Bamboo shoot curry

When it is the start of rainy seasons in my native (North Canara), Bamboo shoot is a common favourite in every house. Rainy seasons are incomplete without the bamboo shoot dishes and they are loved by children and grown-ups alike.

I accidentally stumbled upon a pack of sliced bamboo shoot in a japanese store and I could not control the desire of buying it. Before I reached home, I already had hundreds of recipes in my mind for a small pack of bamboo shoot. But, there was a small problem. I had to wait for 3 days to cook it.

The instructions said that the packed bamboo shoot is ready to cook but hubby did not want to take any chances. Bamboo shoots are said to contain some toxins when they are freshly cut. So, fresh Bamboo shoots are usually chopped/sliced and soaked in water for 2-3 days. The water is drained and replaced with fresh water everyday.

When I finally got the chance to cook Bamboo shoots, there was a request from hubby that the dish should be spicy. MIL's bamboo shoot dishes are not spicy so I had to choose mum's recipe. Here is the recipe, I hope you all like it.

Nutritional Information  (Approx)			(per serving)
Energy	114		Calories
Fat	7		%
Carbohydrate	5		%
Dietary Fiber	15		%
Sodium	13		%
Vitamin A	0		%
Vitamin C	1		%
Calcium	10		%
Iron	16		%
Protein	4		Grams
Sugar	3.2		Grams

Ingredients
Bamboo shoot (Soaked and rinsed for 3 days)
Toor dal	1/4 cup
Turmeric powder	a pinch
Salt	to taste
Water	2 cups

To Temper
Oil	2 tsps
Mustard seeds	1/2 tsp

Ingredients
Coconut grated/grated kopra	1/2 cup
Red chillies 4-5 or as per your taste
Fenugreek seeds approx	4
Cinnamon	1 small piece
Cloves	2
Tamarind	1/4 lemon size

In a pressure cooker, soak toor dal and bamboo shoot.

Dry fry the masala ingredients (seperately) except tamarind for a minute in a hot pan and keep them aside to cool.

Grind them without water to a coarse powder and add tamarind.

Grind the powder again with tamarind and water till it is a smooth paste and tamarind has blended in the paste.

Once the masala is done, pressure cook the dal and bamboo shoot.

In a pot, heat oil and add mustard seeds and wait till they splutter.

Add the cooked dal and bamboo shoot.

Add the masala paste, water and salt and bring it to boil.

Simmer the flame,  add turmeric powder and boil for another 4-5 minutes.

Remove from the flame and serve hot with white rice.

• I have not yet managed to find the curry leaves here, so I could not garnish any of my dishes with curry leaves. Please use curry leaves to temper with mustard seeds, it gives an extra yummy taste to this dish

Butternut squash Soup

I saw the soup of butternut squash for the first time in India when I was watching Masterchef series. I could not find this squash in India but I got it here in Norway. I tried it in the same way I cook pumpkin soup and oh, the colour was beautiful and the taste was wonderful.

Nutritional Information  (Approx)			(per serving)
Energy	195		Calories
Fat	7		%
Carbohydrate	12		%
Dietary Fiber	22		%
Sodium	33		%
Vitamin A	54		%
Vitamin C	92		%
Calcium	14		%
Iron	14		%
Protein	7.8		Grams
Sugar	6.8		Grams

Butternut squash is a winter squash. The pulp is orange and has the similar sweet taste as that of pumpkins. It is rich in fibre, vitamin C, manganese, magnesium, potassium, vitamin A and vitamin E. So, this soup is not only tasty, but is healthy too.








You can prepare this soup with pumpkin if butternut squash is not available. Hope you like it.

Ingredients
Butter/olive oil	2 tsps
Onion Chopped	1
Green chillies chopped (optional)	3
Ginger sliced
Butternut squash/Pumpkin Chopped	2 cups
Water	5 cups
Bay leaf	1
Salt	to taste

Heat oil in a pot or a cooker.

Add onion and green chillies and fry till the onion looks transparent.

Add Ginger and fry for a minute.

Add Butternut squash/pumpin and give it a mix.

Add 2 cups of water and drop the bay leaf into the pot.

Cook for 1 whistle if using a pressure cooker and if using a pot, Cover the lid and cook till the squash/pumpkin is soft and cooked.

Take away the bay leaf and let the mixture cool in a plate. If there is too much of cooked water, strain and save the water.

Once the mixture has cooled down, grind/blend it coarsely.

Transfer the mixture to a pot. Add salt and bring to boil. Boil for 2-3 minutes and switch off the heat.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

• As I said in the beginning of post, you can use pumpkin instead of squash and it will still taste almost the same.
• You can skip the green chillies and add pepper if you do not like the soup spicy.

Mushroom masala gravy

Though I always pick the easy ways to cook any dish, for now I am forced to cook dishes easy way. The reason being that I did not carry my Mixer with me and now I regret it so much and can see how boring it is to cook without a mixer in the kitchen.

It is really a challenge to cook without Mixer for months. But as usual, I try to find ways to put up a dish that tastes great without using a mixer. Sometimes they come out great and most of the times, its a tragedy.

This recipe came out great and is very easy and quick. Hope you all like it.

Nutritional Information  (Approx)			(per serving)
Energy	147		Calories
Fat	16		%
Carbohydrate	19		%
Dietary Fiber	27		%
Sodium	12		%
Vitamin A	15		%
Vitamin C	22		%
Calcium	16		%
Iron	28		%
Protein	23		Grams
Sugar	2		Grams

Ingredients
Mushrooms chopped	1 cup
Onion chopped	1
Green chillies chopped (Optional)	2
Bell pepper chopped (Optional)	1 cup
Tomato purée	2 tbsps
Turmeric	a pinch
Chilli powder	1 tsp
Garam masala	1 tsp
wheat flour	1 tsp
Water	1 cup
salt	to taste

To Temper
Oil	1 tbsp
Star anise	1
Cinnamon	a small piece
Clove	1
Cardamom	1

In a pan, add oil and wait till it gets hot. Add the ingredients under "To temper" and fry for a minute.

Add onions and fry till the onion looks transparent.

Add green chilli and bell pepper if you are adding any. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

In a small bowl, mix wheat flour with little water and make a paste.

Add the paste and rest of the water to the pan and bring the mixture to boil.

Add salt, Chilli powder, turmeric powder and Garam masala powder and give it a mix.

Simmer the heat and add mushrooms. Cover the lid and cook for 4-5 minutes in low flame.

Serve hot with rotis or rice.

Simple juicy Pasta

As the name of my blog says, I am lazy and I look for easy dishes. Here is one type of pasta dish that can be prepared very easily with very less number of ingredients and it is Indian style. It is healthy, juicy and filling.

Nutritional Information  (Approx)			(per serving)
Energy	200		Calories
Fat	5		%
Carbohydrate	17		%
Dietary Fiber	16		%
Sodium	9		%
Vitamin A	10		%
Vitamin C	10		%
Calcium	10		%
Iron	10		%
Protein	9		Grams
Sugar	12		Grams

Ingredients:

Pasta (Any)
Onion chopped 1
Bell pepper chopped 1
Green chillies chopped 2-3
Tomato purée/Tomato ketchup 2 tbsps
Salt to taste
Oil 2 tsps
Water
Coriander leaves chopped

Boil a large pot of water with Salt. Add Pasta to the boiling water. Cook the pasta until tender.

Save a cup of water from cooked pasta, drain the rest and keep it aside.

Make sure the pasta is not overcooked.

In a pan, heat oil and add chopped onion and green chillies. Fry till the onion is transparent.

Add the bell peppers and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add pasta water and bring to boil.

Simmer the flame and add tomato purée or tomato ketchup. Cook the with lid covered for another 2-3 minutes.

Add salt and mix the pasta.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

• Bell peppers and Green chillies are optional if you are adding Tomato ketchup. 
• You can also garnish with some cheese if you like.

Mushroom clear soup

The weather is getting cold everyday and what is better than a hot and spicy soup with a lot of goodness in it? Mushrooms are my favourite to cook and to eat and here is a recipe for mushroom soup that is quick and easy.

Nutritional Information  (Approx)			(per serving)
Energy	110		Calories
Fat	4		%
Carbohydrate	4		%
Dietary Fiber	9		%
Sodium	30		%
Vitamin A	1		%
Vitamin C	2		%
Calcium	1		%
Iron	5		%
Protein	2.2		Grams
Sugar	3.6		Grams

Ingredients
Mushrooms chopped	1 cup
Garlic grated	2 cloves
Coriander leaves chopped	1/4 cup
Green chilli chopped (optional)	1
salt	to taste
Pepper powder	1/2 tsp
Water/Vegetable broth	5 cups

In a  pot of Water/Vegetable broth, add chopped mushrooms and garlic and bring to boil.

Add salt and pepper powder once the mixture starts boiling.

Add chopped green chilli and coriander leaves and simmer the flame. Boil for 3-4 more more minutes.

Remove from the flame and serve hot after 5 minutes.

• Green Chilli is optional since it makes the soup very spicy. You can add only pepper powder for a less spicy soup.
• I used vegetable stock blocks and added to the water before boiling. You can use either just water or broth if you have or a veg/chicken stock cube.

Picnic Bread rolls (Easiest)

We plan for picnics every weekend and it is so peaceful and stress busting. The hard part is to cook the food for picnic. Since the weather here is quite cold most of the days, we can not take the food that needs heating up or tastes bland if it cools down.

So, I usually take food that is light to carry and to eat. :D Here is something which is usually made with white bread. I do not allow anything that is made using maida and I always stick to either brown bread or whole wheat bread.

To be honest, this dish looks colourful and beautiful with white bread.  The children especially will love it. So, you can use which ever bread you feel comfortable to cook with.

Nutritional Information  (Approx)			(per serving)
Energy	173		Calories
Fat	10		%
Carbohydrate	9		%
Dietary Fiber	4		%
Sodium	6		%
Vitamin A	2		%
Vitamin C	3		%
Calcium	0		%
Iron	6		%
Protein	2.5		Grams
Sugar	8.7		Grams

Ingredients : for crust

Bread white/whole wheat/brown

For spread:

Jam of your choice
Ketchup of your choice

For Quick home made spread: (Indian style)

Oil	1/2 tsp
Onion finely chopped	1
Tomato puree	1 tsp
salt	to taste
Garam masala powder	1/2 tsp
Water	1 tbsp

Cut the sides of the bread slice.

Roll the bread from all sides using a rolling pin.

If you are using brown or whole wheat bread, make sure the crust is not too thin. It may break down when you try to roll it.

Spread jam or ketchup of your choice neatly. You can even place a cheese slice on top of the spread.

Using your fingers, roll the bread slice tightly.

You can serve it right away or bake it for 5 minutes. You can also fry it for a crispy crust.

Quick home made spread: (Indian style)

Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry till transparent.

Add tomato puree and water and mix well. Bring it to boil.

Add garam masala powder and salt and cook for another minute.

You can use this spread for the rolls.