Fresh Organic Groceries

As if life was not exciting enough, with a full time traveling job, and overflowing weekends, and oh-so-many projects to get done, I decided to add a little bit more spice, and excitement. Luckily this is not really the stressful kind, but instead should turn out to (hopefully) be a real pleasure.

I have been meaning to ‘subscribe’ to a organic home delivery service for fresh fruit and vegetables, since quite a while. I wanted to do so, for a couple of reasons. The obvious one of course would be to eat healthier. Having fresh ingredients delivered straight from the farm is about as good as it gets. And it also definitely saves on time at the grocery store. My second reason was that I wanted to shake up my grocery buying routine. I wanted to learn to cook with ingredients that I would never buy at the store, and I wanted to be forced to learn new recipes. I wanted to spice up my life in the kitchen.

I finally got a chance to research some providers in the Bay Area, and bought the service from “Farm Fresh to You“. My first box arrived just last week, and I could not been more excited to open it!!

Here is what my first delivery contained,
Red radishes
Baby potatoes
Spring onions
Apples
Oranges
Lemons
Trumpet mushrooms
Lettuce

So I got right to work, finding recipes for Trumpet Mushrooms which I have never cooked before.

I also learnt to make a roasted potato and radish salad, which also asked for spring onions. It was the perfect dish to use three ingredients from the delivery!! I was beyond excited.

We added one apple, and one orange to some champagne, juice the other two oranges and added the juice and WALLAH – Cava Sangria!!

So far it’s been an exciting experience and I have to say that the veggies and fruit taste great! There’s certainly something to be said of fresh, organic ingredients. You want to try it as well…..your food will taste so much more flavorful.

Recipes coming soon…

Can you wait for my next box to arrive? I certainly can’t!!

Tags: cava sangria, champagne, farm fresh to you, Fresh, grocery groceries, home delivery, organic, potatoes, radishes, sangria, spring onions, trumpet mushrooms

Chocolate Dessert Cake – This one’s a keeper!!!!

I think this is most definitely the best, most delectable chocolate cake we have had at home!! And its not just me, I have at least 10 people to vouch for that As a kid and even now, nothing beat Mom’s home made chocolate cakes. While those are special in their own way, I did want to try out a different kind of chocolate cake. Something that was more sinfully fulfilling!! Something more fudgy on the inside and yet a crunchy crusty brownie on the outside. Looks like I have found the ONE!

I must confess that I love baking desserts and cakes or anything sweet more than eating it. But like someone rightly pointed out (Gurpal Massarji i think) that what worked for this cake was that the “sweet wasn’t killing you”. And yet, even the ones with the sweet tooth enjoyed it to the core. I think this one goes right up there for being my best cake bake ever so far. OK so obviously I didn’t come up with this recipe myself (now you’re just asking for too much :-/) but I think its still a discovery out of the kazillion chocolate cake recipes online and all claiming to be the ultimate one. So very rightly the credit goes to Donna Hay for this one – totally worth passing on to everyone and so here goes……

Following this recipe to the “e” is what I think made all the difference – so stick to it for the most amazing chocolate experience !

What you will need:

White butter – 125 gm

Dark cooking chocolate – 375 gm (psst..thats the secret ingredient )

Brown sugar – 175 gm

All purpose flour (maida) – 35 gm (yeah thats all!!)

Milk – 2 tbsp

Almond meal (ground almonds) – 120 gm

Eggs  – 5 regular ones

Cocoa – for dusting

Lets begin:

1. Preheat the oven at 170 degree celcius or 375 F.

2. Taking the butter and the chocolate (make sure you have coarsely cut up the chocolate, else it will take ages to melt) in a bowl – melt in a double boiler, or melt and blend by microwaving in bursts. We used the double boiler on the gas and it worked very well.

3. Once the butter and chocolate have melted to make a smooth sauce, add the sugar, flour, milk and almond meal and mix to evenly combine.

4. Then add the eggs in and mix well – this takes a good bit of turning the batter over to make the egg blend in evenly.

5. Keep your baking tin ready (grease it and powder it). And pour in the mixture. We finally bought the ring mould tin – or the bundt cake tin – I love it!!

6. Here’s the key to keeping this cake divinely moist – cover it with a tin foil and bake for 40 minutes.

7. After 40 minutes, our cake was still quite runny – so we baked for another 20 minutes without the foil.

And walla!!! it was the perfect move to give this cake the brownie crust top and just the right consistency and moisture on the inside!

We couldn’t wait to get our hands on this one after dinner – it is best eaten with vanilla ice cream while the cake is still warm……And oh yes – before you cut it – dust it with a bit of cocoa for the final touch – it just looks so much prettier!!

Dust the ice cream scoop with some cocoa too and it really does make you fee like you’re in heaven…….Sigh…..!!!!

So try it out folks – its very hard to get this one wrong and it only leaves you asking for more – like it did all of us!!

Tags: binny, bundt cake, chocolate bundt cake, chocolate cake, chocolate dessert cake, dessert cake, fudge, ultimate cake

Celebrations all day all the way….14 Feb 2012!

Hi Folks,

14 Dec 2012 started with a bang!

Its was Param and Kamal’s 30th Wedding Anniversary and a memorable one at that

One thing I can say for sure is that it was truly a “sadde tadke” day – right from breakfast to dinner. Two new recipes on the menu and two dishes that I picked up from here for lunch!! Exactly why we started Sadde Tadke in the first place!

So the whole idea of coming home this time was to take over the kitchen on Mom and Dad’s anniversary and cook up some specials for them. Though I did have some major parts to play in this scheme of things – I couldn’t completely avoid Mom from being in the kitchen either – - which was good in a way coz I got to learn something new too. We had family coming in right from breakfast and upto dinner and so there was much cooking happening all day among other running arounds.

So what did I cook from the recipes here? I cooked  Gurkiran’s World Famous Methi Paneer and Dolly massi’s Mirch Masala .

Well the paneer turned out pretty good, but I think I can do the mirchis better next time – though everyone did enjoy them (at least they told me so )

The other two new additions were:

our version of  Frittata for breakfast

and this absolutely scrumptious Chocolate Dessert Cake for after dinner!

Recipes for both comin up shortly – you absolutely do not want to miss the one for the chocolate cake!

Until then, Ciao!

Tags: 14 dec 2012, 30th anniv, bigsna, binny, chocolate dessert cake, frittata, Gurkiran, kasoori methi, methi paneer, mirch masala, paneer methi

CornBread – Super Simple and Fast!

Continuing my facination with baking breads, here’s one I am definitely going to be baking a lot more often. This one is so simple and quick that I have even committed the recipe to memory

Plus its super healthy compared to a lot of other breads and also very tasty. Also a zero – yeast recipe.

What you need:

Corn Flour (corn meal / makki atta) – 1 cup

Wheat Flour – 1 cup (what I used was a multi grain flour, since that was the only one available at home worked great – just got healthier)

White Powdered Sugar – 1/4 cup

Low fat Yogurt (i used the usual curd we set at home, wasn’t too thick) – 1 cup

Baking Soda – 1 teaspoon

Salt – 3/4 tablespoon

Eggs – 2

Optional – dry herbs (i threw in some oregano and mint. You can also do parsley, thyme, etc.) I think this bread is so versatile, you can give it any twist you like!

To Make bread:

1. Preheat oven at 200 degree celsius (400 F).

2. In a mixing bowl, add all the dry ingredients and evenly mix them. Add the two eggs and the yogurt and stir in until evenly blended. Don’t over stir the mixture – just until it looks evenly blended.

3. Just add this to a greased baking pan. I used an 8 by 8 inch one – and put in the oven for 25 minutes at 200 degrees celcius.

4. Check for a clean center with fork once done. Tastes great when warm with white butter.

We are having it for dinner with spinach soup and vegetables in white sauce

Tags: baked, baking, bread, corn, corn flour, cornbread, cup wheat flour, flour corn, healthy bread, no yeast

Best of 2011

Merry Christmas all!!

I’m sitting here at the British Airways Club Lounge at Heathrow, and thought, “What better time to write a ‘Best of 2011′ post for our blog?”….and so here it is….

We have had some great statistics this year, and I wanted to take some time to share them with the Tadka Experts and the world.

So here are the recipes/posts with the most hits for 2011…..drumroll please……

The purple arrows are meeeeeee – leena!

Soooooo, we had almost a 1000 hits on our home page….woooohooooo!!! Thats HUGE for a completely unpublicezed blog, wouldn’t you say?

And the popular recipes are the really unique ones

#1 is Panchpuran Aloo – The search term people use to land on this post is usually “Panch Puran”. It has been a hit in my house, and looks like its a hit in the blogosphere as well…PUN INTENDED! Thank you Mom for introducing me to the spice…..I’m growing more in love with it, with every dish I cook with it!

#2 is Atta biskut – Coz GOD knows how much we Desi’s love Whole wheat biscuits. This recipe is a very close second, and people are searching for all sorts of atta cookies, wheat cookies, everything! Looks like we have a recipe that has something for everyone!

#3 is Chawal De Atte di Pinni – It is one of the few recipes from Mandeep, but I’m not surprised at all that it is such a huge hit! She is a fantastic cook! If only we could get her to send us some more recipes……sluurrrppppp!…sigh!

We know that she has her hands full as of late…….so we’ll bother her in 6 months or so.

#4 is Khao suey – Which is not really an Indian dish, but is a HUGE HIT in our family! And no matter how much Dolly makes, we usually run out…..! I’m soooooooo looking forward to having some myself, pretty soon here! I’m be home in less than 12 hours mom!

Lets also take a look at the top contributers for 2011….We are all pretty close here as well…..

Leena – 5 posts

Ravi – 4 posts

Dolly – 3 posts

Binny – 1 post

Here is a break down of the top search terms, which have brought the traffic to Sadde Tadke

And…..our busiest day was April 20th, when we had 54 hits on Sadde Tadke!

We are averaging at just under 10 views per day!

So I have a resolution for next year. And y’all….keep blogging, and keep reading!

Happy Holidays!!

Tags: best of 2011, binny, british airways, dolly, drumroll, How we did, indian dish, leena, mandeep, popular recipes, ravi. mandeep, whole wheat biscuits

Stuffed Karelas (bitter Gourd or bitter melon)

Today we had stuffed Karelas for dinner. Karelas are my husband’s favorite vegetable, for their unique flavor and for the medley of spices and favors that go into its masala.

I’m not sure when he started loving them, coz I know that he hated them as a kid, which is true for any child. But Murphy’s law always applies…turns out the more bitter of vegetables, is also the most nutritious…so we have all sucked it up, pinched our noses, and eaten some Karelas from time to time.

So here is my quick and easy recipe to make Karelas. I call it quick and easy because it is quicker and easier than most other recipes I have seen!

Today I start with 6 Karelas to feed two – three people
Half an onion (large onion) – finely chopped
1 green chilli
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp Garam masala powder
1 tbsp jeera – (cumin seeds)
Amchur powder

Start with placing a kadhai/skillet on medium high heat. Add 1 tbsp oil to the kadhai and heat it till it just starts rippling. Add the cumin seeds. When they start sputtering, add the onion and the chopped green chilli. Add salt.

Cook in medium high till the onion is fully cooked and turns golden brown.

Peel the Karelas lightly with a vegetable peeler. Don’t take off thick peels, in stead try to have relatively thin peels.

Add these peels to the onions once they are cooked. Cook for another 7-10 minutes.

Also slit the Karelas down their length on one side, so that they open up like a book. Spoon out all the seeds from inside. Finely chop the seeds by hand or in a chopper. If some of the seeds are extremely large, you can throw them out.

Toss the slit, hollowed Karelas in a tbsp of salt and set aside. This is so that the bitter juices are excreted while you are cooking the masala.

Now add the ginger garlic paste. Cook for 5 mins, then add the turmeric, red chilli powder and Garam masala. Add the chopped seeds, a sprinkle of water if necessary and stir well. Cook for another 10 minutes or till the masala is fully cooked. Add Amchur powder, and stir well. Turn off the stove. You can add some chopped coriander leave a this stage as well. Let the masala cook for 5 minutes.

Spoon the masala into the Karelas.

Heat a non stick skillet. Add 1 tbsp oil to the bottom, and lay the stuffed Karelas side by side in the skillet. Turn the Karelas every 10 minutes or till they are brown on each side.

The Karela should be cooked, and might even turn out crispy on the outside. When they are golden brown on each side, serve, and enjoy!!

Tags: bitter gourd, bitter melon, Karela, Karelas, leena, Stuffed, stuffing, vegetable, vegetarian

The perfect Chipotle Burrito Bowl

Everybody in the United States is probably familiar with Chipotle. It is a Mexican food chain, known for their all natural ingredients and great tasting menu options. It is one of my favorite places to eat at, any day of the week, any time of the day!

If I was marooned on an island which had only one restaurant, I would want that restaurant to be Chipotle! I could eat breakfast, lunch and dinner – consecutively, for consecutive days at Chipotle…..Enough of the drooling…you get my drift! I love the place.

The really interesting bit is that I always order the exact same thing every single time – and what I love most about the restaurant, is the consistency with which they deliver it. My burrito bowl always tastes the same….perrfect!

So I don’t know if I’m onto something, or if I’m just plain crazy. I would like to believe that I know the secret to “The perfect Chipotle Burrito bowl”.

Step 1: They have recently started serving brown rice. I am always choosing brown rice over white rice at Chipotle. But the kind of rice is not a deal breaker, so take your pick.

Step 2: NO BEANS!! Yes seriously, NO beans!!

Step 3: Fajitas and Chicken. Nobody knows how to grill chicken like Chipotle – They do a FINE job! The flavor, the char…always perfect!

Step 4: Pico de gallo – Get it! (This is the chopped tomato salsa)

Step 5: Little bit of hot salsa (you can get the medium salsa if spicy is not your thing! But then again….why would you be at Chipotle?)

Step 6: Spoon full of corn. If they don’t give you a spoon full, ask for extra corn.

Step 7: Light Sour cream and light cheese

Step 8: Light lettuce on top of your bowl and Guacamole on the side. Chipotle makes one of the best Guacamole I have ever had.

So that’s it, and the result is just fantastic – Every meal of the day, every day of the week, most weeks of the year – fantastic!

Tags: Chicken, Chipotle, leena, Mexican, Restaurants