e. Naan, Chapathi, Roti, Paratha, Parotta, Puri are allowed.
3. Any dishes with bread like Sandwich, Panini, Upma, Pudding are allowed. However a simple toast with jam or muffins, pancakes, cakes, cupcakes, cookies are inappropriate to the theme and would be removed from the linky.
4. Link back to this post and Helen's original event announcement page.
5. Use of logo is mandatory as it helps spread the word
6. Any number of new entries are allowed
7. Archived entries are accepted if re-published as latest with this announcement, Helen's announcement and logo with the current date.
8. The end date is midnight of Dec 31st, 2011.
9. Do link up your entries with the below linky tool. I have added few entries to give an idea.
On a side note, If you are interested in hosting Breakfast Club for the upcoming months, email Helen at helen[at]fussfreeflavours[dot]com. 
To make the events you are hosting to be reachable to a wider audience do drop in a line to The Food Blog Diary and Events and Roundups Page.

Minestrone Soup | Soup Recipes

Minestrone (pronounced min-NESS-throw-nay) is a hearty Italian Soup made with vegetables, beans and pasta (or rice). There is no set recipe for this soup but the basic recipe has vegetables (and/or meat), vegetables in season and different types of beans. I have used the vegetables I had at hand with a combination of black-eyed beans and garbanzo beans. It calls for a very simple preparation with a variety of flavoring. This makes a whole meal in itself and we enjoyed it for Saturday night dinner to keep ourselves warm when it was snowing outside. Yes it was snowing in October here!!

Ingredients:
Serves - 4-5
Vegetables:
Onion - Chopped fine - 1/2 cup
Garlic - 2 cloves - chopped fine
Carrots - 2 - cubed - 1/2 cup
Cauliflower florets - 1 cup
Potato - 1 small - cubed - 1/2 cup
Baby Spinach - 1/2 cup - packed tightly
Tomato - 1 - cubed
For flavoring:
Vegetable Stock - 4 cups (I used 2 Knorr Bouillon cubes with 4 cups of water) 
Red pepper flakes - 1/2 tsp
Salt and Pepper - to taste
Butter - 1 tbsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
For the texture:
Pasta - any short cut variety - 1/2 cup (I used Mini Penne)
Blackeye peas / Cowpeas - cooked - 1 cup 
Garbanzo beans / White Sundal - cooked - 1 cup

Method:
Heat butter and olive oil in a wide saucepan and saute the onion and garlic until it is transparent. Add cauliflower, carrot and potatoes in the said order frying for 2 mins after each addition. Add baby spinach and stir until it wilts. Add the red pepper flakes, pepper, beans and the vegetable stock. Check for salt and add if needed, note that the stock would already contain salt. Add the tomatoes and cook covered until it boils. Add the pasta and cook in medium heat until the pasta is cooked and soft. Simmer for about 5 minutes and serve hot with your favorite bread. 
Note: You can add any vegetables of your choice. Feel free to add seasonal vegetables. Red kidney beans is also an excellent addition. I mashed about a tablespoon of cooked garbanzo beans and cowpeas and added it to the soup for thickness. I used canned beans.

Sending this to Srivalli's Soups and Salads Mela and to Radhika's Winter Carnival.