Madhu Knits and Cooks

Simple and Delicious Greek Salad

So, this simple recipe that I threw together late last week was inspired by two influences from the summer:

1)  The wonderful "Greek Country Salad" served at the Artopolis Cafe in Chicago's Greektown.

2) The last few minutes of a Rachel Ray "30 minute meals recipe" where she created a tasty and healthy non-dressing dressing (my words, not hers :-)).

I made this one-serving salad using:

Chopped Hearts of Romaine Lettuce (maybe 1/2 of one "heart" -- is that even the right terminology?  I have no idea)

1 medium-sized tomato, chopped

Approx. 1/8 of a red onion, chopped

Handful of small pepperonncini peppers, coarsely chopped (and you can give just take a few extras, cut them open and squeeze the juice onto the salad for extra flavor)

1-2 oz. of Feta cheese, cut into large chunks

lemon juice, I used 1/5 of a fresh lemon to get a good flavor for the salad

extra virgin olive oil

Basically just throw these ingredients together in a large salad bowl, juice the lemon directly onto the salad, and then throw on a splash of olive oil.  You can alter the amount of ingredients you use to find the right kind of flavor that you like, and of course add extra ingredients like olives (which I personally dislike) to the salad to make more "greek" if you will. 

A tip that I learned from this Rachel Ray-inspired non-dressing dressing is that first you should put the lemon juice (the acid) first on the salad, before you put any olive oil so that the flavors meld better and take away the bite of the acid.  I'm not quite sure on the science of this one, but I believe Rachel Ray!

In short, this is a really great simple AND filling salad that I recommend everyone tries out!

Indian Cooking Class

On August 17, 2006, I was fortunate enough to have a private Indian cooking class with former professional chef, Kitty Pinnamaneni.

She showed me how to make vegetable biryani and mutter paneer, but unfortunately I have to report that I have yet to make them on my own!  So keep posted for the results of my future attemps to recreate her meals -- we'll see what happens.  Also, I am putting these two recipes online for your experimentation -- check out the "cooking -- recipes" section of this site to find them.

Kitty Aunty's Vegetable Biryani Recipe

Here is the simple Vegetable Biryani recipe that Kitty Aunty taught me to use.  Enjoy!

For 4-5 large servings

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, chopped

½ teaspoon Shan Biryani Masala (packaged, can find at Indian stores)

½ teaspoon housemade masala

      6 cloves

      2 sticks cinnamon

      2 Indian bay leaves (can use regular bay leaves, but Indian is better)

2 inch ginger stick, skin cut off, cut in large pieces

½ bulb garlic

5 green chilies, finely chopped

½ cup yogurt

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Approx. 2 – 3 cups of day-old, separated rice (or just drier rice that can separate)

1/8 teaspoon Ajino mote (Chinese – can omit if you choose)

2 teaspoons cooking oil (Kitty Aunty used unfiltered corn oil)

1 cup fresh or frozen cut mixed vegetables (if frozen, can defrost then cook in dish still when cold, they will cook in pan)

½ teaspoon saffron

1-2 teaspoons salt

If you do polished presentation:

¼ medium onion, thinly sliced

Corn or vegetable oil

Few drops yellow food coloring

Chopped cilantro for garnish

Directions:

To make house-made masala:

      -Dry heat in a pan the cloves, cinnamon, and bay leaves

      -After it becomes fragrant, remove from heat

      -Grind the spices in a coffee bean grinder

To make biryani mix:

      -Heat oil in a large saucepan (medium heat)

      -Add Shan Biryani Masala, onion, and sauté

-Add a little water after it simmers for a bit to make sure it doesn’t get too dry.  Onion should become soften, so cover the pan.

-Blend ginger, green chilies, and garlic in a food processor, until very finely chopped.

-Add garlic, ginger, and green chilies to the pan, sauté and let simmer

-Add homemade masala

-Let simmer, with some light stirring, and add water if too dry.  Be liberal with adding water, it will simmer away.

-Let flavors settle in together

-Add yogurt, lemon juice, vegetables, saffron, salt, and ajino mote, stir and let flavors get into each other

Quick Finish:

      -Add rice and stir fry together

More Polished Presentation:

      -Get serving/casserole dish, put vegetable mix at bottom of pan

      -Add layer of rice

      -Add layer of French fried onions (thin slices of onion cooked in vegetable/corn oil until

      crisp)

      -Then repeat layers

-Final step:  Add a few drops of yellow food coloring to make some of rice turn yellow, and then throw chopped cilantro on top

Kitty Aunty's Mutter Paneer Recipe

Here is the recipe for the Mutter Paneer (Indian dish with cheese, tomat0-based sauce and peas) that I learned from Kitty Aunty on August 17, 2006.

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Vegetable cooking oil (Kitty Aunty used unrefined corn oil)

2-3 teaspoons homemade Garlic/Ginger paste

      -1 inch ginger

      -2 green chilies

      -1/4 bunch chopped cilantro

      -1 clove garlic

      -blend in food processotr

½ teaspoon dry fenugreek

1 medium onion chopped

1 ½ medium tomatoes, chopped and microwaved for 2-3 minutes (or use capped Pacific organic tomatoes)

1 teaspoon paprika

½ - 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper for spice (add extra cayenne pepper or green chili for more spice)

½ - 1 teaspoon roasted ground cumin (dry roast the cumin, then blend in a coffee grinder, you can keep in a jar for long periods of time), you can lessen amount if you don’t like or omit entirely

1 teaspoon roasted ground coriander, lessen if you don’t like

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon homemade masala

½ block of store-bought paneer (or use fresh paneer, recipe found below)

½ - 1 cup fresh or frozen peas

Directions:

-Heat oil in saucepan (medium heat, depending on quality of pan)

-Add ground cardamom

-Add garlic/ginger paste, let simmer for a few minutes

-Add dried fenugreek and chopped onion

-Let simmer 5-10 minutes, or until the onions don’t smell raw

-Cut the tomatoes, and then put in microwave for 2-3 minutes

-Add paprika, cayenne, cumin, and coriander

-Add water if the ingredients are sticking to the pan

-Add cilantro

-Add chopped tomatoes, and lower the heat a bit

-Let simmer so flavors blend (few minutes)

-Then put in a food processor/chopper, until consistency is like gravy

-Put back in pan, and add salt to taste

-Add 2 tablespoons of sour cream.  Turn up heat and stir vigorously until mixture bubbles

-Keep stirring after bubbling and add homemade masala

-Then add peas, stir and cover, lower heat to medium/low.

-Stir periodically and add water if looks dry.  Let simmer for 10 minutes.

-Uncover and stir until smells cooked. 

-Stir in paneer, cover and let simmer for 3-4 minutes for flavor to set in paneer.