Tag Archives: Indian

Sep 21 2013

Tomato Rasam Soup

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Tomato Rasam

Tomato Rasam

 

It’s peak tomato season and I’ve been getting so many from my garden that I’ve been making tomato sauce every few days, but now my freezer is full. I have pasta sauce, pizza sauce, masala sauce, and ranchero sauce.

I needed to find another use for tomatoes and thought that a nice, spicy Rasam soup would be good for the Fall-type weather. I found this recipe and it was exactly what I was looking for. Quick and easy!

Tomato Rasam Soup Recipe

My tweaks: I didn’t use my pressure cooker, but boiled the red lentils in a pot. They took about 30 minutes. I added some coriander seeds to the mustard seeds and made it more of a vegetable Rasam by including green and yellow beans and zucchini and yellow squash from the garden. Also used fresh hot peppers from the garden instead of the dried chilis.

Mar 23 2013

Indian Sweet Halwa

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Gluten Free Halwa

Gluten Free Halwa

Halwa Spices

Halwa Spices

I spent a lot of time at my friend Hemal’s house when I was growing up and her mom taught me how to cook Indian food. Because of that, I feel like Indian is my native cuisine. Halwa is a sweet dessert, but I like to make it a little less sweet and use it for special breakfasts. It’s typically made with semolina, but I found this gluten free version that uses Cream of Rice.

Gluten Free Halwa

My tweaks: I use Earth Balance instead of ghee, palm sugar instead of jaggery and use under 1/4 cup of the palm sugar. It will still be sweet. I added chopped dates AND golden raisins.

Jan 20 2013

Laoo Dahl (Red Lentils with Zucchini)

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Red Lentils with Zucchini

Red Lentils with Zucchini

I get a box of organic produce delivered to my house every 2 weeks. In the last delivery there were three beautiful zucchini. Instead of turning to the internet, I turned to one of my favorite cookbooks, Extending the Table. This recipe is a new favorite! I loved the earthiness of the red lentils combined with the texture and firm freshness of the zucchini.

Laoo Dahl (Red Lentils with Zucchini)

My Tweaks: I used coconut oil and added some garlic paste and ginger paste, just because those are common flavor profiles for Indian food. I didn’t have a hot pepper, so I used aleppo pepper. I served it over brown rice couscous.